In the Face of Darkness (Lily Culpepper Book 1) (4 page)

CHAPTER 4

When I returned to the main sitting room everyone else had already come down.  I noticed Tino first.  He was wearing one of his Italian pinstriped suits.  He looked me over and gave me a disapproving look.  I didn’t expect him to approve.  I knew that Tino and Endora would expect me to wear a tight fitted dress, but I thought there was going to be enough stress tonight, and I just wanted to wear jeans.  Endora, of course, had to make her grand entrance, walking down the grand stairs in her customary long, flowing white dress. 

“Where are the girls?” Endora asked as she reached the bottom of the staircase.

“They are still getting ready” I said.

“Don’t you think you should go check on them?” Endora said.  “Once they are ready bring them up here” Endora said as I turned to go down to the basement.  The moment my feet hit the stairs to the basement I heard the sound of soft feminine laughter.  I tried not to think about the fact that all of these girls would die tonight.  I stopped in the middle of the stairway and just listened to their meaningless chatter. I wished with all my non-beating heart that I was one of them.  Even though they were going to die tonight, at least that would be the end for them.  They wouldn’t have to live this half-life, straddling the line between life and death.

To get though tonight I would have think like a vampire and not like a human.  The life of these girls was short and insignificant compared to the life of a vampire.  Their deaths would be as insignificant as their lives had been.

After tonight I wouldn’t think about them again.  They would be dead and I would lose what was left of my humanity.  When I was a human I never noticed my humanity, but now that I was a vampire I could feel it like a living thing inside me.  I could hear it telling me that everything I am is evil, and I should have died in that fire.

I walked the rest of the way down the stairs, and I saw Jane and the other girls.  They all looked prettier than I thought I could ever look.  They were wearing small, lacy underwear in different colors.  One was wearing all black with a hot pink ribbon running thru both the bra and panties, one was wearing white trimmed in lime green lace, and another was wearing electric blue.  Jane was wearing a full red buster, a black, lacy thong and fish net thigh highs.  As I looked at the girls in their bright colors, the thought crossed my mind that they looked like cupcakes.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“We are ready whenever you are” Jane said.

“They're ready for you upstairs” I said.

“Whatever you say” she said with a small smile and hooded eyes.  I turned my back to her and led the four girls up the stairs.  Once we were upstairs, I watched as Tino used his mind intrusion on the girls. 

Castor and his entourage arrived at midnight.  Castor’s entourage consisted of two vampires, one male and one female.  They were both young and attractive looking, but then I wouldn’t expect anything less.  Castor always surrounded himself with youth and beauty.  No one would ever describe Castor as being attractive.  The only way I could describe the way Castor looks is rough.  I had no idea how old he was, but he looked like had had a hard life before becoming a vampire, and maybe he had even had a hard life after.  Like most vampires, his skin was pale, but it looked like it had once been ravaged by the sun.  His eyes were dark and penetrating.  His hair fell around his face in distinct disarray.

The female vampire with Castor had long, dark hair and round, soft dark eyes; her skin was the most tan I’d ever seen on a vampire.  I guessed she was of Latin descent.  I couldn’t help but notice the way her hand was subtlety touching Castor’s arm; I also noticed that, though Castor didn’t pull away from her touch, he didn’t reciprocate it.

The male vampire was shorter than both Castor and Tino, but more muscular than both.  His skin was almost as pale as mine, and his hair was so blond it was almost white; I found myself staring at his hair and wondering if he dyed it that color.  But, it was his face that really made me want to stare; his strong jaw and high cheek bones made him look masculine and feminine at the same time.

“Castor, it has been too long” Endora said in the sing song voice that only she could do.

“She hasn’t made a kill yet” Castor said.

“We wanted to wait till you were here and make it special” Endora lied.

“We should get on with it then” Castor looked over at the girls.  “Personally, I prefer a time when girls left more to imagination, but these will serve the purpose” he said.

“This one looks like she could serve more than one purpose for me” the male vampire with Castor said as he pulled Jane close to him.  He kissed her right there is front of everyone.  I felt embarrassed and wanted to look away, but I was mesmerized by such an intimate sight happening in such a public place.  I noticed that everyone else was also looking at the two embracing.

The male vampire held Jane in a way that molded her body to his.  Jane didn’t appear to be fighting, but she wasn’t embracing him back.  It was like she was just letting the kiss happen.  Suddenly, the male vampire evaporated into dust.  I blinked, thinking my eyes were deceiving me, but I still saw the small pile of dust on the floor in front of Jane.  As Jane turned around, I noticed the wooden stake that she held tightly in her right hand.  I realized that she had killed the male vampire, but it didn’t make sense.  She had been under mind intrusion, and Tino was the best at mind intrusion. 

The female vampire with Castor rushed at Jane.  She grabbed Jane by the hair and pulled her head back.  The female vampire’s fangs shown off the light from the chandler as she bent her head to Jane’s neck.  Then Jane spun around in the vampire’s grasp, and plunged the stake deep into her heart.  The female vampire turned to dust before she even knew what was happening.

“Which one of you wants to be next?” Jane asked.

“You are not going to be able to take on all of us” Castor said.  “Why don’t you be a go
od girl and put the stake down and I’ll make your death quick” Castor said.

“If I’m dead anyway, I plan on taking you with me” Jane said to Castor.

“Jane, you don’t want to do this” I said as I slowly walked towards her.  I was hoping that Jane wouldn’t want to hurt me, but I stopped walking towards her when I saw her tighten her grip on the stake.

“Don’t tell me what I want or don’t want, you’re not better than the rest of them. You just think you’re better” she said.  “You should be different, you know.  They said you would be, but you aren’t different” she said.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  I wasn’t different; I was just a vampire.

“Jane, I know you don’t want to die” I said.

“I’m already dead, but at least I’m not the only one who is going to die.  I plan on taking as many of you with me as I can” she said as she motioned towards the stake she still held in her right fist.

“I just want to know where you hid that stake” Tino said in his lazy voice.

“Come over here and I’ll show you” Jane said.

“Tempting” Tino said.  I had to admit that Jane had guts.  I knew that when I was a human I never would have been able to stand up to four vampires.  In fact, I don’t think I would have the guts to stand up the four vampires now.  I admired her even though I knew she was going to die.  No human stood a chance against a vampire.  The only reason she had been able to kill the first two vampires was because they weren’t expecting her to fight.  Jane knew she wouldn’t be able to hold them off for very long, yet she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

I still didn’t understand how Jane had resisted Tino’s mind intrusion.  I had to stop myself from smiling because the only good part of this situation was that I knew it was driving Tino crazy.  Tino was even better than Endora at mind intrusion; it was his one source of pride.  I had never seen anyone come out of Tino’s mind intrusion.

“Jane, just put the stake down” I said.

“I’m putting the stake down” Jane’s voice was playful, and it made me question if she meant what she said.  To my surprise, Jane opened her both her hands and displayed her palms for the room to see, letting the stake she held drop to the floor.  Tino rushed towards Jane; then suddenly I saw Tino fall to his knees with a wooden stake pointing out from his left shoulder.  Tino pulled the stake out of his shoulder with a yell of pain.

“She has another stake” I said in disbelief.  It was one thing for her to sneak in one stake, but it would have been impossible for her to sneak in two.

“She’s a land witch” Castor yelled in surprise.  I stared at Jane.  I had heard of witches that could control the land and everything that grew from it, but I never thought I would meet one.  Land witches, along with all other witches, had been hunted to extinction, or so I had been told.  Witches’ powers were passed down thru the generations.  A witch’s power centered around one of the four elements.  Land and fire witches were the two most feared by vampires as wood and fire were the two elements that could kill a vampire.

“All of you are abominations against nature, and you have to be destroyed” she said. 

“Jane, you don’t want to do this” I told her.  I didn’t feel the stake go in, but I did feel the cold surge of power.  I looked down to see the stake lodged into my chest.  I pulled the stake from my chest and I felt like the life had been drained from me.  I needed blood.  Jane was staring at me.  Before she could put another stake in me I sank my fangs into Jane’s neck and drank deeply.  Jane’s blood was different than any other blood I had ever tasted; her blood was rich and sweet. All I had to do was drink just a little more and she would be dead.  For the first time since becoming a vampire I didn’t want to stop feeding; I wanted to drink every last drop of Jane’s blood.  She would have killed me without a second thought.  Jane had said herself that she was already dead.  If I didn’t kill her one of the other vampires in the room would kill her.

“Stop, the queen would want her alive.  She will want to make an example of her” Castor said.  I made myself stop feeding from Jane, and I let her go limp against me.  I could feel her blood filling every part of my body.  Her blood made my head feel like it was spinning and, it made my body feel strong and more alive than I have ever felt.

“Let’s not let these unfortunate events spoil what should be a lovely evening” Endora said.  “Besides, we still have these three lovely entrées to enjoy” Endora motioned at the other three girls that had come with Jane.

“Yes, we should go on with the meeting” Castor said as he reached for one of the girls.  He turned her head so that her perfect sun tanned neck was exposed.  I looked into her blank eyes, and I wished that I was her.  She would never know the pain of dying, and it would be over before she even realized what was happening.

“Lily, take Jane down to the basement and lock her in chains” Endora said.  “Tino, you should feed so you will heal” she said, and I watched Tino bite into another of the girls. 

I lifted Jane over my shoulder and carried her down to the basement.  I laid Jane down on one of the beds.  I had taken enough blood from her that she would be weak for a while.  I did my best to lock the chains around her so that when she woke up she wouldn’t be too uncomfortable, but I knew I had to make sure that the chains would hold her.  Once I was done locking up Jane I started back up the stairs, but I stopped when I heard Endora and Castor talking.

“We never did talk about why you are here” Endora said.

“The Queen wants her; I can’t give you any more time” Castor said.

“She’s not ready” Endora said.

“Whose fault is that?” Castor said.  “After what I just saw I’d say her powers are developing and your bond with her is hanging by a thread”.

“I can’t force her.  You know if I push too hard I will lose the bond we have.  Don’t forget about the potential she has” Endora said.

“Potential that will be wasted if she is not controllable” Castor said.  “If she is not controlled she will become dangerous”.

“I have her under control” Endora said.

“For now” Castor said.  “What happens when she discovers what she is?” Castor asked.  “What happens if she discovers how to use her powers?” he asked.

“That won’t happen” Endora said.  “What happened tonight was a fluke.  You just have to give me more time” she said.

“I don’t have more time to give you” Castor said.  “The Queen wants to meet her, and not even I can defy the Queen” he said.  I waited until I heard both Castor and Endora go up to their rooms before I went up to mine.

I wondered about what I had overheard Castor say.  I had always known that Endora wanted to control me, but I didn’t understand what she meant about my having potential or what Castor meant about me being dangerous.  Never would I have thought I would hear someone call me dangerous.

I wondered why someone as powerful as Castor would be afraid of me.  I wasn’t a threat to anyone.  I couldn’t even make a kill.  I looked at myself in the mirror and I tried to see myself under the makeup and clothes that didn’t feel like me.  It didn’t matter how long I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t see the girl I used to be.  It wasn’t just the clothes or the makeup, it was me.  It was in my eyes; they were the same color and they looked the same, but they were cold and unfeeling.  There was nothing I could do to change them back.