Fire Nectar 2 (9 page)

“Joshua, I have failed to warn you of the one danger that can kill us.”

“You told me of the sun,” Joshua replied, sitting as they sat.

“Two dangers,” Ludovico corrected, leaning back into his chair and resting his left ankle on his right knee. “William, I am persuaded that you would be better at this than I.”

“You are correct. May I?” William requested.

“If it will persuade you to stop looking at me like I’m an idiot!” Ludovico answered.

William had not turned a vamp himself in centuries, but he had led many men. He held his tongue until the room grew quiet, then touched his chin in contemplation, as though the task of what to say first was a difficult one. This had the desired effect of raising an air of suspense. When Joshua sat forward in his chair, William knew it was time to begin.

“We are immortal - this is true - save for two things. The sun, you know, is the greatest of all foes, for beneath it we fall asleep against our very will. Were she to catch sight of us, the wench would surely rip our very lives from existence. There is no denying her. Only the moon is our ally and under her and her alone, will we thrive. Such is the way for all vampires.”

“Why must we drink human blood? What is this thirst I feel?” Joshua asked, eager to learn.

“We live infinitely, because we drink from the finite. We take from them their essence, so that we may exist. They are able to grow more blood to replace what has been taken. We cannot. We can only drink more. Without a daily dose, we become baser versions of ourselves. Animals. No one is saved if we are starving. Our instincts to survive will override reason. Do not let this happen.”

Joshua nodded. “I see. Ludovico assured me that the thirst would abate over time?”

Ludovico interjected, “Yes, over time it weakens.”

William offered a short nod and added, “Yes, for me now, I need not drink every night. And lesser amount are all that are needed to satisfy.”

“I will look forward to that day, for this pull is beyond anything I could have described to my former self,” Joshua exclaimed. “I’ve felt the Death Sleep call, leaving me no choice but to answer. It is quite unnerving how vulnerable I am when it overtakes me.”

“Death Sleep…I like that. I am persuaded to call it that from now on. Death Sleep,” William repeated, turning it over on his tongue. He looked toward the now healthy blaze in the fireplace and motioned widely with his right hand, “The other demon is the flames you see before you now. Contained, they seem harmless and even beautiful. And they are! They are more beautiful than any woman, and more dangerous. Should they escape from their cage as that spark just had, to land on your skin, it would tear through your flesh, as we tear through a human’s. Mark my words.”

Joshua started to speak, but Ludovico made a sound that stopped him cold. William slowly turned, his calm stillness a dignified picture of regality. He watched the slender composer look to his maker for permission and, having not received it, decided to ask anyway, “Will we not heal, monsieur?”

He thinks for himself…I like that as well, William thought. He leaned forward to point with his thick index finger, as though the truth poured forth from it. “Aye, from a blade or mallet, we heal. Faster and faster as the years go by. But from fire? Put us in fire, and we die. A spark would not kill us, no. But where that spark falls, a wound will it leave. One that will not heal for decades. In every other way we heal faster than a human, except with fire. With fire it is the other way around.”

“The burned flesh would be a flag of abnormality to mortal eyes. It could cause questions,” Joshua concluded.

“An open wound of deformation for years. Exactly so. The curiosity of mortals is something we must guard ourselves from, at all costs. And the pain. A dull ache would permeate your senses. You know how intensely we feel.”

“Ludovico, you are quite mad to have edged near it, and just for the thrill!”

Ludovico feigned surprise and hurt. William laughed at the face he made and dropped his dramatics. He sat back, smiling and relaxed comfortably in his chair to explain, “Lud is a chaser of all that is forbidden, save for killing the innocent. The thrill chasing impulse in him is larger than his person. Indeed it fills this room!”

“’Tis true! I shan’t deny it! When one has lived nearly four hundred years, one finds excitement where one can! And should it not be true?” Ludovico grinned at them, his warmth infectious.

“Add nearly four hundred more and let’s see what draws you!” William threw back in retort. He then turned his attention to the gasp, which burst forth from Joshua.

“When were you turned, Monsieur?” searched Joshua, from the edge of his seat.

“The year was 1070, which makes me
–
” They all counted in their heads.

Joshua arrived at the number first. “Seven hundred and forty two!”

“Has it been so long?” William smiled, lifting his brows in disbelief as he shook his great head.

“You see! I was correct when I said ‘old man.’ I feel all of a sudden much more youthful and vital. I am merely a babe!” Ludovico joked as his foot wagged up and down on his knee. He was quite pleased with himself.

William cocked his head to the side, put one hand on the knee of his pantaloons and the other on the arm of the chair as he challenged, “Would you like to battle me, Lud? Let us see who is the most vital! There is no one to hear us. No servants exist in this enormous space you own. Let us go down in the hall and fight!”

“You can’t be serious,” replied Ludovico, aghast. Joshua looked from one to the other, not sure what was real or what was play.

“I have never been more serious,” William growled in a low and threatening tone.

“You have never been more serious! What wicked folly is that? You who has defeated countless empires! Who has lived longer than the trees themselves! NOW is when you have been most serious? Excuse me, but I strongly doubt it!”

William forged ahead. “What, are you a coward, then? Say it is not so, for I will have lost all love for you, and I’ve lots to lose. ‘Twould be quite an embarrassment, I promise you!”

“You compliment and insult me, in the same breath! La, you are unheard of. Fine! Let us go to it, then. Shall we use weapons, or just our fists?” Ludovico stood and looked ‘round for what weapon he might swing. He grabbed a poker and faced the still-seated vampire King.

Joshua joined him to stand, confused and very alarmed again.

William rose much more slowly than the others had. He took his time, staring ominously as he mocked the poker. “Put that ridiculous thing down, Lud! We shall go to the weapons room downstairs and choose. Your smaller frame could not account for a fair fight without them!” With that he flashed out of the room with full vampyric speed.

“I get first choice!” Ludovico yelled after him before he looked to Joshua. “Come. Watch.” And in a flash he vanished as well. Joshua had no choice but to follow, marveling at the speed of the other two, and looking forward to matching it one day.

Downstairs in a small room, Ludovico found William standing before a wall of weapons, relics from the medieval age. “Which will you have?”

Joshua joined them an instant later, and had to stop himself by grabbing onto a wall. He wasn’t yet used to his ability! They watched as Ludovico picked up a mace to judge its weight and power. On the wall hung axes, a morning star, a halberd, a cross bow and several maces.

“You cannot be serious,” Joshua stammered.

The two looked at him, surprised. Ludovico waved him off as one does a gnat. “Joshua is of a gentler nature, pay him no mind! I choose this!” He held up the halberd; the spike atop the axe long and sharp, its sheen dulled little with time.

“Civilized. And so it is!” William looked at the wall and weighed the options in his mind as Ludovico waited, anxiously. From the wall he pulled off the morning star with a ball of deadly spikes atop a long shaft and announced, “I choose this!”

“Gods man! Did you have to choose the most barbaric! I am quaking in my boots,” said Ludovico, aghast. Joshua was speechless.

“Let us to the hall, at once.” called William loudly and shot out of the room without them. He found the great hall empty, with whatever furniture that was in it – several chairs and tables, nothing more – pushed away to make room for dancing, long ago. Dust covered every surface and he surveyed the space with an educated eye for what was needed. Seconds later Ludovico and Joshua joined him. He loved this. “Have tea on the way?”

“Oh shut it!” Ludovico said, swinging his halberd to gain a better acquaintance with it. He looked down at it and then back to William.

William raised his weapon above his head and held his body still as stone, only his eyes showing life. He said nothing.

“Joshua, stand off to the side, lest you wish to grab a weapon, and join in the fun,” Ludovico whispered. Joshua shot to a wall far left, fear-struck, to stand and watch.

William smirked, and coughed loudly, calling attention to his impatiently raised morning star. He watched Ludovico face him, raise his weapon and smile like the handsome rogue he was. Then he growled and raced at him, deftly swinging his weapon. William ducked out of reach. This cat and mouse chase continued for a torturous hour until Joshua could not stand the suspense. He decided to help his maker, with the assistance of a dirty move. To distract William, he surprised him by changing walls, using his vampyric speed to do it! William followed him with his eyes, temporarily caught off guard, his focus pulled from his opponent. Ludovico took advantage of the strategically timed distraction and came within a hair’s length of hitting the warrior.

William’s great and powerful frame dipped and flashed out of harm’s way, a primal growl boiling out of him. “So the baby wants to help! You’ll pay for that, papa!” he mocked.

He turned to see Ludovico charge again and when he did, William turned and hit him with the wood end of his shaft with such force as to send Ludovico sliding across the cement floor. He rose back up at an unearthly angle, balanced himself and prepared to attack again. Just as he ran toward the beast, William vanished completely. Neither younger vampire saw him leave. Both Joshua and Ludovico gasped and stopped to search the room in vain. They looked to each other and shrugged. Neither knew where he had gone. This did not bode well, Ludovico knew. He held up his halberd and steeled himself against the unknown.

Had they looked up, they would have seen William suspended and gripping onto where walls meet ceiling, smiling menacingly down at them. Like a spider to a fly, he waited, watching them, not making a sound. He did not move until the exact moment when he perceived Ludovico beginning to look up. Leaping at his victim just as their eyes met, he gave an earsplitting war cry, the element of surprise perfect for a final attack. He flashed through the air, using gravity to aid his meteoric speed, and slammed Ludovico in the head, cutting into the handsome Italian’s head, the deadly spikes lodging into his brain.

Joshua raced toward them, but William pushed out one large hand and shoved him hard and fast to the ground where he watched in horror as Ludovico swayed round and round, the morning star hanging grotesquely off to the side as he made horrible noises. Joshua cried out, “What have you done! What have you done to him!”

William ordered him, “Calm yourself! Or I’ll do the same to you!”

Ludovico turned in a sloppy loop toward them. His head was completely caved in on one side with one eye mashed closer to his nose. He then shocked Joshua further by gurgling, through dripping blood, “Why do I let you do these things to me?”

Joshua blinked. William walked to his friend, grabbed the shaft of the morning star and with one yank, pulled the spikes out and tossed the weapon to the ground.

“Because you are an idiot! And you let me,” William told him.

“I must be. I know you will win, that you MUST win, and still I answer the call. I will learn one of these days, I promise you!”

“I hope that is not true, mon ami. Where would the fun be, if you did?” William said as both he and Joshua watched Ludovico’s head miraculously molding itself back into shape in the most nauseating fashion. The blood disintegrated drop by drop, splatter by splatter, leaving eventually no sign of itself.

“Ugh. This feels peculiar,” Ludovico moaned. He made a weird squeak when his eye returned to its more attractive position. Finally, when the holes in his head closed shut, he reached up to touch the hair. “I’ll never get used to feeling my hair grow back. It is quite disturbing! Feel it!”

Joshua stepped forward and felt the space. His eyes rounded enormously as he felt the follicles reach out toward him. Ludovico raised his head as if to say, “See?”

“I almost envy you,” William confessed from where he stood watching.

“How so?” Ludovico asked, his now right-shaped eyebrows raised.

“I’ve not been wounded in centuries,” answered William in a thoughtful tone.

“Of course you’ve not been wounded! That is what winning will get you, you bastard! So stop boasting about it. The nerve!” But as soon he heard himself, as soon as he saw his friend’s face, he realized what a grave error he had so thoughtlessly made. Both hands reached out, palms up and he stammered hastily, “Apologies, William. I did not mean to call you that. That is not what I meant!”

Caught unawares, William felt as though someone grabbed tightly onto his heart and squeezed it to a bloody pulp, while laughing. The old familiar rage burst forth, kept in check as he clenched his jaw and fists tight, and with much self-control, turned away. With stiffened gate he used a human’s pace to leave them, knowing there is sometimes more power in taking one’s time.