Page 60 of The Diary of the Vam'pir Jacques

The Leader—that was the title given, not really original, is it? —made all the important decisions, but he took advice from the council. Anton had showed himself in a good and calm light when all the upheaval went on, and he cared for his people.

Stefan, Diana’s remaining child, had also married, but never had children. The girl he’d wed had already had her Phases. However they did adopt an orphaned infant, and they could not have loved him more.

Maryn’s two children had grown into fine young people, and they, too, were looked at with great affection as everyone remembered their mother and her sacrifice. Nes’c had never glanced at another woman and, sadly, rejected another relationship.

Life continued, just as we had always dreamed. We’d created a city that our ancestors would have been proud of.

The Vam’pirs had made their home away from Har’chen in case it was ever attacked. We wanted to be far away for privacy, but close enough in case our aid was required.

Ultimately, we discovered deep, winding caves and claimed them as our new dwelling. We named it Mora in memory of the first and happy home we’d had.

The caves went deep into the landscape, and you could wander for miles without ever finding Mora. There was an underground lake that had fresh running water in which we could bathe.

We carved holes out of solid stone and placed our metal coffins in them. These were centred around the lake, so we’d often emerge and bathe straight away.

Another cave branched off from the main cavern, serving as our relaxation space. It was furnished with luxurious comforts. This time, we didn’t have any workshops. Those we built in Har’chen, so we mingled with our people. We didn’t want to be strangers or, Heaven forbid, alienate ourselves, and become feared monsters again.

Life was easy and peaceful, and Har’chen grew into a wonderful place to live in and raise children.Okay, we never recovered our former level of technology, but we had enough of it to make life good.We had lost a lot, but it never bothered us, really. Not after we regained comforts and a suitable standard of life.

Much of our medical knowledge and tools had been saved, although it was banned to do experiments like what had happened to cause us to exist. The knowledge of the Great Experiment had disappeared as Kaltos sank.

We thought it was a positive outcome since it would stop the creation of additional Vam’pirs, but we were wrong. However, the ability to genetically manipulate DNA had also been lost below the sea.

???

Five hundred years passed without any trouble.

Then, one day, we had a visitor from New Kaltos. The poor thing was a bedraggled figure and half-starved. As we took him into our city, his eyes grew wide in amazement and curiosity. His name was Luce, and he had never seen the like.

Luce was very afraid of us, the monsters, as his people had named us. The New Kaltons had transformed us into scary stories that were narrated to young children. But Luce overcame his fear and began to relax. Finally, after a few days of rest and healing, he spoke his story.

Luce had been blamed for the murder of several important figures in the community. He denied all knowledge of doing this and swore on every God he knew. This confused us briefly because we didn’t understand him. There existed only one God, the Creator.

No, Luce answered, there were numerous Gods where he came from, and we asked did he come from New Kaltos.

Yes, he said, New Kaltos, the city of the Gods. Luce’s words caused quite a stir, but we dismissed it as the New Kaltons pushing the boundaries too far once more.

Several of the Leaders in New Kaltos had been killed horribly by having nearly every bone in their body broken.

Six murderous acts were committed, and Luce’s clothing was found at the last murder scene. Luce had been given a quick trial and then dumped on a small fishing boat without food or water and been left to die alone and afraid. He had been told that if he admitted to the murders, then he would be allowed a painless death, but he refused, still proclaiming his innocence.

And so, Luce was left to die.

Luce hadn’t realised he was so close to land. Despite being across the channel, he thought the monsters lived at a greater distance than he had been told.

We had to laugh,monsters. The entirety of us then been simply lumped together, and then the reason why came clear.

Luce wanted to know the purposes of one thing and another. It was some of the simplest bits of technology we had, and he should have known about them and how to use them.

No, Luce replied, he had seen something like them, but they were broken or left to rust.

Finally, we pieced together what he was telling us. The things that we had taken over to France and New Kaltos had been used, broken, and never fixed. Because of contamination by us, recent items were left to rot.

We were repulsed by what Luce was saying and realised that New Kaltos was nothing like Har’chen. People lived in caves or huts made from trees. No stone city existed where everyone lived.

People had split into groups and answered to one leader. He made all their decisions for them and no one else. They just scrabbled out an existence and deluded themselves with illusions of grandeur. They told tales of how the monsters lived in far worse conditions than what they did. We had caused the betrayal of everything that they held dear and had caused a major cataclysm that destroyed the home of the first Gods.

New Kaltons no longer lived into the fifth or six century; they died fairly young, at around two or three hundred. Our lifespan was beyond Luce’s comprehension.

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