Madison mind raced with theories and questions. She debated whether she should try to escape, but Brendan’s arm was tightly wrapped around her shoulders now. She would be no match for the Vampire if it came to her fighting him off.
“Maybe I should go?” Madison said trying to act casual, but practically leaping to her feet.
“What? Why?” Brendan said stunned, standing up beside her.
“Well, I think maybe... I should leave. I mean, if Rich and Bernie wanted to find me, maybe I should be as far away from you as possible? Maybe leave London, go home, maybe?” Madison said awkwardly, as she tried to stagger towards the front door. Her legs still resembled jelly and the alcohol hadn’t helped her co-ordination.
“Where will you go though?” Brendan asked, sounding hurt.
Madison thought for a moment, there was no answer she could give him that she wanted him to hear. She smiled weakly at Brendan - being overly casual. She thought again for an answer, but there was nothing she could say. She stared at Brendan cautiously. His eyes scanned every inch of her face, a puzzled expression creasing his perfect features.
“Madison, what is it? You look spooked?” he asked stepping towards her.
Madison took a step back in response, eyeing him nervously. Hurt and confusion flashed into Brendan’s eyes as he tried to understand why she had had this sudden reaction. Madison felt her heart strings pull at the expression on his face. Brendan had saved her life and now she was hurting him unintentionally.
“It’s nothing really, I just think it would be better if I go” Madison said sincerely, but concern still bright in her eyes.
“Well, let me take you? My car is downstairs…” Brendan said sweetly.
“No! Its fine…” she said trying to sound casual.
“Madison… what’s going on?” Brendan asked sternly, taking another step towards Madison.
She didn’t respond, but allowed Brendan to close the distance between them. She searched his eyes for some trace of danger, a trace of anything sinister, but there was none – only honesty, something that Madison had not witnessed much of in her lifetime. Slowly, she let her guard down and the warm fuzzy feeling that overwhelmed her when gazing into Brendan’s crystal blue eyes returned.
“Bernie said something to me back at the house. I’ve just remembered what he said - It’s stupid to be honest. But after what happened with the Skin Crawlers it kind of freaked me out for a second” Madison sighed.
“What did he say?” Brendan asked curiously.
“He said… he called you a Vampire. I know that sounds silly! And it’s probably some kind of expression Skin Crawlers use for humans or something, but after tonight… I guess anything is possible” she ranted.
Brendan remained silent, his expression blank. He lowered his eyes towards the floor, his features turned bleak and dismal as he thought about what Madison had said. Slowly, Brendan sighed and looked back towards Madison – studying her expression as she tried to pull the truth from his body language. She gasped and threw a hand up over her mouth. The air filled her lungs, causing her to exhale immediately through her bruised fingers. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest and adrenaline flowed through her veins. Her eyes became blurry and her brain raced as she pieced together every bit of information she had gathered on Brendan. The thought about the first night she had met Brendan in the underground and the two boys in the main hall. Their hollow black eyes and drawn death-like faces. They weren’t human and Madison knew it at the time, but she had pushed the thought to the back of her mind - convincing herself that it was just a hallucination. Anything was possible now and the two young boys were probably just a different demon.
The signs had been there from the beginning, but she had just ignored them - how easily Brendan had carried her suitcase through the underground and how he had sensed the danger in her house before she had even seen Bernie or Rich standing at the top of the stairs and how Brendan had entered the house through the second story window which was impossible to reach with even a ladder - due to the awkward design of the house.
Everything that had occurred since Madison had moved to London began to slot together like a jigsaw puzzle and the constant fog of unanswered questions began to life now. Madison knew she wasn’t scared of Brendan, but the pressing question which now presented itself was should she be?
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Madison mumbled through her fingers, her hand still pressed tightly against her mouth.
“Yes…” Brendan said weakly - almost reluctantly.
“But… how? When?” Madison replied in disbelief, her mind filling with questions.
“I want you to understand, knowing this will change everything and I mean everything! Inheriting this kind of knowledge about our world does not come without a price. So, before I continue I want to make sure you understand 100% that this information cannot be passed on. You can never tell anyone what I am about to tell you. If don’t want to hear what I am about to tell you for your own safety then you can leave, forget all about this and continue your life in whatever way you feel is fit, but if you stay then we will be bound together by what you know” Brendan began.
“What do you mean? Bound together?” Madison repeated, confused.
“What I am about to tell you will change everything. Our lives will be intertwined with this knowledge whether you like it or not. It’s whether you want to accept the responsibility of knowing, can you handle that? Because should you tell anyone…“ Brendan replied.
Madison thought for a moment, the curiosity was killing her and her life had been uneventful and normal up until this point. Now though, something had occurred that could possibly change her whole outlook on life and possibly give her the purpose she desperately need to get through the days and nights. She understood that with certain types of knowledge comes a risk, she just had to weigh up whether the risk was worth her knowing.
She examined everything Brendan had said and all the warnings he had given her. The prospect of leaving now and forgetting the conversation and the Skin Crawlers would also mean Madison would have to forget Brendan – and she knew that was one thing she wasn’t ready to give up. The fear or uncertainty she had felt towards him earlier had now turned back to lust, she wanted him more than any other man in the world and the knowledge of what he was meant little to her. So far he was the best thing that had ever happened to her and even if that led to danger, she wouldn’t give him up for the world.
“Yes, I want to know” Madison finally said, agreeing more with her conscious then with Brendan.
He stared at her skeptically for a moment - narrowing his eyes towards her. Madison nodded reassuringly at him, her eyes determine, eager to hear the story of how Brendan became what he was.
“It was 1909; I was 24 years old and living in New York City. I had originally moved to New York to begin a career as an actor. I did a few theatre productions, but nothing big, not big enough to make a name for myself anyway. Eventually, like most actors work dried up. No one wants to employ an actor that had been to every audition and not been successful at everyone. During that time, plays and theater productions had very little money to be made in them. They were mainly for the rich, and most of the wealthy people in New York found the theater eccentric.
After what felt like a hundred rejections from various script writers and directors, I took up a job as a bartender in one of the more local, lower-class bars. It was around this time that I met Gabby and Trace”.
“Trace?” Madison interrupted.
“You kind of met him, tonight at the club? I was talking to him when you first spotted me - remember? The guy with the long brown hair, looks like he should be on one of those male hair dye advertisements on TV? Everyone thinks he colours it! Ha! Have you ever seen a man with natural chocolate brown hair?” Brendan chuckled.
Madison smiled in amusement, her eyes wide with excitement - urging Brendan to continue his story.
“Anyway, Gabby and Trace were just a friendly
face at the bar to begin with, someone to talk too. They spent most nights in the bar as I worked - we had a laugh.
Every six months or so, foreigners would come to the new world, most of them smuggled over by ships. As normal this caused trouble with the locals, not all of them take kindly to foreigners on their land. So, like normal a fight broke out, as a result some of the locals got injured. The gang of foreigners began smashing up the bar and attacking women. We tried to break up the fight but people became scattered, running off in different directions. I chased a couple of men down an alleyway across the street from the bar. They engaged me in a fight and in the madness, as we all scuffled around in the alley, grabbing each other in head locks and throwing punches around - one of them pulled a knife on me. It happened in seconds. I don’t remember quite how, but I remember looking down and seeing the handle of the knife sticking out of my abdomen. In that moment, led in the alleyway waiting for death, everything became clear to me. My life was over and I had done nothing - achieved nothing.
At the very moment I accepted the hand that had been dealt to me and realised all hope was gone, I heard what I thought sounded like an angel’s voice at my side - Gabby” Brendan smiled, his expression was thoughtful but his eyes showed signs of happiness and sorrow at the same time.
Madison couldn’t help but feel slightly envious of the way Brendan talked about Gabby. A part of her knew she had to be thankful of Gabby finding when Brendan when she did or he wouldn’t be with her now, but she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Madison was far from surprised to hear Gabby was a Vampire, from the moment she had clapped eyes on her she had felt there was something not quite right about her.
“That night, Gabby saved me and cursed me at the same time. To be a vampire you have to be near death and an exchange of blood has to occur. They suck your blood and you drink their blood - becoming one with the vampire. Creating another vampire is difficult, not everyone holds the genetic makeup to bond with vampire blood - around 70% of humans die as the disease takes over their body. There’s also a chance, even though it’s a very small chance, around 2% can come back…..unnatural. Not human nor vampire – something completely different”
“And you’re a….normal vampire?” Madison asked carefully trying not to offend him.
“Yes and No” Brendan replied uneasily.
“What do you mean?” Madison asked, confused.
“What do you know about Vampires? What have you heard in films or read in books?” he asked.
“Umm…. The normal stuff, death by sunlight, stake through the heart, holy water, crosses and garlic”
“Pretty basic stuff then - forget what you’ve heard about holy water, crosses and garlic. That’s old wives-tales, religious folks perching to take the side of God. The sun light and stake part is true. Most vampires can’t step into the sunlight without combusting into flames and Vampires can also be poisoned by silver. If they are shot by a pure silver bullet and it is not removed within a few short hours the bullet with poison their blood – killing them slowly and painfully. It’s not a nice way for a Vampire to die” Brendan insisted.
“What did you mean by most vampires?” Madison asked curiously.
“That’s what I like about you, Madison. You’re sharp!” Brendan said chuckling.
Madison smiled back at him, satisfied by his affection for her.
“I’m not like other vampires. When the vampire DNA bonded with my mine it changed something. It created a new evolved species of vampire and it’s not just me, there are five other vampires that have evolved just like me. I was the first. We are not sure why, but there’s just something different with our blood” Brendan said proudly.
“I don’t understand - what do you mean by evolved?” she asked.
“We have advanced in strength, skill and speed. Normal vampires, the older they are the stronger they become, in our case; we were stronger and faster than the oldest vampires around at the point of creation. Some of the same weaknesses remain, stake to the heart and poisoned by silver bullets, but we have evolved so one weakness is no longer a problem…”
“Sunlight?” Madison asked.
“Sunlight... We’ve adapted to walk in the sunlight, built up our immunity so our skin is protected from the UV rays. We can act and look no different from humans. The older generations are restricted to only going out at night - we can venture out during the day, blending in with the humans. To everyone on the outside world we appear human and can only be identified by our brightly coloured eyes. Luckily, my eyes are only a brighter shade of blue so they don’t look too abnormal to humans; some vampires are less fortunate with abnormal shade of purple and red and are forced to wear contact lenses when venturing into the outside world”
“But you drink blood?” Madison shifted nervously at her question.
“Yes. But it isn’t like you think. Films and books portray us to be a blood hungry savage which isn’t the case. Yes there were times when vampires killed humans and feed of the vulnerable, but those times have been over for centuries. When you awake as a newborn vampire you are disorientated and hungry. There are no human emotions - only the instinct to feed.
Newborn vampires are wild, without other vampires for mentors and uncontrolled, they would kill humans. My first six months of a newborn vampire I spent killing peasants and prostitutes - anyone that was vulnerable. It can take up to two years for human emotions to come flooding back, but when they do, it can drive a vampire mad with guilt for the people they’ve killed.
When you change your whole body is sent into mayhem, you mind and body has to reset to its new surroundings. I was fortunate it took only six months for my emotions to come flooding back. It was a tidal wave of remorse, hate, anger and depression, all mixed into one big ball of guilt that I possessed for every person I had killed while I was a newborn. Gabby and Trace were still wild vampires at the time and couldn’t understand my guilt. Uninvolved vampires still struggle with their human side; it doesn’t come as easily to them as it does to us. Trace believes it’s because they lived too long in the wild - killing only to feed. In the first two years of a vampire’s life the disease is in high activity in the body - it changes your mind and soul, allowing the darkness to take you. For some vampires, the darkness consumes you. I was lucky that it didn’t consume me for too long, but a few others like Gabby and Trace, it’s harder to let the humanity back in after they have been consumed by darkness for so long…
I spent the next 48 years in New York feeding off animal blood, while Gabby and Trace continued to feed on the sick and homeless. In 1959 we heard a government was forming - a vampire government. So we moved to London to see what sort of prospects this vampire government would hold for us, this is where I met my Father”
“You’re Father?” Madison asked, confused.
“Well, he isn’t my biological Father, but he’s the closet thing I have to it” Brendan corrected.
Madison nodded, eager to hear more.
“My Father took us in and showed us the correct way to live, so joined the coven - The Vampire coven of London. I found the new way of life uplifting, exhilarating even! But Trace and Gabby found it difficult, Gabby more so than Trace, but still we all settled into our new life in London. There is no such thing as freedom for vampires anymore, as times have changed and humans have overpopulated the world, vampires cannot live outside the covens. Each coven throughout the world abides by set rules which have been in place for over a hundred years. Vampires are forbidden to break these rules; if they do then the penalties can be deadly. One of the more enforced rules is never to kill a human being. Each coven owns a few factories that are scattered up and down England; these factories harvest blood for the coven to survive. The coven pay human’s to donate their blood - of course humans do not know what they are donating their blood for and our employees are told it is for medical research. The human’s earn some extra money and we use the blood to feed. Removing the need to kill humans to survive” Brend
an said, positively.
“But don’t you still want to kill humans?” Madison asked shyly.
“No! When you see a cow, do you want to kill it and start feeding off its flesh?” Brendan laughed.
“No!” Madison said, screwing her face up in disgust.
“Exactly, we have no need to kill human’s to feed, just like you have no need to kill a cow in a field to feed. Our food is in ready supply so we no longer crave human blood in the same way like you have no need to crave the cow, because you have the beef burgers in ready supply” he said happily.
“But you still think we smell… yummy?” she asked confused.
“No, do you think a cow smells yummy? However, I do think you smell yummy” Brendan said beaming a shy smile at Madison.
Madison smiled shyly, as the butterflies swarmed in her stomach.
“Just think as me… as a cuddly bear with fangs” Brendan joked, closing the small distance between himself and Madison. He wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for an embrace. Madison lent her head against his cool, hard chest. Her skin tingled at his touch and she couldn’t hold back the large satisfied smile that crept across her lips. They hadn’t known each other for very long and with anyone else she would have found this type of behavior awkward, but with Brendan it felt right.
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