by Zara Novak
“Well I followed you, and soon found out. You were a part of the Order. My mind wasn’t with me, but I remembered enough to know that the Order hunted people like myself. I hung around for a few days, lurking in the background, tracking your group… watching you. It wasn’t until I next rested and woke again that I first realized I could remember you. You. You were the one thing standing in the void of my memory. You were the one thing that escaped the clutches of this dreaded amnesia.”
“Me?” Ellie gasped, shaking her head. “But how is that… what does that…” she trailed off, not understanding any of it.
Jack simply smiled and looked at her with sad eyes, shrugging as he did so. “I didn’t understand it myself. All I knew is that you were the one remaining thing that anchored my mind to the present. So, I followed you. From that moment on I watched you whenever I could. Something about you broke through my ailment. It made me feel almost human again. It made me feel…”
“Happy?” she said, offering the word as a question.
Jack nodded. “I didn’t understand why. All I knew is that I needed to stay close to you. It was as if there was this small voice inside of me. That’s her. It whispered. That’s the one. I didn’t know what it meant at the time. But as the weeks went by that voice grew louder, until it was almost shouting. It told me that our time was fast approaching. I had to get ready if I wanted you to be mine. And God. I wanted it.
“That night came at the burned-out church, when I finally had a chance to come forward and take you. I knew by that point that we were destined to cross paths with each other somehow. We were part of the prophecy, though I didn’t understand why.”
Jack paused for a long moment. Ellie stared at him, her heart beating in her chest like a hammer. “I’m the only thing you can remember?”
He nodded, but then paused. “Well, no—not exactly. Something else has risen inside me since I took you. It’s like the voices are rising. Filling in the blanks slowly.”
Ellie felt half-crazy as she listened to Jack. Hearing voices, following strangers. It all seemed like lunacy, but it made her think back to the voices she had heard. The ones that had guided her. “These voices… I think I’ve heard them too. Like my own, but it’s not me speaking.”
“So, we’re crazy together then.” Jack laughed.
Ellie had to laugh too. “It seems that way.”
“What did you hear?” he asked.
Pausing, she glanced down at the ground, not wanting to admit what had happened earlier. She was on the verge of leaving, finally given a chance to escape when something kept her held back. “It’s all very vague. It’s hard to understand a lot of the time.”
Jack stared briefly then nodded after a moment, much to her relief.
“You mentioned I’m not the only thing you remember,” Ellie said. “What else is there?”
“That’s right. It’s… hard to say. There are new things rising inside of me. But I can’t quite understand it. It’s almost like I’m being shown a picture, but it’s slightly out of focus. It’s some sort of place. Our place.”
“Place?” she asked.
Jack nodded. “I think it’s where it wants us to go. It’s where the prophecy wants us to go. It’s… big. Some place hidden. It’s where we’re meant to be.”
Ellie thought Jack’s statement over. As with most things that Jack did, she only found herself with more questions after he gave an answer. As cryptic and vague as his answer seemed to be, there was part of it that made sense to her. There was something about it that felt right. “This is just a theory that I’m working with here but hear me out.”
“I’m all ears,” Jack said as he watched Ellie pace around the loft in thought.
“What if this prophecy is only letting you keep the things in your mind that are important. The things that will help it come to light?” She looked over at Jack and he nodded.
“Seems possible. It led me to you, and now it’s leading us… somewhere.”
“This picture you have in your memory. Can you tell me what it looks like? Can you see what it is?”
Jack screwed his face up as he tried to see the picture. “It’s hard to describe. It’s like a picture but also not at the same time. I can feel it’s in this direction. There’s cold. There’s stone. Lots of stone actually.”
Ellie felt something form in her own mind as he said the words. A half-picture of sorts. Not quite a vision, but a memory, long forgotten. She held her hand up to stop him. “Like a castle?”
Jack glanced over at her in surprise. “Yeah, actually. Castle might be the perfect way to describe it. Can you see it too?”
“Not really,” Ellie said and shook her head. “But I have a memory. A very distant one. From when I was young. I think I’ve been to this place.”
“With the Order?” Jack asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head again. “I wasn’t adopted into the Order until I was six. This memory is before then.”
Jack turned his head at Ellie’s surprise admission. “You think you’ve been here before?”
“I don’t think Jack. I know. I think this place you’re describing is the earliest memory I have from my childhood.” Ellie turned and faced Jack. “I think it’s where I originally came from. I think… I think you’re taking me home.”
15
Valdis followed the Vistor back down the stairs and through the sprawling laboratory. There were several other vampires in the large room, dressed in long white coats, working at various stations and overseeing different tests. None of them looked up to acknowledge the guests, something that Valdis assumed was probably ordered on the Vistor’s part.
“What exactly is it you’re doing here?” Valdis asked as they walked along the center of the room.
“Research. Development. Planning,” the Vistor answered cryptically. “I’ve been a vampire for quite some time now Mr. Thorn. In that time my power has been challenged many times by rival vampires that wanted to topple me. I realized fairly early on that knowledge was an important asset to keeping control.”
They turned from the central aisle into a hallway, which led to a smaller room that contained several glass cells. “How old are you exactly?” Valdis asked, not caring if the question came across as insensitive. The Vistor simply looked over and smiled.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Here. This is our first stop.” They came to a stop in front of one of the large glass cells. Inside there were two figures. A vampire chained to the left wall and a human on the right.
“You didn’t bring me here just to watch mindless mutilation?” Valdis asked, tightening his hand around the orb of light.
“I’m afraid a little death is necessary to illustrate my point. Be at ease, all subjects in these trials are violent criminals.” Raising his hand, the Vistor snapped his fingers. A team of guards were at his side immediately, dressed from head to toe in black. “Release the Vrakal,” he instructed the guards. “Give him five seconds with the subject.”
The guards nodded, made their way into the locked cell and released the vampire prisoner from his chains. The starved vampire jumped up from his feet immediately, looked past the guards and ran straight for the human chained on the opposite side of the cell. The human slave screamed as the vampire sunk its teeth into his throat.
“What in Christ’s name is this?!” Valdis roared.
“Relax Thorn,” the Vistor replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “The human won’t die. Yet.” Five seconds passed, and the guards stepped forward to pull the feeding vampire back from the throat of the slave. They pulled the creature back to the other side of the cell and held him there, trapped in their grasp.
Valdis stared at the creature, which stood panting wildly in the guard’s arms. Blood streaked around its mouth and down its throat. Its eyes were all black. It struggled meekly, made a weak lunge but didn’t have the strength to escape the guard’s grasp. Nausea stirred in Valdis’ stomach.
“Administer
the serum!” the Vistor shouted. One of the guards nodded back, pulled a small vial from their utility bell and crossed the cell to the side with the human prisoner. The human slave was clutching the wound on their neck. They looked up at the guard’s approach, and scrambled back against the wall, shouting something in fear. The guard tipped the vial into the human’s mouth and held it there until he swallowed.
Valdis shifted his weight from one foot to another, feeling deeply unsettled. The Vistor ordered the guards to release the feeding vampire a second time. This time it burst across the cell again, sinking its teeth into the human offering once more. Its fangs had barely been in the man’s neck for a second before the vampire pulled back, spinning onto the floor, screaming and retching.
“That’s amazing!” Valdis proclaimed, stepping toward the glass to survey the scene better. Whatever was in that serum had stopped the vampire in its tracks. “Consider my interest piqued Vistor… what was in that serum?”
“Rubroxin Famasis. You might know it better as Black Fang,” the Vistor said with little emotion.
Valdis felt thunderstruck. He stammered his response in disbelief. “B-Black Fang? You mean to tell me that was developed by you?!” Valdis couldn’t quite believe it. Black Fang had been a real problem in the valley recently for vampires. Little was known about its mechanical workings by anyone, but Valdis and his men had tried to study the disease and learn as much as they could.
“Guilty as charged. I see you are familiar with it. What do you know of it?”
“Gee… let me see. It’s carried by humans but doesn’t affect them. It’s only harmful to vampires who contract the disease on feeding from infected humans. We don’t know its exact effects, but we believe it’s some sort of starving disease?”
“Perfect description, Thorn,” the Vistor said. “The disease is completely benign to humans, but deadly to vampires. Once they drink from an infected human, they will die within a manner of weeks. The disease wastes the vampire from the outside in and makes it impossible for them to feed. Infected blood feels extremely unpleasant, almost acidic, to a feeding vampire, hence the volatile reaction.”
Valdis shook his head, half in awe, half in absolute shock. To think that the Red Circle had purposefully crafted this disease was crazy even to him. “I cheer this disease as much as the next vampire hunter,” Valdis said. “But fuck… why are you doing this?”
“As I told you earlier Thorn, we are coming to our end whether we like it or not. Things will be much worse if we do not accept our fate. Believe me. I am trying to spare my people. The bombs on japan stopped the war and saved millions of lives. I’m simply dropping a bomb on my people.”
“That’s… an extreme tactic to use,” Valdis said with an awkward chuckle. The Vistor’s sheer determination to complete his goal was terrifying to him, yet impressive at the same time. “What happens to the human?”
“The disease is completely benign to humans, as mentioned. That man will go on to live a normal life and carry an immunity against vampires for the rest of his days.”
Valdis’s heart thumped at the implications. A natural immunization against vampires, permanent for life. Why, if the Order could administer Black Fang to enough humans, they could starve out the entire vampire population in a matter of years! “…This is how you end the prophecy,” he said in awe. “Black Fang.”
“Not exactly,” the Vistor said. “This is one prong of our approach. The real show stopper is still waiting. “Any more questions before we move on?”
Hundreds, but he had to make use of limited time. How was it synthesized? Was it easy to develop? Were there other administration routes? “Is it contagious between humans?” he asked.
“No,” the Vistor said sadly. “It’s one of the limitations of the disease. Every human has to be infected individually. It is difficult to synthesize and takes time to produce, but we are getting better as time goes on. There was a setback in the project recently when Jago Vangzali was murdered. She was the one that spearheaded the team who discovered Black Fang. Luckily her team has gotten back on track and we are now producing more than ever. We currently have five hundred doses stored up, waiting to be shipped, and we make about three dozen each day.”
“We have labs at the White Fortress,” Valdis offered. “We could certainly help doubling down on production.”
The Vistor smiled, but his eyes remained expressionless. “Development will stay here for now. Come. I’d like to show you our next weapon. This is the ace. This is the tool that will win you this war.”
Valdis followed the Vistor to the last cell at the end of the room. This cell looked markedly different from the others and was furnished to look more like a bedroom than a cell. A lone vampire sat at the center, reading on the bed. “Another prisoner?” Valdis asked.
“Not exactly.” The Vistor approached the glass door, waved his hand over the touchpad and stepped into the cell. He looked back at Valdis who hesitated just outside. “Enter. It’s entirely safe.”
Nodding, Valdis entered the cell and stood a few paces behind the Vistor. The vampire on the bed didn’t take his eyes up from the book. The elder vampire raised his hand out and snapped his fingers, seeming to wake the reading vampire from his trance.
The vampire set his book down, stood and turned to face the Vistor almost robotically. Valdis realized just how tall the man was now. Probably close to seven feet tall. Stacked with muscle from head to toe. He must have weighed three hundred pounds easily. He addressed the Vistor, his voice booming like thunder. “Sir.”
“Kaleb, I’d like you to meet Valdis Thorn. He is the leader of the White Order.”
The man looked over at Valdis and nodded once. Valdis returned the gesture.
“Valdis this is the weapon I told you about. The one I refer to as the prophecy crusher. He is the culmination of many years work. A hybrid the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
Thorn stared into the eyes of the curious man, feeling a sense of deep unease. The eyes were unlike any he’d ever seen before. Red, with flecks of golden yellow. He stared over at the Vistor, his brow knotted with confusion. “Hybrid? What is this… thing?”
“His original name was Kaleb Spartan, but his codename in here is Kai. Isn’t that right Kai?” The Vistor looked over at Kai, who nodded firmly. “Kai started life as a regular Super. He was a gifted vampire physically and mentally, but it was his genetic makeup that was of most interest to us. Kai had a unique strand of DNA that meant his blood was compatible for crossbreeding.”
Valdis took a step forward in disbelief. “Crossbreeding? What… what did you do?”
“Show him Kai,” the Vistor said.
The tall vampire nodded back again, before taking a step to the side and breathing in. Within a second his whole body had shifted to look like another vampire. Valdis recognized the new man instantly, stepping back in surprise, cursing out loud. “Christ! That’s! That’s—”
“Eric Belmont,” the vampire answered, holding his hand out as if to shake. The voice was different too.
“I don’t believe you would ever have seen or spoke with Mr. Belmont up close, Thorn?”
Valdis shook his head, staring in disbelief at the vampire he had wanted to kill for so many years. “Never, but I’ve seen pictures. That’s him all right.”
“It is and isn’t. Kai here was spliced with shifter DNA, giving him the ability to take on any form he likes. From face to voice, everything is an exact replica of the designated target. The effect is instantaneous. The shift, completely undetectable. His body was joined with other candidates that showed promise, he is the sum of all the best parts. This strength gives him the ability to crossbreed with the shifter DNA.”
“Amazing,” Valdis said in awe. “Simply amazing. So, the plan is to imitate Belmont? Send this thing into the Castle and kill his mate?”
“While we have considered that idea, we’ve determined it’s not viable. Belmont rarely leaves the castle these days, and Kai�
��s intrusion would be noticed almost immediately. We do have another purpose for him though. He will take the form of the other destined vampires. He will track down their mates, seduce them and capture them.”
“Capture them? Why not just kill them?”
“The mates will be killed eventually. But they will be brought back to the lab for study. We need to commit their blood types to our database. If there are any more daughters out there, that will help us to find them faster. After we have what we need, we will kill them.”
“How could this… thing of yours get close enough to the destined daughters to seduce them? Don’t vampires operate on very specific scents?”
“Normally yes. Vampire breeding is a very sensitive thing, but Kai’s imitations are perfect to a cellular level. He has another ability. He can scan a female and identify her exact pheromone profile. With this information he can change his own scent to match hers perfectly.” The Vistor paused and turned to look out the cell. “Allow me to demonstrate actually, it is most fascinating. You there!”
Valdis turned to see a female vampire scientist walking past the cell. She stopped at the Vistor’s call and turned. “Me sir?”
“Yes. Please come in here.”
The vampire entered the cell immediately. “How can I help sir?”
“Meet Kai,” the Vistor said, holding his hand out to Kai.
“Ah yes,” she nodded. “I was part of the team that helped to devel—”
“Kai, meet your target. Seduce her.”
The female scientist faltered. “Excuse me, wha—”
Her protests faded instantly as Kai shifted into the form of another vampire. The strange face was a random combination, perfectly designed to entice the woman. The scientist’s words instantly drew to a long slur, and she walked over to the shifter, hypnotized.
“Right now, Kai has assembled a physical profile that is perfectly unique to our subject. As you can see the female cannot resist the effect.” The Vistor said. “There is also a secondary effect. His body is producing pheromones that help to draw the target in. She can’t resist. She can’t stay away.”