Assassins

by R A Browell

  ‘Seleni?’ asked Lily, trying to make herself more comfortable in the breath-tight dress as Mareena gazed intensely at her. Lily smiled at her nervously.

  ‘We are the Seleni!’ Mareena chirped happily. ‘It was just the three of us but now we are four again!’

  Lily tried to focus. ‘I’m sorry. This is all so unexpected,’ she replied. ‘Tell me about the Seleni. What do you do? Where are you from?’

  Aurora glanced at Venetia. ‘Lily, here in Kelpasia, the Seleni, have lived comfortably for many years,’ she began. ‘We have achieved a status that is matched only by comparing us with those of royal blood in the human world. We are not Kelpasians, yet we are granted the greatest of respect by all who live here, and should we choose to enter Serenisa, you will find that we are granted honour in all things there too. Others must move aside and avert their eyes as we pass. We are afforded anything we desire and have been provided with this island, where we live quietly.

  ‘In all matters, we are given the protection of the State and in return, we help the Kelpasians when they occasionally need assistance. Some know us as the Council of Three. Of course, that will have to change now that you are here,’ Aurora smiled. On the surface she seemed genuine but lurking beneath Lily detected something cold. ‘Unlike the human world,’ she continued, ‘where we are hunted to extinction, here we are seen as nothing but an asset. The Kelpasians believe us to be worth more than the purest gold or the most flawless diamond. We used to inhabit your world many centuries ago, but now we prefer to live here, in safety and comfort, under the protection of the Kelpasians. Here we are untouchable but we occasionally travel to your world when hunger beckons.’

  Aurora paused for a moment, waiting for Lily’s response.

  ‘So, when you say ‘assistance’, what do you mean?’ Lily asked cautiously.

  ‘We help the Kelpasians with their judiciary,’ replied Aurora.

  ‘You mean you’re lawyers?’ asked Lily. ‘You’re saying that I could live here with you and become a lawyer, here in Kelpasia?’

  Aurora glowed, she was satisfied with Lily’s response. ‘Not only will you be the lawyer but also the judge and the jury. You will have much more power than you could ever possibly imagine. You will determine both innocence and guilt and mete out the punishment, ensuring that your decisions are carried out efficiently. That way the guilty are permanently removed and the innocent remain protected.’

  Lily thought for a moment. ‘So, I move my dad and my gran here and work with you, helping the Kelpasians to keep their society safe,’ replied Lily. ‘It sounds perfect.’

  ‘Oh no Lily, you misunderstand,’ said Mareena shaking her head. ‘It can only ever be you that can stay with us here on Aldrovanda.’

  Lily looked at Aurora.

  ‘The people you left, they are human?’ asked Aurora.

  Lily nodded.

  ‘Humans aren’t permitted in Kelpasia,’ explained Mareena eagerly. ‘In fact, the only time we ever smuggle them back is when we have need to replenish our stores!’

  ‘Mareena,’ warned Aurora.

  ‘Your stores?’ Lily asked looking at the two older girls, and then she understood. ‘But how?’ she asked, knowing that she needed to gather as much information together as possible.

  ‘We shape-shift,’ replied Mareena excitedly. ‘We travel as mist and we sing to them and they agree to come back here and then they stay with us until we need them.’

  ‘Willingly,’ added Venetia

  ‘Shape shift? So, you don’t use the gateways?’ asked Lily, trying to sound casual.

  Aurora looked carefully at Lily.

  ‘Nothing is denied us in Serenisa, Lily,’ replied Aurora, trying to hide her irritation, ‘but the gatekeepers are different. They govern themselves. They have no master in any of the worlds. So, it’s more difficult. What do you know of the gatekeepers?’

  ‘Not much,’ Lily shrugged. ‘So, can all vampires shape shift?’ she asked changing the subject.

  ‘Shape shifting is demanding and dangerous. It was a gift from the Magisterie when we agreed to work with them but it’s not something any of us find easy and you must be strong to do it.’ Aurora watched Lily closely. ‘It’s a skill we have learnt over time but isn’t natural to us. It leaves us disarmed and weakened. Shifting is only possible when we’re very well fed. We carried you as mist last night but our trip has left us weak. Usually we would feed before shifting and after. We fed a little on our return but we’re still not as strong as we should be.’

  ‘But,’ said Mareena excitedly, as she tossed her red hair carelessly over her shoulder, ‘it was worth it to bring you here and we can feed and get strong again together, later.’

  ‘But I don’t… I can’t … It’s not really my sort of thing!’ Lily stammered, imagining the three girls in a feeding frenzy. She remembered the lamb and the fawn and the Cranmere Beast and how she’d gorged herself without a second thought.

  ‘But have you ever tried what you really want?’ asked Aurora.

  Lily shook her head, slowly and awkwardly.

  ‘It’s the only thing that will ever truly satisfy you, Lily,’ said Venetia smoothly. ‘You are a natural born sanguin, if you don’t satisfy your appetite, your desire will end up consuming you. It will eat you alive,’ she added, extending each syllable. ‘I’m surprised no one’s ever told you that.’

  ‘They never feel any pain, Lily. Nothing,’ Aurora murmured softly. ‘In fact, they experience the exact opposite; pure pleasure. That’s why they stay. They have the same strength of desire as we do; we are merely helping them to achieve that which they want the most. It is our gift to them, and just because we happen to fulfil our own desire at the same time doesn’t make it unpalatable, in fact, I can assure you it is quite the reverse!’ Aurora smiled, her blue eyes sparkling as she thought about what she’d just said. She was amused by her choice of words. ‘Lily, our relationship with our food is healthy. It’s based on mutual desire and fulfilment. No one does anything that they don’t want to do.’

  ‘But you’re still taking a life, a human life, and that can’t be right, can it?’ asked Lily shifting her body, moving slightly way from Mareena, with her leech-like intensity.

  ‘Doesn’t that rather depend on the life?’ asked Aurora.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ replied Lily, leaning forward, ever conscious of Mareena’s penetrating gaze.

  ‘Is it right to slaughter lesser creatures for food, perhaps a cow or a pig or a chicken or a rabbit?’

  ‘Of course,’ replied Lily, relaxing slightly.

  ‘Why do you say that?’ Aurora asked.

  ‘Because that’s what we do. My gran runs a farm; they’re animals, they aren’t human,’ replied Lily.

  Aurora nodded.

  ‘And what of humans who commit murder? What of serial killers?’ she asked. ‘Those who kill indiscriminately? Those who torture and murder the vulnerable? What of those who have started wars or walk into schools and kill innocent children? Or those who operate death camps, gas millions and then burn the evidence? We have seen such things, Lily. We have seen the cruelty of men. What of these humans? Do they have humanity?’

  All three girls looked at Lily. She understood Aurora’s logic and shook her head sadly.

  ‘No, you’re right,’ Lily admitted. ‘I can’t see any humanity in those who do such things. I see only monsters.’

  ‘Exactly! So, you see our position. We’re not the monsters in any of the worlds. We’re the ones who purge the worlds of the monsters. We cleanse and we purify. We serve the human world in much the same way that we serve the Kelpasians,’ Aurora explained. ‘That we receive our strength and a small amount of pleasure from what we do, doesn’t make it wrong. We feed on those who have forfeited their humanity and who have become lower than those creatures that you are happy to see sent to the slaughterhouse!’

  Aurora leaned back in her seat with an air of triumph.

  ‘But I’m confused,’ Lil
y replied as she stood up and walked to the balcony. ‘If you’re getting rid of all the creeps, all the nastiness and inhumanity, why do you talk about you being able to fulfil their desires…All that mutual stuff?’ she asked turning to face the three girls. ‘Surely you’re somehow rewarding their inhumanity?’

  Aurora glanced at Venetia.

  ‘Lily, despite what you might think, we’re not cruel,’ replied Venetia, focusing all her attention on Lily. ‘Death, even painless death, even death with extreme pleasure, is still the end of life. We freely admit that we satisfy our own desires, but we don’t deliberately set out to cause pain and suffering. We’re much kinder than a lethal injection or the hangman’s noose!’

  ‘I guess I can see what you’re saying, but lots of countries back in our world don’t go with death sentences at all. It’s seen as inhuman,’ Lily argued as she leaned with her back resting on the balcony. Below her were the tiered gardens and the sheer cliff drop.

  ‘And does that make them better places?’ replied Venetia. ‘Is it better to let child killers live for years at the expense of good, honest people? Is it right to feed and clothe those who have mutilated and tortured the vulnerable?’

  Lily was confused. ‘I don’t know,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Those are big questions. What if the person you condemn is really innocent? What if the judge gets it wrong? What then?’

  Mareena smiled, as she lifted herself up from the plush sofa and moved next to her new best friend. She was standing so close to Lily that there was hardly any gap between them. ‘But the difference with us Lily,’ replied Mareena, ‘and what sets us apart from human justice and makes us so wonderful, is that we never get it wrong.’ Lily could hear the slow beat of Mareena’s heart as she hooked her arm gently through her own. ‘With us, there’s never any miscarriage of justice. We’re a perfect solution to a very human problem.’

  ‘And Kelpasian,’ added Aurora. ‘The humans hardly have the monopoly on evil, don’t forget the Kelpasians have nearly as many issues as the humans. The only difference is that here we’re not enemies of the State, we’re employed by them. The Kelpasians pay us to do what we do. We have no such commission from the humans. When we travel back to your world, it’s a pure labour of love.’

  She laughed as she spoke but the silvery tones were detached and cold. Lily turned to the ocean. What they said seemed to make sense, their arguments were sound, but still something nagged awkwardly at the back of her mind.

  ‘Lily,’ Mareena spoke in little more than a whisper, ‘we entrap them with our melodies. They can’t resist our voices and they come so willingly. We do nothing to them that they do not already beg us to do. Our music entrances them, it cannot possibly be wrong!’ she said, staring imploringly at Lily with her wide emerald green eyes. ‘Something as magical as your voice ought to be used for the good of humanity, for the good of all four worlds. To fail to use it for good would be the real sin.’

  Lily looked at Mareena. She was talking about sin and forces for good, and her touch was comforting and she sounded so sincere but still Lily felt uncomfortable. Doubt was gnawing away like a big black rat at the back of her mind and it just wouldn’t go away.

  ‘Mareena, do you sing to both sexes; I mean to both men and women?’ Lily asked quietly.

  Mareena looked vaguely surprised at the question. ‘The human male is stronger, more satisfying, particularly if he’s young and strong. We tend to stick to them,’ she replied glancing across at Aurora. ‘Of course, we’re not adverse to the female.’

  Lily looked thoughtfully back over towards the two sofas where Aurora and Venetia were talking quietly to themselves.

  ‘Lily,’ Aurora called, ‘when did you last feed?’

  ‘A couple of days ago, I guess,’ Lily replied. She was caught slightly off guard by the question.

  ‘We thought as much, looking at that pale skin and those dark eyes of yours. Why don’t you have some lunch with us?’ Aurora paused, her eyes fixed firmly on Lily. ‘There’s not a lot and he’s not the best specimen in the world but he’s yours if you want him. I know what you’re thinking, but we’ve had centuries to think this whole thing through. We’ve gone for decades where we’ve tried to live on alternative food, but gradually you realise that you only make yourself ill. It’s never worth it.’

  ‘You’ve got a human waiting downstairs for me?’ gasped Lily.

  Aurora smiled and nodded. ‘Lily,’ she cajoled, ‘how is this any different to eating any other animal? There is no difference, except with us the creature knows that he is paying the price for his crimes. He seeks absolution for his wrongdoing and by begging you to drink from him, he’s literally dying, not only to make amends, but to take his punishment. You inspire him to repentance and salvation. That, is why you have been given the gift of your wonderful voice.’

  ‘Listen to her, Lily,’ added Venetia, ‘not all sanguins have your gift but you have, because like us, you have been chosen. This is the task that nature has equipped you for. Try not to fight it. Just allow yourself to be carried along by your natural instinct.’

  ‘I hear what you’re saying but it doesn’t feel right!’ said Lily leaning against the stone balustrade, her arms folded tight as she tried to remain focused. The sisters’ arguments were racing around inside her head; somehow, they seemed so right, so logical…

  ‘Lily, the first time is always strange. You’ll remember it all your life, like your first kiss,’ Mareena cooed as she unwrapped Lily’s arms and pulled her gently back towards the others.

  Lily blushed. First kiss? She thought about what they’d said. It all seemed to make perfect sense. She could live here in safety with the protection of the Kelpasians and use her voice, her music and her skills to do some good in the world. Wasn’t her dad always talking about having purpose in life, of doing something good for humanity? Wasn’t that why he had gone into medicine, because he thought he could make a difference? And here she was, she didn’t need to go to medical school or work for the UN, she could make a difference from here. She could live in Aldrovanda, remove the detritus of the world and enjoy a life of royalty, with villas and yachts and permanent sunshine…Even the clothes were beginning to look tempting.

  ‘Lily, do come,’ Mareena pleaded. ‘You’ll feel so much better once you’ve had something to eat.’ Her long red hair was like a smooth tongue of fire that licked down her spine as she dragged her new best friend towards the door.

  Mareena was the youngest of the Seleni and even though she was clearly older than Lily, she seemed much less mature. She was excitable and playful like the lambs back in the fields on the Carfax estate. Lily looked at her and wondered if that was the end of the line for Mareena; a mature sanguin, fixed forever as a giggly teenager.

  ‘Come, Sisters,’ called the two older girls as Lily allowed Mareena to lead her, arm in arm, following them downstairs. Lily felt the doubt start to raise its head again. She remembered how she’d felt the first time she’d fed; the guilt as she’d dropped the tiny half-dead lamb into its bed, the empty little fawn as if fell to the ground, and then she remembered the exhilaration of hunting with the boys on the moors.

  She wondered about them. Why hadn’t Hari, James and Charlie chosen to become some kind of vampire vigilantes? Maybe the Seleni were right. Maybe it was because they hadn’t been chosen. After all, it wasn’t every sanguin that had been given the gift she’d been given. Not all natural vampires had her voice with which to cleanse the world and yet Lily felt confused, somehow compromised. She unconsciously touched the little pendant that lay nestled on her pale chest. It felt warm and comforting but as Aurora turned a shining handle and opened a heavy door into a light airy bedroom, Lily gasped at the reality of the situation. A half-dressed boy, maybe nineteen or twenty was lying languorously upon the white sheets. He looked somehow incapable, as though he were hypnotised or drugged and as Lily gazed at his beautiful firm body and his fragile humanity she felt a pang of something heavy rise in her chest and t
he little pendant begin to grow hot against her skin.

  Venetia drifted towards him, her mouth open with song, the sound so intoxicating that he barely managed to lift his head from the pillow as he opened his arms and welcomed death euphorically towards him. Lily and Mareena both followed, stepping inside the bedroom as Aurora purposefully glided behind them and quietly closed the door with a satisfying clunk.

  An Invisible Friend

  Lily opened her eyes; the crimson chiffon of her dress was pooled over the white sheets. She was back in the white bedroom wracked with the filthiness of guilt. It was the lamb in the kitchen episode all over again, with the breathlessness of knowing that she’d acted badly and all she could feel was searing pain in her chest. She remembered the image of the young man, his groans of ecstasy still echoing in her ears as his life blood was drained away by the kneeling girls. There was a knock at the door and Mareena’s cheerful face appeared.

  ‘Lily,’ she whispered, ‘I’m sorry to disturb you. Are you alright? I thought it was best to bring you straight back here when you fainted. I wasn’t sure whether you’d hit your head.’ Lily instinctively pulled the bed sheet up towards her neck. ‘You look dreadful. You really should have eaten when you had the chance,’ she continued. ‘Your eyes look terribly dark and it’ll be a while before we can feed again. You’re going to have to wait until we next go hunting. Do you know how long it will be before you start with the squeeze?’

  Lily looked at Mareena and shook her head.

  ‘Well,’ Mareena continued sympathetically, ‘we can always get you something to tide you over; a mountain goat or something. It was a shame you missed out. I wonder why you fainted. He was rather gorgeous; his blood was rich and strong and very filling!’ she giggled. ‘We always try and get the young, athletic ones; they taste sweeter and keep the pains away for longer.’

  ‘Mareena,’ Lily asked croakily as she tried to sit up. ‘What had he done? He looked too young to be some kind of serial killer?’