The Blood That Bonds (18 page)

“
Is she dead?” Two asked.
He shook his head, and indeed, the girl’s eyelids were fluttering
now as she fought her way back to consciousness. Theroen waited
until she could stand, then looked into her eyes.

“
Go back to your bed and
sleep, my dear. This was a dream, and when the sun rises you’ll
realize that.”

The girl turned and made her way unsteadily
back to the house. The door clicked shut behind her.

“
Quick, clean – not a drop
spilled, and you made her want it in like three seconds. Like I
said: the Master at work.” Melissa was smiling in
approval.

“
Thank you for your warm
appraisal of my work, Melissa.” There was the slightest hint of
sarcasm in his voice as Theroen turned to face them.

“
Welcome! Shall we go? I’m
going to skip the appetizer and head for the city. Find me an
all-night rave, go rolling and have dinner. Well, first I want to
wash my hands, but after that.”

“
Will you be able to get
back to the mansion in time?” Two asked.

“
I’ll find some place to
crash in the city. No big deal. Worst-case scenario, New York’s
full of little graveyards.” Melissa shrugged, stretched, began
walking up the street. Theroen followed and, after a moment of
considering how she might feel about sleeping in a graveyard, Two
did as well.

* * *

A brief moment by the cars where Two thanked
Melissa for coming with them, and for being there for her. Melissa
smiled, leaned in low, whispered, “I can see why he loves you.” Two
was surprised to feel her heart well up at this. She’d known
Melissa for so short a time, known Theroen, the man she felt she
loved, for no longer. Was such depth of emotion and attachment
really possible?

Theroen, who could pluck these questions
from her mind if he felt inclined, said nothing. He left it up to
Two to find her answers, and Two loved him all the more for it.

The ride back was uneventful, if careening
through the back roads of southern New York at speeds over double
the posted limit could be considered as such. Two felt warm and
pleasant, satiated, but without feeling full. She seemed caught in
a sort of afterglow, so like the effects of heroin, but clearheaded
and awake. Better in every way.

They reached the mansion well before
sunrise. Theroen returned the Ferrari to the garage, and Two left
the vehicle with regret. She stood on the driveway, an asphalt
circle surrounding a topiary display.

“
I can see my
breath.”

Theroen walked up beside her, nodded. “It’s
November, Two.”

“
So why am I not cold?” She
glanced down at herself. A pair of thin jeans, cotton shirt,
leather jacket; it was not enough to keep a human warm.

“
You won’t feel the
elements as much, particularly after you’ve fed. I barely feel them
at all anymore.”

“
So I suppose the old ‘I’m
cold, let’s go inside and get warm’ line would be pretty
transparent then, right?”

Theroen’s ever-present smile widened to a
grin.

* * *

He bit her as they joined, tiny pinpricks of
pain high up on the neck, away from the main vein, followed by a
surge of overwhelming pleasure. It was electric, reaching out from
below her waist to touch every extremity of her body. Two moaned,
arched her hips, thrust forward. Theroen moved, changed angle,
allowing her teeth access to his own neck. Two touched her tongue
to the skin, tasted the hint of the blood in his sweat, and bit
down. The blood began to flow, and she felt the throb within
redouble in intensity.

Death, life, time. They lay for millennia,
for seconds. Two didn’t know, only that she felt herself building
and building, always a steady ascent toward some unknown peak.
Theroen’s blood was fire in her mouth, waves of power and ecstasy
roaring through her in a torrent.

Her orgasm, when it finally came, was like
nothing she had experienced as a human being. Unending, it left her
without control of her limbs, powerless and lost against the force
of it. Black spots danced before her eyes, and she struggled not to
lose consciousness. Theroen seemed gripped by a similar power, body
straining against hers for an interminable moment. The pleasure
faded slowly, echoed by small jolts that Two thought of as
aftershocks.

She pulled her teeth from Theroen’s neck and
fell backwards, gasping for breath. The muscles of her inner thighs
were trembling. Her arms felt weak. Theroen lay down beside her,
equally exhausted. Two flicked a lock of hair from her eyes and
glanced over at him. He was gazing calmly at her, but still panting
from exertion. Two smiled.

“
Was it good for you?” she
asked, no malice in her sarcasm. Theroen laughed, leaned in, licked
the last of the blood from her lips with the tip of his tongue. Two
moved closer to him, let that brief touch turn into a longer kiss.
She sighed as his hand caressed the swell of her breast.

“
If humans knew it could be
like that, Theroen, they’d be lining up in the street to make the
change,” she said after they broke apart.

“
You may well be
right.”

Two felt a sudden heaviness in her eyelids
and glanced at the window. The sky had begun to show the slightest
sign of light.

“
Draw the curtains,
Theroen? I won’t be able to keep awake much longer. Will you stay
with me?”

“
Of course.”

Her room, like all of the rooms in the
mansion, was equipped with a dual layer of heavy blackout curtains.
Theroen stood, unashamed of his body, and pulled the cords. The
room went immediately dark. Even Two, with her new eyes, was only
able to discern vague shapes, dark forms on a black backdrop,
outlined only by the slightest hint of light filtering in from the
crack under the door. She felt Theroen return to the bed with her.
Another kiss, the aftertaste of blood on his tongue. She lay with
her head on his chest.

“
Will I need to feed again
tomorrow?”

“
I’ve little doubt. Melissa
still feeds daily, and it is relatively rare that I skip an
evening.”

“
I want to do it early,
then. Get it out of the way.”

“
All right.”

“
Can I get
pregnant?”

“
No.”

“
You’re sure? No baby
vampire Theroens and Twos crawling around?”

Theroen yawned, played with a lock of her
hair absently. “Yes, quite sure. It’s been tried, by others of our
kind and by myself. Mortal women, half-vampire women, vampire
women. None ever conceive. Vampire men, even those still blessed
with this ability, don’t create seed. We don’t make children with
our bodies, Two. We make them with our blood.”

“
So you’re saying that
we’re participating in incest, then? Willing participants, at
that?”

“
I try not to think of it
like that.” Theroen’s voice was dry, but Two could hear the smile
there. She laughed.

Quiet, for a moment. Two felt sleep nearing;
a rolling blackness on the horizon that would soon blot out all
consciousness. She fought it. There were so many questions.

“
Who’d you try it
with?”

“
A woman. A vampire. I …
she’s dead, now.”

“
I thought vampires
couldn’t die?”

“
They can’t die.
They
can
be
killed.”

Two wanted to ask more. Wanted to know who
this woman was, how she had died, why there was so much pain in
Theroen’s voice. Sleep denied her the chance.

* * *

In the darkness, Theroen sighed and closed
his eyes. The woman next to him, breathing soft and warm against
his skin, couldn’t know how hard it was to answer her questions.
How difficult it was to think of Lisette.

It had been nearly three hundred years since
he had been with another vampire like this. Mortals, surely. He
enjoyed making love to the women he took for nourishment nearly as
much as Melissa enjoyed sex with her victims. But another vampire?
The feel of her skin, the sinewy strong muscles beneath it, the
smell of the blood in her sweat, in her kiss, in her sex. Two was
everything Lisette had been, and more perhaps, because it was his
role to be her teacher. Lisette had been hundreds of years old when
Theroen had met her. He had been the student, then.

His love for Two, and the differences that
separated her from Lisette in his mind, did little to ease the
pain, little to dampen the sorrow, little to drown out the
screams.

* * *

Theroen was not there when Two awoke. As
probably would be the case forever, she suspected, he arose
earlier, was forced into sleep later. Two could hear the shower
running in the attached bathroom, a mundane sound that made her
feel comfortable. At home.

Two sat up, shivering a bit. The warmth of
the blood was long gone, and she longed for it. She understood now
what Theroen and Melissa had said. Some of the concepts behind
vampirism were perhaps distasteful, but the actual experience was
quite the opposite. The blood was all that mattered, and it was
beautiful.

Two got out of bed, opened the heavy maple
doors of the wardrobe on the far side of the room, found a
nightgown and slippers. She heard a door close outside the room.
Curious, Two opened her bedroom door and looked out. The bedrooms
opened on the grand chamber, overlooking the main foyer of the
mansion. A crystal chandelier, easily twenty feet in diameter,
illuminated the area. Below it stood Melissa, pulling her hair back
into a ponytail.

“
Hi Melissa!” Two called,
waving. The dark-haired vampire looked up and bared her
teeth.

“
Call me by that bitch’s
name again, and I’ll find you some time when your superhero’s not
around to protect you. I’ll cut your fucking tits off.”

Missy, then. Two fought the anger that was
rising inside of her. She tried to think of the other woman who
occupied the body, the one whose company she had enjoyed the
previous night. “Sorry, Missy.”

Missy stared up at her, an expression of
frank disgust on her face. It took Two a moment to realize that it
was her nightgown that Melissa was studying. Pink, with lace trim,
it was hardly the type of outfit Missy probably preferred.

“
I’m going out to eat and
to find something for Tori. Tell Theroen that Abraham wants him.
He’ll probably know, but tell him anyway, or I’ll get into deep
shit.”

“
Wouldn’t that be a shame,”
Two commented under her breath.

“
Keep it up with the
attitude, whore. See how far it gets you.”

Missy was gone before Two could respond. The
shower was no longer running, and she felt Theroen’s presence
behind her before he spoke.

“
It’s best not to approach
Melissa, unless you’re positive it’s her.” He pulled on a pair of
black cargo pants and a white t-shirt.

“
No kidding. Did you hear?
About Abraham?”

“
Yes.”

“
What does he want with
you?”

“
I couldn’t even attempt to
guess. It could be something as simple as moving a piece of artwork
he has decided is no longer to his taste.”

Two thought of the elder vampire, whom she
had met only briefly, and shuddered. During the time she had been
near him, his strength had been undeniable, rolling off him in
waves. Even had this not been the case, she had seen his broad
shoulders and strong arms. Certainly he didn’t need Theroen to take
care of such things for him.

“
Abraham needs no one. He
has me do these tasks because it amuses him. It proves I am still
loyal to him. It proves I still serve him.”

“
What will he do when you
leave him?”

Theroen looked at her for a moment, as if
the question had never occurred to him. “Survive. Perhaps he’ll
attempt to make Melissa do his bidding. I doubt he’ll have much
success.”

“
Would she stand up to him?
If she can, why don’t you?”

Theroen smiled, shook his head. “No. Melissa
is no more capable of standing up to Abraham than I am. But she is
afraid of him, and has less of a stomach for certain tasks he might
ask of her. Dealing with her would be more frustration for him than
it’s worth. Half of her, anyway. The other half is almost wholly
Abraham’s child.”

“
Why doesn’t he use Missy,
then?”

“
She is his child, but not
his favored child. Their relationship is strained at best, and made
all the worse by the fact that she does not own that body. No,
Abraham does not favor her.” Theroen grimaced. “That particular
honor goes to me.”

“
Is that why you stay with
him? Do you owe him? Or is it fear? Can he hurt you?” Two’s
questions were not barbed. Theroen heard only honest curiosity in
her voice.

“
It’s integral that you
understand something: Abraham is more than capable of slaughtering
every creature that walks these grounds without even exerting
himself. I am powerful. Abraham … is something closer to a
god.”

“
But you’re not afraid of
him.” This was not a question.

“
No. Not afraid of him and
not afraid of what he might do to me. I am afraid, Two, of what he
may choose to do to you, should I offend him. That is, to the best
of my knowledge, the first thing that has truly frightened me in
several hundred years.”