After a mile and a half, he had yet to see another group of vampires. Something Wayne was immensely thankful for.
Part of that could simply be the time. Dawn shouldn’t be far off. While the thick smoke over the city would protect any vampires caught outdoors from the harmful rays of the sun, there was still a natural inclination to locate a safe area to enter a brief period of torpor. That still left ghouls and thralls wandering around, but they were a non-issue. Wayne had already torched a handful of the zombie-like slaves.
Wayne doubted he would be seeing many thralls out and about. Most vampires in the city would be sleeping until roughly an hour before sunset and their thralls would be watching over their slumber.
Sunset was long after when Wayne hoped to be gone from this place.
How exactly he was going to get out, Wayne still had no idea. Perhaps he could find a radio to call up Hicks and get him to open the gate. Then again, if Wayne were Hicks, he would have called up his superiors already to ask about the mysterious man who spoke of vampires and tossed fire around. Everyone in the upper echelon would deny his existence–those orders had been forged after all.
Maybe Hicks would get orders to detain and interrogate Wayne instead of outright killing him.
Eh, best find another way out. Sarah could just use earth magic to tunnel out, but Wayne wasn’t all that excited about being trapped underground for who knew how long–Sarah wasn’t the best at earth magic. Though, at least they wouldn’t be hounded by vampires while underground.
“So, since I’m really a vampire, that was real magic you were using?”
“Yes,” Wayne grunted, rolling his eyes. There might be one vampire underground.
He smiled behind his mask at the thought of a vampire six feet under.
“That’s so cool. Can you teach me? Please? Please?”
“Aren’t you feeling sleepy? Any instinct to go nap the day away?”
“Nope!” Serena–the name she had picked after Wayne commented that Patty was a silly name for a vampire–hopped in front of Wayne. She spun around with a smile and clasped her hands behind her back, walking backwards. “I’ve been feeling so good. I used to have an ache in my back, but it’s completely gone.”
“Good for you,” Wayne said, wishing the aches in his legs were gone.
He still didn’t know what to do with the girl. She would definitely be finding herself left behind if they had to find a way past the military. Wayne might wind up interrogated, but he had a feeling that any vampires with him would be taken apart for study.
Even if they got through the military with her in tow, the Elysium Order would find out. Being hunted for the rest of his life didn’t sound like much fun.
On the slim chance that they gave the Order the slip, what then? Let her loose in some unsuspecting town? Keep her like some kind of vampire pet? Neither choice was very appealing to Wayne.
There were no good solutions. The smart choice, obviously, was to end her. It would have been so easy back when she had attacked him. Looking at her stupid grin as she walked backwards made that option all but impossible now.
“You never answered me?”
Wayne gave the girl a questioning hum.
“Can you teach me magic or not?”
“No. Thaumat–”
Wayne paused, considering it a bit further than his gut reaction. Elves, goblins, and a whole slew of other races could learn thaumaturgy. It wasn’t like fae magic that was restricted to fairies. So, why not vampires?
“Maybe,” Wayne said, changing his answer. “Never seen a vampire use thaumaturgy before. But I’m not teaching it to you.”
“Whaat?” she said, drawing out the word. “Why not?”
“No time. It isn’t something you learn in a day or two. Besides, the only thing I’d be good at teaching is pyrokinesis. In case you haven’t noticed, fire doesn’t mesh well with vampires.”
Serena pouted with the strangest set of puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. The endless storm in the back of her eyes ruined the effect. “But you said that Blacksky vampires are the masters of magic.”
“Vampiric magic,” Wayne grunted. “Us mere mortals can’t use it.” Though, he considered, thralls can.
Wayne shook his head. I’ll incinerate myself before I become a thrall.
“I’ll admit,” Wayne continued. “Never met one of your kind before. Only read about you in books.”
“So,” she prompted when Wayne failed to continue, “what did the books say?”
Wayne sighed, not entirely certain that he should be telling her much. Sure, she was an ally at the moment. If she decided to side with other vampires, it could be dangerous to give her too much knowledge.
Of course, being only a day old, she likely wouldn’t be able to put much magic to practical use.
“You know the stories. Turn into mist, or water, or dirt–”
“Why would I ever want to turn to dirt?”
Wayne shrugged. “I’m no vampire. Don’t ask me.”
“I guess mist might be cool. What else?”
“Mental control of animals and…” humans, “other things. Invisibility, illusions, a whole bunch of nonsense with mirrors and other reflective surfaces, you can turn milk chocolatey.” Wayne sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Arcane beams out of your eyes and large-scale illusions are some of your strain’s specialties.
“Really, what can’t you do is the bigger question.”
“Arcane beams? What is that, like, lasers?”
“Like I said, I just read it in books. You’d have to…” Wayne trailed off with a growing frown.
The girl was staring at him. Intently.
Wayne’s book-free arm shot out, gripping her over her mouth. He yanked her head off to one side.
“Ow, ow, ouch!”
“If you’re going to try shooting lasers out of your eyes, don’t look at me. Not if you want to keep living. Or unliving. Whatever.”
Wayne released her face and started walking again, leaving her rubbing her cheeks.
“You wouldn’t be able to anyway. Vampires grow in power the longer they’re alive. You’re a day old.”
“Aww,” she whined as she skipped forwards to his side, “so I can’t do anything then?”
“No.”
She started pouting in the corner of his eye, but was otherwise silent.
Overall, she didn’t appear all that upset. Her temperament since drinking his blood had been jovial for the most part. Considering how upset she was immediately prior to her feeding, Wayne had to wonder if it wasn’t some vampire thing. Feeding on fresh blood released the vampire equivalent of dopamine or something similar.
Perhaps she was merely showing off a happy face as a means of coping with her lost humanity.
Or maybe she was always like that.
Wayne didn’t know and frankly, did not care. He wasn’t about to pry and inadvertently bring up poor memories. She hadn’t once mentioned her sister since he donated a portion of his blood and Wayne intended to keep it that way.
Without parking lots taking up space, the homes in the residential areas were a lot closer to the sidewalk. At the same time, they were spaced much further apart than the more commercial buildings. Walking around the neighborhood had a disturbing peace to it.
It was like taking a stroll on a foggy morning.
Except, there was no sign of life. No home had lights. No people walked around apart from the two of them. There weren’t any signs of cats or dogs. No barking or mewling. No birds tweeting. It was as if Nature herself had decided to leave town.
In that silence and in that smog, as they meandered through the town, a high-pitched whine shook the very air.
Literally. The air vibrated alongside the sound.
Wayne snapped his neck towards Serena so fast that he suffered a bit of whiplash. Jovial countenance gone, her face was dead set in a serious expression.