Chapter Nine

Daryl, Felix and Tamsin run into another group of vampires and break the news of Arcturus' demise. Daryl is also facing troubles believing he is a vampire and finds another truth.

I must’ve fallen asleep as I woke the next morning,  my bare feet still poking from the bottom of the blanket and the icy wind attacking them. I sat up straight, I felt awful; my head was spinning, I felt nauseous. I closed my eyes and my head began to hurt. It felt like a hangover, but I have had no alcohol I thought to myself. I slowly stood up and stumbled over to the window and peered out over the snowy fields and looked at the village’s snow covered peaks rise above a hedgerow. I couldn’t concentrate properly, I just gazed at the village remembering what I did last night. Maybe perhaps drinking blood on a night resulted in a hangover style feeling the next day.

I stumbled back over to where Felix was lying sound asleep and drank the water I had left beside my bag. It was practically ice, the tiny shards of ice tickled as they ran down my throat. I picked up my jacket and wrapped it around my body whilst I put my socks and boots on. The buckles on my boots clanked and jangled waking Tamsin up with a sudden bolt. She looked towards me, barely opening her eyes with tiredness. She noticed that I was putting my boots on and the interrogation began.

‘Where are you going?’ She said sharply.

‘Nowhere, I was putting my boots on, my feet were cold’

‘Well you’d better not run off, it’s too dangerous to be out there on your own’. She obviously didn’t know what went on the night before. I was surprised that she couldn’t see the dazed look I was giving her. Felix rolled over, he looked as bad as I felt.

‘What’s going on?’ He said with a tired yawn half way through.

‘Nothing, just a misunderstanding’ Tamsin said quickly brushing her hair. Felix looked at me with a look that screamed “I know what you did last night”. I completely forgot about the bond Felix and I shared, if I fed, he would feel the benefits, and the consequences also. He didn’t mention anything in front of Tamsin, which was lucky as she was getting more and more assertive and feisty as our journey continued.

We had been walking for hours for the second day running and I kept pondering to myself “Why couldn’t we have taken the car from my old house”. The deep snow was sinking into our boots as we walked, making our feet wet and heavy. We stopped occasionally to check a map that Tamsin had packed, she kept panicking that we would lose our way and take longer to arrive at Bridgeview.

The long day had come and gone and finally the sun was setting over a huge city skyline. Bridgeview was a huge city, with skyscrapers and department stores, busy roads and airports. It was called Bridgeview because of a giant suspension bridge what was built over a vast river, connecting the city to the outside world. The tall snow topped pillars stood proud in the skyline. Their lights blinking at the top stood out from the masses of stars that were appearing. The lights from the buildings lit the city up like it was daylight.

‘Nearly there’ said Tamsin in an excitable mood. It was the best mood she had been in all day. We trenched on through the deep snow and headed towards a forest which blocked our way to Bridgeview.

 

We passed through the squeaking gate and entered the dark forest. The only light there was were patches of moonlight scattered around the floor. The crunching of snow beneath our feet echoed and the snapping of twigs with the running of tiny animal feet were all we heard. Felix grabbed hold of my hand and held it tightly, I was beginning to think that he was slightly scared. Being a vampire would surly interrupt with the fear dark places.

We walked slowly, Tamsin in front and Felix and I behind.

‘Daryl, I don’t want you to do this’ he said, keeping out of earshot of Tamsin.

‘I have to, the freedom of vampires depends on what I have been told to do’. I tried to make it sound like a chore.

‘You could always walk away, leave us and all this behind. Live your own life in freedom, not fight for the freedom of everyone else.’ I could tell Felix really didn’t want me to fight. I think he was more scared about losing me than the dark forest at this point. I stopped, forcing him to and gazed deeply into his big blue eyes.

‘Felix. If I’m going anywhere I will be going with you. If I am to live in freedom then so are you. I will fight for freedom, fight for everyone to have the same privilege you want me to have. I won’t just walk away and live you because...’ I stuttered my words. I was trying and trying to say it, I opened my mouth and continued to gaze into his eyes.

‘I love you’. He smiled and a small tear appeared in the corner of his eye, falling to the ground and landing in the snow. I stood there holding both of his hands and smiled.

‘That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me’ he said, wiping tears from his face.

‘I love you t...’. His sentence was broken by Tamsin screaming ahead. We ran towards where the sound was coming from and found Tamsin in the clutches of a tall man.

 

The man was exceedingly tall and muscular. He was dirty and I could tell that he had been living rough, his hair dangled beside his face and hit his shoulders.

Felix and I tried to move closer but we were stopped when two smaller men jumped down from the tree above and restrained us both. I tried to change so that I could break free and hopefully rescue Felix and Tamsin, but the thoughts of the conversation I had just had with Felix were running strong. Tamsin carried on screaming until a robed man appeared from within the shadows.

‘What are you doing here? No vampire shall pass into the city’. The man said sternly. He glanced at Tamsin and dropped his hood in disbelief.

‘Tamsin? Is that you?’ He slowly walked towards her. I could see the look of disappointment in her face as he did.

‘Hello Jonah’ she said, unimpressed by the introduction and our refusal to enter the city.

‘Let them go, go and prepare the tents, we have visitors’ Jonah was very pleased to see Tamsin but the feeling wasn’t mutual.

‘We can’t stay, we need to get to Bridgeview Cemetery. Tonight!’ She demanded. Jonah looked around worryingly before quickly walking up to Tamsin.

‘You can’t go at night, it’s too dangerous’

‘Why is it?’ Tamsin was trying to think she was clever and tried to catch Jonah out. But he replied quickly with his answer and shocked Tamsin in doing so.

‘Lord Drayton’s wolves surround the Tomb of Atreyu. Ever since Drayton knew of the powerful one returning, they have circled the tomb every night. I have lost many of my group thanks to him.’ I was hoping that he didn’t know who I was. I couldn’t tell him I was the world’s most powerful vampire. Felix and I stood there hand in hand watching Tamsin’s eyes follow Jonah as he paced up and down the path. We began walking through the trees, following the faint glow of a camp fire.

‘You must stay with us until the morning and in the meantime we can catch up. How is Arcturus? Where is he? Not like you to travel without him.’ Jonah sniggered as he walked. We all fell silent wondering who would break the news.

‘Arc is...Arc died yesterday morning’ Tamsin muttered.

‘WHAT! How?’

‘We don’t know. All we know if that he was fighting with Eve the night before’ Tamsin wiped a tear from her eyes before being offered a handkerchief by Jonah.

‘Well I guess it’s over, the resistance for freedom. Who will be the new leader?’ Jonah’s voice showed utter disappointment. It seemed like he was close to Arcturus as much as he was close to Tamsin.

‘The new leader is chosen by direct bloodline. Eve is the new leader of freedom within the Four Orders’. Tamsin obviously knew what she was talking about and seemed annoyed that the new leader is Eve.

We reached the camp site, it was nothing special; a fire roared in the middle and around it were satellites of tents all perfectly arranged in a neat circle.

We sat down on some logs around the fire, also arranged in a neat circle.

‘So what are you three doing here’ questioned Jonah. Felix was about to speak when Tamsin interrupted him.

‘Listen, you have to keep quiet about this. If Drayton finds out we have him, we’re all in danger’

‘Have who?’ Jonah seemed confused and looked around at all of us pondering the answer.

‘We have the powerful one. Daryl is him. Now Drayton has asked to challenge him however we’re going to try and make Daryl join him and break him from the inside.’ Jonah looked towards me smiling. He walked up to me and held out his hand ready for me to shake it. I stood up tall and proud and shook his hand firmly.

‘It’s an honour to meet you acquaintance. We must celebrate the coming of the powerful one!’ he shouted. Everyone from their tents appeared around me, all wanting to shake my hand. I hadn’t done anything yet and I was a celebrity. Felix came behind me and placed both hands on my shoulders whispering in my ear.

‘I take back what I said before. You must fight for our freedom. I love you, and will always love you, whether you win or lose.’ Felix’s words filled me up with joy as I carried on shaking the hands of strangers. Tamsin was sat alone on a log looking disgusted at Jonah’s announcement of a celebration.

 

That night we celebrated, not only the coming of the powerful one, but also Arcturus’ life. I could see that he was a big influence on this group. These were the people that constantly live on the road, who fight for survival and not to feed. I was beginning to see the pride that all vampires have, even Tamsin was joining in. Felix was showing off his jaguar and I was happily talking about my time as a vampire, even though it was only a few days.

Someone mentioned my parents and I couldn’t answer. Emotion filled me up and I ran into the nearest tent, hoping that none of the others would see me. Vampires aren’t supposed to cry, they’re not supposed to feel emotion, but I guess that’s just a fallacy. We could all feel emotion.

My tent flap was thrown open wide and in came Jonah holding an old book.

‘Had enough of the party have we?’

‘No, I just needed to lie down’ I blatantly lied.

‘What you’re doing out there is fantastic. You’ve given everyone hope again’. His words sank to my stomach. I think it finally hit me of what I had to do. I just smiled and nodded.

‘Here, you might need this. It’s a book on the Four Orders.’ He handed the old ragged book over to me. The paper on the hardback cover was slightly torn and the logo of the Four orders was barely visible. The logo was a shield split into quarters with an animal in each. A lion for pride, an eagle for freedom, a love bird for love and a dragon for power. I placed the book under my pillow as Jonah said goodnight and left the tent.

 

I couldn’t go outside again. I didn’t want to show my face, in truth I couldn’t handle the questions people kept asking. They were either about my parents or they were being nosey about Felix and I. I had to face the truth myself.

“I am a vampire, I am a vampire” I kept telling myself. I couldn’t believe it was true. I took a small dagger out of my jacket, held it to my arm and began etching the symbols of the Four Orders into my skin, changing love to a heart with Felix’s name underneath which was when another truth came to light. I was truly in love.

Reviews

[Vanessa Rico]

I really do hope that you want to get this published because it is a great story. You wont have to fix much just to put your writing in manuscript form. I do believe there is huge audience out there for this genre. Great work! I always look forward to reading your work and you have given me an inspiration to write a short story, which I plan to dedicate to the LGBT community in memory of my cousin, who committed suicide because the rest of my hypocritical family would not accept him. Thank you for your inspiration! I eagerly await the next installment! Much love to you and a 100!!