Vigil

by Saunders, Craig

  He didn’t think it would matter either way, soon.

  His mind was racing as the council came in behind him. He schooled his thoughts for a moment, his intellect corralling each thought as it tried to leap away from him.

  ‘What’s all this about, Tom? You’ve got the whole complex in a bloody panic now. I’ve half a mind to put you back in solitary.’

  ‘Thanks, Jean. Nice to know I’ve still got a few friends on the council.’

  Jean sighed and held his hands up in a gesture of peace. ‘Perhaps that was uncalled for. What’s on your mind?’

  Tom took a breath. Steeled himself. Easy. Take it easy on them.

  ‘Rumour, Jean. Rumour. And fact. Bear with me while I work through it.’

  ‘You’ve been with us since the start, Tom,’ said Kappa. ‘You’ve earned your five minutes.’

  Kappa had been on the original security team from before the fall. He’d seen the signs, same as Tom. He was far from a grunt. Twenty years down the line, he was one of the few in the complex that Tom respected and trusted.

  ‘Thanks, Kappa. Now, we know vampires are evolving, right?’

  ‘You want a medal?’

  ‘Let him speak, Sam,’ said Marie.

  ‘OK,’ Tom continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted. ‘Let’s just suppose, for a minute, that vampires remember the things they knew from before, you know, before the cure. And to take it further, wouldn’t it be possible that vampires, mechanics, doctors, football players, could still have the skills they had before they turned?’

  ‘When they turn they’re drivelling idiots, purely driven by the hunger.’

  ‘The hunger, yes. Millions died when the hunger took, but some still lived. We’ve seen what happens then. They grow more powerful, they grow more intelligent. We’ve a vampire in quarantine being tested right now, and he can speak.’

  ‘He doesn’t say anything worth a damn but ‘please,’’ said Sam with a grin.

  Tom ignored him. ‘Let’s assume that they know all they knew before…is there any reason a scientist, or a military man, or a sniper…anyone, could become cured…survive…remember?’

  Jean looked at Tom thoughtfully. ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘And just suppose that a leader came. Suppose a leader got them together. He’d have to be powerful to rule them, and offer them something they wanted. He’d have to offer them food. People must be dwindling out, getting better at hiding.

  ‘Food is getting scarce. So he has the idea of keeping their food alive. Farming people. They need more people. They need food. Because food on the hoof has got wise and gone to ground.’

  ‘You think they want to farm us?’

  ‘No, Jean. That’s what I thought to start with. That’s what the rest of the complex thinks. That’s why I wanted to speak to the council in private, Jean, because the people don’t need to know what I think.’

  ‘You’re not making any sense.’

  ‘I know that’s not what they want. Do you know what the place in Switzerland is?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It’s the biggest particle accelerator on the planet. It was set up to study the theory behind the big bang. It was supposed to recreate the state of the universe at its inception on a small scale. That’s what they said it was for. It was run by a team of international scientists, the brightest in the world. Particle physics on a grand scale, with an accelerator miles underground. Immense. And powerful.’

  ‘So you think that’s where these new vampires are coming from?’

  ‘I’m sure of it. But I haven’t finished. The project was taken over in 2020 by a private concern. It was big news when it all started…then…nothing. But it was rumoured there were breakthroughs. I heard through my dad that they’d done it.’

  ‘What?’ said Marie.

  Tom looked into her eyes. If she believed him, maybe the others might, too.

  ‘Broken the barrier.’

  ‘What barrier?’

  ‘The particle accelerator didn’t work as it was supposed to. They didn’t create the big bang. They created a worm hole.’

  ‘OK, Tom. You’re not making any sense. What the fuck is a wormhole?’

  Tom ignored Samson and turned to Jean.

  ‘It’s a gateway, Jean. The rumour was, it was a gateway.’

  ‘That would have to go somewhere, right? What are you saying?’

  ‘There’s another accelerator. The two were linked. One was secret. One was public. The public never knew what was going on. They were both essential. Time and space are just dimensions. There was no wormhole through space. That would take the power of a sun imploding, is the best guess. With that power on a small scale? Using the power of an atom? Couldn’t it just be that they managed time and space? Or just time?’

  ‘What, they could control time?’

  ‘No. But they could send things back.’

  ‘Bullshit,’ said Samson.

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘It’s got to be nonsense, Tom. It’s not possible.’

  ‘I hope so. Because I don’t think the elder vampires want us as food. I think they want the world. The world as it was. What if they could go back in time and create a world where people were just cattle, food for an immortal race?’

  ‘Bullshit,’ said Sam again.

  ‘Sam. Ask me how I know this. Ask me.’

  ‘Fuck you, Tom. Don’t try to get in my head.’

  ‘Sarah?’ Tom said. He smiled, but he didn’t feel anything approaching humour.

  Sarah had been quiet throughout. Her face was pale.

  ‘Tom…it can’t be.’

  ‘Tell them.’

  ‘If it were true…and there were two accelerators, they could go anywhere they wanted. They’ve had twenty years to work on it. I bet they could do anything they set their minds to.’

  ‘I don’t think they want us as food. We’re just in the way.’

  ‘What have we got to do with it?’ said Marie. ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘Well done, Tom,’ said Suzanne. ‘You’ve freaked everyone out. Is that what you want?’

  ‘No,’ said Tom, shaking his head sadly. ‘That not what I want. I want to grow old. I want to die in peace. When I was growing up I wanted to be my own man, but I was always in my father’s shadow. I can’t get away from the bastard, even though he’s dead.

  ‘I know all this because the private concern that bought the CERN project is the same one that built this facility. Fallon Corp. bought it. My father’s company.

  ‘I think the second accelerator is here. I think we’re on top of it.’

  *

  The Parisian Countryside

  2025 A.D.

  Year Zero: Apocalypse

  The intruder watches the old man’s chest rising, though he should be dead. But it is early in the night yet.

  The fires that ravage the remains of Paris burn bright against the night, and even though the intruder is accustomed to the light, it still pains him.

  He turns from the beginning of the end of the world, and looks to the old man again, his thin chest rising and falling. Looks at the artificial hand, the machines, back to the old man, time and time again, until he can bear to look no longer.

  For a time, he turns his attention to the painting on the wall. The paint is cracked but the beauty of the subject is unmistakable. The hand that painted the woman was talented. The intruder can see the brush strokes that make up her dark hair, the lustre somewhat faded over many years. Her eyes, jade, stare down at the man in the bed. It is her he will see if he ever wakes. She will be his first sight.

  It makes the man in the coat angry and sad and unsure. The man in the bed has a soul. He had forgotten. But he is remembering more with every passing day, the memories flying into his head now, faster and more powerful by the minute. Each new revelation has the power to buckle his knees and bring tears to his eyes.

  Yes, he remembers. He remembers very well.

  He turns away from the painting and
the memories with a heart of marble and looks once more to the old man propped in the bed.

  The old man’s ribs and collar bones poke at the thin cotton nightshirt he wears. A shirt the nurses would have had to put on him, for he had been in this state of unbeing for many weeks now, since the heart attack that felled him.

  That he had breath at all was a miracle.

  No. No miracle.

  Clear fluid drips thickly down a tube and into the old man’s unresisting vein.

  The needle is in his left arm, held in place by surgical tape and covered by a pad of gauze. The needle leads to the tube, the tube to a plastic bag. The bag is marked FE612.

  The man in the long coat notes this with weary eyes but is not surprised.

  The old man’s chest, forehead, shoulders, hands are all covered with sensors, running to the machine on the wall. There is an oxygen tank beside the bed, and a cabinet, open, from which medical supplies overflow.

  The room is equipped well enough to be mistaken for a hospital ward. The surfaces are pristine and everything gleams and smells of disinfectant.

  The man looks more closely at the machine taking readings.

  FALLON CORP. is printed on the plastic casing, just above and centre of the readout.

  The intruder stoops low to look into the unconscious man’s face. Neither one changes their expression.

  There is a sink in the corner, with hand soap, probably antiseptic. The man empties the pockets of his long coat. He takes it off. Then he strips his shirt and trousers until he is standing in only his underwear. He walks to the sink and washes head to toe, his hair and his neck, his stubble and the dog bite in his arm. As he washes away the blood he examines the wound. It is closed.

  He dresses once more in his battered clothes and pulls up a chair, one no doubt used by the nurses to sit beside this bed and watch the old bastard as he slept and dreamt in the darkness behind his eyes, dreams he would never remember.

  He takes the old man’s hand in his and strokes it. It is a thoughtlessly beautiful gesture full of kindness, to take that mechanical arm in his and hold it as though it could feel, although the metal is cold and emotionless as the old man himself.

  He watches the flitting eyes beneath the old man’s papery eyelids and imagines the world the man within is seeing. He was a dreamer, ever a dreamer.

  Part Two

  The Feast

  Chapter Sixteen

  Transylvanian Plateau

  Hooves thundered against the soft turf, muddy earth splattering the warrior’s shields, but still they stood firm.

  Over three thousand men had fallen already. The earth was stained red. Now they were fighting in the remains of their comrades, sliding in the muck and entrails of those eviscerated by the deadly lancers.

  The Armistice Riders, Hussars, came at first light. They had ridden through the dark, through the depths of the forest under orders from the Voivode. The Hungarian army were marching hard. Ten thousand strong, the finest fighting men in the region, hardened by seven years of war.

  The Voivode could bear their stink on the soil of Seervtky no longer.

  The Hussars had taken every army but one…the Cavalry of the Night. Now they faced demons, nightmare creatures that would not fall in battle, full visors down so their faces were invisible. In their armour the Cavalry of Night could almost be ghosts. But their lances and their swords rent flesh too easily for them to be mere illusions.

  Jarre ordered his men to make fast the ground before them. As before, they raised their long poles hewn from branches. It halted the advancing cavalry, but when those dark bastard’s horses fell things only got worse. But what could Jarre do? They fought, they hacked limbs from the enemy, but their blood was like a poison. His own men turned berserk and attacked their friends, their brothers, until they had no choice but to cut them down, hack them to pieces, or they would rise again.

  Jarre knew fear unlike anything he had experienced before. There was dark magic at work here. He feared no army. He feared no man. But these were night walkers, demons that could not be killed. There was no hope of victory here today.

  The ground shook as the enemy charged yet again. Some of the horses stumbled over bodies and went down – the ground was no longer even and the cavalry lost much of their advantage – but Jarre hoped they would keep charging. If they came on foot his army would be slaughtered. He was under no illusions.

  His only hope was to flee…but even then, he knew they would hunt his men down and tear their limbs from them. He had heard how the Cavalry of Night treated their defeated foes and it made his blood curdle to think of it. It was rumoured that they drank their enemies’ blood until they died. His cousin had survived one battle against them and told him of the dried out husks of warriors he had seen before he fled.

  The first flank of horsemen crashed into his men and his line buckled almost in two. More men came from the rear and fought to close the gap, but as they hacked the arm from one of the Cavalry, blood spewed forth, covering his men, and like a wave, madness broke out among them. Jarre roared and ran into the thick of the fighting. He knew all too well that the madness would spread if they did not destroy it soon. With a great swing he took the head from one of his own men. Then it was heat, and burning rage, and redness that overtook him. Men turned on their own kin. The carnage was terrible. Jarre had time to curse the Gods before he went down with a torn throat. He was aware of sucking sounds and then everything fell mercifully quiet...until he rose again.

  *

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Go in. Clean it up. Feed, but leave none alive. We have no need of more men. The Voivode fears us already. Were our ranks to swell further, instead of diminishing, he may just take action against us. Tell the men.’

  Radu, orders issued, sat back on his horse and watched the vampire army unleashed. They tore into the ranks of the enemy, already in disarray and trying to stem the spread of the madness. He knew the madness well. It was how he had been born. It was the same for all of them. But it could be controlled, with the leash, and with enough time. Some of the changed ones never got over the hunger. It consumed them, and they were no more than beasts. But those that lived…they were the most powerful warriors of an age.

  He watched in pride as the Cavalry of Night set about their grim work. It took many hours. A few of the Hungarians no doubt escaped, but that was unavoidable in war. The rest were soon food for his men. It was good. They had fought well and once again shown their loyalty. They were hungry. They were always hungry. But it could be controlled. He remembered the Romani woman who had taught him to control the hunger, long ago when he had first turned to the night. It was powerful magic, and far from cheap. But the power!

  He laughed, and his second-in-command spared him a glance. With a nonchalant flick of the wrist toward the screaming enemy, he said, ‘Go. Feed. I will feed shortly.’

  His second heeled his horse into a run.

  Radu watched him go. He could control his hunger now better than ever. He barely needed to feed anymore. That was true power. Controlling the animal within.

  His men didn’t need to know that, though. He did not need a rival.

  Before night fell the battlefield was littered with the bodies of the enemy. Every one of them had been decapitated.

  He ordered a pyre built.

  When the wood was stacked high they gathered the severed heads and threw them into the fire.

  No, he didn’t need a rival. He didn’t need a hand on his leash, either. Time, he mused. That, he had plenty of. He just needed time to make the country his own. Then he would know the true meaning of power.

  One of his men brought him a survivor.

  ‘I saved you a meal.’

  The man was trembling.

  It was all so quiet, apart from the beating of hearts on the plain. The horses, the night kin, this man’s heart beating like a mouse caught by a cat…but…

  What was it? There was something else...

  ‘D
id you leave one alive?’

  ‘No, captain.’

  ‘I can hear…’ he began, but then fell silent to listen better. The terrified man’s heart was too loud. Radu slipped from his horse and punched the human in the throat. He began to choke, his windpipe crushed. Gradually his heart slowed, not dead, but dying, and he could hear again.

  ‘I can hear a heartbeat. Down there. It is getting quicker.’

  He walked slowly toward the battlefield. He stood in the midst of the dismembered bodies, walking slowly, concentrating. His second followed him.

  ‘I don’t hear…’

  The Captain held his hand up to silence him.

  ‘Here. A heart beats under the earth! Bring a shovel and dig!’

  The second-in-command came running moments later. He had no imagination, but he was an obedient pet.

  ‘Well, dig, you whore!’

  He began digging, widening and deepening the hole as the light faded and the night kin’s vision returned to normal.

  A hand burst from the earth then began pulling a cadaverous man from under the earth. He was scarred and his eyes were covered in scum. Beetles and worms crawled over his body, in his nose and mouth. His heart was beating faster, faster. He pulled himself from the earth as the Captain watched.

  An old one. He could feel it. He could smell it on the vampire. God, how long had he been in the earth? No doubt the blood had seeped into the ground and woken him.

  The creature pulled himself up and screamed. The Captain could feel his ears bleed and not a few of his men cried out in pain themselves.

  It was the cry of the hunger. They all knew it well.

  The captain pulled a silver chain from his pocket and quickly snapped it over the vampire’s neck, then dragged him fully from the ragged grave out into the night.

  With his other hand, Radu pulled the last remaining survivor onto his knees and held the weakening human before the old one. The creature did not need to be told twice. With a terrible cry he tore into the screaming man’s face, eyes, neck with such ferocity that soon he was unrecognisable as a man.