The End Has No End

8

The highway looped through and around the city, bypassing the busy downtown traffic. Zeke chatted about the major changes to the city as he drove. Vera felt as though she were getting caught up after a week's vacation, not decades of being dead.

Eventually, Vera realized they had exited onto a smaller two-lane highway. This far from the city, homes were larger and usually surrounded by farmland. Zeke turned down a small road that was almost hidden by trees. A warning light appeared on the console, and Zeke pushed a button near it. "Initiating classic mode." The car's monotone voice spoke out as the car lowered to the ground.

"Old backroads like this aren't made for today's vehicles," Zeke explained as he checked the monitor and put the car in gear. Vera breathed a sigh of relief once she heard the familiar sound of tires crunching gravel. "I don't think I'll ever get used to being in the air like that."

It didn't take long before they stopped in front of a large wrought iron gate set into a tall stone wall that disappeared into the trees on either side. Zeke pushed something on the monitor, and the gate swung open long enough for them to drive through before quickly closing again. On the other side, the gravel road cutting through the trees continued.

Now in familiar territory on the ground, Vera looked from one window to the other with interest. Trees crowded the road on both sides, their branches forming a canopy overhead.

Suddenly they were in a large clearing. The road formed a looping driveway in front of a darkly colored, modest-looking house with an attached garage. Other than a garden surrounded by a low stone wall, the yard was unadorned, though neatly trimmed.

Another push of a button opened the garage door, and Zeke pulled inside as a bright fluorescent light came to life above them. Vera unbuckled her harness and climbed out of the car almost before Zeke could cut the engine. She went to the open garage door and looked out.

Outside of the light from the garage, the darkness of night surrounded the house. They were just far enough from the city for a few stars to be visible, and the moon still shone brightly overhead, though it had begun its descent.

Zeke came to stand beside her. "I like the quiet. It balances the city." Vera nodded, then turned to look up at him. "So how does a vampire decorate his home?" "After enough decades, he learns to let his niece handle things." Zeke reached up and pulled the garage door down, then turned to lead the way past yard implements and a messy workbench to the door to the house.