In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Forty-Four

The human realm.

Sorokin had played out this day in his mind multiple times. First off, it would be night time and he would be alongside Joseph, ready to wreak havoc, ready to unleash hell. Second off, he had painted an image of panic-stricken humans, of humans begging for their miserable lives. In all the scenarios he had played in his mind, he had seen himself smiling at the screams of mercy and reaching into their feeble chests so that he could rip out their cold hearts, the hearts that had been so comfortable with letting his kind perish from hunger.

Sorokin let out a disappointed sigh as he took in his surroundings. A plethora of humans with gadgets either in their hands or against their ears walked briskly about without a single care in the world. No one paid much attention to him. Not even when he snarled or cussed. Not even when he huffed and growled. Everyone was in their own little world, oblivious that a murderous creature walked among them.

Sorokin suddenly thought of returning home and joining Joseph in the rebellion. Did he not owe that to the hundreds of vampires who had died from hunger at the wall? Some had been burned to death by the sun as they tried to scale the wall. Others had died in the night, their bodies craving blood, any blood. Sorokin had bit his tongue until he felt blood ooze into his mouth just so he could prevent himself from shedding tears. Vampires from the lower caste were starving to death while those in the middle caste were feeding on each other. How long until those from the higher caste ran out of human blood and they too began to starve? The way Sorokin saw it, humans won either way. With the wall up, the vampires would be protected from the humans but the vampires would die anyway, from hunger. With the wall down, the humans invade and defeat the vampires who are now much much weaker because of lack of animals and human blood supply.

Sorokin sighed, Sebastian was right, after all, everything relied on Donna and her plan. The next vampire leader was the only one who could prevent their kind from being wiped off.

“I’m bored.”

Silence.

“Are you guys listening to me? I said I’m bored!”

Silence.

“Can you believe how ugly these little shits are?”

More silence.

“Can’t you guys hear me or something? Oh, I see. Y’all pretending you can’t hear me huh? Is this because of the mission? Are y’all scared? No need to be because I am the best of the best. I mean why do you think Lord Sebastian picked me for the job?”

“Cause he was tired of your yapping?”

Sorokin cracked a smile at Juno.

“You know what Juno? I have always been curious, when you walk, does the ground beneath you quake because you are a big mother-"

Without warning, Juno pounced on Cedric knocking the most annoying vampire in the realm to the ground with a loud thud. He then

began pounding his face. For a moment, Sorokin mulled over whether he should let Juno kill Cedric and decided against it. Cedric might come in handy at some point. After all, they were in enemy territory, three was better than two.

“Quit it, Juno. His verbal diarrhea might come in handy here.”

Juno looked pleadingly at Sorokin who maintained a steady expression until Juno let go of Cedric and hoisted himself from the ground. Juno was a big, no, humongous vampire with small beady eyes and ashy hair. His face made him look approachable but his body was another thing altogether.

“Not one of you is going to give me a hand? Y’all know that this vampire abuse right? I ought to report you to the chief palace guard and the chief palace guard ought to report you to the Master Hand and the Master Hand-"

“Shut the f**k up.”

Cedric paused mid-rambling and planted his elbows in the ground. After a lot of cussing, groaning, and squealing, he finally got up.

“Well we are here, on the other side of the wall, away from what we know, who we know…what now? How do we get in touch with Mistress Donna?”

Sorokin fished out the gadget in his pocket. He hated technology just as much as he hated change. Sebastian had insisted that he carry one with him, that that was the only way he could reach Donna. Sorokin examined the gadget closely. It had multiple buttons that produced little sounds each time he pressed one of them. After what seemed like forever, Sorokin threw his hands up in the air and cussed lowly.

“Juno, have you ever used one of these?”

Juno shook his head rapidly, his eyes squinted at the gadget. He looked repulsed by the tiny piece of technology. Sorokin heaved as he turned to regard Cedric.

“You know how to use one of these?”

“What?”

Sorokin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and squeezed the gadget in his hand.

“Do you know how to use one of these things?”

“Suppose I did, what’s in it for me?”

“I don’t know, say Juno, if he knows how to use one of these things, what’s in it for him?”

“He gets to keep his tongue.”

Sorokin swallowed a bubble of laughter as he watched Cedric’s eyes widen with fear. He quickly snatched the gadget from my hand and began pressing buttons. Juno and Sorokin left him to the task and began sweeping their eyes around their new environment.

“It’s like we live on different planets.”

Sorokin bobbed his head, internalizing Juno’s words. He was right. Vampires were intelligent and creative creatures. They were also the stronger, faster, and frankly more capable creatures but somehow they were technologically stunted while humans were…Sorokin’s mouth dropped open when he saw an orange vehicle whizz past them. It was tiny, funny looking, and very fast.

Hunger and division had made them the weaker species.

“It’s ringing.”

Both Sorokin and Juno turned to look at Cedric who had the gadget perched against his ear.

“What’s ringing?”

“What do you mean what’s ringing? Her phone, on the other end.”

“What?”

“Do you seriously not know how a phone works? You know for someone so big you are certainly du-"

“I would not finish that sentence if I were you, Cedric.”

Sorokin watched as Juno’s fist clenched. He quickly held him back.

“We need him, Juno, at least for now.”

Juno growled and remained put. Sorokin suddenly felt a wave of gratitude; he had wanted to do this alone but Sebastian had insisted on him coming with a few palace guards. They had reached a compromise of two and a gadget.

“Nothing. No one is picking up. I will keep trying but I think we oughtta move. We have been standing here like a bunch of statues for a while now. Someone will notice and remember what Lord Sebastian said? We shouldn’t under any circumstances bring attention to ourselves.”

As much as he hated to admit it, annoying Cedric had a point. The question was, where were they going to start? Unlike Donna, they did not exactly have a guide on this side of the wall.

Sorokin played with the jewelry on his wrist while scanning his surroundings. His heart almost stopped when he spotted a familiar face on the other side of the road.

“Diana?”