We rush out of the school. In the schoolyard we stop to catch our breath. I look up. One of the windows of our classroom is open. Sarah is bending over the edge, naked. The monster is pulling her long blonde hair back. Her neck is covered in blood, the red liquid is pouring down the white façade. Judging by her screams of pleasure, Kathy was right; they do rape their victims before bleeding them. He looks at me smiling. I can sense him trying to take over me again but this time I'm ready.
"Fuck off," I shout.
He seems to be pulled backwards by the violence of my will.
"Let's get the hell out of here," I tell the others.
Cheryl, Mark, Kathy and ... Wait where is the last girl?
She's going back into school.
"I have to get my little brother," she says when I try to stop her.
She enters the school and disappears. I sincerely hope she finds her brother and that they manage to find a safe place. We turn around and run. The streets are empty; we can see silhouettes at the windows in the buildings around us, terrified men and women hoping for the best hiding from the monsters. The Red Sun is over us, threatening.
"Where to now?" I ask, "Kathy, your place is just a few blocks away right?"
An hour later we're at Kathy's place. She lives in a penthouse near central park. Her father is loaded but I guess that doesn't mean anything anymore. Kathy, Mark and Cheryl have managed to talk to their parents, stranded at their respective work. My dad is unreachable. I fear the worst.
On TV, we have a pre recorded message ordering the population to stay at home. We have seen a couple of military choppers flying over the city. At some point we heard an explosion. But nothing more out of the ordinary, nothing more except maybe for the silence and the Red Sun. I'm sitting in a large chair, rocking my body to the tune of a song only I can hear.
The night falls and with it the reddish tint covering all things disappears. The sun out of the sky brings back a feeling of normality to the world. Around ten, the looping message goes off the air and for thirteen minutes we get only static. Finally an image comes back. It's the vice president. She's in the oval office. There are bullet holes in the walls and part of the window on her left side has been blown away.
"My fellow Americans, first of all I want to extend my most sincere condolences to all of you who have lost a loved one in the course of this tragic day. This day will be marked with sorrow for the rest of our history as we have lost many in our battle against those terrible creatures. We have faced today the most terrible threat our young country has ever faced, I dare to say that we have faced the worst threat any empire in the world has ever faced, but we, as a nation have prevailed."
I can't stop myself from looking at the screen, I'm not really listening to the speech, what has me captivated are the twin bite marks on the side of the woman's neck, the terrible paleness of her skin and the exuberant fangs we all get to see when she speaks.
"Tonight, as newly instated president I lift the martial law and order all troops back to their bases. Tonight I lift the curfew for all the country. And to all of you who haven't yet been granted the privilege I have been bestowed upon today, be assured that we will find you, we will rape you and we will make you one of us."
She laughs as the static comes back. If we were catatonic before, now we are plain comatose. We have lost. The clamor that rises through the city is not human.
The door to the flat opens. Kathy is going out.
"Wait," I say, "we have to stick together, we have to fight, we have to..."
As the words go through my lips. I realize that everything is lost. She doesn't even look back. I know where she's going and part of me wants to join her. Join them.
But then I see Mark and Cheryl. My two friends, the best friends a girl can ever have, two humans, two survivors and I know we have lost a battle but we haven't lost the war.
***
Six months later, the western front.
The war is still raging but we have our first victory since the nuking of Washington. Last night a small commando got to the Emperor and staked him, they died but in the process they have freed thousands who will join the ranks of the liberation army. The sun might rise red tomorrow but we will continue fighting the scourge of the earth.
I retire to my tent. Mark was killed in the first days of the war, but Cheryl is still by my side. We have become lovers. The bishop doesn't approve of our relationship but even he knows that the best way to fight the mental control of the vampires is to have sex, as much sex as we can. I have requisitioned a bottle of Napa Valley's best merlot from the officers' mess.
The UV projectors cast a delicious light over the body of the brunette waiting for me in my bed. I undress and slip by her side. She seems asleep; the Merlot will have to wait. She came back from a long journey today and she must be exhausted. I'm about to turn off the lights when I spot a red sparkle coming from her neck.
The vamps have managed to create small jewels to protect them from our UV lights. Sort of a portable receptacle of the grand ritual that turned the sun red. We lost quite a few outposts before we understood how it worked. I reach for my weapon but it's too late. She catches my arm smiling.
"My sweet little Erin," she says through her fangs "an old friend of yours wants to see you tonight. I'll take you to him."
"I'll come with you my love."
Those aren't my words, they come from my throat but clearly they aren't mine.
We leave camp. The young soldier we take to drive the Humvee I have requisitioned is selected by Cheryl. She has chosen him for his reputation as a stud among the women of the troop. I guess she has special plans for him. As we pass the guard's hut, I can see the trail of sweat running down his neck. He is only controlled, completely conscious of his actions without any power over them as opposed to me being subjugated, willing slave of the vampire sitting by my side. Nobody tries to stop us, I am the commander of this base after all and if I want to take a stroll with my lover into a warm autumn night, no one will dare to second guess me.
We drive for two hours. As soon as we have left the camp, Cheryl has me undress. As we sit in the back of the military vehicle, she massages my thighs, kneads my tits, rubs my clit and explores my cunt. She explains to me that it is to ready my body for my master. She tells me of her turning two days ago. She tells me how her patrol fell in an ambush, how the vampires that captured them kept her for last, letting her keep her free will and all, just because of me, because of our relationship. She tells me of her rape by the men and women under her command. She tells me of Kathy and her master, of their fingers ripping her soul. She tells me of the release she found under their fangs. She tells me of the bliss of resurrection.
We finally arrive in a small clearing in the woods. The Humvee is soon surrounded by the very creatures that I have been fighting for the last six months. We exit the car; the vampires make way for their master, my master. The very first monster I met on the morning of the Red Sun.
"My child," he says to Cheryl "in one day you have succeeded where dozens have failed, for that you shall be rewarded. Now release her."
Cheryl bows her head purring in contempt. I can feel my free will coming back. The love I have for those creatures is soon replaced by rightful hate. The lust that Cheryl has casted upon me over the trip turns to disgust. I can feel the filthy fingers of the monster insinuating into my mind.
"Ah my little Erin, I had you in my sight long before the rise of the Red Sun. So many years ago I discovered the strong willed little slut that dug vampires. I waited in the shadows for you to become of age and when the Red Sun rose I came for you to make you my slave. But you slipped through my fingers, twice. And now we are reunited; it is time for you to embrace your destiny. It's time for you to become my queen..."
He continues smiling but his look has lost the confidence it had just a few moments ago. His grip over my will is tenuous as I fight back. Every inch of terrain he gains he has to deploy monuments of ingenuity to overcome the countless traps and ambushes I set on his path. Finally I open a highway into my consciousness for him to dive into.
