The Vampire’s Throne-5-2
2095 Words
I'm a vampire!
She certainly wasn't going to spend her first day as a vampire in bed, moping about how the one guy she wanted to be with was the one guy she couldn’t have. Alice quickly got dressed in the outfit someone--probably Margot from the designer labels--had laid out for her and headed out into the rest of the house. She followed the sound of voices through the foyer and down a hallway to a door opening up to the backyard.
She couldn't believe how bright the night looked. With her new vampire eyes, every detail looked as clear as if the sun shone overhead. The wide lawn looked like a set for a training montage in a Robin Hood movie. Straw dummies stuffed into vaguely humanoid shapes lined the side of the walled compound, their stuffing sticking out from knife and arrow holes all over their bodies. Padded columns serving as punching bags stood in various clumps across the space, along with various beams and gymnastics equipment for balance training.
In the middle of a marked, padded space, Margot and two men Alice didn’t recognize bantered as they attacked each other in a flurry of strikes with five-foot tall staffs. They jumped and weaved around each other, the staffs almost invisible blurs, as they twirled and struck with hard cracks. Alice stared, her mouth open. She’d known Margot was a vampire, but Alice wasn't prepared to see her suave, gallery-owning friend jumping six feet in the air to aim a kick at a guy’s head like an anime heroine.
Margot blocked a particularly vicious head strike and Alice squeaked in alarm. One of the men—a wiry Asian man in tight, leather pants—turned to look in the direction of the noise. It was all the distraction the other two needed to hit him simultaneously on the back and under his knees. He flew sprawling onto the pads.
“No fair!” The fallen man shouted. “Chris's newest sireling is awake.”
Margot leaned on her staff, her smile wicked. “Yeah, and enemies are going to do everything they can to distract you too.”
The man shrugged and jumped to his feet in a single, fluid movement. “Whatever, I’ll just have to kick your a*s twice as hard next time.”
The other man, taller with dark skin and chest armor made from overlapping metal gears, laughed. “Danny, that logic makes absolutely no sense.”
“It does in my head, shut up!” Danny said, smiling. He took a running leap which propelled him across the twenty-foot space between the group and Alice. He held out a hand to her. “I’m Danny. Adventurer and lover and forever at your service.”
“Lay off. She’s barely hours old,” Margot said. She walked over to join them, with the gear-plated man close behind. “You’ll make her regret joining our motley crew.”
“Please ignore them.” The taller man said. His voice was deep, with a measured, calm quality that radiated a sense of peace around him. He nodded to Alice, but kept his distance. “I’m Ben.” He shrugged. “I’m the mad scientist of the group.”
Alice stared. Except for the overlapping gears crisscrossing his chest, she would have believed he was a monk before she would ever label him as mad.
Margot punched his shoulder. “Don’t call yourself that!” She winked at him. “You’re the mad genius of the group, get it right.”
“Hey, I thought I was the mad genius?” Danny said.
Margot shook her head. “No, you’re just insane.”
“Oh yeah, that makes more sense.” Danny laughed. “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got.” In one motion, he drew a knife from a thigh holster and threw it directly at Alice’s chest.
Time slowed.
Alice watched the knife coming at her, moon glinting off the metal, the movement so slow it was an easy dance to step away from the point’s path and grab the knife from the air.
The group applauded. “She’s a natural!” Margot cried.
Alice looked down at the knife in her hand, still amazed at what had just happened. She’d snatched a knife from midair. She looked back at Danny.
“You…that could have…”
Danny grinned. “You’re immortal. Even if you were too slow, a knife wound to the chest wouldn’t kill you; it would only hurt like hell. Although, for the record, you should stay away from beheading or fire; those will keep you down permanently.” He walked over to a table covered with swords, axes, knives of several sizes, and a machete. He grabbed the axe and hurled it like a Frisbee at one of the straw dummies against the wall. It chopped the head straight off, the stuffing landing with a soft thump on the ground.
Alice’s stomach plummeted. It might have just been a dummy’s head this time, but what had she signed up for? Did they really expect her to kill someone? She was a photographer!
“I’m not so sure about all this,” Alice said. The table of weapons was intimidating in itself. She pointed at a pile of acorn-sized cylinders that, with her enhanced vampire senses, smelled like harsh chemicals and something else, elusive and tantalizing. “I don’t even know what half of these things are.”
Ben picked up one of the cylinders. “These are my UV flash bombs. Sunlight can weaken us, so I’ve duplicated the effects of the sun’s rays on whatever vampire they hit. These are non-fatal rounds; they just hurt like crazy. With enough exposure, they can knock an enemy unconscious long enough to make a hasty retreat.” He tossed it in the air and Alice fought the instinct to jump away from it. “I’m very proud of these babies.” He handed one to her. “Check it out!”
Alice recoiled away from it. “I don’t know…”
Margot walked up to give Alice a gentle pat on the shoulder. “I know it’s a lot all at once.” She gave Ben a hard stare. “Let’s start off easy before we move up to the pyrotechnics, shall we?” Margot picked up a sword from the table and handed it to Alice. “Try this. You’ve got a swordmaiden look about you.”
“Who do you expect me to fight?” Alice’s hands were shaking.
“Right now? Nobody. But living a life that lasts centuries pretty much guarantees you’ll come across one danger or another. The only expectation we have is for you to be able to defend yourself.”
Alice had to admit, the sword felt good in her hand. The handle was a simple grip with a metal hemisphere protecting her hand and wrist like she'd seen in old Three Musketeer movies. Although it was a solid, three-foot metal blade, she held the weight easily. She whipped the sword around the air a few times, enjoying the swishing sound as it cut the air.
“Hold on there, little vamp, you’re not chopping wood,” Danny said. He came up to stand next to her, rearranging her grip so that her thumb guided the blade like it was an extension of her arm.
Margot picked up another of the blades, standing opposite Alice. “All right, I’m going to show you a couple of attacks.”
Margot was patient with Alice’s many questions as she explained footwork, how to parry, and how to attack, with Danny and Ben giving a running commentary of their various run-ins with past foes. Danny especially seemed to run into confrontations at least once a week, a fact which Ben gently scolded him about.
They both cheered when Alice managed to clumsily recreate a feint, and she swelled with pride. Alice looked between Margot, Danny, and Ben. The connection of their family was so strong, it was like an invisible force joining them together.
This is the best part of being a vampire, she realized. I'm a part of this.
“Oh good, you found them.”
Alice turned toward the voice, and the Latina woman, Valerie, who had called Christopher away joined them in the courtyard. Something in Valerie's expression made Margot's shoulders immediately tense. Margot always played it so cool, Alice found it unnerving to see the gallery owner looking unsure.
Valerie smiled warily at Alice. “Christopher wanted to make sure you made it out okay.”
“He thought she couldn’t make it down a flight of stairs?” Danny asked.
Valerie’s smile widened. “I think our sire just wanted to make sure our newest member was satisfied with her transition.” She leaned hard enough on the word to make everybody chuckle and Alice blush.
“It’s not like that--” Alice started to say.
“Not anymore it’s not,” Margot said. “Christopher’s just too good a guy to bang somebody he has absolute control over. We all know that would be a recipe for disaster.” Her tone indicated the topic was closed, and it was Ben who changed the subject, turning to Valerie.
“What’s the news from the palace? What has Christopher out of here so early?”
Valerie’s grin died. “It’s the king. He’s dead.”
They all started talking at once, their questions overlapping on top of one another.
“What?”
“How?”
“When?”
“You couldn’t have led with that?” Danny cried.
“What are we going to do?” Margot said last.
Alice looked between them, her heart beginning to beat faster in alarm. The king?
Valerie held up her hands for silence. “We just got word an hour ago. It was a freak accident at the palace. We told him time and time again not to decorate his walls with ceremonial blades, but the king never bothered to listen to the opinions of others.” Valerie rolled her eyes. “Christopher is headed there now to investigate and confirm the plan for succession.”
“He’s going right now with no backup?” Margot sounded outraged. She buckled the sword to her waist and grabbed a couple of UV bombs from the table. She pointed at Danny. “Come on!”
Danny nodded, and the two raced away.
Alice watched them disappear with a growing sense of alarm.
“What’s going on?” She asked the rest.
Valerie looked at her sadly. “I’m sorry this is happening today of all days. As the king's last remaining sirelings, Christopher and Rhys are the heirs. It’s really a matter of who claims the throne and who can hold it. Christopher is the oldest so he’ll get priority, but…” Valerie paused. “If Rhys becomes king, we’re all very fucked.”
“The king’s death means there’s going to be a war,” Ben said.
Valerie jumped in. “There might be a war.”
“War?” The sword suddenly felt heavy in Alice’s hand. She looked down at the decapitated dummy head. “Now?”
Valerie shook her head. “No, there will be a lot of negotiations and diplomacy first, but the king…” Her voice trailed off. Ben laid a hand on her shoulder. “He was an ornery old bastard who held onto outdated traditions. But he’s been the king for as long as I’ve been alive. It's hard to believe he's really gone.”
Ben twirled a small dagger in his hand, over and over like he couldn’t stop. “It will be all right, you’ll see. Margot and Danny were the first vampires Christopher turned, they’re the strongest of us all. With them as backup, Christopher should be fine.”
“But can’t we help in some way?” Alice asked.
Valerie bit her lip. “Any more than those two would look like an attack, and might put all of them in danger.” She sounded like she was mostly trying to convince herself. “We can help by staying here and rallying the troops. Let’s call our sirelings, and they’ll call their sirelings and we’ll all get ready, in case the worse should happen.”
Alice looked between them. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Valerie and Ben shared a loaded look. “Rhys being Rhys.”
- Writer
