Beneath a rougher sea
"Erica! Wait for me!" called Rory as he sped after her out of Ethan's house. As he caught up with her, she turned and knocked him to the floor.
As he picked himself up, Erica stood over him and gave him crisp, clear instructions.
"Right, nerd, you are coming with me to the Council tonight because it is apparently important that we arrive in a group – and since Sarah selfishly refuses to just bite her pet geeks and become a full vampire, I am lumbered with you. There is no other reason. This is not a date, and, if anyone asks, we are not together. Got that?"
Rory opened his mouth to protest. "Well, I don't –"
Once Rory had got up from the floor again, Erica repeated the question. "Got that?"
He nodded, silently.
"Good. Now, as we go to the Council, you will stay at least five metres behind me at all times. You will not attempt to speak to me – in fact, you should try your very best not to even look in my direction. When we get there, you will, in silence, walk in with me, and then you will find another corner of the room as far away from where I am as possible and you will stay there for the rest of the night. Agreed? Or would you like to taste the pavement for a third time?"
"Agreed…" mumbled Rory, rubbing his head.
Erica smiled at him. "Good. Isn't it so much better when you just co-operate? Now, I'm going to walk on, and you are going to walk after me."
She did so. He did so, too, obeying all of her conditions. (Except for not looking at her with adoration throughout the entire journey – he was trying his very best not to, though.)
Once at the council building, Rory slipped in next to Erica. One of the senior vampires was taking a register.
"Erica arriving with Rory," he muttered to himself as he checked off the names. "Sarah is still not a fledged vampire…" He looked up at them. "It's really not good enough. You two should be trying harder to get her off the substitute and onto real blood. Frankly, it's becoming embarrassing for us to have a six month fledgling."
He glared sternly at them, and they sidled away into the main council chamber. "Now, beat it, squirt!" Erica hissed in Rory's ear, giving him a shove that propelled him across the room.
Sitting down on his own, Rory waited to see what was going to happen. He'd been to a few vampire meetings before in his relatively short time as a vampire, but, looking around the room, this looked like the most serious. Everyone was in complete black, with most of the older vampires even wearing cloaks. The hall was lit with torches, and all the vampires were maintaining a strict silence.
If it were possible, the already silent room developed a sudden hush, and seemed to get even quieter. In fact, it was as if the air in the room had died. For all they cared, of course, it could have done, since they didn't breathe, but, for Rory, it was very unnerving.
The small figure of Anastasia stood up at the front of the room, and made her way to the raised podium. Holding a torch high above her head, she addressed the gathering:
"Brethren, we are gathered here tonight to mark the midpoint of the human year. From now on, the darkness takes control. We are creatures of that darkness – from this point each year they learn to fear us again. In order to command the darkness, we must attune ourselves with it."
Rory groaned inwardly. This was clearly going to be another of the unspeakably dull vampire meditation sessions that the Council seemed so fond of. Only this time, Anastasia was going to give them a boring, and, frankly, rather clichéd speech.
"Vampires, feel the darkness around you! Open your mind to it and let it fill the void of your former soul."
Rory obediently closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of all the thoughts buzzing around in it. He wasn't hugely successful – just what was the difference between a raisin, a currant and a sultana? The type of grape? –
Irritated, he tried to push the thoughts away. Erica kept swimming back into his head, which made him smile with pleasure. So did Benny and Ethan. They had been acting a little weird lately, Rory felt. Very slightly awkward around each other. Probably just the aftermath of Ethan being removed from time…
He tried to tune back into what Anastasia was droning on about:
"…feel your inner bat…"
Rory sighed to himself. This was pointless. Suddenly, he felt his fangs slide out involuntarily. His eyes seemed to heat up under his eyelids, and he knew that they had changed to the amber of his vampire appearance. That was odd, he thought. Maybe this was working after all…
Just as he was succeeding in casting out his thoughts, he became distracted by an itch in his nose. He despaired. This was going to be embarrassing. He'd thought that becoming a vampire would have stopped him getting hay fever, but, if anything, his increased sensitivity to smell had made it worse. He was doomed to an agonising summer every year for eternity, he thought, morosely. And now he was going to sneeze in the middle of an important ritual. He wondered whether you could get thrown out of the Council.
Pulling a tissue out of his pocket, he jammed it to his nose and mouth, but it wasn't enough to stop the sound of the spluttering sneeze come flooding out into the deathly silence. It also broke his concentration, and his fangs receded and his eyes returned to normal. Mortified at himself, Rory quickly blinked his eyes open to check if anyone had been disturbed.
He was taken aback to find himself nose to nose with Anastasia, her eyes wide and shining, and her long fangs curving down to her chin. She seemed to be sniffing for something. Confused and afraid, Rory slowly realised that he was surrounded by all the other vampires, all sniffing and licking the air.
"Er… Is everything OK?" he asked, nervously.
In front of him, Anastasia leaned forwards and licked the tissue that Rory was holding to his face. Her eyes flashed.
"Euurgh, gross!" he said, examining it. It was the one covered in Ethan's blood. He felt a slight tremor of fear run through him. It grew worse as he felt a slight tugging on his sleeve. Turning, he saw the vampire that had registered them sucking on the fabric. Freaked out, Rory pulled away. The spot that the vampire had been focusing on was also stained red with blood. Ethan's blood. Ethan's special blood. Ethan's special super-tasty, extra-rare, really-attractive-to-vampires blood
Horrified, Rory swung his gaze back to Anastasia. "Where did you get that?" came a hoarse whisper from her ancient lips. She licked them ominously.
Rory remained silent. Her face expressionless, Anastasia stood up.
"No matter. We will find him. Then we will feast. He will be the first to fear the darkness."
After that, she turned and strode out of the room, followed by all of the others. Rory was left alone in the room, still clutching the bloodied handkerchief to his face.
This wasn't good.
