Chapter One Part Two

The lights dimmed. Breath came, short and sharp. The darkness beckoned. Pressure constricted her mind. The stone tiles shifted below her feet. Reaching out, her fingers grasped at air. Her last thought was that she was falling, then the darkness swallowed her.

“Jessica,” a gentle pressure smothered her hand. It was warm. “You collapsed.” She could feel the rich timber of his voice resonating deep inside her body.Struggling to focus on the face hovering above her, her body fell limp. Floating in a dark sea, safe, suspended in a gentle heat.

“I mean you no harm.” He spoke directly to her mind, his eyes flashing momentarily darker. They settled to a rich brown colour as he watched her face.

Ridiculous her mind screamed as she struggled to make her legs function. Panic raced through her. Wave after wave of dark energy washed over her, leaving soft tendrils of power coiling through her mind. She was lost. Only the hardness of his chest seemed to anchor her thoughts; the fabric of his shirt a flimsy barrier between her and the muscles tensed with the effort of holding her. The way his arms wrapped themselves around her like living marble; carved and angular and radiating with reassuring heat.

"No." She sprang away from him, collapsing to her knees.

“Alexander.” Ryland’s voice broke through her panic. She turned towards the Priest’s voice but her head swam and she clutched her hands against her skull. “Stand away from her.” The words were spoken quietly but the command was clear. The thing moved away and she sat gasping for breath.

“I’m sorry Jessica,” Ryland knelt so his eyes were level with hers. His face creased with worry, he held a hand out to help her stand. “Alex can’t resist his impulses to protect.”

“Is that what you call it,” she breathed, “protecting?" You’re a fool Joshua. Since when did a halfbreed ever take orders from a human?”

“Since we have a mutual interest,” the vampire took a step towards her. “You really should learn to control the rate that you absorb energy Jessica.” He gave her a dark look. Pain seared through her mind.

“See,” he said  his eyes tightening.

“Call it self preservation,” she said trying to stand. The touch of the creature’s sight needled across her body. She resisted the urge to pull her long coat more tightly around her. Staggering to her feet she moved to rest her palms against the smooth stone of the wall. The coldness helped. She could feel her mind clearing and her strength returning.

“Shall we,” she said to Ryland as she straightened her shoulders and headed for the vestry door. She didn’t need to look to feel the vampire move. “Without your companion.”

“Jessica,” the Priest protested.

“I think you will find that I call the shots,” the Vampire said striding past her. Energy surged and cracked in the disturbed air. She caught her breath in an attempt to contain the pain that blinded her for a moment.  He turned to glare at her. “You have already made a spectacle of yourself, and" in a tone that implied something infinitely worse "you have drawn attention to me.”

“Really. To think a human drawing attention to a vampire.”

The vampire’s eyes narrowed “My name is Alex.” 

“Oh, that’s right. Vampire sensibility. Ok halfbreed then.” The vampire sprang at her, stopping a breath from her face.

“Just Alex,” he hissed.

The power of him slammed into her chest, knocking the air from her lungs.

“Alex, please,” Ryland said rushing to Jess’ elbow. “Jess is very receptive to your kind.”

The vampire straightened. A slow smile formed on his lips.  “Obviously,” he said, inclining his head to appraise her.


Anger and humiliation burnt inside her. "Don't flatter yourself. I am just out of practise,"

The vampires eyebrow curved into his hair.

"Perhaps,"

"What's that supposed to mean."

He shrugged, "just that."

"Come sit down," Ryland said guiding her with her elbow toward the vestry door.

Chapter One Part One

She took a deep composing breath and levelled her eyes. “For Daniel,” she said as she twisted the ring and shoved against the heavy door.

Warmth and light met her. The sound of the choir lifted and pearled into the great beamed ceiling. She recoiled from the pain of the memory. It all seemed so long ago; another life. A life she had rejected and yet, here she was looking for her old Master. She needed the best in the business and that meant Father Ryland. No other would do; priests with half beliefs that lacked conviction. Exorcism was not something for the faint hearted; she had seen her fair share.

She leant her back against the hard wood of the door until it closed behind her. The wind died suddenly. The snowflakes flurried and settled around her feet.

Instinct sent her towards the pulpit. On the simple wooden alter a mass of candles flickered in the half darkness. Before them knelt a white haired man in grey trousers and matching shirt. He didn’t need to turn round for her to recognise the stooping shoulders and frail frame that belonged to Joshua Ryland. He rose stiffly his knotted fingers touching the small of his back for a moment.

“Jessica,” he said without turning. “It’s been a long time.” His voice was light, he was smiling to himself. She felt a wave of anger. The whole, ‘I knew you would return’ speech was so condescending. Flushed with annoyance she brought her mind back to Daniel and focused on slowing her heart in her chest.

“Let’s cut the pleasantries," she said with conviction.

The priest turned his watery blue eyes fixing on her face. He was still smiling. “Always in such a rush. Would you like a coffee, tea perhaps?" He waited for her answer before sighing. "If my memory serves me, it was always coffee, black and strong.” He emphasized her preferences with a gentle nod and inclined his head towards the vestry door.

She didn’t move.

The man smiled gently. “Jessica, I doubt that you want the people here,” he gestured to the choir dressed in their white and blue gowns, “to hear what you have to say.”

She lost the end of his sentence. Ryland's voice drifted around her but her focus was scanning the dark shadows between the arches that ran the length of the church. Something was wrong she could feel it. Static prickled her mind. A sensation she had not felt for years, not since she had left the Commission. Narrowing her eyes into the dark shadows she took a step away from the Priest. Then the smell of grass after the rain had fallen overwhelmed her. She span to meet the priests eyes.

“Since when was one of the half breeds allowed to enter the house of God?”

The priest winced perceptibly. “Always such prejudice,” he clicked his tongue softly and shook his head. “You would be wise to remember their origin in Heaven.”

“And Hell,” she finished for him. "Tell me you didn’t agree to the deal? You tell me Joshua,” she warned.

The choir had stopped singing and the anger in her voice rang out in the silence. She cringed. The old man smiled softly.

“Shall we,” he said holding his hand out in the direction of the vestry. Her head tightened and the static surged as the vampire moved closer. The skin across her back tightened. What had Joshua done? What madness?

Glancing behind her she saw the dark shadow of the thing as it edged closer. She bit her bottom lip against the growing fear.

“You come here because of Daniel?" The voice was clear and yet she knew no words had been spoken. She could feel its presence like dark light, flickering around the edges of her mind.

Touching her temple at the sharp slither of pain she looked towards Joshua's face. He was still smiling innocently, “after you,” he said, stepping aside to let her pass.

She stood watching the shadow of the profanity as it took the solid form of a figure. The dark light in its eyes glowed, pulsed and then it stepped into the candle light.

Damn the angel blood in the things. It made them so beautiful, so dangerous and yet so exquisitely perfect.