Sands of Time Page 4

  “What?” I was for once at a loss for words. I had never thought who I am, or what I am, as a dilemma to be resolved. Quite the contrary, I have always been proud of my lineage.

  "Think about it, Kesi. We are starving to death very slowly. So, we either feed off the unwilling or we die. And then many go on to create others, humans, aberrations, who need blood to survive as well! We teach them the ways of our fathers, not to kill, but how is this possible now? We are bestowing our unfortunate circumstance onto innocent others!"

  Blight. He spoke of the ‘children’ I wished to have in my life. The family I wanted to create. But this I knew now I could not tell him.

  "I did not give it much thought," I lied.

  "Kesi,” he said enthusiastically. "If I could cure humans of this plague our kind has bestowed upon them, I could save so many lives. So many are being born now, being made. They are hungry, they are murdering. They make it more difficult for us to find humans who are willing. They soil our lineage!"

  His enthusiasm had turned to rage with such velocity it startled me. In defense and without thought, my words came unaltered. "I have been quite hungry and I admit to taking an unwilling human here and there, but I simply manipulated them into enjoying it!"

  Yin’s tirade halted abruptly. "Manipulate? How?"

  "Apparently, I have the ability, though somewhat small, to enter a human's mind and suggest what I wish. It is not something I do often, and it is not a practised ability."

  "That is extraordinary. I have never heard of this endowment. To my knowledge I possess no gifts of any kind. I am simply a drinker of blood who happens to be half human, son of the Pet Mer from Egypt and a Chinese born human mother."

  "I have used it on occasion to aid in feeding from humans, but rarely as I do not wish to feed on the unwilling."

  "Unfortunately, Kesi, I possess no powers. Nor does any other that I have met. Although, I did once meet a child of the Pet Mer who could walk in sunlight. Perhaps, some fortuitous gifts were bestowed upon a few of us and not others? I myself have found no such abilities within my grasp. Alchemy and medicine, however, have always been a passion. And so, I use them to create a cure for...for the aberrations."

  He spoke as if there were so many humans who had been altered, and yet I had not met even one. Matter of fact, Yin was the only one of my own kind I had met since I left Egypt. So, where were all of these ‘aberrations’ as he called them? I needed to hear more, though I knew I would never agree to his experimentation.

  "And the human in the bed chamber?" I nodded in the direction of the room where the poor girl lay bound.

  Yin nodded and let out a soft chortle. "She is not human—well, she will not be much longer."

  Was he saying what I thought? This man had the gift—although he saw it as a curse—to create the children I had always desired, and he used that gift instead to destroy them! He wished to 'cure' a miracle. "You have succeeded in creating children of your own?"

  He stared at me pensively. "Children." He lowered himself onto the only wooden chair, which sat by the table of equipment I now knew was used to torture humans in the name of science, of a cure.

  His expression grew distant, as if a long past memory had just appeared in his mind. "I once had what you refer to as a child." He looked up at me and I saw a single tear glisten in one eye.

  My heart seized with emotion and I stepped to him, placed a loving hand on his shoulder. He reached up and covered my hand with his own. His head bowed, then he spoke once again. "I admit he was like a son to me, so your assessment is quite accurate. We traveled together, but soon he had grown very hungry. He could not go without repast for as long as I.

  "One night, our quarrels, which had become quite regular, exploded. ‘I can no longer live in hunger,’ he screamed. I tried to calm him, but his accusations squeezed me with their power. ‘Why did you do this to me?’ he asked. ‘Why?’ After that, he disappeared into the night. I could sense him. I could sense his pain. I went after him several times, but he always ran. He started to kill indiscriminately. He traveled. He killed. And so I killed him."

  I removed my hand from his shoulder. The ice within his last words chilled me, so I had to step away. He knew the secret and yet he killed with what appeared unconscionable detachment. I needed to know his secrets. If only I could find a way—perhaps, I thought, I had been erring in some manner.

  Carefully, I spoke. "If you are so intent on 'curing' humans of our kind, then why create more as you have done with that girl?"

  He looked back up at me. His eyes were once again dry, emotion passed. "I needed subjects on which to perform my experiments, did I not?" He imparted a flagitious grin. "You and the others that are directly related to the Pet Mer do not understand what a plague on this earth it is to possess the ability to engender these killers."

  But you killed, I wanted to say, but remained quiet. I would need more information, to meet others who had bore children in this manner. I refused to believe all humans created by our kind were killers.

  I pleaded with him to impart his knowledge, everything he had done, everything he knew. And, fortunate for my quizzical nature, he was more than happy to oblige. He saw me as no threat to his research, and really I was not. What could I do, aside from killing him, to stop his experiments? I needed his information before I could make a choice.

  And so, on that night I learned the secret to creating my own family. Taught to me by an alchemist who wanted nothing more than to destroy them all.

  ~~~

  Entry Two

  My mind spun as I woke. Yin lay sprawled naked on his stomach in bed beside me, his face obscured by long black hair of silk.

  Night's shadows had not yet overtaken the world, but I was safe in this house, its bamboo shutters keeping the deadly light of day outside where it belonged.

  What had I stepped into? After a long discussion the previous night, which lasted well close to daylight, of how he succeeded in making an heir for himself, we had made love and fallen asleep wrapped in the comfort of two beings rare in this world, taking consolation in the knowledge we existed still. Finding a mate, someone like myself to share eternity with was foremost on my mind, and having 'children' was a possibility with Yin of which I'd only dreamt, however cruel his desires. I could easily have convinced myself that I could change his desires to 'cure' any heir we might choose to bring into this world. But, I knew better. And I knew what I must do.

  As I slipped from the bed and into my clothing, the girl bound to the bed down the hall came into my mind. Yin had revealed to me the secret, if one could call it such, of creating an immortal heir. This he had inflicted upon the girl and, according to his information, she should be half way to her transformation by now.

  I needed to know. I needed to see. I slunk in silence down the hallway, avoiding any rays of the deadly sun that peered through paper partitions, wooden walls and bamboo screens.

  Though the room was bathed in shadow, daylight continued to provide enough light to see by, yet she on the bed was saved from it by the curtains that protected her.

  She slept soundly, not moving, when I emerged and approached the bed. Just as the night before, I sat beside her. She must have been deep into whatever process was taking place in her physical body at that moment for she did not stir. Yet I could clearly see the slight rise and fall of her chest as she took and released breath.

  From Yin, I had learned her name was Lihua. He had met her in a house of ill repute. She served man as a prostitute, and the thought of any man doing as they pleased to her young body made me angry, protective. I needed to take her away from this place, to save her. According to Yin, she belonged to him, but I have not believed in the possession of other humans for many centuries now. She was a person, human still by the scent of her blood, and I was taught by my father to respect freedom, and that despite my birthplace and certain customs of humankind, the truth remained that women held no less privilege than men. It was then I made my decision. />
  I unbound her wrists and ankles. Reaching my arms beneath her slender figure, I lifted her off the bed and carried her toward the door.

  Fortunately, Yin had not yet arisen, and I was able to slip from his home undetected.

  Twilight was upon China and I felt the sting of the setting sun as I carried Lihua to the dwelling I called home.

  I placed her on the soft bedroll where I slept on the floor within a room with no window. She was so still, if it had not been for her soft breath, I would have thought her dead.

  I smoothed her silky hair beneath her and placed her hands upon her chest over the silk of her dress. She would be comfortable there, I thought. And then I waited.

  As the sun set completely, I heard her moan, saw her stir. Her breath became deeper and when she opened her mouth as if to speak, I saw them—the small sharp teeth just as my kind had inherited from our fathers.

  Yin had explained to me that a blood transfer was necessary to give the human an adequate dose in which to transform them into an immortal blood drinker like us—a child. An heir. I knew this, of course, but my attempts in the past had met with such profound failure, I wondered what he had done differently in order to succeed. He had explained the process step by step, and one day I hoped to try on my own progeny, but at this time I had only Lihua, and she had been made by Yin. In essence, I had stolen his child.

  ~~~

  “

  Caractacus and Rome”

  Though much of this entry takes place in Rome and nearby, the documents found were located during excavation in northern England in 1956. Carbon dating, Approximately 43 A.D.

  We move around quite a bit. Lihua and I tried to stay ahead of Yin’s watchful eye.

  Once he discovered I had stolen his “experiment,” he began a search to find me. I admit I had taken on more than I had anticipated, but I could not leave Lihua to his savage designs. He had chosen after her alteration was complete, to then use her “blood and flesh as a medium for creating a serum that would kill off the agents responsible for the transformation from human to blood drinker.”

  For over 50 years now we have avoided him, moving around continuously. I forever keep a vigilant ear out for any hint of his whereabouts, though this has become increasingly difficult as my connections to Egypt and other lands have grown cold. I am no longer the offspring of the revered Pet Mer, but a fugitive traveling from one strange land to the next, keeping my name hidden, and in essence estranging myself from all I have ever known. Even my own father, if he were to return to earth, could not find me.

  For a long while Lihua and I holed up in a small village outside of Rome. Our cottage was miniscule, just three rooms, but we were happy there. We dwelt deep within a wooded area that was very difficult to see or find unless looking for it. A few kilometers to the south was a tiny village. It was there that I met an alluring man by the name of Caractacus. A British Chieftain who had inherited lands split between himself and his brother.

  I overheard him one night when I had passed by a private residence. I paused, listening. I was in search of human blood to feed myself and my daughter. He was in need of manpower in a planned invasion against the Roman armies in Britannia. How brazen, I thought, to be seeking forces against Rome while only several days’ outside the residence of the Emperor.

  The night was warm and a mist arose from the Rubicon river nearby, sprawling across the land like ghosts ready to devour any who dared venture out. I needed to know this leader.

  I waited until the time was right, when Caractacus exited the dwelling to relieve himself of too many spirits. As he stumbled, laughing, from the establishment, I waited until he had finished what he’d exited for, and then I approached him.

  He looked at me in grave curiosity. My dress revealed just enough to keep his eyes occupied as I spoke.

  “I was wondering if you could aid me, good kind sir,” I said, knowing the language which men needed to hear. They preferred the weak female who required their aid. And so I assumed a false persona.

  He bowed his head briefly, long dark curly locks that had been tied back once neatly now falling from their binding to frame his face. “And what is it I can do for you?”

  “My daughter and I—we are so very hungry.” I looked up through long dark lashes, and when his eyes caught mine finally, I made my move. “We would love for you to find us human blood on which to survive for several weeks.”

  When I was able, I often used my gift of persuasion to procure meals, but on many it either did not work at all, or they came out of the trance too soon and fought for release. This put Lihua and I at great risk of discovery. And so I learned which minds would take my suggestions the most readily. Caractacus was a leader, honor bound. He would understand the suggestion of starvation and his inner nature would require he fulfill the need.

  His dark eyes sparkled in their trance-like state. “I am at your service, Miss. Whatever I have is yours.”

  He followed me home without incidence or question. I set him on the stuffed chair by the fire and handed him a glass of wine. Still under my influence, he sipped happily as Lihua and I took our fill, without harming him, without killing him.

  Once done, I sent my daughter off to bed. I took Caractacus’s hand and lifted him from the chair. He was none the wiser that we had taken his blood. The colour I could feel return to my cheeks, and I knew Lihua would sleep well this night.

  “Thank you,” I said to him with a bow. But I did not want him to depart. Not just yet. I knew he had a wife waiting for him at home, but the sanctity of marriage meant nothing to me any longer. After Jabari passed, love in the traditional sense had begun to flow from my soul. Life became about need and need alone. And that night I needed to spend with a man of honor.

  Whatever his loyalties faded with my suggestions as I unbound his beautiful waves and let his hair flow free over broad shoulders. Once rid of the restriction of clothing, we lay together, naked and close, the heat of our bodies radiating like the sun I had never seen for myself. This man held me as spellbound as I him. And when he entered me it was as if Heaven had come down to earth to join us.

  His kiss was fire that burned across my flesh and left a trail of ecstasy I had not felt in a thousand years. He left me spent and exhausted, yet wanting more. But I needed to not be greedy. I had taken enough from this man, although I knew this would not be the last time we would have dealings.

  My name was obscure, my whereabouts unknown. Even an influential man such as Caractacus would not find me once I had chosen to hide, to leave him dazed and confused outside the dwelling where I had taken him, where he would return unaware of what had transpired this night.

  Later in the month, I followed Caractacus back to a south-eastern portion of Britannia, occupied by his own tribe, Catuvellauni. They were busy expanding territory and I knew my daughter and I would be safe there. Britannia, I had also heard, was a place of influence towards female domination. Lihua and I had all too often been captive of and subject to male rule throughout the years. It was time for women to show their strength. I heard of Britannia as island and female personification. I needed to remain close to Caractacus’s passion, his blood. He enthralled me.

  As most lands were occupied by Rome, this made it essentially simple for Lihua and me to hide. The constant invasions by Roman armies kept chaos among lands from my old homeland of Egypt to the far reaches of Armenia. In Britannia we were well able to remain completely invisible.

  But, even in this far away land, Yin haunted our dreams.

  One cold eve of the winter solstice, Lihua and I sat bathed in the flickering firelight of our small cottage fireplace. I with a rare book, as Lihua sat quietly in contemplation. It was then she spoke of him, which was a rare occasion as she never felt easy bringing up the name of the man who made her.

  “Mother,” she said to me. “How long must we run?”

  I looked up from the book. Her pale flesh, which had once held the yellowish tint of her birth lineage was lo
ng gone, her ebony hair now long enough that she kept it braided and tossed over one shoulder. She called me Mother, though I had not had any part in her creation. She knew the truth, of course. All of it. She was well aware of Yin’s intentions for her. I held nothing from the only child I had ever known and loved, even if she had not been born of my own ability. Yet, I was the only mother she had ever known, even as a mortal, she often reminded me how alone she had been.

  “I do not know,” I replied. “As long as Yin seeks us and wishes ill will on me for taking you from him we shall move and run.”

  “We are strong. Why can we not take him if he comes for us? We have heard nothing more of his experiments. Do you not think if he had bore more blood drinkers for his research, we would have heard? Your spies have kept you abreast of every news from within China and Yin’s life. He has not followed us, correct? Not in at least 25 years. Perhaps he has given up? I am sure in all this time he has found others to take my place as his experiments.”

  I truly loved Lihua for her positive outlook. But reality had never become part of her youthful gifts.

  “Oh, my daughter, my sweet Lihua.” I set down my book and went to her, knelt before her and took her face in my hands. “Even after all these years you are so young still. So I. Your sire, Yin, he made you specifically for a task that meant all to him. He shan’t give up. I felt his determination the one night we spent together. We must either remain a step ahead of him—or we fight until he is dead. His anger is toward me for taking you, not toward you for being taken. He is patient, as all of my kind are, and he will wait an eternity if he must, for that right moment.”

  Lihua’s eyes met mine and I saw in them a determination I had never before seen cross her smooth features of innocence. Her words astounded me. “Then we fight!”

  ~~~

  Entry Two

  For quite some time, Lihua and I existed well under the care of Caractacus in Britannia. Even from the battlefield, he made sure we were well care for, and though I knew he remembered only what suggestions I implanted in his mind, there is an inner spirit within him that recalls the nights of passion we had shared. The blood he offered. Such sweet nectar.