Chapter Eight: … And Ruined Holidays
Lincoln sighed as he walked back into his house with Lucy. He could tell. His eyes told him that his parents weren't lying. They weren't going to turn them into the police. But that didn't make him feel any better. He'd just alienated his own parents.
"Hey, Linc… You're home early." Jordan said. She'd been out with her parents. Her father was sick. He wasn't doing well. Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. It had spread to his liver, kidneys, gallbladder, stomach and now his brain already. And it was still spreading quickly.
He was dying. And it looked like he wasn't going to be much longer. Maybe not even until New Years. She debated talking to Lisa, asking her to try to treat him. But she didn't want to waste Lisa's time since he seemed like a lost cause. Her father didn't even recognize her when she went to visit. It was heartbreaking. This was going to be the first Christmas she spent without her father.
"Hey, Jordan… Yeah… It um… They know." Lincoln said simply, sitting down with Jordan, hugging her tightly. Jordan puzzled through what he was saying. Then it dawned on her.
"Oh… I-ohhh…" She said.
"Wow… Um… How did they figure it out? You weren't like, making out with Lucy at the party or anything? Were you?" She asked. Lincoln laughed. There was no humor in it.
"No. Leni accidentally… Slip of the tongue… I covered up for it at first. But apparently Mom was suspicious and followed me and Leni up to her room. We were talking in the room. I was trying to tell Leni that she needed to be careful what she said around our parents.
"I didn't think Mom would be spying on us, well… Eavesdropping. But yeah. She was and it was my fault. I was stupid not to put on the noise canceling units. They are in every room in the house. Mom and Dad gave us a choice. Lucy and I could break up and promise to never see each other in that way again. Or we could be banned from coming back to the house. We discussed it. And… Well… I don't think that even with the best acted roles in the history of well-acted roles, we could fool our parents again." Lincoln said regretfully.
"Anyway… Lucy and I are in love. You know that. You've been with me for years now. But we promised that we wouldn't come back to the house. They promised they wouldn't report us to the police. I could tell they weren't lying. But we didn't say anything about the older siblings still having contact with us, and technically Mom and Dad can't make them abstain. Except for Lola, Lana, Lisa and Lily, they're all above 21. And I'm sure that Lisa will find a way to come see us. She still has experiments to do on my blood and with me on my bionic abilities and my Vampiric abilities." Lincoln said.
"And I think she wants to give me bionic organs as well, and most likely you as well." Lucy said to Jordan. Jordan chuckled. She wouldn't say no to bionic organs. Whatever they did in the long run, they would probably enhance her life significantly. She didn't have the full scope of what Lincoln's new abilities were with the organs. But she knew that he was beyond what a normal Vampire would be. As far as she knew, he hadn't drunk any blood in a few days. She'd heard him mention 4-5 days for an average Vampire. But he was testing out at 6. If he made it to 6, he would test out 7 days.
He was probably pushing it then. But he would continue to report into Nicodemus, who was closely monitoring his condition while he tested out his abilities, enhanced by his bionic organs. Suddenly, his phone rang. He cursed.
"Hey, Lise… What's up?" Lincoln asked.
"I wish to avail you of highly advanced gym equipment that I've produced, largely thanks to donations that you yourself have provided to my research." Lisa said.
"Does your basement have room for an entire set of exercise machines, including treadmills?" Lisa asked. Lincoln hesitated, going down to the basement and looking around. His basement was rather full.
"I'm afraid there isn't room in my house for any gym machines. Maybe someday when I have a mansion." Lincoln said jokingly. He had no desire to live in a mansion. Maybe a larger home than he had now. But hardly a mansion. He hoped to live near Boston, maybe halfway between there and Salem as Lucy wanted. That way they could be near Salem for Lucy's work, but Boston for his Vampire things.
The two cities were close together, less than half an hour apart. But being placed halfway between the two would be nice. He cuddled with Jordan for a while. Night was coming pretty quickly. He would need to head out to Detroit soon to begin that night's lesson with Nicodemus.
-0-
As he was starting to get ready to go out, there was a knock on the door. Lucy went to answer it, to spare Lincoln from the sunlight if they could. As she answered it, she saw a beautiful dark skinned woman.
"Hello. You must be Lucy. I could tell you were graceful from seeing you from afar.
"But I'd no idea you were so beautiful." Nearra said, kissing Lucy's hand lightly.
"I'm sure that I'm howling up the wrong tree here, but how would you like to be my servant… Rather than Lincoln's. I could teach you so much more than he could. I can't turn you into a Nightling. But I can make you immortal with my blood, all the same." Nearra said.
"My… Very long life '762 years'…" She said in a high pitched tone. "Oops! Who said that?" Nearra asked." Lucy stared at Nearra, fairly unamused by her antics.
"Anyway… a Nightling as old and experienced and powerful as I could teach you a great deal… And maybe one day if you show yourself to be adept and loyal, I would turn you into one like myself. After all… I don't usually turn people like Lincoln into Nightlings. At least not without rigorous testing. I'm sure you agree that a gift as great as mine should only be given to those who've earned it?" Nearra asked.
"What do you want?" Lucy asked. It was obvious that she wasn't biting.
"I wish to speak to Lincoln. To extend the… Olive branch of diplomacy as it were." Nearra said.
"And why would he want to work with you? You beat him, raped him and murdered him, then dumped his body in a cold alleyway. It's fortunate that his body didn't stay in the dumpster. If it had, he would have been crushed by the garbage compactor or at best, ended up in some landfill miles from town." Lucy said. Nearra nodded as she spoke, seeming to just let the Gothic beauty talk.
"So dark. So morbid. I love it. But I think that he would love the opportunity to learn from me. Nicodemus has his skills and I have mine. I believe that my skills are more useful.
"I'm sure that he believes his skills are more useful. Why don't we both teach Lincoln and let the pupil decide whose talents are more beneficial to him in the long run?" Nearra asked. Lincoln had been listening closely to what Nearra was saying and came into the room, getting his jacket on for his trip to Detroit. He didn't have much time to waste. But he could at least talk to Nearra for now.
"Nearra… Lucy, go back upstairs. Let me and Nearra talk for a few. I promise I'll be okay." Lincoln said.
He watched as Lucy went up the stairs and disappeared from sight.
"Nearra… Lucy's not wrong. You beat me, raped me, tortured me and then drained my blood without my permission. Now in fairness, I wouldn't have given my permission, even if I'd known I would become a Vampire. I wasn't ready to become one. I'm still only 22. People still think I'm 18. If I wanted to become a Vampire, I would have wanted to wait until I was around 30. I might have been ready then. I'd be out of college, into my full adulthood and you get my drift, don't you?" Lincoln asked.
Nearra nodded.
"You know, for a human so young, even by human standards, you've got quite the little head on your shoulders. You're calm, collected. You would have made the perfect successor for me. I would have loved to have you as a protégé. I still would like to see what you can show me. You know, 760 years of living… It gets… Old to say the least. I'm not ready to die just yet.
"I'm one of the oldest Nightlings in the world though as far as I know. Most decide to quit the game after around 100… Maybe 200 years. They see that their whole human family has died off. Any humans related to them, they don't know anymore. It's hard to go to family events and say 'You don't know me. But I was the niece of your great grandparents. You can see the conflict. And knowing that the friends they had as humans now have great grandchildren, if not great-great grandchildren and that those great-great grandchildren are having children of their own… It's disheartening for most." Nearra said.
"I've lived through that first 200 years that most never see. I've done that and more. And I think that you, with your close connection with your two lovers, can make it through that time as well… And if you don't, I only ask that you make it long enough to end my life. It gets so… Boring… Seeing the decades and centuries go by. Do you know who the most powerful countries were when I was a human? Byzantine Rome, Tsardom of Russia and the Turkish Empire. Ever heard of them? Ever been taught about those in school?" Nearra asked aggressively.
"Well… I learned about the Byzantine Empire." Lincoln said.
"Right. You know when the Byzantine Empire fell? 1453. You know when the Tsardom of Russia fell? 1917. You know when the Turkish Empire fell? 1908. And in that time, I've watched England expand and then shrink. I've watched Europe take over Africa. I've watched Europe come to what became the Colonies and then England take over the Colonies. I watched the Colonies break free and form their own fledgling nation. I watched wars come and go, I've watched empires rise and fall.
"I've seen kings be born and die or be killed. Life gets boring when you know there's no way out. When you know that nobody has the ability to take you out. So… What I want from you, my fledgling… Is to let me train you. At any point, you're allowed to try to kill me. Once you do kill me, all my possessions, including my Culled servant, Connor will become yours. You're free to do what you want with them. But you'll need to learn how to fight like a Nightling. You need to learn how to move like a Nightling. You need to learn how to hunt like a Nightling and think like one.
"I won't tell you what to do with the ones you hunt. Each Nightling has their own method. The problem for me… I trained a Culled and turned them into a Nightling. I've done this… Two or three times in my nearly eight centuries of life. As soon as they've seen the death of the last member of their human family, they think they have the right to whine and complain. They think they've seen the hardest part of being a Nightling. But they haven't. Some stick around. Some ask me to kill them. Whatever they decide, I honor their requests. Some I regret losing. Most were nothing special in the long run.
"You, though… You, Lincoln Loud are strong and cunning. If your tongue is as silver as your mind and instincts are sharp, I think I may have something to work with in you. Do you know what I was in my human life?" Nearra asked. Lincoln nodded.
"I think so. Nicodemus told me a little bit about you as a human. How you were a huntress in what is now Egypt. How you hunted criminals in Egypt." Lincoln said.
"He's right. I was a criminal myself. But they saw more value in using me than they did killing me.
"Frankly, I would have continued to be of use to them if they didn't discover that I had killed the Sultan's brother. The Sultan's brother was the biggest criminal of all. Do you know how many children he had? Illegitimate children I mean. I'm not sure either, but probably around 300. He summoned beautiful young women, usually between the ages of 12-14 to his palace and he took his way with them. Some of them had children. None dared to tell anyone for fear of not only being shamed for their supposedly lustful ways. Unfortunately, many got pregnant and bore the Sultan's brother's children.
"And none could appeal to him. The Sultan undoubtedly knew what his brother was doing. I would have killed the Sultan too for his deliberate ignorance of these girls' plight. But that would have earned me an even steeper punishment. I captured, hunted and killed the Sultan's brother. That was what earned me the attention of Erasmus. He told me that I was still to face human justice. That I would undoubtedly be executed for my crimes. He knew that the Sultan's brother committed atrocious acts. But he said that if I was believed dead, I could leave without being followed.
"I was burned at the stake for my crimes. A horrible, painful, humiliating death, and one that I didn't recover quickly from. But he did dig me up after my so-called death. Fortunately, they doused the fire after I supposedly died from smoke inhalation. After my screams died down, they figured me dead and pulled me down. I was blackened from the flames and to this day, if you see me in good lighting, you'll see I still have some of the scarring from my burning. But enough of that. Where were we?" Nearra asked. Lincoln sighed, rolling his eyes, seeing even Jordan was disturbed by the story.
"Oh, yes. I'll train you. And one day, you'll kill me in return. It doesn't matter when you do it or how you do it. Well, it does matter how you do it. There are very few ways to kill a Nightling. Burning is one. But they have to truly be burned beyond healing. That will drastically weaken them, if not kill them outright. Then cut their head off. A Nightling cannot recover from having their head cut off because even if the head is reattached, the complex nerves cannot be reattached. The body will never work properly again." Nearra said.
"Anywho… You were about to go to see Nicodemus. I want to go with you." Nearra said. Lincoln raised an eyebrow. He assumed he didn't have a choice. Well, he did. He didn't have to agree to take her. But he assumed that she would get in his car with him and one way or another, she would be going to Detroit with him. Frankly, he would have rather stayed home that night. But in another way, he didn't want to have to think too much about the fact that he'd not only ruined his own Christmas. For the first time, he wouldn't be spending it with his family. But also Lucy's Christmas.
And he wasn't forcing his own importance, but his family's Christmas would be lessened as a result of him not being there. He knew that they valued his presence at their family gatherings. And he wouldn't be there. He regretted that. But he didn't necessarily disagree with Lucy that there was a time for laying low, like when they were still children and they relied on their parents' home for support and shelter and a time for being honest, like now that they were adults and they could support themselves.
"Hurry up, Lincoln Loud. We need to see my Blood Brother." Nearra said.
Lincoln sighed and went out to the car, getting in the driver's seat while Nearra got in the passenger seat.
"This is a very nice car. Did you have it designed yourself?" Nearra asked. Lincoln shook his head.
"My sister designed it and two of my sisters worked together to build it. My family is fantastically talented." Lincoln said as he drove out of the driveway.
"Really? What do they do?" Nearra asked, now curious. Clearly, Lincoln was very talented as well.
"None of your business." Lincoln said.
"We're not friends. You forcibly turned me against my will. You tortured me and seemed to get off on doing it. I don't talk about my family with you. I'm sure if you could, you would kill and drain them as well." Lincoln said. Nearra smirked, licking her lips.
"Possibly. But maybe not. I prefer the blood of men. And there's a certain… Je ne sais quoi in your blood. I can't describe it very well, but as soon as I smelled it, I craved it." Nearra said.
"How'd I get so lucky?" Lincoln asked sardonically. Nearra chuckled.
"Well… It may partially have been a result of the lineage in your blood. It's not exactly magic. But there is something rather highborn in your blood. Did you descend from nobility?" Nearra asked.
"None of your business." Lincoln repeated. He had come from the Clan Loud in Scotland. He'd been descended from that family. He wasn't sure which of them gave birth to his ancestors. But he did have royalty in his background… Even if it had been a bit diluted by now.
"Well… Whoever you're from, your blood was delicious." Nearra said. Lincoln mostly ignored her, finally getting into the city and taking them to the same garage that he had gone into before, putting the car in park and locking it down before going out of the garage with Nearra, making sure that he was seen as he walked in the same path as he had before. Soon enough, Avery found them.
"Ah, Lincoln… Please, come with me. I was wondering when you'd come again. It's been at least three days since your last visit." Avery said. Lincoln nodded.
"And you are?" Avery asked, looking at Nearra.
"I think you know who I am. If you don't, then your master has left you woefully unprepared for the world as a Nightling." Nearra said.
"I'm sorry. But I'm fairly young. I don't know very much about being a Vampire just yet. I hope to learn more from Master Nicodemus though." Avery said. Nearra sighed and followed them back to Nicodemus' lair with Lincoln. As they got in, Nicodemus came out.
"You brought two back with you today, did you? Lincoln, I was wondering when I would see you again. The snow must have kept you out of town the past few days… And… Nearra…" Nicodemus said. Nearra smirked.
"Hello, Little Nicky." She said.