King's Blood: Vampire Descent (A Serial Novel, Part 4)

by Day, P. J.

  I sat back down on the pillow and held my knees close together, wrapping my arms around them. I rocked back and forth, slightly. I exhaled slowly through my nose, pondering Lucretius’s question. There was something glorious and alluring about being human. They lived undisturbed throughout the world. Creative beings with purpose. They were not slaves to pleasure, generally speaking. Addiction did seem to be an undercurrent among some individuals, but for the most part, their natures were highly adapted to the world, to their world. This was their planet and these were their societies and we vampires lived in it, just like the bears, the lions, the chimps and the lowly, such as insects, viruses, and bacteria. We were playthings to them, hanging by a thread, based on their whims. Fighting, clawing, and struggling for the scraps of their excess was what every organism’s role on Earth seemed to be when paralleled to the roles of Earth’s masters: humans.

  “I don’t like what I am,” I said to Lucretius, with sorrow.

  “Our time will come, Jack,” he said, with an innate confidence. “You can’t shame what you are, ever. Humans were, at one time, in our position on this planet. They fought against the elements, against beasts, and others like them to assert themselves. They adapted to become the dominant species. As long as we are still alive and numerous, the potential is there to fight for equality.”

  He walked behind where I was sitting. I thought he was going to teach me to dream talk. “Is that your journal?”

  “Oh, yeah, I just write my thoughts in here,” I said, pulling out my old leather-bound journal. I remained coy about its true nature. I didn’t know how Lucretius would react to a possible cure for vampirism.

  “That’s good, you should write as much as you can about your life, your experiences. You’d be surprised how much one can learn from our past thoughts.” Lucretius crouched down and laid on his back. “Okay, you ready?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I said, lying on my back. I placed the back of my head on the hard, rough floor and closed my eyes.

  “Now, Jack, just emulate this sound. But before you do, remember to let it resonate in your sinuses, then let it flow through them without making a sound. Visualize the hollowed chambers of the front part of your skull. I’ll fall asleep shortly and try to connect with me when you are on the cusp of sleep yourself. Play with different pitches. See if you feel or see anything.”

  Lucretius voice was paternally calming. It had an all-knowing cadence to it. It was one of those voices where one was tempted to ask more and more questions, because you knew every answer would informative or wise. I asked, “Why was Milton a ten-year-old boy in my dreams?”

  “Every Jiang-Shi assumes a superior form in their dream talking. The form is usually used as a way to intimidate, build trust, or infiltrate the subconscious. Milton was trying to gain your trust while being a child. Kai is a ghostly swordsman when he does it. I can be anyone at any time, but many vampires don’t have a tough time revealing their innermost thoughts to a wise old man.”

  Lucretius closed his eyes and rested his long, scraggly hair onto the floor. “Now, let’s try this,” he said.

  I closed my eyes and began to hum. I kept sneaking looks at Lucretius’s calm face. He kept his eyes tightly shut, and was wholly committed to sleep. I felt awkward and did my best doing different types of murmurs, drones, thrums, and purrs, some turned to snorts, one even turned to a whistle. I had no idea what I was doing. I was a pathetic Jiang-Shi.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I failed to sleep, due to Lucretius’s incessant snoring. The old man was sound asleep and looked at peace. I stood up and walked outside the temple. It was a hazy night. The smog that sometimes lingered over Guilin obscured the stars at night and gave the mountain a sickly glow against the moonlight.

  I took a seat on the stony steps and I opened my journal. I began writing in it again with one of Lucretius’s plumes. It was strange seeing the notes of my travels at the turn of the last century. I felt like an archaeologist. My English was much more formal. Television and the internet really rots one’s brain.

  Beautiful sweet Nora, your smell of fine chrysanthemum sweeps the tangles of your hair like a gyre of aromatic pleasantries fit for gods and the welcoming respite of Minerva’s ball, when all is dark, brooding, and desolate in a world where the drums of war constantly beckon the irrationality of men.

  Eh, not bad, I thought. Even then, my mind was rather disjointed and directionless. However, it seemed that I did take some time to flesh out my words. Nora was beautiful. She had dark hair and a set of beautiful hazel eyes, full lips, and a voluptuous body to die for. To think, I had found her in some remote village in Panama. Incredible.

  In my journal, I wrote down every discussion I’d had with Milton and Lucretius about what makes one a vampire. Havens Ling and his clan had also fascinated me. Were they human, hybrid vampires, or something else? I decided to give it a shot and drew Havens in my journal. I had to be careful how I drew him, as he possessed a large head, wide mouth, and muscular, stocky frame. He could’ve easily looked like a caricature in my notebook if I wasn’t careful.

  As I furiously recorded all my recollections with the Jiang-Shi and Lucretius, once again, I heard the sound of helicopter blades in the distance. I stood up and looked over the edge of the bedrock cliff toward Guilin City. Flashing red lights began to dot the sky below. I ran down the steps and closer to the mountain edge to get a better look. I could see blades cutting through the smog-filled night sky. Two helicopters, one of them small and agile, the other large and lumbering. The large one looked like a transport helicopter. They slowed down and hovered over a large field outside the city limits. I looked west and saw a collection of headlights, bunched together in a caravan, maybe three or four cars, following closely behind one another, on the main road leading into the city. I immediately sprinted up the stairs and ran inside the temple to wake Lucretius and to warn him of the bustle below.

  I bent down and began rocking him by his right shoulder. “Luc, wake up. It’s important...Luc?”

  He began mumbling words while his eyes remained closed. “Don’t burn my books, please...”

  “Luc, wake up, dammit!” I stood up and walked toward the back of temple where there was a small garden and grabbed an old wooden bucket full of water. I splashed the water over Lucretius’s head. He immediately lifted his head, his wet hair and beard made him resemble an old wet cat. He looked around the room in a panic, “Where? What? Who are you?” he asked me.

  “It’s me, Jack,” I said, looking into his baggy, misty eyes. His sleep-induced dementia was short-lived and I eventually had his full attention. I said, “Come outside and look at this.”

  Lucretius rubbed his eyes and slowly lifted himself from the floor and followed me outside the temple. We stood on the temple steps and I excitedly pointed my finger to the activity below.

  “This isn’t good, this isn’t good at all,” he said. “They are preparing for a sweep.”

  “Should we alert everyone below?” I asked. “I mean, it’s almost morning; is this cause for immediate concern?”

  Lucretius pensively stared at the military maneuvering below. He knew his next words could potentially put the Jiang-Shi in unnecessary danger if they weren’t precisely calculated. We were on the cusp of morning and leading a group of vampires to an unplanned location under the glare of the morning sun was a humongous risk. “I don’t know if the sweep will reach our location, but its logical to assume that the entire district will be under surveillance.”

  “I should probably head down and alert Milton and everyone else,” I said.

  Lucretius flinched his head toward the base of the cliff as the sounds of falling rocks caught his ear. He noticed two shadowy figures climbing the ledge leading toward the temple. “Identify yourselves,” he asked loudly.

  “Luc!” Milton’s hoarse voice echoed and bounced off the side of the mountain.

  “What’s going on?” I yelled back.

  “Did you guys hear those
helicopters?” yelled Milton, who was accompanied by Kai.

  Lucretius followed me down the steps. I reached the ledge between the planks and the precipice, I reached out for Milton’s hand.

  “I’m good, Jack,” he said, as he skipped onto the bedrock.

  “What are you guys doing up here?” I asked.

  “Kai went down to check on Jenny and your friends, and he couldn’t find them.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, panicked.

  “He checked the attorney’s house and the hotel they were staying at and they were nowhere to be found. Their bikes were parked outside the hotel, but no sign of them at all.”

  “We need to go down there immediately,” I pleaded.

  “Kai also found this...” Milton handed me a ledger-sized poster which had three photographs on it. Ted and Holly’s passport photos were side by side, and the third picture was a sketch of my face.

  “What does it say?” I asked, holding it up to Milton and Kai.

  “All three of you are wanted for the brazen attack on Guangzhou. Approach these three with caution as they are presumed to be armed and dangerous,” Milton said, scrolling the poster in my hand with his right index finger.

  I looked away and stared down into the radiance of Guilin City. I paced the cliffside edge and motioned Milton to look toward the city. Milton saw the helicopters parked on the field alongside the other vehicles that drove up the road minutes ago. “They know we’re here,” he said. “What do you want to do, Luc?”

  Lucretius curled his lips to the side, entranced in deep thought, no blink to his weathered set of baggy eyes. “Alert everyone that we must move back to Lanshan immediately. We’ll maneuver through the hills away from the roads. We’ll use the shade to shield us from the morning sun.”

  “We are not moving to Lanshan, the cave hasn’t been cleared of all the methane that forced us out in the first place,” said Milton.

  “We have no choice,” said Lucretius.

  “Yes, we do...we fight these animals,” said Milton, defiantly. “We stop being cowards and running away like freaks. I’m tired of being chased out.”

  I interrupted Milton and Lucretius’s squabble by waving both my arms in the air. “I need to go down there and search for them immediately.”

  “That is suicide, Jack,” said Lucretius.

  “We need to help Jenny,” said Milton.

  “I can’t leave them, they’re probably still alive. I know both of them, they’re smart enough to avoid capture if they sense something is awry.”

  “There is nothing you can do about them anymore,” said Lucretius. “You need come with us, you have no idea what you’re going up against.”

  “ Then I will find the group and we will meet you in Lanshan.”

  “Jack, we will follow you to Guilin City,” said Milton.

  “This is absurd,” said Lucretius. “You will be venturing into a hostile city.”

  “We cannot keep running away,” Milton said loudly, staring up at Lucretius.

  “If we cease to exist, so will our culture,” Lucretius pleaded.

  “The Jiang-Shi were born, bred, and trained to fight. We can no longer afford to flee. They will eventually find us. This is no longer the twentieth century. We can no longer hide.”

  Lucretius had lived hundreds of years as a cursed academic, an immortal historian who had contributed much to his world, obsessed with preservation of culture and history and with the origins of life itself. He wasn’t a warrior, but a vampire who was more concerned with history than the taste of flesh and blood. Lucretius stood silently, his wise nature contemplating the possibility of facing genocide. But he knew Milton was right, he knew that the world was becoming smaller and interconnected. He knew that the Jiang-Shi could not run forever and remain hidden in the shadows for eternity. Lucretius knew that species die and become extinct, but he also knew that fate and destiny were hapless inventions of the surrendered and those who were unwilling to adapt. He knew that if a species were to adapt it had to fight. If vampires were to ever be selected by nature well into the twenty-first century, it would have to be done by force.

  Lucretius looked at Milton’s expressionless face and drew down his eyes. “I was hesitant in letting you rescue Jack,” he said. “However, it was the right thing to do as he’s demonstrated to me that he is a vampire worthy of being a Jiang-Shi. You are right, Milton. We will not run and we will face those who wish to eliminate us.” Lucretius placed his hand on Milton’s shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “Get everyone ready to go down to Guilin City. Grab every weapon we have in the armory, make sure everyone has their daylight gear on too. All the masks, goggles, gloves, boots...everything. We cannot let the elements be these bastards’ greatest ally. We will face the sun as well as those who wish to terminate us.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was 4 a.m. Cicadas chirped in the dense, thick coppice that lined the outskirts of the main city. We were on a hidden path between a grove of thick, noisy bamboo and overgrown ferns. It was a path beaten hard by farmers who entered the city to sell the fruits of their labor, and a path recently beaten by convoys of Chinese soldiers who had been ordered to locate, capture, or kill what was not human. Milton, Lucretius, Kai, laid low in the green, humid overgrowth, all wearing matching leather outfits which could handle the grazing of a dagger or sword but not the piercing velocity of a bullet or aftereffects of a nearby explosion. Their gloves kept their hands from burning up in the morning sun. Wrap-around sunglasses shielded their eyes from the morning glare, and black, cotton masks covered their mouths and heads.

  Lucretius, who was behind us with Kai, noticed a patrol up ahead. Jack, stop moving, he let me know without saying a word. I closed my eyes and nodded my head. I couldn’t believe Lucretius was talking to me telepathically.

  Milton was crouched next to me. I asked him, “What do you want to do with those soldiers?”

  “What do you think?” he said, giving me a sinister smile, his teeth sparkling in the moonlight.

  Jack, you flank right and Milton, you flank left. Do not make a sound. Get ahead of them up the path. If they suspect you, I will let you know, Lucretius said. Milton and I nodded at each other. I was amazed that Lucretius communicated with us simultaneously, without uttering a single word

  I took a step into the thick vegetation on the right of the trail, and Milton swiftly disappeared into the forest on the other side. I moved carefully, every step methodical and deliberate. I stepped over twigs, rocks, dried leaves and anything else that could make a sound. I moved right past the soldiers; one of them had an AK-47 underneath his armpit, the other, just a handgun. I stared at their eyes, trying to see if they suspected my position. They never did. I ended up waiting behind a large tree, ten meters up the trail. The soldiers kept chatting with each other, oblivious to what lay ahead. Milton’s head popped up in the tall grass on the other side of the path. He showed me his palm, telling me to wait until it was the right time to pounce.

  The soldiers abruptly stopped about two meters down the trail.

  Wait, Lucretius telegraphed.

  One of the soldiers took out his chrome Zippo and the other placed a cigarette inside his thin set of reptilian lips. Milton gave me a nod and we both quietly moved up the trail. We positioned ourselves right next to the men. Right as the man with the cigarette tilted his head toward his partner, Lucretius ordered, go.

  I leaped out from the brush and landed on the soldier’s back, immediately dropping him to the ground with my aerial impact. I put my arms around his head. My left hand pulled back on his forehead and my right forearm put pressure on his windpipe. I heard him gasping for air, so I tightened my grip even more, preventing him from vocalizing for help. I did not want to kill the young man. I was hoping to make him pass out from asphyxiation. I continued to coil my forearms like a boa constrictor around the man’s head and neck, I saw Milton stab his victim in the neck with a dagger. He opened his mouth and began to feed on the listl
ess body of the soldier, fallen prone on the forest floor and bleeding profusely from the gash on his neck. The man’s left leg began to kick up and down uncontrollably, due to neurological breakdown.

  “What are you doing,” I whispered at Milton.

  Milton threw down the soldier’s body and jabbed his dagger into the stomach of the soldier who I had in a choke hold. I quickly let go and the soldier fell to his knees. Milton pulled his dagger out from the soldier’s stomach and struck his neck with his fangs. I looked away in disgust. Milton had fulfilled his bloodlust on the two soldiers in front of my eyes. I heard the other Jiang-Shi come out from the brush and begin to surround the soldier’s bodies on the ground. They began feeding on them. Grunts and the tearing sounds of flesh echoed and bounced off the trunks of the surrounding trees. I walked away from the feeding and leaned against a large rock that sat on the side of the trail. I focused my eyes straight toward Guilin City. I was approached by Lucretius while my back was turned away from the frenzy. “We are at war, Jack,” he whispered, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Their intention was to murder us. This is a justified killing.”

  I turned around and looked into his blue eyes. “Let them quench their thirst. I didn’t come down here as an excuse to feed on fresh necks. I came here to find Holly and Ted.”

  “We’re going to help you, Jack. Don’t worry,” he said, backing away slowly from where I was standing. He turned his back and casually lowered himself into a crouch, joining his brothers at the trough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Milton had convinced me to join him atop of the rooftops of the city. He wanted to take me to his friend, who was an electrical engineer at the university. His friend had the ability to hack into the feeds of every security camera in the city. Milton thought this was the best way to locate Jenny, Holly, and Ted without relying on a possibly hostile populace. Guilin City was tightly compacted. There was minimal space along the banks of the Li River, which was prone to flooding during the monsoon season. Roofs of businesses and homes were separated by only three feet of space or less. The inclined gabled roofs were decorated with blue shingles, some red, and others greened with moss. The ones with moss were slippery and could not be traversed at a rapid pace, as evidenced by Milton, who slipped and fell onto someone’s weight bench that was placed on one of the resident’s jutted balconies.