Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

Gabrielle opened her eyes as she slowly returned to consciousness. She could feel that it was daytime and she wondered what had woken her. Then she realized there was something wet on her face and she tentatively tasted it. It was bitter and she spat it out. She heard a groan next to her and looked over to find Clark groggily sitting up.

"God damn it," Clark muttered, and felt the side of her face, the scent of smelling salts still strong in her nostrils.

"Are you okay?" Gabrielle asked, and Clark nodded.

"Good morning," Cynthia greeted them, and they both finally noticed they weren't alone in the torch lit chamber. "I trust you slept well. I do apologize for letting you sleep so late, but I was hoping you would wake up on your own."

"Fuck you," Clark mumbled, as her head pounded in sync with her throbbing jaw.

Cynthia snapped her fingers and a vampire stepped forward. He was covered from head to foot in black, including his face, and even his eyes had darkened plastic over them. He held out a glass of water and two white tablets in his gloved hands.

"Take those. It's a little more powerful than aspirin and should get rid of your headache. I'm sure my sister can take care of her own healing."

Clark smacked the water and drugs away and heard the glass shatter on the stone floor.

"My, my, we woke up cranky this morning," Cynthia clucked. "I guess I'll have to leave your healing up to my sister as well."

Gabrielle looked sharply at Cynthia. No one alive, besides Clark and Kevyn, knew of her ability to heal others.

"Oh, I don't mind. I'll wait," Cynthia said and crossed her legs beneath her sheer wrappings.

Clark waved Gabrielle away as if to say not to worry about her headache, but Gabrielle placed a hand on her head anyway and checked for broken bones and swelling. It took her less than ten minutes to repair the bruising and lessen the inflammation. When she was finished, she kissed the top of Clark's head and stood up, and then helped Clark to her feet as well.

"Aw, that was so sweet," Cynthia purred. Then she sat up straight. "Well, let's get down to business then, shall we? Here's the deal. Gabrielle, you have to promise to stop meddling in human affairs, or I'll kill Clark here. And Clark, you have to swear never to attack a vampire in the Ninth Orders and above, or I'll kill Gabrielle. Now, aren't these easy choices? Come on, what's your answer?" Cynthia asked impatiently.

"You can't possibly expect me to agree to those kinds of terms. And how are you going to enforce them? You're not nearly as powerful as I am," Gabrielle pointed out confidently.

"You're right, but I have abilities that far outweigh my limitations," Cynthia replied calmly and then tapped a hidden button on the armrest of her chair.

An opening suddenly appeared in the ceiling and the room was bathed in sunlight as the gap continued to widen. Gabrielle tried to outrun the light, but she barely managed to get out of its path and find shelter in a corner of the tomb. Her cloak protected most of her body, but she'd been blinded and the sun's rays had singed her face.

Clark stood dumbfounded as she watched Cynthia stand up and walk nonchalantly into the light. Her see-through white clothing seemed to be illuminated from the inside out as the sunlight filtered through the fabric from overhead. Clark couldn't help but notice how beautiful her body was, though it was the thought that this was probably what Gabrielle looked like naked that sent her libido into a bit of a tailspin.

Watching a known vampire stand in direct sunlight and not burn to a crisp was the most surreal thing Clark had ever witnessed. On top of that, Clark wished more than anything else that she were seeing Gabrielle this way, instead of her twin.

"Well, Gabrielle? Aren't you going to stop me? I could easily kill the Hunter if I wanted."

Cynthia turned her head to look at Clark and paused. Clark couldn't stop staring at her. Cynthia suddenly realized she had an excellent bargaining chip with Clark, if not Gabrielle.

"Is there something you want?" Cynthia smiled knowingly as she asked Clark the question. "We'll talk later," she promised, right before she hit Clark and knocked her out again.

Cynthia walked over to the huddled form of her sister and motioned for several vamps to hold her. Gabrielle started to struggle as soon as she felt the strong hands attempting to grab her.

"I'll kill Clark if you continue to struggle, so if you value her life, stop fighting," Cynthia threatened and Gabrielle stopped moving. "Thank you," Cynthia said brightly.

When she was sure they had her pinned, Cynthia reached under Gabrielle's cloak and sprayed her face with the same potion she'd used on her before. Gabrielle's body went limp.

"That's an unfortunate little handicap you have there," Cynthia acknowledged sadly to the unconscious mass. "I wonder if the Hunter would like to help you with that," she said to herself before looking up at the other vampires. "Take her to the Entrance room. And bring the Hunter to my chambers."

~\/^^^\/~

Clark felt awareness trying to come in, but she pushed it away. It was nice and quiet where she was and she didn't want to be disturbed. A flash of Gabrielle, only not Gabrielle, standing in a bright ray of sunlight caused her to sit bolt upright, and she blinked her eyes a few times to clear them of the haze.

"Good dream?" Cynthia asked.

Clark turned her head and looked up from where she'd been lying on the dirt floor. She found Cynthia reclining on a large bed canopied with transparent fabric similar to what the vampire was wearing.

Clark gingerly got to her feet and felt her face. It was swollen as though Gabrielle had never healed her.

"You know, humans are very fragile creatures. It's really just their intelligence that has kept them alive for so long. Your abilities to rise above your own inadequacies and conquer... well, basically, everything... is quite amazing to me. See, that's why I don't understand my sister. She says she wants to help you. But why? You don't need any help. I think you're doing just fine on your own, don't you?"

"She's worried about what we're doing to the planet, that's all," Clark replied and looked around for a place to sit.

"Oh, there's a chair by that wall you can use," Cynthia offered.

Clark pulled it over and sat.

"Well, lets get on with it," Clark said, but Cynthia looked blank.

"Get on with what?"

"This," Clark gestured at the mostly naked vampire on the bed. "You're going to try to seduce me and get me to turn against Gabrielle. The sooner you begin, the sooner I can turn you down, and then we can move on," Clark said matter-of-factly.

Cynthia chuckled.

"That wasn't quite what I had in mind. No offense, but you're a human and that's just... eww. No, I have no intention of fucking a member of my food group. I would, however, like to come to an agreement with you. Before, I said that in exchange for your promise not to hunt the upper echelons, I wouldn't kill Gabrielle. You never actually said no, but I thought I might sweeten the deal, as your kind likes to say. How would you like to see Gabrielle walking in the sun? Without being burned to ashes in a matter of seconds."

Clark knew she wasn't hiding her feelings very well by the look of triumph that went across Cynthia's face. But this just seemed too good to be true.

"You're that afraid of me?" Clark asked, though her tone wasn't insulting.

"Concerned would be a more appropriate term. You're a strong human, though there is vampire blood in you, much as you would like to refuse to believe it. But I could very easily kill you now and be done with it. And there is no place in this world that you could hide from me should I let you go now and change my mind later. No, what concerns me is what you represent with you and Gabrielle together. There is a much larger picture that you seem to be unaware of."

"And what's that?" Clark asked.

Cynthia smiled.

"Oh, I'm afraid it's not that easy. You already know more than you should. So, one last chance. Promise to ignore the Ninth Orders and above, and you'll get to spend your nights and your days with the vampire you love."

Clark wanted to nod her head. She could go back to hunting down what she now knew were the youngest vampires the way she had for the past decade, and Gabrielle would never have to fear the sun again. In fact, if Gabrielle became a daywalker, as many fables termed vampires capable of running around in the daytime, she would be on more even ground with Cynthia.

Clark almost said yes. Her head almost started to nod and her mouth opened to speak in the affirmative. But she couldn't do it. First, she didn't like having anyone placing limits on her activities, and second, as much as she loved Gabrielle, she couldn't give her that kind of invulnerability. Gabrielle was already immortal and possessed abilities that made her as close to a super being as one could get without actually being one. If the offer had been to make Gabrielle human, she might have accepted, but even then, she would have first had to ask Gabrielle if that's what she wanted, and Clark had a feeling it wasn't.

"No," Clark said simply.

Cynthia shook her head, but she didn't seem too disappointed.

"Oh well, you can't say I didn't try. But lets move on, shall we?" Cynthia said.

Then she attacked.