Daughter of Darkness

When Pallo returned, he tried to take my hand. With only the tiniest bit of reservation on my part, I let him have it. He led me out of his underground lair. As we walked out of the big red doors, I felt the cool night air hit my warm skin. Having a sexy vamp holding my hand had elevated my body temperature.


No surprise there.


I glanced back over my shoulder at the huge stone building. I hadn’t really noticed how big the place was before. It looked like a mansion. I counted at least four flours, not including the basement. It must be sad to live for over two hundred years confined to a basement during daylight hours. The building could no longer hold my attention, not with Pallo so near me. I stared at the side of his chiseled face as we walked. The moonlight cast small shadows under his nose and lips. The paleness of his skin was rivaled only by the soft night light. The darkness suited him. I wondered if that had always been the case. I’d never know. If I ever did see him in the light of day, it would be brief and final. He would die. I pushed that thought from my mind.


This was insane! I was worried about the well-being of some vampire I’d only just met. This was beyond insane’it was ludicrous.


“Why do you look so sad?” His voice was so sweet and smooth.


“No reason,” I lied.


“If you would prefer, I could read your thoughts.”


“That is not funny! To tell you the truth, it’s just plain ol’ creepy.” I didn’t bother to tell him that I had that gift as well. I’d made every effort to push that ability down deep. It had never been something I could come to terms with. It also was something that didn’t appear to help me much when I was surrounded by vampires. They seemed immune to my probing powers. I wish I was to theirs.


“I do not need my power to know what you are thinking. You wear your feelings on your sleeve.” He smiled and I saw little dimples near the corners of his mouth. Instantly, I wanted to kiss them, kiss him.


Just my luck--sarcastic and adorable.


We didn’t have a whole lot of time before the sun would come up. For some reason, I wanted to make the most of it. I didn’t care what information he had about the Keeper of the Hounds. All I cared about was how good my body felt near him.


Pallo took my arm in his and walked me towards the entrance of his theme park. The people buying tickets all gawked at him like he was a movie star. I knew he was hot, but this was ridiculous. I half expected paparazzi to leap out of the bushes at us. My luck, the flash from the camera would cause Pallo to burst into flames.


He led me through a set of large iron gates set up to what looked like the entrance to a cemetery. Once inside, I was hit with the sights and sounds of the amusement park. The smell of cotton candy was around me. I took a deep breath, and could hear music coming from all directions. The buzzing of the rides was like white noise.


In the center of the midway there was a large carousel. In the place of wooden horses were carved Boobries. These were giant water birds that were on the verge of extinction. They looked like a strange cross between a dragon and a bird. Huge talons sprung forth from the carved wood. Scales covered the creature’s legs. The breasts of the Boobries were covered in feathers. Thick necks pointed the way to a bird-like head. A shiny glass red eye stared out at me from each one. The carousel was full of children laughing as they went up and down. The children held tight to the pole, perched on the backs of the black creatures. Each one had been carved with such love and patience that it looked almost lifelike. Boobries had been numerous across the lands at one time, but now their numbers had dwindled to the low twenties. People had feared them when they stopped being satisfied with snatching farm animals and began snatching the farmers instead. Who could blame them? It had been a nightmare to keep out of the news. The tabloids had picked up the story. It made the front page twice, then some pop star’s newest love interest sold more issues, so they quit running it.


We walked further into the crowd of people. Visitors to the park were huddling around to get their pictures taken with the employees that worked there. A few vampire employees were really playing the part. They had on long black capes with red inner lining. Tiny lines of blood ran down their chins. People were waiting to have a chance to stand next to one and have it pretend to be sinking its fangs into them. Flocks of girls in their late teens and early twenties clustered around the vamps. They couldn’t have had more than a yard of fabric between them covering their bodies.


“You guys have groupies?”


“It is not easy to keep all of my vampires happy with blood stored in coolers from blood banks. They do enjoy something a bit fresher from time to time.”


I was shocked. “You mean you kill people here?”


He laughed and stopped walking. “Death is not a prerequisite to a vampire’s feeding. It can be a side effect if one is not careful, but, no, we do not kill anyone here. They volunteer to let us feed off them. That is all.”


‘You mean you’ve been feeding off of them too?”


“Would you rather I did not? I would die if I stopped feeding from the living.” He bent and kissed my forehead. “It is not as if they get nothing from it.”


His words hit me hard and squeezed at my chest. “You have sex with all of these girls?”


“Some, yes, but not all. Even I could not have sex with all of them.” His tone told me he was mocking me, and I didn’t care for it one bit.