Journal

by Cat Thomson

  She went back to reading her novel.

  "Sharon, Ed would like to see you in his office," Matt said casually as he passed Sharon's bunk.

  Sharon had reached an exciting part in the novel she was reading and really didn't want to put it aside right now, especially not to go and see Ed. But she reluctantly got up from her bed.

  "Sure, Matt," she said.

  She made her way lethargically to Ed's office and knocked on the door. There was no response and she opened the door just a fraction. She was astonished to see that Ed's office had undergone a transformation. His desk was adorned with a red tablecloth, on which were a bottle of champagne and a slender white candle, its wick burning brightly in the dimness of the room. Tom was standing alongside the desk, grinning.

  "Tom, what have you been up to?" Sharon asked as she stepped into Ed's office, closing the door behind her.

  "Well, after messing up on Valentine's Day and now that you've told me about the baby, I'm making a really big effort to make it up to you. I've let you down, babe, and I'm sorry."

  Sharon hugged Tom and he pulled out a chair for her to sit on, before sitting down himself.

  "Please, help yourself," said Tom.

  "Who prepared all this food, Tom? It looks awesome," Sharon said as she picked up a serving spoon. "And how did you manage to persuade Ed to leave his office? He spends all his time in here."

  "He offered, actually," said Tom. "I was complaining that there was nowhere I could go with you for a bit of privacy."

  The familiar pop of the champagne cork made Sharon jump.

  "It's funny how no matter how much I psyche myself up for that sound, it always startles me," she said, laughing.

  When he had filled their glasses with the golden, effervescent liquid, Tom said, "To us."

  They clinked their glasses together, but instead of taking a sip of his champagne, Tom put his glass down and slipped off his seat, disappearing from view.

  "Tom, what are you doing?" asked Sharon.

  When Tom resurfaced from beneath the desk and sat down again, he was flustered and his hair was even more tousled than usual.

  "I would've preferred for this to have been a little more ceremonious than that. I had it on the ledge of an open drawer, ready to give to you, but then I just went and knocked it off," he said.

  "What is that, Tom?"

  Sharon could see the sparkle of a jewel in the palm of Tom's hand and the realisation dawned on her that he was holding a ring. He took her hand and placed the ring on her finger.

  "Sharon, I want to marry you," he said.

  Sharon was quiet as she admired the ring.

  "Sharon?"

  She looked up at him.

  "I really wasn't expecting this, Tom. Of course I'll marry you."

  ***

  Location: London

  Tuesday, 31 August 2027

  Sunrise: 06:11

  Sunset: 19:50

  Sharon had gone into labour and had been assisted down to the clinic Amy had set up in the small room leading off the cross passage next to Inglefield. Tom hadn't wanted to witness the birth - he was too squeamish for that - and he was pacing anxiously outside the clinic's closed door when he heard a feeble cry. As he put his ear to the door, it opened abruptly and Amy appeared.

  "Congratulations!" she said, before shutting the door again.

  Tom felt uncontrollable tears build up in his eyes and it seemed to him as though an eternity passed while he waited to be called in to see his daughter. Amy eventually opened the door again.

  "Would you like to come in and meet your daughter Kylie?" she said.

  Tom followed Amy into the clinic, and walked over to the bed, where Sharon lay with their baby resting on her chest. When she saw Tom, she handed their tiny daughter to him and as he held her, he was filled with a sense of wonder.

  "She's perfect," he said, relieved.

  Sharon nodded.

  Then the child's eyelids began to flutter. Tom felt a sense of uneasiness and he looked up at Amy and Dr Patel for reassurance. They came to stand at his side. Suddenly, the child's eyes opened. Both Tom and Amy gasped.

  "What is it?" Sharon asked.

  Neither Tom nor Amy nor Dr Patel responded.

  "Tell me what's wrong!" said Sharon.

  Back in March, for the first time in a while, people in the shelter had been feeling more optimistic. Jay's masses of plants and awesome graffiti had added a warm ambiance to Collingwood and Grenville that had previously been missing. And Sharon and Tom's wedding ceremony on 14 March had given everyone a chance to forget the stress of the vampire threat. Then a couple of days after the wedding, Layla had excitedly confided to Sharon that she was also pregnant. It turned out she and Matt were in a relationship; they just hadn't told anybody about it. Dr Patel had been monitoring everyone's antidote levels at the shelter, and had been amazed to see that the levels had remained unchanged. On the face of it, they had all undergone physiological adaptations and the antidote had become an integral part of their blood make-up, without appearing to adversely affect their health in any way. Sharon had begun to feel confident that there wouldn't be any problems with her unborn child's health because of the antidote, especially after Dr Patel had managed to arrange a routine scan for her and everything had appeared normal. At the time, it had seemed as though everything was going to be okay.

  And now this. The expression on Tom's face was a mixture of horror and amazement.

  "What's wrong with my baby?!" Sharon screamed.

  Tom, Amy and Dr Patel continued to watch the newborn in silence. They had all become enraptured by the child's eyes - they were of precisely the same piercing blue hue as Helmut's.

  ***

  Location: London

  Thursday, 28 October 2027

  Sunrise: 07:47

  Sunset: 17:42

  As Helmut lay down in anticipation of unconsciousness, he felt a strong sense of foreboding. He and his coveners now travelled in small groups whenever they left the shelter in search of rodents and foxes, bringing back some of these unfortunate creatures when they returned, as food for the coveners who had remained behind. They now discreetly came and went via the disguised entrance on the Clapham South station platform, and so they had managed to avoid being confronted by the enemy. But Helmut wanted his coveners to remain safe from harm and he sensed that if they - and Ed's crew - didn't leave the shelter soon, they would find themselves in a predicament that would lead to their downfall.

  Not only were there were ever-increasing numbers of enemy vampires on the streets, but also Nikolas's human allies had grown in number, and tonight Helmut and his coveners had returned to the shelter to find humans loitering on the streets in the shelter's vicinity, making no attempt to conceal the guns they carried. As soon as Helmut regained consciousness at sunset, he intended to speak to Ed about this and the risk of remaining in shelter.

  Helmut could feel the strength of his body dissipate as the first waves of unconsciousness washed over him, but he pondered over things for a moment longer.

  Layla had given birth to a baby girl, Harper, two weeks ago and, unlike Kylie, she had no obvious vampire characteristics. Layla had had two scans during her pregnancy and Dr Patel had done a heel prick test on her newborn, and apart from the changed structure of the baby's blood because of the antidote, everything appeared to be normal.

  It was fascinating to Helmut that the antidote had remained present long-term in everyone at the shelter and had also been transmitted to the two babies born there whose mothers had been administered it. Kylie's mother had been administered the antidote derived from his dhampir Brian. Harper's mother, on the other hand, had been administered the antidote derived from James's dhampir Katie.

  Helmut envisioned Kylie. Her unusual eyes were indisputably his. The only explanation he could think of for this was that, through not losing his human soul, his physical make-up had ended up consisting of human-vampire material. And through this human connection of his, h
is vampire genetic material had somehow infiltrated the boundary between vampire and human being when Kylie was still in the womb, and this had led to a genetic mutation in her. Helmut sensed that his genetic influence on Kylie would evolve with the passing of time. A part of him, an aspect of his unique human-vampire element, would live on through her and her offspring, and would influence not only her physical appearance, but also her actions on the world around her.

  At that moment, Helmut's mind went black. Slumber had overcome him.

  ***

  Gun fire butchered the dawn tranquillity only moments after Tom and Jonathan had exited the shelter's main entrance.

  "Jonathan!" Tom shouted.

  Jonathan was lying face-down on the pavement next to him, inert, dark blood seeping into the fabric of his white T-shirt. Tom looked up in time to see three men fast approaching him; he began to run, past the Clapham South station entrance, across the road and on into Clapham Common. Gun fire resounded behind him, but he somehow evaded the bullets and maintained his quick pace, and the men soon grew tired of pursuing him.

  Tom only stopped running when he was a long way off from the shelter. He paused, breathless, to flip his jacket hood over his head, then pulled a pair of dark sunglasses from his jacket pocket and put them on. He began to pace the pavement, the import of delay of each slow, deliberate step he took tormenting him mentally - the sooner he could get back to the guys at the shelter, the sooner he could alert them of the danger that lurked thirty metres above them. They wouldn't have heard the gunshots and Jonathan had fallen beyond the scope of the shelter's entrance cameras. But Tom couldn't risk looking agitated or rushed right now; the enemy would likely be out looking for him. And he couldn't risk going back to the shelter so soon, as those of the enemy that were still there would be alertly anticipating his return. He was slowly pacing, waiting, in the hope that they would eventually relax their guard a little.

  Tom had loitered for well over an hour before he started the journey back to the shelter. He walked slowly, taking a circuitous route to reach Clapham South station. He didn't have any cash on him; he had somehow lost his wallet when he had made his escape from the three men, and so he followed close behind a woman as she made her way through the ticket barrier inside the station. When he reached the train platform, he waited until the attention of the passengers was diverted by an approaching train before slipping through the shelter's secret entrance door. Thank God Ed had shown them all this door the other day; but he had insisted that they only use it in the event of an emergency or if they had to make a quick getaway.

  Tom went straight to the Control Room. Ed was in there, alone and calmly observing the monitors which revealed the same ordinary view of the street above the shelter that they always did - pedestrians, some with shopping bags, one or two with prams; a group of tourists on an outing...

  Ed turned around when he heard the rustle of Tom's jacket. "You look seriously stressed, Tom. What is it? And why are you back so soon?" he said.

  "Jonathan," said Tom.

  But he could say no more than that. Earlier, when he had walked slowly down one street after another, waiting for things to settle down before attempting to get back to the shelter, he had managed to maintain a calm facade, but he now lost all control of his emotions.

  Ed stood up. "Sit down, mate," he said.

  Tom dropped into Ed's chair and covered his face with his hands as he sobbed uncontrollably.

  "Where's Jonathan?" said Ed, now kneeling in front of Tom. "Something happened to Jonathan, didn't it? Oh Jesus."

  Ed began to pace the tiny room. Tom wanted to explain everything, to warn Ed. But he continued to sob.

  "I'll get you a glass of water," said Ed.

  When he returned to the Control Room, Tom was sitting calmly, his gaze vacuous. He handed Tom the glass of water and watched him empty it. Tom put the glass on the table beside him and looked at Ed.

  "They shot him. I managed to get away," he said.

  Ed brought a clenched fist up to his mouth as he attempted to stifle his own remorse, and looked away.

  "Even if they didn't kill him then, they will have killed him by now," he said. The tone of his voice was charged with fearful terseness. "I get the feeling this is far more sinister than just a bunch of crazy, anarchic Nikolas supporters running wild with guns; we're probably still under siege and when darkness hits tonight, the humans out there will likely be joined by vampires. One of my former contacts resurfaced recently to warn me of this probability; he's attended a few of their meetings. And they probably won't give up until they've either annihilated us or made slaves of us. We've got to get out before nightfall."

  "But where the hell are we going to go?" said Tom.

  "I have a farm out in the country. There's a huge barn the vampires could call home; my crew could modify it for them, adapt it to their needs. We better get moving and start organising things, Tom."

  ***

  Tom reminisced as he wandered through Collingwood. He had been living at the shelter for quite a while now and was surprised when he realised just how much he had grown to love it. There had been a real community spirit here, a sense of camaraderie, and even the most hardcore of Ed's crew had mellowed towards him with time.

  Tom checked his tablet: 15:41. Ed had said to realistically expect him and Alex back some time around 17:00, which was cutting it fine, but then again, they could do nothing much apart from load up the vans and get some of the humans into them before the vampires awakened at sunset.

  When Tom had passed the burnt-out shells of most of Ed's vehicles on the streets that morning, he had seen only three fifteen-seater vans that hadn't been torched by the enemy. Earlier, Ed and Tom had roused the dhampirs Katie, Martin and Brian from their diurnal sleep and they had reluctantly separated themselves from their vampire lovers, before slipping out of the shelter's secret entrance with Ed, who had driven them to his farm in one of the fifteen-seater vans. Dr Patel, Amy, Jay and his family, Sharon and Kylie, and Matt, Layla and Harper had gone with them, taking Leopard and the antidote vials, and most of Ed's crew had followed him to the farm in the other two remaining vans.

  Tom suddenly became aware of a distant, dull thudding and he ran to the Control Room. The monitors showed several men attempting to break down the shelter's main door with some kind of battering ram.

  Ed and Alex would be returning later in two of the vans to pick the rest of them up, and Draguitza's car was nearby and so she had offered to help out by taking some of them to the farm. But the final exodus from the shelter could only take place when the vampires awoke at nightfall, and they were still deep in slumber on the shelter's lower level, oblivious of the day's chaotic events. Would the two main doors be strong enough to withstand all that battering until then?

  The cry of an infant behind Tom startled him. He spun round to see Sharon, Kylie cradled in her arms.

  "What the fuck are you doing here?" said Tom. "You left with Ed, Sharon!"

  "I'm not going; not without you, Tom. I did leave with Ed, but when we reached the van I slipped away and came back," said Sharon.

  "What were you thinking?" said Tom. "Kylie's just a baby." He pointed towards the monitors. "Take a look at what you've risked bringing her back to the shelter for. It would've already been a tight squeeze in the vehicles tonight, but now, with you, it'll be even worse."

  "Oh, fuck you!" Sharon shouted. She turned and left.

  "Sharon, come back!" said Tom. "Go ask Mark and the rest of them to come to the Control Room. Please. They're in Collingwood; they're the only ones still here. And come back with them. At least do that much for me."

  Tom shook his head. He felt sure that Sharon's motive for returning to the shelter was more complex than the excuse she had just given, that she was deliberately risking her baby's life on a subconscious level by coming back. Her wariness of Kylie's hybridity had become a bleak and all-consuming obsession for her and he feared that, deep down, she despised the child.


  ***

  When the vampires simultaneously opened their eyes at sunset, they immediately sensed the nearness of danger and rose, hissing and ready for battle. Aria, James and Charlotte suddenly appeared in Oldham, their canines exposed, their eyes red.

  Tom and Ed had been at Helmut's side, waiting for him to open his eyes, but when they witnessed the demonic aspect of all the vampires surrounding them, fear enfeebled them and they cowered, incapacitated.

  Then Tom felt a torrent of cool air rush past him and he realised that he was pinned against Helmut's chest, and that Helmut and the other vampires were flying swiftly through the tunnel.

  The vampires flew rapidly to the upper level and continued on towards the shelter's secret entrance. Only when they reached it did Helmut and James release their hold on Tom and Ed, and the two humans slid to the ground, shaken. Tom now realised that the thudding that had been constant all afternoon had been replaced by silence. The enemy must have finally broken through both doors.

  When Ed, Tom and the thirty one vampires slipped out onto the train platform, it was without their customary caution. They strode swiftly along the platform, up the escalator and out of the Underground station, then followed Ed to where the vehicles were parked. Shortly before sunset, when Ed and Tom had left Collingwood to go to the vampires on the lower level, Alex had been about to take Mark, Gareth, Sharon and Kylie, and the last of Ed's crew - Draguitza, Vivian, Will and Sylvester - out to the vehicles, and they were all now there, sitting in the vehicles, waiting. When Draguitza saw Ed, Tom and the vampires approaching, she activated her car's ignition. But instead of doing the same, Alex got out of the van he was to drive and approached Tom. He was agitated.

  "It's Sharon," he said to Tom. "We tried to stop her, but she insisted; said she was desperate for the toilet, but that she'd find her way back to us no problem."

  Tom, Ed, Helmut and Alex were now the only ones still standing outside the vehicles. Tom turned around suddenly, but Helmut slammed a hand against his chest.