by Cat Thomson
***
The sun set and Helmut regained consciousness. He could feel the light pressure against his skin of countless feet as rats walked over his face and body, treating him as though he were nothing more than a mound on the floor. He stood up rapidly and the rats fell away from him. As they scattered across the floor, he leapt forward and took one in his hand. His canines penetrated its furry exterior and he fed on it, before flinging its lifeless body away.
He examined his clothes. Apart from his coat, which he had hung on a jagged piece of metal jutting out from the wall the preceding night, the rest of his clothes were filthy and torn. He was incredulous that he had managed to walk through the streets last night without anyone noticing his unkempt state. Helmut undressed then took his coat and put it on, buttoning it up so that his nakedness was well concealed beneath it. There was a public toilet in Leicester Square; he would go there now to wash the grime and odour of battle and vermin off his skin.
He moved to stand beneath the crevice above the basement enclosure and jumped skilfully through it, out into the ruined nave above. He crouched there while his vampire senses scanned his surroundings. When he had assured himself that it was safe, he flitted out of the church and onto the street.
As he casually walked into Leicester Square he saw an enlarged image of himself, repeatedly walking towards an unseen camera, on the plasma screen ahead of him. His blue eyes had been digitally enhanced so that they appeared even more intensely outlandish than they were. A notice continually flashed on and off on the plasma screen, always remaining visible long enough for its message to be read before flashing off again:
METROPOLITAN POLICE NOTICE
THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS
SCOTLAND YARD URGE THE PUBLIC NOT TO APPROACH OR CHALLENGE THIS MAN AND TO CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY IF HE IS SPOTTED. HE HAS A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND COULD POSE A THREAT IF CONFRONTED.
So Nikolas, too, had survived last night's intense battle; not all vampires found prey soon enough after a fight to rejuvenate, which sometimes left them too weak to seek out a place of refuge or return to their coven before sunrise. Nikolas clearly hadn't wasted any time in retaliating for Kylie having been snatched away from him.
Helmut averted his gaze from the approaching crowds as he walked; he couldn't risk being recognised as the man on the plasma screen. When he reached the public toilets, he jumped nimbly over the entrance barrier and walked over to a basin, where he examined his hair and face. They were noticeably grimy. He turned on a tap, dispensed soap and began to clean the filth from his face.
When he was done, he rested his hands on the basin edge as he contemplated the situation he was now in. Progress administering the antidote had been painstakingly slow; at times, he was only able to approach no more than three people in a night to dispense the antidote to, and so long as he was a wanted man, his face on display throughout London, it would be almost impossible for him to continue with his covert work. None of his own coveners had the stamina to fly the long distance to London and it would be out of the question for Charlotte to administer the antidote; if any of Nikolas's coveners recognised her, they would rip her to pieces, now that she was officially ostracised from their coven. And James couldn't take on the risk of the mission - he was the antidote's primal source, responsible for Katie and Martin's sustenance. It had also long since been agreed at the farm that the humans of the Resistance would be safest if they never ventured too far from home.
Helmut looked up when he saw an elderly man reflected in the mirror as he entered the public toilets. He watched as the man passed behind him, before returning to trying to think up an alternative plan for administering the antidote. He couldn't continue the work himself in an alternative city to London - plasma screens countrywide would now be warning the human public that he was a dangerous man. A feasible option, though, would be for one or two of his coveners to continue his work in a city closer to the farm.
Helmut realised that the elderly man was now standing motionless and watching him intently, a sense of wonder in his expression.
"There's no reflection," the man said. "I can't see your reflection in the mirror."
Helmut had been careless. Whereas he could see his reflection in the mirror, humans could not. He spun round to look at the old man, his movements so quick that the man took a step back, clearly intimidated by Helmut's deportment.
But he soon regained his composure, and then a spark of recognition lit his eyes. "It's you! You're that wanted man. I'd recognise those eyes anywhere."
Helmut's features took on a demonic appearance as he focused on flitting past the man, out of the toilets and onto the street, where he took flight so swiftly that he was rendered invisible to the human eye. As he rose up into the air, he could hear the man's terrified screams in reaction to the monstrous visage he had just witnessed.
***
When Helmut landed at the front of the farmhouse, he found Kylie playing barefooted on the sandy driveway, singing softly to herself, her mother standing on the front porch, gently encouraging her to come to bed. Under Nikolas's influence, Kylie had taken on the habits of a nocturnal creature and it was at night that she was most alert.
As soon as Kylie saw Helmut, she stopped what she was doing and watched him for a brief moment, before coming to stand before him. Helmut knelt on the ground and she lifted her small hand to touch his face. He already felt a strong affinity for the child, a bond much like that he shared with his coveners.
Sharon came down the steps to stand beside them. "Come, Kylie, it's bedtime. It's getting late."
"Go with your mother, Kylie," said Helmut.
"Nice try," said Sharon, "but I've been trying to persuade her to go to bed for more than an hour now. And Ed's beginning to get irate about the curfew. He says he's giving Kylie five more minutes and if she still hasn't come inside, then he'll drag her in if he has to."
"Okay," said Kylie, still looking at Helmut, and she took hold of her mother's hand and allowed her to lead her away.
***
Location: London
Sunday, 5 December 2032
Sunrise: 07:50
Sunset: 15:53
Social media had become saturated with sleazy tabloid stories and images of vampires and their human consorts. It had become voguish for humans to willingly submit to the extreme sexual demands of vampires, although this new vampire political and social elite were never overtly referred to as actually being vampires.
But the harsh reality of the inevitable dark fate of many humans - at the hands of these salacious vampires - remained unspoken: nightly, countless humans were cold-bloodedly hunted.
***
It was late when Michelle encountered the human she wished to enjoy tonight. She pursued her slowly and openly, feeling a rush of pleasure as the woman's fear grew with each passing moment. And when the woman's heart beat became rapid in the extreme - when her breathe came in short, quick bursts - Michelle moved in on her.
The woman had started out on her journey home strolling casually, but had soon become aware of Michelle's constant presence behind her and had begun to walk with ever increasing speed. At the very moment that Michelle had moved in on her, she had turned around and seen her distorted features. She screamed as Michelle pinned her against a wall and her sharp teeth bore down and bit deep into her flesh, and her entire body tensed in response to the pleasure-pain of Michelle's mouth against her neck.
Michelle began to avariciously drink her blood. But she suddenly withdrew her canines, startled; the human's pulsating blood had a tinge of corpse-like coldness to it.
The woman's body was now craving the culmination of her unfulfilled desire, and she grasped Michelle's head and tried to coax her back towards her neck. But Michelle looked at her with revulsion and pushed her hands away.
Michelle sauntered off in search of alternative prey, leaving the bewildered human still pressed against the wall, wistfully watching her disappear out of sight.
***
/> Undisclosed location in countryside
Tuesday, 28 December 2032
Sunrise: 08:08
Sunset: 15:49
The sun filtered through her dreams and she felt infused with a weightlessness of being, a sensation that she could fly. As her slumber continued, her flesh simultaneously began to feel a magnetic force of desire, and she was soon mid-way between deep sleep and wakefulness. A delicious chill came over her as icy hands explored her, sending shivers of pleasure through her skin. She opened her eyes, gasping. James had thrust his phallus inside her and their bodies now merged in a sensuous embrace.
Katie saw that she was lying on the soft grass that carpeted the earth at the farm's boundary. She and James kissed. James had been a vampire for centuries and his potency was beyond the realms of this world. As James made love to Katie, his mouth moved to her neck and he began to kiss her there. She moaned when she felt the piercing sharpness of his teeth penetrate her skin; she relished the pinpoint sensation of the tips of his canines embedded in her flesh.
Soon Katie was entirely consumed by the overpowering darkness of vampire lust, and their passion became increasingly heated as the satiation of their physical desire became all that mattered.
But then Katie became agitated. "No, James, no!" she shouted.
She now understood what he was doing. James was sucking his vampire venom out of her veins, extracting her dhampir identity and remaking her as a fragile human, now that the threat of Nikolas was gone.
Earlier that week they had heard a distant drone, and then they had seen a smattering of military planes appear in the early morning sky. The planes had gradually swelled in numbers until the sky was inundated by the sheer quantity of them, the noise of their engines drowning out all other sound. They had later heard that China, Israel, Russia, Australia had rebelled against the vampire agenda, and had heavily bombarded London, targeting the Hampstead Heath area for the first few days, destroying countless vampires and ultimately ousting the vampires entrenched in London's institutions. The same thing had happened elsewhere in the world and a multitude of cities had been left in a state of bombed-out upheaval and hysteria.
The rebel countries had set up a global media centre and their leaders had come together earlier tonight to make a joint statement and announce to the world that the large-scale bombing was finally over:
"We have worked together to relieve humankind of vampire subjugation. Contrary to what you have been led to believe, there is such a thing as vampires and they have lived amongst you, audaciously, for the past few years, after having deviously infiltrated the governments of nearly every single country on Earth. We still have some work left to do, to ensure that every last one of them is destroyed, but we are confident that their leader is now dead. You, humanity, have been liberated from the destructive control of this dark force."
***
Undisclosed location in countryside
Thursday, 30 June 2033
Sunrise: 04:37
Sunset: 21:23
Kylie had put tealights in every conceivable place in the garden behind the farmhouse, and their tiny flames glittered in the darkness that enveloped the long tables that had been set up on the grass.
Sharon chatted, her wine glass held in one hand as she pushed the sleeping Stephanie's pram back and forth with her other hand. They were celebrating the past few months of inconceivable peace. The rebel armies had only recently left the country and returned home, and there had been no further reports of sightings of vampires. They had either all been eliminated or the few survivors had become adept at keeping themselves well hidden.
It was ironic that thirty one vampires now sat openly and with a sense of security, participating in these celebrations. But none of the humans present saw them in the same light that they saw other vampires. After all, they had helped to destroy the enemy. And although Katie, Martin - and Brian, after Aria had reassured Helmut that she would not turn him - had been remade humans, they had all chosen to continue to live with their vampire mates in the barn.
"I'm really sorry that some of you will be leaving tomorrow," Ed said as he stood up to make a farewell speech, "but I guess these things happen."
Now that safety was no longer a concern, quite a few of them had decided to move on, and some of them would be leaving the farm the following day. Apart from Alex, Sylvester and Layla, all of Ed's crew had already left over the past couple of weeks, and Mark and Gareth were going back to London tomorrow. Tom, Sharon and their daughters, Kylie and Stephanie, were moving up north. Dr Patel and Amy still hadn't decided where they would go; they planned to just get into their car at sunrise and drive, hoping for some kind of inspiration as they travelled.
Even though the whole point of the party was to celebrate the end of vampire rule, the atmosphere was subdued; they had all been living together for a few years now and it would take some getting used to, no longer seeing the same faces day in, day out.
***
Part 5: Twenty Forty Five
Location: Ile d'Oleron, France
Thursday, 31 August 2045
Sunrise: 07:25
Sunset: 20:45
Kylie and her sister Stephanie slipped out of the hotel while their parents slept. It was almost midnight, and they both felt a strong need to walk along the beach, to feel the humid, salty air on their skin and the ebbing and flowing foam of the waves caress their feet.
Their unique, twin-like beauty did not go unnoticed as they walked towards their intended destination - Stephanie, like her older sister, exuded an unearthly serenity, and had the same intensely blue eyes and long, white hair.
Apart from a small group of guys not far from the section of beach they were heading towards, the beachfront area was almost deserted.
"You look identical, and yet you can't be twins; it's obvious you're older than she is," one of them said, pointing towards Kylie.
The girls silently slipped round the group and continued on their way.
"I'm just having a conversation with you; no reason for you to be skittish," the guy continued.
Kylie and Stephanie both began to run, their bare feet nimbly hitting the paving slabs.
***
Sharon could hear Tom restlessly shifting in the bed as he slept. She was standing on the hotel balcony, watching her daughters disappear out of sight with unnatural speed. She was worried; Kylie had become increasingly insomniac and nocturnal of late, not unlike how she had been when she was first rescued from Nikolas, and she had also started taking Stephanie out with her covertly. Try as Sharon had to persuade her of the dangers of their being out so late at night, Kylie always denied what they were up to.
Sharon bitterly regretted the antidote, especially because of the immutable changes to her daughters' DNA and the likelihood that their altered genetic make-up would also be passed on to their offspring. Tom continually tried to reassure her that at least they and their children were safe, if there were still vampires out there - that they were permanently immune to a vampire's bite. But she continued to feel anxious and afraid of her daughters' difference, especially now that - as they approached adulthood - they were both beginning to display more and more signs of their inherited vampire traits.
***
The wind rushed past Kylie and Stephanie as they ran swiftly along the sand lining the shore. They laughed as an exquisite rush of pleasure surged through their bodies. When the lights of the town were no longer visible and darkness had become the backdrop to the beach, they stopped running and walked to the sea's edge. Kylie pulled her dress over her head and flung it aside.
"Oh my God, Kylie, you're butt-naked!" said Stephanie, as she dropped down on to the sand. "Mom's right, you're getting more and more out of control every day."
Kylie ignored her sister as she waded out into the sea until only her head was visible, before disappearing under the water. She didn't see any point in explaining herself to Stephanie, as she felt sure the same changes would happen to her in time:
the heightened sensitivity of her skin; the surreal added dimension to her vision; the change of pitch of her hearing. As Helmut's semi-progeny, she felt sure that Stephanie, too, had inherited his characteristics and urges, his licentious appetites.
Kylie eventually resurfaced and returned to the shore, where she lay down on the sand next to her sister. She saw that Stephanie's eyes exuded a bright luminosity, now that the dark side of her nature had been stirred up from its dormant state since they had run from the hotel.
"Kylie," said Stephanie, hesitantly, as she picked up sand and watched it fall through her splayed fingers. "Do you think Mom hates us?"
Kylie sat up. "Why would you ask me that, Stephanie? Of course she doesn't hate us."
"It's just that I've noticed that she's always watching us, as though she doesn't trust us or something. Sometimes I think she may even actually be scared of us."
Kylie threw her head back and laughed. "She is scared of us."
"Why?"
"Because we're hybrids."
"What are you talking about, Kylie?"
"Our bodies have vampire genetic material. You were really young when Dad used to tell me stories about the time when vampires took over the world. One day Mom overheard him. She was really upset, and after that he never mentioned that stuff to me again. I think Mom banned him from talking to me about it."
"But 'vampire genetic material'?"
"Think about it. We can run at an incredible speed. And look at my eyes - are they luminous right now? Do you know anyone else with eyes like ours? We both look identical to Helmut even though we didn't start out looking like we do now. He's a vampire that lived with us on the farm. The antidote that Dr Patel ended up only administering to Mom came from Helmut's dhampir. Dr Patel eventually risked getting an associate of his to run tests on me and this other kid called Harper, and it turns out vampire genetic material really had somehow spliced its way into my genetic makeup."