As I pondered his character I could feel the girl's hands cleaning off the dried blood. The soft warmth of her skin on mine was so completely different from that of Berenice that I stood, entranced, giving myself up totally to this new sensation. As her small hand crept gently up my thigh and began to soap the rapidly hardening shaft I felt a sudden urge to know what a human woman felt like. What it would be like to make love to her. I swept her up in my arms and carried her back to the bed. I laid her down and stopped for a moment, looking down at her. I had thought that she might panic and struggle but instead she did something completely unexpected. She reached up, put her hands on either side of my face and kissed me. Or rather, I suppose, she kissed William, for it was the deep passionate kiss of a lover.
The touch of her soft lips against mine seemed to flick some kind of switch and William's body reacted instinctively, fangs fully down I slid myself into her warmth and bit down into her throat at the same time.
Immediately I discovered at least one reason why William was so drawn to her. Her blood was the most delicious that I had ever tasted...
I knew that my body was lying on the bed beside the girl, Alex. Where had that name come from? I knew that her name was Alex…... However my mind felt that it was floating and I knew that I was no longer alone. I could feel him with me, William. I could see flashes of memories, his memories. I began to concentrate on them and saw that, unsurprisingly in the circumstances, they were of women. First this woman, Alex. Memories of him lying with her, laughing with her, making love with her. Behind that was another woman, this time with bright blonde hair. As I searched deeper I found others, both human and vampire and then, far back a dark haired mortal woman and William, also mortal. She was surrounded by other memories, memories of his family and his children and memories of other men all in uniform. I felt conflicting feelings, pride, loyalty, friendship but also fear and great sorrow. As I considered this, puzzled by the strange mixture of emotions I felt myself drawn to a place in William's memories. A house.
I could sense his consciousness stirring and decided that it was time we talked. He had been stunned by the trauma of my entry into his body and his mind but now he was clearly becoming stronger and I knew somehow that it was connected to the girl's blood. Delicious though it had been I wondered briefly if it had been a mistake to taste her. I reached out and took the house from his memories placing an image of him in the swing on the porch and directed his mind into the image. I concentrated for a moment and suddenly I was standing in the shadows of the porch, watching him wake.
I gave him a few moments to recover from the surprise and then I walked out of the shadows and confronted him. He was a brave man and recovered quickly from the shock of my appearance. Intelligent too, he quickly grasped what had happened to him and began to argue his case. I was pleased with his courage and self confidence as these were qualities I had been looking for in a host, however he was growing in confidence faster than I had expected. Much faster. I could feel the girl's blood permeating his body and I realised with alarm that it was this that was helping him to resist me. Wait….his body? I was thinking of it as his body! I was losing control!
Just as I thought this I felt something stirring in the blood. She was waking. To my absolute horror William took control from me and opened his eyes to look down at her.
Looking back now I realise that I had underestimated her seriously. I had thought at first that she was just another silly girl who had strayed into the grounds and been captured by Darius's guards. When I recognised who she was I thought she was simply foolish for coming here in the hope of finding William. The truth would never have occurred to me, but I know now that she was well aware of what had happened to William. She knew about me and she still came...she risked her life to try and help him.
I struggled against it but I had to admit that I could never have imagined that a mortal would do such a thing.
That first night we fought bitterly for control but once William had broken free of my dominance I had no real chance. I was much the stronger but the body was his, had been so for a century and a half and he knew it and was able to control it far better than I.
The girl, Alex had been severely weakened by the blood I had taken but she was so relieved to know that her "Bill" was back that she didn't seem to care. She was obviously afraid at first when she realised that she was too weak to move but William calmed her and she readily accepted his apologies and his assurances that she would recover. They lay in each other's arms talking quietly discussing the events of the last few nights. William tried to explain what had happened to him but it was clear that he had very few memories of the first few nights and those that he did recall horrified him. He was ashamed of what I had done with his body.
I was interested to hear his opinion of me. He considered me to be powerful, strong, but angry, full of hate and bitterness. He told her that I had been destroyed by humans and was consumed by a desire for revenge. For a moment I was quite impressed with his insight! He understood what I wanted from him. That my plans were to place my children in a position of power over humans, to rule this world, but he was sure that this was not possible. This puzzled me... He had argued this point with me earlier but I had thought him merely foolish and cowardly. Thinking it over I had to admit that I was wrong, he was no coward and clearly his doubts were genuine. He truly believed that my plans would bring destruction to us all.
Rather to my surprise Alex appeared to have come to the conclusion that what had happened to him might have been the better option. William seemed just as surprised at this turn of events as I was.
"Think about this Bill" she said. "This is why she chose you and not Berenice. Because Berenice is older and stronger, she thought you would be easier to manipulate. If she had chosen someone else, someone weaker, someone that she could control completely, what would she do? From what you've just said it sounds as if she wants to start a war. A war you know vampires could never win! Yes, she could cause chaos and unimaginable pain and terror but in the end...you said it yourself, you would be wiped out."
Hmmm...she was clever! She was quite correct in her assessment of my motives and her conclusion was the same as his. I wondered if she believed this herself or if she was simply repeating what William had told her.
They lay back against the pillows talking quietly while I fumed to myself and began to plan my next move. I was sure that if I could manipulate him into losing control for any reason, then I would be able to recover my previous ascendancy and so I remained silent and observed as Alex relaxed into his arms.
He began to caress her skin gently, pulling her back so that she lay on her side, tucked into the curve of his arm. As he did so I could feel the stress drifting away from him and his mind began to relax in the same manner as his body. Well, most of it anyway! I was aware of her warm soft flesh pressing against him, feeling his long fingers sliding into her, hearing her faint sigh of pleasure as he lifted her thigh and slid himself inside the warm, wet, channel. He paused for a moment simply holding her body against his, then he began to move his hips, gently building up a slow, smooth rhythm, nuzzling at her hair and planting light kisses along her neck until she began to shudder in his arms and I felt him release himself into her.
I waited quietly until she had fallen into a peaceful sleep in his arms.
"Well that was interesting" I murmured quietly.
"Yes, I quite enjoyed it too" he replied softly.
"But I have to say that I preferred our previous encounter. It was not as gentle, but more...satisfying."
There was no response to this statement.
"Admit it William, you feel the same. You preferred the rougher, more violent sex, didn't you?"
More silence... "What if I did? What does it matter to you?" he muttered crossly.
"Then why did you not take her that way again?" I asked in a reasonable tone. "If you enjoyed it?"
"Because it was not what she wanted" his fingers moved seemingly of their own accord to gently stroke her hair "she's tired, frightened, weakened by loss of blood, she needs to rest."
"But you are so much the stronger William, why should you worry about her feelings? She is hardly in a position to stop you is she?"
He was silent again.
"You wanted to, didn't you?" I asked, my voice lower, softer, more persuasive. "You wanted to fuck her harder."
I felt him tense at my words. "It's the truth William and you know it as well as I do. We are vampires! This is the way it should be. The strong rule and the weak serve us. This is the way our world works, you must know this!"
"Yes, I know. When I was first turned I was horrified at what had happened to me. I struggled against my nature until eventually I began to accept that everything I was, everything I knew, was gone. Then I became the creature that my maker wanted. I lived in your world Lilith, a world where the strong dominate and overpower the weak. I hunted humans for food and took what I needed from them without thought of retribution or consequences."
"You became a vampire" I said patiently. "This is what you are William."
"No!" he snapped back angrily. "That is not what I am! I forgot myself and lost my humanity for a while but gradually I began to realise that what I was doing was wrong...not only wrong, but unnecessary. There was something in me that knew this all along, Alex..." his anger faded as he spoke of her. "Alex says that it was my soul. Don't misunderstand me, the monster is still there, beneath the surface, she knows this, she's seen it."
"And that is why you do this?" I asked sarcastically "because you love her?"
He was silent for a moment and I felt him give a little sigh. "No, because she loves me! Because she trusts me. She's not a fool, she knows what I am and she accepts it, but I don't...I can't. I was a good man once, a husband, a father and I can remember what that was like. As long as I can still remember him, that good man that I once was, I will strive to be like him. To be good enough for her. I know that there may come a time when I can no longer remember him but I hope that by that time Alex will be long gone and she will never know what has become of the man she once loved..."