Bondage in Blood Ch. 01

"Lestat, we need to talk!"

Her eyes were like piercing daggers in the darkness of the crypt. I took a seat opposite and gestured for her to proceed.

"Lestat we have lived this life together for 7 months now you and I. I am grateful to you for giving it to me and sparing me a pathetic bed-ridden death from illness, and I'm still grateful to you for everything you have done for me as a mortal, but something has become clear to me more and more these last nights! Do you remember Lestat, that ever since you sired me and I became a Vampire such as yourself, I could scale towers, run on rooftops and even hear the thoughts of other vampires slightly better than you did?"

"Yes, I do... It amazed me at the time, with you being newly-made and I being already a few months old, but we still found no answer to it."

"No, we did not - at least not a definitive one. Do you also remember how I told you that if I were you I would break ties with our mortal family and how at first I begged you to not provoke the vampires in Armand's coven? Do you?"

Her tone was cutting the heavy dust-ridden air of the crypt - stern and authoritative, powerful as only the voices of our kind could be. I could think of many objections to what she had said. I could point out that she had only warned to stay away from the other vampires at first mostly out of fear, not deliberation, that she easily acquiesced after I didn't heed her, that in the past few weeks it was she who didn't want to leave any more as she said we must still learn whatever secrets Armand is still keeping, but there was a very determined presence about her that made me swallow those thoughts back. All I could manage then was a simple "Yes"

"Had you listened to me back then, how many evils could've been prevented?"

This hurt. Everything that happened to Nicolas and those dozens of vampires burnt by Armand... There's no certainty he wouldn't have still kidnapped Nicolas, as I had already sparked their ire by having entered churches and lived amongst humans or even by giving the "dark trick", as they call it, to my dying mother, which they all saw as selfish and blasphemous. But perhaps she was right - maybe if we fled instead of still encroaching on what Armand saw as his domain none of the tragedies of the past few months would've happened.

"Many I think, but none of us knew at the time"

"And yet even after you should've known better, even tonight, you faltered in killing a vampire who tricked you, seduced you and almost killed you. A vampire who hated us both and has killed dozens like us!"

"It's hard to explain, Gabrielle, but he was too helpless-"

"Ah and see, here is your problem my love! You, unlike me, have never truly embraced what you are! You never let go of your human morality and this has led you to make many poor judgements! You wanted to fight the coven because of a wounded pride at first and later revenge and loyalty to Nicolas. You embraced Nicolas, in spite of my warnings, because of your sincere love for him and now he hates you more than ever before and has shattered the illusion of what you believed were years of friendship and happiness with him both back in Auvergne and on the streets of Paris. You wanted to spare Armand because of feelings of pity, which would've been your gravest mistake and perhaps our undoing. Can't you see it? Loyalty, friendship, love, pity... all mortal feelings which made you suffer and deny you your true nature!"

"And what is that nature, mother? What alternative morality do you propose?" A note of fury could easily be perceived in my tone. She had spoken to me of her fascination with our bestial nature and abilities many time already, of how we should embrace the love we have for each other alone and turn our backs to the human world, and in spite of agreeing with much of what she had said before I couldn't hide my irritation at the discussion taking this turn.

"We are predators of the Savage Garden, Lestat! Armand and his coven made the foolish mistake of thinking all vampires servants of Satan and wasting away their existences in crypts wearing rags, performing needless rituals and only killing in dark places, in perpetual fear of the God that they strongly believed in and thought had damned them. You saw this clearly - why then can't you see that you also make a foolish mistake? Both of us dress like humans, attend their balls, theatres, opera and coffee houses, feed in crowded taverns and enjoy immortality, but your mistake is that you still see them, our prey, our food, our fooled pawns who entertain us, as your friends, your family or as innocents deserving of mercy!"

"You have still not answered my question, Gabrielle. What is your alternative?"

"That you do as I do! Glide through the night as a dark angel of death, enjoying every kill and every drop of blood you take as much as your favourite plays! That you let the predator in you embrace immortality and sever its tether to the world of the living, to their morals, to remorse, to suffering, to those 2 elder brothers and father who always looked down on you and made your childhood a living hell, and that we indulge in the pure finer pleasures this life has to give!"

"You speak with great conviction. But I don't think I can just renounce everything as you-"

"Then we shall do it step by step, my love! We have all the time in the world, don't we?" She let out a powerful laugh, fixing me with her eyes and adding "And the first logical step is for you... to relinquish control! To entrust me to guide both our destinies and thus escape this suffering of your own making!"

Her powerful voice accentuated every single word. Her face was an icon of clarity, as white and graceful as a marble Venus looking down at me, the immortal who wanted to be mortal, confused and clueless and by now feeling as sick and weak as if I had not fed at all for days. Looking... down? Then I realized that she was, and had been for a while no longer sitting on the chair on the other side but on the round table itself facing me. I could've made many counterpoints - a part of me wanted to. But the part tired of everything, tired of Nicolas's deception, of Armand's schemes and depression, the part of me transfixed by her ethereal beauty, by her flowing long gold hair and burning with passion ice-blue eyes, won out.

I pushed the chair behind me, and in supplication I knelt in front of her and, feeling overwhelmed by her domineering aura, I bent down and kissed the tip of each of her black leather gold-buckled boots. Even in men's wear she was a statue of feminine beauty and class, from her French silk gold-threaded navy blue tailcoat emphasizing her eyes and hair to her immaculate white cravat and cream tight-fitting knee breeches all the way to the perfectly-lustrous boots I was now kissing.

She could be cold my mother, but in that moment of bliss I felt everything she did for me was out of love. Even as a human, she had argued with my blind father to allow me to go the monastery to learn to read and write as I wanted to when I was a child, she gifted me those two mastiff puppies and motivated me to take up hunting to escape the prison that was my father's castle in ways she, the Marquise, could not, and eventually even sold her family heirlooms and gave me money to run away to Paris with my then-best friend violinist Nicolas, where my passion for acting would bloom and she knew I could find happiness, which I did for a brief period until the vampire Magnus took me and made me into what I am now. I realized then that I inherited my desire for freedom from the old ways, from superstition, from God, from witch-burnings and arranged marriages, from all conformity really, from her, but unlike me her endurance was stronger and her rationality never faltered where mine was clouded by feelings. She bore 7 children for a man she never loved, 4 of them having died at birth, but she never despaired. She was locked in the cage that was the castle with just her books for company, yet she could always find the strength to help me, the only son that she loved, both practically or to make sense of my own conflicting feelings and realize what I wanted. She was always like me in some ways but far stronger in spirit, more resolute and untamed, freer than I could ever be!

I looked up then and beheld not my mother nor my vampire progeny who learned everything I had to teach her and more in but a few nights, but just Gabrielle in her full splendour, the only one I truly ever loved, illuminating the dark medieval crypt more than all the candles surrounding us! She seemed a bit... surprised by my reaction initially, but now wore a beaming smile that held me on my knees admiring her effigy. She'd opened her mind to me, either now or maybe even since I first knelt, (maybe all of those realizations I had were helped along by her thoughts?) letting me know how much she had loved me and that she was very happy that now I understand and accept. I spoke softly:

"What would you have me do, Gabrielle? It's clear I have taught you everything, but I still have much to learn from you..."

"Such a good boy Lestat!" She held my gaze with those eyes that could undress the deepest part of your soul naked, and then used her right foot to raise my chin towards her. She was no longer letting me hear any thoughts now, but instead she spoke.

"From now on I will be Mistress Gabrielle for you! As you could call that ghastly vampire creature that made you, Magnus, a master, I'm sure you can call me Mistress, couldn't you Lestat?"

"Of course!" I quickly stammered "...Mistress!" But it was too late. For my hesitation she kicked my brow with the sole of her boot, sending me flying head-first into the chair behind me, breaking it and hitting the stone wall. I was bleeding a little, but it would heal soon. What surprised me was my strength - while she had always been a little bit faster at our preternatural running or more agile at climbing towers than me, or a bit keener and sharper in hearing thoughts, strength was always clearly in my favour. I was beginning to question whether this changed and why seeing how she made me fly with a nonchalant kick she hadn't even put all her strength in, but her voice interrupted my inner monologue rather quickly.

"Crawl back to where you belong, Lestat! And address me properly!"

"Yes Mistress Gabrielle!"

I... went back towards her on all fours, not daring to rise again for a second and stopping on my knees where I was standing before.

"Is that your place?"

Did she mean to test me? I was confused. She had ordered me to crawl back here, so that's what I did.

"Yes Mistress!"

"And what is it? Where is your place, Lestat? I want to hear you say it!"

"On my knees?" I half-asked

"On your knees where?"

"On my knees at your feet, Mistress Gabrielle?"

"Why are you asking me? Is it not you who chose to assume this position? Was it not you who yielded by your own free will?"

"Yes it was Mistress!" The first time at least. In retrospect it was a baffling decision. Why did I do it?

"So what this tells me is that some instinct in you, some deeper part of your consciousness must've understood the emptiness of your argument and the superiority of mine. As you yourself said when you knelt down, what was it? You taught me everything you could but still have much to learn from me? But I believe deep down you realized far more than this obvious truth, for otherwise you wouldn't have done something so drastic, would you?"

Indeed I wouldn't have...

"No Mistress"

"You realized, my love, where you belong in the natural order of things, for now you have not once, but twice, taken this same position, and on this second occasion even recognized it openly as your place, did you not?"

"I... You asked me to crawl back to my place, Mistress! It wasn't me that-"

"Oh, was it not? Did I say where that place was?"

"No Mistress, but I believed it was quite plainly implied..."

"You believed it was implied?" She laughed heartily in that Vampire manner that can shatter glass and deafen human ears before adding "Lestat I hit you! You're a vampire, an immortal predator who can tear walls of stone apart! You could embrace your nature and fight me back or at the very least stand up for yourself, but you did not! No, you did not my love, and instead you meekly chose to obey my words and crawl back to what you yourself perceived to be your place! And you want me to tell why you did this as well? Because"

She was completely right. She never told me to kneel the first or the second time, yet I did not even consider to stand up to her! Why? Why? The question was maddening!

"you felt that"

I just couldn't think of any reason I had done it except her imposing posture back in that enchanting moment, except that it felt I-

"you naturally belonged there!"

Yes. Exactly! How did she realize this before I did? Even if she could read my thoughts without me opening my mind to her, which she shouldn't be able to, I didn't have the answer! I

"Now, say it properly my love! I want to hear the choice you have made! I want to hear where you belong!"

"I belong on my knees at your feet, Mistress Gabrielle!"

"Good boy! I must confess I rather like talking to you in this fashion! It illustrates a point. It proves you do not yet embrace your nature, that you are confused and deep down recognize that I am the superior vampire and that you both need and seek my advice and guidance, don't you think so?"

"I do Mistress! Your arguments all seem clear and rational and-"

"Because they are! And I'm very happy that we finally agree, my love! So, given that we've established you naturally belong where you are now, we should do this again every night when I deem it necessary! When I need to lay out our plans again, be it in an inn room, a ducal palazzo or a forest grove, you will assume your place like you did now and listen!"

"Yes, I suppose-"

"You don't suppose - you will, because it feels so natural to you and you have much to learn from me! Aren't both of these things you concluded?"

She was right again. I had no desire to challenge her any more and every desire to dive further into... this, whatever it was! To see how far she would take me! It was a primal compulsion not unlike the thrill of feeding and killing leading me on, a feverish promise of pleasure to come, of leaving Nicolas behind! Perhaps I could forget him altogether - perhaps she was right about everything after all and I would happily immerse myself in this dark spell of hers!

"Yes they are! You are right Mistress Gabrielle! I will do as you say..."

"Excellent!" A beautiful seductive smile briefly crossed her lips as she slowly started caressing my blonde curls.

"So eager to learn and obey..."

Her thin delicate fingers were gently wrapping locks of my hair around them now, the proverbial implications of this not lost on me, as she seemingly admired my face and its downcast gaze towards her leather boots. It was clear she enjoyed this as much as I did.

"Now, for the first step in this exciting new phase of our immortality!" She said as she assumed a still warm yet more matter-of-factly tone "Tomorrow, we will both ride to Paris and go see your little human lawyer Roget, and you will do 2 things. You will transfer everything that you own, the theatre and the shares to the profits of your former human troupe in London, on my name. You will also transfer your entire "Dominican inheritance" to me and move Roget into my employ. This is because we will need the money to leave Paris and ultimately it's just another burden I'm relieving you of! I'll have to steward our finances while you will only enjoy the luxury they'll bestow us!"

She had tugged a bit at my locks throughout this little speech, pulling entire strands out and arousing in me pain and far greater ecstasy at the same time. The hair would grow back by tomorrow night and I was loving every second of this!

"Of course Mistress Gabrielle!"

"After that, we will hunt and enjoy ourselves for the few nights Roget will need to prepare the coaches and escort required for our travels to Piemonte and the wider world, and then we shall take the devil's road together!"

She had stopped playing with my hair by now, and I knew I had to ask a question I dreaded now that she'd mentioned staying in Paris.

"I see Mistressl Will we see the theatre troupe again on the eve of our departure?"

"Do you want to?"

"NO! I mean, I'd rather not after what we did to Armand!"

The real reason was hoping not to see Nicolas again. She told me she wants to help me forget him, and after tonight it feels it might even work - all the more reason to not risk seeing what he has become again!

"Oh they know! Couldn't you feel their presence approaching when we burnt his body?" They knew? They were there? Her senses used to be... better, but I could always feel something as clear as this before. The presence of not one, but 5 other vampires? Were they really there? I must've looked even more flabbergasted than before, in stark contrast with her impeccable composure. She smiled once more as if her interruption achieved its purpose and added "But I agree there's no point in seeing them and I'm glad you're of the same mind!"

She rose soon after this declaration, walking towards her sarcophagus with a happy expression on her face.

"Go to sleep Lestat! Tomorrow you and I are starting a new life you have never dreamed of!" She easily opened the thick stone lid of her sarcophagus, which still was an unnatural sight to behold given the thin shape of her fingers, turning towards me and whispering a loving "Sleep well, ma cher Lestat!"

"Sleep well, mon cherie Maitresse!"

And that's how this remarkable night ended. There was only one thing that hadn't changed between us, and that was that I could endure the hours all the way until dawn with its reddish skies until the spell of the day's slumber overcame me, whereas her and all vampires I'd known to this night went to sleep at least one hour earlier, so I was left alone with my thoughts. What would this new existence entail? To what extent does Gabrielle want me to relinquish control? How far would she go, and will I enjoy it and forget Nicolas and my family? Why did I feel so excited for it?

As I started walking through the crypt, looking at the tapestries and paintings I hanged on the medieval walls of this crumbling tower, at the beautiful curtains, cabinets and Chinoiserie flower vases, I felt said that I was abandoning it all, and a few darker questions started to set in.

Why did she only nights ago say that we still had much to learn from old ones like Armand and said we must only leave once we wring his secrets out of him and know of the vampires of the rest of the world, and tonight just had a change of heart? Her words in the palatial garden, "He said that he will kill you now because he drank away your power! If that is true we can't allow him to survive!" came back to me.

It was all true like the rest of what she had said, but it felt only partially true, it felt as if a great part of it was intentionally left unspoken... If what Armand said is correct and Vampires can gain the power of their elders by drinking their blood, then has Gabrielle killed him for his powers rather than to save us from him? Will she slowly gain all of his powers, and was that the reason her strength seemed greater tonight when she pushed me? Was she actually... manipulating me, playing mind games with me like Armand had done when he flooded my mind with thoughts of his beauty and angelic visage out of Caravaggio's paintings?

An even darker thought was born from that suspicion, a thought that not only did her strength increase because of drinking his blood, but perhaps that she had also gained Armand's most dreadful ability of all - to dominate any other vampire's mind, make them love him and not even able to move their body or think anything negative of him while in his hold, to make them into powerless petrified shells of their former self. That power of his also waned when he lost concentration, slept or focused too much on other tasks, and now Gabrielle is sleeping and I... I am thinking quite negative thoughts of her motives and intentions. Could... Could it all be a lie?