The Human-Undead War Trilogy (Book 1): Dark Intentions (11 page)

Stella smiled. In the candlelight, she looked human. Brian would never have guessed she was an Undead. She was dazzling and didn’t possess the usual Undead characteristics. 

She stepped past Barnaby and the two scientists and beckoned with a nod. They followed, leaving the children to their feast. 

When they were out of earshot, she leaned close to the trio, all joy erased from her face. “I appreciate the food, Barnaby. But we need more blood. I almost went to the moat last night.” 

“I think I can arrange something for you.” 

Brian scoffed. 

Stella squinted. She looked Ruby and him up and down several times, then hissed and bared her fangs. She gripped Barnaby’s forearm. “You bring humans to my home?” she whispered. “Humans?” 

Barnaby placed his hand atop hers. “They are my guests and mean no harm. I wished to show them the inner workings of our community. They came in with preconceived notions, and I hope they leave with the truth of our brethren.” 

Stella released her hold, stepped back, and crossed her arms over her chest. She held her chin out. “Leave. Take your friends with you.” 

“Very well.” 

Barnaby motioned Brian and Ruby to the door. Brian gestured for Ruby to exit first. He paused in the doorway and glanced back. 

In the darkened hallway, Stella and Barnaby stared into each other’s eyes. Barnaby held her hands in his and smiled. They leaned in and their lips embraced.  

Brian gulped and exited, hoping Barnaby hadn’t seen him. 

Chapter 14

Brian stood outside the orphanage and breathed in the cool night air. Stars twinkled, and sounds of activity buzzed in his ears. Several children darted down the cobblestone path, tossing a foam football and laughing gaily. An elderly couple trailed behind them, hands intertwined, the woman’s head resting on the man’s shoulder.  

Brian shook his head after taking in the scene. He was in a vampire community, a community of creatures who could become hostile before he could blink. He wasn’t surrounded by humans.  

He should be on edge. 

Lost in thought, Brian almost didn’t notice Barnaby materialize beside him. He faced the vampire leader and his stomach clenched up. “Turn me. Tonight.” 

Ruby gasped. 

Torchlight illuminated Barnaby’s face as he grinned like a jack-o’-lantern. 

***

“My mind was made up when we exited the drawbridge. Before that, actually. I had decided to decline.” Brian sat across from Ruby on his bed, the faint din of the nocturnal community buzzing through the window.  

Ruby’s beautiful face was scrunched up in disgust. “So you changed your mind an hour later?” 

Brian shrugged. “After leaving Stella’s, it was impossible not to get lost in this community. I felt relaxed. Too relaxed. I didn’t feel like I was anywhere I wouldn’t enjoy being.” He reached out and gripped her shoulders. “Barnaby was right. They’re like us.” 

“But you don’t know Barnaby well enough to trust him.” 

“He doesn’t matter. They deserve a chance just like we do. All of them.” 

“Tell that to the people who lost loved ones seven years ago.” 

Brian sighed. “In all technicalities, we started the war after John Ashmore stumbled upon them. The world would’ve continued on as it was, but that’s a dream, an alternate fantasy world that doesn’t reflect our current reality. Vampires are real, and they threaten to overrun the human race. But not all of them are monsters out for blood. Vampire children yearn for their fathers to return as much as any human child. Someone needs to stop all this craziness before both races are consumed by hatred.” 

“And you’ve decided this someone is you.”  

“Seeing those polite children exhibit table manners, the way the trade works here, the mannerisms of the vampires in this community, well, it tore at me, Ruby. I think this is the best route to take to ensure the integrity of both human and vampire existence.” 

“What about us? You become a vampire. I remain human. We can never have a future together.” 

“That’s exactly why I’m doing this. To make a future possible for everyone.” 

Ruby looked away. “And nothing will convince you otherwise, then.” 

Brian stared over her shoulder. He was willingly disappointing the one person left in the world who cared about him. But couldn’t she see this was the only way? 

The hidden entrance in the wall across from them opened. Barnaby stepped in, smiling exuberantly.  

“Everything is set, Koltz. Miss Paige, I have arranged for you to leave first thing in the morning. Unless you wish to be transformed as well?” 

She snorted.  

“Very well. Koltz, the night is not so young anymore. We should go.” 

Brian stood up from the bed. His shoulders drooped as a great weight settled upon them. He felt like a traitor to his friends and the human race, yet transformation was the only wise decision he could make. He would have the time to perfect the platelet mushroom, and the permission to take volunteers to fulfill the requirements. He would have financial support from Barnaby and all the equipment he needed. He would finally be able to see it all come to fruition. He would finally see the war end.  

He would finally see a world in which co-existence was possible and accepted. 

He stepped past Ruby and walked to the exit, where Barnaby waited with the tip of his finger burning that eerie light. 

“I’m coming with you.” 

Brian turned about as Ruby approached from behind. 

“And I’m staying, too.” 

“Now wait a minute. You—” 

“No, you wait a minute,” she interrupted, her voice stern. “You’re becoming a vampire. You have no idea what you’re in for. I’ll stay by your side—” she shot Barnaby a glare “—whether or not the lord of the castle will allow me to. You’re going to need a human around to keep you grounded.” 

“With all due respect, Miss Paige, you will only be a distraction to Koltz once this is over,” Barnaby interjected. 

“I’m staying. Period.” 

Barnaby held his finger flame near his face, his mouth tightened in a serious line. “You are more than welcome to stay, Miss Paige. But you will be the only human in the vicinity, and even your relationship with Koltz may not be enough to protect you.” 

“I can take care of myself. Once I get my crossbow back, of course.” 

Barnaby reached behind his back with his free hand, then held the crossbow out before him. Ruby snatched it up and tucked it into the waistband of her sweatpants.  

Something Barnaby had said nagged at Brian. If Ruby would be the only remaining human, then who was the elderly gentleman who’d helped them earlier? Not daring to question Barnaby, he kept the thought to himself. Perhaps Barnaby was hiding it for a good reason. 

Or perhaps the man hadn’t been human at all. 

He sighed. “Let’s do this, then.” 

Barnaby whisked away into the dark, the finger flame bobbing to and fro as they made their way through the labyrinth of crisscrossing hidden passageways. Brian knew where they were heading until Barnaby deviated from the only path he’d traversed thus far. From there, too many left and right turns led Brian’s orientation astray. They inclined at one point, then went up several flights of stairs. By the time they finally reached a dead end, Brian was breathing raggedly. He wiped sweat from his brow as Barnaby pushed a blue-tinted stone that gained access to another room. 

Except it wasn’t a room but rather a great gallery of statues and tapestries. A large brass door loomed to their right, beautifully adorned with unrecognizable shapes and symbols. Statues lined each side of the gallery, and tapestries similar to the ones in their sleeping chamber hung on the wall between them at fixed intervals.  

Barnaby flicked his finger to extinguish his mysterious flame and proceeded to their left, toward a large black door with a giant letter B imprinted in the center of it. “What you are about to witness may be shocking, but it is part of the ritual.” 

“Don’t you just bite and the virus does the work from there?” Ruby asked. 

“Virus?” 

“The URC has determined that the gene which contains vampirism is a virus.” 

Barnaby chuckled. “It is oh-so-much more, Miss Paige. Under normal circumstances, yes, we simply bite and allow our splendid ‘virus’ to do the work. For Koltz, I make an exception.” He pulled on a golden rung and held the door ajar. “He is about to be blessed with powers few others have ever known.” 

Brian stared at the floor, mind whirling. This was it. He was about to become the type of creature he’d dissected and experimented on for the past seven years. All of his work couldn’t prepare him for the wave of nausea that rolled through his body. “Is it true I’ll absorb some of your memories?” 

“That is fiction. There will be no memories of mine invading your own, no psychic connection.” 

“Will I be able to walk in light and avoid flames, and do your snazzy little finger flame?” 

“Immunity to fire is inherent in most vampires. But the others, I do not know. The transformation can bring about undeterminable results.” Barnaby pulled the door open wide and led the way into the room. 

Brian reached back for Ruby’s hand, but she didn’t clasp his in return. He looked back. She averted her gaze, acting as though she hadn’t seen the gesture, as if preoccupied with the scenery. The doors slammed shut behind them.  

If things were already turning sour with Ruby, what would his transformation do to his relationship with Keith, General Cannopolis, Strajowskie? Would he be embraced when he returned as a vampire seeking an ultimate solution of peace, or would he be shunned by humanity overall?  

Was this worth losing that? 

He shook the thoughts away. It was settled. In order to accomplish his goals, he had to do what was best. For his future, for the future of vampires and humanity, and, most importantly, for the future of the known world. 

The room was more majestic than the gallery. The floor was marble, with four small granite squares arranged in the center to form a larger square. Atop the granite was an elegant statue of a naked woman, with fangs jutting above a hollow, open maw just below her upper lip. Her eyes were empty, hollow sockets. Her arms were raised, face tilted to the heavens in a silent mock scream. Perky stone breasts jutted out above a defined, muscular stomach. The hair on the statue flowed down to her buttocks, winding between her legs and leaving only one thing to imagination. The detail was perfect. Almost as if she were real, encased in stone. 

The walls and ceiling were lined with red satin which flowed and rustled even in the absence of moving air. With the ceiling at least forty feet high, it gave the impression of being inside a giant box comprised of flowing blood. Extravagant candelabras rested on stone shelves in sporadic intervals along the walls, and red candles dripped wax into black bowls beneath them. A hint of sulfur lurked in the air. 

Two semi-circle steps ran the width of the room about three quarters down, leading to a dais. Atop the dais sat a throne unlike anything Brian had ever seen: A seat made of bone. Though it churned his stomach to think how it had been created, he was awestruck. Behind the dais was another raised section of the room, where red and black curtains intertwined atop a canopy, draping over a plush, high bed. The headboard, like the throne, was made of bone. Wicked flames swayed inside skulls resting on top of the two headboard posts. Wax ran through the cracks in the skulls’ teeth like blood. 

Brian and Ruby whirled about, mouths agape. Though it was disturbing, it was fitting and gothic, the type of room one would expect of a vampire, particularly the leader. Except for the bed. 

“I am certain you are glancing about to locate the coffin, no?” 

Brian shivered. Although Barnaby insisted telepathy wasn’t a power vampires possessed, he found it hard to believe millennia spent in the midst of humankind could alone make someone so keen to human emotion.  

“We, like you humans, prefer something comfortable,” Barnaby stated. “Does that really surprise you so much?” 

Ruby shook her head. “You guys are so much different than I expected, I’ll give you that.” 

“There is far more you do not and may never know, Miss Paige. But I still thank you for your compliment.” 

She snorted and opened her mouth to speak when the doors behind them banged open. Shrouded figures entered, bearing jeweled goblets and ruby pendants and jars containing unknown substances. The final one entered, carrying a chain with a small basin dangling at the bottom. Smoke poured from the basin, choking the air with a putrid yet pleasant scent. 

Ruby’s eyes darted. Her hand rested on the handle of the crossbow concealed beneath her sweatshirt.  

Barnaby stepped to her and touched her shoulder. “You may be at ease. I believe I discovered the culprit. He has been dealt with.” 

Her hand remained atop the crossbow. 

“The incense bearer will be your new escort and liaison. He is my librarian, and, coincidentally, the resident historian.” He winked at Brian. “Some say he is older than me.” 

Brian wiped his hands on his sweatpants as the incense-bearing figure approached. The priest threw back his cowl. Power emanated from him. It enveloped Brian and rolled over him like a freight train, unyielding yet comforting, unlike when he’d first met Barnaby. 

Droopy bags of skin accented deep, penetrating black eyes. His bald head glinted. He held out his hand and squeezed hard. “Father Stephenson.” 

“Brian Koltz.” 

Father Stephenson smiled. The skin on his face crinkled like a paper bag. “I’ve heard much about you, Brian. Barnaby has spared no expense in praising your scientific knowledge and abilities. I’m pleased that you seek a long-term solution to the madness which has entrenched the world in a pit of hatred and war.” 

Brian flushed. Barnaby was bragging about him? He found it hard to believe, considering they’d only known each other for several days.  

Ruby stepped in front of Brian, eyeing the old vampire. “Father? As in priest? Of what, pray tell?”  

“A priest can be one of healing, one of faith, one who serves the earth. And to all, their official title can be ‘Father’ if they so choose.” 

“Isn’t that hypocrisy, considering you drink blood?” 

Father Stephenson shook his head and wagged a finger. “I was a priest long before I turned. I will not vacate my title, and I cannot forsake my faith.” He averted his gaze. “That is the order of my Lord.” 

Before Ruby could retort, Father Stephenson turned away and stepped to the other shrouded figures. They then took up posts in a circle surrounding the granite section of the floor.