After the Fall (16 page)

“What is happening?” he said, barging into the room, certain he had caught us doing something. Alaric cast a wary gaze on me, then over to his wife. His face struggled between anger and tenderness, but she could do no wrong in his eyes. I was the one at fault here, the one that left his son to die and defiled his wife, as if it were only my choice to make.

“Will you excuse us?” he asked me, but it came out more like a command than a polite request.

“Um, I guess,” I stammered.

“Can’t you just let him stay?” she pleaded. He grumbled something and went to her side. Her small, delicate hand was once again engulfed in his, much the same way it had rested in mine just moments ago. Rhiannon played the role of the devoted ailing wife, but she kept stealing glances my way. All I could do was stand there and look uncomfortable. The doctor’s arrival was a great relief to me.

“Doctor, please tell me what’s happening to my wife,” Alaric begged.

The doctor cast his eyes down and let out a loud, tired sigh. “I really don’t know. I’ve pored over all the books and journals I know. It has all the signs of exsanguination, but I can find no sign of bleeding, external or internal. We can keep giving her transfusions, but I don’t know how long that will work. Her condition keeps worsening.”

“Have you found a donor?”

“Yes…but there is one thing.”

“What is it?”

“He has already given blood.” He made a lazy wave of the hand in my direction, not wanting to point at me directly or make eye contact. “I have to find someone else, but it will take some time.” If it weren’t for the doctor and Rhiannon being in the same room, he surely would have tried to kill me.

“Can I speak to you for a moment, Alaric?”

“Sure. Speak.” There was no more affability or generosity. The kind deed I had done for him was now erased by his son’s disappearance, and the town’s very existence hung on by a thread.

“I’d like to speak to you
outside
, if that’s okay with you.”

He frowned and let out another grumble. I took that as an affirmative answer and walked out to the hallway.

“What do you want now?” he said as he shut the door. His voice had the undertones of a warning—or a threat.

“I know what is wrong with Rhiannon, if you’ll hear me out—”

“Why didn’t you speak up before?” he interrupted.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but I needed to tell you alone. It’s your decision, after all.”

“What decision?”

It was my turn to sigh. “Rhiannon is dying. Frankly, I’m surprised she’s made it this long. Your doctor is amazing, but I’m afraid she doesn’t have more than a few days at this rate.”

“You’re lying,” he growled.

“It’s the truth.” I paused for a second while he twitched with impatience. “That is why I offer you a decision. It isn’t one I came to easily.”

“So what’s this decision?”

“I have the power to save her, to keep her from dying forever.”

“By all means, do it!” His eyes lit up with desperate hope.

“Before you say yes, I have to warn you. This gift comes with a price. She will not be the same. She will become like me, a creature of the night. Sunlight will be her mortal enemy and blood will be the only thing that will quench her thirst. Think about this very carefully.”

His eyes opened wide, bulging out of their sockets. He breathed in and out quickly, his nostrils flaring like a bull preparing to charge.

“You’re a liar! You defile my wife and now you want to kill her!” He took a swing at me. The whole thing happened in slow motion for me. His shoulder muscles twitched and contracted, telegraphing his next move. The arm pulled back and his face contorted in rage, no doubt the last thing his enemies saw before dying at his hand. I watched the giant fist come at me. Four knuckles, patches of reddish hair in the middle of his fingers. The hair on his arm rippled through the air.

It felt like getting hit by a bear, and I know by firsthand experience. The full force of his punch connected, but I did not move an inch. The shock bounced back through his arm and he clutched his hand. Unfortunately (for him), his rage wasn’t quenched yet. He swung out with his other hand and I got to watch the same process unfold on the opposite side. His hand came at me like a cannonball. 

I deserved it the first time, but he wouldn’t get a second. My hand snapped up and blocked his fist. I wrapped my fingers around it and squeezed hard. It was satisfying to see this hulk of a man at my mercy. He tried to remain defiant, but the sight of a much smaller man overpowering him with one hand was enough to break his resolve. I released him before I broke his hand. He nursed the two bear claws that were turning bright red from the effort. The smell of blood and adrenaline awakened my appetite.

“Get out of my house,” he whispered. Even in his reduced state, he was still giving out orders. I didn’t have to listen to him. There was no master over me except myself. For a second, I considered it. I had the power to bring this whole town to heel, to repel the undead threat and rule with an iron fist. Some of my peers would have done it. This was about survival, not honor.  Too bad I wasn’t like them. My sense of honor was too deeply entrenched. It was a flaw in my armor that went all the way to the core. All I did was nod and walk away from him. 

After getting my belongings, I walked out the front door and breathed in the night air. It was tinged with the smell of putrescence. My sensitive hearing picked up the clamors of the undead at the gates. They scratched, banged, and even tried to bite at the wall. I went to the wall to look one more time. The horde had spread beyond the wood line. I couldn’t guess how many were beyond it, consuming everything in their path, threatening to devour the entire forest. They shook the trees , trying to get at the creatures above. The mighty elder trees held, but the younger ones snapped and fell over. They even tried to eat the leaves, or whatever organic matter that fell within their reach. At this rate, they would render the land barren.

I looked at the expanse of terrain and exclaimed, “We are lost.” The young guard nearby heard this and dropped his hands in despair. All his training and discipline went over the walls, along with the crossbow that he threw at the horde before abandoning his post. 

A church bell rang in the distance. I saw the bulk of the population heading to the temples to heed the call to prayer. I thought it indeed our darkest hour. How sadly I was mistaken.

The pangs of hunger began to sink their teeth on me. Now that I had outlived my usefulness, not too many of the townspeople would be rushing out to me to open their veins in thanks. There was one possible victim/donor that crossed my mind. I tracked down the deserter through the emptying streets until we reached a dark place.

The boy didn’t know what hit him. I bit down into his jugular vein and guzzled his life away. He went limp within seconds, leaving me to drain the rest out of him. My time was short and hiding places were few in these streets, so I hid him in plain sight, covering him up with the trash that went unseen in this small forgotten nook.

The emergency service went on for the better part of an hour. During this time, I chose to wander and reflect on what I had done. The town had become deserted in such a short time. I wondered if they had already hunkered down in preparation for the next stage. No one wanted to talk about it, but it was in their minds every minute of the day. It would even follow them to their dreams, poisoning them into nightmares.

Sometime in the last quarter hour, the denizens surfaced and started a procession. My guess was that they were going to Alaric’s house. I was correct. I did my best to stay out of their view, but one person spotted me and it spread through the crowd. Now I had hundreds of people chasing me, waiting for an answer to their prayers or a solution to their problems, neither of which I could provide.

Every part of me cried out that I should run, leave this place behind. Why didn’t I do it before? Why did I stay even now? Simply put, fear and greed. Those were the two emotions that anchored me here. It all seemed so simple in hindsight. The only thing wrong with that plan was that I lacked the guts to carry it out.

As fast as I ran, it wasn’t enough. They were emerging from every crevice, coming so close they tugged at my coattails. I arrived at the door, with the crowd threatening to crush me into it. The door cracked and Evelyn appeared, pulling me through the small opening. When she and Magda could not close the door, I pushed against the weight of the crowd and shut it. The living dead did not scare me as much as the living. Those zombies out there ignored me as if I were one of them, but these folks accosted me at every turn. I had met the dark side of fame.

Boom

Evelyn stood by the door with her arms crossed, giving me the evil eye. Magda looked around nervously, not sure whether to follow her example. I would have expected her to join Evelyn in the hate fest, but she turned around and went to the kitchen.

“What’s on your mind, Evelyn? Just come out and say it.”

She looked at me as if to say “
you know
,” served up with a bitter smirk. For a second it looked as if she might tell him the answer, but all she said was, “The master would like to see you upstairs.”

I really wished he’d chosen to spare me this moment. My feet never felt heavier than the moment I walked up those steps. I could already hear the cold shivers of Rhiannon’s “fever.” By now, she would have begun to grow cold as her body shut down. This is one time I wished I had been wrong, that it would have been something else. There was no such mercy in store for me. Such is my fate as a blighted creature of the night.

It cut me to the core to see her like this. She was having the cold shivers. Her jaws threatened to rattle off her skull. That sweet voice that was once my siren call moaned softly in pain. Her eyes had closed for the final time. I cursed myself for having left, because now I would never get to say goodbye to a living Rhiannon, no matter what Alaric’s decision came to be. It would be his decision alone to make now.

“Come in,” said Alaric. It was just the three of us there. The doctor must have sensed the end was near and gone home. I was so concerned about her that I went straight to her side. It surprised me that he let me get so close, much less hold her hand and feel her forehead. Her body temperature was just barely above ambient and still dropping. I had seen this too many times, caused more than my fair share of them. It was terrible enough to see them, but this was too much.
Not her, please not her
, I would beg the heavens over and over, all in vain, for her essence was evaporating out of her body with every strained breath.

“Have you decided?” I asked Alaric. This was no time to mince words. Whether it was yes or no, I had to have the answer now. Soon the decision would be made whether he wanted it or not.

Alaric paced the room, pausing at the window to look at the gathering crowd. They were chanting and praying—to their god, and to me. Some had learned about Rhiannon’s condition and were desperate for a miracle. Others had become doubtful of my divine nature and demanded an explanation. All of them cried out for a solution to the enemy at our gates.

His indecision was killing me. All I wanted was for him to tell me which way to go, but he refused to do it. I started to make the choice for him to force his hand.

“Wait,” he said as I peeled back my sleeve and got ready to sink my nail into my wrist. He looked at my wrist, then his dying wife. Still he could not make a decision. It was pure torture. Surely he wanted me to stand by idly and watch her die. It would be his punishment to the both of us. Rhiannon was the lucky one out of the two of us. Her pain would end while mine endured for who knew how many centuries.

“Tell me,” I said. “Does she live or die? I must know soon.”

He held up his hand to stay my actions, but I knew our time was growing short until the point of no return. I took my hand off my wrist and let my arms fall at my sides. Perhaps this was for the best. Just like humans hesitated about bringing a baby to this world of brutality, I felt reluctant to bring yet another bloodthirsty mouth to a world that was drying up by the day. I could almost hear the death knell that would lead to our extinction. This was the right decision. Let her die in peace.

“I accept.” He finally decided. After all this time, it was as if he could read my thoughts and tried to find the one that would cause me the most pain. Now it was I who was undecided. 

“Are you going to do it?” he asked me.

“Yes, yes…just give me a moment.” I did not mean to, but I moved at painfully slow speed, hoping to cause Alaric some anguish in return.

“Do it already, for God’s sake!” he yelled.

I nodded and pressed the sharp nail into my wrist. It hurt, but in the way it hurts to do something necessary, where it almost felt like pleasure. The blood began to drain out and fall into Rhiannon’s open mouth. She started to choke on it, but her body decided to drink down the cup of poison that would soon cause her death. When I thought she’d had enough, I put pressure on the wrist to stop the flow. It healed instantly, much to Alaric’s amazement. Rhiannon’s shivers calmed down and she looked to be settling into a peaceful sleep.

“What happens now?”