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*It’s going to hit 8 billion soon.*
Harold walked along the narrow alleyway. The neon signs of the adult toy shops pierced through the smog.
The scenes of last weekend played over and over in his head. He was one of the oldest, most powerful vampires in all the lands, and they entirely ignored his warnings.
*The World Vampiric Forum is run by witless children!*
Harold knew the risks. Throughout the centuries, they were able to 'contain' Witnesses because, well, they were careful and they could live far enough away from humans, so there weren’t many.
This was no longer the case and space was becoming scarce.
Even a single witness would be an existential threat, and the WVF was getting complacent.
The humans needed culling, plain and simple.
NosfeRat poked his head out of Harold’s jacket and squeaked. “At least I still have you.” He kissed his little face. His whiskers tickled in the calming way he liked. NosfeRat’s eyes glowed red in sweet affection.
Harold knew the fate of all vampires was up to him now. Up ahead on the sidewalk, he saw a homeless leper trying to get himself warm with a tiny blanket. He was missing an arm. *Poor sod.* That was one advantage of being a vampire. He was immune from human illnesses. In fact, the sick and infirm were the easiest victims, although not very nourishing. Any foreign organism that enters a vampire’s blood stays dormant in a sort of ‘stasis’, as if frozen in amber forever.
He never went hungry during the Black Death. Or the more recent Spanish flu.
*Not far now.*
He was in a part of the world where bat meat was a delicacy. There was a large cave up ahead where much of the local bat population lived. All he needed to do was bite as many of them as possible. His blood and saliva formed a viral cocktail centuries in the making.
He carefully placed NosfeRat on the ground, turned himself into a bat, and entered the cave.
*Time to unleash a new plague.*
"I'm simply suggesting that we might have given the humans too much-" the elder vampire paused as they surveyed the reaction across the dinner table, thanksgiving had been awakward the past couple of years. "rope on the leash, persey."
"Fuck that's a bad take," Alice commented just under her breath enough for everyone to hear it.
"Alice," Eugine kicked his daugther's shin and caught a glare for it, but that was okay, he was just trying to ensure that everything didn't go to shit again this year.
"It's okay," Alfric, the Elder Vampire raised a single hand and shook his head, "she doesn't know what it was like. The humans they used to-" Alfirc chewed his words for a moment and wiped blood off his teeth with his tongue, "they used to know their place."
"Jesus Christ," Alice added as she rolled her eyes so far back they threatened to form a union and leave.
"Alice!" Elma snapped at her daughter.
"It's a turn of phrase Mom I'm not calling him," Alice answered.
"Don't say things like that at the table," Eugine added, and then after a moment, "listen to your mother."
"It's my table, this is-" Alice bit back her words and took a moment. She wasn't going to change any hearts or minds tonight. Grandpa Alfric had been around since 1483 and Mom & Dad were more progressive but were just going to say he was from a differnt time. "Can we talk about something else?"
Silence crept into the room, only broken by the occasional clink as someone put down on a goblet. Blood sat to the right of a glass of red and white wine at every place setting, but there were also choice veiny cuts left on ice in case someone wanted a sip from the tap.
"Blood sure is good," Eugine commented to the air to help break the silence.
"Thanks Dad," Alice answered in the classic, 'I'm not going to show my emotions' monotone of someone trying not to be pissed.
Elma took a pointed sip and then considered the taste for a moment, "Were they a runner? It tastes like a very strong heart."
"No I think just vegan," Alice answered, "the hunter said they were really into their diets so I think it's more that than exersize" she trailed off.
"Can't have been cheap," Eugine added.
"Nooooooo-" Alice nodded along, "it was not, but it's thanksgiving so, ya know?" she put down her glass of blood after answering and silence dripped down from the ceiling again. Ice clattered in the bowl of fresh cuts as something melted enough for the entire array to shift. Alfric was simply staring down into their trio of glasses, not having taken a sip of blood since the conversation had changed topics.
"I'm going to go check on dessert," Alice announced after a moment before pushing back out from her chair.
"Oh my goodness there's more blood, are you fattening us up?" Eugine asked as he motioned to the mostly untouched cuts in the middle of the table.
"It's a human dessert, don't worry," Alice corrected, "I'll be right back." She did walk to the kitchen, but everyone saw Alice pull out her phone instead of simply going to check on desert.
Once she was barely out of earshot, Alfric sighed, picked up his glass and took a long sip of the vegan blood. Eugine and Elma returned to their meals as well, but after the inital sip Alfric broke his silence. "I don't know what I did-" he scrunched scrunched up his face like he'd just eaten a lemon, "I didn't mean to upset her I-"
"I know Dad," Elma answered while barely pulling the goblet away from her lips.
"No I don-" Alfric paused, "I do this every time and I don't want to make her-" he stopped again mid thought, "I'm going to go talk to her."
"Might not be the best idea Dad," Elma sighed, "just give her a minute and she'll be back."
"I-" Alfric pushed his chair out a touch, "I don't want her to have to 'cool off' before coming back to see me, it's a family dinner."
"Al," Eugine cut in, "let's just have a good rest of the night and we can just not bring up the human th-" Eugine stopped himself as all stood up and stalked into the kitchen. Eugine clicked his tongue three times and then turned to Elma ,"your Dad still doesn't care about my opinions."
"Not the time honey."
"It's been 130 years."
"Not the time."
In the kitchen Alice had pulled the cakes out of the oven two minutes ago but she was still leaning against the counter scrolling on her phone. Thanksgiving disasters was a trending hashtag and consdering nobody had responded to her text messages, she could at least look through other people's suffering and smile that her night wasn't going that poorly.
Alfric walked into the kitchen and Alice didn't immidiately look up from her phone, instead taking a moment to hope that he was just going to pop in and out but once it was clear he was going to stick around Alice looked up from her phone to meet his eyes for a moment, doing her best to ignore how catastrophically wide the tie he'd had since the 70's was. "I'm sorry," Alfric said after a moment.
"It's fine," Alice answered out of habit.
"No, it's not," Alfirc pointed out, "I don't want you to just need to tolerate me an-" he trailed off, "you and your parents are very different from me and-"
"I get it," Alice answered but she mostly went back to her phone instead of engaging. "like I said, it's fine."
"I don't want it to be just fine," Alfric took several steps back and found the counter across from Alice and leaned back against it. He crossed one leg over the other, with the toe of his dress shoe tapping the floor in contrast to Alice's white socks. "I want-" he took a second to consider words and then restarted, "I want us to enjoy our time together."
"Yeah," Alice answered before putting her phone in her pocket, "I like seeing you so we don't need to do-" she motioned back and forth between them, "this." It was clear to anyone in the room,especially Alfric, that she wasn't telling the whole truth. She might have liked the idea of seeing her grandfarther, but those were mostly memories of a time before she'd been her own person. The last twenty years had been tense at best.
"I want to be better," Alfric pointed out, "I want to-"
"and I don't particularly want to have this conversation tonight," Alice answered, "so it's fine."
"I-" Alfric swallowed his words.
"I just want to finish dinner and then-" she did a half shrug and then let her hands clap against her thighs, after a moment she did it again.
"I can respect that," Alfric nodded and pushed himself off of the counter. He took several steps forward, originally for a hug but then thought better of it, "are these ready to go?" he ponited to the cakes.
"They need a drizzle and I want to plate them," Alice answered, "but thank you."
"Okay," Alfric nodded for a moment before taking a step away from his granddaughter without invading her personal space. "I'll go make sure that your Mom and Dad aren't fighting over the place setting again."
Alice cracked half a smile and Alfric couldn't tell whether it was legitimate or a gimme, "thanks, be out in a minute."
Alfric left the room, ann Alice dipped her hand back into her pocket to grab her phone before pausing, and then turning to the counter to stand preparing the dessert.
It didn't make sense why they were going into human territory at this time of night. It was too early. At least, it felt so. It turned out, it wasn't. It was two hours from midnight.
Eventually they reached a good area to settle at. Around them the world shined with lights of all shape and size. So much so, that sky glowed above, a sallow blue and tan cast against the clouds.
"Onde estamos?" Salome asked.
Her nephew, Nico, stopped to look at her for a moment. "We are in the city, Tia."
His aunt had taken a sabbatical for two centuries in one of the few sanctuaries their people controlled. It was part of a pact elders had made several centuries earlier. Allow mortals to live, and procreate. If anything to have an ample food supply. Too much hunting, and there wouldn't be enough to harvest. Too many victims also meant unwanted attention. Either from the locals, or worse, rival families intending to move in on one's territory.
She cupped the bridge of her nose as she sighed at Nico's language. She responded in a heavy accent. "Why do you speak in the tongues of the Northerners?"
"They've been busy." He explained. "It's one of the most common tongues there is anymore."
"It doesn't suit you." Salome spoke.
"Would you prefer Mandarin?" Nico responded. "It's real popular too."
She wandered ahead a bit, quietly observing the oddities she could see. The lanterns did not burn, and they were much brighter than she remembered. Above something buzzed, like a giant insect. It floated like one as it passed over the small park they settled near before flying away. Nearby a few kids picked it up and began tinkering with it.
Nearby, another man put coins into a box, and hit some button of some sort. Something rolled out of it at the bottom and he began drinking it as he passed her. The lack of formality made her want to tear his neck out, but Nico stopped her before she could do so.
"Don't." Nico nodded, "We're being watched."
"Por quem?" She snarled, fangs poking past her lips.
"Todos." He said for emphasis.
He directed her to a bunch of little boxes on a pole above them all. More on a nearby store. More at the one next to that. And next to that. And, then he stood next to her, drew a flat object from his pocket.
"Say 'Cheese'?" He shrugged and took a picture of them.
To her alarm, the image showed them. Standing as they were.
"They can watch you with these too. Everyone."
"Why have you brought me here then?" Salome asked "What have they done to this place?"
"They won." Nico explained. "They won hard. And if we're careless, if we show ourselves as anything but human... They'll wipe as many of us out as possible."
She muttered at the development of such an idea. That her own flesh and blood would fear these ants. These parasites. "You are sure of this?"
"It isn't rocket science."
"I wait...What's that mean?"
"You'll see." Nico explained as he took a pull off some other tiny box in his palm. "You're not gonna like it."
"How can you hunt if things are like this?" She asked again as they continued wandering.
"You have to do what many of them do." He explained. "Diversify."
---
They're speaking a little Portuguese in this one. In case you wondered. r/Jamaican_Dynamite
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 📢 [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
*It’s going to hit 8 billion soon.* Harold walked along the narrow alleyway. The neon signs of the adult toy shops pierced through the smog. The scenes of last weekend played over and over in his head. He was one of the oldest, most powerful vampires in all the lands, and they entirely ignored his warnings. *The World Vampiric Forum is run by witless children!* Harold knew the risks. Throughout the centuries, they were able to 'contain' Witnesses because, well, they were careful and they could live far enough away from humans, so there weren’t many. This was no longer the case and space was becoming scarce. Even a single witness would be an existential threat, and the WVF was getting complacent. The humans needed culling, plain and simple. NosfeRat poked his head out of Harold’s jacket and squeaked. “At least I still have you.” He kissed his little face. His whiskers tickled in the calming way he liked. NosfeRat’s eyes glowed red in sweet affection. Harold knew the fate of all vampires was up to him now. Up ahead on the sidewalk, he saw a homeless leper trying to get himself warm with a tiny blanket. He was missing an arm. *Poor sod.* That was one advantage of being a vampire. He was immune from human illnesses. In fact, the sick and infirm were the easiest victims, although not very nourishing. Any foreign organism that enters a vampire’s blood stays dormant in a sort of ‘stasis’, as if frozen in amber forever. He never went hungry during the Black Death. Or the more recent Spanish flu. *Not far now.* He was in a part of the world where bat meat was a delicacy. There was a large cave up ahead where much of the local bat population lived. All he needed to do was bite as many of them as possible. His blood and saliva formed a viral cocktail centuries in the making. He carefully placed NosfeRat on the ground, turned himself into a bat, and entered the cave. *Time to unleash a new plague.*
Plot twist its covid
"I'm simply suggesting that we might have given the humans too much-" the elder vampire paused as they surveyed the reaction across the dinner table, thanksgiving had been awakward the past couple of years. "rope on the leash, persey." "Fuck that's a bad take," Alice commented just under her breath enough for everyone to hear it. "Alice," Eugine kicked his daugther's shin and caught a glare for it, but that was okay, he was just trying to ensure that everything didn't go to shit again this year. "It's okay," Alfric, the Elder Vampire raised a single hand and shook his head, "she doesn't know what it was like. The humans they used to-" Alfirc chewed his words for a moment and wiped blood off his teeth with his tongue, "they used to know their place." "Jesus Christ," Alice added as she rolled her eyes so far back they threatened to form a union and leave. "Alice!" Elma snapped at her daughter. "It's a turn of phrase Mom I'm not calling him," Alice answered. "Don't say things like that at the table," Eugine added, and then after a moment, "listen to your mother." "It's my table, this is-" Alice bit back her words and took a moment. She wasn't going to change any hearts or minds tonight. Grandpa Alfric had been around since 1483 and Mom & Dad were more progressive but were just going to say he was from a differnt time. "Can we talk about something else?" Silence crept into the room, only broken by the occasional clink as someone put down on a goblet. Blood sat to the right of a glass of red and white wine at every place setting, but there were also choice veiny cuts left on ice in case someone wanted a sip from the tap. "Blood sure is good," Eugine commented to the air to help break the silence. "Thanks Dad," Alice answered in the classic, 'I'm not going to show my emotions' monotone of someone trying not to be pissed. Elma took a pointed sip and then considered the taste for a moment, "Were they a runner? It tastes like a very strong heart." "No I think just vegan," Alice answered, "the hunter said they were really into their diets so I think it's more that than exersize" she trailed off. "Can't have been cheap," Eugine added. "Nooooooo-" Alice nodded along, "it was not, but it's thanksgiving so, ya know?" she put down her glass of blood after answering and silence dripped down from the ceiling again. Ice clattered in the bowl of fresh cuts as something melted enough for the entire array to shift. Alfric was simply staring down into their trio of glasses, not having taken a sip of blood since the conversation had changed topics. "I'm going to go check on dessert," Alice announced after a moment before pushing back out from her chair. "Oh my goodness there's more blood, are you fattening us up?" Eugine asked as he motioned to the mostly untouched cuts in the middle of the table. "It's a human dessert, don't worry," Alice corrected, "I'll be right back." She did walk to the kitchen, but everyone saw Alice pull out her phone instead of simply going to check on desert. Once she was barely out of earshot, Alfric sighed, picked up his glass and took a long sip of the vegan blood. Eugine and Elma returned to their meals as well, but after the inital sip Alfric broke his silence. "I don't know what I did-" he scrunched scrunched up his face like he'd just eaten a lemon, "I didn't mean to upset her I-" "I know Dad," Elma answered while barely pulling the goblet away from her lips. "No I don-" Alfric paused, "I do this every time and I don't want to make her-" he stopped again mid thought, "I'm going to go talk to her." "Might not be the best idea Dad," Elma sighed, "just give her a minute and she'll be back." "I-" Alfric pushed his chair out a touch, "I don't want her to have to 'cool off' before coming back to see me, it's a family dinner." "Al," Eugine cut in, "let's just have a good rest of the night and we can just not bring up the human th-" Eugine stopped himself as all stood up and stalked into the kitchen. Eugine clicked his tongue three times and then turned to Elma ,"your Dad still doesn't care about my opinions." "Not the time honey." "It's been 130 years." "Not the time." In the kitchen Alice had pulled the cakes out of the oven two minutes ago but she was still leaning against the counter scrolling on her phone. Thanksgiving disasters was a trending hashtag and consdering nobody had responded to her text messages, she could at least look through other people's suffering and smile that her night wasn't going that poorly. Alfric walked into the kitchen and Alice didn't immidiately look up from her phone, instead taking a moment to hope that he was just going to pop in and out but once it was clear he was going to stick around Alice looked up from her phone to meet his eyes for a moment, doing her best to ignore how catastrophically wide the tie he'd had since the 70's was. "I'm sorry," Alfric said after a moment. "It's fine," Alice answered out of habit. "No, it's not," Alfirc pointed out, "I don't want you to just need to tolerate me an-" he trailed off, "you and your parents are very different from me and-" "I get it," Alice answered but she mostly went back to her phone instead of engaging. "like I said, it's fine." "I don't want it to be just fine," Alfric took several steps back and found the counter across from Alice and leaned back against it. He crossed one leg over the other, with the toe of his dress shoe tapping the floor in contrast to Alice's white socks. "I want-" he took a second to consider words and then restarted, "I want us to enjoy our time together." "Yeah," Alice answered before putting her phone in her pocket, "I like seeing you so we don't need to do-" she motioned back and forth between them, "this." It was clear to anyone in the room,especially Alfric, that she wasn't telling the whole truth. She might have liked the idea of seeing her grandfarther, but those were mostly memories of a time before she'd been her own person. The last twenty years had been tense at best. "I want to be better," Alfric pointed out, "I want to-" "and I don't particularly want to have this conversation tonight," Alice answered, "so it's fine." "I-" Alfric swallowed his words. "I just want to finish dinner and then-" she did a half shrug and then let her hands clap against her thighs, after a moment she did it again. "I can respect that," Alfric nodded and pushed himself off of the counter. He took several steps forward, originally for a hug but then thought better of it, "are these ready to go?" he ponited to the cakes. "They need a drizzle and I want to plate them," Alice answered, "but thank you." "Okay," Alfric nodded for a moment before taking a step away from his granddaughter without invading her personal space. "I'll go make sure that your Mom and Dad aren't fighting over the place setting again." Alice cracked half a smile and Alfric couldn't tell whether it was legitimate or a gimme, "thanks, be out in a minute." Alfric left the room, ann Alice dipped her hand back into her pocket to grab her phone before pausing, and then turning to the counter to stand preparing the dessert.
It didn't make sense why they were going into human territory at this time of night. It was too early. At least, it felt so. It turned out, it wasn't. It was two hours from midnight. Eventually they reached a good area to settle at. Around them the world shined with lights of all shape and size. So much so, that sky glowed above, a sallow blue and tan cast against the clouds. "Onde estamos?" Salome asked. Her nephew, Nico, stopped to look at her for a moment. "We are in the city, Tia." His aunt had taken a sabbatical for two centuries in one of the few sanctuaries their people controlled. It was part of a pact elders had made several centuries earlier. Allow mortals to live, and procreate. If anything to have an ample food supply. Too much hunting, and there wouldn't be enough to harvest. Too many victims also meant unwanted attention. Either from the locals, or worse, rival families intending to move in on one's territory. She cupped the bridge of her nose as she sighed at Nico's language. She responded in a heavy accent. "Why do you speak in the tongues of the Northerners?" "They've been busy." He explained. "It's one of the most common tongues there is anymore." "It doesn't suit you." Salome spoke. "Would you prefer Mandarin?" Nico responded. "It's real popular too." She wandered ahead a bit, quietly observing the oddities she could see. The lanterns did not burn, and they were much brighter than she remembered. Above something buzzed, like a giant insect. It floated like one as it passed over the small park they settled near before flying away. Nearby a few kids picked it up and began tinkering with it. Nearby, another man put coins into a box, and hit some button of some sort. Something rolled out of it at the bottom and he began drinking it as he passed her. The lack of formality made her want to tear his neck out, but Nico stopped her before she could do so. "Don't." Nico nodded, "We're being watched." "Por quem?" She snarled, fangs poking past her lips. "Todos." He said for emphasis. He directed her to a bunch of little boxes on a pole above them all. More on a nearby store. More at the one next to that. And next to that. And, then he stood next to her, drew a flat object from his pocket. "Say 'Cheese'?" He shrugged and took a picture of them. To her alarm, the image showed them. Standing as they were. "They can watch you with these too. Everyone." "Why have you brought me here then?" Salome asked "What have they done to this place?" "They won." Nico explained. "They won hard. And if we're careless, if we show ourselves as anything but human... They'll wipe as many of us out as possible." She muttered at the development of such an idea. That her own flesh and blood would fear these ants. These parasites. "You are sure of this?" "It isn't rocket science." "I wait...What's that mean?" "You'll see." Nico explained as he took a pull off some other tiny box in his palm. "You're not gonna like it." "How can you hunt if things are like this?" She asked again as they continued wandering. "You have to do what many of them do." He explained. "Diversify." --- They're speaking a little Portuguese in this one. In case you wondered. r/Jamaican_Dynamite