The Last Human (Vampires Rule # 1) (7 page)

“
Thirdly”
-
he jerks his thumb up with a crack - “No one has mentioned his
arrival. Plus there has been no official announcement. But all the
teachers seemed to know he was coming though.” He sits back waiting
for us to respond, proud of his little theorizing. Fruz, who had
been chipping in with phrases such as, “Yes”, “His bang on”, “What
else could he be”, every time Nathan made a point,
frowns.

“
We could ask our parents, they should know
something,” he says. Nathan and
Albert both nod liking the idea. They pause, and all three of
them glance in my direction.

I look between them and swallow the slice of fish in
my mouth, which slithers down
my throat like a worm. “What?”

Albert rubs h
is
chin. “You could ask Lexus.”

I stare at my plate, “No point,” I mumble under my
breath, though I had been planning on asking him
al
l along.

“
Why no
t?”
Nathan asks with confusion.

I shrug my shoulders. “He do
esn’t tell me stuff like this.”

Fruz sighs and sits up straight in his chair. He
places both his arms on the table and intertwines the fingers on
his hands. “Jake,” he says in a tone he normally uses when he is
after some information. It is usually followed by a lot of
persuasive tact where he throws the Pro’s against the cons, with
the Pro’s alw
ays seeming to
come out on top.

“
I’ll ask him,” I say, sparing Fruz the trouble
of his forthcoming rant. “But I
still think he won’t tell me.”

Which is true to some extent
, because Lexus refuses to tell me various things,
for example; he refuses to tell me what exactly exists in the
Shadow zone. The Shadow Zone has always been a hot topic of gossip
amongst the students. It seemed no one got tired of talking about
it, and the more they talked about it the more questions they had.
Of course, no one answered them. Even the teachers claim that they
are not sure what exactly exists there. The only thing that we know
is that some sort of mutated creatures reside there.

Albert gives me a
gentle slap on my back. “You’re the man!”

***

After lunch we had the excruciating double period of
geology to look forward to. As soon as I enter the class,
my eyes dart around for Alex. His
chair is empty. So I sit down and wait for him to turn up. Other
students spill into the room. Mr. Norman barges in with his
overstuffed briefcase and kick starts the lesson. Alex still
doesn’t turn up. I grow uneasy. Did Lexus do something to him?
Elis, who seems to notice my anxiety, glides next to my desk and
leans down. “He’s fine. He is taking a few days off to calm
down.”

I nod with relief just as
Mr. Norman spins around to shout at us for talking,
but when he sees Elis, he seems to bite back what he initially
intended to say and instead says, “You got some good results in
your test Jake.” He smiles, tight and hard, and turns back to the
board and carries on writing. I sigh, flip open my exercise book
and begin copying.

After scho
ol,
Elis drives us back to the Manor. Maxwell sits beside me in the
back, staring ahead without a word, his jaw set hard.

This time no Vampire blocks the road as we
d
rive through the busy
streets.

My thoughts keep drifting to the new Vampire. Who
could he be? Nathan’s theory seems to have some life to it. Being
assigned two Artico
Destroyers
must mean he is someone important, someone valuable. Even I wasn’t
assigned Artico Destroyers until now.

I sit up straight, remembering Lexus’s words in my
mind:
There have
been some issues. And I have decided to assign you two Artico
Destroyers as your escorts until the matters are
resolved
. I stare out the
window, mulling over his words, and trying to figure out the source
of the threat he was hinting at. Could the new Vampires arrival be
just a coincidence or is there more to his arrival than meets the
eye? Could the Vampire be an outsider?

That would fit perfectly with the fugitive theory. We
don’t really get Vampires from the other groups coming to us and
pledging their allegiance, but it’s not unheard of. It has
happ
ened in the past several
times.

But what if the new Vampire was the threat Lexus was
referring to? I close my eyes
and sigh. That must be it. That was why he was given Artico
Destroyers – not for his protection – but for mine. It makes sense
on a level, but at the same time, I still find it odd for some
reason.

Elis parks the car in the Manor’s lot and we all walk
up to the front door, each of them flanking me on either side. The
Artico Guards at the door fluidly move aside, letting us through. I
head towards Lexus’s office. Two questions playing on my mind. Who
is the new guy? What was the issue he was referring to before? The
latter he has already refused to tell me, but perhaps today he is
in a better mood, and maybe my theory is correct and the new
Vampire is the new threat.

I knock on his office door, but instead of hearing
Lexus’s calm voice, another deep po
sh voice answers. “Oh come in.”

I frown as my hand lingers on the door knob. I push
the door open to find the office brightly lit by the overheard
florescent bulbs, the light sharp and dazzling, bringing the usual
dark room to life. And sitting behind Lexus’s desk, with hands
clasped in front of him, is Gregory Assange, or as I used to call
him ‘Uncle Greg’. He is wearing a tuxedo and has his long
w
hite hair pinned back in a
ponytail similar to Elis’s. He smiles when he sees me, his short
silver beard sparkles under the lights. He opens his arms
out.

I cock an eyebrow up as a grin breaks across my lips.
When I used to be younger, he was the first person Lexus introduced
me to. He used to open his arms up and I used to fly into them and
then he used to spin me around like a Ferris
wheel
, but at blinding speed.
Though entertaining at the time, those days are long gone, and I’ve
grown out of such games.

Gregory laughs; the sound deep and warm in his
throat, and he brings his arms back down. “Too old for childish
games?” he says with a chuckl
e.

I smile. “You could say that.” I look around the
office as though expecting to see Lexus. But the room is bare aside
from us and the furniture. “Where’s Lexus?”

A deep sigh escapes Gregory’s mouth, the sound drawn
and tired. “He left on an important errand. Not entirely sure how
l
ong it will keep him,” he
says.

Before I can say anything, Elis beats me to it. “When
did he leave?” he says, his us
ual calm tone losing its edge.

Gregory turns his attention to the two Destroyers and
says, “He left aro
und six
hours ago.”

“
Did he go on his own?” This time Maxwell speaks.
I haven’t heard him talk for so long, that the sound of his voice
actually surprises me, and I find myself giving him a backward
glance; the deep low rumble with the hint of a foreign accent
somewhere in there h
as be
guessing his nationality.

“
No,” Gregory replies, and he flicks imaginary
dirt from the shoulder of his immaculate tuxedo. “Four Artico
Destroyers a
ccompanied him at
his request.”

Elis and Maxwell exchange unreadable glances. I look
between them
, trying to figure
out if I just missed something. Lexus, though not very often, does
take off with little or no notice. But when he does, he always
informs me. And this time he hasn’t.

“
You have not been forgotten Elis. Lexus left you
a parchment,” Gregory says. He picks a black envelope from the desk
with two fingers and slides it across the air to Elis, who catches
it with his hand.
Elis slits
the envelope with a quick swipe of one finger, and withdraws a
small sheet of brown paper. His blue eyes scan over it once, and
then he folds it and slips it into his pocket.

“
He left one
for you too.”

I turn towards Gregory to see him holding a black
envelope in his hand. I
walk
up to him, frowning, wondering why Lexus would disappear at such
short notice and leave letters behind for us; why would he actually
leave at all without informing me in person. I take the envelope
from Gregory’s out stretched hand and slowly tear it open, an
uneasy knot forming in my stomach. I remove the folded paper
within, straighten it, and stare at Lexus’s spidery
writing:

Jake

An important concern had arisen and I
had to leave on short notice. I’m not sure how long this issue will
occupy me, so I have left Gregory to handle matters within the city
in my absence. Stay close to Elis and Maxwell at all times. Do not
wander around on your own under any circumstances, even in day
light. And above all, do not befriend the new child who has joined
your school. Keep your distance from him. Some-day you’ll
understand why.

Lexus

I read the letter
several times, my lips forming the words of the last two
sentences.

“
Best to do
what he says.”

I look up at Gregory who is rising from his chair. “I
need to pay the border guards a little visit,” he says, wiping away
imaginary dust from his tuxedo again, a gesture which he has
turned
into a
habit.

Elis and Maxwell, who had been in a whispered
conversation, glance up. “Is Kruse st
ill at the boarder?” Elis says.

Gregory nods, running his fingers through his thin
beard. “I need to pass on
instructions to him,” he says.

“
Wait,” I say
, and they all look in my direction. “What the hell is going
on?”

I expect Gregory to explain but it is Elis who talks.
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he says, the tone of
his voice implying
I should
mind my own business, but in a nice and gentle way.

Now my irritation is rocketing. Apparently something
is amiss and I get assigned two Artico Destroyers as my escorts.
Secondly, some new Vampire
appears out of nowhere and is also assigned escorts, no one
knows who he is, and those who know are keeping quiet about it.
Thirdly, Lexus takes off with several Destroyers on some important
mission, and warns me to keep away from the new guy. And no one
tells me anything.

“
Look,” I say, the irritation and annoyance
radiating through the one word. “You can at least tell me what is
going on. Where has Lexus gone off to?” I look between them, hoping
for some sort of expl
anation,
even a half-baked one.

Gregory shakes his head. “I’m afraid I do not
kn
ow myself.”

Gregory’s answer actually surprises me, and he sounds
genuine and sincere, so I let it go to ponder over later and move
on to my next question. “How about this new guy? Why do I have to
keep away from him? Is he the danger Lexus was talking about or
i
s the danger from the
outside?”

Gregory walks from behind the desk, and for a second
I think he is going to stand in front of me and explain all, but
instead he glides straight to the door. “I’ll be back soon,” he
says to Elis and Maxwell
, who
both tilt their heads in acknowledgement. He looks at me and smiles
a sad smile, before disappearing into the hallway.

I sigh and turn to Elis and Maxwell and open my mouth
to interrogate them
, but
Maxwell cuts me off. “Jake, you’re not going to get any answers
from us, so don’t waste your energy asking. And just for the
record, we do not know where Lexus has gone.” I recognize a tint of
annoyance in his words, and I get a feeling that it is not aimed at
me.

I clamp my mouth shut with a sigh, knowing I’m not
going to get any answers from these two. A volcano of anger bubbles
inside my chest at the annoying fact of why I have to be kept in
the dark. I let out a deep sigh, promising myself that I will force
the answers o
ut of Lexus when
he comes back.

But he doesn’t come back later that night. Nor is he
back during daylight. I stand outside his office and
knock
, but get no response. I
meet Elis and Maxwell down the hallway and ask them, only to hear
Lexus hasn’t arrived.

“
I’m going out,” I say
, walking towards the front entrance. I glance over
my shoulder to see Elis and Maxwell slip on gloves and
hats.

The sun is shining like a live furnace, bright and
hot, and it is hours before sunset. I walk along the path leading
away from the Manor, and out the front gate. I
glance back to find Elis and Maxwell have
followed me silently. “We’ll take the car today,” I say.

“
Depends where you wish to go,” Elis says,
tilting
his hat down to cover
his face.

“
The border,” I reply in a conversational tone as
though I go
there all the
time.