Forever Young The Beginning (10 page)

“
I am Marie Lafayette,
Ian.”

“
I’m pleased and honored to
meet you, Madame Lafayette.”

“
Please do call me Marie,
Ian. My husband Henri is not here at this time. I’ve brought your
breakfast.” She crossed to his bedside, and Ian couldn’t help but
notice how gracefully she moved.

“
I’m feeling weak, Madame….I
…..Marie. I could eat a horse.” Suddenly he doubled up in pain.
“What’s happening?”

They came to his side. Marie
said “This is something that happens as your body
imprints
. It will
sometimes be worse than this, but will grow less severe over time.
You must drink now Ian.”

The two looked at each other and
Cosette nodded. Marie said “Ian this is blood. It is what you’ll
have to drink for the rest of your life. Without it you would die,
unless in hibernation.”

Writhing in pain, Ian said “Blood? I
must drink blood? Nah Madame, I will na drink blood, by
Heaven!”

“
You drank blood last night
or by now you would be dead. Ian, this is rabbit blood, and yes,
you’ll drink it or die.” She stood smiling at him, still holding
the tray. He looked towards Cosette. She was watching gravely,
nodding her assent.

“
I’ll die without
it?”

Both of them nodded gravely as he
stared stupidly. Finally he said “Well, I can do that.” Marie bent
and lifted him gently up with no effort at all. He tried to assist
her, but couldn’t hold himself up. “Now my bones ache.” he said.
She lifted him with no effort at all and steadied the cup, holding
it as he drank two sips of the warm slightly salty liquid. It was
but a moment and he suddenly felt a surge of energy.

“
Why, I feel strong already,
and the pain’s gone.”

“
That is the blood, Ian.” He
took the cup then and drank it all.

“
You don’t drink human blood
then?”

Both women shook their heads gravely,
and then Marie said “We never drink human blood, Ian. It’s an
abomination to us.”

“
But that thing… that
vampire…..”

“
He’s an abomination and
should die. We didn’t know until this….incident that this vampire
is somehow connected to LeBlanc. We think he is Renaud Leclerc; a
dangerous villain if ever there was one. I’ll be telling Henri
about this when he returns. Ian, some vampires drink human blood,
while some don’t. There’s no difference in us other than that. We
all have vampire ………characteristics… strengths…. weaknesses too…..
no matter what kind of blood we drink. There’s no advantage to
drinking human blood. That is a myth.”

“
You said something about
hibernation. Do you hibernate?” Both ladies looked at each other
with raised eyebrows and laughed. Their laughter combined had a
pleasant musical quality.

“
No, we don’t hibernate.
Vampire hibernation is supposed to be a way to survive for long
periods of time without blood. I suppose that you could say it’s an
unproven legend about our kind.”

“
Well, I feel so good that I
want to get up.” He began to swing his legs from bed saying “So if
you ladies will excuse me….” Here he stopped, realizing that he was
naked under the covers. “God’s eyes! I’m naked as a babe!” he said,
turning red with embarrassment. “Who did that?”

At this, both Cosette and Marie threw
back their heads and laughed merrily, to his even greater
embarrassment. “We’re sorry Ian, but you were such a mess last
night that we both stripped and washed you.”

His eyes widened “Both of ye
ladies?”

Still laughing they nodded in unison.
“Cosette will find you some clothes Ian.” Then turning, Marie left
the room.

Cosette got up and at vampire speed,
left the room. Ian blinked in disbelief. She had vanished like
wind-blown smoke. In under a minute she returned at vampire speed
with some clean workman’s clothes, underclothing, socks, and with
Ian’s boots. He sat mouth agape on the side of the bed but
modestly, with the blankets over his lap. Cosette smiled sweetly
and left, closing the door. He could have sworn that he heard
laughter from the two women shortly after.

Now dressed, Ian came out of the room.
Nearly instantaneously it seemed, Cosette appeared at the bottom of
the staircase and in one bound was at the top next to him. “You
might have a faint spell and fall down the stairs. Walk down with
me now.” She smiled sweetly then and put her arm around him as he
took hold of the handrail and descended to the grand foyer. He
found Marie sitting demurely in a large chair in the cavernous
parlor. “Sit down and be at ease. You’ll have your own clothes back
as soon as they’re dry.” Marie smiled sweetly, continuing “May I
get you another drink?” Ian declined politely. Then she went on,
“I’ve sent for Monsieur Picard, a tailor. He’ll be here before
midday. You’ll have the beginning of a new wardrobe in two days’
time.”

“
Why Marie, thank you, but I
have clothes aboard our ship.”

“
Ian, your sailing days have
ended. You’ll learn to dress as people do in France so as to not
attract undue attention wherever we are. You’ll learn to speak our
language while you live here.”

“
Why would I live
here?”

“
You are now undergoing a
great change within your body. This change will take three weeks to
a month to complete itself. We call this period of
development
imprinting
. You’re to do everything we tell you to do. What we do during
this time will so arrange things within your body so as to define
most of your limitations for as long as you live.”

“
How long will I
live?”

“
For as long as you
like.”

“
I canna die?”

“
No, but you can be
killed.”

He sat in silence, taking all of that
in. “What can kill me? A wooden stake?”

Both of them laughed then, shaking
their heads as Marie replied “Direct sunlight will cause you to
burn to death. You can be beheaded and your head burnt by leaving
it in sunlight. You can be blown apart by artillery or cut into
pieces and your body parts separated and burnt.”

“
You mean that other than
sunlight, even mortal wounds can be healed?”

“
Yes.”

“
Ah….you said beheaded.
What…”

“
Ian, if you were to be
decapitated, yet your head placed back upon your neck, it would
re-attach itself, as would any other part of your body so done.
This would take some time and assistance. If you are cut, a wound
can close in a minute or a little more.”

“
That fast?”

Nodding her head, she continued. “If
you are shot, your body will eventually expel the bullet and the
wound close as if it never happened. The cuts you suffered in that
knife attack last night are healed already. They didn’t leave a
scar. You’ll still feel pain, but it can’t incapacitate
you.”

“
What about poison, or
snakebites?” he asked as he examined his chest to see no signs of
the cuts he had received in the fight.

“
Poisons have no effect on
us, nor do snakebites or stings of insects. Insects cannot sting us
because of our skin, and their venom has no effect on us anyway.
You’ll need little rest, but some is good.”

“
I won’t need
sleep?”

“
No. Neither heat nor cold
will have a lot of effect on you. You can’t drown, but you’ll be
able to swim as fast as a dolphin. If not swimming, you’ll sink.
You’ll be able to outrun a deer or horse with ease and jump higher
too. We vampires needn’t breathe at all, but we do so to speak and
to blend in with humans we may be near. You’ll require practice
while you’re
imprinting
to make that skill second nature.”

“
Practice…to
breathe?”

Laughing, she nodded and
continued. “We don’t perspire ever. You’ll do best to drink blood
daily, but can do without for a while before weakening. We’ll
condition you to enhance that ability. It is wise to ease into the
blood drinking the first day. You’ll need more though as you
imprint.”

“
So I’ll always have to
drink blood to live?”

“
Yes, but if you don’t learn
to do without it also during
imprinting
, you’ll have more of a
thirst for it. That can be a hard thing to manage. It’s dangerous
for humans or animals to be near a non-mentored vampire; or one who
is
imprinting
and
not being mentored and watched over. You’ll have periods of feeling
weak and maybe even sick during
imprinting
.”

“
Why?”

“
Your body is changing. Your
muscles, bones, and tendons are becoming tougher and denser. This
is necessary because of the greater strength you’ll have. Your
human body would otherwise soon be torn apart by that strength you
will have when you’re done
imprinting
. When these weak or sick
spells come, you must drink blood.”

“
So I’m to become dependent
on blood then?”

“
Yes and no. This part is
vital, Ian. When you’re feeling stronger while
imprinting
, it’s best to not drink
blood. This will be near the end of your
imprinting
. That will forever
condition you to do without blood for periods and yet still be able
to function. This is a vital part of a successful
imprinting
. During
the
blood fast
,
blood must be denied to create the desired effect.”

“
So I don’t drink it then
for… what, days ?”

“
For as many days as you can
stand. That will cause great pain, but it is well worth it. Most of
our kind don’t go through with it because of the pain. It also will
make it so that the smell of blood won‘t affect your ability to
control yourself at all times. The human part of you lives on in
your mind.”

“
Human part of
me?”

“
Yes. The human part must
always govern the vampire. That is the essence of a responsible
vampire who can peacefully coexist with humans.”

“
Then I can never again
eat…as I did before this?”

“
Not so. “You’ll be able to
eat what humans eat, but it’s imperative that we condition you for
that and other things as well starting today. You must drink water
too while
imprinting
. Humans need it to live and you must appear to be human so as
to not be discovered.”

“
So I’ll eat and drink as I
did?”

“
Yes. If you eat food that
humans eat, you’ll expel waste as you did when you were human. If
you don’t, you’ll never expel any waste. When you’re traveling it
is obviously more convenient to not consume human food. The time of
your
imprinting
has begun. As much as can be done regarding these things must
be done within this time.”

“
Why eat human food at
all?”

“
Consuming food that humans
consume allows us
Adepts
to blend in. This is imperative if you’re to
become an
Adept.
And besides, it tastes good. We
Adept
vampires love good food, and we
never gain weight.”

“
Adept?”

“
An Adept is a vampire who
has had superior mentoring so as to live undetected among
humans.

“
I see. You mentioned
vampire venom. I can’t even kiss a human then for fear of them
dying of venom?”

“
No. We only make venom if
we bite. We don’t make it by kissing.”

“
So my training will make me
into an
Adept
?”

“
Yes. To be an
Adept
guarantees that
unless you do something stupid, you’ll be accepted as human by
humans themselves, and even by some vampires should you develop
some finer skills of deception. Those can be learned after you are
through
imprinting
. An
Adept
can
walk freely in daylight as long as they keep in shady areas, or
wear protective clothing. A high level
Adept
can walk freely in daylight
without protective clothing if it is cloudy. This all must be
achieved within your imprinting period. Most of our kind never
become
Adepts
.”

“
Why is that?”

“
They never receive proper
mentoring. Many are just ill-fated people who have fallen victim to
the unscrupulous of our kind. In my case, I was brought over
because I was sick and at death’s door. I was known by the one who
brought me over regarding my character and personality.”

“
Can I, can our kind have
children?”

“
No.”

“
No children?”

“
We’re sterile, and we
females don’t have a monthly cycle.”

Ian blushed a bit and then hung his
head for a while. “It all seems so…..empty….no children…I thought
that one day I’d be a father when I had met and married the right
woman. I…I thought that I had just met her last week.” He left off
there, thinking now about Alandra and the life they might have had.
His spirit dampened visibly from inquisitive to that of being
demoralized. Both women saw it and sympathized. They came to him
and got on bended knees before him, taking his hands gently in
theirs.