A/N: So...first TB story. I'm gonna admit I'm kinda scared. Please be nice. :)
I got the idea of this story from many things: St. Francis of Assisi (thank you, AP Euro class), the fic 1,001 Nights (the name of the author escapes me, but READ IT. It's SO GOOD), and the aria Bist du bei mir by Stolzer. They should all come together in the end. Hopefully. Let me just say that I've never, ever, in my life finished a multi-chap fic. I hope to break that with this story, because I have a plan!
I would've put this on the SVM section, but I haven't finished all of the books yet so I figured this was a better place.
--
It was a very stupid idea. I knew it from the moment Eric suggested it. But, him being my maker, I have to comply with every single one of his wishes. Even if I don't want to. Even if I beg or give an excuse, I still have to. It's just the way we work. I wouldn't have been able to defer his command after a while, anyways. It would have been ever present and weighing down on me more and more every second. After a while, it becomes rather painful.
We were sitting in his office, waiting for 9:00 to come around so we could open his bar, Fangtasia, for the night. I knew he wanted something from me. At the time, I really hoped it wasn't sex because, Jesus, was I not in the mood for it. His eyes never left my face, and I finally let my guard down and rolled my eyes.
"Eric! What is it that you want?" I questioned exasperatedly.
"You need someone," Eric said, matter-of-factly.
"I have several someones," I pointed out, but I noticed that that excuse didn't work.
"No, not one of your pets. A permanent someone."
I stared at him. What the fuck would I do with a vampire child?
"You want me to have a fledgling. A ward. Fucking progeny."
"Yes," he nodded, "I want you to find one tonight, if possible."
"Tonight? That's not enough time. I don't want to be like Bill Compton and be stuck with someone like Jessica of all people…"
"It's enough time, I assure you," he said. I wanted to slap that smirk off of his face.
"You followed me around for two weeks before you turned me."
"That is true. But I had been alone for nine hundred years, I wanted to find someone absolutely perfect."
"Well, thanks for that," I scoffed, "But I really don't want to be a maker."
"Why? Because it is too much responsibility?"
Too much responsibility my ass. I just didn't want to care for another person. Eric always makes a point to describe me perfectly, and lazy is right on the spot.
"As your maker, I command you to find someone before the bar is closed for the evening. You will glamour them, take them to your home, and turn them," he was positively glaring at me. What an ass. "The door opens in five minutes. Go."
I walked out of his office slowly, hoping he would change his mind. I knew he wouldn't, but it was definitely worth hoping for.
As I stood at the front door of Fangtasia, checking everyone's IDs and their general demeanor (if they were twitchy and sweaty, clear indicators of vampire blood withdrawal, I was to turn them away…or scare them away), there wasn't anyone I could find for myself. I didn't even know if I wanted a male or female child. The obvious choice would be female, but a man sometimes catches my eye every once in a while. All the humans that walked in were so unbelievably horny that every time their eyes traveled up and down my body, I snapped at them. Not very professional, as I understand.
Once two-thirty came around, I shut the door. Even though Fangtasia was open until four, Eric liked to keep all the drunken hicks from coming in and looking for some fun. Or a fight.
I sat at the bar. I could feel Eric's eyes boring into the back of my head.
I see one, he said in my head. I hated when he did this because it gives me a pounding headache.
I sighed and didn't respond to his observation.
Look to your left.
I didn't, just out of spite.
Pam, your favorite bra will be found ripped to shreds tomorrow morning…
I turned to face him, slowly, and glared at him. He was smirking.
Fuck you, too.
I turned my head the other way, to my left as he told me. I scanned the booths and the tables and the length of the bar. No one struck my fancy.
Brunette, he said.
Oh, what the fuck is this? I Spy? I scanned the room, eliminating all blondes and redheads and those posers with dyed black hair.
She's looking right at you, Pam.
Right. Found her.
All of the sudden, Eric was sitting on the stool next to me.
"She looks like she's twelve, Eric," I said, extending my hand towards her. She was extremely pretty.
"But how old is she?"
"Twenty-one. According to the ID." The vault did come in handy sometimes. Also, so did knowledge of fake IDs, which I do possess. But the police can't get angry at us for letting in minors with fake IDs because the other bars and clubs in town just don't care.
The girl in question was stealing looks at me, and I caught each and every one of them. Her hair went down below her shoulder blades and her eyes were dark. She came in around ten-thirty, by herself, and sat down at a table. She was currently on her second martini, which she had been sipping on for the past two hours. A few men had come up to speak to her, but the conversations had lasted only a few minutes. She didn't seem fazed by it. She was just people-watching, which a lot of people did in this place.
"Go, Pam. And for once in your life, follow my orders without any insolent comments," Eric said as he walked back to his office.
I made my way over to the girl's table, very slowly, and with enough sultriness to catch the eyes of a few patrons of the bar, both male and female. She, however, looked nervously down into her glass. I could feel that she didn't want to speak with anyone. Especially me.
"What's your name?" I asked, not even attempting to be polite. Hey, Eric said I couldn't be impolite to him, not the girl.
"Nina St. Francis," she replied, quickly and quietly. I liked her already. She wasn't loud and obnoxious, she was soft-spoken and to the point. Thank goodness.
"Look at me," I said, tilting my head to the side trying to catch a glimpse of her face, which was now concealed by a sheath of dark, wavy brown hair.
"I don't…I don't want to," she nearly choked on her own words. It was very clear that I was making her uncomfortable. That's what she gets for walking into a vampire bar with a fake ID.
"Darling," I started, a smile growing on my face, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see your face."
Her grip on the stem of her martini glass had loosened, and her head began to tilt upwards slowly. She was a pretty girl. Her cheekbones were high, lips were a little pouty, and her side-swept bangs covered her rather large forehead. She still didn't bring her eyes up to look at me. Well, we'll do it the hard way, then.
My hand reached over to swipe her bangs off of her face, and then came down to cup her cheek. She looked at me then, quizzically. "Why are you doing this?" She asked, before I drew her in.
I hated that those were her last words as a human being.
I grabbed her ruffled, black satin clutch off the table and took her hand to lead her back to Eric's office. Her black sling-backs were clacking against the floor, in tempo with the beat of her heart. I could feel it in her fingers. God, she must be sweet.
Eric opened his door before I could even knock.
"Good," he said, a little admonishingly, "you have a few weeks off to accustom this one to our ways," he gestured towards Nina. Even glamoured, she still looked down towards the floor. This perplexed me.
I led Nina back to my car, wondering why Eric was so adamant that I have a child. It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
--
On the way back to my home, Nina sat in the passenger seat, completely silent. I had attempted to ask her questions, and she answered none of them. Her face was turned away from mine, and when I reached over to grab her shoulder, her head drooped forward. She was dead asleep. I didn't know how this happened, since I'm pretty sure she was still glamoured and I definitely didn't tell her to conk out.
I turned on my iPod, and the strains of a piano and violins and cellos soothed my nerves (imaginary ones, of course). I honest to god did not want to do this. I didn't want to take this girl away from her family, like I was taken from mine. The first few years are altogether miserable, with the consuming hunger plaguing you every second of every night, and the fact that you retain your humanity for a little while. You do miss your family, even though you left them knowing you were never to see them again. You feel guilty.
I stopped thinking about this when the aria began, and clear, perfect voices filled my car.
Bist du bei mir, geh' ich mit Freuden
zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh'.
Ach, wie vergnügt wär' so mein Ende,
es drückten deine schönen Hände
mir die getreuen Augen zu!
The piece finished when I pulled into my driveway, and I turned off my car and got
quickly to the passenger door. I picked the girl up, cradling her against my chest, and brought her into the thresholds of my home. I could feel her breathing against me, hear the blood pumping through her arteries, and I wanted to taste her so badly.
To turn a human, you must drain their blood until they only have a few drops left, and then feed them yours. For three days, you leave them in the dark for them to change. It's a good thing my bedroom was windowless, because I definitely was not lying in the dirt.
She didn't wake up while I was feeding on her, and when I bit my wrist and she fed from me, I had to tilt her head back so it actually went down her throat. Her blood was so unbelievably sweet that it was nearly sickening.
I laid Nina down on her back, and I could literally see her skin pale and her insides beginning to change. She stopped breathing. I got a wet rag to wipe the drying blood from around her mouth, and I moved her hair out of her face.
I lied down next to her, and I waited.
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Review and tell me if I should continue! -Bailey S.
