“I remember Jonathan attacking me. He was drinking my blood and then I went to my world. You know where you first found me. I was so afraid. He wanted to kill me. I think I was dying. I tried but I couldn’t hold it together. Then I came back and you were…Oh…Oh my God! You killed him! You cut of his head!” The rest was incoherent, her words nothing but abstract noises as she cried noisily against Matteo.
He ran his hand over the mass of red hair that was in complete disarray and dried away her tears with his thumb. Gently stroking her cheek, he stared away from her, fighting the monster inside. Her weakness beckoned to him. It called to him as a wounded deer would call to a wolf. Predators liked to prey on the weak and injured.
With her head still resting against him he dipped slowly into her thoughts. The fog was gone but the questions there were almost as confusing and thick. She was wondering why he gave her his blood, why it made her ill, and if it would change her into one of them. The thought of death rose like a black figure in her mind and he felt her body tremble. He hated the answers that would come when she finally voiced those questions. He hated that she would soon hear the end of Belle’s story and she would know why she was chosen for the life that was no life at all. Ever since he had first seen her, he had felt a pull towards her. He had spied on her family as they visited Stonehenge and traveled the European countryside. Now that he did have her and the possibility of forever, he wished he had never wanted her at all.
Jenda fell silent and Matteo saw her thoughts turn to those of dreams and safety. He gently laid her down on the bed and covered her fragile body. He watched her for a few moments. Her lucid green eyes closed to the world, her little bottom lip jutted out like a pouting child. Her face, still pale and streaked with tears, looked so peaceful that if it wasn’t for the rise and fall of the covers he would have thought she had passed from this life. Now Jenda’s image of death flooded his mind. It wasn’t from her dreams, just his memories. Could he destroy the very thing that brought him hungry for more than blood to her side? Could he destroy her vibrant life? He had to. There was no other option. He owed Belle his own life and had agreed to this despicable plan out of greed and want. Belle had promised that if he brought her the girl that she would allow them both to walk in the sun together for eternity.
22
At last, Jenda stirred with a suddenness that surprised him. She yanked herself up, staring directly at him. He had only left her briefly in the night so that he could feed and he looked rumpled and tired sitting beside her bed. She tried to ignore the pang of sorrow she felt each time she looked into his solemn blue eyes. She didn’t want to love him. She wanted to kill him and make him pay for being an abomination.
“I hate you.” She said it quietly but with conviction. “You are a monster, a murderer, and yet you draw me to you. You may be able to do that physically but in my heart I hate you.” She shook her head and scooted across the large bed until her back was against the headboard. A look of disgust plastered across her face. “You brought me here. You and that woman, you made this happen.” She spoke the words as if they were curses that burnt her pretty mouth just to say. “Get away from me!”
Matteo sat stunned. She had been so weak the night before, fragile and childlike as she wept in his arms. Now she was a woman scorned. The terror had manifested itself in her soul like a dark storm cloud and he could see the currents of lightning flashing in her eyes. Again, he was caught off guard for a moment by the color of them. The green was now a vibrant emerald with tiny gold flakes decorating them like minuscule jewels. Each emotion the girl felt brought on a different shade. He escaped the enchantment when another voice called to him across the room.
“Matteo, The Lady is asking that you bring the human and join her.” Maya stood in the doorway of the room with a startled look on her face. The girl was obviously stunned by the look of tenderness Matteo wore and the disgust that was so clear in Jenda.
Matteo stood gracefully and offered Jenda a very formal bow. “I will be back in a few minutes to escort you to dinner. Please try to control those rages. As I have told you, little girl, Belle is not the kindhearted monster I seem to be. She will destroy you for such thoughts.” He turned his back on her and strode quickly across the room and out the door.
Jenda collapsed into the softness of the pillows. She couldn’t understand what was happening to her. As she cried pitifully, she didn’t notice Maya still standing in the shadows of the door. Maya’s face was a perfect mask of indignant rage. Her amber eyes normally looked warm and inviting but as she gazed across the room, they were squinted into hard little slits. Her hands trembled with anger and she bit into her lip so hard she could taste the saltiness of her own blood.
Maya licked the blood from her pouty lower lip and stepped from the shadows. The fury was gone now from her face and her pixie-like features wore a concerned smile. Jenda raised her head and took in the other girl. Despite the ugly scars that ran across the girl’s forearms, she was beautiful. Jenda couldn’t place the nationality but Maya definitely had exotic features.
Everything about her was tiny and slightly pointed but not overtly angular. Her first thought was the girl looked like a fairy princess that had been captured for slavery. Her deeply bronzed skin and almond shaped eyes shone in the faded light of the room. Her straight black hair hung in jagged layers, reminding Jenda of the time Soborgne had decided to chop her own hair in an attempt to look older. Only on Maya, the hairstyle succeeded in making her look childish and womanly all at once.
Jenda dried her eyes and with a final sniffle, she spoke to the quietly smiling Maya. A simple hi was all she could muster but it made the other girl’s smile grow.
“Hello, Jenda” Maya came to sit on the side of the bed. “Are you okay?”
Jenda was surprised by the tenderness in the girl’s voice and curbed her urge to answer her with the hatred that hung on the tip of her tongue. “No, not really. I just don’t understand what is going on and why they are doing this.” Jenda’s voice became steadier as she spoke. “Then he…oh he…is so confusing.”
A strange glint shone in Maya’s eyes at the mention of Matteo but before she could analyze it the fire there faded. With a comforting pat on her shoulder, Maya nodded in agreement. “They are all crazy, the vamps. There are usually five or six of them in the building at all times and they all think they are Gods. Matteo is a little kinder but don’t be fooled. I wish I could answer your questions but I like to keep myself out of vamp business. I will tell you this; if they wanted you dead, you wouldn’t still be breathing. So, there is still hope.”
Maya stood up then and excused herself. She scurried from the room, throwing one last smile over her shoulder at Jenda before going out the door. Jenda still felt a well of sadness and exasperation in the pit of her soul but the idea of one ally in this place that didn’t want to drink her blood had helped. She would never replace her best friend but right now she needed someone, anyone.
Outside the doorway Maya spat on the stone floors, she hated pretending to be nice to that retched little coward. Sniveling away in her room, all because she was given the very gift that Maya had slaved for everyday of her life for the past two years. Not only was the girl a completely ungrateful twit, Maya couldn’t believe Matteo was falling for her. If Maya would have known that the whole damsel in distress thing would work she would have pulled that crap a long time ago.
After all, Matteo is the only reason she had signed on for this job. In her country you didn’t see many Americans and when he and Belle had come looking for “house maids” she had signed up thinking that the two were made of money. She thought that since she was the prettiest of the girls chosen and he had chosen her himself that she could have a chance of getting him into bed and either making him fall in love with her or blackmailing him for a hefty sum. Of course that was also before she knew what he really was. The weeks following that fateful day were horrifying and Belle’s wrath for any sign of emotional weakness had been brut
al. Now two years later she was the only one left out of the girls brought from Cambodia.
She was sorely disappointed that Jonathan hadn’t done away with the girl quicker. Had that plan worked she wouldn’t have to be playing nice now. She smiled now, but it wasn’t the same sweet smile she had shown Jenda. It was a wide, leering grin closer to what the vampires’ smiles were. She had really played that up. Teasing Jonathan ruthlessly about how he wasn’t allowed to touch the new, fresh blood in the house had worked better than she hoped. It was a little sad that her playmate had been killed but she was sure Belle would find another soon. She did like her young men.
23
Matteo waited impatiently inside the sitting room drumming his fingers on the nearest surface. “Jenda, if I have to break down the door and drag you out of there, I will. Belle has commanded your presence and you are running dangerously close to the deadline, Baobhan Sith.”
He tried to remain nice to the girl. He could understand the fury that built in her earlier. She was like a kitten that had been trapped by two very large dogs. Her claws were bound to keep coming out. He hoped that Belle would end her games and this would be all over tonight. He tried consoling himself with that thought but despite his very nature, he felt a small tug of dissatisfaction. To take away that light from her would be disastrous. To mold her in marble so that her baby flesh would no longer press so softly under his thumbs would be a sin. To take away the spark in those livid green eyes, to see them fade to black or burn with red, it seemed to be sacrilege.
At last, Jenda emerged from the little bathroom with a steamy look on her face. “Fine. I’ll go and I’ll sit there with that psychopath only because I must but I will not be called by that name.” Her voice was shrill as she defined her treaty. “I will not call you a monster and I will play along with whatever insanity you choose to force on me only because I pray that I will live through this hell. I will do this but no more calling me a Baobhan Sith. No more!”
Matteo couldn’t help but laugh at her helpless rage. As the small chuckle escaped him, he was hit by surprise with the heel of Jenda’s shoe. She had been holding her heels in her hand and had actually thrown one at him. He looked up at her to see the familiar look of shock and fear on her face. She stood perfectly still, obviously debating whether she should try to run or not. “You hit me with your shoe? You threw a shoe at a vampire?”
The idea was so ludicrous that Matteo’s heavy laughter soon echoed through the room. He tossed back his head and laughed so freely, Jenda felt a wave of relief. In that moment, he looked just as human as she did. She couldn’t help herself, soon her own twinkling laughter joined in with his. The two laughed for several wonderful moments before Matteo straightened himself up. With a large grin still on his face, he handed her the shoe she had assaulted him with. Jenda slipped the shoes on and they left the room still smiling to themselves.
As the two retraced the same path they had taken the previous evening, Jenda remembered Matteo’s warning. She tried valiantly to clear her mind of negativity. She concentrated on the intricate designs beaded into the toe of her high heels but that made her laugh again. Matteo cracked another wide smile and whispered, “It’s a good memory. Let it sustain you. When your thoughts start turning dark let that little piece of joy save you.”
24
Belle was seated as she had been the night before. As Matteo and Jenda entered the room, she lifted her face towards them and offered what seemed to be a genuine smile. “Ah, there are my two wayward children. Tell me what was so funny. The entire compound must have been shaking with all the noise you two were making.” She laughed herself then, the heavy sound of honey pouring over them. “No no. Let you two have your fun. We have business to attend to tonight. I will leave joy for the young. Though Matteo you are not usually so boyish, shame on a man of your age.” It was said with no real conviction and Jenda was shocked to see the playful glint in the eyes of the vampire woman.
“Come now, my pets. Sit. I took the liberty of having Maya set up before you got here, so serve yourselves. We have much to do.” With that, she handed Matteo her glass and he poured out a familiar dark, sticky liquid that made Jenda a little queasy.
“Now where was I? Oh yes, I remember now. Jenda dear, please pay attention. I know most of what I say seems horrific to your little ears, but in this story you will find the answers to all those questions floating around in that head of yours.” Jenda was noticing that Belle either spoke to her as if she was an infant or as if she was an enemy and she couldn’t decide which she disliked more.
Belle cleared her throat and stared deep into the orange and yellow flames before her. “I believe we left off in the winter of 1902. Life for me began to change very rapidly during this time. As I said, I was pregnant with my son Philip and awaiting his birth so that I could survive the change, and be with my dear Augustine forever. My one and only true worry during this time was Lucy. Little troublesome Lucy.” Again, there was a flash of pain and sorrow in Belle’s normally steely eyes.
“Augustine kept his promises and returned often. The first month he visited me every third night. Always arriving in grand style, he often brought lavish gifts for Lucy, Jenny, and me. He began to tutor me in the ways of the Strigoi, the old name for the vampire. I was an apt student and willingly agreed to do anything asked of me. We talked theology, anatomy, and about the facts that were so buried under myth that no one could find the truth beneath the ashes of the millions of peasants burned and staked over the past century.
“Soon our conversations turned to the re-rising of the vampire race. Augustine taught me our history and how vampires were once worshipped as gods and goddesses. Then rose-colored tears filled his eyes and a hard edge took his voice as he explained our wicked downfall. His one true desire was to see our obviously superior race returned to their formal glory. His plan was to not create haphazard “children” who would not survive the change let alone a century. We talked of others he had known that had perished by their own hand despite the fantastic gifts they had been blessed with.
“These gifts were astounding. I would have the strength of ten men, the allure of an angel, the speed of the devil, the ability to read minds, the gift to alter a human’s perception, and many more. For me the idea of being as beautiful as Augustine for the rest of eternity was all the power I needed. He then told me of the Elite. A handful of humans who had extraordinary mental or physical powers that successfully completed the change, and had not lost their powers. Instead, their unique gifts became even stronger. Telekinesis, pyro kinesis, coercive persuasion on other immortals, the ability to use glamour, and other psychic powers were uncommon but were not unheard of amongst the Elite. I was intrigued.
“Augustine believed that if prepared correctly for the change, more could survive its drastic effects on the human anatomy, and that if we chose to change gifted people that soon we could build an army of vampires. We would reclaim our world. Humans are simply a lower part of the food chain. No longer would the vampire live in the dark shadows of their ancestor’s failures. They would stand proud and regal again.
“As the endless nights wore on and several months had passed, two things occurred to me. We had the perfect way of beginning the experimentations. I had lured many men to an early grave right there on the farm. Disposal was simplistic with the vast grounds and the ravished hogs to feed. I shared my plans with Augustine and he was overjoyed with my enthusiasm. We began the next week on our various trials. Some of them were successful while others were blatant failures. Once in awhile a victim would be changed only to become a raving monster with no mind and only thirst. These would be disposed of quickly by beheading and thrown into the pits with others who had not survived the change.
“I birthed a son in the spring of 1903 and Augustine named him Philip. I kept the child to help me in my quest for companionship and money. The little blond haired boy was an alluring bonus to the men who thought that they were coming to wed a rich and lonely wid
ow. Along with building an army, Augustine and I were building quite a bank account from their dowries.” Belle laughed softly, a fond look of remembrance on her face. Jenda tried not to think about the lives lost to the sickness of this woman and her vampire concubine.
“As I said, I continued to lure men to the farmhouse with promises of my beauty, my wealth, and my love. Once there, I would tour around the town with them spending their money and awaiting Augustine’s next visit. Once he came, the men would be used for our cause and the poor Widow Günter would tell the town of how yet another bad man left her crying with three mouths to feed.
“The experiments were growing more complicated and more complex. We did transplants and blood transfusions. We tried burying the newly changed to let them rise from their grave as they had in the old days. We starved them for days. We changed them slowly. We changed them quickly. We tried everything. We didn’t only use men, sometimes Augustine brought a woman or a child back with him, and we tried with them. The bodies piled up over the next few years. I only had one great loss during this time, my own dear, sweet Lucy. Let me tell you now of the night that I was reborn, lest I get ahead of myself here.
“In the summer of 1904, Augustine declared that I was finally cleared of the taint Philip’s birth had brought me and that he would perform the change. We decided that we would use some of the techniques we developed during our experimentations to guarantee that I survived the change. For weeks, I fed from him and him from me. I can’t tell you the bliss I felt when this precious exchange was done. It was in a lover’s embrace that he held me as we shared each other’s blood. His cool skin pressed to my own feverish body sent shivers of pleasure through me like no other I had ever felt. Never was the pain greater than that deep, sensual joy.
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