They had four days left. Banes sighed as he sank down into his seat in the dining hall. Everyone had a healthy glow about them of exercise and good diet.
‘Hey,’ Balewa said, taking a seat beside him, ‘you’re awfully quiet.’
‘I’m just tired,’ he said. ‘All of this training, it’s not what I’m used to.’
‘I’ll bet,’ she said. ‘Nox told me you prefer to hang out with humans.’
‘Well, that was in the past,’ he said, tearing off a chunk of white bread to dip into his bone broth.
‘The recent past, wasn’t it?’ she said. ‘In America?’
‘It was business,’ he said. ‘Nothing else.’
‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘but everyone knows how you got kicked out of Dreyrigr.’
He had overheard the gossip whispered in the showers and at the shooting range. He was the only one from Dreyrigr in the group, Drey Benkowski having been born after the city’s collapse. Second-hand rumours circulated about his expulsion, his family, Cecilia’s birth parents, and about Tycho.
‘So?’ she asked, cocking her head to the side. ‘It’s true, then?’
‘I’m not denying it,’ he said, while from the corner of his eyes he saw Robin’s eyes shift to him. ‘But it was a long time ago; things have changed.’
‘So, what was Dreyrigr like?’ she asked him.
‘A bit like this,’ he answered, ‘only more in caves.’
‘Well, spare us the detail, Intuneric,’ Nox said. ‘C’mon, some of us weren’t around then.’
‘I don’t know what to tell you,’ he said, feeling everyone in the room shift their attention to him. ‘It was a vampire city-state…’
‘And the only one ever of its kind,’ someone shot from down the table. ‘How can you be so blasé about it?!’
‘Well, what do you want to know about it?’ Banes asked. ‘You already know the history.’
‘What was it like to live there?’ Drey asked.
‘Don’t ask him,’ another voice said from the end of the table. ‘He was exiled.’
‘Okay,’ Balewa said, ‘Banes, what did you like about living there?’
Banes slowly chewed on his bread. ‘Um…I suppose…it was safe. The Old Hunters knew that they couldn’t approach the city, so if you stayed in, then you were safe. There were a lot of vampire families, and you don’t really get that now. Lots of vampire kids. I lived in a beautiful house; you weren’t in the caves if you could afford it. It was a great, wooden house, with all of these beautifully carved beams, and covered in heavy, black fabric and leather during the day, then servants would take them all down once night fell, and we would have these amazing views.’
‘And the food?’ Nox asked.
‘Oh yeah,’ he said, ‘there was plenty of it.’
‘But if you couldn’t leave the city, how did you get food in?’ Balewa asked.
‘There were parties which went out and brought humans back,’ Banes said. ‘It was a dangerous job, and they went everywhere. Most of the time, the humans were brought back alive and kept in the caves until it was their turn to be slaughtered. A lot went mad down there. But there was this entire street of markets, with more meat than Benkowski’s ever had. Black eye didn’t exist in Dreyrigr; there was always enough to eat.’
‘Sounds fantastic.’
‘Why on earth did you get yourself expelled from there?’
‘Family problems,’ Banes said. ‘My parents were on the High Council, so it was easy enough for them to expel me.’
‘You knew Tycho Feigrey, didn’t you?’ Rose Bolton asked.
Banes looked down the table and saw that Margaret St John had spoken; she generally took no notice of what was being said around them.
‘Our families knew each other,’ Banes said, ‘but I didn’t really know Tycho that well. He was very proper.’
‘And did you know the Dreors?’ she asked.
‘In the same way I knew the Feigreys and everyone else,’ Banes said. ‘Not very well.’
‘That’s surprising,’ Bolton said. ‘It was a small population; you must have rubbed shoulders.’
‘We didn’t get on,’ Banes said. ‘Like I said, there were family problems.’
‘How could you not get on?’ Bolton said. ‘You were living in Dreyrigr, a vampire paradise.’
Banes laughed, setting aside his plate. ‘It was a place which peaked over a thousand years ago, with a culture and society rooted from before then, and you’re looking at it through a relatively modern lens. You might think it was a vampire paradise, but that didn’t change my relationship with my parents.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Balewa said, patting his arm. ‘We all have problems.’
There was a prickly feeling on his skin, as he hurriedly drank the rest of his blood and left the table. He headed into the dormitory bathroom and took a shower. He knew that the others would be talking about him – a thought that he tried to push out of his mind. Coming here was a mistake. He showered for much longer than needed, until a few of the others began to drift in from the dining hall. He brushed off the looks a few of them gave him, and got into bed. He waited as the chatter subsided with tiredness and everyone climbed into bed. He lay awake as their breaths turned rhythmic and steady with sleep.
‘Hey,’ Balewa whispered from the bunk next to his, ‘are you awake?’
He looked over to her. ‘Take a guess.’
‘It wasn’t right that everyone was needling you,’ she said.
‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘I was kind of expecting it.’
‘But it’s still not right,’ she said.
‘Honestly, don’t worry about it,’ he said.
‘I should try and make it up to you,’ she said, leaning towards him with a cat-like smile. ‘And you look so tired, like you need a relaxation.’
‘Yeah, that sounds great,’ he muttered.
‘These lessons are interesting, and all,’ she said, dropping her voice to just the hint of a whisper, ‘but I’ve never been in an army before, and there isn’t a whole lot of fun.’
‘Well,’ he said, a smile coming to his face, ‘what fun can we do here?’
She put a finger to her lips and raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure…but that storeroom between here and the lounge looks pretty interesting, wouldn’t you say?’
‘You think so?’ Banes said.
Balewa nodded, ‘yeah, I think so. Perhaps I could go first, and you could join me in about ten minutes?’ she said, her gaze going around the room.
‘Sounds good,’ he said, smiling as she silently rose from her bunk. Banes didn’t move for a few minutes, a warm, assured excitement growing inside of him, until he, too, crept quietly away and down to the storeroom, where she was waiting for him in a disused dusty room packed with old chairs, desks and boxes of miscellaneous supplies.
‘These clothes don’t really add to the sex appeal, do they?’ she asked.
‘Do you want me to say something clichéd?’ Banes said, as he moved closer to her.
‘Like?’ she cocked her head to one side again.
‘Like, ‘we should take them off,’’ he said. He noticed for the first time that Balewa had the same basic built as the hunter; they could have been shadows of each other.
‘I miss my skirts,’ she sighed. ‘Skirts and makeup.’
He kissed her; she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer to her. He absently wondered if her mouth and the hunter’s would be the same too. Balewa’s hands had woven themselves through his hair, while his own hands brushed against her collarbones, moving down to caress her chest. Her body seemed small in his hands, as he moved down still to her hips, then to her inner thigh. There was a naturally sweet smell to her, like a summer meadow, mixing with the lingering smell of their sweat and blood, and the dust of the room. He moved to kiss her neck as her legs parted, allowing him closer, so that only their clothes were separating them.
‘I hate these clothes,’ she breathed, h
urriedly taking her top off and throwing it to the floor.
‘Me too,’ Banes said, as she undid her bra and let it drop to the floor. He wasn’t interested in shedding his clothes; this didn’t have to be a highly sensual experience, but as she ran her hands under his shirt and over his chest, he grinned and abandoned it to the floor, before kissing her deeply again and driving his hands into the back of her jeans, taking a firm grasp on her, and pulling her closer with one hand unzipping his fly.
Balewa faded into the hunter, and then back again. He took hold of her breasts, soft, round and white, his fingers stroking across her rosebud nipples, and she moaned, her eyes shut. He doubted that this would be the same with the hunter. It would probably be more exciting. The clandestine element could barely detract from the fact that there was hardly anything erotic about a dusty, slightly chilly, storeroom, as Balewa lay back on top of a broken desk. But she was soft, wet and warm and her fluttery moans were enjoyable.
When they had finished, they dressed themselves again in silence. Balewa was flushed, and kept straightening down her hair. She looked pleased, and although Banes had found it to be average experience, he felt some of the stress, which had been building up over the past week, lifting away.
‘I like your tattoo,’ she said at last, pointing to his hip. ‘The hare one.’
‘Thanks, though it’s a rabbit,’ he said, looking down at the dark silhouette of a running rabbit against his skin. ‘It’s El-ahrairah.’
‘What?’
‘A character from Watership Down,’ Banes said, running a hand through his hair. ‘He’s, like, the rabbit God.’
‘Isn’t that a kid’s book?’ she asked, a smile playing around her lips. ‘Never mind – it’s a cool tattoo, I thought about getting one kind of like that but with a…Banes?’
His gaze had fallen to the desk drawers which had been knocked open as he had fucked her. He had expected it to be empty, but it was packed with dusty, heavy, spiral-bound folders. They were locked on the front, but it was a simple lock Banes was easily able to pick up with a paperclip. He took the folder out of the draw and opened it.
‘You should put that back,’ Balewa said. ‘You could get in trouble.’
‘Who’s going to find out?’ Banes muttered, scanning through the pages. Flight records. He had briefly served a pilot during the Second World War and that was as far as his aviation knowledge went. The entries stopped a year ago, but he could see constant patterns of flights. Aeroplanes coming in from Libya, America, Brazil. Balewa peered over his shoulder.
‘Banes, you shouldn’t be reading this stuff!’
‘They shouldn’t have left it in a storeroom,’ Banes said, flicking through the rest of the pages. Domestic deliveries, to and from the base which ran through to six months’ time, with the deliveries decreasing every two weeks. After that, everything was marked as Bexhill.
‘Bexhill?’ Banes muttered.
‘Bexhill-on-Sea. It’s a town,’ Balewa said, ‘in Sussex, next to Hastings.’
‘The fuck’s in Bexhill?’ he asked.
Balewa shrugged, ‘how the hell should I know? Now come on, let’s head back before someone finds us.’
Banes put the folders back in the desk and shut the draw tight.
* * *
‘Hey,’ Nox said, knocking into him as they walked back from the shooting range, gravel crushing under their feet, ‘there’s going to be a party today.’
‘A party?’ Banes said.
‘Yeah,’ Nox said, ‘in the old barn we pass on our evening runs. It’s a tradition for the recruits to have one on their last day here.’
‘Who says it’s a tradition?’ Banes asked.
Nox shrugged. ‘People.’
‘Won’t we get in trouble for it?’ he asked. No-one had said a word about his and Balewa’s creeping out from the other night.
‘Not if they don’t know,’ Nox said. ‘Besides, we’re meant to be the independent ones here.’
‘Okay,’ Banes said, ‘who’s coming to this party then?’
‘Everyone,’ Nox said. ‘All of us, and some of the standard recruits as well.’
‘And no-one’s going to find out about it?’ he asked, with a raised eyebrow.
‘Well, like I said, it’s a tradition,’ Nox said. ‘The trainers probably look the other way. C’mon, we finish everything early tonight because we’re leaving tomorrow. We’ve been working ourselves to the bone here, and once we get back to London, we’re going straight to work. C’mon, Intuneric, just have some fun. You used to be really fun.’
‘Fine,’ he said, hating the idea of lying in his bunk in the dormitory while everyone else was out somewhere else, ‘I’ll go.’
Nox grinned. ‘That’s my boy.’
That early morning, they sneaked out in odd pairs and trios; Banes was one of the last to go. There was something so childish about the whole situation. There was no way that the Rebirth staff had no idea this was happening, yet everything was done in giggly, hushed tones, and whispers, as they crept away.
The barn was old and rotting on the very edge of the training grounds. It sat on the edge of a hill, and they were forbidden from crossing over to the other side of it. Banes was slightly concerned on his approach up to the barn, where he could see that a fire that had been lit inside it; making the bright spits of orange flame a beacon visible from a great distance, but he could hear the sound of people laughing and talking as they approached, and smelled roasting meat – not human or pork, but something else – the sweet, sharp smell of alcohol, and the smoke from the fire.
‘Sounds like the most fun I’ve had in weeks,’ he said, as they walked up.
‘I told you,’ Nox said, beaming. ‘I mean, it’s pretty basic. The alcohol we had to smuggle in, and whatever food there’s a bonus.’
‘How, and where, did you manage to arrange the smuggling in of alcohol?’ Banes asked.
‘Cleaning supplies,’ Nox said, with a shrug.
There were nearly two dozen vampires in the barn, which Banes was surprised to see still had the framework of a wooden loft, which several people were sitting on. The smoke was streaming out of the missing roof slates from the bonfire, where the body of a deer was being roasted. There was no music, but the cackling of the fire and the chatter of everyone gave a pleasant, sociable atmosphere. There was a metal barrel filled with alcohol, kept as far back away from the fire as possible, which was a rough cocktail of whatever they had been able to get their hands on; the floor beside the barrel was littered with empty bottles of hand sanitiser, antifreeze, and juice.
‘This is great,’ Banes said, grinning.
They picked up plastic cups from the ground and dipped them into the barrel. The juice and soft drinks had done nothing to soften the taste; if anything, the sprinkling of sweetness clashed horribly with the overwhelming taste of raw alcohol.
‘God, that’s revolting,’ Nox choked.
‘It was your idea,’ Banes said, taking another drink of it. ‘At least it’s strong enough to get drunk on.’
‘Thank god for the small mercies,’ Nox said. ‘C’mon, I need to get something to get the taste out of my mouth.’
As they walked over to the deer, Banes noticed that their group was the subject of several curious glances from around the barn, and realised that this was the first time where they and the standard recruits had interacted with each other. Most seemed to have a hungry look on their just-turned faces.
There were a few ancient metal skewers on the edge of the fire to peel off deer meat with without getting burnt.
‘Here,’ one of the standard recruits said, passing one over to Banes, ‘help yourself. It’ll be the worst thing you’ve eaten in weeks.’
Banes raked the skewer over the roasting flesh, taking a seat on the ground next to him, with Nox and Balewa beside him.
‘Intuneric,’ he said, offering his hand to him. The man gave him a hesitant glance, then shook it.
‘Gareth Brooks. And you?’ h
e said, turning his attention to Nox and Balewa.
‘Sanguinis.’
‘Balewa.’
‘You guys had some of this drink yet?’ Brooks asked. ‘It tastes vile.’
Banes grinned, rising his cup and taking a swig. ‘We’re here to get the taste out of our mouths.’
‘Good call,’ Brooks said. ‘Used to be a pretty seasoned drinker myself before I became a vampire, and suddenly it’s nearly fucking impossible. Not that it’s a bad thing, really, but still. So, you’re in the fast-track training? You guys must be pretty special then. You come from old ancient vampire families?’
‘No,’ Banes said before Nox or Balewa could say anything. ‘What about you?’
Brooks scoffed. ‘I was in the army, finished with that, and couldn’t pick myself up the way you’re meant to; couldn’t find a job, ended up scrounging. Thank fuck for vampirism. You guys reborns?’ They shook their heads. ‘Ah, then you wouldn’t get it. But it feels like I’m a full being now. I’m still getting used to it, to be honest, but it’s fucking amazing.’
‘So, do you still have human friends or family?’ Banes asked.
‘We’re still in contact,’ Brooks said, ‘but I don’t see why it’s an issue. This is just nature. Besides, they aren’t the sorts of people who will get eaten.’
‘Could they be?’ Banes asked. ‘Situations can change.’
Brooks gave a non-committal shrug, ‘they can. But as long as they’re willing to put in some hard work and pull themselves up then it won’t be a problem, and if they can’t then who cares?’
‘Do you have more in common with your human family or us?’ Banes asked, his voice sharper then he had anticipated.
‘Fucking hell, Intuneric,’ Nox muttered.
Brooks’s expression froze, ‘I think you’re overstepped your boundaries, mate.’
Banes raised his eyebrows as he took a long drink, and stripped off some venison with his fingers. Around him, people were chatting in groups. The more he drank, the better it tasted. A heat was bubbling under his skin, and by the fire, he was suddenly too hot.
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