Chapter 16 The First Taste Of Blood
My beloved is out on her first hunt with Damien. Their unexpected victim has just entered the valley and is none the wiser of the danger she is in. Now how this should go is Damien needs to take the woman down, as Cassidy will not yet possess the power in her still very fragile body to do so. But this is not what happens.
Much to the shock of my eyes, I see Cassidy overpower the woman from behind in less than mere seconds. Damiens steps back and does not even assist with keeping her victim pinned to the floor. Cassidy has taken the woman down and has her body pinned down with but only her one leg. The woman does not even move. She throws her head back like a howling wolf and exposes her fangs that are clearly not those of a young vampire anymore. In one flick of her neck, she drives them deep in the woman’s neck and begins feeding. Damien watches her and then gives her the command to stop drinking. I watch as she stands, then wipes her mouth and kicks the dead body of her victim to the side.
What just happened?
… Cassidy POV…
I have just been taken out on my first hunt; to say that I was not scared would be a lie. The thought of drinking the blood of a human kind of made my stomach turn, but I was so damn hungry I could not even think. The minute I had my fangs nestled deep in her neck, it was as if I had been doing this since forever. The sound of her heart fading came close enough to cause me arousal. The sound as she gave her last breath had my skin tingling. What even surprised me more, is the way her blood tasted. Not the cherry and strawberries of a vampire but that of any chocolatey dessert you can think of. What had me the most was the power it gave me; I had never felt so alive; it was as if a surge of electricity shot through me. If ever I thought I had made a bad decision in becoming a vampire, then this would have changed my mind. Some part of me does wish, though, that Lucas was here with me.
But now Damien is looking at me funny. Have I done something wrong with the kill? I know he said that he would take her down, but I felt I had the strength in me to do so myself.
“My dear Cassidy, I am compelled to say well done, but what happened there? Where did you find the strength?”
How do I explain to him when I do not even know myself. “I just felt it; it is hard to say, Damien. I just feel it so powerful and deep inside of me.”
He looks at me, wanting to ask a million questions, but instead, it seems that he gets a far better idea. “I wish to test something dear if you shall just humor me for a second.”
“Sure.” I know that I can trust him as he has been caring about me for the last few days.
“I should be a far powerful vampire than you, given my age. I want you to try to take me down and pin my body firmly by the chest to the floor. The only vampire that has ever been able to do so is your beloved Lucas.”
For now, I shall just ignore his remark about Lucas, for I too am curious to see what happens. I watch as he takes a firm stance in front of me, fully expecting that I shall not be able to even move him.
“Now, Cassidy.”
Without even attempting to launch myself and jump at him, I grab him by his broad shoulders and kick his strong, steady legs in. He stumbles to his feet, and I pin his chest down with my knee. I firmly keep him in place as he tries to wiggle his way out from underneath and break free.
“Point made, young lady, you may let go now.”
I laugh at his remark and offer him a hand to stand from his feet. ” Was that not supposed to happen?” I look at him shyly and pretend that I am just as surprised as he.
“No, my dear Cassidy, that should not be possible unless I have grown weak since my last meal.”
“But do you feel weak?”
“Not in the least bit, and I pretty much have established that you are not feeling either.”
“Then what happens now?”
“I shall ask…” I see as he refrains as to realize that he had said something he should not have said. “I can only but guide you now, as you do not require my power. Your next feed, I shall stay far behind without you noticing me.”
“But what happens now? What do I do?”
“You carry on with your life, my dear. You can do anything you want. Just remember that you are going to live forever, so choose wisely what you wish to occupy your day with or with whom you spend your time. You shall not age; you need to keep that in mind.”
This thought has never crossed my mind; never did I think what I would do once I turned into an immortal creature. Apart from Damien, the only other person that knows is Eva. I shall not be able to stay in my job forever, for as Damien says, people shall notice that I have not aged a bit. So, needless to say, it all boils down to one thing, I am going to be lonely.
“Damien.”
“Yes, my dear?”
“Don’t you get lonely?”
“Being a vampire is lonely, but I have Lucas and Lilith. And, of course, a flurry of women that I never stay with for longer than a day.”
“But why do you stay with Lucas and Lilith?”
“Lucas is our Maker; he always took a keen interest in us, and in a way, I guess he wishes not to be lonely.”
“Now you are my Maker, but I can’t stay with you because of Lucas?”
“Well, actually… you always can come to stay with us.”
The thought of Lucas finding out that I let Damien turn me shoots a pain to my heart; I have deceived the man that I thought I would love. But it is too late to cry over the consequences of my actions. But I do fear that if Lucas finds out that he shall want nothing to do with me.
“Damien, do you think Lucas will be mad at me?”
“My dear Cassidy, Lucas cares too deeply for you.”
… Lucas POV…
For the second time around this night, I was astonished by what I saw. My beloved had the second strongest vampire in London to the floor in mere seconds. Now I do know that Damien fed this evening before he came to take Cassidy on her first meal; there is no way in which his body could have lost all the strength he had. There is something about Cassidy; I am very curious to know if she shall be able to do the same to me.
I only stay around for another hour as Damien explains to her which sides of the city are safe enough to prowl. They will wander further into the city, and he will point to her which humans from not to feed. But most of all, he first needs to show her how to leave the body so that authorities do not suspect a thing.
As they head their way into the city, I make my miserable self home. I so long to be with my beloved but I heard what she said to him. How can she even think such a thing? I shall never stay mad at her for longer than a second. She has no idea how much I desire to be with her now, even more than ever. Not only to take my loneliness away but the desire to mate and complete this bond between us. I finally have my beloved in all my vampire years, and I cannot be with her.
By the time I find my way home, Damien has also made his. I find him and Lilith sitting in the kitchen as they always do.
“You two still amaze me,’ I try to laugh off my somber mood. “You spend more time in the kitchen than humans do.”
Lilith waves me off and rises from her chair to embrace me in a hug. “How are you doing, my brother?”
“I will be lying if I say never been better.”
I turn my attention to Damien, though; I am very much curious about his encounter with Cassidy. “Damien, please tell me that my eyes deceived me. Or did you not use your strength because she is a woman?”
Damien, who is quite taken aback, immediately answers. “Lucas, I used everything I had against her. She dropped me like a weather and, might I say, not even twitching a muscle. I am afraid to say Cassidy is very powerful.”
“But I do not understand this,” I now say as I am pacing back across the kitchen floor. “This makes no sense; she cannot possibly be so strong.”
“Is it not because it is your blood she drank of?” But Lilith quickly dismisses her question as she and Damien should then also be.
But there is one thought that comes to me, the only vampire with so much power shall possess their soul. Should she indeed, I fear she might be in trouble. Any vampire that chooses to gain the strength shall come for her. The only way she could remain safe was if she was with me. As matters stand now, it will be so impossible for me to watch her constantly as my presence is sometimes required to perform my duties as the Master.
“I fear Cassidy might come in danger. Beyond this room, does anybody else know that she has turned?”
“Not a single other apart from Eva, which will have no contact with any other vampire.” Damien hesitates for one second before he speaks. “And Breyden.”
Immediately snap at him for even making such a suggestion. In all my years that I have known Breyden, has he never given me a reason to mistrust him? The longer we can keep this between us, the safer my beloved would be. I need to find a way for her to forgive and trust me again.
But what shall count in my advantage is that she too shall start craving to complete this bond. She will continue to seek and mate with the one that has turned her. She is thinking it is Damien, but she is not feeling it with him. I shall need to get close enough for her to feel that it is me, and in no time at all, I know she will come to me. I shall need to find a way to deceive her once again.
“Damien, tomorrow when I feed, you shall bring Cassidy down the same path at the very exact moment that I drink. She shall not expect that you have brought her to me on purpose. She needs to feel that connection that she has with me. I need her to seek me so that I can protect her.”
But before Damien can speak, there is someone at the door. Has she perhaps already come to me? I rush my way to the door, but as I open I am disappointed to see it is not her.
“Victor, to what do we owe this pleasure, or are you here to see Lilith?”
Victor catches his breath as he tries to speak; something clearly has him scared beyond belief. “Lucas, we seem to have a problem.”
“Come in, Victor, and tell me what is wrong.”
Once he is sitting with us in the common room, he has managed to calm himself enough to speak again. “Master, I was out on a prowl and came across a vampire. The vampire seems to have taken out two humans and was busy feeding. I am afraid to say we have a rogue vampire roaming the streets.”