The Last Vampire

by Tanja Neise

  In the anything-but-modest guest room with the yellow bed linen it wasn’t as quiet as it had been during my last visit. It seemed to me an eternity ago, even if it wasn't much more than two hours. Two hours in which my world had been turned upside down.

  “Hey, girl!” Sally stood up a little and patted on the mattress next to her. The boys were lying on the floor watching a movie. They stared at the screen, spellbound, and didn't notice anything around them, which was more than fine with me. The less the two noticed, the better. Besides, I didn't know how much they knew.

  I told her in whispers what had happened in the last few minutes. I explained to her that I had an internal alarm system and had visions from time to time. Interested, she listened to everything I had to say. Not once did she interrupt me. When I ended with my description, she put her hand on my forearm and stroked it in a motherly manner.

  “Liv, you don't have to be ashamed if you have such extraordinary abilities. That’s something special. Nothing to hide.”

  “Yeah, but I'm having trouble understanding what my system's warning me about. As with before, when I misinterpreted it. I thought I was in danger here in the apartment, and in reality the evil was waiting outside the door.” I was enjoying her attention and care, and was glad to have her as a friend, particularly at this troublesome time.

  “Perhaps you’ll learn that one day. At least, if you learn to accept this gift.”

  “I'll try to work on it – I have to. Thank you, Sally. I'm glad you're feeling better. I was so worried about you. I love you so much!” I leaned my head appreciatively against her shoulder.

  “Oh, stop.” She put her arms tenderly around me, and stroked my back again and again until I had calmed down a little.

  “I’m so glad I’ve got you – that I can at least talk to you about everything. I have a million questions.” I raised my head and looked around the room. I did this as I was trying to keep my composure and not burst into tears. There were bookshelves here as well; Robert was obviously a book lover.

  “You can ask me anything, sweetheart!” As always, Sally had a feeling for what the person she was talking to wanted to hear most. I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to sound her out on my own.

  “Anything?” I asked with a cheeky wink.

  “Anything,” Sally replied, seriously, and didn’t respond to my joke.

  “Okayyyyy,” I hesitated for a moment, but then it shot out of me like a pistol. “If I’d had the chance to ask you anything a few hours ago, my first question would’ve been whether you were having an affair with Dark.”

  Sally looked at me completely amazed and suddenly started to laugh. It really got her going her and she could barely breathe, until she recovered a little from her chuckling. “Sorry, Liv! But that's so funny.”

  “What's funny about that?” I demanded to know, unsympathetically.

  “Dark’s my brother. My older brother, to be more precise.”

  “Yes, I already know that from him.” That's all I said, because hearing it from her mouth now was something completely different than hearing it said by Dark. With Sally, I knew that she wasn’t lying to me. So far, she had actually done so a few times, but from now on that would certainly not happen again, after all, I was now in on it all. I trusted her.

  “Good, then you’re in the picture.” Waiting, she looked at me, and I quarrelled internally with myself. I didn't truly know if I really could ask anything.

  “Yes, at least as far as your relationship is concerned.” Again, Sally giggled and I joined in. It was nice to just forget the stress of the last hours for a short time. A little normality and cheerfulness did us both good. “And what about Robert,” I asked, as I slowly regained my breath. I just had to know.

  She immediately became serious. “Tensington is like the president of the vampires.”

  “What?” Well great, I hadn't just fallen in love with a man, no, it had to be a vampire. And to put the crown on it, it also had to be the head of the bloodsuckers. “Do the vampires choose their head?”

  “No, but there's always someone to lead them. You get this right from birth. And Robert’s been doing this for quite some time. In the time shortly before the vampire wars he’d been overthrown and held prisoner. Then the situation escalated. You know the rest from the history books.”

  “Well, somehow, not everything. How did they all survive?” After all, all the people had been vaccinated. Well, not me, but in the end that was an entirely different subject.

  Sally fumbled around with her blanket and continued: “Most of those who survived were lucky enough to have a partner to drink from. Those who didn’t have that perished horribly.”

  “Robert has a partner?” My heart contracted and I had to admit to myself that this news hurt me. Very much so. Jealousy was spreading through my stomach like acid.

  “No, Robert's partner has been dead for hundreds of years.” Never before in my life was I relieved that someone else was no longer alive. But at that moment I felt pure relief. What was wrong with me? “I don't know any more about her. Talk to him and ask him everything.” Motivating me, she pointed outside. “Go on. Go!”

  She shooed me out of the room and I obeyed her. My heart was telling me it was right to talk to him.

  Robert Tensington

  “Search her!” Dark started moving instantly. From what could be found on the net about this person, this computer genius had nothing to hide. So far, she was refusing to cooperate and hadn’t answered a single question. Stoically, she looked into our eyes and remained silent. This was fine with me. She would give in sooner or later – it would just take a little longer, that’s all. We had time. But I couldn’t help constantly thinking about Liv. Her smell, the feeling of holding her in my arms and the way she looked at me. But I couldn’t be distracted right now. Olivia and I still had enough time for each other.

  The woman on the couch was watching me and I was watching her. It was a test of strength. These games had been played by humans and vampires for ages. I was a pro at it. Something about her was confusing me. Her smell had shot straight to my brain and was causing chaos up there – because the conclusion I drew as a result couldn’t actually be possible. Nevertheless, I couldn’t let my reason completely rule my senses. Anything was a possibility.

  To distract myself a little and to use a tactic that wasn't exactly human, I grabbed the small bottle of orange juice. I drank it with pleasure, not letting the woman out of my sight. She was thirsty; you could tell by her chapped lips. With a provocative smile, I put the bottle down again, but she showed no emotion – she was tough, but not tough enough.

  The door opening behind me tore me from my thoughts. “Boss?” Dark entered the room with a few pieces of paper and came to my side. I only turned to him when our prisoner looked to the side with a restless look. Dark's facial expression definitely didn't promise anything good.

  “Yes?”

  “Her name is Anne.” Then he took a significant, ominous pause and looked at me urgently. “She is the daughter of Sir Rumsfield.” The mention of his name made me nauseous. Dizziness came over me and I was glad I was no longer holding the glass bottle in my hands, as I felt my fingers tremble.

  With pinched lips, the torturer’s daughter looked at me. She couldn’t have any idea what that triggered in me. She couldn’t have understood what kind of tornado was raging through my heart. How could she?

  “Welcome to my home, Miss Rumsfield.” I noticed how each of my words emanated from the coldness that was spreading inside me. I didn’t feel bad about talking in such a harsh tone. The woman in front of me knew all the tricks and she reminded me of someone I once knew. Much too well knew. I was thus on the verge of losing my temper. Some things were now making sense and the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.

  Dark's muscles were strung to breaking point, because he knew how much effort it took me to play the calm, civilised human being. He knew my story and it was clear to him what the name Rums
field alone did to me. Being human was normally not very difficult, but in the present situation my vampire heritage was taking its toll and clawing away at centuries of self-control. The human blood, which was now strengthening my body and driving the humanness out of me, was unhelpful in this case. On the contrary, it was enhancing the animal in me, and thus nourishing the anger and aggression that was fighting to live.

  At the same moment as my body became tense and I was about to pounce on the woman, the door to Sally's room opened and Olivia stepped into the large living room. Instantly, I was able to take control of my actions again. Relief and shame shot through my body, and I struggled not to lose balance. I hadn’t been this out of control for centuries.

  Olivia's gaze flitted from one to the other and finally stopped at Anne Rumsfield. The two women looked at each other, and I could see in their faces how there were emotions being swept along with them. What was happening between the two of them? Dark was at a loss, too. The four of us stayed in our seats and waited. But for what?

  “Margaret?” Anne Rumsfield whispered her question into the quiet room, disbelief in her eyes. Horror followed, and then I saw her lower lip begin to tremble. This tough woman, who hadn't even flinched at the fact that two vampires had kidnapped her, was close to tears. This was incomprehensible to me.

  Liv awoke like out of a trance, looked at the other woman compassionately and shook her head. “No. My name is Olivia. Olivia Morgan.” The softness of her voice made me proud. Proud of Liv, who had so much heart that she still felt pity for someone who had caused so much trouble. Nevertheless, I was overcome by a strange feeling, as if something didn’t quite make sense. I decided not to interfere in the situation, and just let the skirmish between the two women go on to see where it took us...

  Anne didn't turn her eyes away from her and obviously didn't believe what she had just heard. Had she even heard it? Had she even internalised the answer? Maybe she was mentally confused? Her next words confirmed my guess: “I'll eat my hat if you're not Margaret!” The otherwise completely emotionless Anne Rumsfield jumped up and wanted to take a step towards Liv. Without thinking about it, I stood between them and a growl left my mouth. Thank God she stopped immediately and looked down. The first admission of weakness she had shown that night.

  Somehow, this day had snatched any form of self-control from me. But again, it was Olivia who came to my side and put her tender hand on my forearm, grounding me. She had an effect on me that otherwise only the hardest psychotropic drugs could achieve to some degree. I immediately relaxed, breathing deeply.

  In her gentle way, she asked, “Who's Margaret?”

  Anne settled on the sofa again. Her old hard façade had disappeared – she seemed sad to me. Exhausted, she drove her hand through her short-cut hair and sighed, “Margaret was my sister. More precisely, my non-identical twin sister. She died on the same day as my father.”

  Now it was up to me, again, to keep my composure. “Rumsfield had two daughters?” I’d previously assumed there had only been one child.

  “Officially no, but unofficially there were two of us.”

  Anne Rumsfield

  What the hell was I doing? Was I telling these complete strangers my family history? When I became aware of this, I closed my eyes again and coldly looked those present in the eyes, one after the other. Olivia Morgan looked very much like my sister. She had my mother's red hair and fine facial features.

  The posture of her head alone reminded me of old photos I kept in a box in my wardrobe. From time to time I would dig the stuff out and look at it. The resemblance was striking, but I couldn’t say for sure whether Margaret would look like this today. I’d never met my mother, because she’d died when we were born.

  The dark vampire whom Tensington just called Dark – the name was appropriate – was tense and looking at me, frowning. I ignored him and instead looked at the actual leader of the small group. Robert Tensington seemed thoughtful. His gaze was pinned to the wall, as if he might be able to find answers there.

  “How do you know my father?” After all, he’d spoken of him as if he’d already heard a lot about him. He didn’t react. “Mr Tensington?”

  Finally, he turned his attention back to me, but then his head moved to the side, and disbelief lay in his eyes as he looked at Miss Morgan. What was going on inside of him?

  He turned back to me. “I knew him very well. Better than I would’ve liked.”

  Dark, hissing, pulled the air between his teeth. His whole appearance expressed hatred. What did these two guys know that I didn't even have a clue about?

  “From where?” I asked the only question that made sense to me at that moment.

  Tensington spewed out a hard laugh that expressed more disgust than any word could have. “Let's put it this way: I was a long-term guest at his estate in England.”

  My brain assembled the information I was hearing and as it grew into a picture, I jumped up in shock and whispered, “Raphael!” That couldn't be possible! Or was it? Was Tensington a vampire? I had clearly seen him in photos showing him in the glistening sunshine. How was this possible? Answers – I needed answers. Preferably, I would’ve grabbed the man by the collar and shaken him.

  Tensington seemed dull when he spoke. “I haven't been called that for a long time, but you're right – that used to be my name.”

  Although I’d already been aware of it inside me, it shook me to hear it from his mouth. Years of suppressed anger surged within me and I could no longer control myself. With a mighty scream I jumped in his direction. I wanted to tear him to pieces with my bare hands. He had killed my father and my sister. Because of him, I’d become an orphan overnight, who’d lost any kind of privileged position. However, I didn't even get near the monster, but bounced off the hard chest of the second vampire. He stood there like a rock in the surf. Like a wall of stone – invincible. And when I went on to attack again, his hands grabbed me and I couldn't move another inch.

  “Let go of me now, you bloodsucker! That bastard killed my family,” I shouted, completely caught up in my hatred.

  Instead of an answer, he just exposed his teeth in a diabolical grin, taking my breath away. So far, I had read a lot about this species, but I’d never met any of them. Even though I’d previously been aware of the fact that the vampires in this room breathed the same air as I did, the sight frightened me.

  “Honey, don't you like what you see?” The guy caused an unpleasant tingling sensation in my stomach. I felt like I was at his mercy – something I’d never felt before. Slowly, he let me go. He radiated such a strong presence that I got wobbly knees, and involuntarily took two steps back. With such uncontrolled behaviour I couldn’t win against a man with supernatural powers. Of course I knew that, but the memories of the loss of my family had always triggered something in me. Exhausted, I let myself fall onto the couch.

  The man who was once called Raphael rose from his seat and came towards me. My diaphragm vibrated with tension. The air around me felt like thick porridge. He stopped and crouched down right in front of me. So much compassion was present in his eyes that I suddenly felt sick.

  “I'm sorry, Anne.”

  I abruptly expelled the last bit of air I had in me and asked: “What are you sorry about? The fact that you killed my father?”

  “Yes.”

  Horrified, I gasped, breathed in, sniffed him and looked him directly in the face. He was even admitting it! “Are you now waiting for my forgiveness?” Sarcasm dripped from every single syllable.

  Sadly, he shook his head. “No, I don't expect that. I just wanted you to know. Your father held me prisoner for a very long time and experimented with me in ways that were humiliating and painful. Despite those terrible experiences I had with him, I’d come to appreciate him as a human being in the last few years after his wife had died. Shortly before he died, we often spoken to each other. About the meaning of his research. About ethics, which in my opinion he disregarded.”

  “And you
still killed him!” The many unforgotten tears of the past years were burning in my eyes. I hated myself for such weakness.

  Before he said the next words, he looked deep into my eyes and then struck a verbal blow against me. “I was merely honouring his request.”

  In my stomach, a knot of inconceivable proportions was forming. My hands began to tremble and my voice shook when I asked: “And you really think that I’ll believe you if you now want to tell me you destroyed my family's estate because my father ordered you to do so?”

  He straightened up again, went to the stone wall and laid one hand on it. The young woman came up to him and stood at his side. Dark was still tense like a wire, but I ignored both of them and turned my full attention to Raphael. “You can believe what you want. I can only tell you what happened.”

  “And why would he have done something so insane?”

  He turned to me again. “Because it was the only way of protecting his daughter from a horde of bloodthirsty vampires.”

  Robert Tensington

  I didn’t want to hit her on the head with it, but she hadn't let up. She’d asked again and again. And then I had no choice but to tell her the truth.

  She gasped and her eyelids fluttered. She was clearly struggling with the information I had just given her. I pitied her. People didn’t get to choose their parents and no matter how reprehensibly they acted, their children loved them. And Anne felt a lot for her father and had obviously put him on a pedestal – not surprising, since he was regarded in her world as the saviour of mankind.