*AN - the song for this chapter is No Sleep by The Cardigans*
“What do you mean the last one?” Elsa asked, “Sebastian can’t die, demons can, surely the immortality will have come from his mother?”
“Sebastian is not an angel and he is not a demon,” Marcus explained, “He is something else entirely and the normal laws of the supernatural don’t apply to him. Angels could die if they were weak enough.”
“What would have weakened her?”
“Angels were never meant to bear children Elsa, the attack by the demon, the pregnancy and the birth would have left her severely weakened. And angels had been dying off for years already.”
Elsa thought about what she understood angels to be, “Is there a God?” she asked, “A heaven?”
“I have no idea,” said Marcus, “The angels I am talking about are not the angels you will know from Bible stories. They are simply another type of supernatural being, an ancient race who were by nature good and pure. Maybe they were called angels because they resemble the beings from the Bible; maybe the angels in the Bible are a writers creation based on sightings of the sort of being we know angels to be.”
“Angels were very powerful at one time. They had the power to heal and they were considered guardians of the human race, protectors against demons and other threats. But the world, as we know, is not always a very nice place and it seemed that with every war, with every atrocity across the ages that humans could inflict on one another, angel’s powers became weaker and weaker. They became less and less able to defend themselves against demon attacks and there are unproven accounts of children being born as a result of a demon and angel union.”
Elsa seized on that piece of information, “You mean there could be other people out there like Sebastian?” she asked.
Marcus shook his head, “I suppose it is a remote possibility but all of the stories about such things happening,” he hesitated, “Elsa, they are horrific.”
“In what way?” Elsa didn’t understand what her father was getting at.
“The children were abominations, they are reported as tearing their way out of their mothers abdomens, of being hideously deformed and, if they survived, they were destroyed immediately.”
“Sebastian’s mother survived his birth, he appeared human,” Elsa said, “He didn’t show any of his demon side until he was about eighteen.”
“I can’t explain why he is different Elsa,” Marcus admitted, “Maybe the fact that he is more – normal – is actually a kind of birth defect. He should have been one of those awful creatures that feature in these old tales and he wasn’t. Maybe he’s an anomaly, a lucky accident of genetics.”
They were both quiet for a moment. Discovering what Sebastian was, finding out who his mother was, none of it bought them any closer to finding him.
“This does help us understand why Vincent was so happy to take him.” Marcus said finally, breaking the silence as if they’d continued the conversation in his head, “Vampires have long searched for hybrid creatures such as this, believing their blood to possess special powers. Your reaction to Sebastian’s blood has proven this and Vincent would never pass up an opportunity to increase his own power and that of his followers and his children.”
“His children?”
“When a vampire turns a human, that human is linked to them, dependent on them for support and teaching. The vampire has created a new vampire that they will nurture and teach in their own ways. We know what that means for Vincent.”
Elsa fell silent once more. Not only were they no closer to finding Sebastian she now had images in her mind of what was surely happening to him. He couldn’t die, she knew that, but Vincent would keep him constantly weak and drained of blood. He would be used as a food source and nothing more. He felt pain, he would know what was happening to him and be powerless to stop it. Every time he healed they would hurt him again, taking his blood and his strength for their own and keeping him as a shell, a vessel for their needs and wants. She couldn’t bear it.
A noise broke through her despairing thoughts, a distinct scream that she recognised too well. Her father hadn’t heard it all the way from the medical unit but she had. Kate was awake.
“Dad, Kate’s come round, she’s terrified,” Elsa didn’t know if she should go to her friend or if that would just make things worse.
“Go,” Marcus said, “Tell her everything, we can’t erase her memory, she will either accept what you have to say or not.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Elsa asked, “If she goes home ranting about vampires she’ll be committed!”
“You have to make her understand,” Marcus said, looking at Elsa with sympathy, “We all do. If we can’t trust her to keep your secret, she won’t be able to go home.”
The reality of what her father was saying hit Elsa hard. Not only had she almost killed her friend, if she couldn’t make her understand and accept her secret, Kate’s life would be entirely ruined along with that of her family. She would never be able to go back. Elsa had to go to her, she had to try and make her understand.
“Will you come and tell me as soon as you find anything that might lead us to Vincent?” she asked.
Marcus nodded.
“I will be involved,” she said and it wasn’t a question, there was no way she was going to leave Sebastian again, if they found out where he was, she was going to get him and no one would get in her way.
Once again, Marcus silently nodded his understanding of what she was saying. His jaw was set, he did not want to agree, but he understood and he knew deep down that he was powerless to stop her.
Elsa moved quickly back to the medical unit. Kate was no longer screaming and as Elsa entered the room she saw Hesper stood over her friend, adjusting a drip.
“I’ve sedated her,” Hesper explained, answering Elsa’s unspoken questions, “She woke up with an instant recollection of what had happened and was extremely agitated. She is awake and will be able to speak to you and understand what you are saying but be careful Elsa, she is very fragile.”
Elsa nodded and as Hesper glided silently from the room, she resumed her previous seat by Kate’s bed and reached out to place her hand on Kate’s.
Kate pulled her hand away with surprising speed for one so sedated. Stung, Elsa folded her hands in her lap. Kate’s eyes were closed and she turned her head away from Elsa as if to try and shut her as far out of her consciousness as possible.
“Kate,” Elsa said, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know where to begin.”
Kate said nothing, Elsa might as well have not been there at all.
“I know I hurt you,” Elsa continued, “And scared you, I never wanted to do that. I can only tell you that it wasn’t really me in that room Kate, the man that captured us did that to me to try and hurt my dad and I.” She paused but there was still no reaction from Kate. Elsa wasn’t sure where to go from there. Should she start from the beginning? Could Kate even begin to understand? It was going to sound ridiculous, I’m a vampire. Kate might have seen it with her own eyes but Elsa had had enough trouble coming to terms with it herself. As far as Kate was concerned, until being trapped in that room, vampires didn’t exist.
“What are you?” Kate’s voice was quiet, she slurred slightly but there was no disguising the contempt in her tone and Elsa could feel fear and confusion radiating from her friend. But she was speaking, she was engaging with Elsa and that was a start.
“I am a vampire,” Elsa said, deciding brutal truth was the best angle, “I wasn’t always, something happened to me that night we crashed. When I was a baby, before I was even born, my mother was attacked and killed by vampires. I survived and when I showed no symptoms of vampirism my father thought I’d had a lucky escape but it turns out that it just lay dormant in my system. When I came round in the car you and Grant were both unconscious. You were above me and bleeding, the blood dripped onto my face and that’s what woke me up. I couldn’t move and your blood dripped onto my lips. I tasted it without even realising what was happening and slowly, I began to change. All that time I was ill, all my strange behaviour was the change happening. I almost became a monster, like the monster you saw in that room. My dad saved me.”
“Don’t – exist,” Kate’s eyes were still screwed shut, as if looking at Elsa would make her have to believe what she was saying.
“That’s what I thought too,” Elsa said, “But we do and I am one. My dad works for an organisation called Haven. They have been protecting the human race from supernatural beings for thousands of years. He knew how to help me, they gave me medication to stop me craving blood so I could live as normal a life as possible. If a vampire wants to hold onto their humanity they can be saved Kate. That’s what happened to me. The man that took us, he is also a vampire. His name is Vincent but he does not want his humanity back. He is the other kind of vampire that simply see humans as a food source and enjoy causing hurt and pain. He and my father have history, he wanted to force me to give up my humanity to hurt my dad. He kept you and I locked in that room and took away my medication. He hurt me so I lost a lot of blood. He tried to create a situation where my vampire side would take over and I would not be able to stop myself from hurting you.”
“He succeeded.” Kate opened her eyes and turned her head to look accusingly at Elsa, “You would have killed me.”
“Not me,” Elsa said pleadingly, “I would never hurt you Kate. What you saw, that thing that attacked you, was not me. It isn’t what I want to be and you will never see it again, I promise you.”
“You’re right,” Kate’s voice was dead and she rolled onto her side, her back to Elsa, “I never want to see or speak to you again.”
“Kate,” Elsa begged, “Please, there’s so much I need to explain to you, so much you need to understand.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Kate said coldly, “I want you to go away and leave me alone.”
“I can’t,” Elsa said, her voice choked with emotion, “I need you to understand about Haven, about how important it is that no one knows about them and what they do and ...”
“Like anyone would believe me anyway,” Kate spat, still with her back to Elsa, “I won’t tell anyone your secret Elsa, I don’t care about you or your father. I just want to go home to my family and try to forget either of you ever existed.”
Elsa felt like Kate was stabbing her in the heart, “Kate-“
“Get out.”
Elsa opened her mouth to speak again but she simply didn’t know what to say. She could feel Kate’s anger, her sense of betrayal, her confusion and pain. She searched for some indication that Kate could ever accept her for what she was and forgive her for what she’d done but she found none. Finally, defeated, Elsa stood and left the room. Standing against the wall in the corridor outside and listening to Kate sob into her pillow, Elsa felt completely lost. What was she supposed to do now? She’d lost the man she loved, her best friend and almost her own humanity. The weight of the guilt pressing down on her was becoming more and more unbearable. She needed a focus, something positive to do that might in some small way begin to fix the damage that had been done to her life and the lives of those closest to her. An image of Vincent formed in her mind. She had never felt such deep, burning hatred. He was at the centre of it all. He had been the cause of her mother’s death, it was his fault she had become a vampire in the first place. He had used her friend to try and turn her from her humanity and he had taken Sebastian. He was the root of every evil that had occurred in her life since before she was even born. She would kill him, of that she had no doubt. That was her focus. She would not rest until she had found him and killed him.
*AN - I know you all want Sebastian found, there will be developments in the next chapter I promise!*