“So, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying-” He locked eyes with her from across the table and took a bite out of his toast, “-I need to keep you around to see why it affected you differently.”
“So, you want to experiment on me?”
He seemed to notice the fear in her soft, hazel eyes. “Not in the way I was before. You are a guest in this house now, Evie. I will merely ask for the occasional blood sample and in exchange, you will live in luxury.”
She studied the room pensively. Paintings hang all over the walls in big, eccentric, heavy-looking gilded frames. The paintings themselves must be rather impressive to someone who cared about art, whereas to Evie, they were just fancy drawings. And said fancy drawings brought up bittersweet memories that she liked to keep a lid on. A chandelier hung over the table that looked like it would be better suited in a ballroom than a dining room. The crystal tear drops made tinkling sounds like raindrops when they clicked together.
“And when I find a way to make a cure that is universally successful, I will share it with the world with you by my side.”
Evie’s attention shifted back to the man opposite her. “By your side?”
He looked even younger when he smiled. The way his eyes crinkle at the sides made him look almost sweet. “Of course.”
She looked down at her bowl. Her cornflakes had turned into orange mush and she stabbed at it with her spoon half-heartedly. “I’m never leaving here, am I?”
“Why would you want to?”
That was a good question. Why would she want to if Caius was still locked up down there waiting to die? What life did she have now?
“Will you let me see him?” she asked quietly.
“Who?-oh” Nico’s jaw clenched. He leaned back in his chair and curled his hands into fists on either side of his plate. “I thought I told you, he is nothing to you now.”
“I love him,” she said, sounding ashamed.
“You’re human now, Evie. He is a vampire. What you had is over. Got it?”
Tears burned the backs of her eyes as she stared down at her bowl. “You’re going to kill him?”
“Not intentionally. But it is a possibility that he may die.”
“You have to let me see him.”
“I had already granted you that wish, and look what happened.”
Her hand slipped to the naked wound on her neck. She winced when her fingertips brush it. “He didn’t mean it. You were starving him. He was out of control. You shouldn’t have injected me while I was in there. That was all your fault.”
Nico waved her off. “If you go down there again, you will be met by the same monster. Because that is who he is, Evie. That is what all vampires are. Monsters.”
She shook her head and shut her eyes. “Caius is not a monster. Since the Rage, he hasn’t drunk from a human. Always blood bags. Not even from the Dial-a-bite service.”
Nico sneered. “Blood whores.”
“He’s a good person, Nico.”
He held her gaze and his expression softened. “I will think about it. It is clear that you have not come to terms with your change. You are still clinging onto how things used to be. If you are good, I will let you see him, only so that you can make peace with the fact that things will never be the same again and you must leave the past behind you.”
She nodded, fearing that if she spoke, she might say something that will make him withdraw his offer. She spooned up a lump of orange mush.
You must leave the past behind you. And yet the future looked bleak at best.
After breakfast, Nico had patched up Evie’s neck and had taken a blood sample before dismissing her, saying that she could entertain herself within the mansion’s grounds while he worked. He had disappeared into a large room in the east wing, leaving her alone to wander the halls aimlessly. The first thing she did was try the door that led to the basement but of course, it was locked. That was closely followed by her failed attempt to leave through the front doors, which were guarded by two men inside and out.
The mansion was three floors. Her bedroom was on the second floor in the west wing. Directly above was another corridor of rooms. She stopped at the top of the stairs when she heard voices coming from that corridor. More guests? Or maybe they belong to more of the staff. She had passed two women dusting on her travels and when she accidentally wandered into the kitchen, she disrupted three cooks slaving over dinner.
But the voices she was hearing now were male voices. They were rough yet jolly. They sound much like the men do when enjoying a game of poker in one of those dingy backrooms down an alleyway. Not that she had ever stayed in one of those long enough to really understand what all the fuss was about. The buildings were always where someone lived so a vampire must be invited in to gain access. And to avoid outing herself as a bloodsucker, Evie always walked on by and disappeared into the shadows with the smell of cigars lingering behind her.
She edged her way as quietly as she could to the end of the corridor but stayed hidden behind the corner. Carefully, she peered around the wall. Two men were standing by an open window at the end of the corridor, heads bent together in conversation and a cigarette held limply between their fingers. They were dressed all in black but fashionably so. Their shoes were well polished and their black shirts were buttoned to the top. Her heart beat quickened at the memory of being attacked in the alley. These were the men that kidnapped her. Maybe not these exact men. But these were the men Nico employed to do his dirty work outside of the mansion.
“Terry, grab us some more booze would ya?” called a voice from one of the open doors. One of the men that was smoking flicked his cigarette out of the window.
“Yeah, sure, give me a minute.” He started heading towards Evie and in a panic, she rushed back down the stairs, all the way back to the ground floor. Why she runs, she’s not sure. She was human now.
She made it to a huge pair of double patio doors and pushed them open with her weight.
The cold breeze almost blew her backwards, sending her red hair whipping across her face. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed it back up. She ran out onto the flagged patio, the double doors swinging out behind her.
She could feel it, warm on her skin. A feeling she’d forgotten and thought she would never be able to remember. The feeling of the sun. She squinted up into the clear blue sky where it hung, burning brightly. The air was crisp and cold and the way it prickled her bare arms made her smile. She could feel the air -- could feel the cold like the different temperatures of the shower that morning.
Happiness surged through her so wild and frivolous that she felt like she was going to pass out.
She slumped across a wooden chair and bathed in the sun’s rays. The breeze licked up her exposed skin, cancelling out the sun’s heat for any other human but Evie could feel it pulsing through as if her want for it made it possible.
Gardeners were out, tending to the lawn and the flower beds that frame the football pitch sized expanse of grass. They were kitted out in puffy green jackets and peaked hats while Evie lay, eyes closed to the sun in her jeans and vest. The sun lit the backs of her closed eyelids a powerful scarlet.
Something cold touched her shoulder and she jerked awake. Black spots blot her vision and she blinked until they disappear. Nico was standing over her, his head backlit by the sun like a halo.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Didn’t you hear me calling?”
She tried to answer but her mouth was dry so she cleared it. “Sorry. I must have fallen asleep.”
He looked down at her with a soft, almost paternal smile. “Well, anyway, dinner’s ready.”
And as if on cue, her stomach growled.
She followed him back through the lavish mansion and into the dining room. Again, two plates sat at each end of the table but this time, Evie didn’t have the option to choose what she wanted to consume, which she was rather thankful for. She’d felt rather intimidated by the selection that morn
ing.
Nico gestured for her to sit and she did. The smell from her steaming plate of food hit her nostrils and made her stomach growl more impatiently. Nico smiled at the sound and took his seat opposite her. She picked up her fork and stabbed it into a sausage.
“A full English breakfast,” Nico said whimsically.
Evie studied the sausage as if she were staring down the barrel of a gun. She felt sick, confused and overwhelmed. Despite her trepidation, she took a bite, wanting to shut her stomach up. The flavour burst in her mouth.
“Nice?”
She chewed and chewed until she could swallow. “Shouldn’t I have eaten this for breakfast?” she asked, feeling cheated with her bland cereal when this had been awaiting her.
“Your stomach is adjusting to human food again. I didn’t want to force too much onto you so fast. How are you adjusting?”
Her auburn hair had fallen in front of her face, shielding her from Nico. She tucked it behind her ears and nods. “Food’s good.”
“I mean in general.”
Her stomach cramped and she shifted her eyes up to meet his. A lump suddenly swelled in her throat but she choked it down. “It’s hard.”
“I understand.”
She shook her head and looked back down, busying herself by dicing up more of the food on her plate. “No you don’t. No one does.”
Evie dared to look up and she was slightly taken aback by the deep, warm gaze she was caught under. “Tell me.”
She cleared her throat, dropped her fork onto her plate and relaxed back into the chair. “Everything has changed. People say that vampires are driven by their hunger, but we’re not. We can last weeks without blood and we are perfectly fine as long as we don’t suffer from any great injuries. Humans are slaves to their hunger. I couldn’t go a few hours without my stomach growling for attention.”
Nico laughed but said nothing, listening intently.
“And people say that vampires don’t have souls, that we are merciless and violent but, take this-” She stabbed her fork into a slice of bacon and holds it up. “Humans kill animals for their consumption all the time, and they don’t bat an eyelid. This is a life-” She thrust the fork forward a little for emphasis. “-and it’s just lying on a plate. Since the Rage, vampires haven’t killed. Our diet doesn’t need us to. Sure, every few months or so there is an incident when a Dial-a-bite worker goes off the grid and is found drained in a dumpster but there are plenty more deaths caused by humans. You count how many serial killers there are, human serial killers, and compare them to vampires that have killed since the Rage.” She arched an eyebrow, knowing she’s right. “The stats would shock you.” But she wasn’t finished. “And if a vampire does kill, they meet the sun, end of story. Whereas humans get put in prison and come right back out again.”
There was a long silence after that, where Evie replaced the bit of bacon with egg. As the silence dragged on for longer, she feared she said too much and maybe Nico was mulling over chucking her out and leaving her to fend for herself in this world that now frightened her more than she could comprehend.
“Did you notice you said we?”
Evie almost choked on her egg.“What?”
Nico sighed and dropped his hands. His attention seemed to avert to his meal but he kept talking. “When you were talking about vampires, you said we. Do you still associate yourself with vampires? Do you still see yourself as one?”
The backs of her eyes burned at the question. “I have lived a hundred years as a vampire. I have only lived a day as a human.”
“What about your human life before you were a vampire?” He glanced up at her. She could feel the blood run from her face.
“I don’t like to think about that life.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s long gone. Forgotten.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s forgotten.”
The twinkle in his eyes when he looked up at her made her grip tighten on her fork. “I’ve had enough. Let’s eat in silence, shall we?”
He shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. “Fine with me.”
It isn’t until a small, plump woman in a black and white old-fashioned maids’ uniform came in collecting their empty plates when Evie finally spoke again, wanting to distract herself. Sweat rapidly beads on her brows as a nightmarish memory hit her when she locked eyes with the maid. “Made any progress with my blood sample?”
Nico’s face brightened at her voice. “Yes, in fact, I have created another serum. I plan to test it tonight. They seem to react quicker when it’s night time.”
“That’s because their bodies slow down after sunrise. Even if they can’t see the sun, it’s like a dragging weight.” Her heart clenched when Nico smiled. It was because she’s because speaking as if she was ‘detached’. Little did he know that it took a great amount of effort.
“Really?” he said, sounding intrigued. “I didn’t know that.”
She shrugged. “Well, there’re some things you can’t learn from prodding them with needles.”
He laughed and took a sip of his orange juice. “That’s true.”
“Could I come down with you to see the effects?”
His eyebrows rose with surprise and he placed his glass back down. “You really want to?”
She shrugged. “Seeing as I’m going to be here for a while, I might as well get used to what you do.”
His smile tightened and she could see the uncertainty in his eyes. “Okay.”
“And plus, I may be helpful. Seeing as I have been on both sides.”
“You really want to help me?”
“As long as you stay away from Caius.”
“Sure, I have plenty more to play with.”
“Then play all you like.”
He let out a bewildered laugh. “I’m sorry, Evie. But I have no idea what has gotten into you. One minute you were favouring vampires and the next you are letting me… well, potentially torture and possibly kill them.”
Her heart contracted and she could feel a lump swelling in her throat but she willed herself to keep her face a sickly optimistic mask. “The sooner you perfect the serum, the sooner all the torturing and the death will stop. Then you can cure Caius and we can be together again. I just want to hurry things to that point, which you can understand, surely?”
“I guess so.”
“Okay then.” She smiled. “Bring on tonight.”
Chapter 6
A tentative knock rapped on the door. His timing was impeccable. The sun had only just dipped past the horizon.
“Are you ready?” Nico asked through the door.
She slammed her window shut and paused for a moment, her knuckles turning white as her grip tightened on the framework. That was very good question. And the answer was no. She knew that once she stepped foot back in that basement all those memories would hit her like a stampede. But she had to do it. For Caius. Everything she did was for Caius. And now that she was human again, that hadn’t changed.
After taking several calming breaths, she stretched her fingers and replied. “Yeah. I’m coming.”
Anxiety coursed through every inch of her as she followed Nico down the stairs.
He stopped at the door to the basement and pulled out a set of keys. She watched carefully as he slotted a long, old styled silver mortice key into the lock. Probably real silver coated. Clever. He swung the door open. She hesitated. He noticed but continued down the steps and let her follow reluctantly behind.
The basement was lit up by strip lighting. There were three sets of white double doors set about four metres apart from each other with slit like windows, and by the side of each set was a man dressed in an all back suit. Nico’s men. The guards held rifles across their chests.
Ah, that could be an issue later on.
“Are they always there?” she asked.
“Yep. All day and all night. On rotation, of course.”
She frowned. “I hadn’t seen them before.”
“That’s because every time you passed them you were a little out of it. The first time, you were passed out, the second you had liquid silver flowing around your system and the last, your head was everywhere after being cured. No surprise you weren’t really taking in your surroundings.”
Nico flashed her an oblivious smile and headed for the furthest set of doors. Evie rushed after his long-legged strides. “You’re staying away from Caius, right?”
He slipped same ring of keys out of his pocket. “Don’t worry, he’s in there.” He pointed to the first door they passed. “With the rest of the ancients.”
“Then who’s behind this one?”
He twisted a different key, still silver, in the door and opened it. “The new-borns.”
The guard kept his gaze ahead, his expression stiff as they made their way through the door.
“How do you know how old they are?” she asked, trying to keep her attention on Nico but a shudder hits her as she entered the brilliant white room. Even without her sensitive vampire sight, the brightness burned. She could feel the eyes of the vampires that were still awake on her. Judging her. Pleading with her.
“Some tell me. Sometimes I just have to take a guess. Usually the ones we capture easily are the new-borns. They’re never the brightest. Or the strongest.” He began strolling down the walkway as if taking a carefree walk in the park. “Your Caius, for example-” Evie’s heart pounded at the mention of his name. “-six men were needed to hold him down.”
Her stomach cramped. “Where… where did you get him?”
“He was leaving the hospital with a bag of blood bags. When he skirted a silver link fence, I knew he was a vampire.”
Weariness slowed her steps. She had sent him out to get more blood bags. If it wasn’t for her, maybe he wouldn’t be stuck in here.
But hopefully he wouldn’t be for much longer.
“Which room was I in?”
“The middle one. I wasn’t sure about you. But I guess I was right. You weren’t a new-born but you weren’t ancient, either.” He stopped abruptly and faced the cell to his right. Evie’s eyes hit the bloody body in the cell. Her stomach flipped.
The Progeny Page 6