by P. Mattern
“I hardly know what I’m wearing day to day. And Theda I think I am falling in love with this barren land. I spend a lot of my time staring at the window at the ever changing landscape and watching the creatures play.”
Theda stepped forward to stand beside me at the windows. She was dressed like a soldier, except in finer materials. A long voluminous sleeved blouse with lace at the throat was tucked into a pair of velvet breeches and her boots were buckled at the knee. She did look like a Pirate’s fantasy, her waist length glossy brown hair draping gently over her shoulders.
“This is the warm season you know,” she said as her eyes traveled to take in the spectacular panoramic view.”The months of blessed daylight. Very few plants grow but there is wildlife and fish and walrus and dolphins and seals also. Have you ever eaten seal meat?”
“No,” I told her, ”And I think I don’t actually need to eat anything, do I? I drink the blood now Theda…and that bothers me sometime. It bothers me that it’s delicious and that I don’t know where it comes from. Do you?”
“You may remember the ‘rejects’, the ‘Soiled Sisters’, the young women that Seth grabbed and brought here—the ones that didn’t make the ‘cut’? They will be kept human enough to give blood for the vampires. There is an ecosystem here that depends on a calculated balance. It is a symbiotic relationship between humans and vampires.”
I was somewhat shocked to realize that a herd of humans was being kept so that vampires could feed.
“Are there any human males here?” I asked, ”I haven’t seen any since my arrival. Where are THEY kept?”
Theda chuckled.
“You won’t ever see them, since you are the Princess now. The Prince is rather possessive, and apparently totally into you. If you last you will be presented to the King, his father, and he will formalize your relationship.”
Listening intently and eagerly to what Theda was saying I could have slapped my forehead in amazement at my own stupidity. It had never occurred to me that there were other Royals here…but there must be. The Prince had a King Father, perhaps a Queen mother. But the relational aspect was a problem for me. Everything I ‘knew’ about vampires had to do with the Pop culture in American society. My sources were Anne Rice, Stephen King, Siobhan Roman, Stephanie Meyer-- and vampire movies: The Lost Boys, Interview with the Vampire, Twilight, The Hunger, Beautiful Creatures and others. I had especially loved the Dracula movie starring Frank Langelli, I even had developed sort of crush on him as an actor.
“Theda! How can the Prince even HAVE parents? Do vampires actually reproduce?”
Theda smiled and nodded her head, a slow smile spreading over her face.
“It’s a complicated process from what I understand, but the short answer is YES. They choose a surrogate from among human females. The male vampire actually sleeps with the human. Venom from both the vampire parents is injected into the fetus while in utero. The venom changes the DNA profile irrevocably, leaving little trace of any genetic contribution by the human female, who then becomes the surrogate and carries the child to term.”
I could feel my eyes widen.
“That DOES sound complicated! WOW. So the Prince is a test tube baby…sort of.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Theda replied, ”But what I have told you is not common knowledge—please don’t repeat it. Please!”
I could hear the fear in her voice, and my heart sank as I remembered that she had already endured physical mutilation for my sake.
“Did it hurt, Theda?” I asked, ”Did it hurt when they took your eye?”
Theda looked stricken for just a moment, but when she answered her voice was strong and clear.
“Yes,” she replied in a low voice,” It was rather terrible. They don’t give you anything for the pain. And they take their time…because the eye they take is preserved in a solution and used for other…purposes. Mercifully I blacked out after the first few minutes. I sprained both of my wrists pulling against the restraints when they began operating on me. I was lucky…many stay awake for the entire procedure.”
A frigid chill matching the frozen tundra outdoors ran down my entire spine. I felt terrible, and sick inside. I reached for her hand to hold it.
“But WHY?” I asked, “You didn’t have to—and you barely knew me. And you could have beaten me! WHY?”
Theda just looked down at me with her one good and beautiful eye.
“Because I didn’t want to be his Princess for many reasons…I am not at liberty to explain those, Tristina…they would kill me if I did. And the second reason is that I didn’t want to become the dinner for the Ghouls here. It happens, you know. I’ve seen it myself. Those that refuse to comply with the Terms and lose either a hand or an eye face a fate much more severe for their hysteria and denial and indecision.
They are eaten ALIVE!”
I absorbed this latest information with a stoic face. Theda’s revelations were causing me to realize that the Prince and I needed to have some discussions that had more to do with the way this icy and sterile out-of-the-way kingdom was being run rather than how much I loved the color of his eyes. I felt as though I had in some sense drifted away from myself since the night of my bedding by the Prince. I felt some sense of loyalty at this point, but I also felt as if I had questions that need to be answered.
Reaching forward I gathered her into my arms, my eyes misty. When I finally disengaged I said, ”Well however it came to be I am grateful to you. If there is anything that I can do for you please let me know. Are you well treated? You look as if they haven’t been too unkind to you. You look beautiful in fact!”
Theda was suddenly happy again.
“There is one request I would like for you to make to your Prince. I wish to be quartered with the Royal soldier of the King’s personal guard named Lysander. He has invited me to be his concubine, and I have accepted. He seems to be a decent man and would make a fine protector…”
“Protector? Protector from what?” I asked, curious.
Theda raised an eyebrow.
“Well first and foremost from the other soldiers…unless we are quartered with one specific male we are considered fair game for any of them. This is not a kind environment for ‘unclaimed’ females Tristina. Those that remain unattached and have no protector are subject to rape, often taken against their will by more than one soldier at a time. This is considered allowable, and is one of the ‘perks’ of serving in the military under the King.
So if you could get his permission…I would be in your debt.” She finished, an imploring look in her eyes.”I am very good with a sword and I think that some of the soldiers that have been eyeing me hesitate to assault me for that reason. But Tristina, I have my limits. I cannot fight off three or more of them.”
“Jeg ere nig,” I told her, using a Norwegian phrase for agreement.
“Takk min venn,” she responded quickly, which I recognized as meaning, ”Thank you my friend.” My eyes misted over again at her use of the word friend. I felt as though she was my friend, a touchstone for me. After all, we were both Americans that had been abducted. We had both somehow survived to reach a place in this strange society where we were decently treated…
…Which turned out to be no small accomplishment.
We spent the afternoon talking and drinking tea. I had the servants bring a tray of sweets and small sandwiches, coffee and tea and a small discrete carafe of blood for me. It was all I ever wanted now, and I craved it like a drug. The Prince had assured me that it was a byproduct of my Turning, but I was glad when I could refresh myself, because I noticed that the longer that Theda was in my presence and in proximity I found myself looking at her beautiful long neck, thinking about how her blood would taste.
The Prince had assured me the night before that I would gain control over my cravings in time, that I must indulge myself and satisfy my thirst as often as it crept up on me. I knew that Theda was aware that I was a total vampire now. My having an urge to fang her made me
feel as guilty as if I had an unrequited massive girl crush on her. When the hunger for blood had been creeping up on me, I had been having thoughts that embarrassed me, including the tantalizing though of sinking my fangs into the swell of her breast.
It was disorienting to have these dark thoughts, these sensual cravings. I didn’t quite know what to make of it.
I hadn’t ever been ’that kind of girl’. But I supposed I was now.
Theda and I were both startled by the entrance of the Prince and several of his personal staff and soldiers. Today he was wearing a green velvet mask that matched his sweeping hooded velvet cloak that draped nearly to the floor. It was fastened at his throat with a decorative gold clasp with a single cabochon emerald embedded in it. His heavy brown boots with silver buckles echoed loudly in the chamber as he came toward us.
He smiled at me and bent down to kiss my upturned face, then glanced at Theda. I could have sworn they exchanged a look over my head. It was something that I sensed rather than actually saw.
“I have a notion,” the Prince said, smiling broadly and showing off his perfectly brilliant smile, ”How would you ladies like to go for a ride? The weather is clear and we have a sleigh ready to take us out. We will be flanked by huntsman and we probably won’t have many more of these balmy, endless days I’m afraid. The Wintertide, and the Dark Ones will return before we know it. What say you ladies? Are you up for an outing?”
Theda and I squealed in excitement. I hadn’t been outdoors since my abduction and the idea of fresh air hitting my face seemed sublime. Quickly attendants came with garments to dress us appropriately for a ride out of doors. Both of us were attired in capes with fox trimmed hoods. Theda’s was brown and mine was red. Both of us were helped on with thigh high boots.
“Red is my favorite color,” the Prince told me, swooping in to steal a kiss from my too willing lips. I felt that he had awakened my womanhood with his expert and imaginative lovemaking. Thinking about it when we were apart often made me blush.
We walked some distance down the arched stone hallways , then the Prince stopped abruptly in front of a flat expanse of wall .He seemed to brush his hand across it on the diagonal and it seamlessly opened to a large freight-type elevator. The Prince motioned for us to enter, and the Prince’s entourage stepped in last, keeping a respectful distance.
I turned to him.
“We have elevators?” I asked, amazed. Most of the Silo seemed to be ultra low-tech to me.
The Prince smiled at me indulgently.
“Yes Tristina, my love. We do have some of the high tech amenities of the modern world. I am sorry that I have not had time to show you what is available. We have been ‘wired ‘ since 2002 to the Norwegian mainland by undersea cables. We have great high-speed Internet. Even Netflix.”
My heart began pounding as I took in this latest and very important piece of information.
“Show me soon,” I said “I miss my cell phone and internet access and googling and especially music videos. In fact, I would like my cell phone back!”
“I think Seth commandeered your cell, with my permission,” he told me. “It is one of the perks of his position. Seth is a self styled ‘Gansta’ Pirate,’ and your phone is part of the ‘spoils’ for procuring you.”
“You are not like the others, Tristina,” the Prince continued, as he assisted both Theda and I into a low-slung metallic vehicle that looked more like an elongated race car than a sleigh. It kind of reminded me of the seats that they put you in on Carnival roller coasters, only longer and with additional seating. We were buckled in. I was sitting with the prince in a short row of two seats just behind the operator portion of the sleigh which had a control board and seats for a pilot and copilot.
“This must be how Santa Clause gets around nowadays,” I joked.
With everyone in position I heard a low humming sound. The vehicle came to life, and we were off.
We traveled at least a foot above the snow covered terrain, rather than through it, and at such a high rate of speed that it was dizzying at first. The fact that we were hovering made it easy to cross the swollen icy streams and to pass within two or three feet of beautiful huge and white arctic bears and reindeer. I could feel my mouth gaping open. It was startling and exciting to be out in the wide expanse of the strangely beautiful terrain, and being able to observe everything that I had seen from the conservatory at close proximity.
We raced along for a while, my hand was comfortably nestled in the Prince’s hand, and he absentmindedly played with my fingers, raising my hand to his lips at intervals to kiss it. At one point I saw him learned up to the driver and say something.
We veered off to the left, following a dimly outlined trailed at the base of a huge wall of ice at least 5 stories tall. Icicles so massive in circumference that they looked more like stalactites hung down from the edging along the wall of ice, and the cold winter sun that was shining caused them to glitter with refracted rainbow colors. But the most beautiful scenery was still before us.
Turning a corner we entered a magical world full of sparkling prismatic color. We slid to a stop on what appeared to be a frozen lake positioned next to a natural formation that seemed like a Disneyland castle made of ice, .with multiple turrets and roughly formed terraces and everything. There were even icy formations that looked like pennants flying from some of the towers.
It was beyond breathtaking, and everyone was silent and in awe staring up at it.
The Prince began speaking quietly, almost as if he were speaking to himself.
“My great great grandparents built this castle,” he said, speaking in a reverent tone.”And generations of our family lived in it. And then the Dark Ones came one day. My parents barely escaped with their immortal lives. All the rest were slaughtered. My mother was pregnant with me at the time and gave birth shortly thereafter. I come here often to pay homage to them, and to remember that we do indeed have enemies.
Theda,” he went on, giving instructions, ”You must wait here since you are only a Half-Immortal. Only those of the Dark Brotherhood may enter this place. It has naturally become unstable over the centuries and parts of it could collapse at any time. But I believe Tristina will be safe under my watchful eye, and I would like for her to see it.
The Prince got out and reached for me, swinging me down upon the ice. I was amazed that I was able to walk much more adroitly on the slippery surface than I ever would have been able to as a human. I seemed to have an innate sense of balance. Holding the Prince’s hand, and flanked by five of his guard, we tripped lightly up the huge crystalline blocks of ice that formed the steps up to the castle entrance. It reminded me of the entrance to grand buildings in Ancient Rome, only instead of marble pillars the façade was held up by huge rounded pillars of ice.
Beyond the huge entrance (obviously the massive doors that must have once protected the entrance had been ripped away during the attack), we found ourselves standing in an immense hall serving as a foyer. In front of us twin staircases carved from the ice curved went up to the second floor and curved to the left and right.
I was amazed that some of the original artifacts and furnishings were still intact, most of it fashioned of precious metals: golden chairs, a rounded gilded iron reception table inlaid with mosaics and gemstones. Here and there the remnants of what must have been huge tapestries hung in tatters from their moorings on the walls. Ruined portraits that had falling to the icy parquet flooring were scattered on the periphery of the huge space.
“Where are the fireplaces?” I asked.”Did your relations have no need of them?”
The Prince smiled down at me.
“Are you cold Tristina?” he asked, “It is probably no more than 15 degrees in here. But I know that you are comfortable. As vampires we are impervious to the cold…They had human servants of course, for labor, concubines and for feeding purposes .There were other quarters connected to this Ice Castle going underground where the human slaves were housed, where they lived and g
ave birth and died. Many of them were slaughtered or carried off during the same Pogram.
We are known as the ‘Cliff dwellers’ in the Vampire phylum—you might as well know the proper terminology for what you’ve become. We are in some ways the outcasts of our phylum, along with the Cave dweller Vampires…and we like it that way. No one knows anything about us other than we choose to dwell in the least inhabitable regions of the planet and have our congregations, or claves, in the higher elevations.
No one, for example,” he continued, sliding his arm around my waist as we walked through ornately decorated room after room, “Knows that we have our own portals and travel into populated human areas to procure blood. Those that are aware of our existence are excellent secret keepers, part of the elite handful of creatures with unusual abilities that have taken on the responsibility of preserving the Great Balance. They never take sides Tristina, unless the balance between Dark and Light is in jeopardy. Yaya Wiscievisc is one of these, and I consider him a friend. In turn we do not waste humans and we do not encroach on the territories of others.”
I considered everything that he was saying. In a strange way it all made sense, the creatures that were considered merely folklore in the world of humans keeping a low profile and an ecological balance with other phylums of creatures including human ones.
I wondered if Greenpeace was aware of their existence. Probably not.
The Prince had stopped speaking. We had entered a room on the second floor that was as large as a ballroom. There were many items of furniture lining the walls, an octagonal skylight cut into the center of the room through which a light mist of snow was falling. And then I saw what had captured the Prince’s attention.
There was blood everywhere, splashed against the frozen walls at intervals, lying in rubelite frozen pools across the floor. It was a macabre scene. Some of the blood had frozen in the act of dripping down the legs of the furnishings. Splashes of it dotted two huge beveled glass mirrors propped against the frosted walls.