An Offer I Could Not Refuse - Part 10

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4  Part 5 Part 6 Part 7  Part 8 Part 9  * * * * Raviele As I watched my new chile sleep, my father Eratan appeared in the room. When our gazes met, I could see the disdain, the scorn on his face. He was more than annoyed about my choice to take the vampire slayer’s son as my lover. “I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen.” I shook my head and looked back at my sleeping prince. His bronze skin glowed under the moonlight shining from the window. Very soon now, I would lay down with him to rest before daybreak. Unlike me, my new lover wouldn’t be able to survive direct sun, so I’d have to hold him here until he was stronger. Although we ruled the earth, we had no handle on when we could survive certain things as sunlight. I’d developed something to make it easier for younger vamps, but it still wasn’t foolproof. “Raviele. You cannot ignore me forever.” I turned slightly to face my birth father. He’d turned into a vampire, then turned me and my mother as well so we’d be a bloodsucking family. That happened over five hundred years ago and though I didn’t forgive him at first, I now knew he’d done it for our best interest. “What do you want me to say?” “Say that I was right. Say that you should’ve listened to me and not trusted a breather.” “We were breathers once.” I shifted away from him and took Aaron’s hand. “He was only doing what any breather would do. Fight for his life.” “And he almost killed you doing it!” “I wanted him to have spunk, and he does. If he fell prey to me without a fight, then it wouldn’t have been a challenge!” “But you wanted to convince him first.” “Yes, because as I said, we were human once. I still have those tendencies sometimes. The human conscience.” “You still haven’t learned!” “I have. When my workers of mine betrayed me, I had learned everything. Just because I trust him doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” I balked at my father. “Maybe not, but you did allow your desire to bring him over to cloud your better judgement. If he would’ve killed you, I would’ve killed him in return. Thank goodness Oscar did not leave.” “Yes, thank goodness, but I wasn’t expecting him to just lay down for me.” I looked away from Aaron and back at my father. “He has the fighting spirit and that is a good thing. He will be an even better vampire because of it. He, who cares for me, was still willing to fight for his freedom. That is a good quality to have. The element of surprise, of masking one’s true feelings in order to get what they want. It is key to vamps getting their prey.” “Yes, it is, but you must know that even if he does claim to love you, he could still try to gain his freedom. Because of that, you must be on your toes at all times.” “I will be.” I eyed Aaron again and kissed his hand. “We are connected now because we are both vamps. I will know what he does before he does it.” “You could read his mind before.” “Yes, but now with that added connection, he cannot surprise or hide anything from me. Nor will he want to.” Father hissed and clicked his teeth. “I hope you are right. If you aren’t and this new vamp hurts you, I will make him suffer then stake him.” “I will be right, Father. Aaron will make you and me proud. You shall see.” * * * * Aaron The loud sounds of my heart beating rang in my ears, startling me out of a deep sleep. My eyes flung open and I hissed, feeling the hairs on my arms stand on end. I’m a vampire. Knowing the hurtful truth, I closed my eyes tight. The tears formed under my eyelids and I clenched my teeth together, even though the fangs hindered me from doing so completely. “Ugh!” I cried out in anguish. My father. The vampire slayer who had been murdered by a vamp so many years ago, wouldn’t be proud of my decision. Any moment now, I expected he would come from out of his hiding place and haunt me in my dreams. “You disgust me!” That voice. The one I knew so well and loved, now hated me in return. How could I regain his trust? His love? I’d betrayed the family and him. I would always be an embarrassment. An abomination. All because I chose to to be infatuated with a bloodsucker. Stupid! “Yes, it was stupid! You should know I would never be okay with that. Do the right thing and get out of there. Give yourself up to other breathers. Go stand in the sunlight and turn to ash. Something! I will never accept my son as a vampire! EVER!” As I listened to those words, I knew exactly what I had to do. I could not in good conscience continue to live as a vamp, knowing the hatred my father’s spirit felt towards me. I had to remedy this right away and sacrifice myself as he’d said. It might hurt Raviele, but he’d find another human to trick into bed. If he truly loved me, he wouldn’t have made me just like him. Despite my feelings for him, I had to turn things around and accept my fate. I was not meant to be a vampire, nor would I continue to be one. All Raviele’s work would be for not and there would be nothing he could do to change it. “Do it, son! Do it quickly before he returns.” In haste, I rolled over and straightened to get up from bed. All I had to do was walk to the window and thrust the curtains to end my short-lived vampire life. Yes, I wanted love everlasting but not at the expense of my father’s acceptance. Perhaps in the next human life, I could do just that with a being who truly loved me and didn’t wish for me to change. *  * * * Ooh hope you enjoyed! In the meantime, check out the other breifers on the Wednesday Briefs site, or visit their blogs.

Cia Nordwell

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