Indulgence (237 page)

“Why is this so funny?” I asked.

“Because Vincent is the most arrogant person we know. He
never apologized for anything in his entire existence!” Max exclaimed.

“Well he did apologize to me,” I said sternly. “For
transforming me without my permission.” At least that was the truth and I hoped
I was selling it.

The brothers continued their laughter as Marlo stood there
like a mannequin. The amusement of my response eventually wore off.

“Is that all?” Lorenzo asked. “So he just apologized and
left?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“And did he by chance tell you where he was going?” Max
asked.

“No.”

“And you have no idea where he is?” Felix asked.

“No, I don’t. He apologized and then told me this would be
the last time I ever saw him. That he had to flee to save himself from all of
you.” I pointed an accusing finger at each of them. Tears welled up in my eyes,
this time spilling over and burning my face.

“Ouch,” I howled as the tears ran over my cheeks.

Marlo snapped out of her stance and was at my side in the
blink of an eye.

“You can’t let the tears flow, Allison,” she said as she
dabbed my cheeks with the sleeve of her dress. “The venom will sear your skin.”

“What?” I gasped as I jerked my hand to feel my face. I
could feel fresh scars on my face where the tears had rolled.

“Don’t worry,” Marlo reassured me, “you’ll heal.”

I ran to the nearest mirror hung on the stone wall and
examined the fresh, pink flesh exposed on my pale face. I whirled around and
looked at Marlo.

“I’m exhausted,” I flatly announced. “Why am I tired?”

“I’m sure you are after killing only one deer,” she said.
“We’ll teach you how to rest.”

“Teach me to rest?” I questioned.

“Yes, you see, although vampires on a traditional diet need
no sleep because of all of the human blood they consume, our kind must
meditate, rest the mind, so that we don’t go on wild hunts.”

“Oh,” I replied. Something else about vampire life I didn’t
know.

“Now which of you buffoons will help me teach Allison?”
Marlo asked of her brothers.

Marlo volunteered Lorenzo to assist in teaching me how to
meditate. He wouldn’t have been my first choice after what had just transpired
in the dining room. Maybe that was why Marlo told Lorenzo he was going to
help…to smooth over our earlier confrontation.

I followed Marlo and Lorenzo up the staircase and down the
hallway. I heard Marlo whispering to Lorenzo that he should apologize to me.
Apparently she forgot that my hearing was as good as hers now and I could hear
everything she was saying. Or, maybe that was her point.

We entered my room and Marlo closed the door behind the
three of us.

“Why do I need two people to teach me?” I asked with my back
to the both of them.

“One will demonstrate and the other will tell you what is
going on,” Marlo replied.

I quite honestly wasn’t in the mood for a presentation, but
on the other hand I was really exhausted. Max must have been right; I needed
more nourishment but didn’t get it because of my unexpected visitor. I didn’t
quite understand what could be so difficult about meditating that two vampires
had to show me. I sat on the edge of my bed and waited for my instruction to
begin.

“Ahem,” Marlo cleared her throat and tossed a glance towards
Lorenzo.

“Sorry Allison,” Lorenzo said. “Sorry about getting so angry
with you before.” Lorenzo appeared genuine in apologizing to me but I wondered
how truly sorry he was for any plans he had for Vincent.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“Okay, now we can get started,” Marlo announced. “So I
already told you that our kind needs rest because of our diet.”

“Right.”

“But we also need rest because of how much energy it takes
to reign in our senses. You remember when you awoke from your transformation?”

I nodded my head.

“Remember when you stood up and you could see the tiniest of
details around you and you could hear every sound within a hundred miles?”

I nodded my head again. I was hoping Marlo was getting to
the point soon because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my eyes open.

“Well if you would have let your sight and hearing just
wander, you would have been in constant hunting mode. Your hearing would be the
first to pick up on prey and then your eyes would focus on that target. After
you conquered your prey, your hearing would have taken over again. It’s a
vicious cycle, but that is what we are in our most natural state; a perpetual
hunter.”

The thought of that almost turned my stomach. I couldn’t
imagine doing nothing but hunting for all eternity…conquering one victim just
to immediately move on to the next.

“Most vampires don’t act like that though,” Lorenzo added.

“He’s right,” Marlo chimed in. “Most vampires control
themselves to some degree so that they’re not in constant hunting mode.”

“Okay,” I said. “I get it. Our lifestyle is a drain on our
senses. So how do I rejuvenate?”

“Well you meditate,” Marlo said. “But of course there are
things you need to know.”

“Like what?”

“For starters,” Lorenzo said, “be careful where you decide
to rest.”

“When a vampire is in a meditative state,” Marlo continued,
“he or she is extremely vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable to what?”

“To attack or to anything in the outside elements,” Lorenzo
said.

“I don’t get it. Our skin turns into armor when we attack…”

“Right,” Marlo said. “But when you meditate, all of your
senses are shut down – your sense of hearing, your sense of smell, your sight.”

“If you decide to rest in the wrong spot at the wrong time,”
Lorenzo added, “it could be fatal.”

I let out a sigh. “Got it.” All of the rules were starting
to add up and were becoming quite the annoyance. I thought this existence would
be free of rules.

“So you can perch anywhere,” Marlo started as she grabbed
Lorenzo’s shoulders and pushed him to the floor. Lorenzo squatted, one arm
resting on his leg, the other steadying him in between his legs.

“Perch?” I asked inquisitively.

“Yes,” Marlo replied. “Like a bird…or a bat,” she smirked.
“You can perch anywhere, even hang upside down if you want.”

“Hmm,” I replied, letting that thought float through my mind.

“You recall when you went hunting with Max how he told you
to let your hearing ‘reach out?’” Marlo asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Well this time you need to do just the opposite. You need
to rein it in with more intensity than you are using now. You pull it in until
you hear nothing around you.”

I looked at Lorenzo and he appeared to be concentrating on a
spot on the wall. His eyes began to narrow.

“See, Lorenzo is pulling in his hearing in now. You can tell
because his eyes are closing. Once your hearing is completely shut down, your
eyes will close and your sense of smell will be cut off.”

Lorenzo’s eyes slowly closed and his shoulders relaxed. His
face looked tranquil; quite the opposite from the incensed scene downstairs.

“Look,” Marlo said as she waved a flask under Lorenzo’s
nose. “See, all senses shut off.”

“What’s in the flask?”

“Human blood.”

“Oh.” I felt silly for asking that question. “So how do you
wake from this state?”

“You wake when your mind has had enough. It’s similar to how
you slept as a mortal. You’ll just open your eyes, but you need to be cognizant
of your senses to not let them run wild.”

“Got it.”

“There is one other way you can wake,” Marlo added.

“What’s that?”

“If someone wakes you,” Marlo said with a glimmer in her
eye. “You see, if you are attacked in this state, you will wake. Wanna give it
a try?”

“You want me to attack Lorenzo?” I questioned.

“Well not attack him to hurt him, but maybe a good shove
just to wake him.” Marlo winked at me. “You know, a little pay back for
earlier.”

I let out a chuckle. “Ha, gottcha!”

I crouched on top of my bed and a big smile spread across my
face. I was going to enjoy what I was about to do. I leapt off of the bed,
grabbed the wood and iron chandelier, flipped myself into the air and planted a
firm kick in Lorenzo’s side.

I didn’t realize my own strength. Lorenzo went crashing into
the wall on the opposite side of the room, rattling the picture which hung
there.

“What in the heck was that?” Lorenzo shouted as he sprang to
his feet ready for a fight.

“Calm down, big boy,” Marlo said patting him on the
shoulder. “You deserved it.”

Lorenzo looked over at me. I still had a smirk on my face.

“You kicked me like that?” he asked, breaking into a
chuckle. I nodded my head in agreement and began to laugh with him. “You’re
much stronger than I thought you would be for an infant!”

We laughed a bit longer and then Marlo cut off our fun.
“Rest Allison, you need it. We’ll go hunting tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

Marlo and Lorenzo headed for the door.

“Hey,” I shouted. “Thanks for the lesson. I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Lorenzo responded. Marlo smiled an approving
smile. Apparently she had accomplished everything she set out to do this
evening.

Meditating was quite easy. After controlling my sense of
hearing on my first day as a vampire, it was simple enough to rein it in and
get some rest. And just as Marlo had promised, once my hearing was silenced, my
eyes shut instinctively, as if my body knew what to do even though I didn’t.
Everything went black and perfectly silent as my mind drifted until I thought
of nothing at all.

My eyes shot open and my hearing quickly spread out over the
castle. My ears were filled with a commotion of noises and my vision was
blurred. I remembered Marlo telling me to reign in my senses as soon as I woke,
and I did just that. My vision and hearing came into sharp focus. I saw
everything in perfect clarity and heard only the ticking of a nearby clock. I
looked down and found myself perched on the wooden foot board which had served
as my meditating spot. I felt refreshed, like I had rested for hours.

I hopped off of the bed and walked over to the vanity. The
clock showed that it was ten twenty-three in the evening. I had rested almost
an entire day. But more importantly, there was little over an hour until I
would make my escape to see Vincent and start our new existence together. My
heart fluttered at the thought of seeing him again. I wondered which great
exotic location he would take me to. I wondered where we would live and how we
would get there. I couldn’t wait to get out of this castle and start this new
phase of my life.

Someone must have been in my room while I rested because a
large pitcher and goblet had found its way to my night stand. Remarkably, I
hadn’t heard anyone enter or leave the room while I was meditating, just as
Marlo had said would happen. It was kind of a scary thought that someone had
entered the room without my noticing, and it absolutely reinforced Marlo’s
admonition to always rest in a secure spot. I poured a glass of the thick
liquid and slowly sipped it, savoring every drop. I swished it around in my
mouth as if drinking a fine wine and enjoyed it as it slid down my throat and
into my belly where the liquid extinguished the smoldering embers.

The huge picture on the wall grabbed my attention. I set the
goblet on the table and walked to the wall for a closer inspection. It was a
beautiful image of the ocean that spanned the length of the wall. The waves
were immense and deep in color…blues, greens, even some black. The swells were
topped with foamy white caps that were anything but delicate. Fierce brush
strokes had made the masterpiece and the artist’s anger was apparent in the
soaring waves. This was the ocean in the midst of a violent storm.

I continued staring at the picture, losing myself in the
crashing waves. Then it struck me that I had briefly looked at the painting
when I had first woken from my transformation. I had been able to see every
paint drop and brush stroke when I had lost control of my senses. Though it was
a blur of color, I swore I saw black letters scrawled across the middle of the
painting.

I raised my hand and touched the painting as if that would
make the words appear. I found nothing. Whatever it was that I thought I saw
yesterday must have been a figment of my imagination.

I walked over to the vanity and sat on the chair. The mirror
revealed perfectly soft and smooth skin. The scars from my prior day’s tears
were completely gone. I pulled at the skin gently, searching for the jagged
ruts that were visible yesterday, but found nothing.

I examined the rest of my face in great detail, the first
time I had really done so since becoming a vampire. My skin was smooth, all of
my mortal imperfections gone. My complexion was now that of a fashion model,
supple and perfect. My hair was perfectly styled, as if I hadn’t run miles
through the woods yesterday and attacked an animal. The blonde color was more
vibrant than it had ever been in my mortal life.

My complexion, though pale, needed no makeup. My skin shone
as if I was full of life; ironic considering I was now part of the living dead.
My lips were a rosy red, as if colored with gloss, and the hollows of my
cheekbones radiated the slightest bit of color. The coloring of my eyes, though
a mix of dark and light, was vibrant, like a light was illuminating from behind
them.
This is good
, I thought.
I must be well nourished
.

All of it – my complexion, eyes, hair – was part of my
arsenal. This was what would attract a mortal to me. I had never considered my
mortal self remotely beautiful. In fact, I had thought I was pretty average
looking. But now, I was just the opposite. There was nothing average about me.
I could rival some of the most beautiful people in the world. But I knew I had
an advantage over them because I was something they were not…the perfect
killer.