Antithesis: The Vampire Alliance Book Three - FIRST DRAFT COMPLETED

Antithesis Chapter 37: Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan September 2013

Eve Blakethorn Sullivan, September 2013

Robbie looks queasy as he helps me load the next batch of slime covered body parts into the Senate incinerator. The Science Facility is even more unnerving now than it had been when it was operational. It’s not just the gore we’ve coated the place with as we ‘rectified’ the zombie infestation, or the overpowering stench on decay. No, it’s the screams coming from one of the labs just down the corridor which is the main reason for my unease. Craig’s screams are louder than Rachel’s and I wonder if Rob and Tul are managing to prevent them from thrashing too violently as they change.

“This is gross,” I comment as I shovel another pile of rotting people bits into the giant kiln like machine. In the end we had resorted to taking Edward Cullen’s advice; “Tear them apart and burn the pieces”. Stephenie Meyer may have applied this theory to her fictional vampires but against the zombies it seemed like the safest option. I want to throw up and for once it has nothing to do with the morning sickness which has suddenly started interfering with my newly reacquired love of food. Not that I’ll ever want to eat again after completing this task.

It had taken us most of yesterday to clear the zombies out of the corridors, cutting each of the groaning, shambling creatures down one at a time. It’s taken just as long again to burn all the remains although we’re almost finished now. I hate that I’ve been in this hell for two days fixing the mess the Senate created with Andrea’s blood. Not that we’re really fixing anything. We’re preventing the situation from getting worse but we can’t fix this; the people the zombies once were will never come back.

Well, hopefully we’ll get two back but who knows what state they’ll be in. Changing from a partial turned to a fully turned can drive people mad on its own, even without the added trauma of having been dead and decaying for months.

“Are you alright?” I ask Robbie, concerned for him. He’s been exceptionally quiet ever since he killed Tess. It’s unsurprising really. I doubt many people can destroy their own mother and come out of the experience unscathed.

Pausing to wipe gore from his face with his shirt he shakes his head. “I know my mother was an enemy. I know she needed to be destroyed and truthfully I know I had to do it. You had to save my father and Tulloch and I’m indebted to you for extending my opportunity to get to know Rob. I just wish my mother hadn’t been who she turned out to be.”

“There was a possible future where I would’ve been the one to kill her,” I admit hesitantly, “but the price would have been Rob, possibly Tul as well. I couldn’t make that decision. However, there was also a future where she killed me again too. Our debts to each other are paid in full. You ensured I lived to see another day.”

“All I did was win a fight,” Robbie reminds me, modest or understandably unwilling to appreciate his mother’s end, “you died for me.”

“I died for Rob,” my revelation may alter his opinion of me but I won’t lie to him. “He didn’t deserve to see his son killed when he’d only just discovered your existence.”

“That may be true, but you still died saving me.” Robbie smiles cautiously, considering me, “We’re square?”

“We’re square,” I agree.

Wearily he resumes work at my side. I try to ignore the stinking gore coating my arms and smudged on my face. “I hope Rob at Tul didn’t use up all the hot water in the Paladin quarters when they cleaned up after the extermination.” They’d thought it best to shower before Craig and Rachel came to their senses, just so they didn’t look quite so horrific while explaining the situation.

Robbie grins, “A shower would be nice.” He glances at his blood stained front, “This is not how I imagined I’d be spending my time this week. The rest of the country is partying, celebrating the end of the Senate’s control over us, and we’re here doing this.”

“It seemed wise to get this task out of the way.” All the same, I too would’ve quite liked to be enjoying our victory. A brief week of respite would have been nice before we begin to debate how to go about setting up a new government.

No vampire will be happy under human rule; humanity won’t ever be able to understand us or all of our needs even though we do still require an alliance between us and them. The Senate has to be replaced with a new vampire leadership to work alongside the human government. But who? The opposition parties had been eradicated in the 1940s and it would take time for any new government to perform their duties coherently.

That’s a problem for wiser people than me. I have a dream that involved Norham House, the ballroom and a nursery. After this is over I’m hoping I can avoid all further political entanglement.

Craig’s screams grow louder still and I wince at the sounds of his agony. Robbie casts an uneasy glance at the door, “That sounds horrific.”

“It is horrific,” I agree, remembering how painful it had been when Tul sired me as well as remembering how Rob had wailed when I converted him from Paladin to Strix. “I just hope they both come out of it alright. Felicity and Blake didn’t deserve to lose them in the first place.”

“You shouldn’t feel so guilty about it, you know.”

Frowning, I pause again at Robbie’s declaration. “About what?”
“About being able to bring my father and Tulloch back from the dead. I know that’s part of the reason you made my father donate his venom for Rachel as well as having Sullivan sire Craig. You want to give other couples second chances too, partly because you’re able to and partly because of your guilt. But you didn’t destroy these relationships, you didn’t cause the suffering of the partners left behind. You shouldn’t carry so much guilt with you.” Robbie insists determinedly.

“I made Rob donate as well because I couldn’t. He’s only changed one person recently and Tul’s changed no one. I’ve changed both of them, plus donating venom to Dr Franklin in a quantity large enough to turn Hardy. It would be risky for me to change anyone else so soon after everything else.” That much is the truth but I can’t deny Robbie’s assessment. “But yes, no matter whose venom has been used you’re right, I do feel guilty that I get second chances when others don’t. I don’t deserve everything I’ve been granted so if I can help others then I will.”

Chuckling Robbie shakes his head at me, “Saving the world doesn’t pay your debts? I don’t know why Mr Cameron changed his mind about our existence. I don’t know how we gained an army, but I do agree with Johan. You three had something to do with it and as you’re the most powerful vampire to walk the earth since Romulus founded Rome I personally believe you had a far bigger role than you’re going to admit. Then you gave us Charleston too. You’re the woman who saved the vampire nation.”

He isn’t the first person to use that phrase and I scowl, loathing it. “The very last thing I need is another title. I’m Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan and that is all I want to be known as. Not the girl who took a vampire’s punishment, not the infamous whore, not the prophesised whatever-it-was. I’m just Eve.”

“Well, Just Eve, you are one of the most influential women ever to have lived,” he reminds me before he relaxes, smiling his relief. “Look, this is the last shovel full of zombie bits.”

Closing the incinerator I don’t resist the urge to grin along with him, sharing his relief. Despite my remorse that we couldn’t save all of the zombies I can’t help but be glad that we’ve finished ridding the world of them. “Ok, I’m going to go and have a shower if I can find some working facilities.”

I don’t like the idea of being alone in the now abandoned Paladin residential block but I can’t stand being grime covered any longer. It takes a little searching to locate a shower room but when I do I also find a locker room stocked up with towels and clean uniforms. Staring at my monstrous image in the mirror I go against my natural hatred of the idea and pick a Senate uniform to change into.

The shower itself is wonderful. The hot water eases the ache I’ve developed in my shoulders while spending a day shovelling body parts. Blood drips from my limbs, swirling down the drain as I scrub at my skin, determined to remove every last trace of zombie from my pores. Only once I’m red raw and my skin is tingling do I turn off the water.

I may be desperate for clean clothes but I still scowl at the black Paladin uniform before using my fangs to unpick the badge stitched to the breast of the t-shirt. I might agree to wear the clothes but I don’t have to wear the Senate emblem. After tossing the badge down on top of my irreparably stained jeans I leave the showers, wondering how Craig is faring.

As I make my way back through the residential quarters a room to my left catches my attention and I push open the door, revealing one of the numerous bunk rooms. Flicking on the light my mood sours again at the sight of the two rows of bunk beds lined up against the walls. The Paladins who lived here had once had their own rooms; they’d shared beds with wives and lovers. The Senate had turned them into soldiers without leave and made them prisoners as well as tools.

Wandering into the room an inexplicable force pulls me towards one of the beds, like gravity. A brass plate screwed to the headboard still reads ‘1352’ and I guess the senate had never replaced Rob. Perching on the edge of the bed I can’t stop the flow of memories which play through my mind, mine and his. We’ve come a long way since March 2009 and I can only hope that after Charleston’s execution we may find some closure.

“You found my bed then.” Rob asks from the doorway, making me jump.

“Not intentionally,” I answer, standing up again. “I just sort of ended up here.”

“Me too,” he answers bitterly, “somehow I just seemed to end up here.”

“You had the same idea as me then?” I say, casting my mildly disapproving gaze over the uniform he’s wearing. He could be 1352 again, dressed like that. Not that 1352 was bad really, not in the end. I suppose the uniform just brings back bad memories.

“I hate it just as much as you do,” he admits, straightening the t-shirt he’s wearing inside out, presumably to hide the badge. “It’s better than zombie guts though. I just wish I’d thought to remove the badge rather than appear like I don’t know how to dress myself.” Tugging the garment over his head he does as I had just done and tosses the offending emblem to the floor.

“Well, not everyone is as smart as me,” I tease, returning to his side as he replaces the top. “How’re Craig and Rachel?”

“That’s what I’ve come to tell you, they’ve both stopped screaming and they’re fully healed. We reckon they’ll wake up soon if you wish to be there when they do.” Rob’s arms lock around me, holding me against his front as he nuzzles my newly cleaned hair. “I dreamed about you often while I was here. Not just the dreams in the park I’ve already mentioned. Once we brought you here I dreamed about you every night. Many nights it was horrible,” he adds, “you just surrendered to me over and over and over and I couldn’t understand why or why it hurt to watch you do it.”

Snuggling into him I kiss his throat, “That’s done now; we can start making better dreams.”

“We are making better dreams,” Rob replies, taking my hand as he tugs me out of the bunk room, closing the door behind us and sealing in the ghosts of a past he would have done anything to avoid.

Together we walk back to the lab where Tul is guarding our potential converts. Rob’s hand grips mine firmly, as if he’ll never let me go. I hope that’s true, I hope we’ll never be forced to let go again.

“He’s coming round,” Tul informs us as we enter the lab and I suddenly feel nervous. Please let this work. I can’t tolerate the thought that we may have turned a friend into a raving lunatic.

Craig’s eyelids flutter open and I can smell his confusion as he tries to reassemble memories. His gaze flicks between us and his frown deepens. “Why are you all in Senate uniforms?” He demands, concern clear in his expression. Perhaps it would have been wiser to remain covered in zombie blood after all.

“Don’t worry,” I smile as reassuringly as I can, “we haven’t all signed up or anything. Our clothes just got messy so we borrowed some uniforms.”

Craig looks around, taking in his surroundings and Rachel’s still unconscious body lying on the trolley next to him. “We’re still in the Science Facility, why do you three look so relaxed?” His nose scrunches up, as he sniffs his t-shirt, “And Christ, I stink like the grave.” His voice trails off a moment as he sinks into thought. “The grave,” he mumbles, “and bodies. There were bodies but they moved, one bit me and I couldn’t breathe. I don’t remember. What happened?”

Wide eyed and obviously afraid of our response he jumps of the bed, staggering as his new and improved body launches him further than he had intended. Eyes widening further a realisation dawns on him. He looks up at me, “You’ve changed me?”

Shaking my head I point him in Tul’s direction, “Tul made you. I’ve converted too many as it is. This whole thing was Tul’s idea. We didn’t want to leave you.”

“Leave me?” Scowling again he tilts his head, still trying to remember. “You did leave me, you had to leave me. I wasn’t me after that thing bit me. My head is so damn foggy,” he mutters, irritated by his inability to clearly string together memories. “What were those things?”

“We’re calling them zombies,” Tul answers, trying to keep his tone reassuring. “It’s the best description we have. You became one, that’s why we’ve changed you.”

“Huh,” Craig murmurs still frowning. When he turns to me again there’s shame in his expression. I expect he remembers not listening to me when he opened the vault which is why his next words take me by surprise. “I saw you, through the vision panel of the door. You were naked and chained to a trolley but I didn’t recognise you.”

My gut twists as I remember his milky white eyes staring blankly through the reinforced glass of a closed door. “Yeah, I suffered a minor case of decapitation and death. After which I was brought here to be tortured, again. We’ve all had a tough time of late.” Leaning back against a counter I shrug as if the past doesn’t matter, “Things are getting better though.”

He glances around again, still uncomfortable with our location, “So much better that we no longer need to be bothered when sitting in a Senate facility?”

“There is no Senate,” Rob responds, “all their headquarters have been cleared out. Hardy Charleston is in Alliance custody and due to be executed tomorrow night. The world’s changed.”

Craig gapes, disbelief and astonishment flavouring the air as his scent gives away his emotions. “How long have I been a zombie?”

The door swings open and Robbie strides into the lab, still rubbing a towel through his hair and newly clothed in a uniform that matches those Rob, Tul and I are wearing. Craig raises a brow at the new comer and looks at me for answers. I’d forgotten Robbie arrived only after we lost Craig.

“This is Robbie,” I explain, “Rob’s son.”

Both of Craig’s brows shoot up in an expression of absolute shock. Finding out he’s now Strix and was previously a zombie is apparently less astonishing that the idea of Rob having a son. He looks at Rob, then back at me, “How long have I been a zombie?” He repeats.

I laugh this time, taking his meaning. “Robbie isn’t mine,” I clarify with a grin, “he’s Rob’s from when Rob was human. While I am indeed pregnant, you haven’t been out of things long enough for me to have an adult son.”

“You’re pregnant?” He holds his hand up for Tul to high five, “Congratulations mate.” The now familiar frown reappears, “Erm, this is a congratulations moment isn’t it?” He mumbles studying Rob and Tul.

He relaxes when they both nod but his mood doesn’t last. “How’s Felicity?” He requests, his expression guilty and brimming with concern.

“Grieving,” I tell him honestly, “we couldn’t tell her about this encase it went wrong. She’ll be relieved to see you.”

Rachel groans, and her interruption briefly takes our attention. Rob helps her to pull herself upright and she rubs her head in confusion. “What’s going on?”

I smile at Craig, “Come on, I’ll show you where the showers are while they bring Rachel up to speed. Felicity will be even more thrilled to see you if you’re a bit less stinky on your return.”

He follows me without question as I make my way back through the corridors. He glances briefly into the blood splattered corridor where the zombies had been imprisoned but moves quickly on. No one would want to dwell near that place. “What happened to the rest?”

“We had to get rid of them,” there’s a lot of guilt in my statement, even I can hear it. Robbie had been correct; I do carry a lot of guilt now. “If they escaped they would’ve destroyed the world.”

“And you couldn’t save them all,” he finishes for me. “Tough call.”

Nodding I concede, “There’s been a lot of those recently.”

“Were you executed? Like Rob?” Craig asks, trying to piece together everything that had happened since his unfortunate case of becoming a flesh eating monster.

“No,” shaking my head I wonder how to explain this story as briefly as possible. “It’s a rather long tale of woe but the brief version starts when I killed Donal Murphy. Turns out he’d sired Robbie’s mother, who also happened to be Tul’s ex fiancé but that’s another story. She challenged me. I, rather foolishly, let her go rather than killing her. She joined the Senate soon afterwards.

Hardy Charleston used my blood and venom to become Strix, he then turned Tess, Robbie’s mother. She attacked headquarters with Helen, who Charleston had also turned and I lost my head.

Rob and Tul went on a bit of a suicidal rampage after that and Hardy decided the best way to stop them from obliterating his regime on their own was to reattach my head. By torturing me he tortured and therefore incapacitated them. Then I escaped... or was released. We’re not sure because Strix can all track their sires, or so it seems. We think he may have let me escape so that he could follow the movements of Rob, Tul or the Alliance in general.”

Craig stares at me as we approach the Paladin area, “You have shit luck,” he exclaims and I can’t help laughing, he is right after all. “So I take it you had to kill Robbie’s mother?”

“Robbie killed his mother.” Indicating towards the showers I remind him, “Like I said there’s been a lot of tough decisions to make recently.”

He turns towards me before he enters the showers, “I know Tul is technically my sire but I also know you’re reluctant to make too many Strix. I know that if you’d said no he wouldn’t have done it, so I thank you anyway. Thank you for giving me a second chance.”

Nodding my acceptance of his thanks I leave him to get cleaned up. Not long afterwards Rachel showers as well and I’m thrilled when we’re all finally ready to go home. I can’t wait to be out of here. “I never want to see this place again,” I announce as we trudge back through the deserted corridors.

“The feeling is certainly mutual,” Rob agrees.

I still pause though, as we pass the doors to the testing room Charleston and Upton had prepared for me. Sensing my shudder and my regret Tul glances through the open door, seeing the assault course and maze for the first time. He takes my hand, squeezing lightly. “Never again,” he promises.

“Never again,” Rob echoes him, taking my other hand.

I won’t say we have a comfortable ride home, even in something the size of a Range Rover six fully grown adults is a bit of a squeeze and we only achieve the feat by having me sit on Tul’s knee for the duration of the journey. Craig fidgets increasingly with every passing mile, no doubt nervous of his reunion with the woman he’d only just begun to date when tragedy struck. He has to face her though, sooner rather than later.

Only Johan and Felicity are waiting for us when we return and as I step down onto the tarmac Felicity demands angrily, “Is it done, did you finish him?”

Without answering I tilt my head, indicating to the car. The other rear passenger door opens as Craig climbs out to stare uncertainly at the woman who’d been his girlfriend. “Hi Fel,” he offers anxiously, “how’ve you been?”

There’s no etiquette for reacquainting yourself with your previously dead or zombified lover, as I know from experience. Felicity’s reaction is a pleasure to watch though as her scowl breaks into a grin and she shrieks in what I can only presume is unadulterated joy. She throws herself into Craig’s arms, kissing him in a way that suggests she may actually devour him whole.

Rachel comes to my side, she smiles briefly at Craig and Felicity before she asks, “Will you ring Blake? I don’t want to just phone him out of the blue. This is too astonishing to explain. Would you phone him for me?”

Taking my phone from my pocket I dial the number she gives me from memory, waiting as it rings.

“Hello?” Blake answers, “Can I help you?” he asks, not recognising my number.

“Blake, it’s Eve, Eve Blakethorn-Sullivan.” I hope his offer of friendship had been genuine, if he hangs up on me I’ll be devastated.

“Eve!” I’m grateful for the genuine warmth in his tone. “What can I do for you?”

How do I break this news? Is there a good way to tell someone you’ve brought their girlfriend back from the dead? At least he’s a vampire and can’t die of a heart attack. “You know what I am. You know how I changed Rob from Paladin to Strix to save him?” At his affirmation I continue, “Well we’ve been back to the Senate Science Facility and there’s someone would like to talk to you.”

I can hear his breath catch as he gulps, understanding my meaning but terrified he could be mistaken all the same. With a grin I pass the phone to Rachel. “Hello Blake,” she greets him shyly, “can you come and take me home?”

Happy to leave my phone with her, I curl around Tul while pulling Rob alongside us. “I could really do with going to bed, two days in that place has me exhausted.”

Tul hugs me, squeezing lightly. “Food first,” he commands, “you’ve not been eating properly the last two days. Then you can have as much sleep as you want, I promise.”