by P. Mattern
“Well he is prescient, HIGHLY prescient, and he picked up on my…my regret. About not being able to have children.”
Daniel responded quickly, barely giving her time to finish.
“None of that matters to me, love. You know that!” he said, grasping her shoulders tightly.”If it’s still a sticking point for you, and it bothers you…well, that’s another matter entirely.
I want what you want,” he finished,”Always, Chan.”
His words sobered her.
“I know you do, Daniel,” she replied, ”And I feel the same way .But I have to be honest, and maybe I wouldn’t be feeling this way if you and I hadn’t connected—“
“Like THAT was ever a possibility!” Daniel teased,””WE” were nothing less than DESTINY babe!”
“I agree,” Channing said quickly, ”And now that I have you, Daniel, I want what nearly every female energy wants. I want your baby.”
“And Dante Febere says that this is possible?” Daniel asked cautiously.
“Yes. He does.” Channing answered.
“And you believe him? Because Chan my sweet, if he’s playing mind games with you I will end him..I don’t care if he is the most powerful Mage in Two hemispheres!”
“No need for warfare,” Channing reassured him, ”Daniel you know that I am a bit prescient myself, And he is telling the truth. I believe him. I believe that it’s possible.”
Daniel became quiet, as if taking it all in. Then said, ”What’s the catch then? I know there IS one. Dante Febere has a reputation as a Beloved Mage, but also as a shrewd and crafty politician, Chan !”
“Well as the potential father this concerns you also, ”Channing answered, and so I need your input. The thing is—“ Channing felt suddenly nervous and slipped both her hands into Daniel’s, ”He will invoke the Healing Rune for nothing—if we promise him that our firstborn son will be indentured to him for two years as an apprentice Mage!”
As Channing again searched her lover’s face it was difficult to tell whether Daniel looked relieved or perturbed. She thought perhaps it was a little of both.
“That’s a little old fashioned, don’t you think? Not to mention it sounds like a bad take on the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale” he said in a skeptical voice. “Given that the Night Children of vampire parents reach maturity within their first year of existence, that means he won’t have to wait very long for free ‘help’ if the Healing Rune works. It also means that you will have a scant year with our child before he is shipped off to the Marble City. And what if he doesn’t want to go? Young men can be very stubborn.
I know I was!” he finished.
“Point made,” Channing agreed, “But I’ve done a risk assessment on this option already. I’ve decided that I want this.
And that leaves YOU,” she added,”Would you be willing to go along with his offer? For my sake?”
Daniel was quiet again. He was feeling many emotions, some of them conflicting. On one hand he didn’t completely trust Dante Febere, though he didn’t know why. Dante had certainly been the most accommodating and delightful host that any of them could have wished for.
He was intelligent and insightful enough to know that his distrust was probably primal and rooted in his childhood disappointments concerning his own father’s behavior, so he was willing to set that aside for the moment.
The larger factor, the one that nearly gave him no option to say ‘no’, was the fact that he carried a deep seated rage over Channing’s attack and the sexual atrocities that her virgin body had been subjected to. Channing had no idea that Daniel harbored revenge fantasies of slaughtering those responsible, if he ever found out who the perpetrators were. To have her body healed again, to have those scars, the scars he made sure to kiss every time the two of them made love so that she felt completely loved and accepted…well, that was priceless, wasn’t it?
In his mind that aspect made his decision an easy one.
“Of COURSE,” he told her, meaning it,” You shall have whatever your heart desires—because your happiness is mine also!”
Channing did a vertical leap, wrapping her shapely legs around his midsection and covering his mouth with kisses.
“The Mage says it won’t take long,” she said, her voice rushed and giddy with excitement. “He said we can perform the Healing Rune day after tomorrow. Oh! And you can be there if you like. But you can’t interfere. Does that sound okay?”
“Of course,” he agreed, feeling uplifted by her happiness. Surprisingly he felt more ‘on board’ with Channing having their baby. Suddenly it seemed like a wonderful idea.
“Whatever I can do!” he finished, as she cavorted around him, laughing in a carefree manner that made him know that his decision had been the right one.
-----------------------------------------
“Are you sure that you don’t want to come with us?” Cass asked Mitzi. Mitzi was curled up on the end of a comfortable red velvet covered loveseat near the blazing fireplace in their room. She was working on a huge ornately crocheted bedcover that was lacey and white, and to Cass she looked like a Victorian Valentine. She was very pregnant , and her activities were more domestically oriented now.
“You and Daisy should go ahead,” she answered, lifting her amazing bluegreen eyes momentarily to smile at him, ”Although why, with all four seasons available here at Castle Febere year round, you want to walk in the falling snow I will never understand!”
Cass fell to his knees before her to kiss her busy fingertips.
“Think about what century I’m from—originally I mean. I love the winter. And in this fantasy ridden place it’s good to remember that in the ‘real world’ right now it IS wintertime. I want to feel connected to my roots right now.”
Mitzi pulled him closely to her for a lingering kiss.
“I know. I understand. I get nostalgic too. You two have fun in the snow! The baby and I will be fine. I might even take a nap!” she said, ruffling his hair and laughing.
Daisy appeared at the door. She was wearing a red capelet with a hood,and a long red skirt with black riding boots.
“Cass are you ready?” she asked, as her eyes met Mitzi’s and the two women exchanged a fond smile. “Mitzi do you need anything? Dr. Caligare told me that you should force feedings to keep up your strength with this pregnancy. Do you need to feed?”
“No my dear,” Mitzi answered, ”I am still refreshed from the blood that you provided to me at lunchtime. Go have your walk. Cass needs to work off some energy I can tell!”
Cass bent over to kiss Mitzi and he and Daisy proceeded toward the front entrance, at least a football field away from the luxurious quarters where he and Mitzi and Daisy were staying. Cass kept up a stream of entertaining conversation that consisted primarily of observations concerning the Marble City in general and Dante Febere in particular.
“Did you ever hear that Dante has wrestled with angels?” he asked her. “Of course, as with every notable and legendary figure it’s always better to take the tales that surround them with a grain of salt. But in his case I can believe it. He is from an amazing background. We are beyond fortunate that he has decided to assist us. And his being willing to find permanent homes for some of our entourage—well that is unprecedented!”
To his surprise, Daisy sighed in response, just as they exited the huge entrance doors which had opened of their own volition to allow them to step into the frostiness of the night air.
“I had heard that Dante Febere would be offering sanctuary to a handful of vampires AND humans before our stay here is finished and we move on. It was kind of my back up plan to stay here…I was hoping and praying that I might be one of the ones selected. But not as a human…
…As a VAMPIRE!” she finished with emphasis.
Cass looked over at her in surprise.
“Daisy! REALLY? You want to be Turned?” he asked, a note of incredulity in his deeply resonant voice.”Since when?” he added. The pair were still walking forward , though the snow was falling so
rapidly that it was nearly blinding. Cass glanced upward through the bare tree branches and was surprised to see a full moon, winter pale but as large as a moon at the equator in some tropical locale.
“What the hell?” he said, almost to himself, his mind still grappling with Daisy’s pronouncement, ”How can we see the moon if it’s snowing? Doesn’t it have to be cloudy?”
Daisy giggled.
“Apparently not here,” she answered,”Dante Febere insists on a moon in view no matter which side of the castle one is experiencing. He can control not only the weather but also the heavens. Even I know THAT!”
“Well I must say I am more impressed with our Host Mage with each passing day. That is if days are actually passing in the regular sense. I also heard that he can control Time. We might emerge from our stay here not a day older if that is the case!”
Cass stopped walking for a moment, and Daisy did also, turning to him as the snow continued to fall around them.
“You can’t really mean what you just said,” Cass told her. “About being turned that is. You are very young. It’s not your fault , but you can’t begin to know how being Turned feels….it’s not only about what is gained, my dear. It is also about loss. And there is real pain . And there is a measure of grief involved. You can’t possibly know what you are contemplating.”
Daisy stood toe to toe with him, moving imperceptibly closer until he could smell the intoxicating aroma of her blood bouquet through her skin.
“How old were YOU?” she asked in a saucy tone, cutting her almond shaped eyes up at him narrowly, ”I bet you weren’t much older than I am, were you?”
Cass was nonplussed.
“My Turning…which is a personal subject for vampires by the way FYI—not unlike a personal sexual history in the world of humans—came about because I was DYING as a human from mortal injuries. A vampire ‘saved’ me by Turning me. It wasn’t a decision I made. Matter of fact, it wasn’t a decision that I would have EVER made as a young adult human. But I believe it was meant to be. Especially now.”
Cass paused to see what effect, if any, his words were having on Daisy. He found her face impassive and unreadable. In the moonlight her beautiful face seemed as though it was carved out of ivory.
“So I have to wonder…” he continued,”Why someone so young and beautiful with her entire life ahead of her would consider such a thing.
Why, Daisy? What’s going on? Was it anything Mitzi and I said …or did? Did we influence you to consider this? Because we didn’t mean to I assure you!”
Daisy broke eye contact to look down at her feet and kick up a puff of snow with her boot. When she looked back at him she seemed resolute.
“I want to be a part of YOUR world, forsaking mine. I want to live as you live. Vampires –at least V-net vampires—are not evil. At least in MY experience!
I want to live forever, be beautiful forever, LOVE forever. I want to feel powerful and protect the weak. I want all of that. And…more.”
She became breathless at the end after stating her case as passionately as she could. And because she had found the boldness to answer so candidly, she continued on recklessly, determined to bare all the secrets of her soul that she’d been holding in for months.
“I want YOU to turn me Castor! I have wanted it since the first time that I set eyes on you. I want to feel your lips at my throat, feel you drinking me. But not like during a ‘feeding’, so clinical and nice and boring…I want the dark passion of the final act. I want to feel your venom burning through me and changing me to what YOU are!”
Before Cass could react she threw herself up against him, pulling his face down to hers and kissing him with a hunger and greed that astounded him. For a few lost seconds before his mind could react his lips returned her youthful passion in kind. Her Blood’s virginity, the scent of her, was overwhelming. Her pulse echoed in his ears as he fought to gain control of both his libido and his bloodlust.
Finally he wrenched himself away, untwining her arms from about his neck and holding her away from him by her slender wrists. He could see that she was aroused, her breasts heaving as her breathing frosted in the air between them.
“DAISY! DAISY …PLEASE!” he gasped, shocked at what had just transpired.
For a few seconds neither of them moved, then Daisy broke away from him with a muffled sob and , turning abruptly, ran off into the night.
Cass stood in the falling snow , watching her disappear as if a thick, snowy curtain had been drawn between them. Then he realized that he had to go after her. She was human. She was upset.
On top of that, Dante had warned that there were dangers in the periphery of the Marble City. Not to mention that, being human, she could suffer from exposure or even freeze to death.
He began running in the direction that she’d been heading when she broke free of their ill fated embrace. Guilt descended upon Cass like a thrall.
After all, she was just a young and impressionable human girl, thrown into strange and terrible circumstances that she had done nothing to cause. He had the suspicion that there was something that he had missed, that this were somehow his fault for not realizing how vulnerable and impressionable she was.
He could imagine what Lux would say. Lux would blame him for sure. Lux would want to kick his ass for being such an oblivious bonehead. For not being more careful to mentor Daisy and keep track of what she was thinking; what the experience of feeding vampires was like for her. How it was affecting her.
As he sprinted forward he realized that Daisy must be running at full tilt—he could barely pick up on her scent. He was relieved finally when the scent of her blood became stronger, then stronger still until he could dimly make out her shadowy snow dusted figure running ahead of him.
“DAISY!” he shouted. He thought that she had turned momentarily and then sped up purposefully.
Inwardly Cass sighed. She wasn’t going to make this easy apparently. She had left him no choice but to stop her at any cost.
Flying forward he tackled her from behind, breaking her fall with his body as they tumbled across yards of the slick and snow covered terrain.
“Let me GO!” she shouted in a half scream, beating against his broad finely muscled chest with her fists.”Just go AWAY. I’m NEVER going back! Just leave me HERE!”
She had finished on a wail, the wail of a child denied the one thing that it wanted the most, and she began sobbing in earnest.
Cass held her as she sobbed, cursing the fact that he had no kerchief to give her. Lux would have had one for sure. He unwound his thickly woven decorative silk scarf from around his neck and pressed it into her hands to use as a tissue.
“Oh Daisy,” he said ,”Please don’t be upset! No crime has been committee here, and your feelings are your feelings. The heart wants what it wants my dear. There is no overruling it.
…..I should know that better than anyone ,” he finished, looking down at her as she lay crumbled in his lap.
“But I MEANT IT!” she said, her eyes still producing fat tears that were caught up and carried off by the winter wind as soon as she produced them. Her nose and cheeks were reddened by the cold.”I WANT you! I WANT you to Turn me and I want to BE with you…like a second wife. I love Mitzi too. I could be your slave, or concubine, or mistress or servant. I just want to belong to you!”
Cass looked at her, marveling at her youthful beauty in spite of her swollen eyes and runny nose. Her green eyes glowed in the darkness like the eyes of a panther. Her musk and blood bouquet enveloped him. He could see the top of her heaving young breasts, seemingly thrusting themselves toward him as a puerile offering—and for the second time he hesitated. His loins aching to take her on the hard snow covered ground.
But he knew that he wouldn’t. And not because of Mitzi, but because he was not the kind of male energy to take advantage of a starstruck human female that, emotionally speaking, was little more than a child.
Cass jumped up in one leap, pulling her up toward him.
“Daisy,” he said kindly, looking into her teary eyes as he cupped her shoulders in his hands.”Please believe me when I tell you that I am honored by your admiration. But you have endless options ahead of you, and because I have truly grown to care about you, I cannot be party to keeping you from them by allowing you to settle for a lesser life. You will find love of your own…and you will be treasured and treated in the manner that you deserve. I am prescient enough to know that you were NEVER meant to be anyone’s slave.
Please,” he continued, taking a step back and holding out his hand, ”Return with me now. No judgement here. You will see that, as an older and more experienced energy, I am right in this. Give TIME a chance to show you that you are meant for better things!”
Daisy raised the scarf to her face to wipe her eyes and blow her nose on it daintily with a muffled honking sound that made Cass flinch a little. The scarf had been a gift from Fressenda and he would miss it. But he was glad to see that Daisy seemed to have calmed down.
That left him with the feeling that he had, SOMEHOW, done something right.
Daisy took his hand as they walked back silently toward the front of Castle Febere. Daisy raised her eyes to his and gave him a somewhat abashed smile, which he returned. The lacy white flakes falling ,the soft glow of the moon and the easy sweeping sound of the wind seemed to remove the angst of the previous moments and restore a calm.
Watching the two figures retreat and then disappear from view, the creature in the underbrush at the edge of the woods growled deeply in it’s throat, it’s red eyes dimming in disappointment at the loss of a kill.
“And that’s it,” Cass said, relieved to have finished recounting his rendition of the evening’s encounter with Daisy to Mitzi. Mitzi had listened patiently, without interrupting as he confessed everything to her, never taking her gaze from his eyes as he stood before her after dropping Daisy off at her room across the expansive hallway from where he and Mitzi were staying.
When Mitzi didn’t comment right away, Cass dropped to his knees and walked on them to where she sat, burying his head in her lap.