by Pepper Pace
Paul...He has been gone for months. I know that he wants to be at my side to protect me...He couldn't do it as a man and could never be a Vampire...I just hoped that at some time he would find his way back to me.
Tony holds me every night before the sun comes up. The crucifix's were completely burned away. We thought they might reappear once I began healing but so far there is just my new skin; paper thin but still clear.
For the most part the scars have healed. The fresh skin is smooth and tender like a new born baby's. I've gotten into the habit of wearing long skirts, dusters and leather gloves to protect myself. The sunglasses protect my eyes which were damaged. Sometimes my vision still blurs. It may be years before I'm completely healed, but no one can believe that I've healed as quickly as I have in the few short months since I took Tige's punishment. But not many people can understand because like Alex had said, the Vampire Nation is filled with secrets. I hold some of the biggest ones. No one knows that the reason I have healed so fast is because of Alexis and my bond. They don't know that I was almost completely filled with his blood. And they do not know that I am his wife.
Let me speak of Tige before I speak of Alexis. He was forced to relinquish his role as Tony's First Lieutenant. It has been very difficult for him to witness my healing so I don't see him as much as I'd like. He has offered to work in the houses that I've set up for the enslaved humans. And that is going very well. In fact, we have had humans from other territories come to us for protection. Being a Council member allows me to continue to help the humans without having to answer to anyone. Once, a Master Vampire brought a complaint against me to the Elder Council that I would not allow him to reclaim his human...that Vampire disappeared, never to be heard from again. This is the power that I hold; I can make Master vampires disappear.
And Alexis. I have not seen him in all these months. The first Council meeting I attended after the punishment was not presided over by Alexis. It was the old man Vampire. I asked Tony, although, out of respect for him I never speak of Alexis. He told me that Alexis had been permanently reassigned. He has never tried to get in touch with me and although I had called for him, he has never come. So much for you are in me and I am in you, right?
As for me, my sector; which I have renamed Land of the Happy Feeling, it is the most well maintained this side of the country. Any Vampires caught forcing humans into slavery have been eradicated by my Second Lieutenant and Angel of Death; no other then Tyler. Little Tyler has found her strength in doling out punishment to those Vampires deserving of it. I hear that she is very scary at it, also.
Her story is very interesting. She asked me if she could become a living vessel the way I had become. I didn't know if it would be possible but I made sure that she understood that she'd never be able to be turned if she desired it later, and also, that no Vampire except maybe one or two in a thousand would ever be able to touch her. She understood but desired to be my Punisher; my Angel of death. Tyler branded herself on the wrist as I had. But it did not turn her into a vessel. It wasn't until approximately 30 brands and a large tattoo covering her entire back that she finally succeeded.
When she and Julie walk into a room Vampires shudder, I hear it is quite the blood bath. When I enter a room with them, wearing my long skirt, duster, leather gloves and black-out glasses my subjects won't even look at me. They still believe that my very touch will kill them. Since I survived the punishment by silver they believe that I'm invincible. That I have had a love affair with an Elder has placed me in legendary status.
The Board of Council fears me, too. I usually don't speak when there's a meeting, but I have to attend. They fear me not because I survived. They know the secret of how I survived the punishment, but that I survived the pain is what scares them. They don't understand how I could have withstood the pain.
Kaniji fears me more than anybody. Her tongue has completely healed although she has a slight lisp. I understand that she may have one for years. She has never spoken to anyone about her brief stint as Alexis' pet but she wore long sleeves for a few months afterwards. Her stump has finger nubs now. So her hand should be completely healed within the year. I'm relieved.
I've fallen into a comfortable routine. I'm happy that I don't awaken each evening wondering who is trying to take my life and who I would need to fight. And although Paul isn't at my side, my ladies in waiting; the name I've given my Assistants have become great friends of mine.
Tony loves me despite my scars, or my brief bouts of depression. One night while making love we opened a new link that created a bond. I tried not to think about the one Alexis and I had created or the brief stay in his beach house. It sometimes seems like...it never happened.
Once, when I was feeling particularly sad, I traced all of my links carefully shielding so that I would not be detected. Paul was in a distant land, alive and well. Tige was falling in love with one of the humans he protected. But when I followed Alexis' I felt him turn towards me. We regarded each other briefly before he turned away and I felt a door shut between us.
Since then I have never tried to follow any link to spy on those I care for and Tony has taught me a nifty little trick. I can close the door so that no one else can look into my mind either.
THE END
COMING SOON
URBAN VAMPIRE II
CREATURE OF THE NIGHT
~PREVIEW~
When the house was empty Tony loosened his grip on me.
"What the hell just happened?"
I tried to turn to look at him. He released me and I sat up slowly. His face was slashed from his temple to his lip. The skin was angry and raw and blood was streaming from it.
I stared at him coldly. I know my eyes were still red.
"Where is my husband?"
Tony froze.
"Where is he?" I asked again.
He was shaking his head.
"Don't lie to me anymore-"
"I never lied to you about Alexis!" He was staring at me hurt.
"You let me believe that he had just left me. That's not a lie?!"
"No. It's not. Not when going to him was an impossibility. You were a lump of melted flesh! What were you going to do?!"
"Where is he?" I asked tensely. "And whether I go to him or not is none of your business! Alexis is my business and whatever needs to be done is my decision to make!"
Tony stood up and walked away from me.
"Where is he?!" I could feel myself panic that he might not tell me.
He turned to look at me as if I were a mystery to him. "Alexis no more wants to see you hurt again then I do, Kim-"
I leaped to my feet and Tony braced himself. "You're not going to tell me are you?"
"No. I'd rather see you...hate me then dead. So no."
I felt a spark of the rage again and my muscles immediately tensed...but just as suddenly I relaxed. I glared at him.
"Then I guess you get your wish." I swung around and disappeared.
About the Author
~***~
Pepper Pace writes romance stories with steamy eroticism, humor and warmth. She enjoys writing, as well as reading about unlikely romances and interracial relationships. Her characters are painfully real and just like in reality, sometimes their stories make you cry, sometimes they make you laugh and when Pepper turns up the passion it becomes very steamy!
She has described her stories as ‘out of the box’ because she is intrigued by the unusual. Stories about perfect people offers very little excitement for Pepper, which is why she has woven a world rich with anti-heroes, the insecure, the angry and always redemption.
Pepper lives in Cincinnati Ohio with her teenage son and daughter…as do most of her characters.
Visit Pepper’s blog at http://pepperpacefeedback.blogspot.com/
Awards
~***~
Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 11th Annual Literotica Awards in 2009 for Best Reluctance and best Novels/Novella, as well th
e August 2009 People's Choice Award. In the 12th Annual Literotica Awards, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of Novels/Novella as well as best Interracial story for 2010.