Worship
LUCY POV
It wasn't until we got back to the beautiful mansion Maria and Nettie occupied, did I realize that Jennifer was not with the remaining newborns.
I knew that she had not perished in the fight, because I could feel the power of the magic she was using radiating off of her.
"Where is she?" Nettie asked me. She seemed to now comprehend that our best offense weapon was nowhere to be found.
"It seems that Jennifer is not the only missing newborn," Maria said. "It appears that the red haired…Constance has abandoned us too." Maria finished. By now all the newborns were paying attention to Maria. She had that effect on people, and though I hated to admit it, she had that effect on me too.
I could see Nettie disliked it too. She didn't like that all the newborns obeyed Maria on command and not her. All three of us were the leaders, but it seemed that Maria had all the power. I caught Nettie looking at me, and we both rolled our eyes at each other. Maybe one day, we would do something about Maria….
Maria continued, "If they abandon us, then they are not part of us. We should hunt them." Maria said. "NO!" I found my voice.
I would not allow them to hurt Jennifer. Though I barely knew the former slave, I gave her this freedom, and I owed her more than what Maria was trying to accomplish. "We might need her power one day." I said. Though that was not the reason, standing up to Maria and her bodyguard of newborns wasn't the smart move to do on my own.
Maria seemed to register this. "Si, I suppose your right." She said in her thick Mexican accent.
I prayed that wherever Jennifer was, that she was safe. I felt unusually protective of her. I looked at Maria.
One day, I would have to do something about her….
CONSTANCE POV
"They are dead." I heard this voice of an old man. All the burning and longing for this man's blood, seemed to be put on hold. How would Jennifer answer?
There was a long silence, and then there was this gurgled talking that was filled with grief. "What do you mean dead?" I only understood by the words that were being spoken that it was Jennifer's voice.
I growled. Though I just introduced myself to her, I viewed her as a leader. She would protect me if I proved myself worthy. I had been a vampire for three months, and though I had been one of the oldest in Maria's army, vampire age of course, Jennifer was sincere when she said I could stay.
I would protect her with my life. And this man, even though he had not physically hurt her, his words were enough to make her feel pain, and it enraged me. I waited for his answer.
"Th-They were not doing any work, they insisted that I buy their daughter and sister from Lowell's Plantation. They had to be made examples of." He trembled.
"SO YOU KILLED THEM!?" Jennifer shrieked. I was terrified for the man. "WHO ARE YOU?" The old man was suddenly shouting. Jennifer's voice was low and menacing. "I am that daughter," she sobbed.
"Constance," She whispered. "If you don't want to witness this, now is the time to go elsewhere." I stared at the back door in awe. She had the decency to ask me of my next move. I promised myself there and then that I would always be there for her, and that included right now. "I will stay and wait here." I said.
"Are you thirsty?" she asked. "Because you can have him." I never much believed in slavery. My family and I lived in the south, but we did not have any slaves. My father was a pastor, and he would go plantation to plantation telling all the people that God loves all his children equally, therefore we should all be treated equally.
I was so thirsty, I ripped through the door. The old man smelled like no other blood I have ever smelled before.
Jennifer turned and walked out the house and waited for me there. I appreciated her giving me privacy. I picked the frail man up, who's heart was beating frantically. His eyes were rolled in his head. He probably was having a heart attack, but that didn't matter now. I bit into his jugular, and immediate the blood started flowing into my mouth.
I took my time, because his blood was so sweet, and I found myself wondering why this man's blood tasted so much better than any other I have had before. He was empty too quickly, and I found myself filled with regret for not drinking him slower.
Jennifer peeked into the house from the night outside. She looked like a goddess. Like someone to be worshipped or something. She wasn't as tall as me, maybe five foot six. She had long hair down to her breast bone. She was slender and her face was too beautiful to describe. I suddenly felt self-conscious.
It was hard to believe that she was a slave. Her skin was so pale. Not as pale as mine, but definitely paler than what she was originally.
She saw me staring, and she gave me a small smile. "C'mon," she said. "Let us leave this place." Her voice was so broken, I wanted to comfort her. Before I knew what I was doing, I ran up to her and hugged her. It was kind of awkward, because I am five eight, and she is about two inches shorter.
She hissed a little. I let go. She smiled apologetically at me, and then turned around and kept walking. I followed her, thinking about my new friend and the taste of the man's blood…..
JENNIFER'S POV
I couldn't believe that my family was dead. I should have come for them as soon as possible! My little sister, my older brother, my parents…gone, just like that. I would never see them again. As I walked slowly out of the house, I smelled a very strong scent. Blood. It was coming from the shed.
I hissed. Constance growled. Clearly she smelled it too. I turned around to look at her. She had a longing look on her face. She was still thirsty. And I definitely was with the sweet blood I just gave up to her.
We raced to the shed. As soon as I opened it, I knew what the shed was for. It was a shed for punishing. Any slave who disobeyed, was dragged her to be whipped…or worse.
There was blood on the floor from a recently whipped slave. I know it shouldn't had made me thirsty, but it did. In the corner were dead slave bodies. Obviously these would be shipped out as soon as possible, before they began to decay.
To me and Constance, we could already smell the decay. The blood in these bodies were not appetizing because it was cold. I was curious as to how these slaves died. I pulled off the sheets and gasped.
The bodies belonged to my family. I sobbed. They had been brutally beaten and branded over and over again as if they were animals. I didn't even recognize my sister's face. It wasn't fair! How come I could live, and they had to die like animals?
I hovered over their bodies, dry-heaving. This was how it was to cry. I cried for my family, because they would never know that I would live, I cried, because they died this horrible death, and I cried, because somewhere deep in my un-beating heart, I knew that I would never get to them on time.
Constance came and patted my back. I didn't hiss her off this time. I just stood there dry-heaving. Willing tears to come that would never be shed.
We stayed there for an hour. Until I did what I always knew that I would have to do all along. Move on.
I stopped hovering over my family's bodies, and walked out the shed and into the woods. Constance was right on my trail. "We're going to make our way to the North." I said.
"Yes ma'am," she answered I turned and smiled at her and said, "None of that, Constance. Just call me Jennifer, okay?" She nodded at me. I wanted to get my mind off of the death of my family. So I blurted out, "How did you become a vampire?"
We had begun to run north. I didn't know where North was when I was human, but the magic in me was telling me where to go. "Had you run away, before?" Constance asked. "No," I answered. "How I know right now…..is complicated to explain, but please answer. How did you become a vampire?"
She looked ahead and said, "Ahhh. Where should I begin?" I mentally raised an eyebrow to myself. "How 'bout the beginning." I answered. She nodded
"My name is Constance Richards. I am sixteen years old. My father and mother are pastors down here in the south. We try to tell the people down here that slavery is wrong…" she trailed off, afraid that she had offended me.
As if! "Continue," I said. She nodded. " I live in Arkansas, which is a longs way away from this dry Texas Lands!" She laughed sadly. "That's where I lived until…. I was stupid and took a walk at night, because I needed air from the argument me and my family had. I was supposed to move out of the nursery, and I was so stupid and petty that I had wanted to stay and… That's when Maria found me. Three months ago."
I was surprised. I knew she was an older vampire, but not by that much. She continued. "All I remember is that It hurt so much.." That was all she said, and I wasn't going to push her. Instead I comforted her. "I don't think that you were stupid or petty. I wouldn't know, but If I was told to grow up the very next day, I would put up a fight too.
She laughed. I knew from the other plantations who had daughters that as soon as you moved out of the nursery, the sooner it would be to marry you off.
We ran in silence for a couple hours until we were sure that we had reached the northern states. We kept running until we were in a place called New York. It was bustling with life. And it was making me thirsty.
We found some unlucky men who were smoking in an alley. We each took two. After we were finished, we stashed their bodies in the nearby woods. I hadn't thought this far ahead as to what we would do when we got here.
I could get a job, though it would be low income because I was black. Though the northern states did not like slavery, it didn't meant they wanted us around. Nevertheless, I could get a job, and if all else failed, Constance could get a job.
She seemed to know what I was thinking when I looked at her. "You could bewitch them into giving us jobs." She said. I laughed.
Suddenly there was a clatter behind us. "WHOA!" said a male vampire. I snarled and positioned myself between him and Constance. I was suddenly very protective of her.
"I mean you no harm." Said a tall male vampire with shaggy brown hair. He had a strange accent, I had no idea from.
"My name is Thomas." Thomas said. Constance was not breathing. I looked at her from the corner of my eye. She was admiring the man. Practically worshipping him. He was good-looking, but so were all vampires that I have seen. So nothing new.
Constance looked at him, and then I could see her expression becoming confused and then understanding when she looked at me. I didn't understand until I looked back at Thomas who was staring and admiring me…..
A/N: Thomas is a vampire from Scotland! He's gonna be Jennifer's love interest, well he will try, but Jenni had an aversion to people not of color…..for now! LOL! Until next time! R&R!
