Firewyrm by Erik Schubach

Author:Erik Schubach [Schubach, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Erik Schubach
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8 – I Wanna Be A Cowboy

We made our way back out to the Tac-Bike, pausing in Bulkhead H by some repair crews where a woman sat in the shadows, avoiding the light filtering in from the Day Lights outside in the massive hole Ember had burrowed through the ten bulkheads.

A vampire? Here? They rarely venture above the D or C rings and prefer the shadowed corridors close to the Skin as UV light gives them a nasty sunburn and hurts their eyes. Even star shine from the nearby nebula hurt their eyes at night.

“Ma'am, are you alright? What are you doing here in the corridor?” I asked.

She leaned forward, shielding her eyes with her arm. I often forget how attractive healthy vampires are. Like Gemma, the only Vampire in the Brigade, who taught Defense Against Vampires at the academy. They were hunters before the Exodus and used a glamour that is minor compared to the Fae to put the mental whammy on their prey before they feed. But now, on the ship, they got daily blood rations from Med-Tech.

She backed up a bit, the reaction most vamps had when an Enforcer was around. She pulled out her ration card, holding it up to me. I didn't bother scanning it to ensure she was using the blood provided her and not supplementing it with some illegal night hunting. Her clothing was high end if wrinkled a bit and she had an air of sophistication about her.

I waved her off. “Ma'am?” I still didn't know why any human would choose to become a vampire, it seemed shallow to trade your humanity and life under the lights of the Rings just for eternal youth. Especially with the risk of going feral. But I guess it was like witches and power, as Humans were never meant to have magic, and there was a price. There's a reason most of the stories you hear about witches describe them as old, wrinkled, crones. That power slowly drains their own life-force.

Vamps and Witches were an almost infinitesimal branch of humans when compared to the shapeshifter population, which was still less than one percent of the Human population on the world. Most of the other races didn't bother differentiating between branches.

The woman focused on me and pocketed her blood ration card and stood in that overly graceful manner her kind was known for. She motioned to the group of destroyed quarters. “That was my home... It's gone. The engineers think it will be weeks if not months before they get to rebuilding it. I don't have family on the World and don't know where to go. The shelters in the Alpha-Stack are all full of displaced people and families from the fire.”

I sometimes lose track of the impact which tragedies like this have on the citizens. It is a real toll that affects real lives or un-life in this case. Whoever caused all of this probably isn't even thinking of the people who lost their homes and everything.

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