Dark Season: The Complete Box Set (27 page)

Martin Keller

To come so close... To feel the heart of your victim, pierced and destroyed... And to then have victory snatched away from you... I cannot imagine a greater torture.

I searched all night for the vampire’s corpse. I ripped apart the forest. He cannot have got far, with his heart tattered and ruined. I have heard of this before: vampires summon up the last of their strength and, like dogs, they crawl away to die. But this one cannot be allowed to die in secret; I must have his body.

As dawn arrived, I realized I had been tricked. The vampire dragged his body away, yes. But he had no real strength. He cannot have got far. I returned to the cavern and searched their house, but of course he was now long gone, and Vincent had also managed to slip away.

For a moment, I was filled with rage. The most unbelievable rage, boiling up from the depths of my soul. I was so close, but I let him slip through my fingers. If I had just held on, if I had just made sure his body was mine, I could have dragged him away with me. Even now, I can’t stop thinking about what it will be like when I eventually get the chance to slice into him, to discover the secrets of his flesh.

Eventually, I realized that in order to find Patrick's body, I would need to find Vincent, and in order to find Vincent, I would need to find the girl from the prophecy.

Sophie

Vincent takes me down a set of steps into the hotel, and down to the basement, which he says is safe. He says he has ‘friends’ who can be trusted, and we’re soon in a windowless, bare little room. Large metal pipes pass along the ceiling, clunking and clattering with the sound of the internal workings of the hotel’s ventilation system. An old man named Joseph, who seems to know Vincent well, comes down with us.

“
You’ll be okay down here,” says Joseph. “It’s not even on the plans for the building. Just be careful coming in and out, and you’ll be fine”.

“
Thank you,” Vincent replies.

Joseph nods and leaves us alone.

“It’s very different to what I’m used to,” says Vincent, looking around, “but it’ll do. I just wish I had my books”.

Now that we
’re alone and seemingly safe for a while, I can’t stop thinking about what Vincent told me. The thought of Patrick being dead is impossible to believe, and I can’t help thinking that it’s all a trick. However, there’s something about Vincent’s demeanor that tells me it’s true. And now I realize that I had come to assume that Patrick would always be around, that he and I would get closer.

“
He was a vampire,” I say slowly. “There must be some way to bring him back to life”.

Vincent shakes his head.
“Vampires aren’t magic, you know. They’re flesh and blood, just like you and me. They’re hard to kill, but when they’re dead...” He lets the sentence trail off. Like me, he seems unable to quite comprehend what has happened.

“
So you’re not one of them?” I ask. I’ve never quite understood who or what Vincent is, other than that he’s supposed to be Patrick’s father. He's always seemed like a calming influence on Patrick,

“
No,” he says. “I’m as human as you are”.

I think about this for a moment. It doesn
’t quite make sense. “But you’re his father,” I say eventually, “and he’s hundreds of years old. How can you be his father if he’s older than you?”

He seems keen not to answer.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he says. “In the meantime, we have to work out what we’re going to do, because I can promise you one thing. Martin Keller is not going to give up until he’s got what he wants, and he's not going to slow down long enough for us to stand around having a chat”.

“
Well... what
does
he want?” I ask.

“
The same thing he's always wanted," Vincent replies. "He wants a vampire's body, so he can take it back to the Watchers and they can dissect it. He's killed vampires before, but he was never able to get hold of the body. This time, he knows it's his last chance. He thinks he can cut it up and become a vampire."

“
So where is it?” I ask. "I mean, the body. Where have you hidden it?"

“
Far away. He won’t find it unless we show him where it is, and we won’t be doing that. It'd be far too dangerous to let a man like Keller have such a secret. In the meantime, we have to keep away from him and find a way to get to the body and destroy it”.

“
You said there was a prophecy,” I continue, desperately trying to think of a way to prove to Vincent that Patrick can't be dead. “When I first met you, you said there was a prophecy that Patrick would kill me. You said it was unavoidable. So... How does that work, if Patrick's dead?”

Vincent shakes his head.
“There’s no time for that now. Prophecies are prophecies; they work in strange ways -"

“
Yes, they do, don’t they?” says a voice. We turn to see Martin Keller standing in the doorway, watching us. Next to him stands Joseph, the man who led us down here.

Keller hands a pile of cash to Joseph, who silently takes the money and scurries away.

“Humans are so easy to manipulate,” says Keller. “Makes you wonder why anyone bothers trusting them”.

“
You yourself are human,” says Vincent. “Despite your ambitions to the contrary”.

"Don't use that word," Keller says, as he steps toward us. "I'm not human. I was, once, but I've evolved. I'm more vampire than human, and one day I'll have scrubbed every last vestige of filthy humanity from my body." There’s something very menacing about him, even if I can’t quite work out what it is. He just exudes a sense of danger, and it looks as if he's packed tight into that suit, with bulging muscles. I guess he must be strong if he's managed to kill Patrick. "If you refer to me as human again," he continues, "I shall take it as the gravest insult. I have nothing but contempt for that pitiful species."

"You're still human," Vincent replies. "Despite all the operations, despite all the ambition, you're human now and you'll always be human."

“
I've decided to be generous,” he says, smiling as he ignores Vincent's provocation. “I've decided to give you twenty-four hours to understand that there's no point resisting me. If you don't come to this inescapable conclusion, I will take action against you. Lethal action. Do you understand?”

“
You won’t change my mind,” says Vincent. “I’ll never take you to the body”.

"Of course you won't," Keller replies, "but you might do something desperate. You might make a mistake. I merely wish to give you time in which to let that mistake manifest. If you don't deliver what I want within twenty-four hours, I shall simply kill you and move on with the search myself." He turns to me. “It's not just your lives on the line. I'll kill everyone you love”. He smiles. “And then I'll find the body anyway. You know I will, in the end. After all I’ve been through, do you really think I would give up so late in the day? I have all the resources of the Watchers to call upon."

I look at Vincent, hoping to see some sign of defiance, some sign that he has a plan. All I see, however, is defeat in his eyes, as if he’s determined to fight but knows that he'll lose. For the first time, I start to wonder if there’s any way out of this situation, or if we’re doomed. Vincent told me that there's a way out of any situation, but I'm not sure even
he
believes that now.

“
You're free to go,” says Keller, smiling and stepping aside to allow us through the door. “I’ll see you in twenty-four hours and you can decide whether or not you want to cooperate”. He looks at me again. “If you
do
cooperate, I guarantee I'll let you live. After all, why should you lay down your life for someone who's already dead?”

“
Come on,” says Vincent, heading to the door.

“
There’s no point fighting a fight you can’t win,” says Keller to me. “You’ll just die needlessly. He’s already gone, you can’t save him”.

“
There’s something you don’t understand,” says Vincent, reaching the door and turning to face Keller. “A real vampire is something you’ll never be. You can try. You can do anything you like, but it'll never work”. He reaches out and bangs on Keller’s chest, making a hollow metallic sound. “Whatever you do, however much surgery you go through, however many people you kill, you’ll never
ever
be a real vampire”.

Keller smiles, but it
’s clear that he’s struggling to hold back his anger.

“
And you’ll never get Patrick’s body,” Vincent adds. "Do you think I'd let a beast like you desecrate the corpse of a vampire? You can rip me apart, you can torture me for a thousand years, but I'll never tell you where to find him." He turns to me. “Are you coming, Sophie?”

For a moment, just a moment, I consider that perhaps maybe I
shouldn’t
go with him. After all, this isn’t my battle and if Patrick’s already dead, there’s no need to fight when we’ve already lost. However, something tells me that this is a fight worth fighting, perhaps the
only
fight worth fighting. Besides, I feel as if I owe it to Patrick to do whatever I can, and I feel as if I don't have the option to step back. Keller seems to view me as an enemy, so I guess he's determined to kill me unless Vincent and I can find a way to stop him.

As I step forward, Keller grabs Vincent and pulls him back.

“Perhaps you both need a reminder,” he says angrily, and he opens his mouth to reveal two long needles jutting out from his teeth. He’s had two of his top front teeth removed and replaced with little syringes, each one filled with what looks like a thick brown liquid. “I’m punishing you now for mistakes you’ll make later”. With that, he bites down on Vincent’s neck, causing Vincent to cry out in pain.

I run over and try to pull Keller off, but he pushes me away and keeps his grip on Vincent for a few more seconds before releasing him and shoving him away. Vincent falls to the ground, clutching his neck.

Keller looks over at me, and for a moment he seems completely out of control. There’s a kind of burning anger in his eyes, with veins throbbing on his neck, and he’s out of breath. He opens his mouth. The syringes are empty, but they seem to be filling again from the top, with a trickle of brown liquid dribbling in from elsewhere in his skull.

"And you," Keller says, barely able to disguise his contempt for me. "If you think you can just run from me, you're wrong. If you even try, I'll track you down, and then I'll kill your entire family right in front of you. Your mother. Your brother. Both of them. I'll make them know the true meaning of pain."

“Get out!” Vincent shouts.

I run past Keller and out of the room, and then I turn back to see Vincent getting to his feet and stumbling out after me. He pulls the door shut, then he grabs my arm and forces me along the corridor. We run up a set of steps and soon we
’re out of the hotel, back on the street. Vincent is still clutching his neck where Keller bit him.

“
What was that?” I ask, trying to see the wound. “You have to tell me who that man is!”

Vincent removes his hand from his neck, revealing two small puncture wounds. He looks at me with shock and terror in his eyes.
“He’s the man who just killed me,” he stutters.

Martin Keller

The old man was an easy kill. The girl, though, is something special. She's mentioned in the Book of Gothos, which means I'll take extra pleasure, and time, when I finally get around to ending her life.

Sophie

It’s getting late, and Vincent and I are sitting in an all-night cafe. According to Vincent, it’s no longer worth trying to hide. He says we must simply assume that Keller is watching us all the time. All we can do is wait for the twenty-four hours to run out. At that point, Vincent says, Keller will find us wherever we are.

"So how did it happen?" I ask, finally bringing up the question that I've been avoiding for the past few hours. "How did Patrick die?"

"He wasn't strong enough," Vincent replies. "He fought Keller tooth and nail, but Keller's rage was greater. Keller hates humans, and he knows that he himself is still partially human. It was this anger and repulsion that he channeled into his fury. Patrick couldn't match that." He pauses for a moment. "It was all I could do to get his body away from Keller. You have to believe me, Sophie. I did everything I could, but Patrick wasn't quite a match for that monster."

I look down at the milkshake I
’m drinking. “If Patrick’s really dead,” I say, “I want to see his body”.

He shakes his head. “We can’t lead Keller there. He's bound to be watching us”.

“And you’re sure you know what you're doing?” I stare at him. “You’re sure Keller won’t be able to find where you've hidden him any other way?”

Vincent nods slowly.
“It’s impossible,” he says. He keeps touching the puncture wounds on his neck.

“
You can’t be dying,” I say. “First Patrick, now you... I don’t believe it”.

“
He injected me with a type of venom,” Vincent continues. “It’s slow-working, probably timed for roughly twenty-four hours. I imagine Keller would like to add a poetic touch to his murders. I can already feel the poison moving through my veins. I’m just thankful that he didn’t get you too, that there’s still hope for you to survive”. He reaches out and I take his hand in mine across the table. It’s such an old hand, wrinkled and with blue veins showing through thin skin. I look up at his face, which is so old and hollowed. “Don’t be sad,” he says. “I’m an old man, and a human. I only had a few more years left anyway. Now that Patrick’s dead... There wasn’t much for me to live for anyway. All I can do now is make sure that Keller never gets what he wanted”.

He holds out his wrist and turns it over. His veins are turning black.

"Is that the venom?" I ask.

He nods. "It's too powerful. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing anyone can do. It's destroying me even as we speak."

I take a deep breath, thinking about Patrick. “I didn’t get to say goodbye,” I say.

“
We don’t always,” says Vincent.

“
But...” I don’t know what I’m thinking. It’s as if there’s a mass of thoughts and memories crowding in my mind. “I never got to tell him... anything. He never knew how I felt about him”.

Vincent stares at me kindly.
“And how did you feel about him?”

I shake my head.
“I don’t know, but...”

Vincent squeezes my hand.
“He knew”.

I look at him.
“How can he have known, when I still don’t know?”

Vincent smiles a little.
“You forget that Patrick was a wise old soul. He had thousands of years’ experience when it comes to humans. He knew everything”.

I think about this for a moment. The truth is,
I still don't know how I feel about Patrick. He terrified me at times, and he disgusted me, but occasionally I got a glimpse of something else. There was compassion in his eyes, and he kissed me once, after he'd killed the Tenderling. I felt we were getting closer, and now suddenly he's gone forever.

Vincent sighs.
“Even
I
never fully understood Patrick’s mind, and I was his father. I always thought I’d gain a greater insight one day, and that I’d work out what he was thinking. I never did”.

“
There must have been others,” I say. “If he was so old, there must have been other girls. I must have been just the latest in a long line”.

“
You were the one he was waiting for,” Vincent says. “It’s important that you believe that. He knew you were coming. He was even at the hospital on the night you were born; he couldn’t wait to see you for the first time. He... Destiny was a force that he felt very strongly”.

“
And Patrick’s destiny was to die like this?” I ask.

Vincent nods.
“Destiny is like a river,” he says. “You can block its path in one place, but it will find a way to flow around the blockage, or it will flood. Either way, it will always end up where it was going. And it is almost always going to a great ocean”.

For a moment, I feel as if I might cry. The thought of Patrick dying in agony, being defeated by this Martin Keller, is too much to take in, but I manage hold back the tears.

“There’s no way to save him?” I ask. “He’s really dead?”

“
I’m sorry,” says Vincent.

“
No way at all?” I ask.

“
No way,” he replies.

I
’ve never seen Vincent like this. He seems totally defeated, as if the possibility of us beating Keller hasn’t occurred to him. Then again, hasn’t Keller already won? Patrick is dead, Vincent is dying. What is there left to defend?

“
Is there no way to save
your
life?” I ask.

“
No,” says Vincent. “I must merely prepare for death”.

“
And there’s no way to bring Patrick back?” I ask.

“
No,” he says. “Death is death. Final, absolute and forever”.

I look at his hand for a while, for what feels like hours. It seems like the blackest night possible. And then, as I feel like giving up, I remember Patrick
’s face, and how he would look at me as if surrender was never an option. I remember the moment when he seemed completely defeated by Dexter Logan, but he somehow summoned the strength to fight back. If he could do that, then maybe
I
can too. Patrick saved me from Dexter, and he saved me from Ruth Tisser, and he saved me from the Tenderling. Maybe it's my turn to save him.

“
You said there’s always a way,” I say slowly. “You said there’s always a way out, that you just have to be smart enough to recognize it”.

“
We’re past that point,” says Vincent.

“
No,” I say. “No, we’re not”. I let go of his hand and stand up. “I’m not going to accept this,” I continue. “I’ll meet you back here tomorrow,” I say, "but I’m going to find a way. Maybe we can get Patrick back and maybe we can't, but we have to do something”.

“
Sophie -” Vincent starts to say.

“
There’s a way!” I insist. “Like you said, there’s always a way. And I’m going to find it. It’s what Patrick would have wanted. He would have wanted us to fight until the last moment”.

Vincent seems completely exhausted. "I don't see what we can do," he says. "Keller is too powerful. If I had my books -"

"The answer isn't in your books," I reply firmly. Maybe I'm just scared, and maybe I'm deluded, but right now I feel as if there's still some time left to fight back. "We owe it to Patrick."

Vincent looks at me sadly.
“I can’t fight anymore,” he says. "I've been fighting all my life."

“
I know,” I say. I take a deep breath. "You said earlier that you have to get to Patrick's body and destroy it. If I distract Keller, can you go and do that?"

"Yes," he replies, "but -"

"Then I'll do it," I say. The thought of Martin Keller getting hold of Patrick's body and cutting it up is too horrifying. "I'll see you back here tomorrow," I add, and then I turn and walk out of the diner before Vincent has a chance to stop me. I have no idea where I’m going, or what I’m going to do, but I know this: I’m not going to just sit around and wait to get killed. I'm not ready to die, and I'm not ready to let my family get killed either, and I'm not going to let Keller get hold of Patrick's body. I have to come up with a plan.