Free By Sun and Candlelight by Susan Sizemore

 
    By Sun and Candlelight
    Susan Sizemore
     

    Set in the Vampire Primes (Vampire
Bookclub) Universe
     
     
    The park around the palace was the
pride and prize of the capital city of New Byzant. Every
environment on Terra was represented here, flowing one into another
through the park's impossible to sense force fields. Be it desert
or frozen tundra, rain forest or mountain meadow, it was part of
the park. The park was a living memorial to the Terra which had
existed before a devastating energy pulse from deep space triggered
environmental disaster that nearly killed all life on the
planet.
    There had been people living off
planet way back then, on Martian and Lunar settlements, on space
stations and asteroid colonies. This fortunate circumstance of
humanity being spread across the Sol star system at the time of the
disaster led directly to the founding of the Byzant Empire. Which
brought the vampire to the park on a night when the white walls and
golden domes of the Imperial Palace were illuminated by the full
moon.
    He'd conducted business on the moon
a couple of days ago, and found that he did not like the place,
despite its famous view of the Homeworld of Humanity. The view made
it quite the tourist destination, and the place had been
overflowing with folk inbound for the upcoming Resurrection
Festival. Even in this time of war attending the festival held once
a decade on the ancient homeworld was the dream trip of a
lifetime.
    The vampire had not been born on
Terra, but on a red star world more friendly to his kind. But his
ancestors were as native to Terra as any other type of human.
Rulers of the night while mortals ruled the day. Or at least that
was the way vampire legend had it. Mortals had grown too many,
vampires too few and equality had suffered, not in the vampires'
favor.
    Before the disaster that crashed the
mother world almost to a cinder vampires developed drugs that let
them live in the yellow light of day. Many still took those drugs,
but he was not one of them. He was proud of his own red light
world, and he made his career in space. To be on Terra he'd had to
make preparations. Though it was now night, the time his kind had
evolved to dwell in, he wore a light filtering skin suit beneath
his Marine uniform, and had protective hooded mask, gloves and
goggles in a carry pouch at his belt. Ready for the day if this op
took longer than he expected.
    People noticed him as he strolled
the section of the park near the palace entrance he'd chosen for
his incursion. He was a big male, tall, heavily muscled, wearing
the blue dress uniform of a two star major general, with many
decoration pinned upon his chest. His head was freshly shaved -
because Marines were an austere lot who would never sport a headful
of soft brown curls. He looked the part.
    He could do nothing about telling
the mortals who noticed to forget seeing him. The palace's security
systems included sensitive apparatus for detecting the use of
telepathy. The guards he must pass were also insensitive to
telepathic suggestion as well as being equipped with psi dampening
filters - just in case.
    The vampire knew he could not enter
the palace using only the talents he'd been born with. He was going
to use a security pass acquired from an expert forger. Acquiring
the pass had been his reason for spending time among all the
tourists on the moon.
    With the night growing older, it was
time to make his move.
    He smiled as he thought to himself
that it would be rude to intrude on the princess after she'd gone
to bed.
     
    There were always people gathered
around the entrances to the palace. Most were tourists, some were
protesters for one cause or another. The heir to the throne was not
popular in some quarters at the moment. Tonight most of the
disgruntled were shouting and carrying signs calling for the
Porphyrgia's abdication, or worse. No one noticed that he was a
vampire, but a group of pacifists shouted at him because he was a
Marine. He didn't mind