Of Light and Darkness: The Vampire's Daughter

night before.

He answered her thoughts. “You wouldn’t remember, Lottie.”

Valek led Charlotte up the stairs across from the Witch’s study, down another, shorter, lavender hallway, and into an empty bedroom.

He noticed it had already been dressed to welcome someone, with clean sheets placed neatly on the bed, fresh-cut lilacs on top of the nightstand, and pressed dresses hanging neatly in a row in an armoire left open. He knew all of these accommodations were specifically for Charlotte. This was the place Francis would house her during their stay. Something rolled in his center. In his peripheral vision, he noticed Charlotte glance up at him, and he attempted to calm his strained face.

“Valek?”

“Sit down.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, not tearing her focus from him. Her unyielding stare made it impossible for him to look directly at her. He inhaled, trying to steady the warbling he knew would appear the instant he started to speak.

“Let me preface by saying, no matter what, you are completely safe here. I am constantly at arms length away from you.”

“Okay….”

“Lottie, there were several…provisions which needed to be agreed upon for Francis to let you stay here with me.”

Charlotte frowned at this.

“Please. I don’t want you to be frightened, but if I hadn’t agreed to this, he would have killed you. I saw it in his mind. He wouldn’t even let me search for another place to hide without backing me into this proverbial corner.”

“Valek, what is going on?”

He got to his knees in front of her and took her hands in his. “Sometimes, in our world, there are human beings, like yourself, whom we develop relationships with.”

Charlotte smiled at this.

“No. When I use the word ‘relationship,’ that isn’t what I mean. They are used as a sort of pet we keep.” Valek searched her expression to see if she understood what he was getting at. “We do not kill these humans, but we feed from them nightly. The sort of nickname we call these types of people are ‘blood dolls’. They are like… personal donors.” He stopped, searching her face again.

Her eyes grew wide and watery as she gaped at him, inching backward on the bed, grabbing onto the bedclothes for support. “You’re whoring me out? ” she hollered.

“Charlotte, no. It isn’t exactly like that—”

“Yes, it is! It is exactly like that!” She fought and buried her face into the pillow.

“Lottie, the point is, I had to give in to Francis, lest he kill you. I am never going to let anything happen to you.”

She sat up and looked at him, her eyes red. “What do I have to do exactly?”

Valek glanced to one side. “Nothing really. You just sort of…sit there.”

“You mean they take it straight from me? You can’t just prick my arm with a syringe or something?”

Valek shook his head. “I promise it’s just for now. I meant what I said about leaving, just the two of us.” He struggled to find the right words. “Charlotte, I love you.”

She stayed quiet. When he noticed how tightly she clenched her jaw, he tuned in to her mind. He needed to know what she was thinking. Her mind was spinning as the disgusting visualization of what he was asking of her played over and over again. He was going to let them feed off her. Use her. How could he love her and still do this?

Valek silently agreed with her on that one. Suddenly, she began relating herself to the frozen corpses that rested in Valek’s freezer back in their home in the Occult.

“Lottie, I have no other choice. Don’t you see? Francis was never going to let me leave once I entered this house with you in my arms. He articulated one thing to me, but his mind was saying something altogether different. The moment I would have crossed the threshold back out into the city would have been the moment he came after me to kill you. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise. There is not a single living or un-living thing on this planet that means more to me. When you were dying in the dungeons of the Regime, so was I. I will make sure every time you are called upon you will be safe. I promise you. You have to believe me. I love you.”

Charlotte’s frightened gaze stayed locked on his face. Valek grabbed her clammy hands in his and tuned in again. She was considering all of this, fighting two different impulses in her mind, one of them wanting to hate Valek and the other, wanting to love him. The hollow feeling swelled in his chest again as he listened. Would he ever escape from his role as “the monster?” Finally, Lottie’s mind rested on one thought; there was no other way for now. She had to give in if she wanted to stay alive and stay with him.

“I love you, Valek,” she said meekly. “But I’m afraid.”

“I know you are. As am I.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him.

Holding her was the most comforting thing he could think of, though he understood it was not enough.

“I want you to be first, though.”

He pulled away to look at her, gaping. “I don’t know if I am entirely comfortable with that.”

“Valek, I’m so afraid to do this. You owe it to me.” Tears streamed in silvery ribbons down her pale face.

He breathed in slowly through his nose and just stared at her. He glanced at the floor. “Lottie—”

“Please?” Her voice wavered as he anticipated more of her warm tears to come.

He sighed. “I want you to know you won’t have to do this forever. This will not be the rest of your life, Charlotte.”

Grasping both sides of his face, she pulled him forward and pressed her lips firmly to his. She released a hot breath that sent a trail of fire down the back of his throat. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he felt her tongue brush over his fangs. She was impossible to let go of, as lingering and intoxicating as red wine.

They rolled back together so he loomed over her on the bed. He whispered her name in her ear, slid his lips along the soft contours of her jaw. She sighed. He opened his mouth, letting his cool breath prickle the tiny hairs on her skin. She exhaled again, a happy sound. It sent a jolt of electricity through his center. Her fingers knotted in his hair as he skimmed only the tips of his fangs down one side of her neck.

“Do it,” she whispered.

He swiftly pulled away and looked at her, his breathing still heavy and staggered in his chest.

“You’re thirsty.” She grazed her fingertips across his purple lids. This newfound daringness in her was completely foreign to him. He had never thought Lottie would be this way — passionate, sensual.

His hand trailed up her arm until he found her palm, mouth open, tasting the scent she left in the air.

“Do it,” she challenged again. She met him with a corrupt simper. “I trust you,” she whispered, kissing him deeply again.

He breathed her in, but it was too much this time. He turned his face away. “I'm not perfect, Lottie. I couldn’t live with myself if I ever—” But she didn’t let him finish.

“Please.”

Valek looked down at her underneath him, both of his marble arms keeping his upper half perfectly steady on the mattress. He thought for a moment, thankful she was unable to hear exactly what he was thinking. He smiled. “You’re going to be very tired later,” he warned.

“I don’t care.” She bit her lower lip. It was enough to send a slight tremor down his middle.

He smiled and lifted away from her slowly, something malicious curling the ends of his mouth. He moved out of the light, letting the shadows play tricks on the cracks in his skin, before disappearing completely.

He heard Charlotte’s pulse leap into her throat, though she laughed despite her fear. She looked behind her. “Valek?” Her voice cracked a little.

A soft, inhuman hissing rumbled deep within Valek. But unlike the minatory hissing that had woken Charlotte in the dungeon of the Regime palace, Valek didn’t mean for this sound to be threatening at all. It came out calm. He knew it allured her, and just as she sat up on the bed, he dashed through the darkness, grabbing her arms, pinning