Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

The Councillor And The Guide

The van stopped after about half an hour, and when the door slid open the familiar brown, green grass of the Moonstone High football pitch.

A tall glowing blue portal shone, and yet another masked and armed S.P.E.C.T.R.E agent waited for us I jumped out of the van, followed by Victoria and Michael.

Neville got out from the front passenger seat and led the way over to the portal that would take us into the Hub, the heart of The Council Of Immortals.

"Go on, she's waiting for you." He said as we reached the portal.

"She?" I asked.

"Yes, Councillor Harriet Lipman." Neville said, "Now, hurry along, we don't have all bloody day."

I made my way to the portal, the blue light cascading around me as I stepped inside it. The world around me twisted and turned until I appeared in a small office where an older woman in a black dress sat at a desk reading from a stack of papers, her glasses halfway down her nose and a bored expression on her face.

"You can sit." she said, indicating a hard wooden chair that matched the desk "Alec Colby, yes?"

"Um, yes, Ma'am," I replied sensing that she was not in the mood for my appearance, although she seemed to have been expecting me.

As she turned her gaze away from the paper clutched in her long thin fingers she raised an eyebrow at me. Damn. This woman was ice cold.

"You may call me Councillor Lipman." she said softly, putting the paper down on the desk "Do you know why you are here, Mr Colby?"

"The body in the paper shop."

There was a moment of silence, Councillor Lipman seemed to stare directly into my soul, her bright blue eyes like shards of glass.

"Yes, and no." she eventually replied, "We know that you did not kill the shop owner, but a vampire did. It is my understanding that Kian Richards is currently missing..."

Oh, no you fucking don't...

"He didn't do it." I cut in "Kian was taken, he's a victim, not the one who caused all of this."

"I am inclined to agree with you." Councillor Lipman said "I have worked with Kian for decades, even before he joined The Council. He is not the type to go around randomly killing normals."

"I'm sorry, what?"

What the hell? I was sure that she had been about to suggest that Kian had been the one who bit the owner of the paper shop. Apparently, I was wrong.

"So, you don't think that Kian killed her?" I asked.

"I do not." Councillor Lipman confirmed "But, I do believe that Kian was taken by somebody from inside The Council itself. I do not know who that individual is, but they have a lot of power."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, "You have the entire Council at your disposal."

"And, I can trust none of them." she said "Now, I know that you need to see Jonathan Cayhill, and I can facilitate that meeting, but we need to be discreet. This room is secure, but once we leave here we can be overheard. We can't risk that."

Maybe it was just me, but, I was totally fucking confused. Somebody inside The Council had taken Kian? I didn't know how to take that. Surely, The Council was in control of all its members? If it wasn't, well, then Kian being taken and the bloodless body of the paper shop owner was just the tip of the iceberg.

"You're sure that there is somebody inside The Council behind this?"

"I am. Whoever it is was also behind you getting turned into a werewolf, and Mr Cayhill trying to frame you for the murders he committed." Councillor Lipman said, "We know about Dorian Gray's involvement, but, Lucifer certainly didn't hire him personally so we're at a loss."

The wolf knows who the true Master is. The evil one.

It wasn't the first time I had been given reason to think that there was somebody else behind Dorian's plan to sell my soul to the Devil himself.

"I think that Jonathan will talk to me." I said, "He'll tell me who the other person is."

"How can you be sure?"

"It was a prophecy." I admitted, "I was told that I would have to talk to Jonathan in order to find Kian."

"I see." Councillor Lipman said "Well, there is only one way we can get you access to Mr Cayhill. You would have to be inducted as a Guide."

For a second I was caught off guard. As much as I needed to get access to Jonathan, I really didn't want to be indebted to The Council.

After having a hit squad sent after me, twice now, and being threatened with being neutralised it kinda took the shine off the whole thing. Yet, here I was debating with my conscious. As much as I hated The Council and everything they had done to me, I had to find out what Jonathan knew. Kian was being held somewhere and the likelihood was that Jonathan Cayhill knew exactly who had him.

Shit! Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to agree to work for The Council? Did I have any other choice?

Not really.

"Okay." I replied, "So, how exactly do we do this?"

"I have the form right here." Councillor Lipman said pulling a piece of paper from the stack on her desk "All you have to do is sign it."

She passed me the paper and a familiar golden pen from inside her jacket pocket. Shit. It looked just like the one that Dorian Gray had tried to get me to use to sign away my soul to him. A shiver passed through my spine, the room suddenly feeling cold as I took hold of the pen and looked down at the page I had been handed.

I, , do hereby agree to uphold the word and law of The Council and to make sure that others under my guidance can also uphold the same laws.

I agree to teach the recruits under my guidance our ways and laws so that they can be upheld by all new recruits to The Council.

I take full responsibility for any new recruits under my guidance, and I agree to be subject to any disciplinary action upheld against said recruits should they be found guilty of breaking the laws of The Council.

Councillor Signature:

Applicant Signature:

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking slightly as I felt the cold metal of the pen weighing heavy in my hand.

I put the point of the pen onto the paper and signed my name. I hissed in pain as dark red ink made its mark on the page.

No, it was blood, not ink... my blood.

Pain still burned through my hand as I handed back the paper and the pen. It was a deep pain that throbbed even as Councillor Lipman glanced over the page and then signed it herself before tucking the pen back away.

"Well done, Mr Colby, you are now an official Guide in the service of The Council Of Immortals. You will join the Moonstone East division."

"And what about Jonathan?" I asked.

"Of course, you can now go and have your visit with him and meet up with your friends afterwards." Councillor Lipman confirmed as she stood up "I'll show you the way to the cells."