The Dark Gifts Birthright

  His eyes meant business. She knew he wasn’t lying. “But I'm already dead. I mean I am dead, right?”

  Michael’s forehead wrinkled in thought. A fierceness in his eyes scared her. He looked away for a moment, then his eyes met hers and his face and voice softened as he said, “There is more than one kind of dead. Your human body is dead. It no longer works as it used to. But make no mistake, you are alive. More alive than you've ever really been. This new life can be taken from you as well, and after they finish with you, they will take care of me.”

  “They’ll kill you?” A sick feeling settled in her stomach. Why do I care? This is madness!

  “You can’t help it, we are connected now. That is the one thing about turning someone that is supposed to make it worthwhile. When you change, you are connected to the vamp that turned you. It can wear off over time, but that is rarely heard of. Neither of us have a choice. Already, it would cause me pain to lose you. I know you feel the pull. I can feel it within you. The closer we are physically, the stronger the connection becomes. That is why this is so serious, and no, they won’t kill me, but there are worse things than death.” His voice shook at the last with a twinge of fear.

  “What could be worse than death?”

  He leaned forward. “Look at me.” He placed his hand under her chin. Another shot of something, akin to electricity, ran through her body as he touched her. “You know how you feel about me right now? What I’m feeling is much stronger than that because I made you. As time passes, these feelings will only deepen. Imagine losing someone you feel that connected to, and then being stuck in a cage, walled off from everyone and everything for a hundred years or so. And in that deep lonely abyss, you are drowning in the inner darkness and thirst. No physical contact. No voices. No blood. A complete and total deprivation of everything, except pain.” His voice was full of emotion. He paused.

  Her head dropped as she looked at her hands. “I feel...well, this darkness. It pools inside me. Sometimes, I think if I'm not careful, it will consume me and take over. Like it's killing who I am.”

  “It will, if you allow it to. Not all of us are bad. Those who have a sense of who they are can hold on to the essence of their being. Those who cannot...” His words gave out as he watched a kaleidoscope of emotion pass over her face.

  She had a beautiful face. Her blue eyes glowed, setting off the red highlights in her gloriously long hair. Her natural pallor was more pronounced now that she was fully vampire. Pink in her human form, her full lips had become crimson. He wanted to see her smile again. He remembered her smiling and laughing last night. He had almost talked himself into not taking blood from her before she finally conceded to go with him. Even before she'd turned he was strangely drawn to her. As he gazed on her lovely face, he remembered thinking that he could keep this one forever.

  Liz didn’t even realize that he hadn’t spoken out loud. “You did it on purpose,” she exclaimed shoving away from the table. “You changed me on purpose so that you could keep me like a...a pet!”

  “I didn’t. I already told you it must be three times. There is no other way to change someone.”

  Emotional turmoil erupted. Her family. Her friends. How could she leave them all? “What am I going to do? I can’t just disappear. I can’t just leave and let my parents and family wonder what happened to me. I have friends, a job, and a life! Everyone that was with me last night will blame themselves. I have nieces and nephews I want to watch grow up. I can’t just be a vampire!” Hysteria flooded her thoughts. How is a person supposed to deal with something like this? Her mother would never recover from her disappearance. It would kill her.

  “I’ll figure it out, Liz. I just need time to think about it,” he answered as he stood and paced the small kitchen. “I know I got you into this and there is no way out now, but I’ll figure out what to do to and at least try to make it up to you. I just need time.”

  “What will the Council do tonight?” Liz asked.

  “First they must determine whether or not the law has been broken. Then they will read your thoughts and heart and decide if you can be trusted with our secret. They will read mine as well and evaluate our bond. Once they know if it is strong enough for me to stay with you and guide you, they will gauge your self-control to determine if you can be allowed to live. The number one rule for all vampires is to keep the secret, Liz. No one must ever know that we truly exist. No one. It is an immediate death sentence for a vampire to break that rule. There are no questions asked when it comes to rule breakers.” He paused, but the thoughts in his head continued. I have to save her.

  “Save me from them?” she whispered.

  “You're doing it now, you know?” he laughed.

  “Doing what?”

  “You’re in my head now, hearing me think.”

  “How am I doing that?”

  “We all do it. That’s one small benefit of being what we are. We can hear each other and most humans. Telepathic communication is just the beginning. It usually takes longer for that particular ability to develop though.”

  As she watched him, she realized that he looked much older than she had originally thought. Last night, she thought he was maybe twenty-five, but right now, he looked older. His forehead furrowed in thought gave him the appearance of someone in their late thirty’s.

  “So what are these powers? I already know I’m much stronger, and I can apparently read minds. I’m Superman fast. What else can I do? Turn to mist? Fly? Will I turn into a bat?”

  “No,” he smirked and rolled his eyes, “You will not turn into a bat. Some can learn to levitate, but it can take hundreds of years to master. You now have the ability to talk anyone you come into contact with into doing anything you wish. We call it glamouring. But I think you might have already been able to do that,” he said with a wink.

  Liz bit the side of her lip and looked away. His masculinity overwhelmed her. She was afraid if she spoke that something altogether embarrassing would come out.

  “You will never age. You will never suffer from human illnesses, and you are nearly indestructible. You will always be able to tell if there are other vampires around you, within fifty miles or so. The scent of a human will alert you to any infirmity they might carry as well as notification of any previous vampire claim to the intended prey. The strength you have now will grow as the years go by. The older you get, the stronger you’ll become.”

  Michael leaned in closer gazing into her eyes. “This part is extremely important. There are some among us that can read our thoughts right now from across the planet, should they choose. In time, you will learn to close your mind to others, making it much harder for them to locate you and know your thoughts. It is imperative you learn this. Your survival depends on it.”

  Liz returned his gaze. “W-What do you mean by that?”

  He leaned back in his chair breaking the mental hold he had put on her. “Do you remember in the woods? How you tried to hide your mind from me?”

  She nodded.

  “You must learn to do that all the time. You will feel the nudge of something not quite right in your head. Just like you did a little while ago. You must pay attention at all times and when the feeling comes over you, close your mind exactly like you did with me.”

  “I don’t understand. I’m one of you now.”

  Michael ran his hand through his thick dark hair as he paused. “There’ll be time for all of that later. Just remember what I’ve said.”

  It had not taken her long to figure out what she was, but having it all laid out for her was almost too much to comprehend. Her mind raced through the possibilities this new found existence could offer. Strength, success, fortune; it was limitless. A vast knowledge gained over an undetermined amount of time could allow her to be or take anything she wanted. As the darkness inside her once again reared, Liz shut it down. I will be me. Just me and no one else.

  Michael could see that Liz had come to a breaking poi
nt. He did not need to read her mind to understand the look on her face. “Look, let’s just focus on what is ahead this evening. We have a long night before us and we need to get going. The Council will meet at midnight and we have several hundred miles to go.”

  “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  Michael reached out and took her hand. He held it with an almost reverent gentleness, but the sensation of muted raw power radiated from his touch. Once again, her body jumped into overdrive.

  “I know you are, but if you’ll allow me, I can explain things easier and faster in your mind than I can vocally. We have to get going if we are to get there in time.”

  The old shed behind the cabin doubled as a garage for Michael’s car. It didn’t really look like much, just an old beat up Nova. At one time it might have been orange with black racing stripes up the hood, but the paint was so weathered it was hard to be sure. It was fast, too fast.

  In her current stressed state, she found it hard to concentrate. The images appeared fuzzy and unclear. Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes, leaned back against the leather seat, and relaxed. The fuzz smoothed into vivid pictures that flashed through her mind. The sounds and smells that accompanied them eerily made it seem like she was there.

  There were too many young ones running wild and wreaking havoc on the rest of the world, and several old ones who refused to be bothered with secrecy, or the sanctity of human lives. The Great Plague had nothing to do with rats, but an overabundance of hungry young vampires. The many ships that lost entire crews to scurvy were another vamp problem. The Salem Witch Hunts began because of vampires. Liz quickly discovered that vampires were most assuredly the monsters legends claimed them to be.

  “Wait. Stop. You're going too fast.” Liz said as she rubbed her temples.

  “There's a lot to tell and not much time.”

  She shook her head. “You'll have to make time. Witch hunts? Scurvy? How am I supposed to process this junk? I mean seriously, we're talking the dark ages here.”

  Eyes focused on the road, Michael answered, “Yes, we are talking dark ages and beyond. You need to focus. Empty your mind. Allow the visions to flow into you.”

  “But this can't be real. I mean...it just can't. How did your people manage to keep this a secret for so long?” Liz moved her hands across her denim clad legs, nervously picking lint and debris from the fibers.

  He thought a moment before answering, “Mortals, back then, did not believe vampires were myth. Stories handed down over the centuries, eventually became published. In some places, they were considered a matter of public record. Then the extermination began. Tired of constantly being hunted by humans and moving from their nests, the oldest and strongest of the remaining vampires came together to form the Council.

  “As the Council gained control, the others either joined them or were destroyed. The Council made no concessions; the law was written in stone. The foremost of these rules was keeping the secret. Every other law was built on that primary law. For the first time in history, peace replaced chaos, and vampires lived in anonymity.”

  “That’s pretty vague.”

  Raising an eyebrow, he glanced at her. “The dead don't tell stories, Liz. Any who are defiant enough to prove our existence to mortals, is put to death. And any mortal having definite proof...”

  Turning away, Liz gazed out the window. “So you just murdered anyone who knew you were real. Wow. Some Council you have there. I can see how that's so much better than the previous situation.”

  Michael sighed. “You need to try to understand. In the modern world they call it collateral damage. And there weren't all that many who died because of such knowledge. Even back then, many humans found it difficult to believe. After a while, the stories became just that. Stories.”

  She nodded, folded her arms across her chest, and refused to look at him.

  He explained the connection and how, when used properly, it would keep the new ones with the maker. It only failed when a greedy or lonely vamp changed too many within a short time. Those that had no connection could not be controlled. They could not help themselves. Without the proper guidance of a maker, their senses went into overdrive. They could not fight the power within them and no one could rein them in.

  “So this connection will not allow me to leave you?”

  “If you wanted too, you could leave. The first few hours are extremely important. Those initial hours bind the newly made to the maker. Some humans have strong minds and even stronger wills. Those are the hardest to control. It is a fairly sure bet that any human showing signs of aggression, or evil, will be consumed by the inner darkness. That is why it is necessary for the Council to evaluate each chosen partner. They no longer allow the turning of humans who cannot be controlled.”

  “What about me? What do you think they will say about me?”

  Michael removed one hand from the steering wheel and patted her leg. “You are doing well. Extremely well. You are the first newly made I’ve seen to completely quiet the darkness without help. It is truly impressive.”

  Liz sat, hands clenched tight around the seat cushion and door handle, and listened. Her eyes closed as she tried to process the previous onslaught of information. After several minutes, her lids fluttered opened, and her gaze drifted to him. “This is all real, isn’t it? I'm just having a hard time grasping this. Even after everything I've seen and done.” She paused for a moment, then sliding her body to the side, faced him. “Everything you’ve just shown me is real, and I am really part of it now.” Her voice barely registered above a whisper.

  Michael glanced at her for a brief second before answering. “Yes, you are as much a part of our past as you are our future.” Overcome with guilt for what had happened to this amazing woman, he looked away.

  Being a vampire, Michael wasn’t prone to feeling guilty about anything. He knew the connection was stronger than what humans called love, but it was beginning to dawn on him that somehow, in some way, he actually cared about Liz. Not just because of the connection, there was something even stronger and deeper going on. He was having the same trouble as she, focusing on what needed to be done and said.

  His eyes kept wandering over Liz. His hands did not want to stay on the steering wheel. What they really wanted to do was pull her close. He desired nothing more than to brush his lips against her awaiting mouth. And if she didn’t stop flashing that vivid image in his mind, he might end up doing just that. His knuckles whitened as his fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

  “Are you okay?” Her soft words broke into his thoughts.

  “Yeah. Why?

  “Nothing. Just…” Her voice trailed off as she shrugged her shoulders. She turned away and watched the passing scenery through the passenger side window.

  They rode the rest of the way in silence.

  As trees and the dotted yellow line in the road flashed by, her thoughts turned to family and home. She envisioned her mother at the stove standing over a large pot of chili while her father restlessly read the newspaper at the kitchen table. “Why hasn't she called? She calls every day,” her mother would ask.

  She imagined her father’s response. Without glancing away from his coveted Wall Street section, he’d answer, “She's fine, Momma. You know how young people are. She's off with her friends having a good time is all. They do move out for a reason.”

  Sure, that's what's going on now, she thought. But when the phone starts ringing and everyone wants to know where I am, what then? Liz stretched her mind, hoping she could somehow make contact with them. The only thing she felt in response was cold emptiness. I'll be all right, mom. Don't worry. She hung her head in sorrow and wished she could cry.

  ***

  The digital clock on the dashboard flipped to eleven just as they pulled into the parking lot of an old abandoned lumberyard. He pulled the Nova between a red Jaguar and a black ’69 Mustang Fastback.

  Her voice trembled with fear as she asked, “Ar
e we here already?”

  “This is it. Looks like a full house tonight,” he said with the irritating chuckle that she had somehow grown fond of. “Everyone wants a ring side seat for tonight’s festivities.”

  “What festivities?”

  He forced himself to look away from her. Her face, her smell, her hair; he wanted so desperately to reach out and pull her into his arms. Even under these dire circumstances, it was difficult to think about anything else.

  Michael shrugged and said, “Some have been waiting a long time for this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I am the Council assassin. It is my duty to take the lives of those that break the law.”

  “So you’re a vampire killer?” She looked incredulous as she laughed. Her laughter cut off as she realized what that meant. “Doesn’t that mean that most of those inside hate you?”

  “Most of those inside have lost others because of me. They are here tonight hoping to see my head roll.”

  She shook her head. “No.” She didn't know how she felt about him, but she knew that he wasn't to blame for her situation. Not completely anyhow. And although she still harbored some resentment, she didn’t want to see him die. He was a friend. A friend? Yes he is my friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to him either.

  He reached up and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. It was softer than he remembered. “No matter what happens tonight, believe me when I tell you that I had no intention of bringing you into this, and I am sorry.”

  He wrapped his hand around hers and together, they walked toward the dilapidated structure. Michael felt a tug as Liz stopped.

  She brought her free hand to the side of her head. Hundreds of voices whispered at once. Brief images flickered in her mind before winking out.

  “What is that? It's awful.”

  “You’ll learn to block it.” Michael pulled on her hand urging her to continue.

  She pulled back. “No, wait. I'm not ready, I need some time.” Fear and anger began to consume her. She felt the darkness inside rise up, insidiously trying to gain control.