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  Primordial

  Vampin Book Series #10

  By Jamie Ott

  Copyright 2011 Jamie Ott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without permission.

  For more information: [email protected]

  ISBN: 978-0615564053

  Relax

  Chapter 1

  It had been a month since she'd met Credenza and the Primordial vampires on the side of the road. Despite the time that had passed, the smell of burnt flesh still tortured her. It lingered over the entirety of Lake George.

  Thousands of dead vampires were burnt to ash, there.

  Starr was on her way back from the library, in the next city over.

  In the silver Mercedes she'd stolen from a cabin down the way, she tried to gun it up the steep incline of the mesa. At the top was the house where she and the kids, from the clinic, were staying, since their cabin burned down.

  "Damn," she cursed.

  She'd never learned how to drive stick, though she'd read about it in school.

  A foul smoke filled the car. She pressed the gas, harder. It made terrible whining noises and then died.

  Deciding it wasn't worth damage to the clutch, she restarted the car and parked it on the side of the road, and then walked the rest of the way up to the house.

  The mesa top was a great place for her and the others. It had a large beautiful house with views, and all the amenities of a hotel. With only a few square miles of land at the top and jagged rock covered in trees all along its sides, it was highly unlike anyone would try to climb up.

  She trudged the twenty yards of incline, kicking up dirt into her nose and mouth.

  In the last cabin, which now lay in a pile of ash directly across the lake, they'd had several stampedes of vamps sneak up on them. But most newly made vampires couldn't fly or levitate, so the mesa was perfectly safe. Those that did make it up the road were spotted by their dust clouds, and killed before they ever reached the top.

  As she walked over the last bit of incline, she spotted her friend and fellow vampire, Shane, in the front yard, messing around in the flower bed, as usual.

  Although many vampires came into telepathic abilities, Shane's were the most powerful of any she'd ever met. Sometimes, it was too much for her, which is why she spent so much time working in the garden; it was peaceful and away from the ever constant thoughts, internal monologue, and feelings that people always had.

  Of them all, Shane was the strongest vampire, though in a way she was the most crippled, too. Unlike Marla, who never needed to sleep anymore, and Mica, who had super hearing, Shane's ability to hear thoughts and feel other's feelings never gave her rest, except in sleep.

  Everyone else at the mesa house was human.

  "Hey," she said, as she stood up and wiped her forehead. "Any luck?"

  "Yeah, actually."

  She held up a large book. "Thanks. I don't know what I would've done without you."

  Weeks ago, an ancient vampire, Credenza, rescued her from a fire. She'd passed out, and when she woke, Credenza was gone.

  Starr was alone in a strange house with an altar at her feet. Later, when she asked her about it, she refused to explain. Fortunately, she didn't seem to realize that she'd left something behind: an old book with the words Necro-Grimoire etched into its leather cover.

  Necro, from the word nekros, as a fellow vampire explained, was a Greek word that meant dead. A grimoire was a book of spells.

  This particular grimoire, though rebound, was especially old.

  Credenza's actions towards Starr had been suspicious for a while. She was sure that whatever Credenza was up to, the book would be a vital clue.

  Her first attempt to translate went alright, but it didn't make complete sense. She knew there were over a dozen versions of Latin, but hadn't known that Classical was the written language of choice, back then. For someone well versed in Latin, it was no big deal to translate classical using another dialect, but Starr hadn't a clue of any version of the language.

  From inside the house came best buddies, Josh and Rick, carrying large boxes of food. They stowed them into the back of a large blue SUV they'd picked up in town.

  When she found them stranded in their high school cafeteria, some months back, she invited them to come to the Lake. Since New York City was in danger of being blown to bits by the government, in an attempt to get rid of all the vampires, they had no choice but to leave immediately.

  Rick was lucky; he'd finally made contact with his parents, who were in Ohio. Many families were separated when the vampires stormed the city, and many still had no clue what happened to them.

  Starr continued upstairs to her bedroom where she dropped the Latin translation book on her bed, and then went downstairs to help out with dinner.

  In the kitchen, Mot, Mica and Lucas were cutting up onions and potatoes as Marla and Misaki shelled and shucked eggs and corn.

  That night they had dinner on the long glass table in the backyard, next to the pool and jacuzzi.

  The sun was setting earlier and earlier.

  "So what are we gonna do?" asked Mot, in between bites of burger. "When winter comes, are we gonna be crammed in this house the entire time?"

  Starr looked across the lake and inhaled deeply. The air had grown heavy, indicating that fall was already in the air.

  "Well?" he said loudly, distracting Starr from her thoughts.

  She sighed and looked at him.

  "Why are you asking me?"

  "You're the leader, no?"

  "I don't have all the answers. I wish you guys would stop looking to me, all the time."

  After a moment of silence, Danny said, "I have to admit that I can hardly stand to think of it; being cooped up here all winter. It's a nice place but small."

  "The clinic was smaller," said Becky.

  "But that was different: we got out and did things."

  "You know, I never thought I'd miss school but I do," said Misty. "What worries me more is if society should rebound, then we'll be behind. Imagine having to repeat grades, and not graduating high school until we're twenty years old."

  "What about me?" asked Misaki, who was a half Chinese-half Japanese immigrant. "I'm supposed to be working on my citizenship, but I can't even get a passport from my country. I get absolutely no reply, every time I call the Administration in Hong Kong."

  "Same here," said Mot.

  His nationality was Danish.

  "I can't even begin to work on my citizenship."

  "Maybe we should think about moving on?" Starr suggested.

  Everyone got real quiet for a moment. Starr took a bite of her potato salad.

  "Where would we go?" asked Misaki.

  ~~~

  The next morning, they bade goodbye to Rick and Josh. They were pretty excited to leave, and Starr wasn't going to hold them back, but she was concerned.

  What if something happened along the way?

  It occurred to her that people, in her life, could disappear forever, and she'd never know what happened to them. For a vampire, it was hard to feel complex emotions, but there was something about this thought that disturbed her; made her uneasy.

  That afternoon, Starr sat at the bottom of the dock, watching the others fish and swim as she translated the first pages of the grimoire into a pink, leather bound journal she'd picked up at the pharmacy in town.

  'Herein lies a book of tools to break veils; to travel to many worlds; to guide you on your path to enlightenment; to reach out to trusted souls, and find the key to the universe,' she wrote.

  As the sun warmed her back, it happened again.

  Oh no, she thought to herself.

/>   At first, it started off as a tickling in her ear, but then always developed into a brain bursting aneurism.

  "Ugh!"

  She put her hands on the back of her scalp and pressed inward; then she put pressure on her aching eyes, trying to smooth out the spasms.

  "Are you okay?" asked Marla. She laid spread out on a towel with sunglasses and a magazine.

  "Yeah, just another crazy flash."

  Ever since Lucenzo was taken away, he'd been trying to communicate with her, telepathically.

  He was the main culprit behind the attempt at a vampire apocalypse. His father also happened to be a Primordial bent on punishing him for it, and he'd been doing so ever since he took him away, that night on the side of the road.

  It was painful for Starr to watch and hear how he beat and tortured him. Even though she hated Lucenzo for beheading her, months ago, she felt bad for him.

  The Primordials were the first vampires. According to Credenza, human vampirism was the result of a virus spread by them, a long time ago when they began to die out. Many tales of blood sacrifices, throughout history, to gods, were actually humans worshipping the Primordials. They weren't gods and weren't humans; just another form of life on Earth.

  "What did you see?"

  "Same thing: White room with gold colored bars, like a jail would have, only fancier."

  Sometimes, she'd see the outside of the place they kept him in, too. It was a white and grey castle that could have housed multiple cities, and it lay in a land that was layered with snowy peaks. The sun was often blaring loudly against an extremely cold blue-gray sky.

  Where ever it was, the place was so high in the atmosphere that it looked hard to breath. It was a peak that no one had ever been to, or, at least, not for a very long time.

  "What do you think he's trying to tell you?" asked Mica who was rubbing SPF on her back.

  "It's like he's trying to show me where he's at, but I don't want to know. Obviously, the Primordials keep their location hidden for a reason. Sometimes, though, I see a red ball."

  "What?"

  "I don't know; like an orb or a large marble."

  That night, as she lay in bed, she contemplated how to approach relocating.

  Mot was right, but where should we go? New York? Boston? Somewhere else?

  She needed to find a place where good people had gathered.

  But, how?

  Televisions didn't work, and neither did radios. The only way she'd find a place would be to search on foot.

  But wouldn't that put them in danger?

  Not herself, particularly, as she was one of the more powerful vampires of the world: she shared the blood of Credenza. The kids were the ones she was concerned about.

  Nekros

  Chapter 2

  Next morning, Starr's inner demon woke her with a low growl in her stomach. It had been a few days since she'd had blood. Although they didn't need to drink, it was a good idea to feed their monster, regularly; otherwise, they could vamp out.

  Vamp out was a term used to describe when their inner demon took over, controlling them like mindless zombies who wandered about, eating whatever crossed their paths, just like the zombies Lucenzo created to take over the world with.

  To quench their thirst, they'd often seek squirrels in the trees. Sometimes, they'd be lucky and catch a raccoon or a rabbit.

  She rose from her bed, brushed her teeth and changed.

  Downstairs, Misty and Kay were eating cereal at the kitchen table.

  Starr put some coffee in a cup and walked down the road.

  By now the kids knew not to follow or question Starr, or the others, when they went on their little 'walks.'

  When they first took the kids in, at the clinic, they worked hard to conceal their conditions because they didn't want to frighten them.

  After the rogue vampires attacked, it became impossible to hide their afflictions. There was something that was extremely repulsive about the new species of vampires that Lucenzo made. For Starr and others, their inner demon knew they were nothing like them. When they got too close, they couldn't control what happened; their fangs would extend, their eyes would change, and sometimes, they couldn't stop growling.

  While afraid at first, the kids got over it when they realized that having vampires as protectors was probably the only thing that kept them alive, for Lucenzo's vampires were strong and fast, like they were.

  Quietly, she stepped into the brush, just off her path, and toward a spot where she smelled urine.

  Hmmm?she said to herself.

  The urine reminded her of something else, certainly not a raccoon. To her right, she saw some chewed leaves on a tree branch. Below it, the dirt was unsettled.

  She took another sip of her coffee and walked past the dirt.

  Come out, come out, she called with her mind; a nifty trick she'd recently picked up.

  She loved to hunt by instinct only, but, some days, she needed to eat and get on with her day.

  A moment later, it appeared: a young and still doe eyed deer, about the size of a dog, except with long elegant legs.

  The way the deer tilted its pretty head, and how its eyes shone innocently, charmed her, for a moment.

  She walked closer, kneeled down and slowly raised her hand to its head. Its ears flinched a little, as she pet him.

  Go, she said to it.

  For a moment, it stayed right where it was, looking at her curiously, and then walked off slowly.

  From her right side, she heard it. She didn't need to stop watching the adorable deer to know it was there.

  With the reflexes of a lizard, she flicked out her arm and caught it: a long eared hare. Yes, it was cute, but it would make a great sandwich someday soon, she thought as she pierced its furry side with her fangs and drained it.

  When she'd done, she pulled her hunter's knife from her back pocket and proceeded to gutting and skinning it, the way she'd read about in her book.

  She peeled back the fur and tossed it, and then made a little slit in its abdomen, careful not to cut any major organs. Then she scooped out all its innards and tossed it for other animals to consume, leaving her with a pink carcass.

  Back at the house, all the kids had risen and were eating breakfast around the table and talking about going on a road trip.

  Starr walked over to the sink and rinsed the rabbit. Then she grabbed a large knife and hacked it into four parts, wrapped it in aluminum foil and stowed it in the freezer.

  "Why do you keep saving your kills? That's disgusting!" Mica exclaimed, as she reached up for a coffee cup.

  "Mica, the world is different. What are we gonna do when the grocery stores are depleted? The kids need to eat."

  Mica was the most squeamish vampire she'd ever met. During the apocalypse, getting her to behead vamps was nearly impossible.

  "Hi, Starr," said Kay from across the table. "Want to take us into town?"

  "No!" she said, as she turned around.

  Last time Starr took them into town, they went crazy! They Laughed, yelled, and ran all over the place without minding her. At one point, several of them wandered off without even telling her. They could have been killed!

  "We need stuff," she retorted.

  "Like what?"

  "Shampoo, conditioner and soap."

  "I need new socks," added Lucas. "Mine all have holes in them. Also, I'd really like to get some rubber boots, so that I can walk the lake while I fish."

  "Okay, well, write down what you need and give it to me."

  "Oh, come on, Starr. We haven't been out in ages. It'd be nice to have a trip, before it gets too cold to go outside. Besides, our supplies need re stocking before winter gets here, and you'll need help loading the van, won't you?"

  She had a good point.

  Starr sighed.

  "Alright, I'll take you all, if you can talk Marla, Mica and Shane into going. I'm not gonna be responsible for all of you. You were a nightmare, last time."


  "I'm up to it," said Mica.

  "Me, too," said Shane, who had just walked in.

  That afternoon, all eleven of them got into the long van Starr got from the local lodge. It was a yacht sized vehicle they could easily load up with supplies.

  Hopefully, they could get enough so they wouldn't need to make any more trips into town until spring, when the snow would begin to melt.

  Hopetown was the closest place for supplies, but they'd long since cleaned out its little pharmacy, mom and pop grocer and gas station. The next closest town was a hidden dust land higher up in the mountains.

  Two hours passed before they finally wound up a long, cloudy dirt road, and into a town called Rockford. Although tiny, there was a large supermarket, Walgreens, Target and a library on a single strip that wasn't more than three miles long.

  These little hidden places were the best because they had the most untouched or frozen goods, due to having smaller populations.

  First they parked in front of the supermarket. Starr, who had the ability to see happenings in other places - a sort of telepathy, used her mind to probe inside the store. Upon finding the place to be completely empty, she gave them the okay to ransack the aisles.

  Just like before, they went crazy, running up and down the aisles and all around the store, hoping to get the best goods before someone else did, and shouting, "First dibs!"

  Danny and Mot got into a wrestle over who got the last bags of cheese puffs. Lucas snuck up and hid them in his shirt and pants. He took off up the aisle.

  When they realized what he did, they ran after him and pinned him to the floor, punching him in the gut and popping the bags of cheese puffs.

  Misaki fought with Misty over bags of cookies while Kay was in the aisle over, shoving Snickers bars into her pockets.

  "Guys, stop!" shouted Starr. "We need to load up and get out of here! You," she pointed at Danny, Mot and Lucas, "to the back, now! Look for any frozen meat, or anything that might be good. We don't have time to pick favorites. Just grab whatever you can and put it, neatly and organized, into the van. Move, fast!"

  Mot and Danny helped Lucas up, who kicked his legs as he walked, shaking out loose cheese puffs.

  Becky and Misty ignored Starr's request and took to the makeup aisle, but she didn't care as long as they weren't acting like mongrels. Misaki and Kay helped Starr, Marla, and Mica gather the last cans of food.