The boy led me through the busy streets. He pointed to a stone shop, with a tremendously long line of people standing in front of it.

"Geez, that line is going to take hours," the boy said. "You better have a good plan, mister. I can't come home empty handed."

"Stay by my side."

I walked with the boy to the front of the line.

"Cutting? Your plan is just cutting in line? That won't work!"

The man at the front of the line yelled at me, "No cutting you prick! You got to wait like the rest of us!"

I stared into his soul. "You were just letting me go in front of you."

The man giggled, "You right. I was."

"How kind of you. Thank you."

The people behind him began to rabble, but none were brave enough to confront me. All seemed subdued by the despair of waiting in line for food.

I walked right up to a counter. A man stood behind grungy looking glass. He was dressed like those constables who'd shot me with their muskets. Curious. The constables also control the food. The military must be very prevalent in this society.

"What the hell happened to your face? It looks like a soggy shaved ass."

What happened to manners?

I didn't hold back on this one. I locked eyes and spoke in my most sultry voice. "That was rude of you, wasn't it?"

The constable went cross-eyed. "It was."

"Say you're sorry."

"Please. Forgive me."

"See, manners aren't so hard. Now, give us your finest food. A double order as an apology."

"Ration please."

"I already gave them to you. Have you misplaced them already?"

The constable felt around his pockets, and looked at his feet. "I did."

"Not very smart, are you?"

"No."

"Hurry up and give us the food."

The man moved slowly, caught in a stupor. He grabbed two parcels and handed them over.

"Everyone else in this line has already given you rations as well. You will give them food for no charge, and you will thank them."

I turned away from the counter. There, just above the door, was a large painting. There was no mistaking that face; it was Lord Umber. Atop the painting in blocky letters was written, "Enjoy your food." And at the bottom, "Thank Governor Umber." They had painted him a tanner shade, to make him look more human. His eyes seemed to pop out of the painting and followed me as I walked.

Whatever manner of government this fortress had, Lord Umber was the head of it. Did these people know? Their kingdom was ruled by a craven vampire?

I was glad. I was prepared to hunt to the ends of the earth to find Umber, and now I knew he was in the city.

The boy grabbed the two packages of food. He was so excited he could barely contain it. "How did you do that?! That guy was practically drooling when you talked to him! Can you teach me to do that?"

"You might be able to do that. If you remember your manners. Now, take me to your residence."

The boy practically skipped through the streets. His tower was far away, some thirty minutes of slowly walking behind him.

I noticed the towers all had numbers on them. This must have been how people remembered which was theirs.

At tower number 17-3227, we entered through thick metal doors and began scaling an endless staircase. Where did they find all this smooth stone? And how did they get it all shaped so perfectly? I could hardly find any seams or breaks. As if the stones had been molded into the needed shapes.

The staircase spiraled as it went to the sky. I followed the boy flight after flight. The boy was out of breath when we reached a door with a big yellow, "50," painted on it.

We walked down a corridor to what must have been the boy's home. Outside his door, I stopped. "Alright boy. This is very important. Once you enter your home, you have to invite me in. You have to say, you may come in, got it?"

"Yeah yeah. And you better remember my mom is sick. So you be nice to her. Or else I might have to–" He just cocked back his fist in a threatening manner.

He was so protective of his mother, and, again, brazenly overconfident. It was admirable. "I promise, boy, I will show your mother the utmost courtesy. It shan't come to fisticuffs."

"Sometimes you say the weirdest things."

"Apologies. I'm from a different time."

The boy took out a key from his pocket and opened the door. He quickly invited me in. Once inside, the boy instinctively locked the door again.

"Mom," the boy called out, "I'm home! I got food!"

In from the kitchen entered a woman so pale she could have been a vampire herself. She was all smiles, and frighteningly frail. It appeared at any moment she might fall over.

"Robert! How on earth did you get food rations? And who is this?"

The boy had insisted again and again that his mother was sick. I realized now that this was not the truth. This poor woman was starving. It also began to make sense why the boy was so scrawny. These two had been struggling to find sustenance.

"This is my new business associate," the boy said. "Him and I got food, mom, look!" The boy held up the two boxes like he'd caught the biggest perch in the river.

"Well, go set the dinner table. We'll have a nice meal together then."

The boy did right as his mother instructed and got to work setting the table.

The mother came up to me to take a closer look. "Are you alright, mister uh–"

Oh hell.

What was my name? My wife was Evelyn. Our son we named Alexander. But what was my name? I spent so long under the ocean that my name drifted away from me.

I could only think what lord Umber called me before he threw me overboard.

"Call me, Mr. Whale."

"Mr. Whale? That's a...name I've never heard before. And a good one too. I'm Emily. Mr. Whale, if you don't mind me saying, you look dreadfully ill. Are you alright?"

Here this woman was possibly days from death and she was worried about me. There was a powerful kindness in her. A quality she shared with my wife.

"I assure you, ma'am, I am feeling very well."

"You're a bit pale. I would offer you a seat in our UV chair, but the darn thing is broken. And the landlord isn't good about fixing things."

"That's quite okay."

The boy had finished setting the table. There were three chairs, and in front of each was an off white plate. Their china was in a sorry state, small fractures plaguing the surface and strange gray stains. Atop each plate was an odd looking black bar like an ingot of dark mud.

"Have a seat, Mr. Whale."

The boy and the mother sat, and I joined them. This was the first time I sat down for dinner in a thousand years. The two looked noticeably excited, despite their food being a dingy rectangle. It was no trout with butter sauce. And yet, I found myself feeling at home.

I felt like I was back with my wife and son.

The boy and mother dug right in, cutting the bar with a fork and knife. Thank goodness for that. I wouldn't have been surprised if the boy started shoveling in with his bare hands.

Soon the mother noticed I hadn't taken a bite. "Go on. Eat up."

"I'm not trying to be rude," I said, "it's just that this beautiful meal is wasted on me."

"Nonsense. You're our guest. You don't need to feel burdensome! You helped us get this lovely food. And we are thankful, Mr. Whale."

Perhaps it was best to just get it over with. Time to break one of the two laws again. "Tell me. What do you know of vampires?"

"Vampires?" the mother said. "Oh they went extinct some time ago."

No. That wasn't possible. I had just seen the painting of Lord Umber. "What do you mean extinct?"

"Well, this is all ancient history now. After the world heated up, and they built the screen, vampires appeared all over the earth. The governments got together and wiped them out. Now the only vampires left are some strays here and there."

Did I dare let myself believe this? Had my mission been nearly finished before I even started?

"Mr. Whale, your eyes, they're bleeding."

I held back the tears. I didn't want to get too emotional. I wiped my bleeding eyes.

"Yes. Well. You might be surprised to learn that not all the vampires are gone."

The boy looked closer at me. "Wait a second. You were acting awfully funny at the food supply." Then he put it together. "You're a vampire?! Cool!!"

"No. It isn't cool. It's a curse."

"Could you make me a vampire?! That'd be great, then I wouldn't have to worry about food. Please!"

"You don't want to be a vampire."

"Sure I do."

"No! You don't know what you speak of. The first hundred years of my existence was nothing but anguish. Thirst drove me mad. Every night began with me convincing myself I'd never hurt another person, and quickly the thirst would drive me mad. I killed innocent people. People I knew and cared for. You don't want to be a vampire, boy." I stopped myself. I had gone off on the boy. Perhaps not the most appropriate thing to do at the dinner table. "I apologize. I didn't mean to raise my voice."

The mother said, "we won't hold it against you, Mr. Whale. You've been nothing but polite to us. All that must have happened long ago. And he's right, Robert, there's no way I'm letting you turn into a vampire. No offense. I couldn't bear the thought of being a vampire. Being a human is hard enough."

"Long ago, hundreds of years maybe, I had a wife and son. You two remind me of them. They were taken from me. And I vowed to rid the earth of all vampires."

"But you're a vampire."

"Yes, including myself. And I was hoping you two could help me find the remaining vampires."

"Well they're mostly all gone, Mr. Whale. Can't spend your life hunting something that's not there."

"I haven't seen much of this world. But I am sure there are more vampires than you may think. What do you know of this governor Umber?"

There was a polite knock on the door.

I didn't hear them approaching, but now that I listened, there were several men in heavy boots hustling up the stairs. The person at the door bore a familiar, unmistakable smell.

On the other side of that door was a vampire.