Bride of Blood:: First Kiss

by Anthony E. Ventrello

  Then Anton became aware of a presence. The mist was surrounding him like he was in a Stephen King novel. He smelled jasmine and knew right away who it was. From out of the mists came Lady Bernadine.

  Anton didn’t turn around and look her right away. He was still kind of lost in his thoughts and the sting of the dream was affecting him. Bernadine knew the cause of Anton’s rebuff, but she approached him anyway. She put her hand on his shoulder. He touched it and kissed it.

  “The dream,” she said quietly. There was a slight echo in her voice as if she wasn’t really there, although Anton was fairly certain that he wasn’t in the midst of another dream.

  “Was that how she died?” he asked her. He really didn’t want her to answer. Deep down inside he wanted the answer to be no. But a sinking feeling in his gut told him that it wasn’t.

  “It was,” she replied. As the words left her mouth she almost regretted telling him the truth. She had seen Anton’s rage before. Though never directed at her, she knew that Anton would undoubtedly want revenge. Hatred would cause him to lose his focus and make him careless. She had seen it before.

  “Damn him!” Anton said with clenched fists, and tears of blood running down his cheeks. “Damn him!”

  It was then that Lady Bernadine knew that the only way to save Anton from his own anger and hatred was to remind him of a time when he had wanted revenge and it had been a disaster.

  She put her arms around him and whispered in his ear, “I took away a memory from you, Anton.” She closed her eyes and blew in his ear. “But I’m going to give it back to you so that you don’t ever do what you did again. Do you understand me, my love?”

  Anton sniffled and nodded. True. He wanted revenge. More than anything. He knew in his heart that it had been Drago who’d killed his dear Shannon. How it had happened and how gruesome her death had been, he hadn’t known. But Drago had wanted him to know. Somehow he’d gotten into Anton’s head as he slept and had shown him. He showed him how he tortured her, raped her, burned her, and killed her. He wanted to show Anton how evil he was and how nothing was too vile or too sick for him. He would do anything to win this war and destroy the world. Anton realized then and there that Drago was an enemy who had to be stopped and destroyed at all costs. But he also realized that it was to be done Lady Bernadine’s way.

  “Now close your eyes and let your mind wander,” Bernadine whispered into his ear in her far off, echoing voice. “Let me enter your mind and show you a memory that I took from you and I’m now giving back.”

  The year was 1812. After many adventures in the Caribbean and a brief stop-over in Cuba, Anton finally came to America for the first time. He was able to secure passage on board a fancy schooner whose captain was a well-paid connection of The Order. At first Anton made his home in the south because he preferred the warmer climate after spending so many years in Nevis. Although he had missed The Revolutionary War by years, word of it had traveled to various colonies of the world, and he was interested in partaking in another revolution of sorts. Word had traveled around the hemisphere that a full-fledged slave revolt was in order. As he and his young friend Alexander Hamilton had feared, America had not let go of slavery when it became its own nation. When he traveled to the States, he remembered the promise he had made to Hamilton about ending slavery once and for all. After he was established in the States, he planned to seek out underground abolitionist groups to get things started.

  Anxious to see Hamilton again, Anton looked forward to traveling to New York to see his old friend. Letters from Hamilton had stopped years ago as his young friend had been quite busy since the Revolution. Hamilton had been a representative from New York for the Constitutional Convention and served under President Washington as Secretary of the Treasury. After leaving that job, he was still active in politics behind the scenes and was practicing law. Anton was sure that Hamilton would be glad to hear from him and honor the pact that they had made.

  Of course, Anton was not prepared for the tragic news. Richard Harrison, who at one time was a partner in law with Hamilton wrote Anton. In the letter he told Anton how Hamilton had been killed at the hands of Aaron Burr, then Vice President under Thomas Jefferson. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, supposedly for some comments that Hamilton had made about him. Harrison assured Anton in the letter that none of that story was true. In truth, Burr was a scoundrel who saw Hamilton as stumbling block to his political rise to power. Of course, ironically, killing one of America’s Founding Fathers had actually ruined Burr’s political career.

  Anton read the letter several times before he collapsed against the wall to his room and cried. The letter was still in his hand as his body shook with sobs of grief. The words, “I regret to inform you that Mr. Hamilton died tragically…” still burned into his mind. Feelings of anger and regret filled his broken heart. He wished that he had come to America sooner as he had planned. So much had gone on during the past few years. Now one of his dearest friends was dead, and with him the dream of a totally free America was, too.

  “I will make this right!” he declared as he stood up. Somehow he would make that son-of-a-bitch Aaron Burr pay for what he did.

  He wrote to Mr. Harrison and inquired about the state of Hamilton’s widow Elizabeth his family and additional information on Aaron Burr. He wanted to learn all that he could about the man he would someday kill.

  Messages moved slowly in those days, but a reply eventually came to Anton. He was staying at a boarding house in South Carolina at that time. His room was basically a basement apartment. His landlady was a widow who was basically renting out rooms to make ends meet. Anton paid her a year’s worth of rent in gold up front. Of course the gold was more than was required, but it helped her to get out of debt and remodel the house. She stopped taking in boarders except for Anton. She never asked any questions about his comings or goings. Anton would give her extra money here and there when he thought she was going to start getting nosey. The arrangement was working out fine. The basement apartment had been modified to suit Anton’s “needs” for no windows at all, including a special entrance in the back. Again, he paid the carpenter for it with gold and once again tongues were stopped from wagging. It would be a few years later, after the landlady’s death that Anton would take on her son Richard as his familiar. The family tradition would carry on through generations until Chelsea took on the role.

  On that particular day, his landlady slipped an envelope under Anton’s door about the time she knew he would be waking up. The soft sound of her footfalls and the letter rubbing against the bottom of the door woke him. Quickly he jumped from his bed, lit a candle and tore open the letter.

  The letter had a lot of useful information. It told of how many of Hamilton’s friends were settling his debts and were looking in on Elizabeth and his children. Anton promised himself that he would send a sizable amount of money to Elizabeth once he was finished with Burr. The letter also revealed several of Mr. Burr’s activities since the duel. Anton was surprised to find out that Burr had never been prosecuted for Hamilton’s death, even though dueling was technically illegal. He had been tried for treason in 1807 and had fled to Europe the next year. Apparently he’d been spotted in New York earlier that year. What really piqued Anton’s interest was about Burr’s daughter, Theodosia. She was his only living child and the love of his life.

  Theodosia had been brought up like a lady and had been well-educated. Since Burr was broke with no real means of supporting himself except for handouts from the few friends he had, he tried to find Theodosia a rich husband. And his search had paid off. Theodosia had married a wealthy man named Joseph Alston, who was slated to become governor of South Carolina later that year.

  It could have been an act of providence, but the daughter of Anton’s enemy was in South Carolina! After reading the letter over a few times, he decided on what he would do. He was not going to kill Aaron Burr, oh no, that would be too easy. He would do something to Burr that would cause him pain and suffe
ring for the remainder of his days. He would kill Theodosia.

  Through inquiries of his local friends, Anton learned that Theodosia and one of her father’s friends Timothy Green would be making a voyage to New York to see her father. As it turned out, Theodosia’s husband may have been rich, but he wasn’t a kind man at all. Rumors circulated that he was both physically and sexually abusive to her. Anton guessed that she had a type of man in mind, one that was just like her father.

  The ship she was to sail on was a schooner called The Patriot. Taking a voyage of any kind during that time was risky, not only because of the threat of pirates but because the War of 1812 had begun. He didn’t know why she was taking the voyage, but it would be a perfect opportunity to exact his revenge on her father.

  The ship in question was docked in Georgetown and was set to sail on December 31. Her husband would not be joining her because he was named governor of South Carolina on December 10. Even if he could have been able to accompany her, Anton had a feeling that she was running away with no intention of returning to her husband.

  Anton made his way to the dock a week before the boat was to sail. He admired The Patriot. It was beautiful ship. It had once a privateer but had been made to look like a merchant ship so as to not arouse suspicion of the British who were patrolling the ocean. A ship like that could easily slip past the British and make it to New York with no problems. But it would run into problems, not from the British nor from the pirates. Anton would be on that ship on December 31. He would make sure no one on board would ever make it to New York, especially her celebrity passenger.

  The night of December 30 arrived. Anton was aboard the ship, and buried himself deep in the ship’s hold. He was not the least bit surprised to find that The Patriot was not only going to take Theodosia to New York, it also had another mission. She was laden with cannons, guns, and ammunition. The disguise of being a merchant ship was simply a ruse to get these supplies to the American Army! As much as he supported the American cause against the British, yet again, the army would not get these supplies.

  He went into a deep sleep, imagining what he was going to do when it became night on the following day. Of course he wouldn’t be discovered because he doubted the crew would want to hang around in the hold. They would be too busy to worry.

  He awoke around 10:00 PM the next night, very thirsty and ready. He quickly made his way out of the hold and went to the crew’s chambers. The men sat up in their bunks, wondering who this strange stowaway was.

  One of the men, a mean-looking bloke stood up and approached Anton. Anton was dressed in the finest clothes of that period, definitely not sea-worthy attire. The man was scarred and weather-beaten from years on the ocean. He looked Anton up and down and said, “Boys, I thinks we got ourselves a stowaway!”

  The others laughed. They seemed like they were trying hard to sound like pirates. Anton found that humorous as he folded his arms across his chest.

  The man continued, “You know what we do to stowaways, don’t ye?” He got right up close to Anton. Too close. The smell of sweat and salt water was too much. Anton’s nose stung.

  “Let me guess,” he said looking into the man’s eyes. “You throw them overboard?”

  “Yep,” said the sailor. “And that’s where ye are going.”

  “No, I think you are mistaken. It is ‘ye’ who will be going to the bottom of the ocean this night.” He smiled at the sailor and then grabbed him by the throat. Quicker than the others could see, he tore open the man’s throat and drank from him like a water fountain. The others were shocked, but quickly ran for Anton. Anton grabbed each of them as they approached and quickly dispatched each of them. The last one put up a pretty good fight as Anton tried to drink from him. He was younger than the others. But that didn’t stop Anton from drinking a little from him, and then twisting his head off. He threw the boy’s head across the room, and it made a sick “thunk” when it hit the way. He bent down and pulled out a very sharp knife from one from one of the dead sailors. He then started to cut up the bodies of the men and splash their remaining blood over the walls. It was if he were painting a gruesome masterpiece for anyone to see who happened to find this ship.

  Anton left the room and made his way around the ship. He searched his thoughts and tried to focus in on Theodosia. He could feel her awaken from sleep as word got to her that the ship was under attack. But he couldn’t exactly pinpoint her location right away. Still he arrived up on deck to find himself face to face with the remaining crew.

  The crew members were armed, but suddenly were afraid when they saw Anton. His clothes, face and hair were soaked with blood. He didn’t hesitate when he saw them, but approached them without stopping. The crew, about 5 or 6 of them, attacked him. Anton lost count as he killed them all. He drank from none of them, but would either crush their skulls or snap their necks when they got within reach. He moved so quickly that none of them had a chance.

  As the last crew member fell dead at his feet, Anton closed his eyes and concentrated on Theodosia again. Not surprisingly, she and Mr. Green were locked in her room. She cried as Mr. Green propped a chair against the door. “What madness is this!?” she cried to Green as she sat on the bed crying. He took a pistol from his coat pocket and tried to sooth her.

  “Don’t worry, my lady,” he said to her. “I will protect you with my very life if I must.”

  “And that you shall do!” said a voice that seemed to come from the very walls of the room. Suddenly Anton tore up through the floorboards and grabbed Green’s ankles. Green and Theodosia both screamed. Anton started to drag him down as Green struggled and tried to shoot him. But each shot just made Anton drag him even further.

  “Run! My lady! Run!” yelled Green. Theodosia obeyed and threw the chair way from the door. She looked back to see Green disappear under the floor. Instantly, blood began to spew from the hole in the floor like a geyser. She screamed and ran from the room.

  She made it to the ship’s deck and saw several dead bodies strewn from one end to the other. She covered her mouth and tried to stifle a scream. She didn’t know what else to do except look for the life boats. She made her way in that direction, but slipped and fell several times because of the dead bodies and the blood that covered the deck.

  She was suddenly stopped in her tracks when she came face to face with her tormenter. Anton was covered in blood from head to toe. His long hair was caked to his body and head. His shirt was ripped and torn, but still hanging onto him. His eyes were bright yellow and his fangs were bared.

  For the first time, Anton looked at Theodosia Burr. She was a lovely woman with very long dark hair. Strangely, she looked very little like her bastard father, obviously taking on her mother’s looks. But Anton also saw that she was sick-looking and slightly frail. He didn’t know if that was because of fear or from the sadness of losing her child. For a slight moment, he had pity on her. But vengeance would have to be quenched, and he threw her an angry and hateful glare.

  Theodosia tried to run away, but Anton grabbed her. She struggled against him, but he held onto her. “Do you see, my dear Theodosia? Do you see?” He directed her gaze to the carnage on the deck. “Do you see what your father’s sins have wrought?”

  She didn’t know what to say. She was scared and confused at the same time. Anton didn’t give her a chance. He dug his fangs into her neck and drank. She struggled a little more and then slowly began to stop. Just at the moment when she was nearing death, Anton stopped drinking and then let her drop to the deck.

  “Now,” he said wiping her blood from his mouth, “I said I would kill you. But I will do much worse than kill you. I will curse you with an insatiable torment that will be worse than death.” She was panting and looked up at him with almost empty eyes. It was if they were crying “Why?” to him. He bent down and then prepared for The Transformation.

  He tore off what remained of his sleeve and bit into his arm. He was full of blood, more than he had ever remembered. He could have
probably transformed at least 5 people if he’d wanted. The blood flowed from his wound very readily. He grabbed Theodosia’s head by the hair and lifted it. She didn’t have the strength to struggle, but she tried anyway. He shoved his forearm into her mouth. She tried to fight it, but as soon as the hot blood touched her tongue she gave in and began to drink.

  Within a few moments, he tore his arm out of her mouth and watched her writhe. The pain of The Transformation was worse than death. It was a fate that he felt her father deserved, but she would accept it on his behalf. She screamed a tortuous scream that could be heard for miles, but there was no one to hear it save Anton. He turned his head away and refused to watch her suffer. He walked down the deck and made his way back to the Mr. Green’s quarters. There he tore off the remainders of his clothes and washed himself. He dug through Green’s trunk and found some clothes that would fit him. He quickly put them on and returned to the deck to watch the remainder of Theodosia’s Transformation.

  A few hours later, Theodosia lay on the deck writhing in pain with her fangs bared. He had made her into a vampire. She was weak, but she was now immortal. She screamed and clawed the air. She felt a tormented hunger such as she had never felt before. She was in such terrible pain from The Transformation that she couldn’t stand. But she looked so much better to Anton than she had before. She was no longer gaunt and sick-looking as she had been. Color had returned to her face, and her hair was as black as the night.

  Anton returned to her side. He was cleaned up and looked like he had before the slaughter. He bent down beside her and said, “Yes, my dear. Your Transformation is complete. But your Hell has just begun.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked in a scratchy voice. “What have you done to me, devil?”

  “Devil?” Anton asked and then laughed. “No, my dear Theodosia! Your father is the devil! I am an angel of The Lord, and I have been sent to punish you for your father’s sins. And punish you I have!”