Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

Claiming My Soul

"Alec? Are you alright?"

I looked back up towards the sitting room to see Victoria, her hands alight with green flames and the bandage still on her head.

She walked towards the creature, which was lying unconscious on the floor, a large burn mark on its back. I stood up and brushed myself off.

"What is it?" I asked looking at the ugly thing on the floor.

"A boggart." Victoria said as she looked at it "Horrible things. They mainly stick to terrorising humans, but, this one..."

"It was focused on me." I said, "We were lured here, Vic, it wasn't an accident that your spell went wrong."

"What are you going on about?"

I had to tell her about Mr Gray. We had to get out of here before he showed up.

"There's a guy who I may have pissed off. I met him in a magical painting in one of your bedrooms and now he wants my soul and he messed with your spell to send us here."

Victoria just glared at me, I could tell how bloody mad I sounded. Trust me, it was a lot to drop on her, but I had no choice. Mr Gray was out for blood.

"He wants your soul?" Victoria said eventually with a frown "What is this guys name?"

"Mr Gray, he called himself."

"Oh, crap." Victoria said "Dorian? Dorian Gray. No wonder he wants your soul. Damn it, Alec! Why didn't you say anything about this before?"

"It's not really something I wanted to think about, to be honest. A hot guy sends some crazy-ass wizard to track me down and then offers me tea and then tells me he wants my soul in exchange for helping me to clear my name of murder."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well, essentially that he could shove his offer where the sun don't shine." I replied, "I'm not an idiot."

"Sometimes, Alec, you really are. It must be a guy thing."

Little bit harsh...

"What do you mean?"

"Dorian? Dorian Gray? Does that name not ring a bell?" Victoria asked "Because it should. The guy who sold his soul to the Devil in order to stay young? His picture aged and took on his sins instead of him."

"Wasn't that a book?"

"Oh, it was." Victoria agreed "The picture was destroyed, but, he's about as dangerous as it comes. You really should be more careful about who you piss off in future."

"Trust me, I will be." I agreed "What do we do now?"

"We get the hell out of here." Victoria said, "Wherever we are."

"It's a church." I explained as we headed back to the sitting room "I thought the boggart was a priest."

"A priest? That's a new one on me." Victoria said as she led the way through "Who did it turn into?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping that she wasn't going to ask.

I knew what she was asking. She wanted to know how the boggart had appeared to me.

What do you fear the most?

And then it had turned into the one person I had never wanted to set eyes on again. Jonathan.

"The boggart." Victoria said, "When it attacked you, who did it turn into?"

"Jonathan." I replied, "It turned into Jonathan."

Those cold blue eyes still haunted me, even though I knew that he could no longer cause harm to anyone else. I would never admit it, but, being face to face with him again had really got to me, even though I knew that it wasn't really him.

"Let's just concentrate on getting out of here," I said changing the subject.

I led the way back through the small wooden door that led out into the main church. As we headed through, candles lit up the main altar, but the church wasn't empty. Two figures stood at the alter, one in a neat tailored grey suit and tie, the other in dark red robes, a purple ring hanging from a golden chain around his neck.

Oh, fuck...

The young, fresh face of Dorian Gray contrasted with the wrinkled presence and long scraggly white beard of M.

"Mr Colby." Dorian said with a smile "Were you thinking of leaving?"

"Apparently not." I retorted.

His footsteps echoed on the hard stone floor as he walked toward me and Victoria.

"I see you have a friend with you." Dorian said as he saw Victoria "Won't you introduce us?"

"I'm Victoria Brown." Victoria replied, "There's no need to tell me who you are, the infamous Mr Gray."

"You flatter me, Miss Brown."

"Trust me, flattery wasn't what I was going for.' Victoria replied "And who's your friend? He's being awfully quiet."

"Oh, M?" Dorian said dismissively "He's just here in case things get suddenly nasty." with a smile he whipped out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket "Now, sorry about all this, but let's get business out of the way. I need your soul, Alec, and you are going to give it to me. Now, I'd rather you go into this willingly... all you need to do is sign this document."

"And what if I say no?"

"Well, then I will rip your soul from you." Dorian said smoothly "Trust me, the first way is much less painful. I'm not playing games here, Alec. Either way, I will get what I want."

Crap. How the fuck were we going to get out of this? All I could do was pray. Huh, well, I guess we were in right place for it.

What we really needed right now, was a bloody miracle...

I looked over at M, who was grinning at me from the altar, I saw his wand slip into his hand from inside his robes. Mr Gray still stood holding his piece of paper, I could even feel Victoria watching me, waiting for me to come up with a plan.

But, I had nothing.

This felt like the end. I couldn't see a way out, no matter how hard I tried. I was going to have to give in and let Mr Gray take my soul.

"Ok, you win." I said, "I'll sign your bloody document."

I started to head towards him when Victoria grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Alec, no. He won't be signing anything." She said looking directly at Dorian "You have no claim over his soul, and neither does Lucifer."

"You dare to use the Dark Lord's true name?" M shouted "You should be struck down for such insolence!"

"Oh, I dare." Victoria replied, somehow managing to keep her cool "If you want Alec's soul, then prove that you have a claim on it."

Dorian's eyes flashed dangerously for a moment "Oh, I have a claim, Miss Brown." he said, "Because I'm the one who arranged for him to be turned."

"What?" I asked, "You... what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm the one who chose you to be turned by the werewolf Jonathan." Dorian explained "My Master requested a fresh werewolf soul to be sacrificed, and you were a prime candidate. All that partying, you were an easy target, boy. So, yes, I do have a claim on your soul and I'm here to collect."