The Tale of Two Killers, page 26
“Yes, my son, he does.”
Dominick rested his head down against his father’s knees, allowing the individual streams of crimson to flow down his cheeks, each drop forming a tiny red puddle on the dark wooden floor. “I am glad he does,” Dominick said. “It is nice for me to see you this way. I can’t promise you I won’t be jealous of your new child once they are born, but I will be sure to love them as if we were from the same flesh.”
The elder placed a hand atop his son’s head, having always known of the possessiveness Dominick carried for him. It was like that for all blood children raised correctly by their creator. Blood children were probably one of the most dangerous kinds of vampires if their creator was ever threatened. These immortals would put everything they had into annihilating those who stood in their way, and once before, Dominick had lost himself in vengeful mindlessness, all because someone thought it humorous to joke about taking Demiesius’ place as an elder. To put it simple, Dominick was as loyal as they came, and Demiesius would never take the esteem his first son held for granted. Besides, if Hamilton hadn’t wound up pregnant during their life together, they would still form the same family bonds over time.
“I will always love you, my son.”
***
On his way back from the kitchen with two jelly glazed biscuits, Hamilton stopped in the middle of the dim, antique corridor when he noticed Christoph at the other end. He was heading towards the curved stairwell, but before he could disappear up it, the slayer called out for him. The vampire gazed down the passageway, offering a nod as Hamilton neared him. “Hello, Chris, how are you?”
“I’ve been better,” Christoph shrugged, “Did you need something?”
“Actually,” Hamilton couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about this earlier, “Yes, would you mind coming with me to the front room? I think there is something you, myself and Demiesius should talk about since you’re my partner in the C.C.”
Without question since the elder was here, Christoph followed Hamilton down the corridor. When they were on their way to the parlor, before they rounded into the room, the front double doors of the coven manor flung open, and in shuffled a drunken pack of vampires that’d just finished up an evening of partying in the city. A few were paired with humans, laughing and whispering sweet nothings, while those who hadn’t a lover for the night lugged each other in, trying to remain focused during their intoxicated state. Hamilton recognized a couple of them from his previous visits, all but one that was new to the coven, a little wobbly on his feet when he locked eyes with Hamilton.
This vampire reeked of blood and alcohol, had curly dirty blond hair to the nape of his neck, and he was dressed in black Gothic attire. With features pale as snow, the vampire let go of the friend he’d been supporting himself on, smiling eagerly as he neared the slayer. “Oh, fuckin’ hell, mate, you smell like a bloody buffet.” He entered the slayer’s personal space, causing him to drop his plate of biscuits when his arms were restrained from moving, and when Hamilton squirmed to push him off, he was able to shove the vampire away.
“Don’t touch me,” Hamilton said, knowing he shouldn’t be fighting. “Just leave me alone, please.”
The vampire ignored the command and pursued Hamilton further, not hearing the warning given to him by Christoph that this human in particular was one he shouldn’t even think once about touching. Failing to kick the drunk immortal off him again, Hamilton gasped when a pair of long, dangerous white fangs hissed in his face.
“Demi!” He called out before Christoph could wrench the immortal away, and not a second later, Demiesius was standing in the hall with Dominick by his side.
In the blink of an eye, the drunk vampire was torn away from Hamilton, and slammed up against the opposite wall so hard that the foundation of the entire manor shook like a mild earthquake. Demiesius squeezed his sharp-nailed fist around the immortal’s throat so tightly, so fiercely, the color of the blood beneath the other’s face began to bring a bright pink hue to his complexion.
The vampire clawed mercilessly as everyone around the elder watched the consequences of touching Hamilton. His eyes bled, a course of crimson draining from his mouth, and then Demiesius’ fingers finally dug completely into the vampire’s neck with one squeeze, closing around his cervical vertebrae, ultimately snapping and decapitating the problematic immortal. Blinded by the fury clouding his mind, Demiesius then pulled the remaining length of the vampire’s spinal cord out through the blood gushing opening of the broken neck, and then dropped it, allowing the head to tumble to the floor along with the rest of the body.
In a second, the corpse disintegrated into bone and dust.
Hamilton, with his back against the wall, clung defensively around his stomach, trembling from having felt so helpless in those few seconds. When he looked up at Demiesius who was facing him now, he gazed up into pure black eyes, and for the first time in all the while Hamilton had known the elder, Demiesius had never looked more like a vampire than he did right now. His fangs were elongated, eyes like pools of endless black, and his cheekbones were sharper, ears pointed at the tips, and even the shape of his nose was slimmer, his hair like a canvas of the midnight sky passed his shoulders. “Are you alright?” he asked, hands finding their way to the slayer’s abdomen, able to feel the musical pulse of life growing in his lover.
“Y—Yes,” Hamilton nodded, still rather shaken. His eyes drifted to the bloodbath on the floor, not able to feel any form of sympathy for the dead vampire. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect myself. I suddenly didn’t know what to do.”
Slowly, as if finding himself again, Demiesius’ features began to transform back into their human state, his ears rounding off, the whites of his eyes came back, and his nose and fangs all returned to their original appearance. “Do not worry. I will protect you from all that I can. You and our child.”
Hamilton nodded, trembling as he pushed himself into Demiesius’ arms. “Take me home,” he tried to stay calm. Stress wasn’t good for his body. “Please, take me home, Demi.”
At that, Demiesius guided Hamilton over the dusted corpse and down the corridor towards the front door. Dominick was still standing there at the entryway of the parlor, a little shocked at what he’d witnessed with his own eyes. It’d been a long time since he’d seen his father stain his own hands with blood, the blood of another vampire if anything. “I will discipline them,” the blood child assured. “Goodbye, father.”
***
In no time, they were back at the castle, and the longer Hamilton could smell the scent of that vampire’s blood on Demiesius’ hands, the hungrier and hungrier he got. He’d been told that blood was what the baby wanted, and he wanted to give it to the life in him so badly, but to drink the blood of a fellow human being, it didn’t sit well with him. They went up to the master bedroom together, and Demiesius began to undress from his soiled and stained clothes. Hamilton sat up at the foot of the bed as the elder stepped naked into the bathroom for a shower, wanting to wash the night away under the heat of cleansing soap and water.
Hamilton tried his hardest to take his mind off his hunger, but even just the red blemishes on the clothes Demiesius had left on the floor were calling for him. Not wanting to be tempted anymore, Hamilton slid off the bed and headed into the bathroom as well. It was humid and the mirrors were foggy, mist rising out of the Sierra glass block shower. The slayer could see the blurred silhouette of Demiesius on the other side.
When he was undressed, he entered the shower as well, hair beginning to frizz until he stepped below the water too. He hugged his arms around Demiesius’ body from behind, warmed against his moist skin. This night truly hadn’t been something Hamilton would have ever considered living. For heaven’s sake, there was a baby growing inside him, and though he might not understand how it was possible, just knowing he wasn’t the only one for this to happen to put his mind at ease. Besides, maybe he could finally have what he wasn’t able to have growing up, and now there was this man he loved deeply who would be a part of that.
A part of him.
Together they would start a family.
Chapter XXV
Talks Amongst the Expecting
16 weeks
Hamilton was standing in front of the full-length mirror inside Demiesius’ closet. He wore just an oversize lavender jumper he’d bought the day after moving in, and underneath was a pair of small shorts that had an elastic waistband that would hopefully go a long way.
Lifting the hem of the jumper, he eyed the bump in his stomach. It’d gotten bigger in these past four weeks, but there was not much of a significant change in size. During his days spent alone, since Demiesius was confined away due to the sun during the day, Hamilton filled a large portion of his time reading up on things he should expect in these next months of his life. A part of him wasn’t sure if he could trust the guidelines of any human pregnancy book, but he wanted to believe that no matter if the baby inside was part vampire, it would grow just the same as one that wasn’t.
According to the book he’d finished in a single day about fetal development, his baby should be about the size of an avocado. Hamilton turned to the side, wondering shortly what his life was going to be like once the baby was born. All his life, he’d kept this solitary mindset that he’d utilize all the time he had on this earth to fight, and now that everything had changed, he was curious to get a glimpse at his life maybe…two years from now. Would he be here at home in this castle, cooking, cleaning, teaching, reading bedtime stories? Or would he go back to the C.C.? Would he continue his position in the maintenance of the slayer and vampire worlds?
Right now, Hamilton wanted to focus on being healthy. And right about now, it was time to get something to eat before he collapsed. Barefoot as he left the closet, Hamilton started out of the bedroom area. At the moment, Demiesius wasn’t home, but the elder hadn’t wanted to leave Hamilton alone in case anything happened. As he descended the stairs and crossed the foyer, he poked his head into the library, and there Dominick von Kraige was seated in a large, leather armchair, an ancient book opened in his lap as he read the dry, wrinkling pages. He looked up at the slayer and sighed, closing the book, and then set it down on the table beside the chair.
“You must really tell my father to invest in a television or something,” he groaned, sinking down into his seat. “I can’t see how this place has not driven you mad. Despite what happened the last time you attended my coven, the least my father could allow is for you to stay there during the day, and then you can leave after he is done with his assemblies. All the vampires are asleep during the day, and the humans who stay there could keep you company. Aren’t you bored?”
Hamilton entered the archive, taking a seat in an armchair beside Dominick. He lifted his feet up, crisscrossing his legs as he folded the long droopy ends of his jumper’s sleeves over his hands. “I have not spent too much time alone these days. Since my stomach has not gotten suspiciously round by this time, I’ve gone out to the city to buy food and clothing.”
“Understandable,” Dominick said, “But, pretty soon, you’ll require another human to fulfill such tasks for you. Sooner or later, you won’t be able to go anywhere.”
“Then that is something I will have to deal with,” Hamilton shrugged, and then he smiled mischievously. “You will just have to come over more often to give me company when Demi steps out.”
“Demi…” Dominick shook his head, amused by the sound of the slayer’s chosen moniker for his father. “What would vampire’s think if they discovered the silly name you’ve given the most powerful immortal in the world?”
Hamilton smiled with a light round of laughter. Even though he and Dominick had gotten off to one of the worst starts imaginable, the slayer almost couldn’t believe how much this vampire meant to him. He was the blood child of the man he was madly in love with, Demiesius’ child under the principles of immortal law, and though they’d nearly been at each other’s throats in the past, Hamilton was glad they’d been able to build some sort of mutual understanding. And even with that, Hamilton still didn’t know very much about this vampire. He knew Dominick was the leader of a coven, he knew Demiesius trusted him with anything, and he knew of the reason the elder brought him into immortal existence, but…who was Dominick von Kraige?
“I’ve got an idea,” Hamilton said, “Since you’re bored, why don’t you and I play a game of questions.”
Dominick draped an arm over the back of the chair, making himself comfortable, and asked, “What do you mean by questions?”
“If there’s anything you want to know about me, you can ask whatever question, and I have to answer it no matter what it is. I get to do the same to you.”
Rubbing at his chin as if he were in a large debate with himself, Dominick nodded, “All right, but I get to go first.”
Excited to learn what he could about Dominick after so long, Hamilton situated himself. “Ask me anything.”
The blood child took his time when deciding what to start the “game” off with. There were lots of things he didn’t know about the slayer, so finding out where to begin had him in a bind. “Let’s see, where were you born?”
“Where was I born?” Hamilton leaned back in the chair; his hands tucked under the miniature bump of his stomach. “I would like to think I was born here in London, but I honestly am not sure if that is true. You see, Dominick, I was technically an orphan when I was brought into the Public by my instructor. I didn’t know who my mother and father were, and don’t even know if I’ve got brothers or sisters out there. Sometimes I used to think that perhaps either my mother or father was involved with the Public, so my instructor, possibly being their friend, went ahead and took me in. But I’ll never know if that has any truth behind it. For all I know, my name could have been something other than Hamilton Haven Hamilton before I was taken into the Public.” With a hum of thought, Hamilton asked, “What was your human life like?”
Dominick ran his fingers back through his mane of midnight streaks, the waves of black falling gently back into place at his shoulders. “My human life, eh? I guess that will always be an appropriate question. I was born in the Tudor period of England, raised until my tenth year; that is when my parents were taken by sickness. By that time, I had to provide for myself, and since I could not afford anything for myself, I began to roam the villages and different regions as a beggar. That was illegal for able-bodied people in my time. I will never forget being tied to that post in the middle of the city, whipped in front of everyone for being a hungry human being who wanted nothing but food and shelter. A job. Not long after, I was taken in by a Gentleman and his family. I worked their land as a laborer for little pay, and there I was taught to read and write. As I spent more and more time around that Gentleman, I learned what made me a peasant and what made them and the nobility rich bastards.”
“Demi told me you wrote a speech,” Hamilton interjected. “Do you still remember it?”
“No,” Dominick shook his head. “When you become a blood child, for some reason, the night before and the night of always become a little hazy. It’s a lot like drinking too much. You may recall bits and pieces of the night before, but all in all, it becomes one big blur. How was it being the greatest vampire slayer of all time?”
“What do you mean ‘was’?” Hamilton joked. “I’m still the best.”
“You know my father won’t allow you to do anything after that baby is born, don’t you? At least, not for a while. When I was raised into the vampire life, even when I finally got a hold of my hunger, he never let me leave his sight for longer than a couple minutes. This lasted for about five years. He is going to do everything in his power to make sure nothing happens to you two.” Dominick huffed a laugh, “That kid is going to be miserable.”
Hamilton didn’t think Demiesius’ protectiveness was a bother. Knowing there was always someone out there that wished the best for him, it was more reassuring than anything. “Did you ever want kids, Dominick?”
“No. Absolutely not. Back in my time, a child wasn’t expected to live past the age of five, and even in that time, you would only be expected to live until about forty-five, but of course the rich were expected to live much longer. I wouldn’t have wanted to bring a child into the world back then, and I hadn’t a wife either, so…there’s that.”
“Dominick?” Hamilton said, his voice sounding more insecure than a second ago, this change in tone catching the blood child’s full attention. When he looked up, Hamilton was fumbling with the long sleeves of his lavender jumper, turning them over each other until a loose knot formed at his fists. The neutral mood in the room switched suddenly, and Dominick could feel the atmosphere alter from smooth to tense in a matter of seconds. “Since I’ve been in this massive castle, spending a good amount of time alone, I’ve been doing some thinking and—.”
“See, it’s only been four weeks and you’re already overthinking things.”
“I have not, I’m just…worried.”
“About what?”
It was no surprise that all of Hamilton was still relatively new to everything. Everything from his unbreakable love for Demiesius, to his pregnant condition, and his personal involvement in the immortal world. He knew there was a large chance, or reality more like, that he wasn’t the only human being to fall in love with a vampire, to bear the child of a vampire, but all these new experiences were coming along so quickly, and he still didn’t quite know how to process the situation he was in. Carrying the child of a vampire, of an elder of all, was turning his life completely upside down. All he wanted was to do a good job, to be able to situate himself in this life, but he was unaware of just how hard it all might be further down the line…when his baby was brought into the world.
