might made right. He stayed with her until the torpor took her, but when she awoke the following night, he was gone. She had been surviving on her own ever since, but her success was due in large part to his instruction.
"You say you were being hunted? By whom?"
"A human female; I do not know who she is. She has been harassing me since my second night alone. Her aura is the most powerful of any human I have seen. It is more like yours, only brighter, and white-hot."
"How did she discover you?"
"I think she saw me at the house."
"What house?"
"There is a house I go to every night, after I feed."
"Why?"
"I...do not know. I feel drawn to it, I cannot resist. A human lives there, a young female. I watch her while she sleeps. She seems familiar to me, somehow. I don't know who she is, but I feel like I should know her. I --"
"She is someone you knew before your rebirth. You lived with her; she was your lover."
"Then, why can't I remember her?"
"The process of being turned suppresses your human memories. That is as it should be. While you are learning to adapt to your new life, it is best if you have no knowledge of your old one. Your memories will return in time, after you have fully embraced your new lifestyle, but you cannot do so as long as you cling to the last vestiges of your previous. You must give them up completely; you must force yourself to stay away from that house and never see that girl again."
"I -- don't know if I can. It's too strong; I can't ignore it, I can't forget it, I can't --"
"If you cannot keep yourself away, there is another way to sever this last tie. You must take her blood, all of it."
"Kill her?!" His statement shocked her. "But you said I should avoid people like her." In truth, however, she was just as concerned for the human's well being as her social status.
"Ordinarily, yes, to avoid detection, but the damage has already been done. This is the only viable alternative. Once she is dead, the lure of the house will lose its power and you will be able to break its grip on you."
"I don't know. Couldn't I make her a pet, or turn her --"
"You are too young, too weak still to accomplish either of those. And as long as she remains alive, you can never fully become one of us, and you know what the consequences would be."
"Yeah." A new vampire that is not accepted by its own kind is ultimately destroyed, to protect the rest. She understood she was on probation and her life hung in the balance.
"If you take the blood of your former lover, you will not only confirm your commitment to your new lifestyle, but you will also demonstrate your fitness to be accepted by the others. You will be one of us, and no one will be able to deny or question it."
Eile nodded, resolute. "Yes. Yes, I understand." She looked up at him, something she had never felt comfortable about doing before. "I will do it, tomorrow night. Will you be my witness?"
He bowed his head. "It would be a pleasure and an honor. Now, let me escort you back to your territory. Let us hunt and feast together as comrades and equals, in celebration of your decision and in anticipation of your official acceptance into our ranks."
Eile grinned, excited. She wanted this, more than anything. It didn't matter that she couldn't remember why. It just felt right. A new life, free of worry and need, a life of total freedom, but better still, a family she could call her own, that was willing to accept her as she was and would help her grow into her potential. What was one human compared to that, captivating though she may be? There were billions of humans, each no better than the rest, and all food to satisfy her appetite.
"Follow me!" she yelled and she raced off back north, her Mentor keeping pace beside her. That was where she wanted to be for eternity, by his side. It was her desire and destiny, and no human could ever come between them.
From "The Bride of the Rat King"
The rat-ogre reached up and dropped her on the catwalk, but before it relinquished her, it tore off her nightshirt, leaving her naked.
As she stood up, she became aware of a new presence: a figure walked out onto the platform from the shadows in front of her. Tall and gaunt, it was dressed in an ankle-length tunic with a high collar, a short shoulder cape, and trumpet sleeves, decorated with tassels and ornaments attached to delicate chains. The fingers of its spidery hands were long and boney with claw-like nails. It held a two-foot long object made of dark-green jade with glowing carved runes on its face. It resembled a pharaonic feather scepter, except it was shaped more like a blade. At first it appeared to her as if it wore an elaborate helmet shaped like the head of a rat, but then she realized it only wore an ivory half-mask with embedded horns over the upper half of the face, and that the rest, including the rounded ears, glowing red eyes, and snout, were real.
"I bid you welcome, My Bride," it said in a high-pitched voice with squeaky overtones.
It took a moment for the shilling to drop, then a jolt ran through her nerves. "I beg your pardon?"
"I have chosen you, above all the women of England, to be my wife. You should feel honoured."
Her mind skipped a track as she tried to comprehend his words. She had prepared herself for execution, sacrifice, torture, even being eaten alive, but this was too ludicrous to be fathomable. "You must be barmy."
"Quite the contrary."
"What could possibly be the reason?"
"I have spent years preparing for my assumption of control over Britain, but after the invasion of the wizard-king Grendel, I understood that you and your Order would make formidable opponents, even in your current weakened state. Then, too, I realized that to secure my rule and the future of my dynasty I needed a consort to give me heirs. You are the most worthy to fulfill that role, and what delicious irony that this will also neutralize you as a threat. For if you were to destroy me, you have to destroy your own child as well. I need only ravish you to consummate my plan." He came towards her.
She raised the pistol and aimed for the mask. "Stay where you are, or I will blow your brains out!"
A shrill, screaming squeaking noise filled the air as a horde of rats flooded the catwalk from behind the rat-man, flowing around him like a brown tide. The cacophony rose as she turned and saw a second wave sweep onto the platform from behind her. Both surges stopped within three feet of her, but she spotted a myriad pairs of glowing red eyes appear in the walls of the chamber as the floor below filled with furry bodies, milling and scrambling about.
"If you kill me, my minions will strip the flesh from your bones in minutes." She turned to look back at him. "Then they will stream out into the upper world and spread all over Britain, until they have consumed every animal larger than an ant."
She stared at the horde in front of her, as the rodents squealed and shrieked and crawled all over each other in their eagerness to get at her.
"You really have no choice in the matter."
She snapped her gaze back up at the rat-man as she felt her indignation bubble up inside. "There is always a choice, King of Rats." She turned the gun against her temple.
He stiffened and took a step back. "What are you doing?"
"If I cannot stop you one way, I will stop you another."
"Do you really wish to die?" He sounded incredulous.
"No, but better that than to live as your slave." She cocked the hammer.
"No! Wait." He raised the jade scepter. The rats quieted, then the two hordes on the catwalk turned and retreated as the eyes in the walls disappeared en masse and the horde at the bottom of the chamber dispersed.
"Please, hear me out. I do not want a slave. Had that been the case, I could have chosen some poor woman from a slum. I would prefer a woman with will and spirit equal to my own. Of course I took you against your will; I would not have expected you to accept had I proposed on bended knee. But I had hoped you would accept your fate once you arrived. Perhaps that was foolish, but killing yourself will not stop me, only delay me for a very short while. There must be some position we
can agree upon between total capitulation and suicide. Surely, there is room for compromise."
She found him persuasive. He was right, she would only delay him, and once she was dead there would be no way for the Order to be forewarned or to prepare for his invasion. Besides, despite her better judgment she could appreciate his position; she probably would have acted the same way. And he did seem desperate for her cooperation.
That gave her an idea. It was a gamble, but short of blowing her head off it was the best course of action she could think of.
She released the hammer and removed the gun from her temple, but she held it up beside her head just in case.
"All right, I can see what you're driving at. I agree that my abduction demonstrates your desire to make me your wife. In a way I find it flattering. Faced with this fait accompli, I am willing to negotiate, but I will not permit marriage by rape."
"What other option do we have?"
"Historically, while it is true that bride kidnapping was often followed by rape, more usually the prospective groom used the time to win over his chosen bride so that she would consent to the consummation."
"You want me to court you?"
"Exactly. The outcome may be a foregone conclusion, but I want to see what kind of man will father my children. So far, all I know about is your power; I want to see what else you're like."
"I think that could be done." He sounded hesitant, but willing.
"That's not all. If I join with you, the Caerleon Order will be