Meet the Ancients: Chapter 8

She sat up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Erik it wasn't you, nor was it your fault . . ."

I interrupted, "Yes it was."

She put a finger on my lips and said, "Listen. It was me. I've found that it is fairly easy to access and control both of our emotions. When I felt your blood lust the first time it so aroused and excited me that I hungered for more. You stopped too soon for me so I pushed you into it a second time and built it up to the point that you couldn't stop. When I felt your fear I shut down what I was doing. Then you stopped. On your own. I did not do it." She looked down and continued, "And I was still angry about your controlling me physically, so I worked very hard to control you emotionally. I think that I find it so easy because it is similar to how I use my telepathic skills. What we really need to do is teach you how to do what I do."

I felt relieved and a little upset at her, but I could understand how enthralled one could get during a blood lust. I asked, "You were mad at me so you had me almost kill you?"

She responded, "You didn't almost kill me. Due to my lack of experience in how intense the blood lust gets I caused you to feed longer than I should have. You also didn't feed enough to take me that close to death. I have gotten close enough to death due to blood loss to know how it feels – close enough that I needed to be transfused with 6 units of blood, you know 1 ½ quarts. How I feel now is no where near how I felt then."

I sat back against the head of the bed and asked, "You are sure?"

She smiled and curled up next to me. "Yes; though I could stand to drink some of your blood if you are interested in a repeat performance tomorrow."

I inquired, "Did Wolfram almost kill you?"

"No. It wasn't because of a vampire. It was from an accident."

I bit into my wrist and held it out for her to drink. She took it and drank briefly before letting go. I tried to give her my wrist again. "You need more", I stated. She shook her head. "Please, for me", I implored. She gave me a look that made me think she was going to refuse me – but she took my wrist again and drank some more. I watched as the bit marks on her faded away, and then I thought of something. "You said "a vampire", not him or Wolfram. You have had other vampires drink from you?"

She sighed, "Besides you and Wolf I've not given, but sharedblood with four other vampires – all Ancients. And before you ask, I had sex with all four of them too; blood and sex always seems to go together with you vampires. Wolf was a constant in all of those encounters."

I thought about that for a moment and started to suspect something. "Was Alric one?"

She gave a snort. "Yes he was, I can't believe you care one way or another . . . Oh shit!" I saw that she comprehended what I suspected. "You think that Wolf, Alric and the other three are the group that he is a part of."

I nodded, "It is typical vampire behavior."

She looked thoughtful, "Well I doubt that I know what their real names are. Alric used Rick. The others were Elise, David, and Valerie. Of course I would recognize them if I saw them."

So the Ancient group consisted of 3 males and 2 females. Might be a good idea to see if another male and/ or two females show up at Fangtasia. The way Wolfram was referring to his group has made me think that they are all in the area right now. And all that ancient blood in Magan explains something else.

I remarked, "That also explains why you are so strong for a human. In a way it is a relief – I do not have to worry about hurting you as much as I would with an average human."

She nodded, yawned and looked over at the clock. "It's 5:10 AM – what time do you need to sleep? And do you need to leave for a lair soon?"

"I can stay up for about an hour after dawn as long as I stay out of the sun. It is too late for me to leave Fangtasia, but I had this room made into safe day quarters. The doors can only be unlocked from the inside and are steel reinforced. You can stay or leave, but I would enjoy it if you were here when I awaken at about 5:00 PM."

"I'll be here – but I need to go home, feed my animals, get some clothes, and get some food. How do I get back in?"

I got up and reached for her hand. "Come with me and I will get you a set of keys and show you what you need to know." We exited the bedroom and entered the living area. I told her, "When you come back you can use this room until I get up."

She nodded.

As I led her over to the stairs she commented, "No clothes?"

"It is my bar. I can do as I want. Besides I think imagining you naked would be a better image to occupy me when I am busy enthralling the vermin."

She giggled. As we started up the stairs I asked, "If you are not doing anything this weekend I would like for you to stay here with me. I am stuck working Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. You can choose whether you want to stay downstairs or accompany me as I hold court."

"I would love to stay. I have a service to take care of the horses, but I would need to bring my pets if I stay here. I will also need a small refrigerator to keep some food in and an internet connection for my laptop. I'll probably spend part of the time downstairs and part upstairs. By the way, if I am upstairs will you dance with me?"

"I will call my day people and have a fridge delivered. Give me a list of the types of food you want and I will have that delivered as well. The pets are not a problem, if that is what I have to do to keep you here. I have never danced in my club, however for you I will have to consider it – but I am not making any promises."

"You might enjoy it. Don't bother having food delivered. I already know what I like and what I need to keep my blood levels up. I'll bring it with me, but I will need some help bringing it in."

"What do you mean? Is not food all the same?"

She looked at me as if I was an idiot. "You would think that vampires would have an interest in how humans manufacture blood. Certain nutrients are required to produce the various components of blood. K for platelets, B and E for red cells, C for white cells, iron for hemoglobin. So if one needs to replenish the volume of blood in their body they need to consume foods that are high in these nutrients, as well as plenty of water. Supplements in the form of pills just don't work as well."

"So that is why you were so furious with Wolfram when he mentioned that you had started taking vitamins and iron. He knew that you planned on allowing me feed on you. I could not figure out why you responded the way that you did at the time."

"I didn't feel it was his information to give out."

We entered my office. I opened a drawer and pulled out a key ring with 6 keys on it. "These three are for the locks on the back door. This one is for the lock on the gate to the parking lot. However, you should not need it today as it is delivery day and it stays open. And these two are for the locks on the door at the top of the stairs. There is a keypad for the alarm just inside the back door. The code is *357415*. The internet network is wireless and the password for the network is ValHallA."

I glanced at the bar receipts, we had a good night last night. Then I dialed the phone. "Kyle, I need a small refrigerator delivered to Fantasia today before 5:00 PM." I hung up and looked over at Magan. "Come with me."

I led her out into the empty bar and called out, "Ginger!" She came running out of the door leading to the employee lounge. "Yes Maste."

"This is Magan – treat her as you would me. There will be a small refrigerator delivered later today – have them leave it in the outer room of my private quarters and plug it in. I will be staying here for the day. Magan will be staying with me – but she will be leaving later to run some errands and then returning. She has keys. That will be all."

She said, "Yes Master", then turned and left.

During this exchange Magan had walked over to my throne and was now lounging in it with one leg resting over the top of one of the chairs arms displaying herself for me. I am not going to be able to sit there tonight without remembering her in my chair. If it was not so close to sunrise I would have taken her then and there. She had an amused look on her face. As I started in her direction she asked, "So what's with all the lord of the castle, high muckity muck crap?"

"Come downstairs and I will tell you. The sun will be up soon and I do not wish to be up here when it happens." We walked over to the stairs and through the door. I turned and locked the door, and then we started down the stairs. I asked her, "How do Alric, Wolfram and their contemporary's act around each other. What type of hierarchy do they use?"

"They don't have one. They treat each other equally. I have noticed that most of them tend to defer to Alric – except Elise. They don't have a tendency to have humans around – but will treat them equally also."

We had reached the living area. "Chairs or bed" I asked.

"Bed"

We walked over to the bedroom but I stopped her just outside the doors. "These unlock from the inside – but you need to relock them when you leave. To do that you need to press on the relief figures in a set order. Do you know which one is Odin and which is Thor?

"Yes." She pointed to a figure seated on an eight-legged horse. "Odin is the one eyed guy here on Slepnir and Thor is the one over there with a hammer."

"Good. The order is Odin, Freya, Thor, Freya, Thor, Odin, Thor, Odin, Freya."

"Sounds easy enough."

We entered the bedroom and I locked the doors behind us while she climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her. I joined her, slipping between the silk sheets. "We have a strict hierarchy. The Kings and Queens have almost complete authority, only the Magister can command them – but his authority is limited to making sure we all follow our laws. I am what is referred to as a Sherriff. Sherriff's rule over an area under the authority of a King or Queen. Any vampire living in an area is expected to do whatever their Sherriff tells them to. Humans are considered to be lowest in our hierarchy."

She remarked, "Sounds rigid and medieval to me."

"It is based on that system; we have used it for hundreds of years."

"You do realize humans have evolved past using that type of system. We consider it to be archaic and barbaric. The closest we have to it would be a dictatorship, and the majority of nations disapprove of dictatorships. Did you know that the longest continuous government in the world is just over 230 years old? "

"That can not be true, most of the European countries have been around for much longer than that."

Countries may be older, but their government's have progressed to ones that value the people who live in them. Europe's monarchy's turned into representative forms of government; and you are living under the oldest form in use, The United States."

I thought about what she was saying. It sounds like some of what Godric was saying up on that roof. Maybe this is what he was trying to tell me. Then I remembered what I needed to ask her to do.

"Hear me out before you answer; could you defer to me when we are around other vampires? If you don't it will make me look weak and could be dangerous for you."

She appeared to consider it. "And in private?"

"I will treat you as an equal."

I can not believe I just said that to a human.

She asked, "What about when Alric or Wolfram is around?"

"Act as you always have around Ancients."

"So in other words; when in Rome do as the Romans?"

"Exactly."

"I'll try - but it is not going to be easy."

"If you can just do that, and not snap at me if I correct you it would help." I paused, I can feel that dawn is well past. "Do not be surprised if I go still soon."

She gave a little grin, "This will be a new experience for me."

Looked at her, "How so, Wolfram is a vampire."

"Remember – they don't sleep." I nodded as I remembered she had told me that the night we met. She went on, "I'm tired, let's just turn the lights out and hold each other while I fall asleep." She cuddled up next to me and I wrapped my arms around her. She sighed and fell asleep quickly while for me everything went black.

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