Two Halves of a A Vampires Soul (The Silver Series)

by Samantha Bates

  Maybe that made sense. Wiping her eyes it was worth a shot, she hated to be an emotional wreck.

  "Could you sneak me up to my room to freshen up please, I don’t want anyone to see me."

  "Follow me."

  "Ice you have a beautiful voice, thank you so much for the song."

  He left her at her door muttering. "I didn’t have a choice, Louisa is good at blackmail."

  Chapter 28

  Vlad looked around able to see a little more, as the people thinned out a little. Talia was talking with Dirk the head of the Warlocks; at least she seemed to be getting on with someone. He could see Julian watching her, trying to inch closer but not too close.

  It was time for him to start mounting his own little offence against Talia. He could see Beth with her friends all cooing over her new home. He had to give her credit for over six hours she had played the dutiful hostess to perfection. He had begun to worry about her when he returned from the terrace, he couldn’t see her and he just had a feeling something was wrong. He was about to look for her when May arrived and pulled him into his study.

  May had taken his blood to some specialist herbologist in Maine, between them they had isolated traces of a rare plant in his blood which they believe is likely to have caused his illness. They were not sure what impact this had on vampires as clearly it hadn’t been tested. Well not on anyone other than Vlad, but it was the only anomaly they had found. May had some plans to run tests and trial the plant.

  This had given him much to think about; he had no doubt that Talia was involved he just wasn’t sure how? He also had no doubt that May was right, she would continue to be a medical asset to other species, across the world. He was just pleased that she was on the right team. He could do nothing about Talia tonight, but tomorrow he needed to speak to his team. Why she wanted to kill him now was also a mystery.

  He went to join Beth as she bid farewell to Denissa who was the high witch of New York and also Morgan's grandmother, therefore, sort of related to Beth through several marriages. When he arrived, he felt like he had wandered in on something of a private conversation, although both were extremely gracious at his interrupting them.

  "Vlad you wonderful man, I hope you know how lucky you are to catch such a lovely young lady?"

  "I most certainly do Denissa; I thought you were perfection until I met Beth." The women laughed.

  Vlad genuinely liked Denissa; she was slightly eccentric but a lovely person. Holding Beth's hand which he noted was a little loose in grip, they bid Denissa and her husband goodnight.

  Talia still hovered around the outside, that was until Imogen and Theo readied to leave with the twins who as vampires were far from sleepy.

  "Well Beth you have been a wonderful hostess. Vlad you were okay I suppose although I have to admit not quite as miserable as usual." Theo was clearly antagonising Vlad until Imogen hit him none too gently in the arm.

  "Hey I was joking."

  "Well hello there, who are these darlings?" Liza stepped back behind Theo. Lewis stood firm, his hands ready to reach for his spear, glaring. Theo braced himself as did Imogen; in the background she saw Ben and Lucky head towards them. Vlad stepped closer to Lewis placing his arm around him.

  "This is Liza and Lewis, Theo and Imogen's children." No-one corrected him.

  "Vampire children, I have heard of them but never seen a specimen, why have I not been introduced to them before now? Come and say hello to Aunty Talia."

  Vlad was in the process of responding, but Lewis beat him to it.

  "No" His voice was firm and strong, stronger than his thirteen years.

  "I never knew vampire children were rude." She eyed Imogen. "Maybe a lesson in manners is required."

  "We need no lessons, we are polite to people who warrant it. You do not."

  Beth watched as he pulled his spear from his back, she was going to step in but Theo's shake of his head stopped him.

  "See this spear, I killed my mother with this spear and have never felt bad about it. Killing you would save a lot of people, a lot of pain, so give me a reason to do it."

  Lewis was extremely serious, and Talia saw this. "I think this child needs a bigger lesson than manners."

  Vlad laughed a deep laugh. "I agree whole heartedly, you are lucky that I am one of the fortunate people gifted with tutoring them in developing their skills. Lewis young man, during our next lesson we will work on extracting that spear a little quicker."

  Imogen ushered the children out, Beth gave them both a big hug, when she got to Lewis she squeezed him just a little longer whispering.

  "I think you have just made my night." His grin when he left was worth a thousand words.

  Theo stayed behind. "Talia let me tell you a story; it is about a wolf that lives for his family. Without them he has nothing to live for, other than revenge. In this story some stupid person thinks to hurt his family, she doesn’t succeed but it matters little to him. He hunts her down, and tears her to pieces bit by bit making sure to take his time. If you go near Lewis and Liza, I will tear you to pieces, but before you die, I will let you heal and start again over and over. Now that is what will happen if you go near them, now if you hurt them, I will make sure you live through hundreds of year's worth of torture."

  Theo left and Talia stood there looking on in wonder. "I don’t know what you people think of me, I was just curious"

  Beth sighed. "No you were not but Theo was serious. You do not need to worry though, if you hurt any of my family I will get to you first, and I won't have any hesitation in staking you." Talia stalked off.

  They seemed to spend the next hour saying goodbyes; Lucky and Ben were the last to leave, along with the rest of the children, the younger of which were fast asleep. Vlad noticed that Beth seemed a little subdued when they left, but rather than dwell on things she removed her shoes and started the clean-up, well until Albert stopped her.

  "Mistress what are you doing?"

  "Why starting the clear-up of course." Vlad watched in amusement, while Albert stood almost open mouthed while Beth continued into the kitchen returning with a bag for trash.

  "Master, will you address this please? It makes me rather uncomfortable." He was wringing his hands as Beth started directing the waiters and waitresses, before she headed back to Albert.

  "Now Albert everything is in motion, as the Mistress of this house I am directing you to go home to your lovely Louisa, and get some rest."

  "Why…What?" With a beguiling smile she continued. "I know how hard it is to arrange and organise a small party at short notice, but you pulled off a huge party with less than twenty four hours' notice. Therefore, you must be exhausted and I insist you go home and rest."

  Albert looked to Vlad, a panicked expression plastered on his face. Vlad in turn, was somewhat amused at his butler's distress but instead of insisting Albert remain, he shrugged his shoulders. With a chuckle he thought that maybe Albert would revise his loyalties, until Beth bent to kiss him on the cheek, damn it.

  "And Albert, thank you for such a wonderful party. I wouldn’t have changed a thing and now I want to do this for you." With a blush Albert hugged her and rushed off. How did she know just what to say to charm people?

  "It really was a lovely evening wasn’t it? When and where would you like to open the presents?" She was somewhat distracted by all of the caterers rushing around.

  "I would suggest that they are put away in an empty room. I do not feel good deceiving people so it is inappropriate to open any gifts. Unless in the future we are able to open them knowing we are in love, as people tonight believed."

  He was gobsmacked, this was a woman who loved her material possessions and he had actually been looking forward to opening them with her.

  "That's understandable. Beth what would you like me to do?"

  She barely even glanced at him before responding. "I think everything is taken care of thank you. Why don’t you do well……Whatever you would normally do at this time?"

&n
bsp; And then he was alone and left wondering what the hell was going on with Beth. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t upset, and she hadn’t said anything was bothering her, she was just aloof and almost indifferent to his presence.

  Chapter 29

  Beth crawled into bed, her feet ached, her body ached and she was tired, so frightfully tired. The shutters had just descended as dawn broke, god her days and nights were so upside down and unlikely to change for a while. She slipped off her dress sliding into her bed wearing only her white silk thong. She hadn’t seen Vlad again after she left the ballroom, purposely avoiding him.

  The minute her head hit the pillows her eyes closed as sleep consumed her.

  She was back but not where she had been before. This time she was in a larger house, it didn’t feel as cold here. Stood in the middle of a large dining room, she wondered why she was alone; she didn’t have to wonder for long. Talia entered wearing yet another dress, this one had so many peach lace frills that Beth could have made curtains for all of the windows in Vlads house from her one dress. This time her hair was pinned so tight, her eyes looked as though they had been pulled back.

  The room was large and airy, the night pouring in through the windows. Where ever they were it was humid, the lack of wind and heaviness of the air weighed on her. This room was sparse with only a sofa and piano in the room. Unlike Vlad's piano this one had gathered dust, sat unused.

  Another man followed her into the room; this one was a large African man with chocolate coloured skin, and arms that were the size of a tree trunk.

  "I do not understand why you keep us on a string, get rid of the white boy and we can rule Africa."

  "Budde, you do not understand Vlad is strong, so very strong. We need his help to rule."

  "Why all he does is feed, complain and feed again."

  With a smile she moved closer to the man. "Does hearing him make love with me; night after night cause you to be jealous?"

  "Of course not."

  "Is that why you watch us from the veranda window, is that why you pleasure yourself while Vlad is pleasuring me?"

  The man looked on in horror at being caught.

  "There is no shame Budde when I am with him, I think of you. When I know you are watching, I come a little bit harder."

  "Then why him and not me?" The lust and anger ran through the man's tone. There was something a little frightening about him, his eyes were cold and hard.

  Talia sighed. "I need you to recruit me an army, without Vlads knowledge. Maybe when the army is assembled we can get rid of him. If you are focussing on him, you will lose sight of our goal."

  "I would never do that Talia, I love you."

  "As I you." Beth watched as Talia kissed the man and then deepened it, the man was in a frenzy until a door slammed.

  When Vlad walked in her breath halted. He looked different and not in a good way. His eyes were almost all red, his clothing in disarray. Behind him, he was dragging a woman who had to be in her thirties, she was crying hysterically but in complete silence. The picture before her sent shivers up her spine.

  "Supper is here." He promptly bit into the woman who stopped crying and started moaning. Beth could see Vlad consuming the woman; he didn’t stop until Talia pulled him off.

  "Darling please don’t kill this one. We don’t want to have to leave yet another country do we?"

  "I don’t care to be honest, Africa is hot and boring. Even the people taste different."

  He was goading Budde, with a nasty glint in his eye; he turned to Talia and pulled her into his arms, kissing her before lifting her in his arms and leaving the room to go upstairs. The man Budde was left alone clenching his fists. The scene fast forward and Beth landed in another room in a different house.

  This time she was in a basement, but instead of finding a man chained to the wall she saw at least a dozen men chained to the wall. Each in what she assumed to be various phases of the transition. In front of each one was a cup of blood just out of their reach. The door opened, and Budde descended the stairs, the smell in the room was overpowering, a mixture of vomit, faeces, and blood, but Budde seemed unconcerned.

  One of the men moved forward to lash out at Budde, he was knocked back with a hard fist to his face, others cowed away from Budde. The horror at the scene in front of Beth was too much, the tears streamed down her face, she moved forward trying to touch one of the men. If she could just reach out maybe she could help. If Vlad had been involved in this Beth wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him.

  The room spun again, this time she followed Vlad as he followed Budde. He watched Budde enter the house and then he checked the perimeter of the house. He was surprised to find guards at various intervals, although they were not hard to subdue. Vlad had been developing an extra gift one he had kept discreet, teleportation. He was struggling to control this gift, but so far Talia had no idea about it. The only problem Vlad had now, was how to teleport without resurfacing in the same room as Budde?

  Not seeing a way round this, he turned to leave when he saw Talia arrive. He stepped into the shadows, for two centuries she had controlled him keeping him on the verge over bloodlust for the first few decades then seducing him with her body. When that had stopped working, she manipulated him into gorging on blood, so that he constantly needed it. It had taken nearly two hundred years, but he was starting to feel like his life was only just starting. Every evening Budde and Talia knew he was hunting, but he would stop.

  Tonight he had been in the process of taking a young blonde when something stopped him; it was nothing tangible but just an urge not to. He let the girl go when an oriental looking small man stepped from the shadows. Vlad knew immediately that this man was also a vampire, an exceptionally strong vampire.

  "You have no need to take donors by force, allow them free will and they will come to you."

  "It doesn’t work like that they run." He watched curiously, as the man moved forward and beckoned to a young female. She did as bidden her eyes excited as she saw him. She took in his expensive tailoring, the neatly groomed hair and crooked her neck to one side.

  How had he been able to do that? Looking from the man and then to himself, he noted the differences in their appearances, one neat, the other a mess, one surrounded by control, the other surrounded by chaos.

  "What do you want?"

  The man pressed a coin into the woman's hand before she left. Vlads eyes were wide with uncertainty. "Do not worry she will remember nothing. As for what I want, I want you."

  Vlad had seen that type of depravity before, thanks to Talia. She had tried to engage him in that kind of sin, unhappy that he would not be with another man.

  "Then you have wasted your time, I will not get involved in sinful acts." Rather than be offended the man laughed.

  "You mistake my intentions, lets us walk." They wandered through the dark dusty roads, with no need to fear the animals; they instinctively knew who the top predator was. For a change it wasn’t Vlad, but the man with him.

  "You have hidden talents young man, but the life around you compresses them. There is an order in everything within the world. You are part of that order, what role will depend on the paths you take. I am willing to teach you as long as you talk of me to no-one."

  Vlad may be a selfish glutton, but he was not stupid. A man turns up out of the blue offering to help him for no apparent reason.

  "What do you want from me?"

  The air was dusty; it was always dusty, lush grass disappearing daily through lack of rain. It would be another dry day tomorrow, with no rain in the sky.

  "You do well to be cautious; I am but a messenger sent to guide you to your destiny. I was warned of your mistrust, and have a gift one that will allow you to see where your trust has been betrayed."

  Beth watched with baited breath as the man lifted his hand, a globe appearing from nowhere. Like a fictional TV crystal ball, a mist rose, and encompassed the two men but allowed her entry. Replayed for them was the scene of his
change, Vlad leaving a tavern somewhat inebriated? The clothing was that which he was wearing when he woke chained. Out of nowhere a woman stepped from the shadows. Both she and Vlad recognised Talia, and the Vlad stood next to her hissed. Each continued to watch as he became mesmerised by her allure following her into the alley. With growing unease, Beth saw Vlad follow Talia home through the house, down the stairs and into the basement. Her unease turned to sick amazement when she watched Vlad shackle himself into the restraints.

  The globe misted again and then disappeared, leaving Vlad staring at the space it had occupied.

  "Talia did this to me." His voice was but a whisper. "I will kill her." Beth could see the anger etched across his features.

  "That has to be a decision for you to make, but consider this your crossroads and me your guide. May I also remind you that to kill her, you would also kill yourself?"

  "And you call this life; I spend my days dreaming of blood and my nights taking it."

  The man continued walking and Vlad hurried after him, with Beth on his heels.

  "Ah that is true; however if you follow the right paths, you will become a crucial element to the order of life. To embrace your destiny you need to see the true person with your own eyes, for you will never truly be without her. Instead you must use your heart and wit to balance good against evil."

  And then the man disappeared leaving Vlad alone, although the wind whispered to him. "Go home see through fresh eyes. I will see you on the morrow." It was then that Vlad knew he was not truly alone.

  The scene moved forward, the blurring straining Beth's eyes as she landed in a bedroom. The walls were rich in red tones, with black bedding and curtains. It could have been described as sensual but it wasn't, for some reason it felt sinful and dirty. Talia came through the doorway, clad only in a slip, surprise, surprise the slip was black, and this must be the time era when the makeup started becoming gaudy.