B008GMVYA4 EBOK (51 page)

Brendan head rebounded into the door, from the impact of
Trace’s foot. The door creaked and the wood behind Brendan’s head splintered, a
crack appeared in the wood. He stared up at Trace, blood covering his nose and
mouth. His eyes like slits.

“We’re no better than humans now. We’ve lost everything that
makes us Vampires, which makes us better than them. Drinking bagged blood and
living in the human world but never with them, always hiding and pretending we
are weak…
human.
For centuries we lived in their world, but as shadows.
Preying on those who dared to cross into the darkness! People knew who we were
and they begged before us. Now though, some of us are more like humans than
vampire” Trace stared accusingly at Brendan.

“Times have changed. We’ve evolved. We’re better” Brendan
said through the blood.

“You could be better…being able to step out into the
daylight. You could be a great killer Brendan. You are not even fully aware of
what your own strength could be with a little guidance. But you waste it. All
of you do is pretend to be like them. You’ve lost one of the great animal
instincts, to hunt and kill...” Trace said coming down to Brendan’s level, his
eyes wide with certainty as he spoke.

“I am better. We all are. We have become……
civilized
.”

Trace hissed at Brendan’s words, a disgusted expression
spread across his face.

“See that’s the problem with me and you, Brendan. I’m
not...” Trace said standing up and walking to the desk to retrieve his gun.

Madison -

I never imagined that I would die like this; I always
thought that it would be in my bed, probably about 80 years old, surrounded by
little fat grandchildren. I kind of felt disappointed about the way things have
turned out. I never expected that I would die before my life had even… begun.

I feel as if I have left so much unfinished business behind.

What I had with Brendan was so powerful and rare. I hadn’t
even begun to explore it fully. There was still so much we hadn’t even started.
The first time we made love or our first argument and the first time we said “I
love you”.

Stephanie, my longest and dearest friend… Grief and guilt
still clouds me in this life - after death. Stephanie, a newborn vampire will
live forever with the knowledge that I was too late to help her. She will
probably think I let her die... I will never have the chance to tell her how
sorry I am and how I tried to save her.

There have been so much lose on my journey… All of them
extraordinary people with massive hearts, that each of them wore on their
sleeves. Stephanie had been murdered through jealously and rage. Faye had died
as a repercussion of that murder - through a tragic accident and punishment.
Leon had sacrificed himself for the love of his brother and partner - the loss
of one’s life for the savoir of others. Although at this darkest hour it has
been done in vain…

If my eyes were open they would hurt from the bright orange
light that flooded in around me. It was glorious like a sunrise at a dusty
dawn, the warm sun beating down onto my naked soft skin - warming my bones. I
had always imagined that I would reunite with my loved ones, my mother -
standing with open arms. Although I am alone, I am completely at peace and
serenity. I had no actually form, but I know my body is changing. My organs are
healing, a strong, impenetrable layer of skin stretching across my body -
improving it. My body and features becoming frozen in time and my skin will
remain milky, young and flawless forever. My hair and finger nails will never
grow any longer and if cut or remove they would regenerate until they are
identical to what they are now.

My soul will live on - growing wiser with every year, while
the rest of me remained the same. Most people would consider this gift or a
curse, watching loved ones die around them, seeing the world and living within
it, but never really being a part of it.

For me - this wasn’t a curse - it was the beginning.

Madison eyes flew open. Her once seductive light brown eyes
where now glowing a magnificent crystal blue. The skin of her face was ice cold
and pale but her lips were pink and full. She was even more stunning then she
had been before, her skin now flawless and her fair radiant.

New skin had healed the deep cut of the top of her head and
the three deep bullet wounds to her stomach, leaving nothing but patches of
semi-dry blood.

Her pink lips were parted to reveal two elongated, razor
sharp canine teeth.

Madison rose from the desk, sitting up straight in one quick
motion. Her body felt different - new. Her was silent and still in her chest,
it was an odd feeling in comparison to the heavy beating it usual did. It felt
heavier than before; a thick layer of skin now protected it – weighing down.

Every sound was amplified by a hundred; even the noises of
the room were so loud it hurt her ears. Her sight had changed; every colour was
bright, as if she was seeing every colour for the first time. She could
practically see every individual worn fiber of the nylon blinds that hung in
front of the big pane of glass of the office. 

Her eye sight had greatly improved, allowing her to see
through the thick darkness of the room - light and dark meant nothing to her
now.

Trace stood over Brendan the machine gun firmly in his right
hand.

BANG!

He fired a shot into Brendan’s leg, just above his kneecap.

Brendan wailed in pain as the silver bullet buried its way
into his leg. His blood soaked face flopped down onto his chest once again.

“Now you know how it hurt Madison when the bullets tore her
insides out!” Trace spat angrily, grabbing a large chuck of Brendan’s hair and
throwing his head back against the door.

Brendan winced from the burning sensation of the small
silver bullet in his leg.

Slowly he opened his eyes, catching a glimpse of something
he thought he would never see again.

The excoriating sound echoed around Madison head from the
gun shot. Her ears were still new and unable to cope with such noises as loud
as gunshots.

She wheeled her legs around on the desk and hoped off,
standing behind Trace.

Her head lowered towards the two men.

Brendan’s eyes widened as he caught a flash of her crystal
blue eyes. He straightened his head, making eye contact with her.

“Madison?” he whispered.

Up until the moment that Brendan had called Madison’s name
her head had been blank and disoriented. She was only seconds old and it was
too early for her to be coherent. But still, everything came flooding back like
the opening of the sea walls and the water rushing in, consuming the empty
space. The incident that had happened that pushed Madison over the limit to
flee to London, the night she had first arrived in London and met the potential
love of her life, the Skin Crawlers who had threatened to kill her after she
had brought Brendan back to their layer and Gabby standing before her - her
head thrown back in an deathly howl. The first time she had kissed Brendan
while hiding at The Lodge and Stephanie’s blood red eyes as a new born Vampire
and lastly, Leon’s grief stricken face as he raised the gun to take his own
life.

All these memories came flooding back in an instance.

Madison swayed slightly as every memory and feeling came
flowing back into her.

She scanned the room and the two men in front of her,
remembering where she was and what was happening.

Trace span around in complete horror and astonishment, the
machine gun lifted towards her.

“No!” Trace shouted in denial.

A spark erupted in Madison iris, firing around the circle of
her pupil turning her iris black.

Trace watched in terror as the crystal blue colour of
Madison eyes disappeared into blackness. Quickly he squeezed the trigger of the
black machine gun. The gun clicked denying the bullet to be launched from the
barrel of the gun.

Madison didn’t flinch; every inch of her being knew that the
bullet wouldn’t hit her.

Trace squeezed the tiger again – nothing happened.

He stared from the gun to Madison, his mouth hung open -
terror stricken.

Slowly, Madison raised her arm and placed the palm of her
hand onto Trace’s chest.

Trace screamed as fire erupted within him, destroying his
eternal organs and causing his body to combust in flames. Fire blazed around
the corners of Trace’s eyes, pouring out onto the surface of his skin – burning
him from the inside out.

The scream howled from Trace’s throat as the fire spread
down his body, burning him completely.

Suddenly, the howling scream cut off and Trace’s body
combusted into a cloud of grey dust. The dust rained down onto the floor and
over Brendan’s legs.

Brendan sat slummed against the wooden door, his head still propped
up straight against the door. His eyes were just about open, as he peered
through small slits. It was difficult to tell what his expression was
underneath the thick blood that caked his face. But he seemed to be surprised
and overwhelmed by the sight that his blood had saved Madison from death.

She eyed his curiously, her expression blank but her eyes
moving across every inch of his frame. For a second she thought about killing
him too. Her emotion were still raw, virtually none existent under the pain of
changing into a newborn vampire. Oddly, a feeling of remorse clouded her
thoughts and she knew who he was and what he meant to the
human
Madison.
From the immense pain in every fiber of her body and the confused battled
occurring in her mind, she felt numb with the pain of thirst in her stomach and
throat.

“
Madison
...” Brendan whispered, the slits of his eyes
closing.

Slowly she stepped towards him, grabbing his arm and pulling
him up so he was daggling before her like a rag doll. She titled her head,
examining his unconscious face.

It was easy for her to drop him to the side and walk out the
door without turning for a second look. The raw thirst in her throat was
becoming unbearable and the urge to feed taking over her, but the spark of
humanity that remained intact at the back of her mind ate away at her. She
threw Brendan over her shoulder as if he weighed no more than a bag of sugar.
She moved towards the door, grabbing the handle and throwing it open.

The room was now full of guards from The Coven, all of them
dressed in the same identical thick black robes. The two solders that had
survived through the fight were now restrained, with their torso bend forwards
over a desk.

The guards eyed Madison suspiciously, unsure whether she was
friend or foe. They looked from one another confused and weary, all their eyes
eventually meeting on the still body of Brendan, thrown over Madison shoulder.

Madison stood motionless her black eyes glancing from one
guard to the other. Her long white canine teeth exposed.

Brendan stirred on her shoulder but did not fully regain
consciousness.

Seeing this, the guards raised their weapons and gun fire
erupted into the room. Bullets sprayed over towards where Madison stood, but
she was too fast. Gripping Brendan tightly against her shoulder, she sprinted
forwards out of the path of the incoming silver bullets.

Her black eyes focused onto a large crack in the pane of
glass directly to her left. The glass had been damaged in the gun fire which
had occurred earlier. It was weak and would easily break with little effort.
Madison was certain that even without the crack she would be able to smash the
glass with no more than a single punch. She raced towards the glass, bullets
colliding with the wall behind her. With one huge leap, Madison hit the glass
as it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, she fell to the street below,
Brendan still draped over her shoulder.

The cold air touched Madison’s new skin for the first time
and she could hear every different tone of the wind as it zoomed past her as
she fell through the air. The dull grey light of morning dawned over the town
of London and the many different smells that filled the air burned her
sensitive nostrils.

Madison fell thirteen floors to the ground and for the first
time she realised, she was a new woman, in a new world where anything was
possible.

She was a newborn Vampire.