Indulgence (231 page)

“What brings you here tonight?” Vincent asked.

“Well it is a party, isn’t it? We assumed we were invited.”

“Well you assumed wrong,” Lorenzo snapped.

“Now, now,” Vincent stated and placed his hand on Lorenzo’s
shoulder. “Let’s show our guests a bit more graciousness than that.”

“So does that mean we can enter?” Delilah asked in a sly
tone. She sniffed the air like an animal looking for its next meal.

“She can smell the mortals,” Max whispered to those of us in
the security room.

“Not exactly,” replied Vincent. “What is your business
here?”

“No business,” Lucious snarled. “Like I said, we assumed we
were invited to the party.”

“You assumed you had access to an easy meal,” Lorenzo
seethed.

“Hmm,” Lucious purred as he continued to leer at the castle.
“I will never understand your kind. Why put yourself through so much suffering
by sparing the mortals?”

“So they can be saved in the end,” Delilah responded
sarcastically as both she and Lucious burst into laughter.

“I doubt the Lord will show sympathy to any of the devil’s
offspring who steals any of
His
precious souls,” Lucious mockingly
added.

I had a hard time seeing anything on the monitors over the
three other heads. I walked over to the stained glass window and cracked it
open, hoping for a better view of our unwanted guests. I slowly cranked the
window open wider. A cool breeze rushed past me. It felt welcome against my hot
flesh.

“No! What are you doing?” Marlo yelled at me as she hurried
to crank the window shut. “Did they sense anything?” Marlo shouted to her
brothers.

“No, I don’t…wait a minute,” Max replied.

The four of us drew closer to the monitors. Vincent and
Lucious were still engaged in the conversation, but Delilah’s attention was now
on something else. The breeze blew past her, throwing her hair wildly into the
air. She lifted her nose into the air then snapped her head in the direction of
the window I had just opened.

“You have one of them here!” Delilah announced, cutting off
the rest of the conversation. She continued to sniff the air and her eyes
appeared to become more vibrant. “Smell it, Lucious.”

Lucious stuck his nose in the breeze and took a deep breath.
“Ahh, it appears you have another treat for us this evening besides all of the
mere mortals,” Lucious hissed, stepping closer to Vincent and Lorenzo. Casper
stood in the background with a look of accomplishment on his face.

“We have nothing for you here,” Vincent responded his arms
crossed over his chest.

“Oh come on Vincent, don’t play your games. There’s no
mistaking
that
scent.”

I strained my neck to see the monitor. “What is he talking
about?” I whispered. Max threw up a hand to silence me.

Delilah closed her eyes and took another deep breath. “It’s
a female,” she snarled.

“Oh I see,” Lucious said, narrowing his eyes on Vincent.
“Shacking up with one of the descendants, are we? Where did you find this one?”

“Oh God,” I whispered, “they’re talking about me.” I pulled
myself away from the monitor and found my way back to the chaise. I could still
hear the audio and see the scene on a small television near where I sat.

“There is nothing for you here,” Lorenzo interjected. “You
need to leave.”

“Oh, but there is something for us here,” Delilah responded.
“You think you can protect the mortal, but you can’t! Your own rules prevent
you from doing that since you can’t tell her what you are. That means she
doesn’t know we exist; she won’t even know we’re coming for her! What a pity –
for her!” Her vicious bellow filled the room.

“I can protect her!” Vincent yelled at the top of his lungs.

Lorenzo stepped in front of Vincent and put a hand on
Lucious as he stepped forward. “Leave. Now.” Lorenzo directed sternly.

A smirk spread across Lucious’s face. “I see someone fancies
a descendant,” he said as he turned towards his vehicle, Delilah’s face still
fixated on the window I had opened. “Don’t get too attached,” Lucious warned.

“Transform her if you must, if she’ll even agree, but we’ll
be back for her either way,” Delilah added, winking at Vincent.

Lorenzo had to hold Vincent back from attacking. The duo
stepped into the Rolls Royce. Casper slammed the door, his eyes never leaving
Vincent’s except for a momentary glimpse at the window before he entered the
car and pulled away.

“Not good,” Felix announced.

“Not at all. We need to keep an eye on Vincent,” Max added.

My head was spinning from the ordeal I had just witnessed. I
had so many questions in my head that I could barely organize them. The hollow
of my throat was distracting me, aching more and more, and the tingling
sensation was spreading from my toes up my legs.

“Who are they?” I asked, unable to see the three siblings
who were still behind the monitors. “And why do they think I’m just a mortal?”

“You are a mortal, Allison,” Marlo responded, emerging from
around the corner. “They do not know what you are. Well let me rephrase that.
They know you are a descendant of Cain’s family; that, they can smell. Only you
and your ancestors carry the scent of the garden. They would have to see you to
suspect that you are possibly half vampire. That, they could not pick up
through your scent.”

“So they don’t know about Cain’s affair with a mortal?”

“No, they don’t. No one outside of the Secret Coven knows
that. They think you are one of Adam and Eve’s descendants.”

“Great, another reason I have no choice about my
transformation. If they see me, they’ll know something is up. See what I mean
about not having a choice?”

The room fell silent. The two brothers remained hidden
behind the monitors.

“Are you okay,” Marlo asked me. “You don’t look well.”

Max poked his head around the corner.

“No, you don’t look good at all,” Max added.

“How would you look after learning all this?” I snapped.
“So, what’s the deal with Lucious and Delilah? Do they have some sort of
vendetta out for me?”

Marlo and Max exchanged a glance. “How much did Vincent tell
you about your family’s beginnings?” Marlo asked.

“He told me about Cain, how he met Ina, she disappeared, he
found Amelia and conceived a child,” I stated.

“Did he tell you about any of Cain and Ina’s transformations
or anything about how the Secret Coven was formed?” Max asked. Felix was now
peering around the corner.

“Vincent said that Cain never transformed anyone but Ina
didn’t have the same willpower. They killed as few humans as possible. He never
told me how your group was formed, only that you all consented to Ina.” My
confusion swelled but the feeling wasn’t able to compete with the fire in my
stomach and throat and the other sensation washing over my body. I started to
feel like I was going to shake.

“Wait, wait, wait…he said Cain never transformed anyone?”
Felix asked, as he walked to the center of the room. The three of them formed a
semicircle around me.

“Is that not right? What’s going on?” I demanded. I pulled
off my gloves hoping that would cool me.

“Well, it’s not true. He must not have wanted you to worry
about…” Marlo started, but Max cut her off.

“Maybe he had a reason,” Max said.

“Would someone please tell me what you are talking about?” I
demanded as I pulled the tiara from my wig.

“Allison, when Cain and Ina were young vampires, they tried
to kill as few mortals as possible. But their novice attempts to kill their
prey sometimes went in vain. They did transform some mortals without realizing
it,” Marlo explained.

“And one of those accidental transformations was Lucious,”
Felix added.

“What?” I asked in disbelief. I reached around my neck to
free it from the necklace.

“That’s right,” Marlo continued. “Lucious emerged from his
transformation and was confused. Once he figured out what he had become, he was
enraged that his creator had left him for dead and therefore leaving him to
fend for himself. He then wondered if his creator knew that he or she had
transformed him, so he set off to find them.”

“So did Lucious find Cain and Ina?” I asked, now tugging at
my wig.

“You are familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark, correct?”
Felix asked.

“What?” I asked. “Of course. What does Noah’s Ark have to do
with any of this?”

The door flew open and Vincent emerged, Lorenzo right behind
him.

“Allison, are you okay?” Vincent dropped to his knee to
inspect me.

I was irritated. “I’m fine.” I snapped. “Your brothers and
sister are giving me a history lesson, if you don’t mind.”

Vincent stood up and looked at Marlo, Felix and Max.

“It’s fine,” Max reassured.

Vincent stepped back and Felix continued the story.

“You see, Cain and Ina roamed the earth and one day came
upon a man, Noah, who was building a huge ship on top of a mountain.”

“Wait,” Vincent interrupted. He looked worried. “Why are we
talking about this now?”

“Because I want to hear the story,” I snarled. “Felix,
please continue.”

“Noah was the Lord’s favorite descendant of Adam and Eve.
The Lord had asked Noah to build the ship and ensure it held a male and female
of every species because the Lord was going to create a great flood to wipe out
the evil he saw man was doing.”

“The evil that the Lord saw, that was Lucious, wasn’t it?” I
asked.

“Yes, but the holy book doesn’t tell you that. Lucious fully
embraced his new existence and was wrecking havoc on man. He didn’t care who he
hurt, how or where. The Lord knew He had to stop it and the great flood was the
answer.”

“Only it wasn’t the answer, obviously,” I said.

“Right,” Max picked up the next part of the story. “Cain
watched Noah for several days as the ark was built, but couldn’t understand why
Noah was undertaking such a huge task, especially on the top of a mountain.
Well, a few weeks later, he got his answer.

“One by one, an animal of every species paired up with a
mate and boarded the ark. Cain was still confused until he saw the water rising
up the side of the mountain. He realized that the earth was being flooded and
only one pair of every species was going to be spared – as long as it was on
the ark.

“Cain grabbed Ina as the last animal was about to enter the
vessel. They flew over the water and snuck onto the ship. It was Cain’s hope
that the flood would destroy the evil he and Ina felt haunted them. Although
they did not know him by name, tales of Lucious’s wrath spread to Cain and
Ina’s ears.

“The two settled on the lowest level of the ship to ride out
the flood. The great flood lasted several weeks and when it was over, the ship
settled and each animal disembarked. Cain was sure that any evil he or Ina had
created would have been wiped out in the flood. He was sure no one or nothing
could have possibly survived it. So the animals went on their way to reproduce,
as did Noah and his family. Many descendants of Adam and Eve were born over
time. Unfortunately for them, Lucious created a huge army.”

Marlo continued the story. “You see, Lucious survived the
flood. In his vengeful pursuit of Cain, he witnessed him and Ina board the ark.
Unfortunately for Lucious, he did not have time to sneak on the ship. He was
swept away in the flood, but as you now know, there is only one way to destroy
a vampire. Seeing Cain desert him once again, Lucious was filled with even more
rage. He swore that he would create a following whose sole purpose would be to
destroy Cain, Ina and all of Cain’s family. This following included vampires
like Casper whose sole purpose is to serve as scouts locating descendants for
Lucious to destroy.”

“Which would include me,” I choked out, the heat billowing
from my stomach up my throat. The tingly sensation had spread to my upper body
and I almost felt like I was going to lose consciousness. I fought the
sensations to hear the rest of the story.

“Yes,” Felix chimed in. “The Bible documents some of
Lucious’ evil doings but disguises them as the plagues – water that turned to
blood, sick animals, plagues of boils, so many locusts that a black out
resulted, darkness for three days – all Lucious; not a natural phenomenon or
plague sent by the Lord.”

“Allison, are you okay?” Vincent asked, rushing to my side.

“I, uh,” I stammered.

“Her history must be too much for her,” I heard Marlo say in
the background. Her voice sounded so distant to me. “Someone get her some water.”

“Wait,” Lorenzo warned, holding up a hand to silence the
commotion in the room. “Do you hear that?”

I tried to concentrate on what Lorenzo was hearing, but
could not overcome the feeling in my body. The others in the room listened as
well.

“Who is it?” Felix whispered.

The door slowly creaked open and Jenna’s face appeared.

“Hey,” Jenna said sheepishly. “I, um, was just looking for
Lorenzo. I thought I saw him come up here.”

I stood up and glowered at Jenna. I opened my mouth but
words escaped me. I clamped my jaw shut and took a deep breath. A scent so
fresh and mouth-watering filled my nose. I could smell sweetness and saltiness
that was more tantalizing than a candy store. I could hear murmurs all around
me but the voices sounded like they were off in the distance. I think I heard
Marlo ask me if I was okay yet again and Vincent asking me something as well.
But I couldn’t hear them because I was concentrating on the scent filling my
nostrils. I closed my eyes to concentrate on the smell, stretching my neck to
determine the source. It was so clean and pure, like nothing I had experienced
before. My mouth began to water yet the liquid that chilled my tongue tasted
odd, somewhat bitter and numbing like Novocain. I opened my eyes and glared at
the source of the scent. I could still hear the murmurs all around me and then
a male voice boomed, “Get her out of here!” Lorenzo wrapped his arm around
Jenna, the fragrant object of my desire. I twisted my head to analyze her, my
mind calculating its next move. Then my mind went blank, my body went numb, and
I lunged at my prey.