Authors: Rebecca Ann Drake
“Stephanie” Madison whispered unconsciously, deep in
thought.
Trace jabbed her with the barrel of the gun, urging her to
be silent.
“What?” Brendan asked curiously.
“Stephanie! My friend! She came to London looking for me”
Madison said quickly before Trace could jab her again.
“Shut it” Trace snarled, his cold breath flowing on to the
back of her neck causing all her hairs to stand on end.
“Gabby killed her! She turned her into a Vampire, so
she would kill me. She‘s still at the club.” Madison shouted to Brendan,
ignoring Trace.
Brendan eyes were fixed on the loaded gun attached to
Madison’s forehead, concern covered his features. Brendan had become slightly
more panicked by the thought of a newborn Vampire roaming the streets of London
looking for something to eat.
“Did you do that?” Brendan asked shocked at the lengths
Gabby had gone to.
“Best plan I ever come up with. Turn her friend and then
watch as she gets eaten by the only person in the world that truly cares about
her. I find it quite poetic” Gabby spat, a pleased smile stretched across her
face.
“You sick, twisted, spineless bitch” Brendan spat, angrily –
disgusted with her.
“Whoa… Brendan. You know I like a bit of dirty talk, but not
in front of Madison. Please.” Gabby joked, sarcastically.
“You left a newborn Vampire in a nightclub, unguarded, in
the centre of London?” Leon asked disbelief in his voice.
“Well technically, I left her for Brendan, but he never
turned up. So I guess… the answer is yes” Gabby said, as normal tone of voice.
“The coven needs to know there’s a newborn Vampire on the
loose” Brendan whispered to Leon.
Leon nodded but did not move his eyes remained firmly on
Gabby and Trace.
“Please don’t hurt…” Madison began, but was stopped abruptly
as the wind was knocked out of her. Trace jabbed her in the stomach with the
handle of the gun to silence her. Madison instantly doubled over in pain,
gasping for air. Trace grabbed her, pulling her upright and forcing the gun
back to her temple.
She wailed in pain, the broken noise from her lungs filling
the room.
“Madison? Madison? Madison, are you alright? You
bastard…”Brendan shouted, stepping towards them.
“Hey, you stay where you are” Trace demanded, pushing the
gun harder into Madison’s temple.
“They killed Faye” Madison croaked, now beginning to find
some confidence against the Vampires.
She needed to tell Brendan what the other Vampire’s had done
before they killed her, particularly in an attempt to semi clear her conscious,
although the death of her two friends would always lay heavy on her shoulders
and so Trace, Gabby and the twins would receive the punishment they deserved
for what they had done.
“You killed Faye too?” Brendan asked in disbelief, clenching
his fist at his side.
“No, actually I didn’t kill her, the newborn did. We were
starving it, making sure it was hungry enough to kill Madison without a second
glance. You know what these newborn vampires are like, some of their humanity
hides beneath the surface. They feel guilt for the people they kill once the
mental blocks lift. I wanted to make sure it was entirely overwhelmed by hunger
that it wouldn’t even recognise Madison as nothing more than a juice steak when
she stepped in that room. The survival instinct is a very hard one to fight,
everyone starts looking like a meal when you get that hungry, especially when
you’ve just gone through that type of transformation. Unfortunately for Faye,
she simply got in the way…” Gabby said calmly.
Brendan expression was shock and sorrow; he was truly
remorseful for the violent and sickening lengths Gabby had gone too as a result
of her jealousy towards Madison. Brendan lowered his head in shame and
hopelessness, the types of emotion you wouldn’t expect a Vampire to feel, but
Brendan was different from other Vampires, he felt. The new evolved type of
Vampire’s that had evolved to live closer to human, who had lost their desire
to hunt and feed on humans, but regained some of their human emotions, a better
breed of Vampire who no longer hid in the shadows. Brendan was ashamed of his
Vampire relatives that had hurt the girl he loved out of Gabby’s jealousy and
Trace’s love for Gabby, and the twin’s willingness to do anything Gabby or
Trace asked.
Brendan had too lost a friend, Faye had been a friend of
Brendan’s like she had been a friend to Madison. They had both lost someone,
and Madison couldn’t shake if the feeling she was about to lose a lot more.
“You let Faye die?” Brendan asked staring directly at Trace,
an excusing tone to his voice.
Trace blinked and shook his head slightly. Madison felt his
body temple against hers, his knees knocked together as his legs threaten to
collapses beneath him.
Brendan caught a nerve; Trace had seemed completely relaxed
and focused until Gabby mentioned the details of Faye’s death. Trace had then
become rigged and stiff, tightening his grip around Madison’s chest and digging
the gun deeper into her temple. There had clearly been something between Faye
and Trace that had caused such a reaction, this explained why Trace had been so
shell shocked when Madison had first come across Faye and Stephanie in the VIP
lounge – pieces of the puzzle began to fit to fit together.
“I… I…”Trace stuttered, unsure how to reply to Brendan
– suddenly confused.
“It was too late. If we had stopped the newborn, Faye would
have bleed to death anyway – so what we did was kinder. There was little
suffering” Gabby protested.
Trace shifted his eyes in Gabby’s direction but did not make
eye contact with her, he stared blankly through her. Trace inhaled loudly
through his nose, regaining his focus and straightening up, pulling me closer
against his chest.
“You broke the code, killed a human…” Brendan shouted.
“No! You broke the code” Gabby shouted back, her eyes
accusing.
“You broke the code when you told your little whore! How do
you know that the first thing she did was run and tell her little chum, the
newborn? And the newborn could of told someone?!” Gabby continued her
voice echoing around the room.
“She wouldn’t” Fred muttered.
Madison stared at Fred, their eyes meeting for a second.
Madison released she had made a friend in Fred like she had in Stephanie. The
bond wasn’t as strong between Fred and Madison as it was with Stephanie, but it
was there, and Madison appreciated that.
“Madison would never say anything, I trust her completely”
Brendan argued.
“You don’t know that for a fact, you’ve known her for what
like three weeks? A month at the most? That’s not really long enough to trust
someone is it? She hasn’t even told you about her past… Besides, everything was
fine until she started sniffing around” Gabby said, angry at first but as her
sentence flowed she became more drawn and distant.
“That doesn’t make it right to forcefully take someone’s
life and turn them without their consent, you know this better than anyone… And
then allow a newborn to kill another human in the process. You know that is not
how we do things” Brendan protested, he’s becoming sympathetic.
“We’re Vampires, Brendan or have you forgotten that? That’s
what we do... You may have been brainwashed by The Covens being civilized
thing, and the ‘
live along humans not against them’
but we can’t! We are
too old; we haven’t evolved like you… Drinking blood out of a plastic bag isn’t
the same for us, we need the kill. We thrive on the kill… You may have been
domesticated but the animal inside us is still very much there” Gabby
protested, passion raining in her voice.
“You are really twisted, Gabby. Just because we’re Vampires
doesn’t mean we have to act like psychotic murders. Killing innocent people
because you’re jealous the person you’re infatuated with has chosen someone
else” Brendan spat.
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Gabby laughed slightly
embarrassed.
“Why? Everything I’ve said is true. At first you probably
only intended to scare Madison off, make her leave quietly, but as you went
along, you grew more sick and twisted, turning a harmless game into war.
Killing people, destroying lives, working with the Black Orchid! Making a deal
with them to give them something so powerful that it could wipe out the entire
human race and us too! I bet you didn’t even think of that, did you?” Brendan
said.
“She did this, not me!” Gabby said accusingly, pointing her
manicured polished index finger at Madison.
Brendan laughed; he turned to Leon and shook his head in
disbelief. Leon frowned at him in response, almost laughing hysterically.
“You’re delusional, no one did this but you” Brendan
laughed.
“Whatever….” Gabby muttered, unconcerned.
“See that’s your biggest problem, you never listen do you? I
said it centuries ago and I’ll say it again now. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOU,
GABBY! I NEVER HAVE BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE. Get it?! It doesn’t matter if it’s
Madison or some other girl, it will never be you. I’m sorry, JUST GET OVER IT”
Brendan said harshly.
Gabby shook her head in denial, she tried to shrug off Brendan’s
comments, but Gabby knew that under the circumstances, this time Brendan really
meant it.
“No, that’s…” she whispered, trailing off into deep thought.
“Yes, Gabby” Brendan said slightly patronizing.
“No, I mean…. it’s not like that” She protested, suddenly
aware of how pathetic she must look.
The twins stood motionlessly behind Gabby, they watched Fred
and Leon intently, as they stood silently beside Brendan.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. The council is meeting,
deciding your fate. It will all be over soon” Brendan softly, but almost
regretfully.
Stillness fell over the four Vampires. If they had been
breathing, they would have all held their breath – the tension in the room was
suffocating.
Gabby and Trace exchanged frightened glances, and so did Andy
and Alex.
They had obviously thought about what they would do should
The Coven become aware of their plans – they had planned for every event.
Madison’s eyes widened as she watched the Vampire’s
acknowledgments their next plan, turning back to Brendan she threw a concerned
look in his direction. Picking up on Madison’s concern, Brendan eyed the
Vampire’s curiously.
A deep growl erupted from Gabby’s throat, she flew her head
back opening her mouth wide, allowing the growl to spill out into the room.
Madison watched as Gabby’s canine teeth grew 2 ½ cm than
before. Salvia hung from her the canine teeth, drooling down into her mouth
unpleasantly. It was the same transformation Madison had seen when Gabby had
attacked her in the alleyway behind the nightclub.
Gabby shut her mouth cutting off the howl mid-flow; she
lowered her head towards Brendan – her eyes fixed from beneath her brow. Her
two canine teeth stuck out from below her top lip, strands of hair hung down
either side of her flawless face. Her bright green eyes shone animal like in
the shadowy room, reflecting the dim light.
“I decide my own fate” Gabby hissed, leaping towards
Brendan.
Gabby landed on Brendan, knocking him to the floor, a deep
growl hummed in Brendan’s throat as he hit the ground.
Leon and Fred looked on with wide eyes, positioning
themselves ready for a fight. Andy and Alex threw their heads back, a long deep
howl erupting from their throats like Gabby had, both of their canine teeth
grew 2 ½cms longer as they transformed. Fred transformed as well, throwing her
head back and letting out a raspy howl.
Leon did not transform. He stood readying himself, his eyes
fixated on Andy.
Alex leaped over the room as if it was no more than a few
feet, landing in front of Fred and throwing her a right hand punch. Fred ducked
and responded by punching Alex in the stomach and kicking him backwards with
her right foot, allowing her more room to gain the upper hand.
Leon watched Fred for a second, a concerned expression on
his face. His features softened momentarily when he realised Fred had obtained
the upper hand, but before he could relax, Andy came towards him. He grabbed
Leon by the collar of his black robe and picked him off the floor as if he
weighed no more than a newborn baby.
“Hey mate, it’s not very nice to grab a man when he’s not
looking” Leon joked, staring down at Andy.
Leon grabbed a hold of Andy’s jacket and pulled on it trying
to free himself from Andy’s grip.
“As you can see, seer, I’m not one for playing by the rules”
Andy spat sarcastically.
Andy snarled at Leon, pulling Leon towards him so he could
protest his dominancy to Leon’s face. Andy suddenly flung Leon backwards, throwing
him over the desk into the bookcase behind. Leon’s body collided with the
bookcase, shaking it violently, causing tons of books to tumble down onto Leon
who lend at the bottom of the bookcase.
Andy strode towards where Leon had fallen, a smug smile spread
across his face.
Brendan rose from the floor and Gabby followed standing up
next to him and lowering her shoulders in a warrior manner.
Brendan’s canine teeth had also grown 2 ½ cm while he had
been on the floor scuffling with Gabby. His crystal blue eyes scanned around
the room wildly, they were fiery and his pupils had shrunk to the size of tiny
pin pricks, just barely visible – causing his eyes to appear almost completely
blue.
Brendan’s eyes flickered over to Fred who barely had the
upper hand over Alex now. Alex was much stronger then Fred, but was smaller and
faster than Alex. All she had to do was continuously duck and deflect Alex’s
attacks to regain the upper hand. However, Alex was slightly smaller than his
brother and found it easy to find Fred’s weaknesses, knocking her down with a
round house kick.