Her Warrior for Eternity

by Susanna Shore

  She stared at him in stunned silence for a long time, opening and closing her hand, as if needing the motion to make sense of his words. “I see…” she finally said, her voice emotionless. “So what will happen now?”

  This he could answer. “You’ll need to take it easy for a couple of months, until you’re stable.”

  “Months! I can’t take that long. I have my studies to finish.”

  “The term has already begun. You’ve been here for almost two weeks.” She looked like she would burst into tears, the idea of not graduating in time clearly more upsetting than being turned into a vampire. He understood her sentiments. Her studies were easier for her to grasp than the alien world of two-natureds. He hastened to comfort her.

  “Don’t worry. We’ve already taken care of everything. We’ve informed your university that you’ve been in an accident and will finish your assignments by the end of the summer. They were very understanding.”

  “But what about my parents? And my job?”

  “Grant knows. He and your co-workers sent you their best wishes and love.” That brought fresh tears to her eyes. “And we’ve contacted your parents. We had to tell them the truth, otherwise they would’ve come to be at your bedside. They were naturally upset, but I’m sure they’ll be over it by the time you’re strong enough to meet them.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest in a stubborn gesture. “I feel strong enough now.”

  “Trust me. You’re not.”

  “I feel like I could lift this bed.”

  He smiled, eyeing the large, four-poster mahogany bed. “And you probably could. I’m talking about emotional strength.” He hesitated. “Have you noticed … a presence inside you?”

  She blinked a couple of times, taken aback by his question. “Yes, I have, actually. I thought I was losing my mind. I’m not?”

  “No. That’s your second nature waking up.”

  “You mean it’s not just a name? I actually have another side to me now?”

  “Yes. We call it the Rider. That’s what I couldn’t tell you about until you were made a vampire. We don’t talk about it with outsiders. It’s not an easy creature to live with. It’s violent, vicious, and tries to take control of you all the time if you don’t watch over it. New vampires especially have to control themselves and their emotions constantly, otherwise it’ll break free and cause great havoc.”

  She looked frightened. “Isn’t there any way to restrain it?”

  “Blood helps. So you’ll be feeding regularly. From me.” He thought it best to add the last part. He wouldn’t allow her to feed from anyone else.

  “I seem to remember feeding already.”

  He smiled. “You most certainly did.”

  She blushed. “So, how long before I’m able to control it?”

  “It shouldn’t take more than a century.”

  “What? I don’t have that long.”

  He laughed, he couldn’t help it. “Baby, you have all eternity.”

  The next evening Jeremy declared Corynn strong enough to venture out of his bedroom. “The house is relatively empty tonight so it’s safer. New people put a strain on your control, so we have to practice with small crowds.” He ignored her reasonable suggestion that she would stay in bed forever. “You’ll have to do this eventually. Don’t worry, you’re strong enough, and I’m here.”

  He most certainly was. He hadn’t left her side once during the previous night, watching TV with her, fetching her books she might like to read, and more importantly, telling her about everything that being a new vampire entailed, including her constant need of supervision. She had worried that he wouldn’t get enough sleep watching over her, but he had smiled.

  “Luckily, new vampires are completely dead to the world between sunrise and sunset. I can sleep then.”

  “When you say dead, you mean figuratively, right?” They had already talked about this, but it was different now that she was a vampire herself. The mere notion of dying every day filled her with horror.

  “Right. You’re not a living dead, no matter what the books say. But I can see how humans would believe that if they came across a newly fulfilled vampire during the day. And if they’ve done so right after a new vampire has woken up, I don’t question the stories about bloodbaths either.” She shuddered, doubly so when the voice in her head noted that it wouldn’t mind a bloodbath.

  The voice was mercifully quiet most of the time, which gave her space to adjust to her other changes. Her senses were heightened to be almost unbearable, but Jeremy promised she would get used to it soon enough. Her strength and speed had multiplied, although she wouldn’t be able to test them properly until she left the room.

  And then there was the magic that she was really eager to learn about. He tried his best to make her understand how it worked, but in the end every vampire would have to learn it for themselves, with the help of the Rider, which was the actual source of it. “We all have different skills. You’ll learn yours in time, and acquire new ways of doing magic all the time.”

  But one thing she knew she wouldn’t adjust to. “I can’t believe I won’t see the sun again for at least a century.”

  He looked apologetic. “I’m afraid so.”

  She wanted to be angry with him for losing it and her earlier life. She’d had everything planned, but now she had no idea what she would do with her life. He had known she didn’t want to become a vampire, yet he’d had her turned anyway. But on this side of everything, she didn’t want to be dead either. Anger was futile.

  The new situation had one definite upside: it put her on even footing with Jeremy. She wouldn’t have to stifle her feelings simply because they couldn’t have a future together. Of course, that didn’t mean they had eternity, but he seemed content to stay with her – for now at least. She didn’t want to think of what would become of her once he got bored with her. An eternity alone was too much to face.

  Showered and properly dressed for the first time in ages, albeit in clothes that were slightly too big for her because of all the weight she had lost, she exited Jeremy’s room with him solicitously by her side. A long hallway led to the grand staircase in the middle wing of the huge manor, and they took the stairs down.

  Below was a foyer straight from the past, with a stone floor and dark ornate wainscoting, heavy Tudor style furniture, and a roaring fire in a huge fireplace. She wanted to pause and stare, but he led her through the great hall, where servants were busy setting long tables, towards the east wing. The place was huge and opulent, but, overwhelmed with everything, she mostly noticed colours and impressions of wealth and age.

  “It’s dinnertime, but we’ll eat in the breakfast room tonight, ‘cause it’s smaller. Most of us are dining at the great hall, but it would be too overwhelming for you to face all those warriors at once.” Since the mere size of the room was dizzying, she agreed with him.

  “So there isn’t a reversed schedule for your day? Breakfast at sunset and so on?”

  He smiled. “Some traditional vampire families keep to the old ways and only get up at sunset, which starts their day. But we’re all strong enough to face the sun, and although we work mostly at night, we usually wake up in the early afternoon and have breakfast then, although another breakfast is served in the morning too for those who keep to a different schedule. Dinner is served before the patrols head out, and supper when they return.”

  The breakfast room was at the back corner of the east wing, facing a garden she could see well even in the dark with her sharper eyes. Its decoration came as somewhat of a surprise after the opulent and heavy style in the hallways and Jeremy’s room. The large, airy room was furnished with mid-20th-century modern style in light-coloured wood furniture, sleek and functional. Two long tables dominated the room and she counted that they could seat about sixty people.

  “How many are you?”

  He shrugged. “It varies. At the moment there’s about fifty of us here.”

  Only four men were presen
t at their dinner. Jasper and Nicholas she had already met. She smiled at them and they smiled in return. “You look great,” Nick said.

  Jeremy growled. “Keep your distance, boy.” But the other man only grinned.

  “Relax, vampire.”

  “Is this about the fight still?”

  Jeremy looked at her as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he nodded. “Kind of, yes.” He guided her to the opposite end of the table from the other men. They exchanged glances, grinned, and moved to their end too.

  “She has to learn,” one of the men said in a deep, resonant voice.

  Jeremy introduced him. “This is Marcus Hamilton. He’s Lord Foley’s great-great-great-great-grandson, but his sons generally refer to him as cousin, because he’s the same age as Gabriel, Foley’s First Son.”

  He was a huge and powerfully-built man, seemingly in his early thirties like most warriors she had met. His dark-hair had a roman cut and his classic features were strong and quite beautiful. She could sense his power, infinitely more potent than the other men’s. He sat calmly in his chair opposite her, but she found him utterly terrifying.

  “Marcus is at the top of our food chain. I asked him here just in case I’m not strong enough to keep your Rider in check.”

  She made an instant resolution to restrain the Rider herself, no matter what it took. Marcus Hamilton was too frightening to allow him anywhere near her. She cleared her throat, trying to come up with something to say. “I met a man very much like you earlier. With long hair.”

  Marcus smiled, which softened his stark features a little. “That would be Gabriel, Alexander’s First Son.” So presumably even more powerful than this guy. What would Lord Foley himself be like, if even his grandson many times over was this frightening?

  Jeremy introduced the other stranger. “And this is Sebastian Hamilton.” He looked exactly like Marcus, only he had blond hair with slightly darker eyebrows, and blue eyes. They made him look more beautiful and less frightening. He didn’t feel as powerful either, but the name had to be an indicator.

  “Let me guess, your great-great-grandson?”

  Marcus smiled. “No, he’s Alexander’s youngest son. But he is three centuries younger than me.”

  Her head spun. “You mean vampires can reproduce for centuries?”

  “Of course. Most of us won’t even start before we’re at least a couple of hundred years old. The Rider is too much of a hassle before that.” She clearly had adjusting to do about the whole longevity thing.

  They settled down to eat. She was ravenous, even though Jeremy had provided her with breakfast less than an hour ago. She had always been a good eater, as she burned more calories with running than she was able to take in, but she seemed to have lost all control.

  The table was filled to overflowing with various meats, salads, potatoes and other side dishes – an insane amount of food for only four eaters. “Does being a vampire make one hungry?”

  “Yes,” the men answered in unison. “All two-natured need more energy than humans,” Sebastian added from the other side of the table. The smile he gave her made him look almost overly handsome.

  Someone growled in her mind and she stiffened. It hadn’t sounded like her newly-acquired second nature. She looked around, but the men were concentrating on their eating, not indicating in any way that they had made the sound. But she had a hunch of the source.

  “Are vampires able to communicate mind to mind?” she asked carefully.

  The men exchanged glances, not to brush her off, but to see who would answer. Jeremy put down his utensils. “Yes, but not all of us, and not with everyone. Alexander can reach us all, and his sons pretty much everyone too. I can communicate with Jas, because we’re blood relations, and with a couple of other warriors.”

  “And me?” He looked sheepish and she smiled, amused. “It was you who just growled in my mind. How did you do that?”

  He shrugged. “We’ve had each other’s blood.” She had a notion that it wasn’t the whole story, but she let the matter be. There was so much she had to learn. She couldn’t get stuck with every detail.

  “Tell me, where did you find the encryption protocol that protects your laptop?”

  Her mind in vampire matters, Marcus’s question took her by surprise. “I’m sorry?”

  He smiled and she realised he was every bit as handsome as Sebastian. More so, as she preferred dark hair to blond. And his eyes were green. Very nice.

  The growling in her head was deeper now. This time she saw Jeremy frown too. She blew him a kiss and turned back to Marcus, who continued.

  “I’m in charge of our tech department. I’m brilliant with computers, but I couldn’t break the code. It’s like nothing I’ve come across before. It’s amazing.”

  She felt absurdly pleased with his praise. “That’s because you haven’t. It’s mine.”

  It was uncanny how she could feel everyone at the table freeze. “Indeed?”

  Marcus was frightening again, but she had her professional pride, so she nodded calmly. “Yes.”

  “That’s a steep claim from someone who hasn’t even graduated yet.”

  “You don’t need a degree to be able to do things.”

  “And how is it that some firm hasn’t snatched you already? Or the government?”

  She had actually toyed with the idea of working for the secret service. She wondered if they would accept vampires or if she would have to kiss that dream goodbye too. “That’s because I haven’t told anyone about it.”

  Marcus smiled, slowly. It was a predator’s smile that froze her immobile with fear. “In that case, would you like a job?”

  “I … umm…” With him? She couldn’t work for someone who frightened her that much. She glanced at Jeremy for courage and saw him smile, happy with the idea.

  It was the only offer she’d had. Who knew if she would have others now that she was a two-natured, and it was almost like working for the secret service to work for the Crimson Circle. And maybe Marcus wouldn’t be so frightening once she knew him better. She gave him a resolute nod. “Yes, I’d love a job. But I haven’t graduated yet.”

  “You don’t need a degree to be able to do things,” Marcus threw her words back to her with a smile.

  Relief made her dizzy. That was one less worry about the future. At the heels of her relief, an awareness rose. And it wasn’t her. It was her other side. It pushed forward, fast. Too fast for her to be able to stop it. One moment she was happily discussing her work, and the next she wanted to kill everyone at the table.

  NO!

  With the last fragment of her will that was her, she pushed up from her chair and dashed out through the French doors into the garden. And then she ran.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jeremy shot up, his chair flying backwards with a clatter as it hit the floor. He was about to dash after Corynn when Marcus halted him. “Let her run. It’ll calm her down. It’s not like she can get out of the manor grounds.”

  A high wall surrounded the estate, but that wouldn’t keep a vampire from leaving. Fortunately, it was secured with magic too. Marcus was right; she wouldn’t be able to flee.

  But he couldn’t stay put. “She might hurt herself.” He couldn’t remember the shoes she was wearing, but he was fairly sure they hadn’t been proper trainers, but something unsuitable for a cross-country jog.

  “Okay, but don’t try to restrain her. Not alone, anyway. Call us if she becomes violent.”

  “I’m sure I can control her.” But he wasn’t as confident as he sounded. A woman as strong and stubborn as her would surely have a Rider to match. And her second nature wouldn’t be deterred by any notions of friendship or attraction towards him.

  He stepped out through the same door Corynn had used. The night was quiet; the manor was far enough from the closest roads for the sounds of traffic to reach here. But no place was truly quiet for a vampire. He opened his vampire sense to scan the area.

  His Rider enh
anced his senses and provided him with all sorts of information. The night turned into day as his eyesight improved. He could hear little animals scurrying in the grass. He could detect the miniscule changes in Might and distinguish between his warrior brothers, the staff working in the kitchen, animals – and her.

  She had covered over a mile already and was mid-way to the eastern border. She was a great runner as a human, but with vampire strength, speed, and stamina she was unstoppable.

  As he ran after her, he kept his scan open and so knew when she reached the wall. He sensed her collide with the barrier of magic there, and his heart almost stopped beating for the fear that she had hurt herself. While it was meant for keeping intruders out, the barrier effectively kept runaway vampires inside the grounds too. She wasn’t the first new vampire around here whose Rider had bested them. He remembered going on a rampage a couple of times himself.

  He sighed in relief when he sensed her rise and start running again. She kept to the wall, as if scouting it for weaknesses – something her Rider would do. But Alexander’s magic didn’t have flaws, so he didn’t have to worry that she would escape. Then again, she might be in charge of the route as well. It was more practical to run by the wall. A forest grew right by it, but there was a wide gangway clear of vegetation between the wall and the forest to make patrolling along it easier.

  Now that he knew where she was headed, he changed his course to intercept hers. As he closed in on her, he tried to reach her mind, but her Rider wasn’t as receptive to him as she was. Or it was blocking him intentionally. He would have to do this the hard way.

  He chose a spot behind the trees so she wouldn’t detect him until it was too late, and braced for a fight in case she was feral. But it wasn’t a beast on a rampage that emerged around a bend. She was running resolutely and at her customary pace. Impressive.

  He stepped out to block her path and she screamed in anger. “Do not stop me. I have to run. Otherwise it’ll win.”

  Bemused, he stepped aside. He had prepared for a daring rescue, but obviously that wasn’t needed. She was perfectly able to rescue herself. He let her take a lead and then followed. She might still need him later.