Read Online LEGIONS OF THE DARK (VAMPIRE NATIONS CHRONICLES) by Billie Sue Mosiman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Billie Sue Mosiman
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her father said, lowering the empty blood bag to his side. "Sit down, Dell. Let it work the magic."
Her mother led her back to the bed and she sat, stunned and mindless except for the desire for more. It was not blood, but life. She felt no revulsion toward it now. In fact, she wanted it as much as she'd ever wanted food or drink since the day she was born.
It was as if tiny sparks had ignited in her brain and her neurons were firing off cannons. She felt invincible, able to conquer anyone and anything; she felt as if she might fly.
"Stay calm," her mother said, brushing back the hair at her temple. "This will pass soon and you'll feel like yourself again."
Oh, God, why hadn't they told her that becoming one of them would give her this much strength and vitality? Why hadn't they been happier for her when she had called to her mother to show her the sores that indicated she was going to become one of them? How had they kept this gift from her for so long, kept it all to themselves, leaving her weak and prone to death or accident in her frail human form?
"It's pretty cool, huh, Dell?" Eddie asked. He jiggled around on the chair like a younger child unable to keep still.
"Hush, Eddie," her mother said.
"But Mom, it's immortality. It's a great event. She'll have those feelings over and over again forever, and we ought to tell her."
She blinked and gave herself over to the renewal taking place in her body. She'd never felt so alive, so healthy, so fine and wonderful as this ever in her life. And all it took was blood, sweet blood, blood with living cells that brought her to life with such force she knew if she were ever denied the sensation, she would roar like a lion and take down armies with her bare hands.
"Oh, Jesus," she said softly. "I have to move about. Mom, let me go."
She shook off her mother's touch and rose from the bed in one swift motion that a mortal wouldn't have been able to see. She sped to the door of her room, down the hall and into the kitchen. She felt her parents and grandparents gathering at her back. She saw Celia bending over at the sink, washing a cup and saucer, and her scent was strongly human and female. At the kitchen table sat Carolyn, looking up from a sandwich in her hands, startled to see her cousin out of bed.
Dell could sense everything, every movement around her, every thought. There was a fly behind the curtain at the window, buzzing, seeking exit. The tiled floor protested mightily as her feet stepped across it. The compressor on the refrigerator hummed like an aircraft readying for takeoff. Outside the walls she could hear a dog snuffling along the sidewalk, birds taking wing or landing a flutter on tree limbs. In the house next door she sensed their neighbor as she searched for keys to the car, muttering below her breath at how memory always failed her.
The world was open and furious with sound and sensation. Dust motes filled the sunny windows, twirling like universes. Water sang in the pipes below the sink. She could even hear the whine of electricity that whipped down the wire in the walls to the outlets, feeding the appliances. Life! Life everywhere, in every atom, all of it weaker and without a tenth of the power she knew she possessed.
She turned around and stood immobile, eyes wide in surprise at the world she'd been allowed to enter. "It's marvelous," she whispered. "It's heaven. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me fear it so long?"
"You should come back to bed," Grandma said.
Her mother spoke to her silently, by thought waves. It's not all heavenly, Dell. We have to be careful.
Dell could not believe her, chose not to believe her. She was in love with all things, living and inanimate. She understood instinctively their compositions and the life they had once lived, as in the case of wood and plastic and vinyl, or were living at the moment, such as the blood and the food in the refrigerator, the animals outside, the neighbors in the houses surrounding her own.
Her mother led her back to the bed and she sat, stunned and mindless except for the desire for more. It was not blood, but life. She felt no revulsion toward it now. In fact, she wanted it as much as she'd ever wanted food or drink since the day she was born.
It was as if tiny sparks had ignited in her brain and her neurons were firing off cannons. She felt invincible, able to conquer anyone and anything; she felt as if she might fly.
"Stay calm," her mother said, brushing back the hair at her temple. "This will pass soon and you'll feel like yourself again."
Oh, God, why hadn't they told her that becoming one of them would give her this much strength and vitality? Why hadn't they been happier for her when she had called to her mother to show her the sores that indicated she was going to become one of them? How had they kept this gift from her for so long, kept it all to themselves, leaving her weak and prone to death or accident in her frail human form?
"It's pretty cool, huh, Dell?" Eddie asked. He jiggled around on the chair like a younger child unable to keep still.
"Hush, Eddie," her mother said.
"But Mom, it's immortality. It's a great event. She'll have those feelings over and over again forever, and we ought to tell her."
She blinked and gave herself over to the renewal taking place in her body. She'd never felt so alive, so healthy, so fine and wonderful as this ever in her life. And all it took was blood, sweet blood, blood with living cells that brought her to life with such force she knew if she were ever denied the sensation, she would roar like a lion and take down armies with her bare hands.
"Oh, Jesus," she said softly. "I have to move about. Mom, let me go."
She shook off her mother's touch and rose from the bed in one swift motion that a mortal wouldn't have been able to see. She sped to the door of her room, down the hall and into the kitchen. She felt her parents and grandparents gathering at her back. She saw Celia bending over at the sink, washing a cup and saucer, and her scent was strongly human and female. At the kitchen table sat Carolyn, looking up from a sandwich in her hands, startled to see her cousin out of bed.
Dell could sense everything, every movement around her, every thought. There was a fly behind the curtain at the window, buzzing, seeking exit. The tiled floor protested mightily as her feet stepped across it. The compressor on the refrigerator hummed like an aircraft readying for takeoff. Outside the walls she could hear a dog snuffling along the sidewalk, birds taking wing or landing a flutter on tree limbs. In the house next door she sensed their neighbor as she searched for keys to the car, muttering below her breath at how memory always failed her.
The world was open and furious with sound and sensation. Dust motes filled the sunny windows, twirling like universes. Water sang in the pipes below the sink. She could even hear the whine of electricity that whipped down the wire in the walls to the outlets, feeding the appliances. Life! Life everywhere, in every atom, all of it weaker and without a tenth of the power she knew she possessed.
She turned around and stood immobile, eyes wide in surprise at the world she'd been allowed to enter. "It's marvelous," she whispered. "It's heaven. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me fear it so long?"
"You should come back to bed," Grandma said.
Her mother spoke to her silently, by thought waves. It's not all heavenly, Dell. We have to be careful.
Dell could not believe her, chose not to believe her. She was in love with all things, living and inanimate. She understood instinctively their compositions and the life they had once lived, as in the case of wood and plastic and vinyl, or were living at the moment, such as the blood and the food in the refrigerator, the animals outside, the neighbors in the houses surrounding her own.
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