Inman's hands-free device rang in through his Audi's state-of-the-art sound system. Fletcher Hunter's name flashed on the screen.
"I had a great meeting with the Apex lobbyists. It appears all is on schedule. Although current campaign finance law prevents you from having direct contact with the Super PACs set up on your behalf, I believe it is okay if I know about the PACS. This is, of course, if I don't give you specifics. Rest assured the specifics are good, but I am not going to tell you about them."
"I am glad to hear that, Fletcher. So what's your idea regarding our grand strategy for beating Thomas Elder and gaining a legislative majority necessary to push through our agenda?"
___________
Fletcher was happy Inman asked him. Inman served as his puppet.
Fletcher viewed Inman as a steppingstone to power, more like a conduit. Fletcher controlled Inman, and Fletcher’s power would flow through Inman. If Inman were president, Fletcher would be the de facto president.
_______________________
Watson felt a lust for blood. He had visions of strolling down the Mall in the middle of a spring day and jumping on a tasty human, draining them and watching the cherry blossoms sway in the wind. He would enjoy this, although he still felt some pangs of regret.
"I know you may feel a little odd about your new station in life––undeath––but you shouldn't. Your vampire mind is trying to sweep away the vestiges of your human mind,” said Lenin to Watson through telepathy.
Watson did think a lot about sex. Some feelings lingered, and, he supposed, Fletcher's feelings lingered much less than his. Prior to becoming a vampire, Fletcher had nothing but his job. Watson had always wanted more of life, but it never happened. He now knew that would never happen. Life was over.
Watson did feel a pull of loyalty to Vladimir Lenin, but he had not abandoned his loyalty to Thomas Elder. In spite of being a vampire, he still felt some loyalty to President Elder. But he wasn’t sure if Vladimir Lenin could sense that.
Chapter 12
Mark Inman ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, and this had given him almost two years to raise money. Meanwhile, the vampire numbers grew closer to the sixty or so million needed to take and keep control of the United States. The United States was the key to the plan, the first domino that needed to fall.
A few weeks before the Iowa caucus, Inman held a town hall meeting in Ames, Iowa speaking to a very conservative crowd.
A man in an Iowa State hoodie sweatshirt stood up, and he asked a question, “What are you going to do about this national healthcare thing that Muslim put into place?” The crowd laughed and booed the president while cheering the man.
Inman smiled, and he said, “Now he says he’s a Christian with a valid birth certificate.” More laughter. “And I take him at his work for it. But what I will tell you is about 47% of this country is looking for free stuff. Free health care. A free place to live, and they want you to pay for it!” The crowd booed and hissed.
“But I’m tired of paying!” People were on their feet. “And I want to make America great again.” Flags waived. Women cried.
“First thing I am going to do is take out Iran!” The crowd was near frenzied as a wild hatred burned in Inman’s vampire eyes.
Inman exited stage left, pleased by the response of the crowd. He easily won the caucus, but he was the only candidate.
Inman swept through the primaries, unopposed.
Pundits warned divisive rhetoric such as the 47% comment and jingoistic banter about a war with Iran wouldn’t play well with moderates. And it did hurt Inman in the polls, but he was undeterred by polls. He knew voter ID laws would suppress the vote.
“The voter ID laws are going to work nicely, Mark,” said Vladimir Lenin on the phone. “All you need to do is keep saying what you are saying. Let me keep doing what I’m doing. We will steal it fair and square.”
____________________________
In contrast, President Elder campaigned on his past successes. He had made the call to stage the successful mission where the 911 perpetrator was killed. National health care had been a success; the stock market was on the rise; and unemployment was low.
During one of the debates in Atlanta, President Elder said, “Now Majority Leader Inman, I find it hard to believe you are going to be everyone’s president when you said 47% of the people aren’t worth anything.”
“I didn’t say that,” said Inman.
“Oh…you didn’t. What did you say then?”
“I said personal responsibility is important. Working hard is important.” Self-righteous burned in Inman’s eyes.”
“I suppose that’s why you missed a third of the House votes while you were off cozying up to Nero Corporation executives?” The crowd went wild, and Elder flashed his trademark grin.
Inman tried to come back by changing the topic. “I will keep us safe. I’m not weak on foreign affairs like you are.”
President Elder interrupted Inman, making his own rules and forcing his will as president, “I made the call against the urging of the majority of my cabinet to go after Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden is dead so I’d say I am pretty strong on foreign affairs.
“Mr. Inman, you want to plunge our country into endless war in order to line the pockets of the billionaire defense contractors who own your campaign. Is that true sir? I won’t stand for it. I won’t let you hijack this country.” The word hijack hung in the air, and it was tantamount to calling Inman a domestic terrorist.
Elder soundly defeated Inman in all the debates, but Inman hung around in the polls. The election remained close in spite of Inman’s missteps. Going into election day, Elder polled ahead in the national polls, and he had the edge in most of the battleground states. However, pundits predicted the election would come down to Florida. Whoever won Florida would win the election.
________________________
Roland Drum owned most of the voting machines in Florida. Owning voting machines paid off or at least he believed they would. Contrary to some might think, controlling how people vote meant you could control the outcome of the election.
“Ronald, the election is going to be really close, and it is going to come down to Florida,” said Vladimir Lenin on the day before Election Day.
“That’s why I bought the machines. I wanted to protect the process,” Drum laughed.
Lenin laughed too. “You and I both know elections are never ‘protected’ unless you mean they are to protecting the financial interests of those who pay.”
_______________________________
Inman and the Republicans were aided by draconian voter ID laws that excluded many minorities from voting. Birth certificates were required to obtain a photo ID. And Republicans passed laws allowing for very narrow windows of time and limited locations to obtain birth certificates.
In addition, states allowed precinct judges to openly advocate for candidates and to carry any form of weapon. Minority areas, which tended to vote Democrat, had the highest concentration of armed precinct judges. Likewise, reports poured in where minority voters were scared off from voting and outright prevented from voting altogether.
The chaos and voter suppression favored Inman, who won enough Electoral College votes to be a few votes behind Elder with only Florida in dispute. This is where Drum came in.
The voting machines malfunctioned so that the machines switched the votes in heavily Democratic, largely African American precincts, who would normally vote for President Elder, to the Constitutional Party’s candidate, David Davis. This gave Inman a nearly two-thousand vote lead.
___________________________
Pierre Leblanc filed an emergency petition on behalf of President Elder demanding the machines be examined as well as the paper ballots. From that data, Leblanc demanded a recount.
The Florida Supreme Court, Chief Justice Thaddeus Wells Graham writing for the majority, ordered the machines examined and the paper ballots counted too.
When the recou
nt was done, a few things were established:
Ronald Drum, a dyed-in-the-wool Republican owned the machines;
The machines were rigged to select David Davis whenever Thomas Elder was selected in zip codes with heavy minority concentrations; and
When the recount was completed, Thomas Elder won Florida by twenty-thousand votes.
Inman’s lawyers appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which heard the case two days after the Florida court ruled. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, allowed the recount and declared Thomas Elder the victor, thus issuing in his second term.
The Court did not have the opportunity to decide on many of the Congressional districts where voter suppression was rampant; election results were skewed; and Republicans made heavy and disproportionate gains. More troubling, however, was the rise of many vampire members of Congress, facts unknown to the general populace; Pierre Leblanc, President Thomas Elder and the Society of the Silver Stake did know, however.
_________________________
Chapter 13
“How are you enjoying your offices in the United States, sir?” said Fletcher Hunter with a wry smile on his face.
“I will enjoy it more when vampires are in control of everything, Fletcher.”
“That shouldn’t be too far away.”
“I suppose not,” Lenin remarked with a hint of sadness.
“Is something the matter sir?”
“No.Well, maybe a little.” Lenin gazed off; he didn’t know what times past he wanted to see. “I knew someday I would eventually take over the world. This is all but a formality, and I know it sounds arrogant to speak that way considering all of those vampires who came before me, yet were unsuccessful.”
“It really doesn’t. In order to achieve the goal you set for yourself and for likeminded vampires, you have to think that way.”
“I suppose, but I’m always haunted by the vampire who got away, the one I picked to be my successor. Have I ever told you about him, Fletcher? You remind me a little of him, but he was better than you. Much better. He was stronger, smarter and more charismatic… and a great lawyer. More importantly, he was a Roman.”
The remarks stung Fletcher, but he dared not say anything lest he incur the wrath of his vampire maker.
Fletcher’s old insecurities crept in, and he spoke. “I will make you proud of me someday.”
Lenin’s eyes turned wrathful. “Don’t you know when you need to be quiet?” Lenin stood and stretched to his full height, which appeared to be almost eight feet. He stared hard at Fletcher, and his fangs were in full view. I wonder how he grew in front of me, thought Fletcher. Fletcher was so astounded he didn’t feel fear at first.
“Don’t you understand no one will ever compared to Drogba?”
“Who is Drogba?”
Fletcher felt his body fly through the air, and his back cracked the stone wall. Lenin picked him up and slammed him against the wall, again, pieces of rock splintering. “Don’t you ever speak his name. Do you hear me? You will never be another Drogba. There will never be another Drogba.”
Lenin propelled himself out of the window, the glass shattering. He flew out of the window and out into the night sky.
I won’t always disappoint you, thought Fletcher as he trembled in fear and shame.
____________
While roaming the streets, Lenin brooded on the slowness of it all. He had waited for so long to establish vampire control. He couldn’t wait anymore. It didn’t matter that the vampires were not fully viable. Maximum viability wasn’t needed.
He couldn’t wait. He wouldn’t wait. He wouldn’t wait anymore to have dominion. He wouldn’t cower in the shadows, longing for the day of control. Not anymore. Not him.
He needed to take action with the vampires he already had in his private prisons and elsewhere. Once the war started he knew he would win, and when he won no one would get in his way, nor would the quibble with his methods.
___________________
After a few hours Lenin went back to his office, and then Fletcher came in.
Lenin did enjoy Washington, D.C. Its grand avenues and marble buildings reminded him of Paris. What it lacked in royalty it made up for in the wealth department and the power department. Never had a country possessed such vast wealth and such immense power. Many great empires existed, but no country had ever been so large and so powerful, yet so free at the same time.
Lenin loved freedom, but he knew freedom acted as a double-edged sword. Sometimes free people rose up when they felt discontent. Although discontent abounded in the United States, it was not nearly enough existed to spark a revolution. So Lenin would have to create his own revolution, revolution of the vampire variety.
“Fletcher, how is the legislation coming?”
“The omnibus bill abolishing Medicaid passed easily. It is the first of the programs to be repealed. It is useful, but it is also the red herring we need to take the attention off the growing vampire populations in the prisons. We are getting closer.”
“Excellent,” Lenin said calmly, trying to hide his excitement and remain stoic. He couldn’t help but smile, though, over the way his plan was coming to pass. After all these years. Finally it was happening. The bill was useful because it weakened some humans, but it was more useful as a diversion from the true source of the vampire population. And it had started happening well before the Republicans had obtained the necessary majorities.
The numbers grew unnoticed until it was too late. And no one would know the source until after the vampires had taken control.
Mark Inman losing had been a black eye, but Inman now served as Speaker of the House. Hard to be upset about such a lofty position. Lenin also controlled enough FBI agents and US attorneys to insure no investigation of Inman.
Although Lenin felt supreme confidence, he was not without trepidation; this did give him the desire to move forward more quickly before anyone could second guess him. Thousands of years on this Earth had taught him you couldn’t plan for everything. Vagaries always existed. Things could still go wrong, and this fear, however faint, kept Lenin alert and guarded.
“Fletcher,” Lenin said in a paternal tone, “I’m a little worried about Speaker Inman. Although he is under my control, I am worried he may be a loose cannon. I know he harbors ill will towards the president and vice president. So I fear he may act too soon, which could have dire consequences for our plan. If humans learn the extent of our plan too soon, then they will be able to respond. Quick response times along with higher numbers have saved humans from vampires in the past. I don’t want it to happen again. I’ve seen it too many times.”
Lenin tapped his fingers on top of his desk, the same desk he’d had in Paris when Fletcher first met him a few years ago. Fletcher looked at the desk. Lenin picked up on Fletcher’s glance. “I’ve always liked this desk. Louis XVI may have been a shitty monarch, but he sure knew how to make furniture and other finery. Paris was in its heyday under him. It was never more elegant, not even under Napoleon.
“I remember when Paris was a small, uncivilized place. The Romans had a fort there, but they abandoned it. Later the Celtic tribe, the Parisii, inhabited the island in the middle of the Seine where Notre Dame sits. Such a crude lot. The Romans were far better, but I suppose I’m biased. Anyway...enough talking about the past.”
______________
Fletcher wanted to hear more, but he knew Lenin would tell another story one day. When Lenin took over, there would be a lot more stories.He’d always believed the strongest should govern. This belief led him to follow the Republican Party, a choice which placed him on the path to becoming a vampire, but he didn’t blame the party or Inman. In fact, he loved the idea he would exist forever. Existence took on so much more meaning when it transcended life.
“One more thing?”
“Yes,” Lenin said exasperatedly.
“I know there are large numbers of vampires now in the Metro tunnels in DC. But the hunters are already going after them
and killing some of them”
“Good. That is to be expected. The fight is already happening, but humans haven’t connected the dots. The ones not of my bloodline need to avoid the sunlight, though. Those of my bloodline can still hide there. Some will die, but we will take out their hunters in the process. Vampire hunters are hard to come by. Vampires aren’t as difficult to create. We will lure the hunters down and kill them”
Lenin started reading through some documents on his desk, a sure sign it was time for Fletcher to leave.
Chapter 14
President Thomas Elder sat in the Oval Office, glad to still be the president. Elder, however, worried about the future of the country.
“Pierre, tell me what you found out at Apex. I have some idea, but I would like to know.”
Intrigued, Pierre asked him, “What do you think I found?”
Elder smiled. “I know I’m strong statewide in a lot of states, but many of the districts are drawn in a way that makes Congress people easier to knock off.”
“That’s true, but it also creates many safe seats for Tea Party types. These kinds of candidates, many of whom won, represent an extreme constituency, one that used to be on the fringes of society.”
“But not anymore.”
“Correct.”
“Congress is trying quickly to dismantle Medicaid, which you already knew. But then they hope this will create chaos in larger cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, New Orleans, Atlanta and Charlotte.”
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