FicWad

Title: My Amalie: Chapter Three: Lucius's Story

Author: Lia

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Lucius's father dies and his family is evicted from their townhouse. Lucius becomes a vampire.

Disclaimer: None needed. All characters belong to me.

Warning(s): Violence, blood, and stuff.

Note(s): None.

In the summer of 1850 I was 21 years of age. At that time my family and I still lived in Paris, France. In April of that year, my father had gotten drunk and fallen onto the railroad tracks. The train was unable to stop and cut off his legs. In June, my father died from and infection resulting from his accident. Most of the assets and investments he left to me turned out to be big liabilities instead. I cashed in the few that were good and paid off his debts. Then I emptied my bank account so I could pay off every newspaper, tabloid, and scandal sheet in Paris so nothing would be printed about the fall of the once wealthy de Haigh family. I was now faced with the decision of how to tell my mother, sister Nicole, and fragile little Angelique that we were going to have to sell our house in Paris and converge upon old Uncle Horace at the family estate in the country, a few days travel from Paris.

Instead of going home on the night of June 18, 1850 I chose to drink and gamble away all of what small amount of money I had left. I went to my favorite place to drink and gamble, Maîtresse Vulgaire's Maison des Vice. The men who frequented the inn/brothel/gaming house all knew one another. However, there was a stranger among us that night.

He was a gentleman, a young aristocrat whom I estimated to be about a year or two older than myself. He wore his red hair much longer than was fashionable, although on him it looked just right. His face was beautiful, with high cheekbones and a wide, though not overly large, mouth with full, sensuous lips. To me, he was beautiful. His eyes were a brilliant emerald green. He was well muscled, strong looking, but when he stood it seemed he floated above the floor instead of walking on it.

As the night wore on I became more and more intoxicated and was unable to stop staring at him. I had realized early in my teens that I was attracted to men more than women. It had not taken me long to give in to that fact. I was currently wondering if the stranger, who had identified himself as Nicholas le Croix from northern France, felt the same way. In my drunken state I did not realize that, of course, this man was attracted to those of the same sex because there was not one woman, besides the owner, at Maitresse Vulgaire's Maison des Vice. The owner merely kept for the pleasure of her customers young boys between the ages of ten and seventeen.

I also did not realize that I had lost every last cent I possessed. It was only when he rose to his feet that I was brought back to my drunken senses. At first I was enraged but then he placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke. All thoughts of money were forgotten and I was once again under his spell.

"I am sorry, gentlemen," he said, "but I must be getting back to my apartments. I leave for home tomorrow morning. It was a pleasure to play with you this night." Then he looked at me. "You will accompany me, won't you, Lucius? To make my last night in Paris memorable?"

I was stunned but still managed to say that I would. He beckoned to me and I followed like the ever-obedient puppy. We went back to his hotel and I followed him in. He smiled at me when the door was shut and locked. I saw his fangs for the first time. The shock of it was enough to relieve me of my drunkenness. However, before I could move or speak, he took me into his arms. I felt his lips at my neck and turned toward him, thinking that he was going to kiss me since I was there only to warm his bed. Then I felt the sharp stab of his teeth and the warmth of my blood flowing from me.

It was painful, that much I cannot deny. However, there was also a certain amount of pleasure mixed with the pain. It was only when I realized that his intention was to not only drink my blood but to drain my body dry that I began to panic. I struggled and he let me go without a fight. I was too weak to stand without his help and fell to the floor.

"What are you?" I gasped. "Fiend? Demon? Devil?"

He laughed, showing his fangs again. "No. None of those. I am Nosferatu, Vampir, the Undead, known to you as Vampire." And so saying he lifted his wrist to his mouth and ripped the flesh, sending a shower of red droplets over everything. My skin burned where his blood touched me. "Come, Lucius. Drink from me now. Tonight is the only night I will give it freely. From now on you will have to hunt."

If I took what he offered I would be one of them. I did not want to be a vampire, doomed never to see the light of the sun again. I tried to protest, to tell him I did not want it, that I would rather die. He ignored me and, when he saw I was not about to give in, he picked me up using his vampire's strength and threw me on the couch.

He leaned over me and stared into my eyes. "You are in pain."

I was. The loss of blood was making me feel dizzy and lightheaded. The place he had taken my blood from was on fire. "Yes."

He ran his hand down the side of my face in a gentle caress. "I can take away that pain."

I was almost incapable of speech. "Yes."

"You want me to take the pain away. I can tell."

"Yes."

"I can save you, all with one drink of my blood. You want that. Otherwise you will die before morning."

"Yes. But not to be a monster like you." I did want it. I wanted more than anything to take his blood as he had taken mine.

"We are not monsters. We are the people of the night."

"Yes." He was hypnotizing me with those eyes. He had to be. There was no other way I could be persuaded to drink his blood.

"You want my gift. You want to live forever, be stronger than any mortal, have powers beyond your wildest dreams."

"Yes."

"Tell me." Those brilliant green eyes stared into mine. "Tell me what you want."

"You. I want you. I want your blood."

With that he nodded and pressed his rapidly healing wrist against my lips. Unable to help myself I drank, drank deeply as if I could drain his body of all the blood it contained. As the hot, salty-sweet liquid from his self-inflicted wound filled up my mouth I cared nothing that it was blood and I would be a vampire by morning. In fact, I almost welcomed it as and end to my financial troubles.

I lost consciousness and woke up what must have been several hours later in the softest of beds in a pitch-black room. I should not have been able to see my hand in front of my face but I could see as if it were daylight. I sat up and looked around, wondering where he was. I did not have long to wonder because he soon appeared from out of nowhere.

"You are awake."

"Yes."

"Do you understand what you are now?"

"Yes. A vampire. Like you."

He nodded and smiled, letting me see his fangs again. "Yes. The sun will be up soon and the death will be upon us. There is much you need to learn. When darkness comes again, I will teach you to hunt."

I ran my tongue across my teeth and felt the sharp points of my own fangs. I could hardly wait to hunt. "Where will we spend the day?"

"Here. I prefer the softness and warmth of a bed to the dampness of a crypt."

That was understandable. Frankly, I agreed with him. It was on that night we first made love until the death sleep claimed us.