The Journal of Vincent Du Maurier Trilogy (Books 1, 2, 3) Read Online Free Page A

blood stained the lips of my beloved, was pregnant.

 
    21 September. — Once everyone knew
about the girl’s condition, excitement filled the hours. Each of us desires to
have our way with her. Jean is the most agitated. He wants to see the baby to
term, raise it as his own and then bite its neck when it reaches the age of
twelve. He has not gotten over his Maxine. Elizabeth wants a child companion
too, and Stephen and Veronica desire draining the girl of her sweet ichor while
the baby’s heart still beats inside her.
    “I’ve never tasted blood that new,” Veronica
said. “Can we please?” Stephen stroked her arm, as she spoke.
    “Byron has called a meeting,” I said. “We
will hear what he has to say.”
    “Has it revived him any?” Elizabeth asked.
None of them had seen Byron since he drank the vials, but she found her answer
in my pained expression. “I’m sorry,” she said.
    “Il s’en sortira,” Jean said. He’ll recover.
    We were gathered in the chancel, waiting for
Byron and listening to the howls of a swarm, as it glided past the building.
The humans are tucked away, deep inside the belly of the cathedral where
nothing can get at them. When Byron finally appeared, looking sallow and weak,
my heart sank. Stephen ran to his side and gave him his arm. I had offered to
bring him to the meeting, but he refused my help. I suspect his infirmity
shames him, for he often tries to hide his suffering from me.
    My sweet Byron, how it is difficult to see
you these days—my whole world is cankered, as thoughts of your demise
plague me. The anguish often brings me to my knees when I am alone in my
chamber. I do not feel your frequency run through me anymore and it is the most
sublime sense of abandonment.
    “We must deal with the girl and her child
bravely,” Byron said to the group.
    “Can we keep it?” Elizabeth asked.
    “Ça suffit.” Jean chided Elizabeth as he had
Maxine.
    “I have given the situation much thought,”
Byron said, glancing over at me with his electric eyes, forever burning into me
with their scrutiny. “I am not long for this world, and if we do not do
something, neither are any of you. That child may be the answer to this
plague.”
    “Quoi?” Jean asked. “What can you mean?”
    I knew what he meant. Byron had spoken to me
the previous night, invading my thoughts, as I kneeled in my chamber. He
believes the child will save us all; he envisions a new human race, a healthy
nation that will rise and prosper and outlive the plague. But only with our
help, for the fight will be long and difficult. With our protection, the
healthy humans can propagate a new generation, and Byron believes that the
girl’s child is a scientific sign, a guarantee in fact, that rebirth is the
solution. The mortals are the answer to our survival, just as we are to theirs.
“If enough humans survive, a resilient group can rise up and overcome,” I said.
    “Exactly.” Byron looked at me when he spoke.
“We can keep her safe and her child alive and perhaps even find others to
protect.”
    “But how?” Elizabeth asked.
    “Willpower,” Veronica said. She was the most
optimistic of us, the one with the strongest sense of humanity. Both she and
Stephen were still young vampires, which meant they were the most capable of
mustering up compassion for a human.
    “It can be done,” Byron said. “It must be
done.”
    “It will be done.” I gave him my word then
and there. I wanted him to know I would suffer for him, I would starve for him,
I would be human for him.

 
    22 September. — When Byron asked for
the girl to be brought to him, I questioned his motives since her blood did not
appeal to him. “Is that a good idea in your condition?”
    “I would like to speak to her,” he said. “It
is the only way I can know what action to take. Scientifically speaking.”
    “Scientifically,” I said. “Of course . ” I was not worried he would struggle
to resist her, but I was still annoyed.
    It