After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle (Book One) Read online

  After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle

  Book One

  By Mary Ellen Gorry

  Prologue

  In the beginning of time, the world was paradise, and everything in this paradise was perfect. There were creatures which dwelt in the world, walking and running and swimming and flying, but of all these creatures, humans were the best, with the abilities to question and to learn, to care for the other creatures, and above all else, the capability to love.

  For many years, the world turned, and all creatures lived in harmony, but eventually human curiosity overcame both reason and faith and led to the loss of this earthly paradise, this Garden of Eden. After the fall, humans struck out on their own, at the mercy of nature and time, in a world full of darkness, full of pain, full of death. For many, it was a new beginning, a time of redemption – they made the best of this new situation, of their new lives, making mistakes but learning from them, and growing into even more complete and perfect beings than ever flourished before the fall.

  A few, however, did not. For some, this time was the beginning of the end. In anger, long after the fall but long before this time at the present, there was one who in his anger slew another and felt nothing for the evil deed he had done – it was the first evil, and from this evil, many more followed. They split off from the rest of humanity to follow the one who had killed, full of the need for vengeance and retribution and a hatred that ate away at their very hearts and souls until one day, millennia later, there was nothing left. They were empty inside, human shells. They were the first vampires, offspring of humankind, ultimately the children of Satan, born out of his evil, a grand attempt to overthrow the balance in nature and tip the scales in his favor.

  These vampires were men, but they were no longer human. Instead, the blood of humans because their food. Over time, humans learned to fear them, and a few learned to fight them. Vampires had their strengths – they never aged and didn’t die natural deaths, and they possessed superior strength. However, over time it was discovered that they could be killed: direct sunlight, decapitation, or a wooden stake through the heart were the only known ways to end their existence.

  For thousands of years, humans and vampires lived together, not in harmony but in balance, and eventually, humans learned to ignore them, and ultimately, to forget them. As generations passed, only a few continued to pass down the knowledge of these creatures, until vampires became, for the most of humanity, nothing more than a myth, a frightening fairy tale. Then one day, several hundred years ago, in a time known commonly and with good reason as the Dark Ages, the balance in nature began to shift in favor of the forces of darkness, and vampires began to spread faster and further. It was the beginning of the grand battle, which even today is being waged between those who would have the world plunge into eternal darkness and those who would try to bring about another earthly paradise.

  It was during these days that there lived a family, in the land now known as Bavaria in the German countryside, in a tiny village by the name of Dreiden. There was a father and a mother, four daughters and four sons. The two youngest sons went by the names Lucian and Randolph. Though close in age, Lucian and Randolph were as far apart as brothers could be – while Randolph was kind and obedient, Lucian was cruel and malicious, jealous of the love his parents gave Randolph, of the talents Randolph possessed, of the admiration people felt for him. While Lucian and Randolph were still quite young, Dreiden was viciously attacked by vampires and the entire village slaughtered, save one – the boy Randolph.

  This story would have been an utter tragedy for awhile, and then forgotten along with the majority of history, except for the fact that this, apparently the middle, is only yet the beginning of the story, for Randolph, in his righteous anger at the death of his beloved family, friends, and neighbors, slaughtered the vampires who had murdered his village.

  Remarkable, isn’t it, how the minions of the devil were defeated by a boy of nine.

  Through the grapevine of those who still knew of the reality of vampires, the news of this amazing phenomenon spread, as did another rumor, which began to circulate out of this same region, of a vampire more powerful than the rest, the most powerful vampire of all: stronger, faster, deadlier. A Master Vampire.

  The stories eventually reached as far as the city of Rome, the center of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of a man, a priest and historian who carried the knowledge of the existence of vampires within him. He brought Randolph to Rome, for in this time of darkness, he was their last hope if humanity was to survive this last and most deadly battle against the Prince of Darkness. The priest trained the boy and acted as friend, mentor and father-figure, and created a new priestly order – Manus Dei, meaning “hand of God” - which would turn out not only priests but soldiers and warriors as well.

  Manus Dei would serve as extra protection for both the body and soul of Randolph and the other boys who would join, hand-picked for their intelligence and strength. The priest kept the order a secret from the Church and her leaders, as added protection for the boys. Each of them would become a hunter, but Randolph, because of the phenomenal powers and strength he possessed, would be the Master Hunter. A Master Hunter in order to bring down the Master Vampire, and it was only fitting, for it was soon learned that the Master Vampire was none other than Lucian, Randolph’s dead brother.

  No one knew how long Manus Dei would be needed, praying it would not be long, but provisions were made should it be necessary – for each hand-picked hunter, a mentor was also hand-picked out of the priest’s most trustworthy and knowledgeable brethren. With the death of one, hunter or mentor, came the placement of another, so that this army of God would survive the ages until Satan and his minions were finally vanquished.

  Years passed, and one bloody day, the Master Vampire was finally destroyed, but the war was far from over, for almost immediately, word came of a powerful vampire who had emerged in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Another Master Vampire to replace the old. Satan had been prepared. And then one fateful day, Randolph was outwitted and killed in battle, and almost immediately, word came from the Jutland of Denmark of a young boy, capable of killing creatures of the night. God, it seemed, had also been prepared, and in a way that would make it a bit easier to continuously find the next Master Hunter, for the boy, by the name of Alaric, was a cousin of Randolph’s. Once the priest’s successor learned this, he ordered that from now on, the Dreiden family was to be watched and protected to ensure that as little harm as possible would come to them, for they were the world’s source of the world’s saviors.

  The battle is far from over, and so this story begins, as it did then, after the fall.

  Chapter One

  “Mother! I’m going out!”

  Caroline Gallagher ducked her head into the master bedroom, the living room, and finally found her mother in the kitchen, sitting at the table, hunched over a pile of papers. Alice Gallagher looked up as her daughter walked in, smiling wearily.

  “Hey,” Caroline said, pulling out the chair across from her mother and sitting down, leaning her elbows on the table.

  “What’re you up to?”

  “Just grading some final exams,” her mom replied. She was a professor at one of the city colleges and the summer term was coming to an end. “Trying to get as much of it as possible out of the way so I can enjoy my weekend.” She ran her fingers through her graying, auburn hair, and pushed her glasses, which were always sliding down her nose, back up.

  “You leaving now?”

  “Yeah,” Caroline answered, picking at a chip in the table’s varnish.

  “Where are you going?” Alic
e asked, gently slapping Caroline’s hand, which Caroline quickly pulled back into her lap.

  “I told you already, Mom,” Caroline replied, trying to sound exasperated. “I’m going to the movies. Channing Tatum’s new movie opened today.”

  “You are not like most teenagers,” Alice stated, shaking her head, but smiling. It was true. Caroline Gallagher was not like most teenagers. The Gallaghers had moved to Manhattan from Baltimore the summer before Caroline entered high school, following a promotion Ron Gallagher had received. Three weeks ago, Caroline had graduated. In four years, Caroline hadn’t developed many close friendships. Or more accurately, any close friendships. Acquaintances, yes. Superficial friendships, yes. But people she actually hung out with, people she shared her most intimate thoughts with, who she enjoyed spending time with… Caroline was a quiet, reserved individual. She preferred her books and her movies to the company of others. It wasn’t that Caroline couldn’t make any friends. She was pretty and she had a sharp, sarcastic wit. It was just that she liked being by herself. Like the mother of most eighteen-year-old girls, Alice worried about Caroline, but for completely different reasons than normal. She knew Caroline wasn’t getting into trouble, but sometimes she wondered if she didn’t wish Caroline would get into some kind of trouble if it meant she was spending time with kids her own age. But Caroline was happy, and how many mothers could say that about their teenage daughters?

  Besides that, in September she’d be going to Boston College, where she’d get a chance to start over. She wouldn’t have to be the loner. If she wanted to make friends, she could. It was going to be a change for the entire family, having Caroline be two hundred miles away. But change could be okay.

  “Well, what’s this movie about?” Alice asked, watching her oldest daughter pick at her cuticles and fighting the urge to make her stop.

  “I’m not sure. I’m just going for the hot lead actor,” Caroline said, smiling.

  “Well, be careful, please,” Alice said. “It’s getting dark out, and it’s not the best neighborhood…”

  “I know,” Caroline replied. “Don’t worry. I’ve got my mace, and I know kung fu.”

  Alice tried not to smile, tried to be serious.

  “I’m serious, Carrie,” Alice told her daughter. “I want you to come straight home after the movie.”

  “Darn it,” Caroline said, snapping her fingers. “And I was gonna go hang out with a bunch of hoodlums, maybe smoke up."

  Alice managed a glare.

  “Sorry,” Caroline apologized. She continued sitting, waiting for more warnings. Alice picked up her red pen and waved her hand.

  “That’s it. Have fun. Tell Channing I said hi.”

  “Will do,” Caroline replied, standing up. She walked over to Alice, leaned down, and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Love ya, Mom. Don’t stay up too late, okay?”

  “Okay, Mom,” Alice said. “And Caroline?”

  Caroline turned around in the kitchen doorway.

  “I’m serious. Be careful, okay? You don’t know what kind of crazy people are out there. The police still haven’t found whoever killed those poor people downtown. Just… don’t talk to strangers and be aware of your surroundings.”

  “I know, Ma,” Caroline said, completely serious. “I won’t, and I will, okay?”

  “Okay, Caroline.”

  “’Night, Ma.”

  Caroline walked into the living room, smiling to herself. Her mother was always over-concerned about everything. She used to hate it. Now that she was older and she and her mother had actually forged a close, easygoing relationship, she found it endearing.

  “You will what?” Caroline’s father asked from the couch where he was watching a Yankees game on the television.

  “I will what what?” Caroline asked to be deliberately confusing.

  “You said you will to your mother,” Ron elaborated, his eyes still glued to the television set. Somehow, over the past four years, he had become an avid Yankees fan.

  “Oh that. I will be sure to meet up with lots of rough and wild guys. You know Mom. Only wants the best for me,” Caroline joked.

  Ron finally peeled his eyes from the set, looking at Caroline with puzzlement on his face.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Of course, Dad. Who’s winning?”

  “We are.”

  “Of course.”

  “You wanna watch?” He patted the couch cushion next to him.

  “I’d love to, but I’m going out. I have a date with Channing Tatum.”

  “Oh yeah? Did he go to your high school?”

  Caroline couldn’t help but smile and shake her head.

  “Yeah, Dad, he did. I’ll be back by midnight, okay?”

  “Okay, Carrie. Have fun,” Ron answered, his attention already back on the game.

  Caroline could only roll her eyes as she walked past him. Most of the time, Ron Gallagher was a pretty observant person, very grounded in the world, but put the Yankees on, and bam! He was transported to another realm. A realm of pennants, World Series, glory, and Derek Jeter. As someone who had become a pretty big Yankees fan herself over the course of watching just to appease her Jeter crush, Caroline could understand, but she knew her father took it to the extreme – if forced to choose between his family and his beloved Bronx Bombers, she knew he’d have a very tough time making a decision.

  On her way to the coat closet, Caroline stuck her head into the bedroom her sisters shared. The two younger girls were on the floor, playing a video game and bickering as usual.

  “Ha! I won again,” Katie crowed, gloating over her victory.

  “Of course you won,” Caroline pointed out. “You’re three years older than Lauren.”

  “Aren’t you gone yet?” Katie asked as she restarted the game. Caroline didn’t remember ever being as sullen and moody as Katie at fifteen, but she figured it was probably magnified by the middle child syndrome. That could explain it.

  “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. Be nice to her, Kate. And Lauren?”

  “Yeah?” her youngest sister asked, turning around to face Caroline. Caroline leaned in close to whisper in Lauren’s ear.

  “Kick Katie’s ass.”

  Caroline could see Lauren smiling as she left the room. Checking her watch, she realized she was running extremely late. The movie was going to start, and she was going to miss the previews.

  Grabbing her coat from the front closet, she opened the apartment door, called a quick good-bye to her parents, and headed to the elevator doors, which were just opening. Two people stepped out, a man and a woman, and Caroline rushed past them and into the elevator car, which was now empty. She noticed just before the doors closed that the couple, both the man and woman, were dressed in all black, which Caroline figured she had noticed because it was emphasized by the paleness of their skin. Freaky. But what do you expect, she thought. This is New York after all, where freakiness abounds.

  The doorbell rang, just as A-Rod hit a homerun. Lost in the moment, Ron didn’t even hear the bell.

  “Ron? Ron, someone’s at the door,” Alice called from the kitchen. Sighing with frustration, she stood up and walked into the living room. Teenage bickering and computer-generated sounds of warfare were coming from one of the bedrooms; the doorbell rang again.

  “Was that the door, honey?” Ron asked.

  “Now you hear it,” Alice sighed in frustration. She walked to the front of the apartment, knowing whoever was outside must be getting impatient.

  “We’re not expecting anybody, are we?” Ron asked, puzzled.

  “You know what? I bet it’s Caroline. She forgot her key twice last week, but at least now she remembered before midnight,” Alice answered, as she unlocked the door and opened it, startled to find two strangers in the hallway. They were young and almost sickly pale, dressed all in black. Young people today.

  “Can I help you?” Alice asked.

  The guy gave a smile that wasn’t a smile. It def
initely should have been a smile, but Alice had never seen anything like it before – the coldness of it sent a shiver down her spine.

  Alice gasped as the female roughly pushed her out of the way and stepped into the apartment.

  “Yes, you can help us,” she crooned, grabbing Alice by the arms and slamming her against the wall; Alice’s cry of pain only made the man smile more. The woman leaned in close to Alice’s face, and the emptiness Alice saw in her eyes, like twin black holes, made her afraid like she had never been afraid before. The woman’s breath was hot on her face, and Alice felt sick to her stomach.

  “We’re starving,” she hissed.

  Caroline stepped off the elevator, back on her floor again. She checked her watch for the fourth time in ten minutes and cringed. She was going to be nowhere near arriving on time for the previews. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten her keys again, but at least this time she had remembered before it was the middle of the night. Maybe she could catch the next show and still make her curfew…

  She was so lost in her thoughts that her first indication that something was wrong was when she went to knock on the apartment door and all she got was a handful of air. Finally focusing on her surroundings, she saw the door was already open. Frowning, she stepped into the apartment, and then stopped, a cold wave of anxiety and something else – fear, maybe – sweeping over her. Something wasn’t right. Even if somebody had stepped out for a moment and forgotten to shut the door, there still should have been video game sounds coming from the bedroom. The television still should have been on. Her father never shut the set off in the middle of a Yankees game. Never.

  “Mom? Dad?”

  Caroline took another step into the apartment, and was greeted by, despite the busy sounds of the street drifting up and in through the window, the most deafening silence she had ever known.

  “Lauren? Katie?”

  She took another step and tripped, barely managing to regain her balance and keep from falling. She had warned Katie that the next time she left one of her shoes out in the middle of the room, where someone could easily end up breaking their neck…