The Vampiric Housewife (38 page)

    
“But her army of vampires had a hunger greater than her own. They would attack the villages plundering entire populations. The Queen retaliated by forbidding the murder of any human by a vampire and immediately stopped sharing her sacrifices with them. Resentful, her army turned mutinous and slayed Aleekela, her husband, and her children. Ever since vampires have run rampant over the earth and humans feared us. But before her death, the Queen swore she would return and have her vengeance on those who betrayed her and her treaty with the humans. It was said that her eldest and most beautiful daughter Nephaket escaped the massacre and hid among the human population. She married among them and gave birth to other living vampires. In order to stay hidden and preserve the royal vampire line, she forfeited her immorality, but vowed that one day immortality would be bestowed upon one of her daughters. That daughter would rise to reclaim her mother’s thrown and reign over all vampires and humans as Queen.”

    
“It’s a pretty story, but what exactly is that suppose to make me understand?” she asked. “Are you proposing that I am the great-great-great granddaughter of Queen Aleekela?”

    
He smiled at her in that half smile sort of way of his. “Like I said, I’m not a believer. You told me earlier that you weren’t sure what you were. Maybe that story can give you some perspective.” He turned to leave her with her thoughts.

    
“You could be a poet,” she said stopping him. “You do have a way with words—when you choose to use them.”

    
He nodded at her and began his walk back towards the house.

    
Valerie plopped down in the sand facing the water. She turned Ethan’s vampire legend over in her head. She could see how it paralleled Alessandro’s scientific theory of the Mitochondrial Eve. It was less complicated, less sophisticated, but its simplicity made it easier to understand. Maybe she was a descendant of some vampire goddess. The Queen had made the same vow that Valerie made—to return and destroy those who threatened her and her loved ones. But it was Nephaket who gave up her life and immortality for the future of her children. Maybe that was supposed to be her fate too. Perhaps she needed to start looking at the larger picture and stop getting caught up in the details.

    
As she sat in the sand, the sky lightened into different shades of violet until the sun began to peer over the horizon with pink and orange hues. Fear immediately seized her heart and her eyes darted to the house down the beach. Her whole life she had feared the sun. Even now that she knew it could do her no harm, her pulse raced. But she remained seated in the sand and turned her eyes to the water and the rising sun to face her fear. At first its brilliance blinded her, washing out everything around her, but as her eyes adjusted to the new level of light, she witnessed her first, and perhaps her last, sunrise. The pinks, oranges, and yellows of the sky, their vividness and intensity, the way the water lightening into a rich blue and light green was beyond words. As the shadows receded, a saturation of color emerged over everything, the world was ablaze with an unknown beauty. Valerie had never seen anything so wondrous before. And suddenly she knew how to get into the hospital.

Chapter Forty-one

Immortality Belongs to the Gods

    
Venjamin had the laboratory arranged and prepped for a complete blood transfusion the moment Amelia was back in Sangre Valley. He had called Rhett and Drew back to town. Once John’s phone call came, he wanted to be able to send his foot soldiers directly to the family’s location. They would have an army of made-vampires behind them this time. Even with Ethan Shanahan on their side, there would be no escaping. He would have his blood by morning.

    
What Venjamin was not aware of was that the build up of iron in his liver had all but rendered the organ useless. The waste his liver was supposed to filter out had continued to course through his blood. That unfiltered blood had left waste in the veins and arteries of his brain like little poisonous landfills so his most prized and vital organ was no longer functioning properly. Mind over matter no longer worked when it was your mind that was damaged.

    
To pass the hours, Venjamin had turned to the vampire legends. He owned perhaps the only written version of the story. God, how his father would have loved to get his hands on the lore of actual vampires. It was such a shame he had died before he’d seen his son in his glory. Engles would have been so proud. If one looked with a wide enough mind, he could find evolution in Genesis. Just as there had been science buried beneath the myths of vampire children, science also had found an interesting home in the lore of vampires. The evolution of their existence was written right into their own stories. It was romanticized of course. But it was there. Just as Queen Aleekela and her daughter Nephaket promised to rise again, they had. Or rather Venjamin had resurrected them.

    
“It’s beautiful, isn’t Charlie?” he asked the vampire as he looked over his town. Charlie did not even have the strength to raise his head. He hadn’t been feed since his capture. He endured Rhett’s torture then Venjamin’s, but since had not been beaten. His purpose now was only as live bait. The wounds of his face and chest from the venom had closed now and turned into hideous scars. His left eye was gone. Dried blood caked his hair. He looked a wreck but was still alive. For now.

    
“I created this. I built this town and raised a species of vampire from extinction. It all began with my father, believe it or not. I wish he could see this town. He wouldn’t believe it. All those legends and myths he studied proven true. The snickers of his colleagues, the jokes told behind his back, the superior attitudes of his peers squashed by the truth. God, how he would have loved the vampires’ own myths. I never thought much of them, but it was you that made me reconsider.”

     
Charlie still did not stir.

    
“Did you ever notice that Memket is barely in the story? Vampires are matriarchic. Never would have thought that. Memket was never a God or even King. He was simply her husband. That made me wonder if perhaps he was not a born-vampire like Aleekela. Maybe she made her companion—you vampires do have a tendency to do that. And perhaps her four daughters were crossbreeds. Maybe Aleekela made a world like I made here in Sangre Valley. She vowed to rise again. And here she has. I may have just sped up evolution. Remarkable what man is capable of, isn’t it Charlie? By bringing the dying species together, allowing them to mate, allowing the vampire blood to become dominate again I think I may have caused a genetic mutation exclusive to your family. I always knew your family was special—the ease of which Valerie conceived, the display of strength and speed your children have, the special quality of your daughter’s blood. It’s an exciting time. I have all these new theories, experiments that I can not wait to test. All I need are my subjects.”

    
He looked at the pathetic vampire. “Can I confide in you, Charlie? I envy you. You get to see the fruition of all your work. You never have to worry about illness or dying, leaving things unfinished. Immortality is for the gods, Charlie. How you ever were chosen to become one of them, I cannot fathom. I intend to become one myself though. If I can save a species, if I can speed up evolution, I have to be close to being a god, don’t you think? Amelia will help me become one.” A sudden thought occurred to Venjamin just then. “Tell me Charlie, have you ever noticed if your wife’s blood sings?” Charlie lifted his head, his eyes and mouth revealing his surprise. “You hugged her, kissed her, made love to her. You loved her so of course you never bit her to answer the call of that singing blood.” By the look on his face, he knew Charlie had heard his wife’s blood sing. “You never reported it. Shame on you. What about your children? Did their blood sing to you when you hugged them and kissed them goodnight?” Charlie didn’t answer, but Venjamin did not need him to. “I’ll need to get your family back to the Lab to verify this conjecture, but I do not doubt that I will not be disappointed. I truly am looking forward to your son’s call.”

    
He heard a gurgle come from Charlie. “What was that? You may want to save your strength for when John calls. He will need assurance that you’re alive before I can convince him to return.”

    
“I . . . will . . . kill . . . you.”

    
Venjamin laughed. “No, Charlie, you won’t. Why don’t you enjoy the view? I’ll see you when your son calls.”

Chapter Forty-two

Scars

    
“Absolutely not,” Ethan seethed, his eyes on fire, his expression hard and obstinate.

    
“That’s more than we can ask of you, Valerie,” Alessandro said. “We will come up with something else. You don’t have to do that.”

    
“No, I don’t. But I am going to.” It was morning, the metal shutters were clenched against the windows and the sun, soft lamps lit the living room. The children were supposed to be in bed, but all three were gathered together in the kitchen ease dropping. “If we’re going to make it to Sangre Valley before nightfall, we need to leave now.”

    
“Are you sure about this?” Jonathan asked.

    
“Yes.”

    
Jonathan turned to Alessandro. “It could work. I can hide a GPS device on her which she can activate once she finds Charlie. That way we’ll be able to find both of them.”

    
“Yes, and then we set the hospital on fire while she and Charlie are still in there. Oh, then we run into a burning building to rescue them. Yeah, that’s a rational, practical plan,” Ethan said. “Forget about three made-vampires traveling during daylight. Forget about how we drive up to Sangre Valley without being noticed. Forget how we get out of Sangre Valley. The hospital may be on fire, but the whole town won’t be.”

    
“It is a practical plan,” Valerie argued. “If I turn myself in to Venjamin before sunset, that gives me time before the vampires arrive for work to locate Charlie. The fire at sunset will keep them out and empty the building of humans. Four of us can’t take on a hospital full of humans and vampires. But if everyone is running out to save their own lives, no one is going to stop us from running in.”

    
“I talked to MaryAnne. She will leave her computer logged in when the fire starts so I will have access and can gather the information we need,” Jonathan said. “Then Alessandro and you can extract Valerie and Charlie.”

    
“What about the sunlight? What about the guards? What about the innocent spies within the building?” Ethan asked.

    
“All those working with us will be alerted with plenty of time to get out,” Alessandro said in a rather patronizing tone. “We’ve all been out in the sunlight at one time or another. It’s simply a matter of coverage. We have a Saxon, an African tribal leader, and the Greek God of Death. I think the three of us can handle a little combat. These use to be your preferred odds.”

    
“For myself. Even for the two of you. But not for her.” He threw a rather nasty glance at Valerie. She was the mother of three children who were already fatherless. She possessed no fighting skills. She was not prepared for this task. And he was not prepared to watch her die. He had already been through that once. He’d be damned if he’d go through it again.

    
“I can take care of myself,” Valerie said. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

    
“But I do,” he said and not at all kindly. She understood though. He had told her the story of Malia. But she’d be damned if she’d let that stop her. “You think you know what Venjamin is capable of. You see these scars across my face. You see these.” He ripped his shirt off, his muscular chest was disfigured by matted scars as if a vat of acid had been poured over his flesh. “Compliments of Dr. Venjamin when I refused to be part of his sick experiment. Vampire venom on a silver dagger that his recruiters used to slice my face. The vampire hunters poured it over my skin so they could listen to me scream. Inch by inch they would expose my arm to sunlight, then they would feed me so I’d heal and they could start over again. You know about his depravity. I’ve experienced it.”