Vorternon then escorted the two up to their bedroom. As Claire walked alongside Daniel behind the leaders, he didn’t meet her quick glances.
The bedroom was large, with a king-sized bed, a fireplace, and a glittering chandelier hanging from the middle of the room. While looking around, Claire saw that there was a sliding glass door leading out to a small balcony looking over a yard that went on for two or three acres.
Vorternon was saying that they should rest from their long flight, and Claire could have coffee from the maker on a dresser next to the flat screen TV. She knew she should have something, but her body was not in the mood.
The two men then left, closing the door behind them. She looked over at Daniel, who was beginning to unpack his suitcase. She waited, sitting on the bed, turning on the TV and asking if there was an English language station for her.
“Don’t ask me,” he mumbled. “I don’t watch the English stations when I come to France.” He paused from digging out his clothes. “You probably should watch the French channels so you can learn a new language finally.”
“I guess I should,” she set down the remote control on the bed, her eyes on a news channel. “After all, I’m going to be around for a long time.”
He put down a couple of shirts and walked around from the side of the bed to stand in front of her. He was controlling himself.
“You almost destroyed me a few minutes ago,” he hissed.
“You lied to me!” she hissed back. “You told me I would get a chance to enjoy Paris before I changed.”
“That’s not much of lie,” he retorted. “Just a stretch of the truth. Besides, who says you can’t have fun here at night?”
“Because I wanted to enjoy my last time in the sun! I won’t be seeing it for who knows how long, and now you’re taking it from me.”
“Big deal, the sun. You’ll get used to not seeing it and you’ll realize you won’t be missing it.” He went back to the suitcase.
She sighed heavily. There was no use to arguing with a 700 year old vampire about the joys of sunlight. He was a nocturnal creature; it meant nothing to him.
She continued staring at the TV, not caring that she could not understand a word that the anchor and reporters were saying. It was just something to drown out the screaming going on in her head.
She was so lost in that, she almost did not hear Daniel talking to her.
“Again, I could have been destroyed just now, by you,” he was saying. “This is to be my big moment, my time to be inducted into the highest order of the vampires possible. But you could’ve ruined it and I could’ve ended up like Hilde.”
She thought for a moment, carefully choosing her words. “You never really cared about me, did you?”
He looked at her, slowing down his unpacking. “What do you mean?” he finally said, quietly.
“You took advantage of me,” she said, her back still turned away from him. “You were looking for someone to make into vampire. Not as a companion, but as a trophy for your promotion. And you found me.”
When he didn’t answer, Claire turned around and said with more strength. “You were never interested in helping me with freelancing. You didn’t give a shit. You just saw a desperate, naïve young girl and you took advantage of that. You manipulated my mind to focus on you, you seduced me with your vampire ways, to the point that I fell in love with you.”
Snarling, Daniel slowly began to walk over to her again. But Claire kept going.
“There were times when you were mean to me, but I ignored them because I loved you. But when you told me you were a vampire, it was too late for me to get away from you. I was trapped; you trapped me. If I had admitted to myself what an evil, selfish bastard you are, I would have broken up with you before all this hell happened! I should’ve listened to Nancy! She knew all along how heartless you are -”
She stopped the moment Daniel placed his hand around her throat. As she began choking, he leaned in close and whispered through gritted teeth, “You have a choice now. You can be nourishment to the Brothers or be with me forever, as my subordinate. Either way, the life that you knew is over.” He watched her choke. “What say you?”
Though she was struggling to breathe, Claire could feel despair rising in her, with no place to go. It was multiplying, but could only swarm her soul since there was no way out of this situation. She knew Daniel was not going to kill her, but right now, she really didn’t have a choice.
But first she flexed some inner muscles and her despair plummeted into her stomach before being sucked away into a vortex, where pieces of her being were disappearing beyond her reach.
“What say you?” Daniel repeated, squeezing his hand tighter.
Claire formed the words with her mouth and wheezed the word, “you”, and he loosened his grip. He watched as she coughed before taking hold of her shoulders with his supernatural strength. She gasped again and he put his forehead against hers.
“You are to be mine. You will do whatever I tell you and you will answer to me. You have no friends, no family. All you know is me and who I know. And you will become just like me in every way. You got that?”
Coughing, she nodded as fast as she could, silently begging him to stop crushing her shoulder bones.
He finally let go and went back to the suitcase. He emptied the rest of its contents before zipping it up and putting it under the bed. Claire sat still, feeling numb, emotionally. Perhaps she would be like this for all times.
When he finally stood up, he said, “And don’t say I didn’t care about you. Had you ever thought I would like a subordinate to have my interests? It’s not fun living for centuries with the same people who you don’t have much in common with.”
When she didn’t answer, he snapped, “Well?”
“I’ll be your subordinate,” she muttered. “How loving that sounds.”
“Who said love had anything to do with this?” He sneered. “I waited hundreds of years for this chance, and I was going to take whoever came my way. You just so happened to be that person, and if using love was the method to prove I was worthy of being promoted, then so be it.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. No tears came. She had cried them all out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Claire stared into the full length mirror. She barely recognized herself.
She was wearing the black velvet strapless dress, black party shoes, and her hair was neatly brushed, leaving a shine. Her eyes and lips were made up. Around her neck was the ruby and diamond necklace, shining as if the gems were laughing at her.
She wanted to feel gorgeous at this moment. She was dressed in a way she had always fantasized about, and taking part in an exclusive event. But the event was sinister and her outfit made her feel like she was on her way to her own funeral.
Her funeral. In more ways than one, she was about to die. Her body would die, and so would her soul. The Claire she thought she had figured out was going to fade away and be replaced by someone she never imagined. Was this the price she was about to pay for loving her friends and family too much? For being foolish enough to fall head over heels for someone a trusted co-worker warned her about?
There was no need to search for answers, nor bring up those questions. Her fate was sealed and she was about to become a different creature.
Stepping away from the mirror, she went over to her shoulder bag sitting on top of the small table next to the balcony. She dug around before pulling out her phone and clicking it on. She went to her photos and began going through them slowly. They were photos of those she loved. Samantha. Monica. Her parents. Zach and Kristina. Ava. It’s funny how Daniel usually threatened to find the baby and drink her blood more so than the others. Maybe that showed how little human life meant to him, that an infant was worthy of being consumed and thrown aside. Maybe being around for 700 years took away his empathy, or the vampiric blood did that to him.
Before she turned off her phone, she stared at the photo of the smiling baby. It was sent
to her a few hours ago from Kristina, who wanted to show her daughter enjoying a musical Christmas decoration in her living room. This would probably be the only way for Claire to watch her niece grow up, and if so, fine. As long as she stayed alive, then all the killing of innocent people would be worth it. She was a baby, she deserved to live, and she was the closest Claire would ever get to have maternal feelings. No baby would be hers. That was part of the deal.
Nursing the ache in her heart with a few breaths, she kissed the photo. “For you, Ava. So you wouldn’t lose your beautiful smile,” she whispered, and turned off the phone.
A sound behind her made her turn around. She saw Daniel emerge from the bathroom where he had been combing his hair and straightening his clothing. He wore a black suit and red tie. Claire figured he would wear something more exotic, but he told her he would get decorations signifying his new status.
Smoothing his jacket, he looked at her up and down. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Stopping himself from smirking, he added, “Don’t be so glum. This is the beginning of your new life. Think positive.”
She responded by running a hand through her hair, not looking at him.
He walked over to the mirror and rechecked his appearance. Satisfied, he offered her his elbow. “Ready?”
She nodded and put her arm through his. Together they walked out of the bedroom.
Claire had spent the day walking around the property, taking in the last of the sunlight. It was a partly cloudy day, so it gave her a chance to wean off the sun. Some moments the sun, weak as it was, shown warmly on her face, other times it was hidden by the pale gray clouds. Snow was on the ground, but not much. It twinkled at her whether the sun shone or not. Claire allowed herself to miss the flowers, green grass and trees from warmer seasons, but only for a few minutes. She had to accept her memories as they were and have no time for regrets.
She was left alone during her solemn walk, but she saw each of the Five Brothers peeking his head out from behind a curtain from time to time. She noticed the doubt in their eyes, the questioning reeling in their minds. Part of her wanted to prove she was worthy of being a vampire, maybe so as to avoid being tortured and locked away for decades. But also it could be it was part of the game of her new life.
But when she saw Casames peering at her from the sliding doors of her bedroom, which led to the small balcony, she wondered what would have happened if she went back inside and threw herself off that, landing head first on the cobblestone patio below. It certainly sounded like an easy way out. She could avoid her future misery and guilt, and there would be no price to pay. Unless of course, there was an afterlife and suicide meant eternal punishment. But wouldn’t God, karma, or the universe forgive her for not adding to the evil in the world?
Possibly, but what were the chances of the vampires allowing her to end her own life? They were tortuous beasts who hated humanity and saw it as something to feed off of in order to enjoy their supernatural strength and abilities. They certainly got a high from that, and it made them want it more. Too bad there was a chance she would be like that one day.
So,here she was walking down the winding staircase, arm in arm with the man who had and would continue influence her existence forever. It was amazing that when she first saw him that late August day, she didn’t feel any sensation telling her that. It was just an ordinary meeting with a stranger, who held her life in his hands the instant she started talking to him.
They descended from the stairs and stood in the front hallway of the mansion, where there were large windows over the front door. It was close to midnight, and clouds were blocking the full moon. Some stars were visible, twinkling just like her necklace. She decided to say to herself that it was a lovely night, full of mystery, seduction, and the unknown.
Daniel looked around, searching for someone or something. She finally exercised her strength and asked what was wrong.
“I’m looking for one of the servant boys. I’m not sure where the cellar is, and even if I did, I don’t know the code to get in.”
“Only the Brothers know?”
“Yes. Where we are going to is the seat of their leadership. It’s highly guarded, so only those Five know its code.” He called out for one of the servants and two turned up. Daniel asked them to take them to the cellar, and the boys nodded. Claire and Daniel followed the servants down to the cellar.
As they entered, Claire saw a row of bunk beds where several young people were resting. Some were reading magazines, others listening to MP3 players. They merely glanced up to see who was going by. She nearly stopped when she saw that they were all chained to their beds, and had fear and despair in their eyes. These people were slaves, Claire realized. For whatever reason, they were locked up in this cellar to be nourishment for the Brothers. This could have been her. She wondered if she should feel relieved that she wasn’t going to be chained up like them. But then it dawned on her that she might feed off of these young people, and she turned away.
In the middle of the cellar, they stopped in front of a concrete wall and the young men pushed a small cardboard wardrobe out of the way. On the wall was a little metal door, which one boy opened and punched in a few numbers on a security panel. There was a hard, lurching noise and a piece of the wall suddenly moved inwards. Claire was surprised she did not notice that the wall was not fully attached to the rest of the room.
Once a couple of feet of room was available, the same boy turned on a light, walked in. Daniel followed, pulling her along with him. The other servant stayed behind to close the secret door. Inside, they had to turn sideways to move through the space. She paid close attention to steadying herself on her heels, so she wouldn’t trip, and to slow her heart thudding against her ribcage.
The narrow passageway went for several yards before they reached a narrow stairway. She grabbed the walls for balance while walking down the landing that seemed to go on and on. The passageway was cold and damp, but her body didn’t notice.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and walked another narrow passage that was lit by bare light bulbs. The passage then widened to reveal two wide bronze doors at the end. There was no sinister decoration, no sign in a foreign alphabet to indicate what went behind those doors, but their authoritative appearance made Claire swallow hard.
The servant punched in a code into another security panel next to the doors. Daniel looked over his shoulder and took Claire’s hand, his eyes hard and cold.
There was dull clicking sound and the doors came slightly apart. The boy pulled them further apart and over his shoulder, she could see the Five sitting on ornate bronze thrones around a circular room. They wore suit and ties, with dark capes over their shoulders. There were stone walls decorated with tapestries and banners. Pillars with small flames on top lit the room. A black marble platform was in the center, before the Brothers.
The boy announced their arrival and Vorternon invited them in with his booming voice. Daniel pulled her in, his hand tightly around hers, and walked up to the platform, leaving her at the foot. Behind them, the doors slammed shut. The lump in Claire’s throat hardened.
Vorternon was the first to speak.
“Daniel Poncher, progeny of Hildegard and Michel Baujot. You are in a chamber most vampires do not see. That is because they are unworthy of seeing the seat of our power, to be in the presence of all five of us at once. It is rare that we Brothers gather in this chamber. The last time we did was in 2005, when we had a crisis that could have ruined us all.”
He let the words sink in before continuing. “That crisis made us ever more careful of who we chose to promote, if we ever. The failure of one of your makers has made us very selective on who joins this order, for our memories are very strong. But you proved your loyalty by reporting to us the whereabouts of Hildegard when she went into hiding while we were searching for her.”
Claire fought to keep her jaw from dropping. Daniel had betrayed the one who made h
im by turning her over to the head vampires right when she needed his support. What happened to him being grateful for Hilde saving him from death? Did she even know that he did this to her?
From the platform, Daniel looked at her over his shoulder. There was a laughing gleam in his eyes. Claire had her answer.
The Five Brothers saw the exchange, but paid no heed. Instead, Vorternon continued.
“Though you defended your maker at her trial, it was clear to us where your loyalties truly lied. Our laws are important to you, and you will fight for our kind. By doing those, you made yourself a worthy choice to be made an Defenderr of the Blood.”
The cold air at last came over Claire and she began shivering.
Vorternon motioned Daniel forward. “Please, step forward.”
He stepped off the platform and walked up to Vorternon, who stood. Daniel kneeled before him, bowed his head, and the head vampire said to him, “Repeat what I say. I, Daniel Poncher, swear allegiance to the Five Brothers, the first to achieve immortality, to achieve the power and strength humans have always wanted. It was them who earned the power of the spirits, and it is them all vampires should bow down before in honor and respect. It is I who will protect and serve them. It is I who will demonstrate the power of the Five Brothers to all I know. To all I know, they will know who rules the darkness.”
Daniel repeated the oath with a touch of humility. He was likely thinking how he once was a shamed illegitimate who had no place in the world, and now was a high ranking vampire.
When he was done, Vorternon took a small dagger that was resting on the arm of his seat. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal his wrist and dragged the dagger over it, producing a wound. Black blood appeared and he held out his wrist.
“Drink, Daniel. Few ever get to have the blood of the first vampires.”
Daniel leaned in and sucked the wound. Vorternon let him drink for about a minute before stopping him. He pulled away, and bowed his head again.
“I, Vorternon, in the presence of all my Brothers, declare you a Defender of the Blood. You may arise.” There was a round of applause from the other vampires as Daniel rose. He received kisses on both cheeks from Vorternon, and was presented with a dagger by Azuelo, and a black cape by Casames. Elleso gave him a wide gold chain that rested on his shoulders, while Gosheven gave him a sack of gold. He was beaming with modesty in front of the Five.
The Dark Proposal (The Claire McCormick Trilogy) Page 23