Note: The real reason I had to end the last chapter was because of how long this one was going to be. (You all asked for it!) Just read the title, and without looking at how tiny the scroll bar is, you already know this is going to be ridiculously long and drawn out but if you happen to be curious about Taylor, Courtney and Lucas, then you might make it through this chapter. I'll add in some juicy parts to make it worth your while. (It's 11,000 words, 13 pages on Word typing in Times size 12)
(Earlier note) I just watched the movie "Gray Matters" (Excellent and funny film) so I'm feeling pretty lesbian. Brunette, Soldier, and Insanity, my old faithfuls. You will all be getting sexual favors from me for your gracious reviews. (Sorry James, I'm gay. Recall 'truth or dare' a few months ago). Insanity, you'll have a wait three or four nights because I'll be tied to B's and S' bed for awhile. Hopefully during that time I'll be getting some inspiration for the chapters to come you all have been waiting for between Luke and Allison. How do you readers feel about a little sadistic woman on woman? Because you'll mouth water after Courtney kidnaps Allison later on.
Opps. I've said too much.
Chapter 14 – The story of Courtney and how she became Vengeance, the vampire Taylor, and the vampire Lucas.
Part One.
"Clarity. Where do I start?"
There were so many things, endless amounts of wonders that I knew would take more than one night for him to express in words, but I wanted Courtney first. I'd been waiting for her story, after all. "What you know of Courtney Vengeance." Why you won't help Taylor destroy her, what you feel for her. But I kept those thoughts quiet in my head.
The fire was warm, so comforting. And we sat in the midst of candlelight on that bear skin, lounging on the floor like any couple would. He spread his body out to lay down, still holding his torso up with one arm and curved himself slightly around my sitting position of crossed legs. So simple, so fond it felt against the heat of the fire. I wondered if he liked it's radiating warmth, but I wondered many things. He nodded his head and his blond hair almost sparkled in that orange dance of flames, his eyes looked at the ground as he decided where to begin.
"I mentioned before, Courtney wasn't always a monstrous being. She was mutated from a kind vanity during her mortal life, some three hundred years ago."
I shifted my body to sit more comfortably; reclined back and set my weight on the palms of my hands. He seemed distracted for a moment as my chest shifted with the rest of my body, my hair fell over my shoulder and reached the fur of the animal, and then I cleared my throat and he looked back up at my face again with a guilty smile.
"This tale might have to be spaced out, and I'll answer off topic answers in between those spaces, so have some ready." I nodded. "Some of the tale I will tell you, but more of it I want to show you, the way I saw it, so you understand completely what was going through my head. And as you recall, you get a little dizzy every time I force images on you, and I don't want to make you fall unconscious."
Yeah, blacking out in the den of a vampire would definitely end well. "So, the story of Courtney and how she became Courtney Vengeance." I said for an introduction, and he began.
"You know a unconscionable version if this story, the tale of your 'Hero Stephan IV and the vampire Courtney.'" He almost scowled the word "hero" when describing my ancestor.
I tried to argue with his tone. "My ancestor Stephan was a brave-"
Luke cut me off, mockery in his voice. "Your ancestor 'Stephan Lockett IV' was one of the most vile humans I'd observed in all of my near five-hundred years of immortality, save King Henry and how his wives ended up." The vampire stood from his place on the fur and I only glared.
There was no sure emotion on my face as I watched him pace away, walking around the path of candles to pick up the abandoned rose and twirl it thoughtfully between his pale fingers. "Please continue." I had wanted answers and the chance was now. He walked around where I sat.
"As you are aware, Stephan was the first man with the last name "Lockett" to take a position of monarchy over your homeland. The King before him had taken a liking to Stephan and his family of noble blood and had no children to take the throne after he passed away. So Stephan was educated and was to be crowned the new King after that mans death, and Stephan had a very specific requirement before he could take that position."
I tapped my fingers on my thigh, Luke was telling me what I already knew. "Yes, he wanted to marry before he would become King."
Luke pointed at me with a smile. "Correct. But I'll implore you not to interrupt me again. If you wish to hear the entire story, you'll keep your mouth closed while I explain unless I ask you a question that is not rhetorical."
Defeated, I was offended with the command but complied anyway. I tilted my head and let him go on.
"Stephan didn't just want to marry, he needed to. The tradition of the throne was to take a wife if one was not already bonded with the heir in holy matrimony." His pacing continued and he folded his hands and the red rose behind his back. Masculine arms flexed in a tight shirt holding a delicate flower, what a treat to gaze upon while my ears did their job of listening. "His requirement was really quite simple. He was going to marry the most beautiful woman in all the land, no matter her status; give her anything she desired in exchange for a single male heir in the Lockett name.
"This requirement was possible. And the man, because he was still a man at this point, went to every town and village in the small country, interviewed every woman of age and finally he found the one he was looking for. A woman with radiance to challenge a goddess, who had soft and curly honeysuckle hair and the deepest blue eyes the world had ever seen."
"Courtney." I whispered with utter realization toward the fireplace. The flames jabbed to the right as I voiced her name. When looking up to Luke, he had vanished.
"Did I not ask you for no interruptions?" His smooth voice came from my left; I jumped and realized he was now behind me stretched to the length of the fur again. The question must had been rhetorical or I was just too stunned to answer, because he continued with the same amused expression. "The woman's name was Courtney, yes. And she was as human as you are and I was."
I was more silent the more he held my interest. Looks like the story books of my country liked to favor their own, if Luke was telling me correctly. Slowly I turned my body toward his face, feeling quite unnerved by not being able to see what he was doing; simply twirling the rose in his hand.
"All of the stories making Stephan look heroic, about him fending off his betrothed because she was a murderous beast, are completely preposterous. Courtney, when human, was one of the most fair souls on the earth. She treated people as they treated her, no less. She was kind and forgiving, generous when she could be; but her one and only flaw was within, vanity. She needed a mirror to gaze upon herself and she needed onlookers to always tell her she was beautiful, and she was." he paused, fingers touching the petals of the rose. His icy eyes traveled from the flower to my own eyes, and instantly I saw the image he planted in my mind: Courtney, her skin warm and pulsing with the blood of when she was mortal, brushing her long hair in the large mirror of a vanity. She smiled at herself and her young face radiated pure joy; she glanced at the engagement ring on her finger, the symbol of herself becoming a queen only a few days ahead. But then she was distracted by her own body, fitting perfectly in the brilliant dress of white satin and lace, bought for her by Stephan before she was to marry him. She sighed dreamily and cupped her chin into her hands and leaned over into the mirror, her soft curls fell over her shoulder as beautifully as water falls and her perfect pink lips curved upward. So young, so happy... What had happened to that lovely girl from before? The image faded and I held my head; the hallucination was short so I wasn't dizzy, just induced. "Of course, after marrying him and going from poor daughter of a farmer to a queen and having almost everything she desired, she bore Stephan a child most happily. The child was a baby was a girl, incapable of carrying a name. With Courtney being so young, sixteen, Stephan was not worried about a male heir. At least, not at first." I saw just blurry images in between Luke's words. Courtney's face contorted in pain as she gave birth, the grave look on Stephan's face when the baby was a girl but Courtney, still immanetly beautiful although she was exhausted and drenched in sweat, reassured him they would try again. He seemed satisfied enough.
I tucked a few strands of my hair behind my ear and motioned for Luke to go on. I wanted to find out, I did. He was a good story-teller and he knew it.
"The one problem that changed everything for the Lockett family was this. Courtney was unable to produce a second child. No one was sure why, not even Courtney herself, but this deeply troubled Stephan, eventually to the point of madness. After this news had reached him, he had the decree passed that, like blood, the Lockett name would not be lost when his daughter married; as her daughter, and her daughter's daughter, and so on."
Luke paused and reached over to pull a stray piece of lint off of my jeans. He flicked the piece some random direction and then looked up at me looking at him. "Would you like to go out with me tonight, for a drink maybe?" he asked suddenly, icy eyes sparkling. Such a human phrase to ask a woman. I was completely thrown and caught off-guard. Why was he asking me this now of all times?
"Well, yes, but-"
"Excellent." he said with a flashy smile as he jumped up. "I want to take you to a place you can't go to without me, unless you want to be on the menu for the night."
I was going to argue with him to sit down and continue the tale, but he'd said something that interested me greatly. Guess it was time for a break in the story as he mentioned earlier. I could use a drink, I thought. Strong scotch and a side of water, something like that because I was still unbearably thirsty. Besides, this gave me opportunity to ask other things about other subjects. He offered a hand to me so I could stand, I automatically grabbed it and he yanked me unto my feet and into his body, his other arm secured me into him. Why did I know this was coming and yet, I took his hand anyway?
"I was telling the truth earlier, you know." he whispered in my ear.
"About?" I asked calmly, my hands touching his shoulders tenderly. I couldn't do much until he released me... not that we were in a hurry. He was mesmerizing and I wasn't going to deny that.
"You smell rather divine. It's actually making it difficult for me..." his breath touched my neck now.
A slight alarm passed through me as he admitted this; he took in my gasp and sudden stiffness of my body and moved his head from the crook of my neck. "You don't need to worry." His voice was low, sexual over dangerous, but only in hints. I wouldn't calm, I gripped his shoulders and he lowered his head to touch noses and then kiss me. Soft, gentle. Just a simple kiss. My hardened form melted, the threat vanished. His cold, thin lips did hold meaning. Something on them made it difficult for me not to linger. He released me and turned his body the way mine was and offered his arm to me.
"Shall we?" he asked with a whimsical smile.
"One thing first." I objected. He frowned as he wondered 'what?' and I held my limbs out to show him my sleeves. I wasn't going out with one of my sleeves ripped off! I had a little more class than to wear destroyed clothing in public, but that might have been the royal blood worrying about style talking. "I need a new shirt, thanks to you."
He grinned and pulled on my arm. "No you don't." he said simply and ripped the other sleeve to look exactly like the first. I was flabbergasted. "There. Now wear your jacket over it if you aren't satisfied and let's go."
So demanding. He left no opportunity for me to argue even if I wanted to. I was pulled from the mansion and he grabbed my jacket for me on the way out. Apparently he didn't want to snuff the candles or lock his door, for that matter... I didn't question it and simply let Luke lead me where he willed; into a cab and across town. The deep, dark and dangerous part of the city a rather defenseless pretty thing like me shouldn't walk by myself, even during the day. In the deep alleys where all of the underground illegal events happened, and everyone knew happened, but the authorities turned a blind eye too for the sake of good business instead of justice.
--
Luke stepped right at my side, his arm resting comfortably but securely around my hip. I could feel his threatening and protective character even though my eyes didn't lay upon him, he never let me step before him after we'd exited the cab and walked a few blocks into this more sinister part of town. Absolutely no morals resided in the people that resided here. My eyes saw a drug exchange, very subtle and when the customer looked toward me, I looked away and minded my own business like others in this place were supposed too. Down one alley the orgasmic cries of a woman came; a prostitute thinking the darkness was enough to hide her and her client. A shady man, maybe, was smoking a cigarette with his body leaned against a brick building; he looked up at me staring and blew smoke my direction while imitating the puckering of his chapped lips. Near the end of this little safari I found myself closer to Luke than I'd started. He didn't seem to mind one bit when I bumped into him from the close proximity of our bodies stepping in tune. Could you blame me for being a tiny bit scared? If Luke wasn't at my side right now I was sure to be mugged and raped and killed; nothing funny about it.
Finally we reached a building that looked rather abandoned on the outside, but when walking inside, we came down a hallway to a door where a thick dark skinned man stood perfectly still; burly security for the entrance. A stingy look was chiseled into his face and his ebony skin glistened under the neon lights above the door that delivered us from the darkness here. He looked at Luke and I and then nodded. His movements to open the door were too measured, too quick. He must have been immortal as well; who better to guard an immortal club as Luke had implied? Luke and he did not exchange words as we walked passed him into what looked like any other back-alley club and bar hidden within the dumpy walls.
Drunks slouched over the bar table with the animated bar tender, the hustlers played pool in a corner, the smokers gave the room a dismal atmosphere, the garage band with a lucky gig was up on the tiny stage, the dancers and the supporters of the music took up what space others didn't; in a room to the side with a beaded entrance there were the illegal gamblers (vip pass only). At a quick glance it looked like any other club Lucy had dragged me into a little closer to main street. Upstairs was a different setting; it was designed like a loft, going around the perimeter and allowed me to gaze down at the ground floor over a railing. It held tables and waiters ready to serve avid consumers, both of blood and food. Luke led me upstairs after ordering the scotch I wanted from the bar, never removing his arm from me, and when I was above the others in this place I took a closer look at what was going on below.
On one side of the room, a fresh looking girl in a tiny skirt was leaned against a pillar with a man attached to her neck. A pale man with half a shirt and black pants held up by an assortment of belts, was pretty interested with that youth's neck. She seemed in pure ecstasy as she rolled her head and he shifted his lips to the other side; blood dripped lively from the fang marks. "Don't stare." Luke whispered in a low tone in my ear. I moved my eyes elsewhere; the pool players in the corner, one of them was pale skinned and he was getting his money's worth, by the looks of it. Mid-twenties-looking and thin, too thin if I was ever asked; a bandanna tied on his head and biker clothes covering the rest. I moved my eyes again as Luke pressed on my hip. The bar tender, she was pale skinned and attractive. She loved her work, or at least the benefits as she leaned over the counter with a wide smile and poured a drink for a young girl who looked too young for a place like this. Looks like drunk and easy applied to vampires too. On the dance floor was a pale skinned couple, dancing slowly in each others embrace. I thought it was rather romantic, but then the male brought the female's arm smoothly closer to his mouth and he bit into her wrist greedily; she was supported by him as her head fell back and she smiled, fangs and all. Less romantic, more animalistic. I looked away.
Finally, Luke pulled me away from making observations from the second story and he motioned for me to take a seat at one of the tables against the railing. I slid passively into my chair and he sat across from me. His expression was still stone, glazed over with harmful intentions if what he was protecting was disturbed in any way. I reached over and gently touched his hand that held my glass of scotch, his features softened a tiny bit and he handed the drink to me. I smiled at him and he smiled a tiny bit too; after I took the glass, the liquor was gone in an instant. He raised a brow as I slammed the glass down and took a slow breath. Luke's mood softened even more as I did this and raised his arm to signal one of the many waiters up here.
A young man brought Luke a glass of red liquid almost immediately, Luke tipped him well and said "Keep them coming, the scotch too."
I watched with vivid interest as he downed the entire drink in the same way I had and he slammed the glass down, with less strength than I used because he would have smashed that glass to pieces. I was less disgusted than I was before when I watched him drink blood in front of me at my birthday party, more captivated now over than anything else, but my mind flickered to a memory of Taylor and the way he drank blood like that, always from a glass. Luke saw the thought and wrinkled his face in disgust. "What he drinks is not the same as the blood here, this sweet mixture of alcohol in the bloodstream. He's the equivalent of the rich man who drinks the fancy imported tea compared to the alcoholic taking whatever beer is in the fridge. Taylor Halling only drinks imported bottled blood from Italy; usually." He added the last part because of what happened earlier to me tonight and I looked as if I didn't believe him. A distraught expression troubled him now. "I really wish you had told me," his eyes glistened with a bit of remorse, and it was beautiful and heartbreaking to see. He took my arm gently and looked over the slit again. He was still uneasy about that. "You understand that I'm not letting you ever go back there to him. Not just for personal reasons, but for your safety as well."
Now he was making decisions for me? Only fair, since I did betray him. But in a sense he betrayed me too, so now, I suppose, we were even. Which was probably why he wasn't angry still. And that little hint of something in his tone, was it jealousy perhaps? "Understood." I told him as the waiter returned with two new glasses, one of blood and one of liquor.
"What is this place?" I asked after the young man left us again. I glanced around the second floor; only one other couple and a lone man sat up here amongst the waiters.
Luke lifted his glass and sipped a little more gracefully than before. "Vampire's night club. Last one in the city." I glanced down. That poor young girl at the bar earlier was being led outside by the pretty pale bartender as she went off her shift and a new pale male took over her job. I shuddered when thinking who would miss that young fawn tomorrow. "Taylor Halling likes to keep a tightly knit community, very hush hush. He had all other bars that served vampires shut down except for this one so he can keep a close eye on it. Only donors are allowed inside here if they are not immortal. Any mortal who even thinks about bringing authorities here is...taken care of immediately."
I gulped. "Donors?" People willingly gave blood to vampires? Well, I guess if you didn't want to become the one they drained and buried in a hole somewhere... I still sank at the thought of every human in here knowing well what their pale skinned acquaintances were and still kept drinking and playing cards like it was absolutely natural. "So Taylor Halling," I started, and turned my head back to Luke. It was much easier just to keep my eyes upon him, less repulsive than the havoc below. "What sort of authority does he hold, exactly? And he didn't seem to like you at all but you know quite a bit of him. What's that about?"
Luke finished his drink before setting it down and straightening himself so he could put his elbows on the table. He lowered his head and laughed for a moment, then raised it and returned my gaze. "Taylor Halling is... noteworthy." I stared oddly at him because he answered nothing I asked. He glanced behind me and motioned for me to look as well. "Be subtle." he whispered. I did my best and pretended to stretch in order to look over my shoulder at what Luke seemed to be looking at. There was the lone man again, just sitting. "He's one of Taylor's. A little fly. He'll record everything we say here and report straight to Halling. And now that you've agreed not to aid him any longer, there is no way you can go back to him unless you want to die." Luke seemed pleased there was no way I was going to return to that fiend of a vampire.
Yep, he was jealous. "I wasn't planning on it after what he did earlier, but okay. You still haven't answered my questions, and you're postponing a whole other tale, remember?" I took a sip of scotch and wanted him to get on with it!
"Alright. Taylor is, using medieval terms for similes, like a Lord under a King in the modern age. Can't give you all of the details, but vampires have a leader group known as The Grand Council. It's just a group of old vampires who basically just cover up messes and make new laws according to the standards of the era. Taylor was put in charge of this territory, which includes this large city and the little cities surrounding, by The Grand Council. His job is the same: clean up the mess made by the vampires who reside here, keep the secret safe from those who will do harm against us, and punish the ones who break the law. We have more laws; never leave evidence of a vampire on the kill, never reveal yourself or your secrets, etc." I smiled when thinking of Luke breaking one of those mentioned laws right now and some old white-skinned man yelling at him for it. "Taylor is young, not even two centuries yet, but he was put in charge of such a large area because of his knowledge, talents, and intelligence. He was changed during the American Civil War from the confederate side, so he's supposed to be a master of strategies and tactics and he knows the value of sacrifice; kill one, save a thousand. In his case with you, it'd be kill one, save himself the trouble of hunting Courtney like he has been for one-hundred-and-thirty years now." Luke finished.
I swallowed a long drink of scotch and took the moment of silence to simply... stare, admire, gawk. Choose a word, I was doing so with him. His bone structure, long and dense, possibly German? He had a bit of a square chin, his cheek bones rose high and it looked irresistible when he pushed those muscles into a smirk or smile. He finally noticed I was staring and licked those blood-touched lips, which captivated my attention further. His eyes connected with mine, and they were just as stunning as the rest of him.
Not that I'd seen the rest of him, or planned on seeing the rest of him... I blushed as I began to deny myself.
"Like what you see?" he teased. His back arched, chest protruded and his body straightened to a very masculine image.
"On the contrary, yes." I answered as my chin rested on my hand. "I'm wondering where you are from. Blond hair and blue eyes is European, anywhere from Norway to Germany. And you have an accent; it's weak, dying with invasion of a lazy American tongue, but still there." I explained thoughtfully. He nodded toward me and gestured to continue.
"Take a guess. Correct or incorrect, I'll explain."
"...Norwegian."
He shook his head and a very thick and burly accent overcame his speech. "Du bist falsch." I almost groaned when recognizing the unmistakable old German. "Try northern Germany, but I lived in England for most of my older years of childhood and into adulthood, after my mother convinced my father to move due to the vast amount of jobs in Great Britain at the time." he added in English again, less accent, still smiling.
I made a face. "German is such as ugly language." I said. He seem offended, but not really.
"I agree, to some extent. The entire country has many dialects, it's difficult to learn and be articulate with the language if you ever lived in different parts of Germany, but my grandmother on my father's side forced me to learn German as well as I learned English. My mother was a petite blonde from England and my father was a dark-haired, blue-eyed German, and she gave me an English name "Lucas" even though I descended from strong German roots. I recall my father getting angry about that and trying to change my name to Adolphus several times through my childhood, but Luke stuck."
I listened avidly, I enjoyed hearing about his mortal life as well as his vampire one and he seemed to enjoy telling me. "I like Lucas a lot better than Adolphus, but that might be because I have a soft spot for English names. William, Edward, Garrett... Elizabeth, Katherine, Amanda..."
"Garrett?" he looked as if he were going to laugh, but he did not.
My glare was full of warning. "Better than Adolphus." I shot back.
He nodded in agreement and chuckled. "I never said I didn't like it. Different, but still strong, for a boy. I do like it."
I shook my head at him. We weren't here to discuss baby names. "So you're a "German mutt" vampire, here in America." The mood was so light, the conversation thrift, so natural feeling. It was almost like a...date.
"I wouldn't put it in those words..." Luke started as I smiled at him. "I blended in with several European and Asia-Minor cultures over the years and I know several languages... " He glanced down at a trio of vampires in a corner of the first floor. "But mortal heritage has no place after becoming a vampire. It matters from who you descended from and if the blood they give you is strong, pure and not shared with other recent fledglings. Those three in the corner are all fresh and from weak decent." he sounded like he pitied them. "Won't last long." He added.
I finished my second round as I thought about the threat Taylor made earlier, the one concerning my life. If he got a hold of me after this night, I might not last long...
The waiter came around and gave Luke his third round. "You still didn't answer my other question." I said as he set the blood to his lips. I think we were having a silent drinking contest with the competitive look in his eye as he drank. "I asked why Taylor dislikes you so much, and also, why is he hunting Courtney down anyway; shouldn't that be the job of an older and stronger vampire?"
Luke waited a moment before responding. "No other vampire is really qualified for the job as much as he is." he said. The pause he took was long and uncomfortable. I taped my fingers on the table to the tempo of the song the garage band was creating and I actually began paying attention too. Finally he made a movement, he leaned closer to me and I leaned in also to hear the whisper of his voice. "Would you like to hear Taylor's story? There's a reason we have a relationship less than pleasant and there's a reason he hates Courtney with a fiery passion."
I bit my bottom lip and thought about that for a moment. "As long as you continue Courtney's story after."
He motioned to my glass of scotch. "Finish that. The more alcohol you have in your system, the easier you can see images from me."
I raised and brow and obeyed without much protest. "I can only guess you know that from personal experience." He pretended not to hear me and glanced at the lone man again. He let out a low growl, too low for me to hear but I felt it from him, and then he resumed his nonchalant story telling. I glanced behind me, the lone man was gone.
"So I told you he was from the Civil War, a soldier on the confederate side. His family worked in law in Mississippi, but he chose a more hands-on path of life and decided to serve his southern states with the secession. He was young and naive; intelligent and had many talents, he just didn't use them for the right situations. I don't recall the name of a vampire who changed him, but it was a spur of the moment type changing when Taylor was injured on the front lines." And my history lesson began. A flash of light came from behind a trench dug into the red earth, the boom of the canon came next and made a man jump. It was Taylor, a live, heart-pounding mortal Taylor laying on his back in the trench with his solider helmet tilted and face covered in grime, a scratch here, a knick from the shaving razor there. The dirt and raw work of the soldier was a drastic look on him compared to the classy business man he was now. Drummers were in the background of all the shouting and the crying and the gun fire, they all made a symphony of chaos and lit up the starry night sky with fire and smoke. The man who looked like Taylor trembled and looked slowly down at his chest. The Enfield rifle musket once in his grasp was forgotten as he reached for his chest and pulled on the gray material of his uniform; blood was staining everything from a wound in the right side of his chest. He looked back up with those terrified black eyes and glanced over the scene in front of him; fallen friends, fallen enemies; he saw the truth and irony of the situation, that all of these men were his countrymen and brothers. Death looked upon him, and he stared back at it, accepting that he'd fought hard but wishing he could have said goodbye to his mother before he... His chest strained against the pain and every other sound had ceased. An angel, he thought it was, descended upon him, cradled him with their white hands and placed an eternal kiss on his neck... I took even breaths to steady my vision. "The vampire is long gone by now, and Taylor didn't exactly miss him when he was killed by a group of nomad vampires. That vampire taught Taylor everything he needed to know about vampirism, also how to fool mortals, how to manipulate them into whatever he so chose for them to do; several horrible things and few good. Taylor was obligated to absorb the knowledge but after awhile he became repulsed by his shire and stuck to drinking imported blood when he was in a wealthy and high-classed position. After phasing from his soldier days of a mortal, he liked the investigator scene and his power of "envisioning by scent" developed from there.
"Taylor was only about twenty years into immortality when he came to Europe, your homeland to be exact, on a hot tip that there was a huge mass-murder mystery to be solved with the Lockett family. He was confident he would be able to find the murderer and bring the family to justice for a generous fee from the family." I was shocked. Taylor was interested in solving my family's curse at one point in time? And my family riches, but that was expected by any greedy or hopeful detective who'd come to the Lockett doorstep over the centuries. "Taylor was still very young and naive at this point; his powers were barely developed. After only a month of pursuing the case, he found how hopeless it was. He interviewed dozens and dozens of people and hit a dead end every time, he thought perhaps if he waited for another murder to occur, the murder of the current king because he had a child, Taylor would be able to catch the demon who was responsible. He didn't believe an invisible curse existed, he believed there was indeed a person behind the physical crimes who had a pattern to their killing and he thought everyone who was convinced there was some evil force behind murder was completely idiotic. One of the people who shared his belief at the time was the wife of the Lockett King, she did not hold the Lockett blood and was not fearful for her husband's death even though their child was going on eight years. Taylor took a liking to her after meeting her." His cold fingers touched my wrist and I made a tiny noise at the images flowed into my brain.
Taylor, tall and pale and dressed in a nice suit with classy shoes, a big change since his mortal life. He was concentrating very hard while pacing back and forth in front of a large tapestry I recognized in one of the familiar corridors at the palace. He held his pale hands comfortably behind him and his coal colored eyes were hazy as he did this in total hypnotism. His concentration was suddenly broken and a rather hopeful sparkle filled his dark eyes as the voice of a woman echoed throughout the corridor. His head lifted and he seemed lost for words when she walked around the corner and stopped, almost startled to see him standing there by his lonesome. "Oh! Mr. Halling... I didn't know you were still awake. Do you need any thing that my servants might accommodate you with?" she asked him politely. She was grateful he was there, trying very hard to solve the family mystery.
He, on the other hand, was completely taken in by her. Beautiful orange hair rolled across her backside out of the pins that held the curls in a strange hairstyle, her pink and white dress presented her sun and cream colored skin in a much more becoming fashion than any other richer color. The Queen, the lovely Queen who had a husband and a strapping young boy, asking him if he needed anything. He, of course, had just woken up as she was on her way to turn in. "No, your majesty. I was just in thought about the case. Very tragic, indeed. I'm sorry for your hardship, I hope you and your husband and your son are all well within these dark times."
"Everything will turn out the way it is supposed too. I thank you for your services. I and the rest of my family hope that you find a lead with your case soon." She replied with a smile. Her hand touched the stone wall of the corridor; she seemed suddenly dazed and looked as if she were going to fall. He came forward with genuine concern, but she lifted her other hand to stop him from coming a step closer. "I'm fine, Inspector. Just exhausted from the days events. My apologies, I must cut our conversation short and bid you goodnight." She picked up her dress and shuffled off quickly to her own chamber. He reluctantly watched her go, staring with an emotion I'd never thought capable of Taylor Halling.
The vision ended, I sat my head in my hands and Luke waited a moment. "He...loved her? The taken queen, Taylor fell for the Queen of all women?" I asked Luke with disbelief in my tone. He nodded.
"He was madly in love with her. He wanted her but he knew he could not have her, so he was pained and distracted from the case. It came to his mind more than once during those days to abandon the investigation so he would not be tempted to do something he would regret, like give her kingdom a reason to prosecute her with disloyalty to her husband. It's a pity he didn't quit, because after some time passed and his feelings for Mrs. Rebecca Lockett did not wither as he hoped they would, it was Courtney who approached him with a resolution to his hopeless situation.
"Courtney, who had become a vampire by now and had been killing the Lockett males for decades, heard a new investigator with an impressive transcript had come to put a stop to her vengeance, and when she found out he was a vampire as well, she was enthralled and she decided that could trick him while getting him off her back. He didn't know it was she he was looking for, and Taylor, like every man before him, was misguided by her beauty and blinded to the murderer within. She was able to beguile him into her sadistic plans and when she proposed that she take care of the King so Taylor could have the Queen, he was too overcome with desire to see how terrible that motion was, and that Courtney was the guilty one he was looking for. The plan was designed so Taylor could never be traced; he abandoned the investigation and left the country a week before Courtney would strike and waited for her to bring Rebecca to him. The Queen was heartbroken when she heard Halling had given up, even more so when her husband turned up dead from a "hunting accident" a few days later." A short vision, Rebecca sat in a daze with a handkerchief against her eyes while wearing a black dress. The black didn't seem to wear as well as the brighter colors before, but she was in mourning and her tears stained the cloth as her sadness dampened her will to live.
"The night after the King's death, Courtney had turned the Queen into a vampire, faked her death in a suicide hanging so no one would come looking for Rebecca once she disappeared, then kidnapped the body for Taylor. Rebecca's personal will was not strong from the recent tragic events, and the blood Courtney gave her was not very strong to begin with. However Courtney had handled her weakened state from the castle to Taylor, the poor woman was terrified and withdrawn when she reached Taylor's arms. He spent the next five months in a secluded home outside of Italy with Rebecca trying to draw her out of her muted state. One night when Taylor went out to find food for her, he came back and she had vanished."
More images. Luke touched my hand to give me warning and I closed my eyes. A grim expression haunted Taylor, still dressing in the fine suits, though his black hair was windblown because of the run from the town to the isolated home Luke had mentioned was outside of Italy. He held an older child in his arms as he crawled over the hills, a young woman scarcely breathing. He expected Rebecca to be in the lounge as she usually was, he was hopeful a live victim she would take and become animated with the blood lust, more so than the lifeless doll she'd been since her turning; but she was not there. Taylor seemed distressed and searched the entire home for her, then outside around the hills and the trees and the vines of the wood. He searched all night until the moment of dawn and he was forced to return home to hide himself from the sun. He wished hopelessly she was there, waiting for him, but she was not, again; and the victim he'd brought for her lay dead, undrained. Right before he retired, he heard a scream from the outside and the most terrified look was struck into his eyes.
"The following night he went outside to confirm what he feared she had done." Luke finished verbally as I recovered again.
"She killed herself?"
Luke nodded.
"That is the reason Taylor loathes Courtney so much and wants her dead; not just because she's broken a few laws. He not only has the brains for the job, he has the motivation. He sees her as the fiend that tricked him and he wants revenge for his pride and to avenge Queen Rebecca. He loathes me because I refuse to help him hunt her."
I was silent. I pulled my hands together and rested on chin on my fingers with a thoughtful sigh. I had questions, many of them, like why Luke would not help Taylor hunt Courtney, but I knew in due time they would be answered.
"Do you take pity on him?" Luke asked curiously.
I thought about my reply. "No. I see he's done fine since then," I glanced at my arm and the healing wound there. "Actually, I've seen his replacement for that queen." I thought of Julia, how she had resembled Rebecca in the visions, and Luke saw the memory and laughed.
"Julia is one of his fledglings. She's... unpredictable." Luke chose his words carefully again.
"She just seemed high-energy and demanding to me."
"She is so much more than just the commanding side you saw of her. She almost has a split personality; on one hand, she is Taylor's personal assistant and obeys every order given to her by him." I recalled that side, she was so in tune with what Taylor wanted and exactly when he wanted it. "But when she is enticed... submissive isn't a word she understands."
I cocked a brow and coughed into my hand. We were getting off track.
"Anyway, Taylor's followed sources and hunted Courtney ever since with no success. Just in the past decade he tracked Courtney to this area and asked to watch over this city until she moved somewhere else." Ten years, that was around the time my mother and I came here. Made sense. "Taylor may be a fine detective, but he's not the best leader these vampires have ever seen, though he has the potential and he does well in his job of cleaning up. What he's done here in this city, in the meantime of searching for Courtney, is build two groups between the vampires; the old and classy of his kin separated from the younger 'outcasts,' you could call them." I listened to Luke's words but glanced at the punk-appareled vampires below; still young in immortality, doing as they pleased and having no consequences in a place like this.
"I don't think 'outcast' is the right word." I said quietly and sympathetically, my eyes traveling to that biker-like vampire still at the pool table. He aimed, knocked three different striped balls in at one time. Nice shot, I thought. Thanks, I heard a voice say in my head. My eyes widened, I looked around at Luke, then back down at the biker vampire on the other side of the room. He grinned toward our direction and Luke growled defensively.
"Don't think thoughts toward them, some of them are telepathic. None of them will approach us, though. Not while I'm here."
"Too old for them?" I teased. He smirked and leaned back in his chair and set a lazy arm over the backside while his other stretched across the table. He made the effort to sigh, another second-nature human gesture he didn't need to make because vampires didn't need to breath at all.
"Actually, the new ones changed in the last decade or so consider me ancient. Four-hundred-eighty-two is nothing compared to the ancients I've met, but anything over a hundred to them is a vampire who is 'wise and powerful.'
"The young ones obey the laws, for the most part, but Taylor and his people, that exclusive selection of classy and old, are the ones who live inside The Vampire Mansion, as you call it. Others just live in basements or cellars or wherever they can manage. Any vampire who leaves the city to settle elsewhere must find the vampire who owns that territory, if any, as appointed by The Grand Council and gain permission. Some vampires are rogues and nomads, and they just keep on the move so that The Grand Council doesn't ever bother them."
"Sounds complicated." I chimed in. The waiter came around with a fourth round.
"Sometimes it can be, mostly it isn't." he replied. "Not that you need to worry about it. You mortals have your own laws and politics, after all."
There was a pause between us as we each finished our fourth glass. Thank God alcohol passed right through me until my seventh or eighth glass or else I'd have been a mess right now. Luke couldn't out drink me, even if he were human. "So," I broke the silence and set my glass to the side. My tone was anticipating. "Continue with Courtney's story of how she became the monster and the manipulator she is."
"Let's leave first." Luke replied vexatiously and stood limberly. My patience was running thinner and thinner with this impossible man! How much longer did he need to stall? Just like the night before, I already knew I wasn't going to like what he was going to tell me, but I had to deal. I stood, smiling politely to Luke and masking my impatience as well as I could.
--
He secured his arm around me again as we exited and I minded my sight as we walked out of this dank part of town. "Never come here without me, remember." I nodded. I could obey that rule easily enough, if no others. "And just so we're clear, we're heading to your apartment to get whatever you need and you're moving in with me for awhile."
I wanted to stop and argue but Luke pressed on my hip, almost to a point of pain and we continued on until he hailed a cab. "I'm guessing that your reasons for my moving in don't just concern my safety." I told him after we were seated in the cab. Luke told the driver my address and then turned his head toward me and grabbed my wrist to keep me close to his body.
"What else would it concern?" he asked in a low, teasing tone. I raised a brow and his lips pressed into the thinnest smile. I showed him the night at the drive-in movie and the way he couldn't contain himself when I touched him through my memories. He chuckled and gripped tighter so that I came closer and couldn't budge any other way. "I assure you, if you're worried about my behavior in the presence of a woman as marvelous as yourself, you have nothing to fear." His cold and tantalizing breath created goosebumps on my cheek. I fanned my eyelashes as he came too close for my eyes to focus on.
He was bewitched when my warm breath tinged with scotch touched his very lips. "Whoever said I was scared, Lucas?" The air was thick, I felt suddenly warm with the frisky setting that had just overtaken us; what had caused it, the alcohol, the mischievous atmosphere of town he led me through beforehand, our own hidden desires, a mixture of them all. I'd forgotten we were inside a cab and there was a witness to these exotic events.
Our lips brushed and if only that cab driver had waited one more instant to open his mouth and create the most disruptive sound, those cold lips would have taken mine with a ravenous hunger.
"That'll be 18.76." The unshaved driver cut in as he looked back at us. Luke had already put space between us and handed the man a twenty.
"Keep the change." he said rather sorely. I was yanked out of the cab and we stood together on the street before my apartment building. Whatever mood I had imagined between us was lost. I recalled what I had asked earlier.
"The story."
"Where were we?" he inquired as he looked around the street, still rather protectively, and then we walked up the stairs until we reached my apartment near the top.
"Uhm, Courtney was human, beautiful and vain, had a baby girl and became infertile, so Stephan passed the decree about the family name." Luke nodded. I could tell he was more quizzing me rather than asking where he left off, he knew exactly where he'd stopped. "You mentioned Stephan was driven to a point of madness." He waited until I unlocked the door and we stepped inside.
"Before I mention why Stephan, and Courtney for that matter, became psychotic by today's denotation, you must know Courtney's one fear." I inhaled a slow breath as my mind signaled for my ears to listen closely to this part. A weakness was important to know, even if I wasn't going to tell the fiend Taylor. "Courtney was very satisfied with her life as Queen, but the one thing she needed to be truly happy with her vain personality was her youthful beauty; and she knew that beauty was something that faded overtime. This thought of aging, eroding away with the sands of time was truly her one and only fear. She literally would do anything to keep her beauty, which I will also go into detail later." He paused to take a seat on my couch and I followed in a seat to his side. "Losing her beauty bit by bit until death was the one inevitable end that Courtney couldn't stand to accept. Very proud, she was, but also very narcissistic and self absorbed. When her daughter was born, Courtney was forced to accept she had to share her beauty with another vessel. She named the baby girl Helena, and Courtney's innocent conscience became more bitter each day her child grew."
My complete attention was upon him, he had a smirk on his lips as he reclined in a new position. The smirk fell into a creased frown. "In three years after Helena was born, both the King and Queen slowly starting becoming crazed. Stephan created the creed that would allow his daughter to continue the line, but that wasn't enough. He wanted a son and he didn't want to accept his wife was handicapped to reproducing. He started accusing the queen of being ungrateful for the things she had since she would not bear him another child. He raped her when this madness blinded his otherwise stable judgment, beat her when she argued back of how she "could not" bear children, not "would not." and on occasion he threatened to kill her and take a new wife that would be able to produce offspring." He touched my knee and showed me these appalling actions my ancestor had committed in short sequences. I heard Courtney's scream and cries of pain, she fell over when Stephan struck a blow and then came over her... He shouted something cruel and she was in already tears. I was leaning against Luke's shoulder, out of breath when these awful visions ended. "At first it was only every now and then this madness would release, and the queen had tried to give Stephan the benefit of the doubt and blame him actions on stress or other various factors. But as the months went by, his outbursts occurred more frequently and the queen became less lenient."
I was quiet. Yes, that was horrible and unfortunate, but I wouldn't give pity to Courtney. There were plenty of people who've had worse and didn't go around murdering families. "Didn't anyone notice the King beat his wife?" I asked and sat up again
"Naturally, any witnesses to these horrible encounters knew better than to snitch on a king and kept their mouth shut for a small fee. Others who sought justice for the queen were hung on false charges virtually the next morning."
"And Courtney?" I asked him. He'd mentioned they both were driven to insanity, one by the other, I imagined.
"Before the beatings and the rape, Courtney showed signs of immorality. Her daughter was the cause of this. The mother of the baby loved her child as any mother, at first anyway, but as I mentioned before, the older and more beautiful Helena grew, the more bitter and twisted Courtney became. She started secretly blaming the infant for her loss of fertility, and accused the child of stealing her beauty, but she would never let harm come to her daughter. What she did was become obsessed with finding some way to preserve her youth and gain back her fertility; every time Stephan assaulted her, she became more determined and willing to do anything for these things. Legends of the fountain of youth had sprung up from the New World, as well as the fruit from the Tree of Life mentioned in Greek myths and the Bible, the European-based legend of the philosopher's stone, Pagan rituals of bathing in young maiden's blood to absorb their youth, and of course, vampires. Vampires in that day and age were defined under the dominant idea of the Christian church as monstrous souls that were damned to never seek heaven or hell, cursed to stay on the earth forever and never reach a judgment, drinking and living on, in a sense, by the blood of the mortal. It was a sin to wish to be damned, a direct defiance to the Christian God."
I sat in awe, listening intently while he seemed distracted from the entire story-telling process by a pen on my coffee table. He clicked the pen a few times and I went to grab it from his hand so he would concentrate on what he was telling me, but he avoided my attempt and set a cold finger on my lips. "Despite this, Courtney was even willing to 'defy God' in order to keep her youth, if all else failed. Although she was still as beautiful as ever, she became completely obsessed and mad with finding the answer to immortality when Helena reached her third birthday. I see now that obsession is simply a female Lockett trait." He took his finger from my lips and motioned to my living room covered in books and research of vampires.
I blushed furiously.
"And I see beauty is a trait as well." he added with a stunning smile. My face reddened even more and I turned away, but he sat up and kissed the top of my head. "Modest," he whispered. I smirked when recalling Lucy told me that as well, all of the time.
"Please continue the story." I said to him, sitting very still so he wouldn't be encouraged and would go on. He decided to lay down and play with a piece of my hair instead.
"Pack your things and I'll continue when we get back to my mansion." he told me finally.
Reluctant to let him stop again, I rushed away to shove a few random clothes and toiletries in a suitcase I had in my closet. It wasn't as if my apartment was a quick walk away from Luke's mansion, I didn't see the point of me 'moving in,' as he put it. "Not that I'm complaining..." I started, dragging my packed suitcase into the living room. "But I don't see the point of keeping me under your supervision at all times. I'm not a child, Lucas." Oh, pulled out the full first name. If I knew his middle name, if he had one, I could use his full name and then he'd have to answer to me...
"I've showed you and told you more things tonight than you should ever know, and if I'm not mistaken, Taylor has an interest to kill you after I'm done and I'm not taking the risk to have you too far out of my range. If you stay in the mansion while the sun isn't in the sky, no one will come inside as long as I am there with you. Any vampire with any sense whatsoever knows not to mess with me on my own property, love." He stood slowly from the couch and let his blond hair fall in his eyes and lifted his gaze to mine through those shimmering yellow strands...
I tensed as I focused on his form coming close to mine with impossible speed but then relaxed against at his touch; his arm found my waist and he lifted me unto my toes so my body pressed into his. "And I know very well you are not a child, but a woman, Allison."
Oh, he was good. I was tired but my attention focused completely on him as he did this. He almost won me over with that masculine display, almost. My hands touched his chest and his face came closer to kiss me, to continue what had almost gone on in the cab, but I was keen on getting to his mansion and finishing the tale of Courtney and I turned my head away. He growled softly into the crook of my neck when I refused but then silenced and placed a cold kiss on the pulse there. I melted out of his embrace and touched the top of my suitcase to brace myself momentarily.
"To your mansion to finish the story, Luke." I said with sudden urgency. He nodded to me with a cunning smirk on his lips and lifted my suitcase and led the way out. I turned off the lights and locked the door and we went on our way, back to that black iron gate and up to the oak doors with lion head knockers.
When Luke opened the door for me, I slipped my jacket off and couldn't help but let out a yawn. I glanced at my watch, nearly four in the morning already! The night was growing old and I had not eaten dinner or really rested after Taylor had stolen blood from me. I was so tired, and hungry...The nights events were not conservative and it was well passed my bedtime. Luke set my things down by the front and came to my side.
"Tired?" Luke teased. Damn right I was, but I rubbed my eyes and sat down on the couch and denied it. The romantic candles were burned through, the fire was barely aflame, its heat had lessened but it was still there and so embracing. Like I could just curl up and sleep right here... No! I thought again and jerked myself awake.
"We'll continue the story tomorrow, Allison. I wouldn't want you to pass out while I'm talking, that would be so rude of you." He bent down to pick up my form without effort. I tried to stop him, I told him no, I was fine, please go on. I wanted the story, dammit. Dawn wasn't for two more hours at least...
He had already slipped me into satin sheets by the time I was done objecting. I sighed and rolled over into the pillow nearest to me. Guess there was no point to deny a perfect bed for a peaceful rest. Did it matter there was a vampire looming over me, watching me as I drifted away into sleep? Quite frankly, I was too tired for it to matter enough. I felt his arm around my waist, and then his soothing whisper in my ear. "You are free to use anything you like here. The only place off-limits will be the room my crypt is in, you know the one. It would be very wise of you not to disturb me while I rest. Don't come in my room, or even look at the door." I muttered acknowledgment and the arm lifted off me. "You better be here when I wake up." It wasn't a threat, more a warning.
"Until tonight." I said to him now, my voice dreamy. His liquid voice replied the same, I think. I had already drifted into a deep sleep.
No dreams this time. I was thankful for that, I didn't want to wake up in sweat from a nightmare thanks to Taylor and I didn't want to wake up in a sweat from a pleasure sequence thanks to Luke. Both would result in a shower and I disliked the idea of waking up covered in perspiration; sleeping was a relaxing act, not an exercise.