by Pace, Pepper
”I’m kinda picky.” I grimaced. I hoped he wasn’t going to make some boiled, Old World food. .
”Do you like eggs?” he asked.
”Yeah.”
”Cheese?
”Oh yeah!”
”How about an omelet?”
”Yum.” I nodded.
Alexis whipped up cheese omelets, and we drank sweet wine. After I did the dishes—they didn’t magically get clean and Alexis wasn’t getting the concept of a dishwasher—we went back out to the beach to take a walk. We returned to the house in time to sit on the Adirondack chairs and watch the sun go down.
Alexis built a fire in the large fireplace and we made love again on the rug.
Afterwards we went to bed holding and kissing each other softly.
Sleep was just sleep and not death. I woke once to the sound of Alex’s quiet snores. I snuggled against his neck to the smell of soap and shampoo, and he clasped me tight while he slept.
CHAPTER 17
When I woke the next morning, it was actually morning. The sun shined brightly through the large window. I stretched, enjoying the feel of the oversized bed. Where was Alexis? I heard music from downstairs and smelled ... coffee!
When I entered the kitchen, he pushed a frying pan off the burner. ”Good morning, love.” He kissed me.
”Good morning. What are you cooking?”
”Pour yourself some coffee. Breakfast is almost ready.” He went back to cooking his mystery breakfast while I had coffee. “How did you sleep?”
”It was great. I actually slept and didn’t pass out. How’d you sleep?”
”Good,” he said. “I figured out the dishwasher.” He gestured to it. “And I brought some of your music.”
With a pleasant jolt I realized it was Neo soul drifting from the hidden speakers. I was feeling right at home.
He brought the skillet over to the table and spooned something onto the plate in front of me. He spooned some onto his own plate and then put the skillet in the sink.
I stared at my plate. “What ... is it?”
”This was what I ate most mornings as a human. Cow brains, steak, blood sausage, and stewed oats.”
I stood and kissed his nose. “I’m just going to have some cereal. Can you materialize some Cheerios and milk?”
He concentrated on me then glanced at one of the cupboards. ”Cheerios in the cupboard and milk in the fridge.” He ate a forkful of food. “You don’t know what you’re missing, love.”
After I finished the Cheerios, I ate the steak.
It wasn’t half bad if you don’t mind some loose cow brains and smudges of blood sausage.
”What are we going to do today?” I asked while loading the dishwasher.
”Make love.”
”Oh,” I said. “Is that all?”
“And I’ll make you lunch and dinner, too.”
I shook my head. “I think … I’d rather just make love.”
For two days we made love, played on the beach, and listened to music. We even had a barbecue. We went fishing sometimes, and one night we took a bubble bath together.
It was all so … human.
~***~
The days turned to weeks in our private little world. One night we sat on a beach blanket and watched the stars. “When are we going back?” I asked. I had thought the question many times but didn’t want to know the answer. This place had become my haven. A part of me wanted to stay here forever, but another part needed to know what was happening back in the real world.
Alexis looked at me. “It’s not time, love.”
“Why?”
He turned back to look at the stars.
“Alexis?”
He sighed. “I would not hurt you for anything. If you go back now, you will be in great pain.”
I swallowed. “What’s going on back there?”
“You are fighting for your life.”
“Am I going to die?”
“No.”
I looked at my tattooed wrists. “Am I ... terribly scarred?”
He nodded.
I closed my eyes.
I felt his hands on my face. I held them there for a moment before getting up and walking along the shore.
After a bit he joined me.
“Will I ever look the same again?” I asked.
“In time.”
“Years? Decades?”
“I do not know.”
He took my hand and we stopped walking. “Remember when you asked me why I have not made love in so many years?”
“Yes.”
“I will tell you now. You have seen my life through my memories, but you have not seen it all.” He turned and gazed at me, and I could see whatever he was going to reveal would not be easy for him to tell. His brow held a slight furrow and his eyes appeared troubled. “My life began simply enough, in a time and place plagued by the upheaval of war. You may know it by the name of the Byzantine Empire, but as a human I just knew it as Byzantium or Constantinople.”
I nodded though I didn’t know the Byzantine Empire from the Roman Empire. I never thought I’d have to either. How was I supposed to know I would fall in love with a man from the Middle Ages?
“Istanbul is the name used today,” he explained.
My confusion cleared. “Oh yes! I know where that is. It’s in Turkey!” Ha! I knew Alexis was Middle Eastern!
He nodded, seeming pleased. “The Roman Empire was split into two factions. Byzantium represented the eastern portion. The west was made up of barbarian kingdoms. We practiced orthodox Christianity while they worshipped many gods.”
I blinked. “Are you saying that you were a Christian?”
He nodded and furrowed his brow briefly. “The wars we fought were often in the name of religion. But life was about battle and control. If we were not battling to secure our territory or attempting to acquire new ones, then we were enforcing our religious law.” He looked out to the sea.
“My childhood seemed to revolve around one purpose—tending to the needs of the Strategos, or the generals who ruled the land. In that time our lands were divided into military factions controlled by ruling families of the military aristocracy. The work seemed to never end. There were always horses that needed to be refreshed or food and water to be hauled to the fields. As the youngest son, I was soon the only male child left in my family. The elderly men who had barely survived years of battles taught me to understand written word and numbers because there really was nothing left for them to do. It was either that or just die.”
He shook his head. “One of the commanders, I do not recall his name, discovered my talents and put me to the task of assisting with inventory, first of battle provisions but then of the bounty acquired from our enemies. Before long I was no longer just a simple child who ran the errands for the High Commanders. I held a position of some respect although I held no title. I was a young man who was much too valuable to die on the battlefield, and so they sent me to collect payments and offerings for the church.”
“You worked for the church?” I asked.
He nodded. “But it was an ugly business which had little to do with virtue. I determined that anything was better than the battlefield. Money exchanged hands for many sordid purposes. I bought and sold secrets and thus became very powerful in my own right. I had access to the church’s money and used it at will for my own purposes. Where many young men were maimed by battle, I was whole and strong. There was no lack of female attention. While the High Commanders battled, I pleasured their wives and daughters. And I indulged my every whim and desire with the wealthy as well as the poor, who were so strained by war that they often offered to sell me anything they possessed for a single coin.”
His eyes did not meet mine. “They often offered me sex, but in that time any and everything could be sold. Men sold wives, or sold daughters.”
I caught an expression of shame or maybe regret cross his face.
“Even though children were never my appetite I did,
at times, arrange for them to be sold to the army or for the entertainment of others. Sometimes it seemed that I was nothing more than a traveling whoremonger. From town to town and city to city I collected alms and payments in the name of the church and then had my way with one person after another. Many years this went on. It was tiresome, but sometimes all a haggard woman with four kids and a husband who worked from sunup to sundown had was the weak pleasure between her thighs.” He frowned. “In all my years as assistant to whichever tourmarchēs was currently in power, I never once met someone I loved or that loved me—not once. And then one night as I was once again drinking to excess, an exotic woman from a foreign land spoke to me at the tavern. I would not know until much later that she sought me for a purpose. She was very pale. In those days paleness was a sign of wealth because it meant she did not have to make a living toiling the land. However, I did not know that her coloring had more to do with her nature as one of the undead and nothing to do with her wealth and standing. However, she was the most beautiful woman that I’d ever met.”
“What was her name?” I asked.
“Athena.” He sighed.
I waited for him to say more about her but he didn’t.
“You know what happened next,” he said. “I can bore you by telling you about the events of the next eight hundred years, but in truth nothing much changed. As an undead creature my desires were satisfied with sex from humans and Vampires alike. Sometimes it seemed all I lived for was to pursue pleasure.” His brow furrowed. “Eight hundred years, Kim. Every night. Every week and every year for eight hundred years.”
Yeah, eight hundred years of anything would be hard to stomach.
“One day I found that I could not stand to be touched,” Alexis said. “Sex had long lost its appeal. When you can have anything you want, in any way, after a time you don’t want it anymore.”
“But what about love, Alexis?” I asked. “In all of your years you have never loved?”
“I loved the one who had turned me for hundreds of years,” he said. “But she did not love me in return, at least not the love that I desired. I loved a human, but she would not be turned and her life was only a blink of my eye. There was one in particular …” Alexis shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. If it was love, it was used only to pass the time ... not like ...”
“Not like this?”
He stood. “It’s getting late. We should get back.”
I took his hand. “Have you ever felt anything like this?”
He sighed. “Nothing like this.” He kissed the back of my hand, and despite the horrible tale that I’d just learned I smiled.
~***~
About two weeks later, Alexis and I were skinny-dipping in the ocean. We had become accustomed to the cold of the water, alternating between sunbathing and swimming. I had become quite brown from my constant exposure to the sun, and Alexis, with his Middle Eastern heritage, was not far behind me.
Alexis was trying to grab my legs and pull me under when my skin grew hotter than normal. Even though the water was chilly, the burning became unbearable. I thought something was in the water stinging me, but the sensation was everywhere!
Alexis laughingly grabbed me around my stomach, and I screamed out in pain, his hands burning me horribly.
He loosened his hold, his eyes wide. ”Kim! What’s wrong?”
Tears of agony sprouted from my eyes as I tried to find my voice. “Ow! Alexis, I’m burning!” My hands were turning an angry red, and my fingers began to melt away.
Alexis spun and looked behind him. “No!” he gasped.
I was enclosed in fire. Oh my God! Was I still in the mesh curtain all this time and my weeks with Alexis had been only another blink of his eye? The pain was too intense for me to scream. The entire world trembled, and I only saw a blur. I struggled to move, but something held me down.
”Please, Kim, don’t move.”
It sounded like Monica.
“Tony!”
It was Monica. I turned to the sound of her voice and tried to calm myself, but the pain was complete and total. I blinked rapidly, and my vision gradually cleared.
I was lying on a bed covered in a white sheet, and I wore a long white cotton gown. My hands looked gnarled, and I was missing fingers. Alexis? Where was he?
Tony appeared at my side. “Oh, baby. Don’t move. Please. You’re going to hurt yourself more.”
I tried to stay still, but the pain was too great. I threw my head back in agony. I heard running footsteps and looked up.
My other blood donors surrounded my bed.
”What is she doing awake? It’s too soon. She’s not healed.”
I reached out to take Tony’s hand and heard him moan softly.
”I can’t ... touch you,” he said. “The burns.”
I was truly a holy vessel.
Tony leaned over me, his neck inches from my mouth.
I sank my teeth into him, and as I drank I could feel myself becoming more invigorated. Too soon he pulled away from me, but Monica was in his place offering her neck. I fed again, more controlled now but still frantic as if I were starving. My body needed blood to heal itself. Each drop of blood repaired a blood vessel or renewed a cell. I would need many, many drops before I was healed. When Monica’s breathing became haggard, she pulled away from me, and Tyler offered her neck to me. After her, another, a young girl I did not recognize.
I drank until I could no longer feed.
I alternated between sleep and feeding, but when I slept it was the sleep of death and I did not return to Alexis’ home. Each time I awoke, the pain was almost unbearable. I only woke to feed and slept again.
One evening, I awoke in pain. “Alexis!” I cried.
Another night I awoke to an empty room. My pain was severe, but I rolled over until I could sit up. I still wore the gown and was happy that I wouldn’t have to look at my scarred body.
I stood and took a tentative step forward, willing my weakened legs not to buckle. I glanced at my hands. My fingers were now present again, but they were still horribly scarred.
I walked to the window and looked out at the stars. “Alexis ...” I yearned to go back to our beach house.
My eyes closed.
“I want to go home ...”
THE END
CREATURE OF THE NIGHT
Book II
CHAPTER 1
It seemed all I ever did was to yearn for something that I’d lost.
Right now I wished for my best friend, but I could never call her again. At other times when my pain had been nearly unbearable, I’d beg for my mama. There were many nights when I screamed for Alexis, but none of my calls were ever answered.
Julie has done a great deal to convince me that giving up my old life completely will be for the best. Julie is my new First Lieutenant because she had collected the most Rogues in the competition to become my right hand. Of the hundreds of Rogues who had been captured, how many had been put to death? None. Technically they had never run away since there was no commander to run away from.
Julie is a surprising being. Turned by a Rogue at the age of twelve, she is forever trapped in a prepubescent body. Though she appears to be no more than a child, Julie’s tough, and everyone—even Vampires—lower their guard around her. Because of this and her skill as a Vampire, Julie won the position as my First Lieutenant.
Thoughts of Paul still pain me after all of these months. I know he wants to be at my side to protect me, yet he couldn’t do it as a man and could never be a Vampire. I hope that at some point in time he will find his way back to me.
And then there’s Tony. When I feel at my darkest, he puts a smile on my face. He holds me in his arms every night before the sun comes up so that the last thought I have is that I am loved and protected. I am no longer a holy vessel because my two crucifixes were completely burned away. We wondered if they might reappear once I began to heal, but so far there is only my new, paper-thin skin free of the markings.
I cannot say my scars have healed though the fresh skin is smooth and tender like a newborn baby’s. I’ve gotten into the habit of wearing long skirts, dusters, and leather gloves to protect myself. The sunglasses protect my eyes, which were damaged. Sometimes my vision still blurs. It may be years before I’m completely healed, but no one can believe that I’ve healed as quickly as I have in the few short months since I took Tige’s punishment.
However not many people will ever know the truth behind that because like Alexis said, the Vampire nation is filled with secrets. I hold some of the biggest ones. No one knows I have healed so fast because of Alexis and our bond. They don’t know that I was almost completely filled with his blood.
And they do not know that I am his wife.
Tige lives, but he was forced to relinquish his role as Tony’s First Lieutenant. It has been difficult for him to witness my healing, so I don’t see him as much as I’d like. He has offered to work in the houses I’ve set up for the enslaved humans, and that is going better than I could have hoped. We have even had humans from other territories come to us for protection. Being a Council member allows me to continue to help humans without having to answer to anyone.
Recently, a Master Vampire brought a complaint against me to the Elder Council stating that I would not allow him to reclaim his human. That Vampire disappeared, never to be heard from again. This is the power that I hold. I can make Master Vampires disappear.
I have not seen Alexis in all the months that it has taken me to heal thus far. The first Council meeting I attended after the punishment was not presided over by Alexis. It was the old man Vampire. I asked Tony about it, although out of respect for him I never speak of Alexis. He told me that Alexis had been permanently reassigned. Alexis has never tried to get in touch with me, and although I’ve called for him, he has never come. So much for “you are in me and I am in you,” right?
I have renamed my sector Land of the Happy Feelings. I chose that name to remind me of something I never wanted to forget. My Vampire family doesn’t know a thing about the music of Frankie Beverly and Maze, but they have certainly heard me play “Happy Feelings” over and over until I convince myself that I am still me.