Vampire Esquire's War (Book 2)

by Michael Wells Jr.

  Fletcher walked in his office with an officious air about him. Smug little shit, Inman thought.

  “Good day, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to see how the bill is coming. More importantly, I wanted to check on the Medicaid cuts in the other states. Cut is probably not an accurate word. Elimination might be better, but cut is easier for the public to digest.”

  “The press will call it eliminating because that’s what we are doing.”

  “It is, but I don’t think people will hate us for it.”

  “Oh some will.”

  Fletcher waved his right hand dismissively. “Not the ones who matter.”

  Inman glanced down at his shoes as his knee bobbed up and down nervously while he sat behind his heavy wood desk. His knees still hurt from a few minutes ago.

  Unable to control his emotions anymore, Inman lunged at Fletcher. “You impudent shit. I’m the fucking Speaker of the House!”

  Fletcher slammed Inman up against the wall with ease. Then he whispered into Inman’s ear, “Yes, but I’m your maker. I am in control here. Now let’s talk about the legislation.

  Inman didn’t care about the legislation anymore. He wanted to kill Fletcher and gain control over him. He wanted control again instead of only the appearance of power.

  He decided to calm the situation down and talk about the politics. “There is a workable, veto-proof majority in the House. The same is true in the Senate. I still can’t figure out how we have such huge legislative majorities, and the President still stayed in office. Astounding.”

  Fletcher walked closer, and he leaned forward, placing his left hand on the ornate desk. When he did his wrist revealed a solid-gold Rolex. Fletcher caught the Speaker looking at it. “Vladimir Lenin gave it to me for my efforts. Nice isn’t it?”

  “If you are into that sort of thing, then I guess it is,” responded Inman. He was going through the motions now even though all he cared about was revenge at a more base level. In his mind, the niceties of politics were bullshit, and, in that moment, he understood why Lenin was so frustrated.

  Why waste time with useless human endeavors such as politics when you could use your natural superiority to take control over a weaker species? Why use man’s time and man’s constructs?

  “Yes I suppose it is. The president won reelection because he’s likable, and you are not very likable. That is the only explanation. I hate to be so blunt, but you’ve heard this. Besides it is better for us to have a president from the opposite party. It makes this legislation look more legitimate to the people.”

  The Speaker nodded his head, and he said, “I agree Fletcher. I will do my best to call a vote for next week. We should be ready to go by then. Then it is up to the Senate and the conference committees after that.”

  “If you get the bill through the House, then I won’t have any trouble getting it passed as law,” said Fletcher with utter confidence. “Get me the bill, and we will be well on our way to creating a very ‘makeable’ population once the vampires from the prisons emerge.”

  Speaker Inman scoffed at Fletcher’s arrogance. “You certainly are confident Fletcher.”

  Without missing a beat Fletcher responded, “I have every reason to be. Just deal with the legislative end. Leave the important war to Vladimir and me.”

  Chapter 21

  Valkyrie wondered how many more vampires hid waiting for the right time to come out of their coffins. She decided to go deeper into the tunnels starting under Foggy Bottom again the next night. She went by herself. There were likely quite a few vampires still down there. The better question was: how long had they been here?

  She needed to destroy vampires, but she couldn’t do it alone. And Roland, Magnum and she weren’t enough either—not against these numbers. She didn’t even know what the numbers were, but they were substantial. She had no doubt about it.

  Going down here alone was risky.

  The construction projects housing the human trafficking victims were a great cover. No telling how many vampires were made and ready for the war because human trafficking was so difficult to track.

  “I see you found us,” said a raspy voice from behind her. She jerked around to see a tall, lithe, female vampire figure with white, tattered rags rapped around her. As the woman walked towards her, the rags fell off to reveal a pallid and veiny, yet muscular form.

  Tall for a female vampire, thought Valkyrie.

  “That’s because I am from Northern Europe. I’m of Viking lineage, although they didn’t call them Vikings when I was one.”

  Valkyrie hadn’t spoken to the woman, but the woman could read her thoughts. She glimmered her; she had the rare gift of being able to read minds through glimmering, an often unknown use.

  “Yes, I’m very old. I will save you the thought. Once we reach a certain age––I’d say 500 hundred or so––we can read most any human’s thoughts.”

  Valkyrie drew both silver stakes. “That doesn’t bother me. It means you will know how you are going to die before you die, and that means you will suffer more. You will die in fear.”

  The creature laughed. “So confident. I know that is to mask your fear. You know I am superior to you.”

  “So you say,” said Valkyrie.

  “So I know.”

  Before she knew what happened, Valkyrie was inside the coffin of the vampire she killed a few minutes ago. Her silver stakes had fallen to the side out of reach.

  “I’m going to bury you alive,” said the vampire as she held Valkyrie’s right arm back. Without thinking, Valkyrie drew her small silver knife from a wristband on her left hand. She’d been in enough fights to know the importance of keeping a hidden back-up.

  Valkyrie jabbed upward, and pulled the small silver knife from a scabbard on her wrist, cutting the vampire’s throat. “I didn’t have to think about that one. Instinct can’t be glimmered, bitch.” Then she picked up one of the silver stakes with her right hand and stabbed the vampire through the heart. She would never forget the look of shock on the monster’s face.

  “Your arrogance will be your species undoing,” she said.

  As she picked up her other stake she heard rumbling, and she saw dirt start to fall off the top of the passageway as hands began to poke out of the walls. Vampire hands, she thought.

  She turned and ran like hell. The time had come.

  Chapter 22

  Vladimir Lenin had attempted vampire takeovers in the past, most notably with the Khans. In fact, he’d made the Khans vampires, but it didn’t work out. It couldn’t be sustained. The gains made didn’t last.

  Conquering an enemy was one thing. Controlling them was quite another. And he didn’t want another temporary takeover. He wanted total dominion over humans, and he would use the freedoms Americans cherished against them.

  But this didn’t mean Vladimir felt complete confidence. Only a fool would feel total confidence for something that had never been achieved especially when everything had to go perfectly according to plan for his objectives to be achieved. Understandably Vladimir’s supreme confidence was tinged with a little trepidation.

  My bloodline could be weaker and depleted, he thought. But then he would it would be strong enough. Besides, he couldn’t wait for humans to learn the truth because vampires would lose the element of surprise.

  “It is time,” Vladimir said as he looked out the top floor window of his posh, K Street office. He could get used to living in Washington. It wasn’t quite Paris, but what is? Nevertheless he possessed more raw power than any city since Rome at the acme of the Roman Empire. He wanted to recreate Rome, but he wanted vampire humans to rule it.

  “Speaker Inman is frustrated, and I know he doesn’t like me,” said Fletcher. “I’m a little concerned about him.”

  Vladimir, who had been facing out the window and ignoring Fletcher, turned around and started at Fletcher coldly. “I’m not worried about him. He’s a loose end, though, and one I will have to deal with at some point. But not now.”

  “He d
id push through the bill. We will get the other bills through.”

  “I know that! Your system of government is easy to figure out. It is no different than the Roman system. You people are just as greedy, and not a whole lot has changed. Horse trading is horse trading. I’m always astounded by how you Americans talk about your virtue. It is such a bucket of shit. The only virtues are power and dominion!”

  Fletcher blanched and stepped back, afraid of the ire spewing from his maker. Even though Fletcher believed in the cause, Lenin would not hesitate in removing him as an obstacle were he to get in the way of Vladimir’s plans.

  Vladimir calmed, his usual placid demeanor returning to his face as quickly as his fiery temper had flashed.

  Vladimir felt closer to his goals than ever before, and this both thrilled and horrified him. What if I don’t succeed even though everything is cutting in my favor? Can I regroup again? He quickly dismissed these feelings of self-doubt. He needed to banish the self-doubt from his mind.

  “Fletcher, sometimes I let my emotions get the best of me. I know it is a weakness, but we all have weaknesses even vampires. I know it is hard to believe. Anyway, we will figure out a way to deal with the speaker, but he is still useful. Such arrangements are not necessary yet.

  “I would like hourly reports from each of the key locations. If everything goes according to plan in Southern California, New Orleans and Washington, the vampires from under the ground and those coming from the private prisons and human trafficking will converge and take over the cities.We don’t want humans to rise up too quickly; they won’t see the entirety of the threat until it is too late. Once we have the critical mass of sixty million vampires, we will have enough to control all humans.

  “We should be able to turn thirty million just in the first three locations. The next three locations will be Chicago, Atlanta and New York.”

  So many weapons. So many changes, thought Fletcher. But these weren’t really changes. He saw things that had always been there but hadn’t been apparent to him. Becoming a vampire had made him much more aware of his surroundings and of the world around him. Life abounded on earth, but so too did the undead. How ironic, he thought. The undead will have dominion over life.

  “Let’s start with Washington.” Lenin closed his eyes and bowed his head to the ground. Then he rose his hands above his head and threw his head back. He started to levitate, and his skin turned a reddish hue and seemed to glow like hot stones. “I call you forth all my children!”

  The building shook, and Fletcher felt an almost magnetic pull. He heard screeching as if there were hundreds of animals caught in traps. And the screeching grew louder.

  Lenin didn’t want to wait for the Vampire Restoration League to give its approval, and he would be going about it without their approval. But he couldn’t wait for them.

  He would use the vampires he made in the human trafficking locations near large cities. He would start with Washington. The private prison vampires would be used too.

  But the vampires from the private prisons had no transportation to Washington. They couldn’t all walk from Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. That would take too long, and it would give the humans time to regroup. They weren’t strong enough yet to fly like older vampires. And flying would make them visible and easy to be shot down.

  They didn’t have much time, but they had more time than humans, who were oblivious—at least for now. And time meant everything, even to vampires who might live forever.

  When Monique finished servicing Vladimir Lenin, he felt relieved, almost numb. His mind was clear. He thanked Monique and sent her out of the K Street office. As she left, he said to her, “Stay inside Monique. You don’t want anyone turning you into a vampire.”

  “Only if it’s you,” Monique said in English tinged with a French accent. Vladimir thought a French accent could make any language sound sexy. Of course, Monique’s soft, moist lips could do no wrong. They were the most perfect lips he’d seen (or felt) in his three-thousand-year plus existence. And he’d seen and felt many.

  Vladimir didn’t love Monique. He didn’t love anyone, but he certainly felt drawn to her in ways he was never drawn to other women. She let him have other playmates, and she was never jealous, yet she remained faithful. He believed she got off on the idea he had so many women. Some women thought that way. He’d certainly seen those before; he preferred this kind of woman. None of his wives had ever felt this way unfortunately, and he’d given up on the idea of marriage over 1,000 years ago. He found it to be a boring and trite institution. Unnatural, too.

  Fletcher Turner walked into Vladimir Lenin’s office. “I watched the video feed of one of our vampires killing two soldiers in the tunnel under the White House. Those cameras really work. Magnum staked the vampire though.”

  “Just two?” Lenin was indifferent to the staking of two vampires.

  Fletcher smiled as Vladimir smiled. Vladimir was pleased. “He tried to move in a stealth manner, so that’s the reason for the low kill rate.”

  “I see,” said Vladimir. “ I’m pleased we made such deep penetration with one vampire. I may need to reassess my vampire to human ratio especially in light of our weaker than expected—yet still superior––vampires.”

  Vladimir laughed abruptly. More of a dismissive laugh, which exemplified his true contempt for humans. He viewed humans with a controlled rage, rage he felt because humans did not deserve to have dominion over the Earth. The natural order of things required vampires have dominion.

  “Now is the time to go after the president because they won’t be expecting it.”

  Fletcher smiled. He’d been waiting for this too.

  “How are things in Southern California and New Orleans?”

  “Not as good as we want,” said Fletcher. “That’s only likely to get worse once the humans mobilize better, and it appears they are doing that because we’ve seen more military personnel and vampire hunters attacking prisoners and human trafficking vampires advancing towards the larger cities.”

  Vladimir glowered, and he jerked his head away from his computer monitor, which he had been studying while talking to Fletcher. “Care to elaborate?” he hissed.

  “Oh...sorry sir. We turned one-hundred thousand vampires in South Central Los Angeles initially. These vampires have started to move quietly into more affluent areas, and we feel they will be able to spread into the valley and down to San Diego once they take Los Angeles.

  “They aren’t as strong due to the shorter incubation period.”

  “What do you mean? They are still better than humans,” hissed Lenin.

  Fletcher remained calm. “They aren’t as fast or as strong as we’d thought they would be. Do you think maybe your blood has been spread too thin?”

  As soon as he finished the statement, Lenin had Fletcher pinned up against the wall. His eyes shone red with rage as if blood boiled inside he eyes under a hot flame. “Listen to me you little shit: my blood is superior. It is always superior even if somewhat depleted compared to its normal state. No one ever said this would be easy, but we are the fucking superior species. We are going to win this time.”

  Fletcher struggled for breath. All he could manage was a slight, “Yes sir.”

  Vladimir smiled; his emotions changed back and forth so quickly. He’d been more erratic than usual lately, almost desperate and unhinged. “It appears we are ahead of schedule. How are we doing on our media suppression?”

  “Nero owns eighty-five percent of the mainstream media outlets. You were smart to purchase the majority of these outlets years ago as it is buying us more time. What we can’t control is the Internet, and there are stories all over the Internet about the ‘vampire outbreak.’ Most troubling is Twitter. There are millions of tweets from Southern California. Several have show actual vampires biting people. The first few pictures were viewed as jokes. Not anymore though. We think President Elder will make an announcement.”

  “Can we black out Southern California and
make another reason appear plausible?”

  Fletcher straightened, emboldened by the suggestion. “I thought the same thing, sir, and I believe we can. Do you remember the blackout several years ago in Southern California?”

  “I do. Maybe we could have a terrorist attack?”

  “Yes we can. We have some Taliban vampires willing to help with an attack and to take credit. They’d love to help. We weren’t able to work together on 9/11, but we tried. If coordinated properly, 9/11 could have helped us.”

  “I agree, but this will be our day, so to speak,” said Lenin.

  “Funny how I had to become a vampire to make a difference in the world.”

  Vladimir let out several barks of laughter, and Fletcher walked out of the room. Vladimir sat back in his chair, and he swiveled around to gaze out the window. With an out stretched hand he said, “This will all be mine soon.”

  Chapter 23

  The media seemed obsessed with the Medicaid bill as if no other story mattered. Lenin designed it this way.

  Vampires surfaced everywhere, but in Washington more than any other city because so many were buried there and had been for decades.

  Similar stories played out in New Orleans and Washington.

  Valkyrie remained in the metro tunnel; she didn’t know how long she’d been down there. She felt the ground all around her rumble, not just the coffin of the vampire she killed. “Okay, what the fuck is this?” she said. She ran towards the faint light at the end of the tunnel. No metro would be coming this way. No metros would be running for a long time, she thought.

  She pulled a flare gun from her backpack, and she shot a flare about fifty feet in front of her. The red light illuminated the tunnel, and in this light she saw greyish creatures stumbling sleepily out of the walls. Hundreds of them peeled out like kids out of bunk beds and bees out of a hive. But bees didn’t sting like these vampires did.