Blood of Gold (13 page)

They’d found Smith feeding on his employees, the bank vault wide open, bodies all over the floor, alarms ringing but nobody responding. Before they’d left, they’d filled canvas bags with money. Then they’d found Miller alone at the high school, eating some sophomores. All girls. All blondes. They were members of the junior varsity cheerleading squad, which he coached. Turned out, both of these outwardly stalwart citizens had been successfully preying on their subordinates for some time. Before they were vampires, they were already predators.

As Kelton injected his blood into the teacher, Miller, he’d drawn back in surprise. The man reeked of evil. Just the taste of him made Kelton realize that the schoolteacher took a creepy sort of glee in killing innocents slowly and painfully. Kelton had always thought there was no one worse than himself, that he was the baddest of the bad. He was finding, to his consternation, that in comparison to some of these other vampires, he was merely bad.

As he drew back from the unnerving sensation of injecting Miller, he spilled some of his blood, and under the fluorescent lights of the high school classroom, he saw for the first time that his blood was black, not dark blue as he’d assumed. It was dull black, not reflecting any light.

It was then that he’d started to have misgivings.

Now, as he stood in the doorway of the trailer, blinking unhappily in the last light of dusk, he felt the Master returning.

At first, Kelton had believed the Master was corporeal, that he existed on the same plane of reality as Kelton and somehow appeared from a dark abyss to give instructions. Slowly, he’d come to realize that the Shadow wasn’t really there, except as a projection in his mind. For a short time, he’d wondered if it was figment of his imagination, but the Master had laughed at him. He’d done something to Kelton that had made him feel as though every cell of his body was being pinched, dissected and pinned to a burning wall of flame.

“I am real,” the Master had said. “I’d advise you to never forget that. We will meet soon enough.”

Kelton looked back into the trailer. At the far end, the Shadow began to appear; or, more accurately, the reality of that space vanished and was replaced by a vacuum. It was cold: it made them all shiver. The converts who were still sleeping on the floor sat up and scooted away from the void. Miller shouted, a harsh sound that sent a chill down Kelton’s spine, but the cry was swallowed up by the Shadow, which cut it off abruptly.

“Why are you sleeping?” the Master of Shadow demanded. His voice echoed inside their heads, and Kelton could see the others jump in alarm.

“We need to rest, to feed,” Kelton said.

“No, you do not. You are Shadow Vampires… you can survive on darkness. What you need to do is find more followers. This is happening much too slowly.”

“It was easier at first,” Kelton said. “There was so much chaos that no one noticed. But the humans have gotten wary. They know about us now. We risk getting caught if we aren’t careful.”

“I don’t care if you get caught,” the cold, merciless voice said. “There will always be other vampires to take your place.”

Kelton tried not to think. He tried to clear his brain, because he could feel the resentment swelling just underneath the surface, and he didn’t want the Shadow to sense it.

“Miller! Smith!” the Master shouted. Both vampires scrambled to their feet and stood at attention. “You must know of others like you. Vultures of a feather flock together. Go! Seek them out! Turn them to the Shadow!”

“Yes, Master,” Miller said. Smith nodded as if the Shadow Master was there to see it.

“You have the ability to inject your blood into others,” the Master continued. “Those who are suitable will immediately become my followers. Those who aren’t will die. Hurry… do it now. Don’t stop, day or night. Find those who have evil in their hearts and their souls. The great battle approaches, when the Shadow will fight the Light. We don’t have much time.”

“You others…” The Darkness faltered for the first time, as if looking into their souls and finding them wanting. “Do your best,” the voice said to the other three vampires, sounding exasperated. “Go seek out your fellow jailbirds. Turn them to the Shadow, and I shall reward you. Fail me, and…”

The three ex-cons screamed in unison, their eyes bugging out, their muscles rigid with pain. They collapsed to their knees. They writhed and screeched so loudly that Kelton put his hands over his ears. He never thought flesh could produce such a sound.

Then it was over. The three men staggered to their feet and rushed past Kelton and out the door. They nearly ran down the driveway. At the highway, the men exchanged glances, then headed in different directions.

Miller and Smith followed, hurrying, but still trying to retain some dignity. Miller didn’t even look at Kelton as he passed by. “Pardon me,” Smith muttered as he brushed past. They walked down the driveway together. Kelton saw them shake hands and walk off in opposite directions.

Kelton sighed. He didn’t like this arrangement anywhere near as much as he’d thought he would. Being an immortal vampire, stronger and faster than any human, able to walk in daylight, with bags filled with money: it was a dream come true. Except it wasn’t
his
dream anymore. He belonged to the Shadow.

He waited for instructions, trying to keep these thoughts to himself, uncertain what the Master could hear and what he couldn’t hear.

“I hear everything,” the voice said.

Kelton was amused to see Feller jump, as if he’d also been caught thinking the wrong thoughts.

“You two are still my best hope, as pathetic as you are,” the Master said. “Miller and Smith are too deep into their own darkness to be of much use to me. The others are wicked enough, but don’t have the brains or the social skills. So I’m counting on you.”

“What do you want us to do?” Kelton asked.

“I won’t be able to direct you toward new followers, as I have in the past. The six we have found so far were easy for me to sense. They radiated malevolence so strongly that I discovered them even at a distance. It won’t be so easy from here on out. I will be busy doing other things, so you will have to find converts by yourselves. Use your instincts. I’ve given you powers you’ve barely begun to explore. Trust your senses…”

There was a pause. In the background, Kelton heard the Master shouting at someone. “Go away! I’m busy!”

He sounds less like a Master of Shadow,
Kelton thought,
and more like an ordinary harried businessman
. He quickly squelched the thought.

“Do your best,” the Master said, filling their minds again. “You won’t be alone for long. I’m coming to join you.”

Kelton sensed Feller freeze, and realized that he, too, was holding his breath. “Here? You’re coming here?”

“Yes, soon,” the Shadow said, sounding amused at their alarm. “Don’t slacken your efforts. I will know if you do, and I will punish you, do you understand? But do as I ask, and I will reward you.”

Kelton and Feller nodded, and that seemed to be enough for the Master. The space where the void had been––or
hadn’t
been––snapped back into view. They exchanged uneasy glances.

“Any ideas?” Kelton asked.

“Hell, if you’re looking for evil, there’s always my ex-wife. Unfortunately, she lives in L.A.”

Kelton was stumped. It had always been him against the world. He knew he was different, that he would be judged evil by others, though he felt nothing of that himself. In comparison to him, everyone else was normal; or so he’d thought. He never would have guessed that a local high school teacher was a more prolific serial killer than him. It never would have occurred to him that a bank manager had racked up a significant death toll without ever being suspected.

So what the hell did he know?

Of course, from a human perspective, almost all vampires were evil. But Kelton was beginning to see that there were as many different types of vampires as there were people. Sure, most vampires killed to feed, but that was their nature. Was that evil? Did killing for food make them evil? Or only if they took enjoyment from it? Or only if they killed unnecessarily? Or… what? It was all so confusing.

They loaded up Kelton’s car and headed out. The Master had said, “‘Use your instincts. Trust your senses.”’
What the hell does that mean?
Keller wondered
. I’m not instinctively sensing a damn thing.

“Wait,” Feller said. “Pull over.”

Kelton slowed and turned into a nearby driveway.

“Go back a couple turnoffs.”

Kelton turned the car around, and seconds later, at Feller’s direction, they pulled onto an overgrown road. He heard the heavy brush grind against his car and winced. He reminded himself that he had bags of money in the trunk and could buy dozens of cars.

They pulled up to a trailer that was even more dilapidated than they one they’d just left.

“I recognized the name on the mailbox,” Feller said quietly. “Whenever an FBI agent is transferred to a new town, we’re given a list of parolees. They can be useful informants. I always pay attention. I remember the name Halliday from the list. Child molester, no less.”

“Shit… really?” Kelton said. “Child molester? Do we have to?”

“You heard the Master.”

“Well, OK. But you get to bite him, understand? I ain’t doing it.”

“I thought you liked them young.”

“They are women by the time I’m through with them,” Kelton said, and glared at him.

Feller sighed and shook his head, then stared at the trailer. “It’s just blood,” he said, then repeated as if trying to convince himself, “It’s just blood… nothing more.”

They saw one of the curtains move to the side a little. A voice from inside called, “I’ve got a shotgun!”

Kelton looked at Feller, who shrugged. “A felon in possession of a firearm? Yeah, that
never
happens.”

They got out and walked toward the door. Kelton let Feller take the lead, expecting the door to fly open and a shotgun blast to go off. “How do you know he’s a vampire?” he asked.

Feller looked at him curiously. “Can’t you feel it?”

Kelton searched within himself, and yes, there it was: a sensation of blood attracting blood. Another vampire was near.

Feller tried the door, but it was locked. They nodded to each other, then punched the door simultaneously. As humans, all they would have done was broken their hands. As vampires, they shattered the door.

“Go away!” Halliday screamed. “I haven’t done anything!”

Kelton saw the man cowering in a far corner of the cluttered trailer. To his surprise, Halliday was normal-looking, indeed, almost good-looking, in a sallow sort of way: average height, a little heavy around the middle, thick brown hair. Not what he expected a child molester to look like.

“I’ve changed! I did my time at Pelican Bay! I spent three years in solitary! I’m taking my meds!” the man cried.

“We aren’t here about that,” Feller said, sounding like an FBI agent.

“What do you want?”

“You’re a vampire.”

“How do you know that?” Halliday was even more frightened now. He looked ready to piss his pants. “It wasn’t my choice! My former sister-in-law, she bit me! She always hated me.”

“We know because we’re vampires too,” Feller said.

“But that’s impossible. You were walking in the sunlight! I saw you!”

Kelton laughed. “We’re special.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Feller said. “We can give you the power to walk in daylight too.”

“We’re here to make you an offer,” Kelton said. “We can make you stronger, faster than other vampires. We can turn you into a different kind of vampire, one who doesn’t have to cower in fear. In return, all you have to do is submit to the Master of Shadow.”

“Who’s that?” the vampire said, sounding doubtful. As if he had a choice.

“You’ll find out,” Feller said. “You’re damned already. This just lets you enjoy it more.”

The little trailer grew quiet, except for the buzz of a huge black fly over the sink. It looked as if Halliday never left the place: there were soiled clothes strewn all over, and the sink was piled with dirty dishes that had been used over and over again, so that food was caked on top of food.
What a way to live,
Kelton thought.
This guy is just as much a prisoner now as when he was in prison.

“No,” Halliday said dejectedly. “You’re lying to me, I can tell. There’s something wrong with you.”

“We’re fucking vampires,” Kelton said. “So are you.”

“Yes, and I don’t want to be. Whatever it is you want me to do, I won’t do it.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Feller said patiently. “You’ll be able to blend in with the humans, but you’ll be better than them. Nobody will ever be able to push you around again.”

Other than the Master,
Kelton thought.

Halliday was still shaking his head. “I meant it when I said I’ve changed. I have no unnatural desires anymore. I’ve banished them from my soul. I want to be a good person. I eat only animals.”

Kelton examined him, uncertain. The Master had made a big deal out of how his followers needed to voluntarily submit to him and give themselves to the Shadow. But what difference did it make? Either the guy would pass the test or not.

“Hell with it,” Feller said. “Hold him down, Kelton.”

Kelton was on Halliday in a flash. The vampire wailed like a girl, but Kelton picked him up, threw him on the bed and held his thrashing legs. “All yours,” he said.

Feller grabbed the man’s arms and leaned over him. Halliday sighed and quit struggling. Kelton watched the black blood being injected into his neck. It wasn’t flowing in like it should have. It would stop a few inches in and then flow back out. Feller kept trying until Halliday convulsed so violently that both he and Kelton were thrown backward.

Halliday had his hands around his neck, which was shrinking, narrowing as they watched. Halliday’s face turned dark; his eyes bugged out. He stopped breathing. No more sound could emerge from his throat, because there was no more throat. It narrowed to a small patch of skin and then disappeared. Halliday’s head rolled down his chest and onto the floor.