Exsanguination
Page 38
Drugs were becoming less of a problem throughout the populace once Vanessa instructed vampires to rid the apartment buildings and streets of dealers. That order resulted in extreme feedings by police.
In mid-summer of the following year – 2022, everyone was relaxing in the drawing room, enjoying the breeze that came through open windows.
Azar spoke as Toady snuggled up to her side. “Have you noticed how our actions are never challenged anymore?”
Vanessa nodded. “We are changing societies throughout the world, even penetrating into some traditionally Muslim nations.”
Nikki smiled. “Vampire/human hook-ups are through the roof and pregnancies are way down.”
Vanessa had become an internationally known figure but they all had still managed to maintain a strong level of privacy. She turned to Joe.
“Remember when I asked you if you could get me a larger audience?”
He nodded. “They’re ready for you if you’re ready for them.”
“Who?”
I’ve put out feelers. What if I told you that I could wangle an invitation for you to address the General Assembly at the U.N.?”
She frowned and looked at Azar. What are our saturation levels?”
“About ninety-five percent across the board, worldwide. Police, governments, military, major corporations . . . the whole thing.”
Vanessa nodded and looked back to Joe. “Make it happen, Joe.”
XL
It was a sweltering August day when Vanessa Smythe took the stage to address the U.N. She looked around and realized it was the largest group of individuals she would have addressed in five thousand years. She stepped up to the microphone.
***
“To some of you, I am the Countess of Ashburn. To the vast majority of individuals here in this room, I am Neithhotep – Egypt’s first Queen and Pharaoh, Foremost Among Women. I am the oldest of all vampires. The remarks I make here, today, are addressed to the human species.”
“A situation that occurred over a year ago has brought us to this place and time.”
“For thousands of years, my people have been hunted, tortured, and killed for no other reasons than fear and religious superstition. We have spent millennia hiding in shadows and avoiding contact with those we have come to know as our enemies,” she paused and took a breath.
“Since the beginning of history, you have been killing each other. Sometimes with religion as a justification, at other times for land or political gain. While we have hoped that you would become less monstrous as time passed we see that this is an unrealistic outcome. Time has done little more than provide your species with a thin veneer of civility. I, personally, bore witness to most of the mass killings you have inflicted on others of your kind.”
“149 BC a hundred and fifty thousand dead in Carthage, 1209 AD a religious war carried out by Pope Innocent the third – a million dead. The Greek and Assyrian genocides – one and a half million dead. One million Irish dead because corn brought money on the international market and the English valued gold over Irish lives. The Romani genocide – half a million. Bangladesh – three million. The Rwandan genocide – a million. Cambodia – three million. Ukrainian genocide – seven and a half million. The Nazi genocides of the Jews and the Slavs is estimated at thirty million,”
Vanessa shook her head slowly. “Lastly, under the Popes of Rome through the Middle Ages and the Reformation, more than fifty million dead. There are many more that would bring your tally to well over two hundred million but there’s little point in continuing to list them,” she gazed around the room.
“What a record you humans have,” her lip curled. “Shame . . . shame. As a species, you have little to recommend yourselves. My species used to kill, albeit only for food but I have forbade killing for hundreds of years and deaths are now rare. Many humans see us as evil, largely due to their own folklore, myths, and superstitious natures. Compared with you, we are saints,” she began tapping her finger on the podium as she continued.
“We could ask you to stop but it would do no good – you are as ill-behaved children. Now we demand that you stop. The pendulum has swung far the other way. To humans who would turn their eyes toward us in a threatening way, I say ‘beware’,” she wagged a finger back and forth. “We are not given to hyperbole but have an expression – ‘We gnaw on the bones of those who would destroy us.’”
“We have increased our numbers and are now legion. We hold complete sway in most governments, police forces, military, and large corporations. We see and hear everything. There will be no more wars and no more genocides. Your time of power is over. All of my species answers to me and no one else.”
A dead silence prevailed in the assembly.
“There is no delicate way of expressing this. The human race is no longer the dominant species. You have proven you cannot rule yourselves in a civilized fashion. You will now be ruled.”
Vanessa walked from the podium and out of the room. There was no chaos or shouting but smiles across hundreds of faces proudly displaying long canines.