Blood Rage - A Paranormal Romance Novella Page 4

  “He was a living creature, Illyan! He deserves the same thing any living creature deserves, and Ayis wasn’t giving him any of it! He deserves food and water. He deserves his dignity. He deserves love…”

  “Love,” he scoffed, cutting off her diatribe. “Love is nothing but a useless emotion that causes pain and misery. It is a thorn to be removed, and nothing more.”

  Esla shook her head sadly. She wished she could show him what it meant to love and to be loved. She wished, more than anything, that he could feel what she felt. But she knew it could never be.

  “You may feel that way, Illyan, but humans do not,” she told him. “Humans need love like they need air, like they need food and water. To keep it from them is cruel even beyond your cruel heart.”

  “What am I supposed to do with you, Esla?” Illyan questioned, pounding his fist into his palm. “If I don’t do something, the others will see it as a sign of weakness. You know I cannot have that right now – not when we’re so close.”

  “I’ve heard you telling Ayis that you keep me around for my gift,” Esla said, with the pain still raw and painful in her mind. “Oh, don’t look so shocked, Illyan. You’ve said it to her a hundred times. Did you think I would never hear? Just tell them you have to keep me around for that.”

  She had a point. It would not be a sign of weakness to keep someone so useful around. But he knew he could never allow her to get too close to him again. If the others thought he was picking up any of her human emotions, they might try to usurp his power. He could not allow that to happen.

  “Fine,” Illyan said. “You may have the little pet you turned in the dungeon. But you will stay away from me.”

  His words cut through her like a knife through butter. She felt the tingle of tears beginning to well in her eyes, and she quickly looked away.

  “Fine,” she said, taking a deep breath to contain her emotions.

  Illyan paused for a moment, then turned and left her there in the courtyard. As soon as he was gone, she broke down. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed, longing to run after him and tell him she was sorry for behaving so miserably, and to beg for forgiveness.

  But her pride was strong, and she was still angry. She wiped the tears away from her face and thrust her head high. Then she slowly pushed open the courtyard door to enter The Great Hall.

  “Never again, Ayis, do you hear me?” Illyan’s voice hissed.

  Quickly, Elsa slunk back and closed the door all but the tiniest crack so she could hear the conversation.

  “I said yes!” Ayis snarled back.

  Through the tiny crack, she could see Illyan holding Ayis’s elbow in an iron grip. Ayis looked frightened, but still full of pride.

  “If you ever forget to feed the prisoners again, I’ll make an example of you. That much I promise. We don’t work hard to capture them just so you can let them die. It’s just wasteful! We can’t feed from a dead human!”

  “I know, I know! It won’t happen again!” Ayis promised.

  Illyan let her go, and she crept away to her room. He threw a glance over his shoulder toward the door, and Esla quickly and quietly closed it, hoping he hadn’t seen her there. For a few breathless moments, she leaned against the door. After a while, she breathed a sigh of relief, and headed back indoors and down to the cellar.

  She opened the cell door, and the girl was still sitting in the floor in the dark. She seemed less frightened than before, and Esla knelt beside her.

  “I told you I’d be back,” Esla told her.

  The girl threw her arms around Esla.

  “Stay with me,” she pleaded.

  “Okay. I will stay,” Esla said, sitting down beside the girl. “What is your name?”

  “Ellen,” she answered. “What is yours?”

  “I am called Esla,” she responded.

  “What’s happening to me?” Ellen asked her.

  “Do you really want to know?” Esla asked her.

  “Yes,” Ellen replied.

  “You’re going to become a vampire… like me. It will be a painful process, but it won’t last long,” Esla said, expecting Ellen to dissolve into tears.

  Instead, Ellen snuggled against her in the pitch black. Esla put her arms around the girl and sighed. She wasn’t sure if this had been such a great idea or not.

  Chapter Six

  Esla fell asleep with Ellen still in her arms. Sometime during the night, she was awakened to Ellen crying out in pain. She was changing. She could feel Ellen’s cold, damp skin. She was sweating and shivering, and her body was seized with pain. Esla quickly wrapped her arms around Ellen, comforting her.

  “You’re changing now,” Esla whipsered gently. “Don’t worry, it will be over soon.”

  Ellen’s body was dying. Vampire venom was coursing through her veins, burning like molten metal, choking her heart and altering her DNA. Within moments, Ellen breathed one last gasping breath, and then her body was still. For several seconds, she lay motionless in Esla’s arms. Then she gasped, as she was awakened by her new vampire blood. Pain still wracked her body, and she groaned and clung to Esla.

  As Esla said, the pain subsided after a few excruciating minutes. Ellen finally went limp with exhaustion, and Esla held her body close. In the darkness, she lifted Ellen’s lip slightly, and she saw the telltale fangs protruding slightly from her gums. It was done.

  About an hour later, Ellen woke up and found herself still in Esla’s arms. She could barely make out the faint outline of Esla’s head in the blackness.

  “Is it over?” Ellen asked.

  “Yes, it’s over,” Esla responded.

  Esla felt tremendous remorse for what she had done. She knew the life of a vampire was cold and cruel, but she hadn’t wanted to send Ellen home to an abusive husband, either.

  “Thank you,” Ellen said suddenly.

  “Don’t thank me,” Esla said. “You don’t know what I’ve done.”

  “I do know what you’ve done,” Ellen retorted. “You’ve saved me from a life worse than death. You’ll never know how much that means to me.”

  Ellen threw herself at Esla, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing tightly. Esla felt slightly uncomfortable, though she wasn’t sure why. She should feel pity for the girl, but strangely, she did not. Instead, she felt rather numb.

  “I turned you,” Esla said. “So for the next five years, you must do everything I say without question.”

  Ellen had no problem with that. Esla had suddenly become her entire world. She knew she would go to the ends of the world for Esla.

  “I understand,” Ellen responded.

  “And you must call me ‘my Lady’ until the five year period is over,” Esla told her. “It is required by our laws.”

  She thought back to the night Illyan had turned her, and how delighted she was to follow him and call him “my Lord”. Her love for her master was so strong that she continued to call him this even after the five-year period was over, and she still used the term endearingly from time to time.

  “Yes, my Lady,” Ellen responded faithfully.

  “And I must give you a new name. We abandon our old human names and are given new ones by our masters,” Esla told Ellen. “It’s part of our culture to abandon as much of our old human customs as possible, and our names are part of our humanity. I will give you your name when I feel you’ve earned it.”

  “Yes, my Lady,” Ellen replied.

  “Come,” Esla said. “I will take you to your room.”

  “Can’t I sleep with you tonight, my Lady? Oh, please, can’t I?” Ellen pleaded.

  Esla groaned inside. Was this what Illyan felt every time Esla threw herself at him shamelessly? It was pathetic.

  “No,” Esla said heartlessly. “You will have your own room, and that is where you must sleep.”

  Ellen hung her head.

  “Yes, my Lady,” Ellen said dejectedly.

  Ellen followed Esla down the dark corridor toward her new room. Esla stopped before her
own bedroom door.

  “This is my room. Do not ever enter it without permission,” Esla said.

  “Yes, my Lady,” Ellen responded.

  A long way down the hall, Esla opened a door and pointed into it.

  “This is your room. You will sleep here. The others are undoubtedly out feeding, but you will spend tonight in your room. You may come out when the clock reaches eight o’clock tomorrow night,” Esla instructed.

  Esla turned and started to walk away. She felt a slight twinge of pity for Ellen, but it quickly escaped her.

  “My Lady,” Ellen said suddenly.

  Esla sighed and turned to face the beautiful young girl.

  “Yes, Ellen. What is it?” she asked.

  “I… I just wanted to thank you again,” Ellen said.

  Ellen wanted to badly to throw her arms around Esla. She ached to feel the touch of her kiss on her lips again. The pain was almost unbearable.

  “Goodnight,” Esla said, turning and leaving Ellen standing alone in her doorway.

  Esla didn’t realize how she was treating Ellen. For some reason, it was becoming second nature. Her humanity was slipping away, and she couldn’t even see it. Her stomach rumbled, and she wanted to feed. She knew exactly whom she wanted for her dinner.

  When she reached town, she headed to the local saloon. She kept her cloak pulled over her face, and she sat alone in a corner to listen to the local gossip. She had been there for over an hour when she finally heard what she’d come to hear.

  “Did you hear about Abe Alver’s wife?” said a short bald man to the guy next to him.

  “You mean about her disappearing?” the guy replied.

  “Yep,” the bald man answered. “She’s only been missing for a day or so, but her mama said she ain’t ever missed a church service. Some folks are sayin’ he killed her.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it. He sure beat her enough. I figured it was just a matter of time before he killed her,” the other guy retorted.

  Esla slipped quietly out of the saloon. On the street, she bumped into a woman hurrying home with a basket of bread.

  “Excuse me,” Esla said. “Could you tell me where to find Abe Alver’s place?”

  “Oh, yeah,” the woman said, in a hurry to get home before dark. “He lives just down at the end of this road, in the house with the rosebush out front.”

  “Thank you,” Esla said.

  She knocked quietly at the door of Abe Alver’s home. A few moments later, a fat, greasy, disagreeable fellow answered the door. Esla pulled her cloak away from her face, and Abe was taken aback by her beauty. Her green eyes sparkled, and her flame red hair shone in the dim light. She smiled sweetly at him.

  “Are you Abe Alver?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he answered. “What can I do for you?”

  “Well, I’m new in town and I heard about your wife. I’m so sorry,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.

  “Yeah, well she weren’t much, anyhow,” he said cruelly.

  “Oh,” Esla said, trying to remain friendly while her heart seethed with rage. “Well, someone said you might be needing a woman around here to run the house for you now that your wife is gone. I have nowhere to stay, so I was wondering if maybe… well…”

  Abe’s mouth turned into a wide grin. He eyed Esla’s lithe frame up and down, and he stepped aside, beckoning her to come inside. She stepped through the door and into the small, one-room house and he closed the door behind her.

  “Sit down over there on the bed,” he instructed her.

  She looked around. There were two chairs by the table, but she knew what he intended. Playing along, she walked over to the bed and sat down, batting her eyelashes in fake shyness.

  “Well, now, ma’am,” he said. “You see… well… I ain’t really needin’ no maid nor nothin’ like that.”

  He walked a little closer to her.

  “As you can see, my house is kinda small. Ain’t got no money to pay you anything,” he told her, still inching closer. “But… well… since you ain’t got nowhere to go, I guess you could stay here and be my wife.”

  She batted her eyelashes again, smiling sweetly.

  “I think that’s a fine idea!” she sang cheerfully.

  “You do?” Abe asked incredulously.

  He’d been sure she would say no. This woman was an incredible beauty, and Abe suffered no illusions about his own shabby appearance. Sadly, his meager intelligence was snuffed out in the face of Esla’s radiance.

  “Yes, it’s perfect,” she said. “I have no husband, and you have no wife. I don’t see any reason why two lonely people shouldn’t be together. Do you?”

  “Oh, no ma’am!” he said excitedly.

  “Why don’t you turn the light off and come to bed?” she asked.

  Abe didn’t stop to question the bizarreness of the situation. He was terribly excited by the beauty of this strange woman, and he was more than willing to forget about the awkwardness of the odd situation. He blew out the flame in the cheap lamp and headed toward the bed.

  Esla had already started removing her clothes. He quickly threw his clothes off and tossed them over the table beside the bed. Esla removed the last of her clothing and carefully laid them across one of the two chairs. Her nude body was silhouetted in the moonlight, and Abe began to salivate.

  They got into bed together, and he reached out and pulled her body close to his. He felt her cold skin, and it was arousing.

  “You’re mighty cold,” he said. “Come over here and let your new hubby warm you up!”

  She giggled coyly and slid over close to his smelly, sweaty body. She pressed her body against his, and she felt the swell of his manhood pressing against her leg. In that moment, she felt herself overcome with hunger. She wanted more than anything to experience what it would be like to be with a man. She was a chaste woman, and Illyan had never shown any interest in changing that. She pressed her lips against his, moving her body on top of him.

  Abe couldn’t believe his luck! Ellen had never been like this. She acted as if she didn’t want him anywhere near her. He remembered whipping her with a belt just to get her to accept him in bed, just as her father had instructed him to do should she ever refuse him. But Esla was all over him!

  She could feel him pressing between her legs, and she ached to feel it inside her. But in that moment, she remembered Illyan. She could see the moment she had the vision of the stake being plunged into his heart, and his lifeless body falling down, down, down to the rocks below.

  She was gripped by fury. All at once, she saw Balthazar’s face in front of her instead of Abe’s. At the same moment, she remembered poor Ellen begging not to be sent home to the man who beat her.

  She bent her head toward his neck and dug her fangs deep into the flesh of his neck. He screamed out in pain and tried to fight her off, but her vampire body was far too strong for his weak human flesh to fend off. Abe violently pummeled her. His fingernails raked across her naked back, and he thrashed about, trying desperately to kick her off of him. But Esla held fast. When every last drop of his blood was drained from his limp body, she wiped her mouth on the blanket and proceeded to put on her clothes.

  Just before she left the house, she tossed one end of the blanket into the fireplace, leaving the other end trailing across the floor toward the bed upon which Abe’s body now rested. One side of her mouth turned up in a cruel, remorseless smile. She heard the sharp whoosh of the blanket being engulfed in flames, and she chuckled – closing the door behind her.

  Deep in the shadows, someone watched her. She walked down the street with a satisfied smirk on her face. Illyan had seen the entire thing from outside the window. Now, as he watched her leaving, he felt satisfied. Yet, he also felt a strange sensation of guilt. He quickly shook the feeling, and headed back toward The Manor.

  Chapter Seven

  It was almost dawn when Illyan arrived at The Manor. Esla had already retired to her chambers, and she had locked herself in
her room to be alone.

  She was overwhelmed with so many emotions that she couldn’t think. It was making her angry. She wanted to get rid of her emotions. She wanted to feel that blessed numbness she’d felt when Ellen turned. But the emotion was still too raw.

  She sat in her chair, staring into the darkness. She kept trying to push the emotions out of her head, but the harder she tried, the stronger the emotions became. It was infuriating.

  A quiet knock startled her. She thought it must be Ellen, alone and afraid, and she intended to teach her a lesson. Hastily, she threw open the door. But it was not Ellen, it was Illyan.

  “May I come in?” he said quietly.

  “No,” she said sharply, closing the door in his face.

  Again, he knocked quietly on the door. Esla impatiently opened the door and glared at him.

  “What do you want?” she snarled.

  “I wanted you to come to my room so we could talk,” he told her.

  “Forget it,” she hissed. “I don’t want to see you.”

  She started to close the door in his face again, but Illyan’s strong hand came up and blocked the door. He pushed his way into her room and closed the door behind him.

  “You’re my wife, and you will not keep me from your company when I wish to be in it!” Illyan growled at her.

  “If I was your wife, I would gladly be in your company!” shouted Esla.

  “To speak to me that way is treason,” Illyan reminded her. “I could have you banished for this!”

  “Then do it!” she dared him.

  “What has happened to you?” he asked. “You’re acting like Ayis!”

  “Good!” Esla snapped. “She doesn’t take any crap from you, and I’m sick of playing he good little wife while she gets away with talking to you any way she wants!”

  “She doesn’t get away with…” Illyan began.

  “Don’t start that!” Esla screamed. “She gets away with everything! She screams at you in front of everyone and you do nothing! Everyone talks behind your back about how you let her talk to you. It’s an embarrassment.”