The feral vampire lunged at Dimi who tripped and sprawled on his butt just outside the darkened enclosure. Apparently, the sunlight did not phase the well-preserved vampire as she lunged out into it. Allison drew her Qual’sa pistol and fired. It hit the armor and had no effect. Her next shot hit the vampire square in the nose. The feral woman collapsed.

Dimi tossed her back into the dark room before Allison could stop him. The vampire stood up. Her eyes were glowing red, and she was pacing back and forth just outside the sun. Allison rubbed the back of her head with her Qual’sa pistol still in her hands.

“So, anyone have any Synth-O?”

Dimi pointed at Allison.

“You’re a half vampire, why don’t you talk to her? Show her your fangs?”

Allison looked at him as if he was an idiot.

“She doesn’t seem like she’s in a talking mood, and who knows what languages she understands, not that she seems like she understands anything. And for your information vampire blood tastes better then human blood so… like she’s more likely to try and eat me.”

Even after Allison’s protest everyone was still staring at her expectantly. She crossed her arms and shook her head. After several minutes Miles spoke.

“At least try?”

Allison rolled her eyes.

“I don’t exactly know how to fang out on command.”

Miles shrugged.

“What usually does it?”

Allison blushed and didn’t answer, blood sometimes did, anger sometimes did, the only thing that guaranteed it was too embarrassing to repeat out loud. Miles looked at her again and repeated himself. Allison mumbled. When I’m turned on.

Miles blinked.

“What?”

Allison shook her head. Zebra pulled out her pocket knife and sliced her hand. The feral vampire they had released sniffed the air but wouldn’t leave the darkness of her current sanctuary. Allison could smell it too. Zebra walked up to Allison and waved it in front of the teenager. Allison tried to resist but she lost it. She came to her senses with Zebra gasping. Her eyes were closed and she was really enjoying herself. Allison, having drank enough to satiate her initial bloodlust released the hand and blushed.

“Sorry…”

She still felt her fangs out. She wiped the blood from her lips and walked up to the feral vampire. The vampire’s eyes locked on Allison’s own, and she snarled like an animal might when another animal entered its territory. Allison did a small wave.

“Hi, hello, just thought I’d introduce myself. Allison… Allison Wanjala here, I’m a dhampir. I’m uh, sorry I shot you uh, back there but umm… Anyway, they seem to think me being half vampire means you’ll uh… calm down and talk to me. So like, we’re trying to find you blood so if you could please just avoid trying to eat anyone again… We would really appreciate it.”

The vampire sniffed in Allison’s direction. Allison was getting a very good look at the vampire now. She was a good-looking teenage girl. Older than Allison. She had brown hair and eyes. Allison had expected her to be desiccated or something, but the vampire wasn’t at all. Besides the fangs and glowing red eyes she looked pretty normal. The teenage vampire struggled to get two words out.

“Mi bagge.”

Allison repeated them to herself. It wasn’t a language she understood. She looked behind her.

“Anyone know what mi bagge means?”

One of the Sauroid priests spoke up.

“It sounds sort of like you humans saying, my bag. Is there a bag in her belongings?”

Miles knocked the lid off the crate and pulled out the beige nylon-like bag. He threw it to Allison who caught it. She threw it into the room behind the vampire.

The vampire pounced on the bag and pulled out a blood red crystal. It turned a dull pink. She then pulled out bottle after bottle of Synth-O and downed them. Allison licked her lips jealously. Truth be told she was feeling a bit hungry where blood was concerned even after Zebra’s donation. Allison edged closer. The vampire was on her thirty-sixth bottle of Synth-O by this time. Allison was very confused because the bag was empty when she looked inside it and scanned it. After another fifteen bottles the vampire started gathering up her empties and dumping them one after another into her bag. Then the caps. She seemed pretty meticulous.

When she turned around the feral glowing red eyes had been replaced by kind brown eyes. She pointed at Allison’s Qual’sa pistol. Allison glanced down and realized she was still holding it.

“Are you going to strike me with your Atlantean pistol again, if I step outside?”

Allison blushed and shook her head. She put it back in the holster her armor had formed.

“I’m sorry about that, you were trying to eat my friend.”

The vampire nodded and stepped outside. She looked around and blinked in confusion. When she saw the Sauroid high priest she stumbled backwards and fled into the dark room again. The vampire’s English was strangely accented. Allison would say UK Dome if she had to place it but it wasn’t quite the same.

“What manner of place is this? Did the demons capture me?”

Allison looked around herself.

“Demons? Uh, so, I don’t know much about when you’re from? 1942? Like Nazi’s were bad. It’s kind of ancient history for us. Like, demons are just superstitious stuff. Maybe they aren’t? I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff lately but uh, if there are demons there are none here. This is R’sla’sa, he is the High Priest of the Sun. He let us use this room in the temple to free you. I know they kind of look like they uh, are pretty vicious, but they’re not, they’re vegetarians, umm, here at least.”

The vampire still looked nervous, and definitely freaked out. Allison turned to Dimi.

“Dimi, give me her sword and her pistol. Maybe that will make her feel better.”

Dimi handed both to Allison. He looked a bit sad about giving up the sword. Allison offered them to the vampire who took them. The vampire obviously knew how the armor worked because she formed a sheath and a holster. Allison was crappy at this first contact stuff. Was this first contact? The vampire was from Earth. How do you tell someone who had no idea aliens exist that they did in fact exist and she was on their homeworld?

“So, I guess, I’m the only official member of the System’s Alliance here so I should uh, do this right.”

Allison moved closer and offered her hand.

“Uh, I’m Ensign Allison Wanjala, of the System’s Alliance. I am pleased to meet you.”

Helen took her hand and shook it.

“Lady Helen Aurelius, Daughter of Enid Aurelius. What is an Ensign, and what is the System’s Alliance?”

Allison bit her lower lip and folded her hands in front of herself.

“Ensign is a military rank. I am a soldier, a pilot… sort of a pilot. You are in System’s Alliance space on one of its member worlds. Sauroid Prime.”

Helen looked even more confused now.

“Space? World? Pilot?”

Allison rubbed the back of her head. Wow maybe the Nazi’s just found her. Even people from 1942 should have known what space and the planets were.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Uh, so, what year do you remember it being? Or rather, when where you born?”

“I was born in the year of our lord 1144, I was turned in 1162. I remember being in a port city with pirates, mother said it was 1680. Then a strange place with bright lights and food. A ‘shopping mall’. Mother said there would be a final battle, but I remember none of it. Where is she? Did she send you to find me?”

Allison quickly tried to find anything she could from 1680 and pirates. There were stories based on that time. Pirates were pretty hot for holo-movies and holo-shows when she was younger. She realized she’d have to tell the Dark Mother’s daughter the bad news.

“Okay… I guess you slept a lot and stuff, but did they even have malls in 1680? Or 1942? Sorry, I guess that’s enough. So umm, look, I’m not sure how to say this, but like, the Dark Mother is dead. She sacrificed herself to save… everything? I don’t know, I probably should pay more attention in religion class?”

A pained look crossed Helen’s face.

“And of our sisters Hazel? Miko? Matilda?”

Allison shrugged.

“Sorry, ma’am, no idea. I heard of Hazel. Not the other two.”

Miles stepped forward.

“Wait, you know Hazel? Is she okay? Miko… she died in an attack. I’m sorry.”

Helen sat down on the ground still in the darkness. She seemed a bit distraught. Allison waved Miles away.

“Shoo. I got this.”

Miles sighed and threw up his hands.

“Fine, but ask about Hazel.”

Allison gave him a look.

“Dude, if she knew about Hazel, she wouldn’t have been asking about her, don’t yea think?”

Miles walked away kicking the bright blue stone wall as he did. Allison shook her head and moved closer. She leaned on the cell’s stone doorway.

“Umm, sorry for the bad news, but there is good news? You’re free, you have your stuff, and I know where your other sisters and your aunt are.”

Helen looked up at Allison.

“Where are our other sisters?”

Allison pointed upwards.

“Depending on how you get there, about seven hours away by civilian ship, or maybe ten minutes on a military ship. They’re on Earth.”

Helen moved closer to Allison.

“Did they send you to rescue me?”

Allison shook her head.

“No, uh I got into a lot of trouble for doing this. Auntie Eyre was so mad. She almost told my mom. Auntie Maria sent a really scary lady after me. I can guess she’ll have a lecture for me at some point.”

Helen was confused now.

“Your mom? You are my sister, aren’t you? You look so much like Hazel, and Mother.”

Allison bit her lower lip and tapped the sides of her armor.

“No, I do not know who my parents really are. I was adopted by a really nice family. I get that a lot though but as far as I know I am not related to the Dark Mother except that she was friends with my biological parents.”

Helen nodded. She looked a bit saddened by the news. Then she focused on Allison again.

“I have a concern about you, you are obviously a vampire. You are too young to have been turned. As a Seer, I will need to investigate it. I may have to harm your sire.”

“Huh? No, I’m umm, half-vampire. No one turned me. I was born this way. Vampire council says we’re fine or so the Empress says. I don’t know. It is new to me. So, like, what now?”

Helen looked around.

“How do you have ships that sail so fast? The sailors talked of journeys that took months.”

Allison glanced up and motioned for Helen to come out. She pointed up at a cargo transport flying over the city and gaining altitude.

“Uh, we don’t really use sailing ships anymore.”

Helen stared wide-eyed at the transport.

“It is so large. I thought only mother and Hazel had flying ships.”

Allison shook her head.

“We have ships that can travel between the stars. We should probably just leave it at that. Space is the new ocean. Sometimes trips can take months, or even years. Depending on how far away things are. For me to fly home at the maximum speed I can go is like… err”

Allison tapped the test FTL plot with her max safe speed.

“Just under three years. For you as a full-on vampire if you were on a good ship, I think it’s like three weeks or something like that. Anyway, just think of space like oceans. It’s big. We have ships that travel through it.”

Helen looked up at the sun.

“So, this is a different sun? That is why it is red?”

Allison nodded.

“Yea, it’s just a tinge, but I notice it too, humans can’t. It’s like the star where I’m from, its blue since I changed, I can notice the blue tinge to everything if I pay attention. I didn’t notice a difference before. It was just white. Kind of miss that.”

“I believe I understand.”

“You seem to be handling this alien world thing pretty well.”

Helen nodded.

“I have been on one before. The beings were different, but similar, they had scales, but they also had wings. Breathed fire. I thought they were dragons.”

Allison’s eyes went wide with the revelation.

“You’ve been to a Silwrath planet?”

Helen looked at her.

“Yes, that is what Mother called them. We killed many of them. They were quite protective over the demons we were hunting.”

She sighed and her lips creased.

“Hazel was out of control. The… Silwrath were very vigorous in their defense.”

“When was this?”

“I do not know. Mother would move us around to different times. She didn’t tell us when we were, just that the demons needed to be destroyed and their plot foiled. Is the food safe to eat here?”

Allison smiled and nodded.

“I don’t really have any money though.”

Helen reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of Spanish doubloons.

“Do they take these?”

Allison held out her hand.

“May I, ma’am?”

Helen put one of the coins in Allison’s hand. Allison scanned it. Her AR HUD indicated the coin was historically legitimate, because of the lack of indicators it was forged and pressed after the nuclear tests and subsequent bombings. She wasn’t an expert but she was pretty sure there were collectors out there that would pay a lot for each of them.

“Uh, probably but you’re uh, a vampire, right? Auntie Eyre tells me that Aurelius corp has been around for well… thousands of years. Did you get an account or anything? Back in… whenever?”

“I do not understand.”

“We can go see.”

She turned around and Miles and his crew were staring at the coins in Helen’s hand with eyes so wide Allison could just imagine the dollar signs in them. She turned to Helen.

“Put the coins away.”

Helen nodded then she pulled out a piece of plastic. It had numbers on the front. Nothing else.

“How about this? We used it to shop at a ‘mall’.”

Allison held out her hand again and looked it over. She wasn’t familiar with this sort of money, but it had an expiration date of 03/92. Even if it was from the thirtieth century it would still be out of date, and technically would be from the twenty-ninth century. Allison handed it back.

“Some collector of the Earth that was might be interested but there’s probably a bunch of these. It is in good condition though. Plastic lasts forever. And it doesn’t fade if it’s protected by a mile of ice. Let’s go check in the Aurelius corp office here.”

Helen put the plastic card into her bag. Allison walked up to Miles, Dimi, and Zebra.

“Ma’am, these are the people who rescued you.”

Helen thanked each of them in in turn. Allison spoke up.

“Just taking her to get something to eat. I asked Bit to see what she could get about Pinto, she hasn’t gotten back to me, which is a good sign. If he was… if he didn’t make it, they wouldn’t be tight lipped about medical records.”

Miles nodded to her.

“Make sure you say goodbye before you leave, eh, chica?”

Allison nodded and waved. Helen followed Allison towards the temple’s exit.

“You seem to know your way around here very well, do you come here often?”

“No, my first time, but I have uh, well its sort of complicated. I have these things that let me see uh stuff you can’t see.”

Helen pulled a contact lens case out of her bag.

“Mother gave me these. I took them out before we left the… mall. Yes, that is the word. I wasn’t sure if they were safe in a fight. They were very helpful. They were telling me everything I was looking at. There were so many strange things. Matilda loved the mall.”

Allison took a closer look at Helen. She saw a translator and a holo-phone. Both were models from before she was born. They had gotten marginally smaller. They were likely still good enough. The corps just love adding a new color and some new buzz words, changing the shape a bit to make it look new.

“Oh, you have a holo-phone too. I was surprised you could speak Alliance standard.”

Helen put the case back into her bag. Allison was super curious about the bag, but figured she’d wait to ask more questions.

“Oh, I thought it was English. I was born in England. Mother taught me this language. And a few others. Could you explain the pendant you wear? I see them on a lot of people.”

Allison looked down at the sword and ruby pendant.

“It’s the Church of the Dark Mother. Your mom, uh, she has a religious following. The Sauroids have mostly converted. So, you’ll see it a lot here, but other places not so much. Well, I mean Eden Prime, where I’m from most people do because we only have religious schools.”

Helen listened to Allison intently then pondered her words for a few minutes.

“What of Christ and the Lord? Do people still worship them?”

Allison frowned slightly.

“That’s a touchy subject. Yes. In fact, the Church of the Dark Mother acknowledge them.”

“Do you not believe in them?”

Allison crinkled her nose and scratched it as an insect she did not recognize landed and flew away. She didn’t answer right away. She had to think about how to approach the topic with sensitivity. She didn’t know much about real history but every single movie she’d seen about anything before the twentieth century made them seem like religious fanatics in some fashion. Finally, she answered.

“So, I’m not what you would call faithful. My… problem with the subject is that the Christian church, one specific Christian church killed a lot of innocent people in their… they called it a crusade. There was a civil war, and it is hard to find someone who didn’t have a family member killed or maimed in their terrorist attacks. Finally, the System’s Alliance had to turn their colonies and their dome into craters. It was really bad, and I still remember the holos vividly and I was twelve when they finally put an end to the actual war. My Babu, my grandfather, had to give the order. He still isn’t the same. Some of them still come out and do terrorist stuff from time to time. So like, unless you’re someone who is beyond reproach and you’re openly Christian it tends to… like… people just don’t like you by default.”

Helen frowned.

“So, you kill Christians?”

Allison was really confused by how Helen reached that conclusion. She waved her hands and shook her head.

“No, you are free to practice whatever religion you want in the System’s Alliance. It was the Christians who wanted to change that. No. The President is Catholic. Christian… whatever. I suppose it’s hard to worship your sister as a goddess… Anyway. No, I’m just saying after the war and the terror attacks, Christians aren’t the most popular people in some crowds. It’s only been four years. People take time to heal or whatever. Auntie Eyre can explain all of it. I’m not the best person to ask. I’m like sixteen.”

Allison stopped in front of a building that was painted in bright shades of yellow and gold.