Vampire Legacy 04 - Blood of My Blood Read online

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  BLOOD OF MY BLOOD

  Vampire Legacy 4

  By

  Karen E. Taylor

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  Contents

  PART ONE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  PART TWO

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  PART THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  PART FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  PART FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  PART SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  EPILOGUE

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  PART ONE

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  CHAPTER ONE

  ^ »

  The bar was dark. It didn't matter much, I could see what I needed. Even when the flare of a lighter and thick clove-scented smoke caused my eyes to blink and tear, I could see my reflection in the mirror clearly over the bottles. And knew myself for what I was.

  The same wasn't true for my companions; they were too young to see anything at all. They tried and tested life, rejected and embraced ideals. I found them both amusing and tiresome at the same time. But they accepted me fully as the real thing, even when my clothes and actions didn't always mirror theirs. My life was darkness and darkness was what they said they wanted. Fools. All of them fools.

  It was Monday and their night at The Blackened Orchid; they had a different bar for every night of the week. Drink all night and sleep all day seemed to be their motto. Suited me fine, since I only ever saw them once a week. That night they were playing a game; they always played games. I didn't usually join in, but this one, in particular, interested me. Smiling at my reflection in the mirror, I ran my fingers through my closely cropped red hair, downed my Pernod and knew I'd win.

  "Earliest childhood remembrance, right?" The boy who called himself Hyde began. "I guess I was about three and I fell down and cut my knee. I watched the blood run down my leg, and put a finger in it and tasted it and liked it." He licked his lips and smiled what I guessed he considered a wicked grin. "I liked it a lot and went back for more. Then it started to hurt and I cried. My mother picked me up and cleaned it off; the bandage had pictures on it. But I liked the blood better."

  One after another they told their stories, childhood woes of despair and pain, disillusionment and deaths, grandmothers' funerals and hospital bleakness. When they had all finished, Hyde turned toward me and touched me, tracing the black rose tattooed on my shoulder. "Okay, Lily, love, your turn. What's your earliest childhood remembrance?"

  A smile twisted my mouth. "Interesting that you should ask, Hyde." My voice was quiet, pitched almost to a whisper, but they all stopped to listen. From behind the bar, Moon gave me an admonishing glance, but I winked at her and shook my head, sending her the message that it didn't matter. They'd never believe what I had to say.

  "Go on, then, Lily, tell us."

  I looked each of them in the eyes before I started, and when I was sure I held them, I spoke. "One night, my first night of awareness, I wake to darkness and death and the dirt of the grave. How long I've been here, inhaling the corrupted odors of the surrounding dead, I don't know. But I know that I have to get out."

  I paused a bit for effect and Moon filled my glass. As I swallowed it all and continued, the memories took hold and my voice filled with desperation. "I have to get out." I hissed the words. "Get out. I am suffocating. Dying again. I do not want to die. Not again. I claw through the cheap wood of my coffin, splinters piercing my tender baby hands, blood dripping onto my face and into my mouth as I struggle, blood giving me strength and feeding my desire for freedom. Finally I break out and tunnel through the compacted earth up to the surface. It's a long way, and I feel like I've been digging forever. My shroud eventually falls away in tatters, scraped away by the dirt. And when I emerge into the night, my second birth, I am naked, shining lily white in the light of the moon, squalling after life and the bitch of a mother who left me for dead."

  The bar remained for at least a minute in total silence. Then Jewel began to clap her hands, the dim light catching the sparkle of her silver rings. Eventually the rest of them joined in, until Hyde cleared his throat and licked the tip of his middle finger, tracing a line in the air. It served as a salute and an insult both. "Score one for Lily. A very good story, love."

  From behind the bar Moon chuckled, checked the clock and announced last call. Answered by the standard protests and profanities, she still served them all a final drink with a smile, then verbally pushed them out of the bar when they were done. "Go on now, you've all got places to go. So get."

  Hyde lingered longer than the rest, nursing his last drink, casually bumping up against me as if by accident. I didn't acknowledge him; I just kept my head down, studying the bar and my glass. Finally, when he cleared his throat, I looked up at him. He gave me a twisted smile and I smiled back. He had an interesting face, young but with promise of depth as he grew older. His skin was darker than mine, and his features were a fascinating blend of white and red, reflecting mixed blood somewhere in his not too distant ancestry. His head was shaved on the left side, exposing an ear with a row of studs and hoops, but the rest of his hair hung over his face and his neck like a thick dark veil. We'd been lovers when I first arrived in this city, and I knew he hoped for a repeat of the experience.

  Encouraged by my smile, he wrapped an arm around my neck and whispered in my ear. "We're heading out to the graveyard, love. Come with me. We'll fuck each other's brains out on the steps of one of the mausoleums. You won't be sorry."

  I chuckled deep in my throat. "A charming offer, Hyde. But not tonight. Maybe you can give me a rain check, huh?"

  "Aw, Lily, please." With his pleading he lost all pretense of sophistication, and I could hear the voice of the young boy who'd drunk his own blood so many years ago. "I've been dying for a taste of you since that last time."

  I reached up and scratched my nails lightly over the stubble on his cheek. "Well, then you'll have to die just a little bit more, Hyde. That's what it's all about anyway, isn't it?"

  He gave a drunken laugh and dropped his head to lick my tattoo. "If that's what you want, love. But if you change your mind you know where I'll be."

  He reached into his pocket and put some money down on the bar. "Night, Moon," he called as he went out the door to join his friends on their weekly date with death.

  I stayed with Moon, staring into the dim mirror over the bar as she completed the washing up, trying to peer into my past, trying to pull answers to my questions out of the air, out of the haunted look that always seemed so deeply set into my eyes. Somewhere, I knew or prayed, there was a woman who could answer all my questions. Not the least of which was "Why?"

  My thoughts
were broken by the touch of a hand on mine. I looked down. Moan's skin is so beautiful, I thought, so brown and rich, so much more complete, more satisfying than my own pasty white color. I sighed and she laughed, her broad face shining. "Let's go home, girl," she said, "ain't nothing left to do here."

  We walked the tree-lined streets silently for a while. The air had cooled from the heat of the day and a light breeze wafted the scents of magnolia and wisteria to us. "Ah," Moon said with a pleased sigh, "a beautiful night, Lily. Almost cool enough to make my cup of tea a welcome event, ain't it?"

  I snorted. "You and your tea, Moon. It's always a welcome event for you, no matter what the weather."

  "True, child, but on a night when there's a chill in the air, it's a blessing, too. And would you look up there at that sky? That sickle moon holding on for dear life? Tomorrow night at this time it'll just be a memory. And it'll be colder still. Almost October now."

  I nodded. Another winter on its way. More death for the city.

  But she was right, the night was beautiful, and I almost wished I had taken Hyde up on his offer. Moon, as usual, seemed to read my thoughts. "You should've gone with your friends, honey. Ain't nothing to do with an old lady like me."

  "They're not really my friends, you know that. Besides, you're not old. How can you be old when I can remember when you were born?"

  She shook her head. "The world's full of wonders, Lily girl, and you're one of them. Look at you, young and bursting with life, and then look at me, dried up and past sixty years. And you can remember when I was born."

  "But you know how it is, Moon."

  "Lord, yes, child, I know how it is. And I know the sun sets and the moon rises, but it don't stop me from marveling at how that all works from time to time neither."

  I hugged my bare arms to myself and shivered slightly. "Does it work?" I whispered the words and she didn't seem to hear.

  Instead, she frowned down at me and shook her head, wrapping a fleshy arm around my shoulders.

  "Cold, honey? I told you to take your jacket, but no, you never listen, do you?"

  "Don't mother me, Moon. I don't really feel the cold, you know that. I feel…" I stopped. Damn it, I thought to myself, I shouldn't have told that stupid story.

  "What do you feel, Lily?"

  I snuggled into her warm flesh and wrapped an arm around her waist. I felt lonely. I felt lost. I felt myself a complete misfit, at odds with the rest of the world. But most of all I just felt angry. No one should have to live the way I'd had to: balanced between life and death, not truly human, not truly other. A hybrid mixture. And the worst of both.

  "Lily?"

  The sympathy and love in her voice brought me back to the world. But I didn't want her sympathy and love. I didn't know what I wanted. Didn't know what I felt. And it didn't make one damn bit of difference. No one had ever asked me what I wanted. You got what you got. One of the few things I had in common with my friends in this city was the firm conviction that life sucks. They would follow the statement with "then you die." As for me, well, I wasn't so sure.

  But for them, life was short. I had no doubts about that, having seen foster mothers and friends grow old and die. Suddenly I had a longing for a pair of warm arms around me, a pair of warm lips pressed against mine.

  I gave Moon a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I feel like I want to meet Hyde and the others. Don't wait up for me, okay?"

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWO

  « ^ »

  One thing I'd noticed in all my travels was that each place had its own distinctive scent Kansas, where I'd spent most of my first hundred years, had a clean smell, wholesome and pure, with an underlying aroma of cow shit that somehow only added to the ambience for me. Places further south seemed to carry a sultry floral scent, seductive and tempting. This city, this very fine city, was no exception. But underneath the perfume of the people and the flowers and the wine, death and decay were ever present. Despite the guise of carnival, there was a dark element at work, like waking up and finding a finely dressed corpse in bed next to you instead of the lover you thought was there. But, hey, it was home. At least for a while.

  When I arrived at the cemetery, I was surprised that the police hadn't already been called to the scene. Someone had brought a boom box and the wailing of songs about angry young boys and girls echoed from the crumbling tombstones. Couples had already paired off and were in various states of making love. My eyes scanned over them all briefly, searching for Hyde. He was why I'd come, wasn't he? I needed a panacea for my soul, for quieting my thoughts and my mind. For one night, at least, he could provide.

  I found him, sitting alone on the steps of a mausoleum, legs spread, elbows resting on his knees, arms hanging down, one hand gripping a bottle neck and the other cupping the inevitable smoke. He lifted the bottle to his mouth and when he raised his head, he saw me. A faint light seemed to glitter in his eyes. He waved and called.

  Sighing, I walked over, climbed the steps and flopped down next to him. Hyde wrapped a leather-clad arm around my neck, cigarette dangling from his fingers. He passed me the bottle and I took a large swallow, choking only slightly.

  "Jesus, Hyde, what is this stuff?"

  "Mad dog, Lily Love, 20/20. The finest wine available for four dollars."

  I took another drink; it wasn't so bad the second time around. "Nothing but the best, huh, Hyde?"

  He laughed. "Drunk is drunk. And just as drunk regardless of how much you spend."

  "Ah."

  The tape that the others had been playing ran out with a loud click. We sat quietly for a time, the silence punctuated only by moans from some of the couples and by Hyde taking an occasional drag. He didn't bother to unwrap his arm from my neck to do this, just pulled my head in to rest by his chest while he inhaled. Somehow I didn't mind. When his cigarette was done, he flicked it out onto the cemetery path and we watched the embers die.

  "What's it all about?" His voice was pitched low so as not to disturb the others around us.

  I gave a small chuckle. "Alfie?"

  "Huh?"

  "Oh, never mind. It's an old movie, probably about thirty years old or so. I remember watching it when I was younger. It had a song, a good song as I remember."

  "Oh." He took another drink and tried to hand the bottle back to me.

  I shook my head. "No, you drink it, I've had enough."

  He put the bottle up to his mouth, then seemed to think better of it. "It's not all that good, anyway. And it'll just make me sick tomorrow." He set it down on the step next to him. "I sort of remember that song. Do you?"

  "Yes."

  "Sing it for me?"

  I laughed. "Right here?"

  "Sure, no one cares. Hell, they're all so involved with each other they wouldn't know it if all the dead people here got up and danced around."

  "Okay." I gave him a dubious glance. "Here goes nothing. But stop me when the dead start dancing, okay?"

  My voice wavered at first, then grew stronger, asking the questions the piece of sixties music raised. I felt silly singing this song here, although Hyde seemed to hang on my every note as if his life depended on it. At first I thought he was putting me on, feigning the interest, but when I got to the end, he wiped at his eyes.

  "Hey." I reached up and stroked his cheek gently. "I'm not that bad a singer, am I?"

  "Nah, you sing good. It was just, I realized when you got halfway through that my mother used to sing me that song. When I was a baby, you know."

  "Why that song?"

  "Alfie. It's my name. Well, Alfred anyway. Only, Mom called me Alfie." He glared at me as if he expected me to challenge his name.

  "Alfred is a perfectly good name. Although Hyde suits you better."

  He grunted just a bit. "Yeah, I suppose so."

  I got up from the steps, brushed off the back of my jeans and held out my hands to him. "Let's go for a walk. This place depresses me."

  He laughed. "Yeah, you know what? It does me, t
oo. I think I'm getting too old for all this shit."

  I gave him a glance out of the corner of my eye as he took my hand and we walked out. Hyde? Growing up? I shrugged. "Has to happen sooner or later, I guess."

  We strolled aimlessly for a block or two, hand in hand, not speaking. Then I cleared my throat. "S-so," I stammered, then shivered to disguise the feeling as cold. "Where do you want to go?" I was surprised to find out that I suddenly felt uncomfortable with him. I was used to Hyde the boy, the joker, the one who played games. Tonight he was different. He'd changed. It always amazed me how fast true humans could change. It'd taken me almost a century and a half to reach the ripe old age of nineteen, but they seemed to grow and age and change right before my eyes.

  "Oh, I don't know. We could stop over at my place. We could get a pizza or something and I think I have some beer. Maybe even some more wine."

  I chuckled. "I'll pass on the wine, if you don't mind. And probably the pizza. But a beer would taste good."

  "Yeah. And we'll have it all to ourselves. Ron's still over at the cemetery."

  "Ah." I shivered again and he put his arm around me.

  "It's okay if you don't want to make love, Lily. I won't pressure you."

  "It's not that, Hyde. It really isn't. I think I might want to make love anyway." I put an arm around his waist and pulled him close to me. "I've just been in a strange sort of mood since we were all at the bar."

  He laughed and kissed the top of my head. "I like your strange moods. Good thing, too, 'cause as far as I can tell, you're always in one."

  "I have a strange life."

  "Tell me about it."

  "I'm not sure I can." Or that you'd believe me if I did.

  "Whatever." He bumped his hip over into mine repeatedly until I started giggling and pushed him away playfully. "We don't have to talk, you know."