by Gray, Sophia
That had seemed to make sense, but then another thought’d occurred to me. “But what about me?” I’d said.
He’d kissed my forehead and hugged me close then, and once again I’d muttered a thank you to whatever god it was that had made him forgive me. I could see that it was hard for him; he didn’t like the idea that I’d make love to another man, but he was willing to forget it if I was. I’d closed my eyes and savoured the kiss. “What about you?” he’d said.
“Why have I grown older?”
“You are a born vampire. You will keep growing for about four or five years until you reach womanhood, and then you will stop. No vampire grows forever. The born vampires are the lucky ones.”
“How’s that?”
“Would you want to spend your entire life living in the body of a child?”
Looking at them now, I decided that I would not. They were two-thousand-years old, I knew. Being in the presence of vampires that old was a strange experience; I kept imagining what it would be like to be them. They had seen and done so much, so much more than me. Despite their condition, they seemed happy enough. It warmed my heart to watch them embrace one another and kiss, even if it was a tad odd; I had never seen two ten-year-olds kiss like that before. I had to look away after a few seconds. It made me uncomfortable, even though I knew that they were not really ten years old.
I turned my attention back to Galahad. He was smiling at me, and I smiled back at him. My heart was filled with a warmth that I had never felt before. It was beautiful; everything about this was beautiful. We both turned to my mother, who was wearing the Robes of Bonding, the robes that a Council member had to wear when they presided over a wedding.
Galahad smiled at her. She smiled back at him, and I laughed when I saw her pointy teeth. They were quite a sight. “What’s funny?” she said, her voice full of joy and happiness; it was a voice that I had never heard before in my childhood, and I was slowly getting used to.
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m . . .” I started to cry, tears of happiness pouring out of me freely. “I’m just so happy.” I turned to Galahad and reached up and touched his face. It was warm and smooth; he’d shaved for the ceremony. I hadn’t minded it, but my mother had insisted! She’d said that if Benjamin had had the decency to spruce himself a little for their wedding then the least Galahad could do was follow his master’s example.
“Do you know the words?” Galahad said to my mother.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “Took me a while to memorise them, but I think I got it.”
“Okay, just remember that you have to say them word for word for the bonding to work.”
Vampire marriages were not the same as human marriages. Whereas in a human marriage the words spoken were only symbolic representations of the participants’ love, in a vampire bonding the words were much more significant. They literally bonded the two people together with a magical force; they could sense each other, and they were unable to harm each other. I knew that some people would find the thought of bonding in that way terrifying, but now, looking up at Galahad, all I could feel was joy.
Ben came into my mind for a second, and immediately I pushed him away. He was nothing to me now. Most likely he was making his way back home, and I could only hope that he was quick. If Galahad came across him by chance when we left the Council, there was no telling what he would do. Even though Ben was no longer the boy I’d once known, the idea of him dying still didn’t appeal to me. He was evil and deranged now, but perhaps that was my fault; had my leaving him caused him to become what he became?
Galahad took my hands in his. His touch was soft and firm, and when he squeezed them pleasure and warmth course through my body. We looked at my mother. “Vúu Krííshnu dí dá draegbanneé crá tú yaa ka tu vu drogean ta!”
The Council repeated the words in unison, their voices echoing around the chamber, and then my mother continued. “Trú vaká tuu drogbonaé kiriísh crá.” Again the council repeated the words, their voices getting louder and louder with each word. Galahad smiled at me as they chanted, and I felt our souls joining one another. My body filled with warmth, and for the flash of a moment I felt like I was Galahad.
I remembered his life, all that he had seen, countless battles and killing humans and his family dying, and then they were gone and I was myself again. But something stayed behind. Although I didn’t have his memories, I felt like there was still a part of him within me. I saw Galahad’s face contort in rage, and knew that he had just experienced the same thing, and had seen Ben and I nearly make love. I lifted his hand and held it to my face, and his face calmed.
My mother’s voice was loud as she said, “Draegbané vuú Krishnanú ta!” The Council repeated it, and I fell into Galahad’s arms. A white light burnt in my mind, and Galahad collapsed backwards as I fell into him, gritting his teeth. The pain was horrible, and for a few seconds all I wanted to do was die, but then it subsided and a warm glow was left in its place. After a while the glow faded too, and I felt normal, except that I could feel Galahad inside of me. He was there, in my heart. I knew that if he left the room I would be able to sense him.
We were joined now, forever, and then Ben walked in. “Well this is lovely,” he said.
The entire Council turned on him instantly. The little girl jumped to her feet and flew at him, clearly intent on ending his life. I screamed out, instinctively, not wanting her to hurt him, but it was too late; he fired a shot from his handgun, and the little girl slumped to the floor. His speed and accuracy were insane, and the entire Council stared on in disbelief, and then everything went crazy.
He fired off three more shots and each one hit a Council member. One died instantly, and two, an old man and the little boy, fell down injured. I ran at him, anger swelling within me. What the hell had he become? Who the hell was this man who was murdering these vampires for no reason? I took aim at his neck, intent on tearing it out like I had done to countless deer, but then he swivelled faster than I would’ve believed. He grabbed my arm and twisted it, and despite my strength I was unable to get out of the hold. It was an incredibly effective technique, and I wondered where he’d learnt it.
He pressed a knife to my neck and held it there, and stared at Galahad. Galahad was seething with rage, his muscular chest rising and falling heavily. I could feel his anger within me. He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. “Let her go,” he said, his voice shaking.
Ben was breathing heavily too, and I could hear the thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat clearly. “I don’t think that I will,” he said, and once again I was shocked at how different he sounded; this was not the boy that I’d grown up with. This was a monster.
“If you don’t let her go, I will kill you.”
Ben laughed. “That’s true,” he said, and pressed the cold knife closer to my neck. I winced. Again I tried to struggle free, but he was holding my arm in such a way as to make movement not only difficult, but extremely painful. I was furious at my impotence; I was a vampire, and should not be able to be held still like a dog by a human. “But if I do let her go you’ll kill me anyway, won’t you?”
Galahad didn’t answer, but spat through gritted teeth. His fists were clenched at his sides and he was shaking. His face was red, and his eyes were bloodshot, his blood-vessels cutting through his eyeballs like fire through ice.
Ben laughed again, louder, and looked around the chamber. The injured Council members were in the corner, being tended to by one of the old men. None of them seemed to be paying attention to the conflict. I guess that made sense. Ben was threatening me, and now that Galahad and I were bonded, I was his responsibility. Only my mother looked on, tears in her eyes, shaking nearly as much as Galahad. “See, I have no way out, so I might as well take as many as you dirty undead fuckers with me as I can.”
Galahad bristled and took a step forward, but then Ben bent my arm back. I screamed out in agony and Galahad stopped.
“So, now what?” Ben said, laughing.
#
I laughed as I stared at Galahad, but I didn’t feel like laughing. What had I been thinking? Why had I thought I could climb into the Council and come out alive? It was only now, staring around the room and seeing how outnumbered I was, that I realised what a stupid idea it had been.
Most of the Council members were at the back of the room, tending the two injured vampires. The dead one lay at my feet, a little girl with pointy fangs. I had been shocked by her speed when she had run at me, and the shot had been more luck than skill. Even now, holding Zoey was luck; I couldn’t properly remember the hold Johnny had taught me, the hold that even vampires found difficult to get out of, so I had had to make my best guess. It seemed to work, but I took no comfort in that. I would die today.
The cold focus I’d felt had started to crumble the moment I’d killed the child. Although I knew that she was most likely much older than she looked, her appearance made me feel uncomfortable. It was like I was clearly seeing myself for the first time. I wasn’t a feared vampire-hunter; I was just a boy who had killed his father and then ran away, and then killed his friend for the crime of being in love. I was an evil piece of dirt.
I wished I could take it all back. Suddenly my whole personality seemed to change. I no longer desired to kill Zoey. Looking down at her now, I realised that part of me still loved her. But it was too late. I had come too far. There was no going back now.
Tears filled my eyes. What was I doing? I had started this journey to find Zoey and bring her back with me, and now I was holding a knife to her throat. Who was I? I no longer knew. I had thought myself a cold and empty psychopath, but now emotion flooded into me and I couldn’t stop it. I started to sob, regret washing over me. I wanted everything to go back to the way it’d been, back when Zoey and I had been best friends.
I wanted to buy her chocolate and carry her bag. I wanted to hide behind the science classrooms with her. I wanted my old life back. I wanted Zoey.
I dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor. I collapsed to my knees and lifted my hands to my face, and started to cry. The sobs came aggressively, and then a hot pain punctured my chest. I fell back. I felt someone sucking on the wound, and when I opened my eyes my vision was hazy.
Zoey was standing over me, looking down. Her mouth was covered in blood. “You’ll live on within me,” she said. “I know that you weren’t the person you were trying to be, and I’ll always remember you as the sweet boy who bought me chocolate. You’ll live one within me.” With that she bent down and continued to feed.
Galahad came and stood over me. He looked calmer now, but still he shook. “Time to die, boy,” he said, lifting his foot above my head. “Make peace with your gods.”
I breathed deeply and managed t say, “I have no gods.”
Galahad smiled at that. “Neither do I. Make peace with yourself, then.”
“I fear it is too late for that,” I said, spluttering blood.
“It is never too late,” Galahad said, and brought his foot down on my skull with inhuman strength, crushing it.
For a moment there was horrible pain, and then there was nothing.
#
Galahad’s muscles rippled in the sun as he dug the whole. I held my mother’s hand, watching him. We didn’t say any words as Galahad kicked Ben’s corpse in and covered it with dirt. We just sat, silently staring on.
I felt bad for my old friend. He seemed to repent at the end, and I knew that he’d probably wanted to take back what he’d done, but he’d killed a vampire, and for that he had to die. I missed him, but I missed the boy he was, not the man he became.
When Galahad was done he slipped on a jumper and walked over to us. “It is done,” he said, taking me in his arms. I let him embrace me and kissed his chest, and he smelt my hair. I felt safe in these arms, and for a blissful second I forgot how crazy everything had gotten.
My mother placed a hand upon my shoulder. “What will you do now?” she said.
“We will travel,” Galahad said. “We will live.”
“What about you, Mother, what will you do?” I said.
She smiled and gazed at the mountain. “I am the widow of Benjamin. Apparently that means that I am a prominent Council member. I will stay here for a while, and see if I have what it takes to govern vampires.”
I smiled at her and then hugged her tightly. I was happy, I realised. Who would have thought that one day my mother would’ve hugged me? I still found it hard to believe.
We sat together in the sun all day, not saying much, but just enjoying each other’s company. When night came, my mother got up, hugged us both, and then made her way back to the mountain.
Galahad held out his hand and stared into the night. “Are you ready?” he said.
“Ready for what?” I said.
“The rest of our lives.”
I took his hand and together we walked into the night.
END
Discover more books by BCN Press:
The Zoey Chronicles: The Awakening (Vol. 1)
The Zoey Chronicles: Discovery (Vol. 2)
The Zoey Chronicles: Revelations (Vol. 3)
Alpha Trio: Vol. 1 - Cats & Dogs
Alpha Trio: Vol. 2 - The New Girl
Anastasia (Vol. 1)
Anastasia: No Strings Attached (Vol. 2)
Anastasia: Executive Perks (Vol. 3)
Anastasia: Whatever It Takes (Vol. 4)
Colony Z: The Island (Vol. 1)
Colony Z: The Albion Tribe (Vol. 2)
Shadow of Utopia (Vol. 1 - The Mutants)
South Beach Infestation (A Zombie Story)
The Dead Road: Vol. 1 - Isolation
Lily and the Billionaire: Vol. 1
Lily and the Billionaire: Vol. 2
Lily and the Billionaire: Vol. 3
