Chapter 5 – After-Life

Chapter 5 – After-Life

“What would I have to wear?” Callie asked.

The House of Troy was notoriously known for its tendency and speed with which it goes through female escorts.

It’s unfeasible that we could continue drinking from the same escorts for all their lives; the medical implications were immoral. So when an escort has reached the limits to which they can provide service, they’re, so to speak, ‘let go’.

That is not to say they’re thrown out of the household, left to fend for themselves. And fend they would, for not many human places of employment particularly liked hiring post-Vampire workers.

After all, they’re practically Drakees, minus the really crucial detail.

Brandon Troy was rumoured to wear out five escorts a month.

(This was physically impossible, even for us; the embodiment of what is Physically Impossible. At the very most Nobles drink once every two days, assuming they’re keeping their health and sanity, which would mean according to the rumours, on average an escort lasted him three days. That’s like saying a huge tank of water would last one healthy human a day, or, if I dare to venture, three loaves of bread and two fishes would feed five thousand mouths.)

One other known fact is that the House of Troy loved to throw extravagant parties, where all the important vampire families in the region would be invited to admire their house, escorts and general wealth. These parties generally followed the ideals humans already had about vampire gatherings; dark moody lighting creating cover where powerful and beautiful vampires seduce youthful and equally good looking humans for their blood and bodies, illicit drugs being consumed by immortal bodies that cannot be harmed or hooked, and a lot of money. Oh boy, there was a lot of money.

Humans who went to those parties usually left those parties in the back of an ambulance, so it was a surprise when Kellan suggested that I bring Callie when he received yet another invitation to a Troy-fest.

“You’re not actually thinking about it, are you?” I turned away from the glare of the sunlight. “I mean, you’ve met Brandon. His family’s not any better, trust me.”

“But you’d be there to protect me,” she grinned. “You brave thing, you.”

“Look, Brandon’s father is a Pureblood. If he wants to do something to you…I can’t say no, okay? No, not only that. I’d have to say ‘please, I offer her to you’. That’s how twisted hierarchy is, okay?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Sez,” Callie said. “Anyway, which other student here can say that they’ve been to a vampire gathering, much less a high class one? Come on, what do I have to wear?”

I sighed, trying to make it obvious that I wasn’t comfortable with her idea. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t want her at the party – she was smart, pretty, but most of all she didn’t seem to be scared of vampires, which all the other vampires at the party would most likely respect – but the thought that events might get out of hand worried me.

Also, I had yet to figure out why Kellan thought inviting her would be a good idea.

“Stay over at my place tonight. I’ll get some maids to fit you up with the appropriate dresses and heels.” I watched as Callie’s face lit up. She replaced her fork into her thermos (I was pretty sure she was eating something with garlic; the pungent – but not deadly – smell stained her warm floral scent) and screwed the lid shut.

“But it’s okay for me to stay at your house, because the vampires walking around don’t bite?” she reached into her pocket and took out some mints, downing two in a go. I smiled at her consideration, which she evidently mistook for bashfulness. “Exactly. So I don’t see what you’re worried about. Let’s call this trip to your house a test run. If something bad happens, I won’t go to Brandon’s.”

“Even if Damien would be there?” I raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t ideal, but I’d found Callie’s Achilles Heel. Sure enough, her body temperature rose ever so slightly at the mention of his name.

~~~~

“What do I do when I see your dad?” Callie asked, as we drew up to the front of Kellan’s mansion.

“Not a thing. Don’t do anything unless I ask you to.”

“You’re a bit controlling, don’t you think?” Callie retorted, undoing her seatbelt and giving our – human – chauffeur a smile as she stepped out of the car. By the time she’d complete stood up straight I was already in front of her.

“I’m not trying to control you; I’m trying to make sure you don’t do anything wrong by the Human-Vampire relations code.”

“There’s a code?”

“Yeah, there’s a long list of things that vampires can’t do to humans, and vice versa. They’re mostly there to prevent humans from getting hurt.” I took Callie’s bag from her, swinging it over my shoulder easily. “If there’s one thing that both humans and vampire agree on, it’s that code; if we didn’t have it around, we’d have problems like the ones from around the time of The Last Night.”

“What happened at that time, exactly?”

“It’s too depressing to talk about. Come on in, and don’t worry about it.” I ushered Callie inside, and Laela greeted us both with a smile.

As I have mentioned before, vampires are generally much taller than humans. When a short human undergoes the Change, the vampire that they become would be pretty tall compared to most humans – but short compared to other vampires. In a similar formula, the Drakee’s physical beauty also elevates. Laela was gorgeous as a human; she was unearthly breathtaking as a vampire. Thus, the intimidation that emanated from Callie was as pronounced as the warmth from the fireplace in winter.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Phu,” Laela greeted Callie with a smile, despite realizing the latter’s discomfort. “Sera has mentioned you a lot.”

“Oh, good things, I hope,” Callie said slowly, glancing up at me. “And call me Callie.”

Kellan was in his study, getting fitted for a new tuxedo while looking over a speech he has to make at the Troy-fest. He stood, a solitary tower against a background of book spines. The otherwise overwhelming luxury of the study was belittled by Kellan’s presence, The half empty bottle of whisky standing alone without a glass in sight served as a warning that he hadn’t been having a good day. When he noticed that Callie and I had entered, however, he offered us a smile – a normal one that only held the tiniest amount of predatory glee towards Callie.

“Ah, sorry about the lack of a better greeting, but Caspar had asked me, many times, to be the one who makes the toast this time. I can’t disappoint an old friend, can I? So I have to get a new tuxedo, get a new haircut, and memorize a new speech. But a new face, this I’m glad to see.” Kellan crossed the room to the doorway, his steps held a kind of superhuman lightness and fluidity that even I hadn’t managed to perfect. He took the hand that Callie – who’d started to be familiar with the habits of vampires – had raised, and touched his lips to her skin.

Everything was completely still for a moment, and it almost felt like reality had stopped so to better admire the interaction between vampire and human. This suspension of reality continued as Callie opened her mouth to introduce herself.

There was a knock behind us, and I turned to see Laela standing at the open doorway, averting her eyes from what was happening inside out of courtesy. A breath of air stole into the room. I turned back around, and the eerie stillness had disappeared.

“The tailor is waiting in Miss Sera’s room. She’s ready for Miss Phu.”

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Callie,” Kellan said. He took a long drink straight from the crystal bottle. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to join you tonight, but I really do look forward to getting to know you better at Caspar’s.”

Callie nodded slowly before letting herself be guided out of the study. We were both silent as we walked through the house, our footsteps not muffled by the wooden floor. I sensed that Callie had many questions, but didn’t want to voice a single one in Laela’s presence.

“So what do you think of my father?” I asked, trying to start a conversation. Callie always started the conversation, except when her mum was around. Looks like Callie didn’t just have mum-issues, she had parental-issues; being around a parental figure was like having a needle burst her bubble.

“He’s…” Callie paused, and moved a little closer towards me, “very impressive. He’s very confident.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” I replied, chuckling a little. “In Australia he’s the most powerful vampire, he can pretty much get away with anything. What’s he got to be scared of?” I realized what I was saying, and bit back on my words. “But, seriously, he’s the last vampire you have to worry about. Any human working here can vouch for that.”

“I can’t believe you were actually right,” Callie said. At that moment, we arrived at my room. I took a step aside to let Callie in, and Callie said again, “I can’t believe you were right.”

I was surprised that I’d missed it walking up to my room; the tailor was a vampire.

Callie’s back was very stiff as she walked further into the room, lifting her arm woodenly for the tailor to kiss. I turned to face Laela, letting my anger show on my face. When I spoke to her, I raised the pitch of my voice to near ultrasonic, so that all Callie would hear was a high-pitched whine, but Laela would be able to hear every single one of my reprimands.

“A Third-Gen, really? And just take a whiff of her, Laela. Her blood reeks of impurity. If you couldn’t get a human tailor, at least do me the decency of finding a respectable vampire who can keep their control.”

“I’m sorry Sera, but Mr Dante requested that we don’t have a human tailor. There wasn’t much I could say after that.” I sighed at Laela’s expression.

“Alright, shall we get started?” The tailor motioned for Callie to stand on the stool, making no eye contact with me. “You have a pretty good figure.”

“Just do your job, tailor. You don’t need to talk,” I snapped. I haven’t had good experiences with vampires whose blood smelled like hers.

“Sez, what’s wrong with you?” Callie asked, despite being more and more uncomfortable where she stood. It didn’t help that the tailor wasn’t even bothering to soothe my annoyance, and moved around Callie with superhuman speed.

“You put your trust in me, and I’m not going to let some low Third-Gen ruin that,” I growled, as the tailor moved even faster as if to spite me.

I tried taking a deep breath to calm myself down, but it occurred to me that, without a beating heart to slow, I wouldn’t calm down until my screaming instincts were silenced. The only way to do that was to get everything under my control.

I lunged at the tailor, gripping her by the shoulders and pinning her against the far wall. The impact of her body hitting the brick shook everything that connected to the wall.

“Maybe it’s time you start trusting other people,” the tailor said. Despite her efforts, a twitch of pain tore across her expression as I pressed her harder into the brick, so hard that small splintered cracks appeared.

“I trust who I want to trust. I’ve seen what you low Third-Gens do. A small nick of blood and you’re mental, more animal than-”

“Than what? Human? We’re not human. We’re not animals either – we’re too smart for that. No, what we are,” she paused, and her tots protracted to almost half-length. Her skin started losing the pale lustre that a healthy vampire had as she drew strength to continue, “what we are, are vampires. We crave blood. We are not friendly to or for humans.”

“Sez, let her go. You’re hurting her.” Callie’s voice did not sound close, and I guessed that she was probably still standing near the stool, too scared to come closer.

I pressed the tailor further into the bricks, which was showing significant cracking. Her body, tough enough not to break against the pressure of the bricks and my arms, was however showing signs of strain. Her tots were protracted to full length, her skin pasty and dull, and her eyes had grown almost completely white, the pupils glazed over as a blind eye would be. The veins in her face stood out, marking a map of pain all over her features.

This was what a vampire looked like when in survival mode, and it happened when the vampire was in danger – and when the vampire was about to kill.

“Why are you saying these things? This goes against everything we’ve been working towards.”

“There will never be such a thing as co-existence. Humans, like her,” she moved her death-like blank eyes towards Callie, “are already doomed.”

I released her, letting her fall to the floor to regain her colour. I watched her struggle to her feet, and daring to look directly into my eyes.

“My name is Angelia, I’m a part of the After-Life. We aim to protect the humans for as long as we can from the vampires, even though we know it’s a hopeless cause.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that AL is against the true intentions of the Council and Nicholas Dante.”

“My father can have you killed for this. I can kill you right now, for this.”

“I doubt that would happen, Miss Sera,” Angelia shook her head. “Your father is the founder of AL.”