by P. Mattern
Mitzi shook her head slightly ,yet again amazed.
“Is she here for the honeymoon ? Or permanently?” Mitzi wanted to know.
Cass reached toward her and smoothed her hair back from her brow tenderly ,replying.
“Now no need to get ‘kitchen territorial’. I only hired her to help out for awhile. As your pregnancy continues you’re going to require more rest, my love. I’ve discussed this with Dr. Caligare and he agrees that you should spend more time off your feet, particularly since you’re carrying twins. But she knows you are a Master Chef’s wet dream because I told her how good you are in the kitchen, so she’ll be careful not to cramp your style.”
Mitzi shook her head again, laughter bubbling upward.
“Cass PLEASE tell me you DID NOT tell her that I was a Master Chef’s WET DREAM…that just SOUNDS WRONG!!!”
Cass frowned slightly.
“Well that’s not exactly what I said of course-but she got the point. She’s pretty quick on the uptake. Dr. Caligare gave me some printouts for you to read also. Sort of what you can expect during the birth process. “
“And of course you already read everything.”
“Of course. I wanted to be armed with all the information available. This is completely new to me too, my love. As a first time father it is incumbent on me to be prepared.”
Mitzi sat up as Cass fussed with rearranging the bed pillows for her maximum comfort.
“Well-does it hurt as much as human births?”
“I guess the short answer would be yes-it can be a time of travail-but Dr. Caligare has some potions-medicinal potions- that can help take the edge off. The good news is that vampire labors are very short. The downside is that once labor is started the delivery room better be right down the hall…which it is, actually. So I feel like we’re pretty prepared.”
Mitzi contemplated this information.
“So vampires never expire in childbirth…because we’re immortal, correct?”
“That’s true. One less thing to worry about. Oh and the best part-or at least I think it’s the best part-your immortal body will heal instantly from the rigors of giving birth! No time delay on having marital relations!! Isn’t that wonderful? Just think, we can celebrate the twin’s birth by having sex!”
Much as she loved Cass , Mitzi sighed inwardly. Cass wanted to celebrate EVERYTHING by having sex, including breathing. She herself had been envisioning a ‘Madonna and twins’ scenario that included doting over her babes while Cass stood by gazing at his children with loving paternal pride. NOT a scenario where Cass couldn’t wait for the first available moment to jump her bones!
But Cass had continued speaking again without waiting for her response.
“And I’m pretty sure that you’re not aware of the huge deferential between human development and vampire development after birth. On average vampires age about a year for every month of life. This doesn’t level off until they’ve attained adulthood. So the first year you will watch your children transform from infants to puberty. In fact they might be walking after their first month anniversary!”
Mitzi was incredulous.”A human year of development for every MONTH?” she echoed.
“Yep. Developmentally speaking they’ll be like 12 year olds in the course of the first year , the age at which manhood is attained in vampiredom. In fact,” he continued, putting on his professorial persona, ”Some scientific and medical members of the V-net community feel that the sudden surge in vamp fertility and subsequent procreation recently is nature’s way of keep our numbers up. In a way that makes sense-most vampires no longer turn humans randomly or hunt on their own for blood. Some believe its nature’s way of assuring that our numbers are increased for the battles to come.”
Cass finished his speech in a nonchalant tone as if the prospect of war was no big deal.
“NO WARS! Mitzi responded.”I’m not in the MOOD for war-do you hear me?” Cass could hear her voice trembling, and she seemed close to tears. Her baby bump was so prominent that, in her peagreen gown she looked to Cass like a small woman standing behind the prize watermelon at the county fair. Instantly he flew to her.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Vivi. Please don’t worry. If any battles are fought I’m sure it will be far from our domicile.” he said tenderly, trying to console her. As her time to give birth approached it seemed to him that she was increasingly emotional-something that he needed to be aware of, so that he didn’t upset her. He made a mental note to be more circumspect about what information he shared with her.
Later the same day, at the cottage, Lux sighed as he blew out the series of sage and citrus scented candles that had been burning as he meditated by candle and firelight. Although he’d managed to stay mainly peaceful in the days since his breakup with Pierre, his heart still felt like a wounded bird beating its bloody and battered wings against the inside of his chest. He missed his friend, particularly because , since Pierre’s volunteer Practicum at the Blood Donation Center had finally ended, he hadn’t had any contact with Pierre since the last time they had been together at Pierre’s apartment.
Lux had never put much stock in being prideful. Not wanting to be stalkerish or invasive he had sent a few conciliatory texts Pierre’s way but all of them had gone unanswered. The only communication he’d had was a terse text message from Pierre in the first week after the argument, reminding him to return to the apartment and gather his belonging, being sure to leave the key when he left. The day Lux finally returned to pick up clothing and other paraphernalia Pierre was no where to be found. Lux had hurriedly gotten his stuff together-just the view of the bed they used to share so comfortably together caused him to experience a few heart pangs.
Now he concentrated on taking mindful breaths. Staying in the present, choosing not to dwell either on the past or the future, helped him to find firm emotional footing.
Fress had gone upstairs with Daniel after preparing a light supper for those staying at the cottage. The ‘kids’ as they had been dubbed, Casey and Kimbra and Avi, had retreated to their own quarters also. Lance paused to watch the dying fire in the living room fireplace snort and crackle and release crumbling pieces of blackened wood onto the grate.
He thought he had imagined the timid knock on the front door at first, as it coincided with some loud crackling from the fireplace. It was later in the evening, a time when the cottage received few visitors, and he was puzzled at who would be coming by unexpectedly. He rose and stretched and swung the door inward, revealing the form of the last person he had anticipated to be standing there.
It was Pierre.
Pierre appeared disheveled and smelled faintly of imported beer. He had a somewhat weepy aspect to his ruggedly handsome face as though he’d been crying, and blurted out a single sentence in a low voice as soon as the door swung inward and he saw Lux.
“I can’t do it.” He said. His warm brown eyes held a quiet but decisive element of desperation. His brawny lumberjack shoulders slumped . He had the body language of a defeated man.
Lux’s initial emotional response was to feel exasperated, both at Pierre’s presentation and particularly at his timing.
“Love to chat,” Lux replied in a voice that conveyed his polite distaste,”But can you come back sometime when you’re sober?”
“Please Lux,” Pierre answered quietly.”This is the first time I’ve been sober in the last 20 hours…and it may be the LAST unless I get a chance to talk to you.”
Something unreadable passed over Lux’s face, and he said guardedly,”Okay-but first you have to shower-bathroom at the top of the stairs-and I’ll put some clothes outside the door for you. You reek of cigarettes-and the rest of you looks like you were rolled across a parking lot for sport!”
A look of pure relief passed over Pierre’s handsome beard-stubbled countenance and he managed an accompanying smile as Lux stolidly stepped aside and let him pass into the small foyer. Lux watched Pierre’s back as he headed up the stairway to the second land
ing. Pierre paused at the top step and looked backwards over his shoulder.
“Thanks man,”he said, and disappeared into the upstairs bath.
Lux went back into the firelit living room. He could hear the upstairs shower starting up, He felt like his attempt to center himself by meditating had largely gone down the drain at that point .And he could feel something else also, something lurking under the lacquered layers of calming Zen philosophy he’d pulled protectively around his heart and soul after his breakup with Pierre.
An impulse. An urge. A dark and primitive need that pushed rudely past his sensibilities and intellect to emerge from the boiling stew of his warring emotions as the victor.
Pierre had come to HIM. And if he wanted him, it would be on HIS terms.
Several minutes later, Pierre came down the steps in bare feet, his hair still damp, and managed a tentative smile as Lux turned around from gazing into the fireplace to look at him.
“Lux, I-“Pierre began, wild earnestness in his eyes, a rehearsed apology on his lips.
“STOP.” Lux interrupted, keeping his distance.”The first thing I want to know is-do you remember what I am? “
Pierre gulped.
“That would be pretty hard to forget-what I saw the last time we were together. I suppose the short answer is yes.”
Lux took a step towards Pierre.”And you came here anyway…because?”
“Because I don’t care what you are. I want to be with you. That’s the long and the short of it, Lux. I’m asking for another chance. Please.”
Lux stared back at Pierre impassively.
“I don’t need a sycophant following me around. And I don’t need to hide what I am any more. Are we clear on that?”
Hope returned slowly to Pierre’s expressive brown eyes.”Crystal clear. Anything else?”
Again Lux took a step toward Pierre.
“Yeah there is. I’m not ‘doing’ humans any more-that was a bad idea from the get go. If you want a relationship with me, we have to be equals. For that to happen,” he finished looking directly at Pierre and taking another step toward him as he stood on the carpet,”You must become what I am. You must become a member of the Dark Brotherhood.
You must be ‘turned’. By me. Tonight .Those are my terms, and the only terms that I’ll consider if you want to continue our relationship. Otherwise I’ll stun your memory bank with enough juice to wipe any memories of our relationship from your mind permanently. And that will be that.”
Pierre stood silent for a score of seconds-he had stopped breathing. Standing before him, scarcely thee feet away, in an open white shirt and jeans, with his silver blonde hair shining in the firelight and his eyes burning like coals, Lux resembled a Dark Prince archetype from a Gothic novel. An internal war began raging within Pierre. His humanity was screaming at him to run from his beautiful former lover-run and never look back. His love for Lux compelled him forward toward the beautiful vampire, a moth willing to perish in the flames of the dark, beckoning lust that had been offered.
Pierre knew that he would die that night. And be reborn again through the sacred and incomprehensibly dark intimacies of blood and venom.
Wordlessly he closed the distance between them, throwing his muscular arms around Lux, and repeating the only word that he could force his mouth to form.
“Yes,” he said.’YES!”
Lux wasted no time. Moving forward with incredible speed he pinned Pierre against a wall of the firelit room, tearing Pierres shirt open .Jerking the cross from around Pierre’s neck ,he flung it forcefully across the room, sinking his fangs deeply into Pierre’s strong neck. Pierre’s eyes were closed. The venom that immediately began coursing through Pierre’s veins circumvented the initial physical shock of sharp stabbing pain, and he began to feel a sort of euphoria and freedom. His eyes snapped back open and they were dark, with no whites showing, with the flicking firelight reflected in them. As Lux continued to feed, tears tinged with blood appeared at the corners of his eyes and ran down the chistled planes of his cheeks.
“Take it!”he whispered, meaning every word.”Take my love and even my life…I am yours.”
Lux began kissing him then, and he could taste the sweet saltiness of his own blood on Lux’s lips. After that he lost track of himself, feeling as though he and Lux had become one organism, pleasuring itself over and over and over again. His death was synchronized to one orgasm, and his first heartbeat as a vampire being began with another orgasmic wave. The love he and Lux felt for each other had become an unending whirling vortex of pleasure and pain.
And they had become sealed, one to another, in immortality.
Mitzi and Cass had gone into town to do some shopping. Mitzi had left many personal belongings at her home and needed to replace some of them ,especially the more personal items like lingerie and makeup. Currently Charley was keeping an eye on the place, going there during the daytime after his classes to pick up mail and make sure things were in order. Thinking of her former home , the home she had shared with her husband Sam for so many years sitting idle and silent, with no laughter or activity saddened Mitzi greatly. But with her due date getting closer and closer she knew she couldn’t take any chances of running across the hybrids. Or making it possible for them to track her to the farm somehow.
The springtime that had begun with an unaccustomed chill had finally given way to sunny golden days and peerless blue skies. Flowers were beginning to bloom in profusion. Although there weren’t as many lacy and delicate looking flowering trees as Mitzi was used to seeing in Virginia, the state she was born and raised in, there were daffodils and asters ,a profusion of lily of the valley, and tulips galore decorating the residential gardens and overflowing from the public planters in downtown Fort Hunt. The air seemed more buoyant, lighter somehow-and as Mitzi walked the sidewalks hand in hand with her handsome vampire husband she felt as if she were walking on air.
“We should have lunch.” Cass commented,”But first let’s put all the shopping bags in the back of the Lexus and take a side trip to see Fress-she’s missing you already and today is her day off. I promised her I’d bring you by the cottage.”
“Of course!!” Mitzi replied, smiling with anticipation.”I told her I’d give her my recipes for shoofly pie-both the Indiana Amish version and the Virginia traditional version. Fress promised her coworkers she’d make both for a carry in party coming up at the library.”
Soon Cass was pulling up in front of the cottage, jumping out of the driver’s side of the vehicle to open the passenger side door and lift Mitzi gently to the ground.
Fress was elated to see them both and the three spent the better part of a minute in a group hug, just happy to be in proximity to each other. Finally Fress disengaged and said,”I have a special guest today,someone I really would like you to meet.”
Mitzi and Cass followed her as she passed from the foyer into the comfortable ,familiar living room of the cottage. Sitting on the floor crosslegged near the hearth of the fireplace was a young dark blonde haired boy who appeared to be about 9 years old. He was dressed in a short sleeved plaid shirt,jeans and sneakers and was deeply engrossed in playing an electronic game on an ipad.
“Jaxon,” Fress said, her musical voice lilting in its gentle way,”I’d like you to meet my other brother Cass and his wife Mitzi.”
Jax looked up through his bangs somewhat disinterestedly.
“Pleasedtomeetyou,” he mumbled , immediately returning his focus to his game, pressing the buttons even more furiously, as if the brief introduction had put the game’s protagonist into even greater peril from the monsters and now he had to play catchup.
Fress looked down at Jax , the fondness in her eyes unmistakable.
“Let’s get some coffee –tea for you-right Mitzi? I just got some Harney and Sons delivered today , some excellent Earl Grey and an exotic flowering tea.”
In the kitchen Cass and Mitzi took seats at the table while Fress put coffee on to brew and heated water for the te
a. She also put out fine bone china cups in a deep cobalt blue with gilded edges, spoons ,clotted cream and sugar cubes.
“So….who’s the kid?” Cass asked in a conversational tone.
“He’s a ‘once-turned’-a mystery to the V-net officials in the area. “ Fress responded.”His mom is part of a local Druidic cult named after the twin rivers that is aware of the other phylums existing in the larger human society and they have a great regard for vampires. Apparently she became involved with a vampire and fell head over heels for him, and they lived together for a time. She wanted him to Turn her-and he was only too glad to oblige. He left suddenly one day with no warning.
That’s when she discovered that the vamp had bitten her son also. A visit to Dr. Caligare confirmed her suspicions. To the V-net he is one of the ‘ Dark Orphans’. He referred her to me for help and counseling, and of course I offered to have Jax visit any time she needed a break. He’s really smart and he calls me ‘auntie’!”
“He’s such a handsome little guy.” Mitzi said,”I’m so glad you offered. He seems very comfortable here.”
Cass whistled through his teeth.
“What kind of vamp would fang a CHILD? “he asked rhetorically, looking disgusted.
“THE CHILD CAN HEAR YOU,” Jax intoned from the other room.
Mitzi and Fress giggled. Cass looked surprised.
“Sorry Jax ,man,” Cass responded quickly.
“Apology accepted”,Jaxon replied, still in the living room, ”But the next person that calls me a ‘child’ will lose a kneecap. And FYI I also dislike being called ”DracJunior”, ”little dude” “mosquito” and ‘shortfangs’. You can pass that on to your brother too!”
“I’ll keep that in mind”, Cass responded, holding back a laugh. Already he liked this young once-bitten vamp Jax, who was exhibiting both equilibrium and spunk, and seemed to be adjusting remarkably well to a difficult situation.