Turned

Chapter Ten.

Nuremberg, Germany.

The train pulled into the station around midday, the clouds grey as they loomed overhead. When I stepped off the train and onto the platform, a white speck drifted past my line of sight. It was small, but I could see every detail as it fell to the ground. The speck was followed by a thousand more, all around, not one identical to another “Snow” Hamish said, stepping off the train to stand beside me, looking up at the heavens much like everyone else did. The winter snows were upon us and the feeling of time grew overwhelming. It felt like just yesterday when the snows from the year before had begun to fall. I had lived so many centuries that years began to feel like days “It had finally arrived” his words were a contradiction to how I felt. Hamish had been waiting for the snow all year, but his time spent waiting was but a second in my life. Fiona left the train, her eyes staring up at the snow from underneath the hood of her navy cloak, short, silver curls standing out against the dark undertone “This is not good” Hamish looked to her in confusion as Julius and Graham joined us, glaring at each other and bumping shoulders when they moved. I nodded in agreement to her words and spoke, catching the attentions of the two jealous men “The sun has been swallowed” only Fiona and I seemed to realize the concern behind our words. The men shared curios gazes, silently asking if the other knew what we were saying. The sun was still there, hidden behind masses of dark clouds, however I referred to it as being swallowed. Finally, I turned to face them, shedding some light on their confusion “We have entered the time of year known as the Shadow Dawn” the period of the Shadow Dawn only occurred in Europe, every once a year and stretched on for about half of it. It would start when the snows begin to fall and end when the snow would thaw away, allowing the sun to breach the clouds every now and then “It is a time when the sun is fully hidden and Vampires may roam freely regardless of it” that morning on the train when the sun had risen, we had to conceal ourselves until it was fully raised into the sky where the clouds would conceal it, during the Shadow Dawn not even morning would allow for some light, making it the ideal time for dangerous foes to lurk “Be cautious, it is a dangerous time” I warned, heading towards the station doors where people were streaming out into the town. It was a town of stone structures, churches were built high and their bells rang at noon, the sound filling the air and echoing out for miles. The buildings pointed towards the sky, decorated in stained glass and statues of lions or bulls. The streets were busy, filled with bustling people as we ventured our way around, searching for an inn to spend the night in before the train would depart in the morning. We found one, a suitable place and rented three rooms, one for me and Fiona, another for Hamish and Julius and finally the third was for Graham, the outsider of our small group. Fiona slumped down on the edge of her bed, breathing hard and reaching to grip the material over her chest. She was exhausted from the trip and still weak from blood depravation. I watched her, glancing down at my wrist as I flexed the index finger of my free hand and dragged the silver across my skin to draw blood “Eat” I ordered, taking a stand in front of her. She looked up at me, red eyes drooping but finally nodded, tenderly reaching out to grip my arm and hand in both of hers, bringing my skin to her lips. She opened her mouth to expose her fangs, digging them into my flesh to suck on my wound. I watched her throat as she swallowed, eyes closed to savor the taste. It was common for Vampires to occasionally feed off each other, however for a Vampire to live solely on the blood of another was rare. They were referred to as Humane, a breed too caring of humans to kill or feed from them, it made her weaker than regular Vampires and more fragile. She pulled away, a trail of blood stretching her down her chin and neck that she tried to rub away with her hands. I lowered my arm back to my side, the wound healing quickly since the toxins had long since worn off. My legs were healed, covered in a pair of cream trousers that Fiona had offered me “Your compassion for the humans make you weak” I said, glancing down at her. She looked disgusted by the blood that was now smeared across her hands. She had enough strength to glare up at me, a familiar sight that made my mind rest with ease, she was still Fiona and would be alright in the future “Says the Vampire harboring a human” a small smile curled at the corner of my lips. She was referring to Graham and why I had not managed to kill him yet. If I was as monstrous as I made out to be then why had I not sucked him dry and left him for dead. I glanced towards the window, my eyes locking onto the structures on the other side of the street “I need him alive for the time being” Graham still held the location of the Order within him and it was my intention to draw that information out in whichever means necessary. He had come to like me and perhaps that was my key to unlocking the information I needed, but it was too soon, I had too fool him into thinking that I had fallen for him too, and it must happen over time. I needed to be patient, to wait for him to confide in me. Time ticked on and soon it was late in the afternoon with night just starting to creep in. We were sat below in the bar area when I took my legs off the table top and stood, stretching out my aching muscles “Where are you going?” Graham questioned, his eyes locked onto me like a man locking onto a desired target. The curiosity was still there but like Julius, his gaze now also held lust. I downed the last of my wine and set the cup aside to look at Julius “Hunting” Julius met my eyes and nodded, getting up to follow me out the door. I shot graham a look then left with the Royal hot on my heels. The snow was starting to grow thick as we stepped through the doors and out into the cold. I stayed still, ears searching for something, a sign of a suitable target when a weaker heartbeat than most touched my senses “This way” I turned and headed down the street into a dark alley way that lead to the other side where an old abandoned building sat. Whimpering was coming from inside, a woman’s silent wailing that was filled with agony. I stepped through the broken door and found her huddled up in the corner, her face buried in her knees as she wept. She smelt of arousal which meant that she had most likely been raped shortly before we arrived “Hush” I said, my voice sounding larger in the empty building. The woman’s head shot up to look at me with tears in her brown eyes, her dress torn, and her feet bare despite the cold. Her arms were exposed, and her auburn curls were tangled and matted “He will not hurt you again” I stood in front of her then knelt, holding my hand out as a peace offering for her to take. She was small and frail and had dark skin, the color of coco regardless of the weather. Julius stood by the door, watching silently when the smell of blood tickled my senses. My eyes trailed down to her legs that were covered in blood, her blood “He took your virtue” her lips trembled when she looked at me, nodding to confirm the worst. It was then that I decided not to kill her, but to give her a chance at revenge for what the man unknown had done to her. She was dirty, most likely an orphan or homeless from the way she looked and dressed so I gave her a small smile “I can give you the power to seek revenge” I said, thinking back to the time Xavier had offered me the same thing. Julius stiffened as he watched, his voice of protest catching in his throat when I shot him a glance. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and opened her mouth to say something “Ich verstehe nicht” she said in German. Her voice was small when she spoke, telling me that she did not understand. I glanced from my outstretched hand to her, a German woman with no home, no family or place to stay, she had most likely been sleeping in the abandoned building when she had been found and raped by a stranger “Suchst du rache?” I repeated my question in fluent German, surprising Julius since he did not expect me to be able to understand let alone reply the woman in her mother tongue. She nodded her head, a small movement that held bigger meaning as she reached her hand out to take hold of mine “Ja” it was all I needed to lean in and press her up against the wall. She gasped but remained still as my hand curled around hers and my lips pressed against her throat “Das kann ein wenig stechen” I warned as I bit down on her neck. She cried out, eyes wide and teary as she stared up at the roof of the building. Her heart thundered in her chest while I injected my venom into her system. Pain coursed through her and her muscles stiffened, her breathing stopped, and her eyes went dry when all she could do was grow still in pain. Once I pulled away, she fell limp against me, her face buried into my shoulder and her eyes drooping shut when unconsciousness overtook her. I cradled her to me, the first human I had ever changed, my first pride and joy, it felt invigorating to have given her the power to track down and kill her rapist “Do not tell me you plan on keeping her around” there was something in her that interested me, she was a strong willed woman who had managed to survive for so long without a home or anyone else to help here, there something about that, that I clung to. She would be a perfect asset “Are you jealous of my pets?” I questioned, looking up to meet his gaze as I stood, scooping the woman into my arms and holding her close to my chest. She was thin, skin and bone and dirty, covered in dried mud with blood smeared across the insides of her legs. Julius was my apprentice and play thing whereas graham was more of a pet I enjoyed keeping around “We must find someone for her to feed off” it was essential for newly Turned Vampires to feed before the change was complete. I glanced around but there was nowhere safe I could leave her to go hunting, it was a place where she had been harmed before and no harm would befall her while I was around. I turned to Julius “I order you to bring me a human” his jaw tightened as he glanced down at the woman, but bowed his head in agreement and respect before disappearing out the door. I glanced down at the woman, her skin growing pale and her hair becoming fuller as her lips became pink and her eyelashes grew longer. Fangs grew beneath her closed lips and beneath her shut eyelids her brown doe eyes began to take on the same crimson color as mine. Alice’s words echoed in my mind as I watched her ‘But now, all I see is a pathetic little girl’ I had come to show more compassion that I used to, but the events of the night before gave me hope, I was still the monster deep within, I was strong and powerful despite my generosity and with her as an apprentice I could be twice as strong with more people fighting to protect me. It was possible for Vampires to mentor more than one apprentice; however, it would prove exhausting and far more dangerous as whenever they would be wounded, I myself would bare their wounds. The body of a half-naked w***e was thrown at my feet, Julius perched on the open windowsill, staring out at the world below “I hope she likes the taste of w***e” he said, growing agitated and annoyed as he glanced at me. I gently laid the woman in my arms down beside the brothel wench and faced Julius with a stern gaze, my lips thin and placed in a straight line across my face “What bothers you so?” I asked, knowing that he was jealous, but not quite what was causing it with the woman, with Graham it was competition and lust but with the woman there had to be something else hidden beneath the rest. He propped one knee up and rested his arm across it “They are older therefor you treat them more passionately” he was a smart young man. Despite Graham being a human, he was older than the Royal by a few years, the woman at my feet, was around twenty-five and still older than Julius. When he spoke of passionately, he spoke of the pleasurable feeling the woman had felt when I bit her, he referred to my bath with Graham, the steamy scene in which I was on top of him, skin to skin he did not get that type of teasing, that type of passion “You are a young man, you have yet to touch a woman” I stated, watching him. He grew more aggressive, more provoked when I stated the obvious. He had not slept with a woman yet and was therefor less experienced than both the woman and Graham. Graham had fathered a child that had been killed before birth, the woman’s virtue was taken by a man, raped, but none the less she had felt the touch of a man willingly or not “And if I desired it?” he questioned, his face set in stone when he looked at me. He was young and naïve which meant that he wanted to feel a woman, to be with one. It was normal for young men to become curious however he was not a normal man, he lived by my rules “I can touch whoever I desire, you on the other hand cannot lay a finger on a woman without my consent” he gritted his teeth and turned his head to look away from me. The woman began to stir, her eyes squeezing and her fingers twitching at my feet. I knelt beside her, reaching out to take hold of her arm “It is part of the contract that binds us” Xavier had bed many woman in his lifetime, sometimes forcing me to watch as he would pleasure them, a sight that to that day caused my heart to ache but not once did I protest, did I allow my jealousy and anger to get the best of me like Julius was allowing his to get the better of him “I did not agree to this” his words sent anger through me as I watched the woman awaken, her eyes blinking open to stare at the roof above, not a ruby red instead of a brown. She took a deep breath through her lips as my head shot up to glare at Julius “Then go, I give you my consent to bed a woman tonight, do what you will” he met my gaze with an equally as hard one then leapt from the windowsill and was gone. I clenched my teeth ‘Such a child’ I thought before the woman began to spoke, her voice raspy from thirst and her body still numb from the pain she had been in “Wo bin ich?” she asked, glancing around at her surroundings. Her eyes went wide when she noticed that there was a body lying beside her, a scream escaping her lips as she crawled back and away from the scantily clad woman. I sighed, bending down to bide down on the side of the woman’s neck, my eyes locked onto the scared females face as she looked on in horror. Her back was pressed up against the wall, her knees bent and slightly spread as I moved closer to her, my hand reaching out to grip her knee “Bitte” her utter of please was cut off when I pressed my lips to her, forcing my tongue through her tightly shut lips to allow the blood to flow from my mouth and into hers. Her eyes were wide, but they closed slightly when she began to swallow the blood that I fed her. I pulled away, gasping with my tongue lapping at my bloodied bottom lip “You must feed” I said, placing emphasis on the word ‘feed’. She looked from me to the woman on the floor and repeated the word in a dense German accent “Feed” I nodded, and she crawled away from me and over to the woman. I stood as I watched her lift the woman’s arm, pressing it to her lips, biting down and causing blood to fill her mouth, trailing down the sides of her face and neck. She drained the woman dry and wanted more, her eyes glowing as she looked at me with desperation and need. I shook my head, stepping closer to cup the side of her face in my palm, looking down at her placed on her knees “Verstehst Du englisch?” I asked, moving my hand to run my thumb over her bottom lip. She was a beautiful woman despite the dirt and blood that clung to her, the rags she claimed was clothing only hid her beauty, but I could see past the outer layer and down to the woman below “Little” she said in response to my question of whether she could understand English or not. I smiled lightly, her use of English so child like that it amused me, however her being able to understand certain words and even speak them was an indication of her intelligence, having listened to people on the streets and learned from there “What is your name?” I asked, perking her interests as she seemed to focus more clearly. It was a sign that she at least understood a word I had said “Name, Hanna” I twirled my fingers around a strand of her hair and looked at it, my mind curious as to what stories she could tell from experiences, from years spent on the streets. Curiosity was the main drive of people, curiosity was our weakness, our downfall. I let my hand drop away from her face and turned to leave the building, motioning for her to follow. I lead her back to the inn and up to the room Fiona and I shared, running her a bath with the use of the stove in the bathroom. Fiona had been sewing a piece of clothing when I entered, her eyes widening when she saw the woman, covered in dirt with blood running down her legs underneath her small dress of fabric “Goodness, what happened to her?” Fiona asked, setting her sewing things aside and moving to get up from the bed, but she froze when Hanna hid away behind me, too afraid of Fiona to leave my side. I glanced back down at her, such a fragile little thing that held so much potential “She was raped” Fiona’s voice caught in her throat at my words, but she did not have time to reply as I lead Hanna into the bathroom and tugged the fabrics over her head, leaving her naked to my eyes. She had wide, curvy hips but small breasts and was shorter than me by a head. Fiona hurried into the bathroom, watching me with wide, confused eyes when I cupped one of her breasts, inspecting it. Hanna gasped “W-Where is Julius?” Fiona questioned, averting her eyes as I trailed my hand down to take hold of Hanna’s hand, helping her to step into the tub where she sat down on her knees. I began to wash her, soaping my hands and gliding them over her filthy skin, her shoulders, arms and chest “Bedding a woman” I simply said when Hanna moaned, her head thrown back when I ran my fingers over her hardened n*****s. Fiona seemed shocked and disgusted at the same time because of both my actions and my words. She shot me one final look then hurried out of the room, leaving me alone with my latest toy. I leaned in, my lips brushing the skin of her neck as my hands trailed down to caress the place between her legs “Does that feel good?” I asked in a hushed whisper, placing a kiss to her neck. She closed her eyes and breathed in ragged breaths, nodding her head as she gripped the sides of the tub as if her life depended on it “Good” she repeated, her words followed by a pleasurable scream that echoed through the inn and had Hamish looking up from his cup of tea, towards the roof with furrowed brows from his place in the bar.

That night, I was lying awake in my bed with a tired Fiona in the bed beside mine, fast asleep with Hanna in a makeshift bed on the floor by the fireplaced, wrapped in blankets and furs, her skin covered by one of my expensive green nightgowns. All was silent, the inn dark except for the fire flickering in the fireplace. I felt his presence long before he appeared at the foot of my bed. I sat up to find Julius standing in the room, his hair a mess and his eyes dazed from consuming too much alcohol. He did not smell of a woman, he smelt mostly of scotch and cigar smoke “You did not do it” I said, my voice hushed in the silence of the room. The white sheets bunched around my hips, revealing the top of my blue robe as I watched him in the light of the fire that casted shadows across his tired face. In that moment he looked more like a man than he ever had before “I could not” he agreed, lowering his head in shame as he stared at the ground. The smell of arousal was not there but the scent of cheap perfume was faint. He had tried to be with a woman, but something stopped him from doing so despite my consent. I tossed the sheets off and moved to stand, my bare legs smooth and exposed up to mid-thigh where the end of the robe reached, the crevasse between my breasts exposed where the robe open slightly “And why is that?” I asked, curious, always curious. Julius raised his head, his eyes meeting mine in the dull light. His eyes were rimmed with red and his pupils were dilated, his eyes were tired and glazed over, alcohol staining his breath, his first time being drunk “She is not who I want” he said, crossing the room to reach his hands out and cup the sides of my face. The top laces of his shirt were undone and pulled out of his trousers. He was a mess, yet he was more of a man than he had been in my eyes “I want you” he trailed his thumb along my cheekbone and I found myself smiling, a light breath of laughter leaving my lips. He furrowed his eyes up in confusion at my reaction and I stood up on the tips of my toes, one hand gripping his shoulder as the other brushed the messy hair out of his face “A man knows what he wants and does not settled for less” his hands dropped away from my face, gripping my waist gently. He starting to think like a man, to understand what he wanted and what he was willing to work for. Yes, he could have any woman he wanted but what fun was that if she just willingly spread her legs for him? The thrill of a man came from conquering a woman and making her fall for him “He waits patently and when the moment it right-.” I trailed my hands down his shoulders to his chest where I gripped the material of his shirt and shook him, speaking past clenched teeth “He takes it” his hand went down to grip my rear, forcing my front up against his. I let go of his shirt to tug it over his head, discarding it on the ground and slid my hand along his arm to take hold of his. I turned and glanced back at him from over my shoulder “You will share my bed tonight” he swallowed hard, his eyes roaming over my body, my legs, my waist, my wide hips and firm breasts. I climbed onto the bed, turning to pull him down with me, my hands moving to grip his face as he crawled his way on top of me, pressing my lips against his in a lingering kiss. When I pulled away he looked to where Hanna was asleep, lying on her back with her lips slightly parted and her long red locks splayed out around her “You plan on convincing her to be your apprentice” he announced, rolling off me and tugging the sheets up to his waist as he leaned back against the headboard. I hummed in agreement, moving to place my head on his shoulder and my leg over his, hand resting on his chest. He looked down at me in surprise, having me that close to him “Why do you need another when you have me?” he questioned. I turned my head to look up at him, leaning up slightly so that I was lying on top of him with my face mere inches away from his, fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck “Time is a lonely thing, I do not wish to spend eternity alone” I admitted, something I would not even have admitted to Xavier if he had asked me. He would most likely laugh and tell me that I was weak because of my fear. Julius breathed out, his hand reaching up to touch a stray strand behind my ear “I will always be here” he assured me, but it was a lie. I smiled, sitting up so that I was straddling him, my hands placed palm down on his chest. I glanced at Hanna, my eyes softening at the sight of her “No you will not, I might send you away to run an errand” the woman was petite but strong, her soul was made of the same fire as her brownish red hair. She had more potential than even the Royal, a hidden drive that filled her veins, a fight for survival, a need for bloodlust that I myself once harbored “And when you are gone, you will know that she will be there to warm my bed until you return” he nodded, a small grin making its way onto his lips when I turned to look at him. He was beginning to understand, his jealousy leaving him as he gazed upon me, but there was still Graham he was silently worrying about in the back of his mind “You do not need to worry about Graham, I only plan to seduce him to gain information on the Order” relief flashed in his eyes and without warning he leaned forward, his hands cupping my rear and giving it a hard squeeze as he pressed his lips to mine in a hungry kiss. I returned it with just as much desire, breaking away to leave a trail of saliva connecting us, snapping to leave me panting with lustful eyes “You must rest, we have a long day ahead of us” I said, climbing off him and curling up against his side, soon falling fast asleep in the arms of a man who I knew would never leave me. That thought was comforting yet empowering at the same time.