Newborn

PART TWENTY-SEVEN

Apparently, what I said started some kind of confessional. My Maker grabbed the bottle and took a swig before I had the chance to guess whether it was true or false.

"I was around fourteen when the Turner's took me in," he continued. "They lived near London but were visiting Paris and were at the market because Roxanna wanted a puppy. She had found me while I was in town, picking up some items for the kitchen hand. I wore torn, dirty rags, while she wore a very expensive, white tailored dress. Her blonde hair was in perfect ringlets and she held this tiny little puppy—her smile was so bright I was sure I had witnessed an angel. I had no idea what she saw in me, but she begged her father until she was blue in the face. He said she couldn't have both the puppy and me . . . so she let the puppy go. They ended up allowing me to stay with them on their farm. I worked in the stables and Noah and I became best friends, hell, I called him my brother at a stage, but every time his back was turned, I couldn't help but look at her. Of course, she was from an elite family and they wouldn't allow her to marry the stable boy. She had many suitors, many dates, and I just watched from the shadows."

He paused to drink a little more.

"It was on her twenty-first birthday that I finally worked up the courage to ask to court her. I was nervous because she was beautiful, and her brother had no idea about how I felt. He was two years younger than me. And I made him come with me into town. I spent hours searching for the perfect present. I didn't know what to get—what would show her how I felt—until......Noah found this stray dog. It was so ugly and dirty, but I recalled how she'd chosen me when I was ugly and dirty. I knew it was the best gift since Roxanne loved animals. And after all she had done for me, she deserved to finally get her puppy." He drank more, a lot more. In fact, he didn't stop drinking until the bottle was empty. "When we got home, we found Noah's parents and baby sisters dead."

I gasped. "What happened? What about Roxy?"

"She was curled up in the corner, her white dress soaked in blood. We thought she was dead. I yelled for her to wake up, and then she finally did. Only she wasn't the same as before. She burst out in tears, and wouldn't stop crying, so I gave her the puppy to try and cheer her up." He got up to open another bottle of scotch, took a sip, and then sat back down. "Roxanna held the puppy for approximately a minute before she devoured it."

"That's . . . horrible," I said.

"That's not the worst part," he told me, realising his cigarette had burnt out; he hastily sparked up another. "After the puppy thing, she was blood-crazed. She attacked Noah, and I jumped in the way to protect him. We got into a—kind of—wrestle and I told Noah to go upstairs. Things were different back then. I was the older one, so I was in charge and he listened to me. My blood didn't set her off the same way Noah's did. She calmed down and then she told me what happened. She told me that a vampire broke into their home, killed their family, and then turned her so she could send a message."

"A message?" I repeated.

"The king wanted Noah. They told Roxanne to hand him over, or they would come back and finish the job—in other words, they would kill her. I was about twenty and Noah was almost eighteen, so we did what any scared teenagers or very young adults would do, we packed up any valuables and ran. And it worked, for a while. Noah would hunt animals for us to cook and Roxanne fed from me as—"

"Whoa, whoa." I held up my hands. "I believe the story, hell, I even believe the messed-up bit with the puppy, but no way were you her live food bag."

He handed me the alcohol. "Drink," he said.

It seemed impossible to envision my Maker, someone so predatory, being someone else's lunchmeat. However, as his dark eyes streamed into mine, I remembered the way he curved his neck and offered more of himself when I attacked him after I was turned. Back then, I hadn't thought much of it, but something in my blood told me that that wasn't usual behaviour for a vampire.