Page 116 of The Last Vampire
It is the only thing in here he touches. He lifts the book gently and opens its hard cover. The first page is stained and lumpy and blank. William flips to the next one, and it is also blank.
This is just like the LUB.
The thought annoys him, and he turns to the next page, and the next, and the next—and on the fifth page, he reads:
The Manifest
The heading is followed by a list of names. The list continues for a few pages, and a quick calculation tells him there are three hundred and forty-five people listed here, in alphabetical order. Most of them are marked with an asterisk.
William flips back a page to the letterS—
No Stokers.
Next, he looks forP—
No Prides, either.
Yet there is anotherPlast name that is in there twice: Natalio Alejandro Perez and Francisco Horacio Perez.Nate and Cisco.
Both of them are missing asterisks.
“What is this?” asks William. He can sense Nate’s presence behind him.
“The list of those of us who stayed behind.”
“You said there are only fifty-four.”
“That is how many areleft.”
William sets down the notebook and turns to look Nate in the eye. “What happened to them? The names with the asterisks?”
“We can only guess,” says Nate, walking away from the weapons closet. He waits for William to join him in the living room before going on.
“It’s hard to be immortal in a world that runs on time,” he says, clicking the button so the gray marble wall locks back into place. “In our old lives, we existed in the open, we had places that catered to our needs, and of course,there were some among us with the power to make more of us. We had what I like to callpotential.”
Nate starts returning all the condoms to the bag, but at a mortal’s pace, as if he is making a point. “Now we walk through this world like ghosts. We are alone, we are lonely, and we are a secret. Some of us, like Anne and Lenny, have taken to this kind of existence. But most haven’t.”
“Are you saying they…” It is hard to produce the word. William has never heard of vampire suicides before.
Nate straightens, holding the bag. “The other theory is they were killed by the Legion.”
“TheLegion…” Every joint in William’s body locks up at that word. “They are still active?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? If you told the average human that vampires exist, they would sooner call you crazy than well-informed. Get what I’m saying? Even if the fifty-four of us who are left haven’t had run-ins with the Legion, we can’t speak for the three hundred dead.”
Nate is being very forthcoming all of a sudden, yet William does not get the impression it has anything to do with a newfound trust. On the contrary, the ponytailed vampire studies William like an investigator interrogating a suspect.
“Why am I not on this list?” asks William.
“You tell me.”
Sounds like they have arrived at the root of Nate’s issue with William. “Is this the reason you took so long to take me to see Henry and Anne? Why I have not yet met Lenny? Because I am not on the manifest?”
“Only Lenny and I know about the manifest,” says Nate. “When I told him you weren’t on it, he instructed me to learn what I could about you and make sure you weren’t some Legion plant.”
“Why would I be—?”
“In our time, there were rumors of brainwashed vampires in league with them. Lenny did not want me sending you to him if it could put his hideout at risk. He would not be a fan of moving. You’ll see why when you fly to France to meet him.”
