Aris Returns (15 page)

My senses turned feral. From the very depths of my being, I was driven to hunt. It
took all my will power to contain my wild desire to feed.

I knew that I had to move toward the scent without company. I brought my men to a
halt. I advised them to set up camp. To rest. To eat. I made sure the army was secure
and told the tired men we would proceed on the morrow, that I would ride forward to
be sure all was safe for our rest. They cheered and grew more light hearted. They
shouted what a fine captain I was. They joked and called to one another as they tethered
the horses to make ready for night. Slowly, fires appeared, dotting the horizon. I
knew they would soon be fed and drawn to sleep.

I rode forward alone, driven by my now undeniable hunger. Through and around and in
the center of it all was an exotic fragrance, something never before known. I rode
now spurred by curiosity as well as the hunger. Which of the two was strongest, I
know not.

The late afternoon was warm and dry as I rode into a setting sun. After what seemed
a very long time, I reached the gate of a small monastery made of old wood and in
need of much repair.

Leaping down from my horse, I let the reins trail in the tall, rich, green grass.
He was a good and true steed. I knew he would not wander. I left him grazing and moved
toward the building. Slowly, silently, I made my way into the small sanctuary. A cool
darkness surrounded me. The altar was in shadow without any candle light. All was
silent and desolate. It was clearly empty of human life yet the strange scent in the
air filled my being with a sense of familiarity. The smell of blood grew stronger,
firing my grisly sense of the need of human life for sustenance.

I moved into the sunset once again, creeping around the side of the building along
the gray stone outer wall. The stones were broken, coated with mud and filth. I slipped
as I reached the corner, grasping the slimy rock to keep from falling. The fresh scent
of human blood overpowered
my very sense of self. I became nothing more than blood lust, a monster designed to
take life in order to live.

The sinking, orange sunlight was shining directly into my eyes. My vision was hampered.
As I blinked to overcome my human sight, my vampire perception gave me a clear view.
I saw the outline of two figures in the setting sun, a man and a woman. I realized
the strange scent calling to me was coming from them, so strange yet so familiar and
somehow safe. The blood scent emanated from the two limp shapes they held in their
hands. Dropping their prey, they began to walk toward me, hands raised in the air
in peace. Instantly, I knew they were of my kind, the first of my kind I had known
in my existence. In anticipation, I stopped still, my hunger set aside by shock. I
waited as they approached.

“Who are you?” The man’s words had a foreign ring yet I was able to understand his
meaning. He was tall and fair, his build lean and strong. He was clothed in rich velvet
that spoke of the court.

I moved from behind the building and spoke. “I am Aris. I come from the Holy Roman
Emperor.” As the sun sank lower, I was able to better see them. Each of them was beautiful
to me in a way that was almost too perfect to be human. “And who are you?” They stood
still at my question.

The woman spoke to me. “I am Gabriela.” She too was lean and tall. She was dark with
thick deep curls that touched her waist. Her dark blue velvet frock was torn and soiled
yet she carried herself as if she were stepping into the royal audience chamber. In
my eyes at that moment, her beauty overshadowed that of the setting sun. Nodding her
head toward the tall, fair haired man, she spoke one word, “Richard.” Her native tongue
was the same as the court of Madrid. “And what is one of our own kind doing riding
in the guise of the Emperor?”

“And what kind are we?” I heard the challenge in my voice, speaking just as the crown
of the sun sank beneath the plane of the earth and a round, full moon peeked its crest
on the opposite horizon behind a distant hill.

“Ah Aris, we are one and the same. Do you not know?” Her voice was questioning as
they moved once again, drawing closer to me. They moved evenly and smoothly over the
garden rows, traveling through the rough dirt as if skimming along over a smooth marble
floor.

The woman searched my face. The man stood quietly next to her. When she spoke her
words were soft, rolling from her tongue as a wave rolls onto a distant shore. Her
words etched themselves into my mind, “We are the undead.” She turned and the moon
illuminated her face. The silver light cast ghastly shadows. She no longer seemed
beautiful. Her eyes appeared black as pitch, holes in the white, bleached skeleton
of a death’s head. “Do you not know what you are? Where do you come from?” She stood
motionless as an alabaster statue, waiting for my answer.

“I come from a time long ago and a distant land. I have been the only one of my kind
I have known since I came to being.” As I answered her, I felt something akin to relief.
I was not alone. There was more of my kind. Each one of us wants to know there are
others out there. Each one of us searches for our mates, much as you humans do, Sarah.”

She jumped at his words. Her reality had become sixteenth century. Now, suddenly,
he was here, with her, in the twenty first century lying on a reclining chair in her
office.

“Mates?” She thought about his question. “Yes, I suppose we all want to find our own
kind and yes, I suppose we all hope to find our soulmates.” Shifting in her chair,
she leaned closer to him. She dismissed his return to present time, “Now, please,
go on. What happened with Gabriela and Richard?”

Worried that my men would grow concerned for me and come searching, I took my leave
of them with a promise to meet in the church later when all were sleeping in my camp.

I rode slowly back, fighting the hunger that ravaged my very soul. Suddenly, a deer
ran across my path. I leaped from my horse to catch the creature. Its life blood quenched
my thirst and, for the time being,
soothed the deeper hunger for human blood. I arrived at the encampment just in time;
a group of soldiers were being dispatched in search of me.

I assured them of my safety. We settled in for the night and ate a poor meal of small
ale and bread. With full stomachs yet not satisfied, they stretched out in the soft
dirt around the night fires. One by one, they slept.

When I was sure they would not awaken, I crept away. Leaving my horse tethered with
the rest, I moved out on foot. Once away from the sleeping soldiers, I began to run.
Covering ground on foot more rapidly than riding my horse, I was at the church before
the moon was straight up in the sky. The bright light flooded the courtyard, shining
in the small door and window of the sanctuary.

Suddenly a shadow stepped into the light, then another. Richard and Gabriela joined
me and we walked together.

I was full of questions. Where had they come from? When? Were there others? As they
told me their story, a strange sense of peace filled me as I learned there were many
of my kind.

Richard had been a lord in charge of an envoy from the English King to meet with the
Emperor. King Henry was seeking an annulment of his marriage to Katherine. Because
the Spanish emperor was her nephew, Henry hoped her relative would use his influence
with her to aid in convincing her to join a convent. Charles was incensed by the request
and sent the envoy back to England. The court was full of rumors about the outcome.

While the English guard was in Madrid, Richard met Gabriela. They were drawn to one
another and became lovers. When the envoy traveled back to England, Richard stayed
behind with her. They suffered many trials but at last, he was accepted into the Spanish
court.

One night when they met in the Emperor’s gardens for a lovers’ tryst, they were set
upon by two of our kind.. Knocked unconscious, they were dragged deep into the surrounding
forest. It was there they were changed. They joined their first coven and it was from
that coven they
were running when I happened upon them in the monastery garden.

‘No more than beasts’ was the way Richard described his first vampire family. Frightening
and dull of mind, they attacked without thought of capture. Gabriela was terrified
the humans would learn of their presence and destroy them all. Her fear grew until
it came to fruition. The guard found one of the coven in the palace. Knowing the legends
of the vampires, the captain of the guard dispensed soldiers into the forest to find
them and wipe them out.

Richard was hunting when he came across the soldiers’ camp and heard them speak of
their mission. Frightened of discovery, he hurried to find Gabriela and take her to
safety. He knew where they would go.

Several weeks before; a traveler from a distant coven stopped at their forest home.
He told them of an advanced group of vampires that lived in the Catacombs under the
streets of London. The couple was intrigued at the thought of a more intellectual
life. They wondered if they should leave Spain to travel to the Catacombs. After hearing
the soldiers, Richard made his decision. He and Gabriela would return to his home,
his England, to seek the British coven and some semblance of a better life.

They were on their way to the sea to find a ship that would carry them to his home
country when they stumbled onto the monastery. The monks were drunk and cavorting
with a woman when the two vampires found them. They drained the woman and one of the
monks, the other was half dead of fright and unable to move or speak. He rolled into
a tight ball and there he lay still, shivering in the garden behind the monastery.
Sensing my hunger, they offered him to me. I moved quietly, under the full moon to
fulfill my blood lust.

She gasped as Carlos turned his head toward her and opened his eyes.
“I will leave you now, Sarah. Leave you to this young man.”

His eyes closed and his head rolled back onto the soft cushion of the chair.

When she brought him back into real time, he sat up, stretching
his arms over his head. “Well, that’s enough for one day.”

“Wouldn’t you like to discuss the session Carlos?”

“No, not today. I’m done.” He zipped his sweatshirt and moved toward the door.

“Carlos, what’s wrong? Is it the same thing you mentioned at Colleen and Bill’s party?
Your old gang?”

“I told you Sarah, nothing’s wrong. Why can’t you let it alone? I said I’m done. See
you next Friday.” He slammed the door behind him.

#

Daylight streaming through her office window awakened her. She must have fallen asleep
sitting in her recliner with her laptop on her lap. The battery obviously died while
she slept because the screen was dead.

“Just like I feel.” She closed the computer, placing it on the chair next to her.
She stretched a little. Rubbing her eyes, she spoke out loud to no one. “Is this all
just one big bad dream? None of this can be real, can it?” Standing, she carried her
computer to her desk and plugged it into the outlet.

She turned her chair to face the window, sat down and stared out into the bleak, cloud-filled
day. “What is going on? I have to deal with both a present day parolee and a vampire
from the sixteenth century. I’m not sure what to do with either of them.”

She stared at the city until she heard sounds coming from the outer office. It was
one of Maggie’s days to work. “At least I’ll get some decent coffee.” She turned from
the window, waiting.

The door opened and Maggie stepped into the room. “Hey boss.” She stopped short. “Wow!
You look awful.”

“Why thank you. You sure know how to start out my day with a bang. Did you bring coffee?”

“Yeah. Right here.” She handed Sarah a large steaming cardboard cup. “No milk, two
sugars. Didn’t you go home last night?”

Sarah took a sip of the hot black liquid. Her mouth puckered. “This tastes like battery
acid.”

“Maybe I forgot the sugars. Did you work all night?”

“Until I fell asleep, yeah.”

“Gorgeous Havarro again.”

“Back off, Maggie.” Her voice was harsh, angry.

Maggie looked startled and sheepish. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re
just so involved in his case.” She paused for just a breath. She smiled. “And he is
gorgeous.”

“I’m sorry too, Maggie.” She touched her assistant’s arm in apology. “I’m just awfully
tired and this thing has got me puzzled.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“No. Not right now. What I want is to go home. I need a long, hot shower. Do I have
anybody this morning?”

“You’re free until one thirty.” She stepped closer to Sarah, looking deeply into her
eyes. “Why don’t you go? After your shower, take a short nap. It’ll do you good. You
have Mrs. Grossman this afternoon. She always wears you out even when you aren’t tired.”

Sarah looked at her watch. “I think I will. Hold down the fort and call me on my cell
if anything important happens. Otherwise, I’ll be back at one.”

She took her trench coat from the coat tree by her door, picked up her bag, waved
to her secretary then made her way to the elevator and her bed. “I hope to hell I
don’t have any daymares. I’ve had about all I can take for a while.”