Vampiris Sancti: The Elf (7 page)

Vampires

When the demons
crossed the Reveal they brought with them their illnesses and one
particular virus mutated to jump across the species and infect man.
Some died, some went mad, and some developed into a being belonging
to neither world—a mutant called the Vampire.

Immaculate,
their pristine beauty could attract or repel depending upon their
audience. The Vampire, with their unnatural perfection and
preternatural qualities, survived the centuries in a life lived in
the shadows. Neither human nor demon and gifted with the best from
each world they blended into the darkness as an unobserved
passenger. Fluid, silent, immobile, beyond nature and beyond fate,
they endured despite the hostility of the worlds surrounding them.
Evolving alongside their human counterpart they soon acquired the
features a predator required to capture their prey with the least
expenditure of effort. The traits of the modern Vampire evolved at
an unnatural pace. Those who survived the mutation and survived
detection successfully passed their effective traits onto those
they also Unveiled.

The Vampire
fared best on the outskirts of the human world for while they never
lost the tie to their origins, remaining human in form and often
their preferences and their mutation if detected ensured immediate
death. Once their transformation was complete the Vampire was
deemed Ancient with an appearance more demonic than human. Now able
to survive passage through the Reveal and with an appearance
startlingly demon they quickly left the human realm. In their world
within a world, a superman amongst men despite their dependence
upon the beings that sustained them, Vampires developed their gifts
to suit the environment they currently inhabited. With the grace of
a cat they moved amidst humans while keeping peripheral to their
consciousness. They were no more than a glimpse out of the corner
of an eye—there for a moment—gone the next. When changing their
surroundings the Vampire had no issue and moved from light to dark
with the supernatural ease of one adept at handling both.

Contrary to
human mythology the Vampire, even when a fledgling, once exposed to
sunlight didn’t burst into flames. The sun reduced the strength of
the young to being as weak as and sometimes even weaker than
humans. The older the Vampire the stronger their tolerance of
sunlight was—until they reached the state of Aunsin when it no
longer affected them. Vampires as they aged gained possession of
their demonic strength and could lift heavy weights, leap up and
jump down from great heights, break through many solid objects, and
if attacked heal within hours. They were capable of enduring
prolonged periods of extreme cold, tolerate intense heat, and lack
of food didn’t affect them as they could achieve a stasis which
could last centuries. Bullets didn’t kill them, water didn’t drown
them, poison couldn’t stop them as only fire, beheading, or grief
killed a Vampire. Once dead, the Vampire left nothing for forensic
technology to examine while their remains turned into dust and
passed back through the Reveal as the universes rebalanced
themselves.

There were
those within the human world that had the natural ability to
recognise the traits of Vampires without years of Oric training.
This small percentage of the population was hypersensitive to their
surrounds and without trying seemed to notice the abnormality
lurking the shadows. Of those that did some would associate with
this world either to offer themselves as fresh blood—warmdri—the
warm drink, a luxury in the modern Vampire world, or in fascination
with the power of this anomaly. The traits of a Vampire were not
too difficult to notice with educated eyes for this being, while
appearing human, exhibited their demonic influence immediately. The
Vampire had pale skin and their features, though diverse, were all
similar in that they attracted. Their proportions were always in
alignment and they were built to please the eye, so if they were
dark, fair, tall, short, they were the handsomest of these. Their
symmetry encouraged granting of their requests, minds to be open to
their suggestions, for the Vampire evolved into whatever pleasure
their victims desired. Their genetic predisposition changed from
human towards demon and as the Vampire aged towards Ancient their
demonic ancestry became more evident. Those of greater age gathered
silver streaks in their eyes and hair until they were almost
glowing in appearance.

The Vampire
could sense the presence of one of their kind in the immediate
vicinity and if their bloodline was New or Old World. Demons
provided a different challenge for Vampires as they could sense
lower caste demons because they were clumsy and obvious. Those from
more evolved worlds such as Poqir and Varkja could avoid notice if
they were careful. As for the human realm, Vampires were able to
detect movement in the shadows, hear sounds beyond human capacity,
and react faster than the human eye could register. The humans who
viewed such qualities ascribed supernatural abilities to Vampires,
even the belief that they could read minds. Vampires didn’t have
this ability, though they could read blood memory of humans, with
demons they were hyper-observant reading body language and sensing
the emotions of those around them. The older the Vampire the more
powerful their abilities, an Ancient could travel an enormous
distance on foot, endure circumstances that would render a
fledgling helpless, and even survive for centuries within
suspension. Despite the accusation of undead ringing throughout
their history the Vampire evolved as a living being reflecting the
desires of their environment leaving little to the quirks of
chance.

The magical
world viewed the evolution of the Vampire with indifference since
they ascribed to the demonic notion of Vampires as mutants, not
from scorn as much as ease of reference. Vampires were not
considered important throughout the Reveal for they were not the
powerbase of their own world. Ruled by the Empire and hidden from
humans the Vampire fought to be accepted and respected. This didn’t
occur until they had evolved into Ancient and were in full
possession of their strength and abilities. Those magical that
crossed paths with the Aunsin enjoyed a mutual disregard. Neither
creature wished to accost the other, the magical because they
preferred aloof observance, the Aunsin because they knew the folly
of approaching a creature as unpredictable as it was powerful.

*********

Do not think
there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Malayan
Proverb

After the close
encounter with the Fairy Zyre realised the Elders were completely
serious in offering her to the Martyc. A capricious and
unpredictable fate had wronged her enough when she discovered him
already established on the world she had chosen to hide. Now she
was in hiding from everyone and everything throughout the Reveal,
her only support so far was from a drunken Pixie. With the myriad
of spies and informants available to him it wouldn’t be hard for
Vryn Dhaigre, Xatn of the Martyc Empire, to track her down and she
ran through her options quickly.

Blinkity,
blinking, bothersome Martycs and their Empire nonsense—he could
marry anything—so why annoy an Elf!

She cursed,
knowing exactly why, but she wasn’t about to become another
statistic of the Empire. He could find some ugly Goblin to marry if
he wanted magical so badly. She considered her chances of staying
free of him by immediately leaving, but realised she could discover
herself in the same position elsewhere. Worse still have him chase
her via proxy through Reveal to stalk her until she surrendered in
exhaustion.

Zyre
appreciated that the issue of her very unwelcome, very determined
suitor required immediate attention and did her best to
concentrate, even though there were bats playing games along the
tops of trees. She was painfully conscious of the threat to her
freedom because exchanges with a Martyc were in general difficult,
but dealing with a Martyc with romantic interests was clearly
dangerous. She wondered why he had requested a union with her
specifically—had she cheated him at cards—was this some form of
revenge? Did she relieve him of some money? Did she offend him
somehow—not hard with a demon! Maybe this was a way for him to
torment her for some other past indiscretion. To her a forced union
with a Martyc, even Xatn of the Empire, would be akin to torture
for the free spirited Elf. She searched her mind, but that was a
pointless task as the Elf was responsible for so much mischief
there was no keeping track of her pranks, fibs, or wicked ways. A
creature of impulse and whim, she wasn’t accustomed to considering
the consequences of her actions until several worlds later.

Finding few
choices of action that kept her free she did what Elves needed to
do in order to concentrate. She removed her heart from her thoughts
causing her to become suspended from her spirit. The Elf was a
child of chaos, defying logic in both physical and mental capacity,
so when placed into a position of defending her independence she
required a separation of heart and intellect. Separation, though
useful in keeping pranks at bay, was not an immediate state of
logic. So the Elf, not the most logical of beings, didn’t as much
consider a plan as wander into it and decided to check out her
romantic stalker. Her kaleidoscope eyes flitted through colours
until reaching sapphire—the strong colour of intent, but then a
large moth fluttering distracted her causing the colours to merge
back into emerald green.

She shook
herself while trying to remain attentive except that was as
annoying as listening to a Pixie dirge and it meant leaving the fun
of watching the fate of the Tyro. Zyre, like most Elves, was used
to an effortless and amusing existence—not one that made demands.
She did have a few tricks up her sleeve, one being the response to
her presence if she happened to be observed. The human universe
tended to reward beauty for its own sake, regardless if that beauty
deserved such bounty and hers was no different. Beautiful on the
outside and pleasing to the eye was often translated into pleasing
to the heart. The beholder often would ascribe positive qualities
to the possessor regardless if they had them or not, something the
Elf relied upon in her adventures.

She knew where
to find the Martyc because it would be the highest tower as these
demons loved to be overlords in more than name and vanity would out
making him easy to find. They enjoyed sitting in their lofty
heights—invisible to the man on the street while looking down at
all they controlled. Few citizens would be aware of the true nature
of their world—the bastion of real economic power in their midst.
Or the heritage of the creature that dominated such vast areas of
their existence, from mortgages to recessions, the Empire had say
in it all.

Zyre dissolved
across the city in several false starts as she was charmed by so
many things along the way. Tiny insects flocked around the
artificial lights of the city as their frantic buzzing called her
to come watch them. The urban landscape lacked the animal life she
had seen during the day, but there was still the scuttle of a brown
mouse, a roost of pigeons behind a large neon sign. She meandered
throughout the city until she came to the towering black building
that reeked of demon inhabitants and a light rain started to fall
as if announcing her arrival. She stayed in the shadows watching
the rain bounce off the protective shield on the windows—trust a
Martyc to keep his vision clear at all times. She noticed the Poqir
on the roof opposite attempting to blend in, the Varkja guarding
the underground garage, and the front entrance securely locked
against interlopers. Zyre knew that while none openly could see
her, she wouldn’t remain totally undetected from the head of Varkja
security forever. She could hide in plain sight for as long as she
chose, but to scrutinise the fortress meant dropping her guard
slightly. That would be enough for the highly evolved mercenary to
make note of the change in the atmosphere, leaving her open to
discovery and as the Elf would say more blinkity buckets of
bother.

Her heart
slowed as the leader of the force stopped his endless sweep of the
street with his eyes and stood perfectly still, so she knew he had
noted the change.

He spoke into
his radio. “Check the Gargoyles.”

Zyre would have
snorted if she was not trying to be invisible—Gargoyles indeed! By
the time they transformed from stone back into defenders she could
be halfway across the city with several Martyc treasures in tow.
The Varkja scanned the building she lay on and as his eyes washed
over her she could see his body tense slightly.

“Building
opposite,” he barked into his radio and the fact he didn’t include
the name of the intruder meant he only suspected she was there.

The rest of the
well-trained security force swarmed across the street and she knew
her observation was over, so didn’t linger. The Varkja, with their
impassive silver efficiency, were impossible to threaten or bribe.
She couldn’t be bothered trying to enthral the head of security
because that would only make the Martyc even more annoying. Fading
back into the mist she focused upon the Poqir, the scout chameleon
used for information was a soul requiring little corruption, yet
full of enough fear and greed to make cultivating his company
worthwhile. If the Varkja and Martyc were too dangerous to bother
with then annoying a Poqir would be the next best thing and so she
sat atop an interesting box that hummed on the roof. Poqirs tended
to be lazy beggars that would seek out the nearest social outlet
the moment their employer was occupied elsewhere. The only time the
company of the devious scouts were sought was for either
information or employment. Unpopular, due to the practices of his
kind, he would not be socially welcome at the general meeting spot
called the Centre. The protected sanctuary run by nomad Giryg
demons would be too full of rules, observers, and Martyc influence.
The Poqir loved to sell their information twice, so she formulated
almost a plan while she danced about enjoying the mist of rain
until he did something worth following. Not a hard call, because
despite the filth sitting upon the air of this world the taint of
demon was still strong enough to chase.