After the Fall

by Martinez, A. J.

  I wasn’t hungry, but I found myself in hunting mode. Those around me stopped being people and became potential meals. I sized them up and classified them by their ability to fend me off. Generally, a large brawny man would be easier to take down than a small woman. They usually tried to take you on themselves instead of shrieking for help. When pitted against a Vampire, even the strongest human came up short. Even their strongest grappler couldn’t stand being bitten. They would start to panic, lose more blood, then they would become dinner.

  This hunting exercise continued for some time until I sensed someone following me. Every time I looked, they seemed to blend into the crowd and disappear, but my primal mind told me they were still there, still on my tail.

  I went zigzagging through several streets, but I still felt them right behind me. The busy streets that once provided the best concealment now exposed me to my pursuers. The crowd, upset by the commotion, reacted to me and began to clamor. My austere clothing plainly stood out as something out of the ordinary when compared to the frivolous, cosmopolitan clothing that was the norm.

  In a desperate attempt, I went into an alley and climbed straight up the building. I hopped from rooftop to rooftop in the most haphazard manner I could manage. This went on for a while until my endurance failed me. No, I wasn’t out of breath. I was exhausted. My chest was going up and down in rapid succession while air wheezed raggedly through my throat. The only good thing to come out of this was that I had lost my pursuers. There had to be a whole team of them chasing me, using radios to coordinate their efforts. I sat down and leaned against the roof access door. My stamina began to return to normal. I relaxed just a bit.

  “Whatcha doin’ there?” queried the voice. The surprise propelled me to my feet in less than a blink. She smiled and stood face to face with me. I recognized the sharp cheekbones, solid jaw, and deep, penetrating eyes the color of burnt sienna. She had an earthy complexion that reminded me of clay. It was so dark she could pass for a mortal. We Vampires are naturally pale in complexion, but this woman was a rarity. Had I not been able to detect her true nature, I would have dubbed her a hunter with superhuman abilities.

  “Just having a heart attack, if you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all, go right ahead,” she replied. “While you do that, the name is Espinoza, Rayna Espinoza.” She held out her hand and I shook it. She had a firm, embracing grip more typical of a man. There was no tenderness there, just a silent declaration that she could hold her own.

  “Mordecai,” I offered in return.

  “That come with a last name?”

  “No. I have taken names and discarded them as one does a change of clothes after so many years. Even my original name feels strange and alien to me.”

  She looked me up and down. “Well, you do look strange and alien to me. Where did you come from, Mordecai?”

  “Originally or more recently?” Her face told me she didn’t care which one. “I was born in Europe, eventually migrated to the Americas. Last place I called home before the Fall was New York City. After that, I have wandered the landscape, trying to survive.”

  She studied me while she took a long, deep breath. “You’re a good, long way from back East. It must have taken years to travel.”

  “Far too many.”

  The pause between us lingered until it felt uncomfortable, but she seemed to be using the time to size me up.

  “Let’s pretend I believe you for a moment, Mordecai. Suppose I buy your bullcrap story and we roll out the welcome mat to welcome you into Anathorn, then what? Do you have something you can bring to the table or are you just another parasite looking for a free meal ticket?”

  I bristled at the notion. How dare she call me a parasite when I could see plain as the moonlit night that she was the same as me?

  “What do you need here? I’ve walked the Earth for many years. What can I do to make this place better?”

  She took me to the edge of the building. I thought for a second that she was going to throw me over the edge.

  “You see all this, Mordecai? We built all this.”

  “And by we, you mean…”

  “Don’t play stupid. You weren’t made yesterday. I know you’re one of us, so let’s just drop the cute little games for right now.”

  “Fine by me.”

  “Like I said, we built this. We gave them a safe place to live.”

  “So you did this out of the kindness of your heart?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, that’s it. The kindness of our hearts, that’s a good one. We’re the regular do-gooders around here, helping our fellow man get back on his feet.”

  “I never suspected otherwise.”

  “Humans are safe here, mostly. Besides the occasional infected straggler, the only threat they have here is one another. Thieves, murderers, all these people are still around, still causing trouble for the rest of the decent folks.”

  “My favorite kind of people,” I said, flashing my long fangs and relishing in the thought.

  “Especially after they’ve had a few shots of whiskey with dinner,” she added. We shared a laugh. “You’re not as bad as you look at first.”

  “Thanks…I think.”

  “A little scrawny, but you’re funny. Worst comes to worst, you can be our entertainer, keeping everybody laughing all the way to the dinner table.”

  I never saw myself for a comedian or any other kind of entertainer. Like many Old World Vampires, I learned to play the piano and violin, but those were things I left behind during the chaos of the Fall. It was only after a few years that I realized my mistake. Solitude makes a terrible companion, but music can help lift your spirits.

  “Whatever you need me to do. I can put face paint on and be a mime, if you want.” I started to make the classic “hands on the glass” routine.

  “You stop that right now or I’ll kill you,” she replied, reaching for her weapon. I couldn’t tell if she was serious, so I stopped right away. “Besides, you don’t need any face paint. You’re pale enough as it is. As white and scrawny as you are, you look more like a ghost.”

  “Well, excuse me for not eating. I haven’t been living in the land of Blood and Honey like the rest of you.”

  She smiled wide, but it was a disturbing grin. She had sharp fangs on the top and bottom rows of teeth, possibly a genetic anomaly.

  “You got a sharp little tongue,” she said, pulling out her knife. “Suppose I cut it out of your mouth.”

  My heart jumped, but I stood my ground. She may have been stronger than me in my weakened state, but I wasn’t about to let some fledgling upstart intimidate me. She started to laugh.

  “I’m just yanking your chain. Lighten up, there,” she said, slapping me in the arm like we were two old buddies. To her, it seemed like a joke, but I wasn’t sure when she was actually joking.

  “Okay, I’m all lightened up. Any more and I’ll float away.” That last remark launched her into another fit of laughter.

  “You’re cute.” She sheathed her knife. “I think I’ll keep you for right now.”

  “Gee, thanks. You’re so kind.”

  “I can be. Now, why don’t we get off this rooftop and walk around for a while?”

  “Let me check my schedule…yep, I’m available. Let’s go.”

  We climbed down the walls back down to the alley, then headed out into the streets and mixed among the crowd of living. This wasn’t the timid little town that Jericho had been, with its unspoken curfew that sent almost everyone home after dark. Anathorn reminded me of the metropolis that New York had been. With its sleepless living population and nocturnal Vampires roaming the streets, this too was a city that never sleeps.

  “Where are we going?” I finally asked.

  “We’re going to see the Mother,” she replied, offering no further explanation.

  “Who’s the Mother?”

  “Shh. Just wait until we get there, okay?”

  I wasn’t okay with being led blindly down the streets for
hours, but I seemed to be short on choices these days, so I humored her. It was almost dawn when I started to become restless again. I almost asked her when we were going to get there when she brought us to a street reminiscent of Times Square. At the heart of it stood a ten foot tall statue of a woman that looked over the rest of us with a stern, dignified expression. If I had to guess, I would say her features were Germanic. Her eyes seemed to look directly upon us, as if her memory had taken possession of the statue itself. Whoever “the Mother” was, she was definitely European in origin. Inscribed below her feet were the words “In honor of the one who gave up her life to save us all.”

  “So, this is the Mother?”

  “Yes, this is the Mother, the woman who started it all. Her name was Anna Thorn.”

  Welcome Wagon

  Far from answering my question, this created a hundred more in my head. Anna Thorn had obviously been a Vampire, and my best guess was that she had been born or descended from German ancestors, but that was as far as I could venture a guess. That still told me nothing about who she had been, other than “the Mother of all.” Did she singlehandedly save humanity in the name of all Vampires, or was she merely a figurehead? Or was it possible that she was the true Mother of us all, emerged from darkness to save all our kind, sacrificing herself in the process?

  “It’s starting to get light out. Let’s go,” Rayna said. No argument from me. I may not die from the sun, but it would not be a pleasant time, to say nothing of this young one, who would burn to ashes at first light.

  It was almost dawn when we reached the safety of an apartment building. The place was old but showed no sign of decay, just the dignified aging buildings tend to show after a few decades. The sleepy doorman at the desk gave us a cursory nod as we passed. I could tell he was a living man. His brown skin stood in sharp contrast to his white beard. We got into the elevator and she pushed the button to the top floor.

  Oh, the luxuries that we take for granted! All those years since the invention of the elevator left the stairs forgotten except for emergencies or the occasional kill. In the years after the Fall, elevators had become nothing more than stationary boxes waiting to crash down below. The alternate means of going up a building was often infested with ravenous undead that had died trapped in the stairwells. To the unsuspecting explorer, they were an ambush, a deadly jack-in-the-box of dozens of zombies waiting to fall out and tear them limb from limb. I shuddered at the thought.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked. I shook my head and looked forward at my reflection in the brass door, avoiding eye contact with her.

  The ding signaled our arrival on the top floor. I was relieved to be out of this box, but the door did not open right away. Rayna inserted a key into the keypad and only then did the elevator open its doors into the penthouse. I was impressed. This place was extravagant as it was luxurious. It reminded me of my old place in Manhattan before the Fall, before the entire city became a festering den of death.

  “Is this your place?” I asked.

  She scoffed and shot me a scornful look in response. “You really think I’d live in some richy-rich place like this?”

  “I…guess not.”

  “No, I do live here. It’s not bad. I’d rather have a cabin out in the woods, but this is nice. Perks of the job.”

  “What job?” I asked, still lost in the antique beauties of the place.

  “I’m a Guardian. Long ago, when the Mother took back this town, she gave us the job of looking after them. ‘They’re our most valuable resource,’ she said.”

  Smart woman. She saw the future in her mind’s eye and built our kind a bastion where we could hold off the undead. As long as we could hold this place, humanity could stand a chance and so would we.

  “So what exactly does a Guardian do?”

  “We take out the stragglers that wander out this way. The day you showed up, we were on patrol. You looked so bad we thought you were one of them.”

  “I know.” My hand went to the place where she shot me.

  “Sorry about that. I was just doing my job, and I made up for it, didn’t I?”

  “I guess you did, since I’m still around.”

  “Damn right you are.” She punched me in the arm, so hard that I almost tipped to the side. “You’re still weak, aren’t you? We’re gonna have to fix that.”

  She walked over to a large refrigerator. It was more like four put together into one. There were drawers from top to bottom, each one full of blood bags. It was like seeing the Cornucopia. I think I almost heard heavenly music playing.

  “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” She was holding a remote in her hands. The music was still playing from speakers built into the walls. She put down the remote and reached for a few bags. “Here, have some.”

  She started pelting me with the bags. I did an awkward dance trying to catch them all.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it. You’re a scrawny little thing, but you don’t catch too bad.”

  “Thanks again…I think.”

  I ripped the top off one of them and practically inhaled the first two bags, not stopping to savor until the third one. At this point, I was feeling a version of Vampire brain freeze.

  “Slow down, there. You’re gonna get a headache.”

  “Yeah, I think I’m already there.”

  “This isn’t warm food, you know.”

  “I gathered that.”

  She looked down at her watch. “Well, look at the time. I guess I better turn in for a while. You enjoy those. I’ll see you at dusk. We’ll talk some more.”

  I gave her a quick, insincere smile and went back to the delicious food. After all that time in the hospital, I was still ravenous. I finished the half dozen bags and went back for more. By the time I finished, I must have consumed almost half a person’s worth, but I felt good. I felt right. For the first time since my arrival at Jericho, I felt sated, peaceful. I let myself wander over to the couch, where I collapsed. The windows were shuttered and the only light in this place came from the many electric lamps throughout the place. I let myself sink into the plush couch and drift off into a deep, placid oblivion.

  When I came to at dusk, I was still in the same place where I collapsed. I walked back over to the refrigerator and took out another dozen bags. I also found a handy IV tap that I could use to drink from them. One after the other, the bags started going empty.

  “A little hungry thing, aren’t you?”

  I almost choked on the last sip as I turned to reply. “I went hungry for a while. There’s still a ways to go.”

  “All right. Well, you’re not going to sit here all night drinking up my blood. Come, let’s find you a change of clothes.”

  She took me to one of the many spare bedrooms and walked out of the closet holding a complete two-piece suit ensemble. It reminded me of the 1990’s, but with a little bit more edge. I was just relieved the 1980’s hadn’t made a comeback.

  “Try it on,” she said.

  I looked at the suit, then back at her.

  “What? Don’t you like it?”

  “It looks great, but are you going to stand there while I undress?”

  “Oh, you’re one of those panty-waisted boys who needs his privacy. I get it. I’ll leave you alone to it.”

  It didn’t take me long to get dressed, but she didn’t even have the patience to wait that long. I walked downstairs and found her in the living room reading from some old book.

  “Took you long enough,” she said, springing up from the couch. “Let’s see how you look.” She grabbed me and spun me around like a top. “Not bad, for a nancy-boy.”

  I shrugged again. What else did she want me to do, go kill a few men with my bare hands, tear their heads off their necks and drink their blood like a fountain? It was frightening to find that I was not opposed to that. Although I was satisfied, my craving for fresh blood had not stopped. It was like a silent hunter, stalking me at every turn, waiting for a moment of weakn
ess to strike.

  Once Rayna decided the fashion show was over, we left the apartment and went back down to the street. Just when I thought I had been pampered beyond belief with my return to “modern” life, something else came to remind me that we weren’t quite done yet.

  We walked up to the curb and waited. I wanted to ask Rayna the reason for our wait, but I decided to let time tell me instead. I was not disappointed.

  The long, sleek black limousine came down the street and parked at the curb right in front of us. The driver, a young chap in his twenties—at least that was the age he had been when his mortal life ended—got out of the vehicle and opened the door for us. He regarded Rayna with respect and a hint of fear, and I with wary suspicion. Rayna asked that I enter the car first, which I was all too happy to do, this being my first time in the back of a limousine in fourscore years. I did not immediately realize the reason for this. The driver shut the door and took his place at the wheel. Rayna ordered him to drive off. She smiled at me, a gesture I found so discomforting I turned back to the view outside.

  It was exhilarating to be back in civilized times. After all these years wandering the wilderness trying to stay alive, I was back. Rayna pointed out a Rolls-Royce that had somehow survived the ravages of the Fall and was now wandering the streets.

  “Look, isn’t it nice? I’m more of a truck gal myself, but that’s a nice car.”

  “It sure is.” I craned my neck to look at it and the lights went out.

  The Council

  I came to my senses with a terrible headache. The world was still dark, but that’s because I had been blindfolded during my forced nap. I ripped it off and bared all my teeth as I searched for a culprit to tear to pieces. No one was there. I was in some kind of waiting room, sitting back on a comfortable black armchair. Had it not been for the way I had gotten here, I would have just enjoyed my time lounging in the seat. Instead, I chose to get up and seek revenge. I opened the door and was greeted by none other than Rayna herself.