Destiny (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

‘Lili, I’m not sure how to begin, but please don’t be scared. You’re safe, and Claire will be fine.’

My fear faded, but my mind still raced, trying to make sense of everything.

‘Just tell me the truth, Sam.’

‘Okay,’ he said, but then hesitated as if still trying to find the right words. When he finally spoke it was fast, as though he didn’t want a chance to change his mind. ‘Tom is a vampire. He bit Claire. He got excited, but I know he wasn’t trying to hurt her. She’ll be fine.’

I tried to process what he said, but my mind felt muddled. Maybe I hadn’t quite heard him right. My hands were still resting in his, but they could have been someone else’s hands—I felt so detached from the scene around me. Was I dreaming this? It was like my father’s funeral … all over again.

Eventually I cleared my mind enough to respond, but my words came slowly.

‘I see. And is he … under a doctor’s care? Is he, I mean, should he be in a hospital or something?’

‘There is no hospital, or doctor, that can help him. He is what he is,’ he said, sounding defeated. ‘No. I mean, he’s obviously delusional … a psychiatrist could help him … there are medications he can take.’

‘Lili, he isn’t delusional. He’s a vampire.’

I could feel myself frowning as I tried to get my brain to function clearly. He didn’t look like he was joking around, but he couldn’t be serious.

‘He isn’t a real vampire, Sam. Vampires don’t exist. They’re myths, like elves and fairies and … and … leprechauns. He must be sick if he thinks he’s a vampire. He needs help.’

‘Lili, I swear to you, he
is
a vampire. I know this must be hard for you to believe, but I am telling you the truth.’

His eyes were just so beautiful that I struggled to concentrate on what he was saying.

‘I don’t understand,’ I said, shaking my head.

‘Look, if I explain … will you listen, and try to believe what I tell you?’

I took a deep breath, but I couldn’t seem to force my mind to think clearly. This was too much. Maybe if he kept talking, it would eventually make sense. ‘Okay,’ I replied, but without conviction.

His voice softened, reminding me of my mother’s storytelling voice.

‘Tom and I were best friends growing up. We lived in a small village in Cornwall, at the southern tip of England. When Tom’s parents died, he came to live with us. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters at that stage—not until a couple of years later when my sister, Elizabeth, was born.’

He paused, and I noticed he had that pained look on his face again—the one I’d first seen at the market. But I felt amazingly calm now, listening to his soft voice.

‘We were poor, so my parents decided to try to make a new start in Australia. Together with Elizabeth, they boarded a ship headed to Melbourne. Elizabeth was ten at the time. I was twenty-three.’

His voice was so mesmerising I nearly forgot about Claire in the other room.

‘Tom and I stayed behind to sell what we could from the farm. We were to use the money to follow them as soon as we could. But months went by, and I never heard from my parents. They were meant to write as soon as they arrived, but a letter never came. When I finally contacted the shipping master’s office, they said the ship had been wrecked in Port Phillip Bay. For some reason, my family wasn’t listed among the passengers, so I’d never been notified. I knew they must have died because they would have contacted me otherwise. So Tom and I scraped together what money we could, and took the next ship.’

I shook my head, as if doing so might help clear the fog that was slowing me down. ‘Ship? You keep saying ship, but you mean plane, right?’

‘No, it was a ship.’

He squeezed my hands between his, and brought them to his lips—gently kissing each one in turn. Even in my confused state, it sent a rush of electric shock through my body.

‘When Tom and I arrived in Melbourne we went to the place they called Burial Hill. I thought my family might have been buried there, and I wanted to be close to them. Tom and I had very little money left, so we camped right there.’

He was quiet for a moment, continuing to stare deeply into my eyes. I was completely mesmerised. When he spoke again, it was so soft I could barely hear.

‘That was the night we both became vampires.’

I was certain I hadn’t heard right. ‘Both?’ I whispered, leaning back and pulling my hands away from him. The logical side of my brain was telling me that this was just some elaborate hoax, yet I was suddenly uncomfortably aware of the hairs on the back of my neck. Was I afraid of Sam?

‘Yes … both of us,’ he said, reaching out and gently taking my hands in his again. I didn’t pull away, although something told me I should.

‘The vampire that found us that night was called Erranase. He approached, and asked if he could share our campfire to warm his tired bones. He seemed like a kind sort of man, so we allowed him to sit with us. As we talked, both Tom and I fell into some sort of trance. That’s when he bit us, and drank our blood. Then he made us drink his. It just seemed so normal that we didn’t resist.’

‘You drank his blood? Do you mean to tell me … I mean … I saw blood on Tom’s face … he was trying to drink Claire’s blood, wasn’t he?’ The words seemed to be coming from someone else, as the voice that spoke surely couldn’t have been my own.

‘Claire’s fine, really, don’t worry about her. Please … let me continue,’ he said as he stroked my hands and gazed more deeply into my eyes. I could feel my resistance fading once again.

‘Erranase told us why he’d created us, and we weren’t afraid … or angry. He’d been one of a group of four vampires that had travelled all through Europe and Asia for hundreds of years. They’d developed great power in East Prussia. But Erranase had grown tired of the power and control that Zunios, their leader, had over them so he boarded a ship bound for what is now Western Australia, eventually making his way to Melbourne.’

Again I shook my head, but it refused to clear. I simply listened to Sam’s mesmerising voice, wondering if he’d slipped me drugs somehow. It was the only way I could justify how calm I felt.

‘Erranase feared it would only be a matter of time until the other three would come looking for him, so he wanted to create a small group of his own—for protection. Tom was exactly what he was looking for—strong and feisty. Me, well, I was there, and I was obviously Tom’s friend, so he decided I would do too.’

Sam looked down for a moment, but just before he did I saw that the defeat I’d heard in his voice was now written all over his face. He seemed so sad that I found myself feeling sorry for this young man, who through no fault of his own had become a vampire. Or at least, thought he had. Was he the one that was delusional? My heart started to race, but when Sam looked up into my eyes again I felt the calm return. When he began speaking I was once again focused on his story.

‘Erranase stayed with us, teaching us his ways. He wasn’t a bad vampire, as far as vampires go. He mostly preyed on evil people; thieves and thugs.’

A noise in the hall outside caught my attention. I looked away from Sam, and as I did I could feel my heart rate begin to quicken. This time I refused to look at him.

‘Okay, okay. Wait just a minute. Sam … if what you’re saying is true, then Claire is going to become a vampire, right?’ The realisation of what had happened tonight began to race through my mind.

He reached up, and stroked my cheek, turning my face back to him. He gazed into my eyes.

‘No, Lili, don’t worry about Claire. That’s not how it works. She didn’t drink his blood—the contagion hasn’t spread. Really, she’ll be fine.’

‘Claire will be fine, you say. She’s been bitten … by a vampire … but she’ll be fine, because
she
didn’t drink
his
blood. I see. Well, actually, I don’t see …’

I didn’t know what I believed. And I didn’t know who was more insane; Sam, for telling me all this, or me, for thinking that maybe he was telling the truth. And if he was telling the truth, shouldn’t I be frightened for my own life?

Sam continued stroking my hands, trying to keep eye contact with me, but this time I looked down at the floor.

‘So, when … I mean, how long ago … how long have you …’

‘Tom and I arrived in Melbourne in 1853, almost exactly one year after my family died.’

I drew in my breath, and held it for a moment, then let it out slowly before I spoke.

‘1853 … right. So, let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re a vampire. And you’re, like, over a hundred and fifty years old. And you kill people and drink their blood. Have I got that right?’

The logical side of my brain was still convinced that this was all an elaborate hoax. And on some level I knew this disbelief was the only thing keeping me from being paralysed with fear.

‘Lili, firstly, know that you are safe. Everything will be fine. Now, look at me. Stare into my eyes and tell me what you see.’

I hesitated, knowing that staring into his eyes would make me calm again, but it wouldn’t answer anything.

‘Lili, please,’ he pleaded softly.

I felt I needed to do as he said, not for me … for him. I looked into his beautiful, dark eyes, waiting to feel the calming sensation come over me again. Only it didn’t. Instead, as I watched his eyes they changed. The blue turned to red. They were still dark and beautiful, but they were red. I stared in amazement at the transformation, then pulled back a little, and changed my focus from his eyes, to his whole face. His skin suddenly appeared to be almost translucent, with a grey tinge to it.

‘There are some things we can’t hide, like the fact that we don’t cast a shadow. But we are able to create a visual illusion—our eyes, our skin—so that we look like what you would expect a “normal” human to look like. The illusion is a bit hard to keep up when we’re young, but the older we get, the easier it becomes until the illusion is there without us having to think about it. I had to force the illusion to drop just now, so that you could see the real me.’

‘How did you do that?’ I didn’t really believe he was actually a vampire, yet if he wasn’t how had he just turned his eyes red, and drained the colour from his face?

‘I told you. It’s what we are. That’s how we look.’

The sadness returned; in his voice, and on his face. I forced myself to look away from him, to try to think clearly.

‘Okay. So, you’re a vampire. Let’s just say for a moment that’s true, not that I ‘m saying I believe you … but if it is true … how can you be outside in the daytime? We went to the football game, we’ve walked all around Sydney today … aren’t you meant to, like, shrivel up or explode or something if a sunbeam touches you?’

I tried to remember movies I’d seen. What did those vampires look like? How did they die?

‘It’s not like that. We do stay out of the sun, partly because we don’t cast shadows, but also because the young vampires can easily get distracted and drop their illusion. So, as a precaution, we avoid daylight and bright lights. And then of course there are the vampire hunters. They can spot us quite easily if we’re out in the open—particularly in daylight.’

‘Oh, yes, of course … the “vampire hunters” …’ I said, dragging out the words.

‘Yes, vampire hunters,’ he replied, ignoring my sarcasm. ‘They keep the vampire population down. They’re our only natural enemy, and the illusion doesn’t work on them.’

I wanted to believe Sam, no matter what he said, but it was getting harder, not easier, by the minute.

‘So, they can see you anytime?’

‘Yes, they can see us, and they can smell us. They are the protectors of humans, but the last thing they want to do is to create a scene, so when they spot a vampire they simply keep an eye on him, or her, and follow them until they can get them alone. Then they destroy them.’

I turned to look at him again, and his eyes and face were back to normal. I sighed. ‘I see. And you and Tom have somehow evaded these vampire hunters … for how many years now?’

‘Tom and I have survived here because we are careful. That’s why I was angry when Tom invited you girls to the football. We try to avoid big crowds. Things can happen … things can get out of control.’ He paused, and when he continued his voice was a bit louder. ‘Tom was really getting into that game—yelling and carrying on. I could tell the guy on the other side of him was getting agitated. If that guy had started a fight … well, Tom is very strong, and if that guy had gotten aggressive, I’m not sure if Tom would have been able to control himself.’

So it wasn’t me that he was avoiding … he simply didn’t want to go to the game and wasn’t happy with Tom for suggesting it. I knew this was a stupid thing to be thinking about right now, but the thought was there nonetheless, and it made me happy. Sam hadn’t been avoiding me after all.

‘Tom and I avoid confrontation. We don’t do anything in the open that would give us away, and we don’t kill humans. Well, not often anyway.’

‘You don’t kill humans? Aren’t vampires meant to drink human blood? How can you not kill them?’

He seemed to be trying to choose his words carefully. ‘There are other ways,’ he said.

‘Other ways? What, like, robbing a blood bank?’ I turned my head away from Sam and then a terrible thought occurred to me. ‘Or, like keeping slaves or something? Taking blood, but not enough to kill them …’

Had I seen that in some movie? I could feel the panic starting to return.

Sam squeezed my hands, and stared even more deeply into my eyes. The effect was immediate—I felt calmer instantly.

‘No, Lili, don’t even think that. We mostly survive on the blood of animals—rabbits and foxes when we’re in the city. Do you know how many rabbits and foxes there are in Melbourne? And you don’t have to go far to find lots of kangaroos. Initially that was what we hunted, but when the rabbit and fox populations took off they were easy prey without having to venture very far.’

‘So … you don’t ever kill humans?’ I could hear the relief in my voice, and could see it register in his eyes.

‘I have … but not often … and not for a long time now. Tom tries too, though I know he isn’t quite as motivated as I am.’

‘I don’t understand, Sam. I mean, I guess I’m glad you don’t kill humans, me being the key one I’d like you not to kill … but why? I mean, if you’re a vampire, well, isn’t that what vampires do? I mean, I love cats—they really are the most majestic creatures. And they kill to survive. They are what they are, and I don’t respect them any less for being what they are.’