The White Vampire

1.-1

1.

Scotland was my destiny, that much was clear. As much as I loved Scotland, I thought I had left it behind me when I had run away from Inverness.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After Sean’s birth things had happened at a hurtling a speed and I soon found myself…

I want to say, “where I began”, but that wouldn’t be correct either.

Firstly, I found myself much further north of Inverness. If you have any idea where Inverness is, you will understand how unpleasant this was going to be.

But saying “further north” doesn’t really give you a good idea of where yet. I found myself on a small Orkney Island, forgotten to both men and God, uninhabited, wind-swept, surrounded by a boundless sea and almost lacking all comforts.

No, sorry I keep correcting myself, that island wasn’t “almost” lacking all comforts it was completely void of all comforts.

There was a lighthouse, that was it.

The lighthouse was completely automatic, so no one had set foot on the island for years.

Ah, there was an old Pict settlement, which, if you’re wondering, was fundamentally four antique stones put together.

This was the hellhole Sean and I had been moved to, “for our safety”, about a month after I had given birth.

With us, at all times, were three wolves and at least one vampire.

All this was because my son was so unique and if the Observers had gotten their hands on him they would have… well, dissected him, knowing them.

Sean. My son. Only a month-old and already so many problems.

He had two beautiful bright eyes like his father and a tranquil and good-natured character like… no, okay. Let’s say that he had my nose.

And, technically, Sean belonged to an unknown species.

The Observers were not the only ones curious about him. Even the team of experts made up of wolves and vampires had put him through thorough testing.

Genetically, Sean was Harry’s and my own. He had half of my chromosomes and half were Harry’s. He was a wolf, like Harry. And… he drank blood. This was his only baby-vampire trait.

He could stay in sunlight and there was nothing strange about him really… except these small bizarre qualities.

I was worried to death.

At the same time, I was also positive: he was healthy, he interacted with me and did all normal things normal babies do at his age.

Which are: eating and sleeping.

Both Harry and Adrian had had a look inside his brain and they had decided that it was enough for him to drink the blood of someone who loved him, instead of milk of someone who loved him.

And I would never let him miss out on this blood, on my behalf.

I just wished that I could be at my house and try to have a normal, peaceful life, but… no.

I had had a peaceful life for a while. For about three weeks.

When I had come home from the hospital, everything had been relatively peaceful.

Harry came by when he clocked off work and Adrian would take Sean around the house on his chest, like a funny mother hen who was eight hundred and fifty years old and who was equipped with fangs.

They were both bewildered, but they tried to act normally.

Then, across the globe, wolves and vampires had begun their attack against the Observers.

They had been able to attack many Observer hubs, that they had been able to locate with months and months of investigations, and they had shattered them.

It was an invisible war, which the media never spoke about.

And if they did, they did it without knowing what was really happening.

A laboratory went up in flames in Boston; people speculated it may have been animal rights protestors.

A small pharmaceutical company branch was blown up; people speculated it was a competitive adversary taking revenge.

The director of a technological research company was killed in his driveway; people speculated it was a jealous husband who killed him.

If humans didn’t know what was happening, the Observers knew very well what was going on.

And they were counter-attacking.

This is why I was sent to that f*****g island, guarded constantly like a criminal.

This is why I was back at the mercy of Scotland.

+++

February was still gnawing like a tiger when I left the lighthouse to go and welcome the helicopter, which was bringing Harry to the island.

I had left Sean indoors, in his cot, cocooned in a fleece blanket. Betty and Dora, two of my wolf security detail, were looking after him, while Gary, the third wolf, accompanied me to the promontory. Karen was still sleeping in a room that was completely void of any light.

‘s**t weather,’ Garry grumbled, pulling his winter coat around himself, while we climbed towards the promontory.

‘Welcome to Scotland,’ I replied, sarcastically.

The wind was icy and it shook the island’s greying grass, creating wavelets much like on a lake.

The sea was frothing and grey, like everything else on the island.

We arrived at the top of the promontory and we stopped.

‘I thought ice and snow were a sort of natural habitat, for you wolves,’ I provoked him.

Gary was a young blonde and accommodating wolf. Well, at least in his human form he was. ‘No wolf enjoys living in these conditions. And this wolf loves hot and sunny climates. f**k, I hope Pierce is punctual.’

I pointed to the sky with my nose, which was the only part of me that was exposed. ‘I can hear it.’

One could arrive on the island in one of two ways: by sea or by air. The sea was never calm during this winter season and the island didn’t offer any sheltered areas, so for the most part the rations and visitors arrived from the sky.

We finally spotted the helicopter, like a glare in the sky, at first. Then it slowly took form in front of us.

The sound deafened us and the blades from the propeller created a cold gale around us, then the helicopter finally landed.

Immediately a man wearing thermals jumped out, and he began unloading boxes from the helicopter.

Harry got out next, wearing a cashmere coat which would have been perfect for the city but on this cliff in the middle of the ocean was quite useless.

The wind messed up his grey hair and his bony cheeks became rosy immediately.

‘How f*****g cold is it?’ were his first words.

Then he half closed his eyes and looked at me. ‘Sarah? Are you, under all those clothes?’

I nodded. ‘Welcome,’ I said.

He tried to smile even though it looked more like a grimace of pain. ‘On paper it seemed like the perfect place,’ he grumbled, kissing me on one of the earflaps of my winter hat.

‘Christ, take me somewhere warm,’ he said.

‘You are the one with the helicopter,’ I laughed. We started descending towards the lighthouse.

When we finally went indoors, we breathed a sigh of relief. We had occupied all of the ground floor and first floor rooms of the old lighthouse.

Heating was a nightmare, but we weren’t interested in the bills.

Gary and I took off our coats, scarves and hats, while Harry seemed a little reluctant to part with his coat.

‘Truly, Sarah, I had no idea,’ he said looking around. ‘Ah, Gary… not only could I not see your face out there, but I couldn’t even smell you.’

‘I know, sir,’ he answered, with a smirk. ‘And today is a good day!’

‘Christ,’ Harry grumbled. He rubbed his hands together and decided to take off his coat. He smiled.

‘Where’s my boy?’

I pointed to the stairs with my head. ‘Come. Betty and Dora are with him.’

Harry trotted behind me. ‘Won’t he get pneumonia here?’ he asked.

‘I don’t think so. Sean and Karen are the only ones who don’t care about the weather,’ I replied. Sean had the appetite of a vampire but also their astonishing constitution. The Observers called it the cellular regeneration factor.

‘Girls?’ I shouted, opening the door.

Betty and Dora were beside the cot, but they stood up immediately when Harry walked in. He was their pack leader, after all.

‘Sir,’ they greeted him.

Harry bowed his head and smiled. ‘There he is. Wow. Looks like he has grown.’

I laughed. ‘He has grown, Harry. At this age they grow continuously.’

He picked Sean up delicately, careful not to wake him. ‘He’s grown in a week, hey?’ he mumbled, stroking Sean’s head with his nose. Sean made a little sleepy noise and scrunched his eyes up.

‘Thank you Betty, Thank you Dora. You may go,’ Harry said.

He sat on the bed with his son in his arms. ‘I missed him terribly.’ He lay back on the bed and placed the baby on his chest. ‘How wonderful. He’s still sleeping.’

I smiled. ‘It’s pretty much his favourite pastime.’

Harry looked at me. ‘Are you coping? I swear I had not understood it was a shitty place like this.’

I nodded, sitting down next to them. ‘I read. I sleep. I watch movies on my computer. What’s happening out there, Harry?’

His face clouded over. ‘No good,’ he sighed, delicately stroking his son’s clenched fist with his hand. ‘At times I think we are prevailing. But… slowly, you know. For every laboratory that we destroy, they attack one of our people. They kidnap people. They have a small army at their service. If they realise that we are coming, they destroy computers, samples and the like. They don’t let us know about other connections they may have. I’m sorry that you have to stay here.’

‘It’s fine,’ I said. The most important thing for me was to keep Sean safe.

‘I agree. We have been very… careful. It’s a moment of unusual concordance between the vampires and ourselves, you see.’

I smiled. ‘Yes, I see. Adrian is…?’

Harry laughed under his breath. ‘Adrian is doing what he loves best. We’ve located another two laboratories in Britain, in addition to the one where… you know.’

Neither of us wanted to think back to that place where they had kept us prisoners. I made a sign for him to continue.

‘The enthusiasm with which Adrian massacres those people is contagious.’

‘He is well, though, right?’

He winked at me. ‘He’s coming next week. He kindly allowed me to have the first visit.’

I smiled. I missed Adrian. I missed him like mad.

‘Yes, when he isn’t killing people he is in a foul mood, so I assume he misses you too.’

‘As far as I know a “foul mood” for Adrian is the norm,’ I considered.

‘True,’ Harry admitted. ‘So, let’s see… what else is going on? Tyr is evanescent as always. The rest of the council squabbles a lot, as always, but I have the impression that Tyr keeps them out of the real decision-making process. I don’t know, I have no proof of this, but it’s a… feeling I have. I’m sure Adrian will know more about it when you see him.’

‘Anne?’ I asked.

Anne was part of his security detail, but Harry couldn’t fool me. She growled a little too much when I was around.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘She is fine.’

Very reserved. But after all, “reserved” could be his middle name.

He laughed. ‘Nah. It’s just that I’m your personal counsellor, not vice versa. Anne did become somewhat distant when I told her I was coming here, but she didn’t say anything. I mean after all, my son is here.’

As though he knew we were talking about him, Sean let out a yelp.

‘He’ll wake up now,’ I predicted.

‘Good day, son,’ Harry smiled, a moment later Sean blinked. Harry stroked his nose and Harry put his finger near his mouth. Sean bit him and began to drink.

‘I’ll never get used to this,’ said Harry, looking at him. Then he smiled again. ‘Even if for you it must be convenient.’

I shrugged. I hadn’t gotten used to it either. ‘Not much convenient. He only drinks from you, Adrian, and myself, you know?’

‘Really? That’s odd, maybe it’s some sort of genetic imprinting?’

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. From what we know, he only acquired that stupid regenerating factor from Adrian. No, I think he drinks from us because I think the others are scared of him, even if they try not to be.’

Harry remained in silence, while our son drank small sips of his blood. He never drank much.

‘I take some offence in this,’ he admitted, finally.

‘Me too, I’m also quite offended, but it’s understandable. He is a unique being.’

Harry closed his eyes. ‘He’s a little creature,’ he muttered.

It was actually the definition Tyr had used. It was a good definition. Good because it was true and good because it was also kind.