11 - Josep
A new nation. A new race. A new destiny.
They are making a noise upstairs. Lots of noises, actually. Loud thumping ones from the music, sharp cracking ones from the firearms, and other, smaller, more desperate noises that come from the hunger they are now feeling.
Of course, I know the world above my bunker is filled with halfbreeds. And I’ve been perfectly OK with this since Lucia started collecting them, but that’s because I never thought I’d actually have to deal with them myself. Not like this.
But—I sigh, resigned to my fate—it is what it is.
I straighten up, then turn to face the side of my cavern that leads to the bunker. I am leaving. Something I have not done in a very long time. Years. Probably decades, at this point, but I haven’t been keeping track.
Halfbreeds. What a nuisance.
However, they are part of the plan. One of them, at least. Otherwise Paul would not have tolerated them.
Paul is… missing. Kind of. I’m really not sure what happened during Ryet’s ascension—he didn’t come back with my promised blood, so something happened—but that blood was for storage and experiments. It wasn’t anything necessary for my present objective.
Paul does not require a babysitter and I am not about to spend time worrying about him. He can figure it out himself.
Ryet and the little witch have gone east to his home. A home Paul provided him. A safe haven where Ryet can retreat and have space to think. All part of the plan and, like the whereabouts of Paul, none of my concern.
I have one goal now and I am focused.
I come out of the bunker and enter Paul’s bedroom, stopping short in front of a full-length mirror. It’s one thing to see your reflection in a rippling dark pool of water and quite another to get all the details presented to you in glass coated with silver.
I am dirty and naked. My hair is a darker blond, than I remember but the body is in good shape for my age. I’m still tall and muscular, but in a lean way. Attractive.
Of course, all vampires have this look once they master the monster stage. We all end up pretty much the same. Different versions of this. Paul is a special shade of beautiful, but that’s another story for another time.
We are in the middle of the greatest ascension in history. If we pull it off, and there is no reason to think that we won’t at this point, we will change the world. Every last inch of it.
Ryet was the bottleneck. Getting a scion to transform into a vampire with only two fathers was a feat. There were many mistakes and it took us hundreds of years, but here we are.
The birth of a new nation. A new race. A new destiny.
The American Vampires.
I shower,and when this is done, I walk over to the door, still naked and still wet, and open it up.
The thumping of music has been non-stop for weeks already. But once the door is open, it’s much louder than I can stand. So I close my eyes, find the vibration, follow it backwards to the source, and then cut the power.
The lodge goes quiet for a moment, but then the protests from the halfbreeds fill in the silence. They are yelling and screaming for someone to turn the music back on.
I open my eyes and find a young woman with pink hair standing in front of me. Her eyes are wide and blue, her mouth open in shock. She blinks. “My… lord?”
“If you insist.”
Her brow furrows. “What?”
“I will be your lord if you insist.”
“Are you… Josep?”
“I am. Who told you about me?”
“Ryet. I called him. Paul is missing. Did you know? Do you know where he is?”
“We don’t need to concern ourselves with Paul at the moment. He can take care of himself. What we need to do… what is your name?”
