I woke to hear a knock at the door. I just had time to pull the sheet up over myself before the door opened and two young blonde women came in each carrying a tray. They had the glazed look which I had come to associate with humans who had been glamoured. They came over to the bed and placed the trays on the large table beside it. The delicious smell of bacon and coffee floated up.
"Um…thanks" I said glancing across at Bill, who was lying motionless at my side.
They both stood looking at their feet as if afraid to raise their eyes. "We live only to serve the Master" said one in a breathless little whisper.
I stared at them for a moment. "Is that right?" I said, an unpleasant suspicion beginning to form in my mind. "And he asked you to bring me breakfast?"
"While you slept my Lady" said the more talkative of the two.
My Lady! Oh, this was getting weirder by the second.
"Right! ….well, thank you" I said briskly and, I hoped, dismissively. It seemed to work as they turned in unison and headed for the door. As soon as it closed behind them I sat up and reached for the coffee pot. As I poured a cup I felt Bill stir beside me and looked over at him.
He sniffed. "You got your breakfast then?" he murmured.
"Of course!" I answered "after all, they live only to serve you!"
He relaxed and appeared to fall back into sleep, then suddenly his sleepy brain appeared to have processed what I had said. He stiffened and his eyes flicked open. I watched him with an expression of mild curiosity. "So how exactly does it manifest itself….this "service"?" I asked.
Bill looked embarrassed. "Well, they all serve me" he said defensively "at least, they serve Lilith, and she lives in me."
"I was referring to those two blondes, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, specifically!" I said sharply. "They serviced you in more ways than one…..right?"
Bill rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. "Possibly…." he muttered.
"What do you mean… "possibly!" I growled. "Are you suggesting that you could have had sex with two blonde bimbos and not know about it!"
"Well yes, actually I am!" he said, sitting up. "You saw what I was like…Lilith….. she was completely in control. The last thing I really remember clearly was standing with Berenice in the drawing room and drinking from one of the two goblets. After that it's just flashes…..until I suddenly found myself here with you in my arms."
"So you think Lilith wanted to have sex with two girls?" I asked.
"Well, since she was using my body I guess so…." He said guiltily.
I put my coffee down and leaned against him with a sigh, my arm around his shoulders. "It's okay, you're right, I saw what had happened to you, what she had done to you…..
Bill lay down, pulling me down beside him and I snuggled up against him. "Never mind that now" I said. "You need to rest, you'll get the bleeds.
Bill chuckled. "It's nearly dusk! That should really be dinner" he said.
"I've just woken up, that makes it breakfast!" I replied sitting up again and folding some bacon up in a bread roll. "So, what do we do now? Do you think that Berenice and her followers will still accept you as the incarnation of the Goddess, or whatever it is they think you are?" I asked.
"Why wouldn't they" asked Bill, sounding surprised.
"Well..." I turned to look at him. "You sure don't look like you did last night!"
Bill pushed the sheet back and looked down at himself. "Well, I'm clean. That's good right?"
"That's not what they expect though is it?" I pointed out reasonably.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmmm...we might be able to do something about that." He closed his eyes and lay back.
I watched him for a moment while eating my impromptu bacon roll. "What exactly are you...?"
Bill held up a hand and I stopped.
As I watched, what looked at first like a bruise appeared on his belly and began to spread across his stomach. The mark darkened until it was a deep red and began to spread in curls across his skin up his chest and onto his shoulders forming whorls and spirals that resembled the tribal tattoos I had seen occasionally on guys who came into the club. Except that, instead of black, these were the colour of blood. I watched in astonishment as the marks spread down his limbs and up his throat onto his face, swirling and flowing together until every inch of his skin was covered.
He opened his eyes and sat up, turning to me.
I sat, holding a half eaten bacon roll in my hand, with my mouth hanging open, staring at the apparition before me.
"What do you think?" he asked. "Is that more...believable?"
"Oh yeah! That's... how did you do that?" I asked.
"I didn't do it" he said, examining his hands. "She did it."
"Bill" I asked quietly "what is she?"
"I don't really know, since she doesn't either" he answered. "She was the first of our kind, the mother of all vampires. She is very old and very strong. She is a powerful spiritual entity. She could be called either a Goddess or a Demon I suppose, depending on your point of view or on her actions."
He looked back at me. "What is a God after all?" he asked thoughtfully. "Is one worshipped because one is a God or does one become a God because one is worshipped?"
I looked at him sideways. "Please tell me you're not suggesting that because these…. these Sanguinistas worship you, you could actually become a God?" I said sceptically.
"I have no idea!" he said drowsily, lying down again and closing his eyes "but Lilith's presence within me gives me the powers of a God…..and they do worship me..."
"Is that you talking, or her?" I asked
"You just eat your breakfast, and anything else they bring you, and don't argue!" muttered Bill, sleepily.
"Of course dear!" I said snuggling up to him. "I live only to serve you!"
He gave a little snort. "If only that were true!" he grumbled as he slipped back into sleep.
I obediently ate everything on the trays and drank all the coffee and by sundown I was feeling a lot better, although still not quite my usual self. How much of that was due to the loss of blood and how much to the shocks I had suffered over the last few days I wasn't entirely sure.
I had gone into the bathroom for a quick shower and was just coming out towelling my hair when Bill woke. He stretched and sat up, turning to me with a smile. I stopped dead, staring at him. It seemed so strange to see this creature smiling. I walked over to him.
"Er...Bill" I asked tentatively. "You can change that skin colour back can't you?"
He laughed and batted his eyelashes at me suggestively. "Why...don't you like it?"
"Well...no!" I admitted. "It's just not you, is it?"
"Yes. I can change it back. But I'm definitely still me! Honestly. Why don't you come over here and find out?" he asked reaching for my hands.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me onto his lap. I touched him gently, carefully. Moving my hand up his muscled arm to his shoulder. I closed my eyes feeling the usual cool smoothness of his skin, but when I opened them I saw a strange creature with skin the colour of blood. I closed my eyes again, feeling slightly uncomfortable and felt Bill's cool, soft lips brush across mine. He slipped a hand behind my neck and pulled me to him for a deeper kiss. Oh yes, this felt like Bill all right!
He released my neck and put both hands under my thighs, lifting me up and pulling me forward onto him. I braced my knees on either side of his hips and slipped my arms around his neck, leaning in to his kiss. His hands began to ease my knees apart, spreading me open for him as I sank down onto his rock hard member. I kept my eyes tightly closed, struggling not to think of the blood red colour of his flesh as he lifted me and allowed me to fall in a rhythm which became faster and faster until I felt that I would fly apart.
Afterwards when I sat shuddering in his arms I realised that something else was different as well.
"You didn't bite me?" I murmured in Bill's ear.
"You still need to recover from last night" he whispered back.
"Mmm...yes, you got enough then to last you a while!" I muttered weakly. "Not to mention what you got from that little redhead..." Suddenly my eyes flew open and I stared down at him, horrified. "Oh my God, Bill! Those people in the cells! How could I have forgotten about them?"
"Cells?" asked Bill, puzzled.
"You don't remember?" I asked.
"Well...I remember a girl with red hair. I remember feeding from her. But it seems like a lifetime ago..."
"I spoke to her, in the cells" I explained.
"She's still alive?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Well, she was! But she might not be for long if we don't get her, and the rest of them out of there before your worshippers wake up!"
Bill sighed. "Yes, of course we must."
I leaned forward and kissed him again. "Oh Bill, I'm so glad to hear you say that!"
He looked quite shocked for a moment. "Did you think I wouldn't?" he asked.
"Well, I'll bet good money that you're the only vampire in this building who would!" I said sharply. "But there's another reason."
Bill's eyes narrowed. "I don't need another reason Alex! We have to get them out because what's happening here is wrong!"
"I know that sweetheart" I said, kissing him again. "But you need to know this anyway. When I spoke to Ulrich the other night he told me that the Authority is being pressured by the Army to do something about this "movement" of yours. They are thinking seriously of burning this place down, with all Lilith's worshippers inside!"
"They can't do that!" said Bill, horrified.
"Why not?" I asked. "They could come along at midday, couple of rocket launchers through the windows, job done! They wouldn't even have to open the front door! You guys may be top predators, unnaturally strong and fast and all that stuff, but you're not invincible you know!"
Bill simply watched me for a moment. I put my head on his shoulder. "Oh baby! I'm sorry I didn't mean that...not you!"
He hugged me tightly to him. "It's alright honey, I know that" he murmured. "I just can't imagine what you've been through over the last few days."
I smiled up at him. "Everything's okay now. But we'll have to negotiate with them somehow. And if they find a group of naked people locked in cells in the basement they're not going to be in the mood to talk with you now are they?"
"Sure" said Bill. "Let's go get them out. But this isn't going to help my standing with the others, you realise that?"
"Why should it matter?" I asked. "You're their God right? You tell them what to do and they do it!"
He smiled. "Right! So I am!" He stood up, lifting me and putting me down carefully on the bed, and began to stride purposefully towards the door.
"Um...Bill?"
He turned back. "What?"
"Don't you think you should put some pants on first?"
He looked down at himself, appearing slightly embarrassed. "Ah...yes." He looked around vaguely. "Have I been walking around like this for days?"
"I guess Lilith doesn't worry too much about clothing huh?" I said. "Try that cupboard over there."
Bill found a pair of faded jeans and I selected a bathrobe and put it on as we headed downstairs to the wooden door at the end of the corridor which I remembered only too well. The door was locked but a well placed kick from Bill broke the lock and the door flew open. The steps led down to the dark dingy corridor and I hurried down with Bill close behind. At the sight of Bill every single human in the cells shrank back against the walls in a horrified silence. He looked at me and retreated back into the shadows, leaving me to talk to the girls who had been thrown in the cell with me. To my huge relief they were all still there.
As I tried to persuade them to come up to the bars the door opened and the two vampire guards came in. The first one down the steps was the one who had dragged me out of the cell. He stared at me in astonishment. "Well I'll be..." he grinned at me. "I've no idea how you got loose, but you are going to pay for this!"
"Oh, I don't think so" I said with a smile. "Now open up these cells right now or you'll be in big trouble!"
He laughed. "Are you crazy? You can't possibly imagine I'd be scared of you!"
I smiled at him again. "Oh no...I'm not a very scary person at all." I watched as his face changed when Bill stepped out of the shadows behind me. "But my friend here? Well he's a really scary guy!" I turned to Bill. "He's the one who broke my arm by the way!"
Both guards had backed up against the bars as Bill stepped forward. "Open the cells please." He said politely.
I'll say this for that guard. He may not have been very bright, but he had guts. He looked straight at Bill and said, rather shakily. "I only take orders from the Guardian."
Bill smiled. "She always did know how to inspire loyalty in her followers" he said. "Very well. I'll do it myself." He closed his eyes for a moment, there was a bang and all four locks burst at the same time.
I gaped at him. "Did you do that?" I whispered.
"Yes" he said simply.
"Okay...right" I said weakly. "What now? We can't just let them go can we? They know too much about what's been going on in here."
Bill gestured to the two guards to step aside and closed his eyes again. As I watched him I felt something...strange. As if something were probing gently at my mind. All of a sudden I realised what was happening. Bill had cast some kind of glamour over the whole room and I was feeling the effects. I didn't recognise it at first because he had never tried to glamour me before. The people in the cells were all staring at him blankly except, I noticed, for the little redhead who was pressed into the corner with her back to us.
Just as I noticed this I felt the pressure ease and Bill opened his eyes and backed away from the bars. He gestured to the guard who had pulled me from the cell who was standing in the corridor with his mouth hanging open in shock. "Now would you like to open these doors or shall we discuss my friend's arm?" He asked, quite pleasantly but with just a hint that the guard might not enjoy the discussion.
He began to open the cell doors while the other guard opened a door at the end of the corridor which I hadn't noticed before. Inside was a large storeroom with piles of clothing on the shelves. Our clothes! I nipped in and grabbed my jeans and T shirt, pulling them on while everyone began to get dressed. When everyone was ready Bill told one of the guards to show them out of the house.
It was only then that I noticed the slim redheaded girl was still in the cell. She did not appear to have been glamoured and I could only assume that Bill had somehow skipped over her mind as he had done with mine. He pulled the door open and stepped into the cell.
"Hello again" he said holding out his hand to her. "I won't hurt you, I promise." I came into the cell behind him with an armful of clothing which had been left in the storeroom.
"I guess some of these must be yours?" I asked.
"Oh yes" she answered in a small voice and began to rummage through them. She selected a skirt and blouse and I helped her dress while Bill watched us silently.
When she was fully clothed again, he reached out and gently brushed the hair back from her neck, revealing two fang marks. With a slight shock I realised that they were his! He traced a fingertip gently over the marks and they disappeared instantly. The girl reached up and felt her throat, her eyes widening as her fingers moved over the smooth skin where the marks had been.
"Thank you" she whispered.
"I remember you" said Bill thoughtfully. "You are one of the last things I do remember. They brought you back here after...?"
"Yes" she said. "Everyone was astonished that I was still alive!"
Bill knelt down before her, the distress clear in his eyes and took her hands. "But there were others weren't there?" he asked. "Others who didn't survive?"
She said nothing, just looked down at him.
"Can you ever forgive me?" he asked.
Rather to my surprise she smiled down at him. "It wasn't you was it?" she asked. "It was something else. And even then, you weren't the worst of them. If they had given me to anyone else I'd be dead by now." She tugged at his hands and he stood up slowly. "There's nothing to forgive you for. But the others..." she glanced up the corridor to the door at the top of the stairs and shuddered. "Can you control them?"
"Yes" he answered. "And I will! I promise you that this will never happen here again." He gazed at her seriously and asked "Do you want to remember this place? I can take it all away for you if you like."
"No" she said after a moment's thought. "Someone should remember them."
He nodded and opened the cell door for her and stood back as we walked out into the corridor. "I don't even know your name?" I said as we climbed the steps.
"Lucy" she answered. "My name's Lucy."
"I'm Alex" I said.
She turned to me at the top of the stairs. "You helped him didn't you Alex?" she asked. "You helped him to find his way back? Without that we might all have died here."
"Yes, I suppose I did."
Bill came out of the doorway behind us and put his hand on my shoulder.
"We need to find Berenice" he said. "I have to convince her to back me up before the others."
"We!" I said "What do you mean, we!"
He laughed. "You don't seriously think I'm going to leave you alone in this place do you? I'm not letting you out of my sight!" He took hold of my hand firmly and turned to Lucy. "Will you be okay?"
She smiled at us. "You go ahead, I'll be fine now."
"Come on" said Bill leading me up the stairs. At the other end of the long corridor we found a matching carved wooden door to the one to his room.
"I'd say this would be her room wouldn't you?" he asked.
"You mean you don't know?" I said suspiciously.
Bill sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes" he said, opening his eyes. "This is it." He turned back to me. "Lilith recognises it" he said.
"Oh she does, does she? So she's been here before?"
Bill took my hands and lifted them to his lips. "Alex, please...you must understand that, whatever she did, I had no control over it. You do see that don't you? You know that I would never knowingly betray you?"
I stepped forward and he put his arms around me. "I'm sorry" I said. "I know that you had no control over her. I know I'm being totally unreasonable! I promise not to even think about this again...okay?"
He kissed me gently. "I appreciate that, really I do. I know it must be hard for you, especially after all you've done for me and knowing that Berenice is an old friend only makes it worse. But I love you Alex." He paused for a moment. "You remember I told you what had happened when I first tasted the blood. You said that you felt me that night, at the Mill House? Well, when Berenice gave me the blood she said that it would take me to my heart's desire. She assumed this meant that I would see Lilith but she was not quite right. I did see the Goddess, but first the blood took me straight to you." He kissed me again. "You are my heart's desire Alex."
I leaned my head against his chest and we stood locked in each other's arms for a moment. I didn't want to move, I just wanted to stay there, safe, until we could leave this place. But I knew that it wasn't safe. Not until Bill had established his authority over the others. I pulled back gently and looked up at him, startled yet again by the vivid colour of his flesh. He took my hand and opened the door.