sanguineangels (54 page)

“She knew much about us, little one. She became one of my children, but sadly, she, like most when turned, didn’t remember the creature she had been, and became something else. She lurks around here at times, visiting her gravesite, but remembering only pieces of the life she left behind. Most of her was consumed by the beast within us.”

I spun around when I heard the soft, enticing voice behind me. I had not remembered the power of the ancient vampire, but maybe that was because I was trying so hard to protect myself from her I didn’t have the capability to see her as I saw her now. She stood before me, her hair now shining purple-black as a raven’s wing in the cloudy sky. She was dressed in a red silk dress, something from the forties. It fell to her knees and revealed pale, skinny legs. Her eyes were large and deep blue. Her lips were red, not from lipstick though, and she was shorter than I remembered. When I noticed her aura it was dark, cobalt blue, radiating light as a perverted beacon. I shivered as a whiff of her power swept over me.

“You’re not a foolish one, child. I knew that the night we met. You tried to hide the fact you were human, pretending to be undead. You were powerful then. And now, you’re one of the strongest vampires I’ve encountered, and I’ve met a lot of our kind. Unlike Marie and many others, you’ve retained all of your humanity, a rarity. You’re very much like me, if you can believe that. I knew the night we met you assumed I was crazy, consumed by the beast. Isn’t that right?”

I nodded, not really knowing what to say. I still couldn’t believe she had gotten the drop on me. She was probably standing behind me, shadowing me the whole time I had been looking for her.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Aria, and I’m here to help you.” She smiled, flashing a maw of uneven fangs.

My name is Veronica
.

Someone traced the line of my jaw, urging me into consciousness. My first thought was of Brenna, that she had changed her mind and tried to seduce me into reality. It was a good concept after a restful sleep. I smiled as I savored the sensation of the tingling of my flesh underneath her nail as it moved along my cheek, down my neck, and digging into me enough to make me want more. Her thoughts brushed against mine. Without a second thought, I merged mine with hers. Her mental touch was gentle as her fingers were fingers on my clit, working me, making me hot and wet. I kept my eyes closed, not ready to open them, moaning loudly, beginning to come, and at the last moment, icy fingers moved inside me, making me jump. But oh, the ecstasy of the contrast of hot and cold. When I couldn’t hold in my moans any longer, I yelled, giving myself over to the heaven that was Brenna’s touch. All the while I knew everything had been mended between us and that was what made it all the more enjoyable.

Feeling the light touch of lips pressed against mine and the caress of her thoughts, I opened my eyes. At that moment, Brenna’s mental caress became a leash that tightened around my mind. My hips still bucked against the fingers inside of me. My lips automatically returned the kiss even while I tried to get free from Devon. Then he was on top of me, ramming his cock into my depths. All because he wanted me to know that I was still at his mercy.

He grabbed onto my shoulders, his claws digging into my skin. I thrashed against him, but he was too strong as he began to transform.

“Don’t think you can get away from me that easily, Ronnie. You’re mine, always mine. And so is the little one you cherish so much. Oh yeah. I’ve missed thisssss,” Devon hissed, his forked tongue dangling out of his mouth.

As much as I wanted not to enjoy it, I did. His actions and his mind reached down to Ronnie. I thought we had merged, but I realized how mistaken I was when she unraveled herself from our bond. I tried to fight her, but I wasn’t strong enough. Ronnie rose to meet him, welcoming her Master. As the transformation overtook me, conscious thought and regret slid away. I became an animal rutting in heat, moving against another monster.

* * * *

The next conscious thought I had was waking again in Brenna’s apartment, the scent of Devon all over me. Waves of joy and regret washed over me as I realized what had happened. I’d thought I’d been absorbed by the human part of me, but I guess that wasn’t so.

I shivered and looked around the apartment, hoping that what happened earlier was just a bad dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I caught a glimpse of the mirror and saw it had shattered. A piece of the glass still remained in the frame like a forgotten icicle waiting to fall with the spring thaw. I got out of bed, crunching on the remnants of the glass as they buried themselves in my feet. I leaned over and picked up one of the shards, staring at the reflection. I was in human form. My eyes were completely black, no longer lavender. Within the confines of my mind, Veronica turned over, ashamed she had given in to Devon. Now that the Master was back in my life, my human persona would not rule. I had been locked away for far too long. I was tired of her meat-lover morality and her late night visits to sick wards. My rage for Veronica grew. Now she was back in the shackles she had kept me in. I smiled at this. Never again would I give up my freedom. Our meshing had been a mistake. I could still feel parts of her meat-lover philosophy in the back of my brain and I wanted it gone. My Master would be pleased that I rose to meet his calling.

At the thought of the Master, I caught his lingering scent in the room as it led me out onto the balcony. It drifted on the breeze, waiting for me to follow it so I could finally be reunited with him. As I thought of our blissful reunion, a tear spilled over my eye.

I whipped it away, marveling at the new development in my tears. Never before had they been real blood. It meant I was more complete than I had realized. I began to shake at the realization. After so many years I could roam the streets and take what victims I wanted. I might even hunt down the dancer I had encountered earlier and take over her hunting ground. No, that could wait until later. My first obligation was to find my child. Oddly enough, I did care for her. Unlike Veronica, who craved to love and cherish her, I wanted to show Brenna that she must obey. She would be my gift to my Master.

“Brenna,” I called out, wondering if she was there. I was afraid she had deserted me, and if she had, I would show her who the true Master was. No one disobeyed me. I listened and heard nothing, except the creaking of stairs and voices behind the door. One of them sounded like my child. “Brenna?”

The click of the lock sounded as the door opened. Brenna came in with another. My hackles rose, and my fangs grew as I caught the smell. The aroma of her companion was vaguely familiar, as if I should have known it, but I assumed it was something my defeated half had sensed so I threw it away and stepped out into the hallway, anger boiling over in my cooled body. My eyes bled red as the hunger came to the surface. I crouched low, waiting for them to come into view.

How dare she! She was mine, how could she seek to take another lover. Already she has thrown me aside, not showing respect. I’ll get the bitch
.

“I didn’t know we could do that,” I heard Brenna say to her companion.

“Of course, it’s just another way of tapping into the powers of the mind. It’s the same as being able to see spirits. When we change we are enhanced, but most of us don’t retain the powers we had when we were human. Hell, I used to be one of the Oracles at Delphi, and then I saw too much one night.”

“Really, what was it like?”

The door closed and Brenna came in along with the ancient vampire. She had thrown me aside like a piece of meat. I should have known it from the beginning. My instincts had been right when I thought she was just using me. I growled, letting my jaw change to contain all of my teeth. I took on a more animal shape, something in between a wolf and the hellhound form I normally took. Waves of power ran through me. The human in me was dead, but I had to reclaim my creation. She was mine utterly, just as I was Devon’s, and when she was under my spell I would return to my Master and beg his forgiveness as I watched him pulverize my child.

The thought of her screams made me hot. I wanted to see her lingering humanity torn to shreds. Her scent became vile to me, something of the prey I fed on. She was not like the other vampires, some part of her was still human, an abomination. She had to be the beast, and I was sure my Master and I would to bring it out in her. I waited patiently for her to turn and see me.

“Veronica, what are you doing?”

Her words were muffled as her subtle heartbeat filled my ears. I growled. Not waiting any longer, I sprang, crossing the distance between us. The old one felt me coming and pushed Brenna out of the way. I collided with her, knocking both of us to the ground. My jaws snapped at her throat, but didn’t dare bite. She was too powerful. Before I regained my balance and lunged again, she threw me off. I landed across the room, crashing through a window and out onto the balcony. My head collided with the wrought iron bars, knocking me into a daze. I opened my eyes to see Brenna coming at me.

Yes, let her come.

I waited, feigning injury as she bent over me, but the other stopped her, grabbing her arm and shaking her head. I opened my eyes after a few moments, staring up at my child, waiting for her to make the next move.

“Veronica, what’s the matter? Don’t you know it’s me?” She came a step toward me, and then stopped, knowing something was terribly wrong.

“You chose another over me! I’m your Master. You human-loving bitch.” I paused, loving the look of hurt on her face. Veronica stirred, but now that my Master had released me from my prison, I was not going to let the other side take over again.

Why are you doing this?
she asked me, opening her mind.

She poured her emotions into my thoughts, allowing me to experience how much she cared for me. I took the advantage and pushed my mind into hers, claws and all, ripping around her thoughts as if they were paper. She screamed in pain, crumpling to the floor. I purred with triumph. Without the weakness she had just shown, I would not have been able to get into her brain; her mental abilities were stronger than mine. While inside of her mind, I noticed how much potential she had. She would be a great asset to help destroy others like her, once she was persuaded to join my Master and me. It would be difficult to get her to come over because there was nothing to entice her, but I was sure I could find a way.

“You think by showing me your love you can awaken Veronica. Did you think I’d fall on my knees and glorify in your return? The prodigal child. How little you know.” I laughed and sniffed at the old one by Brenna’s side. She could have the bitch for all I cared.

“Keep her for now, but once my Master comes to claim her, you’ll be begging him to fuck you, begging him for mercy.” I looked at them one last time and then leaped over the balcony, moving swiftly through the night, following the scent my Master left for me to follow.

I hungered for his touch. I ached, knowing soon he would have his hands around me and I would be dominated, bathed in my blood just as I had been on the day I had been born. That was the way it should have been, always.

My name is Brenna
.

I sat clearing my head, trying to figure out what had happened to Veronica. Her mental attack had not done much damage to my psyche and whatever harm had been done would heal with time. Aria tried helping me up, and reluctantly I let myself be led to a chair and sat down, my head between my knees, still stunned.

“Why did she turn on me?”

“I surmise Devon got to her. It’s the only explanation.”

“I should have never left her alone. Why did I leave?” I clutched my head and screamed. Without thinking, I tore out two huge patches of hair and skin, revealing the bone. I hardly noticed the pain it left behind, just the itching as it started to regenerate.

“Don’t.”

Aria’s hand restrained mine so I wouldn’t hurt myself any more. I tried to move, but she held me.

“It’s what he wants you to do. He knows you’re a great psychic. Even I can sense that. It is strange for our kind to hold onto the gifts we had in humanity when we are turned, but he doesn’t know you don’t have another half.”

Aria released my hands, removing the strands of hair and tissue. I didn’t notice as blood trickled down the back of my neck and stuck to my dress.

“I know that, but how could Veronica suddenly change like that? She was fine last night. She accepted what she was, putting the two halves together.”

“You said Veronica embraced the beast, and that’s probably true, but the cement between the two personalities hadn’t completely dried. Normally we accept the beast when we are first born into this life so the transition is seamless. It can’t work the same way two hundred years later. That gave Devon a foothold. Now we have to get to her before she becomes his pet forever.”

“Yes, but I don’t even know where he’s gone. I don’t know how to track her if she’s completely possessed. It’s hopeless.”

I got up from the chair and paced the room. I wondered how Aria had survived so long in a world of demons and monsters. In our few hours together she had revealed that we were not the only things that walked the earth. There were others: werewolves, fairies, other demons, and angels. So many things shared our reality it boggled my mind. I hadn’t believed her at first until she pointed out the differences in the people we crossed paths with. Then I saw, with my own eyes, a real angel dressed in an Armani suit, rushing toward something. His aura, or halo, was brighter than the moon, and my skin tingled as his energy passed over me. It wasn’t warm as I thought it would be, but cold as the grave. The quick glimpse I got of him made me catch my breath. He was beautiful. Pale as an opal with midnight hair and black piercing eyes that moved into my soul, reading what I was and acknowledging me. I laughed at the thought of an angel in a business suit. He nodded slightly, recognizing we were two other supernatural beings. Then he was gone.

I stopped laughing then.

Seeing him made me realize how little I knew. As a human I thought I knew everything, but it seemed I understood less now. It was interesting to watch, a human interacting with a fairy that looked like a white rapper, but to my eyes he had translucent blue wings, pointy ears, and was only three feet tall, but to the human, the fairy was six feet tall, wore at least seven gold chains, and a backwards baseball cap.

I had asked Aria how she had discovered all of this. She told me it came with age and experience. It took her about four hundred years before she detected all of the dimensions. I asked her why she had shown me all of this, and she replied I had the mental capacity to do it, and it would be for my benefit to know.

In the few short hours I’d known her, she had become a mentor, a good friend. She had shown me how to use a few telekinetic powers, such as working the mechanisms in the lock to my apartment and other small things. I could will a glass across the table, but nothing bigger. It didn’t work that way. Just with little things, giving the door a small push to close, or even picking locks, but that was the extent of my ability. There were so many other things I wanted to ask her, and that was why I had decided to bring her back to talk with Veronica. Aria also said she knew a way to help us get rid of Devon.

Aria smiled. “I have an idea. We have to wait until midnight, but before that, you should find something to wear.”

I gazed at Aria reluctantly. I did not feel like going out. All I wanted to do was go get Veronica and bring her back.

“Don’t give me that look. Just do it. Besides, you’re going to have to learn a few things before I can take you where we’re going. So do as I say.”

I smiled halfheartedly. “Yes, mother.”

“Put on something revealing.”

Great,
I thought, wondering what I was getting myself into.