Immortal Confessions

by Tara Fox Hall

  Dear God, let Anna be one of those, please. “How does one know?”

  “You don’t, until the signs of illness appear,” she said shrugging.

  “What are they?”

  “Tiredness, paleness, weakness, lack of appetite, sometimes vomiting. It’s almost like ingesting poison.”

  “Can it be reversed?”

  “Yes, if the person is not bitten again, if there is no blood taken or given. But usually by then, the partners love each other, and it is difficult to stop being together completely. So usually, they try to draw out the times between intimate moments, hoping to stave off the sickness.” She wiped a tear away. “I do not know of a single couple who was able to stop for very long, or one for whom the end result for the human wasn’t death.”

  I went to a nearby chair, and put my head in my hands. “I cannot do that to her,” I whispered. “I cannot doom her, just to keep her with me.”

  “It is her choice,” Eva whispered softly, kneeling in front of me, and resting her hands on my shoulders. “And if she loves you, there is only that, or turning.”

  I felt my blood freeze, and looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

  “The very old ones, the Rulers of countries and continents, it is said they can make a human into vampire with their blood. They are the only ones powerful enough.”

  “What makes them different than us?” Oops. “Than me?” I amended.

  “They are over two hundred years old, all of them,” she answered. “But there is something else there too, something secret, besides age.”

  I was over two hundred, yet I hadn’t been able to turn Anna’s father. Maybe she counted age as just the time a being been a vampire. But I was pretty close there too, I thought. “How old was Guy?”

  “About fifty. Most of the vampires in this city are, or so Guy said.”

  I felt a flash of pride. I was oldest, and because of that, the most powerful. If I kept drinking human blood, I’d no doubt be ruling a Country of my own one day. And why not, France needed a strong leader—

  “Lord, be careful,” Eva whispered. “The Rulers of Countries, the older Vampire Lords, they are ruthless, Guy said. He had to meet Samuel once, back when he first became Lord here. He said it was the most terrifying encounter he ever had.”

  “He was likely terrified of his shadow,” I said disparagingly. “So that’s not surprising. What is surprising is that he was Lord so long.”

  “But it is you who are Lord now,” Eva said hollowly, getting up to leave. “Samuel will be summoning you to him as this city’s new Lord before the year is out.”

  I heard her footsteps recede, but I didn’t think much about them. I had too much else on my mind.

  Levi came back a few minutes later. “Your lady is settled in her room.”

  “Thank you, and the choker?”

  “On order. It will be ready tomorrow night.”

  I gave him a surprised look. “Quentin said it would take a week.”

  “I paid double of your money, plus a bonus to get it faster,” Levi replied. “They are working around the clock. Because every hour your lady is not collared is very dangerous for her, Lord.”

  I nodded. “We are staying here tonight, and tomorrow, until she is wearing the choker. When is Uther coming?”

  “He’ll be here any moment,” Levi said.

  The doorbell rang a few moments later. Levi opened it to admit the werebat and two of his men.

  “Well?” he rasped, before he was inside. “Where are the hunters?”

  “They are here,” I said, helping Levi hand the remains of the two hunters to Uther’s men. It wasn’t difficult, as they were dead, wrapped in sackcloth and stinking. But this had been easier to do that then have them alive and kicking.

  “It is them,” Uther said, after checking the faces. “And the head of Guy?”

  “I drained him,” I said, shrugging. “The head isn’t much to look at, but you can have it, if you desire.” I handed him a sack.

  Uther took it, looked inside, and then bared his fangs in a big grin. “So you are Lord now. Good. Perhaps we can get along.”

  “I want more than that,” I said quickly. “I wish us to be allies. Moreover, I want to hire some of your batmen as my guards.”

  Uther gave me a look of surprise, as did Levi.

  “The vampires will not stand for that,” Uther said slowly. “And my batmen will also rebel, when I tell them they must serve a vampire.”

  “He’s right, Lord,” Levi added.

  “I said ‘hire,’ not ‘make slaves of’,” I said in exasperation. “It should be taken as a gesture of goodwill to your people, that I’d trust them to protect me.”

  “Why would you?” Uther said seriously. “Bats have always hated vampires, and the feeling is mutual.”

  “I hate no one but cowards and liars,” I said staunchly. “I need guards I can trust, powerful guards. The vampires in this city are weak, and most will not last out the decade in these brutal times. I intend to endure. I need partnerships to accomplish that. I need you and your men.”

  Chapter Eight

  “You are at least a hundred,” Uther intoned, eyeing me. “I’d stake my wings on it. How is it you’ve lasted so long and no one has heard of you until now?”

  “I’ve been biding my time,” I said arrogantly. “And it’s finally come. So are you with me?”

  “I am,” Uther said, shaking my hand. “And my bats will be, too.”

  “Good,” I said. “Have them report to Levi, when they come here. And you are invited to my oathing ceremony, which will be held here tomorrow.”

  “Not wasting any time, are you?” Uther said, grinning. “But a cave without a female in it isn’t a home, I always say.”

  I laughed, marveling that I liked him already. “I agree.”

  “I’ll be here tomorrow evening,” he said, turning to go. “I congratulate you.”

  He left, his men following with the sack and bodies.

  “They're just going to carry them through town?” I asked Levi. That seemed imprudent, with soldiers still patrolling some streets.

  “Uther and his men are also privy to what areas are patrolled, and which are safe to travel freely. Even in human form, they can move very quickly when they want to. They’ll change on the outskirts, and fly off with them,” Levi said. “They can carry far more than you’d think, in their bat forms.”

  “Apparently.”

  “Devlin?”

  I turned to find Anna. “Yes?”

  “You said to that, um, man we are to be oathed tomorrow. Explain again what that means.”

  “Think of it as husband and wife, save for vampires,” I said soothingly. “Did you call for a seamstress, Levi?”

  “The city’s best and her team have arrived,” Levi said, looking out the window. “They brought the whole shop with them, it appears.”

  I opened the door, and let them in. Soon, Anna was standing on a footstool while a drove of woman measured her, and a few more began cutting out swaths of white velvet.

  “You should go,” the head seamstress said. “It is bad luck to see the bride before her wedding.”

  “Fair enough,” I said gallantly, blowing a kiss to Anna. “I’ll return before dawn, Milady.”

  I shut the door behind us, and turned to Levi. “Take me somewhere nearby, so we may speak in private, but can hear Anna if there was danger.”

  Levi nodded, and took us to a neighboring room. “This was the library, Lord. We should be able to talk freely here.”

  He lit a candle, and I took in the room. There were books here, but they were covered in dust and cobwebs. Rats had been to work, and there were large piles of shredded pages in small heaps on shelves. A few squeaks indicated a growing family behind the largest book, a Bible.

  “Guy wasn’t much for reading,” Levi said apologetically. “He preferred listening to music, or attending the opera house.”

  Guy was a music lover? “I wouldn’t have g
uessed,” I said truthfully. “Did he employ someone to play for him?”

  Levi nodded reluctantly. “But the man departed as soon as Guy was unable to pay for his services. He was discharged last month.”

  I kicked a fallen book in irritation. “Is there nothing of value in this place?”

  “There is the music room next door,” Levi said hurriedly.

  “Take me there.”

  The music room was less of a disappointment. There were various instruments, most with a layer of dust on them. Curiously, there was also a grand piano that was not dusty at all.

  I lifted the keyboard, and pressed a few keys. Clear and vibrant notes rang out to fade in the still air.

  “It’s in tune,” Levi said. “Guy liked it best of all of these.”

  “I cannot play,” I said, hitting a few more keys. “I never learned.”

  “I can teach you,” Levi said hesitantly. “I am not accomplished, but I have studied hard to become skillful.”

  I gazed at him in wonder. “You are not what I expected, Levi.”

  He closed the keyboard gently. “I didn’t stay with a coward for ten years because I liked guarding him. I did it to be close to this.” He grinned. “There is a benefit to guarding a man who almost never leaves his house.”

  I let loose a laugh. “So I see. Be warned, I intend to leave the house more than he did. Likely for the foreseeable future, it will be most nights, all night.”

  Levi’s face fell, though he smoothed it quickly. “I am yours to command, Lord.”

  “Yes,” I said seriously. “And your first command is to teach me this instrument. We will begin tonight. I will not have much time in the coming months, as I’ve said, but I expect you to put aside an hour each night to instruct me.”

  Levi nodded happily.

  “Furthermore, your chief position from now on is to be Anna’s guard. You are to stay with her at all times she is not with me.” I let a faint smile crease my face. “As she will likely go out rarely, I expect that will leave you a lot of time for practice.”

  “I will guard her with my life,” he said resolutely. “But do you really trust the bats with your life?”

  “I trust Uther,” I replied. “As for the rest, we shall see.”

  “What did you want to talk about privately?” Levi asked. “It was not my taste in music.”

  “The oath I spoke of to Anna earlier tonight. What are the usual promises? What does the ceremony entail, other than the placing of the choker about her throat?”

  Levi shrugged. “From what I have heard, little else. She tells you she is yours and no others, and you accept her vow.”

  “What do I promise her?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  I gaped at him. “There are no rules? No parameters?”

  He shook his head. “None I know of.”

  “How remarkably one sided,” I said contemptibly. “Why do not more male vampires have Oathed Ones, if the custom is so free of real fetters?”

  “I can’t answer that, not being vampire myself,” he answered. “I do know that the custom does not extend only to male vampires. Females also can do the same to human males. Still, it is done only in very rare cases. Eva is the only oathed human I have ever seen.”

  So the custom was not pro-male, it was just pro-vampire. Well, that made sense, at least.

  “Do not tell this to Anna,” I said finally. “Any of it. Understand?”

  Levi nodded. “Of course.”

  * * * *

  After instructing Levi to stay behind, I went out to handle my next order of business: money. I needed to pay for my new guards, and Anna’s dress. That meant seeing one specific vampire.

  I met Quentin in our usual spot, the cafe. He seemed nervous, despite my cordiality. Finally, I asked him what was the matter.

  “You aren’t my guard anymore, you’re my boss,” he said haltingly. “I’m not sure how to act.”

  “Be yourself,” I said plainly. “And then tell me where Guy’s treasure is.”

  “There is no treasure,” he said, looking terrified.

  I grabbed hold of him. “What?”

  “That was a ruse of Guy’s, to make people think he was ignorant of it all, that I alone knew,” Quentin snuffled. “But I never did. As far as I know, all of Guy’s money was in banks. He had sole control.”

  “Then tell me how to access those funds.”

  “I’ve prepared papers,” he said, taking out a thin sheaf he then brandished at me. “I was up the last few days completing these for you.”

  “Then take me to the nearest bank, to use them.”

  Quentin took me to a bank, and sure enough, with the papers he was able to switch the money into my name. There was not a lot, only a few thousand, but back then, that was a fortune. Still, I’d need more, much more, to take care of Anna as I wanted to. Besides, I had a lot of guards to pay now.

  “You are treasurer,” I grated out, as we left. “How did Guy get his money?”

  “He had investments, but most of those went in the revolution. He was on the verge of bankruptcy, to tell you the truth. But there are other opportunities in the world today besides Europe.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “America,” Quentin said earnestly. “You must have heard of the Lewis and Clark Expedition? A book is coming out soon that will tell of it, everything they saw. That fool Napoleon sold hundreds of square miles of land there for a sum of 15 million to that American President, Jefferson. It was illegal, and the Spanish are very pissed, but there is nothing they can do. Now colonists are spreading into the West like wildfires. There is much to invest in, with the right advisor.”

  “What do you advise?”

  “A man called John J. Astor has a fur company that is a decade or so old. It is huge and expanding all the time. There is a huge market for furs; the ladies love them, as I’m sure your lady does—”

  Anna did like the bearskin, we both did. “How are these furs obtained?”

  “Trapping mostly. The buffalo alone are shot, as deer are shot—”

  Anna would be horrified and never forgive me. “No,” I said icily. “What else?”

  “That is the biggest,” Quentin said musingly, his eyes looking inward. “There are mines also, for precious metals. And there is logging, as the new lands are rich in lumber. Land is cheap there, and as I said, there is great interest in —”

  “How much should I invest?”

  “I’ll take half of what you have,” Quentin said, nodding. “We should be able to double it, before the year is out, if not triple it.” His voice turned sharp, with a lethal edge to it. “But there are hostiles in these new lands, Devlin. Be warned, they do not always like giving up what they think is theirs to a new owner.”

  I caught his eye. “I understand what it is you are saying. I’ll watch my back.”

  “Watch mine as well,” Quentin said seriously. “Until you learn of business, you will be vulnerable, having little cash. I myself am well off, well off enough to lend you some money until your investments take off.” He paused again. “Guards only care if you die if you are paying them regularly to care.”

  “Understood,” I said, nodding. “Move into the main house tomorrow night. Bring all you value with you, and any woman you call your own.” I paused, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake. “You are my second in command now, Quentin. As oldest vampire after me, it seems fitting.”

  “I should have known you heard Uther’s words that night, even in the midst of that massacre,” Quentin replied grumpily. “Very well, but only for official purposes.”

  “Of course,” I assured him. “Leave the fighting to me and Uther.”

  “I have no woman, as you know,” Quentin said with a smile. “But I am grateful for your protection, and I’ll be happy to join you at your mansion.”

  I nodded. “Good. Now let’s go get some refreshment.”

  We began walking.

  “Quentin, why is it you have no woman?
You are handsome. There is no need to pay for your pleasure, or your blood.”

  Quentin sighed, but didn’t pause. “I’ve liked many women over the years. But those I cared for I stopped seeing. I didn’t want to kill them. This is easier.”

  I made my voice smooth as glass. “Did any of them sicken?”

  “Two began to have the symptoms,” he said finally. “Both recovered initially, but one was farther along than the other, the wife of a cabinetmaker. She came to me a week after I’d broken off our affair.” He sighed. “I’d waited too long, you see. She died in my arms that same night.”

  “Did you try to turn her?”

  “There was no point,” Quentin said angrily. “Don’t you think I would have, if I’d had the power?”

  “How do you know you don’t?” I countered.

  “Because I already tried it with a healthy woman years ago, one that mattered nothing to me. She wanted to be immortal and instead she died convulsing. It wasn’t pleasant, Devlin.” He stopped walking and faced me. “Do not ask more of this, I beg of you.”

  I didn’t want to hear anymore tonight; what I had learned sickened my soul. “I apologize. I will not mention it again.”

  Quentin nodded, and we continued on our way.

  After he’d sampled some blood with me, and taken his usual manly pleasures with the women, the melancholy left him as if it had never been. He was almost jolly as I walked him home.

  “You’d best get a good days’ sleep,” he said conspiratorially. “You’ve got a busy night tomorrow, my inexperienced boy, and much to learn.”

  “What are you referring to?” I said stiffly.

  “Your marking of Anna, of course,” Quentin laughed. “What did you think I was referring to?”

  “Never mind,” I said hurriedly. “Explain to me about this marking.”

  “Bite her, and then do not heal the wounds. Go as deep as you dare.”

  “I’ll hurt her badly, if not kill her,” I stammered.

  “Do not open a vein,” he said mockingly. “Bite into the flesh. You will be after a scar, not blood, not that night. The scars matter more to the old ones than a collar does.”