by Emma Mills
Sebastian was working alongside Seth in trying to locate the rebel vampires. Any vampire or angel with capabilities, overhearing humans discussing and believing the original story were to be brain-washed.
‘I don’t like it,’ I said to Brittany, grimacing as I sipped on a mug of warmed blood.
‘The bottled blood or the state of the world?’ Brittany asked, her lips twitching into a smile.
‘Both,’ I said. I hadn’t had bottled blood in almost a decade. For the first year after I’d been turned I did my damnedest to avoid drinking from humans, but eventually I came to realise that some humans were more than willing and when necessary you could drink and get away without them even remembering. Having the café bar for the last few years made things even easier, but of course now Sebastian didn’t want us using it… at least until things had calmed down a little more. He had a couple of vampires stationed there now, mind-wiping any groupie that entered the building.
‘It doesn’t feel right that we are just wiping the memories of thousands of people,’ I added.
‘What would you prefer, Jess? That they all get together and collect up their stakes and pitchforks and hunt you all down? Because that is where it would lead, eventually,’ Brittany said quietly.
‘Maybe they wouldn’t. This isn’t the Dark Ages anymore. Once they understand that we’ve been here for thousands of years, living alongside them anyway, they’ll realise nothing needs to change.’
‘Yeah, in the magical rainbow world of Jessica James!’ she scoffed. ‘They are more likely to be pissed that you have been feeding from them and altering their memories. Every horror story, every unsolved murder, would be blamed on you guys. They would come after you. It would be war.’
‘I disagree,’ I said. ‘Look at all the new kids that come every week to the café - the ones that remember, the ones that seek us out. They have kept our secret and they come back for more.’
‘They are addicted to the feeling, just like drug addicts. It’s a case of moth to a flame and all that. They can’t help it,’ she insisted.
‘Can’t help what?’ Eva asked, walking into the kitchen.
‘Jess thinks the brain washing isn’t necessary because the kids at the café are so compliant,’ Brittany answered.
‘Jess would think that,’ Eva said, with a wry smile. ‘But those kids are currently our main problem. Now the video footage is all over the internet and TV they are all coming out and talking about us. To be fair they are on our side, saying we’re not monsters blah, bloody blah, but we can’t keep up with the sheer amount of information leaks and new stories. What no one realised was the volume of humans who remembered being fed from, but had obviously stayed quiet… unlike the groupie who came back for more. We always presumed it was just those few who remembered… but it seems not.’
‘They probably thought it was some weird nightmare or hallucination and didn’t want people to think they were crazy,’ Brittany said. ‘Now they’ve got validation, and there are more and more every day.’
‘Well, the Council’s putting a stop to it this evening,’ Eva said. ‘They have talked to the Prime Minister and he is going to do a live press conference, to be streamed across the world on all channels. We even have David Dynamite on explaining how he did the New Year trick and we’ve rounded up a handful of the more vocal groupies and had them certified. Their new psych doctors will be interviewed to explain about how a neurological disorder can become glorified and basically they will be branded as either suffering from delusions or liars jumping on a bandwagon to gain more social network likes.’
‘You can’t do that to them!’ I exclaimed.
‘We have to. It’s the only way to get the others to stop blogging their stories. They are keeping the furnace alight and it has to be stopped.’
‘But a live press conference? Isn’t that asking for trouble? They haven’t found the vampire from the video yet, have they?’ I asked.
‘The conference is in a secret location, and none of us know where it is going to be held, not even Sebastian. They have good intelligence on the ring-leader. His name is Pierre. He is an ancient vampire and used to rule the Parisian territory when Sebastian first came to London. He was outed shortly afterwards and tortured. They say he went mad and when he escaped he disappeared for a while. It seems he had been hiding within the UK southern vampires,’ Eva explained.
‘Well, we all know the southern vampires are good at hiding crazy ones,’ Brittany said.
‘What about the new vampire, the boy from Hyde Park?’ I asked.
‘He is going to be executed this afternoon at HQ,’ Eva said, with a small shrug of her shoulders.
‘What? But it wasn’t even his fault,’ I said.
Eva frowned at me.
‘You should know better than anyone how the Council deals with unauthorised newborns, and especially ones who drain humans on international television!’
‘No way! This is all messed up. Which cells are they holding him in?’ I asked.
‘I’m not telling you. You can’t interfere, Jess,’ Eva said.
‘Jessie, she’s right,’ Brittany said quietly. ‘We need to get this under control and the Council knows what it’s doing.’
‘Where’s Daniel?’ I asked, suddenly realising that I hadn’t seen him since I fell asleep in his arms the previous night.
‘In York, at the hearing… shit!’
‘Thanks Eva!’ I jumped up and rinsed my mug out at the sink.
‘Jess!’ Eva warned.
‘Look you’re not in control of me anymore…’
‘I never bloody was!’ she said.
‘So leave me alone. I’m going to find Daniel, that’s all. I’m not going to ruin anything. I just want a chance to offer an alternative opinion.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Brittany said, following me out of the room.
‘No, it’s okay Brit, you stay here. I won’t be long and there is no point in the Council being pissed at both of us.’
There was a direct ley line all the way to York so it was a simple thirty minute flight to the centre of the old city. I skimmed through the lowest part of the clouds, hidden from the humans below, wishing I could swoop down over York castle, but refraining. The cells and hearing rooms were located in a beautiful nineteenth century stately home, on the outskirts of York. Once it had been an estate belonging to a rich bachelor who had never married but was infamous for his balls and womanising… and who also happened to be a vampire. Over the decades he had mellowed and when the request to join the Council arose, he took it. Sir Ralph of Montacute, as he was then known, now resided in the gatehouse, a stone’s throw from his workplace in the Council’s northern offices.
I landed in the immaculate grounds with only a slight skid, regained my balance and marched across the grass to the imposing Elizabethan doorway. I slipped inside and found myself instantly surrounded by three members of the Guard, formal green robes falling to the floor, their ethereal swords all pointing directly at my neck.
‘Um, hi! Jessica James, council employee,’ I said, pulling my ID badge out of my pocket.
‘This isn’t your office,’ the older angel said, inspecting my badge.
‘I know that but my partner, Daniel Summers, is here today and I need to see him. It’s about the hearing,’ I added.
‘The hearing is over. Mr Summers is in the ground floor salon I believe. This way.’
The angel turned and led me down the ornate corridor, opening a heavy door on our right. He held it open and beckoned me inside. I stepped in and the door was firmly closed behind me.
‘Jess! What are you doing here?’ Daniel asked, jumping up from a soft velvet couch he was sharing with a stunning blonde girl.
‘I might ask you the same!’ I said, frowning at the girl.
She looked a couple of years older than me and her eyes burned the vivid chocolatey red of a newly turned vampire.
He laughed and turned back to the girl.
‘
Jess, this is Sadie. It’s actually great that you’re here because the Council have sentenced Sadie with a pardon on the condition that she is placed under someone’s wing. I suggested that person should be you,’ he said.
‘What? Me? I don’t understand… What happened to the boy?’
‘Well, obviously he can’t be pardoned because he already has a thirst for killing. He is scheduled to be executed…’ Daniel paused and looked at his watch sadly. ‘Well, about now, I think.’
I turned on my heel and fled the room.
‘Jess! Jess!’ Daniel raced to catch up with me.
‘They can’t just kill him,’ I yelled, as I ran ahead of him through the corridor towards the grand staircase. It’s like Alex all over again.’
Alex had been my best friend when I was human. After I was turned, a rival vampire leader kidnapped her, and then his demented sister had secretly turned her into a vampire… her vampire, who she’d then used to go on a murderous rampage through England and Wales. I’d tried to talk reason into her but it was too late and her subsequent death haunted me to this day.
‘Jess, you have no idea where you’re going,’ Daniel said.
I shrugged.
‘I’m betting they do it in the cellars where the holding cells are, and I’m guessing there’s a staircase around here somewhere.’
He shook his head and sighed.
‘This way,’ he said, leading me through a door into a narrow corridor with very little light. At the farthest end was another door with a key already in the lock. Daniel pushed open the door and held it open for me. A stone staircase descended into a vast basement. There was no light here, other than that cast by gloomy lightbulbs dangling from the ceiling, and a chill rose from the floor that made me shiver.
One wall was lined with iron-barred cells. A few had occupants, shackled by their feet or wrists via heavy chains that were then welded to the walls. One elderly-looking man had both feet shackled and wore a metal muzzle, which covered the lower half of his face. His eyelids sprang open, revealing dark red irises as I walked past. He was naked except for a filthy rag around his waist. In the next cell two young teenagers were curled up under blankets, their blonde hair shiny and clean, their complexions immaculate save for the dark red stain covering their lips and chin.
The next cell contained a vampire Jess recognised immediately. He sprang up, and leapt at the bars as Jess walked past, making her stumble and fall against Daniel.
‘Hey, it’s alright, he can’t reach you,’ Daniel soothed as I recoiled into his arms. It was the burly vampire from Paulo’s house.
‘You think you’ve foiled our plans, but you wait and see. You think New Year’s was bad? There’s worse to come,’ he whispered as I walked away.
There were more cells, more vampires, but soon Daniel was leading me through to another room. It was a circular, stone-walled room. In the very centre was a metal contraption that looked very much like an old fashioned knight’s armour without the mask. The newborn vampire was fastened into it, and the armour was fixed to the floor. Only his neck and head were visible.
‘What the hell?’ I whispered to Daniel as we walked in behind a small crowd of council members.
‘It’s the most humane way, Jess,’ Daniel whispered back.
‘Jared Black, you have been tried for the deliberate draining of a human life and destructive disregard of our rules. It has been decided that your body will be freed of its demonic possession, in the hopes you may rest in peace,’ a council elder said, speaking from a raised podium.
‘Are there any last words? If so you may speak,’ he added.
The boy looked around him, his eyes wide with terror and confusion.
I pushed away from Daniel and through to the front of the group.
‘I want to speak for him,’ I said loudly. All eyes focused on me.
‘The Halfling, the witch,’ was murmured around the room.
The man on the podium sighed.
‘Jessica James, right?’ he said.
I nodded.
‘And what could you have to say about this boy? You know nothing of him!’
‘No, that is true…’
‘When you address me you may call me Sir Ralph,’ the man said, flashing his dark red eyes at me.
So this was Sir Ralph. He looked at me appreciatively, a smirk playing across his blemish-free skin. I swallowed my pride and began again.
‘Sir Ralph, it is true that I do not know this boy, but I do know that it was not his choice to be turned and he was not given any instruction after his birth. It is not he that we should be punishing but his master,’ I said, feeling Daniel’s hand on my lower back, giving me the courage to go on.
‘Should he not have the chance to right his wrongs?’ I asked.
Sir Ralph looked at me as a father might with a wayward child. He smiled across the room at me, but his eyes betrayed his frustration.
‘Jessica, you have been among us now for what, ten years? You cannot have forgotten our laws so easily? Are you asking that they should be changed?’ His voice grew harder and I knew I had no way out.
I shook my head, desperately searching for an answer but there was none.
‘He drained a human on international television. Do you think we should show him compassion and at the same time show the entire supernatural world how they can get away with breaking our laws? Our laws are here for a reason, Jessica. We govern the most dangerous species on this planet, a species you and I know the full potential of, and if we show mercy, you can be sure that there will be those who will take advantage; vampires who can and will destroy everything we have worked for.’
I bit my lip and looked at my feet, knowing he was right and not liking it. The world was watching, at least the supernatural world was, and the Council needed to show who was in control. Sir Ralph gazed at me for a couple of seconds, I could feel it in his silence, and then he moved on.
‘Good, let’s finish.’
I looked up again and saw an angel dressed in dark green robes with a full hood step up to the suit of armour. He carried a fearsome sword with a deep blade, almost like a long cutlass. Wooden stakes with metal tips were strung on a leather holder across his chest. Daniel sighed and began to pull on my arm.
‘We should go,’ he whispered.
But it was too late, and before I could turn my horrified gaze from the executioner he had swung his blade through the air and lopped off the vampire’s head. The head fell to the floor with a dull thud and thick, dark, blood rushed out of the still supported, armour-encased body.
Chapter Eleven
I gasped and buried my head in Daniel’s side as he directed me back out of the room, along the passageway and past the jailed vampires who clanged their bars and jeered at us. He pulled me up the stairs, back along the corridor and into the salon. The young female vampire was waiting, her face sullen as she stared across the room at us.
‘Where did you go?’ she asked. ‘I tried to follow you but these goons wouldn’t let me move an inch,’ she added, glaring at the two guards standing next to her.
‘Sorry Sadie, we should have told you where we were going,’ Daniel said, smiling across at her.
‘Look, I really don’t care where you went but I’m not having that teenager telling me what to do! She’s not even one of us,’ she said, looking across at me. ‘I want to see Seb again.’
I spluttered a laugh, my green eyes wide.
‘Seb? Has he even heard you call him that?’ I asked, trying not to choke.
She stared at me coolly and sighed theatrically.
‘Danny,’ she murmured seductively. ‘I don’t understand. Seb said Jess would be the perfect match, but she’s not a vampire, and she doesn’t smell like the angels either. What is she?’
‘Sadie, I’ve asked you before, please call me Daniel. I don’t want to have to warn you again.’
I bit my lip, but couldn’t hold back the smile. I really hoped he didn’t warn her not to call Seba
stian Seb, as I wanted to witness that meeting myself.
‘Jess, I’ve just got to go and speak to Sebastian before he leaves, about some other business, but I’ll be back shortly. You two get to know each other,’ he said, giving me a sympathetic smile and leaving the room.
‘What’s so funny? I don’t see anything amusing around here apart from the idea that you, whatever you are, could teach me anything,’ Sadie said quietly.
I rolled my eyes and told myself not to act on all the ways that I immediately wanted to kill her.
‘So what are you then? All the vamps I’ve met have ruby red eyes and yours are green. You don’t smell all flowery like the guards, so what’s left…hmm, do you get all hairy at midnight. I could see that could be a good fit, but I thought werewolves and vampires were mortal enemies… or is it that you’re too much of a loser to fit in with them as well?’
I briefly turned back and looked at a guard. I vaguely recognised him and I knew he knew who I was. I winked and he grinned back, taking a step back and murmuring to his mate.
‘So you think you’ve been matched wrongly?’ I asked.
‘She rolled her eyes.
‘Duh!’ she said. ‘I can only presume it’s because all the actual decent vamps are busy hunting down the one that turned me. So here I am, stuck with you!’
‘You were turned by the rebel leader?’ I asked, wondering why she was allowed to live.
She shrugged lazily.
‘I really don’t get what all the fuss is about. Anyway, I’m sure he’ll come back for me soon and that’s why it’s entertaining that you’re the one they think is going to stop him!’
Oh shit! Now it all made sense.
‘Oh, I could stop him alright,’ I said, running my tongue across my concealed half-extended fangs.
‘Sure, so you’re deluded as well. Were you always a loser or did that just happen recently?’ she drawled.
My fangs extended a little further and I felt a burst of adrenalin shoot around my system. I concentrated on the energy pooling in my body and directed it upwards along my arms and into my hands.