by Stead, Nick
“The struggle between our kinds lasted for centuries before men fought back, and out of all that bloodshed the Slayers were born,” Lady Sarah said. “We were forced to ally out of necessity but many vampires were unhappy fighting alongside a race they mistrusted, and in many cases hated. Some are of the opinion that you are little more than beasts, thinking us better than your race. Some see you as allies and a few even as equals, but you would do well to stay clear of older vampires who remember the battles long past. They nurture the most hatred for your race.”
“And what about you, do you consider us as equals?”
She flashed her fangs in a predatory smile. “You would not be here if I did not. I may seem old to you, yet you are new to our world and in time you will no doubt find I am young compared with many other vampires. The war between our kinds was long before my time.”
Vince stretched and got to his feet. “Is that it now? Only, I’m starving and I need to hunt.”
“Oh, sorry. Yes, that’s it.”
Vince looked relieved. Lady Sarah remained impassive, but I was sure I saw a flicker of relief in her eyes too.
“Then we’ll see you later, mate,” Vince said.
I nodded. “Thank you for sharing all that with me. Enjoy your hunt.”
“Oh, we will,” he answered, flashing his own fangs. Then he was gone, dashing off at that speed even I struggled to follow.
“Stay safe,” Lady Sarah said, before stalking away at a mortal’s pace. I watched her for a moment, surprised she wasn’t following Vince. They had to be fairly close or she wouldn’t have gone to his aid and brought him back to the place she currently called home, and I’d expected them to hunt together.
With a shrug, I turned away and took to wandering the streets, feeling restless once more.
The night dragged by after that. Bored, I thought about transforming again, convincing myself I could beat the hunger. There’d be enough meat in the fridge to keep it under control when I was ready for home, or maybe I’d find some roadkill to scavenge. But my common sense won out for once. It would have been foolish to risk drawing the attention of one of the Slayer patrols Lady Sarah had talked about for mere boredom.
They didn’t seem to be following me that night at least – I was sure I’d hear them if they were. But until I learnt to pick out different scents like the wolf did, they could hide behind a wall and spy on me, and I would never know they were there if they didn’t make a sound. That set my paranoia levels rising.
Most streets I walked on were empty, but I found myself glancing at every homeless person I passed with new suspicion and giving dogwalkers a wide berth. Then there were the drunks staggering home from the pubs. It was finally beginning to occur to me the Slayers could be hiding in plain sight. They were just humans after all. They could be anyone, from the neighbours who bid me good day to the doctors and nurses in the surgery I was a patient at, and maybe even the police. And I’d never know. Perhaps I was in even more danger than I’d realised before.
The shadows felt like they had eyes. Maybe I should go home? A man rounded the corner and almost crashed into me, setting my heart racing.
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” he growled. His breath stank of beer and vomit. This drunk was for real, at least. I cursed myself – his footsteps should have given him away, if I’d been paying enough attention.
Yes, home would be the wisest decision. I switched direction and quickened my pace.
I’d barely started on the next street when a shape stepped out of the darkness, bringing me to another, sudden stop. My heart leapt again, pounding harder than ever.
The vampire laughed. “Wow, I must be good to stalk a werewolf.”
“For fuck’s sake, Vince! That was not cool.”
“Okay, okay.” He threw his arms up. “Sorry, wolf boy. I honestly thought you’d have sensed me.”
“You don’t make as much noise as a human,” I grumbled, pushing past him. “I didn’t hear you coming.”
He fell into step beside me. “Any excuse. You probably didn’t hear me over the sound of your own feet! You know you’re walking like a human, right? You need to learn to move quieter. In fact, if you were mortal, I’d say your footsteps were heavy, even for a human.”
“Look, I know I’m a clumsy oaf – my family are always telling me as much. I can’t help it!”
Vince shook his head. “Your body isn’t as clumsy as a mortal’s anymore and you can be lighter on your feet if you try. Anyway, never mind sound – what about scent? I never met a werewolf who couldn’t smell a vampire.”
“I’m still learning, okay?” I was getting annoyed with him and I made no attempt to hide it. “I might not be human anymore, but I still feel human. And scent is just confusing. It’s too powerful – I can’t understand it. I might be able to pick out the odd smell I recognise from my mortal life, or I might be able to work out what a certain scent is, but mostly it’s just a jumble of odours. And I have no idea how wolves work out gender and age and all that shit, ’cause I sure as hell can’t seem to do it.”
“There’s still time to learn all that. The wolf can help you. You can learn a lot from him, and you need to if you’re gonna survive. I don’t mean to sound like Lady Sarah, all dark and dreary, but the Slayers are a real threat. I’ve seen too many of our kind die by their hand.”
“The wolf doesn’t trust me and I’m not sure I trust it, but I don’t want to talk about that. Lady Sarah’s talked a lot tonight, but you haven’t said much.”
He shrugged.
“How did you become a vampire?”
“Well, I’m about the same age as Lady Sarah, just that I choose to live among mortals, so I wear clothes that would fit in with the era and use the latest slang words and whatnot. I was born in a village not far from where she would soon be learning to be a princess, but I was just one of the many peasants and it would be decades before we met.”
He paused and I glanced at his face. His eyes had a faraway look to them.
“I was never satisfied with my simple life tilling the fields and tending to livestock, and I spent my years dreaming of life in the castle and holding title and lands. Then he came, on the eve of my twenty fifth birthday.”
Something seemed to slide across his eyes again, like at Halloween, some kind of inner darkness. Regret, maybe, or remorse?
“Like the shadow of death, he crept into my family’s home and drained me dry, the same vampire who’d turned Lady Sarah. I’ll never know why he made me this way. For Lady Sarah it was lust. Not love, no matter what she believes, otherwise he would have come back to her. But for me? I’ve been looking for an answer for years, and I don’t think I’ll ever know unless I find him again.”
He went quiet, and I thought I saw a flicker of frustration on his face then. Did he resent his maker for abandoning him to his undeath, much as I’d been feeling when Lady Sarah had disappeared on me? Whatever was going through his head, he recovered enough to add “I awoke with a terrible hunger for the blood of my neighbours and kin, but I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you how that goes.”
“You lost control?”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” he said, meeting my eyes for a second. The darkness was gone again. Had it been a trick of the light?
“Sorry. So how did you meet Lady Sarah?”
“I fled my home and became something of a nomad, never content to be in one place for too long. Everywhere I went I brought death and misery, but I myself had nothing to fear, other than the sun and the occasional angry mob, led by the superstitious. I don’t think they ever really knew what I was – it was the fact I was the outsider that caused them to point the finger. Otherwise they’d have gone hunting for my daytime resting place and we wouldn’t be having this conversation all these centuries later.
“But then the Slayers grew into a real threat, becoming more organised and closer to the present force we’re dealing with today. They hunted me from village to village. I would have
died back then, if it hadn’t been for Lady Sarah.”
“She’s your guardian angel, huh?”
He laughed at that. “I’m not sure guardian angel is the right term but yes, she has rescued me from more scrapes than I care to remember. Whether it was sheer luck that first brought us together or stronger forces at work I don’t know. Our blood ties us, you see, and it drew her to me on a night when I was at the Slayers’ mercy.
“Outnumbered and weakened from too many wounds to count, they had me on the ground, ready to drive a stake through my heart and lop off my head. I’ll never forget the looks of surprise on the humans’ faces as she tore through them like some kind of vampiric whirlwind. Then she offered me her hand and we have been friends ever since.”
“So how come you haven’t stuck together all this time?”
“Ah, vampires are not like werewolves in that regard. Most of us prefer to live alone. Besides, if I’d stayed with her then she’d have had me haunting the same graveyards she chooses to hide in, and I’d never get to have any fun. Can you imagine Lady Sarah stalking nightclubs or sleeping in apartments?”
I came to a stop and stared at him. “Seriously? You sleep in apartments?”
He shrugged as though it were nothing and we resumed walking. “It’s more comfortable than a graveyard.”
“But aren’t you worried about the Slayers finding you?”
“They’ll catch up to us all someday – it feels like it’s only a matter of time now. My choice of lifestyle is riskier, I’ll admit. There have been times where humans have broken in to find me lying on the bed looking as dead as any true corpse, then the police get involved and before you know it, you wake up in a strange place, and it’s not long before the Slayers find out. Sometimes you wake up to find you’re in the middle of an autopsy, and that hurts like hell. But I’d still take that risk and the luxury of a real bed over sleeping in a graveyard, unless I really have to.”
“I guess I can’t blame you – I wouldn’t want to leave human comforts behind either.”
He nodded. “It did land me in another spot of bother a few weeks ago when Lady Sarah had to come bail me out again, but can you imagine how dull eternity would be without any risks? I’m in her debt though, so I’ll stick around and suffer the boredom of life in the shadows for a while.”
“Cool. Just don’t be attacking any more of my friends or you’ll have more than the Slayers to worry about,” I said, only half-joking. Vince just laughed, and the flash of his pendant caught my eye again. “So what’s that around your neck? That symbol, what does it mean?”
“This?” It was his turn to come to a stop, holding the little silver disc up for me to see. The engraving looked crude by modern standards but it had a sense of ancient power to it, to my fertile imagination anyway. I looked closer. Was that supposed to be a serpent coiling round a sword? “It’s the only valuable thing my family ever owned. Life was hard. Dad died when I was young and he passed this onto me, as his father had handed it to him, and his father’s father and – well, you get the idea. I don’t have a clue what the symbol means. I wanted to sell it – it was my mum who talked me into keeping hold of it.”
A look of understanding passed between us. “You didn’t get on with your father either?”
“You could say that. But I kept it for my mum’s sake and I’ve worn it around my neck ever since.”
We started walking again. He never mentioned the fang tied beside the silver so I didn’t say anything about it either. Then I was back in front of my house and we went our separate ways, and for once I was able to find some peace for the remainder of the night.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dark Revelations
I was allowed some time before the next full moon to forget the Slayers and the world of the undead to which I now belonged. But I couldn’t escape their world forever and the curse was almost upon me again.
I’d been grounded by my parents and suspended by Mrs Redgewell for a whole week after the fight (a week off school even if I was grounded, why did everybody think that was so bad?), though I considered myself lucky that was all I got. There was also the detention with Aughtie for skiving. I’d been worried if Jamie’s hand really was broken for good, I’d be wanted for GBH in the eyes of the law, but it didn’t come to that. I’d not done as much damage as I’d thought and the surgeons were able to patch him up, good as new. It would take a long time for everything to heal though. The thought filled me with a secret, dark pleasure.
Once I was back at school, I had other things on my mind. It was worse that month: the wolf was affecting me more than ever in the days leading up to the night of the full moon. The only way I could cope was to spend more time with my mates and have a laugh. It made me feel more human and it kept the wolf at bay.
Amy seemed to get blonder by the day, though I was secretly grateful to her for giving me something else to think about. She was about to watch a soap with Mum, but first she read the brief outline Sky gave about the episode.
“Kat’s date night is finally here but things don’t go to plan, and Danny and Paul move into their new place.” She stared at the screen with a look of intense concentration, then something seemed to click into place and her features settled into horror. “Err, does that mean they’re gay?”
Mum rolled her eyes. “No, love, those two are brothers, so even if they were gay, they wouldn’t be going out with each other.”
“Err, what if they had a baby?”
“What? How can two men have a baby?” I laughed. Mum had her head in her hands in mock despair. She always maintained that her daughter wasn’t really that blonde, that she just pretended to be because she liked the attention. I wasn’t convinced.
Amy grew sheepish. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“Forgot?” I repeated in disbelief. “Have you done sex education?”
“That’s enough, you two,” Mum said. I shook my head and went upstairs, still laughing.
The next day I was sitting at a table in one of the Science classrooms, telling my mates about it through break. Everyone who had been with me that fateful night at the cinema was there, and we were all laughing.
“That’s nearly as bad as my brother’s blond moment,” Lizzy said when I’d finished. “We were watching a thing on shark attacks and they interviewed this guy and Chris comes out with ‘If he’s got a wooden leg, is his foot still real?’”
We were in stitches again. I started doodling on a piece of paper.
“So, have you decided what you’re gonna be famous for yet?” Becci asked.
“Well it ain’t singing,” David laughed. “Have you ever heard him sing?”
“Piss off, you’re no singer either. No, I dunno what it’ll be yet, but someday everyone will know my name, just you watch. Someday everyone’s going to want this signature.”
We all looked down at the scribble on the piece of paper. My writing was scruffy at the best of times, and my signature was barely legible. I voiced the thought for all of us. “Okay, so it needs a bit of work, but someday this piece of paper will be worth summat I tell you.”
“Yeah, to the homeless who need it for the fire,” David said. They burst out laughing. I had to laugh too, though I was convinced fame and fortune would be mine someday. It was like Vince had said about when he was mortal – I wanted to be someone. It wasn’t enough I was probably the last werewolf on the planet. I wanted to be someone in the human world. I wanted people to know my name and to worship me like a god. And a bit of money would have been nice too, but it was the fame that held the attraction for me.
“Well I might not be world famous but my dance tournament’s next week,” Fiona said. “I’ve been practising for ages now – I can’t wait!”
“You’ll get that gold trophy easily – the others won’t stand a chance.” David’s eyes glazed over. I had no doubt he was imagining her prancing around in a leotard, showing off her amazing body as she went through her routine.
“Hey, Nick, have
you finished that English coursework yet?” Ava asked.
“Yeah, I did it last night,” I lied. Gone were the days when I’d get homework out of the way the day it had been set. In Year Ten I’d started to grow lazy, leaving it till the night before it was due in. That year I had other things on my mind and my grades were dropping. What did I need with good grades anyway? I was a werewolf. I didn’t need a job to survive, not when I could take whatever I needed. With my powers I would make a great thief. Or I could live as an animal.
I thought back to killing the rabbit, remembering the fluidity with which my lupine body chased after it and the sense of freedom. Okay, it had been pretty cool being a wolf, I had to admit. But I dismissed the idea of spending eternity in that shape. I wanted the best of both worlds, preferably without the flesh that was needed to support the wolf’s form.
“Just make sure you get it in on time; you don’t want Miss Aughtie on your case again,” Ava said, bringing me back to reality.
“Who are you, my fucking mother?”
Pain filled her eyes but I didn’t feel bad about snapping. She was probably worried about her own skin as much as mine, since Aughtie had a habit of taking things out on the whole class, not just the student who dared disobey her. Everyone else was looking at me in shock. I never used to be like that.
Fiona and David decided that was a good time to take their seats. We actually had two teachers for Science: one was Brewins and the other was Mr Enderson, and he was far more capable as a teacher. But he was also much stricter and he made us sit alphabetically. I was stuck next to a guy called Adam. There was something about him I’d never been keen on, though I could never put my finger on what exactly. It was just an air of strangeness he seemed to give off, though admittedly he probably said the same about me to his mates.
Ava slunk away to a room further down the corridor and Becci hurried after her. Only Lizzy stayed.
