Exsanguination Read online

“What’s up?” Phillip looked at her.

  “It says: ‘You look so damned hot I want to kill myself!’”

  “Huh?”

  “I took some selfies in the Underworld outfit and, on the way back from the club I sent them out to some friends back home.”

  Phillip laughed.

  Nikki swiped the screen several times. “Uh oh . . .” she looked pained. “I think I accidentally may have sent them to mom and dad as well.”

  “Oh, Nikki,” Phillip groaned as his mobile rang. He looked at it and sent the call to voicemail. “You definitely sent them to our parents.”

  “Oooo . . .” she smiled widely. “Listen to this: ‘I would travel to the ends of the earth just to kneel at your feet.’”

  “God, who is that?”

  “Owen. I dated him a few times and he really had a thing for me.”

  “Maybe he’s a virgin.” Vanessa bumped her shoulder against Nikki’s and grinned as she sipped her wine.

  “If he’s not, I had nothing to do with it. I was seeing him during my Catholic time. Maybe I should invite him to visit?”

  “Am I going to have to deprogram him?” Vanessa tilted her head questioningly.

  “Owen? No, in fact he did his best to deflect me from religion.”

  “Well, if he’s willing to travel halfway around the world to see you, there may be something to him.”

  “Well, he’s pretty good looking and fairly smart,” her thumbs began flying across the screen. “There. Let’s see if he’s all talk.”

  A few more texts went back and forth and Nikki put her phone down with a giggle and a smug smile.

  “What?” Phillip asked.

  “He’s packing,” her smile widened to a grin.

  “I’m hungry,” he frowned. “Can we stir Mary up and get her to cook something?”

  “Sure,” Vanessa replied, “what would you like?”

  “Can she do Chinese?”

  Nikki held up her hand. “No peanuts, Phil, you know I’m allergic.”

  “No you’re not,” Vanessa smiled and shook her head.

  Nikki’s eyes went wide. “You mean . . .?”

  “Exactly.”

  XI

  The next several days passed uneventfully and Nikki slept in her own room out of deference to Phillip. She watched as her brother and Vanessa seemed to grow closer and closer.

  Early in the evening, she grinned. “We need to leave shortly.”

  “Leave? To go where?” Vanessa responded.

  “To pick up Owen at Heathrow,” she widened her eyes. “Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you. Apparently, he had the balls to actually fly over here.”

  “Oh! Lucky you!” Phillip responded with a smile.

  “How nice!” Vanessa said.

  “Can you sniff him out for me, Vanessa? I don’t completely trust my nose yet.”

  “I’d be delighted. I take it that’s why you’re all dressed up?”

  Nikki nodded. “I thank god this corset zips up the back rather than lacing.”

  When they arrived at the airport, Phillip studied his sister as she took the lead in heading for the arrival area where Owen would be coming out. He leaned over to Vanessa.

  “Is that part of the change, Vanessa?”

  “What’s that, darling?”

  “Nikki was never one to be the centre of attention and now she seems to be basking in the looks she’s getting. What’s more interesting is her level of confidence. She was never especially shy but now she seems very . . . how can I put it . . . completely self-possessed. Look at her walk. She’s ramrod straight.”

  Vanessa nodded. “It does that to you. I’ve never met a shy or retiring vampire. When you come to realize that everyone around you is . . . god, I hate to use the word because it will probably offend you . . . inferior to you, it tends to bolster your self-image.”

  “I’m not offended,” he sighed. “Your abilities are significant.”

  “I just don’t ever want you to think that I see you that way because I don’t.”

  He smiled. “I believe you.”

  The plane began emptying out and, wide-eyed, Owen approached the three. Nikki smiled at him and he shook his head, seemingly amazed at her.

  “Oh my God! Look at you! Is this the new outfit for devout Catholics?”

  “Oh hell no. I’ve left that behind. You know Phillip?”

  “I do,” he offered his outstretched hand.

  “And this is my dearest friend, Vanessa. She’s like a big sister to me.”

  Vanessa gave him a closed mouth smile and spread her arms. “Hug.”

  Owen hugged her and she took a deep whiff of him. Standing behind him, Nikki mouthed the word ‘virgin’ and Vanessa nodded with a smile. She stepped back and Owen looked at Nikki.

  “So,” he said, “do you have the fangs to go along with the outfit?”

  She gave him a slight smile. “I do, but I keep them well hidden until I’m ready to use them.”

  He leaned his head to the side and ran his finger down the side of his neck. “You’re welcome to nibble,” he grinned.

  Nikki trembled. It was all she could do to restrain her instincts and not lunge for his throat. Vanessa broke the moment. “Why don’t we pick up your luggage, Owen?”

  At the carousel, Owen grabbed his bag and grunted as he pulled it off the rotating aluminium platform. Nikki looked him in the eyes.

  “Allow me.”

  Shocked, he watched as she easily hefted the load.

  “Wow! You been working out?”

  “You could say that,” she laughed.

  Vanessa and Phillip sat in front with Owen and Nikki in the rear of the Range Rover.

  “So, you’re living here now . . . in England?”

  “I am. Permanently,” Nikki replied to Owen.

  “And your folks don’t mind? I mean, it’s a long way off.”

  “Oh, they mind, all right,” she chuckled.

  “I just had a thought. I don’t know where to find a good hotel. Do you have any suggestions?”

  “Nope,” she shook her head. “You’ll stay with us at Vanessa’s place. Tons of room.”

  “Cool,” Owen grinned. “London looked incredible when I was flying in. Vanessa?” he leaned forward.

  “Hmm?”

  “I love your accent.”

  “Why thank you, Owen! Very kind of you.”

  “Tell him who you are, Vanessa,” Nikki piped up.

  “Oh, stop being silly, little one.”

  “No! Really!”

  Vanessa sighed. “I am the Lady Vanessa Cecily Leyland-Smythe, Countess of Ashburn.”

  “Oh my God! You’re a countess?”

  She nodded and laughed softly. “I am, indeed.” She leaned over toward Phillip. “Why are all Americans so obsessed with titles?”

  He chuckled. “Because we don’t have any.”

  They turned into the drive and Owen’s jaw dropped as the large house loomed in the distance. His head snapped back and forth from the house to Nikki.

  “You actually live there?” he whispered.

  “Yup.”

  As they walked through the doors, Owen gasped. “I’ve never seen anything like this except on TV! Oh, my God!”

  “Who’s hungry?” Phillip asked.

  “I am hungrier than you could possibly imagine!” Nikki responded, licking her lips.

  Owen walked next to Phillip with Vanessa and Nikki behind.

  “I’m keeping him,” Nikki whispered to her. “No two ways about it. He is never leaving.”

  “You sure he’s the one you want?”

  “Oh God, yes.”

  “Just be careful the first time around. Don’t get carried away and kill him.”

  “It’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “Pizza?” Phillip asked.

  “No. Let’s have a real meal in the dining room. It shouldn’t take long. Do you eat steak, Owen?” Vanessa asked.

  “Absolutely! Thank you!”

&nb
sp; When dinner was finished, Vanessa stood. “Phillip and I have some things to take care of. Why don’t the two of you adjourn to the drawing room? There’s a nice, warm fire going in there,” she winked at Nikki who grinned in return.

  “You are really living the high life, Nikki,” Owen said as he sat down on the sofa in front of the hearth.

  “You have no idea, Owen.”

  “So, do you work or something?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “So you just hang out?”

  “We go clubbing regularly. Mostly Goth places.”

  “Wow, you really have left the religious stuff behind, eh?”

  She nodded. “Do you still want to get your neck nibbled?”

  Owen smiled widely. “Sure, I’d like that.”

  She put her hand on his chest. “You need to lean back.”

  “You gonna make me a vampire? I mean, you’re dressed for it.”

  “I might. Who can tell?”

  Thinking the entire thing was a joke that might lead to something else, he turned his head to expose his neck.

  Nikki straddled him and brought her face down to the side of his head.

  “Mmm . . .” he moaned softly, feeling her breath on his neck.

  Nikki opened her mouth, letting her fangs descend, targeted his carotid artery and pressed down. Owen cried out and struggled for an instant as she held him tightly. Then he began to groan and whimper. She worked slowly, sucking a little at a time. Ten minutes later she’d taken half a pint and she slowly withdrew her fangs. They receded, becoming their normal size.

  The best Owen could do was to make soft mewling sounds. The pleasure was unlike anything he’d ever experienced in both intensity and kind. He was overwhelmed and Nikki was in heaven. Owen had been incredibly delicious.

  “What did you do?” Owen asked softly.

  Nikki smiled dreamily. “I nibbled.”

  “Please,” he sighed, “nibble again.”

  She shook her head. “No more tonight.”

  “Why?” he moaned.

  “Too much, too fast creates problems.”

  Owen absent-mindedly rubbed his neck and frowned, confused as he saw blood on his fingers.

  Nikki stood and took his hand.

  “Come with me.”

  He wobbled as he stood up and she walked him to a mirror at the side of the drawing room, putting him in front of it.

  “Look at your neck, Owen.”

  He saw the two puncture wounds and reality seemed to catch up with him. “Oh my God! What are you?”

  She stood behind him with her chin resting on his shoulder. He realized there was no reflection. Nikki could hear his heart racing as she turned him around to face her. She stared into his eyes.

  “Calm yourself, Owen.”

  Hearing the pounding of his heart begin to slow, she smiled.

  “You flew halfway around the world to be with me, Owen. You’re here and there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  “You’re a . . .”

  She nodded, still smiling.

  “Am I going to become . . .”

  Nikki shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that. All I did was snack on you. The only effect was delicious pleasure for both of us. Tell the truth. It was really good, wasn’t it?”

  His heartbeat and respiration were returning to normal levels. “It was unbelievable.”

  She caressed his cheek. “How would you like that every night?”

  He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, saying nothing. Nikki allowed herself a self-satisfied smile.

  “Does this mean I can’t leave?”

  She pulled back and gave him a soft look.

  “Not at all. You can leave at any time you want. Of course, you’ll never experience the transports of ecstasy I can give you and you’d probably never see me again.”

  For a moment, he looked conflicted.

  “Do you want to leave? We can take you to the airport right now if you’d like.”

  “No. I want to stay with you.”

  “Then you will,” she smiled.

  “Is Vanessa . . ?”

  “Thousands of years old.”

  He looked completely shocked. “And Phillip?”

  “No, he’s like you. Vanessa and Phillip are together,” she held up two fingers pressed together.

  “Did I hear my name?” Vanessa asked as she and Phillip entered the room.

  “I was just telling Owen what an old woman you are,” Nikki grinned.

  “Indeed,” Vanessa responded dryly.

  “And, you know? I’ve been thinking of something else, too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, you know how all of these groups have recognition and rights? The gays? Handicapped people? Minorities?”

  “Yes,” Vanessa said tentatively, looking at Nikki with suspicion.

  “What about vampire rights? Don’t we deserve to be seen as equal?”

  “That would be a bit of a step down, little one,” she turned to wink at Phillip.

  “Still,” Nikki frowned.

  Vanessa chuckled. “Oh yes, I see it now. We drink your blood, can move so fast you can’t see us, have many times your strength, can shape change into a wolf and walk on ceilings but you shouldn’t consider us to be a threat in any way. Sure, that’ll work,” she added with a sarcastic grin.

  Nikki sighed, deflated.

  “Things have been as they are for thousands of years. Yes, there have been bumps in the road but, for the most part, we have coexisted peacefully with humans for a very long time by virtue of the fact that most of them didn’t believe we existed. I don’t think we should rock the boat. It could result in war.”

  Phillip nodded. “As a friend’s uncle used to say – the more you stir shit, the more it smells.”

  “Sounds like a charming fellow,” Vanessa rolled her eyes.

  “What can I say? Uncle Bill was a man of distinction.”

  “Really, I don’t see the point, Nikki. It’s not as if when I’m walking down the street, someone knows what I am and decides to discriminate against me. People see me as they see themselves.”

  Phillip chimed in. “Has anyone ever seen a ‘no vampires allowed’ sign in a window?” he shook his head. “I think you’ve got a case of college activism, Nikki.”

  She looked grumpy.

  Vanessa smiled at her. How about we work on your shape changing ability and we can take a run through the countryside together?”

  “Really?”

  “Sure, we can do that.”

  Vanessa took Nikki down to the wine cellar to start her instruction.

  “Gloomy down here, isn’t it?”

  “A bit. Not a problem though.”

  “What is that?” she pointed to a large humanoid shaped cage hanging from the ceiling in a completely darkened corner. It looked to be made of heavy iron.

  “It dates from way back. Through a set of doors on that side,” she gestured to her left, “you’ll find a dungeon of sorts from a long time ago. I found an entertaining use for this particular piece and moved it out here. There were times when I would enjoy the company of a couple of others. We’d have a kind of party while chatting.”

  “And the cage?”

  Vanessa chuckled. “That’s where we’d put the food. See that snarl of tubing and stuff on the table?”

  Nikki picked it up and examined it. Two pieces of surgical tubing joined together and met at the end where a rather thick hypodermic needle attached. It was attached to a leather strap.

  “I don’t get it.”

  “The food . . . and I wouldn’t express it that way if Phillip was here, is confined tightly in the cage and the needle is driven into its femoral artery. We sit around, engaging in conversation and sip, opening and closing the little valves on the end. A friend of mine nicknamed it the ‘blood hookah’.”

  “Wow! That’s a trip but, god, you need a needle that thick?” she held it up in front of her. “It’s like a damned sp
ear!”

  “It’s six gauge. When two people are feeding, one likes to have a good flow. Add to that the fact that it’s quite frightening and rather painful, and you have an improved experience. Fear and pain often act as spices with the blood, adding flavour.”

  Nikki shuddered and set it down. “Then when it’s over you dispose of the body?”

  “Oh, there’s no body. The most we’d ever drain someone would be to the point of unconsciousness but not to the point of death, and then we’d set him or her over on that couch to recover.”

  “Then you wipe their memory?”

  Vanessa shook her head. “No need. They never see fangs so they just think of us as being as strange as they are.”

  “Volunteers from the bars?”

  Vanessa nodded. “And other places. Not your typical ones though. There’s no biting and sucking so there’s no pleasure for the donor. It takes quite the special individual. They’re around but difficult to find. If you look hard enough and long enough, you can find someone who is not only willing but eager to do the most peculiar things.”

  “Could we do that sometime? Find one and kind of have girl talk down here while we sip?”

  Vanessa laughed. “Of course. It would be fun. Maybe tomorrow night?”

  “Oh, I’d love that! What club would we find one at?”

  “I’ve got phone numbers. No clubs,” she waved her hand.

  “Really? Excellent!”

  “Now, on to training.”

  Upstairs, Phillip and Owen were drinking wine and talking.

  “Nikki likes you, Owen.”

  “I certainly hope so. I’d hate to think that I only exist to supply her with blood.”

  Phillip shook his head. “I don’t think it’s like that at all. I suspect she’d be treating you rather differently if that was the case,” his mind went back to Joe.

  “So how did you become involved with Vanessa?”

  Phillip related the story of how the two had come together.

  “It’s a strange world, Phil. A hundred years ago, there probably wouldn’t be a person, man or woman alive who would put themselves in our positions voluntarily.”

  “I disagree. I think there are a lot more today than there might have been back then but they were there.”

  “Far cry from Dracula, eh?”

  “Oh yeah,” Phillip responded. “It seems there were a lot of invalid beliefs surrounding vampires. Not eating, coffins, turning to dust in the daylight. It seems they actually have few, if any, shortcomings.”