The Way of Escape (6 page)

Emmanuel sat down on the cream-colored, brocade couch opposite the small stage and pulled me down beside him. When I tried to put some distance between the two of us, Augustus sat on my right, so I couldn’t move more than a few inches. I wanted to ask if he’d had any luck finding a copy of the Bible, but the Italian tenor and his accompanist began their performance before I could say a word.

Instead of debating whether I should even allow myself to enjoy the intimate concert, I dropped my guard, lost myself in the richness of his voice, and closed my eyes as I mentally escaped from my strange, disturbing surroundings. No one in the room uttered a word as Lazzaro filled the room with sweet, operatic melodies, but the sound of a soft sigh pulled my attention from the Italian singer halfway through his first song. I opened my eyes and looked to my right, where I saw Danielle biting Patrick’s neck as they sat on the nearby chaise. Patrick’s eyes were just as unsettlingly vacant as they had been at dinner and his hands stayed flat on his thighs, not flinching in the slightest as Danielle drank from him.

One by one, the vampires began to feed from their slaves with shocking boldness. In an effort to avoid the nauseating sight, I turned my attention back to Lazzaro. The tenor was completely unaffected by the vampires’ feeding as his coffee-hued eyes scanned the room, and that only made the scene more distressing.

He doesn’t even see what’s happening,
I realized as my breathing accelerated to the point of near hyperventilation.

Even over my quiet gasping, I could hear the sighs, slurps, and snickers of the vampires around me during their brazen feeding. My pulse quickened and the erratic booming grew so loud that it nearly drowned out the vampires’ drinking. That sickening soundtrack, the slaves’ silent submission, and Lazzaro’s superb singing combined to create a sinister symphony of sounds and sights that I desperately needed to get away from.

Without warning, I stood up and ran from the room as quickly as my feet could take me. Unfortunately, Emmanuel caught up with me and grabbed my arm just as I reached the stairs.

“Please let me go,” I gasped.

“You are one of us whether you choose to accept it or not,” he interrupted. “Your thirst for blood just hasn’t been awakened yet, but when it is—”

“I could
never
do that to someone,” I interrupted.

“Emmanuel,” Augustus barked as he strolled into the foyer.

Despite his superior’s noticeable irritation, the coven leader held fast to my quaking arm, my skin crawling and my stomach churning more with every second that passed.

“You have been living in your indulgent bubble for far too long. Letting your coven feed so shamelessly in the presence of someone who recoiled at the mere sight of fangs last night was incredibly foolish,” he smoothly admonished. “I will take Clara to her room and try to undo the damage you have done, but don’t be surprised if she chooses chains over fangs when her time comes in two nights.”

Rather than responding verbally, Emmanuel simply let go of my arm and bowed low to Augustus while I continued my escape upstairs with the redheaded vampire behind me. When we reached the room, Augustus used his key, opened the door, and locked it behind us. I think he might have said something or called my name, but I was too busy running into the bathroom and throwing up in the toilet to respond. I was suddenly thankful that I hadn’t eaten more at dinner because I would have been hugging the porcelain throne a lot longer if I’d gorged myself on the gourmet food.

I sat with my back against the garden tub and rested my head on my knees as I tried to steady my ragged breathing and fought to ignore the bitter aftertaste of vomit. Seconds later, the sound of running water reached my ears and I felt Augustus sit beside me on the cool tile.

“Drink this,” he urged gently.

I lifted my head and he offered me a glass of water, which I eagerly gulped down, keeping my eyes on the cabinets in front of me to avoid eye contact. Although Augustus hadn’t opened anyone’s veins during Emmanuel’s bloody bacchanalia, witnessing the feeding frenzy reminded me that he preyed on humans and drank blood like the others did. He was just a seemingly nicer, more discreet monster than they were.

And I may be half-monster.

“I’m sorry that you had to witness the coven’s savagery.”

“Why would Emmanuel bring me to something like that?”

“He probably thought that witnessing the feeding would awaken your thirst for blood.”

“Well, it didn’t. Maybe I’m not a dhampir after all.”

“The feeding didn’t affect you because they spilled human blood. Only vampire blood will stimulate your thirst at this point since that’s what you have to drink to become a vampire.”

“Then let’s settle this once and for all. I don’t want to waste my time agonizing over this stupid prophecy if I’m not even a dhampir,” I said. “How much vampire blood would I need to be around for it to have an effect on me?”

“Only a drop or two.”

“Being around it wouldn’t make me a vampire, right?”

“No, only
exchanging
blood can trigger the transformation, but you’ll crave vampire blood as long as it’s in your presence. After it’s washed away, your thirsts and appetites will return to normal.”

“Do you have anything sharp?”

“Always.”

Augustus stood up and I lifted an eyebrow when he pulled a six-inch knife from his sleeve.

“Has that been on you this whole time?”

“Yes, I’ve learned over the years never to leave my home unarmed,” he answered nonchalantly. “Now, even though I’m only going to draw a little blood, it will still affect you. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Very well then.”

Augustus took his knife and pricked his left index finger. The instant the blade pierced his skin, a bittersweet metallic aroma filled the air and my pulse quickened while my mouth parched as if I hadn’t had a drink in days. My entire body buzzed with energy and my hands trembled slightly as I grabbed the side of the nearby tub and pulled myself to my feet, watching the burgundy bead burgeon from the tiny incision.

When I stood up, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and that frightening sight was enough to stop me from closing the little distance between us. My eyes were black just as Emmanuel’s had been when he first revealed his nature to me. Thankfully, they bled back to their normal dark brown hue as soon as Augustus turned on the faucet and rinsed the blood from his healed finger and the knife.

“It’s true,” I whispered. “I’m a vampire.”

“Not quite. You are only a dhampir,” he reminded me, putting the knife back in the hidden sheath. “Furthermore, you have a higher calling than your own appetites and desires, which is more than I can say even for most humans.”

Augustus unlocked the door leading to his room.

“Follow me.”

I glanced at my reflection again and wrapped my quaking arms around myself, still haunted by my briefly yet disturbingly changed appearance, before following Augustus into his room.

“While I didn’t have any luck finding a physical copy of the Bible, I did manage to download a copy to my ebook reader.”

Augustus picked up the device and handed it to me along with its charger.

“Hopefully this will be the catalyst that drives you to make a decision now that you know what you are and you’ve seen a glimmer of the coven’s perversion.”

“Hopefully,” I echoed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I couldn’t muster up a smile of appreciation, so I simply took the device and retreated into my room. As I passed through the bathroom again, I hesitantly glanced at my reflection and thanked God that I was at least half-human.

Being a human or a dhampir is bad enough. I can only imagine how much more difficult following God would be living as a vampire. Their lives literally depend on hurting other people.

Once I was in the blessed solitude of my room, I sat at the small table by the armoire and opened the ebook. Since I rarely used the Bible app on my phone, reading God’s word from a glowing paper white screen felt incredibly strange. Instead of lamenting the loss of my well-worn ESV study Bible, I poised my pen on the pad of paper at my desk and began perusing the Bible. I had read the entire New Testament in the past year, so I had a general idea of where I could find some useful passages. Alas, finding verses that really spoke to me about my situation still took some digging.

As I thumbed through the book of John, two verses stood out to me.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

If not being or becoming a vampire was an essential part of the gospel, wouldn’t it be in here?

Next, I scanned the letters to the early church. As I read the verses I’d underlined during past studies, two more passages caught my eye.

“And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

Several times in church and in community group studies, people had quoted those two verses to remind us that we couldn’t lose our salvation. The Holy Spirit dwelling in me was evidence that God had forgiven me for all of my sins and that there was a spot in Heaven with my name on it. Unlike in the Old Testament days, the Spirit would never leave me and neither would my salvation.

So my salvation won’t be in jeopardy if I become a vampire … I’ll just be on earth longer than I’d planned,
I thought,
but is becoming a vampire considered sinning or is the sin in how vampires feed?

Those thoughts inspired me to do a quick study on sin. Though Romans 3:23 and Romans 7:18 spoke to the fact that everyone is a sinner, I still wondered if becoming something that fed on the blood of humans would make my nature more sinful than it already was.

Then again, part of accepting Christ as my savior meant believing that he died for
all
of my sins — past, present, and future. Even if biting people and drinking blood to survive is a sin, Christ already paid for it. If there is a way around drinking blood, God will help me find it.

That brought to mind an old memory verse that I had learned.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Although I felt as if I’d found some sound reasons not to fear becoming a vampire, I still wasn’t exactly sold on the idea. Yes, I wanted a long, happy life on earth, but I knew that the world had its faults. Any happiness I experienced would pale in comparison to the joy I’d feel in Heaven and the troubles I faced in my earthly life wouldn’t follow me into the afterlife. Being a vampire also meant that the trials that came with life on earth would stretch on for centuries instead of decades. My eternity with God would also be postponed indefinitely thanks to the agelessness I’d be granted.

I rested my head in my hands and groaned quietly as I tried to stop my mind’s endless spinning. I could come up with a million reasons not to become a vampire, but none of them seemed right. Once I crawled out of that rabbit hole again, I turned to the Book of Psalms. In the month before my capture, I’d begun praying through a psalm a day thanks to a suggestion from my community group leader, Lisa. It had been a powerful addition to my daily routine, so I picked up where I’d left off in Psalm 31. About halfway through the psalm, two verses piqued my interest.

“But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!” (Psalm 31:14-15)

Reading that prompted me to look for another familiar passage, so I swiped through the psalms until I found what I was looking for.

“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.”
(Psalm 139:13-16)

Those two psalms reminded me that my time on earth rested in God’s capable hands. He knew how long I would live before I was even born and he created every inch of me … which meant that he had intentionally allowed me to be born as a dhampir and led me to become a Christian. Surely, I could use being a vampire and spending more time living on earth to glorify God. Whether I was destined to live seven decades or seven centuries, God wouldn’t end my life until he saw fit. I had to trust his perfect plan for me and be a good steward the life he’d given me instead of worrying about how long I had to live.