by Cat Thomson
Large, radiantly shimmering tear drops began to make their way down Katie's cheeks and Ed watched them in awe. The men returning with the anti-vampire paraphernalia were now right behind Ed, and he turned to face them and raised both his hands as a warning to hold off for now from destroying James.
"Why didn't you just make a vampire of her yourself? Why a dhampir?" Ed asked James.
At that moment, James was involved in an internal battle to maintain self-control in the presence of the crucifixes and was struggling to remain coherent. In the midst of his demonic pain, he sensed that if he didn't answer truthfully, these humans may never trust him and he needed their trust if he was to survive in Nikolas's world, but still he hesitated before revealing to them that which until then he had only voiced to himself.
"I wanted to make her neither vampire nor dhampir. I wanted to keep her human; I love her all the more because of her human vulnerability," he said. "Were it not for Nikolas, she would still be human."
James's words were now slurred, his sentences filled with long gaps, and he was beginning to twist and turn uncontrollably. Ed motioned to Jonathan, Mark and Alex to retreat, and they moved back a few metres, but remained watchful.
"I get the impression there's conflict between you and Nikolas," said Ed.
"Which is why I'm here. Nikolas was waiting for us when we returned to our sleeping chamber last night. He wants us to join his coven. But I refuse to submit to him. I would rather fight against him with you."
***
Location: London
Wednesday, 15 July 2026
Sunrise: 05:01
Sunset: 21:11
Nikolas's original coveners had gathered in the grand chamber when they had awakened at dusk, as had become their nightly custom ever since Nikolas had first shared his vision of world domination with them. But none of them dared ask the question that was on all their minds.
Someone was missing, and had been for at least a week now, and her absence was all the more conspicuous because she always sat either next to Nikolas or on his lap. They dared not envision her name or face within their minds, for fear of Nikolas reading their questioning thoughts.
Only one amongst them had risked allowing his thoughts to be articulated, as his mind was impenetrable to others. He had watched Nikolas and his mate drift slowly apart over the past few months. This was a rare and unnatural occurrence in the vampire world, where a couple was harmoniously bound together eternally. If there was discord between Nikolas and his mate, Michael considered, then surely this would somehow eventually also reflect itself in all other spheres of coven life and even beyond the coven's confines? This would prove to be an ill omen for Nikolas's war.
***
Location: London
Tuesday, 24 November 2026
Sunrise: 07:33
Sunset: 16:01
Nikolas was alone in the grand chamber, holding a video conference with a fellow coven leader.
"Isn't it funny, Zoe, how I never felt any desire to use technology before, but now that it's made our global interconnection possible, I've become an eager convert to the digital age," said Nikolas, laughing. "And how are things over in America?"
"Everything's going perfectly to plan," Zoe replied. "The humans really are totally unsuspecting."
"As is the case in France, Germany, Spain and so on," said Nikolas as he leant back in his chair. "The government here has just declared a state of emergency. According to news reports, they've re-opened all the World War Two deep-level shelters for humans to take shelter in at night. Actually, all the shelters apart from one; the Clapham South shelter is owned by some reclusive, elusive millionaire and they're trying to locate him to gain access to his shelter too."
"Just think of all those masses of vulnerable humans, tightly packed into all those shelters," said Zoe, and her face on Nikolas's monitor grew dark as she became consumed by a raging bloodlust.
"Like lambs to the slaughter, Zoe; lambs to the slaughter. It'll be easy harvesting for us when the time is ripe."
***
Tom and Jonathan were on their way home after a trip to stock up on essential supplies for the shelter. Tom was exhausted, having spent most of the night shifting about on his bunk, worrying about vampires, and when he had eventually managed to fall asleep, he had been haunted by images of vampires snaking their way amongst the sleeping bodies in the shelter's bunks, and he had soon woken up again, perspiring and filled with a deep sense of insecurity.
"You seem quiet," said Jonathan. "And you don't look too good. Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, Jonathan. I just didn't get much sleep last night; worrying about Gareth and the vampire situation in general."
"I can't believe Gareth's verdict," said Jonathan, shaking his head. "Twenty one weeks behind bars."
"It's a joke. It's a fucking joke. They go on and on about restrictions to freedom of expression in other countries, but is England really any better?" said Tom.
The case for Gareth's offensive speech in Russell Square Gardens back in May had been heard in Court the previous day. The Judge had refused to even consider the extenuating circumstances of Gareth's sister's disappearance. He was adamant that the offence merited a custodial sentence, and had gone on about how the witnesses to Gareth's speech had suffered inevitable worry; how Gareth had used language motivated by hostility and could likely have incited impressionable people to commit acts of violence against those amongst us who simply happened to fit Gareth's description of a vampire.
"And what about the vampire situation," Tom continued. "According to Ed, there are currently almost 12,000 people inexplicably missing in London since last November and the number of suspicious deaths has risen to over seven thousand. Seven thousand, Jonathan. And all the victims have the predictable trademark bite marks. You've seen how any vampire story that gets into the news is immediately quashed by some story counteracting it, and as soon as a video proving that vampires exist is uploaded, it disappears within minutes. Why aren't they just stating the facts to the public?"
"They're probably downplaying the situation to ensure that the public remain calm; panic would only exacerbate things," said Jonathan. "Even during World War Two there were incidents that were censored."
Tom thought about the current spiel being put out by the government: that we were being attacked by terrorists whose motive was not yet known or understood. And yet the government had to know exactly what was going on.
"Eight thousand people could be accommodated in the shelter," said Tom, "but Ed refuses to increase our numbers and unless we do, we won't be able to do anything about the fucking vampires. How many of us are there? Barely even fifty. We can't rely on the government to take the necessary action and if we don't, nobody will."
"Ed's got trust issues," said Jonathan. "He thinks that if more people ended up living down in the shelter, someone amongst them would be sure to talk, and we can't risk having vampires learn of our whereabouts. Ed does have a valid point there, Tom."
Tom sighed as he turned to look out the window. "Yeah, but he should still allow us to at least recruit some additional people to our ranks. Unless we do, we don't have a hope in hell against Nikolas's growing vampire army."
***
Location: London
Friday, 27 November 2026
Sunrise: 07:38
Sunset: 15:58
Katie was enfolded in James's arms, locked in vampiric slumber with him, but something or someone kept prodding her, urging her to rise back up to the surface of consciousness.
"Katie, Katie."
It was with great difficulty that she opened her eyes. Now that she was awake, James's arm felt like a dead weight around her. Everything seemed out of focus, but gradually Ed's face began to solidify close to her own and she noticed two of his crew she had never spoken to before standing behind him. Katie had begun to dislike Ed with increasing intensity ever since the night that she and James had come to the shelter seeking protection from Niko
las.
"Come. There's someone I'd like you to see," said Ed.
"Who would you like me to see? And why?" Katie's tone was cold, abrupt.
Ed glanced warily at James. "Let's not discuss this here," he said.
With Ed's assistance, Katie prised James's arm off of her and got up. She felt lethargic. As she followed Ed and the two men away from James, she turned to look at him; his inert body hadn't stirred, not even when she had moved his arm to get up.
Katie was led to the Control Room.
"Sit down, Katie," said Ed.
"I'll stand."
"Okay. Look, Katie, I have a contact; someone working with the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. They're in the process of gathering data about vampires and that gave me an idea. My contact could run tests on you - maybe perform something like an MRI - to see how you're different physically as a dhampir. They're considering the possibility of developing some kind of anti-vampire antidote. It would all just take a couple of hours of your time."
Katie flinched at the mention of an antidote. There was an implicit agreement between her and Ed that she and James wouldn't be targeted by any of his crew's efforts to exterminate vampires, so long as they fought together.
"So you've told him that you have a dhampir hanging out in your shelter? Did he not become curious as to how I became a dhampir? Is he going to just casually wave goodbye once he's done all his tests, and let me disappear out of his laboratory, never to be seen by him or his team again?"
"You're becoming very cynical, Katie. Will you have the tests done for me or not? Or rather, will you do it for the sake of the survival of humanity?"
***
Katie gazed out of the window with interest for the first time since the start of the journey, when they passed some lurid graffiti on a wall: VAMPIRES, NOT TERRORISTS. J.
She was sitting in the back of one of Ed's vans, wearing dark sunglasses in spite of the grey, sunless sky and the heavy rain which fell. The trees lining the streets were shedding their autumnal leaves and Katie suddenly realised it would soon be Christmas and that she hadn't left the shelter in six months.
The two men who had been with Ed when he had woken her up were driving her to her appointment with Dr Patel. She realised from the fact that Ed had chosen them to take her - rather than maybe Tom and Jonathan - that he didn't want to disclose this appointment to the others at the shelter. She thought of James, vulnerable in his state of daytime unconsciousness, and feared this could be some kind of scheme to separate her from him so that they could annihilate him. But then again, James was now an indispensable ally in their fight against Nikolas. So why, Katie wondered, did it seem to her as though Ed was being furtive about this appointment.
***
"My name is Dr Mick Patel and I'm a clinical research physician. I'm just going to carry out a few tests on you and ask you a few questions; then you'll be free to go."
Katie was in a small, sparsely furnished room with a bare light bulb dangling from its high ceiling. Two soldiers stood watching her with their hands on their guns.
"Why are they acting like that?" Katie asked as she stared at the soldiers. "If they don't take their hands off their guns, I'll leave!"
Katie got up from her chair.
"I'm going to be frank with you, Katie," said Dr Patel. "We're very wary of the fact that you're a dhampir; we can't be sure that you won't do something unexpected or out-of-the-ordinary."
"I was under the impression the government's always trying to convince us there's no such thing as vampires, so how could there be such a thing as a dhampir?" said Katie. Her tone was sarcastic. She was also feeling apprehensive. Just how much had Ed told this Dr Patel? And had he mentioned James?
"Please sit down," Dr Patel said as he gestured towards the chair.
Katie reluctantly sat down again.
"I'm just going to check your eyes, Katie."
Dr Patel picked up a small flashlight from the table next to him and clicked it on close to Katie's face, directing its light at her eyes. She twisted in her seat as she recoiled involuntarily from the bright light, closing her eyes and turning her head away. One of the two soldiers came up behind her and held her head. She struggled in vain to free herself from his firm grip. Her eyes were still closed and so she didn't see that the other soldier had raised his gun and now aimed it at her, plainly ready to act if Katie were to display any vampiric behaviour.
"Look at the light, Katie. It'll only take a second."
She felt someone pull her eyelids up, followed by a searing pain as the flashlight's glare penetrated her eyes. Dr Patel clicked the flashlight off, and the soldier released his hold on her and retreated. Katie couldn't open her eyes at first; a bright red panorama swirled and throbbed behind her eyelids. When the pain eventually receded and she was able to open her eyes again, she saw that the nurse who had been hovering in the background was now close by, and realised that it was she who had pried her eyes open.
"We're now going to take a blood sample from you," said Dr Patel.
The nurse gently positioned Katie's arm on a cushion.
"And how did it come about that you became a dhampir?" asked Dr Patel.
"What?! I was told you'd be doing tests, not carrying out an interrogation, Dr Patel."
"I did say I would be asking you some questions, Katie."
Katie sullenly watched as the nurse fixed a tourniquet round her upper arm and the needle drew close to her skin. She screwed her eyes shut. She hated blood tests; strange how she could tolerate the bite of a vampire and not this. But so long as she didn't look as blood filled the tube, she could handle it. Besides, it would only take a few seconds and then it would be over. The needle pierced her skin and penetrated her vein; an excruciating pain rose up where the needle was embedded in her skin, and flooded throughout her entire body. Katie heard a deafening scream, not realising it had come from her, and then her mind became submerged in blackness.
***
Another stark, white-walled room. Katie could hear a heart rate monitor beeping continually and rhythmically, but in between the single beeps of a typical heart beat, three quieter, quicker beeps were discernible. Katie tried to shift her head on her pillow so that she could see the monitor, but it was out of sight, somewhere behind her, and her mind soon once again fell into the black void of oblivion.
***
When Katie next came to, the beeping of the heart rate monitor had ceased. She tried to lift herself up, but was startled when the nurse, who had been sitting unseen in a chair alongside her bed, suddenly stood up. An armed soldier appeared within her range of vision as he paced up and down the length of the room, observing her suspiciously. Katie couldn't understand why they were all so wary of her; she may be a dhampir, but all that meant was that she slept during the day and didn't like being out in the sun all that much. The nurse raised Katie's arm to check her pulse then sat down again.
Katie felt her hunger for James build up as she looked out of the window. She tried to fight her desire, but it only grew stronger with each passing moment. Her breathing became deep, quick. She imagined James's cold skin against hers, the sharpness of his teeth as he lightly moved them over her sensitive skin, sending her into an uncontrollable frenzy. She shut her eyes and a moan escaped from her lips as her hand gripped the blanket which covered her.
The nurse stood up again and the soldier stopped his pacing.
The door opened and Dr Patel entered the room.
"Is something the matter?" he asked the nurse when he saw the quizzical expression on her face as she stood observing Katie.
"The patient moaned, that's all," the nurse replied.
"Are you in pain, Katie?" asked Dr Patel.
"No, no. I'm fine; my eyes are hurting just a little, that's all."
The nurse sat down and Dr Patel walked over to Katie's bedside.
"Katie, you fell unconscious when we took the blood sample from you, which is why you're lying here," said Dr Patel.
He watched Katie intently for a moment; he seemed excited, agitated.
"We have the results of your blood tests and we discovered that there was an unidentifiable component in your blood we've never encountered before. And your sinus rhythm isn't normal either," he said.
"What do you mean?" said Katie.
"We're not sure what it means yet," said Dr Patel, "but I think you may have to stay here a little longer than anticipated. We need to ask you questions; carry out further tests. I'm going to be frank with you - if determining how you differ as a dhampir means incarcerating you for the duration of our war against vampires, then we will do that. The country's experiencing a serious threat and we need all the knowledge we can get to assist us; you're a vital link between humans and vampires. At the risk of sounding a little melodramatic, the survival of humankind is at stake.
"I hope you're willing to work with us. By the way, you must be hungry; let the nurse know what you would like to eat."
Katie watched as Dr Patel retreated from the room. Her head was spinning. He hadn't even allowed her the opportunity to say anything; he had just said what he wanted to say and walked out.
"Are you hungry?" the nurse asked.
"No, thank you," said Katie.
She was famished, but her need to satiate her lust-infused hunger for James overrode any need she had for ordinary human sustenance.
***
The room was cloaked in the warm yellow hue of the bedside light. It was just after 01:00 and Katie was lying on her back, looking at the ceiling, thinking about Dr Patel's one-sided discussion with her. She felt conflicted - torn between her loyalty towards her mate James and the fact that she had a human heart. A part of her was willing to consider cooperating with Dr Patel, but without James she would literally die. She didn't have a choice; she would have to escape from this place, and soon.
Her lust for James now surged uncontrollably through her. Before now, her vampiric powers had lain dormant, but they were being awakened by her swelling, unfulfilled blood-lust as it coursed through her body. She glanced over at the nurse; her head had dropped forwards and she was dozing in her chair. She saw that the soldier was still fully alert, still watching her with the same intensity.