Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.- Oscar Wilde

Chapter 10: 20 Questions

"What do you want?" I said, exasperated.

She sat down on the bed and motioned for me to sit down. I thought about walking out of the room, but I had questions I needed answers to.

I sat down, making sure to keep some distance between us.

"Oh Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack."

I glared at her.

"You've been busy, running about the city. I'm glad that you finally fed, it's always nice to see a child's first time, but this whole business with suit…"

How does she know all that?

"How do you know all that?"

She smirked. "Sires can always see through their childe's eyes. It's a bond thing."

"Gross. Look, I have a few questions."

"Shoot."

The suit. Ask her about suit. Suit. Suit. Suit.

"Who is 'suit'? What's his name? How does he know me? And you?"

Samantha thought for a second.

"Think of him as the…bishop, in a chess game. Not quite the king, not quite a pawn. Somewhere in the middle. As for who he actually is, I don't really know. I think he came around during one of the French Revolutions."

"That old? That makes him at least 100."

"Somewhere around there. I don't keep tabs on the vampire world as much anymore. Right now, he's petitioning the elders to put your head in the guillotine."

"Why? What have I done? And who are the elders?"

Samantha looked like she was searching for the right words.

"Well, the elders are the king and queens. Usually very old. A little disillusioned and full of themselves, in my opinion. But, they keep order. They use people like suit to enforce rules and such."

She didn't say why they want us dead.

"Why do they want u…me, dead?"

"It's a really long story. I wrote it all down in that book I left here, if you really want to know."

"Ok…"

I glanced over at the desk. The book was sitting there.

Ask her about Carlos too.

"What about Carlo-"

"You shouldn't always listen to that thing in your head."

"What makes you think I'm listening to it?" I barely mentioned to stammer it out. It must have sounded defensive, because a wry smile crept onto her face.

"Sire childe stuff. It's dangerous, that thing."

She's the dangerous one. This is all her fault anyway, remember?

"How is it dangerous?"

I was getting curious. Admittedly, I had grown used to Janus. He helped me, he was tolerable. He didn't seem dangerous.

"Move your hand."

I looked at her quizzically.

"Come on, just wave it."

I obeyed, waving my hand around in the air.

"That's why he's dangerous. Right now, you are the dominant one. You listen to your friend too much, he starts to take you over. If it gets too out of hand, you become the backseat one. It's happened before. Sometimes, the anathema personality completely shuts out the original. No traces. It's rare, but…"

I thought about what she said. It made sense, but Janus didn't seem like the type.

Pffff, whatever lady. I've helped us far more than she has.

It was true.

"Oh yeah, two more things."

I perked up out of my head space.

"First off, you should try coming to class more often. It's getting boring."

I rolled my eyes.

"Second, here."

Samantha threw a letter into my lap. I picked it up.

"This is an invitation to the local anathema place. They gave it to me to give to you."

"Local anathema place?"

"Yeah, I don't really know. Anathemas are always very secretive about what they do, but theres a few of them in the city. Not enough for a clan, but enough to be separate from the normal clans. The leader wants to meet you."

"Meet me?"

"Anathemas are really close-knit. So, when a new one comes along, they make sure to scoop them up before too long. I guess they may test you or something, see what you rate on the anathema scale."

"Um…what?"

"Meh. You'll figure it out tomorrow night."

I twirled the invitation over in my hands. It was pretty fancy. Gold border, red envelope. Fancy trimmings all over.

"Hey Samantha?"

"What?"

"Thanks for the answers."

"It's the least I could do, after…well, everything."

"I got one more question though."

"What?"

"I remembered a few things that you said. Before the…incident."

"I really have to get goin-"

She stood up. I grabbed her hand.

"I remembered you saying something."

"Let go of me."

"You said that something kept coming out. My blood? But, that didn't happen when I fed."

"Whats the question?"

"…Did you do this on purpose? Or was it all an accident?"

She looked down to the ground. "If I said I did it on purpose, would you hate me?"

That's a yes to purpose.

I let go of her hand. "Get out, please."

She walked out.

The memory was hazy, and it wasn't something I really wanted to remember, but it had just come back. I stood up and paced around the room. Why was I a vampire? Why did she pick me? Did she, or was it just chance? How long would it be before I was hunted down? It seemed like the only thing protecting me was my 'special' status.

I flopped down on my bed.

What about the book?

"Oh yeah."

I walked over to the book. I couldn't fix this whole elders situations, at least not yet, but maybe if I learned why they wanted to kill me, it would give me something. I was desperate for any edge.

I opened the book up and found what I thought was Samantha's handwriting.

I'm writing this down just in case it comes in handy (mainly reminding the elders of our deal) in the future. My name is Samantha Lire.

"It is her handwriting. She wrote this…"

When my master told me of his experiments, he warned me. He said that his research was secret. It's contents could alter the very planet. I remember, but after his death, I had little choice. For what it's worth, I'm sorry Adam.

Adam was researching anathemas. He was one himself, so I guess it made it personal. After the Balthuri incident (where an anathema went out of control and razed a small town in France to the ground), he started talking about discovering what made anathemas. Was it chance? Was it chemical? Spiritual? I was curious too, I didn't know how he intended to research it though.

I often wonder what I would have said. Yelled at him? Called him a monster? Maybe. Suffice to say, I'll never really know. In order to research anathemas, my master began capturing mortals. He would turn them, and then study them. They were kept restrained, of course, and they weren't allowed to feed. You can imagine what they were like. Scared children, not knowing what was going on. Screaming, yelling out of hunger. It was primal. Primal fear and anger.

It didn't take long for a few of the children to escape. They wreaked havoc across Europe, draining their victims dry. The elders saw them dead, and then turned to my master for an explanation. I guess they didn't like what he had to say, or if he even said anything. They killed him, and then they turned to me.

But I didn't want to die. And in a last ditch effort, I offered my master's research in exchange for my life. He had made his own cipher, but I knew how his mind worked. It took little effort to crack them. I gave them the research, and they promised to make me "off limits". They let me go wherever I wanted, and as long as I remained disconnected from other vampires, it was fine.

But it's lonely. I can blend in with mortals, even make friends, but it isn't the same. It's like having nothing but dogs for friends. They aren't my kind. But, I have a plan.

"She hides all this pretty well. I would have never thought she went through…all that."

I don't like the end. Is there more?

"No. It ends there."

Hm. What about that invitation?

I picked up the envelope and opened it.

Dear Jack,

Congratulations on becoming an anathema! We hope you have had time to adjust to unlife. Being an anathema is not so different from normal vampires. However, you must be made aware of a few things.

First off, you must register with us. If you do not, then after a set period of time, you will be hunted down. You may think it's a little extreme, but over the years there have been many anathema who have gone unnoticed. Even worse, some fail to come to grips with their power and get out of control. This reflects badly on us all. Since so few vampires are given this gift, we find it imperative to register all anathema.

Second, you may have developed a relationship with your 'other'. We usually caution against this. When an anathema gets too friendly with their other, they are usually overtaken. It happens gradually, and usually starts early. Until we can accurately assess your condition, we urge you to not engage in conversation with your other for extended periods of time. It is easy for an anathema to be overtaken before instruction on his condition.

Finally, some statistics. In Empire City (if this is not your current city/town/settlement please notify us) there are 38 other anathema. The average amount is 55 per district. It is estimated that approximately 13% of the anathema population are overtaken within the first few days of their siring. Again, caution.

I flipped the page over.

For the district of EMPIRE CITY, the meeting place is downtown at the STALKER'S LOUNGE nightclub. Please go to this location within 24 hours of receiving this letter. Just present this letter to the doorman. You will be directed from there.

We look forward to seeing you there, brother/sister.

Sincerely,

Anathema Council

"Guess my next night's all planned out."

I put the letter down on my desk.

The letter had cautioned against Janus as well. Was it a coincidence that Samantha had just said it as well? Maybe, but I was starting to get nervous. I didn't know how it felt to be 'overtaken' but it didn't sound pleasant. And there were times when I hadn't moved of my own accord as well. Did this mean I was already far along? Had Janus already gained some control over me?

Again with this stuff. Don't worry about it partner, I'm not looking for control, just survival.

His words seemed sincere. But my doubts were still there.

I flopped on my bed again, and closed my eyes. Sleep came fast.