Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales

by Laura Greenwood

  We rode in silence.

  With the bright lights, I could no longer see the stars, and despite the curfew, madness still ran amok.

  The ride through town allowed me to peer at the city’s inner workings. Armed vampire guards stood dressed in dark, full head-to-toe body protection suits with glowing power packs. The armor had the holy seal on it: a V in a circle with a flame through it—in red paint. Although they each carried a sizeable assault-style weapon, I noticed a larger one they kept strapped to their backs.

  I didn’t need to catch their attention and looked away.

  The streets were still grimy: litter and waste rested in the gutter where dirty water pooled. Looking left down the dark alley, I saw the beady eyes of large rats staring back before they scurried away, and graffiti with different tags beautified the walls. I recognized some of the tags—the most memorable one was the word “Slayer” stricken through it. Was this a message for the slayer, or maybe a warning?

  It didn’t take us long to arrive on campus. After a quick rush through the halls, we slipped into the back of British American History, where Professor Givens stood staring at the analog clock waiting for the second hand to land on the top of the hour.

  “We should talk to the others afterward,” I whispered and waved at my friends who cast me a nod or a smile.

  “Let’s get started,” Professor Givens announced. “Today we are talking about the rise of the Oligarch in the Americas. In 1585, the first British ships landed on Roanoke Island. On one of the ships, was the prince regent’s holy consul. It is unknown when the holy consul made himself known on the journey. But shortly afterward, once they made landfall, the passengers on the ship disappeared from the coastline and entered the mainland where they encountered the Native American tribes. And they agreed with the indigenous peoples to move away from their homeland and make way for the new arrivals.”

  Faith shot to her feet. “Are you trying to rewrite history, professor? It’s wrong to say that these tribes just gave up their land to let the colonizers in, especially when we all know that this scourge started in the Bahamas, propagated by Christopher Columbus. The first colonist relocated to Croatoa and integrated into their tribe.”

  “The Holy Hand shall not be cursed, nor his seed. That is what the material says, Ms. Killa, and you are to respect it. This is the history of our great nation, I would think your people would have taught you the truth.”

  “You have a civic duty to relay history accurately,” Faith said curtly.

  “I will warn you only once to calm down. It would be a shame for your scholarship to be stripped away because of expulsion.”

  Faith crossed her arms. “What you aren’t saying is, that the vamps decided to prey on those people and then invite their fellow bloodsuckers. They didn’t think we’d be ready to fight back.”

  The professor pointed to the door. “I think it best that you left today’s lecture, Ms. Killa.”

  “Now, where were we? Yes, it so happened that the holy consul impregnated a human woman with the holy seed, and the first of the oligarch’s line was born. Virginia Dare.”

  I leaned forward, listening, as I was sure this was to be something new. If Vampires were undead, they couldn’t procreate. So, how was it possible for a baby to be born? Before I could ask, Gabby Ohiyesa pointed out the obvious.

  She had the privilege of living in the city, and often reminded us of her ties to the community. It never made sense to me that she enjoyed mingling with those at the academy instead of being with the vamps in their prestigious halls of learning.

  Gabby tossed her tawny and precisely trimmed hair over her expensive chiffon-bloused shoulder and pushed her designer glasses up on her perfectly plastic nose. Some people came from money but still had little worth.

  “Prof, like, I don’t know if it is just me, but if the vamps are undead, how is it that they can breed. I mean, reproducing takes blood and fluids. They don’t quite have that. Gosh, I am just thinking of the massive amounts of lube needed for vamp sex.”

  The class burst out in laughter.

  “Friction on that wood,” Neo joked. He flashed his fangs, so everyone knew he was speaking from experience.

  Vampires had a particular look, most of the time, as if they shopped where black and spiky punk gear was sold. But not Neo—which was short for Nathanael Edan Mikron. He dressed like it was Halloween every day—campy black and red Victorian clothes, but without the cape. Instead, he wore a long overcoat, and a cravat tied around his neck.

  His brown hair was neatly trimmed, and his amber eyes lit up with intelligence. Neo, often sullen, moody, and lost in the contemplation over the vampire existence, was in a good mood tonight, or so it seemed. When he wasn’t writing philosophical prose to debate in student government about the status of the vampire among humans, he was lost, usually. As much as he hated being a vamp, it gave him purpose. I so wished he didn’t hate himself. Only rarely came that humor, where he’d get a mischievous glint in his eyes and chuckle. It sounded like hyenas, hoarse. Just like now.

  “I imagine that vampires get hard just like everyone else,” Bastian began. “It is simple mechanics. Blood in, blood out. I suspect that it comes through fresh consumption, combined with a low heartbeat, pumping the new blood through the body. Since vampirism is indeed genetic, this would cause the expulsion of seminal fluid to carry the genetic makeup of the donor, and also provide the ability to impregnate a female.”

  Sebastian was the brains in my crew for sure, as human as a human could be, I assumed, but with an inclination for all things mechanical. He could build a spot-on weapon using a paperclip, some gum, and coffee grounds. But Sebastian seemed to have this thing with fire. I’d caught him often enough flicking that lighter he kept in his front pocket.

  We’d met during the annual Burning Man at the tall spiral slide that overlooked the fairgrounds. He’d fingered the waves of his bowl cut out of his face and grinned. The wind kicked up the scent of his skin—ash and burnt wood—but more than that, he’d let me cut the line since I’d been afraid to go down the tall slide. “You don’t need to be afraid of the Helter-skelter,” he’d said in his posh British accent straight from the continent.

  Maybe it had been the way he said the word, or that in British American English it took three words to describe what he meant. Either way, he’d calmed my fears, and we’d been fast buds ever since.

  Yep, every time I looked at him, I thought, Helter-skelter.

  “But wouldn’t that make a half-vampire?” I asked. This conversation was too good to pass for my polyamorous soul. The thought of getting pregnant was one worry that my mother made sure wasn’t an option by providing a monthly shot. “I thought the closer one got to the source—the dragon god who is supposed to bless and watch over the vampires—then the purer they would be.”

  “That’s true, Sunny,” the professor interjected, “but that is the line of the kings and queens. The first dragon was said to fly the skies in Sumeria, and the last one was witnessed during the Grand Transformation of the 1500s when peace settled over the Empire.”

  “So, the vampires have existed since then?”

  Neo caught my attention, his shoulders slumped, and he seemed to be busy drawing something or another in his notebook.

  “In some form or another. It started with the Plague of Athens in 430 BC. That was when the first human became infected and changed.”

  “I didn’t think a virus could just jump species.”

  “In most cases, they don’t,” Bastian interjected, “but with vamp DNA, their genetic contribution acts like a virus, killing the human activated gene, allowing only the compatible vampire DNA to survive. But of course, it could mean that for sexual pleasure, they are just using what many women prefer, custom dildos, right professor?”

  “Trust me, I don’t need a dildo or anything to make my ladies ecstatic,” Ryder complained.

  “I’m sure that’s what you say to all of your victims.” I winked back. H
e blew me a kiss, and I laughed.

  Before I met Neo and Ryder, I was hesitant about befriending them. But they’d never tried to harm me. That was when I came to understand propaganda, and how it went both ways. Those vamps from the Authority weren’t the same as my friends. I couldn’t hold all vampires accountable for what had transpired, any more than I could hate all dogs because once one had bitten me. I was smart enough to tell the difference. These vampires were my friends and doing everything just to survive. They weren’t bloodsuckers or evil. No, they were my friends.

  And I was human.

  We both encompassed emotions, could feel pain, and most of all, we just wanted to live. This was different than all that was taught. Another reason vamps didn’t live in my community, or even in Hidden Lake. You couldn’t hate what you know.

  Of course, it didn’t hurt that Ryder was striking, and he knew it. He could have been practically chiseled by Michelangelo. Fit, but rugged in apparel. Despite the heat, he was always wearing one version of plaid or another. And his hair was luscious. I focused in on his appearance. One thought pinged to another.

  When I daydreamed, I sometimes wondered what it would be like to touch those thick locks. Were they as soft as I’d imagined?

  I shook my head at that and frowned. Ryder turned and nodded at me.

  No wonder thoughts of him were in my head again. He was trying to use his vampire bamboozle. “Ryder,” I chastised through clenched teeth. “Stop it.”

  He raised his palms and shrugged like he had no idea what I was talking about. I knew the truth. If I were ever to leave Marcus, Ryder would love to fill that slot.

  Ryder was also the type of guy who always had girls vying for his attention. He was like the lead singer of a band, with all the groupies wanting a shot. But for me, I was okay with checking out the guitar player or even the drummer. After all, they’d be more grateful and put in more effort. They didn’t deserve my attention but enjoyed it. I leaned over to Marcus and stroked his arm.

  Nope, I was fine with my backup musician versus the glitz and glamor that Ryder promised in his hooded gaze.

  “Let’s get this straight, dear students, the holy consul and the great emperor are human but better able to take care of us and see to all of our needs. We need do nothing but learn of their ways, obey, and fall in line. So, if we are done discussing the details of procreation, let’s move on to Virginia Dare. It’s said that the princes will find ways to ensure the oligarchy.”

  Since as far back as I could remember, I’d heard about the oligarchy and, how in 1492, Christopher Columbus traveled across the oceans to this new world. It took a lot of research to find out what he’d done to people once he arrived, though; something the vamps didn’t want us to know. Servitude was supposed to wipe out all knowledge, including that he, as a vampire, inflicted the worst kinds of harm upon us: rape, pillage, slavery, sex trafficking. It was his system, and those in charge continued it.

  I blocked out the rest of the discussion. My soul couldn’t take any more darkness presented by the regime that kept us underfoot. Education was only sanctioned if State provided. If they controlled our minds, they could control us.

  Maybe things would have been better if Leif Erikson had been given credit for discovering the new world, but then it would just become a competition of colonizers. The Vikings had been fleeing the virus, but Columbus had been carrying it, servicing it, and worshipping at its altar. Humankind paid the price with its blood, sweat, and tears.

  It all seemed like calculated propaganda to make us fear or respect those who led us.

  Now, as this melting pot of traditions and experiences, it also gave us the incitement to revolt against it.

  Chapter 4

  At the end of class, everyone filed out, and Gabby followed Neo like a lost puppy. They needed to get a room already and call a cease-fire. She stayed on as part of our group, even if she wasn’t always pleasant to be around, but I wasn’t one to force anyone out. After all, in this world, I never knew which bridges might need to be crossed later on.

  I grabbed my notebook and pen and shoved them in my pack. Marcus pulled out his phone and began to text. “Are you coming?” I asked.

  Often after class, he’d be lost in thought, but tonight things felt different, odd even. He’d seemed absent-minded since the meeting in the canyon. Was something going on that he wasn’t telling me?

  “Are you okay?”

  “Just somewhat distracted.” He reached out and touched my hand, but his gaze never left his screen.

  “Marcus?”

  “Huh, what?” He glanced up to wave me away. “No, you go ahead. I have to take care of something. “He turned and went down the hall, the opposite direction of Faith, Axel, Gabby, and Sebastian. Ryder hung back in the hallway. I could feel his gaze on me as if he stared at me under those luscious eyelashes.

  “Come on, Sunny,” Faith called after me. She pulled my hand and tugged me to follow Sebastian’s lead. We took the back halls to the secret administrator-only elevator when Bastian pushed the button. “Follow me,” Bastian said. “We need to head to the basement, though.”

  Sebastian, or Bastian as we sometimes called him, was interested in tech, death, and dying. Sure, everyone had different ideas of what it meant to meet the end. I shouldn’t have been surprised by Bastian’s plan, or the detour to the Mortuary Science Department. I didn’t know what we hoped to find.

  But a dead body wasn’t it.

  “Uh, Bastian?” I asked. We walked through the silver swing doors and, attending to the body on the stainless-steel table, was a female with short white hair wearing stained white-and-blue scrubs. She turned, and I gasped. She wasn’t quite dead or alive, either.

  She couldn’t move her mouth; her lips were sewn shut, and her pupils were blue and milky. She trudged forward, her skin alabaster, and her face haunting.

  “Don’t worry about her. She's helping,” Bastian said and headed to the back of the room.

  “Why are we here?” Faith asked annoyed.

  It might have seemed like a test, a test for an Underwood. I felt all eyes on me.

  I wasn’t sure if Bastian wanted to get a better understanding of how the human body worked, but I didn’t want to know about human decomposition. My stomach churned at the stench. I gagged loudly, covered my nose, and the mute deathling turned to us and coldly stared.

  I hoped to think that Bastian wasn’t into necrophilia. That would be too much. He wasn’t creepy or lonely, but his interest in the dead was strange.

  “What have you been doing down here?”

  “We’ve been practicing the latest gadget.” He looked at me and back to the body, then at me and back to the dead body again. “No, no, no! The dead body is sacred, and those people deserve better than such. But Sadie has helped me capture a couple of new vamps. Well, this one didn’t feed soon enough, and I wanted to try out my new canon.”

  “Canon?” Axel asked.

  Bastian retrieved a small canon from the backroom. “Yes, it imitates the sun through a photon powered crystal.”

  I nodded. The vampires were protected by the Sun Kiss Curse as issued by a nameless witch. I’d heard she was offed during the Salem Witch Trials, as magic and vampirism weren’t welcomed.

  The Sun Kiss Curse was just a rumor. No one had ever vouched for it. The doors swung open and in strutted Neo. The body on the slab wiggled with him being nearby.

  “I didn’t expect you to come down here.” Gabby cut her eyes to him.

  Gabby jabbed Neo often enough. I could never tell if she wanted to finger the source of his vampire wood, or be pounded by it. It was like watching two kindergartners sometimes. Of course, she, of all of us, was the one with money and connections. Who were we to tell her she wasn’t welcomed?

  “Well, I don’t expect you to be a bitch, but you never disappoint.” He moved over next to Sadie, and I watched him stare down at the new vampire who was starving, and now active. It pulled against the silver bonds around
its wrists.

  “How could you all do this? She’s still a person.”

  “No, she’s not,” Bastian countered. “I caught her trying to attack a child. That is a monster and one I must put down. None of my friends are going to die because some monster got loose from its leash.”

  Bastian aimed his cannon at the vampire.

  “The Sun Kiss Curse doesn’t leave room for failure, but after King Charles was beheaded, the sickly took to drinking vampire blood, as he was the rightful heir to the Emperor’s throne and, was supposed to be the line to rule the entire empire that stretched to all of the seven continents, but then something happened. Like divine, it created even more vampires when those who drank the blood got sick the next day because of the sunlight.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “The Sun Kiss Curse will protect the vampires, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

  “You can shoot her with that thing all you want, but it won’t work.” Ryder stepped forward and ripped open the silver bonds, his hands burning while releasing the vamp. She hissed and bristled. He then wrapped his arm around her. “Come, Kelsea.” Kelsea snatched up a lab coat, turned back around, and hissed one last time to stumble out of Ryder’s arm.

  “Well, that’s sure one way to exit,” Gabby applauded, “and here I thought the mythical Underwood slayer would make an appearance. You know, Sunny, you’re only here for political reasons, because of whose daughter you are. And I’m just here because my dear daddy said I had to be friends with the Underwoods, even you.”

  Gabby left in a huff of expensive perfume.

  Guilt-ridden, here I stood confused on why I’d let Sebastian lead me down to the basement in the first place, and why seeing Ryder with his arm around Kelsea seemed to yield unsurmountable waves of shame.

  I’d made some dumb decisions before but being helpful in the torture of a vampire tainted me just as if I’d been holding the weapon myself. What would have happened if Ryder hadn’t stalked in?

  I couldn’t just care about my vampire friends in private, but also needed to stand by them when others did wrong, to speak out, or I was responsible, too.