Working Class Vegas Vamp is a free urban fantasy serial, usually publishing on Tuesdays. It is unedited and subject to change. If published later, it may differ significantly, and will probably include additional material. Typos and English errors are likely; feel free to leave a comment or write me at am {AT} amscottwrites.com (revised as a standard email address. Pesky bots!) Available for a limited time only!

Haven’t started yet? Chapter 1: https://www.amscottwrites.com/2024/10/29/working-class-vegas-vamp-chapter-1/

Chapter 27

Trying to remain unemotional, I scanned the English entries below the prophecy. More flowery language yearning for the freedom to hunt humans however and whenever they wanted, freedom from their constraints and speculation about the Unbound Queen’s powers. As they found gold and purchased luxuries, their desire to rule the entire Earth grew. Destroying the gargoyle invaders, capturing and caging the “diseased” weres for blood, and hunting humans on ranches were scribed in dark ink. Frustratingly, there wasn’t anything concrete on what the Unbound Queen could actually do or how to do it. 

Occasionally, Trinity added a note about relocating and new furnishings for the temple. A more relevant entry appeared the day I was born.

The High Priestess reported a surge of joy from the prophecy! Worshiping with our Dear Leader, they have discovered the Unbound Queen has manifested in her nascent form! Blessed are we who shall see the prophecy fulfilled in our lifetimes.

From there it devolved into more ranting about hunting, so I skimmed. Thirty-six years later, they were losing hope. The prophecy couldn’t tell them where I was, only that I’d been born and still lived. Trinity expressed subtle doubts that the turning would ever happen, then the next paragraph was blacked-out. I sniffed the paper, then touched it. The paragraph might have been scorched rather than redacted with ink. Whatever had been written there must have been blasphemy to risk burning a book. Although, I was fairly certain the pages weren’t paper; they were too thick, with an odd texture. 

I turned the page. The handwriting changed, becoming even more old-fashioned and slightly spidery, but the writer didn’t identify themselves. Perhaps the priestess wrote rather than a secretary, so there was no need for an introduction. 

After concentrated devotion, Dear Leader Klaus reports the common form Queen Unbound has entered his territory. All search for the unturned who will free us from our shackles of night so we may rule the world as is proper and right. 

Ugh. The same excuse as always–power gave them the right to push everyone else down. 

The next entry reported that seven vampires tested a female human and could not mesmerize her, but some doubted the woman’s validity as the future Unbound Queen. I didn’t remember talking to seven weirdos like Theoden, but so many creeps came to the Stardust, they all blended together. I kept reading.

The candidate is adamant against our power so far, but of low station and even less dignity. She serves rather than commands, and is most likely a woman of ill repute among the humans. Our Dear Leader will test her and report. 

Our Dear Leader reports the candidate resists his best efforts. If she remains so after seven nights in a row, he will bring her to me. If she can withstand the gathered might of the congregation, Our Dear Leader, and I, she will be turned. All will then hail the Unbound Queen.

No wonder my turning was contested. I hadn’t undergone the final tests. I flipped the page. Only three lines were scribed, two on the left page, the last in the middle of the right. All had deeply scored the paper—the priestess had used a heavy hand.

Klaus Theoden has turned the candidate, untested by me. 

This will not stand.

We wait for the true Unbound Queen. 

As I read the words, the depressions caused by the priestess’s hard writing on the last line disappeared, and then the words themselves faded. I put the prophecy down on the rock floor and shivered. That wasn’t creepy at all. Would I ever get used to a sentient book?

I turned the now-blank page.

Despite my objections, the failed candidate remains, polluting our tower. I have forbidden her entry into the temple—Klaus Theoden has no power to force my hand. No matter how quickly the untested adapts, it proves nothing. I will not bow to a failure.

The rest of the pages were empty. I closed the book and let my head drop against the stone. I’d hoped for an instruction manual or at least some clue on what I was really supposed to do, but there was nothing except expectations of a brutal rule over “lesser creatures.” No wonder the prophecy tried to steer me towards evil—that was all it had learned. 

While I could hope the previous pages contained more, I had a feeling that they didn’t. Perhaps most of the traditions, religion, or whatever they might be called were passed down orally. Or maybe there wasn’t anything more to the whole mess. It was just the ravings of ancient vampires determined to dominate everyone. Plenty of humans believed in their innate superiority because of a particular physical attribute. Vampires came from humans, so their attitude would only get worse after gaining real power.

I had decisions to make. The whole purpose of the prophecy was to find the future Unbound Queen. If I was that person, then its job was done. However, the prophecy had proven it could teach me certain vampire skills. But those skills might be twisted by the need to dominate all living creatures. 

The gargoyles said they could teach me magic, and that they were better at it because they approached it scientifically. But they weren’t natives; they weren’t even from this plane, whatever that meant. And I had no way to know if their magic system used more resources than a native magic user. Plus, while they said they could only have so many new gargoyles, all those furnaces were roaring and they’d tried to take the prophecy. Maybe both of those were sincere, or maybe they weren’t. 

The werewolves had offered to help me because they didn’t want the vampires ruling. The badgers didn’t want the vampires in charge, either, but they were more interested in making money and causing trouble than helping.

The vampires wouldn’t teach me anything. Theoden would put me in a cage and starve or torture me until I obeyed him. Which meant I’d die, because I wasn’t giving into him or anyone.

Rage burned my soul, and I stared at the prophecy. “Yes, I’m the Queen and he’s not. But he has many bound followers, your priestess repudiates my claim, and he’s got a lot of money and influence. Can you teach me how to escape a cage? Melt through the bars or unlock a lock? Or short-out an electronic lock?” I tried to picture each action in detail, but I wasn’t a locksmith or electronics expert. 

The prophecy’s anger lessened. It pushed the picture of the gang member I’d mesmerized in the alley to me. 

“That’s a human. Vampires are harder. Especially if they never approach in person. When I was there, his cells had tiny openings to the hallways or they’d shove people through fast. I’m sure that these days, those openings are locked and unlocked remotely, along with the doors. They probably have airlock-style entries, too. Shove a blood box, or worse, a human into the airlock, lock the outer door, then open the inner door. A starving vampire won’t pass up a meal to escape and it would be practically impossible, anyway.” 

The prophecy’s anger grew, but I got nothing useful from it. I should ask better questions. “What can you teach me?” 

It pushed the picture of the shield at me again, but showed me shoving a person away with it. “So if I can make the shield strong enough, I can physically move objects?” Agreement came from the book. 

That was useful, especially if I could surround myself with a shield like that. Or maybe I could change it to shock someone, rather than make it strong enough to physically move something. But first things first. I called up my shield and found it still active, but thin. Interesting that I’d integrated that ability already–it was as natural as breathing. I strengthened the shield, and pulled it tighter to me, then pushed at the prophecy still on the floor. 

The book didn’t move. I fed more power into the shield, trying to concentrate it near the book, and tried again. The book jolted, but didn’t move. Trying harder, I shoved again, sliding the book a half-inch away. 

Then I collapsed against the rock wall, panting and hungry, my shield in tatters. “Well, it’s possible, but not easy.” Hopefully, practice would improve my abilities. I grabbed another blood box out of my backpack. I only had three more left, so I’d have to find a way to get more before I practiced too much. Mattias said he could help, but a species that ate diamonds didn’t need blood. 

I drank and wondered if I had more skills. I could mesmerize and shield, and use the shield physically and mentally. I’d have to figure out a way to electrically charge the shield. I’d assumed mental shields were to keep other vampires from mesmerizing me, but the gargoyles had asked me to use one while they worked magic that obscured our trail and burned out electronics. Without my shields, would I be vulnerable to whatever they’d done? If so, I had to learn their magic to shield against it. 

The prophecy’s simmering anger increased, along with the feeling of tight, scorched skin. The threat of magical furnaces really bothered the book. Was it ever happy? Immediately, the feeling of satisfied hunger came to me with thoughts of praise, devotion and longing for blood from a dozen different minds. 

Worship made it happy. Everything else angered it. “Well, book, you’ll have to learn that there is more to life than fury and praise. Or existence, I guess, since I don’t think you’re alive, exactly.” 

I had other vampire abilities. Speed was the main one, but Theoden was much faster. Some vampires had unusual strength, but I didn’t. If I was well fed, I had endurance and a very high pain tolerance. I didn’t have much education, but I’d learned over the years that I was smarter than the average man drinking at my bar. Plus, even the educated ones got stupid with enough alcohol or sexual distractions. 

I’d rather rely on my intelligence than my abilities, especially mental abilities. Those seemed to burn through my energy stores much faster than regular thinking. I had to unseat Theoden if I wanted peace or convince him to support me. I also had to convince the High Priestess that I was the Queen Unbound if I wanted her support. Having her on my side would make the vampires easier to control, but only until they realized I wasn’t going to bring them unlimited feasting. Then they’d kill me and wait for the next Unbound Queen.

The book threw anger at me again. “Got it. You like me.” But why would it like me when I wasn’t doing what the vampires wanted? Arrogant certainty radiated to me. “You don’t make mistakes. You picked me, it’s a done deal, their opinions don’t matter.” If the book could nod, that’s what it would be doing. 

Probably because centuries of vampires had told the prophecy that. It was an infinite loop of reinforcement; a cult. Generally, encouraging critical, independent thought and gently pointing errors broke people out of group-think, but it took time. I’d be dead before I could do that and the book didn’t care. “Can you teach me anything else?” 

Hot blood pulsed into my mouth. 

I hardened my shield and the phantom fluid disappeared. Great. The book tried to drive me into slaughter. “Not going to happen.” Even if I wanted to do that, it would just make it easier for humanity to find us and hunt us down. Certainly, there was nothing like drinking from a willing human. But unlike fiction, I didn’t think there was any upside to that for humans. They didn’t get powers, or a longer life, or special healing, other than the coagulant in our saliva. I was fairly certain that science already knew how to accelerate that process. 

I slid down on the mattress. I was tired, and the sun was well above the horizon. 

Which surprised me. Normally, I was out cold by this time, but either the book had changed me or it was a side effect of being the Queen. Whatever it was, I’d rest and maybe a solution would come to me. Or more problems would pop up, which seemed more likely. I slid my backpack under my head and meditated on my breathing, hoping for a better tomorrow.

***To be continued***

Working Class Vegas Vamp Copyright © 2024 by AM Scott. All Rights Reserved.

Cover by Achlys Book Cover Designs