Chapter One: In the Morning Light We Knew Nothing

Katrina

The room Katrina woke in was not her bedroom.

Her bedroom, for instance, had wallpaper, and a carpet, not stone walls and a wooden floor. Her bed wasn't a single one that might have been more at home in a boarding school. And the bed was the only piece of furniture in the entire bloody room.

Was this some kind of dream? She slipped out of bed - not wearing her own pyjamas, too, but some kind of cream wrap around robe - and walked slowly to the door. Outside, she found a large living space, with a television, fireplace, and several chairs.

Looking around, she couldn't see anyone else. This had to be a dream, then. In her house, she would have had to walk downstairs to find a living room, and before long one of her daughters would have rushed in to complain about the other. Or...no, she remembered now. Just Nina, now that Dina had run off with Don to live in a crappy little house in Windenburg. She gritted her teeth. 

"Little one? Did you slumber well?" 

A soft female voice, and she turned around to see someone she had never met in her life. A pale, pale woman - it looked like she barely had a bit of blood in her body - stood in front of her, clad in a dress that looked like it probably cost more than Katrina's car.

Katrina staggered back, and the woman smiled gently, almost fondly. She was beautiful, despite having heavy scarring on her face that looked as though someone had tried to rake her eyes out of their sockets. Katrina's hands flew to cover her mouth as the woman stepped closer, painted red lips still smiling.

"Oh, little one. You're disorientated - but that's to be expected, I suppose. Leonna?" 

The sound of soft footsteps, and another woman hurried out from another door. She looked a little familiar, somehow, and she smiled widely as Katrina stared at her.

"Oh! Katrina, you woke up!" She came closer and looked up at the pale woman. "Lady Matrona? Is she alright?" Her voice changed subtly; when talking to this woman, it became almost reverential, and her attention shifted entirely away from Katrina.

"Hush, Leonna. You were much the same when I brought you here, after all. Katrina doesn't remember a thing, and you're likely to confuse her." 

Matrona turned back to smile at Katrina. "Allow me to introduce myself, dear one. My name is Matrona--"

"I don't give a fuck what your name is!" Katrina spat at her. "Where am I?! This isn't a dream, is it? You've kidnapped me or some bullshit like that! Well, let me tell you, lady, when they find me, you're going to spend the rest of your creepy life in jail!"

The woman's eyes lost their soft look, and she held her hand up.

"No more words, Katrina Caliente. You will be silent until I have finished speaking."

Behind her, Leonna stood, her face emotionless, as Katrina tried to speak, and found herself unable. She started to panic, and the pair of them simply watched as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"What a rude woman you are." Matrona seemed almost bored as she kept looking at her. "We will have to see to that, while you are under my roof. Leonna, leave us. Go back to the others. I don't want to be uncivil in front of you, my dear."

Leonna hurried out, keeping her eyes on the floor as she did so, and Katrina suddenly felt fear rush through her. This woman had just stopped her from speaking. What in the fuck was she?

Matrona turned to face her and looked at her for a minute before speaking. Her eyes remained as cold as ice while she did so.

"You will be polite, Katrina. You will address me as Lady Matrona, and keep a civil tongue in your head. I am about to explain how you are about to be something greater than your fate ever had in store, and you will listen while I talk. Now, sit your petulant backside down, and I will continue." She gestured to the sofa, and Katrina sat down quickly before Matrona could do that weird thing again with her voice.

"I have lived for centuries, and I should hope I do not need to elaborate on that for you to understand what that means. Your kind fearmongers about mine, whimpering at the caricatures you yourself created. You are wrong when you portray our kind in horror movies, and trashy novellas, but do not mistake me. I am no little lamb, leading you to my front door. I am not here to make friends with humans. I am no Vatore, pleading to the mass media about my nature." She scoffed, and Katrina recoiled.

Vatore. The Vatore siblings were those vampires from the television - the ones who kept insisting vampires weren't to be feared, that they were good and that they themselves didn't actually drink blood. 

Matrona was a vampire. Katrina whimpered, and Matrona looked down at her with the barest hint of contempt. 

"I am not a lamb, but a shepherd. In part thanks to the stunts of those ridiculous creatures, vampires have been brought to the light, and not all can survive that. We were lacking in numbers, you see, and those two were the freshest recruits to our court. We fed and clothed them, but did they repay our kindness? No. Instead, we had to come together again, the entire court, to excommunicate their sorry little corpses, and decide what we could do next. As it turns out, it isn't the first time a juvenile wretch has caused us harm with the sharp point of a moral compass, and we have plans in place, certain operations that must be carried out in times of need. Somebody of middle standing, of good creed, is appointed as a governess of sorts. A 'Matrona', as we call ourselves. We are tasked with slowly bringing up a new generation of vampires, who are every year presented to the vampire court." 

She sighed. "Of course, you wonder, what does that have to do with you? Or with Leonna? Well, my role is not to take in new vampires, but to take in and train up humans who will become good vampires. Humans who have a slight edge to them, who can take that edge and hone it. Some suitable emotion to focus on. You, my dear Katrina, are going to become a vampire, in due course."

She paused for a minute and then waved her hand. "Now, you may speak, but remember..." Her voice took on the same mesmerizing tone. "You must be polite, and address me as Lady Matrona."

What Katrina wanted to ask was if this vampire, this deadly creature in front of her, was insane. She wanted to swear and scream, to plead with her to take her back to her family. But all that came out was an obedient 'Yes, Lady Matrona'.

She stared at Matrona, horrified, but the other merely smiled.

"Any questions, my dear?"

"I...I...How do you find us, then?" she asked, weakly. "Do you have some sort of vampire supercomputer or some sh--sh--f--stuff?" None of the curse words would pass her lips, and she glared.

Matrona laughed. "Polite does mean you can't swear at me, Katrina. No, I simply go to bars and listen. I have heard all sorts of stories. People will talk, if you just listen to them, and alcohol loosens the lips mightily. You, for instance, told me all about the sordid little things your daughter had been up to under your nose. Your other daughter, you didn't know what to do with, because she just whines about how it's so unfair that her sister has a boyfriend, and you were so sick of her whining when it was your man who had been stolen that you've been to the bar every night this week. We kept meeting, and I kept listening. I am sorry that happened, by the way. It is terrible to lose a lover."

Katrina's mouth fell open. It was as though Matrona had read into her deepest feelings, right out of her head, about the whole situation. 

"Why...If I met you, why don't I remember you, Lady Matrona?" 

Matrona waved a hand. "Well, for one thing, you wouldn't, not after what I gave you. What happened after a week was that I invited you back to my place. We met at the club in San Myshuno, and we had a good time. You loosened up a little, so I asked if you wanted to come with me."

 "I promised that you would find all the men you wanted if you did and that your daughter would no longer be an issue. Both are promises I kept, of course - you'll find men, on this path, just as you desire, and you no longer have to deal with your whining child."

Once more, Katrina couldn't speak. Not a polite thing could come to mind, and she clenched her fists. This woman wanted to keep her here and make her a vampire, and there didn't seem to be a thing she could do about it.

"Your anger runs through you like a vein of gold in rock. It's so precious to us, Katrina. It will make you a formidable woman in court if you succeed in your training."

"What about Nina, Lady Matrona?" It came out in a meek tone, and Katrina wished she could scream at this bitch, asking her what was to happen to her daughter.

"You are not to worry about her, Katrina. All you had will be hers, but all you will be depends on your success. The future could be yours, my dear." Matrona's voice turned persuasive, honeyed. "You could rule the court, with your looks and fire. But first, you must become worthy of vampirism. You must learn, you must be trained...but then, how bright your destiny would become!" 

Almost against her will, Katrina listened as Matrona told her of what she planned. It was like listening to a fairytale; she could see herself, a crown on her head, lounging while a man who looked wonderfully like Don begged like a dog at her feet for forgiveness. She saw herself staying young and beautiful while Dina, treacherous bitch, withered and sagged. She saw a young man as sculpted and handsome as any Mills and Boon hero holding her in his arms, loving her, desiring her as she stayed eternally young, and she gasped, dizzied by the vision Matrona described.

"I'll do it." The words left her mouth before she could even think twice about it, and she took a deep breath. "I'll do it, I'll become a vampire. Turn me, Lady Matrona. I'll become a vampire and make them pay."

"Not yet." Matrona looked amused. "Oh, dear sweet Katrina, not yet. You're an unpolished rock at the minute. We must find the gold, my dear, and for that, you must be trained."

Katrina leant forward. "Tell me about the training, Lady Matrona."

"Even though I ask you to be polite, you aren't awfully fond of the word please." Matrona's eyes glittered with laughter.

"You don't mind," Katrina said. It was the truth, she realised; Matrona, for whatever reason, didn't mind. 

"Rascal! No, I don't, my dear. You have your edge, as Leonna has hers."

Leonna. The quiet woman from before, who had looked at Matrona with such devotion. Katrina frowned a little, and Matrona stayed silent for a minute.

"Katrina, you and Leonna should become quite good friends. You compliment each other, and I'd rather you two got along than not. She has already begun her training and knows her way around the house. You are the second to last one to join us here, but Leonna was the first I picked up. She is a sweet young thing, isn't she?"

"I--I suppose she seemed quite nice." 

"That is a start, at least. Play nice, little alleycat. For all that I like you, and consider you worthy, you should not cross me. Or I will turn you without training and make you suffer. I could seal you in a basement, forever alive and starving for blood. I could lock you out in sunlight. Or I could not turn you at all, but truss you up with an apple between your teeth and deliver you as the appetiser to the next court dance. And neither of us want that, do we?"

Despite the threats, she was smiling, her perfectly white teeth showing just a little too much for comfort. Katrina understood immediately. She could either comply and get what she wanted, reach that shining vision of power...or suffer at Matrona's hand. It was her way or the high way. 

Slowly, she shook her head, and Matrona smiled, seemingly satisfied, before walking slowly to the door Leonna had gone through.

"Leonna! Come here, my dove." 

The same soft footsteps returned, and Leonna peeked nervous around the door at Katrina.

"Is she going to join us, Lady Matrona?" she asked, her voice timid and small. Matrona smiled.

"Why, yes she is. Leonna, my darling, show her back to her room. You two should get to know each other."

With that, Matrona swept off, humming sweetly as Katrina stared after her.


"So what the fuck is this supposed to be?" Katrina demanded the minute that the door closed behind her and Leonna. Leonna looked shocked, and then smiled awkwardly.

"We're being tutored and treated as candidates to become part of the court of vampires. It's a very high honour, Lady Matrona says--"

"Oh, shut up. Candidates? We can't disobey her! I'm one of you now, and do you know how that feels? To know I'll be saying yes, Lady Matrona for years? She threatened me! That...that...She threatened me!" Katrina glared at Leonna. "And what's your story, huh? What got you kidnapped?"

Leonna's lip wobbled like a child's and she looked down. "I...I went to the bar for my birthday, to meet my...my girlfriend. I went a bit too early, to be there when she arrived, but she never showed. She forgot about me, all over again. She always did. And then I broke up with her, but she wouldn't leave our flat. Said we were just roommates now and it was awful. Lady Matrona said she would give me a place to live where I would never have to deal with her again."

"Christ on a bike, she knows how to pick them." Katrina looked over to see Leonna on the verge of tears. "Oh, crap, no, not like that. It's more of....well, fuck, forget I said anything, Leonna." She sighed. "So, why are the rooms so fucking..." She waved an arm.

"Oh! Lady Matrona took the time to design how the entire house should be, after the Vatore scandal. She says our rooms are to give us a small amount of privacy, but to encourage reflection." Leonna's smile slowly returned. "She talks to me about these things, you see. I was the first she took in."

So Leonna was close to Matrona. Katrina stayed silent for a minute as she turned that thought over in her head.

If she made friends with Leonna, as Matrona suggested, Katrina could learn more about Matrona. She couldn't hope to beat someone who could shut her up with a few words, but she could hope to become the star pupil. Leonna might be the key to that, and it wouldn't be like she was ruining Leonna's chances. Leonna was definitely a little lamb, all big eyes and no fangs. Katrina couldn't imagine that anyone else would be a problem, if she had Leonna and by association, Matrona on her side.

"You were the first, then? You must be pretty close to her." Katrina gave Leonna a little smile. "What's she like?"

Leonna lit up, just as Katrina thought she might. Yes, this would be pretty easy, provided nobody else got in the way.