Dark Desire – Chapter 15
Several hours later, Eric, Katy, and Daniel took an Anubis jet back to New Orleans after dropping Bill off at Shreveport Regional where he was picked up by Sookie. Katy and Eric sat side by side in two comfortable arm chairs in the front of the well appointed passenger cabin holding hands. Daniel sat in the back, listening to music on head phones and giving the lovers privacy.
Before leaving Judith's house, Katy had showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and a comfortable cotton blouse. While showering, she noted her period had started. Although she wasn't bleeding hard, her menstrual cramping was making her feel uncomfortable, so she took two Midol tablets. As soon as she walked into the family room where Eric was waiting, his nostrils flared. He smelled her blood, and through their bond he could feel her discomfort. "I'll take care of that later," he thought.
Since Katy had told him her life story earlier, Eric used the flight home to distract her and tell her his own story. Holding her soft slim hand in hand in his large callused one, he absentmindedly massaged it with his thumb as he explained how he became a vampire. The simple ministration was relaxing to her as she listened intently.
Eric explained what his life had been like, both before and after being turned. Katy was astonished to learn how old Eric was: over one thousand years, or eleven hundred years. He wasn't exactly sure. She could not wrap her mind around that; it seemed impossible to her. Eric Northman had lived through a lot of history and had seen a lot of both wonderful and terrible things. He had met and known great historical figures and been to places that most modern humans could only dream about. Hell, Eric was a part of history! That made him seem all the more precious to her.
When alive, he had been a viking prince, both warrior and farmer. Married to his older brother's widow at sixteen, he was a widower himself seven years later with three young children on his hands. He hadn't loved Aude, but she was a good woman and a good wife. They had three other babies who died at birth, or shortly thereafter. Aude, died of a fever after giving birth to their last stillborn child.
Soon after his wife's death, the young widower began to court another young woman in a village not too far away. He hoped to marry to marry her soon and wanted to get to know her first. He wasn't in love with her either, but it was the logical thing to do: he needed a wife for himself and a mother for his children.
On the way home from her village one night, Eric was drunk when he saw a man was lying on the road. He thought the man was hurt or ill and went to help him. Appius Livius Ocella, the hungry, old roman vampire, viciously attacked his good Samaritan and turned him. Eric was twenty three at the time. Katy knew that Eric was younger than she in human years, but she didn't realize how much younger. Her heart went out to that beautiful young man who was killed so long ago trying to aid a fellow traveler.
Both before and after his turning, Eric's life had been filled with much violence and blood. As a viking prince, warfare, including raiding, pillaging and looting villages along the coast of what is now England and Scotland, was his primary occupation. He had killed many men during those raids. He had taken many more women and men as slaves to work in his fields or as household servants. He had a reputation for being a fierce warrior. He was a wealthy prince by the standards of the times.
After being turned, he had to leave his home and his young children. Katy asked him if he ever returned to his home. He did many years later, but stayed far away from his family; he knew he was far too dangerous to them. Centuries later, he returned again, but there was no sign of his house or the nearby village; the land had reverted to a wild state. Layers of earth had probably covered what remained of his home. He hoped that one day an archeologist would discover the ruins. He wanted to visit again, someday.
He had no idea if his family had survived, or if he had any living descendants today. There was simply no way to find out if his lineage survived. He didn't tell Katy, but he sometimes envied new vamps who were able to stay connected with their human families because of synthetic blood. Bill Compton's relationship with his own living descendants had often stuck in his craw. Katy sensed his loss and closed both of her hands over his big one.
After being made vampire, there was even more blood and violence and fighting. The first year was the worst. He remembered the constant bloodlust and lack of control. He unintentionally killed his victims, sometimes ripping them apart until he learned how to control himself. He also learned the extent of his new strength and vampire powers. He began to like what he was. He began to like and appreciate Appius' companionship.
Her heart ached for him when he told her about Appius. His feelings for his maker were complicated: filled with fear and hate, and eventually love and devotion. His eyes tightened and his face closed down when he told her how Appius had repeatedly raped him during those early years. He had struggled mightily, but he was no match for the much smaller, but much older and so much more powerful vampire.
Appius had been a homosexual when human and continued to prefer handsome young men or, even better, young boys even after death. Eric's beauty and strength appealed to him like no other had for a long time. Eric had hated being forced to have sex with his sire. He hated his maker's absolute control and dominion over him; then eventually he began to enjoy it himself. Eric definitely preferred the opposite sex, but he admitted that he had sometimes enjoyed sex with men, but that hadn't happened in a very long time.
He was never sure if it was real love on his part that made him desire Appius back then, or if it was his maker's dominion over him. Nevertheless, he had eventually come to love Appius. Appius had saved his life more than once; he had been maker, teacher, lover and friend. The old roman soldier had been a big part of Eric's life for a long time, and Eric wasn't ashamed of it. Still, he admitted that he was glad that Appius was dead now.
He and his sire were constantly moving, constantly running, constantly hiding, and constantly hunting humans for food. Vampires could not congregate in large groups in one place. There simply were not enough living humans around to feed a large group of his kindred, besides it wasn't safe. Much of their lives had been spent in isolation, roaming Europe, Asia and even Africa. Their lives were often consumed with loneliness and the constant fear of being caught.
He was chased and nearly killed by humans so many times he lost count. Those were the times that he learned to despise humans. He thought they were inferior, weak, petty beings. Still, he began to study humans and the way they thought, learning the nuances of their emotions, learning to confuse and trick them, learning to survive by any means necessary.
There were times of immense cruelty and violence perpetrated against him, and perpetrated by himself on others. He didn't try to hide it, nor did he try to excuse it. He expected Katy to be shocked by what she heard, but if she was, she did not show it. She listened to everything without judging him. She didn't comment. She realized that if she loved Eric, she would have to accept all of him, and that included his past.
Eric spoke about the good times in his life, too. Exciting times; times when he was able to stay in one place for years at a time, sometimes living in a nest with other vampires. These were the times when he learned about the sciences, music and the arts, when life was relatively easy. He had come to America over one hundred years ago. Of course, modern life with it's synthetic blood, eager blood donors and all of its conveniences was the best possible world for him.
After he left Appius, there were centuries of loneliness broken only by brief respites with human companions. He spoke of how he met his only child, Pam Ravenscroft, shortly after releasing a human companion. He was lonely once more, so he attacked, killed, and turned the beautiful young woman one night. He wanted a new companion and lover to fill that empty void.
Pam loved being a vampire, and he had loved her in his way, but she did not love him. Life together was exciting, but eventually the passion between them died. He released her to live her own life, but she came back to him whenever he needed her. Now, Pam was a big part of his life; they were friends, and they were closer than most makers and their children. He wanted Katy to meet Pam soon. Through their blood bond, Katy knew that it was important to Eric that the two most important females in his life liked each other.
Silent tears wet Katy's face as she listened to him talk about his loneliness. Eric leaned over, tipped her face up to his and licked her tears away softly with his tongue. He didn't want or need her pity, but he knew what Katy felt was so much more than that. He was grateful.
As their plane circled the airport in New Orleans, he told her more about his relationship with Sookie Stackhouse, and how he lost her to Bill Compton. His eyes were filled again with pain when he talked about the telepath. Katy could feel through their bond how much losing Sookie had hurt him, and her heart went out to him again.
Finally, Eric began to talk about his sibling, Alexei Romanov; the gruesome murders he committed, and how he was killed by Dermot, Sookie's fairy uncle. He explained how his maker, Appius, savagely attacked Sookie's mind, breaking their blood bond, trying to destroy her telepathic gift before being killed by Niall Brigant, Sookiie's great grandfather and fairy prince. Appius did all of this because he knew Eric loved Sookie more than he, and the ancient vampire was consumed with hatred and jealousy.
He described the terrible battle that he fought, and lost, with Bill Compton over Sookie. He had given up, knowing that no matter how it came out, she was lost to him forever. His voice trembled with emotion as he described how he had watched them making love in the cemetery immediately afterward. It was then that he finally realized there was no hope for them. Watching Bill and Sookie together that night nearly destroyed his will to live.
Katy was glad that Eric had lost that battle. In a soft voice, she confessed that although, she felt sorry for what he went through, she was very glad that he was no longer bonded to Sookie. "You are mine, and I am happy that we are bonded with each other now," she told him as she kissed the palm of his hand. Eric's eyes were stark, but he smiled when she said that.
He had been very somber and serious as he talked about his life. Katy decided to lighten his mood and began to tease him. She began to call him, "Old Man," even though she was actually eight years older than him in human years.
As she sat there, she wondered how much longer would he find her attractive? Would he want to turn her someday? Would she say yes? Somehow that thought didn't frighten her as much as it should, but now was not the time to think about it.
Eric's mood brightened. He was amazed at Katy's calm acceptance of him. He knew most human women would have been horrified and sickened by his life story. He pretended to be offended by her teasing. As they began to debark, he whispered in her ear, "Old man, my ass, lover! Just wait till I get you home. I'll show you what an old man I am," as he pinched her butt.
"Promises. Promises," she laughed lightly at him.
An hour before daybreak, Tiffany Coulter sat in the huge first floor parlor in the mansion that served as the gathering place for fangbangers at the king's palace. The beautiful blonde woman had returned two just days ago from California.
Almost six weeks had gone by since she had taken a red-eye to Los Angeles, and a commuter flight home. She had fled after seeing the red haired vamp, Peter Kenyon, attack Ralph Thompson in the hallway outside his apartment. She had wasted no time getting out of town. She spent most of the time at her mother's mansion in Napa Valley, shopping and pampering herself in every way possible.
Her mother was the Congresswoman who represented Napa Valley. Three weeks into the visit, her mother had introduced her to Gaetano Califano at a fund raiser held at the vamp's mansion. Califano was a vamp who owned a large vineyard and was a huge financial supporter. Her mother supported many of his causes and was one of the sponsors of the Vampire Rights Bill in Congress. Of course she had received millions of dollars in donations from Califano and other vamps throughout the United States.
When she was younger, Tiffany had not paid much attention to her mother's friends and political supporters, but her V addiction made her want to get to know Califano now. She soon became a regular at his mansion. The old vamp did not pay any attention to the young blonde, he preferred dark, oriental males; the younger the better.
Undaunted, Tiffany hooked up with a gorgeous dark haired, dark eyed Italian vamp who worked on Califano's security detail. Dante Capelli was twenty eight when he was turned fifty years before. At first, he was intrigued by the new young blonde in their midst. She was beautiful and seemed so innocent, but soon it became apparent how debauched, shallow and self absorbed the young blonde was.
Tiffany's only concern was scoring V, being bitten by, and having sex with vamps. She was conceited and arrogant and caused trouble with the stable of fangbangers they used to serve the needs of Califano's many visitors and mostly male staff. The women, especially, hated her.
Dante showered Tiffany with gifts for a few weeks, drank her blood and had sex with her almost every night. She flaunted that fact and lorded it over the other fangbangers who hung out at the palatial estate. Finally he got tired of her antics and dumped her without warning. Tiffany didn't love Dante, but she sure loved the prestige his attention and presents got from the other girls. It made her feel important and superior.
One night shortly before he dumped her, she accidentally overheard Dante and other vamps talking about some woman called Katy Dumont. They had been searching for her for weeks on behalf of Califano. Their master was very angry that the woman seemed to have disappeared without a trace. From their conversation, it was clear that Califano wanted to kill the woman for some reason.
Tiffany knew the story of the doctor whose ex-husband, father and father in law were pedophiles. She knew the ex-husband and father in law were the suspects in a very ugly sex scandal that included adoption fraud, but had been recently killed in an auto accident. She knew there were other men in the case who would be brought to trial soon. She wondered what a vamp like Califano wanted with Katy Dumont, but she didn't care.
She liked to watch the sort of TV programs that dwelt on that sort of thing. She even saw an old picture of Katy as a tall, slim, beautiful and well-dressed, sophisticated woman with long straight blonde hair. She never associated that picture with the rather thin, short haired, tall redhead who was one of the people posing in picture the red haired vamp dropped in the hallway of Ralph's apartment.
She had come back to New Orleans hoping to gain advantage at court. She expected to be selected by Eric Northman again. She was still in love with Eric and still considered him hers. She just knew that he would not be able to resist her after she had been away so long. She was shocked to find out the changes that had occurred during her absence: Eric Northman, the Vampire King of Louisiana, did not use fangbangers anymore. He didn't even use vampire women as he had done before.
Rumors abounded that Eric had fallen in love with a human woman who ran away from him. He had spent the last six weeks desperately looking for her. "What a fool, that woman is." Tiffany thought to herself. "I'll make him forget that bitch in no time!"
This morning, she had fallen asleep in the front parlor after servicing one of the vamps in their lounge near Eric's office. She was awoken by the sound of voices and footsteps entering from the back door. As the voices came nearer, she saw Eric Northman, and a human woman heading for the large double stairway that graced the grand foyer of the old mansion. The two headed up the stairs toward the king's private quarters. Tiffany was shocked by that; King Eric never allowed the fangbangers upstairs.
The woman was tall and thin with short, red hair; she walked up the stairs several steps ahead of Eric who was talking on his cellphone. Once she reached the first landing, Eric must have said something to her. He reached out and touched her causing her to stop and look down at him. The woman smiled and leaned down a little and touched his face in move that could only be a caress. The look of love in the woman's eyes was clear. Tiffany was stunned, and she wanted to reach out and slap the redhead across the face.
What stunned Tiffany even more was Eric's reaction. He moved up beside the woman, turned slightly and bent his head to kiss her. There, in the tall blonde vampire's eyes, was a look that caused Tiffany's heart to turn ice. The look of pure love and longing for the woman he kissed was so blatant, that the young fanbanger's heart was crushed as it filled with cold rage and jealousy. She wanted that woman dead.
Tiffany's eyes raked over the red head, committing her features to memory as she watched Eric hold the woman close and whisper something to her. She knew that face from somewhere, if only she could just remember. Eric turned and walked back downstairs. The woman stood for a moment then continued to the second floor and disappeared out of sight.
Seconds later, Daniel Brady came walking down the hall. She ran to him. "Daniel, some woman has gone upstairs to the king's private quarters," she told him, half expecting him to march upstairs and drag the woman down.
"That was the king's human. She has a right to be up there; they are a couple now. Now, get out of here and go home," Daniel told her coldly. He didn't like Tiffany; he never had. Some internal warning system told him that there was something really wrong with her. He walked away from her as if she smelled bad.
Jealousy and rage so deep, she couldn't breathe, buffeted Tiffany for a moment. Thinking of how Eric and the woman touched and looked at each other, she was flooded by an all consuming rage, but she also felt the scintillating thrill of a great discovery. The woman with Eric Northman was none other than Katy Dumont, the woman in the red haired vamp's picture. She was the woman that Gaetano Califano wanted to kill. She was a competitor who had to be gotten out of the way, and Tiffany knew exactly how to to do it.
She pulled out her own cellphone. With a shaking hand, she speed dialed a number on her phone.
"Dante, this is Tiffany. No, don't hang up on me! I'm in New Orleans, and you will never guess who I just saw. Someone you have been looking for a long time. You owe me big time, you bastard," she spoke triumphantly to the vamp on the other end.
When finally she hung up, Tiffany started to laugh; it was an ugly, raw sound.
Forty minutes later, Eric slipped into his bedroom. Katy was in bed, lying on her stomach fast asleep and covered by only a sheet. The sheet was down around her hips. He could see the skin of back from the short tank pajama top down to the matching bikini panties that she wore.
For a moment, he stood there and looked down at her astonished. He wondered how this woman had wormed her way into his heart. How had this frail human become such a necessary a part of him that he needed her with every fiber of his being? He felt helpless and so vulnerable now, and he didn't like that at all.
Sighing in resignation, he quickly stripped and lay down beside her inhaling her delicious scent. The smell of her menstrual blood was intoxicating; it aroused him. Pulling her panties down, he slipped his hand between her legs and pulled out the small wad of cotton, he knew he would find there, by its string. He wrapped it up in his shirt and laid it down on the floor beside the bed.
Moving one large hand down low under her belly, he began to massage the bud of her sex with his fingertips. She moaned a little in her sleep. He could feel her harden as ripples of pleasure start to spread out in waves from the spot he touched. In her sleep, she opened her legs, welcoming him.
Moving on top of her, he held her hips up against him as he slipped his shaft deep inside her slick channel. The blood didn't bother him at all. The silky inner folds of her core closed automatically around him and began to pulsate. Moving slowly and surely, he pleasured them both with each stroke until she came awake.
Supporting himself with his other arm, he moved the weight of his body off of her giving her a chance to move with him as he rode her. He kissed her lightly across the the back of her neck and between her shoulder blades. Finally, calling his name and whispering her love for him, she came softly.
He didn't have a lot of time before the sun claimed him. He didn't have time for his own release, but he didn't care. He needed this little taste of her. He wanted to fill her up. He craved being inside her as much as any junkie craved his drug.
In words she didn't understand, he whispered something in a foreign accent that sounded like, "Yog elsker day, Katy," against her ear. Whatever it was, it sounded like words of love. It sounded good to her.
He rolled to the side and pulled her up against him with one leg between hers. He wondered if she would ever let him turn her. He was still inside her as they both fell asleep.