Antithesis: The Vampire Alliance Book Three - FIRST DRAFT COMPLETED

Antithesis Chapter 28: Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan August 2013

Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan, August 2013

This is certainly no Norham House. My surroundings are worse than the new Northern Alliance Headquarters. This is even more bunker-like than the concrete warren I’ve been calling home. This underground hideout is obviously old, First or Second World War maybe? There are indications of a quick tidy; most of the cobwebs have been swept away and there’s only the faintest musk of rat urine tainting the air, it’s still grim though. The concrete walls are stained with damp and the furniture is nothing modern. There’s even a forties era radio sat on top of a cabinet against one wall. I can only assume this place is in a strong defensive position in order for the mortal government to take up residence in this decommissioned hide rather than a more modern facility.

I’ve never liked the mortal Prime Minister. Perhaps it’s Mr Cameron’s sneer or maybe it’s just his party’s politics generally. It’s never mattered though, as I’ve been part of a very different world and his ‘victory’ in the last election hasn’t really affected me. It’s a long time since I stopped worrying about human politics but as I watch the meeting taking place in the secret bunker it dawns on me that I should’ve started paying more attention recently. I should’ve taken a more active interest the moment Hardy revealed the existence of vampires to the world at large.

“And everything is in place?” Cameron asks a man in military uniform.

“Yes, we know the locations of several vampire nests,” the military man admits and I snort at the term ‘nest’, what are we, animals? Alright, so what I did with Rob and Tul last night had a certain degree of the uncivilised about it, but seriously? The people cowering in this burrow want to use animalistic terms for us?

Cameron nods, pondering for a moment before enquiring curiously, “Any of importance?”

“Several, unfortunately the target of most value is predominantly underground and I’m not sure how much of an impact we can really have there. There’s another in Yorkshire though, the old Norham family home. The family supposedly died out in the First World War but the last heir didn’t stay dead apparently. We understand he’s close to the leader of the terrorist group, the Alliance. That offers us a unique opportunity. If we strike a decisive move against that nest we’ll send a message right to the top. Those creatures will learn that we won’t be oppressed.”

“They’re definitely a terrorist cell?” Cameron asks and I’m surprised he’s even bothered to enquire. The facade of fair diplomat only goes so far, the world knows he’s anti-vampire. He’s anti-all-vampires, never mind anti-supposed-vampire-terrorists.

The military man nods. “We have footage of several members of the same group at one of the death camps.”

He draws out several photos from a manila wallet and I would have laughed if the situation weren’t so dire. The surveillance images do indeed show several Alliance members at one of the Redeemers farms but what these people have failed to realise is that Rob, Tul, Craig, Alex and I were freeing the mortals, not intent on their destruction.

“They put out a story that they were there to help the humans but we know the girl lived temporarily with Simon Purdy. Purdy helped engineer the current slavery system. He was personally responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people and was well known for forcing his captives into cycles of abuse and prostitution.

It’s believed that the female vampire worked for him herself, whoring for those of his friends who wanted to bed one of their own kind. Sources say that she was intimate with Purdy too before he vanished, but no payment passed hands so we assume that relationship was a romantic attachment.”

The thought alone makes me physically ill and I want to shake the man making such ridiculous claims. I can’t shake him though. I can’t protest my innocence or change the course of action these men are about to take. I know this is a vision and no amount of wishing is going to allow me to influence what I’m witnessing at this moment in time.

“So you have a target in Yorkshire, are there others?” The Prime Minister enquires, tapping his pen nervously on the desk.

“There are,” the military advisor hands a sheet of paper to Cameron although I can’t see what’s written on it. “Some of those are Alliance and some belong to other groups. Many are underground or in areas where assaults could cause large scale human causalities so we intend to starve most of them out. The Yorkshire facility is one of only a few easily accessible nests and so we intend to flatten it, with your consent. Now you’ve finally been granted emergency powers we only need your approval.”

He’d been granted emergency powers? When?

“Do it,” Cameron orders, signing a form which the other man hands him. “As of midnight tonight vampires will be enemies of the crown. Tomorrow we’ll start rounding them up and ridding our society of their kind. If we can destroy a few of their strongholds it will make the task easier.”

The bunker fades and a cold shiver runs down my spine. I shake my head to clear it off the fuzzy feeling which often follows a vision, trying to re-focus on the rec room where Pat’s security team are mid meeting. Rob and Tul are watching me expectantly as other members of the gathered vampires stare at me in open confusion. Had I been mid-sentence when the vision interrupted our meeting? I can’t remember, not that it’s important.

“The future?” enquires Rob apprehensively, no doubt remembering that my last prophecy had led to my untimely demise.

“No,” I admit reluctantly, “the past, last night. When did Cameron get emergency powers?” We’d known it was a possibility ever since Charleston exposed us. I’d hoped common sense would prevent humanity giving away so much power. Look what doing so had cost the vampire nation. 

Tul tenses and I’m not sure whether it’s because he doesn’t want to go into why I missed that news or because my enquiry indicates what’s on my mind. The answer he gives is predictable, even if I resent it. “He was granted them while you were... while you were dead. Tensions between vampire and humans have been getting worse for weeks, with the exception of our allies.”

Nodding, I try to accept that gracefully rather than with blind rage. “Turn on the television,” I prompt simply.

Familiar news reporters appear on screen, despite the news not being scheduled for another thirty minutes. “We’ve just received breaking new. Last night special teams from the British Army were granted the right to stop and search members of the public in order to find and capture the demons which currently walk amongst us. The Prime Minister has defended this decision while re-iterating his belief that we must eradicate the vampire threat as quickly as possible. Mr Cameron went on to re-assure the British people that this is a temporary measure which we must endure in the short term while our streets are made safe once more.

Already a number of vampires have been caught, leading to speculation that this move has been on the agenda for weeks while the new Anti-Vampire Response Unit has been carrying out surveillance of a number of the creatures. It is believed that captured vampires will have their species confirmed in a specially prepared medical facility in Devon before being moved to a secure and secret location to be executed.
While a few small activist groups have argued against the death sentence for vampires, claiming that the creatures are ‘people’, the vast majority of the general public is expected to welcome this news. However, some fear that this overt action could cause a vampire rebellion.

The government press office has released the photographs of a number of vampires they expect to head up any retaliation. If you see any of these people please contact the police immediately. Do not invite them into your homes, keep your distance and get away from them as quickly as possible.”

A number of images scroll across the screen, the same surveillance photos I had seen in my vision.  I watch the grainy images of Rob, Tul, Alex, Craig and I roll past. Poor Craig, if any human finds him now they’ll be in very real trouble.

The news reader continues as Rob’s picture appears for a second time, “It is believed that this ‘man’, Robert Blakethorn, is a leading member of the vampire terrorist organisation known as the Alliance. He is extremely dangerous and should be treated with extreme caution.

His ex-wife, Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan, is a known murderer as well as having a history of prostitution and terrorist activity. We can confirm that she has also been romantically involved with man known to have been one of the minds behind the death camps where our people are dying in ever increasing numbers. Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan is possibly the most dangerous vampire known to us at this time.”

“You have no idea,” I mutter, glaring at the news reader batting her false eyelashes on screen. I wonder if she feels safe, being carried to and from BBC headquarters in an armoured vehicle because she possesses the veneer of celebrity.

Unfortunately she can’t hear me and she continues on, “Do not approach this vampire, if you see her phone for help immediately.

Alongside the powers granted to the Anti-Vampire Response Unit the government have established a seven o’clock curfew. This will be enforced by the A.V.R.U. and police forces throughout the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is the first nation to take a decisive stand against the vampire threat but Mr Cameron has expressed his hope that others will follow our lead.”

Clicking off the TV I sigh, bone weary. “I don’t know what irritates me more, the fact I am apparently an ex-wife, the fact they’re calling us terrorists and lying about our activities, or the fact either the Senate or Redeemers must be feeding the mortal government this crap and they’re taking it at face value.” Truthfully I’m probably more offended that anyone believes I had romantic feelings for Simon. At least the idea the newsreader believes vampires can’t enter homes without an invitation is vaguely amusing. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that crap.

I let my colleagues absorb what they’d seen before I add forebodingly, “This is just the start. Cameron’s also signed an order giving the military permission to attack vampire ‘nests’. They know Norham house is Rob’s ancestral home, they think he’s high in Alliance ranks and they intend to, and I quote here, “flatten it”.  We’re about to be attacked by the British army.”

Silence meets my announcement as ten stunned faces stare back at me in open disbelief. “The human government were always going to fight back eventually. The Anti-Vampire Bill has been on the cards since Charleston gave us away, we all knew this.

It’s an excuse, of course, for a war which the Senate believe they can win. They’ll happily sacrifice us to gain an excuse for retaliation. This follows all the hallmarks of a Senate scheme. It’s the same as murdering my family and blaming Rob for that crime, it was a perfect excuse to get rid of a Chief they couldn’t control while also separating me from the Alliance. They’ve created the rumour that the Alliance are responsible for the farms to goad the humans into attacking us, such action then gives the Senate an excuse to start an outright war with humans, under the pretence of rebelling against humans killing vampires, while hopefully causing Alliance casualties at the same time.”

Slumping back in the chair, Rob’s expression darkens, “I wonder how the Senate are passing information to the humans without raising suspicions.”

“Manipulation. And I don’t think it’s just information.” My admission draws everyone’s attention. “Someone’s putting Senate weapons into the Anti-Vampire Response Unit’s hands. Maybe the humans confiscated the weapons, maybe they think they’ve taken something from the Senate even though the Senate must have allowed them to do so. It has to be a ploy, a plant. The humans think they’re stealing information and weapons when really the Senate are leading them on a merry dance.

Either way, the humans who attacked Delectable were all carrying weapons engraved with the Senate logo, they were all firing nitrate rounds and they all had anti-vampire tattoos which included the acronym A.V.R.U. as part of the design. This isn’t new, this has been going on for months even though the human government have only just gone public with it.”

Rob sighs wearily, frustration tightening the muscles of his jaw. “Any idea when they plan on obliterating my inheritance?”

Shaking my head I admit, “Not exactly. Soon, I’d imagine; they wouldn’t want us increasing our defences too much before they attack and now our very existence is a crime they have to know we’ll be trying to secure our facilities. We should warn Johan, they plan on starving out some of the underground facilities too.”

Standing, Tul pulls his phone from his pocket. “I’ll go and phone Johan now, better he knows sooner rather than later. At least he has mortal donors on site now, if it comes to a siege they have blood to last for a while. We seem to be more at risk here.”

“That concerns me too,” my admission draws his full attention back to me as I consider my apprehension. “Is it not an amazing coincidence that the humans decide that we, more specifically Rob and I, are huge threats at the same time as they decide to attack Norham House which just happens to coincide with us being here.”
Pat frowns, her scent giving away a surge of anxiety, “You think there are more traitors in our midst? Someone advising the Senate?”

“Maybe,” I answer unconvincingly, but the possibility doesn’t sit right with me. Tul and Rob’s concern seeps into me and as it does realisation dawns, a horrific realisation. “The silver thread that ties me to him,” I murmur softly, “shit.”

The fragrance of worried curiosity permeates the room as Pat’s security team watch me in expectant silence. Rob takes my hand, his own anxiety increasing as he requests, “Evie, you’re talking in riddles. Can you give us a clue here?”

Closing my eyes I focus on my connections to those I’ve sired. My links to Rob and Tul blaze, highways of emotion and sensation and everything we would ever mean to each other but behind them, almost obscured by them, is another thread. While groaning inwardly with a mix of disgust and despair I reach for the third connection, the link that has no emotional stream but which would guide me back to Newcastle, to Charleston, if I chose to follow it.

As I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to push back a wave of exhausted hopelessness I admit uneasily, “I’m still connected to Hardy.”

Shocked horror ripples through my husbands and they both stare at me, dumbfounded. “What?”

“It’s not like with you. I’ve never even noticed it before because it just isn’t like with you, it can’t be, there’s no emotional bond to trigger an emotional connection. What we have is rare, it’s the bond of lovers and spouses but the tie to Hardy isn’t. It’s so weak, barely there.

I’m such an idiot. He even told me, he said there was nothing like sire’s blood and then he told me it was the silver thread that tied me to him but I just didn’t see it. Ok, I’d just woken up from being dead, but I should have realised... I hate that bloody... monster!

Think about it, being Strix upgrades everything it is to be vampire. Why shouldn’t it strengthen the ability for connection too, or broaden its uses? Our connection isn’t just emotional, is it? We can find each other by it as well. It lets us locate one another. What if being Strix increases the potential for that facet of the connection?

Strix are very good at separating emotions from everything else, what if it’s in our natures to separate the emotional and navigational elements of the connection too? Even standard vampires instinctually stay with their sires for a decade or two to be trained, to learn. However, throughout history the Strix didn’t settle, they were nomads, not having the emotional attachment to settle. They were chased from towns and villages by other vampires. If newly turned Strix still had the instinct to be with their sires, but their lifestyles made their sires wanderers, then the element of the sire-sired connection which allows a new vampire to find their maker may have been useful to the Strix.

It’s an evolutionary quirk. The emotional link can’t form because there’s nothing there to base it on. That’ll always be between us because it is us, our potential together, which sustains it. The link that allows those I’ve sired to find me and me to find them, that’s still there though, because by our very natures those we make are our responsibility for what, ten, twenty years after being made?

I didn’t chose it. Yes, Hardy stole my blood and venom and used it to turn, but like it or not he is still part of my line and therefore tied to me. I didn’t notice; I wasn’t looking for it. I couldn’t feel him so I never thought to look for a residual bond. I’m such an idiot.”

“That’s... we have to kill him.” Answers Rob, his tone giving away his fury as clearly as our connection does. “What does that have to do with the humans knowing where we are though?”

“It’s all part of a Senate scheme. I’m a homing beacon. Charleston’s using me to navigate because you’ve made him afraid. Unfortunately for him, killing me didn’t benefit him as much as he’d wanted. It just pissed off you two and drove you to do something Johan’s never risked. Incapacitating you might have been the reason he woke me up but at that point you’d already given the Alliance an advantage. Maybe that played on his mind and since I’ve escaped he’s making the most of what I’ve unwittingly given him.” It’s not a possibility that I’m comfortable even admitting, I’m as good as confessing that I’m more of a liability than anyone had previously thought.

“He wants to know if Johan uses the information you stole against the Senate. He also knows Johan will want Strix involvement in any mission and he’s perfectly aware I’d never willing let you two fight without being with you. When I handed myself over to secure Tul’s release I proved it. The Enforcer in the car with us even said I was easy to manipulate. As far as you two are concerned I’m predictable and Charleston knows it. He thinks he can use that to monitor Alliance missions because he thinks I’ll always be involved with them.

With you incapacitated and me incarcerated he’d have no warning if Johan used the data you stole. But now we’re back together he thinks he’ll be able to track our movements through the link. I’m his warning system.” The words tumble out of me, not necessarily coherent as I piece together the puzzle, trying to refine what I think I know.

“Hell, he could think we’re here now raising an army for some mission. He could be taking any strange movements on my part as a threat. The humans only know we’re here because Hardy wants to stop whatever he thinks we’re doing. He thinks we’ve messed up, coming somewhere so exposed, so he’s feeding the humans information to prevent us carrying out a supposed Alliance mission. He probably doesn’t even mind that we’re unlikely to die in a human attack. He’ll just think he’s stopped an Alliance plot and then wait for me to lead him to the next.”

“It almost makes me wonder if Charleston didn’t know what he was doing,” Tul ponders out loud, echoing my thoughts. “I quite believe he wanted to incapacitate us just as you said, at first. However, I wonder how long it took him to consider the possibility that he could use you if he let you go.

It’s like 1352, he could use him to create Paladins or he could use him to mess with the head of the Alliance’s biggest asset, pointedly you, Eve. It was a bigger picture scenario and he saw the bigger picture. He chose the latter hoping to damage the Alliance. When he had you captive he could use you to incapacitate us or to keep tabs on Johan’s movements knowing we’ve potentially given Johan an upper hand already. Incapacitating us came too late. He’s seen the bigger picture and chosen to monitor our movements instead.

Perhaps, in the end, he wanted you to escape,” Tul continues. “Maybe he considered those who died acceptable collateral damage in order to get you back to us without it being obvious he’d let you go. It’s not beyond him to make that kind of sacrifice. Their deaths, the fight, it was a bluff to make it look like an escape rather than a release. Isn’t it suspicious that no one came after you once you were out of the Science Facility despite you being unarmed and under fed? He could have sent an army after you and he could have re-captured you. He didn’t. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

“You need to leave,” one of Pat’s advisors announces, Darren Tristram, I think. “We aren’t fortified the way other facilities are; you can’t bring them down on our heads. You’ve put us all at risk.”

I open my mouth to argue but Pat intervenes on our behalf before I can protest, “They didn’t know, Darren. Plus it’s too late now, even if they left there’s no guarantee the humans will deviate from their plan. We should be grateful that Eve’s warned us.”

“Also,” I add matter-of-factly, “consider this. We are still the greatest weapon the Alliance possesses and right now we’re here. The humans are coming and they aren’t coming with handguns and swords, they’re coming with armoured vehicles and machine guns. If you want your home to be more than a crater then trust me, you want us to stay here for a while.”

Growling, Rob gives away more of his attachment to his ancestral home than he would have admitted until very recently, “Crater?”

“Crater,” I confirm regretfully. It isn’t a full-on vision, but when I think about the forthcoming siege I can just make out the bulky masses rolling over my vision. “We’re talking tanks, Rob, we’re talking soldiers arriving with the sole purpose of obliterating this house and everyone in it. The machine guns will be loaded with silver bullets. They know what they’re doing, love, and they’re damn well intent on destroying the future we dared to dream about last night.”

“And you can stop a tank can you?” Darren demands, his voice as icy as his glare.

I smile slowly, confidently as I narrow my eyes at the man, “Well I’ve never tried before, but honestly? If I have my way the British army will be in serious need of some new armoured vehicles before I’m through.” Glancing up at Pat I request, “Can you send out scouts? When the enemy approaches I want to know about it in advance. In the mean time Tul can phone Johan and we can start sorting through the stolen files. I think it’s time we found out what Hardy fears we’ll use against him. Alright?”

Nodding, Pat splays her hands in a symbolic gesture which hands control to me. “Alright,” she concedes, “keep us safe, Eve.”

There’s a novel thought, me keeping people safe.