Symbiosis: A Vampire Psycho-Thriller

by Louise Atkins

  ‘We’re going on a train next, not a tram. To the coast.’ As he said it, he wondered, whether, after all this build up, their destination would sound rather unimpressive.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Really. It’ll take about three quarters of an hour. The trains are pretty fast.’

  ‘But I thought the land outside the Districts, that it was all still like it was during HaemX. That it wasn’t safe.’

  She halted. His hand lost its contact with hers. He stopped too.

  ‘Some of it, yes. But you won’t see it.’

  ‘What do you mean? We’ll have to go through it.’

  ‘I’ll show you, when we’re on the train, if you really want me to.’ She had her head on one side and was twirling a strand of hair around her fingers. Lucas continued, ‘It is safe though. You could get off the train anywhere and be safe. Not that you’re allowed too. The train doesn’t actually stop until we get to the sea.’

  ‘And do lots of people go?’

  ‘They do. Trains only run once a week – on a Saturday. Last train tonight is at ten, but they run through the night as well in the summer.’

  They were on another platform now, with about twenty or thirty other people. The trains were small but their regularity meant they wouldn’t need to wait long. Another couple of minutes and they’d be on.

  ‘You’ve been there before, right?’

  ‘Yes, but not for a long time. I like it.’

  ‘Does anyone live there?’

  ‘No. But there are shops, leisure places, that kind of thing. People just go for the day. I think the Security Forces patrol there during the week, but I don’t know for sure.’

  The train arrived. Good. It was two carriages. They could find some space on their own. A few people got off. He noted the presence of Security Forces officers in both carriages. They were the first to be at the door at the rear of the train. He extended his hand towards the interior.

  ‘Oh. It’s sort of like the tram.’ Emily was looking through a glass door into the carriage. Lucas reached past her and swiped his credits card across a panel at the side and the door opened to admit Emily, and then shut behind her. He watched her turn, bewildered. He swiped his card once more and the door slid obligingly open again.

  The seats were all arranged in groups of four around a table, two facing the front of the train, and two the back. Emily slid into a seat facing forward and looked out of the window. They were on the opposite side to the platform, but were still surrounded by the Industrial District.

  The train moved off. It didn’t take long to gather speed. And the speed was all part of the deception. Outside, the countryside flashed past. The speed gave the impression of green, fields, trees, all under a grey winter sky. The windows, he knew, were enhanced glass, specially designed to make colours true, but also to hide. It was perfect. Of course.

  Emily sat back in her seat and said, ‘It’s lovely out there. Even today, when it’s all grey and cold and getting darker.’ It was as if she were echoing his thoughts. Lucas nodded. He’d only share what he knew if she asked. He had no right to do otherwise. She continued,

  ‘It is real isn’t it?’ She hesitated. ‘Only, I’d heard it’s not like that. That it’s horrible, terrible. That they just burnt everything after HaemX. They sealed up all the hospitals, all the houses with the bodies and burnt it all.’

  And she was right. That was exactly what had been done in many, many areas. And it had been horrible. Worse than horrible. The stench had been almost as bad as when the air had been full of the dead, the decaying dead. But, eventually, it had blown away. Like the memory it now was.

  Lucas didn’t speak for a moment, then carefully said,

  ‘That’s what history says happened.’

  Emily stared out of the window again.

  ‘But, there’s something else isn’t there. Something you’re not saying.’

  His silence was her answer.

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘It’s not anything bad.’

  ‘Something for our own good then?’ she proposed.

  ‘I guess so.’

  Where was this going to go? Lucas wondered. Everything had suddenly become coloured too brightly. It felt as if his decision to share was on a spinning coin. Heads or tails. Credits cards didn’t allow for the laws of probability. It was something she’d know absolutely nothing about, he realised.

  ‘Tell me then.’

  That was twice. And it really wasn’t anything bad. The fault was his for giving it unnecessary drama. She would probably think nothing of it. She was used to the government protecting her. It was her world. She hadn’t seen what he had; their lives were not the same.

  ‘It’s quite clever actually,’ Lucas said, the admiration genuine, an attempt to dispel the seriousness surrounding them. ‘I’ll show you.’

  He moved to sit next to her and to ensure that his back was to the Security Forces Officer.

  ‘Look carefully,’ he said. She obeyed. ‘In a minute,’ he continued, ‘keep looking. You’ll see a flicker.’

  ‘There! I saw it. What is it?’

  ‘It’s a gap.’

  ‘A gap?’ Emily echoed.

  ‘In the landscape. It’s where a town was. A town that’s still there. Not been levelled and cleaned and made ready for the new world. For our world,’ Lucas added.

  ‘So what’s the flicker then? I don’t understand.’

  ‘It’s a film. Projected onto the windows for the duration of the gap. The slight flickers are the starts and ends.’

  She was silent, still staring out of the window.

  ‘The rest of it, that’s real though.’ Lucas offered. Emily nodded, kept staring.

  He moved back to the other side of the table. Partly reluctant, but partly glad; his view of her was better from opposite. She frowned.

  ‘How come you know all this and I don’t?’

  Her words forced him deeper into his seat. He was silent, his mouth not betraying his hurricane mind. She didn’t know. How could he explain? Explain that he’d been here when the countryside was still alive, when he was still alive. How could he explain and not tell her the truth? He knew he didn’t want to tell her. He knew he’d have to, but not yet, not yet. Even though they’d only just met properly, he didn’t want anything to change; he didn’t want to jeopardise this feeling that she gave him. The thirst and hunger. The life.

  When he didn’t answer immediately, she saved him:

  ‘I know. It’s because you’re an architect. I expect part of your job is Joint Government business. Top secret, part of some great plan and all that.’ Did her voice contain a note of hope at that thought?

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Just tell me one more thing,’ Emily said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The seaside. It’s not… not engineered. It’s real. From before?’

  ‘Yes. It certainly is.’ His smile was sincere and contained more than a slight measure of relief.

  The train station was a little way from the sea. And for once, Lucas was glad that the government had designed this ‘leisure destination’ in such a way. It hid the surprise. He realised he’d not been here with someone who’d never experienced it before. This would be the first time he’d been here with anyone. He usually came on his own to take pictures. He had his camera with him now in fact. Would she allow him to take one of her? Guilt at his stolen pictures invaded him. He pushed it away. They were gone. Any picture he took today would be genuine.

  The darkness that was gathering was being kept at bay by a string of lampposts, each pool of light nearly touching the next, but still maintaining a perfect spotlight on the pavement. Until that perfection was broken by careless people, that was; Lucas wished he could make them all disappear so it could just be him and Emily.

  She was looking around her now. She had done her coat up, pulled her gloves and hat back on. Her breath was frozen fairy dust encircling her. He’d forgotten it would be colder here
.

  ‘Which way to the sea?’ Emily asked, turning to look at him.

  ‘Follow the lights,’ Lucas said and took her hand.

  Forty Three

  They emerged from the covered tunnel that led from the station into narrow cobbled streets. He heard Emily gasp and knew why. They’d done well, those entrusted to recreate this. It seemed they’d taken all the elements that had made up every picture postcard and combined them into one perfect location. It could have been an over-the-top disaster, but, somehow, it was just right.

  The road they walked along now was narrow and was lined with single storey buildings. If he’d been able to go in full daylight, Lucas wasn’t sure how the mix of blues, pinks, creams and whites that the buildings were painted would have affected the senses, but now, dulled by lamplight, it was muted candy. Each building was fronted by a large window, with a door to the left or right of it. The patterning seemed random, but Lucas knew it wouldn’t have been.

  The road meandered, eventually, to the sea, but again, had been planned to avoid giving away the view until the last minute.

  ‘Look at this.’ Emily caught his arm and dragged him towards a shop window. It was a mock-up of the beach itself, made entirely from shells. All of which were available for purchase, Lucas had no doubt.

  ‘Let’s go in,’ Emily continued. ‘I need a souvenir. I feel like I want to buy something from every shop. She looked up at him; it was the first time he’d seen her eyes glitter with something other than tears.

  ‘I might just wait here. I’m not sure I can handle another shopping experience so soon after my last one’

  The night that had gathered and deepened even as they had walked from the train bathed Lucas’s skin. The light he’d been in hadn’t hurt him permanently, but it hadn’t been comfortable either. He needed this darkness. The ability to tolerate a little daylight had been bred into his kind over the centuries. All part of the Committee’s grand vision. There’d been some cruel experiments Lucas knew, before his time, way before. The Committee as it had been then thought they’d managed full tolerance to a winter sun. The tests had failed. Left dust piles too quickly for the results to even need measuring, or any further discussion.

  He turned his face to the infinity above him and luxuriated. The coolness stroked his skin, drawing out any heat that remained. Any ending by sunlight would be quick, but it would be full of burning hurt. It had never been an ending that appealed to Lucas and he’d only known one vampire who’d ever chosen that route out. For that vampire, eternity had not been the blessing he’d imagined it to be. Lucas shuddered.

  Emily emerged, eager to show her memento. It lay on her gloved palm, seeking his approval somehow.

  She’d found a shell, no bigger than a couple of centimetres across. It was made from a golden metal and the detail moulded into it, the curves and swirls, shone in the lamplight.

  ‘It’s pretty isn’t it? Just what I wanted.’

  ‘Good choice,’ Lucas said.

  ‘I’m glad you like it. I’m going to put it on …’ and then her words faded and the excitement in her smile dimmed a little. ‘I’m going to keep it safe,’ she finished.

  What could that have been about? Lucas wondered. Whatever it was, he watched her almost physically shake it off as she stepped away from him slightly and towards the trickle of other people heading down the street.

  ‘Are you ready for the sea now?’ he asked.

  This hadn’t been how he’d played it in his head. The imagined perfection had seen them ambling between the shops, him being witty and entertaining, her perhaps taking his arm. It was all steeped in sepia too, he thought ruefully. Instead, here they were, almost at marching pace, not really speaking, but she was laughing as she led the way.

  They outstripped most other people, had to dodge around some heading in the opposite direction.

  ‘It’s just around the next corner,’ he said. She stopped, looked up at him for a second and then said,

  ‘Come on then!’ She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run.

  They emerged and had just about enough momentum to crash themselves into the metal barrier separating the path from the drop to the beach.

  Lucas wondered at first if she wasn’t speaking simply because she was out of breath. But, as he tore his own eyes from the rhythm of the sea, he realised that it was that which had captured her and stolen her voice. He leaned next to her on the barrier and just let her be.

  ‘It’s …’ she began, then stopped. He did not prompt her. The dark glass of the sea would give her words to tame it, or not. The wind was catching the crests of the waves and claiming them for its own. He sucked air into his lungs. He could taste the salt. It, and the cold, bit at his insides, but he still wanted more. He could feel the dampness on his skin.

  The moon was not perfect, not a full moon, but that would have been too much. It hung low in the sky, enjoying its own reflection in the black mirror that lay below. A vampire, like him. Like him, only the absence of the sun’s blast released it.

  His left hand closed about the camera in his pocket. His right was still on the barrier in front of them. Still just touching Emily’s.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ she finally managed, looking up at him. ‘I could never have imagined this. I’ve seen it on the Net, on the entertainment channels, even in photographs, ancient ones of course, but this, it’s so …’ she hesitated. ‘It’s so alive. It’s like something just fundamental. Like… like breathing, or a heartbeat. Makes it seem like the world will just keep on, no matter what.’ She stopped. He was watching her watching the sea. Her eyes dropped to the solid darkness of the sand below them. She gave a low laugh.

  ‘Sorry. Just ignore me. Talking rubbish.’

  ‘No.’ He nodded. ‘Not rubbish.’ Emily shrugged and did not look at him.

  A film played in his head, sepia tones again tinting reality. In it, he turned to her, used a gentle caress to turn her face to his, lowered his lips to hers. They would be expectant of course, they kissed and everything was finally as it should be.

  In the real world however, he did nothing. Nothing except close his fingers tighter around the camera in his pocket. He drew it out – maybe he could capture the view, if not the moment.

  The slight clang as he positioned the camera on the railing seemed to draw Emily’s attention back to him.

  ‘I think it’ll work well if I put it on a long exposure. A flash will just ruin it,’ Lucas said.

  ‘Wow – a professional photographer as well as an architect.’

  ‘It’s just a hobby.’ Now it was his turn to shrug.

  ‘If it turns out okay,’ she paused, ‘will you, well, can I have a copy?’

  ‘Of course. If it turns out all right.’ Now they were finally facing one another.

  Lucas forced his attention back to the camera, adjusted a few controls he didn’t really need to. Hoping he was displaying the expected professional manner, he pressed the shutter and stood back.

  He could feel Emily’s eyes on him, a smile, expectant and slightly teasing, on her lips. He considered further comments about light, possibly a historical reference to the aperture that cameras of the past had included, then decided against it.

  A dull, rather insignificant click signalled the picture captured forever, and then Emily was closer to him, eager to see the results. He obliged and she nodded appreciatively.

  ‘Will you mail to me? Then I can put it on my computer.’

  ‘I can do that.’

  ‘How far can we walk along?’ Emily had turned away, a sudden gust of wind whipping her hair.

  ‘As far as the lights. There’s a walkway up to where they end.’

  She turned back to him, accompanied by another gust of wind. It blew her hair and her smile sparkle towards him. One hand flew to her head to keep her hat in place. It was cliché perfect. He captured it.

  ‘Hey! That’s not fair. I bet I look awful!’ Emily made an attempt to control her hair but the wind kept
snatching it. ‘Not fair at all.’

  ‘Do you want to see it?’ He offered her the camera.

  ‘No. Definitely not. I think you should delete it. Straight away.’

  Lucas laughed and shook his head. He’d known as soon as he’d taken it that it would be what he called ‘a keeper’. That digital photography made mistakes so instantly erasable was one of its benefits. But that picture, he knew, had simply caught her glow.

  ‘Come on. Let’s go. I want to see what’s over there,’ Emily said.

  He caught up to her and was surprised when she slipped her arm through his as they continued along the promenade.

  They reached the end and turned to stare at the sea some more. It was only after about five minutes that Lucas, although enjoying Emily’s proximity to him, realised she was actually shivering.

  ‘I’m sorry. You’re freezing. Let’s go back.’

  ‘It’s okay. Just a couple more minutes. It’s so beautiful.’

  Here the waves crashed into the angles made by the end of the promenade and the bottom of the cliff. Lucas moved to stand behind her. Slipped his arm around her shoulders. Just to keep her warm. Just for that. He felt her tense for a moment, and then settle back into him.

  ‘I’d love to come here again,’ Emily said. They were now sitting on leather sofas in a bar that they had passed on the way back up the promenade. Their sofa was only separated from the ocean by a plate glass wall. Without its soundtrack, the moving water seemed diminished somehow.

  Emily’s hands were curled around a mug of hot chocolate that had a layer of whipped cream so thick that steam was struggling to escape. It matched his own. Her cheeks still carried that wind-chaffed blush, although she’d removed her hat and had excused herself to brush her hair. It gleamed at him once more. Lucas couldn’t decide if he preferred it that way or the way it had been, as it was, in fact, in his photograph.

  He grinned at her, and it was a grin he realised, not simply a smile.

  ‘I’m glad you like it.’

  ‘I love it.’ Emily paused, lazily carved at the topping of cream with a long-handled teaspoon before continuing. ‘I was going to say that I wanted to go back home and tell everyone about this place, but then I thought that maybe it’s better that people don’t know about it. That it’s kind of better as a secret.’