“Yeah, I would like that as well,” I said, and put my hand on his leg.
His eyes twinkled with a big smile, and he nervously rubbed his shaven bristled head.
“Hi, you two fancy coming to a party at the weekend?” a voice asked.
‘I turned around sharply. I saw Luke standing in front of us, arm stretched out with a flyer in hand. I snatched it quickly. “Of course! I… we would love to,” I answered.
“Cool. See you at the party,” Luke said, and mingled with the crowd.
‘I read the flyer, “Halloween – the Vampire Party.”
“I hate vampires,” my boyfriend said.
‘I nodded in agreement, “So do I, but let's go anyway so we can spend more time together,” I said, realising I had to go as a couple to avoid discovery.’
#
‘So you used him. You never told him about the real reason for being in the pub and wanting to go to the party?’ Kate asked.
‘No, as if he would have believed me anyway,’ Sarah replied and dropped her head in shame.
‘What next?’ Kate asked.
#
‘The party was at an old boarded up house, down a long dark driveway, on the outskirts of town. It was a grand house, eight plus bedrooms, with a large dining hall and numerous reception rooms downstairs. It had fallen into disrepair and had been boarded up for years. Luke and his friends had ripped down the boards and got a generator up and working to rig up some lights and music. It looked really cool with the disco lights and music breaking out into the night from inside this creepy old house.’ Sarah drank some water and tried to read the notes upside down, but Kate quickly flicked the file shut.
‘Anyway. The party was a vampire special, and we were asked to wear vampire costumes from films, TV and books. I chose a trashy little number – big platform boots with tight leather around the legs to just below the knees, tights, short black skirt and red t-shirt, but with a short cropped leather jacket in which I had concealed my gun. My boyfriend wore black boots, jeans and a leather jacket.
We both had fake fangs and theatrical blood on our mouths. We walked down the path, which was lit by carved pumpkins, and pushed open the door, which was coated in fake thick cobwebs and framed by Halloween lights of bats and spiders. In the large hallway, the stairs ran up to the other rooms, and to our right a disco flashed away playing heavy metal music. A few people were dancing and head banging to the music, and around the edges, vampire costumed guests held cans of beer and smoked.
We walked around to the left and through another large room, where buckets of cold beer and spirits had been laid out on an dusty old table. I pushed through the vampire clad guests lingering around the drinks, and grabbed us both a cold beer out of an ice bucket labelled, ‘Blood.’ I grabbed my boyfriend’s hand and walked back through the hallway into the disco, along the sides of the dance floor and into the room at the back where sofas and chairs were laid out to chill out on. We grabbed a seat next to some of my friends from the King Charles and chatted to them over the music for a bit.
‘Lucy sat there with her boyfriend, both dressed in classic vampire capes and dinner suits, and both with white powdered faces and wind swept hair. We talked over the music for a while, knocking down the cold beer. I had to make a good show of the party before finding Luke and uncovering the truth.
‘We finished up our beers and danced for a bit with Steve and John, who were dressed as the vampire lost boys with long coats, ripped jeans, army boots, spiky hair and red contact lenses. I led the way back to the hallway through the throng of other vampire costumes; modern clothed vampires with plastic fangs, Victorian Gothic, film inspired with glitter coating their skin, and gory old fashion Nosferatu's, all claws and fangs. Couples climbed up and down the stairs looking for quiet places to have their own private parties. The desire filled my thoughts, but I was working even if my boyfriend didn't know it. Luckily, I became distracted by the smell of food wafting through the hallway and we followed it into the old kitchen that backed out onto the garden. In the kitchen, we tried out the food: eyeball pizza and worm Bolognese. I guessed there must have been at least fifty people in total at the party already.’
#
‘Was it just you at the party from your unit?’ Kate inquired.
‘No. I had backup. Two vans with ten men each had parked down the road and were making their way in the shadows down the drive to take up positions around the house if needed. I had an earpiece so I could remain in constant contact the whole time. If anything went wrong, I only had to say the word, and they would have stormed the party and protected me.’
‘And your unsuspecting boyfriend?’ Kate added.
‘Yes, they would have protected him as well.’
‘Next.’
#
‘We wandered around a bit more and finally bumped into Luke on the ground floor, next to the kitchen. He wore what he normally wore, all black, but he had contact lenses that made his eyes completely black with white centres, and he wore a pair of blood coated flip down fangs in his mouth.
“Hi, Sarah. Wondering where you two got to,” he said.
“Just checking out the party, enjoying the food and the music. Been talking with Lucy and dancing with Steve and John.”
“Cool. I'm glad you are here now, as I have something I wanted to show you before the main event starts.”
“Excellent! What’s happening later?”
“I have some special guests arriving. It’ll really send the party into overdrive,” he said, grinning, and I guessed who the special guests would be, but wanted to know what he had planned.
‘He led the way through the kitchen, opened the cellar door, and we climbed down the concrete stairs into a dimly lit large rectangular room. Above us, a single bulb tried in vain to light the entire dark space as it swung from the draft coming through the cellar door. In the corner, I could see a boiler and gas bottles collecting dust. In front, a few meters away, another door was painted bright red, which had dried in thick and uneven drips.
‘Luke turned in front of us and spread his arms out wide, “This was the wine cellar. The walls are really thick in here, and I can't get my phone to ever work down here. I doubt your earpiece will work either,” he said.
‘I spun around to the exit and shouted for help to the backup unit, but out bolted four vampires from the shadows, their faces pale as snow and fangs broke out against their bleeding gums and burning red eyes. They grabbed my arms and hit my boyfriend on the back of the head. He crashed to the floor.
‘Luke stepped over him and rummaged around inside my coat to find my gun, ensuring he got a good feel of my breasts as he did it. He checked the gun over and shoved it in the back of his black jeans with his long black coat concealing it. “Your backup will probably be under attack by now as well,” he said. “The rest of my friends will be moving into swarm this house and turn every person in it. I have special plans for you, however. You are an exceptionally beautiful woman. The kind of woman I want to be mine. After tonight, I will become a vampire and you will join me.”
“Get lost,” I shouted and kicked my legs up, flailing in the air.
‘I received a thump in the stomach from one of the vampires, and I curled up in pain. On the floor, my boyfriend had staggered to his feet and in front of us the red door opened to a room where three vampires stared hungrily at us. The vampires all wore regular clothes and had kept out of sight at the party, or else I would have spotted them.
‘As my boyfriend stood up, two of the vampires that had attacked us grabbed him and frogmarched him through the red doorway towards the thirsty vampires. He turned, and I saw a single tear roll down his face as they flung him inside into the arms of the waiting vampires. His eyes popped out with fear as a female vampire grabbed his neck with her clawed hands. She wrenched it to one side and bit into his neck, as the two guards slammed the door behind them.
“No,” I screamed.
I heard his muffled cries
for help.
“We don't need him. You have me now. Plus, some of the troops are hungry,” Luke said.
‘An ear-piercing shriek jolted me backwards into the grasps of the vampires either side.
“He screams like a girl. He was no good for you anyway,” Luke added, his eyes wide with desire and excitement.
‘Above us, I started to hear bursts of gunfire and Luke laughed.
“It's started,” he said. “Your backup plan has gone as well.”
“Why, if you knew who I was?”
“A member of Dark Watch on our team will help us. Today is the start of something new, a mass recruitment drive.”
‘I struggled in the grip of the two vampires either side. “Others have tried a vampire revolution and failed,” I said. “You will be stopped.”
“This time, we are recruiting in couples, in existing groups of friends, in order to provide some stability in the group. All those loners just carried on as loners and fought with one another.”
‘More screams emanated from the red door and tears flooded down my cheeks. I had used my boyfriend as cover, but he had paid the ultimate price. I guess he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Strange, he told me that often happened to him. I felt guilty over what I had done to him. He didn’t deserve to die.
‘Luke stood in front of me, gently caressing my tear stained cheeks with his fingertips. “Don't cry. You will be mine soon, and we will both be vampires,” he said.
‘I curled my legs to my chest and kicked out, knocking Luke to the floor and giving myself the necessary leverage to force the two vampires back and release their grip. I always keep a spare silver stake inside my coat sleeve, and I pulled it out and slashed at the two vampires as they regained their footing. They stepped back, and I dashed across the room and grabbed my gun out of the back of Luke's jeans.
‘I spun back as one of the vampires flew a few inches from me and I fired off a shot. The silver bullets did the trick. He exploded to ash and drifted to the floor. The second ran up the stairs and Luke scrambled to his feet. I kicked Luke’s legs away and then immediately shot him in the back. He slumped to the floor, blood pooling around his body. I fired up the stairs, killing the second escaping vampire and the explosion of ash burst the door off its hinges. Behind me, in the locked room, the screaming had finally stopped. My boyfriend was dead. I quickly grabbed a metal crowbar and wedged it under the handle. I knew it wouldn’t last forever, but would buy me some time. Upstairs, screaming had started and footsteps hammered about in chaos. The vampires had stormed the house to start their bloody revolution. I had no choice of what to do next, as I couldn’t save everyone.
‘In the wine cellar, the boiler for the house sat neatly tucked into the corner. I walked over and smashed at the pipes with the butt of my gun until gas leaked into the room. With the gun in one hand and a stake in other, I ran up the stairs into the kitchen. A vampire was sucking the blood out of a collapsed woman. I fired a bullet, and he exploded into ash. The woman was bleeding out, and I had no time to rescue her; it was probably too late anyway.
The food had been knocked off the table, leaving smeared footprints leading out of the door into the garden. More screams called from the dark. I grabbed a bottle of vodka and took a deep slug to steady myself. I grabbed a kitchen towel and a lighter, and shoved the towel into the bottle. Then I headed towards the screaming sounds from the garden.
‘In the dark, a mop-up crew of vampires waited as they finished off another poor escapee. It was Lucy. They dropped her to the floor with blood pouring from her neck. They charged at me, and I fired a volley of shots, turning them to more bursts of ash. I pushed on into the dark through the settling ash and over Lucy’s dead body to gain some distance from the house.
‘I saw Steve and John escaping out of the side of the house and into the woods. I ignited the towel in the bottle and threw it back through the open kitchen door. The glass exploded, showering the kitchen in flaming liquid as the other alcohol burst into flames as well.
I sprinted further into the dark to gain a safe distance when the explosion happened. The leaking gas had made its way up the stairs, met the flames from the alcohol, and ignited. The bottom half of the house exploded, sending glass flying out and flames roaring from the fractured brickwork as the inferno spread throughout the rest of the house. The generator must have caught fire, as another explosion ripped through the house only seconds later.
‘As the house burnt down, flaming figures came hurtling out and then collapsed to the floor or burnt to explosions of ash as the flames destroyed their vampire bodies. Other humans managed to get out in one piece and ran into the night, away from the terror inside. I watched for a while as the house collapsed, and checked the vampires inside couldn't escape.
Eventually, I slipped around the side of the gardens, stumbling over dead bodies dressed in black combat gear with their throats ripped out and necks snapped. It was the Dark Watch backup unit. I ran all the way back up the pumpkin lit path and down the road to the Dark Watch vans.
‘The vans were empty. I phoned for help and reinforcements arrived. They took care of the mess and retrieved the dead bodies of the Dark Watch. The media blamed the fire on the party organisers who had broken into the property and damaged the gas works. Luckily, only a handful of people died in the fire; most had been killed by the vampires already and were waiting to be reborn. Overall, we got away with it reasonably well.’
#
‘You could have killed more innocent people. You were lucky,’ Kate said.
‘They were going to die anyway and then become vampires and destroy more lives. I did what had to be done.’
Kate re-opened the file and scanned through the notes. ‘Okay, sounds plausible, and I am sure that most people would buy that story, but it's not the truth, is it?’ She looked back up and stared at Sarah.
‘Pardon?’ Sarah asked. ‘Yes, it is. I was there. I should know.’
‘The body of your boyfriend was never recovered.’ Kate pointed out.
‘I guess it was burnt beyond recognition.’
‘There would be something left to get a trace from,’ Kate insisted. ‘Plus, the fire investigator’s original report states it started in the disco, not the cellar. The boiler wasn't the start of the fire but a secondary ignition. Plus, the witness reports from Steve and John don't tally either.’
‘They have it wrong,’ Sarah said. ‘They were probably confused and in a state of shock.’
‘Sarah, don’t lie to us,’ Kate warned. ‘I want the truth. Start again, from the beginning.’
‘Okay. I was asked to investigate Luke Robinson...’
‘No,’ interrupted Kate sharply, ‘Start with the boyfriend. Where did you meet?’
Sarah stared down at the table collecting her thoughts, and she grinned.
‘What is so amusing?’ Kate demanded.
‘Nothing. You know the truth don't you?’
‘Some of it, maybe. Tell me what actually happened,’ Kate said.
#
‘I met him on the train coming back from the gig with Lucy. I had seen him earlier at the concert by himself, dressed in all black with an old heavy metal band t-shirt and studded belt and wrist strap. At the bar, someone knocked my drink off, and he caught it and handed it back. He was a handsome guy, I guess in his early thirties, short black shaven hair and blue eyes. He had a well defined muscular body that showed through his baggy scruffy clothes. I was working at the time and hoping to find Luke so had put any attractions out of my mind. Anyway, on the train, a group of lads were giving a few people grief, especially anyone looking different. A few people from the concert were on the train, and the lads shouted abuse, calling us freaks and weirdoes, as we were dressed in black with body piercings and tattoos. He got up to walk away from them, but they followed, shouting abuse as he walked down the train. I felt sorry for him.
“There you are. Grab a seat. We have been looking for you all over,” I
said to him as he walked towards us, and Lucy looked at me in surprise.
‘He stood and looked at us in confusion. Obviously, we didn’t know each other. I realised he wasn’t scared, but harassed by the attention.
The group of lads shouted. “Found your weirdo mates!”
‘He smiled and slid into the seat next to me, but they wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Three of you freaks now,” the ringleader lad said. He was dressed in a hooded top with baggy ill-fitting jeans. His five friends gathered around, stinking of cheap alcohol and dressed in similar street wear.
I hated the way they thought they could bully people and I let my cover slip. “Get lost, you pricks,” I said.
They laughed and the ringleader raised his hand to smack down at us.
I stood up and grabbed his hand as it swung and bent it over on itself, forcing shooting pains up his arm. He dropped to his knees and yelped in agony. His friends laughed some more, but at him this time. They dragged him away up the carriage to find other victims, apparently thinking better about picking on someone who could fight back.
“Thank you for protecting me. I didn’t want to get into a fight,” the guy said, and smiled.
He was sweet. We chatted on the rest of the way back, and I felt really comfortable talking to him. Most men panic and run once they realise I can handle myself. He seemed rather pleased instead, and never once asked me how or why I could defend myself. It made a refreshing change.
Anyway, we arranged to meet again. He took me out to dinner and the cinema. Next time, he came to my flat and watched films, talked and he stopped over.’
#
Kate’s eyes brows flashed up, and she made a small hmm sound. ‘You two were intimate?’ she asked aggressively.
‘Yes. Is that a problem?’
‘It’s no problem, Ma’am. Please continue,’ the man said, as Kate scribbled a note on the folder.
‘Back to the story,’ Sarah continued. ‘Been together about a week before I asked him to come out that night to help me get an invite to the Halloween Party.’
‘Did you make him aware the real reason for inviting him along on that night and to the party?’