The Renfield Syndrome by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 55

Another thirty minutes found them outside the city, and with Maumee Bay in sight, Caspian was left with the impression that they would be going to her apartment.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Feeling his discomfort, she reassured him that they were, in fact, going to her apartment. Now, the voice in his head made its way into his consciousness.

“If she tries anything, we’re going to kill her,” it said. “I haven’t eaten in a long time.”

Caspian understood; even he was beginning to feel the withdrawal of not having taken a life, but this was different. Camilla was beautiful, and with her gothic wardrobe, it was obvious that she looked especially gorgeous in black. Then there were the fangs and the hearse she drove. If Caspian had a type, she was it, and he could not imagine her doing anything unusual aside from what manner of sexual practices she involved herself in. Not wanting to admit he was a virgin and knowing what the evening held for him, he did not want to show himself as inexperienced.

Soon they arrived at a side road. It was clean and uncluttered, with any vegetation cut back to the tree line. A short distance away sat a large stone structure, something akin to a castle. What it lacked in European features it made up for in size. Caspian was as confused as he was amazed. “You live here?” he asked. “In a castle?”

Another grin spread across her face. “A few of us do,” she replied. Caspian was confused. Being from a small town in upstate New York, he had never seen anything remotely close to a castle before, much less known anyone who lived in one. “How do you afford to live in this place?” he asked.

She heard this question from everyone she met, and the answer was easy. “Well,” she began. “My father left it to me plus a bunch of money. He paid it off before he got sick, so all I have to pay for is property taxes and utilities. But I’ve known most of the people who live here for a long time, so I trust them to pay their fair share. So everyone has a job. I mean, just because I’m a millionaire doesn’t mean I should pay for everything. I have to save something, you know.” Caspian was shocked. This beautiful girl he had met in a Toledo mall was a millionaire and owned what looked like a European castle and looked fantastic in black. Driving around to the back of the house, Caspian noticed several high-end cars, including another hearse parked in an orderly manner.

“Holy fuck,” he said. “You people have got some cash behind you.” Stopping the hearse, both got out, and standing in front of the gathering of expensive cars, Camilla offered him a tour. Caspian excitedly accepted. Pausing near the front of the hearse, she pointed out a burned-out spot in the back.

“This is where we have our ceremonies,” she said. “It’s nothing fancy. I mean, it’s not like we’re trying to raise the devil or anything. If it’s warm enough, we just get naked and dance around the fire—and have sex. We get pretty wild here.” Walking him around to the front of the house, she opened the large mahogany door. It appeared to be hand-carved with deep grooves chiseled just inside the edges and had been well cared for. Caspian remarked on their simple beauty as he walked into the house. But there was no time for conversation as Camilla closed the door behind them and continued down the hallway with her arm around his waist. “Come here,” she said. “I want you to see this.”

The hallway floor was constructed of oak, while the walls were of mahogany, but the thing Caspian noticed was the smell. While the scent was clean, there was something else he was unable to place. He didn’t want to seem rude, but his curiosity overwhelmed him, and turning to Camilla, he inquired about it. “I don’t mean to be a dick,” he began. “But what’s that smell?”

She was so accustomed to it that the smell had now gone unnoticed. “Oh,” she began. “That’s the oil soap. It really brings out the smell of the wood, doesn’t it? We all pitch in to keep the place clean.”

Walking down the hallway, they approached a heavy wooden door, and twisting the knob, Camilla opened it, releasing a rusty scream as the hinges gave way. From beyond the stairway below them, a cacophony of light and sound played against the walls. “Come on,” she said. “You’re going to love this.”

The stairway looked much like the hallway above it, with hand-carved panels of mahogany and steps covered with red carpet. Once at the bottom, Caspian stared out onto a modest mass of people, some dancing while others sat drinking and smoking what smelled like something foreign to him, and everyone had fangs. Caspian didn’t know what to think as he stood surrounded by people who seemed to be living out a morbid fantasy of vampirism. He then thought that if any of them knew who he was, authorities would quickly be called. Walking through the crowd, Camilla noticed a man sitting at a table with a fang-bearing woman on his lap. Both were drinking red wine as part of the vampire façade. She was scantily clad, leaving nothing to the imagination, and they were in the midst of a heavy exchange of kissing. Stopping for a moment to greet their host, the woman looked up at Camilla and blew a silent kiss. Camilla responded.

“Oh, hey babe,” she began. “Give me some of that.”

Bending down, she firmly grasped her by the head and kissed her deeply on the mouth. For Caspian, time stood still as he watched the two women with mouths intertwined and discovered that arousal had taken on a completely new meaning.

Everyone took notice of Caspian with his fingers interlaced with Camilla’s as one person quietly commented to another, “That must be Camilla’s new toy.”

Wandering through the room, Caspian noticed how the crowd began to thin, but a few introductions were possible. “This is Gabriel,” she began. The young man stood and extended a welcoming hand.

“Gabriel’s a computer programmer,” she continued. “The black BMW in the back is his.”

Gabriel looked him in the eyes as if studying him.

“So what do you do?” he asked. Caspian suddenly felt insecure, assuming highly successful people surrounded him when he was nothing more than a serial killer. “Um,” he stammered. “I like to travel. I just started across the country.” At least that much was true. Now with the hour getting late, the room's residents were retreating to their rooms, leaving her and Caspian alone. Reading her behavior, he readily assessed that she would invite him to spend the night, and only moments later, she did. Grabbing him by his shirt, she licked his lips and made the offer without hesitation.

“So,” she said. “You want to fuck me? You’ve had a boner almost all night. What do you say? I know you want it.” Caspian broke into a sweat as the answer raced from his lips. “Yeah, sure.”

The tension behind his response gave him away, indicating that he was a virgin, and Camilla saw it immediately. Looking back at him with a grin, she tightened her grip on his hand as though dragging him to her bedroom.

“We’re going to have some fun,” she said.

Her steps quickened as they reached the foot of the stairs, and nearly dragging Caspian along behind her, tried to hurry him along.

“Hurry up,” she said. “You want to get laid, don’t you?”

His apology was somewhat comical as much as it was honest.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was distracted by your ass.”

Nearing the top of the stairs, Camilla led him to the first door on the left, and reaching back, stroked him between his legs.

“You’re about to see more than that,” she said.

Opening the heavy door, she pulled Caspian into her room and locked it behind them. Her room was pure gothic with black curtains and a bed built with a dark wood and gargoyles carved into the headboard. On the other side of the room was a six-sided coffin that doubled as a closet. The lid had been removed so she could occasionally sleep in it without fear that it would close on her.

Pushing him onto her bed, she began undressing him while clearly stating her intentions.

“I want you to fuck me,” she said. Caspian was without words as he allowed her to do whatever she wanted, and once she had stripped him naked, she quickly undressed and tackled him, straddling his hips. He was fully turgid even before they got to the foot of the stairway. Now, as she wrapped a hand around his swollen member, Camilla commented on his size.

“Holy fuck,” she said. “You’re fucking huge. I’m going to enjoy this.” Flushing slightly, he began pulling off his clothes when Camilla interrupted him.

“I thought you wanted to fuck me,” he said. “Are you playing games with me?”

Leaning down, she kissed him lightly on the lips.

“Of course not,” she said. “I just like undressing guys and having them undress me. Is that okay?” Experiencing a sudden rise of enthusiasm, Caspian began removing her clothes, exposing the parts of her body that he normally consumed during previous encounters with women. But they deserved it; Camilla didn’t. Her presentation was rather odd, but he had the feeling that she had a good heart.

The frenzy of anticipation grew stronger when Camilla unbuckled his belt and, pulling his pants off, was even more surprised by what lay beneath. Yet, pulling off his underwear, she accidentally scratched him down one side of his groin. Normally, he would at least be aggravated or even angered, but in the fervor of the moment, it only added to the passion they would soon experience.