The House (19 page)

“Vampyre
cannot act on their own. Even you must know that.”

“Grandfather,
I think you need to be very careful how you proceed with this
conversation. You see, as I said, I was attacked by five vampyre
earlier this week.” I paused and listened. Sure enough, I heard the
distinctive crash of a foot connecting with a wall outside the
door. “So it begs the question, if the vampyre are under the
control of the witches then who sanctioned the attack? They weren’t
after us specifically, they thought we were human and they seemed
as though they were going to take us.”

“I still doubt
the truth of that situation, Beatrice. Vampyre are banned from
group hunting unless they are with their witch. You of all people
should know these rules, they have been taught to you for
years.”

“I know the
rules,” I shouted. I also found myself standing and fought not to
take the steps to my grandfather’s chair. “I also know that every
one was vampyre and that they all belonged to different witches. I
have no idea who they are because I’ve never seen them before but
they didn’t seem new.” I slumped back into my chair trying to calm
the rage that had sprung up from nowhere. It felt odd and it took a
lot of effort to push it away. It was a mixture of my outrage at
the attack and somebody else’s fine anger which had slipped my
careful shields. Jalas always had been able to reach me when nobody
else could.

“Fine, what do
you expect me to do? Question all vampyre?” The man was smiling.
“If your friend really was taken do you think she would live long
enough for us to break every one of their minds, even if you were
to help...”

“Why don’t you
just find out who’s missing vampyre? There should be five and I
doubt their demise went unnoticed. They weren’t exactly weak,” I
said. I wasn’t going to help with any interrogations if I could at
all avoid it.

“I thought
this was about Shayana,” Marlow put in. “I have to find her.”

“What Beatrice
is I believe suggesting is that the two events could be linked. But
two events, especially ones that are so different, do not make a
pattern.”

“What does it
mean if they are?” Stripes asked.

Before anyone
could answer, the door slammed open and Jalas strode in, all high
and mighty. He was also rapidly turning red from built-up rage. I
hoped that the rage was because I had been attacked but doubted it.
He was probably angry that we were even entertaining the idea that
vampyre were involved. I was glad I’d tightened my shields after
the first wave; I couldn’t have handled the anger washing over him
then.

“The vampyre
have not succeeded from the witches,” he said in a surprisingly
calm voice. “They are still loyal.” At that I laughed out loud; he
had to be kidding -loyal vampyre ...

“Jalas, the
vampyre only follow the witches because they have no other choice.
Do you not see the way they look at the shifters, the way they
study our lives and rituals. They have always been trying to break
from their slavery to the witches. It’s not a new idea,” I
explained simply. He was old enough to be obtuse about it
though.

“You say that
but you do not sound sympathetic, Beatrice.” Jalas replied in the
same dangerously calm voice.

“Why would I
be sympathetic? I don’t think the vampyre would survive away from
the witches. I also think that they should not be allowed to try.
The shifters function because we live for the most part in the
human world, and we also have a finite lifetime. Vampyre do not. If
they were to walk under their own power, to become vampires, then
they would not feel a part of the human world. Vampyre live
seemingly forever, their human worlds are mostly long gone, and
they survive because the Covenant does not change with the times as
the rest of the world does.” After that he left again, closing the
door behind him so that we couldn’t be sure that he’d actually
gone.

“You make a
good point, Beatrice,” my grandfather said as if an angry vampyre
hadn’t just interrupted us. “If the vampyre are trying to split
from the witches they will likely want women. Of all species I
should think. I will look into who has lost vampyre recently but I
make no promises. I do not care about this missing girl and do this
only as a favour to you.”

I nodded. It
was fair enough really. I mean, he’d never cared about much of
anything. “Could we stay here tonight? I don’t think I want to go
back through the alleys this late at night,” I sighed. The alleys
weren’t safe at the best of times. Shayana’s possible kidnapping
had gotten me worried and I wasn’t about to risk any of us for the
sake of one night away from my own bed. Not even a night at the
Covenant would get me back out there, although I came close. It
took an act of will not to say “lets just go home and to hell with
that danger.”

“Of course.
Your room is still in the same place and you know where the guest
accommodation is.”

I didn’t sleep
in my old bedroom. Apart from the fact that it is in a different
building from the guest accommodation, it also contained everything
I’d left behind four years ago. I wondered about my motives in
leaving and about my grandfather’s motives in encouraging me to
stay in my old room. I remembered it exactly; I’d lived there most
of the time for eleven years from the age of seven to eighteen. The
walls had always been yellow and the furniture had always been
painted white. I’d never thought to change it at the time.

I lay in the
guest bed and thought about all the other beds I’d called my own.
The bed from my early childhood was burnt up in the fire that
destroyed my childhood home and my parents. My bed in the Covenant
was a sturdy oak bed painted white with little pink and blue
flowers painted on it. It was probably still pushed up against the
yellow walls in my old room.

My bed at the
House was a double bed with varying colours of sheets which never
matched the rest of the room. I loved soft cotton duvets and
sheets; I didn’t look so much at the colours any more. In the
Covenant it hadn’t been my choice and everything had always
matched. It surprised me to realise that I didn’t miss the order.
In fact I think I enjoyed the subtle chaos of my current room,
surrounded by my things and my memories. My choices.

The guest room
I was in also had a double bed. I was the only person in it, though
I would have preferred some company. I have trouble sleeping by
myself away from my own bed. It’s not normally an issue. The last
time we all went on a trip we had two rooms - Marie in one and the
rest of us in the other. We’d pushed the three beds together and
redid the sheets so that all four of us could sleep together. It
was nice to have the warmth of so many friends around me. We’d also
spent very little time sleeping and a lot of time chatting and
laughing.

Unfortunately,
the woman in charge of accommodation was rather old- fashioned, or
maybe she thought she was doing us a favour, and we all had our own
rooms; Stripes and I in one corridor, the boys in another. I wasn’t
even sure where they were as we’d been shown to our rooms
separately. Stripes had stayed a while to chat but had gone back to
hers like a naughty child when the accommodation woman had come
round to tell us it was lights out. I felt like I was back at
boarding school.

The curtains
were heavy enough to completely block out the bright lights that
lit the world at night. It was completely black, so dark that I
wasn’t entirely sure that my eyes were closed. The thought that
there could be anything in that darkness plagued me and pulled me
further away from the elusive sleep I needed. I risked the wrath of
the accommodation woman by switching on a bedside lamp and turning
down the dimmer as far as it would go.

Emptying my
mind was much more difficult than normal. Thoughts felt like
insects buzzing around my head, keeping me awake. I turned over and
wished for someone to hold me. It felt rather like the world was
about to implode, or at least my world. The ominous feeling that an
end was near wouldn’t go away and I was beyond glad that I wasn’t
psychic. At least I hoped I wasn’t, I’d heard of otherwise
perfectly normal witches suddenly discovering they were psychic.
Some of the things they saw scared the shit out of me. In fact,
much of what they saw was terrifying. Most of them had to be kept
locked away.

The morning
came in a flurry of light and sound that jolted me out of my
dreams. I tried to regain what I’d felt just moments before as it
slipped away. It sent a shiver down my body, making me wonder what
my dreams had been about. Finally, I had to open my eyes and face
the music. My curtains had been flung open with an open window
allowing the distantly familiar sounds of the Covenant to wash
through the room.

The
accommodation woman, whose name I never learnt, was fussing about
the room and looked up as I sat. She didn’t say anything, just laid
out a skirt suit on the end of the bed. All I could see of it was
that it looked dark green. She left shortly after, closing the door
behind her. Clearly it was meant as a wake-up call. It was vaguely
unnerving to have her bustling about whilst I was asleep; it was
even more unnerving that she never said a word to me.

I dragged
myself from the fluffy pillows and warm covers to inspect the
outfit. It was dark green as I had first suspected, with a loose
cream blouse. There was also a note laid on top of it. Perfectly
aligned. I was starting to think the woman had OCD.

“I thought
you’d grown up enough for this – Jalas.”

I had to
laugh; we’d dressed up in suits and gone to an office once, just
for the hell of it. I’d been tagged straight away. To be fair, I
was only fifteen at the time but he’d stayed the whole day
wandering around without anyone realising he didn’t work there.
He’d made me promise that we’d try it again when I looked a bit
more grown up.

I let the idea
sit for a moment before dismissing it. I did not want to spend more
time with Jalas, but the idea in and of itself had potential with
different people. When our crisis was over and life had returned to
normal. It would be a great laugh to do it with Shayana. I took a
deep breath ... Shayana would be fine. She had to be, because I had
to tell her that I had a plan for some fun.

I was still
laughing as I made my way to the bathroom at the end of the hall.
We’d hadn’t exactly planned on staying the night so none of us had
a change of clothes or our own wash things. It was lucky that the
Covenant was so well stocked. In fact, it’s very close to staying
in a luxury hotel except that the bathrooms aren’t ensuite. They
are single bathrooms though, which is much nicer than a room full
of cubicles.

The bathroom
made it feel even more like a hotel with pearly white tiles on the
floor and walls. The shower flowed into the rest of the room very
smoothly and it took me a moment to find the mechanism to pull the
door across. The little containers of shower gel, shampoo and
conditioner weren’t brands I knew but they smelled good enough to
eat. I was hoping that they worked as well; I really hate having to
use someone else’s hair products because I get so used to the
effect of my own.

The giant
fluffy towels were amazing. They were specially designed to hold
their heat and not feel wet as they absorbed water. Nothing but the
best for the Covenant, of course. Maybe I could get one myself if I
saved up for a few months. I towel dried myself and my hair,
leaving it damp so that I could style it properly later. That’s
what I told people. In reality it takes so long to just towel dry
my hair, which about reaches my waist, that I can never be
bothered. My hairdresser had banned me from blow-drying so I tried
to avoid it whenever I could.

I ran back to
my room wrapped in the towel and managed not to see anyone. I hate
being caught unawares in just a towel, even though it happens quite
a lot living in the House. It always made me feel incredibly
vulnerable; you just don’t have full use of your hands when you’re
trying to hold up a towel. Either that or they fall down at
inopportune moments and promptly trip you up.

I put on the
bra I’d been wearing the day before and was both surprised and glad
to find a pair of knickers in with the clothes on the bed. I hoped
that Stripes had been catered for just as well. The guys probably
wouldn’t sweat wearing underwear two days in a row but we girls
have a bit more class. There weren’t any normal tights so I put the
fishnets back on. More to be difficult than anything else because
they really didn’t go with the suit.

I slipped on
the loose fitting blouse; it seemed like it should be see-through
but it wasn’t. Then the dark green skirt. It was cut half way
between an A-line and pencil skirt and came to a few inches above
my knees. I thought the jacket would make me feel like a Christmas
tree but the colour was just dark enough to be non-Christmassy.

I twirled in
front of the full-length mirror to see the effect and did a double
take, even with my hair wet and down I looked ten years older, in a
good way.

I twisted my
hair up on my head and secured it with a couple of pins that I had
among the random things in my bag. I had left my comb at home but
the style was easily done without it. I used the small amount of
make-up I’d brought with me to apply a light face and I walked out
the room looking, at least for the most part, like I could be on my
way to any office in the city.

Stripes had on
the exact same outfit from the day before but she looked bright and
happy. There was no make-up on her face; she didn’t need it but it
made a change. She hardly ever wore much but it made her look young
to see her barefaced. That she wasn’t surprised that I had
miraculously found a change of clothes showed me that she had been
offered some.