by Darcy Lennox
The landlord did not question me when I took off my glasses, too caught up in my control to question my authority or voice his suspicions.
‘Top floor, room seven is free – best room in the block,’ he said in psychedelic awe.
‘Thank you,’ I said, it is always nice to be polite within a city of demons, especially when I was the darkest demon of them all.
He grunted and handed me the keys to my new apartment. I was on the twenty-second floor of the shabby tower block. I liked being high. Fortunately, the landlord mentioned that there was nobody else on my floor due to major pipework to be carried out the next two following weeks. I did not like being around civilians and East London was filled to the brim with them because it was hit the hardest during the Battle of Dust, so the construction of new tower blocks came easier than the rest of the city. It was a global movement which proved beneficial for humans too – appropriate living conditions were billed as a necessity by The Organisation due to the differing variety of species in our new world. Which meant all windows had metal shutters, fridges were stocked with artificial blood, all silver was removed and replaced with stainless steel – the list was endless. But it did matter anymore, it was every creature for themselves.
As was per habit, I unpacked my bag and set Deathclaw along with the rest of my life out on the bed. My hand subconsciously stroked the back of my neck and that is when I decided that if I did not get any rest now, I might not do so for the next few days. Almost as if the thought of being tired alone suddenly made my eyelids heavy and not before long, I was out.
*
When I woke up a few hours later, it was already nightfall. The dark sent alarm bells ringing in my head. Scanning the flat for a wall clock, I noticed I had been asleep for nearly ten hours. Ten hours? I never needed more than three hours of sleep let alone ten. I must have been more exhausted than I initially thought. Despite the aching of my arms and thighs, it was my shoulders that hurt the most.
Out of basic instinct, my hand scrambled for Deathclaw. A small breeze tickled my shoulder, pulling my attention towards the balcony window which was slightly open. My senses went into fierce overdrive, he must be here. How could he have found me so soon? The sun went down only an hour ago, if that – the sky was still in the midst of crawling out of its rainbow.
Slowly, I crept away from the bed and concealed myself amongst the shadows of a wall that had minimal moon lighting. And that is when his scent engulfed the open air around my mouth and nose, he was close, he was –
Out of nowhere, a hand locked itself around my neck and pulled me up to the wall where my back hit his chest. I winced but refused to make any sound. And then his body came out from behind the wall where he had been hiding. Unable to secure my grip, Deathclaw slipped from my hands and I grappled at his own hand aggressively where I could feel the muscles around my neck burn as I strained for air.
‘I don’t like playing games,’ he said straight into my eyes, and then let go.
I fell to the ground by his feet and exclaimed, taking in as much fresh air as I possibly could. Seeing the reflective shine of the blade from the moon light through the window, I edged closer while trying to stabilise my breathing. Sensing what I was about to do, he hissed and as I jumped the both of us landed on the bed in a heap. He grabbed my wrist and within seconds he had pinned me down with his thighs securely locked around my waist.
‘I’m not trying to kill you,’ he barked and lowered his head to gaze directly into my eyes, he was challenging me again.
‘Then what do you want from me?!’
‘Just – be – still – for –’
I clenched my teeth down and headbutted the side of his head. He cried out in pain and cradled his forehead with his arms. Using the moment to escape, I pushed him off where he toppled to the side of the bed. I grabbed Deathclaw and rolled over to find him wincing.
‘It’s you isn’t it, you’re the one that’s been watching me?’
He turned around to face me, blood now spilling from his forehead and smeared all over his hands, the smell was almost too much to bare. ‘What?!’ he barked.
‘Why are you here?’
Getting up off the floor and dusting the dirt from his coat, he pumped his chest out like a gorilla. ‘I was looking out for you.’
‘I do not need looking out for.’
‘I thought you were dead up until last month,’ he said in his husky Bostonian accent, something he must have picked up on in the last couple of decades there.
He sighed and crossed his arms like he always did when he was trying to keep his cool. He was waiting for me to drop my sword, but I was not so quick to trust him.
‘Come on, you know I’m not going to hurt you because I know you’ll have killed me before I could even get close enough to do so,’ he teased and his defensive stance evaporated. Something was wrong, he eased off too quickly. However, he was right but there was one thing he had failed to mention, he too had grown in strength and durability, clearly.
I dropped Deathclaw to my side and turned the light on. Although tall in the dark, Akilis seemed even bigger in the light. Still the same charming face with the same sturdy frame, he was one of few people I had to look up to – he and I have history both good and bad but for the moment I could not decide which side of history he was coming from.
‘What brings you to London?’ I said so simply it was almost amusing.
‘If I said… you, would that be a terrible thing?’
‘Maybe,’ I said a little too slowly.
I felt him scrutinise me carefully, the slow linger of his eyes on mine felt like my skin was burning. Eventually he looked away and I caught myself exhale.
‘I’m sure you’ve heard people talk, even some of the humans can tell that the Daggertooth have something brewing in their coffins,’ he said and made himself comfortable on the bed.
‘I have heard,’ I scrambled my clothes and documents off the bed and pushed them into my bag away from his prying eyes.
‘Then I assume you’ll know that some of the old Stallah Society members have been cooking up a pot of their own…’
I suspected, but my leads were never more than whispers. A single whisper with no information, or direction was pointless.
‘You didn’t know about that did you?’ he said while carefully observing my reaction.
‘What do the Stallah Society want?’
Akilis placed his hands behind his head to rest, he was getting a little too comfortable and it was making me anxious. ‘Exactly what the vampires have now, power – authority – respect. But most importantly control, I imagine.’
‘Where do I come into this?’ I said and cocked my brow to the side suspiciously.
‘You’re a threat,’ he said confirming what I already knew. ‘People talk of the Reaper like an enigma, not fully understanding who or what it means. It seems like you’ve been making a new name for yourself here, people are not sure whether to applaud you or fear you. I didn’t know it was you until I heard someone mention something about your eyes, there is nobody else like you out there of course so I knew it could only be you… the Daggertooth want you dead,’ he said with such stillness in his eyes that for a moment there I thought I saw them hurt, if that was even possible.
‘Is that supposed to frighten me?’
‘No. But that’s why I’m here, when I heard word that you were alive I was relieved but when I discovered what they planned to do – I got here as fast as I could,’ his expression shifted from one of surprise to anger. ‘You could have informed me of your existence.’
‘I thought it would be better this way, those associated with… I have seen too many people get hurt, I did not want that for you too.’
‘I’m not just anybody, am I?’
It’s true, he was not. But that did not change anything for me, I liked being on my own – it had been like this since I could remember. Besides, he would only slow me down, they always fucking did.
‘I li
ke things the way they are.’
‘Things, are changing,’ he whispered and then his eyes began to sway up and around deliriously. ‘Why do – I – feel so – dizzy…’ his face fell onto the mattress like a magnet, and not so slowly mine fell besides his as our eyes helplessly held each other for those last few seconds that we were stuck within the statues of our bodies.
Chapter Five
Stop – no – why? I cannot see. It hurts. Why. Why. Stop. Let me go! I fought but nobody answered in an oblivious whirlpool of black and red, and something else I could not quite see. A figure? Standing over me, breathing. I tried to call out for him, but my throat burned – there was something restricting my neck. Get this off me, now. Why can you not hear me?! I clawed, and my hands were thumped down on ice cold stone. I hissed as the blur became sharper and my body was heating up, and my heart pumped faster and faster and –
‘Calm,’ Akilis said with strained lips.
‘What have you done!’ I hissed and the vampire within me bared my fangs, I chocked back when I got too close to the metal bar around my neck.
‘Trust me,’ he whispered on the stone slab next to mine where he was tied down with silver that singed his wrists and neck.
I eased back, there was a shuffling by the door to my left and voices – several voices that got louder and louder until the door flew open to reveal Zagan with an entourage of viciously sleek vampires behind him. The Daggertooth.
‘Ah, you’re awake,’ he said and stormed towards the stone slab I was shackled to. ‘Good,’ he peered over the curves of my body where a slight satisfactory smirk played on his lips.
‘What is this?!’ I hissed, trying to get his attention… all it would take was one look and then I would have him.
He smirked playfully, avoiding my gaze. ‘Let’s keep things civil, shall we?’ he cleared a tuft of dust from the shoulder of his black suit jacket that accentuated his height, only an inch or so shorter than Akilis I guessed. But underneath the jacket, he wore a blood red tie that emphasised his pale complexion. We could have been siblings were it not for his scrawny face and sunken cheeks.
‘What do you want?’ I spat and bulged my eyes, when I turned around to look at his entourage they all exclaimed in fright and cowered behind their hands afraid to meet my stare. Fucking vampires.
‘We know what you are capable of,’ Zagan crossed his arms and looked at the wall adamant not to meet my eyes.
There were only two people alive that knew of my true abilities and one of them was chained down in this room. I threw visual daggers at Akilis who now very conveniently seemed to be more interested in the ceiling.
‘Reaper!’ Zagan spat.
A sharp hiss escaped my lips and I pulled at the shackles around my wrist, the vampires in the room flinched.
‘Knowledge is power – you know?’ Zagan slicked his hair back from his face. ‘I assume you have heard the rumours?’
He knew the answer to that already.
‘For the sake of not misunderstanding one another, let me start from the beginning,’ he slowly made his way to the end of my feet so that his back was facing my eyes, vampires and their dramatic suspense. ‘A lot has changed in the last ten years and yet, not enough. Having been cast aside to the darkness by the Kingdom of Ahkul for so long the human world came as a welcome surprise to my species – we had to the take opportunity whilst we still had it. We are no longer the rodents of society but a species in which we are feared, and most importantly respected by the humans. Of course, it has come at a cost but one that shall be greatly rewarded in due course.
‘As you’ll know, we are forbidden from turning humans… unless they request it which takes a mountain of paperwork on my behalf and months of preparation for the humans. And, well… you know how impatient we can get? Anyway, although our population is greater than any other night creature… if we are not careful, we could very easily lose that status. Which is where you come in.
‘It is illegal for a vampire to kill another vampire; all crimes are dealt with in court – that’s something we have agreed upon with the Organisation and is punishable by the stake. But you – you seem to fall somewhere between the lines.’
He already knew too much. I would need to kill everybody in this building, and my first target was Akilis. I clenched my teeth shut and flared my nostrils, now I was really fucking angry.
‘Judging by your lack of response I will assume that what I have been told is correct. This dhamujki origin that you come from… my researchers tell me there were more of you a very long time ago, centuries ago in fact? Which I suppose explains your peculiar accent, somewhere from Eastern Europe perhaps? Not that it matters much, your people were killed. Stronger than lycans and faster than vampires, but more importantly… you were Gods of the night and serpents of the day. Competition was fierce and food was scarce so my ancestors did what any desperate species would do – they hunted you down and murdered your people until there was only one left. You.’
Making firsts out of my hands, I thumped them down on the stone aggressively and hissed. Zagan’s head twitched just the slightest, was he frightened now? He better be.
‘So, it’s true then? But tell me, why is it that only you were able to survive? Ah! But, we all know the answer to that, now don’t we? You, unlike your dhamujki relations, possessed an ability so powerful that even your own people were frightened of you. A slight mutation in the genes when you were born possibly? An abomination that could have potentially distorted the balance between bad and evil in a world where there was already enough darkness? Well… I suppose there is only one way to find out!’
‘What?’ I suddenly said as an idea had very quickly begun to form itself inside my head. Did he? Was he thinking that… no, I do not believe it.
‘Ah! That got your attention! You see, Reaper, we can’t have creatures like you – incredibly powerful creatures – causing havoc in my streets, killing my people… you know, I don’t remember what the sun looks like it’s been so long.’
‘What do you want from me?’ Now, I was getting impatient.
‘Isn’t it already obvious? We want to make more of you. Imagine a world in which vampires can roam under the sun? Imagine a world in which –’
‘No.’
‘No?’ his voice no longer filled with optimism. ‘Well it’s a good thing we don’t need your approval, Reaper.’
Chapter Six
I stirred awake at the sound of Akilis’s voice in my head. But it was not in my head, because I woke up to his eyes in direct line with mine and his hand stroking the hair away from my face. I hissed violently and he yanked his hand back to safety in an instant.
‘Infernia’s dagger pierce my soul! Calm down!’ Akilis spat. ‘Will you keep it down? They might hear you and knock you out again!’
‘What game are you playing, vampire!’
He sighed, and straightened himself out on the slab where his free arm was healing from the silver and the shackles around his wrist lay idle on the floor. But the nightmare was real, shackles on my own wrists and ankle, and a metal bar secured over my neck.
‘I’m going to look at you ok? All that I ask is that you not put me in one of your trances, just let me explain – ok?’
What did I have to lose at this point? It did not matter what he said, as soon as I was out of these chains – he would be first to kiss Deathclaw by his neck.
‘If you are sure,’ I teased.
‘Please,’ he said, agitated.
‘Very well,’ I said eventually, purely out of curiosity.
Slowly, he raised his head and focused his attention onto my neck, which crawled up to my lips and then stopped by my nose. He hesitated for a second and then finally rested his eyes on mine where I did my best to glare at him fiercely so he could at the very least feel the sting of my anger.
‘It’s not what you think,’ he said while forcing himself to hold the connection. ‘I’m not on Zagan’s side but I had to make him believe I was so
that I could get you in here. Come on, I know you! Had I told you of my plan beforehand you’d have put me in my grave, I had to make you and him believe. And before you ask, yes of course I suspected he would try to kill me, but I came prepared.’
‘Why?’
‘He only told you half of the story, they don’t just want to make more like you – they want to make them better, stronger, sharper, faster. He wants to build an army of dhamujki infused vampires – a new breed of super vampires as he put it. I needed to get close to him to know what he was after.’
‘What for? You heard him, the vampires are the largest night creatures of us Stallites? They dominate most populated cities – not even the Stallah Society could stop them – what more could they possibly want?’
‘The humans, of course – world domination, what every power-hungry idiot without a crown wants!’
He had a point, both the humans and Stallites alike had known that danger was very close to dawn. Vampires were naturally territorial in nature, I just did not expect to be involved in this kind of danger.
‘Humans dominate land, we’ve known Zagan was up to something the moment he took the reins from the Stallah Society – this is it!’
‘And what did you have in mind here?’ I tugged at my shackles.
A devilish smirk masked the seriousness off his face.
‘Work from the inside out, just like old times… I have a plan in mind, and it involves an explosion – interested?’
‘So long as I get to kill a few vampires along the way.’
Chapter Seven
I did not trust him. He knew that of course, but what choice did I have? Akilis released himself of the shackles by his feet effortlessly. He was different from other vampires… despite the stinging of the silver on his skin where his wrists dribbled with blood, he was always good to handle the pain almost as if he was not able to feel none. In fact, sometimes I wondered if he truly could feel pain at all. But that was a dark corner I did not want to explore any time soon. Prepared as he always was, Akilis placed himself on the stone slab appropriately so that the shackles would not move. He had planted bombs in the four most vulnerable corners of the Daggertooth headquarters. All we had to do was get to the them. However, the nurse barged into the room with a bag of blood in hand before we could discuss anything further. It was synthetic, I could smell the sour chemicals before she opened the bag. A building full of vampires and the most they could offer me was synthetic blood?