The Vampire's War

May, 2045

Rose Darvill’s hands rested on the broad shoulders of her husband, Bruce. He was shaking with nerves, but if he didn’t go out there right now, they would lose this chance forever. They would lose the right to call themselves human.

“Bruce, darling, you know what to say,” she said softly, brushing her plum-coloured bangs out of her face. The radiation changed a lot of things, she remembered her mother saying when Rose had inquired about her unusual hair colour so, so many years ago.

“I know I do,” he mumbled in response. “But you know me.”

Rose let the backs of her fingers stroke Bruce’s cheek. He had always had trouble speaking in front of large groups of people, which was a huge problem for someone in his position.

“Once you get going, you’ll raise them up more passionately than the Americans during Pearl Harbor.”

Bruce smiled slightly at the mention of his favorite piece of Earth history – the history before the nukes.

Rose kissed him softly. “Go out there. They’re waiting.”

And so Bruce sighed and turned away from his wife to walk through the make-shift curtain that had been hung across the stage.

On the other side of the curtain was the open stage that awaited him, Bruce Darvill, to make his speech to his fellow rebels. It was an old, still damaged theater. The bombs had destroyed a lot of things, and it seemed like the blood suckers hadn’t been very interested in repairing this building, but that was okay with Bruce. It made for a handy meeting location, even if it was freezing cold.

In the seats were perhaps fifty or sixty people, the only people who were brave or fed up enough to join HARAV, Human Allied Rebels Against Vampires, the Darvill family’s little rebel force in Servine. Of course, there were other, smaller groups all over the world, and each province had their own, but HARAV was by far the biggest and most active. They had almost been caught and destroyed in the time of Bruce’s father, Victor. Victor had nearly died so the group could live, and Bruce had since made it his personal mission to see that the group survived to fight another day.

Bruce took his place in the middle of the stage and the small amount of chatter died instantly. He swallowed nervously as he felt everyone’s eyes lock onto him. He had rehearsed this speech in front of Rose so many times, but of course now he was getting cold feet.

“Welcome, my fellow humans and rebels,” he said, his voice just a notch higher than it usually was. “I’m pleased you could all come out with such miserable weather.”

The crowd laughed quietly – the weather was always lousy on this frozen planet.

“I’m sure it’s obvious why we’re here,” he continued. “It’s been all over every news source we can get our eyes and ears on – X Blood enslavement.”

Now the crowd was muttering angrily. “They took my wife!” one man shouted.

“It’s all that blood sucker Quari’s fault!” a woman yelled, and others murmured in agreement.

“To be sure,” Bruce agreed. “And, my dear fellows, are we going to just sit here and watch? Watch and wait for the Vampires to steal the ones we love away? Just let them walk all over us, like we’re some kind of ocean rat?” He was finally on a roll. “No! I’ve been talking and relaying with all the other resistance leaders across the world. It’s clear that the Vampires will stop at nothing to cure their insatiable thirst. We need to protect ourselves! We need to claim back our basic rights as humans! We are entitled to the pursuit of happiness! We cannot allow ourselves to be enslaved any longer!”

Bruce felt most energized than he had in a long, long time. He was almost shaking.

“But they’ll crush us,” someone in the crowd said. “They have the advantage.”

“Maybe in resources, but we know their greatest weakness,” Bruce said, smirking. “Sunlight. UV rays. We could harness UV and use it against them.”

“But they found the cure for that,” the same person pointed out. “X Bloods.”

“What if we took away their X Bloods?”

There was silence for a moment. “But… what about at night?”

“We use UV lamps.”

“And killing them?”

Bruce smirked again. “I have an acquaintance that will be able to assist in this.” He looked around, almost disappointed that he couldn’t see any more than the shadowy outlines of people’s faces. “A Vampire slayer who’s been working these past years in Shambala, Eyn, and he’s agreed to come train recruits – if we are prepared to fight, possibly to the death.”

Now the silence was creeping. “To the death?” someone finally asked.

Bruce sighed. “The blood suckers have no regard for human life. And I’m afraid that if we are going to win this war, we’re going to have to be just as merciless as them.” They were still silent. “Look, you don’t have to decide today. I’ll send out a message for another meeting soon, and you can decide then. Just… think on it. Is this the world you want to live in? You want your children to live in?”

-

December, 2045

“Regulus Luqualis, get back here!”

Regulus kept walking on, trudging through the snow that had accumulated on the sidewalk last night. Aglia followed him, drawing a thick coat around her and following in his footsteps.

“Don’t go gallivanting off trying to fix my problems!”

Regulus sighed but didn’t stop. “I’m not gallivanting off, and I’m not doing this for you. I don’t want to fight.”

“Then why are you?”

Aglia had caught up with him, but was practically running beside his brisk walk.

“I told you, the military is drafting anyone and everyone they can, and I’m on the list.”

“Well this is absolutely ridiculous,” Aglia huffed as they turned down a different street, the one that had the nearest military office on it. “I mean, you’re a politician, not some idiot trying to kill people.”

“Technically, I’m a lawyer.”

“Oh, whatever.”

“And I’m not incompetent in fighting, Aglia.”

“I know that, but…” They stopped just outside the recruitment office. “This war… it’s so stupid. And it’s all my fault.”

Regulus gave her a half-smile. “It’s not your fault, it’s that bastard Quari’s. And for the record, I do want to fight, if not to just end this sooner. And then I’m going to let the Senate have a piece of my mind.”

“Last time you did that, you ended up eating snow.”

“But this time, I’ll be one of them.”

Regulus turned to walk into the office, but Aglia caught him up in a tight hug. “You’d better not die, you thick-skulled blood sucker, or I’ll kill you.”

Regulus couldn’t help but laugh and hug her back, and then walked inside, leaving the good doctor outside, cursing the world and her own stupid brilliance.