Children Of The Night
By: Veronica Leigh Marquette
CHAPTER 2
"Damn him." The woman hit the desk she was sitting at. She had known it
was only a matter of time before her brother gave into the insanity that always
threatened the truly aged. But now, and like this. There was going to be no
way to protect him. Once the elders found out his crimes, if he was lucky they
would just drive him out into the sun. But, knowing the law as she did, she
knew he would be forcibly put in the earth, entombing him forever. There was no
worse punishment for their kind. Better to go into the sun than down into the
earth. The sun could only kill you, but once entombed, you could last forever.
Oh they would be kind enough to feed him, once a year, just to show what pity
they were willing to show, for a mad man.
And what was she to do about this poor Childe that he had in his madness
created. Would she be forced to be her brother's keeper, and clean up his
mistake? Put into a position that would have her killing one of her own blood?
"Mother, what am I to do?" She looked at the ancient woman who sat in the
chain infront of the desk. "He is your Childe, my brother, this poor Childe
that he has taken, will he or she have to die, for his crime?"
The woman looked at her, pity in her eyes. "I don't know Janis, maybe yes,
but then again, maybe no. But best you find him before the rest of the elders
do. He might still listen to you. I would rather my mad Childe go into the
sun, than what they will do to him. If he dies, then the Childe, will, of
course, be allowed to live. But if they reach him before you, they will entomb
him, and then the Childe will most assuredly be killed, be exposed to the sun.
Why is it, do you think, I came to you first? You were close to Marcus, closer
than any other, perhaps even than he was to me."
"So none of the others, know about this yet?"
"No, but it is only a matter of time. I will have to tell them of my
Childe's crimes. They will then see to justice. Please, Janis, you are his
elder sister, please, my son is lost to me. With the breaking of the Law, he
was forever lost to me. But if you can only make it to him in time, I will not
lose my GrandChilde as well. Think of it, Childe, there has not been a newly,
made, Fledgling in almost a hundred years. Jessy, your son was the last. Do
not allow this to happen. Save your brother's Childe. If only for me."
Janis nodded. Asha, her mother was right. She had to hurry, Marcus was
done for, but the Childe, if she could make it in time, the Childe could be
saved.
* * *
Kris whimpered, as hunger woke her, yet, again. "Master," she crawled to
where he lay sleeping. "Please. This one, she is hungry." She still didn't see
herself, as a person yet and probably, for a time, wouldn't.
"Up with the setting of the sun I see." It had been so long since last he
was made to wake at this unholy hour. But she was his Child, and as long as he
lived, he would see to her.
"It hurts Master." She whimpered, trying to latch herself to his throat
again.
"No Kris, it is time you started to learn how it will be for you. Come, I
know that this is nothing compared to what we shared thus far, but it will cool
the burning in your belly." He rose, holding out a hand to her. "Come on
Childe. What you seek is in the kitchen."
She watched as he poured thick red fluid from a bottle, then returned that
bottle to the refrigerator. "Now, listen to me Childe." He spoke slowly, so
that with any luck, she would remember what he was to say. "No more than thirty
seconds." He popped the mug into the microwave. "No it will not heat the blood
fully, but it will knock the chill from it, and any longer, and the blood begins
to cook, and that will do you now good, for when it cooks, it begins to break
down." He waited for the beep, before opening the door and pulling out the mug.
"Remember, Kris, no more than thirty seconds." He handed her the mug.
It was thick, it was cold, and it tasted horrible. But she drank it anyway.
For with the first touch of it to her lips, her hunger took over. She made a
disgusted face as she handed him back the mug. "Yuck, it was cold Master. Why
can't she drink from you like she did last night?"
He just laughed softly, as he pulled the bottle back out and filled the mug
again. "Oh, you will Kris, but it is time you started to learn how it is you
must live. I don't know how much longer I will be with you, and I don't want
you to be left completely ignorant of how your new life is to be led." Again
the touch of a warming, but this time, he didn't give the mug to her, but drank
from it himself. "Now, listen to me Kris. I am not sure how much of what I am
going to say to you, you will not understand. Particularly at this moment, but
I am going to try to explain things to you." He gently led her back into the
living room, and motioned for her to sit by him.
"Master?"
"Hush Childe, I have many things to tell you, and I am afraid that I don't
have a lot of time. By now, they know of you. They know what I did. And they
will seek me out, and I will die for what I have done." He hushed her as she
began to cry. "No, Childe, believe me, I don't regret what I did. The ban on
making children was set before I ever had an opportunity to pass my blood to
another. I don't care what they do to me. You are my Childe, and I am very
proud of what I have done with you. But, there is a ban for a reason. I even
supported it when it was first made. There can no be more of us than there are
right now. This world, it isn't like it was once, back before modern man
started to rule the night as well as the day. We do not hunt, we do not pass
our gift, and every thirty years or so, you must die." Again he made a soft
shushing noise as she began to cry again. "Not die in truth, but to the mortals
that run this world now. You must leave, move and become the inheritor,
daughter, niece, whatever of your own inheritance. And trust me Childe with my
death, you will have quite a substantial little nest egg to fall back on. This
house will be yours, and with it, come many more, and all I own as well.
"But why, Master, she is your Childe, why must you die?"
He closed his eyes. Hating the pain he knew he would cause her. "Because
Kris, I made you. You are my Childe, and there can not be anymore children. If
I die, they will have to let you live. For, you, are my replacement, I am tired
of living. But I will not just die, and let someone else decide who is to
replace me. I chose you, and I made you."
"Please, Master, don't die, kill this one instead, then there will be no
other that they can say you made." She grabbed his arm. "Please, this one
would rather die than lose you, please Master."
He grabbed her in his arms, holding her tight. "No, I will not kill my own
Childe, Kris, I made you. You are of my own blood, as surely as if I fathered
you. Do not ask me to kill you. I won't, I can't."
* * *
"So, you aren't as insane as I feared." A soft, woman's voice from the
door, "you know what you have done Marcus. You won't kill her, but if you don't
die, and die soon, then they will."
He looked to the woman who stood there. "So it is my own sister that they
sent to see to my death. I had thought that they would be kinder than that."
He sighed. "Well no matter. You are here, I entrust my Childe to you, sister.
I will meet the sun at dawn. Be patient with her. I had to take her will, and
she is still lost to herself."
"Why Marcus, what possessed you to do this? You do know that when one of us
gets ready to die, we can pick a mortal to replace us. You could have come to
me or our mother, and told us who you wished to replace you. Then met the
flames peacefully. Was it so important that it was you who made her? If Asha
or I did the making, we are all of the same blood. It would have been as if you
had done it. What possessed you to do this yourself. Even now, mother has to
go to the elders, with what you did, and they will come for you. Do you know
what will happen if they do?"
"Yes, sister mine, I do. That is why I am entrusting her to you. I will
die, by sun or by fire, long before they can entomb me. I made my Childe. I
will not be the cause of her death. The only reason I said I would wait for the
sun, was that I didn't have time to build a pyre for myself."
"That was very shortsighted of you, my son." They all looked up to see not
only Asha, but also three other elder nightwalkers standing in the door.
He gently took Kris by the arm and placed her behind him. "Just a few hours
more, let me spend this last night with my Childe, and I will greet the day."
They had found him quicker than he had thought. "Please, Mother, one last
request. Do not entomb me, do not kill my Childe." Then to the three with her,
"She is blameless. Let me die let her live. I took her just last night. I had
to take her will from her to make her bend to me. Show mercy, if you will only
wait until dawn, then the crime I have committed will be no more. For with my
death, the balance is restored."
"Why is it do you think, that I sent your sister before me? Or that I
brought these three elders with me, to deal with you, my son? They will wait,
just one night. You can go nowhere. Others are close by, and if you tried to
flee, then they would come, and the Childe would die, but not before she saw you
beaten down and entombed." There were tears in the old vampires' eyes. "Why
Marcus? Did you not think that either Janis or I would have done right by you?
What possessed you to do such a thing?"
He lowered his head to the woman that had made him, almost four centuries
ago. "I had to be sure, Mother. I couldn't just die, without knowing for
certain, that she would be the one you finally chose.
"Master?" Kris pressed against him. "This one, she doesn't understand."
He turned pulling her close. "It's okay, Kris, you will be safe. That is
my sister." He pointed to Janis. "And that is my Mother, your Grandmother.
After tonight, they will see to you." He hushed her cries and she held on to
him.
"Go, be with your Childe, one last night, for when she rises at the setting
of the sun, you will either be dead, or she will pay the final price for your
crime." One of the other elders looked upon both Marcus and this wounded Childe
with pity. "I can safeguard your life, for one night, but not even I can do so
for more than from now until the rising of the sun. You should have never done
this, but now that you have. My word, my bond, that if what you say is true and
you will freely go into the sun at dawn. I will stand as her protector."
"Thank you Anise, I am not insane. I knew exactly what I was doing, and
will do. Just one last night, let her know my love, for just one last night,
and then I will give myself to the sun."
* * *
Kris whimpered as Marcus closed the door to the bedroom that she had shared
the day with him in. "Master?"
"Call me Marcus, Kris, for the last night I hold you, I am not your master,
I am your father, and I would rather go to my death with the memory of my name
from your lips."
"No, please, this one she does not understand, why are you willing to die
for her, she is nothing." She trembled as he pulled her close.
"Oh, no Childe, you are far from nothing, you are near perfect. I would
brave the sun, die of unspeakable agonies countless times for you." He gently
lay her back on the bed. Leaning over her to press her into the mattress.
"Least I will never have to lose you." He sighed at the completeness of her
response to his kiss. "I would really rather die, than face that."
"Master," she whispered clinging to him. "Make love to this one, like you
did earlier. Please, she wants to feel you again."
"Ssshh, Childe, I will. Gladly, just please, if you can hear me wherever
you have fled. Call me Marcus. No, Master tonight, just call me Marcus. Let
me be your father, your lover, for just one night. Please, my darling Childe.
Call me 'Marcus'." He pushed her away to stand and disrobe before laying over
her again, kissing her.
She giggled at the feel of his hands as he ran them up her sides, tickling
her a little. "Marcus."
*Yes, my beautiful Childe, Marcus. * He had taken, both, her virginity's
the night before, had made her a woman even as he made her his Fledgling. And
here, now, like this, he would do more than just see to it that she was a maiden
no more. For the last night, he would see her cry, but in pleasure and not fear
or pain.
Her moan was sweet music to him as he gently parted her thighs, reaching to
touch her. She was still so fresh, so new to all that a man could do for her.
And regardless of who loved her after this night, he would go to his death,
knowing he was the first, and that he would see that she never forgot him.
She gasped, almost sitting up at the feel of his mouth on the skin at the
back of her knee, as he began to make slow and easy love to her with his mouth.
It just, kept, feeling better and better. She sighed deeply as she began to
melt as his mouth moved slowly up her inner thigh, kissing and biting gently.
She moved restlessly, stroking his hair as he gave her this. No one, ever, had
ever made her feel like he did. And as he added gentle fingers to his teasing
play, as his mouth found her. She just pressed, herself up, father into the
wonders he was gifting her.
He felt more than heard her giving herself to the warm haze of orgasm, as he
loved her. The feel of her fluids as they washed over his face only made him
burn all the more.
"Hush Childe." He moved up her, to press against her, as he went to give
her what they both needed. And as he thrust deep, feeling her sweet, tight,
warmth sheath him, he could only thank all those that had been willing to give
him this little time with her.
She lay under him, lost in the joy he was sharing with her, as she came
again, holding to him, sobbing mindlessly. But as his fangs sank deep into her
throat, she was thrown even farther into the exquisite heat, screaming, begging,
and shuddering at the joy that was now hers.
*Now Childe, drink, take from me. Let me feel your hunger. * It was his
turn to weep as he felt her greedy mouth on his neck, and her fangs that sought
what he offered. Love, heat, passion, and it were all offered in his gift of
his blood to her.
She had lost count of the number of times that he had taken her to that
final point of bliss, but as he drove her to it again, she could do nothing more
than lay there, helpless, spasming in the waves of joy that he had gifted her.
*Again, Childe feed from me again. Let me go to my death knowing the
feeling of your unquenchable hunger. * He held her there, as he used almost
brutal force in his thrusts, losing himself again in the joy that this Childe
was offering him in her willingness to be his. He could die now. There was
nothing left that life could ever offer that would ever compare to this, to the
wonderful joy of knowing that it was his Childe, his precious, beautiful
Daughter that clung to him, begging his touch. Yes, now he could die.
* * *
Marcus leaned over his sleeping Childe to kiss her cheek. He had let her
drink from him for the last time. He knew that. He met his mother at the door.
Hugging first her and then his sister. "Take care of my Daughter. Don't let
anyone hurt her while she is still lost to herself."
"She is your Childe, you are mine, go to your rest, knowing that no one will
ever harm her, not as long as I still live." Asha tried to sound supportive,
but this was killing her. She had never lost a Childe like this before. Oh,
yes, there had been other of her Children that had gone on, but never like this.
Never with the fate of his own Childe hanging in the balance.
"Go on sister, feed from me, just one last time. I don't need my blood
anymore. Better by far if I give it to you and my mother, than just let it burn
with me.
Janis wept as her fangs sank deep into her brother's throat. *Go to your
rest, knowing that if our mother is unable to see to your Childe, I will. Jessy
was the last to be made before the Law was passed. So to him I will take her.
He should know only too well, what it is like to be a Childe, in a world where
there are no others. * She looked down the hall as she drank, towards where she
knew his Child lay sleeping. It has almost driven her mad listening to the
confused and frightened Childe, beg her brother to just kill her. That he
didn't have to die, and Marcus trying to explain that it was too late. He would
never kill her, and it wouldn't matter if he did now, anyway. He had been
caught and judged guilty.
*Then to you, dear sister, I give you my Childe, my only Childe. See her
grow strong. I made a hideous mistake in making her as I did. Please Janis,
see to her, don't let her follow me I don't want to die knowing that my Childe
will follow me. Don't let her. You are older than she is, by far. Dominate
her if you must, but see that she lives. *
She pulled away, kissing him, trying to smile. "You are my baby brother,
when have I ever not seen to you and your needs? I only wish you had come to me
sooner, before this. There is a new trend in our kind. We are taking and
keeping mortals to feed from. There is even talk that now if this new trend
lasts, of lifting the ban of no more children. If only you had come to me, this
might not be happening."
"Janis, my love, I was an old man when Asha gave me her blood, made me her
Childe. I have lived for near three hundred years, I am tired. All the sweet
little mortals in the world would not have kept me from seeking my death. But
you are right. I should have come to you. You would have seen to it that the
girl I had chosen as my Childe, would have been, not my Childe, but my
replacement, as my niece or sister." He kissed her just one last time before
turning to the woman that had gifted him the night. "Mother, come. Anise is
beginning to look a bit peckish, even as old as he is, it is fastly becoming
dawn, you all need to seek your beds."
"I will get no sleep this day, Marcus, my sweet Childe. I will sit up, and,
will be, with you as long as I dare before the sun forced me to hide from its
rays. Know this, of all the children I have ever given my blood to, you were my
last and you were and still are, greatly loved." Again, in an act almost as old
as time itself, she sank her fangs into his neck, going to lessen the pain he
will feel when the sun took him, by draining from him as much as she could.
Anise felt the restless stirrings of Kris's troubled mind. "Best you hurry
Marcus, your Childe's sleep is not peaceful, and should not see you die,
especially with as lost as she is. I have pledged that I will stand as her
protector, but not even I could keep her from being stupid, not in the shape she
is in now.
Marcus turned to him. "Thank you, Grandfather. I know that I have not been
close to you for a long time, but I do thank you."
Anise pulled the man to him, holding him tight. "You are my Childe's
youngest Childe. Could I do any less for one of my blood? Now, go dawn is just
moments away, and you need to prepare yourself to meet it. I will see to it
that the Childe does not wake, or if she does, no matter what she hears, I will
not let her see you. I watched my own father, go to the flames, and I was not
as wounded as your little one is. I would never wish that pain, not even if
they were my sworn enemy, on anyone. Now," he turned Marcus's head to one side
so he could grant his GrandChilde at least a lessening of the pain he know he
would feel as the sun touched him.
* * *
"You should seek your bed, Mother." Marcus was a bit groggy from loss of
blood, but, in this case, that was a good thing. He stripped the garments he
would need no more.
Asha shook her head, smiling at her youngest Childe. "I told you once,
already, you are my son. I will not leave you until I no longer have a choice.
What you did was wrong, but she is a lovely Childe."
Marcus looked up at the sky that was beginning to lighten. "Yes, she is. I
saw such promise in that one. There is an envelope, in the desk drawer, see
that she gets it. Within it is a portfolio of all I, no, she, now owns. You
will see that I have been planning this for some time, and I have not left her
penniless." He was fighting down the instinctive urge to flee the day. If he
did so, it would only be to face a much worse fate. He had to die. To live,
with the sins he had on his soul, was to be entombed, and his Childe killed.
'Well, no matter', He rationalized as he lay on the cold stones. 'I am not
ashamed of what I did, though the way I did it, was the only mistake I made'.
But all thoughts ceased as the first delicate rays of the sun touched his
naked flesh, and all the control he prided himself on having fled him as he lay,
paralyzed, screaming in agony at the searing, knifing pain that took him.
* * *
Anise shook his head as he watched over the restless Childe. "He should
have gone to the flames. It be over much sooner." He had watched, as the
flames consumed his father, so many years ago. Death by fire, was not an easy
one for one of their race, but kinder, by far, than death by the sun.
Janis just shook her head. "Not for my brother. He wasn't as mad as he
seemed there at the end. He knew what he was doing was wrong. But look at this
house, wood and drapes as the only thing that blocks out death for us. He
wanted to die."
Anise nodded, wincing at a particularly shrill scream. "Die, yes, but like
this?"
Asha bit back a sob. "My son knew what he was doing was wrong. Don't you
see that Father? He committed a crime, and sentenced himself for it. Yes the
flame would have been kinder, but better the sun than what I would have had to
do to him, had he not chose this path."
It took almost four hours for the screaming to finally end. Death by sun
was the worst way for any vampire to die. Anise was right, it would have been
much kinder, had he went into the flames.
* * *
Again Kris woke with the setting of the sun. The gnawing in her gut pulled
her up from a sleep that was not in the least bit restful. "Marcus?" She
looked around, but Marcus was no where to be seen. "Father?" She moved from
the bed, looking for him. As lost as she was, she didn't recall that he had
told her that he was to die. "Master," she frantically looked for him. Crying
as she could find no trace of him.
"No, Childe." Janis pulled her into her arms. "Your Father is gone."
Kris looked at her, confused for just a moment, before the truth sank in.
She pushed herself free. Running from the room and down the hall to the back
door. "Master," she threw it open only to be met with nothing but ashes.
"Master," she fell to the ground beside where his remains, his ashes still lay.
"Why didn't you let this one die?" Even as wounded as she was, she understood
that her master would never return to her again. "Why, Master, why didn't you
just let this one die."
"Because it wouldn't have mattered Childe. He would have been judged guilty
and would have paid a much higher price for his crime. At least now, he is
dead." Janis pulled her up into her arms. "Kris, is that right Childe?"
"So my Master told this one." She just leaned against the elder vampire,
looking down at the remains of her father. "Would you tell this one, did he die
quick? This one remembers screaming, or thinks she does. That was all a dream
wasn't it?"
Janis hated to lie, to anyone, but most of all to this one, but she just
couldn't bring herself to tell this, poor lost orphaned Childe how long it had
taken Marcus to die. "You must have been dreaming honey. It was over in a
matter of moments.
Kris looked at her, the lost look in her eyes was beginning to fade. Which
surprised Janis, usually once will is taken from a mortal, it takes days, even
weeks sometimes, for them to find their way back. "Are you sure?"
"Kris, I am your Father's sister, would I lie to you? He left you in my
keep. I will never do anything to lead you wrong. I owe him that much."
'Even, if I have to lie too you to protect you'. And finally the tears came.
"He was my younger brother, the youngest of my mothers children. I know that
you don't understand what that means yet, maybe you never will, but he was my
younger brother, I would do anything for him. And all he asked of me was to see
you cared for." She pulled up, forcing a calm on herself again. Later, when
she was alone, then she would mourn, but for now. "Come Childe, you have to be
starving, I haven't had a newborn to see to in." She stopped thinking of how
long it had been since Jessy was this young. "Oh, Gods, has it been that long."
She wiped the tears from Kris's face. "Well no matter, I have you now, so let's
go see what he has left for you."
* * *
Of the three that came with Asha, only Anise remained. The other two had
left while it was still dark the night before. Upon hearing the decision and
promise that the ancient one had made to his GrandChilde, they deemed that they
would not be needed. Neither wanted to stay and watch Marcus go to the sun.
Had it not been for his bond that he would see to it that the Childe that was
still so lost would be safe, he would have left as well. "So how is my Great
GrandChilde?" He stood watching as Janis poured from the bottle into the same
mug that had been used the night before.
"Thirty seconds, Master said thirty seconds, and no more." She was fussing
as Janis opened the microwave door.
Janis smiled softly at her. "I know honey, just who do you think taught
your father that trick?" Janis looked up to Anise, a small and weak smile on
her lips. "Better it would seem. I don't think it will take near as long for
her, now that she is like us, for her to find her way back to herself."
"No, by the time she goes to her rest at light, or when she wakes at night
at the latest, she will have returned to herself. She isn't mortal anymore
Janis. Your brother didn't see to it that she would stay lost inside herself.
Only taking her will from her to win her to himself."
Again, the cold, thick and disgusting stuff filled her mouth as she drank,
and again, if she could have stopped she would have. But cold, and as gross as
it was to her, The moment she began to drink, she couldn't stop. She remembered
the hot, wonderful feeling of her masters' blood as he had held her to his
throat, letting her feed from him. Never again, she would never again feel or
taste that wonderful blood. Her master was dead. Now she would have to contend
herself with this horrible stuff. "He should have let this one die." A,
whisper of confused pain as she handed Janis back the mug.
"No." Anise reached for her. "Listen to me girl. Wrong he was in his
taking of you, but even as mad as he was there at the end, he would never kill
you. He chose you as his replacement. Made you and saw to it that you were
protected until such time as you returned to yourself." He looked deep into her
lost, hazel eyes, his dark eyes searching her face. "Now, no more of that
nonsense." He pulled her face to his throat. "Go on Childe. I have a couple
of mortals in my home, they will see to my needs." He shuddered with painful
pleasure as he felt Kris's fangs sink home. "That's the way Childe, 'that's the
way'." He crooned stroking her hair as she fed.
Asha watched from the door to the kitchen. "Janis, best you take her and
see to it that you introduce her to Jessy. I heard Marcus's last request to
you. And he is right. Of all of us, you are far better suited to see to her
and her needs than anyone. Jessy is a testament to your love. He up until now,
was the youngest of us. And he will understand what she, as a newborn is going
through, far better than any of us." She held out a packet of material to her.
"He said he had been planning this for some time. When he finally died, he
owned nothing, it is all in her name now. She was his true Childe, she has
inherited everything he owned."
"I will, Mother, just as soon as Anise finishes with her, I will. And we
will wait until she finally returns to herself before trying to help her make
any decisions as to what to do next. "
Anise felt the press of her body against his as he held her, oh, what a
sweet Childe this one would make. He could well understand why Marcus had
chosen her. She was made for this. Her kisses were so free, she felt so good
in his arms. He almost wished it were he that had found her. He hadn't seen a
Childe this perfect, even in her wounded state, in centuries. "Go on Kris, your
aunt needs to get you to safety, and if I stay here, it would been days before I
would let you free from my arms." He stroked her cheek lightly as she looked up
at him.
End of CHAPTER 2
