After the Fall (27 page)

Being spoken to like a child would normally rub me the wrong way, but I could feel just how ancient she was. 

“My Queen, it is an honor, but I must ask—”

“Shut up and come closer,” she snapped. I felt I had no choice but to do as ordered. I walked up until I was just a step away from her. She stood up to face me and still I could see nothing. The veil shimmered. What kind of witchery was this?

“I am no witch.”

I knew that. None of us were. Witchcraft seemed to be an art that favored humans. It would be frightening to find a Vampire that had also mastered magic.

“Yes. He’s young, but strong. Handsome. Yes, this one will do very nicely.”

“I’m sorry, my Queen?” Lucretius asked.

“I
said
, he will do.”

His eyes narrowed and his expression hardened.

“Stop pouting, Lucretius. You act as if I’ve handed you a death sentence.”

“You might as well have, my Queen. This marks the beginning of the end.”

“Can someone explain to me what is happening?” I asked.

“You have been selected to take a seat at our council,” said Lucretius. “The decision ultimately rests with you, but I would not advise refusing the Queen’s request.”

“You don’t have to decide now, but Lucretius will notify you of the next time the council will meet. We will take your answer then.”

“Thank you, my Queen.”

“You may go for now, Mordecai. I have some business to discuss with Lucretius in the meantime.”

Lucretius seized me by the arm as I started to walk and whispered, “Not a word about this. Only you and the council know of her existence. The penalties for divulging this secret go far beyond death.”

“Got it,” I said, reclaiming my arm from his grasp.

I excused myself and made my way back up to the stairs. Even before I left, Lucretius was arguing with the Queen. I could tell he was an old friend of hers, which was why she was so patient with him. It was tempting to linger and eavesdrop on the rest of the conversation, but I did not know whether the Queen could detect my presence. I decided to take the easy route, be a good little Vampire and go upstairs.

As the secret passage door closed, the double doors leading out of the place opened. I took this as an invitation to leave. The driver was standing by his car. I gave him a nod and told him to take me home.

We passed another monument to Anna Thorn on the way home. It was a beautiful depiction of the Founder, Queen, Mother, you name it. I wondered if that was what she really looked like under those veils or just some artist’s vision of her.

The night was almost over by the time we returned. I took a few bags of the chilled crimson draught and entertained myself by reading whatever was lying about the apartment. There were bookshelves full of many great books that lay gathering dust. I doubted that she had ever picked them up, much less read them. She struck me as the kind of woman who preferred books with lots of pictures in them.

Night came to a close and I took my place in the spare bedroom. The couch had become my best friend, but I decided to take my place as an unwelcome guest.

Backlash

The dream world for a Vampire is a land of blank oblivion. We rest more completely than babies do. Our systems practically shut down and we would appear dead even to a trained professional. Many of our kind have gone to sleep to find themselves in a morgue freezer. Imagine the surprise of the coroner when he saw a corpse rise out of the compartment and walk out of the morgue. If they were hungry, anyone that got in their way would become food. This was the stuff of legend, relegated to the tabloids. All that changed at the start of the Fall. We were lumped in together with the reports of zombies rising out of the morgues. Many of our kind met their untimely demise either from the guns or blades of the humans, or the gnashing teeth of the ravenous undead.

Something broke through the fog of sleep to alert me. It was loud, like a gunshot. I heard the sound of splintering wood. Somebody screamed, more in frustration than horror. You would think that would be enough to spring me into action, but I believed it to be one of those rare dreams. I thought myself safe. How wrong I was.

There was something pushing on my neck. I heard the sound of someone breathing loudly, straining to bring it under control. I opened my eyes and saw the long metal line glimmering in the light. Rayna stood at the end of it, looking at me with death in her eyes. As my mind came into clearer focus, I saw the sharp kukri blade pointing at me, its tip resting on my neck. I didn’t dare speak or even swallow lest she plunge the blade into me. Once I fell, there was nothing to prevent her from setting the place on fire and leaving me to die for the last time.

“How dare you?” she asked. Her voice quivered, and it seemed to move down to her arm. I hoped she wouldn’t kill me with a spasm. I watched the cords of her shoulder muscles twitch. The end of my unlife was only a muscle contraction away.

“How dare I do what?” I said through clenched teeth.

“Don’t be coy, you know damn well what I’m talking about!”

“Maybe you can pull your blade back a bit. At least I could give you some kind of answer.”

I watched her expression, the twitch of her muscles, her breathing. They telegraphed her next move to me. Fortunately, she was so focused on the blade that she didn’t see my foot flying at the side of her head.

It almost knocked her out. She dropped the blade and I grabbed it. I took advantage of her daze and seized her, pressing the blade into the base of her neck. Her fury was electric. I could feel its throb as if it was traveling up the blade and into me. She wanted to fight. Every fiber of her being ached to survive, but I could tell she was tired. The marks of sustained struggle were upon her. She was dirty and covered in small cuts and abrasions. I could tell she wanted to fight, but her physical and mental strength was at an end, whereas mine was at its peak from the end of a rest period.

“Go ahead,” she said, picking her chin up to give me a clear shot at her throat. My arm tensed and I pressed the blade into her throat. She closed her eyes and let out a moan. I withdrew the blade and watched the droplets of blood ooze from the cut for a few seconds before the blood stopped. She looked at me in surprise, almost disappointed. I pulled her up by the neck and turned her around.

“Let’s go,” I said pushing her out to the living room.

The couch was almost split open from an axe that was still sticking out of it. I was glad to have taken the bed.

“Sit.” I gave her a healthy shove into the couch. She regained her balance and sat down next to the axe. Her eyes kept going between me and the axe. I pointed the blade back at her. “Don’t even think about it. Leave it there.”

She grunted and stared me down in defiance, but I was not so easily deterred. I had her, at least for the moment.

“Just relax,” I said, lowering the blade but keeping it ready to strike at any moment. “And explain to me why you just tried to kill me.”

“You need to die,” she said.

“That’s a fair point lots of people have made throughout the years. They had good reason to say it. What’s yours?”

“What my reason? Dan is dead because of you, that’s the reason!”

Her answer blindsided me. I had just seen Dan alive the day before yesterday, when we went out hunting. He hadn’t fared so well then, nearly losing his life. Had it not been for my intervention, he would have met his demise even sooner. He was meant to die. Whether he had died then or now, she would have blamed me regardless.

“I had nothing to do with that. I was gone.”

“You know, they told me my guys would manage just fine, that it would be a quiet night. I should’ve disobeyed the orders and stayed with my team. Now one of them is dead and the other barely made it out.”

“I’m sorry about that. I couldn’t help it and neither could you.”

“Don’t give me any of that!” She launched out of the seat and was on me in a split second. We grappled for a moment, but I was able to keep the kukri out of her reach. She started to falter and clung to me, crying. Confused, I did the only thing I could and tried to comfort her. Her hand shot out and grabbed hold of the kukri. We struggled some more. 

The crying had been a ploy. I should have known better. Our hands tugged back and forth for control of the knife. She twisted her body to bring her other hand to help, giving me a clear shot. I drove my knee hard into her solar plexus. Her body actually went up a couple feet before staggering back. Now I had full control of the knife again. I watched her slump back on the couch, coughing.

“Are you satisfied, or shall we continue this dance?”

When she regained her breath, she said, “You disgust me.”

“Okay, that’s one woman’s opinion, but why kill me over that? Couldn’t you just ask me to leave?”

“You’re despicable, the lowest of the low.”

“Do you mind getting to the point?”

“While I was busy on that wild goose chase, Dan was dying…and the council gave you a seat. I knew it from the minute I laid eyes on you. You’re one of
them
.”

“By them, you mean—”

“Elders—the Old World stiffs who’ve never lifted a hand except to tell us what to do.”

“I would beg to differ.”

“You even talk like them. I don’t much care what the hell you want to say, it’s all a bunch of bull crap dressed up in fancy words.”

“What would you have me do?”

“You could leave my place, for starters. If you really want to make it all good, you can throw yourself into the bog full of zombies and let them take care of the problem.”

“Okay, I can do one of the two. I can’t help you on the other one. They wouldn’t attack me anyway. I’ll go get my things.”

I gathered my belongings, peeking over my shoulder every so often to make sure she wasn’t trying to finish the job she started this evening. All my vigilance was in vain, though. She had collapsed asleep on the couch where I’d left her. After having to stay awake for thirty-six hours or more and our struggle, she must have been drained. 

I stared at her sleeping as peacefully as a child. Her chest rose and fell so slowly it was almost imperceptible. I put my hand up to her face and caressed it. She really was a beautiful woman, when she wasn’t being a complete pain. Her complexion was the color of sand, which was rare. Most Vampires would lose a few shades of color after their transformation. Those slanted eyes, glossy black hair that grew out of her head in wild spirals, it all pointed to an exotic origin. Too bad I would never find out. I wasn’t planning to ask, and I doubt she would tell me. I pulled up the blanket I had been using and covered her up before leaving her apartment, but not before stocking up on some of her reserves.

Where I would be going next, I wasn’t sure. Since I had been unconscious, I did not know where Lucretius lived. The only place I could go was the house that served as a mausoleum to the Queen—the very same place which she still inhabited.

They Come Back...

It took me hours to get back to the mansion. Not that it was that long of a walk, but I had an urge to wander the streets. Drinking out of preserved blood bags fulfilled the basic need of nourishment and put the hunger to sleep, but I could feel there was something missing. My predator mind kept wandering to the many people walking the streets. I felt like a wolf among the sheep. The only thought in my mind was to take one of these hapless humans who lived in happy oblivion provided by the illusion of security and drain her (or him) of all their life. Where would their security be then?

Thanks to Rayna’s parting gift, I was able to win out over temptation…
for now
. As long as I was getting some kind of sustenance, I would be able to win over temptation. If that source happened to dry up, however…let’s just say it would be bad news. Since the council might frown upon this, I decided to go to the mansion, away from the temptation.

The butler and the rest of the servants proved not to be a temptation at all. I looked at them like walking, breathing furniture. The butler answered the door and let me in the house. He had no doubt been notified of my promotion.

“You are free to wander the house,” he said. “There are guest bedrooms available if you choose to stay here past night time. I will be retiring soon. Do you have any requests for me?”

A combination to the safe? An audience with the Queen?
“No, I think that will be enough.”

“If you need anything, the night servants will be there to help you. I shall see you tomorrow night, if you are still here.” Then he retired and left me to wander the grounds.

Not surprisingly, I made my way back to the underground entrance. I was drawn to it like an ancient sailor to the siren song. Like the same, I was liable to smash myself into the stone wall, waiting to be let in. All I wanted to see was the face behind the veil.

“Where are you going, Mordecai?” I said to myself. My hands were on the wall and I was pushing against it in the vain hope that it would open for me. Somewhere underneath this palatial dwelling was the Queen’s resting place. Not that she was dead, but she might as well have been. Resting in that hole under the ground, serving as little more than an inspirational memory, she might as well be dead.