Prologue
Eli had been fifteen for three
days when he was taken to a specialist for unusual cramps. They had actually
started the day before his birthday, a fluttering behind his navel that was
easy to shrug off as nerves about the party. Fifteen was a milestone year after
all, marking his coming of age among Vampires, much as a Jewish boy celebrated
his bar mitzvah, but with better presents and without yalmukahs. There was too
much going on during his birthday to notice the cramps. The day after, he waved
it off as a stomach ache; he had eaten more than his fair share and had his
first full goblet of blood. The next day, he stayed in bed, admitting to the
building pressure only when prodded by his Mother. The appointment was made and
now, there he was, sitting in a backless gown, warming the cold vinyl covers of
the raised exam table-bed with his bare bottom, inspecting his reflection in
the back of a chrome tray nearby.
In a sort of half-smile, quasi-snarl, he ran his
tongue across the smooth surfaces of his teeth. He saw no discernable
difference, maybe a slight swelling and tenderness along the gums above his
canines and the laterals. His eyes remained the same honey-brown with a dark
ring around the iris. For a moment, he thought he saw a promising patch of dark
fuzz on his chin and cheeks, then realized it was just a shadow. This wasn't
after all, a normal doctor's office with bright lights, disgruntled women at
the admissions desk and tanks of tropical fish in the waiting room. This was
the office of a vampire pediatrician, whose patients were as liable to eat the
fish in a tank as they were to wonder aloud at their beauty. Eli had been to
see him twice a year since he was a baby, and a few other times in between for
a variety of cracked and broken bones, childhood ailments including a nasty
case of the chickenpox, and once for swallowing a quarter.
A cramp started building in his abdomen, low and close
to the groin. He set the tray down and squeezed his eyes, biting down hard as
the pressure rose, filling his stomach, then chest, making it hard to breathe.
The muscles in his shoulders clenched, his back spasmed, and a red hot pain
lanced through him from perineum to sternum. It dulled, then vanished, but left
him sweating and slightly nauseated. He exhaled sharply, wiped his face and was
not at all surprised to find his cheeks moist with tears. His whole body ached
in the aftermath, and all he wanted to do was to lie down, curl into a ball and
forget himself for a time.
He did lie back, and he did roll onto his left side,
turning the gown opening to the wall opposite the door. But, in spite of the
fatigue leaching into his muscles and the unpleasant swirling in his belly, he
couldn't sleep. The most he could do was relax as much as possible and wait for
the next episode to fall upon him.
The doctor arrived just as another of the cramps
ripped through him. A tall man with a shiny head and black skin, his eyes had a
light sheen in the pupil, like a cat's eye, when he stood at a certain angle
beneath the light. He waited until the pain passed, handing Eli a bottle of
ice-cold water and urging him to sit up.
Cooling, Eli drank the whole bottle, delighting in the
way it spread outward inside him, bringing relief to the nausea and easing some
of the pain. On his end, the doctor did the usual things, checking Eli's pulse,
listening to his heart, and taking his temperature, then writing his findings
down on a clipboard.
"How long have you been having these
episodes?" the doctor asked in a deep, calming voice, though his face held
a hint of concern.
Eli explained everything, from the first symptom to
appear on the last day of his fourteenth year up to the present. As he spoke,
the doctor's expression slipped to a thoughtful frown with one hairless eyebrow
lifted.
"Do you know what it is?"
"I have an idea," the doctor replied.
"But, just to make sure, I have to ask you a few--personal--questions.
Remember, what you say to me remains confidential."
That, Eli thought, sounded ominous. And embarrassing.
Fighting back a blush, he gave a quick nod for the doctor to proceed, hoping it
wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
The doctor settled himself on a rolling chair, crossed
his legs and poised his pen over the clipboard.
"Are you currently sexually active, or have you
been sexually active with anyone before the symptoms began?" He kept his
gaze on the paper before him, for which Eli was thankful.
Eli's mind jumped almost at once to venereal diseases
and all of the sickening disfigurements, rupturing pustules and skin lesions
that he'd seen on the internet after a PE teacher, pretending to be a Health
instructor, assigned all the boys to write a research paper on the topic.
Was that it, he wondered, did he have a sexually
transmitted infection. It couldn't be, though, the rational part of his brain
interjected. The closest thing he had to sex was a date with his right hand and
a bottle of lotion on his bedside table. Maybe a kiss, when he found another
guy willing at a party or two, and perhaps even a curious grope above the
clothes. Could he catch something that way?"
"It's syphilis, isn't it? Or herpes. God, my
Mother is going to kill me!"
The doctor shook his head and looked up. "What?
No, Eli. You've been going to too many human sex-ed classes. You're a vampire.
Your immune system has been able to fight all that off since you were a
kid." He looked down again. "Does that mean your answer is yes?"
"Does making out count?"
"No."
"Then, no, I haven't had sex."
The doctor made a note and moved on to the next
question, which was even worse than the last, though Eli had to ask for
clarification and left him wishing he hadn't.
"When was the last time you engaged in autoerotic
stimulation?"
"Auto-what?"
The doctor paused, as though searching for a less technical,
and the least vulgar term he could find.
"M--masturbation," he hedged, eyes darting
up to judge Eli's understanding of the word.
He understood. He also flushed, blood rushing to every
part of his exposed skin. "I--I don't know," he lied.
"Eli, it's a lot easier if you're honest. Okay?
Just think a moment."
It took a considerable amount of brain power to
penetrate the fog of humiliation clouding his memory. He went back, day by day,
until he found the answer, surprised that it had been days, not hours, as it
usually was.
"I think," he said, "maybe five days
ago. No, six."
The doctor's pen scratched away, a truly humiliating
sound that carried his personal masturbatory history in the ink and onto the
document. Never again, Eli promised himself, would he do that!
"Last question," the doctor announced.
"Cherry or lime?" He held up two suckers, smiling. Eli chose cherry.
He started sucking on it as soon as the plastic wrapper was off, more for
something to do than the taste, which was stale and had the weird tang of being
sugar free.
"How much do you know about the Awakening,
Eli?" the doctor asked, sitting aside the clipboard. The movement brushed
aside his lab coat, revealing the doctor's name tag. James M. Howard, it read,
followed by a list of medical initials. It was the first time Eli had seen his
name in print; he'd always just been the doctor to him. His response to the
doctor was a shrug.
"It's kind of like Vampire puberty, isn't
it?"
"In a way," he said. "When the
Awakening happens, your body begins changing. Increased visual acuity,
heightened senses, and your blood-gift--your family power--starts taking shape.
You also start producing Venom. Only vampires born as such produce it, and it
allows you the power to enthrall or turn someone."
Eli bit down on the sucker, crunching the sugar free
candy with satisfaction.
"I won't bore you with the details," Doctor
Howard went on. "Suffice it to say that it's produced, in men, in the
testes and that a buildup of it in your system makes you sick. It needs to be
released every other day or so. Most boys your age don't have a problem with
that and, with time, you learn to listen to your body; to know when you've got
a toxic build up."
Eli listened, uncertain he actually understood what
the doctor was saying.
"So, if I don't jerk--I mean masturbate, I get
sick? I'm sick because I haven't...for a few days?"
"Essentially."
He still didn't believe it. It made for a nice excuse
to get out of class, but it wasn't one he believed any of the teachers would
accept. He could just imagine the note: Please excuse Eli to use the bathroom
as, if he doesn't go play with himself, he'll become violently ill.
"Doc, come on. I know vampires are different, but
that's taking it a little far."
"It's your nature, Eli, just as much as anything
else."
A thought crossed Eli's mind, an image of his Father
that he had to immediately banish, lest it grip his consciousness and never
allow him to attain an erection again.
"Now, Venom is highly addictive, so you cannot
allow even a drop of your semen to come into contact with humans. Unless it's a
Thrall, of course. When you do have sex, man or woman, wear a condom.
Understood? Good. We'll be monitoring your Venom production over the next
little while. I'll be sending you home with specimen cups for urine and
ejaculate. Weekly blood tests will be scheduled. I know," he added softly,
"that it's embarrassing. But try to make at least three samples a day.
I'll also send home some of the suckers."
"Why the suckers?"
The doctor retrieved a plastic cup with a blue screw
on lid. A line near the bottom marked the fill level. He handed it to Eli.
"The suckers have an agent that neutralizes the
attacks. You'll start filling better when you fill the cup, but just in case,
the suckers will help. I'll check back in ten minutes."
Eli thrust the cup away from himself, looking between
it and the doctor. "You mean I have to...now?"
"Trust me," the doctor replied, heading for
the door, "you'll feel much better. Ten minutes."
***
Eli didn't speak the whole way home, and his Mother
was kind enough not to ask any probing questions. She did, however, mention
that Michael, Eli's twenty-year old brother, had come home from a doctor's
appointment with similar medical instructions as those given to Eli. He, she
added, had picked the lime sucker. The revelation made Eli sink so deep into
his seat that he couldn't see over the dashboard of his Mother's Lexus, and
didn't realize they were home until she switched off the ignition.
Their home, a ten bedroom, three story plantation like
mansion, sat at the base of rolling, grassy hills and overlooked the city
below. There were no street lights so, at night, the view was something awesome
to behold. They were the only vampire family in the immediate area, though
several less wealthy families resided nearby. Eli's best friend, Felix, was the
only child of one of them, dwelling on the edge of the school district
boundaries that encompassed Eli's house, and those of his neighbors.
The front yard was much like any other, with grass
clipped close to the earth, a few decorative bushes, and a bed of annuals that
bloomed bright and colorful. But there were also a few differences, noticeable
only by close inspection and requiring a firm grasp of herb lore. Growing in
beds that curved around the house and, mostly hidden from view by shrubs, were
plants of Mugwort, Devil’s Bane, Valerian, Aconite, Mandrake and Catnip.
In the back, access to which could only be gained
through the house, was a sculpture garden, a pool and, camouflaged so well that
you had to know it existed to even find the entrance, a cave. It was actually
more of a bunker, connected to tunnels that ran under the hills and exited at
various similarly hidden points. Only the most trusted knew of its location;
not even Felix's family, longtime friends, were aware of it. Fortunately, there
were no blood feuds at the moment, so Eli only ever thought about it when they
had their annual drill in July.
Popping a sucker in his mouth, Eli followed his Mother
into the house. He sorely wanted to lock himself in his room, not to follow the
doctor's orders, but to forget the whole day had happened at all. He had just
mounted the fourth stair leading to his room in the South wing when his Father
called out to him.
Like many vampires over a century old, his Father,
Alic, had the ability to change his appearance at will. Lately, he had settled
on middle age, with a few, spider webby lines at his eyes and the corners of
his lips, and a dash of silver sprinkled throughout his sable hair. He had even
pretended a naval tattoo on one of his arms, which allowed him greater access
to coveted military contracts.
"Dad," Eli said, "I'm really tired. I
just want to go to bed."
"This'll only be a minute," the man
countered. "I've got a nice, fresh bottle of Valerian Infusion, if you're
interested."
Eli's gums tingled. He didn't know a lot about the
different varieties of blood, donated by people with certain substances in
their system. He did know that Valerian Infusion was supposed to be one of the
more pleasant, and even slightly intoxicating. He rushed back down the stairs
and into his Father's office before the offer could be withdrawn, taking up one
of the plush chairs beside the gas fireplace. A tall, dark wine bottle sat on a
warming plate between two crimson flutes with black stems that arched out and
then in before ending at the base.
"So," his father said, pouring the blood,
"fifteen! I remember sharing an Opium Infusion with my Father when I was
fifteen. I think I woke up a couple of days later. No one would tell me how
long I'd been sleeping."
He dipped his nose into the glass, inhaling the
fragrance deeply with closed eyes. Eli mimicked him, catching a delicate trace
of the Valerian along with something else that he couldn't identify. Several
something elses, in fact, so subtle that they couldn't really be called scents.
Images floated dreamlike across his inner eye: an Asian man looking in a
mirror, drinking a tisane of Valerian, while a tube pierced his arm.
"Interesting, isn't it, how they imprint on their
blood? We smell it, but Thralls taste it. Did you know that?"
Eli opened his eyes, shook his head. The vision left
him as soon as he was looking at his father again, but the memory of it
remained. He took a tentative sip. A human had once described the taste of
blood to Eli as metallic, like sucking on a coin. For Eli, the experience was
much more rewarding. A light tickle along the tip of his tongue as the first
drop was taken in. An excitement, almost erotic, growing as it slipped toward
the back of his throat, leaving a mild, fruity taste. A tight throb in his
groin that wasn't quite sexual arousal but was near enough to it as he
swallowed.
"I once saw a thrall identify the owners of fifty
pieces of jewelry just by licking them," his Father continued.
"Amazing creatures, and useful. Completely devoted to their Master. The
primes especially. And it's not just the Venom addiction, you know. That starts
it, of course, but a thrall would give his life for his Master if needed."
Eli took a full swallow, more interested in feeling
the effects of the valerian than listening. Then, not satisfied, tipped the
rest of it in. He reached for the bottle, cast his father a questioning glance.
The man nodded, and Eli poured himself another.
"I've been thinking that, now that you're old
enough, it might be time for you to have one. What do you think?"
The valerian kicked in, giving the world a warm haze
around the edges.
"Have one what?" Eli asked with a drunken
grin.
"A Thrall."
A Venom addicted slave completely reliant on Eli. He
wrinkled his nose at the thought. He could barely care for a plant. How was he
supposed to care for a person? And what about school? The note that would
accompany bringing a person with him to classes would be even more ridiculous
than one excusing him for the occasional whack-attack.
"Dad, be serious."
"I am. We got one for Michael just after he
turned fifteen."
"Michael," Eli countered, "went to that
private vampire school in Europe. I go to a public, human school in America.
How am I supposed to explain having a slave?"
His father set down the flute, a trace of anger
curling behind his eyes.
"We'll transf..."
"No! I don't want to leave my friends. And don't
say I'll make new friends," he added quickly, preempting his father.
"Michael was born to be a stuffy, aristocratic prick. I'm not. I get
enough teasing for liking guys here. How do you think they'll take it there?"
His Father chewed at his lip for a moment, then
nodded. "Okay, okay. We'll wait until you're ready." He seemed ready
to say something else, but was stopped by the ring of his cell phone.
"Alic Rose speaking," he answered. The
person on the other end spoke for a moment. Then, "Alright, thank you.
I'll be there in a moment."
He turned to Eli. "I have to go take care of
something. Finish the bottle if you'd like. I'll see you for dinner."
***
Doctor Howard stood at the rear entrance of the
warehouse, waiting for Alic, greeting him like an old friend with a firm
embrace and a hearty thump on the back. He had bathed recently; Alic smelled
the pungent bouquet of citrus and spices common to a certain, expensive body
wash that Eli had recently acquired a taste for. The price wasn't an issue, it
was the way that the soap altered the scent of the bather for several hours
following, making him smell foreign, alien.
"I've picked out a few finalists," the
doctor said. "Truly beautiful specimens, worthy of your House. If you'll
follow me."
They entered through the rear door, walking in a few
paces until reaching an unremarkable section of the left wall, concealing a
secret entrance that opened onto a metal platform three stories above a vast,
underground storage facility. The product: humans. All were kept in decently
sized units arranged in an easily navigable grid extending quite a ways in
either direction. Each cell was capped by a glass roof, with ramps running
between them that allowed an unobstructed view into them. Several were multi-room
dwellings, with full families living within. A large structure in the center
was divided into three spaces, one for primary school, one for middle school,
and one for high school. Alric couldn't help but smile; his generosity had
built that, in part, to ensure his children would get more than just the
average Thrall, and in part also to fund Doctor Howard's aspirations to become
the premier breeder of America. A dream that was as profitable as it was grand.
"The inspection area is this way," the doctor
said, gesturing down the platform to the right, where a set of stairs descended
three levels, ending in a cube, the only structure without a see through
ceiling. "We have an auction going on in the Viewing Room," he added,
taking the lead. "Twenty families all vying for our stock. It's been quite
a bidding war for several of the thralls too."
"Oh?" Alic asked conversationally.
"Indeed. I wouldn't be surprised if we gross
fifty-million by the end of the day. How's Eli?"
Alic thought of his son, his stooped shoulders and
down cast eyes when he had walked through the door. "Embarrassed, of
course. If I hadn't been needed at work, I would have brought him myself.
Sometimes, I wish we would have stayed in Europe. The puritanical views this
country has on sex in general is barbaric."
They stopped at the landing, a ten by ten foot square
of cement with a fence on one side, a solid concrete wall on the other, and a
door in front of them, locked by a sophisticated security system. The doctor
keyed in his password and pressed his thumb to a scanner. With a click, the
door unlocked and opened.
The room beyond was dim, with a series of theater
style seats facing a window that stretched from ceiling to floor and almost ran
the full length of the wall. It looked into a chamber that, for the moment, was
empty but for a specialized exam table that travelled along a track from the
shadows of the room to the center. Manacles hung from the walls at even
intervals, and a bar could be lowered from above, to which a person could be
chained.
Alic and the doctor sat in the two central chairs. The
doctor pressed a button on the arm of his seat, turning on two-way
communication.
"I think I prefer the Viewing Room," Alic
admitted. "This place looks like a torture chamber."
Doctor Howard gave a little chuckle. "I assure
you, it's not. The restraints on the walls are seldom necessary."
"And the bed?"
"Well," Doctor Howard replied, choosing his
words carefully. "We don't allow any Prime to leave without establishing
the Enthrallment. Sometimes it can get--frightening--for the Thrall. Even when
they know what's coming, they can become a danger to themselves, and others. As
you know, I don't allow any vampires to handle them while they're in the
facility. If you'd like, you can stay for the first dosage."
Alic nodded. It was important to know the details,
especially if he was to continue sending money Doctor Howard's way. Once all of
the particulars had been worked out, he could press for a greater ownership
stake. Eli would need something useful to do when he reached his majority,
after all.
"Please bring in the Rose Prime candidates,"
the doctor said to the speaker at his hand.
A door opened in the chamber, and a column of young
men and women, led by a technician in white scrubs, paraded single file before
the window. As one, they turned to face the glass, then stood with their hands
behind their backs, feet hip width apart and heads bowed. Each wore a sheer
smock, the girls' longer than the boys', who were dressed in flowing,
translucent bottoms that displayed form-fitting underwear. They were all also
incomparably beautiful, with smooth, unblemished skin and well maintained hair.
"You can get rid of the girls," Alic said to
the doctor, turning to look at him. "Eli has been very open about his
preferences."
Doctor Howard frowned. "You're sure? He's still
young."
"And willful," Alic added. "But yes,
I'm sure."
The girls were dismissed, leaving six boys who were
chivvied to fill the space left behind. The narrowing process was easy when it
came to the youngest of the bunch, barely old enough to be considered at all.
In the end, Alic was left with three to choose from. After a moment, he
dismissed the red head who, while certainly attractive, was a pinch too
feminine in his build. The two who remained were nearly identical in
musculature and height.
"What are their names?"
"Dillan on the left," the doctor said,
"Lucas on the right. Both are exceptionally well trained, but between
them, I'd suggest Dillan. He's slightly more submissive than Lucas. Shall I
have them disrobe?"
Alic stood, standing closer to the glass and studying
them carefully. If the posters on Eli's walls were any indication of his
preferences, Dillan would indeed be the better choice. His hair was short, his
pose unwavering, and he looked like he could fit in with any crowd. Lucas, on
the other hand, had longer hair, more angular features and an air of a
rock-star, a rebel, about him.
"Look up."
They followed the order, but not in the same way.
Dillan lifted his face fully, a playful grin lifting the edges of his mouth.
Lucas, however, only shifted his eyes, focusing them exactly where Alic stood.
"Can they see me?"
"No," Doctor Howard replied. "It's a
one way mirror."
That settled the matter. A Thrall was more than his
training, he was also his instincts. Where Dillan had meant to impress, and
thus ignore his gifts, Lucas had followed orders and focused in on the source.
Dillan's face fell when he was instructed to leave,
and wiped away a tear as he walked away. Lucas showed no sign that being chosen
meant anything to him at all, but Alic's keen vision picked up the sudden
increase of the young man's heart rate, throbbing in the pulse point at his
neck.
"Perhaps Eli would like them both," the
doctor suggested. "Dillan was looking forward to..."
"No," Alic cut him off. "I feel sorry
for the boy, but this one will be Eli's."
"As you wish." The doctor pressed another
button, summoning several more medical types into the room. Lucas, who did not
seem to be expecting this, dropped his pose and turned to face the new
additions. He was snatched, roughly, and carried kicking to the bed. There, he
was strapped down and stripped.
"You see?" Doctor Howard remarked upon the
scene. "Frightened. Lucas!"
"Doctor Howard? Is that you?" the young
man's voice filled the room. "What's going on?"
"Just calm down," the doctor said in a
soothing tone. "You're not in any danger. You've been chosen to be the
Prime of Eli Rose."
"But my brother," he replied, his voice
choked with emotion. "You promised..."
Doctor Howard turned off the speaker. "He's been
care for his younger brother," he explained to Alic. "Their mother
passed recently and I've allowed them to stay together. That was why I was
hoping Dillan would be a better fit."
Alic nodded, deciding quickly. This was the perfect
Thrall for his son, he knew. But he also needed Eli's Prime to feel safe and
secure if Eli were to take him. "Assure him that he can continue caring
for his sibling," Alic said.
"But when Eli takes possession of him..."
"That won't be for a while yet and, if necessary,
we'll care for the younger as a servant."
The doctor relayed Alic's promise, and Lucas calmed
enough for one of the technicians to bring a medical tray with two syringes to
the bed side. The contents of the first were squirted into the youth's mouth,
and after a moment, all of the tension visible in his body disappeared. The bed
was brought to the center of the room, the youth's feet shifted into stirrups.
"Is he alright?" Alic asked, alarmed by the
sudden change and the unfocused look to the young man's gaze.
"He's being Enthralled," the doctor replied.
"We've got a few projections playing images and videos of Eli to help the
bonding process along. Your son's Venom was--potent. He’ll have to keep us
stocked up. I can try other donors, but I doubt that they'd be as effective.
How long do you think it will be?"
One of the medics took the second syringe, stepping between
Lucas' spread knees. Alic turned away, trying not to hear the sudden gasp that
erupted from the young man as his body was invaded.
"I'm betting on less than a year," Alic
replied. "His Mother and I will send him to a few friends in California.
Their children were raised with their Thralls, and I understand that they're
quite progressive in their treatment of them as well."
When Alic returned home, Eli was passed out in his
room with the empty bottle of Valerian Infusion lying on its side on the bed next
to him. Four specimen containers were visible through the glass front of his
miniature refrigerator alongside cans of soda-pop and a half-full bottle of
pig's blood. Alic grinned. Getting Eli to accept a Thrall would be easy, once
Eli realized all of the benefits of having one.
