B008GMVYA4 EBOK
The Vampire Coven of London
Written by: Rebecca Ann Drake
Dedication
This book is dedicated to everyone who has supported me over the last 5-6 years and for everyone who has believed in me, without your words of encouragement and friendship I wouldn’t have found the strength to finish what I’ve started. And to everyone who laughed at me and poked fun at me when I told them I was writing a book...... up yours!
Preface
Madison Davies was just like any other 22 year old, she read trashy magazines, enjoyed shopping for the latest fashions, gossiping about guys and going for drinks with her best friend, Stephanie. From the outside, Madison had a normal life with a normal job and normal friends, but beneath the surface lied a burden which had laid heavy on Madison since she was a little girl – her Father, Phil. Madison Mother had died tragically in a car accident when she was 7 years old, since that day, Phil had given up on the world – his only comfort was a bottle of whisky. Madison had taken care of her alcoholic Father since her Mother’s passing, unconsciously dedicating the rest of her life to taking care of him. Then on one normal Tuesday night, something would occur which would change Madison’s life forever.
Madison now finds herself in a new city, sculpting herself a new life that she had always longed for. Unknowingly, she enters a world where the things that go bump in the night really do exist. As she finds herself accidently getting involved with a Jealous Vampire and becomes increasing infatuated with another Vampire called Brendan. Things take a turn for the worse and she finds herself fighting for her life. As Brendan fights to protect Madison from the Vampires and Demons which pursue her, she learns that nothing is as it seems and reality & fantasy begin to collide together.
The only thing Madison will learn in her fight for survival is that sometimes in life there is only loss…
Contents
The Vampire Coven of London
Dedication
Preface
Chapter One: Madison
Chapter Two: Home
Chapter Three: London
Chapter Four: Nightmares
Chapter Five: The fresh start
Chapter Six: House of Hell
Chapter Seven: The Truth Will Set You Free
Chapter Eight: A day to Remember
Chapter Nine: Safe House
Chapter Ten: Secrets.
Chapter Eleven: Stephanie
Chapter Twelve: Breaking point.
Chapter Thirteen: The Coven
Chapter Fourteen: Into the Darkness
Chapter Fifteen: The Worse to Come
Chapter Sixteen: Promises
Chapter Seventeen: Sacrifice.
Chapter One: Madison
Madison Davies was just like any other 22 year old, she enjoyed shopping for the latest fashions, watching reality TV programmes and reading trashy magazines about the latest celebrity gossip and going to parties and Gigs with her best friend Stephanie. The only thing that stood out from Madison’s somewhat normal life was the burden that had laid heavy on her shoulders since her Mother died fifteen years ago. This burden was one of the hardest burden’s anyone could have inflicted on them. This burden was called Phil, Madison’s father. Phil was a short man, bolding with extremely thinning white hair around the sides of his head. He was fairly chubby with deep lines creased into his forehead and around his eyes. He had been handsome in his younger days, but now age had gripped hold of him turning him bleak and tired.
Madison had lived in the same small three bedroom house in Thatcham for as long as she could remember. The house was decorated exactly the way it had been when Madison’s Mother was alive. After her Mother died tragically in a car accident, Phil gave up on life. Phil loved his wife so intensely that he simply couldn’t cope with normal everyday life without her being a part of it.
After the tragic accident, Phil disappeared for two weeks leaving Madison alone in one of the most utterly heart wrenching moments of her life. Without any real explanation to why Heidi, Madison mother, had passed away so suddenly, Phil dropped Madison off at Stephanie’s house after collecting her early from school without a single word of comfort. Stephanie’s Mum, Julie, was like a second Mother to Madison and always welcomed her with open arms; after all, Julie had lost a close friend in Heidi. Phil promised Madison that he would return for her later after he had been to the Hospital and Police station and he hardly hugged her goodbye as he abandoned her in the doorway of her Mother’s closest friend. Phil never returned that evening or any other evening after that - he didn’t return for two weeks. Julie comforted Madison through the worst time of her life, holding her tight when she felt like she was falling apart, stroking her hair as she slept uneasily through the nightmares of her Mother’s accident. From that day Julie would always be there for Madison and she may have not have been her biological Mother, but she was the closest thing to it. Julie had gotten divorced when Stephanie was just a baby never giving Stephanie the chance to meet her real Father - not that Stephanie really cared. She had always told Madison, “If he wants to know me, he would be here and he’s not, so I don’t want to know him either”.
In many ways Madison looked up to Julie, she had an amazing inner strength that helped her decipher the bullshit that was fed to her by the many ass-holes that she went out with. No one could ever fill the place in Madison’s life where her Mother should be, but Madison was willing to make a little extra room for Julie and Stephanie who was more like a sister to her.
After two weeks of absolutely heart wrenching agony and complete distress, Phil arrived back at Julie’s door. He was dirty and his hair was matted into a huge bird’s nest which rested on the top of his head, his clothes were covered with large brown stains and he had somehow managed to lose his shoes within his two week absence. His whole body reeked of whisky and this unknowingly at that point would become a smell which was very familiar to Madison. Julie being the protective substitute Mother that she was insisted that Phil returns to collect her once he had cleaned up. After Phil had washed and dressed in fresh clothes and the strong, vile, smell of whisky had died down until it was only just noticeable on the back of his breathe - Phil returned to collect Madison. Julie called Madison from the foot of the stairs; she collected her backpack and headed towards the front door. Stephanie who had always been nervous of Phil grabbed Madison’s hand and squeezed it tight as they stepped down the staircase together. Not needing to make eye contact with Stephanie, Madison knew that she was scared for her, but what could Julie and Stephanie do? Phil was her legal guardian and Madison always felt she had a responsibility to Phil. Looking up from the pale grey colour of the carpet, Madison caught a glimpse of the frail old man that was now standing before her in her Father’s place. His once large, beautiful eyes were now lifeless and blood shot and the spark that had once glistened in them had now completely disappeared. His face and body was now presentable, but his eyes couldn’t hide the pain that was still raw behind them, the once happy and loving Father had also died along with Madison’s Mother.
Since that moment, for the last fifteen years Phil had committed himself to seeing the bottom of every Whisky bottle. Every day he was drunk or getting drunk and for the best part of the last six years, Phil had spent majority in an alcohol induced coma. Weeks would fly by and Phil would remain the same - led on the sofa surrounded by a black cloud of whisky fumes. He would hardly eat or drank non-alcoholic fluids – he was slowly killing himself. He lived off of fresh air, tobacco and whisky. Madison had virtually brought herself up. She learnt how to cook, clean, sew and iron. She looked after both of them, with a little help from Julie.
Phil never seemed to notice Madison within his state of grief; months would past before he spat a few slu
rred words of nonsense at her. Even when he did eventually make eye contact with her, his expression was vague, staring straight through her into the empty space of the room behind. On the few days Phil was more coherent than usual, Madison would take this opportunity to convince him to seek help. Phil would ignore her or refuse by taking a large swig from the whisky bottle – it was hopeless and he was too far gone to see sense now.
Occasionally a Doctor or social worker would visit and Phil would make himself scarce, leaving Madison to discus Phil’s drinking and ‘episodes’ with them. Phil had a severe alcohol addiction and the Doctor called his comatose episodes “crashing”. Phil’s mental state was so fragile and unstable that his mind took time out, leaving him paralysed and incapable of looking after himself for days, sometimes weeks at a time. The good days were far and thin constantly over shadowed by the bad days.
The Doctor and psychiatrists offered Madison ‘help’ if she felt that Phil was too unfit to remain in her care, but Madison always refused their help. Phil was the only family she had left and she thought it was her duty to take care of him. When the periods of crashing were over he would return to normal, drinking obsessively throughout the night and sleeping on the sofa in front of the TV throughout the day. The house constantly smelt of whisky and stale cigarette smoke and the same sight and smell would hit Madison as she walked through the front door each night, Phil’s comatose body slumped on the sofa surrounded by whisky bottles and fag butts. This was a sight that made Madison sick to her stomach and pulled on her heart strings as she gazed upon Phil’s lifeless and grief stricken face. The soulless eyes that had once shone so brightly now resembled nothing but empty holes. Since Heidi had died, Stephanie became more than just a friend to Madison; she had become her rock, her sister – her best friend. When Phil momentarily awoke from his alcohol induced coma at times things could get really bad in the Davies household. In certain circumstances Phil could become frantic, delirious and sometimes violent. He had never hurt Madison psychically but the comments and words that he spat at her were hurtful and revolting. The furniture always saw the worst of Phil’s rage - the living room would be destroyed; broken plates and whisky bottles would litter the floor. The coffee table would be broken in two and whatever else stood in Phil’s path would be smashed. When Phil was on the war-path, Madison knew to avoid him at all costs. She would climb out of her bedroom window, drop down onto the roof of the bay window and jump down onto the front garden. She would then run down the road to Stephanie’s house like she was running for her life. There, she didn’t need to hide her feelings and she could let the pain out. Julie was never aware that Madison stayed over during these circumstances and she always swore Stephanie to secrecy. If Julie had been aware she would have begged Madison not to ever go home and she couldn’t afford to do that, her Father needed her and there was too much guilt on her shoulders to abandon him completely. There was a part of her that felt responsible for the way Phil was, she knew that her Mother dying had pushed Phil over the edge and understandably she had the pressing feeling that she could have done something to prevent it. Maybe be a better behaved at school? Madison was always in trouble at school, mainly for getting in fights and not doing her homework – since her mother had died anyway. The other girls at school hated Madison because she was different, but the boys liked her because she was different – mysterious, which just angered the girls more. Where there were teenage girls, there were hormones and hormones equals jealousy and anger. So when the most desired boy in school became attracted to Madison, she was the one punished for it even though she showed little interest in him. She too had always been drawn to the silent, mysterious type and unfortunately for him - he wasn’t it.
Even if Madison could go back in time and be a model student, she still doubted it would make any difference to how Phil was now. The stress of bringing up a child while mourning the loss of a wife had just increased the intake of alcohol and weakened his mental state. After spending the night at Stephanie’s, Madison would return home to see what sort of state Phil and the house were in and she would walk in to the same scene every time - their furniture demolished and Phil would have returned to his comatose state, spread out over the sofa, a whisky bottle clucked in his hands. Phil’s features would always be the same when Madison returned, grief stricken - screwed up in pain. The only time Phil felt anything different than sorrow was when he was trashing the house – his sorrow had then turned to anger.
Madison had spent hundreds in the past buying new furniture and getting it repaired after Phil had his fun with it. After years of replacing furniture that would just get destroyed within a few months - Madison didn’t bother anymore. Their house was made up of just the very basic furniture; the little they did have was purchased from Charity shops.
The sight of Phil in his consumed in his grief was sight that always knocked Madison to her knees and caused a hard lump to form in her throat and a knot to twist in her stomach. She still felt the pain of her Mother’s death every day of her life and constantly witnessing Phil in this state brought it all back like it had only happened yesterday.
After regaining control of her emotions, Madison would gather the courage to examine the damage that Phil had inflicted on the house. Empty alcohol bottles and food wrappers would be scattered around the small three bedroom house. Small circular shaped burns would cover the arms of the sofa from where Phil had stubbed out his cigarettes. The toilet would be full of vomit and patches of stele urine covered the bathroom floor where he had missed. Madison would clean the house in silence, repairing any furniture that she could and throwing out the items that she couldn’t repair. This was her Déjà Vu, reliving the same thing over and over – looking after a man that didn’t appreciate or care for her.
Then suddenly something occurred that would change her life forever. Forcing her to make a decision that she always thought she would never be able to make - no matter how bad Phil got. In one split second, everything had changed.
Chapter Two: Home
It was Tuesday the 16th March. Today was just like any other Tuesday; Madison had been to work in the small building firm where she worked as an Administrator. Just like any other day she arrived home at around 5.30pm, walking in to the same sight she saw every night - Phil comatose on the sofa surrounded by fag butts and Whisky bottles. He didn’t even wake up when Madison slammed the front door behind her nor did he wake up when she vacuumed the cigarette butts and crushed crisps up around him.
After Madison had put the oven chips and chicken pieces onto the bottom tray of the oven, she retired to the living room to wait for them to cook. Phil was awake now and curled up in the same position he had been when he was sleeping, but his eyes were now open and glued to the TV, his features blank and calm - almost expressionless. Phil made little effort to acknowledge Madison or the fact that he hadn’t seen her for two days as he had spent the last two days sleeping off a hangover.
Phil’s eyelids were still heavy and he blinked several times trying to wake himself up with little success before slowly slipping back into a deep sleep. Quiet, slow, snores rumbled from his chest with each breath.
Madison watched Phil sleep for a few moments, his face was peaceful and relaxed, it was the only time he actually resembled her Father was when he was sleeping.
Sleep was something Phil did a lot of, normally because he had passed out from the amount of alcohol he consumed. Even so, it always comforted Madison to watch Phil sleep, it was the only time when the pain stopped for him and she found some comfort in that thought.
After a few moments of silence, Madison got up from the armchair and left the room to tend to dinner. Once she had eaten and washed up the dishes, she headed to her room to waste some hours before bed time. She piled the pillows on her bed into one big stack and grabbed the book from her bedside table before flopped against the huge pile of soft pillows. Madison spent most of her spare time reading horror/fantasy stories, the books she read allowed her to shut o
ut the madness and pain of real life where she sank into a fantasy land, pretending to be someone completely different – like one of the characters she read in her books. Every book that she read was enchanting, capturing her imagination with every sentence, allowing her imagination to guide her through every aspect of the story - making it come to life. Madison would read anything as long as it abstracted her from reality, concealing her pain within and hiding it from the outside world.
The book pulled Madison in, consuming the whole of her psychical form, turning her into her desired self-image. The book was full of evil and murder, but with an exquisite, tragic love story weaved into it. She had been gripped by the story from the first page, lost in her own fantasies.
After a few hours of reading, Madison eyes began to grow heavy and before long she was asleep - the book clutched to her chest protectively.
CRASH! Madison jumped. Her eyelids flew open as she struggled to get a grip on reality. The light in the room was too bright for her eyes and her head was still foggy from sleep. Madison sat up on the bed - she contemplated whether she had actually heard the noise or whether it was just a dream. Nothing - the room was silent and still.
She glanced at the clock on her bedside table, 8.39pm it read. She rubbed her eyes removing some of the sleep dust from them.
BANG! The bedroom door flew open and impacted loudly with the wall. Phil barely stood in the doorway, a whisky bottle hanging from his fingertips. He swayed back and forth like he was on a boat in rough weather. His free hand grabbed at the doorframe trying to steadying him, tightening his grip around the whisky bottle he brought it up to his lips, taking a large swig of the brown liquor. He gasped as he removed the whisky bottle from his lips, wincing from the bitter taste it left in his mouth. Straightening up, he stared at Madison square in the face. This was something Phil had not done for a very long time, he always chose to ignore Madison rather than acknowledge her. Phil’s beady, little, eyes stared over his thin long nose, his long thin lips were parted revealing yellowy, brown, teeth. His bushy grey eyebrows directed down, creating a V shape over his angry eyes. Madison couldn’t speak or move she was frozen with shock. Her mouth hung open and her eyes wide in disbelief.