Page 1 of Vameer

Somewhere in Patagonia

Prologue

VAMEER

Panicked screams echo off the rock while frigid wind whips my hair around my face.

Ignoring it all, I climb higher.

Tierra del Fuego is harsh. Brutal. Unforgiving.

Which is probably why I like it.

And why I want to rest here.

Gods, I just need to rest.

The sword attached to my left hip catches on the side of the mountain.

I shift closer to the drop-off on my right and keep walking.

The wind and screams continue, and exhaustion scrapes against my bones.

I’ve been here before, eighty years ago, on this exact goat path, headed to this exact destination. Shown the way by a druid posing as a monk.

I stayed for two weeks that time, relaxing in the silence.

This time, I will stay longer.

Perhaps a month.

The first voice finally quiets, only for the second to shout for someone to please help.

“Fementido, quiet!” I growl at the obnoxious men.

I’m just so gods damned tired.

The silence lasts for a moment before the scream changes to a plea. “L-let us go. Please, we w-won’t tell no one.” The man’s quieter volume doesn’t make me like him any better.

Of course they won’t tell anyone. What would they say? A big man with horns and fangs and eyes like the devil kidnapped me.

Vampires stand out. We cannot go unseen by humans our whole lives. But most men who lay eyes on me are siding with evil. So, they die. And the ones who live in small villages, who commonly see their local vamps, stay quiet. Through fear, loyalty, or disbelief by others. Because for all their storytelling, humans don’t like to believe in the supernatural.

Ten more minutes of climbing, then I see it.

The uninterrupted wall of rock gives way to an opening, three feet wide and seven feet tall.

I duck through the entrance of the unnatural cave, and exhale my relief.

The screaming resumes as the two men are pulled behind me, forced to follow.

There’s a dull thud, and the wailing cuts off.

Glancing back, I see that side by side, the two men are too wide to fit through the opening.

I sigh and wave my hand.

My gravito backs them up, turns the pair sideways, then floats them through, shoulder first.