Exsanguination

  Vanessa nodded. “This will be a major project, Azar. I want it carried out internationally. You think you can put it together?”

  She laughed. “I put things together almost as well as I take them apart. Just remember, no matter what we do, the religious loons will always hate us and try to end us.”

  Vanessa smiled. “No doubt about that but I know I can depend on you to get this working.”

  Nikki’s expression was unsure as she spoke to Vanessa. “I hope it’s ok but Owen is installing monitors in all the bathrooms – my treat. Attached to each monitor is a high-resolution camera. Flip a switch and there you are – you have a mirror that you can see yourself in to ensure every hair is in place.”

  Vanessa smiled. “I’ll have a look later.”

  As Nikki exited the room, Azar looked at Vanessa.

  “That’s a real jewel you have there.”

  She smiled and nodded, sitting back in her chair. “I want to meet with you each day. We have a lot going on and, since you’re second in command now that Antoine is retired, you’ll need to carry out my orders.”

  “Ready when you are.”

  Vanessa tapped thoughtfully on the marble desktop. “Wherever possible, I want our people to infiltrate the police and armed forces. Here, in Britain, it’s already happening but we need the largest possible strategic presence in countries around the world,” she stood and walked to the bar. “Drink?”

  “Whiskey,” Azar nodded and Vanessa began pouring.

  As Azar sipped at her drink, she stared at her. “Did you ever think it would come to this? Be truthful.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “No, and I’d always hoped that it never would. I would have preferred it if we, as a people, could have remained in the shadows and not get involved in the affairs of humans. A hundred, or even fifty years ago, this would never have happened – no viral videos or such pushing us into the public view. I’m not happy about it but there’s no avoiding what is coming. I hope to solidify our position in the world without violence but I suspect there will be some of that.”

  “There will always be zealots who will want to exterminate us and we’ll have to forcefully lay down our law to them.”

  “You try to harm us and you suffer the consequences.”

  Vanessa nodded. “Most of them will, I suspect, back off but there will always be those willing to commit suicide to make a point. They never realize that, as individuals, they will have died for nothing and will soon be forgotten.”

  “We need to be ready for what will come,” Azar lifted her glass and Vanessa nodded.

  “I need a meeting set up. Next week should be fine. Sigrid and Henderson should be enough. Europe and the U.S are becoming hotbeds – powder kegs as it were. We need to map out strategies.”

  Azar nodded. “Protests about this, that, and whatever else. With our population increasing every day, there are increased opportunities for extreme violence, especially from the police.”

  Vanessa winced. “It’s going to happen. I want our people to be ready for it when all hell breaks loose. I need to control it to the greatest degree possible.”

  Azar smiled. “I look forward to our ascendancy.”

  Vanessa laughed softly. “Personally, I would prefer if we could have remained below the radar for another thousand years.”

  “The best and brightest is working well.”

  “Good. I want to expand it. I would maximise our presence in the police and the military to say nothing of Parliament and other government agencies. Let’s grow exponentially in those areas.”

  Azar nodded.

  Nikki came rushing into the room and Vanessa looked at her in surprise.

  “There’s been a big earthquake in central Italy. Hell of a mess.”

  Vanessa frowned. “I wonder if the Italian human population is aware of the number of vampires in their country,” she looked at Azar. “Get Rossi on the line.”

  Azar nodded and dialled. When the man answered, she put it on speaker.

  “Anthony, this is Vanessa. How bad is that earthquake of yours?”

  “Very,” the man responded with only the slightest of accents. “Something like seven on the scale.”

  “Do your people have any kind of profile?”

  “Very little. We try to avoid exposure when possible.”

  Nikki nodded and spoke softly. “Your PR person believes that they need to help.”

  For an instant, Vanessa sighed and frowned. “It’s time for you to go public, Anthony. But try to keep any panic to a minimum. Use hearing and strength to save who you can. Your people will be able to hear heartbeats under the ground and clear away large pieces of rubble much more effectively than the humans can.”

  “I’m not comfortable with the exposure, Countess.”

  “It’s not a suggestion, Anthony. See to it immediately.”

  Nikki imagined the pained expression on the man’s face as he responded. “As you wish, Countess.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be watching the news,” she replied and ended the call.

  Azar cocked her head questioningly. “We’ve never done this sort of thing before.”

  Vanessa sat back in the large stuffed chair. “We buy good will with it and that will help extend the time we have to increase our numbers and strength.”

  “Are you expecting trouble?”

  “Always, my dear Azar. Always.”

  Nikki had poured herself a drink and now sat down. “Do you know that polls about vampires are being done now?”

  “God, what next,” Vanessa moaned.

  Nikki nodded. “It seems that the majority of Londoners think vampires are a hoax. They don’t believe we actually exist.”

  Vanessa laughed. “That is truly funny. After thousands of years, at great risk, we announce ourselves and most people refuse to believe in us.”

  Nikki continued. “Of those who do believe, it’s pretty much sixty-forty. More than half are glad we’re here while the remainder wants us to be either locked up or exterminated.”

  “I’m not too surprised by that,” Vanessa sipped her drink. “Essentially the population is polarized on the issue. Once the non-believers realize the truth, they’ll likely fall into one of the two camps.”

  “And,” Nikki grinned, “a very large number of those who are glad we’re here would like to either be snacked on or actually turned themselves.”

  Azar gave a quick laugh. “We’d be delighted to accommodate them.”

  “We should go down to the morning room and turn on the news,” Vanessa suggested.

  Downstairs, everyone gathered in front of the television. The coverage of the earthquake was constant. After about fifteen minutes, the reporter on site pointed and yelled, ‘Look at that!’ as someone lifted a slab of concrete and moved it easily off a pile of rubble. ‘That thing must weigh a ton or more!’

  A man was directing individuals to various areas and, to the amazement of rescue workers, those individuals were accurately pinpointing the locations where there were victims buried as much as ten feet down yet still alive. The reporter ran up to him.

  “Sir! Sir! How are you doing that? How do you know there are people down there?” she stared at him.

  “Our people have remarkable hearing and strength,” he turned to look at the camera and smiled widely.

  Her jaw dropped and she stared at him.

  “Yes, we are vampires and we are here to help . . . to save the lives of these poor unfortunate victims.”

  Vanessa grinned. “Well done, Anthony. Good for you.”

  “Bring back memories of war-torn London?” Phillip asked and she nodded.

  Charlie got up and walked to the hallway, returning moments later.

  “Your favourite television personality is begging for you to come back on the show.”

  “That’s fine but I have an additional chore for you.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I want to reach a larger audience. Something where it will reach the majority
of people in Europe and the colonies.”

  “The colonies?” Phillip looked at her as if she was mad and she waved her hand dismissively.

  “Sorry, darling, old habits and all that.”

  “Let me think about it. You want an interview or what?”

  “I’ll be giving a speech.”

  Charlie frowned as he thought for a moment. “Can we get the PM turned?”

  Vanessa gave Azar a questioning look and she spoke.

  “Of course but it’s a matter of willingly or unwillingly.”

  “Preferably the latter,” Charlie nodded.

  “I shall unleash my feminine wiles on the man,” Azar chuckled and Phillip rolled his eyes.

  Charlie looked at Vanessa. “What kind of time do I have? How soon do you want to make this speech?”

  “There’s no rush. I won’t do it until we’ve reached a point of ascendancy and can’t possibly be challenged.”

  XXXIX

  “So it’s been a little while, Countess and I’m delighted that you could make room in your calendar.”

  Vanessa smiled. “I’m glad I could.”

  “Have you and Phillip tied the knot yet?” Susan raised her eyebrows.

  She shook her head. “I can understand why your species always seems to be in a rush, but ours is not. I will admit, though, that he has shown some measure of impatience.”

  “And he’s not with us tonight?”

  “He had some personal matters to attend to.” Phillip had actually expressed a dislike for being on television.

  “So, the population. Are people still being turned in any great numbers? I know, for a while there, your numbers were increasing rapidly.”

  Vanessa nodded. “We take a lot of factors into account before turning someone. It’s not an action that can be undone so we want to be sure that it’s not being requested for frivolous reasons. As an example, if someone wants to be turned because they think it would be,” she made air quotes, “cool, it’s not going to happen.”

  “But the numbers?”

  “It varies from day to day,” she dodged, “but I don’t think the human population is in any danger of being depleted,” Vanessa held up a finger. “We are in the process of opening a clinic that will likely result in a number of new vampires.”

  “A clinic?”

  She nodded. “As it stands now, someone with, for example, a terminal disease has one choice and that is to die in some hospice. Under certain circumstances, with the proper referrals, that person could come to our clinic and be turned. The cancer is cured and the healthy individual walks out an hour later.”

  Susan’s brow furrowed. “Can I talk about . . .?

  “Yes,” Vanessa smiled, “by all means.”

  Susan turned to the audience. “Not long ago, the Countess turned me.”

  The audience gasped.

  “I had multiple sclerosis and was not looking forward to the rest of my life, living with that disease. I am now free of it and feel wonderful.”

  There was a lot of murmuring in the audience.

  “Is there any problem with legality, Countess?”

  “Not to my knowledge. We certainly aren’t practising medicine.”

  “I think it’s wonderful that you’re doing that,” her head snapped to the audience, “don’t you?”

  There was applause and then Vanessa spoke.

  “There’s a segment of the population, however, that is getting short shrift and it could be addressed at such a clinic. What if a terminal individual doesn’t want to be turned? I can totally understand that. Why not allow him or her to go out in the midst of exquisite pleasure?”

  “You mean euthanasia?”

  “Precisely. There’s a bill being debated in Parliament right now that would allow it. The law would remove from the hands of bureaucrats a choice that should be made by the individual.”

  “Makes sense to me. I hope it passes.”

  “As do I.”

  “I saw, in the news reports, that vampires in Italy are helping with rescue efforts after the very recent earthquake. That’s never happened before. Why now?”

  “Do you remember, Susan, in the not too distant past when being exposed as gay was something that many feared? When gay people did not have the protections they have now?

  She nodded. “I think I see where you’re going.”

  “With the history we have of being persecuted, the thought of being exposed was a frightening one. Granted that a vampire doesn’t need to worry about being beaten for what he is but staying in the shadows for many thousands of years leaves its mark.”

  “Well, from what I’ve seen there are many who have come out to help.”

  Vanessa nodded. “Thousands.”

  “It’s very charitable.”

  “The humans are, as well. There are people who are offering their own blood so vampires may continue their work, reinvigorated. It demonstrates how our two species can work together for mutual benefit.”

  “That’s amazing,” Susan smiled.

  “But there is something I want to bring up. As you know, there have been a number of protests recently here in London that have required the presence of the police. Increasingly, vampires have been assigned to the front lines of the police in confronting protesters.”

  “Why is that?”

  Vanessa shrugged. “It’s simple. Humans can be injured or even killed and do not have our strength.”

  “So by being in the front, vampires are actually protecting the human police behind them?”

  “That’s the way it seems to be working out,” she shrugged, “but there’s the potential for problems with that. If you get aggressive and attack a vampire, you could wind up dead very quickly. I would like to see the protestors warned somehow that this could happen. It might help prevent such occurrences.”

  “That sort of warning should definitely be circulated.”

  “Absolutely. The sooner the better.”

  Susan cocked her head. “Can we take some questions?”

  “Surely.”

  A man raised his hand and Susan acknowledged him.

  “I understand that you’re very . . .”

  “Old?” she anticipated him. “Five thousand years, roughly, but one does tend to lose track,” Vanessa smiled.

  “It’s amazing but I find it difficult to believe that anyone would have named a child Vanessa some five thousand years ago. Will you talk about that?”

  She took a deep breath and sat back, a thoughtful look on her face. After some moments, she spoke.

  “Here’s the abbreviated version. I was born in Memphis, Egypt. Before you begin to wonder why I’m not dark skinned, I’ll tell you. I was born of Germanic parents who had migrated to Egypt. My given name at birth was Neithhotep. I attracted the eye of the king at the time, possibly in part due to my fair skin, and we were married,” she glanced at Susan. “This is going to get a number of Egyptologists’ knickers in a twist,” she said as she turned back to the audience. “My husband died when I was still fairly young. I had a son who was not old enough to rule as king and, as a result, I ruled as pharaoh in his stead. I was given the title of Foremost Among Women and ruled Egypt for almost two decades until my son came of sufficient age at which time I turned power over to him.”

  The room was as still as death. The man who had asked the question slowly sat down. Vanessa had, without a doubt, sucked the air out of the room.

  Susan broke the silence. “So you were . . . Queen?”

  Vanessa nodded. “Egypt’s first.”

  A woman raised her hand and Susan pointed.

  “How old were you when you became a vampire?”

  “Thirty-six,” she smiled, grateful for the subject change.

  “What was Egypt like back then?” a man asked.

  “Hot,” Vanessa grinned and then, as the laughter erupted, she held up her hand.

  “I suspect that the gentleman actually wanted to know is what my life was like.”

 
; He nodded with a smile.

  “I’m sure you’ve seen movies and artwork that depicts an Egyptian queen like Cleopatra being pampered and bathed as slaves brought her fruit and fanned her constantly. It was very much like that. Oh, and everyone shaved their heads due to lice infestations.”

  A woman raised her hand, wide-eyed with shock.

  “You had slaves?”

  “Hundreds of them.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  “Let me ask you something,” Vanessa responded coolly. “Is it so difficult for you to imagine that the way of life thousands of years ago was very different than it is today? Yes, there were customs and ways of living that we would consider abhorrent in the modern world but that is the way things were. I’ll ask you something else. How many slaves do you think died in constructing the pyramids?”

  “I don’t know . . . maybe millions? It must have been awful!”

  “I’ll tell you how many. Absolutely none. Paid workmen built them – not slaves. If you really feel strongly about slavery, perhaps you should devote your life to eliminating it in Africa and in Muslim countries.”

  “Whew!” Susan said softly and Vanessa shook her head.

  “I’m sorry, Susan. I have little tolerance for people who are both ignorant and judgemental,” she watched as the woman who questioned her sank deeper into her seat, looking quite humiliated.

  A man raised his hand and Susan pointed to him.

  “What if I seriously wanted to become a vampire? Is there some sort of application process or should I hang out in the appropriate clubs in the hope of getting lucky?”

  Vanessa gave him a sidelong smile, her eyes narrowing in amusement.

  “Why would you want to be a vampire?”

  He was confident in his reply.

  “I’d like to be immortal.”

  She nodded quickly. “Not a bad reason, but have you thought it through?”

  “I think so.”

  “Tell me this. What do you think is the leading cause of suicide?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe depression?”

  “Correct. I’ve been bored and depressed more often than you can imagine – it comes with being alive for a very long time. Yet I’ve never thought of suicide. Do you know why?”