by R. J. Blain
While I didn’t like the idea of someone going through my apartment without me there, I did appreciate avoiding the trip—or leaving my illegal laptop where someone might find it and get too close of a look at it.
“Yes. I can’t think of any other way to get the information on those women. The public databases haven’t been updated, and they probably won’t be. The government might provide a list of the deceased to help smooth the transition, but I doubt it. It’s pretty obvious those who have vanished aren’t coming back.”
“Eaten by their dae or taken over,” Rob confirmed.
“Hell, Rob, I still worry I’m on some mass hallucinogen sometimes. Vampires taste like candy,” I wailed.
“I should start running a protection racket for the vampires. If they pay me, I’ll make sure you don’t steal their blood,” Rob teased.
“Bite me,” I hissed.
Growling at me, Rob struck fast and hard, nipping my neck before I could fend him off. A laugh burst out of me. “So tempting,” he murmured, his lips brushing my skin.
“I surrender. No more, Rob. No more. We’ll die.” I giggled, wiggled free of his grip on me, and claimed my new bathrobe. “I hope Kenneth is so raw tomorrow he can’t walk. His stupid dae, too.”
“Ouch, Alexa. That’s harsh.”
“Deserved.”
“Deserved, but harsh.”
“Are you sure we couldn’t have just poisoned them?”
“You’re really out for his blood, aren’t you? I could have poisoned them, but then it’d be very obvious. He’ll likely suspect I did something to the champagne, but he has no way to prove it, especially when he saw me pouring a glass for you.”
I sighed and held my hands up in surrender. “You said you had someone bring my laptop? I may as well fill out the basic application so I can get this show on the road. If I’m going to ruin his life, I want to get a head start. After, to bed.” I paused, narrowing my eyes as I watched Rob. “To sleep, and I don’t mean like that.”
“I’ll be making a few plans of my own while you do that, then.” Rob slid out of bed, headed to his closet, and pulled out another bathrobe. “You’re not the only one who is going to be playing this game, Miss Daegberht. If you’re going to be our eyes on the ground, I want to be ready to act, too.”
“Are you sure we can’t just drag him into a dark alley and get rid of him?”
“Patience. We ruin him first, then we drag him into a dark alley and get rid of him when no one cares he’s gone. Let’s not invite more trouble than we need. He’ll be gone soon enough. We need to bide our time and be careful. There’s no point in winning if we’re executed along with him.”
Rob was right.
I grumbled curses and wondered why everything had to be so difficult. “I just want him out of my life.”
“You and me both, Alexa. You and me both.”
By noon, I had an invitation to interview with the police bright and early the next morning. For a long time, all I could do was stare at the reply, torn between worry and wonder over their rapid response to my application.
“They’re either desperate or there’s a serious lack of qualified people,” I muttered, turning my college-issued laptop to show the screen to Rob.
The dae smiled. “Or they have your file flagged, knowing you’re an exemplary student, intelligent, and beautiful.”
“Flirting will not win you any favors, Mr. Lucrage.”
Rob scowled at me. “You’re going to call me that a lot, aren’t you?”
“For every single time you Miss Daegberht me, I will Mr. Lucrage you. It’s only fair.”
“I suppose there are advantages to you addressing me formally when we’re working in public. It’ll maintain appearances. Unless, of course, you want to be known as my kept woman.”
I flinched before I could stop myself. “I don’t think so, Rob. Equals or nothing.”
“You have a lot of work to do then, Miss Daegberht. I’m expecting exceptional things from you. A reputable career working with the police is a very good start.”
What a sneaky, devious, and positively wicked man. “Watch it, Rob. Maybe they’ll give me handcuffs to go with the gun.”
His eyes widened, and he sucked in a breath. “You have my attention.”
Of course I did. He appreciated any time I indulged in bedroom creativity, and he didn’t care if I ruined one of his precious ties in the process. “Do you think they’d let me take Colby in as a partner?” I made a thoughtful noise in my throat and went to check on my macaroni and cheese roommate. It was on the pillow in the guest bedroom with an empty apple bag beside it. “We use alcohol to go on a bender. It uses apples. Colby’s out cold.”
“How can you tell?”
“It’s not moving on the pillow?” I tilted my head to the side to watch my roommate. “Okay, I will acknowledge it is extremely difficult to tell if Colby is still among the living.”
“I’m pretty sure taking Colby to your interview would be a disaster in the making. I’ll watch it while you’re gone. If you’re nice to me, I’ll even get another bag of apples.”
“Can it overdose on apples? Maybe we should find something else to feed it.”
“I’m sure Colby is fine, Alexa. However, I do think it’s a very bad idea to take it to your interview with you. They’ll ask questions. Its limited vocabulary would make answering said questions difficult. Not all dae can translate.”
“You can.”
“I’m special.”
“Others can, too!”
“They’re also special. We’re portal dae. We’ve been around the block a few more times than the newborns.”
I spun on a heel and pointed at Rob. “Explain yourself. You’ve mentioned portal dae before. What’s the difference between you and the so-called newborns?”
“All right, all right. Come sit. I’ll try to explain it, but you’ll need to be patient. It’s complicated. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about how to explain this to you for a while. You’re at a pretty big disadvantage as an unawakened.”
I scowled and joined him at the kitchen island, which created a boundary between the main living room and the kitchen, hopping up on a stool. “The fact the Earth’s population magically took a beating is complicated. Add in the fact most people can now breathe fire, and I’m pretty confident in saying the world has gone straight to hell in a hand basket. Talk. I’ve been patient enough.”
Instead of talking, Rob reached over, grabbed the worn Bible he had taken from the vault, and slid it to me. While I scowled at the idea of getting involved with any religion, I took the book and flipped it open. “It’s your Bible. So what?”
“When I last visited Earth, that book was owned and used by approximately a third of the entire population. That’s roughly two billion people. How many people do you think dare own one now?”
My eyes widened as what he said sank in. I turned the thin pages, tracing my fingers over the printed text. A long time ago, someone had written notes and questions in the margins. “Not nearly as many.”
The government probably knew how many people chose to believe in a religion, but I hadn’t cared enough to think about it.
“The United States considered itself a Christian nation when I last lived on Earth. Times have changed.”
I had always assumed Rob was in his thirties or forties, maybe a little older. I looked up from the Bible and gawked at him. In order for him to remember America when it had been a country torn by religion, he had to have lived prior to the reformation. “Holy shit. I mean, I knew that from the history books. The high number of Christians in the United States was the only reason any religions were tolerated at all after the reformation.”
“Back then, everyone had the right to believe what they wanted. I’d say without prejudice, but I’d be lying. People were not tolerant of others being different from them.”
“The reformation,” I reminded him. “That’s what changed things.”
“I missed the r
eformation. Trust me when I tell you this is not the same United States I remember.”
History had always been a love of mine, and the more I learned about the pre-reformation United States, the more I wondered why the country—and the world—had changed so much. On a historic level, it had been a swift shift. A few hundred years had turned the Land of the Free into a prison.
I doubted anyone knew for sure how and why it had happened, although I had my guesses. Frowning, I flicked at the Bible’s thin pages and listened to the way the odd paper rasped. “I’ve read some about the world before the reformation.”
“In a way, I think the reformation is the ultimate cause of the Dawn of Dae. Sure, it took a catalyst wish to begin, but there’s a universal condition.”
“Explain,” I demanded. “Catalyst wish? Universal condition? What are you talking about?”
“Back up, Alexa. Let’s start small and work up, okay? It’s really complicated, and I don’t want to confuse you more than I’m going to already.”
While I scowled, I nodded my agreement. “Okay. What was the United States like before the reformation? What was it really like?”
“Very different. Everyone owned guns and other weaponry; people didn’t even need a license for hunting rifles. You needed licenses for handguns in most places, but they were easy to get. Religion caused significant rifts among the general population. International trade was stronger, too. Also, America was far more diverse. People from all over the world lived here. Spanish was commonly spoken. The caste system didn’t exist. Every citizen could vote. The Presidency was limited to two four-year terms, and elections were a big deal. It was a democracy, once upon a time.” Rob frowned, staring at me. Reaching out, he brushed his hand against my cheek before taking hold of a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger. “There wasn’t nearly as much of a stigma about couples from different castes being together. Sex was also a lot more… private.”
I giggled at the memory of Rob’s reaction to the brothel. “That explains a few things. Brothels weren’t common?”
“Prostitution wasn’t exactly legal. A frightening percentage of the population believed abstinence from sexual relationships was the only way to prevent pregnancy and disease, too. Birth control was regulated, and people killed each other over their opinions on abortion and women’s health.”
My mouth dropped open. “No way.”
“I was very startled when I learned how commonplace birth control is now.” Rob shrugged and untangled his hand from my hair. “Back then, if you were a poor woman, you probably wouldn’t have had access to health care. You wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”
“Afford it?” I demanded. “But it’s a basic right.”
“It wasn’t then.”
“No way. How could people work and contribute if they were sick?”
Rob tilted his head to the side. “You assume everyone worked, Alexa. Unemployment and difficulty finding work was commonplace. Not everyone was paid a fair wage, either. Homelessness was a bit of a problem.”
Homelessness was a new word for me, and I frowned, trying to figure out how someone could survive without a place to live, even if it was a stealthily acquired flop like Kelsie had. Living in the fringe was hard, but shelter could always be found.
Dead fringe rats couldn’t work. People died often, especially if they risked going out on a winter night, but shelter was always available in a group home. Some people chose not to take advantage of it, but the option was always there. “Homelessness? People didn’t just go to the group shelters? Why not?”
“They didn’t exist like they do now, Alexa. Space was limited or they had to be paid for. Homeless people often had no income and relied on kind souls to give them money or food.”
“How is that even possible?”
“How is it not?” Rob challenged.
I didn’t have an answer to that, which alarmed me almost as much as the idea of people who didn’t contribute. While I gave Kelsie my excess, I’d never believed she wouldn’t be able to scrounge something to eat. I just made life easier and better for her.
Maybe the elite controlled the lower castes with an iron grip, but everyone earned their way—and although it was difficult, people could rise to a better place in life.
I had done it through my sweat, blood, and tears. It could be done. Like everyone else, I worked hard, but I’d proven I had the drive to rise over the rest. “I don’t understand. Everyone contributes. Sure, it’s not fair to those in the lower castes. I know it; I’ve been there. But, no one starves. Everyone has the right to see a doctor. Everyone has a place to stay, even if it isn’t a great place.”
“Homeless people back then didn’t have any of those things. They were usually outcasts from society, too. Unfortunately, a lot of them were retired military personnel. They had outlived their usefulness to the government. Health care was bought by the rich and often denied to the poor—especially if you were a woman. That did change over the years, but it was a violent, bloody endeavor.”
“Violent? How?”
“Mass shootings, terrorism, that sort of thing.”
“Mass shootings? They actually happened?” The idea someone could just get a gun and open fire on crowds had been mentioned in the history books, but I had never really been able to imagine it. Baltimore was pockmarked with the evidence of gun violence, but it always seemed distant and surreal to me. “What is terrorism?”
Rob blinked at me. “You don’t know what terrorism is?”
I tilted my head to the side. “Should I?”
“It’s when someone tries to frighten a large population with the threat of death and violence.”
“So it’s like the police if we break the law?”
“Not exactly. I mean, I suppose you could consider fear of cruel and unusual punishment a form of terrorism, but it’s not what it meant back then. Most terrorism was driven by religion, racism, or some other form of prejudice. One group would announce their intentions to kill or harm the other group. Then they’d launch surprise attacks on the group. The United States was hit by such an attack. Terrorists took control of a handful of planes and crashed them into notable structures in several cities. Thousands died.”
I snapped my fingers. “Like countries threatening each other with nuclear strikes! That happens sometimes.”
“Unbelievable. They’re still using traditional, large-scale nukes? That technology is hundreds of years old. Why are they still using traditional nukes?” Rob threw his hands up in the air. “I give up. I’ll never understand Earth.”
I snorted. “Don’t worry, I don’t understand it either, and I wasn’t born yesterday. How does this relate to the dae?”
“That’s the question of the hour. The important thing is this: when I lived here, people had the ability to freely, without obstruction, pursue their ambitions. Many failed, but everyone had the right to try for what they desired in their lives. Because so many people were actively chasing their dreams and beliefs, it wasn’t a situation conducive to the formation of dae.”
“I think I follow. So, dae are a manifestation of ambition, right?”
“Right. That’s important. Before the reformation, people had hope they could escape their situations and become something new. You’re an exception, Alexa. You’re an exception because you’re exceptional. You’re practically unique.”
“There are three other students in my class who were merit-based, Rob. I’m not that rare.”
“You’re extraordinarily rare, Alexa. How many people live in Baltimore? How many are in your age bracket for your class?”
I blinked, frowning as I considered it. “I don’t know, at least a couple of hundred thousand, I guess? Baltimore’s a pretty big place.”
“Census before the Dawn of Dae reports the Baltimore region had a base population of six million, including all surrounding farmland territories, port districts, and suburbs.”
“Okay. And?”
“Of those
six million, only seven hundred thousand were eligible for admission into the Bach studies program. You are one of four merit-based students for this year. There are over four million people in the lower castes, a little under two million in the middle castes, and the remainder are in the upper castes. Of your group of four, one might make it into the Master program.”
“For someone born yesterday, you’ve done your research,” I grumbled.
Rob’s smile chilled me. “I like knowing the enemy, and this society is my enemy.”
A shiver ran through me. “So what? It’s difficult to make it into the Bach program. Of course it’s going to be hard to make it into the Master program.”
“In the United States I remember, all you had to do to attend school was have the money to pay for it, and if you were smart enough, your college or university would help you pay the costs of tuition. There were mass exams to judge intellect, and all students who graded well enough could go to college—usually one of their choice.”
Once again, I felt my mouth drop open. “Are you serious?”
“Very. The world is a changed place, and not for the better. Gun violence is down, which is a good thing, but the hopes, the dreams, and the aspirations of the people were crushed, packed into boxes, and discarded for a rigid system designed to subdue instead of help people grow. That’s the universal condition, Alexa. Suppressed passions, hopes, dreams, and silent wishes no one dares to express are the catalyst for a dawning. When it reached critical mass, boom! You have the Dawn of Dae. All at once, the suppressed powers of human belief, dreams, wishes—whatever you want to call it—erupted. It’s a bit like a nuclear blast, except instead of radioactive ash, you got the dae.”
I grimaced. Primary schooling had included lessons on the ramifications of nuclear warfare, and it hadn’t been pretty. No one had detonated a large-scale nuclear device in decades, but almost every nation had one. Most cities had at least a few of the devices ready to be armed in case of war with foreign nations, but few people believed it would actually happen.