by Alex Dire
There rest of the group followed behind. Norman approached the door with less caution then he’d displayed so far. If it was a trap, they already knew he was there. No sense in hiding it now. Time to make a constituent complaint of his own.
At the ornate wooden doors, Norman paused. He looked around into each member’s eyes. They were ready. He grasped the intricate metal handle and pulled. The door did not yield. Locked, of course. “If this is a trap, it’s quite a thorough one.” Norman gave an extra tug and the door came off its hinges. They stepped back as it crashed to the floor. The wood was heavy and it landed with a muffled thud.
Georgios reached down and drew his hand across its surface. “That wood must be hundreds of years old.”
“Two hundred twenty-something,” said Felicia. “Right, Mr. Bernard?”
Leave it to a high school student to be in touch with irrelevant state history.
Inside the building they were greeted with stillness and silence. Norman stepped through the breach and into the large round entrance room. He scanned around. Far above arched a dome. Six balconies ringed the chamber one atop the other. No one walked along the circular paths.
“Humph,” Norman wondered out loud.
He moved across the tiled floor to the stairs at the opposite side. “I saw one light from the outside.” They climbed to the third floor and made their way to the end of the hall.
Light shone from the perimeter of the door at the end.
The group stood in front of the door and heard the first sounds since they entered the capital building. A voice yelled frantically at the other side. They didn’t need to press their ears against the wood to make out the words.
“I don’t care if he’s asleep. Wake him up and get him on the phone. Hold on. Yes? Finally. Get your ass down here. Everyone needs to come back. The governor will be here in minutes.” The voice paused. “No. They’re all dead. I’m orchestrating this myself. Why me? Because I’m the only one here.”
Another sound interrupted Norman’s listening. This sound came from the other end of the long hall which ended at the circular balcony over the rotunda.
The whole group twitched their heads that way. Others had entered the building.
“Is it them?” asked Felicia.
Norman raised one finger, silencing her. He listened for a moment. “I don’t think so.” Then he turned and opened the door to the office.
Representative Garcia sat at his desk with two phones against his ears.
“I’ll call you back,” he said tapping buttons on each and laying them on his desk. “I hoped you might show up.”
Norman and his group approached Garcia’s desk. The shaggy human looked up at him. “How many of you are…um…” he ended his sentence without concluding the thought.
“We’re all vampires,” replied Norman.
“I wish I’d listened to you the other day,” said Garcia.
“Too late for that,” said Rufus.
“It probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference,” replied Norman.
“Representative, we have word that the whole horde is on their way. They could be here any moment. And people are starting to show up at the capital.”
Garcia leapt up from his creaky old metal seat. The springs gasped as if tired from a day’s work. “I'm ready.”
“Ready?” said Norman.
Garcia move over to a wooden hutch. Its doors were carved with ornate runes in a language unknown but somehow familiar to Norman. Garcia turned a skeleton key and swung the doors. Inside were all manner of ancient weapons, each made of wood or metal or both.
Garcia turned back to the vampires. Norman could not tell if his demeanor betrayed insanity or impossible knowledge. “Oh, I've been ready my whole life.” Garcia reached into the hutch and pulled out a long wooden pole with a silver blade at the end. “This should do nicely.” He stepped to the side. “Take your pick. But be careful. You might get pricked.”
They huddled around the hutch looking through the many weapons that lay inside.
“None of this kills them, you know,” said Norman.
“We’ll see,” said Garcia. He reached back into the hutch and grasped a long wooden stake, its tip pointed and a blade set into the edge. Its length was carved with detail and imagery. He handed it to Felicia.
“No thanks,” said Felicia. “I’ve got my own.” She placed her hand on her belt where her dagger hung.
Rufus flicked out his two assassin’s knives. “Me too. If it's a fight to the death, I'm ready."
MacManus chuckled. "It's always a fuckin’ fight to the death with you. Don't you ever fight to win?”
Rufus gave MacManus a steely stare. “I’m still here, aren't I?”
The coldness of Rufus’ words sent a visible shiver through MacManus. MacManus was tough, but discipline wasn’t his thing.
Norman grasped a spear with a silver tip. Georgios withdrew an axe. It consisted of a long shaft with a heavy metal blade at the end. The sharpened edges had been silvered.
MacManus grabbed two short wooden stakes. “Not sure what good they’ll do, but better than nothing.”
Rae stepped in to choose a weapon. MacManus moved his arm in front of her, preventing her from choosing. “You stay back, lass. We’ll take care of this.”
She slowly pushed his arm down.
“She's quite good in a fight. Trust me. I have experience," said Norman.
Rae grasped a long stake which had streaks of silver inlaid near the point. “I’ve only ever learned to fight with a stake.”
The noises from hall grew louder as more and more people entered the building.
“We need to move now,” said Norman.
He led them through the door and into the hallway. He was slightly surprised to see several people advancing toward him.
All stopped when they saw the small band of armed vampires plus one human.
Garcia, standing right next to Norman, spoke first. “Senator Walsh, nice to see you. Glad you could make it. You might want to sit this next part out.”
Walsh stood, mouth agape, unable to muster words to meet the weirdness of the situation.
They proceeded down the hallway passing stunned humans as they went. When they reached the rotunda, they looked down into the round chamber. More state congressman and groggy, half-awake assistants streamed into the building. A few hustled around with intention. However most stumbled about in a semi-awakened state, not knowing why they had been called to show up for work tonight.
Norman and his friends made their way down the stairs, leaving behind a trail of stunned humans.
When they reached the broken-down door, they looked outside. More humans straggled in to confront something they could not possibly be ready for.
“This is going to be a blood bath,” said Norman.
Rufus grinned. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“We can't protect them all,” said Norman. Norman twitched his neck in desperate spasms, searching for ways to fortify the building against attack.
“We never could,” said Garcia.
“Why don’t we warn them? They need to know,” said Felicia.
“It’s no use,” said Garcia. “They’ll never believe you. Just like they never believe me.”
27
Politics
“They’re sitting ducks,” said Norman. “If you won’t warn them, then I will.”
“Be my guest,” said Garcia waving his arm and presenting the entirety of the rotunda and the many dreary humans hustling to figure out why they needed to be hustling so much.
Norman had hoped Garcia would offer more help. “Okay, then.” He ran up one flight of steps and stood at the balcony so he could see the great round chamber from above. It became more and more packed with politicians and their staff as they listened to their phones, exchanged gasps of disbelief, and shook their heads at each other. Norman cleared his throat. “People,” he shouted in his best teacher voice.
The ro
om fell silent and all eyes trained up on him. A teacher could certainly command the attention of the room when he needed to.
“You have been summoned here at a grave time.”
“Who the hell are you?” shouted a young woman in a power suit.
A few more people expressed confusion. Voices spread like rustling leaves. The sounds quickly amplified as the members repeated the question to each other. The question led to more questions and noise, and then right back to the random interactions of a moment ago. Any decent teacher could get a class's attention, but keeping it was much harder.
Garcia shook his head and chuckled from below.
Norman blurred his way back down. He had thrown his fear of discovery out the window when Skeete mutilated those guardsmen on live TV. “I could use some help here.”
“Not sure I can,” said Garcia.
“You’re a member.”
Garcia stared in reply.
“They know you. They’ll listen to you.”
Garcia chuckled again. “My friend, you may not be aware of this, but this whole chamber thinks I’m a crackpot. I mean, look at the things I keep in my office.” He raised his weapon from his side. “I talk about vampires and aliens all the time. It’s business as usual. No one would take me seriously.”
“How do you get any work done like that?” asked Norman.
“It’s my greatest asset, actually. But this isn’t really the time for such discussions, don’t you think?”
Norman looked to the few friends he had with him for anything they might give him. It was like looking into mirrors. Like it or not, in this situation, Norman’s authority exceeded that of even an elected representative of the state.
Norman looked around the room for something, anything, to grasp, anything he could use to unite this chaotic mass of humans into something capable of defending themselves. Then he saw him. “Walsh.”
“Good luck with that one,” said Garcia. “He’ll probably pass a law outlawing you right on the spot.
Norman blurred across the room to the senator. “Hello. I’m a friend of Rae Gordon”
Walsh starred for a moment. “Ah, yes. Is she here? I could really use her right now.”
Norman dipped his head. The individual sounds and actions around him became distinct. The universe lined up into a mesh of trillions of tiny individual interactions making one whole. The only one that commanded Norman’s attention, though, was the glowing orb in front of him: the will of Senator Walsh. It’s wildly gyrating arcs spread about the room casting a glow only visible to him. Norman was in the zone. He hooked instantly into the senator and had command of his will.
“You need to make an announcement.”
A peon staffer grasped Norman by the arm. “Sir, the senator is very busy right now, please let him work.”
Norman twitched his head toward the would-be distraction. He had him in an instant. “Senator, I need to speak.”
“Let him speak,” said Walsh.
The rest of the gnats who buzzed about Walsh fell silent and still at the senator’s command.
“Senator, go up to the rotunda balcony and tell everyone that a horde of vampires is heading this way. Everyone must leave this building at once or they’ll all be killed.”
Without moving their heads, the lackeys twitched their eyes around making brief contact with each other. One raised a phone to her ear. “Hold on for a moment.”
“Vampires?” said one.
Walsh looked at the outspoken fool. “Vampires.” He gave the young staffer a ‘how dare you’ look.
Oh, yes. This senator would do nicely.
Walsh looked up at Norman.
“Try to be convincing,” said Norman.
Walsh nodded and made for the steps.
“Quickly,” shouted Norman.
He increased his pace to a jog and leapt up two steps at a time. When he reached the second floor, he scanned the rotunda from above. He raised his arms as if speaking from the mount. “Colleagues. Hear me. I have vital news about tonight’s events.”
The room hushed to silence.
“Everyone in this room has known me for a long time. And you know I’ve devoted my life to the service of the people of this state and to you. I’ve worked with each and every one of you on issue after issue. I have helped many of you achieve your personal goals. I’ve been respectful with people I disagreed with.”
Garcia slid up behind Norman. “A lie,” he whispered through his mustache.
“Now, I need you to listen to me and trust me as never before. A grave danger is about to befall everyone in this building. If you don’t do exactly as I say, you will be dead in moments.”
It seemed as if the silence even grew silent.
Walsh paused to let the quiet do some of the talking for him. He looked down at Norman who nodded.
“A mob of individuals have attacked our National Guard in the warehouse district tonight. I’m sure you’ve all seen the footage by now.”
A chatter began to circulate through the rotunda.
“This mob is now moving toward the capital at this moment.”
A middle-aged woman with her hair tied in a grey knot at the top of her head spoke from below. “The terror attack isn’t over? They’re coming here?”
The chatter built up in volume.
A voice shouted. “Who are they?”
Another answered, “Islamic terrorists?”
The noise grew louder as the gathering attempted to connect the dots between the various terror attacks around the world and what was happening in their own city right now.
The woman with the grey bun shouted back over the crowd just before it became too loud to do so. “Are you saying terrorists have plotted to attack the capital?”
The noise dropped a level, waiting for a response.
“No,” replied Walsh. “Everything you think you know about what’s going on tonight is wrong.”
The chatter dropped another level.
“Dead wrong.”
Walsh’s last word silenced the room. All eyes looked up.
“The individuals that are approaching this building at this very moment are not terrorists, they’re not from the Middle East.”
He had them. Norman thought this guy might make a good teacher.
“They are from our nightmares.” Once again, he let the silence in the room set the stage for his next words.
“They are vampires, and they’re going to kill every one of us.”
Norman scanned around the chamber to gauge reactions. At first, he could see no response at all. Then he saw one staffer in the room look over to the politician he served. The politician shrugged his shoulders.
Norman could practically see the thoughts spinning around the room. The individuals struggled to connect this new series of dots with the ones they already knew. How could this possibly work? None of this fit into anything they had ever experienced. There was no way for them to get a handle on it. Even Skeete’s display of horror on the roof of the self-storage building would not be enough. Even the sight of vampires feeding on national guardsmen would not be enough.
Norman slipped over to Rae.
“This isn’t going to work,” she whispered.
“I can see that,” Norman replied.
“They need something more that some blurry helicopter video and a speech by a politician.”
“Then they’ll all die when Skeete and her army get here.” Norman despaired.
“We can’t let that happen. We won’t get another chance at this. If the world learns of vampire’s Skeete’s way, we’re all doomed. I know these people. They’ll fall over themselves to look tough. They’ll pass every law possible authorizing force against vampires. There won’t be an opportunity to show that there’s another side. This is all too weird for them.”
“If that happens, then Skeete wins. Laws and force cannot win the day here.” Norman put a palm on his forehead, pushing his fingers into his matted hair as if to squeeze some
idea, any idea out of his brain.
Rufus moved into the conversation. Georgios and MacManus also joined the huddle.
“We can set up positions along the front of the building and fight when Skeete gets here,” said Rufus.
MacManus sneered, “All out assault again. Typical. You know you’re starting to get predictable, brother.”
Rufus did not break his professional soldier cool. “No.” He waited to add more. The brief silence caused MacManus to shrivel back a little. “We fight so they can see us fighting for them. So they can accept what’s really happening and that it’s not simply an attack. We show them that we’re here too.”
MacManus raised a brow. “You’re full of surprises.”
“We can’t win,” said Georgios.
“We don’t need to,” said Norman. “All we…”
Normans thought was interrupted as the chatter in the room increased in volume. The politician who’d shrugged his shoulders shouted up at Walsh. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Walsh replied, “The truth. It’s all I’ve ever told. You know that, Senator Davis.”
The crowd hushed again to take in the new dialog.
“I’ve known you a long time, Walsh. We all know you’re a straight shooter. But this is too much. What the hell happened to you?”
Garcia's voice rang out from the crowd. “He’s telling the truth. Vampires. They’re real. They’re coming for us all.”
Rae whispered to Norman. “That was not helpful.”
Senator Davis looked over at Garcia. “Really? This is starting to make sense now. Walsh, have you been spending time with Garcia? Has he got you with his fairy tales?” Davis looked around the room and spoke to the crowd more than to Walsh now. “I really expected more from you, but it seems you’ve fallen under Garcia’s spell.”
The room chuckled.
“See,” said Rae.
“Your only chance is to flee. Darkness moves upon us. You cannot withstand it,” blurted Garcia.
“Shut up, Garcia,” shouted a voice from the other side of the rotunda. “Let the grown-ups handle this.”
“We have a terror attack to deal with,” said Davis. “Enough of this delay.”
