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

that so many should be taken ill at one time, at that time, I saw no cause for great alarm. But as the days passed, more and more students were missing, and the dreaded word ‘plague’ was whispered in the corridors.
    Marcus had been gone for several weeks, and upon his return, he told me that many parts of France and Germany were beset by the terrible disease. All classes were cancelled, all public buildings were closed upon orders from the King and the state, and a blanket of fear descended upon the country. The plague of 1430 was not as severe as the previous epidemic some one hundred years before, but nevertheless, it claimed many thousands of lives—sadly, many of my students among them.
    I was twenty-three, fit and healthy, so it came as a terrible shock on the morning that I found myself unable to rise from my bed. I was nauseous, shivering, and covered in sweat. I lay there all day until sunset when Marcus came to my room, his intuition telling him that something was amiss. He summoned a doctor, who immediately diagnosed me as a plague victim and rushed from the chateau as though his arse was on fire. Marcus sat with me day and night, bringing me cold compresses for my fever, warm blankets when I turned icy cold, and fresh water to ease my parched throat.
    I was dying, and we both knew it.
“Bernard,” he whispered, his lips close to my ear. “I can save you, but you know what must be done.”
Feebly, I nodded my understanding.
“Is it what you wish?”
“Yes,” I murmured weakly. He raised my withering hand to his lips and kissed it gently.
“Then when next you see me,” he said, “you will be whole again.”
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Blood Resurrection
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When I awoke from my death, he was by my side, holding my hand.
“Marcus,” I whispered. “Am I now like you?”
He nodded, his expression grave and compassionate. “It is five days since we last spoke. How do you feel?”
    “Like new,” I replied, sitting up. And it was so. As ill and weak as I had been before I died, I now felt strong and vital, filled with an almost overpowering energy—and an unquenchable thirst.
“It will all feel strange to you at first,” Marcus said as I stretched the muscles in my arms and legs newly filled with strength. “You must go slowly, learn to adapt…” I nodded, but I was only half-listening. I wanted to leap from the bed and experience my new found vigour and vitality. Marcus, sensing this, kept my hand in his and his eyes fixed on mine as he spoke.
    “Listen to me, Bernard.” His voice remained gentle, but there was no mistaking the gravity of his words. “You are now immortal, yet you can die. You are powerful, yet you are vulnerable. You can make men fear you, but if they fear you, they will hate you and seek to destroy you. There is much for you to learn of this new life. If you learn well, you will enjoy the best that being a vampire can bring you. If you do not heed my words, you might discover to your cost, and too late, that what you have become can be of more danger to yourself than to anyone else. Do you understand what I am saying?”
    “Yes,” I whispered, gripped by his intensity.
He smiled. “Good. Now walk about a little. Feel the newfound strength in your muscles…”
Naked, I jumped out of bed and ran around the room, exhilarated by the lightness I felt in my blood, and the spring in my step. I looked at Marcus. I could hear what he was thinking!
     
“Yes, my beloved Marcus,” I said. “I will listen to you, for there is no one I admire more in all the world. Just be patient with me should I appear to be too eager to know everything about this new life you have given me.”
     
“Come here,” he whispered, opening his arms. Gladly, I melted into his embrace, my face nestled in the hollow of his neck. The scent of his blood flowing beneath his cool, smooth Blood Resurrection
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skin sent my senses on fire. For the first time, I felt my incisors extend, and a feral growl