Blood & Power [Book One of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

1.13: Youth

Two guards had entered through the doors behind me and taken a forceful grasp of a shoulder each, pulling me back with no dithering. When I'd reached the threshold of the doorway, they'd removed their hands quickly, took a step forward and pushed me from the room and into the wall opposite the door in quick succession.

The guards had exited the room two steps behind me and slammed that giant brown door shut behind them before they'd disappeared down the hallway without a second glance towards me.

The dust from the concrete wall floated down to my shoulders; pieces of paint and plaster flaking away from the imprint I'd made. I picked myself up off the floor and dusted myself off. I had little intention of going back in, but the exit was a bit much. Even for me. Surely the guards had enough to throw around with all the punishments they liked to give out here.

I stumbled down the hallway and back along to the lobby of the building. As early as it was, the building was already filling up with human workers and werewolves; the early risers who wanted away as timely as possible. The rows of orange and blue chairs that stood within the lobby of the building were nearly full; each chair was filled by a person clutching a piece of paper, and waiting to be called. Kara used to call this lobby the 'hospital wing' and given how pale and anxious the inhabitants looked, I could see why.

I was about to take a seat amongst the others and wait for Adrienne to burst out of the room shortly after me, but someone had caught my eye.

A young boy with a pale complexion who was rocking back and forth on a chair at the front, his eyes bright but blank as he stared straight ahead. His hands gripped the edge of the seat impatiently. As I got closer I noticed his eyes were a dusty orange that I was too familiar with. I debated my next move carefully, before approaching the boy cautiously.

"Hey there little man, it's a little early for you to be here, isn't it?" I say as I knelt in front of him. He had met my question with a beaming smile that had shown off the fangs hidden in his set of babies. I found myself gritting my teeth as I asked, "What's your name?"

Central had realised early on that half of their staff would need to orient around vampire hours if their work was to be completed. Instead, the leaders had adapted the sewer that ran underneath the building and towards Eastern. It became a tunnel that the vampires could use to gain access to the main building, without being affected by the sun. However, the only operational hours ran between eleven to five, the "work hours" of human life. This meant the boy had been here for hours.

"Henry. My name is Henry," The boy had replied, beginning to sway from side to side slowly with his hands clasped firmly together. He was eyeing me up eagerly with a smile that had been painted onto his face with little thought to removal. His presence in the room was already lighting it up with sparks of hope and purity, but that smile... that smile could bring light to anyone's day.

As I looked down at him there was something that rang a little too familiar about him that went beyond his eyes; every little feature seemed to harken back to something in my past that I spent years trying to forget; spell upon spell to undo as best as I could. Each passing second I looked at this boy seemed to be causing pain at the forefront of my brain, to the point I had to avoid his gaze as best as I could manage.