by Dawn Gray
“We were seen in, brought to our rooms, bathed, dressed, and fed supper all before we met the man who was to be our sire.
“He stepped out of the shadows and greeted us pleasantly, then asked us to follow him as he made his way through the house. When he stopped and flung open two double doors, we couldn’t believe our eyes. It was like a shrine, a large stone statue of some horned beast sat in the middle of the floor, swords and chains, and whips hung from the ceilings and walls, and he asked us to enter freely and of our own will, which we did.
“Justin seemed thrilled to be there, and ran up and touched the statue, which seemed to reach out and punch him, for he flew back across the room, and then the man smiled and instructed us not to ever touch the statue. Justin mumbled under his breath and rubbed his head as I looked around this dark place.”
“So, how come you didn’t just pack up and leave?” Julian asked.
“After that incident, you think we would have, but immortality was in our grasps and we were so power hungry that we didn’t even care.” Michael sighed and got comfortable in the chair again. “We spent the next week in preparation for the big night, a full moon night, when we would become immortal. Every day, Devon, as he asked us to call him, would make us drink this thick red juice, at least twice a day, then we would have to sit down to a five course meal and eat all of it. Before this ever happened, I wasn’t as big as you see me now, I was a lot skinnier, but Devon made us eat so much that I put on weight.
“The night of the full moon came quickly for me, I was too nervous to care about the rest of the week. Justin seemed quite calm about the whole things, but Cristian did a lot of disappearing the days before it. That night Devon asked us to come into the hall where the large statue was and kneel before it. We all were there, in our red robes and black clothes and we did everything that he instructed us to do. With our wrists up so that we could see them, he used a sword and slashed them. The blood was everywhere, but no matter how much I wanted to run for my life, I just sat there and watched my own blood run from my veins. It seemed like hours, as I watched the blood seep out, before 1 saw the movement of my skin, as it seemed to lace itself back together, closing the wound, then it appeared as if it had never happened.
“We were vampires and we hadn’t even realized what he had been doing with us. The red liquid that we drank was his blood, and it had started the process for us, which was why he was so stern about us taking it. The room seemed to change as our blood touched the alter, where the large statue was. It seemed to glow red, and we watched as a man brought in an unconscious girl. He laid her down on the altar, bound her tightly and woke her up.”
“They sacrificed her?” Ashley asked him. He nodded. “Michael, what kind of dark world had you fallen into?”
“The kind that I thought I would never get out of. She was sacrificed and we were lead to the dungeons where we took the blood of the three girls we had brought there. It was complete, the transformation was done, but the dying period had begun and it was like nothing I had ever experienced.
“While Cristian and I seemed to have problems dealing with our bodies, Justin seemed to be basting in the glory of it. He was what he had truly always wanted to be, powerful. I could see it from the moment we changed that something darker was in Justin’s blood, darker that both Cristian and I put together.” Michael sighed. He looked up at the sky then out at the grass once again, watching Jack play with the birds. “We escaped after several weeks, knowing that Charles would be out looking for us, and I remember looking back at the house as we ran away. I remember thinking about how much it looked like an old castle, hiding up in the fog, looking down on the village below, casting its shadow on the people there, and I wanted nothing more than to be far, far away from it and never go back.”
“So, what did Charles say when you returned?” Julian questioned.
“He noticed the change right away and he brought us to a sorceress that he knew well, she tried everything to reverse it, but nothing worked, what was done, was done.” Michael pulled out a stone from his pocket that was wrapped in gold and hung from a necklace. “She gave us this, to help with the darkness, but Justin refused to take his. He didn’t want help; he wanted more. More of anything, blood, power, life. I thought that he would harm anything that he touched, until he met Jescinda, who would become his dearest friend, but nothing more than that. She was already married when they met.”
“So what happened to her? Did Justin hurt her?” Julian questioned.
“No, I did.” He replied. His friend looked at him oddly. “After a while of not feeding, when I was new, the bloodlust became so intense that I blacked out and took Jescinda, body and blood, and Justin found out. I left to keep him sane, to help him see that he didn’t have to hurt to get his point across. Jescinda refused to see anyone of us after that, and Justin lost her as a friend. I left the state, and came down here, and I have been living in New London since. I know that Cristian is here, he’s close by with Sage, but I don’t know about Justin, he hides himself well. If he were here, -whether he would accept the invitation or not, I would like him to be here.”
“Blood ties, my friend.” Julian smiled. “Nothing can break them, not even time.”
“Who’s Sage?” Lauren’s voice asked suddenly. He turned in his seat and looked at Quinn and Lauren, who apparently had been sitting behind him listening to the story the whole time.
“She’s the daughter of an old friend of mine. When her parents died, I became legal guardian of her, but her aunt and uncle insisted that maybe the young girl would be better with them, since I had no one else, except the three of you. She’s in New London, at college, and she lives with her cousin Bobbie.”
“I assume you asked her to come home.” Julian replied.
“Yeah, but how do you explain to a young woman that you haven’t aged since she was seven?” Michael asked.
“Don’t worry, we’ll help.” Lauren said and put a hand on his shoulder. Michael looked at her and smiled, then looked out at the ocean and sighed. He wondered if she’d even remember him.
Chapter 3
January
I walked in the front door and closed it quietly, then looked around the room and began to sneak through the house. A light flipped on and I turned to look at Bobbie and Taryn, as they stared at me with anger in their eyes. I smiled and pulled my sweater off, revealing the light T-shirt underneath.
“Are you insane?” Bobbie asked.
“No, and I’m an adult, I think I can make my own decisions.” I replied.
“What are you talking about? Sage, it’s the end of January, you know, the middle of winter, what are you doing wearing just a sweater out there?” Bobbie asked, looking at me sternly as she took on a parental tone.
“I don’t think it’s that cold.” I replied. “Besides, there’s no snow on the ground and it’s like fifty degrees out.”
“So, where were you?” Taryn asked. I looked at her, knowing that she might know where I had gone. “Who were you with?”
“Does it matter?” I questioned. “And, if you must know, I was in the woods.”
“It’s not a full moon yet, Sage.” Bobbie replied and sat on the couch again. “There’s no reason for you to be out there.”
“Look, I love you two, but please, don’t tell me what and what not to do.” I asked.
“We’re only looking out for you.” Taryn said, softly. I looked at her.
“Did Cristian tell you something?” I asked Taryn. I stepped closer to her and looked Taryn in the eyes. “What is he saying to you?”
“He’s just concerned with your safety.” Taryn replied. I shook my head.
“He doesn’t even know me. What concerns would he have?” I inquired.
“He thinks you might be in danger from Justin. He wants you to stay away from him.”
“Why? Justin hasn’t threatened me in anyway, what would make Cristian think that he would harm me?”
“Okay, I’m lost.” Bob
bie said and stepped between Taryn, who was still sitting on the couch and then at me as I backed away a little. “First, who’s Justin, and second, who is he to Cristian?”
“Justin is just a man who I met in the woods the night of Brenda’s party and, somehow, Justin and Cristian are related.” I replied. I looked quickly at Taryn and then at Bobbie. “Listen, Bobbie, Justin doesn’t mean any harm.”
“How do you know?” Bobbie asked. “What kind of feelings do you get from him?”
“Yeah, tell us what you meant when you said that you just got a strange feeling from Justin the other night.” Taryn added. Bobbie shot a quick glance at her and then looked at me, again
“It’s true that I’ve gotten some disturbing feelings from him, but that doesn’t mean that he intends to harm me, it just means he’s dark.” I said and shrugged. “I got the same feelings from Cristian when I met him, the kind of ones that want to make you run and hide, but with Justin it seemed so much more intense, and I decided to egg him on.”
“YOU WHAT?” Bobbie yelled.
“Look, he’s got this strange notion that he’s a vampire. I thought it would be funny to see what he did, so I egged him on by constantly asking his name and told him that I’ve always wanted to be drained by a vampire.” I walked over to the window and smiled at the street below, as a dark figure walked away from the streetlight. “He kissed me then, instead of hurting me and then he just walked away.”
“You know, I don’t like to be repetitive, but I think I’m going to ask one more time. Are you insane?” Bobbie asked, quietly and calmly, and then walked over to me slowly. “I think with your back ground, and your sense of intuition that you would know danger when you felt it. Why, on God’s green Earth, would you decide to play with that danger and push your luck?”
“Look, Bobbie, I can’t tell you why this happened and I can’t think of an excuse to justify it either.” I sighed, and then looked at both girls and then back at my cousin. “And, I won’t stop it.”
“If it’s true, if he’s a vampire, and Sage, don’t think for one second that you don’t believe in them, this could be life threatening.” Bobbie pointed at me, and then touched my shoulder. “You should stop it now, before it becomes, not only a danger to you, but to us as well.”
“On one condition.” I said softly. Bobbie put her hands on her hips, listening. “She,” As I pointed to Taryn, the blonde haired girl sat straight. “She stops seeing Cristian, because I get the same feeling from him.”
“I don’t think so!” Taryn said sternly. I shrugged.
“Good, then it’s settled.” I replied and walked away.
The night of the full moon...
I sat by the fire, chanting some unrecognizable language, as I drew in the sand, and waited for whatever happened to be out that night to show up. I stood, walked in a circle, clockwise, starting at the north point, around the fire, whispering to myself. After, my third trip around, I stopped at the northern point again and stood there, arms wide open, with eyes close, until I felt it, the danger, and the darkness. Slowly, not ending my chant, I opened my eyes and looked passed the fire, at the young man who stood there, dressed in black once again, his hands folded together, and arms down, in front of him. I bent down, at the knees, grabbed at handful of dust and blew it into the fire, turning it green.
“Now, there’s a nifty little trick.” His voice seemed to whisper in my ear. I looked at him, watched as his mouth formed a smile, closed lipped, and I smiled back.
“Can you enter a witch’s circle?” I asked him.
“Have any crosses behind your back?” He asked. I shook my head and looked at him, not moving from my spot. “Holy water? Anything that might hurt me?”
“I asked you to come tonight, why would I bring something to hurt you with?” I asked.
“Just checking. You can’t be too careful these days.” Justin said and stepped closer to the circle. “Now let’s see if I remember how these things work.” He reached out his hands and opened them slowly, as if parting a curtain, then stepped through the imaginary doorway, turned, and closed it neatly with his hands. If anyone had ever seen him, they would have thought he was strange. “How was that?”
“Are you a witch or vampire?” I smiled at him, and then sat down on the spot where I had just been standing. Justin walked over and sat a few feet away from me with one leg, bent and tucked under him, the other raised and bent at the knee. He rested his arm on the raised leg and watched as I played with some string.
“Are you binding me?” He asked, looking at the small doll I held, dressed in black. I shook my head. “Maybe you should, I could be dangerous.”
“I’m binding Cristian.” Justin looked at me quickly as I wrapped the string around the Christian’s dolls waist. “From harming Taryn.”
“Maybe you should do one for me.” He said and slid a little closer to me.
“Do you really think you can hurt me?” I asked him. He smiled at me, and then nodded his head. “Would you?” I watched him shake his head and look at the fire. “Then there’s no real need, is there.”
“Why did you ask me to come here?” He asked me quickly. I looked at him and shrugged.
“How do you kill your victims?” I asked back.
“Why would you want to know such a thing?”
“Such things fascinate me.”
“You’re very morbid.” He said and looked at me oddly.
“Are you going to tell me?” I questioned.
“If you really want to know.” He replied and watched me nod. He got up on his knees and faced me. “First, I stare them down, make them succumb to my charms.” He looked me in the eyes and smiled.
“That’s a good one.” I replied and waved him off.
“If they don’t respond to that, I get them into a trance.” Justin connected with my eyes and I watched his turn red. I put down the doll and watched him come closer. “They’re eyes do what yours are doing now, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.” He inched closer to me, with me fully aware of his presence. I smiled as his lips curled back to show his teeth. “They usually panic and try to run away, but some stay and stare in wonder at something that isn’t supposed to be real. I’ll move closer, like a cat sneaking up on its prey, and then I pounce.”
With those words, he was suddenly on top of me, pinning me to the ground beneath him. I lay, with my eyes closed, my head to the side and my hands up against Justin’s chest. I assumed he was looking at my face, my eyes tightly shut, and my mouth slightly open, but there must have been innocence there, one that wasn’t visible when I looked at him before. His own face changed, his fangs shrunk, his eyes returned to the dark brown they had been. As his eyes looked over my features, down my neck, over my bare shoulders, he listened to the slow beat of my heart, the fast pace of light breathing, and he leaned down to my neck.
I breathed in sharply, as his cool lips touched my hot skin, and I placed my hands on his sides, clutching at his shirt. Justin didn’t want to move, but he couldn’t surrender to me. He couldn’t move away as his lips trailed over my skin, down over my shoulder and back up to my cheek.
I turned my head and looked at him. He looked young and unsure about what he wanted. I looked at the sudden softness of his face, his wide eye, and his slightly opened lips, which he quickly moistened, and I moved my hand from his side to his cheek, and then ran it behind his neck. He leaned down to me and as our lips touched, the fire seemed to erupt.
A noise in the woods took his lips from mine quickly, and I looked to my right as he hissed violently. I watched Cristian, Taryn, and Bobbie walk out quietly. Justin moved, suddenly standing, his fangs bared, his eyes red as fire, and looked at Cristian, who held a stake in his hand, and Taryn, who held a cross in hers.
Cristian came towards us, which made me stand. He was about to lunge at Justin, when I stepped in front of Justin, putting myself between the two men. Cristian snarled at me as he moved to aim at Justin again.
“
NO!” I screamed and raised my hand, quickly. Bobbie and Taryn watched the blue flame ignite in front of me. Cristian stepped back as the flames rose, and then reduced to almost nothing, but the light continued, as if it were a collective energy, blocking Cristian from getting passed it.
“He’s dangerous, Sage!” Bobbie said loudly.
“He wasn’t hurting me.” I said, defending him.
“He hasn’t yet, but he will.” Taryn replied and dropped the cross.
“He won’t.” I argued. Bobbie watched my hand drop, and then my body slumped. Justin caught me before I hit the ground. He held me close to him and he looked up at Cristian, the blue field still intact, but fading.
“Can’t you see what danger that you have caused her.” Cristian yelled to him.
“What was that?” Taryn asked.
“Her power, it surged because of her emotions, but her body wasn’t use to the explosion.” Bobbie said and kneeled down beside me looking right at Justin. “I just want to check her.”
“I’m not going to hurt her.” He whispered. “Do what you must.”
Bobbie looked over me, patted me on the face lightly and watched as I slowly come too. I breathed in deeply, slowly opened my eyes, and looked around. I hadn’t been totally out of it.
“Michael?” I asked softly. Justin looked at me quickly, then at Cristian, who had also heard the name, and back at me, as I sat up and looked around.
“That was the name.” Taryn said softly taking Cristian’s hand.