Dominant Species (4 page)

A city street: full of noise,
weak lights and huddled figures, moving, talking. People bustling around in worn, thick woollen coats, their scarves pulled tight across their faces in a vain attempt to keep out the cold. Every so often a figure glides down the street – a vampire. People all around lower their heads as the unearthly beings glide past.

              On the corner of West 49
th
Street down in a basement a dozen men sat round a long, worn and scratched table. They represented the committee of what was known as the Human Support Council. It was a group that Overlord Karick had started in order to try and get the humans onside. Their remit was simple; provide representation for the humans within the ‘sanctuary’, but in return communicate the rules set by the vampires and help maintain compliance. Being part of the group had earned them certain privileges and, as is often the way, its members had begun to start to think of themselves as a cut above the rest of the human race. Now there was a significant debate about how much they actually provided fair representation for the human survivors and how much they actually just did things for themselves.

The air wa
s filled with stale tobacco smoke and rude laughter. At the head of the table sat the man in charge, large and overweight, his name Tom Cooper. As the head of the Human Support Council he reported directly to the vampire Overlord himself. The title given to him by Karick was that of Mayor. Many would say, correctly, but not that loudly and certainly not within ear shot, that being the Mayor of the City was little more than being a puppet or weak figurehead. The people knew that only the vampires held any real power and although Mayor Cooper would never admit as much, he knew it too. However he had quickly come to the conclusion that being the Mayor, even without any real power in governance was better than not being Mayor at all.

It wasn’t that he was delusional in any way, but Mayor Cooper had developed a
very thick skin, something he’d had a head start in from a very early age. Now he didn’t worry about the people who thought of him as nothing more than a servant to the vampire Lords. From his perspective it was better to be sitting beneath the thumb of the demons if it meant you were, in turn, able to look down on the rest of humankind.

Mayor Cooper
sat back in his chair, the back creaking under his prestigious weight and scanned the room. He was dressed immaculately, flamboyantly even, as he blew a think ring of cigar smoke into the air, taking his time to consider the request that had just been made.

Against
the back wall, watching the proceedings with little real interest stood the shadowy figure of a thick set and heavily built man known simply as Jackson. He leant casually up against the door, every now and again shifting his weight slightly in order to remain comfortable. The overweight Mayor leant forward in his chair, which again groaned under his weight and meticulously gathered up the papers in front of him. Then, tapping them on the table to straighten them, he cleared his throat, having seemingly come to his decision.

‘Well, Father Matthew, I have taken your concerns on board.’ He leant forward against the table, his voice
now mocking. ‘And please be assured that your views, and the health of those you represent, are of paramount importance to us, thank you. Please feel free to discuss the details with Josiah… if you think it would help.’

The room filled with the sound of stifled laughter as Mayor Cooper looked across to the doorway where the shadowy figure with an immobile face stood.

‘Jackson, would you mind showing Father Matthew out, please?’

Father Matthew stood
a little uneasily and shuffled helplessly toward the door. He understood that he was being mocked but knew better than to argue as he also knew that he was risking his life by even being here. Defeated, he hesitated at the door, before addressing the Mayor.

‘Thank you for your time, Mayor Cooper, I'll catch up with Josiah later in the week then.’

‘Yes, yes, you do that now. Bye.’ The last word was spoken by the Mayor with a dismissive wave of his fat hand.

Almost before the door closed behind the Father
, the room erupted into roars of laughter. Mayor Cooper waved the noise down.

‘Now
, let’s get back to some real business,’ he said sternly as he gathered the papers together and the laughter dissipated. ‘Well let’s see now. We’ve met, or exceeded, all of our targets. The food factories are keeping our friends happy. Despite the weak sunlight we’re producing enough bioethanol to power all the major City generators.’ He blew a perfect smoke ring into the air. ‘We might even get some transport running soon. Yep, I think our friends will be truly pleased.’

There was a general muttering of approval. One of the men to his right leant forward on his powerful arms. He was almost a foot shorter than the Mayor, but much more powerfully built. He had a completely bald
head, which seemed to sit atop his broad shoulders because of his almost non-existent, thickset neck. His name was Josiah. When he spoke his voice had a slightly Southern drawl.

‘Tom, I do believe the art of capitalism is well and truly alive.’

Ripples of laughter washed around the table.

‘You know what Josiah?’ replied the Mayor ‘I think you might just be right. See now…’ he looked round the table into each and every face. ‘… The true art of business is finding the right market, regardless of how dire the circumstances might at first appear’.

Josiah chuckled and said with a deadpan face and wry smile ‘And it does help if you don’t give a damn about who, or what, you deal with.’

The room again erupted into laughter.

Calling for order the Mayor then called the meeting to a close. He clambered to his feet. As he watched the others preparing to leave in a melee of self-congratulation, he allowed Jackson to help him into his thick overcoat.

Then, when only Josiah and
the bodyguard remained, Cooper turned to them, waving at Jackson to close the door. When he spoke this time his voice was low and hushed,

‘Jackson if you wouldn’t mind? He waited until Jackson had pushed the door fully closed before he continued.

‘Josiah that other bit of business, have you managed to…’ he stopped abruptly as out of the corner of his eye he noticed the door handle begin to turn.

Angrily he shouted out, ‘Hey! This is a private meeting
, you’ll get lost if you know what’s good for you.’

As the door began to open,
Jackson slammed the door shut hard with his shoulder. Then he grabbed the handle, holding it tight with one massive hand.

‘
You heard the boss, now get lost,’ he roared in his uncultured, rough voice.

Th
inking that would be an end to that, the Mayor nodded, but as he went to continue the door handle, despite the best endeavours of Jackson, now using both hands, began to turn again.

The Mayor’s face turned to thunder

‘I said...’ he shouted, just as the door flew open, sending the bodyguard flying across the room and into the long table. In its place the huge figure of Voltan filled the doorframe. The cigar dropped from the Mayor’s mouth as the huge vampire entered the room. He was so vast that he had to stoop to clear the doorframe.

The Mayor fought quickly to regain some of his composure.

‘Lord Voltan, I’m so sorry I….’ he muttered in a shaky voice.

‘Mayor Cooper, Overlord Karick wishes to see you’. The vampire spoke
with a voice that growled across the room.

‘Of course, of course’ stuttered the Mayor
, ‘I’ll be there as soon as I finish here.’ 

Voltan raised an eyebrow. The Mayor hesitated; replaying the words he’d just spoken in the privacy of his own his mind. Realising what he had said, he swallowed hard and bowed deeply. ‘If...if that is acceptable to my Lord, of course?’

Voltan took a huge breath, the frown not completely gone from his face.

‘One hour, don’t be late
.’

He turned and disappeared. As he did, each of the men released the breath they didn’t know they had, up until that point,
been holding.

Ten minutes later, outside on Forty Ninth Street, the Mayor strode past the worldwide plaza, flanked by Josiah and Jackson. People spilled out of their way, one man who didn’t was knocked unceremoniously to the ground by Jackson, as together the three continued like a tidal wave down the street.

Mayor Cooper spoke to Josiah
, an urgent look on his face.

‘Have you any idea where they are?’

Josiah had to skip a half step to bring himself level with the Mayor.

‘I’ve got my best men on it.’

‘But nothing yet?’

‘We’ll have them soon, don’t worry, Tom’.

The Mayor smiled uncertainly. Clasping his podgy hands together he stopped abruptly and looked straight into Josiah’s eyes.

‘You’d better Josiah. I promised Rodan. If we pull this off we won’t have to take any more crap from Karick and his lapdog, if we don’t….’ He cast a worried glance at Josiah, and then looked hurriedly around, his face a mask of fear. ‘Well let’s just say Rodan’s a real evil bastard that makes Karick look like a lamb.’

He set off again at an even more urgent pace, leaving Josiah once again to half jog in order to keep up. As they crossed a deserted Broadway, Mayor Cooper caught a glimpse of movement in the shadows and realised that there were figures following them. Agitated, he stopped, his arms outstretched. He turned toward the shadows where a brace of yellowish, red eyes stared back.

‘What do you dogs want now? Don’t you know who I am?’ He glanced at his entourage, sniggering. ‘Are you waiting for some scraps or something?’

Then he turned to Jackson and spoke in a loud voice. ‘You know what Jackson? These half human, half vampire scum should be put down, put out of their misery. They’re neither one thing nor the other, nothing but worthless dogs, literally worthless - ’

From out of nowhere came a voice that
seemed to shake the very ground.

‘Dogs they may be. But they are my dogs and
as such they do as I bid. Best you remember that, Mayor Cooper.’

The title
‘Mayor’ was stated with a tone dripping scorn. The voice belonged to Kadir, a massive black Vampire who now stepped from the shadows of a derelict doorway. Standing at over six feet six and weighing at least three hundred pounds he towered above the mayor and his entourage. As he stepped forward he pulled back his long leather coat, revealing the dark glint of the body armour he wore beneath. Although his voice arrived in a low, deep, grumble it somehow also managed to convey a stark coldness at the same time.

The effect was startling. In an instant the Mayor turned from pompous
sailboat, in all its finery, to a leaking, beached rowboat. He started to feel that his day couldn’t get any worse. Beside him both men stood frozen, panic covering their faces, even more so than when they had been confronted by Voltan only minutes earlier. Like Voltan they knew this vampire didn’t suffer fools, but unlike Voltan, they also knew he didn’t follow any rules either. But of the greatest concern was the simple fact that Kadir worked for Rodan. And as far as they all were concerned, he was simply the worst of them all.

Engulfed by the
dim, grey shadow cast by the massive vampire, the Mayor bowed and grovelled as he stuttered a response.

‘Yes, Lord Kadir, I’m sorry. I...I didn’t see you there I apologize profusely. What may I do for you this fine evening?’

With this he pulled off an even lower bow, his head just a foot or so from the pavement. The sight was indeed comical and Kadir burst into deep rumbling laughter. He extended a finger, with an inch long nail at the end, and dragged it slowly up under the Mayors chin bringing his head up to meet his gaze as he leant forward, so he was only a few inches from the Mayor’s fat, red face.

‘You know what Mayor? For a second back there I thought you’d found some backbone. He smiled and snorted. ‘I’m so glad to see that I was wrong...’ his eyes narrowed ‘…so very wrong
.’

From deep within the shadows half a dozen eyes glowed, watching. There was a high-pitched chattering sound that grew louder when Kadir spoke.

‘Lord Rodan would like to see you Mayor Cooper.

Nodding furio
usly the Mayor responded, ‘of…. of course Lord Kadir. However I have also been summoned by Overlord Karick so, once I have….’

The vampire’s features changed in a flicker, the smile and laughter gone as he slowly shook his large head, and the chattering from the shadows grew louder and quickened in pace. Then Kadir draped one massive arm around the Mayor’s shoulders and guided him away. People bowed as they approached. Downcast eyes, full of hate, scored their backs as they passed. And the worst of it was
clearly aimed at the fat Mayor, the man who was the traitor in their midst.