Here's Day 5 of my NaNoWriMo novel. Again I'm disabling comments on
these entries. Don't get me wrong, I love feedback and comments, in this
case though they would only serve to distract me and cause me to second
guess myself. Finally, this novel is of course Copyright © 2012 Steven
Lake & Engen Books. Word Count today: 1665
“We’re leaving now, Evan needs some rest. Ryan’s in the basement, poor boy was feeling a little drained when I left, you might want to check on him.” Kenna laughed at her joke and then quicker than the human eye could follow, ran off into the night.
IV
Fear, everyone knows it, everyone feels it at some point. From the hooker turning her first trick to the mouse sneaking past the sleeping cat. Fear, we evolved it as an early warning system, an alarm that danger is near. It heightens our senses, puts us on guard. We are taught not to fear the darkness, but to be wary of what may be concealed within. Hunters learned to use the darkness to hide their movements while stalking prey. Some even take comfort in the darkness, finding solace in the shadow after the harsh light of day. But now that is all starting to change. Darkness is no longer safe. Hunters are on their guard, prey is now terrified and everyone is starting to flock to the light. Fear is no longer about what is hiding in the shadows, it is now a fear of the shadows. It is now fear of the darkness and the darkness is fear and the darkness is starting to enjoy the power it is gaining feeding off people’s fears.
“That’s about it really.” Said Frank as he poured another two fingers worth of whiskey into his glass. “When she left I ran into the house and found you in the basement. As soon as I saw your body I knew what she’d done, knew what was gonna happen to you.”
“Not for nothing, but I’m glad you didn’t behead me then and there.” Ryan said, trying to be reassuring.
“Well you didn’t specify what you wanted done if this ever happened, heck I didn’t have anything in my will either, and considering the cases we work you think we would have. Either way the choice got taken out of my hands when the police showed up. Once I showed them my I.D. and explained everything I knew including offering copies of our tapes, they took you to the secure morgue downtown.”
“Not a bad place to spend a few days really.” Ryan said as he got a bag of blood out of the fridge. “All you can drink pigs blood, no direct sunlight, a soft bed to sleep in and nice vampire councilors to help you adjust to the change and keep you from going insane or worse, feral.” Pouring the blood into a mug, he popped it in the microwave and continued. “I mean if there was ever a good time to get changed into a vampire, it’s gotta be now. I don’t wanna think about what it was like in the old days. Hiding in caves or crypts, skulking through back alleys, preying on whoever was unlucky enough to meet one of us.”
“Or the more sadistic ones acting like serial killers” Frank reminded him “We dusted more than one of those animals”
“I know, I know” Acknowledged Ryan “But look at the way things are now. I’m still technically and legally a person. I get to keep my job, my house, my car. Every part of my life is exactly the same this week as it was last week.” He took a sip from his mug “Mmmmm….It’s always so much better warm. Ok, maybe not exactly the same. There are some differences but hey, most of our cases are handled at night so no real change there, right partner?”
“True enough and it’s not like we can’t keep the blinds drawn during the day.” Frank said as he finished off another shot. “Things definitely are different than they were when we started this business. Back then it was just give ‘em a stake to the heart and collect our cheque. Now there’s so much paperwork and red tape to get an execution order.”
Six years ago everything changed. A man calling himself simply ‘Strenos’ appeared on one of those daytime talk shows and proclaimed to the world that he was undead, a Vampire. He said he was tired of living in the shadows and wanted a ‘normal’ life back. He said there were more like him who wanted to rejoin society instead of living apart from it. He knew there would be a lot to do to prove his claim and he was ready for whatever tests and trials he would have to go through. On the air he proved his superior strength, speed, stealth and showed the facial change that happens when a Vampire bears his fangs.
By the end of the show five more Vampires came forward and they all agreed to submit themselves for testing to prove their claims. After that, Vampires from all over the world started to comes forward, all of them wanting to reclaim their rights as people. It wasn’t easy or peaceful in the beginning. There were groups or families of Vampires that wanted nothing to do with humanity and they sought to eliminate these ‘rebels’ as they called them. London, Paris, Madrid, New York and New Orleans all became battlegrounds for the undead. The Old Ones soon realized however that their case was a lost one and like it or not, they were being dragged into the twenty first century. Some finally relented and embraced this new era, some forsake the world and went underground, keeping their own company away from the Human world. Still others decided to give themselves to the rising sun, their ashes cast to the four winds.
Three years ago the UN stepped in on the issue. The votes were initially split but eventually the Human Rights Council adopted an agreement that outlined Vampire rights and incorporated them within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After that Vampire rights were adopted by countries around the world. Canada was the first to amend its charter of rights and freedoms followed by the European Union, Russia, Japan, Mexico and the United States. With this new recognition came new laws and restrictions from both sides.
From the Human world, among other things, hunting Vampires was outlawed except by law enforcement and licensed private individuals and this would be approved only if a vampire committed a crime that warranted it. Blood was provided by meat producers since it was regarded as a byproduct anyway, pricing was adopted and fairly regulated. Vampires were given back the right to work, to own property, to pay taxes and to be treated as equally as any Human Being.
From the Vampire world, feeding off of unwilling Humans was outlawed and was the one crime that earned an automatic death sentence. Hypnosis or any telepathic domination techniques were also forbidden to be used on Humans. A council was formed from the oldest and most powerful Vampires to keep the peace and to liaise with the Human world. Territorial governors were put in place by the council to act as local Vampire authorities and enforce the laws.
“Yeah things used to be a lot simpler.” Ryan said wistfully after draining his cup. “Then again how many vampires did we stake just for being vampires? How many of them might have been like me, just wanting to continue on with a normal life.”
Frank frowned “I try not to think about that, we had a job to do and we did it. If I go back over the moral implications of every vamp I’ve dusted I’ll never be able to keep up with the current caseload. Technically you could start arguing the warrants we get now, which is why we don’t act without proof.”
"Speaking of warrants" Ryan said as he passed a folder over to Frank "The ones for Kenna and her cat came through this evening. She gets dusted on sight, but the bounty on him is bigger if we tag 'em and bag 'em, looks like they want a trial to show the community that the law isn't just out to kill all weres indiscriminately. He'll get a trial all right, then a silver bullet in the head five minutes after it's over."
"Yeah, a kangaroo court for a murdering cat. With the media circus that will spark, the courthouse will turn into a zoo." chuckled Frank. Then he ducked as a stapler flew past his head and embedded itself in the wall behind him.
“Jesus Ryan, watch that strength of yours will ya? That could have gone through my head”
“Sorry Frank, but you deserved it for that pun.”
“Yeah. So where do we go from here? The warrants are one ting, but we don’t even know where to look for those two. They can’t be stupid enough to go back to that house.”
“I’m guessing Kenna has a lair somewhere close though. She won’t have been able to run too far with that cat bleeding all over her back. She got a pretty good initial leap away from the house, the cops didn’t find any trace of blood in a two block radius of it.” said Ryan.
“At least not on the ground.” Frank pointed out. “That whole area has trees around the houses, mostly over a couple of hundred years old. She could have gone tree top to tree top.”
“So?” Asked Ryan
“So we go back to the house, you get your undead ass up a tree and sniff around with that new blood seeking nose of yours...” Frank Explained
“Then I can follow the trail and you can follow me in your car and I’ll radio to you where I end up.” Finished Ryan.
“Now you’re catching on. Here I thought dying might have affected your brain a little.”
“No more than it affected your liver.” joked Ryan.
“Hey now, my drinks are purely medicinal. Helps to calm the nerves and steady the hands. Lord knows it’s needed with all the weird shit we deal with.” Frank shot back.
