by D. S. Ritter
“What a great house,” whispered Kim as Nelson led them to the den which seemed to be the largest room on the main floor. “You could do so much with it… Maybe Carter would be into buying an old funeral home.”
“Yeah, but what if there’s a morgue in the basement?” asked Sam, shivering.
“It makes a great kitchen,” said the young man, leading the way.
Nobody said anything, but everyone living made a little face.
“So, how many um… people, live here?” asked Sam.
“Vampires. You can call us vampires. It’s what we are, we’re down with it. You can call me Nelson though,” said the young man Sam suddenly realized might not be so young.
“Okay,” said Jesus, “just so long as you don’t call us ‘food.’”
Nelson laughed. For a second Sam thought she spotted a fang. “That’s a good one. It’s not like that though, don’t worry.”
“What do you mean?” asked Kim.
“You’ll see. I’ll let the others explain.”
He led them into the den. Sam suspected it had been the main funeral parlor at one point. It was a large room, with a small stage along one wall. There were no windows and Sam suspected the vampires had covered them over. The entire thing was wallpapered in a pale blue Victorian pattern. They’d kept the original furniture. Old-looking love seats and chairs littered the room, caught in the gravity of an occasional low, wooden coffee table. The lighting here was also dim and gas-lamp-like.
Sitting in the chairs or standing around the edges of the room were something like twenty vampires of various ages. Most of them looked like they were around Sam’s age, though there was no way to know how old they actually were. There was a strange tension floating between the living and the dead that Sam could practically feel in the air.
“This is the gang,” said Nelson as he addressed the whole room. “This guy and his friends say they’re here to ask some questions. Smith sent them.”
The tension dissipated, and the vampires went back to whatever conversations they’d been having before the arrival of the outsiders. One, a young woman with alabaster skin and flaming red hair walked up, smiling, though trying not to show her fangs. “Welcome,” she said. “I’m Alissa. What can we help you with?”
“We’re here to ask some questions about the attacks?” said Sam, trying not to stare. Alissa wore a long smock shirt, leggings and boots like any other girl might be, but her movements and the way she held herself put her in a different class. One that probably hadn’t been seen in a two hundred years. “Smith told us some of your friends might have seen one or two happen?”
“Children,” corrected Alissa. “Would you like to have a seat?”
They found chairs around one of the coffee tables though Jesus chose to stand. Sam noticed he was sweating and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged it off, keeping his eyes on the surrounding room.
“There’s no need to be afraid,” explained Alissa. “I know vampires and humans have had a rocky history, but we’re not like that.”
“What do you mean?” Kim was staring at Alissa like Sam was, drawn in by her perfect skin and the bouncy smoothness of her curls. She was like someone out of a fashion magazine.
“Well, for one, everyone here prefers a kill-free diet,” said the vampire, smiling kindly. “We think murder is wrong. And a lot of us prefer animal blood. It’s easier to get, and an animal’s diet is easier to control than a human’s.”
“You care what we eat?” asked Jesus, looking creeped out.
“You care about the diet of the animals you eat, don’t you?” the vampire pointed out, her voice full of never ending patience. “We have a number of livestock farms where we breed and raise for flavor too. Our brand is big in the vampire community.”
“So, you don’t go around draining people and then leaving for them for dead next to dumpsters?” asked Jesus, his voice loaded with accusation.
The whole room seemed to gasp. “Woah! That’s some racist shit right there,” said one onlooker angrily, walking up on the little meeting. He was a big guy and upset. Sam watched as Jesus puffed himself up, ready for a fight. “You don’t know anything about us, man. Coming in here with all your backwards assumptions and your propaganda.
“Entertainment? It’s bullshit. Just bullshit!”
Alissa shot him a pointed smile. “Garrett. I appreciate your fervor, but we’re here to educate, not judge. These people are here to help. Let’s try not to be exclusionary before we can deprogram them a little, okay?”
It was obvious from the way he held himself that this was not okay with Garrett, but he sighed and backed off a step or two. Jesus looked white as a sheet, and Sam put her hand on his arm, if only to keep him from bolting, or doing something stupid.
“Okay. So, about the attacks. It’s your people being attacked? By other vampires?” said John, trying to get things back on track. “Is that normal between covens or anything?”
Alissa shook her head. “Oh, no. We’ve been handling disputes between covens through litigation for centuries. I mean, aren’t we a little old to be fighting each other?”
“So, nobody ever just takes things into their own hands?”
She sighed. “Vampires can live for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. With everything we’ve seen, we’re pretty much walking museums. That kind of history and well, life needs to be preserved. We respect that deeply.
“Once vampires are more accepted by the larger society, imagine what we’re going to be able to teach you guys.”
“Wow,” said Kim, totally caught in Alissa’s spell. “That sounds amazing.”
“Well, it’s not going to be amazing if you all wipe us out,” grumbled Garrett, glaring at Jesus. “That’s all the living ever seem to do. Destroy.”
“We’ve destroyed our share, Garrett,” said Alissa.
He seemed to deflate at her reproach. “I mean, it’s not like humans have faced the persecution our kind has. Look at the damn movies they make! The books they write! I don’t know what makes me more sick, the bloody ones, or the mushy ones. We’re not monsters and we’re not sex objects!”
“Some of us are monsters,” said a quiet voice.
A vampire none of them had noticed stood at the other side of the couch. She was small, the skinny legs sticking out of the bottom of the thick, over-sized hoodie she wore said as much. The little vampire bent her head, the shadow of the hood hiding her face, and held her arms with elbows tucked to her sides in a fetal, protective way.
“Charlie,” said Alissa, looking at the young woman in the hoodie. “You should still be resting. You’re far too weak to be above ground, Dear One.”
“I’m afraid to sleep,” said Charlie, seeming to shrink even smaller in her sweatshirt. “I see them every time I close my eyes.”
“Poor Dear was attacked the other night. Can you show them your face, Charlie? If it doesn’t bother you too much?”
Charlie nodded and slowly drew back her hood. There were scratches, deep and scarred across her face and worse, her attackers had torn part of her cheek away.
“Oh my God,” said Kim, her hand going to her mouth reflexively. “They did that?”
“And more,” said Alissa gravely. “She was lucky enough to survive. We’ve had others who were not so lucky.”
“Will you heal, Charlie?” asked Sam, peering at the young woman, who struck her as both appearing and being young.
Charlie hunched her shoulders in a shrug and pulled the hood back on again. Her friends waved her back over near the wall and encircled her, seemingly to protect her from the gaze of the outsiders.
“She will, but it will take time. If she continues to feed, it’ll speed up the process, but she’ll always have scars,” said Alissa, sadness in her eyes. “Hopefully, only physical ones.”
“When and where did that happen?”
“Last week, she was coming back from one of our hunting grounds in Ypsilanti when they jumped her. She says she doesn�
��t know who did it, but it was several them. We were only lucky she made it back before sunrise.”
“Ypsilanti? Really?”
Alissa shrugged. “You thought we only hang out in Detroit?”
“I was thinking places more like Chicago,” admitted Sam. “Not to be offensive, but it’s a little weird knowing you guys have been chilling out on my doorstep.”
“A lot more comfortable back when you thought we were just make believe, eh?” snarked Garrett, crossing his arms. He did not appreciate their being there, or anything they might do for the vampire community. Sam eyed him a little nervously.
“Yes? I mean, I was raised to see you guys as predators. Plus, we have people almost dying in Ann Arbor. And it’s not every day you see a man jump off a building and just disappear. I had nightmares for days after that...”
Garrett glared. “That is so, so backward. You assume we’re some horrific monolith...”
“Apparently, some vampires around here prefer non-willing victims,” said John, coming to Sam’s defense. “We’re just trying to find out who it is and stop them.”
“Why don’t you ask if there’s anyone else who would like to offer some information?” said Alissa, her tone indicating that this was more than a suggestion. Garrett made a face for a second, but nodded and went around the room, asking the others.
“Some of us like to consider ourselves simply differently-abled,” explained Alissa. “Garrett is a bit of an activist for vampire rights. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a platform for that yet. He always gets antsy before our social season gets into full swing.
“We have picnics, pub crawls, once winter comes and the nights get nice and long. The cold doesn’t bother us so—”
There was a loud bang toward the front of the house. Nelson flashed a smile and moved so quickly he seemed to disappear. They heard a scream, cut off into a gurgle. The room froze for a second. “Everyone,” whispered Alissa, “into the tunnels.”
Alissa lead the group downstairs, into the basement of the mortuary. The other vampires moved with incredible speed, some so fast they seemed to blur, though not all of them headed for the escape route. Some seemed to be intent on fortifying and fighting. Sam felt relieved they didn’t expect the same of her and her friends, since John, in his infinite wisdom and ability to foresee the future, had made them leave their weapons in the car...
After clearing the stairs, they were lead into a room that had once been the morgue; it was lined from floor to ceiling with sterile white tiles with several drains set in the floor. They’d replaced the cool storage, where bodies had been kept with several large refrigerators. Sam guessed these were full of blood. Beside the refrigerators was a large hole in the wall, almost like a giant mouse hole. Many of the vampires disappeared inside and Alissa herded the humans toward it. “You should be safe if you follow the main tunnel,” she advised, looking over her shoulder. “Go straight until you see a big left turn.”
“What about everyone else?” asked Kim, peering at the vampires who stayed.
“We’ll hold them off until the youths can get away. If they got past Nelson, there are many, or they’re incredibly strong.” Alissa nodded. “Now, go, I can’t waste any more time!”
John pulled at Sam’s arm and she followed Kim and Jesus into the pitch-black tunnels.
Chapter Nine
Light from the morgue only lasted about twenty feet, so Jesus and Sam took out their phones and used them as flashlights. Vampires were moving past them in the darkness though it felt like a quick gust of wind. They could barely see them in gloom. Further in, the sounds of screams funneled down the length of the earthen chambers.
“What the fuck is that?” whispered Jesus.
There was more shrieking and horrible, wet, crunching behind them.
“Oh God,” said Kim, “I think they’re killing them...”
The humans ran down the tunnel, not wanting to know who was killing whom. The tunnels were old and well-worn, but the floors dipped, and Jesus caught his toe, falling flat on his face. They all felt the breeze as another vampire passed right over him, flying through the cramped space. Sam felt something like sweat on her cheek and rubbed it. When she shined her light on her hand, she almost screamed. Her fingers had blood on them. “We gotta get out of here,” she said, helping Jesus back to his feet.
They scrambled over the hard-packed floor feeling the movement around them like the warning breezes of a storm. About a hundred feet in, the tunnel widened into a chamber, with a ceiling about ten feet high.
The shining eyes of vampires caught in the beams of their flashlights, like the eyes of raccoons in the darkness. None moved, or spoke, but stayed with their backs to the walls. For a second, it reminded Sam of a swarm of moths, clinging to trees. The only sound was that of she and her friends breathing. It didn’t seem like vampires needed to.
There was a movement near the ceiling and a scream rang through the chamber, shattering the pregnant silence. The room exploded into movement. The vampires darted and fluttered and there were more screams, screeching so loud and high pitched it rattled Sam’s eardrums. She would have covered them but she was afraid to lower the light though it only seemed to catch motion her brain failed to understand. The air blurred with vampires streaking across the chamber, leaving streaks of blood in their wake. Kim yelped, sprayed with the lukewarm blood. “Santa Madre, we gotta get the fuck out of here,” said Jesus, covering his head as another vampire flew over.
Sam almost agreed when a grip of iron closed on her upper arm. She didn’t understand what was going on, aside from the sensation of pain as something wrenched her arm and the floor seemed to fall away from her feet. Suddenly, she was flying backward through the air fast enough to make her stomach turn.
There was a gigantic flash. The entire chamber seemed to turn white for a moment. The light killed all momentum and Sam fell to the ground, like she’d fallen off a ladder. Stunned, she looked around. The vampires were caught in the illumination, flinching. She saw the hipster vampires from the house upstairs, but she could also see others wearing all black, covering their faces from the white light.
John pulled her to her feet. “That’ll only last another ten seconds,” he said, ushering them toward the door. “Let’s go before it fades!”
“Who the fuck were those guys?!” demanded Jesus, feeling his way along.
“I’m guessing the ones draining the locals,” said John, urging them on. “But, let’s talk about it later, shall we? Once we get out of here.”
They could hear noises of violence behind them, but no footsteps. The four ran down the tunnel which slanted deeper underground and became slick with mud. “Are we near the river?” asked Kim, almost wiping out.
“I have no fucking clue,” said Sam, helping her along. “Hopefully, we’re getting to the end of these tunnels though. I’m pretty done with being underground.”
“You and me both,” grumbled Jesus.
“Come on guys, stop—” Something grabbed at John from behind, tugging his ridiculous cape. He whirled around, but it was too late; the vampire was on him, pausing long enough as he fell for them to get a good look; it was one of the black-clad vampires, his hair slicked back in a helmet style, his eyes glowing red in the light of Sam’s phone. John was struggling to push his face away as he bit and clawed like an animal, but his strength was quickly giving out.
Wasting no time, Jesus reached into his cargo pants and took out a small sports bottle. He opened it up and sprayed it at the two men struggling on the ground. Instantly, the vampire smoked, the water boiling and hissing on contact with his skin. The creature shrieked and stood, making a lunge for Jesus, who got him full in the face with the stream. Clutching at his skin as it burned and blistered over, the vampire screamed again and disappeared back into the darkness.
“What the fuck is that stuff?” gasped John, picking himself up.
“Holy water,” said Jesus, shrugging as he capped the bottle. “My abuelita k
nows a guy.”
Wasting no more time, they hauled ass, remembering to turn left where Alissa had specified. The tunnel narrowed the further they went along, but it also rose, which was a relief to everybody. They didn’t know how long or how far they’d been going, but when they emerged, they found themselves in the graveyard, over on Church street.
“Holy shit,” sighed Sam, taking a breath. They’d run quite a long way and were all winded.
“Well, I guess we know the ones Smith’s looking for,” panted John, his hands on both his knees. “They definitely seem like trouble.”
“Let’s keep moving,” said Jesus, eyeing the drainage way they’d just come out of. “They’re probably gonna come this way...”
Everyone agreed and walked toward the big wrought-iron gates of the graveyard. Night had established itself and the streetlights offered little comfort. Sam shivered. “How are we supposed to fight that?” she asked, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “They move way, way too fast. They’re too strong.”
“See, this is why they’re always sneaking up on them during the day in the movies,” said Jesus.
“Yeah, but that would involve knowing where their nest is,” sighed Kim, looking tired. She still had a smear of blood on her cheek. “Plus, seriously? This feels way more dangerous than last time. I mean, last time was fun. This is like, the major leagues or something.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask you all to come,” said John, keeping a keen eye out. “You‘ll need to lock down your homes. Don’t invite anyone you don’t know in. Or even people you know. Lie low until this shit blows over.”
“Lie low?” repeated Jesus. “Are you kidding, man? This is way too big for just the two of you to handle.”
Kim glared at him. “Do you speak for all of us?”
“Well,” he said, shrugging again, “me and Yolanda got your back, at least, and I’m guessing Franklin’s gonna be down for a little vampire hunting, right?”
Sam nodded. Right then, all she wanted to think about was going home.