Death Embraces

by J. C. Diem

  Monique minced into the room. Tonight, her dress was midnight black. It matched her hair so well that it was difficult to tell where her locks finished and the dress began. I wore one of the black suits that all of the male courtiers favoured. I’d quickly learned to blend in and not to bring attention to myself. Drawing attention to yourself often had unpleasant consequences.

  Reaching my side, Monique placed a possessive hand on my arm. I wanted to throw it off as I’d come to almost loath her touch after two centuries of pretending to be her servant. But we all had to keep up the pretence or risk death if it became known how badly the Court rules had been broken.

  Music from a quartet of my talented kin played softly from a corner of the throne room. At a signal from the Comtesse, the music came to a halt. The quiet murmurs also ceased. Moments later, two vampires entered through the large arched doorway.

  A familiar wrinkled bald head appeared above the crowd and I felt my upper lip curl. Silvius, possibly the most despised of all vampire lords, had come. He wore his usual black suit and foppish white shirt with lace at the cuffs and collar. As always, a black cloak covered him from neck to toe. The hood was back so we could all view his heavily lined, skeletal face.

  The Comtesse hated Silvius, fearing he was plotting against her. She’d told me this, raving it many times while we’d been in bed together. Weariness tried to overwhelm me at the thought of just how many nights I’d spent in her company. They were too numerous to count.

  Following in the hated one’s wake was a timid new servant. Dressed in rags, her dark hair was matted and filthy. Blood caked her mouth and her eyes were vacant of thought. She reminded be so much of myself the first time I’d stepped inside the mansion that I felt a clutch in my chest and a great swell of pity for her. None of us had asked to be turned into monsters. It was a life that I would never wish on anyone. Like the rest of the courtiers in attendance, this pitiful girl would learn to exist in her new world. Sometimes, I believed death would be preferable to this endless misery.

  Stopping a respectful distance from the throne, Silvius gave the Comtesse an elegant bow but an eyebrow rose sardonically as he did. A spidery hand swept the cloak back theatrically over one shoulder. A few courtiers tittered in response at his showmanship. Straightening, Silvius sent a semblance of a smile at our hostess. “Comtesse, I have returned as ordered.” His words and expression both stated clearly that he wasn’t happy about his circumstances. While he might have gained a following of his own, Silvius was not powerful enough to challenge the Councillors outright. As someone who hadn’t been created by the Comtesse, Silvius was one of the few who could resist her.

  “Lord Silvius,” the Comtesse said with a regal bow of her head. “How kind of you to grace us with your presence.” The titters were louder this time. My fellow courtier’s sycophantic antics sickened me but, like me, they were just trying to survive.

  Turning her attention to the grubby vampire cowering behind Silvius, the Comtesse made a small moue of disgust at the sight. “What have we here?”

  “This is my new servant,” Silvius said without bothering to introduce her. Silvius had never been a kind master and tended to use his servants harshly. Few lived long under his control. Few would want to.

  “What happened to your last servant? She was barely a hundred years old.”

  “She did not prove to be satisfactory,” Silvius replied with a chilly smile. A shiver raced up my spine at the revelation that he had probably killed his previous servant. It was one more sign of his impertinence and inability to follow the rules set by the Councillors.

  “Couldn’t you have at least bathed her before bringing her into my home?” Now the titters became outright sniggers. The Court craned their necks to better see the lord’s humiliation.

  “Why bother?” he asked in a tone that indicated he didn’t care whether he was laughed at or not. “She’ll only get dirty again. The girl is only three days old.”

  Knowing she wasn’t going to rattle Silvius, the Comtesse shifted her attack. I knew full well that she was monumentally bored with her lengthy life. She craved entertainment and would have it at any cost. “Her flesh hunger has not yet risen?” she asked, fully aware that it hadn’t yet. Her black eyes sparkled with malevolent glee as an idea dawned on her. Usually, she had to arrange for this kind of entertainment. This time, it had dropped into her lap unexpectedly.

  “She has not yet satisfied her blood hunger,” Silvius said stiffly. He was well used to the Comtesse and knew what was coming. He threw a glance at his servant then gave a minute shrug. He didn’t really care what happened to the girl. She’d been made for one purpose only and it was about to be served, just not to him. Unfortunately, I had a sinking feeling I knew who this dubious honour would fall to.

  “Lucentio,” the Comtesse said and pointed to me unerringly through the crowd without turning. “Wake the servant’s flesh hunger.” I wanted to shout my refusal but my throat locked shut as it had many times before when I’d been given an order that I didn’t want to obey.

  “Flesh hunger can’t be raised as if it were simple lust,” Silvius said with a frown as my heart tried to sink. Judging by the avid stares, my fellow courtiers couldn’t care less whether the rules were broken or not. Just like our hostess, they too craved entertainment. The more cruel and sadistic it was, the more they would enjoy it.

  At a commanding nod from Monique that had no effect on me whatsoever, I reluctantly stepped forward. One glance from my true master had me circling the ragged, newly made vampire. She stared at me fearfully, unable to understand what my intentions were. Her blood hunger was still raging through her and no one in this room had the live blood she needed. What ran through our veins was diseased, dead and utterly useless to her.

  This wasn’t the first time I’d been ordered to take an unwilling girl in my arms. Each time it happened, I dreaded it more and more. Sometimes they were human women and rarely survived once my flesh hunger took over. The lure of blood was always too much. The combination of sex and blood turned even the most controlled vampire into an unthinking animal.

  My hands went to my coat and the courtiers crowded around to watch me break in the newest member of our circle.

  Shaking my head, I tried to will away the sight of Luc reaching for the cringing, filthy vampire. It was no use, the image was burned into my brain and now another memory was rising like a dead fish in a pond. Bloated and poisonous, it wouldn’t be denied.

  Smoke clogged the room, blinding me and burning my nostrils with its acrid stench. My kin were screaming in pain and fear. Night had fallen only minutes ago and we hadn’t had time to prepare before we’d been attacked.

  Leaping out of bed, I hastily donned my clothes. Monique joined me, gloriously naked and unashamed. We’d escaped from the Court several weeks ago but now it seemed the Comtesse had found us. I’d known we would never be free of her permanently. I hoped that the short time away from her control had been worth whatever punishment we would now receive.

  Dark eyes wide and fearful, Monique grabbed at my arm. “Lucentio, she’ll kill us all for defying her!”

  I barely acknowledged the warning. Death would be far preferable to the life I’d been suffering through for the past four centuries. Picking up my sword from the chair I’d set it on, I opened the door and entered the hallway.

  A guard leaped at me through the smoke and was met with steel through his throat. Black blood spurted and he went down when I yanked the sword viciously to the side. Flames crackled overhead, the heat was already becoming uncomfortable. I felt the pull of my master and followed it.

  Golden and regal, the Comtesse stood in the centre of the elegant drawing room, surrounded by her loyal followers. She didn’t have her cronies backing her up but she didn’t need them. Thirty of her personal guards were waiting to dispense justice to those of us who had dared to defy her.

  “Comtesse.” I gave her a guarded bow, sword still held at the ready but completely unable
to use it against her. “This is an unexpected surprise.” Monique reached me and stood at my side. The robe she’d hastily pulled on gaped and several of the guards stared at her hungrily.

  “Lucentio,” the Comtesse’s nod was brief but her attention was mainly on Monique. “Lady Monique.” She assessed the black haired vampire with an expression that promised death. Monique stared back defiantly and said nothing.

  “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about your little rebellion?” the Comtesse asked my pretend maker.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Monique replied unconvincingly.

  “Come now,” our true maker and master tittered. “Not only did you run away, you sent an assassin to kill me. Obviously he failed but he told me who sent him before he died.”

  Gaze darting from side to side, Monique suddenly stood up tall and threw me to the wolves. “It was Lucentio’s idea.” My mouth dropped open in surprise at her betrayal. “He said that when you were dead we would rule the vampire nation together.

  The Comtesse sent an amused glance at me. “Tell me the truth, Lucentio. Is Monique lying?” Being Monique’s master as well as mine, she could have asked her the question. Forcing me to betray my lover was more amusing to her. She’d spent thousands of years with her servants as playthings and had perfected the art of turning us against each other.

  Struggling against the compulsion to obey, unwilling to condemn my companion to death, I nodded jerkily. “She lies.” It had been my idea to run away but I’d known nothing about an assassination attempt. I would never be so unwise.

  Shoulders slumping, Monique belatedly gathered her robe together. She’d gambled on taking down the most powerful European vampire and had lost. Now she would pay with her life.

  “Take her head,” the Comtesse commanded me. Turning, I stared at the lover I’d spent four centuries with in dismay. While I had long ago tired of her childish temper and selfish ways, she was still my companion. She silently pleaded with me not to take her life but I was helpless to refuse the order our maker had given me.

  My sword went up then slashed sideways. I cried out in horror when Monique’s head spun to the ground. Her flesh disintegrated even before I dropped to my knees.

  “Congratulations,” the Comtesse said as she delicately stepped over the remains of Monique, “Lord Lucentio.” Her small white hand stroked my hair as I bowed my head in sorrow and self-loathing.

  “I will never make a servant and condemn a human to this wretched life,” I vowed to her. It was a vow I promised myself I would never break. Silently, I also vowed to remain abstinent. It would be a small penance to pay for the atrocities that I had committed.

  Pity for Luc welled inside me but I had no time to comfort him for something that had happened to him three centuries ago. The next memory was far more recent and was one I was all too familiar with.

  Natalie placed her hands on either side of the Japanese imposter’s head, wincing in anticipation as her skull disintegrated. “By the power invested in me as Mortis,” she said quietly, “I pronounce you dead.”

  I was awash with relief that she had survived her battle with the leather clad warrior. My relief vanished when my master spoke. “What is this creature you have brought into my home, Lucentio?” the Comtesse whispered. Her gaze shifted from Natalie to me. She pointed at me with one shaky finger as she came to an erroneous conclusion. “Traitor! Seize him!” Her guards hesitated, unable to believe such treachery from me. At a glare from our ruler, they rushed forward.

  “He has saved you!” Gregor shouted in my defence as I was surrounded by sword wielding guards. “If he hadn’t found Natalie and brought her here, you would all be dead!”

  Holding up a hand, the Comtesse stopped her guards from dismembering me on the spot. “There is only one way you can prove to me that you are not a traitor, that you are not collaborating with this creature to end our existence.” A smile, small and vicious, flickered across her face and was gone. It was a smile I’d seen countless times before and had come to dread. “Cut off her head.”

  Shaking my head in denial, I fought against the compulsion to obey harder than I’d ever fought before. I took slow, lurching steps towards my new lover, the only woman I’d ever truly loved. My sword made prophetic, metallic ringing noises each time the tip touched the marbled floor. I closed the distance between us until I was standing only a yard away. I silently implored Natalie to run.

  “I gave you an order, Lucentio!” the Comtesse thundered. I flinched and lifted my sword. Young, naïve and still so human, Natalie watched me with dull resignation in her lovely grey eyes. Some part of her had known this would be her fate. The missing page in the Prophet’s journal, I thought. The tell-tale ragged leavings of a torn out page had haunted me but I hadn’t had the courage to ask Natalie why she’d removed it. Now I knew. It would be my sword that would end her existence before she had even achieved her destiny.

  “I am sorry, Natalie,” I said in a voice low enough that only she could hear me. “But no one can fight against an order that their maker has given them.” My sword swung up then flashed in a deadly arc and sliced through her neck.

  Frozen and horrified at what I had just done, I watched as her head bounced a few times, rolled and came to rest. In slow motion, her headless corpse fell to its knees. Instead of disintegrating like any other vampire would have done, Natalie remained solid. There was still life in her severed head and her mouth opened in a soundless scream as the Comtesse panicked and ordered her guards to dismember her body.

  Still on my knees, I put my hands over my face so I wouldn’t have to watch the carnage. Hearing the sounds of rent bone and flesh was almost too much to bear. When they were done, the guards kicked my poor lost love’s body into a heap. The Comtesse moved to inspect her, smiling evilly. I’d never hated her more than at that moment. Through my fingers, I saw Natalie’s eyes close as she came as close as we creatures could to losing consciousness.

  “Guards, clear the room. I want everyone to leave immediately,” the Comtesse ordered. Obeying her order, I stumbled to my feet. “Not you, Lucentio,” she said in her falsely sweet voice. “I want you to stay and see what happens to those who betray me.” She wasn’t speaking about Natalie, my lost love hadn’t had any dealings with the Comtesse and owed her no allegiance. She was talking about the punishment that I would have to endure. After seven centuries as her servant, she was under the illusion that I still hadn’t suffered enough.

  Once the room was empty of all but twenty guards, she gave an order that sent me close to madness. “Box up this servant’s remains and bury the pieces far apart from each other,” she ordered five of her men. “You are to tell only me where you have buried her. If this servant really is Mortis, then she won’t die from her injuries. Cut into pieces that will never be reunited, she’ll slowly starve and go mad.” At that, she gave a witch-like cackle of laughter.

  The thought of Natalie being buried alive and suffering for an eternity was too much for me to bear. I cut my way through the guards towards her remains, intending to gather them up and run as far as I could. In my madness, I forgot one inescapable fact: the Comtesse could control me with a single word.

  “Stop!” she thundered and my muscles instantly locked into place. “You will take no further action to attempt to free this servant, Lucentio. You will obey my every order without question. You will remain in my sight unless I order you away and you will never, ever try to escape from me.”

  With every word she uttered, my heart shrivelled a little more. I could only watch as my beloved’s remains were gathered by the five chosen guards and carried away. Inside my chest, my dead heart broke in two.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Natalie! Nat! Snap out of it!” Hands were on my shoulders, shaking me gently but insistently.

  “Just five more minutes, Mum,” I groaned and tried to go back to sleep.

  “I assure you, I am not your mother,” a very masculine voice sai
d in amusement. A hand tweaked my bare breast to prove his words.

  My eyes flew open and I saw Luc kneeling beside me. He had teeth marks in his neck that were already healing. Wiping a hand over my mouth, it came away stained with black blood. “Oh, yeah. Now I remember,” I said sheepishly.

  “You should not have bitten me,” Luc remonstrated as he propped me back against a pile of pillows and tucked the blankets up around my chin. He climbed into bed beside me but our flesh was too chilly to offer each other any warmth. “You could have died if you’d ingested my blood.”

  “Nah,” I flapped my hand weakly at the idea. “A little vampire blood can’t kill me. Buckets of the stuff probably couldn’t.” My mind was still reeling with the information overload I’d just been given. Luc examined my face carefully and noticed again how different I was.

  “What happened to you after I…,” he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

  “After you beheaded me?” I finished for him and grimaced. He looked down in remembered shame and nodded. “Well, I woke up and realized I was a head in a box and things kind of went downhill from there,” I joked. Stricken, Luc put a hand over his eyes. Like me, he had no tears to shed but I sensed he was close to breaking down.

  “It was pretty funny, in a gruesome kind of way,” I said quickly. “Geordie nearly blew chunks when I told him and the other two what happened.”

  “You have spoken to Gregor and Igor?” he asked me, pushing aside his shame for the moment.

  “You think I’d be able to break you out of the mansion all by myself?” I said with a raised eyebrow.