Harrison’s eyes were wide, his head rocking from side to side like a pendulum. “What am I witnessing right now?” he asked, having to nearly shout over the roar of the music.
“I was just asking myself the same thing,” I said.
“Harrison!” a girl yelled through the crowd.
I immediately recognized Amaya from the picture Harrison had shown me on his phone. She looked amazing in a black corset top, strikingly red leather pants, and heels that gave her a few inches on us. Her makeup was dark and severe, making her fit right in with the rest of the women there.
“You made it!” Amaya exclaimed, throwing her arms around Harrison’s neck and greeting him with a kiss on the cheek, leaving a red outline of her lips on his skin.
“I thought you’d ditched me,” he said. “You didn’t tell me there were no phones allowed.
“Didn’t I?” she mused. “Guess it slipped my mind.”
“Amaya, this is my best friend, Sean,” Harrison said, nodding toward me.
We shook hands and she offered me the most captivating smile. Then she glanced toward the nearest bar. “Let me buy you guys a drink. What would you fancy?”
“What I’d fancy is a Jack and Coke, but I’ll just settle for a Coke,” Harrison said, holding up his hand to show the thick, black X.
“Which is why I’m offering to buy,” she said and showed the back of her hand; it was X-free. “What about you, Sean?”
“No way you’re over twenty-one,” Harrison said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Amaya smiled, then turned back to me. “Pick your poison.”
“Guess I’ll have the same,” I said, not really sure what to order since I’d never been able to place a request at a bar before. I wanted something a little fancier than a beer.
“Two Jack and Cokes coming right up,” she said and squeezed her way through clusters of people to slip up to be served.
We stood in the back row of people milling around the bar, some trying to advance while others already had drinks in their hands.
“Didn’t I tell you this was gonna be a good night?” Harrison said.
“It seems promising,” I said, though I didn’t know how promising it was going to be for me. Harrison already had his girl. I was going to have to start chatting someone up or be reduced to the fate of a third wheel.
But as I stood there glancing around the room, I spotted a face I’d never expected to see. Fiona was pushing her way through the crowd, coming from one of the other rooms and heading for the exit. Right beside her was her mother, looking a knockout in a tight black dress—especially for a woman her age. I always knew she was beautiful, but guessed I’d never paid attention to what amazing curves she had.
I turned to nudge Harrison, but he was now standing a few feet out of reach, inching closer to the bar. I didn’t want Fiona to be back in my head again; it’d been hard enough getting her out, so there was no way I was going to call to her. But I wanted one more glimpse before she was gone—possibly forever.
When I searched her out in the crowd again, she was staring right at me, her eyes also wide with surprise and… something else. Concern? Well, I was concerned she was in a place like that too. And with her mother? Well, I didn’t know what to make of that.
After a few seconds, she broke eye contact and leaned in to say something to her mother. I was afraid the woman would turn too, but she didn’t, and they both soon disappeared into the entrance tunnel.
“Here you go,” Harrison said.
Startled, I spun around, almost knocking the extra drink from his hand.
“Whoa; calm down cowboy,” he said with a chuckle, then offered me the drink.
Amaya was at his side a moment later, sipping from a glass of red wine. “What’s got you so worked up?”
“I—I just saw Fiona,” I said. “And her mother.” Then I downed about half the drink in one gulp. My body was shaking.
“Are you sure?” Harrison asked. “It’s dark and could be easy enough to mistake someone else for her. I know you’re upset about how things ended between you two.”
“Oh, is she the ex-girlfriend?” Amaya asked.
Harrison and I chorused a yes.
“Forget about her,” Harrison said.
“I’ll help find you someone better,” Amaya added with a devious smile, then sipped more of her wine.
The problem was, I didn’t want to forget about her. A part of me wanted to chase after her and say… say what? She’d made herself clear. Despite the extent of our past, we had no combined future.
The next thing I noticed was that Harrison and Amaya had paired up in conversation, with me now standing on the outside. With the noise in the room, they talked directly into each other’s ears. Then Harrison playfully kissed her neck; I was already the third wheel and would be forgotten completely soon enough.
However, before I could sulk too much, I made eye contact with a blonde girl several groups of people away. She was conversing with a redheaded friend, both giggling, then the blonde sauntered over to me. Each girl I saw seemed hotter than the last. This one was tall and walked with a seductive swagger, dressing similar to Amaya but without the flare of red pants and with more milky-white cleavage spilling from her top.
“It seems your friends are pretty engrossed with one another,” the blonde girl said. “I thought maybe you could use some company.”
“I certainly wouldn’t turn it down,” I said.
“Good,” she said with a smile. “I’m Taylor. And my friend over there is Lacy.”
“Sean,” I said, and we shook hands. I was surprised at how firm her grip was.
“I couldn’t help but notice you staring at a girl on her way out. Someone you know?”
Initially, I thought it weird that it was something she noticed but decided it wasn’t worth reading into. “What, are you stalking me?”
Taylor gave an innocent laugh. “You’re cute. You caught my eye, what can I say?”
“She was an ex,” I said. “I was just surprised to see her here.”
“It’s a small world,” Taylor said with a shrug. “You want to join Lacy and me? We’ll help you forget all about your ex.”
“Umm… let me check—” I glanced back at Harrison and Amaya, who were now locked at the lips. “Whatever. They won’t even know I’m gone,” I said and followed Taylor back to her friend.
13
Fiona
For blowing off steam, the best place for me to go was the firing range. So that’s where I headed the next morning. I couldn’t believe what I was being expected to do and I didn’t know how I could safely get out of it.
Then I’d seen Sean at the club and my panic hit a whole new level. As soon as I got in the car I texted him to get out of there. I was halfway home—without any response from him—before it occurred to me that the regular patrons weren’t allowed cellphones in the club. When we got home, I almost drove back to Fangloria myself, but ultimately convinced myself to calm down—and that he’d be all right. When I still hadn’t heard from him, I sent a text instructing him to tell me he was okay when he left the club. I finally received a return text around 3 a.m. Stop freaking out. I’m fine. No thanks to you.
I was okay with angry Sean. I just wanted him safe.
I took aim at the target, envisioning Frederick was the humanoid outline and I was pointing the barrel of my Society-issue firearm straight at his black heart. Then I unloaded the whole clip into the target, happy to see the bullet grouping all around the heart, only a single stray hole letting it down. If only I could have taken him out myself; I hadn’t taken my gun along since I’d figured I’d have still had to go through security, but since I didn’t, the next visit could well see me armed.
I retrieved the tattered target and replaced it with a fresh one before reloading my weapon. Just as Vladimir had shown me, I took aim and cut down my phantom enemy. I repeated the process over and over for the next hour, the face I’d envisioned never changing on
my target.
After finishing another clip, I heard shots being fired to my left. I’d been the only one in there on arrival and hadn’t realized someone had joined me. I placed my gun down on the stand and glanced down the firing bays. The next bay was still empty, but the space two down was now occupied by none other than Mallory.
Her gunfire ceased, and in the quiet of the range, she peered over, noticing me looking at her.
“Take a picture. It’ll last longer,” she said.
I huffed in response, not really having an adequate comeback at my disposal and sank back into my bay. The bursts of Mallory’s gunfire returned in quick successions as she worked through her clip.
I tried to focus on my target again, but my next few rounds missed their mark. I had another face appearing on the target, but couldn’t seem to hit her. My arms were shaking as I continued to fire. The holes scattered around the paper, some of them missing completely.
I pulled in the target and crumpled it, but not before noticing Mallory standing behind me.
“And I thought this was something you were actually good at,” she remarked. “You could have maybe taken out everyone around your target. I guess that counts for something.” She smirked and headed back to her bay. “Keep practicing.”
“Maybe if you stood out there, I’d be able to hit you,” I said.
“I think it’s safe to say I could stand out there and be perfectly fine,” Mallory said. “But I wouldn’t want you to have to face that much embarrassment.”
I collected my equipment and stalked out of the range. “See you around,” sounded behind me sweetly, before the door closed at my heels.
It seemed we were right back where we started. I thought we’d made a genuine connection after spending time in Sisters of Mercy, but it seemed to have been all a ruse to get through initiation. She’d executed it perfectly—I had to give her that. But she was one more frustration I didn’t need right now. Why couldn’t Mallory just disappear?
I wandered through North Building, still unable to fully navigate the labyrinth of hallways. The building was quiet in the morning, not usually picking up until early afternoon. The next thing I knew, I came across the control room with its portals to the different station sites. I thought of going to see my father, but since it was early for my scheduled shift, he’d probably have an aneurysm.
As I stood in the hallway gazing into the control room, my attention turned to the nearby wall where I knew another portal was hidden—it was the portal Frederick wanted to find, the one he wanted me to take him through.
I stepped closer to the inconspicuous wall, knowing it had a hidden panel that held a keypad, which led to the mysterious time portal. Standing before the wall, about to reach out, I felt someone was behind me. I cautiously turned, relieved to find Matthew staring at me with a questioning look.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I had an urge to see that all-glass room.”
“The Singularity Room? Where you were first brought?”
“Yeah.”
He stepped forward and wrapped his strong arms around me, then kissed my forehead. “It is a nice view,” he said and kissed me again. “Though it’s not as nice as the view I have before me, but let’s go anyway.”
14
Matthew
I punched in the code to open the hidden doorway leading to the time portal. We emptied our pockets and placed all the contents into one of the lockers by the chamber. Then I grabbed Fiona’s hand and we seamlessly stepped onto the future ParallEarth.
This was the first time Fiona had asked to visit the future, but I knew these revelations hit people at different times. Maybe it was a sign of her finally starting to process the information we’d provided several months ago. Some people never entirely grasped the full meaning and severity of the situation—the true weight of stepping ninety-nine years into the future, what was known to have happened, and how the state of our current world would be changing very soon.
Fiona interlaced her fingers with mine as we walked through the corridors to reach the glass elevator that descended into the Singularity Room. There had been nobody currently manning the control room and I was curious about the transmissions Janice had said were coming from the ground. I’d yet to hear any for myself.
We’d sent several manned capsules to Earth nearly a decade prior, but we’d lost communication with them once they passed through the atmosphere; we never found out what happened to our explorers. Maybe with these new transmissions, we’d be able to find out what became of our men.
Stepping out onto the glass floor of the Singularity Room was always a bit disconcerting, even for me after all these years. It looked like we were suspended within the void of space and could be snatched away at any moment.
Fiona broke our union and walked up to the curved glass wall, gazing out at Earth. She was quiet and the expression on her face hard to read.
“Do you really know what’s down there?” she finally asked as I came to stand alongside her.
“Not firsthand knowledge,” I said. “Only recounts of the chaos and destruction at the end, just as all the nukes were being launched. Then our people observed from here as the explosions continued to ripple across the globe.”
“I’d think life would go on,” she said. “Humans are resilient. Even if the vampires enslaved everyone, it wouldn’t last. There would be a reckoning. The change of power is inevitable.”
“I believe that too,” I said. “But we’re on a loop to return to a more peaceful time. Our people just have to survive twenty-seven years in space—their time of purgatory and penance—before being allowed back and preparing the world all over again.”
“But you’re not really preparing the world. You’re really just gathering the people on your list—the predetermined chosen ones—and escaping with them before everything goes to hell.”
“Maybe…” I said. “But we’ve also tried to do a lot of good during the time we’re here. Not everyone’s predetermined—at least to our knowledge—because the lists are incomplete.”
“I find it hard to believe they’re going to allow a vampire to escape the vampire apocalypse,” she said sadly.
“They probably won’t,” I said.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I’m not meant to go with them. I know at least that much.” I kept my gaze focused on the unknown world below, not wanting to look at her as we spoke about things. “I will be born on that station. I can’t be on there and watch myself grow up. It just wouldn’t work. Having some firsthand knowledge of how the future works, I’d be prevented somehow anyway, so that’s not a battle I’m going to fight.”
“So, is that it? Our time is limited that much?”
I could hear the sorrow in her voice as she wondered what the future held for us. ‘Our time will be limited as long as you remain human and I remain a vampire,” I said, but I knew it was much more than that.
“Look at Ashley and Jack,” Fiona said. “They’ve been together for what—like, fifty years?”
“Yes, and their time is limited.”
“I can deal with the limit of a typical human lifespan. But our people are retreating to the station in about two-and-a-half years. That’s coming fast; it’ll be here before we know it.”
“I understand. I think about it every day,” I said, which was absolutely true.
“Then what’s going to happen to us when that quickly approaching day comes? I feel like I just found you, and I simply can’t lose you so quickly. I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said. “And I love you too much to risk your life on the ground when you can have a long and still happy life in space and return to Earth in 1949.”
“I don’t want to leave you. If you’re determined to stay, then so am I.”
I wasn’t going to fight with her about the decision because I knew it ultimately didn’t matter. Whether she decided to go or stay, she was going
to sacrifice herself for my mother, so she could get through the portal and I could ultimately be born—leading to the start of the next loop in an endless cycle.
“There will be plenty of time to make that decision,” I said. “It’s not something that needs to be decided now. I want to live as much of my life with you as possible, but also want you to have the chance of a safe and happy future.”
“No matter the state of the world, you will keep me safe and happy.” She placed a gentle hand on my arm.
If only that were true.
I pulled her into me, bringing my head down and lightly kissing her neck. The taste of her skin was so intoxicating. I felt my fangs poking out but no longer felt embarrassed by it. I let the tips graze over her skin, taunting my self-control to not bite down and drink the blood I craved.
I’d reached another thirty days and could feel the weight of the chip in my front pocket. Fiona helped me realize I had the control to resist the monster that was my nature.
Fiona let out a slight moan, then turned to kiss the side of my head, actively searching out my lips.
When we parted, I could see tears in her lovely blue eyes. I wiped them away with my thumb. “What’s the matter?”
“I just want you to know how much I love you,” she said, her voice hitching as she spoke.
“I know. I love you too,” I said, wondering what that had to do with her melancholy state. I was concerned but didn’t want to pry, so I held her tight as she continued to cry into my chest.
15
Susan
I headed over to my second apartment, the one kept across town for when I needed to disappear. This one was in a high-rise building and my apartment was halfway up, located on the eighth floor. It was another one-bedroom, but I never slept there. It was just for changing and staging; I’d enter as one woman, leave as another.
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