Blood of Gold (21 page)

Hoss began to feel as though he was being submerged under a cloud of suspicion. It was clear which way this was going.

“Even if he is guilty,” Combs said, “does Hoss deserve the death penalty? Look how young he is! I would think a warning should be sufficient. Or perhaps banishment.”

Hoss looked around the table, and his heart sank. Combs’s words had had the opposite effect of what he’d wanted, unless finding Hoss guilty
was
what Combs actually wanted. It was as if the plea for leniency had merely confirmed Hoss’s guilt. There probably wasn’t a worse tactic one could use in front of a group of vampires than to plead for mercy, especially since most of these vampires didn’t have a compassionate bone in their bodies.

In the end, when the vote was taken, it wasn’t even close.

The guards entered the room. Hoss looked over at Combs, who shrugged regretfully.
Yeah, thanks a lot,
Hoss thought.
I don’t know why, but you probably set this whole thing up.

Resigned, he held out his hands for the handcuffs.

The lights went out, and the room disappeared into darkness. There were shouts in the outer chamber, then the sounds of a scuffle and bodies hitting the floor. The door burst open and a dozen vampires entered the room, led by Jared. Jimmy and Pete were in the group, and they grinned at Hoss. Jodie followed them in, her eyes shining with excitement. There were more vampires beyond the door, and Hoss sensed that there was a small army of them outside. It was the entire crew from the IT room, along with a few other young vampires Hoss didn’t recognize.

“Let him go,” Jared said, pointing at Hoss. His voice sounded theatrically commanding. Hoss almost laughed at his overacting, knowing it was just a façade, but the guards didn’t know any better. They looked confused and glanced toward Peterson, who had his hands under the table.

“You can press the alarm button all you want, Vice President Peterson,” Jared said. “All the electronics in the building have been turned off. It’s just the Council of Vampires and us now.”

“This is outrageous!” Peterson shouted. “Treason! I’ll make sure you all die for this!”

“You aren’t in a position to make threats, sir,” Jared said. “I have more than a hundred followers outside this room, all of them sick and tired of the way you folks are running things. I don’t think you want to fight all of us.”

“On the contrary,” Combs said. “I believe we will indeed have to fight all of you.” The words weren’t overly loud, but they seemed to fill the room. Combs stood up, and though he was shorter than anyone else present except Hargraves, he dominated the gathering. “As much as I regret it, I have to agree with Councilor Peterson. This coup cannot be allowed to stand, or all will be chaos. You and your fledgling followers have underestimated us, young sir. Any one of us on the Council can take on a dozen of you. You will lose, do you understand? Back away now and we’ll let you live.”

Jared squared off with Combs, with Jimmy and Pete at either shoulder. Jodie stood just behind them, delighted that there was about to be violence, but none of the other three looked confident. Hoss could see the older vampire tensing, as if ready to leap.

“Stop!” Hoss cried. He’d believed Combs when he had said the older vampires would make quick work of the younger ones. Hoss had heard the certainty in his voice. “I submit to my punishment!”

“That won’t be necessary,” another voice said.

Fitzsimmons squeezed his way through the intruders, dressed in his finest suit and looking none the worse for wear, though perhaps a little more gaunt. “I’m back…” he hesitated, then said, “… from America. What I learned there has made all of this unnecessary. Stand down, everyone. No one will be punished because of the events here today. It will be as if it never happened.”

Combs relaxed first. “President Fitzsimmons, welcome back.” He shrugged and sat down, then looked over at Hoss and smiled. He raised his eyebrows as if to say,
Well played.

Everyone seemed to realize it was over except Peterson. “You!” he shouted. “How did you…”

“Yes, I have returned,” Fitzsimmons said, cutting him off. He walked over to the white-haired vampire at the head of the table and put his hand on Peterson’s shoulder. Peterson seemed to shrink under its weight. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my chair back,” Fitzsimmons said. “I’ve been told you’ve done a splendid job while I was gone, Peterson. You can be sure I will be rewarding you soon for your efforts on my behalf. Very soon.”

Peterson got up and moved to one side, but didn’t take the seat to Fitzsimmons’s left. He hesitated, as if wondering whether he should leave or stay and fight. He looked defiant, then scared, and finally, deflated. As he turned to go, Fitzsimmons grabbed the cane out of his hands. “You won’t be needing this anymore,” he said. “I think I can find a use for it.”

Peterson looked from the sword cane to Fitzsimmons’s face and then back to the cane, then hurried from the room, not looking back. There was the sound of another scuffle in the next room, and a muffled cry. Fitzsimmons ignored it. He brought down the head of the cane on the table as if it was a gavel and said, “The world has changed, and we must change with it. A new kind of vampire exists, and we will soon have to make a choice as to whether to try to ignore them or join them.”

“There is a third choice,” Combs said from the other end of the table. “We can resist them.”

“You haven’t seen these Golden Vampires, but Hoss here has, haven’t you, young man?” Fitzsimmons asked.

Hoss had sunk into a chair in relief. Jimmy and Pete made their way over to him and stood behind him. Jared was positioned near the door, shifting from one foot to the other as if unsure what to do next.

“I think we should invite Jared into our consultations,” Hoss said, “as well as some of his followers. This Council needs the advice of some younger, more tech-savvy members.”

“Agreed,” Fitzsimmons proclaimed, slamming the sword cane down on the table again. “Come, sit beside me and be my advisor, Jared. I’ll be glad to listen to your advice. Meanwhile, Hoss, please tell us about Terrill and his followers. I want to know everything you know.”

Hoss rose to his feet. He sensed that Fitzsimmons wanted nothing but the truth, so that’s what he told: how the vampires with blood of gold could walk in the daylight and were stronger and swifter than any other vampire.

“How wonderful!” Belinda Hanson exclaimed. “Can you imagine what we could do if we could move about during the day?”

“But at what cost?” Hoss asked. “They must vow not to harm humans, no matter the provocation. I don’t believe that most of us can do that. And if you are given the blood of gold and you aren’t sincere, it
will
destroy you.”

Most of them had already heard this, but there was still a moment of silence in the room. Very few of them had the inclination to stop feeding on humans.

“I have read this
Testament of Michael
,” Combs said. “I believe it is a dangerous path that will lead to our extinction. We mustn’t give in to the humans or pretend to be like them.”

“But what can we do?” Hanson said. “Terrill is beyond our reach. We cannot control him.”

“Perhaps we cannot,” Combs agreed. “But I have discovered that Terrill is not the only new kind of vampire. Just as the Wilderings appeared suddenly, I have learned that there has arisen another breed of vampire. Evolution has worked in the opposite direction as well. These vampires, whom I call Shadow Vampires, are equal in strength and power to the Golden Vampires, but are more savage yet. They are creatures of the darkness who will protect all of us, and who will look after our interests. They too can walk in daylight. We do not have to change our ways.”

Even Fitzsimmons seemed surprised. “I have not heard of these Shadow Vampires. How do you know they exist?”

“Because I am one of them,” Combs said.

He had been standing, his head barely reaching the top of the chair behind him. Now, it was as if he grew; but it wasn’t his body that grew, but his shadow. His body faded into the blackness. Even in the dark, the other vampires could see his shadow lengthening and growing, and the councilors on either side of him scrambled out of the way. Combs’s voice began to change, as if it was coming from deep inside a well, cold and distant, yet loud and clear.

“Vampires will have to choose. There will be no middle ground. You must choose the darkness, the everlasting eclipse, the void that dispels the light. If you do not, you will become useless, creatures at the mercy of the humans; or worse, so-called Golden Vampires. All vampires will have to take a side and take the test, and those who fail or chose wrongly will be destroyed.

“But those who join the Shadow will own this world, and between us, we will bring down the eternal darkness. Those who oppose us will die, and those beneath us will be our food.”

Hoss looked around the table. He understood at that moment that his dreams hadn’t been fantasies. Somehow, he and he alone had been granted a vision of the future––or only a possible future, he hoped.

Most of those present were caught up in the words of the Shadow Vampire. A few seemed troubled and were trying to hide their reactions, but Fitzsimmons was nearly levitating in his excitement. “I don’t need to wait,” he cried. “I will join you now!”

The shadow lifted off the floor and floated over the table. The other councilors scrambled back, afraid to be touched by the void, but Fitzsimmons stood waiting with shining eyes. The black mantle settled over him, and there was the familiar sound of blood being sucked, and Fitzsimmons cried out. The muscles in his body contracted, and he fell forward onto the table and started shaking. He flopped over on his back, then tensed one last time and grew still.

No one moved. The darkness seemed to be commanding them to be still.

Then Fitzsimmons gasped.

When he arose again, he was part of the same shadow as Combs, and his voice had the same coldness. “The Council of Vampires is now dismissed. You are no longer of any use to us. Soon you will be given a choice: you will join us or be destroyed. You may try to hide, but we will find you eventually.”

Hoss saw Combs behind Fitzsimmons, as if the president of the Council was his puppet and Combs was speaking through him. “We will be leaving for America,” he said, and the sound echoed as if they were in a vast cavern. “Terrill and his abominations must be destroyed.”

Fitzsimmons turned to Hoss. “You are going with us, Hoss. You will be our guide. Soon you will be allowed to join us, or you will be discarded, like the rest of this soon-to-be-extinct species.”

Chapter 20

When Terrill first noticed the young-looking vampire, he was seated at the back of the audience. He was chubby and quiet, with a scraggly goatee and mustache, and long hair tied back in a ponytail. He seemed to be both listening and not really listening, as if he wanted to be present and yet run away.

Every night, Terrill had one of his “discussions” (he refused to call them sermons). He didn’t think much about the ponytailed vampire at first, but the guy began to move closer and closer to the front as the days passed, his expression becoming more and more intent, until Terrill found himself speaking directly to this one listener, as if he represented everyone Terrill was trying to reach.

“All vampires will soon have to make a choice,” Terrill said. “To stop preying on humans, or to forever become creatures of the night, hunted and scorned. They must choose the light or remain in the dark.”

“But why is it wrong for us to kill humans?” the ponytailed vampire asked. Everyone grew quiet, and from that reaction, Terrill realized that others had been watching the vampire’s progression the same way he had. It was the first time he’d spoken since he’d joined them.

“It is a simple concept: to kill is evil. All vampires kill. Therefore all vampires are evil,” Terrill explained.

“Are there no exceptions? What about killing in self-defense?”

“To kill is evil,” Terrill repeated.

The other vampire shook his head. “We aren’t human. So why is it evil to kill them? Why is it any more evil than it is for humans to hunt and kill deer, for instance?”

“As
The Testament of Michael
says, we were born of humans, and therefore we are part of them.” Terrill almost hated himself for quoting the
Testament
, but it often said things better than he could, and it seemed to add authority to his words. “We must learn to live amongst humans or we will be destroyed.”

“Why?” It was a blunt question, and one that none of the others had asked; at least, not so directly.

“Humans become ever more numerous, their weaponry ever more effective,” Terrill explained. “Their information and communication systems are nearly instantaneous. We have fewer and fewer places to hide.”

“But hasn’t it always been so? Surely we can adapt, as we have always adapted. You yourself formulated the Rules of Vampire, which have helped keep us hidden.”

“We are hidden no more.”

“Oh?” The ponytailed vampire sounded skeptical. “I’m not so sure. I believe most humans
still
think we are a myth. My own parents––I tried to show them how I had changed. All they could think to do was take me to the doctor to see if I had a blood disease! I bet if we lie low, they’ll forget all about us again.”

“The Wilderings have eliminated that option,” Terrill said. “There are constant outbreaks, all over the country.”

“So we eliminate the Wilderings. We impose the Rules of Vampire so that no more are created. Each vampire becomes responsible for those they Turn, and suffers the same fate.”

“Come here,” Terrill commanded.

The ponytailed vampire approached with his head down, as if embarrassed to be the center of attention. The crowd parted silently for him. There were usually about fifty or so followers at any one time, nowadays. About one in five would ask to partake of the golden blood. The others would drift away, still in doubt or outright rejecting Terrill’s message. Many came to him and pleaded that they were too weak, that they could not stop hunting humans. He hadn’t insisted on it… yet.