I Vampire
by Julien regg

Chapter Five

Over the next few nights, I took the time to get to know Darian and Raffiki without just reading their thoughts to find out more about them. They were very close to each other, and although they were Tallan's fledglings, after their training, they spent very little time around him. It was Bashire that they spent most of their time with. That was where their training in combat had really come from. There's no better combat teacher than a Forsaken, and having Bashire live in House Shay-Doran was perfect. They were both a little upset over the prospect of losing their teacher and comrade, but they were still more confused over how he'd actually been turned. I'd explained that it was an accident, and I hadn't known that allowing him to drink from me would turn him. Tallan and Doran had also told them that it had been strange and unexplainable. I had simply done the same thing that Tallan, himself, had done with Bashire countless times. For reasons unknown, he'd been turned when he drank from me.

Like Daren and Franklin, they were both very leery of my combustion gift, and they'd nearly jumped out of their skins the first time I'd incinerated a victim in their presence. I was hesitant to let them drink from me as I had with Daren, because I was afraid of what effect my blood would have on them. It was prophesized by Tyron that my blood would enhance all who drank it, but Tyron had been mad when he wrote those prophecies.

Bill continued to beg for his death each time I used him for pleasure and "the little drink", but I had planned on keeping him alive until Bashire woke up, and I was sticking to it. I did make sure that he was fed a rich protein diet, though. I had thought about bonding him, but I didn't think I could stand to look at him for over a hundred years. He would die when Bashire opened his eyes.

Others in the house had also found his ass and mouth to be a very pleasing place to put their dicks. Tallan and Doran had used him at the same time the night after I enslaved him. My mind trap was still firmly in place, so the experience was both degrading and mentally painful for him. His body was getting used to accommodating men, however, because a few of the drones had also made themselves comfortable with him. Because of that, it wasn't nearly as painful for him to be fucked.

Daren despised Bill, and I had already gotten from his mind that it was more than the fact that he was a rapist. He hated the human, because I took my pleasure in him. When Daren had drank from me, he'd fallen love with me. At least, that's what he thought it was. It was more like an imprint of me on his soul, and I didn't understand it completely, but I could see it when I looked into his eyes.

Franklin and I started to mend our relationship. He was no longer scared of me. He was more scared for me than anything else. He knew that even the rogue vampires had read the prophecies, and even though they were mostly just words from a fragmented vampire mind, they believed them. That meant that I would be forced to live a life where there were others constantly trying to either kill me or imprison me for my blood.

I noticed that Darian, Raffiki, Daren and Franklin all left the house to hunt. Tallan and Doran were content to feed from the livestock on the third floor. Hunger didn't affect me the way it did the rest of them, but I really wanted to hunt. After all, hunting was a very big instinct for a vampire. It was in his heart to hunt for his food, and I was beginning to get angry about being kept on the estate.

"It will soon be unsafe for you to be so open," said Tallan when I remarked about it after Franklin had followed Daren and the others out for the night. "Rogues will know about you all too soon, and you won't have a moment of peace in the open. You should get used to feeding from domesticated cattle."

"I won't be a prisoner," I replied. "No rogue will keep me locked away in an estate, Tallan. If that is to be my life, then I'll soon be ready to end it."

"You have no training," he said. "You have no idea what to do in a combat situation. Bashire is the combat teacher, and he is in his death sleep."

"I have full use of my gifts," I countered. "I'm sure that no amount of combat training could help me as much as my gift of combustion."

"You can't burn every rogue you come across, Eric," he sighed. "Think of the benefit of interrogation."

"I'm a seer, Tallan," I reminded him. "I've no use for interrogation, and before you say anything about mind blocks, think of how easy it is for me to bypass the mind block you're so fond of putting in place when you're in my company."

"You cannot go out alone," he said after a few moments of silent consideration. "You've only been a vampire for five days."

"Yes, and I have the vampire knowledge of a thousand years," I said evenly. "I know more about vampires than any of the fledglings that are out on their hunts tonight, Tallan."

"I realize that, Eric," he said. "I'll speak to Doran about letting you hunt with the others tomorrow night, but I still think you should pair up with one of them."

"Raffiki is the most experienced," I said. "I will speak to him about it when he returns."

"Very well," said Tallan, but I could tell that he wasn't happy about it, and in his mind he was thinking that it wouldn't be long and no one would be able to tell me what to do.

I did speak to Raffiki about hunting with him when he came in just an hour before sunrise. We decided that I would go with him to hunt the following night, but that didn't come to pass, either. Raffiki didn't hunt the following night. When Daren and Darian came back from their hunt they told Tallan and Doran about the rogue activity in the city. There were slayers in town, and something big was happening with the rogue vampires.

It couldn't possibly have anything to do with me, but Tallan wasn't so sure. I searched the minds of each of the hunters to see if they had spoken to anyone about me, and they hadn't. The only thing that Daren had been doing, besides hunting, was searching for his second drone. Raffiki and Darian already had three drones a piece, and they were only interested in when they would be allowed to form their own house. They knew that in order to gain emancipation from House Shay-Doran, they had to make fledglings. Neither of them were particularly excited about the prospect of fledglings, though.

Franklin had only talked to his victims, and they were all dead. He had never been big on conversation to begin with. Franklin was a quiet and withdrawn person. He'd only held lengthy conversations with family, and now, the house. That meant that none of the vampires currently in House Doran had said anything about me to anyone. Still, Doran put the house on lock down. None of us were allowed to leave the estate for any reason until Tallan could find out what was going on.

It had to be something big, though. Daren had said that he'd seen three slayers, and usually, only one slayer was dispatched for rogue activity. The presence of three meant that there was a large number of rogues in the area. That fact had Tallan very nervous. I knew from his mind that rogues were often known to try to assassinate members of the High Council, so that meant that they could be in the area, because of him. Of course, that meant that Bashire would be in danger, too, but since he was in his death sleep, there was no way that a rogue could get to him. The drones in the house would have killed any that breeched our estate.

Because of this, we spent the next few days inside the house. None of us went anywhere, and we'd had to send the drones out to buy food for the humans and other supplies that we needed. Everyone continued to enjoy Bill, and I'd taken to having him bathe me instead of Sedrick. Bathing me was degrading to Bill, and that fact amused me greatly.

Upon waking on the evening of my ninth night as a vampire, I was excited. This would be the last night of Bashire's death sleep, and I was itching to be in his company again. Bill was naked and asleep beside me, and I thought about the fact that this was going to be his last night alive. He'd been developing a perverse sexual thrill from being used the way we were all using him, so I wasn't sorry that he wouldn't be around after tonight. The sexual acts were still degrading to him, but he was actually getting off on that degradation now.

I wasted no time slipping my dick into his constantly lubricated ass that evening. He sighed as the penetration brought him out of sleep, and I was almost sickened by the thrill in his thoughts as I fucked him. I sank my fangs into his neck as I sped up my thrusts into his ass. I still wouldn't let him experience the euphoria of the vampire bite, but he was quite stimulated by being fucked.

He was actually bucking his ass back against me as I fucked him. His ass was still as tight as it had been the first time I fucked him, and I marveled at the resilience of his sphincter as it milked my dick with ever movement inside of him. I pulled my dick out of him at the same time I removed my fangs and bit my tongue to bleed on the wounds. He was instantly disappointed, because he actually wanted my cum inside of him. I had other plans for him, though.

"It's time for you to get the bath water ready, Bill," I said.

"Yes, Sir," he said, getting out of the bed and walking into the bathroom.

I followed him a few minutes later, and slipped into the tub with him. He washed me with care, and his mind was full of images of being my sex slave for the rest of his life. He was right about that, but he had no idea that tonight was the end for him. He'd gotten in his head that I'd keep him alive for years and use him sexually for all of that time. It actually made me chuckle to think about it.

My mirth didn't last long, though. As he was drying me, I noticed that my dick was still hard, and every time he touched it, I wanted more. I had wanted to wait for Bashire before I had my orgasm, but my dick was very demanding that night. Even though it would give him that sick thrill to do it, I decided to have Bill suck me off. As soon as my body was dry, I sat on the edge of the tub and spread my legs.

Bill needed no instructions, he just went to his knees in front of me and engulfed my erection to the root. He really had gotten quite good at sucking dick, and I knew that I had Franklin to thank for that. Franklin had used Bill's mouth almost every night just after I finished with him for the night. I stopped thinking about that as his mouth and throat worked my erection expertly. I sat there passively as he sucked me, letting him do all of the work.

He really was very good at what he was doing. He tried twice to back off and let me recover when he sensed that I was nearing my orgasm. Part of that was his desire to heighten my pleasure, but another part of that was his desire to keep this going. He was enjoying this almost as much as I was, but the second time he tried to delay my orgasm, I put my hands on the sides of his head and kept him still while I fucked up into his mouth and throat. I was just emptying my load into his throat when Sedrick appeared in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Forgive me for the intrusion, Master Eric," he said. "I thought you would like to know that Bashire is about to wake."

"Thank you Sedrick," I replied. "I'll be there in a moment."

As soon as Sedrick was gone, Bill stood up. I thought about telling him that this was it for him, but even I am not that cruel. I took him into a seductively deceitful embrace and sank my fangs into his neck, still guarding to keep the euphoria away from him. He didn't struggle, because his mind told me that he believed this would be another "little drink." However, when my heart began to match the rhythm of his, I didn't stop drinking. He moaned as his body became weak from blood loss, and his mind finally registered that he was about to die. He didn't want to die, but I couldn't keep him around now that Bashire was awake. I let him fall from my embrace, not even bothering to seal his wounds. Very little blood trickled from the wounds on his neck, but he was alive.

His heartbeat was faint, and he would die in a matter of minutes. I embraced the power within me, and let it flood through my body. I saw from his mind that he could see the fire in my eyes. He didn't understand it, but it terrified him none the less. His last thought before I incinerated his body was that he had been betrayed. It was at that same moment that I heard Bashire's wail of hunger.

I dressed quickly and made it to the other bedroom just as Sedrick came back with a male victim from upstairs. Bashire saw us when we entered the room, and I could see that he was in agony from the hunger. His vampire senses picked out the human, and he snarled, scaring the man almost to death.

He walked slowly over to the cowering human and roughly took him into his embrace. As his fangs sunk into the man, all resistance ceased. Bashire had been around vampires long enough that he had no need of being told to stop before the human heart stopped. He even knew to bite his tongue to seal the wounds in the human's neck. I was preparing to burn the lifeless body as soon as it fell to the floor, but I heard in Bashire's thoughts that he didn't want me to do it.

He was absolutely beautiful. His long blond hair had taken on a golden sheen that it hadn't possessed when he'd been Forsaken. His eyes, like mine, had changed as well. Where mine had taken on the golden rings around the dark irises, his had black rings around golden irises. He was older than sixteen years when Tyron had fed him vampire blood to bond him, but he still looked not a day over twenty-one. In turning him, not one, but two rules had been broken.

I took him into the bathroom and stripped out of my clothes before running the bath water. I took the time to pour in the powder that Sedrick always used, and the room filled with the familiar scent of pine and sandalwood. Bashire looked at me with a loving gaze as he slipped into the tub. I quickly slid in behind him and began to wash him.

"My existence is sacrilege to the council," he said. "Yet, I want to live."

"You will," I assured him. "I've foreseen our future, Bashire."

"So you mean to stay with me?" he asked as if I'd actually abandon him.

"You have me for eternity, Bashire," I replied, wetting his hair.

"I am your fledgling," he said.

"You are my beloved," I corrected.

"I should despise you, Eric," he said as I lathered his hair with shampoo.

"And do you?" I asked, leaving his thoughts unread for fear of what they would tell me. I had to hear it from him.

"I love you," he replied. "I love you more than I have ever loved anything in my existence."

"And I love you, Bashire," I said. "With every ounce of my black vampire heart."

I filled him in on everything that had been going on in the house while he was in his death sleep. He was slightly unsettled when I told him about Bill Glass, but he was happy again once he learned that I'd dispatched his life moments before coming to be with him. He was even more unsettled when I informed him of the lockdown and the reasons for it.

"Tallan believes that the rogues are after him?" he asked. "That would mean that they would be after me, too."

"But you are no longer the high seat of the Forsaken," I said. "You are a vampire now, Bashire."

"But they do not know that," he replied as I dried him after the bath.

"There will be trouble when the council learns what has become of you," I warned.

"Sloan will most definitely call for our heads," he agreed. "Still, I have to contact them and name my maker."

"I know that," I replied. "Brock will be here in thee nights."

"You've foretold?" he asked instantly understanding.

"I have," I replied. "I have foretold much."

"I would hear of my future and destiny, Eric," he said. "I would hear everything you have foretold."

I thought about that as we dressed for the night. The sun was still in the sky, so I knew that the others were still sleeping. How much should I actually tell Bashire about the future? I'd purposefully withheld most of the facts of my foretelling from the others, because I knew that to know too much about what was to happen would taint the future.

"I can't tell you everything, Bashire," I said. "Some things have to just happen. If I tell you about them before hand, you will try to force them."

"And what can you tell me?" he asked.

"I can tell you that Sloan will, in fact, call for our heads, but a vote in the council will stay our executions," I said. "We will be allowed to live, but you will no longer be a member of the council in any way."

"My replacement?" he inquired.

"You know the line of procession, Bashire," I said quickly. "You know who will take high seat and second in command. I'm sure you even know who will be named to hold the lesser seat vacated by the new second in command."

"I do," he confirmed. "When will all of this take place?"

"Soon," I said purposefully being vague with my answer.

We went downstairs to the great room where we discussed my foretellings a bit more. We talked about the estate that we would purchase and turn into House Maxwell-Doran. I told him about the large human staff, but I left out that there would be slayers, watchers and Forsaken living on our estate as part of our folken. I wasn't sure what his reaction to that would be.

"The sun is still up," he said, looking over his shoulder at the windows behind us. "Why are we awake already?"

"I'm not sure why we don't sleep as long as the others," I said. "I don't know about you, yet, but I don't fall asleep as early as they do, and I wake up a lot earlier than they do, too."

"So for the first few hours that we're awake, we're going to be trapped in the house?" he asked. "I'm going to have to get used to avoiding the sun."

"The sun won't hurt us," I replied. "It will bother our eyes, but we can have sunglasses made from the same kind of glass in these windows."

"You're sure about this?" he asked.

"Positive," I replied. "I foretold it."

He was quiet for a while, and he studied me closely. I resisted the urge to delve into his thoughts to find out what he was thinking. With Bashire, I wanted there to be mystery. I didn't want to invade his mind. It would be difficult to resist, but I was determined to do it. He'd tell me what he was thinking when he was ready.

"You know that with the gift of foretelling, you are now one of the vampire prophets," he said finally. "Just like Tyron."

"I am not like Tyron," I assured him. "Tyron went mad with the change, because the two different viruses battled for control inside of him. I don't have two different viruses inside of me. With me, the two viruses have merged and become something different. You are the first of my bloodline, Bashire, and my bloodline is different than any of the four original."

"So with you, there is now a fifth bloodline?" he asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

"I'm still a Doran," I assured him. "My blood is just different than the Doran blood."

"But that would mean that you are the beginning of a new bloodline," he said. "That was foretold by Tyron as well."

"I really need to read The Book Of Prophecies," I said. "I only know what others know about the book. From the blood, I know favorite passages of Doran and Tallan, but I need to read it myself. I know that most of Tyron's prophecies are wrong, but some of them are accurate."

"Tallan carries his copy of the book," said Bashire. "I also know that Doran, as head vampire of this house, has a copy of his own. You'll be given a copy by the High Council when your house is started."

"It's going to be a battle to get the house started," I replied. "Sloan will be against us to the bitter end."

"I'm certain he will," agreed Bashire. "You know, we've discussed your foretelling, the council, House Maxwell-Doran and even Tryon, but we haven't talked about us, Eric."

I knew what he wanted to discuss, and I knew exactly what there would be between us. Did he somehow know that he would never sire a fledgling of his own? Did he understand on some level that he would be with me for the rest of our lives? He would have drones of his own, but he would never take a fledgling.

I also held no illusions about our life together. We would be lovers, and we would love each other for eternity. That was unquestionable. The part that would be hard for both of us was that we were vampires, and that meant that monogamy was impossible. Sex was as much a part of a vampire's nature as hunting. Feeding is always more fulfilling during sexual intercourse. I knew that it would be hard for him, because I'd noticed his reaction to hearing about my play times with Bill Glass.

"You know that we'll be together forever, Bashire," I said slowly. "We'll love each other like no others, but we are vampires."

"And it will be impossible for us to be faithful," he finished for me. "I understand that completely. But know this, if you have sex with another, you'd better kill him."

"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way," I replied. "And the same goes for you, Bashire."

"You know I'll never want to make another," he said quietly. "I don't think I could do it."

"I know," I sighed. "You will have drones, though."

"Oh, definitely," he agreed quickly. "A vampire has to have drones to survive."

"We can survive without drones, Bashire," I said.

"But would we want to?" he asked, and I knew he was right. Drones were as much as part of a vampire's nature as sex and hunting. To live without them would be unbearable.

I even understood the relationship between Sedrick and Doran. Doran had seen something in Sedrick at one time that he thought was admirable enough to bestow upon him a life that is rarely given. I'd seen them together since my turning, and I saw the looks they gave each other. It was about more than sex, though. There was love between them. It wasn't the same kind of love that Bashire and I shared, but it was love.

"You know that I'm going to have to make fledglings," I said, watching his face for a reaction.

"Of course you'll make fledglings," he said quickly. "Your bloodline won't take off if you don't."

"How will you feel about that?" I asked him.

"I'll love them, because they'll be a part of you, Eric," he said. "Why do you keep watching for an expression from me? You can read my mind."

"That would be rude," I declared. "I don't want to read your mind."

"You're awake," said Tallan as he walked into the great room. The sun had gone down while we were talking, and before I knew it, the entire family was in the room with us. We'd been locked down for a few days, and we were all getting on each other's nerves a bit.

"Eric and I were getting to know each other better," replied Bashire. "We were discussing his house."

"It's a bit premature to be talking about his house, don't you think?" asked Doran as he took his seat beside Tallan on the sofa.

"Master Doran," said Bashire, "Eric can't remain under your house now. He has a fledgling, and very soon, he'll have a drone."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tallan, leaning forward.

"In a few minutes, I'm going to contact Brock and have him come here," replied Bashire. "I want to tell him about this face to face. As you know, we're very close. If he's willing, and Eric accepts him, I want him to be Eric's first drone."

"You're strategizing," said Tallan.

"Of course I'm strategizing," snapped Bashire. "The council will want us dead, Master Tallan. I am a combat specialist. As soon as my eyes opened, I started to think of what to do to strengthen our position for existence."

"So you think that by bonding another Forsaken, you'll have the Forsaken on your side?" asked Doran. "Have you forgotten that it was you who wrote the law that says no Forsaken can be turned?"

"And as far as I'm concerned, that law has still been unbroken," he replied.

"Bashire, you are a vampire," countered Tallan. "How can you say the law is unbroken?"

"I wrote the law," he said calmly. "It specifically states that no Forsaken may be turned vampire by malicious action and intention. Eric had no idea that his blood would turn me. I was a drone when I drank from him."

"We still don't know why his blood turned you," said Tallan.

"Yes we do," insisted Bashire. "Eric's blood is a new line. Look at his eyes. Look at my eyes. No other vampire in the world has eyes like ours. I suspect that any fledgling that Eric sires will have eyes like his."

"That's hardly an argument for a whole new bloodline," argued Tallan. "There are other factors that would have to be proven."

"And he'll prove them," he replied. "The gift of flight is a gift unknown to all vampires, save Tyron Par and Eric Maxwell. I have that gift."

"How do you know you have that gift?" demanded Tallan. "Have you tested it?"

"I don't have to test it to know it's there," he replied.

"That isn't going to be enough to save either of you from death, Bashire," said Doran.

"You know that the gift of foretelling isn't unknown to vampires," replied Bashire. "Other vampires have had the gift. There is one vampire on the council who possesses it now."

"Matthias does not possess the gift of foretelling," insisted Tallan. "He makes blind predictions, and that's been proven. Why else would he not be able to add to The Book Of Vampire Prophecies?"

"I wasn't talking about Matthias," replied Bashire. "Who is the only vampire on the council who is also an author of prophecies in that book?"

"Sloan does not foretell," snapped Tallan.

"Yes, he does, Master Tallan," argued Bashire. "You know that it is a requirement to having anything you write added to the book. Sloan's power isn't as strong as Eric's, but he does possess it."

"What does this have to do with saving your lives?" asked Doran. "Even more, what has this to do with proving that Eric is the beginning of a fifth bloodline?"

"Saving his life is the easiest to answer," said Bashire. "The gift of foretelling makes him a prophet, and anyone who has read The Book Of Vampire Laws knows that a prophet can not be killed. Not even the council can order his death."

"He's right about that, Beloved," said Tallan. "Eric's life is safe from the council. The rogues are his only danger."

"We'll deal with the rogues," Bashire boasted.

"Bashire, this is serious," sighed Doran. "Rogues will come for Eric over and over again."

"That's why we'll be employing Slayers," said Bashire, shocking even me. I hadn't told him that there would be slayers in our house. When I'd seen this fact in my vision, I'd assumed that it had been my decision to employ them. This was letting things happen naturally and staying out of the future, but that didn't mean I couldn't be shocked.

"And you plan to have the council assign slayers to House Maxwell-Doran?" demanded Tallan.

"The council can't assign slayers to anything," replied Bashire. "The government controls the slayers, Tallan. You know that."

"But you expect the council to sit back and look the other way while there are three vampire slayers on Eric's estate?" gasped Doran.

"I don't know how all of this will happen, Master Doran," said Bashire. "I do know that this is what I want for security on the estate, though. We'll make it happen somehow. I'll discuss it with Brock when he gets here."

He excused himself to go and call Brock as the others sat staring at me. I could hear it in their thoughts. They thought that I had told Bashire everything that I had foreseen, and that was why he was going on about slayers on the estate. I hadn't told him anything about the visions I'd had about slayers. I had purposefully told him as little about those visions as possible. I was sorry that I had told them as much about the visions. Knowing too much about the future was a curse, and I was starting to understand that myself.

Then I caught a scent that was completely alien to me. It wasn't Forsaken, and it wasn't human. I'd never smelled anything like it before. There was something about it that reminded me of a vampire, but it was so strange. I had no idea what it was, and as an involuntary reflex, I embraced the power inside of me. The others had to have seen the change in me.

"Masters Tallan and Doran," said Sedrick as he came to the doorway of the great room. "Vampire Slayer, Andelynne and her Watcher, Derrick Tull to see you."

That was the scent I had picked up. It explained why it smelled like a vampire in a way, too. A Vampire Slayer would definitely have a scent all her own. I instantly released my hold on the power within me and felt a sagging effect as it let go of me in return. The threat I'd thought I smelled was unfounded.

"What is a Vampire Slayer doing here?" demanded Doran, looking at Tallan.

"I'm sure it has to do with the rogue element in the city, Doran," replied Tallan. "We have nothing to fear from a slayer. You know that."

"Show them in, Sedrick," said Doran, but he was clearly still rattled by their presence in the house and on the estate in general.

"Yes, sir," replied Sedrick as he turned to go back to the front door.

Derrick Tull came in first. He was tall and muscular with chestnut hair and violet eyes. I was shocked to discover that this was where the scent came from. This man was more than a man. His violet eyes told me that there was vampire blood in his veins, but that didn't explain it. He wasn't a drone, because when I probed his mind, I didn't see a bond to anyone. Yet there was vampire in him. I was shocked to find, upon even closer inspection, that the vampire was in his genes. This man had been fathered by a vampire!

Andelynne, the Vampire Slayer, didn't look like what I'd expected a Vampire Slayer to look like. She was probably about five feet and four inches tall with long red hair and green eyes. Her face was almost angelic, and when she smiled it was almost like she could light up the entire room. She was wearing black leather pants and a matching jacket. Derrick didn't sit until after Andelynne was seated, and then she smiled again before speaking.

"Forgive the intrusion," she said, "but I'm afraid I have something to tell you that is quite important."

"Please," said Tallan.

"Rogue vampires have literally flooded this city," she said. "There are seven slayers, including myself, on the streets, but there are far too many of them for us to dispatch. Master Tallan, I believe that it is imperative to your safety that you leave the city at once."

"We have been ordered to stay here, on the estate, until you are ready to leave, Master Tallan," said Derrick. "We'll travel with you back to St. Louis."

"You're both welcome to stay as long as you like," offered Doran.

"I'm afraid that I can not leave this estate just now," replied Tallan. "There are other matters that are pressing at this time, and my presence is needed here. I should inform you that other members of the council will be here very soon, and some of them will be Forsaken."

"We understand that Bashire of the Forsaken is here with you," said Andelynne. "Our orders are to guard him as well."

All of the vampire eyes in the room shifted to me after she said that, and I felt like a bug under a magnifying glass. There was still something plaguing me about Derrick, and now I had to worry about their reaction to the news that Bashire was no longer Forsaken. I silently thanked God that they had not arrived while he was in his death sleep.

"They're hiding something," said Derrick, gaining hateful looks from Doran and Tallan.

"Derrick, hush," she shushed him. "Gentlemen, you'll have to forgive Derrick. Watchers can sometimes be a bit abrupt."

"It's in his genes," I mumbled a little too out loud, and Derrick glared at me.

It was that moment when I realized where I'd seen him before. This Watcher, this non vampire was going to be one of my drones! This was the Derrick that I'd seen in my foretelling dream about House Maxwell-Doran. When I looked into his thoughts, I saw something that nearly chilled me to my bones. There was a hatred in this man that ran so deep that it defined his very existence.

"Your eyes," he said, glaring hard at me.

"Oh my God," gasped Andelynne when she looked into my eyes. She stood up abruptly, causing Franklin to nearly jump out of his skin. "You were Forsaken before the change!"

"I was never Forsaken," I assured her. "I am a direct descendant of the first Forsaken to be turned, though. Tyron Par was my ancestor."

"I can smell Forsaken on you," said Derrick, and he actually snarled.

"Then you're smelling Tyron's blood in my veins," I said weakly.

"You're a vampire," reminded Andelynne. "The only blood in your veins is vampire blood."

It was that very moment that Bashire came back to the great room. He moved to stand beside me so quickly that Andelynne and Derrick both took a step back. When Derrick beheld Bashire, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His mouth dropped open, and his mind registered shock and fear.

"You've been turned," said Andelynne.

Chapter Six

A myriad of thoughts ran through her head as she stared at Bashire. Reading her was like looking at a book with no covers. She was trying to decide if she should turn us both in or kill us on the spot. I embraced the power when that thought ran through her head. She looked into my gold rimmed eyes and took an involuntary step back. Derrick stepped in front of her, ever the protective Watcher.

"Eric, no!" cried Tallan in Andelynne's defense. "She was shocked."

"She wants to kill us both," I informed him not taking my eyes off of the slayer. "It's right there in the front of her mind."

"What is he?" demanded Andelynne, peaking around her watcher like a coward.

"He's 'The One,'" said Tallan. "He will kill you, if you don't calm down."

"Fine," she said, and her body relaxed. Derrick even stepped aside, but her thoughts hadn't changed. I didn't let go of the power.

"Make no mistake," I said through clenched teeth. "If you make one false move against me or my fledgling, I will incinerate you."

"Tallan, you're a member of the council," she said. "Yet you have not reported this turned Forsaken."

"Andelynne, if you would just relax and sit down," he said calmly. "We can discuss this, and you'll see that Eric has done nothing wrong, and Bashire will not be killed."

"It is a crime to turn Forsaken," she said. "The fact that Eric is a newly turned fledgling doesn't save him from the punishment for breaking the law."

"But he didn't break the law," he said. "Think about it. Bashire was a drone! He couldn't have known that his blood was so powerful that it would turn him."

"He turned a drone," mumbled Derrick in astonishment as he looked from me to Bashire and back again.

"I've called Brock, and he will be here in a few days along with other members of the council," said Bashire. "We are turning ourselves in, Andelynne."

"It is impossible to turn a drone," she said.

"Yet, here I am," said Bashire. "I am turned, and I will live."

"He is a direct descendent of Tyron Par?" asked Derrick, looking at me.

"Yes," replied Tallan. "We think that is the reason that his blood can turn drones."

"I am the beginning of a new bloodline," I said coldly.

"Eric," sighed Doran, "you can't know that."

"I do know that," I spat. "I foresaw it, Doran. It is fact. Any fledgling that I create will have at least one of the gifts that I possess. Bashire possesses the gift of flight."

"You're a prophet?" asked Andelynne. "You can foretell?"

"I am completely different than any other vampire in existence," I replied. "Never before has there been a vampire like me. Not even Tyron Par."

"Tyron Par was an anomaly in the vampire line," said Tallan. "Eric is a completely separate species of vampire. The fact that Bashire is not insane from being turned proves that. Andelynne, give him and Bashire their chance with the council. You can't kill them. Eric tells the truth. He will incinerate you if you don't stand down."

"What other gifts does he possess?" asked Derrick as he took his seat. His thoughts told me that he was convinced, but he was talking around me, and I wouldn't stand for that.

"I'm right here, Derrick Tull," I said. "You can talk to me."

"You know my name," he said.

"I know everything there is to know about you," I replied, sitting down and letting go of the power. "You were fathered by a vampire named Dorvan, and your mother died in childbirth. You are a super drone, and like all other super drones, you are a Watcher of the slayers. You were assigned to Andelynne when her first Watcher was killed by another rogue vampire. You do not know that vampire's name."

"How is he doing that?" demanded Andelynne.

"He's reading my mind," replied Derrick. "I can feel him digging around in my head."

"Turn about is fair play," I snapped. "You were both ready to take my life when you found about Bashire. Reading your minds is the very least course of action I can take in revenge."

"How did this happen?" asked Andelynne. "How is it that you became this way, and how did you turn Bashire?"

"Eric is the product of generations of descendents of Tyron Par being bonded and turned," said Tallan. "From each bloodline, vampires have been bonding the males in Eric's family since the death of Tyron Par. Eric was a surprise we didn't expect."

"And how was Bashire turned?" she asked.

"It happened during a routine blood transfer between the members of this folken," he said. "Bashire told Eric to drink from him and know him. Eric is a seer as well, so he can see all there is about you through your blood. When he let Bashire drink from him to both replenish the blood he'd taken and let him know him as well, Bashire was turned. There was nothing underhanded about it. Eric's blood is simply different than any other vampire's."

"The virus that makes us a vampire is different in me," I added. "I have, inside of me, a pure strain of the vampire virus married with the Forsaken virus. The reason that Tyron went insane is because the two viruses battled within him for control of his cells. The two viruses inside of me are very cooperative partners, and because of that, they fused together to create a new virus. That is what allowed me to turn Bashire even though he was a drone."

"What happens when Bashire exchanges blood with a drone now that he is from your bloodline?" asked Derrick.

"I don't know," said Bashire. "That's a risk I will not take. I do not wish to sire fledglings. I know that I will have to take on drones, but I will never drink from them. They will simply drink from me."

"The same will have to go for me," I said. "I can't risk turning every drone I make into a vampire."

"This is a lot to take in," said Andelynne. "There will have to be a briefing after the council makes its decision."

"There will be much more than a briefing," I assured her. "Things that might shock you too much to tell you about now will be happening in the near future."

I could tell that she still doubted me, but her thoughts told me that she wanted to believe. I was surprised to find that she had actually read the book of prophecies, and she was quite well versed on the prophecies of Tyron Par. She was mentally checking off the things that I said about my gifts against a checklist she had created in her mind as sort of like the requirements for the prophecy.

Derrick was a completely different story all together. He completely believed that I was "The One." He'd been convinced since he'd felt me digging around in his head. That had me thinking. Was his being able to feel me in his head a side effect of being a super drone? Perhaps I was just digging too roughly. It was something I would explore once he was bonded.

Bashire still felt the need to protect me. I could feel it oozing from him as he continued to sit almost on top of me. It made me feel good that he loved me so much, but I worried that his over protectiveness of me would put him in danger. I knew that it would be hard to ultimately kill either of us, but it wasn't impossible to do it.

Then a feeling that I'd had before came over me again. The others in the room slowly faded away until I was staring at the room filled with people I didn't know. I recognized Matthias from my foretelling dream of the turning of Tyron Par. There were two others with him as well. One was a vampire, and on closer inspection, I recognized the other. His dark curly hair and piercing blue eyes told me who he was. This was Brock Roberts of the Forsaken. The other vampire was Sloan himself, and as I sat there, watching the future, he glared back at me.

His mind was easy to read. He saw me as an affront to vampires world wide. He hated the fact that he couldn't just dispatch me right then and there, but he was planning to get the council to vote for my death and Bashire's. Brock was telling him to calm down and think rationally while Matthias simply stared at me. In his mind, he was seeing Tyron Par all over again, and he was terrified of me.

Brock told Sloan that the council would not vote for the destruction of a brand new blood line. He also sighted that I was now one of the prophets, and there was no way the council would kill a prophet. Bashire was safe, he said, because I was his sire. He told Sloan that many changes were going to have to be made because of me. I almost fell out of my seat when I felt Sloan reach into my mind.

"You know I possess the gift of combustion, and if you invade my mind even one more time, I'll burn you to a cinder!" I hissed out loud, and the spell was broken.

Bashire's arm tightened around my shoulders, and Andelynne and Derrick looked scared. Doran and Tallan were staring at me, and Franklin looked ready to bolt from the room. Daren regarded me with caution, while Raffiki and Darian seemed not to be the least bit disturbed by my outburst. I took a minute to make my breathing calm down before I tried to apologize.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Tallan in a worried voice. His mind already knew what had happened, and he knew exactly who the threat had been aimed at.

"I was having a vision," I said. "Brock, Matthias and Sloan will be here tomorrow shortly after the sun goes down. The meeting will not go well."

"But you said that the council would vote to grant your emancipation," gasped Doran. His fear was clear. He didn't want me killed.

"They will," I assured him. "Sloan just isn't going to be very happy about it, and he isn't going to be very nice while he's here."

"Why would Brock bring Sloan with him?" asked Bashire from beside me. "I specifically asked him not to talk to Sloan about this."

"Sloan is hiding something that he doesn't want anyone to know," I replied slowly.

"What do you mean?" asked Tallan. "He can't hide things from other council members. That would be grounds to take his seat on the council from him."

"Well, that's exactly what's going to happen," I replied. "Sloan is a seer."

"What?" gasped Bashire. "I thought seers were rare!"

"They are rare," I assured him. "As far as I know, besides me, Sloan is the only other living seer in the vampire world."

"He's going to try and read your mind?" he asked.

"Oh, he's going to try very hard to read my mind," I replied. "He just isn't aware that I can stop him."

"If he's a seer, then he could be reading any of our minds right now," said Doran.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Sloan isn't like me. He has to be in the same room with the person he wants to read. He has no idea what we're talking about or thinking right now."

"You're sure about that?" he asked.

"Sire, one day, you are going to have to start trusting me," I said with a sigh. "I am 'The One'. That means that every gift I have claimed to have is real. You don't trust my visions or my abilities. I know that you still want to see me as your fledgling, and in a lot of ways, I am nothing more than your fledgling. However, I am a completely different kind of vampire, and you have to understand that I can't stay under your wing."

"He's being honest with you, Beloved," said Tallan. "I saw it in his blood. Eric is 'The One.'"

"I don't doubt that," he said sadly. "This is just hard for me to accept, Sire."

"You've no choice but to accept it now," said Tallan. "The council will be here in less than twenty-four hours. You'll see for yourself that what Eric has foretold is truth."

"Does Sloan know that we are here with you?" asked Andelynne.

"No, he doesn't," I replied. "He believes that Tallan is on his way back to St. Louis with you and Derrick as his guards."

"Then we shouldn't be in sight when he gets here," she said. "The element of surprise always gives you the upper hand."

"We are not going to fight Sloan," insisted Tallan. "He's the oldest living vampire in the world! Just like Eric has laws of the council protecting him, so does Sloan. Elders can not be killed."

"We're not planning to kill him, Master Tallan," said Andelynne. "I'm simply saying that he'd be less likely to try anything violent if we surprise him with out presence."

"Won't he sense you when he gets here?" asked Doran.

"No," I answered for her. "Sloan's seer ability doesn't work the way mine does. He has to know that you are in the same place as he is before he can read you."

We talked more about the upcoming meeting with Sloan, but I couldn't describe any more details about it for them. Doran still held skepticism about my foretelling ability, but he tried not to let me see it. I swear sometimes he forgets to even think about the fact that I'm also a seer. That ability he has seen far too much of to deny.

As the sun began to rise, Bashire and I watched the other vampires head up to their beds for the day. Neither of us were actually tired, so we stayed downstairs with Andelynne and Derrick for a few more minutes. As we talked with them more privately, the two of them relaxed more in my presence. They were no longer afraid of what I would do to them, and neither of them wanted Bashire dead now.

"You said that they will grant your emancipation," said Derrick. "Will they accept that you are the beginning of a new bloodline?"

"They'll have to when they consider Bashire," I said. "Once I take on my second fledgling, there will be no doubt when his eyes turn like mine."

"What about your drones?" asked Andelynne. "Will there be a way to identify them on site?"

"Their eyes will change, too," I said. "I saw it in a foretelling dream. They won't look like mine, but they will change."

"You know who your drones will be?" asked Bashire. "You didn't tell me that."

"Bashire, knowing too much about what is going to come to pass isn't a good thing," I counseled. "Yes, I know who two of my drones are going to be, because they were in the dream, but I won't tell you who they are, because if I do, the moment one of them sets foot in the house, you'll be expecting him to submit to me."

"But if he's going to anyway . . ."

"No," I said, cutting him off. "There's an order in which things have to happen. If one of my future drones were to walk through that door, and I bonded him just because I knew he was going to be my drone, but there was one I was supposed to bond before him, then that upsets the order of things."

"Will at least one of your drones be Forsaken?" he asked.

"I can tell you this much," I said. "At least one drone from every member of my bloodline will be Forsaken. Now don't get excited, that doesn't mean that Brock will be my drone. I'm not going to tell you who my forsaken drone will be, and I won't tell you who your drones will be."

"Do you even know who my drones are?" he asked.

"No," I admitted. "I haven't foreseen anything about your future other than that you will be with me."

"But you did say that the sun will not kill us," he said.

"Yes," I replied. "My bloodline will be the daywalkers that the prophecies talk about. The part about that prophecy that isn't true is that my blood will bring the vampire world into the light."

"You're saying that the prophecies of Tyron Par aren't accurate?" asked Andelynne.

"Tyron was mad by the time he started writing," I informed her. "Much of what he wrote were the ramblings of an insane mind. Some of the things he wrote are actual foretold prophecies."

"What about the surge of rogues who will try to take your blood?" asked Derrick, and his mind told me that he would follow me anywhere and die to protect me. I almost told him that he'd have his chance very soon.

"You're seeing the upsurge in rogue activity now," I said. "Though they aren't even remotely aware that I even exist yet, they will know as soon as the council announces the new bloodline."

"So that prophecy is correct?" asked Andelynne.

"I can't say if it is or not," I admitted. "I have yet to read the prophecies. I only know the ones that were memorized by vampires that I have drank from."

We left them after that to go upstairs and get ready for bed. Sedrick assured me that he would show the slayer and her watcher where they could get some rest. I asked that he bring two males from the pen after he had our "guests" settled in. Bashire and I went ahead into my room. As soon as we stepped into the room, his arms were around me.

"I'm so worried about what will happen tonight," he said as he nuzzled my neck. I could feel his hunger, and I thought for a second that he was going to sink his fangs into my neck.

"There's nothing to worry about, Bashire," I told him, holding him tighter. "We will both be fine. I can tell you that, because of the foretelling dream about the house."

Sedrick led two men into the room as I let go of Bashire and turned to face the doorway. They were both in there mid thirties and in good shape. One was blond, and the other was a red head, and I was reminded of Bill Glass when I looked at him. We wasted no time with pleasantries, however. I took the blond, and Bashire embraced the red head. When we were finished with them, I incinerated both of them. Bashire wasn't happy about it, but he let it pass.

"Come here," he said when the bodies were gone, and there was a luscious look in his yellow eyes.

I crossed the short distance between us and was in his arms in a flash. His lips were on mine before I could even think to kiss him first. I could taste the fresh blood on his tongue as our kiss deepened, and I know that he could taste the blond on mine. He groaned as he pressed himself against me, and our erections ground against each other.

He pulled back to carefully unbutton the shirt I was wearing. I reached out to do the same for him, and I don't know how me managed not to tear the shirts in our desire for each other. Once the shirts were off, we were pressed against each other again in another passionate kiss. This time, I was the one to groan as our erections were pressed against each other again. I didn't know how long I would be able to wait for him to be naked so I could have all of him.

When he pulled away from me again to unbutton my pants, I nearly ripped his off of him. He smiled at my impatience and laid kisses down my body as he slid my pants down my legs. I stepped out of them and began the same process on him as soon as he stood back up. He hadn't been groomed for the turning as I had, and his chest was still hairy. Being Forsaken, I expected it, though. I ran my nose through that hair, and he shivered from the sensation.

We fell onto the bed, and I was on top of his muscular body. I sat up, straddling him with his erection trapped under my balls. Stretching out, I ran my hands lightly down his furry torso slowly, stopping to tweak his nipples along the way. I slid back and sat between his spread legs, resting them on my thighs as I continued to massage his body.

He smiled up at me, and I could barely contain the urge to push his legs up and slam my dick into his ass. Instead, I leaned forward and teased the head of his dick with my tongue, eliciting a gasp from him in the process. Sitting back up, I ran one hand over his torso while I gripped his erection with the other. I began to slowly stroke him as I looked into his eyes.

"I love you, Bashire Par-Maxwell," I said softly.

"And I love you, Eric Maxwell-Doran," he replied. "I've wanted to be this way with you since the moment you appeared in front of me."

"All you had to do was ask," I breathed.

"I belong to you now," he said.

"Forever," I agreed before leaning forward again to lick at the head of his dick.

I slid my lower body backward as I went further down on his dick, wrapping my lips around it and teasing the underside of it with my tongue. Excruciatingly slowly, I inched my way down his dick until my nose was in his pubic hair, and the head of his dick was lodged in my throat. I swallowed around it, using the muscles in my throat to massage his sensitive member. He groaned again, and I hummed around his dick, making it vibrate in my throat.

I pulled off of his dick and began to lather his hairy balls with my tongue, making sure to get both of his orbs completely wet. He spread his legs wider to give me better access, and I took on of his egg sized balls into my mouth and ran my tongue around it as well as I could. Dropping that one, I sucked in the other and gave it the same treatment.

Letting go of his sensitive orb, I used my hand to lift his scrotum, so I could run my tongue over his perineum again and again, going lower each time until my tongue was touching the pucker hole of his ass every time. He moaned softly and tried to push his pelvis further into my face, but I gripped his hips and tried to turn him over. He got the message and turned onto his stomach, raising his ass in the air with his legs apart to give me access to his hole.

I leaned into him and ran my tongue slowly around his pucker as I stroked his dick with my hand. He was moaning almost continually by the time I let my tongue drag across his hole. When I did that, he took in a sharp breath, and then he was pushing back against me, trying to impale himself on my tongue.

I licked at his hole while stroking his dick slowly with one hand and cupping his balls lightly with the other. When I felt his sphincter relax for me, I slid my tongue inside of him and tasted him completely. Having no experience with human males, I had no idea if his ass tasted any different than theirs, and I didn't care. The sheer intimacy of what I was doing to him had my own dick rock hard.

I used my thumb to rub lightly at the underside of the head of his dick as I fucked my tongue in and out of his ass, trying to go deeper with each inward shove. He was bucking his ass back against my face as he tried to get more and more of my tongue inside of him. I started to feel his balls tighten up in their sack, and I let go of his dick, taking my tongue out of his ass at the same time.

He grunted in frustration, but I needed to cool my lover down a little before I went any further. I went back to licking around his pucker as I rubbed my hands over his smooth back. He was panting as his impending orgasm backed off from the absence of stimulus to his dick. I motioned for him to turn over again as I slid back to let him move. I wanted him inside of me, and I knew that he wouldn't last much longer, so I had to act fast.

As soon as he was on his back, I swallowed his dick, making sure to let as much of my saliva coat the shaft and head before backing off of it completely. I could see the lust filled frustration in his eyes as I straddled him again, but as I brought his hard dick to my hole, the look changed from frustration to one of anticipation.

We sighed in unison as his dick penetrated my barrier, and I shivered as I sank myself down further, pushing more and more of his dick inside of me. On the first try, I managed to graze my prostate with his dick, and my entire body shook from the sensation that it gave me. My quickened heart was slamming around in my chest as the cheeks of my ass finally rested on the tops of his thighs, and I leaned forward to kiss him again before I began to ride him.

It didn't take nearly as long as I'd hoped before I felt his dick expand, and his balls churned his steaming load up into my ass. As soon as his dick was spent, I slowly raised my ass off of him and lay beside him in the bed. I hadn't cum, and my balls were aching to release their load, but I wasn't going to ask Bashire to do anything. He was probably tired, I told myself.

When he crawled down in the bed and engulfed my dick, I nearly came right there. And I'd thought he was tired! He worked my dick in and out of his mouth, making sure that he got it in his throat each time. I lay there passively as he made love to my dick with his mouth and throat. He was virtually sucking the cum out of my balls, and I knew I wouldn't last much longer.

He groaned when the first shot of cum blasted from the head of my dick and down his waiting throat. He stopped moving his head and trapped the head of my dick between his lips, letting my cum slide across his tongue with each blast from my balls. When the last volley of cum left my dick, he slid back up the length of my body and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him. I drifted off to sleep, and for the first time since I'd been turned, I didn't dream.

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