Chapter 2
Keir moved me back to the couch gently. I sat down at his
bidding only because I still wasn't too aware of my surroundings
and was in a bit of shock. I didn't feel like sitting because I
now had so much energy I could probably run a race or two.
There was a knock at the door and I only somewhat acknowledge
the two guys who entered, picked up Al's body and left again.
All gone, as if it never happened.
Keir sat down and I fell into his lap again. He wrapped a big
arm over me and made me feel warm. He said not unkindly; "You
keep forgetting we're killers by nature. Don't allow your
feelings for them to get in the way too much or else you may
starve. For now you can grieve. I know what he meant to you.
Despite my own feelings for him he was an honorable man."
I couldn't help feeling grateful to Keir for this. It also
triggered a memory of something I said once, "Keir, the day you
start caring about me or my feelings is the day I become a
vampire." It seems the King is not the only one making
prophecies.
"I know you are going through a lot right now. It is my place
to answer your questions, but you must know not all of your
questions are answerable." He fiddled with my hair a little
bit. He waited for me to come up with my first question.
I didn't have a clue where to start. Most had been answered
when they filled my brain with information a little while ago,
but this is not what he was talking about, he wasn't talking
about rules and protocol.
The problem was this wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to run to
Bram, to be with him. He always answered everything without me
asking. He was my comfort and I needed him.
Keir whispered, "You don't need him. I will give you
everything you need. I'm not just your genitor. I am your
teacher, your friend, and your lover. I will always be here for
you."
I know his words were sincere. I felt so much now. Including
feelings for him, a bond I feared that may never be broken. I
wanted that bond with Bram. How I wish it were he who was my
genitor.
Keir gripped me tighter and I dropped the thought. It was not
to be. Keir was right one never escapes slavery. I gave into
him and relaxed in his arms.
"Good, now I have so much to show you." He spoke aloud to keep
my attention on him. "Look at my hand, do you see anything
different about it?" He held it out before my face. I looked.
It was big and black as it normally was. "See beyond what your
human eyes see."
I looked again, though I wasn't sure how to do what he said.
Just like when reading people's minds, it seemed to work better
when I didn't concentrate so much. I had stopped focusing so
much on his hand as on everything in my field of view. I
thought as I looked away a bit there was some vibration in his
fingers. Either that or his hand just moved without me knowing.
There it was again. I blinked. Just as a sanity check, okay,
insanity check, I lifted my own hand. It too vibrated.
Is this what it feels like to be on drugs? I brought my hand
closer. I saw the blood and cells moving around my hand caused
the vibrations. The detail astounded me, it wasn't as if I
could see in my hand just the pulsation they made on the
surface, that and the constantly renewing dead skin cells. I
doubted I'd ever have dry skin again. I instinctually knew that
I would not see this sort of thing in any human, thus it would
be easy to tell vampires from humans without ever touching
anyone's mind.
Keir felt my understanding and moved on to a new subject.
"Nutriri comes in many forms. The most obvious is drinking
blood. I believe you already know the other."
"Fear." I said remembering how they had treated me.
"More precisely: strong emotions. You already know this. What
you did not know is we do not limit ourselves to only servants
for this." This didn't bode well and would explain why there
were so many conspiracies around here. "Yes, we do hide
emotions and information from each other for this reason. Can
you imagine what incredible things you might feel absorbing
strong vampire emotions?"
He sat me up and positioned me to look directly in his eyes. I
felt a wave of happiness as Keir dropped his shields.
Immediately I was in his mind. I couldn't really go that far
because his emotions overwhelmed me. Hell, I felt so happy I
wanted to cry. Keir's intentions were clear and I braced myself
before he even started to move in to kiss me.
I felt in that moment more passion and pleasure than I ever
thought possible. I felt stronger than even moments before. I
tore at Keir's shirt hungry for more.
He pushed me away gently and laughed. His thoughts spoke of
the irony of the reversal of our positions. I wanted to slap
him for his audacity but his laughter was literally contagious
and I laughed too. He was right. It was silly of me to get
upset.
Just as quickly it faded. Keir was still smiling I just
couldn't feel it anymore. "You'll find in crowds you could
become so exhilarated that you may begin to feel ill."
"That's why a lot of vampires stay away from the slave court?"
"Precisely."
No wonder Lacey never would subortus she was too sociable.
Thinking about her broke my own barrier and I plunged again into
the random thoughts of slaves including Lacey who, wallowing in
her frustration, scrubbed a bloodstain off a wall. I slowly
isolated myself from those other thoughts and felt a bit of
loneliness.
My mind wandered back to Al and I finally thought of a
question. "Is it always like that? How does anyone keep from
killing?"
"Eventually you'll learn to stop before you feel the tug on the
human's life. Sometimes it happens naturally, but like so many
other things it takes practice. For the most part you should
err on the side of caution, take less blood than you need until
you feel more comfortable with the process. I'm afraid Al is
the only one for now that you are given leeway on. Remember
that before your next nutrio. I will be there for a few
nutriri, just in case you are not able to control it."
Wonderful, even as a vampire I wasn't free from him.
Oh and if his use of Latin isn't obvious, nutrio and its plural
nutriri, simply means to suckle or nourish, or in this usage,
the drinking of blood. Why they can't just say that is beyond
me. I know we use them because of the King. What confuses me
is Keir's sudden love for the language. It's as if I've been
let into the club so now I get to know all the secret codes. I
wondered if Keir's "this is how you spot a vampire" speech was
really showing me their secret handshake. Yes, the bad pun was
intended.
Keir doesn't like puns. He felt I had learnt enough and it was
time for bed.
***
I sat on the ground playing with the blocks. I placed them
alternating size and shape into a sturdy structure. My father
put a hand on my small head. "There's a fine li'l castle Kiddo."
I looked up to the man. Al! Al, alive and well, and younger
than I've ever known him. "Pappy help?" I asked the way a
four, year old would. Somehow I accepted that I was only four
and Al was my father.
"Ah, not tonight, pappy has to work." I pouted and tears
almost started to fall. "Right, Mammy will stay here with ya
and help. How's that?"
"Want Pappy."
"I know. Tomorrow morn we'll play."
"Okay." Like that everything was right again. The door opened
and closed as he went out.
Later I woke with a start as someone screamed. I was halfway
across the room before I realized the door handle was rather
high. I was still a kid. This was a dream I realized. I also
knew something bad was happening in the other room. Normally
after realizing I was in a dream and that it was turning sour I
could wake myself so I wouldn't have to deal with such things.
Something compelled me to stay in the dream and open the door.
Of course by this point I knew it wasn't a normal dream.
The child in me feared what would be on the other side. A
wildcat? A banshee? A fire breathing dragon? Worse, a
dearg-dul?
I grappled at the door handle. It twisted and fell open. I
rushed around corners to where the scream came from. I was
right in knowing something horrible had occurred. I nearly peed
when I saw it was a dearg-dul.
The large, dark, evil dearg-dul looked human enough. The blood
dripping from his lips, my mother's blood, convinced me what he
was. The dearg-dul was straddled on the cold, stone floor of
our kitchen. In his arms he clutched my mother. Her neck was
bloody and so was her own lips. She was paler than I had ever
seen and she did not appear to be breathing.
He looked sad, not dangerous at all. I slowly turned the
corner to get a better look at the thing I didn't quite
understand. He didn't seem to notice me.
"Sophia, wake, please." He petted my mother's hair.
"That's Mammy, not Sopia"
His head snapped up and his mouth pulled back showing an
impressive set of teeth and two rather large fangs. I screeched
and went running for our front door. I had to find my father.
The dearg-dul made it to the door before my little legs could
take me halfway across the front room. "You." It growled.
I didn't know what to make of his comment and I didn't care. I
ran for the back door in the kitchen. He beat me to that too.
I was trapped with only my mother's body between the dearg-dul
and me. Then the strangest thing happened. My mother moved.
She was alive. I looked up to the dearg-dul and shockingly saw
relief on his face.
I ran to my mother and hugged her fragile body. She was cold
and very white. She wrapped me in her arms and the rest of the
world disappeared for a moment. My mother would protect me from
that evil dearg-dul. She endowed me with little kisses and
worked her way down my arm. My mother will- She bit into my
wrist. I screeched and tried to pull away. Why would she do
this? Why would she hurt me, her daughter? I looked up at her
face and I knew right away. She was like him now. She was a
dearg-dul. I had no strength to pull away and was losing more
by the second.
Then I was torn from her arms and thrown across the room
smashing into the cabinets. I fell to the ground. Still
conscious, I saw everything that happened next. The ugly
dearg-dul yelled at my mother, "Not like that! Not her."
Softer then and taking her face in his large hands. "I will
find you another to deplevere."
Then he fell to the ground on top of my mother's legs. There
was a large piece of wood sticking out of his back. Above them
my father stood, sword at the ready. Mother pushed the big
dearg-dul off her and she gave my father the most venomous look,
like she was a rat standing its ground against a cat. "Jesus,
all mighty, don't make me do it Oran." Father said.
She took one step forward. I could see her fangs like the
other dearg-dul. She was about to kill him! I tried to run to
him and protect him as if a four, year old could. Just as I had
gotten to my feet something rolled in front of them. I screamed
as I realized the furry, red ball was the top of my mother's
bright hair mixed with her own blood.
Father scooped me up as fast as he could and ran for the door.
He put me on top of his horse. Behind us I heard movement and
the door flung open just as he was mounting. There was a large
shadow framing the doorway. It roared. "You killed her! Run!
Run all you want. I will find you." My father spurred the
horse. "Your daughter is already dead!" Those were the last
words I heard.
***
Mumbling and the appearance of being in ten places at once gave
me a hint that I wasn't where I thought I was. I slowly opened
my eyes to another dark night. Strangely enough I could see my
surroundings and knew I was relatively safe. Arms were wrapped
about me, but they weren't my father's, nor Al's. I didn't move
for fear of waking him. I knew it was Keir and it took a few
moments for the rest of reality to set in. It had just been a
dream hadn't it? It felt so real. Of course the voices in my
head at the moment gave reality a bit of a dreamlike quality. I
woke up enough to build up a wall around my thoughts. I didn't
want to wake up too much as I might lose the memory of the
dream. Something told me it was much more than a dream. I
reached inside trying to find Al there, to see if he knew
anything of this. There was nothing like it in Al's memory.
Just a dream then, and so vampires dream just the same as
humans. The dearg-dul, I was sure was Keir, and Al was Pappy,
but who was Oran or Sophia? Nobody I recognized. Symbolism
abounded in it. No doubt the whole Keir making a vampire and
then Al killing it must mean something specifically to me.
Keir turned over and I was able to wiggle my way out of the
bed. I had no desire to fall back to sleep and continue that
dream or any other.
I moved quietly over to the couch and taking pen and paper in
hand began recounting the dream as best as I could. It was
becoming a little fuzzy but I remembered most of it. Somehow I
felt what I was doing was wrong. I shouldn't be remembering
such things.
The thoughts of others in the complex grew in strength as
people started waking up. Remembering what happened next became
increasingly difficult with each thought. I got frustrated and
instead of working on detail just began jotting down what I did
remember.
I heard the rustling of sheets behind me. It wouldn't be long
now.
"What are you doing?" Keir snapped.
"Writing." I answered. I wasn't being flippant just factual.
He stood over me the anger washing off him. "I never said you
could start again." "This is just a journal, besides I'm a
big vampire now I can do what I want." That was the wrong
answer.
I didn't even know that damn thing was in the room, let alone
within reach. Before I could move, it was wrapped around my
neck. Even as a vampire I wasn't fast enough to stop him. My
fingers gripped at the tight leather but was unable to grasp it
without digging my fingernails into my skin. If I tried it
would only cause Keir to become more angry anyway.
"Time for a new lesson." Keir hissed in my ear. "One about
pain, you can feel that can't you?"
How couldn't I? The weapon used on me to change my view of
life several years ago with the marks still upon my back made my
life miserable now. If it was at all possible this hurt more.
The whip tightened around my neck cutting off my air supply.
The metal "thorns" poked into my neck latching itself to me as
if it were vampire's teeth. It was going to hurt worse once he
pulled it out.
"Pain is greater when you're a vampire as well as the other
senses. You know what the beauty of it is?" He tightened his
grip and I began to see stars. "I can do this as many times as
I like and you won't die."
I hate that fact. I knew it before he ever said a word, but he
had a way of sinking it in so to speak. Not that I wanted to
die, but I didn't want to be continually choked by him either.
The problem is I knew if I fought it would only make things
worse. I relaxed and let oxygen leave my lungs. I went
unconscious, but only for about a second as a new pain ripped
through my neck. Each of the little thorns ripped a chunk of
meat out of me.
My eyes popped open and I inhaled a sharp breath that hurt
almost as much as my neck. I broke into a coughing fit as the
air filled my lungs. The deeper breaths I took the worse it
got. I grasped my blood, slicked throat as the fit subsided to
find no puncture wounds. I had healed without even feeling it.
Healed, yes, felt better, not really. Another thing that
surprised me was while I saw the blood and had lost much of it,
I didn't feel the desire for it. Maybe it didn't work with
one's own blood? That was a question for another time as Keir
had begun to lecture me.
"-therefore, I will not tolerate it. I am your genitor and you
will obey me." Of course he would use that over me. Just
because one is a genitor doesn't predicate that his progeniei
obey him, I knew of many who didn't follow this rule, Kama and
Heremon for instance. Yeah, whom was I kidding, there was no
way I'd fight Keir, I've had enough of that for five lifetimes.
"Yes sir."
***
A little while later I followed Keir like a lost puppy. I felt
like a slave again, not that it's been that long since I was
one. We wound through the halls to the back lot where slaves
didn't venture too often, save to feed the few who lived here.
Why I wasn't put into one of the empty rooms closer to others
wasn't immediately apparent. I knew it was useless to question
Keir on this.
When we entered a certain corridor I knew at once. There was a
room not too far from here where I nearly died, and another
whose occupant had died. The door to Erik's room was blank, no
clown in sight. As soon as Keir opened the door there was a
stale odor in the air and a bit of pine. Apparently no one had
ventured here since he had died except to clean it. I
timorously stepped inside wondering who's sick sense of humor
had me put here?
The room was empty save for a bed and a dresser. I suppose I
get to add all the accoutrements. I pictured a faceless slave
toting a box to me just before Keir said, "We'll have someone
bring your things a little later. I'll return then to monitor
your nutriri."
"Wait, you're leaving?"
"I have duties to attend. Just relax here until I return." He
walked out the door and closed it behind him. Like a scared
little four, year old I ran to switch on the light.
What the hell was I supposed to do here? I looked anxiously
around me as if Erik's ghost would pop out at any moment. I
even imagined I heard a dog whining and apprehensively peeked in
the closet only to find it empty. The voices of a hundred
slaves echoed off the walls. None were familiar. All were
ghosts of the living come to haunt my thoughts. I shivered and
looked about the room expecting to see a floating candle. There
was nothing. Which is exactly how I felt, alone. He left me
alone with nothing to keep me company except the thoughts of
others.
I hate to say this, but I miss Keir already.
By: Christine Schnell
