Truth Wins (Eve)

[Silas Driscoll]

Silas had been back in good old Manchester now for a few weeks. Already it seemed like a few years, training the younglings and helping Eve took up pretty much most of his time, though he got a bit of time to chase Ranvier around the manor and apparently act like an imbicile. Not through want of his but because Ranvier had annoyed him greatly. The remaining time had been spent watching Antonia. The girl was still in a bad state and could not yet move properly, once she was well he would kill both Ranvier and Demetrius dead.

Because of his time consuming daily routines, he had been neglecting the most important. His intake of blood. Vampires never killed humans to feed, they usually drank from Animals and got pigs blood from the butchers in bulk. Thankfully the Vampires had their connections all over town so living their lives was not difficult, yet the effect of not drinking blood was beginning to take its toll on the man. His eyes had lost the shine in them, though still blue, they were no longer piercing. His face had sunkern and become weary, his skin going a greyish colour, making him appear more ill then ever before. Silas' reactions were extreamly slow and he constantly seemed to be tired. Not to mention his senses had gone downhill, usually able to pick up anything, even Ranvier had been able to sneak up on him. Silas felt weak, sick and dizzy most of the time too, but he didnt let it show.

Eve and Silas had gone to explore the old abandoned Research Facility, Silas had been given orders by Alex to check it out, it seemed they were keeping their eye on things and Eve had wanted to tag along, to see properly what his job entailed. Pulling the door open, Silas felt some more of his energy slip from him. "Come on, stay close." Lycans had been in here, he could smell them, and Humans. Mix that with the smell of chemicals, cigarettes, beer, and what could only be describes as, pee, you got yourself a nasty concoction.

The two had been walking for a few minutes when Silas stopped, placing a hand on a table and raising one to his head as another wave of dizziness hit him. Maybe it wasnt such a good idea taking this job on today, but he couldnt very well say no to Alex could he? Afterall, her word was law. Technically. Taking a few deep breaths, Silas shut his eyes, which in fact made him a little dizzier. Stumbling a bit on the spot, he managed to hold his ground, opening his eyes once more he looked at Eve, "Right.. Come on then." He said as he began to walk once more, his head still buzzing and his senses fogged.

[Eve Regan]

To say that Eve’s life had changed dramatically would have been an understatement, her world had quite literally been turned upside down and now she didn’t know what to believe, everything was different, and completely terrifying, suffice to say it was taking a while to adapt. At first she’d been petrified, when she’d eventually seen what had been staring her in the face for days she’d kicked herself then screamed the entire house down. She was in a mansion full of blood sucking vampires! Silas had tried reasoning with her, tried to explain that vampires weren’t all that they had been made out in the stories and films, that their portrayal as evil was entirely unfounded, unreaslistic and not true in the slightest, all Eve had done was slapped him around the face several times and beaten her fists upon his chest, he’d eventually decided to leave her alone to let it all sink in and so she’d been unceremoniously locked to her quarters. At first Eve had been entirely frantic battering upon the door until he knuckles bled, screaming, then sobbing, then hatching daring plans of escape, looking out the window and realising she’d been put on the second floor for a reason she’d cursed like hell…

Until eventually she’d calmed down and gotten a grip over herself, in reality she’d exhausted herself completely and collapsed in a state of nervous exhaustion, burnt out in effect. The vampires, namely Silas, had consequently had to tend to her, in her crazed near delirious state as her nightmares had taken a firm hold of her, they were in control, not her. She’d seen things she didn’t want to remember, that were now pushed firmly to the back of her mind, and the nightmarish visions had fuelled her fear of the vampires as she imagined them creeping up on her in the night. Yes Eve was well and truly petrified; she hadn’t dealt with the situation well at all mostly due to being so tired she couldn’t think straight and actually reason through the situation and listen to Silas. After three days of tossing and turning, being near force fed meagre meals to keep up her strength, and whispered surprisingly soft words to comfort her, she had come round, smiling when she first saw Silas’ face then remembering he was a vicious vampire. After another screaming session she’d calmed down surprisingly quickly, compared to before, and listened to Silas, realising that the world wasn’t everything she’d imagined, in fact it was entirely different. He’d reasoned with and she’d seen the wisdom of his words, afterall if they’d wanted her blood they’d had ample opportunity to suck her bone dry, yet they hadn’t. Astonishingly enough they weren’t even a bad bunch of people she would come to realise, but that would take a considerable length of time.

It had taken a better part of a week for Silas to coax Eve from her room, with the threat to all Vampires save Alexandria herself that if they harmed Eve in any way, physically or mentally then there would be hell to pay, of course Eve didn’t know that so the shaky smiles she was receiving as she tried not to look at the vampires strolling about her, and the flickers of fear towards Silas she never actually saw, Eve was beginning to realise that she really was blind.

When she actually summoned up the courage to reply to courteous greetings, and then actually engage in conversation with the vampires she was pleasantly surprised, they weren’t all that different from humans in fact.

So it had been a strange few weeks starting her new life and tossing aside all preconceptions and prejudices, forming new friendships and learning of new things, perhaps most importantly how to control her dreams. In fact she was developing as a person as she fairly easily talked, some would say chattered, so won friends and she was highly inquisitive, she was soaking up all information she was given like a sponge, she was like a child constantly asking questions, and probably about as annoying as one too, she really was starting her life over again. Finding out about the war she soon realised why the vampires needed her, she’d been naïve to believe that Silas was doing all this just for her, that there hadn’t been an alternate motive was ludicrous, nobody just did anything for other people, they didn’t help others out of the decency of their hearts, it was through guilt, a conscious or most likely for profit, and Eve soon twigged that she, or rather her gift, was immensely valued, due to seers being so very rare. She could have used that to her advantage, but her naivety and intrinsically good nature stopped her from doing this, abusing her gift wasn’t right.

Silas had tried sneaking out that night, she guessed it had been a ploy to get her to come along by asking to tag along herself, because he could easily have sneaked past her room if he’d wanted to. She’d been lying upon her bed, importantly one with a soft springy mattress, meditating and controlling her thoughts, no easy thing for a seer whose mind was constantly filled with swirling images, some events happening right now, others filtering through from the past and yet others that would eventually come to pass. In learning to control her mind and thoughts she’d also opened the barrier for everything to pour in, where before her own hopes and fears were portrayed vividly through dreams and they were all connected directly to her life, they were now bizarre and utterly random, from lives of many other people; some blurred and hazy others more real than life itself, she felt their emotions, how they would be feeling, and it was utterly exhausting, learning to switch off was crucial yet extremely difficult.

On hearing Silas, grumbling under his breath her eyes had flickered open, unsure for a moment if this were real or just a dream, for he was often in her visions, sitting up she wrinkled her toes peered over towards the door, seeing the glimpse of a shadow clouding over the light that filtered into her otherwise darkened room. Jumping up she slid from the bed grabbing her shoes and hopping from one foot to the other as she put them on enroute to the door, shouting as she went “Hey Silas, wait up,” barrelling out she was in time to stop him, immediately she shrank back a little on seeing how haggard he looked and was about to ask if he was ok when he muttered something about an abondened research facilitiy, not only did that spark interest, interest that was backed by visions of such a place, but it was also an opportunity to get some much needed air, she’d been cooped up in her room all day, though she’d thrown back the heavy, drapes and opened the windows to let in some air it still hadn’t been enough. He’d agreed to her tagging along, with the agreement that she was as quiet as a mouse and didn’t keep badgering him with countless questions, the smile that had lit up her face was ecstatic and she’d nearly, very nearly, hugged Silas in thanks, but he’d already started stalking off, not even giving her chance to grab anything to take along with her, for his pace was far greater than her own, she had to run to keep up at the best of times and so she’d left with only old trainers on her feet, no socks, denim jeans and a brown strappy top, oh and of course the pendant about her neck, that never left her skin now. She’d developed a habit when nervous, which was quite often these days, to fiercely grab a hold of it, clutching tightly for it was somehow comforting to her. Now she gave it the briefest of fleeting touches as she ran to keep pace with Silas’ long strides, by the time they reached the abandoned research facility she was completely out of breath and had barely registered which way they had come so intent had she been on just staying in touch with him, and trying unsuccessfully to start conversation with him, she’d realised she couldn’t walk and talk to him at the same time, it required much bigger lungs than she had. Then again he didn’t seem to be walking nearly as fast as usual, either she was getting fitter, which was about time given the amount of exercise she was doing, more than ever in her life, or there was something up with Silas, she hoped it was the former.

On arriving at the research facility, walking through the desolate grounds to the large, multi-storied tower of labs before them, Eve’s excitement and anticipation had doubled and she’d bounded, in a near dog like fashion, to peer through a grimy window into the facility; seeing what she’d expected; it liked like any other science lab, even like back at university, to her inexperienced eye; science had never been her strong point. Smiling sweetly on stepping to the door she’d gestured for Silas to do the honours and open the large, steel doors, that had been left slightly ajar, definitely abandoned then, anyone who’d lived, or rather worked here had long since moved on, even the sleek automatic doors were clearly broken, following Silas through the shattered entrance she was hit by an overpowering avalanche of smells, her nose couldn’t decipher what came from where but combined it was quite horrendous, “I think I might throw up,” she muttered, seeing Silas’ look of alarm she added hurriedly with a grin, “I’m not that weak stomached.” Then she’d seen the mutilated body sprawled haphazardly across what would once have been the first information desk for visitors to the labs, what Eve could only describe as gross guts were everywhere, dried blood spattered all over the desk, Eve instantly felt queasy, throwing up in the nearest bin, retching loudly their element of stealth was completely lost, but Eve was too busy throwing up the contents of her tea; Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, carrots, peas and of course gravy, to really care about that.

“Ok, maybe I am weak stomached.” She reiterated wiping flecks of sickly bile from about her mouth and feeling particularly disgusting, luckily she wouldn’t be sick again as she couldn’t be, having got rid of everything then. Now looking a little pale Eve didn’t need to admit she was scared for it to be blatently obvious that she was, quickly she fell into step with Silas, peering at his expression which she could have sworn was almost amused, so her throwing up was funny then? Nice. Walking on in silence they moved swiftly, but cautiously along a corridor to their following the signs for Genetic Research Labs, Eve was pleased to see no more gruesome stuff spattered about the walls of the corridors that they swept along, but as they entered the dimly lit labs she had to ask, “So what are we doing here then?” She’d asked the question several times enroute but hadn’t yet received an answer, it was then that Silas stumbled and had to support himself against a table strewn with all sorts of, what was probably now archaic scientific equipment, if she’d had the chance to look a little closer even she, inexperienced and oblivious to all things scientific as she was, would have realised that this was in fact beyond current notions of high tech equipment. Eve was in fact too busy worrying about Silas, “are you alright?” She blurted out automatically, placing a slim hand upon his shoulder and squeezing for reassurance, she expected it to be roughly shaken off and so wasn’t disappointed as he half ordered that they continue, opening her mouth to protest she was too late as he moved off further into the large labs that they were now inside, there were many desks, of all shapes and sizes with much equipment coated with layers of dust and grime spread all over them. But the room’s focal point was a large machine in the middle, which could easily fit a person inside, Eve had no idea what it was, if she were forced to hazard a guess she’d have said an MRI scanner and she wasn’t that far from the truth. But she had more important things to worry herself over; Silas’ health, he wasn’t telling her something, so she got ahead of Silas jabbed him once in the ribs to halt his advance and placed her hands firmly upon her hips, looking shrewdly at him as she spoke in her best authoratitive tone; “there’s obviously something wrong, I mean don’t tell me you’re feeling queasy after seeing that…that whatever it was, cause you must have seen much worse…” she trailed off then regathered herself asking the simple question, “are you ok Silas?” She looked innocently at him, silently imploring him he tell her the truth.

It was then that an almighty crash was heard from above, reverberating about the building over and over as if a large glass chandelier had fallen, or all the windows on the floor above had been blown out at once. Shrieking and ducking instinctively Eve near fell to the ground crying out, “what the hell was that?” Maybe she was better off not knowing.

[Silas Driscoll]

It was an eerie night to say the least, something just did not feel right in the air and no matter how hard he tried, he could not shake this feeling. Part of him felt like he was being watched by someone or something and the air around him was so thick, he was sure he would find it difficult to breath if he could. Beads of sweat were gathering on his head, though he put that down to lack of blood. Because a Vampire was technically dead, their blood cells no longer could make more of themselves and so a Vampire had to drink blood to keep their blood thick and healthy. It was a troublesome task sometimes and most younglings often forgot, to which Silas lost his head and began yelling at them. Of course, Silas himself has not been drinking much blood either. Less than what he should have anyway and it was taking a serious strain on him too. He was beginning to look frail and less in control than he usually did. As he stood, staring out of his window in the Manor, the moonlight was shining down hard, or at least to him it was, Silas’ senses were all out and he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes focused. He could see the trees of the nearby forest swaying gently in the night breeze and could hear the sounds of the town from not too far off, though they were considerably duller than they would have been, if he had bee completely up on his game. Eyes narrowed, he spun on his heel, picking up his coat and slipping it on before grabbing his sword and sliding it into the sheath. Once he was ready he walked the length of his room and opened the door, closing it behind him. Taking a look up and down the corridor in the Manor, Silas gave a smile, it was still early into the night and most of the Vampires weren’t awake yet. With a sigh, a hand went protectively to his sword, the only bit of comfort the elder Vampire seemed to have right now. You could tell his senses were slipping as he was usually much more careful than he was being right now. He didn’t even think for a moment that Eve may be awake, and didn’t stop to use his senses to find out either, though, once he had walked past her door and gotten to the staircase, only when he heard a yell for him to wait did he realise she was awake. He stopped, for a moment to allow Eve to catch up, if it was any other time, Silas would have argued with her to go back, but if he was honest he didn’t have the strength to. He only hoped there were no Lycans out tonight as he didn’t think he could fend them off too well. Once she caught up, Silas caught the gleam from the moonlight reflected off the pendant she wearing, instinctively, his hand went to his belt, where the pendant used to reside, though, covering himself, he turned on his heal and began walking once more.

The research facility used to be thriving, he remembered the times it was still operational, the walls used to gleam in the moonlight, a pale white. It used to be a well kept building shrieking governments secrets in the hope that someone would find them eventually. Of course, it was now over 100 years since this research facility was abandoned, and it was cleaned out good style by the government in hopes of covering their tracks Silas would have thought, but if there was even the smallest thing to find, Silas would definatly find it. Pulling open the door took from Silas what little strength he had left. Of course he kept going, despite the fact now, he was getting weaker by the second. The main entrance to the lab, it was a wonder this was left like this. Still, there were many rumours surrounding the place that the people of the town didn’t bother coming here. Once through the door, a different smell of things his him all at once, but one that was unmistakeable was the smell of blood. Walking over to the slashed up mangled body, Silas examined it. “He’s been dead for almost a year.” He said, mainly to himself really but there was no doubt Eve would have heard it. Judging by the body, Silas would have placed him no more than nineteen years old. “Barely old enough to be a man, nobody should die in a place like this.” He mumbled and made a mental note to come back for him and give him some form of burial. He walked over to Eve, who was throwing up in a bin, she had better get used to this if she was becoming a part of his world, she would see a lot more than just this, and no doubt eventually be a cause of some of it. He rubbed her back for her to help her get rid of the contents of her stomach, before picking up a sheet which too, was bloodstained and put it over the young mans body. Then pulling Eve up, the two of them began to walk through the lab once more. “Its alright to be weak stomached,” Silas said, “Most humans are.” Though, back when Silas was Human, he wasn’t weak stomached but he wasn’t allowed to be due to being in the army. Silas had been killing people for years. Well one could say he was a pro at it by now.

The labs were different to the main hall, pushing open the doors as he stepped inside and smelt many chemicals, the comined smell made Silas feel a bit more light-headed than usual, only just hearing the question he simply answered, “Research.” Holding onto the side of a table, his eyes closed, his head was buzzing and his legs didn’t feel like they could hold his weight very well. Nodding at Eve he gave her a smile, he knew that him being a vampire still freaked her out, so telling her he hadn’t drank any blood for a while was a sure way to freak her out just that little bit more and Silas didn’t want to do that. “Im fine. Just got a bit of a headache.” He lied as she placed her hand on his shoulder, to which Silas stood roughly and suggested they get going. The two of them entered yet another lab, but that was no MRI scanner. Silas went over to it, running a hand over the metallic surface, “That’s not metal.” Silas said as he felt something else. It feels like, “A mix of skin and leather.” Silas spoke in a dry tone. It had a sheen which could make you think it was metal, but when feeling it, it felt completely different, of course his investigation was cut short once Eve began to harass him over something as trivial as his health. Once you’d lived as long as he had, you began to appreciate feelings, even the ones which made you feel like rubbish. “Body?” Silas offered as he folded his arms and listened to Eve’s mini-rant. “Been the cause of much worse too, but right now that does not matter.” He spoke dryly and in his usual cold tone, but his voice sounded also, extremely thick and tired. “You can badger me all you like about such trivial things when we get back to the manor, but right now we have to--”

His words were cut short by a crash overhead, quickly grabbing Eve, he hid her behind a table. Putting a finger over his mouth in a ‘be quiet’ sort of way. He could hear shuffling above him, and he could smell, distinctively, the foul smell of Lycan fur, there was about six of them Silas fathomed, but he couldn’t trust his senses right now since they were out of sync. Of course, Eve’s shriek might have given away their current position, so saying in a low tone, “We have to get out of this room. Make for the main room.” Hearing the Lycans on the move above them, he knew they didn’t have much time, “Go.” Silas ordered, staying directly behind Eve as they headed out of the Main Lab and into the welcome hall. Of course, as stealthy as Silas once was, he was no more. Feeling claws sink into his ankle, Silas gave a howl, unsheathing his blade he struck the Lycan in the throat, killing it dead but more were on the way. Throwing a gun to Eve, he looked at her sadly, “I hope you know how to use one of those,” Then adding, “Try not to hit me.” As he tried to get to his feet, another one came jumping at him, this is where Silas’ strength failed as the Lycan took him down with surprising ease. This was number two, the others, or so Silas had thought, had left the Lab and gone back to the manor. Though, he could be wrong.