Italy
Present
She stood on the balcony, wind whipping her hair, listening to the waves in the blue-black Mediterranean waters, trying to digest the shear volume of information that had been thrust upon her. She had walked in the door, eager to see Jarrett again after two months apart. He had swept her off her feet, and then came the crushing blow. "They've reformed the coven." It had taken a moment to sink in.
"No, they can't. We fought so hard.." They had almost died, would have gladly, had it been necessary. They couldn't do this to them. Not again. It had been too late in the evening to do anything but pack. At sunset, the next day, they were off to Italy, to meet with Alejó, who was already waiting for them. She heard the door open and close, and in a moment, Jarrett was there wrapping his arms around her waist.
Lee was standing on the balcony in quiet thought as I came up behind her and held her to me. "How are you?"
"Oh, okay, I suppose. I can't believe this is happening again."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad. Last time we were taken by surprise. This time around, we know what to expect." I said.
"We killed so many of the old ones, Jarrett. This time they are younger, more inexperienced, but they also have a fierce hatred. I'm sure they've learned from their predecessors mistakes."
"These are worries for Alejó to solve. Right now, just enjoy the view." She turned around in my arms and looked up at me.
"I like this view better," she whispered.
I had a moment to gaze at her. She seemed almost childlike in her tender innocence. This was not always true, of course. Some times she could be fierce as a lion. But for now, she was a small, fragile thing staring up at me with big gray eyes. I touched my finger to the tip of her nose. "I love you, you know. I don't think I ever told you that, but it's true."
"I love you too." She smiled back at me and stood on tip-toes to put her arms around my neck. I gave her a kiss on the forehead, and she rested her head on my shoulder.
"Hate to ruin your little romantic moment, but Alejó wants to see all of us." Daniel called from the doorway. I looked up at him as Lee and I disentangled ourselves.
"Daniel, my friend, your timing is horrific." He just grinned and shrugged.
"Sorry, Master's orders." He led the way into the house. The inside was warm with the glow of candlelight reflecting off polished marble. The quiet sound of the Mediterranean echoed in the vast room. The furnishings were old, but comfortable. Lee and I were seated on a velvet settee with rich carved mahogany. To one side, Daniel settled into a leather wing chair. Alejó stood at the head of a table, hands palm downward on the polished top. He straightened and began to pace the room.
"As you know, the coven has been reformed. It's being led by the few people who managed to escape after we cleaned out the coven in New Orleans. The rest are younger. They don't have a strong following, yet. Unfortunately, most of the vampires are either not taking sides, or leaning support towards the new coven. This makes our job more difficult. Trying to get anyone to leave will be near impossible, but if we can persuade those are not allied with anyone, or those who have not yet officially joined, we may be able to gather enough support to act directly." He sighed. "I promise, it won't turn out like last time." He closed his eyes briefly , and the memory of those jeering faces, the crackling of the bonfire played across his lids. He absently rubbed his left hand, a spider-web of fine scars still visible, as if to massage away an ache. There was no real pain, only the memory of the flames on his skin. "We're still in control. This time we strike first." The discussion continued for a little while, and it was decided that Daniel and Alejó would try to persuade some of the others to join them. Jarrett and Lee would stay behind.
******
Daniel and Alejó had left at sunset. Lee stood on the balcony, sun flaming out in the Mediterranean, her body a soft silhouette beneath her dress. She beckoned, and I followed her across the beach to the waters edge. We fell to kissing in the sand, her fragile form crushed to mine, the slender column of her neck taunting me, making my very veins throb. She looked in my eyes.
"Go. Feed your hunger, my dark prince." She said teasingly. I loosed my arms from around her. "And then, come back to me." I took a last glance at her, standing tousled on the sand, and smiled. I prowled the dark alleyways, playing a delicious game of cat and mouse. A young man had caught my eye, and now I followed him, silently. As I let the thirst build to a wonderful pain that edged every vein in my body like fire, my mind drifted back to Lee. I knew she was out of sorts. She had changed radically since I had last seen her. She was complying, and unusually cooperative. It was an act. Lee had always wanted to be an actress. That failed dream was what had brought us together in the first place. But behind it all, I saw what I feared, but knew would happen all along. Simple madness. Like Opheilia singing herself to her watery grave. For a moment I was frightened that leaving her alone had been a mistake. But it was put aside, the thirst would be denied no longer, and my prey was cornered. What did they think of me, these tiny bits of humanity that I gobbled up greedily? What kind of monster did they take me for? Worries for another day. As I made my way back to the villa, I caught the shimmer of a familiar mind. I rushed back to Lee and I must have looked flustered, because she asked 'What's wrong?'
"Nothing! That is, Malora is here!"
"In Italy?" She looked at me questioningly. "The mad one?"
"She is no more mad than you are, my dear." And I knew instantly that my comment was the wrong one.
*****
They had stopped to allow Daniel to hunt early in the evening, and now they were scouring the streets of Rome, searching for support. 'We killed so many of the old ones...' Lee's words drifted back through his mind. He had not tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but her thoughts had pressed heatedly on his mind. Alejó shook his head sadly. It was all out of perspective for them. Lee, Daniel, even Jarrett for the most part, had no idea what things were really like. They had spent most of their lives secluded in their own little coven. Coven. The word held no meaning for him. He remembered when there had been great covens who believed in Dark Ways and Dark Rites. It had been torn apart, but he had not been sad to see it go. They had not killed Old Ones, only vampires as old as himself. Five hundred years perhaps, the oldest of them had spent on the Earth. They had not killed any truly old vampires, no Children of the Millennia. And they had not killed many. Truth be told, it was another cataclysm that had decimated the coven's ranks, one of which he had limited knowledge, and the others not even an inkling. That had been three years ago, An eyeblink it seemed to him, and now it happening again. Daniel frowned at him.
"We aren't getting anywhere. There are very few vampires here, and they aren't being very cooperative."
"Then we let them find out for themselves. If they let this creep up on them, they won't even know what hit them. The new coven wants to rule over our kind. The others will come around as soon as their opulent lifestyles are threatened."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I have to. It's the only way."
*****
I entered a beautiful building that must have built hundreds of years ago. Malora *would* surround herself with antiquity. She could never let go of her past. I walked quietly into the a room with a blazing fire, Lee close behind. There, behind a desk piled with papers and old books, sat Malora. She turned her head slightly in my direction, but did not look up.
"It has been a long time, Jarrett."
"It has. When was the last time I saw you. the house in London?"
"Perhaps. You have been busy." She got up, played with the fireplace poker for a moment, turning the coals, and then picked up a quilt that lay on the back of a sofa. She wrapped it around herself, then tilted her head to regard me in a curious manner. "The manors I lived in were always so cold." She said, speaking more Lee no w than myself. A faint smile played across her lips. "I was always so cold. My one reassurance in life was that when I died, I would be warm. Even if I went to hell, I would be warm." She gave an ironic little laugh. "But I see now, this is Hell. To be forever cold." Lee had drifted over to one wall to admire a painting that hung there.
"One of yours?" She asked, noting the paints and canvases scattered across the room.
"Mmm." Malora shook her head. "My daughter, Lorana. How I miss her. I loved my children, Lee." She said, pulling Lee's name from my mind. "How I miss them. Yet it seems so silly, in a way. They have been dead for an eternity. Dust now. Even then, before I became what I am now, I had buried three of them. My poor children. But I miss Lorena the most. Do you have children?"
"No."
"Pity. They are glorious, truly a miracle. Better, even, than this dark magic." I didn't like the direction this conversation was going.
"Malora, dear, how have you been?" I took her in my arms and kissed her forehead.
"As an indifferent child of the Earth, Jarrett. I care not what happens to me."
"Still somber after all these years. I know a gentleman you should meet."
"Not somber. Just wise to the tricks which time is playing."
"We are unchanging. There is no time for us."
"And what of her?" She waved a hand in Lee's direction. "She will die. We *all* die. We lose friends lovers, even our Dark Children. How fair is that? No, I am wise to it, Jarrett."
"You search for answers is as futile as it was a hundred years ago!"
"You cannot make me angry, Jarrett. Please, go. I have something to do for Anna." She saw the surprise in my eyes.
"Anna is here?" Does Alejó know this?"
"Alejó has always known. He and I, we do not get on well."
"He is your maker. How can you not want to see him?"
"If Alejó had been kind, he would have let me die four hundred years ago." Her voice was a soft whisper. "I do not wish to see him." We turned and quietly left, leaving Malora to her endless misery. It was all she had. *****
The dawn was only a few hours away. Alejó glanced over at Daniel, trying to make up his mind. "Daniel, go back to the house."
"You're not coming?"
"I may be back yet tonight, I may not. Take the car." He tossed him the keys.
"Where are you going?"
"To do something I should have done long ago." *****
He climbed the stairs, and for all his years, he was still nervous. _What is there to be afraid of?_
"Spending the rest of your life alone, for one thing." He looked up and there she was, light red hair cascading down her back, clothes rumpled, clear blue eyes looking at him questioningly. "You've known where I was. Why didn't you come and find me?"
"I was afraid, I suppose."
"Of me? That is ludicrist. Come in, for Heaven's sake. Oh, that was a good one. 'For Heaven's sake.' Like Heaven gives a damn about us!"
"Still a cynic? Haven't you gotten tired of being bitter after all this time?"
"No, no. Damn it! Did you have to come back here looking like that?"
"Like what? I'm the same as always."
"That's just it! Your as beautiful as the last time I saw you."
"Are you still working on your book, Anna?"
"Oh, yes. Do you think me so foolish now? Others have published their stories. You must have seen them in the bookstore windows."
"Part of me still wants to call it blasphemy, but in light of the company I now keep, I don't think I'm one to call the kettle black, as it were."
"Mm, no." She crossed the room and put a hand around his waist "Tell me you've missed me."
"I *have* missed you. You wouldn't believe how much."
"Don't make that assumption. I know much of longings."
"Lear."
"He had been dead four hundred and fifty years, Alejó. Why is it I still here him calling my name?"
"He was your maker. That is not a bond easily severed." "And if I live for another seven hundred years? Will that make the hurt go away? Tell me!"
"I cannot. There is nothing that will make it vanish forever. The emptiness is still there, but it fills a little. Eases for the most part, until something reminds you." She was crying now, one sob after another. A child still. But that was always how it ended up when one so young was taken. There was a part of them that could never understand, because they were still children. Lear's mistake. Anna had been only eighteen, forced to act as an adult in those times, but really still a girl. Swept of her feet by a prince from a dark relm, her mind unable to comprehend the decision she was making. Lear had loved her, sheltered her like a father does his child. Because of this, the true meaning of 'Forever and Always' never hit her. She never went to ground like a vampire should after their first lifetime. And Lear had died. How, Alejó did not venture to guess. It happened now and again. By his own hand most likely. It would have been like Lear Arrogant and foolish to the last, leaving Anna alone to go slowly out of her mind. Alejó had found her, forcing her to feed nightly, because he could see her beauty even underneath the haggard guise she wore. She had gone to ground, finally, but it was to late to cure her completely. True, in his five hundred years, he himself had never felt the urge to bury himself beneath the earth, to forget his life for awhile, but it was not terribly uncommon. Anna had been fragile in the beginning, but when she surfaced again to find him with his own fledgling, Malora, she had grown bitter. They hadn't spoken in decades, but he always kept track of where she was. He loved her still.
"That's a nice sentiment, Alejó," she said reading his thoughts, "but you never came to me. You found a new coven instead."
"Jarrett needed me. He was without a teacher."
"You're always looking out for the lost ones. Never mind who else may need you."
"Jarrett no longer needs me. I never did manage to teach him much. Found him too late, I guess."
"Then you're mine now?"
"It would seem so." He kissed her, loving the smooth silkiness of her lips, the way her tongue darted into his mouth. He slit his lip with the tip of his fang, and she sucked on it until the rip healed.
"Mmmmm...You *do* still love me."
"Always," he said, stroking her hair. "Always." He decided to bring her back with him, not wanting to part with her again.
*****
"What is it like, being the half-blood?"
"No different than being a full vampire, I suppose. At least not as far as I can discern."
"And what do you have to say on the matter, Lee?"
"I don't know. I haven't really had all that much experience with Vampires."
Anna laughed. _So this is Alejó's love?_ I thought. _How interesting. She looks younger than Lee! Yet she is the eldest between them by almost two hundred years._ I truly did not know what to think of Anna. "She's writing a book." Alejó had told me some time ago. "Has been for quite awhile. Can you believe it?" I thought the ideas silly. (Yet here I am, aren't I? A bit of a hypocrite, I must say. But I digress.)By that time the sun was beginning to rise. Lee and I went to our room, Daniel to his, and Anna and Alejó to his. I sat there thinking about what Malora had said. Should I tell Alejó that she was here? He would never know, otherwise. Malora didn't want to see him, but he should have a chance to apologize. Seeing Malora so withdrawn made me a little angry at him, but it also reminded me of how dangerous he could be.
"Come to bed, Jarrett."
"Of course." I climbed beneath the warm sheets and held her thinly clad form close. I sighed. So much better than sleeping in a box. Much warmer, with her hot little body crushed to me. I kissed her cheek. "Sleep well, mon amour."
*****
Daniel wasn't sure what he was doing. What could he say to Malora? They had spent time together, true, but he had resented her more than anything else. Jarrett had been completely intoxicated with her, and had ignored Daniel to a great degree. He never was sure why she held Jarrett's fascination so. She was downcast and brooding. She didn't like plays, the ballet, or opera. She wouldn't go to balls with Jarrett and Daniel. Jarrett loved her anyway, and Daniel felt neglected. Finally, Malora's despair had been too much for him. She was beginning to drag Jarrett down with her, and Alejó had left long ago in a rage. Like A soap opera, that was how the close knit family of immortals operated. He had seen one once when a friend of his, obsessed with television at the time, had taped every program on every channel, and the comparison was perfect. Lovers trading on and off, children, parents, lies and deceit, all with love as the motivation. There were some, who, no matter how they fought, and left each other, always came back together. You could not think of one without thinking of the other. He and Jarrett were like that. Nothing and no one divided them for long. Not Malora, and not Lee. He knew it was only a matter of time before Jarrett gave Lee the Dark Gift, or things were torn irreparable apart between them. Either way, she wouldn't last much longer. Not that he didn't like Lee, but he knew the way things were. To bring Lee over would be to destroy her. Like it had Janett. He stood in front of Malora's home. He still wasn't sure if he should go in. He felt guilty, and the image of her as he had last seen her taunted him. He had come back at from an evening at the opera alone, because Jarrett had decided to stay with Malora, to find Jarrett babbling about the meaningless of existence and how he really *was* a damned thing, spurned by God. These were fears he normally kept deeply buried. For all his bravado, Jarrett was afraid of *some* things, but he hadn't spoken of them in years. It was clear to Daniel that the blame for this lay at Malora's feet alone. He had stormed into the parlor in a rage, where Malora sat reading.
"You did this to him! Why? Do you hate me so much that you would take him from me forever? You know he will not stay with you, so you turn him into *that*?" He gestured to the sitting room where Jarrett was still muttering to himself. Daniel grabbed Malora by her hair and hauled her to her feet. He took a hold of her shoulders and shook her so that her head snapped back and forth like that of a rag doll. "Is that your plan? If you have to be miserable, you're going to take everyone with you?"
"Why shouldn't I?" She sneered. "You're upset because he loves me! Do you know why? He can hear me! There is no silence between us." She spoke of the mental barrier that existed between all vampires and their dark children. "He would rather go out with me than stay here with you!"
"Shut up!" Daniel back-handed her, sending her sprawling into the wall, a cloud of plaster-dust rising around her. She gave a bitter little laugh.
"So, I see Alejó taught you well. Good at beatings, are you?" And though Daniel knew that Alejó had done just that, beaten Malora for these same snide comments, the same bitter hatred, he didn't stop. He dragged her up by the shoulder and slapped her across the face again, feeling satisfaction as blood ran from her ears, her nose, her split lip. He shook her so her head thumped against the wall and blood ran down to soak her clothes. Then he dropped her in a crumpled heap. She looked up at him then, eyes wide with pain, blood-tears streaming down to join the mess of blood on her face. A cold anger burned in those eyes as well.
"Get out." He started quietly, "get out." Again and again until it was a great roar coming out of his mouth, until his voice hurt his own ears. "GET OUT!" Malora climbed to her feet, hands over her ears, and fled the house. Daniel looked down at his bloodied clothes, his hands. He had never been so angry in his life, and he hoped he never would be again. He went to Jarrett, kissed him, held him tight, trying to reassure him that everything would be fine, that he was here now. It had taken him months to repair the damage Malora had wrought in a single night. And still, Jarrett loved her, never knowing the one time Daniel had raised his fist in Jarrett's defense. No. Jarrett, for all the love he had for Daniel, still took control, made the decisions. And, for the most part, Daniel was content to play the week one. It was his nature. So why was he here, now? As a warning, perhaps. Jarrett had found her again, but history would not be allowed to repeat itself. Not this time. He opened the door silently and went to where she sat. "Malora..." The name came out as a harsh whisper. She jumped up and away, as if burnt, spun around, and stared at him. Her rage, contempt, and hatred all showing.
"Seems to be the night for visiting ghosts." She snapped. "Come to finish the job you started?"
"Save your anger. I'm not here to wage war with you. I'm here to talk."
"To threaten, you mean."
"No. I do not bear you ill will," he said, pacing in front of the mantel. "And your hatred means nothing to me. " He hadn't cut his hair that evening, so it fell over his shoulders in a cascade. He brushed it back impatiently. "It's Jarrett I worry about. You will leave him alone. I do not care if he decides to keep your company, but I will not have him harmed, do you understand?"
"Jarrett has a new toy. He does not want me." She smiled wickedly. "And you? What do you think of his new love."
"She will not survive. Jarrett will return to me in the end. That is how it's always been, how it will be for eternity. She is of no real importance."
"What would Jarrett think, to hear you say such things?"
"He knows it to be true. In his heart, he cannot deny it.
"We could take him again, Daniel, make him ours." Behind her words, she was imploring him silently, trying to gain his trust and acceptance. He had seen the trick done before, and with greater skill.
"Be quiet. You try to fool me into helping you, into seeking revenge. Everything about you is revenge." Her dark eyes were furious, like twin flames spawned in hell.
"What do you know? You let him dominate you, control you, then he drops you for a prettier prize." She yelled.
"This isn't about me." He said in a surprised whisper, just realizing the true motivation behind Malora's words. "This isn't about me, or Jarrett. It's about Alejó!"
"Do not speak his name within my hearing!"
"He made you, but you are imperfect. He held you close, and you felt enslaved. The left you and you felt abandoned. He loves Anna more than he ever loved you, and you are jealous! You don't dare take a stand against him, so you take it out on us." He laughed cruelly. "I've had enough of this. Leave Jarrett alone. That is your one warning. Heed it well." With that, he was gone, leaving Malora staring dumbfounded in his wake. Daniel had always seemed weak, easy to control. Only once had she felt his anger, and then it had taken a long time to build to the breaking point. She realized now that he had grown a backbone over the years, that he would never be pushed or controlled against his will again. No, she would not cross him again, because for a second, she had seen a dangerous creature glaring out at her from behind those blue eyes. She would have to find someone else to help her with her plans. And she thought she knew who.
To be continued