by Amy Cross
Before I can finish, he stands up and starts getting dressed.
“Where are you going?” I ask, but I don't really expect a reply.
I get up and grab the clothes I changed out of earlier, pulling them on. “Can we get out of here?” I ask. “Seriously, I don't like it here. I just want to go home. Can we go back to your place and talk?”
He raises an eyebrow, and if he's amused by me.
“Well... I'll talk,” I say. “You can listen and nod and shake your head and stuff. Is that okay?”
He just stares at me.
“Maybe you can write stuff down,” I say. “Like a diary, so I know what you're thinking. Maybe?”
He frowns.
“No?”
He frowns more.
“You don't have a blog, do you?”
He tilts his head, like a dog.
From somewhere else in the house, there's a terrible sound, as if the building itself is screaming.
“What was that?” I ask. “No, wait. Don't tell me. Just let's get out of here, okay?”
He shakes his head and heads to the door, then he comes back, kisses me quickly, and leaves the room. I follow, but as soon as I get out into the corridor I see the problem: Jessica and the two other maids are at the top of the stairs, and Patrick is standing in front of them.
“Let me in,” says Jessica calmly. She and the other two are staring at Patrick. There's something deathly about the way they're standing there, as if they're possessed by some other force.
“They're angry!” shouts a voice from behind me. I turn to find Astley standing there. He seems to have completely recovered from the injuries he sustained earlier, and he's holding a little suitcase. “They're getting more powerful by the minute, and they're here to get what they want. I can sympathize. I'm here to get what I want too. I suppose we all are, really”. He looks at me. “Except you. You're just here because you were dragged along for an easy fuck”.
“Patrick...” I say.
“He's not listening to you,” Astley says. “He got what he wanted. The grinding on the bed. That's all he was after. It's all he was ever after. You're just a vessel for his seed”.
I turn to him.
“You thought he loved you?” Astley asks, laughing. “That's cute. Sorry, Sophie, but he's a typical man. You fulfilled a role for him. He just needed a quick fuck before facing down his old demons. And... Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you but... what he really needed was for a child to be conceived within the walls of Gothos”.
I turn to look at Patrick.
“That's why we're here...” I whisper. “That's why you brought me here...” I walk over to him. “Is that true? Did you bring me here just to sleep with me? Am I...” I look down at my belly.
“There's a prophecy,” says Astley calmly. “A child conceived on the grounds of Gothos will be the first of a completely new race, a race that will ultimately destroy the last vampire. Well, that's not the whole prophecy, but I'll let you find out the rest a little later on, hey?” He grins. "If you live long enough."
“Let me in,” says Jessica, stepping toward Patrick.
“Ladies,” says Astley, addressing the maids. “This is the last vampire. You remember? He's the one who destroyed all of you. Now you're the only three gods left. I kept you alive for this moment. Feast on him. Take your revenge”.
I can't handle this, but there's nowhere to run. In one direction, there's Patrick and the maids; in the other direction, there's Astley. In desperation, I turn, grab the handle of the nearest door and run into the room, pulling the door shut behind me. As soon as the door is closed, I realize that there's something very strange about this room. It's completely dark, but I can feel something strange on my face, like... a light breeze. It's as if I'm outside. And I can hear voices nearby, although soon they're drowned out by the sound of something whistling towards me. I look up just as something explodes in the sky above me. In the light, I can see where I am: a World War One trench in the middle of the night, with soldiers all around me.
Astley
I put the key into the lock, turn it, take the key out and watch it burn in the palm of my hand. There. Now she's locked away until I choose to release her. If I choose to release her... if she survives more than a couple of minutes. Yes, I know that my original plan was to kill her slowly and chew on her bones, but sometimes you have to go with the flow if a better idea comes along. There'll be other girls once I'm away from here.
Further along the corridor, Patrick and the maids are watching each other closely. The maids aren't strong enough to attack yet, since they're still getting used to their new bodies. I was hoping they'd have longer to prepare for this confrontation, which is now going to be woefully one-sided. But gods have terrible egos, and these three obviously thought they would be able to handle anything the vampire threw at them.
“You know who I am, don't you?” I say to Patrick.
He turns to me, and it's clear that he understands everything.
“All I need now,” I say, “is for you to die. Look at me. I've been trapped here at Gothos for centuries, a ghost who can't leave the grounds. When you killed all the vampires, you left many ghosts like me. And we want to return. We want to live and breathe again. You see them, I know that. They're all around you, hoping to steal your body so that they, not you, can be the last vampire. The difference is, I'm the only one who decided to actually do something about it”.
I step toward him. “Aren't you tired? Why carry the burden of being the last vampire, when you can allow yourself to die and I can take your place? I can be the last vampire. If the prophecy insists that there must be one last vampire on Earth at all times, that doesn't mean it has to be you. Let me be what you are, and you can stay here at Gothos forever as a ghost”.
“Let me in,” say all three maids simultaneously, but Patrick is ignoring them now. He knows that I'm the real challenge here, the real threat. Plus, I've locked his girlfriend in a room with the First World War, and he'd probably like to get her out.
“You know the rules,” I say. “All you have to do is say the word, and you'll be relieved of your duties as the last vampire. Duties that I will take up and honor”. I step right up to him. “Say the word. You know what it is. I know what it is. Say it and be free”.
His lips move a little, as if he's considering the possibility. In his eyes, I see doubt.
“You've done everything,” I say. “More than everything! You have carried this burden for so long. You have conceived a child with the human, as you were required to do. You have returned to Gothos, as you were required to do. But you know what comes next. You know what you will be required to do soon. And you know that you can abdicate all responsibility, become a ghost here, and let me take your place in the world”.
He stares at me, saying nothing.
“Do it!” I scream at him. “Say it!”
Nothing.
I push him back against the wall. “Say it!" I shout at him. "I can't live here in this house any longer! All these people are crazy!” I slam my fist against his chest. "Release me!”
He pushes me away. I see from his eyes that the moment of doubt has passed. He seems utterly determined now, as if he knows exactly what he's going to do, and I can tell that he has no intention of allowing me to take his place as the last vampire.
“Fine,” I say. “But know this: even if you're able to save your precious little girlfriend, the prophecy is cast in stone. There's no escape. Eventually, you will have to kill her. But if you choose to step aside now, I can take on the mantle of responsibility. I can kill her for you, and you won't have to look into her eyes as she realizes what you've done to her. Would that not be a kindness, in the end? To spare her from that? If you feel anything for her, let me be the one who kills her, instead of you”. I pause, waiting for him to respond. “Say the word, Patrick”.
As I look at him, however, I realize he'll never surrender to me. He'll never give in. So I turn to the m
aids. “He's yours,” I say. “You've waited long enough to have your revenge against the vampire who destroyed your species. I know you're weak, but the three of you together should be strong enough to destroy him”. I walk to the door. “As for me, I've finally found a way out of here. A door to the past, straight into the heart of the most devastating period in human history. It took me years to grow this door from a tiny seed, but now that I have it, I might as well use it”.
And with that, I unlock the door, step through, and leave Gothos forever. It's a shame I couldn't bring Gwendoline or Twomoney with me but, hey, a guy's got to look after himself, right? I am free, and I have won.
Sophie
The explosion doesn't just knock me off my feet. It throws me several meters into the air, and I slam into a mud wall, falling to the ground as lumps of wood fall all around me. The air is thick with dust, so much so that when I try to breathe in, I just end up coughing.
“Hand?” says a voice from nearby.
I roll onto my back, look up and see Astley standing over me.
“You look like you need some help,” he says.
Ignoring his offered hand, I get to my feet. I walk past him, trying to find the door back to Gothos.
“That's not the way back,” Astley says. “I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. But... Oh, hang on,” he adds, with an expression of mock concern. “What will you do about your baby?”
“I'm not pregnant,” I say.
“We'll see,” he says, smiling. “Did you take any precautions, or were you swept up in the moment? Well, look, I'd love to hang around, but I have a plan to get moving so I'll just kill you and be on my way”.
“How are we here?” I ask, looking around. “We're still in Gothos, aren't we?”
He shakes his head. “We're in France,” he says. “World War One. Don't they teach you kids anything in school these days?”
There's a deep rumbling sound in the sky.
“Gothos is a house filled with pain,” he continues. “A house filled with tragedy and horror. Eventually, after centuries of torment, the house itself could no longer contain all the trauma, so it created a link to the one place that it felt might understand how it was feeling”. He smiles. “It's a real old fairytale, eh? A lonely house reaching out across to hold hands with a lonely war”.
“You can't...” I look down at the mud, then back at Astley. “You can't put World War One in a little room”.
“Can't you?” he asks. “That's where I'd prefer to put it. And Gothos agrees. Put it like this. When you're feeling miserable, don't you like to reach out to other miserable people? Maybe listen to a Leonard Cohen album?”
“Leonard Cohen is actually quite optimistic,” I point out.
“Whatever. But the point is, a house is the same. And Gothos reached out to the only other place where it could find the same kind of horror and heartbreak. Fortunately, this allows us to wander on over and head off. We walk along one arm, step across the entwined hands, and continue on the other arm. Well, that's the theory, anyway. It certainly seems to have worked”.
“This doesn't make sense,” I say.
“Oh come off it,” he says, laughing. “Haven't you ever noticed that your whole life doesn't make sense?” he asks. He's fixed me with a strange stare, as if he's peering deep into my soul. “Haven't you ever noticed that your reactions don't make sense? Your life, your family. It's all slightly out of whack. As if it's... someone's guess at what a life should be, rather than an actual life itself”.
I'm not sure what to say.
“When you first met Patrick,” says Astley, “what was your reaction? You weren't shocked. You didn't run screaming. You barely even asked any questions. When you were almost killed by those muggers, and Vincent healed you with his hands in just one night, you barely even asked him how he did it. You just accepted it. You were so credulous. Why is that?”
I look down at my hands. They're shaking. I look back up at him. “What am I?” I ask.
"The prophecy is a living, breathing thing," he continues. "Whenever your natural reaction would be to run away, the prophecy gently nudges you back toward Patrick. Most people would have run screaming when they first met a vampire, but the prophecy reached into your mind and allayed your fears. Earlier this evening, you chose to follow me upstairs, even though you knew I was dangerous. You're not stupid, Sophie, but you're being guided by the prophecy's invisible hand, making sure you do things that any sensible person would run from. Well, you were being guided. Now that the child has been conceived, you'll probably be free to make your own decisions."
I want to tell him that there are no such things as prophecies. Hell, I want to tell him that there's no such thing as vampires and ghosts and werewolves as well. But I can't. Somehow, deep in my soul, I know that he's right.
The ground shakes as an explosion rocks the trench. In the distance, there's the sound of machine gun fire.
Astley steps closer. “I need you to do me a favor,” he says calmly. “I need you to let me kill you. Let me kill you without damaging your body. Then I can be you. I can... I will walk in your body. I will talk in your voice. I will think with your mind. I will make a game of you”.
I shake my head. “Get away from me”.
“I can't,” he says. “I can't and I won't. You see, Patrick isn't the only one with a prophecy. I have one too, it says that I will catch you and kill you and chew on your bones. But I don't want that. I want to keep your body as it is. I'm willing to break a prophecy for you. Is Patrick will to do that? Of course not. He doesn't love you. He will kill you eventually, because that is what the prophecy tells him he has to do”.
I turn to get away from him, but he grabs me and bites my arm. I manage to pull back, but there's blood pouring from the wound.
“Don't fight,” he says. “Would you rather I kill you, or would you rather Patrick kills you? At least with me, you haven't got some kind of infantile desire to be loved!” He grins. "You see? Patrick has his prophecy, and I have mine, and they're diametrically opposed. What happens when two prophecies crash together?"
I try to stop the bleeding, but it's a deep wound. “I'd rather no-one kills me,” I say, and at that moment the door re-opens, with Patrick looking through. I run straight for him, and I find myself back in the corridor.
“Shut the door!” I shout, but Patrick keeps it open as, one by one, the three maids pass by us and head into the trench. It's obvious that they're stronger now, because they're walking properly.
For the first time, Astley looks worried. He steps back. “Get them out of here,” he says, and then he screams: “Get them away from me!”
Patrick shuts the door, then he pushes me aside and smashes the door down, revealing just a bare room on the other side.
“Good riddance,” says a voice, and I turn to see Diana standing in the corridor. She smiles at me. “That boy was a terrible nuisance. Now he'll suffer a short, painful death at the hands of the three dying gods he thought he could use as weapons to kill Patrick”.
“What did he want?” I ask her.
“He wanted to take the body of another,” she says. “He was a ghost, which meant he was trapped in Gothos. He thought the gods would be angry at Patrick for destroying them, so he kept them alive for decades at the bottom of the garden, hoping to finally unleash them on Patrick when he got the chance. But the gods weren't angry at Patrick. They understood that their time was over. They were just angry at Astley for not letting them die sooner, for prolonging their agony”.
Patrick turns and walks away down the corridor.
“You should go with him,” says Diana. “You two should leave Gothos and never come back, for the sake of all concerned”.
“What about you?” I ask.
“We'll be okay,” she says with a smile. "We'll have more visitors again one day, and I believe Mr. Wormwood is due soon."
I shuffle past her and run to catch up with Patrick as we head down the stairs. “Can we go now?” I ask
. “What about The Lock?” As I say the words, I see there's a pile of bones on the floor of the hallway. Patrick just walks straight past them and out the front door, so I follow.
“Good luck,” Diana calls out.
I turn to her. “Did Patrick really bring me to Gothos just so he could have sex with me?”
Diana smiles. “What do you think?”
“I think... I think I don't know. I think I might not ever know”.
“Time will tell,” she replies.
“What happened to The Lock?” I ask.
Diana looks at the bones on the floor. “He came back to spend some time with old friends,” she says. “And now he is nothing more than a pile of bones, thanks to his wife. She has razor-sharp teeth and a very good memory, and she had been drinking all evening”.
“His wife?”
Diana nods. “Astley's mother”. She walks over and kicks the bones. “Unfortunately, his wife was feeling rather hungry. These things happen sometimes in a house such as Gothos”.
I turn and walk out, running down the steps to catch up to Patrick. It's coming up to dawn as we walk into the garden. I look back at the house for a moment, then I grab Patrick's arm and make him stop.
“Why did you do that?” I ask. “Why did you kiss me and go to bed with me?”
He stares at my arm.
I look down to see there's a lot of blood still running from the wound. Feeling slightly light-headed, I look back at Patrick. “I can't be pregnant, can I? We're not even the same species”.
He glances at me, but I guess he's still not going to explain anything.
“Who was Astley?” I ask Patrick. “What was he? He said he was a god”.
He shakes his head.
“Are you ever going to talk to me?” I ask, but there's no response, and I'm starting to feel really strange. Blood loss? I grab hold of Patrick, to try to stay on my feet, but it's no use. As I look back at the ruins of Gothos one more time, everything goes black.
Patrick