Cara Mia - Book One of the Immortyl Revolution (11 page)

More wonders appeared before his eyes. Chromosomal anomalies in all twenty-three pairs, as if someone had snipped out offending genetic threads and replaced them. But what was responsible for this tailoring? So far the agent was unidentified.

Human? So it appeared. Impossible to say, at this point, the extent of the differences. His scans showed their brains looked the same as human brains, but their limbic functions were more highly developed, and their sensory apparatus worked on a much more efficient level.

Their bodies weren’t much different in appearance from mortals, except for an absence of pigmentation from non-exposure to the sun. Hair and nails grew at a slightly accelerated rate. Kurt grew facial hair, although very little. Their nails were somewhat harder and stronger, like horn. Their skin was as smooth as newborns, and hair luxuriously thick and glossy.

The vampires gained almost no weight. The digestive system still functioned as normal, but their caloric intake was very small at any one meal, but like birds they ate often, because of a more rapid metabolism. Odd, he considered, because most animals with quick metabolisms didn’t live long, a notable difference being parrots, which often outlived their owners.

Their muscles, if not bulky were extremely dense and well developed— more flexible and two to three times stronger than a large, strong human male. But these two diminutive creatures weren’t the largest specimens. A fully matured alpha male, as Mia called them, would be much more dangerous.

Of course there was the question of
sex
. Obviously, they still had the physical and mental capacity to perform and enjoy, but she didn’t ovulate or menstruate and he shot blanks.

Joe spent hours reviewing the data in his office and wondering about them. Aside from the physiological differences the tests revealed, he observed nothing about their behavior that couldn’t be construed as ordinary human behavior in a confined atmosphere. Both were bored, obviously, agitated by the constant intrusions on their privacy, but only Joe knew how much they missed one another. No one on the staff but Jean or Lydia saw their emotional depth and intelligence, or even seemed to care. They didn’t view them as anything but monsters. Yes, they had killed many times but they obeyed a biological imperative. Somehow they found a way to deal with it and still feel empathy. Yet even Joe wasn’t quite sure if he wasn’t being manipulated to believe so. That’s what made them so dangerous.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it was past four. Jean was off-duty. He had three hours until he had to meet with Mia. Enough time for a quick rendezvous.

Jean’s lithe figure lay on the bed, tanned skin smooth and supple, molten gold hair falling over her straight shoulders. Something of the sun and sea about her, blue and gold and clean, Joe mused as he caressed her.

It ate him that they had to hide their relationship. This wasn’t just some cheesy affair. Jean was more than a mistress. She was his only friend. If things were different he’d get a divorce and marry her, but he couldn’t. His family would turn their backs on him. And what would Rima do? She’d never been on her own and wouldn’t know how to get on without him. It was an unfair mess most Americans wouldn’t comprehend in these days of easy coupling and uncoupling. He had scruples, duty to his family, but he couldn’t live without Jean.

She rolled over to kiss him. “What time are you back on duty?”

“Graveyard shift, I have an appointment with her at seven but I have to stop in to see him first.”

“Oh come on, Joe, all the guys envy you.”

He rolled over onto his back and stretched his arms out over his head. “They’re welcome to the job. What do you think of her?”

Jean frowned thoughtfully, “They’re both pretty creepy. They look at you and you’re naked to them— like they can see inside your head.”

Joe shook his head and rolled over on to his belly, laughing. “They read body and facial cues. Their olfactory sense is superior to ours. They can perceive slight changes in body chemistry by scent.”

She rubbed a knot out of his shoulder with her long, capable hands. “She’s gotten under your skin.”

“She’d like to.”

She rubbed harder at his shoulders. He grunted at the pressure of her fingers. “You’ve met your match.”

He looked up. “Huh?”

“You don’t take well to strong women. This one is beyond your wildest dreams. She has you by the balls.”

“Ridiculous,” he said, getting up from the mattress.

Jean cocked her head to the side and continued to rub it with the towel. “Are you attracted to her?”

“She’s not my type.”

“The guys actually have a pool going to see who’ll have sex with her first, you or Kurt. They’re betting on you, I hear. Bunch of jerks, they’d shrivel if she so much as looked at them. Why do you think Lydia gave you this job?”

“A sick joke?”

“Maybe there’s a certain irony— but who else could stand up to her? She’d eat the others alive. You’re different. Why do you think Mia responds to you? Lydia knew exactly what she was doing.”

“First class castrating bitch… ”

“You make me laugh. Lydia’s barely one hundred pounds, but she has you, too. Maybe women in powerful positions are there for a reason, not just to annoy you. Lydia is the top in her field, and a damned good administrator. She sent you in there because no one else has the forceful personality required for the job.”

Joe grinned. “Jean, you have common sense. You see things I can’t because I’m too… ”

“Pigheaded? Arrogant?”

“Exactly, and now Mia’s pissed off at me and I don’t understand why.”

“Try treating her like a woman, not a subject.”

“If I start to see her as a human being, I’m lost.”

Jean’s face darkened. “What do you think she wants?”

“Not sex, that’s just a manipulative ploy.”

“Maybe she’s falling in love… ”

“Why are we even having this conversation?”

“They’re people, Joe, even if they aren’t like us. I talk with Kurt when I run scans on him. He’s very sensitive and kind of sweet. He loves her deeply.”

“Don’t get taken in. They fool me sometimes too. It’s how they operate. They make you think they’re human— then suck everything out of you. Don’t tell me you’re falling in love with Kurt?”

“Don’t be silly. But there’s something, well—
ethereal
about him. His face is achingly perfect, with that honey-colored hair and those great big blue eyes— like an angel— a beautiful male angel. Both of them are gorgeous in this unearthly way. Maybe vampires are the angels people claim to see… ”

“Reading the tabloids at the supermarket again?”

She flicked her towel again at him and he pulled her down to him laughing.

“Did you check out those runes, Joe?”

“Don’t tell me a thing. Don’t spell anything. They must use it as a cipher.” He kissed her on the throat. “Enough about them.” He began kissing her sun-browned skin all over, haunted suddenly by the image of porcelain-pale flesh. Jean wrapped legs around to take him inside, but he was elsewhere, far beyond the confines of her cozy apartment and tanned body.

Kurt
was
angelic, Joe had to admit, when he entered his cell later that evening. More like a pubescent boy than the young man he’d obviously been. His eyes caught Joe’s for a moment and appeared vaguely amused.

“Productive afternoon, Doctor?”

Joe ignored his observation. “I’m on my way to Mia. You have a letter?”

Kurt studied Joe’s face again as he handed him an envelope. His expression darkened. “Yes, I see… ”

Joe let himself out cautiously, not really sure what Kurt was getting at. Moments later, Joe handed Mia her partner’s letter. She rushed over to the armchair to read it, chuckling at something in the contents.

Joe cleared his throat. “Mia— about Kurt. I saw something last night, on his arm.”

She looked up. “I thought you knew. The doctors must have seen when we were examined.”

“Somehow I missed this. Which camp?”

“Dachau.”

“How did he survive? He looks as if the wind could have blown him away.”

“He almost didn’t. His entire family was gassed at Auschwitz. You disturbed a major demon. You know who he was?”

“No.”

“A child prodigy, a celebrated pianist.”

“I see.” Remembering Jean’s advice, he took a deep breath and did an unaccustomed thing. “Listen. I’m sorry if I was less than sympathetic last time we met. I’m an insensitive boob sometimes— a lot of the time. You’ve taken great risks in coming here and I understand that this work is very important to you. I hope we can continue.”

For a split second her mouth dropped open and eyes widened in surprise, then just as rapidly, she shrugged it off and took her place. “It’s ok. Let’s go.”

He pulled out his notes. “You left off where Ethan made you a vampire. What happened after that?”

“Well, the first year was kind of a training period for me. We lived in Ethan’s home in Virginia. It was a large, red brick house built along graceful Georgian lines. I’d spent my life in small apartments and now he brought me to this mansion. By day, I’m sure it was lovely, surrounded by huge old oaks and a vast green lawn, but that first night the shadows lent a gothic aspect to the place, making me uneasy, like some Bronte heroine.

This sudden urge to flee overtook me, and I might have if Ethan hadn’t held his arm firmly about me. If you could say anything for Ethan, he inspired confidence. As situations go, it was very bizarre. Here I was with a man sprung from my dreams, who vowed to love me for eternity, but it still wasn’t
quite
all I’d dreamt of. One teensy little fact I couldn’t get past; he was one hundred and twenty, and drank blood to survive. No shit, I shivered standing in front of my new home.

He sensed my apprehension. “It’s very strange to be uprooted from the only life and place you’ve ever known. It’ll seem so for a time. Once I teach you what you need to know, we may mingle more freely in human society, and you’ll appreciate the world far more than you did before. I will always be at your side to protect you.”

Again, I asked myself—
from
what
?

The finality gave me that queasy Jane Eyre-ish feeling in the gut again. I depended now on his sufferance for my very survival. No longer part of the mortal world, I’d no earthly, or should I say unearthly, idea of what the vampiric one would bring. Clutching him tightly, I burst into tears.

Ethan, extremely moved, comforted me. “Hush now. Let’s see the house, shall we?”

He unlocked the front door and switched on the lights. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was still the twentieth century.

He toured me about the house, pointing out works of art and architectural features with great pride as I clung nervously to his arm.

“Gee whiz, I’ll never get used to the fact that you’re over a century old!”

Ethan smiled at that. “Wait until you meet one from another millennium.”

Now I was truly appalled. Creatures from societies that burned people alive, sacrificed virgins and kept slaves?
Slavery?
Oh boy, I hadn’t even considered this question. Obviously, it was part of Ethan’s past.

“What about the vampire who— I didn’t know the lingo yet— did this to you?”

He kind of snapped at me, “We call ourselves
Immortyls
. Vampire is a vulgar term.”

“Sorry. So who did it?”

His face tensed. “I really don’t wish to discuss it.”

I quickly changed the subject as we entered another room. “Wow, what’s this place?”

“The drawing room.”

“Oh Ethan it’s so pretty!”

Delicate furnishings were swathed in bright silks and tapestry. Richly patterned rugs of blue and yellow wool covered gleaming wood floors. A huge chandelier sparkled overhead. My breath caught in wonder at the glitter, like the stars, like Ethan.

“I could stay here forever!”

The most splendiferous object was pleased, lifting and twirling me around. I laughed, the glittering lights and motion making me giddy. Little did I know when I spotted the notice for the play that I was to glimpse a world about to dawn!

He set me down and pulled something sparkling from his pocket, an art nouveau butterfly pendant set with star sapphires and tiny diamonds. “To commemorate your emergence from the chrysalis.” He did the clasp around my neck. “Your journey is just beginning, my butterfly.”

Just where would it take me? To the end of the earth and back— this particular act, I was confined to the Old Dominion— a Bird of Prey in a gilded cage, if you will.

Well, it all took some getting used to. Not just the liquid diet, the whole darn shebang. The lack of sunlight really got to me. The sun was in my blood and I’d always found the winter depressing. I was used to New York crowds and my raucous theatre chums. Ethan’s house, however, was isolated from the rest of the world and I had no human contact. Even the two elderly servants worked while we slept and then went home.

I was also curious about everything having to do with my lover, but Ethan wasn’t exactly forthcoming with information. As loquacious as he could be, there were periods of brooding silence that went on and on, when he would peevishly wave me away. I’d back off, hurt and bewildered, but the night my fangs finally came in, he demanded we share essence immediately. And I learned a curious thing.

I eagerly tore into his throat for the first time, embracing the glowing pulse of his heart within my own. Then the screen lit up inside me, and I saw the tall blond man of my nightmare, his long hair blowing in the wind, standing in a snowy landscape with arms outstretched. A searing climax rocked us both, as if this person willed it. I tried to probe Ethan’s memory deeper and find out who this man was, but my lover abruptly pulled away and the vision vanished. We lay there panting and gasping for breath.

“Ethan, can we read minds?”

He pulled himself over me, eager for round two. “Really Mia.”

I opened my thighs to admit him. Every evening started this way, not that I objected. I was more than happy to oblige him.

“I sense things about you sometimes… ”