by Adam Thielen
Cho raised her hand and caught the bullet in her palm while lifting her pistol and taking her own shot. Her round pierced the inside corner of Pisha’s right eye then burst through the back of his skull. Blood and brain splattered against the ice. The driver’s head flung back, and he crouched then fell to his side, dead.
Tsenka pulled the sharp tip of Ajay’s bullet from her palm, then shook her hand while sucking air through her teeth. “Fuck fuck fuckity fuck, that hurts,” she hissed, staring at the line of blood running down to her wrist. “Need to turn down my pain receptors more.” She looked at Pisha’s body, then turned to the line of vehicles headed east over the hills.
The sight made her think of Matthias. She checked her implant, saw that it had signal due to the raised antenna, and sent him a call request. A few seconds later, she heard his voice.
“Hey Tsenka.”
“Uh, hi,” she said. “Are you out yet?”
“I’m sorry I never told you where I was going, and I’m sorry that I let him play me.”
“And I’m sorry… that I killed your boyfriend?”
Matthias laughed. “You’re a real bitch, you know?”
“Uh huh,” she said, sighing. “What happened to us?”
“We died,” replied Matthias. “It wasn’t a quick death, but the slow death that consumes people both nocturnal and human.”
“It’s not that bad. We aren’t that bad,” she said, unsure if she believed it.
“I’m sure I’d agree, with enough time to dull my sentiments. But I don’t want to get past this. I’m tired, Tsenka.”
“Matt, you’re out with the convoy, right?” she asked. “Tell me you’re out.”
“I’m not. I have something I need to do, and I won’t be able to make it.”
“You have a few minutes,” said Cho. “Just forget what you are doing, forget all the angsty bullshit and just get out!”
“You were everything to me,” he said. “But I couldn’t hang on to you. Not in the flesh, and not even in my mind.”
“Matt, you knew what you were getting into after the shit I went through.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” said Matthias. “It’s just how we are, and how we are not. At the same time. It’s confusing.”
Tsenka wanted to convince him to flee, and to that end she found words sitting at the tip of her tongue that were no longer true, ready and waiting to be used to get her way. Cho remembered Desre’s message. She shook her head and swallowed. “If this is the decision you have to make, then I hope you find peace.”
“I know I said we were done, but we’re never done, no matter what we say or do. Take care of yourself, Tsenka.”
“Matthias...” she replied, but it was too late; he had disconnected. She moved her hand to her eyes as if to wipe them, but they were dry.
Even with the protection of her synthetic skin and increased metabolism, the freezing temperature had started to bite into Cho. She sprinted at an angle toward the caravan, hoping to meet up with it a safe distance from the city.
* * *
Matthias Trent examined the handgun he had borrowed from one of the Haven thugs. To his surprise, the bullets were lead, not silver. He climbed the long staircase to where the large handcrafted door was left ajar.
The city bustled with men and women hurrying to the vehicle fleet to escape destruction, but on his way through the pod, Trent saw only a handful of nocturnals still lingering. No guards barred his entry to the throne room, having vacated the premises themselves.
As Matthias stalked down the red carpet, Andrei the Dracul emerged from his quarters with a small suitcase. He stepped off the platform, then stopped.
“Matthias,” he acknowledged. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see you again after the… rite.”
“When was the last time you loved someone, Andrei?” Trent called from the other end of the carpet, slowly stepping forward. “When was the last time you hated? When did you last feel excitement, or fear?”
“It has been a while,” replied the Dracul. “I both admire and pity the way you cling to your human affectations, but if you would let them go, you would be more content.”
“I’m sure you think the emptiness that grows inside of us makes us superior, but it doesn’t. Even the lowest mammals are capable of love. It’s how we know they possess intelligence, and the more intelligent they are, the wider their range of emotional expression. What does that say about us?”
“You’ve thought about this a great deal, Matthias. But we are quite intelligent, no matter what your opinion on the merits of sentimentality.” Andrei set down his suitcase. “Why did you come, to lecture me?”
“I came to die with you,” Trent announced.
“Our deaths would serve no purpose,” Andrei said, spreading his arms. “Come with me and let’s depart.”
“This can’t go on any longer. I don’t want to fight you, but I won’t let you leave.”
“You wish to condemn your family to death? Are you no better than the bigots intending to destroy us?”
“You say they will die. I don’t think you know.”
“And you will gamble with the lives of thousands.”
“Most of us have had a good run,” said Trent. “This curse has cheated death long enough.”
The Dracul stepped closer to Matthias. “I’m sorry that you will not see reason. But you will not keep me here, and you cannot stand against me. Even Diego bested you.”
“I let him win.”
Andrei’s left eyebrow rose in response. “I see… then have at you!”
The Dracul flew at Matthias, his feet gliding along a thin layer of air. Claws the length of his forearms extended from his fingertips. As he charged, Matthias raised his gun and fired two shots, then leaned backward, barely avoiding Andrei’s attempt to slash his face.
Realizing he could not keep meaningful distance from the vampire lord, Matthias dropped the gun and landed a punch to Andrei’s gut, pushing him back. Trent dove after him, landing several strikes that knocked the Dracul around. He stayed close to prevent Andrei from having the range he needed to make another claw attack, but despite Trent’s successful strikes, no damage, cuts, or bruises appeared on the vampire lord’s face for more than a brief moment.
Andrei caught Matthias’s arm then swung with his free hand. Trent pulled himself close and grabbed Andrei’s wrist. The Dracul bent his fingers, teasing at Trent’s face with his claws while Trent tried to lean away.
Matthias leapt straight up, crouched, then kicked forward with both feet against Andrei’s chest. The Dracul was flung away while Matthias landed on his back. He stood and picked up his gun, but as he raised it, Andrei was already standing next to him.
The vampire lord slashed Trent across the gut as Trent fired a bullet into Andrei’s chest. The Dracul shrugged it off and retracted his claws while his feet descended to the floor. He watched Matthias drop to his knees with his intestines spilling forth.
Trent fell to one hand, his other holding a large mass of entrails slipping between his fingers. Blood trickled down his exposed digestive tract, blending with the carpet. Matthias lifted himself back to his knees and looked down at his insides, now outside, and grinned.
Andrei turned and moved toward his suitcase. Matthias grabbed a length of his intestines with both hands, creating a loop, then flipping it over. He grabbed his improvised rope with one hand and his gun with the other and leapt at the Dracul, throwing the noose around his neck and pulling it tight.
Caught by surprise and literally flat-footed, Andrei stumbled back and Matthias shot him in the back of each knee and then kicked him in the rear. The Dracul fell to his knees and then forward, stopped by innards strangling him. Trent unloaded the remainder of his magazine, consisting of eight rounds, into the Dracul’s back and head.
Matthias dove onto Andrei’s back, and was shocked as the Dracul’s deformed head began to un-cave itself. Trent’s body had become numb with blood loss, and he knew that even in his ad
vantageous position, the fight was lost. He placed his palms on the sides of Andrei’s head and closed his eyes.
Memories from one vampire flooded into the other: memories of Kate young and then less so, before and after being frozen; memories of Matthias’s wife, Maria, scraped together from bits and pieces; and memories of Tsenka from before her trauma and turning, full of life with a smile glued to her face. He thought of the talented young warlock named Sandra, of his old friend and betrayer, Frank, and of the brave warden, Tamra; each of them killed by a vampire. Lastly, he showed Andrei his years with his elderly son and shared his pain of having missed out on Shawn’s formative and adult years.
Matthias opened his eyes as Andrei bucked him off his back. The Dracul rose, clutching his head, and stumbled toward the door, no longer concerned with his luggage.
“What gall!” he yelled in disgust. “Am I supposed to pity you? You cherry-picked a few moments, and you think it proves something. Your pain is not unique. You are fortunate to have lived such an interesting life!”
The Dracul stopped and knelt as the images replayed in his head. “It’s a shame about your son,” he muttered, followed by, “All of it is a shame.”
Andrei crawled back to Matthias, now on his back and knocking at death’s door. He leaned over him, watching the life drain from his face.
“For six long years, I dragged young men from their homes to fight my battles for me,” Andrei began. “I brought only sorrow to those around me. But I was charismatic, and I dangled hope so that I could sustain a lost cause as long as possible. I felt a darkness grow inside me as the years passed and the men who followed me died. I took not just their lives, but those of the families that depended on them. I took the very future of their lines.”
The Dracul sighed and stroked Matthias’s head. “At the end of my life, when the supply of men had dried, I rallied hundreds of children with me to repel the Turks from one of our last strongholds. But the enemy had brought a well-trained force while I had only boys aged no greater than thirteen or fourteen. They slaughtered us. My gut was torn open, not unlike yours is now. I lost my senses. I saw only black, I heard only silence.”
Andrei paused before continuing. “As I sank into the muck of oblivion, I felt the deaths of my soldiers. Filled with self-loathing, I screamed into the void and became aware of the connections we have to those impacted by our actions, both good and bad. My soul sundered and the darkness festering within spilled forth, fusing with my essence, creating something neither alive nor dead, both purposeful and unchanging. I had become vampire, and now you know how.”
Matthias’s only response was to choke and sputter, forcing blood out of his mouth and down the side of his face. The Dracul looked down at him in pity.
“I have lived as a vampire,” said Andrei, “and even should this body perish, I will live again so that I can tear open the veil anew because it is my destiny. Just as it is yours to die here in this throne room.”
* * *
Tsenka bounded over a hill on her way toward the evacuation party. When she landed, she froze in her tracks as she stood across from Desre, who was wiping at her eyes. She sniffed and looked up at Tsenka. She still wore the strange headgear with the same door sitting behind her.
“Desre...” said Cho. “Are you alright?”
“I hate this,” said Somer. “I wish I could have talked with you again, hung out with you, adventured alongside you just one last time.”
“You can!” said Tsenka. “I’m right here. Let me help you.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Desre said, composing herself. “You did it. It’s not perfect, but you saved them.” She turned away from Cho to look at the door as a series of clicks came through the projection.
It dawned on Tsenka that she had seen that door before, but could not place from where. Her stomach churned as her brain tried to make the pieces fit. “Where are you, Desre?”
“I’m in Mumbai,” she said. “As I always have been. The date is September first, and in a few days you will arrive here with Taq and visit this very building. It will be empty by then, without this… this stupid machine… Tsenka, if they had ever found a powerful seer willing to use it, no one would have been safe.”
“No, Desre, this can’t be…”
“I had to do something,” continued Somer. “I had to use you and others. I had to watch a lot of people die, in some cases more than once.”
“Who?” asked Cho. It then dawned on her. “Like me? How many times?”
“Enough,” she replied. “Enough to become numb to it, to consider your life a commodity I was bartering in return for a better future. But I needed you to make it here alive, and there were times when I had tried every phrase or sales pitch I could think of to get you in the right direction, only to be surprised at what ended up working.”
“And now that you’re done with me? What now?” Tsenka wondered aloud.
“I know our relationship has been turbulent at times,” began Desre. “But I regret none of it. Not my time as an informer, or as a friend, or as a lover. The short trips you took to see me meant a lot, even if it has been a while. I don’t envy the pain you will soon feel, but when you get up, I want you to live the life you deserve. Carry the good times we had together in your heart, and bury the rest.”
“What does that mean? Desre? No, Des! Just stop and get out of there!” Cho yelled, gesturing frantically.
“Goodbye, Tsenka Cho.”
The door behind Somer slid open, revealing Security Chief Broadus.
“Shit,” he said, raising his handgun.
“No—” said Cho.
A loud pop sounded and Desre’s visage transformed into red splatter caught midair in two dimensions as if flung against a window.
“NO!” Tsenka screamed, bent forward with veins protruding from her neck.
Behind the blood, Desre’s body fell out of view and the projection vanished.
Tsenka screamed again and this time, her legs gave out and she fell to her knees. She screamed at the convoy in front of her, then the sky above, and finally the ice below.
“No… no… no!” She clawed at the frost, her body shaking with anger and grief. She remembered the specks of blood on the Mumbai building wall and the strangeness of Desre’s bidding. It should have been obvious, she thought. She pounded the ground until her knuckles painted the frost with red, continuing to wail in despair at her powerlessness.
Cho rolled onto her back, her eyes bloodshot and her face flush. A small dot high in the sky entered her vision. It slowly grew as it descended upon the city. The missile had arrived. It grew large as it streaked across the sky, then disappeared from view. Its tip pierced through the entry hatch and zoomed deep down into the earth, impacting on the steel subfloor of the new arrivals center.
Matter and antimatter collided and an explosion equal to several dozen nuclear weapons resulted, immediately vaporizing everything—and everyone—inside the city, including the first vampire himself, Andrei the Dracul, and his friend, Matthias Trent.
The ground rumbled under Cho and a sharp pain stabbed into her heart. She clutched at her chest, unable to breathe. She moaned in agony while gritting her teeth, then closed her eyes, preparing herself for the end she was sure was coming.
Instead, the quaking ceased and her physical pain was replaced with anguish of a different kind. She realized that Matthias was dead, and the lie she had refused to tell him before became truth. The color that had faded from her memories of him and the emotions his affection had evoked returned. Tsenka convulsed with sobs, and tears streamed down the sides of her face as the cold gloom that had defined her undead life lifted. She was nocturnal no longer.
Concerned by the sound of vehicles idling for several minutes, Cho rose to her feet, still crying, and stared at the unmoving convoy. Each of them must have felt it, she realized. The vehicles furthest in the back moved around those that had stopped, forming a second line. They then stopped, and all vehicles hummed in pla
ce, warm air visibly rising from their hoods as Tsenka resumed moving to meet them.
From inside the cabin of one of the trucks, Cho could hear shouting. It stopped and the driver’s side door clicked ajar, then slowly creaked open. A hand reached out, then jerked back inside. Then a moment later, it flew out again. This time it stayed. The hand reached for the top of the door and a man followed, exiting the truck and stepping onto the ice with daylight hitting his exposed face.
His passenger then opened her door and stood across the vehicle from him. She shielded her eyes with her hand while looking at the rows of cars behind them. Two more passengers left the safety of their vehicles, then four more, and more still until every former vampire basked in the sun. Many of them wept, some of them hugged, some of them danced, and some of them stood around confused or unimpressed.
Tsenka joined them in what became both a celebration of their new lives and a mourning of their old. But Cho herself felt little jubilation, instead thinking only of her friends, Desre and Matthias. A deep weariness began to set in, and she wondered if her life of violence and death had held any meaning.
“You deserved better,” she said aloud. Tsenka moved to one of the now-empty vehicles to take refuge from the crowd and wait for help to arrive.
Episode 20: Epilogue
Confronted with the horrifying reality that the government officials they had voted for were capable of unprovoked genocide, the citizens of Mumbai and across greater India rose up and filled the streets, rioting until the chairman of the UTI board announced special elections for all government seats. Cepheid was ordered dismantled, its assets were seized, and its research was destroyed. A disinformation campaign from the Prosperity party was not enough to sway the minds of the populace, and its prominent members scattered to the winds.
Among the leaders of the anti-corruption protests were a small group of outcasts. A man short of stature, but full of passionate ideas, Sai Chandran proved to be a charismatic figure, winning a term as governor of the Maharashtra territory. He and Nina lived a happy and boring life, and decided watching reruns and getting old together wouldn’t be that bad.