All Rotting Meat

by Maleham , Eve

  A daring thought flickered in Banes’s head, ‘and the sisters?’ he asked, his mouth dry.

  ‘The last I heard, the one Clarence was seeing killed herself shortly after arriving in the UK,’ she said. ‘The other – who knows? Probably living a fucking boring life somewhere.’

  Chapter Ten

  Undermining His Authority

  The next night, Banes had barely sat down at his desk before Rosemary approached him.

  ‘Cecilia Marr wants to see you in her office,’ she said. Banes felt a sudden chill seep through his stomach.

  ‘Do you know what about?’ he asked, keeping his tone light, but attentive. Rosemary shrugged.

  ‘She didn’t say, just that she wants to see you as soon as.’

  ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘where’s her office?’

  Cecilia’s office was part of the original underground bunker, before Rebirth had carved around it to expand the base; the walls went from being an assortment of uneven surfaces, to smooth and sterile white cement walls and thick, metal doors. The long corridor that housed her office had a somewhat stated edge to it compared to the rest of the base; it was quieter and wider, with Rebirth’s banner hung high on the walls.

  He found Cecilia’s office directly across from Tycho’s and knocked, the sound echoing on the metal door. A woman he could only assume was Cecilia’s secretary opened the door and showed him through a tiny reception area and into the main office. In the centre of the room, there was a circular oak table with several wooden chairs sat under it. There was a large, chesterfield leather sofa against one wall, and a large, wooden bookcase running down the opposite wall. He spotted a wooden door next to the bookcase, but there was no telling of where it could lead. There was a faint smell of perfume that hung in the air. Cecilia was sitting behind a large, wooden desk at the far end of the room.

  ‘Mr Intuneric,’ she said, her face cracking into a charming smile. ‘Please, do come in.’

  Her outfit was as dated as the last time he had seen her; he thought that the Blitz was imminent just by the sight of her. She was wearing a light blue dress, with a few white flowers embroidered around the skirt that matched the white ribbon in her styled, wavy hair. Like her brother, it could have been worn in a modern, hipster, ironic sense, if it weren’t for the stockings and the fact that the dress was made of wool.

  ‘Please, have a seat,’ she said, gesturing to the chairs in front of the desk. ‘Drink?’

  He shook his head as he sat down. ‘No, thank you.’

  Cecilia smiled as she pulled two glasses of scotch out from behind her desk, placing one down next to him, before taking a seat in the high-backed leather chair behind her desk, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  ‘Should we be drinking?’ Banes asked, gesturing to the glass.

  ‘Mr Intuneric, we both know that it will be nearly impossible for us even to get slightly tipsy on this amount of alcohol. It’s the taste I take pleasure in, don’t you agree?’

  He nodded in agreement and restrained himself from bolting the drink down; instead, he took a sip and stretched slightly in his chair, making himself appear comfortable.

  ‘How are you taking to Rebirth so far?’ she asked.

  ‘I like it,’ Banes said. ‘I’ve just started, but I can feel that I’m going to really enjoy working for Rebirth.’

  She cocked her head slightly to the side. ‘That was a job interview question,’ she smiled, ‘and you gave a job interview answer.’

  ‘I…is that bad?’ Banes asked.

  She shook her head; golden curls fell over her shoulder. ‘No, I just want to know the real Banes Intuneric. You were selected to be in the independent class; you, by default, are not a standard recruit, who is supposed to give answers that we want to hear – there is more to you than that.’

  Banes took a sip of his scotch. ‘Did you want something from me?’

  ‘I want to get to know you,’ Cecilia said, ‘since it appears I am among the few who have not met your acquaintance yet. I have had the pleasure of reading your file,’ she said. ‘Do you know why you are here in Rebirth?’

  ‘I thought it was because I wanted to join, and I had a skill Rebirth wanted.’

  Cecilia smiled again. ‘You have friends in good places, Mr Intuneric – may I call you Banes?’

  He nodded, his mouth drying. ‘You may.’

  ‘Excellent – you have friends in good places, Banes. You were nearly rejected from Rebirth. Of course, being an independent class means that you were personally selected by one of our senior colleagues, but, even so, your acceptance into Rebirth came from the very top. Well,’ she smiled, ‘half of the very top, at least. Your past conduct shows that you are not endeared to the notion of order, of military, and of obeying commands.’

  ‘I’ve changed,’ he said.

  ‘And we have only your word for it,’ she said, a gleam in her eyes. ‘It was only Feigrey who wanted you to join Rebirth. Not, of course, that you are unwelcome here – please do not leave with the wrong impression – but, it was curious that he, of all people, would allow you, when usually he will be the first person to say no. Even Miss May, usually the laxest among us, was hesitant for you to enter Rebirth. Your file mentions your rather colourful history at Dreyrigr, but there is no mention of your relationship with Feigrey, and, given your families, you must have been acquainted with him, at least.’

  ‘We knew of each other,’ Banes said, ‘but we weren’t exactly friends.’

  ‘I’ve heard,’ she said, ‘but there are a few others from Dreyrigr here, yet none of them warranted special treatment from Feigrey. I hope you understand that I am simply asking for the sake of disclosure,’ she smiled.

  ‘You want to know if Feigrey and I had some kind of relationship?’ he asked, taking a drink.

  ‘Quite simply, yes,’ she said. ‘It is the sort of thing we ask you to disclose, in the same way you disclosed your relationship with Kojo Amoako, among others. More important issues are at stake here than an embarrassing past relationship, Banes.’

  He finished his drink to bide his time.

  ‘Commander Marr, look – okay, back in Dreyrigr, Feigrey and I did have a brief sexual relationship. It was very short, and didn’t last.’

  She smiled and raised an eyebrow.

  ‘It was just something to do,’ Banes found himself saying, ‘you know? I was young and bored, and it was centuries ago.’

  She smiled. ‘Another scotch?’

  ‘No, thank you.’

  ‘Thank you for your honesty,’ she said, one of her eyebrows raised slightly. ‘You see, Feigrey fervently denies that he has ever had any sort of relationship with you, but I assumed that he was speaking from the standpoint of the old culture in Dreyrigr that I have heard so much about.’

  Banes forced himself to grin. ‘I got the sense that he hadn’t changed much in that sense.’

  Cecilia laughed. ‘I can imagine, though,’ she added, tracing a finger lightly around her own glasses. ‘Has he changed at all?’

  Banes frowned slightly. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘After the Blood Coup, he disappeared,’ she said, ‘vanished. Of course, everyone assumed that he had been killed, so it was quite a surprise to everyone when he reappeared nearly a century later. He refuses to tell anyone what happened, which makes me believe that it was beyond his control.’

  ‘He hasn’t told you?’ Banes asked.

  She laughed again. ‘No, of course not. But I believe that it is damaging his work - not that I knew him before the Blood Coup, since I was not yet born, but I know the look of damaged people.’

  ‘You think he’s damaged?’ Banes asked.

  ‘I believe that he may have been through a lot,’ Cecilia said, ‘maybe black eye. He is single-minded, and while that can be a virtue, he ignores a lot of factors that have hindered our operations, since he left them unchecked. He believes that ruling Rebirth is his right, and not a most cherished privilege. While, in many ways, he is
a great vampire, he is not a great leader.’

  ‘Does he know that you’re undermining his authority?’ Banes asked, sitting up slightly in his chair.

  Cecilia’s eyes narrowed slightly, her smile marginally stifled. ‘Be careful, Mr Intuneric.’

  ‘I don’t know what happened to Feigrey,’ Banes said. ‘Before Rebirth, I hadn’t seen him for years.’

  ‘He seems to like you,’ Cecilia said, ‘as much as Feigrey can show fondness for someone; that is, by allowing you special treatment by pushing a few files through, and giving you an interview with him in person. Feigrey has no family or friends,’ she said, a small smile playing around her lips. ‘Instead, he commits himself fully to the cause, so, by all accounts, you are the closest known person to him.’

  ‘That’s just sad,’ Banes said, before he could stop himself.

  Cecilia chuckled. ‘Maybe, but you can you understand why this makes you a liability?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘He would kill me himself if it meant that Rebirth’s vision could come true instantly.’

  ‘Wouldn’t we all?’ Cecilia purred, her eyes gleaming. ‘But for a lesser issue, I am not so sure.’

  Banes grinned. ‘I think you’re underestimating his ambition.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘but why else are you here, if it wasn’t for him? Even for creatures such as ourselves, we need some sort of company every once in a while.’

  Banes shrugged lightly as he felt a chill swoop through him. ‘I’ve not seen him since my interview.’

  ‘You have only spent one day working for Rebirth,’ she said. ‘Please, just let myself know if you decide to resume your relationship.’

  ‘For disclosure reasons?’ Banes asked.

  ‘Exactly.’ She smiled again. ‘Feigrey is hardly going to disclose anything he sees as being an embarrassment to himself.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Banes muttered.

  Cecilia laughed again. ‘You misunderstand me; Feigrey finds most situations which involve emotions to be embarrassing.’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’ Banes asked.

  Her eyes widened. ‘Are you accusing me of anything, Banes?’

  He paused for a moment. ‘No – sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. I meant, why are you asking these questions?’

  She leaned forward in her seat, lowering her eyes to his. ‘This is a security issue, Banes, and one that Feigrey does not appear to think exists. I just need clearance on the matter, and since Feigrey refuses to discuss it with me, I will discuss it with you.’

  Banes nodded. ‘I understand.’

  ‘That was all I wanted to discuss with you. You may return to work now.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Banes said, forcing himself to smile an easy, casual grin as he got to his feet. He could feel Cecilia’s eyes on him as he made his way to the door.

  * * *

  He sat down next to the hunter on a cement bench outside of Kings Cross Station. She looked a little more well rested than before, but still tired, a coffee cup clutched in her hands. The city roared around them, while buses, vans and cars filled up the roads, people hurrying past them to the station as rush hour began to come to an end, homeless camps growing around the brick walls.

  ‘You look nice,’ she said, stiffly, as he got out his phone and stared down at the screen. She turned to look in the opposite direction.

  ‘I’m going on a date,’ he said. He never felt entirely comfortable in smart wear, and his fitted, black suit felt too tight and restricting around him, but he knew that Kojo liked it.

  ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘how is it going? You seem concerned that we’re being watched.’

  ‘Not without reason,’ he said, keeping his voice low. ‘Cecilia Marr is breathing down my neck; she thinks she can use me to get to Tycho.’

  ‘And, can she?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Banes said, ‘I really don’t. But she’s a very powerful woman, and she is not to be fucked with.’

  He recounted the basic information he had access to; where the base was, its layout, who worked there.

  ‘And did you find anything out about Clarence Marr?’ she asked.

  ‘Nope,’ he said, ‘but I did discover where their money is coming from. You’ll want to take a closer look at this, but it stems from a woman called Rosemary May. She’s a sixty-eight-year-old woman who stopped ageing in her twenties, but still poses as a human.’

  He had looked Rosemary up on his laptop at home. It had taken some searching to find a photograph of her; in the end, he had found a small series of them, taken in the lobby room of a grand New York hotel at a Christmas party a year ago. If he hadn’t had known otherwise, he would have sworn he was looking at an image of Rosemary’s mother. She was still thin, but her skin had a tightness to it, which he associated with Botox, with a few wrinkles and lines around her eyes and mouth, her hair pulled into a smooth bun. Most of her skin was covered in an elegant, long-sleeved, deep plum evening gown, with a necklace of pearls. She was surrounded by powerful figures; in one of the photos he had found, she was shaking the hand of the American president, her wrinkled hand clutched in his small, brightly tanned ones.

  ‘Just…look into that,’ Banes said. ‘I had to throw up.’

  ‘Christ,’ the hunter muttered.

  ‘Have you found what’s in Bexhill yet?’ he asked.

  ‘No – we’re still trying,’ she said.

  ‘Or thought of any way you can actually fight them?’ he said.

  ‘We’ve come up with something,’ she said, ‘but you’re not going to like it.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘We need access to their computer system,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘In fun news, I don’t have access to that.’

  ‘Just any desktop would do.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, sweetheart, I don’t have access to any computer there.’

  She frowned. ‘What? How does that work?’

  ‘It’s hard copies and typewriters,’ he said, ‘like how offices were run before computers.’

  ‘That’s crazy.’

  He grinned. ‘We’re old people, we can deal with that. We can’t bring any bags into the base with us, and we have to go through a metal detector, as well. It’s an offline system.’

  Her frown deepened as she bit her lip. ‘There must be some computers there; you said that Faizan works with computers, right?’

  ‘Yeah, and Rosemary has one on her desk,’ Banes said, ‘but I can’t get to it without breaking into her office, and I’m not doing that.’

  ‘I still have those photos,’ she said, ‘so Rebirth will find out about this one way or another.’

  ‘I still have those photos,’ she said, ‘so Rebirth will find out about this one way or another.’

  ‘I’ll get caught,’ he said.

  ‘No, you won’t,’ she said. ‘You’ve done risker stuff before.’

  ‘Yes, but with humans,’ he said, ‘and when I’m not dealing with hunters, there isn’t too much of a danger there. Rebirth will destroy me if they find out that I’m a spy.’

  She brushed her hair back behind her ear. ‘Just pretend it’s a heist or something.’

  ‘I get something out of a heist,’ he said. ‘This is just stupid.’

  ‘You get to live again,’ she said.

  ‘You know that even if you release those photos, then you’re just killing yourself in the process, right?’ he said.

  ‘I’ll be bringing you down with me,’ she said.

  ‘You’re the fucking worse,’ he said. ‘I should have stayed in America.’

  ‘You can’t run from this, Banes,’ she said. ‘If you refuse, then you’ll be of no more use to me; I’ll release the photos - and now I know exactly where to send them - then Rebirth will come after you, and kill you. But, if you do as I say, then you might be able to ride this out.’

  ‘Fuck,’ he said, ‘you goddamn bitch.’

  She shrugged. ‘Maybe. But we need hard
proof, so at least if we don’t know how to fight Rebirth, we can prove that they exist.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ Banes said, with a sharp roll of his eyes as he began to hear raised voices.

  There was a babble of a commotion besides the station. Several police officers were trying to disband a cluster of homeless tents from outside the station to the protest of the tent’s occupants. Tense was building up around them, the more force the police tried to apply for more they were met with resistance. A few people were recording, but otherwise everyone was an onlooker.

  ‘They’re going to get eaten,’ Banes said in a low voice, just as an officer started to drag a man with rough stubble and three jackets away as he tried to throw them off him.

  ‘What?!’ the hunter spun around to face him, her face fanning out.

  ‘Them,’ Banes said, nodding towards the scene. ‘The homeless guys, that’s who Rebirth eats. One of them will vanish while in police custody. It’s happening globally, people are disappearing but no-one important notices because it’s happening to displaced people. Rebirth promised every vampire meat, and there are thousands of vampires in Rebirth. All the meat is coming from somewhere.’

  The hunter’s eyes widened, her hands balled into tight fists. Banes saw her leg muscles tense and he grabbed her arm before she could stand up.

  ‘Leave it,’ he warned. ‘You’ll just draw attention to yourself.’

  ‘I can’t just sit here,’ she hissed back as another police car arrived.

  ‘You can,’ Banes said. ‘At least while I’m here.’

  ‘Let go of me!’ she said as she tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp.

  ‘You can’t save everyone,’ he said. ‘You just can’t.’

  ‘Don’t you even want to try?!’

  ‘This isn’t my fight,’ he said. ‘I’m over seven-hundred-years old, I can’t fight every battle.’

  She turned to look at him, her grey eyes flickering across his face looking for something. He blinked.

  ‘What?’ he asked.

  ‘This bothers you,’ she said. ‘I can see it bothers you.’