Darkest Night

Accusations which were complete bullshit.

In an ideal world, he would have made her Security Officer, and done so without the slightest hesitation; his job was to ensure that the vital roles inside Blacklight were filled by the best people, and Kate was simply that good. But the world was far from ideal, and it would have been an endless distraction that he, and Kate, did not need.

Especially not now, he thought. Not if Larissa really is gone.

The wall screen opposite his desk lit up as a loud tone rang out of the speakers, displaying an INCOMING CALL message. He read Angela Darcy’s name in the window and clicked ACCEPT.

“Sir?” asked the Security Officer.

“I’m here, Captain Darcy,” he replied. “What is it?”

“I need you to go online, sir. Right now.”

Turner frowned, and opened a browser window. “What site?” he asked.

“Any of them, sir,” said Angela.

The Director’s frown deepened. “Stay on the line,” he said, and typed the address for BBC News into the search bar. The site loaded, and a thick black BREAKING NEWS headline filled the screen, twelve words that stopped the breath in his lungs.

VIDEO MESSAGE SHOWS VAMPIRE CLAIMING TO BE DRACULA, ISSUES WARNING TO HUMANITY

Turner clicked on the headline. The page shifted to an article that was only two paragraphs long, with More to follow beneath them, but he paid the words no attention; his eye was drawn instantly to the video embedded at the top of the page. The rectangular box was black, with the words A MESSAGE at its centre. With a hand that had begun to almost imperceptibly tremble, Turner clicked PLAY.

The words faded away, replaced by a dimly lit shot of a seated figure. Turner felt his stomach lurch. Little more than the figure’s face was visible, but that was more than enough; the pale skin, the narrow features, the piercing eyes, the moustache and the long hair were instantly, awfully recognisable.

Dracula.

“Citizens of the world,” said the first vampire, his voice low and smooth. “I am Dracula, and I bring glad tidings for you all. You shall have the privilege of witnessing my rise, which is now at hand. It cannot be stopped, nor given pause. It is certain. It is as inevitable as the setting of the sun. Those of you who kneel may find me merciful. Those of you who oppose me will die. In time, I will speak again.”

The footage returned to black, before two words appeared that chilled Turner to his core; he had seen them so many times, in photographs and grainy phone footage, on walls and pavements across the country.

Turner let out a long, deep breath.

“Are you still there, Angela?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” said the Security Officer.

“Get the Intelligence Division on this immediately,” he said. “Every single frame. I want them to find something that tells us where Dracula is. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where did it first appear? The video?”

“Everywhere, sir,” said Angela. “It was posted from hundreds of different accounts on hundreds of sites at exactly the same time, twelve minutes ago, and it’s spreading faster than Surveillance can track it.”

“Assume I don’t understand the mechanics of online distribution,” said Turner. “Could that have been one person scheduling the release under aliases, or is it hundreds of people acting at the same time?”

“It could have been either, sir,” said the Security Officer. “It was highly organised, whichever it was.”

“Clearly,” he said. “Which makes me wonder what else is being planned that we don’t know about.”

“Yes, sir,” said Angela. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

“In terms of the Department, nothing yet,” he replied. “I don’t want to issue new orders or change the SOPs until we have more information. But I want you to stay in close contact with the police and the Intelligence Services. The public are already scared and paranoid, and this is only going to make things worse.”

“Understood, sir.”

“All right,” said Turner. “Message everyone in the Loop, then play the video on every screen. Let’s make sure everyone sees it and try to move past it as quickly as possible. Out.”

He reached out and clicked END CALL. There was a low beep as the connection was severed, then silence.

Jamie heard Kate shout for him to wait as he rocketed along the Level B corridor, but ignored her.

He banked to the right, past the metal doors of the lift, and crashed through the door that accessed the emergency staircase, a shaft of concrete and metal that descended all the way to the very bottom of the Loop. The door was ripped off its hinges and clattered to the ground, but Jamie didn’t pause; he spun up over the metal banister and shot down the shaft between the spiralling stairs like a bullet from a gun.

Concrete staircases and doors marked with letters flew past in a blur as the distant ground rose up to meet him. At the very last moment, the point at which it seemed that he must surely crash into the unforgiving concrete, Jamie pivoted in the air and slowed his descent, his arms wide, his eyes blazing. He landed silently in front of a door marked with an H and hauled it open.

He emerged in front of the airlock that controlled access to the long supernatural cellblock. He pressed his ID card against the panel beside the airlock door and waited as it slid slowly open. As the billowing cloud of gas passed over him and the inner door opened, he allowed a brief smile to rise on to his face; part of him had suspected that Kate would have already disabled his access, given that there had been no doubt where he was going.

Jamie exited the airlock, took a brief moment to compose himself, and strode towards his destination; the fourth cell on the right, the home of Valentin Rusmanov. Kate’s voice shouted in his head as he approached the ultraviolet wall that enclosed it, pleading with him to stay calm, to not do anything stupid, but he barely heard it over the torrent of furious panic that was roaring through him.

What did you do, you old monster? What did you say to her?

He stopped in front of the purple barrier and looked into the cell. Valentin Rusmanov was sitting in a chair near the back of the room, his legs crossed at the ankles, a paperback book in his hands. He was looking directly at Jamie.

“Lieutenant Carpenter,” said the old vampire. “What an entirely expected surprise. How are you?”

“What did you say to her?” growled Jamie. “Tell me right now.”

Valentin got slowly to his feet, stretched his long arms above his head, and regarded him with a wide smile.

“I assume you are referring to Miss Kinley,” he said. “In which case, I’m sorry to have to disappoint you. I don’t disclose the content of private conversations.”

Jamie took a step forward, his eyes flaming red. “What did you do?”

“I did nothing but listen, and talk,” said Valentin. “I assume she has left this charming facility?”

“You know she has,” said Jamie.

“Actually, I didn’t,” said Valentin. “Might I enquire as to why you are so clearly angry with me?”

“Why?” asked Jamie, his voice a low rumble of thunder. “Why the hell do you think? She came down here to talk to you and twenty minutes later she disappeared halfway around the world. That’s why.”

“I see,” said Valentin. “You have my sympathies, as I have no doubt you will miss her greatly. But if you are blaming me for her departure, then I’m afraid you are somewhat overestimating my influence. I would suggest you consider why Miss Kinley might have wanted to leave, why she might not have been entirely happy with the status quo. I suspect that will be a more productive use of your time.”

“Everyone thought you’d changed,” said Jamie. “You’ve been down here for months like a rat in a cage, telling us to believe you, telling us that you’re on our side, but you’re not, are you? You don’t give a shit about anyone apart from yourself.”

“I think Miss Kinley would disagree with that assessment,” said Valentin. “Maybe you should ask her. If you ever see her again, that is.”

The old vampire’s words cut through Jamie like a scalpel. He stared at Valentin, hatred pumping through his veins, filling his body with fire.

“You disgust me,” he growled. “I thought you were better than this. I trusted you.”

Valentin’s smile returned. “Silly boy,” he said.

The fire inside Jamie flickered and died, replaced by a misery so overwhelming it almost drove him to his knees. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, trying to squeeze shut the chasm of loss that had yawned open in his stomach, to push it closed and down and away.

“Jamie.”

He didn’t move; he focused only on the pain, on the grief that was threatening to paralyse him.

“Jamie. Look at me.”

He took a deep breath, raised his head, and opened his eyes. Valentin was standing directly in front of him, the ultraviolet barrier all that separated them.

“What?” he managed.

“I’m not going to tell you what Larissa and I discussed,” said Valentin, his tone softer, kinder than it had been. “It was a private conversation, and it’s none of your business, to put it bluntly. But if you think I manipulated her in some way, then I don’t think you know her very well at all. And if you think this is all about you, then I would suggest you need to get your ego under control. There are things that happen in this world that have nothing to do with you.”

“Did you tell her to leave?” asked Jamie, his voice on the verge of cracking. “Just answer me that. Did you tell her to go?”

“I won’t tell you what was said, Jamie, no matter how many times you ask.”

“I know you have a house in New York,” he said. “Larissa’s chip stopped transmitting over the Atlantic. Is that where she is? Did you send her there?”

“Please, Jamie,” said Valentin. “This desperation is undignified. The Security Officer has the addresses of all of my residences, including the house in Manhattan. I’m sure that will be the first place they look for her.”

“You talked to Angela about this?” asked Jamie. “She knew Larissa was gone?”

Valentin nodded. “We spoke about fifteen minutes ago. Do you know what her answer was when I asked her why she was so keen to find Miss Kinley?”

“No,” said Jamie. “What did Angela say?”

“Her exact words were, ‘She’s our most powerful weapon.’”

“So what?”

Valentin smiled softly. “So maybe she didn’t want to be,” he said.

Jamie grimaced; it felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He stared silently at the old vampire for a long, empty moment, then turned away without a word and walked back down the cellblock.

He stood in the airlock, his shoulders slumped, his head lowered, his eyes closed. When the gas cleared, the outer door slid open, and he stepped out. He stood still, trying to compose himself, to slow his racing mind and think, think about what he should do now. In front of him, the metal doors of the lift parted silently and Kate appeared, her eyes wide with worry.

“Jamie?” she said. “Are you all right?”

He shook his lowered head.

“Jamie, look at me,” she said, stepping forward and taking hold of his shoulders. He did so, and saw concern in her eyes, saw clear, bright love. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” he said. “He wouldn’t tell me what he said to her. Wouldn’t tell me where she is. He knows, though. I know he does.”

Kate winced. “I’m sorry, Jamie,” she said.

He forced a tiny smile. “Everyone’s sorry. Me most of all.”

“You can’t make this all about you,” said Kate, her tone suddenly strict and forceful. “She’s a grown woman, not a petulant kid. She wouldn’t leave the country just because the two of you had a fight.”

“That’s how it feels,” said Jamie.

“I’m sure it does,” said Kate. “But you know how she’s been since she got back from Nevada. You know she hasn’t been happy with Blacklight, with what she was expected to do. She had doubts about it all, Jamie, serious moral objections to this whole thing. Maybe they got too much for her.”

“Maybe,” he said, as a lump rose into his throat. “But what if our relationship was one of the things that she thought it was worth sticking around for? What if it was why she was still here and I took it away from her?”

Kate stared at him, and said nothing.

“She’s gone,” he said. “What if she doesn’t come back, Kate? Where does that leave us? Where does it leave me?”

Kate stepped forward and wrapped her arms round him. Jamie let his head rest on her shoulder, but as he allowed his eyes to close he was acutely aware that she had not answered his questions.

A deafening crackle of static burst out of the speakers set along the corridor walls; the two friends sprang apart as Angela Darcy’s amplified voice replaced it.

“This is a Priority 1 announcement,” said the Security Officer. “Please direct your attention to the nearest screen.”

The Level H atrium was one of the few places in the entire Loop that didn’t contain a single wall screen. Jamie silently screamed at the Department’s apparent refusal to allow him even a single uninterrupted minute to himself, and pulled his console from his belt. He accessed the Blacklight network as Kate stood beside him and peered down at the screen, the look on her face suggesting that she was asking herself the same question that was filling his own mind.

What now? For the love of God, what now?

CIVILIAN MEDIA EXTRACT

Ref: 399252/F

Source: The Manchester Post

Date: 2nd May

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PM CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF BLACKLIGHT

John Ballance, Political Editor, Westminster

In a specially convened session of the House of Commons yesterday afternoon, the Prime Minister confirmed to packed benches that the secret organisation commonly referred to in the press as Blacklight is real, and enjoys his “full faith and confidence”.

Reading from a prepared statement, the Prime Minister confirmed that the clandestine unit is officially named Department 19, and that its operation is overseen directly by his office and the senior hierarchy of the Ministry of Defence, placing it in a similar position to the SAS and SBS – a military organisation with the same levels of secrecy as the Intelligence Services.

Calls by backbenchers for Department 19 to be subject to greater transparency and accountability were given short shrift by the Prime Minister, who stated that the organisation must be allowed to continue unheeded with its remit of protecting the public from threats relating to the supernatural.

The Leader of the Opposition criticised the Prime Minister’s statement, claiming that “it raised more questions than it answered”, while a senior government backbencher was quoted by the BBC as saying that, in his opinion, “a secret military organisation with an all-too-real licence to kill conducting operations against British citizens is incompatible with a civilised democracy”.

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Ref: 401132/B

Source: The London Record

Date: 30th May

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VAMPIRES PETITION EUROPEAN BODIES FOR MINORITY STATUS, CRIMINAL CHARGES

Julian Dawes, Senior Political Correspondent, Strasbourg

A petition was last night presented to the European Court of Human Rights that seeks to have ‘vampire’ officially recognised as an ethnic minority group. The legal status of the supernatural has been widely debated in recent weeks, following an announcement by the G8 countries in which they confirmed their position that vampires retain the nationalities they held before they were turned, along with any restrictions those nationalities may entail.

A parallel petition to the International Criminal Court at The Hague requested that Department 19 (UK), National Security Division 9 (USA), and similar organisations around the world be investigated for possible charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Major Paul Turner (UK), General Robert Allen (USA), and Colonel Aleksandr Ovechkin (Russia) were among those named in the petition, although the identities of individuals who work or have worked for any of the listed organisations have never been publicly confirmed.

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Ref: 403019/C

Source: The New York Register

Date: 25th June

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BEIJING BREAKS SILENCE – ADMITS VAMPIRES ARE REAL

Alan Horner, International Affairs Correspondent, New York

The Chinese government in Beijing today issued a statement formally recognising the existence of vampires and reassuring Chinese citizens that their safety remains the regime’s highest priority. The statement leaves North Korea as the only nation not to have officially recognised the existence of the supernatural.

The statement, which had been widely expected after a draft document leaked online over the weekend, stopped short of acknowledging the existence of PBS6, heavily rumoured to be the Chinese equivalent of the USA’s NS9. Chinese citizens were urged to report all incidents of a supernatural nature to the police.

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Ref: 405102/F

Source: www.newsonline.co.uk

Date: 19th July

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EXCLUSIVE! THE SSL FOUNDERS SPEAK OUT IN THEIR ONLY INTERVIEW

The internet has been buzzing for the last twenty-four hours, following the announcement of the formation of the Supernatural Survivors League, which the mainstream media is already referring to as the Samaritans for the supernatural.

Much of that buzz has been about the two men who founded the organisation, Greg Browning and Pete Randall. Why, you ask? Because both men were already notorious for their rumoured involvement in Kevin McKenna’s now infamous posthumous article, widely considered to have been the first crack in the wall of secrecy surrounding the existence of the supernatural.

As regular visitors to this site will be aware, our Features Editor Dan Bennett has shown great bravery in writing about the impact of the supernatural on his own family, in particular his sister Catherine, who is still missing after being attacked by a vampire two years ago in Melbourne. As a result, it came as no surprise to us that Randall and Browning chose to give their ONLY interview to Dan. We proudly present their conversation in full, unedited and unexpurgated.

DB: Pete, Greg. Thanks for doing this. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

PR: Cheers, Dan. And I’d just like to say how sorry we both are for your loss.

GB: Absolutely.

DB: Thank you. And I guess that’s as good a place to start as any. Can you tell me how your personal experiences with the supernatural led to the founding of SSL?

GB: Sure. It involves telling you something that we’ve thought long and hard about whether we should tell anyone, but here goes. Approximately nine months ago, my son Matt, and Pete’s daughter Kate, were brainwashed by the group that calls itself Blacklight, and coerced into joining them. So, for starters, that’s why SSL is different from—

DB: Hang on. I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you saying that you both have children who are serving members of Blacklight?

PR: That’s right.

DB: How do you know that? My understanding is that Blacklight Operators aren’t allowed to tell anyone what they do.

GB: We believe that’s the case.

DB: So how do you know?

PR: It’s a long story, Dan. Greg and I first met online, when neither of us was in a very good place. I’m a survivor of the vampire attack on Lindisfarne, and at the time I was grieving for Kate. She went missing during the attack, and the police told me to assume she was dead. I watched them cover it all up and was ordered never to talk about what had happened. So I started searching for other people who were in the same boat as me, and I met Greg on a forum for people who’d survived vampire encounters. Everyone on there was nervous, paranoid even, but it was instantly clear to me that some of them had seen the same things I had. And I knew I wasn’t alone.

GB: I was grieving too, although I didn’t know whether Matt was alive or dead. I’m still not supposed to talk about any of it, even now, but I don’t give a shit any more. A vampire fell out of the sky into my garden, and Blacklight stormed our house, pointed guns at my family, brought scientists in protective suits to collect the vamp. My son got hurt, badly hurt, and they took him with them. Didn’t say anything to us, didn’t tell us where they were taking him. They just packed him into one of their helicopters and took off.

DB: That’s incredible. I mean, that’s kidnapping, surely? It’s hard to believe something like that can happen in a supposedly civilised country.

GB: Supposedly is right. Anyway. Afterwards, my life fell apart. Matt’s mother and I, we’d had some problems, and his disappearance, and what we’d seen, just brought them all to a head, and she left me. Then one day, completely out of the blue, Matt came back. He couldn’t tell me where he’d been, but he was safe, and he was home, and that was all that mattered to me. But two days later he was gone again, for good this time.

DB: Gone where?

GB: Back to them. They’d got into his head while they had him, filled it up with God knows what. They let him go, and he went straight back to them. I know that now.

DB: How come?

PR: We saw them with our own eyes. After what happened last year, in Reading. A Blacklight squad arrested us, and Matt and Kate were part of it. I’m sure they weren’t supposed to let us know it was them, but they did. We saw them, and actually talked to them for a little while. Then their bosses sent us home, and warned us not to tell anyone what we’d seen.

DB: Jesus. OK, so you mentioned Reading. You’re referring to your roles in the publication of Kevin McKenna’s final story?

PR: Right. Ever since Greg and I got to know each other, we’ve looked for ways to make a difference. But we trusted somebody we shouldn’t have, and we made a terrible mistake.

GB: We were misled. Afterwards, we both wondered whether we should just keep our heads down, you know? But neither of us could do it. We’d seen so much. And people needed to know the truth.

PR: I don’t mind admitting that after McKenna’s story came out, I was scared for a long time. Blacklight threatened us with prison when they let us go, and we didn’t know whether we were making things harder for Kate and Matt.

GB: But then Gideon went on TV, and everything changed. We saw a chance to do something.

DB: And you definitely took it. So what exactly are the aims of SSL?

PR: We don’t have aims as such. This isn’t a political movement, it doesn’t have a cause. What we hope to provide is a sympathetic ear for people who have been hurt by the supernatural, directly or indirectly.

GB: And I think our own experiences with Blacklight are what set us apart from the other vampire support groups that are out there—

PR: —although some of them do excellent work—

GB: —right, sure. But SSL is for anyone whose life has been affected by any aspect of the supernatural, including the people who are supposed to protect us from them.

DB: So what can someone who calls SSL expect?

PR: Someone who’ll listen to them. And believe them. And won’t judge them.

GB: I should make it clear that SSL is more than just a helpline. That’s an important part of it, but we also have programmes that will be going live over the next few months that we believe will make a real difference to the public, both humans and vampires. We’re going to be offering safe sources of blood, ultraviolet torches and bulbs for people to protect themselves with. The helpline is just the beginning.

DB: SSL is a registered charity.

PR: Right.

DB: But in your statement you announced that you won’t be taking donations from the public. Why not?

GB: Because we don’t need them. We have a board of directors and a number of private individuals who have been extremely generous in helping us get started. If at some point the financial situation changes, then we’ll look at it. But, for now, we don’t want people’s money. We’d rather they kept it in their pockets.

DB: Let me ask you both a blunt question. Do you hate vampires?

GB: I just told you that we’re going to be running programmes designed to make the lives of vampires easier, so let me be very clear. SSL is absolutely not an anti-vampire group. It’s a victim-support group.

DB: Right. I hear you. But given what you’ve been through, I guess a better way to phrase my question would be: how can you not hate vampires?

PR: Because we don’t believe that they’re inherently evil. Many of them are victims themselves, turned against their will.

DB: So if a vampire wanted to volunteer with SSL, he or she would be welcome?

GB: Absolutely.

DB: What about Blacklight? What are your feelings towards them?

PR: SSL doesn’t believe that a highly armed military unit operating in secrecy is a good thing for the country.

DB: Come on. Get real. What do the two of you really think?

GB: They kidnapped my son and brainwashed him into a bloody stormtrooper. What do you think I think?

DB: I would assume you’re angry with them.

GB: And you’d be right.

DB: So what would you say to those commentators who are calling SSL a personal crusade? Who claim that your motivation for founding it is revenge against Blacklight?

PR: That’s completely ridiculous. As we’ve already said, this is not a lobbying organisation or a pressure group. It’s a way for us to reach out to people whose lives have been touched by darkness and let them know they’re not alone. It’s as simple as that.

DB: And I wish you the very best of luck with it. Thank you both for your time.

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