Hello, my pretties.
Well, since I've been busy writing along in this newest book,
Dhampire Legacy I've come across the old manuscript (sometimes there were 2 drafts), I used some, discarded others, depending upon my need for the new version. You know how it is there's always something you have to discard, even though you loved it when you wrote it.
The following is from a chapter I won't be using at all. Everything had changed up to this point.
Oh, and just today I got to 85K words on this baby! I'm chugging along. I hope to be done with it by the end of this month.
Well, let me get you in the mood.
In the following Lucy, who is 15, has become a vampire. She's in a mansion where a lot of vampires have been living, and to her surprise she comes across some little vampire children.
Glittering
eyes peered hopefully up at Lucy out of the dank gloom. Seven or
eight, she counted, all pale children's faces attached to small frail
looking bodies. They pressed together in a tight knot. Some wore only
rags, indicating they'd existed far more than only a few weeks as a
vampire. The little girls wore ballerina dresses, which were not
quite as worn, but soiled by their activities and by living in
squalor in the basement. Lucy stared at the dirty face, caked and
soiled from their repeated blood feasts, and never washed. Their
hair, un-combed, unwashed and ratted. They were the sorriest motley
group of un-kept rug rats she'd ever seen.
Understanding
what she was—that she was one of them, and not quite an adult—they
gathered at her feet, the closest ones grasping her legs in
desperation, something like a stray cat or dog might do. Huge hopeful
eyes imparted their unspoken need, until, all at the same time they
said “Food! Feed us!”
Lucy
hushed them, suddenly feeling like an older sister, or babysitter to
them all. Some might have been only five. Others were six and the
rest maybe seven or eight, boys and girls.
She
sat on the steps so that she could be closer to them. They huddled
around her as though she were about to tell them a story. Small, cold
hands wrapped around her bare arms or legs. A few had climbed up
above her to cling to her, arms or hands touching her.
“You
killed him, didn't you?” One asked.
“We're
happy you did that!” another added.
“I
hope you chopped his head off!” a boy, the oldest one next to her
said.
“Yeah!”
Came their cheers.
She
realized they talked about her killing Erik. “I did,” she said.
“Yeay!”
They all cheered and some clapped and others simply hugged her. She
was their hero. She understood that many, if not all, had been Erik's
victims. He took only the blood of children or babies. Now he could
do this no more, and could not add to their numbers.
“Will
you help us get to our food?” one anxious boy asked.
“Food?
Where? What do you mean?” she asked.
“They're
hiding inside the secret room,” said a girl with flaming red hair,
wearing a pink tutu.
“Where?
Show me,” Lucy said.
“Behind
the big door.” this one pointed to the large door. Lucy looked past
the kitchen table and to the heavy wooden door.
“We
can't go in there,” the blond boy said.
“Were
aren't allowed to go in there,” the red-headed girl said,
rolling her eyes.
Lucy
scrutinized the door, noticed the flame thrower on the floor, next to
the door. That was why the men hadn't taken care of these smallest
vampires. She was sure Phil would have cooked them all without
hesitation. She didn't know how the men had gotten down here, past
the starving waifs, but they weren't going to let them back out. The
men were trapped. Even if the men managed to kill the first few who
attacked them, these starving little things would manage to overwhelm
them in time.
So,
it was up to her. She decided to handle things her way.
“First
I have to ask you something,” she said.
They
all scooted even closer to her, faces eagerly waiting.
“Did
Zaylik, the master, come through here?”
“YES!”
they said.
“Which
way did he go?”
They
all pointed toward the large, heavy door. “In there!”
“Okay.
Now, I'm going to tell you a secret. You must listen carefully,
though,” she spoke low, looking into each of their little faces.
“You no longer have to stay here.”
After
a silent moment of exchanging glances, one boy in worn out, faded and
filthy jeans said, “But we like it here.”
“You
do? Why?”
“There's
lots of toys to play with.”
“And
we can play house, and have tea parties,” a little girl said.
“And,
we're ballerinas,” one of the other little girls in a tutu said.
The group of them jumped up and pirouetted on their tip-toes.
Lucy
smiled. “That's very good,” she said. “But it's no longer safe
for you to stay here.”
“But
why not?” the red headed girl asked, fists to her little waist.
“There's
going to be a big fire, later. If you stay you will burn up.”
That
got their attention and their eyes went wide, one girl made an 'o'
with her mouth.
“But
where can we go?”
She
paused in thought. “I know of a place where all of you can hid, at
least for a while.”
“Where?”
“Outside
there's a large tower. There's no one there, now. You'll be safe
there for the night.”
“What
about our food?” asked the older boy.
“Yes.
We're hungry!” the red-headed girl said, holding her stomach.
“You'll
have to hunt whatever night creatures you can find outside,” she
said.
They
all looked dubious about that.
“Can
we take our toys?” one asked.
“Sure,
but take only what you can carry,” she said. “Hurry, now. Go and
get your things.”
With
excited little screams they dispersed and disappeared through the
other doorway.
©2005
Lorelei Bell from Vampire Legacy
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