Chapter 8
Rome looked at herself in the mirror and tugged at the little blue dress Melissa had lent her. It was a touch too short for her liking, but it seemed to fit well. Most of Rome's clothes had been assessed by Melissa and dubbed inappropriate for a political dinner. “I don't know,” she said to her friend, who was sitting on her bed, flicking through a fashion magazine. “I don't really think it suits me.”
“Don't be silly, you look great,” Melissa replied, dismissing Rome's worries as if her opinion was unimportant. “I'm really glad you decided to come to the rally. Lisa is really sick and Robert said he had some family thing he had to get to, but Josh is coming, so we won't be too bored. You know Josh was really worried the other night at the pub when we couldn't find you.”
Rome blushed bright red, but didn't say anything, just went back to examining herself in the mirror. “I don't have any shoes that go with this dress,” she said, trying to change the subject, and hopefully Melissa's choice in outfit. “Maybe I should wear something else.”
Melissa rolled her eyes, reached into her bag and tossed Rome a pair of high heals. “Wear those, you'll be fine,” she said impatiently. “Come on Rome, anyone would think it was a hassle for you to get dressed up.”
Of course it is, Rome thought. I'm uncomfortable, I look stupid and I'm going to all this trouble to stand around in a room full of middle aged men for who knows how long, talking about things I have no interest in. It's not something I should be excited about.
She didn't say anything out loud though, just sighed and wondered why she had agreed to this in the first place.
* * *
“Come on Rome, you look like someone died,” Melissa said as she pulled her friend towards the large hall where the rally was being held. The venue was a beautiful, old fashioned manor house that had ben converted into a reception hall. It had been quite impressive as Josh drove the three of them through the huge electric gates. “We only need to stay for a few hours. I don't know why you're so against this, you never go anywhere. This should be a nice change of pace for you.”
“Leaver her alone, Mel,” Josh said, shaking his head and grinning. “I can understand why she doesn't want to be here. Even I don't like the idea of having to spend hours with politicians.”
“Then why did you agree to come?” Melissa huffed, rounding on both of them. She was looking quite angry, even through the heavy makeup she was wearing and Rome had trouble understanding why. It wasn't like any of them had actually been looking forward to this party.
Rome and Josh exchanged looks before turning back Melissa. “We didn't want you to be bored,” they said at the same time. Melissa just rolled her eyes and marched towards the hall, expecting her friends to follow.
“You're both as bad as each other,” they heard the brunette say, sounding rather annoyed. “I would rather have come on my own if I had known I would have to put up with your bad moods all night. I mean this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the two of you. I just thought you would be a little more grateful.”
“I think she needs to calm down a little,” Josh whispered to Rome, making sure his voice wasn't loud enough for Melissa to overhear. “Before that vane in her head pops. Though I thing spending our time in the emergency room would be more fun than this.”
Rome tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress a laugh, but Melissa heard her. She glaring at her friend before she disappeared into the hall. Rome sighed, it was definitely going to be a long night.
* * *
The rally was so horribly boring that Rome found it hard to stay awake, though Melissa had been right about one thing, the food was good, and at least Josh had stayed with her, unlike her friend, who rushed off almost as soon as they stepped inside.
“Do you think it's possible to die of boredom?” Josh said, he had taken a serving tray off one off the waitresses and was inspecting it critically, as if worried something on it might be alive. “Even this food is more interesting than most of the people here.”
Smiling, Rome took one of the canape's Josh offered her. They really where quite nice.
“Let's go for a walk,” Josh said, standing up. “We can get a drink form the bar over there.”
They made their way over to the bar that took up most of the back wall of the large room. It was a eye-catching feature, made out of old, dar wood and highly polished brass. Behind the counter a huge mirror fan the entire length of the bar and reflected the lights in the room beautifully.
The room itself was equally as stunning. Black marble tiles covered the floor, reflecting the light of three huge chandeliers, which were suspended from the exquisitely painted ceiling. All in all, Rome thought the room too good for the people who were currently using it.
“You look like you're having fun,” Josh said, sarcastically, as he handed the red-head a drink. “Sometimes I really don't get Melissa. She told me her father was making her come tonight and she was going to be so bored. Why are we even here if she doesn't need us to keep her company?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Rome replied. She took a sip of her drink and tried not to show Josh how much she didn't like it. Most people found it strange, but Rome couldn't stand the taste of alcoholic. She put her drink down and looked out at the room. “Why even bother inviting us?”
“Well I'm kind of glad she did,” Josh smiled. “This way I get to spend some time with you.”
Rome blushed deep red, but said nothing.
“Too be honest Rome, you're not the kind of person I would really see being friends with Melissa,” he continued. “She's very bossy and demanding, and you seem a lot more...well too nice to be friends with someone like that.”
Not knowing how to reply to that, Rome just shrugged. “She introduced herself to me in our first class together. I didn't know anyone else at the uni and she seemed nice enough. She is a little bossy, but she's not a bad person. How did you too meet?”
“We've known each other since high school,” Josh said. “You kind of get use to her after a while and she becomes less annoying. Sometimes, though, I just wish she would calm down and...”
“Rome! Josh!” Melissa's excited voice came from across the other side of the room. “Come here quick, there's someone I want you to meet. Now! Before you miss your chance!”
“I suppose we better go,” Josh said. Rome nodded. “Before that girl has a heart attack and were down one slightly more interesting, if extremely annoying, person.”
They made their way over to where Melissa was standing with her father, a rather tall, well built man of about fifty. “Come on! Dad's going to introduce us to Marcus Taylor.”
“Oh goody,” Josh said sarcastically and only loud enough for Rome to hear.
Rome had seen Marcus Taylor before, and she couldn't say that she was impressed. He looked like the majority of politicians did after spending any amount of time in their job. Slightly balding, once black, now grey hair, glasses and eyebrows that were slightly to thick to look natural.
Little changed after seeing him in person. The only thing that was noticeably different was his completion, which was now a deep red, presumably from having ingested too much alcohol.
“Ah, Matthew Scott,” Taylor said as Melissa's father approached him. “Great party this. Well done, everyone looks like their having a great time.”
“Thank you sir,” Mr Scott said. “Mr Taylor, I would like to introduce my daughter Melissa and her two friends Joshua Richards and Rome Armida. All three of them have been dying to meet you all night.”
“Mr Taylor,” Melissa said, shaking the politicians hand and grinning from ear to ear. “I'm so glad I finally get to meet you. I must say I completely agree with your position on all the issues raised lately. I especially like your plans for dealing with the vampire population.”
“Well, well,” Taylor said, nudging Mr Scott in the ribs. “I must say, you've raised a fine daughter, Scott.” He turned back to Melissa. “I like you girl. A pretty girl with brains like yours could go a long way in this line of work.”
Melissa blushed bright red. “I've always wanted to follow my father into politics,” she said, taking the wine glass her father passed her. “Dad always said I have what it takes to become Prime Minister one day.”
“What about you?” Taylor said, turning to Rome, who smiled nervously. “You have an interest in politics too, young lady?”
“I can't say I've ever really considered it as a career,” Rome replied, stepping a little further away from the man. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. “I don't think it would really suit me.”
“Nonsense,” the politician cried. “Anyone with a brain and decisive beliefs is perfect for this kind of work. All you have to do is give your opinion and stick by it. Take the vampire issue, for example, where do you stand on that?”
Rome hesitated, not wanting to offend anyone, but not intending to lie either. “Well,” she said slowly. “I think your suggestions for controlling the vampire population are a little extreme. I mean, are they really all that different from us?”
“They're incredibly dangerous beings girl,” Taylor said, before he smirked and raised a thick eyebrow at Rome, who smiled nervously and took another step away from the intoxicated politician. “Or is it that you like dangerous things?”
“Rome?” Melissa said, laughing and looking slightly jealous that the spotlight was no longer on her. “Please, I'm surprised she even finds the courage to leave her house. Rome's one of the tamest people I've ever met, she'll never do anything dangerous in her entire life.”
Rome went bright red and looked away before forcing a smile at her friend. She handed her glass to Josh, eyes fixed on the ground and feeling incredibly embarrassed . “I'm sorry Mr Taylor, Mr Scott,” she said timidly. “I've just remembered, I have an assignment due tomorrow that I really must finish. If you'll excuse me.”
“Rome wait,” Josh said, shaking his head at Melissa before handing both glasses to Mr Scott and heading off after the retreating girl. “I'll give you a lift home.”
“What was that about?” Melissa's father asked, looking after his daughters friends.
“No idea,” Melissa replied, turning back to the politician, who was on his tenth glass of wine and didn't look like he intended to stop any time soon.
About two hours after Rome and Josh left the hall, the party was still going the same way it had all evening, except now everyone had had slightly more to drink. It was then that the people gathered heard an ear splitting scream coming from the front entrance.
Moments later a waitresses ran into the hall, screaming and crying, urging someone to call emergency. Some guests, Melissa, her father and Taylor in front, rushed outside to see what was going on. The image that greeted them was horrific.
Outside, two security guards lay, twisted and unmoving, on the gravel path leading to the hall. Blood was everywhere. Closer inspection revealed that, not only was there a fight, all the blood had been completely drained from their bodies.
On the stone walls beside the two dead guards, written in blood, was a message.
We won't go quietly. You'll be next.
* * *
Nicator stumbled into the dark room, holding himself upright with one hand on the painted walls. As he staggered forward his fingers left a dark red smear on the crisp white. He grinned at the hand print that he left behind, liking the way the blood stood out.
“You are late,” a slightly annoyed voice said from the darkness. “I gave you specific instructions and you failed to carry them out in the time I allowed. This does not leave me with much confidence in your abilities, Nicator.”
“We got the job done didn't we,” the vampire replied, licking the reminisce of human blood of his fingers. “Damn good job we did too. I don't see why it matters if we wanted to hang around for a bit of a snack.”
“It matters because it was not part of my instructions,” the unseen speaker hissed. “From now on, you and your men will do exactly what I say, or I will have to terminate our contract. There are a lot of people looking for you, I hardly think I need to tell you how important my protection is.”
Nicator rolled his eyes. “You sound just like Ly,” he said. “Something along the lines of not wanting to see me get into an accident. Like he's one to talk, I didn't even know the idiot was still alive.”
“Ly?” the voice said. “You mean Lyconides Aleron, Tristan Aleron's little brother. You met him?”
“Yeah a few days ago,” Nicator replied. “I haven't seen the guy in over three years and the first thing he does is order me to drop my meal. After everything I did for him, he actually threatened me.”
“You idiot!” the voice said angrily. “You let yourself be uncovered! I should have known better then to have gotten involved with scum like you. Lyconides could cause a lot of trouble for us.”
“He won't tell anyone he saw me,” Nicator said, dismissing his bosses fears. “He owes me way to much to hand me over.”
“You better be right Nicator,” the voice said darkly. “I have come too far to let something like this stop me now. Just remember, if Ly becomes a problem for me, I will make sure there is an even bigger problem for you. Am I understood?”
* * *
Rome stood nervously in the elevator, waiting for the doors to open. She was still wearing the blue dress Melissa had lent her for the rally, having caught a bus to the crumbling building as soon as Josh had dropped her off at her apartment.
Josh had been rather apologetic about what Melissa had said, noticing how much her words had gotten to Rome, even though he didn't quite understand why she was so upset. Rome had just smiled and nodded, pretending that she was fine.
But she wasn't fine. That was why she made her way the underground blood bank once again.
This was the second time she had been here, but she didn't feel any less scared than before. She knew what she was doing was stupid, but she hated that she was so afraid. Doing this was a way to get over her fears.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped out into the white, hospital like room beyond. Behind the desk, on the other side of the room, sat a young man, hunched over some paperwork. He didn't look up until Rome was standing right in front of him.
“Are you here to make a deposit?” the man asked cheerfully as he brushed his long blond hair off his face. Rome nodded, wondering where the old doctor from last time was. “You look nervous, is this your first time?”
“No,” the girl replied, looking down at the floor. “I've been here before, a few weeks ago.”
“So you know how this works,” the young man said with an easy smile. “Great. Just follow me over to a bed and we'll have this over and done with in no time at all. My name's Valentin if you were wondering, but you can call me Val, everyone else does. Usually I only come in occasionally, but the regular doctor decided he needed some time off, so I've taken over.”
Rome looked around the empty room as Val led her to one of the beds on the left wall and began to get her ready. The fact that the usual doctor wasn't there was making her have second thoughts about doing this, but Val seemed like he knew what he was doing.
“So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?” Val asked as she sat down beside Rome's bed. “We usually only get the same people coming in all the time and you don't seem to fit into the usual categories.”
“Usual categories?” Rome said as she lay back on the bed and waited for Val to inject the needle into her arm. “What to you mean by that?”
“Well there are certain types of people who we always get in here,” Val explained. “One is the die hard vampire rights activists, the kind of people who march in protests and stuff. They're usually quite nice people, if a bit over the top. The good thing about them is they refuse to take any money from us in exchange, and that's a big help sometimes. The other main type are the people short of cash, and judging by your clothes, I don't think you're one of them.”
“Well I could use them money, but no, I don't really need it,” Rome said, looking down at her hands and cringing as Val pricked her with the needle. “And that's not why I'm here.”
“Can I guess?” the blond man said, smiling. Rome nodded for him to continue. “You're here because you wanted to do something dangerous, but you didn't want anyone else to know.”
Rome was shocked that he had been able to read her so easily. The reason she had come to give blood now, and before, was because she never had the courage to do what others found exciting or take risks. She even found it hard to talk to new people, she knew she wouldn't have any friends at all if they hadn't of been the ones that had approached her in the first place. Giving her blood to vampires was a way to feel like she was doing something dangerous and exciting.
“O-,” Val said, sounding a little surprised. His voice pulled Rome away from her thoughts and back to reality. “We don't often get O- donations. I suppose it's a good thing there's not much demand for it then.”
“What do you mean?” Rome questioned. “I thought you always needed blood.”
“Oh, we do,” Val replied. “But different types of blood have different tastes. O- is very, very sweet and it's not many vampires first choice of meal. It's like drinking sugar. I've only met two vampires in my entire life that love O-. It definitely wouldn't be my first choice.”
It took a while for this last statement to register with Rome. When what he had said finally sunk in she turned to the man sitting beside her. There was still a cheerful grin on his face. “You? Are you...?”
“Don't look so shocked,” Val laughed. “Is it so hard to believe that a vampire would actually work in the blood bank.” He noticed how nervous Rome had become and shook his head. “You don't have to worry, I much prefer A-. I like the bitter stuff.”
“I...I'm sorry,” Rome stammered. “I didn't mean to offend you or anything. It's just that you shocked me. I've never actually met a vampire before.”
“That's not really surprising,” Val said, looking a little more serious now. “What with most of us in hiding. You don't often see us wondering around the human world much these days. Especially with that Taylor guy gaining so much support.”
“I met him tonight, at his stupid political rally,” Rome told the vampire. “He's a pig.”
Val laughed. “Well put, if a little blunt,” he said, his cheerfulness returning. “I take it that you're not one of his supporters, though you being here makes that fairly obvious. If you don't mind me asking, what makes you think differently about us than most other people?”
Rome hesitated slightly before answering. What she was about to tell him was something her family had kept secret for years. Something that was shameful and humiliating to her and if her father found out she had told someone he would be very angry. However, she was sick of living with the secret and her family was in no danger from this nice, vampire, doctor.
“My father was once a member of one of those vampire hunter clubs,” Rome said, trying to assess Val's reaction. His face was completely blank. “His family had always been brought up to think that vampires were evil, and my father was no different. Until the vampire he was after saved both my mother and fathers lives. Dad said they became good friends after that. If it hadn't of been for that vampire I would have never been born and ever since then my father has taught me and my brothers not to judge people by what they are, but rather by who they are.”
Val was silent for a few seconds, his eyes studying Rome's face. She was just starting to feel like she made a mistake when he smiled.
“Sounds like a smart man to me,” Val said with a small sigh. “It's really quite sad that there's all this bad blood between vampires and humans. It's a worry to think that my daughter's going to have to grow up in this mess.”
“You have children?” Rome said, a little shocked. He hardly looked old enough to be a father, but then, there were so many different rumours about how vampires aged and she didn't know if they were true or not.
“Just one,” Val said with another bright smile. “My daughter, Asta. I think I have a picture somewhere.” He reached a hand into one of his pockets and drew out a little photo of a smiling child. Her hear was so blond it was almost white and her eyes were bright blue.
As Rome looked down at the little picture held out to her by the child's proud father, she couldn't help but think how similar vampires and humans really were. She found it strange that she felt more comfortable around Val than she did around the politicians at the rally.
Rome smiled. “You know my reason for coming here really makes no sense if you're going to be so nice to me,” she said, leaning back against the bed. “I hardly feel like I'm doing anything dangerous at all.”
Val laughed again. “Well, I don't really know how to reply to that,” he said as he placed the photo of his daughter carefully back into his pocket. “Though it is quite late. I hope you parked your car in a safe place.”
“You don't have to worry about that,” Rome replied. “I don't drive, I caught a bus here.”
“A bus! To this place at this time of night!” Val was shocked. “Do you realise how dangerous that is? There are so many street crimes in this area at night. I'm surprised that you got here in one piece!”
“I'll be ok,” Rome said, socked at his concern.
“No, no, no,” Val shook his head. “I can't let you do that. If you get hurt I'll never forgive myself. If you don't mind waiting around for a little while, I'll give you a ride home.”
* * *
Rome spent most of the next day in bed. She only got up when she heard Sam calling her.
“Rome, phone for you,” Rome heard her room mate call out from the living room. Sighing, she pulled herself out of bed and walked slowly out to take the phone, knowing that it could be only one.
“Hi mum,” the red-head said dully into the receiver when she heard her mothers voice on the other end. “Yes, I'm fine...uni's going well. I have a tutor now for the subject that I was failing...no I'm fine, I had a late night last night and I only just woke up...no you don't need to do that...What! Why! No! Mum, tell him no...right...right...fine, as long as it's only for a week...All right, I'll talk to you later, bye.”
“What was that about?” Rome heard her Samantha's voice from the kitchen.
Rome sighed loudly and flopped down onto the lounge. “My mum thinks I sound depressed so she's sending my brother here to spend some time with me,” she replied, rubbing her eyes. “She says it's to cheer me up, but I know he's only coming to check on me. How old do I look to you? Do I look like a five year old, because that's how she treats me.”
Samantha stuck her head into the living room, a wide smile on her face. “Oh no,” she said happily. “You look nothing like a five year old. You look seven, at least.”
Rome rolled her eyes and Samantha disappeared back into the kitchen.