Vampire Esquire's War (Book 2)

by Michael Wells Jr.

  “My love, you need to rest,” Quinta said, smiling.

  Quintus smiled back, his teeth visible in the moonlight. “I need to protect you, and I can’t do that if I’m not watching you.”

  Quinta smiled lazily, her eyes shut. “I think you just like to look at me.”

  “Maybe so.”

  “I know so, but you will have plenty of time to do that.”

  “I suppose I will.”

  A week after that conversation the fire occurred. Then he became a vampire. And he never saw Qinta again. Pierre wished he hadn’t been so wrong. He wished he could have seen the future and prevented it instead of being a prisoner to the past, a slave to sadness.

  Pierre went through this thought process daily, but he always came to the conclusion he must survive so he could prevent others from losing their lives in the way he had.

  Pierre had been a successful vampire. In his early years as a vampire he had turned hundreds of strong humans into vampires. No doubt these vampires turned other strong humans into even greater vampires. His actions had served to propagate the species. In retrospect, Pierre knew this did nothing to advance humans or vampires; it only made things worse by creating larger, warring factions.

  The younger the vampire, the more vicious was the vampire. And these vampires were much less likely to be amenable to consuming donated blood or animal blood. If starving, a vampire could subsist on animal blood, but this was not an ideal food source. As vampires were inherently hedonistic, they often didn't care what they did to humans. This feeling was exacerbated by their disdain for humans.

  Pierre felt the disdain for humans represented a form of self-loathing. Although vampires claimed to be vastly superior to humans, the only areas they surpassed humans in where physical strength and longevity. And who cared about these traits? In Pierre's opinion, these traits did not make life or existence (he always struggled with which term to apply) more meaningful. He would much rather have lived out a short forty or fifty years with Quinta, happy and mortal.

  When he could stand it no longer he zeroed in on work. For the first time in hundreds of years, he felt fear. He thought himself incapable of fear anymore because what else could happen to him? Pierre dreaded the realization that all of it had been in vain. Existing all these years needed to have purpose.

  "Pierre Leblanc, this is the White House. I have the President on the phone."

  Pierre told the operator to put him through to the president through. "Pierre, good to talk to you again.”

  "I've learned you can never completely predict the future. Some trends occur over and over, but it is the details that change. So does the scale of the effects, sometimes greater, sometimes smaller. Here it appears we may be on the greater end."

  The president sighed on the other end, obviously exasperated. Not the kind of response one normally expected from a president.

  Pierre knew President Elder didn't hate vampires or so he had sensed from their limited interactions. He knew better than to blame vampires for being vampires. President Elder did, however, loathe those vampires who preyed upon humans because they were weaker physically than vampires.

  "The threat is coming, but the problem is we don't know when and where. I have my suspicions as to how it may play out."

  Pierre had his suspicions as well.

  "So what would you like for me to do, Mr. President?"

  "I'm going to need you to move to Washington. Not only a trip. A more or less semi-permanent arrangement."

  Pierre wasn't surprised. He’d known the president would make this request. It had happened before, and it would happen again.

  "Mr. President, anything to help the country. You aren't the first president from Illinois I've helped."

  "I figured that Pierre. I look forward to seeing you."

  Pierre listened to the electric tone one the other end. He sat there for a few minutes until his racing thoughts drowned out the tone. Then he shook his head and woke up from his trance. He needed to think. No time for sitting idly by because he had places to go and disasters to prevent.

  ____________________________

  Chapter 8

  Roland and Magnum drove across the Potomac in a stretch limo relieved to have the vampire hunt in Illinois from the day before over. The sunlight reflected off the river, and the monuments gleamed white and permanent in the background. They saw the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

  "Roland, you see the back of the Lincoln Memorial? That's where we will enter the meeting location."

  Both men sat in silence for a bit and took in the scenery.

  "You know we've got a lot to do. This won't get any easier on our end," Magnum said. Roland knew this, and he wondered why Magnum felt the need to state this obvious fact; he wasn’t a child, and he knew the gravity of the situation. He supposed Magnum was that way with everyone. Rather than create waves, Roland nodded his head in agreement. A lot of the information came out in drips, but he supposed it was better that way.

  "The president won't ask many specifics at first. He will want to get to know you. Make sure you are comfortable. Quite frankly, he wants to make sure he’s comfortable around you. He doesn’t let many people in. At some point, he's going to want to know how you feel about all of this.”

  Roland said, "I'm not sure I know. It has been a whirlwind. I'm grateful for the pardon, but it is overwhelming---the enormity of our job."

  The limo pulled up to a gate at the White House. A tall man with a dark suit and a burgundy tie and an earpiece stopped they car and said, "Mr. William Magnum and Mr. Roland Walker?"

  Magnum and Roland said yes and showed their IDs.

  A few more Secret Service agents came out, and they searched the car, patted down Magnum and Roland, and Roland and Magnum scanned their eyes with infrared scanners. The agents cleared them to go in, and he allowed them to take their silver stakes. They were a part of the Secret Service now, but vampire spies may be watching. And they didn't want to arouse suspicion as to who they were or why they were there. No one could be trusted.

  The limo pulled to a stop, and Magnum and Roland were ushered over red carpets to an entrance both of them had seen many times on television.

  The president's secretary, a grandmotherly woman in a smartly tailored St. John knit suit greeted them. "The president will see you now."

  She opened the door, and the two men walked into the most famous office in the world. They could see the Presidential Seal on navy-blue carpet in the middle of the room. Standing behind his desk, gazing out the window stood President Elder.

  The president turned around. "Gentlemen, thank you for coming. Thomas Elder," he said as he shook both mans' hands.

  "My pleasure," Magnum responded, “nice to see you again.”

  "Of course, Mr. President," Roland said.

  The president smiled his trademark smile. "Relax, Mr. Walker. It is just the Oval Office and I'm only the president." All three men chuckled. Roland felt more at ease.

  "It never ceases to amaze me what this office and being president does to people. I've always thought of myself as a normal guy, but I guess things change." With the comment, he knocked on the wood desk. “For good luck,” he said.

  The president smiled again, but then the smile went away. "But I haven't been a normal guy for awhile. I suppose none of us is. Am I right gentlemen?"

  Neither Roland nor Magnum responded. Of course Magnum had seen the president at Society of the Silver Stake meetings, but that was different. The setting was more formal here.

  "We’ve got a big job ahead of us. I’m pleased with your work thus far, but I fear we won't be able to keep vampires a secret much longer. It will cause a big panic when people find out the truth. But the more important thing is suppressing the threat."

  Both men nodded in agreement.

  "As you are both aware, there are a limited number of people who know about the vampire threat."

  Magnum turned towards Roland, and
his expression said, "We are part of the small circle.”

  "It is probably better this way." Roland wondered if people should remain ignorant. Was it better to live in blissful ignorance or to know the truth?

  Roland could not make up his mind.

  "In the past," President Elder continued on, "Democrats and Republicans have differences of opinion. And that was fine. It is fine. But it's different now..." Elder shook his head in dejection.

  President Elder walked up to the chair behind his desk.

  "I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me today.”

  President Elder fell silent. "Roland Walker, I've heard a lot about you, all good stuff of course.”

  No one had ever said anything like this to him, let alone a president. He didn't know how to respond.

  "And William Magnum, what can I say about you? It is obvious how much you have helped the country and mankind in general." The president smiled, and he said, “I don’t think I’ve seen you outside our society meetings.”

  “That’s true, sir––the part about not seeing each outside the meetings.”

  “So humble,” replied the president.

  Even though Magnum had been praised in a similar way by other Presidents and men and women in positions of high leadership it never got old.

  Magnum smiled, something he rarely did.

  "The main reason I brought you all here is I need body men, men I can trust." Body men? Roland thought? This conjured ideas of Kennedy's Secret Service agents who couldn't stop the assassin's bullets from killing him.

  Someone knocked on the president’s door. “Come in,” he said.

  Agent Watson walked in. “Nice to see you back from Paris, Thomas,” said the president. I appreciate your following your instincts because it brought about some good information.”

  He looks different, thought Roland, paler and somehow more detached.

  “Gentlemen,” said Watson, “I’ve confirmed some things about Vladimir Lenin; I was able to meet with him during my vacation—I’m shocked he agreed. I can tell he’s a vampire. I took pictures of him through a pin I had on my coat, and our analysis indicates he his a few thousand years old. Also, picture and computer analysis indicates his teeth are vampire fangs.”

  “You can tell all that from a picture and from meeting the guy?” said Roland, incredulously. “Yes you can,” said Watson.

  Then Watson went on, “And we believe Lenin’s company, Nero, is in on it too or at least we think they are.”

  Silence.

  The president chimed in, "I know some vampires, Vladimir Lenin in particular, wants to assassinate me. There have always been people who wanted to assassinate presidents, but there are more who want to assassinate the first black President." President Elder glanced to his right and gazed out the window towards the lawn outside the back of his window.

  "Some walk among us, and we don't know it," responded Roland. Horrifying, he thought. Roland had believed he was done with startling revelations. This revelation scared him almost as much as the discovery vampires were real. This meant few, if any people, could be trusted.

  "Exactly," President Elder said. "So you see the problem. And Pierre Leblanc aka "Vampire Esquire" is on his way. I've given him this code name. You all don't need code names, but Pierre, being a vampire, will need to work behind the scenes."

  Both men nodded their heads in agreement. Pierre was taking a huge risk. He would be a pariah in some vampire circles, but he probably already was. Besides that kind of thing didn't seem to bother Pierre. What did he have to lose anyway? He'd lost it all almost 2,000 years ago.

  By then, Thomas Watson had left the room.

  ________________________________

  Vladimir Lenin had watched the whole incident from a camera sewn into Watson’s lapel. It was better to have Watson there and privy to the intelligence then to remain unknown as a vampire, and Watson’s admission that Lenin was a vampire gave Watson credibility. Credibility was needed to con them into trusting Watson in spite of Watson’s changes, changes, which should have been noticed. He took the calculated risk that the president and his minions would find out about the plan, and he would rather have Watson to brief him and supply real time information.

  Knowing the plan didn’t mean they would be able to properly prepare for it. Besides, the American people couldn’t know such things. It wasn’t conducive to winning elections to have people question your sanity.

  He had considered having Watson assassinate Elder, but what good would that do? He would be replaced. Winning an election with Inman and taking power “legally” was the best course of action. If that didn’t work, well, then they would have to take the White House and the whole country. Depose the king and take his throne. That was the only way.

  _________________________________

  Pierre left O'Hare airport early in the morning on a United flight; he had to fly back to Chicago one more time before he made his living arrangements in Washington semi-permanent. He flew coach so as to not draw any attention to himself.

  During the flight Pierre didn't read, talk, or sleep. Instead he thought about the vampire threat, and he considered its impact on him. But he didn't care about himself. He had lived an eternity. Only now he faced his greatest struggle yet. Although tired of being existing, he sensed this struggle gave meaning to his long, lonely existence. Why else had he survived other than to thwart the greatest of threats?

  He wondered exactly what the president would want him to do.

  Pierre knew his abilities as a lawyer would prove useful to the president. Invariably a legal question would come up, especially if the existence of vampires became common knowledge.

  But he could be useful in other ways. He understood the enemy in part because he was partially the enemy too.

  Likewise, the president would need Pierre to break the legal hold Nero Corporation, and Vladimir Lenin and the Restoration vampires already had on the United States government. Pierre knew Nero had already pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying firms on K Street and other locations. This money bought influence, and he would have to untangle the web of influence.

  But human trafficking was supplying most of the necessary vampire population. If anything was going to start the vampire war, it would be this. Legislation making conditions more favorable for vampires and vampire dominance would help, but, ultimately, the growing numbers of vampires was the real threat. Also, who knew how many prisons and “resorts” existed or how many victims were in each location?

  Pierre arrived at Dulles on time, and as he walked to the baggage claim he saw a man holding a sign. The sign read “Pierre Leblanc.” The man wore a chauffeur's uniform, and he smiled at Pierre when Pierre introduced himself.

  The man led Pierre to a limousine parked out front. The limo, parked in a no parking zone, had no tickets. And no cops or airport officials seemed to care. Strange, thought Pierre. Then he realized this must be the work of the Society of the Silver Stake. The man probably served as a regular driver. Pierre was suspicious, so he spoke to the man. As he did so, Pierre gazed into his eyes entrancing him.

  “Mr. Leblanc, I work for the Society of the Silver Stake. I don’t know anything else except I’m to take you to the White House.”

  Although not fully satisfied with the answer, Pierre sat down in the limo. He could see the man's eyes in the rearview mirror. The man's eyes flickered with unspoken recognition. Pierre smiled, and the man smiled back. This is the doing of the Society, thought Pierre. It isn’t a trap.

  The men rode in silence. The limo glided over the Potomac, and the sunlight shimmered off the river. Pierre could see the gleaming white monuments. He paid particular attention to the Lincoln Memorial.

  Pierre arrived at the White House. Each time he marveled at the simple elegance of the mansion. It conveyed power but not royalty. The presidency, perhaps the most unique institution in human history, endured because in theory anyone could be president. As the most powerful person
in the world in charge of the mightiest country in the history of the world, the president possessed the authority of a king, but he could not act in an unrestrained manner. Presidents were the ultimate politicians because they wielded such power, yet they had to work within a framework. Harder to be a president than a king, thought Pierre.

  "The president will see you now," said President Elder's secretary.

  "Thank you," said Pierre. The door opened, and Pierre walked into Oval Office. President Elder smiled at him and extended his hand. "There's our ace in the hole gentlemen. Last quick trip to Chicago." To Pierre's right sat Roland and Magnum. Back from another hunt, he thought.

  "I hope to be able to help you Mr. President," said Pierre. He spoke in a respectful tone without being obsequious, something he knew the president appreciated.

  "I know you can, Pierre. I hear you played a major role in training Mr. Walker. Now he's an old pro."

  Pierre said, "That's what I hear sir. I'm not surprised. When I trained him I could tell he had talent." Truth be told, however, talent didn't guarantee success. Lots of people could shoot well, but this wasn't the only skill needed. You had to be able to shoot well with a fast moving target intent on draining your blood so you died a slow, painful death. Different pressure all together, and this is why there are so few vampire hunters, thought Pierre, yet these men had done well especially with the assistance of Valkyrie.

  "I am going to need all the help I can get. I'd like for you to work with Roland and Magnum to gather intelligence. I want for you to advise me legally, too.”

  Pierre knew he was right. Lots of money was pumped into lobbying firms, and the money went to buy politicians. No other way to describe it, and it wasn't unusual. In fact it was business as usual. The main difference here, however, was this could lay the groundwork for the enslavement of the human race at best and the destruction of the human race at worst. Through private prisons and resorts, they enslaved vampires. Why not humans too?