The Last Vampire

by Tanja Neise

Dark had no choice but to capture the vampire. At first there was trouble because the officials wanted to take him with them, but that would not have been possible. Too much was at stake. But the guy had been hard to stop in his greed. He was one of the oldest and he was strong. Dark had probably only been able to catch him because Ladorre was so starved. Getting him out of the dungeon again would have been suicide. And this is why Centrodynamics had taken over supervision of him: one of the advantages of being in direct contact with the president. She trusted me and knew that this vampire was very valuable for the research that was done in our laboratories. Nevertheless, it did not change the fact that some people now knew about a surviving vampire.

  The company building had been partly built on the walls of an ancient fortress and there were still some underground rooms in the vaults, which were excellent for such a case. I had had everything refurbished, and in the meantime, people no longer had any idea of the origin of the lower basement: a crucial argument I had made to Mrs Perth. Our research was also a point she could not easily sweep aside.

  Nevertheless, I had not understood why it was suddenly important for me to be here in Seattle. Perhaps I would find out in the next few days why Dark wanted me here so badly. So far we hadn't had a moment’s peace and hadn't been able to talk to each other in private. It had to be regarding a sensitive issue.

  “Spencer, go to the parking garage. I'll take the lift,” I instructed my chauffeur – a privilege I also enjoyed. Being driven saved me a lot of stress and enabled me to make good use of the time I needed to cover different distances. Of course, I could have easily bought one of those fashionable, modern cars that drove themselves, though they could make mistakes at the wheel, and I didn't believe that in an emergency these machines would react like a human being could. What if a defect caused the traffic control system to be interrupted? No, as long as I could afford it, I'd let a chauffeur drive the car, or damned well do it myself. It was a luxury that made it possible for me to enjoy another luxury, namely: having time. Unlike in the past, there were hardly any accidents, but someone had to steer the vehicle and intervene if the technology failed.

  My name was known in the world of the rich and powerful. I, Robert Tensington, as a businessman through and through, did not allow myself any kind of lapse and did not tolerate them among my employees either. I attracted women like moths to a light, but word quickly spread throughout the company that I was completely immune to advances. There were even rumours behind closed doors that I was homosexual. In my younger years this would probably have infuriated me, but today, I was no longer bothered by such childishness. What others thought of me did not affect me in any way. I simply didn't care.

  The car stopped with a gentle jolt, and a moment later, Spencer had already rushed to the door and was eagerly holding it open for me. Everything ran smoothly, just as the boss in me liked. All my employees knew they had to work, otherwise they were unemployed. Robert Tensington was merciless. Life had made me this way.

  * * *

  I entered the luxurious office that I would use during my presence in Seattle, and was quite amazed. The sight that welcomed me was more than merely appealing, but I was unaffected by it and remained so: a curse and a blessing in one. That was one of the things they had taken away from me. My interest in women had been completely erased, and since then I had no longer believed that I could ever find a woman again to whom my body would react. But I had stopped wasting my thoughts on it a long time ago; the loneliness hurt too much. I longed for Fria over and over again. Back then, there was no ardent desire that was roused in me unless I was near her – not like in so many books I had read so far in my life. In fact, it had been more of a silent love, characterised by a deep respect for each other. Fria had taken the position of a true partner and she had been loyal to me. I’d been able to rely on her, no matter what it concerned, because she had enjoyed my boundless trust, until her death.

  I no longer believed in finding such a woman again, although I had to admit that I had hoped for it for a long time. They were just stories for romantic girls who didn't know any better. There was simply no such thing as an all-consuming love.

  And this woman, who was sprawled lasciviously across my very expensive, antique desk, was only scum in my eyes. Calculating scum.

  Anne Rumsfield

  How was it possible? They had been considered extinct for two decades! This thought was constantly going round and round in my head, wreaking havoc.

  I almost missed my poby because I had been so lost in thought. A poby was a means of transport that brought several passengers from one place to another and had been invented because of the lack of resources. Very few people could still afford their own vehicles. I chose to do without my own car, despite the good salary I received as a member of the elite unit. Pobies were reliable and fast. They had priority in traffic and allowed you to get ahead quickly. So why would I not use them?

  When I got in, people looked down and avoided eye contact with me. I was used to it. As soon as they saw my uniform, they were afraid because we were the elite and thus, we also had powers: powers that meant I could order every single one of those present into a hole and not let them out again.

  As soon as I had sat down and programmed my destination into the small monitor in front of my seat, my thoughts wandered into the past.

  My father, Sir Rumsfield, had been one of the gifted researchers who had wiped those creatures off the face of the earth, and in the end he was the one who had managed to turn a simple serum into a lethal weapon.

  The American and British governments wanted to honour him. Innumerable medals were to be displayed on his chest and his bank account was to be filled with money, but he didn’t want fame. Money had never been what he wanted either; after all, he had enough of that. He asked for a vampire! Only today could I really understand why that had been so important to my father. Now that I was researching for myself and striving to uncover genetic secrets. I would give anything to get the opportunity that had been given to my father.

  One vampire, the last of its kind – at least I believed it to be until this morning –lived, from then on, in the research laboratory of Sir Rumsfield's country estate. He was held captive like an animal. My father researched his enemy down to the last detail. He recorded every experiment. Each of his enemy’s moves. He kept records of the feeding of blood that was still not contaminated. He paid more attention to this vampire than he had ever given to his daughter. Many years later I had read each of the notes, which he had kept meticulously. Most of the handwritten notes were burned, on the estate at the time, along with my father and his research object. However, he had stored the digital files on a stick he gave me as a pendant shortly before his death. He updated the results twice and I had devoured them when I was able to decipher them, fascinated and shocked by the extent of what he had done. A year before his death, he had kept more vampires in his laboratory and carried out experiments on them. These new vampires, as he called them, had been created by experiments on his assistants. These people, who had been employed by him and had volunteered, had become vampires through targeted genetic modification! Unbelievable! This fact still shocked me today. How, I had not yet been able to find out. All other evidence had been burned, and these creatures, too.

  From very early childhood I was sent to a boarding school. Sent away by him and away from my familiar home. Until today I had not forgiven him; I felt like I came up second best. My mother had died in childbirth when I was born, and from then on I was looked after by various nannies in London, while he was off doing research in the countryside, which I hated so much. And in order to completely detach myself from him, I had to go to a boarding school in Switzerland.

  But I didn't know any other way. I was alone most of the time. My imaginary friend accompanied me every step of the way. Even today I could remember the name of the invisible girl; she was the only friend I’d ever had. I’d called her Margaret; at the thought of that alone, a sarcastic
laugh bubbled up inside me.

  Nevertheless, to this day, I hadn’t been able to cope with being stuck in that horrible boarding school. My mind and body was shaped and then hardened. Without that time I would never have become the rationally-thinking person I was today, but I’d felt lonely and abandoned, terribly homesick. My constantly present and invisible friend Margaret was proof of that. Until I was able to decrypt the files on the stick and get my hands on them. From then on, I didn't waste a single thought on her anymore. Yes, I’d hardly thought of her until today. But then the pictures descended upon me and finally I was able to understand myself.

  Meanwhile, I knew more about vampires than about humans. But I had also found out something that had seriously shaken the faith I had in my father, which had hurt me more than all the lonely hours without him.

  I had to pull myself together; this report in the news could not be – no – was not possibly true. If it should be true, my world would be thrown off its hinges and I would have to take serious action.

  The seat below me vibrated slightly: the sign that I had arrived at my destination and had to get out.

  Would I ever accomplish my aims?

  Olivia Morgan

  The sounds were rushing softly through the headphones as I started to dust off the desk. I had put all my thoughts on ice and was working, while my brain was getting a well-deserved night's sleep. I had learned this quickly over the last few months – to switch off my brain and let my body work. This was the only way I survived the daily workload.

  Shocked, I turned around, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. My heart was racing in my chest in a hunting gallop.

  “Oh man, Sally! You just scared me to death. I’m about to have a heart attack!” I gasped, as I drew the oxygen into my lungs and leaned against the desk.

  Sally laughed, but her eyes remained strangely distant. “Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Are you done here? I need you down in the canteen. Those machines for heating the food supplies have obviously arrived today and we should clean them so that they can be put into operation tomorrow.”

  “What's wrong, Sally?” I looked at her, insistently. “Something is wrong!” I was absolutely sure something was bothering her.

  My supervisor and friend didn’t look me in the eye, instead she turned away to leave the room. I didn’t know her to ever be like this. Actually, Sally was mostly in a good mood and always talkative. “Oh, nonsense. Come on, we'll have to buck up a bit to keep on schedule.”

  I quickly ran after her and grabbed her arm to hold her back. “Sally, something is bothering you. I've known you long enough to see that. Tell me about it. Can I help you somehow?”

  Giving in, she let her shoulders sag, which she had previously pulled up, tense. With a nod, she asked me to go back to the office and closed the door behind us. “I had to let Chrissie go,” she whispered, as if someone could hear her through the thick walls. Which was absolute nonsense.

  “That blonde poison!” Chrissie always made fun of my clothes, but that wasn’t the only reason I couldn't stand her. Her dismissal wasn't something that really could upset me. Basically, the silly cow didn’t deserve anything else, as she skived off work far too often. Nobody took breaks more often than she did. Nevertheless I asked: “Why?”

  “She tried it on with the boss earlier and that went against the grain with him. I was immediately called up to him and the moment I came in the bitch was just getting dressed. I was disciplined and then had to fire Chrissie in the presence of Mr Tensington. She's out by the end of the month. Well, and...” Her voice broke. Horrified, I saw teardrops filling Sally’s eyes.

  “What?” I asked gently.

  “I can stay until the end of the quarter, then I'll be out.” Now the drops were running down her cheeks, and an irrepressible rage against the company owner and that slut Chrissie brewed inside me.

  “You're not serious, are you?” I pushed out angrily.

  Sally just nodded and sniffed again.

  “Hopefully you won't put up with that!” Angrily, I put my hands on my hips.

  “What am I supposed to do then? He dumped me cold as ice. I couldn't even justify myself,” Grateful, she took a handkerchief from me.

  With my eyes narrowed to slits, I carefully controlled my exhalation. “Then I’ll do it for you!” Strictly speaking, I was a very gentle person, but injustices could cause me to go into a rage

  I marched out of the room into the hallway. I would pay him a visit on his penthouse floor. Everyone knew where the boss's office was. Everyone knew that he didn't like women. Everyone, except Chrissie apparently. Or had she seen it as a challenge to get the supposedly extremely attractive man to her side of the bed? Anyway, that was irrelevant. He had a screw loose if he was punishing Sally for this.

  “Please, Liv, wait. Don't go to him.” Sally begged so quietly behind me that I almost didn't hear her.

  Sally sounded so broken that I immediately stopped and looked around for her. “Why? You don't deserve this. Just because that...” No, I would not sink that low and consider the woman with such derogatory words, even if they might describe her correctly.

  “I know that Liv. He would throw you out in the same way and that wouldn't help me either. Leave it.” Noisily, Sally cleaned her nose and turned around. Her shoulders hung down sad and powerless. “See you later.” Completely robbed of her usual zeal, she got into the lift.

  I waited a few moments until the doors of the lift were closed and my friend had disappeared from my field of vision, then I resumed the path I had wanted to take. This guy could dismiss me, by all means, but he would still hear my opinion.

  Robert Tensington

  As soon as the cleaning supervisor had left my office, I regretted my impulsive outburst at her. After all, she was least responsible for the incident. Okay, she was the one who was in charge of the cleaning crew, but she wasn't inside the heads of some of these dense, marriage-thirsty employees.

  Annoyed at myself and this blonde woman, I stepped up to the large panorama window and looked out at the Seattle night. The lights sparkled like the stars in the canopy above me. If I didn't know better, I could have just visualised that everything was fine down there in the streets. No destruction of the houses, no beggars in the dark alleys and no areas of fallow ground where nobody lived anymore. Since the bombs had been dropped on this city, entire districts had become extinct. Seattle shared this fate with almost every major city on Earth, unfortunately.

  I was seized with sorrow, which was my companion every now and then. The world today was anything but rosy. Only those who were tough and fought their way through survived and could make something of themselves. The weak fell by the wayside. ‘Social hammocks’, as they used to so beautifully put it, no longer existed. Everyone had to take care of their own survival. That blonde woman just now, knew that it was easier to live at the side of a wealthy, influential man. Some people knew, but slowly the ladies should have understood that I wasn’t available and would simply leave me in peace. This floozy had been lying sprawled across my mahogany desk dressed in nothing but lingerie, discreetly illuminated by the Tiffany lamp next to her. She had looked at me with sultry eyes and opened her legs. An invitation that lacked any appeal. Even in my best years I wouldn't have fallen for such a cheap pickup and I certainly hadn’t been picky. I had scolded the woman and told her to get dressed as soon as possible. But she had continued to try to convince me of her charms. In vain, of course.

  Unfortunately, incidents of this kind happened again and again. But this time I wanted to set an example. Heads had to roll so that, in future, the women who worked for me would not come up with such ideas again. I was simply tired of it and, inside, was about to explode.

  Only when I’d reached for the telephone did she recognise her mistake. I’d called the supervisor by speed dial, whose number I rang. Within a minute we were no longer alone. The woman who was still lying on my table hectically tried to cover her nakedness as the other woman ent
ered the office. Shocked, the older woman had looked back and forth between me and the blonde: at first questioning, but that quickly turned into anger towards the younger one. However, the brief sequence of events, as she was still thinking about what had just happened, hurt me. Did I look as if I needed to pounce on my cleaning ladies? My silly pride had reacted to it and had influenced my judgment and my actions. I should not have dismissed the supervisor. The blonde, yes.

  Tomorrow morning I would send a telegram to the older woman and withdraw her notice of termination. While I was still racking my brains over it, the door to the office flew open and a redheaded whirlwind stormed in without knocking. With eyebrows raised and arms crossed, I watched the spectacle that presented itself. It was definitely not boring in Seattle. The smell she emitted caught me like a crushing blow, and I immediately held my breath. Not because she smelled unpleasant, no, it was rather one of the most beguiling scents I had ever experienced.

  “You...,” the beauty began, but suddenly broke off and stared at me as if I were the devil incarnate. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened and she gasped for air like a fish on dry land. The next moment her legs gave way and before I knew it, she simply collapsed.

  What was going on here? This pretty little fury had actually fainted at the sight of me. I had already had a lot of experiences in relation to women, but none had shown such an effect in my presence. Shaking my head, I went over to her and carefully lifted her up. She weighed almost nothing. The leather sofa in the corner was comfortable; I knew that from experience and so I put my light cargo down on it. Her scent enveloped me; she was wearing a wonderful perfume, or was it her own scent? My nerves vibrated and swung synchronously with her heartbeat. Her face looked delicate, like porcelain, and on her nose I could see a few freckles that were adorable to look at.