Blueblood 2: The World - 11. Lilly

After we cleaned up and got dressed, it was lunchtime. We had the whole day! We did walk around London with no agenda and we made our way and we were in Kent, the southern part of London. There we found Tom Bell. Not a man, but a where. Fish and chips! By reputation, theirs was the best, so we went in and got some. I wasn’t disappointed. It was good! The seasons were changing and one of the changes was fog. As the evening came on, in rolled fog. I’ve seen fog, but this? The air was cold and the fog was thick. I dreaded what problems drivers were having. Like Charleston, the cold in London was damp. It ate through our jackets and sweaters. We should have known we might encounter one of us. We were having a good time, but we didn’t see that many people out. They had more sense than to be out on a night like this. Colin and I weren’t lost, but it was difficult to know where we were so we had to get closer to the street signs to know.

“We’re heading the right way,” Colin said now that we saw the sign. He suddenly looked up as he sensed something, but not with his eyes or ears.

It just when he got the look, I sensed it, too. A vampire. I froze. Colin was looking around and concentrating on where he was sensing.

“We can feel you there,” I said calmly. “As I know you can sense us. We’re the same as you.”

“No, you’re not.” A woman’s voice said from in the fog. “I sense you are vampires, but you’re not like me.” Someone came closer and I could see the image of someone. “Why is that?”

“We’re under treatment,” Colin said, but he was defensive. “What we are is a condition. It’s not a curse.”

“Condition?” The young woman repeated finding it hard to believe. “I’ve never heard of a condition. We’re vampires.”

Colin frowned. “Well, there is a condition.” He was getting testy. “I hate this cloak and dagger stuff.” He said firmly. “I know that trust is hard for us, but can you get closer so we can see you?”

“You took a risk by even speaking to us,” I added touching Colin’s arm. “You might see us, but why not come a little closer so we can see you?” What I was surprised about this vampire was her accent. From all the time I’d been in England, the various accents I’d gotten used to. She had a definite accent that spoke of the United States. “You sound American or Canadian.”

She chuckled. “So do you.” She came closer and we could see a woman in her early twenties. Her hair was a dark blonde and she was pretty. The other thing about her, she was clean. She was personally as well as her clothes. “American as I hear a Southern accent.”

I nodded. “Because we are Southern. We’re both from Charleston, South Carolina. Where are you from?”

“Akron, Ohio.” She said.

I smiled. “A Yankee.” I didn’t feel threatened by her at all. She was a vampire, but no threat. Her eyes lacked the moisture and her complexion was pale like all vampires. “What’s your name?”

“Lilly.” She said. “Really, Lillian, but everyone calls me Lilly.”

Now Colin was relaxed. “My name is Colin Wentworth.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “This is my husband, Devon Wentworth.”

I was so used to operating on the defensive about being gay. I am delighted when we tell people and they have no reaction at all. I have a feeling that was because we lived in the Bible Belt, we would often get the bad reactions. They didn’t like gays much and God forbid a gay vampire! We were an exclusive club.

“How did a girl from Akron, Ohio become a vampire in London?” Colin asked.

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Paul.” She replied. “He was my boyfriend.”

“You said was…he’s not anymore because…he’s dead? Or…” I asked.

She shook her head. “He’s a vampire now, too.” She frowned a little bitter. “It was him that got me turned into this.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “He was the one that bit you?”

She nodded. “I was his second victim that night.”

“That is a good thing,” Colin said. “His first victim didn’t survive, did he?”

“I didn’t know about the first victim at first, but…” she shook her head. “Paul was always a dreamer. He had this romantic notion that we’d be…this vampire couple in love forever.”

“How’d he get you?” I asked.

“We had gone to this party and he disappeared.” She began. “It was morning before I went back to his flat…alone.” She said that last part angrily. “I didn’t know what had happened to him.” She waved her arms in frustration. “When he did show up the next night…I was angry but glad to see him. I knew he looked strange, but…there was no warning. He hugged me and then…bit me.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said. “How did he think becoming a vampire would be a good thing?”

“He fell for the movies and TV!” She explained. “He thought we’d have these magic powers and all that shit.” She laughed again angrily. “Needless to say, we’re not that romantic vampire couple. We’re not even a couple.”

“How do you know he’s alive?” Colin asked.

“I see him around,” Lilly answered. “His bubble has burst and he’s a little angry. He tries to get me back, but I’m sort of pissed at him, know what I mean?”

I smiled and nodded. “I can understand why.”

She nodded. “So, what is this treatment you do?”

We explained about the venom and serum.

She shook her head. “A venom?” She repeated. She looked at us and waved helplessly. “I have to believe it because here you are and you don’t feel like other vampires.”

Colin nodded. “Because we aren’t.”

“How long ago were you turned?” I asked.

“Five months ago,” Lilly said.

“Have you killed?” Colin asked.

Lilly looked guilty. “A dog once, a few cats and rats.” She shivered when she said rats. “Rats are disgusting, but it does the trick.” She looked at us doubtfully. “Do I have to do something to get this treatment?”

I nodded. “You have to come to us.”

“To Charleston!?” She asked as if we’d said the moon, but for a vampire, a trip like that would be like going to the moon.

I laughed and shook my head. “Not that far, but it is about three or so hours’ drive…north.” I could see she was relaxing. “Have you heard of Thornwood?”

She shook her head.

“There are more vampires in the world,” Colin said. “There is a group now up in Yorkshire. Do you have a way of getting there?”

She looked more helpless. “I can’t see how. I don’t even know where Yorkshire is…I know there are a lot of mines up there.”

I nodded approaching her. “It’s okay,” I assured. “We can get you there, but it won’t be tonight…or even tomorrow night.”

“We’re here in England for a reason. Helping others like us is that reason.” Colin said. “The thing is…you’ll have to trust us.”

I nodded. “You took the first step by speaking to us. Your next step was to reveal yourself. What happens next is you have to come with us.”

Now she looked even more doubtful. “If I do…can I ever go home?”

I smiled. “To Ohio?”

“I was attending NYU.” She smiled. “But I’d like to get out of London. Anywhere will be a welcome change.”

“If nothing else, if you take the treatment, you’ll have a future to decide on.” I smiled. “We go back to Thornwood tomorrow. We can come back.”

“During the day?” Lilly asked.

I nodded. “We can bring you to Thornwood at night. We have somewhere you can stay in the day.”

The idea of being somewhere else during the day was frightening to her, but the thought that she could leave this horrible life behind was more tempting.

“What’s your full name?” I asked.

“Lillian Palmer.” She said.

“Alright, Lilly Palmer,” I said. “We’ll be back here in a week,” I said. “Or unless you prefer another location.”

“A week? Seven days?”

I nodded. “I might bring some others. There is a group of humans that work with us. My mother is one such human with us. She’s very nice.” I waved at Colin. “His daughter is a vampire. They can help you.”

She nodded. “Okay. Seven days.” She looked at her watch. “It's nine thirty now. Same time?”

I nodded. “We’ll be here. Is there anyone you want to include?”

She shook her head. “I just want out.” She said pitifully and again, if she had tears, they would be falling.

Colin smiled. “We’ll get you out. I promise.”

She nodded. “A week.” She said as she backed up. “You promised.” And she disappeared into the fog.

Colin sighed. “So much for our vampire free weekend.”

I put my arms around him. “She found us, we didn’t go looking for one.” I grinned. “Now we have another movie!” I said happily.

Colin chuckled but rolled his eyes. “Oh?”

“You remember the movie American Werewolf in London?”

Colin thought. “I can’t say I do.”

“We’ve got to get you up on current events,” I said kissing him. “Now we have American Vampires in London! I’ll find the werewolf movie when we get back to Thornwood. I’m sure it’s available on demand.”

Colin chuckled again and said weakly. “Yea for me.” Then he smiled. “And when Edwin or Matt comes to New York we can have British Vampires in Manhattan?”

I smiled. “Now you’re getting it!” I looked where we were. “Are you going to be able to find this again?”

Colin nodded. “I’ll remember.”

We got back to the hotel and had a quiet night…well, mostly. He and I did let out a few loud grunts as we made love, but nothing too loud. We got up, had our breakfast and were on our way back to Thornwood at twelve.

We came into the house where no one was there to greets us. Not that they knew when we were coming back. We got our luggage back in our room and looked for someone…anyone. The media room was empty, as was the library. Going down to the underground room, we found that room was empty. Finally, when we were going down a hall on the first floor we saw Willie.

“Willie!” Colin greeted. “Where is everyone?”

Willie smiled at us. “Well, the vampire last night is now upstairs on the west wing.” Then he smiled bigger. “The others are with our new guest.”

“New guest?” I asked.

Willie nodded and jutted his head. “Out in the barn’s underground.”

“You caught a wild vampire!?” Colin asked.

Willie nodded. “We did…it took both teams, but we finally cornered it and brought him here. Come on, I’ll take you to see it.”

I had not been to the barn before…why would I?

Willie led me to a door that had the stone steps that led down.

Here we saw where they had all gone. In a cage of steel was a creature that was only human in that it looked vaguely human. His hair was dirty and stringy, again the hair on a vampire will grow and he never had gotten a haircut. Not a big man, about my size. The hair was dark, but the color could be from the grime. He was dirty from head to toe and the clothes he wore was so tattered and torn, he might as well have nothing on. This vampire was truly wild. He turned as Willie, Colin and I came down and hissed, but shied away from the cage’s edge. His fangs, however, were in great shape which he showed as he hissed. Then I was hit by the smell. Now I got that musky, musty smell Gabriella had described. Chuck and Shelly were a good many feet away from the cage. Burke, Alex, Edwin, Matt, and George were closest to the cage. Gabriella was standing behind Alex.

“…I’ll try this,” George said as he put a dart in a gun.

Looking at the vampire, he already had two darts in his back.

George shook his head and fired, hitting the vampire in its back again. The vampire shrieked and tried to get the dart. Then I saw the other darts on the cage floor.

Alex looked up and saw us and grinned. “Welcome to the freak show!” He waved at the vampire.

“We go away a couple of days and this is what we come back to?” Colin asked shaking his head. “Shouldn’t he be still asleep?”

George nodded. “He was asleep, but the sun’s going down. I need him knocked out to get any blood. He fights too hard to get any.”

I looked at this vampire as I walked closer to it. “If he just woke up, he’s hungry.”

George had been setting up a lab down here, but it wasn’t all clean like his lab in Manhattan. George nodded and waved to several clear bags of blood he had ready for him on a counter. “He slaps away the bags and tries to get free.”

I nodded, looking at what remained of his clothes…he had been a miner. No telling how long ago he was turned, I could see his clothing and knew it had been a while. “He may not know what the bags are or what’s in them,” I said going over to one of the bags. “Is there something…” I looked around this barn storage area. “Is there a shovel or something?”

Edwin nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get it.” He came back with a shovel. It had been used and was dirty, but I hoped it would do the trick. I opened a port on the bag and let the blood spill out on it. Then I raised the bag with the shovel to the vampire who now was looking very interested as his nose twitched smelling the blood.

“Its blood,” I said to the vampire. “That’s what you want right now.”

Vampires were stupid, but this one wasn’t very bright either. It grabbed the bag and instead of just lifting it and sucking out the blood, it bit the bag. He got some of the blood, but mostly it spilled on the ground. I took another bag. “This is what you need to do,” I said to the vampire who looked at me curiously. I opened the port and like I was going to let it drip in my mouth, I showed him how it came out. Then I held it out to him.

“Devon! Get back!!” Colin shouted seeing I was too close for Colin to not worry and about to charge after me to rescue.

I held my hand up to stop Colin. “I’m okay. He just needs to know how to get it.” I held the bag closer. The vampire watched as I came nearer. “Take the blood.” The vampire’s response was to grab the bag greedily and held it up as I did and let the blood pour into his throat. I backed away a little, grabbed by Colin and moved farther away faster. He hugged me to him. “I’m okay, Colin. He couldn’t hurt me. I’m already a vampire.”

Colin shook his head. “He can hurt you! He could have ripped your arm off!!”

I pulled Colin into the hug again and patted him on the back as he was assessing whether I was still intact. “I’m okay, Colin. He didn’t touch me.” I hugged him again. “But I noticed something just now.”

“What!?” Colin asked trying to calm down.

“There is something operating here. He saw what I did and repeated it. He learned.” I pointed out. I looked at the vampire. “Whether he’s a nice guy or not, he was human.”

“So, you want to try and tame him!?” Colin balked.

I frowned at Colin. “I’d like to know that if an innocent person was bitten. Can he be reached and saved?” I turned to Shelly. “That woman that was running that night, she was going to attacked by a vampire like him! Wild!” I waved at the vampire.

Shelly frowned. “She was a bit paranoid to me.”

“Four people jump from an SUV at night, isn’t paranoid,” I said. “She was protecting herself. It was a normal reaction. Would she be condemned if she had been bitten?” I turned to George. “Have you ever given the serum to one like this?” I waved at the vampire. “Have you gotten a wild vampire back?”

George looked puzzled but shook his head. “They usually don’t survive.”

I nodded. “Let’s test his blood. If we can get the venom, we test it.” I smiled at George. “You should be able to tell if there’s something in his blood we don’t have.”

George nodded. “I was planning to find out.” He grinned. “Are you sure you don’t want to be a doctor? Or at least a scientist?”

I grinned at George. “No thanks. You’re it. Who else do we need?”

George chuckled. “I can use the help.” He looked at the vampire as it slumped a little. “Oh, now the tranquilizer’s is working. Having the blood in him must be helping.”

We all turned as the vampire finished the bag and was slowly collapsing.

“Won’t the tranquilizers have an effect on the serum?” I asked.

George nodded. “It will register, but it won’t affect the results that much.” He walked closer to the vampire. George smiled. “I’ll get the venom from his bloodstream. We should get the venom from him if we can.” He looked at me. “Care to help me?”

“How are you going to do that?” Burke asked, but had a feeling what we were going to do.

“In order to get snake’s venom, we get a jar and the process involves sinking the fangs in a special jar with a covering to bite into and force the venom out.” George said. “That means…we go in, put the jar under his fangs and sink the fangs in the jar.”

“No!” Colin objected, shaking his head. “No way are you doing that.” He said to me and George.

George frowned at Colin. “It needs to be done. To see if there’s a difference, I need his and someone else’s venom without the serum.” He looked at all of us. “One of the new vampires coming for the serum can give that sample. We’ll compare.” He looked at the now sleeping vampire. “The problem is…we need to have the means to store it once we’ve got it. Even then, it won’t last long. I need my high-powered microscope ready when we do it. It’s on the way.”

Burke came beside Colin. “I don’t like this.” He said to Colin.

Colin shook his head. “Neither do I.” He looked at me. “That means sticking your hand in his mouth.” He pointed to the vampire.

I nodded. “I’ll be careful.” I looked at George. “We’ll wear gloves!”

“Gloves that he can easily bite through.” Colin pointed out. “There has to be another way.”

George sighed. “I try and come up with something. I need to wait for the microscope so we can’t do it now. I need a blood sample. I can do simple observations for now with a simple microscope.” He went over to bench he had some of those clear test tubes with the stopper on top to keep specimens sterile. He picked a few up and a large syringe. “I need access to his neck. I’m not concerned with sterilizing the site. Just watch him.” He said to me and the others around him. He reached in through the bars and rolled the vampire over. Clearing the vampire’s neck from the hair and getting access, he stuck the needle in the neck and withdrew some of the black ooze and put the ooze in the container. George held up the tube. “I’ll start with this.”

“This is dangerous,” Colin said to me.

“If I had been bitten by one of these…which I’m not sure Brett wasn’t going that way. Would you give up on me?” I asked. “Maybe if we find something out about their venom, we may help.” I turned to George again. “Have we given the serum to one of these?”

“We never thought to,” George said shrugging. “They weren’t seen as a victim. As I said, they always die first.”

I nodded. I looked at the vampire. “This one won’t.” I looked at Colin. “You see we have to, right?”

Colin still looked upset about it and said to me. “I do, but I don’t want you hurt.”

George frowned as he put his arm around my shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.” He almost growled.