by Rue Volley
“Eat her.” He says to her and I scream out as I try to roll from the bed and hit the floor. I look up to see Lily standing over me and she scoops me up, turning me away from her as she lifts me and my feet dangle. She bites into my neck and her teeth slice my skin. It burns like fire on my flesh. My eyes close tightly as she tears a chunk of my flesh out of me and I scream out.
“I will feed!” I scream as my voice cracks.
Lily releases me and I drop to the floor, slamming my knees against the ground. Falling to my side, I cover the hole on my neck and Jonah smiles, snapping his fingers at Lily who swallows what she had taken from me. She then licks her lips.
“Get Bailey.” He says to her. She narrows her eyes at him and he places a hand on his hip.
“He is created by me, a human once, now vampire, perhaps something with a mixture will entice her appetite and cause a true feeding. Bailey is able to handle himself I am certain, Mia will not kill him. His blood may be the key and if not, you can feast upon her flesh.”
Lily clapped her hands as if she was celebrating a birthday gift she had been longing. She looked to me quickly and winked at me and a chill ran through my body, knowing this could be my only hope.
Lily leaves us and Jonah walks to me, holding his hand out. I took his hand and pull myself up to him. He touches my face, letting his fingers dip into my wound and I hiss as he moves his fingers around under my skin. He pulls them out, sucking on them and then grins at me again.
“You will be as happy and as sane as I can make you.” he whispers into my ear.
“Why? Why do I exist?” I asked him and he cupped my face in his hands as tears rolled down my cheeks and I almost wished for death immediately.
“Oh my dear Mia, you and I are the future. We are the perfect weapon, a blend of humanity and an immortal creature, that of the vampire.” He said and I looked up into his eyes flanked with thick black lashes.
“Vampire?”
“Why of course love. This is what we are, a beast… a predator. You cannot blame yourself for hunger. Your Father was a meal as he should be. Humans are food, vampires…well, they are also food. We do not discriminate and there is nothing in this world more dangerous than what we are. You need to embrace it and become a part of the family.”
“There are many here like us?” I asked him.
“Oh no.” he said as he laughed and let me go. He walked to the large standing mirror in the corner of the tent and looked himself over, vanity not being an issue for him. He turned back to me and placed his top hat back on and tapped it with his hand with much enthusiasm.
“You and Lily and myself are the only true rogues here, the rest are those who we have changed for the lack of a better word. Call it a longing to have a family again on my part. I mean a circus will not run itself Mia!” he said and with that we both looked to the tent opening as Lily returned with a boy who looked like… well, heaven, if heaven exists. I would have to assume it does seeing vampires do. Lily hugged the boy from the side and shook him a bit as he stopped his hat from dropping from his head.
“Mia this is Bailey… he is a fabulous boy, very talented and happy addition to this family.”
I wanted to look at him but he made me feel very strange. I mean Jonah had done the same to me but this was different, more intense and just then I felt him take my hand into his as he flashed from Lily’s side and in front of me in a blink of an eye. Jonah smiled and looked to Lily, clapping his hands together once.
“Bailey, it is up to you now. This is Mia, she is not unlike Lily and myself but it seems she needs a bit of TLC, you must provide this or she is on the table tonight.” He said and I swallowed hard, still sweating and sickly, vision coming and going a bit but determined to try, I have to try and survive. Whether it is my will or that of my genetic code, I have to make it and as I thought about it I looked up to Bailey who smiled at me and my shaking slowed as well as my twitching, which I am certain is very attractive.
“Mia?” he asked me and I nodded to him.
“I am Bailey and I promise I will do my best to help you.”
I nodded and he leaned down as he lifted my hand and then I felt a prick, it was not so much pain as a release of pressure as his teeth cut into the skin on the side of hand and he took a small drink, completely controlled. He stood up, blood staining his lips and let it roll on his tongue. He then swallowed and closed his eyes, quickly opening them up and looking my face over.
“You taste like Jonah.” He said and I tilted my head at him. He smiled and watched me.
“Sit, please.” He said and I sat on the side of the bed as he sat down next to me and continued to hold my hand in his.
He let my hand go and reached into his coat, pulling out a two sided card on a string and smiled at me. He started to flip it quickly as the girl drawn on both sides danced from the spin of the paper. I grinned and let it sooth me. I have not known many moments of calm of affection in my life and as my brain continues to pulsate and swell behind the confines of bone and veins slivers of the life I had lived so far continued to plague me, beatings by my Father, the maid attending to my wounds and a cold house full of bitterness by a human who hated me for stealing his love. As if I had done this on purpose. In fact it was his fault for mating with her. I am coming to realize he kept me around to torture me for the life he had hoped for and did not receive. I blinked as a tear ran down my cheek and Bailey lifted my chin to face him.
“You are so sad, I wish to take that from you Mia.” He whispered and I nodded as he bit into his wrist and raised it to my lips. I hesitated as it lingered my lips. My heart beat stuttered in my chest momentarily and I could not tell if it was the blood or Bailey, perhaps it is both and this is how I should feel when getting ready to feed. I mean I have never done it knowingly. If so my head will not allow the memory of it to bubble up.
“Mia… drink of me.” He said as he moved his wrist slightly and with that I grabbed his wrist with more force than he was ready to experience. I knew this as he shifted slightly on the bed and my lips upon his wound, ready to take him into me as he wished.
“Do it.” He said and I sucked, slowly at first and then as the warmth filled my mouth and tasted like the sweetest honey, I swallowed it, feeling it all the way down my throat as it coated everything and busted through into my stomach, filling a craving I had known my entire life but had no idea how to fix it. I growled at his skin as his eyes watched me drink, he was so calm for someone being fed upon but it was perhaps his nature as being insane was mine. I swallowed again and again as the blood filled my stomach and was consumed almost as quickly as it was received but with each moment something in mended, my brain started to settle, my thoughts becoming clearer, my memory of my soon to discarded life as a confused and pathetic half breed started to fade. I swallowed harder as Bailey lay back on the bed and accepted me and my need for him. I then felt it in me, a thud at first, then a shudder and then my heart went into a rhythm that caused me to pull my lips from his wrist and fall from the bed onto my knees with a hard thud to the dirt floor. I reached up and touched my chest, clawing at the material and tearing it slightly as my heart continued to beat in a frantic rhythm, something unnatural and making me cough and moan. I crawled a bit as blood dripped from my lips and then I stood up, swaying on my feet and stared into the mirror, as I lean in and see all the blood splatter on my face, I slowly touch my skin, smearing it, half tempted to taste it again. When I do, sparks congregate in my brain and cause a rush of adrenaline that I do not expect, but want and need. I can tell you a home does not consist of people but a feeling, something deep and wide and comforting. Comfort, yes, a belonging, whether by chance or purposeful…if you are accepted as is then become. Then it happened. One sharp pain and I dropped, rolling onto my back and staring up at the tent ceiling painted in bright colors. Ferris wheels, elephants, a beautiful woman high upon a wire and a man leaning against her and holding her tight. My eyes watered, my lips moved, my breathing stopped and wit
h one last moment the human in me felt the cold earth below me. I dug my nails into the dirt, closing my eyes and my heart beat stopped in my chest and I expected to open my eyes and see clouds and heaven’s gate but no… Jonah and Lily leaned over me and Lily poked me with a stick.
“Should I eat it?”
Jonah shook his head and laughed.
“Why is it you think you have to eat anything dead and dying, it truly is appalling sometimes my dear, a beauty such as yourself snacking on road kill, so unnecessary indeed.” Jonah said and Lily stood up and smacked him, almost knocking his hat off of his head.
“I am hungry.” She said as she stomped her foot and I blinked and Jonah clapped his hands and kissed Lily on the cheek.
“Oh look!” he said as he reached down and jerked me up to my feet. I stood there, opening my mouth and realizing I did not need to breathe, how very odd but amusing at the same time. I held my hand to my chest and felt nothing, no thudding; no rhythm and Jonah leaned in and smiled at me.
“It is something you come accustomed to. It seems the old ticker is not needed for us.” He said and Lily spun me around, smelling me and grinning as I now matched her own scent it would seem.
I suddenly remembered and as Lily was undressing me and grabbing new clothing I looked to Jonah who watched without much excitement.
“Bailey.” I said and Jonah clapped again.
“Oh that was a thing to behold…the appetite on you is amazing!” he said and I blinked as Lily slipped a black shirt made of silk on me, a button up no less and then she wrapped me in a black corset and tightened it from behind. I heard a rib crack but I felt nothing and it mended as fast it was broken. Lily lifted a foot and pulled the laces to a ridiculous tightness as I moved slightly and Jonah watched me transform from girl to a woman somewhat I would guess.
“He lives?” I asked and Jonah paced in front of me as wrapped a skirt on me. Bustled in the back and short in the front. I lifted a foot as she placed a laced up black boot on it and then the other. She moved so fast a human would not see her work but I could with no problems. She passed my face, her curls trailing behind her and grinned at me. I grinned back as she continued to mess with my hair and as she stepped back I reached up and felt the small hat on my head and grinned. She spun me around and I looked into the mirror, shocked for a second at myself and how healthy I looked. My hair had re-grown my skin flawless as theirs was. I looked a bit older and young all at the same time and calm. Calm was the huge difference in me now. I felt strong and completely comfortable in my own skin. Something I had never had before. I smiled at the mirror and the reflection smiled back at me. Mia and Mina finally as one, as it should be.
I turned as Bailey stepped in and stared at me. Jonah and Lily stepped aside and left us as if they knew when to properly exit a room. I stood there, touching my new corset and Bailey stepped up to me grinning as he looked me over.
I reached out to him and as I did I felt a vibration in the tips of fingers the closer I got to him. Was this something that would always be? Was this what it means to be vampire? Or my now silent heart showing some emotion? Who is to say exactly, as being a vampire seems to be an odd endeavor? Something you do not just think about becoming, it is who you are.
“You look beautiful Mia, welcome to Will and Wonder.” He said and with that I loved him, whether it was the blood he had given of himself or the fact that he saved me, or perhaps that I was now new. Mended by his hand and saved by two vampires, Jonah and Lily, who either out of morbid fascination or hunger, chose to seek me out. I was finally birthed as I should have been all along… a vampire.
Will & Wonder
The story of Jonah & Lily
A child’s will is a tangible thing, something most adults would die to consume and even more elusive is the wonder they possess. The magic in a child’s eyes sparks jealousy, or so it would seem. The tragedy is …the theft of either or even worse, both. To take such a thing and have no remorse is a disastrous proposition. There are predators in this world, old and vile…preying on innocence and devouring the good. They seem to never be full, never get enough and never know exactly what to do with this will and wonder they have stolen.
A woman crouched down low in high grass and gritted her teeth together, so tightly you could almost hear the slight cracking of enamel. She leaned forward and closed her eyes until with one exhaustive push she covered her own mouth with one hand and dug her blood stained fingernails into the wet earth. She could hear movement around her, quick and threatening. Suddenly a choking came from under her, small and yielding and she reached down and pulled a baby up to her, her eyes widened as she looked the child over and it opened its eyes and she sucked in her breath as its eyes were not that of a child, but more of a seasoned soul…something old and understanding. She held the child to her and whispered to it…
“Jonah…” and then she laid him down, drenched in blood as she reached under herself again, crying out this time without being able to control it and pulled another small body up to her, she wiped the child’s brow and cleaned blood from its face.
“Lily.” She whispered.
Just then she scooped them both up tightly and started to run, stumbling a bit as she did and leaving a trail of blood behind her, dripping slowly from her on the grass and clinging to it like blackness in the moonlight. She tripped and fell with both of them in her arms and cried out again as bleeding continued. It was then that she looked down at the two of them, their heads both hanging and life leaving them and made the only choice a Mother can make. She chose to save them as she knew she would not be. She pushed herself up slowly and then reached up and sliced her fingernail into one side of her neck and then the other, she placed a baby to each wound and slowly but surely they started to feed. It was gentle at first but with each swallow the babies became hungrier and before she could slow them down she simply laid back and let the life leave her as the children she had fought to save consumed her…
“Lily,” a young boy with curly blonde hair said as the wind whipped the dark green grass back and forth in the field. A small girl giggled and the boy grinned as he swiped the grass slowly and felt the thick blades against his skin. His eyes moved quickly as he saw movement to his right and stepped towards it and then he heard laughter to his left and turned to see a bit more movement below the surface of the green sea.
“Jonah…..” came out of nowhere and he turned as a small girl, about an inch smaller than him but similar in features laughed and smacked him… yelling out “You are it!” as she ran away from him quickly, honestly too fast to be human, but a bit slower than she probably could muster up. Jonah laughed too and chased her, watching her long blonde hair bounce on her back against her off white dress, it lay in long curls, almost as if someone had meticulously spent hours doing her hair, but no. Lily was a beauty, beyond most even at a tender age of 10, Jonah… her paternal twin, was just as beautiful with blonde hair and flawless skin. A slight pink color stained both of their cheeks making them even more adorable. They looked like perfection, or as you would assume it to be. No bruises, no cuts, no dirt under the nails. For Jonah this was most odd, seeing he is a boy and active, for Lily… you would expect a bit but no. Nothing. It was almost as if they were impervious to injury.
Lily cried out as she tripped and fell, rolling head over heel and Jonah sped up, so much so he was not detectable to the human eye and at her side as she came to stop, holding her knee with both hands. Jonah tapped her small hands and she hissed at him, he then pulled her fingers back and saw a stone embedded in her skin, some of her small tender bone was exposed and he slowly reached towards it as suddenly her body rejected the foreign matter and the stone was pushed out and Jonah watched as her skin pulled itself back together as if stitched by invisible fairies. He grinned and wiped the small trace of blood left behind and held it out to her and she took it from his finger and then swallowed, looking satisfied and as his stomach growled their names called out on the wind.
“Jonah… Lily!”
Jonah took her hand and stood up, pulling his perfect match to her feet beside him and they both looked across the field as a man looked around with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun above them.
“Ahh! Children!” the man waved with his brown driving cap in his hand at the two of them and they smiled and ran towards him side by side
“Ridiculous!”
Sophia swiped her hand at a human girl and knocked her to the ground with such force her head cracked on the white stone and Sophia looked down and watched as the red blood slowly oozed from under her skull. She leaned down, flipping her long white sleeve back to avoid a mess and placed her fingers into the warmth pooling out from the girl. She placed her fingers into her mouth and closed her eyes, allowing her senses to be filled with ecstasy. Fresh blood was a luxury she enjoyed. Seeing she was royalty and on the council in Valon, she could have as much as her stomach would hold if she wanted, but she held back often to make the drinking of blood that much more when she drank it.
Today was important to her, the changing of the guard and the council seats would take place and she had lobbied and done her best to gain a higher title, one that would suit her better. For now her Father was the head of the council, but his reign had been long and uneventful. In fact Sophia hated that fact that he allowed humans so much freedom within the walls of Valon, a safe haven and only home to the vampires of the world. Humans came here of their own accord but the influx of them had been slowing for some time now and Sophia feared it would eventually become a threat to their survival. Sophia’s Father… Menious had been in control of Valon for 500 years and as Sophia saw it, the city had become weaker by the day as well as the will of the vampire to hold its rightful place in the world.