Shay Cable

There was a taxi waiting outside. I don’t know why, but I was expecting something more… spectacular. A ghost ship or a giant bat. It felt strange to just sit in a regular taxi after what had happened. Doctor Rose opened the back door for me.

I looked over my shoulder to the building where the hunters had trapped me. From the outside, it looked ordinary. Just an abandoned factory on the edge of town. No one would have suspected that six men, vampire hunters, had dug up a resurrected teenage boy and held him captive there.

God, even thinking about it made it sound ridiculous.

I hesitated for a moment, realising I was still covered in blood, before I saw the car-seats were draped in plastic. I’d never seen something like that before, but I thanked the coincidence and stepped in, crossing one leg over the other. The doctor took the passenger seat.

“Mabledon Place.”

The driver nodded and took off.

“So, Seamus—Shay,” the doctor said, “tell me what happened before the moment you awoke.”

I pursed my lips. “Are you sure you want to talk about that?” I said, giving a discreet nod at the driver’s seat.

“Don’t worry, he’s one of us.”

Of course, not just any normal taxi, it had to be a vampire taxi. I wondered if there was an Uber app for vampires too. ‘One out of five stars: there were bloodstains on the seats, the driver didn’t bother cleaning up after he ate.’

“I was in a field, except the ground was covered in talking corpses. The sky was like blood…” I trailed off.

“Go on.”

“I could hear your voice, telling me to focus, telling me it was just a nightmare. And then you went silent. One of the corpses called out my name.”

The doctor looked at me through the rear-view mirror. “Did you recognise them?”

“No,” I lied. I didn’t want to talk about Jacob Livingstone and what he’d said to me, especially if it was just a dream.

The doctor rubbed his chin, as if trying to make sense of it.

“The good news is you’re not insane,” he said with a light chuckle, “the majority of vampire-spawn experience such phantasmagorias moments before they truly awaken. They are nothing more than your mind playing tricks on you.”

“And the bad news?”

“What?”

“You said ‘the good news’. So what’s the bad news?”

“There is no bad news.”

I shook my head and looked out the window. He was strange—he spoke with slight pauses every few words, like he was thinking carefully how to phrase everything he said. And at the same time, I couldn’t shake the fact that his accent was like nothing I’d heard before. Definitely English, but somehow different.

“How old are you?” I blurted out.

He raised an eyebrow. “I was born in 1863, so that makes me, what, one-hundred and fifty-eight? Yes, that sounds about right.”

One-hundred and fifty-eight. He said it in such a casual tone, as if it was normal. I suppose it was, for him. For me now too.

“Cool. I’m eighteen in December.”

“The eighth of December, to be precise. If I’m not mistaken.”

How did he know that? The doctor met my eyes in the rear-view mirror.

“I’ve been following you for some time now, Shay. Ever since you started looking into the recent murders in the East End.”

I gulped. “You’ve read my blog?”

For some reason, I couldn’t get the image out of my head: a vampire hunched over a laptop, scrolling through my blog. A vampire, reading a blog! Didn’t he have something better to do? Like suck the blood of his victims and plot world domination?

“The Second Face of London. Rather dramatic, I’d say. Also, much closer to the truth than you realised.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The taxi came to a stop near a block of flats. Across the road was a row of nicer apartments, as well as a hotel and a pub next-door. I took Doctor Rose’s lead, exiting as he did, then followed him to a three-storey Georgian building with a sign that read Hamilton House.

My eyes widened as I realised people were still walking the streets. Cars still drove past. The world was going about its business, while two vampires were walking the streets. But… no one gave us a second look. Despite the fact that I was covered, head-to-toe, in half-dry blood. Doctor Rose must have noticed the way my eyes shot from person to person, because he gave me a pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about your appearance. I have them all mesmerised: they can’t even see you.”

Mesmerised? I couldn’t help but think about how cool that was.

“You’ll have to teach me that.”

“All in due time.”

He led me down a set of stairs next to Hamilton House, which ended with two doors. One was glass, and lead inside the building. The other was blackened wood, with a diamond shape scratched on the front. It didn’t have a handle, but creaked open nonetheless as we approached it.

Beyond the door was a tunnel, lit by red-coloured lights. I kept close behind, running a finger along the bricks. Was this some sort of secret passageway? Had a regular human ever walked this path before?

“This will take us to my sanctuary,” the doctor said. “I have made my home underneath the Halo building, where the Doctors Laboratory is situated.”

I nodded, pretending that the information meant something to me.

“How did you speak in my head earlier? Can you read minds?”

No, I cannot. Any High Vampire can communicate telepathically with their spawn, as well as with any other vampire, should they come to a mutual agreement to do so. Try it.

“I… don’t know how.”

You’ve done it before. During your phantasmagoria.

Why doesn’t he just call it a nightmare? I wondered.

Because phantasmagoria is a more accurate description of the experience you suffered. See? You’ve already picked up on it.

I couldn’t help but smile. It came naturally to me, almost like thinking, but thinking in someone’s direction instead. Like when you want to respond to someone, but keep it to yourself and say it in your head. I’d have to be careful to keep my thoughts… quieter?

At the end of the path was another black door. It opened automatically, like the last, leading to a foyer. It looked like an ordinary house, though with no windows in sight. A house, underground. A set of wooden stairs led up, while a hallway led into what appeared to be a large living room.

I was expecting a dusty cave lined with coffins. Maybe a corpse or two hanging from the ceiling and shelves with bottles of blood.

That would be most unsanitary, the doctor shook his head. Keep in mind, I am a doctor, first and foremost. My vampirism is merely a secondary perk.

This doesn’t look like a lab either. It’s just a big underground house.

You sound almost disappointed. How peculiar. If it’s any consolation, my laboratory and office are in the door to your left. But this house is our home, and we need it just as anyone else would.

Our home?

Correct. You will live here too, until I deem you fit to venture into the world unsupervised. Hunters are far more deadly than the ones you encountered, and there are plenty other dangers you must be made aware of. It would be a heavy toll on my conscience if you were killed because I didn’t prepare you.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was grateful to him, of course, for saving my life. Twice now. But to be essentially trapped here, not allowed to leave? It didn’t sit right with me. The doctor must have seen the worry on my face.

“You won’t be here long,” he said. “I get the impression that you’re a fast learner. And you won’t be lonely either, this place is a sanctuary for several vampires.”

I nodded. Meeting other vampires? I wondered how that would go.

Doctor Rose led me up the stairs then pointed out a door.

“That will be your room. There is an en-suite, and I suggest you clean up before introductions, unless you want to meet your new housemates in the state you’re in.” He tapped his watch. “They should be back soon. You will find clean clothes on the bed, as well as a new phone—”

“A new phone? I want my old phone.”

He sighed. “That isn’t possible I’m afraid. You are beginning a new life now.”

“But—”

He raised a hand to stop me. “No. You may still call yourself Seamus Cable, but the boy you once were is dead. His life is gone. You are someone entirely different now.”

The doctor went to open the door but I snatched his wrist.

“No! I’m not going to give up my old life. When you tell me everything I need to know, I’m going back home. I still have my mom, my brother and my friends. They deserve to know I’m alive!”

He looked down at my hand, then up to my face. I thought he’d be angry at my outburst, but there was nothing but sadness behind his eyes.

“Your family buried you two days ago,” he said, “to them you are dead. How do you think you would explain to them otherwise?”

“I… I’ll find a way!”

“Many before you have tried. All of them failed. There are only three outcomes-” he counted on his fingers- “One: they reject you. Two: they accept you and, in turn, they too become a target for the hunters. You can’t protect them all. Or three: you try to pretend you’re human to fit in, abstain from drinking blood, then wake up one night consumed by the bloodlust, find your mother’s corpse in your arms, and you’re drunk on her blood.”

He whispered the last bit, then snatched his arm away. Was he… was he speaking from experience?

“I’m… sorry,” he said. “But the human world is yours no longer. This is your life now.”

As much as I didn't want to accept it, he was right.