RAIDERS OF VAMPYRA

By

Shizuko Lee

© copyright August 2005 by Shizuko Lee

Cover art by Jenny Dixon, © copyright August 2005

ISBN 1-58608-635-9

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Dedication:

To Mrs. Hale, the best English teacher I ever had. Do not read this story.

Chapter One

A territorial fight broke out between the Trekies, the Doomsdayers, and the Christian Soldiers. Battle cries rang out from the opposing groups, fists flying--wildly for the most part since they weren’t ordinarily violent people and had had little practice in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite the excitement, it seemed unlikely anyone was going to get hurt badly. The Doomsdayers were battering the Christians with ‘The end is here’ signs while the Trekies pelted them with their rubber weapons.

The police had their hands full trying to control an escalating fight between warring factions of Elvis fanatics and could not come to the aid of the Christians, who were finally driven off by the ferocity of the Trekie/Doomsdayer force. The alliance, of course, collapsed with no common enemy to unite them and battle once again ensued, this time between the Trekies and the Doomsdayers. Except for keeping a wary eye on them, the military, safely behind the concrete barricades set up to protect the scientists and politicians from the general riffraff, ignored the battles for the most part, standing with guns at the ready in case another group tried to storm their position. Some of the pacifists who’d tried to do so ten minutes earlier were still on the ground clutching the bruises inflicted by the rubber bullets they’d fired on them.

I have never in my life seen so many lunatics gathered together in one place, Mai thought in disgust as she watched the shifting masses at the forefront fighting for a better position on the tarp. Glancing toward the group of ‘aliens’ she had come with to see what they thought of the ruckus, she wondered if she should include herself in that assessment.

The media were interspersed in the crowd since no one was willing to give up their spot near the front just so some reporter and camera crew could stand there and block everyone else’s view. The throng of people closest to the front was shoulder to shoulder--and getting chummier every minute--but there was still breathing room where Mai stood. She could just make out the president in his seat on the dais twiddling his thumbs. Politicians from around the world were seated behind and to either side of him. A group of scientists were squeezed together in the very back, looking around nervously.

All in all, Mai considered hers a good spot for the night of a life time. She couldn’t see as well as she would’ve liked, but she could still see everything going on and she felt a lot safer getting a distant view than trying to work her way into the crazy crowd.

Not far from where she was standing, an anchor woman shouted into a microphone over the dull roar of the crowd. “We’re here live in Atlanta Georgia, where NASA projects the spacecraft will land. As you can see behind me, there’s quite a group gathered here for this historic event--”

The loonies have gathered from the four corners of the Earth.

It was no surprise things had gotten a little out of hand. When NASA had announced the discovery of a space craft that had entered Earth’s solar system, it was the biggest thing to happen--ever. As soon as it was made public where the predicted landing site might be, people had started pouring into the city from around the world. Mai had hopped a ride with a girl she worked with and her friends and had only had to endure three hours of rabid Star Trek talk to get to the city.

What if they were wrong? What if the aliens decide to land somewhere else? She could well imagine the crazed people around her fighting for a piece of the scientists. I wonder if that thought’s crossed their minds?

But maybe it had. Maybe that was the real agenda of the military presence. She couldn’t see that they were going to prove to be much of a deterrent to the aliens, not shooting rubber bullets.

Or maybe they were planning on switching to live ammo when they saw the ship?

NASA may or may not have tried to hide the discovery, based on the length of time the craft had actually been coming toward the planet. The conspiracy theorists had had a field-day with that one. NASA, of course, claimed that they just didn’t see it coming until last week and blamed it on the budget. The president pledged many billions of tax-payer dollars for their program to avoid anything like this ever happening again, despite NASA’s assurances that the odds were astronomical--and also despite the fact that the sod had already spent more ‘tax’ money than the ten presidents before him. The aliens, meanwhile, had yet to respond to repeated attempts at communication and NASA had issued a warning that they could be hostile.

Naturally, no one paid that any attention. If they were hostile, why bring only one ship? Why move so openly without any attempt to hide the fact that they were heading straight for Earth?

Despite the doomsdayers, and the Christian soldiers who seemed to think the aliens had come with the sole purpose of fucking up their religious beliefs in the ‘creation’, the majority of the people gathered had come just to watch the show of a life time.

Real, live, aliens!

Mai could hardly believe it herself. She didn’t think she’d ever been so excited in her life. This was the sort of story everybody dreamed of being able to tell their grandkids.

Not that she had any--or any kids for that matter--or even a frigging boyfriend if it came to that.

She did hope they were cute and not something butt ugly and completely undesirable because the pickings on Earth sure as hell were getting slim.

As she watched, the people at the far edge turned, falling silent, their faces tipped toward the sky. Their actions created a domino effect until at last everyone was looking. In the sky, a large, oblong ship floated lazily, silently, into view. Its surface was dull and metallic, covered in pockmarks as if it had seen a lot of wear and tear. On the nose of the ship were strange, blue runes, lit from within.

Mai watched as the ship floated over her head, toward the center of the throng where a wide open space had been carefully set aside for their landing and maintained with grim determination by the military. Feeling the briefest sense of displacement at the dreamlike quality of the scene as a whole, Mai startled at the sudden shouting that originated in the ranks of the Doomsdayers. The mood of the throng shifted palpably from awe and she was buffeted with a cacophony of sounds.

The ship, now centered over the clearing, set down with slow dignity, settling in a small cloud of dust kicked up by the engines. Jumping to his feet, the president shambled ape-like to the microphone at the center of the stage. Looking down carefully to ensure his feet were on the large X he’d been told to stand on, he fidgeted as he waited for the ship to open, making ineffectual hushing sounds at the crowd.

Apparently too impatient to deliver his ‘historical welcome’ to actually wait for the appearance of the aliens, the president leaned over the mike “Welcome friends.” Minutes slipped by and he stood twitching nervously as he awaited their reply. After a moment, when nothing happened, he turned to the crowd and plastered a lopsided grin across his face. “Please, uh, everyone quiet down a lil’ You’re scarin’ our space visitors, I, uh, think.”

No one paid him any attention, continuing to murmur and gesture toward the craft. Abruptly, the door to the ship hissed open and a ramp extended to the ground like a great slivery tongue. From the dark, yawning hole emerged the sound of tramping feet. With bated breath, the crowd watched as a figure emerged from the dim interior and then another and another. Marching with almost military precision, the group made their way down the ramp.

As the closest of the throng finally caught sight of the aliens, who had come to Earth from outside the solar system, Mai heard shouts of disbelief and anger. She understood why as soon as the first came into her own view and she saw black, red-lined capes plucked by a slight breeze, gliding up the steps of the dais toward the politicians.

As the leader reached the top of the dais and stopped, she saw he was tall--easily a head taller than the ‘great man’ who’d come to greet the alien race. Long, dark hair flowed unfettered around his shoulders. His skin was pale--very pale--but the pigmentation was all too familiar--not blue or green or anything anyone on Earth had come to associate with aliens, but white people color--or maybe pale Asian. It was a little hard to be certain from such a distance.

“They’re human!” Mai gasped in surprise, feeling an abrupt surge of euphoria as it occurred to her that her wish had been granted. Men!

“Humanoid,” one of the Trekies said irritably over his shoulder.

Looks human to me, Mai thought, wondering as the others who’d first seen them apparently had if they’d all been the victims of some wild practical joke.

If they weren’t human, they were sure as hell close enough to suit her! Two of everything they were supposed to have, from what she could see, gorgeous build, beautiful black hair--Hallelujah, thank you god! Men! If they’re gay I’ll kill myself!

She didn’t see any women. Was that a bad sign or a good sign? She wondered.

As six others came into view, she saw that each of them wore their long black hair bound at the nape of the neck. They were dressed identically in fitted black pants with black jackets trimmed with gold and ruffled white shirts. Each seemed to have attained the flawlessly pale skin she, with her honeyed complexion, had never been able to achieve even with cosmetics. Although from what she could see they were all handsome, the leader was by far the most handsome of all, having a quality about him she could not put her finger on, but that set him apart from the rest. They carried themselves with a grace of movement, a smoothness Mai had only read about in books.

For all their beauty, though, something seemed a bit off--something about them made her uneasy. She couldn’t decide if it was the fact that they were aliens, if something really was peculiar about them, or if it was all in her head.

It dawned on her as the president erupted into his carefully prepared speech.

Emotion. They were surrounded by a tremendous, noisy crowd of alien beings and they were completely cool, calm, collected--emotionless about the whole situation.

“I would like ta, uh, welcome you. On behalf of myself and, uh, the world, to the United States of Amer’ca, the greatest country in the world.”

At that comment, Mai looked sharply at the other politicians, at the men who had traveled half the globe to represent their countries, not surprised to see they were rigid with anger. So much for diplomacy.

The man had no tact. There was just no getting around it.

“It’s so great,” he extended his hand woodenly to their leader, who stared at it blankly several moments before taking it, “to meet people with, uh, who share our, the Amer’can people’s, love for freedom and liberty. People, we have no doubt, willing to fight for freedom anywhere in the universe. I bet you boys have done some fighting of your own, so you understand that the war for freedom has to be fought, uh, even in space. Like you, we will continue to fight for the, uh, freedom and the liberty of the Amer’can people.”

Mai frowned. She couldn't tell if that was how the speech was written, or if he'd simply forgotten his lines, but with that, he shook the alien’s hand harder, giving a signal to the other politicians who, up to that point, had been sitting quietly awaiting their turn to greet the visitors. They sprang toward the aliens, bumping each other out of the way, shaking hands and posing for the flashing cameras. Several of the scientists, obviously embarrassed, covered their faces with their hands. The others seemed to be ignoring the politicians, pointing and whispering excitedly to each other.

Disappointment settled in Mai’s gut. After all she’d been through to get here to get the chance to see the aliens, and she could see that dumb bastard was going to turn it into a media event, featuring him, so he could politicize! Next he was going to start rhapsodizing about all of his accomplishments--which were mostly in his frigging mind.

Well, I guess this is a historic moment for them, anyway. Guess I may as well get out of here before the crowd. For all the excitement it offered, this could have easily been a typical, boring press conference. I should have stayed home and watched the damned thing on CSPAN. At least I would have been comfortable.

Even as she turned to go, a sudden movement on the dais caught her eye and Mai stopped, her gaze riveted on what was transpiring on the stage. As one, the aliens pulled their respective greeters toward themselves, as if to hug them. Instead, to Mai’s stunned disbelief, they leaned down and nuzzled the politicians’ necks.

Ew, gross!

Damn it to hell! Aren’t there any damned men anywhere that still like girls!

As stunned as she was, the crowd fell deathly quiet and then erupted into screams of panic and horror. Gun shots rang out and several soldiers fell dead, struck down by friendly fire as their comrades, scrambling to load live ammo, shot at the aliens. Thoroughly confused, Mai finally realized why as the alien leader released the president and the president’s body flopped lifeless to the floor.

He turned to face his attackers then, drawing a long sword he had had concealed beneath his cape. He held his sword high, uttering a battle cry before falling upon the soldiers. His men drew swords as well and charged after him.

In Mai’s mind, time seemed to slow down as she watched, completely dumb-founded. She felt as though she were watching a movie, not standing in a crowd of stampeding people.

Vampires? Real vampires? She thought disbelievingly.