by Leji Albano
He walked into the en-suite bathroom and started filling the tub, then laid out the shampoo and body wash that he found. Alexander could tell they were hers, because he had smelled them on her daily since she had come to work for him.
Going back to the bed, he removed her bra and underwear, tossing them onto the carpeted floor. “Oh my, you are a naughty girl.” He laughed as he spotted the tiny tattoo of a stick-figure man using a push mower, pieces of grass flying, that was placed just above the hairline on the left side of her crotch. Alexander could cover the entire thing with his thumb, and he suspected that it was a private joke that not many people ever saw. He walked to the door. “I need your help, Bettina, if you would?”
When she entered the room, Alexander was carefully lifting Tina into his arms. He looked up and said, “Can you please change the bedding for me? I’m going to clean her up.” He smiled sadly. “I suspect it may take some time.”
Caterina’s assistant nodded her head and moved in as he carried Tina to the tub and gently lowered her into the water. She moaned and thrashed around a little, then calmed down. Using the loofa he had found near the sink, he slowly began to clean the blood and fever-sweat off her body. Tears ran down his cheeks as he saw the extent of the damage she had taken in the attack.
“I’m so sorry, Tina,” he whispered. “I should have been there to protect you.”
By the time he had finished, the water in the tub was stained a deep red. He drained the tub and refilled it with clean, fresh water, then began to wash her hair. He was careful detangling the clumps of hair where clotted blood and sweat had created crusty masses that had to be removed before he could apply shampoo. As the once-again-filthy water drained, he opened the music collection on his phone and selected 3 Doors Down’s Seventeen Days and set it to play.
As soon as the tub had filled again, he wet her long brunette hair and massaged in the shampoo. He took his time and tried to ensure that he got it as clean as possible, and when the play-list got to Landing in London, he sang softly to her sleeping form. Her hair wasn’t perfect, and she would undoubtedly want to rewash it herself, but it was a night-and-day difference to how it had been. Alexander drained the tub for the last time and used the showerhead to sluice dirty bath-water from her body.
One of the towels was used to dry her now-shivering body, and the other her waist-length hair. He carried her back to the bed; fresh linens had done wonders, and Bettina had pulled the sheet back so he could lay her down.
Alexander slipped his shoes off and sat behind her, so he could comb the damp hair before it dried. He pulled the sheet and blanket up to keep her warm, then spent the next half hour brushing her hair and putting it into a French braid as she lay propped up in his lap.
He slipped toward the center of the bed and leaned against the headboard, nestling Tina into his right arm. Alexander quickly found and purchased Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring on Amazon, and took up the story from where she had left off the night that she had read to him. His voice was low and even, and at some point, he must have fallen asleep.
Tina swam in a sea of memories, most not her own. She knew she was dreaming, but she couldn’t seem to wake herself. In fact, for a moment there, she thought that she could hear Alexander singing softly to her and…reading aloud? Soon though, it all slipped away as she was overwhelmed by visions of impossible things.
There were visions of tall, cruel people who treated their slaves horribly. She didn’t know how she knew they were slaves, but she did. The buildings and cities were unlike anything she had ever seen before, and somehow Tina grasped that what she witnessed had taken place in the distant past.
All sorts of impossible beings paraded before her mind’s eye. There were people who were at home in the sea, morphing into creatures with gills and webbed hands and feet. People who turned into wolves, bears, foxes, bulls, big cats, and virtually any other species she could think of. What she could only describe as vampires were present as well, as were elves, satyrs, ogres, and a whole zoo full of other varieties. Some didn’t even exist in the fantasy books she loved to read.
These memories were the oldest, but there were also fragments that belonged to Alexander. How she could tell they were his, she did not know, but they tasted like him…somehow. There was no other way to describe it. The preposterous thing was that they seemed to span an impossible length of time. Some took place when the country was just exiting what would be termed the Wild West, and others seemed to be during WWI. In fact, the entire 20th century flashed past her eyes in short, fragmentary vignettes. Surely that wasn’t possible, was it? And most disturbing of all was that he wasn’t always human…she could see fights from his perspective where his hands were fur-covered and had vicious-looking claws. What did that mean?
The last thing she remembered was being stunned by those two idiots and dragged into an alley. The greasy boy grabbed her head and shoved it to the side and grinned evilly at her, then he grew fangs, and the pain she experienced as he tore out her throat was almost unbearable. Tina recalled feeling the suction made by his lips as he drained the blood from her body, and how helpless she felt.
Then there was the sound of a struggle, and Alexander was there, holding her dying body even as he tried to stop the bleeding. The pain and fury she saw in his eyes almost broke her heart as she realized she was the cause. She tried to tell him it was not his fault, but her torn and battered body wouldn’t allow it.
She remembered him reaching for the amulet that he always wore, and pressing it to her chest, the slight sting as something pricked into her skin, and the way his face shifted into something bestial…wolf-like…just before he bit her in the upper arm….
He was awakened by bloodcurdling screams of terror and Tina beating on his chest and face. Her eyes were wild and fearful, and he could tell she was remembering the attack. Alexander felt helpless, not sure what to do as she continued.
The bedroom door burst open and Caterina flew into the room. She took one look at the situation and pointed her finger at him. “Get out. Now. In fact, go back to the Pack villa and stay there until I call.”
He didn’t even question her order, just grabbed his phone and bolted out the door, only taking the time to grab his luggage on the way out.
Cat approached the bed and started talking to the panicked woman. “Tina. Tina, it’s all right.”
Her words had no effect other than causing Tina to back away to the far side of the bed. The screaming continued unabated. Caterina sighed, then slapped Tina’s face. Hard.
Bettina poked her head in the door. “Signorina?”
“Bring something to drink. Water. And food, whatever there is.”
The shock of the slap seemed to have at least stopped the screaming. Tina knelt on the bed, hyperventilating, blinking her eyes rapidly as she stared at the woman who had hit her.
“Are you done shrieking? Is anyone home?” She snapped her fingers in front of Tina’s nose.
Tina’s hand flew to her neck, and not finding what she expected there, her expression became confused. “I-I was dying. Wasn’t I?” she croaked.
“Yes. You were attacked by a vampire,” Caterina stated calmly in a matter-of-fact tone.
Tina stuttered, “That’s impossible, those aren’t real.”
Her assistant walked in with a glass of water and some cheese and meats on a plate, set them on the chair next to the bed, and retreated.
As Tina reached for the water, and nearly drained the contents of the glass, Caterina—the newly designated leader of a Coven she never wanted—considered how to respond. Finally, she shrugged and shifted to her Battle form. As her eyes swirled and turned black, her canines lengthened, and claws tore out of her fingertips. She hissed at Tina and awaited her reaction. She didn’t have to wait long.
The young woman began screaming again, terrified eyes bulging out of their sockets as she saw what Cat had become.
The designer let the Battle form go and rapidly transformed into her
standard human shape. She sighed again, then slapped Tina a second time.
“I really hope you are quite done with the theatrics.” Her tone indicated what she thought of all this.
“What are you?” responded the young woman.
“Hmmm,” the designer said. “I suppose I’m impossible and not real. At least according to you.” She considered Tina for a moment. “If you can cease the histrionics for a while, I will attempt to explain. Agreed?”
Alexander’s assistant jerked her head in a nod.
“Good. Please don’t make me slap you again.” She paused, then continued, “Vampires are real. Werewolves are real. Many other creatures you think impossible do exist, many living right alongside humanity. As you saw, I am a vampire.”
Tina blinked and held her hand up to the sunlight streaming into the room. “But, I thought the sun….”
Caterina snorted. “Just one of the many things Normal humans have gotten wrong over the centuries. I go to the beach, love garlicky food, and use real silverware when I eat at home. Vampires are just like anyone else…except better.” She grimaced then said, “Perhaps better is not the word I should use. Yes, different is a better term. We are stronger, faster, tougher, and we live much longer. The primary downside is that we need fresh blood to stay healthy. Let me rephrase that. We need some of what is contained in fresh blood. If we don’t receive it semi-regularly, we sicken and die.”
Tina looked thoughtful. “How long has it been since I was attacked?”
“Almost a full day.”
A haunted expression dominated her face. “I remember standing outside the museum when suddenly there was a blow to the back of my head and two sets of arms dragging me into that alley.” She rubbed the back of her head. “Then a horrible face leering down at me before tearing into my throat. It hurt so bad, and I couldn’t get away no matter how hard I tried…not being able to breathe, choking on my own blood.”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was sobbing as she continued, “Then, Alexander was there. I guess he chased them away?”
Caterina smiled thinly. “Something like that.”
“He was crying as he tried to stop the bleeding, but I knew I was dying. Then he said he was sorry and his face…changed. Not like yours, though. Different. He bit my arm.” She grabbed her arm and saw the faint remaining marks there.
Her eyes narrowed, then she bellowed, “He fucking bit me! I can’t believe it. What kind of sick bastard would bite a dying woman?”
“The kind who is trying to save the dying woman. And make no mistake, you would be dead. It was a close thing as it was.”
“He should have just let me die.” The tears were running freely at this point. “Am I a vampire now too?”
“No. You are a wolf…of some sort. I’m not entirely certain what Alexander is, but he is not your typical werewolf.”
“I don’t want this,” she sobbed. “I don’t want any of this. Better dead than to be turned into a monster. How could he do this to me?”
“You stupid, stupid girl!” Caterina snapped. “The only reason you have the opportunity to wallow in self-pity like you are is that a good man could not stand by and watch you die. You, the woman he doesn’t even realize he is in love with. When I saw the way he was cradling you after he gave you his gift, I knew. Never have I witnessed such grief as what I saw last night. I am two-hundred years old, girl, and have never been loved the way that man loves you.”
Tina’s eyes widened in shock at Caterina’s words.
“Would you like to know what he did after he called me to look after you?”
Silence greeted her words.
“Alexander went to war…with two races, both of whom were responsible for your current condition. He tracked the wolf who had assisted in attacking you back to the local Pack villa. That man who you so easily blame for saving your life single-handedly attacked a house filled with werewolves. Think about that for a second.
Tina sucked in a shaken breath.
“I heard all of this second-hand, you understand, but the source is reliable,” Caterina explained. “Shall I continue?”
“Do I really want to know?” Tina asked sarcastically.
“What you want is irrelevant. Alexander armed himself with sword and pistol, and then attacked a house full of vampires.” Caterina sighed. “It is my belief that he wished to die, perhaps subconsciously, perhaps not. At the time, we thought there was an elevated risk you might not make it. The only thing he was focused on was taking as many of them down as possible. And he was pissed. Alexander only wanted to be by your side, but retribution was called for, and most assuredly would be delivered.
“It was a slaughterhouse, Tina.”
Tina was crying again as she listened.
Caterina glared down at her. “There was no quarter shown, nor asked. He was determined to cleanse those he felt were responsible for your condition. When I found him in the basement, he was preparing to kill every remaining member of the Coven. Every. Single. One. I saw madness in his eyes, Tina. What he had forced himself to do went against everything he has ever stood for, and his actions were eating at him, but he had to do it. Had to avenge you. Somehow, I managed to convince him to spare the last of the vampires, and with one exception, he did. That exception was the one who had fed on you. Alexander was covered in gore, slashed, torn, and had more than one gunshot wound…and he didn’t even seem to notice.”
“That’s horrible,” Tina whispered, staring at Caterina.
“You stupid bitch,” growled Caterina. “Alexander brought Armageddon to those who had dared harm you. He was willing to watch the world burn as long as he made his enemies suffer and die. And for what? A silly little girl who feels sorry for herself.
“Quite frankly, I don’t understand what he sees in you.” She grabbed Tina’s face and forced her to look into her angry eyes. “I know of at least three women in his life who would give everything for him to look at them the way he does you. I am one. Unfortunately, he sees me as a friend, and I am, but I have loved him since that day in 1956 when he saved my life.” Caterina spun on her heel and prowled through the bedroom door. “Clean up and get dressed. It’s time for you to grow the fuck up.”
18
“…By 30,000 BC, disagreements grew amongst the various factions and resulted in actual limited-scale warfare. While these conflicts were generally localized and fairly low-intensity, they did occur with some regularity. The numbers of genetically modified humans had grown, and escaped slaves had begun to push out, breed with, or exterminate native populations of other species such as Neanderthals, Denisovans, etc. Soon there would be just one type of humanity….”
Excerpt from the diary of Alexander Matthews
July 1925, Whidbey Island, Puget Sound, Washington
Alexander emptied the last of the bourbon into Joseph’s glass and sighed. The two men had sat on an overturned boat that was resting on the beach, and were drinking the former contents of the three empty bottles that lay at his feet. He had met his new friend late in the afternoon of the previous day, and they had immediately hit it off. Alexander knew right away that Joseph wasn’t a Normal, but couldn’t pin his nature down enough to identify his exact race.
It turned out that he was a Mer, one of the Sea Peoples, and his clan lived in the waters of Puget Sound. Alexander was fascinated, as he had never actually met a member of the race. Fortunately, Joseph was a gregarious type and was willing to answer all his questions…as long as the bourbon lasted.
“If I’m lying, I’m dying,” the Mer was saying. “The gold blankets the seabed for miles.”
A skeptical Alexander narrowed his eyes. “If that’s the case, then why aren’t you and your clan living in luxury?”
“Well now, recovering it would require….” He gulped in horror. “Work.” A shudder passed through his body.
“You realize that with a little effort, you would have enough money to buy your own bourbon, right?” Alexander prodded
.
The Mer sat up straight and looked down his nose at the wolf. “It’s the principle of the matter, Sir. My kind don’t sully our hands with any sort of physical labor.” He hiccupped delicately. “No, Sir, we fish when we are hungry, salvage the odd shipwreck if we need clothes or such, but we never work. It’s just not done, you see?”
Alexander shook his head, marveling at how different the ways of the Mer seemed….
Alexander parked the Acura and retrieved his luggage before making his way to the quarters he was calling his own. At least for now. Satisfied that his requests had been taken care of in his absence, he flagged down one of the ever-present staff.
“Is there a dedicated conference room on the grounds?”
“Yes, Sir, on the main floor,” she replied.
“Would you let Enzo and Julia know that I would like to meet with them in fifteen minutes? Also, please ensure that there are refreshments. I’m not sure how long this meeting will last.”
She bobbed her head at him. “Of course, Sir. Will there be anything else?”
“No, that should do it.” He smiled at her. “Thank you.”
That task completed, Alexander quickly took a shower and changed into one of the few outfits he had packed for the trip to Italy. I’m going to need to remedy that situation sooner rather than later.
Tina’s reaction when she woke up had left him shaken. The pure fear and panic that he saw in her eyes did not bode well for how she would adjust to her new reality. Hopefully, Caterina would be able to calm her and explain enough of the facts that Tina could begin to rationally approach the changes in her life.
And there was still the little matter of whether she would forgive him for what he had done. The fact of the matter was that he would do it all over again, no matter the consequences to him personally. There was simply no way he could have watched her bleed out and not do something about it. Even if she ended up hating him, it was still the right thing to do.
