The Hearts Song
Chapter One
Til death do us part, what a strange phrase that is. Created by mortals to try and explain their cosmic joke of an existence. To try and make sense of a few decades of life and then an endless nothingness. To death do you part means something completely different to our kind. We are the immortal, the endless, the never dying, the vampire. Cursed to walk these realms until the stars burn out and the world fails to ruin and decay. As it once was, will it be again, a world torn apart by flame. For our kind death would be a blessed relief from the tireless existence of being 'wife' to the ever living. Imagine waking up staring at the same face not for decades, but for centuries or more? It's enough to drive any girl crazy knowing there's nothing else but a world of you before my eyes. Mortals they fight and slam out the house for a few hours until they calm down, that is just how it is. Their pitiful lives are so short that to waste any more time then that would be pointless. For us we could pass an ice age in that chill of silence before the raging fire inside stills enough to face one another again. Before we decide to seek the other out again for a little solace in each others arms once again. For me, it's been a thousand years or more since I saw my husband and I am only just starting to miss his scent, those warm strong arms around my waist. The need burning inside me for mate's blood, to feel him deep inside of me again. I stir from my crypt knowing that it is time for me to be with child once again, and that only my mate is good enough for the task. So I pack my bags, and prepare for the long journey that will find us reunited once again. I whisper to the chill night air 'I am coming' and I feel the acceptance at the other end a whispered 'I am waiting' returned. And with that I leave.
The journey was long and exhausting, it has been long since I last fed well or cared about my own existence. I no longer find it necessary to shackle myself to the modern age, dress for high society and look the part of a courtier. That would have to change when I reached the new lands. I would need to blend in somewhat at least enough to not make my presence known to those who always hunt our kind. Even vampires can fall into times of black depression and loneliness just as easily as the mortal scum we feed upon. I myself had been there for a few hundred years now, not quite knowing what I needed or wanted to make this endless night more bearable. I couldn't even remember the last time I had fed beyond the barest of drops, just enough to keep my heart beating in this desolate shell. No energy nor blood has passed my lips in over a moon cycle no wonder I feel so tired now, so pitifully weak. I would have to stir from my cabin soon enough and take myself a feast before throwing the corpse over board to hide what had acured. Thankfully this was a cruise liner of pleasure nothing else, so the odd drunken fool falling over board would not be overly looked upon. Still at each place of port I would have to disembark and find fresher less easily discovered prey if I was to be fit to court my lover once more.
I would also have to find myself some clothing befitting a creature of my wealth and power before I found him again. What was the point of an endless life if you could not use it to your advantage and become one of the richest people in the lands? I had been a countess once, a duchess, even a princess and always a person of well being and good standing in the community. It was how I protected my secrets so perfectly, a new persona would have to be created of course and I had purchased property in advance of my departure in readiness. For some time now I had know I needed to be back with him even though I was still a little unclear as to why. The call he passed across the four winds was so strong, a deep lust filled thrall that I couldn't, no I didn't want to ignore. He needed me just as deeply as I needed him therefore how could I deny the request? I might be angry, but I am not unkind. I loved him once before his indiscressions and more then likely I would love him again in time. Depending whether or not he could control his urges and keep what should be in his trousers remaining there without his head being turned by the first pretty sight in front of him at the Ale house. Man or woman, he saw no difference between them, lovers were lovers in his eyes. I had to admit more often then not he had brought home a 'toy' that we could share and enjoy together. It was when I found him in bed with the same person regularly I had walked away. We had had a deal, we could sleep with whomever we wanted to when we were separated, but you didn't go back for more then a second advance and you never ever fell in love. That pretty blonde thing had changed all that, he couldn't leave that young boy alone. He was a moth to a flame, always drawn back into its disgusting arms.
I had wanted to destroy the beast like the cattle it was inside, nothing but a filthy blood bag whore like the rest of humanity. Then I saw the look in my lover's eyes and knew that if I did it would break him and I would lose the only thing that had ever mattered to me. Tears had coloured my palest of skin as I had walked away that evening with nothing but the fabrics covering me. I had fled to my winter palace and buried myself deep in the earth to try and escape my pain. My loathing for his very being and my own that he had been able to fall in love so deeply with another man. Did I mean so very little to him now? Was our relationship over forevermore? In some ways did I really care if it was? For if he could fall in love again so very easily, then did he ever truly love me at all? Had he just been making do with the first pretty maiden that had passed his way? Had he truly meant to turn me or was it all just some sick twisted game? We hadn't spoken since the moment I had walked out that door, so I had no way of knowing either way.
It wasn't that he hadn't tried to get in touch with me, he had even turned up at my door a few times to be met with a woman scorned and a reign of fiery brimstone for his troubles. I had impaled him, captured, tortured, tormented, damn near killed and then thrown him out to the wolves in the forest to be eaten alive and never once allowed him to utter a single syllable in defense of his acts. Even then, he had crawled back again to try and explain himself and still I would not grant him an audience. Hearts didn't work that way, I was far too deep in my own grief to share a single drop of compassion for how he was feeling at this juncture. I wanted, truly wanted to kill him in a way that he could never return from. And yet still I toiled onwards towards him, feeling his desire clawing away at my insides desperate for the cool touch of my skin. The release from the pain and torment of his life that only my presence could bring.
That was the problem with eternal bounded marriage, we were linked in every way. One person's pain was felt by both, one person suffering the burden of both to bear and those times where we were parted excruciatingly tormenting. The stretched bounds would sicken, weaken us both until we eventually both died unless we regained harmony in our souls. I laughed bitterly at the thought of the word soul, it hardly seemed like our kind could lay claim to such a thing anymore. We raped the blood of the innocent to feed our constant thirst, this doesn't sound like an act that a 'souled' being could produce. I did try to feed off the fallen, the murders and scum of the earth, but sometimes it was not so simple to find the correct form of prey and sometimes there wasn't the time to hunt out that kind either. Not in a world where peasants were always looking for an excuse to come running with their pitchforks and torches after us.
But I lose my place in this story and go out of sequence already, where was I? Oh yes the eternal bounds, when one of our kind weds they do it with a magic ceremony that ties us together throughout the ages. If one of us was to die, then more often then not the other follows suit. Being parted even for a short time is straining, exhausting. A vampire mated in such a way could easily die of a broken heart if not allowed to be with its mate. I knew every time I turned away my beloved I risked signing both our death warrants, but after the betrayal I could hardly bring myself to care about that matter. I could feel him pining away for the want of me, my own heart blacken with the sorrow as well. This would be a painful meeting on both sides, it was hard to call how it would play out as well. Could we correct the sins of his youth? Or would we just kill each other in the trying?
Of course there was always a get out clause as in all good contracts, I could divorce him, or he me. That would end this relationship in a single sentence, neither of us could bring ourselves to utter the words however. Knowing that there really was no going back from that once the words were spoken they could not be undone easily. Trials and suffering would ensue if you ever wanted to regain the status you once gave so freely. Then again, to get out of this hole we were in it could hardly be any easier. I honestly did not know what to do once I got to port, what to say to make the distance up. I know inside he was exactly the same I could feel his nervousness, the naked fear surfacing at the thought of us being in the same country again. Topped with a health dose of please gods let this work out I can't lose her.
That part at least made me smile, telling me honestly from his subcontousness that there was still love in those dried up old bones for me. That warmed my cold heart a little, enough that I rose from my coffin and prowled the decks for a snack. I found myself a shipman that was drunk at his post, passed out. That would do nicely, sneaking up behind him I grabbed his throat and punctured the flesh without a second thought. I sighed in relief as the warm blood foamed into my mouth, I'd never tasted anything as divine. I was so hungry, I hadn't realized quite how starving I was until I took that first sip. Before I knew it the heart was stilling and I was forced to slow my feeding and throw the body overboard. I watched it fade into the distance as the ship plowed on towards the new dawn and the new lands.
Tomorrow we would make our first port on this long journey and I would be able to supply myself correctly with those things I required so urgently. Then I would be able to somewhat show myself on the decks so the passengers didn't get any strange vibes from my presence. Five more ports and I would be with him again. In some ways it couldn't come soon enough, in others I wished that it would never come to pass. Sighing I took myself back to my chambers to feed off the largest meal I had taken in too long. To leave the concerns of the future to the hands of the fates just a little while longer.