Ofelia (The Book of Davoth 1)

by Martyn Stanley

  ***

  When sleep did come, Ofelia dreamed of the future. She was back in the tower block she’d dreamed of before, lying on a massive bed in a cavernous bedroom. Rain was splattering against the wall of floor to ceiling glass to her left, obscuring the bright city lights below. She thought she could see the Shard in the distance as before. Slowly, she sat up on the jet-black satin sheets that covered the bed. This was a more lucid dream than last time. Somehow she knew she was dreaming, but she wanted to explore this future her mind had created. She slid off the bed, then turned and gasped. Still lying on the bed was a vision of her future self - identical to her in every way, but lying corpse-like in a smart business suit. The other Ofelia opened her eyes and sat up, then stared at Ofelia.

  ‘What is this?’ Ofelia asked her future self.

  The other Ofelia got up and walked to the wall of glass, gesturing towards the city beyond with a sweeping hand. ‘This is the future Victor wants to create. This is the future you know Victor wants to create. Come and see.’

  Ofelia followed herself out of the bedroom through the penthouse apartment. The lift gave access to all floors, bar the top floor - the penthouse, which had to be accessed with a key. Seeing herself dressed in her jeans and hoodie standing next to her future self in a blouse, jacket and skirt was surreal. The future Ofelia pressed the button for ground. Ofelia frowned, ‘Hey wait. Victor allows you out? Isn’t he worried that-’

  ‘No. He was already a scientist and geneticist back when we met at Tempest House. He eventually formulated a method of turning females but such that they are unable to create more blood children. I think it’s something to do with tricking the Immortal Paradox into morphing into the male variant - so in vampire terms, all the other vampires are male, even the women. Except me, of course. Nobody knows the secret. Victor has been jealously guarding it for well over a century now.’

  The lift slowed to a halt, and the door slid open. A sparkling black granite floor stretched out from the lift in a grand, spacious lobby. As the two Ofelias walked past the front desk, a smartly dressed man behind the desk greeted her future self. ‘Good evening Miss Drake.’

  He didn’t seem to notice the dreaming Ofelia - only her future self.

  Future Ofelia greeted him with a smile and a wave. She walked to the two rotating doors at the front of the lobby, flanked with a security guard on each side. As they walked, they passed under the grandest, most ostentatious chandelier Ofelia had ever seen - a tower of glittering crystals stretching up into the galleried landing. The security guards straightened up as future Ofelia approached. ‘Would you like an escort miss?’

  Future Ofelia waved a hand. ‘No thank you Carlton. I’m just going for a short walk. Thank you.’

  Ofelia followed herself through the revolving doors. Beyond was a bustling night street. Skyscrapers rose like daggers into the night sky in the distance, but one struck Ofelia as odd. She pointed to a tall but squat behemoth of a building with a funnel-shaped projector on top. ‘What’s that?’

  Future Ofelia chuckled. ‘Look at your watch.’

  Ofelia obeyed, glancing at her wristwatch. It read

  [ 2:13 PM ]

  ‘What?!’ Ofelia gasped, startled that it was pitch-black in the middle of the afternoon.

  Future Ofelia pointed to the building with the projector. ‘All the big cities have them. I don’t know how it works, but it blocks out the sun from the city. It acts like a giant, projected solar panel, generating power for the city. All the major cities are now places of eternal night. This world is not a world of humans, but a world ruled by vampires, for vampires - with Victor at the top of the hierarchy. Every vampire on the planet is his blood child and everyone pays a heavy price. The vampire world is indebted to him. He gave them all eternal life. The only thing he won’t share is how people are turned. I am so valuable to him - he gives me anything I want. He’ll never allow me to leave his side. I’m like a prisoner, but a prisoner who is given every possible comfort they could imagine.’

  Ofelia turned to see a smartly dressed man leading a column of people, middle-aged men and women on a leash. They all wore identical scarlet gowns and steel collars, each joined together. Ofelia pointed. ‘Who are they?’

  Future Ofelia smiled. ‘Blood slaves - taken from the few remaining human ruled towns. Most of them come willingly. The promise is that if they serve their masters well, they could be entered into the lottery where once every so often a loyal blood slave is given the gift. They serve us and allow us to feed on them at will. No vampire suffers the cravings. The New World Order ensures that. You’re wondering what the future will be like if you agree to help Victor? This is it. This is what the old order of vampires was striving towards too; only it actually works better with only one vampire calling the shots. Victor has no title or country to rule, but every person in power is submissive to him. Victor is the only one with the power to create more vampires. He created this world, but he could not have created it without you.’

  Ofelia frowned as the line of scarlet-clad humans was gently tugged along up the road, past them. ‘Is this the future I’m seeing then?’

  Future Ofelia laughed now. ‘There is no magic in this. This is your mind telling you what you already know. Or maybe it’s the Immortal Paradox showing you what you should have worked out for yourself by now. You need to make a choice. Should Victor become a de facto “king of the world”, answerable to none? Or should the people of the world remain free of vampire influence?’

  As future Ofelia spoke, she partially melted into an Ofelia shaped mass of Immortal Paradox. It was a grim vision and the shock of seeing it woke her up. She sat bolt upright in bed. Most dreams faded in waking moments, but this dream was burned into her memory like a red-hot brand. If Victor ruled the world, that might be an end to war and conflict. However, it would definitely mean an end to freedom. It would mean the human race being displaced as the dominant species and top line predator on this planet. The more Ofelia thought about it, the less it sat well with her. There would come a point where this endeavour had gone beyond the stage where she could still stop it. So far she and Victor had turned one human each. Only Victor didn’t know she’d turned someone. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her pillow. Tomorrow, she’d tell Victor the deal was off. That she didn’t want to play a part in creating the future he envisaged.

  Chapter 27 - The Refusal

  When Ofelia went down to the kitchen the next morning, Victor was sitting at the breakfast table tucking into a bowl of cereal. She stormed up to him. ‘Victor, our deal is off. I don’t want to-’

  ‘Fine. I’ve made enough on the last turning. I can wait until you change your mind. It’s a pity though; I could have a customer lined up in less than a day. I don’t mind though, we can pick up the business when you’re ready.’

  Ofelia had opened her mouth, ready for a raging argument with Victor. His total agreement had taken the wind out of her sails. She fumbled for something to say for a moment. ‘Oh. Fine. Good. I won’t change my mind though.’

  Victor shrugged. ‘I’ve got time. Think about it. Sleep on it a few times if you like. You’d better get ready for school though. It’ll be time to go soon.’

  Ofelia left it at that. She ate breakfast and got Amy to drop her off at school. She quizzed Ollie on Victor’s surprising acceptance at her not providing more blood samples. Ollie suggested Victor was simply patient, having been waiting for centuries for this opportunity; and that he was perhaps worried Ofelia could vanish again if he angered her. This made a certain amount of sense, but it didn’t sit right for her.

  The rest of the day was uneventful, at least until Ofelia arrived back at Tempest House. After heading to her room for a while to read, she came down to the kitchen for dinner. As well as a hot meal - a selection of glossy brochures were waiting for her. Ofelia picked up the top one and looked at it. ‘What’s this?’

  Victor, who was already seated and eating, finished chewing then waved at it.
‘Read it.’

  Ofelia looked at the cover. The brochure was emblazoned with the name Schule Liebefeld Steinhölzli. She flicked through a few pages. There were photos of the facilities and lots of unintelligible writing that looked a bit like German. She threw it back onto the table. ‘I can’t read this. This isn’t normal German.’

  Victor smiled. ‘No, it’s Swiss German. It’s a prestigious private school in Switzerland.’

  ‘I don’t want to go to Switzerland.’

  ‘That’s the beauty Ilona! This school is particularly respected for its discretion. It’s the school Kim Yong Un and his sister Kim Jo Jong attended, under aliases of course. You don’t even have to go. If I enrol you though, you can leave the British school system and you can just disappear. We won’t have to worry about people noticing the fact that you don’t age.’

  ‘Don’t you think it’s a little premature?’ snapped Ofelia, ‘I can do a couple of years.’

  Victor nodded sagely. ‘You could, but you don’t need to. Just think about it. Why don’t you ask that young chap you’re so fond of what he thinks of the idea?’

  ‘Fine,’ Ofelia said as she grabbed her plate from the side and took a seat at the table.

  ***

  The next day she did ask Ollie what he thought of the idea. She even showed him the glossy brochure for the school. Ollie didn’t speak Swiss German either, but it didn’t matter. As far as he was concerned the endeavour was a good idea, but it seemed premature and he confessed he’d miss having her at school. It also concerned him that Ofelia swanning off and leaving Weston Bank would make him a target for Imelda and her cronies, who’d mercifully left him alone recently.

  ***

  For the rest of the week, Victor continued pressuring her to at least consider faking the school move. He was adamant that it would make her life easier. She talked about it daily with Ollie and they explored various options. Once Ollie got his head around the idea that she wouldn’t actually be going to Switzerland, he was less resistant to the idea. The truth was for various reasons he preferred to have her at Weston Bank, while he was there anyway. Even though, if Ofelia agreed to Victor’s plan, Ollie would be able to see her every night after school if he wanted.

  Chapter 28 - Missing

  Ollie spent the weekend hoping Ofelia would text him and invite him over. On the Monday, he was surprised to discover Ofelia hadn’t turned up for school. Knowing that she didn’t get ill - the typical reason for a day off, he found this perplexing. The answer came when their form tutor informed them that Ofelia had been enrolled in a Swiss boarding school and had left over the weekend. This made no sense at all. At break time, instead of sitting on their usual bench, Ollie scoured the school for Stoney. He found him with some older boys smoking roll-ups behind the bike shed. Approaching a bunch of mainly year tens was not something he relished the thought of. He had to though. ‘Psst! Stoney.’

  The other boys, all competing with each other for who could wear their uniform the most slobbily, turned to look at Ollie. A rakish, blonde lad with a severe crew cut smirked and held a smouldering dog-end at Ollie, roach first. ‘Want a toot?’

  Ollie shook his head. ‘No ta. I just need to speak to Stoney. In priv-’

  ‘Not now!’ Stoney snapped, interrupting him.

  ‘It’s Ofelia. I think she’s in trouble.’

  Stoney’s expression changed. He handed his half-smoked roll-up to the boy next to him and scuttled away with Ollie, onto the playing fields. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘It’s weird. You know that guy that took Ofelia in? Turns out he’s a vampire too. They can make more vampires now as well. Ofelia made one more and Victor made one more. Only she told him she didn’t want to make any more vampires and Victor needs her blood to make them. Next thing, Victor’s showing her these brochures for some overseas boarding school. She told me the plan was she’d just say she was going, but then she didn’t turn up to form this morning and the teacher reckoned she’d actually gone to boarding school in Switzerland.’

  Stoney frowned. ‘That dunner sound right. Have you tried contacting her?’

  Ollie took his phone out and began frantically tapping out a text.

  They didn’t have to wait long for a reply. A moment later, Ollie’s phone beeped.

  Ollie and Stoney looked at each other. Stoney spoke first. ‘That dunner sound like Offers. Has she forgotten that code thing about including a day or month or something? And there’s no “Ciao” at the end.’

  The bell went at that point. Ollie sighed. ‘Look, we need to get over to Tempest House and try and find out what’s going -’

  ‘Tempest House? You mean that vampire guy’s house. Is that safe?’

  Ollie shrugged. ‘I dunno. But we can’t just do nothing.

  Stoney started edging away. ‘I’ll get Kezza and Luce. We’ll meet you in the woods where we met last time, say 4pm? We can go to Tempest House together.’

  Stoney vanished, leaving Ollie to rush to his next lesson alone. It didn’t make sense, something was wrong, very wrong. It struck Ollie that waltzing up to some big vampire guy’s house and accusing him of kidnapping Ofelia might not be the best idea he’d ever had.

  ***

  As promised, the others met Ollie on the path near to where Ofelia and Ollie had rumbled their attempt to follow them. It was dusk and a light drizzle had started. A cold wind rustled the now dry leaves on the boughs. Kerry spoke first. ‘S’why d’ya think she’s in trouble?’

  Ollie opened up his text messages and showed her his phone. ‘She doesn’t turn up at school, then I message her and she texts me this? She’d already told me she was just going to pretend to go to Switzerland if anything.’

  ‘Maybe she really did change her mind?’ piped Lucy.

  Stoney shook his head, ‘Nah, that dunner sound right. She must-’

  Ollie cut him off and threw his palms up. ‘Look, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we just go and ask this Victor bloke where she is? Whatever he says, we pretend to believe him and don’t argue. Then we definitely get out alive and we can discuss what he said after?’

  The others murmured approval at this idea and they all set off, scrambling through the bushes to get to the manicured lawns of Tempest House.

  Crossing the massive lawn and passing the fountain was a nervous moment. When they shuffled, crunching up the gravel drive to the front of the house there was a brief but one-sided debate. It was swiftly decided that Ollie should be the one to do the talking, as he seemed to know Ofelia best and had already met Victor properly. The others stood behind in a show of moral support, while Ollie rang the bell. It took a few minutes for the great oak doors to swing open. Ollie recognised the servant who eventually opened the door as Amy. ‘Yes?’

  Ollie glared at her. ‘Where’s Ofelia?!’

  Amy looked confused by this question. ‘I’m sorry? I thought you knew. She left for Switzerland. I packed her bags for her myself.’

  As she spoke, Victor appeared, wearing a dark suit with a crisp white shirt and open collar. He rested a hand on Amy’s shoulder. ‘Why don’t you call it a night? You can go up now.’

  She curtseyed. ‘Thank you sir’, then vanished up the grand staircase.

  As she left, Victor turned to the children. ‘Come in, I’ve been expecting you. Ofelia said you’d come.’ He pointed at Ollie now. ‘It’s Oliver, right? Come in and have a seat.’

  The presence of the servant was somewhat reassuring. It suggested they weren’t about to be murdered and buried under the patio; unless they were in on the whole thing? Ollie and the others followed Victor into the Library. Ollie took the seat where Ofelia had often sat to talk to Victor, while Lucy, Kerry and Stoney lounged on an ancient, sagging, crimson chesterfield. Victor took his usual seat. ‘I would offer you a drink. I’ve spent many an evening sharing a fine whisky and a stimulating conversation with Ofelia in this chair. But you’re all too young to drink. Ofelia, or Ilona - is over five hundred years old, so refusing her a scot
ch would have seemed unfair.’

  Kerry leaned forward and scowled. ‘What’ve yer done with her?!’

  Victor looked shocked at this. ‘You must be Kerry. She said you might come. Ofelia told me all about all of you. I know you know what Ofelia is, and what I am. I’ll be honest, I was glad to find Ofelia. The last three centuries have been lonely. In Ofelia I feel I’ve found a kindred spirit, and I’d do anything to protect her.’

  Ollie piped up now. ‘She told me she-’

  Victor threw his hands up, palms raised. ‘Yes, I know what she told you. There’s been a change of plan. It seems someone alerted MI5 or something, that there was a vampire on British soil. I wonder if somehow her hospital records got shared? I know they have blood samples and scans. They must have worked it out.’

  Stoney scratched his head. ‘Hang on, what happened?’

  ‘Some agents visited the house. I can only assume they were MI5. All I could get from them was that they were intelligence service. They told me they’d come for Ofelia, and that she needed urgent medical attention. I’m no fool. I knew who they were and what was going on. I told them she’d already left. As soon as she got back from school that night I ordered the servants to pack her bags and sent her on her way. England isn’t safe for Ofelia at the moment.’

  Lucy eyed Victor with suspicion. ‘Wait a minute; if the intelligence service want to capture vampires, how come-’

  ‘They didn’t try and take me?’ Victor interrupted, ‘They don’t know I’m a vampire. I’m not even sure they know what Ofelia is. All they have to go on is scans and blood samples, but if she was whisked away to some secret government lab... Well, I think they could learn a lot, but I don’t think it would be in Ofelia’s interests to go there. If she went, I don’t think she’d be returning. She can stay in Switzerland for a couple of years, then maybe change her name, change her ID and I can arrange for her to sneak back. It might be dangerous for her to contact you all. They may be monitoring your phones. She told me to tell you not to worry and that she’ll try to get back in touch with you when she makes it back to England. I suggest for Ofelia’s safety - you don’t try to contact her.’