by P. Mattern
“Yes if you like. What is it about her that you find pleasing my son?”
Argent grinned.”I like her nipples-they are very orange. I haven’t had one with those features before. I am curious about her.”
Adrastos chuckled.
“Then you shall have her. I admit that human females have their own appeal. I suppose that we immortals will always be drawn to the human females, but as a BORN immortal there are things that you should consider.
Human beings are much like rats, Argent my son. They live in nests their entire inconsequential and ignoble lives and perish with no understanding of why they ever lived.”
Adrastos pause to take a sip of blood from a carved crystal goblet, then raised it up into the air so that the light shone through it.
“They exist only to feed the immortals. That alone is their purpose here, and that is the simple truth…
…someone really ought to tell them!”
Nora deftly pulled the camper into the vast parking lot of the rest station as Blue stirred from napping in the passenger seat. She knew that they must be close, maybe a scant three hours to their first camping place, and she was getting excited.
Blue stretched and looked at her with his sleepy bedroom eyes.
“Love you,” he declared in a sleepy voice, leaning toward her for a kiss,”How long was I asleep? I didn’t mean for you to drive that long Norry you should have awakened me long before this!”
Nora laughed, tossing her fuchsia pigtail back over her shoulder.
“I was fine, and you already drove a bunch. I wanted you to rest up for some planned nocturnal activities later,” she teased. The truth was that she didn’t think Blue was a very good driver and she planned to do as much of the driving as possible during their journey West. She had heard some jokes about male vampires being lousy drivers in general and she found that she had to agree. From what she had seen they had lead feet, were bumper huggers and tended to cut other drivers off even when they didn’t mean to .
For all intents and purposes they drove like they waged war, way over the top aggressively.
Being immortals they had few personal safety concerns, but her fears were for the human drivers on the interstates with them.
They kissed for a few minutes. In her peripheral vision Nora noted that several members of their caravan had also pulled up and were walking up the broad concrete paths to the restrooms, gift shops and fast food kiosks.
Nora saw Absolam Noble hand in hand with a petite, beautifully shaped blonde and immediately stopped kissing Blue. Nora was a social butterfly at heart and was anxious that she and Blue get better acquainted with the couple. Usually they had a great time hanging out with Carey, Kimbra, Avinash and Neerja but she felt socially constricted and was determined that she and Blue should expand their circle of close friends.
“Hurry!” she said to Blue. “Let’s catch up with Ab and Natalie!”
Blue sighed as he adjusted the front of his pants and said, ”Sure sweet- but I intend to take up right where we left off when we finally get to our first destination, if you don’t mind.”
The couple hurried up the path and Nora tugged on the back of Ab’s shirt to get his attention.
“Hey Nora, Blue!” Ab said pleasantly, turning around ”How ARE you guys? Seen any sign of Fressenda and Charley?”
“Not yet,” Blue answered, as he and Nora exchanged hugs with the couple. “ Keeping our eyes peeled though. I needed to ask Fress something. And –DAMN Ab , I don’t know if you will take this as a compliment or not but you look more like your uncle Lux every day man!”
Ab grinned, ”It’s true and I DO take it as a compliment! Uncle Lux is a handsome devil. Drives my dad crazy though so don’t mention it to HIM!”
Ab looked Blue up and down.
“You are really getting into shape Blue my man. You look great. I mean you are still more massively muscled than any of us including my dad, and that’s saying a lot. Awesome.”
“I have to give these important women in my life the credit,” Blue confessed,” Nora and Fress I mean. They both encouraged me to try yoga and it’s really working. That, and the swordplay workouts with Fallon Lunel. She rocks!”
“Well it’s done you some powerful good,” Ab commented. “Hey I see Pierre and Lux coming this way! What do you say we all have breakfast on my uncle?”
Lux and Pierre walked up with a dark haired Hispanic human, and his wife.
“This is Rafe,’ Rafiel’ actually and his wife Festina.” Lux said by way of introduction as everyone in the group shook hands and acknowleged the couple.”Rafe has specialized training as a mercenary and will be doing some of the patrolling shifts at our camp when we get there.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Ab said politely, as he and the others exchanged handshakes with the couple, ”I’m Castor Nobles son, and Lux is my uncle. We were just about to grab some very early breakfast-would you are to join us?”
The couple exchanged a look, and the man introduced as Rafe replied,”Sure-as long as we are not on the menu!”
Blue snorted and everyone laughed in an easy relaxed way.
“Not at all,” Lux reassured them. “This is the Midnight Breakfast House and we will be looking for hot stacks of all you can eat pancakes…
My treat,” he finished, winking at Ab, who returned the wink. Pierre was smiling broadly. It felt good to all of them to intermingle with the humans, especially since they were on the same course sharing the same concerns.
And the same enemies.
It was a huge space located on one of the lower floors of Faquier Hall, and although modernized in some aspects, it still harbored a dungeon type atmosphere.
Adrastos liked it that way.
His lab was his Disneyland, fully equipped with an enslaved staff of wetnurse clones, altered humans and vampire scientists to carry out his arcane experiments on many different phylums of creatures.
Adrastos was accompanied by a human woman that he had procured from the nearest village. She was tall for a female, dark haired, full breasted and broad hipped. He had paid dearly for her, but she had come willingly, sacrificing herself for the welfare of her large family.
He had had a night of impassioned and imaginative sex with her, exercising the restraint required because he did not intend to change her into an immortal. And because he knew what his real purpose for her being brought to Faquier Hall was, he also knew something else that she was unaware of.
Her tryst with him would be the last experience of sexual congress that she would ever have.
He guided her gently by the shoulder as he took her on a private tour of the lab. Near the entrance there were several large tanks set up; some were crystal clear and contained many exotic types of fish. Other tanks were large, with a layer of mud on the bottom, and so murky that the creatures contained within could only be seen with any clarity if they swam directly up to the glass front of the tank.
The woman, Dohna, peered into the depths of one of the huge dark aquariums.
“Why is it so dirty?” she asked,”Is there really anything in there?”
Adrastos chuckled.
“Because the creatures contained within prefer it that way,” he replied,”They are unusual hybrid mutations. Some are mosaics, comprised of genetic material of three or more creatures.
At that moment an amphibious creature as large as a medium sized dog appeared out of the gloom. It had the appearance of an Anglerfish, except for two critical features.
It had human eyes. Green eyes with long lashes...and instead of fins it had two webbed human hands, one growing out of each side.
The woman gasped and took two stumbling steps backward.
“WHAT WAS THAT?” Dohna asked as Adrastos steadied her by supporting her by her elbow.
“Just one of my experiments,” Adrastos answered, yawning.”Originally it could talk also but we found it necessary to modify that feature.”
The truth was that the creature had retained enough
human sensibilities to realize that it had been turned into a monster and had spent the first few hours of life in it’s new body swimming to the top of the tank and screaming at the top of its lungs for help. Adrastos had had to clip it’s tongue to restore quiet to his work space.
Now it looked through the thick aquarium glass imploringly at Dohna, batting it’s long lashes.
“Come along,” Adrastos said briskly, ”There is more to see, AND…” he trailed off as he slid a hand up the woman’s skirt and grabbed an ample handful of her naked derierre, ”I intend to enjoy you here again my dear, on one of these tables. We will make a game of it!”
The tour of the lab continued with Adrastos showing the woman a tank holding a huge clamshell in which a miniature replica of a human female was curled. The small underwater creature was only 9 inches long and had a tail that looked like a mermaid’s tail.”
“So pretty,” the woman said, peering into the tank” She is beautiful!”
“She is a Mer-sprite,” Adrastos told her,”And she bites. Viciously. Not one of my better genetic cocktails I am afraid.”
Eventually they were walking between rows of floor to ceiling caged varieties of experimental mutants.
Dohna noticed in passing that there were odd combinations of familiar animals. Adrastos pointed out a “monkcat”, and a “rabitroon” and a “Skunkitiel”-an exotic looking bird with no beak and a skunks head that was covered with an odd mix of both black and white fur and feathers.
The most surprising was a long low glass cage that held what at first appeared to be a boa constrictor. As it undulated and unwound itself she noticed with a shock that it had the canine head of a Yorkshire terrier.
“A boa condogger,” Adrastos remarked proudly.”He’s man’s best friend but I wouldn’t let him hug me!” As Adrastos laughed at his own joke, Dohna’s stomach was doing flip flops. She could scarcely wait until she could visit her family and tell them of all that she’d seen.
In the back of the lab, Adrastos took an ornate key out of his pocket and opened a tall door set into an archway.
“This is my private lab,” he explained, ”Where I do my most intimate work. We can be alone here.”
As soon as the couple stepped inside the room and the door was closed, Adrastos watched, his breath quickening, as Dohna removed her clothing. He stood in front of her for a moment, caressing her with one hand, looking at her contemplatively.
“It is cold in here,” she remarked, starting to shiver.
“I know,” Adrastos replied.”Necessary for the type of work we do. Come with me my dear.”
Adrastos led her over to a high metallic table with hand and foot rests, and helped her up onto the table.
She was visibly shivering as he strapped her hands above her head with her ankles strapped in a spread- eagled position below.
“Don’t worry, relax,” he told her. Although his voice was low and soothing there was a sheen of perspiration on his brow and she could hear him beginning to breathe more heavily. “You will be warmed momentarily I assure you.”
“That’s good,” she said, waiting for him to climb up on the table on top of her.
Adrastos walked around the table, trailing his hand over her body. Even though she though the circumstances bizarre, Adrastos was a handsome male energy and she felt herself becoming aroused.
And warmer because of it.
Adrastos turned , walking over to some nearby shelves and returning with a large syringe. Dohna became alarmed and tried to sit up.
“There there,” he said, “we are going to make scientific history tonight, you and I, and I believe that you will welcome this injection to take the proverbial ”edge “off. You will feel VERY warm after this. And if I am correct in my calculations, it will enable you to regrow the body parts I wish to harvest from you.”
Dohna’s eyes widened with fear and she began to struggle against the restraints in earnest.
“You promised!” she cried out,shrilly ”Lord Adrastos you promised my family that you would not kill me!”
“Oh calm down!” Adrastos replied, for the first time becoming annoyed with the young woman.”You are not being killed, you are actually being ’enhanced’. And with your enhancement- at my hands of course-comes the bonus of immortality.
Now then tell me-what mortal doesn’t want THAT?” he asked in an offhand manner, looking down deeply into her frightened eyes.
In her mesmerized state the young woman ceased speaking, her eyes glassy and fixed toward the glare of the lab’s ceiling lights. Taking up surgical instruments, he began to make a slice here and there, dipping his long fingers into the rivulets of blood that issued from the young woman.
Next he essentially ended her life by clamping her mouth and nostrils shut with his hand and timing the procedure as her body vainly struggled beneath the restraints.
As soon as she was completely still he sunk his fangs into her throat, enjoying long swallows of her blood. Blood ran down the sides of his fanged mouth and soaked into his beard but he did not stop until he was sated.
Checking the large stainless steel clock he hurried over to a counter, procuring a mix of herbs and powders, quickly grinding them together with a mortar and then sprinkling them over her as he recited an ancient Gothic rune. The rune was so powerful that everywhere it reverberated in the sterile room a sound like thunder echoed.
When the procedure was finished to his satisfaction, Adrastos tazed his newest experiment back into ‘life’. It was not the life that Dohna had enjoyed as a human, (he had fibbed a little on that), but it was a reanimation that could have easily passed for life.
“Close enough,’ he muttered to himself.
When her eyes at last fluttered open, they were dark and soulless. All traces of the woman she had been had vanished. She opened her mouth several times but no sound issued forth.
Then she clenched her teeth and growled.
“Congratulations my dear,” he said, looking down at her, ”You made it through the operation and everything looks fine! Not a stitch of your former humanity remains. You will become a specialized hunter, with the agility and quickness you lacked before and a taste for both fresh meat and carrion.
“And what have we here?” he asked with a look of feigned astonishment on his face, ”Why it’s a heaping platter of carrion…human from the smell of it. For your first birthday.”
Adrastos quickly removed the restraints holding Dohna down. She sat up woodenly, staring in front of her, but as Adrastos held out the platter of carrion she immediately began to feed on it as if she were a wild dog.
“Good girl,” he commented, as she cleared the platter and then finished by licking it clean, ”Good girl. I will name you Prima ,because you are the first of your kind…
The first Zombie-Vampire hybrid.”
Daisy Neris was a member of several of the human families traveling with Vampire Castor Noble and his extended family. She had always cringed at the decidedly conservative views of her parents. They were Constitutionalists who firmly believed in the fundamental freedoms America had been ostensibly founded on, and were shocked that their views and their refusal to be chipped by government minions resulted in their being marked for the first time in their quiet and conservative lives as fugitives.
Daisy had first encountered Castor Noble when she attended the first meeting at the Underground Farmhouse with her family. She had two brothers, Stash and Cameron, and all of them had been intimidated at first, fearing that the meeting might be a trap or worse. Castor Noble and his brother Pollux had quickly put them at ease. And when a ghostly stranger had attempted to disrupt the meeting and Castor had met the stranger in midair with his fangs bared in warfare mode Daisy had been amazed by his show of bravery and strength.
Ever since that day she had harbored a total crush on him.
He was everything she had yearned for in her young woman’s tender heart; he was outrageously handsome, confident, brave, with a ripped body and an easy laug
h that put others at ease.
She was aware that he was married to a petite red haired vampiress “Mitzi” and had a son. But even that fact could not dissuade her growing emotional attachment to the ‘Leader’ of their exodus. In her dreams she ran her fingers through his beautiful shoulder length brown hair and he gently took her face in his broad hand and kissed her. It was something she wanted with all her being.
Each time she encountered the vampire she was again struck by his physical perfection and smart brand of sexy. She also enjoyed what she perceived as his confident sense of style. One day he would be dressed in sporty modern attire. The next day he would be wearing breeches and a doublet and finely tooled leather boots up to his knees.
It caused her to wonder which century he was from originally.
Daisy was a pretty girl, with natural highlights in her long blonde hair that ran from mocha to golden to pale blonde. Because she was still a teenager she was immensely dissatisfied with her appearance, even on a good day.
But after she had seen how flawlessly beautiful the vampiresses that her family was traveling with were, she was even more dissatisfied. She longed for the easy elegance that their beauty seemed to afford them. She couldn’t imagine anything grander than being immortal and beautiful at the same time.
Other than getting kissed by Castor Noble.
Daisy sighed and pulled the hood of her pink Victoria’s Secret sweatshirt over her head. It was chilly, but since the caravan of humans and vampires had made it to base camp, the vampires had organized a roll call. This was not only to make sure that all their human charges had made it to the destination, but also to pass out feeding assignments.
Daisy thought ‘Feeding Assignments’ sounded disgusting, and everyone knew it just meant sorting out which vampire family would be matched with a corresponding human family. In exchange for blood ‘donations’ from the humans, the vamps would be responsible to provide them with all their human nutritional requirements. Castor Noble had warned that since the traveling groups would be living off the land to some extent, humans would have to reconsider and adapt their vegan and gluten free diets. He’d told them that living off the land entailed eating wild tubers and onions, purslane, wild asparagus, cattails, and dandelions was also possible as different plants came into season and fish and wild venison could be had all year round in some areas. Daisy figured that Cass must have originally been human in a simpler time where humans learned to live off the land.