Immortal Confessions (10 page)

I was finally able to subdue and drink from
one man after slitting his throat, but I was discovered with the
corpse before I took more than a few swallows, the prostitute’s
scream instantly bringing the night watchman. Evading him and his
brethren and returning to Anna took the better part of the
night.

Holding her that dawn as she slept, I felt
trapped and hopeless. I’d applied at all the neighboring businesses
for night work, even just for the labor jobs, and been turned down.
I could steal, of course, but I could not bring myself to rob men
for their money and blood, especially when I would need to do it so
often I was sure to be caught within a fortnight.

Anna had been right; it was impossible for me
to find a job that I could work at to support her without risking
becoming “powder.” But there was no money to begin a business,
either; almost all of our meager stash was gone.

I kissed her forehead gently, blinking back
tears. I could see no way forward to sustaining myself, much less
Anna, in this wretched place. Worse, we could not afford to leave.
I had to protect her at all costs. I hugged her to me, telling
myself there was a way; I just had to find it.

I was downing a rat in dejected anger in some
dirty alley the following night when a hand of providence slapped
me up the side of my head.

“Enjoy the furry vintages, do you?” a lilting
voice said from behind me.

I hadn’t heard anyone approach. I turned
curiously to see a man eyeing me speculatively. He was shorter than
I was and finely dressed, almost to the point of being
ostentatious. His eyes were golden in color, almost like mine, but
so light as to be almost like cream. His hair was slightly darker
than mine, more a light brown than true blond.

“No,” I said, throwing down the rat
disdainfully. “I do not. But I am too tired to chase whores or
drunkards for their blood tonight.”

“Why would you want to?” the man said,
grimacing in distaste. “I don’t know how you could stomach it if
you succeeded in catching them. Their blood always tastes of
disease.”

“Who are you?” I said, tired of his banter.
“What do you want of me?”

“I was just passing through this section of
town and thought I smelled another of my kind,” he said. “I was
surprised, as I didn’t think any vampire lived in the poor section.
Yet here you are.”

I bared my fangs at him a fraction. “So you
found me. What do you want?”

“Nothing,” he said pleasantly, coming closer.
“But maybe you can be of use to me.”

I was thinking myself of how
he
could
be of use to
me
. “Yes?”

“I see we look alike,” he said. “You no doubt
see it, too. It would be useful for me to have someone whom I knew
that could pass themselves off as me.”

“Are you a prince, that you need a pauper?” I
said sarcastically.

The man looked at me in surprise, and then
laughed. “No. Would that I had time for such playing! However, I do
have enemies, ones that try on occasion to kill me. Yet if you were
there, to muddy the waters—”

He wanted his attackers to hurt me instead of
him. I understood the uses of a double. My father had used it
enough, especially when he’d needed to bed a married woman who was
of his own class, and pretend he had been nowhere near her sleeping
chamber. “What are you offering?”

“What do you need?” the man spread his
elegant gloved hands. “Shelter? Lovers? Blood? Money?”

“All of those, but primarily the last,” I
thought, deciding to keep Anna to myself. “I came to this city from
the country to try to better my lot. But I cannot find the means to
support myself here. There are no jobs to be had.”

“What is your name?”

“Devlin...Merean.” Better to be thought
Southern, if I could pass as one.

“I am Quentin Giere, and I will employ you,”
he said eagerly. “Come with me now. We will get some refreshment,
and then discuss terms.”

I followed him. Although I was nervous, I
felt too as though destiny was again taking hold of me.

We walked to the better section of the city.
Soon after, he walked to an unnamed shop, and knocked. A woman
answered, and took his name. A moment later, he followed her in, me
at his heels.

“The usual, Giere?” she asked, without
turning.

“Please, Mamselle,” he said cordially.

She led us to a room, and opened the door.
“Any two,” she said.

I looked in and salivated. Scantily clad
lovely women lounged here and there. It was obvious this was a
brothel. I felt my organ raise its head in excitement, and then I
shifted uncomfortably, remembering Anna.

Quentin glanced at me. “I’ll give you first
choice, friend.” He looked at the madam. “I’ll need an additional
two tonight, please. As you can see, there are two of us.”

A promise was a promise. “You are too
generous, friend. I would not mind a small sip, but from other
pleasures I must refrain, until we discuss terms.”

Quentin raised his eyebrows. “As you wish,
Devlin.” He turned to the waiting women. “Come here,” he said,
beckoning to two of them. They came to him, draping themselves over
him at once. He put his arms around their waists and led them into
a private room. “Come, Devlin.”

I followed him inside to a large waiting bed,
plain but somewhat clean. He closed the door behind us, and began
disrobing. Both women took off their clothes as well.

I hoped I had been invited here to take part
in the refreshment, that my participation in bed was not expected.
I was no boy lover, that I wanted a man with me when I loved a
woman. I leaned against the wall and watched with lowered eyes.

What I was so concerned about didn’t happen.
Quentin took no notice of me. He grabbed one of the women roughly
and bore her to the bed, impaling her with his shaft. Before he was
moving a moment, he bit into the wrist of the other and began
drinking.

Now I was unbearably hard, just from the
scent of fresh blood in the air. I shifted uncomfortably, leaning
back against the wall and swallowing the saliva that flooded my
mouth.

Quentin came a few minutes later. After he
finished the woman dismounted, and he pulled the other onto his
member, which I noticed with surprise was still erect. God, how had
he accomplished that? I had staying power, sure, but not after I’d
come.

He took his mouth off her with a cry of
release, as he came again. Yet he still kept moving, his head
lolling, his bloody fangs bared in a smile of absolute pleasure as
he moved her hips rhythmically on his. I averted my eyes quickly
lest he notice me watching him to find the other woman standing
before me.

“Sir, are you wanting any refreshment?” she
said hesitantly. She offered me her other unmarked wrist.

I bit into her before she finished talking.
Her blood was normal, not like Anna’s, and for a moment, I was
irrationally disappointed. Then I told myself to take the
opportunity before it passed and bit deeper.

She let out a hiss of pain, then a long sigh.
I took a few long pulls, and then kissed her wound gently.

“Thank you,” I said, drawing back.

She nodded. “You may take more if you
like.”

I eyed her hungrily. I’d not drained a human
for a week, and I was being careful of Anna, which meant I was near
starving. “What is the limit?”

“My losing consciousness,” she replied
carefully.

I took her in my arms and quickly slid my
fangs back in. She gasped, clutching me, as I swallowed as fast as
could, feeling my strength returning. Too soon, she went limp in my
arms, her head lolling. I withdrew from her, laying her on the
unused lower part of the bed.

Meanwhile, Quentin had finished, and was
pulling his clothes back on. “Don’t give her your blood to heal,”
he warned, buttoning his waistcoat. “The women of this place, their
blood has much of me in it, from my weekly visits to them.”

I put pressure on the girl’s wound, which was
seeping steadily. “I went deep, perhaps too deep, in my
enthusiasm.”

Quentin removed my hand, and looked for
himself. “No worries, Devlin. The Madam will tend to her. She
services a good many vampires in this city.”

My concern was not for the girl, but that I
should not be barred from this easy source of blood because of a
faux pas
. “Are you worried I’ll turn her? In my experience
that doesn’t happen easily, as the legends say it does.”

Quentin laughed again. “Yes, they have it all
wrong, those supposed scholars. I’m talking of reality. As you
surely know, too much loving by us, and women don’t endure.”

Just like that, it clicked into place. Here
was another opportunity to exploit, if I could only figure out a
way to get him to tell me all he knew.

* * * *

Quentin and I walked to a nearby café, and
ordered wine. We paid for the bottle and poured glasses, though
neither of us drank any.

“So, are you good at fighting?”

“Sure,” I said, nodding. “I was a guard
once.”

“What have you been doing since your
death?”

God, another idiot who thought we were
undead. And here I’d hoped he’d be the font of knowledge I so badly
needed. “I’ve been singing for my supper out amidst the
peasants.”

“Sounds perfectly horrid,” he said with
another grimace. “Why the change to city life? Was it really to
change vocations, or did you get bored of the filth and
ignorance?”

I would not tell him of Anna. “A robbery
attempt I was part of went bad. Everything I had was stolen. I
thought that here, maybe I could find easier work than toiling in a
stable.”

“Easier may not be the word,” he said with a
grin. “But less filthy, for certain. And also likely much more
lucrative.”

I was tired of his fancy talk. “What exactly
would you have me do?”

“You are to guard me, Devlin. Where I go
nights, you will go. If you see anyone who acts suspicious near us,
you are to tell me. And if I say they are to die, you are to do it,
no matter who it might be, man or woman.”

“That is not a problem.”

Quentin regarded me. “No declarations of only
killing the guilty?”

“I’m a mercenary now, not an angel of
vengeance,” I said evenly. “And you are the boss, though I will
choose the manner of death. In short, I will do it my way, so it
looks merely to be a human killing another human.”

“Very good,” Quentin said approvingly. “Have
you killed before?”

“Enough,” I said flatly. “Have you?”

“Not often,” he said a little sadly. “I
mostly visit the women you saw for blood. The vampire who manages
this city frowns on killing humans.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Explain this,
as I’ll need to know. What are the rules in this city, besides no
killing?”

“Not many. Don’t kill humans, unless they
attack you, and even then, make it look an accidental murder by
stealing from them. Don’t trouble the richer citizens at all, not
for any reason. Don’t bother the other supernatural citizens—”

“Who?”

“The sorcerers and witches, the goblins and
the faeries,” he said, bored. “There is also a family of
werevultures that inhabit this town, near the edge. Them, too.”

Werevultures? Was he kidding? “So there are
no werewolves?”

“As a rule, not here in the cities, though
there are sometimes one or two that pass through,” he said with
something like relief. “I’ve heard they stick to the countryside.
Most weres do, as it’s easier to blend in there.”

Weres, he called them. Hmm. “What are they
like?”

“The ones I’ve talked to say they miss the
forest, or the water, or their caves—”

“Caves?”

“Werebats, mostly. They are the most
prevalent werecreature around these parts. There is a large colony
near the river.”

“Are they off limits?”

Quentin took a deep breath. “I’m glad you
brought this up. Technically, no, they aren’t. They have an
agreement with Guy, the City’s Lord, to stay out of the city, and
he leaves them alone. But some stupid vampire hunter attacked them
last week, killing a bunch of their women and children when he
mistook them for vampires. It happens often, I’m afraid. The other
werebats killed him, but they’re raging now. They are killing any
vampire they can, primarily ones they find alone, in retaliation.”
He looked over at me. “It’s them I need you to guard me
against.”

“Won’t that die down quickly, though? Surely
the bats can be made to see it was not our fault?”

“Guy is not diplomatic,” Quentin said with a
sigh. “Things are going to get worse before they get better.
Besides, at heart, he’s a coward. He knows that there are more of
them than there are of us, enough so it’s close to three to one in
their favor. Because of those odds, he will not make them stop.
This has happened before, Devlin. The attacks will continue until
the bats feel they’ve taken enough blood back.”

I thought about that. There was a huge
opportunity here for not just the means to support Anna and myself,
but to gain real power. Still, I needed to understand much about
this world and this city before I’d be ready to proclaim myself
king of it.

* * * *

That next month with Quentin was informative,
to say the least. He showed me the places to go to find
“refreshment,” as he called it, and to meet more of our kind. On
the whole, I found them boring. Most were stuffed shirts, happy to
sip their blood from glasses, and discuss the prices of tobacco.
The women were the same, cold as my mother had been, and interested
in only what new jewels they had procured from their rich human
lovers. A few of them came on to me and I rebuffed them, disgusted
at their forwardness and the coolness of their skin.

I met Guy finally. He was robust enough, but
he was like the others, happy to talk about the problems, but not
to take action to solve them.