Beast

by Matt Wesolowski

  I’m forcing a story here: what makes a vampire? Another vampire. Jason knew Gemma from school; he liked her. He watched while she did what she had to do to make herself popular; he watched her climb the rungs of the social ladder and when she had nearly reached the top, he watched her fall. Spectacularly. He also saw who it was who pushed her. Did Jason Barton see someone who was willing to change fundamentally who they were, just so they would fit in? Did he see someone with motive to harm his sister? And when he met Gemma again, several years later, did he then seize on this unexpected opportunity. To put it plainly, did he manipulate Gemma Hines and Solomon Meer to rid the world of his sister? Did he create his own ‘flying monkeys’; those creatures from an old story? If that’s what happened, he knew how best to do it; he’s learned from a master how to manipulate and curate a life.

  Why do I think this? Well, it’s been Jason who’s been in charge of this series, hasn’t it? Of course, it’s still me, unmasked, meeting people face to face; but Jason’s the one who brought me here, pushed and pulled me towards this ending. Like Gemma says – vampires move with the times. Jason Barton’s learned a new way to tell stories.

  Was this how it all unfolded? I don’t know. I’m no expert; I just tell stories too.

  And stories are powerful things, they can make a person and they can break a person. We tell each other them to guide us, to warn us, to learn things about ourselves and to learn things about the world around us.

  Whatever really happened to Elizabeth Barton on the night of the third of March 2018, I fear, will remain just a story. For some it will be about a beautiful and popular young girl who was killed by three unhinged thugs. For some it will be about a narcissistic and shallow young woman getting her comeuppance for what and who she was.

  Or a little boy who stood outside a house naked on a freezing morning, dreaming up revenge.

  For some it will be about a vampire.

  And maybe the truth is all of those, maybe a bit of some, a bit of another, because that’s how stories are; a mix of truths and lies and conjecture.

  And all we have now are stories. Stories vying for attention, for truth. Grinding up against each other like glaciers. Lies or not, they all stand, festooned with rumour and mystery, like towers on the edge of a cliff. Like cold in the fingers that will not shift; like a winged, black shape that creates a blot on the horizon; like a glitch on a video, or a crack on the screen of a phone.

  I believe that one day, whoever locked Lizzie in the tower won’t be able to contain themselves. Whoever locked Lizzie in the tower, really, will want the world to know their story on their own terms.

  For my part, I have given you six.

  And I have been Scott King.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/realvampires/

  posted by u/AVHellsing 1 week ago

  New Lizzie B Video WTF??

  Um … guys … this just got uploaded from that Lizzie B channel and idk what to think … is she back from the dead??? Haha Link:

  http://bit.ly/Lizb6

  Livindedgrrl 1 Point ·2 days ago

  Who’s Lizzie B????????????

  TheBl00dizthelyf 1 Point ·2 days ago

  Dude. That’s not her.

  AVHellsing 1 Point ·2 days ago

  Whoosh!

  The REAL Ergarth Vampire | Lizzie B

  5 views. February 1, 2020

  * * *

  Lizzie B

  33 subscribers

  * * *

  Hey guys, story-time with Lizzie B! Yes guys it’s lil’ ol’ me, back from the dead; not so pretty now: a bit masculine maybe, with a bit of stubble – but unfortunately some desperate make-up brand hasn’t used me for free advertising for aaaages. Sowwee!

  As you can see, I’m by the fire, look at me, lying here with my dressing gown a little bit open, just to keep the incels going. Ooh! Don’t shoot up a school, lovelies!

  I’ve got this lovely throw on and my bunny slippers. Here’s a cup of cocoa. Look at all the stuff I have, look at all my things that companies sent me because they’re as fucking vapid and empty as me! Look at what I have and what you don’t have!

  Yeah all this make-up might be tested on animals, all these clothes might be made by kids in sweatshops, but who the fuck cares, right guys? Who cares, cos you’re all looking at me, and you all either want me or want to be me – and that’s all we need, right?

  Anyway, lovelies! I just came back from the dead for a little while to tell you guys a story! Yeah, being dead makes you look a little bit like a man in a wig, but, hey, I’m fucking great, so it doesn’t matter.

  I just want to let you guys know about what happened to me, cos I know there’s this sudden interest in me again – which I’m totally loving by the way – after that podcast went out.

  But I’m the fucking storyteller here guys, OK? Let’s get that straight.

  Six Stories. Yeah, cool. I’m fucking dead and I’m the story. You only need one. Mine.

  Um, so yeah, as you can tell, I’ve got my head fixed back on specially to let you lovely people know that everything in Six Stories was good, but not quite right. I just need the final word, okaaaay?

  Soooo, let’s just imagine that, like, when I was alive, I was a nasty, abusive, piece of shit, yeah? Maybe I was really good at hiding it, yeah? Maybe there was only one person who knew how to kill a vampire?

  And maybe he didn’t get the credit he deserved….

  Oops, slip of the tongue there, lovelies…

  Maybe I had a little brother. Maybe I made his entire life a fucking misery ever since he was a fucking baby. Maybe he found out I used to drop him, squeeze his throat, punch him and pinch him, then tell our parents that I’d saved him. Silly little brother, always walking into doors. Good old Lizzie B to the rescue. Maybe that silly little brother spent his childhood terrified of me, and when he got older and decided to speak up, no fucker ever believed what happened to him.

  What happened to him? You’re all asking that, I know. Well what if I made him stand, naked in the garden when it was fucking freezing, just for the fun of it? Imagine that? What if I made him squeeze boiling-hot tea bags with his little fingers; what if I made him terrified in his own house; what if I made it so his mam and his dad wouldn’t have believed him even if he’d dared speak out? What if I utterly destroyed his childhood just for my own pleasure? Just because I could?

  No, you say, not perfect Lizzie B. She wouldn’t do something like that, right guys? She wouldn’t destroy someone like that – break them into bits when they were a kid and make them just as broken as an adult? No … not lovely ol’ me. I’m not that type of gal!

  Maybe that silly little brother did once try to speak up for himself but was told he was a liar. What a silly little fool he was, thinking anyone would believe him, even his own parents. Maybe that silly little brother decided then that he’d get his revenge. Maybe he decided he’d take something away from the two people who were supposed to look after him. Maybe he’d take away the thing they loved most of all.

  And maybe it was easy – cos, look at me: I’m the perfect victim, aren’t I? I’m young and pretty and female. I’m the perfect story – dead as well as alive! So getting rid of me was easy. Everyone bought the story. And they were soooo sad I’d gone.

  Ooh! Jump-cut. I’m back again and look at this delightful hat – so cute, huh? Maybe some company will send me another one for free cos I’m just totes adorbz?

  Hey guys … do you know how to kill a vampire?

  ‘Cut off its head so it can’t come back?’

  That’s the one! Well done!

  Vampires are slippery though; vampires can shift shape, they can pretend to be wonderful, beautiful people and really, on the inside they’re all wizened and dead. You have to be smarter than a vampire in order to kill it. Maybe that silly little brother was – shock horror – smarter than me!

  You see, the thing about silly little brothers is that they do a lot of observing, a lot of learning. Silly little brothers wa
tch their evil big sisters and they learn things. They learn how to get what they want, when they want, starting with mammy and daddy. They learn how to manipulate and control, they learn how to keep people on the end of a fucking string, dangling like a little worm. As silly little brothers grow up, they learn how to be not-so-silly adults. Soon enough, silly little brothers are big, smart grown-ups who know exactly how to find and exploit a weakness in someone else.

  It becomes second sucking nature to them.

  Silly little brothers learn from their masters – or mistresses – how to become the best manipulators. And that’s when silly little brothers get their revenge.

  And all thanks to lovely Lizzie B! Yaaaaay!

  Oops, sorry guys. I said it was story-time and we haven’t even started yet! You see, I want to talk about vampires. You know the thing with vampires? You’ve got to invite them in first. I know someone who did that. Tonight’s story is about three naughty little boys who fell in love with a vampire. They let her in, they let her get her nasty little fingers into their brains.

  Two of them were scum: they hurt things, they burned things, they broke people’s hearts. Those two needed punishing and the best way to punish them? Take that vampire away. But how does one get rid of a vampire when one lives so far away?

  Eyes and ears everywhere, that’s how – whispers and spies. Opportunities. And the perfect opportunity dropped right into someone’s lap. My silly little brother’s, of all people! Imagine that! He found the perfect proxy. She lives somewhere else now, somewhere far away; but she still had eyes and ears in the vampire’s lair, and she knew the naughty little boys. After that it was easy.

  But sometimes you have to return home to make sure your plan is going to work. Sometimes someone just needs that last little push, to convince them about what to do. Sometimes you have to burn flowers on a vampire’s grave to stop it coming back and … oh noes guys! It didn’t fucking work! The vampire’s back! Kill it!

  Five people punished.

  A beautiful story.

  The end.

  You see guys, you have to make the story your own. Because sometimes, lovelies, no one listens to you; sometimes it feels like no one has ever listened to you; so sometimes you have to force the story … right? Anyways, lovelies, make sure you hit that like and smash that subscribe. Why? Because I fucking need it, because likes mean love and I’ll do fucking anything to be loved. I’ll trample over you, I’ll humiliate you and I’ll throw my fucking face into the ether in the vain hope that someone will like it. I’ve got nothing else. I’ve got a black void where a heart should be; a grasping, sucking, empty place that just needs to be filled by anything and anyone.

  In death like I did in life.

  Cos I guess that’s all really what anyone wants. Someone to love and who loves them back.

  That’s what we all want, isn’t it, guys?

  Isn’t it?

  Comments have been disabled for this video

  Acknowledgements

  I’m grateful to a huge amount of people for their help bringing Beast to publication:

  To my publisher, Karen Sullivan for her unrelenting and unwavering faith in both me and my work from the very start. My agent, Sandra Sawicka for her enthusiasm, support and constant encouragement, dziękuję bardzo! The king of editors, West Camel, for the belief and assistance – all and any errors are entirely my fault! Luke Speed at Curtis Brown, for helping me fulfil a dream. Sophie Goodfellow at FMcM for the hard work with publicity. Cole Sullivan at Orenda for the magnificent social-media visuals; and the inimitable Mark Swan, the dark sorcerer of all book covers. To Helen, James and the rest of the staff at Forum Books in Corbridge, for making every visit, whether it be a book launch or a wintery afternoon browse, memorable.

  To Anne Cater and the book bloggers: every single one of you who takes the time to read and then write a review – you are the ones I strive to impress. Your dedication means the world, and I am forever in your debt.

  To Ben Bryn and Jimmy Bunker, my middle-aged Fortnite squad – you guys help keep me sane. Richard Dawson and Sally Pilkington – aye, your music’s canny but your company is exquisite. Thank you also to every member of team family!

  Cheers Katie Stone, for saving me from looking like a divvy when I asked for your advice on children’s lit.

  Massive thanks to every other writer who’s appeared on a panel with me or made me feel welcome at book events; also, to the booksellers, volunteers and wonderful attendees – you are hugely appreciated.

  Thanks every single person who attended an event, a signing or even just came over and said hello. I’m terrible at remembering names but I never forget a face. OK, so sometimes I forget a face too, but that’s my fault not yours!

  I know you don’t want me to put you last, but this is how it’s done, OK? Sarah Farmer, Farm-a-tron, Farmazoid, Farmz, Dr Tiggy. Where the hell would I be without you by my side, playing Pokemon Go? Your support and love is everything. I adore you.

  Finally, my little lad Harry, who’s not so little anymore; it’s such a pleasure to see you grow into the coolest, funniest little fella I’ve ever known. I love you so much, and all of this is always for you.

  And what about you, dear reader? Here we are again. I’m so glad you’ve stuck with me. Hopefully we’ll meet again soon.

  —Matt Wesolowski

  The Six Stories Series

  Six Stories

  Hydra

  Changeling

  Beast

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013.

  Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, book three in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for Capital Crime’s Amazon Publishing Reader Awards in two categories: Best Thriller and Best Independent Voice.

  Follow Matt on Twitter @ConcreteKraken and on his website: mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com.

  Copyright

  Orenda Books

  16 Carson Road

  West Dulwich

  London SE21 8HU

  www.orendabooks.co.uk

  First published in the United Kingdom by Orenda Books, 2020

  Copyright © Matt Wesolowski, 2020

  Matt Wesolowski has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publishers.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–1–913193–13–3

  eISBN 978–1–913193–14–0

  Typeset in Garamond by www.typesetter.org.uk

  Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

  For sales and distribution, please contact info@orendabooks.co.uk

 

 

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