Blood Mother. A Vampire Tale

Chapter 32: Dimitri

Dimitri sat in the warehouse awaiting dusk and thinking of Tessa. He wondered if there would be a signal from her to let him speak. He knew how she felt about vampires. He had been keeping tabs on her since his memories returned and his ability to feel had started. If she knew about his past she may never forgive him. Never agree to let him have the peace of at least knowing she didn't hate him forever. He didn't expect love or friendship but those feelings and memories of life with her were too precious to be spoiled by remembering her tortured face when fainting just from the sight of him.

When he first woke up after Luka had turned him he was ferocious. All he could think or feel was hunger. Everything felt distant except for thirst. He spent weeks locked in a cellar clawing to get out. His muscles burned in pain as they hardened. His body felt as if it were being peeled layer by layer. The hair on his body causing him agony as it dried up and fell off leaving only shining pale cold skin. His eyes felt exposed to fire whenever they were exposed to light. But worse than any other pain was his throat. Nothing compared to the desert heat and acid burn of his throat.

At that beginning stage he remembered Tessa in small quick flashes. He felt tormented at the dreams of tender embraces ending in him ripping out her throat and drinking her dry. Telling himself it was all past and done. He worked at stopping trying to grasp memories.

Luka came to feed him every few days. Only from himself to strengthen the bond and connection. He was being raised as second in command based on his loyalty as a human. Soon random women and men from the streets were thrown in like rats. Cowering in corners and screaming. He delighted in the struggle and capture of his first tasty meals.

As he adapted, he learned to keep the humans alive for days. Making them talk, playing with them as if he were another prisoner, charming them, and then killing them only when the thirst was too much to bear.

When Luka took him out for his first hunt it was all he could do to obey and not kill every human he smelled. His senses were heightened.  He could hear heartbeats and smell sweat. He was overloaded with desire to hunt and satisfy his never ending thirst. These are the days that made him want to change the process, become a leader that creates a new and better way.

He remembers the second outing , in which Luka had been taken to a room of young trafficked slaves where he had gorged and slaughtered every last human there. Luka chastised him for being greedy. Telling him that massacring everything was wasteful and would compromise not only the hidden existence of their kind but eliminate the food source all together. He was put in the cellar for days without food.

When Luka came again Dimitri was filled with a desire to please and a hunger intensely painful. Luka took him to a small home on the outskirts of a town far from their dwelling. They entered the home to the shock of the woman and the small humans. Dimitri could hear the woman speaking but her words were overpowered by the thrum of her heartbeat and the sound of the blood coursing quickly through the small ones. A boy stood up and moved from the table; his heart rapid calling to Dimitri. He emptied the boy within a heartbeat to stop the burning in his throat.

There was a struggle between Luka and the woman. Because she was occupied with Luka he moved to the next human still feeling the pain of thirst. He moved his body to a chair and practiced his charming on the small human girl. Calming her and making her numb. She obeyed instantly. As oblivious to her mother and Luka as he was. He beckoned her to his lap and she willingly obeyed. His hunger burned and his need for food after days without were too strong and again he drained the small child quickly. He had no knowledge then of children or women or men, all he knew were that they were food and he must eat.

The woman was still screaming and clawing at Luka. She held on to a dead human too small for a meal and dragged it into the corner. Her smell was one Dimitri had never experienced and it repulsed him. He turned to Luka ready to flee happy to finally have stopped the agonizing burn in his throat.

"She cannot live. You've taken her children. They were hers. Her connection to life. You must finish or turn her, my blood is still present in yours. A wounded animal like this is is always better to dispose of."

Dimitri looked at the woman. Now still, her dead eyes staring only at the small human. He bent down and sank his fangs into her. Her blood was cold and bitter. He felt blackness swallow him and a wave of feeling hit him. At that moment he knew what it felt like to have nothing, to be hopeless, to lose. He spit her blood upon the floor. It's bitter taste like poison.

"It is bitter and vile. She is sick or tainted. I would rather suffer hunger than this." 

Luka bit the inside of her wrist. Drinking for a moment and stopping to swish the blood around in his mouth before swallowing.

"Interesting. It tastes fine to me. But bring her. She shall be the first under you. She will change as you did. And forget this pathetic life. You have found your restraint and left one alive. You are learning quickly."

Dimitri carried her to a warehouse for those changing. He threw her in the pile hoping to never see her again. Her bitter blood still burning his tongue. Her feelings of blackness sitting in him. Leaving him struggling to understand what to do with the ability to feel at all. It was the beginning of his change into newness, feeling, emotion. A curse for his cruelty.

As he tried to turn off the memories Dimitri felt his connection to Luka spark. His hum strengthened and he felt a distress call. He was far away and the sun was up but still he sprang up. He paced as the hum vibrated throughout his being and tried calling out to his maker with his mind.

When the silence hit him he fell to the floor. The hum gone, and his body fully aware of a disconnection from Luka. He could not sit by and wait for dusk. He raced for the door and at lightning speed followed his memory of the last signal. 

As he approached the restaurant in lightening speed he saw the broken front window  and entered despite the sun. He grabbed a tablecloth and threw it over his head and arms for some protection to his burning white skin. He found Luka lying in a pool of blackened blood under a table. A long spike of wood lodged in his head.

The man  who had been with Tessa lay beside him. Covered in blood and unmoving. He sensed a slow beat of his heart.  He remembered the way the man had rushed to Tessa's side when she fell. How his heartbeat had quickened as he picked her up. How he had tucked her gently in the car and knew they meant something to each other.

Taking the human, Hoyt, underground would be too dangerous as soon it would be filled with people. Already he could feel humans hiding with quick hearts in nearby buildings.

He picked Hoyt up deciding he would give him to Tessa tonight at their meeting. A gift for her heartache. A kindness. Something to repair the damage from years of her suffering. He had no belief of the idea of them being together but her happiness would be something.

As he carried the wounded man to the boat to wait for dusk his skin burned and smoked. He felt the pain of every step but was fueled by the belief that he could finally right some of the past. He stumbled onto the deck of the boat and almost fell as the searing rays of the sun beat upon him.

His vampire speed was slower with the pain and the human with the erratic heart weighed him down. His vision swam and he could swear he saw Tessa was coming out of the ship. He tried to comprehend seeing her bloodied and without clothes as she ran to him. Her eyes going from Dimitri to Hoyt over and over. The glint of sunlight shining off her hand was the only warning Dimitri had as she slid her dagger into his chest.

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I wouldn't mind a bit of advice here. Dimitri got his ability to feel from Calina's deep despair. I feel it's a bit redundant to hear Calina's story agin even though it's from Dimitri's perspective. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks for reading. Any votes or comments are truly appreciated.