Consequences (Blood of Pharaohs Book 1)

by Mairsile

  Beulah walked over to Dorothea, who was shedding silent tears, and put her arm around her shoulders. Dorothea reciprocated. Although she still feared the chupacabra, she no longer saw Beulah as anything but a friend.

  Cristaldo continued, “We live long, productive lives trying to better mankind, not tear it down. True, we do fight each other, as you were a victim of, because the ones who possess the most hold the power, and like humans, there are those who seek the power.”

  Vince sat down on the coffee table in front of Lilah.

  “I understand that you are in love with the young Spirit who revived you. Is that correct?” Cristaldo asked.

  Lilah looked at Vince, who winked at her. She chuckled and said to Cristaldo, “Very much so.”

  “Enough to spend hundreds of years with her?”

  Lilah’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. More, much more.”

  “Then it is my opinion that you allow us to turn you and teach you the vampire way,” Cristaldo concluded.

  Leonard, who had finished off his second drink as he listened to the immortals try to sway his daughter, walked over to her and held out his hand. She stood up immediately and they embraced, holding each other for a few moments. Finally, Leonard held her at arm’s length and said, “It’s your decision, honey, and I will stand by you, no matter what. But don’t decide based on your love for Nikki, or the perks of living for hundreds of years.”

  She looked up into his somber face. “What do you think I should do, Daddy?”

  “I think you should decide based on what is best for you and what you want to accomplish in your life. After all, you have to live with your decision, not anyone else.”

  “I’m scared, Daddy,” she said meekly.

  He pulled her back into his arms. “I know, honey. But it’s going to be all right. Whatever you decide, I’ll be here for you.”

  “Sí. Me, too,” Dorothea said, joining Leonard and Lilah in an embrace.

  “And Ludovico and I will help you in any way we can,” Beulah offered.

  After a moment, Lilah pulled away and wiped her tears. She walked over to Beulah and took her hand. “Will you sire me?”

  “I’m… I’m honored, honey lamb. But Nikki—”

  “You are bonded to Nikki as I am, right?” Lilah asked, still holding Beulah’s hand. “But you did not turn her, Ludovico did. So, we would not be related in that way.”

  “Of course, you’re right,” Beulah said and then grinned. “And in the South, it’s practically a tradition for cousins to marry each other.”

  Laughing nervously, Lilah asked, “Is there time for me to think about this? I mean, I understand I’ll never be the same again.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’d like to see the sun one more time.”

  Beulah looked at Ludovico, who shook his head.

  “I don’t think you have the time,” Ludovico said. “If you wait too long, we won’t be able to help you.”

  She nodded and lowered her head for a moment. Then, wiping her tears away, she looked back at her father. “I’ve decided that I want this poison out of me, Dad. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt another human being because of it. So…” She swallowed back her fear and looked into his concerned eyes. “I want option number three. The full vampire package.”

  Leonard slowly inhaled, trying to keep his heart from breaking apart. “All right. But I have one stipulation. It can’t be the da Polentas who drain you.”

  Shaking his head in confusion, Ludovico asked, “Why is that, Leonard?”

  “Because, you are part of our family, and I wouldn’t be able to look at you again without knowing, without seeing in my mind, you draining the life out of my little girl. I just can’t…” He grabbed Lilah in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m so sorry, Daddy. I wasn’t thinking about how hard all of this is on you.”

  Leonard tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her eyes to his. He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “Don’t you dare apologize to me, honey. None of this is your fault, and I’m just sorry you have to go through it.”

  “As long as you’ll still love me afterward, that’s all that matters to me.”

  Tears unabashedly flowed down his cheeks as he looked at Lilah. “No matter what, I will always love you. I am so proud of the woman you’ve become, and I know that it must have been your mother watching over you in heaven, because I sure can’t take any credit for it.”

  Beulah wiped away her own unusually emotional tears and said, “Oh, I think daddy’s little girl would disagree with you on that, Leonard.”

  Leonard laughed, rubbing the back of his hand over his tear-stained cheeks.

  “Oh, yeah. I certainly would,” Lilah agreed with Beulah. Wrapping her arm around her father’s waist, she turned toward Beulah and the others. “Okay. So... know any nice vampires who would like to kill me?”

  “As I said earlier. I guess I’m the lucky fella,” Cristaldo said with a grin.

  “Oh…” Lilah murmured, her heart skipping a beat. She’d forgotten that he had volunteered, and was hoping for a little more time in case a miracle happened.

  Leonard felt her tremble under his arm and he turned to her. “You don’t have to do this, honey.”

  “I don’t have a choice, Daddy,” she replied. “But I don’t want you to watch, okay? Like you and the da Polentas, I couldn’t bear you watching me die again.” Leonard started to argue and Lilah cut him off. “No, Dad. I won’t go through with it if you’re there.”

  Leonard paused for a moment. There was no way he was going to leave his only daughter to die in the arms of a stranger. “Honey, I was there when you were born, and it was the happiest day of my life. And I was there when you died, too, and it was the most horrific day of my life. But I don’t look at this as you dying again. I look at it as you being born again and I would like to be there for that.”

  “Oh, Daddy,” Lilah sobbed into his arms.

  Dorothea, who had been standing beside them quietly listening, did not want to be left out. “I will be there for you also, cariño.”

  “No. Oh, no, Dorothea. Not a good idea,” Lilah said, taking Dorothea’s hand in hers.

  “Lilah’s right, Dorothea,” Beulah agreed. “I don’t want to be harsh, but with the way you feel toward… us.”

  “Me quedaré. I’m staying.” Dorothea responded, leaving no room for argument.

  “And as soon as she’s turned, I will fly her to Switzerland and keep her safe,” Vince said.

  “Why? I mean if it gets me closer to Nikki, I’m all for it,” Lilah said. “But I thought once I’m one of you, I would be safe… well, safer at least.”

  “No, Vince is right. You will be a baby again, honey lamb. The first thing you will want is to feed, and if you’re on this ranch surrounded by humans, you won’t recognize them as friends and loved ones. You’ll only feel the hunger burning inside that drives you to feed.”

  “It will be quite some time before you can control that lust,” Vince informed her. “But I will teach you and keep you from attacking the innocents while you learn.”

  “You promise you won’t let me hurt anyone?” Lilah asked pointedly.

  “Yes, I promise. And I assure you that Nikki would never forgive me if I broke a promise to you.”

  Lilah smiled at Vince and then looked timidly at Beulah. “You should know that no matter what, I’m not calling you mom or mother or whatever. I have… had a mom and no one will ever replace her.”

  “As it should be,” Beulah said with a smile.

  Lilah shook her head. “And prepare yourself, because as much as I like you, I’m not going to kiss your ass either.”

  Beulah tossed her head back and laughed.

  “Delilah. Manners, por favor,” Dorothea reprimanded.

  “That’s all right, Dorothea,” Beulah said. “Unlike my other four daughters, I’ve watched Lilah grow up, and I like who she is, as she is. I don’t expect anything to change between us.”

/>   “Thank you for that,” Leonard said before Lilah could.

  *

  “I’ve never been in here before,” Lilah said, looking around the da Polentas’ private quarters at the ranch. “Have you, Daddy?”

  “No, can’t say that I have,” Leonard replied, standing nervously at the entranceway to the suite.

  “I tried a couple of times, but never could pick the lock,” Lilah confessed.

  “Sí, me, too,” Dorothea admitted as she walked around. She came to a stop in front of a da Vinci pen and ink sketch of a man’s well-endowed anatomy. “Dios mío.”

  “Ah, do you like that sketch of my sire?” Vince asked, following Dorothea’s gaze.

  “Leonardo da Vinci sketched Ludovico in the buff?” Lilah asked in disbelief, moving to stand beside Dorothea.

  Vince grinned and pointed to a small spot on the side of the subject’s phallus. Both women leaned in and Dorothea gasped. “Dios mío.”

  “Is that really him?” Lilah questioned.

  Vince laughed, his eyes mischievously twinkling. “No, but I made you look at the guy’s pecker.”

  Lilah rolled her eyes and slapped Vince on the arm, just as one of the immortal guards walked in carrying an A-framed, wooden picnic table through the door back door.

  “Hey, that’s our picnic table,” Lilah said.

  “We couldn’t very well use the kitchen table for this,” Ludovico explained as he walked in, followed close behind by Cristaldo.

  Another vampire walked in carrying a large glass pitcher and a towel that he sat down on the bench of the table, and a bottle of Scotch and a glass, which he filled and also sat down on the bench.

  Beulah hurried in carrying table cloths, and she and Dorothea covered the table as if preparing for a meal. Dorothea placed a pillow at the head of the table.

  Lilah trembled as she watched them get set up for her death. She felt so weak and so frightened, and she wished that Nikki could be there to tell her that everything was going to be all right. The one thing that gave her the courage to go through with it was knowing that she would find her somehow and then they would be together forever.

  The vision of her reunion with Nikki was short-lived as she watched Cristaldo undress down to his boxer shorts. He doesn’t want to get my blood on his clothes. She trembled at the thought.

  “He must not swallow the poison in your blood, honey lamb, so he will need to spit it out,” Beulah explained, holding her hand out to Lilah, who took it, but remained frozen in place, trembling with fear. A warm energy flowed from Beulah’s hand up Lilah’s arm and into her mind, giving her a sense of calm that quieted her tremors. “Ready?” Beulah asked, her eyes sympathetic as she kept Lilah’s hand in hers.

  “Um, don’t let go, okay?” Lilah requested as she walked toward the table, her hand still trembling.

  Beulah squeezed her hand as she increased her influence. By the time Lilah climbed up on the table and laid her head back on the pillow, she was languid.

  Leonard positioned himself near Lilah’s feet and took her other hand. “I love you, honey.”

  “Love, too… Daddy,” Lilah slurred. “Can’t feel… tongue.”

  Beulah smiled and nodded at Leonard to assure him that she was all right. She increased her influence, telling Lilah to go to sleep. Lilah complied, her eyes too heavy to keep open, drowsily closed and her head rolled to the side. Beulah didn’t want her to see Cristaldo’s teeth when he leaned over to bite her. The bite itself wouldn’t have been too painful because of the numbing energy a vampire’s fangs produced when puncturing the skin, but to watch those fangs coming at you, knowing you are going to die because of them, would have caused the most docile humans to panic.

  “Leonard, do you need help?” Beulah asked, holding out her other hand.

  “Uh, no, thanks. I’m okay,” he replied.

  “Dorothea, take my hand,” Beulah insisted.

  Dorothea didn’t understand why she should, but she did so anyway and felt an immediate calmness wash over her, so calming in fact, that she let go of her crucifix necklace.

  Without preamble, Cristaldo leaned over and bit into Lilah’s carotid artery, sucking vociferously.

  Lilah’s eyes popped open from the intrusion, but Beulah put her to sleep again.

  The servant vampire stood beside him, holding up the empty glass pitcher in one hand and the glass of whiskey in the other. Cristaldo spit the blood into the pitcher, and then took a sip of whiskey and swished it in his mouth before also spitting it out. He declined the hand towel and drew another mouthful from Lilah’s veins. There were eight to twelve pints of blood in a human body, and not being able to swallow caused the draining to take much longer than usual.

  Each time that Cristaldo spit into the pitcher, Leonard saw the life drain from his daughter. As the pitcher filled with blood, her skin grew pale, and her hand grew colder. I’m sorry, Emily. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect our daughter better.

  Beulah could hear Lilah’s heartbeat slow until it thumped sporadically and then stopped altogether. “Dumplin’, take Dorothea’s hand for me,” Beulah instructed. Ludovico was about to complain when Beulah gave him a sharp look. He took the chubby woman’s hand in his and patted it, continuing the calming influence Beulah had begun.

  Cristaldo drained the last drop of life from Lilah and then stepped to the side, finally taking the towel and wiping his face. Leonard, pale and unsteady, urged Beulah to hurry up.

  Beulah ignored him as she concentrated on the task at hand. The servant turned Lilah’s head and then gently pried open her mouth. Beulah bit deep into the ulnar artery in her own wrist. Thick, dark, almost black blood oozed out and dripped into Lilah’s mouth. The dark liquid flowed down Lilah’s throat as her body rushed to absorb the life-giving sanguine fluid. After a few moments, her heart thumped and she sputtered. Then she began swallowing on her own and unconsciously opened her mouth wider and her tongue protruded out, begging for more.

  “That’s it, honey lamb. Drink as much as you need,” Beulah encouraged.

  Lilah’s eyes popped open, dark and filling with blood, and she grabbed Beulah’s hand and brought it to her mouth, suckling like a newborn baby at its momma’s breast.

  Beulah could feel her growing stronger, and she smiled at Leonard. “She’s going to be all right.”

  “¡Gracias a Dios!” Dorothea exclaimed.

  Lilah drank her fill and slipped into a deep sleep so her body could finish the transformation.

  The servant held out a bag of blood to Beulah and she took it eagerly, hungrily draining it dry in a matter of seconds.

  Dorothea, having lost the connection to Ludovico’s calming influence, jumped at the sight, and grabbed her crucifix again. But she didn’t say anything, knowing that without the blood, Beulah would not recover.

  “Are you all right, sugar plum?” Ludovico asked thickly. A different kind of hunger formed in his loins at the sight of his wife’s fangs covered in blood.

  “I’m fine, dumplin’,” Beulah replied, recognizing the look on her husband’s face. “But I could use a nap.”

  Ludovico grinned in anticipation. Vince looked at him curiously, not remembering the last time he saw his sire grin like a school boy.

  “Vince,” Beulah said, drawing his attention away from his boss. “Carry her to one of the spare rooms and make her comfortable. She’ll sleep for the next twenty-four hours at least, as her body replaces blood and nutrients with my blood. I will send her up to you, Leonard, the moment she awakes.”

  “I’d like to stay with her,” Leonard countered. “Can’t you move her to her own bedroom?”

  “Not now when she’s a fledgling. If she wakes, she will need to feed, do you understand? She must stay down here for now, and you cannot,” Beulah said compassionately, but sternly.

  Leonard looked from Lilah to Beulah and nodded. He kissed his daughter on the forehead and reluctantly left the suite. Dorothea did the same, nodded at Beulah and left with Leonard.

/>   “I think that’s my cue to leave,” Cristaldo said.

  “Cristaldo, thank you so much for helping out,” Beulah said, holding out her hand to him.

  “It was my honor,” he reciprocated.

  “We’re indebted to you,” Ludovico added, and held his hand out as well.

  “I’d say this makes us even, da Polenta,” Cristaldo countered, and shook his hand. “Fighting Irinushka here kept her away from my family.”

  “The war’s not over yet, DiFonzo,” Ludovico informed him. “That was just a distraction. She’s not done yet.”

  Cristaldo nodded. “I agree.”

  “Will we see you and your lovely wife for Christmas in Natchez?” Beulah asked, wanting to end the conversation before her husband lost interest in her.

  “Yes. We’re both looking forward to it.”

  After Cristaldo and the humans left, and Vince carried Lilah down to the second level bedrooms, the servant handed Ludovico two flutes of champagne and then left.

  Ludovico handed a glass to Beulah and then held his out. “Congratulations, Mrs. da Polenta, on the birth of another daughter.”

  Beulah smiled and clanked her glass against his. “And to you, Mr. da Polenta.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  November 20, 2016

  Hisaki Towers, Los Angeles, California

  An air tentacle wrapped under Nikki’s arms, held her securely in the old man’s element as they flew across the Atlantic Ocean and over the East coast of America. The old man didn’t fly as quickly as Vince, nor as high, and Nikki spent most of the time dodging birds and bugs, as she fought to keep her sanity in check. Finally, she closed her eyes and distracted herself by thinking of Lilah.

  “A toast to our first date, Lilah Rose,” I said, raising my glass. I was feeling pretty proud of myself, asking a girl out that I didn’t have to pay for the privilege of her company. After talking for hours at the library, I finally remembered to introduce myself and then asked her out.