Callie - An Enchantress Novel - Book 1

Chapter 19

John sat on the cold, stone steps outside the only place that would give him shelter for the night. He'd been on the run since he'd spotted two men following him from the ferry port in Stranraer. He managed to lose sight of them at one point by slipping out the back door of the Central Café but somehow they had picked up his trail again by the time he'd hitch-hiked to Gretna.

Their car followed the lorry he stowed away on, all the way to Uxbridge, where he persuaded the driver that the car was really following the lorry. The driver had made enough of a distraction to allow him to slip away again. He had been living on the streets since then, begging for scraps from the kitchens of some of the local restaurants. Competition for any crust was so great that many a day he went without.

An old man pulled a knife on him over a slice of pizza. Luckily for John, he'd been chased off before he did too much damage. But he lost the memory stick. Sometime during the scuffle it had fallen from his pocket and he'd been unable to find it when he'd returned to the alleyway.

Looking down at his bandaged hand, he shook his head in disbelief at what had become of his life, at his stupidity for thinking he could sell a story like that to the press. Every one of the papers he'd gone to had laughed at him and told him they didn't cover publicity stunts. They'd thought he was promoting some big vampire movie.

"Now I don't even have the proof anymore," he finished recounting the tale of his sorry existence to Father Jacob, the priest who had loaned him a jacket and allowed him to camp down on the storeroom floor at the back of the church.

"From what I understand of this Centre you talk of, they do a lot of good for the community, yes?"

"They're vampires. Leeches that suck the life out of people. How can you say that's good for the community?" John snorted.

"Look at the bigger picture, beyond what you think you saw one of them do. They give homeless people, like you, a roof over their heads. They feed and clothe them; help them to find work and support themselves if they decide to leave the Centre. They provide shelter and education for children without guardians. And what do they ask in return? A mere pint of your blood as payment, something your body easily produces. You probably lost more than that last night from the wound on your hand. You said yourself they do not hurt you when they do this so what is the problem?"

"Father, you of all people should know they are the spawn of Satan, evil creatures who walk the night killing randomly and making more of their own kind. If they are allowed to continue they'll take over the world and make us all slaves." John protested with frustration.

"Son, I see victims of man's own sins every day. I listen to confessions of murderers, rapists, child molesters, thieves and the like at every one of the services I hold. I have witnessed first-hand, the atrocities of the Second World War, when Hitler declared that the Jews be wiped from the face of the Earth because they had different religious beliefs. Thousands were murdered under his command.

"Think about these vampires and what you have personally witnessed them do, not as what the horror movie makers will have you believe. Just think about it a little, I know you will see I am right," Father Jacob argued. He placed a hand on John's shoulder and squeezed gently. "It is cold tonight and these old bones ache, come join me in the vestry kitchen for some supper and warm up."

"I'll be in soon, Father, thank you. I just need a moment."

"Close the door after you then." Father Jacob left him to mull over his words with the hope that the boy would see sense.

Jacob's father, David, had been turned during the war after Hitler's men had invaded his village and stolen everyone from their beds. They shot all who opposed and herded the rest into trucks. Harold had found Jacob bleeding and cradling the near-dead body of his father. Feeding his father life from his own vein, Harold had given David a chance to live. At first, he had sought revenge against the monsters that had killed his family, friends and pillaged his village, but in later years Jacob had renewed his faith and in a way helped to make a change in his own little corner of the world. So now he aided vampires where could and he liked the idea of the Centre. It would be beneficial to both communities. "I will run it by David and see what he thinks," he mumbled to himself on his way in through the heavy doors at the front of the church in search of his dad.

John knew what Father Jacob said made sense but he was having trouble getting the idea of vampires being anything but evil from his mind. He stood and stretched, opening his mouth in a wide yawn and turned to follow the old man into the warmth.