Duel Nature

by John Conroe

  I grimaced at that title. She nodded at both my expression and underlying thought.

  “Tanya feels the same way, maybe more so. Too much pressure to be something that no one has even defined. The young vampires all revere her and the old ones are either threatened, insulted or amused by it.”

  “Does she have a role to play in the Conclave?” I asked.

  “No, not really. It’s just the old vampires, basically the ones over 600 years or so,” she answered. “That’s what the cards are for.”

  She opened the cardboard box, which was black with red letters spelling ‘Significants’ in drippy looking letters. Then she pointed at the door, “Remy is here.”

  I bolted to the door and pulled it open to find a small vampire pushing a waiter’s cart of food. He was not shocked by my abrupt opening of the door, but his expression was one of severe disapproval as he looked over my nutrient starved body. Tsking to himself, he guided the cart into the room and started setting out dish after dish of food. A storm of odors assailed me, an overwhelming mix of flavors. Lasagna, chicken parm, fried eggplant with mozzarella, two large steaks, four baked potatoes covered in bacon bits and sour cream, half a banana cream pie and a half gallon of raspberry sherbert. Remy reached down to the carts almost empty second level and pulled a metal pitcher and glass out.

  “A Remy original protein smoothy. You will drink it all?”

  It wasn’t really a question, more of an order from my chef.

  “Yes sir,” I answered, already filling a plate.

  “Good boy. This is all left overs. I’ll start on some fresh stuff,” he said, pushing the cart back out of the room with a wave.

  Nika’s expression was incredulous as she took in the amount of food on the table and on my plate.

  “You’re really going to eat all of that?”

  “As a start,” I answered around a mouthful of chicken parm. ”Actually, this should fill me up, but it won’t last long.”

  “How can you physically hold all that?” she asked, curious.

  “Dr. Singh thinks that my body rips it apart far faster and more efficiently than a regular human would. All my digestive acids and enzymes are hopped up. The jar of peanut butter, donuts and protein bars are already gone. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days,” I said, patting my flat stomach.

  “And you’re like that every day…all the time?”

  “No, nothing like now. My average regular day is somewhere around 7,000 – 8,000 calories…about like an Olympic level swimmer in regular training. I actually get full and feel sated. But now, after fighting like that…well, it’s tough to get full.”

  “You did look mighty skinny in the shower,” she said.

  “Tanya says she can see me regain weight at times like this,” I said.

  She tilted her head sideways, considering. “You know – she’s right! Your face looks fuller, discounting the mouth full of food, of course.”

  I swallowed the eggplant I was chewing and nodded. “Of course,” I agreed with a grin.

  “Okay, time for school,” Nika announced, fanning out the deck of cards. She plucked three right off the top, placing them in a row face up.

  “The Elders: Senka, Tzao, and Fedor,” she announced. Fedor’s card had been crossed out with black magic marker. She tapped the center of the black X. “Hence the need for a Conclave.”

  “The Patrons: there are currently eleven,” she said, laying out a second row of cards underneath the three Elder cards.

  “From Turkey, Gultekin,” she pointed to the photo of a dark haired male.

  “Japan is represented by Chika” she said, showing me a blank faced female. “Chika and Hosokawa will be the only older vamps from Asia besides Tzao, by the way.”

  “Hosokawa is just a bodyguard, I thought.”

  “No, he’s much more,” Nika said, handing me Hosokawa’s card.

  “The Duelist?” I read.

  “Some of the older vampires are known by additional terms…nicknames you might say. Arashi Hosokawa is the foremost duelist in our world. He has never lost a fight, almost all of which were death matches….till today.”

  “Ah, he mostly kicked my ass, Nika,” I said.

  “He had a three-inch hole blasted through his shoulder when I saw him headed out of the gym. I’ve never even heard of him being wounded.”

  “So how many fights has he had?” I asked.

  “Thousands,” was her answer.

  “Great, so now I’ve pissed off the vampire reigning champion,” I said.

  “His guard was down when I passed him. I caught a glimpse of his thoughts,” she said.

  “And he hates me,” I said with a groan.

  “Actually, I think he might be in love…at least in a bromance kinda way. He was so excited about finding someone that could give him a fight he wasn’t even bothered by the pain.”

  “Oh,” was all I could muster.

  “Now, next we have a bonded pair, Tavian and Elisabeta, both of Romanian descent, from Europe, both almost nine hundred years of age.”

  “Wait, why are Hosokawa and….Chika the only ones from Asia?”

  “Because Tzao has told the rest of them to stay home. Chika and Arashi will be their proxies and cast their votes for them,” she said.

  “Runs a tight ship that Tzao does, huh?” I asked.

  “You have not the faintest idea. But yes, and a good point to remember is that she is also on your side. And I do mean your side. She always sorta resented that Tanya was born to Senka’s line, but she has proof that your vampire genetics come from her line. That’s why she sent her foremost fighter to prepare you.”

  “So that’s good right?”

  “Very.”

  “So tell me about Tavian and Elisabeta?” I asked.

  “One of the oldest bonded pairs, over 900 years, they are of Vladislava’s line,” she answered.

  “Vladislava?”

  “A previous Elder. Fedor replaced her 400 odd years ago.”

  “How did she die?” I asked.

  “Treachery, which is what usually kills most older Darkkin; Elders and Patrons alike.”

  “Makes you wonder why some don’t retreat from the Coven and live the quiet life,” I commented.

  “There are rumors of some that have done just that, but they’re unsubstantiated. Back to Tavian and Elisabeta. They were supporters of Fedor, which sounds counter-intuitive, because he most likely engineered Vladislava’s demise. The key here is that Vladislava was a cruel bitch of an Elder and they hated her,” Nika said.

  “Fedor was better than this Vladislava?” I asked, trying to picture that. My own interactions with the deceased Fedor hadn’t left me in his fan club. Plate empty, I headed up for a refill.

  “Tough to believe, but actually he was. The point here is that these two will not be your friends.”

  “Hey, wait, I didn’t bump off Fedor… a pissed off god did,” I protested.

  She waved away my comment with one well-manicured hand. “Fedor died in your presence and it’s pretty well understood that he was in the process of killing you when your god friend intervened.”

  I glanced at the furry mound of sleepy bear on the floor of the room. Awasos’s brown eyes met mine from where his half-keg sized head rested on his paws.

  “Well, that chain of events worked out pretty well for me, so I’ll have to live with their hate,” I said.

  “That’s the trick, Chris…living through an old vampire’s hate. You’ll need to watch out for them.”

  “Either of them vying for the right to be the next Elder?”

  “No, not according to the Darkkin rumor mill. There appears to be three contenders for the title. All three are from Europe, which makes senses, as the Elder, once appointed, will take charge of Fedor’s old haunts, unless Senka wants them. She won’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Cause she would have to give up the Americas and she’s pretty attached to North America and the East Coast in particular,
” Nika said, looking at me with a direct gaze.

  “Oh, right, because Tanya is here, part of the North America Coven.”

  She nodded. “That’s a big part, but she always liked these continents better. It’s been argued among Darkkin for decades that she was given charge of the dregs of the world when she was elected. But during her watch, Canada and the US were both settled, as were many parts of South America. Now the US is one of the richest countries on the planet, Canada is supplying oil, natural gas, timber and other natural resources to the world, Brazil is fast emerging as one of the strongest new nations, while other South American countries are beginning to thrive.”

  “And in the meantime, Europe is having difficulties,” I added.

  “Exactly,” she said, smiling. “But many of the older vampires still live in Europe, and still consider it to be the end all of vampire existence.”

  “I would think there would be more old vampires in Asia,” I suggested.

  “There may be, for all we know. Tzao isn’t really saying and the ones we do know don’t ever step out of line. A close knit group, that’s for sure. If they fight among themselves, they sure keep it well hidden. Europe on the other hand is one big dysfunctional family.

  She laid out three cards next to each other.

  “The three contenders: Lison, currently living in France, Frimunt, Austrian by birth region, and from old mother Russia, Mausya. All in their late 800’s. All pretty nasty pieces of work. Lison is ambitious, but not particularly motivated to help the Coven. She just wants power and influence. Frimunt has the whole German devotion to duty thing going for him, as well as a healthy dose of ruthlessness. Mausya…..well, Mausya is one evil tempered, nasty, devious piece of shit.”

  “Nika, you can’t hold back if you want me to learn. Tell me how you really feel?” I said, with a deadpan expression. I had actually never heard her exhibit such emotion before.

  She grinned, then went all serious again.

  “Honestly, Chris, they’re all bad news but Mausya is the worst. My personal preference would be for Frimunt to be selected, but even Lison would be better than Mausya,” she said with a shudder.

  I studied all the cards she had laid out. Tavian was dark of hair and looked aristocratic, probably considered handsome. Elisabeta looked cold but very attractive with deep red hair and penetrating gray eyes. Lison had black hair and fine, delicate features, looking like a French actress or model. Frimunt was blond, blue-eyed and broad shouldered, every inch the Aryan ideal. Finally, I came to the uber-bitch, Mausya. Mausya was….beautiful. Brown hair, brown eyes, long graceful neck. She was smiling for the camera, but when I looked close at her eyes, the smile wasn’t in them.

  “Who makes these cards anyway?” I asked.

  “It has varied over the centuries. Before photography, a particularly skilled artist would be commissioned to capture all the likenesses. Now, we just have them submit a digital photo to a Coven owned publishing company in Paris. The decks are produced or updated only when a change occurs. Darkkin collect them and display them. It’s a visual history of our most influential individuals,” she said. “Senka has a really neat collection, including one deck almost a thousand years old.”

  She laid out four more cards.

  “Liu, Sun, and Tan; all from Asia and staying home. Their votes go to Chika and Hosokawa-san. And the final Patron, from Peru, Jarib Salazar.”

  “So how does this voting thing work?” I asked.

  “Each of the Patrons gets two votes. There are also several other vampires like Hosokawa who are considered Officers of the Conclave. They each get one vote,” she said, laying out three more cards and moving Hosokawa’s card down with them.

  “Hosokawa is Guardian of the Conclave. He either keeps the peace or oversees formal Challenges. Atta is Registrar. She records and tallies all the votes, keeps the minutes such as they are and writes the formal pronouncement of the Conclave. Gault is the Prolocutor. He runs the Conclave, keeps the meeting on track, that sort of thing. He’s got a tough job,” she said, giving me a look.

  I could just imagine trying to keep order among the giant egos of old vampires.

  “Berit is last. She is the Adjudicator,” Nika said, her voice a little tight. I raised one eyebrow and after a moment she explained. “She is a powerful telepath, like me. When the Conclave requires testimony, Berit will rule on the witness’s truthfulness.”

  “Nika, what kind of testimony would the Conclave need to hear?” I asked slowly, a bad feeling in my almost full stomach.

  “Conclave’s are only called when an Elder has died and must be replaced. It is traditional to establish the details of the Elder’s passing prior to selecting their replacement.”

  “So it’s like a murder trial?” I asked.

  “No, not really. It establishes the sequence of events leading to the Elder’s death. In some ways it’s like an education for the new Elder on what to avoid and how to survive. It lays out the framework of who did what to whom. Alliances may be revealed or secret enemies exposed. But that’s just the beginning of the show,” she said, getting up and helping herself to a bag of blood from the fridge. She popped it into the warming unit, which uses a bath of spinning hot water to heat the blood to body temperature. Kinda like a wine chiller in reverse.

  I, myself, had been steadily refilling my plate and had finished off the entrees. I moved onto the pie and sherbet.

  “So, you’re saying that I’m likely to be called to explain what happened to Fedor. All of his fans will hate me and Berit will rummage through my head like this deck of cards,” I said, picking up the remaining pile of cards. There were a few left so I fanned through them.

  “Hey, you’re in here! And Tanya too!” I said, looking at a picture of a toddler-sized Tanya.

  “Well, I’m only in there because I am Berit’s backup…you know, in case she meets with an accident or something. “Tanya is in there because she is Tanya,” she said with a shrug.

  “So what do I expect and when?” I asked.

  “First, when all the players have arrived there will be a welcoming event held by Senka and Tzao, as the remaining Elders. After that, Gault will convene the Conclave and the Elders will excuse themselves from the proceedings,” she said, pouring and sipping her newly warmed blood. I reflected that such a sight was totally normal for me now. She smiled at my thought.

  “Wait! What do you mean the Elders excuse themselves?” I said, suddenly panicky.

  “The Elders never attend the actual Conclave. They may, after a new Elder is selected, object or Challenge. Usually they’ve already removed any contenders that they don’t feel they can work with before the Conclave gets started.”

  “By object and remove, do you mean kill?” I asked. She nodded.

  “Kind of defeats the whole democratic process doesn’t it?” I asked.

  “Chris, we’re in no way, shape or form a democracy. Strength rules, period,” she said, patiently, as if she were working with a particularly slow pupil, which technically I am.

  “Stop being so hard on yourself. You have adapted to our world remarkably well in an incredibly short period of time. Most new vampires spend the first ten years well away from the rest of our society, cushioned and sheltered from the dangers of older Darkkin. You’ve been thrust right into the middle of it and in the most visible way possible.”

  “That’s not making me feel better, Nika. I’m not a vampire, I smell, look and sound like a human, I’m bound to the most controversial vampire in the history of vampires and now you’re telling me that the two Darkkin who might prevent me from getting myself killed won’t be in the room when I am!”

  She smiled. “That’s all pretty much true, Chris. I won’t lie to you…you’re right in the thick of it. But, don’t worry. I’m fairly certain that Senka and Tzao will take steps to make sure the Patrons know your importance to them,” she said, then we both turned to look at the door.

  I had felt Tanya’s approach, and Nika likely
‘heard’ her thoughts.

  Tanya popped through the door and glanced at our card party for a moment. Then she turned to me. “Off with the shirt!” she commanded.

  Not even bothering with a snide comment, I pulled off my borrowed sweatshirt. The two ladies examined my naked torso for a moment.

  “That’s amazing!” Nika said. “He has filled out already.”

  “It’s a step in the right direction,” Tanya said. “But now he should probably sleep to speed up the recovery. Plus, Grandmother requests your attendance.” The last was directed at Nika, who nodded.