'I was beginning to become a little concerned!' Sonafi admitted telepathically, still eying me with a hint more than just surprise. Nikita now sat calmly, her conscious mind completely suppressed. More importantly I wondered if I would I be able to do this to one of the Others?”
“I wonder if I could subvert one of the Others?” I asked.
If I had grown strong enough to make this possible we might have discovered a way to seize one of them. Seize it, contaminate it with our blood, and then send it back to spread the disease. Infect them with the disease of Vampirism- but the two big ifs still stood out in my mind. If I was strong enough and if they could be infected at all!
“It could work!” Sonafi agreed solemnly as she watched Nikita contemplatively.
“Or we may trigger them to new, before unheard of levels of aggression.” Volga said. “A new level of aggression where they throw all caution to the wind and come at us full force!”
“I think we have already seen the beginning of that!” I said because I was sure this conflict was going to continue to escalate until its abrupt and final ending. When only one of our species stood triumphant. “They need to finish us at any cost. The prize is within sight and we are all that stands in the way of their collecting it.”
Volga instructed the caretaker driver to pull into a residential neighborhood once we were back in the outskirts of St. Petersburg and we all got out. I did not release my hold of Nikita's mind until we were out of the car. Then she turned to me.
“How did you do that? I was going crazy. I’m starving though.” Nikita said.
When we had all fed we regrouped outside the caretaker’s car just in time for the vibration of an incoming call on Volga's phone to catch us all together.
“Hello?” She answered. It was Brid. He had made the arrangements for us to be transshipped back to the States in the same manner we had gotten here, but we had to go now. Back in the same crate we had come in. It would be a tight squeeze but there were no other options.
Not very long after that we were all in the crate and beginning our journey back to the States. There was no further point in continuing on to any of the other places we had originally planned. What few Vampires had survived worldwide were all now converging on St. Louis with the rest of us, those whom the Network had been able to contact at all. Many also had decided to stay in their places of concealment. For them they were on their own. The battle lines would be drawn in St. Louis. In St. Louis would we make our concerted final stand.
'It's as good a place to die as any.' Sonafi sent.
'I can think of none better.' I agreed.
CHAPTER 15
Playing the game with customs in the United States was a different matter than it had been in Russia. We were nearly discovered when a Customs inspector wanted to verify that our crate contained what the labeling declared that it contained, suspicious about the circumstances of its transport. We had to go into the minds of the Inspector and his crew and convince them that they had already opened the crate, found exactly what was supposed to be there, and then had closed it up again. We kept them suppressed for twenty suspenseful minutes so there would be no missing time disparity, and finally sent them on their satisfied way. Then we had refueled and were on our second leg of the two stage flight back to the city. The city of St. Louis.
The night arrived shortly after we landed in St. Louis and like fleeting shadows we slipped through customs and right out the front doors. No one was the wiser. James Ray Burns waited for us and he gave me an uneasy smile when he saw us.
“All is not well here. The authorities are on high alert.” James Ray said when I stood before him. We clasped hands like the old friends that we are, he being as aware of the fact of the Other's existence as any or all of the Vampires. That was what made James Ray so valuable. His trustworthiness and his awareness that Humans were as threatened as Vampires ourselves
“It was to be expected.” I agreed.
“It is not so bad here in St. Louis. Not as bad as it is in some cities. The Others were largely unsuccessful here. I do know that a massive investigation is underway in every city the Community had a presence. No Enclaves were missed outside St. Louis. Few survived. I am sorry to be the bearer of this bad news.”
“This is not the days of your ancestors, my good friend.” I told James Ray. “We do not kill the bearer of bad news, any more.”
“Some don't.” Volga said. She meant Rostov.
“I am still very sorry.” James Ray said. “Their attacks elsewhere were very…thorough and effective and which brings me to the boon I wish to ask of you.”
“Yes?” I asked, though I saw immediately where he was going with this. I could not say I was particularly surprised.
“I have served my appointed time, as you know, and I was soon planning for my replacement to take over my duties. You have asked that Malcolm be my replacement.”
“We have.” Sonafi agreed, but she was looking at me, not at James Ray, and there was a speculative look on her face. I doubt she would have entertained the thought before now. We did not give the gift of Vampirism to our Caretakers. Or we never had. I could see that Sonafi was considering a revision of our previous policy.
“I have served you faithfully.” James Ray said.
“You have.” I agreed.
“I am growing old. I will die. Yet I do not wish to die. Now the Community is much depleted. I think you know what I am asking.” He knew as well as any our telepathic abilities. He knew we knew what he was asking. Sonafi was still looking at me. We all still stood in the parking lot of the airport.
“We'll talk about it.” I said. “For now I would like to get home.”
“Of course.” James Ray said. We got in his car, a decidedly more comparable fit than the crate had been, and quickly drove back to the city and to our new home. It felt strange to pull up to a house we barely knew as home. We had only been here once before.
“You may as well bring Malcolm.” I told James Ray. “There is no reason to delay further the change.”
“Yes Master.” James Ray said. We got out and he drove away. I turned on Nikita menacingly.
“We live in this neighborhood, and we do not feed here. Nor do we kill. Normally we do not instruct other Vampires on how to conduct their own business, but we will begin to do so now. We should have done so long ago. I should have kept a closer rein on the Community. I created it, so it should have been my responsibility to ensure it did no evil. You will not kill, or you will be killed.” I told her without remorse, or sympathy. “If you need a chaperone, say so now, because you will not be given a second chance.”
“No. I do not need a chaperone. I will not kill!” Nikita said, cowering before me. Knowing the consequences of her actions should be more than sufficient to restrain her, and if it was not, then I would not hesitate to kill her. I should have taken a more direct role in policing the Community long before now. I have been what Human Laws would describe as criminally negligent, but I would be so no more.
“I will go with her anyway.” Volga said. “To be sure there are no accidents.” Nikita did not argue and I could see by the set of Volga’s jawline that it would have done her no good if she had. The simple fact was that we could not afford to draw further attention to ourselves.
There was little doubt the U. S. Government would be setting up covert surveillance operations in every city they found the body-burns left by both Vampire and Other remains. That meant they were here and watching. It was the same ages-old story of the conflict between Vampires and Humans, set on a new stage.
It was also possible that Humans knew of both us but if so I was unaware.
In a very real sense it was a three way race for dominance of Earth. The race might not seem to be very close to a casual observer, but with technological aid, at this point, I thought that the race could be won by any of the three. The Others were stuck within the parameters of the conflict as they had created it. Their DNA could only slowly be infused
into the Human population, and meanwhile Human technology was advancing exponentially. Vampires were evolving and becoming technologically advanced as well. No. The Others were trapped within the parameters of the conflict as they had themselves defined it. It was a paradox of their own making, and they would have to see it through under the rules as they had defined them.
For the moment, however, my thoughts were drawn to the hunger gnawing at me from within. Sonafi was as hungry as I and it was time to do something about it.
We slipped away into the darkness, like lovers to a secluded bower. Sonafi and I went one way, Volga and Nikita another. Our new home was not so distant that we were not unfamiliar with the hunting grounds we now stalked. Within short moments we were scaling a wall we had scaled in the past, and slipping unobtrusively in through a window which slid open for us at our approach.
We fed and then dissolved back into the night, the two swords on my back obvious to any that might observe us, but I did not care. I was home and I would not be so foolish as to leave it again. It would take an event of cataclysmic proportions to dislodge me again. I preferred the dangers that were known to those which were not. I knew what I could expect here.
We took our time and explored the night, for a time, scenting the remembered smells, walking the familiar streets, glad to be home, despite what we knew we faced here. We slid through the darkness and around to the back door of our new home, and used our keys to unlock the strange door. Volga and Nikita appeared from the night to join us, and we all went in. I turned on the lights.
The house had been ransacked. It looked more like an act of savagery than any other, but within the chaos I could see a pattern. This had not been wanton destruction. This had been a thorough search. Not a single thing had been left unturned, unpacked and very expertly searched.
“What is this?” Volga asked. Sonafi just looked at me, her awareness as acute as my own. Then I felt them. Then I heard them. The powerful electric motors of their cars, approaching from every direction. Humans. Men. The United States Government.
“It's a trap!” I told them, though Sonafi was no more in need of enlightenment than I. “Stay with me!” I said as I went back out the still open door. There was no time to close the door behind us. Whoever these Humans were, whatever organization they represented, they were serious, prepared and they meant business.
The houses here in the city were built one right on top of the next, nearly, no more than 3 feet separating each from its neighbor. Headlights were spearing down both ends of the alley behind the house. Tires were screeching on the concrete of the street up and down the block, and the beat and rotor wash of approaching helicopters all told me that we had very little time. I ran to the North walkway separating my house from its neighbor there and leaped straight upward. At the apex of my leap I reached out with hands and feet and wedged myself between the two walls. My feet were on the wall of my own home while my hands were on the wall of that neighboring it, and quickly crab-walked myself to the parapet wall. The girls were right behind me.
Most of the houses in this area were flat roofed, or if they possessed pitched roofs, had a flat patio area on the rear of the home. With two steps and a leap I moved to the roof of the house adjoining mine, and then to the next, and the next. In hyper acceleration I leaped the entire street from the last house on my block to the first house of the next block. As I catapulted the span I watched the unmarked government cars speeding to surround us. Surround a now empty house.
Sonafi was only a step behind me but we paused to wait for the girls. Then we raced on, until we had put ten or eleven blocks between us and the now wildly, garishly lit neighborhood we had just departed. Our neighborhood. Two helicopters circled the house. Intense spotlights probing and searching every crevice, thermal imaging cameras no doubt hunting out every hint of heat signature they might find. The red and blue of flashing lights lighting the area garishly, but we were no longer there. The quarry had slipped the snare. We stood on a roof many blocks distant and watched the circus unfold.
“Our phones were in there.” Sonafi said.
“No they weren't.” I said. “They would have gotten those the first time through.”
“What will our neighbors think!” Sonafi mused facetiously.
“You'll be the gossip of the neighborhood.” Nikita said, and they all laughed, though there was nothing funny about it at all.
“At least we can still laugh.” I said. We were quickly using up our options, but at least we still had our sense of humor. At the moment, it was about all that we did have.
“I have my phone, but I'm not getting a signal.” Volga said, and we all laughed again. It was laughter slightly tinged with hysteria, but we did not have time to be screwing around, standing around and laughing it up. The helicopters were quickly expanding their search, but I paused long enough to reach across the intervening blocks and probe the minds of the pilots in the helicopter closest to us.
It was a stretch, even for me, but I saw all that I was looking for, and more. In fact, I found a great deal more than I had suspected.
“Let's get out of here.” I said when I had withdrawn my consciousness and we slipped away into the night. It swallowed us as if we had never been.
CHAPTER 16
We did not care to spend the entire evening running around on foot so we borrowed a resident’s home, and their telephone, to ring up Brid. Twenty minutes later we were standing at the curb as he pulled up.
“James Ray isn't answering his phone.” Brid said as soon as we got in. “They must have followed him after he dropped you off.” I had asked Brid to attempt to contact him and to warn him. Apparently the warning had come too late.
“He'll expose all of us.” Sonafi said unnecessarily. Loyalty would mean nothing under drugs and torture. It wouldn't be his fault. The thought had already occurred to me.
“It's not the first time we have been exposed.” Volga said. “Personally I do not think we are so great a secret as we would like to believe.”
“They've known about us from the beginning.” I said. “Their fables about us are more than just stories told around lonely campfires. They know we exist. They have always known.”
“They are going to know everything about us personally if we don’t do something about it.” Sonafi said. “Like as in right away!”
“Take us downtown.” I told Brid. “To the vicinity of the Federal Building.”
“I know where it's at.” Brid said, glancing over at me strangely. “Are we assaulting it? Should I call in the troops?”
I thought about it. They had come after us with overwhelming numbers. They would not have hesitated to kill us all, and yet I balked at dealing with them in kind. In a very real way I felt sorry for Human kind. They had been thrown into this against their wills as much as we had and would make excellent allies if it weren't for the fact that we fed on them. No. My intention was not to slaughter them. That would solve nothing and only cause a further furor. Government agents would pour into St. Louis and we wouldn't be able to move a muscle without being noticed.
That may already be happening, I thought. I had no idea how they had traced us to our new home. No idea how they had traced us at all. I had a lot of questions but few answers. I asked Brid how he thought it had occurred.
“They must have been made aware by the fight at Samon Du Bon's house.” Brid said. “Did you know their blood will even dissolve concrete?”
“We were aware of that.” Sonafi said. “What we want to know is how they made the leap from Samon Du Bon's house to ours! That's the question!”
“Probably satellite.” Brid answered. “They have really amazing capabilities.”
“I'm sure they do!” I said. “If they have this great ability, however, why don't they see the Others?” I admit to being just the slightest bit frustrated.
“Oh they do!” Volga interrupted, and we all turned to look at her in amazement. “I hacked into a Russian spy satellite network once… entirel
y by accident…,” she smiled at this bit of wry humor, “and stumbled across a file devoted strictly to the Other’s Visitations. Humans are very aware but there is nothing they can do about it. The U. S. Air Force tried for years to catch and destroy these Unidentified Flying objects, but as we all know, they were entirely unsuccessful. The major governments of the world have all shared this data. They have not given up in their efforts to determine the origins of these extraterrestrial Visitations, only in their modus operandi. They know the Others are doing things here on Earth, so they are now trying to determine what those things are, rather than wasting their time chasing after UFO's and bringing the secret conflict out into the open. If it became public knowledge there would be worldwide panic so it has become a passive Intelligence Operation until they are in a position to make an effective resistance.”
“Was there anything in those files linking Vampires to the Others?” I was curious.
“I'm not sure that they recognize a difference.” Volga said. “They undoubtedly know of our conflict, but probably attribute it to some kind of inner power struggle. You have to admit, that from their perspective, there is little substantial difference between our species. My guess is that they do not know what to make of it.”
“All the more reason to get James Ray out as quickly as we can.” Sonafi agreed. “Before he clears the whole thing up.”
“Our place here could be severely compromised.” I agreed, thinking about the galvanic action to which such a discovery could propel humanity. If they were to become aware of our very real weakness, our lack of technology, our miniscule numbers, our aversion to the Sun, I could go on, they could decide to hunt us completely to extinction.
Hunting us to extinction would not be easily done, but it could seriously stymie our ability to wage our own resistance. For that reason and that reason alone (no more reason was required), though loyalty came in a close second place, I had instantly recognized the necessity of seeing James Ray freed. The minds of the helicopter pilots had been open books. They had revealed all I needed to see. As thorough and efficient as I knew them to be, the government still suffered one major weakness. Conceit. They thought their own lair sacrosanct. They were under the delusion that this was their world, that they could have strongholds, but theirs was the most tenuous place of all. Arrogantly they had taken James Ray to their downtown Federal Building stronghold, and with conceit were they assured they could not be attacked there. If he was still there, he would soon be liberated. If he was not there, they would divulge where he had been taken, and we would follow. Then we would grant his wish. We had no choice now.
The Vampire-Alien Chronicles Page 14