0347: The Vampire's Daughter Book IV

Sol went back to the story. Meredith's mother and father remained together for several years afterward, pretending that nothing had changed. But it had, and they all knew it. The stress was evident and it pulled them apart. Meredith was closer to her mother than her father, and that bond only intensified after her father became a vampire.

Occasionally, Meredith could hear her parents fighting. She knew that her father wanted to sire both her mother and her. The idea frightened Meredith, but it was obvious that it was beyond objectionable to her mother. Her mother was a deeply religious woman, who viewed her husband as a demon. Why she stayed with him Meredith didn't seem to know.

Eventually her father demanded that they submit to being sired. Her mother refused, leading to her father backing down. The anger she saw at the first rejection, however, was glowing in her father's eyes again. And Meredith knew that this time he was going to release his fury.

She attempted to tell her mother, but her mother would not listen.

Sol stopped reading again and looked up. He was amazed at the detail and depth of The Keeper's knowledge. He was also quite certain he knew what was coming next. He took a deep breath and went back to the book.

The next night, while sitting as a family in a living area, Meredith's father stood and announced to the pair that they would be sired by him that very night. Predictably, this led to a massive fight between her mother and father that ended when he forcibly drew her blood. In her desperate dying moments, her husband turned her.

Meredith watched this with horror. She was young, but had seen much in her life. It was a brutal world in which she lived, but to see her father do such a horrible thing to her mother was unthinkable. She stood motionless, paralyzed with fear.

After her mother had, in her dying weakness, taken her husband's blood, Meredith's father looked up at his daughter. He had an evil smile on his face that left quickly when he saw Meredith. He demanded that she go to her room.

When she didn't move, he stood up and struck her. This sent her across the room and left her unconscious on the floor.

She never knew how long she was out, but when she awoke, her father was laying next to her on a bed in the inner castle. It seemed as if he were dead. Her mother was not in the room.

She didn't try to wake her father, instead, she chose to leave. She quickly ran to her room and collected anything she could grab and stuff into a small bag. With that she took a horse and ran for her life.

Upon reaching the first town, it was obvious to her that she could not hide among the people of her father's kingdom. Her look was too striking to not be noticed. She did not want to leave the kingdom, so she took to the mountains.

Somehow, she managed to live in the mountains for several years. She lived like an animal in some ways, hunting and fighting for survival. Luckily she never faced any serious injury or interaction with another human.

Her new life was not to last, as one evening in the dead of winter, she awoke to find her father standing motionless outside the cave she had taken as a home. They stood looking at each other for a long time before her father said, “You will come home with me.”

“I will not.”

“You will do as your father commands.”

“You are not my father. You are an abomination to God.”

At that her father flew at her with such speed that she didn't have time to move. He grabbed her and forced her onto his horse, bringing her back to the castle.

She was stunned by the number of vampires in the castle. When she had left, it was only her mother and father that had been turned. Now, he had a small army of vampires.

Her father put her in a room with no windows and several guards. “Your mother will want to see that you are alive and well,” he grunted before closing the door.

She looked around, knowing it was useless for her to try to escape. She was trapped and could only hope that her mother's fury or her father's compassion would save her from their fate.

She remained in the room for several days, being watched over by a vampire handmaid. Meredith tried to speak with her, but the woman would not interact with her in any way other than that prescribed by her job function. Meredith could tell that she was driven by fear.

Eventually, her father returned. “Come,” he said.

“I do not wish to,” Meredith replied.

“I will force you if you do not.” She complied.

They walked to a chamber in the basement that had been reserved for torture. “Why are we here,” she asked fearfully. Her father only looked at her.

Opening the door, she saw her mother in the corner in shackles. When their eyes met, her mother smiled. Then, looking at her husband, she said, “You have damned us all.”

She took one of her chains, wrapped it around her neck, and, before Meredith's father could stop her, cut her own head off. Meredith fell to the floor crying. She couldn't believe what she had just seen.

Meredith's father stood over his wife's body and said without any emotion, “Stupid woman.”




[The Vampire’s Daughter: An ongoing vampire story. Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. All rights reserved.]