Parallel World

Chapter 18

"What do you think? Is there going to be the end of the world in 2012?" Chris asked.

Once again, we were occupying the red velvet sofas at Glory & Shame and tonight we had the full line up - one of our resident DJs was doing the music so Jack was able to join us. The club was half empty, though, as it was the third of January and many vampires hadn't finished seeing the New Year in.

"I think absolutely nothing will happen. There have been many occasions in the past when someone predicted the end of the world yet we're still here. Why should this time be an exception?" Jack said.

"Maybe because we have global warming, the resources are finite, the planet is so polluted and human arrogance and supremacy knows no boundaries?" Chris suggested.

"There are two things I can't imagine the world without - the belief that life used to be better back in the old days and the belief that the end is near. I can't think of a single century when someone hadn't thought that Judgement Day was coming. Have you seen The Name of the Rose? Several monks died in mysterious circumstances. One of them was found in a barrel full of animal blood. A local man saw it and cried - it's from the Bible, first there will be death in blood, then death in water, followed by apocalypse! Well, there was a death in water, however, the world did not end in 1327," Nolan joined in. After he had said that he tilted his head back, angrily mumbled something I couldn't understand, then looked at us. "Oh, if only you knew how such nonsense annoys me! People think we live in crazy times and are approaching the finish line? It's nothing in comparison to what was going on in 1918! Think about it for a moment - the Spanish Flu was spreading like a wildfire, the deaths were increasing in a geometrical progression, there was no vaccine and the worst military conflict in history was still in full swing! Although... Why am I telling you this? You were around when it all happened."

"Well, not really, no... I was so busy in the lab I hardly noticed what was going on in the world."

"Whereas I was living in France, enjoying peace and quiet after three years in the trenches, and deliberately did not follow the news," Jack said.

Nolan chuckled.

"Oh, guys, you missed out on such spectacles! I remember it as vividly as if it happened yesterday - I was walking down the road, minding my own business, when suddenly I saw this old lady running towards me, skirt flapping around, headscarf sliding down, arms stretched towards the sky, screaming from the top of her lungs that we're all gonna die, these are the final days of mankind. Everyone was wondering what would happen next, there were some wild speculations in circulation in addition to fear, uncertainty and misery. Fast forward to the present day and what do we have? Humans freaking out about some bird flu that is less deadly than the normal flu!"

"If you remember everything so well you must have been a grown up back then. Did you fight in the war?" I asked.

"No, I was too young, I was only fourteen years old in 1918."

I'd always thought that Nolan was a relatively young vampire. Judging by his appearance he'd transformed in the early 1930s. Finally I had found out more about him. Although he was one of my closest friends I knew almost nothing about his past as Nolan rarely mentioned it. I was curious to know how he ended up being a vampire but I knew I had to wait until Nolan brought it up himself and he never did. Asking The Question out of the blue was the worst social faux pas possible in our world.

I didn't even know where Nolan was from. His English was impeccable but I could tell it wasn't his first language. I presumed he was from Europe but couldn't narrow his accent down to any particular country.

"Sounds like I missed one great party. I wasn't even born in 1918," Chris said.

He was an enigma, just like Nolan. And then there was Jack, who also didn't talk much about his life prior to becoming a vampire. Therefore I had three best friends whose life I knew very little about. Me, I was an open book by comparison.

"Where was I?" Nolan asked. "Oh, yes, the panic. People really believed that it was truly the end back then. And then, suddenly things went back to normal. Well, as much as they could... The war ended, the pandemic stopped and mankind is still here. The one big problem with people is that they don't know history. Today they're occupying fancy offices, earning good money, enjoying countless perks that they take for granted and spend hours blogging about how bad life is: the job is shit, their boss is a jerk, the pay is miserable and, in general, everything is shit. What was life like one hundred and fifty, two hundred years ago? Workers spent most of their life doing dirty and often dangerous jobs for which they got pennies and lived ten people in a room. Yet they were happy to have a job! The welfare state hadn't been invented yet. If you weren't working, you couldn't' afford to eat and could actually starve to death. Why did families have eight or ten kids whereas now a lot of people only have two or three? Because half of them died before the age of five! People died from diseases that can easily be cured today. How many lives has penicillin saved? Medical and technical progress has enabled more opportunities than ever before. It does get absurd sometimes, though - you don't have to be able to sing to be a singer, anyone can publish a book no matter how bad their writing is, models don't need to know how to pose for photos or present the clothes they're wearing. People can travel anywhere in the world and find friends in other countries thanks to the Internet. And, the most important thing, European countries have finally stopped declaring war on each other. With the exception of the Yugoslav Wars, Europe has been war free for seven decades. Britain, France and Germany trading peacefully and not fighting each other? Who could have imagined that a hundred years ago? And those are just a few examples. So no-one is going to convince me that everything's doom and gloom and the end is near. Human nature hasn't changed much over the course of centuries but life has certainly improved. Whenever you're feeling down just look back at the past. Nine times out of ten people will realise that it's not so bad after all."

"I fully agree with you," I said. After a speech like that none of us had anything to add.

                                                                                               xxx

And so, another New Year had started. We celebrated here at the club where Vivienne, our dynamo in interior design and event planning, had organised a lavish party. There was tinsel hanging from everywhere, walls were covered in photos that made a collage of different events during the year and she had brought in big screens that showed New Year's celebrations from around the world. Given the different time zones, a lot of them were recorded and edited. The best part of the party was New Year's traditions from different countries. Shortly before midnight everyone got twelve grapes made of frozen Slood - vampires were supposed to swallow them one by one, as the bells chimed, and make a wish at the same time. OK, we were cheating a bit because our special grapes didn't require chewing but it was fun nevertheless. I couldn't decide what was more fun - popping grapes in my mouth or watching others doing it. The Spanish tradition was followed by an Italian one - letting go of the past. Furniture, sharps and very heavy objects were banned but everything else was left to our guests' discretion. Vampires on the first floor started throwing their "old" stuff onto the dance floor. Of course, the ground floor was full of vampires as well and a lot of things landed on someone's head, which made it even more fun.

During the party Jack had jokingly asked if I had any plans for my second birthday meaning the anniversary of my transformation. I responded by elbowing him in the ribs. I never celebrated it and he knew it. However, this year would mark 110 years since I became a vampire so there was little chance of forgetting about the significance of January 19. That day gave me a new life but it also brought back memories and reminded me of the circumstances that had brought me to it. By the way, I never celebrated the New Year in Paris anymore as it would inevitably make me think of Lawrence and everything that wasn't meant to be.

As usual, Jack and I had huge plans for the next 12 months. This year we wanted to focus on growing Slood sales and Jack wanted to explore the East European market. He was searching for contacts there and hoped to organise a business trip so we could present Slood, Renviro and VampNet face-to-face.

Apart from that, there was nothing worth reporting: our business operations ran smoothly and we were happy to catch up with our busy friends every now and then. As for Lance... We hadn't heard from him at all since the last incident.

I had no idea what 2010 would bring but I knew it wouldn't be boring - in our world, it simply wasn't possible. There was always something happening. I finished writing a late New Year's greeting and pressed the "Send" button. I smiled, raised my glass of Slood and made a toast to myself.