Covered with blood from cuts and slashes, she stayed beautifully defiant. Her slender body refused death's entrance. Her raven hair still held its gloss though matted now, her turquoise eyes sparked with fleeting life, her creamy flesh pale with blood loss. She reminded me of all the times life was taken without regard, with no one to notice. The wrongness of it stirred inside my gut, my gaze narrowed with determination not to let her perish. Not if I could help it.
“Please, help me.” The fear in her eyes was my undoing. She was several years older than my apparent age, much too young to greet death in this way. With compassion and regret, I gathered her weakening body close to mine and sped back to our apartments. Vanic was there getting ready to depart for the evening when I burst into his room.
Placing the fragile bundle on his bed, I twisted around to find his eyes. When he saw the woman battered, bruised, clawed beyond repair, and with so little life left, he rushed forward, while I paced a small circle around the room. When I glanced over at him, he shook his head. It wouldn't matter what we did, there was too much damage, too little remained to salvage.
Her eyes sought out Vanic's, her pale cheeks washed with bloody tears, and she breathed in a fluttery voice, “I don't want to die, please.” She shivered and death waited, no matter how much she longed for life, death in one form or another could not be denied.
Glancing to Vanic, he again shook his head but he knew my thoughts, could read my eyes. He knew I wanted to save her and there could be but one possible way.
“No, Vlad, we cannot take her humanity, it has to be given,” his voice softened. “She has no sense of what we are, what she'll be, what she'll have to give up, the price she'll have to pay. With you, you were so young. It was I who would not let you leave, that's my sin to bear.”
“But, Father, look at her. Even with death coming, she's so vibrant. Give her the choice. It's her life to give. Make her understand, please, let it be her choice how she greets death.” Injustice always clawed at my skin, even when there was little to be done.
On hearing my words, she grabbed Vanic's hand. “Please if you can help me...”
He pinched the bridge of his nose before exhaling in defeat, and knelt down to gaze into the glittering turquoise of her eyes. “Miss, there is a way, but it brings death of a sort, so life can be gained. My son Vlad and I are vampires, and your life depends on whether you can believe and accept our nature and follow the age old laws.”
With strength seeping away, her faltering stare found Vanic's. “I was attacked by two men who wore fur and claws like wolves.” She took a shallow unsteady breath, blood pooled around her body, staining the sheets she lay upon. “Before I would not have believed, but now anything is possible.” Her voice grew weaker, her eyes grew distant, and in moments they would glaze.
He picked up her hand. “Mademoiselle, my name is Vanic Tepes, may I ask yours?”
“My name is Sarah Dubous....” came the faint response.
“Then, Sarah, please forgive me...” And as gently as possible, he pierced her flesh and took what remained of her human life, then he tore his own flesh and held it to her lips. “Now, Sarah, if you choose life, drink, because if you do not, death without waking awaits you.”
As the blood dripped across her mouth, she sealed her lips on his wrist, and drew his blood into her body. My eyes were drawn to her wounds as they mended, smooth pink flesh left in their place. Her beauty grew as she found new strength, the newly formed scars vanished. Her flesh paled further still, her eyes deepened to a beautiful blue turquoise shot through with green. When he tugged his arm, she released his wrist, breathing in her new life.
“Sarah, do you know who attacked you?” I dropped down beside this newly made vampire and my breath caught. She was beautiful before, but now, she could rival royalty, a most beautiful beast. Turning to Vanic, we shared my wonder and unbelieving eyes.
“No, I never saw their faces, just claws, but their scent is one I'll never forget.” She continued to heal before our eyes, her lips while translucent became plump and inviting, her scent became honeyed, sweet and dewy. Her slender body relaxed away the tension of injury and death. She became everything her prey could demand and more.
Vanic offered his hand and she came to her feet. “Tonight begins a new life, your old one ended with your death. You can never go back to your family, and above all, our secret must be kept.”
“You have no cause to worry, sir. I am alone in this world, no family. My father died last winter leaving me his estate. I've been living abroad since. I have only my memories. I'll make my home wherever this new life you've offered leads.” She smiled with an eerie glow, beautifully turned.
“Then, your life begins anew as vampire.” He had a new purpose in his life and Sarah was an eager student, grasping fast to any kind of life she could, even vampiric. He spent many nights showing her how to live. She was a much more willing student than I, more willing to accept her fate.
*****
One evening while hunting those who shared the night, Sarah picked up the scent of the monsters who had brought her to vampirism. As we made our way through the black night, her nostrils flared and she grabbed my hand.
We reached out to Vanic who hunted in his own way. His preference ran to vegetarian meals, he hunted the fields surrounding the grand city. He came to us as a blur of movement. “Sarah, where are they? Can you show us?” he questioned, and she pointed.
Two large men made to pass us, and Sarah reached out a primly gloved hand. “Monsieur, do I not know you?”
The man shook off her hand as if she was beneath him and glared back. “I think not, young lady, please do not presume to touch me.” His eyes glittered with hatred. “You stink of death.” He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent.
Sarah dropped her hand. “How rude you are, beast.” She met their stares, the tips of her canines peeked from under her upper lip. “It was you who brought me to death and allowed for my rebirth.”
Still, he tried to step around us. “You're mad, let me pass.”
There was much animosity between skin-shifters and vampires. Their natures drew too much attention to our otherworldly existence. Agreements had been made between us long ago to prevent those who would be left like Sarah. On occasion, accidents happened with younglings first coming into their abilities. But this hadn't been an accident, it had been a malicious act, leaving an innocent to die or worse, an untrained half-shifter loose on the streets. True skin-shifters were born, not made. Injustice once again raised its ugly head.
“But, sir, I'll never forget your stinking scent, it clung to my skin for days.” She ran a hand along her arm and grinned, showing more fang, and the men's hands extended to claws.
Vanic and I stepped around Sarah, protecting our newest member as the men growled at our little group. Vanic seldom lost his humanity, but in this moment, it slipped away and his beast rolled out, and even I had a moment of horrific terror.
The men tried to step back, but they realized their mistake too late. He fell upon them with all the power and the strength the centuries had bestowed upon him. The men were no match for the vampiric beast, their violence given back tenfold. In moments, their bodies were nothing more than jigsaw pieces the most skilled puzzle master couldn't put back together.
Sarah sagged against my body, relief apparent on her worried face as we watched Vanic destroy her tormentors and murderers. We remained in Paris for another month, and I observed Sarah and Vanic together. They grew closer, glimpsing the first bud of romance. Our family had increased by one and Vanic rediscovered love, something he thought forever lost to him. Sarah grew in his tender care, blossoming, until one day, he came to me.
“Sarah and I are to marry.” He was bursting with pleasure, it rolled off of him in waves. Usually sparse in his emotion, he reveled in his new found happiness.
Clapping his shoulder, I found myself happy for this man who had become my father. “It's about time. You'll make a fine couple.”
Chapter Seven
Europe changed as the First World War was heralded. It became hostile and foreign, newcomers feared, and with the Hierarchy's suggestion, we left Europe on a cruiser bound for the Americas. Vanic wanted to try the new lands to the West, but travel for the vampire is a tricky thing, especially crossing an ocean. It becomes harder to find a meal, difficult to hide from the sun, and more noticeable to others, our nocturnal existence. We'd have to exercise greater caution than ever before.
*****
On a foggy night late in the summer of 1914, we set sail for South America. The voyage was to take one month. The Britania was one of the fastest sailing vessels of its time. Sarah arranged for a traveling servant, Mr. Herbert Brown, to take care of any problems that should arise during the daytime. The captain was well paid and informed of our routine as night dwellers, our family's rare skin condition that made the sun's rays nearly intolerable. We would allow ourselves to feed twice during the thirty day trip, and then hunt fully when port was made. If we were careful, our secret would remain with us.
On our first night, Sarah leaned over the rail, inhaling the sultry scent of sun and salt. “It's fantastic!” she exclaimed as Vanic's arm curled around her waist.
He nuzzled her neck. “This will be our honeymoon.”
I expected to see little of them during our cruise.
The weather at the end of August was beautiful for sailing. We spent our evenings on deck, basking in the sensual ocean breezes. We’d been warned against malaria, and were given little vials of pills but it did not concern our natures. Mosquitoes did not hunger for our blood. The nights were humid. The air smelled like sun-baked cotton, leaving a tangy taste to our tongues. It whispered like the gentle beat of a kettle drum. September brought fall storms but the nighttime sea retained the appearance of a dark looking glass, reflecting the world's wavery starlight.
Ten days into our trip was to be our first feed. Vanic and Sarah found an attractive young couple, Charles and Mary Campbell. Mary was delicate and sweet and her husband Charles was sinewy with brawn, an odd couple, but both laughing and pleasing. Sarah invited them back to our cabins for dinner and drinks. Little did they know they would be the meal. Both would only remember their charming host's graciousness.
For myself, I chose a stunning young woman with chocolate-brown eyes and bronzed colored skin. Maria travelled alone, back to her childhood home and her husband. I engaged her, drew her away.
“Señora Reyes, my name is Vlad Tepes. May I have the pleasure of a dance?” I breathed into her ear, and she shivered, my pheromones tickled her senses. The dancers flowed onto the outside deck, and we turned around it, but moved further away, deeper into the shadows.
“Sir, you move with uncommon grace. Does your love making contain the same skill?” She peered between her curly lashes. Her alluring eyes were nearly my unmaking, this wasn't part of my plan.
“Thank you, I'd like to think it's true, but only my partner could answer your question.” My gaze roved over her body as we danced. She captivated my attention, the breeze brought a foreign fragrant scent to me, it swept from her flesh like silk floating on the wind.
“Ah, did you bring a partner with you?” She bit her lower lip, the tender flesh captured my awareness. My beast breathed to sudden life.
“Not this trip.” My stare lingered on the strawberry swell of her lip, redder than before.
Her fingers danced up my arms, to my shoulders, then around my neck, and she stepped in closer. “I too am alone and in need of company. You could help me, keep me from boredom.” She winked her long, dark lashes at me.
“To spend too much time together may damage your reputation.” My lips quirked, but my heart surged.
“Please, Señor Tepes, we are both adults. Soon I return to my husband, to the prison of my father's making. He has his mistresses, and I, my lovers. I take my pleasures where they're found.” Her delicate shoulders shrugged, her fingers danced along my pale flesh, her full lips pouted, and her eyes were a sultry mixture of need and desire. She leaned in to bring her lush lips to meet mine, leaving their own stain of scarlet.
“Come, Vlad, join me.” She tugged on my hand. When I demurred the use of her cabin, she laughed at my supposed provincial ways.
We continued our dance across the gently undulating deck and my lips took liberties, drifting first to the full redness of her lips, then lower along her pulsing throat. As we wandered through the dark shadows, fangs slipped into her tender flesh and Maria sighed, moved in closer, almost a second skin. To the passerby, we were two young lovers, stealing passion's kiss.
“Come with me, por favor? Please?” Her eyes begged me. She clung to me with a shivery need, causing my body to awaken as she led me to her lonely cabin.
My shaft pressed against her wandering hands and she laughed. “Maybe not so provincial after all?” Her fingers latched onto my trouser's zipper, opening it wide while my hands split the front of my shirt, it hung askew on my shoulders.
My desire flared as she planted kisses across my chest. Her gown slipped from her finely shaped shoulders, flowing into a satiny puddle on the floor, her bareness revealed.
My arms encircled her waist, trapping her as I rained kisses on her eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips before they found her ample breasts. Maria looked like the old masters paintings, curvaceous and soft.
“¡Mi querido amante! My dear lover!” She spoke words of endearment in her native tongue increasing my desire.
“Gods, Maria, mi amor... my love....” Her spicy flavor enflamed me, and I feared my beast would raise its ugly head. Hunting was part of the game for the vampire and Maria was a prize.
She led me across the small cabin to her bed and we fell back into its plushness. My hands found the tips of her bronzed, ruby nipples growing harder with my touch. My lips traveled the length of her neck then lower to find her hardened peaks, suckling and tugging as she moaned in heated arousal. The rough fabric of my shirt rubbed her sensitive flesh, the friction added to the fire of her exotic flavor. I basked in her heat, desire, and need. It was the same the world over, this heat between two people. It knew no ethnicity or the difference between vampire and human. Her nimble fingers swiftly pushed my shirt away, my trousers followed her dress, and my hardness fell into her hands.
Heat danced between us as my lips skipped over her body, kissing and licking, then moved lower, knees nudging her legs further apart as my lips slipped over her moist folds, caressing the tiny bud found within.
Her fingers curled in my hair and jerked my head back, bringing her lips to mine, hungrily drinking her fill as she guided my hard length to the center of her body. Entering her tightness made me inhale a sharp quick breath. I'd been too long without fulfilling this particular need.
She met my every stroke with one of her own as I entered her moist opening. She tilted her hips forward to accommodate more of my hard length as a soft sigh escaped her slender throat. She made love much like she danced, with a spicy flavor that flamed out of control. As her fire threatened to incinerate, release found us, hearts hammering. My beast claimed one last taste of her sweet nectar before letting her slip from my fingers. As we lay on her colorful quilts, both heaving harsh breaths, we laughed as only the young could, excitement, fulfillment, a desired joining, without consequences.
*****
On the eighteenth day into our trip, upon night fall, Brown burst into our cabins. “Madame, sirs! We've been boarded! A ship came along side ours only to raise the Black Skull and Crossed Bones. I came straight away, here to you. Pirates... holding the crew prisoner, we're to remain in our cabins. There's little hope to be had for reaching port safely, I feel it's my duty to tell you.” He sadly reported a story unheard before by our ears. “We must prepare for the slave trade or worse, death.”
Men had boarded? Imprisoning the captain and crew? Vanic and I glanced at each other and grinned, it sounded like an adventure to our ears. “Brown, why don't you retire? We'll be f
ine for the evening.”
“Are you mad, sir? There are pirates....” Already his eyes were growing heavy.
Vanic reassured at the man. “Oh yes, we'll just stay put here in our cabin, I'm sure it will sort itself out by morning.”
Brown stifled a yawn, the suggestion to sleep wore on him. “If you're sure then, sirs, madame.”
He found his bed in the adjoining cabin.
My beast begged for release. While not a long cruise, it was hard to keep it imprisoned within, and what an excellent opportunity to let it rise, the hunt of the unexpected, the best kind. I rubbed palms together in anticipation and I glanced to Vanic then to Sarah. “Shall we save our shipmates?” Raising an eyebrow, I asked the others.
“What do you propose, Vlad?” Vanic grinned with his reply, twisting around to give me his full attention. We were both ready for a hunt, and while we were at it, an adventure worthy of revisiting in our memories, of a pirate attack and rescue.
“I propose we take our nightly stroll with stealth and deadly intent.”
*****
It wasn't time for our second feeding but we could hardly let this opportunity pass, so tempting. As the night grew deeper, both ships fell dark, and we slipped silently through The Britania. The waves lapped quietly against the hull, a soothing sound, lulling and peaceful. Nothing could breach the peace of the gentle sea. Not anything, that is except the vampire. We boarded our sister ship, the one tied along side...the pirates. How powerful and confident they must have felt, no one stood guard.
With feet as soundless as a feather upon a breeze, we crept throughout the strange vessel, taking note of where the humans were, preparing to feast. Their ship smelled of old blood and other things that I didn't want to think about, because if I did, my beast would roar with ungodly desires. Death had been a frequent visitor here, soaked into the old warped boards to leave a rotting stench most foul, but my beast found it quite appealing.
The men were gathered in one large room where they must have lived in a communal dwelling, the mingled odors of sweat and unclean bodies thick in the air. Their captain had a private cabin, we left him for last. We expected to find the figures in our imaginations, the pirates of old with peg-legs and patched eyes. As vampires, we should have known better, the real world seldom represents fantasies. Instead they were the same as all bullies preying upon the weaker, with might and strength. Vampires are one of the few predators who don't need to look powerful. A merciless might is always there, ready to be called.
Vlad Tepes, the Vigilante Vampire Page 4