Misery County

Chapter 21 - Part 2

"I thought you'd already decided I was a vampire."

"Are you?"

"It's an ugly word, but yes, my kind have inspired your kind with our... antics over the millennia."

"You ate a whole lump of garlic!"

"I did," she said with a cheery tone that belied the evil beneath. "I also have a reflection in mirrors, don't mind a good staking, and if you've brought silver bullets, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed."

"I figured as much."

"Then why'd you come, stud?"

"Don't you fucking call me that." Eric felt the need for decorum was fading.

"Are you still upset about me getting into your head?"

"To hell with that. You killed Jerry! You killed Cassie!"

"As it happens, I did neither. You can thank the werewolves for that." She stopped pacing, and an edge appeared in her voice. "Speaking of werewolves, your presence here must mean that Tattoo is dead."

"His name was Aaron," Eric spat. "He was a friend of mine before you got your claws into him."

"You're blaming me for him now as well? However did you get this far in life, fueled entirely by your absurd delusions?"

"I know the corruption of evil when I see it. That's how I got this far in life."

"What a shallow view of things. You view us as evil, like there's no other perspective to this fight."

"And you're not?"

"We fight for our own survival. You and your kind are out there trying to kill us. Do you ever stop to wonder whether you're the bad guys?"

"Well, for starters, I didn't bring about a fucking apocalypse."

Nevena let off something between an exhale and a laugh. "You like that?"

"What even is going on out there?"

"Like you said, an apocalypse."

"But not the apocalypse?"

"Are you asking if what's happening out there is happening all over the planet? The answer is no. It's local... for now."

"And what's the endgame?"

"A new order," Nevena said with a ferocity in her voice. "One with us at the top of the hierarchy, where we belong."

"That's not a very good plan. One me was enough to almost derail you. When you expose yourself to humanity and every army in the world is aimed at you, how the hell are you going to survive that?"

"Oh, Eric. Simple, simple Eric. You just don't have the ability to see past the end of your nose, do you?"

"I see a shabby cabal of monsters that are picking on one of the most sparsely-populated counties in the country to live out their power fantasy. It sounds like you're more than aware that you can't face off too many of us."

"You couldn't even begin to appreciate the subtleties of our plan, Eric."

"No, but I can appreciate the weakness of your excuses. Face it, whatever happens here tonight, you'll never win in the long run. You'll just get yourselves exposed and terminated."

"We'll see about that, but tell me something – why did you come if you were so sure that we'd fail?"

A chill traveled through the room.

"I came because it takes every man to win a battle."