Immortal Confessions (15 page)

I gaped at him. “There are no rules? No
parameters?”

He shook his head. “None I know of.”

“How remarkably one sided,” I said
contemptibly. “Why do not more male vampires have Oathed Ones, if
the custom is so free of real fetters?”

“I can’t answer that, not being vampire
myself,” he answered. “I do know that the custom does not extend
only to male vampires. Females also can do the same to human males.
Still, it is done only in very rare cases. Eva is the only oathed
human I have ever seen.”

So the custom was not pro-male, it was just
pro-vampire. Well, that made sense, at least.

“Do not tell this to Anna,” I said finally.
“Any of it. Understand?”

Levi nodded. “Of course.”

* * * *

After instructing Levi to stay behind, I went
out to handle my next order of business: money. I needed to pay for
my new guards, and Anna’s dress. That meant seeing one specific
vampire.

I met Quentin in our usual spot, the cafe. He
seemed nervous, despite my cordiality. Finally, I asked him what
was the matter.

“You aren’t my guard anymore, you’re my
boss,” he said haltingly. “I’m not sure how to act.”

“Be yourself,” I said plainly. “And then tell
me where Guy’s treasure is.”

“There is no treasure,” he said, looking
terrified.

I grabbed hold of him. “What?”

“That was a ruse of Guy’s, to make people
think he was ignorant of it all, that I alone knew,” Quentin
snuffled. “But I never did. As far as I know, all of Guy’s money
was in banks. He had sole control.”

“Then tell me how to access those funds.”

“I’ve prepared papers,” he said, taking out a
thin sheaf he then brandished at me. “I was up the last few days
completing these for you.”

“Then take me to the nearest bank, to use
them.”

Quentin took me to a bank, and sure enough,
with the papers he was able to switch the money into my name. There
was not a lot, only a few thousand, but back then, that was a
fortune. Still, I’d need more, much more, to take care of Anna as I
wanted to. Besides, I had a lot of guards to pay now.

“You are treasurer,” I grated out, as we
left. “How did Guy get his money?”

“He had investments, but most of those went
in the revolution. He was on the verge of bankruptcy, to tell you
the truth. But there are other opportunities in the world today
besides Europe.”

“What do you mean?”

“America,” Quentin said earnestly. “You must
have heard of the Lewis and Clark Expedition? A book is coming out
soon that will tell of it, everything they saw. That fool Napoleon
sold hundreds of square miles of land there for a sum of 15 million
to that American President, Jefferson. It was illegal, and the
Spanish are very pissed, but there is nothing they can do. Now
colonists are spreading into the West like wildfires. There is much
to invest in, with the right advisor.”

“What do you advise?”

“A man called John J. Astor has a fur company
that is a decade or so old. It is huge and expanding all the time.
There is a huge market for furs; the ladies love them, as I’m sure
your lady does—”

Anna did like the bearskin, we both did. “How
are these furs obtained?”

“Trapping mostly. The buffalo alone are shot,
as deer are shot—”

Anna would be horrified and never forgive me.
“No,” I said icily. “What else?”

“That is the biggest,” Quentin said musingly,
his eyes looking inward. “There are mines also, for precious
metals. And there is logging, as the new lands are rich in lumber.
Land is cheap there, and as I said, there is great interest in
—”

“How much should I invest?”

“I’ll take half of what you have,” Quentin
said, nodding. “We should be able to double it, before the year is
out, if not triple it.” His voice turned sharp, with a lethal edge
to it. “But there are hostiles in these new lands, Devlin. Be
warned, they do not always like giving up what they think is theirs
to a new owner.”

I caught his eye. “I understand what it is
you are saying. I’ll watch my back.”

“Watch mine as well,” Quentin said seriously.
“Until you learn of business, you will be vulnerable, having little
cash. I myself am well off, well off enough to lend you some money
until your investments take off.” He paused again. “Guards only
care if you die if you are paying them regularly to care.”

“Understood,” I said, nodding. “Move into the
main house tomorrow night. Bring all you value with you, and any
woman you call your own.” I paused, hoping I wasn’t making a
mistake. “You are my second in command now, Quentin. As oldest
vampire after me, it seems fitting.”

“I should have known you heard Uther’s words
that night, even in the midst of that massacre,” Quentin replied
grumpily. “Very well, but only for official purposes.”

“Of course,” I assured him. “Leave the
fighting to me and Uther.”

“I have no woman, as you know,” Quentin said
with a smile. “But I am grateful for your protection, and I’ll be
happy to join you at your mansion.”

I nodded. “Good. Now let’s go get some
refreshment.”

We began walking.

“Quentin, why is it you have no woman? You
are handsome. There is no need to pay for your pleasure, or your
blood.”

Quentin sighed, but didn’t pause. “I’ve liked
many women over the years. But those I cared for I stopped seeing.
I didn’t want to kill them. This is easier.”

I made my voice smooth as glass. “Did any of
them sicken?”

“Two began to have the symptoms,” he said
finally. “Both recovered initially, but one was farther along than
the other, the wife of a cabinetmaker. She came to me a week after
I’d broken off our affair.” He sighed. “I’d waited too long, you
see. She died in my arms that same night.”

“Did you try to turn her?”

“There was no point,” Quentin said angrily.
“Don’t you think I would have, if I’d had the power?”

“How do you know you don’t?” I countered.

“Because I already tried it with a healthy
woman years ago, one that mattered nothing to me. She wanted to be
immortal and instead she died convulsing. It wasn’t pleasant,
Devlin.” He stopped walking and faced me. “Do not ask more of this,
I beg of you.”

I didn’t want to hear anymore tonight; what I
had learned sickened my soul. “I apologize. I will not mention it
again.”

Quentin nodded, and we continued on our
way.

After he’d sampled some blood with me, and
taken his usual manly pleasures with the women, the melancholy left
him as if it had never been. He was almost jolly as I walked him
home.

“You’d best get a good days’ sleep,” he said
conspiratorially. “You’ve got a busy night tomorrow, my
inexperienced boy, and much to learn.”

“What are you referring to?” I said
stiffly.

“Your marking of Anna, of course,” Quentin
laughed. “What did you think I was referring to?”

“Never mind,” I said hurriedly. “Explain to
me about this marking.”

“Bite her, and then do not heal the wounds.
Go as deep as you dare.”

“I’ll hurt her badly, if not kill her,” I
stammered.

“Do not open a vein,” he said mockingly.
“Bite into the flesh. You will be after a scar, not blood, not that
night. The scars matter more to the old ones than a collar
does.”

“Barbaric,” I grimaced. “This can’t be true.
Why would I want to hurt the one I love, much less have a reminder
of the pain to look at every day?”

“The scars represent pain, tremendous pain,”
Quentin nodded. “But also sacrifice for the sake of love. There is
nothing to stop you from using modern medicine to heal or dress her
wounds after, Devlin. For God’s sake, this is not the Dark Ages.”
He gave a bitter smile. “Didn’t you wonder why you saw so few
oathed beings? It is not only the unfairness of the vows that makes
humans leery. Most of the reason is the vampire lover being
unwilling to hurt the one he cares for.”

“How can they ask anyone to do this to their
lovers?” I said in disgust.

Quentin stopped and faced me, taking me by
the shoulders. “It’s a warning,” he said softly.

“A warning to whom?”

“To you and your lover,” he replied evenly.
“They ask you to take the very thing that makes you vampire and use
it to hurt the one you love, to leave a reminder of the pain that
you can both see every day, in the hope you don’t forget how easily
you can damage your loved one, and how much you should cherish them
in the time you have together.” He paused, and then continued in a
whisper. “Because love between human and vampire is always mortal,
and therefore ephemeral. Do you understand now?”

I nodded, suddenly queasy. “Have you ever
done it?”

“Never.” He looked at me with respect, but
also a little sadness. “Don’t worry. I think you will have less
trouble than most would.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You are old enough to be deft,” he said
quickly. “And to have been with a virgin in your long life. Treat
this the same way. Be quick and in control, and all will be
well.”

I knew that was not what he’d meant. But I
just nodded, and left him at his door.

* * * *

When I got home that night, tears again
awaited me. Anna had heard of Marcus’s death in the paper that day,
and she sobbed for hours. I was relieved, as it was laid out that
he’d been robbed, and his clothing taken. In fact, the only reason
he’d likely been identified was that the marriage contract had been
found with him.

I’d hated to do that, to leave it there,
scared some smart man would see that the name on it had been
altered to read Arabella Perez. But I’d had to do something that
ensured Marcus was found as I wanted him to be. Anna was not a
simple woman. Marcus was a son of an important family, and they
would look for him if he disappeared, starting with the woman he
had gone to find. I wanted no more interruptions, no strangers
appearing in our future to lead her to questions that I’d have to
answer.

Marcus had been a good man, just a foolish
one, to think I’d give up what was mine. I watched with one of
Uther’s men the next evening, as a representative of Marcus’s
father arrived at the morgue to take his body home for burial.

“Watch,” I said to him. “I must speak to
him.”

“Are you crazy?” the werebat answered. “What
if he recognizes you?”

I had shaved and cut my hair short, not to
mention I was wearing my finest clothes. “He will not. I must make
sure this is finished.”

The werebat grumbled, but said only to
hurry.

I met the representative just as he was
climbing back into his carriage.

“I heard in the paper what befell your young
master,” I said cordially. “I hoped to be of service.”

The man regarded me tiredly, but there was
hope in his eyes when they met mine. “How, my Lord? My master is
dead.”

“By giving information,” I replied. “I
overheard your master asking questions before he died. I wish to
offer assurances that the woman he was seeking is dead, her lout of
a lover with her.”

“Who are you?”

“Quentin Giere,” I said easily, tipping my
hat. “I am an investor.”

“How do you know this?”

“I heard the descriptions that he gave. The
man he spoke of was killed as a thief when he tried to rob me. As
for the woman, I made inquiries this morning. She died a month
back, from influenza.”

“That is a comfort,” the man said in relief,
yet his eyes were now suspicious. “But why would you come here and
tell me this? You did not know my master.”

I let sorrow etch my face. “Because I heard
the reply of the man he questioned, the section of town where he
sent your master. I knew it was the worst, and did not speak up to
warn him, though I knew the informer’s reputation for being in
league with robbers.” I paused for effect. “I feel tremendous
guilt.”

The man’s eyes closed. When they opened,
tears welled in them. “I thank you, Lord. That is a comfort to me,
as Marcus was my cousin. He was my idol, what I aspired to be. When
Anna left him, the family turned against her, telling him to pick
another wife. Marcus refused. I alone agreed to help him in his
pursuit.”

“You are to be commended,” I said
comfortingly. “No friend could have done more.”

“I should have gone with him,” the man said.
“He might be alive if I had. I feel guilt for my inaction as
well.”

I clasped him on the shoulder. “Do not. If
you had been there, you would now be dead, too. I’m positive of
it.”

He nodded. “You’re likely right. Thank you,
Sir.”

He got into the carriage, and it drove off.
As it pulled out of sight, the werebat came up behind me.

“All finished, Lord?”

I nodded. “Come. I’ve a wedding to prepare
for.”

As we walked back to my home, I reveled in my
good luck. My risky endeavor had worked. Marcus’s death was chalked
up to ill fortune: a foolish man whose love for a wayward
wife-to-be brought him his doom. No one questioned it or came to
our door in the days that followed, neither vampire nor human
hunter. Times were different then: no one said an autopsy needed to
be done, that he’d been dead long before being knifed. These were
the good old days, where if you were a nobleman, or fuck it, just
rich enough to bribe, and you said the sky was yellow, it was. When
a man was found dead, his clothes gone, he was murdered in a
robbery, and that was that.

Alas, those days are gone. Today it’s all
DNA, and there must always be an investigation into a suspicious
death. It’s a good thing I learned to be intelligent about
murdering over the years.

That next evening was one of the best of my
life. The ceremony was held in the mansion’s small chapel. Anna’s
velvet dress was shining white, festooned with pearls, crystals,
and lace. She was so happy in it she glowed, like a fairytale
princess. As Uther and his people looked on from one side, and my
kind glowered a little at them from the other, we gave our oaths to
one another, Levi at my side as best man, Quentin as the Vampire
Lord’s proxy to make it official.