“Sure you don’t want any, mate? There’ll be none in the morning,” Ozzie girl said to Nico. She tilted the box with the remaining four snack packs within.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Nico said.
“I’ll have another,” Delores said, and Ozzie girl handed her a pack.
Nico glanced at the holo news, which showed a large, battered space vessel orbiting a dusky planet, then cut to footage of chrono-refugees being helped out of lifeboat pods, floating in the sea. She turned to look at Eton boy.
“Don’t you wish you were back home, helping with the war?” Nico asked in curiosity.
“I do,” he answered, his tone heavy. “Though being a vampire has its unfortunate limits once the sun is up. I couldn’t even ferry planes or be a dispatcher like the women. It became difficult explaining my able-bodied presence in London, and my...vampiric reaction to the death and blood. When the sky boat appeared, I took a chance and tried to help save it. And then I ended up here.”
Nico nodded. “The Allies won the war, by the way.” She acknowledged his look of gratitude before turning back to her Id.
If she had fled Earth for Darqueworld, what had been her reason? Had there been a global catastrophe? Nuclear war? How did she even learn about Darqueworld?
Dorothy, give me all the important events of the year 1998 on Old Earth, Nico typed.
Due to the existence of several variations of Old Earth in different dimensions, please specify your numerical variance, Dorothy replied.
Nico stared blankly at her Id. Had Dorothy just said, “different dimensions”?
Is it in my bio-tag? she typed. She then looked at the Russian names Dorothy had searched in Again NewYork’s directory. Two belonged to men who were deceased, and their spouses too. Anikanov and Fedosov did not exist in Again NewYork.
Ozzie girl made a noise of disgust.
“I wish you’d use the general audience rating filter on this thing,” she remarked.
“C’mon, we’re vampires,” Tex said, and Iris and Dolores giggled. Nico looked up again, expecting something provocative on the holo display. Instead, the news played footage of an Other-being confrontation and its aftermath. A fellow lay on the street, beheaded, his useless sword by his body.
The news here is really explicit. But Nico had become used to gore thanks to—
Her thoughts slid against the blank spot in her mind.
Thanks to...her maker hadn’t revelled in gore, just the cold brutality of murder, so when had she ever experienced...?
I don’t...Nico frowned. Her teeth ripping flesh. The thought skidded away.
She looked at the holo display and its sudden close-up of ravenous teeth flashing in the darkness.
“The world lost a prominent Other warrior today, one who’d made a name for himself in two successful encounters with the spawn,” the solemn newscaster announced. “Speculation has risen, however, that his third Slaughter Spawn match was not a loss but a suicide.”
Nico stared at the footage following. An onsite reporter stood dwarfed within a dark, massive tunnel, ringed with arching girders. Dead roots, broke earth and old cables hung down. The reporter, positioned before a large pit, attempted to speak. Her tense face grew frightened as a flurry of rapacious gnashing drowned her words. She abandoned the broadcast. The footage and lighting shook as her cameraman joined her in running down the tunnel, their footfalls splashing in trapped water.
“The reason you lose is because the spawn gets you as you’re coming out of the pit,” Tex said, “every single time.”
“Once they have you, it’s useless,” Ozzie girl said, stiff.
“Did Kahu Nakahi die from one final mistake in the pit?” a voice-over said as scenes flashed of lone, furious Other-beings fighting moving darkness. “Or did he sentence himself to death?” Multitudinous teeth and claws slowly emerged from the morphing pitch-darkness, attacking from every direction. A creature’s face showed, brief and screaming, and Nico’s stomach froze.
“What was that?” she said.
“The spawn,” Tex drawled.
“The spawn,” Iris repeated, grinning.
“Diesel,” Delores enthused.
“What are they?” Nico asked, even as she typed the question into Dorothy.
“From what I understand,” Eton boy said, “an alchemist from ages past created a machine to harvest the evil from beings. Having nowhere to put what he captured, he cast the accumulated evil into the depths below Again NewYork.”
“There’s more to the story than that,” broody boy remarked from the shadows.
“Well, that’s how I heard it,” Eton boy said. “The harvested evil spawns more of itself, hence the name, so extermination of the spawn has been made into a gladiatorial game: Slaughter Spawn. You have to last six minutes in the slaughter pit to win.”
“There’s prize money?” Nico said.
“The prize is getting out alive,” broody boy declared.
“You bet on yourself,” Tex said. “The betting boards don’t care because they know what the pit’s like. You can’t set up the odds so you’ll win.”
“Therefore, winning is entirely against the odds. There’s no certain way to fix a Slaughter Spawn fight,” Eton boy admitted.
“Why doesn’t the city just set fire to the spawn and eradicate them that way?” Nico asked.
“Because that wouldn’t be fun,” Tex said.
“The partial remains of a male vampire has been discovered today in North Park,” the newscaster announced. “Consisting of only the upper body, arms, and head, the victim had been eviscerated of all organs, including the heart.”
“It looked like whoever did it tried to cut his skull open too,” an interviewed man said, his byline reading, Eyewitness at North Park. “But they didn’t get his brain. More like they screwed up and turned it into jelly.”
“Are there zombies on this world?” Nico exclaimed.
“There’s no such thing,” Delores scoffed. “The werewolf gangs got him.”
“Werewolves eating undead organs? Not bloody likely,” Ozzie girl said.
“Were-people are not interested in brains,” broody boy said.
“Maybe it was the witches,” Iris piped up. “For, y’know. Voodoo. Stuff nearly happened to us in New Orleans. Remember that, Tex?” She rubbed Tex’s chest.
“It could have been the vampire primacy,” Eton boy said. “Their having meted out a sentencing.”
“The primacy would never show the world how it punishes us,” Ozzie girl said. “They’d never dump vampire remains in some park.”
The vampire primacy, Nico thought. So one existed on Darqueworld, too? She felt ambivalent about that. As a vampire who cared little about politics, she’d never given the primacy much thought. They had been as remote to her as the Vatican.
“People,” Tex addressed with lazy authority, raising the hand around Iris, and Iris snuggled more. “It’s none of those. The spawn got to him.”
“I heard the spawn comes up through the sewer pipes and drags us from our beds,” Iris said with glee.
“I heard they come out because they’re searching for more evil. They’re evil needing to feast on more evil,” Delores said.
“I don’t buy that alchemist crap; some guy with a machine sucking out people’s darkness and then tossing it beneath the city,” broody boy declared. “The gods put that stuff there so it could cull us.”
Eton boy chuckled. “That’s conspiratorial.”
“Immigrants and refugees come in every day,” broody boy said. “Carrying technology, secrets—gold and jewels in suitcases. But it’s not like we’re the rich and famous of our kind, are we? Having vampire balls and owning corporations.”
“Speak for yourself,” Delores said.
“Let’s watch the vampire ball now,” Iris suggested as Delores yawned next to her. “I want to see the dresses.”
Tex activated a holo interface from his couch seat and poked at it, changing channels. The vampire ba
ll came to the fore.
“Is that Prince Vlad?” Iris said, and then the holo blipped out. Lights dimmed and went to black. Nico’s Id glowed dully. Everyone groaned, but before protests could escalate, a calm automated male voice spoke over the intercom.
“Rest time,” he said, his calm voice enticing. “Please depart for the dorms. Rest time.”
Delores yawned again. “I’m beat anyway.”
“What if I want to stay down here?” Nico said as the others rose.
“You can’t, really. The door will shut and lock in a few minutes.” Ozzie girl’s eyes glittered in the dark. “Dorm’s not so bad when you’re knackered. C’mon.”
Nico put her Id away and followed, the recreation room’s door closing and locking behind her. The hallway was also pitch-black, and as Nico trooped down it with the others for the stairs, she glanced into the entry hall leading to the lone exit. The formerly bright hall sat darkened except for a single light within Dann’s caged booth, which stood empty. Two vampire boys ran up to the glass door and tried the handle. When it didn’t budge, they waved to Nico.
“Rest time, in effect,” the calm voice said. Nico looked back at the others, who had already gone upstairs. While the vampire boys banged on the door, she approached and pushed. The door stayed shut, and everywhere she touched or pressed did not activate it. The boys threw their hands up.
“Sorry,” Nico said, and the boys departed.
They could sleep in a park. If a wolf gang doesn’t try to get them. Or whatever had eaten the vampire with the missing heart. Nico headed for the stairs, and as she ascended, the lights dimmed in the stairwell, then went out.
When she reached the boys’ dorm, the floor became dark as well. The lights faded in the dorm while the guys talked within. Nico gained the third floor with the lights dimming. Two muffled voices made enthusiastic noises behind the shut door of the bathroom. As the girls’ dorm dropped into darkness, Nico’s fangs emerged.
It’s like hiding in a coffin or the closet...or being buried in the forest. Waiting for day to end, no light to harm us. She entered.
Delores was busy tucking herself into the bed next to Nico’s, her actions neat and tidy. Her corset sat rolled up on top of her storage locker.
“Okay, I have to ask,” Delores said to Nico.
“Yes?” Nico paused.
“Does your bear walk around and stuff? Once you’re asleep.”
“He’s not a ventriloquist’s dummy,” Nico assured.
“Okay, good.” Delores sounded relieved.
Nico continued down the room, passing tongue-pierced girl who had fallen asleep with her Id still propped up before her. The novel reader’s paperback lay splayed on her chest while she slept, her silver buckled boots still on her feet. Nico checked on the girl she’d accidentally drugged.
“Something wrong?” Ozzie girl whispered as she turned down a bed in the row across.
“Just checking on a friend,” Nico said. The girl remained heavily sedated. Nico returned up the room just as Iris broke off a kiss with Tex at the entrance.
“Couldn’t you two keep it down?” Delores said when Iris approached. Iris bounced on the other bed next to Nico’s. Nico sat down on hers and it squeaked.
“He did just get out of prison,” Iris retorted. “I can’t ever get enough of him...he’s so diesel. Don’t you think Tex is diesel?” she said to Nico.
“Yes, he’s diesel,” Nico answered. She put her feet, shoes and all, on top of the bed and lay down. Delores guffawed.
“He did make you,” Delores said. “It’s not like you can think otherwise.”
“I’m his girl,” Iris said. She looked at Nico. “What’s your maker like? He or she?”
“A ‘he’,” Nico said.
When Iris and Delores still looked at her, Nico took a breath.
“He was charming,” she said. “A charming, Glaswegian street poet. He was like a member of the Beatles.”
“The what?” Iris said.
“Your Prince Charming, huh?” Delores said.
“There’s no such thing,” Nico said.
“I guess he didn’t come with you huh?” Iris said. “When Tex and me got here, we could not believe it—the freedom. Just being able to walk around and be vampires. We kind of lost it and did some stuff, that’s why Tex had to do time. The Makepeace was nice about not shooting us right away, so I was glad. Being able to eat all the blood we can get is so diesel. What thing blows your mind about Darqueworld?” she asked, turning to Nico.
“The sun,” Nico said. “I can’t believe we get to walk in it.”
“I got burned once, but I always wondered,” Iris said. “Would we really die in the sun?”
“Yes. Yes you would,” Nico said.
“No, I mean maybe we just lie there all crispy, until it’s night again,” Iris said. “I ended up in the ocean once, got trapped down there for almost forever. I didn’t die.”
“No, you don’t just get crispy, you burn,” Nico answered. “It’s like heaven’s wrath; every bit of you turns to ash.”
“How do you know?” Iris asked.
“Because the last vampire I killed, I crucified him so he’d meet the sun,” Nico said.
The other vampires stared at her.
“I also doused him with gasoline,” she said, “to make sure.”
“Are you kidding?” Iris demanded.
“About the gasoline?” Nico said, “Yes.”
“With that lovely image, let’s quit the yabber and go to sleep,” Ozzie girl called from across the room. “Good night.”
A round of murmured good nights sounded, and bodies settled down. Nico laid back with Bear still strapped to her. She held her shut switchblade to her chest.
Nicky, her maker said.
Nico exhaled. She didn’t look forward to dreaming and meeting old nightmares. She listened; silence.
Weird how everyone’s gone to sleep just like that. Somehow, even newly arrived night creatures had quickly acclimated to the day-to-night cycle of slumber.
Nico counted sheep to 237 and closed her eyes.
In a dorm full of vampires, she heard no breath or movement. All lay still and dead. But she still listened for the deliberate, quiet steps of an intruder.
Nicky.
Nico sat up. When she laid her feet on the floor, her bed squeaked. Iris stirred.
“Going to the bathroom,” Nico murmured.
“You actually poop?” Iris’s voice was thick with sleep. Nico slipped away and exited.
The hallway was still and dark. Nothing seemed to stir below in the boys’ dorm either. Nico had never seen a place shut down so thoroughly, especially when right outside, Again NewYork teemed and beckoned with its glittering lights. Again Friends Hostel wasn’t quite how she imagined a haven of vampires would be, even with its strict rules. She entered the bathroom, shut the door, then climbed on to the sink counter to open the narrow window, which swung outward. A jointed arm prevented it from opening farther.
Nico retrieved her wallet and the credit card sized multi-tool within. She applied the flathead tool and quickly unscrewed the arm free. As the pieces fell to the street below, she pushed the window to admit her and Bear through.
She thought she heard a step.
No, that was me.
Anxiety hit her. She needed to get out of there, before someone grabbed her ankle, called her name with her maker’s voice and rendered her as dead and silent as those resting within, tranquillised. Nico heard the street life below and answered the yearning to be a part of the living. She worked her body out the window and hung against the outside wall by her fingertips. She let go and dropped three storeys down.
Once on the concrete, she ran herself and Bear as fast as she could down the street.
Dorothy, play me Lords of the Null-Lines, Nico typed.
She put the sound-buds she bought at the newsstand into her ears and watched Again NewYork rush by. The Five back to Jifk Spaceport was moderately filled. The
dimmed car interior surprised her, because brightly lit places deterred assault and biting vampires. She returned her attention to her Id.
When she had something to work on, Nico felt better. Each city she’d followed her maker to, she would engage in a project. Stalking him was something he’d expected. Trapping him—especially with her clumsy attempts—had been merely anticipated. His responses would elicit sharp, sickening agony. Nico learned to move straight to drawing him out. Newsworthy actions, especially anything that countermanded him, caught his attention.
Come get me, she seemed to say with each deed done, and in that moment of accomplishment, dread would fill her as much as the rage she needed to kill him. She had sent Chasca Vasquez and PETH the access code for her virtual locker. She would handle Grun.
Her finger moved within a holo projection of Leningrad, 1998, where she could travel down the streets and even into buildings, as if it all still existed. And perhaps it did, through the complications of time and space travel. It was easier to consider it all long gone. She wandered Nevsky Prospekt, then found the building she had lived in. Nothing stimulated recent memory.
Nico closed the simulation and typed: what weapons were used in Again NewYork criminal activity of the last week?
The list Dorothy aggregated read: sword, various, knife, various, machete, halberd, cudgel, garrote, sledgehammer, walking stick, chain, Apache knuckleduster, projectile firearm, various, steel pipe, pulse rod, various, pulse pistol, various, cryptic gun, mind-scream, baseball bat—
Nico asked Dorothy to give her design and operation information for the pulse rod, pulse pistol, cryptic gun, and the mind-scream.
The witch’s cryptic gun is of unknown design, Dorothy answered as she provided schematics for the pulse pistol. The mind-scream is a psionic ability with no design parameters.
An amazonian Makepeace entered the car from the connecting one ahead and strolled down the aisle, studying the passengers. Nico thought the Makepeace resembled Wonder Woman’s sister, Nubia. Amazon Woman turned her head to regard Nico.
The scrutiny from her visor seemed to linger. The eye lens before the helm then flashed, a light pop that barely blinded. Nico felt her bio-tag itch and appreciated the consideration. She had Mr Bear wave at Amazon Woman as the female passed. Then she returned her attention to Dorothy.
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