When I entered the room she was sitting on the edge of the bed looking out of the window. She didn’t acknowledge my presence as I sat down next to her.
“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you where I was today… I should have, I’m sorry.” She continued to stare out the window, “Whatever happens, I swear that I will never leave you again.” My voice shook a little but I continued, “I know that both of us have done terrible things, and that many many years have passed… but at the end of the day, you’re still my little sister.”
Finally she looked at me, “who are you calling little?” she looked sad but her mouth pulled up into a small smile and I knew I had been forgiven. “I’m… not the same as I was though, when you knew me before.”
“Neither of us are… but I think we still have a lot in common.”
“Yes… apart from…”
“Jamie?” I could easily guess what she was getting at.
“Yes, I don’t understand how you can be so… close to him, he’s human. Don’t you just want to… ah bite him?”
I sighed, “You have to understand… for a long time I was terrible. I hurt and killed more people than I can count. I regretted nothing and I took what I wanted regardless of the situation. The only thing I really cared about in this world was William. When he was gone…” I hesitated for a moment, “I got even worse. It took a long time for me to start to realise that… humans are worth knowing. They’re not that different from us, in fact they’re probably better. We used to be human before we got this… thing inside of us which makes us what we are now.”
She nodded, “It takes over everything. It ends up so everything you do is just aimed towards getting blood. It makes everything else not matter.”
I didn’t like the slightly crazy look she got in her eyes as she spoke, but her description was accurate. “Exactly,” I said, “and that’s no way to live. There has to be more meaning to life,”
“Do you love him?” she asked suddenly, taking me off guard a little.
“Yes, yes I do.” I admitted, “I didn’t expect to, it came as a bit of a surprise really. I mean, the past couple of years I have been trying to reach out to people more. I somehow made a couple of human friends, David and Anna.” Although David had somehow got the impression we were more than that I remembered with chagrin. “David isn’t human anymore though, there was an accident and he… he was dying…”
“I remember you mentioning him before. He is the one that is captured.”
“Yes”
“I’ve never turned anyone.” She confessed. “I tried a few times but it always ended badly.” I assume she meant that she ate them instead. “I don’t ever remember loving anyone either. I didn’t believe it was possible for a vampire.”
“It is possible.” I assured her. I put my hand over my heart, “I feel it.”
She stared at me silently for a moment, reading the sincerity of my expression. “I want to try and live like you.” She finally declared. “I don’t find it likely that I’ll ever fall in love… but I would like to try this idea of connecting with people. It may come in useful considering the current crisis anyhow. I could do with something to fight for.”
“There is one thing that you aren’t going to like.” I told her cautiously, “I don’t… well I hardly ever drink from humans.”
“So how do you survive?” she exclaimed, the surprise obvious in her tone.
“I mostly drink donated blood. I get it from the hospital.”
“That’s what you’re keeping in the fridge. I knew something smelt strange but I didn’t want to pry.”
“Yes, I survived only on that for a long time, its only recently I’ve added in a little fresh blood again.”
“If it’s so good for survival why was that necessary?” her tone had become challenging.
I laughed awkwardly, “It’s not necessary but… sometimes it’s fun... when Jamie is around.”
I watched her grasp my meaning, “Oh, of course.”
“It does make it harder though,” I added seriously, “having a little and making yourself resist the need for more.”
“I can imagine. I’m not sure that I can do it.”
“But do you want to try?” she nodded, “then that’s a good start.”
We both went back downstairs, since I didn’t want to leave Jamie alone for too long. Beatrice would hopefully be behaving for the time being at least but I was very aware that Felix was unlikely to see things the same way.
I could see she was making an effort when we entered the living room. Jamie had been dozing but he sat up a little when we came in. She walked straight over to him and held out her hand. He took it with surprise and a little trepidation.
“I’m sorry that we weren’t properly introduced before.” She said. “I’m Beatrice, Jade’s sister. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” He said, clearly confused about her sudden acknowledgement of his existence.
Felix entered the room and frowned at us all. “What is going on in here?”
“I have decided to adopt my sister’s approach towards humans.” Beatrice stated. “This one… Jamie is clearly an important person in her life, and seeing as she is my sister he must be important to me too.”
I wasn’t sure she had grasped the point exactly, but I had to give her credit for trying.
He shrugged, “Whatever, as long as I’m not expected to participate.”
My eyes narrowed as I glared at him, “I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t lay a finger on him.”
His retort was cut off by Jamie himself; “Hey! I am still in the room you know!”
Walking over to him I took his hand. “Yes, I know I’m sorry.” I didn’t point out the fact that he wasn’t in the best condition to defend himself, because I knew it would annoy him in front of people. Instead I said, “Are you hungry? There must be some food left in the house.”
“Yeah I guess so, I’ll go-“
“No stay there.” I said quickly, not wanting him to get up, “I’ll get you something.” After a quick inspection of the kitchen I found the options were limited. “I can either get you baked beans, instant macaroni cheese or some tinned soup.” I called. All the fresh food had been taken out of the fridge. There was a slightly stale half loaf of bread forgotten in the bread bin so I popped a couple of slices into the toaster to go with the pasta. The only drinks I could find were cider or water from the tap. I settled on the water, it would go better with all the pain killers he was on.
His appetite was remarkably good considering he was just out of hospital. He rapidly cleared the plate and drank the water. I brought him more to take his tablets with.
Once he’d eaten I sat curled up with him on the sofa for a couple of hours, not really paying attention to whatever was on the TV since I was far too happy just to be with him again. Once he started yawning I suggested we should go to bed. I wasn’t particularly tired but 'he needed sleep. Unfortunately Beatrice and Felix had claimed the master bedroom leaving us to have the children’s one. We both fitted into one of the single beds which thankfully had clean sheets. I didn’t want the strong scent of human child to surround me all night. I balanced along the edge since I wanted him to be as comfortable as possible with his healing wound.
I’d got a good couple of hours sleep when I awoke with a start. The sounds of Felix quietly leaving the house caught my attention. I wasn’t surprised. I had suspected he’d been going out at night for blood, but since I hadn’t been around at night to witness it I hadn’t given the matter too much thought. I also assumed that Beatrice had been going with him, but tonight was different.
A few minutes after he had left I heard their bedroom door open. She walked out onto the landing but then stopped, probably unsure of what to do. Careful not to disturb Jamie I went out to meet her.
“I’m hungry.” She whispered meaningfully.
Nodding I said, “Come with me.”
We went downstairs and entered the kitchen. I pulled a glass from the cupboard and set it on the worktop. She said nothing as I got a blood bag from where I had stored them in the fridge, but I watched her fingers grip the counter tightly as I slit the top of the bag open allowing the scent the fill the room.
Wordlessly I passed the now full glass to her and watched as she cautiously sniffed it before taking a sip. Immediately her face screwed up.
“It’s so… cold.” She muttered, trying to keep the revulsion from her tone.
“You can microwave it if that helps?” I offered.
She shook her head, “I don’t think it will help.”
I knew what she meant. Out of a bag it just didn’t have the same feeling of life as it did straight from the body. It just lacked something somehow. I sighed, “Can you give it a try? Just for now?”
She let out a huff of air, “I’ll try. For you sister.” After downing the rest of the glass she stood up. “I’m going back to bed. It put me off going out at least.”
After she’d turned and disappeared from the room I followed her example. Slipping back in with Jamie without a sound.
Felix slipped back in the downstairs window in the early hours of the morning. Jamie didn’t stir until mid-morning but I let him sleep knowing he needed his rest. He disappeared into the bathroom for a while to wash and change and I met him downstairs. The best option for breakfast was some dry cereal since there was no milk.
I hadn’t planned on making our presence in the house obvious but since we’d already destroyed the china cabinet and most of its contents I figured it wouldn’t matter too much if we took the food too. On further thought it could be a good thing if we did. Vampires didn’t eat food. The authorities would be more likely to assume it was a homeless person or squatters.
“Whose house is this?” Jamie asked as if reading my thoughts.
Shrugging I said, “I don’t know. The family are not here so we’re borrowing it.”
He frowned, “Oh. What if they come back?”
“Hopefully they won’t for a while. I don’t think we should stay here much longer though, just in case.”
“Makes sense, but where else are we going to go?”
“That is a good question.” Said Felix, strolling into the room. Beatrice followed and perched on the side of an armchair. “And the more important issue; what are we going to do? You wanted to be close to the action so we can help your friends, but so far we’ve done nothing!”
“I have a plan.” I announced, catching them all by surprise. It was something I had been considering for most of the night whilst Jamie slept. I’d been preoccupied whilst he was still in the hospital, but now he was safe and recovering it was time to do something. “We need to find someone in the government. Someone who has access to high clearance files.”
“Like the kind that might say where two vampires may be being kept?” Beatrice guessed.
“Exactly.”
“How are you going to do that?” Felix didn’t sound convinced.
“I know a couple of boys who might be able to help.” I said, thinking of the two boys I’d met on the rooftops, Harry and Darren. They weren’t the best but I knew how closely they were following the situation as it broke out. They should know who was on what side at least. Plus I was pretty sure they would be willing to talk to me.