by Hall, Ian
Chapter 2
Present Day
The Preparation
Turning Steve into a vampire would be first on the agenda; he needed the maximum time getting used to being one, and there seemed to be no point in delaying it all.
With the contents of his life in one medium-sized suitcase, we drove back to my house, with me explaining the procedure as we went.
Once inside, there seemed to be little point in delaying the whole process.
“Okay, kiddo. Lie on the sofa.”
Steve showed a sign of nerves for the first time. “Lie down?”
I nodded. “There might be some thrashing around at first, while your body acclimatizes to its new regime.”
“Ah.”
But he didn’t look at all convinced. Trying to get it over with quickly, I just jumped on him, biting deep into his neck, finding his carotid artery first time. He bucked under my assault, squealing like a stuck pig, but I held him down, my mouth maintaining its suction, taking a fair amount of blood.
Then I quickly slashed my wrist with my fangs, and jammed it into his mouth, forcing him to drink. He struggled at first, shaking his head under the pressure of my arm.
I leant over him, my eyes close to his. “Don’t resist, Steve, just drink. It’ll all be over soon enough.”
With his resistance quelled slightly by my suggestion, he gingerly sucked his first foreign blood. I saw a questioning look pass over his face, then, experiencing his first wave of pleasure, soon suckled on my bleeding wrist like a hungry baby.
“Oh shit!” he gasped as the blood went to work on his insides, his eyes wide with shock and an orgy of disorientation. “What a hit!”
I held him down to the sofa until the first waves had passed, then as his body acclimatized itself to its new regime; I ‘suggested’ he sleep for a while.
In the hours that he lay there, tossing and turning in spasms of torment and pain, I read one of the books again; Catherine’s stay in England, her marriage to Henry, her many pregnancies and miscarriages.
“Man, she turned out good.” I smiled in pride as I read of her ride to Scotland to smash their army, while Henry pissed around in France. “And in full armor too!” I grinned. “And while pregnant!” I committed as much as I could to memory; dates, the order of events. I even began to look for periods in which I could be of influence to her, critical times, periods where things could have gone awry.
But, of course, for the life of me, I couldn’t find one breath of compassion for Henry. The bastard had whored himself silly while pumping kid after stillborn kid from his Spanish brood mare. And, then he’d discarded her for a witch, Anne Boleyn.
Steve stirred on the sofa about seven hours later.
I looked up from my studies. “How you feeling?”
He rubbed his eyes. “Worst hangover ever.” Then he quickly got up and vanished, appearing a few yards away, banging into the wall. “Fuck! Restroom?”
I pointed to the hallway. “Take your time. Walk everywhere until you get used to the new speed thing.”
“Okay.” And he toddled off down the hallway.
“We’ll get you outside and running today,” I said after he’d returned.
“That’s good.” He looked introspective. “I feel like I’ve got a lot of energy trapped inside me.”
“You wait until you’ve had your first proper feed.” I smiled.
“I dunno,” he frowned slightly. “The idea of food seems to turn my stomach at the moment.”
“I’m not talking about food; I’m talking about ‘feeding’.” I opened my mouth and flashed my fangs at him.
“Oh, shit.” He nodded as the realization hit home. “I drink blood now.”
“Yes, you do.” I changed my shoes for sneakers, and suggested he do the same. “And you now can have almost any woman in the world.”
“Wow, how come?”
“Well, we vampires have a pheromone in our breath. It makes us able to persuade people to do stuff.”
“Like being hypnotized?”
“Exactly.” I nodded, and got to my feet. “The effect is exactly the same.”
“So I could persuade my ex-wife to fuck me?” The look on his face quite sobered me. I’m not sure what she’d done to him, but it looked like he’d already planned to exact his revenge; and it didn’t seem to bode well for the unfortunate lady.
We went outside. “Keep up with me,” I said, jogging off around the corner of the road. Ensuring his position at my shoulder, I gradually ramped up the speed until the houses vanished into a blur, then out into the open countryside, jumping fences as we went. Then I slowed him down to a stop.
“I’m not even out of breath!” He looked around. “Where are we?”
“About ten miles out of town.”
“No shit. How fast can we go?”
“Over a hundred miles an hour, probably close to one-thirty.”
He just stood, looking at me like I’d told him Martians were real.
“And better still, we can reach that speed almost instantly. To others, it looks like we’ve just disappeared.”
“Like the trick you showed me back at my place.”
“Exactly.”
“So what else can we do?”
“Well, we can climb. Anything that’s got the slightest handhold, we can get up it; trees, buildings, whatever.”
“Can we be seen in mirrors?”
I sighed. “Yes, we can, and we don’t glitter, we don’t get effected by garlic, we don’t get repelled by crucifixes, and we don’t die with silver bullets: that’s werewolves. Which don’t exist, by the way, that would be stupid.”
He laughed. “And the idea of vampire’s isn’t stupid?”
“Clearly not, since we’ve both just demonstrated it.”
“So how can we be killed?”
“Good question,” I said, jogging off. “Wood through the heart, head chopped from the body, or complete burning, which doesn’t happen often, as you’d have to tie one down really well before you set fire to him.”
“So when we’re back in 1502, we steer clear of arrows and big guys with axes.”
“More or less.”
We jogged for a while, doing maybe sixty, getting back to the house without seeing much of anybody. I liked the area I lived in, everyone kept themselves pretty much to themselves.
“So there’s one subject I keep coming back to in my head,” Steve said. “The sex part. When do I get my first sex in months?”
I laughed. “In time. You’re pretty high right now after feeding from me when I turned you, and I need you to calm down a bit. We don’t have much time to teach you the basics, and I have to teach you everything before we go back. We might get separated.”
He looked at me askance. “You mean we don’t just ‘jump’ together?”
“Well, it’s not an exact science; I’ve only done it once so far. Keith Fallon, that’s the vampire bastard I’m going to stick back in 1502, he actually arrived almost two years before I did, and a good hundred miles apart.”
“Ooh, that’s quite unsettling.”
“Which is why you’ve got to get used to your vampire capabilities quickly; you’ll be out of your depth enough on the time-travel side without the other being a burden too.”
He nodded, and I marveled at his poise; the unquestioning matter-of-factness that just accepted what I told him. I’d chosen well.
“So what’s next?” he asked.
“I’ll give you a day or so, then we’ll show you how to feed for the first time. You mentioned an ex-wife?”
“Yeah, she’s over in Lincoln. True bitch.”
“And you wouldn’t mind getting a bit of payback?”
“Especially if there was a bit of sex to go along with it; she’s a good-looking chick, and like I said before, I haven’t had any in a few months.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem anymore; feeding and sex are irrevocably linked, and with the persuasion hormone, you’ll never have a
problem getting sex. Sometimes it gets a bit involved.”
“I can’t wait.” Then his expression changed. “You say the arrival thing back in time is not an exact science, so what happens if we end up in the same time period again?”
“In what way?” I asked.
“Well, you arrived in July, 1501?” I nodded. “And got kicked out in May 1502. What happens if we perform the same spin as you and Keith did, and we get propelled back into 1501 again?”
“Ah, good thinking.” But I didn’t have a quick enough answer for him.
“Let’s prepare a few contingency plans, places to meet, ways to get back together if we get separated.”
So we sat together, sipped coffee and worked out the details, then we went out for another run, this time along the highway. I needed him to get rid of some of the high he currently rode on, to speed up the education process.
That night, we trolled the bars in Hartford, checking out the chicks, letting him have a little fun with the pheromone thing. From a sex-starved solitary ex-husband with a destroyed ego, he sure made good progress. By the time the bars had closed, we could have gotten laid a dozen times, and a few were almost begging for it.
Good training.
The next day, we took a drive into Massachusetts, and looked up his ex; a salon hairstylist named Penny. We watched her through the big glass windows at the front of a little strip-mall salon. The sign said 10am to 8 pm.
On appearance, she didn’t quite live up to his buildup, but she certainly didn’t look like no shrinking violet either. She had a kinda Swedish thing going; tall, thin, but with strong-looking shoulders. Wispy blond hair dripped over pale blue eyes. Really not bad at all.
“And you’d like to do what exactly?” I asked.
“Well, basically, I’d like to give her one fuck on my terms.”
“And those terms are?”
“No thought to her pleasure, no thought to her release, and no thought to what she wants out of it all.”
“But we also don’t want her remembering anything about it, because lawsuits can get pretty dirty if they get started.”
“Yeah, that too.”
So while we waited on closing time, we practiced talking to perfect strangers, getting them to do silly stuff, refining his suggestive techniques, and generally having a bit of fun.
It all just took his confidence one stage higher.
Then eight o’clock came, and we found ourselves back at the salon. We watched from the car as Penny and another woman walked out into the parking lot, and got into a half-decent Honda SUV.
“Do you know her friend?”
Steve shook his head as we tailed the Honda. “Never seen her before. But it looks like she’s going home. She lives just around the corner.” We followed them to a small house, single story, nondescript; kinda ordinary in every way.
“Look and learn,” I said, parking the car half a block away.
As Penny and her friend got out of the car and busied themselves getting to the door, I approached. “Hi there!” I smiled. “I’m Greg from three doors down, seems my water’s off.”
We shook hands, and as I got close, I whispered, “You like me. I’m harmless.” Kinda panting out my breath as I did so.
“Hi, Greg, I’m Penny.” She returned my smile, and it definitely lessened the slight harshness in her face. Pretty. “This is Alison.”
“Hi, Alison.” And I did the same whisper suggestion to her. “I’m pretty sure there’s been a burst main somewhere, but I’ve just moved in, and I’ve got no idea where to phone.”
“Oh, let’s get inside and find out if we’ve got water first.” Penny fished keys from her pocket, and we all slipped past the door and into the house.
Of course, Penny had running water, and I said I’d go back to my house and check again.
When I appeared at her door again, two minutes later, Steve stood behind me.
“Hi, Penny.” I leant forward. “I’ve got a friend with me. You like him.”
She looked past my shoulder, and for a second, emotions danced behind her eyes in confusion. “Steve? Is that you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s Steve, but you don’t feel upset about him being here, in fact, you quite like the idea. Why don’t you invite us in?” I asked.
Again, a slight hesitation, then she smiled firmly. “Yeah, why don’t you both come inside? I’ve got a bottle of white in the fridge.”
It would be the worst invite she’d ever make.
Chapter 3
Present Day
The Final Training
Penny and Alison fussed around us like two waitresses promised a huge tip. In moments we had huge wine glasses, and had paired off onto two sofas.
Although he seemed to wallow in the circumstances, Steve kinda froze up a little once we’d got inside. He’d not pressed close to his ex, so I decided to take the lead.
Alison looked slender, attractive in a young Sigourney Weaver kind of way, and it had been a few days since I’d fed myself, so the possibilities were encouraging. “Your bra is uncomfortable.” I nuzzled closer on the sofa. “You want to take it off.” I looked across as Steve tried hard to hold back a grin.
“Excuse me just a second, will you?” Alison rose, fumbling with her bra straps under her blouse. “I’ll be right back.”
When she returned, her small breasts bobbed free under the smooth silky material. Much better.
Steve seemed to gain confidence from the move and leant over to Penny’s face. “Penny? Kiss me.”
And she did; but the one small lip to lip exchange had all the passion of a leaf of week-old lettuce.
I smiled at his inexperience. I slid closer to Alison, nuzzling her neck. “Don’t mind anyone else in the room, Alison. You’re becoming very attracted to me. In fact, you’re becoming so turned on for me, it’s getting hard for you to hold back.”
She seemed to squirm on the sofa next to me, like there were ants in her panties.
Steve took my lead and got himself real close. “Penny, don’t pay attention to anyone else in the room, just me. Put the wine down and make out with me like I was the hottest man on the planet.”
I nodded in appreciation, at last he’d cottoned on, and as she pounced on him, I saw a little bit of cruelty slipping into his expression.
Then Alison crawled onto me, and I slipped back on the sofa, letting her slide on top. “Take your time, baby,” I said as our mouths met. It took a few minutes for me to complete my message. “We’ve got all night.”
So with Alison keeping me warm, I watched my wingman get some payback from his ex-wife. She soon stripped down to naked, discarding her clothes like confetti all around. She literally ripped the shirt off his back, and wasted no time in getting rid of the rest of his clothes.
And then, just as I thought he’d lost all control of the situation, and had decided to just let her screw him, he surfaced with a dark confidence that should have scared her. “Go down on me.”
Again, a second’s hesitation, but she went to work with gusto.
“She never did that before,” he said, his eyes closed in pleasure as Penny’s head bobbed up and down.
“Watch and learn,” I said, tumbling Alison onto the carpeted floor. Sparing little time in foreplay, I quickly rid her of panties and skirt. In moments, I had plunged ball-deep, and she lay grunting like the happy camper. I turned her head away from Steve, and pointed to her neck. “Three inches down from the lobe of the ear, we find the carotid artery. The blood flow here is at the body’s maximum. Just before you reach orgasm, just bite here, and suck.”
I readied myself, began to pump my seed into her belly, and duly bit her neck, pulling a nice thick flow from her trembling body. “Oh, how wonderful that feels,” I hissed. “A mix of sexual ecstasy and a drug high, and a spiritual experience, all at once.”
“Now we don’t drink our fill. If we take too much, they won’t recover. Take a little bit to begin with. Once we’ve finished, we simply lick over th
e wounds like this…” I watched as my blood-veined saliva made the lacerations immediately contract.
Leaving Alison lying unconscious on the floor, I wiped my penis on her skirt. “Your turn.”
Okay, it wasn’t particularly pretty to watch, but I had to supervise, and then I had to pull his head off her neck before he drained her completely. He snarled angrily at my intrusion, but regained his composure quickly enough not to alarm me.
“What now?” he asked, seemingly tingling with energy.
“Well, we could wake these two sleeping beauties up and go for round two.”
“That’s allowed?”
“They’ll be sluggish, but it’s not as though we’re cutting their throats or something. They’ll enjoy it too.”
In the end, we stayed an hour or two, then gave both tired ladies a ‘forget me’ suggestion, and left them sleeping together in Penny’s bed, very naked, probably very sore, and with their fingers covered in each other’s juices; Steve’s last idea. I kinda liked it. My last images were of the two of them going at each other with such a passion; I’d have been very surprised if it had been their first time.
That weekend, in the midst of our reading, watching television documentaries, and immersing ourselves totally in the period, we hit the first week of the New York Renaissance festival.
After seeing the real thing first-hand, the Renfest did seem kinda ‘icky’ at times. I mean, it tried hard to be sixteenth century England, but of course, there’s a limit to what you can do with plywood and stucco. But we were there for a purpose, and the money we spent proved to be a small fortune.
Before the day had passed, we had full renaissance garb, from head to toe. We had a sword and dirk each, real weapons grade, and we’d picked up a couple of other books on the period.
At least when we landed this time, we’d be clothed properly, and have weapons.
After we’d shopped, we had a few beers at the village tavern, and listened to some of the renaissance fair acts; some weren’t bad, and they definitely had better sounding instruments than 1502.
To be honest, after the eleven months in Tudor times, kinda on my own, I liked having the company of another person, and Steve proved astute, insightful, and best of all; a good laugh.
