by JN Moon
We turned around, shut the window, and tentatively went downstairs to find Marcus.
He was talking to a young man with fine blonde hair, dark eyebrows and full lips that gave him the look of a cherub. His eyes though betrayed his youthful looks, deep and sorrowful. His eyes, like Marcus’s, were completely grey, though not as dark and he looked at us in wonder.
“Anthony, may I introduce Acacius.” Marcus spoke calmly.
“Hello. I have been looking forward to meeting you.” He walked towards me and reached out to shake my hand. The nephilim, so formal and polite, his voice preternaturally deep like Marcus’s and seemed to echo throughout the room.
I reached out to shake his hand without thought, although the confusion and hesitation I felt probably showed on my face.
“Um, hello. Why are you here? What do you mean, ‘looking forward to meeting’ me?”
“News of Marcus’s deeds has reached far. He is the first of his kind to take the blood of a vampire. We are simply the first to arrive.” And here he paused. “I have known Marcus for a long time. He always was mischievous.” He smiled. “And we’ve known about you, too. A vampire saved by a demi-god is a rare thing indeed. Quite unheard of actually. We mean you no harm. You are right to be fearful. Had you been any other vampire we would kill you on sight, but as I said with the blood of Emidius you must be unique.”
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Thank you, Emidius. It was just as well I had been infected by that demon before. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been saved by her.
Acacius chuckled and answered my thoughts, “It wasn’t a demon that attacked you, it was the Experimentals created by Tyrell."
“I know. I know only too well. We tried to destroy them, but they were too strong. I hope Emidius succeeded where we failed."
Acacius smiled grimly, but didn't answer and I wondered then if perhaps Emidius had left the Experimentals to the hands of the nephilim. I had no idea where that thought came from.
Behind Marcus and Acacius the other two entered and Acacius introduced them to us. "This is Halina and Aaron."
She nodded, her expression unchanged from before but Aaron with his wild red hair smiled even more widely. "So, I smell Lucius has been here? After you no-doubt.” Aaron glanced at Rachel as he spoke.
Lucius? Who the hell is Lucius? He’s been here? After my Rachel and I hadn’t noticed? Why Rachel? All these thoughts flew through my mind, one after another stirring my anger, disbelief, fear, and confusion.
Before I could answer, Halina replied, her voice stark, “A demon!”
I looked at Marcus for an explanation. He replied, “I know he has some vampire friends. I assumed you knew about demons.”
At which point Halina snorted.
“What do you mean, after me?” Rachel barked. “What the Hell?”
Aaron smiled again, amused and glancing from me to Rachel asked, “Are you two together?" I shot him a look and he added quickly, “I only ask because Lucius has one intention only. To breed. Like most demons, or as they’re called in legend, Incubi, they want to have the most powerful offspring. So they spend their existence screwing every female they can in the hopes some of these children will be powerful. Not very original I know, and you would think he'd need something else to occupy his time. But I guess not."
As Aaron finished speaking I stared in bewilderment at Rachel, who stood open mouthed in an expression of shock and horror.
Realizing how cavalier he sounded, Aaron’s perpetual grin dropped and he winked at me and Rachel sheepishly. “Sorry. I know I sound harsh and possibly too cheerful. I just say what I observe. I mean no harm.”
Anger welled up inside me that some demon had intruded Rachel’s home. When I glanced at her, her face appeared stern. I put my hand on her arm reassuringly.
Marcus responded to me. “Calm yourself. You do not know what you are dealing with. Demons can be very formidable, even for you.” Then turning to Aaron, “Enough, Aaron! You really should think before you speak to other immortals. Look, I’ve never heard of a demon wanting to be with a vampire, they always choose human mates, so I didn’t think you’d have anything to fear. If I thought you did, I would’ve said. Demons are unstable and flighty creatures and don’t usually concern themselves with other paranormals.”
“Come, we need to talk.” Acacius was gracious in his manner. “Others are aware of what you have done and where you are, Marcus. They are not happy and demand your blood in the name of justice. And Anthony, many know how Emidius saved your life. And now Marcus has sought you out, they are coming. Some are angry, some are already unruly and will look to taste your blood.”
My worst fears confirmed. For the next few moments I went into complete denial, into my private escape of being mortal again. Being mortal with Rachel, living carefree with worries so minor compared to this supernatural existence.
Marcus spoke abruptly. “Anthony! Listen to Acacius! He has your best interests at heart.”
Acacius continued, “Are you really so surprised?” He spoke softly. “I mean how many vampires do you think have the blood of a demi-god in their veins? I’m surprised you hadn’t been sought out earlier. At least with us here, we can help you and Rachel.”
“If all of you”—and I looked at Marcus—“if you weren't here we wouldn't have this to worry about! But what of the demon; why now?” I didn't know how, but I knew that his undoing had spelled disaster for us all. I also wasn’t naive enough to realise that their protection was for nothing, and felt sure just as the others were making their way to me now, these nephilim wanted to taste my blood.
“Of course we do,” Marcus said quietly. “I for one could smell the bitter sweetness of your blood the first time we met. Even Rachel has a hint of it. You’re stronger than most now. I’m sure you were told this.”
“We will not kill you or her.” Halina spoke with cool authority. “Some nephilim, taking Marcus’s insane example, will look to drink the blood of vampires. I feel it. They know of you and your woman, but I doubt in the first instance they will hunt you. Most will revere you, afraid of your power. Of course, had Marcus not broken every rule we have ever had, none of this would’ve befallen you.”
Acacius moved in front of me and put a reassuring hand on my arm. “I do not wish to drink your blood.” And looking at Rachel, he continued, “Or any vampires blood for that matter. Curiosity doesn’t have that much of a hold on me.” He smiled and I felt a genuine warmth from him. But trust, that would still be foolish.
Running my hands over my face, I sighed and asked the question I didn’t really want an answer to. “Demons, nephilim...is there anything else I should know about?”
“Yes.” Marcus moved alongside Acacius and leaned earnestly towards me. “You felt them. I heard and felt this from your thoughts, when you picked up Rachel after she had burned Nathaniel. They were in the tree line. You remember?”
I felt the urge to sit down as all this information was pouring out. All my dreams of living quietly in the shadows with Rachel, hunting evil-doers by night and spending our free time pursuing our passions. It was slipping away fast like water from a hand. I slumped on the sofa before I asked, not really knowing if I wanted the answer. “What was that?” As the words fell from my mouth, I shuddered remembering the cold fear I had felt every day since when I thought about it.
Cluttered in Rachel’s tiny living room, I’d thought Marcus took up a lot of space, but with four of them as well it was like being squeezed into a tin can. Nephilim are taller than most humans, including Halina. She was the shortest at six foot, the men around six-five or six-seven for Aaron and Marcus.
Rachel and I sat on the arms of the chair allowing our guests the sofa and the chair, the atmosphere was more relaxed than I would have thought possible, though Rachel and I were still not one-hundred percent trusting. These creatures effused a sense of quiet power and serenity.
Marcus looked at Acacius, his expression stern. “Werewolves. You saw were
wolves.”
I laughed abruptly. I couldn't help it, it just flew out. “You have to be kidding, right? I must be in a horror movie or something. Rachel, we need to make a list; vampires, werewolves, demons and nephilim! Go on; what else? Hang on, where’s the garlic, where’s the silver!”
“You forgot Emidius!” Acacius laughed. “She might not forgive you of that!” He continued, “Spirits, banshees. Monsters of the psyche made manifest by the power of the human mind. But alongside our fears of what lays in wait in the shadows, there is also good. Everything has opposites—wealth verses poverty, health verses illness, good versus evil. Where you stand right now determines what you attract in.”
Acacius smiled and sat back, studying me with a fascination. I guess under normal circumstances he’d kill me in an instant. But these were not normal times.
“How can I be sure you won’t kill me?” I asked the others.
“Because...” Aaron stood up and walked over as he spoke. “Because we are going to give you something no other vampire has ever managed to attain. We are going to allow you to drink from us!” Aaron stood up, full of wide-eyed eagerness.
I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows and laugh. “Nice try, but your blood is lethal to me!”
His words tripping over his tongue, Aaron was animated, gesturing wildly. “Probably not. Not with her blood in you. We think you could...benefit from our blood.”
“Why would you care?” Now I was suspicious. “I am not interested in being bound to another being. What if I don’t care for your blood? And most importantly why would you give me something so Divine? I have, after all, a power now that is unmatched by most vampires, as you’ve just said. What do you hope to gain by giving me your blood?”
It was Marcus’s turn to laugh raucously now, leaning forward, his enthusiasm pouring out. “They have both thought about it- about drinking my blood. Come, should we go upstairs now?”
“What if you’re wrong? What if I die horribly burning from the inside out, as you said?”
“Come, Anthony, second guessing, that’s not like you.”
“And I note that none of you have answered Anthony's question. Why? What's in it for you?” Rachel got up, looking them in the eyes.
“There is no one reason.” Halina’s voice commanded attention when she spoke. “They are coming, the veil has torn and you can help more with our blood to boost your own. We will need your help.”
“What now? You want to do this now?” I shrieked.
“Yes, before the others arrive and chaos follows them,” Aaron added urgently.
“And you want to taste the blood of a vampire? You hate vampires.”
“Her blood runs through your veins. For that, for a taste we would do anything, pay any price,” Acacius answered on behalf of the others.
“Except you? You don’t want to though?”
“I admit, I am intrigued but no. I do not, but I am not as the other nephilim. Let’s just say I lead a higher existence.”
Aaron went to speak but Acacius shot him a look so he shut up.
“What does that mean, higher existence?” I could see he was agitated by my questions, but I had to ask since mine and Rachel’s lives were on the line.
“It means, Anthony, I do not partake in many things that other nephilim involve themselves in. I hunt, I write, I pray. That is what I do.”
I could see by his body language that was the end of that discussion and I thought it wise not to think about it, seeing as he’d read my thoughts.
He smiled in acknowledgement of that last thought.
Marcus knelt before me as I extended my wrist and in that moment the atmosphere changed to exalted expectation. My face grew hot, and looking at the floor to avoid eye contact as the place went deathly quiet, all eyes were on us. Swallowing hard, my mouth dry, I tentatively offered him my wrist.
He bit my wrist, it was so easy for him now he was part vampire. The others gasped. What they were watching, they had never witnessed before.
The abject horror, a nephilim kneeling to a vampire and drinking his blood. My blood. A tremor of sensation shot up me—excitement, taboo—when Marcus’s teeth broke my skin and hot, searing desire enwrapped me. I was in heaven, ironically with this fallen angel at my feet. Moaning as he drank I felt the power of his passion surge out of him as I sat there wrapped up in this experience with him.
Mustering all my strength to pull my wrist away, I expected him to fall to the floor, but instead he looked at me with his strange dark eyes, now seemingly glimmering a lighter grey-almost silver as he moved his shaggy dark hair aside. Before I realised what I was doing, I was sitting next to him, locked onto his neck like a vice. I ran my tongue over his skin. His scent was warm and dark and I inhaled him before I bit. He shuddered and I pulled him into me as I drank that divine blood. Like electricity coursing through me and filling every part of my body. Drunk on his blood, my tongue was numb and tingled as the hot liquid passed through my mouth and then warm down my throat and stomach, like wine. I couldn’t let go, couldn’t stop, and I was connected with his thoughts as the fiery blood buzzed and quivered in my body.
Like I was dreaming. His heart pounded fast, then slowed, I was swept away in his thoughts, his emotions. Was this real? My body swayed and his heat seeped into me, I didn’t care whether this was reality or not. I just wanted his warmth, his blood, hot and fierce.
In my mind I saw an island, warm and rustic, the splashing of the tide on the rocks, and I believed in that moment that nothing I had lived was real. Would I wake up from this fascinating dream?
His blood was a drug. I wanted more, but at some point he pushed me away and I became vaguely aware that I was lying on the floor, suddenly cold and alone without him, staring up at the ceiling at flashes and orbs of lights. Seeing sounds move across like fireflies with my head rolling like a ship in a storm. I heard voices come from his mind and saw pictures moving across my mind of him in a desert.
I remember seeing, in my mind’s eye, fear as I watched a strange vision of a young boy in a medieval village with vampires, contorted and twisted faces like something from a painting. They were tormenting him. I was the boy and I knew they were sent to kill me. Then a huge presence behind me, blinding them, and then stillness. Coming back into the present, I looked around the room and saw many wraith-like spirits drifting around Aaron and Halina. But Acacius, Acacius in this state looked like a blaze of white light. Ghostly, priest-like figures surrounded him and stood at a distance in prayer as in great reverence. I remember Acacius smiling at me and saying something but what I don’t recall now.
Both of us were intoxicated. I saw Marcus’s shape as he sat against the sofa in a state of wonder. Hours passed and my awareness of my surroundings started to sharpen again.
When I came around, the others were sitting and talking earnestly while music played. I remember my body thrumming to the sound of pounding beats that took my mind to another landscape. Lethargy washed over me and it took me some time to push myself up.
The experience was too strong for words. Both Marcus and I were silent for many hours and the others were aware enough not to press this.
Rachel had abstained from tasting the nephilim for the time being, wanting to see what effect I had from Marcus.
I left early evening. I needed to get away, my head still reeling. I needed to walk, to clear my mind and get some air. I didn’t want to go back to them there so I headed off towards the city.
Your Cold Vampire Heart
Rachel
Anthony left with Marcus’s blood in his veins whilst Acacius, Aaron, and Halina left to go back to their rented home. Marcus stayed with me, but I wanted time alone. Walking upstairs I flung myself on my bed, my mind frenzied with questions and my heart telling me something was wrong.
With Anthony’s reckless behaviour in the past and fuelled with the blood of that fallen angel, his emotions would be on fire. I wished he had chosen to share that with me. I knew where he was going. I
t was instinct for him—straight to Nathaniel.
Although Anthony hadn’t mentioned anything to me, my instinct told me that Nathaniel, my maker, was alive. Although Nathaniel had scared and threatened me, that bond, that pull was stronger than the threat itself.
And I understand why Anthony would be drawn to Nathaniel, aside from their deep bond. During the war, Anthony had been mutilated by one of the Elite and it was Nathaniel who saved him. Not by blood, but by splicing his own genes into Anthony.
Deep in my heart, though it nauseated me to admit it, the bond we once had as humans would never return to us as vampires.
It was time to make a choice. If I stayed with Anthony I would always be second in his life, second to Nathaniel, and although Anthony would not willingly choose that, the fact remained that having such a physical connection with Nathaniel, it could not be altered.
Numbness consumed my heart, my body tight, holding in emotion. I knew this wasn’t the future I’d chosen, being second to another.
Cutting ties to both was the only choice, but it was heart wrenching. I would have to tell Anthony when he eventually came back, but for now I would console myself in the company of Marcus.
Despondency overwhelmed me and the knowledge of immortality made the situation heavier. Potentially I could carry this feeling for decades, even centuries.
Marcus sensed my mood and tentatively asked if he could accompany me as I headed out. I just shrugged. I didn’t care. He went to speak and I knew in that moment he had read my mind and was about to advise me on Anthony, and I swear to God it was the best thing that he shut up.
From that point on he kept quiet and followed me. I needed a thrill, something to lift my depleted spirits, along with blood. I think I was having an existential crisis. I mean, all I do is feast on blood. It drives me to distraction and any semblance of normality seems to seep from my life faster than water from hands. I had to at least try and control myself, my emotions, my cravings.