The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Take a left at Albuquerque





“It’s better to travel in hope… than to arrive…” says the radio presenter, as they continue to talk of special journey’s one has had, before playing ‘Marakesh Express’ and, moments before I turn the radio off, before leaving the kitchen; and I began to recall a journey of my own/ And, as I sat in my room, watching something surreal, with my keyboard on my lap, the other machine my screen to write upon, as the rain fell outside my window, dripping from the sill: and, I began to type of that night a few years ago, when I had been on the way back from a friend’s, having imbibed a tad too much in some of my vices. And, I think it’d been the whiskey that had brought upon my premature snooze. I had woken, if one can call it that, two stations after where I’d get off for home, where you make a connection, if you’re travelling to Ellesmere Port. And when I had stood from my seat I had put my hands to my mouth, to stifle a yawn, which had been emitted anyway, as a vast Technicolor spray. Well, then I’d stumbled from the train and onto the platform, wiping my chin, as I’d stared around the dark deserted platform. And, it’d been when I checked out the timetable, by the flame of my lighter; I noticed that the train I’d just disembarked from had been the last one of the night. Well, seeing no-one in the car-park or thereabouts, to ask guidance from I’d had decided to walk. Well, in hindsight I now know what I should have done and, ‘taken a left at Albuquerque ’, to misquote one of my idols, Bugs Bunny. As it happens, I had taken a right. And, I had walked and walked, stumbling occasionally onto the grass verge, in the dark. I had passed shops, but all the street-lights seemed to be off, or went off on my approach, which had been more than a tad disturbing. Yet, the meandering had continued and, within a few hours I’d been quite sober indeed. Then, at about three-fifteen and very sore feet, a French chef picked me up and drove me aways and then about an hour or so after he dropped me off, I had come upon a roundabout, a big one, the other side of which was a warehouse, a damn big one. Well, I’d walked up the long tarmac driveway and approached some lorries and a semi or two and then come to the large roller-door and, a fellow to seek advice from. “Morning,” says he and I’d replied in a like manner, then asked, “Where am I?” which had seemed a reasonable question, under the circumstances. “Northwich,” I’d been informed; an answer which had irked me somewhat, as up until that moment; I’d never heard of the place. “Your car out of petrol the fellow in denim with thick black hair had asked me… which I do suppose was reasonable, to ask at the time of the morning, with me walking up the drive as I had. “No,” I’d retorted, “I got off the last train, tool a wrong turn and…” thinking of my lift, had added, “met a mad French man.” And, he had seemed so, rattling on with that strange Clouseau-type accent, about his traitorous staff. Maybe it was down to him, that I somehow missed the Delamere Forest? I think, perhaps he had been. Either way, the fellow standing by the big roller-doors suggested I find the police station, where I’d find help. And, if anyone knows Chester, they also know Northwhich, except that Northwhich has no walls and, Northwhich seems kinda squished-out sorta place, in comparison. Yet, I had found the police-station, which had been closed, till six-forty five, which it hadn’t been just then, not at all. So, I went to a nearby red phone-box and, did an E.T. and, my Father had answered the phone, which had been reversed with its charge. And, thank gawd he had said that he’d take the call, especially as it had risen him from his bed. And, he’d got in the Beetle and tootled round the town, to find me sitting on the steps, the steps leading to the police-station door, the one that was closed. And, as I’d stood and crossed the road, there was my Dad, in a light-blue Volkswagen Beetle, looking rather flustered. And, he’d pulled up at the kerb, wound down the passenger-window and asked, “Why didn’t you wait for me? I’ve been driving al round and…” I’d got in and sat down, then as I’d stared ahead he’d driven on, into the morning, as the sun was dawning. “You know Northwhich is about sixty miles from home?” He’d asked, to which I’d told him, “Well no, until just now, I didn’t even know there was a Northwhich… Now, Nantwhich, there’s a different matter…” And, around about Eastham, with the woods somewhere to the right, he had said rather pointedly, “Why didn’t you phone me, hours ago, just after you got lost?” And truth be told, he had a point, didn’t he? The thing was, I’d been travelling with Hope and, she does have a way with her, don’t you find? Well, I do… I do like travelling with her, with Hope… that is.

Awaiting Morpheus



it's 1:05 a.m. and Morpheus still won't find me & I have to give much needed red stuff at 8:40



and am now, awaiting Morpheus.

he's hiding.



bugger me, if I know why he hides.

Morpheus does all sorts, just think how restless we get without his visits.



Some wonder… Morpheus?



sandman. the fella, who drifts into one's room to scatter the sleep powder...



Or this one?



Greek legend originally, DC comics used the character, twice... tho the new take is the one most know now.



I preferred the less flamboyant character as drawn by an American artist in the forties and later, not that drawn by Neil Gaiman.



And, still I am awake… at 3:37 a.m. and, I have to be up at 7:00, to give blood.

COMMENTS

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Vampiress25
03:38 Apr 13 2012

short but sweet ;)

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POST COMMENT

while I was watching a documentary about the t-34 with dad, as we ate toblerone piece by opiece and, pieces of bournville dark chocolate, i got to thinking of the daleks. my dad made me a full-size 'working' dalek. somehow he had hold of the plans of one, so, built it. i mean, he had the skill, as a model-maker and joiner; so he built me a dalek. and, he painted it all the right colours. and, it had a seat in and, castors, just like the BBC Daleks of the day, with all all the bits that a Dalek has and, it's been mine when i'd been about four, or five. and, the only evidence i have of it is 8mm film of my cousin susan going up and down on the pavement outside our home, waggling it's sucker in the rain. he eventually burnnt it as firewood, as he decided i wasn't playing with it... then again, he did also teach me to fence with a foil and, shoot a flame out on a candle at about twelve feet, at eleven. tho, I think i was younger, when he taught me to fence. an, it was something i took up again years later at college, when it transpired that the head of the catering dept. taught fencing at the heswall boys club.

COMMENTS

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Vampiress25
17:20 Apr 13 2012

cool, sounds like your dad was quite the craftsman! :)

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POST COMMENT

The slim teen with dark hair held a small girls hand, as they stood with their backs to a small concrete building, it’s walls cracked, the windows on all sides shattered.



When the moon finally shifted as forecast, the seas had risen and cities had flooded as the weathers severity increased and tsunami, cyclone and tornado tore at man’s cities, levelling much, whilst the waters drowned many.



Then there had been an Exodus as Man had left the Earth, under the Bible project, which had led the two children sleeping in a tent, in a vast hanger, prior to watching the last star-Ship leave the Earth, playing ‘Song d’Automne’ on an old record-player.



Now, the storms worsened as expected and, the children waited, for the inevitable.



“Can I go play?” The little girl asked her brother, looking up to him with large blue baleful eyes.



“Half an hour, no more… we’re going to have lunch… alright?” He told her, with a light smile.



“I don’t have a watch…” she reminded Adam, her brother.



Looking at his sister with amusement and, a serious face, Adam slipped his watch from his wrist and handed it to her, “Here Gaia,” he told her, “now go play…”



He hated, truly hated, telling the little girl what to do, but their parents were gone and so, someone had to keep the little wild-one in check.



Yet, she was here Now, as the Earth was dying and, deserved to live a Life…



“But how can that happen now?” Adam considered, walking back to the hanger and their tent, accoutrements and the few memories of family life that they had gathered.



He walked with hands behind his back, clenching his right wrist with his left hand, walking slowly, and mirroring how his Father had walked, before ‘the drowning’.



Adam sighed, believing it wrong, that a Life so short could end before it had been given a chance to experience the joy’s that could be tasted and revelled in.



“But, that just can’t happen Now…” He reminded himself, as he knelt before the tent, looking at his family album, turning the pages filled with increasing sadness.



Then all of a sudden, Gaia appeared at the vast hanger doors, “Adam!” She called.

He looked up, as she ran toward him, very curious: the little-girl enjoyed having her ‘me-time’ and he was sure that…



“Half an hour isn’t up, is it?” He quizzed.



Gaia looked at her brother with wide-eyes, “You gotta see this…” She said to him breathlessly, “You just gotta see this!”



And somewhere across space, at the end of time, events began to conspire that would create the new matrix.



“The feeders are ready to try out,” Inez told Shaun through the ships intercom, as she removed her helmet inside the ships airlock.



She was conscious that her heart was still beating fast: it had been her first space-walk and, although normally a specialist would do the work she had done, the feeders had to be straightened, so the engines could be supplied with the fuel the craft needed.



But, environmental was still not functioning at full efficiency and she had to stay in her suit, that had performed as intended, keeping her safe as debris from galaxies that had been ripped apart in a gravitational whorl, then dragged into the black hole, that they had been sent to study.



“There’s no doubt about it,’ she mused, ‘the ships stabilisers do take priority.”



All around her the equipment was failing. Her ship was going to fall apart, if they did not act soon: “Shaun! Did you get that…” She called out.



There was silence.



Inez panicked briefly; he was the last of the crew left. And, she did not want to be left alone; she did not want to die alone…



“Yeah BossLady,” she heard, to her relief, “I figured that and I’ve been working hard… and…”



“And what?” Inez queried.



“I have good news and, I have bad news… I’ll meet you and explain, alright?”



“Sure Shaun, in the cabin? Alright?” She asked her colleague, wishing that she could scratch the itch at her waist, wishing to hell that she could reach it.



Inez left the airlock and began the short journey to the last room left, that held control to the starship, suddenly aware of a difference to the ship; the shuddering had ceased.



Then entering the cabin, she looked out the viewport, as the remains of planets and suns were dragged into a vortex of rubble, then into the black hole, the biggest ever recorded. And… Inez sighed, The Congress had been her first commission and, she really didn’t want to lose the ship and, certainly not like that.



“Good news and bad news?” Inez asked the harried looking Shaun.



“Yes,” he told her, wiping the sweat from his brow with an oily rag.



“Well go on?” She prompted, feeling exasperated with the last of her crew, who seemed to have a talent for the obtuse.



There was a brief pause, then all at once Shaun smiled; “The generators at ninety-eight per-cent and the field’s well strong and, wouldja believe it… the dome wasn’t lost, it got caught up in the communications array; and the timedrive is operational…”



He then crossed his arms and looked to Inez.



“You don’t get paid enough,” Inez told him, with a smile.



“I don’t get paid now, do I?” Shaun retorted with a grin.



“Okay,” she retorted, “so do I have to ask, ‘what’s the bad news?’”

‘It sounded too good to be true,’ she mused,



It was.



“Ah well,” Shaun began, “the timedrive will probably burn out with use and, while the ships auxiliary engines are working, we still have no primary drive…”



Inez thought about the news ruefully: “So we can manoeuvre the ship, but we have no thrust…”



“Oh, we have that!” He corrected, “We just have to go there slowly…” He admitted with a light smile.



“Uh-huh,” she responded, deep in thought and, rubbing her chin: “Is that it?”



Then, after a long moments silence, Shaun added, “It’ll be finished soon…”



“What will be finished soon Shaun?” Inez asked, beginning to be really concerned, aware that she was sweating heavily underarm...



“Environmental…” Shaun muttered quietly.



“What!?!” Inez exclaimed.



“Yes,” He conceded, “if we run it as it has been, that is….”



“Hell!”…” Inez shouted, then turned with her hands behind her back, left hand holding her right wrist. She walked back to the viewport and, looked out: there they were, held safe by the field generator from the black-hole, that consumed all, while environment died.



“That’s not good,” she said to her reflection in the viewport window. And then, she began to pace, muttering, “There has to be a way out of this, there has to be…”



Then, as Inez began to cross the small cabin a fourth time, she noticed a look of intense concentration on Shaun’s face.



“You got an idea? She asked.



“kinda,” he admitted, “But, it’s along shot and…”



“Whatever it is Shaun… we have to try it… soon, we won’t be alive to try anything,” she reminded him, unnecessarily.



“We go into stasis, rigging environment to power down, till needed…” he explained.



“And then?” Inez asked.



“We live,” Shaun answered flatly.



“Alright, I’ll go with that idea then…” She responded, with a light smile and then followed Shaun, as he led her out of the cabin and down several long corridors.



And while Shaun set the timedrive, Inez entered the stasis chamber to prepare the units they’d be using. It was as she was setting her own that Shaun dashed into the chamber, his face flushed: “We have five minutes… alright?”



Inez led Shaun to his unit, a raised cabinet with a perspex cover, which she slid back. He climbed in and lay back arms crossed.



“So when did you set the drive for?” Inez asked. It was irrelevant, she knew: because this was there only option.



Gas filled the unit, as the Perspex lid slid into place and, Shaun mouthed ‘PASS.’

He had in fact swirled the array of dials, with a flick of his right hand, as it hardly mattered where, or when they went, as they would live.



And minutes later, as the stasis gas drifted over her own body, from the feet upward, Inez mused on what Shaun had mouthed: she didn’t know when they were heading, except that they would be safe from being dragged into the black hole.



The minutes moved on, until the timedrive engaged and then, everything changed.

Suddenly there was no longer a black hole outside the starcraft; and suddenly there was a blue sky, filled with dark clouds that moved quickly.



And down on the airstrip, little Gaia held her brothers hand, as she pointed skyward.

“Look Adam, look…” The clouds parted and lightning erupted around the hull of the starship as they gazed upward.



The slim teens mouth opened wide as the battered craft suddenly appeared and Adam turned to his sister, “It seems we have company.”



Minutes passed, as Gaia and her brother watched the craft descend slowly.



Three legs on sleds emerged from its body, which touched down and, minutes later a side door opened from the crafts body…



The little girl looked to her brother, then releasing his hold on her arm, began to walk toward the craft.



“Be careful!” Adam called out loudly.



“It’s alright,” the little girl called back, turning round to wave at Adam, smiling.



“It’s alright?…” he muttered quietly, watching as behind her two figures slowly climbed down the ladder.



“Gaia!” He called out loudly, “look back!”



The little girl turned to see Inez and Shaun, walking slowly and very unsteadily toward her.



“You alright lady?” The little girl asked, reaching up with her hand, taking the older woman’s right hand in her own.



“Yeah, I guess…” Inez muttered, “just unused to walking on solid earth.”



“You not been to the Earth before Space-Lady?” asked the child.



Incredulous, Inez turned to Shaun and said, “This is Mother planet.”



“It’s lookin like it,” Shaun agreed, looking about, at the deserted landing-strip, hangers and the small concrete bunker near the slim, brown haired teen stood.



“This is the Earth? Really?” Inez asked, eyes wide.



Gaia nodded.



“How can that be possible?” She asked, turning her gaze to Shaun.



“The drive just moves us in time, not space…” he explained.



“So that means?” She began, frowning.



“It means that the black hole appeared where the Mother planet had been…” Shaun clarified, “And from what I can see, this is the Earth’s last day…”



Gaia nodded.



“That’s what the people believed. That’s what she said, just before the last of the big ships left…” the little girl explained, as began to lead Inez toward her brother: “We saw the ships leave, my brother and me… come and meet him…”



Adam was apprehensive, at the approach of the trio, but his sister seemed alright, so he stood his ground and greeted their visitors with a shy, “Hello.”



“We’re going to have a tea-party!” Gaia laughed happily, pulling Inez by her hand.

And Shaun looked to her, with a broad smile.



“We’re having a tea party?” He grinned.



“This is my brother Adam,” Gaia announced proudly, as Shaun took the teen’s hand.



“Alright mate,” he said with a grin, “So where’s the tea?”



“Erm, I guess we could do you a tea, or coffee… if’n that’s what you prefer…” Adam answered, looking up at the clouds, darkening further still.



The teen walked toward the hanger and the small tent up toward the entrance to the hanger, inside of which they had pitched their tents, accoutrements and the few memories of family life that they had gathered.



Adam had got his small stove lit and soon, the four were enjoying a drink, as the skies opened up and the rain began to pour, winds howling.



Time passed as introductions were made, then finally Shaun announced, “I do have an idea, for us to continue living, if anyone wants to hear it?”



All ears were his as he continued, “The ships still capable of getting us out of the Earth’s atmosphere, using the auxiliary drive, but we’ll need to fire the afterburners, for that extra thrust; and that could do a lot of damage to the planet…”



Adam laughed, “As if that really matters, now!”

He squeezed his sister’s hand, “Are you alright with this Gaia?”



The little girl was getting tired and, fisting he eyes, she looked to her brother, “I don’t mind what we do, as long as we’re together…”



There it was, the decision was made. And less than an hour later, Shaun and Inez began to remove all that could be from the starship, so that as little extra-thrust would be needed: that included the communication array and, the dome which housed man’s last traces of the Green, that had been.



The starship lifted slowly, as the legs retracted, then Shaun fired the afterburners.



Below, the dome’s shell erupted with its oxygen catching on fire, which burnt with plumes of black smoke, as The Congress rose skyward.



“Okay, lets see where this takes us…” He said, turning his head to look to look at the trio behind him, as the starship exited the Earth’s atmosphere.



Looking through a side viewport, with poignancy and regret for a Earth of blue and green she had never known, Inez sighed.



Her future was uncertain: ‘But then, hadn’t it always been?’ She mused, turning her head briefly to look at little Gaia, holding her brothers hand, looking up to him, for reassurance.



“It’ll be alright…” he told his sister, “we’re together, as we wanted…”



And, far in the apparently black sky a whorl of energy sent out ripples toward Earth, searching for the new matrix, finding the dome and, the Green was what it found.



The Earth was born anew…

Star systems coalesced, with planets crashing together and, the Universe fell apart as matter was drawn into a massive whorl of debris, then was drawn into a black hole, until all that was left was space, deep black space.



And from speakers located throughout a small ship, a shrill tinney voice rang out; “Red-Alert, Red-Alert. Systems failure imminent. Red-Alert, Red-Alert.”



The slim woman with fine shoulder length hair that was cut into the neck turned her gaze from the viewport, “Computer, shut up…” Inez snarled.



Environmental was not functioning at full efficiency and the heat was getting to her.

“But, there’s no doubt about it,’ she mused, ‘the ships stabilisers do take priority.”



Turning from the view of destruction, hazel eyes turning a piercing green, with the strength of adrenalin coursing through her system, Inez sighed.



She stormed across the room, hands clasped behind her back, tutting.



Shaun was down below, trying to maintain the field-generator; emphasis on the word ‘trying’. But, it was hard to look after the ship, now they were the last of the crew alive. First, a whole deck was lost, when the generator level of effectiveness lowered.



Then there’d been magnetic wave that struck and, the ships structure had briefly weakened so-much, that the crews quarters were lost.



Finally the umbilical cord dome that held the last of nature broke and, as it dangled from the base of the ship and, the dome was swept into the Black Hole. Then as the shield’s had been hit by debris the small craft was buffeted so badly the remaining part of the cord swung back and forth and, into the communications array.



The survey ship had been travelling the time-lines for nearly five years Now. And here was Inez and Shaun, the last two members of humankind left.



Pressing a red button she spoke, the intercom caught her voice, as she asked him, “So Shaun, how long have we got with the generators at full strength?”



“Full strength!?!” He exclaimed, in a panicky voice, “it hasn’t been running at full power for hours now!”



“Oh…” She replied flatly. Inez hadn’t expected that, reckoning that The Congress would have lasted longer than this. It had been Man’s last hope, to send the ship out to survey The End, to see what chance Man had, whilst sowing seed on those planets that Needed it. In effect Inez realized, that had terraformed these planets, shortly before their destruction.



‘That was enough to make one weep,’ she considered, thinking of all that had been lost, unaware as they had, that The End would be something that could not be avoided, at all.



After a long pause she asked, “Any chance of getting the feeders open?”

It was a chance, a long chance and, perhaps their only remaining option.



‘If and, it was a big if…’ she considered, ‘they could get The Feeders open and, taking in solar debris, they could fuel the Timedrive.’ Yet, she knew it was a big IF.



She waited, for an answer…



“You willing to suit up and free them BossLady? ‘Coz to be honest…” And he began to shout, “I’m busy trying to make sure we don’t get squashed Here & Now!”



Inez began to pace the room again, looking at at the destruction, which could soon take them as well, if she did not act.



“Well, the decision’s been made for me Shaun. I have no option, do I?”



And briefly she thought wryly, ‘Now to see if those new suits are quite as good as they say they are…’