The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Chapters 8.5 - 9.5 (was old chapter 7 of draft 2.5)

Nine Inch Nails played at Roseland the night the Vampyres fled New York. Femme to Femme and Marilyn Manson had already played, and Morpheus was dancing among the crowd of young sweating, people completely unaware of the intrigue going on about him. The first time he noticed something might be wrong was when saw Julien leave Joy in the arms of another boy.

He'd expected Julien to be there. He knew Julien's big fashion show had been that evening. Morpheus had worn a disguise to be able to stand in the back and watch just a little of it. Mother was not pleased with that, and had also warned that Athen had bought concert tickets for Julien and Joy, and some of the others in their brood of Vampyres. Mother had warned Morpheus keep his distance. Then she had laughed and said, "Apparently Athen thinks Trent Reznor God!"

Athen never showed. Julien and Joy alone had come in, looking frantic and distracted. They had found a friend of theirs directly, Morpheus knew the boy: Paul. He was a fan of Robert's Pill. Julien put Joy right into Paul's hands, strange enough as Julien usually despised all humans Joy was attracted to on sight. Julien was a jealous Vampyre.

Morpheus had watched Julien run from the concert, made his way out of the crowd to watch Julien go. As he stood there, some other boy gained his attention. Morpheus couldn't quite explain it, the feeling was not unlike the one he had felt picking River out of a crowd of desperate souls, not unlike the feeling he had learned to gauge Joy's proximity by. Morpheus wondered who the young man was. He was like the majority of boys Joy liked, tall, slender, blonde and blue-eyed.

Morpheus thought that description all too familiar.

Intrigue.

He looked for Mother. She was standing up on the back of the bench that ran along one side wall with Elle guarding her. Paul was moving toward her with Joy. Mother looked over the crowd at Morpheus, pearl-black eyes seeming to burn. This was the signal he had waited years for. He had a task: get out there and find out what the hell was going on. Joy was in danger, they were all in danger.

Morpheus walked toward the door. Two women scantily dressed in black leather and fishnet ran up the stairs, frantic. He saw the talons on their heels, unhidden, as they ran past. Daughters of Lilith. He saw two more people that he knew couldn't be human before getting to the door. It was as if some force drew them all to the concert, as if they knew there was some safety to be found in this crowd, in their numbers.

Morpheus could feel it as he stepped outside, it grew stronger as he walked away from the music. He thought: maybe it's the music that stops whatever it is out there. He stepped to the shadows, turned black and rose into the sky on his wings, unnoticed. He kept the black coloring as it camouflaged him against the night sky. He flew uptown, toward the building Julien lived in, or did at least as far as the postal office knew; the Vampyres had a secret haven in an old abandoned subway station.

There. He saw quickly what danger there was, Humans who could block Vampyres or anyone else from reading their minds, Humans in sinister red uniforms moving behind the windows of Julien's penthouse, and on the street below. Some of the Humans could read minds, were witches. Morpheus picked Helen out of the crowd; she'd been one of the first humans he ever met. She was standing next to a car in which Steven sat a prisoner.

Morpheus noticed something that wasn't there, noticed an absence, a pocket of nothing, and then another moving after it. He knew what caused it then, though the Humans might never guess, and not all Angels might either. There were two figures wearing Nightcloaks on the street below. Nightcloaks were excellent camouflage, but the fact that Children of Night used them so often they knew how to spot them on others.