The Blood That Bonds (14 page)

“
It will be beautiful, Two.
You’ll understand soon. I’ll see you in town.”

It was only after Melissa had departed that
Two thought again of that look of melancholy, those tear tracks on
her cheeks.

* * *

Theroen leaned against the edge of the
Ferrari, staring out into the night beyond the light spilling from
the mansion’s garage. On the perimeter of their land, a twelve-foot
wrought-iron fence served to dissuade most random visitors. The
persistent few found the yard patrolled, during daytime hours, by a
pack of vicious Rottweilers, mammoth dogs with jaws capable of
crushing human bones to powder. Those who chose to leap the fence
at night rarely made it to the front door before Tori found
them.

The mansion was not without human visitors,
though. Abraham maintained contact with men in high places, mortal
and immortal alike, though for those of the former type he
disguised his own nature with both costumes and hypnosis.

There were the servants, as well – Men and
women who arrived once or twice a week during daylight hours to
clean the house and tend the grounds. The Rottweilers knew them,
and allowed them entry. They were unaware of the nature of their
employers, and knew only that some rooms were off limits, locked to
them. They were paid very well for their discretion, and Theroen
had never had any dealings with them that were not pleasant. He met
with them periodically, during the early morning hours, fighting
off the sleep and the pain of the sunlight, in order to read their
minds and be certain of their loyalty.

Some vampires kept servants – slaves
essentially – in thrall to them, bound by drops of blood and
convinced that someday, if they behaved properly, they too could
become vampires. Absurd, of course: the vampires of all but the
Burilgi line were very picky in their choice of fledglings. Having
become a servant to another creature in itself made these thralls
the most unlikely choice for an heir.

“
Hypocrite.” The tiniest
whisper of his own voice, a bitter smile. Was he not a servant to
Abraham? Had Two not been a servant to her pimp? Was she not, now,
his own servant, dependent upon him for instruction and for
blood?

This last he doubted, and this gave him
satisfaction. Two had been the proper choice. She was with him out
of desire, not desperation, and would remain so for as long as such
desire continued. This might be a decade, might be a millennium.
Regardless, it was more pure than the bond that held him to
Abraham.

He believe that, with luck, it might last
half a millennium or more. Long enough, perhaps, to finally bury
Lisette.

* * *

The dresses had made Two aware of her own
femininity. These clothes made her aware again of the raw physical
appeal of her own body. Tight, slate colored jeans; a stretchy,
white shirt showing off the slimmest crescent of her abdomen; a
black leather jacket. She felt strong, comfortable, desirable.
Theroen’s double-take as she entered the garage reinforced
this.

“
Be still my heart,” he
said as she slipped into the leather interior of the Ferrari. Two
smiled. He sat down beside her and started the car. “Is Melissa
coming?”

Two nodded, then bit her lip. “I asked her
to. Or she asked me, but I wanted … I’m scared, Theroen.”

“
I understand. You need not
fear, Two. We will be there to help you.”

Two’s newly enhanced senses were better able
to cope with the speed of the Ferrari, but still the world was a
blur. The car glided along the dark roads, top down, the sound of
the wind like the crashing of a waterfall. Two’s hair streamed out
behind her. She felt the big, stupid grin back on her face despite
the evening’s forthcoming events, and was glad for it.

Behind them, now and then, there was a flash
of lights. Melissa’s roadster could not hope to compete with
Theroen’s, but it was by no means a slow car either, and she drove
it with an abandon that concerned even Theroen. At one point he
slowed somewhat, and she caught up with them immediately, pulling
alongside, grinning wildly, barely watching the road. Theroen
stomped on the gas pedal, flying ahead of her, and slowed again.
Melissa pulled back to their side, middle finger extended,
laughing.

His words, made audible by the force of his
thought, cut through the wind. “Please do not feel we’re making
light of this, Two. It is just that we are both excited nearly
beyond containment. We cannot help being joyful. We know very well
what you are soon to experience.”

Two, who felt that the closest Theroen might
approach to “excitement beyond containment” was mild enthusiasm,
remained skeptical. She was not offended, though. Quite the
contrary, Theroen’s games with Melissa helped to ease her mood.
These beings had been doing this thing for hundreds of years. If
they could take it so lightly, perhaps their words about the effect
of the blood were true.

* * *

They covered the fifty miles to the small
town in less than half an hour, came to a stop in the parking lot
of a small park just outside its boundaries, shut off their
engines, got out of the cars. Melissa was giggling like a little
girl, perched on the hood of her BMW, looking at the two of
them.

“
I love this century! We
don’t do that nearly enough, Theroen.”

For his part, Theroen was smiling broadly.
He nodded.

“
I don’t know how the hell
you guys do it.” Two was also smiling. She felt out of breath. “I
couldn’t see a thing.”

“
You will continue to
change as the blood works on you body, Two. In a few decades, you
may be able to drive like Melissa.”

“
No one drives like me!”
Melissa laughed, leapt to her feet, twirled circles on the road in
the moonlight, staring upward at the stars.

“
Well, perhaps not exactly
like Melissa,” Theroen conceded.

“
I’m thirsty. Who’s going
first, here? Two? Theroen?”

“
What about you, Melissa?”
Two questioned.

“
Nah. I’ll wait and go into
Manhattan. I might take an appetizer up here, but what I really
want is to find some cute little sixteen year old thing with big
boobs and too much makeup. I’m going to get her all drunk and
seduce her.” Melissa’s smile had a wicked edge to it. Two looked at
her, eyebrows raised. Melissa laughed at the expression.

“
What? All vampires have to
be like mister ‘no, heterosexual food only, please’ over there? I’m
equal opportunity, bed and blood. Whatever strikes my
fancy.”

Theroen put a hand to his brow and shook his
head, but Two could see humor warring with, and eventually winning
out over, the look of disapproval he was attempting.

“
I guess I’ll go first.”
Two sighed. Theroen touched her cheek lightly, smiled, turned and
began to walk down the road. Two and Melissa followed. They moved
toward the town, and the unsuspecting humans who slept
there.

* * *

“
This reminds me of my
first time,” said Melissa as they walked. “I mean, not with a guy
but, you know, like drinking blood and everything. After Abraham
made me, he sent me out with Theroen, and said he could teach me
everything I needed to know.”

“
I am more your patron, in
most ways, than that ancient—” Theroen began. Melissa interrupted
him.

“
We know how you feel about
Abraham, Theroen. Shut up and let me tell my story!”

Two laughed. The expression on Theroen’s
face was typical of an older brother: exasperated, and yet she saw
a great deal of love there as well.

“
As I was saying before I
was so rudely interrupted, Theroen took me to the city, took me to
a brownstone. Hmmm … maybe I should start at the
beginning?”

“
Will it lessen the deluge
of words you no doubt have prepared, if you structure your thoughts
first, I wonder?” Theroen’s voice was wistful as he looked up at
the stars. Two laughed, then clapped a hand over her mouth, looking
at Melissa with bright eyes.

“
You’re no better than he
is.” Melissa tossed her hair playfully. “Fine, fine. If you don’t
want to hear my story, we’ll just walk in silence. Or maybe Theroen
could think of something more structured. Accounting, or law, or
something.”

“
I want to hear the story,
Melissa. Honestly.” Two tried to look apologetic, succeeded only in
half-stifling another burst of laughter.

“
I don’t know how Abraham
found me. Neither does Theroen. Or if he does, he won’t tell me. I
don’t know why he made me what I am. I was twenty-three, working in
a garment shop, making clothes. I was a seamstress. It was
eighteen-seventy-two, and they paid me two dollars a week. Can you
believe that?”

“
A
week
?”

“
A week. I lived in that
dirty, rat-infested pile of bricks in Brooklyn, and I worked for
two dollars a week. My whole family worked there, except my father.
He died when I was just a little girl.

“
When I said I loved this
century, I meant it. It’s so
clean
now! Even Manhattan. Even the dirty parts. The
streets aren’t filled with mud and manure. I can drive my pretty
little car wherever I want to go. I can buy perfume and beautiful
clothes and, if I want, I can walk around in nothing but a bikini,
and no one will even say anything. Girls do it in the summer all
the time.”

Two found it fascinating,
this new take on what seemed to be such mundane aspects of life.
She realized that even given her love of art, she had remained
wholly grounded in her 21
^st
-century world. Melissa was
not of this time, and her amazement at things Two had always taken
for granted was refreshing.

“
One evening as I left the
building, there was Theroen, standing in front of me. He said that
my presence was urgently requested by a great lord, and beckoned
toward a carriage. Even then, he had a taste for fast vehicles.
There were six
huge
horses tied to that carriage, each of them worth more than I
would ever earn in my life. Big wheels with wooden padding on the
axles to remove some of the shock.

“
It still bounced and
jostled something awful, but he drove it like a madman anyway. Oh,
of course I went. There was no doubt that he did represent some
wealthy lord. The carriage alone proved it. And when the rich
beckoned, well … it was always wise to follow.

“
I was totally unaware of
what was going on right up until he put his fangs into
me.”

She looked at Two and shook her head, her
smile sad. “It was pretty disgusting, but it didn’t stop me from,
you know … like right then and there.”

Two nodded, glanced up at Theroen, her face
coloring slightly. Theroen seemed absorbed in contemplating the
moon.

“
He drained me all the way,
and then gave me some of his blood. I didn’t wake up like you did,
though. No, his blood was … it hurt me. Really badly, actually,
even though he gave it in three or four doses. I remember I was
screaming, and then it was dark, and then it was four days later,
and I don’t remember any of them.”

Melissa’s voice, normally so happy, now
trembled.

“
I can’t even
feel
her!” She cried,
then bit her lip in frustration. “I only know she’s there because
Theroen tells me about her, and because sometimes I wake up and I
know it’s been more than one day. I’ll wake up in new clothes. I’ll
wake up and find horrible pictures spread out on the bed. She likes
terrible things. Things with needles and knives and hooks. I’m only
glad I can’t remember how she eats. I don’t want to
know.”

“
She is not a part of you,
Melissa.” Theroen’s voice was soothing. He was still looking at the
moon.

“
Really, Theroen? She cut
me, the other day. She cut me from the back of my wrist up to my
shoulder, half an inch deep, and then … went back. Let me in. I
woke up all of a sudden, standing outside in the woods, with my
whole arm feeling like it was on fire, pouring blood. Poor Tori was
having
conniptions
. I don’t know what I was being punished for.

“
She hates me. She hates me
because she can’t escape from me, and if she can’t escape from me,
then she must be a part of me.”

Theroen was quiet. He turned away from the
moon, looked down at the road. He seemed to have no answer to
this.

Two spoke up. “If she’s a part of you,
Melissa, she’s a part that was supposed to be buried. Abraham’s
blood woke her up, but she’s not a part of you that was ever
supposed to … to function. She’s like a set of wisdom teeth that
never come in, but never need to be pulled, except Abraham pushed
them forward. She’s like a benign tumor, except Abraham made it
malignant. You see?

“
We’ve all got parts of us
that are dormant. They don’t affect us, even subconsciously. But I
guess the right shock can wake them up. But she’s not a part of
you, she’s a wrongful
addition
. You were already complete
to begin with.”

Melissa seemed to take some
consolation in this. She stopped, hugged Two, and kissed her cheek.
“Thanks. I thought I was supposed to be tagging along to
comfort
you
!”