The Diary of the Vam’pir Jacques (The Diaries of the Immortals #1)

Chapter Twelve.

O ne night, we were attending a birthday party for Marel, who was still alive and very elderly, when tragedy struck yet again.

This time it was D’vid…

D’vid was late as he leisurely strolled through the forest on his way to Har’ches. Luce had spotted him and trailed him.

What I tell you is Luce’s own accounting, for none of us saw this bar him.

“What’s the matter, Luce?” D’vid asked.

Normally, Luce was wary, so D’vid wanted to know what was wrong.

“Some bad man is behind you,” Luce answered D’vid, looking around. D’vid looked, but didn’t see anyone.

“Do you recognise him?” D’vid questioned.

Luce nodded, shaking. “How?”

“He is the one that killed those people back on New Kaltos. I once saw him doing it, and he chased me, but I got away. D’vid, I was frightened he might be trying to hurt you,” Luce explained.

D’vid laughed, pulling Luce into a hug.

“Don’t you recognise our strength? Nobody can kill or hurt us,” he replied, slinging an arm around Luce, intending to walk to Marel’s with him.

“No D’vid. He picked people up and broke every bone in their body with one hand. He is nasty and evil, and means you harm. The bad man has been following you for weeks, and so I have followed him.”

D’vid frowned. “Luce, you didn’t tell us you saw this murderer before. Why?”

“He frightened me very much. He said that he would kill me if I ever told anyone. That was why he framed me for murder. I wouldn’t have said anything if I hadn’t seen him trailing you. Since you were always with another Vam’pir, I assumed you were safe. It is only when I realised you were not at Marel’s, that I got worried and came looking for you.”

“That sentiment is nice. Perhaps we should start moving.”

Luce nodded his agreement violently.

They moved swiftly through the forest, with D’vid now aware that someone was indeed following. As they neared the city D’vid got the shock of his life when a figure jumped out in front of him.

“Claudias!” D’vid cried in astonishment. He stumbled over his words, “I—I saw your skeleton!”

Claudias stretched and laughed. “No, you saw the bones of my assistant. I killed the fool just before the island sunk. I escaped and have been wandering this world searching for you. Because if anyone would survive, it would be you.”

Luce backed away from Claudias, who he’d seen murder a person with his bare hands.

“Why?” D’vid asked bluntly. “I can’t believe it is out of any brotherly feeling.”

“Correct as usual, brother dear. I came to finish what I started over five hundred years ago. I mean to kill you. Why couldn’t you just die when I first tried?”

“Because, like you, I am a stubborn bastard,” D’vid said, rushing at Claudias.

D’vid bowled Claudias over and carried him into a thick bush.

Luce stood rooted to the spot in terror. There was a yell as Claudias flung D’vid and shoved him.

Claudias threw D’vid on the ground and grabbed a branch from the floor of the forest. Luce swung into action as D’vid lay sprawled on the ground.

Luce snatched another branch and flung it in Claudias’s direction. Claudias growled as it broke over his back, but he remained standing. He swung an outstretched arm and sent Luce flying into a bush.

“Luce!” D’vid cried from his position.

As Claudias approached, D’vid took his legs out and clipped Claudias, tumbling him onto the ground. Like lightning, D’vid targeted his brother’s throat.

Claudias laughed and merely brushed him away.

D’vid flew for a second time.

“How the fuck did you grow so strong?” D’vid demanded, circling his sibling and looking for an opening.

“Yours wasn’t the only experiment I was meddling in. There was also one for great strength. It builds and hardens your muscles, so eventually, I could be as strong as you. Naturally, I injected myself just before Kaltos sank. I guessed I would need it to kill you, baby brother.”

“Why, Claudias? Why? What harm did I ever do you?”

D’vid threw a punch that glanced off his brother’s chin. In return, Claudias swung back, breaking D’vid’s nose.

“Why? Because you weren’t their child. I was. You were adopted, and they doted on you. Mother couldn’t have any more children after me, but Mother wanted another son, and so they adopted you. D’vid, you were their angel, and I was pushed to the side.

“But only until you showed your true tendencies, and I was back in their good books. You were a complete waste of space, and I hated you. Now, my goal is to kill you. For years I searched for you,” Claudias spat.

D’vid dropped his arms, stunned, as Claudias drew a knife and targeted D’vid’s chest. Blood gushed everywhere as Claudias hit the heart-dead centre.

Claudias let go of the knife as D’vid collapsed to his knees.

“Not their son?” D’vid asked his brother.

Claudias knelt and put his face in front of D’vid’s.

“No, you never were. Your adoption was due to your birth family’s inability to manage their large number of children. You weren’t even wanted by your real parents,” Claudias screamed the words at D’vid.

In a split second, a knife was plunged into Claudias’s back by Luce, who had crept up on him. Claudias collapsed on top of D’vid, who was murmuring, “my heart doesn’t beat any more, brother; this is not a fatal wound. I’ll live.”

Claudias shrieked his rage to the stars and pulled the knife from his back, and stabbed it into D’vid again and again. He laughed like a mad man as Luce fled into the forest in search of help.

◆◆◆

Here is where I resume control of the story.

We were all in the Community Hall when Luce flew in, covered in blood.

“D’vid! His brother!” Luce panted, trying to get some sense out.

“What is it?” Ricardus demanded.

“D’vid’s brother attacked and tried to kill him. Hurry and bring blood. D’vid said he couldn’t be killed.”

Marel rushed forward, holding several bags of blood as we raced into the night to try and find D’vid. Luce led the way as he panted out the story of what had happened. When we reached the spot, D’vid was gone.

Claudias lay on his back staring sightlessly up at the stars, and there was great pool of blood where D’vid had laid.

“Maybe D’vid’s tried to get help. Spread out!” I ordered desperately.

I didn’t want to consider that D’vid had indeed passed.

That was too horrific a thought.

Nobody found anything, although we searched all night and all the next one. During the entire day, Luce searched with the Har’chen but never spotted any trace of D’vid. D’vid must have died from his wounds, and I refused to accept this at first. But in my heart, I knew he was gone.

We mourned D’vid for months, and I never fully recovered from his loss.

Discovering that Claudias had been alive all along and hunting for D’vid with murderous intent was a shocking revelation. At least we had an answer as why D’vid had been so hated, but it served no purpose now. Poor D’vid had passed knowing the truth, that he wasn’t wanted, and had never been.

The Vam’pirs had loved him, but the feeling of not belonging to his own family had haunted D’vid. D’vid had finally died with answers about how they so easily threw him out of their close-knit group. He’d passed knowing that he had failed all their expectations, and that Claudias had really and truly hated him. Not a pleasant way to die, is it?

The Vam’pirs suffered a loss, causing repercussions that lasted for years. Vam’pirs were not invincible like we believed. Even though Claudias had taken some type of strength serum, it was still possible to kill a Vam’pir. Until then, we believed our worries were limited to fire and the sun, but that wasn’t true.

Although it did puzzle me. D’vid’s wounds had been serious, the stabbing in the heart, for example, but how could that have killed him? The scenario haunted me for years.

The next disaster that happened was a disease, which flew around Har’ches, killing without mercy. Today, you have a name for it, rabies; we just called it a killer. How rabies came about, we weren’t sure, because we were scrupulously clean and tidy. The origins were traced back to an injured animal that was duly shot, but the damage had been done.

This type of rabies had never been witnessed previously.

Medics immediately used antibiotics, which were effective temporarily before the disease mutated. An animal bite causes today’s rabies. Not this version. The disease mutated enough so that it became airborne.

Adult and child alike were struck down and died. Death is an indiscriminate killer, and every family was affected by at least one. With Vam’pirs, it was Cleo. Cleo was one of the first, and I watched her during the night with Emil, refusing to leave her bed.

Rabies didn’t affect Vam’pirs, so we were quite safe. Luce stayed with Cleo during the day with Mihal. Cleo suffered for a week before she finally succumbed to death. It was horrible watching someone you loved drift away, and Har’chen and Vam’pirs were helpless in death’s embrace. Cleo wasted away with a high fever and foaming at the mouth.

Mihal looked terrible as he refused to leave her side and then he got it, too. Inka and I thought that we were going to lose him. Once again, I sat at a bedside praying and hoping for the best and again, the worst happened. Mihal looked like death warmed up, and we resigned ourselves. Inka begged me to help him, but I knew not what to do.

“Please, Jaq, save him,” Inka pleaded over and over again.

I glanced at her, heartbroken. This was something that I hadn’t considered. That Inka and I would have to watch our child die.

It was hard enough dealing with my father’s, Maryn’s, and recently D’vid’s deaths. Somehow, I’d blocked the connotations of Maryn’s death from my mind. Watching Mihal was terrifying, yet we were helpless. The Medics were working as hard as possible to discover a cure. If medical personnel couldn’t find one, then how could I?

“Inka, I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching for her.

“No, you are not!” Inka screamed. “You never wanted Mihal, and you’re jealous of him! I’ve seen the way you look at him! Mihal’s the man you never will be, and you hate him for it.”

I reeled back, shocked as Inka flew at me, fingers curved to claw my face. Stunned, I let Inka attack without thinking of defending myself. Inka slapped me hard and scratched my face deep enough to draw blood. I finally caught hold of Inka’s wrists and held her tightly as Inka screamed and railed at me to let go.

After a while, Inka stopped and slumped in my arms.

“Jaq, Mihal is my baby. How can we let him die? Mihal’s all I have apart from you, and I can’t lose him.”

Saddened, I stroked Inka’s hair as she sobbed heartbrokenly.

Mihal had stopped fighting the illness and laid there in his lucid moments, murmuring Cleo’s name over and over again. I knew just how Mihal felt, for had I not watched Inka die? The difference being Inka rose from the dead, and Cleo wouldn’t.

“Sweetness, I can’t do anything,” I soothed, stroking Inka’s back as she hiccupped.

“Make him like us!” Inka whispered.

I froze.

Surely, that was grief-talking and not sanity.

But Inka continued, “Jaq, you can do it. Mihal will heal and never leave me. We can help him get over Cleo. Mihal must live, Jaq, for I cannot live without him.” Steadily, Inka’s voice grew in strength as her hope rose.

Cruelly, I dashed it.

“How could I do that to him? Mihal would not wish to live without Cleo. You are being selfish to try and deny Mihal the chance to be with Cleo again.”

Inka flung away from me and looked at me, filled with rejection. For the second time that night, I froze, unable to believe Inka’s hate filled expression look.

“You hate him! You want Mihal to die!” Inka screeched, hurting my ears.

“Inka, no!” I exclaimed.

Before the conversation could go any further, a medic, Jaxe rushed into the room, holding a tray of medical instruments.

“We have devised a cure and are administering it to those affected. Mihal’s one of the first,” Jaxe cried.

Anxiously, I watched as Jaxe picked up a bottle of amber fluid and injected a syringe into it. Worried, I put out a hand to stop her.

“Has it been tested?” I asked, concerned.

“Only in the lab, Jacques. We have to try this,” Jaxe argued, slapping a band on his Mihal’s arm to make the vein stand out.

“You’re not doing it,” I said sternly. “Mihal is not a lab rat.”

Jaxe ignored me and carried on, saying over her shoulder, “Mihal’s dying, anyway. Don’t deny him this chance.”

Jaxe injected the needle into Mihal’s vein before I could voice further arguments and withdrew it.

“Only time will tell now. Excuse me, others need of this.”

Jaxe left the room, and I gazed at Inka crouching by her son’s bed. I put my hand on her shoulder, intending to reassure, but she threw it off.

Inka made it clear I wasn’t wanted, so I left.

While leaving, I ran into Pari.

“You are right, without Cleo, Mihal’s life is empty,” Pari said, agreeing with me as he, too, left the home of his dead daughter.

Grieving the loss of Cleo, I slumped onto a cushion and prepared to wait. Just before dawn came, Mihal’s fever lessened, and he began to come around.

I returned to Mora and curled into my coffin, hurt and angry that Inka could have thought such a thing of me. The next night I refused to talk to Inka, and she showed no inclination of interacting with me.

I was still furious when I visited Mihal at home.

“You are right, Father,” Mihal said.

“What?” I queried.

“Without Cleo, my life feels meaningless, and I question my wish to continue living. Mother loves me as much as I love her, but she is not Cleo.”

On mentioning Cleo’s name, Mihal broke down into quiet sobs, and I comforted him as best as I could. Inka walked in on us at that moment of time, and she pushed me to one side to gather Mihal in her arms.

Inka’s glare followed me out of the room, signalling that the damage was done. Refusing to help Mihal had not endeared me. Over time, Inka would forgive, but not straight away.

◆◆◆

Nathan dropped a bombshell a few nights later when he walked into Mora (the name of our cave system) with another woman. Christa was reed thin and tall, and I recognised her as a member of the council. A few eyebrows were raised as no outsider was allowed to enter Mora, let alone know where we lived.

“By the Creator’s soul!” Julia exclaimed, noticing before everyone else. “Christa’s a Vam’pir!”

In the pandemonium that followed. Nathan and Christa tried to talk, but the hall was full of shouting and accusations.

“How did this happen?” Ricardus asked, panic-stricken.

“Not the serum, surely!” Ana added, biting her nails in worry.

“Oh no, that can’t be!” Eduardo exclaimed.

“We don’t know,” Nathan finally managed to get a word in.

Lying bastard, Nathan knew.

“How and are there any others?” Pari questioned through red-rimmed eyes.

Pari was in a dreadful state, with Emil faring no differently. Having our grandchildren helped, but it didn’t ease the sorrow of losing Cleo.

“There is no more, but how Christa became one of us is a mystery,” Nathan replied.

Nathan looked at Christa and smiled reassuringly. Christa took it in her stride.

“Did you have the illness?” Inka asked.

“I believed I was near death, thinking I had passed away, yet here I am. I’m unsure of why or how, but here I am.”

Christa shrugged bony shoulders as I continued to glare at Nathan, who completely ignored me and refused to look in my direction.

Go on , Nathan , I silently goaded. Tell the others that you were lovers.

Nathan had definitely figured out how to transfer this curse. How, I couldn’t even begin to imagine, but he had. Christa must have been pretty hot for Nathan to risk it, as he was a vain bastard. Maybe Nathan just wanted the eternal gratitude, but I knew he’d changed Christa on purpose.

Nathan sneaked out as the others tentatively welcomed Christa and made her feel welcome. They also tried to prise what had happened to make her a Vam’pir, but she wouldn’t tell.

Determined to gain an answer, I stalked out after Nathan.

“I can’t quite explain how I stumbled across the technique, but I shall try,” Nathan said without turning to face me. “I visited Christa every night and watched her slowly dying. The cure the medics discovered didn’t help, it just hastened the disease. There had been one or two cases like Christa’s, but I let them die. Christa, I wanted to live, even if it was this existence.”

“Christa makes you feel that good?”

Nathan wasn’t in love with her. Love was an entity Nathan couldn’t understand.

“Oh yes. Christa is a brilliant and inventive lover, and I wanted her all to myself. Christa gives me as much pleasure as I suppose anyone can. I can’t say that I’m in love, but the thought of Christa dying turned my stomach, hence the experiment.”

“How?”

“Well, I realised that due to our supernatural bodies, Vam’pirs could not get a disease. I began to wonder why. I still can’t tell you what led me to the conclusion. But it occurred that if I drank Christa’s blood and returned it to her, the antibodies in our system might help. So, I did it.”

“Just like that?” I asked, interested despite myself.

“Yes. Tonight, Christa was on her deathbed, and she wouldn’t last another night. I gathered Christa into my arms and bit into the jugular vein in her neck. Jacques, the ecstasy of drinking live blood, I can’t describe. I struggled to keep my mind focused, and only just succeeded.

“For some reason, I heard Christa’s heart slowing, and I opened my wrist and pushed her mouth onto it. The blood dripped into Christa’s mouth, and at first, there was nothing, and suddenly Christa fastened on. She held me captive as she drank deeply. Indescribable pain coexisted with pleasure. It felt like experiencing repeated orgasms.”

“Really?”

“Yes, then, before my eyes, Christa changed. The colour came back into her cheeks, and she seemed to grow healthy. The only thing was,” Nathan paused, grimacing.

“Go on,” I encouraged him.

“Well, Christa died like we did.”

“Just like what happened to us?”

“Yep, just as we passed, so did Christa, leaky body fluids and everything. But then returned to life. But now I have someone eternally grateful to me for their life. Plus, Christa’s an exciting lover…” Nathan paused, flushed and looked at me.

I slung an arm around his shoulders.

“This stays between us,” I said, answering his unasked question. “No one need to be told. Please refrain from doing this in the near future. Allow them to become familiar with Christa before introducing someone else.”

Nathan grinned in the darkness before kissing me on the mouth and nipping my bottom lip. “That’s the reason I adore you,” he expressed before strolling away into the night.

I laughed at Nathan’s cockiness. The bugger knew I wouldn’t spill the beans to the others, and so did I. Let Nathan have his slave to admire him. I did not care. Nathan would bore of Christa eventually, and she would have to make her way without him, but that was her choice.

Or was it? I didn’t remember Nathan saying he gave Christa one. What the hell!

That was Nathan all over.

Now I knew how we could create others and was going to keep the knowledge to myself. Although it could cause trouble in the future, the three in the know kept quiet.

◆◆◆

Over the next few months, Har’ches healed, but we had buried over half the population before the cure was found. Har’ches would never recover from this loss. Life was not a struggle for them, but having children became one. It took two years for the first birth to occur after the disease struck, and it was just one.

Har’chen health wasn’t affected, but our spirits were low as we wondered what else we would have to go through. It was a fact that we thought that we’d fallen out of favour with the Creator, and we tried even harder to live the life he wanted us to.

Next, the side effects of the serum became evident. Those women who’d had it were barren, and finally, we accepted that Har’ches would not be what it once was.

Accepting this heavy blow was incredibly tough. That ruled out over half the surviving women from having children, and it was decided that any multiple births would be shared out if the parents agreed.

A decision was made that any woman encountering her Phases would have to birth a child for Har’chen to survive. The women agreed readily and searched out prospective mates for that reason.

◆◆◆

Then came the day I changed Mihal into a Vam’pir—and all hell broke loose.

On his way back from a meeting, Mihal chose a route through the forest to give himself some time for reflection. He had fallen into a hole.

The way Mihal fell was twisted; the hole was not that deep, but he had broken his spine and was dying. This time, Inka was calmer and prepared to meet his death, only I wouldn’t let Mihal die.

That night, I went to Mihal and offered him eternal life. Mihal refused it bluntly, just wanting to go and join Cleo.

“What about your mother?” I asked.

“What about her?” Mihal demanded.

“She’ll take this badly.”

“No, Mother has prepared herself that I’ll pass one day, and this looks like the time, Father.”

Mihal was so calm that I wanted to shake him. Yes, Inka might have prepared herself, but she would still take it horribly.

And I refused to endure the accusations.

“Sorry, son, but this time, I’m going to give Inka what she wants.”

Mihal twisted his head to look at me and frowned. “You can’t give me eternal life, Father. That is not possible.”

I leant forward to breathe in his ear. “Oh yes, it is, and I’ll be giving it to you.”

I gathered Mihal carefully in my arms, not wanting to hurt him unless absolutely necessary.

Mihal turned his head weakly, trying to escape, but he couldn’t move, and I bit into his neck.

Dear Creator, I can’t find the words to capture the euphoria I experienced.

My fangs tore into Mihal’s flesh and found the vein. The blood pumped freely into my mouth, filling me with ecstasy. Nathan had been right; the pleasure was indescribable. This was pure heaven, and I forgot it was my son whose blood I was drinking.

I drank deeper and deeper, not wanting to ever stop. This was what heaven truly was. I had finally found it and wasn’t willing for it to leave me. Suddenly, I heard Mihal’s heartbeat slowing down, exactly as Nathan had explained.

At once, I released Mihal, and he was barely breathing. For a moment, I paused. Should I just let him die?

No , I answered myself, Inka would never forgive me .

I bit into my wrist and forced Mihal’s mouth onto it. In Mihal’s weakened state, he couldn’t push me away, and then the first few drops of blood fell on his tongue. I felt Mihal lick my skin, and then he fastened on.

Mihal tugged and licked to make the blood flow freely, and I held his head tight to make sure he did not pull off. Then the blood flowed, and I felt myself weaken as he drank again and again.

I didn’t know if I was doing right… and then the pain hit. It was like what I had first experienced when I died.

Waves of pain swept over me, and I struggled to release myself, but Mihal held me firm. He kept sucking until I thought he intended to drain me dry. Then, with a massive push, I flew away from him.

I looked at Mihal, dazed, as he rose on his bed and stood up tall and strong. Mihal stretched like a satisfied cat, and I just lay there looking at him. Any minute now, I thought, any second, it would hit.

It did.

Mihal doubled up in pain and cried out. I watched as my human son died, and a Vam’piric one took his place. Years fell away from Mihal as his body went through its human death. Mihal’s bowels and bladder emptied, and he began retching.

Inka walked in, right in the middle of this. Her face showed total confusion, and then, slowly, recognition of Mihal’s death throes registered.

“What have you done?” Inka cried, rushing to where he lay on the floor, twisting and stretching in agony.

“Made Mihal immortal like you wanted,” I answered, still weak from the lack of blood.

I would have to remedy that.

“You did what ?” Inka screeched, disbelief etched into her face.

“You wanted him immortal, and so I made him one!” I yelled at her.

What was wrong with her? Inka had got what she wanted.

“No! Not this time, Jacques! I was prepared for Mihal to go. I wanted him to finally find rest and join his beloved! Now you have taken that away from him!” Inka cried.

I rose to my feet, albeit a little unsteadily. “You did not want Mihal to die!” I accused in a husky voice.

Damn, I coughed clear my throat.

“No, of course I didn’t, but I had accepted the fact. You’ve ruined it as usual. Mihal was going to join Cleo, and we all accepted it. I come to terms with the fact Mihal must pass one day, and now you have done this, you stupid bastard!”

I looked at Inka, completely puzzled. First, she wanted him immortal, and now I’d done it, Inka wanted Mihal dead. “I wish you would make your bloody mind up,” I snapped.

“I was hysterical with shock last time. You really thought that I wanted my son to live like us?” “Well, now Mihal will.”

I pushed away from the wall and walked unsteadily towards the entrance.

“You now have your damn son forever, and that was what you wished, admit it or not.”

Mihal began crying loudly as his body went through its final death, and then he straightened. Despite his age of over four hundred years, Mihal looked like a vibrant young man.

I nodded, and he stared impassively at me.

“Why, father? Tell me why?” Mihal asked.

“Because your mother wanted it. Whether she will admit it is a different matter.”

“Get out, Jacques. I wanted Mihal to find peace, and all you have given him is a final and lasting pain.”

“Well, Mihal can go out into the sun if he’s that desperate to join Cleo.”

Inka threw a heavy vase with all her might, and it missed by inches. She took her son in her arms and turned her back.

I sighed.

I didn’t understand Inka and still don’t. What is it with her?

If Mihal had died and left her alone, she would have blamed me for the rest of my living days. I turn him into one of us, so he never leaves her, and now Inka blames me for that.

I’d my fill of bullshit and stormed into the forest, heading for home.

Nose out of joint, I charged through the passages in Mora until I stumbled upon a small, vacant cave. Grumpily, I flung myself down into a ball and sulked for the remainder of the night.