The Vampire's Pet: Part One

“What?” I frowned when she met my eyes and shook my head. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you, but you have to realize that I need more than leftover lasagna to survive…”

I let my voice trail off, hoping to prepare her for the inevitable. While I had fed well on my way up the coast, I needed more to maintain my strength. Besides, I left her chaste and one of my enemies saw her, they could in law claim her as their own. My enemies were not nearly as ethical as me nor would they fear assaulting her — or worse.

Calla tensed when I raised her wrist to my mouth. I stopped, my mouth poised over her veins, and then looked in her eyes.

“Don’t worry," I said softly, trying to calm her. "There are two kinds of humans: feedstock and pets. You’re not feedstock so please, relax.”

“Pets?”

I nodded and sniffed her skin, enjoying the scent of her blood. .

“Yes. Pets. There are humans, like you, with blood so sweet that we don’t kill you—at least, not intentionally. It does happen on occasion when someone gets carried away, but most of us are very careful with a pet. We want to make you last for a very long time. You’re like a very fine bourbon—not to be drunk down like beer, but sipped and enjoyed.”

“You have pets?”

“I have had,” he said and nodded. “Obviously, I haven’t had one for, oh, about a hundred and ten years, so Karen is probably dust now unless someone turned her.”

Karen. My last pet. I wondered where she was and if she were dead. I was silent for a moment, remembering her with a fondness I that surprised me. The memory hurt.

“I suppose I have no say in this,” she said, and I knew she hated the thought that I could do what I wanted and she couldn’t resist.

“Pets don’t choose their masters, Calla. It’s the other way around. Be thankful it’s me who found you and not one of my brethren or you’d be sorry. Not all of my kind have as much self-control as I do.”

I pressed my lips against her skin, relishing the feel of her flesh, the scent of her blood. I could feel her body tense, sense her fear rising, but instead of biting down, I kissed her wrist and then pulled away.

“Why do you have so much self-control?” she managed to say despite her fear.

I glanced up knowing she'd see my true nature when aroused by human blood, my eyes bloodshot, my fangs extended. When I saw the fear in her eyes, I deliberately calmed myself, gaining control over my baser animal instincts. I kept hold of her wrist, my fingers over my pulse so I could check her response to me.

“I’m old.”

“You don’t look much older than me. You look twenty.”

I smiled. “I was twenty when I was turned but that was so long ago that I can scarcely remember.” I glanced around the room. “So much has changed. There are so many things in this world that are new to me. I’ve only been awake for three days and have had so little time to adjust.”

“You’ve been asleep?”

“Well, technically, I’ve been desiccated. I was locked up and denied blood for over one hundred years. That eventually leads to the body drying out, and you exist in a kind of limbo, your mind only dimly aware of the surroundings, except you feel an incredible thirst that drives you almost mad.” I paused for a moment, remembering my long years of hell. “I was held prisoner, trapped in a dungeon beneath ground for over a century.”

“You were in California when you were imprisoned?”

“I was in San Francisco to examine the damage to our properties due to the earthquake and fire. Later, I was taken north and imprisoned underground.”

“That was in 1906,” she said, her voice sounding surprised. “You’ve been imprisoned since then? That’s over one-hundred and ten years.”

I nodded, wondering how much she knew about the world, and what level of schooling she'd acquired. There was so much to learn. I was eager to find out more about the modern era and most of all, why my family had failed to rescue me all these years.

“Who had you imprisoned?”

“A rival family who I believe wanted me out of the picture so they could have their way on the Ruling Council.”

“The Ruling Council?” she said. I knew she would be confused by what I said, but I didn't want to give too much away about vampires – not yet. The less she knew the better so that when I left her, when I was rescued and returned to my family, she could go on living her life the way she had before I came along and found her. I followed the treaty. I was head of the Ruling Council – at least, I was before I'd been imprisoned.

I had ethics.

I patted her hand and smiled. “There’s a lot you don’t know. None of you know, and that’s the way we keep it. You won’t be able to speak about it to anyone except one of us, and only if we give our permission. Our secret’s safe.”

“How many of us know?”