Chapter One
Landon Reed tossed and turned, his body burning from the inside out as images from his past haunted his slumber. The beautiful witch, Isabella, with her long red hair was making some strange incantation as she hovered over his mother with a dagger. He could see it all so clearly. The emerald jewel butt of the knife glowing green, pulsing steadily to the beat of his mother’s heart. The shrieking cry of his mother’s voice filled his ears, his eyes widening in terror as the dagger plummeted down, sinking into her chest.
“No,” he’d yelled at the top of his lungs, watching her struggle in her bonds, her body thrashing, her back arching, then suddenly she was quiet, her body falling limp. Landon struggled in the chair the witch had tied him to, but the bonds around his wrists and ankles proved too much for a boy.
“It must be so,” the witch said, turning to him, a vindictive smile corrupting her satiny lips as she licked his mother’s blood from the blade, stepping toward him. “Open your mouth, boy, taste her life force before it’s gone forever. Taste and see what your future holds, what you will become and why you must learn to feast on human blood.”
“No,” he’d spat, shaking his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I will not become evil like you, killing, sacrificing, and casting spells.” A bittersweet laugh left her lips as she caressed his cheek with the tip of the blade. Anger welled up inside him unlike any he’d ever felt before. He spat at her, his eyes narrowing into slits. Her mouth twitched as she brought her face close to his.
“You are of your father, the devil, and you will kill. You will feed, you will grow strong, and you will use the power passed down to you to triumph over humankind. You will enslave young women and fill them with your seed, passing on the life force that created you. You want this power, Landon. And you will take it, or else you too will die. Now be a good boy and open up.”
Landon shook his head again, his lips pursed tight as the beautiful, yet vile creature smeared his mother’s blood along the seam of his lips. The sharp blade nicked his lower lip as he struggled to avoid the inevitable. As his mother’s blood made contact with his, he felt his lip grow warm, the heat spreading until his entire face felt hot, sweat beading across his brow. Images of his father sprang to life behind his eyes, making him gasp.
The witch touched the blade to his tongue and instantly he felt a surge of heated energy rushing through his veins, a power so strong it robbed him of his ability to scream, paralyzing him as the witch again began the same incantation she’d used on his mother, only this time he understood those ancient words.
“Oh, Father of Darkness, accept this gift and from me please my curse to lift. See your servant’s humble ways and take this life from me today. The blood bond now has been passed on; make him strong when I am gone.”
Moments after the words died, her beautiful face aged rapidly, right before his eyes. Her hair turned silver as cracks began appearing in her flesh. “Thank you, father,” she whispered hoarsely as her body crumpled to the floor, turning into nothing more than a pile of ashen dust, only her dark red velvet dress remaining.
Landon! a deep male voice sounded inside his head. You will sleep now and when you wake it will be far from this place. You will know the humans caring for you and will think of them as your parents just as they believe you are their son. On your nineteenth birthday you will remember this night and your true purpose. You will feed on these human hosts and be filled with the knowledge passed on inherently from your father. He will come to you, but only once in the flesh and impart to you the ancient ways of your breed.
“No! Don’t make me. I won’t,” he called out loud enough to wake himself from the dream, his body drenched with sweat, his heart galloping wildly in his chest as he looked at the glow of the moon outside his bedroom window.
Remorse and loathing filled him as tears sprang to life in his eyes. Indeed, he had fed from Janice and Frank, the couple that for nine years posed as his parents. At exactly midnight on his nineteenth birthday, he had awoken with an impending need growling in his belly and one word raging through his mind: Feed!
The bloodlust raging through him was so overpowering, he had ripped the comforter from his body, noticing claws had extended from his fingertips, and with a hearty growl, he sprang from the bed and made his way hastily to his parents’ bedroom with an urgent need for their thick warm blood.
When his frantically raging mind cleared and his lust for blood abated, only then did he realize what he’d just done as he looked at their lifeless bodies, tears in his eyes.
Their death is not without reason, my son.
A deep voice rang in his ears. The same voice that he remembered hearing so long ago.
“Who are you?” he’d called out, wiping tears from his face.
I think it’s best if I show you.
A moment later, Landon felt dizzy, his vision blurred, and his body felt extremely heavy. He stumbled to the rocking chair in the corner of the bedroom and sat before he fell down. “What are you doing? What the hell is happening to me?” His words were slurred and he felt as though he were drunk.
I am Vod, your father, and you’re going to sleep now while I show you why you were born. When you wake, I will explain your purpose.
As hard as he tried to fight his eyes closing, he couldn’t and soon after came the imparting dream his father wanted him to see. As if he’d been transported directly into Vod’s head, he watched as images began to flash through his mind’s eye. It soon became clear that what he was seeing were his father’s memories.
Lucifer, a godlike man with sharp contoured muscles, a firmly chiseled jaw, and long raven black hair, stood before a crowd of pale demonic beings. They were naked, bowing low to their master as he spoke to them. He told them they had served him well, but their time was over; it was time for them to meet the joys of death. A small group of them rose to their feet protesting, but the master silenced them with little more than a wave of his hand, his eyes growing dark, glowing like hot coals, an evil laugh coming from his lips.
“You choose to defy me?” he cackled. “Then you shall know what it feels like to die slowly, starving, your bellies burning while your blood boils.” With another wave of his hand he simply disappeared, vanishing into thin air along with those who had remained on their knees, bowing low to their master.
The dozen or so of them that remained began to wail, crying out into the night, begging their master to come back, not to forsake them this way. They tore at their flesh, ripping it open, blood streaking their bodies, vowing their allegiance while they begged him to come back and take them with him. But he did not come back. Long nights passed as the blood demons prayed fervently for sustenance, trapped in the eerie black realm of their existence.
That prayer was answered, but not by Satan. It had been Isabella, who heard Vod’s pleading prayers and came to him in a dream, seducing him with promises of love and life everlasting. The realm Lucifer had imprisoned the uncooperative blood demons in was impenetrable in a physical sense, but that did not stop her from impregnating Vod’s subconscious while he slept, imparting to him how she might help. How she could in fact make sure their race lived on forever, but she wanted something in return.
In return, she asked for sanctuary for her soul. Once her physical life ended, she did not want her soul in the clutches of Satan. If he could bring that about and make sure she would truly rest in peace, then she would assure their kind survived and were given the chance to become what Lucifer refused to allow.
“He has treated you all like pawns,” Isabella’s soft voice drifted into Vod’s mind, waking his subconscious but not his body. “Now that you have served your purpose, your only reward is eternal death. A reduction to nonexistence as though you had never been at all. What a pity.” As the vision continued, he could see her as she spoke: her rich red hair, her soft pale skin, plump ruby red lips, and emerald eyes. “Had you not protested, angering the master, your death would have been pleasurable. But for your lack of faith and the greed in your heart, these twelve of you who remain must suffer until the last breath of life leaves your body. You have been left to starve in the darkness until your end.”
“Great goddess, who are you?” Vod mumbled in his sleep, an arm reaching out for the woman’s beautiful face. An instinctual urge pumped through his veins, making him grab for her, wanting to sink his fangs deep into her swollen breast and feed, but her image shattered to dust the moment his fingers made contact. “No,” he cried. “Come back. I’m sorry.”
Her rich voice of seduction filled his head as she laughed. “I’ve not left you. And while I can appreciate your bloodlust and your desire to fill me harshly with your beautiful twin erections, such a thing will never take place. Only a part of me is present in your realm; my body resides on Earth. I’m here to make you an offer. One of life in exchange for sanctuary.”
“You ask the impossible, my fair and beautiful witch,” he proclaimed after she explained. “How do you expect me to ensure you such a death when you have vied with Lucifer? You accepted him freely in exchange for certain powers. By what means do you think I have the power to undo the pact you made with the devil?”
“You don’t have to.” Her pretty face emerged before his eyes again, the gleam in her eyes sultry. “I need the blood of twelve angels. With it, I can create a spell for my death, but they must give freely.”
“You still ask the impossible. I am locked here, unable to make passage beyond the dark. The angels you seek exist in the light.”
“Hush now,” she hissed softly. “Let me explain.” He couldn’t stop looking at those plump red lips. “I am not locked in the darkness. I can reach the realm of the angels, but only with your help. You know how to get there and can guide me mentally. Once there you will allow me possession of your soul, thus deceptively taking on the appearance of your body. Through you, I will get the blood sacrifice I need. In return, your kind will have the opportunity to live an earthbound life.”
“How do I know you are not lying to me, witch? What is to say that if I do my part, you will fail to follow through with yours? You said I had to die, relinquishing every drop of my blood and only then could you create the spell that would allow my physical return. What assurance do I have this is not a trick?”
“Call me Isabella, please.” Her facial features softened, her eyes taking on a tender warmth while her lips rose just a tiny bit. “I can give no proof. You must act on trust and faith and you must give freely in that faith. You must believe in me.”
Vod remained silent for a moment, soaking in her luscious beauty, letting his desire flow as his hand moved toward his throbbing cocks.
“Vod! This isn’t a dream. Leave your lust alone and grant me an answer.” Her voice rattled in his head this time. “What have you got to lose? You will die slowly of starvation a few days from now anyway. Make this pact with me and die swiftly, painlessly on this night, and in the future, you will again see the light.”
“What about the others?” he asked, referring to his slumbering brothers.
“They will die the death Lucifer left for them, but I will allow you time to impart to them this hope I have offered you so that they too may take a small amount of comfort while they suffer.”
“We have an agreement, Isabella.”
Landon opened his eyes and as promised there stood Vod, although not in a wholly physical form, but more of an apparition. At first he’d thought drinking all that blood was causing him to hallucinate, but then the large naked man sporting two full and erect cocks spoke to him.
“Landon,” he spoke in a calm, deep voice. “My son! My salvation!” The eerie personification of the man moved closer to him, yet he did not fear him.
“Monster!” Landon accused, feeling guilty as he wiped Frank’s dried blood from the corner of his mouth. “I will not be like you. I will not feed again after this night. I will kill myself before I drain another human like that.” He looked over at the gray, dead bodies of Frank and Janice, his substitute parents of the last nine years.
“Oh, but you will, my boy. Hunger will drive you to feed.” Vod stood before him now, a smug look in his dark stormy eyes. “Human food is useless to you now. Your transformation will be complete in a few hours as you digest their blood. Your body will grow to its full potential, your muscles will be as steel, and your mind will evolve. Soon, you will begin to feel the powers that now course through your veins. You will be immortal against any man or beast. The Earth and all that is in it now belongs to you, my son.”
“I don’t want it,” he growled, feeling horrible about what he’d done. No, what the bloodlust had made him do. Standing, he met his father eye to eye. “I don’t want your blessed curse. I will starve before I feed again. I will not become the monster you planned me to be. I do have a choice and you very well know it… father.” Landon brought his face close to Vod’s and whispered, “I still have free will.”
His father threw his head back, laughing heartily. “We shall see just how long you can hold out from staving off the burn of bloodlust. The desire to feed and to fuck will drive you out of your mind. By morning, your body will be transformed and you will be like me.” Vod looked down at his two stiff cocks, stroking the lower of the two.
Landon tried not to watch, but then realized what his father meant by becoming whole. “Are you saying I’m going to grow a second cock overnight?” Just the thought of it grossed him out. No woman in the world would ever want to love such a freak of nature.
“Oh, not just that, my boy. There is more to it than that.” A wry smile spanned his lips. “Once you are fully transformed, you will have the ability to impregnate every woman you slip your glorious cocks into despite any current means of birth control. If you think sex was good up until now, just wait until you experience how it was meant to be.”
“Jesus!” Landon barked, taking a step back, noticing the wiggly protrusion coming out of the end of Vod’s top cock. “Don’t tell me that’s going to happen to me.”
“Indeed it is, my boy. This is our means of ensuring procreation. It’s our seed pod. When you’re with a woman, it naturally finds its way into her womb to ensure pregnancy. Even if she is not ovulating at the time, your seed will wait within her, remaining active until she enters her ovulation cycle.”
This was far too much for Landon to process right now, yet he couldn’t help feeling a tad bit curious about what sex might feel like with two cocks. “Why do you have two of them?” he asked, thankful that Vod had stopped stroking himself and the wiggly little wormlike thing retreated and was no longer visible.
“One ensures pregnancy while the other ensures pleasure. It’s also a means of possession that all women love.”
“Maybe where you come from, but I can tell you right now, most women are afraid of allowing a man to fuck her ass.” Landon shook his head, not wanting to entertain such a conversation with his father any longer. This was just wrong on so many levels. “Why did you come here tonight? And why have you never come to me before?”
“I came to explain your purpose and enlighten you about the changes your body will be undergoing. You are the only means of survival for our kind. You must spread your seed far and wide. Each woman you impregnate will bear a son, a male to further guarantee our survival. And on each boys’ nineteenth birthday you will be bound by duty to explain to him that which I am explaining to you now. The changes and the power that will grow within them and why it is vital that they also mate with a multitude of women in order to ensure our survival, to certify we become the dominant race on Earth.”
“What if I refuse?”
A devious smile rose to Vod’s lips. “Try as you may, you won’t be able to deprive your urges for very long.”
“I won’t have any if I’m dead!” He glanced again at the bodies in the bed. “I won’t do this. I just won’t. I would rather kill myself before I bring about such a freak of nature. Did you ever stop to think the reason your kind died out was because your race was never meant to be? The only reason Satan created you was to further his own plan. A plan that is sure to fail, no matter what he does. And you think I want to be part of that plan? I don’t and I won’t be.” Landon walked over to Frank’s closet, tearing open the door with more strength than he meant to, nearly pulling it from its hinges. He took the shoebox down from the shelf and pulled out Frank’s revolver, checking to make sure it was still loaded.
Vod laughed heartily once again, merely crossing his arms while he watched Landon close the barrel and try to bring the gun to his head. But it wasn’t working; as hard as Landon tried, it was as if an invisible force prevented him from carrying out his will.
“What the fuck?” he blurted in frustration, trying desperately to aim the gun at his chest instead.
“Built-in security. Compliments of Isabella.” Vod took a step toward him. “And even if you could put that gun to your head and pull the trigger, you will find it will not kill you. As of tonight, you, my son, are immortal. Should you sustain injury, your body will repair itself from the inside out almost immediately.” To prove such a point, Vod extended his razor-sharp claws and slashed Landon’s light gray muscle shirt from his body, leaving four deep claw marks across his chest.
“Fucker!” Landon howled in pain, his own claws extending automatically as he lunged at his father, but little good it did as the man was not exactly whole and his fist went right through him. “What the hell? You can touch me, but I can’t touch you?”
“Look at your chest, boy.”
As he did, he saw that already the wounds were healing and with not so much as a scar in their place.
“You have but one enemy, Landon. Vampires. And now that you have reached your nineteenth birthday, they will become aware of you and they will hunt you and try to kill you.”
It was Landon’s turn to laugh. “Vampires? You have to be kidding me! They only exist in—”
“No, son, they’re just as real as you are, and carry many of the same traits and dependencies as you. They feed on human blood to survive, they have the ability of mind control, and they are just as quick and agile as you, although not as strong. They do, however, have an impediment that you do not. Sunlight. Nor can they procreate in the same fashion as you. You can create life; they can only create more death, adding to Satan’s count of souls.”
“Looks like my problem is solved, then, doesn’t it? I’ll just wait for these vampires to find and kill me, putting an end to a life that was never meant to exist.”
“I fear that won’t be as easy as you think. There is only one way they can kill you, and that is to turn you into one of them by draining you of your blood and filling you with their own, in which case you become a vampire like them, limited to the darkness, limited to life without a soul. Trust me when I say you don’t want that to happen. I’m running out of time now, son. Don’t fight your instincts.”
“Wait!” he cried out, watching as the image of his father disintegrated into thin air.