Bloodlines

by Drew D'Amato

  “Not pure silver, right? Silver bullets don’t fire as true or have as much stopping power as lead.”

  “No, they were still lead bullets, but they were painted silver. The paint though was derived from pure silver. What the hell could something like this mean?”

  “It isn’t as unusual as you might think. Gangs have marked their bullets before as a form of signature.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact these men are a bit unusual. The cops who got to the scene said they saw two men jump through a window which was about five meters high, and when they looked out the window their bodies weren’t in sight.”

  “Unsolved murders are nothing new to England, especially in Whitechapel. It’s kind of our tradition.”

  Peterson was taken back by the calmness of his superior toward this situation. “Sir, is there something you’re not telling me? The actions of these men at the least seem unnatural.”

  “Murder is not natural. You have a lot of time yet to serve on this force. My advice to you is to not worry about situations like this, and don’t let anyone else know of these crazy assumptions, that these men were some kind of supernatural beings. You’ll be laughed out of the force. Deal with the facts, two men escaped. That’s it. People think they see the strangest things in moments of panic.”

  “Sir, I never said anything about supernatural. Just that there is something strange about all of this.”

  “But that’s what people are going to perceive. That’s what I perceived. You start talking about people disappearing and unnatural movements and you’ll sound ridiculous to anyone listening. Strange cases happen from time to time, but it is not worth losing your job and your reputation over. No one is going to lose any respect for you if you don’t get these men. But they will if you start telling them this was a bunch of werewolves or whatever that disappeared when they were shot. Do you understand Peterson, you have a bright future on the MPS, don’t fuck it up over one crazy case.”

  “But, sir I’ve always gotten my man.”

  “Well I hope you can accept defeat. It comes with being a cop. Two men murdered some drunks and escaped. That is what the file will read. Do you understand?”

  Peterson sat there reluctant. He did not expect this type of response from his superior. But being a new cop on the force, he did not want to rock the boat. He is the type who is good at taking orders.

  “I understand,” Peterson said.

  4

  The training room in the basement of the mansion had a thin layer of dirt over the cement floor. A door moved to one side and two black men fell down as they entered the room. The door closed behind them and became part of the wall again. One florescent light buzzed in the center of the ceiling fifteen feet up. The room had a gray tone to it. It was a deep basement. The ceiling was twenty feet high.

  Duct tape stretched across their mouths kept them from screaming, and the tape bound around their hands behind their backs kept them from fighting. They put their feet in front of them and managed to stand up. They stood there still dressed in their orange prison outfits. Leroy, the older of the two, looked about forty, chubby, and balding. Marc, in his twenties, wore a blue bandana that was busy soaking up the sweat from his shaved head. He looked at Leroy for some comfort. Leroy looked back with his big wide eyes, telling Marc, I’ve never seen this shit before, but I think we’re fucked. The two of them looked forward and realized that two men had been in the room the whole time watching them. Jericho and Michael smiled at them.

  “Hello men,” Jericho said.

  The men tried to scream through their tape.

  “Please, screaming through the tape is not going to do anything but strain your mouth. Are you aware of that?”

  Michael moved closer to them. He looked at the man to the right of him.

  “Leroy Wilkins, child molester, sodomist, bad boy, sentenced to ten years, you served four,” he said. He turned his head to his left. “And Marc Wood, drug dealer, killer, had kids selling drugs for him, sentenced to fifteen years, and you served two.”

  Jericho took back over the conversation. He walked toward to the two and Michael backed away from them. From a bird’s eye view the movement looked like a seesaw with their two bodies changing position.

  “So you guys feel that you paid back society, you paid your due. I’ll let you answer.” Jericho ripped off the tape from their mouths with a quick tug. They were too scared to scream.

  “Please don’t kill us, please man, I can get you anything,” Marc pleaded as tears started to run down his cheeks.

  “I have everything,” Jericho said. “No, we will free you guys to give you a fighting chance, but I assure you, you don’t have much of a chance.”

  “It’s actually more for our amusement,” Michael added. He got behind them and ripped off their taped bindings, then stood in front of them. The convicts rubbed their wrists unsure of what to do next.

  “C’mon guys,” Jericho said. “This is your chance to fight for your lives. You’d better make the most out of it.”

  The convicts were too afraid to make any type of move.

  “Listen we don’t want any trouble,” Leroy said. “We’ll go back to jail. You can take us there, please.”

  “Oh no, jail is no longer and option for you two,” Michael said. “You can either fight your way out of here for your freedom, or you can die where you stand.”

  The stood up and looked at each other, realizing they had only one option. They turned back to the two vampires and lunged themselves at Michael and Jericho. Jericho and Michael jumped in the air over them. The two of them hung in the air looking down at their prey, with smiles on their faces like cats about to dig into some helpless mice.

  “You guys are going to wish you stayed in the joint,” Michael said.

  Jericho and Michael swooped down and picked up their meals. They brought the convicts into the air with them. Jericho grabbed Leroy and Michael grabbed Marc. Leroy was an easy meal for Jericho. He did not put up much of a fight. The sight of men who can fly and sported fangs told Leroy there would be no point in fighting anyway. As a child molester he loved to be in control. That was why he liked his victims no older than ten. He liked it if they could count their age using only their fingers. Now Leroy got an idea of how his victims must have felt: helpless, powerless, with no one to protect them. Vampires no doubt, they really do exist was the last thought Leroy would ever have on this planet. He fainted as Jericho sank his fangs into his fat neck.

  This disappointed Jericho. He liked it better when there was at least some kind of a fight. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. He just held his arms around Leroy’s body and ripped his fangs into Leroy’s neck sucking out the sweet energy-giving blood. After a few mouthfuls he descended back to the ground with Leroy. There was still more of his favorite wine left to drink.

  Marc managed to punch Michael in the gut. Michael lost his grip and Marc fell to the floor on his ass. He looked up at Michael. Michael hung in the air looking down at Marc. Marc got up and tried to look for a way out. He ran along the walls but could not find a way to open the door he came in from. Jericho looked up from the neck of Leroy, with blood smeared around his lips, and laughed at Marc. It felt good to see a human fight. It showed he had spirit, but there was nothing he could do, and the two vampires kept their eyes on him and let him try until he realized that.

  Marc stopped his search along the walls and looked up at Michael. Michael just stared down at him asking him with his eyes if he was ready to give up.

  “Where the hell are you going to go?” Michael asked.

  Before Marc could even get a word out to plead, Michael swooped down and ripped off his head. He ascended back up in the air with just Marc’s head in his hands. The body fell to the ground. Michael took a good look at the face stuck in the screaming position with no sound coming out because the lungs were back with the rest of the body. Michael put the base of Marc’s neck over his mouth and drank the blood like the way a college
student attempts to shotgun a beer.

  “Nice job,” Jericho said. “Told ya, you have to do it quick or you end up taking the whole body with you.”

  Michael dropped the bloodless head and floated down.

  “If it wasn’t so late, I’d go out for more.”

  “That’s you Michael: nothing’s ever enough.”

  5

  Upstairs in his office the master sat at his desk talking on his cell phone.

  “So the officer will not pursue this any longer?” he asked.

  “Yes, he’s concerned about his reputation in the department. He doesn’t want to look crazy. He’ll follow some leads but your men are thousands of miles away so there’s nothing to worry about. But this was a really public place; can your guys keep it a little more low-key next time?”

  “Chief Inspector Warburton, these are not planned attacks. My men took out people who would kill your countrymen and leave not trace of blood without a second thought. We will try to be more discreet next time if we can. We know that secrecy is the best weaponry.”

  “I understand. Do you need anything else?”

  “At the moment, no. Your check is already in the mail. Thanks again, goodbye Chief.”

  The master did not have many cops all over the world under his thumb, but Warburton was one of them, which made it lucky for him that the attack was in London. He made a unique first impression on Warburton, and he had his allegiance ever since.

  His cell phone rang again. He still had the phone in his hand and looked at the number before he answered.

  “I was waiting for you,” he said to the person on the other line.

  “I see our children wanted to play,” the raspy voice on the other line replied.

  “I see your children wanted to play, but do not know how to win.”

  “Yes, I lost Smythe, a good vampire. I hope this recent event won’t discourage the meeting in New York.”

  “It only strengthens the need for it.”

  “Are you going to see the light?”

  “Are you?”

  There was a pause. These conversations with Radu were always frustrating. Both masters were stubborn far beyond their own good.

  “Radu, we must see eye to eye, there must be a peace. The humans are starting to catch on—”

  “Fuck the humans, why can’t you understand that? You waste your time in your castle not knowing how powerful we could really be if we were united.”

  “Is misery the only thing that makes you happy?”

  “Funny, when you were a man you lived off misery, my how we change once we are damned.”

  Another pause.

  “There are some points though we can agree on, new territories, new neutral grounds, and new technologies. I still would like to have the meeting,” Radu admitted.

  “Then we will. I hope you come there with an open heart.”

  “Vlad, I have no heart.”

  FOUR

  1

  The vampires moved west down Ventura Boulevard, toward the Ferrari dealership in Calabassas. It was a sunny day in Southern California in the month of October. A great day for a walk, and a better day to buy a Ferrari. Jericho and Vlad were dropped off by Michael a few blocks back. Vlad wanted to walk a bit before they picked up their new car. He liked walking through the city. It reminded him of his younger years, his human years, when he used to walk through the streets of his realm as the ruler of Wallachia, also known as Transylvania—almost six hundred years ago.

  He was the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes III, or more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler. Thousands had died by his hand as a human, and countless deaths as a vampire in half a millennium since. He was the inspiration for the myth of Dracula and walks amongst humans now as a vampire. As a vampire, unlike when he was a human, he has found mercy. For centuries he has fought a secret war for the sake of the human race against the only other master vampire in the world. His nemesis—Radu.

  Many vampire myths have been confused over the years. The bright sun did not produce fatal effects on Vlad’s group of vampires. However, that does not mean sunlight didn’t have a fatal affect on any vampire. Radu and his vampires—Radusons—burn up if exposed to sunlight. Radu and Vlad’s vampires shared some similar powers and weaknesses but differed in others. This is why so many of the myths have been confused over the years. The characteristic of a vampire depends on the characteristics of their master vampire.

  There is a hierarchy to the vampire order. In Vlad’s family, there are three levels. The lowest is simply a vampire. The next level is a head vampire. A head vampire is one that has made another vampire. A master vampire, at the top of the hierarchy, is the original vampire of the bloodline. Master vampires have different powers and weaknesses based off sins and actions they had committed as humans. Their underlings follow in the same powers and weaknesses of their master. Radusons die in sunlight, since Radu was vain as a human—his nickname as a human was Radu the Handsome. The vampires of Vlad’s bloodline only lose their vampire powers in the sun.

  Vampires also tended to be white, not because they were simply dead, but since they could not get tanner in their dead life. Their skin stayed the same color their skin was when they died. If they were tan when made a vampire, then for all eternity they would be tan. Since most vampires originated from Northern Europe, the myth of vampires always being white was born.

  Jericho and Vlad have had a friendship that has lasted over three hundred years. The trick to keeping such a long friendship over such a length of time—besides both being damned creatures—was trust, respect and communication. Jealously never came between them, as they knew each other’s place. Jericho knew Vlad was his master and he respected that. Vlad knew that Jericho was the best right-hand man any leader could ask for. He was the first vampire Vlad ever made, and so he named him Jericho after the first city ever built. (When a vampire is made they take a different name, to hide their human past so that no harm could come to their human family.)

  Jericho wore his black leather trench coat with a black Armani shirt and black pants. Vlad also had on a black outfit, a black sweater with a black suede jacket over it. Maybe too warm for California, but Vlad did not feel cold nor heat. They walked down the sidewalk casually looking at the humans amongst them who had no idea that the two were anything out of the ordinary. The vampires passed by a Halloween costume shop that had decorations in the window. Vlad noticed the Dracula costume on display.

  A full mannequin was dressed in a black suit, with a black cape hung over its back. The cape had a red velvet inner lining. Black leather boots were on its feet and for the head, a rubber mask with hair and fangs stared blankly out the store window.

  “This is always such a compliment,” Vlad said.

  “What is?” Jericho asked.

  “Throughout time all different monsters have appeared on the screen, written in books, or whatever the medium. Yet, I still manage to always be popular, always like the leader of the group. Why should I be so popular, what attracts people to want see every movie about us, or to want to read about us?”

  “Our powers, living forever, the sexuality to us—we possess every guilty pleasure humans want.”

  “I guess.”

  The two of them, whose reflections did not appear in the window unlike the pedestrians and the cars that passed by, stopped looking and started to move again down the street before anyone else could notice this anomaly.

  “That was how the source noticed us, our lack of reflection,” Jericho said.

  “Yes, tell me again how you came across this source, and more importantly why we should trust him?”

  “Michael and I were walking the streets of London trying to do some recognizance on Radu.”

  “Before you go any further, was Radu working with The Narrative, and Islamic extremists?”

  “From what we gathered, we’re not sure if he has stuck to the ban of not being involved in national disputes.”

  At the last meeting be
tween the two sides fifty years ago, it was decided that the vampires could no longer get involved in international war. Previously they had been. Vlad helped fight on the side of the Patriots in the American Revolution, and Radu seconded the interest in Liberalism by instigating the French Revolution, The Terror, and encouraging Napoleon to try to conquer all of Europe. Vlad helped the Union in the Civil War, and Radu played with the minds of the leaders of Europe behind closed doors to turn on each other to create the chaos of the First World War. History shows the war started in the Balkans, right near Radu’s home base in Romania. He had a hand in the Black Hand. Radu was also a secret consultant to Hitler, which is why the maniac had so much faith in the idea of the occult. Radu wanted one man to conquer the world so that it would be easier for him to step in and rule once the world was all one nation. The Holocaust, among many other horrors, was like a fast food joint for Radu and his men whenever they needed a quick meal. But World War II ended with the use of nuclear bombs and the vampires realized then man had gotten too dangerous. The fire of thermonuclear war kills everything—even vampires. So when they met again days after the Cuban Missle Crisis, and on the brink of a nuclear holocaust, they agreed to stay out of man’s wars and, if anything, try to discourage them.

  “I don’t think he wants to see a world war anymore than us,” Jericho continued. “But we did go to the Hizb ut-Tahrir meeting at the University of London. There was no trace of Radu, but Michael put one of the members of HT into a trance.”