Chapter Eleven: Training and Dangerous Feeding
"Lincoln! Come in!" Nearra said happily, slapping Lincoln hard on the back as he came in.
"Please, come down to my basement." Nearra said. Lincoln went down to the basement with Nearra, where he saw what he was sure a very modern equipment set by modern standards. However, he had been told by Lisa about her own invention of a weight machine set that would make this look positively Medieval by comparison.
"I make sure to keep myself in top physical shape. These weights are made of an extremely dense metal called Osmium. However, weight machines can only get you so far. We need to get you into fighting shape. You're far beyond what most humans I've met can do. But you're still primitive by Vampire standards. Normally, I would just destroy a Vampire that I created accidentally. I've had to do so more than once. But I like you. When was the last time you fed?" Nearra asked.
"Ten days." Lincoln said. He'd been pretty busy, so he hadn't thought to feed.
Now, thinking on it, he'd been told that four to five days was the proper time to feed. But he was feeling fine and was testing his limits given the bionic organs.
"What! Let me see your eyes!" She snapped, grabbing Lincoln's chin, staring into his eyes. She was shocked.
"Your eyes seem… Okay… We're going hunting tonight though. I recommend you feed every eight to nine days at the furthest apart. We don't want to truly test your limits.
"I fear the attention you would garner if you did." Nearra said.
"I see… I can always get emergency blood from my sister. She's slender, so I wouldn't dream of drinking from her. But she has bags of blood that she keeps in the refrigeration units in her lab. So I could probably restrict myself to drinking from an actual person only once a month if I wanted to. But I don't want to test Lisa's storage of chilled blood." Lincoln said. Nearra laughed.
"Why would you want to? Chilled blood is nothing special to drink.
"It's flavorless and dull. The thrill of feeding on a fresh kill is one of the few true pleasures I still have. I can't imagine why you would want to drink refrigerated blood." Nearra asked. Lincoln rolled his eyes.
"Because unlike you, I don't enjoy killing. Your job is to teach me to fight like a Vampire, not to judge me for how I feed. It doesn't feel good for me to kill people." Lincoln said. Nearra sighed. She understood where he was coming from. She could sympathize with the difficulty he was having with this situation. But she couldn't let him continue to deprive himself of blood.
His eyes had not yet tinted. At eight days, that was miraculous. Especially as a newborn Vampire. That put him on the same level as her, despite her being over 750 years old and him being a newborn. Was his metabolism really that efficient? Or had this sister of his somehow managed to make his metabolism that efficient? Either way, it seemed exceptionally unfair that a Vampire as young as Lincoln should be both as skilled at combat and have such efficient digestion that he could go for eight days without feeding. He could have been lying. But she was pretty skilled at discerning lies.
She was hardly on Nicodemus' level for determining lies. But she was good. And it didn't seem like he was lying.
"How did you manage to become so efficient with your metabolism? How did you manage to be able to go eight days between feedings?" Nearra asked. Lincoln smirked. He had something on Nearra now. She clearly was jealous of his abilities. He was around 750 years younger than Nearra and his digestion was as efficient as her own. That would mean that if and when he made it to her age, he would be far more so.
He merely shrugged.
"Mmm… So you have a secret." She smirked. She liked that. She admired him for keeping his abilities close to his chest. Still, she fully intended to get his secrets out of him. She would beat them out of him if she had to.
"You know, I like you, Lincoln. But you shouldn't have secrets from your master. I can't rip them from you like Nicodemus does. But I can tell that there's more to you than meets the eye." She said.
Lincoln nodded calmly. In a family with eleven kids and two parents, he got good at keeping secrets when he needed to, especially when he was in a sexual relationship with his sister.
"I'll tell you one secret if you promise to teach me properly and not just string me along." Lincoln said.
"Ah… So you don't trust me… Smart boy." She smirked. She wouldn't trust her either if she was him. Lincoln nodded and squared off against her, preparing to fight her.
"Hold on. We need to teach you certain maneuvers." Nearra said. She was going to teach him well.
After all, his success in combat in the future reflected heavily on her. If he was a failure, that meant she was a failure. And she didn't fail. She was a successful hunter and assassin from long before there were guns. She could approach someone with a knife and slit their throat before they even knew she was there. They would be dead before they even knew the knife had hit.
"If I teach you things, you have to pay me. Not with money, but with favors. Teach me things as well." Nearra said. Lincoln nodded.
"Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons?" Lincoln asked.
"Yes. Back in 1982. I actually bought 1st Edition D&D books as you no doubt call them, predicting that they would one day be valuable. I have now 1st Edition, Advanced D&D, 3rd Edition, 3.5 Edition. Would you like to see my library?" She asked. He nodded eagerly.
"Well, if you do well in training, I may reward you by letting you look at them." She said.
"You'll need to wear gloves though. All my books are in near mint condition.
"Connor keeps my library quite well. He's an invaluable asset." Nearra said.
"Who is Connor?" Lincoln asked.
"My Culled servant. He serves me in exchange for my precious Blood." She said pridefully.
"So he's your slave." Lincoln raised an eyebrow. She didn't seem the type to keep slaves.
"As I understand, he has a human girlfriend that he sees during the day." Nearra said. Lincoln raised an eyebrow.
"And as I said, I also give him my Blood to perpetuate his immortality." She said. Lincoln didn't think that was much better than slavery. He probably didn't have anywhere really to go if he left her, and if he did leave her, he would soon die due to losing access to her blood.
"How old is he?" Lincoln asked.
"I'm not sure exactly how old. But he's been my Culled for about 160 years." Nearra said.
"I assume he was about 35 when he came to the United States through Ellis Island. He was an Irish immigrant with his family. I believe he had six children. All of them were working in factories, even the seven-year-old when I found Connor. And Connor was exceptionally strong and skilled, working in construction. He was also quite artistic and skilled around the house. His wife had died at a young age giving birth to her latest child. They had triplets and twins. Those Irish, right?" Nearra asked.
"Anyway, I supported the family. I paid them 500 dollars a month for Connor's service to me. That was a lot of money back then. It would be worth approximately 15,000 dollars a month by today's standards." Nearra said. Lincoln smiled. So she hadn't left Connor's family to fend for themselves.
"I took good care of his family. They were able to move out of the slums and move to a nice home outside of the city. The mother worked still as a maid in a wealthy man's home and the eldest sister took care of the children during the day." Nearra said.
"Why did you do so much for them?" Lincoln asked.
"I didn't do that much for them. I had already become rich and was able to live comfortably, even taking into account the 500 dollars a month that I gave Connor a month for his service. That's 125 dollars a week, which is the sum I paid him.
"If it helps appease your modern sensibilities, I now pay him 3,000 dollars a week. Of course, with the money that I make, 3,000 dollars a week is a tiny amount." Nearra said pridefully.
She was extremely well-off. She'd invested over the years. While she was mostly a warrior, she understood the value of having money. She grossed about 1.5 million in a year. With her taxes, she netted about 1.2 million a year. Once President Sanders got elected, a lot of tax loopholes got closed. Not that 300,000 approximately made much difference to her. Sanders died in office unfortunately and his Vice President took control and did a good job, then got elected a second time.
"So… What weapons do you usually use if you're hunting?" Lincoln asked.
"Oh… Well… Back in the day, I mostly used daggers. Guns were out of my price range. I was usually allowed to take whatever the person had on them, unless it was something that was important to the king or a member of the nobility. But even then, I sometimes kept it and sold it or kept it. I have several of them still. I managed to hide my artifacts away from people who would take them, even after I died. Many of my belongings were taken after I died. My home was raided. But my secret hideout was not." Nearra said.
"But I do have guns now. I rarely use them. I rarely need them. I still do take whatever belongings I can off of the people that I feed on. They rarely have much. Some of them have silver or gold jewelry from their previous lives, before they became homeless. But I believe that people only have the right to that which they can protect themselves. And once the person is dead, they have no need for their possessions." Nearra said. Her outlook was highly practical, but cold and ruthless.
"Then why didn't you rob me? I still had a silver necklace, my wallet, which had 600 dollars in it and things in my pockets and backpack." Lincoln said. Nearra shrugged.
"I realized that I had made a mistake by targeting you. Your blood was delicious. But if I had robbed you, they would have been looking all around for the objects that were stolen. I'll tell you a secret. Homeless people and gang bangers rarely send up many red flags when they're killed.
"If I were to slaughter a drug dealer and steal the 10,000 dollars he had on him and his necklaces and rings, there would be an investigation. But I doubt that they would put that much effort into it. Just one more drug dealer off the streets in the police's minds." Nearra said dismissively.
"Now, do you want to get started? Or shall we gab all night?" She asked.
"Let's get started." Lincoln said. Nearra smirked, showing him how to use his enhanced agility and strength to leap off of walls and even hang between the corners of the wall and the ceiling.
She worked with him through the night until he got it down relatively well. He was hardly perfect. But she showed him first how to do it in a vacuum, namely how to do it when he wasn't threatened in combat. She would continue to train him and then start to work with him on integrating it into combat so that he could escape attackers and outmaneuver them. It was a long night and Lincoln was tired by the time he finished and starting to get hungry. Nearra predicted that within the night, he would need to go hunting. Frankly, she was surprised, even with his enhanced metabolism, that he was able to last that long.
He must have been testing his new abilities, and now that he would be training physically, he would need to feed more often.
"I recommend you feed before you go home. But if not now, then no later than when you go to Detroit tonight." Nearra said. She didn't like having to share her pupil with Nicodemus. But she could tell that Lincoln wanted to be diverse in his abilities. And that meant that as skilled as she was at hunting and combat, she alone wouldn't be enough for him.
-0-
Lincoln sighed, heading into his house. He was pale and tired. Lucy could immediately tell that Lincoln was low on blood. That he needed to feed. She didn't even need to think. She sliced her wrist. She knew that Lincoln's saliva had salubrious effects. Even beyond her bionic organs, which would enhance her healing with the nanomachines, he could lick her wrist and heal her.
"Drink, Lincoln. You don't have to take much. Just enough to tide you over." Lucy said adoringly. Lincoln smiled, kissing Lucy. He didn't know if he could do that to her.
He knew that he had better self-control than most people his age. But as a Vampire, he wasn't sure. He didn't want to kill Lucy.
"Please?" She begged, waving her arm closer to his nose so he could smell her blood. Lincoln could feel his stomach growling. He was hungry.
"I want you to promise me something." Lincoln said.
"Of course. Anything for you." She said.
"If I start to lose control, punch me in the nose. Hit me wherever you need to to keep me from killing you." Lincoln said.
"I don't want to hurt you." He said. She nodded eagerly. He bent down, gently kissing her wrist, starting to drink from her, moaning at the addictive taste of her blood. It was smooth and rich and tingled as it went down his throat. He could feel his body warming up. He could feel his strength increasing. His hands gripped Lucy's wrist tighter, sucking harder.
Lucy whimpered, starting to feel weak. She grabbed Lincoln, trying to push him away, desperately punching him in the face. Finally, Lucy began to feel like she was about to pass out. She punched him as hard as she could one last time, aiming for his eyes, poking him, causing him to draw back, shocked.
"Lucy! I'm so sorry!" Lincoln said, licking her wrist and hurrying her up to bed, calling Lisa. Lisa sighed.
"Okay, Elder Brother. I assume from your panic that you lost control and drank from Lucy and now she's anemic?" Lisa asked. Lisa may have not had much in the way of social graces.
But she could predict things that had to do with science really well.
"Y-yes… She's even paler than usual and I'm worried about her." Lincoln said.
"I'm not surprised. She's got a very slight figure. I recommend you don't avail yourself of her blood again. However, I wouldn't worry unduly. She's anemic right now. She's probably not feeling well. But the nanomachines will act quickly to cause her blood cells to replicate and she'll be fine within 24-36 hours. I can come over and give her a blood replenishment serum to make it happen faster if you like.
"However, doing it too fast can cause some level of shock. So I recommend you don't have me do it." Lisa said bluntly. Lincoln sighed.
"And you're sure she'll survive even if we don't?" Lincoln asked.
"No. I'm not sure. But I'm comfortable with 99% certainty that she will be fine. I recommend she rest through the night and undertake only light activity tomorrow and tomorrow evening." Lisa said.
"I'm aware that she has her celebration for Yule tomorrow. However, if she undertakes any intense activity, she may find herself unable to do any celebration. So at least have her rest today and tomorrow until sunset." Lisa said, wanting Lucy to be able to celebrate her festivals. She didn't know much about Lucy's practice of witchcraft. But she did know a great deal about Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Germanic, Gaelic and multiple other Mythologies. She knew a great deal about the gods that they worshiped and the religious practices. She could have been a teacher of religion.
The fact that she didn't believe any of it was irrelevant. She studied it as if they were legends. Christianity was just as believable to her as Islam or Egyptian Religion or Greco-Roman religion was. In other words, not believable at all. However, if Lucy believed in it, Lisa wanted her to be able to practice it and didn't judge her for it. Lisa sighed.
"I'll be over shortly. I'm up right now anyway working on a new invention." Lisa said. She hoped to have it finished by the New Year. But she wasn't sure she would.
It was difficult to get it down right and the traits that she wanted it to have would make it difficult to get to the level that she wanted it to be.
"Okay. What are you working on?" Lincoln asked curiously.
"It's a surprise for you and surely will be for your lovers in the future." Lisa said. Her lack of social skills made it so she didn't really think to just call Lucy and Jordan Lincoln's 'girlfriends'. After all, Lucy was Lincoln's sister. While Lisa accepted that they were dating, she was both more or less than a girlfriend.
-0-
Lisa knocked on Lincoln's door, heading inside without waiting to be allowed in and heading upstairs, tracking water and dirt through the house. Her concern wasn't for the cleanliness of his house, and besides, she was giving him three cleaning androids for his house that would work during the day when the majority of people were out or at night when everyone was asleep. They would assess when the best hours to work were and would work quickly and silently. They would be largely self-cleaning and would charge themselves when they got down to 20% battery.
They were almost entirely self-sufficient. They could open doors on their own, go up and down stairs on their own and navigate around the house and determine what still needed to be cleaned and what didn't. They would go back over places that they did clean, but someone walked over between. They were incredibly advanced. But she was also working on something for Lincoln alone. She was sure that it would help him become the best Vampire he could be.
"Let's go take a look at Lucy. How much blood do you think you took from her?" Lisa asked.
She went in, knocking on Lucy's door.
"Elder Sister… May I enter?" Lisa asked. Lucy moaned. Just imagining Lincoln ravishing her, forcing her down and taking her blood had been an incredible rush. As Lisa walked in, she went over to the dark-haired girl's bed, looking into her eyes and taking her blood pressure, checking her pulse. All were weak. Lincoln had taken more blood than Lucy could comfortably give. He probably would have killed Lucy if she hadn't poked him in the eyes before he could.
"Okay… You should be fine. I estimate that he took about 1.5-1.8 liters of blood." Lisa said. Lucy was fairly severely anemic, but not dead yet. Her advanced healing due to the nanomachines. Lisa injected her with a regenerative serum. That wouldn't replenish Lucy's blood as quickly as a blood replenishing serum. But it would do it faster in conjunction with nanomachines than either could do alone.
"Thank you, Lisa. How is your project on Lincoln's gift coming?" Lucy asked.
"Quite well. It probably won't be ready by Christmas.
"Unfortunately, this is a complicated serum. Making a serum that can replace what I call Hemopathic Blood in the Vampiric diet is… A complex prospect." Lisa said. Lucy nodded.
"I'm sure it is. And I appreciate the work you're putting in." Lucy said. Of course, Lisa was receiving 10% of Lincoln's annual net income based on the Full House Gang merchandise that was made and his newer comics that he made, which were really starting to take off. So it wasn't like she had any reason not to avail him of her scientific prowess.
"Of course. With all the money that Lincoln brings into my research, I'm happy to help where I can." Lisa said.
"I recommend strongly that you have something hearty to eat, go to sleep soon and then rest tomorrow during the day. I'm aware that you have your Yule celebration tomorrow night. You'll undoubtedly be bringing Lincoln with you." She left Lucy's room and then went downstairs.
"Lucy will be fine. Make sure that you drink at least one of these if not both." Lisa said.
She handed him two pouches of blood. She had two pints of blood. That should be enough for Lincoln, she assumed, given that his bionic organs made his metabolism more efficient anyway, thus allowing him to do more with less food.
"What if I don't need both pouches?" Lincoln asked. Lisa thought for a moment.
"Then put it in the fridge and I will come take it back tomorrow. It's better if you don't keep pouches of blood around your house, even if you'll drink it within a few days." Lisa said.
Lincoln poked a straw into the blood pouch, drinking it down. It wasn't nearly as good as Lucy's blood had been. It was strangely cold and lifeless. Nearra had been right that chilled blood was boring compared to blood from a living person. And he was sure that there might be other benefits to the blood of living people. Still, he wished that he didn't need to drink blood, despite the addictive taste and rush that he got from it. Lisa let him down both pouches and then took the plastic pouches themselves, putting them in a biohazard cooler, heading out, making sure he remembered to keep Lucy inside and resting.