The Story of the Vampire, L (Completed | Featured )

Part 5 - Love is Lured with Kind Words

"What is this, it's macrame?" he asked me.

"I like doing it," I told him. "It lets my mind wander."

"You know, Escha sleeps all night usually, he said. He stays up all day like living people. He has their rhythm. It's very different, isn't it? He only stayed the night next to me so he could look at Aulus. A little sacrifice of his time. He's genuine." He was chatty, and so I knew he was bursting with something to say.

"You're glad to see him then. That's good." I looked up 

"I am glad. He is much changed of course, but I can understand the changes. I think he likes me, and I like that." He sounded a little breathless. "Little master," he whispered, "he's in trouble. We're not meant to do anything to help him but it is difficult to sit by. I feel that most of what I do is sit by these days, but there must be something done to massage this situation. Are we not brothers?"

"I must warn you that if you tell me, I will not keep the secret from our master."

"It's understood."

I set aside my piecework and reached for him so that he could lie against me and whisper in my ear. Sometimes it is better not to let Iovita in on situations before one knows how they might be handled. If Iovita were to overhear something sensitive, he might act too quickly. Nonus whispered to me under his breath, his weight against my body.

"He said to me that it was a small matter, which is why he could share it, but it's not a small matter at all. I get the essence, that there are other things going on his life that feel a greater injustice, but one fears that violence begets violence. We know that."

"I have seen a mark upon his body. A little knife wound."

"Yes and it's a little knife. He tells me he has many children, but that he does not reign over them, and that he countenances them as equals, which, little master, what a mistake. They do not listen to him in anything. This child, and he is a child, had been living in our master's house under cover of shadow. When Escha went to live there, a little tired of Paris and living alone, he did not know this Nicolas was there. He did not know that his little one had been hurt somewhere, right hurt, and Escha says we must sympathize with Nicolas because he is always in pain, and that it is Escha's own fault for saying 'No we cannot make sport of the blood for there is too much between us now' as he told me himself." He took a breath in the dimness and shook his head.

I waited for him to go on, and touched his elbow. 

"So because of this," Nonus went on, touching the hand that touched him, "the child is in a frenzy of revenge. His eyes are clouded with deeply felt resentment and need of the blood to relieve his suffering. You see, Escha has them all jockeying for his attention. Really this is the logical result, isn't it? Escha will not give it willingly, and you know as well as I do that when a man is treated as an equal, he may be compelled to step above the hand that has ruled him. That is what the child is desiring to do. He is taking what will not be given, but Escha has responded by not having blood at all. I tell you that is the worst response he could have. Something must be done before the situation cannot be redeemed. There is no complication deep enough, not bloodline or fault of character or guilt, to justify not taking blood if Escha can take it. Little master, what can we do?"

Everything reminded him of Aulus cold and bloodless. "You would have gone to Iovita if you wanted the child eliminated," I said.

"No you know me better than that. It is you first always."

"Tell me of your suspicions. You are very good to understand the deeper issue," I whispered.

"For now he is safe with us," he said, regaining himself. "You would not imagine that a child would dare to come here, for we would not stand for it. We will not stand for younger ones about us, no. I am absolutely offended by the situation. We will keep him here. You are asking me what I think, and it is certain that if there is violence now, there has always been. Perhaps Escha must also be taught to do no harm."

"The child?"

"If he comes here we will kill him."

"Do you imagine in any sense that this is not our affair?"

"He is my brother. It is our affair. Do you agree?"

"If I tell it to Faya, he will think it is his to do with what he would. You understand this?"

"The child is his blood as well as any other, and so it is his right. But I suspect that our master has treated Escha with a soft hand that looks like equal standing. You will know that I understand that is why Escha remains brash. I do not expect master to act without sayso from Escha."

"We will see, precious boy," I told him, and Nonus pushed himself up against the soft cushions, having had his say. "Settle yourself. I have taken hold of the matter now." 

He didn't go, and sat with me in the dimness for some minutes. After a fashion, he took my hand and stroked it absently, as if it were a tame animal. 

I waited, gazing up at him.

"Equidem," he said, meeting my eyes, as for me, "I am too warm."

Without a word.

"Oh you're wondering where," he said softly. "Here," he said, touching his wrist, "here, here," his collarbone, beneath his ear.

"Dulcibus est verbis alliciendis amor," I hummed to him. Love is lured with kind words.

"Dominus. Praeceptor. Tutor," master, teacher, protector. "Help us sleep. Reliever of burdens, relieve me of burden."

When I bit into his wrist, I felt him take my hair in his fist so that he wouldn't lose his balance. I pulled him down into the chair but his hand had gone rigid and he could not let go of me. In the heated moments afterward, he let me kiss him, with his lips that are always soft and parted. I looked on him and he was loose and little surprised, and when I kissed the side of his mouth he laughed a sweet little laugh. I left him there to sleep, too charged up to sit still. 

In the soft light of morning, all the house was quiet, and for a moment everything seemed properly sorted. Iovita came back in from down pub as I passed through the kitchen, and said, "Oh, there was a call for you. I left you a memo on the counter." He passed me with a hasty slap on the ass. "I know what you've been doing. Well done."

"Cheek."

On the counter I found the scribbled note. "Oh, me? Nothing. Everything terrible. Bird sounds. A hiccup." -Master. A call to the house returned nothing but endless ringing. I tried not to think of Escha, because for the moment, he was all right as he could be and healing.

For the entirety of that day, the quiet atmosphere remained over us, muted and easy. There is no way of knowing at what point Aulus passed. But I knew from the sounds that came out of my child, my Nonus, that we could not stay in Brighton.