Seeker (37 page)

Frederick was a source of information, and Sam would keep him around for as long as he needed him, no more. He had no loyalty to Frederick, and no desire to be with him. Once done, Sam would return to Lilly.

He looked towards where he knew Lilly's house was. It was almost four in the morning, and Lilly would be up soon to get herself ready for another day at work.

He hoped she wasn't worrying too much. She was a very level-minded woman, and seemed able to deal with most things. She had adapted very well to the stranger who had entered her life. Sam wondered, if worst came to worst, would she adapt with equal ease to the stranger leaving her life just as quickly? He hoped they would not have to find out.

But, then, he no longer knew what kind of world he was now a part of. Frederick had found him, how many other upyr would eventually follow? And what would that mean for Lilly? For sure Sam was convinced that those people he'd met at the factory on Canvey were more of the same. Even back then, a week ago today now Sam came to think of it, Willem had been a little wary of these people Frederick had introduced him to. Business contacts who were more like family to Frederick, something that he'd promised to explain to Willem later that night. It was an explanation that had never come about.

Sam looked towards the living room door and the passageway beyond. Out there, sleeping like a babe, Frederick held the answers Sam needed.

A week late, Sam was going to get them. Now that he had “given into” Frederick he felt sure he could get the information he needed, without the emotional crap getting in the way.

He crouched down and pulled the bags towards him, and began to rummage through them. So many things, but, he noted, no sign of his mobile phone. Did that matter, though? What use would that phone be now, with all the contacts contained therein another link to a life barely his.

Still, he remembered everything; the clothes, the toiletries, even the Paul Magrs novel. He turned the paperback over in his hands and read the blurb;
The Bride that Time Forgot
, “an outrageous adventure with the most terrifying villain Brenda has ever faced—her best friend, Effie…” It felt like it was a book he should like, but like most other things in the bags it was as if they belonged to someone else. Namely Willem.

He had to force himself to remember that he
was
Willem. That the past thirty-five years were his, all the memories, the relationships, the family. It was as real, maybe even more so, than all those memories and events he had experienced since coming to in Lilly's garden. Everything left in London was still his, and it was all there waiting for him to return. But even if he wanted to, and with Lilly here he wasn't sure he did want to, how could he return to that life, knowing what he now knew, having become a creature of the night?

Laughter erupted uncontrollably from his mouth. He tried to hold it back, but couldn't. The absurdity of everything had finally caught up with him. A week ago he had been a successful businessman in London, with a very dependent sister, a nephew he adored, and a best mate he loved like a brother. And now he was…what? A being of supernatural ability, a drinker of blood, and possibly immortal? On top of that he was convinced that somehow, because of what Frederick had done to him, he had become an oracle into the past.

As the morning darkness turned into light with the rising sun, Sam remained sitting on the chair, naked as the day he was born, chuckling away to himself, routing through the stuff that was technically his property. Waiting for Frederick to awake, so that he could finally get the answers he needed.

* * *

Frederick awoke to the smell of cooked meat. The unmistakable salty aroma of fried bacon. Which puzzled him a little, since he knew he did not have any bacon in his fridge. He got out of bed, smiling at the memories brought back by the sight of the bed sheets—it was everything he'd expected it to be—and slipped on his boxers as he walked into the living room. Stuff was strewn across the floor, the contents of Willem's rucksack and holdall.

He found Willem in the kitchen, dressed as he was yesterday, curiously not having availed himself of the change of clothes that the contents of his bags afforded him (although he now wore the Vans trainers once more), flipping bacon over in the frying pan. A bag from the nearby Londis at Ridgeway Gardens was on the side, its contents in as much disarray on the sideboard as Willem's stuff was on the living room floor.

Funny. Frederick always assumed Willem was a tidy person. Not that he minded, after all he was more than happy for Willem to make himself at home. As long as they were together.

Frederick noticed, also, that Willem's mobile was no longer sitting on the kitchen counter where he had left it when Celeste came to call the other day.

“Morning,” Frederick said.

Willem looked over his shoulder and smiled. “Good morning, sleepy head. Thought you'd have more stamina,” he added with a wink.

Frederick raised his eyebrows in mock defeat. “Well, I did, but you…” He grinned. “You're something else entirely.”

“I know,” Willem said, and leaned over to kiss Frederick. He closed his eyes to savour the taste of Willem's lips on his. “Now, you go and get cleaned up while I finish breakfast. Then you can tell me everything.”

“Deal,” Frederick said, and turned back to the living room. He didn't care if he had the stupidest grin on his face, either.

* * *

Sam watched Frederick walk away, and as soon as the other man was out of sight Sam's smile faded. Damn fool. Sam figured he should probably feel bad, after all what he was doing to Frederick wasn't so far removed from the emotional manipulation that Lawrencia often used on their mother, a fact Willem had often got pissed off about. But guilt was far from his mind.

If pretence was needed to get the information he required then so be it. Frederick had led him on a week ago, brought him into a world so different from his own, and had he felt guilty? Sam didn't think so. Frederick wanted Willem and so he had done what he had to do to get him, including alienating him from Charlie.

So much Frederick had to answer for. But first it was a matter of answers
needed
.

* * *

“Shouldn't we be burning up about now?” Willem asked.

“Why?” Frederick wanted to know, as he followed Willem out of the kitchen, holding his cooked breakfast before him. Such a domestic routine as eating breakfast with a loved one was not something Frederick had really participated in since he had been human. That said, he didn't think he'd taken part in such an occasion when he was human, either. It was so long ago; sometimes he could barely remember what it was like to be human, never mind the smaller moments of his human existence.

Even when around Celeste he never partook in such a convention, preferring to leave such a quaint custom to the humans. He found he was enjoying the unexpected domestication that being around Willem was bringing, but of course he knew it wouldn't last. Much about human ways would slip by the wayside the more Willem embraced his upyr heritage.

He looked back at Willem, who indicated the sun poking through the clouds. “I'm no expert on vampire lore, but I've seen enough films to know vampires and sunlight don't mix.”

“Right,” Frederick said, thinking it was going to be a long day if he had to dispel every erroneous “fact” of vampire lore. But still, he was glad for Willem's interest. After last night's initial reunion Frederick feared for their future, but he now chalked it up as confusion on Willem's part. Frederick had been lucky, he had the guidance of Celeste to help him through that first week, Willem had no one. Until now.

“Death by sunlight was a dramatic invention of Murnau for his film,
Nosferatu
, in 1922 which, as you've kindly demonstrated, has become a convention of almost all vampire fiction.” He sat down, with his back to the sofa and placed the plate on the carpet before him.

“Okay, so how much vampire lore is crap, and how much is true? Obviously I'm gonna have to accept some things now, since I saw what I saw, and…well, can't deny what's happened to me.”

Frederick waited for Willem to sit himself on the rug before the mock fireplace, cross his legs, and rest his plate on his lap.

“For a lie to work it needs to be shrouded in truth,” Frederick began, “and myth is much the same.”

“Right. So, I'm not a full vampire until I drink blood right?”

“What?”

“I'm sure I've read that somewhere, or seen it in a film.” Willem furrowed his brow as he tried to recall the information. His eyes lit up. “
The Lost Boys
, I think it was. Or is that a werewolf myth?”

“Werewolf?” Frederick shook his head. “I think you need to slow down, there's much to process, and all this subsidiary stuff will only confuse you more.” He reached out and placed a hand on Willem's knee. “Okay? Let's focus, leave all the other supernaturals to one side.”

“Other? You mean there are more than vampires out there?”

Frederick sighed, but he couldn't help but smile. “Yes,” he said slowly, “there have been otherworldly things in this world as long as there have been humans. Before, too, if legend is to be believed. Every myth has some bearing in fact. There are many things that go bump in the night,
and
,” he nodded at the sunlight coming through the window, “in the day, come to that.”

Willem ran a hand over his face. “Right, okay. Still processing.” He looked down at his plate and cut himself a piece of bacon. “Tell me about where the vampires came from.”

“Very well, best place to start is at the beginning.” Frederick paused dramatically, and then began, for the moment glad of Willem's attention.

“The legends of our origins are sparse, but there is a little in the Book…”

“The Book?” Willem asked around a mouthful of egg.

“Later,” Frederick said with a sigh. Willem threw him an apologetic look, and Frederick continued.

“Now, Wamukota tells us that the first vampires were truly demonic creatures. Beasts whose only purpose was to drink the blood of the living; human, animal, it didn't matter. Their appetite was insatiable. Any form of intelligence, of higher reasoning, was lost to them. Wamukota does allude to such facilities once, but something happened, turned them into monsters driven by their base nature. He also tells us that there was a woman, or possibly many women, the texts are unclear, who lifted them above the craven monsters they were. Through the millennia she would come to them, guide them, nudge them up the evolutionary ladder.

“And hence vampire lore and myth spread across the globe; each country had different tales of creatures that feasted on blood. Some stories contained similar themes, the creatures bore the same traits, but others differed strongly. Which brings me to Ancient Egypt.”

All the time Willem had been listening, looking down at his food with a thoughtful look, but now his head snapped up, his red eyes piercing straight into Frederick. Something crawled across his skin, and he wasn't sure why.

“What of Ancient Egypt?” Willem asked.

* * *

There was something very familiar about all of this, although at the same time Sam knew he had never heard or read anything about the history of the vampire as Frederick told it. But he could not escape the feeling that he somehow knew it already. The name Wamukota meant something to him, too. He closed his eyes, drifting on the words Frederick spoke, but his mind returned to that monastery in Moldavia, the one he had seen so many times before.

The old man, dodging falling masonry, careful to not let the flames touch his frail skin. The book he carried in his arms. Wamukota was his name.

Sam snapped his eyes open and looked up at Frederick. “What of Ancient Egypt?” he asked sharply.

Frederick looked at him, and for a split second he seemed suspicious. Sam flashed his best smile, and laughed.

“Sorry, always had a kind of interest in Egypt, ever since I first saw that
Doctor Who
episode with the mummies in. Every year Jake and I would dress as mummies at Halloween; got kind of old eventually, though.”

The look on Frederick's face softened for a moment, until Sam mentioned Jake, then the look turned to one of jealousy. Sam didn't react, merely remembering the same look in Frederick's eyes outside Zinc during the early hours of Saturday morning. Jealousy could prove to be a useful weapon. Later.

“What do you think of the bacon?” Sam asked.

“It's good,” Frederick said, forking some into his mouth. “What do you know of “The Revenge of Ra”?”

“An episode of
SG1
?” The words escaped Sam's mouth before he had even thought of an answer, and he grinned, knowing full well from where such a pithy response came.

“Ah, no,” Frederick said, smiling in return, “it's an old Egyptian myth…”

* * *

Frederick indulged Willem with a smile. Still Willem was so human, but Frederick would remain patient. He was no teacher, otherwise he would have joined the Rebirth Council, and he knew he was out of his depth when it came to teaching upyr law to a fledgling, but Willem's entering in their world was Frederick's responsibility, and he had to see it through.

“Ah, no,” he said, “it's an old Egyptian myth.

“According to the story, Ra the Sun God was angry with his people for failing to worship and fear him as they should, and to him attacking his old age was the final insult. After consulting with the lesser gods he agreed to send his daughter, Hathor, made from his flaming eye, out to kill those who attacked him. Ra was, after all, still the greatest of the gods and his throne was secure, and so it was right that humanity fear his anger.

“Hathor was sent out in the form of Sekhmet, a mighty lioness. Like the lion she took delight in the slaughter and discovered much pleasure in the bloodshed. Observing her work, Ra was at first pleased, and once satisfied that his vengeance was complete he called her back. But Sekhmet cried out; ‘By your life, O' Ra, I work my will on the human race and my heart rejoices.' And so she continued, and because of her divine power none could force her to cease killing, which left Ra only two courses of action. Persuasion or trickery.”