by Slay (epub)
“Are you alone?” she asked.
“Yes. Why?” Uneasiness twirled in my gut. I hoped she didn’t notice the slight tremor in my voice.
She waved down the hall for someone to approach. She reached around the edge of the door and shoved Moira into me. She pushed us both into my quarters and closed the door.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked.
“Keep her here until you leave for vacation,” the med tech said.
“What? Why? What’s going on?”
“You care about her, don’t you?”
My mouth wavered as I stared at frightened Moira. Clearing my thoughts, I glanced at the med tech. “What are you talking about? Of course, I care. I don’t want anyone to hurt her. She’s just a kid, for blood’s sake.”
“Then you have to take her with you.”
“With me where? You still haven’t said a damn word to help me understand why I should get in trouble for you.”
She sighed. “If you care about Moira Durand, you’ll take her with you. You’re taking two weeks off after the launch tomorrow and you’re going back to Earth to see your parents. I know who they are, and why they will keep her safe. They did the same for you as long as they could.”
“Whoa. You’re asking a lot and you know nothing about me.”
“You’re right, I don’t.” She paused, her eyes pleading. “But your pattern of missed feedings tells me how much you detest them. Your history speaks volumes as to why. You want to find another way to feed us because you know in your heart this isn’t it.”
“What does any of this have to do with her?” I thumbed over to Moira who had sat on my couch looking petrified to touch anything.
“You have privileges others don’t. Take her with you. Call her a gift basket, but I know she’ll be safest with you. When she turns eighteen, she’ll have nobody to protect her. You have the power to do just that, and nobody will question it. Make up any story you want about her running away or having to kill her, but she can never return here. No trouble will come to you or your family—I swear.”
When I hesitated, the desperation in the med tech’s eyes threatened to pop them out of the sockets. “You know I’m right. She’s an innocent in all of this. We should be on that shuttle looking for a new place to live and leave this one for them.”
We both knew that would never happen. The med tech risked a lot to bring her here. At least she was doing something proactive, just like my parents would have done. What good was it for me to harbor such resentment toward my kind, if I did nothing to help the humans? At least Ramos made peace with his lot in life. I hadn’t.
Rather than question her any further, I nodded. I would help her hide Moira Durand in the resistance. She didn’t have to say what I already knew was coming, if she risked this much.
I stood by and applauded with everyone else in the command center as the Red Dwarf’s engines fired up and launched our most promising rocket into space. Later that night, I celebrated with a glass of white champagne, since it was one of the few solid foods that still gave us pleasure with no pain. We bared our fangs in solidarity and enjoyed conversation and blood snacks into the night. The whole time, nobody mentioned Moira’s disappearance.
When I returned to my quarters, Moira was reading my tablet where I kept my work. Startled, she dropped it on the floor and scrambled off the couch to hide in a dark corner of the room.
Her body shook. “Why did you sabotage the mission? They’ll kill you if they find out.”
Calmly, I approached her and knelt in front. “You and your med tech friend interrupted me last night. I could only download so much of the code into the Red Dwarf, but it’s enough to make this right.”
“But why? You’ve slayed an entire planet of newkind.”
“How is that any different from what we did to mankind?” I sighed. "I couldn’t get every single newkind on that shuttle, so I made sure nobody will ever find us. The scans will send back false data about inhabitable planets. Also, it’ll send a silent message warning more advanced alien races to stay away. It’ll take some time, but eventually, we’ll die. You and your kind will be all that’s left, as it should have been.”
“You didn't answer my first question. Why condemn your people to death?”
I sighed. “Because nobody listened to my parents, and they were right. We didn’t survive because of natural selection. We died when we decided it was okay to kill and enslave mankind.”
Smiling, I held my hand out to her. Though hesitant, she reached out and took it.
Blood Saviors
Michele Tracy Berger
Shonda had wanted this assignment, fought for it. She believed in the Vampire Council’s authority and her mission—infiltrate the Glamour Day Spa, a national chain owned by Jackie Shelton, collect information on any unethical behavior, and interrupt it, if possible. Get in and get out without using lethal force. My specialty.
Magic left a vibrational trace, discernible even by creatures like herself. Like the gong of a bell. As she stood in the spa’s elegant waiting area, her head thrummed. She didn’t see it at first but when Shonda looked in the mirror again, the glass rippled as if made of water. This was the second time in weeks she had a clue that magic was afoot in the Glamour Day Spa. With renewed determination, in search of a hidden room, she knocked against the wall where the mirror was mounted.
Nothing.
She moved her hands over the luxurious settee, the recessed bookshelves, and the oak table supporting a large bowl of fresh fruit. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed another distortion, emanating from the large carafe of rosehip scented water atop the oak table. The water in the carafe glittered as if studded with diamonds. She ran her fingers against the coolness of the pitcher. Another swell of unseen energy rippled up her spine. I’m close.
Another knock and the wall panel slid sideways. She paused for a moment, listening. The panel opened into a long, dark hallway. Her keen vampire eyes adjusted. The corridor led to a massive gray door. This slid open, too. Motion responsive. All her senses were alert. Although she ached to search the premises when first hired, she had restrained herself and waited for an opportune Monday evening when the spa was closed.
The spa sat on two acres of land, forty-five minutes outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. Being the most popular luxury spa in the state, they were always booked. And, as a front desk receptionist, Shonda had little time to explore the large facility. The humans arrived wrinkled and covered in liver spots and left looking much younger. Impossibly young. Without surgery. The spa specialized in natural ‘rejuvenative’ anti-aging therapies. That’s all they did, which Shonda flagged as unusual. No fancy massages, pedicures, or hair treatments. According to the Vampire Council’s laboratory analysis of the spa’s skin care brand ‘GoLIFE’, smuggled from another Glamour Day spa, it was infused with elemental magic. That ruled out humans and vampires. That left the Fae.
The Council didn’t know what Jackie Shelton was up to but they figured that it violated the code of conduct for vampires--no grievous or irreparable harm to human culture, or deception in commerce with humans, and no unlawful contact with the Fae. Not all vampires played by those rules, but most did.
Her brother, Ronaldo, usually got assigned all the choice undercover jobs. But he had grown so weak in the last year, having caught the Cemetery Rot or ‘CR’ virus multiple times. He wasn’t robust anymore. She shuddered remembering their last visit. Multiple infusions of human blood hadn’t kept away the spread of disfiguring yellow pustules that dotted his ashen face, neck, and arms. Most of his carefully tended dreadlocks had fallen out. She edged away the thought of finding her brother like others in their last days, immobile and half-mad--eaten alive by the bacterial and fungal matter that lived off their dead skin, harmless on healthy vampires. Get well, brother.
She descended several flights of stairs and finally came to a door that opened into a large lab. The lights flickered on and Shonda gasped. Lined across the back
wall were dozens of steel cages, big enough for dogs. In each cage lay an unresponsive or dead earth elemental. A fetid smell of decay, like rotting mushrooms pervaded the lab. Racing over to them, she took in their misery. Their usually bright, golden colored winged humanoid bodies were covered in sores and ugly, black bruises. Most lay on their backs, eyes closed. Some sat staring ahead with vacant eyes. She ran her hand across the cages, looking for life.
She had only seen earth elementals once at the gathering of the Sovereign Societies ball when she was a child. A memory tickled as she remembered how they carried themselves with an aloof dignity. They didn’t say much, unlike their talkative and flamboyant Fae cousins the fire, water and air elementals. It was rumored that their magic was the oldest and most potent among all elementals.
She said in a loud voice, “I’m Shonda French with the Vampire Council. I’m here to help.”
A small chirp sounded from a cage to her left and Shonda ran over. The magical creature sat slumped in the corner of the cage. The elemental’s gummy eyes barely opened. It wheezed as it tried to speak.
She grabbed the bars of the cage and pressed her face against them. “I’m so sorry that you’re here. Can you tell me what’s happened?”
It turned its head a fraction toward her. “GoLIFE cream,” it whispered. As if the force of speaking stole its life, the creature’s head drooped and drawing in a quivering breath, it collapsed.
She needed to get them out of here. I’ll transport them to my car. Not wasting time smashing the cages in, she used her telekinetic skills. Need to be careful. Can’t get drained. A green bubble formed in her mind’s eye as she concentrated on a living earth elemental. At the moment the pulling action of transport initiated, blinding pain surged through her body. Shonda released the mental hold and fell back. That hurt! The cages were somehow magically fortified with a dark energy that she had only read about in her training. OK that didn’t work. I don’t know what the hell I’m dealing with here.
Stepping back, Shonda saw the few earth elementals still alive take one look at her and cover their faces. Some whimpered and shivered, their ancient broad faces pulsing with fear. Something else was there, too, she noted, in the curl of their lips and the averting of their eyes. Repulsion? Hatred? Why would a vampire imprison them? What could we want with them?
It didn’t matter how they felt about her. Frustrated, she opened her arms and said, “I’m here to help. Someone speak, please! What about the GoLIFE cream?”
Out the corner of her eye, Shonda saw another earth elemental who had been staring in space, crawl to the front of the cage. Her silvery colored hair was matted, and her full lips showed crusty lesions as if they had been burned. She twitched, clung to the bars and in a croaking voice said, “Draining us, for your life.” She puckered her lips to spit but no liquid appeared.
Shonda bristled. “What? I don’t understand.” She wished she could probe the elemental’s mind and extract information. Unfortunately, unlike her brother and many other vampires, this was not one of her talents.
The earth elemental trembled and closed her eyes.
Given their degraded condition, maybe they don’t know much of anything about what’s going on. I’m lucky that enough of their magic presence was still traceable and led me here. Digging out her phone from a jacket pocket, she took pictures of the cages. Shonda shook her head as she walked around the lab, inspected the equipment, smelled bottles and test tubes, searching for any clues. At the end of one of the lab tables stood a medium-sized wooden box containing several vials of a yellowish fluid. All were labeled ‘GoLIFE Serum Version 10’. She grabbed it. Jackpot. Yes, this is going with me.
Shonda had less than a second to respond when she heard a voice behind her. “I suggest you put that box down now and do so carefully.”
Her insides thrummed as she recognized Jackie Shelton’s high-pitched and cold voice. In a flash, she leapt across the room away from Jackie.
Shonda spun around and maintained a semi-crouched stance. Jackie didn’t pursue but kept a steady gaze on her. The older woman with brown skin and a warm orange-red undertone laid the keys in her right hand down on a nearby table and offered a dazzling smile. Casually dressed in a green raincoat, black jeans and boots, her braids were coiffed into a tight bun. “You’ve got questions.”
You’re damn right I do. “I’m from-”
“From the Council,” Jackie waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve known about you all along. I’m always one step ahead of them.”
Shonda tried to hide her surprise. “This secret lab is in violation of Council rules.” She hugged the wooden box close to her chest. “I’ll be taking this back-”
“Do you want to know the truth, Shonda? Or are you so brainwashed by the Council that you won’t listen to what this lab represents for our future?”
Shonda flinched, disgusted by Jackie’s smug composure as she stood before the pitiful caged elementals. The collective misery emanating from them and enveloping Shonda was almost unbearable. If she had been human, she would have vomited. Although her stomach could no longer roil, like all vampires when she felt a sensation, she felt it deeply. Shonda allowed her killing teeth to become visible. Her voice deepened almost into a growl as she straightened and took a step forward, “You’re enslaving Fae for what? To make a fortune helping humans look younger? You’re already rich.”
To Shonda’s surprise, Jackie laughed, small creases forming across her almost ageless face. “You think I’m doing this for money? To make humans more vain? Oh, you are naïve and the Council is antiquated--built for a much simpler time.”
Shonda reached into her pocket and gripped the Council’s special-issued poison dart loaded with dissolved silver in an aqueous solution. Once thrown and lodged in Jackie, the fast-acting poison would give Shonda about forty-five seconds. Jackie would faint and be incapacitated. Enough time for me to transport into my car, without pursuit, and get the hell out of here. Someone from the Council can come back, shut this place down and rescue the earth elementals.
“Don’t you want to survive?” Jackie asked, a smile crossing her face.
“What are you talking about?” I shouldn’t listen. I have evidence of her abuse. I should leave.
“Do you even know why our numbers have dwindled over the past decade?” Jackie pressed. She took a step closer.
“It’s the virus,” Shonda replied. “Cemetery Rot.”
Jackie shook her head and pounded on the lab table. “The easy and standard answer! I thought you were supposed to be one of the smartest new members of the Council.”
Ignoring the jibe, Shonda said, “I’m committed to the Council. They help keep order among us.”
“Platitudes is what they offer. Think for yourself, damn it! Why has the virus shown up now? Why it is so virulent? The virus is just a symptom of the larger issue. Human blood is no longer sustaining us the way that it used to. Humans have so polluted themselves and the planet that it is finally impacting us. That’s why we got the damn virus in the first place. And, we have no immunity because our food source is contaminated.”
Shonda blanched. “A conspiracy theorist. I wouldn’t have taken you for one. The virus has been around since there have been vampires.”
Jackie shook her head, crossed her arms and continued. “We’re in a race against time, Shonda. I have come up with a remedy. My company is working around the clock to refine it and find an even better way to get it into humans. Is it perfect? No. Does it harm others? Yes.”
Shonda raised her eyebrows. I should take the shot now.
“Your brother is sick. Isn’t he?” Jackie stepped closer, her voice low.
Shonda winced at the mention of her brother, her face tightening. “It’s enslavement,” she said, trying to keep her voice even. She gestured toward Jackie, “We of all vampires should not be involved in anything like this.”
“The Council perpetuates the myth that the virus is cyclical. And, we are vampires above anything els
e.” Then without dropping her gaze, Jackie reached in the tote bag slung over her shoulder and dug out a manila folder. “Here,” she said. In a flash the folder disappeared.
Shonda responded to the vampire’s telekinetic abilities and grabbed the folder when it appeared in front of her.
“Those are the findings from my lab about the virus. It is lethal, Shonda. I predict the virus will eradicate all vampires within the next two years. Our kind will be extinct. Gone. Members on the Council refuse to believe me.”
Ronaldo! Shonda shook her head. She didn’t want to believe anything this enslaver said. She must be lying!
Jackie advanced a step closer, her eyes gleaming. “Child, the infusions I make from Fae blood and introduce into humans make the humans better and stronger. This better blood provides us with immunity. It is simple, no?”
Shonda glanced down and noted the heft of the file she held. She knew that files could be doctored. But, I should keep her talking. She needed to gather every scrap of information for the Council so they could punish this rogue vampire.
“This violates everything the Council stands for!” Shonda said. “The elementals are a protected class.”
Jackie’s eyes darkened. “Do you want to see your brother perish? I could have destroyed you the first day that you arrived here, but I didn’t. I wanted you to see. I need insiders on the Council who understand. My research is our best chance for survival. You would consign your own kind to extinction to save a few elementals?” Jackie pressed her lips into a hard line.
Jackie’s words weighed on her.
An eerie collective moan from the few living earth elementals flooded Shonda’s senses, momentarily distracting her. How can Jackie not feel that?
“Why trap them? Why not ask for their help and cooperation?” Though she asked with sincerity, a part of her already guessed the answer.
And, Jackie’s self-congratulatory tone confirmed her suspicion. “We did! Those little ancient shits weren’t interested in helping us. They don’t see us as one of them. Once a human to them, always a human. And almost all of them despise humans.”
