Upon closer inspection, Clayton was shocked to discover it was Desiree.
He met her at the door but did not attempt to open it for her.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here,” Clayton said as he folded his arms across his chest.
Desiree did not attempt to move. She stood there like a statue.
“Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” Clayton demanded.
Desiree said nothing.
Clayton turned around and started to walk away. He heard banging on the door but continued walking away when the banging resumed. The sound was not her fists pounding on the window. Curious, he went back to the door.
Desiree had her phone up against the window and was pointing at it to Clayton.
Clayton watched in horror as he witnessed the genocide of a large scale being filmed.
“Maryl did this? She killed Octavus the Brooder and his friends?” Clayton demanded.
Desiree nodded. “It was a birthday party. Thousands attended. None survived. Not only that, but she killed Ray Greenwell, the Conqueror, and a few thousand of his army! ”
“What? How did you get hold of this?” he demanded.
“Let me in, and I will tell you.”
“I don’t exactly have much confidence in you, Desiree,” Clayton admonished.
“I need you to listen to me, it’s vital!”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“Then, your blood types will surely perish.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Maryl has more than one type of powder, Clayton. She has been genetically modifying it for all the blood types!”
If blood could drain from vampires without being bitten or impaled by the hands of other vampires, Clayton would be pale. He looked at her for a moment, carefully weighing and calculating the risks.
Reluctantly, he opened the door and allowed her access.
“Don’t think for one minute this means I trust you, Desiree. It was your treachery and deception that started all this!”
“That is open to debate, Clayton. Maybe some other time. Right now, we have more important stuff to talk about!”
He walked to a chair in the lobby. Desiree sat beside him.
“How did you find me, and how did you get the video?”
“It took some deduction. I took a map of the United States, looked at all of the places where the top of the line DNA facilities was located. I zoomed in on the Midwest, specifically Indiana since you’re a resident. I didn’t think you’d travel too far.”
“And?”
“I ruled them all out because you would be noticed. After that, it was a simple analysis. You had to go somewhere where you could hide in plain sight. What better place than an abandoned building that, according to my research, still had their equipment housed inside? And voila! Here I am.”
Clayton was impressed. He folded his arms again. “Okay. What about the video?”
“That would be a longer story. Do you want to hear the story before Maryl forced me to eat human food to weaken me, slit my throat, and threw me down a canyon because she erroneously thought I betrayed her?”
“The traitorous part sounds familiar,” Clayton retorted.
“Funny, but I am not done. When I fell, I fell on top of a pile of other vampires she had done the same thing too. Or did you want me to start my hellish story after that?”
“The after story. Since you found me, Maryl won’t be too far behind.”
“I was on death’s door when a vampire on top of the pile was still alive. With my dying breath, I sucked her blood so her death would bring me life.”
“What does that captivating story have to do with the video?”
“Because by me being alive, I brought you the video. Had I died down in the canyon, you wouldn’t know about Maryl’s spiral into madness.”
Clayton prodded her with his hands. “And?”
“After I found where you were hiding, I planned my revenge on Maryl. I trailed her beyond her sharp sight until recently.”
“What happened after you trailed her? What did you see?”
She remained quiet for a moment. “From a distance, I saw her have a meeting with Ray and thousands of his cronies. I figured it prudent to film her actions after that.”
“That’s impossible, Desiree. I don’t know of any camera that can zoom in and take pictures from four miles away.”
Desiree peered at Clayton intensely. “I re-entered the compound. After all, I would just smell like another O negative. I… I have more videos for you to view, but there is something you need to know.”
“What would that be?” Clayton said while shifting positions in his chair.
“I followed Maryl and Rays’ army, keeping a safe distance. When her and Ray’s soldiers stopped, I parked nearby, took cover, and continued to film.” Desiree took a few deep breaths before resuming. “While she still does have the gray powder, which she used to wipe out thousands of Octavus the Brooder’s tribes, I was able to discern that she had another color of the powder. It was green, which she betrayed Ray and the O positives by launching the green powder and killing Ray and several thousand of his troops too.”
Clayton straightened up in his chair. “Wait, you’re saying Maryl can target certain blood types? Like a doomsday device?”
“Yes, that’s precisely what I am saying.”
“How does she possess the know-how to create such powerful weaponry?”
“I don’t know, but the vampire I drank her blood from told me if I saved her, she would tell me a secret about Maryl.”
“And what was the secret?”
“I don’t know. I was dying and needed nourishment, and her back was broken. She couldn’t move, and I couldn’t give her my blood to help her because I was practically devoid of it myself.”
“I need to know what her secret is now more than ever with her new powder.”
“I think it goes further than that, Clayton.”
“How so?”
“If I would give an educated guess, if she had green powder to remove the O positives, might she have different colors for just the A positives, the A negatives, and so on? Even specifically targeting your blood type, the most powerful.”
Clayton let
