FicWad

Andrea opened her eyes sleepily; it had been such a very long time since she had enjoyed such a good sleep. She couldn’t remember much about the night before, in fact the more she tried to remember anything about the previous night or anything before it, even over the past few months, the hazier things felt. She had a feeling that this should have troubled her more than it did but somehow, she managed to accept it as if forgetting your past was an everyday occurrence.

Stretching her arms out, she felt the cool, crisp cotton sheets of the king-sized four-poster bed and enjoyed the opulence and comfort of her new room. Swinging her legs out of the bed, she glanced appreciatively at the dark blue velvet drapes hung at what had once been windows, but were now mahogany panels. Beneath her feet, the deep pile of the matching carpet caressed her toes as she walked. Yes, she liked her new room a great deal, although, she didn’t recall having an old room. But she must have, mustn’t she? She vividly remembered the conversation as Spencer escorted her to her new room and his mysterious smirk as he told her that the room was one of their best and had only recently been vacated. She wasn’t sure that she liked Spencer. There was something about him that felt wrong, but he seemed to be William’s friend and, as such, she would make herself like him.

The only room she really remembered was William’s. As she thought about him, a smile spread quickly across her face; she loved William with all her heart. Cheerfully, she put aside the fact that she couldn’t even have stated his last name, if asked. There seemed to be so very many details missing, she couldn’t really understand. The more she thought about him, the more she realised that the less she knew. But, somehow it was unimportant; she knew she loved him and that was all that mattered. That, she knew absolutely and without question. She would do anything for him, anything at all.

*

Joe sighed heavily and looked down at Patrick’s notes once more. Alongside, lay a much smaller notebook of his own, into which he had been jotting what seemed to be particularly relevant and important comments. On reviewing the words written the night before, he could see his handwriting had become increasingly erratic and the last few lines didn’t seem to make any sense at all. It looked to all intent and purpose as if he had been lapsing in and out of a dream and had started to write snippets of conversation from the dream in his notes.

“You were tired!” Andy commented, reading over his shoulder.

Joe gave a sheepish smile as Andy laughed at the nonsensical lines he had written before falling asleep completely.

“What is it though?” Andy asked as his laughter subsided.
“They’re Trick’s notes on newly turned vampires. I needed something that I knew was really from him, as he was, not as he is now. Especially since he tried to bite me.”
“He did what?” Andy cried in astonishment at Joe’s blasé mention of being attacked.
“No! No, Andy,” Joe waved his hands and shook his head. “It was all my fault!”
“Your fault?” Andy raised a sceptical eyebrow.
“He… well, he was really upset when he woke up. I mean, wouldn’t you be? Finding out you’re basically dead.”
“Well, yeah, but, what did you do? How did he get that close to you? Did you remove the chains?”
“No!” Joe shot back, “you saw him yourself, just before.”

Andy gave a light shrug, Patrick did appear to have the same arrangement of chains that he remembered.

“Well, what then?” he asked.
“I gave him a hug,” Joe replied feeling foolish even to speak the words, shrugging as Andy shot him an exasperated look. “I forgot! Okay?”
“But he didn’t bite you?”
“No,” Joe replied firmly. “I pulled away in time, not even a graze. But… I don’t think he’s evil.”
“We can’t be sure, Joe, you know as well as I do, it’s not that simple.”
“I know… I know. But hear me out,” Joe raised his hands almost defensively against Andy’s cynical expression. “What if, like makes like? You know, non-evil vampire makes non-evil vampire?”
Andy rolled his eyes. “I don’t think so, Joe.”
“Okay, so why not?” Joe scowled. “Why can’t that be even worth consideration?”
“Who turned Pete?” Andy’s simple reply gave Joe pause.
“Beckett,” he sighed his understanding. “Not exactly like for like.”
“And I wouldn’t go so far as to say non-evil either!” Andy grumbled. “He tried to eat me! No remorse, nothing! At least before, he managed to pretend that he didn’t want to kill people!”
“Maybe it’s the human blood thing?” Joe began. “Patrick’s kept a lot from us, you know.”
“What?”
Joe nodded. “It’s all in here, I mean it was in plain sight, he never hid it from us, we just never read it and he definitely never told us about it.”
“What’s he kept from us… what…?” Andy struggled to find the right words.
“Come on,” Joe picked up the book and got to his feet. “I need coffee, I’ll tell you on the way.”

Heading towards the kitchen, at first Joe was completely silent as they passed Patrick’s bedroom. It was morning, there was no way any noise would wake him, but Joe somehow couldn’t bring himself to talk about what he’d read until they were safely ensconced in the kitchen.

“I told you that Patrick suggested that I read his notes?” Joe asked as he reached for the filter bags.
“Yeah and you were up half the night reading them,” Andy returned sounding more than a little impatient.
“Yeah well, I read something that surprised me.”
“What?” The pitch of Andy’s voice rose with his increasing impatience.
“The night he was supposed to kill Andrea would have been his first human blood, yes? But he didn’t do it and he managed to escape back here.”
“Joe,” Andy began with forced patience, “will you please get to the bit that surprised you.”
“I am, but I’ve got to give some background first,” Joe explained. “Or it won’t make sense.”
“Okay, okay, just hurry up!” Andy gestured with his hand that Joe should speed up his tale.
“Well, I was just getting to…”
“Joe!” Andy snapped, exasperated. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“Well, he was at Beckett’s for three months! What did he eat?”

The words hit Andy like a hammer blow. He had never before considered it. Certainly, he knew that he had never had human blood, and although he loved the smell of it, he had always been able to restrain himself because the smell, he assumed, was good enough, provided he got plenty of Patrick’s specially blended shakes to keep him going.

“D… well… does it say?”
“Yeah,” Joe nodded solemnly. “It says he fed directly from Beckett himself.”
“Beckett!” Andy gasped in surprised. “You mean, Beckett fed him or he drank Beckett’s blood?”
“He drank Beckett’s blood, directly from source,” Joe explained.
“Why?” Andy asked finally. It was unheard of for a vampire to feed from another, especially one as powerful as Beckett.
“It doesn’t say, well not outright anyway,” Joe shrugged. “I doubt Pete knew and Patrick’s comments on what Pete told him, he’s actually stated as pure speculation.”
“Yeah well, Patrick’s speculation is usually pretty much right on the money. What did he say?”
“Again it’s a lot of open-ended stuff, but he thinks Beckett might have chosen him for a specific task and was strengthening him with his own blood.”
“Well, he’s certainly strong! He got out of the cage and that takes some doing,” Andy pointed out.
“And I had him chained too,” Joe commented. “I mean he’s always been strong, but since he drank Patrick’s blood his strength has… tripled!”
“And his violence.”
“Yeah,” Joe nodded. “Beckett was up to something. I just wish we knew what.”
“Will it still matter?” Andy queried. “I mean, after all this time?”
“Well, he’s put so much time and effort into recapturing him. Yeah, I’d say it still matters. Wouldn’t you?”
“I guess,” Andy agreed. “Maybe what he wants him for he can still do?”
“Would explain why he’s still after him.”
“So, even drinking Beckett’s blood didn’t make him evil? Is there anything else in the book to explain that?”
Joe shrugged. “Just one of Patrick’s theories, nothing concrete.”
“Let’s hear it then,” Andy encouraged.
“Pete was a hunter even before he was turned. We’ve all had combat training and learned the basics of how to try to resist brainwashing and hypnosis techniques. Patrick thinks that training may have kicked in as part of the fight or flight response to being bitten.”

Andy nodded; the adrenalin rush from the fear would have instantly sparked the resistance techniques. It was very plausible that Pete had retained his humanity purely because he was a hunter and had been trained to fight, both physically and mentally.

“So, the same should be true of Patrick.”
Joe smiled. “I hope so, I mean, even though it was Pete, I expect he put up quite a struggle.”
“It’s a start,” Andy shrugged. “Now, what about Andrea?”

Joe looked up, a pained expression on his face. Only now did Andy truly take in the depth of feeling his friend had for this woman whom he had not even met.

“I can’t leave Patrick now,” he replied pointing to the journal. “I hate that I can’t help her! I don’t even know if she can be helped by now!”

Andy’s brow creased as Joe’s voice grew increasingly strained.

“It’s not your fault, Joe, we had no choice but to leave,” Andy tried hard to reassure him.
“I know! I know! And neither was it my fault that Beckett forced his way into her mind to help capture us. I know that Andy! But if I know all this, why…” Joe’s voice dropped to a miserable whisper. “Why do I feel so bad?”
Andy pulled his friend into a comforting hug. “Because you like her, Joe.”

Joe sagged in his grip as he recognised the plain truth in Andy’s simple statement.

“Look, why don’t you rest? You’re exhausted. I have to find a priest who will let us have holy water, or, at least bless the water we do have. We’ll need to be at our best for tonight.”

Joe nodded; it was daylight, for now they were all safe.

*

“Come in,” Beckett replied to the knock on his office door. The sun had set only thirty minutes earlier and already he was being disturbed.
“Master William,” a junior Coven member bowed his head as he entered.

Gesturing quickly with his hand for the young vampire to step forward, Beckett smiled at Spencer’s choice. This one had been Spencer’s only attempt at turning a human and Beckett was impressed. Finely defined cheekbones, deep set chocolate brown eyes and a small but well formed mouth; he fitted in to the Coven perfectly.

“What is it, Ryan?”
“You have… a visitor, Master.”
“A visitor?”
“Yes, Master. He arrived at the gates ten minutes ago. Mike’s on duty, he said to let him in that you’d be…”

The sound of crashing and fighting erupted in the corridor outside Beckett’s office. Both angry and alarmed, Beckett rose to his feet, ready to quell the disturbance, only moments before the door flew open and the source of the noise stepped confidently into the room. A slow smile formed on Beckett’s face, which promptly fell into an expression of shocked confusion as the newcomer sank to one knee and lowered his head.

“Master William,” he greeted him respectfully.
“Peter,” Beckett’s smile returned and broadened further. “This is a most unexpected pleasure.”