Black Ribbons

by Chris Slusser

  Piah and Zephan rushed up the stairs too, to see. Both had blood on their mouths. They all did. Piah had killed an old woman in a room on the first floor. Zephan had killed a man on a cot in the living room.

  The house felt empty, like the last house had after the killing.

  “Final Prayers,” Rowan reminded them. They all went obediently back to their victims, folded their hands and said the Final Prayers. It seemed less meaningful this time. More like a mundane habit than anything. What could really make up for the freeing of these souls from their bodies?

  After prayers they all gathered downstairs. A buzz of quiet voices was coming from the living room. Rowan followed the noise. It came from a box. A “television” he knew it was called on Earth. On Raress it was called something else.

  But like all Earth machines it seemed old fashioned to him. He could not figure out how to make it louder. The man on the cot must have fallen asleep watching it.

  A news report was playing. Rowan found a knob that made it louder. A woman in a suit was announcing in an unemotional way, “Police have dubbed the murderers the Black Ribbon Killers, because of the black ribbon left in front of the burned house in Fairleaf, Montana. They say it may be a sort of calling card...”

  “They know of us,” Rowan said. He looked at his brothers' faces. They looked as worried as he felt.

  “We must be even more careful now,” he said. “We must finish here and leave this place.” He walked quickly out of the house.

  “Start the fire,” Rowan said to the men behind him as he exited. Argot and Zephan got out flint stones and began to make flames. Most of the men were out, but Shae and Piah had to leap past the flames on the front porch. The others had forgotten to check for stragglers, in their haste.

  Rowan walked down the stone path from the house, to where it met the dirt road. He slowly got out the spool of black ribbon, unwound a length of it, and cut it with his knife. He let it fall to the ground and said a quick prayer for the people in the house. The others joined him.

  There was a transportation machine standing nearby, what Rowan knew on Earth was known as a truck. Zephan touched it with curiosity.

  “Can we use this to make our journey faster?” Zephan asked.

  “None of us knows how,” Rowan said.

  Zephan found a handle. He pushed it first, then shoved it, then reached underneath it and pulled. The door opened. He looked pleased. He climbed onto the seat and ran his hands over the steering wheel. “I have no idea how to make it go,” he said, almost to himself.

  “Couldn't we find a human and… make them operate the machine to take us to the ship?” Piah asked, in earnest.

  “I fear not,” Rowan said. “Especially now. We have no idea how humans view our kind. They may send up an alert immediately. We could be attacked or captured by them.” Rowan looked sad and thoughtful. “Or perhaps they can't even tell we're not human. I don't know enough about their world to know if we'd be safe.”

  The house was fully engulfed in flames now, and wooden beams were starting to creak loudly and then collapse. The house and all in it were being thoroughly destroyed.

  “We must return to our journey,” Rowan said gravely. “The humans know what we've done now, and I fear they will never forgive us.”

  He took one last look at the burning house, then pulled his hood up over his head and started walking through another big field that led into another section of woods.

  The men pulled their hoods up as well and followed hastily behind him.

  Chapter 4

  Abigail and the man in the library stood in silence for a moment, not knowing what to say or do. Finally, he spoke.

  “Abigail,” he said, “for years I've wanted to apologize for the way we met.” There was another awkward silence. “I am deeply sorry,” he almost whispered.

  Abigail's chest grew tight, a sharp cold pain of sadness stabbed through her heart. She had forgiven him years ago. She had understood. But with him standing here in front of her again, the pain seemed more real and present, not so much a thing of the past. It was hard to forgive him now, though she felt she should. And so she said nothing.

  * * *

  The men had walked through rain for most of four nights. The sky had rarely been clear. Though temperature changes didn't bother them as much as it would bother humans, it was still uncomfortable. The cold, and walking, and sleeping in wet clothing. All the while starving for more human blood.

  They had been afraid to venture into the towns, because their murders had been reported. It also seemed better to go as long as possible without drinking blood. So fewer people would be killed on their way to the ship.

  The men had just made their small tents with sticks and branches and cloaks, and were asleep as soon as they laid their heads down. But Rowan sat awake, on a large rock in the woods. Day had come, but dark clouds threatening rain kept the sunlight from him. Trees around him still dripped big splashes of water from a recent rain.

  He sat, listening to the birds, and wondered about this place. Earth. He had read much about it. But not enough information was available he now realized. He knew of human folklore, about his kind, ones they called vampires. All he really knew to be facts before he came to Earth were that blood sustained them, and only blood, and that sunlight killed them. He also now knew he did have a reflection in a mirror on Earth. But for all he knew a human wouldn't be able to see that reflection.

  He knew that a vampire could enter a house uninvited. He had been hoping that one had been a myth. And it was, thank goodness. He didn't think they would have been able to kill humans if they had had to hunt them down and attack them when they were screaming and wide-eyed with fear. But killing people quickly in their sleep, this they could manage.

  He knew he should get some sleep before night fell again. He crawled under the small tent he had made and went to sleep.

  * * *

  The next night they were walking down a muddy dirt road through farmland again. But they had seen no transportation machines. The houses and barns looked different here. Earlier they had seen lantern lights through the windows, instead of electric lights. They had walked through a village of it. All of the houses seemed to be full of many people. But they had been waiting for a deeper part of the night to make their move on a house.

  Now they came to a simple farmhouse. No lights. Nine beings inside. They crept quietly up to the front door. The rain had been drizzling all night, but had stopped. Rowan tested the front door. It was unlocked. He opened it quietly and went inside.

  Argot, Piah, and Zephan quickly made their way to the first floor rooms, where it turned out there were three teenage boys of various ages. About 13, 17, and 18.

  Rowan, Nephah, Shae, and Gregor crept upstairs. Nephah and Shae went into the room of two little girls and killed them quickly, almost before the girls knew what was going on. They each had on long white nightgowns and sleeping bonnets.

  Gregor and Rowan went into the parents' room and killed them as quickly as they could. Adults always fought more and swung their arms around. Rowan felt the mother's grip on his arm loosen and eventually her arm dropped as he sucked the blood from the neck wound he had made.

  Nephah had gone into a little boy's room, and Shae had gone into the room of a girl of about 16.

  As Shae stepped into the room, the father down the hall grunted loudly before Gregor could drain his blood fully. But it was over quickly. The little boy had heard it too, and screamed, but was silenced quickly by Nephah.

  The father's grunt had made the girl's eyes pop open. The little boy's scream had filled her face with a look of alarm, and she sat up quickly. Then she noticed Shae, dressed all in black, blood on his lips, standing in her doorway.

  She leaped out of her bed and stood on the far side of it. She too wore a long white nightgown and sleeping bonnet. Her face was filled with fear.

  Abigail stared in horror at the intruder in her bedroom.

  “Who ar
e you?” she asked with a shaking voice.

  Shae knew he should put her out of her misery, end it quickly, but he could not. She was looking at him with fear and all he wanted to do was help her. His hunger was less. Would he be diving across the bed for her now if he had not just drunk?

  There was silence in the house around them now except for the shuffling of feet as the men exited the house, having said their quick prayers over the dead.

  Suddenly Rowan walked into the room, probably wondering why Shae was taking so long. He was completely taken aback to see Abigail standing there.

  Abigail let out a little moan when she saw him and put her back to the wall. She slid down it muttering desperate prayers to herself, sitting on the floor with folded hands and closed eyes.

  Rowan saw that Shae was stunned and made a move to take the girl himself, so she could die with her family.

  “No!” Shae said to Rowan, and grabbed his arm. Then he stood between Rowan and the girl.

  “Shae,” Rowan said with utter surprise. “We take families.”

  “No...” Shae said, feeling a bit crazy at this decision he had made. He'd just never had one of his victims look at him before.

  “Fire!” Gregor yelled up the stairs. The men had started the house on fire without them.

  “We must go, Shae,” Rowan said, and made another attempt to get past him to the girl.

  Shae stopped him with a hand on his chest.

  The girl had stopped praying and stood up against the wall again, fear stricken and watching with wide eyes.

  “She comes with us,” Shae said, and reached over the bed to grab the girl's arm and pull her around to him.

  Abigail screamed at the suddenness of this. Rowan was completely shocked.

  Smoke was starting to fill the hallway. There was no time to think.

  “Come,” Rowan said and ran through the smoky hall and down the stairs. The living room was on fire.

  Shae was pulling the girl behind him and she was coughing at the smoke. He wondered why she breathed it in. He vaguely remembered when he was human he had needed to breathe air. But now his body only breathed out of habit, but it didn't need to. He could choose not to breathe in the smoke. Not that it would hurt him if he had.

  Abigail had collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, coughing, and crouched on the ground. Flames were too near to them now. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up and almost carried her out of the house. Even parts of the grass were on fire.

  Rowan was quickly leaving the cut of black ribbon on the ground as he gave Shae a worried look. The other men looked stunned to see Shae leading a human girl from the burning home.

  She was turning around, now that she was away from the heat and smoke. “Mother!” she shouted into the flames. Shae pulled her away. Toward the others. She looked at the group and was alarmed to see them all, but her focus was on the house.

  “Father!” she yelled.

  Rowan motioned for them all to start walking. Shae tried to drag her along. Tears were streaming down her face now.

  “Thomas!” she screamed. “Isaac!”

  Shae tried to cover her mouth as he struggled to move her further down the road. The men were staring in wonder back at him as they hurried down the road ahead of him.

  Abigail shook herself loose from his grip over her mouth and gave out one last soul-shattering cry, “MOTHER!”

  The house was burning too much now for there to be survivors inside. She just sobbed as she stared at the house and let Shae pull her roughly down the road with his arm around her waist. She was so full of emotion she didn't know what to think. Part of her wished she was burning in the house with her family. Part of her still believed she could save them. She wanted to stay with the house, and run from it. And run from the men in black clothing with blood on their lips. Blood from her family they had killed.

  Abigail suddenly felt the light of consciousness go out. She slumped in Shae's arms and fell to the ground. She could no longer stand the pain.

  Chapter 5

  The vampire in the library began to slowly pace. “I hope you understand we only did what we had to do,” he said. “I—”

  “I understand,” Abigail said quietly. “But that doesn't make it right.”

  * * *

  Abigail woke to the sound of boots hitting the ground, over and over. She was swinging back and forth, lying down. She didn't even care. She didn't open her eyes. Her family was dead. That was all she knew. It permeated everything. The fact that she was cold and slightly nauseous meant nothing. That she'd been kidnapped meant even less.

  The vampires were traveling quickly through the woods as they had been for an hour. They had fashioned a sort of hammock from an extra cloak and were carrying her in it. Shae carried the end with her head, behind him, over his shoulder. Piah carried her feet. They had been arguing over what to do with her.

  “Shae, we should kill her,” Piah said quietly, thinking she was still unconscious, but she was listening. “While she's asleep.”

  “No!” Shae said. “I know we can't just leave her because she will alert people to where we are, but we can't kill her either.”

  “We can't take her to Raress, Shae,” Rowan said.

  “I know that,” Shae said a little angrily. “We can just keep her with us 'til we get to the ship, then let her go.”

  “But she'd be miserable without her family,” Zephan said at the back of the group. “It would be kinder to kill her.”

  “NO,” Shae said. “You didn't see her... when she woke up to her family's screams... just... no.”

  They let Shae have his way for now. They walked on for about a half hour and decided to take a break. They set Abigail in her hammock down on the forest floor.

  “We can't kill again with her with us,” Nephah said. “Obviously.”

  None of them had thought of this before. They couldn't let her watch them murder other families. It was traumatizing enough having to do it at all.

  “We will get through this,” Rowan said quietly. “We will make it to the ship, and we will be safe again.”

  Shae was staring at the sleeping girl. Wondering if he could do it after all. Kill her. Probably not with them watching. Probably not at all. He hated needing to kill people for sustenance. He hated being on this planet.

  “We could drink deer,” Shae said, still staring at her.

  “What?” Argot said.

  “Deer blood,” Shae answered. “We see them all the time. We are fast enough and strong enough to catch them. We are faster and stronger than humans.”

  The men just looked at each other. “Can we do that?” Gregor asked.

  “I don't know,” Rowan said. “I was told only human blood would sustain us on this planet. But we could try it.”

  “I will try tomorrow,” Piah said determinedly. He always seemed to suffer the most when they went days without food.

  “We should sleep now,” Rowan said, not wanting the argument to get heated again as it was after Abigail had fainted. Piah had tried to bite Abigail, Shae had elbowed him in the chest. They had had a shouting match in the road. Rowan had quieted them down and had Shae carry the girl to the forest. Where they devised a way to carry her 'til they could decide what to do with her.

  Now Nephah was staring at her too, with Shae. “What if she wakes while we sleep and tries to run?” Nephah asked.

  “We could tie her up,” Piah said, “or to a tree.”

  “We are not tying her to a tree,” Shae said firmly.

  “We can't let her lead them to us,” Nephah said quietly.

  Shae thought for a moment, then said, “Tie her to me.”

  The others looked surprised. He'd been irrational since they'd found the girl, but this was a little much.

  “Tie her to me,” Shae said again, more like an order this time. He untied the rope from the cape they had used to make a hammock, and tied it around Abigail's wrist. He held up the other end for someone else to tie it to his
wrist.

  “Do it,” he said, when no one offered.

  Finally Rowan bent down and tied the rope snug around Shae's wrist. “I hope no harm comes to you, brother,” Rowan said quietly. “Over this.” He stood as he finished tying the rope. He said louder to all of the men, “Come now, let's make our shelters and rest. We want to be hidden before the sun rises.”

  * * *

  The men were asleep and the new day was a dark one. The sky was still filled with clouds. Rowan lay awake, purposely not sleeping. He had waited 'til the men were asleep so he could do what he felt must be done.

  He climbed quietly out of his shelter. The sky was cloudy enough that the sun could not burn him.

  He crept in the dim light over to where Abigail lay sleeping. It would be easier this way, he thought. While she was asleep and the men were asleep. And he could take the blame when they woke, and it would be over. The drama.

  He leaned over her and suddenly put a hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Her eyes popped open. She struggled. He tried to hold her down, but her limbs flailed around and she made a muffled scream into his hand. Her arm pulled on the rope tied to Shae's arm and woke him, just as Rowan had pressed her still enough to sink his teeth into her neck.

  Shae didn't even speak. He just jumped up with a fury and shoved Rowan violently off the girl. His arm pulled her arm with him as he shoved. Almost brought her to her feet.

  The men stirred in their sleep, but no one fully woke.

  “You, of all people,” Shae said. “You agreed we would not hurt her. I trusted you.” Shae stood looking down at Rowan, who was on his knees on the ground with Abigail's blood on his lips, looking exhausted.

  “Shae,“ he said wearily, “I only wanted to save you from misery.” He wiped the blood off his lips with his hand.

  “How miserable would I be if I couldn't trust you?” Shae asked, clearly upset.

  The girl said nothing, just stared at the two of them in horror.

  Rowan stood up and approached Shae to speak more quietly. “It would have been a mercy to kill her as she slept just now.”

  They spoke as if Abigail couldn’t hear them. Or maybe they didn't care if she could, she thought.