9Thicker than Blood
By: Tatiana Knight
Prologue
Paris, France - August 7th, 1842;
Lucien Gautier was sitting in his study holding a glass of brandy. He still had his day clothes on. He wore his white cotton shirt and his dark waistcoat his riding coat was over the back of his chair, he also wore the black trousers, white breeches, and his riding boots.
It was casual day attire but he wore it during his nights, since he spent his days sleeping in a darkened room. He swirled the brandy that was in his glass around, watching it through the thick crystal. He swallowed the rest and smoothed down his goatee as he stared at the fire that was blazing the the fireplace.
His hair was black and long, secured in the back with a leather tie letting a few smaller strands that didn't make it in the tie fall into his face to cover his eyes. His deep, blue eyes were transfixed on the red-orange movement of the fire. His frame was tall and thin, he towered over many a man and was thinner than most.
He was jostled out of his thoughts when a quiet knock sounded on the thick door, "Monsieur Gautier?" Genevieve, the house maid asked through the door.
"Enter," Lucien answered to her call.
He grabbed the bottle of brandy off the floor and poured more into his small glass as she came in. Genevieve was a small girl of about four and twenty; a girl from Lyon, France with dull blond hair that was always bound to her head with pins and pale blue eyes that he'd rarely seen hilarity in, she had thin lips that were never painted and that never smiled. She always wore dark gray dresses that bound her tightly inside, it made her stand straight, almost painfully straight. "Monsieur, the cook wonders if you are to eat tonight?"
"Yes, I would like lamb tonight, rare." He told her absently as he gulped down his glass of alcohol. He needed to dull his senses, his hunger was becoming to much and he had no time to go find someone to sate it for him.
"Of course, Monsieur Gautier." Genevieve curtsied before rushing out of the study and closing the door behind her quickly in a rustle of skirts and petticoats.
The household staff feared him but dared not to leave, he controlled their pay and also didn't want a scandal to darken their own names. They thought he didn't hear the whispers within the house, of why he slept during the day. They believed he secretly kept a mistress that crept in at night while they all slept and wore him out so he had to stay abed all day. Others believed him a witch. Then a few questioned him as a vampire.
The ones who thought the latter didn't know how right they were. He was a vampire, he'd been one for the past two years.
He'd been turned by a man who he didn't know and didn't see after his transition. It happened when he went on a stroll late one night to clear his head, he'd been grabbed a block away from his estate and bitten by a man. Though Lucien fought the man, who was thinner than him, the mysterious man seemed to have the strength of ten men as he easily took each of Lucien's blows.
Lucien was afraid when the man bit him, he felt his blood leaving his body with every suck of the other man's mouth. He felt his knees giving way and his body going cold and limp. The man pulled away just as Lucien was on the brink of death. The man looked at him with curious eyes, "Do you wish to live? Be young and beautiful for all of eternity, to never age a day or get a wrinkle."
Lucien meant to shake his head but he had no strength. He didn't mean to surrender to weight to the vampire he wanted to push away from him. The man took that as a yes and removed a hand from Lucien as he sliced a cut over his carotid artery and moved Lucien's face to the wound that was oozing blood.
Lucien tried to fight in his weakened state and got out a small 'no' but the vampire didn't listen and forced his mouth onto the wound, "Drink and live again."
He succumbed to the vampire's will and drank in his blood, gagging at the weird taste, choking on it.
When vampire forced him away and told him, "Go home and sleep. When you wake you will be one of us."
Lucien had walked out of the alleyway and to his estate in a daze, he didn't he have to think of doing it. His body seemed to do it on its own as if he was possessed.
Once to his home he entered it and walked up to his room, closing and locking the door before pulling the Samite curtains, which were a heavy black silk that was interwoven with gold.
He undressed before spilling himself into his bed and falling to sleep, only to dream of blood and death...
Lucien had woken up confused and disoriented. He was in pain. His muscles ached but he had no reason for it, he sat up and looked around his dark room. He could see everything, the paper that covered the walls and the wood that covered the floor clearly, even though it was dark.
He sat there examining the room with his new site and listening to the house with his new hearing.
He heard a knock on the door which pulled Lucien out of his memories and he looked at the door again, "I have brought you your supper, Monsieur Gautier."
"Enter," Lucien told her in a slightly cold voice. It was the second time that night he had been interrupted from his thoughts and it wasn't even eight.
Genevieve came in carrying a tray that held a slice of lamb, potatoes, and a glass of dark red wine from the Langmeil Vineyard which was in Australia and had prospered the year he was made into the beast he was.
Genevieve set the tray down on his desk and kept her eyes adverted to the floor. Her blood roared in his extra-sensitive ears, he could smell it as if it were in the glass of brandy he'd just taken a drink from.
He knew he wouldn't be able to hold out any longer. He had to have what she could provide him.
"Is there anything else you will need, Monsieur?" She asked quietly, not even looking at him while she spoke.
"Yes, I will be needing something. Come forward Genevieve," Lucien purred to her.
Genevieve shuffled her feet slowly as she went towards Lucien, it was obvious that she was afraid of what was going to happen. It was all over her mind, she was afraid that he'd seduce her, that he'd force her into a sexual act.
"Be calm," he told her in an almost demanding time. "I will not harm you."
She stood in front of his chair, her blue eyes on his feet and her heart beating quickly of fear. Lucien stood up and stood over her, towering about a foot over her.
"The walls have ears, Genevieve," he murmured to her, setting his hands on her shoulder and pulling her closer so his mouth was by her ear. "They hear what you and the other maids speculate about me. They hear and they tell me." As he talked his lips brushed her ear on a couple of occasions. He heard her heart pounding faster, "Although, I want to hear from you what you believe me to be."
"Monsieur... I must go," She breathed, she couldn't make it sound forceful even if she wanted to.
"No you do not, Genevieve. Now I wish to have an answer. What is it you think I am," He asked forcefully, squeezing her arms.
"I... I... I believe you to be a witch. A witch of dark magic." She whispered trying to pull away.
He smirked, "Why do you think such things?"
"Why else would you leave at sunset and return at sunrise; you also sleep during the daylight hours. They have said they see you with your cauldron and with your sacrifices!"
"Who fills your head with such lies?"
Genevieve's breathing picked up as Lucien's mouth went to her jawline, "I.. I must go Monsieur. Please, release me."
"Answer me Genevieve," he growled.
"Violette. She tells me she sees you at night, behind the stables. She tells all of us you are the one taking the horses so you can slaughter them and use their blood to perform your witchcraft."
Lucien's mouth twitched upwards involuntarily at the nonsense the maid was saying. His lips went to her neck, brushing them around until he felt her strong plus beneath his lips. "They are wrong Genevieve and you shouldn't have believed in such nonsense."
Lucien's fangs grew and he bit into her neck, her body jerked against his and she groaned, clutching his shirt and pulling at it in pain. He drank from her, taking in the taste of the blood that was solely hers.
When he pulled away, he licked he neck to closed the wound before rubbing the back of his hand against his mouth, she was holding onto his shirt lightly and had surrendered her weight to him. "When you awake tomorrow you wont remember what happened this night." He ordered.
Genevieve pulled away from him and left the room quietly, closing the door behind her. Lucien stood there, a sigh coming from him as he turned and went to the window which was still covered by the Samite curtains he drew over them every dawn, and pulled them open before opening the glass balcony doors.
He stepped into the cool night air before going over to the rail and looking out into Paris. This was his home. This is where he would stay until the end of time. He sighed contently at the breeze blowing his hair out of his face, the quiet filled his ears.