Sunset

I wake to the sound of knocking on my door, yet again it takes me a moment to adjust. This is not my room; this is not my home. Groggily crawl out of bed and open the door to a bemused Marcus.

"Sleep well?" he walks in without an invitation and sets a black bag on the bed, "Carmilla tells me you're going shopping."

"She made that decision, not me," I don't move from my spot by the door. Instead, I watch as he inspects the clothes on the table.

"You shouldn't let her boss you around," he flips the lavender shirt over, "granted to her you're like a new toy. We rarely take in Vamps not Sired by me."

"Why?"

"Makes life easier."

"No, I mean, why am I like a new toy to her?"

Marcus leans against the computer desk arms crossed, "your breed of Vampire normally belongs to Clans like Montana, Zarina, and Nosfera."

"Why are you pestering her this early at night?" Carmilla walks into the room, carrying a mug of steaming coffee, "try," she hands it to me and turns to glare at Marcus, "shoo."

"I indulge you too much," he flicks her forehead before walking past me and out the door, "just remember whose money you spend."

"Like you ever let me forget," she turns to look at me, confusion in her eyes as I stare at the coffee, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can drink this," I say, "when I tried to eat a cookie, I threw it up."

Carmilla snorts, "Marcus said there was poison in your system; he could smell it. That's why he shared his kill with you."

Poison in my system, "how is that possible?"

"Did you have anything besides the cookie?" she asks.

"An entire farm and spiced blood," I take a sip of the coffee than another until nothing remains.

When I don't throw up, Carmilla nods, "what's spiced blood?"

"Blood with seasonings, why?" I set the mug down on the computer table.

She seems to consider something before asking, "who gave you the blood?"

"Heather," I say, "she's a healer."

"Did you know her before you turned?"

"No, I met her after," I chew on my lower lip as I contemplate how much to say, "her children found me."

"Did you know them before the change?"

I shake my head, "oh, I met Mika right before I was turned, at a concert."

"I need to check on something, get dressed, and meet me in the foyer," Carmilla runs out the door, closing with a light thud.

What would they gain by making me believe I can't eat? I walk over to the bed and pull out black ankle boots and a black coat. Can Vampires get cold? At that thought, a voice whispers in my head, "you need to blend in."

"Get out of my head!" I shout masculine laughter, the only response.

I dress quickly and head downstairs, Vampires run back and forth some dressed in scrubs other in suits, paramedic, and firemen uniforms.

"Yes," a male vampire says, "we have ordinary jobs, not everyone had the luxury of accumulating a fortune."

"I see, but how does it work," I nod towards one of the paramedics.

"They learned self-control long ago, I'm Luis by the way," Luis extends his hand towards me the action something I've only seen on old shows and movies. The pandemic, twenty-five years ago, changed a lot of things.

After the virus, there were about four years of peace before the world went downhill. The ice cap melted, but at the same time, a meteoroid hit taking out Texas and turning it into the icecaps. Due to e-learning, the schools turned to ruin along with most of the libraries. The majority of things could be accessed online.

Of course, two years ago, the Civil War broke out, the power went out, and the internet was shut down to control the masses. Now people just count the days until the end of the world. I wonder what it was like to live before the world went to hell, without curfews and giant hornets.

Dammed scientists always messing with what they shouldn't. Made things worse when they tried to get rid of the killer hornets. There are also the mutated animals that were trapped in the zoo when a bomb went off. Whatever was used to make that bomb made the animals different, like the two-headed snakes and giant bats.

"Are you alright?" Luis asks.

"Sorry, it's just…

"Right, your generation just nods at people," Luis tucks his hand away, "where you off to?"

"I'm waiting for someone," I say, "what do you do?"

"I'm head of security," he looks down at his wrist, and old watch ticks the time away, "I should get back to work, stay out of trouble."

"Okay," I look around and spot Carmilla arguing with a nerdy-looking mortal. Should I listen in? I mean, would they even know.

"Lilith," Carmilla ushers me forward, "this is Vincent our tech, could you describe the people you met when you first woke?"

"Why?" at closer inspection, the mortal isn't bad looking.

"Carmilla has a theory as do I," Marcus leans against a pillar. He now wears an immaculate black suit; his onyx hair is comb back, and a silver watch picks out of his sleeve.

"It was a family a lion named Leo, a wolf named Sean," I chew my bottom lip, "a fay named Rafael, and a cat named Mia. They said their home is neutral territory."

Marcus has a deadly silence to him, while Carmilla looks like she might kill someone. Vincent, I realize, was typing everything I said into his flat screen.

"Is this them," he holds up the screen images of the siblings and their mother.

"That was fast," I say, catching the slightest hint that Marcus is bothered by my confirmation, "Rafael took me to see Mia, he wanted me to join her Clan."

Marcus snorts, "if, by clan, he means her incest pool sure."

"Incest pool?" I ask.

"Rumor has it her relationship with her brother is more than it should be," Carmilla says, "it's also said they have the tendency to keep track of their decedents so they can feed off them."

"But if it's a rumor…

Marcus scoffs, "it's not a rumor," he pulls off the pillar, "I've seen it," with that he walks away. Two other vamps at his heels.

"Is he serious?" I ask.

Carmilla takes my arm and leads me down a hall, "Marcus isn't big on gossip, so if he says it's true, then I believe him."

We make a turn, and then we're down a dimmer hall, "where are we going?" I ask.

"Garage," Carmilla types something into a keypad, and then the door opens, "you get to meet the love of my life," she runs a hand over an expensive looking car, "this is Ben the last Bugatti ever made."

"I'm going to assume Bugatti is a brand," around the year two thousand twenty-four major companies officially collapse, so many name brands lost it all.

"Yup," she pats the roof of her car, "get in."