The Blood That Bonds (12 page)

Is that what you wish,
then?
It was all voices, no voices, a
whisper on the wind, a chorus of screams. Theroen’s temples
throbbed with it.

He tried to shake his head. No. No, this was
not what he wanted. Death? He was nine years old. There was still
so much to do, to explore, to see, to know.

You would live?

Thereon found he could answer the voice,
could have spoken to it all along.

Yes. I would live. Until I am dragged,
kicking and screaming, to my death, I would live.

So be it. Speak, Theroen. Call to them.

I cannot.

But he could, and did, opening his mouth,
stretching his throat, peering desperate from his bed as the light
and the noise receded.

“
Mother …”

The word cut across the room, stopping his
mother mid-sentence. She turned, the doctor and nurse staring with
frank disbelief. There were tears again, now, welling in his
mother’s eyes, but not those of anger and frustration and sorrow
shed just moments ago. Theroen sat up, blinked, tried his voice
again. He looked his mother in her eyes, took in her joyful weeping
with that same calm that would be with him for all his life. He
spoke from his bed, spoke for the first time since the horse had
hit him, spoke for the first time since he had descended into the
depths of coma, five months before.

“
Mother, I wish to go to
church.”

* * *

“
From that day forward,
there was no question in my mind what I was meant to do. I was
meant to live, yes, but more than that; I was meant to communicate
what I had seen to others. I had been sent a vision from God. A
reprieve from death. You ask how I could be a priest? I ask you …
how could I not?”

Two looked at him, somewhat astounded. A
vision from God? She knew how it would be considered in this modern
era: a vision from the subconscious. Nothing more.

Thereon grinned, picking this thought from
her mind as he so frequently did.

“
Is there any real
difference? I woke. I moved. I spoke. Are these things not
miraculous?” He paused, looked out the window, seemed to ponder for
a moment. He looked back at Two and shrugged.

“
People do not survive
comas of that duration unfazed. There is brain damage, if not
death. Yet I was fine. More than fine; I awoke with the clearest
sense of purpose I was ever to feel, until the moment I first laid
eyes on you. Ten years old, I began my studies. Three years younger
than any before accepted to the clergy. Such was my fervor, so
substantial my knowledge of the Bible within only a few months from
when I awakened, that there was no reason to deny me.”

“
And oh, how my father
despised it …” The words trailed off, a bitter smile at his
lips.

Two was about to speak when the howling
began. She jerked around instinctively, knocking a pretty crystal
ballerina off the table by her couch. It thumped into the plush
oriental carpet, unhurt. Two stared out the window. In the
reflection of the lamplight she saw Theroen shake his head. He
reached down to pick up the figurine, studied it for a moment, set
it back on the table. More howling, and Theroen looked toward the
window again, his eyes full of remorse and pity.

“
What is it, Theroen? I’ve
heard it before.”

“
I am Abraham’s son.
Melissa his daughter. That? That is nothing more than a diabolical
experiment. Daughter? How could she be? To say so denotes some sort
of humanity, and all of that has been lost.”

Two looked at him, confused. “There’s
another vampire?”

“
There are many others. Of
Abraham’s line, though, there is only one more to tell of. One more
you have not met. An attempt that should never have occurred. His
arrogance …” Theroen trailed off. Two had rarely seen him truly
angry, but he appeared so now. He shook his head again.

“
Her name was Tori. She
seems still to respond to that, so that is what we call her. Aside
from the shape of her body, this is the last piece of humanity she
retains. I do not know why Abraham chose to make her. After Melissa
… how he could possibly have expected a normal fledgling, I do not
know. I don’t think he really did. I think he simply wanted to know
what would happen.

“
I took the girl from her
school. I brought her to him. I did not ask any questions of
Abraham, and am not sure I would have even if I had known what he
planned. Not then. Now? Who knows?

“
His blood is too powerful.
The curse of our line … We make few fledglings, and have a limited
window in which to do it. Abraham was nearly too old when he made
me. Yet even after Melissa, he gave his blood to this girl. He gave
it to her very quickly, nearly drowned her in it, and it destroyed
her mind. She is, in some respects, the perfect vampire. Alert,
aware, incredibly fast, stronger even than Melissa, who is many
years her senior.”

Theroen glanced again out the window, then
back at Two, smiling without humor. “Tori can be counted on for
three things. She loves to hunt, she loves to kill, and she loves
to – as mortals so callously put it – fuck. It is appropriate
terminology. There is no love involved for her.”

“
Another vampire with an
active sex life …” Two raised an eyebrow.

“
It’s an uncommon strain,
even among our type, but it seems to have lain dormant in Abraham.
He himself is incapable of that mortal act of love. Yet his
children, all three of us, are very much alive below the waist.
These pleasures pale, of course, to that of feeding, but when mixed
together appropriately …” and here he glanced at Two, “they can be
quite pleasurable indeed.”

“
Will I get to meet
Tori?”

Theroen grimaced. “Yes. At some point, I
suppose, it’s inevitable.”

Two was contemplating Theroen’s description
of Tori, neither speaking, when she sensed a third presence in the
room. She looked up at Theroen, who closed his eyes and sighed. His
expression was grim.

At the door stood Melissa, and yet not
Melissa. She looked different, somehow. It wasn’t the style of
clothes, or the hairstyle. These remained the same. The set of the
body, perhaps? There was darkness behind her eyes.

“
Hello Missy,” Theroen said
without opening his eyes.

“
Theroen. Come hunting with
me?”

“
I’ve already
gone.”

“
Would it have
mattered?”

Theroen shook his head. “No.”

“
You never hunt with me.”
Missy’s tone was dry, emotionless. She was only stating a
fact.

Theroen glanced up at her. “I never do.”

“
But you’ll hunt with that
perky, jabbering bitch, when she’s got control of my
body.”

Theroen nodded.

“
And you’ll hunt with this
… half-mortal … thing. Someday.”

“
Enough, Missy. Watch your
tongue.”

“
Or what? You’ll hurt me?
I’ll let
her
back
in while you’re doing it, Theroen. She won’t understand. She’ll
cry.”

Two watched all of this, fascinated and
amazed by the change in the vampire girl. Even the tone of
Melissa’s voice was different. The vampire turned to her
suddenly.

“
Quit staring at me, or
I’ll rip your eyes out with my teeth,” The words were almost
casual. Two looked down at the floor, her pale face coloring
slightly. She was not afraid, exactly, but aware that vampire
society seemed hierarchal, and not wanting to break any codes of
conduct. She assumed it was the right thing to do.

The air in the room seemed to go cold.
Theroen’s anger was palpable. He stood slowly, and Missy
immediately moved backward a step, glaring, defiant.

“
I would no sooner do
physical violence to you, Missy, than I would to Melissa. Or Tori.
Or Two. I do not enjoy causing harm to others of my own kind. To
anyone. But you will not threaten her, at all, let alone in my
presence.”

“
Who are you to command me,
brother?”

“
I am not your brother,
Missy. You are an aberration. A mistake. A product of powerful
blood on an unsuspecting brain. That body belongs to Melissa. You
are merely a parasite that refuses to die.”

Missy made a snarling cry of outrage and
threw herself at Theroen. Two leapt off of her couch, pushing
herself into the corner. She didn’t want to be watching this.
Surely blood would be spilled.

Yet Theroen merely caught Missy’s arms,
dragged them to her sides, pulled her face up to his, locked her
with his eyes.

“
Does
that
hurt, Missy? Do I even need to
lay a finger on you, when the truth will do so well?” Theroen’s
voice was still calm, still collected. He seemed almost
disinterested.

Missy had no answer to his question. Theroen
let her go, and she slunk back to the doorway.

“
Go. Hunt.” Theroen’s tone
implied that the dismissal was beyond argument.

Missy opened her mouth to say something,
thought better of it, whirled on her heel, and departed.

Theroen took a deep breath. “And now you’ve
met Missy. What do you think?”

Two shrugged. She returned to her couch, sat
down, smiled slightly. “I think she’s a bitch.”

Theroen laughed. “Yes, a bitch. That’s
exactly what she is. Such a shame. Melissa could have been an
incredible vampire. I’ve never met another whose essential goodness
was so utterly untouched by the transformation. In my darker
moments, I almost believe Abraham made her solely to attempt to
destroy some of that goodness.”

“
She doesn’t seem like his
type. Neither of them do, really. I’m not sure anyone is.” It still
seemed foreign to Two, speaking of “them” when referring to a
single body, but she had seen more than enough proof of Melissa’s
dual personalities.

“
No, no one truly is, but
Missy is certainly much closer than Melissa. I can’t claim to
fathom Abraham, and I’ve served him for nearly half a century. No,
Melissa is not what I would have expected from Abraham. Perhaps he
saw in her the potential of Missy, and expected the change to bring
it out completely. Perhaps it would have, if his blood was not so
strong.”

Howling again. Two looked out the window
into the night.

“
I think I want to meet
Tori,” she said. “It’s weird, knowing she’s out there but never
seeing her.”

Theroen smiled at this, shook his head. “No
you don’t.”

Two raised her eyebrows, leaned forward, set
her elbows on her knees – giving Theroen as ample a view as her
chest could provide in the process – and smiled, batting her
eyelashes.

“
You’re not going to let
me?”

“
No, and if you insist on
trying anyway, I will have to stop you.”

Two considered this. It was unlike Theroen
to deny her a requested indulgence.

“
Why?”

“
Tori is not friendly.” No
elaboration. No change in Theroen’s expression that might have
helped to explain his unwillingness to expose Two to this woman.
Two pressed on.

“
I know what she’s like. I
told you about the dream. I can handle it.”

“
That was not a dream, Two.
Tori throws off mental images like sparks from a fire. That was
very much a real event that you witnessed that night, and I can
assure you she’s even less pleasant in person.”

“
I can handle
it!”

Theroen sighed. “It’s not your ability to
handle it that I’m concerned with. It’s my ability to handle Tori.
She doesn’t like vampires, other than Melissa … or Missy, she
doesn’t seem to know the difference. She tolerates me only because
it is clear that Melissa likes me. She will not set foot near
Abraham, although he is the only thing I am currently aware of that
she fears.”

“
So, she may not like me.”
Two was unfazed. She had dealt with women who didn’t like her
before, had knocked out teeth when necessary.

“
You do not understand,
Two. Tori is a machine; an engine of destruction. She is built to
kill, and she is remarkably capable. If she decides not to tolerate
you, she will attempt to kill you. Previous experience has taught
me, quite harshly, that even I am not necessarily fast enough to
prevent her from doing so. Abraham’s visitors were … quite
upset.”

Theroen pressed his palms against his eyes
momentarily, sighed, shrugged. The gesture was oddly human, oddly
endearing. Two smiled.

“
Okay, Theroen.”

“
Someday soon, Two. I
promise. But not out in the woods and not unless she’s fed. I want
her to see you through a window first or, better, a set of bars,
before you come face to face.”

“
Would you cage
her?”

Theroen laughed. “I don’t know if I would. I
doubt that I could. Trying to force an ordinary vampire into a cage
is hard enough. Tori …” He shrugged, letting the thought carry.

Two got up, walked to the couch he sat on,
and reclined against him. He traced the pink silk of her gown from
shoulder to neck with a finger, placed his hand under her chin, and
brought her lips to his for a small kiss.

Two sighed. “I feel so
…
girly
around
you,” she said at last, laughing at herself. Theroen grinned, said
nothing, traced the contour of her breast with his fingertips. He
was not looking at her, but rather at her reflection in the window,
blurred and indistinct. She watched him watching her, and
considered the life they might lead together.