Control

Control

Chapter 17: They're Here

"Do you know who I am? I was in the area, as they say. What about you, Isaac Daniels? Why are you in the areas?" he asked as he observed the man in front of him, the head of all the vampires had taken a visit to this particular area, but why was he bothering to investigate one man?

"We were on the way back from seeing my father. He's in one of the resettlement camps in London West." The man answered, it seemed too rehearsed, too perfect an answer and delivered quickly without fault.

"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Snow asked as he tilted his head slightly looking out of the window towards the man's car, where a young girl sat patiently.

"Of course sir, eleventh of April, ten years ago tomorrow you killed the Prime Minister live on television." The man answered, he was getting slightly nervous now believing it was too late for him.

"He was appealing for calm. He looked so pale. His tie was askew." Snow mused as he looked towards the man once more. "We've got parades planned. Curfews. Executions. So a curious day to go visiting relatives, don't you think?"

The man did not answer; he wanted to be anywhere but in the room, anywhere else but in a room with Mr Snow.

"One last question, your daughter, what colour are her eyes? Come Mr Daniels, it's hardly a complex problem. You don't remember, do you? I dare say, when the other agent handed her over with her fake papers, you looked her up and down and thought, "Is this what all the fuss is about? This is the War Child?" But the one thing you didn't take in was the colour of her eyes." He questioned, the man immediately panicked withdrawing a crucifix, but that wouldn't affect the oldest of the vampires.

"You won't win, you know." He yelled in a last ditch attempt to save himself and the girl, he fought against them.

"I think we already have."

Hal's P.O.V

"Why am I still here? Does everyone just become a ghost for a wee bit?" Alex asked as I let Tom out of the back of the van, we had avoided any blood-shed but the world would now know that werewolves properly existed, and sooner or later they would find out about the vampires.

"No. No, you must have unfinished business. Something we must resolve before you can pass over." I explained as I helped Sophie out of the van, we were away from any people, on a hill overlooking the town…hopefully Annie was alright on her own.

"Well we can poke around my business later. First I want to beat seven shades of shite out of Cutler. Hey, maybe that is my unfinished business." She answered even though she had died only a few hours ago, she still retained her sense of humour. The ghosts I had come across over the years generally were a bit more sullen excluding Annie; maybe everyone wasn't as fearful of death now as they were then.

"Unfinished business tends to be something more life-affirming than beating someone up." I stated however she didn't seem to buy it probably still settled on the idea of her unfinished business being beating up Cutler.

"Not if you're Scottish." She murmured looking out towards the town; maybe she was contemplating her death.

"I ain't ever felt frightening before. Thank you. I could have killed all those people. I could have killed you." Tom stated as he came around to the front of the van, I felt rather sorry for him, someone he had trusted had betrayed him in a way that meant he would kill maybe over a hundred people, maybe less, maybe he'd even turn a few into werewolves.

"Alex got the people out. I just lured you into the van." I said as he stood next to me, it had been tough to keep him from killing me and at the same time make sure he didn't go after any of the people or Sophie, if he had killed her…well we wouldn't all be standing here for sure.

"I can't believe I let it happen. I'm always dead stealthy with my transformations." He murmured did he think this was his entire fault? He didn't know that Cutler had wanted him so that he could kill all those people in the club; well leave a few alive so that they could spread the word that werewolves actually existed.

"I've taken a step backwards too. I've been drinking blood. The first time was genuinely to gain Cutler's trust. The second one wasn't." I explained Sophie held onto my hand a way of reassuring me, but I knew that if Leo could see me now he'd be disappointed.

"Where are you now?" he asked I wasn't even sure myself, I wouldn't be able to control the urge to drink human blood for long…it was just a question of when would I end up losing it completely.

"Leo once said we are on the outside of humanity so that we might guard it. He made it sound like a privilege rather than a burden." I answered looking down at Sophie squeezing her hand back in reassurance. We had lost the right to guard humanity, but we would win it back.

"I don't think any of us deserve that job anymore." Tom said as he turned to go back into the van, Alex had joined him.

"Then we must earn it back."

Cutler's P.O.V

"I last came to Britain in 1779. My people took me to a village. They'd already killed all the adults and used the bodies to create a tableau of scenes from my history. The children sang to me. And then we made wine from their blood. I was so touched. What do you have for me, Cutler, Nick Cutler?" Mr Snow asked as he sat in the centre of the table, surrounded by Old Ones. At least my plan had worked, now the world knew of the existence of werewolves there was no going back. And I would be a history maker.

"Only the world." I replied, but he did not seem even a little bit impressed, then again it would be harder to impress one of the oldest vampires alive over Hal.

"I was planning just to take the world. I didn't realize I needed you to give it to me." He explained seeming rather bored…I needed to show him all of the work I had done for him, for us.

"Welcome to Britain, Mr Snow. The revolution is being televised." I said as I switched on the TV, something was wrong.

"Judging by this we'd be doing them a favour. Am I missing something? Is he giving me a television set?" Snow murmured to one of the vampires sat next to him, this was not good.

"I don't understand. Someone must have recorded it." I whispered, this was supposed to be my moment; this was supposed to make me famous, make me the history maker I was made to be, meant to be.

"Because I already have a television the size of a bed sheet."

"They must be suppressing it somehow. There were witnesses!" I said as I switched off the damn thing, now it was a matter of saving face.

"A tribute must still be paid, Cutler, Nick Cutler. It's a question of protocol. Or there'll be consequences." He drawled running his fingers across the table.

"We can kill the War Child." I stated, she could be the tribute, a tribute befitting the Old Ones.

"To save humanity, she must be killed. And therefore she must live." He snapped, so all this time that Fergus and Griffin had tried to kill her, the Old Ones wanted her alive.

"But we didn't know." I murmured he was different to the others, different to Hal and Sophie. I didn't want to see him when in a complete rage…no I would rather be five hundred miles away than be anywhere near him.

"These eyes have looked upon pharaohs and the Son of a carpenter. And now they must look at you. Proudly showing me your idea like a child with a handful of its own excrement. I have never known humiliation, failure or obscurity. How does it make you feel? Like coming home, I would imagine. I've already forgotten your name."

Sophie's P.O.V

"You don't understand. Snow is one of the first. The blood that's passed from vampire to recruit generation after generation you can trace it back to him. He's in our DNA." Hal explained we had returned home, finding Annie and the baby safe, but with the Old Ones in Barry along with Mr Snow no one would be safe for much longer. Hal and I…well either we'd be completely disowned by the vampires…or he'd get into our heads and Cardiff would be no more.

"We can't stop them…" I murmured Hal's hand immediately found mine, if Snow so wanted he could have us killed within a heartbeat, or he could kill us by his hand. His thumb ran along the back of my hand trying to reassure me that this wasn't the end, we would be able to live on like we had, with Annie, Eve and Tom and that after all this he would return to the café with Tom like he usually did while Annie and I looked after the baby and we would find Alex's unfinished business and help her crossover. But I just couldn't see that happening, this would end with the vampires taking over, and we would either join them or die.

"We can and we will." He whispered kissing me on the forehead as his other hand stroked my hair.

"Annie, the Old Ones have arrived. We saw 'em at the warehouse." Tom explained as they entered the main living room, this could be the last time that we would all be together in this house.

"Yeah, Eve said they'd be here soon." She replied she looked as though she had been told something terrible…well being told the Old Ones were here probably was some of the worst news she could get, but I don't think it was to do with that. We had been expecting them to arrive, just we didn't realise how soon they truly had arrived.

"Eve's been here the whole time." Hal stated and surely Eve couldn't tell her she was after all still a baby and she couldn't talk yet.

"Grown-up Eve, she died an adult, travelled back through Purgatory to find me because there was something I needed to know. She took me in to her corridor." Annie explained earning a laugh off of Alex…which was rather odd considering she'd only just died and it was the start to the end of freedom for the entire human race.

"'Took me into her corridor.' Sorry, misjudged the mood." She mumbled looking down at the floor, it must be hard finding out your dead…I mean technically Hal and I are dead, but we at least can be seen by other people and be heard by other people, she can't even tell her family she's dead. I never could tell my family what had happened to me…well if I had seen my family I probably would have killed them, they just lived on thinking I had been killed. Hal once let me watch on from a far, it was winter several years after he had turned me, and we were passing through the town; Hal had gone to find some place to stay for the night…well kill the inhabitants of a house, I was stood outside a shop when I turned to move on, there I saw my sister by then she was about 20 and accompanying her was presumably her daughter. But I couldn't stat long, I didn't want to kill them and I didn't want them to try and find me.

"I had to see how terrible the future is. Because what I have to do to stop it is really really hard. Eve must die. It's the last part of the myth. Eve saves humanity by dying." Annie explained on the verge of tears, after all this time the one thing that could save the whole of humanity was Eve's death…and Annie had looked after her, been the mother that she would never have known to her, and she had to die before she could even speak.

"Does the Nemesis whoever it is with the burn is that who kills her?" Hal asked, of course we had completely forgotten that the Nemesis was the one who would kill her…though Annie would never let that happen.

"She is the Nemesis. She has the burn. I'm just the weapon." She answered; the Saviour was also the Nemesis…the ultimate multi-tasker, but that meant that in order to save humanity Annie would have to kill Eve and that was something that she couldn't do what-so-ever.

"Right, first off we need to get her out of here." Tom stated as he went to pick up Eve, he was not having any of it. No one wanted to see Eve dead or Annie kill her, but maybe this was Annie's unfinished business something that Annie needed to do.

"This is not a group decision." Annie stated picking up Eve protectively; everyone in the room was now on their feet.

"Annie, are you saying you might hurt Eve?" Hal asked, Annie looked completely offended…then again I would be offended if he asked me would I hurt a child of mine after all Eve was like Annie's child.

"Hal!"

"How could you even say that to me?! I could never ever hurt a child!" Annie asked as she clutched Eve closer to her.

"But if someone else tried to harm her what would you do then?" Hal questioned there was silence afterwards we all knew she wouldn't anyone or anything harm Eve.

"I have a plan." Tom murmured before going into his complete plan of how he was going to blow up the Old Ones…not been tried before, but then again you never know what could work, if it could turn them to dust then it could work.

"Do vampires die if you blow them up?" Alex asked as he finished his plan, like most things when explosives were involved they died.

"Most things die if you blow them up. Sadly, we can't. What with us not living in a cartoon!" Hal argued as he looked towards Tom questioningly, it was probably a lot easier back in the days of gunpowder to obtain explosives, but nowadays I doubt it was that easy.

"Well actually, Mr Bloody Radio Four, we can. And I'll show you how. My team, with me." Tom said as he walked through to the kitchen, Hal, Alex and I walked through with him…Annie was still clutching Eve close to her; there were some tough choices we were going to have to make.

"That's all that junk you've been gathering." Hal asked as he opened a cupboard with all the things he had been gathering since the day of our arrival.

"Well you didn't really think I was building a swimming pool in the back garden, did ya?"

Hal's P.O.V

"How long have you been planning this?" I asked as he set all the parts to his bomb on the counter of the café kitchen. You had to hand it to Tom, if this worked the whole of humanity would be saved and Eve wouldn't have to die.

"Not really been planning anything, just picked up off of McNair: 'Always be kind and polite and have the materials to build a bomb.'" Tom explained as he set to work on making everything, he was an extraordinary person for twenty one years of age, at that age I had barely accomplished anything other than fleeing.

"You really are one of the most remarkable people I've ever met." I stated as I watched him get to work, McNair had taught him well, not only could he adapt to survive, but he had manners. He shouldn't be throwing away his life; he should be living life like any normal person his age.

"Alright, calm down." He muttered as he continued un-deterred, if he was going to throw away his life in order to save humanity, then I should be a part of it too.

"Let me come too." I said he stopped immediately looking at me as if I had lost my mind completely and was now dancing around the kitchen in a frilly dress.

"Well then you'll cop it along." He said as if he questioning why I wanted to do it, I was going against my own kind, although I had already left them behind when I gave the blood up.

"I've had a good innings." I murmured thinking about; Orsha, Gdansk, the Boer War, both World Wars, the rise and fall of empires, the creation of nations, Nelson, Napoleon, Hitler and his Nazis, Mussolini and Fascism, assassinations, the Cold War, the advancements humans had made and most importantly Sophie. From the first time I saw her as a human on one of my daily market visits I saw her there next to the florist. She saw me through a thicket of roses and smiled before turning away shyly. The next day I visited again and there she was once more, this time I plucked up the courage to talk to her and after that we met nearly every day…until her father found out and then I fled to Gdansk. And then in the next life I saw her again, when I returned home, I turned her and from then on we could never be separated unless the battlefield called.

"What if Mr Snow tells you not to?" he asked, and knowing Snow he could and he would, he'd want Lord Hal back, back to his killing ways, but I wouldn't let him, I wouldn't let him convince me back to them and I wouldn't let him get near Sophie.

"Then you must bring matters to a swift conclusion." I answered was he trying to convince me not to do this? Did he want to save humanity on his own? I couldn't let him kill himself, he should be the one that lived, I have been around for nearly six hundred years and he had only been alive for twenty one years that was not fair.

"What about Sophie? You can't expect her to let you." He questioned and he was right, I couldn't leave her alone and she wouldn't let me kill myself, unless she was there by my side holding my hand like she had been for all these years.

"She'd be by my side, she'd want to be there." I answered he didn't seem convinced, but he accepted that we would be there with him and we would save humanity. I offered my hand to shake his.

"I didn't think you liked to shake hands." He stated as he took it smiling, we had come far from the werewolf and the vampire who were always at each other's throats; he had become a figure in my life like Leo.

"Well then today is a day of firsts and lasts."

Annie's P.O.V

Alex and I sat in the front room with Eve lying happily on the couch; I was teaching her all the tricks I could do. If I went through with this I wouldn't be here to look after Tom or Hal and Sophie and Alex could at least try to keep them all together and stop them from killing each other and other people. Sophie had disappeared off out to get some supplies for Tom, while he and Hal were at the café creating Tom's bomb…hopefully he wouldn't have to use it…if he did it meant he would die, and he shouldn't have to, he was only twenty one, he hadn't properly lived life. We were interrupted as the door was opened roughly, and there stood the vampire Cutler.

"Invite me in." he called as he tested if he could enter without permission, I looked at Alex and shook my head, neither of us said anything. He forced his way in burning his flesh as he did. "I'll be a history maker; I'll be a vampire that stopped his own kind from taking control!"

He took out a knife as he leant over the couch, and oddly he apologised as if he didn't really want to be killing her. He just wanted to be recognised…but he was going to kill Eve and I couldn't let him do that. I forced a stake into his torso, the stake that was nearly used to kill Hal that I had forced out of the hands of one of Fergus' cohorts into the staircase.

"I'm sorry." I murmured as I picked up Eve who was now balling at seeing the frightening sight of someone's skin burning off.

"Sorry? Annie, you saved her." Alex replied, but I had doomed the whole of humanity, they were going to suffer at the hands of the vampires because I couldn't let one vampire kill my precious Eve.

"No. You don't understand. I've betrayed you all. I'd rather let the world burn than hurt her. I let the vampires win and I'm always going to let them win. You need to get Hal and find your body and pass on. Because things are going to get very bad very quickly."

Hal's P.O.V

"Who the hell were they?" Alex asked as the 'clean-up crew' left…I couldn't wait to leave this room; I was completely losing all control.

"I have no idea. But they weren't vampires, or they'd have seen you."