Preview:
When Megan returned to the house there was a crowd of people assembled in the living room. Lucien was holding court again but this time his face was grim and looked paler than ever. He looked up at her entrance and nodded, then resumed speaking. “I know that all of you are frightened, but I do not know what to say right now that would change anything. We are losing the battle to the inevitable. This is what we are, my friends. We cannot live in denial much longer.”
“We've all worked so hard for this chance to live together in peace,” one man said. “We can't let this problem destroy the community now.”
There was a chorus of agreement among the crowd. Lucien listened before he gestured for calm. “I agree with you. But when we let Doctor James use us as guinea pigs we did so with our eyes open. We knew there were risks. We knew there could be. Now, things have turned against us.”
“Then what shall we do now?” a woman asked.
Lucien wavered a little, and placed his fingers to his temple as he replied. “I suggest that you all go to your homes and barricade yourselves for the time being until we can solve this problem. I promise you that I will search for a solution. Please, give me some time to think and confer with Doctor James, and I will take it up with the council as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, Lucien,” a group of villagers chorused, along with “take care of yourself. You look famished,” and other kind remarks. The crowd fell to conversing with each other as they filed out the front door past Megan. She could see the fright and concern in their faces. They represented a good cross-section of the larger human world but with one exception. They had all chosen to live here with vampires, in an utopia now fraying at the edges and stained with the color of blood.
When the last villager had gone Lucien stood looking ashen faced, then tottered weakly and almost fell. He caught the top of the couch with his hands and dug in with long sharp talons, fighting to stay upright. He looked exhausted and like he had not eaten in weeks. His skin was sallow and slick with feverish sweat in the soft lamplight. His eyes had taken on a dull red color that supplanted the grey. Worse, his mouth showed the tips of fangs. He leaned on the couch and closed his eyes, breathing hard.
Megan had never seen him like this before. She ventured closer thinking to help but he caught sight of her and put up his hand to ward her off. “Do not come any closer,” he rasped. “I do not want to hurt you.” His voice and accent had gone deeper, echoing in the room until she could barely understand him.
“This is all so sudden,” she said. “I've been down to the village and it's all over the valley. There are others in trouble like Michael. You don't suppose someone tampered with the serum?”
Lucien's face was barely human now, but his eyes regarded her with recognition. “I did not dare to believe…” His voice was cut off as he winced with sudden pain, and his hands clutched at his stomach. He managed to control it long enough to finish. “I did not think anyone here capable of such villainy. I have to talk to Arden--” he winced again and nearly collapsed to the floor.
Forgetting herself entirely, Megan ran to his side and did her best to support him, but he pushed her away gently. “Tell me what I can do to help,” she said.
He worked to master himself, then rasped, “Megan, will you give me some of your blood?”
Her hand went to her throat, trying to shield it. “I'd give it to you if I thought you could keep control, but --”
“There is no time,” he gasped. “I do not want to compel you, but I must feed or I will die.” He stumbled to the floor and stayed there without moving, breathing hard.
Reluctantly, she knelt on the floor next to him and said, “then take what you need, but please... be gentle.”
Lucien reached out without uttering a word, grabbed her left arm with strong fingers and pulled it roughly to his mouth, where his lips fastened to it quickly. Megan gasped as she felt an instant of searing pain, followed by waves of numbing warmth. His eyes opened and flared with bright red fire as he began drawing hard gulps of life.
She trembled with icy fear but did not dare move to free herself. She had to trust that he would not take more than he needed. She fought for calm and let it happen, and soon she was actually beginning to enjoy it. She felt a strong and renewed sense of affection for him growing in her heart and mind. She closed her eyes and felt herself becoming lighter, floating among a field of stars.
After a few more seconds of desperate feeding Lucien withdrew his teeth and kisslicked at her arm, then uttered a deep sigh of contentment and laid back, closing his eyes. “It is enough for now,” he said softly.
The spell broke, and Megan glanced down at the bite. There were two small spots of pink, like insect bites, spaced about two inches apart. She had expected to see ragged bleeding holes. “That's interesting,” she said. “I have to admit you scared me, at first, but it's certainly not like I remember from the stories I'd read. You can heal the bite.”
“You will find that we are different in many ways,” he replied. “I hope it was not unpleasant for you. Thank you for trusting me.” He looked a little healthier than he did. The red light in his eyes had damped down to a dull flame and his skin had returned to its normal pallor. His tongue licked away the last vestige of red on his lips.
“Where are Parvati and Freya?”
“They have gone down to the valley to help secure the village. They do not appear to be affected by the serum but that may change with time. Come.” He made an effort to stand. “I must talk to Doctor James before it's too late.”
“Lean on me,” she said. “Can you walk?”
Slowly, carefully, Lucien climbed to his feet and draped his arm over her shoulders. Megan took his weight and marked how relatively light he was compared to his height. “Yes,” he said calmly. Then he took a few steps and tottered again, revising his assessment quickly. “No. Maybe not.”
Megan steered him toward the couch, where he collapsed onto it like a load of bricks. He shook his head trying to clear it. “My ears are ringing. I cannot see ahead of me more than a few feet. Everything beyond that appears to be a blur. And worse, I am so linked to all the minds in the household that I am able to tune them out, but now I feel completely alone.”
“Then maybe Doctor James should be making a house call,” she replied. “What's his code?”
“Two seven six pound seven,” he said.
Megan pressed the digits on her vidphone and watched the screen. A few moments later the face of a young man with brown hair and grey blue eyes appeared on it. “Doctor James,” he said.
“Doctor, my name is Megan Thereau. I am a guest at Lucien's house. Lucien has come down with something, perhaps the breakdown effect. Can you come to see him?”
“What are the symptoms?” he asked.
Megan explained quickly as she could. “He's fed a little, but it's not enough. He's blind, both physically and…” She turned to Lucien for the word. “What do I call it?”
“Link disconnect,” he replied.
“I heard that,” the doctor said. “It sounds serious. I'll be there directly.” Then he severed the call.
Megan folded her vidphone and said, “He's on his way. What can I do to make you comfortable until he gets here?”
Lucien felt blindly toward her and said, “Come sit beside me. I have truly never felt this alone before. Please.”
Megan reached out and took his hand. “I'm here. I won't leave you. Talk to me if it will help.” She sat down next to him and studied his face. He looked lost and alone, like a little boy who had wandered too far from his mother. A tear escaped his eye and wandered slowly down his pale cheek, staining it light pink.
“You do not know what it is like,” he husked quietly. “We are powerful beings but we are held in check by our human passions. We are immortal but afraid to die. Our blood rules us, and when we stray too far from the true path it punishes us severely. We seek blood to live on but it is not blood alone that feeds us. We seek the life force because we treasure it more than anything else in the universe. We are exiles, outcasts, strangers in a strange world to which we are bound by what we are. We are not native to this planet, but it is our home now and we can never go back.”
Megan heard the source of his depression and tried to keep his mind centered and occupied. “Where are you from? What is your home planet?” she asked. “Tell me about it.”
“Antellus,” he replied. “A small planet orbiting a red giant, with three small moons. We can see the star group you call Cygnus in the night sky and only know it is there, for one cannot see it with the naked eye. Once a glorious empire spanning the known galaxy, now a whimpering collection of misfits scattered like dry leaves halfway across it.”
“Why did you come here?”
“My brother Julian and I came to Terra to escape a war we brought on ourselves and were marooned by a miscalculation. It was a mistake to come here in the first place, and a collision with an asteroid on the outer boundary of the system sealed our fate. My brother was mad due to a degenerative mind disease he contracted shortly before his ascension, but he concealed it well. He convinced me to follow him with false promises of glory and the hope of restoring the empire, told me that our brothers were wrong to cast us out. I -- I thought he was right. I believed in him, and I was a fool for doing so. To this day I have deeply regretted my choices.”
“Michael mentioned that Julian had a role to play in his life, too. He said that Julian took Lori --”
“Yes,” Lucien said with a faint wave of disgust. “My brother's madness made him evil. I make no apologies for his sins. If you have a chance to listen to the others they have all shared an unpleasant experience with Julian. He had caused each of them great pain and loss. My great sin was in letting it go on so long without acting myself. I suffered at his hands as well, centuries ago. I should have stopped him then, but as twins we were linked together by our blood, a bond so strong that I feared for my life every time he took risks with his own. I was a coward in that respect, but my responsibility to this community grew stronger than my desire to kill him and I had to lay by all thoughts of revenge. The monks told me to forgive him, but I knew he was beyond forgiveness. He went too far. And still I did nothing!” At this, he pounded on the couch with his other fist and sat looking miserable.
“You say it in the past tense. Is he dead now?”
“Yes. When Antonia came to us she gave me some of her boundless courage and strength and restored me. He died at my hand. I could not let anyone else be responsible for ridding Terra of such a monster. I thought I would die with him, but something in her blood changed my own and I survived. To this day I wish I knew what it was.”
“Then you don't have Julian to worry about anymore,” Megan said. “He's gone now. It's all in the past. You must forgive yourself, Lucien. It's the human thing to do.”
Lucien turned to her with eyes burning bright red through the tears. They fixed blindly on her as he said with a tremulous voice, “thank you. Thank you, dear sweet Melanthea...”
Confused, Megan asked, “what did you call me?” ♦
Web page and images ©2007,2008 Ikthalion Press, All Rights Reserved.
|
