All Rotting Meat

by Maleham , Eve

  ‘I suppose I just want to be part of something more permanent,’ Kojo said. ‘Everything needs to change, Banes, even us.’

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ Banes said, ‘though I’m not keen on the thought of Tycho being some sort of glorious eternal president.’

  ‘C’mon, Banes,’ Kojo said, ‘you always run away from everything, but this is your chance to help create the world’s first vampire state.’

  ‘I’ve not seen Tycho in over a century,’ Banes muttered, watching the butter in the pan melt.

  ‘He’ll want to see you,’ Kojo said.

  ‘Fuck it,’ Banes said, thinking of a way to get the hunter off his back as he threw the meat into the pan. A loud hiss filled the apartment as it seared, flecks of burning hot fat hit his skin. ‘If he’s starting a cult, I want to know about it before it comes back to haunt me.’

  ‘That’s the spirit,’ Kojo said, draining the last of his drink.

  * * *

  A few nights later, Banes received a text from a number he didn’t recognise, telling him to arrive at a hotel at midnight exactly, and that if he was more than ten minutes late, then the meeting would be cancelled.

  Banes smirked as he reread it, and adjusted his jacket collar in the mirror. It was typical of Tycho to expect exact timekeeping for what was meant to be a casual talk after years.

  The hotel was in Marylebone; a large, anonymous place with a conference centre attached to it. He wasn’t quite sure of how to react to meeting Tycho for the first time in over a century and had spent a solid hour deciding what to wear. In the end, he settled on heavy army boots, tartan jeans, and a long ruffled ivory shirt under a camouflage jacket as well as having painted his nails black.

  He had set off early from his apartment, though roadblocks had been raised by the police, resulting in him having to exit his taxi and walk through the fog drenched night, its chill clinging to him. In between the buildings, he saw glimpses of flashing lights from police vans, red smoke bleeding into the sky and heard distant chanting, the wail of sirens and the drone of a helicopter. Another protest had blossomed into a riot. The lobby of the hotel was sheltering a dozen nervous people, some who were dressed for a night out and members of staff waiting to go home. He passed them and walked on through the building, and up to the room that the text had told him to go to. He wiped his hands free of sweat on the back of his jeans, and knocked.

  After a few seconds, Tycho opened the door. His eyes scanned across Banes, his brow pulling down into a frown.

  ‘Good to see you too, then,’ Banes said, stepping past him into the room.

  Banes hadn’t expected Tycho’s appearance to have changed much from the last time they had met, and he was not disappointed. Tycho was still narrow, lanky, rigid; his body was so straight and sharp, it might as well have been made out of card, and pulled all of his features thin. His brunette hair still cast a reddish sheen in the light, though it was far longer now, and tied back in a thin ponytail at the nape of his neck, running down to the small of his back, the rest still fanned out in all directions on top of his head – the only part of him which might be classed as unruly. His clothes, a long, grey military-style coat, black boots and a red undershirt, carried a neatly-pressed uniform style to them, which might have passed for fashionable. He looked tired, his cheeks were hollow, and his piercing crimson eyes were now shadowed by dark circles. His skin, which had once had a slight olive glow to it, was now worn greyish beige.

  Tycho’s displeased expression didn’t change as Banes took a seat on the small lounge area at the far end of the room, though, for a moment, the side of his mouth twitched, and for a fraction of a second, Banes thought that he might have shivered.

  ‘Nice view,’ Banes said, pointing to the wide windows which looked out over towards Baker Street, now a set of blurred lights down below in the fog. He could see the bright scarlet lights of the protest. ‘So, what have you been up to, then? Heard you were starting a cult.’

  Tycho frowned and crossed his arms. ‘I’m not starting a cult, Banes,’ he said, his English was tainted with a Scandinavian accent, ‘and I see that you are still as discourteous as ever. It’s a wonder I let Amoako arrange this in the first place.’

  ‘Because, believe it or not, we have a history together, Tycho,’ Banes said, leaning back in his seat. ‘There aren’t many of us from Dreyrigr left, let alone the ones who grew up together with us.’

  Tycho sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘It’s a testament to how far we have fallen that you are one of the only ones left from our generation.’

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ Banes said. ‘Everyone thought you’d died years ago – what happened?’

  ‘They were just exaggerated rumours,’ Tycho said, taking a seat in the chair opposite him. ‘Nothing happened.’

  ‘Tycho,’ Banes said, ‘all anyone knows for certain about the Blood Coup was that everyone who was involved in it was hunted down and killed. Just how did you escape that?’

  ‘I left the country,’ Tycho said, ‘and waited for the last of the Old Hunters to die out.’

  ‘Yes, but how?’ Banes asked.

  ‘That doesn’t matter,’ Tycho said. ‘What does matter is that I learnt from my mistakes, and now, I have taken the correct measures in achieving my dream.’

  ‘The vampire state,’ Banes said.

  Tycho nodded; his eyes sparkled. ‘Dreyrigr reborn,’ he said, ‘this country reborn.’

  ‘Yeah, and why Britain again, though?’ Banes asked.

  ‘Last time, this country’s anti-Catholic base helped us assure a safe reach, outside the reach of the Old Hunters,’ Tycho said, ‘and, of course, the idea of seizing the world’s greatest power at the time appealed to us. This time, it is because of this perfect storm of weakness infused into the heart of Britain. I began to build Rebirth in the Nineteen-Seventies, only to have most of my core supporters wiped out a few years later, but despite that, the Nineteen-Eighties was when we found our true foothold in this country, and in the most recent years, we have only gone from strength to strength.’

  ‘Oh,’ Banes said, shifting in his seat. ‘You guys sound pretty formidable.’

  ‘We are,’ Tycho said, leaning forward. ‘Banes, we are everywhere. Over the years, we have embedded ourselves deep into the very framework of this country’s establishment. We have human supporters around the globe, generous financial backers, powerful seats in government.’

  ‘That sounds very…organised,’ Banes said. ‘How many vampires do you have for this thing?’

  ‘Quite a few,’ Tycho said, ‘and like I said, some prominent humans as well.’

  ‘So…the minority or majority of vampires in the UK?’

  ‘The majority,’ Tycho said.

  ‘Do you have anything to drink?’ Banes asked, eyeing the mini fridge as Tycho sighed. ‘That’s got to be in the thousands now, right?’

  ‘It is,’ he said, reaching over and bringing two small bottles of vodka to the table.

  ‘Do you have anything stronger?’ Banes asked, as he unscrewed the caps off the top. Tycho frowned.

  ‘No, Banes. Believe it or not, I am not partial to carrying around paint stripper with me.’

  ‘I’ll take hand sanitiser if you have it,’ he said.

  Tycho’s lips twitched back as he took his seat again. ‘Honestly, I am surprised that you are even curious, Banes.’

  Banes shrugged. ‘You’ve always activated my fight or flight response, and after believing that you were dead for the better part of a century, I thought it worth seeing what you were up to – and you didn’t disappoint.’

  ‘Do you know of anyone else from Dreyrigr?’ Tycho said. ‘I don’t suppose that you keep contact with any of your brothers.’

  Banes raised an eyebrow as he knocked back the first bottle. ‘Dae died ages ago now. No idea about Verr or Thane, or if they’re even alive still. You?’

  ‘Like I said,’ Tycho said, ‘most of us have died off already.’
r />   ‘It’s us and the fucking Benkowski clan,’ Banes muttered. ‘All meat rots the same.’

  Tycho smirked. ‘I do miss it though, in Dreyrigr.’

  ‘Well, we had some fun,’ Banes said, watching a brief bit of colour rise to Tycho’s cheeks.

  ‘I just don’t miss the city,’ Tycho went on, ‘or our houses, or our titles, or our riches. It’s the boldness I miss, when we didn’t have to live in the shadows, when we weren’t just myths for human enjoyment. We can be great rulers, Banes, but we will never be given the chance to become what we were meant to be, unless we take it for ourselves.’

  ‘Won’t the humans mind?’ Banes said.

  ‘After a few years’ time, they won’t know any difference,’ Tycho said. ‘In fact, I believe that the majority of them won’t pay much attention to us anyway. We will be playing our role as the apex, killing off humanity’s weak and unwanted, the same as when wolves cull a herd. The only difference most of them will see will be the strength and stability that we will bring. And it’s not as if the humans who will try to stop us have a chance in hell anyway.’

  ‘Humans stopped you last time, though,’ Banes said.

  ‘The very last of the Old Hunters,’ Tycho said, ‘and they exist no more.’

  ‘So, hunters are no longer a threat, then?’ he asked.

  Tycho laughed. ‘I heard about your travels through America, Banes. After Amoako told me what you had told him, I took the trouble of looking into your crimes there. You certainly left quite a mark. But, just because you had trouble with hunters, that does not mean that Rebirth will. We are already a powerful organisation in our own right. But we are taking precautions,’ he said. ‘The handful of hunters currently in the UK are hobbyists and amateurs – nothing to be worried about.’

  ‘You sound confident,’ he said.

  ‘You’re the one who managed to push drug lords into becoming vampire hunters,’ Tycho said, ‘not me.’

  ‘Noted,’ Banes said.

  ‘And I have the right to be confident in my work,’ Tycho said, ‘though the rest will not be easy, either.’

  ‘Christ,’ Banes muttered, leaning back in his chair. ‘So, what do the Shield of Scarlet think of it, then?’

  For a moment, Tycho’s jaw clenched together. ‘They have no power in this country, they have never tried to seek power here, nor have they ever shown any intention of doing so. Their sentiments on Rebirth do not matter.’

  ‘And the Blood Thieves, then?’

  ‘The same applies,’ Tycho said. ‘If you care to join us, Banes, you can see how powerful we truly are.’

  ‘Why would I want to join you?’ he asked. ‘You said you wanted to make a new Dreyrigr, and I hated Dreyrigr. I was exiled from there.’

  ‘I know,’ Tycho said, ‘but this new society will be more relaxed. Most of our recruits are young reborns who have no understanding of Dreyrigr, and its culture and importance.’

  Banes sighed. ‘I don’t know, Tycho. I like dicking around with humans too much.’

  Tycho raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve always been oddly fond of enjoying the company of those below your station. It’s a shame that you weren’t born as a human.’

  ‘But Kojo fully supports you,’ Banes said, as he ran a hand through his hair.

  ‘You’re an opportunist, Banes,’ Tycho said, with a slight smirk. ‘I will complete Rebirth, and the UK will become a vampire state, and then you will want to become involved. So, here is your choice; you have a week to decide if you want to join Rebirth, and if you decline, and the week runs out, then I will never allow you in.’

  Banes frowned. ‘That’s hardly fair.’

  ‘I believe it is,’ Tycho said. ‘Otherwise, you will want a share of our power and our society without having put in the work to achieve it.’

  ‘So, you got the majority of vampires in Britain to agree to join you, on a mere promise that something good is going to happen?’ Banes said.

  ‘Yes,’ Tycho said, his eyes flashing. ‘I know you, Banes, and I know what you’re like. Which is why I am giving you this choice. I want you to become a part of Rebirth, and it might finally be time for you to fix this attitude problem of yours.’

  Banes grinned. ‘If I don’t decide to join Rebirth now, you’ll be asking me again later. Just like how when I was first banished from Dreyrigr, you would accidentally stumble into me on your travels.’

  Tycho blushed. ‘A different time, Banes,’ he said, in an overly steady voice. ‘But this time, I want you to do something that you have never done, and that is to improve yourself, and become a better vampire.’

  ‘But you wouldn’t like me then,’ Banes said, grinning.

  ‘I’m hardly fond of you now,’ Tycho said, colour rising to his face. ‘But those are your options. If you decide to join, you will be fast-tracked in, since I already know which role you will fill in Rebirth. It will mean spending two weeks away in basic training before returning to London. You can either become a stronger vampire and contribute to this cause, or you can go back to your usual life, and find yourself locked out of the greatest nation that the world has ever known. You have my number, and a week to decide.’

  Chapter Six

  How To Unfuck This

  ‘Well, we’re fucked,’ Banes said.

  ‘What do you mean, we’re fucked?’ the hunter said, stepping through into his apartment. He caught her scent of rose perfume and spices, which had been buried under the tang of antiseptic and plastic.

  ‘I mean, we’re fucked, sweetheart,’ he said, waving her through to take a seat. ‘Take that how you want, but things are going to go south really fucking quickly.’

  ‘I told you to find Feigrey, Cecilia and Clarence,’ she said, as he went over to the kitchen and put the kettle on. ‘How did that go?’

  ‘Well,’ Banes said, ‘I found Feigrey. His name is Tycho Feigrey, by the way. Cecilia is Cecilia Marr, the twin sister of Clarence. They’re running this organisation called Rebirth together. Tycho told me that he wants to create a new vampire state, and he has the majority of vampires in the UK involved in this. And spies, and human supporters in government, and major financial backers,’ he said, as he began to describe exactly what Tycho had told him as he brought her a pot of tea, and a mix of blood and paint thinner in a glass for himself.

  ‘And who is Tycho?’ she asked. ‘I thought you said that most of the Feigreys are dead.’

  ‘They are,’ Banes said, ‘and I thought that Tycho was as well. I thought he was killed in the Blood Coup, but nope – he’s still around.’

  The hunter frowned, brushing her hair back behind her ear. ‘And what was the Blood Coup?’

  Banes sighed. ‘It was a failed vampire uprising in Britain in the Eighteen-Eighties. A small group of vampires, including Tycho, worked their way into the British government. They wanted to kill Queen Victoria and seize the Empire for themselves. They thought that they were safe, since the Old Hunters – which is to say, one of the most formidable leagues of vampire hunters to have ever existed – were attached to the Catholic Church. But it was a catastrophic failure, and nearly all of the vampires involved were swiftly hunted down and killed. There have been rumours about what happened for years, but most of them centre around the Old Hunters being brought specially into Britain to stop the coup.

  ‘By the way, Cecilia and Clarence’s parents were also involved, and killed. Apparently, their vampire mother was heavily pregnant with them at the time, and her execution was delayed until she had given birth, when the twins were then adopted by a human couple.’

  ‘So, how well do you know Tycho, then?’ she asked.

  Banes shrugged. ‘We grew up together in Dreyrigr, so I think I know him as well as anyone.’

  ‘And what is Dreyrigr?’

  ‘Christ,’ Banes said, running his hand through his hair. ‘You really don’t know anything about vampires, do you? Dreyrigr was a vampire city-state in the mountains of Norway. It was at its most powerful during the Dark
Ages, and by the time I was born in the Thirteenth-Century, it was at the very beginning of its slow decline, before it finally fell to ruin in the early Seventeenth. It’s been mostly bleached from human history, though, just a somewhat interesting old ruin of settlements built into caves. Most of the city was underground, where they would keep captured humans as livestock. There were hunting parties, which would journey for hundreds of miles to bring back prey. That’s what Tycho wants to bring back.’

  ‘And you’re scared of that?’ the hunter asked. ‘If I was a vampire, that would sound ideal.’

  Banes sighed through his teeth. ‘Well, I’ve not mentioned the city’s unique culture. I was born in the aristocracy of Dreyrigr; my parents were on the governing council of Dreyrigr, Tycho’s too. The culture for that was just weird. You had to always be dutiful, and to be dutiful meant a complete focus on strict moral discipline at all times. Sex only for procreation, no card games, no tournaments, no fairs, no jesters or musicians. All of these were seen as uncouth, and solely for the lower classes and humans to enjoy, since they didn’t have such important matters to occupy themselves with. It was all very ascetic. You had to always be thinking about battles, and hunting, and governing, and wars - which suited my brothers and Tycho just fine, but I used to sneak off to the lower parts of the city and actually have some fun. Though, I could sometimes corrupt Tycho into joining me.’

  She narrowed her eyes. ‘So, you and Tycho used to be friends? You said that your families were acquainted.’

  Banes shrugged. ‘Well…old habits die hard. He lived and breathed duty, and apparently still does, but there were times when I got the better of him.’

  ‘Well, I don’t see what the problem is,’ she said. ‘It sounds like you’d have a very privileged position in this new vampire country.’

  He sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Sweetheart, Rebirth won’t be exactly like Dreyrigr, but it will be oppressive. There will be a cult of vampiric clean-mindedness, where you have to conform to their culture. I won’t like it, simple as that. And I like humans too much for any of that.’