Night Feast (5 page)

They had invited him to the mansion, and when he arrived he was surprised that the house was not full of guests, as he had come to know it.  The snooty old butler showed him into the drawing room, and there was a young woman sitting on the window seat, who he had never seen before.  She introduced herself as Arabella Beauchamp, the only daughter of Edward Beauchamp and his late wife.  Hubert had felt when he had looked at her, that she could not possible part of Cecilia’s gene pool.  Arabella asked the butler to bring them some tea, and offered Hubert a seat.  They sat and talked for about an hour, she had politely asked about his home in Washington, his travels, his family.  She had been told by her father and her stepmother that she was to be ‘nice’ to their guest, before their arrival.  Arabella had been quite shocked by the attention they had paid her, it was most unusual.  Cecilia had helped her choose her prettiest gown to wear for the meeting, one that revealed her beautiful figure.  Two maidservants had been ordered to dress her hair, and she had been allowed to wear what was left of her late mother’s beautiful jewellery.  This was the first time that Arabella felt happy, the first time that she had ever been included.  Such was her joy that she found it easy to be charm the man, who could have easily been her grandfather.

That same evening she was informed by her father that she was going to marry Hubert John Carrington.

Edward and Cecilia had entered the drawing room, and dismissed Arabella in the same way they dismissed the servants.  After saying goodbye to their guest she had left and returned to her bedroom, feeling a little confused by the change in their attitude towards her.  She had done exactly what they’d asked, in hope that she would receive some crumbs of affection from her father.  Hubert told her father that he found her pretty and charming, and he readily accepted the offer of her hand in marriage, in exchange for a very large sum of money.  Cecilia had ordered the servants to pack Arabella’s clothes in advance.  She knew that the old man would not be able to resist their proposition.

Edward Beauchamp ignored the tears that rolled down his daughter’s cheeks, as he bundled her into the horse drawn carriage, next to her future husband.  She had begged and pleaded to be allowed to stay, but Cecilia had slapped her face and told her to be silent.  Her fate was sealed, she was to be married to a man who was almost fifteen years older than her father.  She took one last wistful look at Beauchamp manor, then buried her face in her hands as they pulled away.

Arabella Helena Beauchamp married Hubert John Carrington on the 22nd September 1818  at the Trinity church, Boston, Massachusetts.  There were very few wedding guests, who were friends of the groom, but none of the bride’s family were able to attend. 

Hubert Carrington did everything that he could to make his new bride happy.  He moved her into his beautiful big house on Brattle street in Cambridge, and showered her with many gifts.  However he soon began to realise that her father and stepmother had been a little economical with the truth ,of how she felt about him.  Hubert had foolishly believed that the young woman had been romantically interested in him.  He had been told that Arabella had begged to be introduced to him, and had demanded that their first meeting must be unchaperoned.  He had been flattered that a woman so young and so beautiful, had been so keen to spend time with him

Hubert refused to give up on his marriage, he did not want to appear a fool in front of his associates.  So he decided that a change of scene was the best solution, and he was eager to start a family.

Arabella was used to the cold English winters so when they arrived in Portland, Maine the temperature came as no surprise to her.  What shocked her was the fact that her husband had commissioned an architect, and a house builder,  to design a mansion there, not unlike Beauchamp manor.   He filled it with elegant and expensive furniture and beautiful oil paintings.  He had thought that this would please her, make her feel more at home, and make her see the great lengths that he would go to just to make her happy.  He was wrong.

Arabella continued to treat him with a cool politeness.  She was distant, and never made any attempt to have a conversation with him.  She did not yield to his embraces, but remained cold and rigid, and he could feel her sense of dread whenever he approached her in the marital bed.  Month after month she failed to become pregnant, and Hubert finally lost patience with her.  He blamed her for the lack of conception, and decided that he would punish her for not providing him with an heir.

Hubert fired their twenty five servants, and ordered his wife to see to the huge house single-handedly.  She had to teach herself to cook and clean, and wash her husband’s clothes.  Arabella was no longer allowed to take meals with Hubert.  He would constantly find fault with everything that she did, despite the fact that he knew that she had no experience at all in cooking and housekeeping, due to her privileged upbringing.  However, even though she did not protest about his ill-treatment of her, he told her that her suffering would end when she bore him a son.

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When Valentine Malenkov awoke from his deep, long, much needed sleep, he knew instantly that he would not be staying in Alaska permanently. He appreciated its remoteness for now, especially after his recent escape from the Russian city where he had lived for most of his life.  So he feasted on Eskimos and Native Americans until the 1800s, and then decided to try pastures new.

It was the below zero temperatures that had attracted him to Maine in 1819.  This environment lacked the remoteness of Alaska, but Valentin had grown tired of being alone.  He had lived with his own company for a few hundred years now, and had recently started to desire a mate.  He wondered what it would be like to have someone to hunt with, to talk to, to share his existence with.  Valentin was still unwilling to sink his sharp teeth into the neck of an innocent young woman and take her life,  but if he met someone he could bring into his world......

The vampire settled in a forest in Portland, where he found an old abandoned wooden hut.  There were just two rooms, one with a table and two chairs, the other contained an old bed and mattress.  He could tell that it had not been lived in for years, and decided that it would do for now.  He had not had any shelter at all in Alaska, and had slept on the cold hard ground with only the icy winds for comfort.  But he still preferred to be where he was then, than working in the inn in Moscow, and being at the mercy of Yakov Anchova and his band of tormentors.

Valentin found plenty of what he needed amongst the poverty stricken in Portland.  He drank the blood of the beggars on the streets ,without raising any suspicion, as it was assumed that these men had probably died of hunger.  No one paid any attention to the damaged skin on the necks of the corpses.  People preferred to look the other way.  It was easy for the vampire to keep a low profile.

It was on a beautiful moonlit night that he travelled to the opposite end of the forest and saw her.  She was sitting at the window of her mansion, with a melancholy look on her face and in her aura.  Valentin thought that Arabella was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen with beautiful, long, raven hair and deep blue eyes, that conveyed a life full of sadness .  She had none of the coarseness that he had observed in the women he had met, back in Moscow.  He hid behind a tree and watched her, and this he did for the next three weeks in secret.

Hubert was angry.  Arabella had still failed to conceive, and whatever he did or however badly he treated her, he could not get a response from her.  She was still completely indifferent to him, and she had accepted her fate without raising an eyebrow.  Arabella felt that she had been transported from one prison of misery to another.  She was used to it. Her husband started to shout at her.  His bellowing voice seemed so far away as it screamed about its disappointment in her.  Arabella felt his hand slap her hard across the face, which brought her immediately back to reality.  She was crying hysterically now and pleading for mercy, but her enraged husband just grabbed her, and roughly pushed her out of the front door.  Before she fell to the ground her head hit a stone pillar, and she felt warm blood trickle from her wound.  She lay still for a few seconds, and lost consciousness just before she heard Hubert slam the door behind her.

Valentin had witnessed it all.  He ran to Arabella and lifted her frail body into his arms, and flew away while her intoxicating scent, as he had  imagined it would, invaded his nostrils.  Back in his small hut he laid her down on the bed, and tasted the blood on her forehead with his finger.  Valentin was overcome with love and passion.  He could no longer control himself, and felt as if he was going to explode, as his eyes fell on the creamy skin of her long slender neck.  He leaned towards her and she suddenly opened her eyes.  Valentin expected them to be filled with the fear, he had seen so many times in the eyes of his victims, just before he bit them.  A shock wave erupted through his body when he saw that Arabella was smiling, a very welcoming smile.  She could see the young and beautiful half man, half animal leaning over her, she does not know what he is or care, but she knows that he is going to bring permanent relief from her miserable life.  Arabella looked forward to the deep darkness of death, where she could dwell undisturbed forever.

Valentin bent his head and kissed her neck softly.  He recalled the time when the female vampire had bitten him in Moscow.  He had felt a little pain, so he intended to be as gentle as he could with the woman before him.  Arabella moaned audibly as she felt his soft lips on her neck.  Never before had she experienced such a caress, she lifted up her arms and wrapped them around him.  Suddenly she felt his teeth sink deeply into her skin.  The pain was slight, it could not compare with the emotional pain that she had endured all of her life.  She could feel him gently but eagerly taking her blood and she closed her eyes and once again slipped into unconsciousness.

For three days and nights she lay on the bed.  Valentin knew that she was still alive, he could hear her soft breathing, and it was on the second day that she smiled in her slumber, and revealed the sharp pointed white teeth of the vampire, that she had now become.  In the early hours of the morning she opened her eyes, and as Valentin reached out to help her get up, she barred her teeth and lunged at his neck.  He was the stronger of the two vampires, and he managed to restrain her.  He promised in his Russian tongue, that she would be fed soon.  They communicated as best as they could about their lives until nightfall, and Valentin explained by signing with his hands, what she had become.  Then when he felt that she was ready he took her out for her first hunt.

Falling in love with each other was inevitable for the two vampires.  Both had shared the misery and desolateness of loneliness in human life. They both now shared a craving lust for blood, and the passion and desire for a physical relationship.  For Arabella this would finally be one of her choosing.. Even though they did not speak the same language they found that they had no difficulty at all in communication with each other. However, in a very short time Valentin learned to speak the English language. Arabella, who had always had a flair for languages, had found her new love a very good student and quick learner, when she had started teaching him.

Hubert Carrington had no intention of searching for his missing wife.  He told his acquaintances that he was going to the United Kingdom, to visit with some relatives from his father’s side of the family.  Valentin and Arabella had been watching his movements for some days.  He was unaware that the two vampires were flying above his horse drawn coach,  until his wife dragged him out, unbeknown by his coachman, and carried him off.  The coachman assumed that, even though his luggage had already been shipped, Hubert had changed his mind about taking the boat overseas.  By the time he had discovered that the coach was empty, Arabella and Valentin had ripped his passenger’s body to shreds.

When the two vampires returned from Surrey in England, after clearing up some business for Arabella, they moved into the beautiful mansion, that she had shared with her late husband.  In the year 1820, Arabella gave birth to two beautiful twin baby girls.  The proud parents named them Lia and Katherin, and the two little girls had the same dietary requirements as their Mommy and Daddy.

Chapter T
hree

“Lia are you going to join us on a hunt?”  called Arabella from the bottom of their elegant spiral staircase.

“No, I’m not hungry” answered Lia abruptly, she did not like her Mother interrupting her thoughts.

“That’s not like you” joked Valentin, “are you scared you’ll get fat?”

“You’re sounding like a human again Daddy, be careful you might turn back into one.”

Valentin laughed at his daughter’s comment, but he was however a little suspicious that she was turning down a chance to feed, this wasn’t the first time.  Kathrin her twin sister was glad that she wasn’t going to hunt with them again today.  Lia always found the best prey, because she was so quick and skilful just like their father.  He, however had a good excuse for his expertise because although he only looked thirty three years old he is really ancient!  Lia, on the other hand had a pathological determination to get whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted and yet she had only just turned eighteen years old.

The twin girls were both born with white blonde hair which had changed colour over time, due to their special diet.  Kathrin’s hair had become strawberry blonde while Lia’s had turned to a deep, rich and beautiful dark red.  Their parents had tried to feed them equally, with the blood they procured from their victims, but Lia had always been the more wilful of the two, and Kathrin had somehow never been able to get her fair share.  Valentin and Arabella had worried at first that their children would remain babies.  It was in their vampire genealogy that they would never age, so their parents were delighted that they had reached eighteen, and were more than capable of hunting for themselves.  However, the age of eighteen was the maximum for the girls physically, they would never look any older than that, and they had both taken to hunting for themselves like ducks to water.  Valentin had stressed that when they went out on their own they must only hunt among the poor people of Maine, which they did for the sake of not rousing suspicion.  Unfortunately Lia was developing a strong yearning for some ‘free range’ feasting.