Fate's Vinculum

Chapter 7.

"I d'no how else to describe it," he explained. "It's got to be part of the whole vampirism kit and kaboodle. I wasn't even inside the church before I started to feel a physical heaviness. Sorta like anxiety in your chest, but worse. When I walked in, my head started pounding, and I felt like I was being compressed. I didn't even make it to the alter; I was on my hands and knees, trying to crawl forward. I could feel blood coming out of my nose and ears."

Zoë was horrified. "Why did you go in in the first place?"

Marcus took up reading again. "Being chased by a vampire hunter."

"Woah woah woah, wait. Those really exist?"

He scoffed. "Of course they do. Employed by the church, of course. They're sneaky bastards, too. Some of them dress up like lawn care professionals, and they spray the grass down with holy water instead of pesticides."

Zoë's jaw dropped open. "No."

Marcus shook his head. "From now on pay attention; I try to avoid grass at all costs."

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Zoë frowned.

"Hey Marcus?"

"Hmm?"

"I wouldn't actually recite the bible around you. That'd really hurt you, right?"

"Yup."

Zoë looked at him seriously. "I know I said it before, but I would never."

Marcus glanced at her and smiled. "I know."

Zoë was reading about the origins of witchcraft when the back of her neck prickled. She tried to ignore it, reasoning she felt uneasy because she was sitting in a dark, empty, library with a vampire, reading about witchcraft and demons at three in the morning. But when the feeling instead became more intense, Zoë lifted her head.

To her surprise, Marcus was looking at her. A very serious expression was on his face. Zoë had the uneasy feeling of being watched. It wasn't Marcus' stare she felt, feeling many eyes on her.

Marcus spoke. "Run."

Zoë jumped to her feet. Before she could, several figures revealed themselves from behind the bookshelves. Marcus and Zoë were completely encircled.

Marc swept the books off the table, leaped over it, and stood protectively in front of Zoë. She looked around in terror at all the eyes glinting in the dim light. Marcus growled quietly like an attack dog.

The man directly in front of them walked forward, clapping mockingly. He smiled, revealing the same fangs Marcus had. Zoë whimpered, peeking out from behind Marcus' back.

"Oh, isn't that cute," the vampire said. "You have a pet."

"Leave her out of this, Loïc."

The man with short cropped black hair and menacing eyes stepped forward. He was wearing a black suit, a crisp white shirt beneath it. In amusement, he put a clawed hand to his mouth. "Oh, and you care about her, too! This is just too precious."

Marcus narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

Loïc craned his neck, peaking around Marcus at Zoë. "Has he told you about himself?"

"Lo—"

Loïc held up a finger at Marcus, still peering around at Zoë. "This is a serious question. Has he told you about his past?"

Marcus crossed his arms. Loïc stood fully up right, grinning at Marcus.

"You didn't? Well, wherever shall we start? How about how in the early 70's you were a pimp?"

He grinned at Marcus. When Loïc didn't get a response, he rose his eyebrows and peeked at Zoë again. "No? Lets go back a little bit. I'm sure you've heard of Jack the Ripper, yes?"

Zoë began to tremble. Loïc grinned even wider.

"Ahhh, I've hit upon something. Marcus didn't share with you the reason they never found Jack the Ripper was because he was actually a vampire traveling between London and France? And that the vampire you cower behind right now is that very same vampire?"

"Stop it," Marcus said, his voice growing quiet, deadly.

"He didn't tell you about his victims, why and how he chose them? How he had daddy issues; how his father was a priest that abused him and his family while portraying to the rest of the town he was saintly?"

"Stop it," Marcus snapped.

But Loïc didn't stop. "How once he became a vampire he slowly lost his mind and his moral compass got very confused, so he thought he might as well do God's work by feeding on prostitutes—"

"I said enough!" Marcus shouted as Zoë began to cry.

"--but he was so screwed up in the head he was also trying to figure out how vampires worked because he hated what he had become, so he performed autopsies on his victims, which was why they were chopped up and had various organs removed?"

"Please stop," Zoë whimpered.

"Or," Loïc continued, taking another step forward, "did he tell you how before he became Jack the Ripper, he was King of the Vampires? A title now held by yours truly, by the way."

He threw a brief, smug smile at Marcus before looking back at Zoë. "And that he earned that position by being ruthless, brutal, and lacking guilt, going so far as murdering and feeding on his own family--"

Marcus bellowed unintelligibly, ran forward in a blur, grabbed Loïc by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"You made me do that!" Marcus shrieked, his face crumpling in rage. "You said if I didn't use them for my first feed that you were going to kill me!"

Several of the vampires began to rush Marcus, but Loïc held up his hand. He then began to laugh, barely being able to get the sound out.

"Plenty of people would have sacrificed themselves to save their family, Marc."

Marcus shook him viscously. "How about you tell the whole truth? What you really said? That if I didn't kill them you'd kill all of us, but if I killed them you'd at least let me live?"

"Lets just let bygones be bygones, okay?" Loïc choked out. "How about you put me down now?"

Marc bared his large fangs and hissed loudly. Giving a final glare, Marcus complied. Defeated, he looked at the ground.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want, Marc," Loïc replied. "Or rather, something my Master wants. Boys--take them."