The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn

by Jessica MacIntyre

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “We can’t just walk in there,” I said.

  Ian doubled back to give me a pat on the back and laugh. “You’re forgetting who you’re with Rach. Come on.” I hadn’t heard him call me ‘Rach’ since the time we’d spent together in my house. If we weren’t going to be together I knew that at least we’d have some sort of friendship. I certainly didn’t want him to go away. I needed him around. We followed Ian inside to the empty greeting area manned by a lone vampire/security guard. Ian walked straight up to him.

  With a formal nod he said, “Good evening. Whom are you here to see?”

  Ian stood for a moment and then looking him directly in the eye obtained control of his mind. “How do we get to the roof?”

  The security guard spoke like he was giving a rehearsed speech. “Take the elevator to the fifteenth floor. Take a right and go all the way to the end of the hall until you see a green door that says, ‘staff only’.”

  “Thank you,” Ian said. “That helps a lot. We were never here. Now sit down and read that newspaper you have there.”

  The security guard nodded slowly, took his seat, opened the paper and began to read. Ian motioned for us to follow him and we strode to the elevator bank, Ian pushing the button. “I keep forgetting you can do that,” I said. “Do you think you can do it to Christina?”

  “I know I can’t do it to Christina. I tried last time and she just laughed at me…well…Phillipine laughed at me.”

  “It wasn’t Phillipine,” Duncan interjected forcefully, his hands trembling. “It was whatever the hell that thing is and it’s not Christina either. Christina was just some poor soul who had the misfortune of running into her.”

  “I wonder how it got close enough to Christina to take over her body. How would you get the leader of the Halifax Vampire Authority to take your blood?”

  “I don’t know but it’s very powerful. We only know so much about what it can do.”

  “How long did Phillipine drink the demon’s blood before it took her?”

  “Duncan swallowed hard. Screwing up his courage he said, “We’re not entirely sure. It wasn’t long. Not more than a few nights.”

  “A few nights? Why was she keeping me around so long then?”

  “Who knows? Maybe she had unfinished business as Christina she had to put in order first before she could retire that body and transfer things over to you.”

  “It only makes sense I guess.” The elevator doors pinged open and we took a right. There, just as promised, was the green door. Ian gave the handle a push, but it was locked.

  “Shit,” he said.

  “For the lova Jesus, you’re a vampire. Break it. Ah, don’t be such a sissy boy,” Duncan glared at him. “Here, let me do it.” Duncan grabbed the handle giving it a quick shove, and with almost no effort, broke the locks swinging the door open, the hinges creaking as it did. Duncan took the lead and we came to a dimly lit stairwell. Up we went until we came to another door, this one leading outside to the roof. Duncan gave this one a shove, breaking it as well, and we stepped out into the cool night air. The sound of gravel crunched beneath our feet as we made our way to the edge of the building and lay down just above Christina’s balcony.

  “Give a listen,” Duncan whispered.

  Closing my eyes to focus I zeroed in on the apartment. All was quiet for a few moments and then I picked up on Christina’s voice. She was moaning. A man, who sounded just like Joshua was moaning and talking as well.

  “She’s busy with company,” I said.

  “What are they doing?” Ian asked. I looked at him and simply smirked, raising my eyebrows. “Oh. Well I hope she enjoys it because it’s the very last time that’s ever gonna happen.”

  I nodded and continued to listen in as the creaking of the bed slowed down at first, and then stopped. Then came the pillow talk and I was more than a little surprised when the conversation fell to me.

  “I don’t understand why you were keeping her here anyway. I know she has that whole fire thing going on and that’s quite unusual, but she’s a satyr mother. You’d never be able to completely trust her.”

  “You don’t understand Joshua. I felt a bond with her. She was coming around to our way of thinking. I felt like she was my own daughter in a way. Rachel needs me, and I her.”

  “Why haven’t you gone after her then? We know where she is.” Ice water filled my veins. “They took her back to Soldiers Cove. We could have stormed that little hick clan, turned it into ashes and taken her back.”

  “No. I want her to come back to me on her own, and I have a feeling that she will.”

  “When?”

  “Soon,” she said. “She wants to be here, whether she realizes it or not. I’ll have her at my side before you know it and the two of us will, as impossible as it sounds to you, be one. Rachel and I will combine our strengths and take this city together. We’ll rid this town of those cursed satyrs and their disgusting little rats.”

  “She has one of those little rats, as you put it, in her belly.”

  “Haven’t you ever heard the expression, ‘drowned rat’? That could be taken care of quite easily and she’d never even know. That’s why I was keeping her sedated. The girl has been through enough pain. That vermin she’s carrying would only cause her more. She’d think the little monster died at birth. It would be a kindness. We’d spare her a lifetime of grief.”

  “Well, I guess that’s a good plan, if she ever decides to seek you out again. She may decide she’s comfortable where she is. In her clan with her husband.”

  “No. She’ll need my blood soon. And when the need comes she’ll make her way home to me. She’ll kill them all if she has to. The pull is strong. You’ve seen it. Any one of the vampires in this city would kill for me. They’d die for me if I asked them to. They’re loyal.”

  “They’re addicted.”

  There was a moment of silence followed by a low growl, Christina’s voice icy and stern. “Get dressed and go get me something to eat. I need blood so I can feed everyone else. All I do for you comes at a price.”

  “What may I obtain for you?” Joshua had dropped the casual way in which he was speaking to her a moment ago in exchange for his usual business-like manner.

  “A female this time. A pretty one. I don’t care what blood type just don’t come back here with anyone over twenty. I need the blood young, someone I can drain. Make sure she’s not too terribly skinny. And don’t be gone too long. You know how I hate being alone.”

  “Yes Christina.”

  “Joshua is with her,” I said quietly. He’s leaving in a few minutes. Ian and Duncan nodded as I continued to listen. A few moments later Joshua said his goodbye and the door to the apartment opened and clicked shut. “He’s gone.”

  We waited a few moments as I got a fix on where Christina was inside the apartment. The sound of running water filled the space. “She’s in the shower,” I said.

  “Perfect,” Ian smiled. Might make things a bit easier if we can corner her in there.

  “Right,” said Duncan. “Let’s get at it.”

  With that all three of us jumped down onto the balcony, landing with a soft thud. Ian tried this door, finding it unlocked. “I guess you don’t expect company to come in through your fifteenth floor balcony,” he said.

  Duncan took the lead. “Unlucky for her,” he said.

  Ian pulled three good size stakes out of his jacket and handed one to each of us. “Through the heart,” he said. “If we destroy the vampire body the demon has no place to go. None of us is a receptor and so it will be forced out.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Yes. I may not have succeeded in killing this demon the first time around, but I’ve killed a few others. Parts of them may still be a mystery, but I know how to kill one stone fucking dead. That’s one thing I have figured out in the last twenty five years.”

  I was about to ask him how many others he had killed when abruptly the
shower stopped and suddenly Christina was standing there in front of us, soaking wet, wrapped up in a towel. Her long legs, which were usually smooth and milky, were covered with green splotches, along with her arms, and face.

  We were so shocked to see her, and she us that we all just stood there for a moment in an awkward reunion. Then Christina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. As she exhaled all the green splotches absorbed themselves slowly back into her body, leaving her skin opaque and beautiful as before. “Hello Duncan,” she said as if greeting an old friend. “You’re looking a little rough around the edges. Has it been a rough quarter century for you?” She was taunting him, and surprisingly the old vampire seemed shaken. He stood silent, not knowing how to respond.

  “And Ian. The knight in shining armour strikes again. Here to rescue the daughter this time? Who could blame you? After all you loved her mother and she does look just like her. Although love is maybe not the right word. You certainly lusted after her though. You never got to bed that one, but I know you got to act out all your little fantasies on her baby girl.” Christina wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That’s just weird. Isn’t it Duncan? You must be pretty pissed at him. I mean, what kind of man substitutes fucking the mother for fucking the daughter? I can’t believe you’ve let him keep breathing.”

  Duncan clenched his fists, his eyes darkening over. He was about to raise the stake when I stopped him. My own anger was flare up as well and the only thing that would quash it would be answers. I wouldn’t get them if the demon was dead. “Wait,” I said. “Christina, did you have something to do with the death of my parents?”

  Christina looked confused. “Just the one, of course.”

  “But…they died together. Both of them are dead. Did you kill them? Did you cause the accident?”

  “Accident?” Christina laughed. “It was no accident. I needed a body, and your mother was there. She came willingly though. I gave her a shoulder to cry on when things weren’t going so well. I gave her other things too, if you know what I mean. I was a male then.” Christina shuddered. “All those nights she’d sneak away. I can still feel her warm naked body pressed up against mine. The smell of her, the feel of her. I couldn’t feed from her of course because of you. I needed her healthy. But she fed from me, fed with a wild passion. Full of lust that woman was.” Christina locked her eyes on Duncan now as she spoke. “She was always so…willing.”

  Duncan began growling, his fangs growing longer than before, his eyes hot with rage. “You tricked her. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night? Hey, I don’t blame you for having a broken heart. She was quite a lady. Very special Phillipine was. Too bad her body didn’t last me as long as this one. I wore that one out in record time.”

  “Oh my god,” I said. Everything finally clicking into place. She had taken over my mother. Phillipine was my mother and that could only mean one thing. “Duncan?”

  Christina cackled long and hard almost losing her breath. “You really didn’t know did you? Yes, Rachel. The fearsome loner. The one that all other vampires fear is your father. You look like your mother though, thank god. You got your telepathy from him but you got that fire from me. I gifted it to you when I brought you back.”

  I turned to face Duncan. “What is she talking about?”

  “Oh yes. You were dead sweetheart. Dead as a little doornail when you came out. And your daddy here, he lost it. He threw himself at my feet, begging mercy.” Christina changed her voice to a mocking tone. “I can still see him. Standing there clutching your runty little body to his heart. Weeping like a newborn baby himself. Oh please, for the lova god, make her live. I’m begging you. I’ll do anything.” Christina licked her lips, resuming her normal tone. “I was cornered by some hunters who’d been looking for me but he said he’d take care of that little problem for me so I brought you back. After just jumping I was weaker than I should have been. That was my good deed for the century. And it looks like fortune has certainly smiled on me because once I take care of these two I’ll have you back and I’ll be able to trade this body out for yours. And a nice body it is, once we get rid of that little monstrosity in your belly. As you saw, this one’s getting close to its expiry date.”

  My head was spinning. I was so thrown off that I completely lost focus on the business at hand. I felt like I needed to sit down, or throw up, or both. Duncan, I could see, was growing angrier by the second. “By the time this night is over old vampire, you’ll be begging me for mercy once again. But this time I have no need of your help, and so, I can finally put you to rest. I think a thousand years is long enough.”

  Duncan lunged with no warning, but Christina was ready for him and threw her hands forward, a blast of flames coming from her fingers. Duncan was lifted into the air soaring all the way across the room, his clothes singed and skin blackened.

  “No!” I screamed, getting in between her hands and Duncan. The flames reached my skin and I raised my arms over my face, expecting to feel the burning. Usually I was immune to any sort of temperature change but the heat radiating from Christina was intense. I felt it course through my body and looked at my arms expecting to see seared flesh. To my surprise I was unharmed. I stretched my arms out, just the way she was doing, and focused on trying to do the same myself. To my astonishment a huge blast of flames came out of my hands and struck Christina dead on, knocking her to the ground unexpectedly.

  A look of shock crossed her face, followed by a smile. “You’re perfect,” she said. “Once I possess your body I’ll have all of your abilities, plus my own.” I picked up the stake that I’d dropped when I’d struck her with fire and moved toward her, aiming for her heart. As quickly as she could she bit her wrist open and blood emptied out all over her forearm, all over her towel and on to the floor. The smell of it brought me to my knees…literally.

  Robotically I got to the floor and was making my way to her. “Are you hungry? That’s it. You want some don’t you?” She was right. At that moment I would have done anything to get it. I’d had it before and it was calling to me again. The sweet taste followed by the absolute delirium that it would induce spoke to me like a long lost friend. All other thoughts ran out of my head and I opened my mouth wide, getting closer every second, wanting and needing the fountain of bliss that was openly gushing from her vein.

  “Rachel don’t!” I heard Ian screaming. Suddenly I felt myself rolling away. Ian had tackled me and was pinning me to the floor. “Stop, you don’t want it. You want to go home to Gavin, remember?”

  The mention of Gavin shook me awake, breaking the spell. “Take me,” he said to the demon. “You can have my body. I’ll give it to you willingly.”

  Christina laughed. “Always the gentleman. Thanks for your offer honey, but you can’t do anything nearly as impressive as she can, so no dice.”

  “No, seriously, think about it for a minute. You can start fires all on your own. What do you need her to do that for? And I can blood influence not just humans, but other vampires as well. Think of what you can do with that?”

  Christina’s eyes lit up. “You don’t say?”

  “Yes. And I have all kinds of connections all over the world. Once you possess me you’ll have them too. You’ll know everything I know, and I’m much older than she is. Rachel’s not even through her transformative year. She’s a baby herself.”

  Christina’s eyes flashed red and she was silent for a moment in contemplation. Greedily she licked her lips, which had gone from a pale pink now to the same splotches of green we had seen earlier. “Let me see you,” she said. “Bare yourself to me. I want to see all I would receive.”

  Quickly Ian began to undress. “What the hell are you doing?” I screamed.

  “What I should have done for your mother.” Ian took my face in his hands and kissed me, sweetly and gently on the forehead, then brought his lips to my ear. “I know you don’t love me, but believe me when I say that I love you,
and I loved your mother too and I owe you both.”

  “Ian,” I said, my vision beginning to blur. “You don’t have to do this. For god sake don’t do this! I need you.” I raised my arms to yield the fire once again, aiming for the demon, but before I could strike Ian took my head in his hands as a calm washed over me.

  “Take care of my brother. Take care of Holly and my parents. Promise to watch over them for me, ok?” He kissed my cheek twice in quick succession and then turned away. Quickly he made himself naked in front of Christina and kneeling before her opened his arms. “If you promise to leave her and everyone she loves alone, her and all her descendants, than I offer you myself, fully and completely. My body is yours.”

  Christina’s entire body was now covered in green markings, her voice grew raspy and short. After a brief moment of contemplation she nodded and held out her arm to him. Ian bit down on the wrist, still flowing with blood, and began swallowing hard and fast. I got up and ran to him, grabbing his head in an attempt to pull him away. Ian growled and batted me with his arm, knocking me back to the floor. Duncan, who had healed from his burns, caught me and held me back as Ian continued to feed.

  “We will have our moment soon,” he said, placing the stake in my hand. I knew what he wanted me to do but the thought of it made me sick.

  “I don’t know if I can,” I said.

  “You must. He knew what he was doing. This has to end here. Tonight. Do you think that thing will actually leave you alone? For your own sake and that of your boy and all whom you love, when the time is right, you must strike.”

  My legs grew weak and I nodded, not knowing what to say. Christina was so caught up in the feeding that she seemed to forget that we were even there.

  Ian sucked and swallowed until finally it seemed he could physically hold no more. He collapsed on the floor next to Christina his eyes rolling back in his head. Christina dropped her towel and crawled on top of him, the green splotches in her skin now overtaking all of her body. She moved sluggishly, as if exhausted and lay down on top of him, opening his mouth wide and placing her own mouth over top of his as if in an exaggerated kiss.