Esme studied the bookcase in Estefan's private quarters, although a book wall would be a more accurate description. She had been slowly making her way through them as they were all filled with Estefan's past lives. Currently she was on volume 29, so it wasn't like she would be skipping a great deal by reading memoir 34.
At first, they started off like a diary recalling the day's events, but slowly as Estefan's mind began reforming into what it is today and the entries only focused on certain events.
Grabbing a well-preserved journal with delicately carved edging, Esme made herself comfortable on the bed. Estefan decided to leave her to it as he completed some more paperwork downstairs in his study.
Opening up memoir 34 Esme began to read.
Date: I've lost track - perhaps a Monday sometime in the start of Summer.
Today something quite peculiar occurred that I felt the need to record it. Sir Cassius started his day off like every other dragging me along as he skipped his vampire duties. The crimson family he created seemed to be more like a rogue vampire hideaway for those with strength and little responsibility. Not quite sure what he would do if I didn't keep up with the vampire council on his behalf. Sir Cassius was more of a shadow figurehead while the actual dealings were done by Grimoire- his nephew? Vampire family trees can be confusing.
As we headed down to the human village, there was a lot more commotion than normal.
It wasn't rare for us to hide ourselves amongst the humans, in fact Sir Cassius was quite popular with the town folk. His long dark hair and wealthy attire made him seem like a young heir to a good family. So much so that people never seemed to notice the humans that went missing after interacting with him.
Today, people were talking of the sickly baron's daughter that had finally ventured out in public. The news seemed to interest Sir Cassius for some reason. And as always I was to follow as he fell victim to his curiosity.
The lady was sitting in an open top carriage to witness the busy village high street with a clear view although she was dressed in an intricately designed cloak hiding her face from the public.
Sir Cassius wasted no time as per his usual tactics and slipped between the crowd and guards, scaling the carriage to find a seat next the lady.
The commotion blew her hood off to reveal her stunning beauty. She was beautiful even I must admit that.
'Wow Estefan so found her beautiful, I'll have to remember to bring that up with you.' Esme thought out loud as she let her obsessive jealousy interrupt her reading.
The once rowdy and excited public had been silenced upon her blonde locks and honey-coloured eyes. Perhaps it was her slight sickly complexion that gave her flushed cheeks a fragile element. One that made your protective instinct activate.
What was a surprise for me, however, was Sir Cassius' facial expression. It seemed that he had also been captivated under her spell. Dare I say love at first sight. His look seemed that of infatuation unlike his usual look when he found a new prey.
Without warning and before the guards could act, he swooped in a stole a kiss from the lady's lips. 'I'll visit you again my lady.' He shouted as he ran off before the guards could catch him.
The words made me think it wasn't going to be a normal hunt.
Date: Still summer
Today Sir Cassius said he needed me while he ran an errand, of course this was simply a pretence for some other mischief he was going to find himself in. Regardless I still followed along, it wasn't as though I could refuse.
As we were making our way it became more and more evident that we were headed into the Baron's direction, Sir Cassius intentions were clear. Despite my warning he continued forward, most crimson blood vampires acted in their own interest, but Sir Cassius embodied this trait.
Sneaking into the Baron's manor was quite simple I don't believe any amount of human security could prevent a vampire from silently scaling the walls and hiding within the shadows.
Acquiring information regarding the lady's quarters was my task as Sir Cassius was never one for such tactics. He was a more charge in and think later, with his strength he had the luxury of doing so.
Eventually we found ourselves directly behind the southside of the manor where a large overgrown tree led the way directly to the lady's room window.
The tree was practically begging for us to climb, as though it was made as a route for the lady's intruders. I suppose the Baron never expected any human could make their way up such a colossal piece if nature.
My second task was to keep watch as Sir Cassius did what he needed to do. It should have been a simple feed, charm and exit. However, when Sir Cassius took longer than expected I peaked in to see what was delaying him.
They were simply talking.
Laughing and talking. Sir Cassius was smiling.
Not his eerily smirk that sent shivers any humans spine, but a genuine smile. Someone else peaking in would think he really was just a young man meeting his secret lover.
Perhaps it was my instinct, but something was telling me that this was the start of something terrible.
_______
Date: Are we in the midst of summer now?
Sir Cassius had dragged me back and forth on his visits to see Lady Lara quite often now. Yes, that is her name, I may have not mentioned that before.
He has clearly fed on her multiple times now but has shown no signs of boredom, is her blood that good? All I can ever seem to smell from her is Sir Cassius' scent. Well I suppose he does that purposefully. My master was never one to share.
Today was different though, instead of slipping in and out as per our usual antics. Sir Cassius decided to surprise me and climb down the tree with non-other than the lady herself. His cheek knows no bounds, I wondered how far he would take this current interest of his.
I can't see him turning Lady Lara due to her weak frame there is no way she would survive the process. Especially if someone as strong as Sir Cassius was the one to turn her, and I can't imagine him letting a low rank vampire touch her.
However, what was most surprising, is that Lady Lara spoke as though she knew all about vampires. Of course, Sir Cassius wasn't one to follow all the vampire laws, but some were dangerous for even him to break.
Everything, all my senses are telling me that she will be my master's downfall.
During our excursion today the lady hurt herself, it was only a prick on her calf. I have honestly never seen anyone so fragile; it is quite infuriating. However, a prick was all I needed to realise why my master was so infatuated.
Her blood... smelt intoxicating.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date: Summer is cooling
Yesterday's event needed to be recorded however I struggled to bring myself to do so.
Sir Cassius has changed after the incident.
I couldn't save her and in turn failed him.
'Wait! What the fuck did I miss something? What happened?' Esme flipped back to see if a page was missing. Seeing everything intact she decided to continue reading in a hurry.
I suppose I should explain, the day began as any other. Another chance to roam around with Lady Lara. I had grown used to her company, and she was also the only one who could tame Sir Cassius.
At some point in the past excursions her favourable blood must have been discovered by other vampires, and we were none the wiser.
On our way to visit the lady Sir Cassius paused and change directions, he didn't need to enter the lady's room to know she wasn't there. He had left his aura on her for tracking and marking purposes. Wasting no time we were in pursuit.
I knew something was wrong, it felt like the entirety of the summer was building up for this tragedy.
The trail took us to an abandoned cottage in the forest. The smell of blood was strong, her blood. It took all my will power to keep my sanity. The scene we stumbled upon when entering the cottage however, sobered any blood induced lust.
The lady was on the floor laying very still, the blood trickled down from under her gown to our feet. Her body was still intact as they were still feeding on her.
Vampires, eight of them. Eight exactly. They were too intoxicated on the lady's blood that they continued to ignore us. I knew what was coming next, before Sir Cassius could release his pheromones I ran and coated Lady Lara with my aura.
I was too afraid to turn and face my master. Yet I could feel everything. His anger, his rage, his pain.
These vampires should have recognised Sir Cassius' scent on the lady, the fact that they still hunted her meant that they did so knowing she was his. Sir Cassius' pheromones were slowly torturing them as they barely held on.
He was waiting.
Waiting to see if I could save her, before unleashing his judgement.
As they struggled to breathe under the pressure of his pheromones, they kept laughing, hallucinating, they had lost their mines to the pleasure Lady Lara's blood gave. She's a carrier. A carrier. Those were the only words they kept repeating over and over like mantra.
They had defiled her in so many ways that even a human of sound body would find difficult to endure, whereas the lady…
I knew.
I knew the moment my aura touched her.
And I was afraid.
Afraid of what my master would do when he found out.
When he found out that she died... along with the baby in her womb.
_______
Esme tried to continue reading through her welled up eyes, but tears began to fall. She didn't want damaged the journal and decided to take a break to compose herself.
'Fuck! You guys live for so long but go through so much!' Esme was frustrated, not sure where to direct her anger though. She simply let it pour out.
Estefan, keen as always entered the room upon hearing Esme's distressed state.
'I'm fine my love, just… urgh I'm fine.' Esme reassured him, wiping away her tears and inhaling his calming pheromones. He sat next to her on the bed while his hand brushed her back consoling her.
'Wait I'm not done yet, like hell I'm stopping here, I need to see how these bastards die!' Esme said as she turned giving Estefan her back, she was determined to continue.
Estefan smiled, 'then I'll stay here this time.' He laid down in bed next to her as she began to read once more.
... along with the baby in her womb.
As I uttered those words Sir Cassius' eyes morphed. They shifted from confusion to shock to rage, and then finally settled on a void of emptiness. That was when he began his crusade of vengeance.
The vampires were pinned to the ground it took all their strength not to die under Sir Cassius' power, he approached them ever so slowly. I felt the fear escape me as I had never seen him in such a state before. It wasn't a sight I would want to witness again.
He was walking, slowly as though he wanted to drag out their punishment.
One by one he ripped out their hearts... and fed on them. Starting from the left first.
Bite, swallow. Bite swallow.
I counted.
The sounds were vivid, sounds of screams, sounds of vengeance. They were still alive as they watched Sir Cassius feast on their flesh. With each bite my master's power grew and the pressure was suffocating even myself.
Once he had finished with the eighth vampire, he began pulling out their fangs.
Again, one by one. This time from the right.
Walking.
No matter how well a vampire could heal, their fangs were their weakness. A sign of humiliation of a beast with no purpose.
As his final form of punishment Sir Cassius slipped a drop of his aura on their nether regions, allowing each body to slowly decay, it was a death I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Sir Cassius then turned his attention to me and told me to return Lady Lara home in a presentable state, along with the vampires dismembered remains to ease her family's rage.
He was still holding onto all the fangs.
I didn't want to leave him alone, but his next task was one that needed to be undertaken alone.
It was only later in the middle of the night that I heard of his conquest. Sir Cassius had visited each of the families the eight vampires belonged to. Not only had he killed all their young heirs, but he also fed on each vampire leader.
After such an act no one could stand to question my master's power, not even vampires drunk on blood that had lost all reason. His power now instilled fear so great that even an addict would steer clear from prey that belonged to him. Whereas the assailants' fangs were hung up on Crimson manor door as a reminder…
Esme closed the journal and laid beside Estefan in silence to collect her thoughts. The moments of silence dragged on.
'Was her blood that good to make them all go inside like that?' Esme broke the silence.
'If you aren't strong enough, yes, very possible. The sweet blood is an indication showing the bodies' compatibility with vampires. It doesn't always mean you're a carrier, the stronger the taste the more likely the case. You already know how hard it is for a vampire to birth a child. Having one is a blessing and more being a miracle. So, for a human to be able to do so is indeed quite rare.' Estefan explained as he held her tight, his voice spoke in her ear.
'I don't know Cassius. But the Cassius you described in your memoirs, before the incident seemed so...' Esme couldn't find the words.
'Yes, he was.' Estefan understood her regardless, 'it was such a long time ago that I had forgotten.' Estefan noticed the traits he had been seeing from his master resurface were those of his past shell.
'Will you be able to protect her?' Despite being human Esme knew of too many tragedies that surrounded vampires. She couldn't help but worry.
'This time is different, Camilla is strong, she is well versed in coding and if needed she could be turned. History will not repeat itself. I will not let those damn sisters of fate play their game.' Estefan's grip on Esme tightened as he declared his conviction but quickly loosened. He buried his head behind her.
'So that's why Cassius is so strong then.' Esme tried to shift the focus elsewhere.
'Yes, by feeding on all those vampires and weakening the families, he secured the Crimson family's place as one of the Great Three. He left me with a chalice of his blood and chose to sleep. He's only awoken since then a handful of times.'
Esme turned to face him; she knew Estefan seldom felt strongly about life but his voice revealed his heartache. Estefan was left with the responsibility of a vampire family even though he wasn't a crimson-blood, let alone an heir.
Usually when Esme visited Estefan, time was spent in a fiery embrace. However today she simply leant her shoulder for him to rest on.