Blood Relations - Chapter 5

1937

Glasgow, Scotland

Vicky hiccupped and then tittered as she leaned against William for support. “Why must you choose only the most blindly drunk victims in Glesca? Can’t you once find a teetotaler in the middle of the—” She hiccupped again, giggling before she added, “Oh, wait, I answered my own question. Never you mind then.”

William squeezed her in a gentle hug. “I love hearing you laugh. I could listen to that to my dying breath and still never be bored with it.”

Vicky blushed, an action that she was only capable of for a few hours after feeding. Even then, the color rose as a soft blue tint to her cheeks.

William convinced her to take the pancake makeup off. He told her that he preferred to see her “as God intended her,” a phrase which never failed to make her laugh.

He’d also convinced her to stop wearing the bonnet to hide her cascading blue-black hair, and though he could not break her of the habit of favoring black clothes, he at least convinced her to wear some “daring” sleeveless dresses.

Each night, William guided her through the city, always pulling her down random streets to avoid traffic or large crowds. He used his powers to hunt down her victims, and always, it was some lowlife drunk who probably deserved a gruesome fate. Vicky used her knife each time, and she often left victims without draining them completely. Most were large, and she was well fed even if she didn’t take full meals.

Besides, with many of the men having high alcohol levels in their blood, she couldn’t finish them without passing out on top of her victims.

William never explained the methods for his selections, but after a few months, Vicky could guess what he was doing. It should have annoyed her that he was using her as a vigilante, but food was food to her, and she enjoyed his company. She liked living in his home, and if the price to stay was a restriction in her diet, she certainly didn’t mind.

Once Vicky was fed, she and William returned to his loft apartment above his gallery, and he alternated between making sketches of Vicky or painting portraits.

William was smitten with Vicky, and he saw her as his perfect muse. None of the artwork he made of her went out for sale in his gallery. He vowed to hide her pictures to keep her safe. But he seemed to do so little other work after meeting her. He was always trying to pose her this way or that for new portraits, and he asked her to try on different costumes for each sitting.

The posing was easy enough. Vampires make natural models because they can hold perfectly still for hours, even days if they are properly motivated and out of direct sunlight.

However, the costumes offended her. The problem was the genetic preference that every vampire had for black clothing. Vicky wore dresses of blue and red for him, and she did not burst into flames. Although, she had broken out in a nasty purple rash from one of the dresses. She suspected that was an allergy to the dye.

Vicky suffered through every sitting in the colorful clothes, because William talked while he worked, and he never ran out of fascinating things to say. He read her parts of the conversation from her mind, allowing her to ask questions without moving.

William was right. She was the perfect muse.

Or, rather, she usually was.

Vicky was so drunk that night, she couldn’t stand straight. William let her crumple over onto a gilded divan set near the front window of his loft, and then he set up his easel and his supplies.

His painting was mostly accurate, though in his rendition, late morning sunlight spilled through the window. The light filled Vicky’s skin with a warm golden hue, and he painted her hair more in tones of bright cobalt than of black.

William liked envisioning how she would look under direct sunlight, and his imagination had conjured up countless versions of her lying or dancing in fields under a brilliant midday sun.

Vicky rolled her head to look at William, laughing when his face grimaced into an annoyed scowl. Why don’t you try a nude portrait?

“I couldn’t.” William’s smile returned, though it was more mischievous than before. “The temptation to join you on the divan would be too much for me, and I’m supposed to stay on this side of the canvas.”

Vicky laughed and raised her hand to find the zipper of her dress. I wish I’d known that sooner.

William sighed, though his smile had begun to warm his entire face. “What are you doing?”

Vicky slid the zipper down and pulled off the shoulder strap to expose her chest. She said, “I’m trying to tempt you.”

His reaction wasn’t what she expected. He started to laugh, covering his mouth while his eyes filled with a look of apology. He was able to get himself under control, and he said, “I didn’t realize they would be blue.”

Vicky knew he was lying, and that he was trying to distract her. She glanced down at her nipples, and then she smirked at him. “My lips are blue, so what other color should my nipples be?”

“So...you’re pale blue everywhere, then?”

An electric thrill raced up her spine. Was he going to accept her? But no, she could tell from his eyes that he was only flirting again. It was just how halflings were.

She made one last effort, saying, “Yer welcome to look and see fer yerself, laddie.”

William laughed at her almost passable attempt at a Scottish accent. “No, I really can’t, Vicky. It’s against the law.”

Vicky laughed, tilting her head over the back of the divan. “Against whose law? I thought you walked away from your family and their silly laws.”

“I walked away from them, sure.” William’s smile softened before he shook his head. “But not all of their laws were made for silly reasons.”

Curiosity stumbled into Vicky’s mental fantasy and splashed a bucket of cold water on her inhibitions. “You mean to say halflings used to have a problem mating with too many vampires?”

“Well, no, not quite. The family made some long term experiments. It’s really going to be easier if I just show you. May I?”

Vicky nodded, and his eyes flashed to silver. Vicky’s cheeks warmed in a blush, and then her mind was flooded with ancient memories. Raising her hand to the side of her head, Vicky closed her eyes. Then every experience was more vivid, because all of her senses were attuned to William’s psychic history lesson.

First, he gave her the memories of the halfling leaders who watched over the earliest experiments. Through their eyes, she saw halfling women drop dead within days of becoming pregnant. Their bodies had shriveled up as the fetuses consumed every last drop of blood and starved to death.

Vicky was sent into the minds of the surviving halfling mothers, who had fed like vampires in a bloodlust to sustain themselves. They had kept their babies alive for the full term, only to die at the stake days after giving birth.

Despite the pain she felt during the final moments of each mother, Vicky kept her eyes closed. Tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, and her shoulders shook with every hitching breath that she gasped.

But she stayed locked inside the visions. If it was important to William that she know the truth, then she would endure whatever he gave her.

Vicky saw the memories of vampire mothers next, and the results were just as terrible for them. The vampires were driven into bloodlusts so fierce that they attacked everything coming near them. All were put down before they could carry their children to full term.

William returned to the thoughts of the leader who had concluded the experiments. That leader had enacted a permanent ban on sexual relations between halflings and vampires.

Vicky sat still, her lower lip trembling while she let her mind loop through the memories again. She had never considered herself a sheltered child. But at that moment, Vicky learned that there were horrors in the world, and they were called children.