Fearless Fiery Beauty

Chapter 21: Revelations

“And why would you guys want to get me alone?”  Warning bells were going off in Edana’s head but she pushed them aside, these were her friends for Christ’s sake!  She could trust them.

“Well, why wouldn’t we want to spend some alone-time with the saviour of Amphioxus’s kingdom?  The little human girl who is single-handedly going to force us back into hiding, into pretending we’re equal to humans instead of taking our rightful place on top.”

The warning bells had switched off by now.  She no longer needed them.  Whether she considered them friends or not was inconsequential, they were obviously against her.  “You’re Gaunts.”  She already knew, it was obvious, but she wanted them to admit it.

They just laughed.  “Finally caught on have you?  Why do you think we spent so much time trying to get to know you, to spend so much time with you?  Because we liked you?  Don’t be ridiculous!  Vampires were always meant to rule, we’re faster, stronger, better beings!”  Josh snarled.  “You said so yourself, during your little heart to heart with Philip, vampires have the power.”

“I specifically remember saying that there’s nothing wrong with having the power as long as you don’t misuse it!”  She retaliated.

“Human constrictions, your ideas of good and evil are so warped that even you can’t agree on what is and isn’t!”  Dantè returned.

“So are Darren, Christian and Philip in on this too?”  She demanded.

Josh snorted, “Please, those three are so moral it’s disgusting!  Darren’s dedication to Amphioxus is pathetic, as is Christian’s need to let the memory of his old family seep into his new life, and Philip well that boy is just plain useless!”

“What happened to you Josh?  If you’re so proud to be a vampire, why turn your back on the one who turned you?  Why betray Darren like this?”

Josh laughed, “You really do know nothing, don’t you?  Darren never turned me.  I’m the only one in our little club that wasn’t.  I was a tax-collector in my previous life, but I had a habit of skimming a little off the top.  When I was eventually caught, the king was out for blood, literally.  I ran, fearing for my life, and eventually met Saven.  He told me all about himself and offered to turn me.  I didn’t believe him at first, but he convinced me by killing a local whore and leaving her bloodless corpse in the gutter.  He was offering me the world on a platter, who was I to say no?  He explained the goals of the Gaunts, what their plans where, and I was more than willing to go along with them.  So, they put me in Darren’s area to scout out what was happening and turning as many people as possible to our cause.  Darren found me, thought I was a crazed Pale and took me in.  Eventually we found Dantè.  He was the first person I turned, my first convert.  I tried to convert Philip too, but he was too stupid to understand!  So loyal to Darren and Christian!”  He grinned, Edana realised for the first time how feral it looked.

Just as Edana was about to lunge at them in anger, the rugby ball the boys were playing with came flying over, landing a few metres behind them.  A brown haired boy came jogging over to collect it and in the blink of an eye Josh and Dantè had the boy held tightly between them.  The boys yelled demands to be released were ignored.  His friends watched anxiously from where they had been playing, unsure what to do.

“Let him go!”  Edana demanded.

“Now, now, I know that look in your eye,” Josh snickered condescendingly.  “It’s the same look you had yesterday before you attacked Edwin, and we definitely don’t want a repeat of that.  We know you’re not strong enough to attack both of us simultaneously – not now anyway – so, if you attack me, Dantè kills the boy, if you attack Dantè, I kill the boy, and we know how against hurting innocent people you are.”