Young Writers Society

PART III – THE CURE

Alexander felt the pressure of moving at vampire speed suddenly lift, making his lolling head slam into Caius’ chest and a thrashing headache explode inside his skull. He groaned aloud and coughed up a thick mouthful of blood, managing to spit it onto the floor instead of up Caius’ shirt. Blinking hard, he tried to focus on his surroundings but it was like looking through a kaleidoscope. I wonder if this is how flies see things, he thought for a distracted moment.

They were in the city – on a quite side street. He could figure out that much. Everything was lit up by the dull orange glow of streetlights. Hands stroked through his damp hair, making him want to smile but his jaw ached like crazy. It was his sister. Her head was bent over his, gazing at him with frantic, teary eyes. Alexander wanted to touch her so much. To brush away her tears and tell her he was okay, even though it actually felt like his insides were being ground up into a paste. What the hell was in that girl’s blood?

“What’s wrong with him?” said a deep, baritone voice. Alexander rolled his head in the direction of the voice, intrigued by their new company. A tall, stocky black man in a simple, zip-up cotton jacket and sweatpants was standing by the open door of a stylish black SUV. He was talking to Evie, who was hugging her chest as if protecting herself from the cold.

“He’s hurt really bad. He needs help, Eric” she said.

The man – Eric - looked confused. “The hospital is right there. What did you need my help for?”

Varsee’s hands slipped out of Alexander’s hair. The absence of her touch made him feel hollow. He heard Eric gasp and Alexander managed to focus his eyes long enough to see him step back. “You’re a vampire?”

“We all are,” said Varsee, and Evie noticeably cringed.

Eric looked to his red-headed friend. “What’s going on?”

Evie’s mouth began opening and closing but no words were coming out. Or maybe they were but Alexander couldn’t hear them over the white noise that was filling his head. He groaned and curled up into Caius’ chest- who still had a stiff hold of him. He’s strong. I like it, Alexander inwardly grin.

The pain in his gut was getting worse and worse. It was as if someone had grabbed his organs and was slowly twisting them. Is this what it feels like right before you turn into icky-sticky? Alexander shuddered at the thought and blinked hard, letting his burning red tears fall.

He could feel his brain. Feel it pulsating inside his skull. It was making him want to hurl - that feeling, and the blood lining his throat. His eyes slammed shut, sealing him in darkness. The motion of opening his eyelids sent his head spinning so he gave up and let himself be trapped by the uneasy pitch black and deafening silence.

The feeling of flying took over him and made him force his eyes open. His body thudded against something hard yet comfortable. He flung his arm out and whacked it against the interior of a car. He was inside Eric’s SUV, sprawled out across the backseat on his back.

“Be as quick as you can. Please. He means the world to me.”

Alexander opened his mouth and let out a strangled cry at the sound of his sister’s voice so broken and distraught. He rolled his head to the side so he could see her through the window. Her long blonde hair was blowing back in the breeze and all he could make out through the mess of blood on her face were her two shockingly beautiful eyes. They were the colour of the ocean after a storm, he had always thought, whatever that meant. It just felt right.

He grabbed the air, trying to catch her attention but her eyes were set on Eric who he suddenly realised was in the driver’s seat.

“I will. I promise,” Eric replied, his voice sounding determined yet conflicted.

Evie appeared at the window beside Varsee, her cheeks stained with fresh tears. Her eyes, too, were desperate and set on Eric. Alexander felt the driver’s seat shift and Evie gulped, stepping back. Then the image before his eyes started to blacken like burning paper. His sister was slowly receding from him.

No! Sis! Look at me! I will make it! I promise! I won’t… “I won’t leave you!” Surprised at his own ability to force words passed his lips, Alexander watched in wonder as his sister turned to face him. He tried to smile encouragingly but it still hurt. The white noise pressed against his ears again but he managed to focus on her long enough to make out what she was saying by the movement of her lips. “I love you,” she had said, right before he fell unconscious.

“…can’t believe she never told me…”

Alexander felt himself slipping back into the land of the living, still irritatingly sore all over. He rolled his eyes open and fixated his gaze on the driver’s seat. His head was directly behind it so all he could see was the back of Eric’s big burly shoulders and head. Alexander thought back to the snippets of conversations he had witnessed and tried to piece everything together to understand what Eric was mumbling under his breath about. It wasn’t too hard.

“…you never… guessed…?” Alexander managed to wheeze out, at the cost of another mouthful of blood pouring from his lips.

Eric’s head whipped to the side, acknowledging him, before focusing back on the road. Alexander could feel the car moving and wished he was back in Caius’ arms. He had been nice to cuddle up against.

“No,” replied Eric curtly. “I mean, thinking back… I guess there were signs. I never saw her in the day. But we were bouncers and we had night shifts- that wasn’t out of the ordinary. And then there was her thing about blood… but that’s a known phobia. I can’t believe she didn’t trust me enough to tell me. We’re friends. She shouldn’t have felt the need to hide the truth from me.”

“Like you are… from her…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eric’s shoulders noticeably stiffened.

Alexander smiled then instantly regretted it as a shooting pain shattered his skull. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts too much!

“You… like her… not just… friends…”

“What?” Eric scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. What’s she been saying to you?”

“I’m just… perceptive…”

“Well, you’re wrong. Evie’s just a friend. And still is a friend. Regardless of her being…” He shook his head. “And Caius is one, too? I guess I should have seen that…he is very…”

“… hot?” offered Alexander.

“I was going to say secretive.”

The pain in Alexander’s gut rendered him mute for a moment as he tried to calm it down by force of will. He had been stabbed before. Shot. Bitten. Beaten. Burned. But nothing had ever been as painful as what he was going through now. Even when that vampire hunter had managed to graze his heart with a silver tipped stake, he had been able to shake it off after a week of hibernation and a harem of walking blood bags.

“…so… if not Evie… anyone… else?” asked Alexander.

“Are you hitting on me?”

“…maybe… you look… snuggly.”

Eric shifted in his seat. “Thanks but no thanks. I’m just the chauffeur. Evie told me you were dying yet you’re healthy enough to flirt.”

“…can’t let… impending doom… ruin my… game.”

Eric laughed. “Well, it seems our little meet-cute is nearly over. I think I see the house I’m supposed to deliver you to.”

Deliver me? thought Alexander. I’m not some sort of Amazon package, chief.

The car rounded a corner and Alexander nearly toppled off the seat. Then it stopped and he whacked his head against the backrest with a grunt of annoyance.

“Wow… now this is what you call a mansion,” mumbled Eric in awe.

Intrigued, Alexander put all his strength into pushing himself up onto his elbows to gain enough height to see through the window. As he did so, he also managed to take a quick look down at himself. He grimaced at the blood that was splattered all over him. Not a good day to wear white jeans.

Biting down on his tongue to suppress his groans of agony at the clutching sensation deep in his stomach, Alexander swivelled his head around to see what all of Eric’s fuss was about. His jaw dropped.

Eric had parked up opposite a huge, bare brick, three story building that made Mrs. Braverman’s grand farmhouse look like a shoebox. The bat winged mansion, with its white windows and huge forecourt, looked like a cross between a fancy grammar school and a hospital.

Alexander could only blink in amazement. He wanted to voice his wonder but felt like he had forced too much passed his lips already. The blood that had lined his throat was now completely blocking up his trachea. If he was human, he would have died of suffocation by now.

A high wall surrounded the mansion. There was a turn-in to a heavy, silver gateway. Probably silver coated. Would have been robbed by now if it was solid silver.

He tried to stay conscious and upright as Eric manoeuvred the carfurther up the road and pulled into the turn-in. He stopped before the gates and Alexander noticed a white face in the darkness behind the gate. He focused harder and made out a man in a black uniform with a rifle in his arms.

“E-excuse me,” said Eric. The tremor in his voice set Alexander on edge. He was such a huge, brutish guy, and hearing him stutter was very off-putting.

“What business do you have here?” ordered the guard.

Unable to hold his weight, Alexander’s elbows buckled and he slammed back down onto the seat with a groan. The darkness was closing in on him again. He could feel unconsciousness sucking him under, easing his pain into a numbing ache. Desperate to stay awake, he widened his bleary eyes and sank his teeth into his tongue, hoping the new pain would hold his attention and fight over the existing, growing agony taking over the rest of his body.

Don’t let me die. I can’t go into hibernation. I can’t die. I need to stay alive. For my sister. I need to stay alive for Varsee. Please, don’t let me die.

“I have a vampire. He’s been infected by something. I was told to bring him here,” said Eric.

“Where is he?”

“In the back.”

Alexander’s eyelids were drooping and he couldn’t stop it. He heard the rattling of the gates opening and saw the white face of the guard appear in the window. But then that white noise hit him again, making him roll onto his stomach and curl into a ball, coughing and wheezing. The car rolled into motion once more and, despite his resistance, Alexander slipped back into the depth of unconsciousness.

When his eyes rolled open again, Alexander felt different. Blood was no longer clogging up his throat and that twisting feeling in his gut was gone. The light was sharp and stinging and he shielded his eyes with his hand. Blinking hard, he let himself adjust to his gleaming white surroundings.

He was sitting on the floor, propped up against a wall. Before him and beside him were vertical bars.

He was in a cell.

Jumping to his feet, he ran up to the front of the cell and wrapped his hands around the bars, attempting the pull them apart enough to slip his slender frame through. But it was no use. They weren’t budging. He released his grip but then furrowed his brows, looking more closely at the bars that confined him. Being a vampire, he knew the difference between real silver and silver paint. These bars were real silver.

Turning his hands palms up, he inspected his skin with confusion. No burn marks. Not even a tingle.

Something thumped in his ears. The sound of a heartbeat. He had heard it since he had woken up but his mind had been so fuzzy he hadn’t tuned into it. Now he could feel it, loud and echoing in the silence. Pushing back his damp hair, he scoped the room he was in. It was long, bright white and filled with two rows of cells running along opposite walls. And each cell was encased in a glass box.

He was alone. Well, he couldn’t see anyone else in the room. All the cells he could see in his line of vision were empty. But there must be someone with him. There must be a human close by. He could hear their heart beating.

Realisation gripped him and rendered him immobile for a moment. Cold sweat beaded between his shoulder blades. The panic that surged through him was making him shake uncontrollably and the pulse in his ears beat faster. Looking down at his unmarred hands, tears blurred his vision, making it distorted but not stain red.

He was alone. The heartbeat he was hearing was his own.

Alexander was human.

“No,” he gasped and slammed his hands to his chest as he felt it tightening. “No. No. No. No. No.”

He gulped the air, feeling it inflating his lungs. No no no no no no no. Buckling backwards, his back slammed against the wall and he slid to the floor as tears poured down his cheeks. He swiped at them and looked down at his shaking hands, at the clear salty water of his own tears. “What the hell…”

The loud, clanging sound of doors opening brought Alexander to his feet. He crossed the cell and peered down the aisle. His heart jumped at the sight of a figure heading his way.

“Hey!” Alexander called.

The figure was a man dressed smartly in a white shirt and grey pants. His shoes clicked against the tiled floor. He stopped before the glass panelling in front of Alexander and fixed his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His black hair was thick and lightly ruffled. He looked in his late twenties, maybe. Alexander was bad with ages. Being a vampire for so long, he had forgotten what people were supposed to look like at each stage of human life.

The man’s grey eyes inspected Alexander appraisingly. “Hello.” The voice was courteous, and kind.

Alexander gulped, so much was buzzing around in his head. “Wh-who are you? What is this place?” His teeth gritted together and his hands turned into fists by his sides. “What the fuck have you done to me?!”

The man just smiled. “My name is Nico Bergan.” Alexander’s eyes widened. He’d heard that name so many times before he almost felt like he should have recognised him. But this man was nothing like the elusive ‘Nico Bergan’ he had envisioned. He had pictured a crazy scientist with mad white hair and a drawn out face. But this man… this man stood before him looked so young and delicate. It felt so wrong that he was the man that Evie had been so afraid of. “And I have cured you.”

“Cured me?” Alexander asked, then thought back to what had happened to Evie. “You cured me of vampirism?”

Nico nodded. “Yes.”

“But…” Alexander stepped back. “It only worked on Evie. You needed her blood to make the cure universal. You… you shouldn’t be able to cure others. It didn’t work on anyone else!”

Nico’s eyebrow quirked up. “You know Evie?”

Alexander nodded. “Your men tried to take her again but we took them out.”

Nico’s eyes brightened with realisation. “You were one of the vampires that my men cornered? Before they were wiped out.”

Alexander smiled. “You can thank the kid for that.”

Nico shrugged. “It didn’t matter that I never got her back anyway. I worked around it. I needed a catalyst, something that could be found in each vampire that the cure could then work against.” A soft smile was fixed on Nico’s face as he explained. “So I created a virus. A virus completely harmless to humans but deadly to vampires.”

“That’s what that blood whore gave me,” said Alexander, inwardly seething.

Nico nodded. “I injected it into several blood whores and let them go about their jobs. Once they infected a vampire, they were to tell them or their company to come to me to be saved.”

“When you say saved…”

“I mean cured,” smiled Nico.

Alexander felt numb as the information sank in. “How many of us have you… cured?”

Nico opened the glass panelling and took a ring of keys from his pants pocket. “How about I show you to your room first? You can get fixed up and then you can meet them.”

“My room?”

“Yes.” Nico slotted the key into the door. “I need you to stay here for a while so I can keep you under surveillance. Make sure everything has worked alright. Can never be too careful when it comes to changing the chemicals of the human body.” He opened the cell and gestured Alexander to come out. “I’m sure the rest of the Cured will be delighted to meet you.”

Alexander stepped out of the shower and ruffled his wet hair with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. He wiped away the steam from the mirror above the sink just enough so that he could see his own reflection. It was now free of the ugly red tear tracks.

He hadn’t always been so fond of his reflection. It wasn’t until a certain special someone had come into his life when that had changed and he had begun to feel lucky when it came to his appearance -but with everything else… not so much. And that’s exactly what Alexander believed in. Luck. There was no God as far as he was concerned. He had witnessed too much hate and destruction to believe there was some benevolent force watching from above. He had laughed when he had heard about the slaughtering of the vampire hunters as they prayed for protection in the crummy little church. But God hadn’t help them. Because he didn’t exist. The world that he inhabited was a disaster and whoever thought that all the pain and grief you went through while you were alive was going to be magically made up for after you died, were just kidding themselves.

His heart started to pound as he stared into the blue eyes shining back at him. He didn’t like thinking about life after death. The idea had always given him the creeps. He didn’t like the unknown.

With a sigh, he cleared away the rest of the steam.

Something flashed in the corner of the mirror and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was like a flicker of movement. A wisp of brown and cream. A wave of… brown hair?

He spun around, his eyes wide and blazing. But he was in the room alone. Shaking off his unease, he moved into the adjoining bedroom and lifted his lip in disgust at the outfit that had been laid out for him. Nico had pointed it out to him to change the subject after Alexander asked about calling his sister. To bring the argument to an abrupt end, Nico had left to let Alexander get cleaned up.

Alexander dropped his towel and changed. He looked down at himself, at the simple black t-shirt and sweatpants, and sighed. “Tragic.”

The clock beside the double bed read that it was just past midnight. Nico had told him to get cleaned up and then come down and join the others in the morning. That first he should get some rest and come to terms with what was going on. Come to terms with what’s going on? That fucker had infected him with a virus and then turned him human. Human.

His legs gave out and he dropped onto the edge of the bed. Shaking uncontrollably, he curled his fingers into the duvet and bit down on his lip to suppress a scream. His temples began to pound as his vision blurred with fresh tears.

This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.

Alexander rarely got scared. Even when those vampire hunters had been chasing him down, all he felt was a rush of adrenaline and fierce, primal excitement. The last time he can remember being scared - really scared- was back before he had been Turned. Back when he was on the front line in the First World War. Back when he was wading through piles of bodies that were shin deep. Back when rats would nibble at his fingers as he slept in the mucky, disease-infested trenches.

But right now as he lay on the bed, Alexander was terrified. The feeling gripped him like a vice. It was like everything had been amplified when he had turned back human. Now his heart was crashing against his ribs. His throat felt like it was closing up. His palms were sweating.

For just over a hundred years, he had never needed to breathe. And now that he did, he found himself unable to. He gulped at the air frantically but just ended up coughing and wheezing as if his body was rejecting it. He dropped onto his side on the bed and curled up into a ball, his body juddering as he let his tears fall.

What did all this mean? What was going to happen to him now? Would his sister accept him like this? Maybe she could Turn him back…

But first he had to get out of this place. If Evie and Caius could do it, so could he. Well, he had no doubt about being able to escape when he had been a vampire, but as a human? He had no idea how stunted he was now.

Unable to stop himself shaking, he crawled under the duvet and balled himself under it. He had never felt so weak before and it was irritating the hell out of him. In his mind, he saw himself bursting out of the front door, bounding down the stairs, vaulting the gate and running back home. But it was just a fantasy. It was impossible. Right now, he didn’t even know if he could stand on his own two feet.

He had only been up for several hours yet he felt lethargic and fatigued. He guessed that the virus had really wrecked him up. He lifted himself up and pulled the cord on the bedside lamp, plummeting the room into darkness. He just wanted to close himself off from the world.

Alexander woke with a groan and wiped the trail of drool from the corner of his mouth. He blinked his eyes open and squinted at the soft light that was penetrating through the closed cream curtains. Curious, he kicked off the covers and crawled across the bed. He knelt at the edge of it and inspected his bare arms in amazement. His skin was glistening in the filtered light of the sun and the fair hair on his arms shone like spun gold. Even a minor amount of exposure like this would have usually made him blister. Now he could feel the warmth of the sun with no consequences. And it felt like being kissed by an angel.

Hopping off the bed, he grabbed the curtains and threw them wide open. He couldn’t see the sun but the world was alight with its beauty and the sight took his breath away. He hadn’t seen the sky this light in over a century. He almost felt the need to cry all over again. Looking down, he realised his room was facing the back of the mansion. A huge football field sized lawn stretched out before him and in the distance, he could see another building- this one only one story and painted white. A pool house? Next he spotted a tennis court. Then the basketball court. Holy crap this guy is loaded! thought Alexander, his heart momentarily fluttering with glee. But beyond the luxurious courts, Alexander's eyes followed the huge spiked fence that surrounded the whole vicinity, separating him from freedom. It shone almost blindingly bright in the sunlight due to the silver coating. It looked like an ironic beacon.

His glee quickly fizzled out.

He crossed back into the bathroom to check his reflection, casting a glance at the clock as he passed it. It was 7.30. Was that a reasonable time to be up? He didn’t know. It was odd waking at sunrise. He stopped before the sink and ran his hands through his long blonde hair. It had dried in the night and was now curling at the tips. His face still looked as youthful as always. No dark circles under his eyes or ugly blemishes. Leaning closer to the mirror, he checked for crows-feet.

“I’d better not fucking wrinkle,” he grumbled, pulling his skin tight. He hated the look of old people. They freaked him out with their wrinkly prune-like faces. Mrs. Braverman hadn’t deserved to die though... It wasn’t her fault she had looked so revolting. She had just been in her front garden, bringing in a deck chair as Alexander had been checking the windows of her house for life. He had backed into her. She had screamed. And he had snapped her neck to shut her up before his sister had come. Realising what he had done, he had thrown her into her armchair and hoped it looked like she had just died in her sleep. Turned out his sister hadn’t bought it. It had been a stupid idea anyway.

Apprehension tingled deep in Alexander’s gut as he made his way down the stairs. Nico had pointed the dining room out to him as he had led him to his bedroom, and had told him to meet him and the others as soon as he woke. Alexander paused at the foot of the stairs. The two men guarding the front doors sized him up before looking away. Alexander gulped and continued on his way. As he rounded the corner, he noticed that the double doors to the dining room were open. Voices were spilling out of them. Too low and jumbled together for him to make out words. He already hated hearing like a human.

Sucking in a calming breath, Alexander padded across the wooden floor. Nico had not supplied him with shoes, probably because he hadn’t known his size. He had contemplated wearing his own white pumps but they clashed too much with his new outfit. So, instead, he just decided to leave the room in his socks.

His eyes were wide and his heart was pounding as he slipped into the doorway. He paused for a moment, like a deer caught in headlights, as several heads turned to face him. Nico was seated at the top of a long wooden table that was filled with large plates of food like a banquet. On either side of the table sat seven chairs, four had obviously been added hastily because they didn’t match the set. Twelve of the chairs were taken up by strangers- all wearing the same outfit as him which made Alexander hate it even more. He now felt like he was in a uniform. And uniforms reminded him of the army.

“Good morning! Glad you could join us! Come. Sit,” Nico gestured to the free chairs. One was two spaces away from him. The other was the one on Alexander’s immediate left. Without a word, Alexander took the nearest seat and sank down into it. The man on his left- a Latino man around Alexander’s human age, with a lupine nose and dreadlocks down to his waist- eyed him up with cool amber eyes, before looking back down at his plate.

“I’m sorry, I never got your name,” said Nico. Everyone else in the room had fallen silent since Alexander had sat down.

“Alexander,” he replied, folding his arms and pushing his empty plate slightly further up the table.

Nico smiled with a nod. “Eat. There’s plenty for everyone.”

But Alexander didn’t move. The look of human food made him feel a little queasy. After so long digesting blood and little else, he wondered whether his body might reject it and bring it all back up again. So instead, while everyone got back to eating, he studied his company.

Were these all the vampires he had turned human again? he thought. Not many.

There were five girls. Two were sat on the chairs closest to Nico. One was maybe a year or two younger than Alexander’s human age, with a bright blonde pixie cut which was obviously from a box. Her black roots were almost two inches long. Her eyes were big and bright blue, rimmed with long black eyelashes. The other girl made Alexander start. For a moment he thought he was looking at his wife but when the girl flicked her long, chestnut brown hair across her shoulder and Alexander caught a glimpse of her face, he noticed that she actually looked nothing like Elizabeth. His mind was just playing tricks on him. Next to Elizabeth’s not-so-lookalike, was the remaining empty seat and beside that sat a ginger man. His brown eyes were wide and fearful and his grip on his knife and fork was so tight it was making his knuckles bone-white. Quickly moving on, Alexander checked out the guy beside Carrot-top. Snowflake seemed like an appropriate name for this fella- with his bright white hair, fair skin and almost invisible eyelashes. The guy was clearly albino. Alexander found it quite amusing that he had once been a vampire. The poor guy would still have to hide out in the shade in fear of burning up.

The girl directly in front of Alexander made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Her long, black hair looked brittle and hung down like curtains over her pale face. She was muttering under her breath, savagely ripping apart a piece of bacon on her plate with her knife and fork. Her dark eyes flittered across the table as she continued to mumble, then she snapped her neck to look behind as if she were addressing someone who wasn’t there.

Alexander turned to Dreadlocks by his side. “How long has everyone been here?”

Dreadlocks plopped a green grape into his mouth, his eyes forward. “We all came last night, I think.”

“Did you… get infected like I did? Through a blood whore?”

The muscles in his cheeks rippled as he gritted his teeth. Nodding curtly, he answered, “Yeah. Nasty surprise. Almost killed me.”

“Would you rather have died?”

Dreadlocks turned, his amber eyes set on Alexander. After appearing stunned for a moment, Dreadlocks relaxed and started fiddling with the knife by his plate. “You ask a lot of questions,” he finally answered, sounding resigned.

Alexander shrugged and dropped back on his high-backed chair. “I just want to know if everyone is on the same page as me.”

Dreadlocks’ eyes skimmed over the rest of their company. “Well, it looks like everyone has reacted to what has happened in different ways.”

Alexander saw a shadow cross the right corner of his eye and he turned towards the doors. His heart pounded at the sight of the man in the doorway. He froze – like Alexander had done- when he caught everyone’s attention.

His short dark brown hair was perfectly styled in a small quiff and there were puffy rings around his eyes as if he’d just been crying. His lips were drawn into a serious line and his strong, square jaw was clenched.

“Ah! Last but not least!”

The new guy’s jade green eyes widened as he looked down the table at Nico.

“There’s a seat here saved for you. Come. Sit. Eat,” said Nico, his overly friendly voice making Alexander’s hands turn into fists on the table.

The new guy bowed his head and kept his eyes on the floor as he stalked over to the empty seat. Alexander couldn’t seem but pull his eyes off him. He was broader than Alexander, and so his black t-shirt fitted quite snugly around his chest and biceps. He slid the chair back and dropped into it, folding his arms on the table and staring, unfocused, on the bowl of fruit sat in front of him.

Nico watched him for a moment and when he did nothing else, he got back to spreading jam on a piece of toast.

Soon everyone turned back to their plates and carried on eating, either speaking to the people beside them or staying silent.

Anger boiled in Alexander’s blood as he looked from one person to the other. They were all acting like it was a bloody dinner party.

“Can I ask a question?” Alexander said, loud enough to be heard over the mutterings. Everyone shut up and snapped their heads to him. All except for the new guy who seemed to have thrown up an invisible wall between him and everybody else. Nico looked up, saw that Alexander was addressing him, and carefully placed his half eaten piece of toast on his plate.

“Of course,” said Nico, smiling.

“What the fuck is going on?” hissed Alexander. By his side, Dreadlocks sucked in a breath. “How are we all just sat here acting like everything is fucking fine? You’ve destroyed our lives!”

“Hey!” shouted the girl with the fake blonde pixie cut. She locked eyes with Alexander and gave him a death glare. “Don’t speak for all of us.”

“What?” Alexander snapped back, irritated.

“Don’t act like you are our spokesman. We all have our own opinions.”

Alexander scoffed. “Really? Because to me it looks like you’re all just a bunch of drones. This guy-” he stabbed a finger and Nico. “, -fucking poisoned us. He infected us with a virus and then took away our immortality!”

“Yeah, and maybe that’s what some of us wanted,” the girl snapped back.

Nico settled a hand over hers, making her spin her head to him. “Calm down, Daisy,” he said softly. Her shoulders sagged and she slumped back into her chair.

Alexander sneered, fucking suck-up.

Nico’s grey eyes found him again and Alexander gritted his teeth. “I understand that you are upset with what has happened to you, Alexander. I am fully aware that you must all have a lot of questions and worries. I do plan to address them all later this afternoon. I was just hoping that this morning we could all just settle down, eat, and get to know one another.” He gestured to the whole table. “As I have said to you all, you will all be staying here for a while until I know that everything has worked out okay and that you are all safe. And so I thought it would be best that we could all be civil.”

“Civil?” spat Alexander. You deserve a bullet through your skull.

Nico locked eyes with him again. “Yes. Civil.”

Alexander was fuming but he knew there was no point screaming and shouting. Nico may look innocent enough, but he needed to remind himself that he was the brains behind all of this. Right now, Nico owned him. If Alexander were to prove to be trouble, he was sure that with a click of Mr. Doctor man’s fingers, he would end up dead. Real dead.

So, instead, he calmed himself down and approached Nico in a manner that was as civil as he could make it. “You say that once you know that we’re safe, you’re going to let us go.”

Nico nodded. “That’s correct.”

“So, what is stopping us from leaving this place and just getting ourselves Turned again? Then all of this would be for nothing.”

A soft smile broke on his face and Alexander’s insides grew cold. For the short amount of time he had spent with Nico, he knew that his smiles weren’t all what they appeared to be. There was evil lurking just beneath the surface, and it was becoming clearer and clearer with every waking moment.

“As I said before, all questions will be answered later. But seeing as though you asked so politely, I will answer.” He fixed his glasses on his nose. “You can’t be Turned back.” Alexander’s heart plummeted to his feet. “To be Turned, vampire blood has to enter your system. You still have the Bergan virus inside you and it will fight against the foreign vampire blood, meaning you will end up how you were when you were taken in here. You will then either die or take the cure again, which will obviously only fight off the vampire blood in your system and nothing else.”

Alexander was shaking. He was finding it hard to breathe. It was as if he’d just been plunged into a bath of freezing cold water. His nerves were fried. The backs of his eyes burned with tears. He could feel everyone staring at him, their gazes like hot needles into his skin. Unable to take it anymore, he jumped from his chair and stormed out the room. He only got to the corridor before he collapsed against the wall, gulping air that was too thin.

His head was pounding.

The floor was tilting.

He continued to stumble. His vision growing in and out of focus. A bright light blinded him. He felt glass, then wooden panelling, then a handle. Grabbing it, he thrust a door open and was knocked back by a gust of wind. Suddenly, he could breathe again. The air was cool and crisp and clean. Blinking away the brightness, he let his eyes adjust and he realised he was outside on a patio with the winter sun beaming down on him. The heat on his skin was soothing but also terrifying.

He fell to his knees and wept, the heels of his palms pressed hard against his eyes.

He was trapped. Trapped in this mortal body. Trapped in this glorious prison. No matter how beautiful the sun was or how amazing food would taste when he finally plucked up the courage to taste it- it didn’t make up for what Nico had taken from him.

Alexander picked up his head and swiped the back of his hand under his dripping nose. Voices were coming from inside. And footsteps. They were on the move. Desperate for no one to catch him crying, Alexander picked himself up, crossed the patio and flattened himself behind a wall the jutted out just enough for him to hide behind.

Shadows crossed the patio flagstones and he peaked round to see Elizabeth’s not-so lookalike stood with her eyes closed and head tilted to the sun. She stayed there for a moment, basking in the warmth, and Alexander felt his heart flutter a moment at the thought of it actually being his long lost wife. But then the playful happiness turned into dread and he flattened himself back against the wall, taking deep, calming breaths.

He hated breathing already. It was such a chore.

Several minutes passed before he felt able to move again and step out of his hiding place. To his relief the girl had gone, but he still wasn’t alone outside. Sat on a shallow set of steps that led to the huge lawn, was the guy that had come last to breakfast. He was side on from Alexander and so from where Alexander stood, he could see that he still held that look of complete exhaustion mixed with angst and pain.

Alexander padded over to him, his socked feet making his footfalls silent even in his new clumsy human body. He dropped down beside the guy that- from up close- he decided he had been Turned when he had been possibly a few years older than himself.

The guy’s jade eyes shifted to Alexander perched beside him, then he slid awkwardly to the side to create more distance between them.

“Hi,” said Alexander, not smiling but hoping he looked friendly enough.

“Hey,” he mumbled back, gazing out at the grass. A moment passed and Alexander watched his lips as they silently tried to form words. Finally, he managed to get out, “I liked your speech.”

Alexander laughed. “That blonde bitch didn’t.” He rested his elbows on his knees and looked out to the lawn. “I just couldn’t take it. Everyone acting so cool and casual. Not to mention the ones that looked like they had just been dragged out of the loony bin. Did you see that chick with the black hair? Fucking creepy.” He shuddered. “Anyway, yeah, I just flipped. That Daisy may like what’s been done to her but I fucking don’t. And who does this Doctor guy think he is? Who gave him the right to mess with our lives like this?” Alexander heard the anger in his voice and hoped it was hiding the fear that was constantly making him have heart palpitations.

“I know there are a lot of vampires out there that hate what they are. But I wasn’t one of them.” Alexander’s words began to shake as the burn of tears pressed against the backs of his eyes. He knew he was rambling but he couldn’t stop himself. His words were just pouring out of him. “I had built myself up. Turned myself into something new. And I loved it. Being a vampire was everything to me. Nico hasn’t cured me,” he spat. “He’s broken me. Torn down and ripped apart everything that I am. I don’t even…” He gulped a breath. “I don’t even know what’s left.”

A moment of silence followed. The guy squinted a little and then shuffled his feet on the lower step. He was wearing black scuffed up boots, Alexander noticed, probably what he had been wearing when he had been infected.

“Why did you come over here?” the guy asked.

Alexander blinked hard. He had an American accent. Brooklyn. Alexander had travelled a lot with Varsee and was able to detect it with ease. But there was also something underlying it. A lilt in some of his words. His mother tongue perhaps? Alexander needed to hear more to dissect it and he was really hoping he’d get the opportunity.

“What?” he asked.

The guy finally turned and looked him straight in the eyes. Alexander’s heart thudded in his chest. His eyes were huge, framed with thick black lashes and filled with so much pain that Alexander could almost feel it radiating off him. “Why did you decide to come and talk to me? There are plenty of other people here you could talk to. Why come to me? I know I don’t have a welcoming presence. I’ve been told often enough.”

Alexander smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe my vampire instincts are still lingering and I still find myself drawn to the wounded.”

The guy furrowed his eyebrows. “You think I’m wounded?”

“Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?” asked Alexander, arching an eyebrow challengingly.

His lips quirked in an attempt to smile but it didn’t fully show. Instead, he stuck his hand out to him. “I’m Sebastian, but call me Seb.”

Alexander took his hand with a firm grip. His skin was smooth. Vampire smooth. Because vampires healed so fast, if you were Turned without calloused hands, they’d stay baby soft forever. A sinking feeling hit Alexander hard.

How long did he have until his body was filled with scars from little cuts and scrapes?

“I’m Alexander,” he said, yanking himself out of his depressing thought bubble. “And call me Alexander.”