Chapter 21: A Long Night

  The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that it was dark, but my vampiric eyes worked to let me see as if it were daylight. The second thing was that I was in a car’s smelly trunk. The strange blueberry scent of LCM permeated the carpeting around me. It was a large enough trunk to hold me, Dustin, and a couple duffle bags of items.

  The System finally caught up and said: Transfer Complete! Thank you for your patience. Again, please refrain from damaging your standard issue Imperial data pad. While they are durable, and typically can withstand a single direct rifle shot, they are not indestructible.

  We have merged your old stats with the new Host body. Please take a moment to review your stats and report to the nearest Imperial Commissar if they should prove to be wrong. Remember, citizen, the Imperial System does not make mistakes.

  I thrust the menu aside and looked around my surroundings. Knowing what classes Eva had wasn't important yet, because there were more important things. Like food. Dustin was food. His body had moved in a way to knock my stake loose and a good solid jolt from a bump had slipped it the rest of the way.

  I didn't see a way out, but Eva’s memories told me that every automobile trunk has some form of release mechanism built inside it. At least modern ones. Not the ancient ones I was used to.

  First things first; food. I bit into Dustin's shoulder, since he was the closest thing to my fangs and I was absolutely famished! The man didn't even move thanks to the stake. It would have been easy to do to him what Eva did to me and that'd be that, but Eva’s thoughts still lingered in my mind even after her disappearance.

  Am I Eva with Cassandra’s memories or am I Cassandra with Eva’s memories?

  I didn't know the answer. It was a question I needed to figure out after I got free of the trunk. Another thing I noticed was a System Efficiency meter slowly filling up as I drank from Dustin. It disappeared when full, so I wasn't sure what that was.

  Dustin didn't have much blood either. About half of what I expected him to have. His body was working to repair damage done to it, as the man was beaten to a pulp, shot, and stabbed a few times. It would have been easy to steal his soul right then and there, and that'd be one less vampire in the world.

  But I couldn't.

  Something screamed in the back of my mind to stop before I killed the vampire. I let go of the man and licked my fangs, allowing my head to rest on the bumpy floor. His blood allowed my body to heal the wound caused by the initial stake.

  Whomever captured us didn't bother to bind my arms and legs together, since I was already out of commission and a staked vampire isn't going anywhere until you remove the stake. Much like Dustin wasn't going anywhere until I removed his. He was out of it.

  I could leave him to whatever fate had in store for him. Or maybe, just maybe, through some sheer fucking coincidence, I was supposed to save his corpse! The fool of a fledgling wouldn't be able to fight his way out of a wet paper bag without my help. I swear, if it wasn't for me the man would be fish food!

  I couldn't just simply pull the stake from his heart though. He'd bite my neck because it's the first thing he'd see and then I'd be back to square one: starving and staring him down like the meal he was.

  Twisting around in the tight trunk, I opened the nearest duffle bag. It contained cash, blood cans, a stack of cell phones and identification cards belonging to a human man who went by the name of John in one of the cards and Elijah in another. I don't know which was his actual name. It didn't really matter. What mattered was finding a way out of the trunk. The fucker kept jewelry and cash in another duffle bag along with a few pistols.

  They were those modern semi-automatics chambered in .40 caliber like Eva’s. One looked to be an uncommon variant with a combination flashlight and laser sight added underneath the barrel, and two double stack magazines filled to the brim with ammunition. I stuffed one magazine in my jacket pocket and put the pistol in the other. Thanks to Eva’s memories, I actually knew what kind of pistol I was looking at and which magazine went with which pistol, as there were two different caliber weapons with the others being 9mm.

  Dustin needed one and there were three. It was only prudent that I shove every magazine into the man’s many pockets, which Eva’s leggings lacked severely. Only her jacket and purse had any pockets and her purse was gone! It wasn't anywhere in the trunk. I have no idea who decided to remove pockets from women's garments, but that is one thing I will rectify.

  I will have my pockets. And I will not settle for anything less than a skirt capable of holding a pistol in said pocket.

  There was one thing I knew about when dealing with criminals. It's that they don't like to lose their hard earned coins. I had a plan. As for how good that plan is was anyone’s guess. My plan involved simply dumping the money out the trunk before leaving. That would anger the vampire when they discovered their quarry and coin gone!

  I felt around for the trunk release handle and found it fairly close to the actual mechanism. With a sharp tug, the interior was illuminated by a soft off-white light as the lid lifted up.

  Sunlight streaked through the gap, filling the trunk with so much light I recoiled back as I slammed the lid down. Sunlight shouldn't be outside when I was fully awake! Dustin looked ‘normal’ according to Eva’s memories and what I remember seeing the other day. It was also nighttime according to the phone.

  I felt each turn the driver took; a left here, a right there, another left over a hill. I don't know where we were going and I really didn't want to find out. Which meant I had to try the trunk release again. When I pulled the release, only the cool embrace of night greeted me. Perhaps it was another car earlier and I overreacted. Perhaps not.

  I gently opened the trunk until I was able to look through a gap and see what time it was. My brows furrowed at what I saw, jaw dropping. It was night, yes, and partially cloudy, but something was strange. Through the tree canopy, I saw clouds drifting across a starry sky, the destroyed moon wasting away and judging the world below. But most importantly.

  Patches of bright blue daytime sky dotted the night along with the clouds. Rays of holy light stretched across large swaths of land, burning any vampires they came across. A strange echoing whistle cracked overhead, followed by a wobbly sound I couldn't quite describe. It resembled the noise a dying creature made as it screamed in agony for release. For Death to come claim her.

  She, the planet known as Halifax, was in pain as the very land groaned and shook. Trees swayed violently, throwing leaves across the road while the car drove like a drunk after curfew. I held the trunk partially open, wind howling, exhaust growling underneath me. Dust and leaves swirled about behind the car, threatening to come inside.

  Sunlight streaked down as if a mage cast a spell, illuminating the road behind the car as the sky tore itself asunder once again.

  I shut the trunk, frowning deeply at my predicament. While I have a gun now, I couldn't leave the car. If I jumped then whatever hell I found myself in would surely kill me.

  That must have been what the news was talking about when it warned about a solar hurricane and vampires being out at night in it. I could see why. What with the sky opening up and streaming daylight for all to see. It was terrible! Whomever had destroyed Earth did a good enough job that we were still feeling the effects of whatever caused it.

  It could have been magic or magic based weaponry.

  Still magic

  No one knew for sure. Not even Isabella knew when Eva asked what happened back in the day. Isabella merely said, Chaos. And Death. So many vampires were burned when the sky split in half and night became day. Only those of us inside were spared the full concentrated wrath of the sun.

  I didn't remember it, but I did remember screaming. So many screams. So many people begging for help, but when and why did they need my help? Where? It was lost to me.

  Much like I was lost to the world.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the System Menu, since there was nothing else to do. Eva’s, well, my stat sheet appeared behind my eyelids after I went through a few menus. I didn't really keep track of what I had before, and again, the numbers didn't seem all that important to me. They just told me what I already knew.

  Eva was average in roughly every stat she had. Except for Firearms - Semi-Auto Rifle, Single Shot Rifle, & Musket where it was fifty-five out of a hundred. Her car driving skill was at thirty. I assumed fifty was average, but if Eva’s stats were anything to go by. Then thirty to forty out of a hundred was average. Unless skills also had ranks to them.

  Curiously, she had level seventy in Firearms - Pistols & Revolvers, and Swordsmanship - Cutlass. Those were all marked with an asterisk and a notification from the System saying they were Inherited Skills.

  The Inherited Skills must have come from me, because it mentioned they would be merged with her regular skills after tonight.

  So perhaps I was Eva with Cassandra’s memories then. Unless, I was Cassandra who thought she was Eva with the elder’s memories. Unless everyone I ever drank from was inside me much like I had been inside Eva. At which point was I truly Cassandra or was I many vampires in one? All with the same voice?

  Did that make me Legion?

  I wasn't human, nor half-elf. I was something more. Something Mother Moon enjoyed feeding Her powers to, but what that something was, was beyond me. Only She knew the truth that I will find out when I finally meet Her face to face.

  Whenever that was.

  Didn't really matter though, because I was me and that was enough. I survived another night and found myself in darkness again.

  I sighed, much in the way a mortal would, and rested my head against the trunk floor. It wasn't comfortable, but it was something better than concrete. Or asphalt. I snuggled up against Dustin’s side and draped one of his arms over me just to have it feel like I was being hugged. I needed one and Amelia wasn't here to give me one.

  She was at my house. The question of if I could see her or if she would even recognize me as Cassandra was burning in the back of my mind. She'd see a random half-elf in front of her, not the once-human monster that was Cassandra.

  Perhaps even Caleb wouldn't recognize me. That'd be fine, but if he was getting another job from our sire like Eva’s memories said, then I had to warn him not to. He couldn't fall into a life of betrayal and deceit like I had. He was too good of a vampire.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  I found Cassandra’s cell phone in my jacket pocket, which was weird, because they should have taken it from me. Unless they thought Dustin had already checked me for the phone. At which point they're dumbasses for not looking in our pockets.

  I tried to send Caleb a text message, but the hurricane was fucking up the signal like it always did. So I put the cellphone away and waited to see where we ended up.

  *** ***

  We were kidnapped by the worst person to be kidnapped by; Dinner. You see, by being stuffed inside a trunk, we had no idea who exactly was transporting us, and with very poor cell phone signal thanks to the solar hurricane. I couldn’t send any messages to Caleb or Isabella, or Eva’s contacts. Let alone call anyone. Dustin and I didn’t want to die either, so I made a plan to assault the first person to open the trunk. That was ruined the instant the trunk opened.

  Four heavily armed people aimed three shotguns and one flamethrower in our face. All I could do was slowly raise my hands over my head. Dustin was still passed out with a stake in his chest, because I didn’t want to have him scream when I pulled the stake out.

  He’d never been staked as far as Eva knew. The first time is the roughest on a vampire. Especially with me draining him until he found himself in torpor. He’ll need a very good meal when he awakens and five blood cans was not enough! They were barely enough for me.

  Dinner was dressed in a naval uniform with a skirt that held a rapier on their left side and a modern pistol on their right. They leaned on a cane off to the side of the car, watching the armored men haul me out of the trunk. The soldiers were far, far more suited to fight vampires than the ones at the warehouse. To me, it looked like fully sealed suits of power armor with an arcane generator pack on their backs. Except for the man with the flamethrower, who also had one fuel tank on each side of his arcane generator.

  We were in some kind of room that was made of pure metal painted an ugly off-white with overhead lights so bright they failed to create shadows. Likely the interior of a planetary cargo shuttle at the Encinar Aerodrome, since they couldn’t take off with the hurricane outside. It made navigation impossible, much like it made cell phones useless. I only assumed that because the walls had jump seats for soldiers and cargo tie down points on the floor with the far wall being angled like a ramp against the ceiling.

  “I’m going to make this simple, vamnapper,” Dinner began, their voice the only thing audible in the room. One hand rested on the rapier’s pommel. It was a very fancy one, which looked more ceremonial than anything with thin wire making up the guard. “You tell me where Cassandra is and I let you see another night.”

  The way they opened the trunk led me to believe that either Dinner drove us themself, or it was someone under their employ who was no longer in the shuttle.

  I couldn’t look into Dinner’s eyes, because they were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses that blocked anyone from making direct eye contact with them. Slowly, I locked my fingers together as I rested my hands atop my head and looked over at the marine with the flamethrower. They didn’t need a sword to kill me when they had a dragon’s flame breath in gun form. The shotguns alone would have been enough for me to cooperate, as a single point blank blast could send my head rolling.

  With Dustin staked and in torpor, I could be as open as I wanted, but something wanted me to be quiet. We could hide and start over. But if I failed to convince Dinner then I’d end up a barbequed vampire and it’d all be for naught.

  “You’re looking at her,” I said as I let my eyes drop to the floor. “I killed her. I drank her soul. She is me. I am Cassandra von Colterville.”

  “And how do I know you didn’t just drink her power?” Dinner tapped their cane into the deck and frowned at me.

  “I did. I drank it all.” I giggled, holding a hand over my mouth as a small smile crossed my lips. “She was the best drink I ever had, and the worst drink. Just look at me… I’m an old hag now!” I thrust a hand to the side and glared at the eyeless Dinner before me.

  They shrugged, seemingly as if they could care less about the angry soul stealing vampire before them. Not even their heart beat faster, but then again. If I could just wake up in a clone like they claim I’d not be worried, too!

  “I dunno,” Dinner muttered. “Cassandra was cute. I was going to let her drink my blood one of these days, but she refused the first time, despite salivating at the scent of my blood. Any idea why she refused to feed?”

  Cute?

  “You thought I was cute?” I blinked a few times, frowning as I ran a hand along my hip, gently squeezing it a bit. I felt the squeeze, which meant I wasn’t dreaming, because in what world did Dinner think I was cute?! I was a hideous old woman who had to hide her man body with padding and specifically selected clothes. Underneath the clothes I was just as hideous as my reflection showed.

  A monster no one wanted.

  “That's, like, not the answer for what I said. Try again.” Dinner nodded at the man with the flamethrower.

  He raised the weapon to chest level. The men with the shotguns were only there in case the flamethrower somehow missed, but they followed suit anyway.

  I nodded firmly, because I knew exactly why she failed to drink the half-elf's blood. “You two were in a saloon and it isn't proper to feed in public. She pushed you away, not because she was worried about killing you, but because she was worried about making her sire look bad.”

  “Really…?”

  “Think how much I talk about my sire. It is so bad I had Bones tell me I wouldn't shut up about her. The putrid woman drove me to your street race where we met again and you talked about your clones. That was the first time I ever heard someone say they can just wake up in a new body. Now I’ve awakened in this half-elf’s body!”

  Dinner tapped their chin for a small moment before they smiled softly. “Alright. Answer me this; what is Flanders to you?”

  That was not a question I was expecting. Were they talking about the Flanders region or Flanders the awkward courier? As those were the two Flanders I knew of. One was a place and one… “Is a vampire courier.”

  “Okay. But like, where do they come from?” Dinner asked.

  Since I wasn't currently on fire that must have been the answer. I shook my head. “I don't know, Dinner. I truly don't know! I've never met them… but I was told I have. My s-sire must have done something to my memory. Please, Dinner, believe me on this. I. Am. Mayor. Cassandra von Colterville. The vampire you currently see before you tried to kill me but I survived. I took over her body and now I am her. I just want to go home and give a necklace to Amelia.”

  “How did you survive?” Dinner picked up their cane and slowly spun it in place.

  I shook my head from side to side. “The System… the System said ‘Initiating Emergency Survival Protocol. Speak to your nearest Imperial Spellchemist to have your Imperial Data pad swapped out for a non-faulty one’. What in the Devil is a Spellchemist?!”

  “An ancient word for a mage-alchemist. They used to imbue spells into machines and create spell ammunition. And constructs, and mechs.” Dinner slowly removed the mirrored sunglasses from their face as they walked toward me, their cane clinking against the metal deck. “Used by the First Elf Empire before they departed from Earth and left humanity to fend for themselves nearly thirty thousand years ago.”

  Dinner slid their sunglasses in a pocket and looked into my eyes. I wasn't sure if I should speak, because they looked like they had something else to say. Their eyes met mine momentarily.

  What is their angle here…?

  They reached into my jacket pocket, pulled my wallet out, and held the identification card up. Dinner compared the photograph to my current appearance and chuckled softly. “I see the fledgling could not handle your power.”

  “Dinner, my sire hired privateers to go after you.”

  “We danced with them, as you would say. Encinar may need a few buildings repaired, but that’s what drop insurance is for.” They placed the wallet back in my pocket and stepped back. “Lower your weapons.”

  The men around us followed the instructions and looked at Dinner for orders.

  “Tell me what happened,” Dinner said.

  I took a deep breath.

  *** ***

  We left Dustin staked in the trunk while I explained my whole trip to the half-elf from the time I was dropped off at the hotel to when we met inside their planetary shuttle. Well, they call it a shuttle, but it was closer to a cargo airplane in size because they needed it to carry supplies to and from the Mothership.

  As far as Dustin and Eva were concerned, Dinner had found them by sheer luck. Someone called in a tip to the local police about a car with two vampires in the trunk, who then called Dinner. We were already in the trunk, so they drove the car back into Encinar and loaded it aboard the cargo shuttle.

  And there was another trunk ride back to my house. They had to be testing if I was truly Cassandra or not when they told me to get back in the trunk without staking me. I doubted that they believed my story in any capacity. I certainly wouldn't.

  If Caleb was killed by another and that other showed up claiming to be him, then I’d be very suspicious, too. Suspicious enough I’d make him go through a lengthy trial through things I know, but even then. The other may have access to his memories and there was one sure fire way to know for certain.

  Amelia. She loved me. She loved Cassandra. If she said I was Cassandra then Dinner would likely believe her. But Dinner couldn't see or hear Amelia.

  No one could.

  So the whole operation was just a farce concocted by the half-elf to make it seem like they were testing me. That had to be the reason we were driving back to my house. Unless they had experience with body snatchers due to cloning. Which could be a thing. It sounded plausible if Eva’s vague knowledge on cloning was correct.

  One such memory Eva had was sneaking through a cloning facility to take out a vampire there. She didn't know the why, only that she was hired by the council to kill the vampire. She succeeded, went home, and never thought of it again. Business as usual for her.

  Likely why she was picked to kill me. She succeeded, but not in the way she planned.

  The trunk opened and I climbed out with help, wrapped in a heavy blanket to hide from the sun should it pierce through the night sky. I heard the trunk close and Dinner say, “Not far now. Head straight and listen to my voice.”

  I followed their directions, keeping the blanket as tight as I could until we went into the dark basement. Familiar darkness greeted me along with the neatly organized boxes of my old belongings. Something was off, however.

  I cocked my head, listening for the woman’s ghostly presence, but nothing. It was silent aside from armored people walking around outside, their heavy footsteps digging into the dirt as they spoke to each other about the sky.

  I bit my lip. “Dinner… have they cut down any trees recently?”

  Dinner tapped their chin in thought. “Where? Here? I’m not sure. I didn't think to look on the way in.”

  “Can you?”

  They nodded and headed back upstairs, leaving me alone in the basement above my actual basement. I again listened for any signs Amelia was floating below or above me, or in one of the crates. All I heard was the creaking of wood as Dinner left the house and the howling wind making the remaining shingles flutter.

  “Amelia?” I called out to the void, slowly spinning in place. Seeing clearly without my glasses was a strange thing, but Eva’s eyes didn't need glasses like I used to. I suppose that is one upside to the situation. The other being a smaller frame. One other thing that was different was the bra she had picked did wonders for looks, but nothing for supporting my spine like a corset used to.

  I walked between the crates as I listened for a return call.

  Nothing.

  Approaching the hidden door, I called out again. “Amelia? It's me, Cassandra. I know I look different, and sound different…” Well, I thought I sounded different. Dinner didn't mention anything about my voice, so perhaps I didn't sound different.

  I slowly removed the fancy necklace from my neck and wrapped it around my hand. “Amelia!”

  She’s not going to respond to you, monster.

  With a small frown, I pulled the squeaky door open and stepped into the twisting stairwell. Flickering candlelight illuminated the bottom of the stairs as sobbing echoed from the hidden basement. I picked up my pace, feet thumping into the stairs as I made my way down.

  In my actual bedroom two floors beneath my house, Amelia’s ghost knelt over the fancy coffin. Hands covered her face as she sobbed over an overflowing blow of blood in front of my bed. Candlelight fueled dancing shadows flicked across the room and gave it a nice homely feeling compared to the places I’d been over the last few days.

  Amelia’s ethereal form shivered with each sob. Her soft voice echoed with each syllable. “Why…? Please, God, please tell me why I cannot awaken from this nightmare. Why have I been cursed to stay here like so? She is gone because I failed her. Just let me go!”

  I bit my lip as an ache built in my chest. Is this how she spent two hundred years?

  “I am right here, Lia,” I said.

  The ghost spun around, practically turning her head completely before her body moved, void eyes wide and jaw on the floor. She froze. I froze. And time crept slowly.

  I held a hand out toward the ghost, nodding slowly as I stepped toward her. “I know I look different, but trust me. I am Cassandra.”

  Amelia slowly blinked as she turned her head around to look at the empty coffin behind her. The floating ghost spun around again, turning left, then right before she looked right at me.

  “Y-you can see me?”

  “I can, my beautiful rose. It has been sometime since we last saw each other, but look. I have a gift.” I held the necklace between my hands so she could see it. Candlelight danced through the many beads, causing them to shimmer in a beautiful way that would have drawn anyone's attention to them.

  “You look different…” she said.

  “It’s a very long story.” She didn't need to know what transpired between Eva and I. That would only make the woman fret even more than she already was. I shouldn't involve her in my affairs, as she died the last time I did. It still pained my heart to think that.

  I would imagine most vampires don't really care for their retainers the way Amelia and I cared for each other. And if they did, then maybe we weren't as unique as I thought.

  She floated close, head moving up and down as her voids traced along my whole half-elven body. The ghostly woman gently plucked the necklace from my hands and held it over her neck and breast.

  “It's beautiful,” she whispered. An infectious smile replaced the building frown across the ghost’s lips. Amelia slowly turned around and held the harlequin necklace in a way that was clear to me she wanted help clasping it shut.

  I obliged her and clasped the necklace around her neck, half-expecting it to fall off any moment. Yet the necklace stayed put and, after a moment of sitting there, slowly merged with the rest of her ethereal form. The necklace went from shiny gold to blending in with her odd glow.

  Amelia spun away from me and giggled to herself. “This is a lovely gift, Cassy! But… What is the occasion?” She cocked her head, blinking a few times at me.

  “There is no other occasion than today to give you a gift.” I held my arms out for a hug and smiled.

  She floated closer, then hovered back as she stared into my eyes. “Something is different about you I can't quite place. I see your hair and wrinkles, but…”

  I turned my head to the side and gently slid Eva’s long silver-white hair behind pointy ears. “Half-elf cosmetic, remember?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yes, my love, I do, but something is different. I can't place it!”

  I glanced down at my new to me bosom before looking at Amelia. A nervous smile cracked across my lips. I don't know how she would act if she realized the truth. It felt like that time I first had to explain to her that no, I did not have the same lady bits she did! Mine used to hang on the outside and flip around in the most embarrassing of manners.

  Until Eva killed me.

  Amelia gently placed her ethereal hand against my cheek and closed her eyes. “Something is very, very different here.”

  “Is it my clothes?” I asked.

  Her void eyes went to my chest. I bit my lip as she stared for a good long moment before her eyes widened. She gasped softly. “Mistress… you have large breasts.”

  They were not that large. Roughly the same as Amelia’s, which were normal. She was going to find out the truth one way or the other, so I may as well tell her.

  I chuckled softly. “Yes, yes I do. Perhaps I should tell you how I acquired them. It started with me wanting to buy you a gift…”