A Life In Blood (Chronicles of The Order Book 1) Read online

  It took me a few minutes to make a decision. I was in a position to help at that moment - not much, just share a little information, but it could give them a bit more of a fighting chance.

  “Your map is wrong,” I told Valder flatly. I didn’t mean it to sound that harsh, but I needed to speak, to get them updated.

  “How so?”

  Instead of speaking, I moved over and started moving pins. A few white ones came out, and yellow ones went in their place. A couple of white ones were added. Two reds were taken out completely.

  “I can’t say much about the midlands and above, but down here...these two military bases were closed down due to lack of funds half a year ago. These so-called independents here-” I indicated the spots I meant - “are actually government sponsored, they trust try to act like indies to lull you into a false sense of security. And these independents...well, in all honesty, they’re a joke. If they give you any hassle then you could put them down easily enough, and quite frankly a half-decent scare is likely to put them out of the game. They basically want to look cool to pick up women, but have never faced an actual vampire before.”

  Valden seemed to blink in surprise.

  “I’m...somewhat shocked, I must admit. How do you know all this?”

  I shrugged sheepishly. “My father knew a lot of people.”

  “Thank you, all the same. It is truly appreciated.”

  That actually began a couple of days’ worth of Operational viewing. I got to watch some of the Omega Company men and women training, I got to speak to one of the vampire officers about the kind of work they do, he told me - as vaguely as he could - about something called the Sentinel programme, a group of mortal and vampire agents working independently, on their own, either doing espionage, sabotage, rescue or assassination. And they only ever struck targets that were a direct threat. Civilians were never intentionally harmed, aided where possible, and protected as much as possible.

  My mind was spinning. This was nothing like what I had been forced to believe. My mind was still reeling on the day that Corvi came to me visit me once more.

  CHAPTER 3

  A new life

  She came to see me while I was sat in my guest quarters, reading a book on the origin of vampires. Did you know that vampirism was actually a curse of the blood, and that a simple bite wouldn’t do anything? I didn’t, and it seemed neither did my family. I wasn’t in a hurry to enlighten them.

  No, the truth of the matter is that there has to be an actual exchange of blood. This exchange is usually quite an intimate affair, and is always very private - there is no mention of what the ritual actually involves. What I’ve read does however state that the ritual can differ for each vampire, making it a very unique and personal experience.

  “I hope your stay has been comfortable?” she asked politely, almost as if she was leading to a point.

  “It has, thank you,” I answered honestly, “and in every way it’s been what you told me it would be - proof that vampires aren’t all bloodthirsty, evil psychopaths.”

  “We do get called evil a lot, and it’s true that some of our methods can be...unpleasant, but these days we’re fighting for our survival. We aren’t evil, we’re just....morally flexible.”

  I laughed at that. I loved the phrase, and decided I was going to have to use it myself at any opportunity. But then Corvi continued.

  “Well, now that you’ve had chance to see us in a better light, I come to you with a choice. If you want, we can take you back home, leave you alone and let you carry on as normal, even go back to being a hunter. We would never see you again, except if you crossed us.

  “Alternatively, you can stay with us, join our cause, learn more of what we do and what drives us. You will be trained, housed, fed and paid, and you will be given a role that fits your skills. We don’t let our people get bored.” She smiled at me with that remark, and I’m pretty sure my heart skipped a beat. But what got me was what she was offering: a choice.

  Here’s the thing. For eighteen years, I had been taught everything by my family. I was home schooled, my family taught me all about hunting vampires and everything that went with it...and I never got to choose a damn thing. That’s why my sister ran away, because she saw what happened to me and didn’t want the same to happen to her.

  But for the first time in my whole life, I was being offered a choice - a chance to choose my own direction, to do what I wanted for a change.

  But one thing still bugged me, a burning question at the forefront of my mind.

  “I have to ask before I decide...why me?”

  “Why not you?” A vague answer, more of a deflection, I’m sure.

  “Because I’m no-one. Just some kid from a hunter family who really sucks at his job. And yet you were miraculously in the right place at the right time to save me, and all you had to do was stop me being reduced to mush and leave me at the hospital. So why bring me in?”

  She seemed to think about this for some time. I couldn’t read her expression, but something seemed...off. Eventually she fixed me with this stare, an intense gaze which seemed to pierce me to the core, as if she was trying to speak to something deep down inside of my soul.

  “Because you are a hunter. Not just any hunter, but a son of one of the best hunter families around. The Black name is known to hunters and vampires alike, and I thought...if we could bring you on board, you could possibly help us. Use that name to sway others, if only we could prove to you that we were not what society has made us out to be.”

  I wasn’t sure she was telling me the truth. A truth, certainly, but certainly not the complete one. However, the fact remained that I had a chance to gain some freedom, and if I wanted to know what else Corvi had in mind for me there was only one way to find out.

  It was probably not surprising then, that I used my choice to betray everything and everyone I had ever known, and turn my back on my family, my friends and indeed my own life.

  “I want to be a part of The Order,” I told Corvi, my expression deadly serious. “I want to stay here, and be a part of something that matters.”

  She smiled at me again, her silvery eyes sparkling with undisguised pleasure.

  “Welcome to the family.”

  It’s only now that I come to put all this down that I realise how crazy this all sounds. It must seem to you that I was drugged, or mentally manipulated, but I wasn’t. Hell, you already know what mental touches do to me. What I did was entirely of my own volition...which doesn’t really make it seem less crazy, if I’m honest. Who else turns their back on everything they’ve ever known on the slightest whim? I confess I’ve never felt much guilt about my choice, but I have wondered if it was right once or twice.

  I just...thought I’d clear that up.

  That afternoon Corvi came back - she had left to make arrangements for my new quarters and assignment to an Omega Company training unit - and escorted me from the guest area towards my new, permanent residence. I was still certain that there was some reason why I merited the personal attention of the base commander herself, although I wasn’t complaining about that, but I highly doubted that I was going to be told anything she didn’t want me to know. It then occurred to me that there was a conversation that we never actually had.

  “You never answered my question, you know.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The first time you read my mind. I was wondering how old you were.”

  “Oh, that,” she said dismissively. “In all honesty, I don’t really know.”

  “Seriously? You don’t know how old you are? You’re joking with me, right?”

  She shrugged, as if unsure why I was surprised. “Be fair, Deimos, I’m immortal - my body m
ight be ageless, but my mind isn’t. Enough time can damage our minds, just as with mortals. It’s why every so often we’ll go into a sort of...hibernation, if you will. It allows our minds to sift through the accumulated information, discard the irrelevant stuff, and keep itself streamlined and efficient.” She thought for a moment, then added, “like clearing your computer memory.” She seemed quite proud of the analogy.

  “So you have no idea of your age? At all?”

  “I know I was turned some time in the eleventh century.”

  “So that makes you-”

  “Just over a thousand years old, I suppose. Still a few decades until my next big milestone though,” she said, grinning. For once I wasn’t disturbed by the smile, and the baring of those vicious teeth. I thought - not for the first time, and perhaps a little inappropriately - how beautiful that smile was.

  Damn, I really needed a distraction.

  As if on cue, we rounded a corner and almost ran headlong into another woman. She stumbled slightly, and I attempted to help her remain steady, until I realised that doing so would probably earn me a slap - there seemed to be more exposed skin than clothing, and I sincerely hoped she didn’t go on combat missions like that. She managed to right herself anyway, and Corvi sighed with what seemed to be either disgust or exasperation. Or both.

  I think it was both.

  “Corvi, darling!” the new woman called out in a sing-song tone, the kind used by middle-class women who hadn’t seen each other in a shocking twenty-four hour time-span. “I was so worried I had missed you, I have an interesting report for you-”

  “Can it wait, Lev? I’m trying to get our newest recruit settled-”

  “And without introducing me? I am hurt, Corvi, I really am.”

  The woman seemed wildly exuberant, and quite the exhibitionist if her fashion sense was any indication. Knee-high boots, lace-topped tights, PVC hotpants, a black and pink corset that exposed a significant amount of cleavage, and a floor-length black leather jacket. More eye-catching than that, though, was her long, pure white hair, reaching down to the small of her back.

  Corvi sighed again.

  “Levaertes Grey, meet Deimos Black, our newest recruit. Deimos, meet Levaertes Grey, commonly known as Lev. She’s our...what do you do here again, Lev?”

  I wasn’t sure if the dig was playful or not, but Lev seemed to take it in her stride.

  “I’m here for morale, sweetie, you know that - or you would, if you’d let me.” The wink she gave Corvi was positively dirty, and I was beginning to feel a little defensive for Corvi’s sake.

  Not that I had any right to, mind, but...I just didn’t know what to make of this woman.

  “What she means is, she sleeps with anyone with two legs.”

  “Sometimes less,” Lev pointed out, far more excitedly than she really ought to. I guess she was happy with her life choices.

  I had no way of knowing at the time, but Lev would actually go on to become one of my closest friends, and a trusted advisor. I never thought I’d ever like her, because I tend to hate women with her casual attitude to sex and relationships, but she is devoutly loyal and fiercely protective of her friends.

  In that moment when I met her, however, I really wanted to punch her.

  “Anyway, Lev, if you don’t mind we are a bit busy, so-”

  “Sure thing, Reggie, I’ll let you to get on,” she told Corvi, who simply rolled her eyes. Then Lev nudged me sharply and added, “maybe you can melt the Crow’s heart, eh?”

  She darted off again, leaving me confused and Corvina pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “Why I keep her around is quite beyond me,” she told me, shaking her head. “Come on, your new room is just down here.”

  “Why did she call you ‘Reggie’?”

  Corvi snorted derisively. “Her own quaint little nickname for me. Regina Corvi.”

  I looked at her quizzically. Latin was not my strong point.

  “’Queen of Crows’. She likes to think she’s funny, that one.”

  She brought me to the door of my quarters as I asked her one final question.

  “That reminds me, how come you never told me you actually run this place? I thought that would be one of the first things you mention, during the bit where you set down rules.”

  “A couple of reasons, really.” She began to count them off with her fingers as she spoke. “One, you didn’t actually ask me what position I held. Two, I don’t like to brag and three, it never really came up. Is it a problem?”

  It was a bit late to be asking me if I had a problem with her running the place, since I was now already working for her, but I guess she wanted to ask out of politeness. She was considerate like that.

  “No, it isn’t a problem...although, now that I’m officially working for you, how should I refer to you? Ma’am? Lady Delacore?”

  She raised a hand, palm towards me, forestalling any further guesses.

  “Just...Corvi, will suffice. Unless it’s a formal meeting of some kind, but those are so rare it is barely worth mentioning.”

  She opened the door for me and showed me into the room, and it was much more appealing than my guest quarters. A double bed with some really nice bedding on, a flat-screen TV, a stereo, some decent air con, a proper kitchen area and a very nice bathroom with shower and bath this time. I was going to like it here.

  “Don’t get too comfortable,” she told me, and if it weren’t for the fact that I had no headache at that point I would have sworn she had read my mind again. “In two days you begin your training with Omega Company. You will report to them at oh-six hundred, and for most of your training you’ll stay at their barracks. When your training is over, this will be your home-” she gestured to my new room - “and you will be issued with assignment details from your commanding officer. I may not get chance to see you again for a while, so I will wish you luck now and I’m sure next time we meet, you’ll be a changed man.”

  She smiled once more, said her goodbyes, and left me to it.

  It wasn’t long before there was a knock at my door, which surprised me. After all, until about five minutes previously even I didn’t know where I was. I opened the door to find Levaertes standing in my doorway.

  “Hello, handsome,” she purred, and I immediately started feeling uneasy. Just the way she looked at me made me feel dirty somehow, and not in the good way.

  “Can I help you, Levaertes?” I used a stern tone with her, and I hoped the full-length name tactic used by angry parents would have an effect on her.

  It didn’t.

  “Oh come on sweetheart, call me Lev. Everyone does, whether I ask them to or not. I’m just here to welcome you to our little family here, say hi, get to know you-”

  “I’m not interested in that kind of welcome, thank you,” I told her, and she looked almost annoyed.

  “I don’t know, you tell a few people you like sex, you sleep around a bit, and suddenly everyone thinks you’re going to automatically hump the nearest sentient creature! Gods, I’m not that bad, ok?”

  I acknowledged that it was a bit harsh and apologised to her, explaining that it’s just how she was introduced and I was new, so didn’t know better. That seemed to pacify her a bit, and we got talking after that. She asked me the usual things; how I came to be here, where I was from, if I was one of those Blacks - I told you we were one of the best hunter families - and generally getting to know me. Like a normal person. I began to think her reputation had been maybe a little bit exaggerated.

  Someone once described Lev’s physical appearance very well. They said, “she’s a face you could forget with a body you never will,” and it was true to a degree. She wasn’t unpleasant to look at by
any means, but she had a face that seemed...ordinary. Other than her white hair there was little about her face that was distinguishing - oval-shaped, green eyes, small nose, average mouth - but she had an amazing figure. She was a bit shorter than me, maybe 5’ 8”, and she was pleasantly curvy in all the right places. She also had a rather hypnotic hip-sway when she walked, so it was easy to see why she was actually quite good in her role of spying and information-gathering. Any man or woman she couldn’t seduce she beat the information out of, with her extensive close combat skills, or threatened with her two positively massive pistols. She owned a pair of Desert Eagle 50AEs, chambered for the idiotically powerful 12.7mm cartridge, a round more commonly seen in large-calibre sniper rifles and heavy machine-guns. Her skills had been honed to a knife-edge, and it turned out that she was actually a vampire Sentinel, although she still couldn’t go into detail about what that meant.

  Then, after a good hour or so of enjoyable conversation, she caught me off-guard.

  “You have a thing for Corvi, don’t you?”

  Her tone, often light and playful, was for once a bit more serious, but still I hadn’t expected the question.

  “I- well....no, I mean, I barely know her, and...” My voice trailed off, strangled by embarrassment.

  “And she’s beautiful, classy, impossibly alluring, and that sense of danger radiating from her is part of the appeal. Anywhere near the mark?”

  I nodded weakly, my cheeks heating. I felt like I was thirteen again, with Remus winding me up about a girl I fancied in the neighbourhood. I felt vulnerable all over again.

  “Hey, I get it sweetheart, I do - I’m bi, so I can see she’s bloody attractive. No reason to be ashamed about it, I just thought maybe you needed to talk it over with someone.”