Vampire's Key - Chapter Eleven
Vampire's Key
Chapter Eleven
Slumped across the circular sofa, Lilly drifted in and out of consciousness. Pangs of cold laced her aching body while her mind see-sawed between life and death. A vague awareness of her surroundings offered a tenuous lifeline that prevented her from falling permanently into the otherworld.
There was a man with her in the circular room. His broad shoulders blotting out the only source of light as he towered over her. Strands of grey dotted his stubble which he scratched with a thick, tanned hand. The sound created a discordant symphony that gnawed into Lilly’s skull. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the strange new reality. Like a wisp of smoke evaporating in the air, Lilly felt herself fade from the room. Her mind withdrew into a black emptiness. The break of waves on a distant shore calmed and soothed her as she sunk into the warm obsidian night. A delicate splash of water was louder in the darkness. She was corralled by the meditative trickle of a fast running stream that echoed around the onyx chamber.
Lilly’s life-sapping lethargy dissipated, replaced by a rush of energy that threatened to overwhelm her. Conflicting emotions saturated her mind and body.
The image of Carl appeared, his fist clenched and raised to strike. Beneath him she cowered, hands protecting her head in an all-too-familiar pose. The image faded, switching Carl to the role of penitent man, begging Lilly for forgiveness. He sobbed crocodile tears, finding excuse upon excuse for his behaviour. The story echoed through time, mechanically repeating the same cycle of degradation, violence and repentance. Kisses replaced tears, joy replaced sorrow and hatred melted into love.
Lilly’s mind brought forth a sweet memory, tempting her with a life she had longed for. A warm Sunday afternoon. Sunlight streaming through net curtains. She lay back, her body flooded by his gentle kisses. His hands brushed her thighs, his strong lips pressed against her breasts. Her hard nipples were desperate for his absent touch. She could feel his hardness against her as he teased and denied, then teased and denied some more.
The touch of his mouth on her neck increased her desperation. She longed for him and clasped his swollen cock in her hands, stroking him as his thumbs brushed over her wet lips. She parted her legs, gasping with aroused frustration as he refused to enter her. His fingers stroked ever so lightly over her thighs, his thumbs nurturing the lips of her hot pussy.
Lilly gasped, “Please Carl. I need you.” Her head arced backwards. Her eyes closed. Mind and soul overpowered by the fire in her body. Still, he denied her. Lilly’s need increased from urgency to desperation. When she thought she could last no longer, she felt him thrust into her. Deep and slow. Pushing hard, whispering and kissing and biting as he took her completely until her body shook, quivering beneath him in wave after wave of pulsating orgasm.
The memory faded, tumbling into the past where it was lost once more.
In the circular room, a man knelt beside her. Taking her hand in his, he drew it upwards to rest upon his head. Lilly’s fingers brushed against the curly strands of his dark hair. Details of his face became clearer: the dried skin that flaked from his sunburnt nose. His deep brown eyes that stared at her in awe. The faint aroma of coffee that coated his warm breath. She closed her eyes once more, returning to the Otherworld.
Muddy tendrils reached up from the ground to wrap around her body and pull her downwards into the earth.
There was no violence in the embrace that offered relief from the suffering of the human world. It welcomed Lilly, merged her with the earth, before birthing her in a cave below.
High dark walls, soothed by trickling water, appeared. Locked amidst their cracks and crevices, thousands of tiny white flowers fluttered in a warm breeze. One by one they fell, cascading downwards over Lilly like a blessing of confetti.
As they drew closer, their colour and texture changed, souring until they all converged into a deep glossy black. Petals morphed into wings, stems into bodies and stigmas into heads. Bats!Lilly thought. The word rang through her mind like a church bell warding off evil. Instinctively, she ducked. The colony rose and fell, uniformed in mammalian flight like an amorphous serpent that twisted and weaved through the cave. As one they descended to the floor, fracturing every time they rose, leaving pillars around Lilly that moulded into feminine shapes. Aadhira was there, along with Katie and Amy.
Distinguishing features appeared with unbridled clarity: a mole on Aadhira’s neck, the only blemish on her soft brown skin; the curve of Katie’s cheekbone, matched by the shape of her full lips, slightly parted to reveal the fangs atop her mouth; the intensity of Amy’s gaze, simultaneously invasive yet implicitly loving.
The three vampires converged on Lilly, tearing away her clothes in a frenzied rush of taloned hands. Lilly fought back, punching out at the speeding women. They withdrew immediately, leaving Lilly naked and vulnerable. She covered herself as best she could. Hunched forward, she drew an arm across her breasts and a hand to cover her groin.
About her the colony swooped down, discarding vampires every time it descended. Lilly screamed at the encircling creatures. “What do you want?” They stared back at her through lifeless eyes. Globes of milky white soured to grey; a grey that faded to black, a black that overwhelmed her once more.
He was still there. The unknown man in the circular room, kneeling beside her. She felt his solid arms hold her like a father protecting his child. Lilly inhaled deeply, pulling in the airy scent of a life lived in nature. The odours conjured images of wood shavings and tree sap, of the cold winter’s rain and the richness of an earthy forest.
She took a deep breath. A throaty, gurgling sound came from her lungs. The sounds of her body panicked her. Desperately she inhaled again. Nothing followed, only a long empty pause that felt like dipping a toe into the silence of eternity. Am I even breathing,she wondered? No thought replied. No wheezing in-breath, nor warmth from the man that comforted her, and she fell deep into herself once more. In that emptiness she saw them again.
Lilly returned to the cave. A long-sleeved gown of silk flowed about her, dancing in the gentle breeze. Amy reappeared, walking slowly towards her. She knelt down, taking Lilly’s hand in her own, and kissed it. Her lips were warm, her touch delicate like the petals of a youthful rose. “Welcome,” she said and smiled. Time slowed as though the door to eternity had been opened to her. Lilly looked down at the hand that held hers. It was cold, yet smooth; strong, but not overbearing.
Amy stood and kissed Lilly with bloodied lips. Cold faces, pale like a grey moon on a crisp winter’s morning, appeared. Dead eyes stared through her. Lilly shivered and took a deep breath, this time filling her lungs with fresh salty air. As she exhaled, she felt herself floating upwards. The vampires ascended with her. A colony of creatures, undead yet living, in a world of death hidden beneath the world of men.
Lilly swept upwards towards the ceiling of the cave, passing effortlessly through the thick rock and out through the cold, dark earth onto a frozen cliff-top. Grass, immortalised in icy white, appeared like the sharp teeth of a winter goddess. Far below, heavy waves smashed against an empty beach. Lilly rose higher, soaring towards high clouds that dusted the starry night. She could see human settlements, tiny dots of yellow light speckling the pre-dawn landscape. No sun had yet infected this world of rugged mountains and frozen lakes. No ray of light threatened to steal the coldness from the frozen landscape.
Lilly shot down, zooming towards a house where a young man waited at the front door. He clapped his hands and stamped his feet in an effort to fend off the cold. Lilly was on him instantly. Shoving him off-balance, she ripped away his jacket and plunged her teeth into his throat. Cutting through flesh, her tongue welcomed the warm salty liquid into her mouth. His struggles faded quickly, the strength of his body melting in contrast to the frozen ground upon which he fell. Lilly stared at the lifeless man. His eyes reflected a passing cloud as though a veil had been set across his life.
To the east, the first volley of sunlight cracked the horizon, creating a rich pattern of red and pink against a band of grey cloud that hung low in the sky.
“Stefan, please prepare Lilly one of your special baths,” Amy said. The sound of her voice pulled Lilly away from the frozen landscape and back to the circular room.
“It’s already running,” Stefan replied. Lilly felt soothed by his calm, well-spoken response.
“You are good,” Amy observed. “That will be all for now. Please ensure it is ready when we come down.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as it is,” Stefan replied, leaving the Clan Mother alone with Lilly.
“How are you feeling?” Amy asked, as Lilly opened her eyes. Her voice was light and breathy, and pulled Lilly away from the visions of caves and Carl and of feeding.
“Where am I?” Lilly asked.
Amy sat serenely on the other side of the circular seat. Her jet black hair cascaded over bare shoulders and onto her black dress. “In my home,” she replied.
Lilly shot up sharply, her foot bumping into a dead body. She found herself standing beside Amy.
“You enjoyed him,” Amy observed. She smiled. “Stefan will clear him away shortly. When you take your bath.”
“I did this?” Lilly asked. The dark vampire nodded. “No.” Lilly shook her head. The man looked familiar. His scent was reminiscent of the woods. The stubble on his face, patched with grey hairs, like the man in her dream.
Amy nodded. “You did.”
“I had strange dreams,” Lilly said. “I dreamt—” She looked down at the lifeless body. There was no feeling that accompanied her gaze, no dread or horror, no remorse or disgust. Just a detached awareness, unsoiled by guilt or sin. He had been alive, she had needed to feed, and now he was dead.
“How do you feel?” Amy asked.
“Complete,” Lilly realised. “I feel alive again.”
“And yet you had to die to feel that,” Amy suggested. “And so did he.”
“Who was he?”
“Like many, someone the world no longer needed.”
“I killed him?”
“Too human,” Amy replied. “You fed. Not killed. Not murdered. Fed. That is all.”
“Yes,” Lilly said, “I fed.” Ignoring the empty shell, she looked around the circular room. Large windows walled the space. Heavy drapes had been withdrawn to allow a view of the low terrain to the south, east and west and of the strong, yet low, waves to the north. “Where am I?” she asked.
“My home.”
“A lighthouse?”
“Once upon a time,” Amy replied, uncrossing her legs. The whites of her thighs were framed between the hemline of her skirt and the thick band of her stocking top.
Lilly moved around the perimeter, her hand brushing cold glass, dead fingers sensing the plasticity hidden to the human touch. The heavy scarlet curtains appeared like ancient monoliths, pleated as though by a sculptor’s chisel. A balcony formed a circumference around the room.
“I want to go outside,” Lilly said, halting beside the glass door.
She glanced back to the metal stairwell, her attention drawn to the echoey clunk of approaching footsteps accompanied by a repetitive clattering. They stopped, replaced by Stefan’s voice. “The bath is ready,” he called.
“We will go out later,” Amy said, already standing at the top of the stairs.
“I don’t want a bath,” Lilly insisted.
“Trust me,” Amy replied. “This one is worth it. Stefan has created a magnificent herbal concoction.” She held out her hand expectantly.
Perhaps it was Amy’s stillness that kept Lilly at bay, held at arm’s-length where she could enjoy the mesmeric beauty of her vampire mother. The intensity of power that Lilly felt emanating from Amy’s small body enticed Lilly to move closer. She took Amy’s hand. It was warmer than she expected, and felt soft and smooth to the touch. Lilly relaxed. She felt safe here. She was home.
Vampire’s Key
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