Vampire Orphanage

By Patricia Mattern

From the author of The Forest of Bleeding Trees and other macabre fare, Patricia Mattern, comes yet another chilling tale that will have you up until way past your bedtime!

Marley and Tom are the perfect couple. To see them, you may not even notice that while Tom is human, Marley is a dhamphir, a half vampire.  They're just

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tell-Tale Publishing Group, LLC
• Release date: Nov 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781944056476

Book preview

VAMPIRE ORPHANAGE

Patricia Mattern

Vampire Orphanage by Patricia Mattern

©2017 Vampire Orphanage, Patricia Mattern

Tucson, AZ 85737

All rights reserved by federal copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Patricia Mattern. Brief quotations may be used in literary reviews.

Printed in the United States of America

.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my amazing readers. Your time is your life and when you use it to read my stories, I am deeply honored, not to mention stoked.

Thank you to Tell-Tale Publishing and CEO Elizabeth Fortin for giving many of our titles a literary home. Thank you to my talented author children, Marcus Mattern and J.C. Estall. Thanks to my disabled son, Jeffrey, who provided the inspiration for characters in Full Moon Series and Strident House, and proudly mentions to anyone that will listen that I ‘wrote a book about him’.

Huge accolades to Angela Campbell, High Blogger Priestess and Editing Goddess for her expertise and editorial professionalism—but most of all her heart for authors and books. You need to clone yourself!

A special thank you to inspirational paranormal author Shakuita Johnson, who inspired a character, my PA Kelley Sanders, and Fangsisters Monica Diane, Laticha DeMars Ashby, and Erin ‘Georgia Peach’. Also, amazingly beautiful Vampiress Samantha Day, Vampire Midgie Lynne Ligocki Gauthier, and Danetta Brashear Sutton for your tireless support and love, as well as all the Vamps on P. Mattern’s Immortals reader group!

Also, gratitude to Penny Potts, Frank Delaney, Ruby Barerra, Tina Oatts, Nydia Boop Were Princess, Gunner, Super reader Lora Knuth and all our readers who inspired me to write Vampire Orphanage! #OURREADERSROCKHARDER

The soul of a betrayed child holds the greatest darkness.

                                    --Marley Patterson, Vampire Orphanage

CHAPTER ONE

AND YOU THINK YOUR KIDS ARE A PAIN IN THE NECK

It was midnight, but all the vampire children were still awake. They were supposed to be playing quietly. The huge fixer-upper of a mansion had plenty of space, including a few large, vacant rooms for them to play in. So they were up, active and engaged in a variety of activities: homework and studying, video games and watching the Supernatural programs on cable television.

There were twelve of them, Tom Patterson mused, and with any luck, it would be thirteen soon. His wife, Marley, was out on a scouting mission and if she were successful, they would have a new member that day.

Tom hadn’t known Marley was a dhampir when they’d married. She’d hidden her fangs until the night of their first real argument. He flipped out, of course. Marley held him down forcibly, which was easy for her with her superior strength. That had been a surprise too. She’d spent hours explaining before he’d managed to calm down.

In the end, because they truly loved each other, Tom had accepted her for what she was.

They were happy together except that they hadn’t been able to have their own child. Tom suspected it was because he was a full human and Marley wasn’t.

Marley suggested that they invest in the huge unoccupied Victorian at the edge of town that had been sitting vacant for at least 40 years. She had a dream to fill it with children, she told him. They would adopt dhampirs, half vampires like herself, and also the abandoned offspring of vampires.

Children were cared for in the V-Net, which was what the civilized and ecologically minded vampires of the Modern Era was called.  They blended in with the human society they were once part of, as opposed to the Rogue Vampire population who hunted and murdered as they always had. These vampires did not have the best reputation for parenting. Many rogue vampires abandoned their unexpected children.

Or ate them.

Marley explained that, unexpectedly, vampires had evolved to the point of actually conceiving and bearing their own offspring. They were calling them born vampires, as opposed to turned, and even though they grew so rapidly that they were the size of an average twelve-year-old by the end of their first year, they still required guidance and nurturing.

Tom also had access to the expired bags of donated human blood used in the research. These he routinely brought home after checking them off. Pickup of the discarded blood bags was only done once a month, and he had discovered this method of providing blood to his household when he and Marley were still newlyweds.

Keeping Marley satisfied in bed had never been a problem, Tom mused. But, even as a half vampire, her occasional craving for blood was strong . . .  and while Tom loved her enough to feed her himself, she was very protective of him. She didn’t want to change him, for one thing.

She also feared that her attraction to him might mean that once she had tapped into his arteries, she might not be able to stop sucking.

It was Marley who had first noticed that rabbit blood was a great substitute for human blood. She’d even made a joke about it:

You gotta be quick, she’d say wryly, quick like a bunny!

Even as a dhampir, Marley was as fast as any vampire. The captured woodland rabbit was anesthetized by the venom as she bit into the side of its neck, and the gentle animal fainted dead away during the process.

She was quick about it, too. Marley could drain a bunny in about 30 seconds.

One reason they’d chosen to buy the out of the way ramshackle Victorian was because it was nestled on several acres that included a pond, forest land and a meadow. The land was overgrown except for the half acre encircling the house that Tom kept mowed so that the house looked good from the standpoint of the rural road that it was on.

As far as the renovation of the mansion itself, Tom noted with satisfaction that having extra hands on board had made a notable improvement in the appearance of their home. They didn’t have a lot of money, but paint was cheap, and with the kids helping, not only had the curbside appeal of the big house been upgraded, but the twin rooms off the huge foyer of the home were both painted and looking great.

One room, the one they called the parlor, had been painted a saffron color that turned golden when the afternoon sun shone through the old-fashioned floor to ceiling windows. Marley found some long sheers with tiebacks to place over the windows, and even though the original lead crystal chandelier was missing a few of its dangling crystals, the room still had an air of 19th century elegance.

They didn’t have enough furniture yet, but Marley had bought a huge antique woven rug that was threadbare in a few spots to place over the hardwood flooring. She loved to sit in there and read to the younger children.

Tom heard the massive front door open, and skidded into the front hall in his socks in time to see Marley, her tawny hair windblown, ushering in a small blond boy with curly hair that appeared to be about four years old.

He looked like the twin of their youngest, a blonde, curly-headed and dimpled charmer named Sadie Belle. The boy was dressed in ragged clothes, with dirt smudges on his upturned face as he took in all 6’ 3" of him.

Marley squatted down beside the child.

This is Theo, she told Tom breathlessly. Theo, this is my husband, Tom.

Tom offered his hand to the new kid, who looked understandably frightened.

Welcome to Marley House, he said warmly.

Hesitantly, the child took Tom’s hand. Then, suddenly, he turned it over and bit into Tom’s wrist.

Blood spurted.

No! Marley said. 

When the boy released his limb, Marley instantly whipped out a handkerchief and applied pressure to Tom’s wrist, saying, Sorry, honey, the little guy is hungry.

I’ll say! Tom replied, as he continued to apply pressure to the tiny puncture marks. It wasn’t the first time he’d been set upon by a new member of the household. Being a full human had its disadvantages in a home full of vampires.

Theo, Marley explained patiently. That wasn’t nice. I know you are hungry, but we never feed on Tom—we need to respect him and keep him safe from rogue vampires. Come into the kitchen. I will fix you a type O smoothie, okay?

Theo nodded, though his wide eyes were still fixed on Tom.

Sowwy, he said shortly, and then grinned as he followed Marley toward the kitchen.

Tom had to admit, he was absolutely adorable with his short fangs showing.  Kind of like a kitten, Tom thought to himself, those pointy little teeth. He removed the kerchief. The puncture marks were already coagulating.

He smiled as he saw Penny running down the hallway. Penny had been a special case. Marley and Tom noticed her hanging out downtown. Her frail appearance and streetwise demeanor indicated she was likely a runaway.

At the time, they’d only found four of their adopted family. They’d found Sadie Belle during a snowstorm. Shakuita had mysteriously turned up on their doorstep one day—they thought she might have been a refugee from a nearby farm. She’d had permanent scars on her barely teenaged body, and had immediately latched onto Marley as a mother figure.

Frank, the oldest, at least as far as Tom and Marley could tell, had followed Tom home as he jogged down the country road adjacent to their homestead, meaning to fang him. It had taken an intervention from Marley to convince him to stay and drink the blood kept on hand for the little vampires. Although Frank had been turned only days before, he was almost strong enough to overpower Marley. Only his youth and weakness from lack of feeding had allowed her to restrain him until they could calm him and restore his strength with the Ereenees Blood Substitute, manufactured at the Martel Biosphere Facility where Tom worked as a Research Chemist.

The older vampire kids fell into two categories. Frank, who was mistrustful and used to taking care of himself, had been of the Goth persuasion before joining their household. He finally confessed to Tom and Marley that he had killed a man.

Tom still recalled the horrifying story Frank had recited in vivid detail. According to Frank:

The  man was a low-life drug dealer that supplied my parents with crank, methamphetamine. One of my first nights out on the street, the pusher happened to pass me. The dirt bag’s human scent wafting my way and instantly grabbed my attention.

The man, the one my parents called Cisco, smelled like death.

I decided that the reprobate couldn’t die fast enough. I wondering how many families’ lives were being ruined by drug use, and I followed him on his rounds.

After five stops, the man, whistling, took off up Baker Street toward the club district. Even though I might be noticed in the crowds outside the clubs as too young to be there, I caught up to Cisco.  Good thing too. When he decided to duck down an alley to save time, I was ready.

It was his last fatal mistake. It had gotten dark, and with my new vampire quickness, I was on him in seconds.

I guess I was lucky that the man’s initial scream was obliterated by the traffic noise. I drained the man, and wiped by face with the back of my hand after I slaked my thirst for blood.

To slack my thirst for revenge, I  tore him into pieces and set him on fire in one of the aluminum trash cans lining the walls in the alleyway. At the time, I had a vague knowledge of how vampires were created by being bitten, and I didn’t want that bastard coming back to life for any reason.

Frank was not by nature a thoughtless, vicious killer. He hid remorse, even beneath his angry exterior.

He was very much a big brother to the younger children, and settled into the routine of family life very quickly. Marley always said that it was because he had finally found a place where he was accepted and a tribe that understood the complexities involved in who he was.

Shakuita was the next oldest in the extended family of the Vampire orphanage. She had mysteriously turned up on their doorstep one day—a refugee from a nearby farm. She’d had permanent scars on her barely teenaged body, and though she never spoke of her past, had immediately latched onto Marley as a mother figure.

Her lineage was a mystery: she had almond-shaped eyes with copper irises, the smooth dark skin of someone of African American heritage and long graceful fingers. Her hair was naturally hyper curly, so she wore her unruly cascades of ebony curls back in a long ponytail most of the time. She had full rose-colored lips and even white teeth, their perfect line only disturbed when her fangs extended.

Marley found out that Shakuita had run away when her foster father, Mr. Brown, assaulted her one day in her tiny bedroom off the kitchen when his wife had taken the rest of the children into town.

It was a terrible and frightening experience. Marley told Frank about it in the privacy of their bedroom, because after finally confessing it to her the girl would never speak of it to anyone else.

She initially resisted his rough advances, pleading and asking why, as she pushed against him with all her might, kicking her legs. He never answered her, instead had taken off his belt, wrapping it around his hand and struck her until she stopped fighting him and lay there, numb and compliant, while he raped her.

By the time the rest of the family returned, he had a story ready to explain Shaquita’s split lip and partially black eye…silly girl had fallen off the swing by the edge of the pond and then caught the still swinging seat full in the face as it came back again.

Mute with the shock of betrayal and her inner thighs sticky with her virginal blood, Shakuita remained silent as she held up an icepack to her bruised face. She knew instinctively that no one would believe the real story behind her injuries.

Shakuita left the next day, all her earthly belongings stashed in a laundry bag, one of the few material things she owned.

Together, Shakuita and Frank were a junior set of parents to the younger children. She and Frank had bonded from the beginning. Frank knew that she had been hurt very badly by her foster father, but the only story he ever got out of her personally was the one concerning her turning.

On my trek across the counties to where, hungry and exhausted, I finally came upon the Vampire orphanage, I spent several nights in the woods.

One night, I had a dream. In it, I saw the dark shadow of a man. At first, I was more curious than frightened.  In my dream, the shadow figure approached me, and it seeming to stretch and grow with each step.

Still, I had no sense of fear. At that point, I was already so afraid and felt so alone and destroyed, I would have welcomed death itself. I willed myself to wake up and opened my eyes, only to find that I was still standing in front of the pile of crumpled blankets I’d been sleeping on, and still staring at the approaching shadow figure.

I’d expected that the closer it got, I would be able to make out features. But instead, the swirling darkness it was made of seemed to expand sideways until it was wrapped around me.

The darkness had a texture like cotton wool. It smelled of damp earth and decaying leaves, and it spoke to me.

Come, my forgotten child, it said in a voice that seemed to have as many layers as the sounds of rustling leaves being tossed by the wind. Come to me now and join me in eternity.

Then I felt a sense of relief, she’d told Frank. She had the fleeting thought that the Shadow of Death had found her, and that her time on earth would soon be over.

Instead, a vampire had found me.

He left his calling card, literally. It was a small black card pressed into my palm as he vanished.

It was plain except for gilt lettering that seemed engraved into one side of the card in old-fashioned handwriting with lots of scrolls and flourishes.  She’d shown it to Frank, to prove that she wasn’t making up a story. It was unusual, he’d never seen anything like it. And it said, S. SAVA RAKEHELL

It certainly had the creep factor…he remembered that just holding it gave him a chill.

This guy isn’t just a vampire, Shakuita, he’d told her. This guy is a big deal, maybe even the ruler of a Principality.

She laughed.

Well, imagine him bothering to single out little ol’ me. I can’t think why he would take a time out from ruling the world just to taste my blood…. can you?

Frank turned his stern this is serious gaze upon her.

Kita…you may have been selected for a purpose. You know some vampires are picky, they won’t just settle for any kind of blood. While we are sucking down blood from Thumper, more important and ancient vampires are tracing family trees to get higher quality, more exotic flavors. He could have killed you. Ever wonder why he just turned you, sired you, and left you alive?

I never thought of that, she admitted, biting her lip. I haven’t done as much research as you have, Frank. Do you know why?

There are only two reasons vampires sire instead of drain and kill. One is that they are rogue and sloppy and just don’t care. The other reason is that they want to maintain a connection and a control over their victim. What I’m trying to tell you is this: since he is your Sire, he can always find you. He may have meant to return someday to claim you.

It was Shakuita’s turn to shiver. She drew her knees up to her chest and settled back in Frank’s arms.

But you would never let that happen, she said softly, with a tremble in her voice.

Never, he agreed, holding her tighter.

They kissed then, for the first time, and his kiss told her everything. It was a confirmation of the love they had felt for each other since the beginning. An instant connection that both filled their empty places and healed their wounded spirits at the same time.

CHAPTER TWO

BAKER’S DOZEN

Later in the