The Blood That Bonds (26 page)

“
Don’t.”

Theroen shrugged.
It can’t be helped.

“
I don’t want her to win,
Theroen, but she’s going to.”

Two spoke up. “Does she have to? Is there
any other way?”

Theroen answered her. “I don’t know, Two. We
have little time to find out.”

“
Why?”

“
There are two things
eating away from our time here, my own desire to leave not
included. The first is Samantha. She will wake, soon, and that will
force a decision on her fate. A minor matter, perhaps. Perhaps not.
The second is Abraham, who has instructed me of his desires. He
wants us gone, Two, the sooner the better. As Melissa said, we will
not be here another twenty days, but not because of any desire on
my part. He says he has grown tired of me. As for Missy, Samantha,
Tori—he has told me that when we leave, we must not take them with
us.”

Melissa made a quiet sobbing noise. She was
not looking at them, was instead watching the silent images on the
television.

“
What if you killed
Abraham?” Two stood up, paced back and forth a few times, then
looked at Theroen. He raised his eyebrows, tilted his head
slightly, said nothing.

“
I’m serious. What would
happen to you? To Melissa? To Tori and Samantha and me?”

“
This is an unwise avenue
of discussion.”

“
Is he really that
powerful? Is it impossible?”

“
That and more. Abraham has
studied long in vampire lore. He is very aware of his capabilities,
and has pushed those boundaries further than perhaps any other
living vampire. He revealed a rather startling talent to me last
night, unwittingly I think, when he caught your breath. I knew that
in close proximity, his power over others’ minds was significant,
but I did not know that he could allow you full reign of your
thoughts while controling otherwise involuntary functions. I do not
know how to do that, do not know how he did it, and do not know how
to fight it.”

“
Okay, but suppose somehow
he died. We can’t kill him. Fine. But say tomorrow Abraham … I
don’t know … gets hit with a nuclear bomb and is turned to ashes.
What would happen to us?”

“
Us. Very well, Two. On a
purely speculative basis – as what you speak of is simply not a
possibility for a wide variety of reasons – I think I can answer
that. What happens when the head of a line dies? It depends on the
age of his children, and the type of vampire.

“
If you kill an Eresh
vampire, his children may be significantly weakened. Certainly any
half-vampire he has created will revert to human form. Full
vampires may or may not revert, depending on the amount of time
that has passed since the change. If someone killed me, Two, you
would revert to human form in a matter of weeks. You’ve not been
changed nearly long enough for it to ‘stick,’ so to
speak.

“
If someone, somehow,
killed Abraham, the effects would be less drastic. Melissa and I
have made the change completely and will not revert. Tori might
revert, but I have no way of knowing if her mind would return with
her humanity, and at this point the physical changes may not
completely fade. It is possible that she would be very strong and
very fast, for a human being … comparable perhaps to one of the
other vampire strains. There would be no effect on Samantha, or on
you, if Abraham were killed.

“
So, continuing this
interesting but, unfortunately, rather useless line of thought, if
Abraham were killed, it would have little effect on the present
situation, beyond possibly allowing Samantha the opportunity to
return to her normal life, since he would no longer consider her
his property.”

Two watched him, frustrated, knowing that he
would not lie to her, but unwilling to believe that defeating
Abraham was not within some realm of possibility. No guarantees on
Melissa, Theroen had said, but would it not at least give them more
time to work on helping her rid herself of Missy?

“
It would indeed.” Theroen
had picked up her thoughts. “But that in itself is not a guarantee,
and an attempt on Abraham’s life would assuredly lead only to the
cessation of our own. If Karma exists, I’ve been living on borrowed
time since Lisette … died. But I could not bring myself to
sacrifice your life so needlessly.”

“
We have to do something,
Theroen.”

“
Yes, we do, but the choice
is not ours, Two. We have three options. The first is the easiest,
at least for us: we leave. Melissa, Tori, and Samantha stay. The
second: we stay for as long as possible, against Abraham’s will.
Melissa is eventually engulfed by Missy; Samantha is kept in a
state of half-vampirism indefinitely and is likely warped by
Missy’s teachings; Tori continues her mad existence; and eventually
Abraham’s evil drives me away. In the interim, there will be little
other than despair, and the end result is no different from the
first option.

“
Then there is the third
…”

Melissa had turned to listen to Theroen
again, and her eyes said she knew what he was to say. Theroen
grimaced, looked at his sister with deep, sad eyes, and
continued.

“
The third is a possibility
that Abraham must know is in consideration. He has known me for too
long not to guess that I would offer my sister this choice: if she
wishes, she and Tori will die by my hand. That is the third option.
Had Abraham expressly forbid it last night, I would have acceded.
He did not. He told me only that he wished that they remain here.
He has left me to make my own decision on how to interpret
that.”

Melissa’s eyes were hard and glassy, but if
more sobbing threatened, she held it at bay. She met Theroen’s
gaze, her mouth a thin, white line. Two looked between both of
them, and at last shook her head.

“
No. That’s crazy. There’s
a fourth alternative, whether you want to admit it or not, Theroen.
The fourth is that we attempt the impossible and try to kill him.
We have to!”

It was Melissa who spoke.

“
Don’t be ridiculous, Two.
I’m going to die. Pick any scenario, and at the end of it, I still
die. I’d rather not go with your life, and Theroen’s, on my
conscience.”

“
But if he dies, maybe
Missy will …”

“
Disappear? I told you,
Two. I’ve known Missy for a very long time now. Abraham woke her
up, yes, but she doesn’t intend to be put back to sleep. If I
believed there was the
slightest
chance of that, I might agree with you, but even
then probably not. So put it out of your head, now. You’re going to
get yourself killed talking like that.”

Theroen waved his hand, dismissing the idea.
“Abraham knows the difference between threat and idle speculation.
If anything, hearing Two speak in this manner would only amuse him.
Were you to attempt to kill him, Two, I do not think he would be
particularly upset with you. He would likely welcome the
entertainment. He would destroy you, of course, but he would do it
smiling.

“
We cannot fight him, and
even if we could, even if we pulled off the miraculous, what would
be the purpose? The inevitable end for those we would be trying to
save does not change. It is too much risk for no
reward.”

“
Well that’s fucking great.
I hate
all
of the
choices, Theroen.” Two was beyond anger. Beyond tears. Her voice
was hollow, exasperated, depleted of hope. Melissa gave her a look
of sympathetic commiseration, as if Two was the true
victim.

“
I’m not fond of any of
them myself. I’m not entirely certain which I would choose, if the
choice were mine. It is not. Melissa knows, has known for decades,
that it is not. The choice lies with her, and I will abide by her
decision, even if she chooses your fourth scenario.”

Melissa sighed, shut her eyes, leaned back
against the couch. Tears, tinged pink with blood, slipped down her
face, but she did not lose her composure. After a long minute in
which Two felt as if her own heart had ceased to beat, Melissa
looked up at the ceiling, and then over at Theroen. Her face was
hard, and rage danced behind her eyes. Rage at them? Rage at
Abraham? Rage at the situation? Two could not tell.

“
I want a
promise.”

“
Anything,
Melissa.”

“
Take Samantha with you.
Don’t leave her behind. Don’t leave her here for him. I know it
goes against what he asked, but I can’t do that. She’s just a
human. Promise me you’ll take her and get her home. You can make
her forget. Will you promise?”

“
You have my word,
Melissa.”

“
Good. Then I want you to
kill me. I’d rather you than that bitch who shares this body. Kill
me, and kill Tori, and when Abraham rages, spit in his fucking face
and tell him it’s from me.”

* * *

It had been twenty minutes since Melissa had
departed, and Two still felt numb. There had been little more
conversation after Melissa’s choice. She had asked Theroen when,
and he had said only, “Not yet.”

Melissa had nodded, and left to hunt. The
expression on her face was dark and distant, and Two did not envy
whomever Melissa might choose as a victim.

Theroen sighed, stood, turned off the
television. He turned to Two, his face set in its typical
expression. “Hungry?”

“
Starving,” Two admitted.
“But I think if I drink right now, it’ll overwhelm me. I’d never be
able to stop crying. How can it be like this, Theroen? Why aren’t
there more choices?”

“
Abraham makes it so. His
age, his power, his will. There is something I neglected to mention
to Melissa, something that makes me willing to risk his wrath and
do as she asks. He believes he has found a way to make more
children.”

“
I don’t understand,” Two
said. Theroen was quiet for a moment, organizing his thoughts. At
last he continued.

“
Eresh blood is too weak to
make fledglings for a very long time, and then within a century or
two, it becomes too strong. The power of the blood makes our
offspring go mad, as Melissa and Tori have. Another few decades,
and the fledglings begin simply dying from shock.

“
Through great study, and
having watched your progression, Abraham believes he has learned
how to dilute his blood and, by doling it out in minute increments
over a lengthy period of time, create a sane fledgling.

“
I left this out because
Melissa does not need to know. It is bad enough that Missy will
engulf her, let alone that she someday will become useless to
Abraham entirely. When that happens, Abraham will butcher Melissa,
Tori, and Samantha without a second thought. Whatever death I can
offer Melissa will be much better than anything Abraham might
deliver.”

“
God, Theroen. How can you
talk about this? How can you be this … this …”

“
This cold? I have been
contemplating it for decades, Two, as I have said. Melissa’s fate
is of great importance to me. I wish I could provide her with more
choices. I wish I could save her, but I don’t know how. Every
emotional fiber of my being screams against the decisions that are
being made here. But I don’t know what else to do.

“
The young man whose body I
occupy is still here, somewhere, Two. Vampires do not age as human
beings do, and the hot blood of youth is still very close to the
surface in me. I simply have centuries of practice controlling it.
That young man rages against this. He would try your impossible
deed, if I let him.

“
I have firsthand
experience, awful beyond description, that vampires of my age and
power can be killed easily by their elders. Lisette’s destruction
came at the hands of a vampire only a few hundred years her senior,
and that vampire lived only ten more years before Abraham destroyed
him. It has been centuries since those events, and Abraham has only
grown more powerful. If we challenge him, we will die.”

Two opened her mouth to reply to this, when
a scream, long and wailing, echoed from somewhere below them. She
shut her mouth with a snap, eyes wide, looking at the floor.

“
Samantha awakens,” said
Theroen.

* * *

It was Two who went down to
see the girl. She had asked to, and Theroen had simply held his
palms up to the air.
Be my
guest
. Two wondered if sometimes he
understood her motivations better than she did herself. Two did not
know why she needed to talk to this half-vampire woman whom she had
never met. Two only knew that it felt right, and after a life
guided mainly by instinct, she had learned to trust her
feelings.

She knew the girl could hear her footsteps,
coming down the long stone staircase. She could sense a sudden
panic, could hear already rushed breathing speed to a near
hysterical pace. She spoke into the darkness: “I’m not going to
hurt you, Samantha.”

The girl’s panic seemed to break, and she
found her voice, questions bubbling out of her like water. “Who are
you? Where am I? What’s happening to me? Where am I? Help me! Where
are you? You have to help me!”

Two’s eyes were better than a human’s now,
and even in the dark she could see the bars of the cell, could see
the girl behind them, on her knees, shuddering. Samantha was
wearing a pair of jeans and a loose, brightly-colored blouse. No
socks, no shoes. Two tried to remember waking up in that cell. Only
a few weeks ago. It seemed forever.