Bride of Blood:: First Kiss (28 page)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Within a few moments, he tore his arm out of her mouth and watched her writhe.
 
The pain of The Transformation was worse than death.
 
It was a fate that he felt her father deserved, but she would accept it on his behalf.
 
She screamed a tortuous scream that could be heard for miles, but there was no one to hear it save Anton.
 
He turned his head away and refused to watch her suffer.
 
He walked down the deck and made his way back to the Mr. Green’s quarters.
 
There he tore off the remainders of his clothes and washed himself.
 
He dug through Green’s trunk and found some clothes that would fit him.
 
He quickly put them on and returned to the deck to watch the remainder of Theodosia’s Transformation.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A few hours later, Theodosia lay on the deck writhing in pain with her fangs bared.
 
He had made her into a vampire.
 
She was weak, but she was now immortal.
 
She screamed and clawed the air.
 
She felt a tormented hunger such as she had never felt before.
 
She was in such terrible pain from The Transformation that she couldn’t stand.
 
But she looked so much better to Anton than she had before.
 
She was no longer gaunt and sick-looking as she had been.
 
Color had returned to her face, and her hair was as black as the night.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anton returned to her side.
 
He was cleaned up and looked like he had before the slaughter.
 
He bent down beside her and said, “Yes, my dear. Your Transformation is complete.
 
But your Hell has just begun.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“What do you mean?” she asked in a scratchy voice.
 
“What have you done to me, devil?”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Devil?” Anton asked and then laughed.
 
“No, my dear Theodosia!
 
Your father is the devil!
 
I am an angel of The Lord, and I have been sent to punish you for your father’s sins.
 
And punish you I have!”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He touched her head, but she jerked away.
 
He laughed at her and spoke again, “You are now a vampire my dear!
 
And you will need to feed.
 
However, there is nothing left to feed on!”
 
He waved her arms around triumphantly.
 
“I have killed everyone and everything on this ship!
 
You will not feed!
 
You will suffer and be tortured until you die.
 
And if the hunger doesn’t kill you, then the sunlight will!”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He stood up and started to walk away.
 
“It’s nothing against you, my lady.
 
Sadly, children must pay the price for their parents’ sins.
 
Remember Noah?
 
Remember the children of the parents who were left outside The Ark?
 
They were innocent, but they died because of their parents’ sins.
 
So shall you.”
 
He made his way to the railing and climbed onto it.
 
“Farewell, Theodosia!
 
If we will not meet in this world, then we shall surely meet in Hell!”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He jumped over the side of the ship and disappeared into the depths of the ocean.
 
When he surfaced, he heard Theodosia scream.
 
He could hear her screams as he swam towards the shore, miles away.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anton suddenly awoke from the memory.
 
He was breathing hard and fast.
 
Lady Bernadine stood in front of him.
 
He was seated in the sand, wet from the tide.
 
He looked up at her with a deep sense of shame and regret.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She bent down and put her arms around him.
 
“He who is without sin,” she started to say.
 
She could feel Anton start to weep.
 
“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord,” she said, stroking his hair.
 
“You will have your chance to face Drago someday.
 
But don’t forget that you were once just as much of a monster as he.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She held her face in her hands and kissed him, “I absolve you from this sin.
 
Now go forth and sin no more.”
 
He nodded and got to his feet.
 
He started to walk away as Lady Bernadine began to dissolve back into the mists.
 
He looked back at her with a defeated look on his face.
 
She spoke once more, “I will remove that memory again once this war is over.
 
You must hold on to it so that you do not commit an atrocity like that in this war.
 
There will be much death on both sides, but I do not wish you to fight in the name of revenge.
 
We must bring peace to this world and save our own.”
 
With that she disappeared.
 
Anton walked away into the night in seek of shelter and perhaps further absolution.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Virginia got up from a deep sleep and stood up.
 
The club she owned would be opening soon.
 
There was a stir in the air that disturbed her.
 
She couldn’t explain it, but something was telling her that this night would contain turmoil.
 
She shook her head and tried to get the idea out of her mind, but it wouldn’t go.
 
She didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the club would be opening in a few hours and she had to get her girls ready.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She turned on the light and sat down in front of her vanity.
 
The room around her had no windows and was triple locked.
 
Around the room, she had pictures of all of her “children”.
 
There was a special place on the wall dedicated to her favorite child, Christina Michelle.
 
There were paintings of her that she herself had painted and photographs that had been taken throughout her vampire life.
 
The smile on her face in most of the pictures was radiant, and her eternal beauty showed forth like that of the Mona Lisa.
 
However, there were some that Virginia didn’t like, especially the ones that had been taken after Anton and she had split.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Although she was quite fond of Anton, Virginia really had no use at all for the handsome rogue.
 
She was still angry with him for breaking the heart of Christina, who had done nothing wrong, in her opinion.
 
She knew Anton quite well herself, especially since they had been known to have a tryst every now and again.
 
She, of course, had never revealed this to Michelle since it would have broken her heart even more.
 
Still, she pretty much knew what Michelle was getting into when it became known that they were a couple.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Virginia started to put on her makeup and stopped suddenly as flashes entered her mind of violence and destruction.
 
Her power had always been that of foreshadowing or seeing the future.
 
Little hints of things to come would pop in her head, but never very clearly.
 
She had seen the coming of the war and the over-throwing of the Princes, too.
 
Although she would receive a warning of coming events, they were often too foggy for her to be able to do anything about them.
 
Like the one now, it was foggy and the figures were blurred beyond recognition.
 
But with the war upon them, it probably would have something to do with that.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She sighed and felt a rumbling deep inside her.
 
If she still had a working human stomach, it would have been rumbling.
 
It was time for her to feed.
 
Her approach to feeding was experimental and so far had been working well.
 
She stood up and quickly dressed herself in a long black dress and began to brush her hair before picking up her cell phone.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
She dialed the number of one of her girls, Sharon to be exact.
 
It was her turn to provide nourishment.
 
Sharon answered on the first ring, “Yes, Mistress Virginia,”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Sharon,” she began and set the phone down, turning on the hands-free setting.
 
She continued brushing her hair as she spoke, “Tonight is your night.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Yes, ma’ am,” Sharon answered in a shaky voice.
 
Most of the girls didn’t have a problem at all about providing blood for Virginia, but Sharon was always wary of it.
 
She was a strong woman who worked hard and always did what she was told, but she still didn’t like giving her blood.
 
This was strange to Virginia because nothing in her past ever revealed anything about violence or fear of blood.
 
Mortals!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Please come as soon as possible, my dear,” Virginia said as she looked in the mirror one last time.
 
Before Sharon could reply, another flash hit her and she nearly collapsed.
 
This one was no less vivid, but seemed to be a stronger warning.
 
“As a matter of fact,” Virginia said, suddenly, I want you to call the other girls and cancel the show tonight.
 
None of them are to come here again until I call them.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“But the show tonight has already been sold out…”started Sharon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Do as I say!” yelled Virginia. She hadn’t mean to raise her voice, but she knew that danger was in the air, and she didn’t want any of her girls to be a part of it.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Yes, ma ‘am,” said Sharon and she hung up.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
About an hour later, Virginia was sitting in her darkened theatre with her companion Rena.
 
There was a glass in front of her that contained the shed blood of Sharon.
 
Since Virginia didn’t enjoy killing, even those who deserved it, for her feedings she would have her girls cut themselves and bleed into a glass.
 
There was enough blood to sustain Virginia while not harming the girls.
 
They would gladly do it since many of them had been with her for years, some even as foster children.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The club was dark and quiet, except for the sounds of the air conditioner.
 
The bar was closed, the stage was bare, and only two seats were occupied.
 
The club itself was not a gentleman’s club or anything of the sort.
 
Rather, the girls that worked for her would put on skits, read poetry, hold meetings, and perform plays.
 
Many of the girls were either Virginia’s former foster girls or were college students.
 
Some would come back now and again.
 
The type of young ladies who frequented her establishment were much different than those she had once helped.
 
Men would come and watch the performances, too, but most of them were college age, and then there would be some patrons who would come with the idea they were going to see a strip show.
 
 
The club didn’t bring in a whole lot of money, but Virginia still paid the girls and helped them in whatever they needed.
 
She had plenty of her own money, like most Master Vampires, so it was more about helping the girls than anything else.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rena smiled at her and nodded towards the glass.
 
“Do you think you will ever kill again?” she asked in her Colombian accent.
 
Rena was one of the last vampires to be made by anyone in The Order.
 
She was barely 100 years old and was a transplant from Colombia.
 
She had always dreamed of seeing America when she had been mortal.
 
But her family had been poor, and it had been out of the question.
 
She herself had been rescued by Virginia after she had been gang-raped by a bunch of thugs and left for dead.
 
Of course The Transformation had wiped out all of those memories, thank God.
 
She was quite beautiful, and one patron had remarked that she bore a striking resemblance to the telenovela star Danna Garcia.
 
The eyes and the hair was quite similar, and of course, she hadn’t been able to lose her accent.
 
Most vampires and mortals alike immediately fell under the spell of her beauty and her smile.
 
She was small in stature, and appeared to be shy and quiet to those who didn’t know her well.
 
But she was very warm and caring and longed for love, but had not found the right one yet.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Virginia took the last sip from her glass and said, “No, this arrangement works just fine.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“
Por favor
!” said Rena with a roll of her eyes.
 
“There are way too many evil mortals in this world to be tasting the blood of good people!
 
I just rid the world of a drug dealer today.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“And I congratulate you for that!” Virginia said with a mock bow, “Lady Bernadine would be so proud of you!
 
But I will take my blood this way.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rena snorted.
 
She loved Virginia with all her heart, but she didn’t understand her abhorrence to violence.
 
They were killers after all.
 
That is what God had put them on this earth to do.
 
“Any news yet on the war?” she asked.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“No, nothing yet,” Virginia said with a sigh.
 
“I can’t shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen tonight.”