by Justin Sloan
Who knew how many others were out there hiding among the rubble, waiting for their shot at the big, bad vampire.
"Back to the wall," she said to Mecha. "I wanna pull them to us."
And with that she darted to the wall and easily climbed up it, pausing at the sight of a new Were among the group—one she recognized from Enforcer HQ, but had been on a team sent out earlier.
"This better be good news," she said, sensing the apprehension in the Were’s face.
"It’s hard to say." The Were looked between her and the other Weres, uncomfortably. He’d likely heard stories, she figured, of how vampires weren’t always the most rational when it came to decision making and bringers of bad news.
"We have a war going on here, so… what’s your name?"
"Duran," the Were said.
"Well, Duran, the longer you wait to tell me, the more chances people, Weres, and vampires of this city have of dying. So perhaps you could spit it out sometime today."
She didn’t want to lose her patience, but come on. Seriously.
"I think it’s good news," he said. "At least, it’s bad news for our attackers. At the north wall, a group attacked and breached the wall. We were trying to fight them back, but they had Weres among them too. It wasn’t going well, but… but when we retreated into cover of a nearby building, and they followed, we heard screams. We came back and found them dead, some—the humans—with holes in their necks.
"Vampires… but not ours?" Valerie wasn’t sure what to make of this. It couldn't be possible… "Were they out in the light?"
Duran shook his head. "They were in the shadows, at least from what I saw. It could've even just been the one."
Who could they be? Her vampires had all been ordered to rest up, and it was still daylight out. It’s possible they’d found a way to travel under the city, since they had the underground hideout and all. But even if they had managed to figure that out in the short amount of time it’d been since they took over the tower, they wouldn’t have moved without her orders, would they? She looked over the Were for signs of injury. "You weren't attacked?"
"Not at first," Duran said. "But I thought I saw something and went after it, and then had to dodge a sword that came for my head. All I saw was red, glowing eyes and the sword—a katana, for sure—and I high-tailed it out of there."
Valerie put her hands behind her head, looking out over the wall to see a couple of the attackers exchanging shots with the guards on the wall.
She looked at her newly mended jacket and new outfit, and knew there was no way around it—she was going to get dirty.
"What’ya want us to do?" Mecha asked.
She paused for a moment, considering what it could mean if they lost this wall. Still, if there were two badass vampires at the wall up north, already inside the city and strong enough to take on Weres, she had to stop them.
"We need to—"
BRR-RRRT!
The automatic rifle shots from below ate into the top of the wall, causing them all to jump back. Valerie glanced over, annoyed, and was glad to see one of the guards take out the shooter.
"What I was saying was, can you h—"
A second shooter fired up at them, this time followed by a grenade and then another explosion of black smoke.
Valerie’s hand went to the grip of her sword, and she pulled a pistol out from her hip holster.
"Fuck these ass-bred vomit eaters," she said as she put one hand on the wall and then propelled herself over. She landed with a sprint, sword slicing so that soon the man’s arms were off, rifle clattering to the ground. Before he had a chance to scream, she sent his head rolling, then used the pistol to take down the other assailant—a man hiding with his rocket launcher in the next building over. He too fell, lifeless.
"Is that all you got?" she screamed into the light past the buildings. As if in unison, half a dozen men and women came charging.
The Weres were with her now, and the soldiers didn’t stand a chance.
When they had them on the run, Valerie turned to Mecha and said, "You can handle them, I’m going to check on this vampire issue."
Mecha smirked and said, "I do it my way."
"Fine, your way, whatever way you want." She shook her head. "I just feel sorry for those poor souls."
"Rightly so," Mecha said.
As she turned to Duran and said, "Show me the way," the others were undressing. Duran took off, and she followed, both moving at a blur, but she glanced back to see the pack of wolves darting into the ruins, in pursuit of their prey.
She really did feel sorry for those bastards—the last place you wanted to be was at the end of a vampire’s teeth, but the second place you never wanted to find yourself was hunted by werewolves, especially in packs.
When she’d been in France, after the vampires would take down any opposition in a city and return to their outposts, the Weres would go in. The stories Valerie remembered hearing, of the death and destruction they caused, still caused her to shiver to this day.
And she had to be honest—part of her still had a hard time trusting Weres because of that, so when this Were at her side, Duran, paused at the wall for her to go first, she hesitated.
But no, these days were about moving past all that. Working together for the good of the new world, a world that would rise again, with Michael at the lead. It still didn’t even make complete sense that she was so keen on following him, but part of her, the part that always won, was saying that she didn’t need a reason to follow Michael—she’d heard the stories, and he was like a god. The Dark Messiah, returned.
Who, when presented with a god and savior, wouldn’t bend the knee?
Shrieks sounded behind them and a howl, followed by another, and she knew the Weres had made at least one kill.
"Follow the wall?" Duran asked coming to a stop at the edge of an area where the wall lost all semblance of order, and was replaced with old rusted cars piled up, barbed wire, and more.
"Take me the fastest way," she said.
He nodded and motioned away from the wall. She had to wonder why he’d bothered asking, until she saw where they were—a massive lake, surrounded by makeshift tents. Men and women milled about, some glancing in their direction with glazed-over eyes and drugged out expressions. More than one woman, and a few men, held children in their arms.
One of the women started yelling at them and tried to throw something, but they were too fast and soon put it behind them.
This shit was worse than Valerie thought—a whole population of homeless, and not just regular homeless either.
"What do you know of the drug problem here, Duran?" she asked, slowing to a jog to glance back at the camp as they left it behind.
"Sorry?"
"The people back there, a lot of them looked way gone, high as a blimp, on pills."
He was breathing heavy, and paused, holding up a hand. "I—I don’t have the energy you do." After several deep breaths, he stretched out a cramp in his right leg and then nodded back to the camp. "Those people, they’ve been around since before I was born, I know that much. People are told to avoid them, until it’s time you become one."
"What the hell you mean, become one?"
"I don’t know if it’s drug overdose, or what, but yeah, what I said." He mocked walking like he was mindless, dazed, then shook his head. "Some people just think it happens."
"That’s messed up," she said, then gave the Were an assessing look. "Think this city’s worth saving?" At his look, she added, "I mean, with others out there. The Golden City, for instance. Or…?"
"It’s just the Golden City," he said. "Nothing else we’ve been able to find close to us. And even the Golden City, well, I’d take this place any day."
She started walking again, motioning for him to stay with her. "It’s that bad?"
He shrugged. "For me, it’s just a matter of leadership. And let’s just say that, should we ever meet again, the leader of that city would rather see me dead than fighting a
t his side."
"What’d you do?"
Duran smirked, then shook his head. "Something to do with one of his wives, but I’m not the kiss and tell type."
"Bullshit," she said.
He just laughed and said, "I think I’m ready," before taking off into a jog. She ran at his side, waiting to see if he’d answer more of the question, and a bit disappointed that he didn’t.
This time the journey took them past more collapsed buildings, and a series of squatters that gave her mean glares but looked much less intimidating than the residents of the camp. They ran alongside an old school bus that was half-sunk into a sinkhole, and then past a church that was still half-standing, a woman within kneeling before the exposed altar.
How people could have faith at a time like this was beyond her ability to understand.
The thought brought back a distant memory, of her as a child, walking hand-in-hand with her father through the ravaged streets of a small town in France, looking for anywhere they could call home after an uprising had left theirs in flames. He’d insisted they stop at a church and pray for help… Sure, they’d found shelter, for the time being. But help? If by help he’d meant to ask that they all die and she be turned into a creature of the night?
Then sure, they got help.
Her father’s faith had gotten them nowhere, and for years she’d wondered how he could believe in anything in a world that had been chewed up, spat out and left to rot.
Now she had faith of a different kind, however. She had faith that she was unique, and even more faith in herself and the mission that Michael had given her—to bring America to order, and await his return, should he come calling for her.
"There," Duran said, pointing to a shopping center that had collapsed over the parking garage on one side, the other was mostly intact aside from broken windows and what looked like a small plane sticking out of where it had crashed into the third floor.
"Where exactly?" she asked.
He looked taken aback. "I can just show you."
"No, I want you out of harm’s way, in case this is more serious than a couple of Nosferatu."
"If it were simply a couple of Nosferatu, they’d be dead." Duran snarled. "I’m not a pup!"
"Strange how you say that while throwing a tantrum." She laughed. "Fine, come with, but if you find yourself walking into the gates of hell today, don’t blame me."
"Hell?" He scoffed. "Lady, I’ve been in hell since I was born.” He waved a hand around, “Welcome to it."
"Hardy-har," she said in a mock-laugh. "Don’t try to be witty; it doesn’t suit you. Keep up if you can. Otherwise, I’ll find you when this is over."
With that she took off, not bothering to wait for his directions—if the vampires were still around, they’d definitely be inside to avoid the shadows, and more likely than not they’d come after her, especially if there were two of them.
When she paused at the entryway, she wanted to punch Duran for all the noise he was making. Then again, it wasn’t like she was trying not to be noticed.
"You go first," she said.
He looked at her like she was crazy, but then stuck out his jaw and walked past her. Of course, a Were wouldn’t want to show any sign of cowardice, especially not in front of a vampire.
Valerie followed, sticking to the shadows as if the light affected her—if there were strong Forsaken in here, she wanted them to underestimate her and assume she was no different from themselves.
The only light came in from the entryway, so the farther back they got, the darker it was. Vampires and Weres didn’t have a problem seeing in the dark, but something about knowing it was dark kind of freaked her out.
"It was over here," Duran whispered, gesturing her toward the collapsed side of the open floor-plan mall. It must have been several stories tall in here at one point, with escalators leading all the way up.
All of these things, escalators, and elevators, most anything that used electricity when there were alternate options, were incredibly scarce in the rest of the world. But somehow, Old Manhattan had managed to get back up and going.
Not this part of it, though.
It made her wonder if the rest of the world would catch up, eventually. Or even the rest of America, perhaps. Would there someday be an America that lit up like the stories of old? One where you could travel across it and not worry about a lack of food, or no civilization for days on end?
When Michael returned, she hoped to have an answer for him.
If Michael returned, she corrected herself. Right now, he was off dealing with the vampire that had created her. But now she was a new vampire, reborn, and so she wondered, was Michael her father now? She wondered what he’d have to say on the matter.
His other children were all long gone, either dead or lost in space, as far as Valerie knew. The only two vampires she could think of that even came close to him were Yuko and Akio, and they were way off on the other side of the world in Japan.
A thought hit her.
"Duran," she hissed. He looked back and she motioned him over to her. "Red eyes, you said, and a katana?"
He was about to answer, when his mouth froze half-open, his eyes staring past her over her left shoulder.
Valerie slowly turned to see the red eyes. As the vampire stepped forward, the light caught a sword and left no question that it was, indeed, a katana. He wore black clothes in a style similar to both the special forces and an ancient samurai.
Meaning, if she had to guess… "Akio?"
The glow in the vampire’s eyes faded, and he nodded. "Hajimemashite. It is a pleasure to meet you, Valerie-san."
CHAPTER NINE
Broken Down Shopping Center
This was why, back in France, Valerie’s brother Donovan had always made the attacks go as fast as possible, and would pull back to regroup while the Weres took over. Stay out of any confrontation with the Two.
The less they were around and the less anyone saw them, the better.
And now this legendary destroyer of freedom stood before her.
Of course, that had been how Donovan and their father, The Duke, had described these two vampires. She knew now their teachings were false.
She glanced around, wondering if she'd spot Yuko hiding nearby.
"You are Valerie, correct?" Akio asked. "The attackers I ran into earlier, they wouldn't stop going on about you. And, since you are obviously a very powerful vampire, I assume you are this Valerie." He took a moment, as if listening to her, and then said, "Good, we must speak."
Valerie took a step back, hand on the hilt of her sword. For some reason, her hand was shaking. It must have been the reality of this vampire before her—everything she knew about them meant she would face her death right here.
And, had he just read her mind?
"I’ve done nothing wrong." She blurted out the words before she knew what she was saying. It annoyed her, the way her voice wobbled, but she had to make sure he wasn’t here to punish her. Even with Michael’s blood, she wasn’t exactly sure how powerful she was now.
Akio smiled. "You misunderstand."
She spit out, "You don’t roam the world killing vampires who you’ve judged to be in the wrong?" Valerie didn’t like what she was saying, but something inside her was boiling up, and she had to let it out. "You’ve decided who’s wrong and who’s right? You’ve been appointed judge, jury, and executioner?"
"And how would you say this description is different from yourself?" Akio asked. The red glow in his eyes remained as he glanced between Valerie and Duran.
"I…" Shit, he had her there, and her mind went to Michael and his charge for her.
Akio's eyes went wide, and he ducked his head, then stepped forward, eagerly. "Onegai, please, you've seen Michael recently?"
"How did you..?" Yup, this guy was definitely reading her mind.
"You have been made one of his…" Akio said, surprise evident on his face. "A Justice Enforcer, is that right?"
"Can you plea
se stop reading my mind?" she asked. "And if you're looking for Michael--"
"He's gone, yes, I understand that." Akio turned his head towards his collar and whispered. She caught the name Yuko and Eve, and then turned back to them with a smile. "We must find him. We’ve been looking for him, after hearing rumors that he’d made it out west. I came here hoping he'd have come through. When I saw the assault on the walls, I took a defensive position, where I ran into the group of attackers I mentioned. But we can't linger long, I must warn you."
"We?" Valerie asked, already knowing the answer, but not quite believing it.
"Yuko and I," he said. "But she's not here, not at the moment. Is there a good place for her to meet us when she arrives?"
Valerie nodded, thinking of Enforcer HQ, and then Akio's face lit up. "Perfect, I will send her coordinates."
"He didn’t seem to know you were looking for him, if that’s any consolation." Valerie said. "Michael, I mean."
"We've come to the same conclusion.”
Valerie motioned to Duran to come over to join them, and he did. "This is Duran, one of the Weres we saved from slavery. He and several others were being forced to hunt vampires for their blood."
"Forced?" Akio said with a sideways glance at the Were.
Duran growled softly, but kept his cool. "It’s true; some Weres do it by choice. There’s still a bit of animosity between us and vampires. But most of us weren’t hunting by choice."
"Why then?" Akio asked, his eyebrow raised, little emotion evident on this face.
"Some are simply afraid for their lives," Duran said. "Others, such as myself, for the lives of our families. But even then, the Enforcers would drug us until we didn’t quite comprehend what we were doing."
"Your family is safe now?" Valerie asked, ashamed that she hadn’t had this conversation earlier.
He turned away, unable to answer.
"Where are they?" she asked, her voice soft.
Duran answered, "They took them, my wife and little boy, but I don’t know where. Every moment I’m not serving you will be spent looking for them, though."