I didn’t move when the one that approached from the right darted forward and snatched up a little boy on the edge of the group. The group immediately dashed away to another corner of the lot as the three vampires converged on the catch. They didn’t try to escape through the torn fence even though the vamps were no longer paying any attention to them. The little boy squealed and kicked as the vamp lifted him and slashed his throat open with one quick snap of his fangs. The squeals momentarily transformed into wail like a bunny caught by a dog in the brush that burnt through my frozen haze before it filled with gurgling. The vampire held the slumping youth over his mouth by a clump of his long raggedy hair and let the blood spray all over his face and into his mouth. It ran down his checks, down his neck, down his arms and stained his shirt until his pale face was bright red with two glowing eyes. The scent of the blood filled the air and my stomach clenched and my hands trembled. I salivated. The other two vamps clamored around him, but he ignored them, bathing in the fresh blood until its stream diminished to nothing more than a few drips. Then he threw the boy to the ground and licked his lips. His body thudded against the ground gruesomely and then lay there crumpled and denigrated. The remainder of the children did not run or scream even then. The men watched with horror and the women clutched their babes even closer to their quivering frames, but no one moved. I remained frozen in place; unable to move or act, unable to think. All I could do was feel a scream rising through my throat that battled with the hunger for blood that welled up from my twisting stomach. The two unquenched vampires plucked up two children that had slumped near the edge of the group while the tallest boy glared defiantly and shoved other children between him and the vamps. When the third child had fallen to the ground drained the vamps moved to the edge of hole in the fence and began to bargain amongst themselves for the privilege to remain as a guard over their treasure. I was finally able to move. I turned and walked out with the muddy slop of the containment pit sucking at my boots. I did not look at the vamps as I passed them. I did not look backwards at the children. I did not look forward at the shattered street. I heard someone ask where I was going but I did not answer. As soon as I was outside of the fence I began to run and I flew down through the shadows along the streets, not slowing until I moved between the thick trunks of trees away from the remnants of man’s golden years.
Surprisingly, I was not followed, and I stopped and sat with my back leaned against the smooth trunk of a tall tree surrounded by its jutting roots. I pulled my knees up close to my chest against the chill of the land. As soon as I stopped, I slumped over trembling willing myself to weep but unable to do so. I closed my eyes and I saw the clustered children. Only the whites of their eyes had been clean so different from those children that played in the dirt lanes and the pastures of the village. My brother had given them hope. Thoughts of my brother led to visions of my mother’s bullet torn head lying on the ground. She’d told us to take care of one another, but she’d always had unrealistic expectations of our devotions to one another and to humanity.
My brother had given them all hope. He’d given the men and the pretty ladies in their rough spun dress’s homes. He’d given the children the ability to play even though vampires patrolled amongst them. The people there were able to walk in the open, keep crops and tend to the sick that huddled around the hearth until their fevers had burnt off. They were able to bury their dead and say their last respects, not just leave their corpses to be defaced by the creatures of the forest and the elements. My brother had given them that. My brother had given me the farm and the wind rustling through the corn, the quiet nights and Mary’s smile. Despite the vamps there had been calm, love and happiness there.
Benjamin had given them hope, even those that had only heard of him, he’d given me hope and then he’d stripped me of that hope. Was my brother not a monster as evil as those we marched against? Was a rigged lottery of vampirism less cruel than a pen of human meat? Was their hope for the future enough to keep them from stirring against the specter of death that constantly hung over their own lives? The ambassador had been created by men to kill men and yet somehow, he seemed more innocent than my brother and his plans. The women and men struggled and screamed as they were drained and turned or killed, while the rest of the camp lay in their beds with the covers pulled over their heads to block out the horrors that they allowed in exchange for a bit of peace, in exchange for the promise of a life that did not consist of constantly running and hiding. The sins of the fathers were still being applied to the sons even to the fifth generation and
