Vampire Coven Book 3: A Vampire's Embrace (5 page)

Ann wanted to touch everything once set loose. Rhett found her fruit which she ate with wide-eyed wonder. He wandered after her unconcerned, enjoying her curiosity. It was as though he were spending time he should have had with Acca. Playing in the sunshine. Instead of brief night visits while the house slumbered. A thought occurred to Rhett. He had found the child and so she was his, which meant he would have to keep the mother. No child was separated from its mother.

For just a second, he had the cruel thought of leaving the mother where she was. Then Ann would be his daughter. A child he could watch grow. Rhett would make her a good father. The woman had left her alone, after all, with men roaming the glacier. The terrified screaming that he had heard from the woman caused him pause. Ann’s mother had been sick with worry. Ann was a wanted child. It wouldn’t be right or responsible to separate them if what Ann needed most was her mother. The idea angered him but it was real.

A butterfly landed on Ann’s forehead, she spun round and round trying to gaze up at it, her eyes skyward, then crossed, never having seen one before. Rhett laughed. Only this laugh was pure enjoyment, not some manifestation of cynicism. Rhett could watch Ann play all day. Each discovery was new to the child.

Tired of her game, Ann walked over to him. She looked shy as she touched his hand. Rhett crouched before her. Spindly arms and legs covered in bruises made Rhett angry. He knew her mother didn’t beat her. He had seen these types of bruises before on the ice dwellers. It was the many falls from the slick ice. Rhett had stripped her to her leather undergarments, a small tank top and breaches to the knee. He studied her black and blue elbows. Her limbs were so tiny in his huge hands, hands made to wield a sword. Acca had fallen a lot. But ice was not to blame; she had been a bit clumsy.

“I need to pee.”

Rhett was surprised then smiled. Like Acca this little Andra-Ann of his knew what she needed when she needed it. He gazed around listening for any dangers. He detected nothing. Rhett reached for her hand and led her to a small bush.

“You go pee behind the bush, and I’ll wait here,” he told her.

She went around the bush right back to him. Ann yanked on his hand. “No pot.”

“You don’t need a pot, just drop your drawers and pee.”

Ann frowned. “I’ll fall over.”

Rhett thought she had a point. Girls were definitely at a disadvantage in the waste area needing to squat. Looking around Rhett dragged two logs together. Ann still looked up at him.

“Just drop your drawers and sit between the logs.”

“I’ll fall in.”

“You won’t fall in,” Rhett said and became exasperated. Perhaps he should have brought the child’s mother. Ann still continued to stare up at him.

“Pee’s coming.”

Oh shit, that’s a warning if I ever heard one.

Rhett turned her around and covered his eyes with one hand while fumbling with her leather pants. He sat her down and sighed with relief when he heard a stream of liquid hit the ground. He waited a few moments. He knew little girls needed a little longer than boys.

“Are you done?”

“No.”

Rhett waited. “Done now?”

“No.”

“Do you think you’ll be done by dinner?”

Ann giggled. “I’m done.”

She stood up and Rhett peeked through his fingers as she spun in a tight circle tugging her leather back into place. After her potty dance Rhett fixed her clothes. Rhett lifted Ann into his arms. Cuddling her to his chest he took to the sky. Ann was wide-eyed but said nothing except to ask for another drink. Before long the coven came into view. Tavish and Caine were waiting to greet him.

“Well, who do we have here?” Caine asked, all smiles for the child.

“This is Ann. She would like some water, but maybe you can introduce her to something that would put some color in her face and add some poundage to her little arms. I need to head back for her mother, oh and Dooder.” Rhett placed Ann into the doctor’s care and tweaked her nose. Any human arriving was checked over with a fine tooth comb before being allowed to mingle with the healthy flock.

“Dooder?” Tavish asked.

Rhett grinned. “Her doll, silly.”

Chuckling at Tavish’s raised eyebrows, Rhett headed back to the glacier. Hopefully, he had the mother’s complete attention.

* * * *

For seven years, Hope had kept Ann safe from harm. When Hope conceived illegally and realized she was pregnant she had fled her home. She had broken the law which meant her death, which meant her unborn child’s death. She had eluded every hunting party until they stopped hunting her. Hope guessed they thought she died. She almost had. Surviving alone in a wasteland of ice was hell. Before giving birth, Hope had come across an elderly man living in a cave. With hesitance she had peeked behind a leather door. The startled man had offered her a sweet smile and Hope was captivated. Her feet shuffled into the diminutive space, her fleeting glance at everything was fear fueled, yet hopeful. Dirk looked like he was a thousand and ten. But the man was crafty, and handy, and the kindest man she ever had the privilege of knowing, besides her father.

Dirk had helped Hope when she gave birth. It was a terrifying experience. Hope never knew of anyone who had a child. It was a painful delivery and for a while she could see Dirk thought he might lose her. The many creases and grooves in his face gave testimony to that. After the birth, she lay quiet, weak. Many days Hope had drifted in and out of consciousness, only waking when her baby cried to feed from her.

Dirk looked after Ann, he was wonderful with her. He said not a word about Ann’s features. Truthfully Hope had never seen a baby before and thought nothing was wrong. Dirk had crooned to the child she was beautiful. Hope thought so too. Ann, named after Dirk’s, mother, was different, but wasn’t everyone? Dirk had provided food and skins and warm furs. For a year they looked after one another as a family until one morning Dirk didn’t wake up. Hope and Ann were alone. Hope had dragged Dirk out into the cold and gathered enough rocks to make a resting place over him.

For years, Hope and Ann had been happy in the little cave. It was easy to keep warm with the small amount of kindling she found. Food was scarce but Hope found enough to live on. Ann wasn’t in the best of health and ate little enough. The child’s thought process was different. Hope didn’t think the girl was slow, Ann was special. Hope had no other child to compare her to. The child saw things a certain way that made Hope smile. Born mentally handicapped, as Dirk had said, was both a blessing and a curse. Ann was always happy. At seven, Ann was tiny, but lack of food was a contributor, though Hope tried.

They had vacated the cave recently and wandered into the glacier. While scavenging for food Hope had seen polar bears moving closer. Worried they had caught hers and Ann’s scent, the two reluctantly fled. Too late, Hope realized the polar bears were being hunted by a male hunting party. A man had spied Hope. In desperation, she had left her child in the deep cavern of ice, hoping to lead the men away.

Now her baby was gone. The vampire had taken her. He had killed her child already, a mere snack. Hope curled into a small ball and watched as the last of her fire died down. Hungry, alone and smelling as vile as a human could get she would sleep, and then join her little one in death.

“There you are.” Boomed an unwanted voice. Hope sat up. She glared at the vampire.

“Go ahead, do your worst, you monster. Oh wait, you already did that by killing my baby.”

The vampire came closer, scrunched his nose then tossed more wood onto the fire from a distance.

“Poor little Ann. Have other children teased her about her mother’s stench?”

“How do you know her name?” Hope crouched onto her knees and felt her heart begin to pound.

“She asked me to bring back Dooder.” He leaned in a little closer. “That’s her doll.”

“She’s alive?”

“No, I just told you; Dooder is a doll.”

“Ann, my Ann is alive?”

“Actually
my
Ann is alive. And she wants her doll.”

Hope looked at him in confusion. He was keeping her child.
Oh God.
“Please, she needs me. Don’t hurt her.”

The vampire circled her as though pondering. Hope swallowed hard. “You’ll give her some noxious disease smelling like that.”

“I only did it because the men came. I saw them coming. I was trying to repulse them.”

“So you don’t have some shit fetish?”

“I don’t have some shit fetish,” she ground out through gnashed teeth.

“I might be persuaded to take you to Ann. If you bathe and behave yourself.”

Hope became concerned. “It will take forever to completely bathe. I might freeze.”

The vampire crouched down in front of her, still he kept his distance. “I’m certain we can come to some understanding.”

Swallowing her pride Hope looked at him as demur as possible, needing to hold her baby in her arms. “I’ll do what you want. Anything, I swear.”

“Good,” he said and rose to his feet. He went to a dark corner and grabbed a huge white polar bear skin. “We keep skins in certain areas for when we catch prey we want to keep,” the vampire explained. “Now strip.”

“Huh?”

“Get naked.”

“But, but.”

“Yes I’d love to see your butt.”

“I’ll freeze to death.”

“As soon as the shit covered furs are dropped I’ll wrap you in this nice clean fur.”

“And do what?” she whispered.

“Compel you to shut up. Then take you to a hot spring where you can wash.”

“My poor baby,” Hope said feeling her tears wet her eyes.

“Your poor baby is no doubt having a pony back ride from the good doctor Caine and eating her veggies and drinking her milk.”

“A doctor?” Hope squealed. A healer.
Oh God.
She raced towards him. The vampire stuck out his palm which smacked into her forehead keeping her at a distance.

“My God woman, ten day old dead fish guts baked in the sun smell better than you.”

Hope didn’t care how it looked, she stripped naked to bare feet and stood shivering before him before he changed his mind. The vampire walked around her. She felt smaller than ever. He was a huge bastard. He lifted a strand of her greasy hair.

“You’re as thin as your daughter, woman.”

Was that pity in his voice?

“My name is Hope.” The last of their food had gone to Ann; Hope hadn’t eaten in two days.

“My name is Rhett. I’m your master or whatever floats your boat. You can call me Rhett. You belong to me. For now. Don’t piss me off.”

In a single action, Hope felt herself grabbed as the fur wrapped around her entire body, skin side out. Rhett was staring into her eyes. The white glow scared the crap out of her. She gasped.

“I may or may not hurt you. For now you will sleep. You will wake when I decide…and you will never cover yourself in shit of any kind again. Got it?”

For some reason, Hope nodded. She wanted to smack him one. While she was pondering, she fell asleep.

Chapter 3

Wake.

Hope heard the word in her mind. It was a gentle tug in her conscious. Hope didn’t want to wake up. She was wonderfully warm. Hope had never been this warm in her life. Heat soaked into her bones making them tingle in a delight unheard of. In her young life Hope had known cold and freezing, this was incredible; she heard her groan of delight. Her inhaled breath was warm; Hope was used to the sensation of cold. She wanted a little longer to explore this invasion. But the word was spoken as a command the second time.

Wake.

Reluctantly Hope stirred. Her surroundings were dimly lit. She was in some type of cave where the interior smelt funny. For a second, she worried the odor was coming from her and Rhett would be pissed and not take her to Ann. Although, it wasn’t an offensive odor, just different.

Another thought occurred to Hope. She was up to her neck in water. The water was steaming. It reminded her of when she cooked food. Was she being cooked? It was a scary thought. Hope had never once been submerged in water. She couldn’t swim, it was death. Her arms flailed for a brief moment before being subdued. Gasping in terror she looked at Rhett who had her pressed to his chest. She could feel his naked skin against hers. He couldn’t be cooking her if he was in the same pot of water. He was grinning at her, enjoying her fear. She was being cradled like a baby, her hair was soaked. He had washed her while she slept.

If she gave in to terror, she would be doomed. The cave was quiet, they were alone. Only the sound of her heartbeat resounded in her ears. She couldn’t beg for mercy, men had none, vampires probably had less. Her thoughts collided within her mind. She had to speak or panic would consume her.

“What’s a master?” Since Hope didn’t know where to begin she thought the question a good place to start.

“It means you are to obey me.”

“If I don’t?”

“You used to live with men at one time. You gave birth. What happened when the women there didn’t obey?”