The Building 41

"Okay, fang face, you've convinced me." She glibly replied, punch-drunk with what erotic images and feelings Jerry had slipped into her mind with a nice good mental vampiric shove. The dark blue bath towel wasn't being held tightly to her body any longer but instead it was nearly falling off her still damp body. Her hair was wet and clean but little else. She looked better having cleaned up, but still wasn't quite understanding her position in the true world. Jerry would explain to her the proper respect due to him but not at the moment. He had other things to do first.

Using his vampiric command voice he said, "You must truly want to become more. I cannot change you without your permission."

It wasn't true, but Jerry Cooper saw no reason to go into the fine details. It was going to be painful for her, but then he'd savor every sip from her body as she changed in exquisite pain. The archaic and highly illegal magic he'd use to transform her in a short window of time was going to exact a toll on every vampire within five hundred miles or more. He was going to yank on the universal cord of vampires without permissions. Naturally that was what made the ritual so illegal. The Vampire Council would be having fits once he pulled from the region, but it would take them a while to figure out where he was and by the time they narrowed the spot and got their thugs on the ground he'd be gone.

What he was planning on crafting wasn't magic of the present day vampire, but harkened back to a much darker time in both humanity and vampires. They'd be hard pressed to find any vampire strong enough that would be willing to risk running afoul of him. Most of the ancient vampires tended to get swallowed by time and fled into the shadows willingly. For all of the Council's proclamations and declarations, they weren't nearly as old as they pretended to be. The truly ancient of the vampires tended to ignore the newcomers with distain. Jerry knew his being captured and tortured had caused some concern amongst those elder vampires, but as the Council ignored them, they too ignored Jerry's plight. He fell in between the two groups and never played well with either set. In his heart Jerry knew there must have been a traitor in his ranks. His blood was given to the Council for his capture and that only could have come from within his family. Something he planned on 'discussing' with Ben Richland by fang point or stake if necessary.

"Fine, you have my permission. Now what?" She seemed unconscious of the fact she was still only wearing a towel. His pushing the best of being a vampire into her heartsore mind had thrown her off her game. Which worked well for him with his. She'd be the best pawn in the war he was waging.

"Let's get you comfortable," he said unthinkingly.

"Sure, just like William." She dropped her towel and stood slightly blue-white from her cold shower, stark naked in front of him. It quickly dawned on him that she'd misunderstood his intentions on just getting her to a flat surface for a ploy to get her naked. She wasn't self-conscious in the least at being naked in front of a stranger. "So where do you want to do it? God, even vampires are after sex. Go figure."

Shaking his head Jerry said, "Not sex. I want you on the bed so I can begin to transform you into a vampire." She stood with her arms folded over her stomach as if in pain.

Her head dropped as her self-worth further plummeted. Jerry wasn't good at talking with humans. He'd always had fledglings and minions to take care of the explanations. Another reason he hadn't made a vampire since he'd come south. The woman had been crying her heart out when Jerry had come into her home. He'd planned on feeding and sleeping, but instead he'd found a perfect fledgling. She was ready to die and hadn't even found his being a vampire worth even questioning. He didn't have to push past the human instinct to deny reality. But her emotional beating at the hands of her ex-boyfriend destroyed what little positive image she had of herself and in effect the world.

Humans were so aggravatingly complicated. Jerry sighed slightly and said, "You are going to be a delightfully gorgeous vampire once I am finished with you." It was true, but when he considered her finished could be decades from now -- if she survived helping him trap Ben Richland at the Camino Real drawbridge.

She smiled weakly and warily walked to the bed. He was happy to see he was correct and she didn't have any tattoos marring her goosebumped skin. He knew a few vampires who'd been turned that truly regretted their ink decades later when long dead lovers names and faces remained etched into their skin for all eternity. It was a sore point with more than one of the vamps Jerry'd found -- and used it to his advantage whenever possible -- not to mention an easily recognizable characteristic when identifying vampires trying to hide. More than one stake slain vampire owed it to their inked skins.

"Yeah, sure, gorgeous. Still whatever." She was growing despondent as the high she'd found from his memories and thoughts were fading. If she grew too depressed the turning wouldn't work, Jerry knew from past mishaps.

"You are not sure. Then forget it and wallow in your pathetic state." He snarled, hoping she had something more to her than the whining state she kept falling back on, or she'd be dead before the next moon lit night.

"I don't even know your name," she whined while sitting upright yanking one of tear stained bed sheets up over her body, as if suddenly chilled.

He laughed, "You may call me Master, or Sire."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Her eyes were large in her face and her mouth gaped unattractively open.

He reached over and pushed her jaw shut saying, "No. I would not kid about that."

She shuddered at his touch then leaned into his hand saying, "Are you sure you won't just take my blood and let me die?"

"That would serve no purpose." He allowed her to continue pushing into his hand like a love-starved cat.

She shimmered against his hand one more time than said, "Okay, let's do it." Crimson stained her face as she blushed at the unintended double entendre. Her naiveté when it came to sex was nearly painful to Jerry. He'd seen so many woman of her age that had the morals of an alley cat and about as much discretion when it came to lovers. The woman had given herself fully to the missing William and he'd tarnished her innocence. She hadn't been a virgin but by comparison to her peers she was a rarity. The vast quantity of bad beer had lowered her defenses but she still wasn't as predatory as the late Tricia. William had broken down her self-worth and defenses over time and made her act in ways that Jerry figured weren't always in her nature. Once he was done polishing her skills she'd be a force to be reckoned with if she survived Ben's capture. Jerry just might take the time to help her if she made it through the turning.

"My name is Julia," she said shyly. She seemed to be sobering up and Jerry hoped that she could handle the ritual.

"I will allow you to be called that." He graciously offered. A slight stunned look rolled over her face as it dawned on her that he was giving her permission.

"It's my name," she said softly.

"For now. Vampires tend to change names with time, you'll see," he offered, slightly frustrated at having to explain himself to the human.

Julia nodded and shivered, still cold from her shower.

Jerry took in a deep breath and told her to do the same.

"Why?" She asked while doing what he asked.

"Because you won't need to do that once I am finished. But you need to remember how it feels to breathe. You have to know how to imitate humans." He tried to be patient but it wasn't easy. Others had been in charge of explanations for so long he had to force himself to remember a younger time when he did it all.

A shuddering inhalation of air and Julia fluttered her hands a little as she said, "But I am human."

"Not for long." Jerry moved the wet hair off the nape of her neck. Again she leaned into his touch. William had really done a number on her insecurities. It would be useful for Jerry.

It was Jerry's turn to lean into Julia. He snicked his fangs out further than before and licked roughly along her jugular. She shimmied and moaned softly. Usually humans being turned were given potions and other things to ease the pain in dying -- for truly that was going to happen -- and they'd be guided through steps and told what to expect. Jerry had no patience for any of that and wasn't going to use the usual methods of turning, so Julia had no way of knowing what to expect.

Without a word of warning, Jerry plunged his fangs into her and began the ancient ritual. He flowed his mind into hers brutally and instructed her about what she was to do. He wasn't sure if she would survive the change so he didn't bother to sugar coat anything or warn her of what could or possibly would happen. She'd experience her turning raw and powerful -- like he had all those centuries ago. He began to pull from all the vampires in the region viciously. It was close to a mind rape as they had no warning and had given no permissions.

Hell, most of them didn't even know it could be done on such a massive scale. And it was a massive scale as the southeast had many vampires. Fledgling or Master made no difference to Jerry -- he stole from them all in full measure. The ones feeding on humans at the time were little more than mental straws to Jerry as he sucked the human victim's energy right through the involuntarily donating vampire. The few that tried to battle him for dominance found out why this method of turning vampires was considered bad. The power of all the vampires being drained was available for the vampire conducting the ritual, and slammed back onto any vampire who tried to push back. And like anyone with a cell phone could explain -- once the battery was drained it took time to rebuild, and if a power surge struck the battery it could quite easily be destroyed. Thus the vampires in the region were useless until they 'recharged,' which was why the Vampire Council had to send in new vampires to catch the Master who did the ritual.

Jerry was also insuring Ben Richland would be off his game the following night when he went to pick him up. A nice bonus to the ritual creation of his new fledgling was that she was going to be basically his vampire puppet for a few weeks. Normally fledgling vampires were babied along and nurtured for a while to find out where their skills and gifts were but Jerry's method made the bond tight between Master and fledgling. She would be delicate in some manner, but with all the vampires incapacitated for the most part she should survive.

Her humanity was rapidly giving way to her rebirth. She didn't scream; that surprised Jerry, but she was afraid. To Jerry's pleasure, her fears grew as more and more vampires were shoved into the dark ritual. While Jerry was used to seeing and hearing the unseen it was all new to Julia. The windows of her mind were blown open and everything vampire was exposed raw and wild for her to feel and see.

It was a whole new world.