by Emma Mills
Eva shrugged.
‘I don’t know, have you ever asked him?’ she said. ‘I’m going to see Sebastian, to check he’s got all the info.’
She turned and strode down the stairs.
‘Jess, are you alright?’ Brittany asked quietly, standing in the doorway.
I nodded.
‘How’s Luke?’ I asked, anger and frustration melting away as I stepped into the room and saw Luke propped up on Brittany’s bed, smiling at me.
I looked around the room and everyone was staring at me, their faces concerned.
‘You all heard that, didn’t you?’ I asked.
Luke grinned.
‘You’ve always had a big mouth when you’re cross,’ he said.
‘Eva’s a cow, she always has been. She can be lovely and fun, and you certainly want her on side in a fight… but she’s jealous of you and Daniel. She always has been,’ Brittany said, slipping her arm around my shoulders.
‘He adores you, you know he does, so stop moping and give me some attention,’ Luke added.
I walked over, smiling.
‘Let’s see your leg then?’ I said.
‘Ooh-err, careful, my girlfriend’s here,’ he said, winking at Caiomhe and pulling back the sheet with a flourish.
It looked amazing. His leg was perfectly straight, with no sign of broken bones, apart from a thin long scar that travelled along the top of his thigh.
‘The scar will fade over the next week or so,’ Saffy said.
‘It’s brilliant. Just think of all the good you could do, if humans knew about witchcraft.’
‘We could have an office on Harley Street and earn millions,’ Brittany laughed.
‘What about his chest?’ I asked, eyeing the blood stained t-shirt he still wore.
‘That is trickier,’ Susannah said. ‘They broke his ribs, which we fused, but two of his ribs punctured his lung slightly. Bones are a hundred times easier to fix than lungs. We’ve used a strengthening spell which will help, but basically he needs bed rest for a few days until it’s had time to fix itself to the membranes. He’ll have to take it easy for a while.’
Luke pulled a face and grinned.
‘I’ll be fine. I feel great already.’
Caoimhe frowned at him. ‘If you don’t promise to take it easy I’ll tell your mum and get her to come and stay at our apartment.’
I laughed.
‘You should all get back to the party,’ he said.
‘No, it’s fine. We can stay with you,’ I said.
‘No really! I want to kiss my bossy-pants girlfriend for the next hour until midnight, so bugger off and enjoy yourselves… and Jess, Daniel said to tell you he’ll make it, so don’t worry, okay?’
‘Come on,’ Brittany said, steering me out of the room behind Saffy, Susannah and Leo.
‘So… let’s party, I guess,’ Leo said. ‘I heard Eva got caterers in, and I’m starving!’
We followed him back downstairs and watched him head straight for the kitchen. Saffy and Susannah followed.
‘Jess! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I was starting to think I had the wrong party.’
I turned and smiled at Devon. He looked cute, dressed in army fatigues, his gas mask slung over his arm.
‘Devon, I want you to meet my best friend, Brittany,’ I said, turning to Brittany and smiling. ‘This is Devon… he’s a trauma nurse.’ I turned back, but Devon was frowning at my arms.
‘Jess… you’ve got blood smeared all down your arms. Is it… fresh?’ he asked warily.
‘Jess, he’s human,’ Brittany squeaked in my ear. ‘What does he know and why the hell are you trying to set me up?’
‘Don’t worry about that; he knows what I am. He’s safe,’ I whispered, turning back to Devon.
‘That’s why we disappeared from the party. One of our friends has been injured, and I helped get him upstairs. He’s okay now; he’s resting.’
‘Is he a…’
‘Shh! Remember what I said about the party?’ I said, suddenly spotting Eva glaring at us from the corner of the room.
His eyes went wide. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled.
‘No, he’s not like me, but he’ll be fine. Now say Hi to Brittany. Brit, Eva’s not gone to Sebastian’s; she’s over there. I’m going to speak to her.’
Devon looked a little put out that I was dumping him on Brittany, and Brittany looked just as pissed off, but they were perfect for each other… if they’d get over their stubbornness!
I walked towards Eva and she stopped talking to a couple of Manchester vamps and waited for me in the corner of the room.
‘Eva?’
‘Jess…’
‘You go,’ I said.
She shrugged.
‘I thought you were going to see Sebastian?’ I asked, when she stayed silent.
‘I called him instead. After all this is my party, so I could hardly leave it.’
‘What does he think?’
‘He’s relieved. It shouldn’t be hard to weasel them out now we know what they’re up to, and obviously he’s still got those vampires we picked up this afternoon that he’s been questioning. He said to just enjoy the party, and I might not have to go back to London either…’
‘Is that why you’re being such a bitch?’ I asked.
She raised her eyebrows and instantly looked as if she wanted to slap me, but it just as quickly passed.
‘Am I being awful?’ she asked.
‘Worse than awful,’ I said, smiling.
She sniffed. ‘It’s been getting to me I guess…’
That was as near to an apology as I was going to get, so I took it and moved on.
‘Luke told me that Daniel said to tell me he’d make it,’ I said, as if to prove my point.
She rolled her eyes and smiled.
‘Well, he’d better hurry up. He’s only got ten minutes until midnight,’ she said, looking at her gold Rolex.
I turned round to look for Brittany. If Daniel wasn’t going to make it, I wanted to be with my friends.
‘And Jess… if he doesn’t make it, I’m sure he tried,’ Eva said as I walked away.
‘Turn the flat screen on, ready for the countdown,’ I heard someone shout.
‘Where did the TV come from?’ I asked Brittany, who was already happily chatting to Devon.
‘Eva took it out of the cellar when the caterers were here. If I remember correctly she said we were both useless and brainless for putting them both away!’
I grinned.
‘I suppose it was a bit dense of us,’ I laughed. ‘You can’t have New Year without the BBC countdown and Big Ben!
Saffy, Susannah and Leo joined us, as did guests from the other rooms. Everyone jostled for position, looking up at the screen. The usual crowd was cheering and chatting, happy to be on TV, gathered along the South Bank by Westminster Bridge. The cameras kept cutting across to Big Ben which was illuminated beautifully and I watched the crowds, wondering whether Daniel was there or if he was speeding home to me.
‘Here, we need champagne!’ Saffy said, interrupting my thoughts and handing round glasses.
By the time everyone in the room had their glasses topped up and ready to toast, I was feeling the excitement build; it was impossible not to at one of Eva’s parties. We jumped up and down, trying not to spill, and even I slurped down sips of the premium fizz…
As the minutes ticked by an eery silence descended upon the room, and then everyone chanted simultaneously.
‘Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six…’
The camera had zoomed in on Big Ben’s face.
‘Five… Four…Three…’
‘There appears to be someone standing on the clock face…’ the shocked presenter’s voice rang out through the TV.
‘Two…’
‘Oh no!’ I heard Eva say quietly as she reached for her phone.
‘One!’
The man jumped.
Chapter Seven
As firew
orks exploded from the London Eye the cameras stayed glued to Big Ben. The man had landed on both feet and was now dusting himself off and bowing. Security men sped towards him and a collective gasp travelled around the room as we watched them fall, each one easily dispatched. With three bodies at his feet he took his time with the last, holding him firmly before finally sinking his teeth into the unfortunate man’s neck. Shots rang out and the man leapt across the security barriers and disappeared into the screaming crowd.
The room around me had fallen silent, but just as people began to talk, to whisper among themselves, the screen once again interrupted us. First there was static noise as the picture faded away to snow, almost instantly replaced with the image of a man standing in a park in a smart black suit.
‘Good Evening, Great Britain,’ the man announced.
We all stared once again at the screen. Eva whispered furiously into her phone.
‘No doubt you are feeling a little shocked by what you have just witnessed and I am sorry for that, but I speak for my people, and my people are tired of hiding in the shadows. Centuries ago the world was a different place. The rules that were made suited that world… but today I stand in a very different world. As a species you have grown complacent and egocentric. Today that will change, as you realise you are not at the top of the food chain. You are not all powerful. Your petty wars are boring us all and like a naughty toddler you will be taught your place…’ He paused and looked off camera at something.
‘I have much more to teach you and in time you will learn more, but before I go I will leave you with one word. The name of our species… your new leaders… Vampire!’
He nodded briefly at the camera and it suddenly swung a little to the left, where it zoomed in on the ground under a tree. The ground shook slightly and a crack appeared. The camera then moved across to the right where a terrified man stood shouting from behind the steel bars of a portable cage.
‘Oh, shit!’ I breathed, glancing at Brittany, whose eyes were glued to the screen.
‘Is this for real?’ Devon asked, his voice shaking.
I nodded.
‘I think so.’
‘Are your people…?’
‘No, Devon, I promise. The Council and Sebastian would kill anyone who threatened our secrecy like this.’
We all continued to watch as fingers scraped their way through the surface of the ground, scrabbling and scraping before suddenly with an almighty surge the ground opened and a young boy exploded out, shaking dirt from his body like a dog shaking off water. The camera zoomed in on him.
‘The cameraman is obviously a vamp. Otherwise he’d be dead-meat by now,’ I said, remembering the horrific burning thirst I had first woken with.
‘But I bet that man isn’t,’ Brittany said quietly.
She was right and within seconds the newborn vampire had leapt across the space, the camera panning with him, and grabbed hold of the steel bars. The man inside screamed and cowered back as the vampire snarled and pulled at the bars.
‘Why don’t they just give him the man? This is horrible,’ Devon said, his voice shaky.
‘It’s a show of strength. It won’t take long,’ I muttered.
We watched as the vampire pulled the bars apart and leapt through. It was all over in a matter of minutes and just as the vampire dropped the man, his face covered in blood, the sky lit up and what looked like several glowing balls of light descended.
‘The Council’s found them,’ I said, just as the camera was dropped and the plug was pulled.
Our screens returned to black and then to the BBC presenter back in London, who was visibly shaken, her eyes terrified as she held a hand to her earpiece, listening to whatever instructions were being shouted at her. Obviously no one had any idea what to make of the news, so they did the sensible thing, they pulled the plug and the screen went blue. Apologies the service is currently down, we will be back shortly, scrolled along the bottom of the screen in a never-ending loop.
I looked out across the room and surveyed the reaction, and slowly but surely the collection of people shifted. The vamps collected around Eva, chatting urgently in hushed tones, while the humans had unconsciously split into two groups. There was the group of humans, like Devon, who knew about the presence of vampires in the world and then there was the much more freaked out group of humans who knew Eva through business, or the many university courses she was always taking part in. I watched as they clustered in the corner of the room, their eyes darting to the TV, their voices rising and lowering like ocean waves. One girl was sobbing quietly into her boyfriend’s chest, while two men were arguing as to whether it was all an elaborate hoax.
Saffy, Susannah and Leo had joined us for the countdown and now our group stayed clustered in the middle of the room.
‘So I guess it wasn’t quite what Eva and Sebastian thought then?’ Saffy said, breaking our silence.
‘I’d guess not,’ I said, looking over at Eva who had finally come off the phone and was issuing orders to her group of vampires.
‘The Council will sort it out. Didn’t they deal with the last vampire outing within a record-breaking twenty-four hours?’ Brittany queried.
I nodded.
‘The problem is, that was a hundred years ago, before TV and social media. They can hardly wipe the memories of the entire world can they?’ I said. ‘This is massive. I think they only have two choices; they either out the entire magical world and we all come up with a way of getting on together, or they find a way to get Brooke to turn back time.’
‘They’ve got no hope with the second option,’ Leo said suddenly.
‘I bet she’ll change her mind for this though. It’s a Save the World situation,’ I said.
Leo shook his head.
‘I doubt it.’
‘But she’s their only hope,’ Brittany said, a little too loudly, as half the room turned around to look at us.
Leo’s face went white, just as Brittany’s words dawned on me.
‘Oh, God! Of course she is,’ he whispered.
‘Leo, go! Go now. I’ll update Eva and I’ll be right behind you. Is it the same place in Scotland?’ I asked.
He nodded and ran.
‘Eva, can I interrupt a minute?’ I asked, moments later. ‘I think we have a problem.’
‘Understatement of the century,’ she said, shaking her head at me as the vamps surrounding her smirked.
‘An additional problem then,’ I ventured. ‘If you’re not interested that’s fine, but seeing as you know where Daniel is can you just tell him I have gone with Leo and the others to Scotland and I’ll be back as soon as I can!’ I swivelled on my heel, pushing a partygoer out of my way as I marched across the room to my friends, who were already running back downstairs with Caoimhe in tow.
‘Jess! What’s going on?’ Eva urged, pulling me back by the shoulder. ‘Why Scotland?’
I scowled at her. I wanted to shut her out, but stress was getting to all of us and I knew that if we were to get through the next few months we needed to stick together.
‘Who’s the one person that could sort out this mess?’ I asked.
Eva frowned and shook her head.
‘No one can, Jess. Even if Sebastian found the vamps responsible for this, the damage is already done… and the Council will be just as useless as ever. This is vampire business and however pissed the Council might get, it’s too late; nothing can be done. The whole world has seen… or will do, once social media finishes the job.’
‘You see, that’s the problem with vampires. You always think you’re the superior race, that if you can’t fix it no-one can… and hopefully, just hopefully, the vampire behind all of this is as short-sighted as you!’
‘What is your problem?’ Eva spat back. ‘Of course we don’t think we’re superior… and don’t we all know we can’t beat you, a dual-blooded vampire-witch, but unless you have some serious spell, previously unknown to the Council, even you can’t beat this thing.’
> ‘I wouldn’t even try…’
‘Jess, I don’t know what you two are bitching about, but you told Leo we would be right behind him. Caoimhe is coming part of the way with us, but stopping in at York to recruit helpers… just in case,’ Brittany interrupted.
I nodded.
‘Let’s go,’ I said.
‘Can I do anything? I don’t know what’s going on, but…?’ Devon had appeared by our sides. His face was pale, his eyes scared, but he was there. I smiled.
‘No, you should go home, stay safe and keep an eye on the news. Hopefully this will be nothing but a bad dream soon,’ I said.
Brittany smiled at him and he smiled back shyly, his eyes softening. I grinned.
‘Come on then,’ I said. ‘Bye, Devon.’
‘Jess, you need to report to Sebastian if you’re leaving the area,’ Eva said coldly.
‘No, I don’t. He’s not my boss, remember. The Council is and we are informing them of our intentions.’
‘Look, you can’t go anywhere now. What is done is done… and Daniel will be really pissed if he comes home and you have disappeared…’
‘Tough! We are running out of time, but I have to admit, your egotism is heartily reassuring, so thank you for that, but still we can’t risk the one chance the Council has to rectify this situation.’
I turned on my heel and raced after Brittany, Caoimhe and my cousins, following them through the back door and out into the garden.
‘You can’t fly from here,’ Eva said following us. ‘What if someone sees?’
I shrugged.
‘I think they’ve seen worse things this evening, and frankly all the humans I saw were staring at the TV in the hope they’d get more news, so I think we’re fine.’
‘Jess, no!’
But we were already gone. I had focused my energy and blasted myself directly up into the night sky, grabbing hold of the ley line that ran directly above the street and revelling in the air power as it swirled around me. I grinned across at Brittany and Saffy who had held back, allowing me to catch up.
‘She can’t follow you up here, that’s for sure,’ Saffy said.
