Apex Book Company

Stephen Young paced around his bedroom chain-smoking. Growing concern for his friend Samantha made him restless. He knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know how to help her.

Needing more room to breathe than he had in his little house, he grabbed his car keys and drove to what passed for the local mall. He hoped that he might run into a friend or two at the record shop. The small shop, luckily, also sold a few odd implements for role playing games and had a long table in back for scheduled and impromptu gaming sessions.

The usual small crowd of teenagers and young adults milled around the record shop. One of the teens - tall and thin but muscular for his apparent age - stood out from the others. He hovered at the fringes of Steve’s peripheral vision. Finally, Steve turned to him and asked, “Do you need something?”

“Oh no, man. Sorry. Didn’t mean to intrude,” the teen apologized and moved away.

Steve shook his head, but watched the boy from the corner of his eyes. By the time he left the store, he decided that something strange and yet oddly familiar surrounded the teen.

* * *

He woke up shaking and disoriented; he lit a cigarette and smoked with one arm thrown over his eyes. The nightmare was recurring, which to him meant trouble, that the dream was precognitive of some imminent event. He prayed that they were the result of his own overactive imagination, but some nagging feeling deep in his gut told him otherwise.

* * *

Steve looked up from the cash register to see the boy from the record shop smiling at him from across the store. When the boy brought Doritos and a bottle of Mountain Dew to the counter, Steve asked, “Are you stalking me?”

The boy smiled. “No, but I do have something for you,” he said. He held out his hand. “I’m Jeremy Bradford.”

Steve shook the offered hand. “Steve Young,” he said. He rang up the purchases and put them into a small plastic sack that had “THE MARKET” emblazoned on one side in blood-red letters. “You have something for me? I don’t understand.”

“Can we meet somewhere later?” Jeremy asked. His long chestnut-colored hair hung over his shoulders and took on a strange sheen under the harsh fluorescent lights inside the convenience store.

Steve thought about the offer. “I close the store at ten through the week. Can you come back around ten-thirty tonight? We can talk over there.” He inclined his head toward the dining area.

“Sure. See you then.” Jeremy turned at the door and gave a slight wave before going outside.

Why did I just do that? Steve thought. Agreeing to meet people he didn’t know wasn’t in his character.

* * *

A few minutes before eleven, a soft tap fell on the bullet-proof glass behind Steve. He unlocked one of the doors for Jeremy. “You came back,” he said, locking the door.

“I’m on a mission,” Jeremy smiled. “Mind if I smoke?”

They slid into one of the orange Formica booths. Jeremy lightly drummed his knuckles on the table.

“So. What is this about?” Steve asked. He watched the single stoplight in the little town turn from red to green then back again before the boy answered.

“What do you know about vampires?” Jeremy asked as casually as he might as someone for the time.

“Vampires? Are you insane?” He was quickly beginning to regret agreeing to this meeting.

“Vampires.” Jeremy dug around in his jeans pocket while looking deeply into Steve’s eyes. He held out a sterling silver band made of twisting Celtic knotwork. “This is yours.”

“But vampires aren’t real,” Steve protested even as he examined the ring. Physically, the ring was ordinary, plain except for the beautiful knotwork. Metaphysically, the ring was extraordinary. He shook his head. “What’s in this thing?”

“That’s what you have to tell me,” Jeremy said. “Hey, you mind if I get something to drink?”

“Help yourself.” Great. Just great, Steve though. He turned the ring over in his palm. When Jeremy returned with a Mountain Dew, he asked, “You’re telling me that vampires are real?”

“I’m sitting right here.” Jeremy spread his arms wide as if taking up more space would help prove his point.

“You’re a vampire?” He refused to believe it.

“I am.”

Steve turned his attention back to the ring. Metaphysically, he compared the inherent energies within the ring to the energies he felt within Jeremy. The energies were essentially the same, but Steve knew enough about the Occult to understand that Jeremy hadn’t been the one to put the energies into the ring; that had been done by someone else, someone older. Steve ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth. “I taste rust.”

“Blood. You’re tasting blood.”

“Why am I tasting blood?”

“You’re an unawakened vampire.”

Steve almost laughed. Unawakened vampire. Yeah. “So, let’s say I believe you. What does that mean?”

“Your entire life is about to change.”

* * *

Steve had sat in his living room listening to Jeremy’s strange explanations for two hours now. His eyes kept straying to the ring on his finger. He couldn’t believe his ears. He kept wondering when he would wake up and leave this strange dream. He didn’t know how much more he could take without his brain splitting in two and exiting his person. Steve considered himself an open-minded young man, but this was entirely too much. Vampires. Yeah. He turned to Jeremy just as the teen began describing ‘the thirst’. Again. “So you have to have blood or your body shuts down?” he asked.

“Not exactly,” Jeremy said. “It’s more like emotional or physical instability. Or psychological imbalance. The brain misfires, and signals get crossed. Functions shut down in the body at random. Going without blood or psychic energy won’t kill a vampire, even an awakened one, but the problems caused by going without might.”

“Sounds like the body and mind rebel.”

Jeremy nodded. “They do.”

“So how do you get blood?”

“We all have regular donors. Or those of us without a donor or in between donors rely on psychic energy. Of course, we can also use sexual fluids.”

Steve almost choked on his cigarette. He crushed it out to prevent further incident. “What makes you think that I am a vampire?”

“Your energy signature.” Jeremy pointed to a spot beside Steve’s head. “A vampire’s aura has a different bite to it. Pardon the pun. Or not. Yours is very faint because you’re unawakened. When you’re awakened, your aura will change. Basically, it will still be you, but it will be more you.”

Steve nodded. “Like at the record shop. I thought that you seemed more real than the other people.”

“That’s part of it.” Jeremy shrugged.

“So how does all of this work again?” He shuffled his feet on the carpet.

“You and another vampire exchange blood. This will ‘turn’ you, causing you to awaken.”

“And what happens then?” He lit another cigarette.

“It’s a long process. There’s pain. There’s physical and emotional problems. But you’ll have someone to help you. Or a lot of someones. We’re one big Family.”

“Can I think about this?”

* * *

Steve lay in his bed staring at the black lace on the ceiling. Samantha haunted his thoughts. If Jeremy wasn’t lying to him - and he had no reason to believe that someone so sincere could be lying to him - if he was a vampire. If he awakened, he would be stronger, faster, more agile. If needed, he could protect Samantha with his bare hands, with brute force. But that would be hard to do as long as they lived so far apart. He had to figure out how to get her away from her boyfriend and out of Richmond.

He loved Samantha. He couldn’t deny that. He had loved her since he met her, and even though they had been apart for some time, his love had only deepened. He would give her the moon and stars, but he had no idea how to tell her how he felt.

* * *

“I don’t understand why you’ve not made up your mind,” Jeremy said. They sat on the rocks near the gazebo at Martin’s Fork Lake in the dark and quiet. Jeremy periodically interrupted the quiet by throwing rocks into the water. “I mean, for me, there was no decision to make.”

“But you said that you grew up knowing that you’re a vampire because your mother talked to you about it when you were a little kid,” Steve complained, lighting another in a long row of cigarettes. He looked for the moon but couldn’t find it.

“Look, you’re mostly Pagan, am I right?” He waited for Steve to nod before he continued. “And part of that has to do with bettering yourself, at least in the systems I know. Right? So don’t you want to better yourself?” Don’t you want to be stronger? Able to heal yourself if you’re hurt?”

“Able to lift small buildings faster than a speeding freight train?” Steve grunted. Jeremy laughed. Steve spoke to the stars. “I think I’m going to go back to school,” he said. “I’ve been out of the loop too long.”

“So then, don’t you want a sharper mind?” Jeremy removed a necklace that he always wore and handed it to Steve. “Tell me about that.”

Steve held the dragon pendant in his palm, letting the leather cord hang between his fingers. The pendant was made of heavy, shining pewter. A fat serpentine dragon with its wings outspread and his talons poised ready for battle. A ruby floated above the dragon’s head. “There’s some strong protection in this piece of metal,” he said.

“The dragon is our Family crest,” Jeremy explained, watching Steve run his thumb across the pendant.

“It’s the same as what’s in the ring, but a lot stronger,” Steve observed. He seemed reluctant to take his eyes from the dragon in his palm. “Anybody with any magical sense would be sure to leave you the fuck alone.” He licked his lips. “I taste rust again.”

“Blood. You’re tasting blood, Steve.” They looked at each other. Jeremy said, “Your mind and body are trying to tell you something.”

Steve nodded and returned the necklace to Jeremy. “Do vampires get sick?”

“We do, but we’re fast healers. You can enhance that if you’re magically inclined and know healing magic. Awakening makes your magic stronger.”

“So it just makes everything more?”

“You could say that. Look, would it help if you met some of us?”

Steve hesitated. He preferred keeping to himself; he only ran The Market because he had no other option. “How many of you are there?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

“Anethdraeg has thirty or so members, but there are other vampires in the county who have no association with us.” Jeremy lobbed a heavy stone into the lake. The stone hit the water with a hollow plop! “You’re in love with somebody,” he said.

Steve sighed. He threw the last cigarette into the water. “I’m not sure the feeling is mutual.” He turned to Jeremy. “Wait. How did you know?”

Jeremy smiled and tapped his temple with an index finger. “Telepathy.” He tossed pebble after pebble into the lake. “You want to be able to take care of her, don’t you?”

“Damn right I do,” Steve said with force that surprised even him. He lifted his hair from his neck and shook his head. Even this late at night, the June heat was suffocating.

“Then let me - let us help you,” Jeremy said, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Anethdraeg is a close family. We help each other.”

“Anethdraeg is?” He lit another cigarette.

“House of the Dragon. A vampire house is a group of similar people.”

“It seems complex.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Only if you let it be. It’s not. You sure don’t want to meet some of the others?”

“What the hell.” Steve stood. He had nothing to lose.

* * *

Jeremy drove them into the wilderness beyond the lake, into the hinterlands between Harlan and Middlesborough. On the crest of a rolling hill, he slowed and turned onto a driveway that seemed to go straight up and disappear into the trees. As they exited the car a bit later, the front door of the Victorian house opened. A large man dressed in black from head to toe stood smoking outside the front door. “I see you finally got here,” the man said.

“Hello Michael.” Jeremy shook hands with the man. “This is Steve.”

“I’m Steve Young,” Steve said, offering his hand.

The man shook Steve’s hand saying, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Michael Devon.”

Steve nodded. When Michael smiled, Steve clearly saw the elongated canines in his top row of teeth. Fangs. He swallowed hard.

Michael chuckled, his deep, velvet voice rumbling in his throat. “Jeremy, if you’ll excuse us?” he asked, holding the front door open wide.

“Of course.” Jeremy went inside and made himself at home in the living room.

Michael led Steve down the hall to the back of the house and emerged onto a wide deck. He went down the steps and sat on the round, wrought iron picnic table. “Don’t worry, Steve,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “You’re in a safe place. Nothing can hurt you here. I won’t let it.”

Something in the way the man spoke, or perhaps the energy in the immediate area, relaxed Steve. He took a seat at the table. He wasn’t sure what to say or do. He cleared his throat.

“You’re not dreaming, Steve. You’re not going to wake up. All of this is very real. You have a decision to make. Just keep in mind that it’s not what you want. It’s what you need.”

“What I need.” Steve laughed. “This is all so insane!”

“Is it? You’ve seen the proof with your own eyes,” Michael said. “Have you looked inside yourself to see what you really are?” Steve shook his head. Michael leaned slightly forward, spilling his raven-black hair over his shoulders. He said, “Let’s try this again.” Smiling, he offered Steve his hand. “My name is Michael Devon. I’m the Elder of Anethdraeg. Welcome to our haven.”

Steve shook Michael’s hand. “Stephen Young.”

“And you sir,” Michael said pointedly, “are an unawakened vampire who needs help, who needs answers. Is something troubling you?” He leaned his elbows on his knees.

“Yes, actually,” Steve admitted, leaning his elbows on the table. “A close friend of mine is having problems with her boyfriend. I worry that he might try to hurt her somehow -”

“And you’re afraid that you won’t be there to protect her?”

“That’s part of the problem,” Steve said bitterly, throwing his hands into the air. “I’m not there. She lives in Richmond.”

“And you feel helpless.”

“Completely.” He ached for a cigarette and was glad when Michael offered him one. He inhaled deeply; he eventually exhaled.

“But you see her? Talk to her?”

“No, I’ve not seen her since March. Just stray letters occasionally, but that’s not enough. I feel like I can’t do a damned thing to help her.”

Michael patted Steve’s knee. “Calm down. Getting upset helps no one,” he said.

“So what happens to me if I do nothing? If I don’t awaken?” Steve asked later, after watching his cigarette burn down to the filter.

“Have you ever had problems with depression, Steve, or been physically incapacitated?”

“I was down for a while after my parents died a couple of years ago, but I had things to take care of and couldn’t just…” He waved his hands around. “I couldn’t shut down like I wanted to. No, I can’t say that I’ve ever been really depressed.” His mind turned to Samantha; he knew that she understood true depression.

“When a vampire remains unawakened, his body responds by becoming physically ill. Difficulties arise throughout the body. Let’s say debilitating arthritis and heart disease. Problems that can’t be traced to a cause, a source. Say, lung cancer in someone who’s never smoked and lives in a low-pollution area. But all through this, the person is aware of some driving need within himself, a need he is unable to explain or fulfill. He carries with him an empty, hollow feeling and knows something is missing, but he doesn’t know what that is.” Michael paused. “Sometimes that emptiness is filled with depression because the human brain knows no other way to cope. The driving need lead people to self-mutilation or even to suicide.”

Steve wheezed and grasped the arms of his chair. Samantha had experienced a nervous breakdown in part due to exhaustion just a few months ago. She took her boyfriend’s gun and considered using it, but stopped herself before it was too late. His mind and heart raced.

“Are you okay?”

“Never better,” Steve grimaced. “So. What has to be done, then? Jeremy said something about exchanging blood?”

Michael nodded, his ebony eyes shining in the darkness. “Yes. Typically, blood is drunk directly from a person, but I’ve heard of people draining blood into a little wine and drinking it that way. What has to happen, in any case, is that the unawakened vampire and the awakened vampire share a quantity of each other’s blood. Some say it takes only a drop. Some say it takes quite a bit more. Who knows? We just know that some kind of energy transference takes place, and - viola - awakened vampire.”

“And I’ll be stronger and able to think more quickly?”

“Among other things. Yes.”

* * *

A small, fat envelope covered in familiar handwriting fell into Steve’s hand when he opened his post office box. A letter from Samantha, the first word he had received from her in any form since April. Not bothering with the rest of the mail, he slammed the box shut and walked back to The Market. He told the cashier that he would be in his office and didn’t want disturbed. He locked the door behind him. Sitting at the desk, he looked at the letter in his hands; he opened the envelope and smoothed the pages against the desktop. A few minutes later, he picked up the telephone and punched in the number in the letter.

“Hello?” a rushed female voice answered.

“Hey!” Steve cried into the receiver, hoping he didn’t sound too excited.

“Steve? Steve, is that you?” Samantha asked.

“Yes, it’s me. I got your letter and -”

“Gods, you’ll run up your phone bill calling me in the middle of the day!” she cried. “Get off here and call me back tonight when it’s cheaper.”

“I can do that. Is nine good for you?”

“Sure! Talk to you then. Bye!” She hung up on him.

* * *

When Steve called her back that evening they talked for almost three hours. Samantha told him that her boyfriend moved out and left her; she found a job and was piecing what she had of her life back together. Steve had little outside of his life at the store to contribute to the conversation and so let her talk. She sounded like she needed the release. At the end of the conversation, they made plans for Steve to spend the upcoming weekend with her.

He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. He knew that he should probably feel elated because he was finally going to see her again, but he didn’t. He felt that Samantha hadn’t told him everything about the break-up with her boyfriend. He drifted into a fitful sleep.

* * *

It was the same nightmare. Steve stood in a parking lot that was empty except for the truck a few yards away with its engine racing. But he wasn’t scared; he didn’t think the man behind the wheel had balls enough to actually run over him. He stood his ground as the truck barreled toward him. Brakes squealed on the fishtailing truck as Steve jumped out of the way. Sami’s terrified screams pulled him back into consciousness.

* * *

Steve paced around his house. Again. The house was small, square, and most of the rooms led into each other; it was possible to pace in one big circle. He hadn’t slept for three days and had temporarily given his duties at the store to a trusted cashier. Part of him still thought that Jeremy and Michael were putting him on, playing a cruel practical joke. But another part of him felt they could be sincere, that the things they told him could be real.

Finally, beyond the point of being unable to think straight and ready to drop from exhaustion, he sat down on his bed. He picked up the telephone and punched in a series of numbers. When Jeremy answered, Steve said, “I’m ready.”

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Mari Adkins is a Lexington, KY novelist and is a submissions editor for Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest.

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Mari Adkins’s short story “Well of the Waters” appears in the Apex Publications anthology Aegri Somna. Order your copy today.