Young Writers Society

There was a tentative knock at the door. Evie smiled out of her open bedroom window where she stood, allowing the breeze to lick her skin. His timing was impeccable, she thought, after seeing the sun dip past the horizon only seconds ago.

“Are you ready?” he asked through the door.

She slammed her window shut and paused for a moment, her knuckles turning white as her grip tightened on the framework. That was a very good question. And the answer was no. She didn’t want to set foot back down there. She knew all those memories that were still in the forefront of her mind would hit her like a stampede. But she had to do it. For Caius. It seemed like everything she did was for Caius. And now that she was human, that still hadn’t changed.

After taking several calming breaths, she stretched her fingers and straightened. “Yeah. I’m coming.”

Anxiety coursed through every inch of her as she followed Nico down the stairs. Her stomach flopped when she noticed the bum bag he was wearing, knowing what it contained.

He stopped at the door in the hallway that led underground to the basement. She watched, hopefully not too obviously, as Nico pulled out a set of keys on a ring and slotted a long, old styled silver mortice key into the lock. Probably real silver coated, she thought, clever. He swung the door open. It was a simple windowless door that looked like it led into a normal basement full of old bits and bobs he had no use for. Yet what actually lurked beneath sent a shiver down her spine. When Nico noticed her hesitation, he began descending the stairs first and allowed her to follow. She did, rather reluctantly.

A long grey corridor ran by the stairs and was lit up by tube lighting. There were three sets of white double doors set about four metres apart from each other with slit like windows, and by the side of each set was a man dressed in an all back suit, like the men Evie had seen on the third floor. Nico’s men. The guards held rifles across their chests.

Ah, that could be an issue later on.

“Are they always there?” she asked when she reached the bottom. Nico turned and saw her nodding to one of the guards.

“Yep. All day and all night. On rotation of course.”

She frowned. “I hadn’t seen them before.”

“That’s because every time you passed them, you were a little out of it. The first time, you were passed out, the second you had liquid silver flowing around your system and the last, your head was everywhere after being cured. No surprise you weren’t really taking in your surroundings.”

She tried to hide her frown as it deepened. Nico flashed her an oblivious smile and headed for the furthest set of doors. Evie rushed after his long legged strides. “You’re staying away from Caius, right?”

He nodded and slipped the same ring of keys out of his pocket. “Don’t worry, he’s in there.” He pointed to the first door they had passed. “With the rest of the ancients.”

“Then who’s behind this one?”

He twisted a different key, still silver, in the door and opened it. “The new-borns.”

The guard kept his gaze ahead, his expression stiff, as they made their way through the door.

“How do you know how old they are?” she asked, trying to keep her attention on Nico but a chill crawled up her spine as she entered the brilliant white room, even without her sensitive vampire sight, the brightness burned. She was very aware of the hunched figures in the cells either side of her. Even though most were in hibernation, she could feel the eyes of the vampires that were still awake on her. Judging her. Pleading with her.

“Some tell me. Sometimes I just have to take a guess. Usually the ones we capture easily are the new-borns. They’re never the brightest. Or the strongest.” He began strolling down the walkway as if taking a carefree walk in the park. “Your Caius, for example-” Evie’s heart pounded at the mention of his name. “-six men were needed to hold him down.”

Her stomach cramped. “Where…where did you get him?”

“He was leaving the hospital with a bag of blood bags. When he skirted a silver link fence, I knew he was a vampire.”

Evie’s shoulders sagged and weariness slowed down her steps. She had sent him out to get more blood bags. If it wasn’t for her, maybe he wouldn’t be stuck in here.

But hopefully he wouldn’t be for much longer.

“Which room was I in?” she asked, changing the subject.

“The middle one. I wasn’t sure about you. But I guess I was right. You weren’t a new-born but you weren’t ancient either.” He stopped abruptly and faced the cell to his right. That’s when Evie finally tore her eyes away from him and her stomach cramped at the bloody body in the cell.

It was a man with short blonde hair and a ripped up business suit, his tie knotted tight and askew. His blazer was balled up on the floor and his shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows. A puncture mark on the inside of his left elbow told Evie that that was where his tube had been placed, but it was now detached from him, curled up in a sticky puddle.

He could have been a business man. She wondered if his place of business had known he was a vampire or if he had stayed hidden like her and Caius. She liked to think that they had known. It was always refreshing to see vampires socialising with humans and them being trusted with important things. Because no matter what the newspapers and people on the television said, vampires were discriminated against.

But looking at the state of this poor man now, she bet he’d trade being in here for a mediocre job cleaning toilets without a moment’s hesitation.

He sat propped against the back wall like puppet cut from its strings. But he was awake, Evie could tell. He peered at the two of them through heavily lashed eyelids.

Nico tsked. “You shouldn’t have pulled that out. Remember what happened last time?”

The vampire’s pale eyes flitted upwards to the UV bulb and he cringed.

He could have been in his late thirties when he Turned, Evie thought, but his exhaustion lined his face and made him look in his fifties.

Nico opened the glass door and gestured Evie inside. She walked in, trying her best to not look horrified. The familiar honking buzzer sounded and she clapped her hands over her ears, cringing as the man in the cell screamed and covered his face with his hands. The UV light shone down on him like a spotlight, causing swelling blisters to begin to form on his palms, red and angry looking. Evie gulped and squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch any more.

When the buzzing stopped, she sucked in a breath and opened her eyes. The man was curled up, his knees to his chest, his burnt hands still shielding his face. He was blubbering into his chest. Evie’s heart swelled but she made sure her sympathy didn’t show.

Nico unlocked the door with the last key on his ring and walked into the cell with something clasped in his hand. When the vampire flinched at the approaching footsteps, Nico jerked into action and threw the contents of the little tub in his hand, over him. A grey mist flew into the air and consumed the vampire, making him shriek and stretch his shaking arm out to Nico obediantly, his head still buried in his chest.

Silver powder. It had to be by the way it burned through the man’s exposed cheek and throat.

After Nico had successfully re-attached the needle into the vampire’s arm, he strolled out of the cell, locked it and slotted the new serum into its compartment in the machine As soon as the serum made its way into the vampire’s system, he started hissing and gnashing his teeth together. Nico grabbed Evie and tugged her out of the glass door, closing it quickly behind her. A sickening feeling rolled inside Evie’s stomach when she realised why he had done it. Just in case the vampire exploded like Sophie, he wouldn’t want to get dead vampire goo all over his cardigan.

Evie’s hands turned into fists by her sides but she kept her tears at bay to try and convince Nico that she was on his side as the vampire in the cell began bleeding from every orifice of his body. He wrapped his hands around his throat and began choking on the blood that was pouring from his mouth. Evie glanced at Nico to see his reaction and her heart sank at how devoid of emotion his face was. He just watched in silence with a slight frown of disappointment.

“Y’know, I really thought I had it this time,” he sighed and took the empty bottle from the machine before placing it in his bum bag. “C’mon.” He inclined his head down the walkway. “Let’s see if the older ones react the same way.”

She stumbled over her words, completely dumbfounded that this wasn’t enough evidence to prove that his serum had failed. He wanted to inject it into more vampires and watch them suffer?

Nico was already making his way to the double doors when Evie realised she had stalled. She took one last look at the bleeding vampire, shuddered, and followed doggedly behind.

“You’re going to use this on more vampires after what has just happened?” she finally asked once she found her voice.

Nico locked the door behind them and moved to the middle set of double doors that held the not-quite ancients. Another shudder ran through her at the memory of being locked in this room herself.

“I had used the serum that cured you on two others. One fell into hibernation and the other fried. The serum affects vampires differently. Something to do with the mix of their blood and their Maker’s blood.” He slotted the same key into the door that he had with the other set, Evie noted then shifted her attention to the guard stood like a statue beside her, just like the other one.

Nico paused and looked to her. “Say, does your Maker have any other Progeny?”

She shook her head. “No, just me.”

He sighed. “Shame. C’mon.”

Again, she followed Nico inside and they both stopped at a cell that he had selected. Inside this one was a girl that looked about the same age Evie had been when she had been Turned. Her hair was dyed bright blonde and chopped in a scruffy looking pixie cut. Mascara lines mixed with bloody tear stains ran down her pale face as she studied them with big, brilliant blue eyes. She was pretty, Evie thought numbly. Judging by the heavy make-up, short leather skirt and thigh high boots, she had been a regular at one of the vampire bars.

She sat in the centre of the cell, her legs crossed and her shoulders slumped. Unlike the business man, she had left the tube that fed into the crook of her elbow. Apart from her face, there were no dried blood stains on her body, nor any blood spilled on the floor. She was fresh.

Nico smiled down at her. “I see you listened to me.” He nodded to her arm.

She arched an eyebrow. “I’ve seen what you’ve done to the others. I’m not a fan of being set on fire,” she replied. Her voice took Evie by surprise. She sounded so strong. No wavering in her words. No catch in her throat. Nothing.

Nico nodded with a soft laugh and delved into his bum bag. “I have high hopes for you, Daisy. You don’t do anything stupid.”

“What, like try to escape?” She cocked her head. “What’s the point? I’m not getting out, am I? I’ve lived for 68 years, which I know isn’t that long but if you’ve had the life I have, you wouldn’t be complaining if you were facing death.” Her dazzling gaze whipped to Evie. “Who’s this?”

“A friend. She was one of you. I cured her,” Nico replied, studying a new bottle.

The vampire – Daisy – raised her black eyebrows. “You actually cured her? It worked?” Her already bright eyes became almost luminous with hope. This also took Evie by surprise. This vampire actually wanted to be cured. She was obeying Nico because she wanted him to succeed. Not because she wanted to die, but because she wanted to live. Really live. Not just carry on being only half alive.

“Yes.” Nico opened the glass door and Evie followed him inside. He slotted the bottle into the machine. “And I’ve made this from what I’ve learned about her blood so I honestly think this could work if injected into the right vampire. That’s why I’ve chosen you, Daisy.”

She half smiled up at him. “Well, first time’s a charm.”

Evie suddenly jerked into action and quickly pushed Nico out of the way of machine. “Allow me.”

Both Nico and Daisy looked at her wide-eyed.

She smiled awkwardly and hovered her hand over the button. “I want to help.” I want you to trust me.

Nico smiled, looking a little stunned. She pressed down on the button. Daisy’s lips pursed into a thin line and her eyes snapped shut when the serum entered her system.

Nico pushed Evie out of the glass door. They both watched. Evie’s heart was a swollen lump in her throat and even Nico looked rather distressed when Daisy started shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes flickered open and latched onto Nico.

“Wh-what’s happening to m-me?” she asked, shuddering. Her chest start convulsing forwards as if she were about the throw up. Then she did. Blood shot out of her mouth, painting the floor in front of her. She clutched her stomach as more and more jetted out of her. She started crying, blood tears pouring down her face before she fell onto her side and curled up into a juddering ball, her knees tucked up and her face bent into her chest.

Then she went still and silent.

She looked dead but wasn’t. If she were dead she would be a pile of goo.

“She’s gone into hibernation,” voiced Evie.

Nico squinted through his glasses, his expression pinched with pain. “Yeah…I’ll let her rest. Maybe feed her in a couple of days.”

And that was it for this room. They made their way down the walkway. Once he locked the double doors behind him, Evie’s heart raced.

“You’re not going to try this out on any more, are you?” she asked, fear hitching her voice as she stared at the last set of double doors. The set that Caius was behind.

“No. Not with any ancients. They’re so hard to catch.”

“But you’ve injected stuff into Caius,” said Evie as he headed for the stairs.

“Yes, I know. Those were batches that didn’t seem to have any effect to the new-borns. That wasn’t the case for the ancients.”

“Wait, Nico.” Evie grabbed his arm before he began ascending the stairs. He turned back to her. “Can I…see Caius? Please?”

His jaw clenched.

Before he could say anything, she continued, “I know he’s not my Maker anymore but I still love him. I want you to cure him but I don’t want to lose him in the time being. I just want to talk to him, that’s it.”

He studied her. “After what he did to you?”

Her hand slipped to the bandage on her neck self-consciously. “That wasn’t his fault. You starved him.”

“And how do you know he won’t act like that again? I haven’t fed him since then. He’ll probably react the same.”

“I’ll stay on the outside of the cell. And I won’t know how he’ll react to me if I don’t see him.”

Reluctantly, Nico gave in and opened the last set of double doors.

“You only have three keys,” Evie finally spoke up.

“Yeah, one for the basement, one for these doors and one for the cells.”

“One for all the cells?”

His eyes shifted to her suspiciously. She gulped and silently cursed herself for seeming so interested. She followed him down the walkway. “Yes. Skeleton key. It’s handy.”

Yes it was, Evie thought.

She walked ahead of Nico down the walkway, eyes scanning each cell. Then she froze and took a halting step back. Her heart rose then plummeted to her feet at the sight of the familiar slumped figure in one of the cells. Caius.