Ulrich might have wanted our help, but he wasn't stupid, far from it. He knew that Lazlo was likely to be in northern Spain somewhere, on the same trail we were, so he wasn't going to send us alone. Not by a long way!
We travelled in a fleet of vehicles, big vehicles, converted for transporting vampires. The largest two were completely blacked out and contained racks for the numerous travelling pods. Bill, Ulrich and, I don't now how many vampire security guards travelled in these. The third vehicle was more like a mobile home with comfortable bunks for the human security guards, and me!
The humans and the vampires drove in shifts so that we didn't stop for more than a few minutes until we reached our destination high up in the Pyrenees. I have to admit that I slept most of the way, partly because I was more tired that I had thought, but mostly because I didn't know when I'd have the chance again.
Towards the end of the journey I was riding in the cab of the lead vehicle with Harry, one of the human security staff. We were chatting idly and I asked him what he thought of working with vampires.
"It's okay" he shrugged. "It can be dangerous, there are some nutters out there you know!" he turned to look at me, "well, I guess you know that right? But it pays well. I've travelled all over Europe with members of The Authority, I've a wife and two children back home in England, hopefully before too long I'll have earned enough to pay off the mortgage so I can go back and settle down."
"But what do you think of them?" I asked curiously. "Do you like them?"
"I don't think about them." he said "It's just a job to me. Some of them are pretty creepy but Ulrich's okay. He seems to be a reasonable guy."
"Were you part of the security for Lazlo?" I asked.
"Oh yeah!" he said "Now there was one seriously creepy vamp!" He grinned at me "Fortunately I wasn't there when he did a runner though! I hear Ulrich was mad as hell!"
I could certainly agree with him there. Somehow the idea of having Ulrich mad at me didn't seem very funny at all.
Eventually we pulled up in the car park of a viewing area in the mountains. Harry had timed it just right, it was almost dusk and as we pulled up the rear doors of the other two vehicles opened and two vampires jumped out and set off immediately to check out the area. I climbed down from the cab and stretched, walking around to the side doors just in time to see Bill and Ulrich jump down from the second vehicle. Bill came over to me a gave me a hug.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." I answered with a smile eyeing him with interest. He was wearing jeans, with the same tough motorcycle boots, a faded Rolling Stones T shirt and what looked like an ex-British Army greatcoat in a dark heavy material that fell to his calves. He smiled down at me, his blue eyes warm and comforting and put an arm around my shoulders.
He turned to Ulrich and said "So where do we go from here?"
Ulrich gestured to the lead vehicle and said "Let's take a look at the map shall we?"
We climbed in through the side door and Bill and I slipped around to the far side of the little table and sat down. Ulrich joined us at the table together with Harry, who was in charge of the human contingent and Vincent who was Ulrich's head of vampire security. Ulrich brought out a map and spread it on the table.
"Now here," he pointed to a spot on the coast "is San Sebastian. We have drawn a semicircle with a 20 mile radius north through the mountains" he explained, tracing a line on the map. "As you can see there are two large towns within this area and half a dozen small villages. There is really no way to know the size of any of these places in the 16th Century so we'll need to check them all. The simplest way to go about this is to check out all the churches in the area. The problem is, we don't really know what we're looking for. The manuscript suggests that Azaria's casket was returned to Spain and hidden in the church in Brother Diego's village, but as to where that was...it's anyone's guess. As to where exactly it's hidden?" he grunted with annoyance. "All we have is Bill's idea that Brother Enrique may have copied the vault from the Inca Temple, and even if we find it, we don't know how to open the vault!"
We all sat around the table and looked at Ulrich with identical expressions of frustration.
He laughed "I'm not being much help here am I?" he said.
Bill looked up from the map. "I would suggest that we try the smaller villages first" he said. "Firstly, because they may be more likely to contain an abandoned church and secondly, because if we try and get into churches in larger towns mob-handed we'll cause a panic."
"Also it's more likely that something hidden in a larger town might have been found by now, during renovation work or something like that?" I said tentatively.
"Good points!" said Ulrich. "Right, Vince you're with me..." He rapidly split us into three mixed groups and gave us two villages each to check. Bill and I had two guards, one human and one vampire.
"Each group will take one of the vehicles and return here, if you find nothing. If you find anything" he turned to the third group, composed of just the security guys, "anything you even think may be significant, call me. I won't be angry if it turns out to be nothing, but we must not miss anything, okay? And be careful. We know Lazlo's looking for the same things!"
Ten minutes or so later we arrived outside the first village.
"We should park here and walk in," said Bill. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves."
We walked quietly around the edge of the little village, past neat houses with their blinds drawn and their shutters closed, heading for the spire of the church. The two security guards stationed themselves outside while Bill and I went in. As I was walking down the centre aisle I turned to Bill and asked "How come you don't need an invitation?"
"That only applies to a home" he said. "This is a public building, there is no "threshold" to cross, at least not in the magical sense."
"But it's a church, doesn't that make a difference?" I asked.
He smiled at me "You think we shouldn't be able to enter churches? That's what the Fellowship of the Sun would like to think! Whatever we are Alex, however we differ from the humans we once were, it has nothing to do with religion. Azaria is not possessed of an evil spirit, no matter what Brother Diego thought." He stopped and looked down at me. "I was a good Christian, I studied my Bible, took my family to church every Sunday and yet it availed me nothing. All my prayers were not enough to stop Lorena. And believe me...I prayed!" He stood in the aisle of the little church for a moment with that faraway look on his face. Then he appeared to shake himself and said. "Well, this isn't helping is it?"
We spent about half an hour prowling around the building, examining the floor, the walls, the stained glass in the windows, but we found nothing significant.
"We don't even know what it is we're looking for!" growled Bill in frustration as we headed back outside. The guards turned to him as we stepped out. "Nothing" he snapped. The guard pulled a short wave radio from his belt and I heard him reporting in to Ulrich as we walked back to the van and set off for the next village.
This one was even smaller than the first. Bill and I walked into the tiny church and looked around. I could see nothing to distinguish it from any other village church.
"Okay" said Bill, "what now?"
"Well, let's just take a look around shall we?" I said. We split up and wandered around again examining the walls and the pillars. The floor was made of great stone flags with the occasional name carved in them, presumably the names of those buried in the vaults beneath. Judging by the dates no one had been buried here since the sixteenth century. I wandered down the left hand aisle reading the names. I noticed that as I came closer to the altar, the dates got older and the carving more blurred. Suddenly I stopped.
"Bill…Bill, come here!" He was at my side in an instant. I pointed down to the floor at my feet.
Diego Alfonso Rodrigues
Requiescat in Pace
1576
"This is the place, it must be" whispered Bill, he knelt down and gently brushed the dust from the carving with his fingers.
"Wait a moment!" I said "what's that?" Bill's fingers had brushed over a faint cross shape carved into the stone.
"It's just a cross isn't it?" he asked looking up at me.
"No, look" I crouched down beside him and began to blow the dust from the carving. "It's a basic cross shape, yes but it's in three levels, a three stepped cross. I've read about this, it's called a Chakana, it's a Incan symbol." I looked at Bill squatting on the stone flags, his long coat making a pool of darkness on the floor. "What's a pagan symbol doing in a church? It must mean something."
Bill brushed the dust from the strange cross and examined it closely. "I've seen this before" he said, surprised.
"Me too, I've seen it in books."
"No! Just now, here!" He stood up and looked around. "Over here" he said and headed towards a shallow alcove to the left side of the altar. "Look, the way the light shines in here hides it but you can just make it out, see." He ran his fingers over a faint carving in the wall and sure enough, it was the Chakana. Bill reached into his pocket and pulled out a small torch. By shining it at the right angle, the opposite angle from the direction that the sunlight would appear, the cross sprang into view more clearly and something else underneath it.
As I stared at the second carving, a shiver ran down my spine. "This is it Bill, it must be!" The carving was a stylized sun. A circle with half a dozen lines running out from it. "Protected by the sign – by that which would destroy her" I whispered. "What would destroy a vampire, Bill? How about the sun?"
This carving appeared to be deeper than the first and, brushing away the dust, the line defining the central circle went deeper than we could see. Bill put his hand on the circle and pushed, gently at first and then more firmly until there was a sudden crack and the circle of stone slid back into the wall with a grinding noise and a puff of dust. Bill snatched his hand back hurriedly and we stood and stared at each other for a moment. Then we stepped out into the aisle and looked around expectantly. "There!" I said pointing behind the altar to where one of the great stone slabs of the floor had sunk down revealing a flight of steps. "It must go down to a hidden part of the vault."
Bill walked over and peered cautiously down the steps. "After you Indiana!" I said with a grin.
Bill frowned at me for a moment. "Perhaps you should stay here, in case something happens down there." he said.
"What if something happens up here?" I asked. "Oh no, I'm sticking with you!"
Bill paused for a moment and then handed me the torch, evidently realising that there was no way I was letting him go down into the vault without me. Together we carefully moved down the steps into the vault.
Although I have had quite a bit of experience with vampires by now I've never had any wish to become one. But I have to admit that there have been a few times when I wished I had some of Bill's attributes, and now was one of those times. He strolled into the crypt as if it was broad daylight whereas I, even with the torch, could hardly see a damn thing! I stood at the bottom of the steps waiting for my eyes to adjust to the faint light coming down from the church above. As I peered into the darkness I could just make out a stone platform in the centre, with something on top of it. Something that Bill was carefully staying away from.
I walked forward with the torch and saw it. Just as Brother Diego had described. A wooden casket covered with engraved silver plate. Bill was prowling warily around it, not getting too close, but I walked up and examined it carefully. In the light of my torch the silver flashed and gleamed, the engraved symbols breaking up the light. I caught sight of something by my foot and bent down to examine it. A piece of the silver plate had broken off, perhaps when the casket was placed here by the three monks. Examining it in the light of the torch I saw that it was engraved with the three stepped cross, the Chakana.
As I knelt in the darkness beside the casket I felt a shift in the heavy air of the crypt and looked up to see Bill fly through the air and hit hard against the rear wall. He landed like a cat, crouched with his hands on the floor, the long greatcoat pooled around him and let out a coughing snarl which could never have come from anything human. Before I could even look round, something had grasped me around the neck and hauled me upright. I heard a hiss right by my ear and Bill froze.
"Now then, it appears that you two have done the job for me" Lazlo's voice breathed into my ear. "Don't even think of moving William..." he called into the darkness. "I think you know what the results would be for your little pet here!"
Lazlo moved out into the dim light that was coming down the steps from the church above.
"Oh, and don't expect your guard to come and help you either. I knew you were a fool William, but even I didn't think you were such a fool as to rely on a human to protect you." I held as still as I could, trying not to show by my reaction that he was mistaken. There was another guard, a vampire. And Lazlo didn't know about him. And he was the one with the radio.
Lazlo thrust his hand into my hair and jerked my head back. Keeping his eyes on Bill he bit me, savagely. I gritted my teeth against the sudden shocking pain. But if the pain of Lazlo's bite was bad, the pain in Bill's eyes as he watched helplessly was worse. Just then I heard a voice call down the steps.
"Lazlo!"
It was Ulrich's voice. I had never before been so pleased that vampires were so fast!
"We know you're down there Lazlo!" called Ulrich.
Lazlo pulled his fangs from my throat, tearing the flesh carelessly. "You don't know that I have Alexandra though!" he replied with a laugh.
He held me tightly by the arm his fangs inches from the ragged wound in my throat and dragged me up the steps and into the church. Bill followed cautiously a few paces behind him, a low rumbling growl coming from him as he crept up the steps watching warily for any opportunity to act.
"Stand back" he called as we emerged from the crypt. "If one of you so much as moves I'll kill her!"
He pulled me up beside him and I saw six vampires, all dressed in the dark combat clothing of The Authority standing in the aisles of the little church. Ulrich was standing by the church door watching us.
Lazlo turned, his eyes on Bill as he came slowly up out of the crypt. He was moving at a relaxed pace but I could see the tension in every muscle in his body and his ice cold eyes never left Lazlo's for a moment. Lazlo sniffed at me and sighed, licking my blood from his long fangs and I knew that, if he got me outside the church, I was done for.
"Right" he said. "This is what's going to happen. You will all stay here. Alexandra and I will leave. If I see anyone leave the church to follow us she dies, understand? She's coming with me!"
"Like hell I am!" I said and slapped my hand up into his face. The hand which he didn't have pinned down, the hand which was still holding the piece of silver plate which had fallen from Azaria's casket.
He gave a shriek as the silver burned into his skin and released me. Bill was on him in a fraction of a second, driving him to the stone floor and, I saw with horror, holding the silver plate to his face. But before I could do anything the six vampires had dragged Bill off Lazlo and flung a net over him. It didn't appear to burn him but there must have been silver in it somewhere as he was struggling weakly and unable to rise.
"Are you alright? Let me see your hand" I said anxiously. Bill's beautiful blue eyes, now glowing again with their usual warmth, lifted to mine from where he crouched on the floor and he held out his hand. The three stepped Inca Chakana was burned into the palm, the skin blackened and smoking.
"Oh my God, Bill!" I fell to my knees in front of him. "What did you think you were doing?" I scolded him, shocked at his injury and the pain still showing in his eyes. "He was down already!"
"I had to be sure he didn't get up again!" said Bill softly. He put his good arm around me and gave me a hug. "Okay, I admit I didn't really think about it." Before I could stop him he had bitten his tongue with one fang and began to lick at the wound on my throat, healing it with his blood.
I looked at his hand again and saw that his flesh was also already starting to heal, he flexed his fingers experimentally and winced with the pain.
"Do you want my blood?" I asked quietly.
He smiled at me. "Later" he said, I'll be fine for the moment. He stood up, still with his arm around me, lifting me with him and holding me tight, unwilling to release me while Lazlo was still around.
Two of the vampires picked up the net containing the struggling Lazlo and carried it out of the church. I heard a faint thump as they tossed him into the back of one of the vans we had brought, the biggest. They returned with something like a large stretcher on two poles which they carefully placed under the casket and then placed a large tarpaulin over the top, covering the silver.
Bill and I stood silently in the nave of the old abandoned church and watched the six vampires, carefully carry the covered casket up from the vault and load it into the back of the huge vehicle.
"What will happen to her?" I asked Ulrich.
"We'll take the casket back to base at Sorrento and open it...carefully!" he said with a smile. "We have our own medical facility with staff who will be in a position to help her, hopefully. To be honest we don't really know what will happen when we open the casket, what condition she will be in. We can only wait and see."
By the time we got back to Sorrento the next evening I had just about recovered from the shock and Lazlo's vicious bite. Bill went with Ulrich and the others to take the casket to the medical facility and I headed back to our rooms. I had a quick shower and changed and was just calling room service for a coffee when Bill walked in.
"What's happened?" I asked.
"Nothing yet" he said. "Ulrich wants to wait until all the medical staff are prepared before they open the casket" he paused for a moment. "He wants us to be there."
"What, me as well?" I asked. "Why?"
"Because he thinks that, after all the effort you have put in to find her, you deserve to see what we have found" said Bill simply. "You don't have to do this. It might be...unpleasant" he said.
"Will you be there?" I asked.
"Yes, I think I need to see this." Bill's face was drawn with pain and I knew he was afraid that our efforts would have come too late for Azaria.
"Then I'll come with you" I said.
He looked up and gave me a faint echo of a smile. "Thank you."
So it was that, two hours later, we stood beside Ulrich in a small room, our backs to the wall while several technicians hovered around the casket. I noticed that most of the technicians were not vampires, although one was. I wasn't sure whether the rest were human though and I certainly wasn't going to ask!
There were several of the vampire security guards in the room as well, two of which, I noticed, were keeping between us and the casket. It appeared that no-one really had any idea what would happen when they opened it. When everything appeared to be ready Ulrich gave a little nod and two of the guards, wearing thick leather gloves, carefully lifted the lid of the casket and set it against the far wall.
There was a hushed pause and then everyone leaned forward to look inside.
Again, it was just as Brother Diego had described. The emaciated body of a young girl lay in the coffin, the ragged remains of a tunic falling around her and a gold circlet in her long black hair. One of the technicians leaned over the casket and examined the body closely.
Hmmm...the flesh is very dry, can't see anywhere to get a line in a vein" he reached into the casket and moved the right arm, examining the inside of the forearm. Suddenly the withered fingers moved and in a second the technician's wrist was held firmly in Azaria's hand. A soft moan came from her dry lips as she tried to rise.
For a moment nobody moved and then suddenly there was chaos in the little room. The two security guards moved to the casket and reached in, one at either end. One held her by the shoulders and the other by the ankles as another technician struggled to insert a needle into her forearm. After two attempts, each of which made me wince, he managed it and hooked up a plastic bag of donor blood. I watched in amazement as the blood was sucked out of the bag in a few moments. The technician hooked up another and shouted for more.
"It's working," breathed Ulrich. "She's taking the blood, that means she'll revive. We must just wait to see what damage may have been done psychologically.
Over the next few weeks Azaria made a remarkable recovery. Bill and I stayed at The Authority's headquarters at Ulrich's invitation and, rather to my surprise, we were both treated with considerable respect by everyone there. We visited Azaria on two occasions before she actually revived fully, the first time she looked incredibly thin, but so much better than she had looked in the casket. On the second occasion I was amazed at the change in her, she looked normal, as if she was just sleeping. The nurses had removed the remains of the tunic and the band of gold, dressed her in a cotton gown and brushed out her long black hair.
Then, two days later, Bill and I were sitting quietly talking beside her bed, when she opened her eyes and looked up at us. For a moment I could see panic in her eyes and I smiled down at her and took her hand gently. "It's okay," I said "you're safe now." I knew she couldn't understand me but the tone of my voice appeared to soothe her and Bill pressed the alarm button for the doctors. In a few moments we were hurried out of the room as what seemed like the entire medical staff tried to get in at once!
Ulrich had gone to the trouble of finding a woman from Peru who spoke Quechua, which is the closest dialect to the language spoken by the Incas and Azaria, who appeared to have a gift for languages, picked up Spanish from her in a matter of days. Within a week she was speaking English better than some people I knew in England!
Bill and I visited her often in her rooms as she tired easily. The doctors said that it would be several months before she was fully recovered.
Miraculously she did not seem to have been permanently affected by her long confinement. Ulrich's doctors spent days excitedly discussing this new evidence of the resilience of the vampire's body, but we were just relieved for her. I asked her once if she remembered anything from her long sleep.
"I remember the beginning" she said quietly. "I remember the struggle as I fought the priests, but I was weakened by the silver and unable to resist them. When they put me in the coffin I thought that I was being punished for something, that soon, they would let me out, but they didn't." I reached over and took her hand. "The hunger" she whispered "I can remember the hunger, the long agony of starvation. But gradually it faded and I slept. I think I was aware of time passing in some way, but I was too weak to do anything, even to care what was happening to me."
She looked up at me, "Someone came, a long time ago. He opened the casket, but then it closed again to darkness. He didn't help me...why didn't he help me?"
I looked over at Bill and saw a tiny red tear run down his pale face. "He didn't understand" he said "he was afraid."
Bill reached over and stroked his finger gently across her cheek. "His name was Brother Diego Rodrigues and he was a monk from the Abbey of San Sebastian. He did help you in the end. He wrote the story down and that was what enabled us to find you, from the clues he left in the manuscript.
"You found me, so Ulrich says?" she smiled up at us.
"Yes, we did" smiled Bill, "but you need to rest now." We got up and Bill kissed her gently on the cheek before we left.
Alex and I were relaxing in our rooms when there was a knock and Vincent, Ulrich's head of security put his head around the door.
"Bill, Ulrich would like a word with you in his office" he said.
I got up and turned to Alex "Were you going to see Azaria?" I asked.
"Yes" she said, looking up from her book. "I'll be going in a minute, just as soon as I finish this chapter."
"I'll see you later then" I said giving her a kiss on the cheek as I left.
Vincent escorted me to Ulrich's office and waited outside.
"You wanted to see me?" I said, closing the door.
Ulrich was sitting at his desk looking thoughtful and he turned to me as I came in and sat down. "Good evening Bill" he said "I understand that you've been seeing quite a lot of Azaria?"
"Well, yes" I said, surprised "is that a problem?"
"No, no, not at all, quite the opposite in fact, she seems to enjoy your visits." He paused and thought for a moment as if unsure quite how to word his next question. "What do you think of her?" he asked carefully.
I sat back in the chair and thought for a moment. "Well, she's made remarkable progress, she seems to have recovered almost completely. She is a charming young girl, when I think of what she has suffered..." my voice tailed off as I felt a lump in my throat.
Ulrich smiled. "You like her?"
"Yes, I like her very much." I answered, wondering where this was going.
Ulrich stood up and began to pace up and down the office, something I had noticed him do when he was a little stressed. "According to the records of The Authority you have never been a Maker." he said suddenly.
"No." I said shortly "I have not."
"Why is that?" he asked.
For just a moment I thought about walking out of the office, my feelings on this subject were no business of his, but then I thought better of it.
I sighed and said "because I could not bear to inflict on another the suffering I felt when I was turned." I watched him, waiting for some sarcastic remark, but he merely nodded and said "I understood that you and your Maker had a...difficult relationship. So it's the actual process that you couldn't cope with, not the responsibility?"
"Well, I suppose so, yes." I said, puzzled. "Why do you want to know this?"
Ulrich turned back to me and stood watching me carefully. "You will appreciate" he said "that Azaria, although she is technically, very old, in fact was only 18 years old when she was turned and has very little experience of the world. She certainly is not equipped to survive in the modern world on her own."
He began to pace again. "We appear to have two choices in how to deal with this. Either we keep her with us here, or we find someone who can care for her, teach her how to live as a vampire in this new world."
He turned back to me "I can't think of anyone better able to do this than you Bill."
"What!" I sat up, shocked beyond belief. "You want me to act as her Maker?"
"Well, we're certainly not planning to give her back to Lazlo!" He laughed "Why not? You are Charles's most popular sheriff, you run your area well and are well liked and respected, you're even a bit of a media personality, and most important of all Azaria likes you, trusts you, and has asked for you."
"She asked for me?"
"You and Alex rescued her from six hundred years of torment Bill, why would she not like you? She adores you...Alex too. She is well aware of what Lazlo did to her, his terrible betrayal still hurts her badly. You also had a bad relationship with your maker, you have a lot in common. You can teach her to be a good vampire and Alex can teach her to be a modern woman. It's ideal as far as I can see!"
I must admit that the more I thought about it the more I realised that he was right. After all, this was what I had wanted wasn't it? To help her. But what would Alex think?
I looked up at Ulrich and said "I'll have to talk to Alex. For what it's worth, I think you're right and I would like to help her, but I love Alex and if she doesn't agree then I'm afraid..."
"Fine, you talk to her" smiled Ulrich. She's a sensible girl, I'm sure she'll agree with me!"
I got up and headed back to our rooms, my mind reeling.
Opening the door to our rooms I smelt the perfumed bath oil that Alex used and saw steam coming from under the door to the bathroom. I smiled to myself and quietly opened the door. Alex was lying in the large semicircular bath, her long black hair falling over the side looking totally relaxed. I leaned against the doorframe for a moment enjoying the view, my eyes sliding over her slim, lean body from the full, heavy breasts down her flat belly to the dark nest of curls between her smooth thighs.
I knew that I had made no sound but she knew I was there and turned her head to look up at me.
"Want to join me?" she asked with a little smile that made a shiver run down my spine.
I stepped into the room, pulling my shirt off over my head. "Mmmm...yes please!" I said.
As I lay in the bath I felt a sudden warmth flow through me and I looked up to see Bill leaning casually on the doorframe watching me. Suddenly a bath with Bill seemed like a really good idea.
"Want to join me?" I asked.
Bill's shirt was half off before he had come into the room! I watched him unfasten the buckle of his belt and slide the jeans down his strong thighs and noticed with a smile that, yet again, he wasn't wearing anything underneath. He kicked off the slippers from his bare feet, stepped out of the jeans and walked over to the bath. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was pale and beautiful like an alabaster statue only gloriously aroused. He leaned down and put a hand on the edge of the bath beside my head, stepping in and sitting down beside me. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.
"There's something we need to discuss" he said as I passed my hand over his chest, idly running my fingers through the dark hair.
"What, now?" I asked running my hand down his belly.
"It's important" he said as I slipped my hand between his legs and curled my fingers around his substantial erection.
"Really important?" I asked squeezing him in my hand and sliding it down his substantial length, my movements assisted by the oil in the bathwater.
"Maybe not that important..." Bill eased himself further into the hot water, parting his legs slightly.
"I could stop if you like?" I offered helpfully "If we need to talk about it?"
"No...no please don't" he groaned. "It can wait...really!" He pulled me closer to him and gently kissed the spot on my throat where Lazlo had bitten me. Then he moved his lips up to mine and kissed me tenderly as I continued to massage his stiff shaft under the hot water, sliding my thumb over the tip with each stroke. As I stroked him gently his kisses became deeper, more passionate and I felt his free hand slide down my body and begin to stroke me in turn. I squeezed him tighter as I parted my lips and his tongue and two of his long, elegant fingers slipped into me simultaneously, making me gasp with pleasure. We lay together in the steaming bathwater, the movements of our hands bringing an almost unbearable pleasure to each other's bodies in almost synchronised movements, our mouths locked together in a deeply passionate kiss.
I felt the muscles in Bill's thighs shift as he braced his feet against the far side of the bath and lifted me up pulling me on top of him and sliding his fingers out of me. I gave a little moan of loss but he immediately replaced them with something else, something bigger.
He threw his head back over the side of the bath. His long fangs gleaming in the harsh lighting as he gripped my hips and rocked me on top of him, massaging his long thick shaft with my body as I swayed helplessly in his hands, completely lost to the incredible blinding pleasure he was tearing from my flesh.
"Oh, Bill..." I moaned as I felt as though my body was about to fly apart and I leaned forward to grip his hard muscular shoulders, convinced that it was only his hands holding my hips that was preventing me from floating away into the darkness.
Afterwards I lay in his arms on the bed, although I had no memory of getting out of the bath. I guessed he must have carried my still twitching body back into the bedroom and laid me down beside him.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked sleepily.
"Oh yes!" He said "before you distracted me you wicked girl!" he smiled down at me, his gentle blue eyes full of love and warmth.
"I have a favour to ask of you". He looked at me seriously "you don't have to make any decision now, I can see that you're half asleep already!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"Do you understanding the meaning, the relationship between a Maker and their Progeny?" he asked.
I struggled to sit up a little. "Well, only what you've told me about you and Lorena." I said. Why?"
"Our relationship was...difficult, unhealthy" he said slowly, searching for the right words. "It shouldn't be that way" he paused. "'I've never been a Maker" he said. "I've never...I couldn't do that to anyone."
I realised that he was effectively telling me that, in order to have a "child" he would have to kill someone!"
"But you would have liked to, wouldn't you?" I said softly, "if there was any other way?"
Bill looked at me with those deep blue eyes that I felt were peering into my soul.
"How is it that you can see so easily into my heart?" he whispered. "Yes, I would have liked to have a child, and now Ulrich may have made it possible. But you would have to agree Alex."
For a brief moment I thought he meant that he wanted to turn me. But that would not be "another way." I looked puzzled and he said softly "Azaria. Ulrich wants me to be a...surrogate maker I suppose, to her. To take care of her and teach her about this modern world she has woken into. She would have to come and live with me, with us. You could help her too, she'll need a friend, someone she can trust. Will you help me?"
He watched me, waiting for my response. "I told Ulrich that I would only be able to accept if you agreed."
I smiled at him, "I think that's a wonderful idea Bill, you'll make a great father!" I looked at him with my sternest expression. "So long as you don't have the same kind of physical relationship that you had with Lorena!"
He looked puzzled for a moment, and then horrified. "Of course not!" he exclaimed "that would be...inconceivable!"
I giggled at his outraged expression. "Oh you...!" before I could move he had grabbed me and pulled me down into the soft pillows with a sigh.
It was now two months later and we had been back home for several weeks. Ulrich had been advised by his medical staff that Azaria should stay at the facility until she was fully recovered and Bill had received a call to say that they were on their way and would bring her to Carmilla's tonight.
I sat at the bar with Bill watching the customers on the dance floor, waiting for them to arrive. I had just ordered my second drink of the evening when the door to the club opened and Ulrich walked in followed by Azaria. She was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a white T shirt and her long black hair was braided into a plait down her back. Her olive skin and chocolate brown eyes positively glowed with health as she looked around the inside of the club with an eager interest.
I saw Bill smile as he walked over to her and she glanced up at him shyly. He spoke to her for a few moments and suddenly a broad smile appeared on her face. I heard Ulrich laugh and look over to the bar where I was sitting. Azaria's eyes followed his gaze and saw me. With a little cry she ran across to the bar and flung her arms around me.
"Alex! Oh I am so pleased to see you!" she said, then paused, a slight frown creasing her perfect brow. "You are sure that you will not mind? That Bill is to take care of me?"
I hugged her and said "Of course not, he wants to help you, we both do."
She smiled at me a little shyly and said "He said he wants to have a party for me, to welcome me." She looked puzzled for a moment "a special kind of party he called it...now what was it..." Her brow creased again in thought. "Oh yes!" she cried excitedly. "That's it, a Fancy Dress Party!"
I looked over to where Bill was standing with Ulrich, watching me with that secretive little smile of his. "Bill Compton" I thought "You are in a world of trouble!"
