by Clark Hays
“Yes, my love?” he smiled, a parody of sweetness.
“What do you mean by the destruction of humanity’s moral fiber?”
“Excellent question,” he said. “Unfortunately for humanity, your recent history will be your undoing. For thousands of years, your intrinsic sense of good steadily evolved, though it remained woefully incomplete. One need only turn to your history books and examine the difference between, say, Christianity now and during the Crusades, to see how your sense of good had been evolving, slowly, toward a greater emphasis on love and tolerance. God gave you a code to live by and for centuries, under a wide variety of circumstances, it served you well in its many forms. Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the many variants; underneath them all was one common element, namely, love both thy neighbor and thy God.”
“And now?” I asked.
He smiled and drained his cognac snifter. “Now, unhappily for your kind, your God-given code has all but crumbled. In this country it is amply demonstrated by the unchecked poverty of your inner cities, rampant crime, environmental destruction, drug dependence, the vanity of your politics, your flirtation with government-sponsored torture and, let’s not forget, the worship of Wall Street. This is by no means unique to this country, but the fact that this trend is now evident here, the once proud society of the Adamites has become one of every man for himself.”
It was hard not to hear some truth in what he said. Countless books and articles chronicled the decline of morality, the isolation of modern society, the loss of family, the hatred and rage. But hearing it from this man, how dare he pass judgment on anyone? His eyes burned into mine with condescension and he smiled. Had he again read my thoughts?
“Psychologically, humans are much like children, controlled by peer pressure to be good. As with a child, this would have eventually matured into a framework, a moral code embraced by each individual, rather than enforced by religious coda. And then, quite frankly, vampires might have disappeared. My personal belief is that this may have been what God had been hoping for, relegating vampires to a role as the repository of true evil until, well, evil was no longer needed.”
Julius was clearly insane, a narcissistic psychopath.
“Now, for the first time in history, vampires have been given a chance to assume the mantle of power. To give evil a test run. Perhaps God is testing us both, for we, too, are His children. The balance in the Adamite world has tipped, very slightly and precariously, but it has indeed slipped toward the side of evil. What is it you Adamites are so fond of saying? He who hesitates is lost. Rest assured, I shall not hesitate.”
“Why do you need me?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“Lizzie, my dearest, your interest gives me great pleasure. Please understand that I am laying at your feet the most extraordinary adventure you could ever hope to realize in your simple human existence. You will be the envy of the entire world. You see, my dear, you carry the blood of an ancient vampiric family, royalty, and you are our rightful queen. I am here to serve you, to guide you through the change. The world will be yours and you will belong to the world, a symbol of nobility.”
He waited for my response. I tried to be as royal as possible by saying nothing. The monarchy thing was a weakness in whatever plotline he was weaving. I had calmed down enough to think again about the article I’d write from this experience.
“Yes, we still have a monarchy,” he said.
Damn it. How did he get so deeply inside my mind?
“What did you expect, yellowdog democrats? Log cabin republicans perhaps? How quaint. But I get ahead of myself. First you should understand how you came to carry this royal vampiric blood.”
“Wait. One more question,” I said. “What makes you so all-powerful?”
“Quite simple. I have the power to turn. I am the only one with this power. I choose who inhabits the elite world of the undead.”
“The power to turn?” I pressed for more, my journalist radar now turned back on.
Julius gently stroked my head, reminding me of Mother and how she used to stroke my hair until I fell asleep. “Your questions will all be answered, but first, let us take a short detour through our history. Like you Adamites, we too have a bible. The recorded words of God that tell our creation story and establish certain mandates and universals, only from the perspective of our unique history and future.”
Julius picked up the leather-bound book he had been reading earlier. “Let me read from the first few chapters of our Genesis. You may recognize some of the material.” Julius cleared his throat and began to read.
“In the beginning there was silence and God. God spoke and the silence was destroyed and from His words came the heavens and earth. God said let there be light and darkness and there was light and darkness where before had been only silence. And God saw that light was easy and bright and called it day. And God saw that darkness was challenging and hidden and called it night. Thus were night and day brought forth and it was one day.”
Julius looked up long enough to ascertain he had my attention.
He did.
“I fear this shall become tedious, being somewhat familiar.” His finger made a dry, whispery sound as he dragged it down the aged paper. “Let’s move to the sixth day.”
He continued reading. “Then God said let the earth bring forth man according to his own kind who shall have dominion over the house of Day and all creatures who dwell within and so the earth brought forth a man and a woman and God saw that it was good and blessed them that they may be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue the Day and have dominion over all who move through it, all the birds and fishes and beasts and creeping things and plants that seek the sun. And it was so and it was the sixth day. Thus, on the seventh day God rested and beheld his work and saw that it was good and only good.
“Thus God spoke, and said let the earth bring forth vampires each according to their kind who shall have dominion over the house of Night and all those who dwell within, and so the earth brought forth a man and a woman who were not like the first man and woman, but also not like the beasts of the earth. And God saw that they were not good and blessed them that they go forth and multiply and subdue the Night and have dominion over all that move through it. And so it was and it was the seventh day and God spoke and blessed the seventh day and hallowed it because on the seventh day, God gave flesh to evil that the earth be separate from the heavens.”
I realized I was holding my breath. What sort of brilliant, twisted mind could create an entire world, including a twisted Genesis story, for the sake of his vampire games?
He put down the bible. “Let me summarize the next few centuries. From the dawn of creation, the two species have lived apart from one another. Vampires of course knew of and despised Adamites because our human brethren had the enviable quality of contentedness, due largely to the fact that time has a sense of meaning for Adamites. This is, of course, because they experience death. Time was measured by the extent of their lives.
“For the most part, Adamites have known nothing of the vampire world, except for those upon whom we preyed, mostly the weak and sick. We lived in darkness, shunning the light not because it would kill us — at that time we were not so sensitive — but rather because we were reptilian-like and it was more comfortable in the shadows. Our genetic material, lent from the cold-blooded serpent, predicated that we seek out dark, wet and warm surroundings. We were like animals, reptiles, but with human attributes.”
“From the serpent?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes. God experimented with our form in the early days. Whereas Adamites arose from the dust of the earth infused with God’s breath, vampires arose from the bodies of serpents bent by God’s will into manlike form.”
I couldn’t help myself, I interrupted with a question. “Do you have an original sin also?”
“Please, Lizzie, think of what you ask. How could we have an original sin when sin has no meaning to us? We are sin. To
a vampire, the only sin is an act of genuine goodness. But there is a critical event that occurred for us and not for the Adamites. You see, we ate from the Tree of Life, which bore the fruit of eternity, not the Tree of Knowledge from which Eve tempted Adam.”
“This was the cruelest joke God played on us,” he said. “An irony that even now amuses me. With death, as reprehensible as it may seem to you, God gave Adamites the gift of context. And with the promise of an afterlife came meaning, a place to aspire to, a means of reinforcing your desire to do good. In contrast, we were granted eternal life. It should have been granted to those who ostensibly embody good, the Adamites. Rather, it was given to us, an entire race of men and women whose essence relies on spilling the blood of others.”
“God intended it to be a balancing factor,” he said. “but it backfired. We had no pride, no sense of ourselves as a cohesive people. We were little more than animals, living in the shadows of the Adamites. Scurrying about in the darkness and seeking blood where we could. A miserable eternal existence, don’t you think?”
He reached for the crystal decanter next to him, refilling his snifter, and smiled darkly before continuing. “Twenty centuries ago, this all changed with the coming of our Messiah, Malthus. He existed about the same time as your Jesus. They knew each other, in fact. In keeping with the times, Malthus also died on the cross, but not from simple blood loss or thirst, rather because as his body was raised upon the cross and the sun rose, he burned to death. Thus came the greatest change in vampire history.”
“There are many fables associated with his life, teachings and parables, but what is important to our story was his mission,” Julius said. “He came to restore faith among the vampires, faith in the morality of evil, faith that God had not forgotten us. He did this in two ways. First, he died on the cross to give us the gift of darkness. By embodying darkness, he gave power absolute to light. For the first time, those who accepted his teachings no longer found the sun merely uncomfortable. They found it terminal. In one stroke he managed to give form to the darkness of our heritage. By investing the sun with power to destroy us, he made us absolute rulers of the night. This may sound implausible, but no more so than the notion of one man dying for all humanity’s sins.”
He had a point there, I thought.
“As Adamites ruled the day, the night now firmly belonged to us,” Julius said. “For the first time, we were on an equal footing. Malthus showed us the value of one gift God had given us: Night. At the same time, he also gave us the gift of an afterlife.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “How could an afterlife have meaning for the undead? After what?”
“Our messiah died on the cross and was resurrected that night. Not three days later, as Jesus, never to be seen again. Each night we repeat and relive this miracle. Every day we are dead and every night we rise from that state to live again. He showed us that we could exist by being daily resurrected. For the first time, we had a spiritual life. Each dawn we die with the spiritual knowledge that we will be resurrected at twilight.”
Julius was lost in the power of his own tale and his voice dropped to an even softer level. “Not only have his teachings survived, so have his progeny. You, my dear, as well as myself, are directly descended from Malthus.”
Elita returned with a silver tray laden with cheeses, bread, mineral water, wine and chocolate truffles. I opened a bottle of water and helped myself to a truffle, grateful for the diversion.
“Elizabeth, please, refresh yourself. Elita, will you join me outside?”
EIGHTEEN
“I never knew you were such a talented actor,” Elita said.
“Really. You think it’s going well?” Julius said.
“Hard to say. She seems intelligent enough not to reveal what she’s really thinking.”
“Good point. But the truths of our bible and our ancestors are powerful. She can’t help but be intrigued. And the seeds of my deception are well hidden inside these truths.”
Elita wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I don’t see why you care. I say just turn her and be done with it. You don’t need her cooperation.”
“Ahh,” Julius sighed, “but how much sweeter it will be to have it. Imagine Lazarus’ face when he sees the new queen at my side, a willing consort.” Childlike pride radiated from his face as he imagined such a victory.
“You want her to fall in love with you, don’t you?” Elita said, trying hard to keep her jealousy covered.
“Call it what you will. Remember how much her mother cared for me, at first anyway? Such a silly, lonely woman. I’m surprised she was able to raise our daughter to turn out even marginally strong.”
“Bad mothers often raise the most interesting daughters.”
“Time for a really bad father to take over,” he said.
“I guess I’m a little unclear on this part of your plan,” Elita said.
“She will give herself freely to me and when the truth arrives, it will be far too late. Nothing short of the total destruction of her will, her sense of self, can balance the scales with Lazarus for robbing me of my prize seven hundred years ago.”
“Vengeance, while a laudable goal, should not be allowed to stand in the way of the greater evil to be attained in this circumstance,” Elita said circumspectly.
Julius was lost in his own thoughts. “Imagine the sweetness of absorbing the power that she unknowingly carries in her blood. It will catapult me to the highest realm ever known in the history of vampire.” He laughed. “And I get the pleasure of her body. I shall take her to heights she has never experienced; only then will I reveal the truth about her paternity. How devastating.” Julius chuckled in anticipation.
“Utterly vicious and delicious,” said Elita, grateful Julius intended to destroy the woman. She would be nothing but a royal figurehead. There was no need for concern. Was there?
“Let’s return to our protégé, shall we?” Julius said, offering his arm to Elita.
“With pleasure, master,” she said.
NINETEEN
“Please forgive our short absence,” Julius said. “Shall I continue?”
I did not respond.
“Silence certainly has its virtues,” he said. “I trust you have eaten and slaked your thirst?”
I nodded, not meaning to.
“Good. Shall I continue the story of our Savior?” He didn’t wait for my response, sitting in his chair while Elita stood by the fire again. “Malthus’ secondary purpose was to provide us with new genetic material. His coming allowed us to finally separate ourselves from the bloodlines of the serpent, to rid our genetic constitution of the limits of this cold-blooded creature. He established a line of leadership in the vampire world stretching into the unforeseeable future. There are only two family lines with the blood of Malthus, all others remain tainted with the blood of the serpent. This, of course,” Julius paused, and directed his gaze toward Elita, “makes them no less attractive.”
Elita smiled, bowed her head to Julius, then quickly turned her back to us.
In one sentence, Julius elevated me above Elita. She was no longer my superior, no longer even an equal. She was now my subject. I almost felt sorry for her. She must have sensed it, and turned to glare at me.
“Our messiah fathered many children …”
“Wait,” I interrupted, “what woman existed who didn’t have reptilian blood?” If I could trip him up in his own story, maybe it would help to clear my mind.
Julius smiled, pleased at my interest. “Malthus was a powerful man. He made his mate.”
“You lost me,” I said.
“He chose Mary Magdalene as a mate.”
“What?” I said. “Come on, Julius, this is getting a little far-fetched. She wasn’t a vampire.”
“No, of course not. Malthus had the power to turn full humans into vampires. For all our history, he is the only one to have this power.” He paused, as if posing the question to himself. “Ponder for a moment, won’t you, why the Ch
ristian church has so fearfully repressed its Savior’s lover.”
“This is nonsense.”
He shook his head. “Granted, the turning of Mary Magdalene was against her will, but Malthus mated with her, and she bore twins, a boy and a girl. The boy was chosen by Malthus as our first king. However, there was an interesting twist. The boy was a full-blood vampire, but the girl was a half-breed, part Adamite and part vampire.”
“I guess the Magdalene was more powerful than Malthus realized.”
“Perhaps,” Julius said, smiling. “Malthus blessed this occurrence and gave the boy the power to turn the girl, should he choose, or to wait for any subsequent generation. His only directive was that subsequent queens must stem from his original girl child from this lineage. Our first king, my direct ancestor, chose to wait. He mated with this female many times and many children were born, all with the genetic predisposition to become a vampire. There is an entire history in our bible, much like Numbers in your Old Testament, establishing the family tree stemming from our Messiah.”
“His sister?” I said. “He mated with his sister?”
Julius laughed and I felt momentarily foolish.
“My dear, such family ties have no meaning for us. Nor for your biblical Adamite ancestors. You need only take a closer look at your own bible. I will admit, your naiveté is charming.”
He smiled and cleared his throat. “Our king watched patiently as these children grew and selected a female to turn. There are stories of her extraordinary beauty, but other than that, no record of why he selected her. Thus, we have our first king and queen and an explanation of our bloodlines. Mine, which is fully vampiric and includes the gift of turning those with the predisposition for vampirism received directly from the first-born male of Malthus. And yours, originating from the first-born female child of Malthus, which represents the dormant Adamite line from which those of my blood pick mates or companions to turn. These two lines make up the vampire elite, the ruling class. Then there is Elita’s line, which predates the Messianic lines and originates from the serpent in the fabled Garden of Eden.”
