What Happens in Vegas... An Empire of Blood Short Story

3

She felt a quiver through the creature then. An intense sting and pressure and then open air upon the wound in her neck told her the vampire had removed its fangs. It screamed out in that screeching tone and she could hear what sounded to her like a trace of bitterness in it. Then, the air stung even more and the sense of movement was more than she could consciously take. She slipped away into darkness.

When she woke, she was lying on solid, uncomfortable ground. The creatures were in the sky again, circling above her and in the corner of her eye she could see movement.

A male, only slightly pale, with long black hair wearing what Jackie was sure couldn't possibly be a business suit knelt down beside her. That's when she noticed the color of his eyes. As her father would say, they were as red as the Devil's jumpsuit. He looked at her with a sort of pity and sorrow. She'd heard they were deceptive creatures, though. And she knew any minute he would bury his face into her neck and take away what little life was left within her.

He opened his mouth to speak and the fangs became all she could see.

"Why would you do something so completely stupid?" His voice had an accent she couldn't quite place. He reached a hand out to her then and she didn't know why, but she felt she had no other choice but to take it. He pulled her up to a sitting position and she saw a body lying still behind him. It was Karen.

"Yes. You have some sense of what you've done after all, haven't you?"

She nodded hesitantly, tears sliding down both sides of her face. Why did he seem to be examining her moral choices? Was this some sort of test. A slight grin took over his face.

"You are wondering why you are still alive, aren't you? Why you live to hear me speak at all, am I right?"

She nodded again, unable to use her voice.

"It's true, you will die. But I will not be the one who takes your life. I'm afraid I can do nothing to stop this. If her blood was not on your hands, it might be different, however."

Jackie began to sob. She wanted to die, wanted to die more because it was true. She had killed her. It was her fault that Karen lay dead in the street.

The man turned and walked toward Karen's body and Jackie tried to get up on her feet, a scream escaping her and echoing off of the surrounding buildings. "No!"

But he kept on walking and that screeching returned as strange shadows on the road grew until the creatures were there and biting into her body. The last thing she saw was the man leaning over Karen's body, his hands hovering over her belly and a look of concentration upon his face.

The pain flowed through her every vein. It was like ice, fire, and liquid all at once. Then something changed and a metallic pressure gripped her all over like electricity. Her body spasmed and she realized then that the creatures were gone. Her skin hardened and her vision blurred and then cleared. Cleared more than she could understand. She heard coughing and spitting that seemed loud enough to make her head burst. And she knew it was Karen. It was Karen. But before she could try and understand, another electric jolt went through her body and she died.

Karen's sobs snapped her awake. Karen stood over her body curled into as much of a ball as she could while still standing. She was alive. And staring at Jackie with a horrified expression. He was blurry with Karen so close, but Jackie could see the man standing behind her. He patted Karen's shoulder and then spoke.

"It's time to say goodbye, Karen. The bloodlust will come soon and you won't be safe."

What was he talking about? Jackie knew she had changed, knew the horrible truth but she wasn't really sure what it really was just yet. She only knew she would never do anything to hurt her little sister. Not now. Not ever again.

But then, he pulled her away. And she knew now why she was so angry. It wasn't that sense of protectiveness that had come when the tires had blown. It wasn't that sense of love that overcame her when they tried to take that first car. It was a hunger unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.

She could smell it. The blood that was so important now. So alluring and yet more compelling than she knew anything could ever be. She reached out greedily for her sister as the man--the vampire--shielded Karen from Jackie.

A car pulled up then. A strange black car with tinted windows. The vampire opened the back driver’s side door and Karen got in. He closed the door and Jackie watched furiously as the car sped off. She swiveled her body to run after it and before she even knew what hit her, she was on the ground, pain erupting in her chest. The car disappeared around a corner and she looked up to see the vampire standing over her.

"Let her go. The weekly drop off will be here tomorrow. You will have to endure a special kind of hell in the meantime. Then, you will find yourself plenty of blood to quench the thirst now within you." A strange look overtook him as, for the second time, he reached a hand out to her and with deep bitterness, spoke.

"My name is Ishan. Welcome to Necropolis."

Robert S. Wilson is the author of SHINING IN CRIMSON and FADING IN DARKNESS, books one and two of his dystopian vampire series: EMPIRE OF BLOOD. He is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated editor of HORROR FOR GOOD: A CHARITABLE ANTHOLOGY and lives in Middle Tennessee with his wife and two kids. His short stories have appeared in/will appear in [NAMELESS] MAGAZINE from Cycatrix Press, HORROR D'OEUVRES from Dark Fuse, A QUICK BITE OF FLESH: AN ANTHOLOGY OF ZOMBIE FLASH FICTION from Hazardous Press, EVIL JESTER PRESENTS COMICS, FEAR THE REAPER from Crystal Lake Publishing, THE BEST OF THE HORROR SOCIETY 2013, BLEED from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and his cyberpunk/horror novella EXIT REALITY  published by Blood Bound Books was chosen as one of e-thriller.com’s Thrillers of the Month in July 2013.