Shadow Land

A Friend, Enemy, and One Big Secret

Just a few minutes after Alexander had stormed out, DJ saw a black Sudan pull up in front of the apartment building. It was the kind of sleek that only the government could afford. Great. While DJ did not share Alexander’s hatred for authority and government, he still did not look forward to government visits, they were never good. Just once, he would like someone to climb out a sleek black car and say something like ‘Congratulations! You have just won a million dollars!’ instead of ‘Congratulations! You have just won the chance to go on a life-endangering adventure!’

                He sighed and quickly went about tidying up the house, hiding all the weapons and switching off the TV. He never knew if someone coming to him from the government would know about vampires, so he always made sure he was not the first to give it away. He also had noticed that they never seemed to come when Alexander was in. At least, not since the ‘diplomatic incident’ in 1952.

                Just as he was putting the last weapon away, he heard a knock at the door. Cautiously, he opened it, and did a double take when he saw who was on the other side. He had been expecting a poor, twitchy office-clerk, not the brand new head of Division.

                “Hello, DJ. Mind if I come in?” Damien smiled, taking off his hat. Even the hat was sleek and black. DJ decided that if he ever got separated from Alexander’s money, he would get a job in government. Surely he could put ‘dealing with Alexander Vallier for more than a century and a half’ on his resume.

                “Alexander isn’t here,” DJ stated flatly, making to close the door.

                “I know. Do you really think I would come here if he was? I am not suicidal. No, I wanted to talk to you,” Damien put his hand on the door to stop it from closing, and smiled even more, reminding DJ of the cat form Alice in Wonderland.

                “What is this about?” DJ sighed, seriously contemplating slamming the door on Damien’s hand. It was probably not a good idea to hurt the head of a government agency, even if it was exactly what Alexander would do, so DJ just accepted the fact he would have to talk to the man, no matter how much he hated him.

                Damien sighed and looked at the ground, “It’s about Miranda.”

                “You have a lot of nerve saying that name here,” DJ snapped.

                “I know. I truly regret my actions and the way they lead to the current situation, you have to believe me that I thought I was doing the right thing,” Damien’s hand left the door and started fiddling with the hat.

                DJ narrowed his eyes, he may not have hated Damien as much as Alexander, but he still did not trust him, not after what he had done. The grudge dated back to the late nineties, but the story was longer than that.

                When Alexander was turned, there had been a girl named Miranda, about his age, who was turned in the same week. They had been an experiment to see what would happen if teenagers were turned since their bodies were already going through changes. Most of the children had died or gone insane in the process, leaving only the strong ones. Alexander and Miranda were the last to be turned, being the sixth and seventh children to survive the process. It had been done by the ‘Division’ of the time, of course, it had a different name, but the principle was the same. Alexander said that he had been born in Greece, and Miranda in Rome, even though it officially said they were English. DJ had the feeling that his friend never told the whole truth, and that he probably was older than England itself. Alexander and Miranda had bonded while trying to escape from Division, an adventure that apparently ended with the agency’s head quarters blowing up, killing most of the older vampires. Fire was one of the few ways to insure a vampire’s death.