Page 109 of By the Pint

Calling them ‘The Authorities’ was a misnomer. ‘The Authorities’, the Vampolice, the Assembly of the Undead were one and the same. Nina probably contacted them on an internal scrying line.

There were three of them in the room with us, Assembly members that was, plus Nina. She had escorted us down the little inner corridor, to the other side of the building, and into a separate room which bore the signageINTERROGATION CHAMBER.Though the inside was the furthest thing I’d seen from a police interrogation room on any TV cop drama I may have stumbled upon.

Killian and I sat on a plush velvet couch, sinking into the super-sumptuous cushions. The carpets were antique and immaculate, and on the wall hung oil portraits of important Assembly members and tapestries with glowing gilt threads. Around the room, other couches and armchairs pointed towards a fireplace big enough to camp inside.

And though the space was nothing like the media had portrayed, the actual Vampolice themselves were everything I could have imagined, and then some. They were so stereotypically cop it honestly may have been offensive.

“Can I get you a drink, lads?” said one of the guys. All three were men. This one was tall, had a face made of right-angles, and looked to have been in his forties when he’d been turned. His name was Nikola. He was the good cop, I decided.

This made the other guy, the one sitting with his arms folded and his ankle crossed over his knee, the bad cop. His name, unsurprisingly, was Vlad. He was stocky, moustachioed, and around fifty at the point of turning.

The final guy who stood in the corner wearing all black — black jeans, black hoodie with the hood pulled up, black half mask — was the hacker. Young, both in human years (late teens probably) and vampire years (maybe a few decades). I couldn’t tell for sure, but I wouldn’t risk slipping into his mind to find out. He didn’t have a name. Or at least, they didn’t share it with us. They simply introduced him as The Hacker. Capital letters. Ominous as fuck. Just another cog in the Assembly wheel. His ‘gift’ would have been discovered shortly after turning. At which point he would have been given a choice, join the Assembly and commit to an eternity of servitude. Or be terminated.

Not a choice. No wonder he radiatedpissed-off-with-it-allvibes.

These were the options Casey would face if his mind-blocking muscle memory didn’t kick in.

“Yeah, go on then,” Killian said, smacking his lips together, and bringing me out of my reverie. He seemed to be the only one not avoiding the hacker’s eye.

Nikola handed Killian a can of blood, A neg, and then me one. The same, A neg, yuk. Nina waved him off, Vlad accepted his own, and the hacker went ignored.

Killian cracked open his drink and pulled his feet up onto the sofa, clearly making himself comfortable. Not a care nor worry in the Eight and a Half Kingdoms.

Of course he had nothing to worry about. He wasn’t the one that accidentally turned the love of his life.

“You’re the founder of Blooze,” Good Cop said to me, simultaneously an attempt to disarm me, and genuine awe. “’Ere, Vlad, that’s the founder of Blooze.”

“So it is,” Vlad said, bored. Well, pretending to be.

“Game changer, mate. Love your work. Gotta take the little moments of joy from this un-life, ay?” Nikola said.

I nodded blandly. My mind whirred like an old-school floppy-disc trying to come up with something. A plan. An excuse. A reason why I accidentally turned Casey.

But I had nothing. Only the truth. And it was pretty damning.

I tasted his blood.

He’d tasted mine.

He wanted to be immortal. Had started the application process. Had learned he was dying.

On paper, it looked like the desperate actions of someone without options.

“Fellas,” said Bad Cop, smoothing out his moustache with two fingers. I fought back the eye roll. They were probably dragging me straight to gaol from here. Probably without going home to see my flatmates before I was locked up. Without saying goodbye to any of them. I’d have no one to bitch about Bad Cop to. Goldie would be living for this right now.

Gods, why was that my first thought?

“Let’s not pretend you don’t know why we’re here.” Bad Cop motioned a hand between him and Nikola and the hacker. “One of you has been a naughty boy. Turning a human like that outside of the regulations.”

I said nothing, but I felt Killian’s eyes burning holes into my neck. He was going to give us away. Not that I had thought of a way out of it yet.

“So,” Bad Cop continued. “Do you want to tell us now, and stop all the fussing, or am I gonna get the big guns out?”

The nameless hacker took one teensy step forward. Enough to send an icy shiver through the entire room.

Killian prodded me with his foot. I pointedly ignored him, though I could feel the tension bubbling underneath his surface.

“Well, lads?” said Good Cop.

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