Vampire Hollows

by Tim O'Rourke

  “Isn’t Ravenwood’s word enough?” Coanda asked, standing up.

  “Let’s just say I’ve got trust issues,” I said with a wry smile. “Now tell me, why was there a locker back at that facility with your name on it?”

  “Is it still there?” Coanda grinned as if remembering happier times. “I don’t suppose you came across my flight goggles, did you?”

  “Flight goggles?” I asked bemused and wondered if he wasn’t just stalling me.

  “Believe it or not, I used to be a Royal Air Force test pilot,” he said, sitting again on the chair. “Not wishing to brag, but I was pretty awesome. Women love a test pilot you know,” he said glancing up at me.

  “Do they?” I said, cocking an eyebrow.

  “Some do,” he half-smiled. “I think it was the uniform and all the danger.”

  “Danger?” I asked him.

  “Believe me, Kiera, I flew some of the most dangerous planes they secretly designed in that place,” he began to explain. “See, that facility was once owned by the Military of Defence. It was a secret test site for experimental planes they were working on, it was my team’s job to fly those machines that those crazy sons of bitches dreamt up. But being a secret Vampyrus, I had my own little secret, which gave me an advantage.”

  “Wings?” I cut in.

  “You’ve got it,” he smiled with a look of satisfaction. “I pushed those machines harder and faster than any other test pilot. I knew that if those planes broke up mid-flight, I could always just fly away.” And he made a swooping motion in the air with his hands. “Humans have this fascination with wanting to be able to fly; I was interested to see if they could ever design anything that could fly as fast as I could. I got a reputation of being a bit of a madman, a risk taker, but they always let me be the first to test the machines that they dreamt up. But then everything changed. They got rid of the planes and started doing other sorts of tests there. Tests that I wanted no part of.”

  “What sort of tests?” I asked him.

  “They were messing with DNA and trying to breed…”

  “Half-breeds,” I finished for him.

  “You got it, Kiera,” he said. “That’s where I first met Doctor Hunt and Doctor Ravenwood. It didn’t take them long to realise that the Vampyrus who had taken over the facility weren’t interested in finding a cure for the half-breeds, but a way of enhancing their abilities to become some deadly race they could help to overrun the Earth with. As soon as we discovered what was being planned, both Ravenwood and Hunt left and I went back down into The Hollows.”

  “Didn’t you try and stop them?” I asked him. “Destroy the work that they’d been doing?”

  “Not at first,” Coanda said, and he looked away as if ashamed. “But things started to change in The Hollows. There were rumours that Elias Munn was real, that he was behind the rise in crime in The Hollows, the murders, and steadily increasing lawlessness. Rumours started to spread that the humans were planning to come and ravish The Hollows, ruin it, and take whatever they could find; that our women and children would be taken back to the surface for their own perverted pleasures. But some of us knew this wasn’t true. Those of us who had lived amongst the humans knew that they didn’t even know of our existence. They were too busy killing each other to worry about a race of hairy winged freaks beneath them. But the lies were spread by Munn and his agents and those lies took root in the hearts of many Vampyrus. They started to hate the humans, even though most of them had never stepped foot above ground. But if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. So when Munn’s agents started to spread the word that the Vampyrus should fight back, invade above ground before the humans got below ground, there was no shortage of volunteers to go to war. Most of the murders were blamed on the humans. The story spread that human spies were sneaking below ground and killing Vampyrus. But I knew that it wasn’t true and there were plenty of others who felt the same way I did. The fear was and still is that if the Vampyrus attacked the humans, then they would counter attack and the wars that were fought thousands of years ago by our two races would come of age again.”

  “So what did you do?” I asked him, as I slowly learnt how Elias Munn had started his campaign against the humans.

  “I went back above ground,” he said as if the answer was an obvious one. “I went and sought out Ravenwood and Hunt.”

  “But why?”

  “The last time I had seen them, they had been involved in trying to create a cure for the half-breeds that had been born out of the secret marriages between Vampyrus and their unsuspecting partners. I was hoping that their work had failed as I’d heard rumours that Munn and his agents wanted to use it to develop this super-breed as a weapon against the humans.

  “I tracked them down to this vast manor house, where they had some sort of hospital wing hidden in the attic. There were children there - sick half-breed children. I begged them to stop what they were doing and it was then that Ravenwood and Hunt explained the true nature of their work.”

  “And what was that?” I asked him, my heart sinking as he looked back at me.

  “They were working on the cure just in case they ever needed to save you,” he said. “When Hunt and Ravenwood had discovered what the Vampyrus were working on at the facility, they sought an audience with the Elders in the Dust Palace. And it was here that they learnt of how only one could undo the work that Elias Munn had set in place. They told Ravenwood and Hunt of how a half-breed would come who would bring peace to The Hollows. After explaining the burden that this half-breed would carry, the Elders ordered Ravenwood and Hunt from the Dust Palace, sealing the door to their kingdom, stating that it wouldn’t be opened again until the half-breed came to them.

  “Therefore, not knowing who this half-breed was or even if they had been born yet, every half-breed that was delivered sick, Hunt and Ravenwood tried to keep alive with the cure that they were so desperately working on. So while Hunt and Ravenwood played doctor and nurse in their makeshift hospital hidden in the attic, I returned to The Hollows and formed the resistance.”

  “The resistance?” I asked him.

  “The Vampyrus who hadn’t been deceived by Elias Munn’s lies and believed that the Elders had let them down. I felt the same about them,” Coanda said. “They sat back, entombed in their Dust Palace and let Elias Munn build an army. They stayed away and it was as if they had given up. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t just sit back and watch this Munn lead two worlds into war. So I gathered a small number of like-minded individuals. We were small in number at first. Then more men and women came, and we created small groups. We had spies that could provide us with first-hand intelligence; we built escape networks, like the one you crawled through to get here, Kiera. We dug holes and trenches that led us behind enemy lines so we could spy on what Munn was planning. More male and female Vampyrus came and we became known as the resistance. They came from all walks of life – there are teachers, artists, and I think there are even some priests who came to fight. We have Vampyrus above ground too – those who got themselves into positions of power to react when the attack above ground comes. We have a series of coordinated attacks planned to try and defeat Munn’s armies. But you can change all that, Kiera – you can make a choice.”

  Looking across the small cave-like room, I said, “I can’t make that choice, Coanda. I can’t be responsible for wiping an entire race from the Earth and from history. I will not do it.”

  “Then war it is, Kiera Hudson,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “There has to be another way,” I whispered.

  Ignoring me, Coanda stood as if readying himself, and looking down at me he said, “We leave tonight for the Dust Palace, the Elders are expecting you. But first we have to go to the Light House.”

  “The Light House?” I asked him. “Why would you need a light house? We must be hundreds of miles below ground.”

  “Believe me, Kiera, below ground gets very dark,” he smiled, his eyes shining bright. “T
he Light House is at the very core of The Hollows. We’ve received word from our spies in the Dolce region that Munn’s agents have captured the Light House.”

  “What’s so special about this light house?” I asked confused.

  “It is like a beacon,” Coanda explained. “It shines its light throughout The Hollows. It turns at the same speed as Earth and its light creates our nights and our days, just like the Earth spins around your Sun. As the Light House turns, the regions of The Hollows that are caught in its light celebrate day and those caught in its shadow celebrate the night.”

  “So why has Munn’s armies taken it over?” I asked, somewhat in awe of what Coanda had just told me.

  “They are going to use it to coordinate their attack above ground,” Coanda said, with a grim look. “Through its waves of light, they are going to give the orders to attack. They will use echo waves…”

  “Is that similar to echolocation?” I asked him, trying to get my head around what he was telling me.

  “Similar,” he said. “One of the greatest senses we Vampyrus have is that of hearing. It doesn’t work like human hearing – we hear in vibrations and waves, like echoes. Munn is therefore going to send messages out in the pulses of light that come from the Light House. In that way, he can have complete control over his armies that are spread around the world, just waiting to attack. But there is one who has the heightened sense of hearing – hearing like no other Vampyrus.”

  Knowing immediately who he was talking about, I said, “Kayla?”

  “That’s right,” Coanda said. “We want to take her to the Light House and listen to the waves that are being sent out. We can’t get close enough ourselves as the very vibrations of our movements will be detected and the alarm will be raised that we are close. But with Kayla, we could be some miles away and we are hoping she will be able to listen into the messages, those instructions and orders that are being beamed out to Munn’s armies.”

  “Will it be dangerous for her?” I asked him, hoping for a straight answer.

  “We will be with her,” Coanda assured me. “Once we know their final plans, we will make our way to the Dust Palace and if you still refuse to make your choice and we do end up at war, then at least we will know their plan of attack and have an early advantage against Munn.”

  “But I can’t ask her to put herself in danger,” I told him firmly. “Kayla has been through too much already.”

  “Then make your choice, Kiera Hudson,” he snapped at me. “And this can end – there will no more war!”

  “And what if I chose the Vampyrus to die?” I barked back. “That means you die!”

  Shrugging his shoulders, he looked straight into my eyes and said, “Either way, I’m dead. You don’t think this is a war we can win, do you?”

  Looking away, I said, “There has to be another way.”

  Sighing, Coanda went to the wooden door which led from the cave, and looking back at me he said, “There are some fresh clothes for you behind that curtain. Get yourself changed; we’re heading for the Light House.

  Standing, I went over to the curtain, but before I’d had the chance to pull it back, Coanda said, “Kiera, keep the reason we are going there to yourself. Don’t tell anyone.”

  “Not even Kayla?” I asked, looking back over my shoulder at him.

  “Not even Kayla,” he said sternly. “One of your friends is a spy and that’s the truth whether you believe it or not.”

  “But you can’t suspect Kayla,” I gasped.

  “No, I don’t,” Coanda said. “But if this spy finds out why we are going to the Light House, they might not want her to make it and you will undoubtedly be putting her life in great danger.” Then, before I could say anything back, he swung open the wooden door and was gone, closing it behind him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Behind the curtain, I found a large bowl of water, a rough-looking sponge and a neat pile of clothes that had been placed on a chair along with a towel.

  Kicking off my boots and removing my clothes, I dipped the sponge into the water and washed the grime and dirt from me. The fall through the drop shaft had left me covered in black soot and dust. The water was lukewarm, but it was better than nothing. The sponge wasn’t like a sponge at all really – not like the ones I had in my bathroom back home in Havensfield. This was harder, coarse, and was more like some kind of wild plant. It had a mint smell that was at least refreshing.

  I toweled myself dry and put on the clothes that had been left for me. I looked down at myself in the black overalls, which looked like I was just about to take part in some kind of guerrilla warfare. In a way, I guess that was what I was about to do. There was a belt and I tied it around my waist. Rummaging through my old coat pockets, I found my iPod and Murphy’s crucifix. I put the iPod into one of the many pockets that covered my combat-style overalls and hung the crucifix around my neck.

  For luck! I thought to myself.

  Stepping from the other side of the curtain and back into the small cave, my head rocked back as a bright light went off in my mind like a firecracker. In that brief explosion of light, I saw myself laid down somewhere, dressed exactly as I was now. But there was a voice and it was as if it was coming from way off.

  “I will now carry out an examination of the teeth, starting with the upper left side,” the voice said. “Eight present. Seven present. Six missing. Five missing. Four present…Wait a minute! The deceased has fangs!”

  Then the voice was gone and so was the bright light.

  Leaning forward, I reached for the door to the cave to steady myself, as fragments of a dream scattered themselves across the front of my mind. But deep inside, a cold chill ran through me. In that dream, I knew that I was dead.

  Shaking my head to clear those thoughts and fears, I pushed open the door and any thought of dying faded in an instance as I got my first proper look at The Hollows.

  I don’t even know how to start describing it. I sucked in a breath, dazzled by the sheer radiance of the world that the doorway from the cave had opened into. The ground was covered in a thick carpet of what I can only describe as a lime green moss. It was soft and spongy, like walking on a deep-pilled carpet. There were trees, thousands of them. They looked as if they had been planted in the ground upside down. Their trunks were the colour of burnt embers and they stretched upwards like frail arms. Vines hung from them, and were coloured red, yellow, orange, and so many more. It was like being in New England during the autumn, only the colours were way more intense, almost blinding. I looked up and there seemed to be no end. It was like staring up into the reaches of the highest cathedral. Giant granite rocks spiraled heavenward. They almost seemed to entwine with each other, forming pillars that supported the world I now found myself in.

  The sky, if that’s what it was called, seemed to twinkle with life, with the brightest stars on the darkest of nights. I stared up at them and realised that they were not stars at all but the pointed tips of stalagmites that hung down from above. There were millions of them. My description is in adequate, but there are no words I know of which could describe the sheer wonder and beauty of The Hollows. But there was a feeling too; the whole place felt as if it was charged with electricity in some way. It tingled – it was alive – if that makes sense.

  I could remember Potter telling me as we had lain in each other’s arms in the caves beneath the Fountain of Souls, how beautiful The Hollows were; but ‘beautiful’ seemed like such an insufficient word. I doubted there was a word that could describe The Hollows.

  Why would anyone want to leave this place, I wondered. Why would the Vampyrus want to poke their head above ground for the briefest of seconds when they lived in such wonder? But more importantly, how could I ever make the decision to destroy it?

  In the distance there was a large open area of that lime green moss and it was covered for as far as I could see with tall structures made of red rock. There were rows upon rows of them, and caves had been carved in each one. They were t
he strangest looking apartment blocks I had ever seen. Male and female Vampyrus soared between them, and they looked preoccupied and even sad as if they were all deeply troubled. How could such looks of sadness be possible? But as I watched them, I guessed that these were members of the resistance that Coanda had gathered and they were preparing to defend themselves against Munn. So, however beautiful their world was, a great shadow had been cast over it for them.

  Some of them swooped up into the sky and spread their wings. They flew in formation as if practicing and practicing for the hour they would have to take to the skies and defend their lives, their homes, their Hollows. I watched breathless as they soared up amongst the stalagmites, then come sweeping down again. Their wings reflected the light from the stalagmites’ tips and they shimmered. They looked like angels – no gods – and that’s what they were. And in my heart, I suddenly realised Elias Munn’s desire to be above ground. These creatures were too beautiful, glorious, and wonderful to be hidden.

  But weren’t humans just as beautiful in their own way? Weren’t they angels too? Sure, they couldn’t fly, but they were just as magical in their own right. Didn’t humans have an overwhelming desire to strive onwards, to better themselves? Weren’t they also capable of creating great works of beauty, art, music, writing, and so much more? Didn’t humans have a wonderful capacity for kindness, to love and find great joy in the world around them? Couldn’t the Earth look beautiful too? There was good and bad in every race, and with tears spilling onto my cheeks, I was dreading the hour when I was going to be asked to make a choice between the two of them.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Why are you crying?” someone asked, and I looked round to see Luke coming towards me. We were dressed identically, in black overalls and boots. His dark hair was swept back from his brow, and his green eyes shone as brightly as the moss beneath my feet. Thankfully, he had shaved his tatty beard off and he looked so much better.