Endless Days (The Firsts) (8 page)

Eventually, he himself would be the one to end the life of their subject.  They all agreed…David Patric would need to be euthanized.  They knew he was probably incapable of behaving normally again…decades of incessant torture and pain would do that to you…
plus…no one in the project would be safe again if he ever found out who did this to him.  So, yeah, as soon as the final test results were concluded, Armel had claimed he wanted to “humanely”
end
the vampire.  Hell to the fucking no!

Armel planned that Patric would die begging for death.  It had been a long time coming for his own satisfaction of watching the vampire beg for mercy that would never come.  He turned away and checked his own weapon, a semi-automatic 45 caliber Glock.  Need some serious holes to stop a vampire, even temporarily.  Long enough to contain or kill the motherfuckers.  He drew a deep breath and wandered down the metal stairs, avoiding the row of mirrors along the back wall.  He avoided mirrors
wherever
he went.  After fifty years, nearly sixty…mirrors were
not
your friend.

He flipped open the file on Project V, the photo of
their  second subject on top.  He stared and said nothing.  There was nothing to say.  She was perfect…beautiful, smart, talented.  But not human…not completely.  It put her squarely in enemy camp.  Not that the man who funded this project would agree.  He was not vampire but he was not human either, not completely.  Like her.

Didn’t stop Armel’s body from reacting almost instantly when he imagined the lovely smile on her lips wrapped around him.
  Or what waited beneath the tight jeans for him to plunder and show her he was man enough for her.  Not that he would ever get the chance.  Because she was a subject.  It had been hard to watch the distant surveillance and see the beautiful brunette lie with the damaged vampire.  It was what had been expected, but…he really did want to ride in there on a white horse and carry her away.

Arvel grinned.  
Like she would have him.  That was the real problem…he’d tried…and she wouldn’t.  So he hated her almost as much as the vampire.  It would all end soon, and he would find himself a nice simple little human girl and maybe plant a child in her.  It wasn’t too late for men, even at his age.  Once this was done.  Once he had bested his enemy.   His intention, at the end of the project, had been to force her to accept him as a male who could satisfy her.  But the man who funded the entire mission was family…in fact, her own brother,  so he knew it would not be allowed.   Well…

When he reached the main floor, he went to a tall woman with garish blonde hair near the entrance of the huge old almost empty warehouse.

“Items packed, secured for the flight?” he asked in French.  She looked up, and when she saw who it was, he saw her purse her lips.  Yeah, she couldn’t stand him.  It was okay, he returned the sentiment…threefold.  Her face reminded him of a thoroughbred, and, while it was quite striking on a horse, it was much less so on the aggressive oversized woman.  As a whole, physically, she was a live version of Olive Oyl from the old Popeye cartoon.  He much preferred his women small and delicate like Cherise Devereaux.

“
Lauren, there is a small window here to finish and be off.  You need to keep your foot down on these workers.”

“These are trained and skilled professionals, you ass.  They know what they are doing and are doing it.  Don’t you have another rope to piss up?”   This she said in English,
then turned away.

Gauche Americans!   He knew she spoke perfect French, and refused to do this with him.  Just to make him clench his teeth and freeze his cock in the down and locked position.  What Americans called a “ball-
buster.”  He snorted a laugh as he thought how he wouldn’t let her anywhere near his balls.

He waved his hand in the air.  “Allez, allez!” he called out as she disappeared around a corner.  Best be rid of her, back in her home country before he decided to use her for vampire bait.  He smiled and turned away.   Dinner, perhaps…drinks with a lovely young student who had been drafted to their team only recently.  She’d been “thrilled” to work with the famous Doctor Armel Joubert.  Yes, no reason to deny
himself the pleasures of the flesh just because the one he wanted was half a globe away.  That would change soon enough.

Lauren slammed down a pack of surveillance equipment a little too hard.  Shit!   She really needed to be more careful.   That weasel…that rodent.   She didn’t trust him…hadn’t from the first second he put his slimy little hand on her.  There was something…dark
…creepy.   She couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, but she knew it was there.  And since then, she’d learned way too much about what he really was.  This project had seemed important…she’d thought they were accomplishing something here.  She hated the methods, although she tried to understood why they used them, but he…he smiled when they hurt the subject…she’d seen him do it.  Lauren thought Armel Joubert was more monster than the vampire.  It was a good thing she was leaving France tonight.  She did not intend to come back.  She was a research geneticist…would not remain complicit with Joubert’s work anymore.  She was done.

             
It was a gorgeous sunset.  Cherise sat wrapped up in a light fleece robe and nothing else, the cool night air pleasant and not cold, watching the cerulean blue in the sky submit to brilliant vermillion and then fade to black.   She did not move.   Maybe if she stayed right here with a hot cup of coffee heavily infused with sugar and vanilla, let the wind chimes and star-studded night sky remind her of how beautiful the world was, then it would all be alright again.   There would be no vampire in desperate need of rescue that she was halfway bonded to.  There’d be no tenacious need to have him inside her.  There’d be no messages from home in France that she had to come back and live her birthright.   Just simple beauty and an evening off.  A few amusing television shows, cats and skunks to feed, and a box of chocolate chip ice cream waiting for her spoon.

Of course not.
   The vampire was preparing to leave, permanently, and she had to go stop him.  She had to do the one thing she thought she would never do…ask a vampire to stay with her.  But this one…this one would die without her.   So, in that way, she was attending to her duties as a bridge between the races.   An empath and seer, who now knew, without doubt, she would always do her duty.  It wasn’t just that it was innate, her heart would not let her abandon someone in need.  She’d journeyed halfway around this big world to find out that she could never journey far enough.  Well, okay, then.   David Patric…uh…   Kav…needed her like no one else she’d ever known…and it seemed she needed him, too.  It would be an interesting month.

A black cat crawled into her lap and she cradled it in. 
“Just a few moments,
bête
. 
Maman
has to go save a vampire.  You know, one with teeth like you.”   She paused, and sighed.  “And the most amazing
derriere.
  No, no,
ma petite chat
, not as good as yours, of course.  But
magnifique aussi
.  I wish it were not so, but…oh, it is.”  She realized her English was suffering more since he came to town, even though he had almost no accent himself and rarely used French words.  He was undoing her hard won, peaceful life, one day at a time.

So.
  It was dark now and he would be up.  It was time to go.  She gently sat the cat on the ground and unfurled her legs, slowly making her way back to the cabin.    Dressing quickly, snagging her loose curls into a clip, she drove out to the mansion.  

The moon was beginning to wane now, still nearly full, still bri
ght, and cast long complicated shadows on the lawn and house.  No lights were on, that she could see, and when she knocked on the door, no one answered.  She lowered her head and closed her eyes, concentrated.  Yes, he was there.   Basement, probably.  When she tried the door, it wasn’t locked, so she went into the darkened interior.  Enough moonlight slipped through the large windows and showed her a monochrome path to a door that obviously led down.  It was open and she heard some rustling down there, so she quietly stepped to the point where she could see around the stairwell.  A weak light illuminated him, his back to her as she came on down to the basement floor.  He didn’t turn around and it was a good thing.  He was naked, wet, his hair dripping.   Must have just come from the shower.  He knew she was there.

“What are you doing here?” 
he asked, continuing what he was doing, hidden behind his large body.

“I…”  Cherise shook her head. 
God, was she distracted.  “Um…we need to talk.”

“We’ve said everything,
“ he told her.  And then turned around.

Yeah, he was as magnificent as she knew he would be.  Perfect. 
Except for some severe scarring on his chest and legs that begged for explanation.   Vampires healed from wounds like that.  His chest was wide, and every inch of him muscled and beautifully defined.   He’d been thin when he first came to her, but her blood had brought him back to health quickly.  The mass quantities of calories had done the rest.

He was stunning.  Cherise could only stare and let her mind wander, unbidden, to what it would feel like to have that body covering hers.  She had no idea how long she stood there mesmerized when he spoke again, more forcefully.

“
Mademoiselle
, there is nothing to say.  You are right.  I’ve interfered in your life and that is not right.  I’ll be gone tonight.  So, thank you for everything.  You may go home.”

“I cannot let you leave, Kav.  You must get well again, and that cannot happen without my help.  So, leaving is not an option.”

“Oh, it is, my little blood donor.  Anyway, I’ll be fine.  I’m sure I’ve been alive a long time, so I doubt I’ll die any time soon.”

Against her better judgment, Cherise stepped closer.  Her temperature went up twenty degrees, but she had to make him understand.

“That isn’t true.  I see your spirit, your soul.  There is something you do not know.  You are
not
just a vampire.  You are a first.”

She watched him to see if that meant anything to him.  It didn’t. 
He just stood there in all his natural glory and looked at her expectedly.

“You are…”  Cherise looked away and sighed.  “Could you put some clothes on?  Pants, at least?”

“Why?”

She looked back at him, directly in the eyes. 
“Alright.  I’ll take all of my clothes off, too, and we’ll see how long we can carry on a conversation then.”

Her eyes dropped to what had already been a partial erection and saw him harden further at the image of her naked right there right now.  He huffed, palmed his impressive cock, and turned away.  The loose fitting sweat pants he donned didn’t help much…they tented as a reminder he was fully ready for her.

“This needs to go upstairs.  Please follow me,” she said tersely, but thought,
before I rip those godawful
pants off your magnificent body and mount you.

He was smiling as he followed her up the steep stairs.  She had to know it was as torturous for him as it was for her. 
More so, because his mind and body were well aware that if he took her now, it would be for the first and last time.  A single act of perfection he would have to live with forever.   And he knew it would be worth it.  Except that he remembered her saying she would be bound to him and that it would be very bad for her.  He wouldn’t hurt her for the world.  It was why he was leaving.  He just wished she hadn’t shown up here.  This made it harder for both of them.

God, she was even lovelier in moonlight.  And she smelled good enough to eat.  Which led
him again to what he wanted to do to her, but couldn’t.   He sat down on the sofa.  He was sorry to see her nervous.  She went to the window.

“Tell me what you mean by I’m not
just
a vampire.”

She turned then, walked over and sat beside him.  God, he smelled good.  She shook some sense into her head, once again distracted by his presence.

“Kav.  All vampires are made from other vampires.  A virus, a vampire genome that completely rewrites human DNA to make someone vampire.  Do you remember that?”

“I think I do.  It’s very painful…the conversion from human to vampire.”

“It is.  Well, that blood borne virus…it came originally from any one of only twelve known vampires who have been here for all of mankind’s history.   Longer, actually.  They are very powerful and very private.   Almost no one knows that they exist and they keep it that way for a reason.  You, Kav, are David Patric, one of those very rare, very powerful vampires.  And your life force is what keeps you alive, holds your power and who you are.  It is damaged…deeply.  You cannot survive without it.  One of your own kind may be able to help you, but there are none on this continent right now.  The one who would have helped the most…she…died last year.   So…vampire, I am your only hope.”

He stared at her.  He was even more powerful than most vampires?  It seemed ridiculous.  He could barely keep himself together at times.   No way
he was some mythic super powerful original vampire.  Although he was sure she was mistaken, he would have loved to have been that for her.  He could come to her clean and healthy…worthy.