My Vampire and I Vol 3: Blood Resurrection by J. P. Bowie Read Free Book Online

floors. From the top landing, I could look down into the hall below and see the sparkle of the chandelier’s crystals caught in the glowing candlelight. Marcus opened one of the many doors on the landing and led me inside the bedroom that lay beyond, lighting a candle with the taper he carried. Again, I was surrounded by luxury and elegance.
    “This will be your room, Bernard,” he said, looking at me, his eyes twinkling. “That is, when you tire of my company.”
“That will be never,” I assured him, and he chuckled at my serious expression.
“Well then, when you wish to be alone with your thoughts or your studies.”
“My studies?”
“Of course, you must study. A young man like you must prepare himself for what lies ahead of him.”
I looked at him in amazement. I had never given a thought to my future while inside the monastery walls. There, I had resigned myself to a life of servitude and degradation, but now…
     
“Yes, now Bernard,” he said gently. “Now you may choose the direction in which your destiny lies.”
     
“I think I would like to be a teacher,” I said, with some fervour. “To bring enlightenment to minds that are filled with the superstitious fears inflicted upon them by those who call themselves holy.”
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He nodded. “You have chosen a noble profession, but one that requires a great deal of study. We will have to find a suitable college for you to attend.”
    “They would never let the likes of me into a college,” I protested.
“Just leave all that to me,” he said. “Now, I must sleep. There are fresh linens in that chest.”
“I would rather sleep with you, Marcus.”
    “Very well, as we are both weary from our travels but, in future, this is to be your room, Bernard. Of course, mine is open to you at all times.” And so it was that I came to live with Marcus in his splendid chateau, and that our friendship and love for one another grew and deepened as the years went by. Some things of vampirism that I still knew nothing of, I learned quickly. I had thought it amazing that Marcus could read others’ thoughts, that he possessed the strength of ten mortal men, and that he could move with a speed and agility the human eye could not keep up with. But that he could fly was a revelation that astounded me. My amazement so amused him that he caught me up in his arms and soared with me higher than the moonlit clouds, all the while laughing with delight at my cries of wonderment. As we swooped and zoomed through the cool night air, I have to admit that once or twice I had to close my eyes tight when we came so close to a treetop or church steeple.
“But why,” I asked when we were once more on solid ground and I had recovered my breath and my wits. “Why when you can fly, do you still use Orion for travelling?”
     
“Because, my dear Bernard, I like it!” He smiled at my blank look. “Think of it, Bernard.
    I have lived for hundreds of years and will almost certainly live for hundreds more. What is there for me to hurry to? Yes, I could be in Paris or Rome in much less time than on a horse at full gallop, but why the haste? If I am needed in an emergency, then I make use of that particular ability, otherwise, Orion suits me well.”
* * * *
     
I was enrolled in a fine college in Toulon and, later, fulfilled my ambition to be a teacher. It seemed that no one knew the truth of Marcus, for he was regarded as a boon to the area’s economy, hiring daytime staff to keep the chateau’s many rooms clean and the lush Blood Resurrection
    J.P Bowie
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    gardens trimmed and weed free. It was an unspoken agreement between us that I would supervise all the work done and ensure that his room was left to last. Only I had the key to unlock it and only after I was certain that he had risen. All was well until one day, I noticed that several of my students were missing from my class.
“They are sick,” was all I was told, and although I thought it unusual