Exsanguination

by DeDanaan, Sean

  “We’ve been spotted, Phillip! They’re turning around!”

  “Joy,” he responded.

  “How do you work this god damned thing?” Nikki growled.

  “Here, give it to me,” her father grabbed the grenade launcher and mounted a grenade on it. He yelled at Phillip.

  “Phil! Can you pop the back hatch on this thing?”

  Phillip’s hand went for the button and the back of the SUV swung open. Without hesitation, John fired the launcher. Right on target, he watched the lead police car explode in flames. Those behind went all over the road, the drivers being completely panicked.

  “You rock, dad!”

  He shook his head. “Me? Did you see what your lady did back at the house? She’s a killing machine, Phillip. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life!”

  As they proceeded into the city proper, Vanessa headed for a prearranged meeting location. She could see the lycans having a field day.

  “Ah! There you are. Antoine!” she yelled from the window and then climbed out. Going to the back of the Range Rover, she grabbed a wooden crate and walked to Antoine.

  “Here,” she looked at him seriously. “Target the police – constables, sergeants, and anyone above and give them quick instructions that will keep them alive,” she opened the lid and grabbed a handful of the syringes.

  “I understand,” he nodded. “What will you do now?”

  “Visit an acquaintance,” she smiled and climbed back into the vehicle.

  Ten minutes later, she strapped the katanas on her back and began walking toward the police station. Phillip jumped out of the rear vehicle and Vanessa turned to him, raising her hand.

  “Stay there, darling. I won’t be but a few minutes,” she handed three syringes to him. “One for you, one for Owen and one for your mother if needs must. Use them to survive.”

  Phillip grumbled as he watched her enter the building.

  She looked around. There were bodies everywhere and, by appearances, it was lycans that had wreaked the attack. Outside the commissioner’s office, two lycans were killing off the remaining police. She entered the inner office to see the man cowering in the corner of the room.

  “Nasty way to die, isn’t it, commissioner? Being disembowelled by claws and teeth?”

  “Please! Help me!”

  “Oh! You want me to save you?” she gave a short, sharp laugh. “Do you remember telling your scientist that you wanted to know how to kill my kind? You didn’t know he was one of us, did you? Do you recall sending men to certain death by attacking me? Get up!” she walked toward him as he struggled to his feet, shaking.

  “What would you give to stay alive?”

  “Anything! Anything!”

  Much faster than he could see, her hand moved up to his neck and stabbed.

  “What?” his hand went up to touch the spot where the hypodermic had hit.

  Vanessa smiled widely. “The lycans won’t touch you now but I would suggest you find a darkened room by the time the sun begins to rise.”

  He stared at her in horror.

  “Welcome to my world, commissioner. Can you feel a difference in your teeth?” she shoved him away, turned and left the room as he began to run his tongue over his upper canines.

  Once on the street, she approached the back of the Escalade.

  “Are you ready, Nikki?”

  Dressed in her favourite outfit, she discarded her long leather coat and picked up the black bag, slinging the strap over her shoulder.

  “I want you done and out of there in thirty minutes. Check the time.”

  “Got it.”

  “Are you sure you can handle this?”

  “Positive,” Nikki nodded with a grin.

  Vanessa gave her a quick nod and Nikki took off. She reached her destination in no more than three minutes.

  “John? Phillip? Everything and everyone into the Range Rover.”

  Moments later, they were rolling and the trip was short. They pulled over in front of a residential building being guarded by two men with automatic weapons. Vanessa climbed out and mere seconds later they were dead, their throats cut. She slammed her foot into the door and it ripped off its frame, landing on the floor some ten feet into the hallway. After a short search, she located the office she wanted. The door was unlocked. As she entered, the man inside pointed a pistol at her. She was immediately in front of him and quickly twisted it out of his hand. Tossing it aside, she walked to a nearby table and picked up a glass and decanter.

  “You don’t mind, do you Mr Prime Minister?” she flashed him a quick smile. “No, of course you don’t,” she chuckled as she filled the glass with port and turned to him.

  “I would presume that my demand for unconditional surrender is before Parliament as we speak?”

  The man was frightened but defiant. “They will never approve it. Never surrender!”

  She laughed softly. “Is that your best Winston Churchill?” she sipped at her glass and glanced at her watch. The people that Churchill led are long gone, Prime Minister. You have become a nation of unthinking sheep.

  Nikki had no problem scaling the side of the building and quietly entering through a window. She skittered to the ceiling quickly and reached into the bag she carried. Pulling two units apart from each other, she pressed one onto the ceiling. The glue held it fast. Pressing a button on the side caused a tiny red light to begin flashing. She moved about thirty feet along and pressed its mate to the ceiling in a similar fashion. Looking down at the chaos below her, she shook her head with a smile. People, mostly men, were yelling at each other and waving papers. She shook her head. Vanessa was right, she thought, they never look up. Nikki glanced at her watch. Better get a move on, she thought. This was the last place she wanted to be when that half hour was up.

  “You know, Mr Prime Minister, if you had my people on your side, that war that took so long to win would have been over in short order.”

  “What do you want?” he hissed.

  She ignored his query. “Do you know what your police commissioner said when he was told of the DNA results that came back on my kind? He told the technician to come up with a way of killing us. Then he sent armed police to my home. They were all quickly dispatched, of course. Humans against vampires? I don’t care what movies you’ve watched. There’s no contest at all. Your people started this war, sir. I intend to carry it to its conclusion.”

  “You can’t win.”

  “Oh, how wrong you are,” she held up her glass and chuckled. “This isn’t bad. Not bad at all. Shall I pour you one?”

  He glared at her.

  “For thousands of years, you drove my people into the shadows. Through your fear and hatred, you persecuted us, killing us when you could. No more, Prime Minister, no more. Now the table turns. We are more numerous and far stronger than ever,” Vanessa sat down in the large chair behind the desk.

  “The police commissioner? I found him cowering in his office as lycans destroyed the men outside of it. He said he would do anything to save his own skin. I gave him his wish. He’s now one of us.”

  “Bastard,” the man muttered.

  “I’ve watched your kind over many, many years. You’re no longer the strong, staunch people you once were. Most of you are like the commissioner – willing to do anything to avoid death – even surrender. I’d bank that most people would go to any lengths just to not give up their mobile phone. The average Bob, if told that surrender would mean not giving up his mobile or his tele, would capitulate without hesitation. Especially if he knew that surrendering would probably not change his day to day life. Hell, it would likely improve it!”

  “You’re wrong.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “No, I’m not and you know it. Even as we’re speaking here, humans are running like frightened sheep through the streets of this fair city. At this moment, my people in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, and others are experiencing similar sights,” she refilled her glass. “Tell me, if Parlia
ment cannot come to an agreement, do you have the authority to sign an agreement?”

  “No, only Parliament or the Queen can do that,” he said flatly, “and they won’t.”

  Vanessa looked at her watch. Nikki should be finishing up, she thought. I’ll give her a few minutes more. The thought of her becoming a casualty filled her with dread.

  Nikki planted the last two charges and made her way to the entry point she’d used. As she was about to go out the window, all of the devices detonated. It sent her through the glass and sailing through the air, screaming. Seconds later, she landed in the Thames.

  “You couldn’t have waited another minute?” she growled as she came back to the surface, sputtering.

  At fifteen Downing street, the front windows were blown in and the entire building shook. Vanessa removed her finger from the detonator. The Prime Minister tried to brace himself on the edge of his desk.

  “Steady on, there, Mr Prime minister,” Vanessa smiled.

  “What was that?”

  Vanessa got out of his chair. “That, sir, was the sound of Parliament no longer being in session.”

  His eyes went wide with horror at the realization of what had been done.

  “Now do you have the authority?” she cocked her head. “If needs must, I can visit the Queen.”

  He fell into his chair, looking like a crushed man.

  “That looks like a ‘yes’ to me. Begin writing. With every passing minute, thousands of humans are dying throughout England.”

  Nikki dialled Antoine and was told where Vanessa likely was. Her conversation started to break up as the water finally got into her phone. She walked into the office, drenched through.

  “You look damp,” Vanessa couldn’t suppress a smile.

  “One more minute and I would have been out!”

  Vanessa held a finger up to her lips. “Not now, little one. I’m dictating the terms of their surrender.”

  It took two more hours to complete the document. The Prime Minister was escorted to the BBC studios to make the announcement. A recording would be played hourly from that point on.

  Vampire attacks would be brought under control and Lycans, being bribed, would begin travelling back to the countryside. This would drive the number of attacks down in Britain and the Crown would be glad to pay to be rid of them.

  The rebuilding of Parliament would start a few weeks after the massive destruction wreaked by the well-placed semtex units and the Prime Minister would be in complete charge of the government until rebuilding had been completed. He was worried that Vanessa would want to take over but she reassured him.

  “I want nothing to do with your politics and government. As I’ve stated many times, we just want to get on with our lives without interference from humans. Feel free to recreate your sewer of a bureaucracy. I will have nothing to do with it,” her lip curled in disgust.

  XXIV

  As they headed down the street after exiting fifteen Downing, a lycan came charging out of an alley. Nikki had her guns out in an instant as the creature was about to launch an attack on a woman crossing the street.

  “Dog!” she yelled and it turned to look at her with a snarl. The lycan began running at her and she opened fire. It made it about ten more feet before collapsing, dead.

  Vanessa dialled her mobile.

  “Ulric,” she looked annoyed, “you need to do better about getting out the word to your clan. We just had to gun down one of yours in the street as he was about to attack a civilian. Additionally, England has fought its shortest war – it’s over. Start pulling back your people,” she ended the call after getting assurances.

  Nikki holstered her guns and strode over to the woman who had collapsed in terror. Glancing around, she realized many people had recorded the whole event on their phones. She squatted down next to the woman and put her arm around her shoulders.

  “Hush, it’s alright now. You’re safe and it’s dead. As long as vampires are about, you’re protected from these creatures.”

  Tears streaming down her cheeks, the woman managed a weak smile.

  “Thank you.”

  Nikki helped her to her feet and people began to applaud.

  She returned to stand next to Vanessa. “And not a single stray bullet – they all found their marks.”

  “I think I’ll put you in charge of vampire public relations. That was a bit of a coup you pulled off there.”

  Nikki laughed. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to head home. While I’m not soaked, I’m still very damp and would like to change clothes.”

  Vanessa smiled and nodded. “Our work is pretty much done.”

  Everyone was in the drawing room half an hour later and Vanessa turned to Phillip.

  “Darling, would you turn on the radio? I want to hear what the Prime Minister is going to say.”

  “You bet. I want to hear it as well.”

  Nikki ran upstairs to her room and divested herself of her damp clothing, switching to a tee shirt, plaid miniskirt, and heavy boots. When she walked into the drawing room, her mother gave her a dirty look. The tee shirt was emblazoned with ‘Daddy’s Little Monster’.

  The Prime Minister’s speech lasted some fifteen minutes and touched upon all the points that Vanessa had dictated. He laid the cause of the war at the feet of the police and assured the populace that the vampires were taking measures to ensure there would be no more attacks by lycans. He went further to say that Parliament would be rebuilt as quickly as possible and elections would be held as soon as feasible.

  “You know those explosions blew me through a window and a couple of hundred feet out, landing me in the Thames?”

  “Are you alright?” her mother asked in alarm. She had been virtually paralyzed with fear through the whole operation.

  “Yes, mom. I’m just fine,” Nikki smiled at her.

  After the speech, they all went out to complete the task of bringing weapons back into the house and stowing them in the armoury.

  Vanessa’s mobile rang and she answered.

  “Antoine! Is everything going well?”

  There was a pause.

  “Could I ask you to go to one of the clubs? It’s been a long day and we’d just like to feed and relax. Joe doesn’t have a live-in.”

  Another pause.

  “Yes . . . do a takeaway.”

  She turned to Joe and smiled. “Blood should arrive in an hour or two, courtesy of Antoine.”

  “Thanks! I’m on the phone with Susan. Believe it or not, she’d like to invite us for a show tomorrow,” Joe grinned.

  Vanessa groaned and Nikki piped up. “Let’s do it. It would be a great opportunity.”

  “Alright,” she nodded at Joe with a sigh, “set it up.”

  Everyone drank deeply that night, leaving a couple of young Goth girls with wobbly knees and expressions of extreme gratitude.

  Late the following afternoon, Vanessa turned on the news at low volume, running in the background. It was then they learned the police commissioner had resigned in disgrace and moved to the country with his family.

  Just before seven as they were about to go on the stage, Vanessa looked at Nikki.

  “I was serious about you handling public relations. I want you to relate the story about where we are and how we got here.”

  “Really?” Nikki asked excitedly.

  Vanessa smiled and nodded. “Really.”

  “Wow!” Susan started off, looking at Vanessa, Nikki, and Phillip. “A lot has happened since you were here last!”

  “Indeed,” Nikki assented.

  Susan looked at her. “I must admit, those guns make me a little nervous.”

  “I always carry them. They’re for my protection, yours, and all of your audience.”

  “On that note,” Susan said, “I’d like to show everyone a video,” she gestured to the screen. It played out showing Nikki killing the lycan and consoling its intended victim. It drew murmurs of approval from the audience.

  “So this whole t
hing is being treated as a war, isn’t it?”

  Nikki nodded. “When the police commissioner was given the results of DNA testing on vampires, he told the lab to come up with a way of killing all of us. We call that genocide. He felt he couldn’t wait for a chemical or biological method of murdering us all and sent out a large number of heavily armed men to attack us at home. He effectively declared war on a minority in the population. I mean, really, is that the way a civilized country acts? Substitute Blacks or Muslims for vampires. What then?”

  “So you did what when the police came to your home?”

  “Well, there were quite a few of them. Thirty or forty I would guess. Vanessa killed them; it was self-defence at that point.”

  “How?”

  Vanessa tapped the wicked looking silver blade on her belt.

  “You didn’t get shot?”

  “Actually, I was shot several times at the outset,” she shrugged. “I heal almost instantly. When I warned them off my property, they opened fire on me. I believe Nikki has given you the video of the confrontation.”

  Susan nodded. “I would warn the audience this is very graphic and the content is extremely violent. If there are children in the room, please remove them.”

  The audience in the studio watched, stunned as the video played out on the monitors. When it had finished, Vanessa spoke.

  “It took me all of fifteen or so seconds to dispatch the armed men. You’ve seen how quickly we can move.”

  “At any rate,” Nikki inserted, “It was then that we realized we were at war. It was a matter of self-preservation. We were not about to let ourselves be hunted to extinction.”

  “So you counter-attacked?”

  She nodded. “The lycans took our side probably realizing that if the authorities exterminated the vampires, lycans would be up next on their list. We wanted to prevent civilian deaths as much as possible so only the police were specifically targeted.”