Lucius - Thousand Year Old Vampire - Part 10

26.1 With Octavia at my side I came out from the shadows again. No longer was I the stranger in the dark corners of Marcus’s house. I was no longer the unseen menace, but instead one that walked among the people.

The unspoken request from Claudia to join us was always there. Her legs couldn’t carry her far now. My old companion was fading. I missed the Claudia I’d had in the early years.

Even though I knew that she, at times, used me in the beginning. I still gained so much more than Claudia ever did from me.

It saddened me that Octavia would also grow old and fade away from me. That might be 50 years in the future, and while still a long time no longer a lifetime.

I started to sit in Claudia’s room at night and wait for her to fall a sleep. Unlike so many others her heart never raced when I was close like that. Instead she’d smile up at me and call me her saviour.

One day Octavia came to me furious. She had a lover that she turned aside when he’d wronged her in some way. Octavia begged me to kill the man, not only to feed on him but to rip him apart.

She wouldn’t say what the man had done. I told her that she’d regret our actions afterward. Octavia wouldn’t hear of that and said “even if I do it will pass.”

The next day after I killed her former lover, Octavia kissed me on the cheek. She then began drinking wine from the cellar. I told Marcus to instruct his servants to leave her alone for the day.

That evening I sat in Claudia’s room again. I held her hand as she coughed. We talked about the old times and it scared me when I realized how much she had forgotten.

She’d closed her eyes for some time and when I thought she’d fallen asleep I rose to leave. But she took my hand and said she was in pain, that she wanted me to end her life.

I was going to reject her wish, but looking at her frail body I knew that it would only get worse. I said that I’d get my hammer. Claudia held my hand in a firm way and said she wanted me to bite her.

In vain I tried telling her that my bite would be more painful than a quick blow with the hammer. She said that she seldom asked anything of me but that she wanted this.

I crawled into her bed and held her for some time. Then I kissed her on the forehead. When I bit into her neck she whispered in my ear “you do know that I love you, don’t you?”

Then Octavia slammed the door open. I could smell that she was well beyond drunk. She said that I’d been right, she wished she could take back what we’d done. Then she begged me to play the lyre for her.

I squeezed Claudia’s hand and said that I’d come back. Then I played music for Octavia in my room. It soothed her. After an hour she just wanted me to hold her and asked me to hum the tones instead.

For my part I didn’t regret killing the man. I enjoyed the setup that she’d planned, what I regretted was that I’d given in to her request so easy. Not that I minded giving into her whims at times. I just didn’t want her actions to torment her.

I held Octavia all night and only in the morning I remembered Claudia. When I entered her room, I thought her dead. But my old servant Claudia wasn’t dead, she was beyond death.

She opened her lifeless eyes and gazed at me. In her immortal form she looked closer to death than she’d ever done in life. I should have returned to kill her last night. But I’d forgotten about her and by accident turned her into something else.

I counselled with Octavia and asked her what to do. If it would be a mercy to grant Claudia her original wish and give her a true death. I think I expected Olivia to tell me to end Claudia.

Instead Octavia said that Claudia was part of the family, that Claudia would always have a place at our side. Octavia did make it clear though that while I was the master and Octavia would always serve me, Claudia needed to serve both me and Octavia. Even if Claudia was a vampire, or whatever she now was, Octavia wouldn’t accept a change in our hierarchy.

We forbade other people from the household to enter Claudia’s room. A few days later Octavia brought home a young man from the city and led him to Claudia. Octavia had to hold him down for Claudia to feed.

With time Claudia grew in strength and was able to walk again. She still looked and sounded like an old woman. Her faded memories never recovered though. I mourned my old friend, even though I still had some semblance of her at my side.

Once Claudia tried to bite Octavia, but the new mistress of the house was ready. Octavia beat her senseless. Even in her vampire form it took months for Claudia to recover from the beating. After that she never looked in a predatory way at Octavia again.