by Rocky Grede
I notice the blonde Artico is leading us towards the back of the school, possibly through a fire exit, and away from the masses of Vampires concentrated within the east and west wings of the school, and who might lose control at the sight of my blood.
We pass a few classrooms full of students, the chit chatter radiating from the rooms abruptly stops as we walk past them. When we round a corner, the doors open and heads poke out, and eyes stare at me. But no one follows us.
The corridors are dimly lit by bulbs, the light eerie and orange, beaming down on us from the rows of them littered across the ceilings.
The blonde Artico pauses, his ponytail sways as he glances over his shoulder. “Keep close,” he says. “Very unlikely we will meet any obstacles, but we should be prepared.” I nod back at him, knowing full well how dire my situation is. Any Vampire, despite how long I’ve been amongst them, might lose control. Or worse, a group of them might give in to their cravings, and I’m not sure, despite being Destroyers, how many they can handle at once.
The blonde Artico turns into a dark unlit corridor, and I feel slightly conscious about the shadowy darkness I find myself in, closed on all sides with nowhere to escape. For a second, I imagine hordes of feral Vampires bursting from each side, trapping us in, before exploding to me with bared fangs. I shake the disturbing thought off.
The blonde Artico sprints forward, causing the air to blow in his wake and rush back into my face. I pause, blinking away the sudden current of wind, wondering the cause of his action. About a second later, a door swings open at the end of the corridor, and cold air from the wind, and light from the moon, comes flooding in, breathing new life into the darkness of the narrow passageway.
The blonde Artico walks out into the frigid night, and motions me to follow with a quick gesture of his hand. I walk after him and linger at the entrance of the open door. The sky is a darkish blue-black and dotted with stars. The moon shimmers in the sky, half hidden behind dark clouds that slowly march across the heavens. An icy wind blows in my face and bites into my skin, sending a shiver through my body.
I leave the door open and amble after the blonde Artico, who is now walking to the familiar black vehicle parked across the street that I normally ride in. As I walk towards the car, I glance around into the darkness surrounding us, expecting several Vampires to be hiding in the shadows, drooling at the sight of my blood. But the night is still and nothing moves or springs at me. I look over my shoulder to see the muscular Artico standing at the fire exit, watching us. His hair blows across his face as the wind weaves through the strands.
“He’ll pick your stuff up.”
I turn my attention back to the blonde Artico, who has opened the back door of the car for me like a chauffeur. Under the moonlight, his features stand out clearly. His long blonde hair, pinned back in a ponytail, has a whitish texture to it, like snow mixed with yellow. His face is smooth and expressionless and his cheek bones are set high. I figure he must be old and powerful, since he is wearing the Destroyer badge across his chest. Those badges are only given to the most trustworthy, loyal and powerful Vampires.
“Would you rather walk?” the blonde Artico says, looking up and down the empty road, his lips curving into a grin. So he has a sense of humor too.
I trudge towards the car and slip into the back seat. The Artico closes the door, and gets into the driver’s side. He glances over his shoulder and regards me from behind his shades. He must smell the blood. The scent must be solidified by now. But he doesn’t comment, and instead, he guns the engine to life.
I gulp and stare out the window as we drive away from the school.
***
Vampires walk amongst the streets, dressed in various peculiar attires. Some sporting top hats and walking sticks, others more modern, dressed in rock style clothing with their hair spiked up and held with gel.
Shops are open along the roads, and Vampires move in and out of them, doing their daily shopping. The lights from the street lamps are dim and glowing orange, revealing the dark silhouettes of Vampires below them.
Several heads look in our direction as we drive past them, as though they caught the whiff of something odd, but then, they continue with their own business, not thinking much of it.
The car suddenly stops, causing me to hurtle forward and my seatbelt pulls me back, momentarily sucking the air out of my lungs. I frown at the abrupt pause, and I move my head towards the window to discern the cause of the delay, and my face drops at the sight. A Vampire has blocked the road.
He is standing directly in front of the car, midway through the road. He is wearing a long top hat. The sphere shaped base fans out around his head like an umbrella. He’s wearing a duster coat; the ends of the fabric near his ankles flap as the wind blows. His eyes are fixed on the car. Then I realize, with a sudden coldness, they are fixed on me. Though the windows are tinted, he must still sense me. He must smell the blood.
The Artico honks several times. But the Vampire on the road doesn’t move.
“Why is he blocking the road?” I find myself asking.
“Take a guess,” the Artico replies without taking his eyes off the Vampire.
I don’t need to guess. The answer is obvious, but I had hoped it was something else. This must be a powerful Vampire if he smelled my blood this far off and blocked the road in advance. And by his posture and stance, he is close to losing control. I gulp and stare at the sidewalks to find that other Vampires are pausing and sniffing the air. This isn’t good.
“Stay here,” the Artico says.
“Where are you going?” My fear must have seeped through into my words, because the Artico looks back with a neutral face.
“To resolve the complication on the road, before it escalates into a bigger predicament.”
I nod, take a deep breath, and glance back out the window at the other Vampires who are now cocking their heads and regarding the car curiously, probably trying to figure out why the usual human, who journeys in this car, smells extra appealing today.
The Artico swings the door open and slides out, shutting it softly behind him. He glances about the street before snarling at the surrounding Vampires, causing them to back off. I wince at the primal and feral sound, the syllables high pitched and brutal. The Vampires on the sidewalks disappear into the shadows, sensing the bigger predator and the command issued by their superior. But the one standing in the middle of the road doesn’t move. He is still staring at the car, staring at me.
The Artico gracefully moves into the line of sight of the Vampire, blocking me from his view. I tilt my head towards the window seat to get a better look. The Vampire is now gazing at the Artico with his head cocked to one side, his eyes blaze like a furnace. For a second, I think he is going to attack, but then he moves back, shakes his head as if waking from a daze, turns, and disappears into the darkness of the night. I sigh and slump back into the car seat, wiping my sweaty hands against my trousers.
The Artico slips back into the car and hits the accelerator. He doesn’t say anything and keeps his focus on the road, so I decide to break the silence, “So, who was that guy?”
“A Vampire,” the Artico says, keeping his eyes straight ahead.
My snort gets caught in my throat, and I take a deep breath to push it down further. I stare out the windows, and at the Vampires lurking and moving in the shadows, watching us as we disappear around a bend.
As we drive through the city, my thoughts drift back to Alex, the Vampire who was so close to killing me. I wonder what Lexus will do to him.
“What are you thinking?” The voice of the Artico breaks me from my thoughts, and I glance at the rear view mirror to find him studying me.
“Nothing,” I say with a shrug, but then I add, “Well…I was thinking about the guy who almost got to me in school, you know, the one who almost ripped my throat out.”
The Artico doesn’t reply, and instead turns his eyes back to the road. He presses his foot on the gas, sending the car burs
ting forward.
The Manor looms in the distance; an old ancient structure built centuries ago. The razor wire fence, surrounding the perimeter, gleams under the moon light, sending out flashes of warning to would be trespassers.
The large electronic titanium gates, at the crux of the fence, open with a hiss as we approach. Two Artico Guards, standing in the shadows of several oak trees, wave us through, and we drive up to the empty car park.
The Artico kills off the engine. He opens his door and silently gets out. He slides my door open and stands back. “Come. Lexus wishes to see you.”
I frown. “Is it about what happened today?” Lexus doesn’t take attempts on my life lightly and I wonder how he is going to react to this recent one.
“Not entirely,” The Artico says in a cool voice as he begins to walk up to the Manor’s entrance. I nod and follow. Then the thought strikes me; where are my other Artico Guards? Why aren’t they escorting me? With my finger bleeding, and with the worry of being eaten, and then the relief of being rescued from that fate, didn’t really give me much time to think about it earlier. I’ve never had Artico Destroyers as my escorts before. I find it odd that all of a sudden they are guarding me, and I wonder where Lucas and Wavin – my Artico Guards – are now.
The Artico Guards, who are standing on either side of the front door like carved statues, step out of our way as we pass through the reinforced steel entrance to the Manor. The hallway beyond is brightly lit, and the patterned bulbs seem to shimmer.
The Artico leads me to Lexus’s office. He pauses outside and motions for me to enter. I glance at him and knock on the door, wondering why he didn’t just knock himself.
“Come in,” Lexus’s calm voice answers from the other side.
I push the door open and enter the dark office. A flickering candle, situated on Lexus’s desk, is the only source of light. The bright orange and red flames cast shadows across the walls.
Lexus is sitting in his leather chair behind his desk, his dark brown hair falls across his face as he flicks through paperwork.
“How you feeling?” he asks without sparing me a glance.
“Great,” I shrug. Alex’s face flashes through my mind, contorted in fury and hunger. “What will happen to Alex?” Breaches aren’t tolerated, especially ones that will place the adopted son of Lexus in danger. I remember the first time one of the Vampires had almost killed me. My Artico Guards at the time had tackled the feral Vampire, and after that, I never saw the Vampire ever again. I never asked what became of him. Not wanting to know.
“He will be dealt with,” Lexus says in his calm cool voice, closing one folder and opening another.
“I think he didn’t mean to --”
“Want to eat you?” Lexus finishes, glancing up, meeting my gaze. His emerald green eyes reflect the flames of the glimmering candle, creating a golden crisscross of colours across his pupils. “What do you think I should do with him?”
I stare at the burning candle for inspiration, before turning back to him. “Um…give him a warning?”
Lexus regards me for a moment, his steady eyes locked on mine before putting the folder he was holding aside and picking up a new one. “I have something important to tell you.” He stares at the folder in front of him for several seconds before placing it atop of a neat pile. He places both his arms behind his head, interlocking the fingers of his hands, and leans back in his chair. He studies me with his emerald green eyes for several long seconds.
It’s in these rare moments that you can see how young he was before he was turned. His skin is smooth and flawless, and his eyes are intelligent and wise. There is a youthful quality about him, even though he is centuries old.
“There have been some issues. And I have decided to assign you two Artico Destroyers as your escorts until the matters are resolved.” He falls silent and waits for my reaction.
“What kind of issues?”
His expression remains carefully neutral when he says, “The new escorts have been assigned for your safety.”
I toss his words around in my head. This issue must be big if he is assigning some of the elite Articos as my escorts. And the only thing this big could be a threat from the outside. I look up to see him nodding, confirming my suspicions. So the threats could be from any four sources.
First, from the Balderush Vampires up North, who have been known to never be content with what they have. One was caught the other week trying to sneak past the border; apparently he was after blood supplies and was sent by his superiors to locate where we kept our blood banks. Not quite sure what became of him, but Lexus later assured me that he was tossed back over the border with a letter of warning for his superiors.
The second threat is from the Kron Vampires down South. They are known for their betrayal and greed, and in the past, they have conspired against both the Artico and Balderush Vampires. They are always lurking in the shadows, waiting and prowling for a golden opportunity to strike.
The third threat is from the East; no one knows what even exists there anymore. Some say it’s just abandoned deserts. Others say large masses of humans populate the lands. Many tend to believe the latter, but all those who have ventured east are never seen again. It is as though they disappeared as soon as they arrived there. Lexus is certain humans reside there, hidden and safe from external threats.
The final threat is from the Shadow Zone; a strip of land known as ‘No Vamps territory’. Some say mutations exist within the desolate ruins of the Zone. Others claim predators reside there who are best left alone. A cloak of impenetrable darkness surrounds the Zone, which according to Lexus was the result of radiation explosives, hiding what-ever is within from view.
“Elis and Maxwell will be your escorts,” Lexus interrupts my wandering thoughts. He looks over my shoulder, and I follow his gaze to see them entering.
I glance between them. The Destroyer sporting the beard is holding my school bag in one hand. His jawline is set hard, and the muscles of his arms strain against his Destroyer uniform. Although not as muscular as the other Destroyer, the blonde Destroyer is lean and exudes power and confidence. I find myself wondering how old and powerful he really is.
I nod my head and turn back to Lexus, who is now staring at my pocket. I realize I still have my hand hidden in there.
“Jake, wash the stain off. Make sure it is completely erased,” Lexus says, glancing up at me.
I nod, with a dip of my head, and change the subject to something less bloodless. “What you filing through?” I ask, inclining my head at the masses of folders neatly piled on his desk.
“Evaluating the city finances,” he says, his eyes drifting over his littered desk. “Then I have the food supplies to analyze.” It takes me a moment to realize I’ve been dismissed.
As I turn to leave, Elis and Maxwell glide to one side, giving me access to the door. I glance over my shoulder at Lexus, and a grin begins to form across my lips, “Catch you later, dad.”
I laugh as one of his eyebrows arch up.
Chapter Three
It happened when I was five.
We lived in the country side, isolated and away from any other living humans, who my parents told me existed somewhere out there, somewhere in the wilderness, living in groups and societies. I used to ask them, why can’t we visit them? Some day we will, they used to reassure me.
My dad harvested the crops in the summer; his blonde hair glowed under the sun’s rays as he worked during the days. “Want to help me?” he always said, with his blue eyes twinkling and a bright smile radiating across his face.
My mom tended to the chickens and kept the house in order. Her short wavy hair always managed to fall into her eyes, and she always laughed when I pointed it out and suggested she should cut it.
Every day I ran out into the fields, inhaling the scent of pine wood and blossoming flowers. I careened along the lush green grass, smiling as the wind rushed against my skin and as crisp air weaved its way through my lungs. I breath
ed in the life around me, cherishing every moment, cherishing every second of my life.
During the days we were free. During the nights we hid under the cottage.
It was a happy life. I remember vivid details as though it was only yesterday. I remember the first time I touched a chicken. I remember the first time I climbed a tree, and couldn’t get back down until my dad lifted me off the branch I was gripping. I remember the sweet cakes my mother used to make. I remember my father’s rich laugh.
We were content. We were together. We were happy… until they came.
I heard stories from my parents of creatures that lurked in the darkness, hiding and moving within the shadows. My parents told me during the days we were mostly safe from the creatures, but during the nights we had to hide. I was young then, and such stories kept me entertained. I thought that’s what they were; just stories, until the night of my birthday.
