Susan Krinard - Daysider

San Francisco, California

Mommy was crying. Alexia knew it had something to with do the lady on the TV, talking in soft words that didnt match the angry expression on her face.

Behind the lady was a picture of a city, a black, upside-down bowl that gleamed like a beetles shell in bright sunlight. Erebus, the lady on the TV said. Alexia didnt know what that meant, but it sounded like a very bad word. And somehow, it was making Mommy sad.

Alexia got up from her seat on the thin carpet and went to Mommy, searching her face anxiously. There were dark blotches under Mommys eyes, and her nose was red.

What is it, Mommy? Alexia asked, reaching up to be taken into her mothers arms.

Mommy picked her up and sat her on the couch beside her. Nothings wrong, Lexie, she said, trying to smile.

Alexia always knew when Mommy was fooling. It wasnt just that she smelled different, or the way her voice got very tight, even though she was smiling. There was something wrong, and it made Alexia upset that Mommy was unhappy. Upset and angry.

What are they talking about? Alexia asked, pointing at the TV.

Mommy pulled Alexia close and stroked her hair. Its a city, she said.

Like San Francisco?

Not the same, Mommy replied. She breathed in and out in a funny way that made Alexias heart hurt. You remember when we talked about the Nightsiders?

Alexia made a face. Theyre nasty. We had a big fight with them.

Thats right. Mommy bent her head so her nose pressed against Alexias hair. That is the city they built in what we used to call the Sonoma Valley. They made it all for themselves, where they dont have to be in the sun.

Sun kills them, Alexia said solemnly.

Thats right.

And they used to kill people all the time, didnt they? During the big fight?

Mommy covered Alexias eyes as if she didnt want her to see the TV anymore. You shouldnt know about that, she said, a funny warble in her voice. No child should know.

Dont worry, Mommy. Alexia pulled her mothers hand away from her eyes. The kids at school talk about the bloodsuckers all the time. Im not scared.

Oh, God, Mommy whispered. Do they... Are the other kids...nice to you, at school?

Oh, theyre okay. Some of the girls are mean sometimes. They give me funny looks.

The boys just stare at me a lot.

Mommy cupped both her hands around Alexias face. What do they say?

Alexia shrugged the way she had seen grown-ups do when they were pretending something didnt matter. Silly things, about my eyes. She touched her own eyelids.

They say Im like a cat because I can see in the dark.

Thats right, Mommy said in a completely different voice than before. Like a cat.

And cats are beautiful, arent they? So graceful and brave. She smiled, moving Alexia to sit in her lap. But you know what? I think you look even more like a fox. Remember the pictures I showed you?

Alexia nodded. It was red, like my hair.

And quick and clever. Like you.

They were very nice words, but Alexia couldnt help looking at the TV again, and at the ugly city with the scary name.

The bloodsuckers arent ever going to come here, are they? she asked, just a little bit scared after all.

Lexie, that word

Isnt that what they are, Mommy?

Mommy made a sound a little like a laugh, but it wasnt a happy one. Yes, she said.

But you dont have to worry about that.

Im not worried. Alexia bit her lip. We arent ever going to get in a big fight with them again, are we?

No. She took a big, long breath. I wish Alexia wriggled free and looked up into Mommys eyes. What do you wish, Mommy?

I wish things could be the way they were before...before the big fight.

When my daddy was alive?

Mommys face seemed to crumple all at once. She sobbed, and Alexia knew it was because of what she had said. It was all her fault.

Its okay, Mommy, she said, stroking her mothers trembling hand and soft, wet cheeks. I wont ever talk about Daddy again.

Oh, my baby, Mommy said, gathering Alexia up again so tightly that she could barely breathe. I will never, ever let anyone hurt you. Not anyone. Im going to keep you with me forever and ever.

Alexia pressed her face to the pulse in Mommys neck. It was so warm and sweet. It made her feel safe.

But she didnt want to just be safe. She wanted to find a way to make Mommy happy.

And keep those nasty bloodsuckers in their ugly black city from making anyone afraid, ever again.

San Francisco Enclave, West Coast Region

It may be fatal, the Director said.

Alexia laughed. Since when hasnt that been true of every mission?

Aegis Director of Field Operations Wilson McAllister regarded her without a trace of amusement. This isnt funny, Alex, he said. Were talking about violating our side of the Treaty and striking deep into the Zone. Even the Mayor doesnt know about it.

At least not officially, Alexia said.

Not officially enough to send someone to pull your ass out of the fire if you get caught. The steel rims of McAllisters glasses flashed as they caught the cold and sterile light from the overhead fixtures. Your mission will be to learn everything you can about the Nightsiders illegal colony without doing anything to attract the Citadels attention. If you fail or are captured

Aegis will disavow any knowledge of our actions. I know the drill. Alexia wandered to the window overlooking the glimmering waters of San Francisco Bay. From Aegis headquarters in the old Financial District, she could see a heavily guarded convoy of trucks carrying agricultural products from the Central Valley into the city. The Treaty meant that the Nightsiders were supposed to leave such convoys alone.

Usually they did. But there were always the terrorists, the ones who wanted to ignite a new War. On both sides. And that was what her team would be sent in to try to prevent.

Alexia drifted back into memory, of the year the Nightsiders had first appeared. Not that theyd been her memories, not exactly. But shed seen the archived news vids, the looks of bewilderment and fear on the newscasters faces when the first reports came in: horror stories of vampires arising seemingly out of nowhere, some emerging from decades or centuries or even millennia of sleep in sanctuaries built far beneath the earth.

No one knewor at least the leeches werent tellingwhat had roused them, or why they had chosen that time to rise and claim the earth.

Ten years laterten years of chaos and plague and terrible war, the time when Alexias mother gave birth to a half-vampire childhad led to the Treaty, and now most parts of the world were carefully divided into territories: vampire Citadels and human Enclaves, separated by the unclaimed regions known as the Zones.

Just outside the Enclave that embraced San Francisco and the area formerly known as the East Bay, the Zone comprised an immense semicircular region that had once held thriving suburbs, now abandoned and slowly crumbling back to the earth as new forests and fields absorbed stone and concrete, and animalsonce driven away by human incursionsreclaimed their original habitats. Beyond the Zone, to the south and east in the regions of the Central Valley, lay the farmlands that produced sustenance for the Enclaves, each surrounded by its own Zone and patrolled by special military forces whose job it was to keep Nightsiders out and human workers safe from them. In theory, as per the Treaty, the workers were protected, and so were the routes to the Enclaves.

To the north, in the area once distinguished by its scenic fields of grapevines and boutique wineries, its rolling hills and towering redwoods, stood Erebus. The Citadel of Night.