Another century had passed before I saw Berenice as animated again. She arrived one night looking positively flushed with excitement. I had felt this and was waiting for her in the shrine.
"I have news for you Mother!" she said breathlessly. "A messenger has arrived from Cairo, from those who call themselves "The Authority". They plan to reveal our existence to mortals!"
I was silent for a moment. At last! I had known that this night would come as I had felt the anticipation from the minds of many of my children. I had visited The Authority's headquarters in the New World and listened to their discussions to find out what they planned. I was aware that they had been attempting for some years to produce a synthetic blood on which they could feed. At first I had been outraged at the very idea but after some thought I decided that there were several possible outcomes if they succeeded. I was sure that mortals would be horrified at first and that many of my children might meet the true death. However, if this synthetic worked and enough vampires drank it then mortals might be lulled into a false sense of security, they would become accustomed to us. We might then use this acceptance to place vampires in positions of authority all over the world to await the coming resurrection of their Goddess.
However I was also sure that many of my children would not agree with this. Indeed they would be as disgusted as I had been at the very thought of it. These hard liners could be formed into a movement which would form the basis of my army. Vampires who would live in accordance with the old ways and await my coming.
I smiled at Berenice. "How do they intend to accomplish this my friend? And when?"
"In two nights time Mother" she said. "They have agents placed within Television companies throughout the world and they will make the announcement at the same time, in so far as that is possible." She gazed up at me, her eyes wide with astonishment. "You approve of this plan Mother?" she asked.
"If I did not I would not have permitted it to go ahead" I answered calmly. "They have perfected the production of the synthetic blood?"
"It would seem so" she whispered. "This….this is part of your plan Mother?"
"Indeed!" I smiled slowly. "We shall have to see…."
The days immediately after what came to be known as "The Great Revelation" were chaotic. The various peoples of the world reacted very differently to this new knowledge and many hundreds, perhaps thousands of my children died in murderous bloodbaths in several countries. However, it seemed that many more had anticipated the trouble and left for more liberal countries before the announcement. Nevertheless the loss of so many of my children pained me deeply and I spent many hours brooding angrily on the punishments I would inflict on the mortal populations in due time.
When things had settled down a little and mortals had had time to adjust to the new reality an unexpected benefit began to emerge. It appeared that there were numerous mortals who had imagined that vampires were merely the stuff of myths and legends but who, when they discovered the truth, actively wished to be turned! In addition to this many vampires who had previously been unable to support more than one or two offspring due to the necessity to remain in hiding suddenly found themselves able to "come out" and turn more. Within the first year after the Revelation the numbers of vampires increased almost exponentially, there was a population explosion! I could almost feel my power growing each night as the numbers of my children grew. Soon I would be able to put my plans into effect and I began to consider who I should choose and how I should go about it.
I took a considerable amount of time watching the members of the Authority and their self appointed monarchs in the New World but I failed to find any of them suitable for my purpose. It seemed that Berenice was to be my final choice. Once I had decided this another thought struck me. If I were to manifest myself in Berenice then why should I not take advantage of her acquaintance with that most beautiful man, William Compton? Ah yes! Now there was an idea. If I had to chose a consort then he would be my first choice! But where was he? Berenice had told me that he had left for the New World a century ago but he could be anywhere by now. I set myself the task of finding him.
It did not take me long. I had been drawn to him when he visited the shrine and I was drawn to him again. I found that I merely had to concentrate on my memory of him, the memory of those brilliant sapphire blue eyes and I saw him in my mind. I watched as he sat at the bar in a club, chatting to the barman and then walked back to the office to do some paperwork. I saw him sleeping in a secure room with a dark haired woman in his arms. One night I watched him unloading baggage from a car in the yard at the side of a large, stone built house by a river while two women helped him excitedly and then rushed off into the house. One was the dark haired mortal woman I had seen him with before and one was a vampire. I was puzzled by her as their relationship appeared to be that of Maker and Child but I could tell that she was considerably older than him.
She had the form of a young woman with olive skin and dark eyes, her long black hair tied back in a plait. I observed their interaction curiously, trying to define their true relationship but, although he was obviously very fond of her he did not appear to have a sexual relationship with her and she treated him with love and respect.
When I noticed that he made regular trips to a house in Oxford to meet with two older vampires who I discovered were Charles Montague and Ulrich Von Schröder, I began to make my plans.