Chapter 9.15: Dear Diary, Seb Pushes Forward

The following are excerpts from the journal of Sebastian Woodbury…

…Of all places, I should have known Constance was brazen enough to occupy an abandoned church once known as the Five Rivers Cathedral. It had been empty for years, and there was no Bishop in sight who would claim this rotting church as their own.

Although it was dilapidated, with holes in the roof and crumbling walls, it still seemed like a sacrilege that Constance called this holy place home. In life, she’d been wicked… or so I’d heard.

It was dark inside though light outside almost as if the daylight knew the old vampire was here, desecrating the building, so the light could not pierce through the damp darkness.

There were glowing eyes of vampires everywhere I turned, knowing I was here for HER, nodding me this way or that through the maze of mildewy halls.

Finally, a vampire I recognized emerged from a room, waving me down the corridor and into a larger room where Constance stood, waiting.

She immediately bared her teeth, holding her arms out, palms up to show her power to me. As if I didn’t know she was the most impressive and mighty being within one hundred miles.

“Constance,” I said.

“Welcome to my humble home.”

I smirked, then spread my legs far apart where I stood, intending to show her my own strength and domination. She couldn’t have all the glory.

“What brings you here?” she asked, unmoving, a slight hiss in her voice.

“Why the hostility?”

She smiled widely, but it was not pleasant like a smile should be.

“I’ve heard rumors about a certain girl who is important to you. The little girl we saw that night, the little red-head… What was it? She was attending a school dance?”

I nodded slowly as my breath caught in my throat. What could she possibly want with Sophie?

“What about her?” I asked, my voice firm, never breaking my eye-lock with Constance.

“Are the rumors true?”

I let out a forced laugh as if to dismiss her thoughts.

“Of course not. I’m using her and her family. In fact, I’m so sick of her, I sent her away.”

It was not a lie, I had sent Sophie away, but I’d done it because I cared for her and I knew things with the vampires were getting sordid. The very last thing I wanted was for Sophie to become involved or to get hurt. Even though Sophie was far away, I could sense her even now, sunning on the beach in Sunlit Tides.

“Hmm,” she said, her eyelids lowering sensually. “We must go to the club tonight. Then all will be well.”

This flippant attitude raised my ire, and I struggled to keep it at bay.

“Constance,” I said with fire in my voice, “we will go to the club after you finally tell me what I must do in order for you to tell me the secret to becoming human again.”

Her lip protruded downward in a mock pout.

“I will never understand why you want to throw all this away.” As she spoke, she waved her arm in a sweeping motion to indicate the surrounding setting.

Did she really wonder, though? I asked myself. I mean, we were not standing at the Ritz Hotel with all the luxurious amenities around us. Instead, we were in a building long abandoned in which I could hear the rats scurrying around in the walls.

“You have promised me more times than I can count. I demand that you tell me.”

Insisting she part with this one secret could have gone very wrong. Instead, her expression was amused, the corners of her lips turning up.

“I suppose you would be more fun if you were human. Oh, how I would love to take a drink off you!”

“Well?”

“Fine. There is an object I require, and another vampire has it.”

I did not even blink. “What is it and where is it?”

Her eyes seemed to darken as they narrowed. “It is the Plumbob of Wishes. Imagine what heights of power I could attain if I could grant anyone’s wish?”

“If that is the case, why doesn’t just anyone use it?”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Because they can’t. Here is something you do not know, dear Sebastian. I’m not any ordinary vampire, I was a witch who was turned. Only a witch can wield the Plumbob’s power. You must get it for me.”

A witch? This definitely changed things. It was at that moment I understood I would have to turn Tilly right away so we could follow through with our plan.

“Where is it?”

“In Midnight Hollow, under the protection of a shrewd vampire there. You probably already know him.”

“My father,” I whispered.

She let out another sneering laugh.

“Exactly.”

…I turned her so her back was to me, and cradled her in my arms my lips just above her skin. She sighed, leaning against me, moving her head to the side, allowing me access to the sweet spot all vampires craved.

My kind called this the “Kiss of the Vampire.” Where a snake released poisonous venom into its victim, my bite would secrete an aphrodisiac into Tilly’s bloodstream. Because of this, she would forget the initial pain of my fangs slicing through the delicate skin of her neck, fall into immense pleasure.

My breath was hot as I asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she whispered in a gasp.

My fangs rested against her fragile skin, which prickled under my touch. I could hear the blood pumping in her veins, but it wasn’t her venous blood I desired because arterial blood tasted much better. It would also provide Tilly with a quick death, then this would all be over with.

In my own anticipation, my breath was hotter still and I couldn’t resist licking her neck right above the carotid artery, my tongue flicking against the flesh, nearly driving myself mad with it. All my senses heightened, her blood smelled delicious, hot, and fresh just millimeters away from my ready mouth. I pulled her even closer, barely able to control myself, my mind racing wildly while already disappointed by how fast this would be over since I was aiming for the carotid instead of the jugular vein.

Finally, sinking my teeth into her neck, the precious, fiery blood spurted into my mouth with every beat of her heart. Her knees immediately went weak, so I tightened my grip on her waist, holding her up as I sucked.

She moaned and pressed her buttocks into me before going completely limp from the shock of losing so much blood at once.

She was no longer breathing, but her heart was beating, just barely, as my fingers dug into her flesh at her throat and waist, holding her so tightly against me, I thought she might break in half.

As the life ebbed out of her, I continued sucking, the sound loud in my ears and her head lolled to the side. After she died, I drew out the last few drops of her blood, then licked her where the red liquid had smeared across her skin.

Nearly collapsing, I dragged her to the bed, arranging her body under the covers where she would rise the next night as a vampire who would be compliant to me in all ways. In fact, her sense of devotion would be so strong, she would be unable to harm me, yet would throw herself in harm’s way to protect me if need be.

Gazing down at her, a lump filled my throat. So, this was what it felt like to create another like me. It felt a little like love even though before this night, I’d hated this woman with all my might. She looked so peaceful…

Tilly Thomspon, you will rise tomorrow night, and I will be your father, unable to harm you either.

Hopefully, my plan for us all would work…

…Midnight Hollow never changed, no matter how long I was away, and neither had my father’s castle. One might have expected significant changes since the pre-Laris government had taken control. My father was important as one of the oldest vampires in the country. Before I’d left to be with Sophie, he’d told me the changes that needed to take place would be slow as the old government was dismantled bit by bit. As a non-political person, I didn’t understand what all of it meant.

The love and affection between vampires was just as complicated as the love and affection between humans.

Gerrard McCalmont was my father, but my turning had been against my will and was much more violent than what I’d let Sophie believe. As far as she knew, it had happened in my sleep and I did not remember it.

That was fiction and told to her because of my devotion to her. I did not want her to think of me in pain. And that’s what my turning was, painful. And also the very reason I’d never turned another human even if they had asked.

How could a human know what was in store? They could never understand what it was to die in the flesh, then reawaken with a hunger for blood so great, the new vampire would tear open the first human throat they came across. The guilt that comes with that sort of thing is all-consuming and only fit for another journal entry, not this one.

As I was saying, the vampire holds a certain love for their maker even if their turning was violent. I’ve come to understand it is because, during the bite, the aphrodisiac in the venom stimulates the pituitary gland and central nervous system to release endorphins that act on the opiate receptors in the brain.

Once turned, the new vampire physically cannot harm their “parent.” The parent also feels this devotion to their progeny.

I love my father, and I hate my father.

Sneaking into his castle was easy as I’d lived here most of my life and knew all the secret passageways others had forgotten over the years.

There were no guards where I was standing in the garden just off the kitchen. It was dead black, yet I knew my way even in the dark.

Once inside the kitchen, I paused to let my eyes adjust to the blackness. Sniffing the air, I could tell there was a guard down the hall just outside the door to my left. That was all right because the door I needed was to the right.

The room I needed to get to was my father’s bed-chamber. There would be guards there, but through secret doors, I was certain I could avoid them.

Slipping behind a panel in the wall, where the air was damp and cold, the marble floor under my feet crumbling, I descended lower inside the walls. I had to turn sideways as the passageway grew narrower, and as I continued, I could smell the musty earth beneath my feet. My skin prickled as I thought about the worms crawling through the dirt, and I imagined I was heading right into hell.

Finally, I reached the end of the passageway. I ran my fingers along the stone wall until I felt the familiar notch, then I pressed it. The secret panel in the wall opened with a click, and I stepped through into the bed-chamber of my father.

Pausing for what felt like an eternity, I finally walked forward, not sensing anyone in the room with me.

Candles lit the main room, the flames flickering in the darkness.

And beyond the coffin where my father slept, the Plumbob of Wishes sat on a table, cradled in a metal holder, with bright light glowing from it.

I’m sure I was frowning as I reached forward to touch it. Why would my father have this magical item? He was not a witch, so it was of no use to him.

And why wasn’t it hidden?

Just then, the hair on the nape of my neck stood up and I immediately dropped into a fight or flight pose.

Someone was coming!

Thank you, Readers and Friends, for reading, liking, commenting, and lurking. I appreciate you!





Credits:
Poses: Sims 3 Pose {Vampire’s Bite Pose}, Vampire Pose! *ò*
Setting: Vladivanian Castle
World: The Stoneshields