FicWad

I stretched, yawing as I walked out of my bedroom, still clad in black flannel pyjamas. Bob was already there, fresh faced and working on the sample I had collected the night previous. The bright lights of the apartment hurt my eyes after emerging from the dark but I didn’t complain.

My apartment took up a whole floor of the building, not uncommon for where I lived. Both myself and Bob had our own room with a bathroom, there was a small kitchen, a large living area, a lab that mostly acted as my armoury and a library – for my personal use, Bob didn’t like books. It was where I went in my spare time, I don’t know what he did with his, I never asked. I slept during the day. Id told him it was to help catch vampires, he didn’t question; he did the same, although he was usually up by twelve.

He was sitting on the black leather sofa, his work spread across the glass table. I had decorated the apartment to have a clinical feel, apart from my library. Libraries should always have a Victorian feel to them in my opinion.

I had done the decorating myself, apart from Bob’s room. I didn’t know what his was decorated like, my last partner had painted it red, I hadn’t seen it since he had retired. It was protected by a key code lock, to give him privacy. Much like my own was (to hide my coffin) although I knew he could hack through mine if he tried and plunge one of the many stakes I carried into my heart. I shook my head, it didn’t do to mistrust partners and Bob was talking to me.

“Nothing from it, it’s all ash. Well nothing that I think could help, I looked back at the other samples but nothing of what I found made sense. Vampire blood has to be different from ours, without a sample from a normal vampire I can’t determine what may be different than normal. Try to get a sample of blood from the next one you stake, okay?” I would take my own blood and say it was from another, I nodded. I wanted him to leave so I could pretend to eat. Our lives are hectic, we never had time to sit down and share a meal, thankfully.

He was tense, I could sense it, smell it. I tried to break the awkward silence. “Why are you working in here and not in the lab?” I questioned, he shuffled nervously, prodding at the ash with his gloved finger and avoiding eye contact. Not a good sign. “I wanted to talk to you before you left.” “I would have come to see you in the lab, besides it not dark out for another two hours.” I felt the sun was up rather than saw it, the apartment had no windows, we were on the bottom floor and I liked my privacy, plus I didn’t fancy sizzling in the sunlight. With age we build up a resistance to the sun, we can wake earlier and even walk around in it but it hurts like hell and we will soon go up in flames after a few hours. That little nugget isn’t known by humans and it is a great way to throw them off if they suspect you of being a soulless monster of the night, with an unholy lust for blood.

“I didn’t know if you would go out for something first.” His unease doubled then, almost chocking me with its stench, oh he definitely thought something wasn’t right – time to start sleeping in a locked coffin with one eye open methinks. “Well I am here now, what did you want to talk about?” “We are in over our heads.” I knew what he was talking about but he had obviously built up a speech and I had nothing to do, so I let him have his say. “Explain.” I said, with as much confusion as I could muster, I don’t think he bought it. “You’re not Sherlock Holmes and I am not Watson.” I stifled a laugh at the analogy. “You kill, you don’t solve crimes, neither of us has much of an idea as to what is going on, this lab work isn’t what I am used to, we need help.” “Who do you suggest?” I knew the answer to that as well.

“The night division.” A special section of the police force, set up specifically to deal with vampires breaking the law. Vampires policing vampires, the same thing that had gone on for centuries. Same Job, different boss and different name, that was all. “No we would need to go higher.” I told him slowly, I knew he wouldn’t like it, he could handle the police but not them. “You mean the Elders?” “yes.” I confirmed. “Would they listen to you?” Of course they would, I had served them my entire immortal life. Since the deaths had started showing common factors I had been building up a case file to present to them. “Something like this they will, after all I am a witch and I know some vampires who where keepers of the secret.”

“There are still some out there?” Honestly, who did he think joined the night division? He was becoming more interested in vampire politics, I was pretty sure he suspected me now but his reaction was not violent and I couldn’t smell any anger on him, that was good, I would have hated to make him forget me. “Yes most joined the division; others do what we do, taking hits from the elders, some retired.” “And you’ve met some?” “Yes, you can’t prowl the night and not meet some of the good guys; I met a pack of retired ones just before I met you.” That wasn’t a lie. I hated lying to him. In the midst of this countries corruption, integrity is all we have left. I pride myself on my honesty, but Bob is just too good to lose. “When are you going to see them?” “When another body turns up showing the same signs, I want to make sure of the pattern first.” “I want to come with you when you do.” “You can’t, your human. You’re not allowed in the court for the supernatural.” He huffed but said nothing, I retreated to library.

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Floor to ceiling, wall to wall bookshelves lined three sides of the room; they curved at the corners so that the rolling ladder could move easily. This was the largest of all rooms; it was the size of a normal apartment and housed the vast collection of books I had accumulated over both my human and immortal life. This was my true home; it didn’t fit with the rest of the apartment and always had an otherworldly feel to it. The floor was wood, polished by my hand no less, the ceiling was off white and what little could be seen of the walls was a deep red.

I was relaxing on the red and gold ornate chaise lounge; it was resting against the only free wall. It was next to the door, leaving a fair space of free wall before it hit the corner.

I was revisiting classics, they were battered. They had fared move after move, hunt after hunt and read after read. I was devouring Pride and Prejudice, a classic that the master had given me when it was first published, the copy he had given me rest on the shelf, I preferred to read a modern printed version lest it fall apart. I pulled it off the shelf from time to time and read the beautiful inscription he had written in it. Even though I viewed the world for what it was, I couldn’t forget the beauty that live within it. The Love, Trust, Compassion, The beauty of friend and lover. The master had taught me that and it was a lesson I never would forget.

I smelt the magic before I felt it but continued reading none the less and laughing at the cheek a woman of the time should not have possessed. I was not worried by the portal opening in the blank space of wall beside me, only two could use it; myself and its creator. The air around me became palpable for a second, it rippled and a light breeze fluttered my page as I turned it. A dark shadow fell over the room briefly, accompanied by the sweet sound of a thousand whispering souls, and then it stopped. A cloaked figure stepped out of the gaping hole, a wave of a hand and the wall replaced the damage caused by magic.

I placed the book beside me, lovingly caressing the cover and remembering the man that first introduced me to it, before standing and greeting my guest.

“Rose, what did you do this time?” The figure raised two dainty hands and pulled the hood down, a pale face with childlike blue eyes stared up at me. Rose was a young witch I had saved from a group of hungry vampires five years previous. She was powerful, hence the ability to create a portal in my library that could take me to any of the magically hidden communities all over England. When I found her she had been using magic she had not been trained to handle in order to make her way through life day to day, tricking humans into believing she was a visiting cousin and so on, I had helped her enrol in The Academy. A school for children with magical abilities, they housed witches, werewolves, shape shifters and many more. I was her unofficial guardian for she had no family, The Academy was a boarding school all year round although the students were free to leave whenever they felt the need, although many didn’t, as I understood it the free use of their powers around others their own age was better than being at home. The teaching was very different to that of a human school.

“Devon, I missed you.” The witch gave me a small hug and I realised how much she had grown from the scared 11 year old she had been when we first met. “What did you do?” I repeated once more, the pretty smile did not distract me, I generally only saw her around holidays and when she was in trouble. Considering it was the middle of the year the latter was the most likely.

She sighed, knowing I would not let the reason for her visit drop. She threw the Black cloak onto the chaise lounge and I nudged it away from my book. Her outfit was revealed to me, I noticed she had adapted her fashion sense to her Wiccan roots. A thin brown skirt wrapped itself lightly around her before stopping at her ankles. I noticed her feet where bare, she must have magically protected them from the elements. A white tunic with puffed sleeves hugged her torso and a hand carved rune hung from a piece of string tied around her neck, her chestnut coloured hair was plaited down to the small of her back. She crossed her arms lightly before admitting. “I got into a fight.” “You cast a spell on someone?” It had happened before, she was not the rebellious type but would often get in scuffles defending herself or others, for which I could not condone. “No, I punched someone.” She admitted proudly and I had to suppress a smile. A witch brimming with magic and she chose to attack like a human. “Is that so? Explain.”

She moved to one of the high backed chairs dotted around the room, I remained standing as she curled her feet underneath her and continued her story. “Yes, I punched him in the face, like you taught me.” She told me proudly, indeed I had taught her how to fight. “Why?” “He insulted Vampires.” “Rose, everybody insults Vampires.” “He insulted you.” “Ah.” I said rather stupidly, Rose was a good kid, who could make her own decisions. I couldn’t scold her for defending my honour when I would have done the same for her. “What did he say?” “We had a class lesson, we don’t have them often, generally we have private tutors.” I nodded, she had mentioned it before. “Well, we were learning about how Vampires had made themselves public knowledge and Josh said they should all be executed. I of course told him they weren’t all bad and how you had saved me, but he just told me you where probably ‘saving me for later’ and that he wants to become a Vampire hunter and how you would be his first target.” It took me a second to understand what she had said, she had spoken quickly, her emotions spilling over with every word.

“So you hit him.” “So I hit him.” “And the Academy sent you home for that?” “No but his girlfriend is my roommate, my tutor suggested I take some time off, young warlocks do not like to be emasculated.” “No, I should think they don’t, you’re welcome here of course but don’t make a habit of punching warlocks or whoever else you go to school with. I can protect myself, I doubt this Josh could so much as harm a hair on my head, I have faced much worse.” She smiled at this and I patted her lightly on the head. “Would you like to stay in my room or sleep on the sofa?” “I can conjure up my own bed.” “Of course you can but where are you going to put it?” She thought for a second. “Your room, the coffin doesn’t creep me out like it used to.” “Okay, go do that now, you know the code and remember, I’m a witch if Bob asks.” She rolled her eyes at that before leaving, maybe I was deluding myself in thinking my fangs where a secret.