Blood Reign

by Harvey W. McCarthy

  "Shhhhhhh," she soothed as she kissed along her neck. "It won't hurt…much."

  The girl tried to scream but Lady Sangre had punctured her neck. The famished vampire shivered as the young fresh blood danced over her tongue. The teenage girl's body shuttered as her blood pumped into Lady Sangre's mouth. She drained the young woman's body. Pleasure filled her. She drank and moaned. The youthful power energized her. She let the corpse slip from her grasp and fall to the wooden floor. Blood dripped from her mouth as she smiled evilly at Captain Cook.

  "You've done well," she said.

  The captain dropped to a knee and bowed. "Anything for you, My Lady," he replied.

  "Rise and remove this mess," she ordered.

  The vampire pirate rose and bowed. He didn't speak. He picked up the body of the dead young woman and carried her to the window. He opened the shutters and tossed the lifeless corpse into the alley. The body landed with a sickening thud. Below, voices could be heard murmuring. Lady Sangre smiled when she realized it was the other members of his crew complaining about having to clean up another mess from their captain. Cook closed the shutters as the pirates carried away the dead body.

  "They are loyal," Lady Sangre said as she sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs that adorned the simple room. She struck a match and lit the lamp that stood in the middle of a table.

  Cook smiled as his human visage returned. He sat on the other chair directly across the table from her. He removed a sizable coin bag from his pocket and tossed it onto the table. "Their loyalty lies within," he stated.

  She picked up the coin bag and loosened the string. She dumped the gold coins onto the wooden table. They clanked and rattled as they formed a relatively neat pile. She picked up one of the brilliant gold coins which had been minted in 1771. The Spanish doubloon glittered in the flickering yellow light. Her fiendish smile grew.

  "How many?" she asked.

  The vampire captain smiled. "Enough for you to buy your own colony," he replied, "Especially with what has been happening in the colonies to the north."

  The vampire queen adjusted herself to enhance her comfort. "I expect that there is news to report. But before you make your report, please update me on our business at sea."

  The vampire cleared his throat. He removed a flask from his coat pocket and offered it to his vampire leader. She waved her hand dismissively and he shrugged his shoulders. He removed the stopper and took a brief drink of his blood and rum mixture.

  "Ahh," he said merrily, "Now that hits the spot."

  "The news please," she said impatiently.

  "Of course, My Lady," he said. "Our news and our business reports are one in the same. There is growing unrest in the colonies."

  "What kind of unrest?" she asked.

  "The British have begun to tax the colonies to pay for their troops who are stationed to protect them," he said.

  "Not surprising," she said. "Why would this cause unrest?"

  "The taxes, according to what I have heard from other pirates, have been imposed by the British parliament. The colonies want their own representatives to tax them like any other British citizen."

  "The colonists believe that they are being treated unfairly?"

  "Apparently so. Last year, in Boston in the Colony of Massachusetts, they protested the Tea Act which taxes the tea coming into the colonies. Instead of allowing the tea, paid for by colonists, to be returned to England, a group of colonists threw it overboard into Boston Harbor," he said.

  Lady Sangre giggled. "Delightful."

  The vampire captain smiled. "It gets better. The British have closed Boston to trade."

  "And that affects us how?"

  "Lots of ships are heading to the southern ports in attempt to unload their trade goods. Several have made their way to the Spanish colonies instead. A sample of the fruits of our labors is sitting in front of you."

  The ancient vampire picked up another coin and rolled it between her fingers. "Does the unrest continue to grow?" she asked without looking at her captain.

  "I have not heard anything else to the contrary."

  She gently rubbed her chin. "Do we have any news from Europe?"

  "Pertaining to what, My Lady?" he asked.

  "Council responses to the potential war," she said.

  "I haven't been able to extract any information from any of their captured captains."

  "Nothing at all?"

  "The council is more concerned with us, My Lady, than political disputes between countries."

  "However," she said evilly, "Their leaders have direct ties with those same political leaders."

  The vampire captain nodded. "Yes, that is true, but I fail to see your logic."

  She took his hand and licked it. The vampire pirate growled. "My dear," she said as her evil smile grew, "If those leaders are busy fighting each other, their focus will be elsewhere. They will be too preoccupied to focus their support on church activities and the council resources will be stressed. During times of war, our numbers have always increased as well as our fortunes."

  The vampire captain kissed her hand. "If we can urge greater resistance by colonists, we could work without resistance."

  "And firmly establish our presence here," she said.

  "However, it is dangerous to transfer our brothers and sisters across the ocean. The council ships are everywhere and we are always at risk of exposure to the sun," the captain replied.

  "I don't need an army brought to me. I will build one here."

  "How, My Lady?" he asked.

  The vampire leader smiled. "How do you make it back and forth across the ocean without killing your crew?" she asked.

  The vampire pirate cocked an eyebrow. "I fail to see…"

  "Just explain it to me," she ordered.

  "Yes, My Lady. As you expect, my crew is human. Each voyage to Europe from the colonies, they recruit new crew members. Those new crew members are always used to sustain me during the voyage. My crew turns a blind eye to my needs because it means that their pay is higher. We dump the bodies overboard and tell the unsuspecting new members of the crew that they just fell ill."

  "And on the return trip to the colonies?" she pressed.

  "As you may have heard, the southern colonies prefer to use slaves. We voyage to Africa and we pick up slaves and slave traders from the African colonies. I feed on the traders and the unsuspecting members of the crew."

  "And of the slaves?" she asked.

  "If I don't get too hungry, I leave some of them in the former French colonies and give a few to the southerners to keep up appearances," he said.

  She nodded her approval. "Very good."

  "I still fail to see how that will help you raise an army here, My Lady, unless you plan to turn all of the slaves into vampires," he stated.

  "On the contrary," she said, "The secret to creating an army here lies in the Old Country."

  "Where?"

  "Siberia," she said.

  "Siberia?"

  "Yes, Lord Viktor holds the secret."

  "I don't think Lord Viktor will come here, My Lady."

  She sighed. "I don't need to have him come here. I need to speak with him. I will have him tell me his secrets."

  "Lord Viktor is dead, My Lady."

  The vampire leader gasped. "When?"

  "A few years ago."

  "And why haven't you told me before?"

  "I was focused on making you rich…"

  She squeezed his hand but he refused to show pain. She was impressed. "His tome holds the key," she said angrily.

  As her fingernails pierced his flesh, he stared in her dark, cold eyes. "According to reports, his castle is still intact."

  She released her grip and placed a bloody finger in her mouth. "Still?"

  "Yes, there are reports that he had taken a queen before his death. She is rumored to be in control of his land."

  "Then his library could still be intact…" she said as her voice drifted off.

  "And I
fail to see how this will…"

  She glared at him angrily. "You fool," she hissed. "You will take me to Europe and I will travel to his castle and retrieve his tome. I will bring it back here and I will turn the wild people that roam these lands into my army. Meanwhile, I will use our agents in the British government to put more pressure on the colonies. They will certainly rebel."

  "How will they afford to fight their motherland?"

  "My countrymen will support them. You know how much the French and English despise each other," she said.

  "Interesting," he replied, "But I have heard that France is trying to recover from their recent loss…"

  "Again, our agents will make it so," she said confidently.

  "And if all goes according to plan?"

  She threw her head back and laughed. "Those stupid English and their colonies will be too busy killing each other to notice our army. When they are weak, we will feed and increase our numbers then we will take over this New World and make it our own. The council will not be able to stop us," she said icily.

  The captain smiled. "Brilliant," he said.

  "I know," she said confidently.

  "I will need time to find enough crew members to support our trip to Europe," he said honestly.

  "How much time?" she inquired.

  "At month, My Lady."

  "A MONTH?" she asked incredulously.

  He nodded. "This time of year, it will be a long voyage to avoid ice and council ships. We will have to take a longer southern route. It will take time to recruit that many new sailors."

  "You have two weeks."

  "It cannot be done in two weeks," he protested.

  "You have two weeks. Offer your crew more money. You know that I have it."

  "I will leave at once," he said as he stood.

  She grabbed his arm and held him in place. She stood slowly. "You are not going anywhere." Before he could speak, she ripped open his silk shirt and began nibbling on his chest. Her fangs opened small wounds along his body. "You have a reputation to uphold, Captain," she said as she licked the blood off of his chest.

  He lifted her up by her arms and threw her over his shoulder. He tossed her on the bed and the bed slammed against the wall. She squealed loudly.

  "COOK!" the crew drunkenly screamed from beneath the floor.

  She giggled with delight. Minutes later, their clothes were strewn about the room and they were locked in a passionate embrace. Before long, the bed shook from their increasing passion. Both screamed as their pleasure grew. Each vampire took turns sampling the others blood. When Cook climaxed, he plunged his fangs into her neck and fed.

  "COOK!" she screamed.

  "COOK!!!!!" the crew cheered.

  * * *

  Two weeks later, as ordered, the Covenant, Captain Cook's ship under the guise of a Dutch trading vessel left New Orleans for stops in the other southern colonies. Captain Cook traveled to Florida, a Spanish colony, to gather more crew members for their trip. His second-in-command, a Dutchman referred to simply as Conklin, recruited the most surly and untrustworthy sailors in St. Augustine. Lady Sangre was disgusted by her potential meals but Captain Cook reminded her that she could have several higher class meals during their various stops on their voyage.

  During their next stop in Charleston, Conklin learned that British America was becoming increasingly angry with the Crown. The taxes had not eased. Dissidents were growing rapidly in number. Lady Sangre, under the guise of the wife of a wealthy French landowner, was invited to several social events. While the wives discussed their husbands and their growing number of slaves, the husbands discussed whether or not it was time for the colonies to become independent and self-governed. Lady Sangre enjoyed several wonderful meals and some fine wine during their brief stay. The bodies of the missing wives and children were not discovered until the next morning, when the Covenant, under the guise as the Amsterdam, had already set sail further south to the Caribbean Islands.

  The trip to the Caribbean was profitable for the crew of the Covenant. Unruly crew members were dealt with quickly and harshly by Captain Cook and Lady Sangre. Those who spoke out against the lack of visible punishment also met a similar fate. Several skirmishes, with other ships, were handled by Conklin and their cargo was plundered. Crew members lost during these battles were replaced with disloyal crew members from the captured ships or by pirates recruited during their stops in Nevis, St. Kitts, and Cuba. Their treasure chests were overflowing, but the capture of a council captain was their most profitable reward.

  Captain François LeBlanc, who Lady Sangre teased, was the color of his flag and not his name because he was captured with relative ease, gave detailed reports of council plans. The young sea captain was tortured mercilessly for weeks. Lady Sangre would feed on him until he was near death only to let him recover over several days. When he had recovered, he was promised that he would live if he gave details about the location of council warriors and their shipping routes. The frightened and tortured captain explained how the council was worried about the growing political problems in British America. If the colonies were to revolt, then one of the main sources of council funds, through the Church of England, would be limited as the Crown would need the money to pay for the war effort. However, when the captain, while begging for his life, stated that the French were also interested in the growing distain in British America, Lady Sangre smiled.

  The French council captain told her that the French government, while not officially supporting a revolution, was interested in meeting with colonial leaders. Rumors were growing that French business leaders were already secretly sending money to the colonies to fund a potential revolution. Also, there were rumors that colonists were planning to send their own ambassadors to France to discuss a potential alliance. Captain LeBlanc admitted that he was actually headed to British America as a representative of the council discuss how the revolution could be prevented because of council concerns or to help establish relations between the colonies and council.

  When asked who on the council had ordered communication between the potential rebels and the council, one man was named: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. The captain explained how Beaumarchais was secretly a council leader who was openly vocal of his support of the growing revolution. When she heard the wonderful news, Lady Sangre agreed to stop torturing the young captain. The captain was thankful until both vampires ripped his limbs from his body. While Captain Cook fed on the blood dripping from the disembodied limbs, Lady Sangre had split his skull with a cutlass and fed on the blood in his brain.

  After finishing their meal and having intercourse on Captain Cook's dinner table, they dumped his body overboard under a beautiful moonlit night. The seas were relatively calm with a light wind. Captain Cook ordered Conklin to immediately change their course and set the sail for France. Lady Sangre had a meeting with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to attend.

  * * *

  Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was an inventor, musician, and a playwright. He had spent the last decade in turmoil. After the passing of Joseph Pâris-Duverney, a French financer who Beaumarchais had owed a great amount of money from their business dealings, he had spent many years in and out of court disputing his debt. Beaumarchais had provided a signed statement which cancelled all his debts that he had owed along with being granted a modest sum from the estate. Pâris-Duverney's sole heir took him to court and the initial verdict favored Beaumarchais. However, the decision was appealed and the decision was later overturned. He was later thrown in jail over a dispute with a Duke which involved the Duke's mistress. While in jail, the courts ruled that he must repay his debts and his civil rights were abolished.

  Both court cases and his resulting incarceration were a ruse put in place to cover his growing role in the Council of the Light. He was even instructed by the council to garner public support for his cause. He published a four-part pamphlet called Mémoires contre Goezman which contained cryptic references to vampires
and called for sympathy for their cause. He instantly became a champion for social justice and liberty amongst the people, but he became a greater champion for the French faction of the Council of the Light. More and more warriors were recruited to their cause. The French Crown, under the reign of King Louis XVI, secretly supported the council through Beaumarchais. He had made King Louis XVI aware of the growing threat of the vampires in Europe and he explained his fears of the potential hazards of a vampire presence in the New World.