Paris, 1794 Ch. 4: Vampires-in-Hiding

[Sofia's POV]

Thekla and Sofia bite into the wrists of one of the bound cattle. The girl murmurs, on the border of unconsciousness, weak from the regular feedings. It's delicious, but Sofia longs to hunt on the streets. To taste new blood. She's been drinking from this one days.

Sofia stops feeding, her hunger only barely sated. She licks the girl's wrist, making sure to eat any residual blood.

"Thekla, stop. It's too much for her" Sofia says, knowing how hard it is to stop feeding when you're so thirsty.

Thekla looks up. "Just a bit more, Sofia. I'm so hungry" Thekla whines. "Oh, all right" she says after seeing Sofia's stern look. Thekla licks the girl's arm clean if blood, laying her down to sleep on the mattress. She restores the girl's bindings.

It has been four days since Emma's ****. In that time, the vampiresses have not left the basement of their lair. The house is spacious, but Sofia is getting a bit stir crazy. Their human valet, Jean, brings them prey, but even that has slowed to a trickle. Elizabeth has told them that they need to stretch the livestock, not draw attention. Despite Elizabeth's initial talk of hunting as a brood, and her bluster about making Paris bleed, she hadn't let them leave the lair since Delphine's return.

The mighty Erzsébet. The goddess. Hiding in a basement like a rat from a human Sofia thinks sardonically. But of course she knows: Rachel is no ordinary cow.

Fuck, I'm thirsty Sofia thinks, the blood having only momentarily dulled her hunger pangs.

"So who is this Rachel" Thekla asks curiously. Everytime, she acts like she hasn't asked this before Sofia thinks.

"Elizabeth doesn't want us to talk about it. Suffice it to say, Rachel is a very intelligent and very competent hunter of our race" Sofia says, giving Thekla the same answer that she's given dozens of times over the past few days.

"That's bullshit and you know it" Thekla spits. "If I'm going to be trapped down here, I want to know what we're facing" Thekla says indignantly.

Sofia see an opportunity. "I agree... isn't it strange that Elizabeth won't tell you and Delphine more? Given the danger we are in?" she suggests innocently. Sofia sees the wheels turning in Thekla's head.

"I can tell you a bit, but you can't tell Elizabeth that I told you" Sofia says, holding Thekla's hand in her own. Thekla nods, wide-eyed.

Sofia begins: "Rachel was a blood **** in Elizabeth's...in our household. This was back in Hungary, in the 1600s. She was a young Jewish girl that Elizabeth had ****. Elizabeth drank her entire family in front of her. Her blood was...exquisite. Maybe that's why she hung around for so long. Typically, human girls would rarely last more than a few weeks around us."

Thekla is listening in rapt attention. Sofia continues: "She was smart. She knew how to survive. How to stay around the edges, unseen, during the blood orgies. How to pleasure us so that we'd keep her around one more night. But all that time, she was watching us. Learning our weaknesses. Honestly, learning our hubris."

"It's a story for another time, but when she saw an opportunity for escape, she didn't hesitate. She burned two of our sisters on her way out."

"Rachel is a thorn that weaves in and out if our lives from time to time. She's too smart for a direct confrontation: Elizabeth would destroy her in the blink of an eye. No. She stabs at us from the shadows. Murdering one here, one there, and then disappearing... for decades sometimes, until we forget". If course, I'll never forget my Katalin Sofia thinks sadly.

"You said before that you...killed her?" Thekla asks, confused.

"I thought that we did, in Madrid. She was trapped in a burning warehouse. As intense an inferno as you can imagine. I can't imagine how she escaped. The next night, we found a human skeleton in the cinders, but it must not have been her..." Sofia says, looking away. "Like I said: she's smart."

"But she's only human, right? How is she still alive after two centuries?" Sofia asks incredulously.

"I don't know, but I have my theories." Sofia answers.

Thekla looks down, clearly absorbing the strangeness of what Sofia has told her. She's not used to being prey, Sofia thinks, the role reversal. She reaches out to hug Thekla, her arms rubbing the frightened vampiress' back.

They are interrupted when Delphine comes into the room. "Elizabeth wants to see you in the main room. There's fresh food!" Delphine squeals excitedly.