Sure enough, at dusk the next day, he awoke in the bathtub of his room having slept undisturbed throughout the entire day. He met Miranda in the lobby, and because she found it humorous how much he hated dealing with humans, she made him pay the front desk man. When they got back into Alexander’s car, Miranda had told him that he paid the man far too much. “Whatever got me out of speaking with him faster,” had been his reply.
Now that they had finally arrived back at the Facility, one of his buildings, he realized just how exposed he had felt during their trip and that The Project’s recent victories had shaken him more than he’d realized. As long as his trackers found the man Alexander was after, however, none of that would matter. It was going to take a bit of luck to find him, though. One of the reasons he didn’t mind pulling Miranda off the hunt for now.
He only had to wait a moment for the guard watching the cameras to identify his car and open the bay door that was camouflaged to look like part of the hillside. Over a decade ago, this Facility had cost him quite the pretty penny to set up, but once he had the modest beginnings, he had turned enough new vampires to continue the excavation and construction on their own, without the annoying loose end of mortals knowing about it. Now, it housed exactly thirty-four vampires, and (the last time he had checked) a whopping sixty-three humans taken from local communities. The humans weren’t treated poorly; quite the opposite. Often, their lives in Alexander’s facility were better than they had been on the outside just due to having access to constant shelter, meals and clean water. In return, they gave blood every third day to feed the Facility’s vampire population.
The Facility could have doubled as a fascinating social experiment on humanity. There was one human allowed on every work crew and those that showed an aptitude for the work didn’t have their blood drawn, so competition was quite fierce for the spots. The humans never saw the outside anymore, yet he had been consistently lowering the dosage of sedative placed in the food and finding that there was still never even a hint of revolt. Construction was almost complete on a rec room that would be furnished with games and a television (no broadcast reception, of course, just movies and shows Alexander approved of) and he theorized this would allow him to stop the sedative dose entirely.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that several of the vampires at The Facility were what Alexander called ‘Faceless’. When drinking the blood of a human, they were able to see their memories, and would have been alerted to any coup plotted well before it was a danger. Kai was by far the most powerful Faceless Alexander had, seeing memories clearer than the others. He was even capable of using mild telepathy to project that human’s appearance into the minds of others so that he could take their place. But even when he occasionally came to the Facility and drank of the ‘local vintage’ as Finley called it, he didn’t detect a single hint of brewing insurrection. It was amazing how quickly humanity adapted to being ruled, and Alexander couldn’t wait to apply it on a larger scale. Of course, in the outside world, he wouldn’t keep humans underground like this. No, day-to-day life would continue much as it had for the humans before, simply answering to new masters. He would wash away the tattered remnants of government and unify what was left. Humanity was like an idle plow horse: they could still be useful if utilized properly. He was getting ahead of himself, however, and snapped his thoughts back to the Facility.
Its expansion was necessarily slow to avoid detection by the outside world, but any time it was capable of housing more, Alexander made sure to make a new nest in the same vicinity, so The Project would blame the disappearances on that. Combined with how he also randomly made nests while traveling across the country, he doubted they had any idea what he was up to. Better to keep them chasing his shadow while his Facility continued to expand and improve.
As he pulled his car into the staging area, he saw that Finley was already rushing to meet them. Alexander parked next to one of their trucks and tried to shake off the thought that this was how his trip to Gabriel’s was supposed to have gone. This room just inside the outer door was the most expansive in the Facility and the only one with high ceilings, carved twenty feet up. It had ample room for all the vehicles that had been procured for the location. He got out of the car to shake hands with the jovial older man.
Alexander had never been able to put his finger on exactly what Finley’s power was, as he wasn’t able to read memories, or coerce humans, and wasn’t terribly strong or fast. Still, Alexander was thankful he had turned Finley, who had been well past seventy in human years at the time, but was barely over ten as a vampire. Where Alexander typically turned humans younger than his human age to subconsciously reinforce his status as their patriarch, Finley had been an exception. Now the tufts of white hair over each ear and his frail appearance were at odds with the perfect posture and youthful energy the transformation had given him. He had been a doctor in his mortal life, and given his responsibilities here, the experience served him well. He oversaw all the blood drawing, and medical care for the human residents (though truthfully, if the injury was severe, the human was simply disposed of). By the time he’d been made, Alexander had learned to trust his instincts on who to turn, even when they guided him to someone he would’ve considered far too old, and Finley was the proof of why. The vampire had no ambition at all beyond pleasing Alexander, and yet he was a skilled administrator in his own right, perfectly capable of running the day-to-day operations of this Facility in Alexander’s absence. Though truth be told, it rarely needed someone to be in charge. Alexander was an even more masterful administrator than Finley. He was an expert at putting something like this together and leaving it running like a well-oiled machine.
Alexander mustered his politest smile. “Finley, always good to see you.”
Finley was beaming. “Alexander, what a pleasant surprise.” Miranda stepped out of the passenger side of the car. “And Miranda as well! How delightful! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Alexander couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or not.
“It had been too long since either one of us visited, and I decided we should do it together. How are the human residents? Any casualties since I was here last?” It had been a little over six months since his last check-in.
Finley gave a proud smile. “No sir. Sixty-four healthy blood donors.”
“Sixty-four!” Alexander exclaimed.
“Yes, sir. We’ve had no casualties, and even a birth!”
Alexander slapped the vampire on the shoulder and gave Miranda an enthusiastic look. It was faked, as he hated this sort of droll small talk as much as she did, but he wanted to read Miranda’s reaction. “Now that is impressive, Finley!” He saw only boredom on Miranda’s face. Disappointing, given his plans for her, but he surmised that just meant she would give Finley more latitude than he had. “Well, show us how the construction is progressing.”
For the next hour, Finley showed them around the Facility, being careful to avoid the newborn human. Alexander found children to be a disgusting reminder of the outdated way humans reproduced, randomly pairing off and smashing their genetics together, hoping something superior resulted.
The rooms all felt cramped with their lower ceilings, barely out of arm’s reach without jumping, and the ventilation system was heavily focused on dehumidifying, so it didn’t get too musty in what was essentially an intricate artificial cave system. The thick stone walls absorbed any sound, so each room felt eerily isolated. Construction on the Rec Room was complete, and one of the first rooms that didn’t have a completely practical function. Alexander made note that they would have to buy the furnishings for it. He couldn’t care less how the human residents felt about it, but Finley said that even the vampires were excited to have something with which to pass the time. Alexander was fairly certain the thought of vampires laughing and playing foosball wouldn’t exactly strike fear into humanity, but he wasn’t the kind of leader to tell them how to spend their free time.
Now, he and Miranda were in his personal suite. F
inley had arranged for an extra cot to be brought in, which Alexander would take. Propriety demanded he allow Miranda the bed, especially given what he was about to discuss. “So Miranda, what do you think of the place?”
Miranda looked around the room. “It’s quite nice, considering you’re almost never here.” She said the last part just sharply enough that he knew she was making fun of his preference for luxury, but he laughed it off.
“Point taken, but I meant of the Facility in general.”
“I think it’s coming along quite nicely. Just how large do you see it getting?”
It was a question he hadn’t really answered. His seismologists had told him that although he’d chosen a spot located near the Ramapo Fault Line, an earthquake was unlikely. Because the construction was more like excavation, simply leaving thick layers of bedrock in place to form the walls between rooms, the whole thing was rather sturdy, and the relatively low height of the Appalachians meant there was less weight pressing down on it. Hypothetically, the Facility could expand to grow quite large, but how large did it need to be before Alexander sprang his trap on humanity?
“I was thinking that would be up to you,” he answered, dodging the question.
Miranda laughed and leaned back on the bed. “Easy killer, I haven’t said ‘yes’ yet.”
“Let Finley run this place as much or as little as you like. The next five years are pretty much planned out for him anyway. But you could build your own version of this from the ground up out west. Learn from the lessons this place has taught us. Be on the front lines when we finally rise to our rightful place atop the world. You will choose and turn who will govern each area you conquer,” he said attempting to stoke her enthusiasm.
“Has anyone ever told you that you love to monologue?” she asked, turning to look at him.
He laughed. “But it’s working, isn’t it?”
“It’s not not working,” was all she would give him, but it was enough.
29
Kai pulled off the road for the next cabin on his list. He’d been at it for a little over a week since Alexander agreed to narrow the scope of his search. Problem was, it had been five nights since he’d even found a cabin that was occupied, let alone any sign of their elusive mystery man. No people in the cabins he searched meant no people to eat, and that meant he was getting extremely hungry. He was still a few days away from too many physical symptoms (at his age he really only had to eat once a week to be safe), but it still wasn’t a pleasant feeling to be this hungry for this long. He didn’t want to slow down his search, however, so he’d kept pressing on through his list, and just hoped to eventually catch a vacationer or two. Instead, it had been empty cabin after empty cabin, all of them vaguely resembling his print-out of an image from Maya’s vision, but none of them matching enough to think he’d found the right place.
And so he found himself on yet another night, searching yet more cabins for a man who might not even exist. At least this night was almost over. He had time for maybe one more before the coming dawn would be a concern for him. He was beginning to wonder if they would ever find the man they were after, and even if they did, what it would change. He always tried to appear enthusiastic around Alexander, but truth be told, he couldn’t stand this manhunt. The havoc he and the other five vampires tasked with hunting this guy down could’ve reaped far outweighed the benefit of finding this one man. Why not put the half-dozen of them on finding The Project’s compound? Now that would have been a worthwhile goal.
Alexander could prattle on about the dying planet all he wanted, but it didn’t hold water with Kai. Humans were fragile and the civilization they’d become dependent on even more so. Nature could take what they couldn’t. Just wait out the final collapse of their cities, and sweep in to collect a few survivors to breed for food. So much simpler that way. But whatever, if finding this human got him in Alexander’s good graces, it was worth it. There were five other continents that needed to have a vampire presence established, and though the trip to any of them would be a calculated gamble against the risk of sunlight exposure, Kai would leap at the chance to take charge of one of them. There was exactly one job that appealed to Kai: Alexander’s.
He’d always thought of himself as a leader - well since Alexander had made him he had anyway - and toiling the last few decades away as an underling had been painful. He had nothing against Alexander and wasn’t delusional enough to think he could orchestrate a coup against him (there was the small issue of how more vampires would get made without Alexander to think of even if an overthrow were possible). The few times he’d seen Alexander in combat, he’d been awed. Alexander liked to give names to every vampire’s power, and he called himself a ‘Goliath’. If anything, that was an understatement: Alexander was ridiculously strong, but fast as well. He was, physically, the most gifted of any vampire among them, and in a one-on-one fight, it would be tough for any other vampire’s power to best that.
Kai realized his growing hunger was making it difficult for him to focus. He had been distracted thinking about some of the things he’d seen Alexander do when he finally paid attention to the trail he was driving on: there were fresh tracks in the snow. Only one set meant whoever had come this way had not come back. He slammed on the brakes and turned off the trail into the woods. He parked the truck and pulled out his map to check his memory. Sure enough, there was only one way to this cabin. He got out, locking the door behind him out of habit. The truck he drove had a locking bed cover on it, so that was a last resort. He could ride out a day in its relative safety if he had to, but thankfully, he’d never been that desperate. He hadn’t eaten in days, so if there really was someone at this cabin, he’d not only get a meal for this damned pain in his stomach, but he could drink their memories and see if the cabin would be a safe place to spend the day. It was Friday night now, so he liked his odds that someone had rented the cabin for the weekend. He glanced up at the stars as he moved through the trees and was taken again by the meaninglessness of it all. These struggles for who would rule Earth were pointless when a meteor could come crashing down from the heavens at any moment and wipe it all out. He’d only recently started considering this, and he was still grappling with what it meant. Was ruling the humans really that important if the main goal should be untethering vampires from Earth? He pushed these thoughts from his mind and focused again on the here and now. Big picture philosophical questions could wait until he found a place to survive the day.
As he approached the cabin, he got the distinct impression he’d been here before. The snow bounced back the moonlight to keep everything eerily well lit. A slight breeze was in his face, giving him all the smells of the stream in the distance. Everything always looked cleaner in the snow, and now that Kai was a vampire, he could attest that it smelled that way too. The outdoors always had the faint scent of decay: old matter dying to give way and fertilize the new, but in the winter, all of that was gone. It left a blank canvas that any remaining smells could fill with their own ‘color’. All Kai got now was the crisp smell of the stream behind the cabin and the earthy smell of pine. No, that wasn’t true: there was something else there too, something he’d never smelled before.
When he got close enough to see the cabin and car parked in front, he realized why it all felt so familiar: this was Maya’s vision. He’d actually found the cabin. He’d been going through the motions of this hunt, but there was a futility that set in after checking so many cabins and failing. It meant that it came as a surprise for Kai to now be faced with not just heading the next cabin on his list. He was frozen, unsure of what to do next when the front door opened. The man from Maya’s vision came out, and went to the car, grabbed a bag out of the back, and stiffened slightly. The man rose to his full height, dropping the bag, and appeared to stop breathing, closed his eyes and stood stark still. Kai got the very distinct impression that he needed to stay very still. After a few seconds of this, the man shrugged, reached down for the bag and headed back into the cab
in. As soon as the door closed, Kai rushed for the trail at a speed humans couldn’t match, staying low to avoid being seen if the man was near a window. He took out his phone as he ran, sending a message to Alexander and the other trackers that he had found their target along with the address of the cabin. As soon as he hit the trail, he fell into character like an actor when the director yelled ‘action’. Instantly, he went from a low run at an angle to the cabin, to walking towards it, hands in his pockets, at a leisurely walk. He was still far enough away from the cabin that the tracks from his entry onto the trail would be too far away for a human to make out. The wind had shifted to his back now, mixing in the smell of his truck’s exhaust vapor with the other smells of the woods.
On cue, the man exited the cabin to head for the car, but froze when he saw Kai.
“Good morning!” Kai made a show of checking his watch, “or at least it will be in a few hours. Sorry to sneak up on you so early, but I had a little car trouble back on the main road. I saw your tire tracks and was hoping your cabin had a phone?”
The man was staring at Kai, to the point where he felt a little self-conscious. He ran over the speech he’d given in his head and couldn’t find any suspicious words. He turned to look behind him and check for his tracks. From this distance, they were difficult to spot even with his vampiric sight, and he was easily forty feet closer than the man still standing on the cabin’s porch. He turned back to face the man and gave his best, non-threatening smile.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly and raised his chin, sniffing the air a few times. Kai didn’t have time to think of how odd that behavior was before the man turned and bolted back into the cabin. Kai stood stunned for no more than a second before giving chase, covering the distance between himself and the cabin in the blink of an eye. The man had been exceptionally fast for a human, and in the few seconds it took Kai to cover the gap, he wondered how the man had realized Kai was a threat? Was he just wary of being robbed? It wouldn’t have been an unreasonable concern in this day and age, but the fact that he’d smelled the air before retreating made it less likely. No, Kai had to consider the possibility that the man had smelled him from a great distance and knew what he was. Either feat would’ve been impressive, but together, along with the man’s speed meant that maybe Alexander hadn’t been crazy to pursue him. Kai burst through the cabin’s door and gave himself a moment to adjust to the surroundings. He entered carelessly, taking several steps into the cabin before checking either side as if he were pursuing an ordinary human who posed no threat to him. A voice in his head urged caution. Kai couldn’t know what the man was capable of, and it had been reckless to just charge in, but finally being this close to his objective combined with his hunger had him too excited to slow down now.
Sanguine Series (Book 1): The Fall Page 18