Book Two, Chapter 151 to 160

The Vampire's Daughter
Book Two
The Beginning of Another
Chapters 151 to 160


Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005.
All rights reserved.
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151
"My American name is Mina," the seated woman said. She was dressed in a business suit, with no tie. It was unbuttoned to just above her navel.

"You are in my house," Sabastian answered.

"Yes, because I do as I wish in my domain.

"Mary I know. Sol I know. That means you must be Sabastian. I didn't expect you to be so rude. I introduced myself and you threaten me."

"I do not consider it rude to confront an unwanted and unannounced visitor."

The woman from the door pulled out a sword and said, "You will respect my sire."

Sabastian didn't even look at her, asking Mina, "Why are you here?"

"I said respect," the woman with the sword said, putting it to Sabastian's neck.

"Call your lapdog off," he said, still ignoring her even though she had a sword just inches from his neck.

Claudia screamed and ran to Susan, grabbing her and shielding her eyes.

"Tonya," Mina said.

"He needs to learn a lesson," Tonya answered.

Calmly, Sabastian said, "She will put the sword down or I will kill her."

"You impudent dog," Tonya said, just before Sabastian's hand came through her back, holding her heart and a piece of her spine. Her eyes went wide before her body relaxed. Sabastian let her slide off his arm and collapse to the floor.

The two women on either side of Mina pulled swords, but Mina said, "Stop. One death is enough. For now.

"I haven't seen anyone do that in a very long time," she said to Sabastian. "It seems the rumors of your strength aren't exaggerated."

Sabastian looked over to Susan, who was still being shielded by the visibly disturbed Claudia. "Susan, would you please take Claudia upstairs and stay there until I come get you."

"Yes, but please don't hurt Mina."

"I believe Mina has more control over her destiny than I at this juncture."

"Sabastian," Susan said, "I don't care about the others. Kill 'em all if you want, just don't kill Mina unless you really have to. Don't even hurt her."

Kneeling down in front of Susan, he asked, "Why?"

"I don't know yet, but she's important now."

Sol and Mary were still standing and watching all of this unfold. Although Mary didn't know Mina, Sol did. She ran a human brothel in the area that was, for the most part, so unremarkable that he had forgotten about it until she showed up. He assumed this was her attempt at a land grab as the tribunal unraveled.

"I will not hurt her unless I believe it is necessary," Sabastian answered Susan. "Now take the old woman upstairs."

Susan got Claudia up off the ground and walked her out of the room. Before leaving, however, she said, "See you, Mina," and waved.

Instinctively, Mina waved back.


0152
After Susan had left, Sabastian turned to his uninvited guest and asked, "Why are you in my home?"

"It was an attempt to show you my clan's superiority," Mina responded.

"I want nothing to do with you."

"While you may want nothing to do with us, you are still in my territory. I can't allow that without confrontation."

"Confronting me is usually not the best course of action."

"Your little stunt, though impressive, isn't enough to end this conflict."

"There is no conflict. If I wanted to take something from you I would have done so. I sensed your presence in the area, but assumed there would be little reason for us to interact."

"I think, Sabastian," Sol interjected, "that Mina is trying to insure that we know she is here and has, for the most part, run the local towns here with little interference from anyone. I imagine she would like to keep it that way."

"Sol, it has been a long time. You remain as perceptive as ever," Mina said.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on? Who is she?" Mary asked of Sol.

"Oh, but Mary, I know a great deal about you," Mina answered. "About you and Sol, but not Sabastian. I only know the rumors and folklore."

"O.K., enough games and posturing, what the hell is going on?" Mary asked.

"I guess it makes sense to get things out in the open. It's clear I'm not going to be able to use brute force to awe Sabastian.

"I run a message parlor in the town next to this one."

"I believe you mean brothel," Sol interrupted.

"No," Mina replied. "In fact, both terms are inappropriate. Our customers come to us looking for messages and, possibly, sex. We, however, don't just take money. We take their blood, but only a small amount.

"We live symbiotically with the humans. They get what they want, and we get what we need.

"It works very well so long as our system isn't disrupted. Having more vampires sniffing around makes things more difficult.

"As you know, Sol, We've lived peacefully with the Tribunal for many years. I don't want this arrangement to fall apart now.

"There have been a couple of missing persons reports of late and I assume they stem from your presence."

"Oh, they were probably from me," Mary said.

"As I haven't fed here, and I know Sabastian doesn't feed, I think that's probably the case," Sol answered.

"You don't feed?" Mina asked of Sabastian.

"I am no longer subject to the blood lust."

"He doesn’t even grasp his own power," she said to herself.


0153
"All I want now is to be left alone," Sabastian said to Mina.

"It seems that's been your desire for a long time. But is that possible when you take in a little girl?" asked Mina.

"I will do what I must to make it possible, even if it means killing you."

"Which I have no doubt would be easy for you to accomplish.

"At the risk of my own life, though, I have no choice but to confront you. I can't have humans missing and odd deaths destroying my clan's cover.

"I don't want to fight. I'll leave you alone, but you must not feed here. Or, if you need to feed, come to me and I'll arrange for it."

"You want Sol and I to become prostitutes?" Mary asked.

"No. Either I can teach you my clan's techniques or simply have one of my girls cover for you. My men in your case, Sol."

"This is an agreement that does not involve me," Sabastian said.

"Oh, but as the coven leader it does," Mina said.

"I lead no coven, they are free to do as they wish so long as they do not endanger Susan."

"Well, with that guideline, it seems we have no choice," Mary said. "Besides, your trick sounds interesting. I always hate it when you find a good victim but have to kill them. It would be wonderful to play with them again and again."

"And you Sol?" Mina asked.

"I will not feed in this area. New York City is more to my taste, anyway."

"Sabastian, I would like get to know you better and, perhaps, to meet Susan under better circumstances. I hope we can still be civil after tonight."

"That remains to be seen."

"Yes, well, I guess we'll be going," Mina said to Sabastian after a long and stagnant pause. "Collect our dead," she said to her two companions.

After they left, Sol said, "Sabastian, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Mina. So much has been going on that she slipped my mind."

"It is fine. I felt their presence. I knew that this confrontation would come. I am only glad that the situation was so easily resolved."

"I don't know about you two, but I kind of like the idea of taking blood from someone I'm sleeping with, and then doing it again the next night," Mary said.

"I'm not sure they even have sex with their victims," said Sol. "From what I know, Mina's clan has strong mental sway over humans. I think the victims simply think they have had sex.

"Although I thought it was a gift of her clan's blood, her comments about teaching make it sound more like a technique. I may actually attempt to learn it if she will teach me."

"Good, we can go visit her tomorrow," Mary said. "Won't you join us Sabastian?"

"I will not," he said coldly. "I am going to put Susan to bed and assure her everything is fine. Good night."


0154
"He's such a cold fish," Mary said to Sol. "You'll join me on a visit to Mina's little whore house, right?"

"Yes, I think I will.

"But Sabastian is far from a cold fish. There is much more to him than meets the eye."

"Yes, he's grumpy."

"You joke, but I think you see it, too," Sol said. "Anyway, I'm going to my room to read. Have a good night."

"What the hell am I gonna do alone down here?" Mary asked.

"That's up to you," Sol answered as he walked out of the living room.

"Sol," she yelled after him, "where is Mina's brothel?"

"It's on the Post Road in the next town over. I believe it's called the Gisha House. Be careful, I'm not sure that Sabastian will come to save you should Mina decide to do something to you."

"I don't need his protection."

Looking back into the room, Sol said, "Don't fool yourself. We both need him far more than he needs us."

After Sol went upstairs, Mary, bored and unable to contain her curiosity, quickly left to find Mina's brothel. Before going to his room, Sol stopped in to see Susan and Sabastian. Sabastian was just putting the covers on the little girl when he walked in.


"Now that you are tucked in, what book would you like?" Sabastian asked.

"I don't want a book tonight. I'm just gonna think."

"That sounds good," Sabastian said. "I will kiss you goodnight and let you think."

"May I kiss the princes goodnight, too?" Sol asked from the doorway.

"Yes," Susan replied happily, turning a cheek for him. He walked to her bed and, with a great flourish, bent down and kissed her. "Your hands aren't as pretty as they were before."

"Excuse me?" Sol said.

"Your hands aren't as shiny as they were."

"I don't..." Sol stopped and smiled. "You go to bed and we'll talk about my hands tomorrow."

"O.K."

"Goodnight child," Sabastian said, walking out of the room and flipping the light switch. Sol was directly behind him.

"I think Mary is off to talk to Mina," Sol said once they were in the hall.

"Mary is free to do as she wishes so long as she does not endanger Susan. The same is true for you.

"Besides, it may actually keep her occupied for awhile. She is clearly bored with you and I."

"Yes, but I hope she doesn't stumble into something bigger than she can handle. I don't know much about Mina's clan, as she has always been very secretive.

"Thomas always treated her with respect and so did Elizabeth. I assumed there was a prior relationship, but I don't really know. I'm just worried that she has ulterior motives."

"I am sure her motives are not pure. But that is Mary's affair, not mine. So long as Mina does not endanger Susan, she can do whatever she likes."


0155
Mary pushed the buzzer outside the door to the Geisha House, hoping it was the right place.

"Who is it?" a seductive female voice asked through an intercom.

"My name is Mary, I'm here to see Mina."

"Oh," the voice said, "just one moment."

After about a minute, the door was opened by the two male vampires that were driving Mina earlier. They both bowed and gestured for her to come inside. Mary entered to find a female vampire waiting for her. She was wearing an asian inspired dress that ended mid thigh with a slit on one side that went almost to her waist.

"Hello, my name is Sin. It's a pleasure to meet you. Mina is busy at the moment, but if you will kindly follow me, you and I can wait for her in the control room."

"Sin is an interesting name, I assume your parents didn't give it to you. Did Mina?"

"No, actually, my mother was a prostitute and did, in fact, name me Sin. She said I was her burden for living a sinful life. She thought the name was fitting."

"Oh, I'm..." Mary sputtered.

"Don't be sorry. I enjoyed killing my mother once Mina took me in. Mina wanted me to change my name, but I refused. Please, follow me," she said with a smile.

Mary felt incredibly awkward so said nothing while they walked through the dark halls of what was an old strip mall. The walls were covered with blood red drapes and bathed in red light from brass chandeliers. They passed at least two dozen dark wooden doors. At what appeared to be a dead end, Sin moved a drape to reveal a door. She opened it and asked Mary to walk through.

The room had no lights, but was, instead, illuminated by hundreds of television screens. Some were dark, others well lit. Mary could see that every inch of the brothel was covered by a camera. There were two vampires in the room watching the screens. Neither looked up.

"This is very impressive," Mary said.

"Mina is quite thorough. Please, follow me," Sin said, again leading the way.

At the far end of the room they passed through another door. This room was much smaller than the last, and was a mix between an office and a living room. There were four monitors on the wall opposite a couch and one on a small table in front of the couch.


"Sit," Sin said, pointing to the couch. "Would you like anything? Some blood, perhaps?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'll get you a glass. While you wait, please feel free to explore our home," Sin said, handing Mary the remote control for the monitors.

Mary sat down on the couch, sinking in to the soft cushions, and hit the power button on the remote.

The monitor on the table flickered to life with an image of the front door. There was a label showing the location and time at the top left of the screen. Text at the bottom right indicated that this was camera one of 636.

"How big is this place?" Mary said out loud, with a little bit of shock.

"We have 10 guest rooms here, 20 rooms for us, and a dozen or so control and storage rooms," Sin said from the door, as she walked in with a goblet full of a viscus red fluid.


0156
"May I?" Sin asked, using the glass she was holding to ask if she could sit next to Mary.

"Certainly," Mary answered.

Sin walked up to Mary and sat so that their bodies touched along the side. She reached one arm around her and offered her the drink, saying, "I brought this for you." Sin's dress rode up so that Mary could clearly see she wasn't wearing underwear.

A little uncomfortable, Mary said thank you and took the goblet. "Is this really blood?"

"Yes," Sin responded with a wide grin.

"How do you get it?"

"Let me show you," she answered, taking the remote and keying up camera 172. The monitor offered up an image of a man on a bed with two female vampires with him, both of which looked at the camera as soon as the channel came up.

The man was held to the bed with restraints and had a red tube going from his groin to a bag at the side of the bed.

"He lets you do this willingly?" Mary asked.

"No. The girl on his right side is his escort. She is making him believe that he is having sex with her. The one on his left is collecting his blood for future use.

"We usually service between five and twenty customers a night. If all of the girls have fed, we collect from any customers who aren't needed at the time.

"We need nine or 10 customers to feed properly. The collections help to make up for slow nights. Of course we have to make sure not to feed and collect too much or too often from one customer, but we use computer tracking to insure there are no mistakes."


Taking a sip from the glass, Mary said, "It's still warm."

"It was collected just a few minutes ago from this man," Sin said, switching to channel 26. The room was similar to the last, dark colors, luxurious bed, except the man in the bed was old and fat, and there was only one vampire with him.

She was giving the man, who appeared to be unconscious, a hand job, though she stopped long enough to look into the camera once she was on the screen.

"There is only one with him?"

"Yes," Sin answered. "We've already collected from him. There's no need for a second escort."

"Do your escorts always, shall we say, finish what they start?"

"No, not all. Some, like Chi," Sin said, pointing to the screen, "feel bad for the customers and do, others don't. It isn't necessary, they all leave believing they have been satisfied. Completely satisfied.

"This particular customer is one of the regulars. He's in love with Chi. As you might guess, based on his heft and, well, less than impressive package, he doesn't have many other options other than purchase when it comes to sex.

"I think Chi secretly likes him, too, because she doesn't provide this type of service to all her patrons."


0157
"So you guys use some sort of mind control to make your victims think they’ve been having sex, but how do you explain the marks?" Mary asked.

"I'll show you" Sin said, bringing up another room. The room was like the others, darkly adorned and lavish, but there was no one in it. "She must be using a chair," she said, pulling up another angel of the room. "Or the makeup table," she said with a chuckle as she flipped to yet another view. "Belle is a little more adventurous than some."

On the screen was a man, with his but up against the makeup table and a woman kneeling between his legs. With one hand she was stroking his erect penis off to one side, while her head was nuzzled into his groin.

"That's the mayor's son," Sin said. "He comes in every week, if not more. All the girls love him, he's such a sweetheart, and what a looker. He has a decent size dick, too, so he's got the whole package—looks, money, and a nice tool.

"But, what you're seeing is Belle draining him from the area where his scrotum connects to his groin. The skin is delicate, so it doesn't require much to draw the blood and, while the customer has an erection, there is a great deal of blood in the area, making the process even easier.

"Most people don't even know anything has been done, let alone think to examine that section of their body."

"Very interesting," Mary said, looking at the two on the screen.

"It's eight and half inches, just in case you were wondering," Sin said.

"I wasn't."

"Oh," Sin responded, putting down the control and placing her freed hand on Mary's leg. "Perhaps you would like to see the process we use for a woman?"

"No, thank you, I get the idea."

Shifting her hand up Mary's thigh and moving her face so close to Mary's that their lips almost touched, Sin said, "Are you sure? It's much more romantic. With women we draw blood from the inside of their vaginal lips."

Mary put her hand on top of Sin's, pushing it down to her knee, and raised the goblet in her other hand to sip from it, forcing Sin to move her face.

With a wry smile Sin said, "I'm sorry, I can come on a little strong when I'm attracted to someone. Perhaps we should just talk a little while watching."

Sin picked up the remote and flipped to a different room, and said, "This is Mina's private room."


0158
The room was different from the others. It was white with flowing white drapes. It was the complete opposite of the other rooms, instead of feeling sexy, it felt pure.

In the middle of the bed, however, Mina was straddled across a tall, muscular black man. She looked like a little girl in relation to him.

Mina had her hands flat on his chest, stabilizing herself as she slowly moved her torso up and down. It seemed that she was raising herself above her victim to an unrealistic height before slowly sliding back down and grinding her body against his. After a few strokes, she looked at the camera and smiled.

"Wow," Mary said, "he's huge."

"In every way," replied Sin. "He plays for one of the local sports teams. I can't remember which one. I think he plays basketball, but it could be baseball or football. He's a real monster, almost eight-foot tall and a few inches longer than that. And a beer can's got nothing on him, either, if you catch my drift.

"The only problem is he likes to, um, be dominant in a relationship. Right now, Mina's probably making him think that he's doing her from behind and hurting her with ever stroke.

"His poor wife won't sleep with him anymore because he's such a brute. She comes here, too, by the way. In case you were wondering, she's one of my customers."

"I wasn't, but thank you for sharing," Mary said.

"The thing is to give the customer what he or she wants. If they get what they want, they come back for more. The big sports star comes in three or four times a week when he's in town. Most of the girls don't have sex with him because he's just too big, but some like it.

"The thing is, you can't let him have sex with you. You have to have the control or he'll hurt you. And that's not just because he gets his kicks from hurting women."

"Apparently there is a lot a girl needs to know in this business," Mary said, starting to bore of the overly sexual conversation.

"There's a lot more to sex than tab A into slot B, but that's not why you're here," Sin said, changing the channel to a living room setting. "You know Mina, I showed you Belle and Chi. The two girls from the first room are Terri and Lynne, they escorted Mina to your house tonight. Your friend Sabastian killed Tonya. The girl in the living room is Sara and, of course, I'm Sin. The two guys outside are Doug and Pete. Big Mark and Bigger Mark, the ones who let you in, drove Mina and the others to your place and provide, um, protection for us girls. Though there is some call for their services in other ways, too. We pride ourselves on being a full service establishment."

"So there are eleven of you?" Mary asked.

"Now that Tonya is dead."

Awkwardly Mary said, "I'm sorry about that. Sabastian can be pretty intense when it comes to Susan."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, you didn't kill her. Besides, she was cocky. She probably deserved what she got. I told Mina I didn't think it was such a good idea to be so confrontational, but she wanted to show you how strong a coven we are. That worked out well," Sin said rolling her eyes.

"Is Mina your sire?"

"She sired all of us. I'm the youngest and, if you can believe it, I used to be a customer. Mina actually asked me if I wanted to become eternal. In the heat of passion I said yes. I woke up two days after and I've never looked back. It's liberating to be immortal."

"I suppose it is," Mary said, as a door at the other end of the room opened up.


0159
"I didn't expect to see you so soon, Mary," Mina said, as she walked in. She was in a white terrycloth bathrobe and had her hair up in a bun. Mary could see that the door through which she entered led to the room she had been watching on the monitor. The large black man was still on the bed. "I'm glad you came, though. It'll give me a chance to get to know my new neighbors and insure my own safety."

"I was hoping you would be more fun than the other two. They are too serious for their own good," Mary responded.

"Yes, I could see that. Sabastian doesn't look like he's cracked a smile in century," Mina joked.

"Not with anyone other than Susan, anyway," Mary replied.

"Well, I noticed you watching me work for a little bit. I'm guessing Sin showed you around and told you some basics about our lifestyle."

"I did," said Sin.

"I hope she didn't go over the top, as is her custom. She likes to push the limits."

"She was just fine," Mary answered.

"See," Sin said, sticking her tongue out at her sire.

"Yes, and so mature, too. Sin, I'd like to talk with Mary alone."

"Yeah, I understand. Time for me to go."

"Thank you."

"No problem," Sin answered, as she left the room.

"I'm glad you came," Mina said, sitting next to Mary. The robe fell from one side, revealing her bare hip, but nothing more, as her legs were crossed. "I'm sorry that Sin was the only one available to show you around, however. She can be a bit over the top. I assume she explained that we give our customers memories of events that may or may not have taken place."

"Yes, she gave a brief overview of the process."

"Well, when Sin is in a particularly playful mood, she has a habit of making straight men think they have had sex with other men. Usually her client is, how to put it, on the receiving end. To make matters worse, she always makes them think it was the most incredible sexual experience of their lives."

Mary chuckled at the thought.

"It is funny on one level, but a bit unnerving on another. Sin has very strong mental and emotional powers, she should respect them more than she does. But then she is still young. She will grow up. At least I hope she does," Mina said with a chuckle, putting her hand on Mary's leg.

"So I'm here, I've been fed," Mary said holding up her glass, "what now?"

"Well, you have the quick overview of what we do, how about a more detailed description?"

"O.K."


0160
"Obviously you have fed before. Each of our kind experiences the process differently. Tell me what you experience when you are draining the life from your victims," Mina said to Mary.

"Well, I usually see things. Scenes from their life, important events, sometimes their dreams. Things like that. The last thing is always me biting them and draining their life force."

"That's good. It means that you have a bond with your victim. Have you ever been interrupted before you killed a victim?"

"Of course."

"What did you feel?"

"The same thing, I just didn't finish the job."

"Exactly. It is the same experience but without the victim's death. Were you sated?"

"My needs were met, yes."

"So you had an incredibly strong emotional bond with your victim and didn't have to kill them."

"Yes, I suppose," Mary said.

"That is the basis of what we do. Have you ever had the chance to revisit a victim you let live?"

"No."

"That's a shame. What you would find is that the emotional bond remains."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Now we, as vampires, have certain gifts. These gifts are fairly standard across all of us, it is just the strength that varies. One of those gifts is, for lack of a better word, mind control. This is true with the humans and with each other.

"For example, I could feel Sabastian probing my mind before he even walked into the room with me. He struck out forcefully at the times of stress, which shows great control. He could, and should, harness that. It is much easier to do this with the humans, especially when we have a part of them inside of us.

"For our purposes, once we know what they want, we simply project that back to them. Our kind can do this with each other, too, but it is far more difficult. Have you ever made a human think you were on a guest list?"

"Yes, of course," Mary answered.

"Then you have used the skills we employ, just not to the same degree. It takes time to develop the skill, but if you work at it, it can be a powerful tool."

"And that's how you convince all of these people to be your human chattel?"

"Yes."

"It seems too simple."

"That is why it works. Come, I'll show you. I have a client who should be showing up any minute now."


[Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005. All rights reserved.]