Kayla’s grandpa’ Cal informed shortly thereafter, word matriculated fairly quickly after that. Daniel and Hartwell told their wives, Nicole and Maggie, Cal told his wife Sharon, who told Cal’s sister, Emily, who told her husband Aaron and then her father, Thaddeus.
A similar dynamic existed within the vampire-protector sect: Nicole told Belinda, who filled in Agent Blake, who passed on the good news to Great Grandpa’ Garrison. So, by the time that Max and Kayla entered the room, the only beings that had not heard about the pregnancy were the three brilliantly-clean dogs that had been scrounging for food only moments earlier.
While the news of the pregnancy spread, it was the sex of the baby that remained a mystery to most. The shock, and then joy, of the pregnancy had eclipsed any subsequent thought on what was actually in Kayla’s womb. Max and Kayla stepped forward and were now surrounded in a loving circle of family.
“We wanted to announce something to all of you together,” Max stated.
He then looked at Kayla, as the emotions of the day finally started to take her over.
“I have thought of this day ever since I can remember, which may not seem like a long time to most of you but it has been my life’s pursuit. To see all of you standing together in peace and love in this room…” she said before the tears started flowing.
The ice cubes from the vampires hit the floor and gradually turned into pools of water from the collective heat in the room. The dogs were quite thirsty and welcomed the puddles of charged-up liquid, which forged their internal organs to function even better than their outside appearance looked.
She turned and looked at Max, who continued where his girlfriend left off.
“It is with great pride and love that I announce that Kayla is pregnant with our baby.”
The crowd cheered and the 16 people met in a joyous group hug. The 17th person in the room had something to add, though…
Max heard a voice and asked through the din, “What’s that?”
He then backed up a few steps and yelled, “There’s one more thing!”
The crowd quieted as Max continued, “Samuel wants us to know that he loves us all!”
Nothing should have surprised this group of supernatural beings, but the airing of a new name created somewhat of a recognition delay. Samuel wasn’t aware at that moment that he could communicate with each and every member of the group, or he would have surely made his presence known.
Everyone in the group stepped forward to congratulate Max and Kayla, and then the ‘old guard’ – Garrison, Thaddeus and Hartwell, branched off and chatted.
“Is it me, or has her stomach… how should I put this?” Hartwell said.
“Sprouted?” Garrison filled the blank.
“Yes, sprouted. Thanks, Gary…” Hartwell replied.
The three elders cocked their heads in tandem to get a better angle of Kayla’s little baby bulge.
“Yeah, that wasn’t there yesterday,” Thaddeus stated.
“I don’t even think that was there when we first walked in,” Hartwell added.
“I give that kid three months,” Daniel added as joined the conversation.
“Three months of what?” Drew asked as he moved toward the heat in the room.
Cal wasn’t far behind his nephew, “That kid’s gonna’ pop out of that jail.”
“It isn’t so bad in here,” Samuel said to himself as he heard the manly conversation.
“Don’t get too used to it,” Max said internally to his son after hearing what he said. “I get the feeling we’re going to need you before long.”
FIVE
Life was much different in turn-of-the-20th-century San Francisco. The panicked public was talking much less about addition, and was solely-focused on mass subtraction. The black plague had swept through the ‘City by the Bay’ and the population was thinning as a result of this contagion.
The lack of able bodies was also radically impacting the vampire population. While the strains of the insipid virus did not kill most vampires, it weakened them to the point of near mortality, which was like death for most vampires.
One of the families impacted by the plague was the Hartwell’s: Thomas, his wife Maggie, and their son Nathaniel. The Hartwell’s had been thriving in post-Gold Rush San Francisco and love was in abundant supply.
That was, until, the plague entered their house and claimed the life of both Maggie and Nathaniel, who is now Daniel. Thomas was crushed, as he aimlessly wandered the streets before returning home to end a life that was rendered meaningless without his wife and son. He picked up a gun to his head and was only seconds away from ending it all, before a knock on the door gave him another option.
“Please go away!” Hartwell yelled as he picked up his heavy gun and pointed it toward his head.
“Don’t do it,” the voice calmly said from the other side of the door. “I have a way that you will be able to see your wife and son again.”
Hartwell had truly run out of options. It was either blow his brains out, or listen to a voice promising full restitution. He walked to the door and lowered the gun to his side, “How do I know you’re not one of vile things that bite people?”
“I’m offended,” the man said. “How do I know that you’re not lousy with the plague?”
Hartwell nodded his head in understanding, “Well, how can I get my family back?” he said as he leaned the barrel of the gun against the door.
The man literally wasn’t born yesterday, “You’re going to have to let me in to find that out, Thomas Hartwell. What other choice do you have?”
Hartwell reflected briefly on the events of his life and then looked over at the loaded gun. He opened the door and said, “Okay, you can come in,” which unlocked his last seal of protection in the mortal world.
While Hartwell kept a tight grip on the gun, the distinguished-looking gentleman walked in slowly, hardly befitted the demeanor or aggressive tendencies of a savage beast. The man’s beige wool, three-piece suit, well-groomed mustache, and classic bowler hat that he removed and held in his hand, lessened Hartwell’s anxiety as it had for the hundreds of his unsuspecting victims. He then conveyed the mental message, “You can put the gun away. We are all friends here.”
So Hartwell put the gun in the top drawer of his desk and asked, “Can I get you anything, friend? I’m going to put up some tea.”
The man reached down into his vest pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch, which he had picked up along the way. He opened the engraved latch and realized that his window of opportunity was closing fast. Surely the hunters were tracking his scent and would be closing in within minutes.
Hartwell walked back into the room and was instructed to sit next to the man on the couch.
“My name is Alexander Lowery and I am here to offer you eternal life.” Lowery thought for a moment and then decided to slightly alter his claim, “In any event, you can last pretty long if you eat people on a high-fiber diet and do your best to avoid those persistent hunters.”
Hartwell didn’t really care about himself and his life at this point, “What about my wife and son?”
Lowery’s hair was slicked back and finely combed as he stroked his moustache before speaking in a dramatic tone, “Your boy shall rise again on the moon of the new century. Oh, and your wife should be along in another eight to 10 moons after that.”
Hartwell was confused, “How long is a moon?”
Lowery replied, “A moon is about a month in most circles, give or take a few days. In Germany…” he started before screams and heavy bangs could be heard in the street below.
A muscular fellow wearing a finely-tailored suit burst into the room, "My good fellow, you might want to speed things up a bit!”
Lowery’s eyes transformed from brown to orange and razor-sharp fangs sprouted from the upper and lower portions of his mouth, as he ferociously bit into the right side of Hartwell’s neck.
The searing pain Hartwell in
itially felt was replaced by the euphoria of seeing his wife and son waiting for him in the distance. Lowery quickly drained Hartwell’s blood and then opened the vein on his right wrist to keep Hartwell from dying, “No, not just yet. You have some work to do before you see them.”
Hartwell drank the blood from Lowery’s wrist as if he was a baby with a bottle. Only this ‘formula’ was the bridge from mortality to immortality, from man to monster.
Lowery was able to track Hartwell over the years, but chose to view his progression from afar. Hartwell and Lowery blazed two completely separate and distinct vampire lives. Hartwell choose to focus on reuniting with his family, while Lowery made a succinct and concerted effort to procreate the dark race.
Hartwell’s lone disciple was Brandon Justice, who he sired only a few years before reuniting with his reborn family. Justice was now going back to be with Hartwell and company following a few-year stint with a group of effective peacemakers, who had returned back to Portland, Oregon, to tie up some loose ends.
Lowery, on the other fang, was sired in a period when the vampire population was thinning to the point of near-extinction. So he felt it was his duty, and rite of passage as a vampire, to sire as many vampires as possible. While Hartwell was satisfied with draining people of their blood as a source of sustenance, Lowery traveled the globe in his 150 years as a vampire and now had a veritable army of disciples.
Alexander Lowery had only recently become re-introduced to Hartwell and his small