chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

He ran for all he was worth. He ran from her, from what she represented. He knew it was worthless, that running was not going to help him, but running allowed him time to think. As a vampire he knew eventually he would find the one who would restart his heart, but he didn’t think it would be so soon or that it would be a human. He had never heard of a vampire falling for a human. Humans are food, period. 

Vampires were originally the natural predators of humans. It was only after the great vamp war that the evil were culled and the Guardians and Protectors were left. That was only about 500 years ago. It was a long and bloody war between those who would feed off any human to the destruction of the whole species and those who thought that they should be protected as the species that would eventually out evolve even vampires. Humans were more adaptable, could live off most any food source, and had great minds. The original vamps were mindless bipedal predators; it was only after humans figured out that the blood of a vampire could be used to make humans into vamps, that there was any intelligence introduced into the bloodlines. Eventually the smarter vampires realized that if they reproduced as normal, the children were still just beasts with only minimal intelligence, and began only turning humans. This bred out the original predator as well as the ability to reproduce. Now the only way for a vampire to come into existence was for them to be turned. The war had been started by those who, once turned, could only see humans as worthless, as nothing more than a food source. This group of vampires was not large, seeming to be only one out of every thirty, and all had left their humanity behind after the change. Those who retained their humanity became Guardians and Protectors of the human race. Those who had not were outcast and called Animals, because they gave into their baser instincts. The war was long and hard fought, with his side being victorious almost to the extinction of the Animals. The Animals are constantly hunted by those now known as Guardians whose only goal in life is the eradication of those who would destroy humanity. From then on only those who would use the powers they received to protect mankind from themselves were turned. Those who gave into the blood lust were dispatched quickly no second chances.

Once turned the body ceased all normal functions, even breathing was not necessary, though most still chose to go through the motions. The heart completely stopped, and would only start again with the most intense of all emotions, love. It couldn’t be the run of the mill love, it had to be epic. The kind of love that most people dreamed of but never came close to experiencing. Once the heart started again vampire was at his strongest and would be till they died. You see once the heart started again all other organs started as well. Muscle that had basically lain dormant for years once again started receiving blood and oxygen. On top of this, “live” vamps as they were called also had regenerative powers. Pretty much any part of their physical body would regenerate if given enough time and the vampire was virtually unstoppable. This is what made “live” vamps the most valuable of protectors. Not only were they the most empathetic and emotionally stable, but they were basically supermen. While a normal vamp could be stopped by being beheaded or stabbed through the heart if one was quick enough, these “live” vamps could only be killed by total obliteration. This is how they had ended the vamp wars; the others could not obtain love in the way necessary to push them to the “live” state.

At this time there were only two. There had never been more than three alive at any one time. Some had found the epic love but were unable to be with the person and they usually died within months of finding this love. It was the other weakness, not being able to be with the person they loved or being separated by other than natural causes would cause the heart to stop again and once the heart stopped the second time the body died, not just shut down but decomposed at an accelerated rate, usually leaving nothing but dust.

He did not want this. He could not deny the beating of his heart, but damn if he wanted this. His mentor, the man who had turned him, had died only 3 years ago of the “broken heart”. He knew just how deadly this was. He also knew of a few who had gone crazy with the power and lost the love. He did not want this, especially with a human. What would happen? How would he explain this to anyone? How would the family take it? She was human, damn it.

He had to find out more about her. Maybe there was a chance she would be allowed to turn, maybe it could be that she was destined to be turned and that he had just run into her early. He needed more information. He needed to see her again. He had to find her and fast. There was only one person who could find her quickly. Riucher was a genius and knew more about finding people than anyone, either Guardian or Protector. Riucher was an exception to the rule; he was neither a Guardian nor Protector. Though when a vamp was born they were tested for which class they held more affinity for, Riucher tested to both. He was given a choice and chose neither. It was not like there was bad blood between the classes or infighting, just always a vamp was one or the other. When Riucher didn’t choose a class he was shunned by most in both as being aberrant. He then ventured out on his own and sold his services to either side that needed his particular talents. There was always a price for Riucher’s help though, which is why he would rather not use him except in a situation such as this. Better though not to tell Riucher why he needed the information. Mind made up he changed his course and headed to see Riucher.

Riucher lived on the outskirts of the opposite side of the city, but it only took a short time before he was on Riucher’s doorstep. Of course, Riucher having heard him coming already had the door open by the time he made the top of the porch.

Riucher had turned late in life after a long military career. He had the typical high and tight haircut. He wasn’t a tall man, maybe 5’6”, but with a barrel chest and beer gut common with men in their sixties. He was sitting front of his ever present computer at a desk facing the front door backed by the wall, typical military paranoia.

“Come in, old friend”, came Riucher’s baritone as he reached the door. “What can I do for you?”

“I need info on a human, but I don’t have much to go on.”

“What’s ‘not much’, son?”

“Gender, physical description, and a location where I sighted her last.”

“So female?” Riucher quirked an eyebrow

“Yes, a female,” he intoned seriously “about 20-25, probably closer to twenty. Brown hair, petite nose, high cheek bones, brown eyes kind of close set, thin muscular body. She was wearing obviously expensive clothes. I found her in a small meadow in the woods on the north side of town. She looked at home there so I’m guessing she might spend a lot of time there.”

“That’s it?” Riucher queried “That’s not really much to go off of, like you said. Is there anything else? Maybe something she said?”

“We didn’t talk; I was hunting an Asian murderer out that way, and saw her sitting out there. I didn’t stay long so I would lose my trail, although I did anyway.”

“That’s too bad. Well lucky for you I have some of the most extensive facial recognition software available, even to the governments. All we have to do is put your description in and it will build a 3d model, which we can then tweak till we get it right. Once we are sure it’s good, we will put in the system and it should have an answer for us with in minutes.”

“How?”

“The software has access to all the cameras in town. It will match the face to people in town, show us, and when we find her it will pull her DMV information.”

“That’s amazing” he smiled “I knew you were the person to come to. There’s no one better.”

Riucher’s face slid into a sly grin. “You realized there will be a price for my help?”

“Yes,” he sighed, realizing the moment he had been dreading had finally arrived. Seth was notorious for asking ridiculous favors in payment for his help. Quite wealthy, as were most vampires, he didn’t need money. “What is your price?”

“Nothing much.” Riucher smiled crookedly “Just want to know the truth about this girl and why you’re looking for her.”

“I will agree to your price with one stipulation. That you help me find her first, then when I have confirmed for myself, I’ll come and tell you the story. Either way it goes I will tell you. You have my word.”

“Ok,” Riucher sighed, obviously disappointed that his request would not be filled right away. “Let’s do this then.”