by P. Mattern
After his face convulsed in the mask of a child tortured and traumatized by what he’d seen, the twin instantly composed his features and said,
“WELL? How was I? Who do you think they would believe - Jaxon?”
Jaxon’s shoulders slumped. As one of the newest members to the tribe he wasn’t sure he would be believed as readily as one of the Noble twins. The Twins were practically vampire royalty, adored locally and globally by V-net vampires, Cave dwellers and Cliff dwellers. Everyone knew who they were, just as everyone knew who the original Noble brothers Cass and Lux were.
Jaxon knew Fress would believe him… but he also knew that no one would believe that one of the Noble Twins could ever be a murderer.
It was a zero sum game.
Sighing he said,” Okay you win. But you better not do it AGAIN or I WILL tell, no matter how you threaten me!”
The twin took a step closer until their faces were mere inches apart. They were so close that Jaxon could smell the rich bouquet of the young girl’s blood emanating from the youngster’s breath.
“Stop FOLLOWING ME - you freakin’ MIDGET! Concentrate on improving your height like Dr. Caligare is trying to help you to do and LEAVE ME ALONE and you won’t SEE anything to tattle about!”
The twin stepped back away from Jaxon, his head tilted back defiantly.
“If you were really SMART Jaxon - which I doubt that you are-you’d consider hunting WITH ME! I doubt that anything could get away from the both of us! Fallon Lunel says that you are the fastest younger entity with swordplay that she’s ever seen… I could use your speed!”
Jaxon’s mouth turned down at the corners in disgust.
“How can you talk about humans that way? He said, perspiration breaking out on his forehead as he looked down at the completely inert, crumpled body of the young girl, and the realization of what the Twin had just done hit home with a vengeance. ”Most of US were human once! How can you be so cold?”
The twin straightened up until it was clear that he had a good half inch on the older vampire boy.
“Because I was BORN vampire!” He hissed. ”A new breed for the millennium! And not…” he added, looking Jaxon up and down with a smile of contempt playing around his mouth.
And NOT an orphan MONGREL, Justin Bieber lookalike like YOU!”
With that he turned and vanished, leaving Jaxon in the alleyway with the body of the girl.
It was Byron Chance’s first official date with Alexiandra Bouvier and he was surprised to discover that he was a little nervous. He had felt nervous so seldom in his lifetime that he hesitated to label the butterflies flitting around in his solar plexus that, but he had to admit that the young female energy had him rattled.
Byron had bedded more women than Magic Johnson on a roll at that point in his life. There was not one encounter he regretted, and not one that he hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed. Usually it was the woman involved that was the nervous one, and part of his mission - as Byron saw it-was to relax women and prove to them using all the formidable natural resources at his disposal that they were indeed desirable.
Alexiandra, or ‘Lexi’ as she preferred to be called, was an enigma to him. She’d told him very openly that she was an admirer of his, but took it greatly amiss when her charms caused him to have lustful thoughts toward her.
In Byron’s mind that made her a true Lady. A female with high standards that she refused to allow to be compromised.
And also a wonderful challenge.
Byron smiled to himself. The thing about challenges of any kind is that they invariably raised his testosterone level. In the case of Alexiandra this meant that he found himself lusting after her with a fervor that was unquenchable. Even when he pleasured himself privately, trying to conjure up scenarios of making love to her, it did nothing to lessen his desire for her.
“Tonight’s the night!” he reassured the unbelievably handsome face staring back at him from the mirror. Even dressed casually he was the finest specimen of American Vampire Male he had ever seen.
“Tonight’s the night you will meet your match, Miss Alexiandra Bouvier.” He repeated confidently.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
There were rumblings in the Vampire Net Community that were so pervasive that an official meeting was called for. It was held in a Blood Storage Warehouse at midnight one evening, when the only security guards-themselves members of the V-net-would be on duty.
Their numbers had increased in the past few months, filling the large space to capacity. A podium had been set up with a microphone and loudspeaker. Glass bottles of carbonated blood soda sat in huge metal containers filled with melting squares of ice. Since it was warm nearly every vamp in attendance was milling about holding one.
It was pleasant for Cass and Mitzi to walk among others of their kind. They even met a vampiress named Lavanthia who had just given birth to an vampire infant girl. Mitzi had a wonderful time discussing rearing ‘Born Vampires’ as they had been termed with the woman who was delighted to talk to someone who’d been through the same experience, particularly since the twins were now nearly 8 months old and had the attributes of a 9 to 10 year old human child.
Both the twins were as tall as Mitzi now.
Lux and Pierre had bumped into another gay male couple who said they had adopted an orphan vampire whose story was similar to Jaxon’s. Lux had been pondering raising a child with Pierre after the twins had come into the world, and he was hoping Pierre would get on board with the idea after being exposed to the gay couples enthusiastic and positive spin on parenting an adopted youngster. Like Jaxon, Their boy, Toby, was seeing Dr. Caligare for growth enhancing injections and was showing the same improvement that Jaxon was.
Lance, a beautiful honey blonde vampire with hair nearly to his waist, gave his card to Lux. Lux was interested to note that Lance worked at the same Blood Donor Center where he and Pierre had first met.
“Oh yes,” the vamp confirmed. “That’s the place I’m ‘sun lighting’ at actually. In the evenings I work at Parkview Hospital on the neonatal intensive care unit.”
Pierre lit up like a Christmas tree.
“You work with the babies?” he questioned rhetorically. ”I work in the ER at Lutheran Southwest!”
Lux watched Pierre as he exchanged anecdotes with Lance, and noticed that Lance’s partner Tom was watching Lance fondly as he spoke with Pierre. Catching each other’s eye Tom winked at Lux as if to say, ’Isn’t it great to have someone special?”
Lux couldn’t have agreed more. He felt as though Pierre was his soul mate now.
There was some slight commotion and a feedback noise in the direction of the podium. The vampires gathered there quieted and all eyes turned to the small stage.
The tall vampire with the regal manner and snowy white hair combed straight back from his face and fastened in a small ponytail was familiar to virtually everyone in the room.
It was Dr. Caligare. He tapped the microphone to make sure that it was on. Clearing his throat, he proceeded to speak.
“Welcome members of the Vampire Net. For nearly a century now we have extended our organizational influence to even the farthest flung corners of the globe, improved the ecology between phylums by establishing and maintaining a balance.
We have done much to protect the planet and the humans that provide our greatest resource: blood. Without it we cannot survive; and yet, we are committed to harvest it in the kindest, most civilized way possible. Our infiltration of the Blood Donor Services has improved the efficiency of the organization and also provided us with the essential component of immortality we require.
Unfortunately the V-net has put much trust in the humans operating in the ‘seen’ realm to maintain agendas which also protect the planet and preserve the Great Balance. But alas, it appears that we have trusted too much in the current paradigm.
I am here to deliver a grave message this evening that, using a hackneyed human colloquialism, the “honeymoon is over.”
>
In cities and countries all over the world, at this time, the same message is being delivered. And although we cannot as yet comprehend the magnitude of what is about to transpire, we do know the following:
1- The U.S. government is now fully aware of our existence and has taken a hostile position against us. The term they are using for Vampirekind, as well as other Phylums of the spectrum of entities outside of humanity is “Resident Non-alien Vampires, or “R-Navs”.
2- There are rumors that the government is orchestrating a nationwide campaign to implant Radio frequency Identification Devices in all citizens, both human and vampire. The RFIDs interfere greatly with our electromagnetic abilities including prescience, flying and hovering and also our ability to extract nutrition from human blood. A vampire thus implanted would slowly starve to death.
3- We have word from a reliable source that the Citizen Defense Department was rather crestfallen at the response to their call for American Citizens to volunteer to be implanted by RFIDs and will at some point begin enforcing mandatory measures. We have no idea what form this will take, but we must keep our ear to the ground and stay highly vigilant.
4- The scientists among us feel that we are experiencing evolutionary changes in response to our modern changes in how we procure blood. Since we have, by and large, not been hunting humans, the number of natural pregnancies in vampire women has increased exponentially .This is rare, although not unheard of, and the increase in those instances will repopulate our numbers from within. But there is more - this may be a evolutionary compensation for the numbers of us that will lose our immortal lives during The Great Upheaval.
5- Finally, even the most prescient among us are having trouble sensing future events. Let us not forget that ALL is ENERGY, and the turbulent storm of shifting energies is making it difficult to get discernment.
In short, we will have to rely on our preparedness, our instincts, and our sense of community to insure our survival.
Although Dr. Caligare was obviously finished speaking, a deep silence emanated throughout the hall as all gathered vampires contemplated the information they had been given. Finally he asked, ”Any questions?”
A handsome brown haired vampire wearing a tunic and breeches tucked into his boots in the old style stepped forward.
“I’ve heard from friends that work in Washington D.C. that there is some covert plan to put quantities of tiny RFID devices in the human food supply… is that a possibility?”
Dr, Caligare shifted uncomfortably on stage and motioned to a man standing to one side of him to approach the podium.
“I’d like to introduce Felix Lehner,” he said by way of introduction. “He works closely with the two vampire senators that were recently elected to Congress, one to the House of Representatives and one to the U.S. Senate. He should probably fill you in on that.”
The vampire Felix Lehner was a handsome man wearing an elegantly tailored modern suit. He wasted no time in getting to the point.
“Buying and eating organic human food will be a protection for awhile.” He said. His tone was serious, if not somber. ”But a warning to those of you who are fond of human junk food-that is the FIRST place the RFIDs will show up - in food that already is processed in factories.
I am here also to remind you that your FIRST choice should always be blood - preferably human. It’s estimated that blood products from all other species will sustain us but not deliver the same nutrition that will assure our skills and abilities are up to par. And this is a problem, ladies and gentlemen, because to deal with the world changes that are advancing toward us at this moment will require all of us to be in optimum physical condition.”
There was murmuring in the audience, and suddenly Mitzi stepped forward.
“How do we logistically prepare for the Great Upheaval?” She asked, ”Do we need to regroup so that we are more accessible as a community and not interspersed among the humans? Are there any recommendations for that? It seems to me that by remaining in our ‘blended’ status we are courting disaster!”
Mr. Lehner dropped his head for a moment before speaking.
“I am not here to be an alarmist.” He responded mildly. “And as immortals, we must recognize the sovereignty of each one of ourselves. The V-net is working with those of us in the scientific and environmental realms who show proficiency in contingency planning. There are so many possible scenarios at this point that is is virtually impossible to predict outcomes with any certainty. But I can tell you three things that are true: Our kind will be hunted as we were in past centuries, and either exterminated, or rounded up in government run ‘relocation” camps so that we can be watched and even experimented on…”
Several female vampires gasped at his grim pronouncement. Somewhere in the back of the room someone began weeping.
Lehner cleared his throat.
“The High Prescients among us-including Josh Stroud and Celeste Cunliffe - cannot predict precisely how events will unfold-but they do assure me that from a cloud of chaos we will emerge as a new, even MORE unified nation.
We WILL survive, as well as most of the humans.”
The speaker stopped to let the gathering digest this last bit of information, then said,
“This will be our first and last official meeting. From henceforth we will communicate by Vmail, and of course emergency broadcast on V-tv and V-radio. Our radio signals and emissions cannot be heard by human ears. In case of a Wireless Blackout - which I assure you is a distinct possibility, and has already happened in the form of several inexplicable incidents on a smaller scale-we will evacuate the area and head West. An imprint of chosen locations for new settlements will be made available to everyone, so be watching your V-mail.
As I stated before-this will be our last physical gathering. If you receive an announcement for an additional gathering it will NOT be from the V-net, but from the Citizen’s Defense Department posing as officials from the V-net, attempting to round up as many vampires as possible…
…for extermination.” He finished grimly, with a note of finality.
Byron peeked over his upheld menu at his date. She was also studying the menu at the 5 star restaurant he had chosen for their first date. Her dark auburn hair was twisted up in a sleek chignon secured with a glittering comb in the back.
And as he held the door so that she could enter the restaurant before him he had noticed that the back of her neck was poetically beautiful.
She was wearing an off the shoulder dress that was black with silver sequins strewn over it, like a dark sky sprinkled with shining stars. The dark color made her skin appear more luminous. It was skin that Byron longed to run his tongue over, inch by inch.
Just knowing that somewhere under all that material, but quickly he stopped his lascivious thought in progress, realizing that she could read his thoughts.
Well he couldn’t think those naughty thoughts and also have a conversation, so he looked at his date brightly.
“What looks good Princess? Feel free to order anything you desire. And how about some champagne to go with?”
“The lobster sounds fabulous, with haricots verte. What are YOU having? No, wait - how silly of me! Aged Prime rib, bloody rare! Am I right or am I right?”
Byron snorted.
“You’re right my darling but it’s not such a stretch to guess a male vamp would be having rare meat. And by the way… vampiresses seem to favor lobster for some reason. I wonder why that is?”
Lexi gazed across the candlelit table at the handsome face of her date. It was close to a dream to be going out with the famous Byron Chance. In the world of the V-net he was a celebrity, and one that multitudes of women wanted to ‘ get with’. But he did have quite a reputation and she wasn’t about to become yet another notch on his virtual bedpost.
“It’s something special and rare… and by the way, I’m not planning on drinking tonight, but if you insist on ordering champagne I will toast you and have a tiny sip. I think it’s quite asto
unding-I mean your recovery and all.”
“YOU are the astounding one!” Byron responded quickly. ”Alexiandra – Lexi - I want to know everything about you. Where did you come from? Whose child are you? Where were you living before this?”
Byron didn’t dare to voice the question that he was MOST interested in. He was dying to know how Lexi had been Turned - and by who. But that was information more personal than her sexual history - if she had any. And he knew that he would have to wait to learn the answer to that one.
That was the THING with this woman that was driving him mad - it seemed that he was constantly having to defer his gratification… and he was no more good at it than Cass was.
“I guess I’ll begin at the beginning.” She said brightly placing her folded menu onto the table. ”I am from an unusual family that has it’s roots in Russian aristocracy. Catherine the Great, Empress and Autocrat of all the Russias was my Great times 6 grandmother and her last child, a son Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky, was my many times great grandfather. The Bobrinskys were part of the Golden Age of Russia and had much to do with politics, science, the humanities and other cultural achievements of that time and beyond.
I am told that I have my Grandmother Catherine’s eyes.” She finished batting her long lashes alluringly.
The only information that Byron had ever heard about Catherine the Great had to do with her passion for lovers and some story about Catherine the Great’s voracious sexual appetites and a stallion. If he had been with the guy vampires the jokes would never had stopped, especially from Cass. He would no doubt have asked Byron if Lexi made him wear a saddle when they did it…
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Lexi’s giggling.
“What?” He asked ,mystified.
