A Bloody London Tale (Book 2): The Epidemic

by Prichard, Cornelius

  “They use you as bait?”

  “I use me as bait.” I shrugged. “Look, I need to get back. Can you make sure this vampire stays dead.”

  “Miron?”

  “You only get an answer to that question if I can be certain you’re not going to hurt him.”

  “Not now.” Our eyes met. “We’re going to need you… and him, if you can convince him not to walk into the sun.”

  “What about the elders?”

  “They’re going to have to change, the same way the world has. It’s obvious we were wrong. The vampires you were working alongside never wanted to harm us.”

  “No, they didn’t.” I smiled at him. “Do what you can, Tudor. Luca and I will be hunting together.”

  “I’m glad the two of you can be together now.”

  Lena

  Tereza was sitting next to me when I woke up, holding a bag of blood. Without saying anything I stared at her, unable to believe what had happened to me, but I really was a vampire. My birth mother had become a vampire. I shook my head. “It takes a while to get over that, Lena.” She studied me. “I wish things hadn’t happened the way they did, even though I’m glad I can be a part of your life now. That is if you want me to be.”

  “I do want you to be.” I was certain of that. “It’s going to take a while to… I don’t know, really. You aren’t the woman I grew up thinking of as Mama, but that doesn’t mean I won’t care about you in the same way.” Our eyes met and I took the blood from her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I remember what it was like to be a young vampire. I was hungry a lot of the time, but we weren’t lucky enough to be in a place where we could buy bags of blood. I had to wait until we found willing donors and that was hard. Being able to drink blood out of bags doesn’t make it that much easier, because you still have to come to terms with the fact you are drinking blood, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”

  “Will you tell me more about that?”

  “If you want me to.”

  Nodding, I sank my new fangs into the bag. “It will make me feel less alone, I think.”

  “Okay.” She was silent for a moment. “Well, you already know how I became a vampire. I’ve been talking to my mentor a lot about that in the last couple of days, trying to work out why it was I became a vampire, because I think it’s important we understand how this happened. People being changed…” She shook her head. “I didn’t think it was possible for Remus to do what he did until it happened and I know the other vampires haven’t come to any conclusions yet. All they know is that this can happen again.”

  “No, it can’t.” I sighed. “I don’t understand why Remus went to all this trouble in order to change me.”

  “Honestly I’m not certain he did. I think he was making up stories again and we’ll never truly know why he did what he did. He’s… I have trouble seeing him as the vampire he became. I don’t remember him being like that when I first saw him after he was changed.” She nibbled her lip. “He was… for a very long time Remus and I were friends. That was it. We didn’t want there to be anything more between us until… oh, I think it wasn’t long after Sori got with the man who ended up becoming her husband. Even though she was living in town she’d come to see us regularly and it was wonderful. I loved her more than I can put into words, because she was… I wish you could have known her longer. If she hadn’t been the woman she was she wouldn’t have willingly taken you on.”

  “There is one thing I still need to do.”

  “Oh.” She looked at me in such a way I knew she realised what it was I needed to do. “Do you want me to do it for you?”

  “No. It’s something I have to do myself.”

  Gareth

  We met Cormac in a little cafe. Jack wasn’t certain we were doing the right thing, but that didn’t stop him from coming with us. “Cormac was trying to make everyone believe vampires are evil.”

  “Yes, he was.” I sighed. “People do things for strange reasons.”

  “True.” He studied me. “If you trust him I’ll give him a chance.”

  “Thank you.” We stepped into the cafe and found Cormac sitting in the corner. He smiled at me. “Remember what I told you.”

  “How can I possibly forget?”

  “Hi, Cormac.” I sat down opposite him. “How are you doing?”

  “Better than I thought I was going to be.” He looked at Jack. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t. Last time you were trying to kill me.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing. You’re not going to trust me unless I prove myself to you.”

  “Explain to me why it is you want to help us.”

  “Valerie is the whole reason. I know you knew her. I know she talked about me. She talked about you as well, although she never mentioned your name.”

  “She never mentioned yours either, so I can’t be certain you are the hunter she told me about.”

  Cormac took something out of his pocket. “She gave me this.” He put a silver necklace on the table. “Do you believe me now?”

  Nodding, Jack sighed. “Yes, I do. For Valerie I’ll give you a chance, but if you do one thing I think might be putting us in danger you’re gone.”

  “It’s more than I deserve.” His eyes met with mine. “Where are we going to start? This is a whole new world.”

  Lena

  Grandpapa answered the phone faster than I wanted him to. “We’ve all heard it was Remus. Do you know why he did it?”

  “Yes.” Could he hear the tremor in my voice? “Well, I know the reason he gave, but that doesn’t mean it’s the real reason.”

  “Tell me.”

  “He wanted to get to me, Grandpapa. He wanted to change me into something like him and that means it’s going to be very hard for me to get back to Romania for a little while. Tereza’s looking after me.”

  “I thought she was truly dead.”

  “No, she became a vampire, because he was feeding off her while she was pregnant. Apparently that does amplify the chemicals with a vampire’s saliva and when she threw herself in the river, planning on dying for good, she ended up coming back as something she never wanted to be.”

  “How are you going to cope with this?”

  “To be honest I have no idea. This is the last thing I wanted, but it’s happened, so all I can do is my best. Tereza’s been introducing me to people she thinks will be able to most help me, in case I decide I want to stay in London when she leaves. If I make a different decision I’ll visit you.” I bit my lip. “If you want me to visit you I will. If you want me to stay away…”

  “Don’t even think that, Lennie. You are our granddaughter no matter what. We aren’t going to stop loving you because you’ve become a vampire.” Tears started streaming down my cheeks. “It isn’t what we wanted for you, darling, but neither of us will hurt you, as long as you promise me you’ll never attack an unwilling victim.”

  I wiped the tears off me cheeks. “I promise.” Arms wrapped around me and I knew Tereza was there. “Thank you.”

  “What are you thanking me for?” He sounded like he was smiling. “If you’re happy, or as happy as you can be, I’m happy. Just, if you can, come see us soon, so I can check on you myself. I love you, Lennie, and I hope this work out with Tereza. Make the most of the chance you’ve been given to get to know her.”

  “I will. I love you, Grandpapa. I’ll visit as soon as I can.”

  Amalia

  Miron wasn’t happy. I didn’t expect him to be, but when I walked in he seemed to calm down. “What happened?”

  “The mad vampire is dead. Tudor and I killed him.”

  “You were working with Tudor.”

  “As strange as it sounds, yes. He asked me if I wanted to join him, because there were eleven hunters left after they were attacked by the mad vampire, and I think he was worried about walking around alone when he knew there were so few of us out there. We heard screams, ran to where they’d com
e from, and found two more dead hunters. The mad vampire jumped on Tudor and then I killed him.” I was leaving out far too many of the details, but that didn’t bother me. I didn’t want them to know all the details. “How are you, Miron?”

  “How do you think I am?” He glared at Isabella. “I don’t want this.”

  “I know you don’t, but it’s happened and it’s something you need to deal with. If you want you can walk into the sun and put an end to it all.” He blanched. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d pick that option. Talk to me.”

  “I don’t want to be a vampire.”

  “There are lots of people who didn’t want to be a vampire who are dealing with the very same thing. Your girlfriend is one of them. Why didn’t you tell us about her?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I just… she was my first real girlfriend and I didn’t want the two of you to scare her away with your vampire talke.” He sighed. “Maybe if I’d brought her here she would have known how to protect herself.”

  “Hunters with years of experience couldn’t kill the vampire. There was no chance your girlfriend would have been able to, purely because she’d listen to Papa and I talk about vampires. I got lucky. There was a chance I might not have been able to kill the vampire and I’m so glad I managed it.”

  “So am I.” Miron stood. I checked the floor, to make sure he’d eaten, and then let him draw me into a hug. “We’re not going to have the same problem again, are we?”

  “I’d hope not, but there’s no way of knowing.” I stepped back, studying my brother. “This is a new world, Miron. Everything is different and we’re all going to have to come to terms with that. Half my family are vampires. Luca and I… “ I shook my head. “I have no idea what’s happening there.”

  “He loves you.”

  “I don’t know how that happened.”

  “That’s because you don’t see yourself the way other people do, Lia. I was being an idiot before. I was angry with everyone for what happened, but I was most angry with you and Papa because I thought it was your choices that brought this on. Even when I found out the truth… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken my emotions out on you.”

  “Miron, it’s fine.” I reached out to squeeze his shoulder. “We can move on from that.”

  “Good.” He looked at Isabella again. “I think the time has come.”

  “You can stay here for a little while longer. We don’t have to go straight away.”

  “I think it would be best for us to go. I don’t want to hurt Papa or Lia any more than I already have.” He brushed a hand through his hair. “As long as you’re certain I’ll be welcome.”

  “Of course you will.” Isabella stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. “When you’re safe we’ll come back, okay?” He nodded. “Until then I’ll look after you.”

  Luca’s arms wrapped around me. I pushed my tears away, unable to believe Miron was going to be leaving, but it was the best thing for him to do. He studied me. “I’m going to be fine. Papa and Luca will look after me.”

  He shook his head, laughing. “Lia, you just killed the vampire everyone’s been hunting. I’m not worried about you any longer.” I found myself smiling. “I just… if I didn’t know the best thing I could do was leave I’d stay here. However I don’t trust myself around you, so I need to go, I need to learn how to be a vampire, and then I’m going to come back. When that happens we’ll go out hunting together. We’ll find the vampires the deserve to die and fix things that need to be fixed.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Isabella picked up a bag I recognised. “We’re all going to be gone for a little while. There are a lot of vampires who need mentoring and it’s important we do what needs to be done.” I nodded. “I’ll keep in contact, let you know how Miron’s doing, and it won’t be long until we see each other again.”

  Papa stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. “Be careful, Bella.”

  “I will. You too, Ciprian, and don’t be too harsh on Luca. He loves Lia.”

  “I know.” Papa stepped back, wrapped his arm around Luca’s shoulder, and I realised how my family had changed in such a short period of time. At least Miron didn’t hate us. “Soon enough they’ll be married and we’ll have babies running around the place.”

  I looked at him. “You can babysit.”

  “Not a problem.” He smiled. “I look forward to it.”

  Miron raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. I was grateful for that. Far sooner than I wanted, though, both he and Isabella were gone, and we had to deal with the reality of the situation. I looked at Papa. “I’m glad you’re safe, Lia.”

  “The town is safe again, at least for a little while.” At least that was one thing I could rely on. “How long do you think it’s going to stay that way?”

  “Not as long as we want it to.” He kissed my cheek. “At least you have Luca to hunt with now, so I won’t have to worry about you.”

  I looked at Luca. It really was a whole new world - and I’d been one of the lucky ones.