A Cruel Jest?

35

Mori has to eat, but the food selection before her lacks any spark of appetite. A wave of dizziness over takes her and she falls to her knees and is heading for the floor when she is caught.

"Mori," a voice calls her name but it sounds so far away Mori closes her eyes and allows herself to fall into the black emptiness.

A sticky substance fills her mouth and she swallows reflexively. The taste is divine and she pulls the arm closer to her and won't let it go as she swallows without opening her eyes.

"How the hell is she going into a blood coma when she is receiving sufficient blood?" Nocturne demands of someone Mori can't see since her eyes are still closed. She tries opening them but finds that it's too much effort.

They angry voice breaks off at her movements, "Mori, love, wake up." The voice is far more demanding than Mori likes and so she immediately refuses to follow the command.

She whimpers in distress as the wrist is removed from her grip and mouth.

"I'll let you have more if you wake up Mori," the voice tries to entice her to wake instead of ordering.

"Promise?" She manages to slur.

"I promise love, if you wake up I'll give you more," the voice promises. Mori forces herself to open her eyes. Damn it's so hard to open them, why is that? She looks around and finds herself on her bed in the cabin with Nocturne at her side and Terrance at the bedside watching her with concern on both their faces.

"She has the eyes Terrance," Nocturne says in fascination.

"It's not possible," Terrance denies even as the evidence is before him.

"You promised Nocturne," Mori says growling.

Terrance's eyes open wide in disbelief, "I do believe our queen is quite serious about having more blood."

"I'm too low without hunting first." Nocturne's voice brings Mori's attention to him. "If I give you more now Mori, when I hunt I may not have enough control to not kill my prey."

"If you will permit me my queen, you can have my blood," Terrance says and has his wrist ready to slice at her nod.

Mori nods, she needs more blood. She has an overwhelming need for it. Not human blood although that doesn't sound bad to her, but vampire blood.

Terrance slices his wrist and offers it to Mori who starts drinking thirstily, like she hasn't had anything to eat or drink in days. When the wound heals she falls back down on the bed sleeping deeply.

"See what I mean Terrance? She's acting more and more like one of us. What the hell is going on? Have you ever heard of one of the humans turning to vampire while carrying our children?"

Terrance looks at the human laying before him and shakes his head no. What's happening to Mori is like a transformation the humans tell about, but that doesn't really happen. Humans can't be turned to vampires. You either are born one or aren't and there are no female vampires.

"If I didn't see it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it Sire. It does indeed appear as if she's turning into one of us, but that's impossible." Terrance shakes his head stumped at this new twist on things before smiling at his king. "But if she is one of us in the long run won't that just turn things upside down at court?"

Personally Terrance would love to see Mori at court. She'd be like a breath of fresh air and with her already honed hunting abilities she'd humiliate more than a few of the overbearing idiots.

"I won't take her to court, it's too dangerous for her there." Nocturne says turning his full attention to the woman at his side. He plays with a lock of her hair.

"If she survives child birth you won't have a choice if you want to be with her." Terrance warns him.

That gets him Nocturne's attention. "You will have to return to your full time duties as king. Already things need your attention that you've let slide. The council has been covering for you but," Terrance takes a deep breath, "they won't be able to for very long. You will have to leave and go back to court soon. You will have to find someone or someones that you trust to stay with her and feed her. The list I provided earlier will still work Nocturne, there are disadvantages to being in power."

Nocturne is furious and wants to hit something, but Mori is the only thing in range besides the bed and he doesn't want to face her wrath for hitting either. Nor does he think she'll ever forgive him if he hits her again.

There's a knock on the door and Nocturne narrows his eyes. He gestures and the door opens but he is ready to take Mori to safety if he thinks she's in danger of any sort.

Jerus walks in with his head bowed. "My king."

Nocturne narrows his eyes even further. "Why do you enter under shame Jerus?"

"I disobeyed your order earlier and returned to talk to my queen." Jerus refuses to look at his king.

"Oh, and what did you talk about with her?" Nocturne asks, his jealousy over the closeness between the two is masked really well, but there is a sharpness to his tone that makes Terrance look at him consideringly.

"Not much Nocturne. She put a knife to my throat, said something about vampires being easy prey and told me to not return until evening when you ordered me to return." Jerus replies honestly, but leaving out the rest.

Nocturne smiles down at Mori even as he asks the question that Jerus had hoped he wouldn't. "Why did Mori pull a knife on you?"

"I touched her without consent of you or her." Jerus replies honestly and hopes that his death is quick and not very painful.

Terrance looks at the vampire in shock and no little awe. You don't touch what belongs to the king without permission, ever.

"Just where and how did you touch Mori?" Nocturne asks still beside Mori, but his relaxed pose is no longer relaxed.

"I caressed her face." Jerus says softly tears choking his voice.

His words cause Nocturne to relax once more. "What did Mori do?" He is very interested to hear.

"She took her hunting knife and had it at my throat before I could even blink. That's when she said something about vampire's being easy prey. Then she told me to give her one good reason to not kill me."

Now Nocturne is smiling widely. Damn Mori was good.

"So what did you tell her?" This from Terrance who is fascinated by the other vampire's story and even more fascinated by Nocturne's reactions.

"I told her I preferred a death by her hand than one by yours. She laughed at me and said that I actually gave her a reason to let me go." Jerus is confused by this and it shows in his voice.

That stops the laughter from coming from either of the other two vampires. Mori is soft and wouldn't like to hurt Jerus, but she knows that Nocturne wouldn't go easy on the vampire and wanted him hurt.

"She's turning?" Nocturne says softly.

"She's turning," Terrance concurs.