DAUGHTER, BELOVED

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF SYLVIA THE VAMPIRE

E-Mail: guildmaster@worldnet.att.net

By Ronald C. Tobin

Ah! So nice of all of you to drop by! For those of you not yet familiar with me, my name is Sylvia. I was transformed into a vampire without my consent (utterly against the rules) by Tom during the so-called Summer of Love in San Francisco during 1969. I have come to enjoy being undead, but that took years. Until early in this bizarre year of 2001, I was an independent, never went to the Ruby Motherhouse (Ruby is my Order), generally scorned the company of my fellow vampires. With the aftermath of the eradication of Victor Trent, that has all changed. Most of you know all that already. Those who do not can be directed to my previous tales via this fine publication that all have appeared in.

Tonight is October 31, 2001. Good old Halloween, usually a good night for hunting for we vampires. We can go out in formal capes and leave a little blood dripping from the mouth, and the mortals just go wild. Especially the Goth kids, but then you can do that with them any night. This year in the aftermath of 9/11, there are fewer parties and the mood is more somber. Still, I am thirsty, so I shall finish getting ready, so I can commence the hunt for tonight.

Just as I was ready to leave my room, a very light knock comes from my bedroom window. I swiftly open the curtains and see Francesca DeWitt (who was in a previous incarnation Pa Anovas' beloved sister, but who has now only been a vampire for about nine years) standing on my balcony. I opened the door and she rushed inside. She had a rather perplexed look on her face, her nervousness was plain to my eyes.

"So, what brings you here to Los Angeles to see me, Francesca?" I inquired out of curiosity.

"Forgive me for the abrupt and clandestine entrance. I came here tonight at the request of my blood sister, Aurea," Francesca replied, in a rather clipped tone. "She needs to see you tonight, right away. Very important situation has arisen."

I looked into Francesca's eyes, and saw that she was confused, agitated, excited, and frightened at the same time. Making sure to keep my own demeanor calm and collected, I responded, "I gather that Aurea is here in town, or nearby? She must be if she sent you to get me to come to her. Then again, she could have just come to the front door and had herself announced, just as you could have done. What is so important that you, or Aurea, did not want the others to know about it?"

"Aurea instructed me not to say, just to say that the matter was urgent and that your presence was required," Francesca stammered out.

Now I was becoming perturbed. I respected Aurea on many levels, including as a staunch associate and for being an elder among us. She did not need to play games. I would certainly come and see her unless I had other, far more pressing business, which I really did not. The night was young, still many good feeding hours out there if need be. This was keeping secrets, this was something very personal, and I was not happy. No, not happy at all. I could just agree to go and leave with Francesca and let her off the hook, but that went against my preternatural sensibilities.

Looking her straight in the eyes, and poking a finger into her chest (Francesca is rather well endowed, by the way), I switched to the formal tongue and said, "My dear Sister, if this matter has ANY personal ramifications for me, I hereby make this a direct question and bind you on your honor to answer me well and truthfully."

"Aurea knew you would do this to me, dear Sister," Francesca replied. "Very well. Know this: your true daughter, Jacqueline Maria Patterson, is near death from stomach cancer. She is in a hospice down in Anaheim. An orderly, who is a mortal associate of Matthew Breem, overheard her tell a nurse that the last thing she wants to see before she goes is the face of her true mother, the one that had to leave her behind in San Francisco back in 1969 due to some horrible accident. He put two and two together and Matthew contacted Aurea and she confirmed that this was your true daughter, the one you gave birth to on November 1, 1968."

I started to lose my composure. I grabbed Francesca's hand and we leapt from the balcony down to the sidewalk and ran into her car. Once she started driving, I just totally lost it, let out with some blood curdling wails that only a distraught vampire can ever hope to do. "No, not my precious baby. Not the day before she turns thirty-three. It's not right! It's not fair! First, Tom takes her away because, as a vampire, I certainly could not breast feed her anymore or give her a normal life, adopts her out to some family in Reno, and now, when she finally finds us, she's dying."

I did check up on her a few times over the years. Jackie grew up tall and proud. A brilliant person, yet generally easy to get along with. Lost her virginity at fourteen, fooled around with women and men when it struck her. Always took precautions with regards to getting pregnant - she carried a box of condoms in her purse. I just observed from afar. I often wanted to say something, but could not think of how to do it. "Hi, I'm your real mom, and I'm a vampire?"

Now, I wish I had found a way. I think Jackie was savvy enough that she could have handled it. Now, I guess all I could do for my baby, my precious little girl, my own flesh and blood, would be to whisper kind words, tell her I loved her, had always loved her, and let her pass on in peace from the intense pain that is stomach cancer. A pain so intense, I am told, that it makes the pain of transformation seem very pleasant by comparison.

I have never felt so helpless, so alone, so very, very...empty.

Fortunately the traffic was light so it only took us about twenty minutes to reach the hospice, about 9PM it was. Aurea and a male vampire who was indeed Matthew Breem met us in the parking lot. I rushed out of the car and fell into Aurea's arms, sobbing and wailing. "My baby, how bad off is she?" I asked between sobs. Aurea looked at me with deep concern and replied, "the doctors have done all they can for her. The stomach cancer has spread throughout her body. They don't think she can survive the night."

"NOOOO!" I wailed. "Not my baby. Not so young! Can't we do anything for her? Doctors be damned! Can't we save her, mighty elder?"

"Well, yes, Sylvia. I could save her, though I would have to kill afterwards, her insides are just ravaged with cancer and it would take over three pints of my blood to make it work. And you understand that I am saying she would have to become a vampire. Nothing we can do would allow her to continue living for long as a mortal."

"And of course we would need her consent to do it," Matthew said. "As well as your consent to dispatch her if the transformation is botched and she goes revenant."

I regained my composure and thought about it for a minute, no more than that because I could feel my precious daughter slipping away by inches inside that building. "Very well. If Jackie consents, then you have my consent as well. Now, let?s get in there and talk to her while she is still capable of rational thought and informed consent!"

While it was after visiting hours, we just walked in the front doors and down the hall to the room where my daughter was. No one paid any attention to us, as we had thrown up a hypnotic suggestion that said, "you do not see us," and, since none of these mortals were particularly sensitive, they did as they were bidden.

When we entered Jackie's room, I could not help but gasp. She looked so frail, so thin, so small hooked up to all of those machines, to that IV drip that slowly put the morphine into her veins to control the pain. Her face was still contorted into a grimace. Though she was sleeping, she let out with a moan of pain. I could contain myself no longer. I rushed to the side of my precious little girl, held her hand, and said softly, "It's okay, Jackie. Mama is here."

She turned her head towards me slowly and opened her eyes. She smiled weakly and whispered, "I knew you would come, Mama. Even after all those years, I just knew you would come." She seemed to relax a bit, which I hoped was a good sign.

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Of course I'm here, darling. I always loved you, even though I thought it was best that we be apart while you grew up," Catching a cry in my throat, I continued, "It was not the choice I would have made under any other circumstances."

"Jackie nodded and said, "I understand, Mama. My adoptive parents were good people. They told me you had been in a horrible accident that left you unable to care for me." Jackie looked at me and said, "Gosh! You look so young! Just like the pictures I had from 1969."

After that another spasm of pain wracked her body. As it subsided, Aurea and Francesca stepped forward. "We don't have much more time, Sylvia," Aurea thought at me. "Give her the short version and make the offer. If I am to have a reasonable chance of bringing her across, it will have to be done in the next half-hour. After that, she will be too delirious to give informed consent, which everyone but Tom knows is against the protocols."

I did as I was asked to do. I told Jackie about my having become a vampire, about how we could eradicate the cancer and restore her looks and end the pain but she would have to become a vampire because her body was riddled with cancer and there was no other way but it was up to her what she wanted to do. I told her all that in less than five minutes.

"Well, that explains the pale complexion and the cool touch of your hand," Jackie said. "You mentioned pain - well frankly I doubt it would hurt nearly as much as the pain from the stomach cancer has."

Aurea then stepped forward and bared her fangs. "I take that to mean that you wish to accept our offer?" Jackie whispered yes as another spasm of pain shot through her.

Turning her head towards me so Aurea could easily find her jugular, Jackie whispered, "Can I stay with you after I cross over, Mama? So much to talk about."

With tears streaming down my face, I said, "Of course, sweetheart. Remember, stay conscious. Do not drift or we will lose you."

I held my daughter's hand as Aurea sank her fangs into her neck. Jackie simply gasped when that happened. Francesca and Matthew watched intently, one hand on the barely concealed long knives, which they would use, without hesitation, to decapitate Jackie if the transformation botched and she went revenant. All I could do is hold her hand and hope a lot.

Much to our chagrin, Jackie went limp about ninety seconds into it. Aurea could not have taken in more than two pints of her blood, and already Jackie was fading. Aurea detached from Jackie's neck and cut her right wrist and put it to Jackie's mouth, saying, "Drink, Jackie. Stay with us." To Matthew, she said, "Bite her on the left wrist and keep drinking until you taste my blood."

Matthew hurried to comply, but then asked "How will I know when it is your blood and not hers?" "Fool!" Aurea snapped as Jackie's lips started to move. "My blood will taste sweet and burn. Hers is putrid. So many drugs and cancer cells." Matthew scowled a bit but then did as asked. At that point, Jackie latched onto Aurea's wrist and drank her blood with gusto.

About a minute later, Matthew stopped sucking, having tasted Aurea's blood in my daughter?s veins. Aurea took her wrist away from Jackie, saying, "Enough for now, beloved sister." Already, Jackie's eyes, deep green as ever, had the vampire cast.

I was thinking about how marvelous she was looking already. She looked at me and said, "And I already feel so much better." She then looked at me quizzically and said, "You did not say anything, did you? You were just thinking and pondering, right?"

"Yes, Jackie," I thought back, and smirked at her startled look. "It seems becoming a vampire makes one's telepathic abilities take hold." Speaking, I continued, "You will need to learn to tune in and tune out. If you leave your mind wide open, you will be overwhelmed by thoughts and emotions. Go ahead and try. You can now actually know what everyone in this hospice is thinking, save for those who know how to close their minds to intrusion."

Jackie acted as I had requested. At first she again looked startled, but then she dropped back into a more normal stance. "All that background noise! What most people think about is not worth eavesdropping on!" That statement got a chuckle out of Aurea, Francesca, Matthew, and yours truly.

After a couple of minutes Jackie was able to stand without help. We pulled all the IVs out and shut down the machines, carefully so as to not set off the alarms that would raise the staff from their stupor, remember that there was a room here, and force us to deal with them in an unpleasant fashion.

As Aurea took Jackie by the hand, Matthew threw his keys over to Francesca. "Jackie, your Mom (I must admit to getting a little misty-eyed at having heard that word) and Francesca will take you over to Matthew's house. In about two hours you will undergo the absolute nastiest part of the transformation - the full body purge. Given the damage to your system, yours will likely be worse than that experienced by most neophyte vampires. Do not be alarmed, it is very intense and very unpleasant but it does pass quickly. Once it does we will put you into some decent clothes and give you a spot to rest for the day. Matthew and I are going to go hunt, but we will be back at his place long before dawn."

So, we opened the door and walked out of the hospice as a group, once again entirely unnoticed and we went our respective ways.

It was not far to Matthew's house, and exactly two hours after Aurea transformed Jackie, those horrid cramps started. We had Jackie remove her gown and she stood in Matthew's tub and waited for the purge to start. It did about five minutes later, and Aurea was right - it was the most graphic and disgusting transformation purge I had ever witnessed. I knew I would wince because this was happening to my true daughter, my very own flesh and blood, but this was just so vile, so hideous that, for only the third time since I became a vampire, I literally puked my guts out. Even Francesca took on a sickly pallor.

Though it ONLY took ten minutes, to me it seemed like it took an eternity. At one point, vile smelling fluid with chunks of dead cancer cells came pouring from her mouth, vagina, and rectum. Jackie went through it all very stoically, never crying out or begging for mercy or anything like that (I begged Tom to kill me during my transformation purge. He just laughed, even when milk poured from my breasts for the last time. I'll never forgive him for what he did to me and, indirectly, to my daughter).

When it was over, Jackie simply cleaned herself up, without any help, got out of the shower and put on the simple outfit we had ready for her. Francesca presented her with a rather ornate Order Ruby Ring and said, "This ring was worn originally by Malatovno Ka Torniobis, an ancient Atlantean that chose to leave the plane when Kristano Pa Anovas, decided to self terminate." She slipped the ring onto Jackie?s finger and it was a perfect fit. "I think he would have liked for you to have this ring. It suits you."

Jackie smiled and thanked Francesca. Then she turned to me and gave me a hug. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, Mama. That purge was very unpleasant, but like I said, for pain, nothing will ever beat that stomach cancer I had."

She was likely right. There she was, free of pain if just a little bit paler than most vampires, but that would likely pass after she makes her first kill tomorrow. The legend of the need for the first kill goes back to ancient Atlantis. It was held that, by making someone into a vampire, we had cheated Death itself out of what was rightfully his, and so we needed to find a replacement to send in his or her place. It had to be someone who SOUGHT death, or someone who truly DESERVED death. To find the latter was considered a good omen.

Lazy old Tom only found me some poor, withered old crone who desired release from her mortal coil.. We know now there is no real NEED for the first kill ritual, except that it does get the neophyte vampire to accept what they are. Once you have killed, you know that you are a predator, a blood drinker, fully capable of killing, something one generally will try not to do very often because it attracts undue and very much unwanted attention.

The rest of the night was really uneventful. Aurea and Matthew arrived about 2AM, and then Aurea gave Jackie the standard talk about being a fully free associate of the Order Ruby, that she would be happy to be her mentor if she wanted one, the details of the first kill tomorrow night, all the stuff that is supposed to happen when a transformation is done properly, not as some sick stunt like Tom did to me. Jackie was eager to learn from Aurea, but only if I could move up to San Francisco too, which I thought would be good for me. A change of scenery after three decades in metropolitan Los Angeles. Indeed, it had been years since I set foot in the Bay Area.

I suppose I could go on at great length and talk about Jackie's first kill. Suffice it to say I am pleased that it was some psycho who really deserved to be dispatched. I mean, this woman believed that if she bathed in the blood of prepubescent boys twice a year, she would retain her youth. Well, it was not working and she needed killing and so Jackie did her in as Aurea and Francesca held this woman down. We just managed to save this eight-year-old boy named Fred. We took him back home to his grateful parents. I thought that was nice.

So, now Jackie and I are staying at the Los Angeles Motherhouse for a couple of weeks. Jackie will then go up to San Francisco as two vampires from up there move down here (we do not want to have too many vampires in the same place, and San Francisco is always pushing that envelope, just like New Orleans). I will make that trip to Orleans, France, to see Maurana and learn more about our heritage, maybe find out more about the Mars stuff. That would be truly good, if I do say so myself.

So, until our next visit, this is Sylvia saying farewell and, of course, pleasant dreams.

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