The Vampire's Consort (Undead in Brown County) (9 page)

“It’s not meant to be cruel.
Before you go inside, you have to understand that. The system is set up in a way that prevents anyone from opening that door until the time has run out.”

“Compulsion is avoided with this in place.
When the clinic opened its doors in 1944, none of that was possible. There were many who escaped by using supernatural powers. Gradually, the technology began to offer us safer options.”

“Workers at the clinic… “

“Some were killed violently. Vampires and humans alike.”

“You have
humans
that work there?”

Norma smiled.

“Of course.
They are an essential part of our recovery program. We also have some very gifted vampires as well. After being converted, they chose to stay and lend us their talents so that they might bring peace to others.”

“Peace?”

Kate’s eyes had rolled at that line
, but Norma’s bright blue gaze remained passively friendly.

“
You will discover that peace. Theodora was quite clear that you were to receive the full clinical treatment.”

Those words continued to play in Kate’s head.
Even when the heavy metal door swung closed, beginning her thirty days of fasting, she could hear those promising and yet frightful words.
Peace. Full clinical treatment
.

She had been allowed to bring one personal item into the cell with her.
Marco told her that most patients brought a photo. He was surprised to see a dirty, half burned journal in her hands when she submitted herself for the fasting period.

“
What do you have there?”

“A family journal.”

Before he started the program that would lock her in her cell, he hesitated. “When your treatment is complete, would you allow me to read it?”

Her smile was wicked.

“It’s a pretty scary story.
Are you sure?”

“Very sure.”

“Alright.”

The second rule was less dreadful than the first.
No contact with anyone on the outside for the first three months of treatment.
When she arrived in Rio, she wasn’t on friendly terms with anyone but her sister and the family’s longtime housekeeper, Nelly. Of course, Alex could be included in that short list but she tried not to think about him.

Rule number three:
Each patient was required to undergo psychological testing and therapy
. She wasn’t happy about that one at all. She didn’t see how it was anyone’s business. There was hardly any trace left of the human she had been. Why should they want to dig into her past? But, dig they did. They questioned her about her mother, her relationship with her father, the kidnapping that had changed her whole world and everything that had ever hurt her. She wasn’t as cooperative as they might have liked.

The fourth rule became more frightening than the fasting.
If the patient is released into the general population and takes a human life in order to drink blood, the patient will not be readmitted to the clinic for any reason
. The significance of that rule became clearer as she learned the necessary techniques to quench her thirst. It loomed up before her like some nightmarish prediction. She knew that temptation would be lurking everywhere once she was free. She knew that she was not perfect. Her control was not completely developed. Failing wasn’t an option at the clinic. If you fucked up, you were banned for life.

During her long days of isolation and starvation, Kate suffered.
She slept very little. Sometimes she paced, her fists clenched tightly by her sides, determined not to scream out in agony. The thirst began as a long, slow burn in her chest. It grew from that into a trail of fire igniting in her veins, sometimes leaving her gasping and writhing on the floor of her cell with her eyes closed and her fists beating against the stone floor. Her fingertips and palms would be slick with blood for a while afterwards, not that she knew or cared when it happened for the first time. But, the scent of that blood stayed with her, and she resorted to licking it from her fingers while she slowly healed.

Occasionally, the tortuous pain
would capsize whatever sane notions normally ruled inside her stubborn head. She had always hated crying. It made her feel weak and Kate could not abide anyone seeing her in that state. But, the agony of her hunger pushed her into an altered reality. The tears fell freely.

Unlike other rogues before her, she did not cry out in the midst of her pain.
In the deepest pits of that hunger, two weeks after she’d entered the cell, she reached the pinnacle. She refused to scream or sob. With the passing of time, she grew weaker. Eventually, the thirst was only a mild burning in her throat that was somewhat tolerable.

Kate finally slept.
She didn’t have the strength to do anything else. So she slept for ten days. When the thirtieth day arrived, the door swung open automatically and Marco woke her. He carried her from the cell to another room without a locked door. It was a room with a soft bed and a window that provided a view of the walled garden outside.

She slept for another three days.
Her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness of the cell, so when she opened them for the first time in that room, she was startled by the light and afraid.

Gasping ,
she scrambled off the bed and ducked behind it to hide from the sun. Since she had become a vampire, she had lived her life in the shadows, only venturing out when the sun had gone down.

“Relax.
You’re wearing sunstone beads.”

It was Marco.
He was watching her from across the room. He gestured towards the sunlight.

“As long as you keep that necklace on, you can be in the sun all day
and nothing will happen.”

Kate looked down.
She lifted the necklace that was around her neck and peered at it suspiciously. She had known about the crystals that some vampires used in order to travel by day, but she had never seen one. These small stones were transparent with flecks of orange interspersed with swirls of silver. The orange color reminded her of fall leaves. They reminded her of home.

She stood up cautiously and stretched one hand out towards the light.
There was no pain. Once she realized she was safe from the light, she began to notice the other things in the room.

There was a plain pine nightstand by the side of the bed with several drawers.
On top sat a lamp, an alarm clock and a red plastic cup. There was a dresser across from the bed. On top of that was a tray with a pitcher of ice water and several small paper cups, which were empty. Next to the tray stood a vase potted plant. Kate thought it looked like a cactus, but it had some growth at the top that looked like a closed flower.             

“
Discocactus placentiformis
.”

Kate turned her head and found Marko smiling at her and gesturing towards the plant.

“It’s also called Burger’s Onion.
All sharp and dangerous on the outside. But on warm summer evenings, it opens so that all the world can see what beauty lies inside sleeping.”

He strolled to the dresser and poured some of the ice water into one of the small cups.

“That plant reminds me a lot of you, Kate.”

She gave him no response, but sat back down on the bed. He brought the cup of ice water to her.

“Drink.”

Putting anything in her mouth seemed like tempting fate, but she took it and gulped down a few sips. He opened the top drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a small plastic container with a lid on it.

“Blood?”

Kate could smell it.

“Yes.
Not human blood. Swine blood. We add a few additional elements to it for flavor and to help preserve it against going bad. With what we’ve added, refrigeration isn’t necessary.”

“It’s not cold?”

“No. How do you feel? Are you ready to try it?”             

She had never been more ready for anything in her young life.
She drank it from the scratchy lip of the container. She was so far past worrying about the manners that Nelly had taught she and her sister as they were growing up. She finished it quickly.

Along with the unusual taste, Kate felt a subtle power begin to move through her slowly.
It drifted down into her hands, through her flat abdomen and down into the tips of her toes. There was something different about this. She hesitated to compare it to the taste of human blood. The effect was similar, but there was a part of her brain that was shouting at her—screaming about getting clean and doing things right. As she drank the liquid, she felt as if it were cleansing. It was pushing away her longstanding resentment—shoving it into a little corner in her soul.

But now, as she sat across from Marko at the tiny café, it occurred to her that her journey was only beginning.
And it started the moment she let the door close on her past, mimicking the heavy iron door that sealed her inside a very dark place for thirty long days.

Given the dramatic turns of emotion that Sarah tended to have when faced with difficult situations, it was no surprise to Alex see her up and dancing three hours after her transition was complete.
What he hadn’t expected was the instant arousal he felt when she first opened her eyes and smiled at him.

Wherever it had come from, he wanted it gone.
Things between them were already complicated enough. She was going back into Michael’s arms soon. He shook his head at the outrageous promise he’d made to Sarah while she was in the middle of her transition and suffering the pain of the newly undead.

Katie.
Get Katie back to me. I need my sister.

How could he refuse her?
She had been lying there in the damp basement, and sweat had been forming on her brow as her body fought the unstoppable threads of immortality beginning to weave themselves through each cell in her body.

Foolishly, he had agreed to
the demand. He would have said anything during those few moments to bring her even a tiny spoonful of peace. Would she remember? Even if she forgot the promise, he had given his word. He had to do as she asked because he knew that she needed Katie more than she might ever admit. He was quite sure that if he were to bring it up after the change, she may deny that she’d ever asked for her sister.

So
Alex was watching her dance in the backyard, her simple white country dress dappled with the late afternoon sun coming through the trees. She looked like a joyful angel. He hated to put an end to the celebration, but they had a lot of talking to do now that the deed was done.

He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the posts up on the back deck.

“Come on, Miss Sunshine. We need to iron out some details.”

Sarah tipped her head
to the side and grinned at him. There was a devilish light in her blue eyes.

“Details are the last thing on my mind at this moment.”

It was spoken with a spark of attitude, but her body was poised for merriment.
She couldn’t hide the relief that had come washing over her the moment she realized she was immortal. For someone who hadn’t been very happy in her mortal life, Sarah seemed to be enjoying the whirling lightness of the creature she had become.

Vampires are dark and spooky
?

Sarah didn’t believe it.
Not now.

She wigg
led her bare toes in the shaded coolness of the grass below her. She had never imagined it would feel like this. Always, the images of the undead forced her to see them through a dark veil—always tinged with a chaotic chorus of dread and dripping with the blood they craved.

Where was the desperation she’d heard about?
What about the barbaric need to feed? It wasn’t happening to her. She was a feather, twisting in winds of change. Alternating from ecstasy at the breeze flowing across her smooth face to the calm brought by the feeling of the solid ground beneath her. But she didn’t yearn for anything. Not food and definitely not blood.

“Alex, shouldn’t I be hungry?” she asked lightly, fluttering her hands through the splashes of shade and sunlight raining down from above.
Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she followed the movement of her hands with her eyes.

“Maybe not right away,” he said.

How could she not be hungry
?

“Come sit down for a minute, Sarah.”

She didn’t like the serious tone in his voice. Her chocolate-colored eyelashes fanned closed for a moment as she let herself relax on the ground at his feet. She sat, leaned back against the hard edge of the first porch step and crossed her legs before her with no regard for the clean dress she wore.

“So talk.
Tell me the rules. I know that’s what you’re thinking about.”

He ignored the teasing lilt in her tone and frowned.

“You’re seriously not hungry at all?”

“No. Is that unusual?”

Alex was uneasy at this unexpected boon.

“I think it’s probably unheard of.
But once we get to Michigan, some of the older vampires should be able to confirm that.”

“Why don’t you call Teddy?”

“I don’t want her knowing what we’ve done quite yet.”

She gave him a solemn look.

“You’re scared?
You do realize that nobody can hurt you, right?”

She was talking about his physical body, of course.

“Right.
But people I love can be hurt,” he whispered, thinking of her, the girls and Katie.

That thought reminded him of his promise.
He would have to leave Sarah to bring Katie back. He didn’t know if the clinic would release her yet.

Deal with it later
.

“The rules.”

She sat up and nodded politely, causing the strands of hair caught in her customary ponytail to brush against her shoulder. The corner of Alex’s mouth turned up in a half smile.

“You’re going to be serious, right?”

“I’ll do my very best.”

“Okay.
Obviously, different vampires observe different rules. Some use mind control to make the human forget that they ever saw a vampire. That’s pretty common. Using compulsion takes some time to learn, though. It won’t come to you automatically.”

“Is that what you do for blood?”

He shook his head with a wry grin.

“No.
I never quench my thirst on anything living. Not anymore. I don’t need blood very often. When I do, there are some vampires who are willing to accommodate me. Just various acquaintances who have been kind to me.”

“Is vampire blood better than
the human variety?”

“The taste varies a lot, depending on the age of the vampire whose blood you’re taking.
It’s a little like selecting a fine wine. Generally, the older ones have the best flavor and texture.”

He slid down and sat next to her, watching clouds
of gnats rise and fall in the waning afternoon sun.

“But you don’t need to worry about any of that.
I think if you start out drinking my blood then you’ll be fine to try anything else. But we’re drifting off subject.”

She looked startled at the idea of drinking his blood.
Her cornflower blue eyes were wide.

“I thought I would only have it one time so I would change.”

“Where you get the blood is your choice. I won’t force you to take mine. I’m only suggesting that it might be the best bet for you, at least in the beginning.”

“And what happens after that?
I could drink from Michael?”

Alex didn’t want to think about that.
It was going to happen, he was sure. “That’s up to you two. If you want cold bags of human blood instead of animal blood, I’m sure arrangements can be made. But, until you learn compulsion, you cannot put your teeth on a human. That’s rule number one.”

She nodded.

“Okay.”

“Rule number two. If you are going to be around humans on a regular basis, you will need to discipline yourself to act as a human.”

One of her dark eyebrows rose.

“I wasn’t acting human a few minutes ago?
Since when is dancing outlawed for mortals?”

“Yeah, well…
just keep in mind that anything out of the ordinary can be reported back to the council. Not that they would do much to you, given your position.”

“I want to thank you.”

She shrugged her shoulders.
“I lost all my hope when they left. I thought my life was over.”

Reaching out with one hand, Alex grazed her chin with his thumb.

“I was happy to help.
”

His hand dropped away and he smiled brilliantly.

“When Michael tries to kill me,
you be sure to put in a good word.”

Sarah rose fluidly from the ground and brushed the leaves of grass off the back of her dress before reaching a hand down to help him up.

“Once the shock wears off, he’ll probably hand his crown over to you for doing this.
He really loves me, Alex.”

Of course he does
.