Forbidden Days (The Firsts) (22 page)

She looked around the cell and back to Bas with her thin lips in a twisted line.  “My life didn’t turn out so well, did it?”

He ignored her.  He didn’t care.

“So you never really knew what he was?”

She sighed and let her body dropped to the ground.  “I don’t suppose I could have a cig?”

He was disinclined to grant her anything, but he nodded to Jake, who left the room.

“I knew what he was.  Some girl told me.  She was there when he first brought me in.  She bathed me with cool water and gave me chocolates.  We would talk.  When I asked her what he was, she didn’t tell me.  But after about a month, we got sort of friendly and she opened up one day and told me.  He was the original vampire.  Imagine my shock.  I was a kid and impregnated by a vampire.  I screamed at him later that I knew what he was. He quietly sat down and told me that he certainly was an original.”  She sat up excitedly when Jake brought her a cigarette and lit it for her, backing away with the lighter.  She had the sense to be grateful.

Her eyes met Bas’s and held them for a moment.  Her mood had changed and it seemed she was no longer angry or combative.

“He’s not the only one.  He told me there are ten of them here.  All I thought was that I hoped I never meet any more of them.”

Bas looked at his companions.  They were all startled.  The legend of the first vampire had never been confirmed.  No one that any of them had ever known had ever known anyone who could confirm his existence.  And now she was saying he admitted there were ten.  Were they still alive?  Cherise was certain at least the one who fathered Park was.  She was terrified of him.

Bas would never forgive the bitch for how she abused Park, but he understood that she had been traumatized and abused too.  He was no longer homicidal.  He’d just backed up to tell Jake to arrange for her transport when Park burst through the door.  Vaz grabbed her and held her back.  He saw Park’s eyes take in the scene, four beefed up vampires standing around the room while her mother leaned against the same wall she’d seen Bernie against, in chains, sucking on a cigarette.

Her eyes shot to Bas.

“Everything’s okay?”

“Yeah.  I didn’t want you here.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to kill her.  She’s not worth it.”

Her mother looked up.  Stared at her daughter.  Looked her over carefully from head to foot.  Then took a long drag on the cigarette, slowly releasing the smoke.

“Well,” was all she said.

Park looked at her but had nothing to say to her either.  There was no fixing this, no happily ever after.  The best Park hoped for was for her mother to leave and to never see her again.

Bas came and took her hand.

“Park, this is the broken vessel that brought you into the world.  I hate her because she wasn’t good to you.  But I won’t hurt her, because you don’t want me to.  And because, as horrible as she is, she brought you to me.”

Her mother watched Bas gently hold Park’s hand.   And closed her eyes.  She just wanted to be done with all of it.  The next moment Bas gave her that.

He stepped forward and said, “We’re done with you.  I’ll have my men take you back to Ohio, and you never have to hear from us again.  You had your youth destroyed.  I get that.  It’s up to you to try to salvage it.  I’ll spend the rest of my life helping Park salvage hers.  Just don’t cross my path again, and your life is your own.  I actually don’t think you’ll do anything better with your life now, but that will be your own fault.”

They all walked out and closed the door.  No one else heard the deep sigh from inside the room.

Cherise finished the assignments for her small staff that helped her keep the large mansion in order.   She was smiling as she scheduled herself a weekend off.  Then remembered no one was going anywhere until this war was over.  She didn’t hear the footsteps behind her until they were right on her.  But she knew who it was.  She turned and looked at her bosses new lover.

“Cherise, we should talk.”

It didn’t surprise her.  She laid her pen down.  “Please we may retire to the table.”

They took seats opposite each other.  No one spoke for several seconds, then Park leaned in.

“Please tell me what you know about myself, my mother, my father.  I have only just discovered I’m not who I thought I was.  I mean, I’ve always known I had some odd skills, but I didn’t know that wasn’t normal until I was older.  I still don’t know exactly
what
I am.  You seem to know a lot. And don’t leave out the details of
how
you know these things.  Cherise, please don’t be afraid of me.  I’m just a normal girl, honestly.  I just want to live a normal life.”

Cherise watched Park push her hair back and pull her foot up on the edge of the chair.  She seemed so human.  How could she be?

“Ms. Park, I do not wish to upset or offend you.  I only work for Mr. Bas…you are a guest.”

“He values you like a member of the family.  I won’t change that.  You may speak freely and there will be no repercussions.  I would hope that we can become friends.”

Cherise shook her head.  “Oh,
mademoiselle
, I don’t know about that.  You bring up a time in my life I am not proud of. I do not wish to relive.   I was there when you were conceived, when he took your mother and bound her to keep her until you were born to him.  Nothing mattered to him more than you.”  She looked Park over closely.  “
Quelle exquis.
  He would be so happy.  You are very, very beautiful.  Oh, he raged when your mother disappeared.  Many died who got in his way.  I might have too, but for
par bonheur…
uh, the luck, the good chance.  He looked for you for years.  For years, mademoiselle, for you.  But your mother, she cloaked you and herself, somehow.  He could not find you.  He vowed if he ever found you, he would kill anyone and anything that had kept you from him.  This is why we are in grave danger.”

“But, if he hasn’t found me until now, what makes you think he will.”

“You are manifesting, becoming…your powers are
vivant,
are coming alive.  He will be able to sense that.  And when you and Mr. Bas have your child, he will know instantly that another one with the blood of the first has been born.”

Park shook her head.  “No, Bas said vampires can’t have children.  That won’t happen.”

“Mr. Bas, he does not know.  You are the child of an original.  You can bear offspring.  That is how your mother was chosen.  She had the gift.  Very few do.  A first vampire can breed, but only very rare humans have the ability to bear their offspring.  Your mother was one of them.  That is why he was so excited when he found her.  In all the millennia, the firsts have been able to breed only six times.  You see how special you are.  Oh, you and Mr. Bas would have
extraordinaire
babies.  But he will not let that happen, if he finds you.  He will take you to breed with one of the other firsts.  Breeding with them…it is not a kind thing.”

Park’s heart felt like lead.  God.  She really came from monsters.  And she really was endangering these people she had come to love.

“So I need to leave.  You were right.  Okay. That’s settled.”

“Oh, no,
mademoiselle
, Mr. Bas, he would kill me if he thinks I caused you to go.  You must speak to him.”

“He won’t listen.  And he will be killed if I’m here when my biological psycho father comes for me.  I have to be gone.  Cherise, I forbid you to tell him.  If you do nothing else for me, please let me choose to protect those I love.”

Cherise quietly considered the beautiful young woman in front of her.  “You are nothing like him.  I always thought that the aggression and arrogance came with the blood.  But you are a gentle soul, I see that.  I feel that.  He is in you, but he is not of you.  I will be silent, if you request, but I think now I have been wrong.  I think
you
must be protected.  They will deal with what may come.  I will help, and, Ms. Park, I have my own power.  You will not be happy if your father finds you and takes you to his world.  You do not belong there.”

“I can’t let him come in here and rampage against the innocent either.  I always knew my life was off the rails, as much as I tried to put it back on.  Cherise, I’m curious.  How is it that you know these things?  Are you…are you
not
human?”

“I am, but…there are degrees.  Yes, I am human, but I am more than.   I am from a race that comes from high in the Ural mountains.  We are not known here in your civilized world.  We are watchers of the supernatural, we are seers.  Sometimes we can see the course of events, although not always.  We have visions, and while they are reliable, we never know when or what.  We can identify all forms of life, as I said.  And there are many that the normal human would never know exists.  It is for the best.  They are ill equipped to deal with the bridge species.  Those who ride between the worlds.  It is my heritage to monitor and guide.  I wearied of the bloodshed, and asked to be released from my destiny for the remainder of my life.  Our lives are longer than normal by about a hundred years on average, but we are not immortal and we are not exempt from illness.  I needed a rest.  Ms. Park, I think you do too.”

“I’ll rest when it is time. Now is not the time.”

“You are planning to go.  Go where?”

“That is…a good question.  I don’t know yet.  But I’ll figure it out.  I have to.  Cherise, thank you for your honesty.  You’ve given me something I never had.  A heritage.  Not a good one, but at least now I know where I come from and what I am.  It will be a peace someday when I can stop long enough to acknowledge it.  I’ll leave you to your work. 
Bon nuit.
”

Park stood and started to walk out when Cherise called her.

“Ms. Park.”  She hesitated, then walked forward.  “There is something I should tell you.  Your child you would have with Mr. Bas…it is not a question of if.  You are already…you carry the baby now.”

Park didn’t move.  She just stared dumbfounded at Cherise.  Then her hands went to her abdomen and she stared into Cherise’s green eyes.

“How…how could you know.  We’ve only been together a few times and that was only days ago.”

Cherise put her hands over Parks.  “It is my power.  I know.”

She knelt and laid her head against Parks belly.   With her eyes closed, her lips opened in a sweet smile, she caressed the flat curves. 

“It is a girl child and she is very, very strong.  You must protect her above all.  She will be important someday.  Ah, she is as lovely as I knew she would be.”

Park couldn’t think.  What the… 

“Talk about off the rails…I can’t conceive of this…a baby so soon…with a vampire.  I need to lie down.   For about nine months.”

“
Mademoiselle
, your baby girl will be here in six.”

“Oh,Cherise, I can’t deal with this alone.  Thank you, but I really do need to go to my room.  I’m overwhelmed.”

“But you are elated too.”

She knew her face softened and felt the smile spread, her eyes tear.  “Yeah, I actually thought I would never have a child.  I don’t want children…didn’t…but…”

Cherise hugged her.  “I think it is going to be alright.  I think we have strong people who love you already and will be here.  You must stay, Ms. Park.  This baby needs all of us.”

Park nodded, not sure what she really needed to do now, and went out the double doors.

Dez had the lights down, since Zach slept nearly twenty of the twenty four hours.  It made it easy for her to get her own rest, since he needed so little care.  The other four hours, she fed him and held him.   And looked at him.  He watched her the entire time he fed, too, which she found at once uncomfortable, and sexually stimulating.  She had never in her life seen a conversion like this one.  From the moment Park’s blood was infused with her own and fed to Zach, he’d been calm and rational.  Quiet, a little catatonic at times, but calm and pain free.  It still blew her mind that the little human had something so powerful in her veins.   And…oh, god, it was good…

Bas had allowed Park to feed Dez for three days after the first, just at the end of the night before they all took their rest, so that Zach’s feedings would continue to include her blood.  For the past two he had only Dez’s blood.   And he was still doing incredibly well.   Dez assumed he was over the hump and that most of the transitions at the cellular level were over.  There was no sign of failure anymore at all.  In fact, his transition seemed to have been overly stimulated because he was bigger than any new vampire she’d ever seen now.  His muscular form was at least two, maybe three times what it had been.   He was taller, too, the knee length shorts now hitting him mid-thigh.   Most remarkably, and certainly to do with Park’s blood…his eyes were a bright electric blue.  He was absolutely not a typical vampire baby.  He was something new.  What…  She didn’t know.

Even buried in the sub level cells of the stronghold, Dez could feel the day coming on.  It was time to rest.  She looked over at the multi-blanket pallet she’d constructed on the floor and slept in since she’d agreed to change Zach.  It looked inviting.  Maybe a little more blood for him, and she’d drop and sleep until nightfall.  He was watching her cross the room and got up on his hands and knees, ready.  She slipped down against the wall and started to slit her wrist, but he put his hand over hers and stopped her.  He didn’t use words much, but his eyes were extremely expressive.  He stared at her and then reached to the waistband of her jeans, hesitated while he let her understand what he wanted, and when she nodded, he yanked them down and off.  She handed him the dagger, but he shook his head, lowered it and when he raised back up, she saw shining brilliant white fangs.  What…?  It took a month or longer for new vamps to develop fangs.

Zach’s hair was at his waist and although days ago she’d given him a covered band to pull it back, he left it loose, so when he leaned across her, it covered her legs and stomach. She felt the sting as he bit and began to drink from her thigh.  This was
definitely
new.