Empire Of Vampires 1 2 1 Richard

1.2 Richard

Even though vampires are much stronger than humans, they have similar weaknesses. Use the weaknesses to control them, not to destroy them. If I am right, they are not only the key to world domination, but most importantly to saving humanity.

From Richard Baxter's draft of

"Letters to my Daughter"

- Empire City 2035.

1.2.1 Meeting with Richard

*2033*

Selene looked from the window of her private jet over to the skyline of the city. For a hundred and twenty-five years she had been building a life according to her own ideas. And there were always good opportunities here. The flight from Hong Kong had been long, but she had used the time to prepare herself. With her flew about fifty of her slaves, whom she wanted to keep in her new life. Good staff was hard enough to find to replace them.

The first time she came here, she had to spend another week on a ship. Sometimes she wondered whether the Titanic would have arrived then, if she hadn't accidentally been on deck and discovered the iceberg. So she had warned the crew and they could change the ship's course in time. The ship had escaped with minor wounds and no one had died or had to fight for the lifeboats, which were far too short. Flying was much safer there she found.

She liked the city, but she had made it a principle to change continent after every marriage and to take on a new identity. She tried to remain inconspicuous, because not everyone had to know that she was immortal. Or often widowed. Very often. According to her papers, she was now twenty-eight again. And she was no longer called Kathrin but had taken her real name Selene.

Selene was already prepared for her next marriages: Twice a year she set up a new identity, so that whenever she needed a new one, a new identity was always in place. Women who were supposedly raised in one of the private schools she owned. The fun became more elaborate from time to time, but fortunately she had gathered enough financial resources to be able to afford it.

She had used the time of the flight to adapt to her new identity. Thanks to her complete control over her body she had grown a few millimeters and was now 1.85(6'1'') meters tall. She had been big all her life, but not huge and every time she changed identity she grew to follow the growing humanity. In the last century, a few centimetres had already come together.

She had sacrificed her preference for leather clothing to a better material. Her long dead 24th husband from London had finally convinced her of latex in the eighties. And also her later husbands were crazy about touching her in latex. In the beginning she wore it for his sake, but in the meantime there were also high-quality clothes made of rubber, which since that time covered her body almost constantly. Her black latex catsuit was usually complemented by a corset and matching boots. Fortunately she didn't have to go through the airport controls like the common people.

Also her personal maids wore black latex, mostly even including a mask which only allowed breathing and seeing. Selene liked her slaves in rubber better. She liked the smell and the feeling on her skin. And with her subjects she liked that she could see much better through the latex uniform which feelings were hidden underneath. No distracting colors or unnecessary layers of air distorted the infrared image.

She hoped that the luxury would remain with her for a while, but it was foreseeable that all the states of the world would turn into surveillance states, which always knew where which citizens were. She had hated the cameras since Chicago, but hadn't had to kill for them for a long time. She had become much more careful. She practiced her gait and facial expression in front of the mirror again. And her voice. No computer in the world would still mistake her for Katherine or any of her former identities, but for her current identity Selene, which she had created twenty-eight years ago. She liked her real name and wore it again. Her next self with the name Selene was only five years old and would not be available for her for a long time.

Changing her fingerprints was by far the most painful part of the identity change. She had to hold her fingertips one by one in strong acid to completely dissolve the skin and then concentrate quite hard to get her new fingerprints to grow into the desired shape. It had taken a lot of practice to master the trick and she now managed to shape herself in the first attempt as intended, but she still didn't like it. But it was necessary to hide her immortality. Even though she had a good memory, when she was shaping the fingerprints she looked at a picture of the desired prints that were in her official files.

She wondered when the time would come for everyone to be equipped with chips that would record where they were around the clock. The technology seemed to be feasible, but it was still too expensive and the resistance was too high. But the invasion of privacy was not much bigger than taking fingerprints from babies. Selene sensed that time was running out for her. Eventually, no matter how much money she had, she couldn't hide anymore. It was time to finally start a family. And fulfill her destiny.

She was still able to keep up with the security features. Maybe she eventually learned how to change her iris scan, but Selene was afraid of the moment when she had to identify herself by means of her DNA or a chip she had to wear from birth.

Apart from the identity change, Selene had used the time of the flight to read. The twenty most important newspapers of the world, the complete bestseller list of the last half year, a few current patent applications, but mainly she read financial reports of companies that were potential investment objects. She read quickly and tried to keep up to date. After all, she intended to own this planet.

---

Selene had not been in town since the turn of the millennium, 33 years ago. And like last time, she came here looking for a new husband for her life. The last forty-one husbands had all been rich and handsome by human standards. But none of them had been able to resist her constant hunger for sex for long and had died of sexual overexertion no later than two years after the wedding night.

Selene had loved her last husband, as she had loved each of his predecessors, and had now mourned for nearly a year. Although she had a few lovers every day in between, she had not built up an emotional bond with any other lovers, only a culinary one. She had not been ready for more than blood, sex and sperm. Now she was ready to fall in love again and would possibly like sex so much that she too would have an orgasm. Only a few men, but all her female servants had the necessary skills to satisfy her.

Selene was compensated each time by a small fortune for the death of a husband, but meanwhile she was less concerned with money. She finally wanted children, but none of her husbands were able to inseminate her successfully. Neither could of her now thousands lovers, who all became her slaves after the first night of love and worked for her in her vast corporate empire for the rest of her life, making her even richer.

Selene knew that she liked women, but she didn't know how else to get pregnant. That's why she tried men, and when they saw more in her than a bedfellow and loved her sincerely, Selene returned the favor. She then fell in love with the man and married him. She still hoped that reciprocal love and frequent sex would increase her chances of pregnancy. At least her husbands managed to satisfy her more easily than normal food.

Selene had made a lot from her many inheritances, but not nearly as much as she could have. She always chose men who had no ties and were poor enough to keep them out of the public eye. And of course men who shared her current hobbies. The highest inheritance had earned her number thirty-seven with just over fifty million dollars thirteen years ago.

Most of her widely diversified assets of 373 billion had been acquired through skillful investments. And of course through the free labor of her former lovers and food donors. She was thus considerably richer than any human being, but she still managed to hide it. The fortune was officially divided among countless of her identities and foundations. Her effect on men was lasting enough that it was enough for about 14.000 slaves to be allowed to work for her and to give her food with their blood. But mostly Selene was generous and drank the blood at the source and did not use canned blood.

In her official identity she was an orphan, raised in a private school near London and inherited about fifty million from her parents. She did not want to attract attention, but she also did not want to live in a slum. Fifty million in official possession was OK there. She herself was a world traveler who had got to know the world after her medical studies. Of course, her studies had also been in one of her private universities, where the next generation was trained for her hospital chain. Sydney. She had chosen Hold as her last name, but she would give it up at the wedding in a few months anyway. Surely nobody noticed that her first name was the Greek goddess of the moon and, fittingly, her last name was the Hungarian moon. And if they did, she would tell, that her imaginary parents had chosen the first name to match the last name.

Actually, she had set herself a limit of a maximum of one hundred million as an asset for husband number forty-two. But here in the richest city in the world she could get twice as rich men without getting unwanted publicity afterwards, if she had to bury her husband a little later, completely unexpectedly, because of a heart attack. She did not want to become famous under any circumstances, that would only make the change of identity unnecessarily complicated.

Not that she killed on purpose. In fact, she usually refrained from sucking as much blood from her men as was medically justifiable. Just small samples to make them compliant. She had loved each of her husbands, but each one had gone to great lengths to meet her high standards for good sex. And her weak human bodies did not endure for long. Only about a thousand times.

But even this limit of two hundred million would be significantly exceeded this time. She wanted Richard Baxter. Owner of Baxter Industries. The company consisted of an inherited construction company and a self-founded genetic engineering firm. The public estimated his assets at around thirty billion. Many believed he got rich off his high-tech company, but Selene knew better.

Richard Baxter not only owned Baxter Industries, but also controlled a few hotels with extra services. According to Selene's sources, he owned for about three thousand women, which worked as prostitutes for him. He also had his own organization of criminals who provided him with protection money and casino income. With all this illegal activity, Selene estimated his fortune at fifty billion. As far as she knew, he rarely killed. And when he did, he killed criminals worse than himself. The dead had rivaled him, even if not quite as successful as he was. So he got rid of them. She, too, had killed many times before, so she didn't blame him.

As always, Selene had used the time after her last husband's death to kill a few people. She focused on wanted terrorists, religious leaders, drug lords and corrupt politicians who, in her opinion, endangered humanity. She considered the killing of them as a service to society and as training. And after each of these murders her nightmares of a devouring fire became better. Helped even more than performing miracles in the hospital.

And the confiscated assets made her a little richer again. The last series of killings since the end of marriage forty-one alone had resulted in over five hundred deaths from ten organizations in just a few months. And Selene brought in an average of about a million and a half per death. The headlines were full of the end of the ten mafia cartels, but nobody suspected that she was involved.

At forty-seven years, Richard was still looking good. Trained, athletic and probably potent. At just over two Meters (6'8'') tall, he would tower over her by half a head, despite possible high-heeled boots he seemed to be into. Selene had used the Titanic with his great-great-grandfather to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It was questionable whether, without her intervention on the ship, another human would have developed Richard's technology. Strange how life played out sometimes.

Richard had never married before and had no children. But he had a thing for women. Many of the female slaves in his brothels he had personally deflowered. So Selene didn't have to get rid of former wives.

But what was much more important to Selene than his looks and fortune: In addition to his construction company, he owned a fast-growing genetic engineering company with amazing success. His technologies allowed complete gene sequencing in only five minutes. And his company had patents to cure a dozen genetic diseases by repairing the genes. As far as she knew, he had made many of the inventions himself, adding an even more profitable genetic engineering division to his inherited construction company.

Perhaps he find out why her eggs absorbed sperm from men but were not fertilized by them. All Selene himself had discovered was, that she had not only twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, but twenty-eight. And her first twenty-three pairs, as far as she had found out, were human, only the five extra pairs of chromosomes made her a vampire.

Selene had put up a poster of him on the plane so she could get used to his appearance. She would have to love him and getting used to his looks was an important first step. At least he shaved and was trained. She gave him a kiss and got ready to take off.

---

Selene ordered her maids to dress her. She simply stood in the middle of the room and was to be rubbed with silicone oil by the three rubber beings. Being hairless helped, but with oil it worked better. Selene no longer dressed herself, it was much more comfortable to have staff to do it. The soft rubber hands on her body were very pleasant.

Next up was the tailor-made catsuit made of black latex. Today to stay inconspicuous no shiny latex, but dull. The suit had exactly the right size to build up the right exciting tension over the whole body. The integrated toe socks were a nice gimmick, but would soon disappear in the boots. The integrated gloves were also comfortable.

The suit had no opening or even zipper apart from the neck entry, but she was oiled, the suit from the inside too and the six practiced hands of her three maids had packed her very quickly and squeezed out all air bubbles. Very pleasant, especially in the crotch.

Selene's boots were flat and reached just below the knees. Also made of rubber, but more military than elegant. She wanted to jump off the plane with them and not go to the opera. The corset was also black, but much tighter than her usual corsets. Selene raised her arms, breathed out deeply and let herself be tied tightly until it could be closed at the back. The corset was quite heavy due to the steel struts, but also just strong enough so she couldn't accidentally destroy it if she breathed too hard. It was used to increase her fall speed and almost not being able to breathe was part of it.

Selene was paranoid and wanted to prevent her breathing from giving an infrared image. She was placed in the provided tub with ice cubes to cool her down and was not allowed to leave for a few minutes. She waited until her body had cooled down. She preferred to freeze than to be discovered. Only her lips occasionally came to the surface of the water so she could breathe.

After she was cold enough, the mask came on. She still had air for a few minutes and put on the mask of black rubber. The mask had only a few tiny holes in front of her eyes for her orientation, but no other openings. And also the holes in front of the eyes were only transparent latex and not permeable to air. There were no openings for mouth or nostrils. The mask also had an integrated rubber gag for noise reduction. Her next gasp would be down after landing. So that the mask collar would fit properly, they put a black steel collar on her, which was closed. One key remained in the plane, the other one was waiting for her downstairs.

She climbed down through a flap to the wheels in the already opened wheel well. She felt and heard the icy wind on her quick-drying rubber suit and concentrated on the jump. The plane didn't fly as precisely as she had hoped, but she was able to compensate for the hundred meter deviation to the south.

She saw below her the lights of the huge city, which was no longer growing wider as before, but was growing higher and higher. Even formerly rural suburbs were full of housing silos since the integration into the city. Forty million people. Every twentieth American lived in the largest city in the world. Everywhere heavy traffic and polluted air, but also full of opportunities. Selene saw the Hudson River and behind it the historic center on Manhattan Island. Selene got ready to jump off.

Their plane was on approach, but Selene wouldn't wait for them to land. Since airport security checks were equipped with body scanners three decades ago, she no longer felt safe doing so. She was only human on the outside. Any officer at the scanners would see that her bones were different. Different density. Ribs that were flatter, wider and more numerous. They would try to trap her and force her to kill hundreds of people. Or they could trap and dissect her, in case Selene didn't want to kill so many people.

Selene waited until the wheels of the plane were fully extended. She looked again briefly at the wind data and then jumped out of the plane under cover of darkness and rain clouds from a height of about one kilometer. To make sure she wouldn't be seen when she fell, she had chosen a rainy night and wore her black camouflage clothes. Despite the pattern of holes in front of her eyes she could see enough not to miss her house.

Jumping out of airplanes felt good. Like she was made for being in the air. Sometimes she wished she could fly, but she couldn't get up more than ten meters when she jumped. Selene knew she didn't need a parachute. She flew over the park and set her sights on her house. She just corrected her flight a little and a few seconds later landed with both feet in the middle of the roof of her 90th Street high-rise building. The trees on the roof had developed well over the last thirty years and it was like a small park on the roof terrace at a height of one hundred and eighty meters (590 foot).

Her servants were already waiting for her at the edge of the terrace and the highest-ranking one of them had the key in her hand. The maids wore a full-body suit made of black latex, similar to Selene's, but had neither boots nor corset on. Their mask had nostrils, but they also wore ball gag under the mouthless masks.

The three maids approached Selene and each one gave Selene a kiss on the mouth first. Strange but very intimate feeling for Selene to kiss a rubber ball through two layers of latex. While she was gagged and could not breathe. They also stroked through Selene's crotch with their hand. Selene was a predator and had to be put in a merciful mood if her bite was to be pleasant. Only when Selene relaxed, but also when she was running out of air, Selenes collar was opened and they took off her mask.

Selene took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of the maids. She needed a moment to get enough air again. The corset did not allow her to get air quickly. She smiled at her maids. Good staff and being dependent on them gave them the illusion that they meant something to their mistress. Selene had prepared herself for her servants, but Selene had not intended them to be more than tenderness, a few treats and sex. Exchangeable personnel, whose names she knew but would not use. Too many of her good and tender servants had already died of old age.