‘Use the sink and wash the blood from your face and hands sir. What on earth were you thinking just walking in here looking like that?’ Snaps the young woman as she quickly covers her mouth with her hand and retreats back into herself. Jeff looks directly into her eyes, he has to, they stand almost nose to nose due to the cramped conditions. Jeff turns the warm tap. A sputter of dirty brownish water spits from the faucet before the constant stream of clean water begins to flow through into the mouldy bowl and down the drain. Jeff begins with washing his hands; the water runs clean from the faucet but stains a dirty red as blood begins to wash from his hands. Jeff rubs his hands together to speed up the washing process as he begins to fill with disgust as what’s on his hands, he refuses to let himself look in the mirror and see his blood soaked mouth. Sick begins to boil in his stomach as he still tastes the metallic taste of blood in his mouth and around his lips.
‘If you’re going to enter here at any point looking the way you do, please sir use the back entrance as to not be seen by our human customers.’ The young lady states in a more soothing tone.
Jeff raises his head without thinking and catches his face in the mirror, a horror filled his heart, not at what he looked like or what he had done, but the horror was for the fact he didn’t feel anything. Jeff was becoming scared of his own numbness to the situation and not the situation itself. He turns his head slightly to the right as he begins to speak to the young woman.
‘I’m sorry I never caught your name earlier.’ Jeff says through his blood soaked mouth.
‘Oh, well it’s not that important sir.’ The young woman lowers her head and begins to rub her left arm in nervousness. Jeff catches he doing this in the mirror, he becomes puzzled.
‘You didn’t call me sir earlier, you called all three of us by our names, why change now?’ Jeff now turns to face the woman. He scans her up and down and notices she has lost the sharp wittedness she had earlier on in the day when they first met. She hesitates for a moment and just looks into Jeff’s eyes.
‘I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier sir, I should’ve been more polite to you and the others. And I’m dreadfully sorry to have grabbed you like that and pulled you in here.’
Jeff reaches out to hold her arm. Her eyes widen in shock before quickly becoming as black as night as she hisses at Jeff revealing her fangs. Jeff quickly pulls his arm back becoming even more puzzled. The young woman snaps back into a human, ‘I’m so very sorry sir!’ she shouts.
‘Please stop calling me sir, what’s up with you?’ Jeff now sounding more concerned.
‘I shouldn’t have acted the way I did to higher ranked vampires.’ The woman again looks deep into Jeff’s eyes.
‘I don’t understand, I thought I was the lowest ranking, I’m only a rookie. Surely there’s nothing lower than that.’ Jeff smiles to ease the tension between the two of them. The young woman takes that sign and lets out a deep breath relaxing her posture. She begins to speak more assertively.
‘That’s where you’re wrong sir.’
Jeff interrupts whilst splashing water over his face as he begins to wash the blood from his face. ‘Please you don’t have to call me sir.’ He turns his head to look at the woman and gives her another reassuring smile. The young woman also cracks a slight smile and pipes up more. ‘Yes you’re right, you being a rookie does make you the lowest ranking vampire. But you also get vampires such as myself who doesn’t show up on the rank list.’
Jeff grabs the dirty cloth hanging from a hook next to the sink and doesn’t think twice before rubbing it on his face because he believes nothing can be worse than what he had on his face originally. Finishes by drying his hands before throwing the cloth back on the hook and turning off the tap. He turns and faces the young woman.
‘I’m still uncertain what you’re talking about, how can you not be on the ranking? Surely every vampire is on the vampire ranking.’ Jeff lets out a slight laugh as he cannot grasp this concept the woman is telling him. She quickly cuts that laugh, ‘I wasn’t worth as much as you.’ She spurts out taking Jeff unawares. Jeff composes himself and realises what this young woman has just told him.
‘Don’t say that, I can’t believe that.’ Jeff is shocked.
‘It’s true. I don’t know exactly how people get chosen but once you are chosen you get given one of two types of job.’ The woman explains.
‘And let me guess mines different to yours.’ Jeff chimes in.
‘Well obviously, I hand out the mission phones, you use the mission phones.’
‘Well now you point it out like that I guess you’re right.’ Jeff looks up at the light above their heads as he tries to imagine what more this woman will tell him.
‘Not only that. Depending on what job you’re given, between the warrior and the lackey. You only get given certain vampire powers, which is why warriors like yourself are instantly better than us lackeys.’
Jeff lowers his eye line back to the woman’s eyes. ‘What do you mean certain powers?’
‘Well unlike yourself thankfully I don’t get as a powerful thirst for blood like you do, a few small rodents a week will keep my body in check. But on the downside my strength as a vampire becomes nowhere near the level of yours and I don’t have the power to heal wounds. So in a way I’m happy I don’t see any action. I shouldn’t be speaking to you like this I’m dreadfully sorry.’ The woman tries to make a quick exit as she scrambles to place her hand on the door handle. Jeff feels there is more to this story and grabs her shoulder to stop her from leaving. The young woman winces in pain the moment his hand touches down on her shoulder. Jeff quickly lets go. ‘What’s up?’ Jeff grabs either side of her arms and brings her back in front of him. The woman stands motionless looking down at the floor. Jeff concentrates his attention on her shoulder, without asking he begins to unbutton her bright blue blouse, the woman is still motionless and doesn’t make a sound as Jeff undoes the last button on her blouse, and slowly takes it off her body. The young woman stands looking at floor in a white lace bra but what’s caught Jeff’s stare is much more important to him. A medical bandage covering from her shoulder heading in a diagonal across her back to just above her skirt. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Again.’ Jeff throws the woman another reassuring smile at this point he knows that is all she needs for her to trust him, and in a way he doesn’t want to deceive her, he truly feels for this woman and is genuinely worried about what has happened to her. He kneels down close and takes a closer look. ‘This has been freshly applied.’ He notices a few blood spots starting to seep through the material. His vision starts to blur and his heart begins to pound, Jeff instantly knows this is his hunger being triggered by the sight of this woman’s blood. He doesn’t want to cause this woman harm so he fights the hunger and slowly raises himself back to his feet. ‘It’s still bleeding, what’s happened and who did this to you?’ He hands her back her blouse. She begins to put it back on.
‘It was a punishment. From the higher ups.’ She explains as she buttons up the last button and pulls her long blonde hair out from her collar.
‘It was for the way I acted towards vampires of a higher calibre than myself.’ She looks into Jeff’s eyes.
‘For the way you spoke to us earlier. You were punished for not calling us sirs and madam, that’s just insane, they can’t do that.’
‘They’re the higher ups they can do what they like, I either took the punishment and learn from my mistakes or disappear.’
‘What do you mean by disappear?’ Jeff instantly puts two and two together. ‘They’d kill you. What sort of organization is this? They don’t have that right to just kill their own members.’
‘The higher ups can do whatever they please.’
‘Who did this to you?’ Jeff snaps.
‘It doesn’t matter.’ The woman makes for the door again.
‘Who did this?’ Jeff throws himself in front of the door blocking her only exit. She looks at the floor as she knows Jeff will not let her out
. She knows she could be putting her life on the line if she tells him but there was something about Jeff she found fascinating and for some reason she trusted him, the first person she had trusted for a long time. She looks up at Jeff and sees that trusting smile he has been giving her continuously throughout this confrontation, that same trusting smile that makes her suddenly feel warm inside and gives her the willingness to open up. ‘It was a Rank A vampire named Dirk.’ Explains the woman in a soft tone. She suddenly notices Jeff’s heartfelt smile slowly fade away as a frown appears on his face.
Jeff remembers. That name triggered in his memory. Dirk that son of a bitch who tried to kill me. Jeff fills with anger at the thought of the vampire that almost killed him hurting an innocent woman for only talking normally to him. Jeff twigs that the tension had once again risen between him and the young woman. ‘This reminds me I still don’t know your name.’ Jeff tries to change the subject to defuse the tension.
‘You don’t need to know my name.’ She replies.
‘Come on. I’ve seen you in your bra for Christ sakes I think it’s time I knew your name.’ Jeff laughs which encourages the young woman to join in with the laughter. ‘Don’t worry I’m not going to turn you in for talking to me like this, forget about the system, it’s been a pleasure to meet you and it’s nice to have a friend on the inside.’ Jeff throws out another heartfelt smile. Even in this short amount of time he has spent with this woman he realises he has developed a soft spot for her and genuinely meant what he said about her being a friend. His smile was truly heartfelt. The woman whose heart now feels like it’s on fire is in shock at the thought of anyone thinking of her as a friend. Every time she looks at this man’s smile she can’t help but feel a sense of safeness. She decides to throw caution to the wind and formally introduce herself.
‘The name is Rita. Nice to meet you.’
Jeff’s smile now stretches across his face.
‘Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Rita.’ Jeff gently strokes her cheek with his hand. ‘And I promise you. Dirk will pay for what he has done.’
CHAPTER 6:
THE ONE AND ONLY LEOFRIC
Leofric steps menacingly towards Will and Katie slowly his hand reaches into his coat. Will slowly pushes Katie backwards, fear quite obvious in Will shown by the way he moves. Will doesn’t want Katie to panic so he stops in his tracks and stands as broad and tall as he can make himself. Leofric begins to chuckle out loud.
‘Ha are you serious? I can see a rookie from the moment I lay eyes on one.’ Leofric bellows.
Will’s fists tighten his heart pounds fast, sweat begins to drop from his brow. He cannot believe this guy not only knows he and Katie are vampires but rookies at that. Will begins to panic.
‘I won’t let you harm her.’ Will rushes to Katie and holds her. Both trembling with fear.
‘I don’t intend to harm, I intend to kill. Both of you. So no use trying to protect her.’ Leofric takes another step towards the two rookies. Leofric’s arm springs from the inside of his long jacket and as it does he pulls out a hefty gun. Will’s eyes are instantly drawn to it because he had never seen any gun like it in the movies. This is when he spots the laser pointer aimed at Katie’s forehead. As Will’s attention follows the thin laser light back to the gun.
Bang!
Spark of light ignites from the barrel of the gun. Time had slowed down to next to nothing in Katie’s mind. In panic she quickly shuts her eyes. Katie’s entire life flashes before her. She instantly thought about how she would never see her mother again, her friends and family. The question of why just keeps replaying in her mind. I shouldn’t be here, why me? This curse put down upon her had now gotten her killed just hours later. As quick as it began it was over.
Katie suddenly realised she could feel no pain on her body, she was still conscious. Upon opening her eyes she could not believe the sight she was witnessing.
In that impossibly short to imagine time frame from Will realising Katie was about to be shot he had become his vampire form, rushed over to Leofric and pushed his raised arm with the gun towards the sky. The bullet now flying out of harm’s way.
Time had now caught up with Katie. She witnesses Leofric batter Will on the top of his skull as he swings his arm back down to then proceed to give a bone shattering kick to Will’s ribs which send him flying across the park.
‘Will!’ She yells in panic.
Leofric adjusts his attention toward Katie. He squints his eyes as he ponders.
‘Katie run!’ Will manages to shout out over coughs and spits of blood.
Leofric aims his gun once again to Katie.
‘Don’t think about running anywhere.’ Leofric’s booming voice proclaims from the dimly lit park.
Katie looks down and notices the red beam of light aimed directly over her heart.
‘Now answer me one thing.’ Leofric says calmly as he quickly pulls out another gun from a holster which when lifted magically appears in Will’s mouth. Will had tried to use the same speed trick he used just moments before.
‘I’m too smart to be fooled twice.’ Leofric states with a smirk across his face. ‘Now girly you going to answer my question?’
Katie shaking terribly with fear only just manages to stop her vocal chords from shivering momentarily to let out a small yes.
‘Good. Why is it you haven’t changed? Like this vermin.’ Leofric guides Will in front of him using the gun in his mouth to persuade him to stand where Leofric wants him. He removes the gun from Will’s mouth and places the barrel at his stomach. ‘Take it you’ve never been shot in the stomach, Will was it? Yes, well let me tell you it hurts. It hurts like a mother fucker. The stomach acid leaking into the rest of your body, burning you from the inside out. I take it you don’t want this to happen now do you Will.’
Will’s black eyes just stare at Leofric, even in his vampire form he knows this guy is stronger than him. He knows he’s helpless. And much worse he knows that Leofric knows.
‘Don’t stare at me with those black pools of darkness. You know as well as me that you can’t kill me Will. So give up the act. Change back and face your pain like a real man. And not a beast of Satan.’ Leofric pushes the gun harder against Will to give him the incentive to change back.
As Will’s eyes begin to brighten, the pain begins to settle in his bones. His head begins to throb from the blow to his head, and then the excruciating pain from his chest overwhelms the pain on his head. Will knows some ribs have been broken. Will’s body just crumbles to the floor as he screams and rives in agony. A tear rolls down Katie’s cheek as this now becomes too real to her that this man will definitely in fact kill her.
‘I love the sound of vampires in pain.’ Leofric steps over Will’s crippled body and makes his way over to Katie who is frozen with fear. He puts the gun aimed at her back into one of the holsters as he now stands within a metre in front of her. He uses his now free hand to stroke her cheek as he stares into her eyes. ‘So young and innocent. These vampires have become monsters recruiting young girls such as you.’
Katie is so stricken with fear she can’t bring herself to look away.
‘Now to pick up where I left off, why didn’t you change like your boyfriend did aye?’
‘He’s not my boyfriend’ Katie mumbled in a shaky non-audible voice.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you over your boyfriends screams of pain.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend.’ Katie manages to find her voice again.
‘I don’t believe I asked whether he was or not. I asked why didn’t you change?’
‘I don’t know how.’ Again her voice becomes so low and shaken Leofric could not hear her answer and becomes inpatient. His hand swiftly moved from her cheek to wrapped around her neck as he slowly begins to lift her from the ground. Katie begins to cough and spit as she struggles to breathe against his tight grip. Leofric keeps close watch of her eyes not even blinking will stop him from watching her change so he could feel justified wi
thin himself to kill her. Why isn’t she changing?
Just as this thought crosses Leofric’s mind a sudden shot of pain rushes from his arm. As he drops Katie and falls to the floor dropping the gun he had in his other arm. Will bends over and picks it up. Leofric looks up to see his own gun being pointed at him by a vampire. His blood begins to boil. Will’s eyes once again as black as the night sky, seeing Katie in trouble gave him the strength he needed to change back into vampire form.
‘Are you ok?’ Will shouts to Katie except keeping his eyes locked on Leofric.
Katie manages herself back to her feet holding her throat and coughing. ‘Yeah just fine.’ Katie looks at Will. Will senses this and looks back at her, the moment he does so he knows he has just made a major error. In the split second it took from him to turn his attention back on Leofric he was already on his feet pointing his other gun at Will.
‘Give it up Leofric.’ Will shouts as he steadies his aim.
‘Look at how badly you’re shaking. Yet look how steady I am.’
Will notices the red dot on Leofric jerking about all over the place, yet as he looked down at his own body, Leofric’s aim was perfectly still.
‘You’ve never killed anyone, heck I bet tonight is one of the only times you’ve ever been in a fight. This isn’t a little kid fight in the playground, or a drunken punch up in the street. This is a matter of life and death now son. There’s now a much higher percentage of you being killed. As you probably would’ve guessed I’m not the only vampire hunter there is. There’s thousands of us all over the world. I have killed over fifteen hundred of you disgusting vermin, and looks like I get to add two more to that collection.’
Leofric’s trigger finger starts to pull back just as a shot is fired which sends Leofric flying backwards to the ground. Will drops the gun in confusion as he knows he didn’t pull the trigger. At the same time he turns back to being mortal and again the pain is too intense which he hunches to the ground.
The Vampire Council: Case File:1 Page 3