Vampire Queen's Soulmate

Funeral Pyre

The queen was back in her bedroom, sitting on the bed next to Caul. She stood slowly, and walked about the room, shaking off an intense feeling that came over her. What power the healer had! She had not felt anything like it in years. The only one that matched his energy was a vampire, and this man was no vampire. Esme sensed that he was as old as she. When he let her in to the depths of his mind just for that moment, she saw. She knew that he was more than what he showed others.

She wanted to see what he was about. She liked to show a little power, see what her peers were really made of. She had wondered if he would bite. Oh. Bite, he did. She liked it. She wanted it. Which was unsettling, seeing as she had just drained Caul.

Caul. Esme strode over to the bed now, and looked down at him. How she loved him, in her own way. She would miss him. But there were pressing matters. She had business to attend to, whether he was gone or not. And she needed to prepare for the healer to come to her. A flutter of excitement coursed through her. What was wrong with her?!?! Her lover had just died at her hands, and here she was, thinking about another man.

"Well, to be honest, reina. What a man he is."

Esme looked up. Caul stood on the other side of the bed, a lopsided grin on his face.

"Caul," she whispered, and couldn't help returning the grin.

"Never would I have thought you'd drain me, love. I thought you had a better handle on yourself nowadays." Caul admonished her. Esme spread her hands in a "I didn't know" gesture.

"You and me both, dude." they cackled together. It tickled both of them to use modern slang and mannerisms. In public, they enjoyed using words and phrases that dated back centuries, and then laugh at others' confusion. Esme grew serious.

"I'm sorry my love." she said simply. Caul continued smiling at her.

"I know you didn't mean to, Reina. But you have a chance to figure out why and how you did this again," he replied.

"How?"

"The healer. He's coming here, isn't he?"

"Yes. We have a meeting on Saturday, and then we'll go from there." Esme rounded the bed and came to stand in front of Caul.

"So you'll have answers then. There are things that you'll find, Esme. Things about you, things that you haven't realized about yourself. Things that have been there all along," Caul said. Esme frowned.

"What do you mean? Things that have been there all along?" she questioned. Caul shook his head.

"For all your power and age, mi reina, sometimes you're deliberately blind to yourself. The healer will help you to see. He was brought to you for a reason. Pay attention. Listen." he smiled at her again, this time a loving look came to his face.

"I love you Esme. I loved you from the beginning, I love you now, and I will always love you. I will be around for a while. But then I'll be gone, to do whatever the spirits do in the afterlife." he said, going close to her and taking her hands in his. She looked down at their hands intertwined.

"I love you Caul. I have loved you for the time we had together, and I will love you even now that our time has come to an end. Ima give you a send-off like you wouldn't believe though, so you better stick around for that!" they laughed again, and then Caul wrapped his arms around her.

"Besame, mi amor. Una ultima vez." he whispered against her lips. Esme looked up at him. His spirit, which had seemed so solid, was beginning to fade just slightly. She closed her eyes and welcomed his kiss. Their tongues danced a slow dance, relishing the moment, knowing that this would be the last time they would do this. Esme reached up to stroke his hair, felt the strands between her fingers, and then nothing. She opened her eyes.

He was gone.

Tears slid down her face again, as she looked at his body still upon her bed. She could hear her people coming, coming to take him away to prepare for the funeral. It would be done tonight, before dawn.

The queen hurriedly ran to the bathroom to throw cold water on her face. Drying herself, she looked in the mirror.

"Alright woman. Get yourself together. You got s**t to do, and nobody else does it like you." she said. A determined look came to her face. She could feel the blood course through her veins, pumping her heart, giving her life. At that moment, the door to her bedroom opened.

"Reina?" it was Rosa, come back with some men to help her.

"Coming Rosa."

With that determined look of strength still plastered to her face, she left the bathroom.

* * * * * * *

The preparations were made quickly. Caul had wanted to be burned, as most vampires did. The sun would not take him. Instead, Esme had him laid out on a stone mount, surrounded by autumn flowers and herbs. He was wrapped in a black cloth, with only his face showing. Underneath him laid a mass of branches and more herbs, which would be lit very soon.

Around the mount, Esme's household stood to pay their respects. She had talked to friends of Caul's earlier. Some were close by and flew over. He had many friends in the metaphysical world, some in the human world. Some humans were still kind of weird about being integrated with those who were..undead. Could turn into an animal. Those who made magic happen. But, Caul had friends everywhere. So those who could attend, did. Rosa, who was fond of Caul, offered to record the ceremony for those who couldnt make it. She was going to go live on Metaworld, an app specifically made for the metaphysical population. Going live from a funeral ceremony for the undead might bother some "normies".

One of the vampires who was part of the household, Arlan, was going to start the ceremony. He had been a priest in his old life, and had been with Esme since the 1800s. He had been turned by a rogue vamp, who Esme ended up killing. She didn't tolerate recklessness in her domain, and would end someone quickly for disrespecting her people. To disrespect them, was to disrespect her.

As Arlan began a service of sorts, Esme thought with some irony that she should have a vampire priest. The churches abhorred her kind, and vamps usually were not a fan of organized religion. But Arlan continued to practice his faith, and he had a bit of a following with those who still wanted to believe in something, a higher power, even though they were now considered an abomination by the church standard. Esme saw to it that he had space on her land to conduct services, and some of the vamps in her household went. She did have some humans in her employ, and they went as well. It all worked out for everyone involved.

At this point, Arlan had finished his speech, and now the floor was open for anyone who wanted to say something about their friend. Esme watched and listened intently. When the last one had finished, she walked up and stood in front of Caul's bier. Taking a deep breath, she began to speak.

"Caul was special. He was kind and caring. He could always get any of us laughing about something so silly. Even when I was mad as hell, he could make me laugh. He was happy to serve me the way he did, and he did it well. He was loving. So loving. " Esme paused for a moment, looking back at Caul's body. She turned and looked at everyone standing around her.

"You all know how he came to be here like this. I promise you I'm going to find out why this happened, and make sure it doesn't happen again. I promised him, just as I'm promising all of you here tonight. Mark my words, not just as your queen, but as a woman, as Esme. I will not rest until I know the truth." She turned to the inert form again. She leaned over him, and whispered in his ear, "I know how you loved performance. Here you go love."

Esme stood straight and walked away from the stone mount. The crowd about them followed her. Stopping about 20ft away, she faced the stone with Caul's body upon it. She lowered her head, closed her eyes and raised her arms up. She called the power to her, that power deep within her. She could feel herself vibrating with it, relished the coolness of that energy. She opened her eyes, now black as the night above her. Stars danced in those eyes yet again, with flames licking around those stars. Breathing in deeply, she let it out in a hiss, and pushed her hands out in front of her, towards the bier. The wood and herbs began to burn, and the fire quickly spread to the body. Wails and cries came up from the crowd as they mourned their friend, their brother, their love. Caul would be missed greatly.

Esme watched the flames consume the body. When it was done, she walked away, her head held high. No one would see her cry. She walked ahead of everyone else, so no one would witness the tears falling down her face for the last time.

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