Adeline rushed out of her mother's townhouse, her bag hanging from her shoulders. The car horn sounded again and the urge to throw a stone at the chauffeur was becoming more sensible. Parked before her house was a blue Ford Model T. It belonged to Mei Lin's father.

"You're right on time," Adeline said, entering the car. The chauffeur ignited the engine and drove off.

"Of course," Mei Lin, fitted into a red dress said and squealed, her feet tapping excitedly on the floor. She had black hair styled into a bob and her dark hooded eyes glowed with elation. "I wouldn't want to miss this for the world."

"I didn't know you would be this excited," Adeline said reeling back from her overly enthusiastic friend. They had met last year when she entered the university and since then have become the best of friends.

This was the first time Mei Lin was joining her in the BALMM protest. Adeline didn't want her to join in the first place because she felt it would be unsafe. Most of the rallies ended up with violence and she was only protecting her friend.

But when Mei Lin reminded her she was Chinese and deserved to fight for the Asians as much as everyone, Adeline succumbed. And when she succumbed she knew what to expect next.

"Oooh, Addie! You need to see the things I made." Mei Lin brought out some items from a bag. "I made us matching BALMM shirts. Look at this beautiful BALMM flag I made for everyone. Oh, I also made this." She showed Adeline a ridiculous hat that belonged to the mad hatter. "Isn't it marvellous?"

Adeline's right eye twitched at the monstrosity before her. "Marvelous indeed."

"So you'll wear it?"

"No."

Mei Lin pouted. "Why?"

"Do you really want me to say it?"

Her friend rolled her eyes. "No."

"Good girl." Adeline pinched Mei Lin's cheeks. "I appreciate how excited you are for this. But you must know that this protest isn't always as peaceful as it seems. Sometimes, some people can't handle our reasonable request to stop racism."

"What do they do?"

"Fight, break bones, deform jaws, pierce--"

"Can we please change the topic?" Mei Lin asked, dark-hooded eyes widened with shock as she packed the things she made back into her bag.

"Of course. What do you have in mind?" The journey to Mayfair would take at least an hour. It was best they found a way to while away time.

"I've been reading this book," Mei Lin said, bringing out a brown book from her bag. "It's called the Knights of the night."

Adeline narrowed her grey eyes. "What is it about?"

"I know you usually don't believe in things like this, but you must believe me, this book is based on true events." Adeline clasped her hands, a broad grin on her face. "The book is about a Templar Knight whose family were cursed to become all vampires."

Not this again.

"Mei, if I wanted to read a book on vampires, I'll read Dracula."

"That's the difference between these books. Dracula is fictional while this book is a long-lost historical text compiled years ago." Mei Lin was always enthusiastic about supernatural beings. She believed so strongly that they existed. Adeline wondered why anyone would think blood-sucking humans ever walked this earth.

"Are we truly talking about vampires?"

"Fangs, amber eyes, pale skin," Mei Lin read, her eyes fixed on the book. "My brother was the most handsome of us all and the bravest. Once a Templar Knight who was wrongly convicted of being a satan worshipper in the year 1307."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Adeline asked, not believing she was having this conversation. It was absurd.

"In 1307, the Pope had ordered the killing of Templar Knights after he had accused them of being satan worshippers," Mei Lin said, her voice strong with assurance. "This truly happened. I'm sure of it."

"Where did you get this book from?" Adeline needed to know which bookstore her friend bought it from so she could burn the place down. She couldn't have her friend buying more books from the store. It was making Mei Lin a lunatic.

"I found it in my father's library. It was bought in an auction where lots of old history books were found."

Why did it have to be her father's library? Adeline sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Whoever wrote that book must've been a lunatic."

Mei Lin frowned and put her book back into her bag. "One day you'll have to learn how to stop being so prejudicial."

"I'm not prejudicial."

Mei Lin crossed her arms. "Do remember that day in class when you saw a man smiling at you?"

"Of course. The man was trying to flirt with me."

Mei Lin laughed. "You see, he wasn't. He was looking at his friend who was seated behind you. But because of your prejudice, you yelled at him to stop looking at you, thereby embarrassing him."

"He wasn't looking at me?" Adeline asked, a hammer of surprise hitting her mind.

"He wasn't."

"But his peripheral was locked on me."

"Then you need to go see the eye doctor."

"My eyes are perfectly fine."

Mei Lin smiled sweetly. "Of course it is. Just like when you saw a lady hugging someone and you immediately assumed he was a man."

Adeline's jaw dropped. "That wasn't a man?"

"No, it was a woman who had lost her hair because of alopecia," Mei Lin said. "And can you remember what you had told her?"

Goodness, am I a bad person? Adeline winced.

"I said, "You bald man stop hugging that poor woman so tightly.""

"She found it offensive because of her condition. " Mei Lin inclined her head. "Now do you see what I'm talking about?"

All these were coincidences. And Adeline could swear that if she knew that woman had alopecia, or that man wasn't looking at her, she would've been more careful with her words. She wasn't prejudiced. Mei Lin was just saying so because she was angry at how Adeline spoke badly of the author of the vampire book.

"I don't see what you're talking about. I'm perfectly fine," Adeline said, her eyes shut and head raised with confidence.

"Alright." Mei Lin leaned over to the driver's seat. "How far to Mayfair?"

"Forty minutes, Miss Zhang," The chauffeur said.

Bloody hell, time hadn't moved in the least. It was going to be a long ride.

*****

Mayfair was adorned with fine Georgian townhouses lining their streets, green trees casting their shades over the perfectly tarred road. The Ford drove through the street, Adeline scanning the road. Down ahead was a sea of people holding signs that said, "Blacks and Asians' lives matter."

"Ooou," Mei Lin clapped her hand excitedly. "It's a good thing I made us the same cardboard sign."

At times, Mei Lin's enthusiasm was a blessing. Adeline had forgotten that she needed her cardboard too. Her friend dug through her bag and brought our two cardboard with the words, "Black and Asians lives matter," written in perfect calligraphy. Mei Lin had beautiful handwriting.

"Isn't my writing pretty?" Mei Lin asked, grinning.

Adeline took a cardboard sign from her. "It indeed is. Now let's go start this protest."

"Give me a minute, let me wear my BALMM hat," Mei Lin said, putting on the ridiculous hat on her head.

Adeline took it off her friend's head to save the both of them from embarrassment. "You're not wearing that hat."

"But it took me days to make it. I was excited about today."

"This protest isn't something you should be excited about. You should be sad that we even have to do something like this in the first place."

Mei Lin sighed. "Okay, but I'm wearing it once I get home."

"No problem. You can even wear it to the toilet," Adeline said and walked out of the Ford.

They had chosen Mayfair because that was where most of the influential men and women in London lived. If they wanted people to hear their voices, they should start from the top of the power chain.

The supporters spotted Adeline walking out of the Ford and they began cheering for her. Adeline and Mei Lin managed to swim past the ocean of protesters and made it to their front. Some residents of the street peeked through their windows while some passersby looked at them with disgust.

Adeline turned to face the crowd of supporters. "Thank you all for making it to another Black and Asian Lives Matter Movement protest." She gestured at Mei Lin. "This is my friend, Mei Lin. She'll be joining us today."

"Welcome Mei Lin," they chanted.

She waved eagerly at them. "Thank you all. I'm excited to join you today."

"Alright, just as planned," Adeline held up her sign. "Black and Asian Lives matter!"

"Black and Asian Lives Matter!" The supporters chanted and they began moving down the street.

"What are we tired of?" Adeline asked the crowd.

"The discrimination!"

"All because of what?"

"The colour of our skins!"

"What do we want?"

"No discrimination!"

"What else?"

"Better job opportunities!"

"What else?"

"No calling of derogatory names!"

Ahead, a tow of cars consisting of a red Rolls-Royce 10hp, three police cars and a truck drove towards the protesters. The police car at the front stopped and two coppers in blue walked out, their hands on their holsters.

"Clear the road," The one on the right with a shaved head said. "Bishop Gregory is here."

Adeline was sure he would be the one inside the Rolls-Royce. After what he said about her peaceful movement on the news, there was no way she would let him go through.

"If the bishop wants to get through, let him come and ask himself," Adeline said crossing her brown-skinned arms.

"Excuse me?" The other copper asked, his blue eyes widened.

"Addie, what are you doing?" Mei Lin asked with her teeth shut close.

"The right thing."

"Go call the bishop, " The bald copper requested.

The blue-eyed one dropped his jaw. "You're letting this darkie tell you what to do?"

Darkie...

He knew how offensive that term was but he still used it. Adeline balled her hands into a fist ready to strike. But when she felt Mei Lin's soft touch on her hands, she released her fist.

"Go and call the bishop. Let him know we have a situation," The bald one said again. His racist counterpart sighed and walked over to the Rolls-Royce. After having a brief conversation with the person in the back seat, the door opened and a middle-aged, blonde man with a black cassock walked out, a pectoral cross hanging from his neck.

The clergy's blue eyes scanned the environment and when it stopped on Adeline, his demeanour darkened. Adeline felt her throat tighten under his tense gaze.

"You must be Miss Smith," he said once he reached Adeline.

"I am."

"And can you tell me why you're blocking the road with your noisy protests?"

"It's not noisy," Adeline countered, bringing down her sign. "It's a peaceful protest."

He looked over her shoulders. "All I see are a group of chinks and negroes who have no cognitive skill." He gestured at Mei Lin. "Look at your yellow friend. She may look young and innocent on the outside, but deep down, she's a cold-blooded killer, just like the Black-Chinks gang were."

Mei Lin's lip parted. Adeline was sure that Mei Lin could now grasp what she had meant earlier when she said the protest was nothing to be excited about. This was the dark side of what they had to go through daily.

"Do you all hear me?" Bishop Gregory asked, his voice thundering through the street. "You all are a danger to our society! There's no saying when you would form another gang and wipe out the lives of innocent whites!"

A mixture of murmurs and gasps rippled through the street. Adeline couldn't believe a man could be this vile and wicked. She wondered how he became a bishop in the first place.

He laughed and locked eyes with Adeline. "Other people may be able to buy your shitty protest, but I can assure you that no white man would listen to a thing you say. Not after what the Black-Chinks did."

"You're wrong. I have some white people right here in this crowd protesting with me."

"You've disinfected them with your inferior genes. No white man of true Anglo-Saxon blood would even consider your existence."

With each word he spoke, Adeline could feel the rage brewing in the pit of her mind. Punching him would prove him right. It would show that Blacks were indeed violent like he accused. So she had to keep her anger to herself.

"Now ask your people to move aside before I ask the Lord to smite you all," Bishop Gregory said and by now, over thirty coppers were out of their cars with rifles in their hands.

"I don't like him, Addie," Mei Lin said.

Adeline's right eye twitched. "Not liking him is an understatement in my case."

"Do you think he'll ask the coppers to shoot us?" Mei Lin asked.

"He wouldn't dare." The barrels of the guns gleamed under the sunlight and the tip made Adeline's bladder loosen. Giving up would be the worst thing to do. So she raised her cardboard sign and shouted, "Black and Asian lives matter!"

"Black and Asian Lives matter!" The crowd joined in.

Gunshots thundered through the air.

But it wasn't from the coppers. A group of masked men came out from the corners of the street, LMGs in their hands. Pandemonium broke loose and the coppers opened fire. Screams roared through the street, everyone running for their lives.

Adeline was frozen to the spot, watching the entire scene unfold before her.

"Addie!" Mei Lin dragged Adeline, bringing her back to her senses. She held Adeline's shoulders, looking grimly into her eyes. "We have to leave!"

As she ran away, she looked over her shoulders. She spotted some coppers shoving the Bishop into another police car and driving him away safely. The gunshot racketed again, bullets flying through the air.

More masked men came out of from alleyways, their guns firing dangerously. Some people bumped into Adeline, shoving her to the floor, the cobbled road tearing the skin on her forearm.

"Addie," Mei Lin said dragging her friend up, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Adeline looked at her bleeding wound. "Let's go to your father's car."

"It's by the corner, I can see it," Mei Lin said, her breath shaky. They arrived at the car and on the steering was a bleeding chauffeur, the blood dripping down the gunshot wound on his forehead. Adeline could swear she urinated on herself. Today wasn't going as she visualized it.

Mei Lin screamed at the top of her voice when she saw the dead chauffeur and Adeline covered her friend's mouth. "We don't want to drag attention to ourselves."

An engine revved and a brown Ford model T came into view. Adeline's heart pace normalized when she saw the person in the driver's seat.

"Get in girls," Their history lecturer, Mr James said, his green eyes widened with urgency.

"Mr James," Adeline said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was among the protesters. " He patted the body of his car, the ruby ring in his hand glowing. "It's a good thing I brought this baby girl. Now get in before you end up like him." He looked at the dead chauffeur.

Not wasting another bloody second, they rushed into the car and Mr James started it. With a sharp turn, they were out of the warzone, the gunshots still racketing through the air.

"Are you alright, Miss Smith?" Mr James asked, his hand combing his greying brown hair.

"I'm fine," Adeline answered looking at her healed wound. I'm fine? She remembered having a deep cut there. Now all she saw was sticky scarlet liquid on her skin.

"I thought I had seen an injury there," Mr James said, holding Adeline's forearm.

Me too. "No, it's nothing." She dragged her hand back to herself and inspected it. "I didn't have any wounds."

Mr James narrowed his eyes and kept his focus on the road. "That's quite odd."

Adeline didn't understand how that happened either. She could swear she saw a deep red cut. But now, her hand was as smooth as a baby's butt. Maybe she was just hallucinating from the fall. Maybe there was no wound in the first place.

But Mr James saw it. He could be hallucinating too. Fear could induce false images into people's minds.

"I can't believe the chauffeur is dead," Mei Lin said and covered her mouth with both hands.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mei."

"It's fine. Let's focus on getting home first." Mei Lin massaged her temples. "I don't know how I'll break this news to my father. He warned me not to go to the protest with you."

"Then how did you come out?" Adeline asked.

"I told him I was going to the university with you."

Adeline had put her friend in trouble and she didn't like it. If there was a way to fix it, she would.

"If you want, I could help you cover up," Mr James said.

"You would?" The two girls asked at the same time.

He smiled. "Of course. All I need to do is just tell your father that you were indeed in school with me."

"And what about the chauffeur? My father would know I went to the rally if they find his body."

"He doesn't need to think you went with him. You would lie and tell him he went alone to the rally while you were in my class. And with me backing you up, you'll be fine."

"Thank you very much." Mei Lin released a sigh of relief. This was the reason most students liked Mr James. He was too nice that it seemed too good to be true.

Now Mei Lin's problem was settled, all Adeline could think about was the smooth skin where she once had a deep bleeding cut.

Was it true?

Or was she hallucinating?

******
Author's note:

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Cassock: A cloth worn by bishops. An image of it is above.

Image of the Ford model T is below.

Vocab:

Chinks: A racial slur for the Chinese. Do not call any of them this. It's insultive.

Darkie: A racial slur for the Blacks in London. Don't call them that, it's insultive.

History fact:

The white Britons are descendants of the Anglo-Saxons that infiltrated England centuries ago.

Yours truly,

Lord Victor Hastings.