Floating in a black sea of stars, the cosmos swirled around me. Space and time were irrelevant. I was insubstantial and at peace.
Then, I heard a voice saying, “Bree, it’s not your time.”
My consciousness snapped back into my body. A thrumming vibration, pulsed through my being. Strong hands held me and my eyelids fluttered open. The vibration was the thudding of feet, thundering along the pavement. A man was holding me in his arms, as he sprinted.
His voice came out again, this time louder. “Stay with me, Bree. Don’t die on me.”
Nik!
A rush of euphoria and bottomless relief flooded my awareness and I forced my eyes open.
“You came for me.” I whispered, my eyelids feeling unbearably heavy. In the back of my mind, I remembered being angry at him, for some reason but I couldn’t focus on it, right now.
His head jolted towards me. “You’re awake!” He slowed to a jog then turned to a quiet side street and crouched down, still holding me. “I couldn’t stay away, I just knew those Dracul bastards would send someone and I was right.”
I tried to speak but instead, I coughed and felt whoozy, the world dimmed again.
“There’s no time for this. I have to get you to safety.” Nik stood up and started running again. I wanted to ask him where he was taking me but I was too weak. I drifted, in and out of consciousness until, at last, I felt myself being placed into a warm, dry bed.
An Italian-accented, female voice spoke with Nik in urgent, hushed tones.
“What were you thinking? Bringing her back here?”
“What choice did I have? I can’t take her to a hospital. How would I explain the fang marks and blood loss? I can’t risk being outed.”
“But she needs a blood transfusion.”
“I know that!”
“Well, where are you going to get the blood from?”
“I’ll have to steal some from the hospital.”
“Can you do that?”
“It’s fine - stuff goes missing all the time. I’ll steal or borrow whatever else I need from there too. But she won’t last long enough for me to get back. I’ll have to heal her a little with my blood”
The woman sounded shocked. “Are you sure? There’s no telling what effect it could have on her.”
“We have no choice. It’s either that or she dies.”
It was the last thing I heard before I lapsed back into oblivion.
The pitter patter of rain against the window, competed with the nearby cooing of pigeons and distant traffic noises. I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling, decorated with mildewed seventies wallpaper and grime. For a moment I had no memory of where I was or what I was doing here. And then I tried to sit up and winced as it all came back to me. Vampire Derek and his mind-controlled accomplices, otherwise known as my two flatmates. Then Nik had rescued me. But I still didn’t know where I was or how long I’d been out for. My movements were restricted by a canula, sticking into my hand, attached to a drip by a tube. The bedroom door opened and a dark-haired woman came in. When she saw me awake, she immediately tensed up, flattening herself against the wall. I frowned at her, in confusion. She stepped towards me slowly, as if approaching an agitated man with a gun.
“How do you feel?” Her voice came out hesitant and unsure and I wondered what her issue was - it seemed to be with me but I didn’t know why.
“Like shit,” I croaked.
“And how about emotionally?”
It was a strange question to ask and once again, I felt my brows furrow. “Um, a little freaked out I suppose.”
Her body visibly deflated. She was relieved. Why was she relieved? It was like she was terrified of me. Surely, I should be the one who was scared. I was the one in a bed, in strange surroundings, recovering from a vampire attack.
I recognised her voice as the same lady who had been in conversation with Nik when I’d been brought here. Now more at ease, she brushed her dark hair away from her face. “Well, you should eat something, it will make you feel better. What would you like?”
I’d always been the type to wake up ravenous and as soon as she mentioned food, my stomach grumbled, in response. “I dunno, pizza, maybe?”
“Excellent choice. I’ll send someone to get some for you.”
My brain was still groggy but nevertheless one question sprang immediately to mind. “Where’s Nik?”
“He had to go to work. He’ll be back as soon as his shift finishes.”
“When’s that?”
“It’s eleven in the morning now. He’ll be back sometime after five pm.”
“Why aren’t you at work?”
She sighed, a look of sadness passing over her face. “I don’t work a regular day job anymore.”
She drew up a battered old wooden chair from the side of my bed and brought it closer to me. As she sat down, she felt my forehead. Her palm was cool and soft.
“Are you a doctor too?”
“No. My name is Carlotta, I’m a molecular biologist. Nik and I are old friends.”
As soon as she said this, I wondered if she was his ex. She was certainly beautiful, with long, silky dark hair, large brown eyes and very red lips. How could I ask without seeming like a jealous girlfriend? “How did you meet him?”
She chuckled slightly then blew air out of her mouth. “That is a long story.”
“Does it have a short version?” I cocked one eyebrow.
She narrowed her eyes at me, a smile, flirting at her lips. “You’re wondering if we were ever together, aren’t you?”
There were clearly no flies on Carlotta and I felt myself blush.
“Don’t worry. He’s all yours.”
Her dark eyes studied me for a moment. “Can I ask you a more personal question?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Do you feel any anger when you’re around Nik? Any feelings of rage or… this might sound weird but - any urges to kill him?”
I stared at her. She was laying her cards on the table. She knew I fantasised about killing vampires and that meant she knew what I was. And if she knew, it was likely that Nik knew too. He’d never hinted at it though… Or had he? As I replayed back conversations we’d had, I realised he probably did know. He’d suggested that my fighting skills were somehow abnormal and he’d advised me to research my family. Did that mean arcane witch powers ran in families? And if they did, how did he know that?
I looked back at Carlotta. Her behaviour on the way into the room - she’d been scared and if she’d been scared it must be because… I felt my eyes widen. “You’re a vampire!”
I couldn’t stop my mouth from dropping open. She looked so ordinary and I didn’t have the kill instinct around her at all. I wondered if it was the effects of the medication or a similar kind of anomaly to that which I experienced around Nik.
She gave a rue smile. “You can close your mouth. We don’t all look like blood thirsty criminals, you know. After all, you didn’t realise Nik was a vampire when you first met him, did you?”
I raised my eyebrows. “No, I guess not.”
“And you didn’t answer my question. Do you want to kill us or not?”
I met her gaze. “No.”
She cocked her head to the side, resting her cheek between her thumb and forefinger. “Why do you think that is?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Her gaze shifted. “I wonder if it’s because we’re vegans.”
“You’re what?”
She looked at me, crossing one leg over the other. “Vegans. I developed a product called Vital8. I also sell it on the dark web - that’s how we fund ourselves. It’s synthetic human blood made from genetically engineered rice. Vampires can live off it indefinitely. When I met Nik, he was attempting to bite a human. I stopped him and introduced him to Vital8. That was five years ago. He’s been vegan ever since.”
If what she was saying was true, Nik didn’t feed off humans to survive. Could this be a trap? But then, she had no reason to lie. After all, if they wanted to feed off me, why would they save my life? They had ample opportunity to just finish me off, after Nik rescued me from Derek.
Something was still bothering me. “You know what I am, don’t you.”
She nodded. “An arcane witch.”
I narrowed my eyes. “If you knew that about me, why did you let me in?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea but I know you haven’t been trained in how to use your powers - you stumbled upon them by accident. That means you’re not allied with an arcane witch group so we’re safe from slaughter, at least for the time being. When you go we’ll find a new location.” She flicked her hair. “Plus Nik can be pretty persuasive.”
I looked down, suddenly feeling like the world’s biggest fool. “Has he always known what I was?”
She nodded.
“How?”
“Arcane witches have a very distinctive smell, which vampires can detect.”
I looked away, taking in what she’d said. He knew and yet he’d still saved my life. He must know how dangerous it was for him to be around me and yet he was dating me. None of this made any sense. What did he want from me?
I looked around my dilapidated surroundings. The torn carpet was covered in stains and patches of gravel. There were holes and pigeon shit on the walls - God knows where the pigeons came in from. There must be a window missing somewhere.
“Where are we?”
Carlotta smiled sadly at me. “This is the ahimsa vampire hideout. We have to stay in old abandoned wrecks and move regularly because the dracul vampires have bounties out on most of us - you too now, I guess.”
There’s that word again. ‘Dracul’. The witches had mentioned them.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Who are the Draculs?”
“They’re a fascist vampire gang - the largest in the world. Their power extends across borders and they have vampires in politics, in businesses, in schools - everywhere. The leader of the group is a man called Hugh Beaufort. He is a centuries-old billionaire vampire. But his property empire and antiques and art dealerships are all money laundering fronts for the real way he makes his money - human trafficking, mostly immigrant women and children, to supply other vampires with live human blood. The ultimate aim of the Draculs is world domination. They believe that vampires are a superior species and that humans should be kept and bred as cattle - to feed us.”
“Whoa! That’s some dark shit.”
“Yes it is.” She bit her lip. “They see us as a threat to their plans. If we keep turning vampires vegan - which we do, then it weakens their power base. Also, there’s some historic animosity between me and Hugh Beaufort. His daughter joined our movement. I didn’t know she was his daughter at the time. Then she got killed in a battle against them - she didn’t realise he was a Dracul.”
“This is like something out of a movie.”
She rubbed her temples with one hand. “It gets worse. Hugh was determined to enact revenge on me so he ordered a hit against my fiance, Noah - a human. I thought I could keep him safe.” She gritted her teeth and gulped as her eyes got misty. “I was wrong.”
I felt the pain radiating out of her, causing a lump of sympathy to form in my throat. “You mean he died?”
She nodded, her face contorting with grief. She dipped her head as a single tear hit the ground, splashing in the dust, at her feet.
I didn’t know what to say. I had just met this woman and she’d shared what must be one of the most painful experiences of her life with me. And why? Just because I’d asked her for the truth. She didn’t have to tell me all of that. She could’ve left out the part about her dead fiancé. I sensed that Carlotta was a straight talker, someone who didn’t keep secrets. I’d forgotten what it was like to be around people who weren’t afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve. Being around someone who trusted me enough to share her pain with me, reminded me of home and I suddenly wished I could see Aunt Siobhan and Uncle Paddy.
“Could I make a phone call?”
Carlotta’s face grew tight but her voice was soft and tender. “I’m sorry Bree, I can’t allow that. The Draculs could trace your cell phone signal. We’ve switched your phone off and you can’t use it. I have it in safe keeping for now.” She stroked hair out of my face in a way that was maternal and I wondered if she’d ever had any children during her human days. Could vampires have children? There was so much that I had to learn.
“You said you’re ‘ahimsa vampires’. What does that mean?”
“Ahimsa is a sanskrit word which means ‘non-harming’. It just means that we live our lives trying our best not to harm the innocent. In addition to being vegans, we only kill or hurt, in self-defence.”
“Kind of like Buddhists?”
“Yes, in mindset, although we’re not a religious group. We’re more a type of…. Social activism group.”
Her explanation made me feel way better about dating Nik. It meant that my instincts, about him being safe and kind, had not been totally wrong.
Carlotta continued. “Listen, I know you have so many questions but you still need to rest. I’ll send someone to get you some pizza but why don’t you get some more sleep. We can talk later - when Nik gets back. I’ll bring in a glass of water - I’m sure your throat is dry.”
She was right, my throat was almost burning. Did she know that because she’d inflicted these same injuries on humans in the past? She seemed so kind and gentle, it was hard to imagine her baring her fangs at my neck, in the same way that Derek had. She turned to leave the room and I snuggled into the bed, closing my eyes. As I began to drift off, my thoughts turned to my flat and my flatmates. What had happened to Agota and Tallulah? Were they still alive? And what about my flat. It had been completely trashed. I groaned at the thought of this. All the furniture in the flat belonged to the landlord. Not only would we lose our deposit, we’d have to pay more over the top - thousands.
Now I had no job, debts and a fascist vampire hit squad after me.