Shining in Crimson: Empire of Blood Book One (A Dystopian Vampire Novel) (13 page)

"Are you all right?" Ishan asked.

"Uh, yeah.
A little shaken, I guess, but I'll be just fine."

"Good."

"Is he dead?" Hank asked, looking at the vampire's frozen expression.

"No, at least not ultimately."

"Why did he lunge after me like that? I was under the impression that you were some kind of leader here," Hank said, beginning to doubt Ishan's promises.

"I am. This was a case of fledgling blood lust. You see, Mr. Evans, you would have given him his first quickening. He can't have been infected more than an hour or so now."

"Infected? Are you telling me that this is some kind of disease?" Hank asked, pointing down at the unconscious vampire's bared fangs.

"No, Mr. Evans, not quite exactly," Ishan said in a tone that told Hank it would be in his best interest to be silent a while. Ishan reached out and picked up the body with one hand and gently set it over his shoulder, stood up, and turned to face Hank.

"Shall we?" he asked, stretching his free arm forward in a "right this way" gesture. Hank obliged, reluctantly.

* * *

Jeffrey only meant to take a five-minute nap before he fell asleep. Now he wondered just how long it had been since he sat at his desk with his now-cold cup of coffee. It was a strange sounding alarm that woke him. He looked at the glowing computer screen in front of him to see what time it was and what was going on. Most of the screen filled with a giant red font that read: "Warning: Five Hour Threshold Complete." He cursed as he realized he’d slept for three hours. He would really be lucky to keep his job. He should have notified his superior once the three-hour threshold had been crossed, let alone the five-hour threshold. In fifteen years, no one had ever reached the three-hour threshold, so he never dreamed it would become a problem.

For a split second, he wondered if he should try to wait it out in the hopes that whatever lucky son of a bitch made it this long wouldn't last much longer. Then, his more reasonable side won over and he picked up the phone, almost dropping it from his sweaty palm. He dialed Chuck Lotinger's number as his finger kept shaking over the buttons. As soon as he touched the last button, the dull drone of ringing began to sound from the ear piece. His heart seemed to swell with anticipation as he waited for his boss to answer the phone. After the fifth ring, a groggy, angry voice answered.

"Somebody had better be dead!" Chuck growled over the receiver.

Jeffrey swallowed hard. Chuck wasn't a fun guy to talk to under normal circumstances. Jeffrey was unsurprised to note he would be even more unpleasant in this particular situation.

"Well, sir, it's Jeffrey. Actually the problem is more that someone is still alive." Jeffrey heard some commotion over the phone and then Chuck replied.

"Are you talking about what I think you're talking about, Mr. Avery?"

Jeffrey cringed hard as he went to answer.

"Yes, sir.
I know I should have called two hours ago. I fell asleep, sir. It's never happened before. It won't happen again," Jeffrey explained in desperation.

"You're damn right it won't happen again. Start tracking vitals. I'll be there in less than fifteen minutes. You'd better hope for your sake that this guy doesn't become the first to make it to sunrise!" Lotinger hung up, leaving a dial tone buzzing in Jeffrey's ear.

Jeffrey put the phone down in a daze, wondering how he would tell his wife he lost his job. Then, it dawned on him that he could be charged with futility for this mistake. After a few minutes of freaking out, he snapped out of it and followed the orders Chuck had just given him. Hopefully, this man wouldn't last. He typed in the command
LV
to bring up the man's current vitals. The cursor spun to show the computer working.
Connecting...
appeared on the screen. When the vitals from the man's wireless implant finally came up, Jeffrey did a double take. The man's adrenaline level went beyond a lethal level and his blood pressure was surprisingly normal. An adrenaline reading like that should have raised the lucky bastard's blood pressure to a critical degree. His heart rate was mostly normal as well.
Slightly elevated, but no more than if he were simply walking.
As he got toward the bottom of the readings, Jeffrey came to brain activity. Those numbers were even more insane than the adrenaline reading. What was happening to this guy? It was like he was on some kind of super PCP or something. Only PCP had been pretty much nonexistent for 17 years now. It was wiped away with all the other illegal substances in the cleanup that followed the initiation of the Empire.

When Chuck arrived at the station, Jeffrey could barely contain himself as he spouted off information about Henry Evans's vitals. Going back through the logs, he found the man's adrenaline and brain activity had jumped back and forth several times throughout the night from normal to the plateau he was at now and back. He went over the data with Lotinger, who listened keenly. Then Lotinger asked the very question Jeffrey had expected.

"Have you run diagnostics on the implant, yet?"

"Yes, sir.
Everything came back fine. Unless the diag software is corrupt, this data is the real thing," he said, smiling wide. Lotinger looked back down at the computer printouts with a worried expression.

"You think it could be anything other than a drug?" Lotinger asked, still staring at the paper.

"I don't know, sir. At first, I figured they made him into another bloodsucker. But his heartbeat is too normal for that to be the case. Plus, I don't know what to make of his vitals bouncing back to normal every once in a while," Jeffrey explained, pointing out readings in the logs on the computer screen. "It's as if this guy is some kind of Incredible Hulk or something. Almost every time his heart rate starts to accelerate, bam! It just goes right back to normal and everything else goes crazy."

"Well, Jeffrey, standard protocol would dictate we hit the kill switch on this guy. But I think you'll agree this situation warrants some investigation first. Don't you think?"

Jeffrey fought back the aggravation he felt. Chuck had purposely frightened him with the possibility of losing his job and maybe even his life. They would have just killed the poor bastard anyway so there hadn't been anything to really worry about in the first place. But he straightened himself up and spoke reasonably.

"It's definitely worth keeping an eye on. Maybe this man knows something we don't," Jeffrey said.

"Exactly.
I had better make arrangements to inform Lord Caesar," Lotinger said. Then, he got up and walked out the door heading off to the left.

Jeffrey let out a long sigh. Then, he took a sip of his cold coffee as he looked over more of the logs. He was surprised to note that, just in the last hour, the subject’s heart rate had almost faded out completely. But then, it went right back to normal and there was that crazy jump in activity again. Only this one wasn't following a rise in heart rate. The man was almost dead.
So much for the Incredible Hulk theory.
Jeffrey began to look back through the data for any other signs that could help to explain what was going on. Then, he noticed, looking back through the different occurrences of
plateaus, that
the rise in heartbeat couldn’t have been the cause directly. There was too much variation in the amount of time and speed that the rate changed. The more he looked at the data, the more he couldn't help but think it had to be some kind of drug. Whatever it was, it seemed to be happening on purpose.

When Chuck came back in Jeffrey's office, he was talking on his cell phone. It sounded like he was explaining the situation to the Emperor. Jeffrey tried to wait patiently and not interrupt but had always found
himself
unable to keep from blurting out important information when someone was on the phone.

"...yes, sir, it seems to be coming on whenever the convict's heart rate accelerates. Yes, sir. Uh-huh. I'm sorry, sir, can you hold on a second? Mr. Avery seems to have something he needs to tell me," Lotinger said, angling the phone away from his mouth and focusing his attention on Jeffrey.

"Actually, sir, I've found evidence that leads me to believe it's happening by choice and not in direct result of stress. I think it might be some kind of..." Jeffrey broke
off,
noticing Chuck's attention seemed to return to his phone.

"What was that, sir? Of course, sir, not a problem," Chuck said, smiling into the cell phone as he reached into the inside of his coat and pulled out a large revolver with a silencer attached. Before Jeffrey could even stand up, he heard a slight ping sound come from the barrel as it pointed at his head. The last thing he saw was Lotinger continuing his phone conversation as if nothing had happened.

* * *

As Hank walked alongside Ishan, he was surprised to notice he wasn't afraid at all. He knew Ishan could easily crush him without a doubt. He also knew that, even if he drank all the blood he had left, he wouldn't be fast enough to run away. He looked curiously over at the vampire walking and carrying the one who Ishan called Simon.

"Is it difficult for you? To move at such a slow pace for me to keep up?" he asked.

A slight smile began to form on Ishan's face.

"It's actually quite refreshing. I haven't taken a walk at such a pace for many centuries. To tell the truth, I had forgotten the novelty of such a walk, seeing the stars sit still above my head for once," Ishan said, looking up at the sky and laughing in nostalgia.

"So, how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?" he asked.

Ishan looked surprised.

"Why do you seem so surprised by my question?" Hank asked.

"It's just that... if anyone else had ever wondered such a thing,
be
it human or vampire, they had not the courage to ask. Though I would have gladly answered," he said. "When I was still human, time was not measured
so
precisely as it has been for many centuries," he said.

"So, you don't know how old you are?" Hank asked with great interest.

"No, no. I do. The idea, really, the numbers are arbitrary to me. I was not born into a world with a precisely wound clock branding each moment in time with a number of reference. The human calendar is simply a mortal attempt to gain power over that which is always and forever his undoing. Ironically, in doing so, he enslaves himself even more to Father Time and his unmerciful will."

"So, you're avoiding the question then?" Hank asked, unimpressed.

Ishan laughed.

"Most vampires have less intuition in all their years. Yes, I never thought after all this time that I would feel, well... embarrassment at the thought of telling someone my age. Maybe it's because you are human. As one who walks in darkness, I should feel proud," he said as he re-positioned Simon's limp body on his shoulder. "Not long after the venom filled my veins and I could only walk in darkness, I entered the city of
Rome
, a youthful Indian boy intrigued by the concept of a constitutional republic. But the
Roman
Republic
was then still newly buried under the dirt of its successor."

"Ancient
Rome
?"

"Yes, ancient," Ishan said and the word
ancient
sounded like acid on his tongue.

"Wow, that's what? Two thousand years? But wait, wasn't
Rome
an empire like
America
?"

"Not then. Like the
United States
,
Rome
was once a republic based on a constitution, checks and balances, and senators.
Senators who were also hunted down and murdered."

Hank took all this in slowly, trying to imagine these things. He could barely remember when his home had been called the
United States
. Mostly he remembered the years of chaos. He had a vague memory of singing in unison in a large room with a large crowd of people. He didn't remember most of the words but he knew they had been important somehow. As the skyline of the city began to come up seemingly from the ground, Hank remembered three words from that song, now long forgotten. Let freedom ring.

* * *

"Flight 307 is ready to board," said a delicate voice over the intercom. Chuck Lotinger got up from his seat and made sure his suit was still smooth and wrinkle free. Then, he picked up his briefcase containing all the information on Henry Evans he had compiled as the Emperor had directed him to. Whatever was going on with this man sure had the Emperor worried. It was certainly out of the ordinary to have him kill an imperial employee, let alone use public transportation as a means to carry out a secret mission. But it was all in good fun and hardly a problem for Chuck. He knew secrets. After all, he had been promised the reward of a lifetime and was not about to pass it up. Not to mention the other reward he would get if he happened to find that this man Henry had managed to live through the night. He was counting on it. He wanted the man to live just so he could kill him with his bare hands, knowing that he was killing a man even the vampires hadn't managed to kill.