~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was lying in his coffin, his face buried in his pillow. He never wanted anything bad to happen to his family. He didn’t really think that humans could hurt anybody. Humans were so weak compared to them. So stupid. So tasty. He would never forget to lock the pantry door.
John had been lying in his coffin reading a comic about SuperVamp who rescued the world from the evil vampire Lex Luther and wore the disguise of a Clark Kent, journalist. John had out grown them long ago. He had given most of them to Harry, but he wanted to give his brother some privacy even though they shared a room. He didn’t understand why Dad reacted so strongly. He had always laughed off Harry’s love of blood. True, Harry was getting a little old for the pranks. And John didn’t really understand the obsession with human blood. Sure, it tasted better. But blood was blood. He knew Charlie had his reasons though. It was rare for their dad to discipline them, especially so voraciously.
There was a discreet knock on the door and Amelia slipped in silently shutting it behind her. She wore her nightgown and a retainer in her mouth. “They’re in bed,” she said in a low voice. In her hand she carried a glass of warmed blood. Taking a seat on the edge of Harry’s coffin, she gently rubbed his back. “I have something for you.”
He flipped over. “It’s not human.”
“No. I’m not about to go against Mom and Dad’s punishment. But it’s fresh animal blood.”
John tossed his comic book to the floor. “What is it with you and human blood?”
“Shut up!” Harry snarled at his brother taking the glass from his sister. There was a reason why Amelia had always been his favorite.
“Shh!” Amelia hissed. “You’ll wake them up then all three of us will be in trouble.”
“Sorry,” Harry mumbled and gulped down half the blood.
“I know you would never do anything to endanger us,” she told him.
“I wouldn’t! I would have locked the pantry door.”
“You really don’t get it!” John said. “It’s not about forgetting to lock the door. What if the human overpowered you? What if he got by you? You shouldn’t have been getting into the pantry without permission in the first place!”
“As if a human could get by me. If they would just let me have it, I wouldn’t have to sneak.”
John looked at his sister. “Maybe you can make him understand. I’m done.” And he laid down in his coffin turning his back to them.
“Do you understand why we don’t have whole humans often?” she asked her baby brother.
He rolled his eyes at her. “They’re expensive. They can be dangerous. They’re for special occasions—Christmas, Easter, Dr. Venjamin. I know it’s wrong. But . . . it calls to me. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“Then you have to learn to resist the calling. Because it’s like Dad said, if you don’t, there will be consequences. Try to think of the consequences when the blood starts calling to you.” She suddenly smiled at him. “Think about the consequences themselves and not how to get around them.”
He smiled too. Amelia knew how his mind worked. “Thanks for the blood, Aims.”
“You’re welcome. Now go to bed.” She hugged him.
“Good morning.” He hugged her back. He could hear her pulse. He thought about consequences.
Chapter Seven
Father Knows Best
A kiss on the cheek and a push out the door. That was how Charlie started his day. Valerie had a ton of work to get done before tonight’s dinner—clean the house top to bottom, scrub the human and prepare him for consumption, get Harry dressed, help Amelia get ready for her date . . . the list went on and on. She needed her husband out of the house so he wouldn’t be under foot, not even for a second. Plus, she didn’t want him to be late for his meeting with Dr. Venjamin about his promotion. Val was unbelievably excited and supportive. She was always good at that. She was, after all, the perfect little housewife. He, however, was not the perfect husband, and he was not excited about this opportunity. In fact he dreaded it.
The homely human receptionist greeted him as always, and he rode the elevator down. Rhett greeted him in the hall with a slap on the back and a handshake. “Congratulations! I heard you’re being taken on to the new project. Big deal. What time is dinner at your place?”
“Right after work. Thank you,” he said trying to get away from his friend as fast as possible. But the second he put his lab coat on and sat down, Dr. Venjamin’s secretary entered his office. Any employee that was not directly involved with the subjects of St. Vladimir’s projects was human though Ms. Pines fulfilled that description in title only. Ms. Pines was a middle age human with faded blonde hair always in a twist on the back of her head, a rigid, erect stance fit for a solider, and no emotions except for her unwavering loyalty to Dr. Venjamin. Charlie knew he had cold blood, but Ms. Pines was truly cold-blooded. She made Charlie nervous.
“Dr. Venjamin is waiting for you in the lab,” she announced in a condescending voice, turned, and left.
The lab was actually located above ground on the very top floor of St. Vladimir. It was lit by harsh florescent lights that hurt Charlie’s eyes. A two way mirror extended across an entire wall that separated the doctors from the subjects. The subject section housed empty beds with stirrups attached, carts and trays full of medical instruments that Charlie didn’t understand, monitors, and a sonogram machine. Charlie and Dr. Venjamin stood on the other side of the mirror, in the doctor’s section which was full of machinery to spin blood or hold frozen embryos or perform other sci-fi procedures that Charlie was equally clueless about. They weren’t alone in the lab. Other doctors conversed with one another, looked through microscopes or played with the contents of Petri dishes. Charlie’s work had always been with the subjects and far removed from the medical part. He felt in over his head.
“Good evening, Charlie. How are you?”
He fixed some semblance of a smile on his face. “Good, sir.”
“If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t look it. You look like you’re in desperate need of your hunting trip with Rhett next weekend.”
Charlie wondered how Dr. Venjamin could speak in such a manner. Hunting trips. He must be a cannibal—if not literally, certainly metaphorically. But wasn’t Charlie the same type of monster? Venjamin helped him. He helped Venjamin. They both paid the same price, committed the same betrayal of their own kind.
“I won’t disagree with you on that.”
“You better take Friday off as well. After we get started on the next phase, you won’t have the chance for awhile. We’ll have a lot of thrilling work ahead of us. Especially you, Charlie. You are special. As is your family.”
Charlie chose to ignore that last sentence. “The next phase?”
“Ah, yes. You know that our purpose here in Sangre Valley is multi-faceted. It’s scientific. Medical. Anthropologic. Moralistic. We work on a very large scale. But to benefit the many, a few will have to be sacrificed. As you know we have resurrected the Living Coven bloodlines from near extinction. We located the few left, put them together in one safe, confined environment, and watched them prosper. They may not be off the endangered species list yet, but they’re thriving. Fertility among the Living and Silent Covens has proven possible despite the odds though still difficult. We have had many couples who have been trying to conceive for years, decades even, without success, even with our in vitro and fertility aides here at the hospital. But there have been a dozen or so families of the two covens who have produced offspring. Yours, of course, being the most successful with three children, the first two offspring conceived with ease. We need to figure out what exactly is so special about you and Valerie—and your children.”
“But you’ve done all kinds of tests on all of us. Valerie and I have had multiple examinations. You looked at both of us inside and out. The kids have been pricked with more needles than . . . any kid should be pricked with. Blood tests. Spinal taps. CAT scans. Their first memor
ies are of doctor offices.”
He smiled. “Yes. And chemically, hormonally, genetically there has been nothing unique found—yet. That just tells me it’s time to begin experimenting.”
Experimenting. That word frightened Charlie. “Experiment how?”
“Amelia and John. Mostly Amelia. They have more probability of producing offspring than any other crossbreed.”
“I’m not sure I follow, sir.” At least he hoped he didn’t. What the doctor was suggesting made his stomach heave the morning’s blood.
“It will be easier to trace the genes of the bloodline if we have generations to inspect. I don’t have a delicate way of putting this, Charlie. I am a man of science and nature, neither of which are delicate. I want both your children to reproduce first with a Living Coven vampire. It seems it will happen naturally with John and Lisa in their current environment. So hopefully he can stay in Sangre Valley longer to be observed culturally as well as medically. But after they’ve had a child, I want to mate John with a crossbreed vampire.” Mate. Like an animal.
“And Amelia?” His throat had gone suddenly dry. He could feel his hands shaking, his muscles twitching. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to refrain himself. He was afraid he’d rip Dr. Venjamin’s head clear from his body at any given moment.
“She started menstruation three years ago. We’ve already wasted those three years with her. I want to bring Amelia to the hospital. I want to artificially inseminate her. First with semen of one of her own coven. Then a crossbreed like her. Then a Silent Coven vampire, and then, with the semen of her brother. It’ll all be in a hospital setting. Nothing incestuous about it, I assure you.”
It took Charlie a moment to steady himself. His son’s sperm inside his daughter’s body . . . it was ungodly and wrong. In a tight voice he asked, “What would I tell Valerie?”
“As I stated, we can hold off on John. He’s on a good path with Lisa. But Amelia will become extremely ill. She will be quarantined here at the hospital. That will be the story you tell your wife.”
“And what will we tell Amelia?”
“That she is ill and that these tests will help her and help her own race.”
“She’s a smart girl. When she starts having babies—“
“We will cross that bridge when we get there. She will be out of the social and moral studies so perhaps we can tell her the truth, or some version of it. Can you see the bigger picture, Charlie? How many other couples we’ll be able to help once we understand what is so different about your offspring? The genes we’ll be able to follow and isolate? The key to a vampire’s strength and speed can be located. To your immortality.” Charlie swore the doctor’s eyes grew large with a wet look of excitement when he said the word immortality. “If Valerie was younger, we could have learned more from her. But given her age and her difficulty with Harry . . . the time has passed. Her children’s contribution will be historic however. Monumental. Of course, there will be a few other girls in the study, Jett Wilson’s daughter, Lemuel Anderson’s daughter, but your Amelia will be our star.”
Charlie’s anger had reached such a stage that his shaking had become visible. Unafraid, Venjamin touched his shoulder to calm him down. “Now Charlie, I know you’re emotionally involved with the Romanian subjects. I wouldn’t have guessed it of you when we first met. But the fact that married life and fatherhood has brought this kind of emotion out in you is extraordinary to our research as well. It tells of the growth that your kind is capable of under certain controlled circumstances. But you must get back into a different state of mind to continue on to the next phase. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but you must. They are not your family. They are subjects. Once you distance yourself, it’ll get easier.”
Charlie did not answer. Could not answer. He could smell Dr. Venjamin’s defunct, earthy scent, hear his heart beating with excitement and anticipation. He could hear the blood coursing through his veins like rapids. He wanted to rip out his jugular and feel that hot blood course down his throat. He wanted to tell Venjamin not to take that personally.
Dr. Venjamin removed his hand. “If you do not think that is possible, you can and will be removed from the project and Sangre Valley. Of course your help will be invaluable to us, but by no means necessary. Nothing will ever compromise this experiment.” His voice had grown cold and hard.
“I do not want to be left out. I want to be part of this. It would be an honor. I will need some time to . . . adjust.”
Venjamin smiled. “Of course. You were cold blooded—no pun intended—when I met you twenty years ago. That was why you were chosen to participate in our little experiment. Our little community. And that’s why I know I can count on you now. You’ve invested eighteen years into the Romanian Project. Of course you’d get attached. But I always knew you, of all vampires, would be able to unattached himself.”
“What of Harry, when he comes of age?”
“Ah, Harry. I think I’m more fond of him than any other child in Sangre Valley. There are big things in his future, though maybe different from his siblings. He might be more special than any of you. I can’t wait to watch him grow.”
Charlie felt the chills run down his spine for the first time in his vampiric life. He knew without a doubt what he’d have to do. He just had no idea of how he was going to do it. “So where do we start?”
Dr. Venjamin smiled.
Chapter Eight
The Bloodman
She had scrubbed the floors, vacuumed the carpets, dusted every nook and cranny, and polished the good silverware to a high shine. The dining room table was set and awaiting the guests. The wet bar was furnished with chilled martini glasses. She had washed and redressed the human making him presentable. The hearts were impatiently waiting to be devoured. The sweet, dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra filled the background. Valerie herself was well manicured in her peach gown that accented her thin frame and delicate shoulder blades. Her makeup was impeccable. Harry was soaking in the tub at this exact moment, washing off the grime all eleven year old boys accumulate in a day and fiercely protesting the argyle sweater she had laid out for him. She had spent over an hour curling Amelia’s hair into perfect ringlets and applying her makeup. All that was left was picking out the perfect first date outfit and waiting for the bloodman to deliver her special order of a case of fresh blood for the night’s entertainment.
“At least try it on, Aims,” Valerie begged. “The pink will look pretty on you.”
“It’s too tight. It belongs to you. I’m bigger than you.”
“Only in the chest, darling, and that’s a blessing. Please, just try it on, for me, and then if you don’t like it, we’ll find something else, okay?”
“Fine.”
There was a knock on the front door. Finally. “Change, and I’ll be right back. That’s the bloodman.”
She hurried from her daughter’s bedroom and answered the door.
“Your delivery, ma’am.”
She was all ready to give him a good talking to for his tardiness. She knew he was new, but he had been on this blood route for a month. He should know his job by now. But lying eyes on him, a warm smile spread across her face. She almost felt like a teenager again, butterflies in the stomach, nervous and excited at the same time. The bloodman may not be punctual, but he was gorgeous. Young, early twenties, strong and tall—strapping. His black hair was slicked back from his handsome face with its dimples and clean shaved chin. He had small, sparkling dark eyes, and a smile with white teeth. In his crisp white bloodman uniform with Eddie embroidered in red on the chest, he was a fantasy come true.
It was a horrible cliché, she knew that, the housewife and the bloodman. And the daydreams that she had about him . . . Why, she should confess them to Reverend Louis to cleanse her sinful soul! Surely they would condemn her to Hell. She never had such thoughts about Charlie, not even in the beginning. Of course, in the beginning her imagination had no experience, not even a real understanding of what the act
ual act of sex entailed. Charlie was an attractive man, but she had never been attracted to him, not even at eighteen when he was her savoir. Especially not then, actually. Progressively that part of their relationship developed. Or maybe her attraction had been more to sex than sex with Charlie per se. It was unfair to compare. She knew that. She shouldn’t even allow these thoughts in her head. She was a married woman with children.
“It’s a disaster! I’m a disaster. I’m going to cancel.” Amelia stomped down the hall in the halter top dress, tears bubbling in her eyes threatening to ruin her makeup. It was so out of character for her to be so upset over her appearance. Other than the tantrum she threw to get the conical bra like the rest of her female classmates wore, she showed little interest in her physical appearance. She was so sure of herself academically. Valerie wished she could have the same confidence in her appearance.
Despite her declarations, Amelia was far from a disaster. She was nothing short of stunning. Yes, the dress hugged her ample breasts and flowering hips, but the dress didn’t look too small, instead her hourglass figure filled it out appropriately. All she needed was to calm down and a pair of heels. Perhaps she was revealing too much cleavage. A cardigan would solve that.
Amelia had not realized that the front door was wide open or that the bloodman was standing there, his eyes on her. She froze like a deer in headlights. She was utterly mortified—and maybe a little stunned by him as well.
Leaving the bloodman holding the crate of blood, Valerie went to comfort her daughter. “Sweetheart, you look gorgeous. Drew will be speechless. Maybe you’ll want to add a sweater though. Cover up a bit,” she hinted. “It’s a chilly night.”
Amelia slowly looked down at her protruding chest and a hand suddenly flung up to cover the exposed flesh. Her eyes went back to the bloodman with new horrification. Her face and chest turned a bright shade of scarlet. Valerie’s guard went up as well. It was one thing for a boy to admire her daughter, another for a strange man.
The Vampiric Housewife Page 5