Spiritualized:
By Means of Your Soul
By Steven E. Sannella
In the aftermath of a cataclysmic nuclear war, a 5,000-year-old Egyptian vampire and humanity, under the auspices of an overprotective artificial intelligence are "forced" to wage war against each other.
Chapter 1: Apsis Intelligenx
Michael dreams of a woman trapped in a metal box. Apsis Intelligenx governs humanity's remnants in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. A salvage ship dredges up a metal box from the bottom of the ocean containing a woman who attacks the crew.
Chapter 2: Michael
An alert at Apsis awakens Michael, who stumbles to the Aosis Intelligenx Control Center. There he and Jack determine that the woman who attacked the crew of the salvage ship is a vampire. Vampires were thought to have been killed of long ago.
Chapter 3: Lead the Way
Dai Lu, the Apsis Intelligenx administrator is introduced. She, Michael and Omari argue with Apsis over the implications of a vampire resurgence and who left the toilet seat up in the Control Center. A messy love triangle is revealed. Omari and Michael used to be lovers and now Omari and Dai Lu are. Dai Lu prepares their response to the attack on the salvage vessel.
Chapter 4: Vampire Killers
Flashback to 150 years ago. Torturous human experimentation on vampire subjects before the start of The War is revealed. Vampires' ability to telepathically communicate in secret is also revealed. Human tech to wage war against vampires is developed. Secondary flashback to Hannibal's crossing the Alps with Elephants. A battle with vampires leaves all but one of Hannibal's elephants dead prior to his descent upon Rome.
Chapter 5: Lineage and Honors
Geraldine-Isabella protects a mountain stronghold from vampire special forces during The War. In the present her descendant, Melanie-Isabella has a crush on Michael who is gay and still in love with Omari. They prepare to deploy to the salvage vessel.
Chapter 6: Take Care of the Ocean, and the Ocean Will Take Care of You
The Vampire Akhethotep hides in the rock face of a cliff. She has a flashback to her conflict with Moloch, her first lover. As part of a vampire triumvirate they were in charge of the Vampire response to human experimentation that led to The War. Moloch imprisons her in a metal box and throws her to the bottom of the ocean where she remains trapped for 150 years.
Chapter 7: Grey New World
Michael, Omari and Melanie plus hybrids arrive at the beached salvage vessel. They conduct a forensic examination of the ship and collect human remains including microchips by which Apsis communicates with people. Akhethotep makes her way to the habitable zone governed by Apsis.
Chapter 8: Rage Reigns Down
In the mid 21st century, a fierce aerial battle between vampire and human air forces rages. The activation or destruction of Apsis Intelligenx the Guardian of Humanity is at stake.
Chapter 9: Defenders of Gaia
Flashback to 150 years ago near the end of The War. Rioting has gripped the globe. Vampire and Human countries are in dire straits. Vampires are winning and humanity is racing against the clock to activate Apsis before its unconditional surrender. The War ends with the activation of Apsis and the vampire leader initiating a nuclear holocaust. Apsis can't sustain all humans and kills or abandons all but a few.
Chapter 10: Savagery and Survival
Humanity is clinging on by a thread following The War. Apsis has to make many difficult choices to ensure humanity's survival including restrictive rationing and triage. Apsis engineers a definitive response to marauding bands of humans and vampires including the militarization of society and excursions into the radioactive wasteland outside the zone.
Chapter 11: The Transformation
Akhethotep infiltrates the habitable zone ran by Apsis. She claims her first follower, Magali. Magali renames Akhethotep as Dawn and a romantic interest between the two is kindled. Magali's transformation from human into vampire is a source of empowerment and liberation. Dawn finds an embedded microchip in one of her victims and asks Magali what the tech is for and how to activate it.
Chapter 12: Head in the Game
The data from the microchips of the crew of the salvage vessel are downloaded by Apsis. Dawn's murder of the crew is witnessed by Michael, Dai Lu, and Omari in graphic detail. They realize they are woefully outmatched. A mystery experiment is discussed between Dai Lu and Apsis and whether or not they should shut it down.
Chapter 13: Friends Till the End
Flashbacks from 20-30 years ago. Dai Lu is orphaned as a child and adopted by an abusive father. Omari's rough upbringing in poverty. His mom dies from working herself to death protecting him. As a young adult Michael builds drones to spy on men in the shower.
Chapter 14: The Uprising Part 1: Biopower
20 years before the present day, Dai Lu and Michael are working as interns at the Apsis Intelligenx Control Center. Michael and Omari meet and fall in love amidst a brewing uprising between Apsis aligned humans versus an alternate faction of humans which seek to neuter Apsis's sentience.
Chapter 15: The Uprising Part II: The Soulforged
478 days into The Uprising, Omari, Michael and Dai Lu devise a plan to bring a final end to the conflict. Michael takes charge of the entire array of technologically elite hybrids after Omari is critically wounded. He self destructs them, killing 60% of all humans in the habitable zone and all the rebels.
Chapter 16: The Uprising Part III:
The Human Equation
Michael realizes that he killed 60% of the human race. Apsis says that due to the loss of fertile humans, all same sex couples must be reassigned as opposite sex couples. It forcibly reassigns Omari to Dai Lu which fractures Michael's spirit. He accuses Dai Lu and Omari of having an affair and tailspins into a depression.
Chapter 17: Nothing to See Here
In the present, Michael and Omari deploy to the residential district he bombed during The Uprising. Several dead humans drained of blood are on the street. Omari and Michael start a panic with an ill-fated attempt at crowd control. At Apsis, the Power goes out and the complex is infiltrated by vampires. Jack puts up a fierce struggle but is captured by Dawn.
Chapter 18: Victim of Fate
Jack is found unconscious and near death in the Apsis Control Center which is still powered down. Dead Vampires are near him. Omari and Dai Lu try to clean up while Michael and Melanie help bind Jack's wounds. Melanie returns to the armory and Apsis is reactivated. It determines that Jack is actually dead and has been turned into a vampire.
Chapter 19: A Different Shade of Darkness
Jack confronts Melanie who is in the armory. He tries to kill her. Michael intervenes and is himself almost killed. Melanie, wielding first a gun, then crossbows and then a sword finishes Jack.
Chapter 20: The Experiment
Dawn finds out about a secret experiment and is confronted by Apsis. After a battle of wills that leaves Apsis flustered, several hybrids rush Dawn armed with guns and crossbows. She makes quick work of them, blows the door to the experiment open and finds the barely alive and partially dismembered Moloch being experimented on.
Chapter 21: Sekhmet
Prehistory to 2700 BCE, the history of vampires as evolutionary cousins of humanity is explored. Sekhmet is the first biologically immortal vampire and rampages up and down the Nile to enslave humanity.
Chapter 22: Nocturnal Light
In 2700 BCE Sekhmet turns Akhethotep (Dawn) and Moloch to vampires and instills them as her top subordinates. They fear her motives and blood rage and devise a plan to slay her. After drinking blood infused with scorpion venom, Sekhmet transforms into energy and transcends to a different plane of existence, never to be heard from again.
Chapter 23: Akhet Khufu
2600 BCE, Akhethotep and Moloch are building a vampire clan through appropriation of Egyptian Mythology. Moloch believes in increasing the pace of their clan's growth and turns a bunch of children into vampires who run rampant through a work camp at night. It is a bloodbath. Moloch nearly kills Dawn and they part company.
Chapter 24: Born to Die
In the present Dawn finds Moloch barely alive and euthanizes him after destroying the lab he is being kept alive in. She threatens to exact revenge on Dai Lu and Apsis. She escapes Apsis and Michael, Omari and Dai Lu have a very loud argument about Michael's sexual orientation and keeping secrets.
Chapter 25: Rage
Dai Lu and Omari nearly come to blows over the state of the lab and the hidden experimentation on Moloch. Apsis compels Omari and Michael to leave Dai Lu alone after which it informs Dai Lu that Michael and Dawn appear to have some sort of psychic connection.
Chapter 26: Beyond the Matrix
Michael is in a deep dream state. Dawn comes to visit him and they discuss their shared psychic bond. She warns him not to intervene in the coming battle. It is revealed that Apsis has Michael in an artificially deep sleep and has traced Dawn's location through her bond with Michael. Omari, Dai Lu, and Melanie prepare to attack.
Chapter 27: Seeds of Agony
Dai Lu, Omari, Melanie, hybrids and a fleet of drones invade Dawn's lair. An intense, epic and bloody battle ensues that leads Melanie incapacitated, Dawn and Omari nearly incapacitated, most hybrids and drones destroyed, and 18 of 20 vampires dead. Dawn and Magali, who are now lovers, are the only two missing.
Chapter 28: Dawn's Breaking
Dai Lu and Omari are severely wounded and at home recovering. Dawn breaks in and after a fierce struggle, kills both Omari and Dai Lu. Dawn hears a young child upstairs in their home and discoveries they have a daughter who reminds her of herself when she was turned over 5000 years ago. She takes the child with her and escapes hybrids deployed to the home.
Chapter 29: Total Eclipse of the Moon
Dawn and Magali take Dai Lu's daughter Sophina to Michael in the pouring rain. Michael has no idea that Sophina existed. She was a secret from all in the habitable zone. Michael demands that Dawn and Apsis stop their war which has claimed his best friend and his former lover and adopts the girl.
Chapter 30: Heading for Tomorrow
Dawn and Magali meet Michael and Melanie at the Apsis compound to chart a path forward. Dawn trades 5000 years of her own memories of human art, music and culture in exchange for 20% of the population of the habitable zone to rebuild her race. Beethoven's Ode to Joy is heard in the habitable zone for the first time where Apsis learns to its chagrin that the world is not flat, it is round.