CHAPTER 8 – WHAT WAS YOUR NAME?

The news of Nina Ferric’s defeat spread across the world of Vampires like wildfire. She had made her way, bloodied and weak, to a nearby Vampire Hive after her struggle against her frightening new opponents, and as her brethren treated her wounds, she described the new threat to them. Despite the burning cuts of Cerberus’ claws, the powerful grip of Hellfire’s hands and the chilling laugh of Thanatos as he watched them working on her, the one thing that stuck in Nina’s mind the most was the eyes of her captor. Slayer’s silver, soulless, empty eyes stayed fixed in her mind, staring her down.
Stella had called herself Slayer, and gave Nina a brief run-down of the changes that had occurred to her; then she had begun to feed on Nina. Vampires could feed in one of two ways; they could suck the blood directly from the target’s body, which gave them the optimum amount of satisfaction and energy, or they could magically drain energy from the target’s soul, taking their very life force. That, while not satiating the Vampire’s hunger, gave the Vampire more spiritual power.
Slayer had sucked so much of Nina’s spiritual strength that her body had felt like lead as she dragged herself away from the run-down house. Slayer, Hellfire, Cerberus and Thanatos had walked away, simply taking their things and leaving Nina gasping for breath in the lounge room. Nina’s blood ran down her body, obscuring the message written in plain English in the skin on her back. Once the Vampires she’d turned to for help had cleaned her wounds, they could read it with relative ease. The message had been carved in complicated, well-written penmanship, scratched deep into her skin.
‘We are coming for you’.
Beneath that a peculiar symbol had been carved, right over Nina’s spine. The symbol was the Christian Cross, turned upside down. On either side of the cross, great bat-like wings spread across Nina’s spine, and beneath the cross was the symbol for the planet Venus, also known as the ‘female’ symbol. Nina and the others assumed that this symbol was the adopted insignia of the Venus.
Nina lay on her stomach, so not to agitate her wounds, while an Official from the Counsel of Vampires took photographs of her injuries. She drowned out the sounds of hushed talking, the buzz of electricity in the walls; everything. Slowly her mind drifted away into thought, deep and overwhelming. She began to relay the events in her mind, piecing together Slayer’s story.
At first she had been a human by the name of Stella Reader; she had been sired in the sixties, as part of a Peace Group. The woman who had sired her was Stella’s best friend, Marissa Reeves. They had met each other in a coffee house one night, on an open mike night when beat poems were being performed and amateur musicians were allowed to perform their songs to the world.
Marissa had told Stella that she could make a real change to the world, if she trusted herself completely to Marissa. Stella took that chance, and Marissa sired her, making her a Vampire. At that time, Stella and Marissa vanished for some time.
Stella and Marissa, together with many other connections, formed a small group of Vampires known as a Coven, which came together monthly to cast power spells, share victory stories, and occasionally feed together. However, in 1998 Stella met a man named Bradley Castles. They met several times and Stella fell in love with him, much to the distaste of her Coven. In spite of this, Stella and Bradley started what was to be a six-year relationship.
During that relationship, Stella came to reveal her secret to Brad, and despite his initial fear he stayed with her. This, however, jeopardized Stella’s place in the Coven. She was outcast for some time; but eventually, in 2004, Stella killed herself and Brad was used as a sacrifice for the Destis Muerta.
That night Stella came back from the dead and killed her entire Coven.
She rested for two days before she killed her Sister, Hayley, and resurrected her as a Venus.
After that, the deaths were numerous, and apparently she sired two more Vampires, making her forces four strong. Their strength was surprising; surpassing that of most Vampires with ease. Nina assumed that the transformation from Stella to Slayer had occurred somewhere between her death and her resurrection; but the powers she’d gained had never been seen in this world.
Nina had inspected the site of the Destis Muerta herself, and nothing had seemed out of the ordinary; all of the sigils and stones had been correct and placed well, the seals the stop evil spirits from entering had been in place. Everything seemed normal. There was a possibility, she believed, that Stella’s spirit did not want to come back to a new body, in which case the spell would not have worked, and Brad would not have died.
That was what had led Nina to assume that this place lay atop one of the many Lines of Power, which crossed the world. These lines were known as Veins, and the place where every one of these veins connect in the one place, like a heart, was known as the Ley Rift. It was said that when the Gods sent their power to Earth to create life, the Rift was the exact place where the first spark of life struck, causing a seemingly infinite well of power to be born.
According to legend the Gods had sealed away the Ley Rift, unable to take it away without removing life force from the world and killing it, making sure that no creature would ever find it and tap into its power. However, if, by chance, a spell were to be cast atop one of these veins it would cause the spell’s effects to be extreme and, perhaps, unexpected.
If the spell was cast upon a Vein, Stella’s spirit may have had no choice but to return to the body. Also, the body may have been altered; the power of the entire Vein may have been absorbed into it. She shuddered at the possibility that the spell may have even been cast on a smaller Rift, known as a Ley, where two Veins intersect. If that were the case, Slayer may have attained powers that simply could not be paralleled. It was a horrific possibility for an irrevocable accident.
Slayer’s infinitely hollow eyes still stared into Nina’s mind. It may have been a spell, or a curse, but Nina was fairly sure it was just fear. She had never been this afraid of another creature, man or beast, or worse, in her entire life. She had done battle with Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and Demons, but none had ever had the same look of utter…emptiness. It was as though Slayer could not feel anything; all the sentiment of a sociopath, but taken to an entirely new level.
Finally Nina came back to reality, the world of complete stillness around her was interrupted as she jolted back into her body and out of the realm of thoughts. The Official from the Counsel was already gone; she laid in the room in darkness, alone, her wounds having been cleaned. She was completely naked, her backside covered in a thick feather blanket. The cuts on her back tingled.

* * *

The new dwelling that Slayer had chosen was much more suited to Hellfire’s tastes; it had that certain…‘something’ that the last place was lacking. This time they had taken residence in an apartment in a high-rise building. Other buildings obscured the view, but from the balcony one could see a great span of the street in either direction.
This apartment had been home to only two Vampires, a man and a woman. Slayer had taken the majority of their spiritual power, leaving their bodies to Cerberus, Hellfire and Thanatos. She’d warned them not to make a mess, which was a direction they all took with care. She stood, alone, on the balcony of the building and stared down at the people in the streets below. It was almost sundown; they had taken the house during the morning, when the Vampires were getting ready to rest. It had been an easy takeover, and given them time to sleep during the day. Now, night was upon them.
“I’ve got to admit,” Hellfire appeared in the bathroom door. She was wrapped in a white towel, her hair clinging to her shoulders, wet and steaming. Her skin was patted dry, but still looked fresh and hot from the water. “It’s nice.”
“Why do you bother with hot water?” Slayer sighed over her shoulder, glancing at her sister.
“I like the steam,” Hellfire shrugged. They had both been aware for some time that Vampires could not feel heat, and it was a disappointment that their transformation into a new species had not changed that. Hellfire walked into the room, onto the fluffy white carpet. She flexed her toes on it, and thanked the world that she could still feel its texture. Fluffy was her favorite kind.
“This is only a temporary residence,” Slayer faced away, staring across the street into the windows of the apartments across from her. The blinds were pulled down, so she could see nothing interesting. “I have a much, much more suitable place in mind for us, but it will take time before we are ready to move again.”
“I don’t know, this place is pretty sweet,” Hellfire frowned, picking up a glass ashtray from the table. She stared at it, puzzled, and wondered what the point would be in Vampires smoking. Everything tasted like ash except for blood, and it wasn’t like smoke was going to have any effects on stress. Cigarette smoke wouldn’t calm a Vampire down; if they were angry the last thing they would be thinking about was a cigarette.
“Are you aware that Michael Gates has been cooperating with the Counsel for some time now?”
“Of course I am, that’s common knowledge,” Hellfire rolled her eyes, putting down the ashtray.
“Naturally. That is why I want his house.”
“What?” Hellfire sat up, beaming. “You’re suggesting we kill Michael Gates and take his house?”
“I most certainly am,” Slayer turned back to her, without any change of expression. She walked into the apartment, closing the glass door behind her.
“You want to send a message to the Counsel.”
“Yes, and no,” she said simply, making her way over to Hellfire’s side. She motioned to the couch, and Hellfire sat on it; it was white, faux leather. Her warm, wet legs stuck to it almost immediately.
“Go on…”
“Michael Gates has had a lot of research done, most of which he has performed himself from his private villa. He always wanted to keep his Vampire powers, his hunger, his anger…but he wanted to be able to feel again, and experience some of those human aspects of life. Most Vampires thought he was a fool…until he made a breakthrough.”
“Project Pious,” Hellfire nodded. It was also common knowledge among Vampires that Michael Gates had discovered a way to reverse the Vampire hormone enough to suppress the hunger, and stop humans from making a complete transformation. The result was a weak, mortal Vampire, but one who could venture into sunlight and feel some sensations other Vampires could not.
“Despite being deemed a failure, the project supplied some useful information to the Counsel,” Slayer continued. “That is why they adopted him as a member…Hellfire, do you know our goal?”
“To eliminate the Vampires.”
“Do you know why?” Slayer turned to her, staring silently. Her dark, stormy eyes pierced Hellfire’s mind, but no answer came. There was a long pause, and Slayer nodded, content that Hellfire actually had no reason. “Because I don’t want Humans to suffer anymore. Vampires are a destructive parasite who serve only to self-satisfy. They are a crime against life itself.”
“Okay. But what does this have to do with the Atheist Project?”
“If I can get control of his villa then I’ll have most of his files and full access to his laboratory,” Slayer smiled, tapping the side of her head. “And with what I saw when I died, I think I can piece together enough information to create a cure…”
“Or a weapon,” Hellfire gave a wry smirk.
“Just what I was thinking.”

* * *

In the bedroom of the apartment, in which there was only one, Cerberus was performing some science of her own. She held between two fingers a small piece of silver, which she’d carved out of a silver photo frame. It was only the size and shape of a pin.
She readied her finger and slowly she pricked herself, sinking the pin into her finger.
‘Test one,’ she thought, as she pushed the silver into her skin until it was in too deep to pull out. She watched the splinter sit beneath her fingertip, a little black shadow under the skin, and she smiled to herself. If, in a day’s time, she became sick from the silver in her blood, she would know that silver could kill Venus. The down-side to this test, however, was that she would have to wait a full day cycle before she could perform any other tests, unless she could convince Thanatos to help her out by being a test subject.
When she had broached the subject with him earlier he’d seemed reluctant. Even now he was reluctant to wake up; he was curled up on the floor in the corner, like a dog, his white hair flopping down over his face and forearm. He was wearing faded blue jeans that were torn at the knees, but no shirt, and Cerberus couldn’t help but go over to him once or twice and examine the subtle curves of his chest muscles. He wasn’t a particularly strongly build specimen, but she found him intriguing nonetheless. She even believed she could call him attractive and not feel too awkward about it all.
The jeans, however, she couldn’t understand. Since she had become a Vampire she’d worn only her pink Pajamas, refusing to change out of them. She’d not been a Vampire for long; maybe a few weeks. Before that she had been a student. She was sixteen years old, and dating a much older man. He’d been a friend of Thanatos, known as Tim.
Thanatos had killed that man, and turned Cerberus into a Vampire. She sat for a moment, trying to remember the man’s name, but no name came to her. The man she’d been so in love with, despite his age being thirty-two, exactly double hers, had no name. Her recollection of him was blurry; he seemed to have no features or definition. She didn’t even hold a grudge against Thanatos for killing him.
It occurred to her then, for the first time since becoming a Venus, to recall her own name.
…Chloe.
The name sounded strange to her, as though it were a foreign word. It stuck in her mind, like a sour taste, and she decided then and there that she hated the name. The very sound of the world was like a jammed door; it felt hard and stuck, and difficult to deal with.
She discarded that word immediately, and resolved never to think about it again.
“…My name is Cerberus now.”