On a cool summer evening, Yugo approached Del.
“Have you ever thought of playing any instrument?” Yugo asked Del.
Del was laying down on one of the red couches in the living room. His feet were up, crossed on the other end of the couch. He had just awoken for the night. “Why ask me this now?”
“I want to know if I can teach you one more thing.” Yugo opened a small trunk in the corner of the room. He retrieved three large wine goblets and placed them on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Yugo walked to the mini-refrigerator where they stored their excess blood. He took two packets, piercing the bags and pouring some of the red liquid into each of the wine goblets.
“What are you doing with our blood? Isn't that tonight's dinner?” Del sat up on the couch, irritated by Yugo's stunt.
“Listen.” Yugo dipped his middle finger into the fullest glass. He quickly drew his fingertip around the rim, playing the glass note inside. It was a mid range tone. Yugo played the next goblet, it was the same. The third glass had a lower pitch.
“I don't see what you're getting at here.” Del questioned Yugo.
Yugo played the three goblets in quick succession. There was a melody to it. It rang in Del's ears. He liked it.
“What is that?” Del asked Yugo.
“You're new lesson.” Yugo licked the blood off the tip of his finger. “I want to teach you the one thing I never have to anyone else. I want to train you to be a musician as well as an assassin.”
Del sat forward from the couch. He dipped his index finger and middle into the blood of the larger glass. Then his right index and middle into the other large goblet. Del did not hesitate to play the three notes with speed and rhythm. He played them with a beat, over and over again to Yugo's delight. After a few seconds, Del was creating variations on the pattern and composing a small song. He was a natural.
Yugo smiled.
Del stared at the goblets. “How do you think my first lesson is going?”
“I don't think of it as a lesson when I hear it played this way.” Yugo closed his eyes, listening to the simple melody.
“Than what is it?” Del asked, still playing.
Yugo's answer shaped Del's life from then on. “A career.”
During the following years Yugo taught Del the finer details of playing musical goblets. He instructed everything from how much blood to place in each glass to what types were appropriate for each note. Yugo was extensive. Del's time spent learning music transformed him. He gained a soul to his life that gave him purpose again.
Del hadn't had a special craft or ability to call his own since he became a vampire. Yugo gave him a talent, a way to express himself. Eventually Del mastered the art and Yugo sat him down for a talk that would change his life.
Del sat on his favorite red and gold couch. The three rows of goblets were placed on the coffee table in front of him filled with varying levels of fresh blood. Del was busy practicing his compositions when Yugo walked up to him.
“Del, it's time you repaid me for my guidance.” Yugo told him.
Del remained in time with his music, not stopping to concentrate on the conversation at hand. “Repay you? How? This is a partnership, an exchange. Not a debt on my part.” Del was sharp. He knew Yugo didn't want to be repaid. He was asking for recognition, not payment.
“I want you to take my name for your own. I may not have created you, but I made you what you are now. From this night on, I want you to introduce yourself as Del Sokolov.” Yugo opened the small refrigerator that held their ready blood supply.
“No.” Del kept playing.
“Del, where's the rest of our blood?” The mini-fridge Yugo was looking in was empty.
“On the table.” Del continued playing a melodic tone.
“Del. We don't have any more. That means we'll have to find a couple tonight.” Yugo disapproved of Del's decision.
“Behind your couch.” Del rang out a strong note with his fingertips. “On the floor.”
“Is what?” Yugo asked.
Del didn't answer, he only nodded to the couch.
Yugo checked behind the couch. There were three medium sized people, laying unconscious on the floor.
“Will that be enough?” Del was being a smart ass and he knew it. He kept playing.
“Yes. That will do.” Yugo sat down on the couch next to Del. “Now about your name.”
“I'm not changing it.” Del replied quickly.
“Del, you don't have a say in this.” Yugo was being stern.
“I'll give you credit, but I'm not taking your last name.” Del circled one of the higher pitched notes.
“How?” The sound was annoying Yugo.
“I'll take your middle name, Demetrius.” Del kept ringing the note.
Yugo's head was spinning at the sound. He wanted Del to stop. “Del Demetrius doesn't sound posh enough to play at the grand old theater.”
“Not as a last name. As a first.” Del let go of the goblet's rim, ending the sound.
“Demetrius Marin?” Yugo replied. “I don't like it.”
“Demetrius Del Marin. I'm keeping my name intact.” Del told Yugo as he dipped his index finger into the blood again.
“Demetrius Del Marin does sound better, elegant even.” Yugo pondered the name for a moment, then countered. “Then, it's settled.”
“You'll call me-” Del was interrupted.
“Marin.” Yugo placed his hand over the goblet Del was about to play. “From now on, I'll call you Marin. As a compromise for not taking my last name, I'll refer to you by yours.”
Del looked up at Yugo. He was displeased by his portion of the settlement. Unhappily he accepted. “Marin it is.”
Yugo removed his hand from Marin's goblet. “Then onward to the next test.”
“Test? After all our time together, you still have tests for me?” Marin asked Yugo.
Yugo walked to the front of the loft. “Turn around and meet her.”
“Her?” Marin stood up and peered towards the door.
Beside Yugo was a fourteen year old girl with long wavy brown hair. Her dark green eyes were clearly human, certainly not vampire. She was dressed in a dark brown shirt and a long beige skirt that covered her ankles. She was five foot six and moderately thin. Marin surmised that she couldn't weigh more than a hundred and twenty five pounds on her worst day. Her skin was slightly tanned, having an olive tone to it. An oval face brought the final edge to her attractive innocence. She was unique and she was staring at Marin.
“I already retrieved three people, there's no need for a forth. Besides I do not kill children unless I have a good reason.” Marin sat back down, returning to his musical goblets.
Marin's stern response to Yugo was met by a new voice.
“She is not dinner! She is my daughter!” A young man's voice yelled at Marin from the doorway.
Marin immediately snapped up, off the couch. He was in the presence of an older vampire. He had disrespected himself and Yugo for speaking too freely. The years alone with Yugo in his loft had diminished his social skills with strangers actually inside Yugo's home.
Marin lowered his head to the unknown vampire. “I should not have spoken out of turn, sir. I do not wish for this to reflect in our future interactions. Please take your displeasures out on my flesh.”
The unknown vampire scoffed. He was upset at Marin's reply. “Is he serious?” He said to Yugo.
“Unfortunately he is.” Yugo sighed.
The young girl smiled at Marin with her arms crossed behind her back. Her hips were swaying slightly with the tip of her right shoe teeter-tottering back and forth on the hardwood floor. She clearly wanted to accept Marin's invitation.
“Not you too. I won't have any of that while you're here. Not with him.” The unknown vampire stepped forward, into the light of Yugo's loft. His left hand pointing straight out at Marin with fury.
The vampire appeared to be the same age as the girl, not more than fourteen or fifteen ye
ars old. He was five foot seven which was marginally taller than the girl. He had short, well groomed black hair. His dark green eyes glared at Marin with intensity. They had detail to them, unlike Marin's or Yugo's, they were different with small flakes of black. His body was wiry and thin, developed for his apparent age. His chin was smooth. He had been turned just after the time of puberty. He smelled of musty cigarettes. Dressed in a black pinstriped suit, he stepped up to Marin.
“You don't look like you're more than thirty.” The vampire said to Marin.
“Yes, sir. I was twenty five.” Marin replied.
The vampire turned to Yugo. “And you're sure he's good enough?”
“You read the exploits of his work. He's genuine.” Yugo vouched for Marin. “He is cold, quick, and experienced. He'll kill anyone except children.”
“That's exactly why I have this problem.” The vampire sneered at Marin. “You better be worth it.”
“I can assure you he is.” Yugo told the vampire.
“Yugo, I have the feeling that you have contracted me without my expressed permission. What is this all about?” Marin asked Yugo calmly, attempting to not anger the unknown vampire any further.
“This man is David-” Yugo was stopped mid-sentence.
“No names. All he needs to know is what I want him to do.” David told Yugo.
“Fine. We will all overlook your sophistry.” Yugo sighed and turned to Marin. He placed his hands on the shoulders of the young brown haired girl beside him. “This is your test.”
“I told you I don't harm children unless there is a greater reason.” Marin was strong in his morals, as twisted as they had become over the years as a vampire.
“Yes, we are all aware of your one little rule.” David was annoyed at Marin as ever. “That is why I want you to teach her instead.” David gestured to the young girl.
Marin looked at Yugo. He was confused.
“Your final test is to train this girl all that I have taught you. All that I have instilled into you. She will be the best way for me to gauge the result of my efforts with you. Marin, I want you to teach her how to kill.” Yugo stared at Marin, he was serious.
“She's too young.” Marin said immediately.
“This is not a request.” Yugo stated.
“It is a demand.” David told Marin.
“A favor.” Yugo corrected David.
David was not happy with Yugo's comment.
“A favor that I am doing for David. A favor that you are doing for me.” Yugo's words were in a language that Marin understood well, diplomacy. They were sincere and thoughtful. David may have been telling, but Yugo was asking.
“Does she have any talent?” Marin asked David.
David leered at Marin. “She's my daughter.”
Marin turned to Yugo. “Does she have talent?”
David flipped. He'd had enough of Marin's indirect disrespect.
David moved to meet Marin face to face. An aggressive action that was met with no resistance on Marin's part. David looked up at Marin's face, his five foot six frame staring up towards his six one stature. David was ready to strike Marin for his lack of faith in his daughter. In David's eyes, Marin was a playboy savant. A young vampire that knew all there was about the structure of things in their world and had learned very quickly from it. Something that took David himself many years to catch onto. There was also the factor of Marin's age and aesthetic. He was a very good looking man by anyone's account. David didn't like the idea of a vampire physically in his mid twenties spending a great deal of time with his already smitten daughter. In general, David hated Marin's values as much as how he stood ready to take any actual blows David might wish to deal him.
Marin lowered his eyes, expecting to be beaten across the face by David. Marin knew that he had upset David greatly. Yugo had proscribed Marin from insulting an older vampire directly. However, their own relationship was far more lax. Yugo had taught him an amazing amount of vampire etiquette in the short time he'd been in Moscow. Which is why Marin addressed David as sir. However, the reasoning behind why Marin ignored some of David's questions and indirectly insulted him is due to their location. They were all in Yugo's loft, not David's. Since Yugo was far older than David, Marin had to adhere to Yugo's house rules, primarily. Meaning that regardless of how polite Marin had to be to David's face, he didn't have to show any respect to him when talking to Yugo. Marin understood well how to read a rule book. His brilliance shined when he was bending the constraints of it. This is why Marin was ready to bleed for what he said. He had to accept whatever action David wanted to take in his presence. If David wanted to kill him for fun, he would have to allow him. Though he knew that Yugo would never let David do such a thing in his loft. Marin's talents stretched far beyond music.
Marin stood, unafraid of the strike to come from David.
“You son of a bitch. How dare you!” David reared back his left hand to slap punch Marin in the face.
Yugo appeared to David's left, holding his hand firm and immobile. “Not here.” Yugo looked back at the young girl still in the door way. “Not with her watching, please.” Yugo may have been asking, but his words as an older vampire were a command, not a request.
David had to obey. He lowered his hand and adjusted his black neck tie. “Come in and close the door behind you.” David gestured for the young girl to come in.
The brown haired girl stepped inside and closed the door. She walked up to Marin and smiled. “Pleased to meet you.” She outstretched her right hand to Marin.
Marin leaned to his right, talking over David's left shoulder. “Is this really happening?”
“Yes, Marin. She is your apprentice now. Treat her with respect.” Yugo instructed Marin.
Marin raised his hand to the young girl and bowed, taking the tips of her fingers in his.
The girl blushed.
Marin stood straight again. “My name is Demetrius Del Marin. It is an honor to meet you. I apologize for my comment earlier. I hope it is not a memory that will stay in your mind long.” Marin let go of the girl's hand.
The young girl didn't let go of Marin. “I'm sure you can give me a few memories that could make me forget all about today.” She smirked at Marin.
Marin dropped the young girl's hand and snapped his eyes to Yugo. He turned his attention back to the girl. “What should I call you miss?”
“You're not to call her by anything!” David shouted up at Marin.
“Calm down, David.” Yugo didn't want a fist fight to break out in his living room.
“He wasn't even suppose to know my name Yugo. I don't want him learning hers. It's important, please understand that.” David relaxed and took a seat on one of the three red couches.
“I may not be able to tell you my real name, but you can call me whatever you like.” The girl's smile was making even Yugo uncomfortable.
“You can call her intractable.” David barked at Marin.
Marin wasn't responding to the girl's adolescent advances. “Then I have a solution.”
David took one of the goblets filled with blood off of the coffee table and sat back in the couch. “This has got to be good. I'd like to hear this.”
Marin's eyes trailed the young girl up and down. He was thinking of an appropriate nickname. Something to fit the situation and her as well. He reached a decision and slowly curled the left side of his lips.
“I know that half smile. You've come up with something, haven't you?” Yugo had come to fear the times when Marin smiled in the way he was. It meant Marin had come up with the perfect solution for the scenario at hand. Which didn't always mean it was the easiest, or the friendliest. Whatever it was, Marin had come up with a way to address everyone's concerns.
Marin raised his hand again, palm open, asking for the girl's hand. She placed it in his willingly. Marin surveyed it carefully, examining the skin well. He slid his fingertips over the back, then ran them past her wrist and up her arm. He felt her muscle tone. “How flexible
are you?”
“Flexible enough.” The young girl was bold. She liked Marin and wasn't shy to show it.
Marin dropped the girl's arm and stepped back. “It is decided.”
David drank from the goblet.
“I will call you Maria.” Marin thought the name suited the young girl well. She had the same sass, audaciousness, and willingness to jump Marin's bones as Maria did when he first met her.
“That's a fine name to use. It's nowhere near her real one. And it sounds very lady like.” David drank the rest of the blood in the goblet.
“Yes, let's just hope she doesn't shoot him like the real Maria did.” Yugo laughed at Marin.
“Maria's nice. I like it a lot.” Maria stepped closer to Marin, looking up into his eyes above her. “Thank you for my new name, Marin. I really appreciate it.” Maria pushed her chest against Marin's. “Later I can show you how much.”
“I told you there will be none of that with him.” David barked at Maria. “Besides, Marin isn't like any of your boy toys. He's chaste. He might as well be a eunuch.”
“I'm reserved.” Marin said to David. “I'm not chaste.” Marin said to Yugo. “And I'm not a eunuch.” Marin said finally to Maria.
“I can check if you're not sure.” Maria was pressing Marin's boundaries too much.
Marin turned and pushed Maria away. “I don't mess with children, ever. You have to understand that now. If I am to teach, that will have to end.”
“I told you, chaste.” David set the empty goblet down on the coffee table, away from the others. “He's the perfect answer to all the fooling around you're used to. He's going to be the one thing you want and will never have.” David reached for another glass of blood. “Aw, the taste of sweet justice.” David took a sip.
“That's a shame, but I will grow up you know. Maybe someday-” Maria was stopped by Marin's hand on her throat.
Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) Page 26