He touched her head, but she jerked away. He laughed at her and spoke again, “You are now a vampire my dear! And you will need to feed. However, there is nothing left to feed on!” He waved her arms around triumphantly. “I have killed everyone and everything on this ship! You will not feed! You will suffer and be tortured until you die. And if the hunger doesn’t kill you, then the sunlight will!”
He stood up and started to walk away. “It’s nothing against you, my lady. Sadly, children must pay the price for their parents’ sins. Remember Noah? Remember the children of the parents who were left outside The Ark? They were innocent, but they died because of their parents’ sins. So shall you.” He made his way to the railing and climbed onto it. “Farewell, Theodosia! If we will not meet in this world, then we shall surely meet in Hell!”
He jumped over the side of the ship and disappeared into the depths of the ocean. When he surfaced, he heard Theodosia scream. He could hear her screams as he swam towards the shore, miles away.
Anton suddenly awoke from the memory. He was breathing hard and fast. Lady Bernadine stood in front of him. He was seated in the sand, wet from the tide. He looked up at her with a deep sense of shame and regret.
She bent down and put her arms around him. “He who is without sin,” she started to say. She could feel Anton start to weep. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord,” she said, stroking his hair. “You will have your chance to face Drago someday. But don’t forget that you were once just as much of a monster as he.”
She held her face in her hands and kissed him, “I absolve you from this sin. Now go forth and sin no more.” He nodded and got to his feet. He started to walk away as Lady Bernadine began to dissolve back into the mists. He looked back at her with a defeated look on his face. She spoke once more, “I will remove that memory again once this war is over. You must hold on to it so that you do not commit an atrocity like that in this war. There will be much death on both sides, but I do not wish you to fight in the name of revenge. We must bring peace to this world and save our own.” With that she disappeared. Anton walked away into the night in seek of shelter and perhaps further absolution.
Chapter 13 Battle in the Club
Virginia got up from a deep sleep and stood up. The club she owned would be opening soon. There was a stir in the air that disturbed her. She couldn’t explain it, but something was telling her that this night would contain turmoil. She shook her head and tried to get the idea out of her mind, but it wouldn’t go. She didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the club would be opening in a few hours and she had to get her girls ready.
She turned on the light and sat down in front of her vanity. The room around her had no windows and was triple locked. Around the room, she had pictures of all of her “children”. There was a special place on the wall dedicated to her favorite child, Christina Michelle. There were paintings of her that she herself had painted and photographs that had been taken throughout her vampire life. The smile on her face in most of the pictures was radiant, and her eternal beauty showed forth like that of the Mona Lisa. However, there were some that Virginia didn’t like, especially the ones that had been taken after Anton and she had split.
Although she was quite fond of Anton, Virginia really had no use at all for the handsome rogue. She was still angry with him for breaking the heart of Christina, who had done nothing wrong, in her opinion. She knew Anton quite well herself, especially since they had been known to have a tryst every now and again. She, of course, had never revealed this to Michelle since it would have broken her heart even more. Still, she pretty much knew what Michelle was getting into when it became known that they were a couple.
Virginia started to put on her makeup and stopped suddenly as flashes entered her mind of violence and destruction. Her power had always been that of foreshadowing or seeing the future. Little hints of things to come would pop in her head, but never very clearly. She had seen the coming of the war and the over-throwing of the Princes, too. Although she would receive a warning of coming events, they were often too foggy for her to be able to do anything about them. Like the one now, it was foggy and the figures were blurred beyond recognition. But with the war upon them, it probably would have something to do with that.
She sighed and felt a rumbling deep inside her. If she still had a working human stomach, it would have been rumbling. It was time for her to feed. Her approach to feeding was experimental and so far had been working well. She stood up and quickly dressed herself in a long black dress and began to brush her hair before picking up her cell phone.
She dialed the number of one of her girls, Sharon to be exact. It was her turn to provide nourishment. Sharon answered on the first ring, “Yes, Mistress Virginia,”
“Sharon,” she began and set the phone down, turning on the hands-free setting. She continued brushing her hair as she spoke, “Tonight is your night.”
“Yes, ma’ am,” Sharon answered in a shaky voice. Most of the girls didn’t have a problem at all about providing blood for Virginia, but Sharon was always wary of it. She was a strong woman who worked hard and always did what she was told, but she still didn’t like giving her blood. This was strange to Virginia because nothing in her past ever revealed anything about violence or fear of blood. Mortals!
“Please come as soon as possible, my dear,” Virginia said as she looked in the mirror one last time. Before Sharon could reply, another flash hit her and she nearly collapsed. This one was no less vivid, but seemed to be a stronger warning. “As a matter of fact,” Virginia said, suddenly, I want you to call the other girls and cancel the show tonight. None of them are to come here again until I call them.”
“But the show tonight has already been sold out…”started Sharon.
“Do as I say!” yelled Virginia. She hadn’t mean to raise her voice, but she knew that danger was in the air, and she didn’t want any of her girls to be a part of it.
“Yes, ma ‘am,” said Sharon and she hung up.
About an hour later, Virginia was sitting in her darkened theatre with her companion Rena. There was a glass in front of her that contained the shed blood of Sharon. Since Virginia didn’t enjoy killing, even those who deserved it, for her feedings she would have her girls cut themselves and bleed into a glass. There was enough blood to sustain Virginia while not harming the girls. They would gladly do it since many of them had been with her for years, some even as foster children.
The club was dark and quiet, except for the sounds of the air conditioner. The bar was closed, the stage was bare, and only two seats were occupied. The club itself was not a gentleman’s club or anything of the sort. Rather, the girls that worked for her would put on skits, read poetry, hold meetings, and perform plays. Many of the girls were either Virginia’s former foster girls or were college students. Some would come back now and again. The type of young ladies who frequented her establishment were much different than those she had once helped. Men would come and watch the performances, too, but most of them were college age, and then there would be some patrons who would come with the idea they were going to see a strip show. The club didn’t bring in a whole lot of money, but Virginia still paid the girls and helped them in whatever they needed. She had plenty of her own money, like most Master Vampires, so it was more about helping the girls than anything else.
Rena smiled at her and nodded towards the glass. “Do you think you will ever kill again?” she asked in her Colombian accent. Rena was one of the last vampires to be made by anyone in The Order. She was barely 100 years old and was a transplant from Colombia. She had always dreamed of seeing America when she had been mortal. But her family had been poor, and it had been out of the question. She herself had been rescued by Virginia after she had been gang-raped by a bunch of thugs and left for dead. Of course The Transformation had wiped out all of those memories, thank God. She was quite beautiful, and one patron had remarked that she bore a striking resemblance to the telenovela star Danna Garcia. The eyes and the hair was quite
similar, and of course, she hadn’t been able to lose her accent. Most vampires and mortals alike immediately fell under the spell of her beauty and her smile. She was small in stature, and appeared to be shy and quiet to those who didn’t know her well. But she was very warm and caring and longed for love, but had not found the right one yet.
Virginia took the last sip from her glass and said, “No, this arrangement works just fine.”
“Por favor!” said Rena with a roll of her eyes. “There are way too many evil mortals in this world to be tasting the blood of good people! I just rid the world of a drug dealer today.”
“And I congratulate you for that!” Virginia said with a mock bow, “Lady Bernadine would be so proud of you! But I will take my blood this way.”
Rena snorted. She loved Virginia with all her heart, but she didn’t understand her abhorrence to violence. They were killers after all. That is what God had put them on this earth to do. “Any news yet on the war?” she asked.
“No, nothing yet,” Virginia said with a sigh. “I can’t shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen tonight.”
“Si, I figured that you had a bad feeling about something when I came here and saw that the club was all locked up. What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know, but before this night is out we will find out.”
A knock on the front door made them both jump. Virginia yelled, “We are closed tonight! The show will be rescheduled later!”
“That’s too bad,” said a voice from behind them. “We were looking forward to a show!”
The women both leapt up and stood in defensive positions. Standing not five feet away from them were three vampires. One of them had short black hair and very pale skin. He wore a dark suit with a black turtle-neck shirt. His face was very thin and had a sharp chin. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, but the redness of them shone through. This was Drago, the Usurper. His very energy was both scary and evil. On each side of him were two very tall and hulking vampires. They wore the same style of dress, but were bald and had goatees. Both of them wore gold chains with a dragon’s claw amulet, the symbol of The Order of the Dragon Acolytes.
“You are not welcome here!” said Virginia, defiantly. She was petrified of Drago, but wouldn’t allow it to show.
“That’s too bad,” said Drago, looking at both his companions. “And we were in the mood to be entertained by your and your whores.”
“How dare you!” snapped Virginia, “I should kill you where you stand, you bastard!”
“Oh come on, now, Bleeder Lover!” he said with a laugh. “Bleeder Lover” is a term that vampires have for other vampires who do not like to kill. “You can’t even kill a mortal worth killing, much less another of your own kind!”
“You are a disgrace!” she said taking a step towards him. “You are a demon, not a vampire!”
“Defiant to the end, aren’t we?” Drago said with a sneer. In a split second he had her by the throat and pinned against a wooden pillar. The other two grabbed Rena and held her. Virginia gasped and tried to breath. She could feel the blood being cut off from her brain. If she didn’t do something, she would pass out and then Drago would undoubtedly tear her head off with his bare hands.
“It will give me great pleasure to kill the weakest and most pathetic of Bernadine’s pets,” he said as he removed his sunglasses. His irises of his eyes were red as blood. His breath smelled like rot and his coldness made Virginia’s skin crawl. “You and your kind cannot win this war. We will exterminate all of you and our own traitors. Then I will rule the mortal world.”
She tried to speak, but she couldn’t. Drago’s grip on her throat got tighter and tighter. She fought to stay conscious, but felt herself continue to slip.
“It’s such a shame you won’t be here to see it. I think you will be the first martyr for your weak Order.” Drago laughed and grabbed the top of her head. He dug his fingers in and started to twist. In a matter of seconds she would be dead.
Then the grip was released. She felt herself almost collapse, but was able to steady herself. The next thing she saw was a streak of blonde hair and then a large crash. “Anton,” she said quietly with a smile.
In the commotion, the two vampires holding Rena released their grips on her. She broke free and grabbed their heads in each hand. With all her strength she crashed their heads together. There was a loud, sick crunching sound and the two vampires fell lifelessly to the floor. Not being fully aware of her strength, she had actually caved in both of their skulls. They lay on the floor in a heap, heads bashed in with blood and brains spilled everywhere.
Meanwhile, Anton had picked up Drago from the tangle of broken chairs and tables. He punched him as hard as he could in the chest, sending Drago across the room again, and this time he smashed into a wall. Drago slid down the wall and fell to the floor, leaving a big hole in the shape of his body on that wall.
With his eyes blazing yellow, Anton walked over to where Drago had fallen and lifted him up by his hair. Drago made a weak attempt at punching, but Anton blocked it and head-butted him, smashing his nose and sending blood in all directions. He rammed Drago’s head into his left knee twice and then landed an upper-cut across the chin. Again, Drago was sent flying, but didn’t crash into anything except the concrete floor.
Anton walked over to Drago and grabbed him up by the throat. He carried the vampire across the room and pinned him against the wall. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip your fuckin’ head off right now!?” yelled Anton as he began to tighten his grip. Remembering what he’d seen Drago just do to Virginia and then what he’d seen him do to Shannon, Anton was losing every bit of self-control. He felt his grip become monstrously strong and knew in a matter of seconds he would decapitate his enemy.
Suddenly, a voice came into his head, pushing all his other thoughts away similar to a breaking news announcement interrupting a TV show. It was Lady Bernadine’s voice saying, “No, Anton. Not now, not this way.”
“But if I kill him, this way it will be over. No more senseless deaths,” the voice in his head argued.
“The cause of this war runs much deeper than just Drago. Let him go. This is not going to be your kill,” Lady Bernadine said again.
Anton began to relax and then let go. Drago fell heavily and clutched his throat. He was beginning to get back his color and he coughed violently. He was still breathing hard when he looked up at Anton and said, “You will rue the day that you didn’t kill me off, Anton. I promise that I will make you and all those you love suffer.” He cackled and then turned into a cloud of dust and blew away.
“I didn’t mean to kill them, you know?” said Rena as she lifted the bodies of the two dead vampires and threw them into the dumpster behind the club. “I just wanted them to let go of me, so I smacked their ugly heads together. I didn’t know I was going to crush their skulls.”
“It’s alright, dear,” said Virginia, putting an arm around her shoulder. Anton picked up the broken table and chairs which he threw into the dumpster as well. Rena still didn’t cheer up too much though. She felt bad that she had killed her own kind. She had no qualms about killing mortals that deserved to be killed, but killing another vampire?
“Yeah, don’t let it bother you, love,” said Anton as he put his arm around her other shoulder. “You realize that they came here to kill you and Virginia, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered as they walked back inside the club.
The three of them tried to clean up all the gore that had been left over, but they simply didn’t have the right chemicals or whatever else they needed to do it. “Well,” Virginia said, “it appears that I’ll have to call your friends.”
“What friends?” Rena asked.
“The Cleaners,” Anton told her. She nodded in agreement.
“What’s the number, then?” Virginia asked.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of things,” he told her and then pulled his phone from his pocke
t.
***
“Well,” said Virginia looking at the clock on the wall, “I’m afraid it’s too late for either of you to leave.” She had been right as it was nearly 6:00 and the sun would be rising soon. “I have a few quarters in the back that have no windows for when I have guests. You may each take one.”
Both of them nodded. Anton walked up to Virginia and held her. She embraced him back. His warm, masculine scent filled her nostrils. She almost purred like a cat, feeling his hard, muscular chest against hers, but she maintained self-control and didn’t allow herself to be taken in by the rogue. She knew how easy it was to be swept up in his beauty only to find herself underneath him in a short time. But she had no real desire to allow him to share her bed that day. She gently pushed him away and said, “Thank you.”
Anton smiled at her and then embraced Rena. Virginia frowned. She knew that the young Latina was not as strong as she, and it had been a long time since she had made love. Plus, she didn’t like the way Rena kept looking at him while they were cleaning up the club. She knew that Rena wanted him, badly.
Anton let go of Rena and then jumped onto the stage and walked behind it to find the room that Virginia had spoken of. It was a small room that probably also served as a dressing room, but at the moment nothing was in there except a bed and a nightstand with a lamp on it. The walls were bare white and there was nothing on the floor except the tile. The door was rather large and heavy and it had three locks that could be locked from the inside. He entered the room and closed the door, locking himself in. He stripped off all his clothes without bothering to turn the light on. He just collapsed onto the bed and almost immediately fell asleep.
Not too much later, Rena came up to the door. She pressed her hands against it and rubbed it. She could hear Anton breathing quietly on the other side. She closed her eyes and her hands went right through the wood and into the room. She concentrated and her whole body passed through the door like a spirit. When she was completely on the other side, she opened her eyes and resumed her physical body. It was a nice power to have and she had utilized it many times when seeking out a victim.
Bride of Blood:: First Kiss Page 13