Raymond stood before him, his own eyes wide. “When you were attacked, you were walking?”
“Yeah, heading home.” He grunted back.
“But a wolf lunged at you from the darkness, dragged you away.” Vanic's gaze lost its focus as he delved deeper into Raymond's mind.
“I think so, some kind of animal...” He shivered with the memory.
“Okay, concentrate, think back. Remember the attack. Can you do that?”
“If I have to, but I try not to think about it.” He shivered again.
I smiled at Raymond. “Yeah, I know it's hard. But you have to, so we can see. Just for a few minutes.”
He thought a moment and closed his eyes. The images became clearer. Only this time instead of the wolf, I saw what Vanic discovered. It was a vampire, ancient, so old he was almost unrecognizable as the human he once was, able to conceal his form with that of the wolf. As it became clearer, I noticed other things, like his appearance resembled the Magistrate of the Council's Hierarchy more than anything else.
I peered at Vanic who watched me to see if I understood what he discovered. “Damn, what the hell is happening here? Is this what I think it is?”
He avoided my eyes for a moment then sighed. “I think this is my problem. Something I created a very long time ago.” He shuddered with the recollection. “I think my maker has found his way to this place too.” He rubbed his hand across his face. “This is why the Council insisted we come here, insisted it be my family,” he grounded out, clearly upset.
Vanic seldom expressed emotions other than confidence, he was very old and knowledgeable, but on this occasion, his dread showed.
“Is this… this rogue vampire… Could it be Loupgarin?” I asked, my own bit of dread peeking out, but I needed to know what to expect.
“I think it might be.” He glanced at Raymond who had almost been forgotten. “I'm sorry, son, no one should have to go through what happened to you. We're going to help you.” He turned to walk away, but swung around to meet my eyes. He hurt at a level unknown to me. “Vlad, why don't you see to our young friend's needs?”
Raymond brooded for a moment. “Do I stay here?”
Vanic nodded. “Yes, Raymond, you're part of the family now.”
“How do I hunt here?” he asked, his time as a vampire wore on him, scared the young man. His feral hunting and habit of hiding needed to come to an end. It was time to learn how to be a vampire and live inside the human society. He was lost, but maybe now he could find his way. It would be a long time before he would understand hunting and feeding are parts of the same thing. Only, when feeding, our prey doesn't have to die.
“Please go find Sarah and I'll join you soon. I'll show you how and where to hunt here, how to feed without killing your prey,” I promised the young vampire.
His shoulders sagged like a huge weight had been lifted from them. “I hate the killing.”
“So do I, kid, so do I.” I smiled and tried to reassure him at the same time.
As Raymond went to find Sarah, I spun back to face Vanic. “What are we going to do?”
“This is my problem, I'll deal with it.” He withdrew into himself as he paced the room.
“No, you're the only father I can remember, this is our problem.”
“This vampire is dangerous. I'll have to make contact with the Council, though, I'm sure they're already aware of the problem.” He thrust open the balcony's doors, seeking the comfort of the nighttime sky.
I watched his eyes trace the constellations he knew by heart, an old trick he used to calm his nerves.
“Tomorrow I'll make arrangements to meet with the Magistrate. If you like, you can accompany me to the meeting, only the Gods know what the old bastard will have in store. For now, go take care of Raymond.”
“Vanic...” His eyes wandered around the room before he found mine. “I will go, whatever the Council is attempting touches all our lives. I won't lose you either,” I said quietly, touching his shoulder before I turned to find the boy who was made vampire.
Dawn would wear away the night sky before long, and Raymond might melt down if the hunt didn't happen. I worried about what Vanic was going to do or say. The Council purposely shoved us into a situation. Why not take care of the problem themselves?
Raymond concerned me at this moment, the first night of his education. He had to relearn how to live, try to recapture a little of his humanity, because without it, none of us survived, vampires or humans alike.
I found him huddled in his room, back tight against the wall, hands fisted, his spooked eyes glued to the door. He sagged with relief as I leaned into the doorway. There was nothing extraordinary about him other than his mastery of the intense, I was sure he was a random target, but questions still begged to be answered. Was the old vampire targeting the Tepes family? Why, after all these years, why? Was this the reason we were brought to Chicago? Would we survive the Council?
Sighing, I walked over to where the boy pressed himself into the wall and sank down beside him. I rested my head in my hands, scrubbing them across my face. Dawn was coming, only a few hours away, and Raymond needed to feed. He needed to understand what was happening.
“We're going to hunt now, right?” When I looked closer, his hands were quivering, his face paler than only seconds before.
“Fuck, you need to calm down. Relax. I'm going to help you.” I wanted to reach out to him, but I was afraid he'd take off my hand.
He thumped his head against the wall, hard enough to leave an indentation. “I feel closed in here, it's too constricting.” He squeezed his eyes tight. “I don't know if I can stay here.”
“It's here or death. Personally, I'd choose here, it's not too bad. I mean, what's not to like?” My attempt at humor fell on deaf ears. “It's going to be okay.”
Raymond's scared eyes found mine. “How can you be so sure?”
“It really will be. Look, you have us all in your corner. I'm willing to fight for you, that has to mean something. You just need to get used to people again.” I spoke with calmness that I tried to share with the young vampire.
He visibly relaxed, his hands loosened, his back bowed, his head sank down toward his long legs. When he looked up, it was with the beginnings of trust. “One question. Why do you call me 'kid'? You don't look much older than me.” For a moment I thought he might smile.
“I've been around for a longtime, more years than you can fathom. I may not look it, but I'm ancient, well, not as old as Vanic.” I grinned, and finally he smiled too. “Does it bother you?”
“No, I kinda like it, it makes me feel... human.”
“Well, then, about hunting...” I started, tiredness rode over me, “when we hunt, we do it with stealth. The most important rule about what we are, is no one can know of our existence.” My eyes moved over Raymond. “You been hunting and drawing attention to yourself, so much so, I came looking for you. Someone else would have sought you out eventually, and they would not have been so kind.” Not that I had been either, but I didn't end him outright. “Tonight we begin brand new. Tonight you hunt with me, taking when I say and as much as I say. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I understand, you're the boss.”
“Yeah, kid, that's right. You follow my lead.”
“Kay, so we're hunting now?” He struggled to his feet.
“Only if you do what I say, when I say.”
He nodded his head.
“Never thought I'd be a vampire,” he said as we moved to the door.
“Me neither, but shit happens, you know? Better than dead.” Eyeing the boy, he shrugged his bony shoulders, tight muscles bunched beneath his pale flesh. Though he had hunted his entire existence, he had yet to lose the starved look, I hoped that would change too.
“Yeah, I know all about shit.” His eyes were distant now.
“I just bet you do.” I flung my arm across his shoulders as he flinched. “I bet you do.”
Together we set off into what remained o
f the night, in search of prey. We headed to the center of the city where the criminal element was strongest. Here were the fertile hunting grounds in this place called Chicago, where the gangs were the thickest, where crack and meth were sold on the street corners, where police seldom bothered to patrol.
“Here is where we hunt, not in the neighborhoods, and never do we kill.” I'm a walking contradiction, killing when needed and insisting he restrain himself. Turning to gaze at the boy, I grabbed his arm. “Remember what I said earlier, you listen to me, do as I do, and remember, no one must know what we are.”
“Okay, I understand.” That feral look had taken control of his eyes again, being around all this humanity was an overload to his senses. I felt his need to strike.
“And always, control the beast.” I turned to catch his eyes and bore deeply into them.
“Beast?” He gazed back, questions lurked in their depths.
“Your beast, the animal inside that begs to hunt, to kill if you let it. Because if you lose control of the beast, you become the thing you hate most. So, the first thing tonight is you learn control.”
We walked down the sidewalk until the only thing left were the rowdy night spots. Inside these places where the dredges of humanity flourished, rancorous laughter crowded the air. The camaraderie of shared experiences were their only friends. This was the place we'd start our hunt, a prolific ground of small time wannabes, sure their rise to power was close at hand. Around the corner, the back entrance sat unprotected. I made my way toward it, pushed the broken lock to force the door. We hurried to the interior, drawing little attention, and made our way to the front. A sign over the bar said Enter at your own risk.
“It smells good here.” He cast about with a wild look. It actually did not 'smell good' in there, it smelled of sour alcohol, death and drugs, human waste and sweat, anger and violence.
“Yeah, kid, that's your beast. It doesn't even see everything else going on around you, but that's what it does, how it thrives. It drives you to strike, when what you need to do is wait for the right opportunity.”
“You talk a lot, let's hunt.” He shifted his feet, ready for action and it was hard not to answer his need with my own.
“We're not hunting yet, Raymond, we're learning. This is our starting point. Control, kid, it's all about control.” Pushing away from the bar, I went to the door. The night sang with the song of insects, car engines, the roar of music from open doorways, but it quieted around me, until it narrowed down to only heartbeats. Raymond wasn't going to like leaving, but he had to learn control. Leaving prey is hard to do, if he could turn his back on an easy meal, his beast could learn control.
“Let's go.” Loping down the sidewalk, I turned to see Raymond looking back into the bar, and then down the sidewalk at me. Slowly, he followed. Score one point for control.
When he caught up to me, he was more than a little pissed. “I thought you said we were hunting. We left a bunch of warm blood back there.”
Grabbing the boy's face, I pulled him to look at me. “You follow my lead, you do as I do. You listen when I tell you to. Understand?”
He twisted away. “Yeah, I got it. Show me what to do.”
“Kid, being a vampire isn't all about feeding or hunting. There are things you can do to help you hunt. First, you can hide in plain sight.” Damn, Raymond was so green, he didn't even know how to conceal his energy.
“Don't want to hide. How can I hunt if I hide?”
“Yeah, you do. You want to hide so people can't see you. You want to be a shadow.” Drawing the night into my body, I was all but concealed. When I glanced at Raymond, his eyes were big with wonder. He really was just a child.
“I can do that? How do I learn to do it?” Finally, something that made his beast grow silent, something to help with the hunt.
“Sure, all you have to do is think of shadows covering your body, pull the night in tight around you, and concentrate.” Slowing my motions, I opened my arms, gathered in the night, tipped my head back, and pulled the darkness into me.
He closed his eyes. I felt the night shift a little, and when I looked over at Raymond, he had achieved a partial concealment. An excellent try for a first time. Smiling, I pulled the night a little tighter around our bodies.
Making our way to another night spot where feeding would be easy to hide, I led the boy down the backstreets and down the alleys to another rear door. This lock was better, but still no match for the vampire in me. We strolled inside where the music blared from cheap speakers, echoing as if from a tin can. The bar smelled of old alcohol and sickness, the air conditioner groaned as it spewed out cooled exhaust-fumed air. On one side of the room sat a table with several small time hoods huddled around it, talking in muted tones. They thought themselves drug lords, but they were only prey this night.
Speaking in a low volume only Raymond's ears could hear, I nodded my head toward the group. “We need to separate them, and we'll feed from them one by one.” He nodded. A rickety wooden chair stood near the exit, I thrusted it hard with a kick into the wall. It shattered into splinters as it hit.
One of the men jumped to his feet, grabbed another by his shirt front, and forced him to stand. “Check it out, Cey.”
“Man, why does it got to be me?” The whites of his eyes showed, he felt the butt of his gun sticking out of the top of his low rise jeans.
“Cause I said so.” He gave the man a rough shove, nearly knocking him to the floor.
Cey started moving to the rear of the room to investigate. He was our first target, and didn't even know it. He moved with confidence, his fingers caressed the butt of the gun.
Raymond grinned when he saw the pistol, it would do little good.
Cey didn't look like a bad guy, but he was a drug dealer. How many dealers do you know with scruples, only selling to those who know the dangers? They'd earned their right to be prey on this night.
As the man came closer, I felt Raymond grow stealthy, ready to strike, a lion waiting to roar. My arm snaked out, bracing the boy, his actions halted. He gazed at me, tried to relax as he coaxed his beast back into submission. He strained against my arm, and I shook my head, and motioned him to follow me. His stare flew to the man, then back at me, but he allowed me to lead him away. When we were out of ear shot, I grabbed him.
“Understand, Raymond, we're doing this my way. Got it?”
“Yeah, okay...” He shrugged off my hand.
We headed back to Cey who had made his way to the alley entrance, seeing the sprung lock. He prepared to sound the alarm, until I fell upon him cutting off his struggles. Baring his neck, I motioned for Raymond. “Feed.”
He grinned as he leaned down, whispering a growl to release fear endorphins that made the blood so much more rich. “Tonight, you're mine.” He ran his nose along the length of bare flesh, and the small time hood struggled. Then Raymond greedily sank his fangs through the soft flesh, moaning as he did so, his beast starved inside him. Now that he'd started feeding, I could feel his hunger rolling off him in waves, almost driving me to feed. He pulled deeply, and I felt Cey's body sag.
“Enough.” Raymond looked up at me, and I firmly said again, “Enough!” And he released the man's throat. “Seal the wound.”
He peered at me uncomprehendingly. “What?” The wound continued to flow freely.
He'd always fed until there was nothing left and destroy what was, he had so many things to learn. “Lave saliva over the wound, watch to make sure it heals.” He did as I asked and watched as twin pink lines formed. Then I bore into the man's eyes. I motioned to his friends. “Bring them to us. Tell them there's free sex in the alley. Tell them you had a taste. Tell them to come to us, one at a time.” He nodded blankly, straightened and stumbled back to his friends to deliver his lie.
One by one the four made their way to the back of the tavern, and one by one, they were feasted on until Raymond's beast purred. His demeanor relaxed as his body filled with someone else's blood, for the first ti
me since I'd found him. He fought to control the beast, at least for the moments we hunted together, and with my help, he fed without bringing death. We turned away from the bar and headed back to the safety of our sun-proofed rooms.
“Mr...Vlad, thank you.” Raymond stared straight ahead.
“S'kay, kid, you just didn't have anyone show you how to be a vampire.”
“Didn't know what was wrong with me. I craved blood and violence, the more the better.” He wiped a hand across his face. “The sun hurt all over my body, I thought I was crazy, turned into some kind of wild animal. I was actually hoping someone would kill me, until you showed up. Then I found out I wanted to live, needed to live, even with the blood and violence.”
“It's all part of being a vampire. You heard Vanic, you're part of our family now.” I clapped his shoulder. “If you'll let me, I'll show you how to live.”
We walked on for a few moments, the sky was starting to lighten, dawn would break soon as we sped up our return home.
“I'll stay.” He looked over at me. “I don't know what else to do.” At least he was speaking in an almost human sounding voice.
I squeezed his shoulder. “Good, there's more to show you, more that you need to know. Being a vampire isn't all bad, it's not all good either though. The sick bastard that turned you should have at least given you some guidance. But, if it's who we think it is, he's a crazy old bastard, who suffers from poisoned blood. He wants to upset Vanic's life, calling attention to the vampiric existence, and eventually, it's going to get him killed… I hope.” If Loupgarin had returned, I'd see him burn in hell. Vanic's life was worth more than a hundred of his, hundreds upon thousands of his.
Over the next few evenings, Raymond's lessons continued. There were copious amounts of individuals to feed upon in this city, plenty of prey. Even I took a feed, hunting and being denied is true torture. But Vanic was always in the back of my mind, waiting to confront his maker.
Vlad Tepes, the Vigilante Vampire Page 9
