“She didn’t have anyone else. Between the two of us we’ve managed to get her through the transition, although it hasn’t been easy.”
“I can’t imagine it was.” Alison brushed a hand through her hair. “Would you mind coming in for an interview in the next couple of days? I think it’s important we learn more about you and the vampires you’ve been looking after, but we’re running out of time now, so can we work out a time for that?”
“Of course.” After I said that I wished I hadn’t, but I agreed with Alison and I decided I wanted to meet her. I wanted to ask her questions I didn’t dare do over the phone. “I’ll stay on the line.”
“I appreciate it.” She turned to Mr. Streep. “In the time we’ve been talking the studio has received another 500 pictures of sun burns on vampires. Are you seriously going to tell me they are all fakes?”
“Yes, I am.” Hopefully I wouldn’t be in the studio at the same point as him, because I had a horrible feeling I’d say something I might later regret. “There is no difference between vampire skin and human skin.”
“Repeating the same thing over and over again doesn’t make it true, Mr. Streep.”
Alison looked like she was trying not to laugh. “Teresa makes a good point there. Do you have any evidence that what you’re saying is true?”
Olivia
Most vampires had a story about the family they’d lost. I was one of them. The thing I’d learnt in the time I was working with the humans was that a lot of them had a story about someone they’d lost and there were times when I’d been able to bring people together. Even though the riots hadn’t come to an end I was able to help Gregory get in contact with his vampiric sisters and that made me feel a little better about things. Losing two people could not have been easy for him, especially as it also meant losing his parents at the same time. They hadn’t been able to cope with what had happened. Sighing, I looked into the window of my parents’ house, wondering if they missed me. A tear trickled down my cheek. I knew I shouldn’t be there. Dawn wasn’t far away and I needed to get back home before I became ashes blowing in the wind.
“Liv?” The voice made me jump, but I didn’t turn to see who’d spoken, because I didn’t need to. “I was hoping you’d come to check on Mum and Dad.” I could hear the worry in his voice and I tried to ignore it. He couldn’t really be worried about me. Not after everything. “I’ve seen you a few times before, but I never had the courage to speak with you. I should have done this a long time ago. I’m sorry, Olivia, for reacting the way I did when I found out you were a vampire.”
I did turn to look at him then. “Why are you sorry?”
“You didn’t deserve that.” It was strange to be looking at him. My little brother was older than I was and it was something I was having real trouble coming to terms with. He was twenty-eight and I could see some strands of grey in his hair already. “You were still my sister, no matter what, and my reaction was unfair.” He blinked, as though he was trying to stop himself from crying. “I want us to fix things. I want you to meet my children. I don’t want you to be the family secret any longer.”
“What brought on this change of heart?”
He bit his lip. “I saw the riots. I realised that you were in the midst of things were I saw you going into Number 10 and I want to be able to support you, because I can’t imagine that any of this is easy.”
“It’s not.” As I studied him I tried to work out if he was telling me the truth or if he was lying to me. “I can’t do this.” I took a couple of steps away, glancing up at the sky. “Maybe we can get together tonight. I have an hour after sunset when I’m not doing anything. I’ll come back here then and if you’re here I’ll believe you’re telling me the truth.”
Running away made the most sense and I did at least have a good excuse for doing it. The sun would kill me if I wasn’t careful. Even though I wasn’t certain Connor was telling me the truth I didn’t want to turn to dust in front of him. As I ran, certain I wasn’t going to get home before the sun rose, I thought about other places I could go. We weren’t stupid. Vampires had hidey holes all over the place for those of us who got caught out. There was a part of me that thought about bringing an end to it all, the same way I had when I first became a vampire, but I was too stubborn to give up. Maybe things were much more difficult than I ever imagined they would be - that didn’t mean I was going to force someone else to stop into my place, because I didn’t think there was anyone who could take it. Dealing with a group of government ministers, none of whom agreed with each other, wasn’t something I would wish on my worst enemy.
As the sky lightened I found the place I was looking for. Once there was a time when it would have been empty, but things had changed since then. When I stepped in the door I found it was full of vampires. They looked at me, I looked at them, and when I found my eyes meeting Ben’s I couldn’t help smiling. “You were waiting for me.”
“I knew you wouldn’t be able to get home.” He shrugged, stepping over to me. “We wanted to talk to you about what you’re doing with the humans.”
Sighing, I brushed a hand through my hair, wishing I was someone else, someone who had an easier life. “What exactly do you want to talk about?”
“Your safety.” He reached out and took hold of my hand. “You’re going in there entirely alone and things have changed, Liv, so there are no guarantees that one day you won’t walk in there to find a hunter waiting for you.”
It probably wasn’t the best time to tell him that had already happened and it had gone perfectly well. That was the problem with the two of us living such different lives, but, in some ways, it was an advantage for me. Without him around I had the freedom to do what I thought was best, rather than letting his worries affect the choices I made. “Ben, I promise you they wouldn’t do something that stupid. There are cameras all over Downing Street, so if I was to walk in and not leave again someone would say something.” I gently squeezed his hand. “My safety is always something I’ve thought about and I know for certain I’m safe.”
He shook his head. “You can’t know that. I want someone to go in with you tonight, to keep you safe, and I don’t want you going back to your parents’ house.” If he said what I thought he was going to say it was going to be hard for me to stop myself from yelling at him. “This is a scenario where it could become us versus them.”
At least he hadn’t said we were already in that position. “I know. That’s why I need to keep showing my belief in the humans in government. I have to go in there alone, otherwise it’s going to make things worse, and we need to keep drawing vampires and humans together. We aren’t yet in the position where it is us versus them, even with the riots, so I’m going to keep that from happening for as long as possible.” I bit my lip. “There is a meeting I do need some help with.”
“What have you done this time?” Fortunately he sounded amused. “Who have you planned to work with?”
“The people who own the shops that have been damaged by the rioters.” I sighed. “Fortunately getting people in as quickly as possible to clean up has helped the situation massively, but I need to convince them we’re going to do everything we can to fix things, which isn’t going to be easy. We’re running out of money, Ben, because I have to keep fixing things, so I need to find some way of compromising with them, until this all comes to an end.”
Ben nodded. “There’s no point in fixing things if someone’s going to come along and destroy it afterwards.”
“Exactly. They seem to understand that as well, but it’s their shops that are going to get damaged if there’s rain any time soon, and then I’m going to end up with more to pay for.”
“I can come to that meeting.” He smiled at me, but I could still see the worry in his eyes. “How about I come to Number 10 with you and not come in? I can wait for you outside.”
“How does that show we trust them?” I poked him with my free hand. “Think things through.”
“I’d rather
be there to look after you. I feel like this is all my fault and I should be the one taking the weight of all this on my shoulders, rather than you doing it all.”
“You’re too vampire, love. Being young means I’m a lot more human than you are, so I have a better chance of understanding them.”
“Which is how you knew what the problem was with that government minister. I hear you took him to talk with his sisters.”
“He needed closure. Even if he couldn’t accept them for who they’ve become he could at least say goodbye, which was something he didn’t have a chance to do before.” I looked down at the floor. “I’m going to be meeting Connor tonight.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I remember how badly he hurt you when you first told him you were a vampire.”
Teresa
Meeting Alison was something I’d been looking forward to. Our eyes met and I could see that someone she cared about had become a vampire. She bit her lip. “There are so many things I want to talk to you about, Teresa.”
I smiled. “I feel the same way.” I bit my lip. “Are you okay with me asking personal questions?”
“Yes, I am, as long as you’re okay with me asking personal questions. We won’t be conducting the actual interview for a couple of hours. The studio thinks it’s important we have a chance to get to know each other before we start the interview. They want us to have a rapport, which is something I don’t think it will take us much time to create.”
“We seem to already have one.”
“At least I’m not the only one to think that.” She turned and started walking. “Nowhere here is really private, but there are a couple of places we can go where we’re less likely to be disturbed.”
Nodding, I followed her. “Is there anything I shouldn’t ask?”
“People here know. The studio chose me for that reason, although sometimes I think they wish they hadn’t, especially as Susie is being much less neutral than they were hoping she would. Of course she was lucky enough to meet Paul.”
“You know him?”
“I’ve met him a couple of times, so I wouldn’t say I know him as such, but I was hoping he’d be the one to talk to Susie.”
“If anyone would it was going to be Paul.”
“You know him?”
I laughed at the repeated question. “Yeah, I know Paul. In general the London community is very small, so vampires know each other, and it’s not unusual for Paul, or Liv, to turn up.”
“You know Olivia Mead?”
“She and Lise have been friends for a long time, so I had a chance to meet her before I even knew who she was. Nay, because of what happened to her, was never someone who wanted to become a part of the vampire community. I became a part of the community before she did.”
“I’d love a chance to talk with Olivia Mead.”
“I’ll see what I can do. As I’m sure you can understand Liv’s been madly busy ever since this happened, but I’m sure she’ll find time to talk with you.”
“The studio would also like to interview her, but I get the feeling that’s not going to happen. I think she’s going to do something to get her voice heard by the people.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. Liv, although she is incredibly patient and that’s why she was chosen as the person to talk to the government, it isn’t limitless. She will snap, eventually, and when she does we’ll know about it. When she does she’ll be talking to the camera herself about what it’s like to be a vampire, because everyone knows who she is, and if her voice is heard it might help. It might get the government to do something more than bury its head in the sand.”
“Unfortunately that’s what the government are good at doing. If I was Liv I would have walked away a long time ago.”
“Same, so I guess it’s lucky neither of us are involved in the negotiations. We’re simply the ones who get to talk on the telly, in the hope we can teach our people that vampires aren’t evil, although I don’t think it’s working as well as I hoped it would.”
“People don’t want to know the truth. They’d rather listen to idiots like Mr. Streep.”
“How did you keep your cool with him?”
“By forcing myself to remember I was on camera. If I hadn’t been I think I would have killed him, because every word that came out of his mouth was misinformation and he knew it. He wants the vampires to be vilified. Fortunately those pictures really did help, especially when we then found ourselves inundated with them, as we started getting emails after that asking where Streep got his information from. Neither Susie or I were permitted to answer them, even though we offered.”
“I think that was a good decision on the part of the studio, because I don’t think ‘out of his arse’ would be a valid answer to that question.”
Alison laughed. “That is where he got it from, though, and we both know it.” She glanced over her shoulder at me and our eyes met, so I could see the mix of amusement and anger within them, “Everything he said was lies. Everything. If it hadn’t been for you ringing up to tell us that it was all lies I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. Getting your phone call… it was such a relief. Knowing that a human in the vampire community had the courage to ring us up was better than learning about the riots in the first place, although I do support the vampires in this.”
“I do. Neither Lise or Jess have been out, but Nay has. She seems to be building herself a place and I don’t think it’s going to be long before I lose her for good.”
“What happens then?”
“I’ll stay with my vampires. Nay needs a chance to be a vampire and I’m glad she’s finally got it, even though I am going to miss her. She means so much to me, but I don’t want her to think of me when she makes the decision. She needs to think about herself.”
“She isn’t going to.”
“I know.”
“My brother is exactly the same, especially as I’m on the telly. He’s done everything he could to make certain no one knows the two of us are in contact, because he’s scared I’m going to get hurt.”
“I see his point.”
“I do as well, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I want to be able to tell everyone my brother is a vampire. I want the world to know how much he means to me. He wants me to keep it all to myself, so he’s not responsible for someone hurting me.”
“That’s something I see a lot - vampires thinking they’re responsible for the actions of our race.” I shook my head. “Lise is just as bad. When we first found out about what was going to happen, because we knew about the riots in advance, she asked me to leave them, because she didn’t want me to get hurt. What she didn’t seem to realise was that humans already view me as a traitor. I’ve chosen to help the vampires.” I sighed. “Of course having my face on telly isn’t the best thing I could have done.”
“The studio know it’s something that could end up being incredibly dangerous for you, so they’ve offered to make you anonymous. We can do that with technology, so it that is what you want let me know and I’ll make it happen.”
I couldn’t stop myself from breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“We need the human voice. I’ve been trying to get others like you to come in for an interview, but they don’t want to know and I’m not surprised. They don’t see the same thing you did. They have no idea that someone in my family is a vampire, that I’ve been dealing with this myself, that I know exactly what it’s like to be bandaging the hand of someone who didn’t know that the sun was going to burn them so badly.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip. “I hope that seeing the pictures of Nay’s hand wasn’t too traumatic for you.”
“Honestly, it was all I could do to stop myself from crying, but I have a lot of practice doing that now. I’m just grateful it gave me a chance to send in my own pictures, because Jake and I were exactly the same. We spent six months photographing the healing process, unable to believe how long it had taken.” Alison shook her head. “When I found hi
m, because at the point my parents didn’t know what had happened, I realised what he’d been trying to do - he wanted to open a curtain and see the sunlight for one last time.”
“Nay’s last view of sunlight… she sobbed into my shoulder as she watched from a safe distance and after that she made the decision she wasn’t ever going to look at it again. She was a vampire. The sun hurt her. What she had to do was accept that, but it wasn’t ever going to be easy and we both knew that from the beginning.” I hated that memory almost as much as the memory of her burning her hand. “I don’t know what she would have done if she didn’t have me there to support her, because I could easily imagine her walking into the sun.”
Paul
There was a knock on the door. It was just after sunset, so I was certain I knew who it was, but I looked through the peephole. You can never be too careful, especially when you’ve given an interview to camera. When I opened the door Susie stepped into the house. “What are the plans for tonight?”
Sighing, I brushed a hand through my hair. “This really isn’t a good thing for you to be doing.” I’d told her that multiple times, but she wasn’t listening to me. “You shouldn’t show the world you’re on our side, because someone might choose you as a target.”
“Paul, you’ve said that every night and it doesn’t change anything. I know what might happen. I accept that as a part of my job now, because of the position I’ve taken, and nothing is going to change that. Everyone who watches the nightly reports from the riots knows the decision I’ve made and I have support at the studio.”
“Are you talking about Alison?”
When I wasn’t in the midst of the riots I watched the reports on it and I’d heard Teresa talking to Alison at West London News. Of course Teresa was going to be the one to lose her patience and tell Streep, in the most amusing way possible, he was a liar. He knew he was a liar, though, so he didn’t care that he was getting called out for trying to tell people that human skin and vampire skin were exactly the same. “Yes, I’m talking about Alison.” Susie smiled. “She opened up to me about her brother for the first time when she realised I was on your side and I’m so glad she made that decision. Knowing she felt she could do that… I always knew about Jake, but I didn’t know anything more than that.”
A Bloody London Tale (Book 1): Unrest Rising Page 5
