Resentment

Part 2

A couple of hours later we found ourselves in a residential house. The building was one of many tucked closely together in one of the side streets near the hospital. The house was currently empty and had been for the past few days if the lingering scents were anything to go by. As far as I could tell it belonged to a small family. The pictures on the mantelpiece showed a middle aged male and female with a couple of smiling children. Enough clothes were missing from the drawers in the bedroom to suggest they would be gone for at least a week. Maybe two. It would be risky to stay in the property for too long in case they returned, but it would hopefully do for the next day at least. We should be safe enough as long as none of the neighbours spotted us.

Once the other two were settled in I slipped out again before dawn. First of all I went and retrieved my car which had been left abandoned near the hospital. I pulled the soggy parking ticket from under the windscreen wipers and crumpled it in my pocket. As much as I hated the idea I knew I had to get rid of the car. If anyone was looking for me they may be able to trace me to it, and it stood out far too much. Driving out of the city I headed out to the nearest lake. There wasn’t time to be too picky about my destination. Due to the time and the hideous weather the area was completely deserted. Putting my foot on the accelerator I sped towards the water, opening the door and throwing myself out right at the last minute. As I rolled to a stop and rose to my feet the car hit the surface, creating a large hole in the ice where it went in. By the time anyone came it would have probably have frozen over again. The water was deep, I was confident it wouldn’t be found for a very long time.

I had to run back, but before returning to the others I went to check on Jamie. I couldn’t enter the hospital without making the humans more suspicious so I settled in my previous spot on the roof opposite and listened. It didn’t take me long to pick out the sounds of his individual breathing and heartbeat, familiar as it was to me. Relief washed through me as I recognised that it sounded distinctly stronger than before. He was healing well. I waited long enough for his next nurse check-up just to hear the soft murmuring of their voices amongst the multitude of others in the building. The minute I was satisfied that he would be safe in the coming hours I headed back. I wanted to be safely hidden inside when it got light.

I didn’t bother to greet them when I got back. I was aware that Beatrice and I would have to have a long talk at some point, but I felt like avoiding it as long as possible. It took seconds to slip in the back window with the inconspicuously broken catch which we had used for our previous entrance. The TV was on quietly in the upstairs study so after getting changed into a pair of jeans and a new shirt I settled on the living room couch, ready to wait out the day.

Throughout the morning I caught a couple of hours of reluctant but much needed sleep. Once the afternoon arrived I turned on the radio quietly to see if there was any new information to be learnt. The presenter rambled on for a while about meaningless topics and played a couple of songs that had recently come out. When it was finally time for the news update the cheerful voice switched to a deeper more solemn one. 

“Now it’s time to talk about the topic that everyone is interested in at the moment. Our top story is the apparent emergence of the new species among us; the vampires. Now, whilst there is debate amongst scientists as to whether this is indeed a new species we are seeing, or simply human beings that are affected by an unknown virus or disease, the government has kept up one consistent message; stay calm. Whatever happens, the best course of action is to avoid any individuals who may be affected. If you have any information call the police as soon as you are able. Stay home whenever possible, don’t let children out alone and be inside before the new curfew that is been put into place.”

“What time is the curfew again Phil?” the voice of the original presenter cut in.

“The curfew is 5.30pm. Although, ideally it would be best to be inside before sunset.”

“We’ve had a lot of listeners asking whether it is true that these… individuals are actually burned by sunlight. What is the official view on this?”

Phil hesitated for the tiniest fraction of a second before answering; “It is known that sunlight does affect them, although the spokesperson said that findings had been inconsistent as to the exact extent. We do know that they seem to be more active at night.”

“Ok, and we also know there has been a lot of religious debate on this issue. What are your thoughts?”

“Well Scott, I know a lot of people have some strong opinions, but I believe that the official line is that there is currently no evidence to suggest these are indeed some sort of creatures from the underworld.”

I didn’t like the way he emphasised the word evidence, as if he personally thought that evidence wasn’t needed on such a matter. It then cut back to the main presenter who announced it was time for the weather, before a recap on how to recognise a vampire.

I let myself slump back into my seat. It was strangely demoralising to know that a big majority of the world was actually out to get you.

Once the weather forecast was over, as promised they moved onto discussing the recognisable traits of a vampire, but even that was made overly negative. Once they had covered the area of unnatural beauty, they moved on to the superior strength, explaining how easily it could be used to overpower a grown man, how it could be used to snap necks and break spines. The importance of not approaching or engaging with us in any way was again emphasised. As a final point they mentioned our severe allergy to silver. Up until then I had wondered if this was something the humans were unaware of.

It was unlikely that their scientists had discovered it so quickly on their own, leading me to the conclusion that the hunters were in on it. Although we had made a significant reduction in their numbers during the fight in the club, they still had to have some sort of higher power dictating their actions. Was it the government giving them money? Or was there another party involved? I didn’t like the situation. It was too ambiguous.