Chapter 7

It seemed I’d only just snuggled into Luthias’s masculine frame when he was gently nudging me awake.  I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I forced them to focus on the darkened surroundings.  It was night.  I could see a myriad of stars twinkling outside the pitch-black interior of the tiny cave.  I was grateful for my vampire ability to see in the dark as I sought out Luthias’s handsome face.

“That was the deepest sleep I’ve had in ages,” I said as I stretched the kinks out of my limbs.

“You snore,” he teased as he stood up and wiped at a bit of sediment from his slacks.

“Do I?” I asked with surprise. “No one ever mentioned that to me before.”

He took my hands and pulled me to my feet.

“Time to work your magic, my sweeting,” he said with a distinct tone that let me know he was serious about calling me his ‘sweeting’.

“That’s a pretty old-fashioned term,” I said as I hopped to my feet.

“I’m a pretty old-fashioned guy,” he replied jovially.

“Ancient is more like it,” I teased.

“Are we really going to go there?” he asked as he mockingly put his hands on his hips.   “If you’re going to start picking on your elders, I just might have to derive some sort of discipline.” He cocked his head mischievously. “A spanking perhaps?”

“Oh, please do,” I teased as I wiggled my hips while moving past him to the cave entrance.  “Providing you can catch me, that is.”  I raced out into the night while calling back to him, “Come on, old man.”

It was so long since I’d been able to run for the sake of running. No one was lecturing me about being careful of the baby’s well-being or reminding me that it may be the only baby I ever carried.  No one was grinding at me about my duties or that time constraints for all I needed to learn didn’t allow for wasting my time frivolously.  It felt wonderful to be racing with free abandonment through the cool night. I almost forgot why we were out there in the first place. 

I giggled with delight when he caught up with me and lifted me into his arms while still running at vampire speed toward nowhere special.  I stifled a gasp when he surprised me by leaping into the air.  We soared until the rocky hillside turned into thick, hilly, woodland.  He set me down gently amidst the foliage of a branch of a giant tree. It was part of a forest that miraculously managed to survive and revive itself to its fullest in spite of the planetary devastation. This was something that was far more common in this area than in the barren land that my grandparents tucked me away to grow up in. Of course, my grandparents selected that barren area specifically for its lack of appeal to humans.  I took a moment to admire mother nature’s magnificence before turning my attention to my companion.

“Smell the green,” I said as I inhaled deeply.

“An acute sense of smell is one of the vampire traits that I’m sure you enjoy,” he said as he buried his nose into the silken hair that fell over my neck and inhaled deeply.

“I didn’t realize you could fly,” I said admiringly, while enjoying the tickling sensation his breathing caused on my neck.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he replied smugly.

“Such as?” I said.

“In due time, my dear.  In due time,” he said. 

He lifted his face from my hair and looked off into the distance, as if preoccupied with thought.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

There was a long silence before he filled his lungs with the surface air that once sustained me, but now seemed putrid in comparison to the clean, pure, air of Verso.

“I’m trying to decide how best to prepare you for Vampire Land,” he admitted.  “There are a few things they do differently than we do in Verso.”

“Such as?” I asked.

“Well, flying for one,” he said.

“Is that why I never saw you fly?” I asked.

“Verso vampires can’t fly,” he explained. “It has to do with their diet.”

“Diet?” I repeated with surprised curiosity.

“A vampire must feed off a human in order to fly,” he said flatly.

“You fed off me,” I mused.

“True enough,” he said.

Something about the way he spoke made me think just a little harder about our conversation.

“How long does the flying thing last after a vampire has fed on a human?”  I asked with hesitation.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to that question.  I held my breath while I waited for the brief silence between us to end.

“Vampires can go weeks between blood feedings,” he finally replied.

“That’s not what I asked,” I said insistently.

“If you’re asking if my ability to fly tonight is because I fed on your blood four months ago, the answer is no,” he said flatly.  “A vampire must feed weekly on human blood in order to maintain his flying abilities.”

“But…,” I stammered.

He lifted his hand to stop me and continued.

“Knowing our mission was before me, I did what was necessary to fit into Vampire Land.  It’s as simple as that,” he explained. “We have a few human volunteers for just such a purpose.”

“I remember a maid in Geo’s household telling me that not all Verso residents abstained from drinking human blood and a human didn’t last long once it entered Verso,” I said warily.

“That’s true,” he explained.  “There is a small populous of rogue Verso vampires who will sneak in a human now and then and, yes, they often end up killing or turning the human before all is said and done.”

“You…” I gasped.

“No.  There are a few volunteers from Desolation who are willing to donate their blood when need be in exchange for the protection we offer them.  I meet the donors at the edge of Verso so that they aren’t fully exposed to the kingdom and I take only what is needed,” he insisted. 

“Does Geo do it too?” I asked hesitantly.

He closed his eyes and nodded.

“Will I have to… do the same?” I asked, horrified.  When he nodded his head again I expelled the air in my lungs that I didn’t even know I was holding in and allowed my body to collapse.  “One of the things about being a Verso vampire that I appreciate the most is the feeding policy.  I never dreamed I’d have to drink human blood.  I don’t know if I can.”

“It’s not a question of whether you can or can’t.  Of course you can… and you must,” he said insistently.  “You are their queen. If you do not display power and confidence, how do you expect them to follow you? Remember, they find Verso’s way of feeding abominable.”

“It just seems vile and disgusting to feed off a human,” I whined while grimacing.

“You’ll get used to it,” he assured me.

“Do you like it?” I asked hesitantly.

“Not really, but it must be done at times,” he said with an air of a true and dedicated leader.

“Will I be able to fly then?” I asked. 

“With practice,” he replied.

Even though I was a vampire, there were times when discerning between the myths and the realities of vampirism was difficult. From the stories I’d read about supernatural beings, I’d come to believe they could do whatever they desired -within their means- upon will.  It never occurred to me that vampires actually practiced something that should come naturally.  If dining on human blood gave a vampire the ability to fly, then they should just fly.  Practicing wasn’t in the equation. This new bit of information emphasized how I’d spent all of my practicing time on magic and, other than learn how to feed off an animal without killing it, I’d spent precious little time learning to be a good vampire.  Since flying impressed me, I took a deep breath and clung to the consolation that I’d at least be able to do it once I started the hateful practice of feeding on humans.

“When do I have to start drinking human blood?” I asked with trepidation.

“Tonight,” he said flatly, “but first we need to discuss a few more differences between Verso and Vampire Land.

It was difficult to keep my focus on what he was saying.  My anxiety over having to sink my teeth into the flesh of a human was practically all consuming.  I rarely sank my teeth into any living thing after recovering from the frenzied experience of being turned.  Because I found the procedure repulsive, I’d always been served a goblet containing the necessary amount of fresh blood taken from a healthy woodland creature.  I pushed how the blood was obtained out of my mind and focused on the fact that those who collected it for me were always careful not to take more than the creature could spare.  If need be, they’d take from multiple creatures rather than risk killing one.  Verso vampires were far more humane than most of the humans I’d met.   Although, admittedly, I hadn’t met many.

I managed to eke out a conversation with him about the rigidity of Verso where free sex was concerned verses Vampire Land’s belief that, as long as one was free and not mated, it is perfectly acceptable to spread their love around freely and openly.  It was a completely foreign concept to me that would definitely take some getting used to. He explained that, although he got great satisfaction out of pleasuring me that afternoon, it was also a lesson in the ways of my future kingdom. Since vampires were naturally highly sexual beings, it was Vampire Land’s belief that sexual climaxing played a vital role in maintaining balance as a vampire. Sex was encouraged; be it between male and female, female and female, or male and male. I wasn’t taken aback by this information, since I’d already heard something similar to this from both Abigail and Gwendoline. When he told me that it was considered an honor to be able to pleasure a vampire of rank and power – especially royalty- without receiving pleasure in return, I shook my head to clear it before asking him to repeat his message.  Was he kidding me?  What type of a kingdom was I walking into?

“You have to remember that most of the vampires in Vampire Land are centuries old.  Sex is as common place and accepted as eating a meal. If vampires mate, they remain with each other, but those unattached freely couple.  Another thing,” he went on to say, “is that the practice of making new vampires has slowed down considerably since the devastation to the planet and mankind as a result of the wars.  Vampires find the genetically altered human undesirable candidates for their community.”

“Yet they drink the blood of these tainted humans,” I mused.

“They’re under the misguided impression that it is the only way,” he said thoughtfully.  “They try to take from the healthy humans as much as possible.  If they were to survive as we do in Verso on animal blood and plant life, they would lose many of the perks human blood provides. This is something they aren’t willing to do.”

“Like flying,” I said.

“Yes,” he agreed, “like flying.”  He looked up at the starry sky and added, “I’m going to utilize that ability right now and go fetch us some sustenance.”

My body convulsed at his words.  It was really happening.  I was expected to feed off a human. It felt sacrilege; almost evil.  I wasn’t an evil being.  I was a sheltered human who discovered my magical heritage just before I turned vampire.  There was nothing but good in my heart – for everyone but Bartholomew and the mutants, that is. I didn’t want to feed off a human any more than I wanted to lead the kingdom I inherited from Charles.  I especially rejected the concept of leading my mother’s mutant mass.  My mind raced while I struggled for a way out of what was to come. 

I could see none.

I’d barely come to terms with the idea of consuming human blood when Luthias returned with my victim resting limp in his arms.  It was one of Bartholomew’s soldiers.

“You went to the encampment?” I said more than asked.

“They were the nearest humans and, since Bartholomew insists on purity, there’s no worry of them being tainted,” he said smugly. “Easy pickings, as they say.”

“But…” I began.

“No time to talk,” he interjected as  he drove his powerful fangs into the soldier’s thick neck.

I watched with disgust and awe as he drank freely from the body that was rapidly losing its life force.  Panic set in as I realized he had no intention of leaving this man alive.  He would drink his fill and then expect me to finish draining him.  The world spun while I hyperventilated.  What happened to only taking as much as you needed?

“Stop,” he growled as he lifted his bloody mouth from the soldier’s juggler vein and shoved the body toward me.  “You must be strong.”

I commanded my body to behave and took a deep breath. Hesitating only briefly after observing the disapproval that consumed his handsome face, I produced my own fangs and sank them into the wound he’d created.  He was right.  This was no time to be a wimp.  I drank reluctantly at first, but then something came over me and I sucked with unabashed greed. The blood had a bitter, metallic taste. It certainly wasn’t as delicious as the sweet nectar animals provided, but it created a sensation of incredible power.  After only a small amount, I was sure I could conquer the world single handedly.  Strength and power surged through my body with every drop of blood I robbed from the lifeless soldier.

I drank him dry, but I still couldn’t stop myself from seeking more.  Luthias was forced to wrestle the soldier’s corpse from my grasp and shake me back to my senses.  He must have been expecting me to react like that because he was clearly okay with it. 

He explained that all vampires behaved that way when they first taste human blood.  He also admitted to taking most of the blood himself because he knew that once I sank my teeth into the soldier’s flesh and experienced the rush, I wouldn’t have stopped until the soldier had nothing left to give.  Not only would that have left Luthias with the need to fetch another meal for himself, but I would have ingested far too much of the intoxicating fluid for a newbie.  He wanted me to slowly adapt to the new feeding method, so I could build up a tolerance for the euphoria and the strength to stop when it was time. Although he was glad to relieve Bartholomew’s ranks of a soldier, it wouldn’t always be the enemy we fed on.  He wanted to make sure no innocent human lost his or her life due to my inability to control my feeding.

Flashes of my raw behavior after I’d first turned came and went.  I paced the forest floor in agitated remorse over the lack of more blood to consume.  I spotted a squirrel and grabbed it quickly, in hopes I could alleviate the need that gripped my core. I spat the blood out with disgust.  After experiencing the euphoria of drinking the blood of a human, I couldn’t imagine ever drinking from an animal again.

“It takes practice and willpower to refrain from human blood,” Luthias said softly as he came up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “I equate it to the willpower addicts exercise when drugs are placed in front of them.”

I shuddered at his touch, but not in a good way.  I was suddenly and unexplainably angry over the fact that he’d deprived me of all of the soldier’s blood. I hated him for it.  I shrugged out of his grip and moved a few feet away while refusing to look at him.

“I was afraid this might happen,” he said sadly.

“You were afraid what might happen?” I snapped in a deep, harsh voice that didn’t even sound like me.

I was a bit startled when I heard myself speak and a small part of me was ashamed of my behavior.  I wanted to apologize. I looked at his sad face and longed to kiss it happy, but that was only a small part of me.  The majority of me felt an angry energy surge.  I wanted to kill everything and anything within my reach; including him.  I knew that if I didn’t get away from him, I might attempt to do just that.  He may have been a one-thousand-year old vampire, but the strength of a newbie vampire and magic was on my side.  Even if I didn’t win, it would prove a battle of all battles.

“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.

“It will get better,” he said with obvious sorrow.  “I was hoping the magic in you would prevent this type of reaction, but I guess not.”

“Reaction?” I practically screeched vehemently. “If you call feeling free and powerful and strong a reaction, then why would you want it to be prevented?  I’m a queen after all.  I would think you’d be happy for the power I feel inside me.” When he didn’t respond I added, “Or is it the fact that I’m calling you out for what you are… a greedy old vampire who left me only scraps for my meal?”

“Casey, listen…,” he began.

“No, you listen,” I practically growled.  “I didn’t want to come on this little mission and leave my son behind, but now that I’m here, and now that I’ve sampled how a vampire truly should be surviving, I want you to know that I feel angry and cheated.  Not because of that pathetic meal,” I said with a huff. “There’s plenty more where that came from.  It’s because of the way you and Geo deceived me about what it is to be a vampire.  You sucked me into your warped world and kept me in the dark.  I’ll have no more of it.  In fact, I’ll have no more of you!”  I turned on my heels to leave and then stopped when I didn’t have a clue where I was or where we were going.  “I need you to get me to Vampire Land.  After that I want nothing more to do with you.  Am I understood?”

Deep in the recesses of my mind and heart I ached for the sadness I witnessed in his eyes.  A miniscule piece of my heart went out to him. I imagined reaching out to caress his cheek and telling him that all would be well.  I wanted to assure him I’d get over it and be back to normal soon, but that was only in my imagination.  What dominated my actions was an almost uncontrollable fury that threated to consume me body and soul. I felt helplessly out of balance.  I thought my hormones were raging after I gave birth to Braedon, but this was so much worse.  My bones wanted to jump out of my body, my skin itched from deep within, my stomach gnawed for relief.  I needed to do something to balance me once again, but what?

Before Luthias could fathom my actions, I raced with vampire speed toward Bartholomew’s small encampment. I was sure I needed more blood to balance my body and, like Luthias said, the pickings were easy there.

I’d covered precious little ground before he was upon me. I grunted unceremoniously as he pounced on me with brute strength.  My face slammed into the blanket of compost created by fallen leaves and branches that mixed with the dark, soil they nourished.  I struggled under his weight with a frenzy I didn’t know I was capable of, but he kept his weight atop me and held my arms fast behind my back for the considerable length of time it took for me to settle down.

“Get off me,” I barked as I spit soil, bits of leaves, and remnants of twigs out of my mouth.  “I can’t believe you did that, you brute!”

“Call me what you like.  I’m not budging until you settle down and get yourself under control,” he said firmly.

“I hate you,” I  spat.

“It’s the blood,” he said sadly.  “It does that to certain vampires.  I’m sorry you are one of them.  I should have expected it after what happened when Geo did his best to clean up the mess Charles left.”

“What mess is that?  Me? So, I’m a mess, am I?  You consider me a mess?” I huffed. 

“Charles only half turned you on purpose. It was his intention to let you die in excruciating pain,” he explained with surprising patience.  “He’d left far too much of his blood in you for Geo to counteract easily.  In short, he left Geo a mess to deal with.  We were fortunate my brother was powerful enough to handle it or you wouldn’t be here right now.  I’m sorry you’re going through this.”

I knew he was speaking truth and I knew I should be apologizing for my anger, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Instead, I ignored them and said, “Sorry about what? Sorry that it gives me power like I’ve never known before?  Or sorry that it opened my eyes to how truly selfish and brutish you can be?”

“Whatever you say,” he mumbled in a tone that was a mixture of sadness and disgust.

“Just get off me,” I demanded. 

I knew I was acting childishly, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Will you behave and not run off?” he asked cautiously.

He raised his body enough to ease the pressure of his weight from my torso and loosened his grip on my wrists just a smidgeon.

“I need more blood,” I insisted.

“I’ll get you more blood,” he said reluctantly.

“I’m capable of getting my own,” I said with unreasonable irritation.

“I have no doubt,” he said, in a way that showed his effort to appease me, “but we can’t take any chances. Even the most remote possibility that you could be discovered and caught by Bartholomew is too much of a possibility.”

“What about you?” I asked.  “Don’t you worry about getting caught?”

“I’m not the ruler of two vampire kingdoms that we are counting on allying with Verso for what I suspect will be the battle of the century,” he replied.

“I have no intention of acknowledging those abominable mutants,” I hissed.  “You can get that idea right out of your head.”

“Let’s see how you feel once you’ve adjusted to the new blood,” he mused, more to himself than to me.

I rested my forehead against the ground while I struggled with what to say to convince him to release me.  I saw no option than to agree with his request to sit tight and wait for him to fetch me another soldier. 

As he stood up and pulled me to my feet, he kept my wrists locked in a vice grip while he emphasized that if I tried running again he’d only catch me, but this time he’d bind me… for my own good, of course.

The goodness in me was still struggling to keep a foothold in the recesses of my mind, but it was slowly being overpowered by the cold, harsh vampire that I knew Charles’s to be.  I was losing myself to the blood. Would the next meal I took finish the job?  I felt a faint a pang of regret for the loss of the old, more human me before I pushed the thought away and grudgingly waited, hungrily, for Luthias to return.

I heeded his warning and took less blood from the second guard he presented than I craved.  I felt more in control when he pulled the guard from me, so I gave no argument.  I was no longer a raging bull who hated the world; especially Luthias.  I felt stronger and freer than I’d ever felt, but also peaceful and fairly well balanced.  Luthias admitted his surprise.  He professed limited exposure to a newbie vampire’s first time feeding on human blood. From the exposure he did have, he felt my first reaction to the blood was the normal reaction and the second feeding should have only made things worse, not better.  When I suggested that, since no two humans were alike, perhaps it rang true for vampires as well, he shrugged and sheepishly agreed.

It wasn’t long before I was back to my old self again and feeling just awful about the way I’d treated him.  After emphasizing how sorry I was for my behavior so many times I lost count, he grew exasperated and took me into his arms so he could slowly kiss me quiet. A sensation of peace and well-being ran deep to my core. It was a kiss that told me all was well.  It was a kiss that honored me for who I was and what I was about to attempt to accomplish.  It was a kiss that told me this ancient vampire loved me and would do what was necessary to protect me. Of that, I had no doubt.

Fond memories of our love making and his fun loving, teasing behavior after I’d saved him from his own extinction with my blood filtered through my mind as he wrapped me in his arms and consumed my lips with his own.  I couldn’t stop myself from comparing his zeal for life and laughter to Geo’s stern and steady seriousness.  They were in too stark a contrast to ignore.  I found myself straining to recall a time when Geo laughed and teased me in such a manner, but could remember none.  I silently contemplated on what bonded me so with Geo.  It was more than the child we shared, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  Was it truly love?  I loved Luthias as well.  Were there that many levels of love a woman could feel for men?  I just didn’t know.

I sighed and pushed the thoughts from my mind as I allowed myself to enjoy Luthias’s tender embrace for just a little longer.