Blood Life (26 page)

“Can you fly?” Alethea asked without reservation.

“Yes,” Devendra replied, simply.

Alethea smiled, shifting her position in the tub and closing her eyes, trying to relax and absorb all the information she had been given lately. “If I know Roman well enough by now, I am sure he doesn’t like the telekinesis thing at all. In fact, he probably won’t stop trying to convince you to teach him how to be patient,” Alethea figured, giggling with Devendra.

“True.”

“Well,” Alethea said, looking at Roman who now stood cheerily in the doorway.

“Well what?” he asked with a shrug.

Devendra turned her gaze on him, damning him for eavesdropping on them. Her head was tilted and she squinted at him, glaring through half-mast eyes.

“What?” He laughed innocently, putting his hands up to defend himself from her evil eye. “I already understand all this anyway; no need to take offense.”

Devendra smiled briefly to release the annoyance, and then her face grew more serious. “Alethea has some questions to ask of me,” she explained to him. Looking over at Alethea, Devendra gestured for her to proceed.

Alethea cleared her throat, searching for the correct way to phrase her curiosity without making Devendra uncomfortable. Unable to find a good way to break into it, she gave up the inner struggle and blurted, “I can’t think of how to put this, exactly, so I’ll be blunt.”

She watched for Devendra’s approval. Roman sat down on the floor against the tub. “How did it all begin,” she started. “I mean, before you brought Lokee over, what was he like? How was your life together up to that point?”

Devendra’s expression did not lift or sadden with the question; rather, it remained flat and unreadable. “An explanation is what you want, only you don’t want to sound rude.” She grinned softly in an attempt to convince Alethea that she hadn’t offended her. “Not at all, Alethea. You both deserve to know everything. I have been wrong to keep any of it from you.”

Looking away quickly, Devendra wrung her hands as she stood and stepped quietly into the bedroom.

Roman pulled a clean towel from the bar on the wall and held it up for Alethea to snuggle into. She stood to accept his offering. After drying herself off, she wrapped the towel around her head and slipped into a terrycloth robe.

The three of them wandered into the living room and placed themselves strategically around a large coffee table decorated with a brilliant polished silver candelabrum. The candles in the piece were lit and the flames licked away at the room, struggling to create twisted and pleasing visual effects on the ceiling. Amused, Alethea watched the shadows play until Devendra gathered the courage to begin.

“When Lokee was a young mortal man,” she started, “he was adored by all the townspeople. He was always the center of attention at every social gathering, be it local parties or church on their Sabbath day.” She paused, grinning to herself. “Of course, I was never quite the churchgoer being one of the Combined, but I was able to fake my interest well. We have no fear of other Gods as witches or vampires; in fact, we commend them for who they are and what they do for the people who need them,” she explained. “As long as the fanatics do not condemn me, I will not pass judgment on them, but that’s an entirely different story. I’ll try to stick to this one.

“There was a woman in our town named Lorien who was sought out by every decent man within reach of her. Lorien’s father had his own stubborn pride, although he held no royalty in his blood; he was determined to have his daughter marry the man of his choice, not hers, to ensure he was worth his weight in gold. She was married to a man she did not love, much like your story,” she indicated Alethea. “Only, as I said before, she was not of royalty. She and Lokee were lovers, and they carried on for years before and after she was married.

“Lorien’s husband, Seth, was a fine man, but his mind was unstable. People gossiped of his madness, which put a heavy burden on Lorien, with fingers pointing and constant whispers in passing. Although this angered her, she lived through every day to visit Lokee at nightfall.

“After Seth murmured himself to sleep each night, she would sneak off and the lovers would meet just inside the woods near the Holy Well on the border of Bleu and Aqua. Seth was deathly afraid of the Well, believing that witches did black magic rituals around it, using its water to call Satan and his minions up from Hell to participate in wild orgies and sacrifices.” She waved her hands in front of her face, trying not to laugh at the misconceptions many people shared in regard to witchcraft.

“At that meeting place,” she continued, “Lorien felt the safest knowing Seth would never seek her there. Lokee feared nothing, as I had taught him. He was a vampire; he had nothing to fear. And, Lorien, she was so strong not to leave her husband in his madness. Lokee had always admired that strength. Lorien wanted things to stay as they were, and together they felt invincible against the inevitable.

“Seth—” Devendra paused, letting the deep tone of the “e” in his name hang around the room while she remembered him. “They say his father, who had molested him terribly as a child, caused his madness. It took years for Seth to acknowledge the abuse. He had taken it and buried it deep within his being. He was truly amazing before struck with the madness. As loved and adored as Lokee was, and I always believed that Lorien’s adultery fed into his lunacy, making it worse than it already was; Seth loved her dangerously.

“Lorien was amazingly beautiful. She had long, curly blonde hair, the color of wheat fields, and her eyes were a bright hazel, more green than brown, but the brown was very light, almost gold. I can’t really describe her eye color—it was very uncommon. She was tall, about to Lokee’s shoulder, and athletic in build, but feminine in demeanor, not tomboyish at all.” She paused, reflecting on Lorien’s beauty.

“Is she alive; did Lokee give her his blood-kiss?” Alethea asked anxiously, clearly riveted by the story.

Roman chuckled. “Just listen.”

Alethea huffed. Devendra smiled sweetly and continued.

“Seth would often ask Lorien if it were true, the rumors he had heard throughout the streets of his hometown, Yellow. But, of course, she would deny every word and take great offense so that he would back off, never wanting to upset her. He worshipped the ground she walked on and provided as best he could for her. His mind, however, hung on by a mere thread. It would only be a matter of time before it snapped.

“Still, she would come home in the middle of the night smelling of sex and open air. Then his madness would kick in: ‘Filthy whore!’ he would scream at her. She would cry and beg him to stop torturing her with his insanity, saying it was all in his head. When she threatened to leave him, he would fall at her feet, kissing her toes and begging her to forgive him.

“He played the role she assigned him in their gloomy marriage, because he loved her with all of his heart and was not willing or ready to let her get away from him. During one of his crazy outbursts, he threatened her with the consequences she would pay if she so much as mentioned Lokee’s name in his presence.

“One morning Lorien took ill and Seth set out to call on the best doctor in Yellow. Inside, he hoped she was very sick, close to dying. Then he figured he could somehow save her, and that in doing so, she would become indebted to him. That she would love him for saving her and he would never have to fear losing her again.

“Lokee hoped for the same thing—that she was close to dying. He planned to fake her mortal death. He would sneak her out of the house and bring her to me to give the most powerful blood so that she would survive and they could run away together with no one interested in pursuing them. He didn’t believe me when I told him his blood was as strong as mine; he got angry with me when I tried to convince him, because he was afraid he would kill her somehow by accident, unversed in how to properly use his power.

“Of course, Lorien didn’t know his dark secret. Lokee just held onto a belief that she would accept anything he put before her, as long as it meant the two of them could live and be as one.

“When the doctor returned with Seth, Lorien lay in bed, pale and frightened. She was perfectly aware of what was inside of her, growing and blossoming, but could not understand why her body was rejecting it so intensely, making her so violently ill.

“When the doctor revealed the news of her pregnancy to Seth, he roared with anger, pushing away every last bit of sanity that remained inside of him. The doctor left quickly to prevent violence onto himself, not considering Lorien’s condition or her impending danger. Seth stormed into the bedroom, ripping her fragile body out of bed. She screamed for mercy, holding onto her belly to protect the human/vampire hybrid.

“He forced her to admit her affair with Lokee; to admit they made love every chance they got just to spite Seth, not because they were in love. He cried out in agony as she sobbed, reciting the lines exactly as he forced her to confess them.

“He dragged her across the hard, wooden floor to the front door. Shoving her hard, she fell onto the small porch as Seth slammed the door behind her, casting her and the bastard child in her womb away from his home. After listening to her cry and pound on the door, too feverish and frail to walk through town to get to her love, Seth opened the door, picked her up and carried her back to bed.

“Drifting in and out of consciousness, Lorien was able to rest and regain her strength so that her body could start to deal with what was growing inside her belly, sucking on every last resource to survive. Seth, having spent several days feeding her and brooding on what he would do to Lokee, set out to find the culprit, with only one notion concluded in his mind: to kill him.

“I had heard of the pregnancy and warned Lokee of the impending visit so he was not caught off-guard. Of course, he wouldn’t listen. Stubbornness was always his strongest and most annoying trait. He argued with me and forbade my assistance against his archenemy who belligerently made his way toward our home. He was prepared to fight him, but insisted on being left alone to prove himself worthy of Lorien and their child. He was melting with pride.

“I bid him not to use his vampire strength or magic, because there was sure to be an audience eager to witness the duel. Lokee promised, preparing to kill the man with his bare hands.

“Fearing the worst for Lokee’s already broken heart, which was sure to weaken his attack, I situated myself out of mortal sight, but near enough to intervene with magic if needed to save Lokee from the madman’s wrath. Lokee yearned for his love and the sprouting seed of his unborn child.

“Seth searched for Lokee in a frenzy, not realizing that Lokee had left our home and waited for him with Lorien, protecting her and giving her hope. When Seth finally arrived back at his home, he threw the door open and Lokee immediately stood in front of his love and held his chest high with pride. Seth took a few steps toward them and knocked him down with the back of his powerful arm. Lokee sprung up from his sprawl on the floor, wiped the blood from his mouth, and fought back. He fought with all he had; every last bit of anger surfaced and gave him the strength to overcome this long awaited battle, and the vampire strength instilled within him helped against his will, though he managed to use very little of it. He took Seth down and beat him until he felt the rage begin to subside.

“Lokee was victorious. When it was over, he went to Lorien and told her all about the Combined, offering her the blood-kiss, which she refused, repulsed by the notion. She was a devout Christian and, though torn, chose God, denouncing Lokee for ‘selling himself to the Devil.’  He was stricken. She cast him away from her and their baby, asking that he never return and promising to take his secret to the grave out of respect for their love.

“And then the worst thing happened: she rushed to Seth’s lifeless form and mourned for him, blaming Lokee for everything that ever went wrong in her life, cursing him for killing Seth and ‘tainting her mind.’

“Confused and enraged, Lokee abducted her. He brought her to me, against her will, demanding that I give her my blood-kiss. I refused, shocked and sickened by his actions.

“I asked him what he thought he was doing. I told him that she would hate him forever; that she would never accept the Gift that way. She would forever despise him!”

Devendra wiped at her swelling eyes as Roman handed her a tissue. She smiled, waving it away and taking a moment to reflect. “Of course, Lokee would not listen,” she continued, shaking her head. “Lorien was strapped to his bed by the wrists and ankles. I went to her with the intention of freeing the binds, but Lokee attacked me, screaming into my face that he hated me for what I had done to him by carrying him in my womb after knowing the consequences of mating with evil—never mind the fact that I was tricked into mating with his father, Abel, in order to produce him. Never mind the struggles I had forgone to carry him to term. Never mind all that – it was all about him and it was all my fault. Everything.

“He turned his back on me after that without an ounce of regret. I saw the shift in his eyes, like mists took the place of a once joyous terrain. A mortal mother could never have caught such a subtle shift; I knew in my heart that I had lost him. It was the first time I realized how wrong I had been – the first time I witnessed the creature . . . the danger I had created for the Combined by allowing him to live and feed on my strength.

“Lorien cried from the bed, begging me to free her, promising never to tell a soul of her experience with us. Too stunned by Lokee’s behavior to react to her cries, I found myself paralyzed with fear. No matter how I tried, I could not move to free Lorien; I only stared at Lokee with absolute terror.”

Devendra closed her eyes and paused. Her mind was racing like wildfire, and although Roman and Alethea remained quiet in the thickness of the room, they probed and tested their strength, trying as hard as they could to reach the barriers of Devendra’s inner mind—to pull open the floodgates and know the rest of the tale without forcing her to relive the pain of it. “Don’t worry, my fledglings,” she murmured, eyes still closed, “I just need a moment. It needs to be told.”