Master of The City: Danilo Parts 17-20
Jun. 2nd, 2005 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljSome more of Danilo.
Part XVII – The Morning After
I woke to find Danilo sitting beside me, watching me – he’d been incredibly considerate the previous night, even though Anita had ordered him to pleasure me, rather than the other way around I hadn’t expected him to be so gentle with me. When he saw my eyes open he pulled his hand back from where it had been brushing my hair from my forehead – we’d been entangled together after sex when dawn came and I was trapped in my daylight slumber. He’d obviously moved me so I’d wake in a more comfortable position, I smiled up at him – it’s easier to be cheerful in this situation.
“Good afternoon, Danilo. Did you enjoy yourself last night?” I knew he had, but sometimes I like the reassurance of knowing I’ve pleased whoever shared my bed, particularly when they’ve been ordered into it.
“Very much, but the question is did you enjoy it?” My eyes widened slightly at that particular question, he takes his loyalty to Anita very seriously, all her command really meant was that he wasn’t allowed to hurt me for his pleasure the way Richard had.
“Yes, it was marvellous – but I can enjoy just about anything if I have to, the important thing is that you didn’t hurt me for entertainment. Would you mind brushing my hair out for me once we’ve bathed, it’s probably hopelessly tangled?”
“Of course not, I’ll go and run the bath and you can follow when you’re ready to – you do want us to bathe together?” He was at the door when he paused to call back that question.
“Yes, unless you don’t want to.” He disappeared through the door at that point, the situation was slightly surreal, Danilo was more than twice my age and a master, but he was acting as my servant. I began to untangle my hair from around my body as much as I could, running my fingers through it to at least put it in some semblance of order before following him through to the bathroom. The bath is almost an exact copy of the one off our bedchamber back at the circus, save for the faucet, which is plain on this bath, rather than a silver swan. Danilo was sitting beside it, dangling his hands beneath the stream of hot water running into the bath and smiling at me.
“I haven’t quite finished running the bath, but if you wish we can get in now.” There was a hopeful lilt to his voice and I climbed in quickly with him. The heat felt wonderful, warming us until we could feed. Danilo laid his hands on my ribs to pull me back against him, cradling me to his chest protectively. He was still being considerate of my needs and preferences; I just hoped it wasn’t only because of Anita’s orders. I didn’t want anyone forced into my bed, or compelled to please me, I never had. He worked a few of the tangles out gently as he rubbed shampoo into my hair and I returned the favour for him. At one point he splashed some water into my eyes, I retaliated and it degenerated into a small water fight, when we remembered ourselves there was water splashed all over the bathroom.
“It doesn’t matter,” I reassured Danilo, “one of the cleaners will take care of the mess once we’re finished, they took care of the goo from Richard’s shapeshifting last night.”
“Still, let me condition your hair, and we can get out. I’d kind of like to feed, and we can’t until we’re dressed can we?”
“I suppose not, but you’ll need to blow it dry and brush it as well.” I turned my back to him, giving him access to my hair, then turned to tend to his hair. When we got out he wrapped a towel around himself and insisted on drying me, not that I mind being pampered like that. He sat behind me to dry my hair and brush it at the same time, afterwards he buried his face in my hair and drew in a breath, taking in the scent of it.
“Do we need to wear the same things we had on last night or is there something here we can put on?”
“There’s silks in the trunk in the bedroom – didn’t you notice?”
“Not really.”
“We probably don’t have our things from last night anyway, the cleaners will have taken them away to be washed and returned to the Circus.” He hesitated about what to wear, when I realised what his problem was I solved for him with a few words. “You’re still supposed to be pleasing me, and I’d like to see you fully dressed for a change.” That prompted him to pull a dark blue silk tunic and pants on while I chose my outfit in a silvery grey. The club never really shuts, it isn’t as active during daylight hours, but it doesn’t shut so when we explored the upper floor we did eventually find a few people willing to let us feed on them.
Then we went down to the lower levels, I didn’t want to feed on Danilo again so soon, so instead I fed from the lust of the guests and we ended up having sex quickly in a darkened corner, the risk of being caught adding to the experience. By then it was full dark, and we needed to get back to the Circus.
xxXxx
I was disappointed when Jean-Claude decided we’d be going back to the Circus so soon after dusk, but it had been nice to be with him. I finally understood why he had such a reputation as a lover, and considering that I’d been commanded to serve his pleasure he was incredibly considerate. Most would have taken the opportunity to dominate their lover for a change – I know I would have in his position, but all he seemed to require of me was a lack of violence, and affectionate touches. And those were easy enough to supply. I’d certainly enjoyed the chance to be the dominant partner, I had the feeling opportunities like that wouldn’t be very common in the near future.
He seemed a lot younger since he’d become truly Anita’s, younger even than he had seemed when he first came to court. It was the lack of masks, of pretence, that made him seem so. Now he didn’t have to hide his emotions in order to survive and his master encouraged him to display them. As for that water fight – can you think of anything so juvenile? But it entertained him, had him laughing and I was finding that I could all too easily become addicted to his laughter. He’d been so surprised that I’d considered his pleasure the night before, as if he didn’t think it mattered. It almost seemed as if he expected to find his pleasure in pleasing whoever was with him, and having a partner show consideration of his needs was a rarity, to put it mildly. And he said that Anita was kind to him! I decided to bring his reaction up as we walked back to the Circus – apparently it tends to be best not to do anything too inhuman in public unless it’s for entertainment.
“If you don’t want to speak about it I won’t pry...but the way you reacted in my bed last night worried me.”
“What do you mean?” Jean-Claude turned his beautiful, widened eyes on me.
“You didn’t seem to expect me to care about your pleasure; you reacted as if it were a rarity. But you keep on saying what a wonderful master Anita is every time I ask. Why is it that you seemed to expect no pleasure of your own?”
“You are only the fourth person I’ve lain with who has given any consideration to my pleasure. Normally I just have to take whatever pleasure I can, and concentrate on pleasing whoever I’m with – or I did until I became Anita’s lover.”
“Only the fourth? Anita, Asher and who else?”
“Julianna, Richard just used me effectively. I flirted with human women, but I never took it further than flirting, I didn’t dare risk angering my masters. The only people I lay with from when I was brought over to when I met Anita were those more powerful than I, or who I’d been ordered to please. I knew better than to expect any consideration of my pleasure from that. And before I was brought over I was effectively a whore – whores please their clients not the other way around.”
“I don’t understand. You never took a human or one of the lesser vampires to your bed? Why not?”
“I was afraid that my masters, when I had masters, wouldn’t like it, when I travelled with Asher and Julianna I stayed faithful to them and after I took the city I was trying to court Anita, she wouldn’t have been willing even to date me if I hadn’t been playing monk. Sleeping with one of my followers would have been too much like rape for my taste anyway.”
“Oh!” Even though he’d never had a chance to really choose his own lovers he wouldn’t force himself on anyone else. He’d laugh if I told him, but he was still innocent in some ways. One point kept repeating itself in my head. “But last night Anita said I was to serve your pleasure. I don’t understand why you didn’t try and take advantage of that.”
“You gave me everything I wanted, or hoped for from you. All she really meant was that you couldn’t hurt me.” Somehow I doubted that, but I wasn’t going to continue the argument and we walked the rest of the way to the Circus in silence.
xxXxx
Part XVIII – Arrangements
It was two nights after Mab arrived that she met with my master to discuss the conditions for the duel. Anita had booked a room in one of the more expensive hotels, a way of saying that there would be no risk of treachery as it wasn’t staffed with her people and they had agreed to only take one companion to their meeting. Anita decided to bring me, a show of strength, to bring a sex toy rather than one of her lieutenants with her. I certainly wouldn’t object to being with her. And it was a show of strength in another way – I’d managed to take Damian from her, with council support and political manoeuvrings, but I did take him from her – and now Anita was perceived as having overpowered and subdued me.
We arrived at the hotel first, again Anita had made sure that I was all wrapped up so no-one could see more of me than a veiled form. This time I was wearing red velvet with a scarlet veil and my collar and cuffs were made of gold, set with garnets and amethysts. Anita wasn’t wearing anything very formal, just leather pants with knee high boots that had two inch heels and a purple silk shirt. We ended up settled on the bed, I was lying behind her, and she effectively used my body as a couch, leaning back against me with her right hand resting on my hip and her left hand on my hair.
Mab lost points as soon as she arrived, her companion was Patrice, the more powerful of her two vampire escorts, albeit not by much, neither of them were master level. Anita stood to greet Mab, moving forward to take he hands and kiss her.
“Hello Mab, Patrice.” There was a slight nod from Anita in his direction. “Please, sit that we might commence our discussions.” Anita turned away from them to return to me and they complied, taking seats on the couch.
“You choose one of your bed toys as your companion for our discussion?” Mab’s surprise was plain in her voice. Normally the older vampires have better control, but Anita seems to break that down; and after all for anything important you bring a lieutenant, not a sex toy.
“Yes, why would I not?” Anita sounded every bit as surprised as Mab did, but for a different reason. Mab couldn’t bring herself to respond to this particular bit of arrogance. “Now is there any ability you would rather I didn’t use?” Again Mab couldn’t manage to hide her surprise, Anita was younger than her.
“I’d rather you didn’t drain the life out of me, the way you did Alessandro.” She kept her request modest, probably not wanting to sound too uncertain of her abilities. And I expect she thought of that as Anita’s strongest power, it is certainly the most frightening to me.
“Agreed.” There was a smile in Anita’s voice, probably one on her face as well, after all she never wanted to use that ability too often. “Now we need to decide what we can use to determine victory, after all council law does forbid me to kill you.” A nice piece of confidence – arrogance, that.
“And me to kill you.” Mab pointed out that it worked both ways, but somehow she failed to muster the absolute confidence that made Anita’s casual comment so effective. “I notice you do not seek to ask that I not use any of my abilities against you.”
“Forgive me, I did not mean to insult you. But I know nothing of your specific abilities, and I am not used to arranging my battles beforehand. I do not fear anything I know of you, save what you might do to Damian and Danilo in the event that you win.” Anita paused slightly before she said event and I could almost hear the unspoken word unlikely that she would use to describe her defeat.
“I see.” Mab’s voice was frosty, but she continued “The simplest way is for victory to be determined by which of us yields, the victor naturally being the one who does not.”
Anita laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m way too stubborn to yield under any circumstances, just ask Jean-Claude here, he watched me put myself into a week long coma once rather than yield to another – and that was when I was mortal!”
“You did what? I have your permission to speak to your pet then?”
“Yes, and he is free to answer, if he wishes.”
“Well Jean-Claude, will you tell me of what your master speaks?” There was a measure of contempt in her voice. I had not expected to be included in the discussions, to be anything more than Anita’s touchstone. I was careful not to raise my eyes when I replied in a low voice.
“If she wishes it.” My eyes slid to glance up at Anita’s face, and when she nodded I continued. “I was not the only master vampire who sought to mark her before she became one of us. There was another master vampire who forced all four marks upon her in an effort to control her – he got her to kill his master then told Anita that he intended to kill me so he could rule the city with her. She used the strength he’d given her to tear his heart out of his body with her bare hands then she tried her best to tear his neck out and perhaps head off as well. Once he was dead one of Anita’s human friends gave her CPR until an ambulance arrived and she was taken to hospital where she remained in a coma for a week.” I shut my eyes and bowed my head lower when I had finished speaking, Anita began petting me in earnest, although she didn’t place her hand inside my clothes. Mab hesitated, then questioned me again.
“You were there when this happened?” Again I glanced to Anita for permission to answer.
“Yes, I had lost a lot of blood and was near helpless at the time, she rescued me, the way she always does.”
“So that’s why he gave up his city to you. Because he couldn’t hold it on his own.” There was scorn in her voice as she spoke to Anita, ignoring my presence – not that I minded, I prefer to be overlooked when in my master’s company.
“He gave up his city because he loves me and could not bear to be separated from me, as he would have been otherwise. Jean-Claude is perfectly capable of holding a city in his own right – if he asked I would give him to another so he could claim his independence and challenge for his own territory, but he does not wish to. He has held his own against a council member before now, and we were not linked when he first claimed St. Louis for himself. Now – I believe you had suggested that the victory conditions for our duel should be to force the other to yield, I have made it clear why I do not think that is suitable have I not?” I was surprise that Anita could make her voice so cold and distant, as cutting as a north wind.
“Perfectly.” Mab’s composure seemed ruffled somewhat by Anita’s defence of me. “You have made it quite clear that you are slightly insane. Perhaps then it would be better if the victory be determined by whoever remains conscious, and has not yielded.”
“Yes, that would make much better sense. I give my consent to that. The next question is where and when we shall duel. I suggest we do so somewhere discrete – I have no wish to put on a show for the humans. There are some empty warehouses that I own; we could always use one of those.”
“How will I know you have not placed some form of trap in them?”
“I will send you a list of sites, you can inspect them yourself and send me notification of which you prefer at least twenty-four hours before we duel so my people can ensure that you have not prepared any trap. Oh and I have no objection if you draw power from those of your followers you have brought with you.”
“Your proposal is acceptable – and do you intend to draw power from your followers?”
“It would hardly be fair, as you have so few of your followers with you, I will refrain.” Another subtle insult disguised as an overactive sense of honour, and just enough to press Mab into making her declaration.
“Then neither shall I draw on my companions’ power, I would not have you place yourself at a disadvantage in an effort to be fair. But we do need witnesses to the challenge, and I will bring my escort for that purpose – what witnesses do you choose for yourself?”
“Danilo and Damian, we’re fighting over them so they deserve to be there to see the outcome for themselves. I’m bringing my third in command Narcisse as well and Elaith. That should be enough witnesses for me. Now, we need to decide on the timing. What would you prefer?”
“A week from this night, one hour after dusk would work for me. And you?” It was a Thursday night when we were meeting, so Anita frowned slightly.
“No, I would prefer the next Friday night an hour after dusk. It is only a difference of a day, but it is easier for me – I’m supposed to be raising a zombie next Thursday night at ten. It seemed like it would be good press if I kept on with my old job, that way I don’t run the risk of finding myself with an army of corpses following me about.”
“An army of corpses?”
“There are corpses buried beneath the Circus of the Damned from centuries back, if I don’t use my powers as a necromancer I run the risk of raising them during sex, or when I feed. I’ve been trying to find a teacher for the more traditional form of necromancy as well as the voodoo variant I first learned, before I was comfortable declaring all of my power.”
“I see...” Mab actually sounded apprehensive, almost as if she was having second thoughts about her challenge – but it was too late to back down without losing face. “Well, Friday night will work just as well as the Thursday for me. It is agreed then?”
“Yes.” Mab stood, nodded to Anita, then turned and left.
“How did it go?” Anita asked me the question once she was certain no-one would hear.
“Very well, ma petite, you seem to have unnerved, if not actually scared her. And she agreed to fight using only her own powers.” She smiled and pounced on me, and we spent the next few hours ‘celebrating’.
xxXxx
Part XIX – Preparation
The night after she’d made arrangements with Mab for their duel Anita came to my masters and told them that I’d be serving her directly for the next week. I’d learned to take some pleasure in their touch from necessity, but not so much as I would take from a woman’s touch. What knowledge I had gained of how to please a man had come from them also, and it had been most useful when I was lent to Jean-Claude after our master greeted Mab. She told me that I could use one of the spare coffins, apparently there are a number of unused coffins kept at the Circus – and not to punish those who displease her, and every afternoon I was to report to her at two in her office.
The first night she told me I was to serve her it was near six before she bothered to speak to me of that, and I hoped that she would wish to feed her ardeur on me, she dashed that hope with a few words.
“I need to know about Mab’s abilities; and her style of combat, as a master you will be better placed to give me this information than Damian is. Oh, and Jean-Claude truly enjoyed you after we met with Mab, so I intend to give him the option of lying with you at some point during the week. You will spend two hours every afternoon telling me of, and demonstrating what you can of Mab’s fighting style, other than that you are free to do as you wish.”
What could I say to that, other than “Yes, master.”? She was being most generous, and even implying that I might be permitted to sleep with one of the most desirable vampires of Belle Morte’s line. At one point there was a challenge issued over the right to fuck Jean-Claude, normally it would have been a matter of waiting until his owner at the time tired of him. I have no idea why Gheorghe wasn’t willing to wait for Nikos to tire of him, but there was no question of how desirable he was. I spent that night wandering the city, visiting each of Anita’s clubs and businesses and getting to know the place.
The next afternoon I was waiting for Anita in her office by ten minutes to two – I didn’t want to risk being late. I knew by then that she hates submissive displays – a change from the usual master vampire, almost all of us prefer our inferiors to make a display of their submission on occasion – so I was standing by her desk waiting for her. She was dressed informally, even if her definition of informal’s closer to Jean-Claude’s than mine now: black jeans and a black silk shirt with black ankle boots. I was enjoying the rare chance to be fully dressed, Liao and Ji hadn’t gotten rid of the clothes I brought with me, just forbidden me to wear them in normal circumstances, but our master would not appreciate my wandering around half naked. To my surprise I’d selected an outfit very similar to Anita’s, I was barefoot and my pants were black velvet but my shirt was black silk as hers was.
“Find somewhere to sit and tell me exactly which abilities Mab has.”
When I took a seat on the couch Anita joined me, sitting as far from me as it allowed.
“Well, she can fly, as most of the older vampires can. She has some telepathic abilities, but they’re limited to vampires she brought over, or who are descended from her, so to speak. She’s immune to silver but despite her beauty her powers are much less sexually oriented than is normal for Belle Morte’s line.
“You already know that she is a night hag, rather than a succubus such as yourself. She can’t drain her descendents of life as Jean-Claude can, but as you know she can summon wolves and she can throw out a wall of force so to speak. Apart from that her powers are the basic powers of a master vampire. That is; just an expansion of and powered up version of the powers of lesser vampires.”
“She can’t do voice tricks, or cause harm from a distance then?”
“No, not at all. Voice tricks usually come with being of Belle Morte’s line, but for some reason they didn’t with her.”
“I see, and how would you rate her hypnotic powers, her ability to bespell others with her eyes?”
“Very good – when I bargained with her for my daughter 700 years ago she was able to make me lose time that way, and I was a master in my own right, albeit a young one, but she couldn’t force me to do anything too distasteful – not that way. What she required for my daughter was that I share her bed for a period of one week, submitting to whatever she wished. No doubt she has improved since then.”
“Have you ever seen her try to control her response when a succubus, or an incubus, tried to spread the effects of the ardeur to her? Or has she never been in that situation to your knowledge?”
“I’ve never seen it, but there was gossip at court about one such occasion. Apparently about 150 years ago she had an argument of some sort with the Traveler – I’m not entirely sure what it was about, but he sent Elaith to her afterwards, an apology of sorts it was claimed. This is all rumour, you’d do better to ask Elaith for the details, but apparently as a result she’s terrified of him. Not that anyone can blame her for fearing him; most of us do despite his insistence on being treated as property. According to the gossip she couldn’t avoid being caught in the ardeur, but no-one ever came up with an explanation as to what made her so scared of Elaith.”
“I’ll have to ask him that later, at one of our morning training sessions perhaps.” Anita murmured that thoughtfully, then spoke to me again. “Now, tell me about her style of combat.”
“She tends to be indirect. The main aspect of a combat between vampires is a contest of wills, but it can also include physical combat. Weapons are never used, but Mab is one of the few vampires who has studied any form of unarmed combat. The forms she studied are forms that rely on making your opponent think you are doing one thing then actually doing another.”
“So, she is skilled at misdirection?”
“Yes Anita. But one thing is constant when she fights – she always tries to force her opponent to fear her, and as a night hag that allows her to gain power. Apart from that her fighting style cannot be considered consistent in any way.”
“I see. Try and remember something else by tomorrow. And you can help with a demonstration of her fighting style, what you know of it.” She stood and stretched, in her enjoyment of that single motion I could see just how much she is shapeshifter rather than vampire. Taking her words as a dismissal I rose to leave myself. “Oh no you don’t.” There was laughter in her voice as she reached out a hand to stop me leaving. “You’re going to show me how you became a favourite of Belle Morte – even if it was only for fifty years.”
“As you wish Anita.” I didn’t know what had prompted this – but there was no way I would fail to enjoy it while it lasted. I stripped quickly and knelt to remove her boots. As I lifted my head she placed a hand on each of my shoulders and pushed me down to the floor.
She peeled her jeans off herself and then let her shirt fall down to the floor and stood clad only in her underwear. She then sat on my chest, I lifted my hands to remove her bra – dark purple and lacy, and she leaned forward so I could use my mouth and tongue on her breasts. They were beautiful, smaller than Mab’s, but the contrast between her skin and nipples was incredible to look on and she did not shy from fighting even before she became a vampire.
“Might I lick your collarbone scar?”
“Go ahead.” She laughed and lay down on top of me fully, wriggling to remove her briefs. I found her scars fascinating – so few vampires have scars – let alone so many as she does. And those who do have scars almost never have the type she has: a few like Asher have scars from holy items – albeit normally fewer than he does; and some have scars from weapons, or childhood accidents – but she is the first vampire I have ever known with scars from hunting us before she was brought over.
She swiftly became bored with the feel of my tongue on her collarbone and moved to sit over my face, so I could use my tongue between her legs instead. She is very responsive and came quickly. By this time I had hardened myself, so when she moved to the couch and invited me to fuck her I didn’t hesitate to thrust into her from on top. She actually pulled my face into her neck, inviting me to bite her. When I did she crushed my left shoulder in her hands and came around me. I continued thrusting as I was still hard and she urged me to meet her violence with violence of my own – as long as I didn’t spill any blood although drinking it was just fine.
xxXxx
Part XX – ‘Day Job’
I’d spent my mornings practising the normal ways of using vampire powers aggressively with Elaith since Mab issued her challenge, well apart from the time I spent sleeping – and I’d pretty much scheduled that to correspond with Elaith’s sleeping pattern to some degree. I’d also talked with Elaith, about a month after I returned to St. Louis, and found out how to put myself into a deeper form of sleep than the more human form I tended to use straight after I was turned. This new form is closer to the daylight slumber of weaker vampires, but I can come out of it whenever I wish – it provides deeper rest than human sleep but is more dangerous, I’m more vulnerable in it. So I only sleep as vampires do when I don’t have time for much in the way of rest – which I hadn’t over the week leading up to my duel with Mab. The afternoons I spent with Danilo after a nap, learning all I could of Mab’s particular abilities, and her style of combat. I screwed him and let Jean-Claude take him to his bed as well, Danilo had pleased my Jean-Claude when they were together, he seemed to have developed some sort of affection for the redhead.
I was due at the cemetery at midnight – Bert had been careful to schedule the few raisings I do late, so I’ve got time to feed beforehand. I was supposed to meet the clients at the family crypt – not something I really understand, building a little house to put your dead in, but it can be useful for vampires. They were an old family, and their ancestors had been rich, but with very bad reputations for using dark magic, evil magic. The Valois family wanted me to raise an ancestor who had a particularly bad reputation so they could ask him some questions, rather pointed ones about a number of ritual murders he was said to have committed. It was the murders that got me assigned to this raising rather than anything else – I was the most powerful necromancer in town so I was more likely to be able to control a possible murderer who might have had something to do with voodoo in life than anyone else. He was recently enough dead that Larry or John might have been able to raise him – and they would certainly be able to if John would let Larry act as a focus for him, but they wouldn’t stand a chance in hell of controlling him, not if he had anything to do with voodoo or necromancy in life. I was still a little puzzled that I could still raise the old dead now that I was a vampire – if anything my power and range had increased, Nikolaos’ animator, Zachary, hadn’t been able to raise anything older than a century after he’d died and used a girs-gris to bring himself back.
For my day job, so to speak, I dress the way I did when I was human – or mortal anyway – an old pair of black nikes, black jeans and a black cotton T-shirt. Bert doesn’t like the black but he knows better than to protest. There was a man and two women waiting for me, all with blond hair that shone like a beacon in the dim light of the crypt – why does everybody think that dim lighting is necessary for necromancy? The influence of too much horror films I suppose. The man and one woman were in their early forties, and the second woman was nearing fifty – she acted like an older sister from what I could see as I approached them.
“Hello. I’m Anita.” There nothing shocking in what I said, nor had I sought to come upon them by surprise, but they still jumped at the sound of my voice.
“Where did you come from?” The older woman made it sound more like a demand than a question. I don’t let mortals make demands of me. I ignored her.
“Where the animals for the sacrifice?” I put a little bit of a compulsion into my voice, and she responded to it.
“Over there. One of your colleagues delivered them earlier.” She pointed to one corner of the crypt, behind one of the sarcophagi. I stalked over to find two chickens hidden in cages there – all I need for someone who died at the turn of the century. I had brought the ointment, and knives myself, even now I don’t go anywhere unarmed, it’s an old habit – like a child who carries a security blanket around everywhere with him.
“You can stand within the circle or outside of it. Choose, and I will make it accordingly.”
“Outside.” It was the man who spoke this time, but his sisters were nodding in assent.
“Stand back then, and give me room to work.” They obeyed quickly. I cut the head off the chicken and walked a circle around the coffin. I didn’t bother catching the blood in a bowl – it isn’t actually necessary under most circumstances, only if the circle is large, or you’re not getting the blood from an animal. I smeared the blood and ointment on myself and the head of the coffin then stood back to begin the invocation. I took hold of the chicken and as it struggled, cut off the head, enjoying the flow of power, then spoke.
“Andreas Valois, hear my voice and rise from your coffin to do my bidding. Rise and be whole as you were when living.”
He pushed the lid from the coffin as he rises – I have to grab it before it falls to the floor and possibly breaks. When I was alive I would always have the lid removed beforehand in cases like this, at least if the zombie was to be put back in its grave at any point. His dead eyes turn to me and he awaited my bidding as he stood beside his coffin. Swiftly I broke the blood circle.
“Answer the questions you are asked as best you can.” With those words I dismissed him. I didn’t really care why his family wanted to speak to him – I knew it was in connection with old ritual murders, but that didn’t really concern me. He hadn’t had any magic in life, at least nothing to do with the dead, else he wouldn’t have been so easy to control. Bert hadn’t needed to call me in for this, but it had been a necessary precaution. “You three, call for me when you need him put back in his grave.” I lowered the lid to the ground and walked out of the crypt, stretching as I went.
I leaned against the outside of the crypt and considered the family I’d left in there. Andreas might not have had any magic, but his descendents did. None of them had power related to the dead, actually I couldn’t really tell what sort of power they had; only that it existed. The younger woman was the more powerful of them, but still nowhere near powerful enough to be of any use. But perhaps one of their family would be stronger, strong enough to cope with an introduction to vampire society. I didn’t really want a pure human as my first human servant – well unless it was Edward, but he wouldn’t accept. He never did approve of my involvement with the monsters, so he certainly wouldn’t be willing to become involved with us himself, despite the benefits.
I shook my head, dismissing such thoughts. It was not the time to consider those matters, not until after I had bested Mab, and took my prizes. I didn’t need another master vampire in my territory, no matter how tempting they would be. Nor for that matter did I really need an old vampire, it did help my reputation to have older, and master level vampires obeying me, but I felt that I had quite sufficient with Elaith, Lucius and Damian. On the other hand, I did want to make Mab suffer for trying to steal two of my followers, and it would hurt her more if I took older vampires than if I took the young ones. Again I dismissed such thoughts, they weren’t relevant – I’d choose my new acquisitions when the time came, I couldn’t before I’d seen them. And of course there was the outside chance that I would lose. If that happened I’d have to worry about keeping my position as Master of the City, and the only way I’d lose it was by dying. Not that I’d ever really expected to have a long life, at points I’d wondered if I’d reach thirty, let alone live out a natural human lifespan, or the hundreds
of years some vampires achieved. But if I died I’d leave Jean-Claude, and those who depend on me and my protection vulnerable, and I didn’t want that.
The elder of the two women called to me from within the crypt. I walked in calmly, and threw salt at the zombie’s chest.
“With salt I bind you to your grave.”
I cut myself and wiped the knife across his lips, smearing them with my blood.
“With blood and steel I bind you to your grave, Andreas Valois. Be at peace and walk no more.”
He climbed into his coffin and died again, returning to his grave. I bent to replace the lid. Then simply walked out, I’d done what I had to.
xxXxx
I woke to find Danilo sitting beside me, watching me – he’d been incredibly considerate the previous night, even though Anita had ordered him to pleasure me, rather than the other way around I hadn’t expected him to be so gentle with me. When he saw my eyes open he pulled his hand back from where it had been brushing my hair from my forehead – we’d been entangled together after sex when dawn came and I was trapped in my daylight slumber. He’d obviously moved me so I’d wake in a more comfortable position, I smiled up at him – it’s easier to be cheerful in this situation.
“Good afternoon, Danilo. Did you enjoy yourself last night?” I knew he had, but sometimes I like the reassurance of knowing I’ve pleased whoever shared my bed, particularly when they’ve been ordered into it.
“Very much, but the question is did you enjoy it?” My eyes widened slightly at that particular question, he takes his loyalty to Anita very seriously, all her command really meant was that he wasn’t allowed to hurt me for his pleasure the way Richard had.
“Yes, it was marvellous – but I can enjoy just about anything if I have to, the important thing is that you didn’t hurt me for entertainment. Would you mind brushing my hair out for me once we’ve bathed, it’s probably hopelessly tangled?”
“Of course not, I’ll go and run the bath and you can follow when you’re ready to – you do want us to bathe together?” He was at the door when he paused to call back that question.
“Yes, unless you don’t want to.” He disappeared through the door at that point, the situation was slightly surreal, Danilo was more than twice my age and a master, but he was acting as my servant. I began to untangle my hair from around my body as much as I could, running my fingers through it to at least put it in some semblance of order before following him through to the bathroom. The bath is almost an exact copy of the one off our bedchamber back at the circus, save for the faucet, which is plain on this bath, rather than a silver swan. Danilo was sitting beside it, dangling his hands beneath the stream of hot water running into the bath and smiling at me.
“I haven’t quite finished running the bath, but if you wish we can get in now.” There was a hopeful lilt to his voice and I climbed in quickly with him. The heat felt wonderful, warming us until we could feed. Danilo laid his hands on my ribs to pull me back against him, cradling me to his chest protectively. He was still being considerate of my needs and preferences; I just hoped it wasn’t only because of Anita’s orders. I didn’t want anyone forced into my bed, or compelled to please me, I never had. He worked a few of the tangles out gently as he rubbed shampoo into my hair and I returned the favour for him. At one point he splashed some water into my eyes, I retaliated and it degenerated into a small water fight, when we remembered ourselves there was water splashed all over the bathroom.
“It doesn’t matter,” I reassured Danilo, “one of the cleaners will take care of the mess once we’re finished, they took care of the goo from Richard’s shapeshifting last night.”
“Still, let me condition your hair, and we can get out. I’d kind of like to feed, and we can’t until we’re dressed can we?”
“I suppose not, but you’ll need to blow it dry and brush it as well.” I turned my back to him, giving him access to my hair, then turned to tend to his hair. When we got out he wrapped a towel around himself and insisted on drying me, not that I mind being pampered like that. He sat behind me to dry my hair and brush it at the same time, afterwards he buried his face in my hair and drew in a breath, taking in the scent of it.
“Do we need to wear the same things we had on last night or is there something here we can put on?”
“There’s silks in the trunk in the bedroom – didn’t you notice?”
“Not really.”
“We probably don’t have our things from last night anyway, the cleaners will have taken them away to be washed and returned to the Circus.” He hesitated about what to wear, when I realised what his problem was I solved for him with a few words. “You’re still supposed to be pleasing me, and I’d like to see you fully dressed for a change.” That prompted him to pull a dark blue silk tunic and pants on while I chose my outfit in a silvery grey. The club never really shuts, it isn’t as active during daylight hours, but it doesn’t shut so when we explored the upper floor we did eventually find a few people willing to let us feed on them.
Then we went down to the lower levels, I didn’t want to feed on Danilo again so soon, so instead I fed from the lust of the guests and we ended up having sex quickly in a darkened corner, the risk of being caught adding to the experience. By then it was full dark, and we needed to get back to the Circus.
I was disappointed when Jean-Claude decided we’d be going back to the Circus so soon after dusk, but it had been nice to be with him. I finally understood why he had such a reputation as a lover, and considering that I’d been commanded to serve his pleasure he was incredibly considerate. Most would have taken the opportunity to dominate their lover for a change – I know I would have in his position, but all he seemed to require of me was a lack of violence, and affectionate touches. And those were easy enough to supply. I’d certainly enjoyed the chance to be the dominant partner, I had the feeling opportunities like that wouldn’t be very common in the near future.
He seemed a lot younger since he’d become truly Anita’s, younger even than he had seemed when he first came to court. It was the lack of masks, of pretence, that made him seem so. Now he didn’t have to hide his emotions in order to survive and his master encouraged him to display them. As for that water fight – can you think of anything so juvenile? But it entertained him, had him laughing and I was finding that I could all too easily become addicted to his laughter. He’d been so surprised that I’d considered his pleasure the night before, as if he didn’t think it mattered. It almost seemed as if he expected to find his pleasure in pleasing whoever was with him, and having a partner show consideration of his needs was a rarity, to put it mildly. And he said that Anita was kind to him! I decided to bring his reaction up as we walked back to the Circus – apparently it tends to be best not to do anything too inhuman in public unless it’s for entertainment.
“If you don’t want to speak about it I won’t pry...but the way you reacted in my bed last night worried me.”
“What do you mean?” Jean-Claude turned his beautiful, widened eyes on me.
“You didn’t seem to expect me to care about your pleasure; you reacted as if it were a rarity. But you keep on saying what a wonderful master Anita is every time I ask. Why is it that you seemed to expect no pleasure of your own?”
“You are only the fourth person I’ve lain with who has given any consideration to my pleasure. Normally I just have to take whatever pleasure I can, and concentrate on pleasing whoever I’m with – or I did until I became Anita’s lover.”
“Only the fourth? Anita, Asher and who else?”
“Julianna, Richard just used me effectively. I flirted with human women, but I never took it further than flirting, I didn’t dare risk angering my masters. The only people I lay with from when I was brought over to when I met Anita were those more powerful than I, or who I’d been ordered to please. I knew better than to expect any consideration of my pleasure from that. And before I was brought over I was effectively a whore – whores please their clients not the other way around.”
“I don’t understand. You never took a human or one of the lesser vampires to your bed? Why not?”
“I was afraid that my masters, when I had masters, wouldn’t like it, when I travelled with Asher and Julianna I stayed faithful to them and after I took the city I was trying to court Anita, she wouldn’t have been willing even to date me if I hadn’t been playing monk. Sleeping with one of my followers would have been too much like rape for my taste anyway.”
“Oh!” Even though he’d never had a chance to really choose his own lovers he wouldn’t force himself on anyone else. He’d laugh if I told him, but he was still innocent in some ways. One point kept repeating itself in my head. “But last night Anita said I was to serve your pleasure. I don’t understand why you didn’t try and take advantage of that.”
“You gave me everything I wanted, or hoped for from you. All she really meant was that you couldn’t hurt me.” Somehow I doubted that, but I wasn’t going to continue the argument and we walked the rest of the way to the Circus in silence.
It was two nights after Mab arrived that she met with my master to discuss the conditions for the duel. Anita had booked a room in one of the more expensive hotels, a way of saying that there would be no risk of treachery as it wasn’t staffed with her people and they had agreed to only take one companion to their meeting. Anita decided to bring me, a show of strength, to bring a sex toy rather than one of her lieutenants with her. I certainly wouldn’t object to being with her. And it was a show of strength in another way – I’d managed to take Damian from her, with council support and political manoeuvrings, but I did take him from her – and now Anita was perceived as having overpowered and subdued me.
We arrived at the hotel first, again Anita had made sure that I was all wrapped up so no-one could see more of me than a veiled form. This time I was wearing red velvet with a scarlet veil and my collar and cuffs were made of gold, set with garnets and amethysts. Anita wasn’t wearing anything very formal, just leather pants with knee high boots that had two inch heels and a purple silk shirt. We ended up settled on the bed, I was lying behind her, and she effectively used my body as a couch, leaning back against me with her right hand resting on my hip and her left hand on my hair.
Mab lost points as soon as she arrived, her companion was Patrice, the more powerful of her two vampire escorts, albeit not by much, neither of them were master level. Anita stood to greet Mab, moving forward to take he hands and kiss her.
“Hello Mab, Patrice.” There was a slight nod from Anita in his direction. “Please, sit that we might commence our discussions.” Anita turned away from them to return to me and they complied, taking seats on the couch.
“You choose one of your bed toys as your companion for our discussion?” Mab’s surprise was plain in her voice. Normally the older vampires have better control, but Anita seems to break that down; and after all for anything important you bring a lieutenant, not a sex toy.
“Yes, why would I not?” Anita sounded every bit as surprised as Mab did, but for a different reason. Mab couldn’t bring herself to respond to this particular bit of arrogance. “Now is there any ability you would rather I didn’t use?” Again Mab couldn’t manage to hide her surprise, Anita was younger than her.
“I’d rather you didn’t drain the life out of me, the way you did Alessandro.” She kept her request modest, probably not wanting to sound too uncertain of her abilities. And I expect she thought of that as Anita’s strongest power, it is certainly the most frightening to me.
“Agreed.” There was a smile in Anita’s voice, probably one on her face as well, after all she never wanted to use that ability too often. “Now we need to decide what we can use to determine victory, after all council law does forbid me to kill you.” A nice piece of confidence – arrogance, that.
“And me to kill you.” Mab pointed out that it worked both ways, but somehow she failed to muster the absolute confidence that made Anita’s casual comment so effective. “I notice you do not seek to ask that I not use any of my abilities against you.”
“Forgive me, I did not mean to insult you. But I know nothing of your specific abilities, and I am not used to arranging my battles beforehand. I do not fear anything I know of you, save what you might do to Damian and Danilo in the event that you win.” Anita paused slightly before she said event and I could almost hear the unspoken word unlikely that she would use to describe her defeat.
“I see.” Mab’s voice was frosty, but she continued “The simplest way is for victory to be determined by which of us yields, the victor naturally being the one who does not.”
Anita laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m way too stubborn to yield under any circumstances, just ask Jean-Claude here, he watched me put myself into a week long coma once rather than yield to another – and that was when I was mortal!”
“You did what? I have your permission to speak to your pet then?”
“Yes, and he is free to answer, if he wishes.”
“Well Jean-Claude, will you tell me of what your master speaks?” There was a measure of contempt in her voice. I had not expected to be included in the discussions, to be anything more than Anita’s touchstone. I was careful not to raise my eyes when I replied in a low voice.
“If she wishes it.” My eyes slid to glance up at Anita’s face, and when she nodded I continued. “I was not the only master vampire who sought to mark her before she became one of us. There was another master vampire who forced all four marks upon her in an effort to control her – he got her to kill his master then told Anita that he intended to kill me so he could rule the city with her. She used the strength he’d given her to tear his heart out of his body with her bare hands then she tried her best to tear his neck out and perhaps head off as well. Once he was dead one of Anita’s human friends gave her CPR until an ambulance arrived and she was taken to hospital where she remained in a coma for a week.” I shut my eyes and bowed my head lower when I had finished speaking, Anita began petting me in earnest, although she didn’t place her hand inside my clothes. Mab hesitated, then questioned me again.
“You were there when this happened?” Again I glanced to Anita for permission to answer.
“Yes, I had lost a lot of blood and was near helpless at the time, she rescued me, the way she always does.”
“So that’s why he gave up his city to you. Because he couldn’t hold it on his own.” There was scorn in her voice as she spoke to Anita, ignoring my presence – not that I minded, I prefer to be overlooked when in my master’s company.
“He gave up his city because he loves me and could not bear to be separated from me, as he would have been otherwise. Jean-Claude is perfectly capable of holding a city in his own right – if he asked I would give him to another so he could claim his independence and challenge for his own territory, but he does not wish to. He has held his own against a council member before now, and we were not linked when he first claimed St. Louis for himself. Now – I believe you had suggested that the victory conditions for our duel should be to force the other to yield, I have made it clear why I do not think that is suitable have I not?” I was surprise that Anita could make her voice so cold and distant, as cutting as a north wind.
“Perfectly.” Mab’s composure seemed ruffled somewhat by Anita’s defence of me. “You have made it quite clear that you are slightly insane. Perhaps then it would be better if the victory be determined by whoever remains conscious, and has not yielded.”
“Yes, that would make much better sense. I give my consent to that. The next question is where and when we shall duel. I suggest we do so somewhere discrete – I have no wish to put on a show for the humans. There are some empty warehouses that I own; we could always use one of those.”
“How will I know you have not placed some form of trap in them?”
“I will send you a list of sites, you can inspect them yourself and send me notification of which you prefer at least twenty-four hours before we duel so my people can ensure that you have not prepared any trap. Oh and I have no objection if you draw power from those of your followers you have brought with you.”
“Your proposal is acceptable – and do you intend to draw power from your followers?”
“It would hardly be fair, as you have so few of your followers with you, I will refrain.” Another subtle insult disguised as an overactive sense of honour, and just enough to press Mab into making her declaration.
“Then neither shall I draw on my companions’ power, I would not have you place yourself at a disadvantage in an effort to be fair. But we do need witnesses to the challenge, and I will bring my escort for that purpose – what witnesses do you choose for yourself?”
“Danilo and Damian, we’re fighting over them so they deserve to be there to see the outcome for themselves. I’m bringing my third in command Narcisse as well and Elaith. That should be enough witnesses for me. Now, we need to decide on the timing. What would you prefer?”
“A week from this night, one hour after dusk would work for me. And you?” It was a Thursday night when we were meeting, so Anita frowned slightly.
“No, I would prefer the next Friday night an hour after dusk. It is only a difference of a day, but it is easier for me – I’m supposed to be raising a zombie next Thursday night at ten. It seemed like it would be good press if I kept on with my old job, that way I don’t run the risk of finding myself with an army of corpses following me about.”
“An army of corpses?”
“There are corpses buried beneath the Circus of the Damned from centuries back, if I don’t use my powers as a necromancer I run the risk of raising them during sex, or when I feed. I’ve been trying to find a teacher for the more traditional form of necromancy as well as the voodoo variant I first learned, before I was comfortable declaring all of my power.”
“I see...” Mab actually sounded apprehensive, almost as if she was having second thoughts about her challenge – but it was too late to back down without losing face. “Well, Friday night will work just as well as the Thursday for me. It is agreed then?”
“Yes.” Mab stood, nodded to Anita, then turned and left.
“How did it go?” Anita asked me the question once she was certain no-one would hear.
“Very well, ma petite, you seem to have unnerved, if not actually scared her. And she agreed to fight using only her own powers.” She smiled and pounced on me, and we spent the next few hours ‘celebrating’.
The night after she’d made arrangements with Mab for their duel Anita came to my masters and told them that I’d be serving her directly for the next week. I’d learned to take some pleasure in their touch from necessity, but not so much as I would take from a woman’s touch. What knowledge I had gained of how to please a man had come from them also, and it had been most useful when I was lent to Jean-Claude after our master greeted Mab. She told me that I could use one of the spare coffins, apparently there are a number of unused coffins kept at the Circus – and not to punish those who displease her, and every afternoon I was to report to her at two in her office.
The first night she told me I was to serve her it was near six before she bothered to speak to me of that, and I hoped that she would wish to feed her ardeur on me, she dashed that hope with a few words.
“I need to know about Mab’s abilities; and her style of combat, as a master you will be better placed to give me this information than Damian is. Oh, and Jean-Claude truly enjoyed you after we met with Mab, so I intend to give him the option of lying with you at some point during the week. You will spend two hours every afternoon telling me of, and demonstrating what you can of Mab’s fighting style, other than that you are free to do as you wish.”
What could I say to that, other than “Yes, master.”? She was being most generous, and even implying that I might be permitted to sleep with one of the most desirable vampires of Belle Morte’s line. At one point there was a challenge issued over the right to fuck Jean-Claude, normally it would have been a matter of waiting until his owner at the time tired of him. I have no idea why Gheorghe wasn’t willing to wait for Nikos to tire of him, but there was no question of how desirable he was. I spent that night wandering the city, visiting each of Anita’s clubs and businesses and getting to know the place.
The next afternoon I was waiting for Anita in her office by ten minutes to two – I didn’t want to risk being late. I knew by then that she hates submissive displays – a change from the usual master vampire, almost all of us prefer our inferiors to make a display of their submission on occasion – so I was standing by her desk waiting for her. She was dressed informally, even if her definition of informal’s closer to Jean-Claude’s than mine now: black jeans and a black silk shirt with black ankle boots. I was enjoying the rare chance to be fully dressed, Liao and Ji hadn’t gotten rid of the clothes I brought with me, just forbidden me to wear them in normal circumstances, but our master would not appreciate my wandering around half naked. To my surprise I’d selected an outfit very similar to Anita’s, I was barefoot and my pants were black velvet but my shirt was black silk as hers was.
“Find somewhere to sit and tell me exactly which abilities Mab has.”
When I took a seat on the couch Anita joined me, sitting as far from me as it allowed.
“Well, she can fly, as most of the older vampires can. She has some telepathic abilities, but they’re limited to vampires she brought over, or who are descended from her, so to speak. She’s immune to silver but despite her beauty her powers are much less sexually oriented than is normal for Belle Morte’s line.
“You already know that she is a night hag, rather than a succubus such as yourself. She can’t drain her descendents of life as Jean-Claude can, but as you know she can summon wolves and she can throw out a wall of force so to speak. Apart from that her powers are the basic powers of a master vampire. That is; just an expansion of and powered up version of the powers of lesser vampires.”
“She can’t do voice tricks, or cause harm from a distance then?”
“No, not at all. Voice tricks usually come with being of Belle Morte’s line, but for some reason they didn’t with her.”
“I see, and how would you rate her hypnotic powers, her ability to bespell others with her eyes?”
“Very good – when I bargained with her for my daughter 700 years ago she was able to make me lose time that way, and I was a master in my own right, albeit a young one, but she couldn’t force me to do anything too distasteful – not that way. What she required for my daughter was that I share her bed for a period of one week, submitting to whatever she wished. No doubt she has improved since then.”
“Have you ever seen her try to control her response when a succubus, or an incubus, tried to spread the effects of the ardeur to her? Or has she never been in that situation to your knowledge?”
“I’ve never seen it, but there was gossip at court about one such occasion. Apparently about 150 years ago she had an argument of some sort with the Traveler – I’m not entirely sure what it was about, but he sent Elaith to her afterwards, an apology of sorts it was claimed. This is all rumour, you’d do better to ask Elaith for the details, but apparently as a result she’s terrified of him. Not that anyone can blame her for fearing him; most of us do despite his insistence on being treated as property. According to the gossip she couldn’t avoid being caught in the ardeur, but no-one ever came up with an explanation as to what made her so scared of Elaith.”
“I’ll have to ask him that later, at one of our morning training sessions perhaps.” Anita murmured that thoughtfully, then spoke to me again. “Now, tell me about her style of combat.”
“She tends to be indirect. The main aspect of a combat between vampires is a contest of wills, but it can also include physical combat. Weapons are never used, but Mab is one of the few vampires who has studied any form of unarmed combat. The forms she studied are forms that rely on making your opponent think you are doing one thing then actually doing another.”
“So, she is skilled at misdirection?”
“Yes Anita. But one thing is constant when she fights – she always tries to force her opponent to fear her, and as a night hag that allows her to gain power. Apart from that her fighting style cannot be considered consistent in any way.”
“I see. Try and remember something else by tomorrow. And you can help with a demonstration of her fighting style, what you know of it.” She stood and stretched, in her enjoyment of that single motion I could see just how much she is shapeshifter rather than vampire. Taking her words as a dismissal I rose to leave myself. “Oh no you don’t.” There was laughter in her voice as she reached out a hand to stop me leaving. “You’re going to show me how you became a favourite of Belle Morte – even if it was only for fifty years.”
“As you wish Anita.” I didn’t know what had prompted this – but there was no way I would fail to enjoy it while it lasted. I stripped quickly and knelt to remove her boots. As I lifted my head she placed a hand on each of my shoulders and pushed me down to the floor.
She peeled her jeans off herself and then let her shirt fall down to the floor and stood clad only in her underwear. She then sat on my chest, I lifted my hands to remove her bra – dark purple and lacy, and she leaned forward so I could use my mouth and tongue on her breasts. They were beautiful, smaller than Mab’s, but the contrast between her skin and nipples was incredible to look on and she did not shy from fighting even before she became a vampire.
“Might I lick your collarbone scar?”
“Go ahead.” She laughed and lay down on top of me fully, wriggling to remove her briefs. I found her scars fascinating – so few vampires have scars – let alone so many as she does. And those who do have scars almost never have the type she has: a few like Asher have scars from holy items – albeit normally fewer than he does; and some have scars from weapons, or childhood accidents – but she is the first vampire I have ever known with scars from hunting us before she was brought over.
She swiftly became bored with the feel of my tongue on her collarbone and moved to sit over my face, so I could use my tongue between her legs instead. She is very responsive and came quickly. By this time I had hardened myself, so when she moved to the couch and invited me to fuck her I didn’t hesitate to thrust into her from on top. She actually pulled my face into her neck, inviting me to bite her. When I did she crushed my left shoulder in her hands and came around me. I continued thrusting as I was still hard and she urged me to meet her violence with violence of my own – as long as I didn’t spill any blood although drinking it was just fine.
I’d spent my mornings practising the normal ways of using vampire powers aggressively with Elaith since Mab issued her challenge, well apart from the time I spent sleeping – and I’d pretty much scheduled that to correspond with Elaith’s sleeping pattern to some degree. I’d also talked with Elaith, about a month after I returned to St. Louis, and found out how to put myself into a deeper form of sleep than the more human form I tended to use straight after I was turned. This new form is closer to the daylight slumber of weaker vampires, but I can come out of it whenever I wish – it provides deeper rest than human sleep but is more dangerous, I’m more vulnerable in it. So I only sleep as vampires do when I don’t have time for much in the way of rest – which I hadn’t over the week leading up to my duel with Mab. The afternoons I spent with Danilo after a nap, learning all I could of Mab’s particular abilities, and her style of combat. I screwed him and let Jean-Claude take him to his bed as well, Danilo had pleased my Jean-Claude when they were together, he seemed to have developed some sort of affection for the redhead.
I was due at the cemetery at midnight – Bert had been careful to schedule the few raisings I do late, so I’ve got time to feed beforehand. I was supposed to meet the clients at the family crypt – not something I really understand, building a little house to put your dead in, but it can be useful for vampires. They were an old family, and their ancestors had been rich, but with very bad reputations for using dark magic, evil magic. The Valois family wanted me to raise an ancestor who had a particularly bad reputation so they could ask him some questions, rather pointed ones about a number of ritual murders he was said to have committed. It was the murders that got me assigned to this raising rather than anything else – I was the most powerful necromancer in town so I was more likely to be able to control a possible murderer who might have had something to do with voodoo in life than anyone else. He was recently enough dead that Larry or John might have been able to raise him – and they would certainly be able to if John would let Larry act as a focus for him, but they wouldn’t stand a chance in hell of controlling him, not if he had anything to do with voodoo or necromancy in life. I was still a little puzzled that I could still raise the old dead now that I was a vampire – if anything my power and range had increased, Nikolaos’ animator, Zachary, hadn’t been able to raise anything older than a century after he’d died and used a girs-gris to bring himself back.
For my day job, so to speak, I dress the way I did when I was human – or mortal anyway – an old pair of black nikes, black jeans and a black cotton T-shirt. Bert doesn’t like the black but he knows better than to protest. There was a man and two women waiting for me, all with blond hair that shone like a beacon in the dim light of the crypt – why does everybody think that dim lighting is necessary for necromancy? The influence of too much horror films I suppose. The man and one woman were in their early forties, and the second woman was nearing fifty – she acted like an older sister from what I could see as I approached them.
“Hello. I’m Anita.” There nothing shocking in what I said, nor had I sought to come upon them by surprise, but they still jumped at the sound of my voice.
“Where did you come from?” The older woman made it sound more like a demand than a question. I don’t let mortals make demands of me. I ignored her.
“Where the animals for the sacrifice?” I put a little bit of a compulsion into my voice, and she responded to it.
“Over there. One of your colleagues delivered them earlier.” She pointed to one corner of the crypt, behind one of the sarcophagi. I stalked over to find two chickens hidden in cages there – all I need for someone who died at the turn of the century. I had brought the ointment, and knives myself, even now I don’t go anywhere unarmed, it’s an old habit – like a child who carries a security blanket around everywhere with him.
“You can stand within the circle or outside of it. Choose, and I will make it accordingly.”
“Outside.” It was the man who spoke this time, but his sisters were nodding in assent.
“Stand back then, and give me room to work.” They obeyed quickly. I cut the head off the chicken and walked a circle around the coffin. I didn’t bother catching the blood in a bowl – it isn’t actually necessary under most circumstances, only if the circle is large, or you’re not getting the blood from an animal. I smeared the blood and ointment on myself and the head of the coffin then stood back to begin the invocation. I took hold of the chicken and as it struggled, cut off the head, enjoying the flow of power, then spoke.
“Andreas Valois, hear my voice and rise from your coffin to do my bidding. Rise and be whole as you were when living.”
He pushed the lid from the coffin as he rises – I have to grab it before it falls to the floor and possibly breaks. When I was alive I would always have the lid removed beforehand in cases like this, at least if the zombie was to be put back in its grave at any point. His dead eyes turn to me and he awaited my bidding as he stood beside his coffin. Swiftly I broke the blood circle.
“Answer the questions you are asked as best you can.” With those words I dismissed him. I didn’t really care why his family wanted to speak to him – I knew it was in connection with old ritual murders, but that didn’t really concern me. He hadn’t had any magic in life, at least nothing to do with the dead, else he wouldn’t have been so easy to control. Bert hadn’t needed to call me in for this, but it had been a necessary precaution. “You three, call for me when you need him put back in his grave.” I lowered the lid to the ground and walked out of the crypt, stretching as I went.
I leaned against the outside of the crypt and considered the family I’d left in there. Andreas might not have had any magic, but his descendents did. None of them had power related to the dead, actually I couldn’t really tell what sort of power they had; only that it existed. The younger woman was the more powerful of them, but still nowhere near powerful enough to be of any use. But perhaps one of their family would be stronger, strong enough to cope with an introduction to vampire society. I didn’t really want a pure human as my first human servant – well unless it was Edward, but he wouldn’t accept. He never did approve of my involvement with the monsters, so he certainly wouldn’t be willing to become involved with us himself, despite the benefits.
I shook my head, dismissing such thoughts. It was not the time to consider those matters, not until after I had bested Mab, and took my prizes. I didn’t need another master vampire in my territory, no matter how tempting they would be. Nor for that matter did I really need an old vampire, it did help my reputation to have older, and master level vampires obeying me, but I felt that I had quite sufficient with Elaith, Lucius and Damian. On the other hand, I did want to make Mab suffer for trying to steal two of my followers, and it would hurt her more if I took older vampires than if I took the young ones. Again I dismissed such thoughts, they weren’t relevant – I’d choose my new acquisitions when the time came, I couldn’t before I’d seen them. And of course there was the outside chance that I would lose. If that happened I’d have to worry about keeping my position as Master of the City, and the only way I’d lose it was by dying. Not that I’d ever really expected to have a long life, at points I’d wondered if I’d reach thirty, let alone live out a natural human lifespan, or the hundreds
of years some vampires achieved. But if I died I’d leave Jean-Claude, and those who depend on me and my protection vulnerable, and I didn’t want that.
The elder of the two women called to me from within the crypt. I walked in calmly, and threw salt at the zombie’s chest.
“With salt I bind you to your grave.”
I cut myself and wiped the knife across his lips, smearing them with my blood.
“With blood and steel I bind you to your grave, Andreas Valois. Be at peace and walk no more.”
He climbed into his coffin and died again, returning to his grave. I bent to replace the lid. Then simply walked out, I’d done what I had to.
