A Bloody London Tale (Book 2): The Epidemic

by Prichard, Cornelius

  “He’s still going to be furious with me. He’s going to blame me for this happening.”

  “There’s no way he can, Lia. You weren’t there when he made the choice to go out alone.” Luca sighed. “The only reason he could have been out there was because he was trying to hunt a mad vampire with no experience whatsoever of truly hunting. He should have known better, but, from what he said last night, he wanted to prove you wrong. He wanted it to be one of the other vampires.”

  “We won’t know until tomorrow who it was.”

  “Miron might still wake.”

  “Not this close to dawn he won’t.” I bit my lip. “I don’t know how he’s going to take this when he wakes up. He didn’t want to become a vampire and I have a horrible feeling he’s going to walk out into the sun, without even giving himself a chance to come to terms with what’s happened.”

  “He knows what will happen to him if the hunters find out. They will do everything they can to find him and kill him. I know some of them make a vow to each other…”

  “I don’t want to know.” I turned to look at him. “This is going to change the world, Luca, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. People know vampires exist. The vampires are doing their best to become a part of a society I don’t think is ready to accept them. Everything is a mess.”

  “Yes, it is, and someone caused this.”

  “A vampire caused it, which will make it harder to argue that vampires should be accepted, even though I truly believe this wouldn’t have happened if the vampires had already been accepted.”

  “Maybe.” He rested his forehead against mine. “All I know is that it has happened and we need to move on. Looking back at how things might have been different isn’t going to do either of us any good.”

  “Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t stop me from wondering.” Our eyes met. “I don’t truly understand why anyone would do this, but I’m lucky enough to be able to live a normal life. For those who can’t I can accept why they might have thought showing the world how hard it was to be a vampire would work. I just wish so many innocent people hadn’t got caught up in this mess.”

  Gareth

  “We’re going to have to draw this program to a close not, because my two guests need to head back to their safe house before dawn.” I glanced at Tom.” I want to thank you both for doing this and I hope we see you both again soon.”

  “It was our pleasure.” Tom smiled at Len. “I’m glad we had a chance to set the record straight. People have been very kind to us and I hope that continues in the future.”

  “Do you have anything you’d like to say, Gareth?”

  “All I’d like to do is say once again that anyone who needs our help is welcome to call on us. To get through this horrible time we all need to stick together.”

  “Thank you, Gareth.” Len looked at the camera. “Remember that, everyone. The vampires want to help you if you need it. Contact them, let them know what you need, and they’ll do their best to make it happen. Good night for now and I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  With that it was over. I couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. We’d done it. Hopefully it was going to have an effect on our future and the future of the other vampires, but there was no way of knowing for certain. Len walked over. “I really do appreciate what you’ve done.” For a second I thought I saw a flash of fangs. “Hopefully this works out the way we all want it to, because you’ve done a lot of good tonight, and you’ve shown the majority of people what it was really like for the two of you to go through what you did.”

  “We had to do it, Len. We had to make things better for all the vampires, not just us, because people aren’t going to forget we exist, no matter what we might want, so the best thing we could do was use that.”

  Nodding, he reached out to shake my hand. ‘I’ll be in contact in the future.” Our eyes met. “I’d love to have you back here as guests sometime in the future.”

  “I’m sure we could work that in.” I shook Len’s hand, unable to stop myself smiling at him. “For now, though, we’ve got a lot to get done.”

  He smiled. “That you have.” He looked at Tom. “I hope things work out for you with your parents.”

  “So do I.” He’d had three missed calls, because he wasn’t ready to talk to his parents, but it was something he knew he’d have to do far sooner than he wanted. He shook Len’s hand too, smiling at the man who might be a vampire. “Thank you for having us on. I didn’t think you’d accept, knowing how long we’d been vampires, so I’m very glad you did.”

  “Everyone is different. I’m not going to assume one vampire isn’t able to do this simply because others haven’t been able to cope as well as the two of you have.”

  That was when I was certain he’d dealt with new vampires before, and there was a chance he was one. I had far more questions for him then, but I knew I couldn’t ask them with Cormac around, so I kept my mouth shut. My eyes met with Len’s, just for a moment, before he walked away, leaving Tom and I with Cormac. “Len’s right. You did do a good job.” Cormac smiled at us and I found myself wondering who he really was. Why would he be willing to help us? “I became a hunter because it’s what my parents were, until they died, and as a teenager I thought they were right when they told me all vampires were monsters. When I met one who wasn’t I knew what I should do. My parents, especially my mum, would have been furious with me for letting her walk off alive, but I had to. She wasn’t hurting anyone. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She was doing her best to find a way of accepting what she’d become, even though it was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. Stupidly I kept meeting up with her. We talked about how she was getting on and I thought everything would work out for her. Then one of the hunters who knew me followed me when I was meeting her.” Cormac looked at me. “That night she died, because of me, and it’s something I’ll never forgive myself for.

  “Ever since then I’ve had to do what I can to make people believe it was something I was doing in order to find out more about her creator, and the other vampires she spent time with, because the hunters didn’t trust me any longer. To be honest I don’t blame them. Things could well have happened the other way round and I would have put a lot of people in danger. I made a mistake, that didn’t feel like it was a mistake.” He shrugged. “I don’t want to be the person I became to make them believe in me again, because I’m not him - he’s a persona I created in order to make the hunters believe in what I was doing and I wish I’d never done it. I wish I’d walked away when I had a chance to. For the rest of my life I will blame myself for what happened to Valerie. It wouldn’t have happened if I’d been more careful. It wouldn’t have happened if I’d stop to think about how another hunter would react to finding out what I was doing. She was… I think I was in love with her, only I never got a chance to tell her that and I wish I did. I wish I could tell her now.”

  “Show you loved her by helping us.” Tom studied Cormac. “You can still do good things in her name and not spend your time spouting lies you know aren’t true.”

  “My persona believes they are. The Cormac I am laughs at me every time I say stupid things knowing that I did about Valerie, because if I didn’t laugh I would start crying, and I can’t let myself cry over a vampire. She was nothing to me, or so the hunters believe.”

  Together the three of us walked away from the studio and that was when my phone rang. I checked the screen before I answered it, because I didn’t think I was ready to deal with people I didn’t know yet, and was relieved to see it was Jack. “We have a problem.” It had to be bad as he didn’t wait for me to say anything. “Three of the safe houses have been attacked by hunters. The vampires got out fine, but that means we need new spaces. Did you, or Tom, tell anyone where they were?”

  “I didn’t, but I don’t know about Tom. We weren’t together the whole time.” I passed the phone to Tom. “Jack wants to know if you told anyone where the safe houses were.”

  H
e shook his head. “Before Gareth and I came on the show we made the decision we weren’t going to give away locations to anyone, because of what might happen. I haven’t said anything to anyone and I trust Gareth not to either. Could it be coincidence?”

  For a long time Tom was silent and I wished I knew what Jack was saying. “Okay. Gareth and I will be careful.” Tom looked at Cormac. “We do have a hunter who wants to work with us, but we can meet him tomorrow in a neutral place.” He sighed. “Yes, I know it seems like a bad idea now, and if I hadn’t heard why he wanted to help us I’d walk away. I just think he’s a good person who made a couple of bad choices.”

  Cormac grinned. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear Tom sticking up for me. He was the one I believed I wouldn’t convince I was being honest with the two of you, but I think telling the truth seems to have helped.” The smile faded. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to talk about that is five years and I’m glad I did. It was the right thing to do.”

  “You’re going to have to prove yourself now, though. Three of the safe houses have been attacked by hunters and that’s going to make it difficult for Jack to trust you.”

  “New vampires are easier to follow, especially at the moment. If any hunter happened to set eyes on someone who was outside at night they’d probably assume that person was a vampire. You need to pass that on to Jack and as many other people as possible, otherwise more of the safe houses will be attacked.”

  “Great.” Tom held the phone out to me. “Our hunter associate thinks it’s bad luck. A hunter who sees anyone out at night will assume that person is a vampire. We’re going to need to be very careful.”

  Lena

  When Tereza opened the door, thankfully while Remus had his back to it, she had allies with her. One of those allies cuffed Remus, making him drop the knife at the same time. “You’re under arrest, Remus Albu, for biological terrorism.”

  Laughing, he pulled his hands apart, as though he thought he would be able to break the cuffs, but nothing happened. “They’re made of steel, Remus. I made certain they brought the right type, because I don’t want you to get free after what you’ve done.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The human wasn’t loyal to you for long, when he realised what the charges were going to be.” Tereza shook her head. “I can’t believe you convinced someone to put vampire venom into drinks.” He was the one who’d caused the whole mess in the first place. “Why did you do it?2

  “How else was I going to get close to my daughter? She didn’t want to have anything to do with me, thanks to you.”

  For a long time everyone was silent. “It had nothing to do with Tereza. The choice you made is not her fault.” I shook my head, unable to believe Remus was going to blame other people for what he’d done, when he was the one who’d… I didn’t even know how long the list was any more. He’d caused the chaos that led to hundreds, maybe even thousands, of innocent people becoming vampires without warning. “You were the one who hurt my parents. You could have left them alone and then we would have been able to have some sort of relationship, but you love Sori too much for that, apparently.” I sighed. “You don’t know what love is. You get obsessed with people. You were obsessed with Tereza when you could feed from her. You were obsessed with Mama when Tereza left you. Then, for some reason, you became obsessed with me, but I don’t know how that obsession led to this…” I gestured with my hand. “How many people do you think this has hurt? Do you even care?”

  Remus looked at me, those emotionless eyes meeting mine, and I knew he didn’t. “Had it not been for you betraying me once again no one would have been able to catch me.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand why you would do it, but then you don’t understand why you’re so important to me.” I was glad he didn’t have his hands free, because I knew what he wanted to do - if he couldn’t have me then no one else could either. “One day I will find you, Lena, and when I do…”

  Tereza shook her head. “You won’t be alive then, Remus. You’re a vampire and that means there are no safe prisons for you. The chances are you will die before you can even get to trial.” Pain filled her voice. “I don’t know how you became this person, but you aren’t the man I once loved, and I don’t quite know how to come to terms with that.”

  “You never loved me, Tereza. If you had done you would have put my first, instead of the child that took your life, but you chose Lena over me. You were the first person to truly betray me and I’m glad you won’t be a part of my life any longer. I’m glad neither of you will.”

  With that he was gone. The man who was my birth father left my flat in handcuffs, because he was the man who’d created thousands of vampires. When Tereza wrapped her arms around me I pressed my head into her shoulder. “I need to get the two of you to the safe house before dawn. We don’t have a lot of time, so we should leave now.”

  I didn’t say anything as she led me from the flat I’d called home for two long years. I knew my life had been changed for good and soon enough I’d have to ring my grandparents to tell them, but that could wait until I had the strength to deal with it. Two people were on the floor scrubbing the blood out of the carpet, which was a relief, and I smiled. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She squeezed me. “You’re going to okay, Lena. It will take a while, but you’ll be fine.”

  Amalia

  Being told good news the moment I woke up made me feel a little better. Isabella’s vampire friend in London contacted us as soon as he got confirmation the vampire who’d been involved in changing hundreds of innocent humans had been arrested. No one thought he was going to make it to prison, but that didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned the world would be a better place if he was gone. I couldn’t understand why anyone would do what he did and it sounded to me like he might have been insane considering the reasoning he had for what he’d done. I tried not to think about it as Luca and I searched for the mad vampire. I wanted it all to be over as soon as possible and the only way I could do that was by finding the vampire who’d caused so much damage in my home town.

  When I heard a sound I stopped. I didn’t think it was the mad vampire, because I was certain he’d be much louder, but then someone else walked around the corner. He was one of the hunters I knew and didn’t like. For a moment we looked at each other. “Any sign?”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t think you believed in the mad vampire.”

  “None of us did until he attacked a group of hunters last night. Only one survived long enough to tell us what happened and it appears you were right. You out here alone?”

  Luca had stayed back to keep an eye on Miron, because we didn’t know what he’d do when he woke up. “Yeah.”

  “Even though it didn’t help last night I think it might be best if the two of us stay together. At least then if one of us is attacked the other will hopefully be able to get the vampire.”

  Working with someone I didn’t trust probably wasn’t the best idea I’d ever made, but he made a lot of sense. “How many of you are left?”

  “Miron’s disappearance leaves us with eleven hunters.”

  “That was a big loss last night.”

  “I know.” Tudor sighed. “Pulling together is the best thing we can do.”

  Nodding, I followed him through the darkness, hoping I hadn’t made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. “Do we have a description of the vampire?”

  “Dark hair, red eyes, looked scary.” He shook his head. “I think the red eyes are probably from all the blood he’s been drinking.”

  “Or contact lenses.” I still thought it was possible someone had created it on purpose and as Remus was in London it could simply have been good timing for him… or he was working with someone. “How many vampires have we caught from his village?”

  “Nowhere near enough.”

  With that I stopped asking questions. We both needed to focus all our senses on the creature
we were hunting and it was impossible to do that when you were talking. Moments later I head screams and with that I was running. Tudor was right behind me, doing his best to keep up, but I seemed to know the streets better than he did. When we reached the place where the screams had come from there were two dead hunters. “I think he’s gone.” Tudor’s voice was too loud. I shook my head, but didn’t have enough time to say anything. A vampire dropped on top of him. “Help me, Amalia.”

  Shooting the vampire with a crossbow when he was feeding from someone wasn’t safe thing to do, but I didn’t have any other option. I aimed for his head, hoping I wouldn’t hurt Tudor in the process, and found that all I really seemed to do was annoy a vampire I really didn’t want attacking me. By then it was too late. I was pinned to the wall by the vampire, my crossbow on the ground, and I fumbled for one of the many knives I wore. Getting bitten twice in two days wasn’t going to do me any good at all. When I finally got the knife out his fangs were nearly scraping the bandage I wore. For a moment our eyes met and I could see the madness within his. I didn’t think he had any moments of lucidity. All he wanted was blood.

  Tudor’s knife slit his throat, but it wasn’t going to be enough. The mad vampire dropped to his knees, looking shocked, and I knelt to pick up my crossbow. “I’m sorry this happened to you.” I shot him in the heart, three times, and that was it. My long hunt was over. I still waited, just in case, because I didn’t trust it not to stand and start walking again. “You okay, Tudor?”

  “Alive.” He was wrapping his neck. “I’ve never been that scared before.”

  “I have.” Our eyes met. “I’ve dealt with vampires like this far more times than I ever wanted to. The vampires you’re willing to kill don’t like mad vampires like this one running around either, so they talk to someone like me, because they know it’s far easier to catch one if you have someone with a pulse around.”