Turned By Him

Chapter 6

Eliza spent the next several days exploring Novum Sanguinem. As a gift, Tom had gone back to Eliza’s apartment and gotten her laptop. Eliza was very grateful; she was not yet ready to return to the skeleton of her old life. As Eliza explored the wealth that the NuBlood coven had gathered over the last century, she continued work on her thesis. Tom made sure she understood that she could not submit it. “For now,” Tom said. “One day we may be able to live among the living in acceptance. Until that day however, we must play our parts and remain as inconspicuous as possible.”

When Eliza challenged the idea, suggesting that being a priest was a highly visible position, Tom explained: “Sometimes being seen is the best way to keep cover. You are less likely to be attacked amid a sea of onlookers and there are dangers outside of discovery in this world.”

Eliza also took the time to meet many of the coven members. All in all there were about 30 members of the NuBlood Coven. Mirana and her mate Devlin were the leaders of the coven. Mirana was the oldest by about 20 years. She was 179 years old. Devlin was a bit younger at 161; he had been infected with vampirism during the American Civil War. There were several others as well. Jordan, a six foot three, slender and jubilant man was somewhat their guard. When Eliza had first seen him, she was admittedly a bit intimidated. But after a few moments she recalled him as the bouncer at the rave she had gone to. She chose to say nothing. Jordan’s jolly personality however, elevated the tension of meeting many of the others. He had died in New York City just before World War 1 of a terrible flu. In one of the moments that had spent alone. Jordan explained how he and several other new vampires joined the fight and helped turn the tide in favor of the allies. There was also Harper, who had become fast friends with Eliza. Harper had been turned in the 1980s and was one of the youngest in the coven. Eliza was also close with Mathew. He was a bookish vampire who spent nearly every hour of every day learning. Tom described Mathew as a “creative genius lost in others fantasy.”

Every night, the coven would get together and discuss the day’s events. Tom seemed to play an important role in organizing the group of young vampires. Over the course of one of their meetings, Jordan told the coven that he had seen another vampire inside the church earlier that day. Jordan often stayed in wooden pews to pray and keep guard over Novum Sanguinem’s main entrance. The only other way in and out was through the garage which typically remained closed. Max, the youngest vampire aside from Eliza, expressed his growing concern over the number of skin changers in the city. He and the coven seemed to acknowledge the skin changers, another group of people infected with magika, as a sign that something was drastically changing in the city.

“Historically,” Mirana clarified to what she considered her children, “the city and all its burrows were controlled by 9 vampire families. Sometimes their laws are different.” There were other cities across the world with different groups at their head, with skin changers controlling most of Union City across the river.

Eliza spent several days without seeing sunlight. She learned about the complex societies which convened daily, in secret, to organize the whole of the magika infected populace. For the most part, the infected controlled themselves. Eliza learned that Mirana and her Devlin went to weekly meetings with the head family of vampires in Brooklyn and another biweekly meeting with the head coven which controlled Manhattan. As best Eliza could tell, the ruling covens or families allowed other groups in their territory so long as a tax was paid and laws obeyed. One of the laws, Eliza learned, was no killing of human public officials. Another, which she found to be a bit concerning, was that no magika infected individual was to break the secret. The unspoken subtly of this law was that if you fed on someone, you had to kill them. This was the law the group had the most trouble with.

One night, Tom and Eliza held each other and watched movies from decades ago. They watched the movie City Lights, starring Charlie Chaplain, it was a movie produced before audio could be laid over video. The words, they decided, they would read aloud. Tom took Charlie and Eliza read for Virginia Cherrill. With each scene, Eliza found it easier to identify with her character, she felt blind in a big city and a handsome man to explore the city lights with. At times, Eliza felt that Tom could be manipulating her feelings, forcing her to fall for him. Yet, considering the changes she was undergoing, Eliza was grateful to have a welcome place to be. There were a few in the coven who made little effort to hide their displeasure with Eliza, or at least their distrust. Mirana was among those who often cast weary glares her way when others discussed coven business. Eliza recognized the secret society like organization and politics involved in Novum Sanguinem.

In her free time, when she was alone, she would research the news around George’s suicide, Heather’s murder and her own disappearance. Eliza had not taken the letter George had written. This gave police reason to investigate her, according to the reports, “The only things missing from her apartment were her daily affects, laptop and car.” Despite the loud bang, no one ever came for George. His neighbors, wealthier than most in the world, were likely too involved with spending their money or enjoying the material sum that kind of cash can provide. It was, inevitably, the door man who found George. After seeing Eliza leave in tears, specs of blood dotting her face, he had called the building’s security that never showed. The old man, it was reported, has since retired. The shock of being the first on the scene was too much for his old heart.

Eliza had begun wearing the gorgeous and elegant clothing Novum Sanguinem hosted. Eliza and Harper spent several hours one afternoon sifting through clothes that would fit her. She had selected a few articles no one else wore and set them aside. Eliza had left her old life behind. Eliza was growing increasingly concerned that the police investigation would rule her as a suspect in Heather’s murder.

One night Eliza noticed the coven all abuzz. Nearly every member gathered there things and dressed themselves in expensive clothes. They were all preparing to go out. “Eliza,” Harper said taking her hands. “Get ready, we’ve got work to do.” Eliza picked a cute skirt and blouse and applied makeup to soften the increasingly pale glow of her skin. She ended up needing Harper’s help as Eliza was not yet accustom to making dead skin look alive again. As they finished preparing to leave, Eliza overheard two other women speaking, they expressed how hungry they had been all week. It seemed to Eliza that they were going out to feed and the prospect made her very nervous.