using them.
So Reginald and Nikki sat in their tent in the Alps, waiting for dusk to fall. And when it did, Nikki ran out with an empty gallon jug and a funnel, slaughtered several deer, fed, and filled the jug with the blood that remained. Vampirism had turned Nikki into a killer, but killing still wasn’t in her nature. Nikki was a human first and a vampire second. And what was more: she wasn’t just a human; she was human . And that left her in the middle, conflicted. She didn’t even like the idea of draining deer. She’d needed blood to live for over a year, but she’d always taken it in the kindest way blood could be taken. And now, at the end of the world, she was being hunted by those she fed on — and loathed as a traitor by those who took blood with more malice than she did.
She slid the jug in front of Reginald. He knew better than to make his usual protests about how blood — and especially deer blood — was disgusting. He took his drink from a camp mug, forcing it down.
“Can you really do this?” he asked Nikki.
“Do what?”
“Run.”
“I’ve been running my entire adult life,” she told him.
“Run to the cape of Africa,” he clarified.
“I’ve never done that ,” she admitted. “But I know that we stopped for rest because the sun rose, not because I was tired. I know that I’m technically dead already. And I know that if we stay in one place for too long, we’ll be slaughtered.”
“That’s what they think we’ll do. Slaughter them .” He didn’t have to explain who he was talking about. Humans . Anyone. Everyone.
“Well, there ain’t no good guys,” she said.
“There ain’t no bad guys,” Reginald answered.
“There’s only you and me, and we just disagree,” she finished.
Reginald smiled, because smiles were precious now, and needed.
“When we get there, we’re going to need a boat,” he said.
"'We’re going to need a bigger boat,'" Nikki quoted from the movie Jaws . You couldn’t mention boats around Nikki without hearing this line. When Philipe had warned them about the tent being seen by helicopters, she’d said another of her stock lines: “Get to the choppa,” a Schwartzenegger line from Predator . Philipe hadn’t gotten it.
But it was okay. There had to be somewhere in South Africa where they could get a boat. Any boat would do. If Nikki could row like she could run, they could cross the ocean to Antarctica even if all they could find was a dinghy. And if they fell in? Well, they were dead anyway. And with that thought, Reginald wondered if they could swim the rest of the way if they capsized. But the thought made him cold even while he sat in front of the warm fire they’d made outside the warm tent in the warm Swiss evening air. No, they’d need a bigger boat after all, he decided, and made a point to have Claire read him the location of any possible polar-equipped vessels docked at the Cape of Good Hope the next time they spoke. Nikki wouldn’t shut up when he made the announcement that they were going to need a big boat. Then she’d quote other dumb lines, because she was Nikki.
Reginald realized, yet again, that he wasn’t being any fun. It was regrettably something that happened to him when the world ended.
Karl hadn’t been able to give them more than the most vague information about the Vampire World Command. He’d said that it, like the old American Council, moved — but that it did so only twice each year. When it was summer in the northern hemisphere, the VWC was at the south pole, safe from human incursions due to the extreme, eternal nighttime temperatures. Just before the sun finally crested the south pole horizon each year, the VWC moved north, to a network of reinforced tunnels in the arctic ice — and there it remained until the sun set in the south.
“How will we find it?” said Nikki.
“We’ll find it,” said Reginald.
“But how?” she said.
So Reginald and Nikki sat in their tent in the Alps, waiting for dusk to fall. And when it did, Nikki ran out with an empty gallon jug and a funnel, slaughtered several deer, fed, and filled the jug with the blood that remained. Vampirism had turned Nikki into a killer, but killing still wasn’t in her nature. Nikki was a human first and a vampire second. And what was more: she wasn’t just a human; she was human . And that left her in the middle, conflicted. She didn’t even like the idea of draining deer. She’d needed blood to live for over a year, but she’d always taken it in the kindest way blood could be taken. And now, at the end of the world, she was being hunted by those she fed on — and loathed as a traitor by those who took blood with more malice than she did.
She slid the jug in front of Reginald. He knew better than to make his usual protests about how blood — and especially deer blood — was disgusting. He took his drink from a camp mug, forcing it down.
“Can you really do this?” he asked Nikki.
“Do what?”
“Run.”
“I’ve been running my entire adult life,” she told him.
“Run to the cape of Africa,” he clarified.
“I’ve never done that ,” she admitted. “But I know that we stopped for rest because the sun rose, not because I was tired. I know that I’m technically dead already. And I know that if we stay in one place for too long, we’ll be slaughtered.”
“That’s what they think we’ll do. Slaughter them .” He didn’t have to explain who he was talking about. Humans . Anyone. Everyone.
“Well, there ain’t no good guys,” she said.
“There ain’t no bad guys,” Reginald answered.
“There’s only you and me, and we just disagree,” she finished.
Reginald smiled, because smiles were precious now, and needed.
“When we get there, we’re going to need a boat,” he said.
"'We’re going to need a bigger boat,'" Nikki quoted from the movie Jaws . You couldn’t mention boats around Nikki without hearing this line. When Philipe had warned them about the tent being seen by helicopters, she’d said another of her stock lines: “Get to the choppa,” a Schwartzenegger line from Predator . Philipe hadn’t gotten it.
But it was okay. There had to be somewhere in South Africa where they could get a boat. Any boat would do. If Nikki could row like she could run, they could cross the ocean to Antarctica even if all they could find was a dinghy. And if they fell in? Well, they were dead anyway. And with that thought, Reginald wondered if they could swim the rest of the way if they capsized. But the thought made him cold even while he sat in front of the warm fire they’d made outside the warm tent in the warm Swiss evening air. No, they’d need a bigger boat after all, he decided, and made a point to have Claire read him the location of any possible polar-equipped vessels docked at the Cape of Good Hope the next time they spoke. Nikki wouldn’t shut up when he made the announcement that they were going to need a big boat. Then she’d quote other dumb lines, because she was Nikki.
Reginald realized, yet again, that he wasn’t being any fun. It was regrettably something that happened to him when the world ended.
Karl hadn’t been able to give them more than the most vague information about the Vampire World Command. He’d said that it, like the old American Council, moved — but that it did so only twice each year. When it was summer in the northern hemisphere, the VWC was at the south pole, safe from human incursions due to the extreme, eternal nighttime temperatures. Just before the sun finally crested the south pole horizon each year, the VWC moved north, to a network of reinforced tunnels in the arctic ice — and there it remained until the sun set in the south.
“How will we find it?” said Nikki.
“We’ll find it,” said Reginald.
“But how?” she said.
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