by A N Sandra
Daniel had the trunk of the car he had rented under an old friend’s name full of equipment for the Dark Web data center he intended to begin on the island. There were a few things he still needed, and he had planned to pick them up at a Best Buy in DC once they had eaten. His sub was like sawdust in his mouth as the GPS guided him to the store.
“I don’t think I’ll be long,” he told Travis and Sadie who had taken her mask off to eat.
They nodded as they chewed their sandwiches in a daze. Sadie didn’t know how she felt about it. Molly had tried to kill her with the vaccination chip, but just because Molly was dead didn’t mean Sadie was safe.
Inside the Best Buy all the television screens were turned to the news. Daniel stopped to take in the early reports. Broadcasters from different networks were all reporting from an ocean view.
“Molly Hollister was an amateur pilot, flying to Bernard, Maine in a romantic gesture to bring Doctor Justin his favorite lobster rolls for dinner. We don’t know what happened yet, but witnesses saw the plane go down here—” In the background were two Coast Guard vessels with workers scrambling about, obviously trying to retrieve the plane that was below the sparkling sea.
Daniel forced himself to watch for a few more minutes but the different news channels were all reporting the same things. There was nothing new to see so he moved to get the things he had planned on buying. He felt slightly queasy as he made his purchase and headed back out to the car, unsure what Molly’s death meant to his family and friends and himself.
“Is she really dead?” Sadie wanted to know as soon as Daniel opened the door to the backseat to put his items away.
“She was in a plane that crashed off the coast of Maine,” Daniel said. “It looks like Molly was flying the plane herself. Probably showing off for the doc. But hey, it was her plane.”
“Just owning a plane and taking some classes doesn’t mean you can fly.” Travis shook his head. “It happens to rich people all the time.”
Sadie didn’t point out that from Travis’s granddaughter, Tilly, she knew that Travis was very wealthy himself. Travis liked the simple life. If Urban Relocation had not interfered with him, he would be living in Vermont in his tiny cabin very happily.
“Do you think Molly being dead means that you can just go back to regular life?” Daniel asked Sadie as he navigated out of the huge parking lot.
“Last summer made me aware of a lot of things.” Sadie bit her lip. “I think we need to get to Maddy and Tilly and decompress a bit and figure out what’s going on.”
“I wanted to see the Outer Banks one more time anyway,” Travis said. His voice trembled just a little. “I haven’t been there since I was young.”
“Oh, don’t worry about being old, Gramps,” Daniel told him. “No one may be getting much older than they are right now.”
The kitchen of the island beach house had a sunroom off to the side where Sadie, Daniel, Tilly and Maddy all congregated with steaming cups of tea around a large white table. The late afternoon sun glinted off the water in the distance and birds frolicked just outside the window among the tall beach grasses that grew from the sandy soil.
“I hate all this conspiracy talk,” Travis complained, looking outside rather than at everyone else. “It so right wing.”
Tilly allowed herself a small smile and patted Travis’s hand.
“You should understand what’s at stake as much as any of us!” Maddy said. “Thinking people need to draw conclusions based on their actual experiences, not what they want to believe or what they wish was true.”
“We should have never let the Hollister Corporation take over the internet and all the media,” Daniel pointed out. “But the people who complained just… went away.”
“That’s the worst part,” Maddy went on. “No one demanded to know what happened to the people who complained. The Hollisters have the whole internet except the Dark Web, which is super spotty—”
“We’re going to help shore up the east coast Dark Web,” Daniel insisted. “This place is isolated but with enough boosters we can do a lot to stabilize it.”
“This island belongs to Sugar’s grandparents,” Tilly fretted. “They’ve been really nice to let us stay here. Sugar knows what we’re doing, but I bet they don’t. I hope we don’t get them in trouble.”
“Danger is coming to everyone whether we hide from it or not,” Daniel pointed out. “It’s important to let as many people know as possible.”
“But what if we just end up spreading lies and paranoia?” Sadie wanted to know.
“You didn’t see the Hollister Security people cutting the throats of random protesters in the middle of Manhattan,” Daniel answered. “Accidental slander is the last thing we need to worry about.”
“I wasn’t thinking about slander,” Sadie said. “I was thinking about causing panic that might be worse than the actual things the Hollisters are doing.”
“I have a good feeling about Daniel’s plans,” Molly said confidently. “I don’t think we’ll make things worse. Knowledge is power.”
“I’m just trying to play the devil’s advocate,” Sadie replied.
“I think the devil has enough advocates with the Hollisters on his side,” Maddy said.
The group laughed a little.
“I’m going to help you, Daniel,” Sadie promised. “I’m terrible at technology, but I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“Massages would help,” Daniel joked.
“Hey,” Tilly scolded. “Grandpa can massage you if you get tired—”
“I’m not the group masseur.” Travis laughed. “I can, however, be the bankbook. When the Hollisters took my girlfriend, I took plenty of money out of the bank. I have a lot of cash.”
“Thanks, Grandpa,” Daniel said.
“Oh, don’t thank me,” Travis answered. “The best part of having a grandfather is his cash flow.”
“No,” Tilly argued. “The best part of having a grandfather is having someone believe in you enough that they use their cash flow for you.”
Chapter 5
Ancient Times
Golda looked out her laboratory window into the setting sun. It was odd that no matter how old she became she never lost the urge to play in the twilight hours. Her mother had scolded her to come inside when it became dark. “The Blood Drinkers are out!” and Cattu and Golda had often stayed on the porch of their beautiful log home, Golda looking wistfully into the distance.
Nothing was really stopping Golda now. As an adult and founding member of the colony no one could stop her following her wandering heart. She could take Cattu for another romp on the beach… but it would be undignified. Cattu was outside the girl’s dormitory keeping the girls sweet and the boys outside, and the urge to frolic was not going to go away no matter how much she played. There was work to be done, and it was not going to do itself. No one else was going to do it either, because no one else believed in the merits of Golda’s work. Some people were sure that her work was going to be misused and harm would result.
“I would never hurt anyone!” Golda said out loud to herself in frustration. Accusations of carelessness always stung. Giving her life to learning, science, and the care of others should have made her immune to accusations from people who wanted her to stop her research into the very fiber of what makes a person, animal, or even plant. “I deserve the knowledge I seek!”
No one was listening. Others were doing their own research, into things that Golda feared wouldn’t bear fruit the way the world was heading. The Blood Drinkers grew stronger continually. They would have to be stopped. The Creator would stop them, of this Golda was certain, because of all the evidence that the Creator loved the world. What concerned Golda the most was the responsibility of the people in the world to save themselves. Who could know how much they were supposed to do and what the Creator would do? When people had communicated directly with the Creator it had been easy to know what He expected. Now people tried to tell the Creator what they wan
ted, as if he were a vendor of various fruits at a street market.
“I’m afraid I need to interrupt.” Wesslan was at her door. “Barden and Braxion are here; they want to talk to us about something.”
“Do they have Ursu and Avem?” Golda asked quickly.
“They do.” Wesslan frowned, knowing why Golda asked. “Please don’t involve them in your research. We will meet with them as a group and let them depart.”
Golda didn’t bother to answer. She secured her workstation and followed Wesslan quickly. No matter what Wesslan and the others said or did, Golda would not be prevented from taking samples from Avem and Ursu. She had taken a sample from Mendalon’s totem animal months ago when she had brought medicine to the mainland, but she hadn’t confided to anyone that she had done it.
The founding members of the colony met with Barden and Braxion in a large room outside the main lab where they brainstormed ideas at various times. Outside the room a huge group of mortal girls had surrounded Ursu and Avem, stroking and admiring the unfamiliar totem animals. Golda cringed, not just because there was now no way that she could take a discrete sample of DNA from the animals, but also because their calming power would be mitigated by so many drawing comfort from them already. The meeting would be held without the cool heads that the animals brought. It was another reason for taking the DNA. Golda was sure she could make more animals at some point, but there was no answer for the moment.
“Aren’t they lovely, girls?” Golda said sweetly as she waded through the gaggle of young women before she entered the meeting room. None of them paid any attention to her.
Inside the meeting room everyone was seated on cushioned benches around a huge honey colored table. A huge papyrus sheet was mounted on a windowless wall to write on when someone needed to take notes for the group or illustrate an idea.
“We don’t need to take up much of your time, but you need to understand what it’s coming to,” Braxion began.
“We know,” Wesslan said.
“I go to the mainland almost every month,” Celeste told them. “We are not isolated.”
“The rest of the common people are running in some sort of fiendish hoard,” Barden said. “I think they are completely controlled by the Blood Drinkers. They killed Mendalon. We have been staying with Noah—”
Sith grunted uncomfortably. Noah was a touchy subject. Such an arrogant man. Thought he alone heard from the Creator as he built his compound. No one else looked happy to talk about Noah either.
“Noah’s compound is safe,” Barden insisted. “My own daughter is married to one of his sons.”
“You have four daughters here,” Rynd reminded Barden grimly. “One of your sons left last year.”
“My mother and I raised many of my children,” Barden replied. “The ones you had were here because their mothers felt it best.” More sadly, Barden went on. “My son found me but wouldn’t stay with me after he left you. I believe he was killed by Blood Drinkers.”
“Better to have been killed by them than join them. The real threat they pose is that their numbers have grown,” Braxion said to get everyone back on track. “Please join us to fight them. Please. Together we have a chance. You have dozens of young people here with Eternal blood. They are stronger, smarter—”
“More unpredictable, more impatient, more easily ensnared in moods of despair.” Celeste finished. “You did not join us when the chance was given. Why should we save the world you chose?”
“There is no reason not to save our world,” Barden replied. His voice was smooth from years of honing it singing songs to woo women and coaxing his young children to behave. “Just because we are separated by a small amount of water, you cannot live apart from it. You cannot stay on this island forever. It could not sustain you.”
“Even if the Blood Drinkers do not come for you,” Braxion said quietly.
Golda knew that Wesslan and some of the others were simply waiting for everyone on the mainland to kill each other off. That school of thought was that the Blood Drinkers would be easier to deal with without the chaos they were able to create with the humans who were easily manipulated by them. Golda knew better. The Blood Drinkers grew stronger as they consumed blood. Many quarter and half Eternal beings joined their numbers regularly. By the time they had picked off the remaining humans on the mainland they might very well be unstoppable as they approached the island for the remaining blood and control of Earth.
There was silence as everyone processed the spoken words differently.
“Is there any more to be said?” Sith asked.
“We should take a vote,” Rynd said.
The colony members nodded.
“We can leave while you vote,” Braxion said graciously.
Barden and Braxion unfolded their large graceful frames from their benches and went outside to delight the mortal girls with their presence. Both of the men were no longer tempted by women, both of them had had more than their fill of carnal pleasure and had lived long enough to endure the fruits of raising children that exhausted their mortal mothers. That didn’t stop them from passing out compliments to the young ladies, enjoying the extra power that kind words have when they come from a partly Eternal being.
“Before calling for a vote I would outline my thoughts for the group,” Wesslan said.
Everyone suppressed groans. Not so much because they did not want Wesslan to speak as they did not want to reopen debate.
“What is happening on the mainland is very unfortunate, but it is not our problem,” Wesslan began. “The Blood Drinkers will kill all the mortals and even part mortals left on the mainland and they will have the whole of it to themselves. We will stay to ourselves and we will continue as before. When we outgrow the island, we can easily take over the mainland from the Blood Drinkers because our ranks will be ready.”
“Or our ranks will be weakened.” Sith argued the other school of thought. “We should have a better plan than we do to keep from losing people to them one at a time. Every time a young person breaks the wrong rules or decides they don’t want to keep our rules they go to the mainland and the Blood Drinkers take their lives and grow even stronger. By the time the situation is simply us or them, they may have more numbers than we think. They have turned several of our quarter Eternals into their ranks.”
“We raised them,” Celeste protested. “Took care of them when their own mothers cast them aside. They will not kill us.”
“We turned them out for not following rules they didn’t agree with.” Golda couldn’t help but pitch in even though she had promised herself she would wait to have the last word. “They joined the Blood Drinkers to save themselves. Celeste, they will kill us, their surrogate mothers, and fathers, and siblings who cast them out to fend for themselves.”
There was a long silence after Golda’s words. No one wanted to believe their work had been done in vain, but all of them felt sick every time someone left the colony because they could not manage (or would not manage) their base instincts. The threat that those people would retaliate for being cast away from the island was real.
“I don’t believe there will be a final confrontation,” Celeste said. “The Blood Drinkers are running freely now, but with less people they will settle down. We have enough people leaving the colony to give them the morsels they want. There is no reason for a battle now. There won’t be one later if we don’t provoke them.”
“You are assuming that the Blood Drinkers are like us,” Golda said when it appeared no one else would answer Celeste. “You assume that because we outgrew many of our youthful follies they will also. I disagree based on the evidence I have seen. They are not like us. Their fathers were the Eternal enemies of our fathers. They seek to spread the void. They drink blood for control, and they will not have control until we all are gone. They won’t leave us alone hoping for new random victims. They will kill us all and seek to send this world into the void.”
“That is preposterous!” Wesslan flipped his head a
s if Golda were speaking nonsense. “We aren’t fighting the Eternal battle with them. They are not fighting with us. They are drinking blood for the thrill, but they will get their fill if they don’t have it already. There is no danger of them pushing the Earth into the void.”
“We are fighting the Eternal battle,” Sith said. “Just not with gleaming swords. We are pulling knowledge and science into this world. We are filling it. The void is causing chaos to destroy it. The battle is plain to be seen—”
“That is ridiculous.” Wesslan dismissed Sith’s words. “There is no threat to us if we keep to ourselves—”
“Is there anyone here who does not know their mind on this matter?” Sith asked, looking around the room at each of the founding seven half-Eternals. “Does anyone here have questions that need answering before they vote?”
Golda had many more things she would like to say before there was a vote. She wanted to say that she did not want to fight herself. She was afraid of confrontation with the Blood Drinkers just like they were. All of her private study had focused on making more totem animals because they would make the colony more harmonious and because the animals would help defend the colony. She never brought up defending the colony because none of the original founders wanted to discuss the problems outside. Now Barden and Braxion had forced a discussion and a vote no one was ready to have.
The vote went exactly as expected. Golda, Sith, and Lelan voted to join Barden and Braxion in fighting the Blood Drinkers. Gari abstained. That left Celeste, Wesslan and Rynd to vote against taking any action at all. One remarkable thing did come from the vote. Barden and Braxion were allowed to stay in the guesthouse with Avem and Ursu, provided they brought Avem and Ursu to mingle with the general population of the island to keep peaceful order. The other condition was that the two of them would not stir people to action in the outside world.
Golda was pleased they could stay. It was an unprecedented exception to hard rules about visitors never staying longer than three days. She had hustled her own mother off the island after three days with painful guilt. Even though their stay was probationary, and largely based on their totem animals spreading harmony, Golda was encouraged at the slight mental flexibility involved in the decision.
