The Embrace

by Jessica Callaghan

  “I was living in Germany when it happened. It was around the mid 1600s or so and I was part of a sect, the Germanitas Order we called ourselves. I was still quite young, probably only a fraction past 50 years old. I drifted towards the Order not long after it’s creation. I was an orphan, and I liked the idea of the companionship it offered.

  I was turned in Scotland by a male vampire. We travelled for 7 or 8 years and then he abandoned me. I barely knew anything about being a vampire and I craved a father figure. So, when I heard about the Order I sought it out and made myself part of it.

  The leader and founder was a vampire named Lucius. He ruled over us with his mate Diego. They promoted fraternity and brotherhood, all members were equal and shared in all misfortunes and victories. I saw Lucius as the father figure I had always wanted, and I think Diego saw me as a threat. He thought I wanted to take over his position but I never wanted that. It was very uncomfortable between us, to say the least.

  Then I found Gabriel. We bumped in to each other one night while we were hunting. He was an orphan, practically rabid. He was obviously a newborn and he seemed like he needed someone, just like I once had. I started to think maybe I could create someone to be my companion, if Lucius didn’t need me.

  Gabriel was 50 years younger than me but he was perfect for our ranks. He showed himself to be manipulative and charismatic, as soon as his wildness wore off. He became the leader I had always wanted and I followed him dutifully.

  We killed women who came across our path. I had been killing men, mostly, but Gabriel was turned by a woman so he had issues with females. As I’m sure you know, the vampire who sires us leaves a stronger impression than we’d like to think.

  Over time, our hunting became more elaborate. We started to make plans, stalking the women for days at a time. He played with them like a cat plays with a mouse before it strikes, and Gabriel was a master of the art.”

  That was certainly familiar. I had seen Gabriel tease many victims over the past few months, as if they were his toys. Obviously he had been like that for a very long time and it wasn’t me who dragged it out of him as I had started to think.

  “When Diego took over after Lucius decided to leave, it was Gabriel’s opportunity to seize control. Looking back I should have known Diego was no threat to me, but at the time I was under Gabriel’s control so I didn’t need any convincing. We overthrew Diego and seized control of the Order. To us vampires were made to kill, and this brotherhood nonsense got in the way of that. We were designed to be predators, not servants or friends.

  Around 300 years ago we started massacring families. I would kill the family and leave one survivor, and then Gabriel would swoop in as the protector. He would spend years with the survivors and then, when he gained their trust, he would kill them. It was all an elaborate game for him.

  We moved east around 1713, settling in Central Europe. I don’t remember the details now but it was pleasant enough. We stayed there for a while and then after a while we moved to the Baltic region. In the early 1770s we relocated to Asia, returning to Europe nearly 60 years later. We eventually decided to try the new world in 1840 when we went to South America.”

  Bells rang in my memory. I had seen Gabriel reading books written in Spanish and I knew he had picked the language up during a visit to South America. Now I knew when and why Gabriel had visited that corner of the world. It felt as if every piece of Gabriel’s secretive puzzle was falling in to place.

  “We moved to North America after a few decades, and then in 1888 we decided that the Order should disband. Gabriel was fed up of having these followers around him. They weren’t of use to him anymore; he felt they were holding him back.

  I stayed with Gabriel. I had been with him for 240 years, and I considered us to be friends. We weren’t mates in the same way we would have been if he had sired me, but I had taken him in when he was a newborn. We were as close as we could be to mates without a real blood bond.

  We travelled around America together, making the most of the world and continuing our schemes. Gabriel always wanted to make our plans bigger. He was always looking for new ways to get pleasure out of the kill.

  In 1920 we were in New York City and we stumbled upon a club. There was a girl there, a singer. Her name was Emma. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen and I knew instantly that I wanted her to join us. I had been a vampire for over 400 years and I hadn’t sired a single being. Most vampires feel ready to sire after 2 or 3 centuries at the most, but I had never felt the need as I had Gabriel by my side. When I saw Emma I knew she was the one I had been waiting for.”

  Emma. She had been on my mind ever since I had first heard her name. Gabriel had told me that she was his mate. He had loved her, turned her and then had to watch her disintegrate in front of him. She had started to fall apart before disappearing for 10 years. When she returned she had said goodbye and then killed herself in front of him. I had seen the heartbreak in his eyes when he thought about her, but he had never mentioned another vampire being involved in their story.

  “I told Gabriel that I was going to sire her. Then we were going to leave town and become a family together, just the two of us. Gabriel could go on with his plans without me. He didn’t like that idea, of course. He didn’t need me, but he didn’t want me to leave unless he told me I could. Everything he did was a big game of power.

  So he killed her before I could. I went to the club to find her and she was dead in her dressing room. There was a bite mark on her thigh and her neck and she was transitioning, right in front of me.

  When she turned she was Gabriel’s property. I truly loved her but she belonged to him so there was nothing I could do. She did as he said and until he gave us his blessing we could never be together. It meant that I had to stay with him until he gave his permission for her to leave.

  We went to Europe in 1925. I told Emma I loved her and she told me she loved me too. I couldn’t live without her but I knew she would be in immense pain if she tried to leave him, so we chose to travel Europe together as a warped little family.

  In 1970 we came to England. We had spent 50 years in this strange arrangement and I was growing tired of it. After a while, Gabriel promised me that if I did one last thing for him then he would let her go. He would give me his blessing to become her sire in his place. It seems foolish now, but I believed him. I had been with him for over 500 years, a long time for any vampire companionship. I still had a strong connection to him, despite everything.

  He told me that he had a new plan to enhance the kill. Most of the plan was familiar to me: I would kill the family, and Gabriel would befriend the female survivor. But now he had a new twist on his game.

  After befriending the girl he would develop a relationship. Then he would turn her in to one of us and he would slowly destroy her, making her go mad. He didn’t specify how he would do it and to be honest I didn’t care. I needed Emma to be mine and so she was the only thing on my mind.

  He took me to the home and I killed the family. I left the girl. She was just 13 years old, a beautiful creature with so much promise for the future. I could see exactly why Gabriel had chosen her.”

  I didn’t need to hear anymore. I knew I had to listen but this was the final nail in the coffin.

  “That girl was me, wasn’t it?” I didn’t really need an answer. Aiden nodded but he didn’t have to say a word either way. I knew what his response would be already.

  “I’m sorry.” I believed him, although I knew he couldn’t feel remorse for the kill itself.

  “After he killed your family I expected our debt to be squared. I expected him to free Emma and transfer ownership of her to me. I would become her rightful sire and we would finally be together.

  I’m sure you can guess what’s coming. He didn’t keep his promise. When I returned to the place we had used as our nest I found him holding her. He told me that I would never have true peace, and that I would never have something he owned.

  Then
he stabbed her in the heart. She died in my arms. Gabriel stood there, watching us, and he laughed. God, that laugh almost drove me insane. He killed another vampire, the cardinal sin for our kind, and he laughed about it. She was only 82 years old. I lost the only thing I had ever loved, all because of him.

  Gabriel left our nest. My grief would have given me enough strength to kill him, and he knew that, so he got out before I could hurt him. I tried to track him down but he had disappeared. I visited your home a few times but he was never there when I was. Eventually I gave up and started looking elsewhere.

  A few months ago I stumbled across a young attorney, Dahlia Elton. She told me Gabriel was her client and her lover. I compelled her, and she told me he was in town. I’ve been searching but I was still waiting to find a lead, until now.”

  I needed to lie down for a while. I couldn’t cope with all of these devastating revelations rattling around my head. I wanted everything to stay still and give me a moment to think about my next move. If Aiden was telling the truth then everything Gabriel had ever told me was a lie. He had manipulated me for his own perverted pleasure. I was just a toy to him. He had never loved me. I had been fully aware of his ability to lie, in fact I had been expecting a few more to come crawling out of the woodwork, but nothing as elaborate as this.

  The noise started to settle and my head cleared for a moment. I had to ask Gabriel to tell me the truth in his own words. If Aiden’s story was true then my entire life as a vampire, and 8 of my human years, had been a lie. I could have done so much with these months if I had known the truth from the start.

  If it turned out that Gabriel had fed me these lies then I was going to end it once and for all. I would have to kill him, even if it meant risking my life in the process.

  “Are you alright?” Aiden asked. There was real concern in his voice. After what he had just told me I saw him in a completely new light. He was cold because he had lost his true love to a sadist, not because he was a murderous lackey.

  “I know that you probably want me to tell you where he is but I’m not going to.”

  “What?” The shock was plain to see, written all over Aiden’s face. “Are you joking? After what I just told you? I thought you’d want him dead just as much as I do.”

  I shot him a look of cold determination and walked to the end of the alleyway. I could tell that he was following a few steps behind but Robert’s blood was still in my system so I was certain I could outrun him.

  “I’m not telling you, because I need to talk to him before you kill him. Besides, I want to be the one to end his life for myself.”

  Before Aiden could say another word I shot off towards the nest. My body moved faster than it ever had before. I could tell that Aiden was following me at first but I took a long, drawn out route and eventually he lost track of my location.

  I stayed in the courtyard of the apartment block and stared up at the window which I knew led on to our living room. I had stared out of that window on so many nights, trying to find a reason why Gabriel didn’t love me the way I loved him. I guess everything made sense now. He had been able to manipulate me because he never loved me at all. He never had a problem with hurting me because he saw me as nothing more than a pawn.

  I was about to confront everything that had troubled me over the past few months. The truth I had been denied was waiting for me just a few feet away. There was always the possibility that Gabriel would kill me as he had Emma. If the story was true then I meant nothing to him. The game was over and now he could destroy me like he had always planned, gaining his final moment of pleasure.

  I couldn’t predict who would walk out of the flat in one piece, but all I knew was that the night wouldn’t end without bloodshed.

  I knew I had to be strong. I had ancient, powerful blood racing through my veins and I was fueled by rage and loss. I genuinely believed that if it came down to it I had the power to kill my maker. It would be a sin, and the guilt would be unimaginable, but it would be worth it if it meant protecting my future with Robert and my integrity as a vampire.

  I drew in a deep breath. I didn’t need it but it had always comforted me to keep hold of that tiny piece of humanity. I exhaled and strode towards the apartment entrance, ready to face my future head on.

  When I reached our apartment I kicked the door in forcefully, half expecting Gabriel to be waiting in an attack position behind the door. In fact he was sitting casually on the sofa, reading one of his many foreign books. It looked as if it was written in Russian. He must have picked up the language during his trips with the Order. The thought of Gabriel leading a group of sycophant vampires made my blood boil. I was certain now that I had to kill him.

  “Next time you choose to wonder off without me I would appreciate a note.” He said in his cold, calculated voice, without even looking up from his book.

  I imagined leaping across the room and wrapping my hands around his throat right then and there, tightening my grip until I could tear his head right off his shoulders. I tried to steady myself but it was too late.

  “So, when were you planning on finishing everything? You wanted to ‘destroy’ me? When would I be damaged enough for you?” I threw my words at him and he looked up at me in shock. I had been angry with him many times before but never like this. This time I was fuelled by raw hatred and he could see his charade was unraveling around him.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” He lied.

  “Don’t even pretend you’re innocent. I know what you did to me. I know that you ordered the murder of my family and I know that you turned me so that you could watch me go mad. Is that why you’ve been playing with me these past few months?” I picked up a glass that was lying on the table and threw it at his head, narrowly missing his temple. “Were you trying to drive me insane?”

  I picked up a heavy paperweight that was placed on the table. It had belonged to the previous owner and Gabriel had tried to get rid of it but I had urged him to keep it as a decorative item. It felt heavy in my palm, a perfect weapon. I was glad I’d forced him in to keeping it. A smile crept across my lips as I threw the ornament at him, smashing the side of his face.

  I felt so proud of myself. I had thrown a few things at Gabriel when I had first been turned but his instincts were usually far too strong for me. I had only ever been able to hurt him once. I silently thanked Robert for convincing me to take his blood.

  It was too early to be thinking about that. Gabriel launched himself across the room towards me, throwing me against the wall. I suddenly thought of all our judgemental neighbours, the ones who had looked at me in the hallway and seethed with jealousy. They would be having a field day, pondering over the strange noises emanating from our apartment. If I managed to kill Gabriel then I’d follow that up by killing every single one of those gossipy witches, bathing in their blood as a celebration.

  I tried to free myself but my mate pushed me against the wall until my head collided with the surface. Waves of pain throbbed through my temple and I had to squint for a moment, my vision crowded by bright lights.

  He leaned forward and nuzzled my neck. I used to love these little gestures but now it felt as if he was tormenting me. There was no ounce of love left between us. The only feeling we shared for one another now was hatred. He was just an obstacle standing in the way of my true happiness, an obstacle I had to destroy.

  “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, sweetheart.” He whispered with a heavy, sensual tinge.

  The red curtain descended again. It had once been my enemy, forced upon me by a stranger who later turned out to be Robert, leading to my most reckless kills. Now it was a layer of rage and I knew that embracing it would give me strength. With my renewed purpose, I drove myself forward with all my might, pushing Gabriel backwards.

  He fell to the floor with a thud and I sat astride him, pinning him to the ground.

  “Why me?” I screamed. My voice didn’t sound anything like it used to. I sounded truly demonic. “Answer me. Wh
en were you planning on killing me?”

  I raised my fist and hit him in the face. I had never punched anyone in my human life but I could see why some people thrived on fighting. The feeling of my knuckles hitting his flesh sent a wave of pleasure through me. I wanted to hurt him just as badly as he had hurt me.

  He wriggled his body underneath mine and finally pulled his arms free. He grabbed my upper arms and pushed me on to the ground, gaining the advantage over me. I tried with all my strength to escape but I could feel Robert’s blood slowly ebbing out of my system. I was losing my power, running on my own need for revenge which would soon weaken under Gabriel’s years of experience.

  “Oh, Louisa, you aren’t nearly damaged enough yet.” He shot me a sinister smile and grabbed my hair, slamming my head against the tile floor ike a wrestling move. “I had so many other little tricks I could have played with you.”

  He lifted my head and dropped it again. He repeated this motion until my eyelids grew heavy and my whole body weakened. I fought the urge to let myself be knocked out, but it took all of my strength. Gabriel was much older than me and I was beginning to resign myself to losing. All the strength Robert had given me was leaving my body and I had nothing else to rely on.

  Eventually I couldn’t fight it and I let myself drift off. It was just as easy as falling asleep, although I could feel the throbbing of a headache and I could faintly make out Gabriel’s figure moving around the room in front of me.

  As I let my consciousness drift away, Robert’s image appeared in front of me like a teasing mirage. It felt fitting that if I was going to die, thinking of Robert would be the right way to go.

  “Robert” I murmured his name softly to myself, hoping that Gabriel wouldn’t hear. Then finally I surrendered and let my body shut down.

  Chapter 33When I woke up I felt an aching in my arms and a throbbing in my head. It took a few seconds for my eyes to focus, and for the full extent of the situation to sink in. I looked upward and found my hands bound at the wrists and tied to the railings. Just a few days earlier Dahlia had been tied to that same spot, a human waiting to die. Now here I was waiting for my own death at the hands of my former mate.