The Blood That Bonds (25 page)

Two stirred, stretched, felt the rush of air
through her fingers. She should be freezing, driving in late
November with the top down. The only cold she felt was
internal.

“
Isaac?” she asked at
last.

“
Isaac. Yes, Isaac died
badly. I was present for it, but I found that I took little real
pleasure in his destruction. A certain … mortal need for revenge
was served, but after that I had before me only endless years as
Abraham’s servant.

“
Lisette’s words proved
true, though. Isaac knew fear. He knew his weakness, and he died in
shame. Abraham had him bound and gagged, hung upside-down, so the
blood would go to his head and keep him alive while his skin was
flayed from his body and he was unmanned and
disemboweled.

“
Abraham brought out his
children, his fledglings. Isaac had three of them. And in front of
him, while he wept, Abraham cut their heads from their bodies and
burned them to ash. I was not sorry. All three had taken part in
Lisette’s abduction.

“
At the end, when Abraham
removed his gag, Isaac could not even speak coherently. Terror,
sorrow, and pain had combined to rob him of his senses. He wept and
pleaded, some of the words in the vampire language that Abraham has
never allowed me to learn, and Abraham did him a favor and cut his
head from his body.”

“
Jesus …”

“
It was something less than
pretty. I watched from a distance, but I made sure Isaac could see
me. Oh, I made very sure of that. I am not proud of these things,
Two, but I do not regret them, either.”

Two was quiet for a moment, thinking the
story over in her mind. What would it be like if someone swooped in
and took Theroen from her now? How could she go on?

Theroen smiled at this. They were very near
the mansion now.

“
Two, there is no one left
to do so. Abraham has known for many years now that the time of my
leaving was imminent. He does not have to like it, but he will
permit it.”

To Two, this was somehow little comfort.

* * *

They rounded a corner, and the mansion came
into view. Two felt a sudden surge of adrenaline, followed by a
slow, crawling dread. Theroen grimaced. At the end of the driveway,
nearly hidden in shadow, stood a massive black figure that could
only be Abraham. The Ferrari moved up the gradual slope of the long
hill, and the creature’s face came into the headlights. The light
seemed to shy away from him, illuminating his features only
grudgingly.

Two felt locked in place, unable to move.
Theroen shut off the car, and Abraham was plunged once again into
darkness.

“
I have awaited your
arrival, my son.” Abraham’s voice was less heard than felt, like
slugs crawling through Two’s head.

“
Have you, father? I
thought I had fulfilled my duties for the evening.”

“
Yes. Yes, well enough.
There is much we must talk about.”

“
It would appear so. You
are aware of Missy’s transgression, then?”

“
I was aware while it
happened, Theroen. You know this.”

Theroen nodded. “With respect, father, may
we talk in private?”

“
You would not expose your
pretty fledgling to me any more than is necessary, would you,
Theroen? Afraid of corruption, perhaps?”

Theroen said nothing. Abraham smiled, fangs
reflecting silver-white moonlight from amidst the shadow of his
face. His eyes burned red, that same dark humor behind them.

“
Very well. If your
daughter, or lover, or whatever it is you’ve made of her, can move,
she is free to do so.”

Two realized that this creature was reveling
in her obvious fear, and it was this, more than anything else, that
gave her the strength to get up. She moved on wooden legs away from
the door, wanting to glance back at Theroen, afraid to do so. As
she passed behind Abraham, she felt his mind touch hers once, like
the dirty groping fingers of a licentious old man. The feeling
reminded her very much of her time working clients for Darren, and
her instincts lashed out, angry, against it.

Abraham turned casually toward her, and with
what seemed no more than a flick of his wrist, grabbed her shoulder
and whirled her around to face him. The force was immense, nearly
dislocating the joint and Two hissed at the pain that lanced
through her. Abraham’s touch revolted her, burned into her skin
through the thin leather jacket like hot iron. The sight of his
eyes drained her of anger, left only a numb fear unlike anything
she had felt before. Primitive, primeval, beyond consciousness. She
wanted to weep, to cry out, to do anything but look at this thing
before her.

“
Do not forget whose blood
runs in your veins, my dear, impudent little bitch. Your lover may
defy me, on occasion. He has earned that right through time and
service. You have not.”

“
Father …” Theroen’s voice
was strained, not with fear this time, Two thought, but with
something beyond loathing. Two’s vision began to swim, and she
realized she had not taken a breath since Abraham had laid his hand
upon her. She tried now, and found she could not. Her eyes, her
lungs, were locked by Abraham’s gaze. Adrenaline coursed through
her body, her heart beating furiously, but to no avail. The world
began to go grey, and Two felt her legs weakening.

“
If you kill her, Abraham,
be prepared to kill me as well. I shall surely attempt to do so to
you.” Theroen’s voice held no tension, now, only a cold, deadly
seriousness.

At this, Abraham grinned, and took his eyes
away from Two. She slumped to the gravel, gasping for breath, head
throbbing sickly. Theroen made to help her up, and Abraham put a
hand out, restraining him.

“
Come, my son. Walk with
me. Two is
Eresh-Chen
, now. She can find her way to her feet on her own.” He walked
toward the edge of the grounds, where grass met forest, as if a
refusal were impossible.

Theroen cast a glance at Two, and she
nodded, motioning him away. She had drawn herself into something of
a sitting position, propped up on her arms, legs stretched out to
her side. She thought she would very soon be sick, and she didn’t
want Theroen to see it. His jaw clenched momentarily, his hate for
Abraham clearly visible on his face. Then it was gone, replaced
with that same calm that she had seen so many times before. He
nodded, turned and followed his father.

When they were safely out of sight, Two
struggled to her feet. She managed two steps, head still thudding,
enough to lean against the wall of the mansion’s garage as she
coughed and dry-heaved. Her body had already absorbed the night’s
blood, and after a few more attempts, it gave up trying to expel
what wasn’t there. Two leaned against the wall for a few moments
longer, shuddering, waiting for the awful, spinning blackness at
the edges of her vision to clear. In time, it did, and she shuffled
her way into the mansion.

* * *

Chapter 5

A Tooth for a Tooth

The mansion. The next evening.

Two was used to this new style of waking,
now. Instantly alert, instantly aware. She stretched, ran a hand
through her hair, and sat up, looking around the empty room.
Theroen had not returned before sleep had taken her the night
before, and he was not here now.

The house had been devoid of life when she
had entered it the previous evenings. Melissa’s room was dark and
empty. No noise came from the cell in the basement. Two had made
her way to the room she shared with Theroen, exhausted and shaken
from her encounter with Abraham, and promptly collapsed into
unconsciousness.

A shower seemed like a good way of
prolonging the time before she would have to leave the room and
face the dark things growing outside. Two sighed, padded her way to
the bathroom on bare feet, and lost herself for a time in torrents
of warm water.

* * *

One of the televisions downstairs was on.
She could hear it as she left the bathroom. Two pulled on clothes,
ran a brush through her hair, and departed. She descended the
arching staircase and turned into the room she had come to think of
as the media center. Large televisions, three of them, each at
least four feet tall, lined one wall. Discreet wooden units housed
their audio components. Couches were arranged in front of the
screens. Most of the clutter that seemed to choke the rest of the
mansion was missing from this room, perhaps because it was one of
the few areas of the building that received frequent use.

Theroen reclined on one of the couches, and
his presence confirmed that it was Melissa who sat on another. Two
found it unlikely he would tolerate Missy, particularly given
recent events.

As if to confirm this, Melissa turned to her
and spoke. “We were wondering if you were ever going to wake up.”
She tried for a smile, managed something like one, and then looked
away. Two sat down next to Theroen, who adjusted his position to
allow her to recline against his chest. He said nothing.

“
It was a long night,” Two
said.

“
Tell me about it.” Melissa
sighed, shook her head.

“
I’m sorry, Melissa. For
whatever that’s worth.”

Melissa offered her another smile, sad, but
more sincere than the last.

“
I know. We need to talk
about it, don’t we?” she asked. Theroen nodded. Two felt the
movement. Melissa bit her lip, glanced at the TV, muted
it.

“
Where do we start?” Two
questioned. Melissa shrugged. Theroen sighed.

“
Let’s begin with a lesson
on vampire biology,” he said. “How do you feel right now,
Melissa?”

“
Exhausted,” Melissa
admitted, after a moment.

Theroen nodded. “Indeed. Certainly not in
any shape to undergo the rigors of finishing the process that was
started last night. In fact, your blood is so weakened at the
moment that the process would not even advance. Missy is, of
course, unaware of this, but at best Samantha will remain a
half-vampire for decades or centuries.”

Two turned her head up to glance at Theroen.
“Why?”

“
Melissa’s blood needs time
to rejuvenate. But to remain a half-vampire, Samantha needs
periodic infusions of that blood. Before Melissa could strengthen
enough to complete Samantha’s transformation, she will either have
to give the girl blood in order to keep her a half-vampire, or
allow her to revert. If she allows the latter, then when she again
tries to make Samantha into a vampire, it will be to the same
result. Melissa will not be prepared to create a fledgling for
hundreds of years yet.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Great.”

“
Such is the nature of our
particular strain. This, of course, is the least of our current
problems. It is just the most easily discussed. There are other
things of which we need to speak, Melissa.”

The dark-haired vampire on
the couch across from them was quiet for a long time. Finally she
said, “I’ve known Missy for a long time. There, I said it. I’ve
never said her name before. Missy. I
hate
that name. I hated it before she
even existed. But I knew her before she existed. She … Abraham
didn’t create her, exactly. He just woke her up. She was just a
dream before that; something that only came occasionally, and
brought nightmares where I did awful things.

“
I hated those dreams. Not
because they were frightening, or awful, but because in the moments
right after I woke up, I could feel her. I could understand the
appeal. Christ, I’d wake up totally fucking aroused, like a part of
me I couldn’t feel when I was awake not only enjoyed the things in
those dreams, but
got off
on them.

“
The pain of the blood,
Abraham’s blood … it brought her out. It spoke to her like nothing
I had ever allowed into my life. Once she woke up, she didn’t want
to go back. She can’t take over … not yet. She has to wait until
I’m asleep. But she can keep me out for longer and longer each
time, and she can let me back in whenever she wants. She’s stronger
than I am. She spends more and more time with my body. Eventually,
what happens? I wake up next to a half-vampire I don’t even know,
and find out that it’s my blood that did it.

“
So that’s when I really
knew. This body is Missy’s. I’m just along for the ride until she
beats me back completely. Then I’ll be the dream, I guess. Maybe I
can give
her
nightmares.”

Two opened her mouth to say something, and
could think of nothing to say. Melissa wasn’t telling them anything
they didn’t already know. She was simply admitting the truth to
herself.

Melissa was crying now,
unable to look at them. “When you first told me about Two, Theroen,
you said you thought you would stay here maybe twenty years. Twenty
years? I’m not sure you’ll last another twenty days. I could never
read people like you could, and I could
never
read you … but I’ve been able
to all the time for the last few weeks. Escape. Escape. It’s like a
flashing neon sign in your head.

“
And I can’t even b—bring
myself to hate you for it. Either of you. It’s not your fault, and
I know it, and that makes it so hard.”

Theroen stirred. Two shifted her weight,
allowing him to sit up. He looked at Melissa and when he spoke, his
voice retained its nearly ever-present calm, but there was deep
sympathy in it, and an almost heart-breaking sadness. “A hundred
and twenty years, Melissa. It comes and goes like the wind, and I
hate myself for all of this, even if you cannot.”