Journal

by Cat Thomson

  ***

  As Nikolas walked, carrying Elizabeth on his shoulders, he reflected on the fact that his human subjects were much happier since he had decided to stop locking them up, allowing them to come and go freely and giving them the illusion that their lives were now unfettered. He had taken great pleasure in cruelly subjugating them, but he had never considered that control and deprivation would ultimately have an adverse effect on the human soul, and he preferred his victims vivacious, not wilting under the weight of the misery of slavery.

  But on the other hand, humans seemed unable to grasp exactly what they were dealing with. If the government worded official statements carefully, informing the human masses that vampires were a myth - just as the human government had done before - then humans responded by also denying the existence of vampires, even though it was common knowledge that many amongst them were being fed upon by vampires.

  "Look at that adorable child," a female human said as Nikolas and Elizabeth passed her and her group of friends.

  Nikolas smiled beguilingly at the human. He had raised the child as though she were his own, calling her Elizabeth in memory of his first mate, and also, endearingly, "my little human". Having lost his confidant Michael in the initial attack at the Resistance shelter, he doted on her; like his thirst for world domination, Elizabeth was just another pleasant diversion for him from the mundanity of a vampire's long-term existence. He had never contemplated making her a slave and as she had progressed from babyhood to childhood, she had become attuned to the nocturnal lifestyle of vampires and he rarely even truly considered the fact that she was human. Elizabeth had her own sleeping chamber at Nikolas's coven on the Heath and he had ensured that she was well protected from the harsh reality of a vampire's existence - she knew nothing of the hedonistic slaughtering that went on night after night.

  Elizabeth was also oblivious of being physically different from vampires, but in any event her uncanny presence of mind and the azure of her eyes charmed humans and vampires alike, such that vampires themselves more often than not overlooked her human frailty. Nikolas, too, was taken in by her unexpected combination of warm-bloodedness and vampire characteristics, to the extent that he had long since cast aside his initial suspicions of her origins. Helmut's genetic influence on the child had also led to her having an indefinable scent, and so Nikolas had never made the connection between her and her father, the vampire slayer Tom.

  He suddenly stopped and lowered Elizabeth to the pavement. This was the first time he had ever taken her out with him and he now regretted it. He hadn't considered that her presence would interfere with his unavoidable desires and he had just encountered tonight's prey.

  "Don't venture too far, Elizabeth," he said.

  The child was unperturbed as Nikolas momentarily forgot her while he conversed with the human he had chosen to enjoy tonight. She began to skip up and down the pavement, but suddenly stopped and stood still. Helmut realised that she had sensed his presence once again. He began to slowly back away from the distant place from where he had been observing her, but she started walking in his direction. Helmut knew he would have to be quick; he spun round and sped down the street, away from her.

  "Elizabeth. Elizabeth, where are you going?"

  Nikolas was now standing in front of her, a miniscule hint of suspicion beginning to arise within him as he sniffed the air. She looked at him, her features expressionless.

  "What did you see?" said Nikolas.

  "Nothing," she replied.

  "I'm going to take you home now. I've been an irresponsible father; it's really far too late at night for little girls to be out."

  ***

  There were always vampire packs present in the venues Helmut frequented to administer the antidote, but the dense, noisy crowds made it difficult for them to focus on any one specific alien scent, human or vampire. Helmut would slyly empty the contents of the vials into the drinks of the men and women he accosted, but they were always too spellbound by him to notice the subtle altered colour and taste - and the distinct shift in temperature - of their drinks, once the antidote had been added. And so, unknown to them, the antidote would enter their bloodstream, permanently changing the composition of their blood and, ergo, that of their progeny.

  But tonight Helmut didn't intend to administer the antidote to anyone. He felt that he must return to the farm immediately. He had to let Sharon and Tom know that their daughter was still alive.

  ***

  Helmut was buoyed by the swirling night air as he flew to the farm. When it became visible in the distance, he gradually decreased the speed of his flight, before landing in front of the farmhouse. He called out quietly to whoever was on night watch duty inside the house to open the front door, and when his call went unanswered, he tried the door handle; as he had expected, the door was locked. He climbed agilely up the wall, to Sharon and Tom's window, and tapped gently on it. There was a rustling and creaking from behind the blackout screen as Sharon and Tom became roused from their sleep.

  "Did you hear that, Tom?" Sharon whispered.

  "It's only me, Helmut. Please open the front door; I must speak to you."

  Helmut heard the wooden floorboards creak as Tom left his and Sharon's bedroom and made his way down the stairs to the front door. He was there, waiting, when Tom finally unlocked the door, and he entered the house, his calm demeanour contradicting the overwhelming nature of the news he wanted to give them.

  "What is it, Helmut?" said Tom, his eyes bleary with sleep.

  Helmut waited until Sharon had joined Tom before he spoke.

  "Kylie's alive," he said.

  Sharon shook her head.

  "How can you be so sure?" said Tom. "You may think you've seen her, but the last time any of us saw her, she was just a baby."

  "It was her. She still has those uniquely distinctive blue eyes. And she's inherited your hair, Tom; she has your golden curls."

  "But where did you see her?" asked Sharon.

  "In a busy street in London."

  "So late at night? Why didn't you bring her back with you? If you saw her, why isn't she here with you now?" said Sharon. She was becoming agitated.

  "Because she was with Nikolas."

  Sharon raised her hands to her mouth. "No!"

  "It can't have been her, not with Nikolas," said Tom, but in spite of his disbelief, he asked, "Is she okay? Was he treating her badly?"

  "It was her, Tom, and she looks as though she's been well looked after. She seemed very happy."

  Sharon and Tom turned to look at each other. On the one hand, they were elated to hear that Kylie was still alive, but the thought of their daughter being completely at ease in the company of Nikolas was more than either of them could bear.

  ***

  Location: London

  Saturday, 3 July 2032

  Sunrise: 04:49

  Sunset: 21:20

  Elizabeth became aware of a whisper vibrating through the tunnels of the coven as she sat playing with her toys on the earthen floor. She stopped what she was doing and listened intently to the whisper. She felt drawn to it, and got up and walked out of her sleeping chamber. She soon reached the slanting, snake-hole-like coven entrance, and stood on the tips of her toes as she poked her head out of it. She could now distinctly hear the whispered word that was being repeated in barely audible tones: "Kylie, Kylie". She had no understanding of what it meant and yet it intrigued her. She climbed out of the coven and stood listening, her head tilted.

  Nikolas watched Elizabeth walk past the grand chamber as he held a Dark Web meeting with the sires of international covens. At first, he thought nothing of it; she often wandered off, exploring her surroundings. But then, beyond the noisy discussion he was having, his heightened auditory abilities allowed him to become conscious of the beckoning undertone that was drawing her towards the coven's entrance. He rushed from the grand chamber, to the tunnel that slanted up towards the Heath. At the coven's opening, he saw Elizabeth's heels, just beyo
nd its edge. Nikolas flitted, to stand half-way out of the entrance hole, and began to edge his arms stealthily towards her. But as he grabbed Elizabeth to pull her backwards, a figure suddenly flitted out from behind the nearby overgrowth and took hold of her arms.

  Elizabeth screamed, and Nikolas and the intruder both released their grip on her. Nikolas swiftly fully exited the coven and pushed Elizabeth backwards, with such force that she fell to the ground. He was now standing face-to-face with the intruding vampire. He had never seen him before, but Nikolas knew immediately from the reflection of his soul aspect in his intensely blue eyes that he could only be the legendary Helmut. Their paths had almost crossed on more than one occasion of late.

  "What a fool I am, to have exposed myself to the external elements like this, off-guard and without the backup of my coveners," said Nikolas. "Elizabeth's captivating innocence has led me to this; I should have known better. But it won't be long before my coveners sense the peril out here and come to my aid."

  Nikolas observed his adversary with keen interest for a moment before he continued, "How interesting; I can now see where she gets her eyes from, but what I don't understand is this: she's human, not dhampir, and yet she has this vampiric characteristic.

  "Ah. We knew that an antidote was being developed and we did try to put a stop to it, but I see now that we may have tragically failed. But even if they did eventually succeed in fully developing it and my little Elizabeth had it administered to her, that doesn't explain how she's ended up with your eyes. What is going on, Helmut?"

  Helmut said nothing in response. Nikolas moved boldly closer to him.

  "Keep away from this child," he said. "She has been with me almost since birth and I feel a strong, almost paternal bond with her. I find her company quite delightful."

  Elizabeth cried out then, and Nikolas spun round to see Charlotte rise off the ground and take flight with the child enclosed in her arms. A guttural snarl emerged from deep within him as he took off after Charlotte. She had always been faster than him, but she was now weighed down by Elizabeth, and he was soon close enough behind her to take hold of her leg. His intention to get the child back was for now momentarily overwritten by an even stronger desire to destroy his former mate, and he began to pull Charlotte backwards, towards him.

  Charlotte didn't resist Nikolas; they were high above the ground and she couldn't focus on attacking her former mate at the risk of dropping the child. She suddenly felt a noxious energy encroach her force field and knew that Helmut must be close by, the crucifix he had put aside at Nikolas's coven now in his hand. Nikolas wailed and released his tight grip on her as Helmut's crucifix seared his skin, and the acrid smell of sanctity confronting darkness permeated her senses.

  Charlotte glanced furtively behind her as she picked up speed, and saw Nikolas plummet to the ground, with Helmut closely following his downward trajectory.

  ***

  The child in Charlotte's arms was quiet, but watchful, as their journey across the deep expanse of night sky continued. Soon the gleaming city lights on the ground far beneath them grew sparse, before fading out of sight, as they flew on towards the countryside.

  Eventually, Charlotte landed. Sharon and Tom had been sitting with Alex, tonight's watchman, tensely awaiting the outcome of Helmut and Charlotte's mission, and when they saw on the surveillance monitor that Charlotte had landed and lowered a child to the ground, they disregarded the curfew and came running out of the house, expectant.

  "Kylie!" they said as they embraced their bewildered daughter; they had recognised her instantly as their progeny.

  "What is 'Kylie'?" she asked as she recalled that that was the whispered word that had drawn her out of Nikolas's coven.

  "That's your name, honey," said Sharon.

  "But my name's Elizabeth," she replied. "Nikolas calls me Elizabeth."

  Sharon and Tom felt a sense of hopelessness as harsh realisation sank in: their child was a stranger to them. Worse, she had lived the formative first years of her life under Nikolas's influence. They both feared that he may have enticed evil into her soul.

  ***

  Nikolas's desiccated body struck the ground, and only moments later began to rejuvenate. He had been attacked many times during his existence as a vampire, and each time a vampire survives an injury, he rejuvenates with greater rapidity, becoming ever more powerful. Soon Nikolas had fully recovered from the crucifix's debilitating power. He rose swiftly up from the ground, to see Helmut standing at the edge of the barren clearing where he had landed. Their presence there was concealed by the verdant branches of the encircling trees, but they heard Nikolas's coveners fly past overhead; they had realised that Nikolas was missing and were now searching for him.

  As Helmut drew closer, Nikolas sensed that he was not at this moment carrying the crucifix.

  "Fascinating, how you're able to tolerate a crucifix," he said.

  According to age-old vampire tradition, when two enemy sires of covens intend to engage in battle and find themselves alone, using brute force is the only fair and honourable way for them to fight and so, as much as Helmut would have liked to have made use the crucifix in his quest to weaken and destroy Nikolas, he had put it aside.

  "To the death, as humans would say," said Helmut.

  "To the death," said Nikolas.

  They flew towards each other, colliding in the centre of the clearing, where they grappled with one another, each attempting to viciously sink their teeth into the other as they spun round and round, stirring up the parched earth on which they rotated until they were enclosed within a whirlwind of dust. An hour passed by and still they battled on, neither gaining an advantage over the other. Another hour passed without there being a victor. They were both skilled fighters; both were equally powerful.

  They were battle-worn, their bodies gouged and scratched, when they eventually stopped.

  "Truce?" said Nikolas.

  "Truce," agreed Helmut.

  ***

  Helmut staggered out of the clearing on the outskirts of the Heath, collecting his crucifix as he departed. Apart from when confronted by the crucifix, a typical vampire experiences only pleasurable sensations, and so he felt no pain from his injuries. Nikolas had been his fiercest combatant ever and the tough fight had left him with little strength. He would need to feed soon so that he could rejuvenate, otherwise he would be an easy target for attackers, human and vampire alike. And he would have to find a place before sunrise where he could lie dormant until night returned.

  Two hours later, Helmut reached Leicester Square. Even though it was almost 03:00, there were still a number of people scattered about on the streets. Helmut observed them as he walked: their casual, relaxed attitude was much as it had been before the vampires began their war five years earlier. Nikolas had recently done away with his tyrannical control of the human population and they now enjoyed themselves in much the same way as they used to, one obvious change to their lifestyle being that vampires now mingled brazenly amongst them, always on the look-out for enemies of the vampire regime.

  If anyone was to scrutinise Helmut now, they would see his dishevelled state and the gaping injuries the rips in his clothing revealed. He had cast aside his long coat to fight Nikolas and this he now pulled tightly round him in an attempt to better conceal his injuries and the damaged clothing beneath it. Helmut warily circumvented the Square, doing his best to avoid the vampires that were there; he was weak and unable to swiftly escape, and they would easily vanquish him in a fight.

  He turned into Leicester Place and glanced at the ruins of the old French church as he approached it; it had been burnt down by Nikolas's human supporters, as had every other church in London. Few countries now remained that hadn't been conquered by the vampires, and churches in every vanquished country had met with the same fate. Helmut waited until he had an opportunity to climb undetected over the rubble that remained at the front of the church ruins. He knew that a small remnant of the church's basement was still
intact, and it was there that he intended to sleep. When he reached the narrow crevice above the basement, hidden in amongst the blackened, splintered pews, he slipped inside it, dropping into the cool silence of the dark space below. His eyes scanned the blackness and encountered the multitude of rats he had expected to find there. With his remaining strength, he lunged with feline dexterity towards one and caught it.

  The rat never had a moment to contemplate its fate as Helmut greedily drank its blood, rendering it lifeless within seconds. He immediately felt his body begin to regenerate as the rips and gouges in his flesh began to heal. The rats were now aware of his threatening presence and were attempting to escape from the enclosed space en masse, but their escape was stalled by the sheer number of them and their lack of escape routes. Helmut captured another rat and imbibed its warm blood, and then another.

  The squeaks of the panicking rats now reverberated in the tiny hollow beneath the ground, and although Helmut had not yet had his fill, he didn't want to risk drawing the attention of vampires to his presence there and so he left the rats alone and became still. Their fear soon abated and those that had escaped gradually returned.

  Helmut had drunk enough blood for the healing powers of his physical form to become fully activated and he watched as his body became whole again. The time eventually came for him to lie down and await the departure of night. When night finally dissipated, he became automatically submerged in the unconsciousness of vampire sleep, and soon rats began to crawl across his lifeless, unpalatable body until they covered him entirely. They had become oblivious of the fact that he had intruded upon their dark basement world.