After the Fall

by Martinez, A. J.

  All I needed to do was follow the sound of off-pitch singing broadcasting from upstairs. It was a very bad rendition of “Whiskey in the Jar.” She was dancing and prancing around, swinging around the columns like a monkey. The spectacle was so hilarious I couldn’t help but stop and watch. I could still hear all the guests saying their goodbyes to Lucretius downstairs. They all did their best to ignore the noise.

  “Oh, Mordy! How are you doing this fine night?”

  “Not as good as you, I bet. What are you doing up here?”

  “Oh. I was just, you know, it was so boring down there. I had to go somewhere and let loose.” She picked up a goblet filled with blood and drained it. It slipped off her fingers and shattered on the floor. “Oops! Careful, there’s broken glass!”

  “Yes, I gathered. How about we get ready to go? It’s getting late.”

  “Late? Well, we can sleep here. Can’t we, Luke?”

  He stood behind me at the stairs, his arms crossed and a stern look of reproach on his face. His hooked nose made him look rather like a menacing hawk.

  “I’m going to guess no. Come on, Rayna. Let’s take you home.” I reached for her arm and she snatched it away before stumbling over to a life-sized statue. It was Anna, the Mother. She knelt down and put her head on her feet.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I could have done better.”

  “That’s enough spectacle for the night.” He turned to me. “I was meaning to pull her aside to speak to her, but there’s no use now. Take her home. I will send word to her in the morning.”

  “About what?”

  “Of her assignment. Please, just take her home. Good night.”

  Lucretius watched me carry her downstairs and drag her out the door. He got ready to leave as well. This wasn’t his house any more than it was ours. This house, this palatial museum, had belonged to Anna Thorn herself.

  I dragged her over to the car and set her in the backseat. She grabbed hold of my collar and took me with her.

  “Hi, there. How are you doing?” she said with that candid smile only the utterly crapulous can manage.

  “I’m just fine. Would you mind letting me go?”

  “What if I don’t?”

  “I suppose you’ll have to let me go at some point, or I can just lose the shirt.”

  “Ooh, I like the way you’re talking!”

  “No, not like that!”

  “Oh. You’re no fun.”

  “Yes, that’s me. Will you let me go now?”

  “It’s gonna cost ya.”

  “What’s gonna cost me?” Before I finished asking, she locked lips with me. She wrapped her arms and legs around me and gave me a savage kiss. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it, but it was all too sudden.

  She wouldn’t let me go, so I kissed back until she relaxed. I took advantage of the opening to squirm out of her death grip and shut the car door. While she was trying to register what just happened, I sat up front next to the driver and instructed him to drive home.

  Hangover Morning

  The next morning found me back on Rayna’s couch. Even though there was a whole bedroom where I could have slept, I was comfortable here. I felt reluctant to treat myself like a guest because I wasn’t. This whole arrangement had been forced upon her. For what reason, I do not know. The council had a mind of its own.

  She came out of her door groaning and cursing. Right now, she looked like one of the living dead, shuffling downstairs and shielding her eyes from even the faint electric light. As much as she had drunk, I wondered if there was any blood in her or if it had all turned into alcohol.

  “Good evening,” I said with a smile. It was wrong of me to provoke her, but she deserved it.

  “Take your good evening and shove it where the sun don’t shine,” she fired back at me. It was far from unexpected. She ambled over to the kitchen and poured herself the contents of several of the blood bags into a large glass.

  Her phone began to ring. She covered her ears and started to groan in pain. I answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Mordecai, good to hear from you. Did you two arrive well?”

  “Well…enough,” I said, earning myself a glare from Rayna.

  “Good. Is she available? If she is, would you be kind enough to get her to the phone?”

  “Sure. Here she is.” I handed the phone to her.

  “Hello?”

  They spoke for a minute or two. She mostly answered back with one-word sentences and tried to argue, but Lucretius seemed unwilling to take no for an answer.

  “Fine. I’ll get ready to go.” She hung up and walked back up to her room. When she came out, she was fully dressed with backpack in hand.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Out. Why is it any of your business?”

  “It’s not. I was asking, that’s all.”

  “Well, you can butt out. I’m going for a few days. You can stay here, but don’t think you have free rein. And stay out of my bedroom.”

  “I’d never dream of it,” I said. Her eyes flashed in anger.

  “Oh, and about last night? It didn’t happen.”

  “What didn’t happen?”

  “You heard me. Nothing…happened…last night.” She downed the rest of her glass and walked out without saying another word. Despite her denials, something did happen last night, although what that was, I could not tell you. It was probably just the alcohol talking. I could have been anyone else and she would have kissed him anyway. Maybe even Lucretius. I let out a shudder.

  It was just me alone in that apartment now. The next time I saw Lucretius, I’d have to thank him, maybe give him a hug. Okay, maybe just a thanks will do. A few days without Rayna sounded like bliss, and I was determined to enjoy every minute of it.

  The phone rang. I knew it was too good to be true. Maybe she was calling to check up on me, make sure I wasn’t wrecking her precious apartment. I would talk to her, assure her that I was just having breakfast. She would say not to eat all her food, and I would tell her I would find a way to replenish it. Naturally, she would scoff and say goodbye, if she was even polite enough to do that. Maybe she’d just hang up. I picked up the phone, fully prepared to deliver my part of the dialogue.

  “Hello?”

  “Mordecai.” It was Lucretius.

  Anathorn's Treasure

  Lucretius asked me if Rayna had left, and I told him that she had just departed. I carelessly asked where she had gone, but he skirted the question. He asked me if I could come back to the house for another visit.

  “Alone?” I asked.

  “Yes. You do not need a sponsor for this.”

  “If I may ask—”

  “You will learn everything in good time. Just be out front and ready for pick-up in an hour. I will send my driver for you.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “Good. I will see you when you get here.”

  We exchanged the necessary pleasantries before hanging up. Old World creatures that we were, we needed our etiquette and protocol.

  The driver was pulling up to the curb at five before the hour Lucretius had announced. He seemed a little worried behind that window when he passed me. I got into the back and stretched myself out in the backseat.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t tell him you weren’t there exactly on the hour. In fact, my clock is a little fast. You got there exactly on time.”

  He looked in the rearview mirror and gave me a grateful nod before driving off. I knew how ruthless Vampires could be. Humans became surly as they aged. Their temperament soured over the years. I believe it was the same in Vampires, who walked the Earth long past the time any human expected to live. The cumulative effect of this would be someone I would not want as my boss, someone who might have me lashed because I was five minutes early instead of being on time.

  The driver took me back to the residence and dropped me off at the curb. I heard the tires chirp as I walked to the front door. The driver
was in no hurry to linger. I picked up the large brass knocker and tapped it against the door a few times. Someone must have tweaked the door’s acoustics, because it sounded like I had struck a sledgehammer to the door several times. The butler should be at the door any minute now.

  “Mordecai! Right on time. Come in,” said Lucretius. He ushered me in to the dark house. All the shutters had been pulled down and the lighting was at a bare minimum. I wondered where all the servants were.

  “I’ve let all the servants go for the evening. It’s just you and I. I’m afraid if you want something, you will have to get it yourself.”

  As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the house came into wondrous view. The dim lights shining from the lower levels gave it that eerie look, lengthening the shadows up the wall. This was especially true for the skulls as they stared down with their eyeless sockets with that eternal grin.

  Lucretius locked the front door and ushered me into the hall where we had our party the evening prior. He took care to lock the double doors as well. One lock at the top of the door, one at the bottom, and the final one in the middle. This was starting to make me nervous.

  “May I ask what this is about?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” he replied, walking over to a wall on the far side. “Come,” he beckoned.

  The marble pattern was exquisite, but there was one tile that was slightly off pattern. Lucretius pressed his hand against it. It took considerable force, but it yielded and slid upward. What was left was a safe dial and lever combination.

  “Turn around,” he said. I did as told and heard the safe click and ratchet as he turned the dial to the correct numbers. I knew he was finished when I heard the lever turning with a hefty click. I turned back around and saw the door disappear into the floor. Beyond the wall was a spiral staircase. I knew this was where we were supposed to go, but I hesitated. That Vampire sense of danger, our version of the “spidey sense” was tingling. He motioned me to it and down we went into the darkness below.

  Faint LED lights came on as we walked, lighting our way to the underground. I was amazed at the wonders of technology. Oil-soaked torches had given way to electric lights that endured even in this post-Fall world, where resources were so precious. After some distance, the door closed automatically, leaving us bathed in the dim glow.

  The stairs corkscrewed their way far into the ground, much farther than I would have imagined. This must have been some kind of bunker. Perhaps this was even the place where we made our stand and began to reclaim the world.

  We descended several stories before stopping. More lights turned on as we descended, brought to life by motion sensors. The stairs behind us dimmed back to darkness. It gave the illusion that our presence was magical. The thought of little magic sensor-activated lights amused me.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “It’s nothing, really.”

  The little “magic” sensors activated and turned on the lights in the large room beyond the stairwell. I was amazed at the cavernous size of the room. The place looked like a mausoleum. It felt sacrilegious to walk inside. Surely there must be some ritual to perform beforehand.

  “Why are you standing there? Come in.” I obliged and walked down the stone path to the center of the room. It was a hollowed out dome with a jagged stalagmite the size of a building at the center. Lucretius walked up to it and knelt before it. I decided to follow suit.

  “Lucretius…and our new visitor, Mordecai. Arise,” said the faint voice from within the tower.

  I could see the figure through the opening. A woman was sitting on some kind of throne, covered by some kind of veil. By the look of her long, thin fingers and claw-like fingernails, she must have been very, very old.

  “I have brought you the newcomer as you bade me.”

  “Very good. Step forward, newcomer.”

  I did as told.

  “If I may so bold to ask, how may I address you?”

  “You are speaking to the Queen, the Mother. Her name is Anna Thorn, mother to all our kind.”

  The queen’s face was obscured by the veil, but her eyes glowed like twin turquoise gems. It reminded me of a cat spying me from the shadows. What did she have to hide? I imagined a hideous mummified face under the veil. Even Vampires experience a form of aging. It is not so much a breakdown as a crystallization. Even as you become stronger, you slow down. You economize your movements much the same way a cat or a lizard does. As more time passes, our innate weaknesses diminish. It might be possible that our Queen and Mother might have become impervious to sun and fire, although I doubt she will take an invitation to fire-walk in daylight anytime soon.

  “I hide my face because it is my choice and that is all you need to know.”

  My eyes went wide. I was caught in the act of thinking the wrong thoughts. Apparently, the Queen was a telepath.

  “I forgot to mention about the Queen’s ability,” said Lucretius.

  “Please forgive my undisciplined mind. I meant no offense by it.”

  “Keep your thoughts and your words in line, Mordecai. I do not take insolence lightly.”

  “This is the part where you shut your mouth unless she wants an answer from you,” said Lucretius. I nodded and kept my eye on the Queen herself. She stared at me for an uncomfortable minute.

  “Mordecai…Johahn…Gottlieb…most pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  Suddenly I felt violated. I couldn’t feel her in my mind, not the way you feel another person in the room with you, but I knew she was in there. The machinery in my brain started working hard to hide my secrets. It was instinct to resist, but that was a bad idea. A flash of pain ran through my head and I felt like someone that is pinned with his arm behind his back. I had to cry “uncle” and let her do what she pleased.

  “Very interesting. You’ve lived a fairly long life, Mordecai. Fruitful, too, at least as good as can be expected in these days.”

  “Thank you, my Queen.”

  “There is something that bothers me. After a certain point, your memories cease to be accessible. What happened to you that day you entered the town of Jericho?”

  “I became ill and was down for a few days until I was able to feed on the woman who visited me.”

  “Perhaps the hunger took much out of you. But you were fine after that?”

  “As good as ever.”

  “And that woman. What became of her?”

  “She is dead now.”

  “I see. That’s fortunate.”

  “I’m sorry, my Queen?”

  “It’s fortunate for both your sakes. There are too many Vampires in this world as it is. We cannot allow the strain to become greater than it already is. That is why I set forth a decree. Those who become sires without authorization forfeit their lives as well as the lives of their fledglings.”

  I gulped. “If you put it that way, it does sound fortunate.

  She stared me down for another minute or so. It was more invasive this time. I could feel her in my mind, the cold, clammy tendrils of her consciousness probing into mine, searching for something.

  “You’re very peculiar,” she remarked. “There is something different about your energy. It’s almost like you’re not one of us.”

  Lucretius backed away from me. His eyes became fire and I swear he would have taken a swipe at me if he had been carrying a weapon on him.

  “Stand down, Lucretius. I did not mean it like that. He is of our kind, that much is plain to see.”

  Lucretius straightened his suit and stared at me, but he did not look convinced. His wary eyes betrayed him. “As you wish, my Queen.”

  “Now, the question remains about what to do with you, stranger. I’m not sure I have a place for you here.”

  “All my talents are at your disposal. I am sure there is something I can do here.”

  “He has proven to be a valuable foot soldier already, my Queen. His efforts prevented an ambush the other night.”

  “Indeed…clearing the
fields is a noble effort, like many others. For example, repairing sewers, sweeping streets, and cleaning toilets. It’s all good, honest work. Not luxurious, but necessary.”

  “Yes, my Queen. It is necessary and it has brought us to where we are now.”

  “I agree that it has, but I think you are not fit for that work.”

  “Beg your pardon?” I replied.

  “It is a waste of time to have you there.”

  “Ah. That sounds much better now that you put it that way, my Queen.”

  “Be quiet, you insolent dolt!” shouted Lucretius.

  “Hey, Luke, relax a bit. I meant nothing by it,” I said to him.

  “I will have you flayed and throw your remains out in the sun.”

  “That will not be necessary,” said the Queen. “Mordecai, come closer.”

  I walked up to the throne. Lucretius started to follow him until the Queen held up her hand. “Not you, Lucretius. Just wait a moment.”

  His indignation was palpable, and I could feel his eyes burning a hole on my back.

  With every footstep, the Queen came into greater detail. I could see that her skin was smooth and her features were far from deformed. Her face was a smooth porcelain statue, and just as cold and inexpressive. Still, I could not make it out through the obscurity of the veil. It bothered me that I wasn’t able to see her. I’m sure that was intentional. One does not get to be the ruler of the most ruthless species on Earth by accident.

  “There, that’s enough. That’s a good boy.”

  Being spoken to like a child would normally rub me the wrong way, but I could feel just how ancient she was.

  “My Queen, it is an honor, but I must ask—”

  “Shut up and come closer,” she snapped. I felt I had no choice but to do as ordered. I walked up until I was just a step away from her. She stood up to face me and still I could see nothing. The veil shimmered. What kind of witchery was this?