An Angel Among Vampires (27 page)

Christien removes his wrist from Tyler’s mouth and removes the knife from his arm, allowing his wound to heal. He gently lays Tyler on the ground and tries to stand, but stumbles from the loss of his own blood and the power consumption used from creating a new vampire.

Roman catches Christien before he falls, steadying him on his feet. “Don’t ever tell anyone I gave it up without sex first.” He says teasingly while removing his shirt with one hand. He moves his head to the side, exposing his neck.

Christien looks at Roman and smiles weakly. “You have my word.” He sinks his fangs into Roman’s neck.

Even though he is feeling weak from the power loss, he only feeds on enough blood from Roman to regain enough strength to be able to control his new fledgling. Since Roman is a werewolf, his blood is more sustaining than human blood so he does not need as much as he would from a human. In his current state, he would likely drain a human if he fed from one now.

Christien picks up Tyler from the ground and cradles him in his arms. He is loading Tyler in the backseat of the car when Roman reappears with an armful of bagged blood.

Roman shrugs at Christien’s questioning look. “I figured we might need blood if he wakes up before we get back. I do not want to be on the menu for a newbie vamp.”

“Good thinking. This should be enough.” Christien replies and climbs in the back with Tyler.

Roman drops the blood on the backseat and shuts the door. Christien takes a bag of blood and pops it on to his fangs, draining it within seconds.

Roman puts on his shirt before getting behind the driver’s seat. He starts the car and backs out of the alley, heading back to Christien’s place.

On the way back, Tyler only wakes up once, screaming in pain. Christien extends his aura to calm Tyler’s blood thirst so he can feed him the remaining bagged blood Roman stole from the blood bank.

The process of a human body changing from human to vampire is excruciating. The vampire blood attacks the human body by fixing any major repairs to the body first. As the sire’s vampire blood moves into the human body, it eats away at any diseased parts next. The pain feels as if bugs with sharp teeth are eating the body from the inside out. The vampire blood feeds on the red blood cells in the human body, then replicates.

That is why the blood thirst is so strong in new vampires. The need to supplement the red blood cells used in their body is paramount and necessary so the vampire blood does not attack the organs inside of the body. If the fledgling receives human blood rich with red blood cells immediately after the vampire blood is in their body, the pain decreases dramatically and the vampire learns to control his blood thirst much faster once the entire process is complete.

After the initial introduction of the sire’s vampire blood, the new vampire body changes to adjust for their new lifestyle. Within minutes after the fledgling receives their sire’s blood, the fledgling vampire grows fangs. Their vision, strength and hearing will continue to get better as the vampire ages, but after the first few hours of the change, their vision, hearing, and strength is already better than 90 percent of the humans on earth.

The vampire blood cells eat away fat in the body and strengthens the bones, muscles, and immune system. This is what makes vampires harder to kill and assists the fledgling’s body in reaching its peak physical condition for hunting prey.

During each of the stages of a fledgling’s change, the body continues to require blood. If the condition of the body before the change is weak, it will greatly decrease the fledgling’s chance to survive the change before their heart and organs fail. Many new vampires do not make it through the first part of the change.

The first 24 hours are the most critical during the transition from human to vampire. If a sire does not help the fledgling through the process, the fledgling usually does not survive or they become blood-crazed monsters, usually losing their sanity in the process.

According to vampire law, a sire must allow a minimum of six weeks for a fledgling to adjust to their new life as a vampire. The fledgling must prove to their sire that their blood thirst is under control during this time. If after six weeks the fledgling has not mastered their blood thirst, the Vampire Council can demand the sire kill the fledgling and declare them a rogue, one incapable of mastering their blood thirst.

It is common for master vampires to sire only one fledgling at a time. A master can create more than one fledgling, but the power consumption required for creating a vampire and controlling the blood thirst is taxing on the master vampire. Often, master vampires wait longer than six weeks, sometimes years, before creating another vampire because of the energy expenditure.

Chapter 33

Roman, Christien and Tyler return, and I greet them at the car. When I see the condition Tyler is in, I scream in horror. The three of us work together to get Tyler out of the car and into the house. On our way to the front door, all hell breaks loose.

Vampires attack us from every direction. Christien pulls my daggers from their sheaths and stabs the closest vampire, turning him to dust, before thrusting the twin daggers into my hands. He jumps into the air to thwart a group of vampires coming towards the car. Roman runs after another impending group of vampires in the opposite direction, partially shifting his shape along the way, giving him sharp claws and deadly fangs. Vampires rush from the house in blinding speeds to join the fray.

The night air fills with swords colliding, grunts, howls, and shouts as more vampires pour out of the trees.

I hear Christien’s voice calling out to me over all the commotion. “Jessica, get Tyler inside of the house and put him downstairs quickly.”

Realizing it is up to me to get Tyler to safety I bolster my strength and drag him back out of the car by his shirt. Someone must have pushed him back inside when the fighting began.

I stuff one of the daggers into the belt I am wearing, grab Tyler’s wrist and yell at Tyler. “Move! We have to get you inside.”

Tyler holds his chest with his free arm and is unsteady on his feet. He looks mortally wounded and we are under attack by vampires. I have to keep my hands as free as possible in case vampires attack us so I can’t carry him. The door is not far, less than twenty feet, but vampires are everywhere. There must be hundreds of them.

Tyler and I slowly make our way towards the door. It seems like it is a tremendous effort for Tyler to pick up his feet and take a step forward. There is fighting all around us and getting closer. It looks like Christien’s vampires are creating a barricade around us to give us enough time to get inside. I want so badly to pick Tyler up and just run inside, but I don’t dare give up my hands in case I need them.

Several vampires get around the barrier and run directly at us. Pulling my other dagger from my belt, I keep Tyler at my back as I am kicking, punching and stabbing vampires in our path. A vampire grabs Tyler by his arms. Tyler tries to struggle, but he is too weak and is no match for a vampire, even a young one.

I sweep both their legs. The vampire and Tyler both go down hard. The vampire loses his hold briefly when Tyler lands on top of him. I pull Tyler off the vampire with my left hand while I stab and twist the dagger into the vampire’s heart using my right. The vampire turns to dust.

I hear footsteps approaching fast behind me. I am still holding Tyler’s wrist with my left hand so I spin him around in front of me, leaving my back exposed to the oncoming vampire. I hike the dagger in my right hand behind me. It lands squarely in the vampire’s chest. Not a heart blow, but the action slows him down enough for me to put Tyler back behind me and spin around to face the vampire.

One of Christien’s vampires breaks from the line to come and assist me. He engages the two closest to him while I do my best to prevent the rest from hurting Tyler. I want to attack, but Tyler is vulnerable so I can’t leave his side. With my only option available to me is defense, I limit myself to blocking and slicing the vampires when their limbs are within my reach.

Damn I really wish I had my baby eagles right now.

The vampire assisting me finally dispatches the two vampires he was fighting. He must be young himself because his fighting technique is barely adequate. He moves towards the ones I am keeping at bay.

Sword in hand, I leap into the air and remove the head of the vampire leading the charge. The others seem to pause in their fight, wondering if they underestimated me.

I take advantage of their hesitation and attack them with lightning speed. It takes a few minutes for me to turn them all to dust, but the final vampire falls when I pierce his heart, twist the sword and yank it out of his heart violently in anger as his body disintegrates.

I pick up my dagger off the ground that fell out of the vampire when he disintegrated, and tuck it into my belt as I return the sword to the vampire while retrieving my second dagger from him. He nods and returns to the barricade of vampires closing in fast.

Taking a chance, I wrap my arm around Tyler’s waist and move towards the stairs. I drag Tyler up the few steps, closer to the door. As we get to the porch, another two vampires come at us from each side in blinding speed. I throw Tyler at the door, causing him to become airborne and grab my other dagger from my belt. I run towards Tyler who is at the door, but picking himself up off the ground. Seeing that I am a bigger threat, both vampires come at me at the same time. I duck under the hook the first vampire throws and sweep at his feet. He jumps over my leg.

I block the kick the second vampire aims at my head and follow up with a quick punch in the ribs. The first vampire kicks me in the back, sending me to my knees. He tries to close in on me, but I spin on my knees with my dagger out and slice open his stomach. He covers his wound hunched over with his arms. I change my direction while on my knees and with the other dagger, I remove his head.

I am on my feet and ready for the next attack before the vampire’s ashes create a pile on the ground. The second vampire comes straight at me. I leap into the air, flip over him turning my body in the air so I can land facing his back. As he passes me, I kick him hard on his back and he falls into the wooden porch railing. The railing breaks causing the vampire to land in the grass below. I get to Tyler who is barely getting back to his feet at the door. I open the door, push Tyler inside, and slam the door behind me.

Chapter 34

“My master has requested that you and this young man wait downstairs. I am here to see that you do as you are told.” Kayle responds bitterly.

Kayle takes Tyler down a short hallway to the left of the foyer to a narrow staircase at the end of the hall, leading down. He easily carries Tyler down the narrow stairway.

Worried about Tyler, I follow on Kayle’s heels.

At the bottom of the stairs, there is a long hallway to the left. On each side of that hallway, there are rooms. All the rooms on the left side have large observation windows so people in the hallway can see inside the room. The rooms on the right have no windows visible from the hallway.

Kayle takes Tyler into the first room on the left. The room is smaller than I thought it would be. It is about the size of a small bedroom. There are only two matching leather couches on opposite sides of the room. The only light in the room comes from a single bulb on the low ceiling.

I punch him in the stomach and kick at his leg, trying to dislocate the joint. He dodges both moves and grabs my arm. I turn into his arm grabbing it and drop to my knee, throwing him over my shoulder. Before I can get through the doorway, he swipes my feet from underneath me with his arms and manages to pin me to the floor. I knee him in the groin with vampire strength. He crumbles in a ball, grasping his privates. Getting to my feet, I kick him hard in the head.

“Tyler does not require a doctor Jessica. He only needs to be secure so he can regain his strength. I’ll explain everything when I can.”