Bride of Blood:: First Kiss

by Anthony E. Ventrello

  “Farewell, Prince Vlad Dracula,” Anton whispered before he drifted off into a dreamless and restful sleep.

  Chapter 11 The Love of Alexander and Rachael

  It was almost twilight when Alexander awoke. He touched the lid of the coffin with his right hand. It was cool. A slight breeze brushed up against his chest. It was Rachael’s slow and steady breath. Her head was resting on his left shoulder and her hand was on his chest. Her tiny, naked body was right next to him where she had slept peacefully all day.

  He glanced at her and kissed her forehead and sniffed her fragrant, dark hair. She always had this sweet smell of wildflowers about her. Her skin was growing cold. She would need to wake and feed soon. He was feeling a bit clammy himself, but they kept each other relatively warm throughout the day.

  Again, he kissed her forehead and then closed his eyes. He thought back to how they had made love before they fell asleep in each other’s arms. Since he had gone to Lady Bernadine, he felt that he could not be without Rachael. The love-making occurred every night since then, and that had still not been enough for them. He simply did not want to be out of her presence and desired her body constantly. Her feelings were exactly the same.

  He had no one to compare her to since she was his first. What he didn’t know was that he was also her first since she’d been made. Actually, like Alexander, much of her mortal life was forgotten during The Transformation. She was nearly as old as Velara herself but was from a totally different world, even though they were both black women who lived during the same era.

  Rachael was born in New Orleans and grew up in the years before The Civil War. Before The Transformation, she was much lighter in complexion and was categorized as a quadroon. Her mother named her Sophroria, and she was trained from an early age to be a decorative and compliant mistress for wealthy, aristocratic white men.

  The story of how Sophroria became Rachael was very sad indeed, and her maker Virginia had Lady Bernadine totally wipe her mortal memory. Even Anton and Alexander, who were her closest friends knew nothing of her mortal life. It was generally accepted among the vampire community that mortal lives were best forgotten and not discussed. That was probably why such dramatic physical changes occurred during The Transformation such as lightening or darkening of skin color, dramatic growth of hair, change of eye color, and even size and body shape. No new vampire looked very similar to how they had looked as a mortal. That was also why it was common practice for the new vampire to be given a new name, as well.

  Sophroria had a lover, who was a very wealthy French nobleman. But even though it was generally accepted for a man of his stature to take a mistress of her station, it was not acceptable for him to want to marry her. And that is what he wanted to do. They had planned to run away together, with him forsaking his title and money in order to be with the woman he loved. Sadly, he was killed a few days before their rendezvous when he was thrown from his horse. Sophroria was devastated by his death and tried to end her own life by throwing herself from a second story balcony.

  And that was how Virginia found her, lying shattered on the street barely alive. She dragged her nearly lifeless body into a nearby alley and gave her a new life as Rachael. She was named for the woman in The Bible, with a small play on the spelling. This was something that both Virginia and Christina Michelle did for many young girls. When they traveled the world, they would find girls barely alive after a robbery, rape, or similar violation, and then give them new lives. Eventually Lady Bernadine declared that no more vampires could be made. Virginia and Christina Michelle went their separate ways. Virginia took Rachael as her companion, but in the last few years Rachael had been spending more and more time with Anton and Alexander. Virginia accepted the fact that Rachael and Alexander were to be together and let her go.

  Alexander opened the lid to the coffin and gently got up, trying not to wake Rachael. He looked over at Anton’s coffin. He suddenly forgot his blissful joy. He really missed his master and companion. With a sigh, he dressed and then lit the candles around the room. He closed his eyes and prayed that Anton would return to them safely.

  As he walked down the quiet street at that exact moment when Alexander and Rachael were getting up, Anton happened to see an old, closed-down video store. Once there had been several in every town, now they were so few and far between. Most people ordered their videos online, but there were some like Anton who still enjoyed renting from a store. There was something about holding a DVD in his hands that made it more satisfying than going to Netflix.

  The town that Anton lived in had one of the last video stores in the county. Seeing the boarded-up store made him think back to the last time he and Alexander had rented a film.

  Alexander was in the horror movie section and was browsing through some vampire movies. He picked up one case and handed it to Anton. “Remember when we saw this one?”

  Anton shook his head and stared and the extremely evil and ugly vampire on the DVD cover. He handed it back to Alexander saying, “If I ever get that ugly or that sloppy, please kill me!” Anton had never seen a vampire quite as ugly as Radu.

  Alexander laughed and returned the video to the shelf. “If the writers of this crap only knew what a spineless and weak vampire that Radu really is!” he said. They both laughed. Radu, the brother of Vlad was nowhere near as terrifying or as sloppy an eater as the vampire in the film. In reality he was rather soft and very feminine. Both of them despised him greatly.

  Most of the vampire films they had ever seen were either boring or way too outlandish. The only vampire film that they had seen that was remotely entertaining was “Salem’s Lot”. Anton enjoyed all of Mr. King’s books although he didn’t like all of the film adaptations. This was one that he did like. Although Mr. King, like all mortals, didn’t have a clue about real vampires. “That goddamn Bram Stoker….” was what most vampires said. But it was actually a good thing that mortals didn’t get it.

  “I mean let’s be realistic now,” began Anton. Alexander sighed as he knew that “the speech” was coming. “Why is it in a good percentage of all vampire movies that anyone and everyone who is bitten or killed by a vampire becomes one? What happens when the whole town becomes nothing but vampires? What then? Start feeding on the livestock? Feed on each other? Move to another town and start the same cycle again? I mean, really! And this whole business with stakes in the heart and garlic?! Do you know that I once read a book in which vampires could be killed by filling their socks with rocks and throwing them into the river?”

  “Do you want to see this again?” Alexander asked picking up “Salem’s Lot”. He was doing anything to stop Anton’s tirade…. again. It seemed that they went through this every time they went to the video store….or the bookstore….or the library.

  “No,” said Anton. “Let see if there are any new films by confused mortals.”

  Alexander picked up a DVD from a recent vampire series that Chelsea had mentioned. Apparently all the kids were crazy about it.

  “I’ve heard about that one!” said Anton grabbing the case with disgust. “I mean really! Vampires in the daylight? Going without sleep and worse of all…drinking animal blood?!” He put the case back on the shelf. He noticed that some people in the store were staring at him. He shot them an evil glance and they looked away.

  “How about a nice zombie movie, then?” asked Alexander cautiously. He handed Anton another DVD.

  Anton mumbled the title to himself and handed it back to Alexander. “No, please. Anything but that! I heard this movie is so bad that a critic actually died while watching it. I also read that ‘Mystery Science Theater 3,000’ wouldn’t even touch it.”

  Alexander shook his head, “It’s that bad?”

  Anton nodded, “I heard it’s taken the title of ‘Worst Movie of All-Time’ away from ‘Manos’.”

  They both laughed heartily and then browsed through a few seasons of “Supernatural” that they had missed. On the way up to the register, Anton suddenly remembered
those new vampire movies and started in again, “I mean really! I don’t know what was worse: the writing or the acting. It’s so bad that it made me wish I were a werewolf! Vegetarian vampires, indeed!?”

  “Sheesh!” said Alexander, exasperated. “I haven’t heard you go on like this since we saw ‘Nosferatu’ almost 100 years ago!”

  “Now, wait,” Anton said as they took their place in line with arms full of “Supernatural” DVD’s. “I did like the version where Type-O-Negative did the music.”

  “That was the only thing you liked about the movie,” said Alexander under his breath.

  Anton smiled as he thought of Type-O. He missed Peter Steele. He would have made a good vampire, he told himself.

  Then she caught his eye. Behind the counter was a beautiful young woman. She was not extravagant in her beauty, rather she was very real. She was genuine.

  The name tag she wore said her name was Molly. Slightly below her tag were her breasts which Anton studied. They weren’t too large or too small. Just right for her stature. But what struck him the most was her smile. It wasn’t false when she flashed it at customers. After she finished with someone, she brushed her brown hair away from her almond shaped, brown eyes. Her face was round and perfect like a queen. It was difficult to determine her age, but he guessed that she was in her late 20’s. In those brief moments, Anton listened closely to her thoughts. She revealed that she was single and wished that she had something to do after work that night. It was a Saturday, after all.

  Anton turned and whispered to Alexander, “Do you see that girl at the counter?”

  Alexander looked up from the DVD’s he was holding and glanced quickly at her. He nodded, not really that interested.

  “I’m going to sleep with her tonight,” Anton whispered, again.

  Alexander gave her a quick once over, sighed and asked, “So I guess I’m all alone for movie night?”

  True to his word, Anton found himself kissing Molly beside a hotel room bed. He used his usual vampiric charm and persuasion.

  Although thin, Molly’s lips were soft and willing to accept his tongue. Her mouth tasted sweet as their tongues rolled around together. Her eyes closed with a deep gasp, and she wrapped her arms tightly around Anton. Continually he had to remind himself that she was a mortal and he had to control himself so that he wouldn’t kill her.

  They both took their shirts off. Molly stopped kissing Anton on the mouth and began to kiss his heavily muscled chest. She had never seen a more perfect body in her life. Everything about Anton turned her on. He seemed almost flawless as if he were a living work of art.

  She sat down on the bed and removed her bra. Anton was surprised at how large her breasts were when they were released from her deceiving shirt. Still her breasts were so beautiful that her hard, dark red nipples turned him on even more. He bent down and kissed her again. She ran her fingers through his long hair as he held the sides of her face. She pulled her face away and started to unzip his pants with a greedy look on her face.

  She pulled them down and was surprised by his large penis. She didn’t realize how engorged with blood it was and wouldn’t have cared anyway. She took it into her mouth expertly and began to suck it with abandon. She was so good at it that he wanted to grip her head harder but was afraid he would crush her skull. He held her, just stroking her hair.

  A few minutes later, Molly was on her back. She allowed Anton to remove her jeans and panties. He kissed her thighs. Her legs were strong but not too thick. He kissed the insides of her legs up to her vagina. She moaned with each kiss. He spread her legs apart even further and went down on her.

  Molly gasped and opened her eyes. It had never been so good before. Other past boyfriends had tried but none had been able to master it the way Anton had. She felt herself orgasm, something she had never done before,

  Eventually, Anton got off her and picked up his pants. He pulled out a condom and put it on. Of course it was totally unnecessary, but she would have insisted on it. She had no way of knowing that he was a vampire and that he couldn’t get her pregnant. He climbed on top of her and slowly slid himself into her. She gasped again and held him tightly. He started off slowly to get her juices flowing. She grasped his head and looked into his eyes. Her breath was in rhythm with his thrusts. Then she let go of his head and ran her hands up and down his chest. As his speed increased, she dug her nails deeply into him.

  Time went on and the sex didn’t cease or slow down. Molly came several times and was covered with sweat. She was barely conscious as he took her from behind. Anton lifted up her thighs and began pushing himself into her again. Within a few moments, he came. He gripped her thighs as did. He kept it together and didn’t bite her, although the urge was really great. He forced his fangs to retract as he fell on top of her. He relaxed and went unconscious for several minutes.

  Anton awoke suddenly and sat up. He glanced down and saw her naked body wrapped in sheets. She was still breathing, so he was relieved that he hadn’t killed her. He had killed mortal women in the past. Mostly they were evil, cut-throat prostitutes or black widows. Occasionally a mortal woman’s body just simply gave out. But Molly had been strong.

  He stretched and jumped to his feet. One glance at the clock told him that he had been asleep for only a few minutes. He had plenty of time to feed again before he went home.

  Before he left, he carefully untangled her from the sheets. Then he put her in a comfortable position with her head on the pillow. Lastly, he covered her with the sheets and the blanket. He wanted to make sure that she was warm while she slept since her body had lost quite a bit of energy and heat.

  After that night he didn’t see Molly again. A week later he received his first message from Velara, so she passed out of his mind until he saw the store. He knew that he wouldn’t see her again. Anyway, next time she might not survive.

  Chapter 12 The Legend of Theodosia

  Anton stood on the beach and looked out into the night. The moon’s bright light showed beautifully on the water’s surface. The wind was cold that night, but Anton bent down and touched the warm, foamy water. It was always strange the way water could be so cold during the day, yet at night could be as comfortable as bath water. It was just one of those natural phenomena that was always so fascinating to him.

  Suddenly he remembered exactly where he was. There had been a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite place its cause. Perhaps it’s just hunger, he reassured himself. For weeks since he’d left Christina Michelle, he’d wandered almost aimlessly. During the day while he slept, Velara appeared almost daily in his dreams. She always seemed to be beckoning him toward her. It was almost as if she, herself, possessed the ability to travel to him, regardless of time and space and then penetrate his dreams. This was quite possible since a vampire’s powers were almost limitless, and many of them never fully tapped into their potential.

  On the rare times when he wasn’t dreaming of Velara, Christina Michelle or Lady Bernadine would slip in. The dreams were never sexual, though he would have welcomed it. The worst dream he had was the one where he actually saw Shannon die. He was frozen to the spot and unable to get to her in time. He struggled to break free from whatever held him. Her screams came through the fire. Then he actually left his body and dove straight into flames. He tried to find her as the fire, unable to injure his spirit body, roared around him.

  Finally he made it to a clearing and what he saw would forever be burned into his memory. Shannon lay dead on the counter, close to the spot where Anton usually sat when he visited her. Her clothes were torn from her severely burned body. But her face was almost untouched from the fire, which was how he was able to recognize her. Although she was quite dead, her eyes were wide open with terror. Two young vampires held her arms down and were laughing, as if totally unaware of the fire around them. Another vampire was between her legs and was raping her lifeless body. As the smoke cleared, Anton could see who the vampire was: Drago.

&nbs
p; Drago cackled as did his fledglings who still held Shannon down. It was pointless for them to pin her down because she was dead. This was more about humiliation and tormenting Anton than anything else. Drago was thrusting himself into her deeply and savagely. Suddenly, Anton felt himself held to the spot once again. Drago opened his mouth as he reached climax and bit savagely into Shannon’s neck.

  He tore a large gash out of her throat and jets of dark blood spewed from her open wound. He pulled himself out of her, his penis was covered with blood. He pulled a knife from his cloak and nodded to the fledglings. To Anton’s horror Drago began to cut into her chest. He used the knife like a pencil as he carved something into her. Anton still could not move, nor could he speak as he tried to scream for Drago to stop this madness. Finally Drago was finished. The fledglings picked up Shannon’s body and held it up proudly. Carved into her chest was the symbol of The Order of the Dragon.

  It was then that Anton awoke. For several minutes, which seemed to him like hours, Anton simply sat in the sand and thought about the dream. Could that have been the way Shannon died? He briefly considered calling Chelsea and asking but decided against it. Any details like that wouldn’t have been in the paper or the news, which was where she got her information from in the first place. It was possible. But he also considered the fact that Drago had found a way to penetrate his dreams, much like Velara had. He had no way of knowing exactly where Drago had been or was now. At one time The Order was headquartered in Romania, but that had been when Prince Vlad and Prince Radu headed it. Later after the coup, it was rumored to be somewhere in the northern reaches of Finland. Now, with the war going on, it was impossible to say where they were.

  Anton stood up and removed his shoes. He stepped quickly into the water and sighed. The water crashed into the rocks and a mist suddenly began to surround him. He didn’t notice for a few seconds because he was simply enjoying the feeling of the warm water on his bare feet. One of life’s natural phenomena.