Young Writers Society

After breakfast, Nico had patched up Evie’s neck and had taken a blood sample before dismissing her, saying that she could entertain herself within the mansion’s grounds while he worked. He had disappeared into a large room in the east wing, leaving her alone to wander the halls aimlessly. The first thing she did was try the door that led to the basement but of course, it was locked. That was closely followed by her failed attempt to leave through the front doors, which were guarded by two men inside and out.

The mansion was three floors. Her bedroom was on the second floor in the west wing. Directly above was another corridor of rooms. She stopped at the top of the stairs when she heard voices coming from that corridor. More guests? she thought. Or maybe they belonged to more of the staff. She had passed two women dusting on her travels and when she accidentally wandered into the kitchen, she had disrupted three cooks slaving over what she guessed was going to be dinner. The numerous staff confused her. If he had cooks and cleaners, it was very likely that he would have a nurse or doctor standing by. So why had it been Nico who had cleaned her neck wound?

But the voices she was hearing were male voices. They were rough yet jolly. They sounded much like the men did when enjoying a game of poker in one of those dingy backrooms down an alleyway. Not that she had ever stayed in one of those long enough to really understand what all the fuss was about. The buildings were always where someone lived so a vampire must be invited in to gain access. And to avoid outing herself as a bloodsucker, Evie always walked on by and disappeared into the shadows with the smell of cigars lingering behind her.

She edged her way as quietly as she could to the end of the corridor but stayed hidden behind the corner. Carefully, she shifted up a little and peered around the wall. Two men were stood by an open window at the end of the corridor, heads bent together in conversation and a cigarette held limply between their fingers. They were dressed all in black but fashionably so. Their shoes were well polished and their black shirts were buttoned to the top. The men looked like simple businessmen but Evie knew that their business wasn’t simple. These were the men that kidnapped her. Maybe not the exact men, but definitely two of the men that Nico employed to do his dirty work while he locked himself in his room in the east wing.

“Terry, grab us some more booze would ya?” called a voice from one of the open doors. One of the men that was smoking flicked his cigarette out of the window and turned in the direction of the voice.

“Yeah, sure, give me a minute.” He started heading towards Evie and in a panic, she rushed back down the stairs, all the way back to the ground floor. Why she ran, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t as if he would have hurt her. She was human now. But just seeing those men made the memory of the kidnap blaze up before her eyes like an ominous fog, suffocating her. She started coughing and wheezing and began to stumble down the corridor, keeping her hand on the wall for balance. She made it to a huge pair of double patio doors and she almost fell against them but managed to grab the handles and push them open with her weight.

The cold breeze almost blew her backwards, sending her red hair whipping across her face. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed it back up. She ran out onto the flagged patio, the double doors swinging out behind her.

She could feel it, warm on her skin. A feeling she had forgotten and thought she would never be able to remember. The feeling of the sun. She squinted up into the clear blue sky where it hung, burning brightly. The air was crisp and cold and the way it attacked her bare arms made her smile. She could feel the air - could feel the cold like the different temperatures of the shower that morning.

Happiness surged through her so wild and frivolous that she felt like she was going to pass out.

That’s when she found the wooden lawn chair and slumped down across it, bathing in the sun’s rays. The breeze was like a blanket of cold licking up her exposed skin, cancelling out the sun’s heat for any other human but Evie could feel it pulsing through as if her want for it made it possible.

Gardeners were out, tending to the lawn and the flower beds that framed the football pitch sized expanse of grass. They were kitted out in puffy green jackets and peaked hats while Evie lay, eyes closed to the sun in her jeans and vest top. The light outside lit the backs of her closed eyelids a powerful scarlet. Sometimes when she had been a vampire, she didn’t even know if her eyes were open or closed. Either way…it was just darkness. Hollow. Empty. Black.

Something cold touched her shoulder and she jerked awake with a gasp. Black spots blotted her vision and she blinked until they disappeared. Nico was standing over her, the back of his head lit up by the sun like a halo.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Didn’t you hear me calling?” he asked.

She tried to answer but her mouth was dry so she cleared it. “Sorry…I must have fallen asleep.”

His shoulders sagged and he looked down at her with a soft, almost paternal smile. “Well, anyway, dinner’s ready.”

And as if on cue, her stomach growled. Nico laughed and nodded to the open patio doors. “C’mon.”

She followed him back through the lavish mansion and into the dining room. Again, two plates sat at each end of the table but this time, Evie didn’t have the option to choose what she wanted to consume, which she was rather thankful of. She had felt rather intimidated by the selection this morning.

Nico gestured for her to sit and she did. The smell from her steaming plate of food hit her nostrils and made her stomach growl more impatiently. Nico smiled at the sound and took his seat opposite her. She picked up her fork and stabbed it into a sausage.

“A full English breakfast,” Nico said whimsically.

Evie studied the sausage as if she were staring down the barrel of a gun. She felt sick, confused and overwhelmed. Despite her trepidation, she took a bite, wanting to shut her stomach up. The flavour burst in her mouth, making her let out a surprised chirp with wide-eyes.

Nico was watching her in silence. “Nice?”

She chewed and chewed until she could swallow. “Shouldn’t I have eaten this for breakfast?” she asked, feeling cheated with her bland cereal when this had been awaiting her.

“Your stomach is adjusting to human food again, I didn’t want to force too much onto you so fast.”

She shrugged in understanding and started cutting up her tomatoes.

“How are you adjusting?”

Her auburn hair had fallen in front of her face, shielding her from Nico. She tucked it behind her ears and nodded. “Food’s good.”

“I mean in general.”

Her stomach cramped and she shifted her eyes up to meet his. A lump suddenly swelled in her throat but she choked it down. “It’s hard.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

She shook her head and looked back down, busying herself by dicing up more of the food on her plate. “No you don’t. No one does.”

His brows furrowed and he laced his hands together, propping his chin on them. Evie dared to look up and she was slightly taken aback by the deep, warm gaze she was caught under. “Tell me,” he said.

She cleared her throat, dropped her fork onto her plate and relaxed back into the chair. “Everything has changed. People say that vampires are driven by their hunger, but we’re not. We can last weeks without blood and we are perfectly fine as long as we don’t suffer from any great injuries. Humans are slaves to their hunger. I couldn’t go a few hours without my stomach growling for attention.” Nico laughed but said nothing, listening intently.

“And people say that vampires don’t have souls, that we are merciless and violent but, take this-” She stabbed her fork into a slice of bacon and held it up. “Humans kill animals for their consumption all the time, and they don’t bat an eyelid. This is a life-” She thrust the fork forward a little for emphasis. “-and it’s just lying on a plate. Since the Rage, vampires haven’t killed. Our diet doesn’t need us to. Sure, every few months or so there is an incident when a Dial-a-bite worker goes off the grid and is found drained in a dumpster but there are plenty more deaths caused by humans. You count how many serial killers there are, human serial killers, and compare them to vampires that have killed since the Rage.” She arched an eyebrow, knowing she was right. “The stats would shock you.” But she wasn’t finished. “And if a vampire does kill, they meet the sun, end of story. Whereas humans get put in prison and come right back out again.”

There was a long silence after that, where Evie replaced the bit of bacon with egg and ate it. As the silence dragged on for longer, she feared she had said too much and maybe Nico was mulling over chucking her out and leaving her to fend for herself in this world that now frightened her more than she could comprehend.

“Did you notice you said we?”

Evie almost choked on her egg when Nico finally found his voice. “What?” she asked.

He sighed and dropped his hands. His attention seemed to avert to his meal but he kept talking. “When you were talking about vampires, you said we. Do you still associate yourself with vampires? Do you still see yourself as one?”

The backs of her eyes burned at the question. “I have lived a hundred years as a vampire. I have only lived a day as a human.”

“What about your human life before you were a vampire?” He glanced up at her long enough to probably see the colour run from her face.

“I don’t like to think about that life.”

“Why not?” he continued to grill her even though he must have known he had overstepped already.

“Because it’s long gone. Forgotten.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s forgotten.”

The twinkle in his eyes when he looked up at her made her grip tighten on her fork. “I’ve had enough. Let’s eat in silence, shall we?”

He shrugged and shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. “Fine with me.”

It wasn’t until a small, plump woman in a black and white old fashioned maids uniform was collecting their empty plates when Evie finally spoke again, wanting to distract herself. Sweat had rapidly beaded on her brows as a nightmarish memory that seemed to smack her in the face when she locked eyes with the maid. “Made any progress with my blood sample?”

Nico’s face brightened at her voice. “Yes, in fact, I have created another serum. I plan to test it tonight. They seem to react quicker when it’s night.”

“That’s because their bodies slow down after sun rise. Even if they can’t see the sun, it’s like a dragging weight.” Her heart clenched when Nico smiled. She knew it was because she was speaking as if she was ‘detached’. Little did he know that it took a great amount of effort on her part.

“Really?” he said, sounding intrigued. “I didn’t know that.”

She shrugged. “Well, there’s some things you can’t learn from prodding them with needles.”

He laughed and took a sip of his orange juice. “That’s true.”

Her lip curled but she fought back a bitter snarl. “Could I come down with you to see the effects?”

His eyebrows rose with surprise and he placed his glass back down. “You really want to?”

She shrugged. “Sure. Seeing as though I’m going to be here for a while, I might as well get used to what you do.”

He smiled but his eyes still looked a little unsure of her fondness. “Okay…”

“And plus, I may be helpful. Seeing as though I have been on both sides.”

He shook his head, confused. “You really want to help me?”

“As long as you stay away from Caius.”

He shrugged. “Sure, I have plenty more to play with.”

“Then play all you like.”

He let out a bewildered laugh. “I’m sorry, Evie. But I have no idea what has gotten into you. One minute you were favouring vampires and the next you are letting me…well, potentially torture and possibly kill them.”

Her heart contracted and she could feel a lump swelling in her throat but she willed herself to keep her face a sickly optimistic mask. “The sooner you perfect the serum, the sooner all the torturing and the death will stop. Then you can cure Caius and we can be together again. I just want to hurry things to that point, which you can understand, surely?”

He nodded with a shrug. “I guess so…”

“Okay then.” She smiled. “Bring on tonight.”