Shining in Crimson: Empire of Blood Book One (A Dystopian Vampire Novel) (9 page)

Simon sat down quietly next to his mother, where she had patted the seat in expectation. When it was time for church to start, the Reverend Joseph Bells spoke a powerful sermon on the dangers of the flesh. Simon wished his mother would have actually learned something from it. But this wasn't his first time going through this day. He knew what would happen and if it wouldn't change her ways, what would?

After the sermon, Brother Thompson, the Sunday school teacher, stood up and Simon took his cue to escape from his mother's dirty presence and run to be with his friends in line to go to class. He did his best to enjoy every sweet moment of playing with the other kids. He relished the teacher's lesson about the destruction of
Sodom
and
Gomorrah
. He especially enjoyed the part where
Lot
's wife looked back even though the angel had told her not to and she turned into a pillar of salt. He pictured his mother when the teacher told the story. He wished that God would turn her into a pillar of salt. He felt a great surge of guilt then fought it
back,
reminding himself she deserved what was coming to her. He knew from experience that God punishes the weak and unfaithful.

When they arrived back home, he went to his room and slammed the door as he did many times in those days. He took off his suit and changed into a T-shirt and shorts, telling himself he would just stay in his room while it happened. He found his favorite toys and sat down to play with them. The minutes went by like hours and after what seemed like forever the sunlight finally started to dim outside. Then, while waiting, lying on the floor in his room, he fell asleep, just like he did that very day. He dreamed about hell and demons just like he had that day. He tossed and turned in his sleep and in his dream he held up the cross and the demons kept on coming. He cried out to God to come and save him from them, but God didn't come. They chased him up mountains and through deserts and no matter how fast he would run
,
they were always right behind him. Then, he tripped over a large rock in the desert and fell on his face. The biggest demon looked down at him with its blood-red face and its black goatee and smiled as it reached out to grab him. He woke up in a cold sweat and made a mild whining sound, the same as he had that day. And just like that day, that was when he heard her screaming.

He didn't have to listen to recognize his mother's voice. He knew it was coming. He wanted to stay in his room but something pulled at him. Some force he couldn't resist. It pulled him up to his feet. Then, it pulled him to his bedroom door and made him open it. As the door opened, the screams were no longer muffled and began to fill his room. Then, it gave him a push and he started walking out into the living room just outside his bedroom. The sound of growling made him jump. When he landed, just like that day, his feet made a loud thump on the old, hardwood floor. His mother's screams stopped. She pled in a whisper.

"Please," she said. "Please don't hurt my son," she added, her voice almost breaking out of the whisper.

"Don't worry baby, I only came for you," a deep voice returned in a mocking whisper.

"Then please, don't let him find me like this.
Please, go away" she begged, barely holding on to a whisper.

"No," the voice said loudly.

A rush of loud movement began and Simon heard bed springs creak violently as the man's voice breathed loudly and deeply. Then, the voice moaned. His mother made no noise at all. Then, after a few minutes, Simon thought he heard a faint whimper from her as the bed creaked even louder. The force that pulled him seemed determined to make him relive this nightmare all over again. He could feel it pull him toward the hallway just past the living room leading to his mother's bedroom.

He knew what he was about to see. He’d seen it hundreds of times throughout his life in his worst nightmares. He never saw all the man's face.
Only the teeth behind that vicious smile.
And the black eyes as they stared back at him. Everything else about the man, in every nightmare, had been a blur. The real memory long since buried in his brain. The force pulled him to the left and into the hallway. The sound of movement echoed off the narrow, paneled walls as Simon walked barefoot down the hall toward his mother's room.

He could see the door at the end of the hallway. It was currently ajar. Light spilled out onto the hallway floor from within the room. The floor creaked again as he walked and his mother whispered a prayer, stumbling over her words. The creaking and the man's moaning voice continued as if nothing had changed. Simon felt an anguish fill his body in anticipation of what he was about to see for the second time. He felt like he was crying but when he put his hands to his face, it was completely dry of tears. When he got to the door, his hands reached out against his will and pushed the door forward. He fought with all his will but his hands just kept on pushing, until finally the door went wide open.

There before him someone he hadn't expected to recognize laid on top of his mother. The monster had messy blonde hair and a vicious smile Simon wouldn't forget this time. Peter. Peter had raped his mother all those years ago. He looked at her and saw the pleading in her eyes. Peter only smiled at him, continuing his assault. But for the second time, Simon felt only hatred for his mother in response to those pleading eyes. How could she let him do such a thing and not fight back? He was sure she enjoyed it and only pretended to be unwilling. It was, in Simon’s eyes, what she deserved.
Even as horrible as it was to observe.
But even more, he hated this vampire who not only raped his mother, he now knew, but also took his life and forced him to relive this hellish night once again. Though he was sure Peter couldn’t have done these things knowingly to him, it made no difference to Simon.

After what seemed an eternity watching this traumatizing scene, everything around him began to glow again. There was another red flash and everything changed. Now he was just one year older, in his living room, standing and watching the television as his mother sat right up in front of it, watching intently. She smoked a cigarette, sitting Indian style with a large round, black ashtray on the floor in front of her. Simon knew immediately what he was watching. It was the first of many live evening press conferences called by a man named Joseph Caesar. Joseph Caesar was the leader of a militia called the Seven Seals of God. On the TV, he raised his arms to hush the large crowd and began to speak as Simon listened with excitement.

"I am the lamb of God," Joseph Caesar said. "I have been found worthy by the Lord of all of heaven and earth to break loose the Seven Seals of God and open the scroll of life!" he yelled as he beat his fists on the podium before him. Simon felt a chill of pride run through his entire body. This was much better to relive than what he’d just endured. Right here, he was reliving history in the making. He was watching the first step marking the beginning of events leading to the Empire. There before him on the screen, speaking behind a podium to a crowd of reporters and
spectators,
stood
America
's future Emperor. Simon could hardly contain the pleasure filling his heart. As he listened to Emperor Caesar continue his speech, Simon noticed the glowing again. He didn't want to go.

Regardless of what he wanted, next came the red flash taking him somewhere new in another time. It was dark and explosions erupted all around him. He was wearing his camouflage fatigues. One of the devil's men came out from behind the remains of a black truck. The man wore United States Army fatigues. These were the wolves in sheep's clothing. Caesar had taught his army this. The
United States
had turned away from God. Its government had abandoned him and Joseph Caesar and the Seven Seals of God had brought about God's
great war
, Armageddon, against them. It was the last war, Simon knew from reading his bible. It would bring about the peace on earth that God had promised.

Simon pulled the trigger of his fully automatic Ak-47, bringing the man down in an instant. He watched with hatred as the man twitched for a moment then went utterly still. Then, Simon moved forward, stepping over the body, looking for more of them. He kept an eye out at all times for bloodsuckers. Ever since the war broke out, they seemed to be everywhere. They no longer tried to hide except in the light of day. They often attacked men from both sides. The constant spilling of blood had brought them here. He knew now, though he didn't then, why some of the vampires seemed almost human while the others were anything but. It was mostly natural vampires attacking men as they fought for the fate of the country. Either way, he hated them all the same.
Except for Peter.
Simon hated Peter even more. The sound of explosions echoed in the distance as Simon walked onward beneath a gigantic concrete bridge towering over him. It looked almost black in the moonlight. Simon was just about to look behind himself when the glowing started again.

Everything became brighter in a brilliant white glare until flashes of red began occurring rapidly at random. This time they brought only images of different times and places in his life. He saw his father slamming the front door when he left for good. He saw his mother in her coffin on the day of her blessed funeral. He saw each and every face of the men he murdered during the
great war
. Then
came
the women. The women his disgusting addiction led him to desecrate himself with. He saw his own face struggling between pleasure and abhorrence as he let them tear apart his innocence and feel the pleasures of his flesh. Then, in a blur, he saw the Stratosphere towering in the sky as he felt a burning in his neck. At first he thought he was reliving his death, but then he realized he was physically seeing the Stratosphere.

The next moment, he became distracted by intense agony all through his body. He was actually feeling his body. He was still lying on the sidewalk, the top of his head pressed against the brick building. But there was something else and it was all wrong. The side of his neck burned. Long black hair spread all around his right shoulder draping over different parts of his face. He screamed out hoarsely as he understood what he was feeling in the side of his neck and what the black hair belonged to. The thing smelled of mold and something else much
more vile
. As the burning spread out through all his veins, Simon’s panic mixed with confusion as he remembered he hadn't felt this way the first time being bitten. The sensation changed. It felt electrifying. His limbs vibrated with pleasure. He felt the vampire's fangs slide, somewhat painfully, out of his flesh. It reminded him of getting stitches after the numbing shot. The tingling he felt all through his body was much more important to him at this moment. The vampire stood up, fully in Simon’s view, and looked down at him. Its eyes were completely black and it smiled at him. Scraps of old black fabric hung from the crude dark tunic covering the natural vampire. Simon lay there motionless, afraid to do anything. A split second later, the thing burst into the air, still smiling down at him as it flew. Then, in a flash blurring southeast, it disappeared.

Simon didn't get up for a long time. He watched the stars in the sky. He could see countless more than ever before, even on the clearest of nights. He could see water particles hanging in the air and small wisps of cloud beyond the vision of any human being. A wave of revulsion went over him as he realized what had happened, what he had become. He recalled all the years he had spent building his righteous life. He thought of all the horrible things he would have to do now if he was going to survive. His mind raced through his memory for everything he could recall about the filthy abominations. He began to sob as he lifted into a sitting position, bringing his knees to his chest. Tears flooded down his face. Even his emotions seemed to be amplified.

He gripped the knees of his pants as he wept bitterly, ripping them. He looked at the torn material in both of his fists and threw it at the ground. He used his right shoulder to wipe away some of the tears. As soon as his shoulder was close, he smelled what he knew to be Peter's scent there. He wasn’t sure how he knew this, he just knew. His pain and horror faded to the back of his mind. He stood up quickly and deliberately. He could sense a trail of motion with Peter's scent. His heart was screaming out "Kill him." Simon made no hesitation. He broke into a run that caused the concrete and blacktop below him to burn into the rubber of his shoes. The friction of the wind warmed his body as he began following the scented trail. An exciting feeling came from inside his mouth. His canines extended. A shudder went through his body as he imagined himself ripping Peter apart with his bare teeth.

Chapter 7

The Shadow of Death

A
shrill scream came from behind Hank and echoed off the surrounding houses. Although it was distant, Hank recognized the shrieking. It sounded just like the first vampire he’d encountered. He hooked his thumbs in the straps of his backpack, took a deep breath, and ran. He could see nothing but abandoned houses and empty streets. He veered toward the house closest to him. The house had a more modern style than most of the others. What little he could make out of the fading, cracked paint on the outside walls was a very dull gray.