by Gray, Sophia
I pulled his embrace over me, like wrapping myself in a blanket. “Nothing. I love you.”
“I love you too, Zoey.”
Ben
Johnny came at me with a sword, and I deflected the blow with ease. I laughed, and so did he, regaining his position. Wood hit wood as he came at me again, and once again I deflected him. “You’re getting slow, old man,” I said.
He smiled, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “No,” he said. “I’m just giving the little boy a chance.”
I attacked then, unleashing all my strength and speed. He jumped back, struggling to defend himself against the onslaught. My blows came quick and hard, and soon I had him backed into a corner. I could feel my muscles tensing and shifting with each blow, and I was amazed not for the first time at how effective Johnny’s fitness regime had been.
I’d come here every day after school, like we’d agreed, and when school’d broke up for summer, I’d been here every day all day, training and honing my skills. Now I could barely recognise myself when I looked in the mirror. I felt great. My father had even stopped beating me when he’d realised I had gotten too big and could now defend myself.
Johnny’s face was fixed into a grimace as he struggled to defend the blows. Eventually I got through his defence and struck him in the throat. “Well done,” he said, rubbing at the red mark the wooden-sword had left. “Well done, Ben.”
I smiled. “You fought well too,” I said.
“I know,” he said, smiling back at me. “But you have done amazingly, much better than I ever thought you would. You’re so much stronger and faster than you were only a few months ago, and your skill with the weapons has exploded. You should be proud. I think it’s time.”
My body tensed up. This was what I had been waiting for. I had never stopped thinking about Zoey. When I’d started to get stronger, I’d been thrilled for two reasons. The first was that it was nice to not feel like a little dweeb. The second was that I knew that Zoey liked muscles. In my mind it was another step towards claiming her as mine. My love for her hadn’t waned over the past few months; if anything it had only got stronger the more I missed her.
I wondered what she was doing. Did she miss me too? The thought of her and that man together made me sick, but I dismissed the idea. She wouldn’t do anything with a vampire, would she? She wouldn’t forget her humanity so quickly. I was sure of it.
I hoped that she was waiting for me, hoping for me to follow her. I imagined the reunion countless times. She’d see me and be thrilled at what I’d become, and she’d fall into my arms willingly. I’d kiss her then, and she’d moan and coo and tell me she loved me.
“We’re leaving for the Council,” I said, barely able to contain my excitement. “When?”
“Tomorrow,” he said. He looked at me like a proud father, and I realised that that’s how I saw him: the father I never had. “Go home and pack your things. I’ve got most of the things we’ll need, survival gear and all that, but bring some other clothes and any bags you can find.”
“Okay, Johnny,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he said, taking my hand.
I was surprised, but shook it anyway. The formality of it was strange. “You’ve done well, soldier,” he said. “Congratulations.”
I laughed. This was my graduation ceremony, I realised, and his handshake was my parade. “Thank you, sir,” I said, saluting. I did it as a joke, but he saluted back, his face hard, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d been joking.
I left and went home, excited about tomorrow.
When I got through the front door the smell of sweat and beer was overwhelming. I wasn’t surprised to see my father sitting on the sofa, staring at the turned-off television. He grunted as I walked in, and I ignored him. I was about to walk upstairs when something strange happened.
I got really, really angry.
I don’t know what triggered it, but suddenly I started to remember all the times he’d beaten me. My entire childhood I’d been a punch-bag to him. He’d never shown any remorse or any sign that he cared about me. And now that I could defend myself he barely spoke to me. He was a coward, I realised for the first time in my life. He was a cowardly old man.
I walked back into the front room. “Hello,” I said.
He looked at me, undisguised disgust on his face. “What do you want?”
I’d never felt like this before. Anger was coursing through my veins. My mind was a cloud of red, a cloud that wouldn’t let me think clearly. All I could think about was throttling my father, and then I did.
I leapt at him, screaming like a wild animal. He tried clumsily to duck out of the way, but he was fat and old and I’d been training. He caught my arms, and I laughed as I easily pushed them away. How had I once thought him strong and frightening?
He whimpered like a hurt puppy as I strangled him. I stared down into his eyes, and to my delight he was staring back up at me. “Mercy,” he said.
I tightened my grip and shook him. “When did you ever give me mercy?” I said, and my voice was cold. “You deserve to die.” I killed him in a matter of minutes. He thrashed towards the end, lashing out at me, but I held him firm and it was only a matter of time before he stopped thrashing.
I thought that I might feel guilty once the bloodlust had passed, but I didn’t. I looked down on his corpse and I smiled. I’d just killed my father and it felt great.
I knew that I couldn’t stay here tonight, lest the police come round and arrest me. I hastily gathered the things I needed and ran back to Johnny’s warehouse. When he opened the door his face was one of confusion. “Ben, we aren’t leaving until tomorrow,” he said.
“I killed my father. We need to leave tonight.”
I thought that he might tell me what I’d done was wrong or disown me or something like that, but his expression didn’t even change. It merely hardened. He was a soldier, a killer, like me. Death wasn’t something that bothered us anymore. I wondered when that had happened. Johnny’s training had clearly done more than just hone my body. It had honed my mind. He nodded. “Then we leave tonight.”
“How far is the Council?” I said.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But what I do know is that it’s going to be a hard journey, and we may not survive it, even with our training. Are you ready?”
I didn’t have to think about it. “Yes, I said.
When we set out my thoughts were full of Zoey. She’d be mine, I told myself. She’d be mine.
Zoey
The mountain looked bigger now that we were close. I’d expected a grand entrance, a big gate or something, but when I told Galahad he smiled. “That would be a tad too obvious, don’t you think?”
He led me up the side of the mountain. It was a tough climb, even for a vampire, and it dawned upon me why they’d chosen such an awkward entrance; there was no way in hell that a human would be able to make this climb. If a human attempted this climb they would die, I thought.
Small rocks fell down on us and we climbed, bouncing off our bodies. Even with my vampire strength, I found my muscles straining hard the further we got up. When we reached the small indent that was our target, I fell and panted like a dog. Galahad smiled down at me. “What’s wrong, Zoey, can’t hack a little climb?”
I stood up, gritting my teeth, just to spite him, and giggled when he jumped at me and tackled me to the ground. We made love then, but we had to be quick, Galahad said, because the Council was waiting for our signal.
When we’d finished he stared into my eyes. “I love you,” he said, and the sincerity of it made my heart ache. He said it honestly, like it was really true.
“I love you too,” I said.
My mind went back over the past few months, over the countless times we’d made love or watched the sun set or hunted together. It all seemed like a dream. At any moment I expected to wake up in my old house back in my human life and have to face my alcoholic mother.
I swallowed hard then as a realisation struck me. I would have to face her. She was here, and I would have to see her. What would that be like? I was no longer the timid little girl I had been growing up. Even my appearance had changed. I was taller now, and my breasts were fuller. My messy red hair had darkened to a light brown, and my snow-pale skin had tanned in the relentless sun. I was taller too, and instead of being skinny like a skeleton, I was lean and strong like an athlete. Vampirism agreed with me, I thought with a smile on my face.
He stood and faced a cave wall. As far as I could tell it was just a natural part of the cave, but he looked at it like it was much more than that. He nodded and mumbled to himself, and then turned to me. “The key, please,” he said.
I was shocked. The key? What was he talking about? He must’ve seen the confusion on my face. “You have it, don’t you? Your mother said you had it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t,” I said. “I really don’t.”
He cursed and spat, and then sat on the floor. He waited for a long while and then looked at me. “What is it you asked me a few months ago, something about a medal?”
“Oh yes,” I said. “I wanted to know why my father had won his war-medal. I remember being quite offended by how cold you were.”
“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “My family were on my mind a lot, and I wasn’t really in the mood for questions. Can I see the medal?”
I brought it out from my pack. I hadn’t held it for a few weeks, but as soon as it was in my hand it felt natural. The weight was good, and each etching was familiar to my hand. He smiled. “This is the key?” I said, astonished.
“Yes,” he said, and his eyes were hungry. “I saw it the first time I saw you, the day you collapsed, but I wasn’t sure if it was or not. I’m so glad you have it. Give it here.”
I stopped. I couldn’t just hand it over. I had had it for far too long; for too long had it been the my only source of comfort. I couldn’t just give it to him. “What do you need it for?” I said, and there was a pang of accusation in my voice.
He stepped back like I’d hit him, clearly offended, and then he sat down. “I suppose you want me to fill you in on the details before handing over Benjamin’s medal?” he said.
I nodded.
“Well, first of all, it isn’t a medal, not really. The key can take any shape. It has existed for as long as vampires have existed, and it has always been the only way to get into the main Council chambers. When Mordrain took over, he closed the Council chambers while he tried to hunt down the old Council members. Benjamin sent me with a small force of vampires to steal the key. We succeeded, and we brought it back to him. We said that he should destroy it, but Benjamin wouldn’t let us. He said that whoever has the key controls the Council, and without it Mordrain was nothing more than a pretender. So that’s why Mordrain killed your father, to try to get the key and open the Council, but he was too late.”
I was silent for a minute or so, struggling to take it all in. “So where are the old Council at the moment?”
“Scattered,” Galahad said. “They will come when the Council is open.”
“Why wait? Why not just take the key from me when I was a baby?”
“Two reasons. The first is that we still had to hunt down the rebels, and we couldn’t risk having the key with us, just in case they gained control of the Council. The second is that Benjamin asked me to wait until you were of an age before I took it. He knew that the key was power, and he wanted to make sure that you weren’t left without hope.”
I thought about that for a long while, and felt a swelling in my breast at the thought of the man I’d never known. He was wonderful, I thought. He was a wonderful man.
“Wait!” I said. Galahad jumped back, startled, and then smiled a shy smile. “There’s another thing that doesn’t make sense. In my vision, the woman with the sword, she stood in a room, the . . .” I trailed off as the name escaped me.
“The Room of Judgement,” he said, smiling.
“Yes, where was that if not in the Council?”
“We have places all over the planet. This just happens to be the main Council. Now, any more questions, or can we get started?” He was grinning at me, and suddenly I didn’t care about vampire wars or Judgement rooms or any of it. I just cared about him.
I handed him the key, he turned around and placed it against the cave wall. He looked silly, and I was sure that it was going to drop, but then it stuck and started to glow. The dull green of it reminded me of the woman’s sword, the one from my visions, the leader of the rebels, as Galahad called them.
He started to mumble vampire words to himself, quick and incomprehensible. I lay back and watched him. His t-shirt was soaked in sweat, and through it I could see the muscles in his back tensing as the ritual went on. I longed to run my fingers over that back and feel his breath on my neck, but I knew that we had more important things to do at the moment.
It took around twenty minutes, and when he finished he collapsed and his breathing was ragged. I went to him and rubbed his back. “I’m fine,” he said, struggling to his feet. “I just didn’t realise that opening the Council would be so damned hard.”
I held him as he stood, making sure that he didn’t fall. The smell of sweat filled the cave, and I grinned. Being a vampire brought all sorts of strange things. I wondered if loving the smell of sweat was one of them, or if it just something that love brought.
Slowly, the cave wall slid to one side, creaking deafeningly as it did so. Galahad and I sat back on the opposite wall, watching in amazement. When the cave had opened, all there was was a gaping black maw.
Galahad stood. “Okay then, Zoey,” he stood. “Let me show you around the Council.” He turned and took my hands, and then lifted me to my feet. I laughed, and cooed as his warm hands ran down my body, but then they stopped dead and he looked past me, at the entrance.
“Galahad, what is it?” I said, but I’d already turned around; I’d already seen her.
The woman, the one from my vision, the one with the sword with the dull green diamond set in the hilt, stood in front of me with a smirk on her face. “Well, isn’t this nice?” she said, and before either of us could do anything, she drew her sword and held it to my throat.
~Revelations: Vol. 3 ~
I screamed out in agony and anger as my fist collided with the hard-stone wall. Pain shot up my arm and my eyes stung with tears, and I felt like I could collapse with despair at any moment. How could he do this to me? was all I could think, over and over again. Ignoring the pain, I struck the wall again as a fresh wave of anger washed over me.
The woman hovered in my mind, holding her sword with a smirk on her face. “Isadora,” I said, tasting her name. It tasted like betrayal, I thought, barely able to contain my rage. My entire body was shaking, and my heart beat heavy in my chest. I recalled momentarily how Galahad had made my heart beat like this countless times, and again I felt anger well up inside of me.
“How could he do this to me?” I said, as if voicing the betrayal would give me an answer. It didn’t. I slumped to the ground, the life suddenly going out of me, and stared around my small room. A mattress lay on the floor in the corner, and shelves laden with books lined the walls, and that was it. If I wanted to use the toilet I had to go down the corridor where my bathroom was.
The Council of the Undead headquarters wasn’t as grand as I had thought that it would be. It was a glorified cave, nothing more. In the centre of the cave was the main hall, a round room with torches and seats along the walls, and the rest of it was bedrooms, like the one I was in. I wanted to ask Galahad why it was so important and yet so simple, but even the thought of seeing his face made me physically sick.
“Isadora,” I said again, and it tasted no better. She was a horrible woman, I reflected. First she’d plagued my dreams, and then she’d brought my whole world crashing down around me.
For the first time in months I found myself longing to see Ben. The ca
ve was cold on my back, and I imagined how willing he’d be to hold me and warm me up. He would sit and talk to me, and we would barely notice the passage of time as we talked of old times and books and a million other random things.
I wondered what he was doing now. Was he thinking of me? Did he still love me, like he had our entire childhood? I knew it was selfish and mean, but I hoped that he did. I knew that I should have wanted him to move on, but I didn’t; I wanted him to be mine forever, even if I wasn’t his. What was he doing now? The most that I could hope for was that he was happy, and I muttered a quick prayer for it to be so.
I instinctively put my hand in my pocket to touch my father’s medal, but then I remembered that Galahad had taken it from me to gain entrance into the Council of the Undead. It was the key to the cave, and without it the Council wouldn’t have been able to convene here and secure their power.