Melabeth the Vampire (18 page)

“What?” M
y mouth fell open and hit the floor. I am so slow, I had already agreed to this.

Nicks smiled, or was he smirking, hard to tell. Then he repressed a laugh and said. “I have reasons. I am afraid you will awaken soon; I must tell you things before you do. It might be a few days before we are able to link up again.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why?” I asked a little winey.

“Don’t worry about why, not right now. More importantly you must understand a little bit more about vampires. Do you remember all the information I told you about turning?”

“It’s like a drug. And after a while it kills you and you might rise from the grave to become a vampire. I know you put more detail in there, but I think I remember most of it.”

Nicks continued. “Good, but you need to understand more. Vampire’s blood has amazing healing for the living, but it’s kind of fake. It will not cure cancer or other sickness. In fact it only makes people with those kinds of diseases just think they are better. It will stop healing you as soon as it leaves the system, and, if the user keeps taking it, they will die. If someone dies with blood in their system, they could turn; some things keep people from turni
ng our age, too old or too young, sickness, cancer or Aids; it’s a cruel curse that only changes the healthy and strong. I have never seen a child turned that had not gone through puberty; and I have never witnessed a person over sixty. It is important that you understand that not all people can simply be changed. The blood becomes the life, not just the blood you drink, but your own blood. If you blew a vampires head off, it would grow back, amazing as that is, he or she would remember everything."

"How can that be?" I asked in astonishment.

"Well the memory is in the blood. The blood just uses your body for things it cannot do by itself. The blood cannot think, so it animates the brain. It cannot see, so it uses your eyes, and if something in your body is destroyed, the blood reanimates it back. That’s why vampires never change. The moment they die, their blood takes over; it only remembers what they looked like when they were changed. Understand, the blood ages; everything ages. Even the mountains are getting older and someday will be no more. Vampires can live for thousands of years, but not forever. Now that you understand that you are the blood, understand that is the one true way to kill vampires. Destroy the blood, destroy the vampire. Obviously the blood changes; it becomes flammable. Your blood will burn like oil; fire is the vampire’s true destroyer. Two things will set your blood a-flame. One is fire of course; the second one is the sun. For some reason or another if UV light hits a vampire blood, it will combusts."

"I have been outside; and I didn’t catch on fire. Why is that?" I asked.

Nicks snickered. "Your blood combusts, not your skin, you’re fine as long as you don’t get cut or shot."

Now that creature in the alley made more sense. "The man in the alley said all he had to do was claw me and I would die. I thought he had magical claws."

Nicks burst into laughter. "No, no he was most likely a shifter or werewolf. They must have thought you would run away. That’s what most vampires would do if confronted in broad daylight. What was I saying? Well the important part is that you understand the blood, and this is why. Without life energy we die, so the only other way to kill us is to starve us to death. Most all vampires would be weak as a human in 90 days. They would be dead in 120. That’s why you must be careful with whom you tell your story to; they will want to know how you went fifteen years without food."

"How did I?" I asked with curiosity.

"You need to take the next six months while you are hunting Devon and learn how to use your power. The Whites will teach you. You are strong but inexperienced."

"You didn’t answer my question" I said angrily.

Nicks lifted his one eye brow, "Didn’t I?"

Ok I get it, no answer means no. "Why do I need to take si
x months to learn? I am strong, and I have fought before."

"You got lucky." Nicks quickly a
nswered. "You will need more than luck to survive this world. And I wish to see you live a long life. Have you already forgotten about your battle with Alice?"

"Ok
," I said in a grumpy voice.

Nicks said in a much softer voice. "Let me tell you a story. Once there were four men who were good friends. Three of them were brothers and very close. The man that was not a brother, his name was Tim; he was caught sleeping with
one of the brother’s wives, all three brothers came to Tim, to beat him up. One brother was stronger than Tim; the other brother was faster; the last brother was both faster and stronger. Who won the fight?”

I felt like I was missing something. “Well if I had to guess from the information you gave me. The brothers won
, but then why tell that story? So my guess is Tim won the fight.”

Nicks then said, “What question would you ask? T
o find out who won for sure.”

“Did Tim have a weapon?”

“Good question, but no, you are right in your assumption that Tim won. Let me tell you why. One brother was a teacher. The second brother was a brick mason, and the last brother was a lawyer.”

I smiled; I think I know where he is going with this story. “What’s Tim do for a living?”

“Tim, well Tim was a Ranger, for the Army. He had fought on two continents. He not only won the fight; he left the brothers in a pile.”

“Why the story? I am not sure what that has to do with me killing Devon.” I said.

Nicks took another drink of his coffee, which reminded me to do the same. Then he said. “Devon is no mere man. He is one of the local leaders of The Order. He is much more then what he looks like. You need to train with the Whites; you have the power; now you must learn how to use it. You will find him at Beaumont High school. There is where he pretends to be a teacher. And now I expect he chose the position for other reasons than the summers off; six months, Melabeth, don’t let me down.”

I moaned and in a very winey voice I said. “Six months; that’s forever.”

Nicks did that one eye brow lift again, and then said. “Will a stake in the heart kill you?”

“I think so.” I said very unsure.

“You have so much to learn before you face your enemies.” Nicks then put his hands together, and stood up. He then walked over to me, bent down so our faces were at the same height.

The look on his face was full of love and compassion. His face had love for me, and it made my heart hurt; I felt like I should make him proud. “Yes father; I will try to do as you ask.”

Nicks smiled. “Know this; you are my daughter. I love and miss you; I will not be whole until we stand together. It’s time for you to go.”

“Already, I’m not ready.” I cried.

“Just for now.” Nicks said with a knowing face.

“Bye… I love you.” I barely said when the room went dark. My eyes opened, and I was awake.

I awoke lying in a bed. It was a four post bed with a canopy over the top. The sheets were pink silk, with purple trim. The room was dark for it was still night outside. There were two windows next to the head of the bed, but both windows had heavy curtains drawn tight. The curtains matched the bed.

The room was full of dolls; there were shelves and book cabinets on every wall. The dolls were in all shape and sizes; some looked really old. I sat up in the bed; I felt strong again. It must have been pitch black in this room because it seemed dark in the room.

The door to the room opened. I was blinded when the room filled with light from the hallway. Then Alice flipped the light on; it took a second for my eyes to refocus.

She gave me a strange look as she stared at me. The creepy little girl was still holding onto her doll, and she was still wearing an old black dress. Her hair was no longer white, but black. She also had a very large plastic cup in her other hand. Then a scent hit my nose and I knew that she was holding a cup of blood.

Alice put on a giant smile, and, instead of looking welcoming, she looked insane. Then she said. "I see that you’re a wake sister. You’re so strong. You have recovered already. Good news; father said it's ok for you to stay. So now we are sisters; Ezra is our father and Charlotte is our mother. I will even share my dollies. Are you thirsty?"

"Yes I am." I simply answered.

Alice’s face turned mischievous, and then she said. "Can you smell it?"

"Yes, I can smell the blood."

With the same look on her face Alice said. "What if I say you can't have any? What do you say to that?"

With a monotone voice, I said. "I would say that I was going to stay hungry."

With a screech of delight, Alice burst out. "Only four days old. Such control; where is the madness? Father’s right; we should keep you; you are so neat. We are going to have so much fun… aren't you excited?"

With the same flat voice I said. "Ecstatic."

Alice giggled, and then said. "You wait and see. This is going to be fun."

"Alice." Ezra said as he stepped into the room.

"Yes father."

"Enough for now. I must discuses the ground rules with Melabeth now that she is a new family member."

Alice turned and did a curtsy; then she flashed out of the room very quickly. I couldn't even hear her leave she moved so quick and quietly. And then I realized that the little bitch took the blood with her.

Ezra crossed his arms behind him holding his hands; he began a slow pace as he spoke. “Melabeth, welcome to the family. It is your choice to stay. I will give you that.”

He was honestly giving me a choice to leave. And in some ways that sounded like a good idea to leave; Alice scared me, and this room with all these dolls gave me the creeps. Still Nicks said I must stay with the Whites and train.

So, I said. “I have nowhere else to go. I don’t know how to be a vampire; I need your help.”

Ezra eyed me then added. “If you stay… you are not a prisoner. You can leave whenever you choose, but while you stay there are rules. If you can follow the rules, I am sure we will all become family. And in the end you will not want to leave.”

“Thank you. Thank you for making me feel, welcomed.” Alice scared me, but Ezra made me comfortable.

Ezra smiled, then in a very serious voice he said. “You are strong, not just physically, but mentally as well. You have heart, the heart of a lion. I seldom see the willingness to die in battle; you never ran, even when all was lost. If you’re half as smart as I think you might be, then you will make a magnificent vampire. You nee
d
guidance and direction; that is what family is for.”

“I will try to make you proud.”

It was like he was my father; another dad, that I was trying to make happy. So now I have three fathers. One I must learn from, Ezra. One I wish to be with, Nicks, and one father I need to kill. I was looking around at all the Dolls in the room as I thought about my fathers. Dads and Dolls, looked like I have plenty of both.

“I am sure you will.” Ezra said beaming at me. “In fact you already have made me proud. The fact you haven’t lost control even after Alice took your blood. And you have suffered a great deal of blood loss. In fact you
should be a lot weaker than you look. Then again nothing seems to add up with you.”

I was a little shocked; what did he mean by that. “Is there something wrong with me?”

“No, no nothing like that.” Ezra held his hand up with one finger while he stopped pacing. He was deep in thought, and then he began to speak. “You are ignorant.”

“Did you just call me stupid?” I said defensively.

“No, ignorance can be fixed by knowledge, but stupid is forever. You have much to learn, so try to keep hold of your emotions and listen to what I am saying.” He said this calmly. Then he sat next to me on the bed. “In our family there’s five of us; you make us six. You have already met Alice and my wife Charlotte. You have not met our son, Michael. And also there is our newest member, Lea; our daughter as well. I will give you a short family history, so you may understand why you are so different.”

“Ok, I would like that.”

“First you will follow me to the kitchen. You need to eat, and I don’t think Alice is bringing you anything back.”

Just saying it reminded me about how hungry I was. “Right behind you.” With that I followed Ezra out of the room and down the hallway.

We stepped into the kitchen. It was a large kitchen with an island in the middle. Of course a house full of vampires has a large kitchen. What did make sense was the size of the refrigerator; it was a side by side, basically two refrigerators.

One door was open with a man leaning bending inside the refrigerator. I could see there were bags of blood stacked in side. Even as hungry as I was I still noticed this
guy’s butt, if I wasn’t close to starving, I don’t think I could be thinking of anything else.

The man stood up with a bag of blood in one hand; as he turned around, Ezra said. “This is my son, Michael; Michael this is Melabeth.”

The man that stood before me was a Greek god, or at least he looked like one. He stood six foot; he wasn’t as tall as Ezra; he had long blonde hair that hung to his shoulders. His hair was a mess, but stilled looked good. He was very well built, and the tight shirt he wore showed his chest off nicely. He was wearing jeans and shirt that said Star Wars on it. I have to watch those movies. His face was strong, and, if I had to guess, he was turned in his early twenties.