Chapter 3: Encinar's Council

“We're here,” Caleb said.

I looked up at the old peaked building of Encinar’s original courthouse that I helped design. Thick edges, oppressive styling and all to remind me that I was so far out of time that someone would have written a tale about it. Which made me wonder who the ruling vampire was now that I was gone.

I gave the elf her phone back and climbed down out of the van with Caleb’s help, and then walked my way up the steps, attempting to recall the last time I'd been in the building, but couldn't remember anything as my head swam with the sky being shattered. Even the land that once was California was broken apart with an inland sea of actual water and dams prevented the bay from flooding too badly. Everything floated on strange clouds that acted like a sea.

I pushed open the large double doors and walked inside an open air atrium. Steps led to the second floor, while signs directed you to the courtroom or to the vampire council.

To be so bold as to have it on full display was unheard of only a day ago. Well, day for me.

Quite a large mixture of elves and humans, and even shorter people, waited in line for a pair of silver doors leading somewhere I didn't care to look. Caleb took his place in line with the throng of people while I headed for the stairs. My boots clacked against the marble floor as I walked past blood sacks and vampires, drawing the attention of a few who stared wide eyed at me.

Some murmured to themselves about my attire, one whispered that I looked familiar, others whispered about how it looked like I just walked out of the desert and my hair was sunbleached silver-white.

What of it?

That was one downside to the gift of unlife my sire bestowed upon me. Bad with technology seemed to be another if that smartphone was anything to go by. Sure, my sire gave me the kiss of death when I wasn't in my prime, but she said it would fix my problems and it did. And I’d do it again in a proverbial heartbeat.

I passed by a sign warning vampires that wait times may be slow and coming in after four in the morning meant they will likely have to stay the day in a shelter down below. At least they are still accommodating.

Do all places run day and night now, or was it just the city hall? And where is the human council?

I wandered down the stairs, lifting my dress up just slightly so as to not trip and made it to the basement before Caleb even arrived through a matching silver door.

It was cold, brightly lit, and smelled far too musty to be considered pleasant. Moldy more like it. An office waiting room greeted me along with a red-eyed elf woman behind glass sharpening her nails to look more akin to claws than nails. Her pale features were made even more apparent by dark makeup on her face. Unnaturally dark-hair marked her as someone who wanted to look the part of a vampire without being one. I approached the imitation vampire and her beating heart confirmed my suspicion about her being alive.

I am just another visitor to her. Odd.

She set the nail file down and looked at me. “Can I help you?” her voice was musical and soft, but also oh so very bored.

“I would like to speak with the Mayor.” My eyes were drawn to her highly exposed neck where her heart pumped blood through all the important veins. With how pale her skin was, it didn't take much to see the dark blue rivers beneath the thin outer layer, carrying juicy life blood to her brain.

“They're not in today.” The blood sack shook her head. “Come back tomorrow.”

“How are your eyes red when you're still alive?” I asked. As far as I was aware, only the Empress and her descendants were mortals with red eyes and no reflections.

“Cosmetics, duh?” She rolled her unnatural eyes at me, adding, “Old people.” Her attire was something no respectable lady would wear in my day, as it was akin to undergarments more than clothing! Much like Jezebel.

Do all elves dress this way?

“Now you listen here, you macaroni trollop!” I began as I pointed a finger at her. “I can see straight through your makeup and I will not be treated this way. You do not know who you are talking to.”

“There you are!” Caleb shouted across the room, voice echoing. He ran over and waved a hand in my direction. “Sorry! She just woke up.”

The receptionist held a bored hand out, palm up and shiny nails down. “System License?”

“I've never heard of anyone needing a ‘System License’ to be a vampire.”

“Then fill this out.” She set a clipboard on the windowsill and set some papers in it, shoving it under the glass toward me. “Vampire application form.”

“I’m already a vampire, blood sack.” I placed my hands on my hips.

“If you don't have a System License then you need to fill out an application even if you’re already a vampire.” She placed a fountain pen to a line asking for the date I was embraced. “Just put in the year if you don't remember the exact—”

“April ninth, Seventeen sixty-five,” I said and waved toward the glass between us. “I still remember the clouds turning the sky a beautiful red and orange over Port Royale for my final sunset.”

“Seventeen sixty-five?” the receptionist parroted in her bored tone. Her eyebrow raised at me as if she did not believe my own words.

I nodded. “Correct. A year after the start of a small skirmish between Nassau and Britain when King George saw fit to ‘gift’ the Empress a cannonball through her foyer. A skirmish in which I was so embroiled to fight in for my own reasons.”

“And your name is…?”

“Cassandra von Colterville, First Mayor of Encinar, California. I wish to speak with the Mayor about just what in the devil has happened to my city!”

The blood sack closed her mouth and nodded slowly. “Well… in that case, the Mayor is in their office, but busy.”

“If they are not available, then I would like to speak with the Lord or Lady of the City,” I said as I took the papers from her.

“Come back when you're done filling that out, please. I’ll send the Lady a message.”

I took the paperwork over to an empty chair and sat down to fill it out. Basic information for the most part from my name to age to gender and who embraced me.

I put deceased for my sire, because she told me to never speak of her to anyone, just as she never speaks of her sire, who never speaks of his sire, and so on. It was something we've done going as far back as the first in our line.

As for an address, I asked Caleb and he told me roughly what the city assigned my house to have. Which was to say, none, so I put unknown.

Once it was filled out, I went back to the receptionist and gave it to her. She waved for me to wait, so I waited.

I watched more videos on Caleb’s phone about the different motorcycles from each manufacturer and the different styles. With the road leading to my house being gravel and dirt, I might not want to use a street bike to traverse that. Maybe I’ll have a barn built for them since my barn was destroyed.

Then, I decided to search for information about vampires and technology, but the results said that vampires and elves invented computers, which I don't remember. They also claimed a few other things but said nothing about vampires not working tech. Even Caleb’s phone gave me trouble, despite him having no problem flicking through the screens and typing away with his fingers.

I tried to find information about what happened to the world, but none of the years I input were working. They didn’t come up because everything went off ‘Before Collide’ and ‘After Collide’. There was something about a wasteland, but it was all a frustrating experience and one better suited to a library than the Council Headquarters where people were far, far too noisy.

Caleb bought us both canned imitation blood from a Blood Co. vending machine, as he called it, and gave me one can, showing me how to open the ice-cold drink. It snapped open, letting out a loud hiss of air. More Type O+ blood, which meant nothing to me. The paperwork even asked me what my blood type was when I was alive, but I didn’t know what they meant and when I asked Caleb he just shrugged and said, “Everyone has a different blood type.”

Again, the drink was vile, but my hunger wouldn’t stop gnawing at my fangs, telling them to sink into the nearest blood sack. I had to find a better source than canned horse manure.

A human woman called my name, so I got up and followed her down a short hallway. Many different people sat at their desks doing something on their machines or reading paperwork. It was noisy, warmer than outside and felt odd to see humans and… elves, and vampires working like they were. They all seemed to be equally stuck with paperwork. I got a strange feeling when I looked at one of the mortals. She had that ‘look’ about her that said she was hiding something in her desk, because she kept glancing around the room at the other workers, opening her drawer, and then looking around again. She was too far away to see what her heart was doing, but the way she bit her lip told me that she was worried about something.

The vampire led me out of the main room and down a couple drab hallways until we came to a door with a woman’s familiar name: Isabella. My sire’s name… That was interesting, because I thought she didn’t want to play the political game. She said I was foolish for wanting to stay in one place and longed for the sea, always complaining that we should keep moving north since our contract with the Spaniards was done, but the ice flows of northern New France were far, far too cold for my liking. As a woman born in Europe, I was not a fan of the Great White North.

The vampire knocked, breaking my thoughts and then entered, motioning for me to follow after her.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Inside wasn't much larger than a bedroom in size with room for a desk, two chairs and a cabinet. Drab and boring grey walls greeted me, reminding me of how unnatural it was. What happened to wood for buildings? Soothing orchestral music played from somewhere in the room, reminding me of attending the opera not even a month ago. A small safe-like box sat tucked in the corner and hummed away.

An unnaturally pink-haired woman in her mid-twenties sat behind the desk in a close cut gentleman’s outfit. She sat up as soon as she saw me, adjusting her paperwork as her familiar pale-silver irises struck a chord within me. A memory from only a week ago where I had that same woman over for ‘tea’ one night and we talked until dawn while Amelia made sure our meal got home safely.

Sire…

Isabella waved at the other vampire and snapped her fingers, throwing her hand out again, wordlessly ordering them out of the room.

The vampire bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Isabella slowly leaned back in her chair and set a pair of well-worn black leather boots on the desk, tossing both arms wide. “Look what the undertaker brought in!” She grinned.

“What happened to your hair?” It should be silver like mine. Without knowing the procedures in the current council, I wasn't sure if Isabella wanted me to address her as sire or not, so I kept my mouth shut in case there were any ghostly listeners. Which could be a problem.

“I dye it with magic, child.” She placed her hands over her stomach before she got to her feet.

“Magic?” I blinked a few times. “From who?”

“From me!” Isabella snapped her fingers once again, but this time her hair changed color and became a bright neon green. “I picked Sorceress for my class. Managed to hit level sixty, too. Which is the class cap by the way.”

“Huh?”

“I did soooo much grinding in the Wastelands.”

“What?!” She can’t be serious, can she? What did she mean by ‘grinding’? Grinding what? Two sticks together?!

My sire walked around the desk, hand held out for me to take, but instead of shaking my hand, she pulled me into a tight hug that would have constricted my breathing when I was a mortal. It was like everything over the last hour or two suddenly didn’t matter. There was a bastion of light holding me and keeping the darkness at bay.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered in my ear.

I let my body relax into her hug and returned it, feeling the unfamiliar ice-cold blood running from my eyes. Seriously, who drinks ice-cold blood?

“What happened to the world? It's changed so, so much, sire.” The unbeating heart in my chest leapt for joy at the hug and thumped once, spurring the fake blood to move throughout my body, making me feel warm for just a moment.

“The elves went mad with two wars and humans were caught in between. We couldn’t hide any longer, child. Lord Halifax keeps us safe now.”

“I have nothing. Amelia’s a ghost and… and there were people in my house. They brought me here.”

Her hands patted my back and I felt the dark cloud dissipating once again. Everything would work out now that she is here. “Look at you!” she exclaimed and continued, “You’re absolutely famished! Come, child, let’s get you a proper meal.”

Fresh?!

My eyes lit up in anticipation as I let go of the hug and nodded to her. Then the feeling came crashing down when she walked over to the safe and opened it.

Isabella pulled a clear bag of blood out and tossed it to me, saying, “The good stuff. Not the manufactured bullshit.”

I caught it, sinking my fangs into the warm bag before she finished speaking. True to her word, it was actual human blood and not animal or the manufactured manure Caleb kept giving me. Filling, tasteful and exploded in my mouth with all the joy of drinking from my first mortal. Vastly Superior to the canned stuff. My eyes rolled back as I savored the bag, looking like a fledgling fool to my sire, but I didn’t care.

Two hundred years asleep without blood would make anyone feel like a fledgling again.

Isabella stepped forward to offer her wrist once the bag was empty. I took it, biting as gently as I could and drank deep from my sire’s juicy lifeblood. Her familiar energy flowed through me, sending my unbeating heart into a frenzy of drum beats for just a moment.

Her hand caressed my side before moving to my back where she let it linger. She stepped closer until there was only a few inches between us. I at my sire's pale eyes and her small smile. She leaned in close to my neck, so I cocked my head to expose it further. I could see her eyes hungered for blood I didn’t have. She stepped away, but let me drink more of her warm, stolen blood. Isabella ran her hand through my hair and patted my head. “Take as much as you want,” she said. “You really need it, trust me on this.”

I drank enough to slake my hunger for the day, but not so much it’d leave her defenseless. If she was in a council position then that meant she would need more blood than me. After I let go, I stepped back and reached for my handkerchief.

She licked at the wound to seal it just as someone knocked on the door and asked, “Lady Isabella?”

“What is it?” Isabella called out.

I was riding a high I hadn't felt in a long time. My body practically glowed with energy and nothing could stop me from enjoying the warmth all over. My hunger was sated. For now, but like always, I wanted more. My inner demon was rarely satisfied with only drinking a little and always demanded it all. I dabbed my mouth clean, noting that my skin looked at least a bit passable for a very pale human rather than a withered corpse like earlier.

“The ThinGen vampire is here.” It sounded like the blood sack receptionist or the other, actual, vampire. I couldn’t be sure, because they both sounded equally bored as if it came with the job.

Isabella motioned for me to be silent, pointing at the bag on the ground and then the trash bin. I threw it away along with a few other items from her desk before taking my seat like nothing was odd. The same song and dance as always. I didn't know her and neither did she know me.

Isabella cracked open a can of blood and gave it to me to cover up the empty bag’s scent, followed by taking one for herself. She took a long gulp then set the can on the desk before finally opening the door for the newcomer. Caleb strode into the room, eyes wide as if he’d never seen the office before. It was just a lowly room and I didn't see his concern.

“You wanted to speak with me?” he asked with a bow.

“I did, yes,” Isabella said and closed the door in the receptionist’s face. My sire walked over to the desk to give Caleb a thick envelope from her coat. “Your payment,” she added.

“Ma’am? I don't understand.” Caleb grabbed the envelope and counted it right there on the spot, glanced at me for a moment and then my sire.

The canned blood was not as revolting as I thought it was going to be, considering the ones Caleb was buying were about as disgusting as animal blood. If not worse. The label for the new can was SymCo BloodWorks. Type O- Sweet Blood. For all your late night pick me ups. Naturally sweetened and the best imitation blood money can buy.

What is with those darned blood types? I should ask Isabella when Caleb leaves.

Isabella chuckled. She smiled that same smile I remembered when she knew something I didn't.

It’s going to be a long night, isn't it?

As if hearing my thoughts, and she likely did, because I felt her presence poking at my mind. She patted me on the back, dipping her head low in a nod as she kept her eyes on the other vampire. “Thank you for delivering my child to me.”

Caleb slowly blinked twice, echoing my own thoughts. I wasn't sure if it was shock or unholy terror that crossed his face when he again looked down at me.

Hee gulped. “Y-your child, my Lady? She looks far older than you!”

Gee, thanks.

I didn't understand why she revealed we were blood kin to this lowly random vampire, but she had to have a reason. And one I didn't fully comprehend. It was clear that time passed from when I went to sleep, because she just broke the first rule she set between us and she was working a council job when she hated the idea before. Feigning ignorance about my sire was something I became accustomed to when dealing with vampires over the decades, because you never knew who would try and leverage one or the other. And we weren't exactly castle going types.

Keeping to the dusty trails and robbing coaches in the night was our game.

I took another sip of the canned blood and watched it all unfold.

“Yes.” Isabella nodded, patting my shoulder, breaking me from my thoughts of only earlier this year. “She is my child and I am her senior by a good two hundred years. You're a ThinGen creation, correct?”

Caleb finally pocketed the envelope and wrung his hands together. “Yes, Lady Isabella.” He glanced down at the floor and backed up, biting his lip about something. I could have sworn he was shaking like a mortal.

I looked between Isabella and Caleb for a moment and scratched my head, trying to figure out the implications of the conversation. Caleb was acting as if… “You don't know your sire?” I asked him before taking another sip of my drink.

He shook his head and practically bowed once more to our presence. Something I didn't fully understand, but chalked up to Isabella exuding a powerful aura as if she were trying to make him feel insignificant in our presence. Even if she didn't, her half-upturned nose and narrowed eyes seemed to do the same thing.

“It’s all mechanical now, child. They go in a dark room, get embraced by a vampire, and leave.”

Caleb nodded slowly, gulping. “I drank a serum and it turned me into a vampire. I didn’t want to die…”

My nose wrinkled. To not belong to one of the many wonderful houses must feel terrible for the boy. And to drink an alchemical potion to take the embrace rather than a loving kiss? That sounded horrible. I shifted in my chair, placing my hands in my lap as I pulled my feet under the chair legs, crossing them at the ankle. Then pointed at Caleb and looked at Isabella. “Does he even have any powers?”

“He’s lucky to have fangs with how weak his blood is. Now, can you give my child a ride to a hotel? I’ll pay you handsomely for it.” She pulled another envelope out from the fold of her coat and offered it to Caleb.

He took it and nodded to me. “Y-yes, I can.”

“A what?” I sat upright in the chair and twisted around to look at Isabella. My eyebrows furrowed, as I’d never heard of a hotel.

“Think of an inn, but more classy.” Isabella gave my shoulder a soft squeeze and then let go. She twirled around and walked toward the door, opening it for Caleb.

“But I like my house.” I frowned up at my sire. Even if the house was falling apart it was still mine and I’d rebuild it.

“Hun, a dark crypt under your rotting basement is so last century! But, if you insist on staying there then I’ll have this fledgling take you home.”

I glanced at the safe, but Isabella’s finger snap snagged my attention back to her. Her index finger moved ever so slightly from side to side before she dipped her head low and threw the same hand to the hallway in one swift motion. Not enough that I reckon the ThinGen would notice, but enough I did, as I knew all her subtle hints. There would be no more feeding from her stash tonight. She was done with the conversation and pressing the matter further would only annoy her.

And annoying Isabella was bad. She’d be liable to tie you to a cannon and shove you into the sea for a few years.

*** ***

Caleb was fairly quiet on the ride to my humble, rotting, abode. He only handed out money to each member and then handed me a hundred dollars according to the funny money bill. I didn't doubt the authenticity coming from my sire, but the bill was strange enough with System Credits on it rather than the Encinar Gold Reserve. Just how useful these company credits were compared to gold was something I didn’t ask the fledgling or his… ‘friends’. I merely folded the funny money and stuffed it in a pocket on my dusty old dress.

“Are you alright?” Jezebel asked Caleb as we were passed by a fairly large coach pulling an enclosed wagon that looked like a long box.

“That is a large coach,” I said quietly.

The driver snorted. “It's a semi-truck. Hauls cargo anywhere in the Shard. The drivers are assholes.”

“Marvelous.” My voice stayed quiet as I twirled a finger around my silver hair and watched the lumbering beast pass us by. It was beautifully decorated with so many amber lights I lost count at a hundred. Every corner on the vehicle and even the ground around it was illuminated in a soft amber glow, giving it a sort of floating look as the wagon rumbled on into the night.

“What do you mean she paid you?” Jezebel looked between Caleb and I for a few moments. “For taking her to the council?” I had a feeling I knew what they were talking about, but I pushed it aside and focused on the city’s nightlife for a short time until the woman spoke again. “One of Encinar’s nobles gave you two thousand credits just like that?! We weren't even on a Quest for her!” Her voice was low enough that the men in the front didn't hear her, but I did.

I sighed even though I didn't need to. Was just a natural reaction I kept up for appearances in higher mortal circles. It helped sometimes, but not always.

Caleb nodded. “A thousand for finding her and a thousand for taking her home.”

“That’s like three good ghost hunts!” the woman exclaimed. She leaned around Caleb and eyed me up and down. “Are you a famous vampire from the old days?”

“Not really.” I shook my head, then gave Caleb a knowing look that he better keep his mouth shut. “I helped found Encinar, but not much else.”

The elf woman waited for me to elaborate and realized I wasn't going to. She then smiled at Caleb. “Hey. I have an idea. What if we interview her for the internet?”

An interview?! When Hell freezes over! “I’m not an attention seeker.”

“Why not?” Caleb blinked at me.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose and slowly shook my head from side to side. Fledglings.

The van rode on late into the night, reminding me of the old days when my sire and I would race to our hideouts before dawn when on the road, hoping to beat the first light before we burned to a crisp just because it took longer for the stagecoach to show up than we thought. Only now, we can travel much further in the night, which meant there were far more targets than before.

I wonder if she wants to rob a train?

I rubbed my chin at the idea. It sounded good, but I didn't know if she wanted to. Trains were difficult compared to coaches. Always too many unruly passengers on a train wanting to shoot back and you had to plan them in detail and be prepared to throw the plan out the window as soon as the first blood sack talked back. My eyes fell upon another semi-truck as it passed by. Another prey perhaps.

“Caleb?” I inquired. “Do those semi-truck’s have one driver and one rider? I see a large box behind the doors.”

He explained that they typically ride alone with just one person sleeping inside at the end of the day and the ones with more than one typically drive while the other driver sleeps.

If they slept during the night then it'd be easy to find one on the side of the road and break open the cargo box, but what did they haul?

Best not to ask too many questions from one source.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence and it didn't take us too much longer to reach my dilapidated house. It was in a sad sorry state in comparison to the much more grand Encinar. The roof was caved in and open in some parts with clear signs of charring on the wood like it was burned at one time.

Amelia’s ghost greeted us at the open door and floated close, giving me a frigid hug. I tried to hug back without going through her. She pointed toward the east. “Quick! Both of you!”

Pre-dawn light illuminated the sky with a fiery glow, reminding me I only had minutes to get inside before I burst into flames. I opened the door for Caleb and led him downstairs, apologizing for wasting his night but now he’ll have to stay and hopefully his friends understood the situation. He followed me through the house to the basement and then to my sheltered room with Amelia rushing ahead to throw open the downstairs door for us.

I didn't make it to the coffin and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, my world becoming black once again.