SV02-06. Slave to a Vampire

by Katrina Kahler

  “I understand.”

  “Good, in here then and we shall go over what will happen,” I said and held open the door to my private study.

  He went in and I offered him a chair then poured him a glass of wine. He took it tentatively as if it was poisoned and suddenly I hated Victoria for what she’d done to those under my care. Never before had they been timid around me and here was Tula acting as if was going to kill him and hide the body.

  I took my seat behind the desk and drank the wine so he would know it was safe. “Now then, every month you and I shall travel to Jamaica and buy more slaves. They must be healthy and strong from both genders. I want them to know that if they work hard here, they will be allowed to marry and encouraged to have children.”

  Tula nodded once and swirled the wine in his glass, but did not yet drink it.

  “The children of course will be well looked after during the day and perhaps even given a chance to learn new skills. The sick and elderly we are going to move off the plantation so they may have a better chance at healing and resting.”

  “Is that what those men were doing? Building them homes?”

  I smiled. “Yes. We need to take care of our own. I believe there is a sickness spreading which has caused so many of the deaths recently.”

  “That has been one rumor spreading around the slaves,” Tula said. “They fear it is a dark spirit that has come to the plantation and drains the life from its victims.” He stared at me then, but I did not flinch or look away. He shrugged as he sipped more wine and leaned back in his chair. “This will help them, then? Moving them off the plantation?”

  “That is my plan.”

  “Then I shall do it. What is it you want from me, Master Lavelle?”

  I told him to organize a feast for the following night for those slaves that would be departing for their new home. I wanted to send them off feeling that this was going to be exactly what I said it was. Part of me felt guilty for lying to a man so loyal, but it needed to be done, otherwise the vampires would kill off all the slaves within the year and the plantation would fail. Just before Tula left, I told him that the slave by the name of Remo was going to be promoted to becoming an overseer on the other island.

  “Remo, Master?”

  “Yes, is there a problem with him?”

  “He is not a good man, Master Lavelle,” he said as his eyes darkened. “I would be cautious around him. That is all.”

  “I respect your words as always, Tula. I will see you and all the slaves tomorrow in the courtyard to give them a grand send off.”

  He bowed his head then left and I wondered for the first time in a long time if Tula was going to plan a revolt against me like he had always planned. The man was smart. If I was not careful he would see through my plans and find a way to cause me problems.

  The following night, a grand feast was held in the courtyard with fresh meats and vegetables, fruits, and Caribbean rum. I announced once everyone had gathered that the elderly and sick were going to go on a holiday of sorts to let them heal and rest. As I spoke, I watched their faces start to relax, but Tula stood straight as a tree in the back, his face set as stone. Remo was nearby speaking with some other slaves, but Tula did not look at anyone else except me.

  “Is he going to be a problem,” Victoria said as she stood by my side. “I will gladly take care of him.”

  “Like you took care of Bernard,” I said and glared at her. “You are not to touch Tula.”

  “Are you really going to hold a grudge against me for that? I was looking out for you, for all of us. He was going to expose us.”

  “You did not have to kill him like that.”

  She leaned closer and kissed my cheek, but I flinched away before she could do anything else. “You will thank me one day for what I have done.” Her nails dug into my back before she turned and walked to the other vampires, a smile back on her face as if nothing had happened.

  I still wanted Victoria, but at the same time I had a feeling she was going to do something to me. Do something to everything I had tried to build these last twelve years. As the feast came to an end, I made my way to the slaves and told them all to please stand so we could begin to take the elderly and sick away. Their boat was waiting at the harbor to take them across to the other island.

  There were a few tears as family members were pulled from one another, but I reassured them all that one day they would return when they were healthy and rested once again. I caught Victoria’s hungry leer from behind them all and frowned. Never would I let her step foot on that other island. As it was, I had already allowed two of the vampires, Anton and his partner Ivette, to accompany Remo and the slaves. Ivette I trusted. She listened and did as she was told, though it did pain me that she too had taken part in killing Bernard.

  It was Anton I did not fully trust. More than once I had seen him sneaking about the plantation with Victoria. I was not blind. I knew what they did together…no matter how hard Victoria tried to wash his stench from her skin.

  However to begin with, I was not going to just let Remo over there without supervision, so those two were going with him at least for now. I too would go with them this first night and see them settled into their new homes. It was not going to be easy convincing them this would make them better. Especially when they saw what was actually been built on that island, but for the moment, that was what we needed to keep everyone in line.

  The slaves were taken down to the dock and loaded onto several ships, nearly fifty in all. It was a good number to start with. We rowed them over and let them get out one by one. Remo, with a smile on his face that looked more like an evil smirk held out torches and led the party up through the jungle terrain. Myself, Ivette, and Anton followed them, in case any of them decided to try and flee.

  “Welcome,” Remo announced as the buildings came into view, “to your new homes.”

  The slaves stopped as one and stared wide eyed in fear.

  “This is where we will stay?” an old man with gray hair asked quietly. “This is not a home! This is a prison!”

  “You tricked us!”

  Shouts went up all around them and inwardly I sighed. This was what I feared. I glanced at Ivette and Anton then together the three of us moved forward and hissed loudly, flashing our sharp white fangs in the moonlight. The cries of protest turned to screams of terror as they stared at us moving closer and closer.

  “You are right,” I said loudly. “You have been chosen to serve a greater purpose!”

  I saw Anton snap his jaws at a nearby sickly woman and frowned. He was going to be a problem.

  “You are going to be the ones that feed us with your blood! Do as you are told and you will be well treated until the end of your days.”

  “And how long will that be?” another man shouted.

  But I did not answer. I nodded to Remo, Ivette, and Anton to carry on, then made my way back down to the beach, ignoring the screams of those behind me. I could not give in to my feelings then and did not wish to hear their cries of pain. This was the only solution to prevent a massacre, resulting in all the slaves on the main island being killed for their blood.

  ***

  Bastian fell silent and Catherine waited a few more moments for him to continue, but when he didn’t, she set down the quill and asked, “What happened over there?”

  He didn’t look at her when he spoke next. “As to be expected, Anton took advantage of the situation. Instead of draining them slowly day by day, he killed quite a few. It was a bad habit, one that I had to put a stop to. The people over there were supposed to supply us with blood for months, years even, but he had killed off nearly twenty in the first month. But after he was removed, the process went quite smoothly. Blood was bottled and kept warm all day in the sun. At night, it was brought over by boat for me and the others to drink.”

  Catherine felt her heart stutter as she thought of Michael. He was over there on that island, being drained as she sat there speaking with Master Lavell
e. He was being killed slowly for these…these monsters. Tears stung her eyes and several dripped down her cheeks on the page, smearing the ink.

  “May I be excused for the rest of the night?” she asked quietly. “I fear I am suddenly very exhausted from the day.”

  “Of course. We will resume tomorrow?”

  Forcing a smile on her face, she nodded and stood, then headed for the door before any more tears could fall. The moment she was away from Bastian, she leaned against a nearby wall and cried. There had to be a way to get Michael off that island. She had to save him, even if it meant risking her life. She had to gather the courage to stand up to Bastian Lavelle and demand that Michael be returned from that ghastly place.

  Chapter 8

  Bastian sat in the library the rest of the night, well past when the sun had risen, and late into the afternoon. He’d barely moved from his chair except to refill his wine glass and didn’t answer the door when the servants knocked. Dredging up the past was supposed to help him move on, but these last few days, had made him wonder what type of man he’d really turned out to be. He’d done so many things he regretted in his life and had hurt so many innocents.

  Would he have changed anything?”

  No, he realized as he stood and felt the sun finally dip below the horizon. If he’d changed anything, he would never have met Catherine. What he felt for her was stronger than anything he’d felt before for Antoinette or Victoria. It felt real, painful and sweet all at the same time. As if he’d bitten into an apple that wasn’t ripe enough yet, but there was still a glimpse of what it would be like soon.

  He found himself most days wondering what life would be like if Catherine were truly his and not just a slave in his household. She knew what he was and so far had not shown fear. There was something she held back from Bastian and he vowed to himself he would understand every bit of this young woman. He had plans for her and him and the only way to see them succeed was to take the time he needed to understand what made Catherine the woman she was now. Her beauty made him smile, but it was her laughter and her stubbornness that made him feel as if his heart was beating within his chest once again.

  Bastian felt a smile lift his lips as he hurried to the door and called for a servant.

  “Yes, Master Lavelle?”

  He eyed the young woman up and down before he nodded once, happy to see it wasn’t the other young woman who had been getting a bit too close for comfort lately. “Yes, would you please tell the cooks to prepare a special dessert for tonight? Whatever they can come up with and have it brought to the library in a few hours’ time with a new bottle of wine.”

  The young girl curtsied and Bastian vaguely remembered that her name was Mary. “Yes, Master Lavelle. Right away.” There was a glint in the girl’s eye, but it was one of happiness. He wondered if she was a friend with Catherine, but before he could ask, the girl had hurried off to her duties.

  Now all Bastian had to do was wait for Catherine to finish her work on the books and they could continue with his story. He was nearly to the end and once he reached it, well, he’d worry about that when they got there. Ideas were forming in his mind already. Whether or not Catherine would go through with them…was an answer he did not yet have.

  Finally, a knock sounded at the door and Bastian rushed to answer it. “Catherine, I’m very happy to see you this evening.”

  She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. They were red and she wouldn’t meet his gaze as she hurried inside and headed straight for the desk.

  “Catherine? You are upset. What’s happened?”

  “It’s nothing, truly,” she said and smiled, but it did not last long. “I am ready to continue your story.”

  “Would you like anything to drink first? Wine perhaps?”

  “No,” she snapped then sighed and held her head in her hand. “I did not mean that towards you. Please, forgive me, Master Lavelle.”

  He stiffened immediately at the use of that name and went to the desk. “Catherine, look at me. What has happened?” He wanted to reach out and hold her, but the way she held herself, warned him to keep away.

  “I can’t, at least not right now. Can we please continue? Really, it will help, I promise.”

  Bastian frowned, but nodded and sat back in the chair. “If that is what you wish.”

  “It is,” she said quickly and wiped her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “Fine, but do not call me Master Lavelle. You and I are past that, Catherine. Understood?”

  It took her a moment, but she quietly agreed then dipped her quill in the ink, found a blank page, and patiently waited for him to begin his tale as he had done every night. Bastian sighed as he thought about what happened after the island prison had been created. Things had remained peaceful for a while it was true, but peace was seldom kept so easily.

  “For nearly twenty years, the plantation flourished and I was able to bring in more slaves from every corner of the globe,” he finally started. “Our small family of vampires fell into an easy rhythm for a while until Victoria…well, she changed.”

  “I wondered,” Catherine whispered.

  “Yes well, I had hoped after I finally forgave her for killing Bernard, she would go back to being the woman I met on the beach, crying for her lost parents,” he said. “But as time went on, I learned very quickly that it wasn’t going to happen. She blamed me for her lot in life, for her boredom and her sorrow at having so much taken away from her.”

  Catherine’s quill paused in its scratching. “But you saved her life.”

  Bastian laughed for a moment, but it was dark and filled with bitterness. He had told no one of the guilt he kept buried inside at what he had put Victoria through. “Did I though? What life did she have now…except to survive off the blood of others? She would never age or die.”

  He fell silent for a moment, his regrets and remorse filling his mind.

  “She would never have children, ever.”

  The screaming as he had turned Victoria came back to him, as it still did some nights and he let the memory overtake him, drifting back years and years ago…

  ***

  Victoria had become unbearable. The woman I had fallen in love with and turned into a being like me was long gone. The woman in her place was cruel and vain. She ruled over the plantation like a queen and all I wanted was for her to either disappear from my life or find a way to be happy. I was heading to Jamaica once again to bring in new slaves and asked if she would like to go along with me and Tula this time. At first she seemed hesitant, but finally agreed to go.

  New spices and raw products were being brought into the port from various colonies being established in the Americas. Victoria told me she was curious to see them. No matter her reason, I was glad she was leaving the house and my slaves behind for at least a few days.

  We arrived in port and disembarked as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

  “It reeks here,” she snapped the moment our feet touched the dock.

  “It smells of fish and sweat, as it always has,” I said lightly as I tried to keep myself in a good mood. “Come, why don’t we explore the market a bit? The stalls stay open late here.”

  She offered me her hand and I tucked it in the crook of my elbow. We started to walk as Tula went to see to our rooms. “Why did you have to bring him? I don’t trust him. And besides, he is an old man now, you should find someone who is younger.”

  “I trust him with my life and you will not lay a finger on him.”

  “Or you’ll what?”

  I gripped her hand tight enough to make her hiss. “Do not push me, Victoria. I am all that is supporting you at the moment and every single person on that plantation is loyal to me. Not you. Do you understand me?”

  She hissed again and glared, but whispered yes so I let up my grip. Her tongue rubbed against one of her fangs, but before she could say anything in retaliation, we both turned at the sound of a scream. It was faint, very far away, and young.

  “A c
hild?”

  “Victoria-wait! Damn it all to hell, woman,” I cursed and chased after the blur that was Victoria’s body moving through the crowd, out past the edge of town, and into the depths of the thick jungle that surrounded it.

  I tried to catch up, but there was another scream and Victoria took off even faster. I didn’t know what we were going to run into, but I didn’t stop. As much as Victoria was driving me insane, she was still my responsibility on some level at least. There was another cry, but I heard Victoria speaking too and slowed down. There was a small clearing in the trees and Victoria was crouched over something in the center of it. The screaming had stopped and quiet, scared sobs filled the air instead.

  “Victoria?”

  “It’s a little girl,” she whispered and I walked around to take in the whole scene.

  There was a tiny girl, maybe ten, with fair skin and long blonde hair. Victoria held her in her lap, smoothing her forehead and whispering words to her sweetly. Tears stained her cheeks and the little girl shivered in her lap.

  “She’s dying,” I said, as I smelt the decay of her body. “Poison.”

  “I can’t just watch her die.”

  “You want to save her, how?”

  Victoria lifted her eyes to me and for a moment I saw the woman I longed for. “Turn her, like you turned me. Please, Bastian, I can’t let her die like this.”

  The girl gasped for breath and her body shuddered again. Victoria cried as she held the frail body then glanced back up at me. I didn’t think it a good idea, turning one so young, but hope shone in Victoria’s eyes. She could have something she missed out on having when her life was cut short and she turned into a monster. I could not give her a child from her own womb, but I could turn this girl.

  I told Victoria to hand her over as I bit my wrist and drew blood. Carefully, I tilted the girl’s head back as her eyes started to close and her heartbeat slowed even more. There were two tiny puncture wounds on her arm: snake bite. I worried for a moment about the venom in her system, but Victoria gripped my shoulders and I let my blood trickle into the girl’s mouth. She swallowed, then coughed, before her body grew completely still.