Indiana
April 14th
4:46 am
Sasha had driven for close to twelve hours strait with only one stop for gas. She had been too afraid to do anything else but what Connor had instructed before passing out. Her arms and legs felt like stone and her eyes were red and puffy with fatigue, but still Connor was not moving. She stopped a couple of times to check how he was doing, but she couldn't wake him or for some reason find his pulse. For a while, she was afraid he was dead and if it weren't for the random facial twitches, she would have sworn he was.
She saw a small motel that seemed clean at least, and pulled into the parking lot. The way she figured even the people who were chasing them had to rest.
She mentally paused, chasing us, when had these people start chasing her. "Oh yea, when I blew that guys head off" She thought. Remembering what she had been obligated to do, she felt her stomach turn.
She opened the car door and was violently sick. Since she and Connor had run, she hadn't thought about the events that had led to were they are now. The thought of the man's blood spraying onto her face made her get sick again.
After feeling the car stop Connor awoke, to the smell of fear, panic and vomit. Looking to the driver side, he reached out and touched the girls shoulder. She jumped and turned to him "What did I say about sneaking? God didn't anyone ever tell you its rude?"
She tried to sound brave and nonchalant but the look in her eyes and the vomit on the street next to the car betrayed her. Looking at her he knew what was wrong it look he had seen thousands of times in his long life, the first kill was always hard. "You didn't have a choice when he was done with me he would have killed you, so there would be no witnesses."
She nodded "I know that but it doesn't change the fact that, he is dead and I killed him." Tears started to run down her pretty face. Connor reached out and pulled her close. She stayed there crying on his chest for a few minutes.
She pulled away from Connor and gave him a resurging smile. "Come on let's go inside and get cleaned up." Connor nodded in approval and grabbed the cooler from the back seat.
They walked over to the main office and rung the bell. The older man who came blinked at the sight of his new guests, one covered in dried blood and looking pale, the other with tired eyes and swaying from exhaustion. "How can I help you folks?" asked the man behind the counter.
Connor responded in a smooth if not shaky voice "We would like a room please" The man again nodded looking a the odd pair "It's a hundred for the day, and fifty for extra per day"
Connor took the money out of his back pocket and said, "Just until tonight, please" as he handed the older man a hundred dollar with a blood covered shaking hand.
The man reached behind him to were, the keys were kept, and took down a key "And under what names are you staying?" asked the man.
"James and Jane White" answered Connor smoothly the man nodded and went to hand them the key stopping just short of Connors hand "I'm not going to find either of you dead tomorrow morning am I?"
Connor planted a smile on his pale face "I assure you, sir, we will both be alive tomorrow" the man hesitated but ultimately handed over the key. "Okay, its room four down the hall to the left."
Connor thanked the man as he took the key and they headed to the room he saw given.
Connor opened the door and let Sasha in first. Making sure they weren't being followed he joined Sasha in the room.
Sasha was standing defiantly near the single bed in the room. "Ok, I let you got away with not telling me, what the fuck is going, on last night, only 'cause you were half dead. Yet, you seem to be feeling much better now. The problem is I saw that guy cut you, and now here you are fit as a fiddle. To top off this the list of crazy that has invaded my life in the twelve hours is the fact hat those guys took bullets to the head and got back up. So tell me, Connor, What the fuck are you exactly?"
Her words came out frantic and a little breathless, but Connor got the point, it was time for answers.
Connor motioned her to sit on the bed as he goes the single chair in the room and set it in front of her. "You right that man yesterday did cut me, and that blood was mine."
Sasha nodded "Okay, then please explain why you didn't leak blood all over that nice car of yours"
Looking into the cooler Connor pulled out a blood pack and put it on the dresser next to him. Sasha's face scrunched up in confusion "What's that?"
Connor looked at her in the eyes and simply said, "That's a blood pack, like the ones they keep in blood banks"
Again, Sasha looked confused "Why do you have it then?"
"Because, I need it," Said Connor after a long sigh.
Connor sighed thinking of the best way to word was possibly the biggest shock of her life. "I'm… how can I put this?"
Sasha shook her head in annoyance "Just fucking say it"
Connor took in a deep breath and let it out "I'm a vampire, Sasha, and those men who tried to kill me… us were vampires too."
Sasha looked at him, irritated "If you didn't want to tell me the truth you could have at least come up with a better story."
Connor blinked he had expected horror, fear, maybe even disgust. This was not at all, what he had expected in the slightest. "Sasha it's true. I'm a vampire and so were those men at your shop."
Sasha just shook her head "You know I saved you life back there, the least you could do is give me the decency of telling me the truth. God you're a dick!"
Again, Connor could think of nothing to say. "Fine, I'll prove it."
Standing up Connor elongated his fangs. Taking a pen from the near by dresser he jammed it in to his out-stretched arm. Sasha rushed over and grabbed the bleeding arm "What the hell are you doing? Are you in-…" She quieted at the sight of the man's arm healing before her eyes. Taking the blood pack from the dresser Connor bit the tubing at the top and drank deep emptying most of it in one large gulp. All Sasha could do was watch in horror.
She saw the color return to his cheeks and his grip get stronger as he drained the last of the pack.
Sasha looked up at his bloody, elongated fangs, and her eyes widened. "You weren't lying."
Connor shook his head "No, I wasn't."
Sasha backed away from Connor and into a corner. Connor stood his ground; this is more like what he was expecting.
"How? What? I don't understand. Vampires don't exist"
Connor nodded "Yea, and that's exactly what we want you to think. We've existed amongst you since recorded history and for most of that time you knew nothing."
"But how? How could no one know that your kind is out there?"
"It's easy really, no one would believes that we can exist, that and we cover our tracks very well."
Sasha looked at the man in front of her never in her life would she have thought that this handsome man was an undead monster. Her hand went to the nightstand and opened the drawer. Never taking her eyes of Connor, she reached into the drawer and pulled out the bible found in most motel rooms. "Stay back" she said holding the book in front of her like a shield.
Connor rolled his eyes, taking the Holy Scripture out of Sasha's hands; he put it against his head. "Holy water, crosses" motioning to the book in his hand "bibles, wooden steaks to the heart none of that stuff works on real vampires. That's just religious propaganda to make us look evil and wicked. Actually most of the crap you've seen in movies or television is wrong."
Sasha stayed pressed against the wall, but raised an eyebrow "So you're telling me that vampires aren't evil."
"I didn't say that vampires, like humans, are inherently neither good nor evil it varies from person to person. Some are evil, some like me, are not."
"Okay, but obviously vampires drink blood, how many people have you killed to feed on there blood?" she said accusingly.
Connor again breathed deeply "Yes, we feed on human blood but we don't normally kill humans we have strict laws about that. Moreover, most of our blood is from blood banks and willing participants these days."
"People let you feed on their blood?" said the young woman with a look of utter horror and disgust.
"You'd be surprised by how many." said Connor taking a slow and tentative step in the direction of the frightened human. She didn't immediately shrink away from him, which was, at the very least, was an improvement.
"Look Sasha I don't by any means, want to hurt, you saved my life, and I owe you for that. Now please sit back down and let's talk." Sasha looked at Connor with a suspicious look but after a moment, she nodded and sat back down on the bed.
"Okay you said those other men were vampires too, but it seemed to me that they were keen on killing you." Connor nodded and sat back on the chair he was on earlier. "They were. They worked for another vampire, by the name of Paul-Henri DeGaulle."
"The guy with the machete called you a prince what did he mean by that?" Asked Sasha, as her curiosity won out against her fear.
"This is how vampires work. Every city has a Sarrum or king he runners everything in the city and all vampires answer to him. Under him is what we call a Malku or prince he runs the businesses and dose whatever the king needs. Under them is a group of high-ranking vampires who have the title of barons they each control small parts of the city and what ever resources they have."
Sasha sat on the bed trying to understand all the new in formation. "So let me get his strait each city has vampires running around with different titles and no one notices, how?"
Connor smiled "Simple money and lots of it. Most of the fortune five hundred companies are owned by vampires, indirectly of course."
Again, Sasha's eyes widened "But how can they control so much and not be exposed?"
"We create shell companies, laundry money, whatever we have to keep our control behind the scenes"
"Okay I understand, I think. You were a Malku but you obviously not now. What happened?"
Connor smiled sadly, "The game happened" Sasha again looked confused "The Game is what we call our politics. However, it's so much more than that, because vampires are essentially immortal we have plots that take centuries for them to be fully realized. It's like a game of chess, but you can never really see all the pieces until it's all over."
Connor stood up and looked out of the window at the color splashed sky "About a month ago my sire, the man who turned me, got wind of an incoming invasion. As his General, his Shuhadaku, I got the troops ready and waited to defend our city, L.A. We did too, we fought, we fought them hard, but in the end it didn't matter, there were just too many. Last week we made our last stand in our headquarters. We fought so bravely, so very hard but in vain, because by the end of that night I was captured and my Sarrum was dead."
He turned back around to Sasha who saw tear run down his face. Standing up she walked to him hesitating only a little at first. She put he hand on his face and he smiled.
"Don't worry about me I'll be fine."
Sasha looked at him and asked "Were you and your, sire was it, close?"
Connor nodded "Very, he was like a father to me for a long time"
Sasha looked deep into Connor's eyes "In my life I have never judged anyone for what they were. I don't intend on starting now," Connor grinned, "mind you that doesn't mean I trust you. It means you haven't tried to hurt me and you have been honest with me, so ill give you a shot, but your on probation"
Connor smiled "This wouldn't be the first time a beautiful woman has put me on probation."
Sasha smiled back while looking out the window, seeing the rising sun she asked, "Don't you need to find coffin somewhere?"
Connor shook his head and said "No vampires can be in the in the sun it just really hurts after a while"
Looking at the small bed Connor turned to Sasha "You can have the bed."
"Where are you going to sleep?"
"The chair, I've sleep in worst, trust Me." answered Connor.
Sasha looked at the vampire cautiously "Ok then, but if I wake up with holes on my neck and a craving for human blood, we're going to have a very serious talk about violation of trust."
Looking at Connor, Sasha smiled "You know as first dates go, this has go to be the most memorable of any other." With that, she wrapped the blankets around her self and fell in to a deep sleep to the sound of Connors rumbling laugh.