Death Beckons (Mortis Vampire Series, #1)

by J. C. Diem

  “So,” I said with false brightness, “tell me about the prophecy. I’m dying to hear all about it.” Technically, I was already dead but I didn’t want to quibble.

  Lacing his hands together, Luc grimaced at the dirty floor, leaned back against the sarcophagus and slid to the ground. I’d heard that sitting on cold concrete could give you piles. Could vampires even get haemorrhoids? Why was I grossing myself out like this?

  “Over two thousand years ago, the Prophet had a vision that sent him into a coma for three months. When he woke, he spoke in a language that no one could understand.” Luc studied me broodingly in the dimness before continuing. “Occasionally he would revert to his native language and his servants would jot down his ramblings.”

  When the silence dragged out for more than a few seconds, I circled a hand in the air for him to continue. “And?”

  “It is said that Mortis will defy the natural order by being able to touch holy objects.” He gestured at the cross I was idly playing with. I couldn’t even remember picking the thing up again. I dropped it and it hit the floor with a metallic clang. “‘When she rises, the damned shall fall.’”

  I still wasn’t sold on the idea that I could really be this Mortis creature. “Alright, so I can touch crosses,” I conceded. “Surely others have been able to do that.” I wondered briefly why I couldn’t say God out loud if I could still touch crosses. No doubt Luc would say it was part of the prophecy.

  Luc shook his head grimly in the negative. “None of our kind has ever been able to touch holy objects and survive. We have the disturbing tendency of bursting into flames.”

  “Yeah, I caught some of that action already. The flames were pretty,” I said absently. “They were bright blue, like a gas fire.”

  My unwelcome and unwanted companion shuddered and clasped his hands more tightly together. “Not one of us has ever been able to survive the death of our maker at our hands. That was not spoken of in the prophecy but it is surely another sign.”

  We both examined the remains that used to be Silvius. “So that’s it then?” I asked glumly. “I’m definitely Mortis, huh?” He nodded back just as glumly. “What does that mean, exactly? Who am I supposed to bring death to?”

  For a long moment, Luc didn’t speak. His answer, when it came, was completely unsurprising. “Us.”

  Of course it was. If any creature on earth could be considered damned, it would have to be vampires.

  ·~·

  Chapter Seven

  I didn’t particularly want to hear any more details but figured it would be prudent to find out what further horrors destiny had planned for me. “Can you tell me more about the prophecy?”

  Luc shrugged and examined his immaculate fingernails. I wondered if all foreign vampires were as well groomed as he was. Then I remembered the unkempt fingernails that had once graced my dead maker’s hands before he’d melted down to slush and decided not.

  “It is more of a legend than fact.” Luc’s accent thickened with the distress he was unsuccessfully attempting to hide. It must be a kick in the nuts to be the one to walk into the crypt of vampirekind’s worst nightmare. “Stories of you are passed down from maker to servant. I remember my maker scaring me with the tale when I was young.” His lips twitched in something like a smile but his eyes remained mournful.

  I studied him closely, searching for signs of great age. He didn’t look much older than me, around thirty maybe. I didn’t interrupt and let him continue.

  “When our kind began to disappear several months ago, the whispers became louder. Most believed Mortis had risen and our end was near. Some of the elders retreated to their fortified estates. Others wanted to form hunting parties and find Mortis before she could annihilate us all.” He flicked a quick look at me.

  “Let me guess which plan you were in favour of,” I said dryly.

  “Do not fear, Natalie,” Luc said with a hint of humour, “if the legends are correct, you are not so easy to kill.”

  I perked up at that. Finally, something about being chock full of evil was working in my favour. “Why are you here, anyway? In Australia?” As far as I knew, we didn’t have any vampire legends. I couldn’t imagine why creatures of the night would want to come here anyway. There weren’t that many people living in Australia compared to just about everywhere else in the world. Someone would notice it if we suddenly started going missing in droves.

  Turning his attention back to the smear on the ground, he pointed at it. “I came to kill your maker.”

  “Oh.” I paused, searching for something to say. “I guess I saved you the trouble then.” Surely that would win me some points?

  “I had hoped to destroy him before he had made another servant,” Luc muttered. “But I was too late.”

  “Why were you hunting him?” Probably because the old guy, not to mention his shadow, had been so damned abnormal.

  “Silvius had broken several vampire laws. I was sent to bring him to justice.”

  “So, you’re a vampire cop?” I laughed at the idea but trailed off when he didn’t share my humour.

  “Yes,” he replied. “Someone has to enforce the laws that keep us safe.”

  It occurred to me again that I knew nothing about being a vampire. “Maybe you’d better tell me about these rules,” I said uneasily. Knowing myself well, I’d probably already broken half of them. Not that I went out of my way to break the rules. It was just that if they seemed stupid, I saw no reason to abide by them. Take waiting for the traffic lights to change to green in the middle of the night when there were no other cars in sight. Call me a criminal but a couple of times I’ve checked twice for oncoming cars then just driven straight through.

  Weary and disturbed, Luc didn’t appear to be in the mood to give me the rundown but he shrugged and laid it out for me anyway. “We are not to bring attention to ourselves or to reveal our true nature to humans. It is not permissible to kill humans when we feed. Their wits must be befuddled so that we remain a mere hint of a memory. We may only have one servant at a time and may only make a servant if our maker dies. We are not to kill our own kind unless we are defending our own lives.”

  Nodding thoughtfully, I was relieved to discover that I hadn’t broken any of the rules so far. Apart from killing our own kind. That was probably a pretty big no no but I wasn’t going to dwell on it. It was done and couldn’t be undone. I hadn’t needed to befuddle the wits of the four stoners I’d fed from. No one would believe them if they told the truth about my brief encounter with them anyway.

  Reading my expression, Luc’s gaze sharpened. “How long ago were you turned?”

  “Uh,” I counted back to what seemed like a thousand nights ago. “This is my fifth night as,” I lowered my voice so no one lurking nearby could possibly overhear the complete absurdity of it, “a vampire.”

  Despair washed over my dark companion’s face again. “Then I am already too late. By now you must have killed several humans. The authorities will already be on your trail.”

  Pointing the cross I’d picked up again and had been idly playing with at him, I ignored his flinch. “I’m going to stop you right there before you go jumping to too many conclusions. I haven’t killed anyone yet. In fact, I just had my first snack tonight.” I went dreamy at the memory of the sweet, salty meal and smiled.

  Luc’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me incredulously. “You have only fed for the first time tonight?”

  “Yeah, just before I came back...home.” I glanced around the crypt unhappily.

  “Tell me about your hunt. How did you resist killing them?”

  Shifting uneasily, I fiddled with the cross. “Keep in mind I have no idea what I’m doing here,” I warned him then described my bright idea of hiding in a dark alley and waiting for my prey to come to me.

  “So,” he summed up when I was done, “you fed from four men and didn’t kill any of them?” If I had to describe his expression, I’d go for ‘stunned amazement’.

  “W
hat is your obsession with me killing people?” Crankily, I crossed my arms, hugging the cross to my chest.

  Black eyes were riveted to the sight of the cross resting where my un-beating heart lay so still in my chest. “Perhaps I should explain what usually happens when a vampire is made.”

  “Please do.” I was curt, almost rude. Ok, there was nothing ‘almost’ about it.

  “When our mortal bodies die, hunger awakens within our undead flesh. Feeding that hunger is all that consumes our minds. For the first few nights, we must feed until our hunger is sated. It can take several weeks for reason to return completely.” After a short pause, he continued. “You do not act like a newly born vampire.” I had the sense that he’d left out some vital information during that explanation but was too busy feeling special to question him. I tried to look modest but failed when I smirked. “You do not act like any vampire I have ever known,” he concluded. I wasn’t sure Luc was being complimentary with that statement.

  “Hey, I was starting to get pretty hungry,” I defended myself. “I tried to hunt last night but it didn’t go so well.” If I’d still had live blood in my veins I would have blushed in embarrassment at my complete failure to secure a meal.

  “What happened?” He seemed overly interested in my answer. The answer I didn’t want to give.

  “I felt, um, sorry for the guy,” I mumbled. Telling him that I’d felt even sorrier for his dog and couldn’t eat it would make me feel even more stupid. I decided I’d keep that bit of information to myself.

  “You have retained your compassion,” Luc mused. “I had not anticipated that. I must think on what this all means.” Standing fluidly, he gestured towards the door. “We should discuss our situation in more...comfortable surrounds.” He gave a slight sneer at my lack of amenities and I couldn’t blame him. My new home was a pit. Just about anywhere would be more comfortable than our current surrounds. Still, I was suspicious that he would want me to accompany him anywhere. I was Mortis and he was a vampire cop. Shouldn’t he be trying to stake me?

  “Natalie, I promise I will not try to harm you,” Luc said with great sincerity, reading my expression accurately. Behind his promise was an unspoken ‘yet’.

  Forcing out another sigh, which was hard to do now that I didn’t breathe, I stood. “Fine, I’ll go with you but I’m bringing the cross just in case you get any funny ideas.” His lips quirked up for a moment in an almost smile again. He waited for me to retrieve my backpack then pulled open the door for me.

  Holding the cross in one hand, I shouldered the backpack and left the dank, cobwebbed crypt. I doubted I’d need the dog blanket again. For a moment I felt nostalgic for the dirty, ragged thing. I’d had to fight to gain possession of it and now I was leaving it behind. Why did that sound like a metaphor for my entire previous life?

  ·~·

  Chapter Eight

  Luc glided through the graveyard smoothly. His muscles bunched and moved beneath his clothing. My enhanced vision had no trouble making out the details in the gloom. I followed closely behind him, occasionally tripping over low grave markers. Maybe if I kept my eyes on the ground rather than on his butt I’d trip less often. I tried to order my traitorous orbs to swivel downward but they continued to defy me.

  Another kind of hunger was growing within me now. It was a vastly different hunger to the blood thirst but no less powerful. Watching the graceful vampire move swiftly through the shadows was having a strange effect on me. A picture of him naked popped into my mind with amazing clarity. Luc glanced back, caught me smiling in appreciation at his butt, did a double take then increased his speed.

  Reaching a black rental car, he gallantly opened the passenger door for me. I tripped while attempting to climb inside and he caught me by the elbow. Jeez, Nat, try to be a little less suave, I chided myself sarcastically. Seeing me in safely, Luc swiftly closed the door and jogged around the car. Automatically buckling the seatbelt, I stashed my backpack at my feet. Luc opened the driver’s door but didn’t get in.

  “Natalie, could you please move the cross?” He had ducked down to look at me through the open door. Dark eyes watched the cross warily.

  A haze was beginning to descend inside my head, making it hard to think. Realizing I held the cross in my right hand, I changed it over so it would be as far away from my companion as possible. “Sorry.” I watched him slide inside and my hunger increased. “What’s happening to me?” I asked as the car surged forward. My speech had a strange, drawn out quality as if I was speaking in slow motion.

  Luc took his eyes off the road long enough to assess my condition. “Now that you have sated your blood hunger, you must now sate your flesh hunger.” His reply sounded worried and unhappy. Ah, that’s the information he left out before. I now have flesh hunger. Whatever the hell that is.

  Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good to me at all. “Silvius said he wasn’t a cannibal. Surely I won’t become one?” Snacking on blood had turned out to be pretty ok but the idea of tearing an arm or leg off and biting into raw meat made my stomach want to churn.

  “That is not the kind of feeding you crave,” Luc replied and put his foot down on the accelerator.

  Brisbane flashed past the windows too fast for me to focus on any particular detail. Harsh streetlights and headlights from cars made me wince away. I closed my eyes and held tightly to the cross. The metal didn’t warm in my clammy grasp. Hollowness filled me at the thought that I might never be truly warm again. The warmth I’d gained from my meal had already dissipated although I still felt full.

  Opening my eyes when the car lurched to a halt, I saw we had reached the valet parking entrance to a swanky hotel. Luc appeared beside me and opened the door. His grip on my right elbow was firm, almost painful as he guided me inside after handing his keys to the attendant.

  I didn’t protest as I was rushed into an elevator. My gaze flicked to the faces and forms of the men that we passed. Cataloguing their appearance, all were dismissed as inadequate. None appealed to my strange new hunger. When the mirrored doors of the elevator closed, I slumped against the wall. Luc stood beside me, worry pouring from him in waves. He kept glancing at me sideways, checking on my condition. My eyes didn’t have to be open to sense his movements. When the elevator doors opened again, he kept a tight grip on my arm and hurried me to a door halfway down the hall.

  Pausing to put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign in place, he locked the door and dropped my arm. I was shivering like a junkie in full withdrawal. “Is t-this n-normal?” I managed, teeth chattering.

  Luc nodded cautiously and sidled away from me, avoiding the cross that I held tightly in my left hand. “It has come on far more quickly than usual but it is a natural part of becoming one of our kind.” Natural? That just didn’t sound like the correct word to me. There was nothing natural about becoming a vampire. “You must feed before your hunger consumes you.” He read the query in my expression and answered my unspoken question. “If you do not feed, you will lose control and many humans will lose their lives,” he explained.

  “By f-feed...,” I let the question hang, dreading the answer yet knowing what it would be.

  “Sex,” he said succinctly and began stripping off. Throwing his sweater onto a chair, he toed off his shoes. “You have the choice, of course, of intercourse with a human. But,” he warned, “they will probably not survive the encounter and you will remain unsatisfied.”

  Stripping off he might be but he didn’t look happy about it. Wearing only black boxer shorts, he approached me gingerly. I dropped my eyes to his body and he was exactly as I’d pictured him; lean and muscled with only a light dusting of hair on his chest. Hunger roared through me and I doubled over in something close to pain.

  I reached out and Luc’s hand caught mine. “I can help you, Natalie,” he sounded even less enthusiastic than he’d looked, “but you must drop the cross.”

  My left hand was clenched around the cross so hard that I felt every detail of the filigree carving
on the smaller silver piece on my palm. Opening my hand, the cross didn’t automatically drop to the floor as I expected it to. Shaking my hand, it finally dislodged itself and landed on the carpet with a dull thud. Then my clothes were disappearing one by one and, like magic, I was naked.

  Luc was a full eight inches taller than me and I craned my head back to see his face. Our eyes locked, his unwilling, mine hungry. My hands were on his shoulders, in his hair, drawing his mouth down to mine. Our lips touched and my hunger was unleashed.

  Surrendering to the inevitable, Luc’s hands cupped my butt and lifted me. His ribs groaned as I wrapped my legs around him. He stumbled to the bed and crushed me to the mattress. Our hands and mouths explored each other in a frenzy of need.

  “Now, quick,” I begged, completely unable to stop myself. I’d try to take him by force if he didn’t co-operate. With the way I felt, he wouldn’t stand a chance against me.

  I got my wish seconds later as Luc ripped off his boxer shorts and plunged into me. It was quick, hard, rough and exactly what I needed. Muffling my moans, I bit Luc’s shoulder when I came. My legs tightened and I heard something crack in his spine. He gasped out a word in his natural language that I mentally translated as “fuck”. Then he shuddered and rolled off me.

  Basking in the afterglow, I rolled onto my side, about to compliment Luc on his supreme performance. His arm covered much of his face but I could still read his expression. Utter misery painted him from head to toe. It occurred to me that our naked session hadn’t exactly been a mutual decision. He hadn’t wanted to have sex with me at all. I had just used the man for my own enjoyment. Oh my God, I practically raped him!