The Disciple and Other Stories of the Paranormal (15 page)

I took Susan’s hand. “Another dead end.
Let’s try it again.”

Susan shook her head, not looking at me.
“No. I want to see that tree.” She pulled her hand out of mine and
moved closer to it, then crawled over the fence.

“
Not a good idea. Remember
the last time a woman messed around with a tree?”

“
Yeah. They got kicked out
of a garden.” She turned to me, and her eyes looked wild. “I want
out of here, Matt. I want out now.”

“
I love you.”

“
I love you, too. And I
want us to get out of here and go home.” With that, she reached up
and grabbed a piece of fruit hanging from the laden branches,
twisted its stem, pulled it off and bit into it, all within three
seconds.

I watched her chew and swallow. She was
about to take another bite when her eyes bulged. I could tell she
couldn’t breathe, and it wasn’t long before her face actually
turned blue, and then black. She keeled over, right there.

The apple fell from her hand and rolled next
to the fence. I saw two others just like it. Not three others,
though.

I wondered who’d chosen to stay with their
current position instead of choosing advancement. Maybe Helen.
She’d been around a long time, after all, even before she launched
those thousand ships, and could easily wait for another
opportunity. And perhaps William had listened to her when they’d
reached the Garden. Or maybe Helen had insisted.

I was certain Johnny was ready to trade up,
regardless of career advancement – his reputation wasn’t built on
being the best lover of one woman, but every woman. Plus he was
going to inherit a fortune. Win-win for the greatest lover in the
world all the way around.

Michael, well, when everything you touch
turns to gold, you can get as many sweet young things as you want.
Oriana was undoubtedly gone.

I heard a step behind me. “Would you like to
take your bow? The audience loved your performance.”

“
Not really, if it’s all
the same to you.” I didn’t turn around. Some things you just didn’t
do. Maybe Helen looked right at the boss’ face, but I wasn’t that
sort of risk-taker.

“
Of course. I never force
anyone to do something they don’t want to. I thought for a few
moments that you might have chosen to stay at your current
position. For a little longer at any rate.”

“
I considered
it.”

“
But you didn’t press for
it.”

“
No.”

No, I hadn’t pressed for it. The decision
I’d made weeks ago, when I’d been advised it was promotion time,
was still the right one. If Susan had listened to me and left the
Garden, then I’d have willingly changed my mind. But she’d wanted
out, and now, she was out. One way or another.

“
No regrets?”

I thought about it. It was never wise to not
think about your answer when speaking with the boss. “Not really,
no. I loved her, we had a good life together. But nothing lasts
forever.”

“
Except for a select few,
that is true.”

“
That’s why we work for
you. May I go now?” I asked politely.

“
Yes. You have fulfilled
your part of the bargain. One beloved soul given to me in exchange
for wealth, health and longevity.”

“
Old School divorce, New
School benefits. Adam should have paid better attention to the
snake. Thanks, boss.”

He chuckled. “Thank
you
,
Methuselah.”

The trees at the far end of the garden moved
apart. I could see my car in the parking lot. I walked to it
without looking back.

After all, finding another wife is easy, but
living forever takes real planning.

THE DISCIPLE

I wasn’t always alone.

Before this time I had two families, one
related by blood, the other by purpose. But they’re all gone now. I
used to hope I’d see them again, in Heaven, if nowhere else, but
now I know that will never be.

Of course, my calling has always been a
lonely one. Sent back in time to stop the most virulent plague to
ever hit mankind. Sent back in time to prevent the horrifying
future, but never to return to it.

Seven of us were sent back to the Middle
Ages, trained to adapt and survive in a world more different from
our own than a twenty-fourth century mind could imagine. But for
all the changes, some things were the same.

In the mid-twenty-fourth century, the world
came to the realization all those vampire “myths” were, in fact,
real. As real as death, but less kind.

I don’t know how the vampires began, whether
the church legends are true, or if the Romanian ones are more
accurate. All I know is that vampires originally drank the blood of
animals and their own family groups, but as time and technology
progressed they learned how to live off of others not
blood-related.

Human blood is tastier than animal,
apparently, and by the time I was born, vampires were the biggest
threat humanity had ever seen.

They were the biggest threat my family would
ever know.

I was seventeen when my family was captured
by a ’Pire gang. Not to be turned – for food. I was forced to
watch, held and kept helpless by a laughing vampire. “Stop
struggling,” he whispered in my ear. “Behave, and maybe I’ll turn
you, or keep you as my thrall.”

The leaders drank their fill, then tossed my
parents to the rest of their gang. They drained my mother and
father alive. When I sleep, I can still hear their screams, the
last sounds my parents ever made.

Then they tasted my grandparents. “Not
fresh,” the male leader sneered as he crushed my grandmother’s head
between his hands. His mate did the same with my grandfather.

They turned on me and my little sister
next.

“
These will be sweet,” the
leader’s mate said.

“
Sissy,” Violet said as
tears streamed down her face. “I’m scared.”

“
Let my sister go,” I
begged, even though I knew it was pointless. “You can do whatever
you want with me, but let her live.”

The ’Pire holding me laughed. “We can do
whatever we want with you anyway.”

The ’Pire leader grabbed Violet. He smiled
at me. “I think we’ll keep this little one. She can feed off of her
brave big sister as her first meal.” With that, he sank his fangs
into Violet’s neck.

Violet’s skin drained of color until she
looked like marble. But her chest still moved, so I knew she was
breathing. “Fight it,” I called to her. “Don’t let them turn
you.”

The vampire holding me laughed and whispered
in my ear again. “There is no fighting it. Once bitten, you’re ours
for eternity.”

“
You like that one?” the
leader’s mate asked my vampire.

“
I do.”

She shrugged. “Then turn her. We can use new
pets.”

I struggled, but I had no real hope. I
prayed to a God I wasn’t sure cared about anyone on Earth any more
– the last act of the desperate and doomed.

God listened.

The door slammed open and my saviors burst
in. The Order, the only ones brave enough to fight back against the
’Pires, ran in. Their holy symbols jingled, a beautiful sound, as
they sprayed holy water and golden bullets out of their machine
guns.

The ’Pires dropped Violet and me to face the
real threat. I crawled to her and cradled her in my arms. “Hang on,
baby girl,” I whispered. “Don’t leave Sissy all alone.”

Her eyes fluttered open. “So cold.”

“
I know.” I hugged her to
me as a big man picked us both up and carried us away from the
carnage. I watched The Order kill every ’Pire. When I’m sad, I
close my eyes, and I can still hear their screams, the most
beautiful sound in the world.

Three of the women doused all the remains
with gasoline – my family’s and the ’Pires’ alike – and lit the
bodies with a blowtorch. My last view of my family was this obscene
funeral pyre.