“Yes, the first, and Italy as it was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire. CK was from Ancient Rome,” I state.
His eyes bug out.
“My point was that I know how you feel, more so, perhaps as I was so innocent and naïve when we met. I know how overwhelmed you feel,” I say.
“Christ, Liv, you are one complicated woman. But I wouldn’t love you if you weren’t.” He smiles a shy smile. “So, if Constantine is called an Initial Vampire, what are the rest of you called? Is there some sort of hierarchy or something?”
“Yes, exactly,” I say and explain it to him. He nods in awe and I know that everything is going to be just fine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I ’m happy. For the first time in years, I am truly happy. I can tell that Cole is too, and it thrills me that I can be the cause of his happiness. The gods only know I’ve caused enough pain and suffering in my time.
As I lay in bed, alone, one night, my thoughts wander back to the past when I was so awful, even Constantine turned his back on me.
Nagyvárad, Kingdom of Hungary, 1250 - Lucretia
A fter I fled from Constantine for the first time in 1112, exactly one hundred years after he turned me, I was devastated. He had hurt me more than I thought was possible. Even more than my husband had when I was still mortal. My husband’s pain had been inflicted physically, that I could bear, but this betrayal and heartbreak that my sire had caused was agonizing.
I had Shifted several times into several different guises, once I realized it was possible to do so, after I left the castle in Italy. As a result, Constantine had never been able to find me. I knew he was looking for me though. He would get close and word would spread that he was in the area. I would Shift and move on. I headed north to start with, as far as I could go
, but over the next century I headed southwest through the Kingdom of Hungary.
In 1250, I settled in Nagyvárad, near the Transylvanian border, in my natural form. I was over my heartbreak by this point, but I had found anger. I was good at anger. Really good. I lashed out at poor innocents who didn’t deserve it. I captured them and tortured them for days, even weeks, until I grew bored. One of my favorite methods of causing pain was taking my dagger to them, slashing at their skin until their blood flowed freely and I could drink deeply from their wounds before finishing them off with my fangs in their neck, the fear making their blood taste so sweet. The humans quickly feared me and even most of the Vampires stayed away from me, where possible. I soon gained a reputation in the Underworld as a brutal and savage killer, taking no mercy and killing anybody who looked at me wrong. I enjoyed this wicked side of myself and I indulged it completely. I never went out into the sunlight anymore, only lurked in the shadows of night, luring foolish humans into my castle with my beauty and guile. Sometimes, I played with them before I tortured and killed them.
Constantine had wanted me to take other lovers, well, I was happy to oblige now. I embraced my sexuality and used it to gain an advantage. I was vicious enough to break even the strongest men and when they begged me for mercy, I laughed at their weakness. I became known for taking my victims, tempting them into begging me to turn them with sex and promises. Then, when the time was right, I turned them and then staked them mercilessly through the heart, after their first human feed, drained to death as I watched. I was consuming so much human blood on a daily basis, it made me strong. Stronger than I should have been for my age and I reveled in it.
Word soon spread of the Devil with the face of an Angel, with the lightest blonde hair and the brightest green eyes, and I knew that he would come. I was counting on it now. I wanted him to see what he had done to me. No longer the sweet girl he knew and destroyed, but a powerful, evil woman with no regard for life and no room for pain. I was no longer able to love or show any human emotion. The more I caused pain, the more I killed, the more I watched my handiwork kill for me, the less I cared about anything except the blood.
He did come, as I knew he would. I heard of his arrival before dawn. The messenger sent from the village to my castle to tell of his arrival was terrified and with good reason. I had a reputation for killing the messenger. Why? Because it sends a message. Underneath his terror he didn’t resist me when I kissed him sweetly in thanks for his service, and then I bit him swiftly and drained him, discarding his body with distaste.
Stepping over him, I sat down to wait, playing with the dagger in my hand. It was a beautiful, long blade with a red stone at the hilt. A knocking at the door brought me to my feet, and I rushed to meet my sire with what I hoped would be that dagger to his gut before he realized what I had done. I opened the doors and there he was, glowering at me as if he wanted to kill me. Quick as lightning, I stabbed him in the stomach. He was startled at my speed and strength. Grunting in pain, he pulled the dagger out and shoved it back into me with a ferociousness, a viciousness, I had never seen from him before, at least not turned towards me, pinning me to the door with his strength.
“Aefre, what have you become?” he whispered as he held the dagger in me, twisting it to cause maximum pain. I was unable to move in his iron grip, as strong as I was, he was still stronger.
“What you made me!” I cried out as I managed to push him away and remove the dagger, healing instantly.
He looked at me then in puzzlement. “What I made you? You have run from me for over a hundred years. Why? Why did you leave me without a word?” If I knew better, I would have said he looked sad, but I do know better, remembering him and that woman together.
“As if you don’t know,” I snarled. I flounced back into my castle and he followed, banging the heavy doors closed behind him.
He paused as he saw the dead body of the messenger still slumped in the middle of the floor but stepped over him with revulsion.
“You are causing quite a stir, my sweet,” he said.
“Don’t call me that!” I snapped. “I am not yours. Not anymore.”
He raised an eyebrow at me even while his eyes hardened at my disrespect of him. In a flash of Vampire speed, he had me pinned up against the wall by my throat. “Do not forget your manners, Aefre. I will punish you if you continue with this behavior,” he threatened.
I smiled an evil smile at him, panting with the thought of his punishment. “What will you do to me?” I choked out as he increased the pressure on my throat.
“You really do not want to find out,” he said quietly.
He let me go and I gripped my neck with a sneer to cover up the pain he had inflicted.
“Join me for a drink?” I asked with mock sweetness and turned to the kitchens before he answered. He caught up with me just as I was heading to the dungeons located underneath the kitchens. I descended the steps and he followed, curious now. He breathed in sharply as the scent of blood filled his senses. Wandering down the cells, trailing my hand along the iron bars, I turned to him and offered, “I’ll even let you pick.”
He grimaced as he saw all of my prisoners in various states of torture.