The following night all of my devoted followers were gathered for the ceremony. I had not bothered to divulge my change of plan to Berenice and she had arranged for two goblets to be placed before her, one containing the sacred blood which she had guarded faithfully for so many centuries, the other containing blood from one of the captive humans in the basement cells. She stood before the assembled vampires who watched her in awed silence.

The room was dim and silent, lit only by a few flickering candles. My children needed little light and the heavy velvet curtains were open allowing the pale moonlight to stream in through the large bay window.

Berenice stood beside William and spoke at length to her followers that night, extolling the virtues of our kind and of the new world to come, but I confess I was not listening to a word. I stood behind them, watching the faces of the assembled throng, feeling for their thoughts. Most were excited and curious, wondering what exactly was to happen tonight. Some were sceptical...they would soon change their minds! Berenice was exultant at the thought that she would finally achieve the goal of her existence. William, however, was nervous. Berenice had told him that he was to be the consort of the Goddess and it was clear to me that he was unhappy with the idea. I smiled to myself, thinking that it was as well that I had not revealed to her my true plan! The gathering of vampires knelt before them and began to chant softly. To my delight I could see the power rising off them like a fine mist and flowing towards me, feel it soaking into me.

I watched as they picked up the goblets. The room seemed taut with anticipation and I could feel the power running through me as Berenice turned to William and drank from the goblet. She was unaware that I had influenced the young vampire who had set up the room to switch them, in fact even he was now oblivious to what he had done. I watched as she drained the goblet, her eyes closed, waiting…..

William watched her carefully, a trace of suspicion in his brilliant blue eyes, but when nothing appeared to happen he seemed to assume that it was safe to go ahead and raised the goblet of my blood to his lips. I saw the pale skin of his throat flex as he swallowed and then I was being pulled towards him. For a fraction of a second I resisted instinctively then I relaxed and closed my eyes. When I opened them again he was gone. For a moment I was confused until I realized that I was no longer standing behind him, I was looking out through his eyes!

I felt myself falling as William's body collapsed onto its knees. The totally unexpected shock of my takeover had caused him to lose control completely. Suddenly I felt Berenice's arm around me.

"William? What is it?" she whispered urgently.

I stared up at her, seeing her for the first time as others saw her. With an effort I raised my hand and watched as William's hand rose and gently touched her face. I felt the cool softness of her skin beneath my fingers realizing with something of a shock that it was the first time I had physically touched another being for many thousands of years. I slid my hand around her neck, the sensation of her skin brushing against me almost overwhelming.

"Berenice?" I whispered back, pulling her face closer to me "it's me, your Goddess…."

We stared into each other's eyes for a long moment in silence. I watched as the emotions chased each other across her face. First surprise, then understanding, then disappointment.

"But…I thought…"

"Hush, not here, not now" I whispered. "You must help me, I need a moment to get control of this body."

I moved my hand to her shoulder and she helped me to rise and guided me to one of two throne-like chairs which had been placed on the slightly raised floor at the far end of the drawing room. I sank into it gratefully and she knelt beside me.

"But….what of William?" she asked.

I turned my head to her and felt William's lips curl in a cold smile. "He is gone child" I said. "This body is mine now."

The remainder of that night is only a vague memory. A blur of sound, colour and sensation. I remember Darius giving orders for some of the human prisoners to be brought up and as I caught their scent I discovered that I was ravenously hungry. I felt William's fangs slide out as a young man was brought to the throne, his eyes glazed, and forced down onto his knees before me. I remember the sight of the vein pulsing in his throat and the sharp salty taste of his hot blood and then nothing…

I woke to see what looked like a rose. I stared at it and gradually realized that it was made of plaster, on the ceiling. I blinked and looked around me to find that I was lying on a wide bed with Berenice curled up in my arms. We were both naked and covered with blood. I blinked and concentrated, trying to recall what had happened the previous evening. I could remember only broken images, a pile of naked human bodies, a pale hand hanging down, a woman's hand with a gold and diamond ring on one finger, blood dripping from her fingertips onto the elaborate Turkish rug where she had been thrown carelessly aside. A crowd of vampires, their bloodlust fired by the knowledge that their Goddess now lived among them, reaching out with bloody hands to touch me, tearing off William's clothing and smearing his naked body with blood in some bizarre ritual demonstration of homage.

The atmosphere had rapidly become frenzied as my physical presence in the house had roused all the most basic instincts of my children, the heat and the scent of blood in the room overwhelming their senses. The few human prisoners Darius had in the basement cells were all killed and drained in an orgy of bloodletting.

Darius worried me a little. He appeared to be largely unaffected by my presence and seemed to hold himself apart from the general crowd. He had appeared suitably subservient and had readily agreed to send his guards out to hunt for a further supply of human livestock after dusk but still I wondered if he did, in fact, fully believe in the resurrection and resolved to check him out later. At the moment I was concerned only with my developing control over this new body. I swung my legs down from the bed and stood up, noticing with satisfaction that I was now in full control and able to manage a smooth movement.

I glanced over at the long mirror on the wall opposite the bed, smiling to myself. I had certainly chosen a magnificent specimen! I strolled over to the mirror to examine it more closely. The reflection in the mirror was about five feet ten inches tall with broad shoulders and the muscular chest, shoulders and arms of a man used to hard physical labour. I recalled that Berenice had told me William had been a farmer in life. There was a delicate fuzz of dark fur from the collarbones down the chest and running down the flat muscles of the stomach, thickening at the groin into a mass of curly dark hair.

I stood with my head slightly on one side, contemplating the heavy piece of flesh protruding from the hair and hanging innocently between the strong, muscular thighs. It seemed quietly at rest now and quite normal although Berenice had certainly appeared to appreciate it to an excessive degree last night! As my mind wandered back over the events of the previous evening I felt it twitch and swell in response. So this was why males sometimes appeared to be ruled by this organ rather than by their common sense! Well that was not going to happen to me. I shook my head and turned back to the bed to see that Berenice had woken and was watching me.

"This seems so strange" she murmured quietly. "What should I call you? Mother seems hardly appropriate in the circumstances…..and yet I cannot bring myself to call you William."

She sat up clutching the sheet to her body and I saw that both it and her skin were stained with the blood which covered my flesh.

"Don't worry about that now" I said climbing back onto the bed beside her and holding out my arms to her. "Come here child, I want you again."

She smiled and as she leaned forward readily to kiss me I congratulated myself again on my decision. Berenice would not have been the best host for me and yet I loved her dearly and wished to reward her for her long years of service. I knew that she wanted William, so what better way to reward her than to take him and make her my consort? I pulled her into my arms, luxuriating in the feel of her flesh against mine. No doubt I would become accustomed to the touch of others before long but for now, I intended to indulge myself.

An hour or so later a vampire knocked tentatively on the door with a message from Darius. His guards had managed to round up more food and asked if we would like to come and choose a meal from the cells. I wasn't sure if it was the unaccustomed exercise or some side effect of the transfer but I was still hungry despite the fact that I had fed well the previous evening. So well, in fact, that it almost appeared that the blood was oozing out of my pores and staining my skin. However the incredible pleasure of feeding on a helpless mortal was so intense that I was quite happy to join Berenice in the cells and allow her to select a meal for me. The two girls she chose were dragged out of the cell and taken up to our room while Berenice and I discussed our next move with Darius and two of his most trusted friends. It appeared that my presence here had become known to the Authority.

"Then let them send a representative to speak with me" I said. "I will be happy to allow them to join our cause."

Darius smiled. "Somehow, I don't think that's what they have in mind!" he said, "but we'll be ready for them."

The remainder of the evening was spent in Berenice's bed, in an orgy of blood and sex.

When I woke at dusk the next evening I felt much steadier than I had before. It seemed that my initial savage bloodlust was easing a little and I was able to think of other things. I felt that my followers needed to see me, to know that I was here among them. The previous two nights had been spent almost exclusively indulging myself with Berenice. At my suggestion she pulled on her robe and went downstairs to see what was going on. She returned in a moment with the news that some human girls had been captured in the grounds.

"Excellent!" I said. "Tell the guards to bring them before me and I shall choose one for myself."

When I walked into the drawing room Berenice was seated in one of the thrones and I seated myself alongside her and waited. A young female vampire approached me with a bowl and silently began to anoint my naked body with blood. Moments later the door opened and three vampires came in, each holding a terrified girl which they pushed down onto their knees before me.

"Only three?" said Berenice in a disapproving tone. "You'll need to do better than this!" She turned to me and asked "would you like one my Lord? For a toy?"

I glanced down at the three girls and as my eyes passed over the one on the right hand side I felt something. Some sense of recognition. I saw her eyes turn away from me and I felt a sense of desolation sweep over me at the thought that she no longer wished to recognise me. With a shock I realised that it was he, William, who had recognised the girl. The guard jerked her upright and, now that I could see her face clearly, I saw that it was the woman from the house by the river. William's woman. I was surprised that he still had sufficient self awareness to make this known and wondered what would happen if I chose her. In a moment of pure curiosity I indicated the dark haired girl and the guard took a firmer hold on her. She panicked and began to struggle but she was no match for the vampire who held her in one hand and dragged her away.

I sat back and listened to Berenice as she spoke to the group of vampires who had assembled before us but my mind was on the girl. I was fascinated by the fact that William had somehow been able to make his feelings for her known to me and, after some consideration, I came to the conclusion that he and the girl must have had a blood bond. It was the only explanation that fit. This might prove to be very interesting indeed!

After Berenice had finished speaking we excused ourselves and I ordered one of the guards to bring the girl to William's old room. Somehow I felt that I would like to be alone with her. Berenice was a little put out by this decision but accepted my instructions without question and I left her and headed up the broad stairway to the second main bedroom.

Leaning against the wall I watched as the vampire guards hauled her into the room and threw her onto the bed. One climbed up and fastened one of her wrists to the handcuffs which were attached to the wall over the headboard. Then they bowed deeply to me and hurried out. I watched her for a moment. The few others who had been brought to me had wept and begged to be released but she did neither of these things. She merely lay there watching me. I walked over to the bed and knelt down beside it to examine her, intrigued by the fact that she seemed unafraid of me. Perhaps, I thought, she was simply frozen with fear, but when I looked into her eyes I could see that this was not the case. I leaned forward and as I did so I caught her scent. I stopped and sniffed at her. This was something new! I had never smelt anything as delicious before. I could almost taste the flavour of her blood but there was something more than this. Something I had never come across before.

"What are you?" I whispered.

Her eyes widened for a moment.

"Oh Bill...you know all about me" she said quietly "you know me very well, at least….you used to."

So that was it! I was feeling his emotions as he watched her.

"You smell….familiar...delicious."

"Bill?" she whispered. "Do you know who I am?"

I felt sure that he did. That he knew her very well but I said nothing, curious to see what she would do. She did something which surprised me, something which no other had done before. She reached out to touch me, or rather I supposed, to touch him. I was astonished. No human had voluntarily attempted to touch me before. She moved the unchained arm and gave a sharp cry of pain. I looked at her arm and saw that it was broken badly, the bones bent.

"They have hurt you! They will pay for that!" The words were out before I had time to think about them. This was not me! This was William's response not mine. Fascinated I pierced my thumb with the tip of a fang and watched for a moment as a bead of blood appeared. Then I smeared the drop of blood on her lips and sat back to observe her reaction. She licked her lips and stared up at me for a moment. Then the power of my blood hit her and she convulsed in agony as her frail human form tried to knit itself together at a speed that it could barely cope with. She uttered an agonised cry and then fell back onto the bed and lay still.

I watched her, trying to analyse my response. Part of me was simply an interested observer, noting the reaction of her body to my blood. But behind this I felt a vague sorrow at the sight of her pain. A powerful impulse to protect her and care for her which I knew was not mine. These were William's feelings bleeding through the wall I had built in his mind to block him out. Somehow the plight of this human girl was sufficient to rouse him to struggle against my dominance.

I reached over and pulled the shackles from the wall and tore the cuff from her wrist, curious to see what she would do. I assumed that she would try to run, but she simply stood up slowly.

"Thank you" she said.

I stood up and watched her as she walked slowly over to the doorway to the other room and looked inside. To my great surprise she then turned back and held out her hand to me.

I stood up and followed her, taking her hand in mine. It felt tiny and warm and I could feel her fragile bones beneath the soft flesh. She opened the door and drew me into a smaller room covered in small white shiny tiles. As I looked around, wondering what on earth this could be used for, she stepped over to an object attached to the wall and turned it. Immediately water began to pour down from a metal object set into the ceiling. She stepped under the water, pulling me with her. I paused for a moment, stretching out my hand to feel the warm water, then I followed her and stood under the gentle spray. I watched as she took a bottle from a shelf and squeezed something into her hands, then she began rubbing it over his chest…..my chest! Damn it, what was happening to me? I could feel William's consciousness expanding as she carefully washed his body….my body!

I pulled myself together and looked down at her as she knelt at my feet, she glanced up at me and I saw that she was afraid. I was surprised to see this as she had not behaved in the way I would have expected. She was evidently afraid of what William had become and yet she did not try to leave, she would not abandon him to me. I recalled wondering what kind of woman he could love… it seemed that I finally had my answer.