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“I get it—”
“You can’t possibly,” he said. “The blood from the compounds, it’s nourishing but bland. Drink enough, for a few decades, and it’s almost sickening. Blood given willingly, sanitized and stored. Good for emergencies only. King Richard’s power was convincing hundreds of elite to play by his rules. They gave up their nature, for peace, security, and position. Not everyone took his deal. When we refused, he attacked us, pushing us away, teaching us a lesson, clearing a wide swath around his protected territories. Poisoning his own kingdom to stay in control. And now, by killing the king, you’ve let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. And it’s mad and hungry. The humans aren’t the only ones who suffer from the thirst.”
“So you understand the problem,” I pushed.
“I understand the threat, and who brought it,” he corrected.
“I wasn’t trying to kill him,” I said quietly. “I was just trying to turn off his machines to stop the poisonous ash. If Damien hadn’t come, if I hadn’t been renitent… we both barely survived.”
“It doesn’t change the end result. You started a war you can’t finish. Nigel, from the sounds of it, will fail to rein in his cabal of hungry vampires. They will test his boundaries, breaking rules, bending an inch, then a mile. And once they get a taste for fresh, violent, terrified blood, I doubt Nigel will be able to stop them, if he even wants to. The elite will drink themselves into a blood rage and kill everything that moves.”
I glanced at him through my lashes, but his expression was unreadable. I wasn’t sure if he was concerned, or merely pointing out facts as he observed them. He’d talked about boredom and risks, but he’d also been clear he wouldn’t just help for free. If I had to guess, I’d say, what happened at the citadel impacted him. He obviously cared enough to pay attention. That felt like progress. Was that enough incentive to help me? Was he giving me a clue? Or was he just blaming me for it all, making me an enemy, rather than an ally?
I shivered, pulling my jacket over my shoulders.
“I’ll stop them,” I said. “I have to.”
“Well then,” he said, getting up and offering me a hand. “There’s something I’d like to show you.”
We headed back down the street, walking by a wide pond with a colored fountain that reflected all the neon signs. Something sparkled just under the bright surface. I leaned over, to see piles of silver coins lining the bottom.
When I turned around again, Augustine was so close behind me I jerked back and almost tripped into the pool. He caught my wrist firmly, until I could get back on my feet, then took a respectful step back. He fished for something in his pocket and handed it to me.
“A gift?” I asked.
“An example,” he said. “Inside that package, protected in wax and foil, is a single drop of venom. Not the watered-down elixir you drink in the compounds. Real vampire blood.”
“Now, how much did this cost me?” he reached into the pond and fished out a coin. “A single quarter. The metal has no value, but they work on nearly all our games here. Anyone could have played for the same price, but few would have won the prize. I have an advantage, of both time and wealth. I could afford to play that damn game for months straight, out of sheer boredom. It held my attention because it was challenging. Now I could win every prize in there with little effort. The skill and experience gained, that few others could afford to pay for, now allows me a large discount.”
“Is this a lecture?” I frowned. “I hate lectures.”
“Why spend it? Because giving it to you, a free gift, with nothing reciprocated, is something that brings me joy. That is what I’m getting out of it. I don’t need or want anything else. But also, because it’s cheap for me. It costs me nothing. Whereas, for someone else, someone in great need, this quarter might be their single last chance to save their fortunes, to change their lives.”
He flipped the coin in the air, and I waited for it to drop… but it didn’t. Augustine caught my eyes and smirked, then snapped his fingers between us. He pulled the coin out from behind my ear, then pressed it into my palm.
“That would be more impressive,” I said, “if I didn’t already know how fast the elite can move.”
“Look into the pond again,” Augustine said, ignoring me. “All of these quarters. Each could have won a prize, or been traded for food, shelter or venom. Instead it was thrown away here. What did it buy? A single wish. Something they wanted but couldn’t afford.”
His words resonated with me, reminding me of something Damien had said when we were forced to separate.
“With that drop of venom in your pocket,” Augustine continued, “you could buy yourself new clothes or weapons. Or you could give it to your friend who is still suffering from the thirst. Its value depends on the urgency of your need. It would have been unattainable for you on your own, but like I said, it didn’t cost me anything and I received a tiny flicker of joy; that hope in your eye when you realized what I was giving you. Which was also a kind of test, of course. Charity is its own form of selfishness.”
“You really need to work on your metaphors,” I said.
“To be honest,” Augustine smiled, “I haven’t had a real conversation with anyone in years. I suppose the words are backed up and eager to be put to use. But also, half of any good magic trick is distraction. The story is the cover people hear, when they should have been keeping a closer watch.”
This time he let the words hang between us, like a riddle. We’d returned to the center now and he had been turning back to speak to me. He didn’t see the couple walking his way until he’d bumped into them. I saw a flicker of terror in the man as he recognized Augustine, but the elite just brushed him off with a warning grin. After that, he seemed more caged than usual, his face darker. He was careful to slip between pedestrians without getting too close, like the smells and sights were uncomfortable. Like Damien did, when he was hungry. He even pulled out a dark pair of sunglasses.
“Here we are,” Augustine said, running lightly up a flight of cracked stairs. The building was older, with guards in front of the doors. It looked like some kind of bank, from the Before. Augustine’s voice echoed in the marble chamber, furnished with leather couches and potted plants. “There’s one more thing I wanted to show you. It’s not something I’m embarrassed about, but also not something I’d like you to discover on your own.”
“Ok?” I asked, eyeing the guards nervously. I saw four more inside, with black and tan camo patterns and assault rifles. I felt for the tinfoil package in my pocket. Would he give me venom before putting me in a fight, just to test me? For his own sick pleasure? But we passed down the stairs into a small office space. It was dim, other than the green glow of the emergency exit lights.
“You’ve seen the basics of our economy,” Augustine said, his features stretched and distorted in the green light.I’m alone and unarmed with a hungry vampire.“But sometimes traders get liquidated. They borrow too much much and lose it all, and have to stop betting. There are other ways to survive here, but for some degenerates, they don’t gamble to survive, as a means to an end. They do it because…. there’s nothing else like it. And they risk everything. You can’t sell something you don’t own, and you can’t bet people. But you can borrow. If you have nothing else, you can pay your debt in blood. However sometimes, they make a very big wager. They bet their lives. Killing them outright would be a waste of blood, so at that point we negotiate a settlement. The standard value of one human life is 1000 pints.”
“But humans only have around 10 pints of blood,” I said.
“In their body, yes. But we have a solution for even that. We call it the garden of reprobates. Let me show you.”
