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Chapter Seven
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After having been imprisoned with Mina and her aggravating kid brother Michael by the sun for a whole day I am more than happy to see the sun set. In fact, one might even call me euphoric.
I have spent the entire day in their father’s bed, hoping to avoid them as much as possible. I have failed utterly since I have learned far too much about Mina’s life. Michael has had the good taste of staying as far away from me as possible. I do not mind.
Apparently Mina is an art student. She has been studying for some years and is, like any other art student, dreaming of becoming a famous artist. She lives with her father and Michael only to take care of Michael who is still too young live alone. As I had gathered earlier by listening in on the two, their father is business man who travels out of the country a lot. It leaves his kids with a lot of money but little feeling of being loved by their father. I can see how a father would think like that – money is the only currency in modern days that can give people whatever they desire. But had the choice been mine I would have chosen to work a bit closer to home. There is no point in having children unless one can be close to them and love them.
The sun has set now. Darkness is unleashed over London, soon my Brethren will awake and claim London as theirs for the night. I shall have to join them, for I know that my task is not over.
Mina can tell that I am getting impatient and preparing to depart.
“Leaving already?” she asks, disappointed.
“I have to,” I reply. “There are people depending on me.”
“Sounds important,” she says with a childish smile.
I do not know if she is teasing me or not. I smile anyway. She makes me laugh.
I get out of her father’s bed and head for the door. I am still wearing only my pants, though I have noticed that my shoes are standing by the door. That means that I did not look entirely like wild beast when they found me. I put my shoes on and turn to Mina with a smile of gratitude. She looks sad to see me leave. Strange girl, she does not even know me and yet she misses me already. Strangely, I think that a part of me will miss her too.
“Before you go,” she says and picks a bundle of what appears to be leather from a closet, “I thought that you might want this returned.”
I stare perplexed at the bundle for a moment. Then I realise what it is – my coat and shirt. I was not found like this then. Good, being found unconscious with clothing is embarrassing enough.
“Thanks,” I say and accept my clothing.
As I put my shirt on Mina smiles at me. Why I do not know.
“I cleaned them for you,” she informs me.
“Thanks,” I repeat with a smile.
“You might want to patch them up though,” she continues.
“Patch them up?” I ask perplexed.
They look perfectly fine to me, why would I want to—
As I turn my back to the mirror I see that my shirt is almost torn to shreds on the back. When I frantically search my favourite coat for any damage, I find it to be in the same state as my shirt. Shreds of leather are hanging from it like flesh from an open wound. I stare blankly at it. What did this to my beloved coat?
It hits my like a lightning bolt – images from the life I lived before sired. I see my daughter playing with a kite, her fifteenth birthday, happy with family and friend, and then I see her funeral. I see my Sire. Like a broken movie the images continues faster than sound – I see myself at the monastery talking to Sarthimia, something about ‘the Ancients’ and the blood-criers being the result of a disease. I see myself with Ariane, and then I see the Elder slashing my back open. It hurts so badly. I see myself falling. The images slow down. Only scattered images, of what looks to be a hospital and Mina and Michael carrying me, remains. My mind goes numb. I stare blankly into nothingness.
“Are you okay?” I hear Mina’s voice ask from a distance.
Slowly I become aware of my surroundings again. I – I remember everything. How could I have forgotten? Mina gives me a worried look.
I nod and swallow to ease my suddenly dry throat. Then I put my shredded coat on and walk through the door. I can feel her stare sadly into my back as I walk down the stairs. It matters not – not now, not ever. There are other things at hand.
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That bastard! How could I allow myself to be so utterly beaten by an Elder who spends his time flirting with juvenile Reborns? He should not have had any chance whatsoever to knock me down – and on top of that trash my favourite coat!
I am marching furiously from Mina and Michael’s apartment. I know what to do, but I have yet to decide what to do first. I can either go home, and change my clothing first, which would truly benefit my looks, or I can choose to head straight to the Asylaum, pick up my stake and dust that bugger for ruining my baby. I choose the latter.
There are thousand of questions haunting my head as I arrive at the Asylaum. Why did I have that dream about Emily? How could I be beaten so carelessly by an Elder gone bonkers? Is this blood-crying thing truly a disease, if so – am I infected? The last question is the one haunting me the most; he did actually cut me open. If I am infected, how will I find out? This worries me. I appear to be fine and am feeling no worse than before getting beaten, apart from my appetite rising. I shall need to feast on something more human than a beef before this night is over.
Is there a cure to this illness if I indeed am infected, or am I doomed to start crying blood in a few nights? Who would possess this cure if there was one? So far the only sign of cure I have seen is the one I have administered – a good old dusting. Will that be the fate awaiting me if I share my suspicions with anyone? Maybe – I decide not to tell anyone for the time being. First I shall find that bastard and make him regret every move he has ever made since being sired. No one wounds me like that without paying the price – no one.
Ariane is sitting by her desk when I slam her door open and march into her office. She does not look surprised to see me back.
“Thanks for having my back,” I sneer.
“I thought you were a ‘big boy’,” she teases, quoting me from the other night.
Good point. I start to scan her office for the stake that I recall leaving here last time I was present.
“Looking for something?” she asks curiously.
I find it lying next to her usual pile of papers stacked on her desk – it is dusting time.
“I’ll be out,” I state coldly before leaving her office.
I hear her leave her chair and rush to her door. My expression and few words must have made an impact. She shouts after me in the corridor, causing several Brethren around us to take interest in us.
“Wait! Where are you going?”
“Out.”
I find short sentences to describe my mood adequately at the moment. Since I am not lying to her she is unable to report to the Council for being uncooperative, though I find myself not caring about any of that. I have a debt to settle.
I march determinately through the Great Hall, passing it without even blinking an eye. Normally I always stop to admire its beauty.
I have almost left the Asylaum when the black haired underling, whom I have recently come to loathe, catches up with me and stops me. This better be important.
“The Council demands your immediate presence,” he informs me with a smirk.
I stare at him with a blank expression. Had I not been preoccupied with my vendetta, I would have replaced that smirk with the stake I now carry in my inner pocket.
“Later,” I reply, surprising even myself.
“W-what?” the underling stutters, his smirk now vanished into blank nothingness.
He is startled by my reply, and nervous. Nervous as to how the Council will react when he informs them of my defiance. No one has ever denied the Council audience before; their word is law in the Asylaum. From this moment until I find that Elder – I live by no law. I walk away from the underling who appears to be on the verge of crying.
“B-but the Council said—” he attempts.
“I heard you the first time,” I state as I walk away from him. “I’ll speak to them when I return.”
Apart from not saying goodbye to Mina, this was my most foolish move this night. I shall have to pay dearly for my defiance when I return. Aware of this I still leave the halls of the Asylaum and once again prey on the streets of London.
I worry immensely that I am indeed affected by this alleged disease. It would mean losing to a foe I have not yet met. I refuse to give any foe of mine that pleasure. After finishing my hunt and hopefully being pardoned once more by the Council for disappointing them I shall return to Sarthimia. She was the one who first informed me that I should not search for one foe, rather an illness. I have a feeling it is a combination of both – an illness with a source. There is no smoke without fire – someone is spreading the disease to the Brethren of the Asylaum. It started with newly Reborns but is obviously working its way up.
I sit firmly on the roof of a small building, scouting for my target. I feel my body tremble slightly. It could be the cold – or the hunger. The latter shall have to wait until I am done with this, though it appears unwise to attack a foe that has beaten me once when not even at full strength. I do not intend to attack him head on. I intend to startle him and cut him in the back – just like he did to me.
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An hour later there is still no sign of him and my trembling is getting worse. I have moved to another block, hoping for better luck here. It is cold and I feel the autumn winds enter through the holes in my leather coat.
“You look like crap.”
I did not notice him getting up here. He stands behind me with his velvet coat dancing in the wind. I envy him – it is not torn to shreds.
“Don’t we all?” I ask rhetorically.
I attempt to flash a smile but it comes off as if I am making faces at him.
“What are you doing up here?”
“Since you managed to find me, I bet you already know,” I reply.
He looks at me and sighs.
“You still have a choice,” he says sincerely. “You can still return to the Council, apologize for being disrespectful and pray that they forgive you.”
He really cares for me. It is almost touching. I stare into the empty night of London.
“I’m not much for praying,” I say after a while.
We stand in silence for a moment.
“I shall return once I have finished this,” I add.
“By then it will be too late. There’s no telling what the Council will do to you then,” he raises his voice.
I look into his brown eyes. By simply being here, he risks of earning the same fate as I when the Council will get hold of me.
“I know, Jackston, I know.”
He looks at me with begging eyes, praying that I will change my mind. I will not. It is too late. The choice has been made I shall face the consequences soon enough – but first I shall reap the reward of it.
“Leave,” I beg him.
He leaves me in silence with his head tilted down in disappointment. He knew that he could not persuade me, he knew from the moment he saw me. And yet he tried – impressive, even for him.
Forgive me for doing this, Jackston. But there is no telling in what might happen to me if I do not. If I am infected by this beast, the answers to a possible cure are probably found on that very beast. If I am wrong – at least I will have gotten my revenge, and thusly earned myself a fast death by the Council for defying them. Suits me well; I would rather be dusted for being me than turn into a monster and end up hurting someone I care about.
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Forty five minutes later I sense vibrations in the alley behind a human bar. Still skulking on a rooftop, I am having some difficulties seeing every detail in the alley, but there is definitely someone down there. Adding up the vibrations and the creepy environment I do not even waste a moment to second guess myself. I plunge down into the shadows of the alley as I remove my knife from my coat. I swiftly decide that dusting him is letting him off to easy. As soon as I see the contours of his body I throw my knife straight into his back. Despite my trembling I get a clean hit – it must be the adrenaline.
My victim drops moaning to the ground. It is him – it is definitely him. He is lying on the ground gasping in pain, trying to drag himself away from me with his claw-like nails. My knife is embedded in his lower spine – it has split it in two. He does not have long to live. I better make good use of the time.
“What are you?” I demand as I turn him around.
He glares at me with his white eyes. Blood his pouring out his eyes as I speak, though not nearly as much or fast as it is gushing out the wound in his back.
“Who made you?” I shout, desperate for an answer. “Where did you catch this illness?”
He looks to be in utter pain as he clinches his eyes in a horrified expression. Good.
“Death,” he hisses. “Mistress.”
Those are his dying words.
“Mistress?” I scream desperately as I attempt to smack life back into his lifeless body. “What do you mean by that?”
Behind me I hear something move, but as I turn around I see only a small pool of blood where my foe was located before I stabbed him. It is then I realise what he was doing when I interfered – he was creating another one.
When I plunged into the alley I saw not one, but two figures down here. I figured that the second one was another victim of his, but victims do not move, especially not when dead. Either way, his creation is gone now. This means that my task is far from over. Who knows how many of them are out there, spreading the disease to others?
I feel my trembling increase. My adrenaline is subsiding and my attack has taken some of my strength – more strength than the blood of a beef could possibly give. I must feed – now.
With no answers to whether I am infected or not, and no victims around for me to feed on, I find myself in a desperate situation. The only possible source I have of blood is lying in front of me with my knife sticking out of its back. If I am not already infected I am guaranteed to be so if I were to drink its blood. But what choice do I have – if I do not drink now I am sure to die.
I plunge my teeth deeply into his neck and suck him dry, before he dusts in my arms. I will regret this, but there is nothing else to be done. I feel my trembling subside as his blood fills my veins. My strength returns to me and I am already feeling better. Moments later I grin with pleasure as I feel his blood fuse with mine. I feel stronger than ever. The blood of two Elders is now flowing in my veins – mine and the blood-crier’s.
It is common knowledge that if a vampire drinks the blood of another vampire they inherit their power. This is no surprise since the key to our power lies in our blood. It is also why the Asylaum exists – to stop the Brethren from killing each other off in quest for power. But to think that it would feel this good to devour the blood of a Brethren, monster or no monster.
I do not even remember why I hesitated to drink. This feeling – it is incredible. I feel my body grow new muscles, my eyes sharpen and my hearing grow more acute. I feel – invincible.
To think that the Council would refuse us this utterly pleasurable sensation. I grin to myself before bursting into a maniacal laughter. For the first time in a very long time I can honestly say that I feel good.
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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
