Bloodlust

Chapter 19

Sebastian held his camera up, the moonlight bouncing off Leona’s pale skin. She looked ethereal. Her skin was so fair, he could practically see the blue wisps of veins beneath the thin layer. For being undead and ‘soulless,’ as she claimed, she was full of life in her own way. How could he look at this woman and think she was anything other than perfect? She had a brain, she had thoughts, words, ideas, opinions, blood, everything a human being had. Her abilities were just a little more enhanced, that was all.

“I feel silly,” Leona laughed as she glanced back at him. “You’ll make sure I won’t look bad, right?”

“I don’t think you can look bad, Leona,” he reassured, closing the distance between them to show her some of the photos on his display screen. He scrolled through a few and looked over at her for her reaction. The smile on her face said it all. Relief flooded him. “See? What did I tell you?”

“You’re so good at what you do. I wouldn’t think this time of night would make for very good photographs,” she said.

“Well, not everyone is the badass photographer I am,” Sebastian teased, turning the camera off and moving to set it down in his bag.

They were in an expansive park in the northern part of town. It was after hours, but there was rarely anyone patrolling. If there were, they could easily slip away or hide. Or Leona could just… persuade them to leave them alone.

“You make me feel normal,” Leona said as she sunk onto the blanket they’d brought with them. Their dates usually had to be at night, other than the odd stormy day when they could get away with being out in the late afternoon or evening. As long as the sun wasn’t poking through the black clouds, she could operate comfortably. Otherwise… she’d be sore for days on end. “Sorry if you have to go out of your way to do anything with me. I’m sure it’d be much easier to be with someone you can go to the beach with or something.”

“I hate the beach,” Sebastian answered simply. He sat down next to her and crossed his legs, looking out toward the placid water the moonlight bounced off. “I hate most things, Leona.”

“Is that so? I would have never guessed,” she giggled.

“Apart from you,” he added with a smirk. “Most days anyway.”

Leona shoved him and Sebastian had to work to not topple over. He rolled his eyes at her cheeky apology, and he shifted to face her. “So… Other than your insane strength and smoking hot good looks… and your ability to influence how people feel and bend them to your will… What are your other powers? Do all vampires get the same ones?”

“Not necessarily,” Leona sighed, thinking about her answer. How could she explain? “I wouldn’t say I can read minds, but… like you said, I can influence how people feel. Some immortals do possess telepathy, and can clearly see into others’ heads, but I just get a gut feeling on a general mood. I can tell when you’re uneasy, unsure, scared, happy, excited, nervous. But I can’t actually hear what your inner monologue is saying. Does that make sense?”

“Yes,” Sebastian nodded. “I remember you sort of explained that during one of our first conversations. Anything else?”

“Is that not enough for you? Tough crowd,” Leona teased.

“Come on,” Sebastian whined, rolling his head back. “I’m just curious, that’s all. Every time I think I know everything about you, you come back and convince me that there’s always going to be something new to learn.”

“Hmm… Okay, we can evanesce.”

“You can what?”

Leona smiled and in a moment, she was a plume of black smoke. Sebastian jolted in shock and looked around. The woman was a mere few feet behind him, and quickly, she appeared behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest. “Evanesce. Teleport, to dumb it down for you. It takes quite a lot of energy and is very difficult. We can only go places we’ve been before,” she explained, pecking a kiss to his cheek, before returning to her spot on the blanket.

“Wow… So you can go pretty much anywhere?”

“Something like that. It’s easier to get around as an older vampire. You’ve traveled more at that point. As a fledgling, you really only get to go places you’ve gone as a human. If you were well-traveled in your past life, then you’ve got a head start. I was not,” she said. “Gideon took me a lot of places, showed me how to evanesce. It’s quite an old talent, it takes time to master. There are some vampires who never quite get it. Or at least, can only travel short distances.”

“What’s the furthest you can travel?”

“Anywhere,” she said. “Well, on Earth.”

“Damn… I wanted to go to Pluto.”

Leona laughed quietly and shook her head. “You’ll have to find someone older than me then, I’m afraid.”

“I draw the line at my women being three hundred, thank you very much. How old are you again?”

“Piss off,” she snapped, folding her arms. “Any other questions?”

“Does it hurt? Feel weird?”

“It doesn’t hurt, but it takes getting used to. It’s almost like… when you suck in a breath and hold it. That feeling of just being frozen. That’s all I can compare it to, honestly. You’d have to experience it to know what I mean.”

“Can you evanesce with another person? Or will you just disappear and the person will stay where they are?”

“I can take people with me. Not a lot, but what I can carry. So you and maybe one other person.”

“Cool,” he responded. He hated to admit it to himself, but her abilities were a big selling point to being like her. He wasn’t sure he could make that leap for teleportation and some added strength, but… it would be nice to be able to travel wherever they wanted, not worry about food, money, anything.

On the other hand, he would happily worry about those ‘earthly’ things rather than have to look over his shoulder for an ancient vampire trying to drag him back and enslave him. He felt horrible for her, and often wondered what went through her head daily. Did she think about it all the time? Even when she was with him?

“This is one of those instances when I can tell you’re bothered by something. What’s on your mind?” Leona asked, her eyebrows stitched together in concern.

“I was just thinking about Gideon,” he admitted. “Couldn’t you just evanesce away from him whenever he comes and takes you? Is that how you got out before?”

“That’s complicated,” Leona said. “Gideon… has this hold over me because he is my creator. My abilities are weakened when I’m around him. When I’m weak like that, it’s very difficult to evanesce. If he’s distracted or something, perhaps, but… the last few times he’s stolen me, he made sure I was weak constantly. He wouldn’t let me feed, he would keep his eye on me, sometimes I got thrown in his dungeon. It took Whitney and Piper breaking me out both times. I leaned on their strength. They don’t have any physical or mental connection to Gideon, so his powers aren’t as dramatic against them. He is still stronger than all three of us, but… if we’re pissed off, we can at least wound him and distract him. It takes a distraction for me to even attempt to gather myself and do what I need to do.”

“What’s their story?”

“Whose?”

“Whitney and Piper.”

“Oh,” Leona said, pondering that question. “I’ve known them for a very long time, as you know. But as far as their background… It goes deeper. I met Whitney through Gideon, but she only knows him because of Damien. Piper is completely removed from our original coven. Though… we’ve made our own coven now, I suppose. Piper’s very guarded about her past. I only know bits and pieces and I’ve known her for almost the entirety of my immortal life.”

“Does that make it hard to trust her?”

“At first… yes. But she’s stuck her neck out for me more times than I can count. I know she would die for me, and I would for her… in a heartbeat. Our bond goes deeper than just trusting each other. We’re part of each other.”

“And Whitney?”

“The same. You know you can ask them these questions. They won’t bite.”

“I’d rather ask you,” he said. She was easier to talk to. Plus, he knew she’d tell him whatever he asked. He wasn’t quite sure Piper and Whitney would be so forthcoming. And he was still pissed at them for changing his best friends, who he missed dearly. He didn’t know when he’d be able to see them again, but Leona was doing a great job at distracting him. The only time he wasn’t around her was when he was on assignments and shoots. She was never too far behind though. She often took that time away to go hunt and make sure she was safe for him to be around when he came back home.

“Fine… Who do you want to know about first?”

“Doesn’t matter. But I want to know both.”

“Okay… I can start with Piper. What I know, anyway.”

1705.

“Piper, please! See sense!”

“No, Mother. This life is for you, not for me. I don’t want to be part of all this pomp and circumstance. I want to travel, I want to see the world. I want to command ships and explore! I don’t want to be cooped up in a home with some stuffy husband who only sees me as a breeding tool. I want to be more than just a body to him while he gets drunk and fucks mistresses. Didn’t you want more with your life before all this?”

A young and vibrant Piper stared at her mother in the middle of their home. They were in England, near Liverpool, a place Piper had been all her life. She was in a pair of brown, dirty trousers, and a laced up, loose cloth shirt. Her mother was clad in a fine dress, her hair and makeup done immaculately. As usual.

“Adventuring is not a lady’s place,” Lady Aldene scoffed, shaking her head. “Where did I go wrong with you? The Aldene name is one to be proud of, and you just want to throw it all away… for what? For what, Piper? To go live out some fantasy in a world that will chew you up and spit you out? You are far too old to be fussy at this point. Before, you could have had any man in this world, and we showed you many suitable bachelors, but now… You’ll be lucky if you get someone who holds any respect in the darkest corner of the world. You are soiled.”

“I’m not soiled, Mother. I’m anything but. I’m alive. I’m alive, and I want to be free. If that means dropping the Aldene name and making a new identity for myself, then so be it. But I will not be shackled to anyone, let alone some man who can’t do anything but keep me on a rope. That may be satisfactory for you, but I won’t stand for it. I’m going.”

“Where? Where will you go, Piper? You’ll be nothing without your father and me. Absolutely nothing. You’re going to come crawling back here and we won’t have you. If you leave, you are no longer our daughter.”

“Fine,” Piper said as she stormed upstairs to pack whatever she possibly could. A life of skirts, dresses, wigs, and makeup wasn’t for her. She didn’t want to sit around each day, knitting, cross-stitching, and gossiping with the other hens of the estate on who showed whose ankles to the stableboy. Minutes later, she came bounding down the steps with a bag slung over her shoulder. Without a passing glance or a goodbye, she set off out of the house, grabbed a knife, bow, and quiver on her way out, and went about her new journey.

A few years passed and she felt like she was thriving. She had traveled from country to country, not caring about money or where she would find her next meal. Gone was the good girl brought up by the Aldene family. Here she was, just Piper, and nobody could ever take that away from her. She drank what she liked, fucked whom she liked, ate what she liked, and lived where she liked.

There were whispers of some faraway land that existed across the vast ocean, but that seemed like a dream to her. She had always believed the world to be a plane, but the stories the historians told suggested otherwise. Surely all those people couldn’t be lying about this new place? This new country to start fresh?

In her curiosity, she had booked a ship that was rumored to be exploring further than anyone had ever gone before. She hadn’t enough money to commandeer her own fleet, but that was of no consequence to her. She had her sailors and she had plenty of training behind the mast of a ship. Men had taught her all sorts, men who respected her more than just for what her body had to offer them. She didn’t trust any man as far as she could throw them, but… they certainly came in handy when she needed something.

However, a man wasn’t who ended up slaying her. A woman, whom Piper only knew as Margery, bewitched her and caught her in her snare. Piper had become quickly infatuated, finally meeting a woman who shared the same sense of whimsy and adventure she did. They had talked about going on the ship together, seeing the world, finally knowing if these rumors were just that or actually true.

They bunked together below the deck and Piper gave in to all the feelings she’d had her entire life. She felt alive, like everything had finally fallen into place. A woman who loved her for her, exactly as she was, and they could do life together.

Until one night, while Piper was asleep, Margery took her opportunity and infected the blonde. The change hadn’t taken long, a few hours at most, and Margery explained to Piper when she woke that she was to be her apprentice; that she was ‘exactly what she was looking for’ and things would be better, different that they were together.

“Doesn’t that sound nice?” Margery said with a smile. “You and me. Like we said.”

“Is that all you wanted? An apprentice? Someone to teach?” Piper asked, her voice raspy from the thirst overtaking her throat. “I wanted a partner. A lover. A wife.”

Margery merely laughed in response, as if it were the most childish notion in the world. “Such mortal concepts. This is why you need a teacher.”

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I told you why. You don’t listen, do you?”

Piper clenched her jaw, and in the next second, saw red. Using her newfound strength and rage, she ripped Margery limb from limb. The vampire had been caught off guard, not expecting such finesse from a new immortal. Piper’s past experience learning how to fight as a girl had helped in this arena, and after a bloodied heap of woman lay at her feet, she knew that this new life was meant for her.

She was just meant to walk it alone.

Afterward, her thirst took over and she killed every man aboard the ship, sucking all of them dry. Worrying that Margery may somehow return, Piper purposefully sunk the ship near Balperro, and swam the rest of the way to land back home. It was bitterly cold, and she had hoped she might die on the way, but her abilities were tested and proven to be unwavering.

A few years later, she had been hunting, and had nearly killed a redhead in the process. She had been wary of trusting her, hints of Margery coming back to the forefront of her mind. But this woman was different. She was kind. She understood. She knew how this felt, to be alone, to be misunderstood, to be taken advantage of.

From then on, Piper made a silent vow to herself to always protect Leona. She was everything to her.

“Do you think she loves you?” Sebastian asked.

“Yes,” Leona answered simply. “She does. She has told me. But the type of love she seeks from me, I cannot give her. We have long since moved on from it. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do anything for her. All she needs to do is ask, and I will fulfill her request in an instant.”

Sebastian nodded. Strangely enough to him, he didn’t feel jealous. He just felt… relieved that she had someone like that in her life.

“Sounds like you know more than just bits and pieces about her life.”

“Well… I suppose it depends on what your definition is. I don’t know hardly anything about her mortal life before what I just told you. And as far as her adventures as an immortal before I met her, she has kept tight-lipped on that. I think she feels guilt for some things she’s done. But we’ve all done terrible things. We all got better when we found each other.”

“And Whitney? What about her story?” he asked, tilting his head.

“Her story isn’t quite so… dramatic. Really, it’s just her being a nosy parker.”

1705.

Whitney scribbled down a few notes, glancing back and forth from her paper to the books open across the table she was sitting at.

She was a student at Oxford University, but this wasn’t schoolwork. She had always been fascinated with the occult and the supernatural. Things that couldn’t be explained. It was the only way to explain certain phenomena, in her opinion. Currently, her fixation was on immortal beings that drank blood and created covens of their own kind. Beings that lived in the shadows. There wasn’t much literature on the subject, and these creatures didn’t even have a name. But they were interesting. From the little legends she’d found, traveling to different parts of the country to speak to tribespeople, these monsters were charismatic, one of their predatory traits. They had a certain look, scent, and voice even that drew their prey in.

And their prey was human.

She had gotten some leads on what could possibly be one of these shadow-beings lurking near Ireland. It hadn’t taken her long to follow the trail and document everything as she went. It took months to get anything substantial, and she had taken up some work to pay her way. This hyper-fixation was different than her last ones, purely because she felt like she was so close. She had abandoned her studies at the university to pursue this, much to her parents’ and friends’ chagrins.

But the stories people would tell about her when she finally proved she was right!

One night, she was wiping down the countertop inside the pub where she was a barkeep at. It was nearly time for her to go home, but something was pulling her to take her time with her closing duties. As she left, dumping whatever rubbish they had left from the night out in the back, she was stopped by a man asking for directions.

“A block that way, to your left. It’s the building with the big iron gate.”

“Thank you,” the man smiled. “What’s your name, darlin’?”

“Whitney. Whitney Blackwoode. And yours?” she asked, outstretching her hand.

The man gave a pretty smile. “Something much less gorgeous than that, I’ll assure you,” he answered, gently taking her hand. His skin was ice cold. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No. Oxford,” she answered. “Your accent isn’t familiar to me. Where are you from?”

“Nowhere important,” he said cryptically. “Have you heard all those stories about some monster killing people ‘round here? Scary stuff.”

“Yes,” she said, lighting up. “I have! You have, too?” she asked. That meant these stories were making their rounds. Maybe there was something here for her to find. “They say it’s a creature who lurks in the dark and sucks blood. I can’t believe they don’t have a better description than ‘human-like.’ Something like that would be hard to miss, I’d think.”

“Maybe that’s what makes this creature such a great predator. Can hide in plain sight. Maybe even sneak up on innocent girls who ask too many questions.”

Whitney laughed nervously, but the sound died in her throat when she realized that it wasn’t a joke and he wasn’t laughing. Suddenly, fear overtook her, and for the first time in her life, she wished she’d never picked up any book on monsters in the dark.

“I’ll make this worse for you if you scream,” he said, and suddenly, she was pinned up against the wall. “Usually girls like you aren’t so interested in all this. What happened to making dresses and being a good wife?”

Whitney struggled, knowing that panicking would only escalate the situation. She had to pretend she wasn’t scared, even if she knew he could smell the terror emanating from her. “Research is my husband.”

The man barked out a laugh and raised his eyebrows. “Maybe I’ll keep you around. We’ll see. Maybe you’ll bleed out.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You know what I’m going to do, Whitney.”

Whitney woke up later in a pool of her own blood. Everything was different, of course, and she knew then that she had been transformed by whomever that man was. She was everything she’d been searching for.

And she was determined to use this newfound power to find out even more, to find the good ones. There had to be some of those, right? There had to be ones that didn’t prey on girls in the dead of night and scare them. She was sure he thought she would die then when he threw her away, else he wouldn’t have let her live.

Not long after that, in her quest for knowledge, she met Damien Hawthorne, a beast who captured her heart. He, in turn, introduced her to a fellow immortal, Gideon, who introduced her to his new mate and fledgling, Leona.

After a while, she and Leona banded together, along with their newfound friend Piper, and swore to bring pain to anyone who hurt them. They would protect each other.

And so they did.

“Wow,” Sebastian said, shaking his head, “Heavy shit. And definitely still just as dramatic. Should I even ask about this Damien dude?”

“Another story for another day. He annoys the shit out of me,” Leona laughed, waving her hand dismissively. “He and Gideon practically feed off one another. It’s maddening.”

“Why does Whitney stay with him if he’s so annoying and close to Gideon? Does that bother you?”

Leona shrugged. “It did at first, purely because I was afraid it would lead Gideon to me through their connection. Which it did, but Whitney feels bad enough about that. All things aside, who am I to stop her from loving who she loves? When she and Dame found each other, she didn’t know what would transpire after that. I wish he treated her better, but… That’s her cross to bear. No pun intended.”

“Ha, ha,” Sebastian deadpanned. It was quite a noble way of thinking. He wasn’t sure he’d be quite so selfless. “So,” he said, wanting to change the subject to something a little less depressing. “If I haul my bag with all my gear, can you evanesce us home? I’d rather not have to take the streetcar.”

“I like the streetcar, though.”

“I know you do, but… when you’ve ridden it your whole life versus getting to vanish in a puff of smoke… you have to understand which option I’d prefer,” he said with a smirk.

“Simple minds, simple pleasures… Isn’t that the saying?”

“Abrin.”

“Oh, ‘Abrin’ is it, now? I’ll remember that later when we get home and you’re begging me to?—”

Sebastian leaned forward and cut her off with a kiss. His hands slid from bracing himself on the blanket, to her knees, up her thighs, and around her torso to pull her into him. After a few blissful moments of losing themselves in each other, he pulled back. One of them had to breathe, after all. “Begging me to… what?”

“Home. Now.”

Leona grabbed his bag and him, and they were gone a second later.