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The settlement wasn’t anything elaborate. It was a series of prefab cottages situated behind a high concrete wall and stout metal gates. The cottages were painted in festive, hopeful colors: reds and blues and yellows. Primary colors that were attractive to the eye of warmbloods and bloodsuckers alike. At the center of the settlement was the administrative building, where the council met. The building also housed the medical center and the radio room, their tenuous lifeline to the city-states of the east.
It wasn’t even midnight yet, but the settlement was quiet and still. Belasco seemed to be the only person about and he moved with the effortless silence of the very oldest of the bloodsuckers. He was tall and thin, hairless and pail, his ears slightly pointed and his nose, long and sharp with delicate nostrils. He paused on the concrete paths of the settlement, beneath a small tree, and inhaled sharply.
The settlement smelt of death. Belasco exhaled and lowered his head. Too many had died from the fever the settlers had dubbed Adam’s Lament. Most of the warmblood children had been taken in the summer, swiftly followed by the old and the weak.
In the distance, Belasco heard the mournful howl of the area’s Wolves. Their presence had been a surprise to the settlement, but not necessarily a danger. Where there were Wolves, there weren’t Zombies. When the change was on them, Wolves would eat anything, but even a starving Wolf wouldn’t touch the putrefied flesh of the shambling revenants. There were limits to what even a supernatural digestive system could handle. Their presence spoke of regeneration and renewal.
Belasco wondered, vaguely, if the Wolves would miss the settlement once it was gone? Would they move into the gaily painted, empty buildings once they were gone? Would they see this as just another opportunity, as they had when the settlement had begun? They would miss the trade in finished goods, Belasco was sure of that. And if another settlement group was sent out, he was fairly sure that the Wolves wouldn’t attack. They’d gotten a taste of civilization, and ofttimes a single taste was enough to hook a Wolf.
Who knew? In a decade or so, the Wolves might actively join the fragile alliance that had sprung up between Man and Vampire.
The thought fortified Belasco and he continued on his way.
It wasn’t even midnight yet, but the settlement was quiet and still. Belasco seemed to be the only person about and he moved with the effortless silence of the very oldest of the bloodsuckers. He was tall and thin, hairless and pail, his ears slightly pointed and his nose, long and sharp with delicate nostrils. He paused on the concrete paths of the settlement, beneath a small tree, and inhaled sharply.
The settlement smelt of death. Belasco exhaled and lowered his head. Too many had died from the fever the settlers had dubbed Adam’s Lament. Most of the warmblood children had been taken in the summer, swiftly followed by the old and the weak.
In the distance, Belasco heard the mournful howl of the area’s Wolves. Their presence had been a surprise to the settlement, but not necessarily a danger. Where there were Wolves, there weren’t Zombies. When the change was on them, Wolves would eat anything, but even a starving Wolf wouldn’t touch the putrefied flesh of the shambling revenants. There were limits to what even a supernatural digestive system could handle. Their presence spoke of regeneration and renewal.
Belasco wondered, vaguely, if the Wolves would miss the settlement once it was gone? Would they move into the gaily painted, empty buildings once they were gone? Would they see this as just another opportunity, as they had when the settlement had begun? They would miss the trade in finished goods, Belasco was sure of that. And if another settlement group was sent out, he was fairly sure that the Wolves wouldn’t attack. They’d gotten a taste of civilization, and ofttimes a single taste was enough to hook a Wolf.
Who knew? In a decade or so, the Wolves might actively join the fragile alliance that had sprung up between Man and Vampire.
The thought fortified Belasco and he continued on his way.
