For millions of
years a rogue meteor hurtles through space towards Earth, glowing from the vast
fields of radiation through which it has passed. A primitive human female gazes
in wonder as the burning invader hurtles toward the ground, unaware of the
great beast stalking her. All three meet in an instant. Flash forward to the
present, yes, she is still here, she has always been here, stalking us, feeding
off us, and so have those she has created.
Now, here's the final version of the first chapter.
Immortal Tigress
By
Prudence MacLeod
Copyright, Prudence MacLeod, 01/01/ 2012
Need
In the beginning
there was need. She was only dimly aware of the world around her, a world
filled with wonder, and yet fraught with danger. She was only aware of need; the
need for food, for drink, safety from attack, fire for warmth and
protection.
As she grew
there came a new need, a need to mate, but that was not to be, for she had
grown too tall and strong too quickly, and thus she was shunned by the
others. Eventually she became insistent
and was driven away from the clan, for her sheer size and strength frightened
them.
Alone and
hungry, she sat beside a small tree near a stream, mourning, and trying to warm
herself as she filled her empty belly with sweet grasses. Slowly she became
aware of a fire in the sky. Gazing in wonder at the thing that grew steadily
nearer, she was unaware of the danger stalking her. The fire from the sky hit
the ground and exploded just as the great beast pounced. The beast tore at her
body, but was itself shredded by the exploding fireball.
Wounded and
terrified, she lay beneath the body of the great cat, its life blood pouring
out across her lips, while a strange glowing mist fell upon them. For a moment
she drank greedily of the blood, and then fainted away.
The body of the
long toothed cat was still laying half across her when awareness returned, but
the glowing mist was gone. The sun was up, and for some reason it disturbed
her, and hurt her eyes. With a mighty heave she thrust the beast’s carcass away
and leaped to her feet, her wounds healed, and her great strength returned,
redoubled. She wrenched a long fang with which to make a weapon, from the jaw
of the cat. A moment later she found shelter from the sun among the trees. She
would wait for darkness, and then she would hunt. She wanted, needed, the taste
of the blood again. Now there was a stronger need than any she had ever known.
Murdered
“Vampire?
Preposterous.” John West met the eyes of all four of his friends and the stranger.
“I don’t believe a word of it.”
“Please John, I
know you think you love your wife, but do you really or is it just some
compulsion she has laid on you?” The tall man began to sputter, but his friends
hurried on. “John, how many times have you awakened to find your bed empty?”
“Ella often
walks the gardens at night…”
“Yes she does,”
oozed the stranger in the room, a man with dark skin, cruel eyes, and a scar
down the side of his face, wearing the garb of a priest. He’d said his name was
Mobutu. “Don’t you find that habit a bit odd, Mr. West?”
“Vampire. I just can’t believe that my wife is a
vampire.” John West was visibly shaken and he was beginning to waver.
“Has she ever
injured herself, Mr. West?” asked the priest. “If so, does she heal remarkably
well? Do things that should damage the body seem to leave her unaffected? Has
she aged in the fifteen years of your marriage?”
The harangue
went on for hours and eventually they wore him down. John West sat, his head in
his hands, shaking as he finally accepted what he was being told. “What am I
going to do?”
The priest rose
and passed him a vial. “This is laudanum, it will induce sleep; make certain
she drinks it all. You must do this tonight before she goes for her walk. We
shall be waiting for your signal. Once she is unconscious we will come to you
and deal with the rest.”
* * * * *
“Ella, I know
you prefer to stay indoors during the day. Thank you so much for accompanying
me.”
“My skin burns
too easily, Margaret, but it is a dark and cloudy day today, I will be fine.”
“Ella, what is
it? You’re sniffing the air like my husband’s old hound.”
“I thought I
smelled something vile.”
“Of course you
did; we’re not that far from London. Ah, here we are, Dr. Lawson’s surgery.
Just make yourself comfortable, Ella. I’m sure I won’t be long.”
The tall woman
settled into a leather-bound chair to wait for her friend to be finished with
the doctor. She tried reading, but could not focus on the print. Her mind
wandered back over the years, thousands of years beyond anything a human could
remember. She remembered the first time she had caught that scent. “Mobutu,”
she snarled as she ran that first meeting through her mind.
The world had
been younger then and far from civilized. She had discovered there were others
like her, but not quite the same. She had managed to gain control over the
killing lust, but the others had not. Ella had stalked and killed them, one by
one. He was the last.
She’d come upon
him in a small clearing. He was tearing his victim apart slowly, trying to
elicit more screams. An errant draft of wind had taken her scent to him just
before she charged. He escaped. Snarling in rage at the miss, she dispatched
the poor broken female he had been torturing. His scent was strong in her
nostrils for she had raked him down the face and his blood was on the ground.
She had stood
snarling, testing the breeze for his scent when his voice drifted down to her
from the cliff above. “I have escaped you, you murderous old hag,” he’d shouted
in a thick accent. “I will hunt you now. I am Mobutu; I will become your
death.”
Ella had hurled
herself at the cliff face, but he was long gone by the time she reached the
top. It was several hundred years before they met again.
Over the
centuries she’d encountered him again and again. She could always tell when he
was near. The sheer savagery of the slaughter would give him away. He could
only control the killing lust for a short time.
Ten he would go on a murderous rampage. Mobutu had attacked her several
times, but each time she slew him and sent the bones to Africa, hoping he would
stay there.
Ella was
becoming civilized and was loathe to permanently destroy the last of Tegra’s
line. Mobutu, on the other hand, was driven to greater madness with each
defeat. Throughout much of Africa he was feared as a demon, many villages made
human sacrifices to him to keep him away. It rarely worked.
Shaking off the
mood, Ella laid aside the book; Margaret was returning. She rose and left the
building with her friend chatting happily about her illness. Margaret continued
to prattle on, but Ella was barely listening, she was on the alert for Mobutu’s
scent once again.
At length they
arrived at Margaret’s door. “Ella, thank you for accompanying me today. It is
nearly dusk and I am so afraid of walking these paths alone after dark. Will
you be all right alone, or shall I send for a carriage to take you home?”
“I have no fear
of the dark, Margaret,” smiled Ella. “I will be fine. You get some rest; I will
see you again tomorrow.”
Ella soon left
the road and took the path through the woods to her home. She’d hope to
encounter Mobutu, but he was not to be seen. Laying aside her cloak and gloves,
she went into the study where she found her husband nursing a glass of sherry.
“Ah, there you are, Ella. Will you have a glass of sherry with me?”
“Of course, John. Are you feeling well? You look exhausted.”
“Rough day at
the exchange, my darling; I don’t want to burden you with it.” He passed her a
glass then held up his own for a toast. “Here’s to a better tomorrow.”
They clinked
glasses and drank. “This sherry tastes a little off, John.”
“Nonsense, Ella,
it will do you good. You’ve been out in the dampness again; I don’t want you to
catch a chill.”
Somewhat
dubious, Ella drank the sherry. A few moments later she was feeling unwell. “I
think I shall retire to bed, John. I do not feel well.”
“Of course
dear.”
She made it to
her bedroom and fell onto the bed. Something was terribly wrong, Ella had never
been sick in all her unnaturally long life. To her horror, her limbs stopped
responding to her commands, but her mind was clear. John stepped into the room
to check on her. “John, send for the doctor, I cannot move my arms or legs.”
“What? Ella, how is it that you are still awake? You
should be unconscious by now.”
“John, what have
you done?” Ella fought to keep the panic from her voice.
“Forgive me,
Ella, but I have done this to save your immortal soul as well as countless
innocent lives.”
“What are you
talking about? John, what have you done to me?”
Her pleading fell
on deaf ears; he did not answer. Trembling, he took the lamp and signaled at
the window then fled the room. A few moments later she heard voices from the
bottom of the stairs. Mobutu!
“She is awake,
but paralyzed. That was not laudanum; what did you do?” Her husband’s voice was
shaking with barely controlled emotion.
“Forgive me, Mr.
West, I had to deceive you. She must be awake when I exorcise the demon within
her,” oozed Mobutu’s voice. “First I must drive out the demon to save her soul,
and then I must destroy the body to permanently rid the world of the vampire. I
will not ask you gentlemen to observe this, but I must ask you to ignore any
and all sounds that come from that room until I call you to enter.” He stopped
speaking and there were footsteps on the stairs.
The door to her
room opened and his maddened eyes met hers. “You will not escape me this time.
I knew I would eventually succeed. There can be only one immortal, only one
god.” He laughed cruelly as he walked to her side and dropped a huge bag on the
bed. Her mind screamed for movement, but her body refused. She thrashed her
head wildly, but all to no avail. “Struggle all you wish, I will enjoy it. You
cannot move, and you cannot transform. The effect of the drug will wear off in
a few hours, but you will not be alive by then.”
He pulled a long
wooden stake, a hammer, and a rusty short sword from his bag. “The stake will
not kill you, but I must because those gullible fools below believe that is how
you kill a vampire. I will then cut off your vile head for I know that is how I
can truly destroy you.”
“Mobutu…”
“No,” he hissed
as he smashed his fist into her face. “The only sounds you will make are
screams. His eyes were wild and his body trembled with the effort of
controlling the rage that burned within him. Mobutu seized up the stake and,
ignoring the hammer, drove the stake through her body. Unable to move or make
any sound except a screaming moan of pain, Ella fought for unconsciousness, but
it would not come.
“I know all
about your eight little children,” he slavered right at her face. “My next task
will to kill them all, one by one. I will erase all your line from the earth. I
am the only god.” Ella could only moan and watch in horror as he swept up the
rusty blade and began hacking at her neck. As he finally severed her head,
consciousness left her.
“It is done,”
declared Mobutu as he descended the stairs carrying her head by the hair. Two
of the men below were instantly sick, losing their last meal. “You must bury
the body without a marker and disguise the grave. Burn this house to the ground
and declare Mrs. West perished in the fire. I will take the head far away so
the vampire can never return.”
“No!” John West
faced Mobutu, a double barreled shotgun in his hands. “I betrayed Ella, and she loved me. I will
take her head to our country house in the Lake District. I will bury her there
where she loved the view. That should be far enough away.”
“That is unwise.
You are distraught…”
“Yes I am.” John
leveled the gun right at Mobutu’s head. “I have already committed one murder
this night, priest, another will matter little. Put her down and get out of my
house.”
Mobutu trembled
with the effort of controlling the killing lust within him, but that damned
shotgun could take his head off. “As you wish, Mr. West, but I caution you all
to follow my instructions. Should the vampire revive, she will go on a killing
rampage. The last thing you want is a vengeful vampire on your hands.” He left
the house, but slipped into the trees where he watched as the men buried the
body, disguised the grave then set the house afire. John West, an ornate box
under his arm, saddled his horse and rode away.
Mobutu nodded in
satisfaction, tore the priest’s collar from his neck, and slipped away. “Now
for that accursed Saxon; I believe he is in Germany.”
* * * * *
John West
finally arrived at his estate in the Lake District. Tears streamed down his
face as he buried his wife’s head where she could see the view.
Over the
following two years he drank heavily, a fact remarked upon by the locals. After
one bright full moon he vanished from the area.
A few weeks
after John disappeared from the Lake District, a ragged man staggered up to the
remains of a burned out house. He drank deeply from a bottle then tossed the
empty aside. He searched for a while, and then took out an ornate box and a
small spade from his pack.
“I know this
isn’t the exact spot, my love, but I cannot find where they buried you. This
will have to be close enough.” He buried the box and disguised the place. He
pulled out a fresh bottle and drank deeply.
Down the hill he went until he reached the narrow stone bridge over the
stream. Another deep draught from the bottle then John West pulled a pistol
from his pack, stuck the barrel into his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
Ohhh... I'm enjoying this. When will the rest be available?? :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer. I hope to have it out in February. I'm almost done with the re-writes. (I hope)
DeleteMe too! The premise intrigues me!
ReplyDeleteThanks Serena. :)
ReplyDeleteI want more NOW! That was thoroughly captivating! I can't wait to read the whole thing! Great work!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's nearly ready. One more round with the editor and then the cover. Shouldn't take that long. :)
DeleteWow! Talk about a great intro! I'm so excited to read it! A vampire story from Prudence MacLeod is a real treat!
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do if you ever met a real vampire who didn't want to eat you? Just curious;-)
Thanks Alyssa, it should be ready soon.
DeleteIf I met a vampire who was willing to talk I'd want to hear her story. Imaging all the stories an immortal would have.
oooo more please! Very exciting.
ReplyDeleteHi Maia, my editor is giving it the final check this week and then we go for the cover. Look for the book in early February. :)
ReplyDeleteI love it, Pru; Vampires are a common theme in my work so it was great to see someone else's take. I agree with the others; I want more!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ash, I'll be working on the third draft this week. Hopefully it will be ready in February.
DeleteVery cool intro Prudence! Great hook! I'm very excited for you, having yet another book come out. Woot woot.
ReplyDeleteThanks Debra, this is the first draft of the chapter, it has been tidied up a bit since. Yeah, I am really pleased with this one. I hope it goes over well.
DeleteHey, Skip. Not to worry old friend, the sequel has already begun. I have a couple of chapters written and should have the book ready next spring. Thanks for the kind words. I am pleased you enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete