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Chapter Eleven
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I stand on the roof of my manor, gazing over London by night. Twenty two hours of my time given by the Council has passed. Though I have gotten closer to an answer, closer by stating that Jackston is responsible, I have this feeling that is gnawing on my mind, telling me that I am mistaken. It is obvious that Jackston is somehow involved since he was the first Brethren I have seen act out of character before turning. But to go as far as blame him for this entire thing I believe is a stretch. I do no know why – I would gladly hold him responsible for everything, especially after what he did to Mina, but I do not. I blame him for what I know he did and postpone the rest of the judging until I am certain.
“The source is in every vampire.”
I think about one of the last things he told me before he turned. What did he mean by this? Is it even true, or is it another lie to manipulate me? He has clearly been lying to me for a long time. Had he not, I am certain that I would have noticed his killing tendencies and any hints of him beginning to weep blood. Has he infected every vampire with the disease, or does it mean something else?
Downstairs Mina is resting in my guest room. I did what I had to do to save her – I broke my vow to the Guidance. Without me she would have died. Of course, without me she would not have been put in a situation where a choice like that had to be made. She is healing nicely, as expected from a Reborn, but I fear that she will never forgive me when she awakes. I have not told her about her father and I fear that I do not have the heart to tell her about it even as she awakes.
Some Brethren say that the soul of a being is part of a being’s blood. They like to make the connection since it is the blood that grants them power, and since some of them are more or less religious believers they also think that the soul grants power. Thusly they prefer to combine the two, trying not to confuse themselves. Although they, like every other religious person, end up confused about their beliefs anyway, I consider the possibility as I stand here beneath the evening sky. I wonder if it is possible that part of Mina’s father’s soul recides in me. I think not. But one thing I do know – her blood ties to her father will never be stronger. By being his daughter, part of him is already a part of her, but since some of the blood I used to sire Mina with comes from her father, he has become an even greater part of her.
Moving downstairs, I see that Mina is still sleeping. Poor thing, her body must require a lot of rest to heal. Understandable, few humans survive a fall from a four story building – she did not. Had I not mixed my blood with hers she would not still be breathing. Yet I worry of what horrible fate I have doomed her to – the Council has not approved of her Rebirth, which is a necessity when siring a human. And though I know that this was the only possible choice, I doubt that the Council will see things my way, especially since I am about twenty six hours from being executed myself. Have I only postponed that which is inevitable? If the Council finds out about her existence they will undeniably rid of her instantly. I shall have to bring her somewhere safer than my manor once she is awake – she can be found too easily here.
I have not checked my answering machine for two nights – with good reasons. Besides, it is normally Jackston who calls me, and since he and I are not on speaking terms I do not expect a call from him. There is probably little else but hisses coming from him at the moment anyway – nothing I prefer listening to. To my surprise there is still a message on the machine. It is from Ariane.
“It’s Ariane. Have you lost the ability to speak? I have not heard from you in two whole nights. Don’t make me report your absence to the Council. Come to my office as soon as you hear this, or I’ll make you regret it.”
Strange, she appears unaware of my predicament with the Council. I find this odd. It should suit the Council’s interests to keep their underlings informed of activities concerning them. But I do not blame them – had the choice been mine I would not have kept her in the loop either. The Lords did not mention anything about me having to keep in touch with Ariane during my forty eight hours of investigation. I therefore decide not to contact her. I delete the message with a grin. I truly dislike that woman. Partly because she gives me the creeps with her pale, almost white, blond hair and her unhealthily bright eyes, and partly because she whipped Jackston just by having him look at her once.
Jackston, where are you now? What did this to you? What did you mean by telling me that the source is in every vampire? I pray that you did what you did by force and not by choice, for if you did I swear that I will kill you. I might kill you even if you were forced – I have yet to decide.
Having fed Mina some of my blood, I realise that I am suddenly hungry again. It is not a throbbing hunger like the other night, nor is it as bad as a normal vampire would feel after having sired another. I give the credit to my two latest victims, whose blood is flowing in my veins. Still, I am hungry. I would hate to leave Mina unprotected while I search for a snack, but by the looks of it she will be asleep a while longer and the only person who knows of her existence but me, is Jackston and Michael. Jackston I can sense coming from far, had he approached – he is like hurricane, leaving no object at peace with the vibrations emanating from him. And Michael is highly unlikely to show up here, though I suspect he has learned about what happened to their apartment. In fact, anyone who reads the newspaper should know.
Though the newspaper does not speak of vampires, but of a gas explosion I am concerned as to whether this is truly what the police believes. An explosion could very well have caused the hole in the wall which Jackston and I created, but to think that it would explain why only two windows in the apartment were broken and why there was no burned furniture, is unlikely. Perhaps Jackston has juggled their minds, or maybe the Council learned of the incident and covered it up. Or maybe the explanation lays elsewhere. It is not a major worry of mine though. First I must get Mina to safety, wherever that might be, and then I must spend the last of my time searching for an answer and perhaps Jackston. If I do not, Mina will loose her Sire far sooner than I lost mine.
I feed on a common thug a few blocks from my manor – I do not wish to be far away from Mina. I found him mugging a local drugstore with a revolver. As he dashed off with the little money he had scored, I ‘accidentally’ bumped into him and caused him to drop his loot. He was rather angry, to say the least. However, I do not think that having bumped into him justifies him pointing a revolver at me. I proved this point by crushing his throat and watch as he slowly suffocated. Then I sank my fangs into him to ease my hunger. I feel much better now. Violence usually has that affect on me. I have never known why – I recall myself as a peaceful person when I was human. I suppose that blood has a soothing effect on every vampire.
I return to the manor as soon as I have disposed of the body. Opening the front door I freeze – there is someone moving inside. I hear movement. Wasting not a moment, I slam the door open and rush into my home. I hurry swiftly from room to room, relying on my hearing to find the source of the sound. I reach the guest room and hesitate for a moment before slamming that door in too. She is sitting in her bed, studying her pale hands – looking more beautiful than ever.
“What happened?” she asks with an anxious tone.
She turns to me with her green eyes shining even brighter than before. Though concern hides in them I am enthralled by just a mere glance at them. It is as if everything else has lost meaning and all that matters are those bright eyes, gazing into my very soul. She has gotten pale; vampirism tends to do that to the body. At least at first, when the body lacks blood and every ounce of blood in her is busy trying to turn her frail human body into that of a vampire. Adding colour to the skin is the least of her body’s concerns for now. I hope that she will remain this pale forever – she has never been more beautiful. Though I am not attracted to her, I find her newly found paleness suiting her persona.
“Where am I?” she continues with the same worried tone.
I approach her carefully, not wishing to startle her. But I know that she is already aware of my presence. Even newly Reborn has the ability to scan their surrounding, often unintentionally at first.
“You’re at my home,” I say gently. “I thought I would repay the favour by taking you in.”
She smiles faintly, but is too scared to keep that smile longer than a moment. I imagine she is trying to remember what happened the other night when her apartment was ruined. She is going through a lot. Seeing her stare blankly into the wall bothers me. I know that this is a hard time for her, but I fear that I must rush this phase along. There is no time to let her ease into the change now – it will have to be dealt with later.
“What happened?”
This is obviously the most urgent matter to her. Her memory of the night is faint, just as every Reborn’s when they try to recall their siring. Strangely I seem to recall mine better than most.
“You were attacked,” I reply sadly.
My remark makes her turn away from the wall and look at me with her mesmerising eyes again. I am all of the sudden more interesting again. This since I appear to have the answers she seeks.
“By who—” she starts off, but then changes her mind. “—what?”
I sigh and look at her with guilt.
“By someone I thought I knew.”
She stares blankly at me, as if she did not understand a word coming out of my mouth. I decide to tell her everything, leaving out only the fate of her father. I am not yet ready to inform her of my, then unknowing, betrayal.
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Two hours later she is not sure whether to laugh or cry. She stares at me in disbelief. After some reflections on what I have just told her, she appears stunned. Who can blame her?
“So,” she begins, “you’re a vampire?”
I nod.
“So are you, as of tonight,” I state.
“Right,” she says. “And there are many others like you?”
“Us,” I correct her.
“Yeah, whatever,” she shrugs, not willing to accept her fate yet.
“There are,” I agree. “A few hundred of our kind lives beneath London in a magnificent structure that we refer to as ‘the Asylaum’.”
“And no humans know?”
“Not that we are aware of,” I smile. “It would not benefit either of our races. I‘m sure you understand.”
She nods in silence, still not willing to fully believe my words. Looking first at her pale hands and then at the bookshelves surrounding the room, I am sure that she is beginning to see the truth. The world looks not the same to a vampire as it does to a human. This, I believe she is realising at this very moment.
“The books,” she says in amazement, “I can sense the books.”
I smile at this. She is embracing my gift to her, just as I had hoped.
“Not just sense,” she continues. “I can almost hear them move, even though they are standing still.”
Impressive – her senses are keen for a newly reborn. I wonder if she has reaped the fruits of my enhanced blood. If so, she is likely to become a truly powerful vampire in time. To think that she actually has the power to hear a tiny breeze through the pages of a book as a Reborn at this age amazes me.
“I can almost taste them too,” she continues to marvel.
I smile at her like I would smile to my daughter, had this gift been given to her. Mina is truly the spitting image of her. I pray that my gift to her will not turn out to be a curse. I could not bear knowing that I had taken the life of a young woman by turning her into a monster. She is too beautiful for that.
“What else can I do?” she asks eagerly after having scanned the entire room with her newly enhanced senses.
“I don’t know,” I smile. “You’ll have to find out.”
She has a lot to learn. I have a lot to teach her. I only hope that I will live long enough to be of use.
“You look worried,” Mina remarks.
“I am,” I admit. “Do you remember the Council I spoke of?”
“I do,” she says. “The vampire Lords that are after you – the ones so powerful that no other vampire dares to defy them?”
“Indeed.”
I look away from her for a moment, knowing that I am not a good actor. I have not been completely honest with her. She does not know anything about the disease that I may have passed on to her. It is another thing that I am feeling too guilty about to share. Besides, I do not wish to worry her if I turn out to be wrong. I hope I am – for both of our sakes.
“They will come for us,” I continue. “Once they learn of your existence they will execute both of us for my betrayal against the Guidance.”
“Can’t you simply lie to them?” she asks.
She is so young – and so naïve.
“It doesn’t work like that. They are probably already aware,” I inform her. “I must take you somewhere safe.”
“What about you?” she asks.
“I shall go talk to the Council and pray for forgiveness,” I lie.
I know now what I must do. I must hide Mina until this is over. Should I fail I must have her shipped out of the country. If there had been time I would have sent her away now, but I know there is not. Besides, I want her nearby so that I can protect her, though she might be in greater danger with me around than when abroad. Ironically I choose to obiey the Guidance that says that a Sire is not to leave its Reborn until the Reborn has learnt of the Guidance and Asylaum. And though Mina has learnt of them, she is far from ready to be out there on her own.
Mina looks sadly at the foot of the bed as she realises something.
“What about Michael? Where is he?”
I stare at the very same spot as she does.
“I don’t know.”
She lowers her head. I can tell that she worries greatly for him. I cut her off just as she is about to ask me an obvious question.
“I shall search for him,” I promise.
This is not a lie. Though I do not like Michael I feel that is my responsibility to bring him to safety, partly since I killed his father and partly because I smashed up his home while defending his sister from my former best friend. I truly did a lousy job doing so.
Mina nods gravely at my promise.
“If there is time,” she adds, “could you search for my father too?”
I could predict her question, but I could never predict the grief and guilt it would cause me.
“I can,” I lie.
Her question makes me realise that I cannot hide the truth from her forever. She will find out about her father sooner or later. I fear the day she does. I fear what she will do to me, or anyone else who has the misfortune of being nearby when she is informed. But at the moment it is not those people’s health I am concerned about – it is Mina’s.
There is still no place where I can keep her safe. Here, both Jackston and the Council can find her, at her apartment the police are everywhere, and police officers ask questions. I reconsider the alternative to send her abroad just as I remember something. It is like an echo in my mind, deafening my other thoughts.
“Remember – return to us when you have need of us.”
“I have need of you,” I whisper.
“What?” Mina asks curiously.
“Nothing,” I say. “Get dressed. We’re leaving.”
She puts on the clothing I have given her without a word. When she is done she turns to me, wearing a pair of black pants, high heel boots, a black and red top and a brown leather jacket to keep her warm. It suits her a lot better than the pink pyjama she wore before I sired her.
“Where are we going?” she asks, knowing that this is no time for chit-chat.
“Someplace safe,” I say, and pray that I am not lying.
We head to the bottom floor of my three story manor and I tell Mina to wait for me here. I move down the stairs to my basement where I stash a few things for emergencies. In a corner I have a locked metal casket standing. I unlock it, then I remove my coat and place it on the wooden table behind me. I have had the good taste of changing into clothes that are both clean and in one piece. I have still chosen to wear a leather coat though. It is another cold night and the coat offers both warmth and some protection from sharp objects.
From the casket I remove a selection of small throwing knives which I place on a strap around my right thigh. I hope that I will not have use of them. I also equip myself with an extra stake and, naturally, my knife. I am about to leave the basement when I notice the gun I picked from the police officer the other night, lying on a shelf. I study it for a moment. Guns are not my kind of weapon, but I prefer to wield a gun over being killed. I put it inside my coat. Upstairs Mina awaits my return impatiently.
“We’re leaving,” I say as I see her stare at me.
It is going to be a long ride.
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Chapters
Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Epilogue
