“I will do no such thing. Leave my house this instant. You are trespassing on private property,” Victoria did her best to sound confident and brave. She wondered where her sister was. She wondered where the dogs were, where Beau was, where the Negroes were. She wondered how this crazy woman had gotten into her house.
“Have it your way,” she snarled through bare teeth. “The baby will die too.”
Victoria screamed once again in terror as the woman approached her. “Who are you and why do you want my baby?”
The woman stopped her approach and laughed. “I am the woman who is going to kill you. I am Élisabet Babineaux, a vampire and a powerful one at that. Do you remember your fiancé Wesley? Well my dear, he is not dead, not really. I turned him. He belongs to me now, but it seems that he has been sneaking out to see you.” Victoria’s jaw dropped in shock. Élisabet tsk-tsked her tongue, “Well I can’t have that now can I? No, you being around here… Well you have become quite a nuisance to me, so it is time for you to die now. ”
A knife flashed and burning sensation spread across Victoria’s abdomen as the metal bit into her skin. Élisabet lunged for the baby. Despite the pain, Victoria bobbed out of her reach just in time. Élisabet hissed as Victoria dodged past her. There was a sharp crash and flames sprung out. Élisabet had knocked over a lantern.
Sam heard a scream. She was out at the well trying to haul in some more water to the washhouse where Grace and Delia were, so that they could wash the soiled sheets and fresh diapers for Arabella. Samantha dropped her bucket and ran for the house. Just as she reached the porch, she saw the red-haired woman run down the drive. “Wait!” The red haired woman stopped and turned. Samantha saw a wicked smile cross her face. Samantha would have sworn upon The Bible that the woman’s eyes were the same color as her hair, and her teeth appeared as sharp and glinting as the fierce snarling teeth of a wolf. The woman turned and ran again leaving Samantha with the distinct feeling of having just looked upon pure evil. Samantha quickly crossed herself. In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost.
The yard suddenly didn’t seem so dark. Samantha looked up; flames were licking out of one of the second floor windows. “Tory!” Sam screamed and threw open the front door. The top of the landing was ablaze. “Tory!” She screamed again. There was no way to get to the rooms above. Samantha ran frantic through the bottom floor hoping that her sister and niece were somewhere to be found. Large cold hands closed around her shoulders and spun her about.
Wesley looked down at Samantha and she gasped. “Where is Tory?” he asked her.
“Wha… how?” Sam stuttered.
“There is no time. Where is Tory?” Wesley shook Sam.
“I think she is up stairs with Arabella, uh, her baby. Tory gave birth to a baby girl this afternoon. She is so weak now.”
Wesley turned and flew up the stairs. Samantha had never seen someone move so fast in her life. He didn’t even seem to notice the flames. Samantha realized that there was no way anyone could survive the fire. She despairingly turned to walk out of the smoke filled house, tears running down her face. Then, she heard Arabella cry.
Wesley stood before her carrying two wet blanket covered loads. One was small and crying. He handed Arabella to her aunt and directed her outside and away from the blazing structure. He kept walking with Samantha following behind him until he reached the tree line at the front of the property. Wesley gently laid Victoria upon the ground, laying the blanket out about her. Samantha looked down upon her sister and cried out.
Blood drenched the front of her white night chemise. There were gashes in the side of her stomach and across her wrists. Her skin had begun to blister from the heat of the fire and was blackened from the smoke. Other than singed clothes, however, Wesley was surprisingly uninjured from his trek through the inferno.
“I don’t understand,” Samantha sobbed hysterically while she looked back and forth from Victoria and Wesley. Wesley took Arabella from her afraid that Sam might accidentally drop the baby in her hysterics. “What happened to my sister? How were you able to run through the fire? And who was that red haired woman?”
Wesley was about to do the best he could to explain, but he heard a soft moan. He looked in shock as Victoria’s eyes fluttered. “Tory?” he leaned in and grabbed her hand as gently as he could. Arabella still cradled in his other arm.
“Tory!” Sam dropped down on the other side of her sister.
Gasping for air Victoria whispered “Arabella?”
“She is here, Tory. Wesley rescued you both from the fire.”
“So what she said was true…” Victoria looked to Wesley speaking with difficulty.
“Who? The redhead woman? Did she do this to you, Tory?” Samantha interrogated her sister.
“Vampire… but not evil like her,” Victoria croaked. Her face becoming panicked as death crept closer and closer.
Wesley nodded his head in confirmation. “I never wanted you to know, Victoria. I never wanted you involved in any of this. I thought that you would be safer with Christopher. I loved you, too much.”
“I understand,” Victoria’s voice became softer and the words formed slower. “You never left my side, did you? It wasn’t a dream; you were really there that night.” Wesley simply nodded. He bit his lip trying to maintain composure for both of the sisters. He couldn’t cry; he had to be strong for them.
Victoria was fading quickly, but then gasped for air and threw her hands out to take one of her sister’s wrists by one hand and Wesley’s free hand with her other. The words came out quickly and with great force. “Sam, you must look after Arabella and teach her about me, her mother who loved her.”
Then she turned to Wesley, using the last of her strength. She was losing blood quickly. Death was beckoning her to him. The wet warmth soaked and stained what was left of the garment that she wore, “Look after my family, Wesley. Keep them safe. And look for me, because I will return to you. Never stop looking because our love will survive and bring me back to you. That’s what Polly said, that we cannot be separated by death. This is just the start of our story.” Victoria’s grip loosened on her companions’ wrists. “I will only be a little while.” Her head fell back and her breathing became slower and shallower with each passing moment, each passing breath, within moments it stopped altogether, Wesley heard the thump of her final heartbeat as Death reached out and welcomed her into his cold, black hands, and she was gone.
Wesley looked up at Samantha as she let out a long keening wail, tears streamed down both of their faces and he handed Arabella to her aunt. Samantha looked into the face of the babe and was momentarily calmed. Wesley stood and looked down upon Samantha with agony etched across his face. “Are you going to keep your promise?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she whispered and nodded.
“I will always be here if any of you need anything. I loved your sister with my whole soul,” his voice was hoarse with raw pain and choked back blood red tears.
“I know that,” Samantha squeezed his hand in too much shock to thoroughly process what had just happened or the bloody tears that streamed down this vampire’s face. “And will you keep your promise to her?”
“I will always love her. I will look for her in the face of every woman I meet, until the end of my existence. For however long it takes to find her.”
Female screams came from the road. Mrs. De’Muerre and Polly had just arrived. The carriage stopped at the gated entrance and the two women could be seen running toward the inferno that had once been the main house of Hillhead Acres. “Mama!’ Samantha cried out.
Mrs. De’Muerre stopped in her tracks and turned back in the opposite direction from which she had been running. She then saw her youngest daughter hunched on the ground. “Oh thank heaven!” She threw her hands up in thanks.
Wesley watched the scene unfold from his hiding spot, as what remained of the women of the De’Muerre family were reunited. Mrs. De’Muerre clutched her grandchild and daughter to he
r chest weeping with grief for the loss of Victoria and yet thankful for the safety of the baby and Samantha.
Polly, round with child, also about to give birth any day, stood watchfully on high alert over her charges. Her hand rested on her large belly. Wesley felt the insightful gaze of the voodoo priestess fall upon him. He stiffened but as their eyes met, she gave a small nod in acknowledgment of his presence, but did not sound the alarm. Wesley knew, then, that they would be allies in safeguarding the De’Muerre women. Pleased with that knowledge he made one final promise to Victoria, “Only a little while,” he whispered. He turned away from the fiery scene and set out to seek justice for what had been taken from him, starting with a certain soldier. His dark hair began to grow long. His body contorted and shrank. He fell to all fours; and with a long, lonely howl, he set off to seek his vengeance.
The alliance that was created to protect the De’Muerre women continued even as Polly was freed from servitude. She taught the craft to her offspring who continued to watch over the women that would come to be descendants of Victoria and Samantha. They served these women side by side with Wesley in secret until one day a high-spirited college freshman eavesdropped upon her friends as they met secretly in the basement of a chapel.
Epilogue
Tennessee, December 2010
I heard his voice. His beautiful Southern drawl that occasionally would still emit the tiniest hint of a brogue. Aw… The epically long dream makes sense now. He’s been telling me our story. He used to tell my daughter this story, though I am quite certain that the last part was a new addition to the story. He’s so good to me sitting here beside me as I sleep. Wait did he just call me high-spirited and what did he say? Eavesdropped... I don’t know that I would say eavesdropped. I began to stir and as I swam up to the conscious, aware level of awakeness, I began to recall all that had happened. I remembered begging Wesley to change me.
It hadn’t hurt and I hadn’t been scared. I had faith that his kiss --I refused to call it a bite; it was too violent for the sensual way his teeth and lips felt on my neck. I had faith that his kiss would keep me here with him forever. As I stirred, I was amazed by my clarity. As long as I had been asleep, I should have been extremely groggy. I couldn’t really be sure of the exact length of time, but I knew that it had been a couple of months and by God, I was thirsty.
I opened my eyes and immediately shut them with a wince. It was too bright. Wesley noticed the small movement. “Katelee, my love, are you awake?”
I nodded my head and attempted to speak. My voice was dry and hoarse from disuse. “Water. Thirsty.”
Wesley chuckled. “Aye, my pet. I imagine you are thirsty, but not for water.” I felt his hand at my back and he helped me sit up. He pressed a pouch into my hand and put a straw to my lips. The liquid was warm and thick. It clung to my throat.
“Wesley how long have I been out for?”
“Two and a half months.”
“Why did my transformation take longer than yours? You only took a month to transform, right?”
“Élisabet was a much older and more powerful vampire than I, so her venom worked faster.”
Hmm… okay, that makes sense. I thought as I sucked greedily until the straw slurped, notifying me that the bag was empty. “Ah, boo.” I pouted and attempted to suck the last drop of blood from the bag. The blood was refreshing, but it did not quench my thirst. Wesley handed me another bag. I drank with even more greed. The more I drank, the more I wanted.
“Slow down Katelee,” Wesley admonished me as he handed me another bag.
I tried to drink more slowly this time and continued to think over the story of my first life and his transformation to a vampire. We have come such a long way to get here. Wait a minute…His transformation… “Wesley, you are the black dog that lived in my neighborhood as a child aren’t you? And the one that would follow me around town once in a while? You were Beau, the dog that kept me company at Hillhead.”
“Yes, that’s true. It was easier for me to break the hold that Élisabet had over me when I was in dog form. My dog form allowed me to keep tabs on you during your past lives. In my dog form, the warm and dry climates are easier to handle. Things in general are much easier for us in our animal form, since in this animal form we can easily move during the daylight hours. It is an easy way for us to hide out, but it is dangerous to stay that way for too long. We can end up stuck as an animal forever. The longer we stay in animal form the more we lose of our humanity.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before, when we were in the hospital?”
“Well… I figured you had enough crazy information on your plate as it was. I didn’t want to add this on top of it. Allow you to process one thing at a time.”
“Yes, I suppose that is true; my mind was pretty blown by everything. And Elizabeth could turn into a cat? I guess that might be how she was able to spy on me and was able to find out all of the information that she did, without anyone knowing about it. She could have easily climbed up and hung out outside my window at the DG house to eavesdrop. Also explains why no one saw a red-haired woman all the times that my aunt claimed to have seen one. No one would think anything of a cat walking about down a street or anything if they went out to search for her.”
Wesley nodded and Katelynn continued. “I’m glad you told me that story. I’m surprised that even while I was going through the change I was so aware of everything. I understand now why it was so hard for you to wrap your mind around Elizabeth being the one that was trying to hurt me. The trust that you had for her because of the fact that she was your creator, and the way that she acted in front of you: making you believe that everything she said and did was in your best interest, and acting as though it was important to her that you don’t hurt me. She was a very devious person, a sociopath, no doubt.”
“Yes,” Wesley agreed. “She was very evil, but I don’t think that she started out that way, though that very well could still be the creator control making me think the best of her. I have noticed the control waning. The feelings and thoughts that I had about her are growing weaker. It must be the longer that she is truly dead the weaker her hold is over me. I also now know about all of the mind control tricks that she used upon me. I promise that as your creator I will never use my power to control you, Katelee.”
I smiled at him and continued to slurp my blood bag. “I never thought that you would, love. Will I turn into an animal, too?”
“Yes, in time,” he told me. “We each have an animal within us, animal instincts still left over from the prehistoric ages. An animal that we relate to closely whose characteristics we take on, an animal that we become. This is where the myth of vampires turning into bats came from, as well as, witch’s having black cats. Polly and Rebecca’s family is not the only witch family to have a history of working with vampires, so people began to see a lot of witch’s with cats, since the cat is a very common animal for a vampire to become. Your animal will reveal itself to you soon, so it is important that we begin to work on your control and your training. Also, I need you to stay with me at all times so that when the change does happen I am there to help you. Otherwise, you could be driving or in a public place and then suddenly the change could take hold of you and you won’t know what is happening. All you will know is that you have suddenly changed into an animal. Not good.”
“Wesley I noticed that when Jason attacked me, his eyes were red and when Elizabeth attacked me in her vampire form, her eyes were red too, but when you bit me and changed me your eyes were still brown. Why is that? Are my eyes going to change to red or will they stay the same blue?
“A vampire’s eyes only change when they are crazed with blood lust or anger. The rest of the time, they will be the same color that they were when you were a human. The only other physical change that you will notice when in full-blown vampire mode is that your top lip will protrude slightly more as your fangs protrude from your gums. Of course, you can’t go out in sunlight unless in animal form or yo
u have taken the precaution of smothering yourself in the vampire sunscreen. You will have super strength, stamina, and speed. You will be able to remember everything of every moment, from now on and you will never tire, so you will never sleep. We vampires can sort of will ourselves to a sleep-like state, but it’s really more of like a deep meditation. ”
I finished the bag and Wesley handed me one more. “That is the last bag that I have here with me so drink it slowly. You need to learn to control your thirst.” I slurped greedily. It just tasted so good. Wesley sighed at my gluttony. “Here let me see the bag. Take a break for a little while.” Wesley reached out to grab the blood bag from me.
A strange noise rumbled from deep within me. My vision began to take on a red tint as a strong need to protect my meal rose up within me. Something sharp cut through my gums, but the pain didn’t faze me. I lunged at Wesley with my new set of fangs bared as the blood lust took me over.
The Possessive Kiss: Victoria's Story: Book Two of The Kiss Series Page 16