Page 8 of The Diary of the Vam'pir Jacques

I smiled.Before you ask, yes, I do have three sisters and a twin brother. Multiple births were fairly common. My sisters were triplets. That’s how Kaltos survived as a race.

“Count me in, too, Maurick,” I agreed.

Inka would not do this without my support.

“Us too,” Emil spoke for her and Pari.

???

Now, I wish I had never accepted and listened to my gut. But I never denied Inka anything. If I’d said no, the others might have changed their minds.

I regret not backing Pal up and putting a stop to this, but I didn’t, and recriminations are too late. Regrets should remain in the past, yet when I recall my son, my little Mihal, regret remains prominent to this very day. Along with emotions that should have faded.

Telling this tale brings them all to the fore again. Bitterness at being denied a proper death. Obviously, I don’t mean that I want to die. But I would like to know for definite if there is such a thing as today’s modern Heaven and Hell. Was there a different plane of existence as we believed? I’m bitter that my life was ruined for a pathetic reason. This life, I wouldn’t give up, but it wasn’t meant to be this.

Vam’pirs should not exist.

Pal and Mera were the true victims; their one great chance, and they were cruelly denied it. Logically, we should have asked for proof of the tests, but would we have been given it? I feel so betrayed and torn in two, even now.

Once I’d gained immortality, I wouldn’t give it up. Yet when I was mortal, I never wanted nor dreamed of having it.Perhaps I’m a little like a circus freak.I should be caged and studied under the microscopes of today.

Actually… try to cage me, and I’ll pluck your bloody eyes out and swallow them raw.

But our faith in Maurick was so rock solid, we didn’t expect betrayal from him. Deception from a friend is unexpected, and to make it worse, Maurick was one of us. The level of treachery shows that we meant nothing to him except an experiment to his perversity.

Well, trust me, we rapidly found out who we could depend on: only ourselves. Yet even I have betrayed my friends in littleways that would seem silly to you, the human reader, but to my kind, they were heinous.

Narrating this book is a breach of faith. See how I draw the curious eye of humans to Vam’pirs?

But you’ll not believe this story. Most of the readers will assume it’s a good piece of fiction (hopefully) that someone with a vivid imagination has created. I write the truth, and there is nothing I can do to prove it.

Returning to betrayal… isn’t that a sweet word? Just say it a couple of times. Roll it around your tongue. The term can hold a wealth of meaning on various levels. And that is exactly how we were betrayed in a thousand different ways.

My main emotion after all these centuries is one of great sadness.

Maurick denied us all a chance of a normal life. Sometimes, I lay awake considering what might have been, not often, I admit.Haven’t I lived a life that thousands, millions would envy?

Immortality. Just to say it. Is it not tempting? Oh, I know it is, and if I offered it, would you be able to refuse?Nuh huh.

Generously, I would give you a choice.

We were given none. Nobody who took part had a chance. Lab rats, indeed.

Thank you, Maurick, for teaching all of us the sweet art of betrayal. This, from your so-called best friend.

???

The news of the Great Experiment, as it was dubbed, broke two weeks later. The council had agreed it was a good idea, and it was well worth breaking one of Kaltos’s most holy laws—although the council decreed it was to be the only exception.

Maurick visited the day it was announced and told us we would be going into the Medical Centre the following morning.

Kaltos buzzed with anticipation. The air crackled with excitement and expectation. The identities of those placing community over personal needs were the subject of much discussion. So many childless couples praised us for our role in it. It was hard not to brag.

Honestly, I must admit that my group did get quite a few queries about whether we were taking part, but we kept our lips sealed. Everything in the lead-up was positive.Remember that, because I do.

My father had guessed, though, and so had Inka’s mother, and both of them supported us one hundred per cent. Unequivocally offering their full support. Truthfully, I expected this from my parents. After all, I was the favourite, and Inka anticipated the same treatment from hers, which made their later betrayal all the more difficult to cope with.

It was a great shock, the lengths they were prepared to go to, and Inka was their only child. There were a few people who said that we shouldn’t meddle with genetics, and I understood their point. But by this time, I found myself caught up in the excitement and my former misgivings forgotten. We were never given a chance to think too long or move past the initial excitement.

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