The Rising - Chapter 100: Landing In Blackchapel

I reluctantly touched down on the empty road leading down into Blackchapel.

For the past thirty minutes I had been living a dream. The dream of flying was a dream that never lasted. For the moments I remembered after being jerked awake by the thought of falling out of the sky, I had been as happy as I had been at almost any point in my life. But that feeling was fleeting and impossible to recreate. Only the happiness I felt when Sarah took me back could compare.

Now I could get the feeling whenever I wanted, at any time. The excitement was intoxicating. The fact that I was turning into a vampire and had to feed on human blood to sustain my existence didn’t even cross my mind.

I can fly. I can take to the fucking skies any time I want.

I had circled the mountains and clearings around the vampire lair. I saw no one that looked like they had just escaped. My sixth sense wasn’t strong but I knew there were no humans around. I couldn’t sense any vampires either.

At least until I walked past the sign at the side of the road that read ‘Welcome to Blackchapel’.

I was suddenly hit by the terrible sense of belonging that had been present in my mind all day in the lair, only this time it was stronger. Much stronger.

Other than the kid working in the petrol station, I couldn’t see anyone around. I looked closer at the kid and felt certain he was a vampire. On the opposite side of the road there was a gap in the barrier that was supposed to protect wayward drivers from a sheer drop. I wondered how many drivers had had their veins sucked dry by the kid or his friends and then been dumped over the edge of the cliff into the mists below, never to be found again.

As I kept walking towards a small row of shops, I became aware of the noise coming from a bar at the end. I could hear people shouting and laughing. It was after two in the morning and by the sound of it the party would be going on until sunrise. My gut feelings became stronger as I walked past the bar.

Wall to wall vampires.

I checked my hand where I had cut it during my escape from the plane. It had already healed. Just thirty minutes earlier the glass panel on the emergency door had sliced a deep gash in my hand. I still had blood all over my jacket and shirt to prove it, but now the wound had disappeared, leaving not even the tiniest of scars.

I stopped and looked up at the Cliffside Hotel, a structure so massively out of place that it towered over the rest of Blackchapel. I knew Dave had to be here; his car was still parked outside. The lights were turned off and the curtains closed in every room apart from one.

Something’s wrong.

With the luxury of not having to go through the reception area to see what was going on in the room above me, my feet left the floor and I started my ascent.

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