Blood of Innocents

Sunday, 9:37pm.

I stared at him, surprised, and he stared back. My mind raced through the possibilities, the choices I had, the decisions I could make.
“You can’t be serious,” I muttered, and he didn’t move.
“As serious as I can be.” I sighed, looking away as I thought about it.
Did I want to go back to normal? Did I want to forget about all of this, pretend it never happened? Did I want to live on with these nightmares, terrified of sleep or the dark? Or did I want to put myself into the world of the supernatural, become one of the vampires I knew close to nothing about?
“I’ll give you some time to think. I will come back in even days, at nine in the afternoon.” He stood, turning to leave.
“Wait,” I said quietly, and he stopped, turning to look at me. I bit my lip, thinking carefully about what I was saying. “If I… turn, or choose to, will you explain more about it?” He nodded.
“You have my word,” he said blatantly, then jumped to crouch on my window sill. “Oh, and remember to keep this window open the night I come back.”
Then he was gone, just like the night before, leaving me to my own devices.

The week passed perfectly normally, everything the same except the way I saw it. Nothing had changed. Caine remembered everything up to the point when he left to go wretch, but after that it was all bogus. He apparently had fun though, so I didn’t mind. School was the same tedious task as always, my regular weekly routine made only the tiniest bit different by the slight change in what we were learning. The weekend was much the same.

Sunday night. In my room after dinner, sitting on my bed, strumming my acoustic guitar absently as I watched the black hands on my clock slowly turn around the axle in the centre of it. It was eight fifty, a minute or so over. My window sat open, the cool night air blowing in through the open space.
A few more minutes passed as I thought through my final decision, wondering if it was the right choice to make. Out of all three of my options, that one was the one I felt was right, the one I really wanted. I'd been a huge fan of the 'mythical' vampires my whole life, knowing almost every story about them, but I wasn't so loving of them now, not after what had happened.
The minute hand hit the twelve, and I glanced over at the window. Sure enough, there he was, sitting on the window sill, watching me. I stopped strumming, laying the guitar down on the bed next to me, on top of its case.
"Have you decided?" he asked, a small hint of expectancy lining his voice. I gave it one last thought, making sure I knew what I wanted, then nodded. I kept my voice firm as I replied.
"I want to be a vampire."
He cocked an eyebrow, then did something I didn't expect to see him do- he smiled. The edges of his lips curved only the tiniest bit, but the smile disappeared in that same instant.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." He nodded, looking past me at the door.
"The easiest way to not raise concern would be to fake your death, but we can do it however you like." He paused briefly. "When do you want to leave?"
"I hadn't thought about it that far..." I mumbled, trailing off into thought. "It would be easiest to do the death thing. As for when... I don't really want to leave it too long."
"We could leave tonight?" he proposed. I gawped at him, not really sure why he would decide to. I considered it, thinking it through carefully before answering.
"Okay. I want to do some things first, but they shouldn't take too long. Am I allowed to bring a few things with me?"
"Sure. Just not too much -we'll be travelling a lot." I nodded, then set to work on grabbing my bag and shoving things in there.
It was about half past ten when I finished. Sven watched me as I packed, popping little bits of advice bout what I should and shouldn't bring. In the end I'd just put some clothes, my art pad, my favourite book and a few little useful things in my guitar case, along with the guitar itself.
I pulled out my phone, dialling the number I knew so well. He watched me silently from his place on the window sill as I put the phone to my ear. They picked up on the second ring.
"Hey, Alice," Caine said a little groggily, and I wondered if he'd been asleep. Then I realized he was never in bed before eleven.
"Hi. Uh, I needed to tell you something." I brief pause before he replied.
"What's up?" he asked, sounding fully awake and concerned now. I cursed under my breath, forgetting how easily he saw through me. I took a deep breath, going through this carefully so as not to drop too many hints.
"Have I ever told you that you are the most important person in my life?"
"...Alice? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I could hear how worried he was now, and I sort of wished I hadn't called.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, my voice breaking a little.
"Wait! Don't you dare hang-" I hit the red button, cutting him off. I threw the phone down on my bed just as the screen turned itself off.
I stood idly for a moment, beginning to regret my decision, then picked up the guitar case, putting one strap of it over my shoulder. I turned to look at Sven, who hadn't moved from the window sill.
"I'm ready," I stated firmly, and he nodded. He glanced over to where my phone had landed, and I followed his gaze. The screen on the outside of the flip phone had lit up, showing I had a message. I debated it silently, then walked around the bed to pick it up.
I opened the screen to look at the ID, Caine's name in bold right across the middle of the screen. I opened the message, reading the words I knew I'd regret looking at.
Talk to me, Ali. Tell me what's wrong? Please?
"You can take the mobile device with you." I jumped a little, startled, Sven hovering over my shoulder. "As long as you don't talk to anybody after we 'kill' you."
I considered it, glancing down as I got another message from him. It was similar to the first, just worded differently. I bit my lip, not sure if it would be okay, then flipped the phone shut, sliding it into the pocket of my jeans.
"Want to say farewell to your parents?" he asked me, walking over to the window. I shook my head.
"It's best if they don't know, or have any idea."
"Alright. You ready to go?"
"I thought I had to fake-die first?"
"A day or to of 'kidnapping' to make sure this is what you want." He winked, fairly ineffective due to the black cloth covering his right eye. I gave a small smile, putting both straps of my guitar case on my shoulders to wear it like a backpack.
"Right then. Let's go." He gave a tiny smile, then picked me up, placing me so I was sitting on his back, his hands holding me up.
He moved to crouch on the window sill, studying the ground below, then jump the two stories to land in a semi-crouch, not making a single sound. He turned his head a little to look at me, his face now serious like before.
"I suggest you keep your eyes closed -this tends to be a little sickening the first time."
I didn't have much time to wonder what he meant, closing my eyes to heed his warning. And then, all of a sudden, we were moving. We were going so fast I could barely even tell, my hair blowing wildy in the wind of our movement. Even though it was barely noticeable I was already starting to feel a bit of nausea. I was tempted to open my eyes to see what it looked like, but thought better of it -if I'd feel sick with them open and I already felt like it, it wouldn't risk it getting even worse.
We stopped after about a minute and a half, Sven setting me down on what I thought was a bench. I opened my eyes, a wave of nausea coming with sight. I turned to the bushes behind me, wretching. I felt him put a hand on my shoulder, his cool skin lightly brushing the side of my neck.
We sat on the bench for another few minutes, him catching his breath for the first half a minute -he wasn't used to running with a load- and me getting my bearings the other few. Once I was feeling a little less sick, we walked the rest of the way to wherever we were going. I realized later we were in the edge of the city park, and we were heading towards the building used in the show.
We didn't go into the building itself, but went around it to the other side. There were a large amount of tents bunched together in the grassy area behind the building, looking much like a circus get-up. He led me straight to a caravan in the middle of it all, knocking on the door of the large van.
"Be polite, and don't ask questions," he mumbled to me, his face serious. I nodded, wondering why but keeping it to myself.
"Gael, so nice of you to drop by," a man said, opening the door. I saw it was the man with the tailcoat who'd introduced the audience to Murder in the Dark. He glanced at me, his face a mask of curiosity. "And I see you've brought a guest. Do come in."
With a silent nod, Sven followed the man into the caravan, gesturing for me to follow. I did, sitting down in the chair next to the one he'd chosen, the man sitting opposite us. The van was mostly empty, just four chairs and a small bookcase in the seemingly large space.
"I assume you know why I am here?" he asked the man in front of us, and he smiled, crossing his legs.
"Indeed, I do," he replied smoothly, a sort of mischievous look crossing his features. "Do you mind if I...?"
"Go ahead, James."
He shuffled his chair forward to sit only inches from me, and I could feel the oppressing aura rolling off him. He moved his hand up to my face, and I flinched away, remembering the last time somebody did that. Sven put a hand gently on my leg, and I turned to look at him. He gestured to let the man -James- touch me, and I nodded. He tried again, and this time I stayed still.
Nothing happened as his eyes closed, his hand placed firmly either side of my head. We sat silently for a few moments, nobody moving an inch. Suddenly his eyes snapped open, a look of meagre curiosity and interest on his face.
"Interesting," he mused, more to himself than to either of us. "She has potential. But if that were to fall into the wrong hands... I will have to consult the Great Mother about what to do with her. Indeed..." He leaned back in his chair, putting a hand thoughtfully to his chin.
After a few moments of him looking thoughtful, Sven looking confused and me being worried, he waved his hand, looking straight at the vampire next to me.
"She is welcome to stay as long as she earns her keep. I will think more in depth about this, consult the Mother. You are to take your leave."
Thanking James, he stood, and I followed suit. We headed to a tent towards the back of the grounds, opening the flap and going in. It was larger than I first thought, more of a room than an actual tent. There was nothing in it except for a mat on the floor and a large wooden box -that looked much like a coffin, I realized dubiously- next to it.
"Put your things down there," he said, pointing to the empty space near the met. "We'll leave again in three days."
"Where are we going then?" I asked, walking over to where he'd pointed out and putting my guitar case down on the floor. He walked over to the wooden box, opening it. I could see it was full of all sorts of weird things. So he didn't sleep in there.
"North-East. It'll take about a month and a half to get there." He pulled out a blanket of some sort, then threw it, the cloth landing on the mat I was standing next to.
"So why three days?"
"Help me with this." I moved to begin helping him, putting things he gave me on the mat. "We're waiting three because I thought it would be a good idea. Two days to make sure you want to go through with this, then a third to make sure you have everything you'd need and fool others of your death."
"Makes sense," I muttered quietly.
"Of course. Now make that," he said, gesturing to the mat that was now supporting a vague bunch of bed linen. I rolled my eyes, then set to work.

Wednesday, March -8:24am

I didn't throw up this time (thank God) but I was still extremely nauseous. He stopped running, and I saw we were around the side of my house, Sven looking up at the second floor and what I realized was my window, still open. He jumped, landed crouching on the sill, then dropped down to the floor of my bedroom, putting me down on the bed. I waited a moment to get my bearings, then stood, going to my walk-in wardrobe to look for a bag I could use.
I found a small backpack and shoved as much as I could fit in there. I was about to ask him to leave when he reminded me of the coming season, and I paused to reconsider what I had, then repacked. He picked me back up again when I finished, for the second time, and took me to a different place than before.
We stood at the edge of the lake, looking out over the murky water. He grinned, then disappeared, leaving me alone at the waters edge. I waited for a few brief moments, then sat down on the slightly damp ground, not really sure what we were doing here ot where he'd gone.
He had been gone a few minutes now, I realized, as I threw a small stone at the surface of the water, watching it bounce four times before sinking into the murky liquid. I sighed softly to myself, looking out over the lake. A light wind blew my hair in my face, but I left it there, the cool early morning breeze feeling nice.
I saw something bobbing in the water about eighty metres off, long, thin and sort of brown in colour. I thought it was a log or branch or something, and, with nothing better to do, stood up and began heading towards it.
As I got closer to it, I saw it was stuck on the land at the edge of the water. I picked up a stick on my way, walking over and crouching down by it. I poked it with the stick to push it back out to the water, then gasped, dropping the thin piece of wood.
It wasn't a branch -it was a body. Burnt beyond recognition.
I stared, eyes wide, backing away from it. I hit something tall behind me, and cried out in surprise, whirling around to see what it was, ready to knock it down if it was some kind of mass murder-
-When I came face to face with Sven, who then proceeded to smile broadly, laughing a little.
"You are so amusing..." he mumbled, shaking his head. I gawped at him, open-mouthed.
"What the fuck?! What kind of sick joke is th-"
"That," he said, cutting me off and gesturing back to the body, "is your fake substitute." And then I realized that it made sense, and I laughed at myself and my reaction.
"That? Wouldn't they be able to tell from dental records or something?" I asked seriously, remembering from horror films I've seen that they could tell who a person was by looking at their teeth. He shook his head.
"No chance. The body itself is burnt too far beyond recognition, and I did a bit of research while you weren't looking. I must say, I'm pretty good at convincing teeth implants." He walked past me, kicked the fake body out into the lake, then picked me up.
"Back to MITD?" 'MITD' was the acronym I used when referring to the show. He nodded.
"Yes. We'll pick up your things, then leave."
We ran back to the camp, and I saw they were beginning to pack up shop, folding the tents and such. I briefly wondered why, then remembered they were a travelling show. We helped them pack a few things up, then grabbed my other bag to leave. There were a few brief farewells from the few members I'd met, and then we left, heading north-east.
We walked mostly, only running if he had to, to make it easier for both of us. We made regular camps along the way, normally outdoors, but sometimes we stopped at a hotel for the night when we could. Didn't pass through many cities. Sven said it was better and faster to go through the countryside.
The whole time he wouldn't tell me where we were going, or why. Whenever I asked he either just shook his head or changed the subject. One time he snapped and told me to stop pestering, in a way that made it sound like he didn't even want to be going wherever it was. I didn't ask after that.

May -3:46pm

We stopped, and I gave Sven a questioning look. We were standing in a large, open grassy area, the space dotted with large hills. It had been like this for miles, not a road or city in sight. He'd stopped us on the edge of an especially uneven, rocky hill.
"We're here," he said softly, answering my silent question.
"Here? It's just a bunch of hills," I mumbled, looking around.
He didn't say anything more. He gave me a cursory glance, then turned to his left and began walking up the rocky hill, stopping a few metres or so up. He crouched down, putting his hands to the ground, then stood, holding a large stone, more of a boulder really. He gently set it aside, then motioned for me to come up.
I clambered up the rocks, much less gracefully than his unnatural prowess, stopping when I was standing next to him. Where he'd removed the stone there was a large opening in the rocks, a tunnel leading down into the darkness. I could barely see, deep down, a faint glow that looked like it was given off by fire -the light flickered every now and then, and it was the same colour.
"Where does it go?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Underground. These hills hold a large network of tunnels and chambers that we vampires have carved out over time. This is out main 'base', in a sense. The high council -a group of us that govern laws and police them- is situated here."
"The high council?" I repeated dully. "I thought vampires only had those in books and such."
"No. Our society consists of three groups: On the bottom are the regular vampires; then the Princes, who act as enforcers and advisors, as well as a jury; then the Kings. There are only ever four Kings at any one time, though there have been records of a fifth at some point. They're the ultimate rulers of our kind -Their word is law."
As I mulled this over, he picked the large stone up again. I looked at him bemusedly, and he just stared blankly at me.
"We going to stand here all day?" He grumbled, and I realized what we'd come all the way out here for.
I climbed into the tunnel, moving back to leave him room. He jumped down, then covered the hole in the rock with the large stone, plunging us into darkness. My mind raced as we slowly walked ahead, me having to find my way by touch -I was a little jealous that he could see in the dark so well. We eventually got far enough that the faint glow I'd seen now lit our way, a torch sitting on the wall, burning brightly, and as we went further more torches lit our way.
The whole time I fretted about why we were here, what the council would think of me, why Sven had to take me here in the first place. I was walking straight into a sealed off area full of vampires, no escape route and only one of them on my side so far.
Anybody guess why I felt like I was walking head-on into a death trap?