Blackwood Farm - Anne Rice [244]
“ ‘And so for our lessons,’ said Arion. He stretched out his arms to me. ‘Now, come, and to my throat, and take from me the Little Drink, only one fraction of what you want, and spill nothing when you do it. You learn to do the Little Drink, and you can feed from the innocent. You can feed from them gently without biting off a soul. You can leave them only dazed after your kiss.’
“I went directly to obey. The blood was so thick! And there again, the flash of sunny Athens! It was an agony, but I drew back at the appropriate moment as he had directed me, and with my tongue I lapped the few drops that threatened the whiteness of his satin shirt. He held me until I was steady on my feet, and then, covering my lips with his, he kissed me. He slipped his tongue into my mouth. He forced it up against my fang teeth. The blood came again. I reeled. I danced backwards.
“ ‘What is my life to be now?’ I whispered, after he’d withdrawn. ‘Ecstasy?’
“ ‘Ecstasy and control,’ he said to me softly. ‘Now drink from Manfred in the same way. Call your son to you, Manfred.’
“The Old Man stretched out his arms.
“I went to him.
“ ‘Come, child of my house, child of my legacy,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘Beloved child of my heritage. Drink from me the blood. It was Petronia in her wickedness who built Blackwood Manor with her gold, her miserable gold. I give you my love, luckless boy! I give you my blood. Take from me the image of the only pure thing I ever loved!’
“ ‘Short, and neat,’ said Petronia near to me.
“I sank my teeth in his bull neck, as his large hand held my shoulder. But it was not Virginia Lee whom I saw, it was Rebecca, Rebecca hanging hideously on the rusted hook, and Manfred cursing Petronia as she howled with laughter, and Rebecca too tormented, the dark blood that means death pouring out of her naked torso, the hook deep in her body, deep, run through her very heart for all I knew.
“Suddenly, Rebecca laughed! She stood alone, pointing at me, sneering. Laughing.
“ ‘Good God!’ I shouted. I was pulled back. I staggered. The Old Man had clapped a handkerchief to his neck, and how miserable he looked. Arion had ahold of my shoulders.
“ ‘Aw, such pain,’ said the Old Man. ‘And why did you reach for her, Quinn, why that shrew? Why reach for such a thing?’
“ ‘Control, my child,’ said Arion. ‘Control. So that you can move through a room crowded with mortals, picking the ones you want, giving the fatal kiss and leaving with no one any the wiser.’
“ ‘But why did I see Rebecca?’ I gasped. ‘What was the reason?’ I demanded. ‘You meant for me to see Virginia Lee.’
“ ‘Aye, but how can I hide the guilt inside my soul?’ asked the Old Man. ‘You reached for it, you found it, you possess it.’
“I heard her hissing whisper: And they howl and weep for you on your precious Blackwood Farm. When will they put your name on a gravestone?
“ ‘Get away from me, luckless ghost,’ I said. ‘So you have in me a life for your life. Leave me.’
“There came no answer.
“And so my learning went on for hours amongst them.
“They schooled me until I could take the Little Drink, but never was I filled, and they laughed at my hunger when I complained of the pain, and if Petronia became sullen or impatient, Arion shamed her with his kindness.
“ ‘Now we go to hunt, the four of us,’ said Arion. ‘And you will search out the Evil Doer, using the power to read minds, and we’ll watch over you.’
“ ‘It’s a wedding,’ said the Old Man in his bass voice. ‘A rich American come to Napoli for his daughter’s nuptials. You’ll find the Evil Doer everywhere you turn. You lure him, you take him in such a way that no one’s the wiser and from your tongue the drops of your own blood will seal up the wound. Are you ready, son, to be one of us? Truly one of us?’
“ ‘Picture it before we leave here,’ said Arion. ‘They’ve been drinking for hours. You want to move amongst them quietly. Anonymously. You want to leave your victims as if they’re drunk. You want to take the Little Drink from the innocents as you desire it.’
“I nodded. ‘Yes,’ I declared. I was thirsting.