Love Bite - 6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Spencer’s POV

I thought back to the day I met my wife, Orga, in 1620. Until then I never believed in past lives, but from that day on I felt as if I had known her for years instead of just days. She explained we'd somehow known each other 200 years prior to when she died in 1423 and offered to turn me so I was like her. I gladly accepted her offer, with no hesitation.

This is the story she’d told me back then she was known as Elizabeth and claimed I had been the love of her life, Garin McFarland. She wanted to marry me, but her father wouldn't allow it. He claimed I was beneath them and would only bring her and the family down. Instead, her father wanted her to marry someone wealthy to lift their family's standing in the area. He found that in Sheamus O’Riley and his prominent, well-to-do family. She was married off to Sheamus and I was never allowed to see her again.

Sheamus kept her locked in the house and wouldn’t allow anyone to see her except for her family, but they didn’t visit often after gaining their new wealth and improved social status. Even though they were married it was rumored that he slept around with the loose women of the village, but he wasn't very good to her either. Whenever he was drunk or in a foul mood he would often beat Elizabeth but Sheamus was also likely to rape her too. Even though she was his wife, he would force her to have sex, even if she were injured or ill at the time.

After a year of not having any hope of getting out of the marriage, she took her life. Then, she came back to torment and kill all of her relatives, before wiping out her husband’s massive, wealthy family. No one ever knew what had killed both families; they simply assumed it was a wild animal attack. Waterford, Ireland was never the same afterward, because Elizabeth became blood-thirsty after killing these people and reveled in luring other young men to their deaths. Her bloodlust for vengeance and love for Garin had turned her into an original vampire.

From 1424 on, she returned to Waterford every Halloween in search of her mate, Garin. She never found him though, because he had moved away when he learned of her death.

When she found me almost 200 years later, she explained all of this to me. I immediately knew she was the one I was meant to be with, so I allowed her to turn me. I saw it as the opportunity for wealth and power that I had spent my life looking for.

As the years went by, we went from only Orga and me to almost 100,000 vampires. We looked for those who were strong and like-minded individuals, because Orga wanted to make sure that what her husband and father had done to her did not happen to another woman.

Things were good for a couple of centuries, as we quietly built a vampire army and amassed a large amount of wealth, most of it through illegal means. I added to this army by turning young men who were already dying, but since they were trained soldiers at the time and devoted to me, I gave them another chance to do my bidding and continue to live.

You see, most of my 'new' identities involved some sort of military background, which was how I met Rhys Banes in 1856, during the Crimean War. I stayed in the shadows and watched how he acted around his fellow soldiers and how he behaved with his superior officers. During this time, I saw a little of me in him and knew he would be the perfect choice to take over when the time came for me to step down.

I couldn’t go with him when he was medically discharged, due to the injuries he had suffered to his abdomen and leg, because it was not my time to ‘die’ yet. Going against my own rule, I also turned several other men under my command. That’s not to say I didn’t keep my eyes on these men, because I did, just not in person. I had some of my older vampires watch over them to make sure they didn’t draw attention to us and only turned one person other than their beloved, or wife if they were already married.

I determined it was time for Rhys to join the fold and live with the rest of the community when I found him and Gwynydd living in East London.

“Rhys, it’s time to come home,” I said.

“I am home.”

“Your place is with Orga and me. I am your liege and it’s time for you to take your place in my army.”

“I promised Gwyn I would never join an army again.”

“What does it matter what she thinks?”

“She is my sister and what she thinks is important to me.”

“She is only a bastard child. She is nothing.”

“How dare you! GET OUT!”

“You will join me, you’ll see,” I said before I stormed out of the house.

In 1937, I attempted to kidnap Rhys in order to groom him to take over for me, but Gwynydd got in the way. I was glad when she almost died and wished she had, because then Rhys would be with me.

The Council and I had many disagreements over the years, but the biggest one was about the backing of Hitler. I agreed with his position on getting rid of the weak and making a strong army. Once the weaker humans had been eliminated, the stronger ones would be turned into vampires. When the Elders forbid my support of Hitler, I stepped down from my position on the Council so my movements would not be monitored as closely.

Unbeknownst to most people, I secretly funneled money to Hitler to support the building of a super race of humans. Unfortunately, the Council heard rumors about it and Rhys was about to turn me in. I could not afford to let that happen, so Orga and I made a plan to kidnap Gwynydd to prevent Rhys from exposing us. Orga was the only one who went to get her, because we figured Gwynydd was a newer and weaker vampire when compared to us, but she was able to fight Orga and avoided the kidnapping attempt. Orga died that night and I swore revenge against Rhys and Gwynydd for the loss of my beloved.

Both brother and sister thought they could get away from me, but every time they changed their name, my spies inside the Council informed me of their new identities. I picked the times of my attacks to let Rhys and Gwynydd know I had not forgotten about them, along with planting the thought that I would always be able to find them.

I knew there was no way Rhys would ignore an estate auction and the possibility of picking up more antiques, since he was so predictable. I sent a couple of my men as a warning, but he killed one. Rhys did not notice my other spy, since Riley had used a spray that covered his scent. Later, Riley saw Rhys pull a young man out of the building and take him to their car.

I had lookouts at his house as well and they saw Rhys and Gwynydd arrive home and pull a struggling man inside. My spies also heard talk of this person being their beloved. Unfortunately, one of the lookouts was spotted and then they had to clear the woods behind the house so they would not be caught.

I let Rhys and Gwynydd get comfortable first, before I brought some of my men in to attack. I did not think they would be able to protect their beloved and fight my men at the same time, which proved to be right. If I had really wanted to, I could have killed their beloved and gotten out of the house undetected while they were fighting, but I decided against that. I had heard from my contact in the Council that their beloved was a bear and knew that he would be a formidable opponent should he survive the transition. What I had not expected was that they had already turned him. When Rhys, or Damon as he is currently called, found me in his room with the abomination, I told him to kill him or I would.

I knew he would not kill the abomination as I had instructed, but it allowed me to torture Rhys more than I already had. Killing Gwynydd was revenge for the death of my beloved wife, Orga, but killing his beloved would have been for fun and simply because I could. Besides, nobody turns their back on me and gets away with it.

I came out of my musings to a knock on the door. “Come in,” I called.

“Sir, they have gone to Wales. I have your plane standing by whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Riley. I’ll be ready to leave in twenty minutes.” He nodded before he turned and left my office.

***

I flew into Manchester first, because it's where I had a home and most of my clan of vampires lived. It was also so I could meet with my contact inside the Council and pay him for the information he had given me.