by Matt Shaw
The Count didn’t want to wait. Instead, along with the other vampires, he pushed forward from city to city attacking all those that stood in his way – asking first whether they would be willing to join his family or not. Those that wished to join were bitten and turned. Those that refused were torn apart with little chance of defending themselves.
As The Count’s family grew in size – he ordered them to split in separate directions so they could cover ground faster. By the nineteen hundreds half of the world’s Normal population had been turned or slaughtered.
The Count waited until most of the world was dead, or turned and then ordered his family to stop their advancing. Instead of killing and turning they had new plans dictated to them – round the Normals up.
The vampires searched high and low – through out the world – looking for cowering survivors before rounding them up and moving them to the most God forsaken place on the planet (the Isle of Wight) where they could be left to breed – to keep the food supply going for the vampires.
It was in this round-up that they discovered a dazed and confused Victor Frankenstein, and his pet monster. One of The Count’s oldest family members recognised Victor from the fourteen hundreds and took him to The Count who ordered that Victor should be locked away – separate from the other Normals and taken from his beloved pet Monster (who was dropped to the bottom of the ocean).
Victor was given two choices – the first was self-explanatory in that he could be killed, painfully. The second option (and already more appealing for Victor) was that he could work for The Count – using his skills of invention to create processing plants, around the world, to keep a constant supply of fresh blood available on tap for the vampires. Not that the deal needed to be made more enticing for Victor, The Count offered him four weeks paid holiday, paid sick leave and approximately £30k per annum.
Within minutes the contract was drawn up and signed in blood (donated to the cause by Mr. Jones who was then left in the corner of the room to bleed out).
By the twenty-first century the world was, more or less, run by vampires. The Count was dead and the other creatures of the night were permitted to live on (as their household pets), by his successor. Processing plants had been set up in every major city. Normals, which were found outside of the processing plants or Isle of Wight, were torn apart on sight and, with no current need for Victor’s skills; The Count’s successor had him locked away – sparing his life on the off chance that he may need him again…
* * * * *
Van Helsing pulled against the restraints that kept him close to the concrete wall, “This is my fault… it can be stopped, we need to get these off!”
“It’s no good pulling at them like that. They won’t come away. And even if, by some divine miracle, you did manage to get away from them – the main door is locked. It’s always locked.” Victor paused for a moment. “What do you mean it’s all your fault?”
“Where I came from, it’s not like this. The world isn’t like this… Everything is… normal.”
“What do you mean? When exactly did you come from?” asked Victor as made himself comfier, on the floor.
“It’s leading to this future though. I need to get back and solve the crime to stop all of this,” continued Van Helsing.
“My dear boy, you aren’t making any sense. You’ll have to forgive me but the history books of today are a little more one sided and lean towards favouring the vampires. One minute you were running around as History’s bad guy, killing the vampires and then you simply vanished from the books entirely…” Victor waited for Van Helsing to fill him in but nothing came from Van Helsing’s mouth. He simply sat there, still cuffed to the wall, staring dead ahead towards the room’s door. Victor turned around – he hadn’t notice the door open.
“Perhaps you’ll like me to fill you in with Van Helsing’s back story?” said Judge Reiger, as he stood in the doorway. His face was contorted to that of a vampire who is primed to feed; eyes bloody red and teeth sharp as razors (Gillette, to be more precise). “I can tell you exactly when things started to go wrong for our old friend here.”
“What happened?” asked Van Helsing in a voice that was barely audible.
“I’d say that was pretty obvious, wouldn’t you? Still, I guess I can fill you in before I eat you.” Judge Reiger walked over to Van Helsing and sniffed his neck before licking his own lips with a forked tongue, “And eat you I will…”
“We can put all of this right,” pleaded Van Helsing as he squirmed away from Judge Reiger.
“Put what right? Put this right? As far as I can see – I’ve won. I beat you. I beat the great Van Helsing. I knew you were going to be coming for Victor. I’ve known it for all these centuries. I told The Count to take preventive steps to stop you from coming and ruining everything but he didn’t listen to me. So, I took his head and set up the welcoming committee to greet you. We’ve waited a long, long time for you to get here.”
“You killed The Count?” said Victor, even more confused as to what was going on.
“This is silly. This isn’t right. I’m here now. I can take Victor back with me and he can help solve the killings. We can put things right.”
“This is right,” said Judge Reiger. His eyes glowed a brighter shade of red before dulling back down again. “This power, I never felt power like this when I was a mere human. It’s a great feeling. Why would I want to go back to being a Normal again? Right here, right now – I rule the world.”
“We could solve the killings. I could tell the people that you did it. I could tell them that you solved the killings and you’ll be the hero,” reasoned Van Helsing.
“You don’t get it, do you? Perhaps you will if I turn you. Perhaps you’ll understand if I grant you this gift for a moment before taking your head from your shoulders. Maybe I should let you sample some of this power. What could I ever get from those townspeople? They were nothing. It was pathetic how I wanted to further myself amongst them – how I wanted them to all look up to me. All along the answer was two small bite marks in the side of the neck and then – then I could have had anything I wanted. Now, I can have whatever I so desire whenever I so desire it.”
Victor leaned forward, “Look, I’m sorry to be a bore – but you said you were going to fill me in on what’s been happening with Van Helsing…”
Van Helsing and Judge Reiger stopped in their tracks and slowly turned to Victor – neither of them could believe how calm he was being about everything.
“Why don’t I just let the two of you catch up for a bit whilst the final preparations are made? I think that would be easier,” said Judge Reiger as he stood and walked back to the door. He turned back to Van Helsing – “The people are going to want to see you die! Oh – and forget about trying to escape, Van Helsing, we have the vials now.” With that, he turned and walked from the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
“We need to get out of here and fast!” said Van Helsing as he pointlessly resumed trying to free himself from the wall.
“You don’t get it, the vampires rule the world. We are the endangered species here. Even if we could get out – where are we going to go?”
“Back, we need to go back!” said Van Helsing. “You can help me put this right.”
“How can we go back? I don’t have anymore of the potion left,” argued Victor. “Even if I did have any of it left – why would I want to go back? Sure, I’m a prisoner here but, back then, they wanted me dead. I’d rather be a prisoner than maggot feed.”
“You help me put this right and I’ll make sure the people know it was you that helped me. They’ll see that you don’t mean to cause harm. They’ll see the man that I’ve always believed in.”
“And if they don’t? Do you remember those lynch mobs?”
“You’re dead here anyway. It’s just a matter of time and you know it. Look – there’s a killer going around killing innocent people and making the kills look like a vampire attack.”
&nbs
p; “And what has that even got to do with me? Why bother coming for me at all?”
“Because I believe the killer knows you.”
“How? How do you know this? Perhaps it’s just a vampire after all. The history books said that the vampire war started after we tried to cull them…”
“… Because they were killing our townsfolk,” interrupted Van Helsing. “Judge Reiger didn’t wait for me to finish my investigations. He convinced everyone that it was a vampire killer. He formed an army to wipe out the vampires once and for all – he didn’t care that it wasn’t the truth. He just wanted to look good in front of the townspeople. In their eyes – he solved the crimes. In their eyes, he was worthy of being made the Mayor.”
“Why would they listen to him over you? You were a hero; he was always of dubious character.”
“Because he told them about you; he told them how I protected you. He explained how I faked your death so you could get away. He made it seem as though I was one of the bad guys – pretending to help the good guys whilst, all the time, telling the vampires what the Normals were doing. You say they wanted you dead – they wanted me dead too but I’m still wanting to get back there and set the record straight…”
“Even so – how can I help you? What use am I? How does the killer know me?”
“They killed Igor.”
“What?”
“For the vial; they killed Igor for the vial. You said hardly anyone knew about your formula and I sure as hell didn’t tell anyone about it.”
“Maybe it was a mugger and they just thought that it looked valuable and that’s why they took it.”
“They killed the owner of a potion shop just to get to a potion that enabled them to move without being seen by The Count. Igor was the next death. You can’t call that coincidence. Now I beg you – who else knew about the formula?”
There was a brief silence as Victor tried to recall who else knew about his formula. One name jumped from his subconscious, “Jack.”
“Then we really need to get back there and have a word with your old friend, Jack. Come on, Victor, I saved your life. You owe me.”
“Even if I could help you; we’re stuck. I don’t have the vials anymore. He had them. He had them and they dropped him at the bottom of the ocean years ago…” Victor punched the wall out of both frustration and sorrow at the loss of his old (home-made) friend.
Van Helsing simply slumped back against the wall, defeated. Victor regained his composure before he sat next to Van Helsing, “For what it’s worth… if I could have helped you. I would have.”
Judge Reiger’s voice crackled through a speaker that was in the far corner of the room, “Ladies and Gentleman! Dinner is served at six! And tonight we have a special guest joining us; in the centre of the table we have none other than Van Helsing!”
“I honestly thought things were going to work out differently,” said Van Helsing.
Judge Reiger crackled through the speaker again, “And for pudding… Victor Frankenstein!!!!”
“Me too,” said Victor. “I thought I was going to get a lot more accomplished in the future.”
They both sighed as the lights to the room flickered off – plunging them into a mournful darkness.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A FRIENDLY (YET UGLY) FACE
Fluke n stroke of luck
Coincidence n chance happening
IF I WERE TO GO TO THE FUTURE, I would want to have a look around; go exploring. I would want to see all the things that didn’t survive time and all the new things that were a product of time. I’d also go to the nearest bookstore to see if there’s even any point in writing this book but that is by the by.
Given time, Van Helsing would have probably enjoyed a little look around town too – not to gain any knowledge of future products that could help him in the past but more so out of curiosity. Unfortunately for Van Helsing ‘curiosity wasn’t going to kill this cat’. No. A vampire was going to kill this ‘cat’.
* * * * *
Not many people have ever found themselves in the position of ‘table centre-piece’; surrounded by delectable little side dishes that varied from bowls of chips to salad pieces. Van Helsing and Victor have been – even if it wasn’t by their choice it was still quite an accomplishment.
The dining room was more like an auditorium than a room to eat with your friends and colleagues. If Van Helsing wasn’t busy trying to think of a way out of his current predicament, he may have believed that the whole ‘dining experience’ had just been set up to allow Judge Reiger’s army the chance to watch him get devoured for there were two large tables set up on a stage. In front of the stage was a room crammed with vampires sitting on chairs; too many chairs to make the audience experience a comfortable one. It was obvious that Judge Reiger just wanted to seat as many vampires as he possibly could to give them all the chance to watch Van Helsing suffer.
Van Helsing and Victor were tied down to their own tables. As previously mentioned they were surrounded by various side dishes – more proof that this was more of a ‘show’ than a true dining experience. Everyone knew that vampires didn’t like salad. French Fries – yes. Salad – no. In between the dishes were small candles in delicate-looking holders. These weren’t here to help the lighting in the room. Again, they were just for decorative purposes.
All of a sudden the seated vampires stood up and began clapping and cheering as Judge Reiger and his closest friends entered stage left and took their reserved seats; situated around the table.
“Well,” boomed Judge Reiger’s voice, filling the room, “doesn’t this look appetizing!”
The audience cheered - no doubt in the hope of being left some bloody scraps to feast upon for themselves.
“I don’t quite know where to start,” continued Judge Reiger as he picked up his knife and started waving it around Van Helsing’s face. Van Helsing tried not to show his fear, despite the small sweat beads on his forehead giving him away. “Ah,” said Judge Reiger, “this looks tasty!” He raised his knife up the air, for dramatic effect, and brought it down swiftly, just missing Van Helsing’s head and impaling a chip. “A chunky one!”
The audience laughed as Judge Reiger noisily chewed on the chip, “Lovely.”
“You’re an idiot,” said Van Helsing.
“No – I’m a winner,” corrected Judge Reiger.
“No, really, you’re not!”
“Oh my word!” shouted Judge Reiger, to the audience, “I think my food is disagreeing with me!”
Again the audience laughed.
Judge Reiger leant around Van Helsing to see his friends on the opposite table, “Would one of you be good enough to throw me one of those juicy looking apples, please?”
A vampire from the second table did as was requested and threw over an apple. Judge Reiger caught it and wasted no time in shoving it into Van Helsing’s mouth, “Ah, much better!” It was a swift action that received a standing ovation.
“Okay,” said Judge Reiger in a quieter tone so it was more of a one to one conversation between Van Helsing and him, “I just want you to know I’m not going to actually kill you. So let’s get that thought out of your head right now. Well, that’s not quite right to be honest. I’m not going to kill you now. Do you know what the process is for turning pathetic, little humans to all-powerful vampires? We bite you and drink your blood until your body is nearly empty and then we make you drink our blood, just before you fall unconscious. It’s when you’re unconscious that the change takes place. People think vampires are monsters but we aren’t. We are simply evolution. We are the stronger of the species. Monsters – monsters make people suffer. I mean, sure, the initial bite can be pretty painful but the really painful bit is the change and we let you miss out on that by ensuring you’re unconscious for the process. Well… normally we allow you to be unconscious during that process. See, I’m going to bite you and then I’m going to make you drink blood, not my blood, you don’t deserve my blood… but I won’t drink
enough to make you fall unconscious. I don’t want you to be unconscious. I want you to feel the change. I want you to feel your human body dying and your vampire body being born and then, when you’re a vampire, I’m going to force feed you garlic until your insides leak out of every available orifice…” Judge Reiger sits back, happy with his little speech.
“Mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm, mmmm mm mm mmmmm…” mumbled Van Helsing (well, you try speaking with a whole apple shoved in your mouth… actually, don’t, you may choke and I could end up getting sued).