We had walked no more than a block from the previous home when I halted again under the window of another two story brick home. They were all brick here in the city, here in the heart of the old city. These houses were all over a hundred years old and built one next to the other. It was a land of brick, mortar and concrete.
I quested upward with my consciousness only. Felt the slumbering minds of the couple in their bed. I slipped into the man’s mind. I was a sinuous thread and found no difficulty entering. His awareness was like a block of Swiss cheese. Consciously he never knew I entered while subconsciously he welcomed me. It was an act for me as effortless as taking a breath, or moving my hand. He was having a dream and I found myself in his dreamscape.
He was in a cornfield. The corn was one of the new hybrids with huge, fat ears and plump kernels. They were full, rounded, yellow and delicious- to the dreamer. A woman, not his wife, stood next to him, seeming to judge him as he looked at the fat ears of corn. He looked at a fat ear in front of him, and then to the woman, who seemed to be awaiting some judgment from him concerning the corn. Then back to the ear in front of him. It was then that I saw the light bursting through the cracks between the kernels in the ear in front of me. A light as brilliant as the sun itself. Abruptly the dream vanished as the man’s subconscious mind awakened to my presence and I was left with only the wonder of what the dream had meant.
Dreams are an avenue for the subconscious mind to deal with both the real world, and other-world problems that plague us. Both Humans and Vampires. A Human often turned in dream reflection to the Vampire they can sense near them. Humans are just as telepathic as either Vampires or the Others, but they have not come to the point of their mutual evolution where they can consciously manipulate those abilities. Yet perfectly able to sense the nearness of the Vampire, their dreams often turn in dream contemplation, and I often enjoyed trying to analyze them for their content pertaining to myself. Prescience was most readily attained during sleep, and I had often realized future events through the pilfered dreams of my hosts. This dream had been clear, its visualizations sharp and crisp, yet I did not see how it could pertain to us.
“Through technology will be our salvation.” Sonafi said, I still aware of my own body even while inhabiting the hosts. I returned my full consciousness to my own body as my host rose to open the window. This was not our first visit to this home. Now aware of us, he did not need to be told what to do. They had been programmed to do our bidding, and they did not know the difference between us and the Others. The window slid open with barely a sound. No face appeared there this time. Sometimes they looked, sometimes not.
My desire pushed me forward. I kicked off my shoes and went scurrying up the wall, my fingers and prehensile toes finding purchase where even a tree lizard might falter. I slipped into the bedroom like a mist, like flowing water and where Humans got the impression, possibly, that Vampires could disassociate into a fog and then slip under doors, through key-holes or cracks in the walls. When in truth we were invited in. We came in much the same way as everyone else. We were invited, but we were never remembered. Humans had thus to associate other-worldly attributes to us to explain away their own complicity. Humans would not believe, for their own sanity's sake, that they would open the door and allow such a monster to enter their own homes and feed on them. It was a tenuous tight-rope walking act Humans performed, for their sanity's sakes, living with what they were; preyed upon on the one hand, arrogant and conceited with their self-perceived greatness, on the other.
We all had our crosses to bear. Were a Vampire's that much lighter? At least a Vampire could fight. There was that, at least. We were not subjected to the degradations of humankind, yet we still had to hide our faces from the light of day. We were despised and hated by all around us. Hunted by the Others and nearly as helpless ourselves. Nearly. Was our lot that much more dignified, then?
'No.' Sonafi spoke into my mind, having been eavesdropping on my thoughts. Most Vampires did not appreciate the intrusions of others into their minds, but we were at ease with one another. I had nothing to hide from her. No reason to close my mind to her. Our open honesty with one another was the reason our relationship had lasted, when others of our kind could not even bear to be around one another, much less form relationships. I do not say that I only think good thoughts about her. I do not. I am often annoyed with her. I am often less than gracious with my opinions, but I do not hide those thoughts from her like a naughty child fearing a punishment. Her opinions are often even less gracious. I admit that she can sometimes be a trial. The Humans waited for us patiently.
The male shivered as I entered the room. He was shivering in anticipation. Then Sonafi was beside me, having moved too quickly for the Human’s minds to perceive, but at the normal limits for my own powers of observation.
“We have what you seek.” Sonafi hissed, flowing towards the middle aged female. There were six children in the house. I could hear their heart beats, their breathing, faintly. This couple was beyond the concern of damaging a conception. I moved close and took my victim. He fell into my embrace like a long separated lover, moaning as I bit into his neck. The hot, salty rush of blood was instantaneous. Like that lover, I held him, drinking until I was sated, but not overly so.
His blood pressure now lowered, only a single drop slipped free from the right side puncture wound as I drew back, and unable to halt my impulse, I leaned back in to retrieve it. Sonafi was already finished. She could often be viciously aggressive when she fed, the more so having already been forced to halt her first attempt. Though old, her instincts were still as nearly primordial as they had once been when she had been a Juvenile. A Vampire might mature as she ages, but the blood lust would never diminish. Never grow weaker. Only the Vampires self-restraint might grow, but that Vampire will never escape its hunger.
The female was already bruising on her arms where Sonafi had held her. The bite had been too quick and careless, the punctures ragged. She would be sore and bruised on the morrow, besides being exhausted. I let the thought fade away as unimportant. Quick as the thought I moved to the window and then out onto the wall. I sniffed the air and searched the shadows, but there was nothing. A Vampire sees in the thermal, there is no hiding from us. Quickly I gained the ground.
Sonafi was instantly beside me. If I had looked away even a moment, I would not have seen her approach. A small smudge of crimson soiled the flawless beauty of her lip. I leaned over to suck it and she bit my lip playfully. Hard enough to draw blood. I tolerated it without complaint. She in turn sucked the blood which flowed from my slight wound, if only for a moment, before it sealed itself. Our hyperactive regenerative abilities are almost instantaneous. Why Vampires are so hard to kill.
“So how do all of these suddenly cooperative Vampires plan to trap one of the Others?” I asked, just as if our earlier conversation had not been interrupted. We fell into step together, moving homewards.
“This is what we were thinking . . . “ Sonafi began.
CHAPTER 4
Star watching was one of my oldest hobbies, but now I had an ulterior motive, as well as the modern tools needed to do it right. My eye rested on the eyepiece of a 3.5” telescope that brought the sky above into sharp relief, but it wasn't the outer solar planets, the stars or even the galaxy clusters even further beyond to which I turned my attention this night. I was not looking for the usual, stationary celestial objects. I knew the night sky as well as anyone on Earth, I would presume, having spent so many nights under it, studying it, imprinting it to memory. Tonight I was looking for spots of light which did not belong there.
If an object were in a high enough orbit, constructed of a reflective material and the sky between it and I cloudless, the sun’s rays would pass beyond the curvature of the Earth, be reflected from the object, and be visible to me from my roof top perch. That's what I was looking for. I was looking for the increased activity which had been reported to me. This supposed increased activity the reason the Com
munity had devised this new strategy. I had yet to see them, but if they were there, searching for us, the hunter would become the hunted.
“Have you seen anything?” Brid asked behind me, startling me. I moved before I could think. It was an act of pure reaction. As Vampires age, we grow faster, stronger, more mentally acute. Some of the new breed of Vampire scientists hypothesize that the reason is that as we age we continue to grow new neurons and synapses, a kind of active evolution, growing them in response to our stimuli. A Vampire continues through this process until, I supposed, some finite limit is achieved, though when that ceiling occurs I have yet to see. I continue to evolve and certainly hope to continue to do so longer. I have always hoped the sky was the limit, but only Time can be the judge of that. Time we might not have.
Brid did not see me coming. I knew he had thought to be amusing by sneaking up on me while I was preoccupied, but I was far from so. Vampires are not like Humans. A Juvenile Vampire will never be a match for an Elder. No matter the training he receives, no matter how much he trains, practices, drills or disciplines himself, he can never be better than an older or especially Elder Vampire. It is capability which is lacking. I was at his throat before he knew I had moved. I took his body into my embrace and buried my teeth into the flesh around his jugular, but I did not penetrate. I held back.
Hardly faster than a Human did Brid’s awareness follow the progress of the chain of events. To me it seemed nearly an eternity before he snapped to cognizance of his predicament. He thrashed once, mightily, against me, and then lay still, like a bird in a cat's mouth, saving its energy for the one chance it hoped it may receive. His shock was great and as a Vampire I savored the fear, letting him know how tenuous was his place, should I care to divorce myself from any feeling of parental obligation. I released my lock on his throat only slowly.
“Have I grown so addled in my old age that I would so ineptly send one of my own children completely unprepared out into the world?” I asked, my mouth next his skin. Skin that to a Human would seem as strong as steel was to me soft, rubbery and weak. I could tear it by merely rolling it between thumb and forefinger, had I wanted. I decided then that I had been too soft on Brid. The others of his brood had not been as rebellious as he, had adjusted better, but I had failed Brid in not raising my discipline level to his need. By not disciplining him better.
“I meant no harm!” Brid floundered. The fear in his mind for me was a new thing. It was a feeling to which he was unaccustomed in our relationship. If I had done my job as a father better he would have known to respect his Elders. I wondered how I could have failed so miserably.
Then I felt Sonafi's presence. I had been foolish of my own account, letting my attention be drawn by my sky-watching so that I had failed to note Brid's approach, surreptitious though it had been. If it had been an Elder bent on killing me, I would now be dead. I released Brid and threw him to the deck of the roof. He did not resist. He remained where I threw him.
Sonafi stood in the doorway of the roof access-way and stared in mute annoyance. It was not annoyance with me, but with Brid. She knew what it took to rouse me to such anger, but that, I thought, was exactly where I had gone wrong. I should have been a lot harsher.
“Get up, Brid.” Sonafi said, reading my mind. Our minds intermingled, sharing the memories in mental images of when and how we had raised Brid. Where I had gone wrong. Where Sonafi had gone wrong! She showed me. Showed me where she felt she had gone wrong. There had been many little instances where she had chided me for being too harsh and where she had coddled him far too much. I wanted to deny it, but I could not. As Brid rose, Sonafi snatched him from his feet and began to choke him, thrashing held in the air in front of her.
He tried to resist, tearing at her hands, but he may as well have been scrabbling at a concrete statue come to life, for all the effect he had upon her. Immovable, she continued remorselessly to choke him. He kicked and thrashed and struck her across the face as, slowly, suffocating, he grew frantic and desperate, but there was no dislodging her hands and his face began to change color as he starved for oxygen. He thrashed monstrously as his desperation reached a crescendo then fell quiescent as he blacked out. Limply now, he hung in Sonafi's grasp.
I said nothing, but I was beginning to wonder how far she was going to take it, when she released him and he crumpled unmoving to the roof. He began raspingly to breathe again, drawing in a huge first breath that caused him to cough and splutter. He awoke then but kept his eyes cast down, refusing to look up at either of us. This was no doubt a harsh lesson for him, who had been coddled and handled with kid gloves up to now.
“Why?” Brid gasped out once he had caught his breath, but he still would not look up to meet our eyes, nor was he daring to look into our minds. He really did not understand.
“Because you are going to anger the wrong Vampire once,” I said, “and he will kill you for it.”
“We should have taught you respect.” Sonafi said, her tone hard and remorseless. A new severity in the way she would deal with her son. I saw that Brid recognized it too. Even a Vampire could be warm and nurturing to her young, but that softness was now departed. A new Sonafi stood over her son. “Get up.” She said, and he slowly rose, but still wouldn't look us in the eyes.
“What do you want?” I demanded coldly.
“The others have sent me to talk to you.” Brid answered, hardly daring to look up.
“We're listening.” Sonafi said.
“We want to do something to make our presence known.” Brid said. “We've been talking about ways to do that, but we think that if we make it too obvious, they won't come. Or they'll find some other way to deal with us.”
“Are you their spokesman? Why don't they just come themselves?” I asked. So far I had met none of the others in this group.
“They are not all in agreement that you should be allowed in with us. There are some that fear you.” Brid said. “I think now I can see why.”
I glared at him but wondered if he had even noted our point. We had only chastised him moments ago and yet here he was already returned to recalcitrance. I continued to glare at him. “Do these others accept your arrogant attitude?” I wondered aloud.
“I know better than to screw with them.” Brid snarled, suddenly angry. “You're my parents! I thought that if there was anyone I was safe with, it would be my own parents!”
I looked at Sonafi. She looked back.
“Have we over reacted?” She asked.
“No.” I said. “Life is a serious business. I think Brid is taking it too lightly. Much too lightly.”
“I think you would be surprised just how serious I am about life, and not only just my own.” Brid replied seriously. “How I have endeavored to find a way to gain the upper hand over our enemies. Do you know why I am accepted by the other of my group? Do you have any idea?”
Brid's mind was closed to me and I suddenly felt the smallest needle of guilt at being barred from his mind. While he had lived under my roof he would never have dared to close his mind to us. We had taught our children to learn to live with one another openly, as Sonafi and I did, because through openness and honesty we hoped to bring the entire Community together, or so we have always hoped. To find his mind closed now to me was a shocking surprise. I did not know what he was hiding.
“No. I guess I don't.” I admitted. I hadn't thought about it, but now that I did, I found that I was a little baffled. What use did they get out of my son? What could they have seen that I hadn't?
“All those hours I wasted sitting in front of the computer.” Brid said. “You don't recall?”
“I could hardly forget.” I said. “That's all you ever did. That or play video games.”
“The video games I wrote?” Brid asked sarcastically. “Are those the ones you refer to? Or the electronics I was always working on. Maybe you refer to those?”
“You mean all those toys you tore apart!” I said, just as sarcastically, remembering how much money B
rid’s hobbies had cost. Money wasn't nor isn't an issue however yet the thought still crossed my mind. I have access to nearly unlimited amounts, but it's the point of it. I spent a fortune on electronics he wanted only to watch him tear them apart and build unintelligible objects with them.
“Yeah. Those.” Brid said.
“What's your point?” I asked, starting to become annoyed.
“He's an electronics and computer programming expert.” Sonafi explained. “He's an engineer of no little ability. He can build almost anything electronic or electrical, and write almost any type of code. I would imagine he's been accepted for his expertise.”
“At least one of you was paying attention.” Brid said angrily.
“I guess I don't understand such things,” I said, trying not to get angry again myself, and only barely succeeding, “but how does that help us with the Others?”
“If you can't understand, then there's no explaining it to you.” Brid said, his anger at what he saw as the injustice of the way I had treated him coming out boldly, but it was becoming too much for me.
“Try anyway.” I snarled, moving so close, so quickly, that when his awareness of my nearness registered, he recoiled in shock, but I grabbed him and would not let him go. He did not try to resist. His rebellion did not go beyond what his mouth would say. Not now.
I felt Sonafi’s hand on my shoulder. “They hope to gain the technological upper hand. I believe, as they do, that it is our only chance. I also believe that it is possible. I believe they can be beaten at their own game. Now is the time. Now is our chance.” I released my hold on Brid.
“That's right.” Brid said. “Beat them at their own game. On the technological level. Infect their computers. Disrupt their ship's drives. Possibly build weaponry that will be of some significant use against them. We're exploring every avenue we can think of. The problem is that we have more questions than answers, and the more we learn, the more we realize how far behind them we are. That's why we hope to be able to infect one of them. We need time to learn. We understand the gulf that separates us. Right now it's our best and only option.”
The Vampire-Alien Chronicles Page 4
