Hamartia

Chapter Fifteen: Join the Fam-pires

Song: sugiwa - almost home

Recap: 

"What? You've been spying on my friend's family? Why?"

"It's confidential. You have to be a member of the council to know that."

"What is confidentiality among friends?"

"Mr O'Bargh," There was some laughter and the sound of teapots clinking. "You are the one who refused to be a member of the council. You don't have access, unless you have changed your mind?" Knox murmured something unintelligible under his breath.

"Maybe. Maybe I should change my mind."

"Was that all?"

"I wanted to ask about a vampire hunter, a man called Gunner? Kind of dark hair and really quiet?"

"Ah, yes, Gunner, I'm afraid all files on him are confidential. And the only thing I can tell you is that they might possibly be tied to Desdemona's abilities. Now, I have a meeting to attend to, but call me tomorrow about eleven-ish and we should be able to work out you becoming a member."

Chapter Fifteen: Join the Fam-pires

All Shelley Mary-Anne McDermot had expected to do that morning was arrange her brightly coloured and well-ordered folders in a new arrangement in the new storage cupboards near her desk in one of the office areas closest to the unloading area for supplies. She never liked her station of work within the club but it had been by Lord Portly's orders himself that there would be a transposition of jobs within the work place. Of course, Lord Portly owned many areas of North Holingbrooke but for some reason, he liked to control the management of his second, Hector Quincey's establishment, and the well-known and well-liked vampire club – Le Morte. Shelley McDermot initially worked in finance when she left home as what was known as a fledgling vampire – she was a pure-blooded vampire born to two loving parents, and raised despite her physical speech impediment. She knew that she was very lucky to have been born in Jorra of all places, wherein it was standard that no vampire should have to actively hunt in order to access blood, so it was compulsory for every eating and drinking establishment to sell some kind of blood-related drink alongside the staple human beverages such as wine or water. 

This was a standard that even her parents were lucky enough to live through, as it first ran as a temporary test back in the year 2799, and later that same year became a permanent law for the entirety of Britain to uphold. However, in late December of the year 3014, the revisions of this law were redrawn to include the average still water, carbonated water; animal blood remained as the only beverages that were provided free by every establishment. Each chain restaurant started to include other kinds of blood – human, fish and so on as the years passed on. The markets had opened up again and the economy of Jorra had increased in a matter of months. 

Her parents did not conceive her in the normal way for vampires; they attempted something that they still considered genius despite how her and her three siblings all had similar disabilities which prevented them from doing what many of her friends could do within the vampire clan. Shelley still adored her family all the same – they were a relatively normal family. They went to their respective work departments, or schools, and they sent amusing cards to each other around Christmas time, even though none of them actively celebrated Christmas as anything other than a cute photograph to post on any of their sixteen social media accounts.

Shelley never saw herself as a social media user, in fact, she rarely used her phone for many different reasons, one being that it was like a large piece of glass, and though the screen was thin despite being filled with so many pieces of technological advancements, she'd never really had the time to figure out how to use it. Within the North Holingbrooke vampire clan there was something that each member went and got as soon as they turned sixteen, it was known as the Branding and was used to contact other vampires in the clan.