by Devin Morgan
“No bother Isabella.” She leaned back in her chair. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m concerned about Carlos. I thought I should come to you first.”
She spun her chair around to gaze out the window as she spoke. “What’s the matter? From what I understand, Carlos is doing very well both at work and at the half-way house.”
“It isn’t about work. It’s about his old group of friends.” She paused.
“Yes, Isabella?”
“You see, Carlos hasn’t been running with them since he came back from rehab. Not that I know anyway.” Her voice grew softer, “I must speak quietly. My husband is home from work today. He is sick.”
“Yes?”
“Today I received a phone call from one of them. Someone called Manu. He asked for Carlos. I told him Carlos didn’t live here anymore.” Again, a long pause on the other end of the phone.
Sarah turned back toward her desk, leaning forward, resting her elbows on the dark wood. “Isabella, what is it?”
“This man said that if I don’t have Carlos get in touch with his friends, there will be trouble in our home.” Sarah could hear the fright in her voice. “Miss Hagan, if my husband finds out, he will be crazy. He and Carlos have never been acting like father and son. Fernando has a bad temper and he wasn’t always good to Carlos. He and Carlos have fought with fists. It has been very bad for a long, long time. If he finds out that we are being threatened, he will blame my son. He doesn’t always think clearly and I am afraid what he will do if those people come around here”
Sarah wondered if Carlos had always been honest with her about his old life, his new habits. “I’ll see what I can do, Isabella.”
“Please Miss Hagan, Sarah, my Carlos is working so hard to have a better life. I know he is. Please, don’t let these bad people ruin it for him.” She held back her tears. “Please help him.”
“He has an appointment with me this afternoon. I’ll do whatever I can to see that he steers clear of them. I know he’s doing his best.” She only hoped that her instincts were right, that he had been telling her the truth.
There was a semblance of calm in her tone of voice as the older woman answered. “Thank you. Thank you so much. And I won’t take up any more of your time.” A relieved sigh escaped before she spoke again. “Good bye Miss Hagan.”
“Good bye Isabella.” Sarah placed the phone on the cradle. She turned once more to look out the window. “Now what? What else can happen?” She sighed, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
#
“Colleen? Have you got a minute?”
“Only one. I’m in the car and the speaker on my cell won’t work so I have to hold it. If I get another ticket for talking while driving, Bob’s going to kill me. What’s up?”
“What do you know about the guys Carlos used to run with?”
“Nothing I haven’t told you. A bad bunch. Always in and out of trouble and some of it, pretty nasty. Why?” Her voice got loud and angry. “You idiot! Not you honey, this fool in front of me.” Sarah heard a car horn. “Why are you asking?”
Sarah already decided not to tell Colleen about the threatening phone call to the Havarro household until she spoke to Carlos. “I’m going to see him this afternoon. I thought I’d check to see if you might have picked up any additional background on his old friends, that’s all.”
“Well, they’re really a bunch of gang bangers. There was one drive by but nothing was ever proved. I hope to hell he hasn’t tied up with them again. They’re all poison.” The next sound was a long honk on a horn. “Oh God, got to go. There’s a cop car turning the corner.”
“Will she ever learn to say the words ‘good bye’?” Sarah found her shoes under her desk, put them on and walked to the door of her office. “Maggie, will you bring me a salad when you go to lunch? I’m going to be in all afternoon.”
#
His step was light and he looked happy as he entered her office.
“Hey Sarah, Maggie gone for the day?” He plopped down in the chair facing her desk.
“Yes, she had a hair appointment.” She stood. “So, what’s going on?” Crossing to the recliner, she turned to face him. “Anything new I should hear about?”
“Okay Sarah.” He stood, the smile leaving his face. “It’s obvious you’re playing detective here. You tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing really. Just that your mother got a phone call today from someone called Manu.” She watched his face change. He looked defensive.
“Maybe it’s time I had a talk with Manu. So, you think I might be hanging with the home boys again?” He paced a few steps away from her then stopped, waiting for her answer.
“I won’t think anything until you tell me. I’m just asking you what’s up?” She chose her words carefully. She didn’t want this meeting to turn into a confrontation.
“Yeah? Well, what’s up is I haven’t seen them since rehab.” His tone was angry, “Don’t you see the changes in me? Haven’t you been involved in making them?” He crossed the room to stand just in front of her. “Don’t you know I wouldn’t do anything to disappoint you?”
She lifted the recorder from the seat of her chair, sat down and looked up at him.
“Look Sarah, I don’t know why I have these feelings for you. They’re coming way out of left field. I’ve tried to talk to you about it before but if I even get close to the subject, you stop me.” He sat across from her in his usual position, his elbows on his knees, his hands folded.
“I’m stopping you now, Carlos.” She paused. “It’s normal for a client to feel attached to their therapist. It happens often.”
“Well,” He looked at the floor. “This hasn’t happened to me before. I look forward to seeing you. I don’t even care if the vamp takes over my body and does things from a horror movie as long as I can see you when I come back.” He raised his eyes to meet hers. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel something, Sarah. I know you do.”
She cleared her throat before she could speak. “Of course I do. I told you a long time ago, you’re like family to me.”
There was a long silence. “Not what I’ve had for a family. You are so much more than that to me. Sarah, you’re warm and strong and . . . ”
She interrupted him, “Don’t go there.” Abject determination sounded in her soft voice. “That’s a place where we can never go. Not ever, and you know that.” She looked down at the floor for a long moment. Her heart was pounding. She realized she wasn’t breathing. Her logical mind puzzled at the way her body reacted to his words. He was her client, nothing more. Yet she knew that wasn’t the absolute truth
“Carlos, please don’t bring this up again.”
He paused a moment. “I thought I was doing pretty well for a guy. I haven’t said anything or made a move on you for a while. And I want to. All the time.”
“Look Carlos, didn’t you hear what I just said? Now, do you want to have a session today or not?” Her voice was stern and her eyes meant business.
He sighed and lay down on the leather recliner, grinning broadly. “Shot down again.” He settled into the comfortable cushions. “But it isn’t over until it’s over and there’s a whole lot more to the vamp’s story. That means lots and lots of time for us to be together, so let’s just wait and see what happens.” He closed his eyes and his eyelashes laid deep, mysterious shadows on the top of his cheekbones. “Go ahead Sarah, count me out.”
#
CARLOS HAVARRO, transcript, session 13, May 28
I lived in the palace and returned to the catacombs whenever I was able to sneak away. I developed a deep friendship with Sebastian and when I was allowed an audience with the vampire monarchs, Akira treated me with the kindness of a parent to a child. It was from all of them I learned about our kind.
‘Vampire’ is the human word for our species because we feed on blood, but we are not the evil sort who murder for pleasure. If you were to give us a true name, it would be Akirians. We are a
ll her children but those depraved ones are the seed of the ancient witch I aforementioned. Our kind drinks human blood often only at the beginning of our eternal journey. After a time, it is only on rare occasions that the hunger comes upon us. We subsist most of our existence on animal blood just as most humans do. We simply do not eat the meat.
Even though we remain in truly human bodies, we have alien venom running through our veins. We are the perfect combination of two completely different species. We need not breathe yet we are able if we wish. We can see with human eyes, however, we are able to switch to vampire sight at will. We need not eat. Food has very little flavor to us, however, if we wish to dine, it is possible. When we consume human food, we have human body functions. We need sleep only at the beginning of our eternal existence yet we are able to at any time if we so desire. You see, we are both alien and human in one body.
Ours is an old race with deep convictions. There is judicial procedure in our society. A strict code of ethics is called out in the Book of Laws kept in the library of the Catacombs. The constitution demands honor and integrity from each soul in the realm.
I studied the vampire laws. We of the Catacombs are not a cruel species. There are rules, regulations keeping our existence silent and respecting the humans who share the land with our kind. We kill mortals only out of desperate need when driven by the hunger, when we are without choice to take human life. We feed from the dregs of mankind, leaving untouched those of good conscience. Vengeance by venom is not allowed. Killing for sport is a death sentence. We are ruled by a strange sense of compassion for those upon whom we feed. I learned then more of those renegades who were our natural enemy. Such were the witches who changed me and the evil ones that changed Richard and Gabriela.
For centuries in your world, we were merely beings of fable not unlike fairies and dragons. We walked among your kind without notice. We lived in seclusion and peace until depraved transgressors openly took decent human life. The dead, found drained of blood, turned the ancient fable of the vampire into reality. Rapidly the stories spread from village to village. From town to town. From country to country. It was then your modern myths came into being. Garlic. Crosses. Bursting to flames in the sunlight. Oh yes, and coffins during the daylight. Creations of a frightened human mind. All false. The only truth found in all the human mythology is death comes to us with a stake in the heart and the burning of the human form until it is naught but ashes.
Sebastian taught me to use the powers I was not aware that I possessed. I could climb the outside of a building with my fingers, clinging to stone as if it were a part of me. I could run faster than any horse could carry a man. I was able to leap from a tall place without injury and I could jump over wide chasms as if stepping across a small stone.
But the most marvelous power was taught to me by Richard, the powers of the venom. You see, Sarah, vampires are venomous beings. The venom when added to human blood can be used as poison to kill slowly or it can be fed into a body little by little as it is drained to create another of our kind. To rapidly draw the blood from a human will instantly bring them to their death. So you understand, the venom can be used in different ways to different ends. To slowly drain a human and fill them with venom is eternal life while venom mixed with human blood is a slow poison that leaves no traces.
Richard told me Akira created their following with the power. Some of her offspring left the court and went out into the world and so the vile, debased vampires of Mount Haemus who created me came into being.
Time passed above ground in the court of the King and below in the counsel of the vampires. One day faded into the next. Sebastian told me of the treaty between the ancient royals and the vampires not to feed in the royal house. I wondered if Henry and his court were even aware we existed but I accepted the rules; I fed only away from the palace. I quenched my thirst on animals in the nearby forest but when the hunger overtook me, I ran long and fast, far from any who knew me.
I became one of the King’s favorite courtiers and rode out with him to the hunt, drinking sour wine with him in the evenings. I relished the warmth and intrigue of the court. I spent less and less time in the dark, underground Catacombs studying, attending the vampire counsel. Richard and Gabriela began to feel I had chosen humans over my own. They quietly avoided me when I went underground.
I frequented Henry’s court. I watched as his consort, Anne Boleyn, worked harder and harder to keep him interested. She led him a merry chase for many years, never giving in to his desires because she was not his wife. It was during that time she called on me to attend her brother. If I am a monster, she was a demon. She was without conscience. Nothing mattered to her except her family and her quest for power.
Her sister, Mary, and her brother, George, were her only true friends. I cannot truly vouchsafe for her sister but her brother was besotted with her. He trailed behind her every step. He and his friends made up a small court that waited just upon Anne. They were a wild troupe and George was the most licentious. It was his supposed affair with Lord Weston that sent her to me for my aid. I was chosen as one of the King’s favorites and so it was with ease I began to run with George and his friends.
It was at a royal banquet in the company of Anne’s gentlemen that I first saw her, my Elizabeth. As I told you, she was a lady in waiting to Anne, she was exquisite. Small waisted, golden haired with a smile that opposed the brilliance of the sun. Her shy, sweet ways held her always in the background but her gentle beauty outshined all of the other young maids.
If I may, I will tell you more of my love. You have been told that her cousin, Thomas Wyatt, arranged our meeting. We three rode side by side on that first early morning hunt. I remember so well. The King claimed the kill and was in a boisterous mood. Elizabeth’s face was flushed from the cold air. She smiled modestly when I complimented her complexion. I asked to sit next to her at the evening banquet. She agreed.
From that day, I was hers. She was constantly in my thoughts no matter my task. Her blue eyes, her musical laughter, the slight tilt of her head when she was in earnest conversation. I loved her with a love that is beyond human understanding. For the only time since the morning in the forest when I killed the bandits and fed on my first human blood, I hated what I was. I longed for mortality yet knew it was impossible. I longed to be one with her, to have her for my good wife. I sensed her care for me. Her touch was tender and longing, her eyes bright with love.
At last, I could stand it no longer. Early one morning as we walked in the garden, I held her to me and told her of my deep feeling for her. She returned my embrace and I kissed her sweet mouth. We promised each other our eternal love. I knew the greatest joy and the deepest fear I ever experienced. How could I possess her, she, a delicate human and I, eternal and indestructible? Yet I knew I could not continue on without her.
Not knowing what to do, I approached Sebastian, telling him of my plight. He said it was impossible for a human and a vampire to mate. However, there were historical instances when a human could be made into one of our kind if it was their desire and with the permission of the counsel. He told me he, too, was in love with a human. She knew what he was and loved him still. He approached the council for permission to turn her, to marry her. He waited only for their permission to proceed.
I wondered at his fearlessness in telling his beloved he was one of the undead. Was she not afraid of him? How could she accept him, his affliction? Yet he said her affection ran so deep she was willing to give her human life to spend eternity with him. Did Elizabeth love me with such depth, such conviction? That was when I decided to approach the council.
One evening as we walked in the garden, I summoned all courage. I asked her to be my wife.
She rose from the garden bench. She pondered my request as she walked slowly toward the castle. Turning on the path, she ran into my arms. Her words ring still in my heart and my mind. “I love you Aris. I would die for you and I will live for you. I will be your wife and you will be my hus
band.”
In that moment, I knew joy as I had never known it before and peace that I have not known since, until this moment, here with you.
Sarah’s heart pounded in her chest and she wondered at the exhilaration she felt at his words.
I approached Wolsey to petition the Queen to marry my lady. I went below ground to petition my own royal house.
As you know, I waited weeks in the Catacombs for the decision of the council. Would they allow the marriage? Would they give their permission to make Elizabeth one of us? I was plagued with doubts and worries. I could not go on without her at my side. Sebastian stood a friend to me, assuring me time and again that all would be well, they would decide in my favor.
At long last, he came to me in my private chamber smiling and with the greatest of news. I was to bring Elizabeth before the council where they would question her. If they were convinced she wished it of her own will, she would be permitted to become one of us. I would be with her and love her for all eternity. My joy was boundless as I returned to the surface and the palace to plead my case with my beloved.
That was when I came upon Thomas Wyatt. When I asked for her, his face flushed and he stammered as he answered. My ears refused his words and my mind reeled at the implication. Wolsey sent her to the court of Spain with the Spanish ambassador. He traded her for a wine contract to an aging and degenerate courtier of the Emperor. It was then I learned she was lost at sea, gone from me forever. I raged. I cried out for vengeance.
Thomas settled me in his rooms and there, kept me from the rest of the court until I found my sanity once more. She was lost. The only person I had ever loved was lost to me and for nothing more than gold. Wolsey was the second richest man in the Kingdom, only the King was before him, and yet it was not enough. I seethed. I hated him. I vowed vengeance. Thomas spoke calming words and soothed me, taking pains to heal my hurt and in time, I accepted my great loss. I rejoined the court. I pledged to search forever, human lifetime after lifetime for her, for my sweet Elizabeth. And I vowed to see Wolsey dead just as my only love was dead, buried so far from me.