Consequences (Blood of Pharaohs Book 1)

by Mairsile

  When she stepped outside, a gust of wind buffeted her hair about, sending her bangs into her eyes and she let out a string of curse words. That’s when she thought she heard her calling to her. “Nikki?”

  “Everything all right, Ms. Dupree?” one of Ludovico’s men asked, coming up behind her.

  “Damn it. Don’t scare me like that,” she snapped at him.

  “Sorry, miss. I only wanted to know if you were all right.”

  “Yeah, everything’s just peachy,” she retorted, continuing on to the coral behind the barn. When she walked around, she found the gate open and the horses gone. “Oh, no! Who would take them out at three o’clock in the morning?” She ran back to the sentry, who had continued making his rounds. “Did you see who took the mare and her colt out of the pen?”

  “No, are they gone?”

  She looked at him incredulously and bit back the retort on her lips. She didn’t have the energy to deal with explaining it. She looked in the barn and when she didn’t find them there, she grabbed up a halter and lead rope from the barn and then ran back behind the house to check that pasture. Running halfway across the field, she stopped suddenly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when she heard the high-pitched squeal of a horse in distress. She bolted toward the sound, crashing through thickets that tore at her jeans. She jumped the wooden fence into the next pasture and kept running. Then she saw him.

  “I demand that you put that colt down immediately,” Lilah screamed.

  The immortal, who was standing on a slight incline in the middle of the pasture, was holding the colt in his arms. The mare was pacing back and forth like a trapped lioness, squealing as loud as she could.

  “Human, your demands mean nothing to me,” he chastised with a laugh.

  Lilah could see a flicker of flame run along his bare arms and she panicked. “No, please. Don’t hurt the colt.”

  “I won’t if you do as I say,” he replied gruffly.

  Without forethought, Lilah answered, “Anything, just don’t hurt him.”

  “My mistress asked me to give you something,” he said as he set the colt down.

  The mare squealed indignantly and herded her baby away.

  As Lilah watched the animals run to safety, she was both relieved and desolate. She turned back to the man and gasped. He was now standing directly in front of her. A tall man with broad shoulders and sickly pale skin, he had scars across his forehead and down his chin. In his former life, Lilah thought that he must have been a thug.

  She took a step back and asked, “What do you want?”

  He was so quick that the air was sucked out of her lungs and her vision blurred, then everything went black as she slipped into unconsciousness.

  ***

  “You must hurry, Nikki. Before another takes your place.”

  “I don’t believe you, bitch,” Nikki screamed through her elongated canines behind a muzzle. “Go away before I kill you!” She tried to swing her fists, but the straightjacket restricted her movements, which only infuriated her more. She bounced back and forth off the padded wall.

  The doctor shook his head and turned from the observation window to Nikki’s cell in the psych ward at the Saint Isabelle de Mercy Hospital in Lyon, France.

  “When was she brought in?”

  “Just before dawn. She was presumed dead and taken to the morgue first.”

  “That was over ten hours ago and she's still this agitated?”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  “And she thinks she's a vampire?”

  “The police think she is because of her fangs, Doctor. And she did try to bite one of them.”

  The doctor looked at Nikki’s chart. “And she speaks English fluently?”

  “Yes. We believe she's from America. She told the police that she was looking for the Geneva airport.”

  “She doesn't know she's in France?”

  “Lilah!” Nikki screamed, bringing their attention back to her.

  “Increase the dosage to ten milligrams.”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  November 15, 2016

  da Polenta Ranch, Texas

  Lilah felt something wet on her forehead and hot breath on her face and she reluctantly opened her eyes. Felicity nuzzled her hair then rocked her head back and forth, as if asking her if she were all right. Lilah sat up and looked around. “How did I get here?” The sun was shining low in the east so she knew it was early morning. She recognized the pasture she was in; she just didn’t remember how she got out there. The mare pushed on the top of Lilah’s head and she laughed. “What are you doing way out here, Felicity?” Lilah looked around for the colt, relieved to see it suckling at his mother’s side.

  Lilah stood up and brushed herself off. “That’s weird.” She looked down at her left hand and saw two tiny bumps on the inside of her wrist. The area was pinkish but not sore to the touch. Whatever kind of bite it was, she knew that if the bite had been poisonous, it would be an open, swollen wound, so she wasn’t too worried about it. When she got back to the house, she’d put some iodine on it.

  She put the halter on the mare and led her and the colt back to the barn and put them back in the corral. Double checking the latch on the gate, she walked over and got the pitchfork from the barn and tossed some hay into the pen. She noticed that the bumps on her wrist had already healed and quickly forgot all about it when she smelled the strong brew of coffee coming from the house. She hurried straight to the kitchen. Crisp bacon was piled high on a plate beside the stove, and she reached to grab a slice when Dorothea swatted at her hand.

  “You smell of horse,” she growled. “Wash your hands for breakfast.”

  “Ay, caramba,” Lilah groused, but did as she was told.

  Leonard walked in, rolling up his sleeves and then pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Good morning, honey. Did you get any sleep last night?”

  “Good morning, Daddy,” she replied and kissed her father on the cheek before getting that slice of bacon she had her eye on. “I slept okay, I guess.”

  “You guess, cariño?” Dorothea asked, turning the eggs over in the skillet on the stove.

  “I think I’m starting to walk in my sleep again,” Lilah said nonchalantly.

  “You haven’t done that since you were twelve years old.” Leonard stated.

  “Why do you think you were somnambulism, Lilah?” Dorothea asked as she reached into the refrigerator for the butter and syrup.

  Lilah caught the refrigerator door before it closed and pulled out the orange juice. Carrying it to the table, she explained, “I woke up in the pasture and Felicity was giving me horse kisses.”

  “Dios mío,” Dorothea exclaimed.

  “Damn it, Delilah. I told you not to wander off without one of the men going with you.”

  “Hello? Did you not just hear me say that I was sleepwalking, Dad?”

  Leonard grunted, conceding that he had been wrong. “So, how did the mare get out of the pen?”

  “I don’t know. I, um, don’t remember going out to the barn.” Suddenly Lilah had a thought that terrified her. She looked at her father, who must have had the same thought because his face paled. “Oh, man. You don’t think it was a vampire, do you?”

  “Malditos vampiros!” Dorothea proclaimed.

  “Probably not, but it wouldn’t hurt to speak with Mr. da Polenta tonight and see what he thinks,” Leonard replied.

  After breakfast, Lilah saddled her horse, a large quarter horse with buckskin coloring that she had raised from a colt, and set out to check on the two mares that were pregnant. They were due in a couple of weeks, and it was time to bring them closer to home. She asked Jed to come with her to pacify her father. Jed was good with horses, especially the pregnant mares, and she would have asked him along anyway.

  Lilah and Jed found the horses, and Jed slipped on the halters and lead rope. Lilah gave them a quick examination before they led them back to the pasture across from the ho
use. It was high noon and Lilah was exhausted. That’s what happens when you walk around in your sleep all night, I guess.

  She walked in the backdoor of the house and into the kitchen and started to open the refrigerator for a soda, but remembered to wash her hands first. Drying off her hands, she pulled a soda from the refrigerator, and opened the cabinet where Dorothea kept the aspirin, Tylenol, and the cold and sinus medicine. Lilah needed the sinus medicine. She felt a headache forming behind her eyes, and she didn’t have time to worry with something so inconsequential as a sinus headache after having survived death.

  She tossed back the pills and washed them down her throat with the soda. Then she went into the living room, grabbed the remote control to the television and stretched out on the couch.

  “Lilah, I’m making sandwiches, are you hungry?” Dorothea asked as she descended the stairs carrying an empty clothes basket. “Lilah?” Dorothea walked over to the couch and smiled when she saw Lilah asleep. She took the soda from Lilah’s hand and set it on the coffee table. Then she took the remote from Lilah’s other hand and turned off the television. “Felices sueños, cariño.”

  Hours later, Dorothea sat on the edge of the couch and shook Lilah. “Wake up, Lilah. Are you going to sleep away the day?”

  “I was trying to,” Lilah muttered, finally opening her eyes. “But somebody who smells of chili powder and garlic just had to wake me up.”

  Dorothea stood up, chuckling. “It’ll be time for supper soon—”

  “I’m not hungry,” Lilah interrupted, and rolled over, pulling the throw pillow over her face.

  Dorothea reached over and pulled the pillow away. “If you don’t get up now, you won’t sleep tonight.”

  “Por favor, a sólo diez minutos más.” Lilah muttered.

  “No, not in ten minutes, now.” Dorothea rebutted, popping her on the butt.

  “Why is it so bright in here?” Lilah complained, squinting as she sat up. “I’ve got a sinus infection and I took some medicine for it. That’s why I’m not hungry.

  “I’m making spicy salsa marinated chicken with Mexican rice,” Dorothea said. “That will clear your sinuses right up.”

  “Save me some for later, okay? I’m going up to my room and finish my nap.”

  Dorothea shook her head as she watched Lilah trudge up the stairs like it was an effort just to walk. She hadn’t seen Lilah that lethargic since she was a teenager and she didn’t think it was just the medicine. Something was wrong with the girl and as soon as Señora Beulah rose for the evening, Dorothea was going to ask her about Lilah.

  *

  “Where is she now?” Beulah asked.

  Dorothea looked up from the cup of hot water she was dunking a tea bag in. “Up in her room. I checked on her a few minutes ago and she was still sleeping.”

  “I don’t remember sleeping that much after I was revived. The first couple of days, yes, but it’s been four days. She should be back to normal by now. Physically, at least.”

  “You don’t think another…”

  “Chupacabra?” Beulah asked with a smirk.

  “Sí. You don’t think another one got to her, do you?”

  Beulah shook her head, weighing the possibilities. “I don’t think so. We would have smelled them before they got within a thousand feet of her.”

  Dorothea finally relaxed. That was what she needed to hear. She reached for the sugar on the kitchen table and began measuring a spoonful.

  “If she’s not any better by tomorrow night, I’ll have a talk with her. I’ve heard that some people have depression after being brought back. Perhaps that’s what she is experiencing.”

  “Did you?” Dorothea asked as she stirred the sugar into her tea.

  “No, not really. But then I had Ludovico turn me shortly after, so that might have been the reason.”

  “Señora Beulah, when you were—”

  “Dorothea, honey. We’ve known each other for years and now that you know the real me, I think you can dispense with the formalities, okay?”

  Dorothea saw the sincerity in Beulah’s face and nodded. “Sí, Señora.”

  Beulah shook her head. In the fifteen years she’d known Dorothea, she had never been able to get her to use her first name only. And when Leonard’s wife, Emily, died, she tried again, but to no avail. Now it was more of a way to judge how Dorothea was really handling the whole vampire thing, because she had a feeling that Dorothea didn’t fully understand about them. Perhaps she wasn’t doing her friend a service by hiding her fangs.

  “You were going to ask about when I was turned?”

  Dorothea nodded.

  “A friend of Ludovico agreed to turn me a few weeks after Nikki revived me. Unfortunately my sire was beheaded during the war.” Beulah heard Dorothea gasp and quickly rerouted the subject. “To turn a human, the vampire drains all their blood out, leaving them essentially dead, then they inject their own blood into the human through their mouth.” Beulah lowered her canines and smiled.

  Dorothea’s eyes were large orbs swirling with fear, her mouth hung open, and she grabbed the crucifix hanging from the necklace around her neck.

  “It’s not painful for the human, Dorothea,” Beulah assured her, retracting her fangs. “And being a vampire has a lot of perks, like never aging and never dying. Well, mostly not dying. But time is practically irrelevant to an immortal.”

  “Oh Dios mío! Have you… have you killed a human before?”

  Beulah frowned. Her friend had a one-track mind. “No, I have never killed anyone, human or vampire. I have transformed quite a few though, but at their requests. That’s how I came to have four beautiful daughters.”

  Dorothea had met her daughters once, when they held a wedding for one of them at the ranch. They were beautiful, poised, charming, and absolutely adored Beulah. She thought it peculiar at the time that they were all the same age and none of them resembled each other, or Beulah, but Emily explained that they were adopted as adults. At the time, Dorothea thought that was odd also. It all made sense to her now.

  “People actually want to be a chupacabra?”

  “Of course. Most people want to live forever. Don’t you?”

  Dorothea thought for a moment, her eyes lighting up, but then just as quickly, scowled. “No. Not if it means never meeting Jesús.”

  “You would meet him, Dorothea, just not as soon as you would think,” Beulah cajoled. “Imagine using all that extra time to tell others about him.” Beulah could tell that the idea resonated with Dorothea, but she wondered how the devout Catholic would handle what she was going to say next. “The priest at your church is an old friend of mine. I could ask him to speak with you if you’d like. He’s also a vampire.”

  “Oh Dios mío!” Dorothea crossed herself and kissed the crucifix.

  Beulah thought about using her influence to calm the nervous woman, but she didn’t want to impede her understanding of what was now her life with vampires. And the dazed look in Dorothea’s eyes told Beulah she had all that she could handle at the moment, so she decided to change the subject. “We’ll be leaving for Natchez tomorrow night. Ludovico believes the danger has passed, for now. We’ve been away too long and need to get back to business as usual.”

  Dorothea felt a cold chill run up her spin and she trembled. “Por favor, don’t go. I have a bad feeling, like something is terribly wrong.”

  “You’re just upset with everything that’s already happened, Dorothea. It will be all right,” Beulah said, trying to appease her.

  Dorothea shook her head. “Por favor,” she pleaded.

  “I’ll tell you what. If you still feel that strongly about it tomorrow, I will stay for a few more days.”

  “Muchas gracias,” Dorothea said, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were cold.

  November 16, 2016

  Somewhere between France and Spain

  With inhuman strength and speed, Nikki jumped on a moving freight train bound for Barcelona, Spain. She climbed up the
side and swung herself onto the top of the car.

  “Lovely Lilah Rose. I must find Lilah Rose,” she said to herself as she darted across the top of the cars, losing her balance once or twice, but still managing to traverse four rail cars before jumping down into a refrigerated car. She opened the heavy insulated door and walked in, closing it behind her. The air pumping into the industrial-sized refrigerator frosted on her breath, but the temperature was just above freezing. The car carried every type of flower sold in gift shops. Nikki grinned madly and picked up a bouquet of roses and tucked all but one under her arm. “She loves me,” she said, tearing a pedal from the rose, “She loves me not. No! You’re wrong!” she screamed, crushing the rose in her hand and tossing the rest on the floor. “She loves me more.”

  Nikki threw a sack of plant seed into the far corner of the refrigerator car and sat down on it, picking up one of the roses off the floor. Her mind flashed back to the padded cell she had been locked in. “I’m sorry, Lilah. I was hungry. I had no money, and I was hungry. I didn’t kill them… I don’t think.” She smelled the rose and then screamed, “I’m sorry, damn it!”

  Nikki fell into a fitful sleep, though her mind did not rest. She dreamed of the violent way she had fed off the attendants who had come to change her soiled clothes. It was just after midnight and they thought she was asleep; according to the amount of sedatives in her bloodstream, she should have been. Perhaps it was the amount of sedatives in her that kept her from ripping their throats out, or perhaps it was her promise to Lilah.

  “I asked nicely, Lilah,” Nikki mumbled in her sleep. “But they laughed. The bastards laughed at me.”

  “Nikki, my love. I understand.”

  “You do?”

  “Don’t give up on me. I need you with me.”

  “Always and forever,” Nikki said out loud, and smiled in her sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Two