3. That does not bode well. #2
My father chuckled, dipped his hands into the flour, and resumed kneading.
“For as long as there have been humans, there have been humans engaging in acts of evil. These primitive evils are what I mean. They’re older than civilization.
They’re as old as humanity. These evils are perhaps even older, but I must confess I do not put much thought into the nature of animals.
Can they be good? Can they be evil? Humanity’s complexities perplex me enough to add in the complexities of other species.
And yes, I include vampires when I say humanity.
There can be no vampires without humanity, after all. ”
I took my time thinking about his opinion, and after a while, I nodded. “How did vampires come into existence?”
“Now you’re starting to ask the right questions,” my father replied in an approving tone.
“Before there were vampires, humans worshipped gods. Some worshipped the sun as a god. Some worshipped the idea of an entity controlling life and death. Some worshipped the trees. Some worshipped the sky. There were gods for everything. In those days, the preternatural existed in all things. Belief became power. That belief became so powerful it twisted the worst of the believers.”
“So one of these death gods ultimately spawned vampires?”
“No. It was one of the sun gods, actually. The power of belief in the sun became so strong that it developed a sort of sentience, and the being created found some practices to be reprehensible. Those worshippers, who organized these demonstrations of belief, were punished. The punishment was to never again drink the milk of the sacred cattle or walk beneath the light of the sun. As I said before, cattle back then were sacred, and the sun god held the animals in great regard because that is what the believers believed, and that belief had power.” My father shrugged. “Turn on the faucet, Benoit.”
My brother obeyed, and my father washed the flour off his hands before picking up a cup and holding it beneath the stream.
He removed it when it was almost full. “This is what magic should be, a liquid held within the confines of a cup. Each practitioner of magic, be they human or vampire or other, has their own cup.” He set the cup under the stream, and the water overflowed.
“This is what happened when the sun god was birthed. This entity was all the water spilling out of the cup. The cattle sacrifices caused all the cups to spill over all at once, which created so much ambient magic it flooded the world and needed to take form somehow. That form was in the manifested beliefs of the people causing the surge.”
“Thus this sun god,” I murmured. “But was this sun god a sentient being?”
“Not like a human, no. And it wasn’t even a god, not really.
It was not a being capable of its own thought.
It only could work within the confines of the beliefs of those who spilled forth the magic that created it.
Most vampires were dark beings who had enjoyed sacrificing others to their thirsting god.
That went against the general beliefs at the time, and so it was punished.
But not all vampires were like that—some were just unfortunate mistakes destined to pay the price for belief given genuine power.
” My father turned off the faucet and poured out the water.
“After the birth of vampires, the power behind all those beliefs waned and flowed out into the world. The sun god fell as swiftly as it rose, leaving behind a permanent legacy. In time, the believers of the sun god forgot, new religions came, and the rise of vampires became lost to history and to a few who keep the legends alive.”
I turned my attention to Clarke, who regarded my father with the faintest of smiles. “And what amuses you so, Clarke?”
“An Original comes, and you’re so bold as to tell the stories they will not breathe, afraid those old ways might come back to life. But yes, Pepper, your father knows more about the origin of vampires than most.”
“Old fart,” I stated, engaging my father in a staring contest as I raised a brow.
My brothers chortled, and at a displeased glare from our father, scattered to make chores for themselves.
My father dried his hands, reapplied a layer of flour, and resumed working with his dough.
“The Originals lived during that sun god’s lifeless reign, and they were among the vampires turned rather than converted during that surge of magic.
The converted did not last long. Most died turning their offspring. ”
I narrowed my eyes. “Was the Master of the Originals a convert?”
My father sighed, a rather sad sound. “Good girl. Yes, he was—and many of the Originals were turned at his hand when he went on his first sun-crazed rampage. Unlike many of the other converted, sunlight didn’t sear his flesh to ash.
It did burn him, but he survived. It maddened him for a while, and he attacked numerous people.
Those who didn’t perish became the Originals.
Not all those he turned lived long. Upon his return to sanity, the master was determined to never again become that sort of monster.
He ruled with an iron fist. Rightfully so, most would say.
But that is why I had to help with his slaying.
The Originals simply could not kill him. He controlled their every breath.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “All right, old man. If you aren’t an Original, if you aren’t their master, does that mean you’re a convert rather than a turned vampire? Is that why my brothers and I have no problems with the sun?”
“I am not a convert in the sense I told you. Those vampires were punished for their sins. I had not committed those sins. I was unfortunately devout, however. I was one of those who believed in that sun god. My family was devout, and in the sun god’s rise, they had become victims of the converted.
I was the only one spared. I had been out tending to our cattle, who had been spared from the sacrifice.
They did not turn. In the light of the rising sun, while I grieved over their bloodless bodies, I buried them, swearing to somehow find justice for their murders.
I had not known what our beliefs had done then.
And in that era of magic, my conviction became power—and only a vampire could fight other vampires.
I was not converted in that punishing surge of vampirism.
I was born in the light of that early morning sun, and what remained of that cascading overflow of belief made me what I am today.
As I was wise, I remained a herder of cattle, and I sold my stock to the priests who would sacrifice them, careful to neither condemn nor approve of their ways.
I knew what such beliefs could do.” My father considered Clarke with interest. “So, technically, I am a few hours younger than the Originals, but I was untouched by the violence that brought them into their second lives. I never faced my second death. I simply became as I am now, a vampire—but a vampire of unusual disposition.”
Clarke whistled. “The Originals know this, don’t they?”
My father nodded. “They were aware of me from their first night as a vampire, and they wondered why I had not been barred from the sun. They don’t know everything, of course—but they know enough.
And when they feel the madness calling, they come to me to hold it at bay.
They go to my sons if I am not available, and in time, they will go to you, Pepper.
You are everything I cannot be. You are everything your brothers cannot be.
You might, once you finish blooming, become peace for our kind. ”
I frowned, decided to ignore the implications of his words, and pointed at one of the kitchen’s security cameras, which was tucked up in a corner. “Now the whole brood knows. There is no way such a juicy secret will stay secret.”
“Yes. I wish for them to know your legacy. I wish for them to know that you are a daughter of the sun. The ancient evil rising is the same that converted the first vampires—and if we do not find a way to keep the cup from overflowing, who knows what will be born? But I am confident that is what this Jeremy Breckenan wishes to do. It just took me some time to realize it. He might be young for a vampire, but he has delved into dark magics—the kind that can turn back time and reveal how vampires came to be. If he is the one controlling the faucet that fills the cup, then who knows what sort of power he will possess or what he might choose to do with it? Instead of cattle, he is sacrificing men and women. It is only a matter of time until he begins following the path the Master of the Originals once strode upon, choosing to bleed even infants dry. I will not stand for it, Pepper. I was born into this life as a vampire to see such evils put to an end. Never again will humanity fill that cup to overflowing, not for as long as I draw breath.”
The reality that my father was among the first vampires stunned me. Upon finding out, Emerick made a soft sound, excused himself, and returned a few minutes later carrying my first stake, which he offered to me. Puzzled, I took it from him. “Why did you bring this out?”
“I have a question only your father can answer, and that stake will help me ask it.” Emerick grabbed one of the stools, joining everyone, my mother and Clarke included, in watching my father pan cook his crescents, made of spiced dough and filled with camel and lamb, two of the meats he had been permitted to consume during his childhood.
He’d also made a few from ground beef to make it clear he no longer clung to his past beliefs.