“I know it is.”
Olivia
Kira watched me. I could tell she was worried about me, but she didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to say to her, either, because I didn’t know her as well as I knew Tree. That was why I wouldn’t let Tree into the bathroom with me. Being friends with humans was normally easy for me, as I didn’t deal with blood lust very often, and I hated that I was beginning to feel it due to what had happened. “You can say if you’re hungry.”
“I don’t want to be hungry, though.”
Sympathy flashed in her eyes. “Olivia, I know this is our first meeting, but I do understand what you’re going through. My vampires…” She blinked and I knew she was stopping herself from crying. “They never liked being hungry and we had long conversations about what it was like to deal with blood lust. Some vampires are lucky enough to rarely feel it, while there are others, like one of my vampires, who dealt with it every other day.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“For them it was.” Kira brushed a hand through her hair. “They started off with three of us, because Laurence hated the thought of having to feed from any of us too regularly. When they died I was the only human they had left and I used to have to take him into feeding from me every time. The last thing I wanted was for him to lose control.”
“Had he done that before?”
“Once.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “He told me about what it was like and he promised himself he’d never do that again, but it’s far easier to make a promise like that to yourself than it is to keep it.” I nodded. “Feeding from me was something he found more difficult that I thought possible when I first started working for them. It wasn’t until we started getting to know each other he told me about his blood lust, and how hard it was to keep control, and what it was like to feed from someone you care about.”
“Yeah, that’s something I find difficult.” I thought about Tree. When I first told her I wasn’t going to feed from her any more it hurt her, until I explained why I made the decision I had, and that did seem to make things easier for her. Fortunately she was a very understanding person. “Obviously you know that, otherwise you wouldn’t be up here now.”
“How long have you and Teresa been friends?”
“I’ve known her ever since she started working for Lise and Jess, so it’s been a while now.” I couldn’t remember when Tree had started working with them, though, but I was certain it must have been at least five years. “For a long time I stopped myself from becoming friends with a human, because I know she’s mortal and it’s just going to hurt when she passes on, until I found it too hard not to be friends with her. She’s the sort of person it’s really easy to become friends with and once I let that happen it was far too easy for me to become friends with other humans.” I shook my head. “Now I have a mix of mortal and immortal friends.”
“Would you ever change a human?”
“That is a question I don’t think I’m ever going to know the answer to. I think whether or not I would is something that depends entirely on the person involved. If Tree came to me and asked me to make her into a vampire…” I bit my lip. What would I say to Tree? “She’s my friend and I’d like her to live forever, but at the same time I don’t know if I could do that to her. There’s so many problems still with society, especially as we don’t really have a place in it, that I don’t think I would change her if she asked me now. Maybe in five years things will be different and I’d say yes.”
“How about if it was someone you didn’t know, but they had a life threatening disease?”
“Is there a reason you’re asking me all sorts of incredibly difficult questions?”
She smiled at me. “I’m taking your mind off certain things I know you don’t want to be thinking about.” Our eyes met. “This is something I found could work for Laurence, so I thought I’d see if it would work on you as well.”
“It has.” I smiled back. “Thank you, Kira.”
“You’re welcome. I would still like an answer to the question.”
“Okay…” I thought about it. “If someone came to me and told me they had a life threatening anything I’d want proof of it first. The last thing I’d want to do is change someone and find there was nothing wrong with them.” She nodded. “I’d want to get to know them a bit, because there are some people who really shouldn’t be vampires, so I wouldn’t want to change someone who’d then walk into the sun. Once I knew the person was truly ill and I believed they were capable of being immortal I might change them. However I’m not certain it would be the best idea, in case other people decided they wanted the same thing, and then we became inundated with new vampires.”
“Do you really think that would happen?”
“I think it’s possible. I’m not certain it’s likely, but it’s definitely possible, and that is always something I have to think about. It has to do with who I am.” I shrugged. “Now, would you pass me that towel? I believe it’s time I had a conversation with the people who are sitting downstairs, as the time has come for us to work out what our next step is going to be. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do the big announcement until I’m able to wear something that isn’t pyjamas.”
***
Everyone sat around me. Ben was next to me, clinging to my hand as though he was terrified I was going to disappear on him, while the others were all sitting on the floor. Well, I say sitting. Most of them were lounging comfortably on the throw pillows I’d managed to find. Jake and Tree were talking to each other about something that looked engrossing; Lise, Jess, and Kira were all sharing the same huge pillow, cuddled up together for warmth, I think, because it wasn’t terribly warm in the house; and Paul was getting to know Daniel. Daniel looked as though he felt a little out of his depth, but apart from that they seemed to be getting along well, which was good. Daniel needed a friend who was a vampire.
“Okay, I’m certain you all know I spoke to the Prime Minister last night… or possibly this morning. I’ve really lost track of time.” Everyone nodded. “Well, Prime Minister Freud did not like doing what he did, but he realised it was in his best interests to help us, especially with the election not far away. He wants, I believe, to get in for another five years, which is not something I want to happen now.”
“Are we going to start getting more political?” Of course it was Tree who asked that. “I know there are a couple of parties who say they’re pro-vampire, which is an interesting phrase.”
“I think we are and I’m going to need to do my own research. We do have the right to vote and I managed to make Freud promise there would be night voting for anyone who needed it.” I smiled. “This means I’m going to pick a party I support and get all the vampires to do the same. I don’t care if we all vote for the same party. I don’t care if our party wins. I just want to make certain that Freud doesn’t get another term.”
“Could it have been someone other then Freud?”
“Yes, but it’s unlikely. They would have had to have been waiting for me for hours, because I was running late tonight, and I wasn’t walking the same route I normally do, for speed purposes. It only makes sense if someone followed me from Downing Street, but I keep thinking I would have heard them before I did if they had been following me for that long.”
“Unless you weren’t paying enough attention.” Ben shrugged when I looked at him. “It would have been easy enough for you to be so focused on what you were planning on saying to the vampires when we next met that you weren’t listening for someone who might be following you - especially as it was unlikely anyone would be.”
I didn’t want to, but I nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. I could have been focusing more on what I was going to say than I was one the world around me and that is something I need to change.”
“If things are going to change as much as we think we’re all going to have to start focusing more on where we are and who’s around us.” Tree shrugged. “We�
��re in a difficult position now, because of what we’ve done, and that is going to affect us more than I believe we realise. I’m not against the riots. I don’t really think we had any other option, due to the choices people around us made. At the same time it means there are people who are going to view the vampires less than favourably, while others are going to understand why we felt we had no other choice… and, yes, I have realised I’m including myself with the vampires. Being what I am means they’re going to include me in that, so I might just as well do it myself.
Nodding, I smiled at Tree. “You’re right about that. The riots are both a good and bad thing, which I think is something the people who organised it knew.” I glanced at Jess, who still thought I didn’t know it was her behind everything, and sighed. “After thinking about it all long and hard I believe we did have limited options, especially as even I was beginning to get tired of fighting the government, so I’m nowhere near as angry about it all as I was before. My anger was a reaction to what I saw as the vampires giving up on diplomacy, without realising, and I should have done, that the humans had given up on it a long time before we did.”
Jess gave me a look that told me she was wondering if I did know it was her and what I was going to do about it if I did. Knowing the people around me as well as I did made things easier than they had been when I was trying to get the government to understand the position they’d forced us into. With them I was always on the back foot, always trying to work out the best way of wording things, and there were a couple of times when I got angrier with them than I was comfortable with, because they didn’t understand how hard things were for us. Of course it was impossible for them to. Even people like Tree can’t truly know how hard it is for us, although they empathise far more than the rest of the human race does, and that is something I will always be grateful to them for.
“One of the things I do believe you need to do is capitalise on the humans who do feel pity for you and what you’ve been through.” Tree sounded thoughtful. “If you do that you’re going to have far more helpers than you did before and that, I think, will make things safer for the rest of us. The more of us there are the harder it will be for anyone to attack us.”
Paul
“She’s right, Liv.” I smiled at Tree and then at Liv. “It’s our helpers they’re going to go after first, knowing that we’re virtually helpless without them, before attacking us in daylight. Maybe we should think about gathering together in larger groups again for a little while, in order to protect ourselves.”
Daniel shuddered next to me. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for him, because he’d already been through so much, but not even moving away would protect him. Well, I didn’t think it would, as there were going to be people who knew about the riots all over the country and they were going to be angry with the vampires for what they’d done - so he was better off staying with us. Hopefully that was something Liv or Ben would talk to him about, as I didn’t feel I knew him well enough to. I did reach out and squeeze his shoulder, though, to show him that I was there to support him, and he shot me a grateful smile. I knew it had been a long time since he’d had a chance to spend time with other vampires. After what he’d witnessed I was surprised he felt he could.
“Our house is big enough for a number of vampires to call it home.” Of course Lise was going to offer. “We already have Kira and Tree with us, so I’m certain we could find another couple of humans to work with us with their help.”
Kira nodded. “There are a few people I can think of who were softening towards the vampires due to the riots. Some of them surprised me, because I didn’t think they ever would, but after several long conversations with them I get the feeling I could ask them to get more involved.”
“More helpers means paying them more though.” Liv had to think of the money - she was the one who kept track of it all and without her I was certain the vampires, as a group, wouldn’t have any at all. “None of us work at the moment, so being able to pay them… actually there might be a way around that. When the shops are opened they’ve promised to hire vampire staff and I think, although I can’t be certain, that they’ve been talking to the others about how generous we were. Hopefully, if I am right, we’ll be able to use that in order to get ourselves jobs.”
“If you can’t I always have money.” Ben squeezed Liv’s hand. “Luckily I’ve always been pretty lucky with my investments and that money can go towards hiring more humans, if they chose to work with us.” He looked at Tree and Kira. “How much have you been paid recently?”
Tree looked down at the floor. I knew she’d told Lise and Jess to keep any of the money they would be paying her in case they needed it, which was something she wouldn’t want to tell Ben, because she knew exactly what he was going to do about that. For a moment I thought about keeping my mouth shut, but Tree wasn’t going to say anything and I truly believed Ben needed to know the position people were in before we made any definite decisions. “I know Tree hasn’t been paid anything recently, due to her being her normal kind self. She was worried about the income Jess and Lise had, so she told them to keep the money, especially as they were housing her and she was buying her food with their money.”
“Paul…”
I smiled at her. “Normally I wouldn’t have said anything, but Ben needs to know the truth about the position we’re in if he’s going to make an informed decision.” Tree nodded at that. “The vampires in London are struggling, Ben, and we would be struggling more if it wasn’t for Liv. She’s someone who’s kept us going, no matter how bad things have become, and if it wasn’t for her I think the riots would have happened a long time ago - before we were in a position to be able to deal with them the way we did.” My eyes met with Ben’s. “Ever since we lost our jobs our lives have changed, mostly for the worst, and I believe that Liv’s idea is probably the better one, because we need to be doing something. Without our jobs all we really do is sit on our asses and, if we’re really lucky, play video games.”
Liv bit her lip. “There are more vampires than I’m happy about living without electricity. We have made sure we could pay their gas bill, so they can have central heating, and their water bill, but those two are even become too much for the coffers. For the last five years there’s been far more coming out of it than there has been going into it. I estimate, without some income, we have another couple of months where we can cover those bills for all the people who need us to.” She shrugged. “I would be easier if vampires did start living together in bigger groups, because then there wouldn’t be as many bills to pay, and, depending on how many vampires gathered together, there is a chance we might be able to last another year without any income.”
Sighing, Ben rested his head against the back of the sofa. “I didn’t know things had become so difficult.” He looked around the group. “Why didn’t any of you say anything?”
Surprisingly it was Jake who answered that question. “Why do you think they didn’t say anything? Ben? If you were the one in that position, struggling to make ends meet every day, would you turn to someone you knew had money and talk to them about how difficult things are? Some people, and I don’t include you in that, are going to assume that you’re asking for money. Doing that is something that could easily end a friendship.” He shook his head. “If I was in the same position they were I would have kept the same secrets from you.” Liv nodded in agreement. “It would have been the hardest for Liv, because she’s the one who’s closest to you.”
“Thank you, Jake. I appreciate you understand what it was like for us.” Liv turned to Ben. “I know you well enough to be certain you wouldn’t assume I was asking for money if I told you how bad things had become, but that didn’t stop me from fearing it. When you’re in that sort of position it almost feels live everyone with money is the enemy, as it’s something you don’t have enough of and talking to them about that sort of problem could easily make them hate you for emotional reasons, and I even had that with you, when I knew
I could have talked to you without you hating me for it.” She smiled. “There is also the pride thing as well. Do you really think we wanted to turn around to you and tell you we were having money problems when you had as much as you did? It was like adding insult to injury.”
“Maybe it’s me being weird, but I’ve always thought of money problems as a logical issue rather than an emotional one.” Ben sighed. “Next time please talk to me, Liv.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “I hope there isn’t a next time. Now that we’re getting somewhere with this government and we’re beginning to get plans in place to stop Freud from being Prime Minister for another term I really believe we’re going to make things better for the vampire community.”
“What if it does all cycle round again, though?” Ben did like to ask the difficult questions. “What are we going to do then?”
“Ben, love, have you ever heard of crossing a bridge if you come to it? At the moment we need to focus on the real problems we have, rather than thinking about imaginary future ones, because otherwise we’re going to focus too much on things that really don’t matter right now.” She kissed his cheek. “I don’t want to make you feel like we don’t care about the what ifs. We do. Just not right now.” She gestured at herself. “Right now we need to think about how we’re going to stop this from happening to someone who might not be able to fight the bastards off.”
“Okay. I get that. I just… being alive for as long as I have has always made me think of the long game.”
For a moment Liv studied him. “That’s not a bad thing. How about we split into two groups and start planning for both? It would make things easier than trying to focus on both of them in a big group, because that could become confusing.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I smiled at her. “I’ll work with Ben. I’ve always been good at thinking of the long game. How about we have Tree and Jake with us? Tree can give us the human side of things and Jake can give us the young vampire side.”
A Bloody London Tale (Book 1): Unrest Rising Page 11