Blood Bride

Prologue

Winter.

That's what she reminded me of. Not just the refreshing cold, but the raging blizzards and still, white days. She reminded me of the short days and long nights, and the beauty so easily disregarded as safe. Most of all, she reminded me of the animalistic - the primal - hunger that drove wolves to travel thousands of miles for a single caribu, and polar bears to drown for a seal.

I've been told there was a time when they were believed to be a myth. People like her were thought to be the figment of the human imagination. It seemed hard to believe, seeing as I'd grown up with them. Sabril had alreay been alive longer than any of even her kind, however, and like winter, she's a very serious creature. So serious, she often tells people, that I taught her how to laugh again.

Our story is not one to regale to children or the faint hearted. Sabril insists that one day somebody will be reading this tomb and believe once again it is merely some magnificent tale. Whatever you have been told, whoever you are, wherever you are from and whenever you are reaiding the words recorded here, it is real.

They're watching. They're waiting. They will return, when mankind is ready again. Because we, like all young children, go through stages. Sometimes, those who protect us just have to wait until the stage passes, so they understand the next.

Chapter One

From the Darkness

Gentle knocking on my door pulled me away from writing my book. With a huge yawn, I stretched and slowly stood. My muscles ached from staying too still too long. On my way passed the coffee pot I poured another cup. The knock came a little louder. Clearly somebody was anxious to get an answer.

I hope it's not the church again.

Sighing, I set down my coffee. If it was the priest, I'd get a lecture about abusing my body. When I opened it, I gasped. Pale as the gleaming full moon, with eyes the color of glistening rubies, she had the most perfect skin I'd ever seen, the longest, whitest hair and the most luscious figure. I felt myself swallow at the sight of her.

Her eyes became wide and she let out a furious hiss. Suddenly I was slammed against the opposing wall with her fangs in my face.

"Wait! I won't hurt you!"

The vampire looked torn and confused. "What?"

"Look around." I told her softly.

Cautiously, the vampire peered carefully around the house. "Where are your weapons?"

"I don't allow weapons in my home. If somebody must bring them in here, they're kept by the door."

Her eyes turned back to me. She slowly released me. "So you don't want to kill me?"

"Not unless you threaten somebody in the town." I replied calmly. "There's a basement downstairs without windows. The sun will come up soon, so I suggest going down there before it burns you alive."

The vampire hesitated a moment before zipping away and through the basement door before I could correct myself. I let out a deep breath of relief, trying to release the heat that had managed to worm itself between my thighs.

I don't know how they do it.

I took off the sign from my door. It had a sun on it; the world-wide symbol for free food, shelter and protection for travelers.

If the church knocks I'll pretend to be asleep.

I saved my book, despite the lack of progress, and shut the computer down. I put all the coffee in the fridge and went downstairs. With my odd work hours meaning I slept so often during the day, I slept in the basement. I locked that, to prevent anybody wondering in at the wrong time.

When I saw her lying in my bed, I froze. She was already in stasis - that near-death state they slip into, where they are aware, but the sun paralyzes them. I had a bed upstairs, but it was too hard to sleep in the daylight. Usually travelers used it at dusk, meaning my door was rarely locked, but this one almost always was.

I watched her, amazed at how like and unlike sleep this was. She wasn't in pain, but she wasn't dreaming. It was like this limbo I found myself envying.

I'm being rude. She can feel me staring at her, and probably hear my heart beating. Besides, I need sleep.

I rolled into bed with her, unafraid.

Pain shot through my entire body as something sharp pierced my neck, waking me from dreams of falling snow. I screamed in shock, then gasped as the sharp, needle-like things ripped free. Cold lips pressed to the wound with a quiet moan. As the vampire began to lick and suck at the bloodflow, the pain ebbed into a numbness that seemed absurd after such angony.

I relaxed, holding the vampire I'd welcomed into my bed. Closing my eyes, I focused instead on the feel of her expert tongue and sucking. Little moans reverbrated along my soft skin and tickled my ear. A gradual warmth began to build as she took more and more blood. Her tongue and lips were like magic against my flesh. I heard a whisper of a moan echo from my lips.

My head was fuzzy, and had begun to spin. Oddly enough, I found I liked the feeling. When I realized it was becoming hard to focus, I gently pushed at her.

"Please," She breathed into my neck.

"No."

"So good," She groaned as if in pain.

"Off."

The vampire sighed, gave it one more lick and was off my neck. "Do you have first aid? I want to stop the bleeding."

"My bathroom. The one down here."

Within a heartbeat, she was gone and back. I felt her put cream on the wound, then bandage it. Finally I opened my eyes. I was taken aback by the emotionless look on her face, especially when guilt filled her now-white eyes. They were the silver-white of death.

"I'm sorry. You laid beside me all day. I couldn't help myself."

I leaned up to give her a deep kiss.

She jerked away. "The blood-"

"Doesn't bother me." I flipped on top of her to kiss her again.

"The cold?" She whispered on my lips as she allowed me to lay her down.

"I'm hot enough for both of us." I switched to her neck, kissing along it. I was surprised when I didn't find any bite marks. Kissing downward, I found myself curious if it was on the other side.

She gave a quiet sound in the back of her throat. "It's long healed."

I sat up to gaze at her in surprise. "Are you reading my mind?"

"I'm no fledgling, accustomed to refuge." She replied calmly. The lack of bitterness took me aback as well.

"I didn't mean offense."

"It's okay."

"But I do like your neck."

"I like yours too." She replied with this sexy, sadistic smile.

"Stay off mine." I replied firmly, but not meanly. "You've had enough."

"A vampire as old as me? Never." She grabbed me, pulling me to her lips again. I moaned into them, encouraging her rough treatment. "Like it rough, do you?"

"Maybe." I replied slyly as I nibbled at her lower lip.

Her hands began to wonder along my sides as we kissed, exploring one another's mouths. The tip of her tongue slipped just inside my lips, flicked and retreated, making me groan. Pulling up on my shirt, she broke away long enough to pull it off. Just as our lips met again my braw unclasped. Then I helped her with my pants.

"No undies?"

"Shhh. It's a secret."

"Sexy little slut."

"Sadistic bitch."

Her nails raked almost gently - but not quite - down my back; I felt my back arch to press them harder. Smiling at my reaction, she smacked my ass.

"Don't make me draw blood." She warned seriously. "I'll not manage to stop again."

"Touch me then, damn it." I growled ferally. "You enjoyed my blood."

"You're so kinky." She purred, flipping me over.

She dropped away from my lips and delved between my thighs without warning. I gasped in delighted surprise as her tongue went straight for my clit and her fingers plunged inside. Her other hand attached to my tit with wonderfully painful pinching and pulling.

"God yes!" I screamed as my hips thrust against her.

It wasn't long before we found a pattern. Her fingers curved just inside, rubbing against the bumps to drive me crazy. I felt my hips lift a little off the bed to get closer to her sucking lips. Her tongue flicked up and down, then back and forth. Building - higher, higher.

"More, please, more."

She thrust another finger inside, making it three. I groaned, feeling so wonderfully full. As her fang grazed my clit, everything exploded. Screaming in ectasy, I felt my entire body tense and relax at once. Waves of pleasure pulsed through me as the vampire's cold movements slowed until she was pulling away.

I lay there panting, feeling light-headed as well as just so good. She went to leave when I wrapped around her. "Cuddle me."

Grunting, the vampire did as I asked. Slowly, I drifted back off to sleep.

It was the smell of food that drew me from my dreamless slumber. With a groan, I slowly opened my eyes and held onto my spinning head. A plate of roasted goat meat with a tossed salad and sliced oranges sat on my endtable. The candle was lit. A figure stood in the shadows, watching me.

"Hello?" I called nervously, sitting up.

"It's just me." The vampire's voice said quietly. "I wanted to make sure you woke up."

"And that I was fed?"

"You fed me." She stated logically.

I ate delicately, feeling her watch me still. "I'm fine. I'm eating."

She was quiet for several minutes before she responded quietly. "I would like to stay to keep an eye on you. You're anemic."

"Who's fault is that?"

"I hadn't fed in days." She retorted defensively. "With people aware of us, it's harder."

"Can't you take the willing?"

"Few people are willing. They're afraid. The few who are willing tend to be junkies, and I'm not interest in becoming an addict."

"Vampires can be addicts?"

"Yes. If something's in the blood, it gets into our system. Vampires learned the hard way about heron addicts that once is enough with some drugs."

"That's awful."

I don't understand why others don't want to do this more often. I mean, there's a moment of pain, but it's nothing compared to afterwards.

"Some can't take the moment of pain." She replied.

"Okay, stop that."

"Don't think so loudly. They jump right at me."

"Thoughts don't jump."

"They do when you're a telepath."

Snickering at her, I finished my food and tried to stand up. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed me, making me grab my head and lay back down. "You took a lot."

"...Sorry about that. What do you need?"

"To go to the bathroom."

"Let me help you there." Before I could protest her arm was around my waist and I stood in front of the door.

"Next time, walk."

Giving a brisk nod, she waited by the door. I closed it, feeling uncomfortable with the idea she might watch. Then I hopped in the shower. It wasn't until every part of me was scrubbed clean that I came out. The vampire waited for me.

"Help me upstairs?" I gave her a look. "Slowly, please."

She did as I asked without responding, sitting me at my computer. Apparently my need to write had jumped out at her too.

"Tell me if you need anything else. You shouldn't move around very much."

"Um, thanks."

Why is she doing this?

"Why did you let me in?"

"Hospitality."

"You would give hospitality to a vampire? Especialy somebody like yourself?"

"Now who's being judgemental? I'm not who my parents were, you know. I happen to have little issue helping anybody who needs it."

"Then why is it so hard for you to believe we can be just as kind? I fed from you. It's only proper that I make sure you're cared for."

"...I've never heard of a vampire doing such a thing."

"Vampires have been taking care of the humans that willingly feed us since we began."

"So the very first vampire told you it took care of a human?"

"As long as they are willing."

"What about the unwilling?"

She shook her head. "We don't let them see us. How do you think we remained nothing but myth for a thousand years?"

"You can't tell me vampires have only been around a thousand years."

"No, of course not. We've been around almost as long as humanity. Humans needed predators. Disease and war weren't enough."

"So you just winked into existance?"

She tilted her head. "The first vampire simply woke up after death. It took years to control her thirst, and longer to let go of what had been."

"She didn't know why?"

The vampire shook her head.

"So when did she learn she could make more?"

"At first, she didn't know she couldn't." She replied with a very sad look in her eyes. "Those she fed from she would watch wake again."

"Why do you teach your changed?"

"They need to learn so they don't have to endure what the first vampires did. The long years of raving thirst and unending loneliness."

I opened a page and wrote everything down I'd just heard. The vampire sat down across from me; I looked up and paused when I saw the smallest of smiles. "What?"

"You're a curious one. Are you going to put that in a book?"

"...I don't know. I might, one day."

"What do you write?"

"Non-fiction. Generally about the paranormal. I've interviewed werewolves on new moons, humans after possession..."

"Ah, yes, I've read your books. The Wolf Within, After the Demon, Mastering the Dead. I rather liked your last book, suggesting that Necromancers should stop trying to command Vampires. They really should back off." She was quiet a moment before saying "Then you're Indigo. Unless that's a pen name."

"Nope." I replied quietly. "It's Indigo."

"Shadowink isn't a real last name."

"It doesn't have to be."

She was quiet before she said almost hesitantly "My name is Sabril."

I looked up in surprise. "Why would you give me your name?" I asked in a whisper.

"You're not like them." She replied quietly. "If you want an interview...there are some things I won't answer. Questions humans aren't meant to know. Don't ask about weaknesses and magic, or questions about my coven. I won't answer a lot of personal questions, and I won't always tell you a strength."

"Why? As you can see, I'm not exactly going to exploit them."

"We will always be hunted, and books are kept. Even after they've been burned, torn, burried, ruined...they are handed down through time. Fiction, fantasy, non-fiction - it doesn't matter. When humans have turned away from us again and forgotten, the hunters will return. They will dog us until we emerge again, long after your words have turned to dust and nobody remembers how the knowledge was gotten."

I nodded, actually making a note of her words. "So how did you learn all this?"

"...vampires learn it from their mentors, who learn it from theirs."

"So it's handed down orally? How do you know the information wasn't fabricated or changed?"

"No, it's not told." Sabril replied with a curl of her lip. "There is a knowing that is passed from one to the other. Just as we wake with the thirst, we wake knowing."

"So why'd my neck go numb?"

"You certainly felt my tongue and sucking, Indigo." Sabril replied with a sexy grin. "There's a pain killer and anti-coagulant in our saliva. Most people discribe it as numb, but you certaintly feel me feeding. Most of the time I feed on men."

"Why?"

"So they like it. Imagine how that would have felt if you'd not been interested in me, Indigo. It's practically molesting somebody."

"So vampires have morals?"

"I have morals. Not all of us do. Those who don't share my ideals leave my coven. They can terrorize humanity elsewhere."

"You don't kill them?"

Sabril hissed, her fangs bared. She darted toward the door.

"Wait!"

She froze, looking back at me with cold, hard eyes.

"I just don't understand, Sabril. I'm sorry."

She hesitated between me and the door. "No, you don't understand."

"So tell me."

"You won't get it even if I tried." Sabril hissed out with icy eyes.

"...how about we stop here? I have enough for now."

She gave an tense nod.

I returned to the story I was working on last night, and she remained aloof the rest of the night. She'd get me drinks - lots of water and fruit juice - and help me to the bathroom. When dawn came, she insisted I sleep away from her and vanished downstairs, locking the basement door. So I tossed and turned all day, dreaming of winter and blood.