Disclaimer: I do not own Being Human
Responsibilities of Revenge
For Celestal Grace
London, 1972
Cold nights were always appropriate for times like these. Effie always believed in that. You can into this existence feeling cold and you were going to leave it, feeling cold. She held onto the long, wooden object in her hand as if it was a sword, which in a sense it was except it was more like the size of a knife. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Vera standing there with Ian's arm wrapped around her thin shoulders.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Carl whispered in her ear.
She glanced at her old friend and smiled grimly. "I have to Carl. I have to show an example of people like this."
He shook his head. "No. I don't mean that. I mean-" He gulped. "I mean should you be doing this in front of Vera. She's just a child."
Effie scoffed. "Carl, she's been a child since 1953. I think it's safe to say that she will be able to deal with this. After all...that only goes skin deep."
She looked up and saw the three vampires being brought before her. She glanced over her shoulder one last time and saw Vera staring at her with her grey blue eyes. Such beautiful eyes. She remembered when she watched her drain her blood and turn her into one of them all those years ago. That day haunted her more than the day she was turned now.
"She needs to learn. She needs to learn that there are consequences I thought of all people you would understand this."
"I'm protesting against that Effie, you know that." He replied firmly. "I think there needs to be rules otherwise it would be chaos. But...She's..."
"There is no need to protect her innocence, Carl." She replied and she glanced up at him giving him an icy look. "I took that from her long ago."
She unfolded her arms and stepped towards the three vampires which were now down on their knees in front of her. She towered over them and she saw them shaking not because of the cold night wind, they couldn't feel that. They were afraid of her because she knew who she was and what she was about to do.
"You know why you're here?"
"Because you're a fuc-OW!" One of the vampires who escorted him kicked him in the back of the head. He growled at him but the vampire guard motioned to hit him again if he didn't quieten down.
"Do you know why you're here?" She repeated more firmly this time. When there was no reply for either of them but icy stares she decided to continue. "If you are either unsure as to why you are here or if you are too proud to admit to the crime which you broke then I will speak for you. You are here because you broke a law of the vampire code."
"Vampire code." The female vampire scoffed.
Effie glanced down at her and looked her over. She had a tight fitting dress on which had a strap snaking down her left arm and slipping down her chest. Her make-up was smudged and stained her cream white face. She was disgusting even by human standards let alone vampire ones. She should not have even been turned.
"Yes. I'm glad you're familiar with it. Yet what I cannot understand is that if you are familiar with the laws how you came to break them and how you are all evidently, so confused as to why you are all here."
"We were hungry." Said the third. "What's wrong with that, you drink blood just as much as we do." He sniggered.
Effie raised her eyebrow. "Do I? I'm not sure I can agree with you there. From what I've heard you all take anyone off the street, you even invade people's homes and savagely drain them as if they were nothing. Do you not realise what this could do if humans discovered our existence? Who would be held responsible there I wonder...I am a fair ruler of the London area. But what I will not accept is carelessness and covetousness. If I am to be a fair and firm ruler I am going to have to keep the peace and part of that is upholding the laws of the vampire code. Invading a humans home is not acceptable and draining them completely as you did...And that child's life...Well there is only one punishment for that."
She gripped the stake in her hand firmly and stepped towards the woman first grabbing her hair. She yelped and shook when Effie raised the stake high in the air and when she swiftly brought it to the vampires chest the echoes of her cry and the cries of the two other vampires echoed throughout the night.
~ (***) ~
Bristol, 2009
Effie walked down the corridor undetected and knocked on the door. Even though her presence here wasn't going to be welcomed she was still going to be polite.
"Come in." Called an old man's voice.
She smiled and walked through the door calmly. He didn't look up when she walked in. He probably expected it to be no one of any concern.
"Yes?" He asked after she stood there for a while.
He didn't look up. All she could see was the vague perception of an old man's face and balding head. It was so strange that it had been all this time. She could hardly believe that she was talking to the same person since he looked so old. She remembered the last time they had spoken was when he was a young man. A man mourning for the lost of his wife and daughter.
She took in a deep breath. "Reverend Kemp."
His eyes jumped up at the sound of the familiar voice. His eyes widened in horror knowing who and what she was. It was difficult to accept the fact that vampires didn't age until you saw it with your own eyes. This wasn't the first time they had met after all...
"It's you." He whispered.
She smiled. "It's me."
~ (***) ~
London, 1972
"You didn't have to come you know."
"I wanted to come."
Effie glanced down at Vera. "Okay, what I mean is that I wish you didn't come. This could get ugly. You know humans."
"What do you mean?" Vera asked.
Effie glanced down at the girl and sighed and shook her head. She wasn't a child. She had the face of an eight-year-old yes but really she was closer to being twenty-eight. She should know by now why humans were so emotionally messy.
"They don't understand death like we do. It's not something they have to deal with on a daily basis."
"Unless you're an undertaker." She replied.
Effie chuckled a little. "Yeah."
She checked the address again and went through the gate of the next house and walked down the path towards the bell. She looked around at the garden and saw that it had been well kept for many years. Now there would be no one to plant the flowers.
She rang the bell and took in a deep breath. "Here we go." She muttered.
They waited a while until a handsome man with brown hair opened the door. He looked pale and there was the notable red marks around his eyes suggesting that he had been crying.
"Hello Reverend Kemp. I just want to have a bit of your time if that would be alright." She said in a caring tone, she needed to be straight to the point so that they could get out of there quickly.
He folded his arms from the cold and nodded. "Of course. My I ask what your name is?"
Effie opened her mouth. "I'm Flora Lowe. I know it must be hard for you to discuss this but this is about your wife's death. You see, I know what really happened to her. We both do." She added acknowledging Vera's presence. "I know that it was something, a detail which you couldn't tell the police. I just want you to know-"
"Who are you?"
He was backing away from her now. His eyes were filled with horror and his voice was shaky. She knew what had to be going through his mind now. He knew that she was either a vampire or one of the very few humans who were allowed to know of their existence for security reasons.
"Listen. I don't want to hurt you." She said firmly holding onto the door so he wouldn't slam it in her face. "I just want you to know that the vampires have been punished for this. No one will harm you and I request that you keep quiet about your knowledge of our existence."
"So that you can do it again?" He demanded. "So that you can continue doing what you're doing?" He shook his head. "No. No. I will not allow this to continue."
"Reverend Kemp, I am begging you. Mourn your wife and let this go. I will allow you what every widower is allowed but please if you go down that path...I can't guarantee your safety."
"Every husband and father deserves a trial."
"And you did." She snapped. "You just weren't there. I was only here to let you know that."
He shook his head. "This isn't over."
She sighed. "Well I am truly sorry for that."
She took Vera's hand and led her down the garden. Vera looked over her shoulder and saw that he was watching them leave. She was sure that he was going to watch them till they walked round the corner. Then again she was even sure that he would continue watching them long after that.
~ (***) ~
Bristol, 2009
"I guess me being here is a little bit of a-"
"I suppose I was expecting this visit." He replied coldly. "But was prepared."
He opened the draw and reached inside for something. He was right he was. But she had a little trick up her sleeve since she last saw him. She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth.
"Reverend Kemp."
He stopped the moment he heard her hypnotic voice. He froze like a marble statue and waited for her next command.
"You will not present me with a cross or bible throughout this discussion. You will remain in your seat and you will listen to every word I say. Now close the draw."
As if he was a puppet on strings he closed the draw and sat back in his seat and turned back to her with an attentive look in his eyes.
"Now. I gave you due warning not to do this years ago, Reverend Kemp what I would interesting in is why you didn't listen."
"You took my wife and child." He replied. "And you are monsters."
She shook her head. "You're not doing this for justice, Reverend. You're doing this because you're still mourning."
"I'm doing what needs to be done."
She stared at him intently. She didn't believe him for a second. He wanted his wife and child back but he knew that was impossible. So he was going for the next best thing.
"Reverend, the reason why you are not able to open that drawer is because I told you not to present it to me throughout this whole conversation. If I was going to do what needs to be done I would have also added for you to stop this enterprise of yours and I could walk away with no worries."
He raised an eyebrow. "So why don't you?"
"Because I know better. That was why I came to you, Reverend. That was why I told you that they were punished and came to give my condolences and apologies for having such reckless and blood-thirst vampires in my area and to this day I am still truly sorry especially for seeing what comes as a result of it. I am being responsible for what I am and what I can do. I think it's about time you thought of doing the same."
~ (***) ~
London, 1972
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
This hands hovered over the box with the last of his wife's clothes. It was strange for him to still be thinking of her in the present tense. Should it not be the past tense now? She was gone now, she and their perfect little girl were both now gone because of those terrible creatures. It was his fault really. He never truly believed in them. He believed in God but he never truly believed in the evil. He had heard of these exorcisms and such but he never truly believed in evil. It never occurred to him that it could actually invade his home. It was something he took for granted.
"I thought I told you to never come here again."
She crossed her legs on the window sill and wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth. She had even been told by Effie not to come back here. She told her that it wasn't safe to be around him. He was unstable. Grieving. It was difficult for humans to deal with death. It made them realise their own mortality. For vampires, it was just a part of their existence. It was easier for them to deal with it although when another vampire was 'killed' it made them realise that they weren't as invincible as they thought. Just because they could live forever didn't mean that there were means for them to be killed.
"I'm sorry for what hap-"
"You don't even understand the concept of empathy." He replied shakily. "You...never can."
The creature looked back at him with her grey, dead eyes. She was hurt by this comment. He found it hard to believe though. Who could believe that a creature like her could be hurt by people when they killed thousands of others just for their blood? How could someone like him believe something like that could actually be possible? He saw what happened to his wife and child, he saw what they did to them? Only creatures controlled by evil could do something like that.
"I know how you feel. I remember when my family were killed-"
"Do you?"
She licked her lips. For a moment he was afraid that it was because she wanted his blood. She knew it was because she was losing her patience with him. She just could get it through to him that she wasn't a complete monster. She was raised by the right person to not be a monster.
"Do you really understand? It's just a memory to you but for me..."
He stabbed himself in the chest with his finger he probably wished that he could actually do that. Some humans did anything to get rid of all the pain, Effie used to say. She had seen a miner hang himself because his wife died from something which was known as cancer nowadays. Some people just found ways to get rid of all of that. Whereas with vampires the scars underneath the skin were always going to remain engraved on their souls.
"For me it will be a ghost that will haunt me unless I strike back." He spat and turned back to packing away his wife's belongings.
Vera watched him for a while silently, he didn't seem to care that she was still there but she was still going to try and get through to him before he did something terrible. Effie told her that it wasn't her responsibility but it was. She was here and she was watching him get closer and closer to the path where he would put all of them in danger.
"Reverend Kemp..." He slowed down for a moment but he didn't stop. "Please...don't do this...You don't have to."
She was going to try. People were going to laugh in her face for this but she was going to try and convince him. She knew she could if she tried harder.
"Yes I do. I was not diligent enough. I am a man of Christ and I will do his will. Justice has to be reserved."
"But Effie punished the vampires who murdered your wife and child." She protested. "She staked them I saw it!"
Reverend Kemp stared at her with a cold, hard eyes and stepped towards her. He was so close now that she could feel his hot breath on his face.
"I don't care for your barbaric, vampire laws. I only care for the law of God and his law decrees that you should not even be alive." He whispered venomously.
Vera took this as her cue to jump off the window sill and leave. She walked towards the door knowing that she would be back but then he called after her.
"If you return. Be sure that I will be ready to send you to the Lord's jury."
