Wake of Darkness (6 page)

            Lisandro looked at the soaked ground that lapped
up the blood from Astrid's womb as surely as she had lapped the blood from his
wrist moments ago. A tiny creature kicked at the night. Her hair was as black
as his own, but her eyes were violet like Astrid's had been in life.

            "Dear God in Heaven," he gasped,
staring at the baby in horror. "What have I done?"

            He reached down tentatively and scooped the baby
up into his arms. She wiggled in his embrace and smile slowly crept across her
baby pink lips. Lisandro looked up at where Astrid had been standing. She was
gone.

            "Astrid?" he asked the too-still
night. "Astrid?!"

            He spun around, forgetting the fragile creature
in his hand. Astrid was nowhere to be found. And in that moment, had Lisandro
had a heart to break, it surely would have destroyed him. She had abandoned
him.

            The baby squirmed in his arms and cooed at him.
He looked down when he felt a tiny tug at his long hair. Their eyes met and she
smiled again. Lisandro was entranced by her eyes, so much like his love's, and
he smiled back.

            "And what shall I call you, little
kitten?"

            Something in the night caught her eye and she
seemed to be cataloging the stars with her little newborn mind. A name came
back to him, from a place far away and a time he had all but forgotten. His
mother's name: Catherina.

Chapter 6

Present Day—Texas

Catherina pled fatigue at Sophie's
insistence to hear what she had to say, prompting her to exercise
self-control—she didn't think it would do anyone any good to attack the
matriarch in her own home. So, Alexander took Catherina’s vacated place with a
quick glance at Zoey, who still sat silently on the floor, playing with the
golden cross that hung from a thin gold chain around her neck.

“I shall be brief,” he began,
looking Sophie directly in the eye. “Catherina tends to be a little…”

Zoey raised her eyebrow at him. He
shook his head, mumbled something under his breath and started again.

 “You must know what you are—what
we are: We are the product of a human mother and a vampire creator.”

Sophie shook her head in disbelief.
“That’s impossible,” she protested.

“Nothing is impossible,” he
countered. “We are not the biological child of our vampire parent. My mother
was changed into a vampire while I was still in the womb. At the time of her
death and transformation, I was aborted from her body, but not before I
inherited traits from my vampire father. It's the same with you.”

"And with me," Zoey
added.

“How does that work?”

“Basic biology,” Alexander said. “We
are not entirely sure of all the mechanics, but a mother’s blood mingles with
her baby’s. When a pregnant woman is changed into a vampire, three blood types
are exchanged within the mother’s body.”

Sophie nodded. “Okay. So, let me
get this straight. A vampire bites a pregnant woman, but what do you mean three
blood types are exchanged?”

Alexander exchanged a glance with
Jim over her shoulder before answering.

“The transformation requires an
exchange of blood,” Alexander replied.

“An exchange of blood?” Sophie
asked incredulously. Her eyes brightened with recognition as her mouth twisted
into a grimace. “You mean she drinks the vampire's.”

“Yes,” Zoey answered.

“Oh, alright then,” Sophie replied.
She suspected she could be going crazy.

“The physical traits we inherit
from our vampire parents vary,” Alexander continued, “but we do know that the
powers we possess are as varied as our vampire parents.”

 “Catherina met her father—her
vampire father—not long after the start of her thirty-third year. After a few
years together, he took her hunting with him; he taught her to kill. She found
that the new life she embraced gave her incredible strength. The local coven of
vampires warned her father against such things, but neither heeded the
warnings. Her father tried to kill Jacques, their leader, but when he was
unsuccessful, he fled New Orleans, leaving Catherina to fend for herself. And
then Gabriel—one who is like us and made a play for her in the past—came back
for her. He hired members of Jacques's coven to help kidnap her—they had it out
for her already, so they were easy to pay off. Gabriel held her captive and
raped her repeatedly, trying to create an offspring of our kind through a more
natural course."

Sophie stared at him in horror—the
horror of Catherina's actions and the horror of her capture combined into one.
Zoey nodded sympathetically at her as Alexander continued.

"Catherina soon learned what
happens to one of our kind who begins to live like a vampire. Without blood to
sustain her, her natural strength and ability over the vampires disappeared.
She became weaker even than a human being against their kind. Luckily for her,
there were several such humans on board the ship on which she was being kept
prisoner. She lured him to his death and through his blood gained her strength.
Fueled by the blood that newly coursed in her veins, Catherina was able to
escape the bonds that held her.

"She leapt from the ship and
swam to shore. She found that she had been moored in the Mediterranean, and she
very soon thereafter found Dante. Once together, Dante and Catherina traveled
the world. They enjoyed many years with one another and she slowly regained some
of her strength,
without
the consumption of human blood. However, she
has never been the same since.

“Having failed in his efforts to
create a super-monster if you will, Gabriel turned his sights on capturing
Catherina for himself. Whether his actions were out of spite or out of
something less sinister, we have never known. Living for so long, members of
our kind occasionally fixate on something or someone for lack of anything
better to do. It usually results in
someone’s
death,” he paused,
remembering something else, but his mind was still closed to Sophie, so she didn’t
notice much of a pause. He continued.

“Gabriel surprised Dante and
Catherina one day while they were traveling through Paris. Having tracked them
throughout Europe, when he knew that he had them cornered there, he informed
Catherina that he held her father, Lisandro, captive. Gabriel knew that nothing,
not even Dante, could have kept her from trying to rescue her father.

“His bargain was simple: Lisandro’s
freedom for Catherina’s captivity. He wanted to possess her for himself, and he
understood that his scheme was the only way he possibly could attain her.”

Alexander watched Sophie shiver at his
words and he smirked. “You are not going to faint again; are you?” he asked,
bitingly disdainful.

She froze and looked at him like he
had physically slapped her in the face before she quickly recovered herself.
What
the hell did I do to you?
She reflexively thought, feeling the heat of
embarrassment move through her body.

Despite his better judgment, Alexander
was instantly sorry for his words. He felt himself becoming emotionally concerned
for Sophie, for her well-being and feelings; he was quickly approaching dangerous
territory. Zoey sighed heavily at his feet.

Sophie looked at him coolly. “No,
I’m not going to faint again.”

Laney scrutinized Alexander for a
half-second before saying, “You should be nicer to her, you know,” with a
knowing smile.

Alexander grimaced as he glanced
sideways at the younger girl; he was decidedly not in the mood. Shaking his
head, he continued: “Catherina was able to trick Gabriel into his death.”

“How?” asked Sophie, and her
serious tone disturbed him in ways it shouldn’t.

“Quite simply, she seduced him. When
the
fool
believed her, she killed him,” he quickly explained.

“But…how? I mean, she’s lived for
so long. I assumed…”

“…That we cannot be killed?” He
shook his head. “I am afraid that we can be. Our beating hearts drive blood
through our veins just like the hearts of human beings. It is
nearly
impossible to kill one of us, but there is one way to successfully do so.”

Sophie nodded. The answer was so
simple; she knew it instinctively. “She bit him.” It was not a question.

“Yes, but that act alone was not
enough of a cause to lead to her problems, which are now our problems. No
matter what vampires are paid or promised, no amount of money, no gain
whatsoever, will lead to absolute loyalty with one of
our
kind,” he
explained. “Ultimately, Gabriel meant little to Jacques and his company; they
were simply trying to make a profit out of the necessary situation they had
found themselves in.

“Dante spoke of a coming war, and
as melodramatic as it seems to you, we undeniably shall face certain danger soon.
It is important that you understand what has transpired to lead us to this
point.

“Gabriel’s blood gave Catherina new
life; so much so that she believed she was transformed. Somehow, she knew
immediately where Lisandro was, as if she had absorbed some of Gabriel’s
knowledge along with his blood. When she arrived at the designated location, though,
she found that Gabriel’s vampire cohorts had killed her father of their own
accord—it did not matter that they were on Gabriel's payroll.

“Her new strength raged in her as
deeply as the anger that coursed through her veins. They had looked for Gabriel's
arrival; they had planned to collect their payment and go. Perhaps they would
have killed him; perhaps not. Regardless, Catherina was the last being they
expected to see walking through the door.

“She struck before they knew what
hit them—I once saw the memory in her mind. None escaped death except Jacques. She
slew his friends and his mate, Delphine. And now we are dealing with
that
unfortunate fact,” Alexander explained. He sat back into the couch and waited
for Sophie to process what she’d heard. His watched her carefully.

“So what’s the big deal with this
guy, and why is everybody talking about not much time left? What’s happening? Does
it have to do something with this Jacques guy?” Sophie asked, the stream of
confused questions coming out before she could stop herself.

 “The Council is the self-appointed
governing body of vampires. From a dark cavern overlooking a little-known village
in Romania, they keep careful watch over everything, and I do mean
everything
.
They maintain and ensure vampire sovereignty in the world. They are everywhere
and nowhere, investing in large corporations, influencing governments across
the globe, and staunchly retaining their ruling status in the world. While they
move about with the upmost discretion, they are freer now than ever before: the
modern world does not believe in monsters any longer, but has chosen to give
those they still
would like
to believe in, a beautiful face.”

            “Yes, but I don’t underst…”

Alexander cleared his throat. “Every
society eventually evolves to the point that it needs a government to keep order.
That is what the Council is for their kind. Humans haven’t the least inkling of
their existence, and vampires have become something appealing in pop culture,”
he scowled at the last sentence. 

“The Council has facilitated our
extermination, in a way. Jacques has convinced them that Catherina, Dante, and
the rest of our family must die for Catherina’s crimes and unjustified vengeance
against his coven. The Council has sanctioned the action and will support
Jacques in his endeavors, though they will remain detached from it as long as
events proceed Jacques’s way.”

Sophie looked at him, horrified. “What’s
their motivation for just going along with him?”

Jim cleared his throat. “Well, y’
see Sophie, there are some of us out there who hunt and kill vampires,” he
explained, “and that makes the Council kinda mad.”

“To say the least,” Laney chimed
in, suddenly appearing from nowhere.

“When did she…?” Sophie asked,
pointing towards the doorway.

Alexander swept a dismissive wave
at her question.

Jim kept talking: “And then there’s
Jacques, who’s got a burr under his saddle for Catherina, so the situation fits
pretty nicely into the Council’s grand design. They figure if they let him take
us out, then fewer of their friends get killed on a regular basis.”

“Jacques has been spotted by
friends of ours,” Alexander added. “He is looking for Catherina, which means he
is looking for all of us. She killed his family, so he will kill hers.”

“Great,” was all Sophie replied
before concluding, “So…the Council’s blessing gives him a legitimate excuse,”
she sighed. “But when did all this first happen?”

“A little over a hundred years
ago.”