Chapter 1
Sandra noted the forest's stillness as she walked through it as silently as possible. She didn't pay any attention to her surroundings; she knew them by heart, and she was keeping all her senses open for vampires. She was currently on the trail of Montana's vampire prince, whom she'd been hunting for the past three years. He had managed to hide himself from all her traps and spying, but now she had finally found the needed clues leading to his hiding spot.
Nearly all the vampires in Montana had been eradicated according to her sources and she was a major part of that. Thanks to all her traveling and training, she knew every part of Montana and was confidant that she would easily find the prince and kill him as she had killed hundreds of vampires before him. Her tip-offs had led her to Montana's northwestern corner and she was hoping to be done with her mission in a week at the most.
Suddenly, as she was walking, Sandra heard the snap of a twig and immediately stopped and hid in the shadow of a nearby tree. A dark shape walked out in front of her and chuckled. "Hiding will do you no good, Sandra. You should know that vampires have good night vision," the voice of the dark figure crooned sarcastically.
Sandra glared in its direction and suspiciously replied, "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
The figure stepped into the moonlight with a bow. "I am the Vampire Prince Damien. I believe that you have been searching for me for some time. Besides, it's not hard to know the name of someone as famous as you."
Sandra looked confused. "Famous?"
"Well, famous among vampires. It's not everyday that an eighteen year old has racked up almost one hundred vampire kills. How well do you think you're doing?"
"What the hell kind of question is that?"
"Now, now, must we resort to such poor language? It's only a question my dear."
Sandra ground her teeth together. "I think I've done quite a good job, thank you. There haven't been any vampires around in a few years thanks the vampire hunters. You're the last one left in Montana."
Prince Damien began shaking causing Sandra to give him a strange look. After a minute, she realized he was laughing and she glared even harder at him. "What's so funny?"
Prince Damien controlled his laughter and said, "I-I apologize. It's just that…your naivety is hilarious. To think that I'm the last vampire left in Montana is preposterous."
"What do you mean?"
"As fast as you little 'vampire hunters' kill a vampire, we go out and embrace a new one. Of course, vampires are naturally good at hiding themselves from humans as it is, so your chances of eradicating ALL the vampires in Montana are slim. You've only killed the lesser, stupid vampires. Your free to try and kill me love….That is…if you think you have the skill to." With a last chuckle, Damien disappeared into the forest.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Sandra growled to herself, storming out of the forest the way she came. She began walking back to the town she was currently staying at. "What does he mean by saying I'm free to kill him if I think I have the skill. I've got plenty enough skill to take his sorry ass on." She grumbled to herself the whole way back to Rexford, causing other people to stare at her.
Once she reached Rexford, Sandra returned to her motel room and began planning how she was going to infiltrate Damien's lair and kill him. Her plans took her all night and she fell asleep on the small table in the room. She woke up in the morning to children playing in the street and it took her a minute to figure out where she was and what she was doing. Once she came partially to her senses, Sandra took a shower, got dressed, then headed out to town.
As she strolled through the town (fully dressed to kill a vampire), Sandra noticed that vendors were setting up carts and the townspeople were dressed in costumes. Confused, Sandra stopped a nearby woman and asked her, "Excuse me ma'am, what's going on?"
The woman turned to Sandra in surprise and replied, "Why, it's our annual festival child."
"Festival? For what?"
"The Festival of Birds, dear. Didn't you know about it?"
"Apparently not," Sandra mused.
"Well then, if you're going to be in town, you'll need at least a mask to wear so you don't stick out like a sore thumb."
"I will, thank you."
The woman smiled. "It was my pleasure child."
Sandra did as the woman advised and found a vendor selling bird masks. She bought a bright red and blue parrot mask and waited for the festival to start. Once it did, Sandra walked through it, enjoying herself in the happiness of the people and the music. She was glad she had bought the mask because like the woman had said, she would have stuck out like a sore thumb; everyone else had masks on and almost as many were wearing costumes.
As it began to get dark, Sandra thought she saw something suspicious in the crowds, so she began to follow it. Sure enough, it turned out to be a vampire, she could tell by the unnatural way it walked. Sandra stalked it for a little while and determined that it was a male of unknown age. After she followed him for ten minutes, the vampire led her down a deserted alley and turned suddenly to face her. "Ah…so we meet again my dear," the vampire said amusedly. "So tell me, how did we manage to meet this time?"
After Sandra got over her shock, she realized it had been Damien that she was following the whole time. "Y-you! It's you again!" Sandra stuttered.
Damien sighed and pulled his mask off. "Honestly, must you act like a three year old; I had thought higher of you. Who did you expect to be following?"
In her anger, Sandra continued to stutter. "I-I-wasn't expecting the prince to be in among people and to be so easy to follow. Even the weaker vampires I've followed have been harder to follow."
"Oh come now, don't you think I know that. Who's to say that I wasn't intentionally letting you follow me, hm? I'm not an ordinary vampire, I can waltz around like any human if I want to. I just pretended to think that you weren't behind me until I knew you were tuned into me, and then I found the opportune place and caught you off guard. Brilliant, no?"
Sandra ground her teeth at having been tricked. "Apparently you're smarter than I've been giving you credit for. But why trick me? And how did you know that I was going to follow you?"
"Oh come, come now, love. Last night you had every intention of killing me. I knew you would have the same feelings tonight and I'm sure every night after. That, I believe, answers your second question; as to your first, I don't really have a valid answer other than that I wished to see you."
"What?! What would a vampire want with a human? Especially a human that wants to kill them? You've got to be the craziest vampire I've ever hunted."
"Crazy? No, never. I am perfectly sane. Plus, you'd be surprised to find how many vampires take interest in specific humans and their affairs. I've actually been dying to meet you for quite some time but never found the right occasion to do so. Besides," he said with a playful smile, "I thought it would be more fun to let you find me. Toodles." With that, Damien casually put his mask back on and disappeared back into the crowd with unnatural swiftness that only a vampire possessed.
That left Sandra to brood over what Damien had said to her. It all seemed very confusing and made her feel dirty so she went back to her motel room and showered, then went to bed early to get a good night's sleep.
Chapter 2
The next morning Sandra was awakened by a knock on her door. "What?" she called out, but no one answered. Moaning, she got out of bed and went to the door. She happened to look down at the floor and saw a slip of paper lying in front of the door. Confused, Sandra reached down, picked it up, then read it. The paper said: I DO plan on seeing you today, my dear. Sandra crumpled the paper into a ball, threw it into the trashcan near the door, and grumbled, "Not on my watch Prince Damien." She then showered and got ready.
Yawning, Sandra left her room and headed down the stairs for some breakfast. Once she ate, she left the motel to explore the forest to see if she couldn't find a trail leading to Damien's lair. After an hour of searching, Sandra found what she was looking for and smiled happily. "I've got you now Damien," she whispered triumphantly to herself.
Without wasting any time, Sandra began following the trail. After ten minutes of walking through heavy forest, the trees began to thin out and Sandra began to smell decaying flesh. Leftovers from the vampire's kills she assumed; it meant she was getting very close. After another five minutes of walking, she came upon a rundown Victorian mansion that had all the windows boarded up. She could see that back in its day, it must've been a beautiful house; the house was painted a light blue with dark blue trim, and there was once a rod iron fence surrounding the property, but it had been left to rot and rust. The door was made of a beautiful cherry wood and had a stained glass window with a picture of the Virgin Mary on it in the middle of the door. Sandra chuckled at that; How ironic, she thought, for a vampire to have something Christian on its house.
Sandra decided not to waste more time standing around looking at the beauty of the house and tried the door to see if it was unlocked. To her dismay, it wasn't but the problem was easily solved with a quick shot from her pistol to the deadbolt. The door swung open on rusty, failing hinges and Sandra walked in, wary of her surroundings. Generally, vampires didn't keep guard dogs and such, but one could never be too careful.
Cautiously she walked from room to room on the first floor and after finding nothing, she moved on to the second floor. She found nothing there either and had to stop and think. I haven't found any sign of vampire life here at all. Does this house have a basement? On that thought, Sandra went back to the first floor and to the kitchen; sure enough, there was a door she had missed. She opened it and discovered a set of stairs leading into pitch-blackness. Sandra saw a light switch next to the door and flipped it on. Nothing happened and she sighed; she would have to give up searching the basement until she could get a candle, plus, she was starving and wanted some lunch before she continued hunting.
Sandra headed back through the forest to Rexford's downtown area. Once she got there, she stopped at a local burger joint and ate lunch. When she finished eating, Sandra began looking for a store that sold flashlights and batteries. After visiting five stores, Sandra was beginning to get angry. "What the hell kind of store doesn't sell candles or matches? That's like basic needs stuff!" She continued complaining to herself until she finally found the local grocery store. "Hallelujah!" Sandra ran into the store and quickly asked a worker where the candles and matches were.
Once she had bought the flashlight and batteries, Sandra looked at her watch and said, "Holy shit! Is it already 3:30? Damn it, I've got to get moving quickly before it gets dark." She quickly ran back to where she thought she remembered the trail and ended up getting lost. After a half hour of wandering around blindly, Sandra finally found the trail she was looking for and followed it back to the mansion.
When Sandra arrived at the mansion, she walked up to the front door and tried the doorknob. She found it was locked so she pulled one of her pistols out of its holster and shot the lock open. She pushed the door open and entered the dark living room carefully with her pistol still drawn. It was beginning to get dusky outside and Sandra knew that Damien would be waking up soon.
She quickly pulled the batteries out of her pocket and installed them into the flashlight. Once she was done and about to turn the flashlight on, Sandra heard the door close behind her and Damien's voice say, "You know, when entering a vampire's house at dusk, you should try to make less noise."
Surprised, Sandra spun around, and, forgetting that electricity doesn't harm vampires, shined the flashlight on Damien. "Damn you!" she exclaimed.
Damien smirked playfully and said kindly, "Put that toy away dear; as a vampire hunter you should know that it has no effect on me."
Sandra blushed and quickly turned the flashlight off and put it away in her pack. "I know," she said ashamedly. "You just scared the crap out of me."
Damien's smirk grew as he chuckled. "I know."
Sandra started to smile but then remembered who she was with. What am I doing? she thought. He's the freaking enemy and I'm allowing him to make me weak at the knees and smile…. It's disgusting. "Why can't you just lie on the floor and let me kill you?" she asked Damien exasperatedly.
To her surprise, Damien actually looked hurt by what she said and even frowned to himself. "You're more difficult than I expected," he whispered to himself, moving away from the door towards the center of the room. Sandra looked confused and was about to say something when he said, "First off, no vampire is just going to lie down and let you kill it, and secondly, you're going to find this strange, but I believe we're soul mates."
Sandra's mouth dropped open, her eyes opened wide, and she dropped the pistol from her hand. "What?!" she exclaimed after a couple minutes of shock.
"Think about your feelings, Sandra, my love," he explained softly. "You should feel the same attractive tie to me that I feel to you."
For a second, Sandra actually began to think about it; then she shook her head and began backing towards the door. "No…I don't feel anything." She then turned around and began walking to the door. "You're crazy!" she shouted back to Damien.
Damien looked crushed and the last thing Sandra heard him say before she shut the door was, "I'm sorry."
Chapter 3
Damien watched Sandra leave, devastated by her reaction. He sat down on the nearby couch as the scene replayed through his head. Once it was over, he put his head in his hands and sighed. "I didn't think the concept of liking a vampire was that hard to accept," Damien mused to himself. "I suppose I should look at it from her point of view."
"What's wrong my dear Damien?" a male vampire asked, walking into the room and putting his hand on Damien's shoulder.
"Seiliez!" Damien exclaimed in surprise, looking up at the vampire. "How and when did you get here?"
"Oh about three days ago I sensed that you were having trouble of some sort so I decided to come see what was wrong. I came in your mansion quite simply; I walked in through the front door while you were talking to yourself." Seiliez sat down next to Damien and put an arm around his shoulder. "Do tell me what is wrong Damien; I can't stand seeing you distressed."
Damien sighed. "I'm sorry Seiliez. Did you pass a teenage girl on your way here?"
Seiliez looked confused. "Yes; she looked scared out of her wits. What does that have to do with your distress?"
Damien sighed again. "That's my fault; I scared her."
"Well of course you did. Vampires naturally scare humans, Damien. You should know that."
Damien chuckled. "I know that Seiliez. This particular woman is the top vampire hunter in Montana and she's determined to kill me."
Seiliez was silent for a minute, and then he started laughing. "You-you're- worried about- a- meddling vampire- hunter?" he squeezed out in between laughs.
Damien frowned at Seiliez and gave him a playful push. "No you dork. Her attempts to kill me have been rather childish so far. No…my worry is that I'm attracted to her, but she doesn't seem to feel the same way about me."
Seiliez's face went blank and his mouth dropped open. "What?! You mean that this vampire hunter might be your soul mate?"
Damien smiled sadly. "Yes; I told her so today and that's why you saw her looking the way she did. I think I'm going to have to take it from her point of view instead of being so blunt."
Seiliez hugged Damien and said, "Oh my poor friend. Do you wish for me to stay with you for a couple of days?"
"No thanks Seiliez; I'll be fine. Besides, I don't have an extra coffin for you to sleep in."
"Well, I've been going to earth in my travels here, so I would do the same in your house, but I see that you wish to be alone so I will leave you. Good luck with your girl." Seiliez kissed Damien on the forehead and got up to leave.
"Goodbye my friend and thank you. Have a safe trip as well because Sandra might try and kill you just to unleash some frustration."
"I'll be fine, you know me Damien. Goodbye." Seiliez left and Damien sighed. He then smiled and left to hunt.
Chapter 4
Two days passed by uneventfully; Sandra never once saw Damien during them. The good thing about it was that it gave her time to think about what he had told her. After thinking about it, Sandra decided to avoid dwelling on her feelings. Oddly enough, she found herself almost only going out at night, and when she was out, she found herself looking for Damien.
At dusk of the third night that had passed since she last saw Damien, Sandra left the motel to walk around the town. As she came near the edge of the forest where the trail to Damien's mansion was, she saw a little boy sitting there. "Little boy," she called out. He didn't hear her and suddenly she saw Damien's shadow behind him. "Watch out!" she exclaimed worriedly.
The boy looked up at Sandra, but didn't move. Sandra took a step forward, but Damien was already on top of the boy, feeding on him. When he finished, Damien dropped the boy's body, wiped his mouth, then glared up at Sandra. "You-you're a monster," Sandra muttered with her hands held to her face and looking sick. "You-you just killed a little boy…a child."
Damien sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, a vampire does have to eat--"
"But to eat a child? That's horrible!"
Damien was torn on whether to answer with his usual cam know-all or to be like Sandra. The former won and he stood up. "I am aware of that." He sighed, seeing she was still disgusted. "Occasionally Rexford leaves me a human that's causing a problem or that's too old as an offering to keep me away from the main drag. They drug the human and leave them here, I drink their blood, and the humans dispose of the body the next day." Damien looked at the boy's lifeless body. "This particular boy has been causing trouble for quite some time actually. I had been wondering when they were going to give him to me."
"What did he do?"
"Well, he had been ruining public and private property-graffiti and such-but I believe that I heard he killed another boy a couple of days ago. He probably went through trial and was sentenced to death by monster."
To Sandra's further disgust, Damien looked amused by what he was saying. "How can you say that so calmly," she whispered. "You've just murdered a kid!"
For the first time since Sandra had met him, Damien actually looked truly angry at her. He came to her and as she tried to turn away, he grabbed the back of her head and turned her to face him. "When you've been a vampire for twenty years, you learn not to care about what you kill. Vampires are creatures just as humans are, and, like humans, require substance to stay alive. Just because we must drink blood to stay alive does not make us monsters!"
Damien felt his anger swelling and fought it down. He saw how he was holding Sandra and let her go. He began disappearing into the shadows of the forest. "Good day Ms. Howeshevik," he said.
"Good day? Don't you mean goodnight?" Sandra asked, confused.
"I mean what I said." Damien disappeared from Sandra's view, leaving her more confused than ever. It truly surprised her that Damien had gotten mad at her and the way he treated her surprised her too. After this thought occurred, Sandra slapped herself. I AM NOT going soft for a vampire, she thought sternly to herself. I can't let myself be overrun by the enemy.
Sandra began walking back to her motel. She couldn't get over Damien's anger at being called a monster and his uncaring at killing a child. Once back at the motel, Sandra went up to her room to get some sleep and hopefully forget what had happened tonight.
In the morning, Sandra was awakened by a knock on the door. She didn't bother to say anything, but got out of bed and went to the door. Sure enough, lying on the ground was a piece of paper. She picked it up and read it: I apologize to you for what happened yesterday. I had no intention for you to see me kill that human child…nor to see me kill a human…not yet at least. --Damien
"What the heck?" Sandra mumbled to herself, then shook her head. "Whatever." She threw the paper to the ground, looked at her watch, saw it said 8:30 A.M., sighed, and began getting ready since she was already awake and out of bed.
Once done, she went downstairs for some breakfast. As she was eating, Sandra decided that she would try and find Damien tonight and talk to him. As odd as it seemed, Sandra almost felt as if maybe, maybe, she could be friends with Damien.
Chapter 5
As dusk rolled around, Sandra began her search for Damien. She was hoping to catch him after he had hunted this time. She walked around the edge of Rexford, didn't find him, so she went back into the main part of town. When she got there, she saw that the townspeople had set up for some sort of party. Sandra walked up to a nearby man and asked, "What's going on tonight?"
The man turned and smiled. "It's our farmers market and we're also giving someone a surprise birthday party. The whole town pitched in for it because she's turning sixteen."
"Aw, that's so sweet. What's her name?"
"Her name is Ciera and if you see her, don't tell her what's going on."
"Okay, I promise not to. Thanks."
"No problem."
Sandra walked away from the man and smiled. That's so cute that the town would do that for Ciera, she thought.
As she was standing alone, Sandra didn't hear Damien walk up behind her. "Good day," he said cheerfully in her ear.
Sandra spun around in surprise and then smiled quirkily. "Why do you say day instead of night?"
Damien smiled back. "Because as a vampire I do not come out during the day, love, so for me the day is night and night is day. It's the same for every vampire; we replace night with day because it's how our lives are."
"That makes sense. What brings you inside the town?"
"Ciera's birthday party. It gives me a good chance to blend in with the townspeople and catch up on what's going on." The music for Ciera's birthday party started up, she walked in and everybody cheered, then Damien smiled at Sandra. "Care to dance?"
"Um…sure."
"Good." Damien led Sandra to the dance floor where others were already beginning to dance. After they had danced for an hour (to regular music), a slow song came on and Damien smiled again. "Now you really must dance with me my dear."
"Oh? And why's that?"
"Because it's something I've been craving since I met you love. And for another reason that I've previously told you."
"Ah yes, I remember. Well, I suppose I'll give you one last dance providing you'll do what I want afterwards."
"Deal."
The two of them danced through the song and as it was ending, Damien leaned down and gently kissed Sandra. Sandra was surprised at first, but then she returned it…until she realized what she was doing, then she pushed Damien away. "I knew you liked me," he said with a playful smirk.
"No, I don't," Sandra tried to say angrily, but it came out with a half smile as well. In her surprise, she had also forgotten what she had wanted to talk to Damien about.
Damien's smirk turned into a calming smile that sent Sandra's heart racing. "I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have done that. Please, forgive me my love. Oh yes, what is it you wanted from me?"
At Damien's prompting, Sandra remembered that she wanted to talk to Damien. "Can we sit down?"
"Of course. Lead the way." Damien wasn't sure what was wrong with Sandra, but he wanted to please her so he followed her.
Sandra led them to a bench away from the crowd and sat down. Damien sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She trembled slightly under his touch, but she spoke confidently. "I wanted to talk to you about last night, er, yesterday."
Damien looked uneasy. "Go on."
"Well, first off, I want to apologize for calling you a monster yesterday. I was…startled at seeing you make a kill. I've never seen any vampire do it."
Damien nodded. "It's understandable."
This next part Sandra wasn't sure how to say. "I-I'm also sorry about the way I've been treating you since I met you. I never realized that vampires were more than just cold-blooded killers until I met you. Granted, you've ruined my vampire hunter reputation, but I guess I'm kind of glad you did. It's been hard accepting all of this and my cover up for it is anger and saying something mean in the hopes that they'll leave me alone. Thank you for not backing down and for pushing my barriers."
Damien looked shocked. "Please tell me that that was not Sandra speaking."
Sandra pretended to be offended and playfully shoved him. "Hey! I meant all of that."
Damien smiled, hugged her to him, and kissed her on the cheek. "I know, it's a little scary hearing you say it, but it's nice at the same time. So, I have another question for you."
"What's that?"
"Will you go out with me?"
Chapter 6
Sandra got up and sat on Damien's lap, facing him, and kissed him passionately. Once finished, Damien looked breathless and shocked. Sandra smirked and said, "How's that for an answer?"
Damien worked his mouth soundlessly for a minute before he managed to say, "It'll do love. It'll do."
Sandra's smirk broadened as she stood up. "Good." She looked to the eastern horizon and frowned. "You should be going, the sun's coming up."
Damien followed her gaze and grunted. "That has to be the absolute worst thing about being a vampire; cursed never to see the sun again." He stood up and sighed. "Oh well, I'd still choose the life of a vampire if offered it again. I will see you tomorrow my dear."
Sandra gave Damien a confused look over her shoulder. "You actually chose to be a vampire?"
Damien gave her a mysterious smile. "That's a story for another day if I choose to tell it, love. Goodbye and goodnight." He began walking back towards his mansion without waiting for a reply from Sandra; he didn't expect one. He knew that Sandra would probably fume and wonder about what he had said, further keeping her from invading his house and trying to kill him in case she still had that in mind.
Damien's prediction proved true; Sandra was fuming that for just once, couldn't Damien answer one of her questions with a straightforward answer. She walked back to the motel pondering about the strangeness of his remark and answer. "I was hoping he'd at least answer me if I agreed to date him," she growled to herself. Once in the motel, she brushed by the innkeeper without even saying hello. She went straight up to her room and went to sleep.
Both Damien and Sandra went to sleep with the same thing on their minds: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Each of them was planning on using their "relationship" to gain an advantage over the other. Damien wished to keep Sandra from killing both him and his beautiful species. Sandra planned to get Damien comfortable enough around her so that she could kill him without his ever knowing and then continuing on with killing the rest of his horrid species.
Chapter 7
Damien woke up the next day (night) a little sore from staying out in dawn's light later than he should have. He climbed out of his coffin and groaned; it made him wonder whether he'd be able to go out today. He was also debating on whether he should move the location of his mansion in case Sandra alerted other vampire hunters about it or chose to kill him in his sleep herself.
There was one thing Damien was sure of though: Sandra was not dating him because she loved him. Everything she had told him yesterday was more or less a lie. He could sense her feelings and read parts of her mind; she had made it up to get closer to him. Damien didn't think that Sandra was capable of killing him, but she could still kill more of his precious species, and that he couldn't allow, so he decided he would keep her close.
Damien knew that asking Sandra out was a foolish idea at best, and that Seiliez would probably laugh first and reprimand him later. He also knew that the sooner Sandra was embraced as a vampire, the sooner he could help keep his species around. But embracing any human like Sandra had to be done carefully and with time. That's why Damien planned to use the mask of their falsely created relationship to show Sandra the good and bad sides of the vampire world.
Sandra woke up the next evening disgusted with herself. She got up and took an extra long shower, trying to scrub the feel of Damien off her skin. When she got out, she quickly got dressed and went downstairs to eat. She was wondering what Damien's purpose would be to ask her out; he had to have a purpose for it. Sandra had never been good at guessing other peoples' feelings, but she didn't think that Damien loved her, even with his pet names and calm ways.
In fact, Sandra had never met a vampire quite like Damien. Nearly all the vampires she had killed were excitable, egotistical, and occasionally unsure of themselves. Never had she met a vampire that radiated an air of self-assurance, poise, and even majesty, in a sense. It really was a shame that Damien was a vampire; he might have been the first man that Sandra could ever give her feelings to and love.
This thought brought forth what Damien had said last night: "I'd still choose the life of a vampire if offered it again." That statement confounded Sandra to no end (as if that's hard to do, haha). She couldn't understand WHY anyone would choose to be a vampire in the first place, let alone choose to do it again. Yet, that was the first time Damien had ever used real emotion when saying something (excluding his anger); his voice had sounded…tender…. His statement also confused Sandra because, to the best of her knowledge, most people were forced to become vampires unwillingly then they were left as fledglings trying to survive on their own.
That thought brought up yet another thing Damien had told her: That she had never killed a vampire stronger than a fledgling. That bothered her a lot because if they were only fledglings, she had struggled against some of them, and it made her wonder just how strong Damien was….
Sandra shook her head and stood up. She didn't want to think about Damien more than she had to, and right now, she had to go see him. She gritted her teeth and walked out of the motel to go fine her vampire "lover."
Damien and Sandra met each other in the town square. Sandra forced herself to smile and hug Damien. He returned the hug and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "So tell me," Sandra started, "did you really choose to become a vampire?"
Damien was about to answer when a female vampire walked up to Damien and bowed. When she rose, she said, "My Lord, Seiliez wishes to see you." Damien's face went blank and Sandra almost burst into laughter.
Chapter 8
"Seiliez has requested my prescence?" Damien asked stupidly, nearly causing Sandra to laugh again.
"Yes," the vampire replied. "He also wanted me to tell you to come immediately. He seemed rather upset."
Damien passed a quick look to Sandra when she wasn't paying attention to him and sighed. "All right. We'll leave today. So leave now and tell Seiliez I'm on my way."
"Yes, your highness," the vampire replied, bowing. She then left.
Sandra turned to Damien. "What do you mean 'we'?" she asked suspiciously.
Damien cursed to himself and thought of a quick reason. "Well my love, there's no need to be offended, I just thought that you might like to go along to…." Damien cut himself off as he realized he almost said 'to see other vampires.' He quickly fixed himself and finished, "…To go see a state other than Montana."
Sandra cursed herself for nearly giving away her true feelings. She quickly smiled and said, "Of course I'll go along with you Damien. I'm just a little nervous about leaving my home state is all."
Damien smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry; you'll be over it soon." Sandra returned his smile. "Let's be going shall we?"
"Yes, let's." Sandra and Damien began walking in the direction that the other vampire had come from. They walked in silence for a little while until Sandra asked, "How will you sleep during the day without your coffin and house?"
"I will simply bury myself in the earth deep enough to be free of the sun. I suggest that you sleep during that time as well."
"Oh. Okay."
They continued on in silence until dawn began to show itself. Still feeling sore and not wanting to repeat yesterday's act of stupidity, Damien said to Sandra, "I'm going to go to earth now. You may wish to find a sheltered area to sleep." After saying this, Damien felt his skin beginning to burn so he quickly began digging until he reached dark, cool, moist, earth away from the sun.
It took Damien and Sandra three days just to get out of Montana because they had to travel at human pace. By the time they reached Nevada, Damien was frustrated at having to waste so much time that he was going to find Seiliez the easy, illegal way.
Damien was going to make a call to find Seiliez that would travel all over the state. Once Seiliez received it, Damien and Sandra would be transported straight to him. The illegal thing about what Damien was going to do was: it could never be done in front of a human, it was only to be used in emergencies, and the vampire performing the call had to be very exact in making the call because it was possible for the call to go past the boundaries given and alert every vampire around to the caller's presence.
Damien had only ever done it once before; he had gotten into a stupid fight and was drained on the point of death and had to call Seiliez. That happened when he was a fledgling, now he was the Prince of Montana and breaking nearly every rule. Damien outlined the boundaries of Nevada in his head and was about to begin the call when Sandra interrupted with, "Why have we been standing here for twenty minutes straight?"
Damien, infuriated, turned towards her with a look of hatred. "Shut up!" he shouted at her with his fangs bared.
Sandra shrank back away from him in shock and Damien returned to what he had been doing. Once he had the boundaries firmly in place, Damien began the call to Seiliez, Prince Seiliez, I am Prince Damien. You have requested to see me and so have I come. I have need of your help to get my friend and I to your current location.
Damien quickly grabbed Sandra by the wrist and she immediately protested, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Damien had no time to answer as they were both suddenly transported to a remote plateau in the middle of the Nevada desert. There wasn't a building in sight; the only sign of life were a few sparse bushes and weeds because unlike Damien and many other vampires, Seiliez kept his lairs underground so humans couldn't accidentally stumble upon them; especially vampire hunters.
Damien threw Sandra away from him, quickly scanning the ground for signs of Seiliez coming up. Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched yelp come from behind him. He quickly spun around and saw Seiliez holding Sandra with her back to him and his hand over her mouth. "Let her go Seiliez," Damien said calmly and carefully.
Seiliez glared at Damien and yelled angrily, "You brought a fucking vampire killer to my lair, Damien, after illegally calling to me? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I will answer your questions when you let the girl go Seiliez. She is harmless; I saw to her weapons myself."
Seiliez glared at Damien and Sandra again, then let Sandra go. She backed away from him and quickly checked one of her guns, sure enough, it was out of ammo. Sandra gaped up at Damien, but before she could say anything, Seiliez hissed, "Do you care to explain yourself now, Fledgling?"
Damien inwardly seethed at the name Seiliez called him, but didn't let it show outwardly. Yes, but only out of the sight and sound of prying ears and eyes, he told Seiliez telepathically.
Seiliez nodded and clapped his hands twice. A fledgling vampire appeared and bowed to Seiliez. "Yes My Lord?" she inquired.
"Take this…human to somewhere…out of the way please."
"Yes Your Highness." She bowed again, took Sandra's hand, and led the vamp hunter through a hidden staircase that led underground.
Seiliez turned to Damien and said, "Follow me and hope that we don't have to go into the evening with this conversation."
Damien grimaced and followed Seiliez to a second set of hidden stairs behind a large grouping of cacti and desert bushes (an oasis in the desert). They walked down the staircase and to a relatively secret room of Seiliez's. they walked inside and Seiliez locked the door. "Now," he said, "explain yourself, and you'd better make it fast and make it good."
Chapter 9
Damien took a deep breath then began telling Seiliez his story. "The human girl, Sandra, is nothing you have to worry about, Seiliez. I--"
Seiliez cut Damien off angrily, "What do you mean I don't have anything to worry about? She's a fucking vampire hunter! First off, before I continue, it's 'sire' to you, and secondly, the other Princes have already questioned my judgment of embracing you and making you a Prince. Now they question it again. Do you realize that rumors of you DATING a human have gotten out? Can you even possibly fathom what this means, Damien? If this spreads into other countries, especially to our queen, you will not only be the laughing stock of vampires, but you will be killed. You--"
Damien smoothly cut off Seiliez's tirade with his calm explanation. "Relax Sire and rest easy. The rumors only say that Sandra are dating, but those who spread them don't know the truth." Seiliez looked confused.
After the vampire had led Sandra through twists of tunnels and stairways, they ended up in a room full of females--all of them vampires. Sandra grimaced and asked, "Where are Damien and Seiliez?"
The female vampire who had brought her here answered, "Don't worry about your boyfriend; Master Seiliez won't hurt him. If you're really desperate to see him, just follow this tunnel straight until it dead ends, then turn right and follow that tunnel for one hundred feet, the door you'll be looking for is on the right. You won't miss it."
"Thanks." Sandra began following the vampire's instructions, grumbling to herself about the boyfriend remark. After five minutes, she found the door and heard Seiliez yelling. She then heard Damien's sure voice take over and she put her ear to the door, listening carefully.
At Seiliez's confused look, Damien smiled. "The truth is, Sandra and I aren't really dating at all. I've just been pretending to like her to get her mind off killing me and the other vampires in Montana," he continued to explain.
Outside the door, Sandra let out a hushed gasp, then frowned. "Wait, why am I surprised?" she asked herself. "I knew he didn't love me; he's quite the pretender though."
Inside, Seiliez looked thoughtful and, thankfully, much calmer as well . "So then, Damien, there must be more to it than that." He stepped up behind Damien and whispered into his ear, "Surely my ever thoughtful and best fledgling has further plans for his captured vampire hunter and human."
Damien smiled slyly. "Yes my sire, I do have further plans for her."
Seiliez's eyes lit up. "And what might those plans be my love?"
"Well, first I planned on showing her everything about vampire life."
Seiliez inhaled with a sharp hiss of breath and his eyes narrowed to slits. "You know that is forbidden young one; the rest of your plan better be good. The sun will be up soon, don't make me destroy you.
Sandra was having trouble hearing Seiliez speak so she assumed that whenever the room seemed to go silent, Seiliez was speaking. She could hear Damien just fine and was angered by the things he was saying he wanted to do with her. Then, when Seiliez said he would possibly kill Damien, little butterflies of joy danced through her stomach and a wicked grin lit up her face.
Chills ran through Damien when Seiliez threatened to destroy him, but he ignored them because he noticed that throughout their conversation, the older vampire's eyes had kept darting to the door. Damien assumed that it was just paranoia. "Don't worry," he started, "the rest of my plan is good. I'm planning on turning Sandra into a vampire."
Sandra was floored. Her grin and butterflies disappeared and turned to sheer horror at the thought of becoming a blood-sucking monster. She couldn't believe that that had been Damien's plan the whole time.
Seiliez looked amusedly at Damien, anger gone. "Luckily for you, I like your plan," he said, moving away from Damien towards the door. "When exactly were you planning on embracing her; I suggest saying this loudly."
Damien looked at Seiliez curiously, but answered the question. "I don't know, after a week or so of showing her the ropes."
Seiliez looked even further amused (if possible), and his smile broadened. "Well, it's illegal for you to show her a vampire's life when she's a human, so I think--no wait, demand that you embrace her today and show her a vampire's life as a vampire; you'll be legal and it's easier to accept being a vampire's life when you are one."
"But I have no idea where she's at in your lair."
Seiliez's smile stretched further across his face, which was beginning to annoy Damien. "I'm so glad you mentioned that my little Damien," Seiliez said a little too cheerfully. "Why, as a matter of fact, I know exactly where she's at."
Damien gave a Seiliez a look that was a cross of annoyance and confusion and replied, "So…where is she?"
Seiliez was practically dancing for joy. "She's right outside the door listening to our conversation!" he said excitedly, throwing open the door to reveal a gaping, horrified Sandra.
Chapter 10
Damien looked just as shocked as Sandra. "How did you know she was there?"
Seiliez was still grinning from ear to ear. "Being an older vampire than you, I am able to sense the presence of other creatures within a specified radius that I don't wish to tell you, although you can do it too. She's been standing there for the majority of our conversation. Now, do us all a favor and embrace her now please."
Despite the fact that Seiliez told him to embrace Sandra lightheartedly, Damien knew that it was a direct order that he was going to follow. He was dying to taste Sandra's blood as it was anyway. Walking at supernatural speed, Damien seemed to appear in front of Sandra. As she got up to leave, her wits finally reappearing, Damien caught her by the waist and pulled her to him. He sank his fangs into her delicate neck at the jugular and began drinking her blood.
Sandra stiffened in alarm at first, but her body fell limp as the blood was drained away from it. Over Damien's shoulder, she could foggily see Seiliez smirking evilly. As he caught her eye, he said just as evilly, "Welcome to the life of a vampire wench." It was the last thing Sandra remembered before losing consciousness.
Damien had sucked Sandra down to the point of near death and now pulled away. He held her limp body in one arm, and put the wrist of his other arm to his mouth and slashed it open with a fang. He then held his bleeding wrist to Sandra's lips and whispered, "Drink my pet, my fledgling."
Subconsciously, Sandra felt herself seeking Damien's wrist. She put her mouth to his wrist and began drinking. Alarms went off in her mind, but were pushed aside with the desire…no, the need, to drink blood. She was overwhelmed by it.
As she felt herself coming back to life, Sandra had her source of blood taken away. She opened her eyes angrily and glared at Damien. He saw she was about to protest and stopped it by saying, "Now comes the hard and painful part."
Sandra gave him a confused look but had no time to say anything because a wave of pain rolled through her body, causing her to fall to the ground, writhing. Seiliez gave Damien a pitying look and said, "You know, you're far too easy on your fledglings."
Damien turned to look up at Seiliez and replied, "No, you just don't care enough Seiliez. It's hard being a fledgling; I've treated all of mine this way in the beginning and most of them have lived." He gestured in Sandra's direction. "She's killed off some of them as well, cutting down survival rates."
Seiliez made a face. "The only thing about your method is that there's a chance for them to grow dependent on you. We're naturally solitary creatures that generally learn on their own."
"Yes, but I've never had any dependent on me before."
"Watch this one be the first," Seiliez said with a devilish smile.
Damien frowned. "I hope not." He looked back at Sandra who was still writhing. He frowned again. "She might be the first to die on me through the change."
"Nah, it's just because she's determined not to become the very thing she hates and hunts."
Damien looked back at Sandra, concerned. "Come on Sandra, just let your humanity drop away; it's not so bad to be a vampire."
After about five minutes, Sandra finally stopped writhing and opened her eyes, sweating and breathing hard. "Good," said Seiliez. "You're awake. Normally now would begin your lessons as a vampire, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow. Now we have to get you and Damien to a room because the sun comes up in a half hour and you're extra sensitive to it as a fledgling."
Sandra didn't answer but glared at Seiliez so he picked her up and led her and Damien to an available room in his lair, deep enough underground to not need a coffin. Seiliez threw Sandra in it and Damien walked in with an exasperated sigh, shutting the door as he said goodnight to Seiliez. Seiliez smirked and walked off to his own rooms.
What Damien is referring to (I realize he's not actually speaking to Seiliez at this point, just go with it) is that he wants to taste Sandra's blood. He's been traveling with her for quite some time and hasn't tasted her blood yet and has been dying (haha, lame pun) to do so. It has nothing to do with the way her blood is at that moment. I felt that I should clarify that so no one gets confused.
Chapter 11
The next day (by now you should all know that I mean night), Seiliez came into Damien's room and slammed the door open. Damien shot up off the bed and almost attacked Seiliez until he realized who it was. "Damn it Seiliez, you get up too early. The sun's barely gone down."
Seiliez smirked. "This isn't that early, you're just lazy. Normally I wouldn't have woken you, but I think that it would be wise to get your pet started on hunting."
"She has a name." Seiliez gave him a blank, uncaring look and Damien sighed. "Do you think she'll be able to handle the sunlight this soon? It's not even all the way down yet."
"So you have said twice now. Yes, she'll be able to handle it; if she can't, destroy her."
Damien looked at Seiliez incredulously. "What?!"
"We don't need weak vampires living in our country. The vampire hunters are growing in number and rapidly exterminating our weaker members. The vampires in Europe are laughing at those of us here."
Damien turned back to Sandra and sighed. "You're right of course." Damien knew perfectly well that the European vampires looked disdainfully down on the American vampires because they were so easily killed and generally very weak. He shook Sandra gently and said, "Hey, Sandra, wake up."
Sandra moaned softly and opened her eyes. When she saw Damien looking at her, she glared at him and demanded, "What the hell do you want vampire?"
Before Damien could answer, Seiliez cut in saying, "For your information, you're one too wench. I highly recommend getting off your lazy butt so we can begin teaching you the basics of vampire hunting."
Sandra turned to Seiliez with a glare harder than the one she gave Damien, although it didn't seem to faze him. "Are vampires immune to human facial expressions?" she asked Seiliez sarcastically.
He raised an eyebrow. "No, quite the contrary really. I'm just used to dealing with impertinent, self-centered brats such as yourself. I am a vampire fifty years of age, your puny glares don't scare me." He grabbed he by the arm and began dragging her out of the room. "By the way, I wouldn't bother to struggle if I were you; if you choose to, I will bite you, drain you of most of your blood, then leave you to sit here for a few days with no food."
Sandra looked nervous and quit struggling. Damien chuckled as he followed the pair. "Don't mind him Sandra; his bark is worse than his bite. Just try not to piss him off anymore."
Seiliez stopped and turned to Damien. "You don't believe me do you Damien? I have done that to a fledgling before…in fact, I need to go get him to work on some training….Take her to the surface and I'll meet you there."
Damien nodded and took Sandra's hand, leading her out of Seiliez's lair. Sandra had calmed down some and now that Seiliez was out of hearing range, she asked, "Why does he switch moods like that? And why do I have to listen to him and you anyhow?"
"You're really lucky to be my fledgling and not his….Anyhow, please try not to piss him off. He's actually very easygoing when he's not mad. You have to listen to Seiliez because he's the Prince of Nevada and we are in his…territory, you could call it."
"So what exactly does that mean?"
"Didn't you ever learn about vampires as a vamp hunter?"
"Yes, but we didn't study their government because so little is known about it."
Damien looked thoughtful. "That's true. Well, now you shall have a first hand account of our government. I'll start with the United States of America. Here, each state has a Prince that rules all vampires in that state, be they other Princes or not. He or she closely monitors any vampires embraced and any vampires that enter their state."
"Wait, isn't prince a male's title? So, are female rulers princesses?"
Damien smiled amusedly. "No, but good question. I'm glad you're interested. Prince is just a title for the vampire ruling; sex means nothing. As Princes, we also keep in touch with one another and with the vampires in other countries."
Despite what she kept telling herself, Sandra was very interested in the vampires' government. "So, your government is similar to the one the humans have created here? A governor to each state and an overall president?"
Damien looked thoughtful again. "Well…in a sense they're similar, but with the American vampires, there is no overall…king, you could say. We have only the Princes to each state. Each state is ruled as a monarchy, as well as all of the other countries. We're also very careful to make sure that our government, fellow vampires, and ourselves blend seamlessly into human society. It is very hard to tell the difference unless you are a vampire."
Sandra nodded her head and looked thoughtful for the first time in her life! Haha, ah-hem…hehe…excuse me….. Seiliez and a very handsome male fledgling came out of the lair. The young male didn't look much older than Sandra herself; he had misty blue eyes, long brown hair, and he looked a little ticked off at having to come on this training trip. As Sandra was looking at him, Seiliez smirked and said, "This is Victor. He was embraced about a week ago and has a personality similar to yours. You two should get along well."
Victor turned to Sandra and looked her up and down. He then snorted and turned back to Seiliez. "Let's go old man," he said disdainfully.
Seiliez calmly turned to Victor and slapped him. He then grabbed Victor by the ear and began dragging him off into the forest with Victor protesting behind him. "Follow me," Seiliez called back to Damien and Sandra.
They listened and followed the two inside the forest. Sandra crossed her arms and asked, "Does he always treat his fledglings like that?"
"No, not always," Damien said slowly. He didn't say anything for a minute, then he distractedly said, "Just be happy you're not his fledgling."
Chapter 12
Their hunting lesson was semi-successful. In the beginning, Sandra refused to kill a human and just for the heck of it, Victor began doing the same. This only made Seiliez angry, and it took Damien everything he had to keep the enraged vampire from attacking the two fledglings. When Seiliez finally calmed down, he explained to them that, as a rule, vampires only kill thugs, vagabonds, evil-doers, and etc.; not innocent humans. Sandra attempted to complain again until Damien put a human to her face and the overwhelming desire and hunger for blood took over and she bit into the human's neck. "Make sure you stop drinking when the heart stops beating," Damien warned gently.
Sandra obeyed and once she pulled her fangs out of its (the human's) neck, she seemed to realize what she had done. She revoltingly threw the body away from her. Shock set in even further and she began convulsing where she stood. She then fell to the ground in the fetal position, whimpering.
Damien looked worried, but Seiliez and Victor stared at Sandra in disdain. Seiliez then snorted and said to Sandra, "I've found one major difference between you and Victor now: Victor at least likes being a vampire. You could at least show your sire some gratitude."
Sandra came out of her stupor enough to glare at Seiliez and spit out, "Gratitude?! Gratitude for what? I fucking hate vampires and was perfectly happy with my life as a vampire hunter, and then Damien showed up and ruined everything."
"Actually, I avoid all vampire hunters, you came looking for me--"
Seiliez turned to Damien with a look of death painted on his face, stopping Damien short in mid-sentence and (unusually) causing him to turn away. Victor looked at Sandra with sheer disgust and spat, "You're pitiful. I've never once heard of a vamp hunter that killed anything more important than the most basic fledgling. You're lucky to be a vampire; vampire sires teach their fledglings way more than any human teaches their offspring."
Seiliez was shocked by Victor's speech, but, unfortunately for Damien, it wasn't enough to quell his anger. "Damien," he said coolly despite the death mask, "you have broken one of the most important vampire rules: You never embrace a human against their will unless it's absolutely necessary!"
Sandra was staring awestruck at all three male vampires. When she looked at Damien, she saw his face twisted up into a cross between frustration and disappointment. It didn't last long though, and Damien turned to Seiliez with his usual calm and cool. "No," he retaliated. "I did not choose to embrace her against her will. You forced me to yesterday!"
Seiliez looked dumbstruck and Sandra chuckled. "What're you babbling about Damien?" Seiliez asked him.
For only the second time since she had met him, Damien actually looked angry; but this time at Seiliez. "Don't even try to play the martyr Seiliez. You know perfectly well that by law and courtesy I am required to obey you. Now, while we're on that train of thought…." Damien began jabbing a forefinger at Seiliez. "It was YOU who summoned me to Nevada; it was YOU who wouldn't let me carry out my original plan, and let's not forget, it was YOU who made me embrace Sandra!"
Seiliez looked stunned. "I had no idea that she wasn't willing!"
Damien was now baring his fangs. "Yes you did! You knew perfectly well, but chose to ignore it. It's almost as if you did it to exact a revenge of some sort."
"Well, what were you planning then?"
"I told you yesterday! I wanted to spend at least a week with her, before embracing her, and showing her vampire life, then embracing her."
Seiliez looked thoughtful. "Oh yes, I remember that now." Damien rolled his eyes. "I told you to embrace her then because she was right outside the door and what you wanted to do was illegal. You had broken enough laws that day as it was."
Sandra grew tired of their argument and looked up at Victor, but he was as enthralled in the older vampires' argument as she wasn't. She then sighed and rechecked her weapons cache. In one of the back pouches on her belt, Sandra felt a lump. Smiling, she pulled out a huge, ten-foot long, heavy-duty chain. Her happiness was cut slightly short by the sudden irritation of her skin. She looked to the east and noticed that the sun was beginning to rise; her eyes widened and she quickly jumped to her feet, unraveled the chain, and quickly pinned Seiliez and Damien to the nearest tree. Victor looked surprised, and Sandra could tell that he was feeling the effects of the sun just as she was. She quickly got the two vampires chained to the tree, much to their very great surprise, and then began burying herself in the ground just as she had seen Damien do.
Once over their shock, Damien burst into great peals of laughter and Seiliez looked furious. "You son of a bitch!" he screamed at the disappearing Sandra. "Victor, quit standing there like a fucking moron and fucking unchain us!"
Victor was brought out of his stupor by Seiliez's tirade, and he quickly attempted to try and free the two Princes.