And God Created Vampires, Chapter 1

And God Created Vampires

Chapter 1

      “Have you cleared your head?”

            Mary opened her eyes to look across the kitchen table to Joseph. He had removed his suit coat and loosened his tie since they had returned from midnight Christmas Mass. He had almost finished his coffee while Mary had yet to take a sip of the coffee Beth had just poured for her since coming back inside after her swim in the lake. She took a sip of the hot coffee before answering, “It’s clear. I was just thinking how beautiful it was to be swimming under the ice. You should try it sometime. Ice-cold water puts everything into perspective. It makes one realize one is one.”

            Joseph smiled and replied, “I think I’ll pass on your suggestion. What I was referring to was what happened at Mass.”

      “Oh, that. That was cool. I felt it was what God wanted me to do.”

            Beth spoke from the kitchen counter where she was pouring coffee for herself, “It was masterful what you did. I’m beginning to believe Joseph calling you a Valkyrie was on target, almost a prophesy, though I don’t think he realized at the time how right he was.”

            Mary turned her attention to Beth to say, “I have mixed feelings about that term. Vampire, I can live with. Valkyrie, I don’t know.”

      “Still,” Joseph said, “You do have to admit that killing the priest after he gave you Communion was not something an average vampire would think of doing.”

            Mary remembered how she had opened her coat to expose her naked self just before biting down on the hand that offered her the Host. She had not given any thought to what she was doing. If she had thought about it, she would have questioned her ability to draw enough blood from the priest’s hand to kill him. Now thinking about it, it must have been the taking of blood from his hand that had allowed him to live long enough for her to return to her pew before he had the heart attack which had killed him and had become the official cause of his death.

            Beth came over to sit between Mary and Joseph at the round table and said, “Not that I have a problem with what you did but may I ask why?”

      “Because I thought I owed it to a young man I killed before he would have committed suicide. Because he wasn’t really gay but thought he was from the time he was an altar boy and was repeatedly molested by that priest. You know we know things about people when we take their blood. And I just couldn’t write off as coincidence that the priest who would be celebrating the Mass was the same priest who had fucked up that young man’s mind. You do know, I hope you understand, that I believe there are reasons why I kill who I kill. Maybe I am a Valkyrie. Maybe God presents me with those I am to kill.”

            Beth laughed, “Better you than me. As long as you get the blood you need, I don’t care how you choose where it comes from.”

            Mary smiled and said, “You’re right. But I don’t really choose. I just take what comes along.”

            Joseph said, “Well as long as you=re feeling okay, that’s all that matters. I, ah, suppose you would like some time with Beth?”

            Beth! Mary suddenly realized why she had been so anxious to come up to the Adirondacks and spend Christmas with Joseph and Beth. It was Beth she longed for but she felt obligated to say to Joseph, “You don’t mind?”

            Joseph said, “Do you mind that I’ve been with her since you went back to Schenectady last summer?”

      “No. Of course not. She’s your wife?”

      “And she’s the one who created you. So I don’t mind.”

            Mary looked at Beth. Beth smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, “We came back from Europe because I wanted to see you.”

            Mary’s eyes were locked on Beth’s eyes the way they had often been locked on them this past summer after meeting on the trail deep in the woods. Beth’s eyes were the eyes Mary had seen in dreams even before she had met her in person. Beth’s eyes had a way of swallowing Mary and causing Mary to want to be swallowed. The months of being away from Beth melted away. Her body, mind, heart and soul became so focused on Beth that she failed to notice Joseph leave after he kissed her head through her hair still damp from her swim.

            After Joseph left the kitchen, Beth said, “I thought I would get over you, but I can’t.”

            Mary said nothing, preferring to take Beth’s hand into hers to lift to her lips and kiss. This hand that had held her, had intimately touched her and guided her into becoming the vampire she had become was precious. Her love for Beth filled her with emotion and made her cry, thinking of their first night together. That night, that starry, starry night when she laid naked on the ground and let Beth do whatever Beth wanted to do to her. The sex was great but the sex could not compare to the overwhelming pleasure she felt when Beth pierced her most tender flesh and drew blood from her. She had known what was happing, even though she tried to convince herself it was only a wicked dream. Somehow she had known even then that she was meant for this woman and this woman was making her the vampire she was meant to be.

            Mary licked her tears from Beth=s hands before lifting her eyes to Beth’s eyes and saying, “I worried that you wouldn’t come back or if you did, you wouldn’t want me. I worried I would have to kill Joseph to get you back. Then I worried that if I did that, you would never want me again.”

            Beth smiled just short of a laugh and said, “I think he knew that I would have killed him if he had tried preventing me from seeing you. But don’t worry. Joseph is not like that. We’re not like that. Come. Let’s go up to my room, our room. It’s late. I know you haven’t slept for days.”

            Mary was about to protest she wasn’t tired. Sleep could wait. Her desire could not wait. And yet, while climbing the many flights of stairs to Beth’s apartment high up in the western turret of the castle, she grew increasingly tired. When they reached the apartment and then climbed one more step of stars to the bedroom, she fought against the tiredness while she undressed. She lost the fight to stay awake when she laid down on the bed.

            “Sleep, my lovely,” Beth said after crawling into bed with Mary and pulling the covers up over them. Then ever so gently, ever so lovingly, Beth pressed her fangs down onto Mary’s shoulder to take just a drop of her blood.

            Mary purred but remained sound asleep.

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