Though the vampires in our time were different… They did seem weak at times and maybe in our time the transition to vampire did take longer? I wondered why it would be different for me or in this time.
The sun had set and the island was quiet, with the exception of the wind, waves, and steady hum of insects. I decided to creep closer once the candles were extinguished and slip inside. And if fortune smiled and I found Asa within, I would end him.
Maru
The boy said that Enoch wanted to have a word with me. Well, I certainly had plenty to say to him. I told him to tell Enoch to meet me here, on the street outside The Atrium, unarmed, alone, and in the sunlight tomorrow at noon. The boy inclined his head and promised Enoch would accept the invitation.
I made my way back to the Compound, having nowhere else to go and not wanting to risk an encounter with Enoch until I could think about what he wanted – other than Eve – and how to handle him once we were face-to-face. I waited at the edge of the crowd until they began to disperse just like the guard said they would, about an hour before sundown. Some lingered. They probably lived close by. But I pushed toward the Compound as the others left it behind and made my way to the same door I’d exited from earlier in the day.
Yarrow’s shift was about to end, but I needed to talk to her and see if she had any new information. At the door, I scanned my clearance card and waited until one of the guards opened it. He checked my authorization again through his communicator and waved me inside when the machine gave him permission.
I’d honestly worried that Victor might have my clearance revoked while I was outside. He was sick of my pestering. Speaking of Victor, he stood in the lobby as I entered, surrounded by members of the military who were about to take the night shift outside. He told them to be brave, steadfast, and above all else, take out as many vampires as they could, but also to gather intel about their nests. Where they were. How many vamps they held. Whether there was an obvious leader amongst them. The day shift, he explained, would use the intel to hunt them and try to expose them to the sunlight in the morning.
“We have to work together, even though our shifts are separate,” Victor’s voice boomed. “We must communicate clearly. Think clearly. Make good decisions about the best course of action to take – for all of us. For instance, what would be better? Staking one vampire, or following him to his nest so the day shift could eradicate twenty of his fellow creatures?”
The men and women cheered him on. One of Victor’s most powerful traits was his ability to stir hearts; to embolden and excite them without igniting a flame that might burn us all. When he spoke, everyone listened.
The night shift filed out of the space, leaving it empty except for Victor, whose emotionless eyes focused on me. “Did you find them?”
“No, but with your permission, I’d like to continue the search during daylight hours.”
He considered my request for a moment. “As long as you report any and all information you find to me upon your return.”
I inclined my head with a subtle nod. With Victor, there was always a condition. Any privilege he granted had to benefit him in some way.
For months, the citizens had begged him to implode more of the dilapidated high-rises closer to the Dead Zone so the rubble would form a more effective physical barrier, a wall of concrete, steel, and debris. He vowed to consider it, but I knew Victor wouldn’t grant their request. The Dead Zone, he believed, was barrier enough. A buffer of abandoned buildings reduced to rubble. In truth it was easily breeched. Victor didn’t care. He enjoyed the prestige of having the only operable vehicle left in the city, and a wall of any sort would limit his trips into and around it. Not to mention the rare times he left Verona for other cities. Those trips were always short and only taken when necessary, but he loved smiling for the cameras.
As much as he’d poured into making this Compound secure, he still hated being inside it for too long. It was ironic that as avidly as he desired having the freedom to leave the Compound, the citizens wanted just as badly to be inside it. They would gladly trade places with him, exchanging independence for security in a heartbeat.
“You saw no one? Spoke to no one while you were out?” he fished, tugging at one of his impeccably tailored jacket sleeves.
“No. All the humans were outside the Compound,” I explained, hooking a thumb over my shoulder. “And I didn’t see any vamps in the daylight.”
Flashing him an easy smile, he took my words at face value and seemed to accept my response. As the alarm announced that the sun had set and locked the building down, I realized it was time for her shift to end.
The night shift was already assembled outside, and the doors wouldn’t open until morning. There were other ways to sneak out, but getting back inside now that the new security protocol had been issued, sealing the compound up tight, would be a lot harder.
Victor lingered, staring at me as if reading the lie I’d just spoken. “I have a quick meeting to attend, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your time.”
He gave a slight smile and nodded dismissively. I took off in the direction of the cafeteria. Dinner would be served soon, and I needed the cameras to record me there.
I thought of going to find Yarrow, but thought better of it. If Victor knew she’d helped me in any way, she would disappear like so many others had over the years. Anyone who crossed him; anyone who wasn’t one-hundred percent loyal, one-hundred percent of the time, vanished. They would be going about their business one day, and replaced the next. Commenting on the change could result in your disappearance, so everyone kept quiet.
There were many unwritten rules like that one; truths everyone knew, but of which they never spoke. Things everyone dreamed of, but wouldn’t voice. Wrongs that would never be righted.
That was the thing about living in a cage. Some cages didn’t require bars to keep people in. Victor’s punishments were swift and severe, which had the added benefit of deterring dissention on their own. It was why I wondered why he hadn’t squashed the crowds that gathered every day to demand his attention and action.
I casually walked to the cafeteria, loaded up a tray, and took it back to my room. Just as I entered, my communicator pinged and a message slid down the screen.
I broke it all. Now to sift through the pieces…
Yarrow had cracked the entirety of the encrypted code.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I prayed she would find them. Preferably before my meeting with Enoch tomorrow at noon.
I slipped out of the Compound early the next morning. As the first rays of sun filtered between buildings and branches, I walked across the city and climbed the stairs to a building adjacent to the Atrium, settling on the rooftop. Then I watched. If Enoch had laid a trap last night, I hadn’t gotten caught up in it yet.
Yarrow was back on duty tonight, but today, running on only a few hours of sleep, she planned to delve through what she described as oceans of data. And to protect me as I went to meet the vampire Eve was supposed to have staked.
Yarrow had hacked every camera in the area surrounding the Atrium and assured me that no one – vampire or human –so much as walked by it last night. If Victor or one of his tech folk looked at any of the feeds, they would see a recording from weeks ago on a day with weather just like this.