Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

Homing Pigeon

Victoria and Michael were both waiting for me as I stepped out into the brightly lit hallway.

The door had just barely closed behind me before I felt a sharp burning sensation on my cheek.

She fucking slapped me. Again.

"Alec Colby, you're a fucking idiot!"

"That's going to leave a mark," Michael added.

"Yeah, that's not helping." I said rubbing my still stinging cheek "What did I do this time?"

"You signed up to become a Guide." Victoria replied "Do you have any idea what that means? You are now indebted to The Council for life."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"You will never have a chance of a normal life away from all this now. Not ever." she continued "Kian was trying to negotiate a way out for himself, he didn't want you to know."

What the hell? Why would Kian not tell me he was thinking about leaving The Council? It's not like I wouldn't have backed the decision.

"Wait," I said "You knew that he was trying to leave and you didn't say anything to me?"

"Because he wasn't sure if he even could leave. Then he went missing..."

"How long has he been looking to leave The Council?" I asked.

Her eyes darted to the ground.

Fucks sake, Vic...

"How long?"

"Since Jonathan was arrested and you two got together." she eventually replied "Alec, he was going to tell you after it was all confirmed. The Council take their time over these things..."

All that was going round in my head right now was that Kian had been thinking of leaving The Council for me. He was trying to give us as good a chance as any for a normal life, and I'd just gone and thrown it all away by agreeing to become a Guide.

Bloody irony at its best...

"Well, at least I have a lead on Kian." I said, "According to Jonathan, he's with The Church Of Dracul."

"Oh, shit," Victoria said, her expression turning to one of horror.

"I don't know this Church Of Dracul." Michael cut in "Is it new?"

"It's very old." Victoria corrected "And underground. The Church is dedicated to the worship of the vampire King Dracula."

"Vampires have a Church?" Michael asked confused "I thought they couldn't step on holy ground?"

"They built it on unholy ground. A lot can change when you're gone for several centuries."

The sound of footsteps coming down the corridor towards us cut off the conversation. We couldn't stay here, not when there was a potential spy for The House Of The Apocalypse inside The Council itself.

I knew that I was going to have to tell Victoria and Michael about the secret organisation that was planning to bring about the End Of Days, but this was not the place to do it. Too many bloody ears in the walls.

"We need to get out of here." I said, "Then we can discuss what Jonathan told me."

Victoria looked at me for a moment, I half expected her to argue back at me, or maybe even fucking slap me again, but she just nodded in acceptance.

"Your right, we should get out of here." she agreed "If you have a solid lead on Kian, then we need to follow that up."

I looked around at the line of black metal doors not sure which way led to the elevator that would take us out of the Hub.

"Uh, which way is the exit?" I asked "Because I have no idea which way gets us out of here."

"Follow me." Michael said confidently heading away from the sound of approaching footsteps "I have the directional sense of a homing pigeon. I was there when they were created, you know..."

Oh, yeah of course you bloody were... like I could forget that you're an immortal angel of heaven!

"Alec, are you sure you can trust what Jonathan told you?" Victoria asked as we followed slightly behind Michael.

"No." I admitted "But, I have to have hope, right? I have to believe that Kian is out there, and safe. I need to believe that, because if he isn't..."

Victoria took hold of my hand, she didn't have to say anything. I knew that she understood that I just needed to know that Kian was okay at this point. There was no room in my head for any alternative.

Kian had to be in The Church Of Dracul, he just had to be...

We followed Michael's bobbing blonde ponytail as it weaved its way through the seemingly endless white corridors. The black metal doors blended into a long blurry line until we eventually came to the end of the corridor where a large set of metal doors sat. The elevator.

Thank fuck for that!

Not that I had any reason to doubt Michael's homing pigeon skills, but was a moment there where I was almost certain that we were lost in the Hub's endless corridors.

That would have been just our bloody luck...

Michael turned to face us, his features bursting into a wide smile as he pointed proudly at the elevator.

"See, I told you." He beamed "Homing pigeon."

"Well, you certainly found the way out." Victoria replied heading to the elevator and pushing the button "Thank you, Michael."

Huh. I wasn't sure, but I could have sworn that Michael smiled even more at Victoria's words.

"So, we go to The Church Of Dracul next," Victoria said as the doors finally rumbled open.

"Sounds like fun," Michael said as we followed her inside.

It didn't sound like fun at all. The last thing I fucking needed was a rematch with the cult of bloodsucking vampire priests. I knew that Kian had played a massive part in the creation of the Church, but he had been out of their grip for a very long time.

No, if Kian really had gone back to the Church, then there had to be a reason behind it. I just wondered what the bloody hell it was...