42. Brody
Brody
“Brothers and sisters,” Andrei repeats and the crowd falls silent.
“We stand on the cusp of a new dawn. A new world in which our kind will finally be given the recognition we deserve, the status we crave. Soon there will be no more restrictions for us vampires; no more doors slammed in our faces, no more opportunities denied. The humans have always feared us. Feared our fangs, yes, but also our intellect. Our cunning. Our ambition. They have worked to oppress us. To push us down and deny us our future. They are jealous spiteful little worms.” I swear he’s looking straight at me as he says it.
Those blue eyes boring into my skin as he bangs on and on about the scourge of humanity.
He knows. I know it as sure as the night is dark.
“But we will take our rightful place. The new bill going through parliament will grant our kind extraordinary rights and then we will swoop in to the positions of power. We will take everything.”
He pauses and looks out into the room. “But there is one thing that’s worrying me.
Brothers and sisters, we are old. Look around you.
Where are the youngsters? The new blood with their new ideas who will carry our kind forward into a glittering future?
We need more vampire marriages. We need more vampire babies.
Now then.” His smile widens. “Where are they?” He scans the crowd as though he’s looking for someone.
But then his gaze snaps to me. “Oh, there. Miss Haywood and Mr Jackson, if you would please join me on the stage.” It isn’t a question.
Ari turns to me for a moment and I see the confusion on her face. I wonder if she sees the fear on mine?
The rest of the audience starts to applaud, all eyes on us as we make our way towards the stage. I feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter, deep in the knowledge of my own mortality and not yet prepared to meet my god.
There are steps to my left, only eight or so but they feel like a herculean task to mount, my feet dragging as I climb behind Ari. I take huge gulps of air, desperately willing my heart to slow down.
Andrei reaches for Ari and pulls her into an embrace.
The clapping from the audience intensifies.
I stand at the top of the stairs, feeling exposed.
Andrei beckons to me. “Now then, Mr Jackson, don’t be shy.
I know you’re an integral part of the whole endeavour.
” He smiles at me, his features lupine, teeth glinting in the candle light.
I’m going to die tonight.
I can feel it in my bones. And there is nothing I can do to stop it from happening.
I head towards him like it’s a dream, a nightmare I can’t wake up from, limbs moving through treacle as I take tentative steps towards him.
Was it really only two hours ago when I was in my room with Ari and I thought life was perfect?
“Brothers and sisters.” Andrei turns to address the audience once more.
“You’ve heard me talk this evening of our future, of the fresh blood we need.
You’ll have heard the pitch this weekend for something which will help make this a reality.
A vampire only dating site. And it is brilliant in its simplicity. ”
“Only Fangs,” comes a voice from the crowd below. I turn to see Clara grinning in the front row, doing the jazz hands she has accompanied the app name with every time. The rest of the room turn to look at her and she laughs.
“Vampire only dating is the cornerstone of the pureblood movement. We cannot have our women entertaining the idea of wasting their precious fertility on non-vampire men. Savage men. Disgusting worms of men.”
I don’t know whether to be more appalled at the misogyny or at the demonisation of humanity.
“But we are entering a new age. An age where we can use the technology developed by our human underlords for the betterment of our own species. I’ve been doing some upgrades to Hele House to pull us into the twenty-first century.
I’ll admit I was a luddite, a believer that things should stay as they always have been, that the old ways are the best. But now I think it’s time we threw off the shackles of the past.”
There’s a mumbling through the crowd, some people sounding wary, like they don’t necessarily like where this is going.
“You’ll notice there are a lot of curtains hung around the hall,” Andrei says and gestures around himself.
Even the back wall of the stage is draped in a large deep blue velvet curtain.
“For too long this room has been a mausoleum, frozen in time, stocked with boring pictures of boring times. But no longer!”
He motions with his hand and suddenly the curtains all drop.
The room, once dark and dingy, suddenly becomes brighter and warmer as the curtains reveal an abundance of mirrors, all reflecting back the lights from the candelabras, the twinkle from the cut glass flutes, the sparkles from sequin embellished dresses.
Andrei turns to face the mirror behind him and preens slightly as he adjusts his hair.
“Digitally enhanced mirrors,” he says to the crowd. “I know the technology hasn’t been around for long, but I wanted to bring it to Hele House. Take a look.”
The crowd shuffles closer, admiring their own reflections. There are a few murmurs of disappointment, but on the whole they’re loving it. They’re like monkeys seeing themselves for the very first time.
Andrei beckons to Ari and me and we move to join him closer to the huge mirror.
I find myself sandwiched between the woman I’m falling in love with, and the de facto vampire king, staring at the three of us reflected back.
“The future is here,” Andrei announces, loudly enough to drag the attention of the crowd from themselves and back to him.
His voice is deep and powerful, able to carry to the rest of the room despite us facing away from them.
“We are the future. The ones who will make it all happen.” He grins and I copy him, even though I both feel and look like a fool.
“But of course, we might not always want to see ourselves,” he says.
“And so it’s lucky that the mirrors come with more technology.
” In his hand he’s holding a small remote and he lifts it above his head.
He turns slightly so he can address the crowd.
“You can always just switch off the magic filter and turn it back into a normal mirror.”
In the reflection Andrei and Ari disappear.
But I remain.
There’s a gasp from the crowd as they realise I’m a human. And – far worse – that I’ve been masquerading as a vampire. Then I begin to hear them, whispers building as more and more voices join in.
“Human.”
“Infiltrator.”
“Spy.”
“Liar.”
I turn to look at Ari. She looks stricken.
“Run,” she whispers.