Vampire
Author: Amy Mah
Date: 2012-05-31 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Vampires; Paranormal; Young Adult; Manga; Comics
Description: This very funny vampire novel is very different from your normal vampire book and not just because it is bursting with full colour art fitted in with the text showing the life of a young vampire forced to walk about in a transparent nightdress all day without underwear because that is what female vampires are supposed to do! “The massacre on 22nd and 3rd was greatly exaggerated by the human newspapers and not altogether my fault. It was my very first hunting trip, and a girl should not be judged by her first bite night. And no one ever talks about me saving the life of that cat. Besides, most
Rights: All rights reserved.

Published by

REARDON PUBLISHING

PO Box 919, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 9AN. k12

Copyright © 2014

Reardon Publishing

Written by

Amelia Mah

Website: www.FangsRule.com

Amy’s Blog: http://amymahvampire.blogspot.com/

ISBN 1 874192618

ISBN (13) 9781874192619

Manga Artwork by

Heby

Layout and Design by

Nicholas Reardon

Chapter 1

-Trust Me; I’m a Vampire

Okay, so I am a vampire; so what? Yes, I do bite, so just shut up, human readers, and listen, or you will discover just how sharp my fangs are.

Look, I’m not undead, but I am not human, either; I’m just a girl that happens to have better teeth than you do. I am a living vampire, so not dead (with or without a “un,” okay)? You didn’t know that there were real living vampires? Well, that is not my fault, so try and not tell everyone of your ignorance, as my auntie always says; let people think you are an idiot without opening your mouth and proving it to them. And you humans are just so wrong about what real life as a vampire is like. Stupid and wrong: yes, I know you are only a pre-packed lunch on legs, but at least try and see the world from the point of a different species (and may I say, superior life form), namely me.

Being a vampire is not like in the movies; it is boring, and having the whole world out to get you just because you have better teeth than they do is unfair and totally specie-ist. I don’t go on about humans having short puny teeth and odd smells, now, do I?

Well, to try and educate you a little before the bell rings and you all go back to the trees with the other apes, I am going to explain just how and why my life is so unfair in being a teenage vampire.

Where should I start? No, not at the beginning, unless you wish me to discuss potty training or my special gift of being sick over things that were dry-clean only. Instead, let me start at the worst age possible, like right now: a teenager, and at a time in my life when I could die a thousand deaths daily in indescribable ways as I am forced to face the unending, living hell. Yes, you guessed it; it’s called high school.

And by the way, my name is Amy, and this is my life, if you can call it a life. Okay, so just sit back, shut up, and let me tell you all about it; if you fidget, then I should warn you that I was not joking about having better teeth than you, and they are sharp!

I also have good night vision. Okay, so I’m also slightly pigeon-toed, but we won’t go into that, so darkness is safe for me up to the point of tripping over dark-colored objects that some idiot has left lying about.

Vampires can ignore the problems of lack of light when we feed; yes, that is the correct term. Saying that one is “slurping blood and burping” just does not sound correct, and with me, it is sometimes all splashing and making slurping noises. So I’m a messy eater; want to make something out of it?

It is dark when I eat, and heck, I said good night vision; I did not say it was as good as military night glasses, did I?

It would be nice if things could go right for just one day, like remembering to take one’s sports kits actually on a day you will be doing it. I can still remember that time I had to play in my underwear! Okay, so I was eight at the time, but it’s something one remembers. Not that I should even be doing outside games: I have a doctor’s note saying due to a lack of something or other, my skin burns easily in strong light.

Er ….vampires and sunlight …get it? No, I don’t burst into flames; and as to glowing, the saying is, “Horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow.” Okay, okay, so you could say that when I get hot, I glow like a horse. Well, my human family’s nickname for me is “Horse,” and I can bite like one as well (but with a lot sharper teeth)-not that I have ever bitten anyone.

Besides, it has taken me years to live down the time I tried to turn into a bat, which is just another thing the films are so wrong about. Being caught flapping one’s arms up and down and running along a school corridor trying to fly is the sort of event that has a tendency to follow one through school like a bad smell, and you can end up on the receiving end of some very cruel names.

To change the subject, Amy had been looking forward to this all day, and her tummy was beginning to make some interesting sounds.

She slowly opened her mouth wide, yawning as she did so that she could feel her fangs began to descend.

No, I don’t know how they do it, and yes, I have tried putting a mirror in my mouth to watch. When I do that, they must get shy as they will refuse to appear if I watch. Think of it as something like removing a bra without taking the t-shirt off when changing for games; it works when you try it at home, but you end up strangling yourself when you try it in company. Look, stop asking questions, and let me carry on. Sigh.

The metal tangy smell of the wet blood of the victim was causing Amy’s mouth to water in anticipation of the taste that was soon to follow. Her fangs were now at their maximum length, which is quite impressive if I do say so myself. It just was not something you can go and put on job applications (well, not if it’s the sort of job that involves smiling at people).

The need for blood was now so strong that Amy could no longer wait. Think of it as having a piece of chocolate placed in your mouth and not being allowed to chew it up. Well, it is like that, apart from still not being able to chew it (and if blood looks brown, then it tastes a bit off).

Amy pounced on the target and sank her fangs deep into the flesh, but instead of the pleasure she was expecting, there was pain: so much pain that tears filled her eyes and she wanted to scream and scream until the agony of knowing that she had been stabbed hit her.

Amy of course knew that to scream in this situation would be pointless, so after cursing first with pain and then about the lack of curse words she knew, she lashed out with her arms and by luck more than judgement hit a switch. Immediately, the room was filled with a cold, flickering neon light. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and as Amy looked down at her poor chest area with blurred vision, she cursed out loud.

“Frigging heck! That’s another shirt ruined. This is so not right, darn it! I’m a vampire, so how can I miss biting into a dead lump of meat again!!”

Lying across her chest was a large, raw and very bloody steak that had been lovingly purchased on the way home after school today; the blood, which should now be filling Amy’s mouth, was instead currently leaving a large, very interesting and probably permanent stain on a new white blouse. The pain was, of course, due to biting herself yet again, which was also the reason why she had dropped her precious midnight snack.

Why don’t they give instruction books with the fangs, or at least a label with washing instructions? Suddenly, one day she had discovered that she had fangs (which came as one heck of a shock, let me tell you). At least with periods, they hand out leaflets and sample packs of- no, that’s getting off the subject.

It was only by accident that Amy had discovered that her new eating tools extended unbidden to full length when yawning. She could use chopsticks with no problem; it was expected when you looked Asian. Besides, if you failed to grab what you wanted with a pair of little sticks at a group meal, someone else quickly would. As to speaking Chinese, well, that was a different matter. Believe me when I say that four tone difference in word pronunciation does not come with the skin color.

Going back to fangs: well, like your first period, finding out that you have such appendages is not a welcome experience. They first appeared the very first week when Amy was a freshman in high school, scoring a 10/10 on the dork scale. She had an accidental yawn that turned into a full vampire attack during religious philosophy, as if some satanic force wished to get its side over on the subject.

It was just lucky that most of the class was asleep, and the teacher either thought they were plastic or that Amy should change her dentist, as she told her that young ladies should cover their mouths when they yawn. Then she set Amy a 2000-word essay on why vampirism cannot exist in the modern world!

So here I am now, an evil, blood-sucking denizen of the night having to gently pull my impaled hand off my own fangs.

Well, Amy thought, perhaps I can be ahead of a fashionable new trend on having body piercing for the hands, or perhaps I could start one; someone had to invent ear piercing and nose rings. An eyebrow ring was always in style, and she could already wear lip rings from the number of times she had bitten herself! By the way, instantly healing only happens in the movies, unless you call using sticky plasters and waiting for it to itch and scab over instant healing; personally, I do not.

So was Amy a living undead? And what the heck was “undead” supposed to mean? Amy’s dictionary did not even have it listed as a real word, so apart from vampires being known as “undead” (like zombies), all she knew was that she was a living vampire; perhaps “undead” should be reserved just for things like zombies. The closest thing that she had seen was Mr. McGregor, who taught history. He had very flaky skin and a graveyard cough, plus he was old enough to have lived through most of the history he taught, so perhaps he was the nearest the school had to a zombie.

Anyway, enough of this deep thinking. Amy grabbed her steak up with her non-fashionable, free-of-holes other hand. She shoved as much as she could fit into her mouth and sucked.

Woooooooow, that’s better! Okay, and just where in any book did it say that vampires couldn’t be messy eaters? I did just tell you this; you are listening, aren’t you?

After cleaning the splattered blood off her face and putting the blouse in the sink to soak with the vague hope that she could wear it again (and not just for Halloween), Amy lay on her bed with her feet in the air. As I said before (the same as every other teenager), I know that the world is personally out to get me. What I can’t work out is what I did to piss it off so badly that it has taken me on as a personal challenge, darn it! And yes, I should really learn some new curse words. Saying piss was a mistake, as Amy now realized that she needed to go back to the bathroom. Well, at least it saved a double trip, she thought, as I needed to attend to my teeth (yet another thing the books forgot to tell anyone wishing to become a vampire). Along with the bloodsucking came lots and lots of cleaning and regular trips to the bathroom.

It also took a long time to clean them, due to having so many. The books talk about vampire fangs: two sharp pointed teeth, which is a load of crap. My mouth would make a sabre-toothed piranha jealous. Besides, it was not just the after-meal ritual and the constant feeling that you had been sucking on rusty nails; it was also that Amy so loved the taste of the toothpaste, and I am sure there is no harm in swallowing it instead of spitting it out. Well, I heard once that toothpaste has calcium in it, and with my teeth, I need lots of calcium!

On returning to her bedroom, cleaner but still licking her lips, Amy kicked off her slippers and jumped on the bed, stretching out her toes as her old laptop booted up, She looked down admiringly at her feet followed by her hands, forgetting the frigging fangs for the moment. This is what is cool about being a vampire: claws.

Amy made what could be called a tiger move, which looked more like she was trying to pick up an invisible baseball, and growled. Okay, the growl was not needed, but neither is hissing, and female vampires always do in the movies. Anyway, as her growl deepened, first Amy’s fingernails then her toenails slowly turned into claws.

She never understood how they did it. It felt like they were sliding out from the fingers, but they were completely invisible until needed, and they alone made up for Amy’s diet of iron tablets, constipation and fear of standing too closely to magnets. The claws were also wonderfully useful for so many things; Amy could open any type of packaging no matter how the manufacturers thought up clever ways to prevent normal people from opening their products.

Yes this is normal exercise for a vampire!

Chapter 2

What the Heck?

See? I said my life was boring! Nothing ever happens-err, well, apart from what happened to me two days later… That was when my whole life changed; you will notice I did not say got better. It was a Friday, and Amy normally loved Fridays. Like Saturdays, they were not school nights, so her auntie let Amy go out on a prowl. Not that my auntie knows that I am a vampire; she just thinks it is normal that teenagers my age hang around graveyards, spend all their allowance on raw meat and sunblock lotion, and go through three miles of dental floss a month. Apart from being human, she is crazy; yes, I did say crazy. Well, she likes to sleep on the roof at night in case of burglars, and during the summer, she sleeps naked! And, like, she is old. If Google maps ever decides to photograph our house from the air, someone is going to have one heck of a shock!

Amy

Walking alone at night had never been a problem for Amy as she had good night vision. Again, I have said this sort of stuff before, but as mostly stupid humans will be reading this, I try to speak slowly and explain long words. Look, the hours of darkness have a comfortable feel to them. I am not sure I can explain, but imagine a warm blanket of darkness and, well, it is not like that at all, but you get the idea.

As for sleeping, Amy could still sleep in the next morning just like any normal girl her age. No matter how much night sleep she got, however, she always felt the same the next day, and that is normally crappy. You might ask if she worried about her safety; the worst that could happen to a vampire out walking would be to run into Van Helsing holding a hammer and a sharp piece of wood. The second worst thing would be meeting a stupid, short-sighted rapist that failed to read the logo on Amy’s shirt that said, “I’m a vampire, now P… off!”

Tonight, she was lucky, as only the second worst thing happened. Sigh. And when I say as a teenage girl that meeting a rapist is only a minor thing, you can see how crappy my life truly is.

At least her auntie got very good cell phone reception on the roof. Just as Amy was tying to text her and tell her that she was going to stay with a friend overnight and not to worry, suddenly, out of nowhere, some maniac lunged at her, causing her to drop her phone. From the unpleasant sound it made, Amy just knew it had broken. And being the third one I have dropped this year, I also know for a fact that my auntie will never, ever buy me another one. Therefore, my whole limited social life and any future love life I might have were now as good as flushed down the toilet.

Without so much as a, “Mind if I grope you, miss?” this bum just grabbed her! Of all things, the first thought that went through Amy’s mind was the fact that he smelled of out-of-date dairy products, which would be a great help later on a wanted poster. With his hand covering her mouth, all she could do was mumble; even if he understood, Amy doubted that he would let go of her just because she was trying to tell him that she was one very pissed off vampire just out taking a walk.

As he pushed her towards the wall, Amy kicked him hard: as hard as she could. So much for self-defense lessons, as he just ignored it! Amy thought that it was yet another failure on the part of the standard vampire movies; not all vampires are martial arts experts with super strength.

The kick was not fully ignored, as he then punched Amy in the stomach. Vampires came in two sorts: the super strong, and Amy’s sort, the type who feel weak and sickly most days and constipated the rest of the time.

All her super vampire defenses were useless due to him having a hand over her mouth, which stopped Amy from yawning or growling: the only two ways she had to summon her weapons. After being punched in the stomach, her most potent defense now was to throw up all over him, and unless he moved his hand, even that would not work.

At this point in time, Amy was not so much worried about reluctantly losing her virginity followed by her life but instead more on the lines of why he was able to hold her down with a single hand over her mouth when she was supposed to be a dark denizen of the night. She knew that she should have been frightened, but this was not the time to try to multitask, as Amy was far too busy trying not to be sick and choke to death on her own vomit.

As she felt his other hand undoing and then pulling at her jeans, any faint hopes that this was a mistake and he was just lost and wanted help finding his way home were fast diminishing. Amy did not need to be a straight-A student to know just what his current intentions were, so to stop herself from being sick, she bit him. Anyone so stupid as to cover someone’s mouth with a hand deserves to be bitten, and to stick one’s hand over a vampire’s mouth just borders on insanity.

Amy was surprised to find that sharp teeth and fangs were now filling her mouth without needing the standard, jaw-cracking yawn to activate them. And as she clamped her jaws together, she remembered that the girls’ personal self defense class had not gotten past the kicking-in-the-nuts technique. She was sure that what she could do with her teeth would hurt him far more than any good nut-kicking. Not only was it extremely painful to have needlesharp teeth bite into your flesh, but Amy also had four highly polished fangs that did not just bite but impaled things, like hands. She knew from bitter personal experience that it really, and I mean really, really hurt. Amy had stabbed herself so often that she had put heavy duty gardening gloves on her birthday present list. She now mentally added a new phone to that list due to this idiot. Who in his right mind would try and rape a vampire by first placing a hand over her mouth!? Didn’t he watch late-night horror shows?

As his other hand now struck her, strangely it did not cause any interest as Amy’s full attention was on the new taste in her mouth. The blood from that impaled hand was proving to taste better than any raw steak, and he was leaking so much blood that it was now filling her mouth so quickly that Amy had to swallow fast so that none escaped. With his third blow, she grabbed his fist without thinking and squeezed it until a long stream of swear words that Amy tried to memorize for future use hinted that it was his turn tonight to be pissed off by events.

Slightly dizzily, and in a red blur, Amy let go of his hand, belched and sighed out loud as she dropped to her knees.

“Wow! I’ve found something better than chocolate!”

Her vision was suddenly sharper than normal, and colors seemed to be different: more vivid and kind of pinkish as she watched him slowly stumble backwards. The surprise at what had happened, however, changed to disappointment as Amy saw him pull a gun out. Rapists always used knives, didn’t they? It was an unwritten rule, along with having a dominant mother.

This bum had clearly not read the rulebook, mind you, Amy thought. She was a little impressed that he still had a working hand to hold the gun with, and her next thought was to wonder if vampires were bulletproof. Was it only silver bullets that could harm us, or was that just werewolves?

The chance to find out if lead was dangerous if taken internally was lost as a man that Amy had failed to see standing behind the rapist leaned forward and snapped his neck.

She looked down at the now very dead rapist then looked up at the stranger; was he also a vampire? He was definitely a well-dressed businessman in a three-piece suit, so lawyer or vampire or perhaps both. If he wasn’t a vampire, then he really should book an appointment with a good dentist and buy a nail file, Amy thought. Either way, he was the sort of businessman who could make a real killing in the city.

What should I do? What should I say? Before needing to worry if she should thank him or scream, he spoke.

“Are you a Masochist?”

Wondering what her religious views could possibly have to do with him just appearing from thin air and killing a man, all Amy could do was tell the truth as best as she could.

“Err-No, I am a Buddhist. Well, kind of-err. Like, not the vegetarian sort.”

For some reason, this stopped him, and Amy could see an eye twitch as he was trying to think of a reply. Then he went adult on her.

“Just what were you doing, letting a meal treat you like that? Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to play with your food? Waste not, want not; now finish him up before he starts to congeal. There are vampires around the world killing each other for a meal like that. Well? What are you waiting for?”

Amy’s head was swimming so much that it should have been wearing a bikini, and her eyes were telling her that the world had turned a very nice shade of pink in color.

“Just because you are feral (and that means wild if that helps), you should not leave a meal to cool down. It is bad for your digestion.”

Amy wanted to say, “thank you, that is so kind of you to explain,” in a sarcastic way, but she did not get the chance as he just pushed her head down towards the very dead-looking corpse. Not that she had seen many corpses to know the normal look; this was her first one.

Amy did not wish to be this close to this guy when he was alive, let alone now when he was lying about breaking several city hygiene laws littering the sidewalk. As she turned to point this out to her pompous rescuer, to her embarrassment, her tummy rumbled. She found that her mouth was again full of far more teeth than was normal for a girl her age.

It must have been the smell of blood that was doing strange things to her body; if he had still been alive, he would have been more than a little surprised at the way Amy really wanted his body. This feeling was nothing like what raw steak could do for her. Without any control, her fangs took it upon themselves to clamp tightly around his neck. As soon as the blood touched her lips, she was lost in a red mist, like when you start to drink when you’re really thirsty. You know that you will only stop when the glass is empty or the bubbles go down the wrong way and you end up being sick…err, or is that just me?

Anyway, after some unknown amount of time, the businessman tried to pull Amy off, saying that she had had enough, so she slashed out at him with fully extended claws that no longer needed baseball moves and growls to activate them, making a very neat, red cut across his chest. This automatic reflex surprised him as much as it did her; I don’t normally have urges to rip heads off of businessmen. Then her surprise turned to pain; he said something she did not catch then and slapped her so hard that she banged her head on the nearby wall and must have been knocked unconscious as the world went dark.

As she slowly came to, Amy felt a chill, and her whole head hurt. The ground was cold and damp and not so much ground as a large flat roof. No longer with a red haze, her eyes tried to focus. She knew the reason for feeling cold when she saw the neat little pile of clothes that should have been on her body doing the job of keeping her warm that were instead creating an interesting work of art at the feet of the businessman.

She got to her feet and reached out to grab her things, hugging them close to her chest and forcing herself to ask the obvious question:

“What did you do to me?”

It did not help that he smiled as he looked at the way Amy was attempting (and failing) to hide as much as of her body as she could behind jeans and a top.

“Do? My dear, I can DO whatever I wish to DO to you!”

At this point, Amy’s claws began to extend, and even though the red haze had retreated, she could remember the feeling of power that the blood had given her. It was still there in the background, ready to be called upon.

“Being male means that one does not have to be nice: well-mannered, yes; well-dressed, yes, but nice? No; any bits of nice vanish as soon as the fangs come out.”

At this, she could not hold back. “Well, I also have sharp teeth!”

In a flash, Amy was fully armed, and if she could not bite him then she knew her claws could tear him apart. If they could open the post-office-delivery-man-proof packets my aunties sent me from Asia, then they could open anything.

She knew she looked like something from a horror movie, that something that usually appeared on the screen just before the screaming started. Amy was fully armed and deadly, and that would have been a lot more impressive if he had not smiled and slapped her.

“Ouch!”

It really hurt, and it also knocked her off her feet so that she landed back on the ground in a heap. She didn’t like the way he was smiling; if sharks had a smiling contest, then this guy would win gold in it. Amy had thought that her teeth were impressive, but his no longer fit in his mouth. All she could think of was a school trip to a museum and seeing a sabre-toothed cat jumping on a stone-age man.

“If little Hell Cats bare their teeth to their elders and betters, then they better have good dental insurance or learn to eat all their meals through a straw in the future; didn’t your mother ever teach you how to talk to your betters?”

At this point it probably would have been best to keep silent, but Amy’s mouth didn’t listen to this sensible advice.

“Keep my mom out of this! My parents are both dead; if not, you would be the one with broken teeth after my dad sorted you out!”

He flashed the smile again. Crap! That sabre-toothed cat would have wet itself before attacking something with these teeth.

“I am sure that would have been the case, but by being dead they are no longer your owners or protectors; who owns you now?”

Amy ignored him.

“And just what were they doing leaving you hunting all alone at your age?”

OMG! He is going to start monologue-ing at me again! Amy thought to herself.

“Where are the manners they should have taught you? They should have informed you that there is no equality of the sexes with our species; bear that in mind before you insult a male again.”

“You should also know full well that I would be looking for marks of family ownership, family brands and the like that should still be visible even on a renegade like you. To suggest that I would need to take advantage of you while unconscious must be your idea of a sick joke, and yes, I do know it is your way of getting back at me for hitting you, so I will let it pass this time. Why are you not at home bouncing about the halls in a skimpy nightdress, which is all females ever do?”

The same strange smile crossed his face again like someone listening to an internal joke. Just what was the point of this one-sided conversation?

“I think in your case, however, the standard, see-though nightdress of the female vampire would perhaps be a waste of money.”

He sounded far more pissed off by Amy’s comments than her actions in trying to claw him to death earlier. I was the naked one, yet here he was lecturing me like I was late handing in my homework and it would be my fault, not his, if I didn’t get into college.

To make matters worse, Amy could feel her face redden due to his comments, so she held her clothes tighter to her chest, thinking, No matter how disappointing a bust I may have, it is still mine and not for public display. Besides, she did not like the funny look he was giving her as one of his eyes started to twitch. Should I tell him about his eye? Well, having a guy keep winking at me while I shivered naked in front of him was not, and I repeat, NOT the sort of evening I had planned.

It was bad enough having to stand naked on a roof, err…… did I mention that? Looking behind him, Amy could see that they were at least five floors off the ground. Standing naked on top of a roof meant that she was now frigging cold as well as mega embarrassed. Another problem was that due to the cold air finding places to chill that she normally kept covered, she had just had a call from her bladder reminding her of the fact that blood is a liquid, and she had just drank an awful lot of it.

Okay, okay; perhaps she could put up with a monologue-ing and a winking weirdo in a business suit, but why the heck was he now singing at me? Not that it is real singing: more like a humming or purring like a cat. Oh, crap! If he starts singing songs from Broadway shows, I am going to be sick over the chorus.

He then put a hand out and tilted her head to one side, gently brushing her hair away with his other. As he moved closer, he radiated strength, no longer old but mature and extremely powerful. He also smelled very nice: a combination of hot chocolate, log fires, baking bread, and fresh coffee brewing.

Amy had never been that in tune with her inner vamp; she called it her “inner vamp” as she had always felt she had an invisible friend: not so much someone to play with when you are 6, but instead a presence inside of her. As soon as she bit into the rapist, the inner vamp appeared in Amy’s mind. She thought it was like having a friend that for years you were only on texting terms with, then suddenly she would turn up on your doorstep with a suitcase in hand and full intentions of moving in. I know they say one’s body is like a temple, but this temple had suddenly gotten squatters; this squatter was a bossy little slut that was making it very clear to me that to resist him was not an option as far as she was concerned.

He moved his head closer, and Amy could feel his tongue on her neck. Again, the voice of her inner vamp warned her not to move; Amy instinctively knew that he was going to bite, but when the bite came, it was so gentle that she could hardly feel him penetrate her. It was so different from the voice of her smutty inner vamp, who silently screamed at Amy that she wanted to feel him penetrate her somewhere else. Unbelievably, it felt good: so good that Amy let out an involuntary sigh. Her arms then dropped to her sides, letting the clothes fall where they wished around her feet. He was right about never needing to force himself on me; all he had to do was ask, and I would be his body and soul. No, he did not even need to ask; it would be more like me begging him to take me.

The bite lasted only a second, and then he walked away, deep in thought, leaving Amy just standing and staring down at her feet. With disappointment, she looked back up and quietly said (more to herself than to the stranger), “I need to go to the bathroom.”

He turned and looked her up and down then pointed across the roof. “Go over there out of sight, and for pity’s sake, get dressed.”

Grabbing her things, Amy ran to where he pointed, quickly relived herself and started to dress. She noticed that her hands were trembling. In fact, her whole body was trembling at the thought of walking back to him. She hoped that it was just fear that was making her tremble, but deep down, she could feel that her inner vamp was angry: not at the stranger but instead at what had not happened.

Amy had read all the romantic, trashy novels that described vampires as being cool, sexy and dangerous, but she couldn’t remember where in the heck it said that female vampires acted like ally cats when in the company of a male vampire? No wonder there was no equality of the sexes with vampires. How could there be when all a male had to do was lick your neck and you wanted to have his children? Or at least practice very hard at trying to have his children.

Walking back to where he was still standing, she knew that there was no point in thinking of trying to run away. It was hard enough to stop herself from skipping back to him like a five-year-old.

Upon reaching him, Amy resisted the urge to take her clothes back off and throw herself at his feet. Instead, she stood a few feet away with her head lowered, having a silent argument with her inner self on the best time and place to lose one’s virginity. He was now looking at her in a different way, as if seeing her anew. The way he looked made Amy feel far more naked than she had before when she actually had been naked.

“My, my; you are a strange one, my little Hell Cat. Who would have believed it? So young to be a renegade. People would think you a turnling if not for your fangs and odd smell. You are in fact all wrong; no wonder you smelled so odd down in the ally. You smelled of rotting meat and lily of the valley, and I so hate lily of the valley. Just how long have you been on a human-blood-free diet? Remarkable! You should have rotted away long ago; no normal vampire can survive long sucking on bits of dead cow. Am I right in assuming that was your first real human blood meal tonight?”

She swallowed, trying hard not to ask why he talked in statements. Amy answered, “Yes.”

“Well, forget about trying to rot away again; your body now knows what it needs, and it will never again be satisfied with mere lumps of raw cow.”

“So what am I to do with you? You clearly should not be walking around by yourself. I thought you were some runaway or perhaps a deranged female staying away from your betters because you like female company more than male company, but you are in fact as young as you look, and far too young to be out of a nest and on your own.”

“And the scent your body is giving off right now means you have very normal female needs,” he continued. “You will soon discover that your blood meal has awoken certain urges. Do try and control them, as it is not very becoming in a female to want to give herself to any passing male.”

“Yes, as I said, you will soon start to feel more like a vampire than the meat you so like living with. The movies humans make about sex-starved female vampires: well, they are nearly true unless you are controlled by your family. When in heat, you will want to lift your tail to any passing tomcat of a male vampire. It’s all in the blood memory, you see.”

“We are an old race, and in the past, females had a hunting area to feed and breed, which they protected from other females with fang and claw. Male vampires controlled a very large hunting ground that covered the areas of six or more females, and they would protect the females and either kill any other male who dared to enter the area or be killed himself and have his area taken over by the new dominant male.”

“This way, females only ever met the best and strongest of males to mate with. The urges you currently have are quite normal; your smell, as I said, is-well, do try and control yourself. I may be male, but I am not that desperate, so let’s talk about what I should do with you in other ways.”

Amy could feel her face redden, but more than that, she could feel that she was losing control, and not from being sick of being lectured to on a rooftop. No, something odd was going on, and his constant talking was not doing anything to help. She felt like she should get some popcorn and a Coke because it seemed as though she was watching a movie of herself. Her mind was pushed to one side. She was still standing there in front of him, but she looked different.

She could not place why she thought she looked different. It was a silly thought; I look as normal as ever. My coat of short fur is neat, well-groomed and of a nice black and red coloring. I am young and strong and in good condition to breed, but just why is the male in front of me ignoring me? I am in perfect condition; couldn’t he see how my wings trembled with my need for him?

“Your blood did not taste like I expected; you must be from some strange barbaric nest that threw you out to die due to your abnormalities. Your blood is little too old to be normal: a throwback of some sort, which perhaps could account for being able to live without blood for so long. It is unheard of; just how you have lasted so long without rotting away is beyond me. There are lots of unanswered questions: no master, no family, no brands or other ownership marking, very odd blood. Why, it would be a kindness to kill you right now to put you out of your misery. Would you like me to put you out of your misery, little Hell Cat?”

Amy mentally put the popcorn down, took control and looked up at him. Was he now threatening her? Confusion was turning to anger; she wanted to lash out at the world in general and at him in particular. Something was wrong. I don’t like being frightened, but I do angry even less well. The world was pink-looking and not doing what it should be doing. It was wrong. Amy was wrong, and he was wrong, and she could barely keep her claws sheathed as she let rip.

“Stop trying to freak me out, you weirdo! Shut up with the talking. Do you get some sort of kick out of messing with my mind? Stop messing with my minds! We can’t think straight. You are no better than the man you killed that was attacking me!”

“Stripping me naked when unconscious just to see girly vamp marks? Crap! Like you couldn’t have asked!? You are just another pervert! And for God’s sake, stop flapping those silly black bat wings up and down! I know they are not real but just more mind tricks, as I can see it’s an illusion, as one just passed through the wall!”

My minds were upset and confused, and yes, I did say minds! Amy was feeling mega odd and seemed to be one of two people sharing the same body. They were both pissed off for different reasons.

She now had her claws out again: not long nails but claws; you painted long nails, but the only color claws became was red. I knew I was fit and fast and with teeth that could crack bones! But claws were also good, and I had lots of them. The vampire films loved to show naked female vampires with long nails on each finger, but you did not have to be naked nor did you have to have foot-long nails to be a vampire. Amy’s claws were nicely feminine, so when extended they were short: no more than an inch or so. But they were strong: very strong (worrying about breaking a nail had never been a problem) and very sharp.

Amy kicked off her trainers, and two more sets of claws extended. She had often thought of them as cat claws but not the sort of pet cat that would sharpen them on the furniture. No, these were more of the type that would stay sharp even after ripping down a tree.

He was talking again, but Amy could not make out what he was saying, as she had once again stepped to one side. He must be playing some vampire mind-control trick on me! Well, I won’t have it!

He is such an odd male to want to play so much. Amy watched him lay his jacket on the ground…What is a jacket? A soft and warm thing? Now she understood; he wanted her to lie on it; why all the talk? and ….do I have a name? What the heck is a name?

She knew that she used to have a name: something to mean “me.” Yes, of course I do, so obvious it slipped my mind. That is it; I’m me. I’m a-me. I’m an A-Me, but that does not matter now. Names did not matter anymore. The nest the male had made was calling her. She did not have anything to add, so like the male she removed her outer covering and rolled it up like a pillow, placing it just above the jacket. She then folded her wings, got into a comfortable mating position on his nest, and waited.

“Take control of yourself, female. You are far too young to be in heat, and my actions are not what you think, Now get up. I promise I will not kill you, but neither am I interested in you for that, so get up, and for pity’s sake, get some control of that body! You are acting like…….”

At last he is joining me, but why is he still talking? Males are so stupid at times; we have long passed the courting stage. He had tasted her blood and carefully examined her whole body to check if she was in peak condition to breed. Oh yes! I am in perfect breeding condition, so now it is my turn to make the demands.

He was standing over her, wasting time with words, so she reached up with a hand and locked her claws around what she wanted. The silly male tried to move away, so she hissed and tightened her grip. Males may be so much stronger than females, but this one needs to know that I am now ready, and my claws will stay where they are until he is prepared to satisfy me; either that or he will never pleasure another female ever again.

Lying down next to her, he began to stroke her fur and make nice noises as she tried to wriggle out of some sort of coverings that were going to get in the way of their coupling.

Amy

Chapter 3

Awake

Amy slowly awoke, and her sleep had been good, No horrid dreams: this time, just restful sleep, and wow, did she feel good. A strange dream was fast vanishing from her mind, but that was of no importance as she stretched and opened her eyes.

She looked around and saw that it was still night. She was on a roof, and when she looked down, she saw that she must have been sleeping on a man’s jacket. As Amy’s memory slowly returned, she noticed the owner of the jacket was the tall vampire sitting a few feet away in a ripped shirt, waistcoat and torn trousers; he was just staring out at the city. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she quickly checked to see whether she was dressed. She let out an inward sigh as she noted that she still had on jeans and a t-shirt. Her blood-soaked jumper was nearby and looked like it had been acting as a pillow. Amy’s t-shirt was badly torn, as were her jeans, but at least she was still wearing them, so that meant, well, that meant nothing, as her mind was blank over what had happened and why she was sleeping on his jacket.

From the state of his clothes, it looked more like they had been fighting than anything else. She remembered a dream of her father stroking her hair along with a dream of giant bat-like creatures flying about massive caves and having sex in the air. OMG! Did I have sex or just dream about it?

There was no way she was going to ask him. What could she say? Excuse me, but if we just had sex, shouldn’t you at least tell me your name? And if something had happened, shouldn’t she feel different? Just how different? Perhaps some feeling of soreness down below? All Amy could determine was that her whole body felt like it had been hit by a bus, twice.

Girls’ magazines gave warnings about unprotected sex and drinking too much, but where the hell could you read about not remembering if it was you yourself that had raped a male vampire while flying around a cave because you were desperate for sex and mega hot due to him licking your neck?

“So my little Hell Cat is awake, is she?”

This man; no, male, yes. Monster, yes; vampire, yes. Evil, maybe (but also charming in a way), obnoxious, definitely, was now looking at Amy, and even that thought was wrong. His eyes did not look at you; they burnt you with a cold fire. Amy really did not care if they had had sex, just as long as he didn’t start lecturing her again!

“I have now decided what to do with you; you may not like it, but that is your problem. If you are wanting a choice, then you may have one. The choice is you either do exactly what I say, or I will rip your head off.”

Well, Amy had often wondered what people talked about after the sex act, and she had in the past imagined some strange stuff, but never anything like this.

She watched him smile, and he had less teeth showing than last time. She ached so much, either from sleeping on a damp cold roof or flying about caves. She wasn’t sure if she could even tell the difference. The drug-like blood hit had faded, and the idea of having one’s head ripped off didn’t sound that bad compared to the worry of what had or might have happened. And even if she was not pregnant, she remembered that being pregnant was the only thing she had wanted to be in the dream.

Amy let out a long, bored sigh, hoping to aggravate him or at least wipe the stupid smile off his face. Remember that I wasn’t the victim; fear was for the meat. I was a vampire. Besides, she’d experienced so many emotions over the past few hours that she no longer cared what happened. She didn’t even have the energy to give him the finger, so instead Amy dropped her head back down on her damp jumper and shut her eyes.

“Whatever! Do what you want, as if I cared!”

He must have covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye, as she could sense him now towering above her.

“Aggravating child; you need to be marked for your own good!”

As if her life was not a living hell already, he now held his finger out for her to suck! Suck his finger, yuck! The pervert!

Amy had the internet, so she knew full well what sucking a guy’s finger meant, and well, free flight sex on the wing was one thing, but she was certainly not the kind of girl that went around sucking guys’ fingers, nor would she ever be that sort of girl. But the smell of his blood from the cut she had made with a claw earlier was overpowering, so Amy opened her mouth and gently closed it again on his finger, letting her tongue roll over it.

What was going through her mind was the hope that he was the clean type of guy who washed his hands after going to the bathroom, but it was too late for that kind of thought now. Closing her eyes, Amy could feel the blood moving under the skin.

Okay, as a vampire, fingersucking need not be thought of as sexual; no one has laid down any rules on after-vampire-sex etiquette. Perhaps this was like the old films of smoking in bed together, as if choking on an offered cigarette would be better than a simple, “thank you, that was nice; would you like to go out for a meal now?”

Heck, I’m a vampire! So with vampires, first it was sex then a meal afterwards. Well, as long as she could still finish off with chocolate brownies later, Amy figured she may as well take what was offered. So she bit his middle finger (the one with a fancy gold ring with a large black stone), and she sucked. Perhaps all this was normal in the vampire world. Anyway, she no longer cared; his blood is soooooooooooo so so good! I just wish he would shut up and stop wriggling his fingers so much.

“Stop that! You should just be kissing the ring, not biting me, you animal! Disobedience is not becoming in a female vam- I SAID, LET GO!”

With the last comment he made, Amy had to lock on tighter with all her teeth to stop him from prying her jaw apart. She improved her grip by holding his wrist with both hands. Her strength was returning like a tidal wave with every swallow. All her senses were tingling, and she loved the pretty pictures that were playing across her eyes. Amy could imagine this businessman as a large-winged creature standing before her. Then it was time for more hopping up and down and swearing.

“You ….….. will …….… let ……… go ……..now!”

Reluctantly, Amy decided that perhaps she should not suck anymore: not that she wanted to stop, as her inner vamp had just tied a napkin around her neck and ordered a side dish of fries. But the businessman was starting to look a little more pissed off with her, and she could tell he was trying to hint at something by the cushioning effect of her rolled up pillow of a jumper that was currently stopping her from getting a concussion as he tried to crush her head by banging it up and down against the roof.

His normal, pissed-off state was going up a couple of notches to mega pissed off; at this point, Amy’s inner vamp took over, and she felt her body perform some kind of yoga position in front of him. Upon seeing the strange shape she was in, he swore but stepped back as if it meant something more than the backache that it was currently giving her. Her inner vamp now let go of control, and she fell over as he stared at her.

“You are just to kiss the ring finger to show you are subservient and not treat me like a frigging vending machine! And don’t you dare use that sort of submissive position unless you know what it means! ”

Amy watched him flick his hand as if he were trying to bring life back to his fingers, and she tried very hard not to giggle as he took a small ring from his waistcoat pocket. She handed him his jacket; the sort of waistcoat he was wearing needed to be hidden from sight or perhaps burned; who wears a black waistcoat nowadays with a blood red silk back to it and gold tassels? A vampire, she guessed, but not a fashionable one, that was for sure.

“Put this on; it will keep you safe.”

Amy looked at him, then at the ring. Okay, so it was kind of neat in the way that most laws of mineralogy and light reflection surfaces were broken by the way the black gems unnaturally glowed black. Look, I am not stupid; nothing can suck at the light around itself to give the impression of wearing a very small and decorative black hole. Well, what is a girl to say in these circumstances?

“Okay, flying sex and finger sucking on a first date is one thing, but who said I wanted to be your wife? I hardly know you. And yes, the ring is cool, but, well, flowers, meals out and at least one weepy movie where I can make your shirt dirty with running mascara should come long before a ring. Besides, you are too old; what are you, like, 35? 40? Older? And you haven’t met my auntie yet.”

I do wonder if he knows about the eye twitch; wouldn’t someone have at least mentioned that it was off putting during a conversation?

“It is a sign of ownership; put it on the smallest finger of your left hand. When it vibrates, that means you must come and meet me here, as I would want to speak with you. Males give these rings to female humans to show they are a pet: a sexual plaything that is not to be killed or used by other vampires. Used means-”

Turning the ring over in her hand, Amy felt her inner vamp stir.

“I can guess what used means! And I am not interested! First, you strip me naked to see if I have a return label on my butt, and now I have to walk about advertising the fact I’m a fang banger!”

Seeing his eye twitch get faster, Amy decided to give him the silent treatment, although she didn’t think he would even notice due to his normal monologue-ing conversation ability.

“You must stay hidden. As a race, we are not all as nice as I am. If you are discovered, then you will either be killed or used for breeding. I will need time to think of what to do with you, but you are lucky as our nest is very modern in the acceptance of abominations. Your throw back, day-walker abilities could be useful to the overall gene pool. The best way to hide something is to put it in plain sight, and that is what I am going to do with you. The ring means you will be recognized and contacted by other pets at your school. They will think you are one of them, and fresh blood from our blood store can be collected by any pet without raising suspicion, so use the blood bank, and don’t go hunting yourself.”

Unthinking, Amy slipped the ring on and found it fitted. She also discovered that it would not come off: turn on the finger, yes, but come off, no. Oh crap! Now what have I done?

“The pet rings mean different things to different people. To male vampires, it marks you as a property: a sexual plaything. To the humans, it is a mark of honor and the possibility of immorality. To me, it means keeping you camouflaged and giving me time to think of what to do with you. To you, it means living another day, if you are lucky.”

“Go hide with the pets at school; they will find you as they will recognize the ring, but the vampire world will not notice you. If they do, you are dead, but they would never expect such a thing as a full blood hiding with the meat, as no female vampire would ever demean herself hiding as a pet. Will you stop fidgeting with it? I said it won’t come off!”

Well, so much for my quiet walk! Amy thought. At least the headache was going, and there had been no visible damage. Unlike that of the rapist, the ring giver’s blood had a fantastic tang to it; even the few drops she had been able to suck out made her feel fantastic. She now knew that finger sucking made a vampire heal fast, and well, if this ring acted as a vamp repellent, at least she don’t have to worry about all the problems finding holy water, obtaining a blessed crucifix, and whether she would have to wear rubber gloves to handle them. Crap! Someone should do a book on being a teenage vampire!

He had gone quiet, so Amy said, “Okay, so now that I have a whore ring, you no longer want to rip my head off?”

There was no answer. Looking around, she saw that the roof was empty, and apart from a few roosting pigeons, she was alone. He had left; that much was obvious, but how had he done it so silently that she had not noticed?

Amy answered her own question. “I will take that as a no, then.”

And as she looked around, she added, “Bastard! And just how in the heck am I supposed to get down off a frigging roof?”

Amy

Chapter 4

Roof Top Romance ….as if

As she climbed up onto the flat roof, Amy could see him waiting at the edge, and even from this distance, he looked pissed off. Crap! It will be the twitching eye again, not that I could care less over being late meeting him tonight, I am also late in other ways. Amy was not the best at math, but even she could add up to 28 days, and she was late.

Amy was supposed to be hiding out as a school slut. Whoever said that every cloud has a silver lining didn’t come across the storm clouds of my life. Not content with simply turning me into a social leper, my wonderful lord and master (as if) had been demanding that I meet him every few days to report in. Well, tonight he was truly pissed off with me, but I didn’t care. If he insisted that she continue to play the part of a vampire pet, pretending to be a high-class sex slave to him and hanging out with a bunch of sluts that believed that black nails were fashionable, then this was the Amy he was going to get.

He called me a Hell Cat, as if I didn’t have a name. Okay, so “Amy the Vampire” did not sound cool, but if she had to live with it, he could at least use it once. If he wanted a pet cat, then that was what he was going to get! Only last week, Amy had picked up a dead rat on the way to meet him and left it next to him. When she looked back, there he was just looking at it, trying to work out what it meant. So stupid! Old, male and stupid! He calls me a cat, so that is what he will get. She felt that he should think himself lucky that she didn’t piss on him as a sign of affection, not that I could ever have any affection for the self-proclaimed high and mighty blood-sucking bore.

“I summoned you last night, Where …. were …. you?”

So not even a, “hello, sex slave?” Amy knew it would only make things worse, but she couldn’t help answering back.

“I ……… was …….. at.…….. home …….… doing …..….. schoolwork!” she said.

“When I summon you, it means I want to speak to you. I will not take second place to schoolwork!”

“It was raining! If it was so darn important, you could have called! Everyone in the world has a cell phone, well, apart from me. But no, you have to have magic vibrating rings! Look at it for what it is: just a glorified pager. And they went out of fashion in the stone age! Text me! Email me! But stop paging me!!”

She knew he was now mega pissed as his eye-this time, for a change, the right eye-began to twitch. She could also see him trying to move into his adult-to-child mode of communication, and in her current mood, that was not such a good idea.

“The ring is traditional with vampires; once it summons you, it can not be ignored. It forces you to attend a summons. That is why it is not removable; once it is on the finger, it is on forever.”

Perhaps it was only to Amy, but the world suddenly went very quiet; if silence had a noise, then it was shouting. He was looking at her in a very odd way. Amy decided to be looking anywhere but at him. He then spoke; his voice before had been cold, but now there was ice attached to his words.

“Where is the RING?!”

Amy really wanted to say something along the lines of, “Err… you mean the one that cannot be removed?” But she knew that she should not push her luck, or his other eye would also start to twitch as if he were practicing for a blinking contest.

Instead, she sweetly replied, “I’m wearing it, of course, Uncle.”

To be extra sweet, she always added his honorific title of “uncle”; this was for several reasons. The first was an absolute refusal on her part to call him “lord” or “master,” and the second was to gently hint that she thought he was old, and if he insisted on ordering her about, then she expected presents.

Her answer was true; she was wearing it. The ring was now around her neck attached to a cord. She pulled it out from under her shirt to show him.

Magic rings that cannot be removed by the wearer were not designed for teenage vampire girls in a strop, and Amy had mastered a full teenage strop as soon as she had turned 13. The damn thing had been vibrating the entire night before and driving her mad, so after covering her hand with washing liquid, she jammed the ring along with her finger in the door and used both feet and a lot of vampire strength to rip the magic ring along with a large chunk of skin from her finger. It was a painful strop, but it needed to know Amy was not some hobbit.

“Be a good girl and put it back on, and we won’t say any more about it,”

He was now working on the edge of shouting in a condescending adult form of conversation. Amy wondered why he thought that that was going to do him any good?

She put her hands on her hips and answered, “NO!”

Amy watched as his fangs slowly forced themselves out unbidden from between tight lips. She had to admit that they were very impressive and all, but over the past few weeks Amy had gotten used to them. Besides, deep down inside, her inner vamp informed Amy that it was only for show and that he would not hurt her.

To prove it, he lost his cool and shouted, “WHY THE HELL NOT?!”

“No, No, No! It’s perverted, and if you do not know why, then go read a book. And at the same time, buy a bloody phone, as I’m not going to be sitting on this dirty roof come winter; it’s just stupid! Don’t you own a castle with log fires and physically disadvantaged servants that say, “yes, master,” with a lisp? Why the hell do we have to meet on a roof in the first place? We are supposed to be at the top of the food chain: vampires, not bloody stupid birds!”

“I am in a living hell where a girl can suffer death in a thousand ways, and it is called high school. I am not, I REPEAT, not going to be known at school as the girl who wears a ring to make her fingers vibrate!! Don’t you understand? It’s so well camouflaged that people will not see it as a pager but as a ring that vibrates. Look up vibrating rings on the net! They sell them in plain wrapping, and you never wear them out. It’s rude, and that’s it: end of convo. I quit! Go get yourself another pet! Try a snake next time; it can wear the ring as a vibrating collar, and you can sell it on eBay as a sex toy!”

With a regular diet of blood from the vampire blood bank that the vampire pets had showed Amy how to use, her body was feeling better than it ever had. With a single move, she snapped the cord from around her neck and flung the ring at him. Okay, okay; she knew it was not the same as punching a hole in a door with vampire strength, but that only happens in the movies.

As the ring made its way through the air towards its target, he moved a hand and plucked it out of the air. He then placed the ring in the top pocket of his waistcoat, sighed and said something that Amy did not hear. This was her chance for a dramatic departure; she turned and ran off without a word. Okay, one or two words came out when she stubbed her toe on a pipe as she ran across the roof. And just what idiot sticks a pipe in the middle of a roof! Huh! Another reason why I hate roofs!

why I hate roof meetings

Phabian (Amy’s master.. hah!)

That was not how meetings with underlings should go; he should not get angry. You do not get angry with underlings! But every time they met, she would be so irritating. She must do it on purpose, like leaving the dead rat last week. She knew he could kill her, but damn it! She was only a female, so therefore she had to respect him.

As the ring made its way through the air towards its target, he moved a hand and plucked it out of the air, and as he watched her leave he placed the ring in the top pocket of his waistcoat, sighed and said to the now empty roof, “That could have gone better.”

It was an understatement at best; how could she cause him so much difficulty? He had lost his temper for the first time in over 100 years. He had lost his temper, and with a female! A female so young that he owned socks twice her age. He could kill her in the blink of an eye, and she knew it. He had given up telling her that fact when she started just giving him the extended, single-word reply of “Sooooooo?”

She did that on purpose just to annoy him; she did everything on purpose just to annoy him! Damn it! He could not kill her, and she somehow knew it, too. She was important to him, and she knew that as well. She was a mystery; she was both an abomination and worth her weight in gold at the same time.

The council, or more importantly, Valerius, agreed she could be studied and could be unique, so he had to keep her alive! She did not even realize how special she was; she was just a female that did not know her place, and he found it harder daily to control her. If she hadn’t been so special, he would have killed her the first night they met. He now often wished he had; difficult females in vampire society did not survive long, and she was off the difficult scale. He had to keep her hidden until she was ready. Her status was also a drawback, and if she discovered her full status, she would have problems. He would have even more problems if others found out what he had discovered when he tasted her blood.

Now that she had given him the ring back, she had lost her camouflage. His reason for summoning her was to warn her about a rogue vampire feeding at her school: not that he would feel any pity for any vampire stupid enough to try and stick fangs into his Hell Cat’s neck. If only she knew it, she was very capable at looking after herself.

But she still thought of herself as human, and that would keep her weak. Males would soon come looking for the rogue and kill it to protect their pets, and when they went looking for the rogue, who would they discover walking around without camouflage? His little Hell Cat.

Phabian

Chapter 5

Stupid Convos and Whatever

Amy know that she should not get involved in the stupid conversations that the pets had, but there she was hanging out with a bunch of black-wearing, Twilight-loving emos every Friday after class, and it is just the pits!

They met up and wanted to talk vampire stuff, and to Amy that meant discussions on how to get bloodstains out of clothing, along with what were the warmest type of undies you can get for rooftop vampire meetings, not where to get the best black nail polish from. The things they said about vampires were just so wrong. Amy wondered what kept them from asking the real vampires, if not during the sex then afterwards. Then the crap about, “Can a vampire turn into a cloud of gas?” would not be on the group discussion list of topics.

Amy ran through a mental checklist of the group, which consisted of both strange and odd sluts-err, sorry, pets: Clary, who never stopped talking; Paige, who never said a word. Lucy-Ann had bright green hair and DayGlo nail polish. Regina had black and white hair and looked like she could murder puppies. She was also the leader and looked far more like a vampire than Amy could have managed (and I had a head start with the fangs and claws).

Paige was okay; well, if you liked mice. Clary was so happy and friendly all the time that she must have been on Prozac. She was so chatty that Amy often wanted to kill her. The only girl she really got along with was Cind, and that was partly do to her extensive range of vampire books, which Amy was slowly reading her way through.

Amy could only take so much, and when someone asked if anyone had ever seen a vampire glow, she finally lost it with them. All these group-sharing sessions were on how they had all met their wonderful vampire masters and how nice they treated the pets. They even used vamp slang like “raising one’s tail” to mean sex. Crap! Amy knew male vamps were just like any male; they just wanted sex. And these idiots were giving it to them free on a plate and then boasting about it.

“You are all mad! You are just pets! Servants! Sex slaves! You are so pathetic, wanting to have a title of familia, thinking it means you are part of the vampire family. Well, just look it up. Its real meaning is Latin, and try spelling it “f-a-m-u-l-a,” and then you will see what you really are to a vampire! Vampires are not nice; they kill humans to live. Humans are just meat to them, and you think you are something special because you are a pet to blood drinkers? Do you really want to know how I first met my lord and master, he who cannot be named? Well, he snapped the neck of a man that was attacking me, then he knocked me unconscious. When I woke up, I was naked and lying on a roof where my so-called lord and master gave me a ring and informed me that I would do as he said or he would rip my head off! And you want to know how romantic my first day as a pet was?”

As Amy walked away, she could hear one of the girls comment on her outburst.

“Oh, wow! Like, that was so cool! Doing it all naked on top of a roof! I just met mine in a late-night drug store looking for sunblock. With him, it is cheap motel rooms and having to wear handcuffs.”

Once Amy was out of hearing range, she chose a few curse words and wondered if male vampires picked pets by an IQ to match a bust size. She couldn’t believe that the pets thought that vampires were nice and romantic. Don’t make me sick; we are not nice, and we are not romantic. We are just overgrown leaches with an attitude problem, and they are so blind to think we are cool! For God’s sake, just look at me! Do I look cool?

As to her first meeting with her uncle, Amy knew that everything she had said to the pets was all true. She had just left out a few minor details, like the sucking of his fingers. It was only a possibility that she had done more with him than she could remember, and the finger licking, marking her as his, meant she had-no! Nothing! Nothing happened. The bastard was far too conceited. He was a male, and it would have made his day to tell me if anything had happened. He would have gloated over it, so nothing had happened, and that was final. And as soon as my next period comes, it will prove it!

Amy felt the packet she had collected off of Clary at their socalled coven meeting and wondered if the government knew vampires had their own delivery service (okay, well, the delivery service was one elderly man that would bring mail for the vampire pets from their lords and masters, but he did wear a cap). When she got out of view of the pets, Amy pulled at the packing until she remembered that the obvious thing was to use a claw.

There was a box with an envelope attached to it. She removed the envelope and turned the box over in her hands. Looking again at the box, she wondered, What the hell is Uncle up to now? Ripping open the envelope answered her unspoken question. Out slipped the ring and a piece of paper with a single word on it.

From magic rings to magic words, she thought, and she folded the paper and put it in her pocket. The single magic word it contained said: PLEASE. Amy put the ring back on her finger, then after a moment she glared at it. So it was a magic ring. Amy hoped that for its sake, it was also telepathic, because if it wished to still stay ring-shaped then it should know that she was a vampire only pretending to be a pet.

Perhaps it was a bit foolish to stick the stupid thing back on, but what else could she do? He did say please. With a tug, she yanked it back off her finger, looked at it hard again, then replaced it on the finger. Good! It now knew who was boss. Amy’s ring was now a removable non-removable magic ring, and she told herself that if it ever forgot its place in her life as just a finger ornament, then it would envy what happened to the one ring from the Lord of the Rings after she had finished with it.

As soon as she got home, she ran up to her room and threw herself onto the bed, where she tore open the last bit of wrapping covering the box then sat back to take in the shock of what he had given her.

“Wow! Now that’s better than a stupid ring!”

After opening the box and placing all the bits in a line, Amy switched on her laptop to look up its specs. Maybe that was a little rude, but heck! It wasn’t like he was going to find out, and besides, she already knew that it was the best smartphone on the market from the hot phone fact sheet she had seen that was produced by the school’s business club.

It had everything you could possibly want to put you in the “ooh and aah” category when you showed it off in class: very sought after, which meant someone would try and steal it within the week. That made Amy smile; there was a name you called someone who tried to rob a vampire, and that was lunch! k'12

She put her new phone on to fully charge and looked at the small piece of paper that was tucked into the box. It had a phone number on it under a drawing of a bat, so it was message time. A short one was in order while the phone was charging; it did not say much, but it would show that she had forgiven him.

OK & THK U LOV IT XXX AMY

Amy

Chapter 6

Vampire Books (err, no; that should be Books on Vampires)

The book she had borrowed off Cind was useless, yet the group used the darn thing as a self-help vampire guide! As if a pet would ever get turned by a grateful master, Amy thought as she flicked through the section on dangers to vampires. Trash! The entire book was only good for lighting a fire.

It explained in great detail ways to kill a vampire, and well, Amy had to agree that they were probably correct. Removing the head from the body would kill vampires, werewolves and zombies. That method would also work on tax inspectors! How stupid a statement! Cutting the head off anything would kill it!

Amy started making notes from the book and then added comments of her own, first on a scrap of paper. When that was full, she switched on the laptop and started typing:

Section 1b:

Finding and killing a vampire:

No image by mirror or film: Wrong, just how do you think we can put on makeup?

Death by stake: A t-bone? Or are they talking about a lump of sharp wood, in which case the splinters would sure hurt (unless the person is wearing gardening gloves). The old black-and-white movies were more accurate; the vampire lies down on flat surface, and (with gloves) you place a wooden stake point first over the heart of the supine vampire and then hit it hard with a mallet several times, If you are Buffy or Blade and practice everyday, then you can take on a vampire standing up. If not the best, the amateur vampire killer will get a bruised, pissed-off vampire as the wood hits a rib or the like.

Can’t pass running water: I thought this was witches with bladder problems, but then if anyone had normal internal plumbing, then this has to be wrong, and for obvious reasons.

Sunlight can kill a vampire: Well, I’m never going to lie on a beach in a bikini, but so long as I am covered in 100 percent sun block and polarized sunglasses, it’s normally okay. If not, I develop a rash. Acne may make you a social leper, but it’s not terminal like cutting your head off.

Silver bullets: Werewolves, yes, but vampires? Heck, I don’t know, but I’m making a mental note not to find out!

Garlic: Yes, okay, the book was correct with this being dangerous as it gives me gas, so its perhaps more dangerous for anyone standing near me.

Vampires had to sleep on earth: No way was that right! I had tried camping once and only once; it was cold, hard, dirty and full of nasty crawling things and was something I would never try again.

Holy symbols: Now this was just stupid; no way would a cross or such things ever harm me, unless it was big and heavy and someone hit me with it. I once had a necklace with a cross on it, and nothing happened. Being a Buddhist probably helped, though.

Religion: As I said before, I’m Buddhist; does that count? As far as I know, he never said anything in his teachings about vampires. Besides, what would Buddhist priests be able to do to vampires? Perhaps throw holy oranges and hope they get them stuck in the vampires’ teeth! All the monks I have ever met were nice and friendly to me, and on one holy day I had even helped give out leaflets.

Vampires were sexy: What a load of crap! I sometimes wished I did not have a reflection in the mirror

Amy now added a title to the typed words: FANGS RULE and then stopped.

What is wrong with me? All the books say vampires are sexy and seductive, but this vampire was just hungry. Vampires hunted meat. You could live on cold blood, but it was not the same. A girl could live life without chocolate, but it was not really living: just surviving. And that was what drinking cold blood was like; it was life without chocolate!

Mind you, Amy never wanted to feel the same as she did on the night she first met her so-called master. Just thinking about it still made her feel sick. Well, he is old, like very old: 40 at least. It would be like dating someone’s grandfather; there were names for girls her age that dated old men, and the names were not nice names.

Why couldn’t I have a nice boyfriend like the girls in the vampire novels do? Well, apart from the weird ones in vampire books that glowed and wanted to watch you while you sleep. Yuck!

There were plenty of hot-looking guys at school, but when Amy got close to them, she found herself wondering what they would taste like (or rather, what their blood would taste like), and that did not sound like the best way to start a relationship. As to small talk, the last time a boy showed any interest in her, she always ruined it by asking him what blood type he had, which made him think she wanted to marry him.

Her major worry was not so much losing possible boyfriends but not being interested in them instead, and if it was not for that crazy night on the roof, Amy would have been more concerned that she was turning into a vampire lesbian. All the films indicated that as soon as people became vampires, they craved both blood and lots of girl-on-girl action. The truth was that she didn’t fancy girls. The movies were just as wrong as the books; perhaps female vampires only fancied other female vampires.

All this heavy thinking was making her sleepy, so with the thought that crushing on a girl could be useful (as you could share a single wardrobe), Amy hugged her pillow. As she started to doze off, her final thought was, No, I’m definitely not a lesbo; sharing a wardrobe is not a cool idea. A single wardrobe would not have enough room for all the plastic flip flops her aunties kept sending her as it was.

Sexy dreams (yes, it is normal)

The following morning arrived as mornings normally did, which was far too early. This morning started earlier than most due to a dream that woke Amy, her fangs fully extended as well as her claws, which were digging into half of the pillow, trying hard to strangle it, while most of the other half was in her mouth.

She spat out a few feathers as the realization of what had happened slowly hit her. It was that same dream again, and now she needed to go clean her teeth. A shower would have been nice, but it would have woken her auntie; rubbing herself all over with a wetwipe was not the same.

It was THAT dream again! For years, Amy had had nightmares of trains, which the psychologist said was about her parents, but this one was certainly not about her parents, and not one she wanted to tell any psychologist about. Girls could have sexy dreams; it was normal. Romantic ones with flowers and chocolate would be nicer, but girls had physical needs, and it was perfectly normal to think of boys… or it would have been if her dreams did not involve jumping out at a boy and sinking her fangs into his neck.

Amy

Chapter 7

Icky days of being a female blood sucker

Tonight Amy was not in a good mood; something was not feeling right. A nice long walk normally helped when she was feeling a bit icky, so she set out on her own. She should have been fine now that she was getting lots of blood, (even if I had to put it in the microwave for 10 seconds and drink it with a straw). It was all that she needed as a vampire pretending to be a pet. Walking at night was also good for her physically: plenty of exercise without the runny eyes that resulted from forgetting to wear sunglasses even on overcast days or having to be sticky all day (and not in a nice sticky way) from the sun block. Her classmates talked about Amy in the girls’ changing rooms, but the 100% UV sun block that she had ordered from the albino self-help society product order hot line did not warn that her that it came as a non-drying gel.

At her age, Amy should have been thinking of romance and guys, not dreams that ended in her biting the guy; talk about strange urges! Or rather, she didn’t; it was bad enough pretending to be a sex pet without the other girls thinking that she was perverted as well. If she did ever get a boyfriend, Amy thought that it would likely involve her having to be careful about going too far when on a date. He would be wondering if he could get to second base with me, and I would be wondering if he would notice if I removed a couple of pints of blood while he played with my boobs.

She mentally shook her head to remove the thoughts of boys and the idea that taking precautions on a date for her meant wearing a bib so as not to get his blood all over her clothes. What she should have been thinking about was her new project, and that was to finish writing her own guide to being a vampire. She wondered why vampire books were written by humans. You may as well have books on African Americans written by the Ku Klux Klan. No, no, no! Mine would be the genuine self-help guide for vampires by a vampire. Amy wasn’t going to tell the pets about it, but she already had the title.

Graveyard Walk

She let the future project slip to the back of her mind as she enjoyed the walk, and tonight it was nice to have someone to walk with her. Cind, or Miss Darkcloud Buttbite, as she was known in the group (which Amy thought sounded more Native American than vamp), was quite friendly when you got to know her. She had an extensive range of vampire books, and she was happy to let Amy borrow them. Because they were so wrong on almost every word they spoke about vampires, the books proved more amusing than informative.

Cind was one of Amy’s very few friends in the pet group. She had been able to confide her fears of being pregnant, and apart from her insisting that all vampires are dead so they could not make a living girl pregnant, she humored Amy by helping her buy a pregnancy test kit, which duly showed negative and would have been a relief if Amy had not then worried that it may only work correctly on humans.

Cind liked walking up to the old graveyard, as according to the books, it was the vampire thing to do. Amy could not figure out the reason why the books said that vampires loved graveyards, as a graveyard meant nothing to a vampire as far as she could see. They were just cold and damp and contained lots of food that had long gone past its sell-by date.

Cind said it was where vampires loved hanging out, which was why she so enjoyed coming here at night. All Amy could think was that vampire-spotting was a dangerous hobby even while wearing a pet ring, so visiting a graveyard at night was probably a good idea, as most vampires would hang about places like nightclubs, offering clubbers a lift and suggesting they stop for a bite to eat on the way home.

Amy had walked here with Cind several times now, so she knew the rules of vampire hunting in graveyards: remember to dress warmly, and go to the bathroom before leaving home. The books said that vampires were cold-blooded, but as far as this vampire is concerned, it was a typing error as it should have said that vampires got cold easily.

She often wondered if any other vampires looked so unlike a vampire as herself, Miss Amy Mah: creature of the night. At least Cind seemed very vampire-ish, dressed all in black.

Cind wore a black coat over black jeans and a black jumper. She even had black gloves. With the mix of colors she was wearing, the closest Amy could get to the world of the supernatural was perhaps as a rainbow fairy.

She knew that vampires should look cool, but this vampire mostly felt cool (or rather, frigging cold) most of the time. That was why she wore the warmest, thickest things she owned when hanging about graveyards. Places may have looked pretty with a frost sparkling in the moonlight, but frost (like snow) was cold.

The thickest leggings Amy had were blood red and were mostly hidden by her brown, full-length wool skirt. Her polo-necked, thick wool jumper was pink (so not my color), and her jacket was charcoal grey. She did know that orange wool mittens did not go with the yellow scarf or the lime green ear muffs (not that I could think of anything that would go with lime green ear muffs), but the night was dark, and she hoped it would stay that way.

It was also windy, damp and cold. The strange selection of colors was of course down to her aunties sending her things that their own daughters refused to be seen dead in. Amy would not have been surprised to be told they all suffered from odd color vision or perhaps a warped sense of humor, but they were the warmest things she owned, so rainbow fairy it was.

As both girls sat on a gravestone, Amy noticed that something did not smell right, and it was not the flask of hot chocolate that Cind had brought with her. She could not place the smell, but it was a sickly sweet smell, perhaps a bit like rotting fruit, and it was beginning to give her a headache. She had already snapped at Cind when she asked what was wrong then immediately apologized. Cind suggested that Amy was just freaked out due to being so close to dead people.

Amy knew that long-dead people in graveyards did not scare her. If there was anything to be frightened of in this graveyard. then it should be me! But right now, it was taking all her willpower to stop her fangs from descending. Amy’s orange mittens were already turning into fingerless gloves as her claws started to extend. Something was wrong. She was not frightened. No, she was just flaming angry, but Amy didn’t know why. Something was wrong, and she was losing control. Heck, losing it was an understatement. I wanted to go ballistic but didn’t know why.

A-Me (my inner vamp)

She had to take control; the female did not know why the young vamp she shared the body with had been ignoring the obvious danger. Of course, she was still very young and dangerously inexperienced. She sniffed the air, but it did not matter, as she was experienced enough for both of them, and it would be foolish to let the enemy think she was careless and had not noticed her. But this toothless hag of a female was a stupid one to dare enter her territory. The tame meal beside her could be left. It was of no importance. She was not even hungry, but the enemy would not know that, and it would serve as a decoy.

Silent as the Grave

Suddenly, Amy was a good 50 feet away from her friend; how she had moved so fast, she did not know. Out of a corner of her eye, she had seen a flash of movement in what should have been a deserted graveyard, and then she jumped, which meant Amy was now crouching on top of a gravestone, holding onto the stone with all four sets of claws while her shoes had somehow been lost or discarded. Looking at Amy was a creature that smelled of rotten fruit; the body of Amy’s friend was lying at the creature’s feet.

Amy did not need any of Cind’s books to tell her that what she was facing was a vampire: a female vampire. The smell was overpowering. It was a sickly sweet smell of danger. The smell was so different from her so-called vampire master; he smelled musky, and no matter how much he shouted, he was nice. But this creature’s stink made Amy want to slash out and kill her. She could feel an uncontrollable rage building up deep within her.

“Get the hell off my friend! Are you blind as well as frigging ugly? She has a pet ring; that means she is a pet, stupid! What part of ‘you don’t eat pets’ can’t you understand, you blood-sucking moron? Now piss off out of my territory before I stick a pet ring on you so that you can replace her, lifting your tail to any passing male short-sighted enough to find you worth the effort!”

The smell: it had to be the smell. It was like an adrenaline rush that was almost giving her a high. Amy wanted to fight; she wanted to kill, and she wanted to do it now. The one problem (and true, it was only one tiny problem) was that the little voice of cold, reasonable logic kept sticking its hand up to point out that Amy was crap at fighting! True, she was an expert at watching vampire films, and she loved “Blood, the Last Vampire,” in both the anime and live-action versions, having watched it countless times (especially as it was marked adults only).

Saya was the sort of vampire Amy longed to be; well, apart from the name, which like Virgina meant, “sheath for a weapon.” Amy thought that it was no wonder she was a cold-blooded killer as her life must have been hell at school. Anyway, everyone knew from such films that anyone who turned into a vampire automatically had full Kung Fu skills as well as being a martial arts specialist with a samurai sword. The little difficulty with the standard story was that it was very slightly, or rather totally, wrong.

Okay, so as a vampire I expect that I may be a little stronger than most girls my age, as long as they are not called Buffy.

Amy thought she was normal: well, as normal as any vampire girl with claws, fangs and an urge to mutilate could be said to be normal. She would be fine fighting humans for a quick snack, but this thing was not a human. This was a female vampire that had all the same vampire bits of deadly weaponry that Amy had, along with the worrying possibility that she knew what to do with them!

Within seconds, Amy’s fears were proved correct, for as soon as she had finished speaking, the female somehow had crossed the distance, knocked Amy off her perch and pinned her to the ground. She was almost drooling as she painfully prodded Amy’s left breast with a finger.

“Now, wasn’t that easy? I think I will let you take the blame for the pet’s death. I don’t even like that blood group; it just gives me gas.”

As the creature laughed, saliva from her mouth dripped onto Amy’s face, bringing the smell of the female with it that made her want to puke.

“A pitiful creature like you thinking she can own a territory? Well, even if you did, I think it is mine now, as you are dead.”

Okay so the blabbing about territory rights had been a load of crap. Amy knew that; it had just sounded very vampire-ish when she said it.

Cind had been on the top of Amy’s list of people to keep safe, apart from herself, obviously, and her auntie, of course. She did not like the way Cind was looking far too at home here lying on the ground like she was dead. And why wasn’t her frigging ring doing something, like calling in the Cavalry? The rings were telepathic, so even Amy’s should have been sending out something like, “help needed ASAP, please!” and broadcasting it to her uncle.

Crap! Well, at least my Bilbo toy ring will do something to prove its use today, she thought, so she pulled it off, causing sparks to fly. Before the female vampire could do anything, Amy jammed it on the finger that was having so much intimate contact with her left boob that Amy was expecting them to send out wedding invites. As the ring slid onto her boob-prodding finger, the vamp just stared down in horror at it. Amy mentally commanded the ring to lock in place with a threat that if it did not, she would find hundreds of nasty ways of blowing its frigging magic circuits.

This bitch was pure vampire, and the toys were tuned into vampire minds. She had just been made an unwilling sex pet to Amy’s uncle, who would be receiving a horrendous headache as she attempted to pull it off. Uncle had said that no female would ever wear a pet ring, as it was so insulting. Amy had now gone well beyond telling this bitch that she had a big, fat butt; judging from the sparks lighting up the night, she looked to have the same problem that Amy had first had when trying to remove the ring.

Amy thought that her uncle should be on his way if it worked, not that it would help, as even at vampire speed she reasoned that she would be long dead before her uncle arrived. Just to prove her right, the creature gave up on the ring and pinned Amy down, and as she was a lot stronger that Amy was, it was a simple task. She extended a lot of sharp teeth; she has me.

A-Me

Just where she wanted her; how dare she think of taking over her territory without a fight! She had her very own male that did not smell of other females. She owned a wide hunting territory full of game, and she had tricked this runt of the litter into thinking she had so easily beaten her. This was going to be so much fun!

Grave Mistake

Amy felt herself being pushed aside in her own head as another moved forward, and she was no longer in control of her body. Her legs curled up under a different mistress control in a move more useful to a cat than any Kung Fu hero, as very few Kung Fu heroes were so lucky as to have claws on their feet.

A-Me

She raked the whole of the body above her, cutting deep into the stomach and down the legs, the claws on her hands holding tight to the upper body so that it could not escape from the damage being done below her waist. In her mind, she could see moving pictures of vampires fighting with bits of wood, and it would have been so easy to reproduce their movements, but why bother? Her own moves were so much move effective than those in the pretty pictures.

She let go, and the runt foolishly stepped backwards, leaving her a clear strike at the legs, which she did and was happy to hear a snap from one of them. True, it would heal, but before then she would no longer be alive to learn to walk again, as the opponent now fell to the ground due to a lack of legs. The female that earlier had the name of Amy leaped high above the defeated runt of a female, almost weightless, then dropped down on her at full density, which produced a long scream of pain and a disconnected left shoulder from the body now lying flat below her. All she had to do now was crush her head and urinate over her, leaving the body to rot in the light to warn others entering this area that it was her territory, but the air had suddenly changed. Males were nearby!

She did a back somersault, which placed her between two large blocks of stone; not the safest of hideouts, but any male entering uninvited after her would lose an eye. Her strength could not match a fully grown male, but she was already owned, so her body was not hers. She would not raise her tail to another unless he replaced her mate in combat. She smelled the air and relaxed a little. The scent of her own male meant he was also nearby, so combat would give the outcome of who she would next mate with. A large male dropped to the ground where the meat the runt had killed lay, and he looked at it. His smell was very strong, and from it she knew he was very powerful. He was not alone as he led a pack of four others: all powerful males in their own right.

Then her own male appeared, walked over to where she hid, and stood facing the large dominant male. An underlying smell could now be made out by her, and that said that these males were kin to her own male, so she relaxed and moved out to crouch between her male’s legs in case any of the other males mistook her as available.

Valerius (A very Alpha male)

The large alpha male looked down at his late pet lying dead at his feet. She had been enjoyable and so very soft compared with females of his own kind. He knew females said it was a perversion to have pets, but all males did it. So long as you did not take them home, very few mates cared what their partners did away from the nest.

He pointed to the fallen female, and one of the males went over to taste her blood. She objected and tried to move away, so he struck her then sank his fangs deep into her neck. When he was finished, he let her fall back to the ground. As she lay there, he roughly tore at her clothing, looking for signs of ownership, then he left her where she had fallen and reported his findings.

The alpha male now looked towards Amy and wondered quite what he was looking at; perhaps it was rabid, looking more animal than vampire. It was on all fours with claws unsheathed, sticking out of what looked like orange mittens and yellow socks. It was covered in blood, which was not unusual for a vampire, but having DayGlo lime-green-colored balls of wool covering the ears was a little odd. He also tried to ignore the pale pink jumper, blood-red leggings, and yellow scarf.

What he could not ignore was the odd look it/she was giving him. He knew she was not in heat, but he could still feel her eyes burning him like daylight. She smelled very excited, and he hoped it was from the fighting. Inwardly, however, he knew that it was more connected to the way she was looking at him. The smell was getting stronger as he watched her; it was normal that females would find him attractive. As alpha males go, he was alpha with a capital A; it was just a little unnerving that a marked female in the company of her owner was making it so obvious that she wanted him. Disappointingly, he thought, Why was it never the pretty ones? True, he did have an odd perversion here and there, but even he had limits!

“Is that yours?” he said, pointing to Amy.

Amy’s male nodded.

“And did you set her to guard our pets?”

Again he nodded.

“And it, err- she agreed, willingly?”

With some relief the alpha male turned away from Amy and looked back at the injured female.

“You, as confirmed by blood and examination, are unowned and un-marked. You have entered a private hunting reserve and attacked and killed my property. You then attacked one set to protect our property and attempted to claim this area as your own. You were soundly defeated and now lie at our feet for judgement of your crime.”

He looked around to show he was acknowledging the presence of the other males that had come with him to see if anyone was going to object. Nothing was said, so he walked over to where she lay and looked down.

Valerius Alpha Male Vampire

“I am willing to be lenient. You have no owner and so are a pointless drain on the food supply. My judgement is that you be declawed to help calm you down and stop your urges to run wild. We will find you an owner, as you may be of some use for breeding.”

She was able to strike him just once before he lent forward and broke her neck. If he was hurt by her sudden attack, he did not show it as he turned and spoke.

“Was I not fair in my judgement? Please tell me if I was not lenient?”

No one spoke, so he continued.

“I offered to take in a stray and give it a purpose in life; what more could it want than to usefully produce young? And it attacked me for my kindness! Clearly, she was deranged to choose suicide over my offer. She was such a poor example of a female that I expect she was probably barren and useless for breeding, and it was out of shame she wished to die.”

Again he waited to hear any dissent, but no one said anything. He looked at the male standing above Amy, and Amy’s smell again got stronger when he looked in that direction. He prayed the male would never offer her as a gift to him; in fact, it would be best if he left before anyone suggested he should find out more details on what was going on here. As an alpha male, he was often offered females by other males to increase their own status. He of course could never refuse a gift, and this would be the perfect time for a male to get rid of some weird rabid female by giving her to him. And just what the hell would he do with her?

“Jolly good idea to use it-err, her, as a pet guard, as long as she does not eat them, she will be quite an asset. It’s not normal to keep a, err, female in this manner, but you have our full permission to continue to keep her in the human world, well away from the nest. This matter is now closed, and we thank the male and his female for bringing it to our attention. Now, we must leave.”

They left, taking the two dead bodies with them. The male known to Amy as uncle dragged her to one side and raised a hand as if to strike her. He very quickly lowered it again due to the look he got from her. The look said far more than any words could have; in her present persona, she considered herself to be owned by him, meaning if he so much as laid a finger on her, she would bite his arm off.

Instead, he just said, “You should be more careful; she could have hurt you! Please call me in the future, and I will take care of these problems, okay?”

He saw the fire in her eyes fade a little. He was lucky this time, but he still did not know how she did it, to go with all the other mysteries about her. She was two very different vampires living in the same body; one was the day-to-day aggravating Hell Cat of a young girl he first met and could not control. The other was pure vampire with a capital V, a vampire from the old school of vampireing that he would not even risk trying to control.

He had thought that she was only that way when in heat, but it now seemed she could switch between personas; when the situation called for fangs and claws, she turned into this primeval vampire. She smelled very rank and clearly wanted sex, but instead he did the next best thing she liked, and that made her very happy, which was stroking her hair. He did not know what it did for her but she almost purred when he did it. She was making sure that he did not stop too soon by placing her mouth around his wrist and locking her jaws. He could stop stroking her whenever he wanted, but if he did, she would crush his arm in her jaws. He would be safer when she fell asleep, but not even then would he be able to get away, unless he left his arm behind.

A-Me

The female looked at her mate, the fury at him for daring to lift a hand to her fading when she realized it was only from worry of her safety. Males could be too protective at times; why would she ever need help protecting her territory from another female! Males were such stupid creatures, but they had their uses, and this one had nice hands. As long as he used them to stroke her, she would try not to bite him … well, not bite him too hard. He was her mate, so she had the rights to his body.

She closed her mouth over his wrist and gently licked it. He did taste nice, so she nicked a blood vessel with a point of a fang so that she created the smallest of cuts, but that was all she needed to remind him that he must mark her regularly or she would not stay his. The dominant large male that had just left smelled nice; if her current mate ever tired of her, she would kill the large males mates and then take him as hers. She would, of course, let him think that it was his idea, as all females did.

Phabian

He stopped stroking the hair when he saw that she was now sleeping, resting her head on his lap but still holding his wrist in her mouth. This again was old style vamping; just a taste of his blood every few months would normally mark her as his, but not for this one, who must have sucked at least a pint out of him tonight and made it very clear that it was her right to do so.

He gently woke her, hoping she was back to normal, or as normal as she could be.

“Time to wake up, little Hell Cat.”

Amy (er.. I’m back)

Amy opened her eyes, and the relief of finding herself still dressed faded as memories came flooding back.

“Cind! Where is Cind? A vampire attacked her, and I couldn’t stop it!”

Her vampire held her as she frantically looked around, trying to sort out the dreamy images that seemed to still be filling her mind.

“It was a female! The renegade you warned me of! She attacked me. I tried to use the pet rings to summon help. I can’t smell her here anymore, and I don’t know where she is, but she will go after the other pets unless we stop her!”

Her vampire lord that she thought of more as an uncle than a murderous businessman just kept his arms around her.

“Hush, hush, little one. It’s all over. You did very well. The pet you call Cind was dead before we got here, but that was not your fault. The renegade was a very strong, fully grown female, but you did revenge the pet’s death by defeating her in battle, which impressed Cind’s owner. He killed the renegade, so you do not have to worry about the safety of the other pets.”

Amy could not remember any details of the fight after she called for help, and she did not care. What she cared about was that she had failed Cind. She had been so confident that she could keep her safe, but now she was dead, and it was all her fault.

Large tears slowly followed the contours of her checks as they made their escape from her overflowing eyes.

“It’s not fair! Cind liked vampires. She really liked vampires and worshipped her stupid owner. And that horrid female killed her, not for food but just because she was a pet. If this is what it is like to be a vampire, then I want to be human. I don’t want to be an evil bloodsucking parasite. That is all we are: nasty, bad-tempered parasites pretending to be so civilized because we own a blood bank and can send for take out if it is raining.”

Amy wrapped her arms around him and buried her head deep into his chest and sobbed. She cried because of Cind. She cried because she was what she was. She cried for her parents, whom she would never see again and whom she so needed now. She felt a hand slowly begin to stroke her hair, and it reminded her of how her father stroked her hair when she was young. She had always liked it; if ever she was sad or hurt, she would curl up on him, and he would stroke her hair until she fell asleep. Of all the things, it was what she missed the most.

Time for bed

He held her to him, and using his full set of vocal cords, he produced a gentle hum. It was a soothing sound that was more vibration than noise: the sort of sound he had used many times in the past. It was a perfect way to relax prey to cut short a hunt. It’s main purpose was something for the rearing of young as parents used it to relax a troubled child. He continued to stroke her hair and smiled when he looked down to see she had her thumb in her mouth and was fast asleep again.

He continued with the vibrating lullaby as he stood up. She refused to be parted from him, and even as she slept, she unthinkingly moved her arms to encircle his neck and now clung on tightly. He could feel the still wet thumb against his skin, and he placed a hand on her bottom to take the weight. She moved her legs to encircle his waist, and this produced another smile from him as he thought that no matter what persona she was in, she could still make sure he stayed near her as she slept, and all in all, he did prefer this persona more than the other one.

Dinnertime

Amy awoke from a deep sleep due to being called by her auntie for breakfast or lunch (or judging by her normal weekend sleeping habits, it could have even been dinnertime).

Sleepily, she got up, and she felt …… She felt good! Well, until she remembered the events of yesterday. Everything was all too clear in her memory; the sadness over Cind clawed at her. Everything was clear apart from the fighting and what happened afterwards. How had she got cleaned up? She had been covered in blood from the fight, and now she was in her pajamas and in bed, so somehow she had washed and changed to go to bed. And she really, really wished she could remember doing that herself! On her own and diffidently, without any help! Her face began to feel very warm when she saw her old clothes in a neatly folded pile on the floor. She never, never ever folded clothes! If she had done things herself, then the clothes would be in a heap, not in a neat pile with her panties on the top. OMG! He must have washed me! He even folded my…OMG! He’s seen me naked, again! And to make matters worse, he has even stuck a new pet ring on my finger! Crap, now I have to start the ring-training process all over again!

Amy at Dinnertime

Chapter 8

Regina and the Sex Pet Group

It was a group decision, and Amy thought for a change it was a good one. All the school knew was that Cind had died from an accident, but the pets knew different; the males could not keep it secret from their pets as they wanted to reassure them that they were now safe. The girls knew she had died from a rogue vampire, but they also knew the killer had in turn been killed by their masters, and that their masters would always protect them.

What the girls of the group did not know was that Amy had been involved, and that if there was any further trouble, the males now expected her to help as the first line of defense.

One month after the death of Cind, which was a Saturday night without anything happening and a full moon, Regina decided that it was only fitting that everyone went to where Cind was killed and lay flowers at midnight.

It was an odd feeling to walk the same was as she had with Cind, but this time without a picnic; not that she was hungry (well, not for burgers) as they had all stopped off at McDonald’s an hour or so earlier. She put her odd feeling down to the sadness of losing a friend.

Regina was in the front with Lucy-Ann, Nauy and Mon, leading as usual whereas Amy stayed at the back with Clary and Paige. Clary was talking non-stop, and Paige was very quiet again. Paige only had temporary group membership, as Regina had taken a disliking to her and decided that giving blood to the vampire blood bank was not enough for membership, Unless she was wearing a ring by the end of the week to prove that she had had sex with a vampire, she would be thrown out of the group.

Amy thought that Regina was taking the whole thing about having to have to give up one’s virginity to a vampire a bit too seriously. She hadn’t, and she had a vamp ring. In fact, Amy had explained to Paige that the sex rules were rubbish, and her blood donations were very important to the vampires, so if Regina tried to force her out, Paige should just tell her. Amy would give up her own vamp ring to her, as all it did was give her a rash plus mild electric shocks. She would be happy to be rid of the darn thing; besides, it would be amusing if Regina tried to get rid of her for not having a ring. She would love to hear what would happen if she told her vamp master that she thought member Amy Mah should leave the group for not being into vampirism!

Staying at the back also meant she was upwind of Lucy-Ann, who liked to mix perfumes. Yet another problem of being a vampire was that once you were on a stable blood diet, your senses got sharper. These senses were not helpful ones like having x-ray vision, just things like having extra taste buds to know blood groups by just placing a drop on the tongue: a good party trick but hardly a superpower. She could also now pick out hundreds of new smells; most she could not recognize, and the ones she could were not nice smells. A mental list she was now writing had a warning not to go any closer than fifty feet to the boys’ locker rooms.

A graveyard should not have made her nervous, but tonight it did. It must have been because it was the first time she had been back since the death of Cind, but still, Amy was angry at herself for having the same stupid fears as the other girls. They were in more danger walking in a car park than in a graveyard. Unseen by the others, as a self-induced punishment, she pinched herself so hard that she broke the skin on her arm, and it bled. It was only when she found she was now getting more angry, thinking that pinching herself was a dumb thing to do, that warning bells went off in her head.

Clary was talking so much that Regina had to tell her to shut up and go away, as it was a solemn occasion, and she was now going to speak on behalf of group. Clary stomped over to where Amy sat crouched by a gravestone hugging her legs and joined her on the ground.

“That mare is always acting as if she is so much better than the rest of us, huh! Well, we all know she is weird; she doesn’t even like being bitten! It’s just all sex, power and control with her, just think! Not liking to be bitten and leading our type of group, the weirdo!”

Clary was used to having a single-sided conversation, but suddenly she noticed Amy was shaking.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Amy reached over to grab Clary’s hand and watched her wince.

“Sorry, Clary, I forgot about the claws.”

“Wow! They look fantastic, and so real looking! You must tell me where you got them! But Amy, what is freaking you out?

“True, it’s a spooky graveyard, and our friend died just feet from where we are standing. We could be attacked by undead at any moment, but we already sleep with vampires. And with our magic rings, we should be safe from anything living or undead. Vampires are kind of at the top of the food chain, you know, and they would get really pissed off if we were eaten by a passing werewolf. We are very important to vampires; just think, without us they would have to pay for sex like the other dirty old men. My master even gave me a direct-line cell phone so he can summon me to him. He did say that I was never to use it to phone him, and he is a bit pervy in the way he likes to gag me when making love. He says it’s to stop him from killing me by accident.”

Amy held Clary’s hands a little tighter to try and shut her up and watched her wince again as the claws dug into her skin. But with Clary it was almost impossible to shut her up without a gag and handcuffs (as her master had discovered), which was a scenario she did not plan to dwell on, but apparently pain from claws was a good second to shut her up.

“Listen, Clary, please listen. We are in trouble. Vampires are watching us, but they are not nice ones. Don’t say anything, but my claws look real because they are real. I’m sort of guarding you all for your owners, a weak sort of daywalker vamp. I was here when Cind died. I was able to fight the attacker until help arrived; the attacker was only female, but I could not save Cind. And this time, we are about to meet unfriendly males. I can hold my own against a single female, but I will be dead as soon as this lot see me.”

Relaxing her grip, she could now smell fresh blood from the cuts she had accidentally made. Without thinking, she quickly licked the blood off Clary’s wounds to seal them (and to stop her from smelling too much like a walking candy bar). Clary was staring at her hands where the wounds had now sealed up like magic.

“Wow! Real claws! Like, that is so cool. Please, please! You’ve got to tell me how you can grow real claws; have you always had them? How do you hide them at school? Can I grow them as well?”

“Please, Clary, forget the frigging claws! I’m a vampire! It all comes as a set package, like fangs and being killed if you have your head chopped off, now please concentrate! This is important!”

“OMG! They turned you! Regina always said she would be the first, and here you are the newest member and turned! Please, put in a word for me; life at home sucks, and all I have to look forward to is getting pregnant and having kids like my sisters. And maybe even getting married just to prove to my sisters that one of us knows who the father of her kids are. I would do anything to never age and to carry on having sex for hundreds of years without getting fat!”

Having any sort of conversation with Clary’s monologue was hard work, but Amy discovered it had at least had taken her mind off being frightened; now she was getting so mad with Clary that she wondered if being a vampire entitled her to gag her like her master did: anything to shut her up.

“Clary, please stop talking! If you do exactly what I say, I promise that I will put in a good word for you, and I am sure you will be the very next person on the list to be turned.”

Amy had no frigging idea whether it was even possible outside of Hollywood to turn a human into a vampire, so apart from that she saw no reason why Clary should not be next on a turning list.

“Look, Clary, slowly make your way towards the others. Paige and Mon are together; tell them to get on their hands and knees and crawl away, and as soon as the males turn up, to run as fast as they can. I will try and slow them down.”

“You would do that for me? Top of the list! Oh, yes, yes! Top of the list! Yes, I will go and warn everyone. I did promise never to phone my master, but as you are now a vampire, I’m sure you can.”

Clary passed her a small, pink cell phone.

“But only if you are really sure that we need help. Press V speed dial, and we will get the cavalry to turn up.”

As Regina now launched herself into a full review of the story of Cind’s death and the killing of the female that had attacked her, an icy finger ran down Amy’s spine. Without thinking, she touched the ring on her left hand for comfort and knew it was dead.

She didn’t know why she thought it was dead, but as it was a magic ring, it was normally slightly tingly when she touched it. The ring always gave her a mild electric shock when she took it off, and she always removed it when she showered, just in case it decided to update itself to video cam as well as a pager. She could always feel it coming back on line when she put it back on, but now it was dead: just a normal ring. She was no longer frightened but getting angry: a sort of bubbling, boiling type of feeling, which she knew was a very bad sign of something (but she wasn’t sure what).

Regina was now starting to repeat herself to keep the story going. Amy reached into her pocket and hit the speed dial button on her own cell phone to send the short message she had punched onto the keypad by feel alone.

… hellp .. gav yad … da jor …vammpss…. hurri …..

Aron (leader of the pack)

The inner vamp feeling she had tonight was different from last time; last time, her inner vampire nature wanted to fight to prove itself to her, but not tonight.

If her inner vamp had its way, it would stick its thumb in its mouth and go and hide under a blanket. She was picking up scents; they were new ones, but she knew what they meant, and that was danger. Vampires: no, not just vampires, but male vampires. Just as she had warned Clary, these were not nice ones. Her vampire smelled nice. All males gave off a strong odor, and she could still smell a male musky scent on the pets days after they had had sex with their masters.

She could see Clary was now near Lucy-Ann. Paige and Mon were nowhere to be seen, which came as a relief (but only briefly), as all her senses went into overdrive. She dropped down and slowly moved behind a gravestone as a male appeared next to Regina, who ran over to Clary and stopped Clary and Lucy-Ann from crawling off unseen.

Amy couldn’t see the other males, but she knew there were at least four more moving about, and she also knew that they were gathering up the pets that were trying to get away. She flipped open Clary’s cell phone and stabbed the V speed dial. As soon as she heard someone pick up, she spoke.

“Hello, police. I’m Amy; we are all in danger. Location: the old graveyard. Send help.”

It was all she had time to say before the phone was crushed before her eyes by an evil-looking male who appeared more like a biker in his torn leathers than the well-dressed vamps she had seen before.

“Calling the cops, eh?”

He dropped the broken bits of Clary’s phone on the ground.

“Not that it matters: all it will mean is that we will have a nice meal to go with showing you all what real vampire sex is like, and it looks like you have just volunteered to be the first.”

Grabbing Amy by her hair, he dragged her to where the first male to arrive stood. He dropped her at his feet.

“This slut smells more female than pet but acts like she wants to be the first, Aron, and she kindly sent for blue takeout as she knew we would be a little hungry after we have finished with her.”

All that Amy could do was to quickly crawl backwards to where all the girls were grouped together, having been rounded up like sheep, and wait for what would happen next.

And what happened next was not what she expected. Clary stepped forward to Aron and complained about them destroying her phone and that her master would make them pay for it. There were times when Clary should not talk, and this was one of them.

Amy looked away as Aron struck Clary to the ground, and from the force he used, Amy knew she would not be getting up again. The bastard could have just flicked her away with no more than a finger, but no, he chose to kill her for daring to speak to him!

Anger began to make her blood boil, but Amy forced it back down to the depths of her being, where it reluctantly stayed. She knew it had not gone away; her primeval other self was ready to take over, and it felt like having a coiled snake inside her just waiting to be allowed to strike. The various yoga exercises her auntie had taught her for relaxing were definitely not designed for her inner vampire self that only felt truly relaxed and happy when she was sitting cross-legged on the bloody corpse of an enemy.

To the surprise of the other girls, Amy stood up and then walked over to where Clary lay and stood silently facing the large male Aron. Aron stared down at her

“So, you still wish to be the first for tonight’s entertainment?”

It has to look stylish, thought Amy. You can only get away with things in the vampire world if you can do it with style. So here she was, playing for time until help arrived by either offering her life, her virginity, or both to a group of vagrant, horny bloodsuckers.

“Thank you for your kind offer, but even your dumb henchman could tell I was not a pet. I am sorry to say that if I was in heat and you were the last male on earth, the only entertainment you could hope for tonight would be if you had a box of tissues, a good imagination and a dirty magazine.”

This time when Aron lashed out, it was not a pet he was attacking. Amy stepped to one side at the last moment, but she knew the only reason he missed was that he thought he was only dealing with a slow human; the next strike would be too fast for her to deal with.

“Please do not attack me. I am in my rights to reject you, as I am an owned female placed here to warn visitors that this is a private hunting reserve and that the meat you have shown interest in is all marked and owned. To use these pets for your base needs would be an insult to their owners.”

As Amy spoke, she was glad of the practice she had with claw control, which up until now only took place in front of her bedroom mirror, for she was able to extend one claw at a time from her fingers to point out the error they had made over her species. All claws at once would look like she was going to attack; one at a time just looked like a cool party piece. She finished off with a quick show of fangs along with a smile; again, she had to be careful not to make it look like she was bearing her fangs to a male.

Amy had been correct about his agility. With blinding speed, a single slap sent her flying through the air. She was able to land on her feet, but only just, and her whole left arm tingled from the blow he had given her.

Aron dismissed her with a glance and gave his reply.

“Will someone remove this upstart of an abomination and teach her some manners?”

Phabian to the Rescue

Several males moved forward then stopped as the situation changed. Amy was the first to pick up what the new scent in the air meant and turned to see her master nonchalantly leaning on his old fashioned, gold-handled walking stick. Amy knew he believed that his beloved silly stick made him look cool, but to her it just looked like he had a bad leg.

He gently raised the back of his hand to his mouth and coughed for attention.

“I see you have my property; true, only a female, but still MY property. She has in accordance with custom made her presence known to you, and again, in accordance with custom, also stated that she is an owned female and so is not free to offer her body to anyone without my consent, which before you ask I do not give.”

Amy then watched as he raised the stick in the direction of the pets.

“The meat, as my female respectfully pointed out to you, is on a private hunting reserve; they are marked as tame and owned by members of my nest. I am sure that now this has now been pointed out by a male, you will be happy to satisfy your various needs with wild meat outside of our game reserve.”

Amy was impressed; her master was really cool, but she kind of wished he had brought a few friends with him. Still, he looked and sounded like he was not just her master but also the master here, and she was proud of him.

The outcome of his words worried her, as instead of backing away with honor (as she thought would be normal in this situation) they attacked him! First he was attacked by two large vamps, then Aron struck at him with a large blade, which looked very oriental to Amy. Her master only had his walking stick to defend himself with and produced only harmless blows to the vamps on either side of him, which they ignored with laughter.

While he was parrying with Aron, the two males moved in from both sides, giving him no room to maneuver. At this point, Amy was surprised to see the two side attackers fall to the ground as her master’s walking cane came apart to reveal a silver sword stick, which cut deep into both of them. With the two side attackers out of the picture, he was able to force Aron back, showing sword skills she would not have dreamed he could have. As he darted about with one hand behind his back and a deadly blade in the other, he looked like he could have once been a pirate. The only thing to spoil the effect was the three-piece business suit he was wearing, which made the fight look more like a hostile city takeover bid.

Then it all changed as a large male attacked him from behind as he was getting the better of Aron. She could not believe her eyes. They had killed him! Her master, killed by a cowardly attack from behind!

No, her master still moved! He rolled to one side, unable to get up, as the one who stabbed him in the back picked up the fallen sword and raised it to finish him off.

Amy did not know quite how she did it, but she left the others with a single leap and flew through the air to land on the attackers back with all four sets of claws burying themselves deep in his flesh. He dropped the sword and reached back with both arms, grabbing her by the shoulders. Before he could pull her off, she sank her teeth deep into his right shoulder, ruining his leather jacket and locking her jaws in place, so as he threw her over his head she still had a large chunk of his flesh in her mouth.

Her attack would have immobilized a human, but she knew vampires were made a lot stronger, and the attack would more likely just piss him off. Amy knew that this one single act of bravery would be her last, and she would soon be dead. Males could be five times stronger than a grown female, and that one attack was all she had planned. She was more angry at herself for being so useless than worried about what was going to happen next; then, “it happened or rather A-Me happened as her inner vamp took control.”

A-Me

The female knew she had attacked and wounded a male, as his flesh was still in her mouth. The one that she had bitten stared at her as she chewed a few times then swallowed and licked her lips, which seemed for some reason to worry him.

A group of males had attacked her mate and now had plans of sharing her amongst themselves before killing and probably eating her. She could easily get away, but that was not an option. She hunted; she was not meat, and if they thought her to be a meal, then she would make herself a very unpleasant meal for them.

Her attacker was on his own; the others would for the time being just watch and enjoy the fight, as it would be an insult to her attacker for them to offer help against a single female adversary.

She was not as strong as he was, but she was fast, and being female, she secretly knew that she was superior. She used her better speed for short attacks that did nothing more than cut him with her claws, but the cuts were not the reason for the attack. The reason was to make him angry and careless, as every time she cut him, the males watching would make rude comments about his fighting skills and compare them to his mating skills.

As he could not reach her, he bent down to pick up her mate’s metal weapon. She waited until he glanced down, then she leaped upon his back again and locked all her claws into his flesh then once more bit deep into his shoulder, forcing him to drop the weapon he had just procured and to use his left hand to displace her. His right arm could no longer move due to her second bite; his left arm was still very strong, but to rip her off sideways meant he would cause himself more damage as he pulled out in one short, sharp jerk twenty well-dug-in claws and lost more flesh from his shoulder, as her jaws would not release her fangs. She was able to again take part of him with her, which she chewed and swallowed, then belched noisily.

She could not make the same attack again as she was now bleeding from both her hands and feet, which were badly damaged when he forcibly removed her from his back, but the damage she had suffered was nothing to what she had done to him. His leather coat was now hanging off him, showing his deeply raked back, and the watching males were now jeering him and pointing out that she must be in heat, wanting his body in her, and warning him that she probably had teeth at both ends. The fight should have been hers but for the interference of the leader, who now threw him a long blade, which he caught in his left hand.

She hissed at the leader for his unnatural interference and ran straight at the blade that her opponent was holding; the blade was very sharp and penetrated deep into her belly and burned as she slumped forward.

The male now laughed at the change of events as he looked about with glee at such an easy finish.

“You were right; she must have been in heat; look at how much she wanted my weapon in her!”

As he was looking around, she ignored the pain and moved forward, forcing the blade point to exit at her back yet in doing so also bringing her jaws within striking range of his now-unprotected throat. With blinding speed, she bit deep into it.

With so little of his neck left, his head dropped back on his shoulders. As if the weight of his head was too great, his body fell to the ground. He was obviously very dead.

There was silence as all the males just stared at her as she stood with a sword sticking through her body. They then watched as she slowly knelt down in desperate need for blood to help with the healing and began tearing into his flesh with her fangs and lapping the blood that escaped like a cat with a bowl of cream. She would need a lot more blood to activate her special healing skills, but she did not have the time to take more before the others attacked. She stood up and slowly pulled the blade out and let it fall to the ground.

Valerius (devil’s advocate)

One type of anger faded to be replaced by a different sort as Amy took back control of a body that could barely stand, let alone move. The best she could do besides fall over was to bluff, and she had earned a voice.

“I, the owned female of the male you attacked, name you Aron the Renegade, and those in your company followers of a renegade, as you have committed a crime here in front of witnesses.”

Aron looked at her, and his eyes were ablaze with anger as he spoke.

“Be silent in front of males, you abomination!”

Amy heard someone clapping, and nearby movement took Amy by surprise. Her senses were at maximum, and still she was taken by surprise. More males had arrived; she couldn’t cope with the ones already here, so any more would just be overkill.

Apparently, she was not the only one taken by surprise as everyone looked around at the sudden appearance of extra males, then the scent reached her. These had a familiar scent and were somehow related to her own uncle. The largest male stepped forward, and she recognized him; he was the boss; the one that had killed the female that attacked her. He now stood away from the other newcomers and spoke directly to Aron.

“You are quite correct; no female should speak to you in such a forward way, and I will have her soundly punished for such insolence. Mind you, seeing how young a female she is, I think perhaps a good spanking from one of my females would be a suitable punishment.”

He waited like a comedian to add a finishing punch line.

“Why, I may even force myself to watch just to make sure she doesn’t find it too enjoyable a punishment.”

As laughter erupted from the new arrivals, Amy knew the fight was now out of her hands. She had seen gangs of boys start a turf war with this sort of joking about, and when vampires started a turf war then the losers end up being the ones under the turf.

“Of course, we should all remember that to name a vampire as a renegade is not a joking matter, so it was very naughty of her. The female’s master should explain his female’s rude behavior to us all!”

Amy thought that he had missed a perfect career as an actor; okay, perhaps a comic actor by the way he threw his hands in the air in mock surprise at seeing her master lying just a few feet behind her, as if he had not noticed him before.

“Oh no! It looks like the owner is slightly indisposed at the moment. I can’t imagine how he could have gotten hurt while safely on our territory; perhaps it was an accident? Now that is so very inconvenient, as we all want this female’s owner to answer for her disrespect to such a fine example of a male vampire as we have bravely standing here before me in, how should I word it? Oh, yes! The middle of our territory!”

As more laughter occurred, Amy knew that as loyal followers, they would have laughed if he read out a shopping list. Vampires were all super vain and had their noses so stuck up in the air that they were in danger of drowning if it rained. This boss alpha male was making fun of her attackers, and she knew the comic wording was designed to provoke her attackers into a foolish action.

“Well, in that case we will have to ask-no, this is too serious a stain upon your character. No. We will have to demand that a First Lord who is over this prone male is duly summoned and forced, yes, forced to take responsibility. That is the only way that honor between houses can be maintained.”

Amy could now recognize some of the new males as pet owners she had seen in the past, plus several very large males that looked like they would do well as nightclub bouncers. Clary had not moved from where she had fallen, but Paige and the others who were able to sneak away had now returned and sat a distance away as if watching a play. To Amy, it was getting to be more like a farce, and if she had not been dying, she could have appreciated it more.

“Oh, dear, oh dear! Now what have I done? I am that First Lord, and due to the great concern over your honor that I seem to have, how can I put it? Mistakenly dropped myself right in it?”

Amy was not sure how funny all this really was to the males that appeared to be his entourage, but they always laughed loudly at any joke he ever made, and several looked like they would need fresh underwear if they laughed any harder.

“So with great reluctance I accept this reasonability, and believe me, it gives me no pleasure to have to act as an advocate for such a naughty girl.”

Amy’s legs finally gave up their struggle with gravity, and she slumped to the ground and slowly crawled away, thinking that if this was going to take much longer, they would have to have a séance to tell her the outcome.

“So, it gives me no pleasure to confirm as a male what a female of our nest has stated in that you are accused of being a renegade, causing willful damage to our family’s marked property, entering uninvited into another’s hunting area, attacking in groups greater than three a member of our household, attacking a guard that was placed to protect our marked property, held within our recognized family territories, wounding in the stomach the guard, which is an owned female that is of childbearing age. I repeat, inside our territories, a female owned by a member of our family was hurt in such a way as to damage her childbearing ability, which is an attack on future family members. These are all very grave accusations, and if proved untrue she will be soundly spanked, so how do you answer such heinous charges?”

Amy dragged herself nearer a gravestone. Of all the books Amy had read, she was still not sure what could kill her, but she now suspected that a loss of blood was one they had forgotten to list. Her inner vamp had now left her, and she expected that it had gone to write her will. Judging by how woozy she now felt, it would have to be a very short document; at least dying in a graveyard meant she did not have far to go for her own funeral.

She crawled behind a tombstone and closed her eyes as she slumped back against it. She could hear Regina’s voice in the distance, annoyingly loud and far too high, as if she were refusing to do something or other. It was not the sort of tone of displeasure she wanted to hear as she died. Another voice now said something; Amy recognized it as Paige’s, and it was soft and clear.

“Mistress, please take me. Make me yours; I give myself willingly.”

It was a struggle, but Amy opened her eyes. In front of her was Paige, holding her arm out with her wrist near to Amy’s mouth.

“Please, I am ready.”

She did not have time to think or say anything as her inner vamp took over control.

A-Me

This young animal was offering itself to her; it liked her! So very strange, so very odd: it was very tame, and it wanted her to feed off it, but she would kill it if she took all the blood she needed. So tame, so trusting! No, she would just take a little to repair herself and no more, so as not to frighten or harm this nice animal.

She ignored the arm it offered and instead wrapped her arms around it to embrace it, at the same time locking her foot claws around the lower part of the creature’s body and so immobilizing it as she ran her tongue up the neck, seeking the best place to bite. She could sense the animal was afraid. She was not going to kill it, just take a little nourishment, but it was only a young animal and could not know what she planned.

She tried to relax the animal by produce a calming purr, but her throat was out of practice, and she found it did not work. The heartbeat of the animal was now racing, and the fear was growing. She did the only thing left to try and show that she liked it and would not harm it; she naturally produced pheromones from her body. They were weak compared to the male musk, but the ability had evolved for a different purpose than how a male used it. Male musk excited a female to lead to faster copulation, but the female’s smell relaxed the male to slow him down so the female could enjoy it longer and also stopped him from flying off too soon afterwards.

The saliva from her mouth contained a lot of her special smell, so she licked the female animal’s face and lips, forcing her tongue into its mouth. She felt the animal relax, and all its fear vanished as soon as it knew she liked it. It did not even notice when she removed her tongue and penetrated its neck and started to suck. She was glad the animal was no longer afraid. Even better, the creature was so relaxed and willing that it made the feeding a greater pleasure.

Blood Donor

As soon as Amy could taste the warm, tingly life force that the blood represented, she knew that strength was returning to her body, healing the wounds. Only after a few unthinking minutes of bliss did her senses kick in, and she was surprised and a little shocked at what they were picking up from the blood donor.

Aron, the leader of the now smaller group of four, was not happy with the odd turn of events, as the meeting between two houses was turning more into a soap opera trial.

He pointed towards where sucking noises were coming from, and hesitated as he took in what Amy looked like she was doing.

“That there, that is not a normal female! It’s an abomination and walks about in the day! We are within our rights to destroy it no matter what territory she is on. She has to be a strange type of pet or a barren turnling; either way, not a breeding female, as she can walk about in the sunlight with your other pets. What we have done is only a misdemeanor, and it is no crime for us to dispose of her. In fact, as she killed one of us, we have the right to kill her no matter what she is. The male attacked us, and we had to defend ourselves; all you can accuse us of is trespassing and vandalism!”

“Well, let us check out the female to first see if she is human, turnling or vampire!”

The alpha male walked over to where Amy was still embraced with Paige, making sucking noises while Paige was making a different sort of noise. He raised a single eyebrow and sighed, then picked up Amy’s fallen shoulder bag and walked back.

“So to answer the first part of your defense, the female is currently, err, well, mostly enjoying a meal: the sort of meal that rules her out from being human. A rather messy eater, yes, but human, no.

“Unless I am mistaken from your scent, a sibling of yours visited us last moon and attacked and killed one of our pets. This female was guarding the pets at the time and defeated your sibling in single combat, which is something no turnling could do. And from her smell after the fight, she certainly is not barren and has been in heat at least once during the past three moons.”

He empted Amy’s bag out on the ground, and the contents formed a pile like a bonsai mountain.

“If you are interested, our female did not kill your sibling. She committed suicide at my own hands after I had offered her leniency, all of which can be vouched for by the males currently with me. Now as to being an unnatural vampire, let us see what this young female has in her bag.” With exaggerated movements, he began to drop things back into her bag, commenting on each item like it was a game show.

“Toothbrush, toothpaste, another toothbrush, mouthwash, and yet another toothbrush, along with a hairbrush. A hairbrush! It looks like you are right; she must be a werewolf with a mouth hygiene fixation!”

He smiled at his own joke and continued with the pruning of the bonsai mountain of female products.

“Eye drops for tired eyes, dark sunglasses with brown frames, dark sunglasses with black frames: perhaps a well-dressed werewolf? Sun block foundation cream, medically prescribed sun block at 100% protection, one pair of thin black gloves, one baseball cap with extra large sun shade.”

He stood up, holding up the last item from the bag and made a show of straightening his back as if the bending down had been painful.

“Perhaps it is just me, but the contents of that bag look like just the sort of thing a vampire would carry about in case she had to quickly move about in daylight.”

He now held up the last item with just two fingers, as if showing it to a jury. It was a now-empty transparent plastic bag that Amy had collected from the blood bank earlier.

“Why, she even has a standard vamp snack pack with her. Her bag looks to contain everything a guard would need to blend in with the pets on overcast days, and all that I have found looks to prove what she has said of your crimes and so disproves your statement of defense.”

Dropping the blood snack into Amy’s still-open bag, he wiped his hands on a white, neatly ironed handkerchief, which he had removed from a top pocket.

“I now offer my judgment on what happened here tonight.”

His smile instantly changed from a jovial defense attorney to that of a judge, and by his new look, a very pissed-off, hanging judge.

“You came uninvited into our territory looking for your sibling. Upon discovering that she had died, you wished to take revenge by vandalizing our property. Just a misdemeanor, as you say, but what changes the situation to something more serious is the attacking of a male of our family who bravely attempted to stop your criminal activity. You then attacked his female who was acting as a guard to our property. Males and females die all the time in fights, and if you had done this on your own nothing would have been said, but five attacking a male and female of our family in our own territory looks to be more the work of a raiding party. As for your fairy tale of a defense, it would be insulting if it had not been so amusing.”

Amy was struggling to see what was happening over Paige’s shoulder, and it came as a shock that the alpha male just dangerously turned his back to them. Looking around to where his followers were located, he made his announcement.

“My verdict is as follows: As it is a first offense and their words have amused me, I will be lenient and return them to their nest.”

Amy could see visible relief on Aron’s face, which changed to blinding rage as the alpha added to his judgement.

“As to the matter of lying to me, the representative to these hunting grounds, well, that deserves a little extra punishment, so remove their heads first before you return them to their nest!”

With a blur of movement, the very large males, who had stayed in the background and laughed the loudest at the boss’s jokes, killed all apart from Aron, who now raised his blade and struck out at the alpha boss. Amy could not see what had happened between him moving forward and then lying headless on the ground, but she knew never to pick a fight with the boss.

Amy almost choked as a gulp of blood when down the wrong way due to what was currently happening with Paige. She was turned on; the blood sucking must be doing something funny to Paige, and Amy feared that it was similar to what had happened when her master first bit her.

Paige had always said she loved to give blood and got a real thrill from doing it, but Amy had not guessed just how much she enjoyed giving blood. She knew she couldn’t stop sucking immediately, as she had to force herself to slowly let go: a pint, just a pint (or maybe two) so as to not harm the donor. She knew that was the rule, but it was still an effort to stop; Paige’s moans were not helping her concentrate, either.

When she finished sucking, Paige turned and looked at her with wide, doe-like eyes as she leaned over and licked Paige’s neck to let her saliva seal the wound to prevent her from bleeding to death. Amy did not know how this worked; it just did, an automatic reaction on her part to protect a future food supply. What was not an automatic reaction was for the food supply to bend over and start to lick the blood on her stomach, which was all that was left to show where she had been wounded. Her skin was now fully healed.

“Do I get my ring now, mistress?”

Not knowing if she should thank her or give her an end-of-date kiss, Amy removed her pet ring and handed it to Paige; she felt the normal tingle upon taking it off, meaning all the rings must now be back on line.

“Err… you have to place it-”

“Yes, I know, mistress.”

Amy wondered if she should tell her that she had hit it so often that it may not work so well.

“Mistress, it is magic! Look! It has changed size to fit my finger and is now locked in place! Thank you, mistress!”

Perhaps not, Amy thought. She expected that if the ring could give a sigh of relief for being rid of her, it would have done so at that very moment. She did have a relationship with the ring; it was a hate-hate one. With Paige, the ring would now be happy.

Paige weakly but proudly walked to where the other girls stood, and as she did she turned to where Regina stood a little way from the others and raised her left hand to show the ring on the little finger. Paige then made a fist with the hand and raised her middle finger. Amy noticed that Regina no longer had a ring on her finger, and she knew it could have only been removed by her lord, meaning the raised voices she had heard were Regina refusing to do her master’s will, which she guessed was to go and feed her.

Paige had stepped forward and changed her placement in the group forever; she willingly offered her blood when Regina refused. Taking Regina’s place in the group as leader, she then came out to the group, turning Amy into the standard female vampire seductress by blatantly telling the whole group she had beaten everything they ever bragged about by having sex in full view of everyone. From her flushed look, they believed her, and if not, their masters would confirm it if they asked them, as they would all have smelled her excitement.

Amy knew all she had done was take a drink and nothing more, but once she thought about it, she realized that anyone who had seen her wrapped around Paige in uncontrollable, bloodsucking ecstasy may have mistaken what was happening. Blood sucking was a normal thing with vampires; what was not so normal outside of Hollywood was the way your meal moans with pleasure as you eat.

Even Amy would have to agree it sounded very much like vampire lesbo sex: kinky and pervy, yes, but still very much like how all the books said female lesbian vampire seductresses would act.

Chapter 9

The Nest

Not only had Paige decided to come out tonight and tell the whole group of her pervy sexual inclinations, but she had taken Amy with her.

The alpha male could not believe it as he watched a new marked and ringed pet join her group; the strange female just had sex in front of them all and now had confirmed it by creating a pet!

He was not shocked about the sex as he knew bored females did it all the time with their maids back at the nest, and males did not care as they used the maids in the same way.

What was not normal was for a female to fight and kill a male then have sex with her food while they discussed if she should be killed for her actions; was it by accident? No, she knew they were there watching, and she would know that they knew what had happened due to the smell coming off the new pet! And not just the pet; she had also produced mating pheromones, and from the way some of his followers were fidgeting, he knew it was not just the pet that had been turned on by her behavior.

He remembered how she looked with such lust at him and what she smelled like after she had defeated the rogue female during the last meeting. It was as if she wanted to take him where he stood; fighting must make her as horny as hell.

She had just fed, had sex then marked and ringed a pet to claim it as her own personal sex pet in front of a large group of males. Of course, young males sometimes did this sort of thing when out with friends to show off or prove that they were part of their group of peers. And there were really no rules saying she couldn’t do it: a tomboy of a female showing that she considered herself to be one of the boys. He just hoped she would stop at this and not try pissing against walls or starting a farting competition, as that would be going too far.

He was now forced to speak to this female, something that he wished he did not have to do. She was one hell of an odd vampire; what had happened to the days when females were happy to sit at home in the nest and raise young? This blood-covered freak would probably eat her young; how can he act the alpha when all he could think of was that he hoped she did not have plans that he was the next one she wanted to ring? As to not being a real vampire, by the gods! What a stupid defense! Even he would not like to meet her pouncing out on him on a dark night; she would be just the sort of female that enjoyed rough sex, and he was not sure his back could take it nowadays.

“Again, young female, you have done well; is there anything you want before we take your mate back?”

“Me? I just want to go home. But it is not me you should be thinking of; it’s her.”

Amy pointed to Clary, who was still lying where she was thrown, and Amy knew she was very badly hurt. What was worse was that she was the loving pet of these very males here, and they did not even notice her, let alone care that she was dying because of them.

“She is your pet! Her name is Clary, and you failed to protect her! You said you would keep her safe; you gave her a silly ring with promises of immortality, and she gave you her body and soul, She was happy knowing that she was so safe now that she had a wonderful lord and a lovely vibrating ring to protect her. Live up to your word and help her, or explain the reason to the other pets watching, else they believe a Lord’s word means nothing when dealing with their loyal servants!”

Amy knew that such an outburst was not the safe thing to do. Male vampires were so proud of their stupid honor that it was like accusing him of wearing plastic fangs. She saw the fire in his eyes, but she stood her ground. Vampire-ing was all about style, show and also dying well, but if he wished to kill her, then standing her ground was as good a place to be when he killed her as any other. Amy knew if she showed any weakness she was dead.

She expected him to react but not by laughing!

“Well spoken, little female!”

He raised his hand palm upwards and looked to the other males and laughed again. As he laughed, he glanced at the female who was acting less rabid than when he last saw her. She now showed intelligence; to be able to kill a male was very good going, sex mad, yes, but she was both obedient and loyal to her owner, protecting the pets and her fallen owner from renegades. A normal female would have been killed or forced to flee but not this one; she stood her ground to a group of males: weak, puny males but still males all the same. And best of all, she had not demanded that he take her as his mate or have sex with her in front of everyone, so perhaps the day was getting better.

He didn’t know from what outlandish group her male had stolen her, but if she was anything to go by, he hoped that they would never have to go to war against their males. Now she even stood up to him. He was within his rights to kill her for such disrespectful behavior, but that would look bad in front of his men after what she had just done. Half of them were still showing excitement from the free sex show, and he did not fancy the idea of trying to kill her, as it would probably only make her more sexually excited. It would be impossible to hurt her if she was ripping her clothes off and trying to mount him; why, his followers would probably even encourage her as a second act in her performance!

Now she had wisely pointed out that they were being watched by the pets and that this was the second time they had failed to protect human servants. If that sort of news were to spread, they would have trouble in the future; She didn’t look like much, but she was young, strong and intelligent and so would breed many fine sons in the years to come (as long as she did not eat them): just what the nest needed.

The survival of the nest was far more important than his pride, and he would not be the only one here that would be thinking the same thoughts; he was First Lord and alpha male to the nest, but he would only stay that way so long as the nest came first. He decided that the nest was where she should be: safely out of his sight, deep underground and heavily pregnant.

“This is truly a real female of our family: a future strong breeder of fine sons, and those idiots,” he pointed to the bodies on the floor, “took her as a pet or famula!”

The other males now laughed.

“Other families have weak things like those creatures, which call themselves males, and it took five of them to come after one of our females! It was a good job they did, as at least we have been able to remove them from the gene pool. So we have done well today, and you should feel proud helping cleanse such trash from our bloodlines. Just think, we could have unknowingly married our daughters off to such rubbish as these!”

He now looked towards Amy, and this time she lowered her head and eyes.

“You did well, little female, to remind us that during the excitement of a fight, we should not ever forget our loyal servants: those that serve us well will always be rewarded. Do not worry about this pet called Clary; she will be one of the chosen, and we will reward her with eternal life.”

He pointed towards the prone girl, and one of the other males came forward and picked her up.

“It is late, and the sun will soon rise, so your request of going home is granted.”

Her lord and master, mate or whatever he was supposed to be to her today was picked up and taken away by one of the males, and then without so much as a by-your-leave, she was also picked up by another male and put over his shoulder. Amy then found herself hanging on for dear life as he ran out of the churchyard and almost proved her wrong that vampires couldn’t fly. He ran at buildings and missed them by only inches; leaping across from one building to another was bad enough, but once he just stepped off a roof, and after that she just kept her eyes closed.

She knew he wouldn’t let go of her unless he wanted to end up naked, as she had wisely sunk all twenty of her claws deep into his clothes, and if he stepped off just one more roof, he would discover the next thing she would hold on by was her mouth. As her head was bouncing close to his rear end, she would find plenty of flesh for her teeth to get a grip on!

Amy had no idea where she was. It was dark, and it was cold. It was only a little less dark when she finally decided to open her eyes. She must have passed out during the ride; the idea of having a new mate was now playing on her mind, but at least she knew it wouldn’t be her transport for tonight, as it was very unlikely he would ever want her after he discovered that she had been sick down the back of his trousers.

She was shown into a room and pointed towards a chair, which had been covered with newspaper just for her as she was not only covered in blood, which was still wet, but she also discovered that not all of the sick had gone onto the male’s trousers.

It felt like a doctor’s waiting room but without the antique magazines that discussed everything from cellulite to menopause and always left her more depressed than informed. Instead of a bowl of sweets, the table with the magazines had three plastic bags containing blood that were helpfully marked with the blood type. They could have been the sort of thing you would have found in a hospital, but Amy suspected the hospital sort would not come with straws and napkins.

After what felt like three days but which she expected was actually no more than an hour, the door opened, and there stood a female vampire traditionally dressed, which meant she was wearing some sort of almost see-through nightdress that she filled to bursting. The top almost overflowed with bosom; in fact, she filled it in every direction, and Amy knew that no matter how strong the stitching was, she could burst out of it at any moment, and she hated her at first sight.

The large female didn’t even ask her name as she took her to a bathroom and then got her to undress while standing on some more newspaper. As she stepped into the shower, she saw the female put on a pair of plastic gloves and put all her clothes, including her underwear, into a black bin bag and leave.

Amy stayed in the hot shower until she started to go wrinkly and very bored. There were only a finite number of places on the body you could find to wash, and she had now done both ears twice; normally she didn’t even bother with them unless she stated going deaf due to excess ear wax! The water, which had been so nice and hot at the start, was now more tepid in temperature. But there was no point in getting out as the bathroom was empty, which meant no towel. Unless she covered herself in newspaper, the only way she could leave the room was both wet and naked, so in the shower she stayed.

As the water was reaching a point where icicles were soon going to form, the door opened, and the bosom entered followed by the rest of the female vampire. The female held out a towel and started to tap one foot, convincing Amy to rub herself dry quickly. The towel was taken off her, and she was handed a nightgown. Putting it on, Amy knew it was not only too large but also a bit too transparent for her liking.

“Err… could I have my underwear, please?”

The female took a breath, which increased her bust size some more, before answering.

“NO!”

“Err….Wwwhy?”

“WHY! Because it was filthy, that’s why! I have never seen underwear in such a state before. I can’t just wash them; I will have to boil them! And as for the rest of your things, it will be a kindness just to burn them! Now follow me!”

Amy silently followed the female. People say that a good, long shower can make you feel young again, and it was true. Amy currently felt about six years old and was very glad she had taken so much care in cleaning her ears and nails, as she was sure the female would check. And if she wasn’t satisfied, she would put her back in the cold shower or give her a note to take home to her auntie, or both.

The large room that she followed the female to was as empty as the bathroom and really took minimalist fashion to the extreme. In the center of the room was a large sheet of plastic, and on the plastic was a bed. Upon the bed was another large sheet of plastic, and lying on top of that was her vampire; he was naked!

Amy tried hard not to stare at her vampire, as apart from films, it was the first time she had seen a man naked. It was not that she did not know where to look (as she knew exactly where to look), but she was trying hard not to, so she stared at the plastic.

Seeing Amy look hard and continually at the plastic, the female commented.

“The plastic is to keep the floor clean. Blood never comes out of the wood no matter how hard you scrub. If you need more plastic you will find some plastic bin liners under the bed. For the same reason, he had to be naked, as his clothes would get ruined. You will now remove your nightdress, as you will need to climb over him to feed him as you would a baby. You know, suck blood into your mouth and then pass it to him, as I said, just like feeding a baby. Don’t look at me like that; you are a female! You will have to feed a baby one day, so you may as well practice now, and besides, he is too weak to feed, so if you fail to get blood into him, he will be dead by morning.”

“Err, wwwhy me? Can’t you use a tube or something like that?”

Amy did not like the look she received with the reply.

“A tube would choke him the same as it would a baby, stupid, and as to why you? You are his mate. THAT is why it is YOU; it’s not all sex and sucking fingers, you know. Any female can stick her tail in the air to please a male. You have to look after them in other ways as well. If he dies due to your inability to care for him, forget about choosing another male as a mate. If you cross a male, they will just kill you. If you cross me, I will make your life a living hell, and then I will kill you.”

Lots of people make comments like, “If you touch that chocolate, I will kill you!” The trouble with vampires was that they don’t all joke when they make the same comment, and Amy had a very strong vampire feeling that this female was not joking. For some reason, she sensed that this female cared for the male vampire, and if he did not make it though the night, she would not make it through the day. Obviously, the female wanted him for herself, and for all Amy cared, she could have him. With her boobs, though, he would not last long; she would probably suffocate him on the first night.

Amy did not know what to do. She needed help, but she did not have that luxury, so she improvised. If she drank the blood, then he could drink hers. She lined up a row of blood bags, found a goodsized blood vessel on her wrist and used a claw to cut it open. It bled profusely, and she placed her wrist over his half-opened mouth. He closed his lips and sucked.

It was working, and all would have been fine if she had not passed out.

A-Me

Amy’s inner vamp opened her eyes and knew she had lost too much blood to her mate. He was only gently sucking now as if a child, but had been doing it for too long. She slowly removed her wrist from his jaws and dizzily reached out for the blood that was in a pile next to the bed contained in some sort of transparent skin. In her mind were things she did not understand, but she understood blood. She sank her fangs deep into the skins of blood one after another until she was bloated, but she would soon be back to normal. She looked down at the male and saw that he was still very weak and needed more nourishment, so she sank her teeth into another skin, filled her cheeks and pressed her mouth to her mate’s mouth. He was as stubborn as a child and just wanted her wrist back, so she held his nose, and when he opened his mouth she spat blood into it. It still was not right. His lips were dry, so she licked them and again filled her mouth with blood. This time she rubbed her lips on his, and as they kissed, he opened his mouth. She let the blood from her mouth dribble into his. When her mouth was empty, she repeated the process. After an hour or so of bloody kissing, she relaxed and let him digest the food.

The female looked about the cave. It was a strange place, and she could smell that other females were nearby; she did not feel that they were a danger but feared that being females, they may have wanted to take her mate from her. She knew the best way to ward off other females was to have her scent on him, but he was in no condition to mate with her. She did the next best thing, and that was to rub her body hard over his, forcing herself to sweat and so to mark him with her own scent. As she moved up and down, she saw a large female enter the room with more of the transparent skins of blood. She hissed at the female but did not stop; the female dropped the skins and left.

Nyx and Amy’s itch

Amy awoke and sleepily looked about, just another odd dream to go with all the other ones. Unck looked like he was still alive, which was good as it meant she may also live a bit longer. Due to sleeping on him, she discovered that she was very sticky from sweating. She could do with a wash but not another cold shower. She started to scratch and rub her chest and felt better, then a crazy idea formed in her mind. She thought, why not it was his turn to do something for her? He had a very hairy chest, and as he was unconscious he would never know. It was a little bit pervy, but the room was hot with so much plastic everywhere, and it was no wonder she was so sweaty.

No one cared that she had to lie on a man naked. Sorry, not a man but a male, so she may as well get something out of it. She gently rubbed herself a couple of times up and down on him but found it was not as good as a nice scratch, and she stopped completely when she heard the sound of a metal bowl hitting the floor followed by a lot of swearing. She looked up at the red face of the busty female and swallowed hard.

“Not again! What the hell’s wrong with you? I told you; he’s too weak for sex! Can’t you control yourself for just five minutes! You are just the sort of vampire that gives females a bad name! As to insisting on looking so young all the time, I am sure you are perverted as well as being a slut!”

Amy felt her face start to go red: not just a little flush, more like an award-winning impression of a stoplight. She could not help the way she looked!

“What? No, it’s not like that! I had an itch, and I was just using him to ……”

Crap! she thought. That did not come out right, and oh yuck! She thinks I was trying to have sex with him!

“Well, that’s a new name for it! Next time you itch, try using a finger! Now get washed; we will be eating in half an hour. It is downstairs: third on the left.”

“Err? …. What about him?”

“I am sure the rest away from YOUR itches will do him a world of good; now wash and get dressed, and … and just stop touching him, will you? Or next time I will throw a bucket of cold water over you. We were all wondering what he saw in you; well, now it is obvious!”

“Well, you were so keen on removing his clothes and having him feed naked; perhaps you should have been the one feeding him! I’m sure he would prefer to stay with you rather than me. I even expect that you have a room all waiting for him; you are so good at organizing things.”

“Why would I be interested in seeing him naked? I’m his sister! Of course he has a bedroom here; it is his home! We all know what you are good at, and it is not your intelligence!”

Amy could feel that her face was still burning red hot as she washed and put the nightdress back on. She groaned as she looked over towards the heap of plastic in the center of the room where he lay amongst sheets of plastic bin liners and empty plastic blood containers.

OMG! This is so not what the life of a vampire should be like! she thought. I was ….. and with him !…. and I said … I really said, I had an itch that needed scratching! And, and … she said I should ….. oh no, no! Please, God, tell me I didn’t say I itched due to getting hot and sticky because I was laying naked on him! No, it’s okay, I just thought it. I did not say it out loud to her! Thank God I didn’t say that as well as her seeing me rubbing myself on him! Oh God, it did look like …. And now I have accused his sister of having a crush on him!

Amy made her way to where she had been told to go and opened the door and looked in, thinking all the time she would be far more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt instead of the nightdress. Come to think of it, she would be far more comfortable and a lot warmer if she had some underwear on. It may not have been a crumbling old castle, but it made up for it by being very draughty, and she had just washed in cold water. Vampires should live in castles; this looked like a clinic or perhaps a film studio where they couldn’t afford props. The room was large and unsurprisingly empty with a large sheet of plastic in the center. On the plastic this time was a very large, very old and very heavy-looking oak table. It would have looked good in any antique shop, but in this room the very large plastic tablecloth covering most of it ruined the effect. If she ever meet an author of vampire books who talked so lovingly of the vampire castles, she would personally drag him here and get him to lie naked on plastic all night.

She was wondering if she should sit down or stay standing when a door opened on the other side of the room, and the female that was Teeth’s sister came in, walked over and handed her something white and not fully dry…… her panties!

“They may be damp, but they are clean, so keep them that way! And you will not remove them, other than for calls of nature, no matter where you get an itch! Understand?!”

Back upstairs, this female had made her feel first like a six-year-old child then like a slut; now, Amy was lucky if she felt as old as three. She lived in real fear that this female would regularly check that she had her underwear on and that it was still clean! More than likely, she would do it with other people around!

She was pointed towards a seat, so Amy sat down. A boy came into the room and slouched in the seat opposite her. He looked about 8 but with vampires, age was hard to figure out. She decided to try to break the ice.

“My name is Amy; what’s yours?”

His mouth turned into an “O” as if she had just said the rudest words he had ever heard, and she luckily moved her hand off the table just as a heavy ladle slammed into the plastic, denting the wood underneath. The ladle was in the hands of Teeth’s sister, who was now glaring at her.

“Who gave you the right to introduce yourself to a male? Besides, he’s too young for you, and you are already in a relationship! By the gods, can’t you just sit there with your legs crossed!”

In the mean time, the boy had poked out his tongue at Amy. Teeth’s sister had her back to him, but she still hit him around the ear with the flat of her hand as she turned around.

“Are your hands clean?”

“Yes”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Lady. I have carefully washed my hands and scrubbed my claws, twice!”

A girl came into the room also wearing a nightdress but of a coarse linen, which Amy guessed would be warmer than hers; it was also less transparent than hers, which meant that she was a servant or of lower status.

The boy’s eyes lit up.

“I want a burger, fries, and a chocolate blood shake… with ice!”

The girl turned to Amy.

“Err-could I have the same but without the ice?”

When the food arrived, it looked good: two small rolls containing a raw, minced meat filling that Amy was sure would make her constipated or give her the runs. The fries were very good, crisp and salty, and they even came with a red sauce that for a change was not blood (or not all blood) as it was sweet. The drink was in fact very nice as long as she did not think of what it was: just chocolate-flavored blood, Amy let her taste buds tell her that it was the only way to have chocolate.

She asked what the meat was, but her uncle’s sister just said, “Don’t worry, no one you would know!” which could have been a joke or perhaps not.

When she was alone with the boy, he looked up and spoke with a mouth full of fries.

“Well, it’s just beef, stupid, and I hear that you have been in heat?”

She was not going to go red in front of a boy, but why was everyone so darn interested in her internal plumbing?

“Yes. So?”

“Are you pregnant?”

“No, I’m not pregnant!”

“Well, Lady Nyx says it can’t be from want of trying! And no, I don’t want you, so if you try touching me anywhere private, Lady Nyx said to call her, and she will throw a bucket of cold water over you!”

Amy quickly looked all around the room to check if they were alone, then she stuck her chocolate-covered tongue out at him. It shocked him, and it made her feel good.

After the meal, the sister returned and led her to yet another room. This one did take Amy by surprise, and it was her turn to stare open-mouthed.

“You look like a child, you act like a child, and now you eat like a child. Let’s find out what on earth my brother is playing at. Do close your mouth; you are not catching flies.”

Amy was still looking around the room, she was not sure what a Ladies’ boudoir was, but this was one of them with a capital B: very 19th Century, very female, and very pink. The feeling of being watched was confirmed when she saw movement as three or four strange, skinny, hairless creatures appeared to stare at her as if she were the oddity and not them. The smallest of the four was now at her feet and attempting to climb up her nightdress. The large female saw her look of horror.

“They are cats: an extra clean, special hairless breed called Vapira Sphynx. The cutie about to treat you as furniture is called Tarqwin. Now, just ignore them, as they already know their status here, and it is a lot higher than yours. Come here, now, and be ready for me to taste your blood; something is wrong with you, and I plan to know what it is here and now.”

Amy moved her head to one side and waited; she knew that having blood taken from one’s neck instead of the wrist meant you were subservient, but Amy realized she was so low down on the pecking order that she would be lucky if she rated higher than worms. The bite was gentle and must have removed only a taste at most.

“Well, well, well! Now, that is surprising, and my stupid brother thought he could keep this secret?”

She felt her head being moved to one side again, and she offered no resistance. This time, the bite removed more blood. Amy thought it was about a mouthful, but she did not know how she knew or how the bite was so gentle that all she felt was a slight tickle.

She wanted to ask how but instead she asked, “Do you wish me to suck your fingers now?”

There was a cold, hard silence and then musical laughter; had she said something funny?

“No, my dear little abomination, that is something else entirely, and I think I may at some point have to explain a few things to you about males and females. First things first: while I digest your blood memories, you will tell me your whole life story from as far back as you can remember. Try not to leave anything out no matter how trivial, as I will need as much information as I can to link it to what your blood memory will be telling me about you.”

Amy started, stopped, then started again. The words were difficult at first, then the female began humming for some reason, and she even smiled at her. She had not seen her smile before; the smile was so very warm and comforting.

Amy started telling her everything. It felt good; she was so nice and kind that Amy could not understand why had she not liked her before. She now lay back and rested her heavy head on the most comfortable pillow possible, which was the sister’s lap, and she talked and talked. The cat lay on her chest and purred, and that also felt nice.

The sister asked for everything, and Amy told her everything: the death of her parents, her mad auntie being the only one in the family willing to take her in and look after her, the doctors and the psychiatrists that did not believe her, sucking blood off dead meat and feeling ill all the time and being laughed at because she suffered from sunburn in winter.

Amy recounted meeting her male vampire and having her first real meal and feeling odd, very odd. She shared about pretending to be his mate and then pretending to be a human sex pet; most days she did not know if she were a vampire pretending to be human or a human pretending to be a vampire: Amy told how she didn’t understand why the female vampire’s brother wanted to kill her at first, then he just disliked her, then he was risking his life for her. She was confused by everything now; vampires she did not know kept trying to kill her.

No one ever told her about being in heat, but everyone kept discussing it in front of her without even saying anything about what it meant. It was never mentioned in human biology or personal hygiene lessons or she would have remembered. Since she had met the brother, she kept losing time and waking up covered in blood. She also had some very odd dreams about caves and males visiting the cave. Amy had looked it up on the web, and it said it was all about sex, and the cave represented her personal plumbing.

For all she knew, she could even be pregnant, and she did not want to be pregnant. She did not even have a boyfriend or go out with boys, so why was she worrying about being pregnant? When she was not dreaming of trains or caves she was dreaming of having her hair stroked and liking it. She had not bothered to look that up on Google as she was sure that it would just be sex again.

As Amy ran out of things to say, she was exhausted; no, she was beyond exhausted. It was like living her whole life again at high speed, and it had not been that interesting the first time she had lived it. The little tune the female was humming was also very relaxing. She felt her hair being stroked, and it was nice, so nice to have her hair stroked. She really, really hoped it did not have anything to do with sex.

Amy curled up in the female vampire’s lap, relaxed and without a care in the world, she was soon fast asleep.

Nyx takes control

The female continued stroking Amy’s hair and thinking; there was a lot to think about. She also knew that when she finished thinking, her brother would be wanting to get up, and he would then discover that he had a lot to say to her. For his sake, it had better be good. Vampires could look young if they wished to, but this little vampire did not just look young; she was young: very young in fact, not really anything more than a child of just a few years.

She should not exist; she was an abomination, a strange breed of vampire: a very hot-blooded vampire with natural protection from sunlight. Vampires were a very old species and did not really even look human; the blood camouflaged them. They always took on the shape of their prey to make hunting easier, and they had been hunting humans for tens of thousands of years, so the shape was now normal. If humans were replaced by a different dominant creature in the future, then the vampires would change shape again, but the hunt would continue. She did not like to admit it, but her brother was correct; this girl was important, very important. But he was useless at trying to hide her; the idea of hiding her in plain sight was good, but her way of doing it would be far better than his had been.

Lady Nyx

Chapter 10

Nice bed and sooo nice a sleep

Amy awoke with a start and felt in heaven, like she was lying on soft, fluffy clouds. Okay, so I have a good imagination; what of it? It sounded so much better than saying “I awoke in bed.” Besides, beds were never this size or this soft in real life. And as to bed sizes, this one must come under the name of triple Emperor or even Godsized.

She slowly crawled towards the edge, knowing that if it took too long, she could always sleep on the way-not that she was tired. She stopped, stretched and felt great. Sleep! She had had real sleep: no odd dreams, just pure, restful, undisturbed sleep. It must have now been about dusk. Whenever Amy slept during the day, she always awoke as the sun was setting. Not that being a vampire meant she couldn’t go out in the daylight: it was just that her body clock was set the same as most other teenagers her age. The day was for school or sleeping, and the night was for fun.

As she reached the edge of the bed, Amy looked around. The bed was of course in a bedroom; no, not just a bedroom but a real, very female bedroom. If not, then she had been sleeping in a frilly cushion factory that must have gone bankrupt over buying too much lace.

“I hope you slept well?”

She jumped. She almost wet herself as well, but we will not go into those sorts of details. The room had been empty when she first looked around, but now her uncle’s sister filled a good part of Amy’s vision. It was normal for a vampire to move fast (well, apart from myself), but if they kept just appearing out of thin air all the time, Amy realized that she might have to add packs of diapers to her wardrobe.

“Thank you, yes; I had the best sleep ever.”

She couldn’t figure out why she felt so relaxed, but she was still going to be very careful with what she said to this female. Speaking of diapers, Amy thought, out of all the vampires I had met so far, this female was the one who scared the crap out of me.

“It is a lovely bedroom; I hope I did not cause you too much trouble just falling asleep on you yesterday”

The female ignored the question and did not look to be interested in idle chit chat with her, so Amy decided to just stay quiet. This female had from the start made her feel like a child, and since yesterday, she had begun speaking to Amy as if she were a child.

Amy had survived attacks by male vampires and had even killed one, but this female was different. This female did not have to threaten her. She smelled sweet like a female should but not of rotten fruit; more of what a baseball bat would smell like if it were covered in icing sugar. Even Amy’s inner vamp was in deep hiding, which meant she was truly on her own. It was so odd how she could do it, but Amy know that just one harsh word from her could make Amy burst into tears. Even when she was nice and friendly, she still scared the crap out of me.

“I do believe a nice bath will clear the sleep from your eyes. Now follow me”

Amy followed her to a bathroom where a swimming pool of a bath was already filled with hot, soapy water, ready and waiting. She gave a silent sigh as she noticed that unlike what all the crappy human books said, it was not filled with the blood of virgins.

“Put all your dirty things into the washing basket over there, and I will find you something clean to wear.”

What the heck is going on? Amy watched as she left the room. Something was wrong with her thinking. Of all the life-and-death decisions I have had to make over the past few weeks, why was the hardest one whether or not I should remove my panties or bathe in them? She remembered that she had been told to keep them on (apart from calls of nature) at all times or else!

But now she was told put her clothes into the washing basket. Oh darn, and frigging heck! What the frigging, frigging? She had even forgotten how to swear! FRIG, Frig, Frig!!! Heck was happening? She has done something to me!

Amy realized that she could get killed by some vampire on a whim: yes, be killed on a whim. That was a good reason to worry about doing something wrong. Even doing simple things was worrying her, so she told herself that I must concentrate. Remove all clothing, and place it in the washing basket. If I make a mistake, I will say that I misunderstood; children often get things wrong.

Why was I not just acting but now feeling like a kid when that female monster spoke? First she treated me like a slut, and now I was a child. Without any control, I simply acted the way she thought me to be. Perhaps it is magic, like the ring, or some sort of mind control: yesterday, a sex-starved slut, today a child, and tomorrow, who knows? I could be thinking that I’m a coffee pot.

Amy knew she had to make a decision. She pulled off the nightgown along with the panties and dropped them both into the basket, quickly getting into the bath.

Soaking and enjoying the heat, she lay back and rubbed soap along her legs. Well, I do have nice legs. Maybe my bust is a bit crappy, but the legs are nice. Oh, sorry! She was daydreaming; looking about the bathroom was boring. After you have seen one bathroom, the novelty kind of wears off.

The bedroom had been warm but not so the bathroom. Books say that vampires are undead, meaning that Amy should not feel the cold. No wonder people no longer read books; a vampire should not feel cold, but this vampire does. She thought that it was just like always biting herself by mistake; no one ever explained what to do. It was all just supposed to come naturally, but it didn’t. Well, a vampire bath: this I could understand. Soap, water, and rubbing. It also was a pleasant change, as at home, Amy only had a shower due to her auntie believing that you could not get clean while sitting in dirty water.

She jumped (for the second time); this time, Amy was grateful that she had empted her bladder before getting in the water. Not a sound had been made, but the face of the sister now appeared inches from hers.

“Are you clean?”

“Yes, very clean, thank you.”

“Well, let’s check; extend your claws: all of them.”

The female grabbed her left foot and stared at it, then dropped the foot back into the bath.

“Stand up!”

Well, that nice side did not last long; her voice almost had a male command to it. So, life as a vampire is about being naked in front of everyone, Amy thought. Someone just had to write a book about what it truly was like to have good teeth. Just as she was standing naked in front of the female vampire, she slapped Amy; no, let me reword that. I stood up and was slapped, but not across the face. She slapped me hard, very hard, across my bottom.

“Now sit down!”

Amy know that her mouth had formed into a perfect circle at the idea that this was starting to get too pervy for normal bath taking for anyone with or without fangs! So she let rip.

“What the?! Look, I am not a child! You can’t keep treating me as if I am still in preschool! I’m a woman, or near as, damn it! And I do not have any S&M likings!!”

The female walked across the room, picked up a nail brush (which looked more like a floor-scrubbing brush except that it was pink and in the shape of a bat) and then walked back. She then rolled up her sleeves and began to rub soap onto the brush.

“If that was a question, then the answer is yes and no. Yes, you are a child, cub, youngling or the like; and no, you are not a woman, nor will you ever be one no matter how old you grow. You are a young female vampire, so definitely not human, male, female, or anything in between. The nest knows your age and has decided your placement here. Don’t ask any questions, as you would not understand the answers. Just take it as a fact and remove any strange ideas of thinking of questioning it, as if you were not a suitable nest member, you would have died in your sleep.”

“It knows your place; now, it is time for you to also learn what it is here. The first thing is if you take that tone of voice with me again, you will not live to become an old female vampire, you are a very young and a very ignorant female, so I’m being especially lenient with you. However, I am not known for my leniency, and I will not suffer fools, so listen very carefully as I do not wish to keep saying this.”

“You are not a normal vampire renegade, and that is why my brother took so much interest in you. Do not concern yourself about this as there is nothing you can do about it. You are also far too young to be out hunting on your own just yet. Without my brother’s protection, child, you could be killed if you are discovered. You are still extremely ignorant over what it is to be a vampire, but that is going to change.”

“To clear up your confusion, you should know that age is different for different creatures. If you were a dog or cat, you would have died of old age by now. If you were a human, you would be thinking about being nearly an adult, but you are not a cat, dog or human, and your age as a vampire means you are still a youngling in our society, a fact my brother did not take into consideration.”

“It was foolish of you to try and hide this from me. I had just thought you had a perverted sense of humor to want to look so young. The lullaby I put you to sleep with last night was the final proof to your age. It will only work on children and animals, so unless you are an animal, you are a child, and you will be treated as such. It goes without saying that I will not accept disobedience in a child. Do not test me over this; childhood can last a long time with vampires, and if you get on my wrong side, it will feel like an eternity.”

Amy sat back down in the bath with a splash and did not say a word.

“Your foot claws are disgusting, and you have dried blood in them. A female should always be very careful about her personal hygiene. You now have the choice of me scrubbing them clean or fetching a pair of clippers and cutting them off; which will it, be?”

Still trying to take in the age idea, she could at least answer this question.

“I would like to keep my claws. Will you please help me clean them?”

Now Amy almost drowned as the vampire grabbed both her feet; only by pushing both arms behind her could she keep her head above the water, which had cooled down a lot. She was not planning to wash her hair, but that decision was no longer hers to make. The most she could hope to hold above the water was her nose; a decision on washing one’s hair is automatically made as soon as someone lifts both feet for inspection. Could vampires drown? She didn’t know, and at the moment she did not wish to find out. What she did instead was grit her teeth, as claw cleaning was in no way a gentle process.

“Now the claws on your hands!”

Amy’s toes tingled where the brush had missed an intended claw and instead tried to remove skin; she sat up and held out both hands with claws fully extended, and these received the same painful attention.

“Please open your mouth and fully extend your fangs. That’s good!”

Now apart from a dumb rapist, Amy could not believe that someone would willingly place a hand in a vampire’s mouth! Vampire jaws were mega strong; all that had to be done was to bite, and all problems would be over. Okay, so I would be dead, but my problems would all still be gone. No, it would not be that simple. She would not kill me; more than likely, she would have my fangs filed blunt, or even removed. I would also probably be grounded for a month and sent to bed early every night without TV. People just did not realize how hard it was as a vampire to fight against the urge to bite, in addition to the urge to swallow, cough or move the mouth in any way when someone is holding it open. To play it safe, Amy held her breath.

“Your teeth and fangs are nice and clean; well done. Make sure you keep them that way. Later, I will show you how they can be polished to give a cleaner stab. Now, let’s get you weighed and measured!”

My Own Room?

At least Amy now had a towel wrapped around herself. For the life of me, how the heck does one stop it from falling down? She knew the theory of wrapping it around and tucking one edge in at the top between the boobs, so why did it still feel like it would drop down if I breathe? Amy was now holding the bath towel around herself.

She looked at what was apparently going to be her bedroom. It had one bed frame, No mattress! A wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The rest of the room was empty apart from two bins that were colorfully labelled “Whites” and “Colors,” and a large bin with a black bag in it, also labelled but this time saying “TRASH” in pink marker pen. More of a bedroom in the making, she thought. And when I say ‘in the making,’ judging by the size of the stalagmites and stalactites, I would say that would be on the lines of 100,000 years. Their being painted pink must have been a very recent geological event.

Still in shock from the bathroom experience, Amy stood very still in the center of the room (or should I say cave), wearing just one very large, pink, fluffy towel and letting the events of the past hour run though her mind. Nothing strange, really; it was nothing strange. If I had been about ten years younger, then maybe it would be normal.

The world had just changed, dragging Amy with it over a matter of hours. I had gone from an adult, sex-starved slut to a child, and this was normal? As soon as she could find a computer, Amy planned to Google the meaning of normal, as it is now very different from what, well, what normal meant. She liked finding out things; the world was full to the brim with things to discover, and the meaning of “normal” can be quite dynamic at times. Perhaps, if I concentrate really hard, it could just be a normal room: well, apart from the light-giving, glowing walls and the wonderful selection of stalagmites and stalactites (which were the cause of the dripping sound that reminded me of some Asian washrooms). Besides that and all the cave-like looks it had, one could say it was a bedroom, but only if you were a troglodyte!

What the heck is normal?

Is growing fangs and biting people normal?

Vampires owning their own blood bank normal?

Living in a nest, meaning that the nest decides your age.

normal?

Is having a bedroom with interesting strata as wallpaper normal?

The large female had gotten Amy to stand on some scales to check her weight. Okay, that was normal-ish; well, if I were a child or needed to go on a diet.

She then measured Amy’s height, bust, waist, and other parts of her body with a tape that had a very cold metal end to it. That was embarrassing but normal-ish as well.

Then the normal things ended when she started to go into more personal details about Amy’s body. Well, it is my body, after all, and I do know what all the bits do and why. And I have known all that since before 7th grade. Okay, so apparently I am wrong, as I only look human. My body, well, it is mostly a camouflage, and there are things like-err-well, like being in heat and what I am likely to want to do at some point in the future, when I do not go so red thinking about it.

Besides, Amy thought, she had said I would not need to worry about it for years, as they would be keeping me at my present age for a while. Okay, so that now answered all my questions: simple, really, and now so obvious. The large female was stark raving mad, so if I could act like a child when near her I may just stay alive a bit longer and maybe even win an Oscar.

Amy opened a drawer on the top left of the chest and saw it was full of brand-new packs of undies. She ripped open the plastic wrapping and quickly put on a pair of white panties, softly muttering, “Could be worse: they could have days on the week on them.”

Searching through the other drawers, she could not find any bras, but with my bust size that would not be such a formidable problem for this high school pencil-test winner. You know, you place a pencil under a boob, and if it fell to the floor, it meant you were something called “pert,” but in my case it just meant small.

Amy found packets of white t-shirts, which would do as long as I did not get too cold and start looking like a walking pair of coat hooks. From the wardrobe, she took out a boring, white ankle-length nightdress: one of a great number of similar boring nightdresses all shouting, “Look at me! I am a 19th century vampire!” Oh crap! As a fashion statement, it really sucks, but then that is my life all over. Amy pulled it over her head, thinking “Crap” looks to be the limit of my current swear-word vocabulary.

All nightdresses are of course designed for tall women with big boobs, so the dress just did two things for Amy; one is to make me look like a little kid off to bed minus her teddy bear, and the other is someone who is very likely going to trip over the hem and break her neck.

Vampire World

Look, why me? she thought.

What have I ever done to the world for it to do this to me? Here I am, dressed like something between an extra in a 1950s horror movie and a little girl that has lost her teddy bear. Nineteenth-century nightdresses so do not do anything for my body shape.

It is not me this time; it’s the world, Amy thought. It has just gone crazy and decided to take me with it. In the human world, males were easy to understand; they just wanted you to raise your tail. (OMG! I am now thinking like a female!) and then thank them afterwards, but females here, like in the human world, are dangerous; I mean real dangerous.

Like the world, the large female is as mad as they come. And well, if I want to live a little longer, perhaps it would be best to humor her.

So she wants me to be a child; until I can find a way to escape, then that is what she will get: not only a child but a very clean child.

If nothing else, I now know that with all the practice I am going to get, I will have a wonderful chance of a career in acting when I do get out.

Oh well! Let’s start Act One, Scene One.

Phabian and Nyx

Amy started towards the door then changed her mind, went back and picked up the towel. She folded it neatly and placed it on top of the bin marked “Colors,” then collected all the plastic and paper packaging and placed it all into the trash bin.

As Amy opened the door to where she had nursed the vampire she called Uncle, she saw that the room was very different; all the plastic had been removed, and he was sitting up with a towel in front of him. It was a small towel, and it was pink; he was talking with his sister, who was standing with her arms crossed. They both stopped when Amy entered.

Amy had no idea what to do, but as they were looking at her, she had to say something. She tried to be extra polite, and gave a little curtsy.

“Lord and Lady, if I am disturbing you, I can wait outside until I am summoned.”

The sister turned and looked at her brother, and he noticeably moved back a few inches.

“See? That is what I mean! No idea of how to greet us or even act her station! You tasted her; you knew how young she is. What on earth did you think you were doing?”

Amy looked from the sister to the brother and felt sorry for him. He was always so dignified, and now he had to hold a very small towel in place as his sister scolded him.

“Look, we have discussed this already. I will not have you talk to me this way. She didn’t talk like a servant before she came here, and as I have now said a number of times, it was not my idea to bring her here. She is not branded, nor does she smell of the nest, so tell me just how the hell did she get in to be standing here anyway? You know full well it is not possible to enter the nest smelling like that! Go on, smell her! Then tell me how you think I can get her back out without being noticed!?”

His sister let out a breath, which sounded more like a huff. She turned from her brother and walked towards Amy.

“My brother has now decided what we shall do with you.”

Amy saw him raise his eyes at this comment, and she knew it was now going to be his sister running things but in his name.

“First, you will be pleased to know that you have never mated with him.”

She glanced towards her brother.

“You can say that you had the itch, but he did not let you scratch it. Being in heat does strange things to a female, but as I said, it did not happen. You are not his mate, so you can also forget your silly fears of being pregnant.”

“Second, you are far too young to live out in the wild on your own. Without proper supervision, you could come in heat again, so as a stray, we are in our rights to rescue you; and that is what we will now do.”

“Third, your status in the nest has to be earned, but in the meantime, you may call us Aunt and Uncle, as from today, we have officially adopted you.”

Again, she looked towards her brother.

“Fourth, your uncle has decided that you will be fully in my care and supervision until you come of age. I plan to teach you how to behave in polite society, and you will try to live long enough to appreciate it. Now, go to your room; I will let you have your daily schedule later. And please try and stay clean!”

Uncle Phabian

Amy closed the door of what was now her room and fell back on it. Slowly, her feet slid forward, letting her sink to the floor, where she sat in a state of shock. She went over the conversation in her mind again and again, but it always ended with the word “adopted:” her now adopted uncle?

The last comment she heard as she left was, “Go to your room. After I have spoken with my sister, I will visit you. Don’t look so worried; you are safe now.”

Look worried?! Of course she should look worried! It was bad enough having to act like a child without being told she had acted so well that they had adopted her!

Amy jumped as a heavy knock on the door vibrated through her backbone, and she clawed her way deeper into the room, turned and looked at the door as she answered.

“Yes?”

She relaxed a little when the door opened to show her master-turned-uncle standing in what must have been fancy dress. He looked so funny; surely no modern vampire would ever really dress like an 18th century vampire unless they were going to a party at the end of October?

He followed her eyes and looked down at what he was wearing before looking back to her.

“Sorry; it’s standard nest uniform, like your nightdress. We are forced to wear this stuff in the nest. It can only be removed when in private rooms: all for the greater good, we are all told. Rules over nest wear were laid down a couple of hundred years ago, and now no one can update or change them. I can remove the cloak if you wish.”

As he stepped, in he took off his cloak by undoing a chain clasp at his neck. He threw the cloak over her bed frame, followed by his jacket. After he took the jacket off, Amy saw that his shirt had puffy sleeves, giving the impression he should be sitting near a babbling brook reading poetry.

“Is that any better?”

It was true; looking like a poet was better than looking like an extra from a horror film.

“Yes, a lot better, thank you. I will keep my nightdress on if you don’t mind. Your sister has very strong views on what I should have on when I am near a male.”

A loud, musical laugh filled the room.

“My sister has strong views on everything, but she really is very kind when you get to know her.”

“Now, before we discuss your future, my sister has told me how you were mistakenly taken as my mate and brought here. She also told me how you had cared for me when I was in a weak state; I hope that was not too stressful for you.”

His laughter had somehow broken her glum mood. Amy was no longer frightened of him and expected she would never be afraid of him again. She was not his mate, which was a relief, but she had seen him naked, and she knew she could never be frightened of anyone she had seen naked. The last of his authority had vanished when they were both lying naked on sticky plastic. True, nothing yucky had happened, but they were closer in a different way.

“Your sister said you would die without my help. You have saved me so many times; how could I let you die? Besides, I would miss you, you are so ……. very un-vampire like. You just pretend to be pompous and cruel, whereas you are nice and kind, and I do like you, Uncle.”

She was now worried that he would bring up the idea of her needing a mate in the future, so she hastily added, “But not in any yucky way, so no more daft ideas of me needing a male. I agree with your sister. I am far too young for that sort of thing, and besides, I just want to go home and then back to school as if I were a normal kid. Okay, normal-ish, as I would still like to help protect a group of sex slaves and order takeout from the blood bank. You can’t keep me a prisoner here forever, and I really am too old to start being adopted!”

She felt his arm go around her shoulder.

“You silly little Hell Cat! True, it would be difficult for you to leave, as your body is changing due to the nest. You are slowly becoming what nature intended. You are not a prisoner; you will stay and make this your new home quite willingly because that is not only the right thing to do but also the only thing you can do.”

She tried to push his arms away, but he just tightened his hold.

“The reason you will stay is that if you leave, you will die. The nest has accepted you as a member, and the last event has killed off any idea of keeping you hidden outside. Besides, I would also miss your constant illogical female babble if you died, so before you think I am getting soft, you should know that it is purely for my own selfish reasons that I want to keep you alive.”

She knew that she would be safe outside and started to say so, but he cut her off.

“No. You are an oddity, and we vampires don’t like things that could threaten our way of life. If found outside, the best you could hope for is to be taken and forced to have children to see if your young breed true. If not, you and your offspring would be removed from the gene pool.”

“My sister is correct; it is best to hide you where you will be the safest, and that is not outside but in here as part of the nest. Nest living is all stupid rules, as without the stupid rules we would have killed ourselves off years ago. The same stupid rules that force you to wear a nightdress are the very ones that will protect you; why did you think we call it a nest? If you attack one part of the nest, you attack the whole nest, but if you are part of the nest, you are very safe.”

“Your cover has been well and truly blown. That is why you cannot return; it would not just be you they would be after. To flush you out, everyone you are near to would be killed, from the pets at school to the one you call Auntie. They would all die just to get at you, and their deaths will be your fault if you try to go back. It would be as if you had personally left their bodies to rot after you had drained their blood.”

Amy could again feel tears in her eyes as she swallowed.

“And if I willingly stay?”

“The pets will be safe, and I will personally keep an eye on your human auntie to see that she comes to no harm. Being here means they will also be safe.”

“What happens to me?”

“As my sister said, we can legally take you in, and you will have the honor of joining our family and so also being a member of the nest. My sister will train you in the ways of being civilized, and I will train you in how to hunt and look after yourself in a normal vampire way. You already have excellent natural bloodlust skills, but they are still uncontrollable and more a hindrance than a help in a fight.”

“It is my whole life we are talking about here; can I at least think on it.”

“Is there really anything to think about?”

Amy now swallowed very hard this time; of course, he knew what she would say. As soon as he had mentioned the danger to her auntie and friends, there was only one answer, so she gave it.

“Yes”

“As my sister would say, yes what?”

“Yes, thank you, Uncle. I would like to take you up on your kind offer, and I will willingly join your family and everything that goes with crawling about some overgrown dungeon. But if anything happens to my auntie while I am safely learning to be civilized, I will never forgive you.”

“Spoken like a true female. See? My sister is rubbing off on you already. That is all settled, and you are now part of the family, apart from a little ceremony and the like. We shall see to having your room furnished. I expect that my sister will furnish it with the greatest of care and attention to detail, and you will tell her how much you love it, no matter what you may really think. If not, you will be sleeping on plastic for the next few years. As to making someone’s life hell, then you had better listen to her very carefully, as she has been doing that to everyone for years.”

As he released her shoulder from his grip and started to put his jacket back on, something from the conversation popped into her head.

“What is the little ceremony like?”

She really wished she hadn’t asked as he picked up the cloak and grinned as he left, leaving her with a few very worrying words as he walked out of the room.

“Err, oh, yes! The ceremony? Well, that is mostly being stripped naked and getting branded, plus of course doing the breast stroke in a swimming pool full of blood, being buried in a coffin then dug up again at full moon, covered all over in green slime. You know, the normal weird vampire stuff you have seen in the movies?”

Amy was a living vampire, so that was a joke, right? Oh, crap! She so hoped it was a joke.

Amy

Chapter 11

Of Belonging

The days leading up to the dreaded ceremony had made nothing clearer about what was going to happen to her, and when Amy had asked her (now) aunt about coffins and swimming naked in pools of blood, her aunt had just raised her eyes and sighed.

As her uncle had said, her aunt’s idea of room decoration was 50% odd and 50% pink, and it really stretched her acting skills in liking it, but at least it was not covered in plastic.

Somehow, her uncle was able to get a few things from her home, so she had some real clothes, a few pictures, her laptop, and a large pile of pirated horror films. The only other form of entertainment was a TV her aunt supplied with a warning that it would be taken away if she misbehaved. Amy’s joy over having a TV was dampened down when she discovered it was on nest cable and only had two channels: the 24-hour cartoon and anime channel, and a 24-hour wildlife of the world channel, which her aunt believed would help her mind develop (and which Amy thought was just another side to her madness and wondered what sort of mind she wanted her to develop on a mental diet of adult horror films, cartoons and animals).

Worlds full of marshmallows

Amy screamed in her dream of plastic. She had plastic on her and under her and around her plus pain: lots of pain. She opened her mouth to scream again, but plastic liquid filled it, and then the plastic faded away.

The nightmare of plastic had changed; it was now a dream that contained boobs: lots of them. As she turned her head from one way to the other, Amy kept finding a boob in her face, and she couldn’t move for naked bodies. As a dream, it was better than the plastic or the one of trains trying to kill her, but being suffocated by large, bouncy boobs was perhaps very Freudian. All she could think of was that it had got lost and was a dream meant for a boy, not for her. Having someone’s large nipple poke her in the eye was not something she had ever wanted to experience, let alone dream about.

She tried to say something, and a cup came to her lips. She swallowed; it tasted green but smelled blue, so it had to be good for her. Another pair of boobs rubbed into her face, and she gave up working out what was going on. She was warm, and now the boobs had changed into giant marshmallows, which were very soft and tasty. It was now a nice dream; a bit odd, but as long as it stayed a warm dream, she could put up with the candy part of it.

The dream faded, then a stranger reality returned as she woke up to discover herself in bed: not just naked in bed, but naked in bed with two naked girls who opened their eyes and smiled at her. Amy did not know which was worse: dreaming of monster marshmallows in your face or now noticing that the breasts of one of the two girls were wet from what looked like her drool and saliva, along with lots of teeth marks on them. That meant that the dream of chewing on a large marshmallow had a very different meaning.

From the smell, Amy knew that they were both maids: turned humans, who had a very different smell than real vampires. The major difference in smell meant that you did not want to kill them on sight.

They did not dress, and without a word they started to fill a bath for her, then stood waiting. It was a large bath in its own room: a chamber off her bedroom. They led her to the bath, and when she got in she was surprised that they joined her and started to soap her all over; they meant her to be clean everywhere!

Amy wondered if she could complain about them soaping her breasts with such enthusiasm after she had possibly spent most of the night with one of theirs in her mouth.

The calming effect of a bath was rudely destroyed by the sudden (how did she do that?) appearance in the bathroom of her aunt and, to Amy’s greater horror, her uncle, causing her to exclaim, “Uncle! I’m taking a bath!!”

With pain Amy found that she was being forced to stand and step out of the bath onto a towel her aunt had placed on the floor before taking hold of her left ear and pulling her up and out.

“Please, Aunt! I’m sorry! I didn’t know I did anything wrong, and I didn’t mean to bite their boobies!”

Her aunt let out a breath, which was more of a silent sigh.

“You have not done anything wrong that I know of, yet! We are just here to check your new markings, now keep still!”

“But not with Uncle here! I’m naked!”

One of the maids handed her a hand towel, which she thought was kind of her but would have been a lot kinder if it had been a bit larger. As she held it in front of herself, attempting to decide which part of her anatomy she should cover with it, Amy wondered if it was something with vampires and nakedness that was not just made up by humans for the film industry. All the females here seemed to enjoy getting their kit off and then keeping it off for as long as possible.

“Stop that nonsense at once! Your uncle will not be seeing anything new to him or anything you were not very keen to show him when you were in heat! And if it had not been for his self restraint, you would be several months pregnant by now, so just stand still. It is not that you even have anything worthwhile to hide.”

Amy knew her face was now going red, and it did not help that the maids (who themselves were also naked but did not care who saw them) were softly giggling over the remarks of how she must have shown herself off to her uncle when in heat. She couldn’t remember it all that clearly, but she knew her aunt was right. He had seen every inch of her a number of times and in close detail. Being in heat removes all normal self control, and if it had been just up to her, she would have lost her virginity and became pregnant the first time she met him. Thinking of that now just made the redness of her face burn hotter.

“See, Phabian! A perfect brand: something she will be proud of for the rest of her life!”

Amy gave a little jump as her aunt slapped her leg.

“And that will be a very short life if she will not stand still!”

“Sorry, Aunt, but it stings when you touch it. Shouldn’t it have healed by now?”

“Not with this branding, my dear. The soreness will go away in a few weeks, but it will never fully heal. You are now the proud owner of your very own family brand, and if you don’t talk to anyone and we can get you to stop smelling like a dead cow, you may even pass as normal.”

Amy just stood and silently watched her aunt and uncle discuss what she would be doing from now on as a family member, and it sounded very boring. Their conversation covered her having to learn thousands of rules to being a vampire along with a strict regime of diet and cleanliness that made Amy think that being a vampire was something on the lines of joining a very devout religious sect. She then wondered if anyone had ever tried to register it as a religion; it should tick all the correct boxes and get the government tax benefits.

At last, they gave up poking and prodding her body, and her aunt now added her back into the conversation.

“As to your new rank of Mistress, you will have maids who will be with you on a rotating basis. They are maids and not slaves, so if I find you becoming too lazy, then they will be removed. If you mistreat them, I will beat you soundly; is that understood?”

Amy nodded and wondered if asking them not to sleep with her naked would be grounds for mistreatment, as she was not sure if she could ever get used to sleeping with naked girls that were so well developed. If she did not suffocate during the night, she would surely end up with an inferiority complex.

“Good! Now carry on with your bath, and no picking at the brand or I will cut and file your claws!”

With that, Amy got back into the bath, and the girls began washing her hair. Her brand stung a little in the water, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t live with. Now that she had a brand, she could leave her rooms and find a way to escape.

She would play along at being a child, but they couldn’t stop her from growing up and escaping.

Amy

Chapter 12

Bored

Amy looked around the room. She was bored; she was always bored. Being a teenager was boring, and being a teenager for so long, sooooooo very long, was terminally, extra boring. It had not taken her long to discover that her age limited her movements. She had one whole floor to roam, and the times she had tried to leave, the maids would follow her until her aunt caught up with her and created an interesting punishment, which meant she was forced to give up ideas of escaping. That last interesting punishment was having all her clothes confiscated for three days, forcing her to walk about in a large, fluffy, pink bath towel.

She was clean. Oh, yes! She was really, really clean; her claws shone, and her fangs sparkled. And so they should; she had just spent the last hour polishing them. Her aunt believed in cleanliness like it was a religion, but then she believed that her room was suited for a teenager, too.

And she was wrong; the room was perfect for a nine-year-old: not, definitely not, for a teenager. Pink was nice, and in limited use a pleasant color to look at, but Amy’s bedroom had been overindulged with pink until you could have nightmares about cotton candy. She had asked her aunt if she could paint it a nice vampire black, but she had lost TV viewing rights for two days over the suggestion, so she never made it again.

True, she had her own TV, and that was nice. The nest had its own cable tv system, even if the only channels she could get were kids’ cartoons and animal and wildlife programs. There could have been a world war going on, but she would only know about it if it affected the migration of the Siberian snow goose. She was now perfect at hissing and growling like a wild animal, and she could also do a fantastic range of farmyard animal noises, but as a vampire was not that sure they would be useful except at very boring parties.

Amy had seen so many documentaries that she could recognize some of the animals by their personal names, like Eric the anteater; he limped on one back leg and had starred in five different documentaries covering three countries. She expected he had his own air mile club card, too.

Her aunt had warned her that she could no longer live with humans, as she had changed too much now, which was partly due to her coming into heat too early. Amy had not believed her at the time; who would believe someone who said in a matter-of-fact voice that she would stop growing older for a few years so that her mind and body could be in sync? Why the heck did she have to stop growing older when she was still a teenager, the worst possible time in her life?

She had been told that vampires could look younger if they concentrated but never older. She had tried it once to see if it worked, but only the once; she was able to look more like an 8th grader, then she found herself stuck that way for days! If she risked it again, she would be lucky to even be allowed into junior high. She feared that she would be the only vampire celebrating her 100th birthday by starting preschool!

Even now she felt, well, not younger, but different somehow. Amy thought the cartoons she watched were funnier, and she no longer found living underground odd. True, it was still cold, but she blamed the over-powered air pumps for that. This was her home, and the smell the walls gave off was comforting. She had her own maid, so should have been happy, but it was so extremely boring being stuck as a teenager.

She had reluctantly learned a lot about being a vampire from her aunt; just like the human world, it made little sense at times. Like, when would a modern vampire need to cross a room with three heavy books balanced on her head to prove she was well brought up? Sometimes vampire training felt more like a 19th century finishing school for young ladies. Well, she had learned to walk in a straight line, one foot in front of the other, as well as not to use one’s skirt as a fan to cool yourself down when in public (or people would think you had just passed wind).

As for modesty, seeing that the maids walked about half naked most of the time and the nest uniform was a transparent item of sleepwear that went out of fashion before they invented the wheel, why did her aunt have so many strict rules on how not to bend over in a short skirt, and that one always had to climb stairs with your left hand behind you to hold your dress or skirt close to your bottom so that boys walking behind you could not look up your skirt and see your panties?

Amy looked in the mirror and said, “Well, at least I look cool,” then she wondered whether teenagers in the outside world still said cool?

Giving a twirl, she watched herself in the mirror; her hair was neatly tied back, and she looked good in black. She had on black jeans and a black t-shirt, all of which would look very good on any vampire. The only thing to spoil the image was the bat. Okay, so it was true that bats were a good decoration where vampires were concerned. Amy just didn’t think it should be in pink or so large, as it covered most of her meager chest.

As to living conditions, she must have been the only vampire to feel the cold, and she always got cold feet when walking barefooted around the draughty corridors (her aunt’s rules said no shoes). Amy now tended to wear thick bed socks with the traditional nightdress. She had a selection of black and pink socks, black socks that had pink bats on them, and the pink socks that had black bats on them. It was obvious that her aunt had never had children; she just wished that she did not try to practice parenting on her.

Amy opened the wardrobe and reluctantly took out a nightdress. The stupid house rules said that females had to wear nightdresses when walking the corridors, like some kind of house of horror movie uniform. Who in their right mind would ever think it would look sexy on a flat-chested teenager? They were definitely designed for vampires with big bosoms, and in the movies they were always lesbians who showed their teeth and hid in a corner until they got killed by a human with unusual skills in woodwork. Her aunt had a big bosom, but then there was plenty of her aunt to go around, so it wasn’t like her bosom was anything to brag about. The one thing Amy knew was that no matter how skilled a vampire hunter was, he would never want to stick anything into her aunt.

House rules said that you had to look sexy: pale, sexy, anorexic, sexy, busty, and sexy, and apparently you could do all that by just wearing a transparent nightie with no bra or panties. Okay, okay. Amy always obeyed the rules; little vampire girls should be good, obedient little girls (HUH!). See-through clothing with her bust size was not a good idea, so she always wore full underwear under the nightdress uniform, and she was right, as no one ever said she would look better without it.

Amy Looking sexy in a see-through nightie….as if

Amy pulled the nightdress over her head and worked it down her body, trying to get it to look sexy (as if). Well, she had learned a lot during her stay: mostly how to keep warm in the corridors, which doubled up as wind tunnels. The wind just had to be a male wind, as where the wind came from she had no idea, but she knew where it wanted to go. It had only taken her a few days to work out that wearing a nightdress with no underwear was not a good idea unless you tied weights around the hem. She was never sure how far rules bent before they broke, but she started off slowly by adding underwear to the uniform first, then a white t-shirt and panties, then two pairs of panties on extra cold days, until she reached what she wore today.

And that was a very sexy (circa 1860s) nightdress, but underneath she had on full underwear plus a black t-shirt and black jeans, and thick woolly socks (also black). It may even have looked a little sexy if everything had been in pure black, but being a semi-transparent nightdress, the large pink bat on her t-shirt kind of made it look like she was a fluffy toy smuggler. The pink bats on the socks looked more stupid than cute. If someone didn’t do something with the heating soon, then she would add a black woolly hat to finish off the overall sexy look. If anyone complained, she would sew a pink bat onto it!

Looking at her shelves proved she had made it more homelike; her uncle had somehow rescued a lot of her stuff from her human auntie’s house after she moved here, so Amy had a nice framed picture of her parents along with a few well-loved stuffed animals and a set of little resin Buddhas she had had since she was a child.

As for modern stuff, she always kept her phone charged, and it worked perfectly except for internet or phone calls. She didn’t know how far underground she was, but she expected that she was more likely to get reception pointing it below her than upwards. Anyway, she had about 3,000 songs on it and at least 600 hours of video clips that she had downloaded for fun before she moved here. Her Uncle had also rescued and returned to her the ancient little laptop. It now had only one working program, and that was a word processor. Amy used it for writing her book. She did not know when or even if it would ever get published, but she had been rewriting it for years. The only thing not to have changed over the years was the title.

Amy was attempting to leave the comfort of her pink prison when Tarqwin leapt on her and sank all his claws in as a subtle hint that he was coming with her no matter what she might want. Tarqwin was her pet; no, that’s not quite right. She was Tarqwin’s pet, as he was the one in control; even her aunt let him get away with murder. Tarqwin had been one of her aunt’s very odd-looking, undead hairless cats (hairless cats did not shed fur, so they were less trouble) that had taken a liking to her and moved into her pink prison. As it was a cat, Amy was under no illusions why Tarqwin liked her; she was the hottest vampire in the building, and being hairless, he was also cold. Tarqwin would use her as a walking heated blanket and slept on her at night for the same reason, which was an excellent way of stopping the maids from getting into bed with her.

Her aunt had summoned her; how, she did not know, but she knew she had been summoned. Tarqwin was sitting on her shoulder looking like a very bald parrot as she entered her aunt’s chambers, which were more pink than hers and reminded her so much of candy floss that her teeth ached if she stayed for too long.

Aunt Nyx

Amy closed her eyes as her aunt rushed towards, her fearing she would not stop in time and she would be crushed, but when she opened them again her aunt was stroking Tarqwin, who had crossed over to her aunt’s shoulder and was waiting for tidbits to head in his direction.

Amy yanked her nightdress up over her knees and dramatically fell into one of the large seats, dislodging two cats in the process.

Her aunt sighed as she said, “Feet on the floor and knees together, young lady! How many times have I told you that the proper way to sit is with your legs touching together? That way, you may attract a husband and not just flies. Now, the t-shirt is fine, but did you have to wear jeans under the nightdress? Well, it is too late now; my brother will be here soon. Will you please try to look a little feminine for him? After all, you were nearly his mate once, and one day he may be stupid enough to decide to really have you as his mate. And as far as I can tell, the only thing you can offer him is a selection of farmyard impressions, which will really be a comfort on a cold night.”

Her uncle was late again as usual, and Amy yawned.

“Hand over mouth when yawning, young lady!”

“Yes, Aunt! Sorry, Aunt!”

Amy grabbed hold of Tarqwin as he walked past and put him back on her shoulder, where he liked to pretend to be a fur wrap (minus the fur bit of the wrap, of course).

“He’s here; now, put Tarqwin down, and be ready.”

“Yes, Aunt.”

Amy knew the house rules by heart, and she got ready for the ritual. If only the outside world knew of the rules and rituals; they would never, ever dream of wanting to be a vampire! Amy thought. Even the famula had more freedom than she did. The first rule she had learned when she arrived was to do exactly as her aunt said, and it was the best rule to have learned. She nearly always followed them to the letter; she would just change the alphabet at times to see what happened.

Her aunt was now happy for her to wear underwear under her nightdress, as it showed she was modest (unlike the other female vampires who loved to literally bounce about the place). Amy built up layers of underwear depending upon how cold she felt. Her aunt had reluctantly let her wear jeans due to the bowwlegged way she walked when wearing six pairs of panties on extracold days.

The door opened, and a famula showed her uncle into the room then left, Amy immediately stood up and did her well-practiced curtsy.

“You honor us by your visit; I am humbled by your presence.”

Amy even sounded the part of a servile female; it was, of course, a load of nonsense to her (like walking about without panties) and would have been fine if she had stuck to the text without adlibbing.

“If we are over the formal stuff, Uncle, can I get out of this darn nightie? If you wish, you can also remove your jacket. I’m sure you will feel better looking less like a restaurant waiter.”

“AMY! Your manners!”

“Sorry, Aunt. Would your honor care for me to help remove his jacket? Is that better, Aunt? I didn’t mention anything about him looking like a waiter this time, did I?”

“Yes, my dear; that was very nice, and just ignore the face your uncle is making. BROTHER! Now where are your manners! Stop laughing, and answer the child!”

“Yes, young female, you may remove my jacket.”

As Amy reached up and struggled to get the jacket off his shoulders, he softly added so that only she could hear.

“Do I really look like a waiter?”

“Sorry, Unck.”

Amy’s aunt sighed. “Amy, take Tarqwin back to your room and leave us to talk. Your uncle will visit you there when we are finished.”

Amy did a quick curtsy, grabbed Tarqwin and left quietly, shutting the door behind her. Then she quietly pressed her ear to the door and jumped as the loud voice of her aunt penetrated the thick door.

“I said, go to your room! If you are still in the corridor when I open this door, you will not sit down for a week!”

Amy ran back to her room and quickly shut the door behind her before slowly removing Tarqwin’s claws from her neck. She had no idea how long she had been playing at being a child to keep her aunt happy. Acting childish was now second nature to her, but the fear of her aunt’s punishments was real enough, as her aunt would punish her like she was a child (but it would still hurt like heck).

It had all started off by her slapping her bare butt very, very hard (and she had very sharp claws). Then that had progressed to the threat of what she would do if she ever really did something to get in her aunt’s bad book. The threat was what held her fully under her aunt’s control. It was never about the pain she could inflict but instead the embarrassment she could cause that made her almost need to change her underwear when her aunt threatened her with the ultimate punishment.

Minor punishments her aunt dished out were anything from loss of TV to cold baths. The bare-butt slapping when coming out of a bath or shower was to point out to Amy that the start of the next level of punishment would be not only painful but very demeaning. The ultimate punishment her aunt threatened her with consisted of Amy pulling up her nightdress and dropping her panties so that her aunt had a clear target when she put her over her knee and spanked her till she cried real tears (fake tears had never worked on her aunt). She let Amy know that she would do it not only in front of the maids but in full view of any passing male! Heck, she may even sell tickets!

If it was a bluff, it was a good one, as Amy had decided she would never, ever risk calling her on it.

Fashion Show

A loud bang on her door made her jump; no one ever knocked: not her aunt, not even her maids. Privacy for a teenage girl was not allowed. It was yet another of her aunt’s rules: If a girl was doing anything that she didn’t want others to see, then she should not be doing it!

“Err-yes? Come in?”

Her uncle stood in the doorway, fangs showing and breathing heavily, and with his left eye in full twitch mode. In B-movies, this would have been the point where the girl would swoon and either lose her virginity or her life (or both).

Lord Phabian Pinkbat

Amy could never understand why the girls always swooned; they should wait until he was taking his trousers off, and then run off. No male vampire would ever run pant-less after a girl with his boy bits waving in the air, and by the time he put his pants back on she could be safe in the arms of Van Helsing.

“Hi, Uncle. I see you have just been talking with Aunt again.”

He threw several boxes into the room and slammed the door shut, then opened it again to glare at the two maids still standing where he had relived them of the boxes they had been carrying for him.

“You may take your orders from the lady mistress, but I am the master here, and if anyone dares disturb me while I am resting and talking with my niece, then I will have both of you flogged! Is that understood?”

The two girls stepped back, curtsied and almost ran down the corridor. He re-entered the room once more, slamming the door. Going over to a large chair, he picked it up and placed it behind the door, then he took off his shoes and threw them at the chair before removing his cloak and coat, dropping them both to the floor, and kicking them away from him.

“That female will be the death of me!”

Amy went over to where her uncle was now flat on his back, lying on her bed with an arm resting over his eyes. That plus his puffy white sleeves turned him from a B-movie vampire to looking even more like a late renaissance poet. She then ruined the image by jumping on his stomach, forcing him to double up and almost choke in a coughing fit.

“I don’t know about that, but if she finds us alone with you lying on my bed, then I won’t be the only one having my panties pulled down and spanked.”

Amy buried her face in his shirt and breathed in, taking as much of his body odor into her lungs as she could get. Over the time she had lived here, her sense of smell had gotten better and better, but she had very little new to appreciate. Her uncle smelled so nice; he smelled of being male, and of the outside world.

“I remember my sister has always been very keen on using her hands when trying to make a point, but resting here like this is perfectly normal, or would be if you would kindly stop smelling me like some sort of dog that has missed his master. And if you are planning on coming into heat, I will definitely throw a bucket of cold water over you this time!”

“I’m a Hell Cat, Uncle, not a dog! It’s just that you smell nice: all kind of musky with car fumes. And sorry Unck; I’ve been in heat once, and once was enough. That is so not happening again; besides, I have seen you naked and well … sniffing car fumes off you is all I’m really interested in now.”

He roughly pushed her away, laughed, and then pulled her back. Amy burst in to a fit of giggles as they both lay there staring up at the ceiling.

“Use me instead of sniffing glue then discard me, eh? You females are all the same! So, what’s new at home, then?”

Amy turned to face him, took a long noisy sniff, and started. “Well, I have a new rota maid, and she is called Bambi.”

“Bambi?!”

“Yes, Bambi. I know; not very vamp-sounding, but apparently she was conceived during a drive-in movie showing of a Disney film in the mid 20th century; anyway, she is better than the last one and I think she has a crush on me. She likes getting in the bath with me to scrub my back, and if I say I’m cold at night, she gets in bed with me. It’s kind of cute, really.”

“Well, they all do that, but don’t go crushing on her or your aunt will soon get rid of her.”

“No way, Unck! I’m not into girls! And don’t you dare have Aunt get rid of her. She’s the best so far and is much better than any hot water bottle, plus I can snack on her if I get peckish during the night. Her blood has a nice tangy cinnamon after taste. Besides, I have a male companion I’m quite happy with, and that’s not you.”

“Yes, I know; you mean that evil, odd looking creature wearing a blue wool coat you call Tarqwin, who is currently staring at me from the corner like he wants to rip me to pieces. Yes, I am very jealous of him, but as for personal maids, your aunt and I don’t object if you have sex with them or just feed on them. They are for your personal use and comfort, and they know it. A maid will only be removed if you start to get too fond of her, as that would not be correct due to your position and status.”

“Now, let me tell you of what’s happening outside; first, your human auntie broke her arm slipping on the wet roof. But now she’s fine and back to climbing and sleeping on the roof at nights. When I said I would keep an eye on her, you could have warned me that she likes to sleep nude on the flat roof at night; it came as one hell of a shock!”

“Yes, that sounds like my mad human auntie, but what about the pets and things going on at school?”

“Who was the one with green spiky hair?”

“Lucy-ann”

“Okay, she had a child then got married, in that order. She looks to be quite happy and is still one of our paid blood bank donors. The black-haired girl with a white streak running through the center?”

“That has to be Regina, and the streak is real-not dyed. She eats her meat almost raw; if there was ever a natural human vampire, then she is it!” Amy said.

“Well, she is now blond and studying for the priesthood.”

“Regina?! Her, a priest! And she was always such a weirdo! Didn’t any of the pets stick with us vamps?”

“Err, which one was the quiet one? Shy, mousy hair, never had a master or had sex with a male, just gave blood to the blood bank when needed?”

Amy had to think for a moment.

“I heard she took over the group after Regina got thrown out.”

“Paige! That has to be my pet human, Paige! I ringed her with your old pet ring, so perhaps she is really your pet, but don’t think of doing anything rude with her. She is only into girls, not guys. Poor Paige was always teased in the group. ‘Virgin paper,’ as Regina called her. Well, Regina was always cruelly making fun of her and her virginity.”

“Well, she is doing very well for herself. She still gives blood at the blood bank, and her best-selling book, High School Sex Slaves, has now been turned into a TV mini-series. It tells the story of a group of girls with dyed black hair with a white streak who would have sex with any boy as long as he dressed in black and pretended to be a vampire.”

“Wow! Well done, my Paige. I often wondered what she was always scribbling in her notebooks, and Regina always said she wanted to be famous.”

As her uncle put an arm back across his eyes in the vague hope of resting, he pointed with his other arm in the general direction of the two boxes that had arrived with him.

“If you give me five minutes’ rest, you can open your presents. After talking with your aunt, I really need a nap.”

Amy had forgotten all about them during the news update, and she rushed over and carefully used a single claw to open the fist box. Out of the corner of her eye she could she her uncle was only pretending to rest and was in fact watching her.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw what the two boxes contained, and she excitedly exclaimed, “It’s for hunting! Wow! It’s a night hunter! My very own set of hunting clothes!”

“Well, if I am going to take you out hunting, you should look the part. I am told that it is the very lat …oooouuuff!”

He did not have time to finish as Amy turned, sprang into the air, and dropped her weight to almost zero, giving her a high and fast trajectory over to where her bed was. It was something she had practiced for countless weeks to relieve the boredom, and as she reached the right spot, she let her body return to its normal weight and dropped onto her uncle with surprising force for a girl normally so light in structure. As she pinned him down, she kissed him a number of times on his left cheek.

The only thing he could manage to get out was, “Someone please get me a bucket of water! She’s gone mad or in heat!”

Amy stopped kissing his cheek and jumped back off the bed to land near the boxes, where she began to lay out the contents: leather trousers, leather top, jacket, and boots. The top had built-in Helsings.

Helsings were thick metal plates fitted into any hunting or fighting clothes, positioned over the heart area of the chest to make stabbing the heart with a wooden stake impossible. They would even stop silver bullets, swords, knives, or in the case of one particular nasty killing in a vampire film, stiletto heels. Vampires were traditionalists but not stupid, so most of them had seen all the films on the subject and were normally the people who laughed in a cinema when a movie vampire did something so stupid as to let his lunch kill him.

At once, Amy undid her jeans and hopped about until she was able to pull them off. Her uncle gave a cough.

“Do you think you should be changing here and now? There is a male still in the room, my dear.”

Amy stopped hopping around after she successfully removed the last jean leg and was now sitting on the floor, pulling on the leather pants. She had a grin on as she replied, “You are right, thank you, Unck. Tarqwin, please cover your eyes with a paw at once! Your mistress is changing.”

Her uncle laughed. “And where is all the feminine modesty my sister should have taught you?”

Amy ignored the question as she turned her black t-shirt inside out to hide the pink bat logo. When she had put it back on, she tucked it in the pants and pulled the top over it, then grabbed the jacket and ran to the mirror.

“Wooooow! It fits perfectly, Unck! When can I go out hunting? I have to go out hunting now that I have this! Can we go out now? Yes, let’s go out now!”

“Slow down: no blood for three nights, and that includes munches on Bambi. Then you will be good and hungry, and your senses will be sharp for your first hunting trip.”

“Three nights! But I am hungry now! I can’t go three nights without feeding, Unck! That’s not fair! I want to get my fangs dirty now!”

Amy in her Hunter black leather with steel helsing top ….. real cool!

Chapter 13

A Night out on the Town

Amy wondered at what point she had stopped thinking like a human; here she was, sitting on a roof with her uncle and having a stomach full of butterflies at the thought of hunting like a real vampire and tasting warm, fresh blood.

As her uncle pointed out what was going on below, Amy’s stomach rumbled, and she raised her eyebrows and sighed.

“Please, just tell me which one I can bite, Uncle! I don’t care what illegal stuff they are doing; I’m hungry!”

Ignoring her comments, her uncle continued with analyzing the situation below as Amy slumped back on her heels and made a louder sigh (in case he missed the first one).

“Uncle, I am freezing and hungry, and if I have to sit on this cold roof much longer, I will need to go to the bathroom again! Please, just hand me a straw and point out which one is dinner, will you!”

“By the blood soaked hands of the gods, will you pay attention! Or I will take you home right now!”

Amy lowered her head and raised her eyes to her uncle, trying to look as cute as possible, which took a lot of effort, being a blood-devouring creature of the night (or she would be as soon as her uncle pointed out the prey).

“Sorry, Unck. I’m just a little over excited; that’s all.”

This time, when her uncle spoke, she knew he was trying to hide a smile.

“Save the little-girl act for your aunt; now, pay attention to those eight humans at the edge of the main group.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

“It is a large drug deal, and the eight men I pointed out will circle around the area, keeping an eye open for trouble such as cops, each other or anything strange.”

Amy couldn’t help herself. “By strange, do you mean us?”

“No; they will not be expecting us, but that does not mean they won’t try and kill us. I will pick out a straggler and show you how to drop down behind him soundlessly, feed off him, and be away before he is missed. Is that clear? Amy?……… AMY! ……… Now, where has she gone?”

Blame the Cat

The men should have been doing what they had been told and keeping a look out, not what they thought would be amusing. And that was to pick on something small and weak when something small and not so weak was currently leaning over an edge 30 feet above and not finding the torture of a cat amusing. Amy was not sure what was the best cause of action when fate took a hand, and she slipped.

As the cat limped away, Amy stood up slowly and carefully so as not to make any sudden movements. There was nothing to worry about; she was just a lost teenager. If she could keep them talking for just a few minutes, her uncle would turn up and sort them out (and start the lecture of running off and needing to be rescued), so she smiled at the two men holding guns.

Amy decided quickly that the pain in her chest was caused by the force that knocked her off her feet. Feeling the pain before she heard the muffled thuuunk that she guessed was made by a gun fitted with silencer, she remembered hearing similar sounds in gangster movies. This was so similar that she now knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of a mob killing.

Two more thuuunks sounded as she lay on the ground: more pain; had they killed her? Then she got annoyed at herself for thinking such a stupid thing; if you can ask if you were dead, it means you are not, duh!! She was wearing a hunter, which came with a Helsing metal breastplate as standard. She had nearly removed it, as all it did up till now was force her to pad her bra with tissues to stop it from cutting into parts of her body that were sensitive to a rubbing plate of metal.

It was a nice and peaceful place where Amy was; she was not quite sure if she could even understand how it had happened, but her body was no longer in her control. It was better than before as now she could see, hear and feel what was going on as her inner vamp took over. No fear was involved as a very pissed-off vampire stood up and hissed at the two men.

She knew that she also shared the emotions of her inner self, and if that emotion had a name, it would have been called Pissed Off. It was not so much anger as it was an annoyance over her new coverings having holes in them.

The men pointed the guns again, but before they had time to do anything with them, the female disarmed them, as the noise the metal things made was too loud and gave her a headache. Not that they would be able to use the noisy things: she had snapped their necks at the same time.

Amy could feel the pleasure her inner vamp had of taking a fresh, warm drink from one of the men, and she knew it would help her body heal faster. Amy wondered why she did not feel anything over what she had just done, but she put the reason down to only feeling what her inner vamp felt, which was nothing at all.

The female finished her drink and wiped her face on the coverings the food was wearing. Footsteps were fast approaching, showing that the noise had attracted others, She was no longer so hungry, but the idea of running away was so foreign a concept that even Amy could not feel any need to leave, Instead, what she did do was leap up to her original looking post 30 feet above them on the roof, and when the three men rushed over to where her meals lay, they slowly looked around. Before anyone thought of looking up, the female knew the metal in their hands could be dangerous to her, but only if they were alive. The matter was simple; she dropped down silently behind them and killed them.

She was quite silent when she killed them, but they did not die quietly; one would not stop shouting until she removed his head. Amy could now hear lots of movement and even more shooting as members from both sides believed that the other side had set a trap for them. She walked around to see what all the fuss was about; several men came at her for no apparent reason, and she had to put them down. After seeing her open her mouth to show off her fangs as a matter of pride, one man stepped back and fell to his death to a lower level. She didn’t see any reason why her controlling male should appear and shout at her for doing nothing at all wrong. True, it was a waste to kill more than she could eat, but most of them were committing suicide or shooting each other: dying without any help from her.

Back home

Amy’s aunt looked up to see her brother standing in the doorway, winking at her (due to a nervous twitch he had been nurturing for some 200 years) with something dripping in blood draped over his shoulders, which could have be called a dead weight if it wasn’t trying to kick him.

“You’re back early, brother! How was the hunt?”

“Never again, not if I live to be one thousand, will she ever leave her room, let alone the nest! You and your bright ideas of putting her on a diet to make her hungry for the hunt! Oh, yes, she was hungry all right! Too hungry, and she got careless. Someone shot her, and all hell broke loose, but that didn’t stop her causing a small war and leaving the local crime underworld less one drug baron! Just how I am going to explain the events of tonight to the council, I have no idea. She got into one of her weird blood rages, and is still in one, by the way. She bit someone on the way down.”

“She bit someone?”

“Yes, she wouldn’t let me undress her, and as it is not her nest uniform, some comedian asked to see her brand. That was when she took a bite out of his leg. At that point, I tied her up and said she was coming into heat, so he ran off as fast as his limp would let him.”

“Well, drop her in my bath as she is, and please go clean yourself up before you see the council. She has been dripping blood all over your cloak. so give it to a maid to clean before it stains. I will take care of our little hunter.”

A-Me

A-Me looked around the room and breathed in; the room smelled nice. She had been untied and placed here. By the smell of them, some lowly slaves had come in, but they ran away when she showed her teeth. One of the walls was as reflective as water, and she stared at her reflection in it. Something was wrong; she no longer had her wings or a tail, but her memories told her that this was normal. It was also somehow normal that she now shared this body. As she slowly moved her hands over herself, she was pleased with it; obviously, the body had camouflaged itself to fit in with the current prey available, and her memories agreed.

A thorough examination confirmed she was a young, strong, healthy female with many child-breeding years ahead of her. Her memories also said that it was only on the surface that she was different, and her shape was so very pleasing to the eye: looking and feeling so soft to the touch but with the ability to kill with ease.

A-Me opened her mouth, watched her fangs descend, and was pleased with them. Holding a hand to her face, she released her claws and was again pleased, so she tested them out by scratching five deep lines nosily across the reflective surface and smiled to herself, knowing what she could do with such a fine body.

Ideas and meanings were slowing building up and filling her mind when a large, slow female entered the room. A-Me looked at her and knew the external appearance was a lie; this was the most dangerous female she had ever met, so A-Me retreated, returning the shared body back with such speed that Amy sat down in the empty bath with a thud and stared around as if in a daze.

Naken Again!

“Good; I see you have come to your senses, but if you frighten the maids again, I will do more than just frighten you! Now, take those things off so that I can see the damage.”

Rubbing her now painful bottom, Amy tried to make sense of being back in the nest as her aunt helped her remove her clothes. Memories now were coming back as if she had been dreaming. Her chest was very painful; she remembered being shot and getting mad, and her dream memories playing in her mind showed her what had happened afterwards.

Her aunt spoke, and she looked up with a start.

“Well, the Helsings are damaged but easy to replace. They stopped the bullets, so they did what they were designed to do.”

The bath started to fill with warm water as Amy let her aunt examine her in detail. When she touched a large bruise covering the whole area between her breasts, it made Amy wince as a sharp pain stabbed into her and brought tears to her eyes.

“Ouch! If it stopped the bullets, why does it still feel like I have been shot?”

“Cracked ribs, my dear: nothing to worry about, as they will heal by tomorrow. You are very lucky, as none of the blood covering you is yours.”

Amy looked down at the bluish area on her chest that marked the area where it was painful to breathe, thinking that “lucky” would have been not being shot at all.

“I think I have upset Uncle, and he will never take me out hunting again.”

Her aunt leaned forward and turned the faucet up to send more water gushing into the bath.

“Nothing to worry about: he will soon get over it, as you have passed all the tests.”

Amy tried to reset the faucet so that she was not boiled alive.

“Tests? What tests?”

“If we wanted you to just bite someone, your uncle would have lead you to some homeless bum. No, the hunt was for you to prove you are a natural killer and to face danger head on to get your food. The gangsters you killed will not be missed; your uncle was just a little surprised at how well you can kill. Your “inner vamp,” as you call it, has fighting skills that are a gift; you need to try and control it more, but it is still a useful gift.”

As her aunt begin to rub soap into her hair, Amy relaxed and shut her eyes tight to stop the soap getting in them. It was such a pleasant treat to have her aunt wash her. Maids were all right, but she loved it when her aunt showed such non-vampire affection to her.

“Speaking of gifts, it is customary for a parent to treat a girl who has shown skill when hunting for the first time, so what would you like? Some new clothes, perhaps? A nice shopping trip outside to get some, hmmmmm?

Amy thought fast, as it was rare to have her aunt so amenable.

“Aunt? As a present, would it be possible to keep Bambi as my personal handmaid?”

There was silence for a few moments, and Amy worried that she had asked too much; if granted, such a request would mean a raise in status, as instead of having maids on a rotation, she would have her own personal handmaiden.

Her aunt continued with soaping her as she answered. “As long as you treat her well and don’t bite her too often, I think your kills today have earned you a personal maid. Besides, you will need a handmaiden now that you will be attending school.”

Bambi My undead maid

Chapter 14

High School Never Ends

With Amy’s first official kill-okay, her first official massacre-came higher status, as well as the long-sought-after right to explore the other floors leading up to the surface. She did, however, wonder if she still ranked below a cat. Amy expected that in her aunt’s eyes, she would always rank below a cat.

Having a new status would have been fine if school had not come into the conversation. Why school at her age? Not that she knew how old she was, but her human friends had all left high school now, so that must have made her at least college age. Perhaps it would be a vampire college she would be attending. Her only education in forever had been her aunt’s very original teaching skills on how a vampire girl should move and act in company, and some of her ideas were not just unusual but also extremely embarrassing.

The idea that all vampires were superior beings was obvious, and she knew vampires should always look elegant, as the prey appreciated being killed by a well-dressed and well-mannered creature of the night. Vampires should move like cats with grace and poise, which was fine when it started with walking about the place with books on your head to give you the stance and headaches of an 18th century debutant (whatever one of those was supposed to be), but practicing hissing was kind of odd to say the least, unless you wanted to star in some early 20th century vampire film (and no way did she have the chest for that).

Over meals, her aunt had discussed the best way of killing by demonstrating on lumps of raw beef, which at best just made her hungry and at worst gave her the idea that all prey should at least be partially cooked and presented on a plate in front of her.

Muris (a very large mouse)

Bambi took her to the floor where the school was located and led her into the changing rooms, which were located at the entrance to what was laughingly called the Academy for Children of the Night (ergo: vampire kids). Just to prove it, over the main entrance into the school was a very prestigious sign:

Teenage Males a nice distraction

Everyone made changes to the uniform as only a teenager could

Academy for Children of the Night

Under the sign was a notice board with helpful advice, such as any students carrying personal blades longer than 12 inches must leave them in the changing rooms or they would be confiscated.

She hated the idea of changing with strange females, as their smell made her feel sick, like being trapped in a shop full of cheap sweets. The uniform was not helping her mood, either; like any school uniform, it made you look like crap. Amy knew that the others must have also agreed, as they had made changes to the uniform as only a teenager could. She remembered her school days of rolling skirts up at the waist to make them shorter (and therefore more fashionable), but these females had taken such liberties with the design that it could never be called uniform. The outfits should have had a name more like monoform, as no two were alike.

Luckily, no one spoke. Amy knew that nest rules said you needed an adult present to introduce everyone, but that was crap. The real reason was the smell; the room reeked so much of females that it had to be a test to see who would be first to start a fight. Amy knew the only thing she could possibly smell of was soap due to the number of times she showered daily, but in this changing room, it reeked of female hormones. The smell put everyone on edge and forced most girls to change with fully extended claws, and one or two went against five main rules and three sub rules by showing flashes of fang, which was the vampire way of giving the rest of the room the finger.

After the changing room, a maid showed them to a larger hall where they were joined by 5 teenage males, giving a mixed class of 15 students. One very large male did not have the normal male vampire look to him; he was more weather-beaten than the normal, smart-looking males. Well, that was if she was going to be nice; if not, he was some brute of a bum they had scraped off the street one night and said, “Let’s make him a vampire.” He was reclining in a chair, looking at sheets of paper and giving off an attitude of being a teacher and smelling like a gym coach.

Amy discovered his name was Muris from what some of the boys were whispering, which was a name that meant mouse. At 6 feet, 9 inches tall, he was the largest mouse she had ever seen. She also heard that he had no respect for full-blooded adults, let alone their offspring, and the only reason he was here was that he was on punishment assignment from the Praetorian Guard. The day could only get worse if the first lesson was cross country running in one’s underwear.

The next problem was the scent of the boys, which was a major distraction. Unlike human males or turnling males, they smelled kind of hot, and she noticed that several of the girls were licking their lips and puffing out their chests whenever a male looked their way.

The boys were the only good part of being here, as no one around her was particularly interested in education (including the teacher, who was now picking his nose and carefully wiping his fingers on the notes he was studying).

Muris flicked though the student notes he had been given and inwardly groaned as he saw that he had a celebrity with this new group. He so hated full-blooded kids trying to make a name for themselves before they even knew how to wipe their own butts without a maid to offer a hand. He also hated this assignment; so he had killed a fellow guard, so what? No one would have said anything if he was a full-blood. The idiot had almost gotten the small, elite group killed in a meeting with members from another nest, and worse, he had made them run away. So Muris took matters into his own hands and killed him, but no! It was the council’s job to do that, not a lowly grunt like him.

He had turned the group around and laid an ambush; they had killed all that were chasing them. Therefore, he was being punished with a promotion and a 50-year assignment to teach the younglings how to survive in the big, bad world! Huh! As if he cared!

Turnlings had to know their place, and that was like the maid with his butt in the air to take whatever a full-blood wanted to stick his way. Well, not him; he had earned the rare right to live in the nest, and the nest accepted him. So he was a full-blood in all but specie, but that was not popular with the full-bloods. He could still see the smile on his officer’s face when they gave him the so-called promotion to military liaison.

He reluctantly got up from the chair he was sprawled over, and as he stood in front of a very uneven line of young vampires who were trying to look cool and nonchalant, he sighed, scratched his groin and spoke.

“So, what have we here? This is it, eh? This is what they send me?”

No one spoke, so he scratched his groin again and continued.

“So, you have all completed your first hunt and killed and eaten your first prey. And is that supposed to impress me and make me think you have all grown up! Next, they will be giving out medals on how well you can wipe your own butts!

“You are vampires! What makes you think that feeding yourself is such a big deal? And one of you here, whom I will not embarrass by naming names, will I, Hugo Bloodleach? Took three attempts to make a first kill, and you only succeeded the third time when the prey died of a heart attack!”

He waited for the sniggering to die away before he continued.

“As if any of you would last five minutes out in the real world without a maid to look after you! Now, what is the point in trying to teach you anything about being a real vampire when all you males will do is get placed in some office job? And as to you females: I can already smell the excitement half of you are showing on being so close to males. It makes me sick having to teach you living skills when all you are looking forward to doing in life is raising your tail to as many males as you can before Mommy and Daddy find a mate for you to start breeding with!”

“Well, any female here I catch raising her tail during my class had better have a doctor’s certificate saying she is in heat, or I will stick a training pole so far up her butt it will knock her fangs out.”

One of the boys laughed and made a rude comment. He looked older, perhaps 17 (not that looks and ages meant anything as one of the girls looked 12 at most). Amy did not see Muris move, but he must have, and it must have been fast, as the boy who had spoken was now lying on the ground, groaning.

“I should point out that speaking in class is not permitted.”

As he walked up and down with a look of disgust on his face, he stopped in front of Amy.

“But I see we have a celebrity in our group: someone who thinks she is already an adult and perhaps also thinks that just because she has lived in the outside world and killed a few vampires, it makes her special. Perhaps too good to need help from a lowly turnling teacher that gave up counting his vampire kills after it went into the hundreds. What have you to say, Miss Pinkbat?”

Amy froze as he stared at her and wished she had gone to the bathroom earlier.

“I was saying that everyone has had their first hunt and official kill, but Miss Pinkbat thought that was a bit too easy, so she went and had a massacre, which made the headlines in 15 major newspapers and all the TV news channels, forcing the council to do a media cleaning job. Do you have anything to say about this showing off?”

Amy swallowed as all eyes were upon her and softly answered.

“Sir? Err…it was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill so many; I just sort of slipped off the roof. And they started shooting when I bit one of them. It then got a little out of hand. Besides, they mostly killed each other, and I did rescue a cat.”

Muris either smiled or snarled; she could not quite work out which (not that it mattered, as they both meant the same thing).

“Yes, well that is all right, then. So, the Massacre of 27th and 3rd was just an accident, as were the deaths of 57 humans and a drug baron, but then so long as the cat was safe, then that was good night out?”

Amy could feel the skin on her face burn. and she knew she was going to die of embarrassment unless he killed her first by marking her out as a target to all the other students in the room.

“Well, let’s see if we can at least teach you to not fall off roofs in the future. We wouldn’t want you failing to save another cat, now would we?”

He continued his inspection, then as he started to clean wax from his right ear, he addressed everyone in the standard teacher way of raising his voice as if he were trying to wake up those at the back of the class.

“I think some warm up exercises would be a good start today, and to make it fun, we will play a game of Coward and Runt. The rules are simple; you are all to run around the hall until I tell you the game has finished.”

He changed fingers and started on his other ear as he examined the wax from the first ear.

“The fun side is that who ever is in the lead will be the coward running away, and that person will be punished. The same goes for the last person, who will be the runt. So I want you all running around the hall trying hard not to lead the group or trail it. Simple! And as to the other rules, I will tell you those as the game goes on.”

Wiping his waxy fingers down his trousers, he now picked up a long wooden baton and looked back at them.

“Let us make it more fun, shall we? At the end of the hall, you will see two baskets; they contain female nightdresses and male cloaks, which you will all wear.”

At the blank looks he sighed. “That is, be you male or female, I want you all to be wearing both a nightdress and a cloak. Males will remove their jackets and pants so that the nightdress will fit. So off you go, and I want you running around the room widdershins”

Everyone slowly moved across the hall, hoping that someone in the group knew what the heck direction widdershins was. Amy froze as he issued another command.

“Not you, Miss Pinkbat. I want to have a word with you in private, so stand by my chair and wait.”

Amy now watched a group of very badly dressed teenage transvestites start running and then slowing down as the ones in the front decreased their speed so as not to lead, and the ones at the back sped up. It would have been very difficult under normal circumstances, but in long nightdresses and extra large cloaks, it was almost impossible.

Muris jogged along with them and shouted for them to speed up as it was more of a maelstrom than a race due to the way everyone wanted to be in the middle.

At one point a boy tripped and discovered he was instantly at the rear of the group. He was not there long as Muris appeared beside him and slammed him into the wall with such force that it took him some time to stand up. The group was now halfway around the hall, so Muris pointed out he was now leading the group and slammed his wooden baton into the boy’s stomach. The boy, still doubled up from the blow, ran towards the group that was heading towards him and forced his way into the center.

Muris left the untidy crowd of runners and walked back to where Amy stood at attention.

“So, Miss Amelia Pinkbat, your parents that think you need some survival techniques, or perhaps from what I have read up on you, just lessons on trying not to kill everything you meet?”

Amy decided that it was not wise to comment.

“Living a feral life out in the wilds of a human city, preying on high school girls until you came to the attention of the council. They kindly tried to tame you, only to discover you picking fights with females from other nests and then helping start a cold war between us and another nest due to you attacking and killing males from that nest!”

Still looking straight ahead, Amy knew the routine from the time she had been sent to the principal’s office when at the human school.

“Well, let’s make this very clear. You will not get any special treatment from me, and if there is any killing to be done, you will have to take your turn with the other students. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong in killing those that are weaker than you. It is just that I do not wish you to be showing off in class. If the blood lust gets too strong, do what I do and wander along to the tournaments. Pick on someone so that they challenge you, then go into the ring and kill them. It is all legal, and you will feel so much better afterwards.”

The only response Amy could think of was to thank him and tell him that she would remember his advice.

“Good. Now that the pep talk is over, let’s take a look at you. Extend your right hand, and show me your claws.”

She followed his instructions.

“Well, nothing that special, but clean and sharp, which is more than I can say for lots of others I have seen. Now for your fangs: show me what you have.”

Amy hesitated and looked around before saying in a hushed voice, “But sir, I can’t. My aunt says it is rude to show a male one’s fangs.”

She instinctively sprang backwards and dropped to a crouching attack or defend position with all claws and fangs fully extended, ready to strike, as Muris’s baton almost removed her head. Amy was more surprised at her own automatic survival technique than at the fact her teacher had just tried to kill her.

“I am your teacher, so you will humor me. If it helps, just think of it as a test, as I wish to see what is so special about you.”

Amy found that she could hardly stop from hissing, and her fangs now refused to withdraw. When she had time, she would have to work this out. This was not her inner vamp; this was her in full vampire mode, ready and wanting to kill something, which come to think about it was not unlike the human survival techniques she would have used in her old life back in the human high school (well, apart from the claws, fangs and hissing, that is).

“Good reflexes: now that they are fully extended, bite firmly down on this as hard as you can.”

He placed his baton near her face, and Amy knew she would prefer to bite his hand rather than any old smelly piece of wood. But she needed to bite something, and if she was lucky she could get a finger at the same time. So she bit deeply into it only to see Muris yank it into the air so that her feet were now dangling a few feet off the ground as he held the baton high with a single hand.

“Yes, so that must be the reason why you are special: a wonderful twin set of fangs along with multiple sets of incisors on a firm jaw line. It is such a pity that you are female, as you would be excellent in the military. But I can see why the council would want you safe in the nest and not running about wild killing everything in sight. As I said, I do not believe in favoritism, but you will be pleased to know I will mark you up as prime breeding stock.”

This was not the sort of thing Amy wanted to hear at anytime in her life: not on the first day at school, and certainly not from some ex-military grunt. She was not some breeding machine; she had brains and by the looks of it, far more than he did. The game of Cowards and Runts looked like the sort of thing the ninjas would be set in Naruto, and she had seen all the episodes at least 100 times. The answer to the game was obvious, so she decided to speak out.

“Sir, they are playing the game wrong.”

He looked at her in the same way she would have done if Tarqwin had said it was my turn to sleep on the bed (not that it wasn’t always his turn anyway).

“The game shows you cannot be in front unless you are strong to take the pain of leadership, and you should not be at the back as you are not protecting your nestmates. The answer is that they should be running in groups to show they can work together; you need to run around in groups of three. That way, no one person will be first or last. As the leader, you will need to take advice from others near you at times, and groups of three are also the best number to break away from the main group to attack or defend the main group on whatever task it is set to perform. The game is in fact a military strategy exercise, sir.”

Watching him closely, she knew she saw a flicker of a smile on his lips as he ignored what she had said but added, “Yes, you will breed fine males for the nest, and I will look forward to training them.”

Amy thought that her idea of showing that a female also had brains went as well as a stone bat would fly, so she tried to blend back into the class in case he wanted her to go and get a doctor’s note to start practicing having children.

The following exercises were on climbing walls by digging ones claws deep into the stone and pulling oneself up.

The last exercise of the day was practicing hanging from ones claws, and to Amy it felt like it was lasting a lifetime. Her top half was hot due to the school uniform, nightdress and cloak, which got in the way so much that she now knew she would never be jealous of what a boy had that was different from hers if it meant having six feet of black material strangling you by a chain around ones neck.

Her bottom half was cold due to the constant male wind from the ventilation shafts that blew around the rooms. All the females called it a male wind as its only purpose in life was to get under their skirts.

Presently, Muris was standing under her skirts. He looked up, and her position above him meant he had a very clear view of places she preferred him not to have a clear view of.

“Amelia Pinkbat, if you think people will steal your underwear, than don’t leave them around to be stolen. If you are that worried about knowing they are yours, then write your name on them.”

Amy locked her knees together and drew them up to try and hide her aunt’s latest idea in personalised underwear. Amy knew that black panties were both sexy and cool, but she so wished her aunt would not sew lots of little pink bats on them.

Muris now stopped under another girl, looked up and sighed.

“Mortia Leach, we all know you are a girl, so please keep your legs together. And yes, I know there are no rules saying that you have to wear undergarments, but I am sure there must be one on personal grooming. So if you insist on needing so much ventilation, get your maid to give your personal rainforest a trim; you look like a cat with its throat cut.”

Amy wanted to practice reducing her body density as she did when climbing to make herself lighter so that her fingers would not ache so much, but she changed her mind (as did all the other students) when Muris discovered that one of the boys was trying out this technique. That boy ended up hanging from his claws on his feet with heavy weights strapped around his arms; luckily, he was wearing underwear.

Amy thought that the teacher’s suggestion that hanging from the ceiling would make everyone taller was crap; the best she could get out of it would be to grow arms like a monkey’s.

Muris was now standing under one of the guys. His hands were on his hips, and from the growl in his voice, it was clear that he was not happy.

“WTF do you think you are playing at, Octavius Blood? I said remove jackets and pants; I did not say anything about removing your underwear. Get down and go and put on a pair of long johns. I do not care if they have pretty cute bats on them like our Miss Pinkbat’s, but you will wear something. I do not believe in males going about commando as it looks very untidy and would give females a target to bite. Besides, you must be cold, as that can’t possibly be a normal size for a boy of your age. Stop sniggering, the rest of you. I am sure he can’t help it, and not everyone is cut out for having a family.”

Clary

After several weeks, Amy had worked out that the reason vampires were very good at everything was the number of times they redid the same task over and over and over again ad nauseum. Time was not a major problem in a vampire school; things took ten times longer to finish than she thought they should, which was a worry as it could mean high school would last 10 times longer than in the human world (meaning 40 years of running around the room day after day). She was even considering putting her own name down for the breeding program just for the change of exercise positions it would involve.

Amy expected various other stuff was happening in different parts of the school, and she even thought there was a vague possibility that books were involved, but not with her teacher. His speciality was the military, so that is what he did by treating the whole school thing as if it were boot camp.

True, you could still get hurt if he got bored and lashed out at someone, but some stuff got monotonous, like the running around the hall, which was now executed safely in groups of three, just as she had worked out weeks ago.

She had discovered that the best way to cross a ceiling without showing the world what you had for breakfast was to firmly keep ones knees together and tuck your legs up till your feet rested on your butt. It had also got her extra points for style, as the way the nightdress blew about under her made it look like she was flying when viewed from below, whereas in fact she was only going across hand-over-hand: an easy task if you were allowed to reduce the body weight. Most of the others used both their hand and foot claws, but she decided that reminding the class that she wore black panties with little pink bats on them was not a good social move.

Some things had changed over the weeks, and one was the wish to kill everyone. Working together meant you had to speak to each other, and after a while you did it when changing. The girls stayed longer in the locker room before and after school to talk to classmates they would have tried to kill only a few weeks earlier.

The ending class of the day had been fun, with only one person getting badly hurt, which was partly due from failing to land in the proper dignified vampire style when leaping down an air shaft but mostly from landing on Muris: a mistake that turned out to be extremely painful. Amy wondered if they should send him a get-well card, and she knew he would not have had so many broken bones if he had hit the ground and not the teacher.

Vampires couldn’t fly, but true to the movies, they could jump down off buildings without hurting themselves. This lesson so reminded Amy of the start of the movie Underworld where Selene, in a long black leather coat, steps off a tall building to land unharmed on the street far below.

Unlike when she first watched the movie, Amy now knew why the long leather coat was so important: the same reason why vampires were always pictured in long cloaks or flowing nightdresses. You used them to glide through the air and for the famous vampire visual effect of dropping in out of thin air. They also prevented you from failing to make the correct dramatic arrival by finding yourself stuck in a tree.

Dropping from heights took practice; the whole class used nest air vents to drop down. If you reduced your body mass too much, you got blown away; too little, and you get killed by saying hello to the ground at a speed that was not healthy, so the use of the trademark vampire clothing was to help you glide down to the ground in a dignified, elegant and safe way. Okay if you were good at it, you could do it in shorts and a t-shirt, but it did not have the same style.

In the locker room at the end of the day, Amy slowly changed back from her school uniform to the nest standard nightdress. The home-redesigned school uniforms the other girls now wore as a declaration of vampire individuality fell into a fashion statement of something between St. Trillions High and Halloween at a strip club.

Luckily, Bambi was good with a needle and thread, and she made suitable changes in Amy’s uniform that made her now look something like a short-skirted Japanese anime school girl. And as with everything, if it was mostly black, it was okay in the vampire world, for in vampire fashion, black was always the new black.

Not that wearing a skirt that barely covered more than a belt mattered, as all females had to wear semi-transparent nightdresses everywhere in the public areas of the nest no matter how stupid or indecent it looked. A skirt so short it would show off your panties each time you moved was almost preferred over dressing by traditional female vampire standards.

The unaltered school uniform was just like any school uniform. The only people it looked good on or even fit well were the models wearing it in the school application brochures, and everyone knew schools always hired kids in the photos to fit the uniform.

It was Bambi’s day off, so some exploring of other levels could be done on the way home. Amy planned on making the most of the little freedom she had.

Amy was a branded female, so she was entitled to leave her nest level and go exploring. She had tried to explore before with little success, as each time she had tried, some house famula or other would suddenly appear and gently cough in a way that meant she did not want to tell her aunt what she planned on doing but she would if she left without her aunt’s permission.

Famula were turned humans, and no matter how hard or illegal it was to turn a human, it looked like plenty of vampires broke the rules as there were a lot of famula about. Most had been pet meat that had gotten their wishes and now lived forever as young women. The only downside was that they would also forever be servants.

It was easy to tell the difference; apart from the neutral smell, the most obvious thing was the fangs. Famula had Hollywood film-style, sharp eye teeth when they smiled, whereas females had fangs that when extended came under wildlife headings of now-extinct sabre toothed piranha. True, a famula was strong and could stick her teeth into a human neck and suck blood, but, well, females could remove a head and use the neck as a straw!

The famula maids were always polite and never spoke unless spoken to. Bambi would drink lots of very hot water before coming to bed so she would be warm to sleep with, and well, you did not think of the maids as the undead killing machines that they would fast become if left to fend for themselves in the human world. They also had a dead meat smell to them, which was nice compared to the smell of other females; that was sweet and sickly and made you want to kill them on sight. Everyday would have been a massacre if it had not been for the nest rules.

School uniform after being up-dated by Bambi

Females in the vampire world were not known for being nice, and some had the bad habit of killing maids if they were hungry or in a bit of a strop. Maids got around this by trying to be invisible, and a personal handmaid often tried to sleep with her mistress so she would have her mistress’s smell on her.

It came as a real shock to Amy when she was exploring the public area three levels up; she was pounced on by a maid who ran towards her screaming and threw her arms around in a bear hug.

Amy tried to get free of what was mostly a mountain of boobs, which were currently trying to take out her eyes. Staring up to see to whom the abundant mammary glands belonged, she was amazed to discover it was Clary!

Oh, crap! Amy thought. I had forgotten all about her! Yes, I know that is bad, but heck! Time is odd here, and well, I am still trying to work out what part of the Luna month is gibbous without thinking of years with odd names and long numbers attached to them. Okay, so I am a crappy friend, but even if she looks the same, it must have been years since she was killed in front of me.

“Clary! It’s so good to see you! I have been so worried since that night you …err…died.”

At the same time, Amy was trying to work out a tactful way of telling her that her left boob had escaped from her-ok, it was a nightdress, but one that would normally be in magazines under the title of adventurous nightwear. It was bobbing up and down with excitement but not in sync with the other one or any other part of her body,

“Clary, I think something has escaped.”

She giggled and tucked it back in.

“Oh, Amy, that is so always happening to me! Oh no, I didn’t die! I was just unconscious. If it had not been for you demanding I be turned, I would still be human. But where are my manners; you are a mistress! I should be offering you something; would you like to bite me?”

“Thank you, but I have already eaten.”

With regards to her speech, Amy thought Clary had always been a natural vampire, as she had monologued since she had first met her (but perhaps no one had told her that maids don’t monologue or even say anything that could be classified as a conversation). Then again, with Clary it would have been likely that they would have given up while waiting to get a word in.

“Or we can have sex; well, I know what you mistresses are like. You may have to do most of the work, but I am very willing. I have attended all the classes (several of them five or six times), and they do say I am improving. But I can’t stop laughing if another girl tries to kiss me! Well, it is so funny, and I am so ticklish. Now, when it comes to guys-err, sorry-males. Now that is another matter, and I don’t need classes for that. Unlike my still-human sisters, I have a perfect ass and an even more permanently perfect bust that will still pass the pencil test 100 years from now. Of course, I had time to have my hair done all over and get a full body treatment before I was turned.”

“I love it here! Not that I have spent much time in the nest: I have now been on 347 external courses, and as soon as I get back, they find me another one to go on. They are so good to me: hardly any work at all (not that work is anything). We don’t have to sleep; unless we are personal maids, we party when you full-bloods sleep. There are shopping trips out to the human world, and of course, there is the entertainment. We have seven floors set aside for maid use only: things like health spas, gyms, cinemas showing all the latest movies from around the world, casinos. And as for the nightclubs, they are simply out of this world!”

Amy suddenly lost all thoughts of worry over the idea of poor downtrodden maids and wondered if it was too late to ask to become one herself. Because they were undead, the maids always had plenty of energy, and not having to breathe meant that turned humans like Clary did not need to stop to take a breath when having a single-sided conversation.

“Like, it normally takes forever to get past being a general maid, but I am so lucky. There is this male they have found who is in need of a personal maid (if you know what I mean), and he is part horse in just the right place for a guy to be part horse.”

Amy did not mind the wink and dig in the ribs when she was talking about this lucky guy, but just to make sure Amy fully understood which part of a horse she was talking about, Clary used her hands to demonstrate dimensions and location.

“Dusting? Ha! I am never out of bed long enough to have time to dust. I am sure he is looked down upon in vampire society due to his, well, other deformity (not the horse part, but the fact that he is deaf). You know how vampires want everyone perfect or culled? Not that it matters for me, as most of our communication is done with touch…sigh.”

“And well, you know me; I hardly talk at the best of times: as quiet as a mouse is what I am, so talking is no big deal. Thank you so much for keeping your word about me being the first in the group to be turned! I heard all about how you faced the overlord and demanded I be turned. Still living and turned! Wow! I am so lucky to have you as a friend. No one speaks to the overlord like that! He is, well, like a-but you know what I mean………”

It had taken years for her uncle to stop talking to her as if she were in a classroom, and now Amy was pinned to the wall while the closest thing she had left of a friend from her human life had started a conversation by offering sex, then matter-of-factly told her that she had been killed at Amy’s request. Then Clary carried on talking for a further four hours non-stop; at the end, when she could finally get away, Amy knew lots of new things about how the nest worked, along with one overwhelming personal need, which was to find a washroom before she created a puddle on the floor.

He’s Cute er..?
Fine out more?
then read on..

Chapter 15

The Great Excape

Amy planned to dress as famula and escape just before dawn, and as plans go, it sounded far better in the planning stage than it did in the actual execution stage. The knowledge she had obtained from the accidental meeting with Clary meant she now knew how the nest worked from a maid’s point of view.

Plans had been made; the maid’s nightdress was packed in a backpack on top of her human clothes that could be warn outside, plus a pair of old trainers, as maids went barefooted. Amy did not know what time of year it was, but jeans and a tank top were the best she could fit in along with her laptop and phone, which by now may have been worth something as antiques.

No one had said that that the famula were not allowed to use the elevators. Even with all her boot camp training, she felt totally crappy after spending hours climbing stairs. And as for being able to run away, she now hoped that she would still have some energy to flag down a cab.

Amy gave up after 50 floors and changed back into her more decent “lady-of-quality nightdress”; well, that was it what it said on the label. She was sweating so much that it was pointless trying to pretend to be other than what she was: the first point being that maids did not sweat as they were undead. Second, with all the climbing, she must be giving off such a stink as to explain the reason why she did not see anyone else on the servant staircase. Back again dressed as a Lady (or rather, a now-smelly female vampire) an elevator was now available to her, and she was able to travel to ground level.

A famula noticed a female carrying her own bag and came up to Amy, insisting that she take the bag and carry it for her. The famula looked very pleased to follow her, but she knew that the famula would think it very strange if she walked all 200 plus floors up. Vampires could be eccentric but not mad. The elevators were odd, and she had only ever used them twice (and never alone). They did not have doors, and famula operated the controls. Famula could never use them on their own (Amy was not even sure she was allowed). She stepped into the elevator, and the famula following her, handed her the bag, and bowed, as she clearly could not leave her floor without permission. Amy was not sure if she should even thank her, so she nodded a thank you, and the famula happily went on her way. The operator asked what floor she wanted.

It was common knowledge that human male pets guarded the entrances to the ground level of the multi-story building she had now emerged into, remembering that this was the only way in and out of the nest from the “blooding:” the time she had gone out with her uncle to make her first so-called kill and feeding (or in her case, what was known in the family as her first massacre).

The humans with their poor sense of smell would not be able to tell the difference between real vampires and turnlings, so Amy changed again back into the maid’s clothing. Carrying the backpack as if she was going to deliver it to someone, she made her way to the exit only to find she was turned back, as maids could not leave the building without permission. She could not leave as a lady without permission, either, and she knew that there was no way could she ever pass as a male even if she could find a suit and cloak to fit her.

The problem was overcome due to her weeks of climbing lessons; a skill she had mastered was ceiling walking, so she put the backpack back on and climbed a wall. Amy slowly made her way along the ceiling over the guard’s heads. Once outside, she gave a sigh of relief and looked around.

Well, she was outside, but not quite where she wanted to be as she must have left the building on the other end. She now stood on the edge of either a very untidy garden or a forest, not that it mattered. With her speed, she could cross it and be away very quickly. In the distance, she could see something that looked like a cross between a large garden shed or a small wooden shack, and it looked like the perfect place to change and wait for the sun to rise so that she could make her way under the safety of sunlight.

Everything was going well. She carefully checked to make sure it was empty before entering the shed. The Velcro on the cheap famula nightdress gave away with a satisfying ripping noise. Amy opened the bag, took out her treasured, old human clothing, and started to get dressed. At long last, she would be able to feel normal again! Daylight would slow them down in trying to catch her, as she planned to move as fast as vampirely possible and then hide within the city: any city. As the city came awake, she would just blend in with the meat; no one would be able to find her. She didn’t know the next move fully, but she would work it out.

Standing barefooted and wearing nothing but a pair of panties, she stared out of a large window carefully, searching the shadows for any movement. Finding none, she breathed out in satisfaction as she watched the sky slowly lighten, heralding a change in color and preparing the world for a new day and herself for freedom.

Just then, her heart stopped as she heard someone breathe in then exhale loudly.

“Unless you wish to run naked in the woods after showing off all your female splendor along with your no doubt fascinating family brand to this very interested male, it may be best to stop the striptease act before I am torn as to where to look first.”

Grabbing up her jeans as a modesty shield before turning around, she saw him, a young-looking male: tall at about 5’ 10”. He looked maybe 17ish on the human age scale, and he was standing with his arms folded just looking at her. Darn! Amy thought. Why did everyone move so quietly? She knew he had to really be as young as he looked due to the little changes he had made to the male uniform, like the buttons on his waistcoat changing color and the headphones sticking out of a pocket. His cloak also had a stitched-on hoodie, but there were rules, and all vampires had to follow the rules. Amy dropped back down with the best subordinate curtsy bow she had ever done and waited.

“Oh, crap, will you please stop doing that! It so makes me sick. If you want to do something to please me (now that I have seen most of your body), how about showing me your fangs?”

That was not the sort of reply her aunt had told her to expect. Everything was done by very strict, polite rules: lots and lots of rules, as most vampires hated each other. The strict and formal rules that governed most of a vampire’s life protected weaker vampires, such as females. She hated the rules in the same way other vampires hated each other, but she reluctantly knew she had to follow them if she wanted to be safe.

Now, this male was not doing what he should do, and that was to beckon her to stand up before she fell over.

“That would be rude! Females should not show their fangs to males. it is very rude, as you well know: almost as rude as a male forgetting to ask the female to stand. And if the male in front of me doesn’t ask me to stand soon, I’m going to bloody well fall over! Err…My Lord Male, or whatever the title is for male perverts wanting to see a girl’s fangs!”

He laughed, made a very elegant bow and signalled for her to stand. The laughter was musical, and she did not know how males did it. Her aunt said it was something to do with sound frequency and vocal cords.

“But I like seeing a girl’s fangs! Dad says it’s called a fetish, whatever that means, and that I will grow out of it. I would have thought it should be less rude than asking you to stick your butt in the air so I can check for ownership.”

“Err …Okay, out of the two, I think I would prefer to show you my fangs, but please don’t tell my aunt or I will get into trouble for being rude to a male, even a perverted male!”

Amy didn’t care if he saw her fangs; they were good fangs, and she not only brushed them three times a day but she also polished them. It was one of the few things she did that made her aunt happy. Her aunt thought it was for pride in her appearance, but in reality, she was hooked on the taste of the cleaning gel. As a child, she had always eaten toothpaste directly from the tube, but the cleaning gel was ten times better. As long as she only polished twice a day, her aunt did not get suspicious.

Amy quickly looked around to check if they were still alone. Female vampires bounced about with hardly anything on, yet here she was, feeling shy showing a male her teeth!

She opened her mouth and yawned to get the best effect as they descended into place.

“Wow! Those are magnificent! Real old bloodline, and you polish!!”

“Oft coft I polift!”

Sliding the fangs back into place, Amy tried again. Another thing the movies had wrong was the ability to talk with your fangs out.

Max Male and Cute

“Of course I polish! Twice a day! My aunt says it makes a cleaner bite, and I also file the points. It is hard work, and nobody even notices!”

“Well, I have noticed. Would you like to see mine?”

“Err, okay.”

Amy watched as he yawned, and now she knew why females did not fight males. The only word she could think of to describe his teeth was lethal; they were far, far longer than hers or her uncle’s. This male’s fangs looked like they would not just rip out a throat but could remove an arm or leg with a single bite.

He closed his mouth and smiled. “Well, what do you think?”

“I have not seen many fangs: not male fangs, anyway. The only time I have seen them in anger was when I killed a male that was attacking my uncle, and his were only a bit larger than mine. But yours are real fangs; I’m impressed!”

“Wow! No, no, I’m the one impressed; you killed a male! I have never killed a male! You, a young female, killing a male: no matter how crappy his fangs were, that is still very impressive.”

“No, not really; it was just luck. He ran a sword though me, and instead of killing me off as he should, he looked up to show off to the others, and that was when I took out his throat.”

“Didn’t you get into trouble?”

“No; I think they said it was a self-inflicted wound for being so stupid to let a female’s jaws get so close to his throat without her being in heat. And no one said anything else about it, as my uncle’s friends killed the others and said it was a mass suicide pact.”

“I would still have liked to have seen it. You know how it is; unless you have been walking the earth since the dinosaurs, you are just too young to be allowed to do anything interesting.”

“But you are a male! Males can do anything!”

“Huh! Someone needs to tell my parents that! I’m the only male on our branch of the family for 300 years, and they won’t even let me dress myself. I still get bathed and dressed by famula! And you girls are so lucky running about the place in flowing clothes! I have to look like a, a-”

“An up-market restaurant waiter?” Amy asked.

“Yes, and just feel my shirt collar; it’s starched! Cuts the crap out of my neck. It’s not so much a shirt for vampires as it is a vampire shirt! I never go anywhere because they say it could be dangerous, and I still have to walk around from dusk to dawn in a starched collar!”

“Well, at least you have underwear; if it was not for my aunt believing in modesty in a girl, every time the wind blows down the corridors, you could check me for ownership!”

The male produced his musical laugh again. “You will get caught if you do it too often, you know.”

Amy almost stopped breathing. “Do what?”

“Sneaking out here to watch the sunrise, of course.”

“Err, is it that obvious?”

“Yes. It’s against all the rules, so it’s done all the time, but you still have to be careful not to get caught.”

“You’re not going to tell on me, are you?”

“No, but you couldn’t have been out in the sun before, as you brought all the wrong stuff with you. I think your human clothes are really cool, but you will need to bring a blanket next time or you could get the crap burnt out of you on the way back in.”

Amy decided that it would be best not to argue; the less he knew of her being a day walker (or rather, an overcast, cloudy-day walker), the better. She was safe-ish in sunlight; well, she got sunburnt on a dull day, but she didn’t act as a walking firelighter, as was the common belief with the humans.

From the safety of the hut, she watched the sunrise, and even from the shade, it was a lot brighter than she expected.

“Wow, that is bright!”

“Yes, and that is through special night-glass. We forget how dark we have it in the nest, and you must be a deep-downer. What are you, about level 192-ish?”

“No, level 210, and I counted every level on the way up. I started out dressed as a maid, which meant I could not take the elevator! It took me hours! But how did you know I’m a-err- a deep downer?”

He looked a little shy.

“Sorry. The pink bats on your panties are kind of a giveaway, as well as making you cute and crazy in a way that gives me a mega boner when you wriggle your booty. Oh, and the reason why I would know is that your family ownership on your left hip also looks a bit like a bat.”

Amy swallowed, ignoring the parts of the conversation she guessed were rude.

“Yes, and it does kind of look bat-ish, and a bit pink, and totally gross as well. Plus, if you think of playing the male and asking to see it, I will bite you, as we have not been introduced. I can’t even tell you my name, but if you have some paper I could write it down.”

“Holy crap! Forget that; they call me Maxamillion blah, blah, blah! And yes, I know it’s silly, so just call me Max. And what do they call you?”

“Amy Mah-err-creature of the night, so just Amy, if you please,” said Amy.

“Now that is a nice name; short, and it has a nice ring to it. You can’t make it any shorter, or it would be a single letter, and you can’t make it sound rude. Crap! You are so lucky to have a name like that!”

He moved forward, slowly moving his face to one side as he got closer. Amy knew what was going to happen, and she did not know what to do. He’s going to kiss me! she thought. OMG, he’s going to kiss me! What the hell should I do? Wow! Well, it is only a kiss, and why not?

Amy was even more surprised when he didn’t kiss her but instead said, “Yes, those are the prettiest fangs I have ever seen.”

Amy was still ready for his kiss, so before his words registered she found that she had puckered her lips and pressed them to his cheek. This was far worse. She had in fact sort of kissed him; it was only by accident, but SHE had kissed HIM!

Then it was his turn to make a big mistake. “Wow! You’re not in heat, are you?”

Her face did not have time to turn red as her body knew what to do and it did not involve colors. She expected that most girls had practiced in their minds how to slap a boy’s face for just this sort of occasion. It was just that with vampire strength and a perfectly manicured set of claws, even a male vampire with the best set of fangs she had ever seen outside a wildlife film would receive a slap he would remember for a long time.

As he lay on the floor, Amy pulled on her top and jeans, throwing the other stuff back in the bag. She left the hut, thinking Now I really do have a reason to run off; how could he? Bastard! How could he be so “I’m so wonderful, just look at my teeth,” and think that I wanted to mate with him!

It was at that point that Amy screamed. It felt like she was being hit by acid, and she screamed.

She ceased screaming when she noticed that the pain suddenly stopped and that she was back in the hut. Next to her was the male, and he had his arm holding a blanket tightly around her. She saw that his right hand was very badly blistered and was shaking with the effort to hold her.

“Are you all right?” she asked, as she had never seen such a bad burn and felt a little sick. She had to look away as he was blowing on it to cool it down.

“Wow, ow, ow, ow! Crap, does that sting! Yes, I’m fine; it was only a few seconds, so no real harm done. But you! You should be dead! Yee gods, you must have skin like a crocodile to get away with just sunburn.”

Amy looked at her hands and guessed that her face would be the same: sunburned. But without Max’s help, she could have been barbequed. She did not understand it; the sun was never a problem before. She just must have been underground for too long.

“Thank you; it was hotter than I expected. How’s your hand?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve been burned lots of times and I have some special blood with these fancy herbs that help heal burns. I’ve got some with me for just this problem; give it try. It’s green and tastes a bit like crap, but its herbal so it has to be healthy. And sorry for my comment about being in heat and all. It was in very bad taste, and I deserved that slap, but it’s just what I always say to my sisters when they do something that surprises me. They slap me as well, but never, never so hard! If I didn’t believe you could kill a male before, I do now. That blow knocked me off my feet! A single blow from a young female floored me! All three of my sisters together couldn’t do that! I just thank the gods no one saw me, or I would be a laughingstock throughout the whole nest.”

“Why are you so convinced that I am young? We can look any age, can’t we? Even my uncle gets confused over my age, so how are you so certain?”

“That’s easy, silly; adults are stupid and vain. All vampires are vain, and we can only look younger but not older, which is why we are both stuck like this. No one who can look like a fantastic, handsome human in their late 20s would want to look like me, so ergo…”

“How’s your herbal blood with scratches?”

“Oh, the face, you mean? Nah, that will give me some street cred, and it will heal in a couple of days. If I am not pushing my luck, can I have a look at your claws? They must be awesome!”

“Perhaps another time. I should be getting back before I’m missed.”

“Okay, I will show you the best way back so you don’t have problems with the dumb guards. They are only crappy humans, but for some reason, you get in real trouble if you kill one. It’s not like they are a protected species or anything like that: they are just pet meat. As they say, ‘What do you call an animal that has no fight or flight instincts?’ Lunch!”

He stopped talking and started checking his pockets, then gave up and instead took a chain from his neck and handed it to her. Amy did not take it; she had had enough problems with rings in the past, so she just looked at it then back at him.

“Err … it’s pretty; what is it?”

“We call it a modesty disc. Dad has them made. It’s made up from melted old pet rings, so it’s magic and will give someone one hell of a burn if they try and remove it without your permission. If you hold it tight, it makes the other discs vibrate when we want to have a meeting, but it’s main purpose is to show off the design. Only firsts have gold circle designs. Wearing it shows everyone that you are an alpha, and as we are high-ranking, it gives extra privileges, such as walking about outside.”

“The disc fashion for alpha girls started years ago when it was a crazy trend for every horny male to insist upon every passing girl showing family markings as soon as they moved to a different level. My sisters asked Dad to do something as they were sick of males demanding to check if they were from our nest, as if it was not obvious, as we all stink of it! You do know we all stink of it, don’t you?”

“They have told you about the smell, haven’t they? They haven’t! Well, you smell. I smell; we all smell of mouldy old socks; the graveyard smell as the meat would call it. Forget all that crap that males give female about checking if she is a family member. It’s only to get her to lift her nightdress and give him an eyeful; that’s all. The smell is the real marking that tells everyone if you are a nest member or not. If you didn’t smell, you would not live long in the nest.”

Amy had gotten lost over the idea of being in a nest, let alone smelling of it.

“I shower three times a day and bathe once a day. Don’t ask why! I’m just so bored, and I get extra TV channels if I stay clean. Therefore, I don’t smell of any nest, let alone socks, okay?”

He smiled as dropped the chain, complete with a small gold disc, over her neck and stepped back.

“Sorry. Washing won’t help. It’s in the water; it’s in the air. It was in the gunk that penetrated your body when you had your family mark branded on your hip. It’s in your blood, and you sweat it out of your pores. Why, even the pet meat smells of it!”

“When you go back in after being in the fresh air, you will see what I mean. Every nest smells differently, which is why all the security is crap. If a human or non-nest vamp were to try and walk in uninvited, they would be attacked by the first vampire to see them. Why do you think it’s called a nest? Sorry, but you do smell of the nest. If not, I would have killed you when I found you in the hut. Come on, let’s get in before the sun gets any higher.”

Max then looked at Amy from head to toe and sighed.

“Your aunt will definitely notice those burns unless you can hide from her for about three days. Can you do that?”

Amy made a face to show her contempt at the idea of trying to hide from her aunt, but all it did was cause pain as her skin just cracked in the attempt to change expression.

“No, I didn’t think so. Oh, you are so lucky that I’m so gentile as to help a lady in distress.”

Max took off his jacket, followed by his waist coat. His shirt had floppy sleeves like her uncle’s, but he spoiled the poet effect by having a cravat held in place by elastic, which got stuck behind an ear when he tried to take it off.

Amy found herself almost spellbound as he pulled his shirt over his head in the sexy way boys did; at least, it would have been sexy if he had remembered to undo the neck button first. Instead, he looked more like a caterpillar failing to turn into a butterfly. Mind you, if he removed his pants next, then he would be one butterfly speaking in a high voice.

Amy was surprised at how nice he looked. He wouldn’t make a football player, but he was fit and looked to have muscles in all the right places. In the suit, he looked more like an overgrown puppy, but out of it, he looked very, very nice. Amy only realized that she was staring with her mouth open when he smiled at her.

She looked to one side with sudden interest in the texture of the wooden panelling and hoped that the sunburn would hide the all-over, mega blush that suddenly enveloped her from the tips of her ears to her toes. Amy knew it was not her fault; she just hadn’t seen a boy for so long. The last crush she had had was on Naruto, and she’d had to learn Japanese to work out that he loved someone else. It was understandable; her blushing was only embarrassment and not because she had a strange urge to run her fingers over his chest.

“The fresh scar here,” he said, pointing to a red, still-inflamed area, “is from a sword wound that is still healing from this morning. I can now have the pleasure of seeing your lovely fangs in action, as you will need to bite me just here.” He pointed to a section in the scar that would have a good vein under it.

“What are you talking about? No way am I going to have you mark me as yours!”

Max looked at her to see if she was joking.

“Wow! You are dumb.” Seeing the way she looked at him, he quickly added, “but I like that in a female.”

Then he carried on. “Being an alpha, my blood is very rich in err… all kinds of stuff, and it will help your burns heal within a couple of hours. The reason for biting into my scar is so my maids won’t see the bite mark bruising under the skin. Don’t forget, it’s only the surface skin that heals with a lick, and I can hardly tell my parents that I’m letting girls bite me.”

Amy was not sure if this was a trick, but at least he wasn’t asking her to suck his fingers, so she closed her eyes, traced a blood vessel with her tongue and slowly pierced it with her teeth.

“Wow! You are so gentle, and you have such nice little hands. What more could a boy hope for with a girlfriend on our first date?”

Amy nearly choked and almost forgot to lick-seal the wound before getting up in a hurry.

“Girlfriend? I am not your girlfriend! What is wrong with having small hands? And this is not a date!”

Max gave Amy a hound-dog smile, which was so good he must have practiced it in a mirror.

“No? Okay, perhaps it is just me, but when a girl takes her clothes off in front of a guy, followed by kissing and biting and no money is paid, I was under the impression that it must be a date. Has no one explained to you why boys like girls with small hands? I could tell you, but it would be more fun to show you.”

“No! Whatever it is, it must be rude!” Amy snarled. “And you know it was nothing like that”

She turned away, but not so much that she could not watch him dress. At the end he finished by slipping on a pair of black leather gloves, then flipped his hoodie over his head and held it in place with the earphones. Amy wrapped the blanket around herself so well that she looked like across between an Eastern European refugee from some war zone or a very devout follower of an eastern religion.

Max lead the way back, as the sun was so bright that all Amy could do was stare at the ground from the folds of the blanket. Without any careful sneaking about, Max went straight for the main entrance where they were stopped by fully armed human guards (pet meat). Max snarled and produced a very interesting selection of swear words as he pushed the leading man to one side and stepped into the shade, pulling Amy after him.

Amy sat on the floor with just her head visible from inside the folds of the blanket and watched Max act the normal vampire. To her, he was a teenager, but with a flick of his hand the earphones were removed and the hoodie was pulled back. The men faced not a teenager but a male vampire with lots of inbred arrogance to go with a teenage boy’s desire to show off in front of a girl. The men were either very well-trained, stupid, or both. To a vampire, all they looked like was a small buffet, and no one wanted a plate of burger and beans to hold a gun to you on your own doorstep.

“How dare you stop me?! And put those stupid toys down at once!”

The leading man bravely stood his ground but lowered his gun. Amy was still not sure if bullets could kill a vampire, and anything used against a male with their overblown egos that did not kill them would piss them off big time and terminally end any future conversations you may have planned to have with them.

“I am sorry, my Lord; we only have record of you stepping out.”

Amy watched as the man swallowed before carrying on.

“The rules state you can not bring a …err… . a snack home without permission.”

Max was all smiles and teeth when he looked down again at Amy, and Amy wondered how much practice you had to have to talk with your fangs partly out.

“Female, these stupid pets think that I have brought home Chinese takeout! And from a sealed garden! Can’t the stupid apes think?”

Amy could see that Max was now enjoying himself, and for her benefit, he was going to milk the situation for all he could.

“So your records are wrong! What did I do, fly into the garden with her? Am I a bat, or am I first Lord Maxamillian?

Amy’s mouth dropped open as Max went through a large number of names that seamed never-ending. When he eventually finished, he gave a hurt look to Amy and said in a whisper, “Sorry; I said I had a crappy name.”

Turning back to the man, Max continued. “And this is my cousin, Lady Amelia, Mistress of the Night Mare, and she is of alpha rank.”

Amy let out a single word, “Cooool!”

He looked down again to Amy.

“You didn’t think I could understand the abbreviated name you gave me? Amy Mah, Creature of the Night is so easy. Amy is Amelia, and Ma or Mah would be a Chinese family name for Horse. And as for adding ‘Creature of the Night,’ you are implying that the said horse is female and a creature of the night. Still very short and such a very pretty name you have, Lady Amelia, Mistress of the Night Mare. You are so lucky; it takes me hours to write my full name on a form.”

As he looked back up, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the nearest guard, who did not resist as Max then used a claw to cut away the sleeve on the man’s left arm, leaving just bare skin. Max’s fangs had disappeared from view, leaving behind a cold smile as he now held the arm up over Amy’s head and slid a claw along it to create a cut, which bleed profusely.

“Do you know how much trouble I would be in if I killed you for pointing a gun at me?”

The smell was overwhelming. Amy knew her eyes had changed color, and she almost lost all control when several drops splashed onto her face. She saw the look on the guard’s face as he struggled to pull his arm away, but it now meant nothing to her as a wonderful meal was being set before her.

Her fangs extended, and she was ready, but disappointment turned to anger as Max let go of the arm, leaving the man to fall over and crawl away. She knew she should not show her fangs to a male, but now she did not care; this was no longer a demonstration on dental hygiene but an alcoholic having a drink placed under his nose then taken away. She could not move as Max had pinned her to the floor with a knee as he continued to smile and talk to the human guards.

“Very little, but I fully understand that you have to check if someone wishes to bring in a packed lunch. As you can see, my cousin is not human, but rules are rules, and I would not dream of you letting her pass unless you are fully happy that she is who I say she is.”

“Moreover, as my cousin has not eaten recently, I am sure she will be more than happy to provide you with a little demonstration as to her membership of our species. No? Well, then, your record keeping must be at fault, as you have my word that she belongs here. The disc she wears shows that her rank entitles her to come and go as she wishes. If you dare to insult her by calling her human again or even get in her way, she has my full permission as a first lord to teach you some manners in any way she thinks fit. Now, you have my permission to return to your posts.”

As they left, Max tried to lift his knee off Amy only to discover that the pain as he tried was due to her now holding his knee in place with her hand claws. They had not only shredded the lower leg of his trousers but were now dug so deep into his leg that she threatened to become a permanent attachment to his clothing.

Max bent down and whispered, “Naked, a kiss, fangs, and now claws on a first date? My! You are giving me such a boner!”

Amy discovered that fangs and claws could retract at the same speed her face could turn red, and that was very fast.

“PERVERT! Now get off me, or I will really show you how sharp my claws are when I remove your face!”

Max offered a hand to Amy then winced as she let him pull her up, holding his hand with her once again fully extended claws. He smiled, winked and whispered again.

“Wow! A girl that has a good, strong grip with her fingers! That’s something every guy dreams of in a girlfriend! In fact, I think I’m now going to dream about you with my morning wood!”

Amy was not that sure what he meant, but it sounded filthy. Well, he was a boy, so it had to be filthy. Even vampire boys had minds like a cess pool; it came as standard with his boy bits, so she let go of his hand.

“Yuck! Just do me the favor of not thinking about me at all! You are not my boyfriend, and if you ever, and I repeat, ever, think of trying to watch me as I sleep with some stupid idea that I will find it romantic, then be prepared for me to bite you very hard and in a place you will not be able show off to your friends as a fighting scar.”

She wiped the hand he lifted her up by on her jeans and made a mental note to wash it when she got to her room.

“Watch you sleep? Crap, what fun is that? Now, if you would invite me to your room, watching you sleep would be the last thing on my mind! I would be happy to risk a bite to perhaps watch you shower. Why, I could even bring my own soap and join you!”

Amy was not sure if she liked the dreamy, far-away look he had on his face. She suspected his imagination was taking her dream image places where she did not want it to go.

“My aunt says males should always be polite when talking to females, and that means not using dirty words; save them for the famula. They like all the smutty stuff. Just because I don’t understand what they mean does not mean I won’t slap you again, but next time a lot harder!”

“I could explain in detail if you wish?” Max said hopefully.

She ignored his last comment and followed him into some sort of Ante room. Opening the backpack, she took out her nightdress. She then glared at him until he got the message and turned around. Amy removed her top, pulled the nightdress over her head, and wriggled it down to reach the floor, and only then did she undo her jeans and let them drop. No matter what the custom was for females to wear, she decided that it would always come with underwear.

“You can turn around now. I’m decent, or as decent as a girl can be with such stupid things to wear.”

“You look, err…”

“Yes, thank you; that says everything!”

“Anyway how can I not think of you as you promised to show me all your claws on our next date?”

“And that will be like forever after my aunt finds out about today.”

“Crap, don’t tell her! And if she finds out, show her the disc and tell her you are now a declared relative of a first lord. I outrank any aunt in this ant’s nest. Besides, my sisters are planning a picnic in the gardens next full moon, and you can tell your aunt that if you do not attend, it will really piss me off. I will even send you an official invitation.”

He gave a lopsided smile.

“Please, come to the picnic and meet my sisters. I can’t really do anything to your aunt, but she won’t know that. And we vamps are such sticklers for rules, power and status; just my family name should make her wet herself.”

Amy just raised her eyes at the thought of anything less than a full nuclear strike affecting her aunt’s bladder control.

“I’ll see, but no promises, okay?”

He smiled and put his fingers to her chin. k`1`2

“Well, in that case, let me take a look at your fangs again.”

“Pervo! No way!”

Amy pressed her lips tight together to form a pout, but then they without any of her own control parted. She was in shock to discover his lips were now pressed onto them, and he was kissing her!

What could she do? What should she do? Well, she could have pulled away; she could have slapped him again, even harder than before, which would be the proper reaction. There were lots of things she could do, if she could only think. At the very least, what she should not do was to kiss him back, but apparently that was just what she was now doing. She also definitely should not have had her tongue in his mouth, playing with his like two mating snakes.

Her breathing was heavy by the time they finished the fifth long kiss, and he stepped back from her. She let the wall support her; if it had not, she knew that she would fall over, as her legs no longer felt very stable.

He leaned towards her, placing both his hands on the wall on either side of her head. Amy could feel the warmth of his breath as he whispered, “Now do you agree that we have been on a date?”

Amy’s heart was tight. Guys! What a stupid time to start asking technical questions! The best she could do was answer,

“…………s…………”

If it had been a date, then I may as well make it a memorable one, thought Amy. She extended just her top fangs and nicked his top lip before retracting them. Everyone knew that on a first date, a guy could not bite a girl, as he should pay for the meal. But the girl, well, the girl was allowed to bite the guy.

Forget tongues; that was for kids on a real date. A bloody kiss was the hottest sort you could have, and Max was bleeding so well from such a small cut that their kisses were slimy, tangy and so nice to taste that Amy’s body wanted to do things that a nice girl should not want to do. OMG! I so want to extend my claws and rip his stupid clothes off to bite him all over! she realized.

He now moved back; removing a handkerchief from his top pocket, he gave it a little flick and then carefully wiped his mouth.

“As I was saying, my crazy, mega-cute girlfriend, I am so looking forward to our next date. Until then!”

With a fleeting kiss, he turned and was gone before Amy had time to point out that she was neither crazy nor his girlfriend. The very idea of having a boyfriend was stupidly, impossibly something she did not have time for. And well, just because he smelled so nice did not mean …… Amy’s mind was racing. Kissing a boy is not a big deal for a girl my age, whatever my age is. Drinking his blood was only for medical reasons, and the idea of seeing him turn into some black-winged angel was just a trick of the blood. That is hardly anything compared with the time I drank blood from a drug addict donor that gave me visions of green mice for three days. They had looked so real that I gave them names, and I still miss not seeing little green “Micky” flying about the bedroom on little green mouse wings.

The return trip was a lot better than the climb up, although Amy didn’t think that she would have cared or even noticed if she’d had to walk all the way down. It’s just a blood high, she told herself. That’s all: nothing else.

Max

Chapter 16

Sexy Dreams

Bambi was out when Amy got to her room, so she cleaned her teeth, had a quick shower and hair wash, then filled the bath up and made it nice and soapy to have a long soak. She cleaned her teeth again and gargled as her mind went over the day’s events.

I am sure I can still smell Max on me, and all we did was kiss! Amy added extra bubble stuff to the bath water. Being a vampire meant that you had a good sense of smell, and at times it was extremely inconvenient. Casual sex is said to be the norm with female vampires, and everyone thought that females were at it all the time, but that was mostly all talk. Due to our wonderful sense of smell, forget the idea of nice glowing cheeks and a bounce to one’s step being the only giveaway signs of going all the way with a boyfriend! Heck, no! You will reek of him for days! Talk about getting a reputation: you may as well walk around with a sign that says, “I’m an easy lay.”

Max had been right; the place did smell to Amy after coming in from the garden. Having a garden outside was also an odd thing for vampires that did not go out in the daylight; an old graveyard would have been more fitting. The smell was not quite like old socks: more of mold. Perhaps that was why folklore said vampires smelled of the graveyard.

Amy closed her eyes. He was cute in a boy way, and maybe a little hot (or he would be when he got a little older). He would not make the football team with his body shape, but if he did, he could easily eat the other team before they could score based upon the size of his fangs alone. He did have such nice fangs, and well, from what the girls talked about at school, a guy with long fangs meant he also had a long- Amy pushed that thought to one side, wondering if it was rude for a girl to admire the size of a boy’s fangs.

He said that I have the best teeth he has seen, and seeing them gave him a boner. No, not hot, just a stupid pervert and male; but at least someone noticed me (even if it was only for my teeth). Now if I could just stop seeing him remove his shirt in slow motion every time I close my eyes…

His blood was soooooooooo good and so filling! Amy also had learned a new fact on being a vampire; bite marks could still be seen even when the vampire sealed up the wound, which was something I had not previously known or noticed. Humans just see the holes magically disappear, whereas all we do is reseal the surface skin. The bruising of the penetration is still there under the surface and visible if you look closely.

After the day’s events, Amy was now mega sleepy. As the warm water of the bath took the tension out of her body, she dozed off several times only to be awoken by odd dreams (and once by almost drowning). Well, Aunt said it is normal for a girl my age to have, err….odd dreams where boys were involved, and nothing to worry about. Then she had taken a look through my extended movie collection and removed some of the more spicy ones.

The odd dream starred her sitting on a roof getting ready for dinner, but instead of the usual hunting clothes, all Amy was wearing was a very thin and extremely transparent nightdress. I did not feel cold but knew someone could still hang two coats off my chest!

Looking over the edge of the roof and below, she saw this boy changing shirts. He had a selection in front of him and was trying one on after another but finding them too small. So he pulled them off over his head in disgust and dropped them to the floor, creating a large pile of discarded shirts.

Next, there Amy was, standing next to him with a larger shirt that she knew would fit him perfectly. But he insisted on trying on the small ones, which did not fit. In the end, Amy lost her cool at his obvious stupidity, grabbing the small shirt off him, saying that it was hers, and handing him the large one.

He took it but waited, expecting her to put on the smaller one. Without him saying anything, she knew that he wouldn’t put the large one on until she had tried on the smaller one, proving it was hers. That meant removing my nightdress in front of him to put it on, and for some reason I was naked under my nightdress.

At that point, Amy woke up.

Slowly, her eyes opened. She expected that there were worse things than waking up to discover that you were eyeball-to-eyeball with your aunt, but she couldn’t think of any at the moment. Human girls would have screamed or fainted or both; me? Well, okay, so it was not the coolest of positions to be in, hanging from the ceiling by one’s claws nude and dripping, but I must say that the hiss I gave out was pretty impressive.

“Stop that childishness at once and come here, or I will really give you something to hiss about.”

Amy carefully dropped to the ground and stood up. She retracted all sharp bits of her body and dripped her way to stand naked in front of her aunt.

“Well? Are you going to explain yourself?”

“Sorry, Aunt, but you took me by surprise; I am sure the claw marks in the ceiling are not that noticeable.”

Eek! From the look on her aunt’s face, Amy knew that she knew something, and ceiling scratching was not on her list of questions. All she has to do is look at me and I start apologizing for things I did wrong, which she could not know about, in case I missed out on the ones she did know about. Amy knew from painful experience not to miss out on the ones she did know about, so she decide to break all the rules of being a teenager and tell her the truth.

“I was running away. I dressed as a famula, left the building, and waited in the garden for sunrise, but the sun was too hot and I had to return.”

True, it was a slightly abridged version of the truth, but it was the truth nevertheless. Amy was therefore painfully disappointed at not being believed. Some of the pain also came from the demeaning punishment of having to stand very still and be slapped on her bare bottom a number of times.

And I am sure she gets far too much pleasure in doing it, Amy thought. If I really were a child, I could have her arrested for child abuse, for she has a perfect slap, vampire strength and uses the tips of her claws, which meant that not only did it sting like hell but it would be red and painful to sit on for several hours. The only thing it has taught me is that if I ever get interested in S&M, I know that I would prefer to be the one doing the hitting.

“Very funny! Famula can’t change floors, and beta females can’t leave the nest without a male’s permission. The gardens are a sealed area, so let’s try again, shall we? Start with the male that gave you that fancy disc.”

“It’s called a modesty disc, Aunt.”

“I know what it is and what type of family it comes from but not how you got it. This is the last time I am going to ask who the male was and what you did to get such a token. I want the whole story, and right now! If you are a good girl and tell me everything, then I will not make your punishment too harsh.”

Amy took a breath. Okay, so she is more concerned about Max and talking or doing stuff with boys than running away, so heck! What, did she what me to be, a mind reader? Amy tried again.

“His name is Max. He looks about 17, and err… a bit cute but in a weird way. I think he wants to be a dentist; we met in a public area, and he asked if I had ever seen the sun rise in the garden. I said no, so he took me up.”

“He insisted we introduce ourselves to each other. I gave him my real name, but he converted it, and now I am Lady Amelia, Mistress of the Night Mare from the family of the Pinkbat. He gave me the disc and told the gate meat his name and my new name, and that I was his cousin, his real name is very long and starts as Maxamillion. We only talked about oral hygiene, and he asked to see my fangs, but that was all I showed him. So nothing went on, honestly. I was very careful not to get dirty. I did not think the sun could hurt me, but he insisted on wrapping me in a blanket so I did not get burned. He says he is a first lord, which I guess is fancy talk for being an alpha.”

“His sisters are planning a picnic in the gardens next full moon, and I am invited. But I didn’t say I would go; only that I would think about it and I would have to have permission, so I may not turn up. He then said that if I didn’t attend, to tell you he will be really err, p-ed off. But I expect that was all male boasting as he is nothing that special.”

Amy finished off her monologue. Crap! I am monologue-ing now! And I’ve only just stopped my uncle doing it! She took an extra breath, closed her eyes and braced herself. When nothing happened, she opened them again. Something was wrong; her aunt had now gone silent: far too silent for normal.

Amy hadn’t been completely nude; she still had that fancy disc currently hanging between her boobs. Except it was now in her aunt’s hands, which explained the sparks and the smell of burning flesh as the aunt examined the disc. Max had said that no one could remove it, but then, he did not know of my aunt’s feelings on such things as vampire toys.

Only when her fingers began to smoke did she hand it back, and that was more of a surprise than her ability to take it off. Amy had expected her to throw it down the toilet for daring to burn her.

“After you have dressed, we will discuss what you are going to wear to the picnic and how you should act in the company of the upper level families without showing yourself or our family up. The full moon is only three nights away, so we don’t have long to get you suitable for polite company.”

“Aunt?”

“Yes?”

“How come he could call me a cousin? We are not related, are we?”

“It’s your fangs, my dear: just another oddity about you. Your uncle and I pointed this out to you when you first arrived; either your father or your birth mother must have been of high rank. You have an extremely old bloodline, which you should not let people know of for political reasons, but you are still compatible with our nest or you would have been killed. And no, you are not related as far as I know, but that still does not give you permission to raise your tail to him.”

“AUNT!! He’s not that cute! Yuck!!!”

Family meeting

Phabian placed his hands behind his head as he lay back on his sister’s Roman-style couch. He did it partly because it helped him think but mostly because he knew it pissed his sister off big time.

“And you are sure it is the Maxamillian and not some other, over-sexed kid with the same name?”

Nyx paced until she could take it no longer and went over to knock his feet off the furniture.

“Yes I am sure, and take your shoes off if you want to drape yourself there like a lumpy werewolf throw rug.”

She sighed. “I am sure you are picking up far more bad habits from her than is decent for a male of your age, and just look at the invite!”

Slapping a card hard down on his lap (very low down on his lap), she turned away, ignoring the grunt of pain he let out. She started pacing again.

“Well, at least the first lord can not blame this on us. It has been a miracle that we have been able to hide her for so long. She is still not ready, but we must let things take their course. Maxamillion sensed she is special by just getting near her for a few minutes, but even he thinks she is no more than an alpha female.”

“I give her a little freedom, and what happens? She attempts to leave the nest, meets the youngest of the top lords and within moments she is drinking his blood and kissing him! Luckily, it stopped at that, but you know what young females are like at her age when they have got a taste for boys. We will not be able to stop her from coming into heat for more than a few more years without council permission, as they will be expecting her to breed. Placing her in that stupid turnling’s class at school did not help; all that moron has noticed is that she will make excellent breeding stock.”

Phabian kicked off his shoes and lifted his legs back onto the couch.

“Nyx, my dear, she is a very capable killer and would make any male proud to have her for a mate. She is as cunning as any female in this nest, and I expect young Maxamillion will not get very far unless he offers her more than just a taste of his blood. You have done an excellent job in bringing her up and training her to be an outstanding asset for our family. You forget I have seen her fight. If our little Hell Cat wants him as a mate, then he will have very little to say about it; the connection to such a high ranking family will be good for us all.”

“We picked the mouse as her teacher partly because of him being a turnling, so all full-bloods are the same to him, but also because he is the best military teacher we have in the nest. Our little girl is learning how to put her latent skills to their full potential as they develop. And with her bloodline, develop they will. I have seen what she can do when she lets herself go, and the enforced boredom we have given her over the past few years will make her keen to stretch her abilities and help awake that which she calls her inner vamp.”

“My dear sister, you have tasted how special she is. We can only guess she is on the same level as Max’s abomination of a younger sister. And once his illustrious family knows of her blood lineage, they would be stupid to gainsay anything. As her parents, we will ascend with her.”

As he lay back with his arms behind his head, his sister worried that it was all happening too fast. The 10 years they had had her was not long enough to bring her up to adult, and her brother was wrong; no matter what he thought, it would still be at least another 10 years before she would be mature enough to breed. No marriage could ever take place before then, so the most Maxamillion’s family could expect would be a long engagement. But even before that, she would still have to be presented for a status upgrade.

“Very well, brother. If we plan to let this continue, we will need to request the council to test her. She is a natural alpha, but the rules need to be followed, and I shall see to it that the request comes from her teacher with our consent. That way, it will not look like we are pushing her forward.”

Picnic

Somehow, things were working out as Amy stood in front of a mirror and looked at her image. Reflections and mirrors are another human mistake about vampires, she thought. Her aunt had been strangely nice over the past few days, and now she stood next to her in a little changing room close by the garden entrance near the pet guard post.

Her aunt did not wear any fancy modesty disk to show her rank, but no guard had done anything but bow and slowly back away whenever they went near them, proving that even stupid human pet guards had a very strong survival instinct. If they were very lucky, she would not even notice them, and that looked to be just what they were praying for when she had arrived at this checkpoint to the gardens.

She looked good, and it was a shock. Her aunt had ordered her new clothes especially for the picnic, and Amy had dreaded what she would receive: a pink cardigan over a pink dress with a large bow at the back was what she had been expecting. Instead, she thought that she looked really cool.

The first shock was the new black underwear, including a bra! At long last, she had a bra, and it had been so long that she had almost forgotten how to get it on. It was a sexy, going-out-on-a-date-black color. Okay, so both parts of her undies still had little pink bats on them, but no one would see them. And black undies was such a change from her normal bright white ones with small pink bats (or the vivid, almost day glo pink panties with a large black bat on each side looking like a misshapen fig leaf or at first glance a bat trying to have sex with her), and her aunt had invested in 100 pairs of those horrid things to make sure she would get years and years and frigging years of wear out of them.

There were also black ankle boots, a short black skirt with a belt that had a pink bat logo on the buckle, and a black blouse with blood red piping, Amy realized that she would have all the right things to wear if she ever had to attend a funeral, but this was soooo perfectly what a vampire should wear no matter what the current fashion was in the human world. Black was always the new black in fashion for a vampire.

She did not complain too much about the black hair band with pink bats on it. She liked black; it was normal for a teenage girl who had been a teenager for far too long. She had in the past asked if she could paint her bedroom black, which went down like a lead bat with her aunt (who said that the stalactites looked very nice in pink and so they would stay that color). And just to make the point clear that her room’s color was not her decision, Amy’s aunt had hung some large pink stuffed bats from the ceiling for extra emphasis.

ICE

Ice did not think her brother was stupid; she knew he was. Well, all males are stupid; it was a natural fact and had something to do with owning a dick. Maxy, as she called him, was not as dumb as others of his gender, but that dick must be causing his brain cells to shrink or something as his bright idea of a family picnic minus the family was crass to say the least.

Max’s sister ICE

All because he wanted to take a girl out, he arranged a picnic. Any normal guy would take a girl out for a meal or a romantic walk and not get his sister involved.

So there she sat facing her, as he had either gone to take a pee in the bushes or he was trying to leave them alone to bond (as if girls bonded at first sight!). Claw each other to death, yes, but bond, no. And she smelled odd. Okay, so not bad like most females did, but odd like she was a walking chunk of herbal bath salt. All girls smelled yucky, but this Amy smelled more like something you could wash with.

And she was staring at her!

“Okay, while he is out of the way, let’s get this over with. Maxy fixed up this stupid picnic just so he could invite you, and being the youngest, I was forced to come. My sisters got out of it by having something extremely important to do (like washing their hair). Having to be here playing gooseberry while he pretends to be cool and debonair and at the same time tries to slip his hand up your skirt as I pretend not to notice is not my idea of a fun day out. And yes, it is normal for me to look like this. Unless you have fallen head-over-heels in love with me at first sight, you can stop staring at me, as I find it is rude.”

Amy thought, not albino, as the eyes are not pink, but instead an almost rippling and burning royal blue. Then she wondered why the sudden silence, as Ice was now coldly staring back at her and looking like it was her turn to say something (which was causing a deadly silence as she had not heard a word the wonderful apparition had said).

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to stare; please forgive me, but you are so outstandingly beautiful, like a real fairytale snow princess. You smell of spearmint, and I so love that smell. I used to have it as a treat when I was a child. Sorry; you must be sick of people telling you how lovely you look, but I can’t help it. Please, can we be friends?”

Ice was rarely (if ever) short of something to say, but right now was one of those rare occasions as she looked hard at this Oriental-looking girl to try and read any slight facial movement to give away a lie. She was good at seeing lies; she was good at lots of things, such as picking up a change in scent when the words did not match the meanings. But this odd creature her brother had picked up on his escapades was telling the truth; well, at least she believed what she was saying herself.

She had of course checked her out as soon as her brother told her, and the Oriental camouflage meant nothing, as she know of vampires that could change their racial characteristics like changing socks. She had discovered she was a good killer and had been running feral until adopted into the Pinkbat family. She was still very young, and not just because she looked about 16. Ice knew that she herself looked about 15 and was possibly about 20 years older than the girl sitting in front of her.

WTF! She had only said the falling-in-love bit as a joke, but this female must have taken it as a come on and told her she was beautiful. No female would declare such a thing unless,,, And to admit to liking another girl’s scent! It was the same as saying she would like to sleep with her. Ice sat back; this was not how things should go when a brother brings home a new girlfriend.

Ice leaned forward, and when the girl did not make any defensive moves, she gave her a fast lick to her cheek and sat back again to see her reaction to the move. This kind of bi stuff was common in the nest amongst bored females, but she was an abomination: a freak that no normal female would wish to be in the same room with without wanting to kill her for her obvious differences. She may have been the outcome of generations of special breeding to create her, but to a normal female, she would just pollute the gene pool. If Ice had not been so capable of looking after herself, she would have been accidentally killed years ago.

“Err, thank you. and you smell of, err… soap, which reminds me of hot baths.”

All vampires are cursed with a good sense of smell, and the reason they think of it more as a curse than a blessing is the fact that they normally hate the smell of the same sex, as it means competition: be it for food or mates. And as a girl, unless you were a lesbian, all females smelled sickly sweet and made one’s teeth itch, but this creature mostly smelled of soap and a hint of lavender, which came as a shock as without the normal repellent smell of a female, she could not control an odd feeling (against all her better judgement) of liking her. And if she was having such a reaction, it was no wonder that her brother, being only male, was besotted with her.

“Okay, let’s see what being friends is like first. I do not want Maxy hurt, but if you do become Max’s mate, then as sisters all things are possible to someone that likes spearmint.”

Amy was so happy that Ice had said that they would be friends that she threw her arms around her and hugged Max’s little sister.

“That would be so nice to have you as a friend, and even if I skip out on the mating stuff with your brother, I would still like to think of you as a sister.”

Ice tried not to stiffen as this girl now started hugging her as if they were already lovers. She hoped Maxy would not find them so compromised, when after all it was his date that was making a play for her. At the same time, she hoped that he would return soon before things went any further. If she wanted to have some female bonding, then perhaps they should be alone, or if not alone then certainly not as a threesome with one’s brother!

“Look, let’s go shopping tomorrow; bring your maid and meet me at gate B, the alpha arena, at the 3rd strike, okay?”

Just then, Max returned and suggested he show Amy about while Ice tided up. Her brother winked at her as he pulled the strange-smelling female to her feet. As they left, Ice knew that tonight she would take a look at her father’s council files on nest members and find out more of this oddity; she had not been 15 for so many long years without learning her way though her father’s security systems, if only to amend her clothing allowance files, which was something that he should have done himself years ago. It was nothing to feel guilty about, and besides; he did so like his daughter to look nice in public.

Tournament

Amy was nervous coming to the tournament part of the nest, as it was for alphas only. Even with the modesty disk around her neck, she felt more like an omega. It did not help that she had brought Bambi along as her handmaid, which was normal for alpha girls out shopping, but Bambi was also nervous and made Amy feel like they were a couple of girls sneaking out of school rather than an alpha and her maid.

As she walked towards the entrance, she could feel eyes on her from a group of three girls who were standing and talking. They must have recently been training because the smell of them was making her want to throw up. It was always the same; vampires hated other vampires, and even with the calming smell of the nest, she had an uneasy feeling.

Her uneasy feeling changed to one of surprise as Bambi leapt into the air, catching a throwing knife that had been aimed at her. The surprise was more at the speed at which Bambi was able to move in protecting her than it was at the fact that someone was currently trying to kill her.

Bambi dropped to all fours in front of Amy with extended fangs and claws, ready to defend her mistress with her life.

The middle one of the three girls moved slightly forward and made a snorting kind of noise when she looked at both Amy and Bambi with obvious contempt.

“If your maid continues to look at us like that, I will have the guards defang her and pin her out in the sunlight.”

Amy was sure it was a nasty bluff, but nest rules were many, and she knew a maid would be punished if she showed disrespect to a full-blood, let alone showed her fangs to full-blooded alpha females. If it was a bluff, she could bluff as well and be just as nasty herself.

She signalled to Bambi to get behind her with a flick of her hand. If they were going to cause problems, then Amy would make sure Bambi was not involved.

Bambi

“How dare you throw a blade at my property! You are very lucky that your aim is so useless; it almost reached me by mistake. If you had damaged her, it would have been very inconvenient to be without her to carry the shopping, but you look strong, so I could always insist you take her place as my shopping carrier for the rest of the day.”

Amy could feel the temperature drop. It had worked; attention was no longer on Bambi anymore. No, the hate of the three alpha females was now fully aimed like a blade directly at her.

The sudden cold snap was only disturbed by a clapping sound, and all four turned to see a small girl with white hair smiling and clapping her hands.

Ice stood a few feet away with a young maid behind her holding a number of boxes, and she was beaming her lovely smile.

“I see you three have just meet my cousin, Amy, and by the look of it, you are about to offer her a challenge.”

The middle girl gave a look of obvious distaste towards Ice.

“Only a deformed throwback like you could claim this creature pretending to be an alpha as a relative. I know all the alpha females, and I demand to see her brand, or should I call a guard to strip her for all to see! She has no right to wear a modesty disc!”

Ice gave a laugh, and ignoring the insult, continued to beam a smile that was so bright it almost gave the impression of the sun shining off of snow.

“Why, Desney, I just thought you walked bow-legged by accident of birth. You never said you had grown yourself a pair of balls to be able to ask to see a girl’s brand. If you are so keen to look up girls’ nightdresses, I am sure your friends here would oblige by letting you play flip skirt with them.”

As Desney took a breath to hurl some hurtful comment, Ice cut in.

“Amy accepts your challenge. I have a tournament court booked in 45 minutes; you may use that. Is it just going to be you, Desney, or will you need your followers to help, seeing that you have challenged the top fighter on Fangbook? Perhaps you don’t recognize her without being coved in blood?”

The girl to the left of Desney spoke for the first time.

“Amy? Is that the Amy? That bitch was a feral that lived with the animals? But she is lethal! It can’t be her! She’s still wild! She is crazy wild, and the council kept her out of the nest as a punishment for years but had to bring her back when she keep killing outer vampires and started a war with another nest. That’s the one that not only killed other feral females but attacked a raiding party on her own, killed a full-grown male in single combat and started to eat him in front of the males, then when the Praetorian Guard arrived she took a pet and had sex with it in front of all the guards! It’s true! I’ve seen the pictures the guards took, plus the killing of 50 armed humans on her maiden hunting trip that the humans now call the massacre of 47th and 3rd!”

The two girls on either side of Desney now took a small step back, giving the clear impression that whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen to Desney and not them.

Desney, true to traditional vampire pride, was not going to lose face.

“That’s not her! That is just some upstart beta with the same name, and I accept the challenge! Come on, girls! Help me get changed for the fight.”

Amy stared at the three girls as they moved off.

“I didn’t eat the male; I only took a few bites out of him. He almost killed my uncle with a coward’s attack from behind, so I had to kill him. The massacre was not fully my fault, and it was 22nd and 3rd. They mostly killed each other. I’m not a fighter, Ice. I can’t fight Desney. I don’t even have the right clothing”

Ice’s smile was now beginning to get annoying as she beamed it at her.

“I notice you haven’t denied the sex bit! And I thought you were such a nice, innocent girl!”

Amy suddenly felt very hot, and it didn’t help that Ice winked when she said, “nice, innocent girl.”

Ice’s smile changed shape as she started to giggle.

“Well, that will give us something to talk about after the tournament, and I will want all the smutty details, unless you want me to ask Max for the details instead.”

“Ice! Don’t you dare!”

“Come on. Let’s see if my fighter costume fits you; you don’t want to fight her naked, or do you?”

Butt Freezing

So there Amy was, freezing her butt off. It’s so not surprising that humans think we are all undead and cold blooded; these Tournament changing rooms are bullet-nipple cold, and I don’t even have the moral support of having Bambi near, as Ice’s maid had taken Bambi away in case of problems during the tournament. If the fight doesn’t kill me, Amy thought, then I will die of shame if I have to walk about in public wearing what Ice has just handed me.

“It’s a frigging body stocking, Ice! And so thin and clingy that I may as well fight her naked. I can’t go out in public wearing this! Like, everything, and I mean everything, will show!”

“Stop complaining! It cost Daddy a lot of money. It has to be light and thin; it’s a fighter! The Helsing will hide your coat hanger nipples, so what’s the problem? It may be thin, but it is still super strong, and more importantly, stain-proof”

Amy stared at the handful of material in her hands, which looked more like something to blow her nose in than something to wear. It was very light, and it was also white, which is so not my color. The way she had had to visit the washroom three times so far, Amy hoped that Ice’s stain-proofing guarantee also covered the inside.

“Come on. Take off everything, including your undies. You will not be able to wear anything underneath or it will ruin the cut and style.”

Ice in her Fighter

Reluctantly, Amy pulled off her t-shirt. Looking down at her chest, she knew she was cold. As she wriggled out of her panties, she could feel Ice staring at her. I so wish people didn’t do that; just because we have the same bits does not mean I like having my bits stared at. With a slight blush, Amy dropped an arm in front to hide her more intimate areas.

“I’m not looking there, silly, but still; your rainforest does need some topiary work done on it! Heck, all-out deforestation may be an idea, unless you plan to grow it longer and hide what you should be covering with your hands!”

Ice stabbed a cold finger at Amy’s hip.

“Maxy said you were an alpha. He said you had alpha teeth and claws. The Perv has a thing about looking into girl’s mouths and guessing their rank, which I suppose is better than looking up our skirts like other guys. They are all pervs one way or another, And what about the pages on Fangbook going on about your kills? No beta can wear a modesty disc. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Do you want to get yourself de-fanged? Just what are you playing at?”

“Your brother told me I was an alpha when he gave me the disc. All I told him was that I had a stupid pink bat of a family mark burned into my skin. I said I can’t fight. I don’t know what Fangbook says about me. I just kind of go crazy at times and kill people; that’s all!”

“Well, you better start getting ready to go crazy again, because Desney will easily kill a non-alpha fighter. And if she doesn’t kill you, she will hurt you for showing her up in front of her friends and then demand that you are stripped to show your brand for tournament records. Then when they see you are a beta, she will demand that you are punished!”

“I can’t go crazy at will. I have to get mad and let my inner vamp take over.”

“Well, send her an invite now, as I have bet a whole month’s allowance on you to win today. Now, you tell me I’m lending my lovely fighter to a non-fighting beta. If you lose, I will have to burn it out of shame!”

Amy could tell that Ice was not happy and was fully living up to her name (and not just the way she knocked my hands away and began to roughly rub talcum powder into my skin). Amy’s skin was covered in goose pimples from the chill, and Ice’s beaming smile had vanished; her look was as cold as her hands.

It has to be a vampire thing, but why does being naked and nude keep popping up in my life? And if it is so normal in vampire culture, why is it just me that is the one shivering in the nude while the rest of the world walks about fully dressed? Amy wondered.

Her modesty temporary forgotten (mostly due to the first stages of frostbite), Amy struggled naked into the costume and tried to ignore the way Ice slid her very cold hands inside to pull the material into the correct shape. Amy tried hard not to look into the wall mirror. She knew that with her body shape, the costume would make her look like a cross between an underdeveloped super hero and a pedophile’s dream date.

Ice fitted an ornate Helsing around Amy’s chest, and it painfully pinched into her boobs. It wasn’t supposed to; it was fitted to be comfy, but that means it was fitted to be comfy around Ice’s chest but not mine! Amy did not complain; what was the point? Ice was now as cold as her name, and that was in turn as cold as her hands.

“Has your inner vamp arrived yet?”

“Not yet, but thank you. I am very grateful for your friendship. I will do all that I can not to disappoint you,” Amy said.

“Huh! It’s not about me, silly. But if you lose and your rank is discovered, it will shame my brother. And if that happens, he will be very hurt because the thick lug likes you.”

Amy tried to say something, but Ice put a finger on her lips and continued.

“I also like you, but if you hurt my brother, then forget about Desney. I will kill you myself. Believe me when I say I am 10 times a better killer than Desney will ever be.”

Looking away from Ice, Amy instead took a look in the mirror, hoping that now was a good time for vampires not to cast a reflection. She almost wished the myth was true. Ice’s fighter suit was tight: so tight that it looked like it was trying to fit Amy internally. The only thing such a costume did was to prove to everyone that I was female along with what I had for breakfast. Looking down, Amy now understood what the slang term of “camel toe” meant!

Amy’s top half could have been that of a boy, as the Helsing had flattened her breasts to almost nothing. Even the toilet tissues she tried stuffing in did not make any difference. Well, no difference to the shape, but hopefully the extra padding would mean I would still have boobs by the end of the fight.

The bottom part was without any Helsing armor. It made Amy feel more naked than if she were actually fighting in the nude. All of my life is acting and playing parts, so being a vampire is all about life and death situations. But heck! Why can’t I face a life or death situation fully dressed just once?

I’m a vampire, not an actor, and most of the time I don’t even feel like a vampire: no urges to hang upside down or ravage human virgins, although as far as I can tell, virginity makes no difference to the taste of the blood. And for the life of me, I have never had the courage to ask anyone how you would know your meal is a virgin without asking it, and what guy over 12 would ever admit to it, anyway?

Amy was sure that humans didn’t know that they would be a lot safer wearing a disc with their blood type on it rather than a holy cross, as some vampires were very picky eaters and would ignore those members of the groups that gave them gas.

Today, I play at being a fighter, and if I am unlucky, I may get an award for being dead. Playing at being a human was difficult, but playing a vampire was impossible. Amy had tried to fit into vampire society, but everything she did just seemed to make her slip deeper into the crap. Sometimes, I think my aunt is correct, and I am nothing but a child trying to play in an adult world.

To make matters worse, Amy now wished that she had used the bathroom one more time before putting this frigging suit on. The only bright point that she could think of was that she expected Desney to finish her off before she got too desperate and had to fight her with crossed legs.

Desney

Ice led Amy to the hall she had booked, explaining the rules as they went, not that there were many. You couldn’t bring in your own weapons, but you could use any of the weapons placed around the hall. There were points for different moves, but normally the last person standing was the winner.

With a kiss to the cheek, Ice wished her good luck and practically pushed her in though the doors, where the sight of the hall took her by surprise.

Amy almost forgot about Desney, who was sitting on a long leather couch with her two followers at the far side of the room. Her friends got up and left when Amy entered, but Amy was more interested in the room’s decorations, which had been taken from all the vampire movies she had seen. She identified the late 1960’s Hammer House of Horror Dracula’s castle.

Looking up there were dripping, candle-laden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, but 30 feet up, the stone walls changed to an open gallery with a viewing area encircling the whole room, and it was full of people!

Desney was wearing the same sort of spray-paint costume that Amy had on, but hers was black and did not look transparent; even with a Helsing, you could see that she had boobs. Somehow, she managed not to show an unsightly crotch trying to eat its way out of the costume, so it was only Amy walking about naked.

Desney stood up and raised an arm to signal that she was ready so Amy did the same. What sounded like an old church tower bell sounded, and the noise vibrated through the room to mark the start.

Amy was taken by surprise at Desney’s speed as the girl covered the distance from the other side of the room in a blink of an eye and sank a fist into her stomach, forcing Amy to double over in pain before she appeared back on the other side of the room as if by magic and gave a wave to the onlookers. Crap! She could have killed me! But she wants to show off first, thought Amy.

Desney was pretending to polish her nails as Amy straightened up, then, as with the first time, Desney struck her in the stomach but followed it with a blow to her head before appearing back at the other end of the room, this time lying across the couch.

Amy knew this could not carry on in this way or Desney would kill her out of boredom, so with a blur of movement she reached her and attacked, her claws raking the furniture that Desney vacated faster than she could strike her. The boot camp school training meant she was fit and fast and a star at crawling across a ceiling, but hand-to-hand combat was going to be next semester. She wished she could rely on more than just her basic instincts. That said, if she clawed or bit others, it would hurt them a lot.

Again with speed, Amy rushed at Desney, only to find that the other girl threw a pole towards her that not only tripped her up but caused her to slam into a wall head first. She knew that it must have been a hard blow, as the room should not normally be spinning so much. When she tried to stand, she could hardly keep her balance, and blood was fast running down her face from a gash on her forehead.

At the second attempt to stand, Amy noticed that others were in the room. As her eyes started to focus she saw the two friends of Desney leave. In their place, they left a bound and gagged girl, which with a shock Amy recognized as her maid, Bambi.

Desney looked towards Amy and pointed to her helpless maid. With a loud, theatrical voice, she spoke to the watchers above.

“Oh, you have finished your nap, have you? Shall we carry on, or can I take my lunch first, as I had to send for takeout due to getting so hungry waiting for you to finish your little snooze?”

Laughter came from the galleries above, and the loudest was from the two friends of Desney who had returned to their positions in the gallery above her.

Amy did the only thing she could think of, and it was one of the most abnormal things any vampire would ever think (let alone say out loud, even if she did only say it in a whisper). It was shocking even to her own lips as she mumbled, “Please, I need your help. I don’t care about me, but she is going to hurt Bambi. Please! I am begging you to help her!”

There was no answer, but now Amy mentally moved to one side and willingly let a far older side of herself take control. It was different this time, as Amy was still there looking out of own her eyes but no longer in control of what the eyes looked at. She could still think as she normally did, but she was more of a passenger in her own body. It was such a creepy feeling that would have made her shiver if she still had a body to shiver with.

A-Me

The female blinked and looked about the cave. No, it was not a cave but a chamber underground: part of a complex of chambers where her kind could hide from the burning light of day. A place to live, to rest, to relax, to enjoy the bodies of males, and to breed. Chamber or cave, the difference was only in the names and meanings that filled her mind.

This cave/chamber was for play fighting between females: a way to be able to show your position or rank to the other females living here. The overlaying scent meant a safe underground nesting area for a large number of her kind. It seemed a little strange, wanting to live together, but she could understand the reason. Having a large number of strong males protecting the nest from animals and others of her kind was a good idea and sat easy in her mind. Weak females, like weak males, should always be killed off to protect the species.

She could feel her other self sitting in her mind, and she felt the knowledge the other her had, but it was difficult, as the other her tried to make simple things difficult with extra meanings. She had a name: a sound word that she called herself. It was “me.” To others, it would be A-Me. She didn’t understand how they could both share the same body. Her other self worried about it, and that was a stupid thing to do as it was a fact and so it must be normal.

The world had changed somehow from what it should be, and so had her body. She missed how she used to be but knew that this was how things should be, as the new body shape made hunting so easy, and it looked nice, too. Many times, she had looked out of shared eyes to see her reflection on shiny surfaces, and after the first shock, she had grown to love the greater freedom she had without wings. The flexibility of movement was a thrill, as was the softness of the skin. She was very content with how she now looked.

As it was normal to share this nice body, she would help teach her other self to look after it, as it was still very young in its mind. They shared a good, young, fit female body, and her other self had not even known the pleasure a male could give a female! But the other her was so very young, so she would be patient; there was plenty of time before mating and breeding, and she would share this time of freedom from family care.

A-Me knew her other self was worried over this female she faced, which was silly, as she would not let their shared body come to any harm. Play fighting was important to prove status, and the higher the status, the better choice of males to mate. Fangs rule, and they were always female fangs. One always took the strength and the seed from the male, and if he did not pleasure you, then you would kill him in his sleep by biting off his seed maker and letting him bleed to death. Life was so simple when dealing with males; it was other females that were the real danger.

Looking about, she took in everything she needed to know and laughed to herself when she realized what all the sticks and things on the walls were for; the opponent’s fighting skills were taken from watching human animals fight! A real female vampire did not need pointed sticks or animal tricks to win a fight; she just needed to be the better female vampire, and nature would do the rest.

Her mind showed her other thoughts, and one was that the game was not being played correctly, as two young females looking from above had interfered by capturing the nice slave she owned.

The poor being had the name of a woodland creature and only wanted to love her, look after and feed her, so that must be another normal thing in this odd place. Of course it would be normal for a lower animal to look to her for protection; her memory showed that it served all her body needs with care and devotion. After being turned, the creature was now barren, so it wanted to love its mistress. Having no male, her other self let it keep her warm at night and fed off when needed, so again, her other self was normal in some of her actions (if not her thinking). The creature would be killed just for belonging to her? A normal, spiteful female thing to do, but it showed weakness in her opponent, and if nothing else, she would punish her for that.

Her opponent was talking, but she was not interested in what she said, as they were here to fight and show status, not talk. Her first action was to remove the useless, uncomfortable metal top that cut into her feeding lumps. Her mind said it was called armor, and it was useful to protect her. She ripped the leather straps apart with her claws and let it hit the floor with a clatter. She did not plan to need protection; she was going to be the one attacking.

She still had on a useless thin skin of white, but it was sparse and pretty. It showed nicely that she was a fit, healthy female to all the males watching, and she wished there was a reflective surface that she could admire herself in. But that could wait. She would leave it on. It would not cause a hindrance, and if it did, she would rip it off and fight as nature intended.

A-Me stretched and issued a loud hiss, which then changed in tone to a growl as she relaxed her vocal cords. A purr could put an animal to sleep, but a well-toned growl would tell the prey to get ready to die.

With a bound, she threw herself at the wall opposite to the one where the two females were above and used the momentum to catapult herself up and over to where the females leaned forward to see her. Grabbing a handful of hair from each female, she changed her body back to full mass, meaning the sudden weight attached to both female onlookers forced them over the edge with her. They changed mass to float down but discovered A-Me was dropping with full mass and therefore taking them down to the ground at the same speed; they would hit the ground hard.

A-Me bent her legs and let out a grunt as the ground rushed up. She heard the screams from the others as they found the ground a painful break to their descent, even without weight. A-Me still held the weightless females by the hair, so she pulled them together, causing them to hit heads, and then dropped them back to the ground unconscious. Stupid young females were not worth the effort, so she kicked them to one side.

From her shared memory, she knew her opponent had fast movement, so as soon as she saw a ripple of movement in the air, she leapt up, somersaulted and landed a distance away.

If Desney was surprised, she did not show it, as with another blur in the air, A-Me watched her reach a rack of light spears and launch them with deadly accuracy towards her.

It was A-Me who was surprised at a female thinking of throwing sticks at her like a monkey. She judged the speed and projection of the objects and moved her body at the last moment so the sticks missed her.

A-Me could not understand why a female who had such natural speed would bother playing with bits of wood, as she now watched her take a large tree branch off the wall. Her shared memory said it was called a pole and could be used to hit an opponent without getting close to be hit herself. A-Me now knew for sure that this female was not only stupid but also a coward, and she would never find a male to give her pleasure. The best she could hope for was to raise her tail to a passing male monkey that also liked playing with sticks!

The tables turn

If Desney was not surprised by the strange actions of Amy, her friend Ice was, and exclaimed loudly:

“Just what the heck do you think you are doing? Grab a pole and hit her!”

After seeing people looking at her due to her outburst, she added, “Sorry; just trying to be helpful. That’s all.”

The female swung the tree branch called a pole at her with great speed, and A-Me thought it so amusing a move, as all she had to do was grab hold of it at the same time as dropping her body mass to almost zero, meaning she was able to travel in the limited arc of her opponents swing and at the end of the swing gain enough mass to rip the weapon from the female’s hands. It was an easy task to disarm her. Instead of rearming, the female darted over to where her cute little slave was tied up and bit deep into her to drink.

A-me knew this was some sort of insult, and she would pay for it. If this female enjoyed throwing things, then let her try catching instead. A-Me moved back to where the two unconscious females lay. She picked up the first by an arm and a leg, spun her in a circle, aimed her head at a wall, and let her go, which would kill her unless her opponent intervened. Seeing the blur of movement as her opponent rushed to her stupid follower’s aid, A-Me did the same to the other unconscious female, but this time towards a different wall.

A-Me forgot she no longer had wings: not that it mattered, as she had mastered her current shape and used it for an aerial attack the same way she would have if wings had been involved. As soon as she released the female missile, she leapt the 30 feet up to the balcony above, and with a full-mass, backward somersault, she threw herself off. Her current body shape may have been wingless, but that was not going to stop A-Me, who mentally just folded her wings to swoop down on her pray and reached her surprised opponent just as she saved her second friend. The A-Me/Amy body was not heavy, but 30 feet worth of gravity added greatly, as did four sets of talons that no other hunting flying creature had.

Desney was thrown to the ground hard and was unable to do more than cover her face as A-Me used all four sets of claws to rip off her metal armor and fancy black outer coating. The clothing she wore was designed to protect the body during a one-to-one vampire attack, but to A-Me, all it meant was a tough animal hide that could be ripped and peeled off a still-living piece of meat.

Desney attempted to defend herself, but every time she did, A-Me would slam her back to the floor with a snarl. In the end, Desney gave in to the humiliation of being stripped bare in front of all the onlookers and left naked as A-Me picked up Bambi and walked out of the tournament.

Changing room

Back in the changing room, Bambi did not say anything about what had just happened, and the volume she was not saying anything with was getting too much for Amy until a thought occurred to her. Without analyzing why it seemed such a good idea, she flicked her wrist with the tip of a claw to produce a small cut and offered it to Bambi.

The maid’s eyes went wide at the offer and drew back in disbelief as Amy held it out for her to drink from. The blood slowly dripped down her arm.

“AMY!”

Amy turned to find Ice standing in the doorway with a shocked look on her face, as if she had seen something that she should not have. She stepped in, closed the door and rested her weight against it, taking a breath before saying anything.

“You dumbass! What do you think you are playing at? That is not to be done lightly and never, never on a nest turnling! Your maid should never be tempted in such a way! Alpha blood is like a drug to them, and just as addictive; now, send her home. She will be safe; no one will touch her after what you did to Desney.”

Reluctantly she sent Bambi back home with instructions to go to her rooms and wait for her. As she left, Amy pointed to her body suit and coughed.

“Now that Bambi has gone, you better help me out of this frigging thing. It feels stuck on, and I can’t even pull the arms out!”

So I win a bath?

Amy hesitated but had to ask. Her inner vamp had done all the fighting, and she had sat back with a mental bag of popcorn and a Coke and let her take control. But seeing things through her eyes and feeling things her way always left Amy a little confused over all the little details: little blanks when things happened at times when she was not paying full attention, so she had to ask.

“Ice? Err, just before I left the arena did I? Did I just pick up Bambi and leave, or did I piss on Desney’s face first, then pick up Bambi and leave?”

Amy watched the corners of Ice’s mouth turn up, which kind of answered the question. If that didn’t, her following words did.

“You can keep my fighter as a gift if you want, as I can buy another one with my winnings. But perhaps you should have it dry-cleaned as soon as possible so you don’t smell of wee when you next use it in a fight.”

She then giggled, and Amy thought, Crap! I expect someone will post another video clip of me on Fangbook.

As a reward, all the winners of the tournaments got to take a bath. Yes, well, I expect it should be a little more exciting than it sounds, Amy thought. Personally, a box of chocolates would be more to my liking. Well, I already bathe and shower so many times during the day that the growing of gills would not at all surprise me.

As they walked, Ice informed Amy that the nest had many underground gardens and parks (not that a soggy, cold, damp grotto was Amy’s idea of a good time) and that the token would let her into a special section that was loved by all in the nest as it had hot springs where tournament winners and the high ranking could relax. Ice had visited them lots of times due to her father’s rank on the council, and it would be a perfect, private place for the two of them to bond for the first time.

At this information, Amy swallowed. Eek! Not another vampire thing I should know about! Bonding could mean a lot of things in the vampire world, and like how did one ask if your best friend (okay not so much best friend but only friend) was suggesting a nice girly chat over drinks or sex? Amy had heard that female friend bonding could get really physically close as friends, and when I say really close, I mean no space between them; that sort of closeness I was hoping may instead happen with someone male. Well, I AM female!

Amy acknowledged that Bambi bonded with her while naked in bed, but that is different and not sexual-well not on my part. It’s a female thing of not getting on with other females, and even if Bambi is my personal, undead maid, I find at times I snap at her and her smell starts to get on my tits.

It was at times like these when Bambi would without a word join Amy in bed, cuddling up nice. And well, it took ages before she worked it out that personal maids always sleep with their mistresses whenever they can: not that they needed sleep, but they could slow their body down like a, heck! I don’t know! They just can, okay?

The main reason for doing it was smell. Bambi curled up with Amy and took on her personal scent. Again, Amy don’t know how it was done, but she know that Bambi could absorb her scent and smell of her. So it was nothing sexual. It was just that afterwards, I no longer have the urge to kill her, and besides, it is great to have her near me to feed from if I get peckish in the night. It IS such a bother to get up and go to the kitchen, and Bambi is usually too far gone into her odd kind of switching-off mode for me to disturb her. And well, she does taste nice, and the floors are so cold that once you get up for a snack, you then need to go to the bathroom. I do sleep naked with Bambi, as she tells me that she has very sensitive skin, but I think it has more to do with the hugging and scent stuff.

Bonding

Okay, so the bath was not quite as Amy had imagined. She followed Ice into a small changing room where they had a tepid shower. Like, why can’t the water be hot? I pay my taxes! Okay, I actually don’t, but I expect my uncle does, or at least he knows someone who pays them.

Then the two girls swapped the stupid nightdress uniforms for bath towels and stepped into a very warm cave system with waterfalls and pools, which Ice explained were hot mineral pools. “We have the whole system just to ourselves for a couple of hours.”

Ice let her towel fall to the ground and walked towards the nearest hot spring pool. Amy wondered what was it with vampire society that meant one had to be naked half the time and scantily clad the rest. Well, at least Ice had a good body to walk about with just in her skin. According to Max, she is younger than I am, perhaps just under 16, but than means nothing with all the age fixing that goes on. All it means is she could have been looking and acting younger than I am for 1,000 years before I was born, Amy thought.

Ice

She walked to the edge on the pool where the stones were smooth and pleasantly warm before surrendering her towel to the ground. She was still damp and feeling the chill from the tepid shower she’d taken to remove the sweat-encrusted talcum powder from her body.

The water was kind of transparent with a greenish tinge to it, and it felt absolutely wonderful, as the temperature was perfect: just short of hot and spot on with feelings of wowwwwwwww as whatever minerals were bubbling away in the hottest parts of the pool must have been ones that Amy’s body wanted.

She could almost hear her pores sucking in the air and water, then she heard a familiar voice and sank down in the waters as Max came walking toward them. Eek! I know I said I wanted a nice bonding session with a guy, but not today! And definitely not as a threesome! Besides, my skin is covered in red blotches and lines from the fighter that it looks like someone has been playing noughts and crosses with a felt tip pen all over me!!!

Amy slipped down so only her nose was above the water until she was covered by a wave of water created when Ice leaped out and landed 50 feet away in front of her brother, and yes, she was stark naked. And no, it does not matter in vamp society.

Ice slapped him and told him in no uncertain words to do something physically impossible even for a male vampire to manage without afterwards seeking medical help and a good osteopath.

By the looks of things, Max suddenly decided that he had a more pressing appointment and left.

When Ice got back in, she looked pissed.

“You are lucky; he almost had the opportunity to see your beta brand.”

My beta brand was not at the top of the list of things I did not want him to see, Amy thought. Well, I’m not saying never see: just not see today, and even then, not without some kissing first. Heck, I am so not like the sluttish modern vamps! As this was going though Amy’s mind, Ice pushed her to one side of the pool, and with a strength that surprised her, locked Amy’s arms and body so that she could not get out.

“Okay, this is where the bonding starts. I want to know just who and what you are, and only your blood will tell me, so turn your head to one side so that I can get a good bite on your neck, or I will take your throat out!”

As Ice locked her jaws on Amy’s neck, Amy held her breath and pulled her legs up, tucking them under her bottom so she slowly sank under the surface, taking Ice with her. The major difference was that Amy held her breath, but Ice had her fangs extended due to the biting. She did have some very nice and some very long fangs; that meant that her mouth could not be closed and was not airtight. Instead of blood, she began having a nice mineral drink and so was forced to let go of Amy and push herself up out of the water.

See! What did I say about Hollywood movies? Never have they ever shown that the best way not to be bitten by a vampire is to drown the biter!

Ice was coughing up water as she dragged herself to the edge and lifted herself up and out of the water. She was such a cute target; you must know what I am thinking; there she is, pulling herself out of the pool, and all I have in front of my eyes is her butt. Well, she DID try and bite me, and it was such a nice target: pinkish and fitting of the word “pert.”

Ice screamed; at first, she swore, as fangs on their own only leave four pincher holes that seal up fast on a vampire’s body, but Amy then pulled the major fangs back a little and bit down with her whole mouth full of lesser but still very sharp minors. That was when she screamed due to the fact that Amy had not only created a very interesting ring of red but also bruising under the skin and the future need for a very soft cushion at meal times! Look, my jaws are very strong, and with a liking for raw meat. I could if I so wanted turn her gluteus maximus into a gluteus minimus!

Amy had her pinned down and quite helpless, as her own fangs were a long way off from where Amy’s head was positioned. Ice’s foot claws were useless, and Amy’s hands held Ice’s firmly pressed into the mud and stones.

She did try to wriggle free, which just made Amy bite her again, sending out another scream followed by a long line of words, which fitted into an instruction that would be physically impossible to follow even if Amy had been male.

Amy was about to let her go when she thought, heck! Well, why not? She wanted to bond with me! Extending her major fangs again, Amy gave her a vampire kiss; in other words, she drew blood and had a little snack. Okay, okay, so it is a little kinky, but I am hungry. Besides, I had not fully planned to, but she had leaked a few drops. And well, the location was not the best, but coming from the pool it was clean enough to eat one’s lunch off. So that is what Amy did; the taste was so divine that she could hardly stop herself.

Like a drug, wonderful pictures filled Amy’s mind. Not that I know what drugs are like, apart from that tainted blood I had from some druggie that left me seeing flying pink mice for several days.

The vision was of a strange winged creature covered in short, white fur tinged with blue, and it was flying effortlessly over a winter white landscape of ice and snow on large, white leathery wings. Amy watched as it landed on a craggy edge of a wall of ice and folded its wings back, showing a delicate female form that almost caused her heart to stop when it looked in her direction. Snow was in the air, which it ignored as it searched for any signs of movement below.

A-Me

A-me liked this game of play fighting. How long had it been since she had played with females? She could not remember, but she now knew why her other self liked this creature. It was fun to be with and strong, and its true shape was soooooo pretty as she stepped into the creature’s blood memories.

It struggled under her, so she let her go and watched as she spun about to face her.

“What the! That is just frigging disgusting! And just how am I going to explain the frigging bruises? NO! Don’t bite there!!!”

A-Me held the pretty thing down and licked her. So strange a sensation on the tongue, licking a place without a nice covering of protective fur. It was making sounds again, so she moved up to look into its eyes.

“Okay, I’m sorry for trying to bite you; you are right. It was rude of me to go for your neck: the arm next time, okay? And only with your permission. I just wanted to know you better, okay? I thought you wanted to blood bond, but we can just use wrists, okay?”

Ice age in 3D

Wow, and I mean wow! That was better than any 3D film! Amy thought as she opened her eyes. She could still feel what it was like to be flying over an endless white landscape. I can remember how it all happened. But she now realized that she had Ice’s wrist to her lips, and Ice was lying next to Amy with her eyes closed, gently sucking on Amy’s wrist.

“Wakey, wakey, Ice. That’s enough for now, or we will both look like dried-up oranges.”

Amy did a lick seal on where she had been sucking, and the pin points vanished. Ice did the same and gave Amy an extremely odd look.

“I’m going back in the pool; you coming?”

Amy slid back into the water and headed for the warmest part of the pool. I am not sure what Ice has been seeing in my blood memories, she thought, but I’m sure I have mermaid somewhere in my ancestral past, as I could so get used to this hot spring bathing!

“Look, are you coming back in? Or are you just going to sit there sulking that I bit your butt?” Amy asked her.

She watched as Ice skidded her butt over to slip into the pool next to her. Ice winced as she did.

“I have some Arnica lotion at home. I can send it up to you; it’s very good for bruising, I’m told.”

The strange thing with Ice was that her eyes burned blue, unlike Amy’s, which turned red and made her look like she needed to get more sleep. Ice’s looked like deep pools of water.

“Amy, I have seen you: the real you. I have never seen a blood memory so clear. Sorry for the neck thing; I will never try to do it again, if you promise not to bite my butt again.”

She put her arms around Amy and hugged her. Amy was not sure if it was all still part of the bonding thing or an extra.

“Amy, I have never seen anything like you before, and you are so ….just so ……..red and black are so your colors!”

Okay, Amy thought. So bonding can help sort out one’s wardrobe? Well, that’s good to know. Amy hugged her back, and it felt nice. Shut up! We are vampires, so I expect it is normal. Heck, if ripping heads off humans is normal, then I don’t see why two girls can’t hug naked in a deep underground hot pool! It’s not like we are kissing or anything.

Of course, Amy had seen this kind of thing a lot in the anime films, which always show Japan covered in so many hot spring pools full of naked people that it made her wonder why their birth rate was not higher.

At that point, Amy hoped that naked hugging could lead to more intimate things. With luck, those things might include back scrubbing and long talks on what Max has been saying about me.

Home and bed

When Amy finally got back to her floor, she sneaked into her room in case her aunt wanted to know how the day went. Bambi was already back, and her wounds had almost gone. Amy was so sleepy she just peeled her clothes off, left them where they fell and crawled into bed. The last thing she remembered doing was telling Bambi not to wake her the next day for anything less than an earthquake, as she felt like she needed to sleep for a week.

Sometime during her sleep, she was aware of Bambi trying to wake her by licking her face, but it was only a dream like the lovely dream she had of stretching out large, bat-like wings and dropping off a cliff to soar into the sky. It was oh-so-obvious! Of course vampires could fly if they had wings. When you had very powerful leather wings and a body with little or no weight, flying would be simple. Amy could almost feel the air around her and the thrill of playing in the air currents.

A-Me

Amy did not open her eyes when Bambi tried to wake her, but A-Me did. Bambi was offering her wrist as a snack, and A-Me refused and smiled as she wrapped her arms around her to pull her near. A-Me did not like to think this poor creature had been nest turned. No, she did not share with others this creature. It was going to be hers and hers alone. Cutting a small blood vessel on her wrist, she offered it to this creature who showed her so much affection.

Bambi just stared at the offer of blood and knew it was against all the rules. She loved her life here in the vampire world; it was so much better than when she had been human. Being turned meant you were always drawn to obey full bloods; you were reborn to serve, and Amy was very easy to please. Bambi had grown to love her.

Full bloods never offered their own blood, as it would make a turnling very powerful and break all the years of training; plus, it would create a new bond between them, as her mistress would also be her sire. An act so personal that maids only ever whispered about it, it was all a rumor. But the one thing that did come through with all the stories was that if any maid was found to have done it, she would be killed and the mistress badly punished.

What the rumors did not say was the power of the blood being offered and the smell of the blood calling to her. She was a creature of blood and could not resist this offer a second time. Bambi could no longer care if death was to follow, she had to…

A-Me smiled; this creature loved her, and now she would show it that she loved it as well. It was going to be bound to her alone and not the nest, as she did not like to share. A-Me held the creature carefully so not to cause it pain as for the second time in her life, Bambi died.

Bambi

Bambi reborn

Amy awoke late. What with the fighting and fun in the pools afterwards, she could have definitely gone for the idea of sleeping in a coffin. Look, think about it: all modern and fitted with cable TV, surround sound and draught proof.

Amy wondered if perhaps she fixated too much on being cold, but she really was cold a lot. I am sure my aunt makes my bedroom extra cold just so that I always take lots of hot baths. She suspected that she was perhaps the cleanest vampire in history, but then again, she also probably had the same distinction of being the only vampire in history with a hot water bottle in the shape of a bat. Don’t you dare say that it’s cute! If I was 9, it would be cute, but it’s not when you are 16 going on 100. Amy thought she could get away with it if it had been black; black would be cool in a nice, hot way instead of dayglo pink to match the pink stuffed bats hanging from the ceiling. What I have as a bedroom is a modern day chastity belt! Inviting boys back to my bedroom? Like, what do I want to do, die of shame!

“Bath is ready mistress.”

“Thank you, Bambi.”

Okay, Amy thought. Now just how the heck is that going to fit into my Girl’s Guide to Being a Vampire? She reasoned that she would have to put a new section in the book for Stark Raving, Loony, Insane Things that had happened to her, as she had now just heard Bambi tell her that the bath was ready. She spoke in my mind!

“Bambi, where are you?”

“I am in the bathroom, mistress”

Amy went into the bathroom, and there she was; like all good maids, she helped Amy in and then got in herself to help wash. Yes, that is also normal in our society; why do you think girls don’t run away from home, leaving these oh-so-difficult living arrangements? Now shut up and get your own maid!

Amy felt like no one ever told her anything; when did this being able to talk to one’s maid without speaking happen? She expected that it was just another odd body function, like smelly underarms and odd places for hair to sprout that no one ever mentioned.

Does anyone know how claws and fangs slide in and out of sight? Amy thought. No, they don’t! Or if they do, they have all made a point of not telling me! Half the time I think that having boobies means being a mushroom; they keep us in the dark and feed us crap.

Well, Amy was determined not to be the first to say anything about it.

“Could you please rub the left shoulder some more? Oooooh, that’s so nice! Sorry, I forgot to ask, but are you all right now, what with all that nastiness with Desney and her gang yesterday?”

“Yes, mistress, I am wonderfully well thanks to you and your love for me. Thank you for last night; you will never regret it. I am yours eternally.”

Okay, that does not help, Amy frowned. I sometimes worry about what my inner vamp gets up to when I sleep, but at this point, I am not even going to think about it. It’s not like I can get Bambi pregnant… And no, no, no, I’m definitely not going there.

“Thank you, Bambi.”

Bambi

Chapter 17

Hygiene Matters

Ice dropped by the next day, took one look at Amy trying to hide her block of wood, then burst into such a fit of giggles that Amy thought she was going to wet herself. Amy didn’t care so much about Ice’s personal hygiene, but she only had one place to sit in her room, and that was on the bed, sooooooo I rather think I do have a say in this hygiene matter, okay?

Ice was not her real name, but she had never said what her real name was. Everyone called her Ice, and Amy thought that it was perfect. She was so very, very pale; not albino, as she had blue eyes, but her hair was white, and she liked to wear white with a touch of blue. If she had been fat, her friends would have called her glacier, or if she were tall and thin, then she would have been called icicle, but no. She is fantastic-looking, so if she wasn’t my only real friend here in the nest, I would hate her on sight (but that I think is normal, isn’t it?) Amy still couldn’t help seeing Ice’s blood image of short white fur with lots of teeth.

Anyway, back to her visit and her storming into Amy’s bedroom.

No, of course no one ever knocks! It is like sleeping in a corridor by the number of people that use my bedroom as a short cut!

Amy had complained about her lack of privacy, and all she got from her aunt was that if a girl was doing anything she did not want others seeing, then she shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Ice had been shopping and stopped by to give a fashion show. Yes, we do have shops somewhere, on some floor I have never been on, and one day, I may even be allowed to visit them!

Amy used the block of wood to play piano on. You know, I use it to exercise my claws and build up finger and toe strength by lying on my back and clawing it with all four sets of claws. NO! It’s not odd! Just how do you think we vampires keep sharp claws? A pact with the devil or something like that? Don’t be so stupid! Like everything, keeping your claws sharp was all hard work, and the best way to do it was to practice clawing at lumps of wood. You should see what I do with my fangs-err, well, no, perhaps not.

Back to the laughter. Apparently, Ice was giggling so much at Amy’s efforts to hide the block of wood under the bed due to the wording Amy’s aunt had used when sending her up to my cave room:

“Yes, go on up. All Amy is doing is just lying on her bed playing with herself!”

Ha ha, yes. Very funny; I don’t think!!!!! If I said something like that, my aunt would have me in front of the ruling council, and I would be flogged or de-fanged. Is this fair? No, it is not!

Oh, yes! Ice’s new dress looked great. She had gone for her usual colors, which were always gorgeous on her. And of course, the dress fit in all the right places to show off her perfect shape, which just made Amy her usual color of green.

On me, I know it would just look like it is draped over an ironing board! Like, why do humans ever think a vampire’s life is exciting?

Ice puts on a fashion show

Council meeting

Eek! Not again! I am sure she does it on purpose! Like I can’t hear her booming voice echo in the caves, and what a thing to say to a Praetorian Guard here to act as an escort to take me to the council.

A Praetorian Guard was not something to get all hot over, as it was mostly a fancy title attached to some big male with more size than thinking ability. If he were bright enough to use a computer, Amy reasoned that he must already have had her down as a sex fiend if he had ever looked her up on Fangbook. How was I to know the guards would have taken photos of me biting Paige? Who lets them carry cell phones on duty, anyway?

So much for the vampire image. Amy pictured them acting all bat-out-of-hell-like, then someone’s phone would go off with a ringtone that sounded like something from Sesame Street.

And besides, how many times do I have to tell people that she was the one getting excited, not me? Amy thought. And there is my aunt telling the guard that I am on my bed playing with myself! Like that does not have another meaning! Amy preferred to call it “exercising her fingers,” and sometimes her toes, as she was very flexible.

Some girls liked to do it lying on the bed while they watched some hot guy on TV. Me? I do it while watching a good wildlife film showing lions attacking wildebeests and dragging them down in a mess of blood, guts, and gore. Yes, that is normal. I’m a vampire, now shut up.

All vampire girls did it, and it was good for them. Amy’s block was made from seasoned oak. It was smooth and polished to stop her from getting splinters.

Look, I have said this all before. Yes, I play with wood. Her preferred ritual was to lie on her back and place the block of oak on her tummy. She struck it with her claws, and when she had a good grip, she would bring her toe claws up to try and pull it away, or to just lash out with them to create nice score marks in the wood. I expect you have seen pet cats do it, but have you seen them take a man’s head off with a single strike? No? Well, I could!

Amy found old, mature oak to be good and strong, but she could still rip good-sized chunks out of it, and wow, does it feel good! She always vacuumed up the chippings before she slept. It was such a nice feeling to stretch one’s claws in this way, and Amy always appreciated the exercise the next time she found herself hanging from a ceiling by her fingernails. Physical exercise classes at vampire school called for some very odd training.

And ceiling hanging was so important when you wanted to surprise your prey by dropping on them from above. Something dropping on top of you from a great height with four sets of very sharp claws was normally a terminal type of surprise.

Amy wished that her aunt wouldn’t tell people that she was playing with herself. She just knew that she was going to get a very funny look when she came out to greet the overgrown errand boy. If he dares to ask if I have washed my hands, I will stick my claws in a place that will make his eyes water!

She also didn’t particularly want this so-called honor of appearing before the council, let alone getting the more dubious honor of being an alpha, which for a vampire of the female gender sounded like nothing more than more pain and being pushed higher up a breeding menu to be on the appetizer list for very hungry male alphas than last on the list with the hard-boiled mints to help with beta male digestion.

Her aunt and uncle somehow fixed this meeting to raise Amy to alpha status, and Ice had forcibly pointed out that without it, Max would be a no-go area of male vampire real estate. Not that Amy was planning to build a future on him. All she really wanted was to just rip his clothes off and bite him all over, which was as normal a need as any female vampire could have.

Amy wore a new white, ankle-length nightdress. It was very old style and in linen. Amy had put a cactus juice gel remedy on a cut on her inner thigh, but since all vampires had a keen sense of smell, she was now worried that she smelled cactus-ish (or rather, succulent-ish). She sprayed some Lily of the Valley up inside her nightdress. Yes, it is normal! Okay?

Her human auntie had always smelled of it, and the smell of Lily of the Valley reminded Amy of her. She found it relaxing, and now it had made the linen of the nightdress damp and more creased-looking, but at least it was not see-through.

It had been laid out for her, and Bambi had received firm instructions that one piece of underwear was the maximum Amy was allowed to have on under it, and no socks: not even the ones with pink bats on them!

By the time Amy and her parents had reached the council room 27 levels and 52 ice-cold, stone-floored corridors later, she was less inclined to want a fancy gold circle placed anywhere on her body but far more interested in a fur-lined pair of walking boots.

Amy’s idea of a council room was a large table containing bottles of mineral water and cookies surrounded by old guys that no longer had teeth and therefore could not manage anything but the softest cookie. What she saw instead looked like it had come from some old movie set on the Roman Empire, as rows of stone seats formed circles around what could be called a stage (or flat talking area, or as they were politicians, a showing-off area). Amy decided that it was more of a showing-off area, as the top boss (whatever his name was) was standing there.

“And now, the next item on the agenda is a request from the Pinkbat family to raise one of their females to alpha status.”

Does he have to be so obvious that he thinks it is not a good idea? The rolling of his eyes was bad enough, but does he also have to sigh? Amy asked herself silently in her head. It was not a normal sigh but a theatrical sigh, as if he were waiting for the curtain to come down before the next act started. And by the looks of it, I’m the next act, and it could involve hungry lions.

He looked at Amy like something someone trod in and uttered a few words in her direction.

“The first test, Miss Pinkbat, is to see if you have the necessary fighting skills, so defend yourself.”

Then all hell broke loose. Well, mostly I broke loose! Amy saw this big burly vampire coming towards her, so she ran at him, dropping down onto her butt at the last minute to kick him in the knee caps. This was followed by punching him in the groin, and as he bent over in pain, Amy headbutted him in the chin and poked a finger in his eye for good measure, so that he keeled over, groaning.

A slow hand clap sounded, and Amy looked towards Mr. Mega Alpha.

“Well done, Miss Pinkbat, but that was a clerk to the council. Perhaps if you could now kindly let him get up and turn your attention to the person you should be fighting.”

Huh! Like how was I to know, and now I had used up all my fighting ploys!

Amy faced one of the guards. He cracked his knuckles as he looked at her. Oh crap!

He was standing leaning on a long pole, then in a flash he swung the pole in a circle. Instead of ducking, Amy grabbed hold of it and lowered her body mass at the same time.

Dropping her weight to zero, she was able to hang onto the pole by her claws. The guard’s attempt to flick her off had the interesting effect of throwing her up at an angle. That meant Amy was now above him, and because she did not have wings, she was also dropping.

Her landing was not soft, as she landed butt-first on his head and slid a bit. Amy hit his shoulders with her full weight. Okay, so I am not that heavy, but her weight was still very good for its surprise value.

This position meant two things: one, she was able to get a good knee lock around his neck, and two, he was now blind, as Amy’s nightdress tumbled down over his shoulders. And three, I was in a very good position to pee on him if he tried to do anything rude, since his face was so close to my nether regions.

He tried to pull Amy off by grabbing her waist, which caused her to pass gas. Okay, I farted, but it was not my fault. He was squishing my tummy, and I did just have a large breakfast. Amy thought that he should consider himself lucky that she had visited the washroom before coming in. If not, squishing my tummy like that might have been a sure way of getting himself a wet face.

Without her inner vamp’s help, Amy did not think that her standard fighting skills were that good. All she could think to do was to punch him in the face. Vampire strength was definitely a plus but would be more helpful if it came with instructions, so Amy just continued to punch him in the face. It was easy with her legs wrapped around his neck. Where else can I reach from up here? And as his head is completely covered by my nightdress, it is not like I can even see what I am hitting.

Amy was not getting any help from her inner vamp, but she was not silent. Amy could hear her in her mind, and the bitch was laughing, It started as a giggle when Amy kicked the male in the nuts, and then it turned into full laughter when the guy between Amy’s legs started coughing and swearing after she farted (but it had stopped him from pressing her tummy again).

The constant hitting him on the nose must have been getting to be painful, as the guard was now desperately pulling at Amy’s legs. It also may have been due in part to her squeezing, which added to the fact that he could now no longer breathe. For months and months, the sadistic school teacher had forced those very same legs to build up their strength by having Amy hang from ceilings for hours while holding very heavy weights in her arms. Being a turnling, I am sure he thinks we should all practice at being bats.

The ceiling was also situated over a floor that was covered in broken glass in case the students needed encouragement. Well, needless to say, Amy had built up some very strong leg muscles, which had given her a bouncy, bow-legged walk along with the certain knowledge that any potential rapist in the future would need to bring a crow bar with him.

After another three minutes, Amy felt more like a lumberjack that had forgotten the rules of cutting down a tree while standing on it. Like a tree, the goon passed out under her, and as he fell, she stepped off him like a captain leaving his sinking ship. The entire experience left her thinking that she should take up poetry, as I look to have a knack for descriptive words.

As Amy looked about, she could see that the head vamp had his head in his hands and could have been crying or laughing, and with a kick from her inner vamp, she knew what she wanted to do.

That idiot may have been the boss, but he was still a mega fool, as he ignored Amy’s charge across the room and stood with his hands behind his back. At her speed, there was no way he could he could defend himself, and at the last second he even dropped to his knees and bent his head to one side to make it as easy as possible for her to rip his throat out.

Amy did the only thing she could do, and that was to come to a dead halt and throw herself to the ground, both kowtowing and sticking her butt in the air at the same time. It was the most subservient, take-me-now position that she knew. It may be frigging demeaning, but it did mean I would be alive a little longer.

This old guy did not bluff, and he did not surrender. He played games and he killed. No matter how easy a target he made himself, it was all show for the onlookers, and from the smile crossing his lips, Amy could see he knew that she knew it was just a test, and that if she were alive at the end of it, then she had passed the second test.

“Oh, please, I have just eaten. Do stop waving your butt about like that; it may go off again and kill us all. And do stand up.”

As Amy rose, he grabbed her by the feet with a movement she did not even see. She was now dangling in mid air with her full mass of weight!

This pervert may be the boss, but he is still a mega pervert!!!! Amy thought. She was now the blind one as the nightdress dropped down to cover her eyes, causing laughter from the council as he stuck his nose in her crotch and sniffed. Amy pushed both fists upwards, forcing her nightdress between her legs in an upside-down Marilyn Monroe pose and knocked his head away.

“Well, I would say she smells female, but mostly all I can smell is Lily of the Valley and aloe vera. This is the first time I can think of that a female ever smelled of cactus or anything so sharp and prickly so close to that part of her anatomy, and it would certainly put me off from mating with her.”

Again, Amy heard the whole room burst into laughter. Leaving one hand in place to keep her decent, she swung at his face with the other. With all claws extended, she should have been able to leave some nice contour lines on his face if he had not blocked the slap and bent her little finger back until it almost snapped. Tears started to form in her eyes when he did the same to the other hand, and it forced her to go blind once more as the dress once again dropped over her head.

“In my day, females all had good, heaving bosoms, and the only wind to escape was from their lips, and that was a nice gentle hiss of being happy that you had noticed them. Not so today, and with this flat-chested creature, I had wondered if perhaps it was a male pretending to be female. But no, if you look carefully between the legs, it is obvious it is female. See? Take a look: pink panties with cute little embroidered bats in various pastel shades to tell everyone she is a vampire. I know teenage fashion is an enigma to me, but surely if a male has to get to a girl’s underwear before he knows she is a female vampire, I fear for the general education of our species, and young males in particular.”

No, not just a pervert, but a sexist pervert! And next time, I will go for his neck, even if he does kill me in the attempt! In the meantime, Amy attempted blindly to scratch at him between his legs. Failing to strike anything in the dark, she pulled the material away from her eyes to try biting him in the same place she had tried to scratch.

“Perhaps we should just leave her as a beta, bring her into heat, and give her to the guards. She couldn’t kill more than three or four of them before at least one made her pregnant; all right, more like seven or eight would die, but it would mean only the strongest would mate with her, and we may even be able to prevent her from eating him if we are fast.”

With this last comment, Amy was able to grab on to his left leg, and sink her teeth deep into the flesh, which he disappointingly ignored. Holding her feet with one hand, he reached down and dragged Amy’s head up by her hair. Using his other hand so that her body was now in a strange smiley shape, he stared into her eyes. Amy’s blood went cold.

“Do stop fidgeting! Look into my eyes, and just take a long nap, will you? Sleep for, say, 12 hours, then wake up fully refreshed and probably bursting to take a piss. Look, I don’t care if you have by then wet the bed, but for pity’s sake, GO TO SLEEP!!!”

He was stupidly doing it all wrong; voice commands could control lesser vamps, but not just shouting at people. And as for the eyes, Amy thought. Eyes did not do anything but blink or wink; that was just human vampire misinformation. I was going to remain perfectly awa………..

Abomination

Valerius quietly sighed, and after dropping the unconscious young female to the floor, he then grabbed her by the hair again and pulled her up so that he could get a clear bite to her neck without the bother of bending over. Sticking one’s butt in the air never looked good and always hurt the small of his back.

He carefully readied himself. It was expected that he should at least taste an applicant before passing his verdict. The female was very good at fighting, but she could stay a beta and still breed good, strong young, so he had no pressing reason to make her an alpha.

Then he bit her.

It should have just been a taste, but he must have taken nearly a pint before he could stop himself. The blood was old; she was only a child, but her blood was ancient: the oldest he had ever tasted.

Her bloodline was not of the nest, yet the nest had accepted her. Her blood image was all wrong!

Valerius stepped into a world long gone and looked around. He had thought his daughter’s mother’s bloodline was old, but this one was older. Society had driven his daughter’s mother away, and he had not forgiven it for that. The council even called for the child to be culled; true, it was only the once, and then only by five of the council.

He remembered it well; they had been five very foolish council members, the same five whose bodies had been found next day crushed to pulp at the bottom of the elevator shaft. People said that it looked like the elevator had descended upon their bound bodies hundreds of times to cause such injuries. Oddly, nothing was ever said about his daughter again.

This child was an abomination with a capital A. Her untainted full blood was showing him images of her real self, and even being still a child, she was magnificent: truly magnificent. And she was valuable. The stupid members of the council would not see it, but nests in the past would have gone to war to add blood like hers to their gene pool.

Phabian could not have realized her true value. If he had, he would not have adopted her into his household but instead taken her as a mate, for any male child from her would be a powerful addition to the nest and would be greatly sought after to breed with as many females as possible. Mixing her old blood into the gene pool would help make the nest more powerful in the world.

Now he faced the worry of keeping her safe and finding out just where she came from. Disturbed from his thoughts by the silence in the room, he dropped her like a rag doll, and looked about the room at the questioning faces. As a politician, he knew never to lie to the council, but then again, as a senior politician, he could also be economical with the truth.

“Oh, please forgive me! You know how it is; one forgets how thirsty one is until one starts to drink. Now, please turn to page 22, and you will see a short bio on this female, which hopefully you have all read before the meeting.”

She was valuable to the nest, and now that he knew about her, he would have to be careful to take control of the situation.

“Now, we really need to move on to more important things. It is normal for us to have females go renegade and run off from the nest, so it is not hard to imagine that a pregnant female of our nest ran off and gave birth to this creature, leaving her to live wild, You, of course, agree she would have to be our blood, or the nest would not have accepted her. We have a school report by one of our best ex-guards pointing out that she is an outstanding pupil. He only wished she was male, but she is still excellent for breeding. Do not mistake this horseplay of fighting she put on as a show for us; on pages 34 to 40, you will see details of her kills and fights.”

“The various mass killings of humans, along with defeating and killing of her own kind, mean she is of good stock, and only a few days ago, she pretended to be an alpha to enter and defeat an alpha opponent in the tournaments. True, we should punish her for it, except she won so easily it would make our alpha system look foolish. And when I say the alpha system, I mean the council. And when I say the council, I mean it will make all of you look foolish, so the obvious thing is that she is an alpha, and unless anyone disagrees, that is what she is. Anyone?”

Of course, the council members were not foolish: well, not foolish enough to stand up on their own and go against Valerius on such a minor thing of female status. Besides, the whole female status procedure was one of the most boring parts of committee meetings, and no one wanted to slow it down even more. Apart from the fighting, where most girls lose their clothes in the struggles, the best parts were when the applicant was fully naked and when the smell of burning flesh filled the air as she was branded.

Valerius went over to a small box and carefully removed a block, which was smoking with obvious heat. He carefully examined it before replacing it. He then went over to the gently snoring body of Amy and picked her up by the hair and dropped her onto a table facedown. With a single claw, he cut down the back of the nightdress. The material parted and dropped to either side of the sleeping form. Using the same claw tip, he gently pulled the pink panties with the small bats on them down across a pert bottom to reveal a pinkish burn in the shape of a small bat on the right hip.

Some of the council thought that this was the only good thing involved in making alpha females, and several leaned forward as Valerius went back to the box, picked out the hot branding block, and touched it onto Amy’s hip over the area where her bat family brand was located, producing a sizzling noise and the pungent smell of burning flesh.

After replacing the branding block, he beckoned to a guard and told him to remove and return her still unconscious body back to the Pinkbat household. He smelled the air then turned back to the council.

“Now, that smells a lot better than aloe vera. Good, now that’s out of the way, and we can move on to more pressing matters. I will have her name added to the breeding lists, although I don’t think we should worry about doing anything with her too soon: not until we can tame her a little more to be sure she does not eat her young or kill the mate we pick for her before he has had the chance to impregnate her.”

He laughed. “Do not worry; I will not ask for volunteers.”

As he laughed again and the council joined in, the smile he had on his lips was a genuine one.

Chapter 18

Chinese Takeout

Tonight was the night, and Amy was kind of excited, as she had never done it with a boy before. Max has been worrying so much, so very much that I finally said yes to him, but boy has he got to pay for the pleasure of having me! Amy thought. Tonight’s date was outside of the nest, as it was takeout night.

As dumb as it sounded for a group of secret underground vampires, the nest had takeout delivered every full, new and gibbous moon. It arrived at the front entrance, and all the human delivery people thought that the offices above were working late. That night was Chinese takeout night, so the plan was for Amy and Max to sneak out while the food was coming in. Okay, so it was not much of a plan, but it’s all we have. If it fails, then Max will have to wait till next gibbous moon to have me.

Of course, the getting out part was not the most pressing worry on Amy’s mind; she didn’t know what to wear. She just knew that with her luck, whatever time of year it was, it would still be cold out. Short, sexy skirts were a no-no. I must be the only vampire in the world to fear getting a chill.

And then she wondered what to take with her. The plan was to visit her human auntie, so a backpack was a must. Amy hoped her human aunt had kept some of her old underwear so she could bring it back with her. I am sick of having pink bats on all my undies!

She packed packets of tissues, of course, and not just in case they couldn’t find a washroom when needed but also to be handy for that. No, it’s for, you know, cleaning up afterwards, as guys can be so messy.

You do know that I am talking about letting him bite me, don’t you? Not about sex. Yes, it is normal for female vampires to have sex anytime we want, as we can only become pregnant when we are in heat. You didn’t know? Well, I happen to be writing a book on it, and I suggest you read it.

Anyway, Amy and Max could have had sex, but biting was far more of a turn on for both genders. Vampires could read their partners by tasting their blood and see what they really looked like and feel their emotions. Yes, guys do have emotions! I know it is odd to say, but they do. Sharing blood was one of the greatest turn ons between full vamps. With humans or turnlings, it was just food, but a turnling drinking from a full-blood bonds to the full-blood on a very personal level.

Amy didn’t know how the human mind could work out what was happening to them, but she believed it must be like the best orgasmic sex the person had ever had: no longer a slave to us but now part of us, which is why I apparently can hear what Bambi thinks and send her mental commands. It had taken her weeks of listening to Bambi in her head to work it out.

Amy had only ever shared blood with two other full-bloods: her uncle when he was dying, and, of course, Ice, which apart from sleeping with Bambi is about as far as I go with a girl. She now knew the pitfalls in blood sharing, even with a girl. It created a bond that was mega strong. Talk about girlfriends being like close sisters! When you share at the same time, you are more lesbo than sister! Amy thought that they had kind of gotten inside each other’s skin, which was fine so long as you remembered to wipe your feet first. Perhaps Ice could have told me all this before I promised not to butt bite her again.

Amy was willing to acknowledge that sex was also good (or so she had been told). Max was no different from any other male, but he had his maids and cold showers, so he had no right to complain. Okay, yes; he did complain (and constantly), but males were like that (and he did have his maids). Maybe they don’t count, Amy thought, as they are only walking dead meat. Since his Mom picks them for him, it is very unlikely he would even want to do anything icky with them, she reasoned. Plus of course, if I find a real vampire female smell on him, then he will be just as dead as a maid: just no longer walking about.

Yes, it was so unfair; just because vampires could have sex whenever they wanted didn’t mean that they actually did. Males smelled, and sex with them made you smell like you were marked with a felt tipped pen as owned. Amy could always smell a female that had just had sex; forget the idea of a nice happy glow; think more of a giant cloud over her with “slut” written on it. Having a sense of smell only a little less sharp than a werewolf’s was not very helpful if you were a horny female vamp!

Amy was still trying to figure out what to wear. She decided upon the Hunter outfit that her uncle had given her on their first hunting trip. It included very tight leather pants. To get them on required a good handful of talc, so Amy reasoned that the time it would take to remove them would kill off any spontaneous sexual acts if either of them got a little carried away lapping each other’s blood. Removal time? Well, forget a watch, she thought, try a calendar and then only with a maid pulling while you hold onto the bed. But they do look so mega cool that it is worth the effort.

Yes I bite

One of the human guards at the front entrance moved as if to block Amy, so she moved as if to kill him. School lessons were paying off. Mouse said vampires were the top of the food chain (well, apart from rats and cockroaches) so they should always act the part. Besides, if a ham sandwich of a human guard wanted to tap you on the shoulder, then it was his fault if he needed to count his fingers afterwards to make sure that they were all still there. I may have more freedom now that I have some melted gold burned into my flesh (and before you ask, yes; it does still itch, as for some reason the skin can’t fully heal over it), and it so freaks me out if something edible looks at me if I was some errant child. Sorry, but it pisses me off, and if I have to spend another 10 years at 16, our glorious nest is going to be missing a lot of its human servants.

It was at this point that Amy felt another tap on her shoulder.

“Oww! You bit me!”

This time it was Max standing behind her, slightly dripping and making far too much fuss about losing such a small amount of flesh.

“Oh, please! Try and at least act like a male! All I did was nip you, and you are the one always going on about taking our relationship further.”

“Err, okay, but I was hoping for some sex first. Well, a lot of sex, then meet my parents. I don’t mind an odd nip in a relationship, but we have missed out on the best bits (apart from meeting my parents that is). Shouldn’t we also be tasting each other’s blood by now? It’s how a mating starts.”

See! What did I tell you? Guys are all the same: sex, sex, sex. Well, so are girls, but that’s different and not something that guys would think.

“In your dreams! I did say that you could taste me today. It should be a special moment: something you should be keen on. A girl-guy bonding is far more intimate than any old swapping body fluids like rutting werewolves! I have never let a boy bond with me, but if it seems to mean so little to you… Well, then let’s call the whole frigging thing off. I am not even sure if I want to go on any sort of date with someone who is only thinking of me as sex pet but turns up for this date over an hour late. And instead of apologizing for letting me stand here looking like a leftover from the last Chinese takeout night, goes on about sex!”

One of the nice things about Max as a boyfriend was how cute he looked when he went deathly pale. Well, just because I love him doesn’t mean I should make his life easy.

At this point, Amy noticed he was not alone. Yes, she know that males could be a little slow at times, but when you plan to sneak out, breaking tons of written and unwritten rules, it was perhaps not a good idea to invite your sister to come along. There went any kind of hope that she had of making out, as Amy wasn’t going to do that in front of her. Not that I care, as we will not go that far. It’s just after our pool bonding, I fear she may want to join in!

For some reason, however, the potential threesome turned into a foursome, as her inner vamp decided to show up and get interested in the smutty thoughts regarding making out that were going through Amy’s mind.

A-Me

The female A-Me saw the young female with concern in her eyes approach her. She was the sibling of the young male she so liked. This young female was no danger of stealing the male from her, and she looked pretty in her winter camouflage colors. Her real looks, hidden just below the visible surface, were stunning, and they were showing through more and more after the blood coupling.

It was nice to have a future mate’s sibling like her and be worried for her safety, which so clearly showed in her mind. She would mate and breed exceptional children with this fine, strong male, but afterwards, it would be nice to warmly curl up and sleep with this one. The thought was also nice and sent a ripple through the body. She now needed to show her that she was liked and welcome, so she greeted her in a friendly way.

Ice

Blood-bonded friends

“Amy! Amy! Ameeeeee! Are you okay?”

It was only a fleeting takeover, as Amy regained control.

“Err… hi, Ice! Yes, I’m fine; why? What’s wrong?”

Ice peeled Amy off her and whispered

“Well, apart from pouncing on me and purring to me like I was a baby, you were also licking my face again!!!”

Ice did not add that she was also surprised that Amy could purr like that (which you normally needed a good 100 years practice to make do anything apart from making you sound like a happy cat. Even without the blood bonding like they did at the pool, Ice could see the ancient blood image of a black and red furry creature with folded wings that radiated power surrounding her.

All Amy remembered was that she had greeted her as a friend; the licking was a harmless idea her inner vamp had of greeting a friend, but she still reddened as she replied

“Sorry. I think my inner vamp likes you as well.”

Ice looked around then gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Not complaining, but let’s just do it in private, okay? We wouldn’t want Max watching, would we? And we must really talk some more about the blood-bonding episode. I’m still having some very odd side effects, and I think we should have this conversation before you do any blood bonding with my brother.”

Amy did a quick glance to Max, knowing how sharp his hearing was and silently mouthed a reply back to Ice, which just meant she looked down at her watch and said, “about 15 minutes after sundown.”

This time, Amy got close and whispered in her ear.

“I blood-bonded with my uncle before. He was sick, and we almost drank each other dry, and nothing odd happened. Well, apart from my aunt telling me I was something called a brazen hussy when she discovered me sitting on his lap naked. But that was okay; he was naked as well, due to the plastic bags. And as for any discomfort, there was nothing apart from the damp undies she forced me to put back on afterwards. Err …but best not to tell Max, as he may not understand”

Ice didn’t say she was not sure if even she could understand it, let alone tell her brother. She wondered if she was missing out on living; her life was just so very boringly normal compared with other girls. True, Daddy took her out hunting each full moon where she would go off and kill as many humans as she could find. It was one of her few hobbies, and she really enjoyed it. She would skip and laugh over the carnage like a 5-year-old, and then they would have McDonald’s and a shake before returning home. All the blood she drank at home was from her own kills, which she was proud of. But this girl that Max had picked up massacred humans in large numbers and killed male and female vamps alike before even starting high school. She was like just so lucky.

“No, don’t worry. I won’t say a thing to him: no reason why he should know of a girl’s past. And all girls should experiment a little before settling down.”

Ice had never been allowed to experiment at all, let alone a little. She was Daddy’s youngest little girl. Her sisters stank of male when they got home from a date, but with her it was getting so bad that she hoped they would at least give her a book on the subject before she came in heat and killed whoever it was Daddy picked out of shear frustration and inexperience.

Ice looked back to Amy and knew their bonding was nowhere near normal. Girls bonded all the time; sometimes, it led to passionate sex. She had bonded a number of times (alas, minus the sex) as to most girls she was a freak and was only still alive due to Daddy’s political position. But when you blood bonded, you stepped into the other person like visiting his or her bedroom, and you could for a short time tell what the person was really like from how you saw the room.

You can even see their true ancestral shapes, and Ice knew hers stopped any girl ever wanting to bond more than once. Her shape was from her mother’s bloodline and went back to the days the earth had been covered by great sheets of ice. This upset other vampires and made them want to kill her as an abomination, which was never a good end to a sleepover.

She moved back when her brother came close giving her a dirty look: the look of a guy who knew that nothing would ever happen sexually on a date because his sister was along. He started talking to Amy, telling her that it was not his fault his baby sister had demanded to come. If he had refused, she would tell their father, and they would have been stopped.

Ice was only bluffing, but her brother would not know that. Besides, it was very unfair of them, going off without her. She never got to do exciting things, and tonight sounded like a real exciting event compared to her oh-so-empty calendar. They could have found plenty of places to have sex together without leaving the nest, so that was settled. The only thing that still played on Ice’s mind was the blood bonding. Bonding with Amy was like inviting a single friend in for drinks only to find she brought company with her, and as you chatted on the bed, the company was busy riffling through your underwear drawers and making comments on the decorations.

The whole experience had left its mark in that she could still see Amy’s true blood shape even now. She could see her large, immaterial wings twitch with excitement as she talked with Max, and she had no idea as to the image’s age: old yes, very old and of a color that did not make any sense. Her own coloring was for the ice and snow of the blood image time, whereas everyone else had a tendency to look like very large, black bats. But Amy’s was not the leathery black of other vampires. Her image was furred with soft blood red and black fur, and even her wings were the same, looking like red sheets held in shape by black vanes and bones.

Amy was not so much a bat out of hell: more like a butterfly on acid with fangs and claws and in urgent need of attending an anger management course. And for some very unvamp-like reason, Ice liked her more than any other vamp she had ever met.

Suddenly, she was brought back to the real world by her brother having to repeat what he must have just said.

“Look, I said let’s go. So if you must come, then at least stop looking like you are more interested in taking a nap!”

Up on the Roof

It came as a pleasant surprise that Amy’s human auntie’s house was only about an hour’s run, hop, skip and leap. She had not been out much, and she have never mastered the slow, misty movements with out moving the legs as they do in old movies. Her greatest worry was not to discover her auntie on the roof staring up at the night sky as she always did, but more finding her still doing it without clothing. Yes, in both vampire and human worlds, I have had an odd life.

The auntie was on the roof, and she was dressed. Apart from looking a lot older, she was the same. Amy’s uncle had been keeping her well-informed about her and her new life, which surprised Amy (but not as much as her accepting it as normal, which only proved that something was going on that no one was telling Amy).

Max and Ice stayed out of the way while Amy chatted with her auntie. It was all very tearful, and Amy didn’t want to go into more details apart from the fact that she found her bedroom the same, so she was able to pick up a few items of clothing that she had missed over the years.

Amy made sure that she did not take everything to let her auntie know that she planned to visit more often now that she could get away on takeout nights.

For a change, everything worked out well and would have been fine if Amy had not suggested that she show Max and his sister the famous graveyard that had caused her so many problems in the past and was the major reason why she now lived in the nest.

The graveyard was very peaceful and seemed to Amy to be perfectly empty. The only one who was not happy was Ice, who kept sniffing the air and saying that something was not right.

Message home

Something was not right for Bambi, either, as she dropped the pile of dirty clothes and stepped over them, no longer seeing them.

Images filled her mind, and she was commanded to take action. Ever since her mistress had changed her, she was a lot more powerful than before. She could now think clearly without any nest control. Bambi had always been happy living in the nest, but now she felt more vampire than maid; her friends had noticed that she was more confident but did not ask why. Being re-turned by a full-blooded alpha mistress made her stronger than any nest turnling. If it was discovered, then she would be killed and her mistress punished.

She had as much free will as the turned males that worked in the human world; she even had more free will than when she used to be human. The one difference was that her love for her mistress was beyond any nest behavior controls. She now had a telepathic link to her mistress and a love so strong she would do anything for her.

Everyone knew maids were not allowed to change floors: well, not without permission. Not that even the docile, standard nest maids took any notice of that rule: they changed floors all the time via the stairwells and airshafts that linked floors.

Males were the masters. They made the rules, and as a maid, you fed them, had sex with them, and then ignored them.

The mistresses were the ones you obeyed, unlike the males. You only ignored the females if you were tired of your unlife. And it was a good unlife; the fullbloods slept for half the day, but being undead meant you did not need sleep, and life was easy with work being only half the day.

Whole areas of the nest were made over to the comfort and needs of the maids, as money was never a factor; they were an important part of the nest, and the nest looked after them.

Bambi had been undead for a long time and knew the nest well, but she now needed to go where no maid had gone before. She expected the actions she was about to take would mean a more permanent death this time: not that it would matter. Nothing mattered but the command she was now following.

She had never been on the ground floor before, and the shock of smelling humans almost caused her to lose control. One of the human guards did get in her way as she walked towards the elevator; not even the mistresses were allowed here in nest wear, and a night dress was all Bambi had. She was not sure if she killed him or not, but he was only a human, so she did not expect it to cause any problems apart from inconvenience in getting a replacement.

Bambi had no need for breath, but she still took one as she hit the top button. The command had not been clear in the wording, but it was in its meaning, so when the life doors opened, she knew what to say.

She stood and waited. The old male turnling told her he would be told. Remembering she was still holding her breath, she decided to let it back out.

Valerius

Valerius had always said that anyone was free to visit him, but unless you had a death wish, you only ever visited the upper domain of the first lord by invite.

He was looking at a small, hand-held device; putting it back in his pocket, he did not look happy. Valerius really showed any emotions, so not looking happy made the male vampire walking with him very nervous.

Bambi was surprised to see the male that was in all ways apart from title the tyrant overlord of the nest wearing a pink polo necked top over tan pants. She started to speak but instantly found herself pinned to the wall, even though Valerius had moved no more than a finger. Her feet were no longer touching the ground, as she was doing a very good impression of a fly trapped on flypaper several feet off the floor.

“Silence! I will have facts, not words!”

Valerius bit deep into her neck and licked his lips before turning to the male beside him.

“Minos, as head of homeland security, could you enlighten me as to why we have visitors that I do not know about?”

Minos noticed Valerius no longer sounded angry, and that worried him. He also did not like the way the maid was still pinned to the wall; that sort of mental force needed a very powerful mind, and to forget about it and leave her there was an outward sign of power he did not care to see.

“My Lord, a hunting party requested as per treaty to travel though our land collecting strays. I did not see a problem, as the treaty gives them that right, and so I took the liberty in allowing it.”

“Yes, Minos, as you say, it was a liberty. Now, if you would be so kind as to supply this maid with an alpha modesty disc and personally see her to the nest entrance and let her go to find her mistress, I would be most obliged.”

“My Lord, where do I get a disc from?”

Minos stepped back a little as Bambi slid to the floor. Valerius turned his full gaze on him.

“Why, my dear Minos! If you find it too difficult to remove one from any of the many hundreds of alpha girls we have walking about the nest and give it to this maid so that I can follow her, please feel free to ask for help.”

Valerius then turned to the maid lying slumped where she slid to the ground after being released.

“Please get up; you have done nothing wrong. This male beside me will give you something to wear, and you must keep it on until I say otherwise. Your mistress is in need of you, so you must go to her at once. Now that you have passed on her message, you will be taken to the nest entrance. You do, of course, have my permission to kill anything that gets in your way; now, run along.”

As they left, a small old man in very aged, dusty clothing appeared from the corner where he was waiting, and Valerius turned to him.

“Please get me a change of clothing as I am going out. I will be needing my special sword box, and inform my personal guard to meet me outside, as we have a runaway maid to follow.”

Dragon Eggs and Awaking Phoenix

Ice was correct; something was not right. Neither Max nor Amy smelled anything, but the three vampires were not alone as an armored group that from their movements must have been vampires but had helms and some sort of black resin armor gave off no smell she could recognize.

Everything happened so fast, as they were attacked before they could do anything. Something went bang, and Amy found herself covered in a net, which was a lot stronger than it looked. Her inner vamp immediately surfaced, but even with her help, Amy lay helpless on the ground.

Making a mental note to never, ever come here again, Amy looked to see what was holding her. Silver! A frigging silver net!

As her inner vamp was about to get in a mega strop, Amy pushed her to one side and thought this is a job for me, Sis. Nets of silver plated steel would trap most vampires, but then, most vampires had not had to open boxes from human aunties who believed the Malaysian post office would try and steal the underwear they sent to Amy (along with more shoes than she could ever wear out even with her long vampire lifespan).

She had mastered duct tape with ease, but it had always left her claws feeling sticky. The tension-sealing plastic cords could be cut with a sharp claw tip, and that would just be the first layer! At one time, Amy even found a mousetrap in one of the boxes that an auntie set just in case a postman tried to stick a finger in.

Upon careful examination, she could see that the nets were held together with little silver-coated link rings, so those were the weak point. Silver was not so much a problem to Amy as it was for other vampires. They burned when they touched it, whereas she just got spots. For some unknown reason, she could not rip it apart with her blood strength, but she could unpick it and then step out all dainty and ladylike, which was what she was now trying to do.

The attackers ignored her, and she could see why, as Max and Ice were nicely holding their own. Why did I not think of bringing weapons? Ice had two blades strapped to her legs, and Max was able to assemble a pocket sword. No, don’t ask; boys and toys is what I call it. Amy’s floundering about and getting under the feet of the attackers gave them both time to arm themselves.

As she picked, picked, picked at the rings, she could see Ice’s fighting skills, and they were panty-wetting impressive. Amy had read up on vampire martial arts fighting, but she had not known that Ice could do it. What she witnessed was a perfect Dragon’s Egg; the body would be at zero mass apart from the tip of one foot, which was touching the ground while the second foot was resting in the first leg’s knee. Her arms were outstretched with a knife in each hand.

The silvered blades were of course at normal weight, and they were travelling at blinding speed to dynamic invisible points just in front of Ice’s body, meaning nothing could get near her without being turned into minced meat. She was protected by an invisible wall of death for as long as her strength held out; you could fire a machine gun at a Dragon’s Egg, and not a single bullet would get through.

More than that, you could drive a tank at her, and all that would happen would be she would bounce out of the way leaving a tank with a big hole in it. It would even be pointless to fire tank shells at the egg; this skill could normally only be used for a few seconds, but Ice had her back to Max so she needed only a half egg. She must have been in Egg mode for about five minutes and was still able to use the second part of the skill: the Awakening Phoenix.

Amy did not see her use it, but the two bodies on the ground showed that a defensive move had changed into an offensive one when someone stupidly got too close. Even the fancy armor had its limitations when hit by a wall of sharp cutting metal. A normal egg was just the bare hands, but adding the blades was a clever Ice-type upgrade to it.

Amy had now undone 23 little links: enough to put her hands and shoulders through to start on the outer net. Okay, so it was more a caterpillar than a ladylike exit, and crap do my hands itch! That was the wrong metaphor; Amy realized that she should be thinking more like a butterfly leaving its chrysalis, and from the itching in her neck, she was sure that she would end up with third-degree acne. I never used to have this problem with silver poisoning, and I don’t plan to start now. If I let this crap stop me, what would be next: holy symbols?

Her fingers were now starting to burn and itch, but she was near to getting a large enough gap to squeeze through. Taking another look, she could see that Max was protected from the nets by his sister’s half egg. I must say, he looks kind of hot with his weapon in his hand. Look, shut up! I am talking about his pocket sword, okay? Crap, even that sounds rude!

He could only stand in one place, as he had to protect Ice’s back, but Max looked liked he could use that sword with great skill, creating what looked like a mini-egg-type shield by moving the blade about to dynamic points in front of him. Amy was mega impressed, as she had only seen this sort of move in Anime films and normally with a cute little talking pig nearby offering advice.

She was impressed, and not just because he was her boyfriend. Just as she was thinking that she could sit this fight out (as there is no way I can match that sort of fighting), the whole scenario just went up crap creek as Ice reached her limit and dropped to her knees. Max stepped back to stand over her. He is good! Heck, he is very good! He still kept them all back, moving his fancy swordplay, but it could only be defensive, and he was very limited to what damage he could do though their armor.

He could get away with a good leap over them, but Amy knew he would not leave them. Besides, it was hot wired into every vampire that only food runs. As a vampire, only the best live; you fight and win, or you fight and die.

He was holding back five fully armored opponents to protect his sister. OMG, I really love him! The opponents were also limited in what they could do, as they did look to want to damage the three vampires.

Amy start to boil, which for someone who was always cold was a change. She expected that it was mostly from the rash from the silver-causing acne. Her inner vamp was almost wetting herself, wanting to get in on the action (which I hope she doesn’t do as she is sharing my body).

Everyone was ignoring Amy; she felt like she had just been tagged and bagged, ready for some breeding program. Her inner vamp tried to push her to one side, but Amy refused to let her take over. Instead, she somehow pulled her into herself without stepping out, and something strange happened.

It was very disorientating but at the same time energizing. There was the sound of those net guns going off, and without Ice, poor Max could only knock the first one away as the second and third covered him. He was down; two of the armored males moved towards him. One hit him over the head with a club-like thing, while the other, which was holding a sword, moved to obviously finish him off.

Now stretch your imagination to think of me as butterfly tearing herself out of her silver chrysalis; if anyone was hoping for a pretty fairy-like exit, then think again. You have heard the saying ‘bat out of hell?’ I may not have wings, but no one has mentioned this to my inner vamp, who was now fighting Amy for control of her body as she sailed through the air. Okay, half of me knows I have sprung into the air and zeroed my mass to reach my target, while the other half of me knows I am flapping two very nice, blood red and jet black wings. And I know they do not exist or I would never ever get a t-shirt to fit, let alone a bra. But if they do not exist, how do I know they are black and red and that my body is covered in a short fur of the same two colors? It may be a frigging illusion or me just going mad, but heck! In short fur I do look so cool.

More by luck than judgement, Amy landed on the shoulders of the male with the sword, which must have freaked him out as he dropped it and tried to pull her off. Yes, I did say pull me off and not lift or throw me off, as I have perched on him, sinking my foot claws deep into the shoulder armor resin. With bended knees and a straight back, Amy followed her aunt’s instructions on lifting without causing back pain. The neck bands of his helm buckled and snapped as she pulled. The only thing different today was that Amy did not have several books on her head to correct her posture. No, what I have instead is the illusion of two frigging large, blood red bat-like wings flapping to help me keep my balance!

Without the helm, his scent hits Amy, and she knew what he was under the armor. She screamed out so Ice could hear her. “They are only turnlings!”

Well, humans have racism, so why can’t we be specie-ist? A lot of vampires were against the whole idea of turning humans. And as to them being used to attack full-bloods? Well, how would a human react to the idea of being savaged by a Jello sandwich?

If nothing else, it reactivated Ice. Well, of course it would. The shame of being taken down by a turned human would be something that she could never live down at the tournaments. She may have been near exhaustion after her fancy egg trick, but she now leaped onto the shoulder of the one that had hit Max over the head with a chunk of wood.

She was magnificent in pale blue and white fur. Oh CRAP! Amy either had full silver poisoning or her inner vamp had picked a frigging dumb time to show her the world in full-color blood memory images with surround sound.

At this point, she thought the turnling she was fighting had died, as unbeknownst to Amy, her inner vamp had uses the same helm-removing technique on his head as she did on his helm. Perhaps it was only a wild guess at him being dead for a second time, but Amy was now covered in his blood, and she saw his body fall to the ground minus a head, which she thought was the sort of clue one should not ignore.

She heard a whoop of joy coming from Ice, who had done the same with the other turnling and was now acting as if she had just fought her way though bargain hunters to grab a pair of shoes just her size.

At last, the fight was going their way, and with more numbers, Amy thought that they could turn this into a victory for female vampire power. In fact, we may even get some good pictures to go up on our Fangbook pages.

Then the crap hit the fan as the vamp that was just standing watching the fighting removed his helm. His scent hit the full-bloods like a lemon-scented wetwipe wrapped around a lump of granite. It no longer mattered that there were only a few of them left. We have lost!

Amy’s inner vamp took a vacation as she found herself thrown hard against a tombstone, and he had not even moved! He must have, she thought. Either that or he can brush me away with a flick of his fingers, which is impossible. She saw that Ice also received the same treatment and was lying stunned on the ground.

Without the helm, Amy now knew that he was an old male and a very full frigging vampire with a capital V. I must have said before, but males give off a kinda musk so you know how high up they are in the pecking order, and this one comes on the level called T Rex. She tried to stand, but her legs give way. She slumped back to the ground and watched him walk over to where Ice lay in a heap and lift her by her hair to bring her up to his eye level.

Sominus

Sominus took a bite from Ice’s neck and licked his lips. He then ripped off her modesty amulet and dropped her back to the ground without even bothering to seal her neck wounds.

“What is this, a little snow maiden? Well, after tonight you can forget about the maiden part or ever seeing the cold outside world again. We will have you de-fanged and de-clawed, season enriched and carrying a child within a week.”

“I don’t know what you think this little toy you wear is: so very clever of your nest to have nice amulets made for the most valuable breeders. Of course, it is nothing more than a female tracker to keep the best chained to the nest, and it made you so easy to find by us. Without this, you are considered renegade, and a runaway from your birth nest is collectible.”

There were no smouldering fingers, more just a puff of smoke as it imploded in the palm of his hand

“As I said, what we have found is a valuable renegade or runaway, and we are fully in our rights to rescue you.”

His image blurred, and he was now in front of Amy. He removed and crushed her amulet as he sunk his teeth into her.

“Now, you are what we are after! We have waited a long time to locate the likes of you, little Salamander! Young, pre pupae and weak: no need for you to worry about the chill of the outside any more, little fire child! Just like your cold girlfriend, I will find some nice, warm breeding chambers for you to be brought into heat.”

A human may have slapped him, but Amy wasn’t and so she didn’t do the girly stuff. Instead, she landed her fist as hard as she could on his nose. For her efforts, she just got pissed off, as he did not even seem to notice it. To make things worse, he laughed and gently patted her head!

“Relax, little one, and stay relaxed until we have need of your body later.”

As Amy felt her body go limp, he handed her over to one of the males, who without effort threw her over a shoulder. It was a fancy verbal command, and she was helpless. This was so not fair! Males and their idea that they could use it anytime they wanted. She was not going to end up in some vampire harem discussing knitting patterned for baby clothes. She could even feel her mind start to go fluffy as it also relaxed. Amy could only guess that Ice was being treated the same, as she had no energy to look about. She guessed that Max would be killed now or taken as some sort of hostage in case their nest members came after them.

A-Me

A-Me slid back in. She did not know what the powerful male had done to her other self, but he would pay for it. And as for giving her a child, it would be the last thing he would ever do with his male parts. After mating, all males were weaker and vulnerable, and this ugly male would have his male parts inside her a second time: very deep inside her, as she digested them. As to making noises to frighten her body sister, well, let him try that again when he was missing his throat.

“I am here, mistress, and I have brought with me the ones you requested. I await your command, mistress.”

A change of plans: as A-Me passed on picture images to her creature and collected information on what was going to happen, she commanded her turned pet to stay clear as she sprung off the shoulders of the male mule she was riding, scratching his face with her foot claws at the same time.

Bambi was the only one to see her mistress spread her wonderful wings, powerful blood red wings, and leap high to drop down on the largest male in the group. No fancy voice commands could or would stop her mistress. She watched as the male obtained a very pretty head covering of red and black fur along with 20 sharp claws and teeth that would make a saber-toothed tiger jealous, and she was showing them up close and personally to the fur hat wearer.

Mooning at the church

Amy now found that she was back in the fight, as all fatigue had vanished from her body. With a flip in the air, she landed on the big male’s shoulders and thought that perhaps she was the only one to notice as she lashed out with every sharp part of her anatomy. She now felt what her inner vamp knew; with a shimmering in the air, help was arriving! She may have taken this brute by surprise, but all Amy could really do was take his attention away from the arrivals (and hopefully at least bite off an ear to make him pay for the crass comments he had made).

“If you can possibly stop playing with children and spare me a moment or two, I would be much obliged.”

Vampires (as Amy had said like a million times now) were 90% all about style, along with looking and acting the part and a passion for the red stuff. The remaining 10% was left for the claws, fangs and mental attitude of a mass murderer on acid.

The arrival was none other than Valerius, and at his feet were the bodies of three now ex-surviving attackers. One was missing his head, and the other two had large holes in their chests. From the stained arms of Valerius’ jacket, it looked like he had just punched a hole through their ribcages, which with them wearing the fancy armor should have been impossible. I must remember not to piss him off in the future, Amy thought.

As the big male gently removed Amy, she realized that the only reason so far that she had not pissed down his neck was that her inner vampire couldn’t work out how to undo Amy’s pants.

Amy wasn’t joking. She could feel what her inner vamp was thinking, and she agreed that releasing a full bladder into someone’s face could piss them off in more ways than one.

The big male grabbed her by one of her feet, which was part of a matching pair attempting to gut him with her claws, and pulled hard, possibly forgetting that her hand claws were still tangled in his head hair after the last failed attempt to claw out his eyes. When she landed heavily on the ground some 20 feet away, she still had a good clump of his hair with her.

Amy landed at the feet of the only person the nest ever sent out: the big boss, Valerius.

“YOU! Someone wants to kidnap you? You as a sex object? Well, now I have seen it all!”

He looked over to-what should I call him? Amy thought. Well, to be nice, “kidnapper,” but in truth, far more words came to mind, and most of them had connections to bodily functions.

“You had plans to kidnap and have sex with this? Why? It is almost as young as it looks and still wild. I don’t normally comment on vampire perversions, but wouldn’t it be more decent to try for ones a little bit more-how should I put it? Better endowed?”

Amy knew that he was doing his normal crappy acting part to piss off the kidnapper, but it was not helping her self confidence. Look, even in vamp society, how many times do I have to say that my body is Asian-style and therefore normal! I am not supposed to have a bust that would make me look like a frigging milk cow!

The kidnapper brushed himself off and acted like nothing had happened, Amy playfully started to pick out hairs from her claws and drop them. She thought that Miss Inner Vamp must have gone to put her feet up somewhere.

“Please keep out of this; you should know that I have full collection rights in all ten territories on any un-nested fertile female discovered. No harm would of course befall them, and they will fulfil their normal bodily functions as nature intended within a nest of my choice. If you are trying to claim them for your own nest, then a request can be submitted in writing.”

The more time she spent living in the vampire world, the more Amy realized how close they were to animals (partly due to all those living wildlife documentaries her aunt had forced her to watch). She knew that what was going on was two dominant males lining up and kicking up dust with their back hooves. Now she pictured creatures with Latin names who walked the earth 60 million years ago and knocked down full grown trees as they turned to face each other and diden’t even notice. These were big beasts who had even larger male egos,

She had attacked the kidnapper with everything her inner vamp had, and all Amy had done was pluck a few hairs. He could have killed her at anytime he wanted (the same with Valerius). Being female, Amy was more like a cat to kick; they may enjoy doing it, but does not get you any male brownie points.

Valerius pointed to Amy and asked her to stand. He masked it, but she could smell his anger. It was more of a feeling than a smell, like static electricity. Amy felt the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention when he pointed at her, and that was not the sort of body reaction she liked having.

“Child, I am going to ask you some questions, and you will answer just the question I ask: nothing more. Do not give me feelings, thoughts or ideas: only the full truth as simply as you can. What I will ask is very important; do you understand?”

So I am no longer just a female but a child now!

His eyes burned into hers, which was not good as it woke up her inner vamp, who showed Amy his true image, and it was not pretty. It may have been just a blood memory, but his wing span had to be about 25 – 30 feet. What was between the wings was best described as black and perhaps the original for the Disney’s Fantasia night on bald mountain.

Amy answered, “Yes, my lord; I am yours to command.”

He called Bambi over and removed a modesty amulet from her neck. After all the fuss Ice made when I wore one when I was not branded in gold, now the maids have them!!!

As she took it, she noticed that it looked identical to the one the kidnapper had removed from her, disappointingly not getting his fingers burn when he did.

“Do you know what it is, child?”

So still with the child? Not that I will say anything, she thought, as he is getting into his acting mode, and today he is playing lawyer. Amy had seen his acting skills several times now, and she wasn’t kidding to say that he did it so well that he could kill an audience with his skill and timing.

“Yes, lord. It is a modesty disc to stop pervy guys from looking up your skirt to see your rank brand.”

He smiled like a snake, and Amy just prayed that she had said the right thing.

“And tell me, do you also wear one to stop pervy guys from looking up your skirts? Or don’t you, as I don’t see one on you? Perhaps you like raising your skirts to guys?”

Amy couldn’t control her tongue.

“Of course I had one. I’m an alpha; you made me an alpha after sniffing my underwear. And I would still have one if that bastard over there that can’t keep his dick in his pants had not ripped it off me! And it didn’t burn his fingers like it should have!”

At this point, Amy expected him to hit her, but instead he winked. She didn’t know what to make of that.

“Well, child, you can’t expect me to remember all the girls’ underwear I have sniffed over the years, so let’s be quite certain you have been clearly marked. Please show our visitor with the active pants your markings.”

Amy still didn’t understand why her brand had to be located on the hip? Apart from a thong, which I have to admit I have never worn due to the fact that I like my underwear to stay on the outside of my body, I have nothing in my wardrobe that would make it easy to show off a hip brand.

Skin-tight leather pants were not easy to get on and almost impossible to get off after one has been sweating. Amy just knew that he was doing this to her because of the underwear sniffing comment.

Bambi ran over to help her roll them down over her hips and then carefully stood in front to give Amy a little modesty cover. I guess I will find out next time I load up Fangbook how much cover I actually had, she thought, as Amy just knew someone in the graveyard had a camera pointed at her right now (even if it is just one of the corpses).

Valerius now came over to Amy, and she expect him to take out one of those big magnifying glasses that stamp collectors use and start counting her goose pimples. Graveyards are not warm at the best of times, let alone when you are mooning the local church.

“Well, that is a very neat and also very clear branding. Would you care to take a closer look?”

The kidnapper at last made a comment. “It was not noticed, and the female did not show it to us. But it makes no difference. It is too late now; she was away from the protection of her nest, so renegade.”

As he was saying this crap, Amy was pulling things back up in place. Now she knew the meaning of getting your undies in a bunch; heck, well, they can stay that way. I’m not stripping again.

Amy never knew why people let Valerius do what he did; he turned every place into a court room, and people just accepted that it was normal up to the point where it was hard to stop him without acting guilty.

“Just stop this foolishness at once; whatever you say does not mean anything. I am fully in my rights. Just move out of the way, or I will kill you,” the kidnapper said.

“Please, have a little patience. Just one last question to the child, as I just need to make things clear for the record so that we do not have this sort of problem again.”

Valerius turned to Amy. “Child, please answer clearly so that we do not take up anymore of the lord’s ti-”

Now, for the first time, Amy saw him stop in midsentence.

“I said, I have no time for this foolish verbal diarrhea of yours. Retreat or arm yourself, as if you are still here after I count to three, I will kill you.”

Now was the time to slowly back away, which Amy did. Actually, it was not that slow, as she almost tripped over twice while doing it. As if I would take my eyes off them! I may be a valuable piece of merchandise (or, rather, some of my more personal and intimate internal bits are), but so is a Ming vase, and they always end up broken during a fight, sometimes by being used to hit the opponent with. Amy didn’t want today to be the day to discover what it was like to be that valuable or breakable.

“I hope that you will be honorable and allow me the weapon of my choice. I do so find that humans from Japan make some very nice weapons.”

A Praetorian Guard opened a case and offered a long Japanese sword to Valerius, which Valerius tested using wrist movements and stances seen in many Japanese martial arts movie.

The kidnapper gave a flick of his fingers in bored agreement.

“You are very kind, and in return, please allow me to offer for you the same advantage, along with whatever body armor you find comfortable.”

The last of the kidnapper’s men handed his boss a helm along with a Japanese samurai sword of his own.

“You do get above yourself. You should know that you cannot hope to match my skills in fighting. I still can offer you your life, but I will take the females with me. If not, then let’s settle the matter like true vampires.”

Valerius replaced the sword in the case and picked another sword to test, which also looked to be unsuitable.

“Will you get on with it? Pick your weapon, or I will cut you down empty handed!”

Valerius sighed as he handed the blade to the guard and reached inside the case again. This time, he lifted out something covered with a silk cloth, tied with golden cords, and tasselled at each corner. There was a slight hum when he held it, which turned into a load roar as several pointed things with flames coming from their butts one after another followed some little red dots that had appeared on the kidnapper’s chest.

He was fast; Amy would give him that. If he had been a little further away or even had moved before Valerius locked the computerized tracking system onto him, then he may have gotten away. Whatever the things following the kidnapper through the air were, they made a funny noise as they got faster, which they did not ever show in war films.

The way they changed direction to follow him was really cool, and when they did reach him, you did not get the hit replays: just a blinding flash, a roar and lots and lot of bits of ex-vampire. No, vampires didn’t rise from the dead, and even if they did, most of that ex-vamp would need to do it from the insides of rats and other creatures interested in a slice of roasted vamp.

When they say older vampires are almost indestructible, the word to take note of is “almost.” Yes, they still had to worry about stakes through the heart and beheading, which can even kill a zombie, but then the easy-to-kill ones have already been killed. Those that are left are the almost indestructible ones.

The problem was that no one ever talked about things like the modern computerized tracking missiles, which have been designed to take down jets travelling several times faster than the speed of sound. What Valerius now placed back in its box must have been some new boy toy for him to play with.

Amy expected that the human designers designed the thing he used to be bolt mounted on the ground or perhaps to a tank due to its weight and kickback when fired, but then, human designers had not taken into consideration a vampire lord with a liking of Japanese weaponry and the very pissed-off attitude of an actor who had not been allowed to finish his act. Okay, that was unfair; even if he had finished his act, he still would have been pissed off. The way he had dismembered the last of the kidnapper’s men was messy to say the least. It must be a male thing of marking one’s territory, and I for one am relived he does not pee on marker posts like werewolves to delineate his kingdom.

Dad the Tyrant

Amy was more shocked than she would have thought possible at discovering that the great nest tyrant was Max and Ice’s father! He was acting more like a father than a tyrant when he turned to lay into his children.

“Not only have you shamed me with your failure to protect females in your control, but you placed your sister’s life in danger. Believe me, you will be punished for that.”

“As you have said, it was fully your fault your sister’s life was in danger; you shall have her punishment as well as your own. I will think about what your punishment will be, but in the meantime, your sister’s is easy. I so hope you will enjoy the five-year ballet course you will take in her place. I will instruct your maids to measure you for the tu tu or what ever the male equivalent is.”

He turned to Ice.

“Not a word. You are also a disappointment to me. Your brother is taking your punishment for leaving the nest without my permission and for putting you in danger, but as for your own pathetic skills in protecting your honor, I can now see it is wanting, and after the expense of private tuition, that creature there………..”

Yes, it was me he was referring to, and tonight I have gone from female to child to creature. Amy desperately wanted to leave before it was her turn in front of him, but he was not letting Ice go yet.

“………was the only one still fighting when I arrived, plus the only one able to send for help!”

“Do you think your mother would have been so easily defeated? I remember your mother was able to hit me so hard that I almost lost a fang on one occasion, and she loved me. Yet some untrained savage was still fighting and what were you doing? Taking a nap or about to offer to raise your tail to them?”

“Well, the private tuition ends today. If high school can teach the likes of that creature to cover her tail, then let’s see if it can at least teach you how to kill your classmates. I will arrange your placement as soon as we return.”

He didn’t see her fight; she was awesome! Amy thought. I was the first one down, not Ice, and Max stood over her to protect her. And now she is almost in tears, and frigging crap! It’s my turn!

He turned to Amy and started prodding her in the chest with a clawed finger, which was painful, as he was denting her Helsing breast armor with just his finger.

“YOU! It is always you! Isn’t killing humans enough for you now? Are you planning to wipe out the whole vampire species on your own? We are already in a cold war with one nest due to you; now, look what you have done!”

Me? Why me? It’s not that I ask for things to happen! Well, I don’t!

He summoned a guard to bring Bambi, and he leaned forward.

“This bimbo thing of yours is unacceptable, and you should not even know how to create personal slaves, let alone try it out on a nest maid. Well, you can keep her for the time being, but she is your responsibility. Whatever she does wrong, you will get the full blame for as she is fully yours. Nest turning and training is done for a reason, and you have broken that, so don’t be surprised if she now starts fighting with other nest maids or fouling the sidewalk. And if she does, then you will have to clean it up. Believe me when I say I will personally be keeping a very watchful eye upon you both from now on. Forget about any stupid ideas on personal freedom; if you so much as fart out of tune, I will know!”

Max and Ice

Amy allowed herself to slump down against a tombstone while Bambi fussed over her cuts.

Valerius had not finished. His acting performance had been cut off far too soon, so he was now acting like bad news incarnate as he gave an order to one of the guards.

“Please return to the nest and inform the head of Homeland security that I have accepted his resignation.”

That sounded bad, but with vampires, some jobs were for life, so it was not good to be the one taking or receiving that sort of message.

Amy could then hear him talking to Max and Ice about her, a full history of her: what she had been up to. He was covering some very personal stuff from her past, things you did not want shared with your friends (certainly not with your boyfriend).

She wondered if she could perhaps dig into a grave and stay out of sight for a century or so, as from tonight she may no longer have a boyfriend. Valerius was using the graveyard as a command center, as he had people clean up the area before lots of blue flashing lights appeared.

Amy braced herself and went to stand by Max and Ice. She tried to put forward her side of the story after what she had heard Valerius tell them.

“I am so sorry to get you into trouble with your father!”

Not that Amy knew he was their father until tonight. Okay, she also did not know their father was the obnoxious male chauvinist pig that she kept meeting every time she accidentally ended up starting a war or going on a mass killing. She also did not know her boyfriend’s father was the pervert that had sniffed her undies in front of the high council.

“I know he just warned you about me and some of my-err, more colorful past events. But I was there at most of them and would like you to hear my side.”

Amy took a long breath and got ready to do the standard vamp monologue, hoping to explain her side of things.

“Look, I don’t remember ever looking like I wanted to have sex with your father. He is just too old, yuck! Like, no way! Ever, ever, ever, okay?”

“And I didn’t really have sex with a girl in front of the whole Praetorian Guard, it just looked that way. Besides, just because a girl was having a blood high and even if she was having sex with me, it doesn’t necessary follow that I was having sex with her!

“I only gave her a ring because she asked for one; I didn’t know it meant I was claiming her as my personal sex slave.”

“And before tonight it was only one male that I killed by ripping his throat out with my teeth.”

“And no, I did not then eat him. I don’t normally eat vampires. I think I just chewed and swallowed what I had in my mouth after I bit him. That was all, and it was not that he even tasted that good. Besides, it was only three or four mouthfuls before he threw me off.”

“And the female that attacked me was still living when your father arrived, and I didn’t piss on her. Maybe I was thinking about it, but I did not. It was your father who killed her. Okay, so I did piss on the one in the tournament, but I was really desperate to go at the time and my inner vamp is a little earthy in her actions.”

“Helping start a blood feud between two houses was an accident. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, that was all.”

“The massacre on 22nd and 3rd was greatly exaggerated by the human newspapers and not altogether my fault. It was my very first hunting trip, and a girl should not be judged by her first bite night. And no one ever talks about me saving the life of that cat. Besides, most of them kind of killed themselves without any help from me.”

“Okay, not the ones that shot me, but killing them was a normal warning reaction to having one’s lunch try to kill you.”

“As for the drug baron, technically he died due to gravity. Jumping off the roof killed him, not me trying to bite him.”

“My maids’ name is Bambi, not Bimbo, and she doesn’t sleep with me every night: just sometimes. Okay, most nights, but not every night. Look, we are girls, and it’s normal; just ask your sister.”

“Yes, okay. Your father is right. I don’t know how he knows, but we do sleep in the nude. But that is only because Bambi has sensitive skin.”

“And he is mistaken about me trying to rape my uncle after I was first brought to the nest. All I was doing was sitting on his lap naked trying to bring him back to life, and it was my aunt’s idea that we should both be naked.”

“Well, my aunt throws a wobbly if I get my clothes dirty! And I was then forced to wear damp panties for the rest of the day.”

Amy finished her monologue and looked toward the brother and sister to see them just standing with their mouths open.

“Well, are you just going to stand there catching flies, or are you going to say something?”

Ice raised her eyes and with a giggle

“Best not give him any more information, Amy; his mind will not get past the naked sleeping with your maid yet!”

Max closed his mouth and smiled (or maybe more grinned).

“Err, well, that’s okay, then: all sorted. Do you think we would be pushing our luck if we sneaked off somewhere on the way back to the nest and had sex before being grounded for life? After all, this is the third date. I was kind of hoping for some third-base activity at the very least, and I am sure I can get Ice to turn her back or at least close her eyes?”

If nothing else, Amy thought, Max is definitely male, which means stupid, dumb and always ready to put his foot in his mouth. Okay, so also very hot: not that I need to tell him that. So she kneed him in the nuts and said, “Guess!”

He bent forward a little but was still able to stand, which meant Amy made a mental note to do it harder next time (but perhaps not while his father was watching and looking like he might come over and inspect any possible grandchild-creating-equipment damage).

“Owww! Okay, shall I take that as a possible maybe, then? Or even something that we can put on the list for date number four?”

Yes, Amy thought, definitely male, cute, hot, and dumb. And she loved him for all those positive male qualities.

Then Ice cut in and looked a lot more happy than she had earlier.

“Stop bugging her, Maxy; that sort of decision has to be discussed between girls beforehand, so as her best friend, we will talk it over during milk break, or whatever is the norm at school nowadays, and let you know your chances.”

“Oh, Amy, why do think you can brag about your exciting life and then think we will not be jealous? Gee, you are just so lucky! Well, you are not allowed to have all that sort of fun on your own ever again.”

“Today has been just so exciting! We must find lots more rules to break! And didn’t you see that Daddy was only faking his anger for the guards? You have to watch for the little signs, like still being alive.”

“I have been trying to get out of boring home school for years and have the chance to meet more people like Amy! Wow! Like a whole school of potential victims!”

“And now who has her mouth open, Miss Pinkbat?”

Chapter 19

The Tyrant’s Lair

Phabian did not know if it was an honor or a death sentence to be invited for a meeting on the top floor; no one ever ventured to the top of the building without an invite, as the whole of the top floor was nicknamed the Valerius Lair.

Not that it was particularly private, as the head of the council constantly said his door was always open to visitors. Phabian expected a window and a very long drop offering spectacular views all the way down from this pinnacle of a skyscraper.

It was the sort of area that in the human world would have very large males guarding it: the type of male that would wear sunglasses 24/7 and own lots of handmade, expensive tailored suits (all of which he was in the process of growing out of).

As the elevator door opened, Phabian saw some ancient-looking clerks wearing the latest fashion for the 1650s that gave two impressions: one, that not only the clothing would turn to dust if they tried to change, and two that they were the closest thing he had even seen to a picture book or magic lantern showing that of which humans called zombies.

The clerks were a surprise to him; from the smell of decay, they used to be human: not the normal undead servants but personally turned humans and not nest-controlled, which as far as he could remember was illegal. They were of a great age, which proved that they were well-looked after by their blood master and would defend him with their lives, which in their case would mean a deadly attack by quill and ink, along with a well-aimed heavy ledger. Not that they would ever be called upon for such protection, as the tyrant could kill any vampire in the nest without even taking his jacket off, but he was not above the rules. Having personal undead was flaunting his power, and Phabian thought that someone should say something about it, so he duly made a mental note that whoever that someone was, it would not be him.

Valerius did not need guards; true, he took guards with him when he went out, but that was only for show. He had been head of the council for a very long time, and in a kill-or-be-killed world of vampires, that should give you a very strong hint why the other council members called him a VMD (Vampire of mass destruction), but not to his face.

It was rumored that he had hundreds of specialized meeting rooms created and many furnished to fit into different time periods, all with genuine antiques to help create the correct atmosphere for the style of meeting that was planned. They said the room with the guillotine was the very one that was used to cut off the head of the King of France, and it was still in full working order.

Phabian was relived to discover that the room that one of the clerks led him to did not contain any antiques, deadly or not. It was just a room, an enormous room with dark walls and a very large desk at the far end, where the head of the council sat reading some paperwork that had just been placed before him. He followed the clerk, who motioned for him to sit, and as he did, Valerius looked up over his steeple fingers and spoke.

“Ah, what perfect timing! I was just checking the documents before you sign them, and then I can have one of my staff show you to your new office; would the 25th floor be to your liking? It has, I am told, some wonderful views over the gardens, and one of the better offices has just become available due to the previous occupant having a terminal accident, which is planned for later today.”

The head of the council could have offered a newly dug grave and ask if it was to his liking, for all the good Phabian thought it would do to refuse.

“May I ask if and how the paper I am about to sign is linked to an office with such a nice garden view?”

A smiling Valerius was a worrying sight when seen at a distance and even more so from a few feet away and aimed directly at you.

“But of course you can; it’s all due to your promotion, as you will from today be on my team of personal advisers, and you must have an office to work in. Well, what would people say if my son’s future father-in-law did not have a respected position in the nest? Think of it as part of a dowry and but the first step in your new career, for as soon as the first child is born, you will be voted unanimously onto the council, as I believe a place will become vacant due to ill health or death if the person decides to get better.”

The words “fait accompli” came to Phabian’s mind; they were good words, and he now wondered what else he had agreed to in Valerius’ mind: not that it mattered, as whatever it was, he must have already agreed to it willingly, as he was still alive. He recognized what the document was before him: a standard betrothal document, a marriage contract between Valerius’ son Maxamillion and his adopted Hell Cat of a daughter, Amelia. Of course, as head of the household, he could say no, which would mean he would be killed and the next head of the household would be asked, but he either needed to play for time or find himself just as dead when is his sister discovered he had just signed a marriage contract without telling her.

And as to Amy ever finding out, well, his sister had been training her well to be a normal, obedient female vampire, and so she would kill him at the first oppertunity.

“It would, of course, be a great honor for our humble house to be linked to one as noble as yours, and I would take it as a personal favor if I could mention it as a formality to my sister and adopted daughter first before signing.”

Smiling again, Valerius waved a hand towards a wall, which immediately turned into a wall-sized screen showing a very ornate and definitely female-decorated stately room where a female stood as if waiting for the call, which he spoke to.

“I trust your little welcoming committee meeting went well, my dear, and everyone left happy?”

The beautiful female that now filled the wall smiled as she replied, “Yes, my husband. It was a most enjoyable gathering, and everyone was so pleased to meet our newest member to the Ladies Domestic Circle. I am sure the Lady Nyx will make a wonderful addition to our numbers, and she has already volunteered some of her precious time to our little causes!”

The words Ladies Domestic Circle said it all to Phabian; the LDC ran the nest. Everything that needed a female touch was somehow linked to the LDC, and that meant the running of the whole nest. His sister had just been made part of the highest of the female circles of power and control, and so now all he had to worry about was not letting Amy know anything about her engagement until she came into heat, at which time she would not care who or what she was engaged to as long as it was male.

Phabian picked up a pen and signed carefully in all the places marked for him to do so.

A clerk collected up the document, carefully checked that it was in order, and took it away.

“My son’s bloodline is as you know one of the best in the nest: only to be exceeded by his sister, whose ancient bloodline that runs through the female offspring will one day, with the right mate, breed children that will be the nest’s future leaders. But your adopted little foundling shows to have a bloodline if not as old but perhaps even older, meaning that like my daughter, her abilities are still developing. We need to study her further, and your task will be to search out her origins. Are there any other members of her family hidden out in the wilds?”

“We will also need to know what the other houses know of her; such a well-planned kidnap attempt was not an accident, nor was it for my daughter alone. Such a powerful fighting squad was looking to obtain an extra renegade breeding female.”

“You will, of course, devote all of your time and energy to this task and supply me with weekly reports.”

Valerius once again waved his hand at a wall, which now showed a wonderful underground garden of little waterfalls, pools of warm bubbling water and a colorful range of plants and fungi. Phabian could make out movement in the distance near one of the pools, and the camera zoomed in. It showed two people lying next to each other, and not just any two people, as he would recognize a certain little Hell Cat of his anywhere.

And well, at least they were still dressed, or at least wearing under garments, which looked wet. They had been swimming and were now drying off on the hot stones. Male and female vampire getting naked and doing things together was so common that it seemed like it was not just a norm but almost a rule, and he found it somehow amusing that Amy would break rules by finding a deserted spot to swim with a male and then insist that they would keep some clothing on! She was a teenager, so breaking rules was a given, but the way she did it was kind of unique.

Apart from the fact he liked to show off that he had cameras everywhere, Phabian waited to see if this was for a purpose apart from voyeurism. Then again, anything that Valerius did had a purpose, so he watched and waited.

“As you may be aware, over the past few years, some couples have requested that arranged marriage contracts be annulled, which usually happens before the female comes into heat. This has caused embarrassment to the families involved, as the council has to look into things. Therefore, a clause has now been added that when the male and female in question have reached an age to make their own decisions, they can give their own consent by a mutual offering and accepting of blood. This has to be done of their own free will and of course must be witnessed and recorded by the heads of both houses, so please watch carefully.”

The image on the wall now showed Amy make a small cut on her wrist with her index claw. She held it out to Max so that he could suck on it, and as he did so, she sank her teeth into his arm. For a little while, they lay together, gently sucking, until Amy stopped. She pulled her arm away, grabbed him by his hair, forced him onto his back, and started kissing him. The image faded.

Valerius signed a piece of paper with the title “Consent by the named confirmed by a mutual offering and accepting of blood to take place ……., witnessed by” and passed it over to Phabian to do the same.

“Well, that certainly looks like a free-will decision to me, so just sign under my name, and it will be filed away along with the film clip as full complacence by the named betrothed in the marriage contract. I just don’t understand it. I remember quite clearly telling my son not to go anywhere near the new park project, as it will not be open to the public due to the time it takes for the more delicate fungi to establish themselves.” He sighed. “I do find that children never listen to what anyone says. Oh, well! They are young, so they can be forgiven.”

“As they look to enjoy the wonders of nature so much, I think that when your daughter next comes into heat, we can seal them both together in the park for a few weeks as a wedding present. With luck, the first child will be male.”

Chapter 20

At last, things were good

For a change, life was going okay for Amy. At last, things were good: really good. I’m an alpha female, so maybe not a vampire queen, but heck! All it takes is a little brand of gold, and I can act like a spoilt princess. People just put it down to inbreeding (whatever that is), and my oddities are now ignored.

As she stood in a deserted underground park wearing wet undies, she thought that life was finally turning around for her. I have just been swimming, okay? Huh! You have minds like a toilet!

She was facing a super hot, cute guy who was definitely her boyfriend. His eyes were closed, and he was counting.

Her aunt and uncle were acting very nice to her, trusting her when she told them that she was off to see Ice, whereas she was actually hanging out with her brother. No more stupid talk from my aunt on how a young girl should prepare her body for future marriage, which as far as I can tell means the ability to hang upside down for hours and peel oranges with one’s foot claws. Well, I am so not going to ask what that has to do with being married for fear of being told, and I just hope it is only one of my aunt’s little oddities. If not, I am good at hanging upside down and peeling oranges with my feet, but not at the same time as I tend to drop the oranges.

The reason for them acting so nice was blindingly obvious; it was nothing to do with Amy directly but instead the fact that her uncle had landed himself a very fancy job on Valerius’ staff. Amy had no idea what he was doing, but it meant a status increase for the Pinkbat family, so her aunt now had joined lots of upper level nest committees. The family name going up in rank was also good for her at school; even Mouse was no longer trying to kill her in class by throwing something large and heavy and forgetting to say duck. The dumb ass now says I should always make sure I kill an opponent as quickly as I can so that they do not have a chance of hurting me! Okay, those were not his words; his words were more on the lines of kill anyone that looks at you oddly and make sure you protect your womb when fighting. See? What did I tell you? He’s a frigging loon!

It was a shock to find out her boyfriend’s dad was the top set of fangs in the nest and had kind of banned them from seeing each other (as if that will stop us). The nest was the size of a human city and had millions of places to hang out together, so that even a mega tyrant like Max’s dad couldn’t find them, plus I have been super bright and stuffed his present in a lead bag when I see Max.

The present was a surprise, and it turned up one day out of the blue. Actually, it was more of a shock, and Amy hoped the giver, Ice’s father, was not having any icky ideas about her, as she was not into antiques. She did ask Ice, but she just laughed and said her mom would kill him. Males could have human sex pets and maids and sort of do what they liked, but they have to be discreet when taking other full-bloods, unless they have very good life insurance.

The present? Well, Ice and Amy had both lost their modesty discs, and their replacements were a bit over the top replacements. They would be called bling if you could call something that cost over $50K bling.

Ice’s disc was solid platinum with a large blue sapphire on one side and on the reverse, the outline of a bat picked out in diamonds on a jet background. Amy’s was solid yellow gold with a massive ruby, also reversible. It had a bat shape in diamonds on a jet background, and it was the nicest thing she had ever owned.

She understand why Valerius would buy something so fancy for his daughter, but why for her? It’s not that he even likes me, and knowing his normal sense of humor, I would have expected something more on the lines of a dog collar. Perhaps it was a gift for her helping Ice and Max in the fight (not that I am going to ask in case he changes his mind and asks for it back). Should she wear it? Of course I do! It is like so me, and as a modesty disc, no one, and I mean no one would ever dare ask to look up my dress.

Of course, Amy wasn’t stupid; it was also a magical tracking device that not only told Valerius where she was but also gave the wearer a 240-volt shock upon removal. Well, it used to, but it stopped doing that when Amy started using it to power an electric fan heater for her bedroom. Just like magic rings, you just have to show them who is in control. She still used it to power her heater, but because it was magic and telepathic and a little intelligent, it knew that if it ever complained about being used as a portable power supply or was so stupid to ever give her a shock, then she could always find bigger things for it to power.

She always had it with her and never let it out of her sight. Amy kept it in a lead box when meeting Max, along with when she slept and took a bath or shower, as it would not have surprised her if it also had a built-in video camera. That was another reason why I no longer stand in front of a mirror when getting dressed.

At this point, Max stopped counting and opened his eyes.

“Err …..You are still here! I thought you were going to hide so that I can find you? Why else did you want me to close my eyes and count to 500?”

Guys were dumb, but Amy liked them that way.

“Look, do you want me to go hide or stay here with you and make out? Well, which is it to be?”

As a smile crossed his lips, Amy pounced on him, knocking him to the ground and plunging her teeth into his skin. She begin to lap up his juices like a cat.

Amy glanced up at the noise behind her and saw Ice leaving the pool. She was fully naked, as she said she wouldn’t swim (let alone walk about the place) in wet undies as it was rude. Don’t ask; I don’t know what it means, either.

She took a look at them and shook her head.

“Well, I think it is just perverted, you swimming in underwear. And now, to make matters worse, I have left you alone for near on an hour: hint, hint. Alone: get it?”

“Just what is wrong with you both? Leaving you alone means get naked fast and have sex: lots of it before I get back, in case I come back too soon, which of course I would not as I would be watching and arrive just as you fall back exhausted. Well, I am not staying in the water any longer as I’m going all wrinkly, so you will now just have to do it in front of me as I am hungry.”

Ice sat down. She was still naked, and she crossed her legs and started to pat herself dry, slowly and carefully, all over like an extra in a porno movie. Since Amy could see what she had had for lunch, perhaps covering herself with a towel may have been an idea. Ice, however, did not look that interested in trying the idea as she squeezed water from her hair.

“Well, if you are hungry, you can always take a bite of your brother. He is like so tasty.”

Amy thought that it was fun to watch Ice turn green and almost be sick from the idea of drinking Max’s blood. And it was also worth it to get her to close her legs and go put some clothing on. “Oh, yuck! That is such a gross idea. Even just the idea makes me want to chuck up. Pervs! You are both pervs! I’m going to find something or someone to eat!”

Amy was still learning the rules of being a vampire, and now she had a new fact to add to her book, which was now finished. It may not tell you everything on surviving life as a teenage vampire, but the facts have kept me alive till now.

Remember to look out for it: Fangs Rule: A Girl’s Guide to Being a Vampire). As Ice now wandered off, leaving them alone, Amy extended her fangs to the maximum. Knowing my bestie, she will give us lots of time on our own.

Her fangs were an impressive show, and the sight of them really excited Max in just the right places (if you know what I mean, and if you don’t, you are way too young, so go play with your stuffed bats).

Amy turned to Max and hissed, “So what are you waiting for? If you can’t think of anything else to do, at least bite me!” k12

Max

Trust me on this, I’m a Vampire

The underground park

Fangs Rule:
A Girls Guide to Being a Vampire

ISBN: 9781874192480
www.FangsRule.com

Learn all the secrets of vampire life, this is the book that Amy was writing in this story

Amy

Table of Contents

- Vampire
- Copyright Page
- Chapter 1 -Trust Me; I’m a Vampire
- Chapter 2 What the Heck?
- Chapter 3 Awake
- Chapter 4 Roof Top Romance ….as if
- Chapter 5 Stupid Convos and Whatever

- Chapter 6 Vampire Books (err, no; that should be Books on Vampires)

- Chapter 7 Icky days of being a female blood sucker

- Chapter 8 Regina and the Sex Pet Group
- Chapter 9 The Nest
- Chapter 10 Nice bed and sooo nice a sleep
- Chapter 11 Of Belonging
- Chapter 12 Bored
- Chapter 13 A Night out on the Town
- Chapter 14 High School Never Ends
- Chapter 15 The Great Excape
- Chapter 16 Sexy Dreams
- Chapter 17 Hygiene Matters
- Chapter 18 Chinese Takeout
- Chapter 19 The Tyrant’s Lair
- Chapter 20 At last, things were good