by J. Thorn
“It doesn’t matter. What we have here cannot last and when you go back, it will have never existed at all.”
Samantha leaned into him, her lips touching his. She felt his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her closer. Sam closed her eyes and kissed Voldare. The burst of energy surged between them. He withdrew, shaking his head.
“We cannot. This will compromise our mission. We must be able to make calculated, objective decisions.”
Sam pulled back and licked her lips. She understood. She didn’t want to acknowledge it, but he was right. Becoming romantically involved would color their decisions, affect their judgments. Whatever it was they had, or they thought they might be starting, would have to wait until after all of this was over.
All of what, Sam? she thought. You’re going back to destroy this very moment.
And then, she thought of her family and her twenty-first century life. The thoughts and emotions swirled in her mind. She hated Danny for cheating on her and yet, some part of her believed she could reconcile with her estranged husband.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.
Voldare shook the momentary passion from his eyes. He released Samantha from his embrace and sat back against the wall of the cell, opposite her.
“I know much of the Locket of Lir,” he said.
Sam twirled her finger in the air, smiling.
“And I know how to activate it. To get you back to your time.”
“Come with me,” she said.
“No. The locket works only for the person wearing it.”
Sam nodded and closed her eyes for a moment.
Voldare continued, “The locket becomes activated when it is placed inside the bronze box sitting on top of the altar. I understand that none of this makes sense to you, but you will need to trust me. The legend of the locket is well-known in vampire lore. Unfortunately, the activation is different for every vampire who uses it. What worked for me will not necessarily work for you.”
“Where is the altar, the box?” she asked.
“That is the challenge. It moves through time and space. And there is more than one location. The cave you entered, the one you exited into this future world—that is our best chance. It is still there and active, but it won’t be for long. The energy fades like a golden sunset as the earth moves toward the winter solstice.”
“But the cave I came through, that was on the V.I. side of the battlefield, wasn’t it?”
“You’re observant and intuitive and I believe you were like that before the turn,” Voldare said. “You wandered across the battlefield, through the DMZ and into our territory when you were spotted. So, yes. We must get you safely past the V.I. army and into the cave without Silven seeing you.”
“Why not tell him exactly what we’re doing? Doesn’t he want to erase this future, too?”
“He sees things differently. Silven believes the V.I. have evolved, that they represent a new vampire culture. If their scientists can solve the stem cell issue and manufacture blood, they would be able to live here forever. They have claimed this dark future as their own, separating themselves from the rest of us. No, I believe Silven would give his life to protect this world. He cannot know of our plan and we cannot let him interfere with it.”
Samantha nodded. Although she could not entirely grasp Silven’s rationale, she understood Voldare’s explanation. The V.I. ruled this place and adapted to the environment. They didn’t want to return to the days of living in the shadows and hunting humans for food. The V.I. believed they had evolved in this world and would fight to the death to defend it.
“What’s our plan?” she asked.
“Based on my own experience with the locket, we need to get you back into the cave. I will give you the incantations, and once you’re in front of the altar, you’ll activate the locket. It will transport you back to your time, give or take a day.”
Sam had a fleeting image of the horrific wreck and the burning van that had altered her path and led her here to the future. She missed her children with a terrible ache. The locket was the way back to them. The only way. “The day before would be better than the day after.”
“You might arrive a day after you left or a day before,” he reaffirmed, “and you’ll need an action plan for each. Either way, you’ll have a matter of weeks to stop the spread of the pandemic. That’s the only way to prevent this,” he said, his arm extended to the basement and the vampire world beyond.
“So, sneak through the enemy lines of a vampire army, activate a time-travel locket and then stop a global pandemic outbreak before it turns vampires into Earth’s evil overlords. Yeah, no problem.”
Voldare stood and brushed the dirt and her sarcasm from his coat before leaving the cell and heading toward the steps. He turned to speak.
“I’ll send you a meal tonight and then tomorrow, we’ll go.”
“You sure know how to charm a girl.”
Voldare walked up the steps, leaving Sam alone in the cell.
For Anthony and Tammy , she thought. For my children.
***
The next time Sam saw Voldare, she rattled her chains and said, “Since we’re now biting for the same team, I’m thinking these chains are just a bit too kinky for my taste.”
The corner of his mouth quirked in what could have been the beginnings of a grin, but he answered her in a serious tone. “Samantha, I’m not afraid you’ll run. At this point, I’m protecting our mission by keeping you chained to the wall so you can’t be kidnapped at the eleventh hour.”
“Kidnapped?”
“Others know you have the locket—I can’t risk that a mole of Silven’s would thwart the mission before it even starts. Those chains are necessary.” He bowed his head in somber apology.
Sam nodded in understanding as he withdrew some items from an inside pocket so quickly that he might have been practicing legerdemain.
Samantha looked at the map Voldare drew with a hunk of charcoal and ragged strip of paper. Her mind wandered as she thought about whether or not the vampires scavenged the paper or whether they made it, post-pandemic. She watched as his hands maneuvered the hardened charcoal across the surface of the paper.
“I can send you with an escort up to the edge of the DMZ, but Silven will have sentries posted from there to the edge of V.I. territory.”
It doesn’t matter because I’m going home to my children and all of this will cease to exist.
“Samantha. Did you hear what I said?”
She smiled at Voldare, his dark eyes brilliant in the flickering torchlight, his hair pushed back and ruffled to one side.
“Edge of the DMZ. Got it. What’s that stand for?”
“Demilitarized Zone. Comes from the war terminology of the twentieth century.”
She nodded and allowed him to continue.
“The escorts can keep you concealed until you get near the edge of the DMZ, here, where the rubble from the old structure fans out to the west.”
“Movie theater.”
“What?” he asked.
“The rubble. It was a movie theater.”
Voldare nodded but looked back at the hand-drawn map, uninterested in the local history lesson.
“Once you get around the rubble, the old roadway sits on the other side of the ridge. That’s where you emerged and you should be able to follow your tracks back down to the cave.”
“Sounds easy,” she said.
“Then you don’t understand the risk. If Silven catches you and discovers the locket, you’ll never see it again. And he’ll most likely kill you. Then he’ll try to destroy the locket. He doesn’t want that door opened. This future, so Silven believes, belongs to the V.I. and they will destroy anything that threatens that.”
“I can get past them.”
“I’m not finished,” Voldare said. “If you get that far, you’ll be alone in the cave. There isn’t a manual or a guide. You’ll have to figure out how to activate the locket and return to your present.”
“When do I leave?”
“Does it matter?” Voldare asked. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. He pulled back at first but then leaned into her embrace. They kissed for several moments before Sam was the one to pull back.
“What about you? Us?”
Voldare shook his head.
“You don’t think I’ll make it?”
“I know you’ll make it to your past. You couldn’t possibly know how to get to mine. I turned decades before you were born, Samantha.”
Sam considered what Voldare had said and felt a dull ache over her left eye. All of the logistics of time travel was giving her a migraine.
“If I can, I will find you.”
“And then what?” Voldare asked. “You will have prevented this future, which means you will have no idea where I am or how I’ve fared. I might be dead. Again.”
“What if I find myself, the childhood version of myself? And then—”
“Stop. Going straight back is a risk we must take, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. It is impossible to know the consequences of your actions, the effects of retracing your steps in a time that has already passed. I can’t guarantee anything. You understand that, right?”
Sam stood and folded her arms. “What choice do I have? If I don’t go back, I’m stuck in this shitty world between two warring vampire factions. It’s like a squabble between Beauty and the Beast.”
Sam winced when she saw the look on Voldare’s face. She knew all vampires looked the way the Bloodline did and yet, she couldn’t help but think that Voldare had chosen to be a demon.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re right. This future holds nothing for you. You should go and at least try. You may destroy everything the future has become anyway.”
Voldare stood. He faced Samantha and then turned, leaving the cell but not closing the door or locking it.
“Wait,” she said.
Sam ran over as far as the chains allowed, put her arms around his neck. She kissed Voldare again, running her hands through his soft hair.
“I’ll find you,” she said in his ear.
“Find the cave. I don’t need to be found. I’ll always be here.”
Voldare broke from Samantha’s embrace and walked up the steps while she stood, holding in the tears as best as she could.
***
Tun moved down the hillside and toward the center of the V.I. camp. He knew he would be spotted and apprehended, which is why he’d left Hefron’s blood smeared on his face.
Like war paint , he thought.
The vampires scrambled over to the base of the hill, swords drawn from underneath black capes and waiting to see what Tun’s next move would be. Seven stood across the path, blocking his approach to the camp. Tun raised his hands and flattened his wings on his back.
“I need to speak with Silven. I have already dispatched one of your guards who would not oblige me.”
The V.I. vamps looked at his gnarled, bloody face and they each took a step back.
“I come with a proposal for him.”
The tallest of the vampires facing Tun stepped forward, standing within two feet of his enemy.
“Hefron?”
Tun nodded.
“He was worthless,” the vampire said. “Your talons. If they come up, we will take off your head.”
Tun nodded again, keeping his eyes down.
“Si. Tarik. Persa. One behind and one on each side of this beast.”
The vampires responded, surrounding Tun and ready to escort him to Silven.
“It is not what you think, brother,” Tun said to the tallest vampire, the one commanding the others.
“I have no need for thinking anymore. Save it for Silven.”
10
Silven sat upon a wooden chair draped in leather. An empty chair sat across the polished mahogany table, the flames from the fireplace sparkling in the finish. He drank from a silver cup with a shine to match that of the table. A record player sat on a wrought iron stand in the corner of the room, just beneath the framed canvas of “Night Watch” by Rembrandt.
Silven spent most of his time in the living room of the old house and therefore, left the rest of the rooms to the rats and the decay. He had once been a real doctor, a man of knowledge and prestige. But a vampire attack and the global pandemic had robbed Dr. Franklin L. Stafford of his normal life. There was no longer a Center for Disease Control, let alone a position for Stafford there. He had taken the name of Silven when the clans formed, no longer hopeful that he’d ever be Dr. Stafford again.
The guards stationed on the porch knocked twice and opened the front door without hesitation. Silven dropped the copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula to the table.
“Sir. Tun is here.”
Silven tucked a lock of black hair behind his right ear and smiled, his fangs a brilliant white against the reds of the polished mahogany. Even though the floors of the house were oak, he’d managed to strip the finish and re-stain them with human blood to give the wood a warm feel.
“I’m reading.”
Tun pushed past the guard and ducked as he entered the house.
“You beasts have the worst manners. Could you at least do something with that hideous skull of yours?”
Tun waited, sensing the question was rhetorical.
“Sit down,” Silven said.
Tun walked over and pulled out the chair opposite of Silven. The guards stepped inside the room and shut the door, one remaining on each side of it.
“I know it’s ridiculous, but reading Stoker’s work while listening to Black Sabbath is divine. Have you ever tried it? No, of course you haven’t because you’re too busy herding humans and shoveling the shit from their filthy pens.”
“I didn’t come here to be insulted,” Tun said, speaking over the solar-powered generator that fueled Silven’s indulgences.
“I don’t care why you’re here. You killed one of my vampires and you’re deep in V.I. territory. The fact that you’re Voldare’s right hand is even more disconcerting.”
“He has the Locket of Lir.”
Silven leaned back in the chair, the leather squeaking as he did so. He sighed and waved at one of the guards who came over to the table, handing Silven two cigarettes.
“I used to think being able to drink and smoke without consequence would be like heaven. I guess earthly vices aren’t as enjoyable without the threat of cancer and addiction.”
He handed a cigarette to Tun who refused. Silven flashed a stainless steel lighter and ignited the tobacco. He inhaled three times before blowing a plume of smoke into Tun’s face. The other vampire remained still and silent.
“Does he know how to use it? The locket.”
“Not yet because he’s never seen it. But he will soon. He is manipulating a woman so she’ll use it for him.”
Tun spoke the truth, completely unaware of Voldare’s past experience with the locket. Silven took another drag and used his left hand to caress the tabletop.
“And he will use it against me?”
“Against you or against the future. Either way, you lose.”
Silven remained silent.
“I don’t know exactly what he plans, but I know he wants to destroy us all, this future. He believes it would be better to go back, before the pandemic, and prevent it.”
“There is no guarantee that could happen and attempting it could eliminate this future.”
“It no doubt will,” said Tun. “I don’t want to go back to hiding in the shadows, living in dank alleyways and under bridges. I’m also tired of the nagging warfare. If I
must shapeshift to join you, so be it.”
“We could not permit such a distasteful appearance, I’m sure you understand,” Silven said, looking at Tun’s skull.
“I can help you kill Voldare. Keep the location of the locket secret. Forever.”
Silven chuckled and tossed what was left of his cigarette into the fire.
“All these years you stand next to him, fighting us and the natural evolution of the vampire. You deny the science we pursue and the lifestyle we design. And now, you expect me to accept that you’ve changed your mind? Like that?”
“I have,” Tun said.
Silven glanced at his guards and then leaned forward to speak to Tun in hushed tones.
“I could have you slaughtered right now, in a matter of seconds. What you’ve told me is worth it, and frankly, I have no need for you or anything else you have to say.”
“I can’t live this way any longer. It’s brutal and cold and hopeless. I don’t want to go back either. How can I prove to you that I no longer embrace the ethos of the Bloodline?”
Silven took another sip of blood from his chalice and picked up Dracula off the table.
“You’ll tell me how to kill Voldare. I can’t think of another way.”
“You want me to tell you his weakness?” Tun asked.
“It sure does take a longer time for ideas to get through those hideous skulls of yours,” Silven said before turning to face the guards. “Get him to my squad and make sure they draw up the attack plan. Once Voldare is dead, we’ll need to make sure we take out as many of the Bloodline as possible.”
***
Sam sat up when the vampires came down the steps. She knew by the sound of their footsteps they were the escorts to take her to the edge of the DMZ. She also knew Voldare was not with them.
“Time to go,” said the first vampire to the cell door. He unchained her from the wall.
“Okay,” she said, looking around the cell as if she’d brought personal items in with her that needed collecting.
“When we get upstairs, we’re going to give you a few weapons before we head toward the DMZ.”
Sam followed them up the stairs and into the main room where two blades gleamed in the meager light. She saw a dagger laying on a table next to a thin, long sword.
