SV02-06. Slave to a Vampire

by Katrina Kahler

  “Her body will die,” I said as I handed her back over to Victoria, “but then she will be reborn, just as you were.”

  We both waited for the girl’s body to die. I knew what should happen. Turning Victoria and our other plantation vampires was still very fresh in my mind.

  I patiently waited, but something had gone terribly wrong.

  “Bastian? What’s happening?”

  I shook my head at a loss. Trails of blood leaked from the girl’s ears and nose. Her eyes shot open and stared at us both in pain and fear before she let out a blood-chilling scream as she thrashed in Victoria’s arms. I tried to help keep her steady, but the fits were too violent and she tumbled out onto the ground. The screams continued to come even as her voice grew hoarse and ragged. As suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

  Slowly I reached out to the girl, but she did not awaken. She did not move.

  “She’s…she’s dead,” I whispered. “The venom. It must have been the venom.”

  Victoria’s sobs stopped and she lunged towards me, tackling me to the ground.

  “You did this! You took her from me! You took everything from me, you bastard!” She punched me twice before I managed to catch her wrists and flipped us back over again.

  “I saved your life!”

  “You condemned me to a hell I can never escape.” She screamed at me over and over as she tried to get up, but I was stronger. Eventually she stopped fighting and the sobs overtook her once more. I pushed off the ground and stepped back, not sure what she would do next. Once she was on her feet, she straightened her dress then turned her glare on me. “I hope you suffer as I have suffered, Bastian Lavelle.”

  Then she took off, disappearing into the darkness as a blur. It was the last time I saw her.

  Chapter 9

  Catherine waited for him to go on, but Bastian fell silent. She had wondered what happened to Victoria and now that she knew, she wished she didn’t. The look on his face was a mix of sadness and regret, but for what, Catherine wasn’t sure.

  “Would you have preferred to die all those years ago?” she found herself asking, not even sure where the words came from. She thought about taking the question back, but he stood and paced to the windows behind the desk. “Bastian?”

  “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Would it have been easier? Yes, most certainly.” He turned around to look her in the eye and his hand reached out to cup her cheek in his cold palm. “But then again, I would have never met you.” His other hand went to her hand and slowly he pulled her from the chair and Catherine frowned. “Do you trust me?”

  She opened her mouth to answer when a knock sounded at the door. He called for them to enter and the second the doors swung inwards, Catherine heard a gasp and the shattering of glass. Bastian glared as she tried to move away from him, but it was too late. Charlotte stood in the doorway, narrowed eyes and gaping jaw, and a spilled mess on the floor in front of her.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Bastian said as he made his way to the door.

  But Charlotte did not lower her gaze from Catherine’s. Bastian gripped her shoulder and she winced suddenly turning to him. Her eyes widened in fright and she quickly dropped to her knees to clean up the mess.

  “I’m so sorry, Master Lavelle,” she whispered.

  “Clean this mess up and then you will leave this library and head straight to your quarters. Am I understood?”

  Charlotte nodded then lifted her head enough to glare at Catherine. “You wish to not be disturbed then, Master Lavelle?”

  Bastian yanked her to her feet and gave her a good shake as he growled. Catherine rushed forward and grabbed his shoulder. She didn’t know what help she could be against his strength, but the last thing she wanted was for him to do something he would only regret later. Her touch was enough to bring him back to her and he released Charlotte.

  “You will leave now and do not enter the main house again. Do you understand me?”

  Charlotte’s head stayed lowered as she nodded quickly, whimpering as tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “And you are to not make any more assumptions about me or about Catherine. It is not your place and never will be.”

  Again the girl nodded and Bastian told her to get out. She scooped up the rest of the mess onto the tray she’d been holding, then backed out of the library. She didn’t try to look at Catherine again. They could hear her frightened sobs as she headed off towards the kitchens.

  “Are you well, Catherine?”

  She nodded but started to sag and Bastian rushed forward to hold her up. The moment his arms closed around her, she fainted and he caught her. With his other arm he scooped her up and placed her on the couch in the library.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” she whispered. “I can sit up now.”

  “Are you certain?”

  She nodded and forced herself to sit up. “I was friends with Charlotte,” she said quietly. “We met on the way here, but ever since I started working for you, she’s changed.”

  “She is jealous,” Bastian said. “I saw it the first time I met her in the house. She wants nothing more than to be used by me so she could move up in the household and eventually have control over others.” His face darkened and he growled. “I do not tolerate people with such an attitude.”

  “Why did you choose me to work with you?”

  Bastian turned and frowned. “What do you mean?”

  She sat up the rest of the way and played with her skirts, not meeting his gaze. “I mean, is this just a nightly thing between us? Or am I just being over hopeful about everything?” Catherine held her breath as the silence stretched on. She had been wondering for quite some time now, what his plans were for her. They had not gone to his bed as she’d assumed at one point they would, and yet he looked at her not as if she belonged to him but as if she belonged with him. He cared about her and she didn’t have the slightest idea why.

  Bastian sat beside her and reached for her hands. “I care for you more deeply than I have for anyone in a very long time,” he whispered. “I never want to stop seeing you, or holding you as I have. Are you happy to be with me? Or do you wish to leave?”

  “What do you mean? Leave you and simply work in the house again or…or…”

  “Leave me,” he said quietly, “as in go back home. To Ireland.”

  Her breath caught in her chest as she stared at him, wide eyed, and wondering if she heard him correctly. He was giving her a chance to be free and go home. Ireland. She had missed her home terribly since they set out that night so long ago, but…she frowned as she stood and paced around the library. There had been so much heartache there. Watching so many die even before the raid. She had no idea what the village would be like now or what her life might be. She had a feeling her mother would no longer be there even if she had survived the raid. She’d seen enough death.

  If Catherine stayed here, she possibly had a future with Bastian. She knew now beyond a doubt that he cared for her deeply, maybe even loved her, otherwise he would not have asked her.

  “No,” she finally said firmly as she turned back to face him. “No, I wish to stay here. With you.”

  He was on his feet and before her faster than she could blink. “Truly?”

  “Yes, truly,” she said and laughed as he embraced her tightly. He set her back then kissed her and Catherine sighed. The kiss deepened and Bastian’s hands massaged her back as his lips and tongue danced with hers.

  This was what love felt like. This was what she wanted in her life. Her hands ran up through his hair and her tongue brushed against the sharp fangs in his mouth. She didn’t pull back from him though. She embraced what he was, unable to do anything else, but love this man back.

  Slowly the kiss ended and Bastian leaned back from her, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. “I want to hear more about you,” he whispered, tucking her hair back behind her ears. “I want to know everything about you.”

  “Th
ere’s not much to tell really,” she said with a shrug. “I was born into a poor family. My father died during the famine giving his food to my pregnant mother.”

  “He was a very noble man,” Bastian said.

  “He was, loved my mother and I terribly. When he passed, the village priest helped raise me and Liam, though my brother was never the staying-put sort of child. He was always off hunting and sneaking into the pub,” she said with a laugh.

  “I hear good things about him from Dion.” Bastian leaned back a bit and smiled. “He keeps many of the others in good spirits.”

  Catherine was glad to hear about him doing so well. “I wish I could see him a bit more.”

  “Granted.”

  She frowned and turned to him. “You’d do that?”

  “There are many things I will do for you, Catherine,” he said and he reached out his hand to hold her face. She leaned into the touch, already used to the coolness of his skin. “I want you to know that.”

  “Of course.” She lowered her gaze and cleared her throat, trying to keep back the sudden sting of tears in he eyes. He saw it and pulled her onto his lap as he held her close. She had never been held by a man like that before and it felt safe to have his arms wrapped around her so.

  “Catherine? What troubles you?”

  “You spoke of the island,” she said, “the one where the slaves are drained.”

  “Yes, but no one has been killed that way for many years. I have seen to it.”

  “Michael,” she whispered. “I did not love him, but he was a friend and the man I was to marry. He is over there now and I can’t bear to think of him in pain like that.”

  His grip on her tightened briefly, but then he nodded. “He cannot come back from the island. No one ever does and the stories he would bring with him would frighten the others. However, I will send word to make him a worker on the island. He will no longer supply me and my kind with blood.”

  “You would do that for me?”

  He took her chin and turned her to face him fully. “You have been through so much for such a young woman, Catherine. You survived for months at sea and from what I hear made quite the impression on the other girls. They look up to you from what Maxine has said to me. Your brother asks about you constantly and only one who loves his sister dearly would do that.” He readjusted again and licked his lips as if searching for words.

  “In all my years I have never met a woman quite like you, or one that is so liked by so many.”

  “I just did what needed to be done to get through,” she told him. Then she felt a sharp pang of guilt bite at her chest. “I even killed when we were attacked in the village. I never thought I could do such a thing…but I did.”

  “What was it you told me? It’s the past and you should not hold onto it,” he whispered. “You did what you had to do. All that matters is that you and I have found each other. That for now is enough.”

  Catherine rested her head against his shoulder and let him hold her for a long while. His hands ran through her hair and he rubbed her back as he quietly spoke to her in French. She had no idea what he said, but the words flowed around her and sounded beautiful. Soon she felt herself falling asleep and he stood, keeping her in his arms, and made his way towards her room. But he did not go all the way up the stairs. Instead, he turned down a long corridor, she knew that this was the way to his rooms and her body stiffened.

  “Do not fret, my sweet Catherine,” he whispered. “You simply need a proper bed to sleep in. Nothing more.”

  Her body relaxed and she opened her eyes so she could see his rooms. They were decorated much as the library was, filled with books and trinkets, hand carved furniture and wonderful landscape paintings of rolling hillsides and vineyards. In the center of the room was a large, four-poster bed that he carried her to and gently laid her down.

  “Sleep now. You will not be disturbed,” he whispered and kissed her forehead. He started to turn away, but she reached out and took his hand.

  “Stay with me,” she whispered.

  His smile lit up his eyes and he nodded. He removed her shoes gently then did the same with his own, slipped out of his overcoat and vest and climbed onto the bed beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Catherine fell asleep with a smile on her face and Bastian in her heart.

  Chapter 10

  Bastian woke before Catherine and was surprised to see her still curled up against his side. He smiled as he stared down at her face, not yet filled with the worries of the day to come. And what was to come? Many things had changed within him since she came to the island and was brave enough to look him straight in the eye.

  This woman had survived the long journey across the ocean with her spirit intact. There were very few who could do that without changing into a lesser version of themselves. Instead, she’d become stronger. As the sun reached late afternoon, Catherine began to stir beside him and he smoothed her hair back from her face as her eyes fluttered open.

  “Good evening, Catherine,” he said.

  Her eyes widened for a moment before she seemed to remember and she smiled. “Good evening. I’m sorry I slept so late.”

  “No,” he told her. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything.”

  He leaned over and kissed her sweetly then pulled back. She stretched and started to get up, shaking out her wrinkled skirts and searching for her shoes. “I suppose we shall finish your story tonight then?”

  “Actually,” he said as he got up and moved around the bed to his dresser. “I think it is time to start a new story.”

  “A new story?”

  He opened a drawer and pulled out a ring he had held onto for a very long time. When he first turned Victoria he had bought it and meant to marry her, but the woman had changed in death and Bastian had stashed the ring away, afraid he would never get to see its beauty grace the hand of the one he loved. Now he had Catherine and she would wear this ring, he hoped.

  “Catherine.” He turned and went to her, reaching for her left hand and held it up between them. “I was lost in my bitterness and anger before I met you, unable to see what life still had to offer me. When you are near, I feel as though my heart beats again. I cannot imagine a life with you not by my side.”

  She muttered under her breath and her breathing quickened when Bastian held up the ring, silver with a large emerald set in a bed of diamonds.

  “Will you be my wife, Catherine? Will you stay by my side even though this monster does not deserve you?”

  He watched her eyes go from the ring then to him then back again. She took a deep breath and he braced for the rejection he was sure was coming.

  “Yes,” she whispered then cleared her throat. “Yes, Bastian, I will marry you.”

  “You will?”

  She laughed and lunged forward to kiss him fiercely. He caught her in his arms and held her tightly, kissing her back as they spun around the room laughing. When they stopped he slipped the ring on her finger and it fit perfectly.

  “This is incredible,” she said. “Bastian I…I’m so happy.”

  “Good, that’s good,” he said. “When would you like to wed?”

  “Tomorrow,” she said enthusiastically. “Yes, tomorrow. I want us to start our lives together. I don’t want you or me to waste another moment.”

  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Then tomorrow night it shall be. I have work to do then.” He turned towards his wardrobe then rushed back and kissed her again. “And you are no longer a slave. You are free once again. You have been free since you started writing down my story,” he said and suddenly feared she would bolt out the door.

  But instead, she kissed him and whispered against his lips, “Thank you, Bastian.”

  “You still wish to marry me?”

  “Love is a funny thing, that’s what my mother always told me,” she said. “You cannot choose who you love. Love sneaks up on you and one day you realize it has been right in front of you.”

&nb
sp; He smiled, tucking those words away as she kissed him again.

  “I need to find my brother,” she said, “And Mary and Rose.”

  “Go, please tell them,” he said. “I have much to prepare, but first I think it is time for you to wear something new.”

  ***

  Catherine brushed her hands down the satin fabric of her new light green dress and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. It was a perfect fit. The bodice was tight, pushing her bosom up, and the skirt was full, just like she used to see the ladies wear at Charles’ father’s house. She looked like a real lady.

  “What do you think?” Bastian asked.

  “I have never dared dream to wear such a dress,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

  He had sent someone into town to fetch back a seamstress who brought with her several dresses. Catherine picked the one she liked and the woman went to work making the necessary adjustments. Catherine didn’t even know how much such a thing would cost, but Bastian did not seem to mind.

  “Well then, your brother is back in his quarters for the evening and I believe your friends are awaiting you in the dining room,” he said as he came up behind her and kissed her cheek.

  “This will certainly be a surprise for them.”

  “Everything will be fine. I shall escort you down then I must see to the food and flowers and everything else we will require.” He turned her from the mirror and kissed her once again. Catherine’s heart fluttered in her chest before he pulled away and held out his arm for her hand.

  The whole way downstairs, she worried what the girls would say, but the moment they spotted her, they forgot about Bastian and stared open mouthed at her dress. Then Mary squealed with delight and rushed to hug her friend, Rose right behind her. Bastian smiled then backed away slowly, saying he would see Catherine later.

  “You look amazing!” Mary stepped back and told Catherine to spin. “Catherine, this is wonderful!”