![The Vampire]()
Chapter 2
"I can't. To take so much blood's a sin. I won't be able to stop."
Vlad's pillow muffled his voice, but Ann heard the blood agony in it.
"Mesmerize me again, leave me alone and lock the door."
"Then you'll be abdicating?" inquired Ann. "You won't be able to come
out for a long time. Animals aren't going to do it, you know that. I'm
going to love kneeling to My Lord Emperor Yoshi."
"Arrgh," cried Vlad.
Ann smiled. She knew it would upset him to think of replacement by his
back slapping, politicking second son, the only child of Paladin Anharad
of Clan Ki. The threat failed, he buried himself deeper into the bed
clothes. Ann sighed. She should have noticed his difficulties earlier.
"Shuttered ships that pass in the day," she thought. "That's what we
are."
Vlad busy with his friend's collapse from old age and the reports of a
mysterious disease that killed Vampires. She, the most powerful time
string reader since Lachesis's death a century before, spending her time
at the abbey analysing the disturbing visions in the webs. Making an
appointment might become the only way to see each other.
When they had come upstairs, Ann lured him into making love,
anticipating that the arousal would cause him to attack. He had refused to
bite. Their separation had brought back her old longing and she had
decided to feed from him, hoping the loss of blood would work. Ann
mesmerized him, so he couldn't feel the madness. Whenever she put him
under, Vlad thought he was lying warm and safe in the earth. Where the
idea came from, Ann didn't know, they never slept in graves or coffins. In
any case, as much as he liked it, he couldn't lie on the bed mesmerized
forever. Eventually the madness would break through and nothing could stop
him hunting humans. Vlad had taken care of her, why wouldn't he let her
take care of him?
"Come on," she murmured, pulling back the covers and kneading his
shoulders. "Hunting animals didn't work this time. If you don't do it, you
know what'll happen. You don't want to be one of the lost, do you? It
almost happened the last time you forgot to look after yourself. Did you
like when the Imperial Guard searched the forest and found you leaning
down ready to attack that mesmerized human woman?"
"That was different."
"I don't think so. Come on, my love. You're the reader of religion and
philosophy. Just because you became a Christian doesn't mean that you
won't be tempted or even fall from grace. Get Father Mark to hear your
confession. He's a vampire, He'll understand."
"Mark has never had The Blood," muttered Vlad.
"Don't have to do something to understand," Ann remarked. "Isn't it
better to feed from me, than to end up losing control of yourself? You
know you'll go after Bette. That last name of Reimer and her coming from
March. It brings back memories of what the New Puritans did to you. All
the hate and anger. Don't tell me it doesn't. Do you really want to
destroy not only our lives but Maru's too?"
"Living well is the best revenge. Renfield, all of them, are centuries
of dead dust and I am not."
"Your memories aren't dust, no more than mine are." She brushed his
head. "I won't let you kill me."
Vlad mumbled something inaudible into the pillow. Ann shoved at him,
rolling him over. He tried to look away but she held onto his face and
made him stare right into her eyes. He licked his lips. His hand moved up
to stroke her hair.
"Let me be your Whore of Babylon," she hissed.
Vlad snarled, flipped her onto her back, bared his fangs and bent to
her neck, his black hair falling across her face like a shroud. He gasped,
trying to control himself and beginning to move away. Ann clasped her
hands to the back of his head and pushed his mouth down to her neck. She
knew her smell would overwhelm him. He tensed.
"Please Ann, no," he whispered.
He moaned as his fangs sank into her and blood pooled in his mouth.
Vlad began to suck. Her blood mixed with the blood of the forest. He
sighed and relaxed, lost in feeding. Ann rubbed his back.
"You're mine alone again," she thought. The minutes passed until she
felt dizzy. "Stop, my love. You can't have all of me."
His eyes rolled down and he loosened himself from her neck, licking the
wound closed. Vlad lay his head on her shoulder.
"I love only you. Only you, forever," he whispered. "I couldn't survive
without you. I never want to hurt you."
"I know."
Vlad murmured,
Love's precious ruby
soothes the madness
that could
silence angels' harps
"I love you too, sweetheart," reassured Ann as she stroked his dear,
anxious face. He rolled off her and faced away.
"There's no shame. You can't help it," she said.
Her words hung unanswered. Ann leaned over to give him a kiss, shook
her head and smiled. He had fallen asleep, long black lashes resting on
flushed cheeks, her blood bestowing the innocence of an angel.
Suddenly Vlad's face twisted. He moaned, his body stiffening, and cried
out with a high pitched scream. Ann's eyes widened with alarm. Her husband
suffered through a dream of his sonic torture at the hands of the humans.
Years had passed since his last one. She held his hand, not daring to wake
him to the memories. Vlad jerked awake. His look of agony disappeared at
the sight of her caring face. Ann squeezed his hand. He smiled up at her
for a second, reassured, then returned to a restful sleep. Ann brushed
back his hair, picked out the last piece of leaf, then tucked the quilt
around him. She bit her lip.
"How long have you been suffering and me not even noticing?" she
wondered "This is no way to carry on a marriage. We must do something
about our schedules. Maybe it's time for him to abdicate and me to cut
back."
