Book Two, Chapters 121 to 130

The Vampire's Daughter
Book Two
The Beginning of Another
Chapters 121 to 130


Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005.
All rights reserved.

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0121
As had become the custom, Claudia and Susan woke up around noon and took a cab to a local diner. The same one they had gone to every day since they arrived at the motel.

All of the staff seemed to adore Susan, and they went out of their way to do things for her. Even patrons commented about her to Claudia, who always explained that she was the nanny.

This day, however, the same woman that smiled at Claudia the day before was there again. It was as if she were waiting for them.

Claudia remembered her from the prior day, and could sense she was there to see Susan.

To Claudia's surprise, Susan stopped in front of the woman and looked up into her face. "You don't need to be sad," she said.

"What?" the woman asked, with a mixture of shock and joy.

"Everything is O.K.," Susan said with a smile before walking on.

"Who was that little one?" Claudia asked once they had found their seats.

"Grandma."

"What?"

"She's my mom's mom."

Claudia looked up at the woman, who was openly watching them. "Are you sure?" she asked Susan.

"Yup."

"Should we leave?"

"Nah, we haven't eaten yet."

The two sat and ate while the woman continued to watch. When Claudia and Susan left, the woman remained.

"Let's walk!" Susan exclaimed.

"To where?"

"The park."

They walked to a park behind the main shopping district.

"Does she know who you are?" Claudia asked, returning to their earlier conversation about Susan’s grandmother.

"Not really."

"She think she know?"

"Yeah."

"Why you not tell her?"

"It's not time yet."

"When will be time?"

"I don't know."

"We should tell the others."

"No, it's not time for that either."

"But Sabastian will be worried."

"Yeah, that's why it's not time. He has other things to worry about now. Bigger things."


0122
That night Elizabeth called Sol to tell him that Sabastian could collect his belongings any time he wanted. She had everything she didn't want put onto the second floor.

"She sounded worried," Sol said after relaying the message to Sabastian.

"Did she?"

"As I said the night we saw her, her situation is more precarious than she let on. She embarrassed Thomas in public. He is very proud."

"And yet he did not kill her when he had the chance."

"No, but he could be deciding her fate. He might try to use her to make an example to the rest of the city.”

Susan suddenly ran into the room, jumping up into Sabastian's arms, interrupting the conversation.

"Hello Susan," Sabastian said.

"Hi," she replied, pulling out her dolls.

"Are you going to play with your dolls?"

"I want to, but she's worried and doesn't wanna play," Susan answered, holding one doll out.

"That is Elizabeth, is it not?"

"Yeah, she's not in the mood to play."

"Perhaps you can play with your other dolls?"

"Yeah, but I feel bad for Elizabeth."

"What can we do to make her feel better?"

"I don't want you to go, but I think the only way to make her feel better is for you to help her."

"Is it?" Sabastian asked. Sol watched the exchange, uncertain what to make of it. Was this exchange a child's fancy or was it more. The connection between play and reality is often close, but Susan couldn't have known about Elizabeth's problems. Not to mention the fact that they had only met once, and then only in passing.

"Should I go help Elizabeth?" Sabastian asked.

"She would like that."

"Then I must leave you again."

"I know."

"It's O.K. Sabastian. We'll have plenty to do. I got impatient waiting for my new toys, so I contacted my man. He arranged for a truck and movers. He also canceled the delivery and changed it to pickup.

"As such, tonight is moving night. I expect our new furniture will arrive within the hour."

"Very well, then. Sol, will you accompany me?"

"Yes, but I won't join you with Elizabeth. I would like to find out more about the state of the city. I think it would behoove us all if I rekindled some old relationships."

"Very well," Sabastian said, putting Susan down. The two walked out to Sol’s car.

In the car, Sol asked, "How does Susan know so much?"

"About what?"

"Everything. Elizabeth. You."

"She probably overheard our conversation."

"I guess that makes sense, but why did you listen to her?"

Sabastian did not answer, leading Sol to believe that he was hiding something in an attempt to protect the girl. But from what?


0123
Sol parked his car North of 42nd street on the East Side. He traveled uptown on foot, while Sabastian walked the short distance downtown to his brownstone.

Upon entering the front courtyard, two Enforcers stopped him. They were different men then he encountered on his last visit.

"No one is allowed in," one of them announced.

"Really?" Sabastian asked. "Do you know who owns this home?"

"Sabastian, we know very well who you are and that this was formerly your home. However, we've been given orders to stop anyone from entering."

"I intend on going into what is still my home," Sabastian began, with a slightly testy tone and an emphasis on the word still, "regardless of your orders."

"We will stop you."

"No, you will barely hinder my progress. I suggest you run and tell whoever is heading the Enforcers that I am here. If you stay I will kill you."

The Enforcers looked at each other and let him pass. After he went inside, one left to do exactly as Sabastian suggested.

"Hello my dear," Elizabeth announced, as Sabastian entered the living room. It was full of new furniture. Mostly modern and not to Sabastian's liking. "What do you think?" she asked waving at the room.

"It is not what I would have selected, but it is quite nice."

"Hmm, you don't like it."

"I did not say that."

"You didn't have to. I knew you wouldn't like it even before I asked. You are kind to humor me, though.

"How ever did you get by my guards?" she asked mockingly.

"I am surprised they are able to keep you here."

"They don't keep me here, I have chosen to stay. I'm very tired lately. I lack the desire to go or do much of anything. I'm content to sit here and decorate," she said.

"I am sorry you feel like that, it is not your nature."

"What is our nature?" she asked rhetorically. "No, I've been through this before. I will survive."

"So you allow yourself to be a prisoner."

"You already know that Thomas and I are not on good terms right now."

"Yes, you said as much last night."

"Well, he has a way of making life difficult. There are few places for me to turn where his influence would not be felt."

"I really do not know the extent of his influence, as you term it, but I can not imagine he is that powerful," Sabastian said.

"Ah, but he is. Though not of royal blood, he is a favored son in the Old World. He has been their faithful warrior since before my time, which can make the world a very hostile place for someone he does not like. Even in the New World, he has a great deal of sway.

"This battle for the city will pass. He will eventually control it all. Then he will take other cities and states. I have no doubt. There is no one to stop him and the loyal forces he commands.

"Few will stand up to him. Those that do will likely die. At times I let my emotions get the better of me, but this time I know where I stand."


0124
"Do you fear for your life?" Sabastian asked Elizabeth.

"No. Harsh words were said, but they were not meant. Time will heal this wound, it always has.

"Enough of this, come see the things I'm stealing from you," she said.

"It amazes me that you can say that with such enthusiasm."

"Well, they're not my things being stolen."

Elizabeth took him to the second floor. There she had cleared out all the rooms and refilled one with the belongings she coveted. She had taken a large amount of jewelry.

"Is there anything here you want back?" she asked.

"I told you, I have already taken all the things that were valuable to me."

"I'll pay you for the..." she said before Sabastian interrupted.

"One of our kind is outside."

"Not the guards?"

"No. One of them left after I arrived, he has returned with another."

"Male or female?"

"Female. She is angry."

"Probably because you are here."

"She is entering the house."

"I suspect it's Night. The pretentious and ruthless vampire that Thomas named to head the Enforcers. I never liked her and certainly wouldn't have promoted her to that post."

"Well, I look forward to being introduced. She is on her way up."

"Bethany," Elizabeth said as she entered the room. "How nice to see you again.

"My name is Night," she replied. She was average height and thin, with hair so black it bordered on purple. She dressed in tight fitting leather.

"I like what you've done with your hair," Elizabeth goaded. "But it must cost a fortune to cover up that common brown you were born with. Where do you get it done?"

"I'm not here on a social call, Elizabeth. I'm here to discuss your guest. You know your confinement doesn't allow for guests," she said, attempting to minimize the significance of Sabastian.

"Well, let me introduce you, perhaps you will change your mind" said Elizabeth. "Sabastian, Beth... I mean Night. Night, Sabastian."


0125
"It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Night," Sabastian said with a slight bow.

"I wish I could say the same."

"I sense that you hold something against me, my an inquire as to what it might be?"

"You killed my sire."

"Did I, I am sorry for that. Who exactly was your sire?"

"Dana, the last head of the Enforcers."

"I assure you, I do not kill without cause. Although I do not know who Dana is, though I have heard this accusation before, I must have had a good reason if I did, indeed, perpetrate said act."

"Don't play with me. I know very well who you are and what you've done. You're little more than a cannibal. An abomination."

"Those are quite strong words."

"No words are strong enough to describe my hatred of you."

"Well, then why are you holding back?" Sabastian asked, playing with Night.

"Don't tempt me," she responded angrily.

"Why not? If I killed your sire, I am quite confident I will be able to dispatch you without much trouble."

"Now now, you two. Settle down," Elizabeth intervened. "The issue at hand has nothing to do with killing or even fighting, for that matter. We are talking about hair colors and my guest privileges."

"You should not push me either Elizabeth," Night responded. "You may have Thomas' favor now, but it may not always be the case."

"Yes, well, let's talk about guests if you wish to keep your stylist's identity secret."

"Let's. Sabastian, under Thomas' order you must leave. Elizabeth is to have no guests."

"Are you suggesting that I am a guest in my own home?"

"This is no longer your home. It is within Thomas' domain and is, thus, his."

"I consent to no such thing. In fact, Elizabeth is my guest. She is looking after my home while I am occupied elsewhere," Sabastian replied, placing emphasis on the word my both times he said it.

"He does not see it this way."

"Then, perhaps, he should discuss the issue with me."

"He has more important issues to deal with than a vagabond like you."

"You have insulted me quite enough Little Bee. Your tough act is not going to scare me away. If you wish to attempt to force me out of my home you are welcome to try, otherwise I suggest you run back to daddy and tell him I do not care any more about his pronouncements today than I did a century ago."

Night was visibly startled by Sabastian's words. "How did you know..."

"Your nickname?" Sabastian finished her thought. "I know a great deal about you Bethany Wood. I also know, as do you, that there is nothing you can do about my presence here. So attack me or leave my home."


0126
Night walked up to Sabastian, looking directly into his eyes. "This is not over," she said, before turning dramatically and walking out.

After she had been gone for a few seconds, Sabastian turned to Elizabeth and asked, "Why does everyone say that?"

"Oh I don't know. I've said it myself. It's a way to leave with your tail between your legs and your head held high."

"Interesting," he said and then, changing the topic, asked, "So it seems you are Thomas' prisoner?"

"Yes, I suppose it looks like that. But that's not exactly what it is, I guess. We've been through this before. He looks at me as a child and, often, treats me as if I were one.

"In time his anger fades and it blows over. Right now tensions are running high because of, well, all that has happened and all that is happening.

"When he has control of the city I'm sure my little grounding will end. Then I'll leave for Europe."

"So your plan is to leave him again?"

"Yes. He used me. I'm very upset by that. I need some time away from him again.

"I don't hate him. It's not like that between us, but I need a few decades to be alone.

"Really alone," Elizabeth continued. "No one but me, Sabastian. I've never really had that. I think I need it."

"Perhaps," Sabastian responded. "You have never really spoken much about when you were made.

"From our discussions, I know you were poor and prostituted yourself. There was a child that you lost to poverty and then Thomas took you in. Yet I still do not see why you are willing to stay loyal to him."

"There isn't much more to say. My human life was horrible. Thomas saved me from that. I will always owe him for it.

"I don't think anyone can understand the poverty I lived in. Some of it was attributable to the times, but I didn't know that then. It was just horrible."

"After all that he put you through, though, you still feel you owe him that debt?" he asked.

"Yes, Sabastian, I will always owe him. He saved me."


0127
While Elizabeth and Sabastian talked about their histories, Sol was looking to find out as much as he could about the situation in the city. What he found, however, was the start of something much larger.

After leaving Sabastian, he went to the coven house of the Zion clan. The founder of the house was a resolutely religious vampire. Sol and he had become friends in the Old World and were friendly up until the day he disappeared in the New World.

It was an unusual clan that was steeped in religion. They occupied an old church, were all named after Christian figures, and had many rituals in their daily life. Although he believed the Zionists, as they preferred to be called, went too far, there were aspects of their lives that were appealing to him. When not with Elizabeth, Sol was often with the Zionists at the Church.

"Mark, how are you?" Sol asked of the guard at the front gate.

"I am well, but I am afraid I can't let an Enforcer pass these gates."

"I am no longer an Enforcer. Besides, you know full well I intend you and your clan no harm."

"I've been given orders Sol. I can't do anything about it."

"Can you get a message to Pauly, then, and tell him I want to see him?"

"Well, that’s the thing. Paul is in charge, but our founder John Paul is back."

"John Paul? I haven't seen him in a hundred years or more. If what you say is true, I am certain he would be angry with you for not letting me in to your coven house."

"Both he and Paul left strict orders to let no one outside our order into the Church."

"Please, Mark, get a message to JP and tell him Sol is here to see him."

"If you were anyone else Sol, I wouldn't do this."

"But I'm not, and I thank you greatly," Sol said, putting his hand on the vampire's shoulder.

Within minutes of making the call, Paul came running down the church steps. "Sol, Sol, it is very good to see you. Come in, Come in, John Paul sends his apologies about the rudeness of our guard," he said glaring at Mark.

"Pauly," Sol said, taking the man's out stretched hand, "it is good to see you. But don't feel badly about Mark. He was following his orders, and doing a good job of it, too. Besides, these are odd times. You can't be too careful."

"This is very true, very true. But the times are odder than you think," Paul said, taking him in through the gate, up the stairs, past two more guards, and into the church.


0128
Once inside, both vampires went down on one knee and made the sign of the cross. Both said something, but in different languages.

"Your respect for our customs has always been greatly appreciated," Paul said, as the pair rose.

"I mean no insult, but I have my own customs, too. What I do here is not out of respect for your ways, but out of respect for mine. The two happen to be the same."

"Regardless, you know that most of our kind consider us to be fanatics. But you have never treated us as strange. It is greatly appreciated."

"I don't find it strange that you believe in God. I find it strange that most of our kind don't believe."

With that, a loud voice came from the altar, "Sol! I sensed you were in my church. Come, we must talk."

Paul rushed Sol through the church to the altar. Before stepping up, both bent to one knee and bowed their heads. "JP," Sol announced with open arms as he stood up, "it's wonderful to see you again." The two embraced.

"Sol, I wish our meeting were less urgent so we could talk freely, but there is much of importance to discuss.

"Paul, please leave us," John Paul said to the vampire standing with them. He left quickly. "Come, Sol, let us go to my chamber."

"Have you taken your old room in the bell tower?"

"For now, but I believe the bells will be needed again very soon. While I long to hear their joyous song, I cannot say I want to live with them as they sing."

"I can see where the bells being rung might make it difficult to concentrate. But they have been idle for so long, what makes you bring them out of retirement? Is it because you are back?"

"No, it is because of you," John Paul said.

"JP, what are talking about?"

"Not here, come with me." The two climbed the stairs to the bell tower.

On the way, Sol said, "It's funny, even though you left so long ago, I always felt your presence here when I came to visit."

"And I felt your presence, too. But that is because I never left."

"What? Why hide from me?"

"I wasn't hiding, I was in the crypt. The entrance is below the altar.

"I thought of you often, Sol. But I didn't understand God’s purpose for you. I did not know why you were here with us, but not one of us. All I knew was that you were meant to be here as you were. That was all.

"That was until now. Now I see why you were special. Why I had to allow you entrance to our church and culture, and why I had to protect it from others."

"What are you talking about?" Sol asked.


129
"If what I have heard is true, Sol, the Lord has chosen you. You are a special child. You have a great purpose," John Paul said, as they entered the boarded up bell tower.

"JP, I don't understand what you mean."

"Sit," he said, pointing to a simple wooden chair.

"I can't sit on that chair, or any in this room," Sol said.

"You are too modest. I believe you can sit anywhere you like. Besides, the Lord makes all things, not just the furniture in this room."

"Yes, but he doesn’t have his son build all the furniture with his own hands. I will sit on the floor."

"Sitting on a rug sold to me by Mohammed is less upsetting than sitting on a chair sold to me by Jesus Christ?"

"Mohammed didn't make the rug."

"A small point of difference."

"No, for me, it is the difference."

"I disagree, I think the difference is that you do not follow the beliefs of Mohammed."

"Yes, that is the important difference."

"He was a humble carpenter when I bought these from him. You could see the greatness in him even then. It shined from his eyes, his finger tips, the ends of his hair.

"Every word he spoke was... was Godly. I will never forget the time I spent with him.

"You know, he didn't recoil from me. He didn't hate me. He knew the moment he saw me what I was. But it was O.K. Every time we met I felt a great peace. A calmness.

"He told me that God made all that there is in life and in death. That we each serve a purpose. That we all fit into the plan. We all have a calling.

"He said we may not always like what we are called to do, and many chose not to do what he wants of them, but this does not change the plan.

"When I saw him alive for the last time, before he left to start preaching the word of the Lord, he told me that God was with me.

"I couldn't believe it. The Son of God telling me, a demon spawn from hell, that God was with me. I followed him at a distance and watched him rise to prominence over those three years. I watched him fulfill the scripture with my own eyes.

"But the Jews in power wouldn't see. They were more concerned with power than with God. I wept by his grave when they placed his body inside. I vowed to come every night and weep for our savior, my savior.

"And I did. I can't begin to tell you what I felt when the stone shifted. I stood in awe as he walked out. Sol, I alone, the spawn of the most evil, the child of the angel God himself cast out of heaven, saw as the stone moved and Jesus walked from his grave.

John Paul grabbed Sol by the shoulder and said, "I saw Jesus Christ rise from the dead."


130
"When I regained my senses," John Paul continued, "I ran to him. When I got close he turned to me and I could see that his face was glowing.

"An angel swooped between us and spoke to me. He said that Jesus had to tend to his flock. That I would have to wait for my time, but that I would see him again.

"He said that I had been shown all of what I saw because I believed. And that God said I should go and spread the word.

"The angel then told me that I and all of my kind were repugnant to him, but that, for some reason, God still loved us. Then he said that in time all would be revealed.

"After he said that, Jesus reached out, put his hand on my shoulder and said that I should find the Father. Then they were gone.

"I wandered aimlessly for days. I didn't understand what had happened and how I was to find the Father. I assumed he meant God. But I already believed, so I felt lost.

"That was when I went to my sire. To my surprise, he didn't recognize me. I told him who I was, but he wouldn't believe me and cast me out of his house.

"I wondered the desert for years until one night I was visited by the angel again. He told me that I had been wandering for forty years and God had taken pity on me. He said that none would recognize me because Jesus had put his mark on me. That I was given a new life that night and that it was not God the father I needed to seek, but the first of our kind. The one known as the Father.

"The angel again expressed his disdain for our kind, which he called the spawn of the fallen, and wished me ill, despite God's favor on me.

"When he left, I ran to the nearest oasis and looked at myself in the water. Sol, I didn't even recognize myself.

"When I was made, I was twenty years old and had black hair. The face you see before you tonight is the same that I looked at in the water."

"Jesus turned you into an old man?" Sol asked, without intending any levity.

"Yes," John Paul chuckled, "he made me an old man with white hair, a beard, and a wrinkled face. He also took away the blood lust. I realized then that I hadn't fed since the night I saw Jesus defeat death.

"At that point, I knew I had only one purpose. I had to find the Father."



Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005. All rights reserved.