Blood Bonds and Violent Passions (Myself and Makeupedzombie)

It had been five years since the fall of mankind and the rise of the blood-drinkers, the vampire clans. Five years since the New Age Government took control of most of the Americas, and whispered words said that their exploits were slowly stretching cold, pale fingers out toward Europe and Asia as well, dark-eyed, pale soldiers preparing to march against those human civilizations who now cowered in terror and slowly slipped into anarchy. Five years.

Nero Archon, now known as Grand Advisor Nero, remembered those days clearly. The fall of the government as they failed to contain the threat. Hidden vampires all over the countries of the Americas emerged from hiding and struck, dragging humans down. And now, vampires ruled, day and night.

He remembered standing by the now-Emperor, then General, charging against the massed forces of mankind, the lead bullets punching through their flesh but causing no damage. They were strong, invincible. Only sunlight and wooden stakes could kill them, and the suits of armor, all microfibers and protective layers, protected them from both beams of deadly sun and splinters of cursed wood.

From this downfall of humanity, society had been forged anew. In this massive city at the center of the New Age world, the Imperial Vampire Coalition held the centermost location, huge pillars of dark glass and steel and lights stretching to the dark and grim sky, drizzling rain pouring almost constantly. Then, as the city spread out, the sky lightened, but the city did not. For a mile or so radius around the center, most things were fine. Apartments, office buildings, all owned and used by the Coalition. But then broken buildings and crushed homes, cars burnt out, roads torn apart. This was the chaos, the remains, of the Revolution. The evidence of the fighting five years ago. Here was where the free humans scavenged and fought. here was where patrols of New Age forces kept human gangs from running into the Capitoline Area (the vampire name for the central part of the city) and disturbing the peace.

Free humans. Humans untouched by vampires. These creatures somehow avoided the bites and death during the revolution and had untainted blood, the drug of the bites not yet in them. And most would avoid it. Only beautiful, attractive humans were selected by vampires now. Selected to join the ranks of the blood slaves- humans who depended on their vampire master or mistress to deliver the lovely bite and the aphrodisiac that came with it. These slaves often filled other needs, like satisfying the huge sexual drive of vampiric beings, the stamina that let them go on and on and on.


Some of the more daring free humans liked to linger in bars and clubs near the edge of the Capitoline Area, tempting vampires to nibble. These places were often dark, filled with music and drinking and open-air passions, wild dancing and often very little clothing.

It was in one of these clubs that Nero currently relaxed, watching the writhing crowd from a private lounge. It was brightly lit, a brilliant white square of light pouring from the wall as he watched from his window. His straight, imposing body, tall and broad, dressed in a sharp suit, silhouetted against the brilliant light. his eyes, unseen, scanned the room below for his victim. He wanted. He hungered and lusted. He had shown his dominance over humanity in the fights during the Revolution, now he would show his dominance in a new way- by taking a lovely little human girl to be his pretty slave. His black hair, just long enough to run fingers through or tug lightly, was carefully combed back from his face, nearly-black eyes watching the dimly-lit room below. Pale fingers clasped his hands behind his back. In the shadows behind him, a guard in full black gear, tinted helmet and waiting pistols stood ready.

Then he caught a glimpse of her. A glance told him that she was perfect. The way she held herself and moved. He had no care for whether she was owned by another or perhaps romantically involved with a human. she was his now that he had seen her. She could not escape.

He was her fate now.

I was geared up for the night. Two steel and two wooden combat knives and two throwing knives running the frond and side of each thigh, in holsters, designed to look like garters from the bottom if anyone noticed under the loose knee length back skirt, to make it seem a thing of attraction rather than a thing for defence and quick movement. In times like this supplies were never too good, and human females who were unmarked were a male human's dream. It meant that they stood a chance. Since the un-bitten had never tasted the gratifying indulgence that vampiric males could give. The same went for unmarked males. Females often sought after them also. There were still humans who went the old fashion route of courting a gentleman or a lady, asking her out and meeting her family in their rubble houses fabricated and constructed out of the debris, That's if you're clan wasn't a lucky bunch who found old human buildings untouched by the war. If you were from a different Free Human Clan, both of the clans would have to approve after a several day stay.

However, there were groups of humans out there in the barren, desolated wasteland that hadn't managed to retain as much civilized ways as we had. Rouge Humans, were the humans that all Free Human's feared when venturing out alone or even in small groups of two or threes to find supplies; medicine, food, fire wood, candles, books, anything you could carry with your arms and hands, - never heavier. They could be out foraging at the same time as Free Human's, and they would take them. Never to be seen again. Perhaps we free humans are an annoyance to the oh, so brilliant and superior vampires, but Rouge groups were so much more dangerous for us than vampires. At least that's what our leaders, one of them being my dad, tells everyone. He changed a lot after he lost mum... it was a Rouge human who killed her, after dad tried to fight a Rouge group to get her back, he failed and that still haunts him but it changed him.

My thoughts drifted in and out of different things as I sleeked along the unlit streets of the outskirts, a black leather jacket clung to my figure jammed into a bone corset, draping over my face. A very vampire like outfit, at least the top part. Few would pay attention. Headed towards The Edge, as we called it. I had a few important people I had to meet with tonight at one of the blood bars Neuron's. How fitting for a blood suckers bar, eh?, I thought as I got a bitter taste in my mouth. It started to rain a little, but as I turned the corner, turning through a completely collapsed building I seen the light shining and frankly it hurt my eyes. I wonder if this is what the sun light feels like to a vampire, I mused as I got closer, squinting my eyes. Three rows of a spiked choker fit my neck perfectly, with one matching just at my ankle, just to make it look a little more stylish. It was obviously armour though. The vampire at the door gave me a strange look and said nothing as I walked past him.

The lights were dim and there was no heating on. Why would they need it? They're hearts are as cold as ice anyway and their bodies were like the cool rock you find on the beach. I'd never seen a beach. Dad talks about them from time to time. I waited off near the curtained area, she had to be here... scowering the room for her and then I felt the tackle of an embrace. "Solerria!" (sole-er-iea) she whispered into my ear, sending slight prickling shivers down my back. I cradled her head of long ginger ringlets, taking in her sent, she smelled smoke. It was comforting to know she had warmth at her Clan. Taking a look over her she was dressed in a similar fashion to me, except with leather trousers instead of a skirt, and most-likely a gun with a silencer tucked in at the back of her jacket.
"I'm so glad you made it out," My eyes were a little watery. I had been told she died after a clan had been raided by blood suckers but I hadn't believed that. I knew she wouldn't give up that easy, she was smart. Her face mirrored my own feelings, and in a moment we were kissing. Her soft lips on mine and we dared not let go. I wouldn't let go. She was here and real and she wasn't dead. As the kiss continued a tear managed to fall free. Our relationship would never be approved by either of our clans. It would always have to remain secret. Maybe her old clan would have been more accepting, but not the one that had taken her and a few other humans who'd gotten out alive.

Nero's eyes narrowed as as his target was quickly embraced by another woman, then their lips met and he scowled. Not many humans went for homosexual relationships these days, what with the need to reproduce so ingrained in them by their leaders. But apparently this lady had, and so he would just have to change her.

"Get them separated. I want her to be alone." he instructed. "Leave the one in the skirt to me, and tail the other one. I want you to be able to kill either of them on my word, if necessary." He ordered, and picked up a knife in a black leather scabbard, sliding the blade into the inside pocket of his coat. The silver fangs that replaced his incisors shimmered in the brilliant light, and his cold flesh was covered by the black suit jacket, making him a figure of white and black, pale ivory and deep obsidian.

He took the steps down into the bar areas as a group of his men and women, normal looking, for vampires, danced across the dance floor. One of the men seized the ginger-haired girl into his arms and quickly pulled her into a dance, pulling her out onto the floor as the group "accidentally" pushed the other woman out toward the bar, right next to the door Nero emerged from. He slipped panther-like to her side, and his cold fingers lingered briefly on her arm. "Hello beautiful. Let me buy you a drink." he said simply, his voice deep and quiet, yet the tone was unmistakable. Quiet, commanding, and most certainly not a question.

He ordered two drinks from the bartender, handing one of the glasses to his no-doubt unwilling lady. "You appear in a blood bar, yet your neck appears unmarked." he said, curious, yet his face remained passive as his eyes trailed down to gaze between the gaps of the spiked collars she wore, protecting her from the bite of blood-drinkers. "A curious thing, protected as you are, yet entering a place where most go to be bitten." He added, lips parted lightly in a sardonic smile.

In the blink of an eye she was gone. Leaving no trace in my empty arms that longed to hold my ginger wonder in my arms again. My eyes darted all around in front of me, pivoting on the spot looking for McKenzie but it seemed she had vanished out of sight. The weight of my knives sitting perfectly under my skirt gave me comfort but didn't help to ease my worry of where my girl had went to. The room buzzed with outlaw human kind, the free kind and the rats of the night. Perhaps the crowd has simply swallowed her up, I'll see her in a few minutes, bobbing back to me with her beautiful curls and freckled face.

A horrid thought occurred to me just then. One that send a chill right down my back, what if someone knew she was an unmarked? What if that someone was a vampire? What would happen if one of those leaches bit her, what would become of me and her as an item? I would kill the bastard who stained her skin. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath to help restrain my thoughts and nerves. Just as I did, a cold feeling slid quickly along my arm. A horribly persuasive type of touch. One I'd never felt before but one I had heard enough of to know what it was before I turned to keep watch of it and it's dead eyes. The hand furthest away from him twitched a little towards one of my wooden dual knives, now was not the time... to many people. To little humans and too many vampires and no vampires carried wooden knives. As well as this vampire was not just a regular blood sucker, he was one of the high ups in the central city. The ones responsible for McKenzie's family and clans deaths. A fight with him here and now would not end well for me so I decided to play along some.

As he ordered the drink my eyes never left him. He was attractive and I could see why some humans let themselves be lowered to the point of being their pets, their slaves and whatever they wanted. I knew some humans who had left our colony to do just that. My arm had begun an unusual ache in the muscle where Nero had slid his fingertips. I noticed that the drinks came the colour of blood. "You know my diets quite different to your taste," I declared coolly, keeping my voice as even as I could. It came out better than I thought it would, my insides felt like mush standing in his presence.

Fully turning towards him to look him straight on, "I could say the same for you. You're in a blood bar and I don't see your vending machines running around anywhere." With a dark chuckle I continued on, "Not all those who get bitten submit to the suppression. It's often something forced upon someone more than death." Daring to turn my eyes away from the vampire who stood in front of me, I glanced at the crowd for a while. Still no sign of McKenzie. Now I was getting a little worried.

Nero's eyes cut into hers as she coolly retorted. "I'm well aware of dietary differences. I think you'll find the drink perfectly fine for your tastes." He said softly, fingers running slowly up and down her arm, playing, teasing, judging how much she would take. A sinister little smile tugged at the corner of his lips as her eyes worked their way through the crowd, looking for her lover. "You could say the same thing. Though the obvious conclusion is that I'm here to find a lovely source of sustenance." he replied, tasking a sip of the drink, which stained his lips slightly, making them bright against his ivory skin.

"You're looking for your lady-friend, aren't you?" He asked quietly, preparing to meet her furious gaze when she would turn to face him. Just as any human would. "I do wonder how you would act if her life was on the line... or perhaps not her life. Perhaps instead, her sanity." He said, that sinister smile slipping out a little more. "How... willing, would you be?" He teased further, pushing at her edges, daring her to challenge him. She was a toy. She couldn't hurt him. Vampires were faster, more intelligent, with better reflexes and stronger muscles. He was expecting her attack, something, anything, and she couldn't catch him by surprise. And that was the only way a little female human like herself could best him. He had lived through the war of the Revolution and the fight for dominance.

Now he would play with her like the toy she was.

"Would you sacrifice yourself for her? Take my bite so she could walk free? I'll have one of you, one way or another... But I'd prefer you, pretty thing. Will you go in her stead, or will you let me take her, break her, and make her mine?" His lips curled more obviously, his eyes taunting her with their dark blaze, knowing how the fury must be building inside her, how angry she must be. He crossed his arms in front of his suit coat, one hand slipping in to grasp the hilt of the knife, if he needed it.

When the nightmare worthy words slid off of his slimy tongue they made perfect sense. At first. They then began to slur and blur into one another as my brain regestered the horror of the situation both I and McKenzie had been placed in. What kind of trade up is this? My fingers contracting and releasing slightly, hovering just over where the handle for on of my dual sharpened wooden knives. It was a tribute my clan took pride of. Training people in blade work, and how to create such beautiful weapons with your own hands. That way they meant something to you. You pour your soul into something when you make it, well that's what they said. Right now both Nero and the blades were taunting me. I knew this was no place for a fight and not the right time, not in here with so many of his kind around. "Why us? Out of everyone." My jaw clenching and unclenching after I demanded, my voice still even. Dad had always said I had the swan effect, calm on the surface and panicking underneath, just like mum had been and according to him it would serve me well. Tonight I was glad, my look didn't betray me.

I was the last child my father had and the only one. The last living relic of my mother. Scarring my untouched skin didn't seem like a viable option when so many had died for the freedom of unmarked skin from these rats. If I took McKenzie's place then she would hunt me down and find me, maybe even rescue me and we could run away together. Beyond the urban decay, back to where the trees were tall and unknown things lay. In an almost relaxed manner, I picked up the glass, shook it slightly so the ice tinkled against the glass, smelling it (wine), before taking a sip. "You still haven't answered me," Challenging him felt good. I really was standing up and being cocky with one of the most feared people around. "Where are you're marked ones? I refuse to believe a vampire of your status has come without his snack to a place like this." I turned back so that I were facing the crowd and not him. My body seemed to be attracted to him like metal to a magnet, so it took a LOT of will power to move away. My mind however was completely repulsed by him; by threatening me and especially by threatening my McKenzie.

Then the plan hit me. It would just take a little more of that will power I had used a second ago. I smiled, then laughed a genuine laugh as if I had witnessed someone falling out of a tree. However this laugh was one of thrill, of the sheer crazy brilliant idea I had concocted. "I'll be right back." I walked away pretty slowly for my usual pace. When your heavy boots get stuck in deep bog mud and you have to stomp and jiggle your way free or remain there and sink deeper. That's how hard it was to walk away, but I managed it. Once the air was clear of his aura that was clearly projected onto me, (aura is the term for the pull a vampire uses on a victim) my mind worked faster, my mind was rushing through this plan. The bathroom, the bathroom... where was it? As a coy I picked a random vampire and walked towards them, before diverting to search for the ladies room. When found it was a small dingy dirty place, I'd say it smelt of sex but really the whole place did, the bathroom was just that little bit worse. My suspicions had been right, there was a window. Small enough I could climb through out of the stall furthest from the door if I took my leather cloak off. I did just so, revealing my short choppy blond hair. Warrior hair, as Kenzie had called it before. No one was in the bathroom so I wriggled out to the back of the building just easily. Where carcases of humans lay in the ally way.
Hearing a scream, I knew it was Kenzie. My feet couldn't move fast enough! Tap, rap, rap, tap, rap, rap. My shoes hitting against the concrete, my speed picking up. A large bald vampire had his back to me, but even from the distance I was at I could see what he was about to do to MY Kenzie, and the way he was holding her and touching her... it enraged me, no one touched her like that except me! In seconds my wooden blades were in hand, my speed was as fast as I could go. Jumping to reach the vampires neck, slitting it open with the right hand, and shoving the blade in the left hand right through his back to his heart. Kenzie's eyes wide with horror and shock. I grabbed her, pulling her quickly down the street into one of the older more run-down and abandoned buildings. I kissed her, tears running down my face with the thought of what I was about to do. "What's wrong?" She asked me, her face still showing the shock she had been in from fangs almost scraping her perfect skin. Yet she was asking me if I was okay...
"Just trust me and do a few things for me. 1) Tell my dad I love him and that I promise I WILL see him again. 2) Swap cloths with me, now, quickly. We don't have too much time and I have none to explain it," She just nodded, and started to strip with me, swapping clothes. A deep sadness flickered across her face as she watched me, with a predominant fear. She was afraid to loose me, and I was afraid to loose her...again. Once we were ready and had swapped clothes I kissed her so deeply and lovingly. Like it were the last kiss I'd ever get off of her, perhaps it would be the last. "You know I love you Kenzie, and I'd do anything for you." I mumbled into the kiss. She nodded quickly. "4)Take my throwing knives and one of my hand carved. I'll hold onto the other. Just know I'll find you again. Keep an eye on the skies." She knew what that meant. After that moment, I whispered to her to run away from here. "Go around and get your sent dirty" I told her, "Keep running until you think you're safe and not being followed."
And then, I walked back towards the pub very slowly. My mind in disgust at what might happen now. All that I had to be sure of was that she was safe.

Nero's eyes narrowed as she continued to challenge him, then even further as the girl slipped away toward the bathroom, he leaned against the bar, waiting. He slowly became impatient, and triggered his hidden radio. "Report." He snapped.

"Sir, the girl is outside with her lover. She killed Diedrich and they've slipped into one of the buildings. Oh, here she comes... She's swapped clothing with her friend. It's hard tell which is which."

Nero scowled. "Grab them both. I'll get the one who is on the move. Recover the other, if she's still in that building. And for heavens sake, don't bite her." He growled, storming toward the door, black coat-tails streaming behind him. But the door opened before he reached it, and his target reappeared, his slitted eyes locking onto her. Fast like a bolt of lightning, his hand was around her neck, softly pressing a metal blade to her neck as his cold body, toned and hard and strong, held her to the wall. "You killed my soldier..." He mused quietly. "You've got a bit of a fight in you, pretty little pet, but we'll break that from you soon enough." He said with a soft laugh.

"Now. Are you going to come with me, quietly and nicely, or will I have to hunt down some relatives and friends and kill them off?" He said quietly. He knew that she wouldn't be seduced or convinced to come with him, so she had to be threatened. "oh." He sad as an afterthough. "I don't have a slave with me tonight because my last one died recently... couldn't take the pleasure and the pain."

His cold hands around my neck done the same there as it did with my arm, make it numb with a hollow wanting feeling. A sort of craving almost. His presence weighing down on me made it hard to move my body. No mater how hard I wanted to. For a brief second when I felt the cold kiss of the knife against my throat I felt pure and raw fear. I didn't want to die. My mind and body knew that. Life was what they wanted, the question was... would life still be worth wanting if this vampire had his way with me? That was something I wasn't sure about so it wasn't a thought to dwell on. At the moment I had to deal with this thing hanging onto my neck. Making my body desire it. "He was going to kill my girl. Would you let another vampire have his hands on me... since you've decided you want me?" My acting skills were good, I slipped back into the cool and cocky girl who wasn't afraid of the blade at her neck, such a rouse, "I doubt it. You'd kill any vampire or human who stood in your way of having me. What makes you so angry? That we're the same in that sense?" I smirked a little. Happy with how my words had come out.

Leaning into his knife a little more, bringing me closer to his face and feeling the slight pressure, ready to bite across my skin if I made one wrong move. I was close enough that the quiet breath of my words could be felt against his skin, "Well, I did say I'd be right back didn't I?Pet, huh not sure I'll get used to being called that?" When he told me about his last human I really did start to get nervous. I knew the hearts of vampires were cruel ones but this one seemed to revel in his cruelty. What had I gotten myself into.

Nero just chuckled. "That was not anger. Merely observation. My anger is a lot more violent." He commented. "You'll get used to it, pet. Unless you'd rather me call you "slut" or "slave"." He mused further. "Now. You're going to walk with me down this street to my home. A nice manor not five blocks from here. I like having a private home away from the Capitoline Area, and that is where we will go." He said, the knife vanishing into his coat, his hand now wrapping around her arm as she led her from the bar and out onto the dark and rainy street. "Also, for the record, he wasn't going to kill you little ladyfriend. He was simply going to taste her... Once we vampires have a taste for someone, they aren't hard to find again. A lot like how a wolf can smell prey." He said softly, eyes watching her, then the shadows of the street, then her again. "And it would have had the additional effect of making her into a nice blood whore." He added, not caring what effect those words might have on her.

His grip on her shifted, moving from holding her arm to wrapping his around her, hand on her hip, her warm body against his cool one. His directed thrall spun around her, thick with his masculine scent. "I'm sure you'll come to enjoy your life with me. After all, a life of pure pleasure, pain, and ecstasy can't be that bad, hm?" He chuckled free hand playing across her throat as they walked.

His laughter wasn't light hearted. It had a darker more oppressing weight to it and it genuinely filled me with dread. "If you weren't angry, then why press a knife to my neck when I'm clearly an unarmed citizen?" I knew the answer, all humans did. That we were easy to kill and that we responded best when pressed with fear of our life and loved ones. This was often how the vampires controlled, brainwashed and persuaded humans to become their slaves, minions and sex toys. To them we were nothing more than a toy that could be thrown away once broken or crumpled. Which is apparently the case with this high vampire official. "Can you not just call me by my name?" Pet... that was not a word I would get used to. It left a horrible taste in my mouth.

When he mentioned what his vampire soldier was wanting to do to McKenzie, my mind snapped into concentrated interest. Even with his hand on the bare skin of my arm, - giving ever cell his touch lingered on a thought and want of its own. He couldn't touch her. He had to let her go, "Can't I just have you to myself?" I purred, the sensation in my arm and now my neck causing this, with his cool touch there too. "You don't need her," I had to try to keep my focus and my mind straight, no matter how much his touch messed with my senses. "Let her go, leave her be and you can have me, for yourself...you're minion deserved it anyway. For vampire standards he was very unattractive...unlike yourself." It was hard to get my word out straight with my neck, arm and body as his arm shifted place, going through this strange dark and magical motion.

How far would flattery get me with this one? We continued to walk down the street in that way. His arm snaked around my body and his other hands fingers skirting along the untainted flesh of my neck. I couldn't die with him. I couldn't leave Kenzie alone, not after her old clan just got ravaged and I got her attacked by one of the highest vampires in their unusual society. Was she being tracked? Was she okay? My legs felt weakened, perhaps from his touch. The night air was cool however and that helped to keep my mind as sharp as it could be with my head in a haze.