Black Blood - 13. Chapter 13

13

The bed was four poster with fuchsia drapes like in a young girl’s princess fantasies. Charisma lay in its center, elbows leaning behind her, chin slightly raised, head tilted. An artist she had hired sat on a stool across the room, with canvas in front of him, painting her. She was very upset, and this was making her feel better.

“Drew,” she called, “is it almost finished?”

“Not yet,” he said. “Don’t move, you’re beautiful.”

She didn’t move, but she lowered her long mascara covered lashes, enjoying the compliment. She had turned him into a vampire because he was talented and she wanted him to always draw her and paint her. He always wore worn jeans and v-neck shirts with strange prints on them, like ‘Girlfriends are a pain in the cassh’ and he kept wearing his big black framed glasses even though his eyesight was perfect now. He had just removed the glass in them. He had several piercings in his ears and one in his lip, and he had tattooed arms.

The room was dim, with only a lit cherry red Chinese lantern lamp on the night stand, as well as the moonlight slipping through the arched window. The only decoration adorning the ivory walls was actually another painting of Charisma by Drew. There were some pretty artificial trees lining the walls at intervals in between dark wood furniture. She had bought them because it turned out she wasn’t very good at taking care of real plants. She thought of Mayrin, and her garden of roses and creatively shaped shrubs winning the award for best garden every year in Zarien. She cringed. Mayrin was the most annoying person in the world. That witch girl was coming close behind though.

Another vampire she had created herself, Sammy, as blonde and stylish as they get, was looking at the painting in progress from the threshold. She was always a good fashion adviser, and she had helped choose her dress for this painting. It was a siren dress, strapless and turquoise, the color of Xievon’s eyes. She had decided it was her favorite color. Sammy had also helped her to braid her black hair with beads.

“How does it look, Sam?”

“It looks so good, Chari,” she answered. She liked to give her a nickname, pronouncing it like ‘Carry,’ even though Charisma cringed inside whenever she used it. But Sammy was a good minion, so she tolerated it.

Drew smiled as he kept working his brush delicately against canvas.

Then her relaxing moment was disturbed by the sound of Blake’s expensive loafers walking along the hall, and to her bedroom. He pushed past Sammy and for a moment he just stared at Charisma.

“You look beautiful. What’s the occasion? Another painting?”

“You have your hobbies I have mine.” Charisma arched a finely shaped eyebrow. “I like to create vampires; you like to date the witch killing them. I like drinking expensive red wine; you like driving your stolen BMW. I like letting Drew paint me to forget that something horrible just happened; you like skipping your yearly naps and taking narcotics so that your body won’t hurt.”

Blake paled. She had hit a nerve there. She smiled, tilting her head slightly in a rustling of dark beaded braids.

“Did you get some new drugs, to make up for the ones Viko stole?”

“All right,” Drew said across the room, running his color stained fingers through his short brown hair, “I can’t paint like this. You keep moving.” He tapped the other side of his brush repeatedly against the canvas holder.

Blake ignored him. “They’re not ‘yearly naps.’ We need to sleep profoundly for two to three months, every five years or so, and that’s only after reaching the ages of seventy or eighty years old, depending on the person… I’ve already told you this. Know your facts before mocking me.”

She dug her teeth into her lip slightly before looking up at him through her lashes. “I know my facts. How old are you Blake?” When he didn’t answer she went on, “Over one hundred and fifty. And when’s the last time you had your profound sleep?” Again, he remained silent, eyes gleaming with anger. She said, “Ten years.”

“This is none of your business anyway.”

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Sammy said, offended, as she sleeked her blonde hair over her shoulder with a neatly manicured hand.

“I really can’t paint in these conditions,” Drew was saying.

“Leave,” Blake said without looking at them, “both of you.”

Charisma gave a slight nod to reassure them, and they obeyed. Blake closed the door while Charisma stood in a rustling of turquoise fabric and went to stand by the arched window, leaning her head against the white frame. The view from the seventeenth floor was breath taking, just as beautiful as the view from the high towers of Zarien, only in a different way. There were more lights here, more life. It was exhilarating in a way.

“Never mind me,” Blake said more softly, “are you all right?”

She glanced at him. Even in the dimness she could see the fatigue in his eyes. She was worried about him. There wouldn’t always be fancy Earth style pain medication around to keep him up and running. The immortals didn’t need to sleep deeply for months, no matter how old they got. It was a Malkye thing, a particularity to their kind. But Blake wasn’t too keen on it. But he clearly didn’t want to talk about this right now. Besides, she did have something else on her mind, of course.

“Xievon called me.” Her voice was bitter as she turned back to the window. Dawn was only a few hours away. She couldn’t be killed by the sun like the other vampires, but she feared it nonetheless. It hurt her skin, which was almost the same shade as the ivory walls of her bedroom, and made it red and sensitive.

“What did he say?”

“He found Jacy in the back room of the club. Her body was charred and dismembered. It was that witch. My blood should’ve protected her, but the magic was too strong. Xievon went to bury her somewhere discreet, or so he said. He didn’t want me to see her like that. Before hanging up he told me he would go buy white orchids and put them on her grave, because they’re my favorites.”

“I see.”

“You already knew,” Charisma whirled and stared at him keenly, “how?”

He took off his jacket and threw it across the bed tiredly. He wore nice slacks and slim button down shirt, all black. He was tall and dark in the center of the fuchsia and ivory themed room.

“News travel fast,” he said simply.

It didn’t matter, anyway. She felt angry.

“I have to admit, I didn’t really care when Rob died. But now Jacy? Who’s next, Drew? Sam? Xievon?” Her voice caught a bit when she said that last name. “I can’t do this anymore, Blake.”

“What do you suggest?” He crossed his arms, looking serious for a change.

Charisma was about to speak up when they got interrupted by Josh peering inside.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. Hey Charisma, do you think I have time to head back to my apartment to grab some stuff and then come back here before the sun rises? It’s just, I forgot some video games, and I’m not sure if I have time…” He scratched his hair sheepishly.

“Why don’t you go back to Skylar, so I can know where she is at all times? You could be my spy. Make yourself useful.”

He frowned, shaking his head and opening the door a little bit more but without stepping inside. “Nah, I don’t think I could. I want to be here with you, Charisma. I need to figure this out. I can’t go back to my life. I can’t even play basketball.” He pointed at his chest. “I have so much aggressiveness in me, I think I’d end up killing the other players.”

Charisma rolled her eyes. “Fine. Stay here. And I don’t know if you have time, or if the sky will be sunny or not in the morning. Do I look like a bloody meteorologist to you? Just leave us alone.”

He left, abashed. After closing her eyes she glanced back at Blake.

“Why did you change that one?” he asked.

“Seemed like a good idea at the time. And don’t change the subject. This situation is ridiculous! You should’ve just killed that Skylar Clarence person when you had the chance. We had her file, which I risked everything to steal from Zarien’s archives. I could’ve been found out and arrested for drinking your blood. My father would’ve had me publically shamed. Then, I was the one to take you with me to visit these other worlds and how do you show your gratitude? By dating her instead of killing her for me.”

“I wanted her by our side,” said Blake in an infuriatingly quiet voice.

“Yeah? How did that work out for you?” Charisma laughed dryly, stepping away from the window and closer to him. “And what was the point of asking Viko to seduce her friend, who turned out to be a boy, but apparently that worked out for them.” She shook her head disbelievingly and brought her hand to her forehead, sighing. “I just don’t see the point of it all. You should’ve just killed her, really. Now it’s too late. She’s getting more powerful all the time. And Mayrin is after us, too. All our plans are ruined. I think we should leave.” She nodded, more to herself. “We can’t stay here. Believe me, I know you love it here, and so do I, but it’s just impossible right now. Maybe we can come back in the future.”

She looked at him, half-expecting him to refuse. He seemed hesitant.

“I’m taking my vampires and leaving whether you come with me or not. Of course, I’d rather you stayed by my side. This whole,” she waved with her hand, “bond thing between us just makes me nervous sometimes. If you stay, please don’t get killed, yeah?”

Brushing a dark braid away from her eye, she went to her dark wood dresser and started taking out the things that she would take with her. Sure, she had to travel light, which was unfortunate because she would miss all her designer dresses, but she could still bring a few things through the portal.

“I’ll come with you,” said Blake.

She stopped what she was doing and smiled. “Good. Please gather everyone else. We’ll wait for Xievon’s return and leave right away. We’ll still have an hour or two to find shelter once we’re there.”

“There?” asked Blake.

“We’re going back to Efreyse. I want to see how Viko’s little brother is doing. He should have done all right,” she smirked, “he had ambition. I’m expecting at least a little vampire army waiting for me there.”

“What about the dragons?” he teased her.

“Those sure are annoying, but we’ll figure it out. I’ve decided I hate witches more than dragons, anyway.”