Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (49 page)

“Orhn, we're not going back to town, ever.” Yugo was stern.

“Why not? Where else are we supposed to go?” Orhn shrugged his shoulders. “Where are we supposed to hunt?”

“Orhn, I framed you for a murderer a week ago. Has the pain of transformation caused amnesia?” Yugo reminded Orhn that he had set him up when they left nearest town.

Orhn shut up.

On Yugo's callus remark, Orhn sat back on the still damp dirt bed and laid down. He attempted to relax and prepare for the morning. Orhn closed his eyes. He was out, this time by choice.

* * * *

Orhn awoke to a bright light pervading his eye lids. He strained to open them and look around for Yugo. He slowly got up . His backside was covered in caked dirt. Orhn didn't understand what was going on. He found Yugo standing casually in the shade a few yards away. Orhn was groggy and stumbled to get to his feet. The sun was beating down on the entire area and it was very hot out.

Suddenly, Orhn realized what had happened. “Yugo, you bastard! I thought we agreed that you would try it out on my hand before it came to this!” Orhn was pissed and half awake to make things worse. He raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sun.

“I did, but you never woke up.” Yugo sat with his legs crossed. His back was propped neatly against the large oak tree. A piece of wheat was in his teeth. Yugo smiled.

“What do you mean I never woke up? Don't you mean that you were going to?” Orhn asked, worried as to what Yugo had done to him this time. “You intended to wake me, right?”

“No, I did try. I cut your arm off in your sleep and took it to roast in the sun. When it didn't burn, I reattached it. Then I drug you out here to wake you up.” Yugo was sipping on a clay cup of blood.

“You what!?” Orhn screamed. Then wondered why exactly Yugo wasn't in the sun like he was. “And why are you over there in the shade?”

“It's hot of course, a little too warm for my taste.” Yugo sipped more from the earthen cup.

“And how do you think I'm-” Orhn was cut short by Yugo.

“-You're perfectly fine. You're even still cool to the touch. In fact I bet you're not even warm, are you Orhn?” Yugo was making a point.

Orhn put his left hand on his arm, then his forehead. He was fine, just as Yugo said. “But how? How am I not on fire right now? I mean I'm actually still cool. Why?”

“Part of it's your gift, the other is the fact you're a vampire. We have an operating temperature that is cool to the touch, normally. That can change easily though. Our bodies are very efficient. That's at least what my mentor told me. Our only fault is that we do poorly in sunlight.” Yugo sipped more from the clay cup.

“How is that? You're in the sun right now, and you brought me out here. What changed to make you immune? If my gift is what's preventing my from dying here, what's happening to keep you alive out here? You told me that you caught fire that first time, what's different now?” Orhn walked over to Yugo and into the cool shade.

“I can't tell you that Orhn. All I can say is that I paid a price for what I am able to do and that you should be grateful there is no toll waiting for you at the end of this life of yours.” Yugo was being illusive again.

Orhn realized it was a dead end to probe further and stopped. Orhn knew that if he wanted to get along with Yugo, he was going to need the self control Yugo required him to develop. Orhn knew that coming into his new gift was going to take patience, trust, and cooperation. Something he needed from Yugo. Orhn decided to ally himself with Yugo.

* * * *

In the following eighty three years, Yugo instructed Orhn in the ways of being a complete vampire. Proper etiquette, use of his gift, hunting in low profile, all were necessary traits learned with adequate and repetition through the decades. A constant system of give and take developed between them. Orhn had become good friends with Yugo. Mostly due to the fact Yugo had refrained from assaulting Orhn in his sleep after the first ten years or so. Beyond that day, things were quite pleasant. They had come to build upon each other's strengths. Yugo soon found that having another alteration vampire on his side was more convenient than he had anticipated. Coupled with their equal immunity to sunlight, they were a powerful duo. Orhn and Yugo traveled through New Zealand smoothly over the years. Taking in the cities, the villages, and the towns as they went. There was little incident of them impressed upon history. Just the way Yugo liked it. They killed as men, not monsters. Finding ways to drink the naturally spilled blood from fights and altercations as common locals started up brawls with them over petty issues.

Through the many tests Yugo had conducted on Orhn, they had not yet found a limitation to his gift. Orhn was assiduous as a vampire. All to Yugo's perpetual delight, Orhn had become a faithful student and companion for his ideals. As to exactly what those goals were, Yugo refused to share with Orhn. The majority of a century had bonded their futures, giving them a perfect union at a certain distance. Yugo and Orhn were relatively new to the western coast of New Zealand. They had yet to find any rivalry in their small conquests for food and fun. No other vampires were present to defend against their roaming. To keep under the radar of the locals, Yugo often enjoyed picking fights with several larger men at a time. This made them believe that he was drunk and an easy target. Then he would lead them off somewhere to be slaughtered without anyone ever hearing.

Yugo had proved to be an artisan in his own right when it came to deception and subterfuge. Not to mention his actual tastes in artwork. He had allured to creating a few masterful paintings in his long trek around the Asian and European continents. A fact that he used many times as a conversation piece to boast of his wealth and position in life. Making him a prime target for any rowdy individual that thought Yugo was too haughty and loud for his own good.

Yugo was bragging loudly as Orhn's attention shifted to an unfamiliar scene as they approached the outside of a two-story local tavern. More than thirty men and women were huddled towards the double doors of the bar. Their glasses were swaying with the bright cheers being sang out into the night, echoing into the nearby villages. There was a commotion inside, someone was fighting, violently. Over the heads of the few shorter northern-Atlantic women, Yugo spotted a rather small young woman in the middle of the attention. She had nearly pitch white silvery short hair reaching just below her ears. The girl was five foot three inches tall, thin and tiny. Her skin was porcelain, without equal, almost unnaturally white. She wore a strange white fur jacket and pants. Orhn had no idea what it was made of. Yugo did, it was polar bear hide. Meaning she had traveled further north of where they were. Her arms were bare and her fists were clenched. Her feet were in a bearskin hand crafted boot that seemed very old and worn. She was rugged, and well versed in brawling. It appeared the young girl had a temper as well. Yugo smiled at first sight of her. Her chin was small, and her jaw line jagged to an angle. Yugo could see her cheeks were petite. The girl's forehead was large with small scratches from her assailant's blows. She was bloody from the fighting. The girl was no more than the age of nineteen. She was beautiful, a vision in Yugo's eyes.

“Who is that?” Yugo asked the crowd.

An older man to Yugo's right answered. “That is the white pixie.”

“White pixie? Why's she called that?” Orhn asked.

“She works magic when fighting for money or beer.” The old man replied. With the white hair, it just stuck.”

“Who's she contending?” Orhn asked the old man.

Yugo's eyes gleamed while staring at this sprite of a girl. “All of them, every one.”

“He's right. She comes in here about once a week and beats the shit out of nearly all the men in the town brave enough to fight her.” Another man explained.

“So this is a regular event?” Orhn was set back by the idea of grown men fighting a single woman for money.

“Yes, that's right, son. It's always a ten to one bet and she puts the same amount down every time. She wins, every time. By the end of the night she always buys everyone a round and we all sing songs until just before sunrise. Then she leaves. We all wait until the next week and watch everyone get pummeled by her again. It's great to see. It's just about the only entertainment we have in this town. Besides the brothel, and this way you don't catch anything from the fishermen. Safer, rowdier, and funnier. All thanks to the white pixie.” The old man raised his glass and cheered.

The white haired girl slugged one of the men in the face, knocking him on his butt. Blood splattered from his lip onto her face. Red stained on white flesh as she caught Yugo's eyes. The girl wiped his face. She smiled and went back to focusing on the fight.

Orhn was almost too young to notice, but Yugo realized what was occurring immediately. The blood that the 'white pixie' was knocking out of her opponents, the same blood that was landing on her face was slowly disappearing. She was absorbing it. Yugo nudged Orhn. Then he noticed it too. This one was a vampire.

“So how do we fight her?” Orhn asked willing to break her winning streak.

“To hell with that. I want to buy her a drink.” Yugo smiled and waded through the crowd and into the main bar, abandoning Orhn.

Orhn followed Yugo to a few open stools that had a great view of the spectacle.

Orhn asked Yugo. “You think she's that attractive do you?” Orhn had come to know Yugo and his way of thinking. He knew this was going to end badly.

“It's not like that. I just want to talk to her.” Yugo shrugged off Orhn's suggestive inclination.

“Yeah, you just want to be able to talk to her. Tomorrow morning, in bed.” Orhn conjectured.

Yugo stared at this young vampire. She was in the middle of trouncing one of the larger men. She had pulled his shirt up, over his head, and was punching him in the stomach. Yugo watched with a pleased look on his face. “And what's wrong with that? I seem to remember a few towns in which you visited one or two ladies of the night.”

“None of them were vampires.” Orhn whispered.

“Exactly my point. A half a dozen scantily clad women more than equals one young vampire.” Yugo figured.

“And what if she reveals us?” Orhn cautioned.

“Then we tattle on her. It's simple, Orhn.” Yugo gazed at the girl's fluid movements.

The young woman danced about as she attacked each man. She threw her body into each action to make it appear as if she actually owned the strength in which she employed.

“You don't understand. You've never been with a vampiric woman. They're different Orhn. They're, well, they're durable. And I can tell this one knows how to handle herself well.”

“In bed.” Orhn scoffed.

“And on the floor, the wall, the roof-” Yugo was trailing off.

“You want to risk our livelihood in this town for sex?” Orhn angrily raised his voice.

“And what's wrong if I say yes?” Yugo reasoned with Orhn. “This is my request, Orhn. Let me have the fun I require. It's been a long time since I've been close with someone else. Let me try.”

Orhn relaxed and nodded. “Okay, but I'm running if this all turns bad. Can you even tell how old she is?”

Yugo studied the white haired girl's body. After a minute, he answered. “She's younger than me and far older than you.”

“How old? A hundred?” Orhn asked.

“No, more like one to two hundred years.” Yugo surmised.

“Then that would make you more than two hundred.” Orhn proposed.

“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I've studied with some very old vampires. Then again, maybe I haven't.” Yugo was playing with Orhn, refusing to reveal too much of his life.

Yugo was being as allusive as ever when it came to his real age. He never actually told Orhn when he was born, when he was turned, or by who. Orhn had put together a reasonable time line. Yugo had let slip several clues about what he knew about. The things Yugo enjoyed gave light to where and when he was in history. By his accounts Yugo was born sometime before the fourteen hundreds. Though Yugo never confirmed it.

The white pixie was finishing up with the group of men. They were all bruised, beaten, and cut up very thoroughly. The only blood she had on her was the blood she had put on herself and let dry, for show. A trick she must have developed in order to run such a convincing con in front of so many people at once. The girl was bleeding them dry in plain sight and no one was stopping her. It was brilliant, Yugo assessed.

With a well acted wobble, the white pixie wiped off her face, took a well earned breath, and spoke up. “Okay, time to drink!” She said as everyone cheered. “A round for everyone here!” She announced, then turned towards Yugo.

The girl had noticed both Yugo and Orhn early on. She was well aware of what they were. The young, bloodied girl walked over to them before Yugo had the chance to approach her directly.

“Who the hell are you?” The girl's voice was sweet and light, but her words were harsh. Her white hair was splashed with trails of blood. Long strands of hair were strewn over her face, she looked like hell. Yugo got a good look at her eyes, they were pure red. Though no one around seemed to care.

“Excuse-” Orhn was interrupted.

“-Excuse us, we are new here and would like to enjoy this wonderful little town of yours.” Yugo said.