Chapter 23: Home Away From Home

  Lyra’s home was the small room back in the club and the club had been shut down for the time being while the police were investigating who was actually running the blood den. Which, of course, was Lyra under Jean’s orders. And when they find her they’ll find me.

  The man hired her a couple decades ago. First as an accountant, then as a matriarch in the blood den once they got it up and running, despite Lyra’s protests. She knew putting the Blood Den in a club selling mortal drugs was a foolish idea. Even I saw how stupid the idea was. Jean did not. You couldn't tell the blowhard anything and have it fall on ears that actually listened.

  I remembered this from my time ruling Encinar and first hearing of his request for the saloon. It was a saloon back then. In the same location no doubt. A small hole in the wall joint where mortals were picked up by vampires to be fed from. Of course, during my time, it was all done on the down low. A few keywords here, a small gesture there, and a mortal would come under your arm and you’d leave. Simple and easy.

  To an outsider, it looked like you were paying for companionship and I'm sure some still did. I was one who did. Roberto had instilled upon me the only ‘proper’ way to feed was to get a mortal’s permission first. Any other way was just wrong in his eyes. You needed their

  Sometimes you can't help yourself, however, like during the heat of the moment when you're starving and bullets are flying. You bite down because you need to. You drink because you must. Not because of any other reason. And so the mortals call you a monster. They brand you a heretic, a traitor against God for merely existing when all you were doing was defending yourself from the Inquisition hunting party.

  I couldn't help myself. I needed to listen. I had to listen to her, but I knew that if I listened to Isabella she would once again put me in a position from which she could oversee my every move. I had been blinded by the love of a sire who once treated me like the mother I was robbed of and I don’t know why she was like that. It could have been something I did and don’t remember, or it could be just how she is. She did call Dustin and Eva ‘Idiot Fledgling #2 and Useful Fledgling #1’. Which meant I was Idiot Fledgling #1. Thanks, sire…

  My own fledgling and a beautiful woman I met dragged me away from my home of two centuries. The two of them took me across town where Lyra knew of a place that didn't ask questions and took cash payments with little paperwork. I found one apartment that wasn't above my new bank account to afford, as Cassandra's was completely locked out while Lyra stayed at one of Jean’s other businesses.

  Encinar was expensive compared to other places according to Dinner. South Encinar even more so, since they had a lot of technological production in the area.

  Dinner said that the four thousand credits a month apartment would get me a house with lots of property out in Ventros where Eva was from. Perhaps I would head there one day when everything was all said and done. There were other planets, as Dinner called them, around ten in the ‘Inner Rim’ where the bulk of one Earth’s remains were. Encinar and the surrounding portion of my Earth were flung to the far reaches of the local system where it was now called the Outer Rim.

  Halifax was, for all intents and purposes, a backwater planet when compared to the technology of the Inner Rim. Most mechs and starships are produced by elven corporations of eld from their own homeworld which was likewise destroyed in whatever event shattered the universe.

  Encinar still used flat display screens and not magical holographic projectors. We had basic wheeled cars, they had flying cars. Their cities stretched into the sky and floated. At least that's what Internet pictures claimed.

  I bought a new phone to go along with my new identification. But thankfully I didn't have to apply for a third System License. One of Eva’s contacts just forged one. Had I known that was possible when I first awakened I would have simply bought a license rather than apply for one. But my sire didn’t tell me that fact and Caleb was too blunt in the fangs to know.

  With my new phone, a basic flagship model with a stylus, I spent the rest of the night going through the Internet and making a list of furniture I needed. Starting with a new coffin, a big wall-mounted display screen, a chair, etcetera. I transcribed all of it into an electronic notebook and sent it to Dinner in a text, asking if they knew of cheap places to get them.

  They replied with a thumbs up and the words: I’ll dig around for you. Get some sleep. <3

  The apartment was situated within a five story complex down by the railroad tracks in a shady part of South Encinar. A mixture of mortals and vampires lived there with vampire specific rooms that had metal blinds to seal out the sun. They were retractable and supposedly would come down on their own when the power went out or an hour before sunrise, or the flip of the switch. My four thousand dollars a month was getting me one room, one bath. Nothing else.

  They called it a studio. It was livable, but fairly open with no privacy if one wanted to watch television and someone else wanted to sleep. Perhaps, that is why the cream colored apartment was only really fit for one person. I had to lay on the carpeted floor since it wasn't fully furnished and that reminded me of an odd dream.

  It didn't happen often, but it happened enough that I took notice of it. I suppose it could be called a daymare.

  The dream starts like all dreams do; with me being me and happy. For the most part. I was under Roberto’s tutelage as he slowly and steadily introduced vampires to me. The man spent years lying, dropping hints here and there about the truth until one day he told me exactly what he was. I wasn't at all surprised, as I had long surmised what he was fairly early on, but never brought it up. I told him my thoughts on being a vampire and Roberto continued to dote upon me as long as I allowed him to drink my blood whenever I was healthy enough.

  It was a mutual relationship; he drank my blood, he fed me his, and I walked with his arm around me at parties as his equally pale wife. I enjoyed his company and he had my whole heart for a time. We would talk of many things and I could order servants around as if I truly was a noble without the land to back it up. Roberto had enough flash that he told the others I was a noble-born woman and they believed I was Cassandra the Noble from Antwerp.

  I suppose what Roberto and I shared was love, because he and I would roam the grounds and talk about spending eternity together. The man seemed genuine and made sure I was as happy as could be.

  After a while of wandering the grounds, he had business to do and allowed me to mingle with the other wives. I listened to their tales as I gathered as much information as I could on what was going on. One beautiful woman was bored, so I struck up a conversation and one thing led to another. Before I knew it, we had snuck off to the garden and found a secluded spot far away from prying eyes.

  At least, I thought it was secluded. Vampires were tricky when it came to that. We were deep amid the sweaty throws of passion when a vampire decided to make their presence known. I tried to fight back and even though I carried Roberto’s blood, they overpowered me. The female vampire dragged me away from my companion, as another vampire dealt with her, citing how a retainer needs to know their true place in the world.

  And that was below vampires in the food chain. I was ‘too full of myself at the party’.

  She knew who I was even though I didn't know her. She knew everything about me. From who I worked for before meeting Roberto, to where I lived during the day. It was a strange feeling of being violated, because she shouldn't know me. I thought I was better than that. I thought I hid who I used to be pretty well.

  As I was dragged, beaten and humiliated, toward a candlelit room with a bloody altar in it, I awakened from the daymare with her words echoing in my ears, ‘You’ll always be mine, wench’.

  And once more, I found myself on a cold hard floor, reminding me of that altar. My wrists and ankles ached anytime I awoke from sleeping on something hard. Which was why I loved coffins. You can't fall off the bed when there are walls preventing you from rolling onto the floor.

  With a blood can in hand, I watched an episode of Tortuga Chronicles on my phone to cool off from the daymare. It was one where they were having to deal with the aftermath of the ship discovering the stowaway right up until another Terran Mining Corporation Vessel hailed them for assistance.

  The other vessel was dedicated to refining ore pulled from planets in far off systems beyond the Outer Rim and it was having issues with its own internal systems. The mining ship herself, not crew, claimed she had two Ore Processing Cores that wouldn't shut up, and the vessel needed a way to upgrade them. But she could not leave the asteroid she was on. That vessel used a virtual avatar to speak with the Empress and even claimed to have a human name separate from her ship name.

  A knock on the door tore me from the episode. I slid the phone into a pocket, grabbed my revolver and crept toward it until I could peer through the peephole.

  A man stood on the other side holding a light pink box in his hands. My eyebrows arched at such an unusual thing. Pressing my ear to the door, I listened for anyone else but didn't hear other voices or heartbeats. I waited for the man to leave, but he knocked again and smiled.

  “Hello? I’m your neighbor from down the way.”

  He looked older with bits of grey in both his beard and hair. A peppered look, not at all like the silvered hag I was. Since he wasn't leaving, the only thing to do was open it and see what he wanted. I didn't have anywhere to put the revolver beside my waistband, because I was wearing just a long sleeved blouse and the skirt and leggings, so that's where I stuffed the heavy weapon.

  The man’s beaming smile reached from ear to ear when I opened the door until the chain caught. He waved to me. “Greetings, neighbor! I heard a little rumor that a vampire just moved in and I came to say hello.”

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  The box smelled like iron-filled blood. As in actual blood. The sweet, tangy scent drifted out and tantalized my nostrils. Although, something told me that it was a bad idea to take the box. Probably instincts and Eva's weariness toward new people, but it was food. It smelled delicious.

  I eyed the man, because mortals don't just give you a bowl of blood as a welcoming gift. Blood sacks want something in return and this man was no different.

  “I hope you don't mind, but I baked you a blood cake!” He opened the top, revealing a dark red heart shaped cake that felt awkward to look at.

  “Blood… cake?” I blinked a few times.

  “It’s an old family recipe to allow a vampire to eat normal food.” The man winked at me!

  I dredged Eva’s memories for a kernel of truth to his words and found a company name. “Would your grandfather be Sir Cake of the Cake company?”

  The man chuckled softly. “We’re just down the hall if you ever want to see us. The name’s Glenfield.”

  I almost said Cassandra, then Eva, but then I remembered what my new identity was called and nodded to the man. “Sandra.”

  He set the cake on the ground and backed away from it. I waited until he was down the hall and inside his room before I closed the door, unclasped the chain and opened it.

  The cake was anatomically correct for a heart with a sheen to it that looked real enough. It smelled of strawberries, however, and was the same size as an actual heart, leading me to gently probe it in case it was an actual human heart and not just food. Only when I took it inside and sliced it open did I see that it was in fact a fluffy dark red cake masquerading as a heart.

  I don't know why my neighbors would make me a cake. Or why they would introduce themselves. No one ever did that for me.

  It was strange.

  *** ***

  I spent some time just staring at the cake, thinking about why someone would give it to me and decided to look through the Internet for the reason. Of course, it was an old tradition to greet neighbors and show them who lived nearby, but why only the one and not the rest? And if it was so old then why hadn't I heard of it?

  Perhaps Glenfield was just old fashioned and everyone else wanted to keep to themselves. I had to know the answer, so I grabbed Eva’s .40 caliber pistol and shoulder holster, a jacket; Then went over to his apartment and knocked on the door.

  The old human answered fairly promptly and smiled at me. “Hello, Sandra. How was the cake?”

  I opened my mouth to say I hadn't tried it yet, but it might seem a bit rude to tell him that. He was doing it out of the goodness of his heart… which the cake resembled. I felt like the idiot in the room for not seeing it. Luckily, I wasn't trying to look mortal and so I did not blush from my own stupidity.

  A fake smile formed on my lips as I nodded. “I have come to ask a few questions. Mayhap you can answer them?”

  Really, I just wanted to know why the fuck he gave me a cake, not chat him up. I had to see how Amelia was doing without the house and look for a job. Lyra had one for me; security at a ‘blood bank’ and Dinner said I could go on their spaceship.

  ‘Would you like to see my spaceship?’ Dinner had asked.

  ‘Your… spaceship?’

  ‘Mhm! It's a short shuttle ride from the Aerodrome! I promise you’ll like it.’

  But what about Amelia? What about Isabella and Jean?!

  I don't know. I truly don't know, Cassandra.

  Glenfield was staring at us… at me as if I had two heads. He slowly waved a hand across our eyes as he said, “Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

  “I am in love with a ghost,” I replied quietly. My eyes went to the floor as a heavy weight returned to my shoulders. Turning away from the confused Glenfield, I shook my head and walked off.

  “Sandra?” he asked. “Is everything alright?”

  I did not reply. I walked down the hall to the stairs and opened the door, just wanting to leave the apartment complex behind, because there was nothing for me there. There was nothing for me anywhere. I was better off finding a bench and waiting for sunrise.

  Everything I knew was gone. Everyone I knew just last month is either dead or completely changed. My own sire conspired against me according to Jean, according to Amelia’s own offspring. The person I trusted my very existence to betrayed me in the worst way possible.

  “And for what?!” I yelled, throwing my hands over my head, voice echoing in the bright stairwell as I slowly made my way down the three flights of stairs.

  I could jump over the railing, it'd be very easy, but I might survive the fall. I could walk out into traffic, but again, I will likely survive thanks to being a vampire. The only surefire way was to stand in the sun.

  Or get on my knees and let someone behead me, but who? Not Isabella. I had to listen to her. I had to listen. She wanted me to. It was the council that betrayed me, not her. She would never lie to me! But, she never mentioned Eva or Dustin in the whole night I spent with her.

  Someone called to me from a floor above, but I ignored them.

  I remember… I remember we had taken the scooters to a large open parking lot. The store was one of those daytime only stores, because the corporation didn't hire vampires and wouldn't serve them, even though they were a sizable chunk of Encinar’s population. Around one and a half million vampires were scattered all throughout the old California Bay. From San Francisco to San Jose along the peninsula and below; on up to Encinar and a city called Novato just north of San Francisco. There were even vampires in the Tri Valley east of Encinar.

  Another quarter million were in the Wasteland Valley beyond the foothills. A desolate place of farmlands, and a few flooded rivers. Most of those cities were founded after the apocalypse, because people wanted to move away from the ‘tyrants in the big cities’.

  I was not a tyrant! No matter what anyone says, I made sure the blood sacks were content and their voices heard. Why would I, Mayor Cassandra von Colterville, ruin my own source of food and entice angry mobs?! Perhaps I was Dr. Frankenstein and the city was my monster. No. I was not. I had a child to protect, Alejandro, who was now just as dead as Amelia thanks to me.

  The museum was lying. My rule was neither tyrannical or ruthless. All I asked for was simple tithes of blood! Offerings to keep me satisfied during the nights. Nothing more.

  My thoughts of the past wound themselves together in a tight knot and stayed there as a word nagged at the back of my mind. I had to listen to her. To my master. She wanted to speak with me and I would visit her.

  *** ***

  Isabella had to know that stupid word would eat at my mind as I walked through the city. It felt… weird. Wandering the railroad tracks toward Encinar afforded me a view of the decrepit city I didn't otherwise have. I got to see the many different sized tents lining the gravel throughway laid down by Anna and her relentless pursuit of giving Encinar a smooth running train and tram system.

  But now it was in shambles.

  I even got to see people wearing road weary clothes that resembled little more than rags. A few had so much hair their faces were barely visible. All were sunbaked and crusty. Oh so very crusty. One had black trash bags around his feet. Another wore a blanket for a cape as he huddled next to a crackling fire.

  I felt odd, because my clothes were fairly nice and I had taken a shower the night before. The bay had drained enough that Encinar built well into it and that's where most of the people 'should’ be. Those down on their luck vampires and mortals like me who had nothing ‘should’ be out in the bay, because we made the city look even more decrepit than it was and the elite corporate rulers didn't like that.

  At least, according to Eva’s high and mighty Council-based memories.

  I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice someone had called out to me until they stepped in front of my path. They wore rags and tattered clothes like the rest of the homeless in the encampment, but far, far bulkier. They looked well fed, too, and not nearly as tanned.

  They waved at me and said, “You don't wanna keep going this way.” The man’s tone was an odd one for sure. I thought it was a threat at first until I noticed everyone was staring at me. Warming and cooking fires sent smoke drifting skyward, filling the air with an ashy charred wood stench.

  One that reminded me me of my home burning as my inner beast screamed at me to just leave the fucking house, but I had to find her. I had to find Amelia. She was in there somewhere, and now my home was gone.

  My new pistol’s weight reminded me that I had an out and I didn't have to resort to using my powers, because using my powers… didn't really matter any more. I had no one to impress, except my sire and she told me to find her.

  The man was standing between me and finding my sire.

  “Move,” I said firmly. Without putting any vampiric influence into it. Just a simple word to make him rethink his life choices. You do not get between a fledgling and her sire.

  Unless that sire tries to kill you.

  At which point the sire broke the trust of her fledgling, but Isabella claimed the council was at fault. I just wanted to know the truth!

  “Look, lady.” The man shook his head from side to side as he stepped to the side and held his hands up defensively. “We don't want any trouble. I’m just warning you that the folks down the way aren't as nice as we are. They’ll kidnap you and steal your blood.”

  “I may look old, blood sack, but I have more bite than whomever you are worried about. Your concern has been noted.”

  The man nodded. He both understood and had something else to say, so I cocked my head and listened like my sire said I should do. I listened like the good little fledgling I was. “Well, if you're going that way, can you do us a favor and get the vampires to release the woman they took? We don't got much, but we’ll pay.”

  “Do I look like a mercenary to you?”

  Yes. You are.

  The man pointed to my torso as he said, “The patch on your jacket says you're a scout, right?”

  “An F Rank scout.” I nodded slowly, not wanting to reveal my unusual pirate class yet. Despite being called an Assassin, Eva’s skills and abilities were more focused on not being seen. As was fitting for an assassin, but she also had some that favored information gathering. It reduced strain when using my old Shadow Cloak ability, allowing me to hold it longer without getting as hungry.

  “How’s a thousand credits sound?”

  Like I didn't have a choice. Isabella knew Eva was an assassin. She encouraged the half-elf to pick that class and train nightly in it. Much like she tried to get me to pick Salvage Pilot. All so our sire had someone competent to handle specific jobs like retrieving hostages from a large group of people.

  It was going to be a long night.

  *** ***

  My eyes fell upon an odd sight as I approached the next tent encampment where the ‘evil’ vampires were. Sitting right in the middle of another small tent city lining the tracks was a familiar sight; A heavily damaged luxury pickup was parked just off the tracks with its tailgate open and a small crowd of destitute people standing around it.

  The people were all staring up at a ThinGen vampire who was sitting on the bedside as he pulled can after can from cases of canned blood. He gave each person at least three and spoke quietly to them, nodding.

  There were other vehicles, but they looked far worse than Caleb’s. Some had tarps covering a window while a few had different panels slapped over the windows and some had an auxiliary cooling unit installed in one window.

  As I approached the crowd, my eyes drifted from one pale person to the next. I listened for any beating hearts among them and found them all wanting. They were all vampires. Even the more heavily tanned and darker skinned ones. I cocked my head, hoping to catch snippets of conversations, but all I heard were mutters of, “Thank you.”

  “Did you get my mail?” another asked as she grabbed a handful of cans and held them close.

  Caleb wore fancy jeans and a dark puffy windbreaker with a knit cap atop his head. I don't know why when vampires really weren't affected by the cold too much. Maybe to make people think he was human, or maybe ThinGens worked differently. They probably did. Eva’s knowledge about them was that ThinGens were almost half-vampires more than actual vampires. Caleb reached inside his jacket pocket and offered a small stack of envelopes to the other vampire.

  “What is going on here?” I called out, placing one hand on my hip and the other on the zipper of my denim jacket close to where my pistol was.

  A few vampires looked my way with Caleb doing a double take. His eyes slowly widened. “You…”

  “Me?” I pointed to myself. “What do you mean me?” I pulled my hair back to show off my half-elven ears, since Caleb knew me as a ‘human’ vampire and not a half-elf. I would still call myself human, but that was a lie. There was nothing human about me. Just as there was nothing half-elven about me. Not since… a long, long time. And it made my wrists ache thinking about laying upon an altar waiting to die.

  Caleb shook his head and rubbed his face. “Sorry. You reminded me of someone I know. Are you hungry?”

  “Always,” I replied. “But the trash in your hand will not sustain me.” I threw a thumb back the way I came as I added, “The blood sacks-ah. Mortals! The mortals. The mortals down the way have informed me that someone in their camp has gone missing. Let us make this exchange quick. I need to speak with my sire tonight.”

  The six vampires ahead of me all looked at each other and mumbled amongst themselves.

  Caleb towered over the whole group as he stood up and folded his arms across his puffy chest. He frowned deeply at me, eyebrows furrowed. The man was likely upset that I just waltzed in and accused them of kidnapping people. From what little I know of their situations, they seemed like the kind of vampires who were not really enjoying their free meal tickets. It wasn't a way for anyone to live. Not even the blood sacks closer to my apartment. There was nothing to do because it was pointless to try. All they had was likely scattered around their little encampment, not even a city block in size.

  “She came willingly!” a vampire exclaimed as they stepped between me and another one. “She wanted to be a vampire.”

  I rubbed my forehead and frowned at the man, as her being turned was not expected. I expected them to have their living captive held as a blood hostage. Not being embraced!

  “Fuck,” I grumbled under my breath. This complicates things.