A Bloody London Tale (Book 2): The Epidemic

by Prichard, Cornelius

  For a second I thought about what I was about to say and then I decided to go with it anyway. “If you hadn’t turned me into a vampire against my will I might have given you a chance to prove yourself, even after you admitted to killing my mother out of jealousy.”

  “She wasn’t your mother. She was more your mother than Tereza, but she still wasn’t your mother.”

  “To me she was. She was the only mother I knew and you took her away from me, because you wanted her. I wanted her too. Did that even cross your mind?”

  “I was there.”

  “Yes, because I knew that. I knew the creepy vampire who’d killed my parents was watching over me.” I tried not to think about the couple of times I thought I saw him. It wasn’t something I wanted to remember happening, as I’d pushed them out of my memory for a reason. “Look, Remus, you made a bad choice. Surely you can accept that.” I brushed a hand through my hair. “I wasn’t going to accept you straight away, but you wanted it to happen. You wanted me to love you, purely because you told me you were my father. That isn’t going to happen. You can, however, make me care about you as the person you are.”

  The knife was closer than it had been before, but I did my best to ignore it. “In that case you need to find us a way out of this room. If you can convince me you’re really willing to start building a new relationship I’ll give you a chance.” He waved the knife. “If you can’t I have nothing against removing you.” He glanced over at Marie. “I know she loves me.”

  Marie looked petrified. I had a feeling it had something to do with the knife, because I felt the same way about it. “Of course I do.” She managed to smile at Remus. “Put the knife down for now, otherwise Lennie won’t be able to find us a way out.”

  Amalia

  There was nothing. It was annoying me, but I wasn’t surprised. Mad vampires, unfortunately, seemed to be very adept at hiding from people. Breathing deeply I made my way down the next alley. I had to prove to the other hunters I was right. When I heard a scream I started running. Luca was right beside me, the two of us having seemed almost connected the whole time we were out, and it helped me to accept Isabella was right. Working with someone else, someone who loved me, was the right choice, because it didn’t make either of us weak - it made us both stronger. By the time we got there the vampire was gone, but his victim wasn’t. I recognised the clothes before I rolled him over.

  “Miron.” I stroked his cheek. “We need to get him back to the house. Hopefully Isabella will be willing to help him.”

  “Why should she after what he did to her?”

  “I know, Luca, and I don’t want to have to ask her, but Miron will be a vampire by morning. My brother shouldn’t have been out here alone. He doesn’t know enough about hunting.”

  “It would have been his choice. Last time there was nothing I could do to stop him, but I did follow him the whole time. If I’d stayed with them…”

  “You might be the one who was in this position. Don’t. You made the right choice. We can come out again tomorrow, but for now I need to get my brother home.”

  Nodding, Luca picked him up. “You can keep an eye out for any vampires who might want to attack us.”

  Fortunately we reached home without anything jumping out at us and it was a real relief. Papa opened the door. “You’re going to need to sit down, Papa.”

  He smiled at me. “I already know who it is, sweetheart. Bring Miron into his room. Waking up somewhere he knows might help, although I doubt it. He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up a vampire.”

  “No, he’s not, but it was his own stupid fault.” I shook my head. “He was out there by himself when he knew there was a mad vampire somewhere.”

  “Unfortunately that’s Miron for you.” Papa took my hand. “Isabella went to get some blood. She shouldn’t be too long. There is a chance he might not wake up until tomorrow, though, and that’s something we both have to be ready for.”

  “He won’t. After being ‘bitten’ yesterday I think he’s more likely to wake up before Isabella gets here. It was just a vampire teaching him a lesson, but it does means there more vampire… I want to say venom. Should I use venom?”

  “To be honest no one knows quite what to call it. It seems to be in the blood and the saliva of vampires, which is why a vampire can turn a human by drinking and dropping or by purposely feeding them blood. There are rules. We juts haven’t found out what they all are yet and I think it’s better not to ask the vampires to test it out too much. The minute we start doing that things become difficult.”

  I brushed a hand through my hair. “We need to find out was much about vampires as we can, because it’s obvious we don’t know enough.”

  “Not even the vampires do.” Isabella’s voice made me jump. “Sorry, Lia. I didn’t want to be gone too long and I was lucky enough to come across someone who’s gone to get some blood for me. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be in time, though, as I have no way of knowing when Miron might wake up. The girls found hard against what happened to them and I know that does have an effect. I didn’t have the energy to fight. Miron could fight it with everything he is and not wake up for three days. After everything he’s been through in the last few days he might not have the strength to fight.”

  Gareth

  Len put a finger to the ear piece he was wearing. He did that when he wanted whoever was speaking to repeat what they’d just said. “We have some interesting news coming through. The vampires have been working hard to work out who it was changing people on the flights from Romania and they found a human who was spiking drinks with vampire venom.” Len glanced over at Cormac. “The human said he was working on behalf of a vampire who promised to turn him in return for everything he’d done. We’re hearing the name of that vampire is Remus, but we don’t know anything more than that. Well, isn’t that interesting.” Len smiled. “A human turning people into vampires. I wasn’t expecting that. A human who’s going to be facing biological terrorism charges. What do you say to that, Cormac?”

  “There are good people and there are evil people. An evil person working for a vampire…” Cormac shrugged. “I suppose it was inevitable, really.” My eyes met with his and I could see he meant that. He was probably right as well. Evil vampire did exist. “At least we should now not have the same issue. We do still have to deal with all the newly created young vampires who are still out there, so this epidemic isn’t at an end quite yet.”

  “No, it’s not.” I looked at Len as I spoke. “However any young vampires who needs help is welcome to ring any of us for help. I believe you have our numbers, and Jack’s, going across the bottom of the screen now.” Len nodded. “We can help you. This isn’t an easy thing to go through, but you aren’t alone.” I nibbled my lip. “I have no idea if the guy I bit is watching this now, but I want you to know I am sorry for what I did. If I’d known what was going to happen I wouldn’t have been out there in the first place. I would like to talk to you, if you’re open to that, but I do understand if you aren’t, because I’d be furiously angry if the same thing happened to me.”

  My phone rang. “Answer it, Gareth, and put it on speaker phone.”

  I did as I was told. “Hello.”

  “Yes, I was angry with you, but we’re cool now.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I found someone who was willing to help me, after I’d made the same mistake you did, but I know she’s also being looked out for, so everything’s good.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. I’d like to meet with you though. All I really remember is a guy walking around in boxer shorts in the middle of the night. I shouldn’t have called you a freak, though, that was uncalled for.”

  “No, it wasn’t.” I laughed. “I was walking around in my boxer shorts in the middle of the night. I would have called myself a freak.” I looked at Len. “It’s really good that you called and you didn’t hang up when I put you on speaker.”

  “People need to know the truth, G
areth. It’s important. You didn’t do this to me on purpose. I can tell that from the way you’ve been acting today. You wouldn’t be on telly if you’d done it on purpose.”

  “Going on telly in that situation would be a huge mistake.”

  He laughed. “I’m Rex, by the way. Yes, my parents really did name me Rex, even though they must have known how badly I was going to get bullied.”

  “Did you?”

  “For a little while. Becoming a vampire, as strange as it’s going to sound, has made me a part of this community that’s pulling together to try to fix things and it wonderful. I am grateful to you for doing what you did. I have a feeling this is going to make my life better, although it isn’t something I think everyone would enjoy. I think the vampire life is hard. Drinking blood… that is… I know exactly what you mean when you say you never want to do the thing you did when your first fed. It’s horrible when you realise what you’ve done. The pain when I knew I’d eaten someone…” I shook my head at the wording. “Yeah, I could have picked a better word, but it’s hard to find the right ones. Vampires exist. I am one.”

  “This seems to be normal for new vampires.” Len looked at me and Tom. “Coming to accept what you are is the hardest part.”

  Nodding, I glanced at my phone. “I really think it is. The hardest part, for me, was the shock. Going from human to vampire without any warning at all…”

  “Yeah, I agree.” Tom sighed. “Had I know what had happened I would have been able to stop myself from hurting my sister, but I didn’t. I had no idea I’d become a vampire. I had no idea I was hungry for blood.”

  “When I woke up on the ground I had no idea what had happened. It was as thought that moment when you bit me didn’t exist, until I fed. When I fed it came back and it took me a while to accept what you’d done. Then I had to come to terms with what I’d done.”

  “That is a real problem.” I looked at Len. “I don’t know how many newly created vampires there are out there, but I believe the lowest estimates puts it in the high hundreds.” He nodded. “There aren’t many older vampires willing to take on those who were recently created, and those who are are taking on more than they probably should, so I believe what we need to be doing is gathering the new vampires together so we can look out for each other. Tom and I, as well as the other new vampires I know, have done everything we can in order to sort ourselves out, because it’s what we had to do. We didn’t have any other option. Knowing the damage we’d already caused, through our lack of understanding, meant we had to stop that from happening as quickly as possible.”

  “Other vampires are doing the same thing.” Hearing Rex confirm what I’d said helped. “We know how difficult things are for the older vampires. This isn’t something they asked for, it isn’t something we asked for, and we’re all learning to work together as best we can, and we’re hoping you will join with us as well. I’m like Gareth, because I’m not certain of the exact number of vampires who were created during this chaotic time, but we’re going to need the help of those who have been lucky enough to escape this. Being a vampire means accepting we can’t be out during the day and… honestly, out of all the hard things we have to do that is one of the hardest. I have to be so careful now, because there is a chance I might end up dead, and I don’t want to die. I didn’t want to be a vampire either, but that wasn’t my choice, and it wasn’t Gareth’s choice either, so I don’t blame him for what he did to me.”

  “I do, though. I know there are a lot of vampires in the same position I was who feel guilty for the choices they made and that’s part of the reason I want us all to gather together. I want us to be each other’s strength, because we need to be able to talk with people who understand what we’re going through.”

  Lena

  I had no idea how I was going to get the two of us out of the bathroom alive, but I had to try. At least I had, hopefully, managed to save the lives of the other people in the middle of everything. Marie was watching me as I tried to work out what my next step was going to be. Climbing out of the window would have killed us if we were still human. As vampires it seemed far more likely we’d be able to land safely. I glanced over at Remus. He was watching me closely, knife in his hand, and I did my best not to let the sight of it affect me too much. Sighing, I brushed a hand through my hair.

  “Well, we have two options, either of which will involve trusting me and Marie. Either we climb out of the window, which is something we won’t be able to do together, or I text someone to get the key.” Fortunately Tereza’s number wasn’t put down under her name, so he wouldn’t find out I was texting her if he did check my phone. “I think the best option is to get the key, because it would be far too easy for us to both escape you if we climb out the window.”

  He nodded. “At least you have been thinking things through, Lena.” He brushed a hand through his hair, the same way I did, and I hated it. I hated being like him, but I knew that was actually a habit I’d picked up for Grandpapa. “Text someone. Make certain you don’t betray me, because this is your last chance.”

  Of course he was going to say that. I made myself smile at him. “I’m not stupid, Remus.”

  For a few seconds I stared at the phone I had in my hand, trying to work out what I was going to say. ‘In bathroom with R. Need key. Should be under window somewhere.’

  Saying anything more than that would be a mistake, so I left it at that, doing my best not to panic when he took my phone off me. “Who did you text?”

  “A friend we don’t live with. I’m not entirely certain what you did to my flat mates, so I thought that was the best option.”

  “I didn’t do anything to them, apart from scare them when Tereza left. That was why they screamed.” He studied me. “I’m not hungry after feeding from you.”

  There was no way I could reply to that. I didn’t want to think about what he’d done to me. I hated him for it and he knew that, so he was never truly going to trust me. If I was him I knew I wouldn’t, but after what he’d done I didn’t know how he could expect me to. Changing me against my will. Trying to make me kill the people I cared about. He wasn’t a man I could call my father. For a moment I couldn’t help thinking of Papa. I missed him. I missed Mama as well, even though I thought I might be able to have a relationship with Tereza. As I pushed the tears that were threatening to fall away I sat down next to Marie. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I found myself hating Remus all over again, for what he’d done to her. I should have stopped it from happening. I should have protected her.

  “None of this is your fault.” Her voice was far louder than I thought it needed to be, but I appreciated her doing her best to make me feel better. “You didn’t choose for this to happen.”

  “She did choose for me to be trapped in this tiny little space with the two of you.”

  “To make certain you didn’t hurt anyone else. Haven’t you done enough damage, Remus?”

  “I didn’t damage any one.” He shook his head. “I did what needed to be done.”

  “You turned two people who didn’t want to be vampires into vampires. If that’s not damage I don’t know what it.”

  “Lena knew what would happen when she came to my flat and you knew what would happen when I fed from you.” He stared between us. “How could you not have done?”

  “Most of the people we know aren’t psychos.” I couldn’t quite believe she said that, but at the same time I should have known her bluntness would eventually get the better of her. “You have made some terrible choices, Remus, but I don’t think you accept that. As far as you’re concerned you made the best choices you could, considering the circumstances, because the people you were dealing with, like Lena, should have known better than to do what they did.”

  He ran the knife over the tips of his fingers. “You have no idea what it was like to be me. You have no idea how hard it was for me to accept I was a vampire. I hated what I’d become, partly because I lost everything, and I was doing my best
to make things better. I loved Sori. She knew that even before she married someone else, but it didn’t stop her. She didn’t care enough about me to leave the man she said she’d fallen in love with. How could she have been in love with him when I was there?”

  “Maybe it had something to do with the fact she saw you as a brother and nothing more.” I shook my head. “Loving someone and being in love with them are two very different things, Remus. She loved you. That doesn’t mean she wanted to be in a relationship with you.” His eyes met with mine. “Everything you did, everything you’ve done, has happened because you believe something that the person you’ve been with doesn’t. You believed Mama should be with you, when she wanted to be with the man she loved. You believed Tereza should have been with you, because you loved each other, and instead she did something irrational due to her post natal depression.”

  “You really believe that explanation.”

  “I don’t know why I shouldn’t. I’ve seen people with post natal depression do all sorts of strange things, so Tereza throwing herself in the river due to that makes a lot of sense. From what I’ve seen she doesn’t seem like the sort of person to give up for no reason.” I wasn’t entirely certain there was no reason, because I could imagine doing the same thing if I knew Remus was out there somewhere, which was the whole reason I wanted him gone. I didn’t want to have to worry for the rest of my existence. “You might not be willing to accept it, but I am.”

  Amalia

  The blood arrived and Isabelle put it in the fridge. As it was getting closer to dawn I didn’t think Miron was going to wake up. Sighing, I stood, going over to the window. Luca joined me, an arm wrapping around my waist. “It’s not your fault.”

  “If I’d got the mad vampire sooner…”

  “Don’t do that. You’ve done everything you can to find him. I know that, your father knows that, and Miron knows it.”