Vampire’s Cupcake

“Once a week?” Thano’s face was a blank mask.

“I don’t know if it’s exactly once a week, but yeah, they come if they’re delivering goods to me or if they want to buy something from the shop. Normally, they come on market day too.”

“Do you think they’d stop coming?”

No words came over his lips. Stop coming? Eli’s shop wouldn’t survive without the people in Fisherman’s Lake. Trucks drove between settlements, but it took time to get the items, and it was expensive. Truck drivers took a great risk driving through wild country between settlements.

With Elijah’s phone working, Eli could perhaps call to order some products, if he could find out which number to call, but he was sure the prices would skyrocket. The Fisherman’s Lake people didn’t charge him any delivery cost. He was sure they’d included it in the price, taken the time and effort of rowing across the lake into consideration, but it was nothing outrageous.

“Would they go elsewhere?” Thano’s cool voice yanked him out of his head.

“Where?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about how humans do business, but there is a paved road out of Fisherman’s Lake, right? The lake isn’t their only way to travel.”

Nodding, Eli tried to think about it from their point of view. Would Joshua pack his potatoes into a truck and ship them elsewhere? If the profit was better, he was sure he would. He might already be doing it with a portion of it, Eli wasn’t sure. The people in Fisherman’s Lake needed his store as much as the people in Last Hope did. Or maybe not as much. They had meat, dairy, and several crops there. If they worked together, he was sure they could keep the community alive without Eli’s shop, but it would be harder for them.

As far as Eli could tell, Joshua was a good, hard-working man, but the Fisherman’s Lake people kept to themselves when they could. They were under Last Hope’s jurisdiction, paid their taxes to the settlement, and so on. “What… eh… does the Fisherman’s Lake representative on the board say?”

Thano’s face had been blank before, but now it was more so. “Fisherman’s Lake representative?”

“You’ve switched members so often lately, I haven’t kept track of who’s on the board, but their representative must have voiced their opinion, right?”

“I don’t think we have a representative. I don’t think Mabel Mallon, Charles Riggle, George Hilburn, or Theodore Carner are from Fisherman’s Lake.”

They weren’t. “But there is supposed to be a representative from Fisherman’s Lake. It’s part of Last Hope’s jurisdiction, and they should have a say in the decisions.”

Mabel Mallon was a dangerous woman. She believed in harsh rulings to keep the people in check, and while he was sure she wanted Last Hope to do well, he was equally sure she would do whatever she could to make things as beneficial as possible for herself. She’d been a busybody for as long as he could remember, and he didn’t think it was a good thing to have her on the board.

Charles, he believed, was a good man. He didn’t know if their opinions always matched, but he would work for the greater good. George and Theodore were bad news. They were the kind of people who got a mob together and chased people off the paved road if they were different. Any kind of different. He glanced at Alice who was still in the shop. She was different.

Thano watched him with narrowed eyes. “Is this a rule we’ve failed to follow?”

Was it a rule? It was how it always had been. Fisherman’s Lake should have someone on the board. “I don’t know what the bylaws say, but there has always been a representative from Fisherman’s Lake. It would be hard for Last Hope to survive without Fisherman’s Lake. There are no farms in the city proper, and there is no room for any. Fisherman’s Lake are allowed their farms—” He gulped down a breath. Shit, for a moment, he’d forgotten who he was talking to. “—since they were spared when the… others swiped through the country.”

Thano nodded. “They’re non-intrusive people. There was no reason to get rid of them since they stick to themselves, work the land, and don’t demand more or pollute their surroundings.”

Right. Good little humans who toed the line. “Yeah, either way, they’re our biggest, and some time of year, only source of food. People might grow some veggies in their gardens, but there is no room for grain or to keep animals in Last Hope. We share the lake, and we have a few fishermen here in Last Hope, but not enough to feed the population.”

“You are too many living in Last Hope.”

Eli’s blood ran cold. “Eh…” Fuck, had he doomed them all?

Thano’s dark eyes bore into him. “I guess the population has grown some since the settlement was spared.”

No words came. Eli tried frantically to come up with something to say, to find the right thing to say, but his mouth had grown numb and his voice had deserted him.

Thano watched him, an eyebrow slowly rising on the normally impassive face. “I will take all this into consideration—”

“No!” The air whooshed out of Eli’s lungs.

“No? I should not consider the food scarcity?”

“Yes.” Shit, what should he say? “We need Fisherman’s Lake, and the food they produce.”

Thano remained unmoving for a while. “When we discussed the mooring fee on the board, Charles argued everyone would suffer if we enforced it. The Fisherman’s Lake people would raise their prices, forcing you to raise your prices—” Alice gasped. “—and people wouldn’t be able to pay for what they need.”

Eli nodded. He couldn’t argue with the prediction. “Everyone has to make a living. I shop here too.” Eli gestured around. “If I don’t make enough money, I’m not eating since I can’t take out any salary.”

“Because humans have stupid systems.” Thano gave a short nod. “I’ll try to explain to Fala, Raven, Conal, and Tuur before we vote.” Then he headed for the door.