Blood Rider

-Do you remember now? Do you remember what happened to us?-

Charlie’s voice floated through the darkness of her mind, as disembodied as everything. Once she had spent endless moments remembering the asylum, she fell into the empty blankness that taunted her with its nothingness. Yet as her mind desperately reached until she touched something; something painful and splintering. It was swallowed up before she could interpret it, but she heard the echoes of screams and not just hers. And just as the lethargy of daylight began to dissipate she saw Lucien’s face, his fangs dripping with blood. Lee didn’t just see it, she remembered it.

She took a deep breath, a sort of forced draw as she pulled herself awake and away from the torment of half-remembered events. She stretched out, her awareness shifted from inward to external.

The sensual knowledge she was curled up against a man filled her with satisfied warmth. As memories surfaced the glow didn’t diminish. Jakin couldn’t be held accountable for reacting as he did. Perhaps those who caged him and tossed her inside for dinner could be. His arm tightened around her, then tugged her close. Could be his mind was refreshing itself on the details as well? What wonderful details they were. He had one arm wrapped around her and that hand fondled her breast, playfully pinching the nipple. She shivered as pleasure swamped her body, being so close to his heavy aura and locked up against his cool flesh.

-Morning, Sunshine.-

Lee groaned and rolled onto her back, to find deep purple eyes staring down at her. She had never seen such a colour before and so velvety dark as well, almost black in the lighting. And there was lighting. There was a ceiling at least fifteen feet above with the glaring yellow of mage tubes. She winced from the sudden pain of light sensitivity.

Jakin ran a finger down her jaw, his expression intent but looked slightly puzzled by something. It would be devastating to her ego if he didn’t remember their spectacular night together. She noticed even his hair seemed to have dark purple highlights within the black.

-You let him bite you, Lee.-

I wouldn’t say let. And I didn’t see you dampening my response any. You want me to lust after power and you’re bound to get bit.

-Snarky this morning. What are we going to do now? He has Marked you.-

She didn’t like that realization. Jakin was at the top of the Clan food chain. She somehow doubted he would accept her polite declines not to initiate, not when it was half done. She wondered what sort of metaphysical hold he had over her now that he had. The very thought of him taking her blood permanently linked her to him scared her to death, but she didn’t know all the rules about such blood links.

Can’t do anything about it now, Charlie. I didn’t bite him back.

-There is that. We cannot let that happen. No matter how pleasant the prison is, it would still be a prison. We have to get out of here to feed.-

She agreed; the pain in her skull was working up to be excruciating. It wouldn’t take these Clan vampires long to force her to feed. She didn’t want that. She liked associating with her kind and would like to more, but she couldn’t allow herself to be initiated. She had been confined and controlled in the asylum. She was used and controlled by the Council. She wouldn’t tolerate it again. Perhaps true freedom was a fantasy but at the very least she ought to be able to freely choose her fate.

“Jakin,” she said and then stopped. This was an after romp with a stranger situation that rather lacked a good response to in the morning. Somehow she doubted ‘it’s been fun, see ya later’, would work.

“So long,” he said, with a deep rumbling purr that immediately heightened her awareness of their mutual nakedness. His hand trailed down her possessively and teasing her nipples pert, causing an instant sexual tightness in her. He looked at her again, with a slight smile. “Call me Jak.”

“Call me Lee, then,” she said. “It’s great to, ah, meet you.”

That made the smile widen, softening his angular features. Until the bolts on the door began to clank open. His expression stilled, his pupils dilated and his canines pushed out.

She didn’t have time to think about responding, as Jak flung her back and with shimmering speed wrenched the door open. He dragged someone in, revealing one of the four Elite. The man went still, and from his expression, she knew Jak had swamped his mind. Impressive. No way would she have been able to just take control of one of their minds like that. Jak yanked his neck, intent on tearing the man’s throat to shreds. Lee sat up and smiled slightly.

-This could be interesting.-

The three other Elite darted into the room. Two were trying to restrain him and the third was getting into his line of sight. “My Prince, you’re safe. We are your Elite, remember? It is Saer.”

“So very nice to meet you,” Lee remarked blandly, as she stood up, watching the show of bolstering testosterone.

-Mmmm, aggression tastes yummy on a man.-

She slid into her clothes and wondered if they would notice her inching to the door.

“She is mine,” Jak snarled.

“No one is arguing that point, my prince,” Saer said, giving her a dark look. She stilled, held her hands up in front of her in mock defence and grinned. “Actually, I’m arguing that point just a little,” she said. And was ignored.

Saer’s remark seemed to calm him a little. That and the fact the Elite were using purely physical force and keeping their aura tight and not aggressive.

“Saer?” Jak asked.

Saer nodded. “And Thad is the one you’re choking. Sine and Revel are trying to prevent that travesty.”

“He will be dearly missed,” Sine said.

“Yes, we will mourn him deeply,” Revel said with a grin. “But if that brute is what our prince wishes for breakfast we will not deny him.”

Jak stopped and actually looked at the faces around him. How he could separate the gorgeous group was beyond her. He flashed her a sharp look and said, “They are brothers. And they’re not gorgeous.”

Revel’s grin spread wider and he gave her a wink.

-Crap, Lee. Seems like that bond did do something.-

Jak frowned slightly but then turned back to the Elite. He ran a hand through his hair, giving a tousled look and she wanted to run her hands through it again. Just watching him standing there so aggressive and dominate made her want to tackle him to the floor and take him. Or just tackle him to the floor and make a run for it. “This is lock up,” he said finally. “I know I’ve been here some time, but it is unclear to me how long.”

“We had to contain you, my prince,” Saer said.

Lee huffed. That was an understatement. If she were Jak that alone would be cause for a bit of throat ripping.

Thad rubbed his neck and added, “The mating bond was stronger than anticipated, especially when the one you were paired with was denied you.”

She didn’t like the way everyone seemed to look at her pointedly. Nor this ‘mating bond’ which sounded surprisingly like a werewolf mating and she wanted no part in that. Who knows what sort of extremely outdated ideals ancients had towards women?

Jak whirled around and stalked up to her, looking fierce, dominating and devilishly handsome. And oh so very nude. “Our bond is everlasting. It cannot be denied. You’re mine and have been always. It is the way of the true born.”

Lee felt her essence shiver with complete and utter denial. She wasn’t to be owned. She wouldn’t be claimed like some slave girl.

“You’re not claimed,” Jak bit out, the muscles in his jaw clenching. “It is the mating bond.”

“Get the hell out of my head,” she snarled, pushing him back, and yet, not moving him at all.

“My prince,” Saer said. “You have succumbed to the rage of a denied bond for centuries. We couldn’t let you tear through the world to find her. Not when she had been claimed by the Council. We hadn’t anticipated it would take so long to find her.”

“The United Council. I seem to remember someone telling me about their rise in power.”

“In your more lucid moments, we have done our best to keep you informed.”

She stepped away from Jak, one step closer to the door. He was like a magnet. Tugging her passion until she couldn’t trust herself near him. “I didn’t come here for this. That bastard Lucien tricked me. And I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been here since my birth. Not hard to find. People find me all the time.”

“We have Lucien to blame for that. For all the sense he makes, he lost you, the Council found you. They have many a wizard on their payroll and we cannot see into their compounds. Even our prince couldn’t sense you, which drove him into a bloodlust he couldn’t wake from. We hadn’t known you had returned and only got a trail on you when you began to associate with your kind,” Revel said. “Although we should have known you were near since our prince has been aggravated these last few decades.”

Thus proving her ‘curiosity killed the cat’ theory. Her head throbbed and a piercing pain began behind her eyes. She suspected they were all, in their special little ways, aggravating it.

-We gotta go, Sunshine. We got to go Now.-

“I don’t know who the hell Lucien is,” she said, feeling an anxious tightness in her chest. They were referring to her years of blankness. They knew something.

“Yes, that’s an interesting puzzle,” Saer said. “Let us go upstairs and discuss it.”

She froze. She wanted to bolt, but knowing that would be idiotic her body just stilled as her mind tried to reconcile that fact with her increasing desire to get away. She didn’t want to talk about anything, nor this bond or anything Clan related. Charlie was snarling mad and it was increasing her anxiety. Jak stood in front of her again, put his arms on her shoulders and gave her a smouldering look of desire, but also compassion. That just freaked her out even more. “Relax. You’re safe here. We will find out more. Come with me upstairs.”

“I’m not Clan,” Lee insisted.

“You are now,” he replied firmly.

He took her hand and nodded to Saer. The Elite left the chamber. Lee leaned against the wall, trying to control her sudden anxiety at being in the confined place, while Jak stepped into his breeches. While he tied them up her eyes glided over his chiselled muscles.

Only Charlie chastising her brought her eyes back to his.

“What is it you block from me?” he asked abruptly.

-This prince thinks he can claim you for his clan, as though we are chattel for his amusement. He has no right to invade your mind.-

Very true. It seemed the ancient seemed to be able to slide into her mind with ease and pluck what he wished. Vampires tended not to think of it as an intrusion. Living with humans and such made her value her privacy in an unnatural way. Made her reluctant to use that ability against humans, as she had been raised to believe it was a violation. A vampire didn’t think like that, a born vampire wouldn’t even consider the idea.

He rubbed his neck and scowled. “There is a sizzle of mental energy, as though you concentrate on something else.”

“Back off, prince. There are some barriers that shouldn’t be crossed without permission,” she snapped and followed the Elite. She could feel Jak follow, his presence had such a physical pull to it.

Jak looked around like he had never seen the place before and maybe he hadn’t. Lee on the other had noticed Lucien first and her bloodlust increased into a boiling rage.

Jak glanced at him. “I know Lucien. I have never met a person to have such an intense reaction to him. You are raising my bloodlust by broadcasting your loathing for him and I’m having some difficulty controlling my response to it. I would appreciate it if you would contain your reaction to him until I have more sustenance in me.”

“I hate him,” she said. “For reasons that seem to grow the more I see him. He’s a mad bleeder. He brought me here under false pretenses and I’m damned sure I was manipulated to do so.”

Jak pulled her over to a couch and down until she sat. She stared at Lucien thinking dark thoughts and plotting her escape while trying her best to shield her thoughts. Jak lounged with ease, leaning back and resting an arm on the back behind her. Yet he was not relaxed, he watched everyone with a hooded, aggressive intensity. It wasn’t as though he expected to be attacked, but rather he couldn’t release the coiled up rage from his confinement. Lee had been the same way when she had been released from the asylum. The brain took a little while to realize its freedom. Besides, as he said, he was still on the edge of bloodlust and hungry.

“Something to drink?” Saer offered.

“Whisky,” she replied immediately. She didn’t even like whisky. But it seemed a whisky occasion. The sort of drink she used to drive herself into oblivion. She was quite familiar with bludgeoning herself with distasteful concoctions, only interested in the result.

Jak nodded in agreement. When Saer came back with the drinks everyone settled down. Sine and Revel across from Lee, the two that could be twins. Both wore their long hair with a braid on each side, leaving the rest to flow free. Saer she decided was inches taller and leaner, while Thad was bulkier. Still, the family resemblance was strong. And that was odd. If they were true siblings, they had all been turned together. Lee was pretty sure that was against Clan rules. She didn’t even think they could initiate someone until a couple centuries had past. Yet Jak was an ancient around when the rules and the game were different.

Lee downed half her drink, in an effort to absorb the situation. Finally, she decided to ignore the others and looked to Lucien. She could be calm. Reasonable. Even through the simmering rage. “I should kill you,” she said, but her intent was clear; she would kill him if no one was there to stop her.

Today his eyes were so pale they almost melted into his whites, with just a sheen of silver. “You are clanless. No one would want you to start your own line. You were not convinced by Eric to initiate. We cannot allow the Council to begin to breed their own line to contest our territory.”

Her lips thinned. He spoke reasons not his own, as though she had been some sort of threat to be nullified. Yet it riled her up anyway. “Ah, yes Eric. Needing assistance with rogues and so easily convinced to grant a meeting. He didn’t need assistance but must have been chortling with amusement I took the bait. So I saw you and you were intrigued and I willing to take your offer to meet with yet another. What did you see then? To trick me here? I’m not initiated yet, am I?”

He cocked his head to the side and smile slightly, mocking. “You have bonded with a vampire prince of the blood. You cannot get more initiated than that.”

“A binding to the Clan requires shared blood. I’ve not shared his blood.” A thin line certainly, but a barrier nonetheless. A link of life was not like being initiated at the turn. She could never be enslaved like that. It did create a link of energy; an opening to which influence and awareness was increased. Being so linked to an ancient vampire, like Jak, whose aura of power made everyone else seem feeble, would be just like being enslaved as a weak fledgling.

“You will,” Jak said.

“You must,” Lucien said. “You cannot be fixed otherwise.”

For just a moment she was just blinded by rage, far beyond words.

Jak placed a hand on her knee, restraining, and she realized she had tensed forward ready to launch herself forward. Lee shook her head, trying to clear it, but the pain and fury did not dissipate. Completely irrational emotions, but real and right as breathing.

The depth of her emotion, betrayed in her rigid posture and burning gaze, seemed to puzzle Jak. “You have a way with words, my friend. Why does your daughter hate you so?”

“He’s not my father,” she hissed vehemently.

“Ah, but you don’t remember that do you?” Saer said.

Her entire being began to coil inward, readying itself to burst out and just blindly attack. Then she focused on Saer. Took in his relaxed posture and amused smirk that was contrary to wary eyes and expanded aura. She felt his aura around her. If felt like she was being squeezed gently and she could feel that pressure in her mind, trying to soothe her. In a sense, it worked, because it distracted her from her own emotions. She hadn’t survived so long by being stupid. A clanless and young vampire had to be calm and careful. With so many people who could crush her on a whim, she had to be in control. She consciously let her muscles relax and gave a small shrug. “And so? This makes it true, just cause I can’t prove otherwise? How about the fact vampires cannot breed? That ought to be sufficient.”

“True born can breed like any other species,” Sine said.

“Born vampires,” Revel said.

“Fascinating. But other vampires do not. Lucien isn’t a born vampire. He’s shooting blanks. And we can all thank whatever gods and goddesses are left in this world for that blessing.”

“You’re the product of centuries of cultivation and breeding. We have kept track of humans who have the genetic code to accept our specific melding,” Saer said. “And we do turn those who add to that strength within us. Lucien has the records of your mother’s family tree, to verify she come from a long line of intuitive witches. He was a born werewolf, the son of a born werewolf. Turned by, not only a born vampire, but a prince among our kind. His genetic code easily accepted the change.”

“It proves you to be a dhampir, although you lack the traits of that mutation of our race. What demonstrates you’re the first born vampire in centuries is the fact you have bonded with our prince. Only a true blood can mate with a true blood. And true bloods are fertile once bonded,” Sine said.

Lee scowled. This was worse than she thought. She knew nothing about born vampires, only that they were ancients. Thought to be extinct, but clearly not. It would make sense if fertility was dependent on a mating between born vampires, that they would try and cultivate that back into their bloodline. Charlie always said the Clans had weakened themselves. The patience of beings who lived through decades like days would make this easy enough. She stared at Lucien, this Master vampire who claimed to be her father. She felt nothing but disgust. “So, what you say, is that this man cultivated my mother because of her bloodline?”

“It is well known for male vampires to do so,” Saer said. “Is it not in human folklore that we seduce young women? How can we ever hope to reclaim what we have lost if we do not?”

-We are what we are. Human sensatives allow for a certain flexibility, as they take on attributes, traits, into their blood easily. It has always been known. A far more difficult task in the Old Days, before Creation and the veil becoming closer.-

He likely seduced my mother, with the full force of his powers.

-Because she, no matter her elevated energy levels, was merely human. Lucien never was. You cannot expect him to act so. And two centuries ago, he likely was a fresh bleeder, who likely was thinking of little else but the sensation of the experience.-

There you go then. Even though I have no memory of the man, clearly some part of me remembers I have damn good reason to hate his pathetic guts.

She leaned back and crossed her arms. “And so it is that I’m the product of this breeding power with power. Goody for me. But I wasn’t born a vampire. I was turned like any other.”

“You were not,” Lucien said.

She shot him a glare. He was the one that said she had a faulty to turn in the first place.

“This from a bleeder?” she mocked. “What would you know? You wouldn’t remember if it was you that turned me. A vampire would be possessive over any spawn he conceived.”

“You’re not of the turned,” Jak said. His tone was abrupt and she expected he was not at all used to normal conversation now. His silence seemed more natural than his words. “I can tell. You’re aura and your essence feels like that of the born vampire. And if you were, we would not have bonded.”

“We have not bonded,” Lee said stubbornly.

“Do you remember being turned?” Thad asked abruptly. “Do you remember being on the edge of death and taking within you the essence of our kind through the blood of your Sire?”

She remembered pressure and darkness. Then Charlie. And then madness. Yet the very existence of Charlie implied she was not a born vampire. “I wasn’t turned to my recollection,” she admitted. “As you know very well since I’m clanless. As sometimes happens, I became a vampire without a Sire.”

“So you remember playing in the sunlight?” Thad asked.

“I don’t remember the time before, of my mortal existence,” Lee said, knowing Eric would have told them this. She often wished she did. Maybe she could touch more of what it was like to be human if she still held fresh memories of it.

“And why is that?” he asked.

-Will you blame me for that?- Charlie asked, laughing.

“It was traumatic for me, coming into the life so forcibly.”

Thad shook his head with an amused smile. “I doubt that. There is no connection to be made without a Sire or a bloodline. Those few who actually have changed without a Sire, these rare clanless, are actually our near successes. They usually turn at maturity, spontaneously. Although, some of their weaknesses often lead to a short life span. That is not the case with you. So you were born a vampire and would never have played in the sunlight.”

Does he speak the truth?

-I always remember being with you. Always.-

That blunt admission was more solid than their words. Charlie was more than willing to conceal from her, to be vague, but she never lied. It was possible she had no recollection of her life before either. A witch once told Lee the essence of a vampire, the spirit of the beast, was a being born in the Nevernever. She had said partly a vampire still existed there, between both worlds, hovering in the Veil. Their auras but one manifestation of this. Their tracing, was a hopping in and out of the Nevernever. Witches though, could never be trusted, because it was hard to comprehend the reality they saw. A bit of a language barrier really.

“She can’t remember because I broke her,” Lucien said. “But it worked out. I brought her to you, Lord Master, to fix her. She can be whole again.” Then he began to cry silently.

Jak stared at Lucien for a long moment, looking a little stunned by Lucien’s display. She suspected he was surprised at what changes two centuries had cultivated in Lucien.

“Spare me your false affections,” she said. She had no doubt Lucien felt something. The pink tears dripped from his eyes and he looked so utterly lost. She just doubted he gave one wit about her. Bleeders were emotionally unstable and so it would be ludicrous to assume one such display actually meant anything.

“Then I think we can agree you’re a born vampire. And we can also agree that you did have some sort of trauma that made you repress the memories of your past life,” Thad said.

Whatever that was became compounded by a thousand by the asylum. It could have been just a knock to the head.

Lucien looked at Jak, tears streaming down his cheeks. He did pitiful well. “I didn’t mean to. I lost her. Tell them, Lee. Tell them that you speak to your rider.”

Silence dropped and spread at the remark. Everyone looked at Lee; all silent and appraising. Pitying looks.

-Tell them you lied.-

“I said that to get that lunatic to talk. I wanted to know more about the riders and thought he would have the answers I need.”

“We will talk about this later,” Saer said. From their still, stoic faces, she knew they didn’t believe her denial.

“Actually we won’t,” Lee said, standing up. “I’m going home. This has been a fun night, but I’m pissed at all you conniving bastards. I’m not of the Clan, I have not shared blood and so I’m not bonded. Even if I’m a born vampire, doesn’t mean I have to breed with anyone unless I choose to.”

She looked down at Jak, who thankfully did not move even slightly to deny her. Just let his eyes slide down her thoughtfully. “We can speak later. I wish your assistance with the matter of rogue vampires hunting this city. Your city Master has likely informed your servants of this, or will. I need information on the nature of them, which I’m told an ancient would know of. Since that was the reason I came here at all, it would please me greatly if you granted the assistance your servants used to lure me here,” Lee said, trying to sound like she had some respect for his status and reign, but knowing she still failed in the elegance court vampires had. “I’m sure you have access to my address. You can stop over mid night, if it pleases you, and we can discuss the details with my partners.”

Jak nodded slowly. “Yes, we will settle some details. About your place at my side. You don’t belong to your Council now. I will not let them have you.”

Lee was going to pretend she did not hear the possessive remark.

“Be wary of them,” Saer said. “They knew your bloodline when they took you in. Maybe they thought you were a dhampir. They know you are the offspring of a vampire.”

She took a few steps when Lucien spoke up. “I would say something, daughter.”

She turned slowly to look at him. He faced her, his arms crossed and his eyes a steely gray now. For some reason he looked more self-assured. Damn, he was moody.

“What?” she snapped.

“Neither I nor your mother took you to that insane asylum you spoke of. I know the one you meant. Saer said they couldn’t sense you that the Council hid you. I presume that was their early front headquarters and the only safe place in a chaotic city to hold those they wanted to cultivate. So I want you to remember what happened to you there. Because I suspect they wanted you nice and broken so they could come in and save you later, so you would be ever so grateful. They are the ones that stole you from your people and your family. The ones you choose to work for.”

She ignored for the moment he sounded coherent and definitely ignored the painful possibility the Council had anything to do with her stay at the asylum. She pushed the very idea of it aside and instead stalked up to him, a foot from him and glared into those cold clear eyes. Her hand shot out and wrapped around his neck so tightly her sharpened fingernails drew blood when they dug into his flesh. “You were never my family. You will never be my family. You are nothing.” Then she flung him violently away from her.

“Keep him away from me,” she said to Jak. “I’ll kill him.”

Lee left and was surprised she could. She thought they might keep her until she was starved for blood and then she would have no choice to feed on who they wished. It had been something she had to be wary of when dealing with the Clans. It was a risk she always had when going into the Vampire Quarter. She always had to have an exit strategy, just in case Eric had been so intrigued by her as to force shared blood. He had been the only one she had to be careful playing with, since he controlled the rest of the Clan. At the time Eric had become her lover and he found her useful enough within the Council, to work with her and perhaps to have an in with them that he never pushed her decision. She was but one of several clanless in the University employ after all. But Lee had managed to attract larger prey and now it was even a greater risk. When they discovered she wasn’t willing to complete the bond, they might turn to force. And so, even though she had some healthy mistrust of the Council, they had always been able to keep her protected when she needed it.

“How do get ourselves into these messes?”

-I believe it all began with your quest to separate us.-

“Sure, blame it all on me. What about your raging libido when it comes to Masters, huh? That didn’t help. What about the fact I’m a born vampire and you’re just a figment of my crazy mind?”

-You’re the one talking to yourself.-