Vampire Manifesto (23 page)

“
You don’t know John like I know John. Did you know that the last time I saw him and the last time he saw me was only a couple of weeks apart, yet years past between us. Think about that.” Connor stated. “What’s your theory? I can tell by the way your heart beat just spiked you’ve had that literal, light bulb above the head moment.”

“
According to the gospel of John...”

“
Ooh, I like that. The Gospel of John. Do you mind if I tell him that line and take credit for it?”

His attention span is almost as short as my brothers. “What? I don’t care! On topic, dude! So there are like, thousands of Madison’s and thousands of Connors, across thousands of realities, all on the same airplane, having the exact same conversation. There has to be some…transference of emotion. I mean, just think about it, we're all connected, all doing the same thing, at the same time, all of us! It’s bound to make our connections to one another stronger than normal. It would explain the bond between myself and Ethan as well, how connected we feel to each other even though we only just met."

“
It all comes back to the Box.” Said Connor.

“
The Box of Pandora.” Dot one to dot two.

“
What’s in the Box?” He asked. Dot two to dot three.

“
I have no idea.” I admitted. “But according to John, I’m the only one that can open it.” Dot three to dot four.

“
Whatever’s inside must be worth at least three point five million.” Connor concluded.

And there it was.

Connor was across the cabin now, by the curtain where they dragged the dead blonde woman. “Was Goodwin a Vampire?” I asked. “Is that why he had the Brotherhood tattoo?”

“
No. He wasn’t Nosferatu.”

“
Then what is he?”

“
Dead.” He replied. “Get some rest Madison.”

Connor disappeared behind the curtain, leaving me to myself. I couldn’t believe I was here, in this plane, heading to San Francisco. I don’t even know what made me choose the path that I’m on. It wasn’t anything that John Rogers initially said to me, everything that remotely came out of that man’s mouth was congruent to madness.

Yet now…

I didn’t know what to believe anymore, the whole testament of faith was being shaken to its core, it’s very epicenter being rewritten in New Testament verse, the Scripture of the Vampire and somehow I find myself the author of its bloodbath prose. My Dark Haired Savior, who in essence was anything but. Yet somehow I allowed myself to become wrapped up in the subtle intricacy of this new world without so much as a hesitation.

I was still hungry, yet my food, that bacon double with the extra banging fries was covered in the life essence of someone who apparently no need of it. The scene seemed to replay in my mind over and over, the way he bit down into her, the sheer ecstasy he seemed to take as her life slowly ebbed away into the nothingness of the abyss.

And this is the person I chose to align myself with?

Someone with so little regard for human life that he would end one with such malice and forceful violence and for what? Just to prove a point?
I am not the hero of the story.
Am I supposed to put my trust in paper tiger promises of safety? Like that nameless blonde with the pretty lipstick didn’t get those same promises?.

Oh sure, come into work today, it's going to be fun, I promise! It’s not like I’m going to murder you, drain you dry then snap your neck and have your coworkers drag your lifeless corpse off to God knows where. I promise, you’ll be safe.

Did she know what he was? Did they make her sign a waiver or something, absolving them of all legality in case of random death?

This is the person who you’ve placed your trust in Madison. Does anybody even know where I am? I mean, yeah, sure they know I’m out on a…whatever this is with Connor, but what is that, the Gulf of Mexico underneath us? Abigail probably thinks I’m at Steak-n-Shake. I wanted to call her, let her know…something, but I decided against it. If this turns out badly, I don’t want her or Aiden involved. The less they know, the safer they are.

This was the misadventure of Madison Amber Rose. No need to add guest stars when I can sing the solo all the way to the grave. Even still, I couldn’t shake the undeniable feeling that I was safe, that nothing would happen to me. Never mind the fact that in the other room was a…

“
Vampire.” I said it out loud instead of thinking it. I don’t know what he was thinking though, saying it aloud doesn’t make the reality become any more believable. It just makes me doubt my sanity even further than what I already did, which was no small feat by a long shot.

I got up and walked to the bar. It was filled with top shelf liquor, mostly labels from other countries with names I couldn’t pronounce. I instinctively grabbed the bottle of red wine Connor had poured from earlier, filling up a glass with the dark red liquid. I took a drink then nearly choked, my gag reflex kicking in almost automatically as I spit the remainder back into my glass. Whatever it was, it wasn’t wine that’s for certain.

In fact, it kinda tasted like…

I stopped myself from thinking the rest of that sentence. What else would a Vampire drink Madison, Thug Passion? Whatever, it’s just static cling to me. I headed back over to the couch and crawled up on the snug leather and closed my eyes. Maybe it was just a bad dream, maybe I’m not in some plane flying across country, but rather, I was home asleep in my bed.

I knew I was fooling myself however, because when I dream, I only dream of Vampires. And now for some reason, when I’m awake, I’m surrounded by them still.

I drifted in and out consciousness for most of the flight, never fully sleeping more than ten or fifteen minutes before my eyes would snap open. There was just too much on my mind for slumber. After a while I just gave up on that option altogether, instead turning on one of the flat screens and clicking the built in Netflix app. I scrolled through the movie selection but couldn’t settle on anything worthwhile.

It was like their whole streaming section was filled with really bad B movies. All the good stuff was disc based, mail in only. I tried their TV choices and finally settled on Super Jail. Doesn’t get any crazier than that. I watched about half the season when I felt the plane beginning to dip towards the ground. Seems like we were making our decent.

“
Did you get some rest?” Connor was sitting next to me, drink in hand. I almost had a heart attack at the sound of his voice.

“
Don’t do that.” I wasn’t keen to him being this close to me, not after last night, not after everything I had witnessed. And yet, despite everything, I still felt completely safe in his company. “Boundaries, dude, boundaries.”

Connor just rolled those eyes, disregarding my statements entirely. “Get up.” He shoved an extremely hot Caramel Macchiato in my hand. “We’re about to land in about five. Time to make the donuts.”

I could feel the walls of the universe closing in around me. “It’s not going to stop is it?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
People are going to keep coming after me. It doesn’t matter that the Man in…it doesn’t matter that Goodwin is dead. I’m the only one who can open the Box of Pandora. It’s going to happen again and again. It’s not going to stop.”

He was next to me suddenly, so close. Kissing distance. “That’s why we’re going to San Francisco, Madison. I’m going to find out who is behind it all. We’re going to Oz and then we’re going to pull back the curtain.”

“
Then what?”

“
Then I’m going to kill the Wizard.”

Chapter 3

When the plane door opened, Connor ushered me down the escalator steps to the waiting BMW that was parked not far from us. I opened the passenger side door and climbed in, waiting for Connor as he talked briefly to the pilot. I still couldn’t believe I was here in California, that I had garnered up the courage to enter that plane back in Palm Coast and fly across the country on a whim, yet here I am.

I pulled out my cell and called Aiden. As much as I didn’t want him or Abigail involved, I knew I couldn’t not call and not show up for school as well. All I needed was for them to file a missing persons report because I’m out gallivanting across the country and didn’t take the time to let people know I’m okay.

“
Yo, what up?” Aiden’s voice was a relief and I was glad that he picked up and it didn’t go to voicemail.

“
Hey bro, its me.”

“
How’s the date going Madison? You having fun or do I need to kick this dude’s ass?” I love my brother.

I was looking at plane as the flight crew was bringing out a very large trunk from the cargo hold of the plane. I wonder if that’s where they stuffed that dead stewardess at?

“
It’s going…different than what I expected.” I said.

“
You need me or Abigail to come scoop you up?” Aiden asked.

“
No…” Connor glanced over at me, smiled and gave a brief wave. “I think I'm good.” I said. “In fact, I might not make it in tonight.”

“
Slut!” Abigail screamed.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it for a moment. “Am I on speaker?”

“
Possibly.” Aiden sounded like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“
Okaay.” Connor was heading towards the car now. “Just don’t wait up for me.”

“
You’re such a ho!” Joked Abigail.

“
I love you to bitch. Gotta go, hit you up manana.”

I hung up just as Connor climbed inside. Due to the three hour time difference, the sun was just setting in California.

“
So, I thought all Vampires burn up in daylight?”

“
Most.” Connor explained. “But not all.”

“
So what’s the difference?” I pressed. “What determines if you can walk in the sun or not?”

“
Nobody knows really.” He explained. “It’s just one of those things. The transformation into a Vampire, it’s like pretrial medicine, it might affect Subject A one way and have a totally different effect on Subject B. It’s all random, but as a general rule, you are whatever the person who made you is.”

“
So, the person that made you, turned you into a Vampire, he could walk in the sun too then?”

Connor pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Nope.”

“
But you just said…”

“
I know what I said.” Connor was pulling onto the freeway now, working his way towards the fast lane. “There are always exceptions to the rule.”

“
And you’re the exception?”

“
Me? The exception? Nooo.” He put a cigarette in his mouth and the end of it caught ablaze by itself, a brief spark of fire as he inhaled. “I’m magic.”

I jumped in my seat just a little bit. “How did you just…”

“
Like I would tell you.” Interrupted Connor.

“
Whatever.”

“
I know.” He fired back. “So what's the real reason you decided to come? It has to be more to it than what you told me on the plane.”

I was just gazing out the window, watching the scenery pass by. “I don’t know.”

“
Yeah you do.”

I turned to look at him, crossing my arms. “Like I would tell you anyway.”

He just laughed. “Yeah you will.”

“
You gonna use your super-secret Vampire trick to make me tell you?” I put just enough hostility behind my voice to make it jokingly serious.

“
I have no idea what you’re talking about Madison.” He was trying to come off as sincere, but it wasn’t very convincing. “You're gonna tell me, because you want to tell me.”

“
Oh yeah?” I asked.

“
Yeah.”

“
And why’s that?”