Kathleen, the woman who had checked on me in the bedroom, shuffled forward in her seat and stood up stiffly, as though she had aching bones. “Time for some dinner, I think.” She smiled and left the room.
“What happened?” I glanced at Michel, he was watching me, leaning back on the sofa, quite relaxed. “Is...” I swallowed, “Is Max still alive?” I know technically vampires are meant to be the undead, so not alive, but with the really old ones, like Michel, they can make themselves seem just as alive as you and me. Heartbeats, breathing, blinking, they can even keep their body temperature close to normal. Easier when they have fed, but not impossible when hungry either. Asking if a vamp is dead dead, just doesn't sound right, so I don't bother anymore. I think Michel kind of likes that. The appearing more human thing again I'm guessing.
“Alas, yes.”
I bolted upright on the sofa. “What do you mean yes?” I asked, my heartbeat hammering along like a freight train, I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder. Michel leaned forward and cupped my face in his hands.
“Ma douce, you are safe, do not fear him.”
“I'm not sure anyone is safe from... him.” I wanted to spit out a curse, to call Max something horrid, but words failed me right then. There were no phrases bad enough to cover what I felt for Max. I sat back against the couch a little defeated. Michel hesitated, as if waiting for me to spring forward again, to say the words that were so obviously on my mind, but then he slowly reclined and continued to play with my hair.
“It was unexpected that he would show himself here. I must apologise, my dear, had I known he was in our city I would have protected you better.”
The part of me that likes to think the best of people wanted to say it was OK, that he couldn't have done much in the light of day. But that other part of me, the one that was becoming more and more prevalent the longer I lived in this new world of mine, was angry at Michel. Of course I hadn't really counted on him coming to my rescue, but because he did in the end, I couldn't help feeling he should have come a little sooner. Then I wouldn't have had to feel what Max made me feel, see what he made me see. I still couldn't stop the images playing like an old movie reel over and over across my eyes whenever I close them. I may never go to sleep again.
I sighed and rubbed my temples, leaning forward in my seat, running my hands through my hair. Michel moved his arm back into his lap and watched. “I am sorry, Lucinda. He is very strong, attacking him in daylight would have been disastrous. I could not risk losing you. I am, unfortunately, not omnipotent.”
I nodded. Being angry at Michel really wouldn't help, not now anyway.
“I have questions.”
“And you shall have answers, but first you eat.”
And as if on cue, Kathleen came in with a tray of food. She placed it across my lap; lamb and baby veggies with a fruit jus. How did she know? I may have loved those little lambs and their waggling tails back on the farm when I was young, but I'm a farmer's daughter through and through. Give me a succulent lamb chop any day over a veggie burger. There was wine on the side, two glasses. She filled them both and handed one to Michel. Vamps may need blood to exist, but they won't pass up the odd glass of Merlot or Cab Sav when offered.
Bruno came over then and whispered in Michel's ear, he nodded and the big man left the room. Matthew walked over to his wife and they both bid us good night, I guess it was just me and the boss then?
The food smelled divine, I could feel saliva filling my mouth. My stomach decided to make a rather loud grumbling noise at that moment. Michel laughed. “Are you just going to stare at it, my dear, or should you not heed the call of your body and eat?”
I'd never eaten in front of Michel before, it was kind of nerve-racking. I mean, would he be disgusted at my eating solid food, or would it remind him how hungry he was and make him want to bite into something equally as succulent, but definitely not on the menu? Time to find out I guessed.
It tasted as good as it smelled. It didn't take long for me to forget all about the big bad vampire sitting to my left and devour the whole meal. When I finished, it was Michel who lifted the tray and placed it to the side. He also refilled our glasses again with wine. He settled back down on the couch facing me, reclining like royalty waiting to be served. I twisted in my seat so I was facing him.
He did look stunning in the low light of the room, very comfortable and at ease. This really was his home? He sipped his wine and waited for me to start. For some reason I couldn't face the big questions right away. I mean, I wanted to know what it was about me that was in such hot demand and all, but I was also a little scared of the answer. I'd build up to it.
“This doesn't seem like a vampire's house?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “All the glass,” I added, indicating the floor to ceiling, wall to wall expanse of glass in front of us.
He smiled and reached over his shoulder to the side table, picking up a remote control unit. After pushing a button, a slow whirling noise started in the walls, then a plain concertina wall came out from either side and proceeded to close over the glass completely. “Oh,” I said.
“Every window in the house has one, set to a timer. They close right on sunrise each day.” Michel pushed the button again and the windows were revealed in all their splendour.
He sipped more wine and waited. It's not often you could call a vampire patient, but Michel was the epitome of patience right then. Somehow he knew how difficult it was for me to ask these questions, he wasn't rushing me, he was quite happy to wait and let me get there on my own. I would have preferred a little help.
I took another sip of wine for fortitude. “What am I?” I didn't even look at him when I said it, I couldn't bare to see pity or sympathy or even anything else for that matter.
Michel moved closer and took my free hand in his, his thumb stroked the back of my hand in a familiar pattern. “You are a remarkable young woman. Strong, capable. Beautiful.” I pulled my hand free and stood up. I didn't need his flirting right now, nor his compliments, I needed the truth.
“Come on, Michel, give me a break. I deserve better than this. I almost got killed in your little power play last night. It's obvious you've got a beef with Max. This isn't something new, but here I am, slap bang in the middle of it. What's changed and what's so damn special about me?”
He had been leaning forward on the sofa when I stood and hadn't moved an inch during my little speech. He shifted back in the seat now however and gazed up at me. Another sip of wine. Drag it out why don't ya?
“Centuries ago our races lived side by side, similar to how we exist with the humans today, but there was full disclosure back then. Your kind knew what we were and like-wise we knew who you were. We were made to work together. We are of the same ilk. We are designed to have you by our side. Some abused this relationship however. Choosing to treat their kindred as servants, as a means to an end. That abuse lead to a rift and finally your kind could contain themselves no more.
“We parted ways, yours into hiding, ours into the cities. It is only in the past 200 years or so that your kind has resurfaced again, out of necessity, but still not in the numbers of before. We vampyre, brought it on ourselves. We hunted with abandon, we fed without pause. We were accountable to no one, not even ourselves.
“Then, with your elders' help, we re-established the Iunctio. It had never really been destroyed, just neglected. Part of what powers the Iunctio is from your kind, with their re-emergence we were able to fortify the Iunctio and bring it back into what it was meant to be. Rules were set. Safety precautions for humans, fall back positions for vampyre, strict guidelines for our kind. It works, in a fashion. Nothing is perfect, my dear, but it is what we have.”
He sipped his wine again. I just stood there, staring at him. I couldn't even put into words what was going through my head. I wanted answers, but now I had even more.
“Unfortunately, with the reappearance of your kind, comes the Maximilian of ours. He and his kin, have tried to secure on
e or two of your brethren overseas. But once you reach maturity it is harder of course and what he offers is not to everyone's liking. When I found you, became aware of you, I did everything in my power to keep your identity, your success as a hunter, a secret from the Iunctio, in the hopes it would give you the time needed to reach maturity.”
“I am mature.”
He smiled. “Of course, my dear, without a doubt, but the maturity that I speak of for your kind is not considered until age 25. You are three weeks off your 25 birthday, is that correct?”
Huh? “Yeah. What happens when I turn 25?”
“You come into your powers in full, of course.” And before I could get the words out, he raised his hand in placating manner. “Do not ask me, I do not know the full extent of your powers. It differs for each of you, but it will be similar to those of mine and my brethren. You will be stronger. Not quite to our level, but enough to protect yourself. You will become faster, nearly as fast as I. You will also possess psychic powers of some description; the ability to control your environment, for example, or influence those around you.”
Wow. He must have seen the look on my face because he leaned forward and continued. “There is a catch.” There always is. “Your powers were never meant to exist without a vampyre at your side. Without a joining... you will die.” He said it softly, as though he didn't want me to feel the punch those words held.
He'd failed.
“When? How long have I got?”
“One full turn of the moon. One month from your 25 birthday.” He looked intently at me, no sympathy or pity in his eyes, just a strength, a conviction that that would not happen.
“But, but...that can't be right. What about the others I talk to on the website? They've never mentioned this. They're all older than me. This can't be right, maybe it's changed?”
Michel stood then and smoothly walked across to me. Still no pity, only a hint of sadness in the depth of those rich blue eyes.
“They will have had a joining, my dear. They will have a vampyre they trust, someone of my kind, they have pledged their life to. I am sorry. I know this is not what you wish to hear.”
I just looked at him, standing there in front of me, those strong handsome features, not offering a hint of pity for me to rage against, not offering anything other than an understanding.
“What am I, Michel?”
“You are Nosferatin, my dear.” He pronounced it Nosferat–een, lengthening the end.
I didn't hear if he said anything else after that, I felt so very tired all of a sudden. So, so tired. The last thing I registered, was the world tilting on its axis and the floor approaching fast.
Chapter 8
Nosferatin
“Wake up, ma douce. Wake up.”
I was lying in Michel's arms, on the floor. He was cradling my head in his lap and softly stroking my cheek. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was his face. Slight edges of concern showing in the corner of his now indigo eyes. I shifted abruptly away and scuttled backwards towards the armchair.
He looked a little defeated and sighed.
“What did you do to me?” I demanded.
“When you know how, the word can have power.” Seeing the look of outrage on my face, he quickly went on. “I did not use it to harm you, my dear, simply to see what you're reaction to it would be. It seems you sleep.” He cocked his head at me then, raising an eyebrow delicately and smiling slightly. “Perhaps, you seek sleep for pleasure, ma douce?”
The implication, I could only guess, was obvious, he visits me in my dreams. In my dreams I feel safe.
“Well, that's just grand! Now any old vamp can cast a spell on me with the name of my kind and I'll fall down asleep at their feet, ready to be dinner.”
“It doesn't quite work that way.” He looked a little contrite at that. Oh great, what next? “Only those who are suitable as your kindred vampyre can wield its power and only a response appropriate to that vampyre will be elicited.” He shrugged, as if to say, that's just the way it is and went on, but gritted his teeth slightly. “I suspect, should Maximilian be suitable - which he no doubt is, his power level would indicate a good match - your response to him voicing that word would be different. I'm hoping it would involve silver.”
I shot him a glance at that. “Will he always have that hold over me?”
“No, when you choose a kindred vampyre and join with them, that power will cease for all others.”
My mind was reeling. Too much info! Too much info! I could feel a thumping headache coming on. This was way too much. I belonged to a race of kindred vampire people, with powers! But, I would die if I didn't join with a vampire. Not just any vampire, but one that has the power to make me sleep, or whatever, simply by saying my race's name.
Why the friggin' hell me?
“What's in it for you? What's in it for the Nosferatu? You wouldn't want someone who has the ability, the power to kill you, so close. Surely?”
He sat back down on the couch in a languid movement. It was obvious he was doing it for my benefit. I swallowed visibly and briefly shut my eyes. It wasn't as though I didn't appreciate the performance, it was just not wise to fall under the effect his act created.
“Au contraire, my dear. You are in fact a prize, to be sure. With a kindred Nosferatin at their side, a vampyre will double his powers. The Nosferatin empowers the Vampyre, the Nosferatu empowers the Hunter. Symbiotic, the relationship. One cannot live without the other.”
“Huh. But you won't die if you don't join with a Nosferatin?”
“No.” And then silence.
I started pacing, I needed to think.
“But, you would be immune to your kindred vampyre's powers, unless you allow them. They would have no hold over you, in the psychic sense, at least. That is a bonus, is it not?”
That was a bonus, a vampire who couldn't fight back. “So, I could join with a vampire and then stake them?” A thought formulated in my mind. Maybe, if I was forced to, I could join with Max and then stake him in his sleep. End of story. Good night bad guy.
“Not impossible, but unlikely.” When I stopped pacing and raised my eyebrows at him, he went on. “The relationship is symbiotic. You kill your kindred and you die.”
“Well, that sucks. What's the point of being able to resist their power if you can't use it to kill them?” Crap.
He smiled. “We are not known for stupidity, Lucinda, my kind would not have formulated such an alliance if it favoured just you.”
We locked gazes then. There was no power coming from him when he said it, there didn't need to be. Vampires at the top of the food chain and all that.
OK, so I could take the hint, but I wasn't giving up though. This was the first time I'd had the chance to find out what I was, what I really was. I wasn't going to waste the opportunity.
“Where did we originate from?”
He relaxed back into his seat slightly, the dangerous topic of death to the Hunter had passed. “History is unclear on this point, but it is believed that at the beginning we were of one kind.”
I interrupted. “One kind?”
He just spread his hands as if to say what do you think I mean?
My mind was doing the whirly-gig thing again. I could hardly breathe. I think I may have even been panting.
“If...if we were one kind, does that mean...” I mimed fangs into my neck with my fingers.
He laughed. “No. When we parted ways, the Nosferatin went into the Day, the Nosferatu; the Night.” And when he saw the look of incomprehension on my face, “In this instance Day and Night do not refer to a period of time within one cycle of the Earth's rotation. They refer to Good and Evil. Light and Dark.”
Huh? So does that mean Michel thinks of himself as evil? I'd file that little piece of information away for later, I thought.
OK, so we were technically the same race when we started out - I didn't really want to acknowledge that, but it was centuries ago, before New Zealand even existed, evolutio
n and all that - but now we were practically against each other. I mean I'm designed to kill bad vampires. But then, I also feel at home when I am with them. How does that work?
Back to basics I think.
“So, just to recap. I die if I don't join with a vampire before one month past my 25 birthday. But I get powers and that vampire's powers have no hold over me any longer, but he will double his own. And if I kill him, I die. That about right?”
“Yes.”
“What happens if I die first?”
He paused then, didn't shift his gaze, just rubbed two of his fingers together, as if calming himself, as they rested on his crossed knees.
“They would die too.”
That didn't make sense. Why would a vampire limit himself to a mortal's lifespan just for a double load of his own powers? And then it hit me. Like a tonne of bricks. “I would become immortal, wouldn't I?”
Softly. “Yes.”
Good grief. Death at just 25, or live forever tied into a joining with one of the undead. The guys I'm built to hunt. One of the guys that can only survive on human blood and can kill with the flick of their wrist. Fuck!
“This is a lot, Michel. A hell of a lot to take in, in one hit.”
“Usually, a Nosferatin elder would impart this knowledge to you. Nosferatin runs in a family's bloodline. The first born holds the Nosferatin gene and becomes the Nosferatin, the second holds the knowledge and passes on the gene to the next generation. Your parents, your natural parents, died, did they not?”
His eyes held a sadness when I looked at them. A sadness for me. I didn't want to acknowledge his compassion, he was a vampire, vampires don't care.
“Yes,” I whispered. I didn't talk about my biological parents with anyone. They died when I was only a baby. In a car accident, driving the Arthur's Pass, from Greymouth to Christchurch. My Aunt and Uncle, on my mother's side, raised me as their own. They're my Mum and Dad.
Kindred (Kindred, Book 1) Page 8
