Vampire Esquire's War (Book 2)

by Michael Wells Jr.

  She sheathed her silver stake and drew two silver swords with metallic scrapes and two light pings. Hundreds of head snapped around. Before she knew it the grey bodies hurdled forth at her.

  The silver armor kept them at a distance like tow sides of the same magnet repelling them. But they weren’t the same. They were undead, and she was alive.

  She spun like a ballerina on her right toe and held out her swords. Vampires hit her blade and were cut down like a lawnmower running over sodden grass. She kept spinning, and she leaped forward flipping. God I’m glad I was a gymnast and took ballet.

  She managed to make it out of the passage and into the metro stop where she fought off a few more vampires and outside, but the war had come. She needed to tell everyone she could if they didn’t know already.

  _________________________

  During the day Roland and Magnum were permitted to leave the White House because the risk to the president was deemed less acute, but things changed at night. The threat increased then.

  It was night now.

  Also, other members of the Society of the Silver Stake guarded the Oval Office, as well as the rest of the West Wing and the residence. The silver lining to the windows helped to some extent, but even that was no assurance of safety.

  Roland and Magnum met with Alexander Hamilton in the bunker under the Lincoln Memorial. Tunnels extended from this bunker all the way to entrances in Virginia and Maryland where weapons were shipped back and forth. In addition, years before places throughout the city had been installed where men and weapons could emerge out of the ground. Guns could erupt with wooden and silver bullets that could pop out of street lamps, the tops of what appeared to be regular taxis.

  “Good afternoon gentlemen,” said Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, Magnum and Roland sat at the roundtable under the Lincoln Memorial where they had met when the first came to Washington.

  “As you know the war is in Washington. When I say coming I mean it is imminent.” Hamilton couldn’t hide the concern in his face.

  Even if Vladimir failed, all of his progeny could not be killed. It would live on for hundreds if no thousands of years. Humans would live under a new fear not experienced in human history. Nothing would ever be the same. No one would ever rest easy again.

  “Magnum and Roland, we need to go over the tunnel system under Washington as this will be essential for the protection of the city, and it will allow us to hold the city against vampires.

  “Essentially the tunnels follow the Metro lines. In fact, the Metro was built to mask the construction of the tunnels. The main problem with the tunnels is there are only two entrances. As we discussed, the entrances are in Bethesda, Maryland and Arlington, Virginia. So these tunnels must also be adequately defended.

  “The White House has a tunnel, which the president can access if he gets desperate, but the safest place for him to be is likely the White House.”

  Both men sat with steely resolve. There time had come. They were ready. No more practice runs with undead bait, thought Roland. This time is for real. The fate of everything rests on us winning this war.

  “We do have some light here,” said Alexander Hamilton hopefully, “as we learned of Vladimir Lenin’s plan through some vampire double agents. In essence, they have gone too early. They don’t possess superior numbers, and their vampires, as you know, are weaker than usual due to the short incubation period. Their numbers are significant, but they aren’t enough to overtake humans. Many of them are weak because they’ve just come out of their graves in the human trafficking sites or they have been locked up in prisons for years.”

  Magnum laughed. “I guess Lenin’s bloodline isn’t as superior as he thought.”

  “That’s probably true,” said Hamilton, “but the main thing is his progeny hasn’t had the chance to get acclimated to their new environment whether it be above ground for the first time in years or out of prison maybe for the first time ever. Either way, they aren’t ready, especially with all of the silver weapons we possess.

  “Also, the Restoration vampires and Lenin’s people aren’t unaware of our powerful anti-vampire weapons. Why else have the prices of precious metals gone up so much over the past few years? It is because the United States government and NGOs with memorandums of understanding with the US masquerading as corporations have bought up all the gold and silver so that we could have the silver.”

  Magnum chuckled at the plan. So smart and such foresight, he thought. He knew a lot about hunting vampires, but he didn’t know how to organize and execute a concerted plan to amass the weapons necessary to fight vampires. He had to give credit to the Society of the Silver Stake and to the Democrats, namely President Thomas Elder, credit for seeing the gathering storm and taking action.

  “It makes sense to me. You are one helluva persuasive man Mr. Hamilton. You ever thought of being an attorney?” said Magnum.

  Hamilton wore a slight smile on his face. “Who says I’m not already, but that’s a side of me you will never see. We non-vampire hunter members of the Society serve at the pleasure of its leadership. We retain our private lives even while we remain members of the Society. It is a calling, and you never know when you will be needed.”

  Many of the traditions and machinations of the Society were a mystery to Magnum. Pure vampire hunters didn’t know a lot about how the Society worked. They just knew about how to hunt vampires, and they knew the weaponry. More importantly they knew the Society would always support them. As the saying went they were the ‘boots on the ground.’

  “I hear you, Mr. Alexander Hamilton,” responded Magnum.

  Hamilton laughed at Magnum’s use of his full name. “I know it is odd not knowing my real name, but that’s how it must be. I’ll give you the code names of some of the other members at a later date, but I won’t tell you how we all get our code names. It is somewhat a matter of choice, but they are also sort of assigned to us as well.”

  Magnum wondered what Hamilton meant by this, but he didn’t think he would push Hamilton on this point––at least not now.

  ______________________________________

  Pierre knew President Elder needed to make an announcement soon and confirm what many people already knew to be true; the announcement would be later that night, and it may prompt an attack. But the main attack was coming soon—perhaps very soon. He wondered why formal acknowledgment lingered behind the general knowledge of some kinds of bad news. He supposed people wanted to deny uncomfortable realities for as long as they wanted.

  Pierre needed to face his own past, a past that kept him motivated, but that he had never fully resolved. He’d never had the opportunity to face his maker, who he blamed for the end of his human life and his miserable existence as a vampire.

  He told himself he lived to honor the vestiges of his humanity and thereby honor Quinta, but there was another reason. And he didn’t usually acknowledge this reason—if he ever had—even though he knew the reason. Vengeance kept him alive. The idea that he might one day face his maker and destroy his maker. It motivated him.

  And he felt the time to face his maker was near.

  ____________________

  After they got back from the Lincoln Memorial, Roland, Magnum and Alexander Hamilton entered the White House tunnel from the secret entrance under the White House’s pool house.

  “Do you think it is safe to leave the president?” asked Roland.

  “Safe probably isn’t the best word choice. I’d say it is less dangerous,” responded Alexander Hamilton.

  Magnum patted Roland on the shoulder and said, “There are others there to guard him. He will be okay. Remember, we left him yesterday and at other times. He was okay.”

  Roland wasn’t convinced. He’d been in battle before. He knew the invisible signs before a battle began. The animals sensed it. Nature itself seemed to sense it before humans did, but this was because humans didn’t look for the signs. They didn’t stop and listen. Just as the past often leaves indelible footpri
nts, the future often reveals itself in whispers. And if you listen closely enough they are always there.

  Roland heard the whispers today, but he trusted Magnum’s and Alexander Hamilton’s judgment. And they needed to learn more about the tunnels because the attack was coming. Sooner rather than later, he thought.

  The three men climbed down a metal ladder through a tube encased in concrete on a metal ladder. Claustrophobic people wouldn’t do well in this kind of passageway. The ladder went on for fifty feet or so until it opened up into a giant tunnel with ceilings almost as high as a blimp hangar. The tunnel was big enough to move in all manner of equipment. Big enough to move an army or even evacuate a city.

  ________________________

  “This is massive,” said Roland. Massive didn’t cover the sheer size of the passage way. Roland couldn’t believe a gargantuan tunnel could stand without collapsing.

  Alexander Hamilton, sensing Roland’s disbelief, responded, “We used a series of Roman arches made out of the strongest steel in the world. I’m sure Pierre could tell you, but there are many things we still can’t do any better than the Romans. Contrary to what people sometimes say, things don’t always get better with time.”

  Magnum walked up to the men and watched them as they spoke. A wan smile spread across his wrinkled face. “Lot’s of shit doesn’t get better with age. Take vampire hunting equipment. Best way to kill a vampire is still to stab the damn thing in the heart with a silver stake. Nothing’s changed there.”

  He laughed and walked off. Roland and Hamilton laughed as well.

  The three men walked farther down the passageway. They came upon several tanks lined up on each side of a small fort. “This is where soldiers will line up starting tonight. It is the last defense against a vampire encroachment from the tunnels. We have guards at the entrances in Virginia and Maryland, which we keep locked. We don’t believe there are any secret entrances, but you never can be too sure.”

  “We are worried about vampires getting down in the tunnels and passing themselves off as members of the Society or a soldiers,” said Hamilton

  “So what are you going to do about it?” said Magnum.

  Hamilton’s brow furrowed, and he responded, “We will have to be on guard. No one ever said we had an easy job. But this thing needs to be kept quiet until it is time to tell everyone. And mass panic creates a whole different group of hysterical people, who may easily be made into vampires. And that’s not what we need.”

  All three men fell silent as they glanced at the tanks.

  Small bands of elite soldiers guarded each side of the barricade. Fortunately the ladder up to the secret passage way was the only way from the tunnel to the White House. Given the narrowness of the cylinder encasing the ladder, it would be difficult for many vampires to climb up the passageway or to present any real danger to the president or others in the White House.

  Roland glanced towards the northern end of the barrier, and, he saw a soldier with his arm ripped off, blood spurting from the gory stump where the arm had been. The soldier keeled over, and a tall man with blood dripping from his mouth lurched forward.

  “Jesus H. Christ,” shouted Magnum. “They’ve already gotten down here.” He sprinted towards the vampire. The vampire hissed, its eyes slits as its fangs jeered at him. A wet thud and explosion coated Magnum with blood and remnants of what appeared to be organs.

  Magnum stood holding a sharp silver stake coated in blood. He turned to the two men, his face painted red with vampire blood, and said, “I’ve found if I get the stake pointed up first the rest kind of falls into place. Believe it or not vampire attack patterns are predictable. Problem is they move fast. So you have to anticipate.”

  Alexander Hamilton slowly nodded his head, but he didn’t smile.

  Roland broke the silence. “I think we should seal the passage from the White House.”

  “I agree,” said Magnum.

  “Me too,” said Hamilton.

  “If this passage way has already been infiltrated, then it isn’t safe. It would be better if the president left the White House premises another way, should he have to leave. But I intend to make sure he is able to stay,” said Magnum.

  Hamilton walked over and talked to the commander in charge of the small group of men. Neither Magnum nor Roland could tell what the two men discussed. Hamilton walked back to them, a look of relief on his face. “He’s going to seal the passage with silver bars and concrete. Then we will put a silver seal on top of the passageway. It should slow any unexpected visitors, but I hope it will stop them all together.”

  The three men climbed up the ladder back towards the White House.

  They exited the passageway back into the pool house. They walked out of the pool house. President Elder stood in from of them flanked by a phalanx of Secret Service agents. “Gentlemen, I have some bad news,” said the president. “The vampire war has begun. It started in Los Angeles. And it is here too. Now is the time to make a formal announcement to the country.”

  Outside the sun started to go down.

  ___________________________

  Valkyrie could hear screeching behind her as she exited the Foggy Bottom metro stop. She almost didn’t make it out alive, and she put her odds at surviving the next few hours at less than fifty-fifty. It didn’t bother her though. She lived for the thrill of the hunt. With each vampire she staked, the stronger she felt she became.

  The streets were empty, and it was dusk. It would be night soon. Word had likely spread about a threat, although most people hadn’t likely accepted what the threat really was. But they would eventually. Most people were likely in denial at this point. Bad news is easy to deny. In fact, denial is one of the seven stages of grief.

  Valkyrie lived in the acceptance phase. She’d seen the horrors life offered, but she would much rather have life that being a vampire. Vampire movies and novels had I all wrong. Being a vampire wasn’t sexy. It was basic and brutal. Most of them had grayish skin, sharp teeth and veins running all over their bodies. Nothing attractive about any of these characteristics; even the female vampires were ugly. She couldn’t abide an ugly woman.

  Other than a few car horns in the distance and the faint sound of screeching tires somewhere several blocks away, everything felt still and almost peaceful. But that wouldn’t last.

  She pulled out both of her swords just in case, and she practiced various poses she learned in fencing. These moves served her well in vampire hunting because she could always keep the blade between she and the vampires.

  She began running towards the White House. They needed her help.

  _____________________________

  Bridgett had been told to go home early today for some inexplicable reason; ten was early for her. The reason made her wary. As she left, she noticed Thomas Watson lurking by the door going out into the rose garden. Then she saw Pierre walk near Watson, but not visible to him. Watson ducked behind a door and hid.

  Bridgett thought this was strange. But dismissed the thought as a sign of her paranoia.

  She couldn’t get a cab, and the metro she usually took was shut down, so she walked home. Then her phone buzzed, and a text message with a video link appeared from a blocked number. Before she could delete the message, it played a video of what appeared to be Thomas Watson sucking someone’s blood.

  She ran back towards the White House, and she texted Pierre, Magnum and Roland, but the message failed. Then her phone cut out. All the power went out everywhere.

  ___________________________________________

  Pierre felt relieved the war had finally come. Better to have a reckoning so things could be resolved one way or the other. In spite of the war, though, Pierre still believed in the possibility of the peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires, but war was a necessary step.

  Pierre had trained Roland to hunt vampires. Roland had shown himself to be a skillful vampire hunter, but, more importantly, he didn’t kill with impunity or without purpose. Roland
knew killing vampires served a purpose, and this purpose was the preservation of the human species. A pragmatist, Roland knew humans and vampires must coexist.

  Humans who wanted to kill all vampires couldn’t be tolerated. Likewise, vampires who wanted to subjugate humans must be killed. Neither of these two extremes could be allowed to win out. Life could not be an all or nothing proposition. There must be balance.

  Pierre believed he’d always served as the balance between the vicious nature of some vampires and the evil nature of some humans. It had always been a difficult, precious balance. Vampires could not be destroyed. As long as humans existed vampires would too and vice versa. The two species were different yet the same, for one mirrored the other even if not exactly. Vampires were a distorted version of humans. Undead, yet still a version of humans.

  Now the focus had to be ending the war as quickly as possible with as few deaths as possible, both human and vampire. Lenin’s forces were strong, but Pierre believed Lenin both underestimated humans and staged the attack too early. Lenin also overestimated the power of his progeny for reports from military sources indicated many of the vampires were sickly and easy to defeat.

  If vampires won or even prolonged the war long enough to give themselves larger numbers, they would grow strong and even more formidable. Eventually vampire ranks would swell to the point nothing else existed. Eventually vampires would turn on each other, and they would destroy each other. Then there would be nothing left but the animals. Nuclear war wouldn’t destroy the world as they knew it. Instead of a nuclear Armageddon it would be a vampire Armageddon.

  If humans prevailed, the Pierre believed he could get rid of the vampire members of Congress. It would take going quickly to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it could be done. How would he would he do it? The Constitution. The document that created the world’s longest lasting republic would also save the world.