A Civilized African Vampire

Adriel volunteered for those salvage and scavenging trips and soon made himself quite useful. His uncanny skill for detecting and eliminating the Zombies made him a 'fan favorite' among the Berkshire survivors. He 'volunteered' to work at the butcher shop, thereby gaining almost unlimited access to animal blood. When Morgan put him in charge of the Retrieval Team, a lot of people were pleased with that selection. Arianna was proud of him, and even Lincoln grudgingly congratulated him. Life was good...

"Do you think life will ever go back to the way it was?" Arianna asked Adriel, as they lay in bed together, in one of the makeshift apartment buildings near the factory, a few months after they met. Adriel looked at Arianna, comfortably nestled in his arms, and tried to ignore the sound of the blood flowing in her veins. They'd been lovers for months, sharing everything, and she still had no idea who or what he truly was. Someone call the Oscars...

"Hmm, I'd like it to go back to normal but there's billions of Zombies walking the earth, they outnumber you humans, and fighting them is an unwinnable war, all you can do is hide," Adriel said, matter-of-factly, and when Arianna shot him a look, he regretted his words. Sometimes I forget that not every human is a fool and some among them actually pay attention, Adriel chastised himself.

"Adriel, I know that you're the loner type, Mister Strong And Silent, but you are part of this community, and part of my life, stop acting like stuff doesn't bother you," Arianna shot back, and Adriel grinned, and playfully poked her nose. They kissed, and then made love. Afterwards, Adriel lay awake as Arianna slept. He'd always felt that the humans were foolish, and that as a creature of forever, he was above them. Now that humans were an endangered species, he almost felt...protective, toward some of them.

"It's my life," Adriel said to himself, as he pulled the covers over himself and Arianna, and finally fell asleep. The Jamaican-born Vampire slept peacefully, having finally found his place in the Universe. Too bad it took the end of the world to show him that humans and Vampires could coexist. It was simple, without humanity, the Vampire species could not exist. Vampires needed humans to replenish their ranks, a fact which many prideful Vampires, Adriel included, ignore at their own peril...

"Oh my, we have found a new feeding ground," whispered a figure in the darkness, standing atop an abandoned building. Zineb Jaber, born in Marrakesh, Morocco, and raised in London, United Kingdom, smiled and licked her fangs. Ever since Zineb became a Vampire, she had a zest for life and a ruthlessness that surprised and even intimidated some of her fellow Vampires. That's why she had to eliminate her former lover and mentor Adriel Brown.

The Jamaican Vampire was too careful and restrained in his dealings with the humans, with the Zombies, with life itself. That's why Zineb got rid of him. With Adriel gone, Zineb found several new recruits, fellow Vampires who rallied to her cause. Zineb wanted to rule the world, or at least her corner of it, with the humans under her heel, and the Zombies kept at bay.

"What do you propose we do?" asked a tall, bald-headed and dark-skinned Vampire named Abdirizak Djessou. Born in the City of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and raised in the City of London, UK, Abdirizak had been hiding from a mob of Zombies when Zineb rescued him, only to feed on him and turn him into a Vampire. Together, they sought other survivors, like Isabel Torres, a young Colombian-American woman who'd been hiding inside the ruins of Brunel University with her best friend Paolo Ramirez, and turned them into Vampires. The more the merrier, that was Zineb's motto...

"Well, my dear Abdirizak, we are going to infiltrate the settlement, gain their trust, and then take over," Zineb said, and she smiled at Isabel. The tall, brown-skinned and curly-haired, voluptuous Latin Vampire looked at Zineb with a dubious expression on her beautiful face. Out of all of Zineb's new converts, Isabel Torres was the most problematic one by a long shot...

"Zineb, there are only four of us, and about half a thousand humans, surrounded by at least twenty thousand Zombies, how do you propose we deal with all that?" Isabel asked, and Abdirizak frowned while Zineb shot her fledgling Vampire a wuthering look. Before Isabel could say anything else, Zineb pounced on her, and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the rooftop floor.

"Isabel, when I need your opinion, I will ask for it," Zineb said, and Isabel nodded, and only then did Zineb let her go. The other Vampire fell on the floor with a thud, and rubbed her throat, wincing in pain. Abdirizak rubbed his bald head and looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. The Ivorian Vampire was all too familiar with Isabel's treachery and foul temper...

"Zineb, please, all Isabel meant to say was that we have limited numbers, and our prey and rivals outnumber us," said Paolo Ramirez, a tall, bronze-skinned and heavily tattooed Vampire with a thick beard and mustache. Born in the City of Los Angeles, California, he'd been a student at the UK's very own Brunel University when the Zombie Apocalypse hit. When Zineb and her henchman Abdirizak came to the lair where Paolo and Isabel had been hiding, he thought they were rescued. Instead, Zineb fed upon them, then turned them...

"Duly noted, Ramirez, we are not going to storm the place, this requires finesse," Zineb said tersely, remembering Adriel's long-winded statements about infiltration and adaptation. The old Jamaican Vampire was right on some things, Zineb grudgingly admitted. While Adriel was annoying and way too restrained, he was also smart and savvy, and Zineb respected that about him. Tonight's incursion into Berkshire would have made him proud...

Shortly before dawn, Adriel went for a walk, as was his custom. He hated leaving Arianna's bed, but he needed his pre-dawn constitutional. While drinking the blood of slain animals in the butcher shop kept him well-fed, there was nothing like the thrill of the kill. Slipping away into the wilderness and killing a deer or a rabbit was often the highlight of his day. He saved the meat for the humans, so it was a win/win situation.

This morning was different. For reasons which had nothing to do with the Zombies, which the Vampire easily avoided, the Vampire Adriel felt uneasy. Indeed, Adriel could sense something in the air, a presence he hadn't felt in ages. Zineb, he thought. Senses on high alert, Adriel scanned the surrounding darkness. He blinked as a form stepped out of the shadows, and what he'd been anticipating and dreading these past few months finally occurred. Zineb Jaber was back...

"Oh wow, look who's back from the dead," Zineb said, and she stood there, a mere twenty meters from Adriel, hands on her hips. I am going to kill this bitch, Adriel thought angrily, and he took a step toward her. Zineb clapped her hands, and a trio of Vampires stepped out of the shadows. A tall, bald-headed black man, a tall man who looked either Latin or Middle-Eastern, and a beautiful Latin woman who looked like a centerfold. Judging by the way they carried themselves, these Vampires were even younger than Zineb...

"Oh I'm not dead, Zineb, but you're about to be, and your pups will join you if they interfere," Adriel screamed, and he roared out a challenge, and came for Zineb, fangs bared. The Moroccan female Vampire laughed, and pulled out a sharp piece of wood. Moving with preternatural speed, Zineb came at Adriel and drew back the stake, aiming for his heart.

"Why won't you die?" Zineb hissed, as Adriel blocked her hand, and then struck her face. A sound not unlike thunder filled the air as Adriel's fist struck Zineb's face with superhuman rage. The female Vampire fell down and lay still. Adriel picked up the stake, and stood over Zineb, who looked at him through terrified eyes. Mercilessly he pressed his boot against her neck, and then shoved the stake through her heart. Zineb cried out, and then closed her eyes as she died. Moments later, her entire body crumbled into dust...

Adriel stood over the dusty remains of Zineb, and looked at the trio of Vampires who stared at him. They tensed, but he sensed fear, rather than hatred or rage, in their posture. Adriel held the stake ready, in case any of these nascent Vampires rushed him. Adriel loathed to kill his own kind, especially now that the Zombies had placed Vampires right to humans on the endangered species list. Still, he would do what he had to do...

"I am Isabel Torres, and I'm thankful to you for killing that bitch Zineb," said the tall, voluptuous Latin female Vampire. Adriel looked at her, surprised by her words. Was this a faint? He held the stake before him, ready to strike if Isabel was faking. Treachery is the way of the Vampire, after all. Adriel was amazed when Isabel bowed her head, then nodded at the other two Vampires, who did the same.

"I am Adriel Brown, and if you are serious about what your lady friend here just said, I have a proposal for you," Adriel said, and the Vampire trio looked at him, and nodded most eagerly. When dawn came, well, as much as these perpetually dark gray, post-nuclear and post-Apocalyptic skies can be considered any sort of dawn, a rather unique quartet presented itself at the Checkpoint separating the Berkshire settlement from the rest of the British countryside.

"Greetings, watchmen, it's me, Adriel Brown, someone please get Morgan, I found some strays in need of a home," Adriel said, and the watchmen looked past him, at the three young strangers. This was highly irregular, but Adriel's word carried a lot of weight in Berkshire, ever since he'd saved so many of them from numerous Zombie attacks. Even Morgan was in his debt, and considered him one of his best men.

"Alright, Adriel, your friends can come in but they must surrender any and all weapons, and agree to be inspected for bites," said the lead watchman, a stocky, brown-skinned and bearded young man named Mr. Singh. Adriel nodded, and then led Isabel Torres, Paolo Ramirez and Abdirizak Djessou were brought into the fold. They were weaponless and bite-free, and although they looked too well-fed and healthy for their story of being lost at sea to make sense, they were taken in for processing.

"Where were you, Adriel? I woke up and you were gone," Arianna Murray asked her lover, Adriel Brown, when he came back to their place, smelling of...outside. Hands on her hips, she confronted her man about one of his peculiar habits, his penchant for venturing into the danger zone. The tall, dark-skinned and dreadlocked Jamaican stud flashed her a bright grin, and told her he'd gone out for some exercise, and ran into some wayfarers. Arianna playfully slapped his muscled bicep and then leaned in for a kiss. Gently, Adriel kissed her, and grabbed her big brown ass, giving it a firm squeeze.

"Sorry for worrying you, Arianna, I just wanted some fresh air, and it's a good thing I went out, I found some young stragglers and brought them to safety," Adriel said, and Arianna rolled her eyes, and shook her head. Although Adriel Brown was one strange brother, with some very weird habits, Arianna knew he was a good man. He'd saved so many lives since they first met, including her own.

Adriel breathed a sigh of relief as Arianna headed to the shower, shaking that big brown ass from side to side. Smiling, Adriel stripped naked and joined her. It was astonishing how much he'd grown to care for this young woman, and the other humans living in the Berkshire settlement. Nothing like staring down the Zombie Apocalypse to make anyone, including a centuries-old Vampire, reconsider their choice of priorities. Could the fledgling Vampires that Adriel just brought into the fold be made to understand that humans and Vampires needed each other?

"You three are going to work with me in the butcher shop, where you will have all the blood you require, now, do not feed on any of the humans unless specifically instructed to do so by me, and all will be well, if you disobey me, I will stake you, is that clear?" Adriel said to the Vampire trio, after they exited processing, a few hours after their arrival. He looked at them, hoping they would heed his words and spare him from having to reduce his blood-drinking species already floundering numbers...

Isabel, Paolo and Abdirizak looked at their new leader, and acknowledged his commands. Smiling, Adriel shook hands with each of them in turn, and welcomed them to Berkshire. Thus three of the world's last remaining Vampires joined a most unique community, one where Vampires and humans work side by side to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Things weren't going to be easy for Adriel and his beleaguered fellow Vampires, or the human race for that matter, but there's hope that just maybe, they might be able to ride out this mess...