by A. D. Koboah
It was probably a few minutes before I became aware that their cries of passion had ceased.
I looked up. They were standing before me in a semicircle, their naked waxlike bodies unearthly in the wicked light cast by the sconces on the wall. I tried to dart away, but Onyx caught me by the hair. I tried to strike out at her, but she hit me across the face and I went crashing to the ground. They descended on me like a pack of lions. I screamed when I felt teeth puncture the flesh of my neck, wrist and thigh and thrashed against them but to no avail. I began to feel myself sinking as I weakened, eventually ceasing to struggle.
My limbs felt cold and my head felt dipped in lead, my thought processes slowing. As if from a distant place, I felt the pressure ease from the wounds on my thigh and neck. But the pressure on my wrist intensified.
Auria’s voice seemed to reach me from a faraway place.
“Stop, Emory!”
I opened my eyes to thin slits in time to see Auria grasp Emory by the hair, yanking his head away from my wrist. He bit down hard as she wrenched him away, and a burst of pain radiated along my wrist as he tore the flesh. I only uttered a low moan.
Auria struck him, sending him flying roughly three metres through the air before he was able to right himself, springing into a crouch like some sinewy feline. His fangs were bared and his mouth covered in blood as he snarled at me.
“What are you trying to do? Kill him?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, merely slunk away to the corner where he sat and glowered at me.
She loomed over me for a few seconds, her face drawn, her brow creased. Using a small gold knife, she cut herself on the upper part of her breast. Then she knelt down and forced my lips against her breast and the weeping cut she had made.
I lay against her breast, too weak to resist, and it was a moment or two before I realised she was using her unnatural power to make me drink her blood. But at that moment, my will was broken and I didn’t even try to resist.
Noxious, hot blood saturated my mouth and I spluttered. But as more of it entered my mouth, it began to taste sweet.
“Yes, drink, my prince. I am your mother, your god. Drink from me and join us for all eternity.”
As I drank, a curious sensation began to course through me, as if my veins were being lit from within, gently warming me from the inside out. It tugged on my wounds, and, to my hazy astonishment, the pain ceased and my wounds began to heal.
“Stop now, Auria,” Onyx said behind her. “You’re giving him too much.”
Auria ignored her as acute pain seized me. My flesh was on fire and my internal organs were being squeezed and tightened. I wanted to scream, but she was still forcing me to drink her blood although she was straining now to keep her control over me. Abruptly she let me go and I slumped to the ground where I writhed in pain.
Onyx grasped me by the foot and dragged me over to the coffins. She opened one of the coffins and then hoisted me off the ground with one hand.
“No!” I screamed.
She threw me inside the coffin, which was much deeper than the average coffin. She slammed a hand against my chest and held me down as Emory appeared by her side and poured what looked like earth into the coffin from a wooden bucket. Auria did the same whilst I screamed and fought as the coffin began to fill with earth. I eventually stopped screaming when the earth was poured over my face, obscuring my vision, earth filling my nostrils and mouth. I coughed and grunted in desperation, merely succeeding in drawing more earth into my mouth. My chest was on fire as my body fought against the suffocation.
I don’t know how long I struggled, but I was dimly aware of the sound of the coffin being closed over me, shutting out the faint sounds of their laughter. Eventually I began to weaken, my mind clouded over, and the world, along with life, melted away from me.
I succumbed to the superior darkness.
Chapter 5
Roaring filled my ears, like a cascading waterfall. Within the clamour were individual sounds: slow, easy breathing, birdcalls, scratching noises, and the insistent drone of crickets. My nostrils were also suffused with a multitude of rich scents. I could smell earth, thick, musty earth that was polluted with another dry, papery scent of some mineral I could not identify. But the strongest scent to assault my senses was that of violet cologne.
I opened my eyes. I was lying naked on the floor, the underground chamber awash with light despite the fact that the same number of torches hung on the walls as before. I blinked against the fierce light as a whirling, fluttering noise rose up above the din, like a mammoth bird flying overhead, just before a set of male clothes landed on me. I pulled a shirt off of my face and pulled myself into a sitting position.
Emory sat on one of the coffins peering down at me, his expression calm, amusement dancing in his sea-green eyes. He looked different somehow. His skin seemed to have a luminosity to it and his long blond hair hung like cascading waves of gold.
“Good evening.” His tone was amiable.
It did not seem as if he had raised his voice, but the sound boomed around me and almost drowned out all else I could hear. His voice also appeared to have changed in depth and timbre, making it easier to discern the cutting edge of anger running through it.
“I...I am not dead?” I got to my feet.
Although I felt relatively well and there were no traces of the wounds they inflicted the night before, there was an ache in my bones and my throat burned. The earth they had buried me in had been cleaned off my body.
“Yes...and no.” Emory smiled when I peered at him in confusion. “I apologise about the coffin. You see, we had to kill you to begin the process, and Auria likes the whole thing to be as dramatic as possible. You are a vampire now. You’re as strong and fast as we are. And you’ll live forever.”
“But why would you—?”
He shrugged, that anger dominating his tone when he spoke again. “Because it’s what she wanted.”
“The...Fosters. Did they know you would do this?”
“Of course they did. They do whatever Auria tells them to do in exchange for the wealth you saw.”
“My ears. All...all the noise. It hurts, and the light—”
“You can control it.”
He hopped off the coffin and came to stand before me. Aware of the fact that I was still naked, and his gaze was lingering on my nakedness, I brought the clothes up to cover myself and stepped back when he reached his hands toward my face.
“Relax. Let me show you.” He grasped my head and peered into my eyes. “You can control what you see and hear just by thinking about it. Focus on my voice and the rest will fade into the background. You will still be aware of it, but you can turn it up or down depending on what you want to hear.”
He was right. The din receded, as did the light, until it looked as it had before, although everything was still heightened.
“Thank you.” I stepped away from him, sure he had not needed to touch me in order to demonstrate.
“No, I did not,” he said with a chuckle as he moved past me. “Get dressed.” He paused to let his gaze linger on my bare chest. “And meet us outside.”
He moved to stairs in the corner of the chamber and was soon out of sight.
I stood there clutching the clothes he had given me, which were as ostentatious as his were.
I was alive.
Then that meant...Julia!
I dressed quickly and darted up the stairs leading to a hidden trap door that took me out of the underground chamber to the back of the chapel. I raced out of the chapel, not realising I was moving much faster than a man could move.
I stepped out of the chapel to a night like no other. The moon hung like a white god that showered the clearing with silver light amidst the glittering stars gathered around it. Even before I reached the trees, my heart and hopes came crashing back down from the heights I had allowed them to ascend. The scent that drifted to me from the edge of the clearing told me all I needed to know. But I could not stop myself
from going to her anyway.
Her head lay at an odd angle and her body was already beginning to bloat. I was surprised some wild animal had not scavenged her remains. But with my heightened senses, I was aware now that the immediate area was relatively silent and the wildlife gave it a wide berth.
Tears filled my eyes as I stared at Julia, and my hands trembled. “She is still dead,” I whispered.
“Of course she is dead. We killed her, remember?”
I ignored Emory and moved closer to Julia, more because he was standing a little too close to me for comfort.
“Don’t be so sad, handsome. Auria and Onyx will be here any second now with a present for you.”
I could hear them now. They must have materialised at the edge of the woods, and they were not alone. I could hear another’s ragged heartbeat and the sobs she tried to suppress to no avail.
Auria stepped into the clearing. Onyx followed wearing a navy blue gown. She was dragging a short, slim Negro girl with her. The slave, who was probably no more than twenty, was a pretty girl with a slight build and mournful looking brown eyes. She was shaking like a flower caught in a violent storm and tears streamed down her face. Dread licked at my insides as I stared at the terrified girl.
“Please, don’t kill anyone else, Auria. I beg of you,” I said when they reached us.
“I’m not going to kill her,” Onyx replied and then savagely bit the girl on the neck.
She cried out, her pretty face creasing in shock and pain. When Onyx released her, she brought her hand up to her neck to try and stem the blood, which seeped through her fingers leaving glistening red trails that gleamed in the moonlight. She looked frantically about her before she tried to get away. But Onyx pushed her toward Auria, who grabbed a handful of her hair. The girl cried out again.
“Shut up!” Auria said.
I observed all of this in a mild daze. The scent of blood—in fact, the girl’s scent—was having a curious effect on me. I shook myself free of it, telling myself one of them was using their supernatural powers on me again. But my attention kept returning to the rich crimson blood, the sight of her chest heaving in terror and the pumping of her heart an insistent call making me want to draw closer to her. I focused on Auria.
“Please, Auria. Just let her go.”
“If you wish.”
She threw the girl toward me and I only just managed to catch her before she fell. But rather than being reassured, she was screaming all the louder now.
“Please, jus’ let me go back,” she cried. “I ain’t never done no wrong to nobody. Please. My baby boy be waiting for his mama to come home. Please, I ain’t afraid to die, but you cain’t make me leave my baby ‘lone in this world! Just take me back, please.”
“It is all right. I will take you back. There is no...”
But even as I spoke those words, I became aware of the fact that my hands were tightening around her slender arms. I couldn’t finish my sentence because I could not stop staring at the blood, the scent of it was somehow aromatic and seductive. The grip I had on her arms was no doubt painful now, but I could not let her go even though I could easily crush her bones with the strength I now had. There was also an ache in two points along my gum. Then I felt the top two incisors begin to lengthen, pushing against the flesh of my lips.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax the hold I had on the girl. I saw hope flare briefly within her dark eyes and she quieted somewhat, although she continued to weep.
“What are you doing to me?” I managed to gasp when I tore my gaze away from the girl, and the blood, the warm, sweet-smelling blood. “Whatever it is that you are doing to me, Auria, I want you to stop,” I pleaded.
“I’m not doing anything,” she said as she moved to my side.
Like a mother to a child, Auria gently lowered my head toward the two small holes in the girl’s neck as she began to wail again, fighting desperately to be free of me.
I gasped when the blood touched my lips. I wrenched my head away from her neck. But I had tasted it and it was electrifying. Lust overcame me in that instance and I felt aroused, not only in my groin but everywhere, a scorching heat that demanded to be sated, lest it drive me insane.
“Drink,” Auria commanded, her voice almost tender.
A part of me felt repulsed by what she was telling me to do, but it was only a small part, and I again brought my lips to the blood running down to the girl’s bosom, which heaved and strained against her dress as she screamed and begged for her life. I was so aroused, but I only meant to place a kiss on her hot, bare flesh. I only wanted to feel her skin against my lips once again. But I found myself licking her blood instead. Again the taste and feel of it electrified me, seeming to numb my brain. My arousal increased. I wanted to rip her dress away from her bosom and lick the blood off her dark, bare breasts. But I continued to lap at her blood with greater urgency. She screamed and fought to get away and rage blazed in my mind. I released one of her arms and crushed her lips with my hand, cutting off her screams though she struggled as she fought for her life. All sound faded away and the world disappeared behind a red veil. The only thing I heard was the frantic beating of the slave’s heart, which only inflamed my arousal as I lapped at her blood.
This was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my life. It went beyond mere arousal but was the pinnacle of every want and pleasure in life. All of it was in the blood.
Use your teeth.
Auria spoke those words directly in my mind. I did as she instructed and bit the slave, tearing a chunk of her hot, salty flesh. She grunted in pain, her breathing restricted by the hand I had against her mouth and nose. Once the meat was in my mouth, I spat it out in disgust. It was not the flesh I wanted, but her blood, and I ravenously closed my mouth over the wound and sucked, drawing in a gulp of blood which left me swooning with pleasure. I drank, and as I drank, the ache in my bones and the burning sensation in my throat eased and then disappeared altogether.
The red veil eventually cleared and sound came back to me. My fangs began to shrink until they were back to normal.
In my arms was a corpse, her eyes open and glazed over. I let the corpse go and it fell at my feet. I backed away and fell to my knees, frantically wiping the blood off my lips.
“What have you done to me?” I moaned.
“I’ve given you immortality,” Auria said. “But it comes at a price, and that is the hunger for human blood.” She knelt before me, her voice suddenly tender and intimate. “Be honest—that was the best experience of your life, no?”
I did not answer.
“Because of me, you will have many, many more moments like that when you devour blood and the life force it contains, and you will have an eternity to do so.”
She straightened and laughed as tears filled my eyes.
“Come, Onyx. We have much to prepare for what I hope will be the last sacrifice. We need more slaves than that fool Foster was able to provide. Let us see if we can persuade him to bring more before tomorrow night.”
“Oh, I’m sure I can persuade him,” Onyx said and laughed.
Auria turned to me, her face creasing into a sneer. “You! Do not let me catch you near your wife’s body again. You are not even to mention her name. Do you understand?”
She did not wait for me to answer, no doubt assuming I would be a fool to disobey. She vanished along with Onyx. But this time I saw the air around them thicken and waver, appearing to shimmer before they were swallowed by it.
Distraught, I crawled away from Emory, who was still standing there gazing at me in amusement. Although it was the last place I wanted to be, I staggered to my feet and went into the chapel, too ashamed to be near Julia after what I had done.
I had just murdered someone, an innocent, helpless slave. I had just murdered and...and...
I placed my head in my hands, hands that still had the slave’s blood on them.
Devastation rolled over me in wave after relentless wave. I wept, despairi
ng at the nightmare that had wrapped itself around me and would not let me go.
Chapter 6
I was staring at my bloodstained hands when Emory came to stand a few feet behind me. He sighed heavily.
“I have been at her side for so many decades, but it is still difficult to be away from her for even a few minutes.”
I tore my gaze away from the blood on my hands and stared at him, confused. He met my gaze a few moments later, his dark green eyes direct and penetrating. He moved to sit beside me.
“Is it so hard to believe we are capable of loving each other?”
“Yes, for I cannot envisage how anyone could love someone who is cruel and totally without any form of compassion.” Tears sprang to my eyes again at the image of Julia lying out there in the heat along with the slave I had murdered.
He chuckled softly. “She is cruel, but believe it or not, she showed you compassion in killing your wife quickly. She has not been quite so generous to others. She has let some last days, just to see how much pain she can inflict before their injuries kill them, or they are driven insane by the agony. She has been merciful with you. I can’t say the same for the one who tried to warn you. As we speak, she is at the bottom of a dried-up well on the plantation. Who knows if she will die from thirst or hunger. Or maybe the rats will eat her alive before Auria has the time to fully punish her. It is hard to say which will be worse, being slowly eaten alive by rats, or being tortured by Auria. I would personally prefer the rats.”
I shuddered at the images his words produced and also in guilt at the plight that had befallen Minny for daring to warn me. The warning would not have succeeded in saving us even if we had heeded it. Yet she risked her life to do so. I looked down when I remembered my reaction when she had taken hold of Julia’s arm.
“To answer your question,” Emory continued, although I had no wish to hear anything he had to say. “How can I not love Auria, a powerful goddess who could have brought death, but instead chose to bestow eternal life on me? I will never forget the first moment I saw her.”