After the Fall (44 page)

She turned to look at us. “And now, you two can die together.”

I reached out for Rayna’s hands and she squeezed so hard it hurt, but it was a welcome pain. The guard behind her jabbed the barrel into her head and I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Rhiannon.

Time seemed to have frozen. The false Queen stared in wrath so powerful it took her words, which was why she did not give the order. It was a painful reprieve of our executions. She never got the chance to give it. The screaming from the crowd resumed with greater desperation. This time there was no amount of brute force that could hold them in the square. The undead were coming out from the buildings and the alleys between them. They were even crawling out of the sewers. This time there wouldn’t be enough bullets to stop the attack.

The horde charged the stage. I felt fear at first, but soon regained the same feeling of calm I had felt before the trial. Our would-be executioners were forced to pull their rifles from our heads and engage the undead. It was no use. There were too many of them.

Rayna’s eyes flashed and she broke loose from my grip. The expression on her face and the primal growl that followed told me to stay out of her way. She rushed over to Rhiannon and started shredding her with her claws. Rhiannon tried to fight back, but she could not defend herself from Rayna and the undead. Blood was flying everywhere. Rayna threw a punch that landed on Rhiannon’s skull with a crunch that I heard amidst the chaos. Rhiannon went limp and Rayna flung her into the undead mass. I was surprised to see them tear into her. Until this point, I believed she had been immune like me.

The false Queen cut my observations short by pouncing on me, but her earlier exertions had weakened her to the point that I could push her off me with ease. The undead were concentrating on her now, ignoring everyone else unless attacked. She gave them a good fight. The Queen’s arms moved so fast they were a blur. She hit a few of them so hard their necks snapped. Her roaring screams were disturbing, but unfortunately for her, these creatures did not know fear.

Rayna and I got out of the way and let them do their work. The creatures dogpiled on top of her until she was covered. The screams became muffled and then stopped altogether. More undead joined in until all I could see was a squirming mass of grayish flesh. I watched this grim spectacle for a few minutes until they began to disperse, having left nothing but bone shards and tattered rags.The Queen was dead. It was over for Anna Thorn and the city that was her namesake.

I turned over to look at the spot where Rhiannon had been, but she had not been eaten. However, she was covered in scratches and bite marks. One eye was swollen shut, and that beautiful red hair was matted with blood and gore. Worst of all, she was still alive.

The undead got up and started leaving, as if they had remembered a pressing engagement elsewhere. Rayna was the only one that did not seem surprised.

“Mordecai,” whispered the feeble creature lying on the ground. I went over to her. She motioned me to come closer still. Her breath was sharp and came out in labored wheezes.

“What is it, Rhiannon?” I asked, sounding more like a concerned bystander than a lover.

“Mordecai, you have to finish me.” She stopped to hack up fresh blood. “Promise me. I don’t want to become one of them.”

“Fine. I’ll do it, I promise.”

She gave me a weak smile. “I’m sorry I doubted you. You would never have left me. I knew that, but the Queen got to me, sent me to ‘treatments,’
changed me
. I’m sorry for everything. I will always lov…”

The last word died in her throat and she let out one final exhalation. I closed her one eye, kissed her forehead, and pulled her sidearm out of her belt holster. I put it to the top of her head and emptied the magazine, barely aware of the noise or the gore. The gun clicked empty and I threw it on the ground.

Rayna was still standing, looking at the corpse-littered square. I walked over to her. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked at me and threw herself into my arms. We embraced one another so hard we could barely breathe. I don’t know how long we were standing there like that, but I do remember what finally made us push away.

Someone swooped down on us, making a loud stomping sound when he landed beside us. We broke the embrace and got ready to defend ourselves until we saw who it was.

“Lucretius!” I yelled. I felt bad that I had forgotten all about him with the commotion.

“Rayna…Mordecai…”

“Lucretius.”

“So glad you two are alive.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t so sure were were going to make it.”

“This wasn’t…quite what I meant to do, but I guess it will do.”

“Where did you go?”

“I climbed the back of the stage and waited for them to leave. It was that simple.” He looked down and slicked his hair back, shaking his head. “I owe you both an apology.”

“No need,” I replied. “It’s not like you could have stopped her without risking a lot of lives.”

“It’s not that.” He sighed and looked around, avoiding our gaze. “I have a secret I have kept from you both. I cannot apologize enough, especially to you, Rayna.”

“Don’t worry about it, Lucretius,” I said. “It’s over now.”

“No, this is important. It must end now.” He closed his eyes and let out another sigh. “The true Queen—”

“Is me. I am the Queen,” said Rayna.

The Coronation

Lucretius and I stared at her with mouths wide open. She crossed her arms and frowned. I couldn’t help but think she looked so beautiful when she was pouting.

“What, you don’t think I’m queen material? I’m not good enough for you fancy folks?”

“How long have you known?” asked Lucretius.

“It started coming back to me after I got attacked. When I was sleeping, I had these weird dreams. They didn’t stop after I woke back up. I started feeling fake, like I was pretending to be somebody else. It made me angry.”

“It doesn’t take much to do that,” I added.

I could tell she was fighting a smile. She reached forward and punched me in the arm, right on a nerve. I resisted the pain as long as I could. Only when I gave in and massaged my aching forearm did she crack a smile.

“See what I mean?” I said to Lucretius. He smiled and gave us a nod.

The cavalry arrived just in time to watch the aftermath. Several APCs rolled into the square, unloading a platoon of well-armed soldiers in full gear. They took up positions all around the square, blocking the exits and setting up their machine guns and grenade launchers in our direction. The soldiers looked confused as they ran around the square looking for their enemy.

“Are you sure this is the location?” asked one of the leaders.

“It was here, Anathorn Square. A big huge horde at Anathorn Square, they said. Not too many places with that name.”

“Well, where the hell is this big horde they’re talking about? It’s not like you can hide them in a closet somewhere.”

A squad approached us and began searching the nearby area. They checked under the stage while the rest came up to us with their weapons aimed at our heads.

“You two, hands up in the air!” they said. The one in charge turned to Lucretius. “Are you okay, councilman?”

“I’m fine, Lieutenant. Have your men stand down. These two are not a threat.”

“Sir, these are the traitors. The Queen wanted them executed.”

“Son, the Queen is dead. She was an impostor. The rightful Queen stands before you.” He pointed to Rayna.

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“You’ll get used to it. I’ll release more details later. For now, just tell your men to stand down. We’ll need a transport back to the mansion.”

“Look at you, big man in charge,” I said to him. He shrugged it off.

“All this time, you were the one that was holding this place together,” said Rayna. “Now I understand why you treated me the way you did for all those years.”

“I couldn’t have anyone suspecting that you were anything but a lowly border guard, could I? If only they knew that you were the one that turned me.”

“Yeah, if only—wait, what did you say, I turned
you
? But you’re so…old.”

He laughed. “My dear Rayna, you still have much to learn about yourself. You are the oldest of our kind. 

“When I went to my third expedition to Babylon, I once overheard a group of priests make veiled references to the Ever-living Goddess. Thinking I could not understand them, they continued talking freely among themselves.

“Over the course of several months, I was able to gather enough information about them to blackmail them into admitting their secret. I threatened to go to the high priest with this information. After giving me an oath never to reveal their secret under penalty of death, they allowed me to enter their sanctum.

“Imagine my surprise when they led me deep within the bowels of a temple and I discovered—”

“That the goddess was an actual woman,” Rayna interrupted.

“Yes,” Lucretius continued. “Indeed, that was the very thing that saved me. The priests meant to have me sacrificed. I was never meant to leave that chamber alive—”

“But I told them to leave you be.”

“That you did. They feared you as much as they respected you. Your word was law. You took a fancy to me from the moment you first saw me.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do when a handsome foreigner comes into the sanctum, let him die?”

“Thankfully, the answer was no. She took to me almost immediately, which created a great deal of envy among the priests, but I didn’t care because she said I was not to be touched. I became a companion of sorts. A pet, if you will.”

She gave Lucretius a playful shove. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“No, it wasn’t, but eventually, she became afraid that I would grow old and die, so she bade me to drink her blood.”

“How did you take that?”

“I was a bit horrified at first, but she could be so persuasive, so I did it. I drank the whole cup and asked her if she was happy. She said, ‘Of course, now go to sleep. Little did I know that those would be my last hours as a mortal man.”

“But it was worth it, right?” Rayna asked.

“Of course it was—I wouldn’t admit it at first—but soon the idea grew on me. We could live forever, feeding on the blood of our most loyal followers and the slaves and criminals they brought.”

“Sounds wonderful,” I said.

“Yes,” said Lucretius, “it would have been wonderful, but all things must come to an end, even for immortals.”

“What happened?”

“Cyrus happened, him and his army of barbarians. We barely escaped with our lives. With the help of some friends, we snuck away to Greece, where we lived until we had to outrun Cyrus one more time, eventually settling in what would become the Roman Empire.

“The patricians were good to us. In exchange for eliminating their rivals, they gave us shelter and slaves to tend to us and supplement our diet as needed. Along with other Vampires we made there, we formed part of the Republic’s secret army. We were the dark tendril that wormed its way through the land, weakening their rivals and helping them win their wars.

After the Empire began to weaken, we relocated to Britannia, where we hid for many centuries. When we resurfaced into society, we were reborn as nobility. Our titles ensured that our secret livelihood would stay that way. Then there was America, after…”

“After what? What happened in America?” asked Rayna.

“We had a bit of a disagreement.”

“What kind of disagreement?”

Lucretius looked relieved to see the Lieutenant return. “Sir, there’s a vehicle waiting to take you back to the mansion.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” He turned back to us. “We will pick this up at a later time. There is much to do.”

We got into the back of the SUV and left. There was an escort car in front of us and one behind us with their police strobe lights flashing, not that they needed it. There wasn’t much traffic out tonight, which is to say there was no one out there. Everyone was locked away in their homes or some other secure location. Silhouettes appeared at the windows when we passed. The people were frightened, and with good reason.

“We have to go to work right away. There is a lot of damage control to do. I regret that my idea to replace the Queen did more harm than good. I should have known that no one could replace you, Rayna.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Lucretius. You did what you had to do to keep Anathorn together. I couldn’t ask for a better right hand.” She put her hand over his. “Lucretius, my Prime Minister.”

“What are you talking about? We don’t have a Prime Minister.”

“My experience has taught me some lessons about life at the bottom, about being one of the little people. We’re going to make some changes, Lucretius. I’m glad I have you at my side to help me.”

“Changes? Yes, that’s wonderful.”

“I can still count on you, can’t I?”

“Yes, of course. You’ll always have me at your side as long as I live, which has been a long time and could be a great deal longer. I would be proud to be your Prime Minister, if that is what you wish.”