by Seth Eden
“You did a great job!” Tess yelled over the thumping music, cutting Crystal off before she spilled the beans unknowingly. She raised her eyebrows, attempting to tell her friend psychically that this was not a topic of discussion. “Thanks for putting all this together! It’s awesome!”
Crystal opened and closed her mouth and glanced at the two Vampyren brothers who had fallen into a private conversation about the fabrics humans used in their clothes and how some of them were absurdly thin. She leaned over and whispered to Tess who was scarfing down her carnitas, “Are you though?”
Tess didn’t know if that was because she was having such a good night after so many bad nights the past two years or if it was because she loved her boyfriend but tears welled up in her eyes and she smiled as she swallowed a bite of her taco, nodding at Crystal whose eyes got big.
“We’ll talk about it later!” Crystal said, patting her hand. “You haven’t…?” She nodded at Kal who was looking away from them, happily chatting with his brother.
Tess shook her head. “Not yet,” she said after swallowing. “But I’m thinking about it. Might tell him tonight.”
“Then I’m happy for you!” Crystal said tearfully. She leaned over and hugged Tess, almost knocking over her food and Tess laughed, hugging her back. It felt like centuries since she’d had good female friends. It was like pulling on your favorite pair of jeans.
Hours later, the party had shifted in mood but was still going strong. The music was softer and everyone was drunk or pleasantly buzzed. Nobody was dancing now, but they sat around, some sitting in circles on the floor, talking and sipping drinks or nibbling on chips. Some people had wandered outside, even though the evening was chilly, and Tess took Kal’s hand and led him into the moonlit night. She had an urge to tell him now. Maybe it was because she was so happy, but it seemed like the right time.
Tess took them to a wooden bench under a tree that was just starting to green for spring. Kal sat and yawned and he sprawled there with his arm around her and his long legs stretched out in front of him, she marveled that nobody would have realized he wasn’t human in the world before the invasion. Even the gold in his eyes could’ve been explained as a genetic quirk. He was himself; Kal, Vampyren, the man he had always been who was such an individual. But he was human now too, she thought. As human as she was.
“You having a good time?” Kal said, raking his fingers through her short hair.
She cuddled up to him and held his hand. “This has been the best night I’ve had in a while, Kal.”
“Good,” he said, sounding proud. He kissed her temple.
“There’s something I have to tell you though…” She said. She summoned up her courage. She had done so many harder things than this. But not knowing how he would react was making her nervous as hell.
“What is it?” He murmured.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out, looking up at him with wide eyes. “We’re pregnant.”
Kal blinked at her dumbly, and it looked kind of cute on his handsome face, a few locks of dark hair had come loose from his bun. “Oh,” he said. She thought he smiled a little but couldn’t be sure. “I… Are you… happy about that? Or not?”
It was hilarious to her that he was reacting just like a human man. But she had a feeling that if she were a Vampyren woman he wouldn’t quite be tiptoeing around her like this. “I am,” she said firmly. “Are… you?”
“Yes,” Kal whispered, and she saw that his eyes were shining. “Yes, Tess.” He kissed her for a long time then and she ended up in his lap, the two of them entwined under the moonlight before he finally gave up on the party and carried her up to bed.
8
Kal
I’m going to be a father, Kal thought. It was all he could think about when he woke up the next morning, naked in Tess’s bed with his arms around her. For a moment, he wondered if that had only been a dream. He had plenty to drink at the party. Mindy insisted on a drinking contest among the Vampyren men to test their constitutions. Kal had only been too happy to oblige, hard liquor still being a novelty among his kind. But then he remembered how Tess hadn’t had a thing to drink which was definitely a trait among pregnant human women. He knew that much by now.
He felt Tess stir and kissed her hair. “Are you having a baby?” He said softly. “Or did I dream that?”
“No,” she said, and for a moment his stomach sank to the floor. Then she rolled over to face him, looking very sly. “We’re having a baby.”
He snorted at that and kissed her forehead before climbing over her to get to the bathroom and brush his teeth. He was feeling optimistic about things. In the bleary haze of the morning, the idea of some big battle for the very soul of, perhaps, the whole planet seemed like a distant dream. It felt as if everything would be fine just because he was in love with a good woman, finding his way among the humans, and he would soon be a father. He cleaned up and dressed and tied up his hair and found himself humming as he walked out of the bathroom to find Tess still in her pajamas and at work at her laptop on the bed.
“I’m going to get breakfast,” he declared. He had managed to get the jump on her that morning. He wondered if she was rubbing off on him.
“Can you bring me breakfast?” She asked, looking hopeful. “I don’t feel like going down…”
“Sure,” he said. “What do you want?”
“You know what I like?” She said with a wave of her hand.
Kal nodded and left her with a kiss. Again, he was humming. Vampyren actually did hum sometimes. It wasn’t an entirely human habit although there was seldom a melody to it when they did and now Kal found himself humming a song he’d heard at the party the night before which had played several times and which all the humans had been very excited about and sung along to, especially once they were a bit drunk.
“Just a small-town girl,” Kal sang softly under his breath, as he jogged down the stairs and outside. “Livin’ in a lonely world…”
Outside, things seemed very quiet, and maybe even a little eerie. But it was early yet and Kal suspected most people on campus had slept in after their big party. The cafeteria had not been totally put back together yet but breakfast was being served anyway and Kal grabbed himself a blood pack and loaded up a plate with eggs, toast, and whatever else he saw that Tess would like although there was no meat that morning. He was heading back to the dorm when he heard the squeal of tires and squinted, seeing the truck that had parked haphazardly in the closest parking lot. A young human man who looked too thin, and a bit rung out, jumped out of the truck and took off running across campus, though he did not seem like he quite knew where to go and when he saw Kal, he came tearing towards him.
Kal braced himself, standing there awkwardly with his blood pack and breakfast for his girlfriend, and the boy ran straight to him, stopping short once he was close and then catching his breath. “Are you… are you with…” He seemed pained. “I’m a messenger um… from Loren? I have news from Loren!”
“Tell me what it is,” Kal said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
The courier looked around as if searching for permission from a second source and finally stepped closer to Kal, speaking quietly. “His man on the inside, with the military leadership… Word is they’re attacking here as soon as tonight. He said you’ve got to evacuate or… ready yourselves. Whatever you can do. They’ve got over a thousand men! Loren said he’s coming here in...” The kid checked his watch and said, “Two hours. He’s bringing men to join you.”
Kal took it in. It was not surprising, but he’d hoped to have just a little more time before he had to fight again. “Is there anything else?” He said.
“No,” the courier said. He looked terrified himself.
Kal slapped the kid’s shoulder and said, “Thank you. Why don’t you go to the cafeteria and get some breakfast before you go back? You look like you haven’t eaten in a year.”
“Yes, sir,” the kid mumbled and trotted off to the cafeteria behind hi
m.
Kal took a deep breath, absorbing the information. He did not know exactly what the plan would be, only that they needed to move fast. Lore was bringing more men, and that was good. They should have a strategy by the time he arrived. Kal picked up his feet and marched back to the dorm, still carrying the blood and food.
He walked into Tess’s room and shut her door. She looked up with a smile as he handed her the plate but her expression darkened when she saw his grim face. “What is it?”
“Messenger just arrived from Loren,” Kal said. He bit through the perforated hole in his blood bag and took a long drink. “Military is attacking tonight with a thousand men. Loren’s going to be here in a couple of hours.”
“Fuck,” Tess said simply.
Kal pointed behind him and said, “Do you think Mark’s in Crystal’s room?
Tess nodded and Kal took another drink and ended up draining the bag in one go. He was hungrier than he thought, but it was also the prospect of a battle that was perhaps subconsciously giving him the old bloodlust, though it had never been as strong within him like most men he’d known. He tossed the empty bag in the waste bin and glanced at Tess, a little uncertain, before he stalked out of the room. Tess jumped up, and he heard her scrambling to change clothes and ready herself for a very serious day as he went out and marched down the hall to Crystal’s dorm.
He pounded on the door and a slightly hungover looking Crystal answered, but seeing Kal’s face she raised her eyebrows. “Kal?”
“The attack is coming tonight,” Kal said calmly. “Where’s Mark?”
Mark was in the bathroom and when Crystal called for him, he came hopping out in jeans and no shirt, his hair loose about his shoulders. He looked more human than Kal had ever seen him. He was a father himself and he had a child out there that he and his mate never got to see. Kal’s hearts swelled in his chest. He wanted that future he’d talked about with Tess and he wanted his brother and Crystal to be there too, maybe living close by. Their kids could play together. All they had to do was survive and then put together a world their kids could live in.
“What is it?” Mark said.
“It’s happening tonight,” Kal said simply. “They’re attacking tonight and Loren is on his way now.”
Mark stared at him, still buttoning his jeans. “We should take the fight there,” Mark said as if it were obvious. Perhaps it was. “Council headquarters. It’s downtown. More places to hide. We’ll need that. It’s to our advantage. We’re going to have to be sneaky as hell.”
“Guerilla warfare,” Crystal said.
“Yes,” Mark said nodding. To Kal, he said, “We’ll meet in the cafeteria. Gather our kind and any of the humans with military experience. Crystal has a list…” He waved his hand and Crystal dashed to the pile of papers, digging out a piece of notebook paper with names on it and handing it to Kal. “I planned that far, anyway. Ten minutes.”
“Good thinking,” Kal said with a nod. “I’ll round them up.”
Crystal was hopping toward him one foot as she pulled on a shoe and said, “I’ll help you!”
Danton had detailed maps of downtown and they ended up spread out on one of the big tables in the cafeteria as they all gathered around. The residents of Urbana with less military experience sat nearby watching the meeting on military strategy go down. Everyone had known the fight was coming. It was what they’d all signed up for at the Council meeting that had formed a new government. But it was real now. Kal could see the slight panic written on their faces; the humans because maybe they hadn’t experienced battle before and the Vampyrens because they’d be fighting their own kind. Kal felt for all of them.
“I think we should go straight to the Council HQ,” Danton said. “Base everything from there. The place is a fortress.”
“But we hide around the city,” Mark said quickly. “Guerilla warfare, like Crystal said. It may not be what we’re used to. Vampyren don’t fight that way. But that’s good. We’ll take them by surprise. This campus would be a more traditional battlefield but in the middle of downtown, it will be chaos.”
Kal chewed his lip and thought of what the messenger had said. The military was counting on attacking them tonight, here on the campus. “They’re going to come here first,” Kal said. “It will give us more time. But also, we should set up some traps. Make it seem as if we’re here. Set some bombs or something similar. Do some damage before we’ve begun.”
A slow smile spread on Mark’s face and he thumped his brother on the back. “That’s a great idea.”
“I can set that up for you,” Mara said, appearing between Danton and Alec. She had been on the list of humans with military service. She didn’t look concerned about the upcoming battle, standing there casually, drinking her coffee. “Explosives are my specialty.”
“Job is yours,” Mark said. Mara looked a little too excited about that, Kal thought. But that was probably for the best.
They spent the rest of the time until Loren arrived plotting out their battle strategy in detail and loading up trucks with every weapon on hand. Crystal had been preparing for this, Kal discovered. She’d gotten some help from Cassie who had good trading contacts for weapons from her work with the resistance. Kal was amused when he had to take Crystal aside and advise her to delegate much of her work loading up trucks with weapons, explosives, and other ammunition. She looked confused until he told her she was too important to be doing grunt work and then she seemed surprised.
“Oh!” She’d chirped. “I guess I am!” She grabbed the first person she saw passing by and put them to work and Kal snorted and went back to gathering armor from all the little nooks where it had been stashed. After that, he figured he’d track down Mara and see if she needed any help with her explosives. The plan was to be ready to head out as soon as Loren arrived, making him turn right back around. So they were working very fast to be ready to go. A lot of people were taking some time to hide their stuff, but most realized that Urbana might be destroyed by the time they were able to return. You had to assume it. He knew Tess would want to at least stash the computer she’d been given and the Council files in one of the SUVs so her work wouldn’t be too disrupted.
Loren ended up running late, and it put everyone on edge. Phones had not been working lately. They had walkie talkies but they didn’t work over long distances. Communication was done by messenger unless you could get to a landline but for messages about an impending battle, only a live person would do. There was a terrible tension in the air as they all waited around outside, though a lot of people had already packed into the vans and trucks and buses the new Free the Children people had brought with them. Everyone was ready to go. They were all just waiting for Loren. Tess looked so riled up, Kal thought she might explode. She stepped up next to him where he waited in the parking lot with the others and took his hand, squeezing it tight.
But finally, Loren’s big black armored vehicle came driving up and Kal took a deep breath.
Now it began.
“I didn’t realize war involved so much waiting,” Tess later whispered in his ear.
He had to chuckle. She wasn’t wrong. He’d thought the same during battles too. There was always a lot of hurry up and wait. You were either lined up and ready to go on the offensive as soon as the other side showed up or waiting for somebody to take the first shot. Waiting for news or waiting to hear about casualties. War was all about waiting in Kal’s experience. Now he was on the Council HQ’s rooftop, sitting on the ground up against the ledge that looked out on downtown Chicago, though a good portion of it was demolished and abandoned. They had worked as fast as they could with the help of Loren’s men to clear out a twelve block radius. That had taken some doing but on the upside, a lot of the civilians had grabbed their own weapons and opted to join the fight. One trader volunteered the shuttle she’d long ago stolen from an airport to transport invalids, children, and others who couldn’t fight away from what was going to become their battlefield. Kal had been impresse
d by the willingness of humans to put themselves to work or throw themselves into danger for a cause. Vampyrens didn’t think that way. It was maybe reckless but it showed heart, he supposed.
“How do we actually know they’ll come here from Urbana?” Tess said softly.
Everything was so quiet. Even in this blown-out area of downtown, there were still usually cars and people who walked around and there were vendors on the street. Now all the streets were empty. There were men stationed on rooftops across the city with crossbows because crossbows were more effective than long-range than guns for Vampyren. There were bombs planted at certain points on the street that would hopefully damage whatever vehicles the military would arrive in.
But for now… they were waiting.
Kal had drunk plenty of blood, wanting to gather as much strength as possible. He made sure Tess ate enough too and now he turned to her where they were crouching below the ledge, their ears perked up for the sound of anything. “How do you feel?” He said.
“Fine?” Tess said. She seemed to realize suddenly what he meant and rolled her eyes. She was carrying a crossbow and the idea of her fighting with the rest of them made Kal nervous as hell. He tried to send her off with the airport shuttle, but she would have none of it. If nothing else, he supposed it might make him fight more fiercely, knowing she was right there, vulnerable and carrying his child on top of it. “I just got pregnant, Kal. I’m barely feeling it yet.”
“Where are the bazookas?” Kal muttered. The bazookas, in Kal’s opinion, were the best surprise from Loren’s men he could’ve hoped for. The plan was to take down as many vehicles as possible, forcing the men out into the streets. Vampyren military, they surmised. would come in via transports not marching. Well, they’d let them come then.
It was another hour of sitting there on the roof and sweating before something happened. It was an unseasonably warm day considering winter was just transitioning into spring. Kal had worn a jacket but now he took it off. He was wearing a black tank top with sleeveless armor and plating strapped to black cargo pants. Sweat was dripping down his spine, and he shivered slightly even in the heat.