Dominion of the Damned

by Jean Marie Bauhaus

  Fighting the urge to go put his arms around her, he turned away from her, and stared at the coffee maker. He stared at it a long time before reaching out and punching the button to turn it on. The he said, “You should keep seeing Chris.”

  “What? Why?” She sounded confused, and a little hurt, and that killed him, but he didn’t let it change his mind. This was right. This was what he had to do.

  “Because he’s a good kid. And he’s your own age, and he’s human. He’s not scary, or complicated.” He looked at her before adding, “And he probably won’t break your heart.”

  She met his gaze, and held it for a moment as a look of resolve settled over her face. She took a step toward him, tentatively, and said, “There’s only one problem with that. I—”

  The buzzer cut her off. They both looked out of the kitchen toward the door. Alek held a finger up as if to say he’d be right back, and then they could finish, and then went to see who was at the door.

  He couldn’t detect any signs of life coming from the other side of the door, and the smell wasn’t human. Bracing himself, Alek opened the door to find Carl. “We have a situation.”

  Alek looked back at Hannah, standing in the kitchen doorway, and thought how badly he wanted to hear whatever it was she had to tell him. With a sigh, he turned back to Carl. “Of course we do.”

  THIRTY-THREE

  Within moments, the three of them filed out of the elevator into the building’s main lobby. Zach joined them as they followed Alek outside to greet their visitors.

  A line of vehicles rolled up in front of the building; an old school bus, covered in makeshift armor, flanked on each end by two modified Hummers with machine guns mounted on their roofs. The Hummers were each packed full of men with guns, and more armed men peered out from the windows of the bus, along with a few women and children. Most of the men wore some combination of camouflage and trucker hats. To Hannah, they looked like something out of a redneck version of The Road Warrior.

  The driver of the lead Hummer got out and came around to greet them. He wore ripped and faded jeans and a blood-stained Lynyrd Skynyrd tee-shirt underneath a camouflage tactical vest. A camouflage bucket hat, the kind with a band around it for holding ammunition, was crammed down over a mass of long, bushy blond hair that blended into a big, bushy blond beard. He stopped in front of the SUV and gave all of them an appraising look before settling his gaze on Alek. “You the head vamp in charge?”

  A jolt of recognition went through Hannah, and she took a closer look at the man. It was hard to make out his face under all that hair, but his voice was unmistakable.

  “I’m Alexandr Konstantin,” said Alek, heading down the steps. “I’m the doctor here.”

  “A vamp doctor?” The man smiled, clearly amused, and looked back at his companions. “Well, if that don’t beat all.” Behind him, men laughed.

  “Who are you?” asked Alek.

  “Just a merry band of free survivors. We heard tell there was a refuge here, where people and vamps like you were living in peace and harmony. We just had to come and see that for ourselves.”

  “Really? Where did you hear about us?”

  The man shrugged. “Here and there. You know how people talk.”

  “I wasn’t aware there were that many people left outside the camps.”

  “Well, there’s more of us than you’d think.”

  “Uncle Eddie,” said Hannah. Between his voice and his mannerisms, Hannah was positive it was him. She started down the steps, and he stared at her as she approached, a look of disbelief on what she could see of his face.

  “Hannah? Is that you, girl?” He broke into laughter as he rushed forward to sweep her into his arms and spin her in a circle. “Look at you!” he said when he set her down. “Last time I saw you, you were all braces and pimples. Now you’re all grown up.” He pulled her into another bear hug, and Hannah had to hold her breath. Clearly, surviving out in the wild didn’t leave a lot of room for showering. He released her, but kept hold of her shoulders. “Are your mama and daddy here?”

  The grin she was wearing faded as she shook her head.

  He let go of her, his hands falling to his sides in defeat. “Damn. When I saw you I hoped…” He drew the back of his hand across his nose. “Last I heard, your mama was expecting.”

  “She was,” said Hannah. “She had him before… anyway, he’s here. His name’s Noah.”

  In spite of everything, Eddie grinned. “Your daddy sure did like those Bible names.”

  Suddenly Hannah realized Alek was standing beside her. “Of course you and your party are welcome here,” he told Eddie. “Especially if you’re Hannah’s family. You can stay in the barracks until we can set you up with permanent homes.”

  “We won’t be needing anything permanent,” said Eddie. “That is, unless we’re not allowed to leave.”

  Alek shook his head. “This isn’t that kind of camp. You can leave any time, as long as you follow procedure to make sure nothing gets in. Although like I said, you’re welcome to stay.” He nodded toward the bus. “Do any of your people need medical attention?”

  “Nope. Surely not from the likes of you.”

  Hannah bristled at Eddie’s attitude, but if Alek took any offense, he didn’t let on. “I’ll hold a clinic tomorrow. You can all get some rest tonight, and something to eat. If anybody wants to come see me for a checkup, I’ll be here all day tomorrow. I’ve got vaccinations if any of the children need their shots. Vitamins, too.”

  “I’m sure you do,” said Eddie. “A healthy human’s a tasty human, right?”

  “It’s not like that,” Hannah blurted, a little shocked by her own defensiveness of Alek. “Alek’s a good doctor. You’re lucky he’s here.”

  “They can come to me,” Alek repeated, then with a shrug added, “or not. Their choice. Either way, I’ll be here.” He turned to Carl, who had hung back on the steps along with Zach. “Will you show them to the barracks and help them get settled? And tell Paula about our guests. She’ll make sure they get fed.”

  “Sure thing,” said Carl. “This way.” He started walking in the direction of the barracks. Eddie gave Hannah an appraising look that made her uncomfortable, then cast a contemptuous glance at Alek before climbing back into the Hummer.

  “So that’s your uncle,” Alek said as the convoy rolled slowly after Carl. “It must feel good to learn you’ve still got family living.”

  “We’re not really related,” said Hannah. “He was my dad’s oldest friend. They grew up together, and they were like brothers. I just always called him Uncle Eddie.”

  “Well, he obviously doesn’t trust vampires, so you’ve got that in common.”

  “Alek—”

  “We need to stay focused. You should go with Carl, help him and Paula get these folks settled in. Tell them Zachary will be with me at the clinic. He can handle minor ailments, if they’d be more comfortable with a human treating them.”

  “What about me? I can help. I can bring Noah up here if I have to.”

  “You should give Uncle Eddie the grand tour. Try to convince him to stay, if that’s what you want. And keep an eye on him. I know he’s someone you care about, but I don’t trust him. He has the look of a man who’s up to something.”

  Hannah wanted to be able to defend her family friend, but she couldn’t really argue with that. “Uncle Eddie’s always been a little extreme. I mean, his idea of survival preparedness made my dad look like a cub scout. And we’re talking about a man who built his own back yard bomb shelter.”

  “Thank God he did,” said Alek, “or you might not be here.” He tore his gaze away and looked back at the building. “I should go back to bed, try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.” He looked back at her. “We’ll have time to talk when things settle down.”

  As she gazed into his eyes, she realized that she hardly even noticed the tell-tale coloring that marked him as something other than human. She simply saw him, his soul l
ooking back at her, saw the longing and affection in his gaze. She suddenly felt a powerful urge to kiss him, to pick back up where she had cut him off that morning. But she didn’t have the courage to cross that line, and she still didn’t know whether she should.

  Besides, he was right. They had work to do, and they needed to stay focused.

  “Okay,” she said, and went to find Carl.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  “And this is my place.” Hannah made her house the last stop on the tour. Eddie had been the only one to take it. The rest of his people had gone to Alek’s clinic after all, although she suspected some of them had snuck off on recon missions of their own. As she held the door open to let him in, he nodded appreciatively at her surroundings.

  “It’s nice,” he said. “No wonder you seem so comfortable here.”

  Hannah ignored the slightly derisive tone in his voice, just as she’d been ignoring it all morning. She shrugged, and shifted Noah in her arms. “It’s a lot more comfortable than a bomb shelter. And it’s safe.”

  “Safe?” He gave her an incredulous look, but then his gaze landed on Noah, and he grinned. “Boy, I can’t get over how much he looks like his daddy.” He reached over to rub Noah’s head. “I’ve got all kinds of stories to tell you when you’re older, little man.” Noah sniffled and coughed, and Eddie’s grin faded. “Is he all right?”

  “He’s been sick, but he’s a lot better. He just had a bad reaction to his shots.”

  “Shots? You mean you let that vampire stick a needle in this boy?”

  Hannah swallowed her exasperation. “No, I let his human assistant give him his vaccinations. And I supervised. I am a nurse, you know. Well, student nurse. But they’re training me, so I guess I might actually get to be a real nurse some day after all.”

  Eddie shook his head in disgust. “Trained by a vampire, you mean.”

  It was getting harder to hide her irritation. “Yes, actually, because in case you haven’t noticed, he’s the only doctor around. And thank God he is, because he saved Noah’s life the other night when his fever was out of control.” She looked down at her little brother, and held him closer. “I could have lost him.” She felt her throat starting to tighten, and coughed to clear it. “Anyway, here. You can hold him while I make us some lunch.”

  Eddie smiled again as he took the baby. Noah was all giggles and smiles as Eddie kept tossing him in the air and catching him. Hannah left them to it as she went into the kitchen to put together tuna salad sandwiches on homemade bread, courtesy of Paula. “Grub’s on,” she called once they were ready. Eddie put Noah in his high chair and joined them at the bar.

  “Never been a big fan of tuna salad,” he said as he inspected his sandwich, “but I’ve gotta admit, it’s a nice change from rabbit.” The face he made as he bit into his sandwich underscored the truth of his words.

  “There’s plenty of food here,” said Hannah. “There’s still plenty of canned stuff from the Army stores, and from all of the town’s grocery stores. And we’re growing our own food. They’re even raising cows, and there’s chickens, so we’ve got plenty of eggs and milk. And they’re working on clearing a field to grow wheat.”

  “Sounds like a real paradise.”

  “It beats traipsing around the woods, living off the land and hoping you don’t get caught.”

  A derisive laugh escaped Eddie’s mouth, along with bits of his sandwich. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth. “Hate to break it to you, girl, but you’re already caught.”

  “It’s not like that. We’re free here.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Alek told you, you can leave whenever you want. So can we. But why would we want to?”

  “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe so your every move isn’t supervised by things that’re just one step up from the other things they’re supposed to be protecting you from? Or maybe so you don’t have to pay your rent in blood?” Eddie shook his head. “Shit, Hannah. Your daddy raised you to be smarter than this.”

  “Don’t tell me how my daddy raised me. I’m doing right by my little brother. And that’s not how it is here. Blood donations are strictly voluntary.”

  Eddie scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  “You want to hear about the place we were in before this? Where everybody was forced to give blood? It was a prison. Literally. And it wasn’t safe to go anywhere alone. I made the smart move to go exploring on my own and I almost got myself killed by one of the guards. Worse than killed. Alek got us out of that place. So don’t you tell me how bad off we are here, because you don’t know bad.” Hannah didn’t have the appetite to finish her sandwich. She pushed it away and got up to prepare some cereal for Noah.

  Eddie continued to eat in silence for a moment, then he put his sandwich down. “Look. I’m not saying it’s easy for us out there. We’ve lost people. Food’s hard to come by. Hell, there are some days when we all wonder if it’s worth it to keep pushing on. I can’t tell you how much I wish this really was the paradise you think it is, someplace we could all settle down and rest. But I can’t rest easy knowing some blood-sucker’s in charge, and I can’t believe that you can, either.”

  “Neither can I,” said Hannah. “Believe it, I mean. I wasn’t okay with any of it, at first. But I’ve gotten to know them. Him. Alek… he wants a better world than this. And I want to help him get there.”

  Eddie burst out laughing. “Is that the line he sold you? Shit, girl. If your daddy could hear you right now, he’d probably roll over in his grave.”

  Hannah picked up Noah’s bowl and slammed it down on the counter, splattering baby cereal everywhere. She was too pissed off to care. “He doesn’t have room to roll over,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s too shallow. I know because I’m the one who dug it.”

  That silenced him. Sighing, Hannah grabbed a dish rag from the sink and wiped up the mess she’d made. Long moments passed in awkward silence as she remade the cereal. Finally, looking down at the remains of his sandwich, Eddie said, “You think you’re safe here. Maybe you are, for the time being. But what happens when that fence comes down?”

  Hannah paused on the way back to the counter. “What do you mean?” she asked as she settled onto a stool next to the high chair.

  “It’s tall and sturdy, but it’s still only chain link. A strong enough wind, or maybe lightning strikes the wrong tree, and you’ve got a breach. What happens then?”

  Hannah took a deep breath as she shoveled a spoonful of cereal into Noah’s mouth. “Then we fight. This is an Army base. It’s not like we’re short of weapons.”

  “Neither was your daddy. Didn’t do him much good, did it?” He reached across the counter and grabbed Hannah’s arm, not ungently. “If you were out there with us, you’d be protected. We stay ready. And when the others come, we fight, but we’ve got room to run if we have to. We’re not penned in like sitting ducks.”

  “You said you’ve lost people,” said Hannah. “Alek hasn’t lost anyone. If you and your people stay, we’ll have better odds if the fence ever does go down. More weapons, and more people who know how to use them.”

  Eddie released her arm and sat back, defeated. “I’m not gonna persuade you to come with us, am I?”

  Hannah shook her head. “Am I going to convince you to stay?”

  “Even if you could, there’s no way I’d convince the others, and they need me too much for me to even think about staying without them.” He stood up from the bar and pointed at what was left of his sandwich. “Thanks for the meal. Damn, it sure is good to see you, girl. You take care of that runt, a’right?”

  Hannah smiled. “I will.”

  Eddie nodded, and turned to go. But at the door, he paused. “Just… try to keep your distance from the vampires, and watch your back. Can you promise me that much?”

  Hannah bit her lip. Distance from Alek was exactly the opposite of what was happening between them, but she didn’t tell Eddie that. She figured that what he didn’t know wouldn’t hu
rt him. So she nodded. “I’ll be careful.”

  Her old family friend nodded, as satisfied as he was likely to get with any scenario that didn’t include her packing up and joining him, then walked out the door.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  It had been a long day. The visitors had trickled into Alek’s clinic throughout the day, and even though most had been too wary of him to allow him to administer treatment himself, he’d stayed on hand to assist Zach and answer questions. What he had seen dismayed him. All of them were undernourished, and most of them had lingering coughs and runny noses. The adults all looked worn out, like the sheer act of survival had run them ragged. Alek hoped that Hannah would be able to convince her old family friend to let them stay, at least long enough to build up their health, and their strength.

  The patient visits had stretched throughout the day and up into the evening. It was almost midnight when the last was sent back to the barracks with antibiotics and vitamins. Zach felt like he was close to a breakthrough on their vaccine, so he wanted to stay and work on it. Alek felt ready to drop, but he hated to leave Zach in the lurch at such a critical moment in their research, and if he slept through the night again it would be hell trying to get his sleep schedule back on track. He didn’t really fancy the thought of spending the majority of his waking hours confined to a windowless room.

  Besides, he knew if he went to bed now he’d just start thinking about Hannah again, wondering what it was she’d been about to tell him. The look on her face when she’d stood in his kitchen… it was better not to think about it. That was just another way to drive himself crazy.

  Alek sat back from his microscope and rubbed his face. He wondered if he looked as haggard as he felt. “I need a pick me up,” he told Zach. “I’m going to get some coffee. Do you want any?”

  “Why don’t you just go to bed, man? You look like you’re about to fall over.”

  “I haven’t been sleeping well.” He shrugged. “At least I should be able to sleep just fine when morning gets here.” He slid off his stool and turned to the door just in time to see four burly men file in, led by Hannah’s uncle. “Can I help you gentlemen?”