Aris Rising: The Court of Vampires: AN INFINITY DIARIES NOVEL (11 page)

“Akira and Khansu wanted to understand the differences in the humanoids on earth and the humanoids on their planet. They experimented with humans and devised a way to create an earthling super race. Blood drinkers. The Immortals. Through the millennia Akira has grown more gentle. More understanding. She has grown to respect earthlings. She understands they are different than the stock of her home planet. The humans of earth have consciences.

“Her first changeling, her first creation was Sebastian. She treated him as if he were a true son. He and his newly made brothers and sisters of the coven assisted in the building of the Catacombs. He has served the royal couple since the beginning and I am quite sure he serves them still.

“I have thought about the mental torture he must have endured
when he defied her order to end my existence for breaking the law, for killing out of hate. He placed himself in jeopardy by hiding my staked and dead body and only banishing my essence. My sentence was stake and fire. I was to be eliminated. It was only Sebastian’s love of a brother that saved me. It could have only been for love. I miss our talks and our silences.

“Sebastian fell in love with a human, Emily Brown. He petitioned the Council for permission to marry. After many meetings and much pleading, it was finally allowed. Emily became an Immortal. They were joined by Akira and Khansu.” He smiled as he thought of his friends. “I feel sure they still are living below ground with the royal couple.”

Aris pulled into the parking garage and parked. He leaned against the car door and looked at Sarah. “Any other question?”

“What about the woman he took for a mate, Emily?”

“Yes, Emily. A human with such a deep soul, a profound love and a brave heart. She chose to be an Immortal. There are few who have made that choice. She lived, died and was reborn for Sebastian. When my essence left the Catacombs after my trial and my body’s execution, I never returned. I do not know what their life was after their mating. My only hope is they found joy as great as their love.”

Sarah leaned against the passenger door of the car, facing the vampire. The air inside the car was still warm from the heater and the atmosphere was cozy. “What about Richard?”

“Richard and Gabriela, two wonderful friends. They were the first of my kind that I ever met and I believe it has made us more of a family. While I still worked for the Spanish Emperor, they traveled to London to find the Catacombs. It took them some time before their petitions to the Council were heard. At long last, they convinced the Council they would swear and live by the Blood Oath and they were allowed to join the coven.”

“Blood Oath?”

“Never take the life of an innocent. Never take a life through the drinking of blood for retribution or spite. Never take a life through the drinking of blood to gain power.”

“That isn’t the kind of law people think about when they think ‘vampire’.”

Aris laughed. “I know. So many myths.” His expression became more somber as he continued. “But there are evil vampires like those that changed me and those that changed Richard and Gabriela.”

“Aris, let’s go upstairs. The car is getting cold.” They gathered their things and left the parking garage. They continued their conversation as they stepped on the elevator and rode to her floor.

“I’ve wondered something for a long time. Why did you wait so long to find a human body?”

“Sarah,” he sighed deeply before he continued. “Few Immortals have a choice of a body. Other than those who are only partially destroyed such as I was when Sebastian banished me, the body that is inhabited at the time of change is the body used for eternity. But, as you see, in my case, there are rare instances when one has the opportunity to make that choice. Without a body I am nothing more than awareness and thought.” He smiled. “Now, I ask you, if you had to select a body to have until the end of time as we know it, would you not be choosey?”

She spoke through muffled laughter. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

“I was able to contact you through Carlos because of his involvement with mind altering drugs, because he was in hypnosis and his subconscious was open. Had both of those things not happened, I would not have been able to contact a human through him or anyone else for that matter. I am not able to enter into a
living conscious being’s subconscious unless their mind is altered in some way. If my essence is without a host and present at the time of a death and I desire to inhabit that body, I am able to it. Had Carlos not died, I would still be just a thought coming through his voice and only while you had him in a trance.

“Remember, we do not take the lives of the innocent and we must take the body at the moment of death. The bodies of the wicked show their evil. I waited for the body of a good man, a beautiful man. I was given life on this plane as a gift from him. A gift not given purposefully yet nevertheless, a gift. I will honor that always.”

The elevator opened and he walked her to her door. She unlocked it then turned to say goodnight.

Kissing her gently on the cheek, he whispered, “Merry Christmas, Sarah. It has been a wonderful day.”

“For me too.” She returned his kiss. She watched him walk to the elevator. He turned to wave to her before he stepped inside and the doors closed.

A
fter taking Sarah deep into a hypnotic trance, Bonnie waited patiently for her to speak.

SARAH HAGAN, transcript, session 4

Sent away in disgrace and without a bid farewell, I traveled to London. It rained as the horses made their way through the mud. It was a cold and miserable girl who arrived at Whitehall Palace in the dead of night. I was taken directly to an opulent room warmed by a blazing fire and told to sit. Waiting in silence, I sipped the warm wine brought to me by one of the servants. As the dawn began to break through the mullioned windows, the great door opened. Looking like a fat red bird, a Cardinal of the church stepped into the room.

“I am Cardinal Wolsey.” He held forth his ring to be kissed. Bowing, I lowered my lips to the huge brilliant stone as I curtseyed low. “Rise, Elizabeth Wyatt.” Bidding me to sit near him, he settled into a great chair close to the warmth of the waning blaze. The dimming firelight danced on the glorious red satin fabric of his robes. For a moment, he appeared more a fat devil than a paragon of the church.

“Your mother has petitioned for your acceptance at court.” He neglected to tell me the small fortune that accompanied the petition.
“After much deliberation, I have decided to intercede for you with Queen Katherine. As I am of notable influence upon her Majesty’s judgment, be assured you will be accepted. He opened the great door, moving his hulk with a grand rustling of satins and silk. Beckoning a footman to show me to the chamber I would occupy for the few days I must wait until I was formally accepted at court, he then turned from me as if I had never been in the room. Frightened and exhausted I made my way into what was to become my new home. It felt huge and cold and empty. Just as did the vacant place in my heart where just days ago, there was heat and light and passion.

As time passed, I despised court more than I dreamed possible. King Henry frightened me. He was always staring at me when Queen Katherine or his mistress, Lady Anne Boleyn, was not close by. While the Queen was kind and gentle with us, all of the maids were terrified of the King as well as of Lady Anne. If he showed the least interest in anyone, the maid disappeared from court and was sent either home or to some God awful drafty castle as far from London as the Lady Anne could manage. I did my best to hold my distance yet for some reason, I know not why, Lady Anne took a liking to me hence I was in her rooms much more than I desired. Perhaps it was that I was young, naïve and without any court connections. She began to take me into her confidence.

It seemed the bravado she displayed to the courtiers was false. She was as fearful as a child. Of course, she never let on in the beginning, even to me. Yet, in her rooms, I became acquainted with one of her musicians. The handsome young lute player, Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was free with his words and opinions and spread court gossip more rapidly than any of the ladies. Anne, it seemed, had trusted him with her worries of holding the King. She had his attention, no doubts, yet so had many before her. Holding him while Katherine was still Queen was her present task. Anne saw me as one who could report to her the goings on in the Queen’s chambers; a spy who could aid her in her quest.

As she grew more loose of tongue with me, she told me her great
secret. Her uncle and father saw her as an emissary for their family to ingratiate the Boleyn clan with the King and move them forward in rank. Regardless of her pleas that she was betrothed to marry her one love, Henry Percy, she was treated as chattel. Sent to court to claim the affection of the King, her beauty and wit caught his attention in short notice.

Suddenly, she was of great import to her family, her words and thoughts no longer taken lightly. I knew from our whispered conversations that she was still a maid, a virgin. She refused to bed the King while he was still married to Queen Katherine. Thus, the King’s Great Matter became the charge of the court; ridding himself of the Queen was his only thought. I watched as Lady Anne grew more thin and nervous as time progressed, yet hold him she did.

Still, I served Queen Katherine in good spirit. She was a pious and devout Catholic who was kind and generous to her court. The King turned from her, giving his all to winning Lady Anne. I watched the Queen grow solemn and languid, her once thin waist thickening, her only distraction food and the sewing of a great religious tapestry. The King no longer entered her rooms or called for her in his. Many times I found her wiping silent tears as she sewed tiny perfect stitches in the cloth of the wall hanging. All was intrigue and subterfuge. I knew Lady Anne had no true affection for the King, yet my soul ached for her and her unrequited love of Henry Percy. I, too, knew that ache of heart.

It was at a royal banquet that I first saw him. Tall and powerfully built, he had just entered the room when he turned to catch my eye. His blond curls shown in the light and as he walked through the door, I was reminded of a great, wild cat. Lithe, sensuous, dangerous. Unable to turn away, I felt my cheeks grow crimson. I knew not if it was my blood surging in my veins under his gaze or the heat of the bodies of the courtiers in the closed, crowded room. Lady Anne beckoned for my attention; when I turned back, he was gone. Who was this magnificent man? Inexplicitly, I was drawn to him. I decided to question my cousin,
Thomas Wyatt. He knew all at court. Surely Thomas would know who he was.

Bonnie was breathless as she questioned her friend. “Who was he, Elizabeth?”

Aris, a royal knight of King Henry who would become the true love of my young life.

The office was silent for many minutes before Bonnie realized Sarah had returned to real time and had fallen asleep in the recliner. She left her friend to rest as she typed her notes into her laptop before shutting it down. Watching Sarah sleep, she felt a deep, inexplicable melancholy. What would the next session bring? And who was Aris?

“I
t sucks that you’ve got the flu. It won’t seem like New Year’s eve if we aren’t together.” Colleen’s voice sounded like she was speaking into the phone through a barrel.

Sarah’s ears as well as her nose were plugged and her throat was sore. She croaked as she answered. “I feel the same, but even if I could get out of bed, I wouldn’t want to be around you. I’d hate to give you something as pregnant as you are right now.”

“Yeah, I know. Do you need anything? Bob’s running some final errands before the party and it would be easy for him to pick up anything you want.”

“No, I’m doing fine.” Sarah almost told her friend that her ex-parolee was taking care of her, but she didn’t have the energy to answer the innuendos that statement would bring. “I’m going to take a nap now. Thanks for calling and have a happy New Year.”

“You too, hon. Call if you need anything.”

Sarah placed the telephone on the bedside table, closed her eyes and waited for Aris to call. Every day her need to see him, to be in his presence, grew more pronounced. When she thought of living without him, she felt sad and alone. When she contemplated a future with him, she was both frightened and excited. His world
drew her in an unexplainable way she could no longer deny.

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Wrapped in blankets and snuggled on the sofa in front of the fireplace, Sarah sipped a mimosa. She wanted to share champagne with him for the New Year even though he thought she shouldn’t. She made a bargain, orange juice with just a splash of alcohol couldn’t hurt her. His glass rested on the coffee table. It was untouched except for their New Year’s toast. “The first of many,” his words rang in her mind. How many? Twenty, forty, forever?

“I just can’t think about the future right now
.” She silenced her thoughts as she smiled at him.

He leaned toward her, placing his soft lips on her forehead. He hesitated a moment then looked into her eyes. “I think your temperature is normal once again. I had begun to worry. Influenza is dangerous.”

Smiling, Sarah spoke. “God bless antibiotics. I don’t like to take them, but sometimes they save the day.”

“There are so many scientific advances in your society, yet people basically remain much as they were centuries ago. I am amazed science has moved forward while consciousness has trailed so far behind. Humans still go to war after so much history has proven the only victor in battle is death. Men still murder even though it is obvious humans who take a life lose their own humanity, their very souls.”