Lou's Life Chap 3 "Quinn"

I have two births you know, one where I was born a human and then the mortal died and the vampire was born. The human birth was not a spectacular event. I was born on the French coast to Jean` Luc and Agnes Sivney on Tuesday, May 10th 1580. Henri III was the king and my father was a serf on the kings land. The only thing I really remember of those years is that I had 6 brothers and 2 sisters, and I was sent to the local abbey at 8 yrs old to learn to serve the church.

I remember nothing of my life at the convent, I only remember being there because leaving it led to my death and rebirth. When I turned 19, my father sent my brothers William and Gilles to fetch me home to wed Mathieu Threnody, a man I did not know and had never met. He was my mother's cousin, and 21 years my senior. We were on our way home to Roquebrune, and on the road we met a band of what we thought were robbers. I remember watching William and Gilles pull their swords and try to defend us, but they were farmers like our father and their sword skills were rudimentary at best. Mercifully, they died very quickly. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I was tied to a horse, blind-folded, gagged and taken to a cave a few miles away.

My last human memory was of being carried over someone's shoulder, thrown on the ground, having the blindfold yanked off, and looking up to see a very nobly dressed and extremely handsome man. I would come to know him as Quinn.

Quinn was origionally from Ireland and had been changed when he was 27. When we met in 1599, he was only 112, but in those years he had been to England and spent time at court, learned English and French and was in France commanding a band of gypsy robbers. They worshipped him like a god and he kept us all fed, clothed and housed. It was a relationship of convience, not loyalty. Whoever they robbed, they would keep any gold and jewels, and bring the human victims to Quinn. They never asked what he did with his victims or how he disposed of them. Perhaps they knew he was a vampire, perhaps not. Perhaps they figured if they stayed in his favor, he wouldn't harm them. They never questioned him, they just considered it a fair price for his protection from the authorities that came snooping around from time to time. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

For whatever reason, one day he decided that he wanted a companion and had asked the robbers to find him a young woman. I was unlucky enough to be the first female that wandered into their territory. He would become my creator, father, teacher, lover, and my only friend.

I remember the change all to clearly. I am laying on the ground looking up at the most handsome man I have ever seen in my life and he kneels down beside me. I am mesmerized by his startlingly blue eyes, the color so pale it's almost white. I don't feel afraid, don't feel the need to fight back, or even scream and try to run. There is nothing else in the world except his beautiful face. It all fades away behind his hypnotic eyes and velvet voice. Without me even realizing he had moved, I was aware of him biting the side my neck, just below my right ear. I felt the excruciating pain in the side of my head first. It felt like someone had stuck a burning stake in the top of my head, and the pain was radiating down, down through my ears, down my neck and through my shoulders. As the pain slowly burned a path all the way to my toes, I remember laying on a cot on the edge of the room and fading in and out of consciousness, I lost all sense of time, seeing shapes of people come and go, floating past me like I was not there.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. I was suddenly conscious and aware of my surroundings. I kept my eyes closed and remained still until I could get my bearings. I knew I was laying in a horizontal position. I could hear breathing, slow and shallow, sounding like it was 5 ft from me. I could smell damp, moist air, the sent of dirt and minerals, and remembered I was lying on a cot, in the corner of a room in a cave. I opened my eyes and the first thing I laid sight on was a cricket crawling up the wall on the other side of the room. It took some considerable time for my brain to process the fact that the bug was at least 20 ft away, yet I could see in detail like I was holding it in my hand with my eyes a mere six inches away. I concentrated on it and could actually hear his tiny soft footsteps.

I could actually see the shine of his jet black exoskeleton. I watched him for several moments, then began to look around. We were definitely in a cave, the ceiling was stone stalactites, the floor was straw, covering hardpacked dirt. But that is where all similarity to a cave ended. The room was the most luxurious room I had ever seen. It was well lit, there were rugs on the floor and tapestries on the walls,. there were torches in wall sconces all around the room. The entire back wall was, floor to ceiling, a very full bookshelf. In front of the bookshelf was a massive desk. Sitting behind the desk was the man I remembered seeing earlier, with a book in his hand. The "cot" I thought I was laying on was actually a large canopied bed. The feather-tiick matress was very soft and comfortable.

Conscious thought seemed to come so much quicker. Before I even registered the thought that I had decided to get up, I was standing. When I looked again, Quinn had moved from the desk and was sitting there quietly, on a velvet setee, very close to me, watching me with an amused and curious expression. He looked at me like he was expecting me to scream, cry, jump up and down or do something outragously dramatic.
"Hello"
I didn't speak. I waited.
"How are you feeling?"

His voice was very soft and velvety smooth, some might even say sensual and seductive. But being as I had no experience with anything remotely sensual or seductive, to me it sounded like he was speaking with a loud whisper. We remained like this for what seemed like an eternity, me standing beside the bed, in my dress with the bloody collar and him on the setee, staring at me, both not speaking. Just staring into each others eyes. Watching. Waiting.
"Who are you and what have you done to me?
"My name is Quinn, and I gave you the Gift"          
"A gift?! What makes you think I want a gift? I don't understand how you have bewitched me, but I demand you let me go immediately!

"I'm sorry, but that's very impossible now"
"Why is it impossible, can't you just let me go? Please, I certainly cannot harm you, and if you are hoping to hold me for ransom, my family are poor farmers. They will have no money to give you"
"That's not why it's impossible for you to go. I am not simply trying to hold you as a prisoner. You have been given the Gift. You have been reborn. You have to stay and accept your new life. Once you embrace this Fate, and I am assured that your mind has reached acceptance, maybe we can leave this place and travel. That is part of the reason I brought you here, to have a companion. I have been to many new and exciting places, but it is immensely more enjoyable to experience new places and new things if you have someone to share it with. But until you reach the point of acceptance and learn to control your urges, you will remain here."