A Bloody London Tale (Book 1): Unrest Rising

by Prichard, Cornelius

  Just thinking about it hurt and I tried my best not to most of the time, but I knew I could use my pain. I needed to use it, otherwise I was going to end up not being able to move on, and that was something I knew I needed to do. He watched me. Vince wasn’t exactly someone I would call a friend. Honestly I’m not certain I could call anyone a friend, but that’s more through choice than anything, because I don’t trust anyone enough, even though there have been times when I wanted to. Losing someone you love… it does change you and I know for certain it changed me. When I told her what I was it was due to my belief she would be able to accept me for who I was and then it turned out that she couldn’t. I remember her face - one minute she was smiling, appreciating the fact I was telling her something I hadn’t told anyone else, and then she was staring at me with this fear in her eyes, as though I’d suddenly become someone else. She backed away from me, like she didn’t dare look away in case I attacked her.

  Sighing, I pushed the image out of my mind, because it really wasn’t helping. She’d made her decision and there was nothing I could do about that. I tried talking to her once, in an attempt to get her to understand I hadn’t changed, but she ignored me. To her it was probably easier if I didn’t exist, but I did, and no matter how badly she’d taken my truth I did still love her. I wanted to tell her that. I wanted her to know I would still be there for her if she ever found she could accept me. Obviously that’s never happened. After that day I didn’t see her again. I could have tried stalking her, if I really wanted to, and there was a part of me that did. It didn’t want to let go of the woman it truly believe would, in the end, come to understand that being a vampire didn’t make someone into this evil creature.

  Unfortunately it’s far too easy for people to accept the horror stories. Most of them are nothing more than stories, while the others… well, there is some truth in them, because not all vampires are good people. Not all humans are good people and that seems to be something they forget when they’re talking about vampires. It’s not as though they haven’t dealt with serial killers in their midst. Vampires have the same problem - but that doesn’t mean we’re all serial killers. It doesn’t mean we’d all go out hunting people. It doesn’t mean all vampires should be looked upon as the devil incarnate. That isn’t what we are. We have our own history, our own beginning that is horrible and we all wish hadn’t happen, but it did, so all we can do is keep living with what happened to us. One thing I know from experience is that it’s not an easy thing to do.

  When I was changed the world was a very different place. We had no idea vampires existed. Sometimes I still wish it had never happened to me, but it did, and now I’m living with that as best I can, because I don’t have any other option. There isn’t some magical cure that will fix things for us - even though there are people working on one. Personally I don’t think it will ever work. I have this horrible feeling any cure they manage to come up with will just make things worse and at the moment I don’t think that’s what we need. Instead we need to focus on changing the world around us, in order to make the humans we share this world with accept that we exist and there’s very little they can do about it.

  “That doesn’t happen to everyone.” Vince’s voice made me jump. “I know you had a horrible experience with Fiona, but some vampires have been lucky enough to find humans who accept them for who they are, and I don’t want this riot to make things harder for them. Being in a mixed relationship is hard enough as it is.” Our eyes met. “The riots, whether they work in out favour or not, are going to change things, and that is something we need to remember. I can understand why it feels like the only option we currently have, but it isn’t.” He ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Liv’s still doing her best to convince the Government to work alongside us.”

  “Liv’s doing her best.” We all knew that. “I appreciate all the time she spends there talking to idiots who can’t possibly understand what we’re going through, but she’d not getting anywhere and she knows it. When she talks not all of the hope has faded from her eyes, because she doesn’t think she’s going to be able to convince them to help us, and I think if that’s the case we need to push them more than we’ve already been pushing them.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’m wrong, but come tonight I will be a part of the planned riot. It’s up to you what you want to do. I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t feel in the right thing to do, because that isn’t fair of me, although I do hope you think about what’s best for all of the vampires.”

  “I do.” He sighed. “Maybe that’s the problem. I am thinking of all the vampires, especially the ones who are going to be hurt by this, because I don’t think what we’re doing is something that is necessarily a good thing for them.”

  Nodding, I sat down opposite him. “You’re a good person, Vince, and I understand that choosing what to do isn’t easy, especially when you think about everything as much as you do.” I wanted to touch him, but I knew better than to do that without warning. “What do you think the riots will do?”

  “To begin with they might make the Government decide to work with us, but soon enough that will fade away again and when it does…” He shook his head. “I don’t actually think it’s the Government we’re going to need to be wary of. I think it’s everyone else.”

  Resting my head on my hand I studied him. “Why do you say that?”

  “Very few humans are comfortable with what we are.” Vince bit his lip. “They’re probably happy they don’t have to deal with us too much, especially after what happened ten years ago, because I think they’re afraid of another epidemic.” I nodded. “When we riot we’ll be drawing attention to ourselves once again, so I believe there will be more humans out there who think getting rid of us is the best option than there will be those who think working with us is. It’s going to be great for the hunters, as they’ll be able to get more work, and I don’t doubt there are people who believe we are responsible for every disappearance there has ever been.” He shrugged. “They’ll want to hire a hunter to get rid of a vampire in order to get some sort of closure. Whoever ends up dead won’t have had anything to do with it, obviously, but that won’t change anything - another vampire will be gone, so they’ll be taking another step towards making the world a better place.”

  “Do you think they’d prefer it if they never learnt of our existence?”

  “I think they would, but at the same time I think they’re glad they know. Knowing means they can blame something for everything that goes wrong and I know we’re always going to be the ones who get the blame, whether we did whatever they’re saying we did or not.” Vince studied me. “Do you truly think that the riots are going to make this world a better place for the vampires? I keep thinking you wouldn’t be a part of this if you didn’t believe that, because it’s you, but there are so many vampires who are getting involved in order to get back at the people who’ve hurt them I need to know for certain what it is that’s going through your mind.”

  “Fiona… she hurt me more than I thought possible, Vince, and sometimes I would like to get back at her for that, but that has mostly faded away now. The pain will never go away. I’ll never forget the look she gave me when she found out I was a vampire. I’ll never forget the way she backed away from me, fear in her eyes, as though she thought I was going to jump her. I’ll never forget what it was like to find out the one person I thought would be able to accept what I was actually couldn’t. I loved her. I thought she loved me. Obviously she didn’t, because if she did she wouldn’t have run from me when she found out I was a vampire.” I sighed. “I don’t understand why she thought I’d suddenly become a different person. For six months we were happy together. She finds out I’m a vampire and it’s like those six months didn’t matter. All she cared about was what she’d found out about me - all she cared about was my vampirism, rather than the time we spent together, as though that was something that suddenly changed me.

  “It didn’t. I am the same person I was
then, mostly, and I really wish she could have understood that. I wish she could have given me a chance to prove to her that being a vampire doesn’t mean that I’m dangerous. I hate that people accept the horror stories, instead of listening to the vampires, because if they listened to us they might be able to learn what it’s really like to be one of us. I think that’s at least part of the reason I want to take part in these riots. I want our voice to be heard. I want everyone to hear it and I want them to understand that by doing that they have done they’re really hurting us.” I slumped in my seat. “This is something I’m going to join in order to help the vampires as a group, instead of thinking only of one or two individuals. I truly believe that’s something we need to do.

  “Of course I accept that certain individuals might be affected by what we’re going to do and I wish that wasn’t the case. However I can’t not make a stand because of those individuals. You, on the other hard, might feel differently, and that is entirely up to you, Vince.” I shook my head. “I think I said that before, but I want you to know I will still talk to you no matter what choice you make.”

  “Unlike some people.” There were already vampires who kept their distance from him and I know that hurt him. “Thank you, Paul, I do appreciate knowing that you won’t hate me.”

  Teresa

  I knew what was coming. It was impossible not to know. Being human meant I was in a difficult place. I understood why the vampires truly believed their only option was to riot. They hadn’t been heard for such a long time, because of what they were, so they wanted everyone to know how much pain they were in, because they were being treated equally. At the same time I understand why most humans were scared of the vampires. Much of the fear was down to misinformation, spread by people who hated vampires, and there was nothing I could do to change that, even though I did try. I talked to people, when I could, about what it was like to work with the vampires. Of course there were numerous people who looked at me like I was insane. They couldn’t understand why I’d be on the side of the creatures and nothing I said to them helped them to see that vampires aren’t creatures. They’re people. Every single one of them is different to the other, which is why there are some vampire serial killers out there.

  Sometimes, when I pointed out that there are also human serial killers, I get given this look that tells me that haven’t thought of things like that and they really wish I hadn’t made them. Most humans, I believe, would prefer to bury their heads in the sand when it come to vampires - they’d rather accept the horror stories, because it’s easier to believe that vampires are evil, when all they are is flawed. As I watched the vampires leave, all of them smiling at me, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was called into the office. I already knew what Lisa was going to say and I already knew how I was going to reply, although I had a feeling it was going to cause an argument.

  When the last of the vampires left, a guy named Stephen, it happened. “Tree? You free?”

  “Yes.” I gave myself a few seconds to prepare and then made my way to her office. Our eyes met. “What did you want?”

  Lisa shook her head. “You know what’s going on. You know what I’m going to say to you.” She brushed a hand through her hair as she stared at me. “Leave, please, for your own safety, because I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’ll be an easy target for the people who’ll want to attack us.”

  “No, I’m not going to leave. Leaving now isn’t going to make me any less of a target, Lise, because people know that I worked for you. If they catch me out there they aren’t going to have a problem with stabbing me even if I’m not working for you right then. I will always be a traitor to some and that’s something I’ve learnt to deal with.”

  Learnt by going to self defence lessons. Learnt by keeping a knife on me at all times. Learnt when I was attacked before, although she doesn’t know about that, because I kept it from her. She didn’t need to know what happened. It would have just made her feel more guilty for being a vampire, when she shouldn’t. One time, when she got drunker than I’d ever seen her before, she talked to me about the vampire who changed her. She talked to me about making the decision she wanted to be with her boyfriend for eternity. She talked to me about what it was like when he abandoned her. All he wanted to do was convince someone else to become a vampire, before moving on to his next victim, someone Lisa tried to warn and found herself being laughed at by, until she also became a vampire. He hadn’t asked Jess, though, just turned her to see how it would affect her, and if it hadn’t been for Lisa Jess could have committed suicide.

  “You deserve to have a proper life.” Lisa licked her lips. “I want you to be safe and… that’s something you can never be now, is it? When I asked you to work for me I didn’t think about that. I didn’t think about much, to be honest, because I needed someone and you were perfect.” She smiled at me, but it faded quickly. “You still are perfect, Tree.”

  I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and I knew without looking it was Jess. “Yes, she is, and that’s exactly why she’s already decided she isn’t leaving. She’s though things through, the way she always does, and come to the conclusion she’d better off with us than she would be out there alone, because there is the other option I talked to you about.”

  “That isn’t safe.”

  “It’s safer than Tree walking to and from the house every day. I know what you’re worried about. We both have better self control than that.”

  “Yes, we do, but some of the people who visit here don’t. Tree has a little more safety from them if she chooses to walk home instead.”

  “Lise, I can look after myself.” I thought I knew what they were talking about and it was definitely an option that would work. “You don’t need to worry about vampires attacking me, because I’ll at least be able to hold them off until one of you can help me, and then you can deal with them.”

  “Honestly, this is something I didn’t even want to ask you to do, Tree, because you still have a chance to live a normal life.”

  “I gave up that chance when I chose to work for you and, as hard as it may be for you to believe, it was my choice. I wanted to work for you. I wanted to be able to help you.” Biting hard on my lip I decided it was time to tell my story, because I hadn’t yet, so neither of them knew why I’d chosen to work for two vampires. “My sister is a vampire. Noami has been a vampire ever since the epidemic and it’s been hard for her. When it happened she didn’t even know it was possible. Then she found herself craving blood. One of the first people she fed from was me. We had a long conversation after that about what her next step was going to be, because she had to make a decision, and she came to the conclusion she had to tell our parents the truth. If I was in her position I know I wouldn’t have made the same choice, because I knew exactly how our parents were going to react.

  “I think Nay did as well, but she still wanted to tell them. She wanted them to know what had happened to her, what could happen to anyone, and, hopefully, pass it on to other people, in order to protect them from become a vampire. My parents did that. At the moment that’s the only reason I’m still in contact with them. When they found out the truth they chucked Nay out. Luckily it was after sunset, which gave me some time to find her somewhere to stay, otherwise I don’t know what would have happened - we’ve only started to learn more about the community since I applied to work with you. For the last ten years we’ve been living with our aunt, because she was willing to accept Nay for who she was, instead of what she was, and there was no chance of me letting her go alone when I knew she needed me.”

  For a moment Lisa stared at me. “You’re eighteen.”

  Nodding, I smiled. “Nay was eighteen at the time. There’s a big age difference between the two of us, but we aren’t the only children. We have three brothers and two other sisters as well.”

  “Your parents had seven children?”

  “Personally I never understood it either, but they had seven children. I was the youngest and Nay wa
s the oldest, so we probably shouldn’t have been as close as we were, but she was always the one who was looking out for me. Our parents… I’m not certain why they had children in the first place, to be absolutely honest, because they never really seemed to want us around. Maybe they did it because it was what they thought they had to do. I never thought to ask them and now that I feel I could I’m not there to ask them.”

  “How did your siblings take the news?” Jess walked around the table and I remember what she told me about the reactions her siblings had when she told them what had happened to her. “Obviously you did what you could to help her… at eight.”

  “She was my oldest sister, my best friend, and someone who’d always been there for me, so I decided it was time for me to be there for her. I don’t think she was expecting it. I think she was expecting me to ignore what had happened as much as possible, because I was the youngest. Instead I called around everyone I could to try to find a safe place. When I phoned my aunt she was the sixth person on my list and I was certain she was going to to react in the same way everyone else had. When she offered Nay a place to stay… that was a huge relief. I chose to go with her. No one was going to miss me. It wasn’t until we’d been at my aunt’s for two weeks we got a phone call asking if I was there.

  “Our siblings found it much harder than I did, although I think that was partly due to how close they were to Nay. We weren’t all friends.” I bit my lip, trying to find the best way to explain it. “We all cared about each other, in a way, but that didn’t mean we were all close - my three brothers were close and my two sisters were close, but they weren’t as close to Nay and I. If it hadn’t been for the fact Nay looked after me when my parents weren’t there, Nay looked after all of us when our parents weren’t there, I might never have had that connection with her. My other siblings all looked upon her as a babysitter, really, because that’s what she’d always been to them. As time has passed, though, they’ve started talking with us more, trying to get to know us, and that is something I’m grateful to them for, as I know Nay thought they hated her. She seemed to think our parents would care enough to brainwash them against her.”