In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Thirty Two

The door creaked open allowing a strong gust of wind to enter the small dingy room. The whispers, grunts and mumbles quietened as the leader of the Rebellion strolled in. The grimness etched on the faces of the vampires present quickly shifted to awe and reverie. One vampire turned to his friend, a heavy-boned creature with a large Adam’s apple and whispered,

“Do you think it’s time?”

The plump vampire dragged his eyes from their great leader and regarded his friend with excited eyes. He too had been wondering the same thing – every vampire in that room had gnawed over this very thought. They all wanted to know whether they could finally go over the wall and reclaim the human realm.

Sorokin swept his eyes over the dimly lit room and bit back a smile. He counted at least fifteen new faces, they were growing. Sorokin turned to look at Joseph. There was a large grin across Joseph’s face, he too was pleased by the fact that they were growing. Judging by the marks on the newbies’ skins, they had been vetted, their trust proven. Sorokin gave Joseph a subtle nod before making soundless steps towards the back of the room. He had never enjoyed being in the spotlight. Attention from a large crowd always made his skin tingle. Sorokin liked to compare public speaking to standing directly under the sun.

“Brothers…sisters, I know what is eating your minds and dancing on your souls, well pseudo souls…”

Muffled laughter filled the air. Sorokin furrowed his eyebrows, how was that funny?

“You know how I operate, you know I cannot tell a lie. Vampires cannot tell lies.”

More laughter. Sorokin rolled his eyes, there was no way this group of vampires was actually enjoying Joseph’s dry jokes.

“Unfortunately, it is not time.”

Disappointed noises filled the air. Sorokin swept his eyes across the room taking note of the vampires that were sad, angry, enraged and indifferent. Most were sad. Sorokin gritted his teeth. The Rebellion needed enraged vampires, not sad ones. Sad meant that they were losing a war that had not even begun.

“Silence.”

The room fell silent. Joseph ran a hand through his dark hair and let out a sigh. He slouched his shoulders making his awkward frame even more awkward. Sorokin admired Joseph as a leader. At first, he had been concerned, believing that the Rebellion needed a leader whose looks commanded fear but Sorokin had long been disproven. The Rebellion had needed a leader who was relatable yet ruthless. Joseph was not afraid to look vulnerable in front of his army. There were times he would even get emotional in front of them. There were times he would entertain their games which mostly involved arm wrestling. When he had no answers, Joseph told them this. When he felt that there was hope, he shared his feelings with them. Through this, Joseph had cultivated an undying loyalty in all the vampires present in the room.

Few had seen him in a bad light, a terrifying light. Few knew how truly ruthless Joseph can be.

“My niece is in the human realm trying to learn how she would continue the peace treaty with them once she, well, becomes your queen…”

Angry murmurs filled the night air. Sorokin shifted the weight of one leg to another as guilt flooded his insides.

“Settle down settle down…According to the council, there is more to this mission than meets the eye. Apparently, the tribe’s leader, my beloved step-brother, has concocted a grandiose plan that will save our realm and destroy the human realm. A plan so witty, so unsuspecting that my niece will earn our tribe’s respect and loyalty. In fact, I hear that this plan is meant to annihilate humanity giving us command over all the lands…”

Shocked whispers blared through the air as the creatures expressed their curiosity. They asked each other questions as if some among them possessed hidden information about this grand plan. Sorokin lifted one leg and pressed his shoe on the wall, he then leaned back, his curiosity at full peak. Earlier that evening, Sebastian had let him in on this secret plan but he had not shared any intricate details about it. Sorokin wondered whether this so-called master plan would endanger Donna. He also wondered who among in the council was a mole.

“Sounds too good to be true does it not? Sending a teenage vampire to infiltrate the land of our enemies without much training…”

Sorokin grunted. As Donna’s trainer, he felt attacked.

“…to somehow destroy an entire species and solve all our problems. Does your might leader not know that humans have become smarter, stronger, and more capable? My niece stands no chance against humans. The only way we can stop the hunger, the suffering, the nightmare that is beast realm is by coming together and attacking humans as one.”

Sorokin blinked as the entire room went ballistic over Joseph’s latter statement. Soon the vampires were pounding their chests and knocking their foreheads together in an animalistic manner. Gone was the earlier melancholy, now these creatures were filled with something better than rage, unity. The question is, who were they unified against? The nobles or the humans? Perhaps both?

“Pipe down…pipe down. Most of you are here because you are tired of seeing your loved ones dying and suffering. Some are here because they want justice for the things and kin they have lost. Others are here because they have no hobby…”

Chuckles filled the air. Sorokin groaned.

“Point is…We all want the same thing. We want to bring down the wall and take what we need to survive blood. Human blood. Has anyone here had human blood recently?”

Sorokin squinted his eyes at the question. What was Joseph getting at? Most of the vampires in the room shook their heads while the rest weakly bobbed theirs.

“You know who has? The nobles. They pour it into their posh glasses and drink the sweet liquid in tiny bits, relishing every swallow. Instead of sharing the remnants of the human blood, your leader gives the supply to the wealthy so that he can retain control of his precious castle and the realm. Your kin are suffering because we are ruled by an unfair leader who has put all our eggs into his daughter’s incapable basket. Well, no more.”

Sorokin felt a chill make its way down his spine. His foot slipped from the wall and his body unpeeled from the cold surface. Joseph normally shared all his plans with him. What did he mean by “no more”?

“We will take what they have, regain our strength, and tear down that f*****g wall!”

Sorokin’s eyes widened as a collective uproar filled the room. He entered a daze as vampires rose from their seats and began to chant Joseph’s name. His mind rushed to paint a disturbing image of his kind mercilessly killing each other in the streets. He saw the beast realm on fire, his loved ones’ carcasses on the ground. The Rebellion had been formed to fight the humans, not fellow vampires.

“Now who is with me?”

“Ae! Ae! Aeeee!”

Sorokin helplessly watched as the frenzied vampires filed out of the small, dimly lit room and out in the cold night. He had disappeared into his thoughts and missed the rest of Joseph’s speech. Soon, when they were alone, Sorokin marched to Joseph while breathing like a wounded animal.

“Before you say anything, we both knew that this day was coming, well, night…”

“You mean the day you lost your mind?”

“Night, or is it day now that it is almost dawn?”

“Joseph, the Rebellion is not strong enough to take on the nobles. They drink human blood, we drink animal blood or apparently blood from fellow vampires! Some of these vampires have not had anything to drink in weeks! The nobles will eat them alive!”

Sorokin panted as he spun around trying to hold on to a chair, a table, or anything that might help him feel, grounded. He felt light-headed at the possibility of the nobles killing his brothers and sisters. He felt nauseated by the idea that they would all die leaving the beast realm to snooty nobles who could never win against humans. You see the nobles were not driven by rage or unity. They were a bunch of self-centered hooligans who would turn on each other for a blood bag.

The entire vampire species was doomed.

“Has it ever occurred to you that without feeding we stand no chance against humans?”

Sorokin opened his mouth to retort but ended up closing it. Joseph was right.

“We also need charms so that we can face humans head-on in broad daylight and only nobles have them. Whether we like it or not Sorokin, we need to attack the nobles and get what they have so that we can finally get what we have always wanted, a thriving beast realm.”

Sorokin mulled over this for a while before pulling a chair and sitting down. Joseph mimicked Sorokin’s action.

“Look, when you came to me, you said that Sebastian would lead this realm to the ground. You said that humans were not the answer, that it was time vampires learned to fend for themselves. That is what I want to make happen but you have to trust me…”

“I never wanted the vampires to turn on each other. I never wanted a war to break out…”

“Sorokin, this division between the rich and the poor has been around for a long time. You did not cause it. Sebastian and his stupid treaty did. Now, it’s time to pick sides. No more hiding in the shadows. It’s either the Rebellion or the palace…What’s it going to be Sorokin?”