Chapter 9 – How It's Done
"Vampire," I said slowly, feeling the shape the word made in my mouth. "Vampire…I don't know what that is."
Aro clasped his hands together and sighed theatrically. "Ahh Philippe, to be corrupting such innocence!"
I was no longer paying attention to him though. Beneath my hand Alec's heart thudded one last time and then stopped, the sudden absence of the pounding beat seeming almost louder than the noise of it.
"Alec. Oh Alec, please wake up…" I touched his cheeks frantically, noting with half my mind that he too appeared to have the same smooth and flawless skin as my own beneath the soot and the dirt. "Alec, I need your help!"
In fear and irritation I slapped his cheek lightly. His head rocketed backwards and slammed into the floor with a crash, as though I'd used my full strength and more, and then Alec's eyes flew opened and his lips drew back in a snarl and I screamed.
That wasn't my brother! Not that creature with the flaming red eyes that flipped up into a crouch and advanced upon with his mouth twisted so fearsomely! It couldn't be! But the familiar fair hair was there, the same blackened and burned and ragged tunic, and it was my own face I saw in the mask of the monster.
"Alec!" I shouted at him. "You stop it now!"
Luckily for me he was used to doing as I ordered him. As my shouted words rang through the large room he stopped and shook his head, seeming to come back to himself as he blinked in confusion.
"Janey?" he asked uncertainly. "What's happened? What's…" He caught sight of Lord Aro and Philippe and moved to my side almost faster than breath. "I remember you from when we were children. What are you doing here?"
"Rescuing you from the pyre of course." Lord Aro shook his head. "The carelessness of the two of you being accused of witchcraft and letting them take you to the stake! But then, no matter…we're all here now, and you've gone through the change so all's well that ends well!"
"What are you talking about?" I demanded rudely. I'd had enough of his riddles and half-truths, and the fire had left my throat raw and burning with thirst. I needed something to drink.
Philippe rose to his feet and Alec and I skittered warily backwards. But he grinned at us kindly, and gave me a wink. "Don't worry friends, I know you're thirsty and I have just the thing. I'll be back."
Once he was gone, Alec and I stood shoulder to shoulder, facing Lord Aro suspiciously.
"Explain," I snarled.
Lord Aro frowned reprovingly. "Well, I shall certainly add your manners to the list of things we need to work on with you! But I will forgive you for now. You say you don't know anything of the vampire?"
I shook my head, and Aro clicked his tongue in exasperation. "The ignorance! But what else could be expected, living in the mud with the pigs? A vampire is a creature of legend, an immortal being of extraordinary strength and perfection who exists on the lifeblood of humans."
Alec and I could do nothing but stare at him. It was a tale so preposterous that there really was no response to it, and for a moment my mind was blank with astonishment.
It was a scent that roused me to action. The sweetest scent in the world, drifting in through the open door and making my mouth run as my whole body tingled with an electrifying sense of anticipation.
From the table Lord Aro laughed. "Oh, you can smell it now, can't you?"
I didn't answer him. Didn't even look at him as I was drawn magnetically towards the door, where Philippe was entering with a bundle in each arm. He threw them both onto the table with a thump.
As one, Alec and I turned and lunged at the table, the scent maddeningly me with my desire to feast upon it. Alec growled, and I knew he was feeling the same.
But before we could move we were both held fast, as Philippe and Lord Aro seized our arms and bent them up high behind our back. I snarled and twisted, trying to get away or kick or bite the arms and hands that bound me, but Philippe only pushed me a little further away from his body and laughed.
"I've learned my lesson little wildcat- you're not getting your teeth into me again! Settle down and we'll give you something else to bite, something much better."
I whined, nearly whimpering with desperation. The two bundles on the table wriggled, making muffled sounds I couldn't decipher even with my newly sharpened ears, and my throat burned as the scent of them intensified.
"Your first meal, to welcome you to your new world…" Lord Aro said softly.
A part of my mind registered that the bundles on the table were human beings, bound and gagged and staring at me with terrified eyes. But this part of me was subsumed by the all-encompassing thirst. Nothing mattered more than satisfying it, and the instant Philippe released my arms I was on the table, scrabbling at the cloth that was so infuriatingly in the way, revealing finally the thin skin of the neck and sinking my teeth into it. Razor sharp teeth, that tore through skin and sinew without effort, rewarding me with a rush of blood.
I couldn't think. The blood was so good, flooding my senses with the glorious taste of it; hot and rich and delicious as it flowed down my throat and soothed the burn. It was more than the taste though. The pleasure of the feeding could be felt in every last nerve of my body as the blood slaked my thirst and filled me with strength and fire and life. I gulped greedily, digging my teeth in further to increase the rate that it pooled in my mouth, thinking that I would never, ever have enough of this extraordinary bliss.
It couldn't last. The heart of the human I crouched over was strong, but in the face of my thirst it didn't stand a chance. It struggled to beat as the blood drained steadily out, but in the end it stuttered and gave out, the blood slowing to a trickle and then stopping.
It was only once it was done and I sat back, my whole body quivering with newly infused energy, that I looked down at the face of the man I had just killed. He had been gagged so he couldn't scream, but I recognised the thick ginger beard and the jagged scar that ran from his temple down the side of his face. The lord of the manor house I was in, and I had just slaughtered him on his own table.
Alec's face mirrored mine as the two of us looked up and stared at each other across the two bodies that lay between us. It was the lord's blood that stained my face, and it was the blood of Agnes, the cook that we'd traded with so often, that was smeared across Alec's mouth and chin and cheeks.
"It's real," Alec said quietly. He gently took the cloth that was tied across Agnes' mouth, untied the knots and shook it out, laying it over her slack, lifeless face. I followed his example with the lord, and then our eyes caught once again.
"It was so good," I whispered, as shame curled in my belly. I had just killed someone, savagely ripped his neck open and gloried in the taste and feel of his lifeblood flowing into me, and even feeling the vaguest tickle of thirst in the back of my throat made me acknowledge that I would do it again and again and again. "I know we shouldn't have, but…I'm not hungry now."
Alec nodded in understanding. For when had he and I ever not been hungry? When had we ever felt as full and sated as we did then?
Philippe leaned past me and took a body in each hand, tossing them into a corner of the room as though they weighed nothing at all. The sound of their skulls thudding into the walls and floor made me grimace.
"So that's how it's done," he said to Alec and I with a grin. "That's how you'll live now, drinking the blood of humans, and I can promise you it's always going to be as good as it was today. You won't ever be hungry again."
I looked at him expressionlessly. A vampire is a creature of legend, an immortal being of extraordinary strength and perfection who exists on the lifeblood of humans. Aro's words from earlier drifted through my mind, and I considered them. Certainly the feeding on human blood was true.
Strength…I curled my hand around one of the earthenware jugs on the table and as I closed my fingers it crumbled to nothing more than dust in my palm.
Alec watched me, and then slowly picked up a metal knife, winding it around his finger as easily as he would a blade of grass. Our eyes met. Strength…yes. There's strength.
"Immortal," I said slowly. "Does that mean…?"
"You cannot die," Lord Aro answered. "Not through any human means. There's nothing a human can do that will hurt you…you're faster and stronger and so much more powerful that any kind of comparison is merely laughable. They're a food source, nothing more than that."
"So they can't do anything to me," I mused. "All those people who were trying to burn us- I'm stronger and more powerful and I can drink their blood and kill them?"
"Well, most of the people who were trying to burn you are already dead," said Philippe cheerfully. "Lord Aro and I killed a lot of them to get you off the pyre and then the others ran away. We did hunt a few of those down too. There's no need for stories to spread if they don't have to! And of course, you were burning for three days, and a vampire's got to eat… But your basic point stands. You've risen in the world, friends."
"We'll find the others then," I said to Alec, ignoring the troubled look on his face. "They won't get away."
I jumped off the table, landing with a silent grace that gave me a sly joy as I realised that this was part of what they meant about being a vampire. I could move so silently and stealthily that no one would ever even hear me coming. Just as silently Alec landed beside me, and I went to push past Lord Aro and Philippe to get to the doorway.
"And where do you think you're going?" Lord Aro inquired.
I glared at him. "Away from you."
Aro raised his eyebrows at me. "You would appear to be under the mistaken impression that we saved you from the pyre merely for your personal benefit."
"What do you mean?" Alec asked, bewildered. "You…there was a purpose? A plan? I don't understand."
"Oh, there was purpose." Aro's eyes gleamed. "You two were chosen long ago to receive the sacred gift, and to have the honour of becoming one of us. You do not seem to understand the glory of what has just been given to you, but in time you will see it. We take you home, to your new home, where you will live forever more."
The light of mania in his eyes, the way he smiled so angelically and yet showed me those lethal, razor sharp teeth at the same time terrified me. I didn't want to go with him. I didn't want to follow him into the great, unknown future no matter what dazzling promises of glory he spoke of with his serpent's tongue. The fear rose in me like a flame, and with it came the fury for the one making me feel that terror.
No! I won't feel afraid! You should be afraid of ME, because I'll make you hurt! I'll make you sorry…
I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean it. All I knew was that everything within me, all the anger and hate and thirst for vengeance suddenly flared and coalesced into a white-hot feeling of power that exploded outward. I felt the energy leave my body and I reeled backwards in confusion, the world whirling.
In front of me, Alec, Philippe and Lord Aro all stumbled to the ground, hands wrapped around their heads as they screamed.