NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I should say this first off. This is a story, not an Rp, though I might ask one or two people to Rp near the end. As some of you know, TGS is pretty much your average human nation. Though, it sticks out in NS because of the populace's obiviousness. No one believes in vampires, werewolves, elves etc. One of my characters, Stephen Malone, is a vampire and because of TGS not believeing his kind, he can move around quite freely. Another character of mine, Roman Cyrus, believes there might be something very wrong in his nation; so he goes on the hunt for Stephen.

Well, won't give much more away. I hope you all enjoy it.

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In the forests at the base of the Barishu Mountain Range, a large metal behemoth rested. The Leopard 2 A6 EX MBT was the current MBT being used by the Golden Simatar’s army; it had replaced the Challenger 2 several decades ago. The GSA was doing its annual war games and the tank had been positioned on the left flank of the Blue Army; waiting for a recon group of the Red Army to pass. The four man crew sat on top of the vehicle eating an early dinner as the sky grew dark.

“I’m gonna go visit nature fellas.” The driver said as he reached into his compartment and pulled out a squashed roll of toilet paper and a compact entrenching tool.

“Number one or number two Renny?” the gunner asked.

“I think number two Toby.” Renny said as he climbed off the tank and headed into the forest.

After almost ten minutes, the crew turned to see the dark form of Renny running out of the woods as fast as his legs could carry him. The man jumped up and grabbed onto the Leopard’s Rhienmetall 120mm L55 smoothbore and climbed onto the tank.

“Renny, what the hell happened?” Toby asked, a little taken aback by his friend’s sudden appearance.

“Jesus, I had found a soft patch of soil, started to dig…this...whoa…big mountain lion appeared outta no where.”

The trees nearby started to rustle and the loader, a man in his mid-twenties by the name of Andrew, took command of the coaxial 7.62 machine gun and donned a pair of night vision goggles. He started to chuckle, then started to laugh.

“Renny, this mountain lion of yours…does it by any chance look like a warthog?”

“What are you talking about Andrew?”

The commander took the NVG from Andrew and put them on. He sighed and handed them to Renny. He slapped them on and looked down at a massive, dirty, and apparently angry warthog standing next to the tank. The creature sniffed the metal and touched it with its nose before backing up. It looked at Renny and blinked before darting off back into the woods. For a split second, Renny swore the creature had cat-like pupils.

He stood there as his friends started to laugh at him. He muttered something before turning to look back at his friends.

“Yeah, very funny…I swear to God there was a mountain lion.”

The laughter died down as Renny spotted movement out on a field a half mile away. The Simatarians quickly climbed into their tank and waited. Renny turned on the Leopard’s MTU MT883 diesel engine and smiled as he felt the 1, 650 horsepower engine at his fingertips.

“Okay boys…we got the Red Army’s recon group coming up.” The commander said. “Okay…two Fenneks with 30mm grenade launchers, four Fuchs 2s….one with a 30mm cannon, the others have 12.7 machineguns, one Panther CLV with Browning M2 .50 machinegun, one Puma with Mauser Mk 30-2 cannon. No other vehicles in sight. We have located the recon group and now let us engage. Rest of the platoon will be here quickly. Andrew, ‘load’ an AP round if you please. Toby knock out the Puma…then we’ll hit the Fenneks.”

Instead of loading an actual shell, Andrew inserted an empty casing that served only to activate the laser that had been fitted to the end of the barrel. The laser would strike an indicator on the enemy vehicle, a small computer would automatically decide how much damage would be caused by the hit, and the vehicle’s performance would be affected as such. Toby took careful aim at the Puma, a smile on his lips. With the target in range, he simply fired the gun.

The warthog looked behind it as it heard the bang of the Leopard and the sudden roar of engines from several vehicles. The animal trotted deep into the woods, following a small stream into the darkness. It stumbled upon a large, stone and wooden house situated on a hillside, at the edge of a small, concealed valley. It appeared completely modern on the outside, a large deck jutted out from the house over the valley and a small gazebo sat several meters from the house.

The warthog climbed up the mountainside and walked to the front door…


A man wearing a pair of blue Levi jeans and a green t-shirt, standing at 5’11 whistled as he walked through the house. He ran his fingers through his jet black hair that was neatly combed back, his skin was a very light bronze, his muscles were hidden, but they were still there. He appeared to be in his late twenties and looked completely normal, spare for his eyes. They were dark emerald green, yet the pupils were not normal; they were cat-like.

Roman Cyrus whistled to himself as he walked into the expansive living room of his house, a large circular stone fireplace dominated the center of the room, several soft couches and chairs were dotted around the room, and a television was set against the wall. He lay down on one of the couches, a smile cracked across his face at the look of the tank driver when he had appeared in his mountain lion form in front of him.

When he was 12, Roman had been sitting in his room; anxiously waiting to go to the zoo the next day. He had been thinking about tigers when he felt himself changing. It had been painful, but he hadn’t screamed and when he opened his eyes he noticed he had become a tiger. Several minutes later he was human again, but his pupils had stayed in cat form. Ever since then he wore contacts or dark sunglasses to hide his eyes, but also he had learned to change into practically every animal on the planet from rats and mice to large animals such as lions, bears, and rhinos. This power enabled him to join the Celadrin Clan, under the command of an angel by the name of Liam.

For the past forty years, something had been troubling him. He had been in city of Chelam when he had discovered a woman sleeping on a bus stop bench at midnight. He had checked her pulse and found it to be very weak, her memory of the past few minutes was gone; he had thought little of it and continued. It wasn’t until three years ago he began to suspect something was amiss, he had found several men and women, all asleep, their memories of the past few minutes gone, and their pulses weak throughout the Golden Simatar; mostly in the capitol of Clarence.

Roman suspected someone or something was doing this to his country, he wasn’t going to stand for it. There was a demon in his nation and he was going to find and kill it. He listened to the distant rumblings of the army’s war games. Roman closed his eyes and sighed, he would head to Clarence the next day to see what he could find.


The dark sky over the capitol of the Golden Simatar was soon being peeled away by the rays of the sun. A man dressed in black moved quickly through the streets, apparently eager to get back home before the sun rose too high. He stood 6’1, had short dark brown hair, bright cobalt blue eyes, and his skin was very pale.

He turned and headed towards a large twelve story apartment complex. He headed inside and went up to his tenth story apartment. Stephen Malone cracked his neck as he took off his trenchcoat and hung it on a small coat rack near the door. The 1,260 year old vampire quickly moved through his apartment and shut all the windows and closed the blinds.

Stephen checked and made sure no one had broken in or tried to break into his apartment during the night. He knew he didn’t need to do it, no one in the Golden Simatar believed in the existence of vampires or other such creatures. A single human believed in vampires and had become a close friend of Stephen, but the mortal had passed away some time ago.

He had no idea Roman was onto him. He was under the impression he was the only immortal in the Golden Simatar. Stephen had taken all the precautions he thought that would prevent anyone from getting suspicious. He had been half draining his prey, then wiping their memories of his attack. Since he had gotten the bloodstone, he had feed off the human populace less and less, though he still enjoy sinking his fangs into a neck every so often.

Stephen removed his old army dog tags from his neck, along with his dragon shaped bloodstone. He set them on his dresser and removed his armpit holsters that carried his two Para 14 automatic pistols. He set them next to his bed, undressed, climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

OOC: Tag for reading.

Roman walked through the streets of Clarence; he was wearing his dark sunglasses so that no one could see his eyes. He looked up into the sky at the sun for a quick second before turning his attention back to the sidewalk. So far he hadn't sensed or seen anything unusual.

He went to a small cafe and took a seat inside next to a window. Roman ordered a coffee and stared out at the hundreds of people from young children to old couples pass the cafe. He smiled at the young lady who brought him his coffee and sipped it.

So far he had come up with nothing, no leads, no traces, nothing. Roman would have to search harder for the creature, but it was becoming apparent to him that the demon wasn’t moving in the daylight; if it was, it was far greater in power than he thought. Taking another sip of coffee, he looked through the break in vehicle and pedestrian traffic to a movie theater across the street and several buildings down, advertising a soon to be released vampire movie.

Vampire? Here? It would explain the weak pulse on the victims and the creature moving at night. No, not here. Can’t be a vampire…still…might play it safe.

Roman drained the rest of his coffee, paid the bill and left. He knew that there was no information about vampires at the library, spare for ‘How To Draw Monsters’ or ‘Famous Film Monsters’ books. He instead headed for the government district in the center of the city. Roman went through Farrow Memorial Park, dedicated in honor of the Golden Simatar’s first female president Auretta Farrow.

Roman ended up in front of a large, stone and marble structure on the west side of the park, the National Archives. He headed up a long flight of marble stairs, passing Greek style columns and headed through a pair of polished oak doors to the cool interior. The floor was cherry wood and the walls were a light rose marble.

Roman headed to a bank of computer consoles and typed in vampire. He felt like an idiot doing this search, but it was better than nothing. A few seconds later, the search brought up nothing, spare for a single name. He clicked on it, the person had died over two hundred years ago, worked as a viral researcher, then gone back to working at his family’s vineyard. The man had also proposed the possible existence of vampires in the world and in the Golden Simatar, but had been laughed away by the Simatarian Scientific community. He thought about the man’s name as he headed off into the archives.

Harte, Todd

Roman left the National Archives shortly before three o’clock. He had found nothing on Todd Harte, only a research paper about the possible effects on the human body from an attack of two very different viruses. Roman had read it, it wasn’t interesting to him; the paper had detailed a virus introduced into the human body, laying dormant for several years before another virus enters the body and takes over the dormant virus. Roman had lost interest after that and had moved on to several scientific journals, all described Todd as slightly crazy for proposing the existence of vampires in the world.

The rest of Todd’s papers were in possession of the Harte family and Roman headed into a deserted alleyway to think and change. A falcon flew out of the alleyway, heading northwest towards the Harte vineyard. Roman flew over miles of woods and roads before hitting the edge of the Harte property. He darted down into the forest and landed on a tree, over looking a small lake and a small picnic area.

A man and a woman were lying on a blanket, sharing some food and a bottle of wine. The man appeared to be in his mid-thirties, dark brown hair, dark green eyes, and a mustache. The woman was about the same age, light blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. Roman sat on his branch quietly, as he stared at the pair. He quickly figured out that the man was a descendent of Todd and he was with his wife. The man looked up and looked around, a worried look on his face.

“Cassandra! Cassandra where are you!” He shouted.

“William. She is alright.” His wife said.

“Carol, she is easy to spot and I don’t want the cops coming up here for her.”

Roman titled his head and scratched a feather. Who is Cassandra? He got his answer as the ground under him beneath his tree began to rumble. He let out a squawk in surprise as he saw what came bounding out of the trees. Cassandra was not a person, or even close to a human; she was a horse size ice dragon. Her white scales shined like pearls in the mid-day sun as she ran for her master, her wings kept at her side.

Roman sat there, stunned. The Harte family had a dragon, but there were no dragons in the Golden Simatar. It hit him like a ton of bricks, he recognize the dragon was from Tarlachia. He had been up in the Tarlachian mountains several decades before and had observed from a distance several ice dragons near several snow topped peaks. Tarlachia has vampires…maybe this Todd went there, studied some and picked up a dragon as present for his family. Well, the dragon doesn’t seem to be a threat…more like a big, scaly, ice breathing dog than a dragon.

Cassandra turned and spotted Roman in his falcon form on the branch. The dragon gently opened its wings and licked its lips. The man moved forward and placed a hand on the dragon’s neck and gently stroked it, speaking softly to her. Roman didn’t waste a single second and immediately took off back to the city. He felt a blast of cold air as Cassandra fired off some ice at him, desperate to get a meal. As the falcon disappeared, the dragon lay down next to its human family, its ice blue eyes darting over the food on the blanket, gently licking her lips. Carol reached forward and stroked Cassandra’s muzzle and handed the dragon a bit of chicken. Cassandra quickly devoured it and closed her eyes to rest before going out for her nightly hunt.

Roman slowed his pace as he saw the sky scrapers of Clarence getting closer. It was a damn dragon, a real live dragon in the Golden Simatar. Todd Harte had brought it back as a pet and maybe while he was in Tarlachia became friends with a vampire. Things were moving too quickly, he would get dinner and go see a movie to relax. After nearly being eaten, he needed rest. He landed back in the alleyway just as the sun plunged from the sky, bringing the land into darkness.

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Up in his apartment, Stephen stirred from a day of rest. Night had finally risen, it was time to hunt.

Stephen entered the dark streets of Clarence and sucked in a deep breath of cold night air, the salt water from the nearby ocean made the night air seem more alive. He adjusted the collar on his coat and made sure his two Para automatics were hidden before heading off into the night in search of a meal. Though he had his bloodstone with him, he felt like sinking his fangs into the neck of a human, then the stone.

He walked through the business district, tall skyscrapers and tinted glass building of dozens of corporations lined the streets, and the employees who chose to work overtime left after a long day of work. The vampire spotted a young brown haired woman wearing a light grey business suit come out of one of the buildings, carrying an overstuffed briefcase. She stumbled and the briefcase flung open sending several files crashing to the ground.

Stephen looked around, happy to see the street had quickly been deserted, spare for him and the woman. He walked forward and started to help her gather her things.

“Thank you.” She said with a smile.

“No problem, my mother always taught me to be a gentleman at all times.” Stephen said with a slight bow.

The woman blushed and giggled at Stephen’s attitude. She thought for a few moments, bit her lip and looked at Stephen. “I’m Michelle…would you like to go have a drink?”

“It would be my pleasure Michelle.” Stephen said, he took her hand and lightly kissed it. “But…can I get one kiss now?”

Michelle smiled as Stephen took her in his arms and kissed her on the lips. She closed her eyes, feeling comfortable in his arms. Stephen held her close as he moved slowly into a nearby alleyway. Michelle continued to make out with Stephen and held him tighter as his head moved from her face to neck. Stephen opened his mouth enough to let his fangs slide into place before sinking them into the human’s neck and beginning to feed.


As Roman walked through the streets, he suddenly felt something wasn’t right. He quickly ran towards the business district, his mind racing on what could be the trouble. He stopped at a bus stop bench; a young woman in a grey business suit with brown hair lay there sleeping. He looked around, whatever had done this to her was still in the area, but he couldn’t see it.

Roman carefully moved towards the alley where he guessed the woman was fed on. His gut tightened as he moved into the darkness, someone was out there, waiting for him. Roman spun as he heard something behind him, pulling out a pistol from a holster on his waist at the same time, a two by four rocketed from behind him and struck him in the back of his knees.
Roman fell over and hit the ground with a heavy thump, the pistol skidding out of his hand across the alley, into a puddle. He reached for it and just before his fingers wrapped around it, the pistol flew out of the puddle into the air. Roman looked up to see a man dressed in black clothes and matching leather trenchcoat, crouching on the lid of a dumpster. Roman’s pistol was in the figure’s hands.

“Titanium coated Walther P99, polymer frame, sixteen 9mm bullets, weighs about twenty-five ounces. Very nice choice, you have good tastes.” The man ejected the magazine, looked at it, and grunted before putting it back into the pistol. Roman looked into the man’s cobalt blue eyes, unable to read anything in them.

“You’re the one doing all this to my nation….vampire.” Roman growled.

“Oh good, I thought you wouldn’t know I was a vampire. I hope you know that lead bullets, even the hollow points you’re packing won’t do much against me…spare for getting me angrier. I think you and I need to have a little chat.”

“This is my nation…you leave or you die.” Roman had been taken aback slightly by the news of his bullets would have little affect against the vampire, but he would find a way to kill the creature later.

“Well…I’m not leaving. You see my friend; I am not a foreign vampire.”

Roman’s cat-like pupil’s widened behind the sun-glasses as the vampire's words sunk it.

“It seems you have figured it out. I am a Simatarian.”

Roman sat there; his heart had stopped in his chest. It couldn't be, a vampire in his country was hard enough to believe, but a Simatarian vampire; even more unbelievable. His mind was racing, trying to think of what to do. He felt something trying to enter his mind; he quickly blocked off the attempt by the vampire to read his mind.

“Don’t try it vampire.” He snarled.

Stephen arched his eyebrow. The man defiantly had skill at defending his mind, something no Simatarian besides himself could do. Still crouching on the dumpster, the vampire tapped Roman’s P99 on the side of the dumpster. He thought about what to do. The man obviously was committed to trying to destroy him, but Stephen believed he could get the man’s mind off that.

“My friend, by your mental defenses…you obviously have skill and I take it you are not exactly human.” Stephen said calmly.

“You are not exactly human yourself. You are a murder who kills for sport and food. Where is your coven?” Roman growled.

Stephen gave a sigh and cracked his neck. “I am a loner here…I am the head of all the vampires in the Golden Simatar. You are looking at the only vampire in this nation. That…I swear on my honor.”

“Your kind has no honor, slaughtering hundreds of innocents over centuries across the globe.”

Roman had been studying the vampire. He was able to guess him correctly as a fledging; should be easy to take down. He pulled out a long dagger from his coat and lunged forward at the vampire, intent on ramming the blade into Stephen’s neck. Stephen jumped into the air and landed on Roman’s back, knocking the man down. The vampire reached down and grabbed him by the collar and tossed him back down into the alley.

Roman tumbled and crashed into a pile of garbage. Playtime was over, he was going to kill the vampire. Stephen moved forward towards where he tossed Roman and jumped back as a large, Black Panther jumped at him. The animal crashed into him and knocked him down on the ground, burying its teeth into his left shoulder at the same time.

Stephen let out a howl in pain as the fangs buried deeper into his flesh, the animal pulling back, trying to rip him to shreds. The claws tore into his stomach and chest, blood flowing freely from the wounds. Stephen smashed his fist hard into the right side of the animal, knocking it off him. The vampire stood and looked at his shoulder. A mess of blood, flesh, leather, and cloth, made damage assessment hard; all he knew it hurt like hell and the wound was already healing.

He turned on the panther, bared his own fangs and snarled. The panther stood, shook the shock of Stephen’s blow from his body and made another lunge. Stephen preformed a quick round-house kick, sending the animal crashing into the side of a building, it slid down the wall and sank into a pile of garbage. Stephen turned his back and removed his trenchcoat, it was destroyed beyond repair. The left shoulder area was practically missing and the claws had torn the bottom half to shreds. He tossed it into the dumpster and looked at his shoulder.

Stephen took off his armpit holsters and his shirt to examine his wounds. His stomach and chest wounds had already stopped bleeding and they were beginning to close. His shoulder had also stopped bleeding, but it would need some time before completely healing. He placed his shirt and holsters back on.

The encounter between him and the panther had lasted less than three minutes. Stephen pulled out one of his Paras, pulled back the slide and moved over to the pile of garbage. He kicked it aside and found a small pool of blood, a tiny trail lead off into the alleys. He knelt down, touched the blood with a finger, and brought it up to his nose, sniffed, before tasting it. It was human, but tasted slightly different.

Stephen’s eyes widened. The hunter he had encountered, he could turn himself into a panther, and possibly more creatures. This should be rather interesting. Stephen holstered the pistol, jumped on a roof, and headed back to his apartment to put on some fresh clothes and think out a strategy.

Then, the hunt would begin...

Stephen entered his apartment, stripped, and took a shower to wash the blood from his shoulder. He dressed in his usual black attire before going to his closet and opening a secret door in the wall, revealing a small arsenal of guns and ammunition. The vampire pulled out a .40S&W HK UMP, .40S&W HK USP, and a Ruger P94DC. He opened several boxes of ammunition and slipped magazine after magazine into several pouches. He restocked his .45 pistol ammo before donning his armpit holsters for his Para, a waist holster for his USP, and an ankle holster for the Ruger.

He picked up the UMP and screwed a silencer onto the end of the barrel. Stephen slung it over his shoulder and donned a fresh black, leather trenchcoat. He was going to finish his business with the hunter tonight. It would be quick and quiet. His weapons hidden under his trenchcoat, he turned to leave. Stephen paused, pulled out his bloodstone and bit into it. He fed for several minutes, refreshing himself.

Stephen went out to his balcony and looked down at the street below; a light rain began to fall as he jumped. He landed with a slight thump, unnoticed by any mortal around. The vampire headed back to the alley he confronted the hunter and picked up the blood trail. He moved quickly through the alleys, the blood has slowly petered out into nothing but the scent of the hunter was still in the air.

A full half hour later found Stephen in the warehouse and freight district of the city. The large eighteen wheelers and Mack trucks lay silent during the night hours. He pulled out the UMP and carefully walked through the dark area. His eyes scanned the darkness as the rain fell around him. A flicker on his left made him raise the UMP and send a burst of .40 bullets into a warehouse.

Roman burst from behind a large mound of crates, swinging a katana. Stephen jumped back and clung to the side of a truck, baring his fangs and snarling. He lunged at Roman and kicked him hard in the stomach before the man could raise his sword to stop the vampire. Roman tumbled backwards before coming to behind a trailer. He stood, his stomach aching. Jesus, he isn’t a fledgling at all…not with that strength.

Stephen jumped on top of the trailer, machine-pistol ready. He received a shock as he saw four Romans standing below him. He squeezed the trigger and sent a stream of rounds down into the group, seeing two of the bodies not being affected while all four jumped at him. He turned and felt the blade of the katana graze his cheek.

Roman kicked and knocked Stephen off the trailer and down onto the pavement. The single second of delay had cost the vampire his edge. Roman wouldn’t let him regain it. He saw Stephen in a small puddle of water and smiled cruelly. Jumping down, he moved quickly, running over to a powerful generator and turned it up to full power.

Stephen stood slowly. He dropped the UMP and pulled out his USP and Ruger. He noted Roman’s look a second too late before Roman threw his katana into a power cord, cutting it in half. Stephen jumped as the cord smacked into the water, sending several hundred volts through the water into his body.

He cried out in pain and fell to the ground as the electric shock tore through his body and brain. Stephen’s world quickly faded into black.

Roman moved forward, picked up the limp body with a pair of thick rubber gloves. He took him to an abandoned warehouse. The room was lit only by a few weak light bulbs, the walls were slowly crumbling but the room Roman had chosen was still pretty much intact. Some water leaked in through the roof but that was it.

He placed Stephen’s body on a metal table, removed the vampire’s weapons, and tied him down. Not so tough are you now? One second of delay cost you the fight, now your life.

Roman pulled out a long silver knife and tilted Stephen’s head back, exposing his neck. Just before he sliced down, Roman thought about what he was about to do. He put the knife away and stared at the vampire. He sighed as he finally settled on his course of action.

He was going to show the government vampires existed.

Roman parked the Scion tC in the parking garage and turned off the engine. The sun was shining outside as he slowly climbed out of the car. He placed on his sunglasses and turned his hidden eyes towards the four story, light sea green tinted glass and brick Headquarters of the National Bureau of Investigation. Roman leaned on brick wall of the parking garage as he stared at the building; wondering if he should do what he had been planning for the last two days.

Roman had kept Stephen inside the abandoned warehouse, every so often he had shocked the vampire enough to knock him out, but not kill him. Finally, the shape shifter had called and asked for an appointment with the Director of the NBI, Martin Jonick. There was a small half hour slot open and Roman took it. His meeting would start in fifteen minutes.

Most people would dismiss the fifty-four year old Martin Jonick as a man who was not a threat to anyone. He wore a crisp navy blue suit and black necktie, his gold college ring sitting on his finger. Standing at 5’10 with light brown hair that was slowly draining of its color, he was not an intimidating figure. Still, he wielded his organization with utter grace and competence. He was also a firm believer in the Golden Simatar’s long standing policy of chasing down wanted criminals until they were dead or in custody.

“Mr. Jonick. Mr. Cyrus is here to see you.” His receptionist’s voice came over the intercom.

“Alright, send him in.” He said.

Jonick climbed out of his brick red leather chair and walked to the double oak doors and shook Roman’s hand as he walked in.

“Hmm…firm grip, I like that.” Jonick commented with a smile. “Care for a drink?”

“Flint Firebrand on the rocks.” Roman said as he took sat in a leather chair across from Jonick’s desk.

Jonick poured both of them a healthy amount of Firebrand, Roman’s on the rocks and his straight. Jonick handed Roman his drink and sat back behind his desk. He took a tiny sip of the volatile amber liquid and coughed.

“Mr. Cyrus, you told me over the phone you have information pertaining to a felon. By your account he is a murder, even though he might not of committed these acts here…he committed them overseas.”

“Yes.” Roman said. He carefully sipped his own Firebrand, remembering its nickname of ‘drinkable napalm’. “The man I described to you is like no felon you have faced before…and I doubt you will believe me. First, I must ask you if you have heard of the nation of Assington.”

“Assington…sounds familiar….hmmm...oh yes. One of those unsolved cases I love to spend my free time on. I go back through some ancient cases to see if I can solve them and hopefully lay it to rest. I was reading a file on a mercenary we tracked there….oh Christ I forgot his name. Well…the name will come to mind. That is all. Why?”

“They have been having problems with some of their populace…a kind of person our government has neglected for years and it is time we explore the dark half of the world.”

Jonick gave Roman the slightly confused expression he expected. Roman twirled the ice cubes in his glass.

“I am talking about vampires Mr. Jonick…we have one in the Golden Simatar…a Simatarian vampire.”


Jonick looked at Roman like he had just dropped from the sky. “Are you stoned Mr. Cyrus?”

“No…and I can offer proof.”

“What proof? Vampires do not exist. It goes against the laws of science. Let me ask you this…how the hell does a corpse all of a sudden wake up and start walking and talking?”

“I do not have the answer for that but I…”

“Get out of my office. You have wasted my time.”

Roman nodded, placed the glass on the desk and turned to leave. Jonick shook his head and brought his glass to his lips, blocking his vision. A low growl made his eyebrow rise. The man lowered his drink to find a large Bengal Tiger standing the middle of his office. Jonick sat there, immobile, the pure shock holding him to his seat. His right hand moved into a drawer and he felt the SIG-Sauer SIG Pro SP 2022 pistol in its holster.

The tiger stared back at him, not moving; just staring at him with emerald green eyes. Jonick’s fingers wrapped around the SIG’s butt and he slowly pulled it out. He leveled the 9mm pistol between the creature’s eyes; he gently squeezed the trigger until it began to change. The face and body began to take on human features; Jonick stopped pulling the trigger and watched as Roman appeared in front of him.

Roman looked at the pistol in the man’s hands as he put his dark sunglasses back on.

“Now that it seems I have your attention. Mr. Jonick, I am not lying to you. If word gets to the vampire community of how oblivious our government it…well, we are just an all you can eat buffet. Come to the old Kazin Packing Warehouse on 144th…I’ll be there waiting. You might also want to talk with the President.”
Jonick gave a slight nod as Roman left his office. He stared at his glass for a few seconds before placing it on his desk. He reached for his phone and picked it up. Jonick closed his eyes, trying not to believe what he just saw, but it had happened. He opened his eyes when he got his receptionist on the line.

“Casey, get me the President.”

“Are you mad Martin?”

Admiral George Heflin asked Jonick after he had explained what had happened in his office. Heflin was a fifty five year old, short wiry man of 5’8 with a thick white beard and hair; being head of the Golden Simatar Navy, he was also part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Heflin, General Ted Miller of the Air Force, and General Alexander Charbonneau of the Army sat in the Presidential office. President Becky Kimble sat quietly in her brown leather chair behind a massive cherry wood desk, the windows behind her lighting up the room.

“George, I am telling you the whole truth. I lift my glass up...” Jonick started.

“And a tiger was standing in the middle your office Martin.” Miller said. Ted Miller stood at 5’10 with grey hair and clean shaven face. He was also fifty-five, but unlike Heflin he still had much of his youth in his blood.

Jonick sighed. He leaned against the marble fireplace, a cup of tea in one hand. He was stressed, explaining what had happened over and over again to them. He completely understood their ignorance; the Golden Simatar had never encountered such a thing before.

“George…Ted…I must state again. He was talking about a vampire in our own damn country. What are we gonna do if more vampires…”

“You’re getting paranoid, believing some guy’s story about the existence of vampires. Jesus Christ, the closet thing we have to vampires are Red Cross workers taking people’s blood during blood drives. Alexander, what do you think?” Heflin said.

Alexander Charbonneau was the youngest at only fifty. He was also the tallest at 6’3. He ran his fingers through his dull brown hair and adjusted his uniform.

“I’ve known Martin for years and he hasn’t lied to me about anything. Unless you count the game of black jack I lost one hundred dollars to you a few months ago.”

Jonick smiled and raised his glass. “Your own damn fault for not calling my bluff Alex, you had twenty, and I just had a pair of deuces.”

“My point it is,” Charbonneau continued, “that we are facing an elaborate hoax meant to make us look like a bunch of asses…or this is the real deal. Vampires….might…exist.”

“Come now, no scientific evidence supports them. How the hell can the dead come back to life and…” Miller said.

“We did it with Rebecca accidentally. Why not?” A soft, calm voice silenced the men.

President Becky Kimble was out of her seat and looking out of one of the windows of the old Victorian style mansion, with slight Gothic influence, that was the White House. Though the house was not white, the original White House had burned during a civil war centuries ago and this building was chosen for the new Presidential building shortly after.

At 39 years old, standing 5’10 with dark red wine colored hair, her lean, young looking body made many to believe she was no threat at all. In fact, she was a politician who had worked her way up through the Democratic Party to be nominated for President eight years ago. With complete, unwavering support from the Democrats, she trampled over her opponent. During her first term, instead of receiving non-stop actions by Republicans in the almost equally divided Congress to stop any laws she wanted passed; she found many allies. Being her husband was a Republican Congressman greatly helped in passing many bills and laws that had helped her nation.

President Kimble turned around and walked back to her desk. She sat down in the dark brown leather chair and looked at the picture of her, her husband, and seven year old daughter for several minutes. She did not know what to think on the subject, vampires to her did not exist, like werewolves or any immortal creature. Kimble would have just brushed this off, but Jonick's voice over the phone had told her to at least play it on the safe side. Her heart was pounding, not believing what she what was going on. Finally, she lifted her gaze to the men in the room.

“Lest you forget gentlemen, one of the side effects of Rebecca was the dead rising again. It might be possible that one of our countrymen was exposed to something that altered his DNA to make him a vampire…or a vampire like creature.”

“Mrs. President, with all due respect, that is nonsense. It is impossible.” Heflin said.

Kimble looked at him. “Improbable, not impossible I think. I don’t think this is any bigger than some elaborate prank to make our government look gullible and that we are a bunch of witch doctors. General Charbonneau, that GN-475 medical facility in the Barishu Mountains is it still operational?”

“Yes ma’am. A small Spec-Ops garrison, a small medical staff…mostly study of new jungle diseases; haven’t done much though.” Charbonneau said.

“I want you to give Jonick a Chinook and a team of your special forces to collect this body or person and deliver the body or the person to the facility. Once there, begin examination and see what you can learn.”

“You can’t seriously believe this load of bullshit Jonick has tossed at us ma’am.” Miller said.

“I’d rather make the mistake of looking like a fool for a few days than not believing Martin and possibly having a crisis on our hands. Gentlemen, none of this is to get out until a time I select. Am I clear?”

The men nodded, Jonick felt better. He had the President behind him, he guessed because she owed him after someone tired to hit her with a fake sex scandal last election. The Joint Chiefs and Jonick left the White House and climbed into their vehicles, unsure of what the next few hours will bring.

The CH-47SD Chinook gently landed on the deserted lot in front of the Kazin Packing Warehouse. Painted a dark green, no lights were on, the pilots flying with night-vision. When the end of the ramp kissed the ground Martin Jonick walked out, a black overcoat covering his body from the chilly night air. The propellers slowly grinded to a halt, but the engine was kept running.

Four men wearing military camouflage, black berets, and toting HK G36C assault rifles were with him. Jonick turned to them and shook his head; he would go alone for right now. He walked into the large building, feeling a draft rush up his pants. The building was bare, nothing inside spare for a few piles of junk metal.

“Glad you could make it Mr. Jonick.” A voice said behind him.

Roman walked out of the shadows till he was in front of Jonick. The old man grunted.

“You don’t know how I felt saying that shit you told me in my office. The Joint Chiefs don’t believe me and the President…she is wary. Now, where is this vampire?”

Roman chuckled. “Right to the point, come this way…he is rather knocked out.”

Roman lead Jonick to an old office, the windows had been boarded up to prevent any sunlight from entering and Jonick could see a body tied to a table. Jonick stared at Stephen’s body as he put on a latex glove. He reached forward and felt Stephen’s wrist, then his neck. Jonick sighed, no pulse.

“This man is dead.”

“What do you expect from a vampire? A heartbeat and warm skin?” Roman said.

Jonick shrugged and moved Stephen’s upper lip, no fangs, just a row of regular teeth. He sighed again, looks like it was just a hoax. But, the body was too pale and too fit to of been dead long. It appeared the person had just lost all his color and died. Jonick just wanted to leave, but he remembered what the President had said.

“Well?” Roman asked.

“We will be taking the corpse for examination. If that is no problem with you.”

“No problem, I would like to come along and possibly help.”

Jonick looked at Roman. The old man thought for several minutes before nodding. He pulled out a walkie-talkie, ordered the soldiers to come and bag the body. The men came in with a black body bag, placed Stephen inside and zipped it shut. Jonick turned to Roman.

“Where are the personal effects?”
“Right here.” Roman handed him a bag with Stephen’s weapons and things.

Jonick didn’t look at them, he gave a nod and the pair walked outside and climbed into the chopper. He relaxed inside as the ramp closed and the chopper took off.


Morning

GN-475 on the surface nothing special. A helicopter pad and a few buildings. The core of the facility was underground where there were several examining, holding, and testing rooms. Located on a hill, it did command a wonderful view of the country side. The Chinook landed just before dawn broke and Stephen’s bagged body was carried into one of the buildings. His body was taken down into the sub terrain facility where it ended up on an examination table.

Jonick looked out across the mist covered fields and low ridges around the facility. He pulled out an ivory pipe and gently puffed it. The rising sun was slowly burning the mist away from the mountains, soon he would have a better view. Roman stood next to him and took in a deep breath of air.

“Mighty nice place.” He commented.

“Yes, now…you will stay here as long as you cause no trouble. You will stay on the surface unless called for. Understood?”

“Yes. Who runs this joint?”

“Doctor Arthur Hauk. Do you want to meet him?”

“Yes, I think I should. How many soldiers are here?”

“Twelve. Come on, I’ll introduce you to him.”

Jonick puffed on his pipe and lead Roman towards one of the buildings.

Arthur Hauk sat behind a large wood desk filling out form after form. Hauk was fifty years old with slightly pale brown hair and stubbles of a beard on his face. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, green collared shirt and a white lab coat. The old man put down his pen as he looked up to see Jonick and Roman walk into the room.

“Good to see you again Martin.” Hauk said with a smile.

“Good to see you too Arthur…this is Roman Cyrus, he will be staying with you for a while.” Jonick said.

Hauk gave a brief nod to Roman and motioned for the pair to sit in a pair of old wood chairs.

“You brought a body for me to examine? What am I to be looking for?”

“Any kind of…ummm…differences in the blood or body. An in depth rundown Arthur, if it isn’t too much trouble. And find out who he is.” Jonick said as he took another puff from his pipe.

“Well…alright, my assistant I think is already examining the body. Come on, let’s go.”

Hauk got up from his chair and lead Roman and Jonick from his office to another building. He opened the door to reveal a set of staircases. The trio headed down into the facility.


Nicole Patterson closed the door to the examination room. A metal table sat in the middle of the room while cabinets, a refrigerator with blood, and desks took up the walls. At twenty-three years old, her skin had a light tan and her light brown hair was kept in a ponytail. A pair of bright blue jeans and a white t-shirt were under her lab coat.

She walked over to the table and pulled back the white tarp covering Stephen’s body. Oh man, what a handsome fellow. Too bad you’re dead. Stephen’s clothes were still on him, spare for his shoes. Nicole started with an external look. Nothing wrong, no bullet holes, no tears caused by a bladed weapon. She put on a pair of latex glove and moved his shirt up, exposing most of his torso.

Nicole gasped and took a few steps back. Stephen’s whole torso was covered in scars, not one place was undamaged. She took a step closer and leaned down above his waist. She noticed some of his pale skin was slightly darker and seemed distorted. Nicole stepped back and started to write notes on her clipboard on a desk behind her.

“How is it going Nicole?”

Nicole turned and smiled. “Just fine Doctor Hauk. The person….God I can’t imagine what happened to him. Someone didn’t like him.”

Hauk stepped forward and looked at the damage. “You’re not joking. Oh, this is Martin Jonick, head of IBI and Roman Cyrus.”

Roman smiled to Nicole and bowed slightly. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Hauk stood, not noticing a silver pen he carried fell onto Stephen’s body before rolling off, leaving a smoking trail behind. Roman was the only one in the room who noticed it and now knew what hurt the vampire. Nicole put straps around Stephen, keeping him on the table and raised the angle to almost ninety degrees.

Hauk now got a better view of Stephen’s condition. “So Mr. Cyrus, what is wrong with this man. How did he die?”

Roman shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “He isn’t dead per say…he is alive, a bit.”

Jonick leaned against the wall and said with his pipe clenched in his mouth. “That man there is a vampire.”

Hauk and Nicole looked at each other and laughed. Roman stood there, anger boiling inside of him. It was this kind of a reaction to the existence of vampires which would lead to the deaths of hundreds of his countrymen if they didn’t act. Remembering what happened when Hauk’s silver pen had done to the vampire, Roman moved forward and picked it up off the floor.

“Now, will this happen to a human?” He growled and pressed the pen to Stephen’s flesh.

Stephen felt a tingling sensation on his stomach. It soon was becoming a burning feeling and he smelled smoke burning from his flesh, silver. His whole body jerked as he was jolted wide awake by the silver pen on his skin. As his eyes burst open he didn’t see the three humans, he was fixed on Roman.

The vampire snarled and bared his fangs as Roman took a few steps back. Stephen tried to move forward, but found himself pinned to a table. The vampire would have normally been able to break free, but without a drop of blood in several days he was unable to. He looked around the room, anger still going through him. He noticed the medical tools, the furniture, finally he heard a clang on the floor and spotted a female human drop a metal clipboard. Stephen also saw the other two stunned humans. He also noticed his fangs were quite visible.

It was then, he knew that he would never be safe in his homeland again.

Nicole waited as calmly as she could as the dark liquid exited the espresso machine and into the cup. She tapped her foot nervously until the cup filled and she shut off the machine. Taking the cup in trembling hands she took a sip of the hot liquid, trying to calm herself down. Her light green eyes stopped the nervous twitch they had been having since seeing Stephen suddenly come back to life.

“Nicole?”

The voice behind her made her shriek and drop the cup, it crashed to the ground and broke into several large pieces in a small pool of espresso. She turned and faced a man about 5’10, a thick beard, thick glasses, and all grey hair. “Jesus Jake. You….”

“Sorry Nicole, Arthur wants us in the conference room. He has something he wants to tell us.” He said.

Nicole nodded, taking several deep breaths. She walked beside Jake Hilliard in silence. She couldn’t believe what had happened. A man with no pulse, no vital signs suddenly woke up and obviously pissed off. Jesus this isn’t happening. Oh God…this is just a dream Nicole. You’ve had these dreams before. You will wake up and laugh it off. Though she kept telling herself that, deep in her gut she knew it wasn’t true.

The conference room was small, a long wood table in the center of the room, a few chairs, a television at one of the table and a smaller table on the far wall with some biscuits. She took a seat and sighed. The medical/research staff was now very small. Hilliard, Doctor Isaac Lee, and Doctor Jonathan Calhoun, all were in their early to mid-fifties and sported various beard lengths and levels of grey. At one time Nicole remembered there were at least twenty people here; yet the facility had slowly died. Roman and Jonick were also in the room. Hauk stood and cleared his throat.

“Gentlemen, today we have encountered something we have never faced before. I think before I say anything else I should play the tape.”

He turned and pressed PLAY on the VHS player and showed a color video of what happened in the examination room. After it finished, the room was dead silent for several long minutes. Calhoun coughed, bringing Hauk to continue.

“As you just saw, a dead person suddenly woke up and well…”

“Was the subject infected with Rebecca?” Calhoun said.

“No, all samples were destroyed or locked up. No, this person is something else. A vampire to be exact, I do mean the kind that lives by night and drinks human blood.”

“You’re fucking kidding Arthur.” Hilliard said. “No way could a vampire be around. Now, according to what I know a vampire drains a victim dry and then gives them their vampire blood. No…”

“Who said they drained them dry?” Lee said. “Half drain and then…”

“Alright! Alright! Look, my point is it is impossible. Completely, that man can’t be a vampire.” Hilliard said. Calhoun rapped his fist against the table in agreement.

Roman leaned against the wall quietly. He spoke slowly and with obvious malice in his voice. “So said the tasty snack. You don’t get it. He hasn’t fed in a few days and will rip your throat out and drain you dry in minutes if you get close to him.”

Calhoun looked at Roman and raised an eyebrow. “And just who the hell are you?”

“I’m the man who caught him.”

“What did you use, holy water and a crucifix?”

“No, holy objects don’t seem to work on him. I doubt even an exorcism would do anything to him. Silver…silver is the key.”

“I think you are mistaken with werewolves.”

“No…silver hurts his breed it seems. Still, he will best you in combat and still drain you dry. Which is why he must be destroyed.”

“What?” Nicole yelped. “This…this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean, he seems like an actual vampire. Probably is. Why destroy him? We can learn a lot from him.”

“Ms. Patterson, I am afraid you are not getting what I am saying. The vampire will do anything to survive and will not be your guinea pig.” Roman said.

Nicole scoffed and left the room. Men, Jesus…they are talking about….

“Killing the only vampire in the Golden Simatar. Never thought I’d hear that.”

Nicole stopped dead in her tracks. She looked back down the deserted grey hallway. She licked her lips, was this some kind of a joke played over the intercom? She walked down the hallway to a large metal door. Nicole looked at a keyboard on the wall and typed in the code, the doors slid open.

Stephen had been stunned and moved to a large examination room, the walls of the room curved upward and it looked like the top half of a sphere. The vampire was strapped tightly to a metal table that was at a near 90 degree angle. His face was far paler than it should have been and he didn’t look in the best of shape. Nicole walked forward and the door closed behind her. She stopped a few feet from Stephen and sat down in a chair.

“Did you do that?” she asked, her hands were sweating and she wiped them on her pants. “You know…sending that message into my head? I can call security you know. Crack Special Forces, armed to the teeth. Rangers to be exact.”

Stephen stared back at her, his face emotionless, though there was a glow deep inside him that his old unit was still operational. The vampire’s cobalt blue eyes slowly studied the human as his mind gently prodded hers for information. Stephen heard her heartbeat, heard her blood rushing through her veins, all he wanted was to take a sip of the crimson red liquid that pulsed through her.

Nicole sighed as she leaned back in the chair, waiting for an answer from the silent vampire. She couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him, being bound and starved like he was. She felt a slight headache come and go quickly and thought nothing of it. She heard the intercom click and walked over.

“Yes?”

“Nicole, Jonick is heading back to Clarence to brief the President. I would like you to draw some blood samples so we can test them.” Hauk’s voice said.

“Alright Doctor. Doctor Hauk, he doesn’t look too good. You think we should put some blood into him?”

There was a long pause. “No, not now, that can wait.”

Stephen sighed, no meal. He watched as Nicole walked over to a table and picked up a syringe, cotton ball, and rubbing alcohol. She walked over to Stephen, fear moving through her whole body, sweat formed on her forehead as she stood next to him. Stephen didn’t react as she wiped the spot clean and drew a half a cc of blood. She looked up at him.

“I’m sorry about this. I…I…I really am. I don’t think we should be doing this study with you like this. Maybe we can work something out. I’m sure a cell is better than this. Right?”

There was silence again. Nicole picked up the blood filled syringe and turned away to leave.

“Some blood would be nice…I prefer type AB negative.”

Nicole turned and looked at Stephen; the vampire smiled slightly, a single fang showing.

“I’ll see what I can do. What…what should I call you? I’m Nicole.” She knew this was risky, but she knew they would have to talk to the vampire to understand him. Might as well take the first step.

Stephen didn’t react immediately. He thought about it for a while. “Stephen.”

Nicole smiled back to him and left the room. Nicole felt a cold chill go up her spine as the metal door closed. The vampire was not as she had expected, far kinder than she thought. Maybe it was because he was going to use her to escape or maybe there was actual kindness under the pale skin and fangs. She prayed for the latter.

Nicole headed down the hall towards the lab where the men would be waiting.

Nicole leaned against the wall, annoyed by Hauk’s stance. She had been asking him for the better part of the hour to give Stephen some blood and move him to a cell. The old man was persistent in his stance of keeping Stephen weak and under control. The vampire’s blood was being worked on and it would take a while for results to come back. Once again, she began her hammering as Hauk munched on a crème filled donut.

“Doctor, he will die if we don’t give him some blood. He isn’t an animal. A pint wouldn’t hurt now would it?” She said.

“Nicole, I have told you before and I will tell you now. The answer is no.”

“Have you seen him? He doesn’t look all too well and I doubt will last another day or two. We also have to study who he is as a person, what his views are to get a better understanding. Doctor, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let me talk to him…after we move him into a cell and give him a pint of blood.”

Hauk stopped eating and licked a bit of crème off his lips. He looked at his young assistant. She was very young and very strong willed. He sighed and ate the rest of his donut.

“Alright Nicole. You can move him and give him some blood.” He said.

Nicole smiled and left the room. As she walked down a flight of metal stairs, she found Roman standing on a landing. She paused and smiled at him. Roman was leaning against the wall and sighed.

“You want to move him? And give him blood?” He asked icily.

“Yes, we want to keep him alive. I’m moving…”

“You’re moving him?” He asked, surprised. “I cannot imagine that. Besides, he will kill you once you undo his bonds.”

“I won’t remove his bonds till he is inside a cell. You don’t have to worry about a thing Mr. Cyrus.” She turned to head down the last flight of stairs when she felt Roman’s hand grip her arm.

“I’ll go with you.”

Nicole nodded and the pair headed down the stairs and into another hallway. She lead Roman to the door of the examination room and opened it. Stephen was still on the table, now looking more tired than ever, even after only an hour. Nicole and Roman moved forward and in silence, moved the table to the horizontal position and shifted the top portion to a gurney. The pair gently pushed it down the hallway.

Something sweet reached Stephen’s nose, the smell swallowed his every thought; the smell of fresh blood. His eyes gently cracked open and he slowly brought himself up. He found himself in a brick, ten by ten cell. A toilet and sink sat in the left corner of the room, a thick steel door was closest to the far wall, which was thick glass with circular air holes at the top and bottom. His bed was bolted to the floor on the back wall on the right side.

The neonate stood and walked over to a metal drawer jutting out from part of the brick wall into the room. He smiled and reached down, pulling out a plastic bag, filled with red liquid. Stephen smiled, went back to his bed and fed hungrily, the blood reviving him, giving him strength. When he finally drained the pint, not leaving a single drop hanging on the inside, he tossed it back into the drawer and leaned back against the wall. Stephen closed his eyes and licked his teeth and lips, savoring the sweet taste he had been dying for.

He opened his eyes as he sensed someone walking down the hall towards his cell. He looked as Nicole appeared from the right, a clipboard in her hand. She smiled at him and took a seat at a metal chair sitting in the hall.

“How are you Stephen?” She asked in a polite voice.

“Much better than before. AB negative, my favorite. You want to talk to me, understand who I am. Okay, I will talk…just to you. Turn off the video camera hidden in the wall behind you that is watching us…same with the hidden mic.” Stephen shot into her mind.

Nicole sat there for several minutes in silence. Stunned at what Stephen had done. “Well, I have to clear it with Doctor Hauk.”

She stood and walked back down the hall to a small intercom and spoke for several minutes. Hauk was cautious again, but he finally gave in. Nicole returned and covered up the camera and the mic was shut off.

“Better?” She asked as she sat back down.

“Much better. We can now talk in peace.” Stephen said calmly.

“I have been wondering this for a long time. Do holy objects work on you? The man who captured you said no…is that true?”

“Well, every vampire I have met not one is injured by holy objects. Crosses, holy water, old stake through the heart. Bunch of bull…pardon my language.”

“I don’t mind.” Nicole said with a slight blush. “Are you demonic in any way?”

“I do descend from a demon, though an exorcism would be a waste of time. Let me explain the watered down version, as I have heard it, of the creation of the vampires who I am descended from. Back in the Medieval Times, a mage in Assington tried for some reason to let a demon take control of some of his body for dark powers.”

“Oh Jesus.” Nicole gasped. “Sorry, continue.”

“Well, the demon took him over and the mage was essentially dead. The demon had a deep hatred for elves….”

“Sorry to interrupt again. Elves? Like in Lord of the Rings? Immortal, pointed ears and stuff?”

“Yes. And, the demon started to slaughter the elves and drain their blood. He was the original vampire you might say. One night he attacked a town and five people ingested his blood. The next night, they were vampires. The original vampires.”

“Of your…species if I can say that?”

“Species or breed would work I guess. Now, I have no idea how the vampire population exploded. I know that two of the five died within a several months after being turned. The demon and another then began an insane siring quest to build up their numbers. Hence, the reason for so many Assington vampires later down the road. Their army started to slaughter elves, elves left….do you want to know anything else?”

Nicole sat there in silence, she gulped before speaking. “So…are you close to this demon?”

“No….I am so far down the bloodline it would take one of the original ancients to say that I have descended from him. I was bitten by a vampire in another country, who descend from the vampires in Assington.”

“Oh…I see. Well, do you mind if I go for a bit?”

“I don’t mind at all. Thank you very much for what you have done.” Stephen said with a smile on his face.

Nicole smiled back and went over to the drawer and pulled it back into the hall and removed the drained blood bag. She smiled once again at Stephen before heading back down the hallway. She exited the cell block and headed back to Hauk to tell him what she found.

Roman appeared out of the darkness and headed down into the cell block.

As Roman moved to the thick glass wall between him and Stephen, he saw the vampire doing push ups on the ceiling. He stood quietly, knowing the bloodsucker had sensed him before he even entered the block. He studied Stephen, making a note of the muscular body of the vampire; next time the pair faced off, Roman would have to do his best to fight at a distance. Stephen had only lost the last battle because he had halted for a second.

Stephen dropped to the floor, his back to the shape shifter. “I was wondering when you were going to show yourself. Trying to get the humans to kill me?”

Roman chuckled. “Wow, you can know things without even reading a person’s mind. I am very impressed. Still, you have yet to notice that you are no longer the superior being. You’re an animal, caged, and you will do as is told.”

Stephen turned and slowly walked towards the glass till he was just an inch from it. “What you are forgetting is that I can still break through this wall without even applying much force. Even after a pint of blood, I am still a bit hungry… a few days without food, makes one hunger greatly. I might break through and taste you…or….”

Roman felt a chain that he wore around his neck suddenly twist and grow tighter. The man backpedaled to the stone wall and began to claw at the chain, trying to relieve pressure. Stephen meanwhile stood calmly, using his mind he slowly choked off oxygen to Roman by tightening the chain. Roman gasped for air, his world slowly going to black until he felt the pressure suddenly die.

Roman looked at the vampire, who was still standing there, calmly as ever. “You…you will pay for that vampire.”

“Do you take cash or credit?” Stephen asked with a smile.

Roman stood there, unable to talk. The vampire would have to be starved into submission. He growled and removed the cover from the video camera that Nicole had left there and left the block, furious at the vampire.


Hilliard stared at the video monitor of Stephen. The vampire had lay on his bed and relaxed, apparently un-phased by his new surroundings. He drummed his fingers on the console before turning to man standing behind him. The man was dressed in military fatigues, sand colored hair was kept under a blue baseball cap and the soldier’s grey eyes stared at the screen.

“Well Sergeant?” Hilliard asked.

Twenty-nine year old Sergeant Thad Kaufman stared at the image of the vampire. He was the head of the twelve man team assigned to protect the base. The ex-Marine had watched the footage of Stephen waking up, he had seen the charts and blood samples the scientists had shown him. The latter stuff made little sense, but seeing a dead body rise sent shivers up his spine.

“Okay, so what you eggheads tell me is that there is a vampire…a live fucking vampire, one floor below us. And our bullets won’t kill him?”

“Well, silver does hurt the vampire Sergeant. Only thing is we don’t have any silver bullets. I am about to send off a request to Clarence for silver bullets along with everything so far.” Hauk said. The old man leaned against a desk, looking down at a sheet of Stephen’s blood makeup.

Stephen’s blood looked normal on the outside, but on a small test they had completed they found the vampire’s blood had mind-boggling healing properties.

“I’m still not convinced…how can?” Kaufman continued.

“He isn’t really a corpse.” A small voice came from behind the Ranger. Nicole stepped into the room. “He told me the original vampire that spawned others and thus created the bloodline was a human…mage I think is the term he used. The mage decided to link up with a demon for powers and well….demon had other thoughts.”

The scientists looked up from their work and stared at Nicole. The young woman just smiled. “He agreed to talk to me…just me under the circumstances that the camera and the mic are shut off. He will let me take notes though.”

Calhoun blinked. “You…were there with the creature?”

“His name is Stephen.” Nicole snarled. Calhoun backed off and finished pilling up some papers and handed them to Hauk.

“Alright, Nicole….I want you to talk to this vampire. Find out who he is and such. I’ll fax this stuff to Jonick and request for silver bullets. Until then, all we have is AgNO3.”

“Pardon? I didn’t too well in chemistry.” Kaufman said.

“Silver nitrate, should work. Isaac, you brief the military and then join everyone else cracking at the vampire’s blood. Sergeant, I’ll brief your men after I send this stuff off.”

There was a series of nods and Kaufman picked up his HK MP5A4 from a table and walked out and back up to the surface. As everyone went about their business, Nicole spotted Roman standing in the doorway after Hauk left, staring at her. She should be scared of Stephen, instead she felt attracted to the vampire. She was instead scared of Roman.

Moving a loose strand of hair from her eyes, she left the room via another door and went to her room to prepare for another interview with Stephen.

President Kimble finished her meeting with several far right wing religious leaders on the abortion issue. She strongly felt it was the woman’s choice if they wanted an abortion and had vetoed every bill that came to her for the complete outlawing of abortion. Though this put her on the shit list of the far right wing and some other more moderate right wingers, she had enough support in her government to make the problem almost non-existent.

She returned to her office and sat behind the large oak desk in front of several large windows before a knock came at her door. “Come in.”

Martin Jonick walked into the room; his right hand had the faxed reports from Hauk. He poured himself a shot of Flint Firebrand from a small selection of brandies, whiskeys, and scotches on a table against the wall.

“So Martin, hoax or the real deal?” Kimble asked.

“Mrs. President, from what I have learned from Doctor Hauk is that it is defiantly not a hoax. The man that is there is a real live vampire, a Simatarian to be exact.”

Kimble reached across the table and took the reports and scanned them. She moaned and reached across the table again. This time, she grabbed Jonick’s glass and drained half of the volatile contents. There was a brief pause before she did a small belch. She looked up at Jonick, whose face was plastered with confusion. Kimble smiled.

“Just because I went to a fine university doesn’t mean I didn’t chug once or twice Martin.”

“I am just suprised you were able to drink that much napalm without screaming. Ma’am, Hauk is also requesting another thing. Silver bullets.”

“Silver? Why silver? Why not order a priest?”

“Well, in an interview with the vampire…Hauk’s assistant Nicole Patterson found out that the whole religious part was just bullshit. Stoker made up that part to make his book more interesting I guess. Silver kills a vamp if sunlight isn’t around.”

“How many rounds Martin?”

“Let me see…one thousand rounds of .45ACP, a further three thousand rounds in 5.56x45mm, and five hundred rounds in 9mm. You alright Mrs. President?” Jonick asked.

Kimble rubbed her head and nodded. “I am fine Martin. This whole thing has just given me a hell of a migraine. We both know that we can’t just order up all the rounds without good purpose.”

Jonick nodded. “I’ll take care of that Mrs. President. I know Gregory Lander will be happy to be doing business. I’ll get the silver, have it shipped to a munitions plant to be made into bullets. We should have it all ready in a few days for Hauk.”

Kimble nodded, her head was pounding. She had a few hours before a meeting with several ambassadors. She would try to catch a quick nap. Jonick left the room and the White House. He climbed into his car and headed back to his office. Things seemed to be going smoothly. There was no immediate threat from a vampire attack on the government. There seemed no need to worry.

When he finally put down the phone in his office, it was already past nightfall. The arrangements had been made. Silver from Lander Mining Consolidated would be delivered to the Chelam Munitions Plant for making into bullets. Jonick put on his coat, turned off the lights, and locked up his office.

Jonick took his car and headed to his apartment, the events of the last day swirling in his head, unable to form a clear picture for more than a few seconds. His body ached as his head continued to swirl.

When he finally climbed into bed and fell asleep, it felt like heaven to the old man.

Nicole dried her hair and her body after a hot shower to help her wake up. She put on a fresh set of clothes and left her room carrying her clipboard and a pen. She headed downstairs towards the cell block. Everyone else in the facility was asleep, spare for the soldiers up top. She remembered their faces when Hauk explained about what they knew about Stephen’s breed of vampires. At first there was laughter, but after the video, the reports, opinions began to shift. The news of arrival of silver ammunition within the next few days and opening some beers seemed to lighten their spirits.

Nicole opened the door to the cellblock, closed and locked it before heading to Stephen’s cell. She had expected the vampire to be lying on his cot; instead he was standing in front of the glass wall. The vampire was silent as she coved the video camera and shut off the mic.

“How are you Stephen?” She asked as she took a seat on a metal chair in front of the wall.

“You want to know about me…learn who I am, how I tick and all that. I am correct in this am I not?” Stephen asked.

“Yes, you are correct. We want to…”

“Figure out how I turned, what is my opinion about being a vampire, do I kill, how do I hunt and all that. You also want to know who I was as a mortal.” Stephen said as he sat on his cot and propped himself against the wall.

“Yes, you are correct once again Stephen. I would li…”

“What do you think? Do you think you are doing something worthwhile? Is all this really worth it?”

Nicole didn’t speak for a minute. Stephen had taken the offensive; it was his turn to feel her out. The ball was in his court and would remain there until he allowed her to ask a question. Nicole decided to go along with him.

“Well, I think what we are doing here is very worth it. We know so little of your kind. Just telling me of the holy object thing was a load of shit was a big step. We were going to call an exorcist to see if we could cure you.”

Stephen chuckled. “As I have said before, I am too far down the bloodline to have any demon in me. The original ancients of Assington probably have some demon in them, but not enough to warrant an exorcism. You must remember human, I am also a person. Besides…I’m Methodist, not Catholic.”

Nicole smiled; at least they were getting somewhere. “What was it like to change into a vampire? Painful, relaxing, enjoyable?”

Stephen didn’t answer right away. He thought for a few seconds, he wouldn’t let on it took him a thousand years to turn just yet. “I was unconscious when I turned. I can tell you, I felt very dizzy just before I turned. I also felt groggy and hungry when I woke a vampire.”

“Have….have you killed anyone here for food?”

“I can truthfully say no to that. I half drain my victims, course this means feeding on two or three people per night…but it is worth it.”

“Not getting caught would do anyone a good service. This is back tracking from when you were turned…but…how did you get those scars on your body?”

Stephen paused; he knew he could avoid the question. Wipe it from her mind, wipe her whole mind clean and leave her a vegetable. Then again, it would lead to Roman winning his argument about killing him and the last image the vampire would see would be a silver bullet to the head. He sighed; it was bound to show up sooner or later.

“To understand how I got the scars would mean you ID me in full name and my whole career. I do not want to let onto me just yet Nicole. I will tell you one thing…just this once and only once.”

Nicole placed the tip of her pen on the paper, ready to jot down what Stephen would say.

“There is something foreign in my blood, something that could be still alive today or at least the remains of it could still be there. Find that…analyze it…and come back to me.”

Nicole tried to write it down, but her pen wasn’t working. The ball point wasn’t turning. She looked up at Stephen and understood the vampire was somehow keeping it still. She would remember what he said. Smiling, Nicole got up to leave. She only got halfway down the hall when she turned and walked back. The woman sat down again.

“Stephen, do you mind if we continue our interview?”

Stephen looked at Nicole; she was persistent, very curious, and eager to learn more. She also possessed a heart; no human would have given blood to a hungry vampire. Stephen nodded.

“First, when do I get my next meal? Vampires can starve to death you know. The pint you gave me earlier today was nice, it calmed my hunger. Though, I will get hungry again.”

“Well, I don’t truthfully know. We are still…no offense. Slightly paranoid and will probably keep you on a pint a day to every other day. Who knows…if you are good enough and we get permission…maybe you can drain convicts on death row.”

“Interesting thought, though I doubt it will go through. President Kimble will want to keep me here; I think the study of who I am as a person is foremost in her mind. She can get reliable information about vampires from many sources, including a Simatarian who was a human and a close friend of mine.”

Nicole’s eyes widened at the mention another Simatarian familiar with vampires. There was no lie in Stephen’s eyes or voice. If that is true…I owe him…then again I owe him for all the stuff he has already said. She stood and left. Nicole returned a few minutes later with a glass and a pint of blood. She placed it in the drawer and shoved it to Stephen’s side. To her amazement, the bag and the glass lifted from the drawer to Stephen’s hands. The vampire opened the small tube at the top of the bag and filled the glass with the red liquid. He took a sip and smiled.

“What is your next question Ms. Patterson?”

Nicole had lost track of time, she had started to talk to Stephen at nine at night, and it was now six in the morning. She wasn’t tired at all. She sipped her coffee as she thought about what had transpired over the night. Barely any new information, mostly old stuff said in a different way. Nicole began to feel the need of sleep slowly tugging at her.

“Stephen, I must go to sleep. Mind if I ask one last….question?” She asked.

The vampire smiled, he was slightly tired, the human had been entertained and the pair was talking in a less constructed manner. “Sure.”

“How do you pick your prey?”

“Well, I either just grab them off the street; drag them into an alley and feed. But, I prefer the gentleman approach. Find a nice woman, all alone, chat a bit, smile, make out a bit, carefully maneuver into an alley and have my meal.”

Nicole yawned and nodded. She stood and smiled to Stephen. She plugged the mic back in and removed the bit of cardboard from in front of the camera. The young woman left the high security cell block and as she headed to her room, she was met by Roman. She paused, slightly surprised to see him.

“What do you want Roman? I want to go to bed.”

“Are you in love with him or something? Are you to making out in there?” He asked coldly.

“Having sex? Making out? No…well…maybe not yet but he is a really nice guy. A lot nicer than any guy I have dated. If only he wasn't a vampire, it would work out. Then again, it could work out...well...that is beside the point. We continued our interview and that is all you need to know.”

“What did he say? How does he kill? How many…”

“You best leave her alone.” Stephen’s voice came into his head. “Fuck off Roman, you are meant to protect innocent, not hurt them for talking to a vampire like me.”

Roman quickly threw up his mental defenses, blocking out Stephen’s words. He looked at Nicole through his sunglasses.

“Nicole, I want to do what is best for this nation. Do what is best for its people. And if it means killing the vampire then…”

He stopped when he noticed Nicole was leaning against the wall, fast asleep. He easily picked her up and carried her upstairs to her room. Roman put her on the bed and left. He saw a light from the lab and walked in. Hauk was sitting at a table, talking on the phone. Hauk hung up and ushered Roman over, the shape shifter sat on the table and looked at Hauk.

“I am worried about Nicole. She spent the whole night talking to the vampire, only came out to get a cup of coffee. I suggest getting someone else to talk to it.”

“No chance my friend. Isaac went with her once, the vampire said nothing till he left. So, he is only…”

“Talking to Nicole, that is my point. He is using her. She is young, easily manipulated. Once he has gotten enough…”

“Just…just how were you able to track him down? I mean, you are a Simatarian, we don’t believe in his kind.”

Roman paused and looked at Hauk. “I am not your average Simatarian. I am a member of the Celadrin Clan, headed by Liam Celadrin…a seraphim a high ranker at that as he has told.”

“What is a…seraphim?”

“To put it simply, an angel on massive steroids.”

Hauk laughed, even Roman managed a chuckle at his clan leader. He still hadn't told Hauk his powers, he saw no need too. He also didn't want to end up like Stephen, cagged like an animal. When the laughter died down, Roman asked the obvious.

“Who was on the phone? It was about the vampire right?”

“Yes it was.” Hauk said.

Roman sat there, quietly, waiting for the answer. When Hauk stared at him, Roman’s hidden cat pupils bulged. He shook his head as Hauk nodded.

“President Kimble wants to meet the vampire.”

Four hooded men sat quietly in a grey, four door sedan. Each of them wore Russian Grad-2 tactical assault vests with extra magazine pouches over black body armor. Their head to toe armor covered the Russian M7 Kamysh-Urban colored BDU they wore. On their laps sat Russian AK-47 assault rifles, all loaded and safeties off. Not only were they carrying AK-47s, each was covered with assault pistols and automatic pistols. In a filled duffel bag sitting on the backseat with two of the men were more weapons and ammunition. They also had several empty bags.

They sat across the street from a bank. The concrete building had several cars in the parking lot and an armored van slowly pulled away after making its drop. As soon as it disappeared, the sedan moved from its position and headed towards the bank.

Caroline Ellis was sweating and crying as she stuffed stacks of cash into the bags as the robbers moved around the bank, firing off a shot every few seconds. The bank guard lay dead in a pool of crimson; he had only gotten off a single shot before all four of the gunmen mowed him down. The guard’s bullet did nothing to the body armor. She whimpered as she handed the duffel to a gunman standing behind her, pressing the cold barrel of an Interdynamic KG-9 to her neck. The safe was empty and the gunmen herded the frightened employees and customers into it.

As the four men turned to leave, three duffel bags full of cash; they spotted at least fifteen police cars sitting a good forty feet from the entrance. They removed the half-empty magazines from their AK-47s and placed in fifty round drum magazines. They cocked their guns, walked outside, and opened fire.

The opening salvo of 7.62x39mm bullets tore into the police cars. Windows disintegrated and lights were blown clean off the cars. The police outside quickly returned fire with their .40SW Heckler and Koch USP automatic pistols, HK MP5A4s, and Franchi SPAS-12 shotguns; few squad cars were equipped with assault rifles, they would have to wait for SWAT and the heavy units to arrive.

The 9mm and .40SW rounds did little against the body armor of the robbers. While three stood, took the beating and dished out far superior firepower, one began to move towards their sedan. A policeman armed with a shotgun moved from behind his car and fired, a slug tearing through the robber’s armor at his arm, but not hitting flesh. The gunman turned and opened fire at the officer, a single round striking the man in the should and knocking him over.

A young policeman, dark brown hair, grey eyes and slight stubble from a mustache had finally had enough. Nine policemen were injured by gunfire and their bullets and buckshot had barely stopped them. He reloaded his pistol and crawled around to the back of his police car, his partner, an older man moved up next to him.

“What are you going to do Colin?” He asked as he fired another round from his USP.

“Going to kill a few of them Dave.” Colin responded.

The young man grabbed a SIG Stgw. 90 out from the trunk of the car, he was lucky enough to be assigned to a car with an assault rifle. He shoved a magazine into it and fished out three more from the black box inside the trunk. Colin moved away from the police cars and went out into the street, the gunmen not paying attention to the lone person out in full view.

He ran like a demon towards a median that was a meter high with grass, mulch, and some small trees. Colin took cover behind it, laying down he placed the stock of the rifle on the ground, the incline and the flat top gave a perfect firing position. As the gunman reached their car, Colin pulled the trigger and the man jerked, he had felt the bullet. Colin fired twice more, the last round finding a soft spot of armor, punching through and lodging itself in the man’s liver.

One of the other gunmen turned and emptied his whole drum at the median. Soft ground exploded from the impact of rounds. He reloaded and fired another drum. It was then the gunfire suddenly died. His two comrades on their feet were staring at a large Challenger 2 tank sitting just behind the police cars. The 120mm gun swerved on them as another Challenger appeared both had POLICE written across the side in large black letters. The heavy units had arrived.

As the ambulances evacuated the wounded, Dave began looking for Colin. Where did that boy run off to? Oh Jesus no. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and his forty-five year old heart could sustain him. He ran to the median were several policemen were. Dave got on his knees, praying to God it could be someone else. Turning over the body on the mauled earth was Colin, a several bullet wounds on his chest, a look of peace on his face.

Dave choked up. He pulled out his walkie-talkie. “This is Sergeant Fetters…get me…I need. We lost one. I…just bag him.”

Dave took off his shirt and covered the body of the young cop.

“You would have made a fine policeman Patterson.”

The A109M helicopter kissed the earth at GN-475, the engines slowly shut down and the rotors stopped spinning. Hauk rushed forward and opened the door as Kimble stepped out of the helicopter. She smiled and shook his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you Doctor Hauk, I think your soldiers might like what I got.”

Hauk looked behind her to see three large, green, hard plastic boxes. The silver ammunition had arrived. He smiled and motioned for the Rangers to come over. They gave smart salutes to their Commander-In-Chief and took the boxes out. Hauk led Kimble down into the conference room for a private talk.

“Now Mrs. President, there is no guarantee the vampire will talk to you. He has not spoken a single word to anyone, spare for my assistant who is sleeping. She spent the night talking with him.”

“I still want to try Doctor.”

“Ma’am, may I ask what is the point? We are spending more time talking to him than studying him.”

“To understand the physical body, you must understand the mental body. Doctor, to understand what he is, we must know who he is.”

Hauk nodded. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“That isn’t needed.” She said.

Kimble walked out of the room and downstairs. She walked to the door of the cell block, took a deep breath before opening it. She headed down the block slowly before reaching the cell before Stephen’s. She pulled out a .40 Beretta PX4 Storm automatic from a holster on the back of her waist, removed the magazine to reveal fourteen silver rounds. She put the magazine back and the pistol back in the holster.

When she took the last few steps, she coved up the camera and unplugged the mic. Kimble turned to face Stephen, who was lying on his cot, propped up against the wall. Both stared at each other for several minutes before Stephen slowly stood and walked up to the glass. He gently rapped on it with his right index finger.

“I could break through this so easily.” He said quietly.

“Then why don’t you?” Kimble asked. Now slightly nervous that the vampire could break free and drain her before she could react.

“Why should I? I get some blood, I get to relax, and the cot is actually very soft and comfortable. Though it isn’t home, it isn’t too bad. I never thought I would see the day this would happen.”

“Vampires become known to Simatarians?”

Stephen gave a slow nod. “Yeah, a day I have feared for a long time. Ever since I turned, I wanted to reveal myself in good time under better conditions…but….shit happens.”

“Well, if you are good…maybe we can work something out.”

“You speak to me like I am an animal.” Stephen struck the glass wall with his fist and it shook. Kimble stepped back against the wall, the glass wall could hold a Stage Three Rebecca victim without problem; now it seemed the vampire would make his break. Stephen instead stood there, his blue eyes hard as ice. “Don’t underestimate me, don’t even think about talking down to me like that ever. You forget I could break out of here in a...AH!”

Stephen backpedaled, grasping the side of his face, he fell over his cot and moved to the sink where he turned on the cold water full blast and began to splash it on his face.

Kimble turned to see Roman holding a pepper spray canister in his hand. The stench of burnt flesh reached her nostrils as she looked in the cell and saw smoke rising from Stephen’s face. She now knew Roman had sprayed Stephen with silver nitrate. Roman looked at the President.

“Sorry ma’am. Should we go? This animal is lusting for blood, best leave him alone.”

Kimble looked at the vampire and gave a brief nod to Roman. She looked at Stephen. “I am sorry for this. Hopefully, this can be contained.”

Kimble left the cell block. Stephen watched her go as he felt his face heal from the silver. He then turned to the cell door and stared at it for a while.

Inside, the tumblers inside the lock began to twitch.


Kimble came into the conference room behind Roman. Hauk was inside, looking over Stephen’s personal effects. He picked up the dragon shaped bloodstone and gave it to Kimble.

“What is it?” She asked. “It looks vaguely familiar.”

“Doc, you wanted to see me?” Kaufman appeared in the door and Hauk ushered him into the room.

“Take a look at this. Does it resemble any military patch?” Hauk asked.

Kaufman shook his head. “Not that I have seen sir. Let me get Heltzel in here.”

A few minutes later, Paige Heltzel walked in the room. The female soldier was wearing only a pair of camouflage pants, boots, grey t-shirt and webbing with several magazine pouches hanging on it. Kaufman handed the stone to her and she muttered something.

“Well, what ya got there is a nice stone that looks like the dragon on the 17th Airborne patch. I know that cuz one I was in the 17th and two I got it tattooed on my arm.”

Heltzel pulled back the small sleeve on her right arm and showed the tattoo on her arm, sure enough the stone dragon looked exactly like the one on Heltzel’s arm. Kimble stared at it for a while before giving a nod and dismissed Heltzel.

“Okay, it is my daughter’s birthday today so I have to heading back to Clarence. Since this vampire was probably in the military, I’ll have a check of the archives done of any soldier with the first name of Stephen. Good day gentlemen.”

Hauk escorted Kimble back to her chopper that had been refuel and watched it lift off. He came back inside and went to his office. The old man flicked on his small television. The news was covering a story of a bank robbery in Chelam. Hair on the back of Hauk’s neck began to rise as the name of the dead officer reached his ears.

“Oh my God…Nicole."

Hauk left his office and found his assistant now awake sipping some coffee and munching on a bagel. Nicole smiled at him as he walked into the room.

“Nicole, you have a brother right? In the Chelam Police Department?”

Nicole smiled. “Yeah, Colin. He is two years older than me…wanted to be a cop so badly. Why?”

Hauk sat on the table and took her hand. “Nicole I think you should hear it from me. Colin…was killed in a shootout earlier today.”

Nicole sat there, her stomach sank and her mouth went dry. She could see in the old man’s eyes it was true. Her lips began to tremble as her body began to shake. Nicole buried her face in Hauk’s leg and started to cry. The old man patted her on the back, not knowing what else to do.

After nearly twenty minutes, Nicole stood numb and stumbled from the room. She would try and continue her work. She picked up her clipboard and headed down to the cell block, wiping the tears from her face and eyes. She walked into the block and smiled at Stephen as she covered the camera and unplugged the mic.

Stephen could sense something was terribly wrong and he moved up to the glass, his face now healed. “What is it Nicole?”

“What? Oh…nothing…just…nothing.” She stammered. She tried to open her mouth, but the dryness came back, the tears, the image of her brother lying dead on pavement sitting in front of like as though she was there. Nicole tried to suppress it, but it came back harder and harder till she broke down again.

Several minutes past before she felt something cold touch her check. Nicole turned to find Stephen kneeling in the hall next to her, his cobalt blue eyes soft and caring. She stole a glance in the cell and found the door open. She opened her mouth, but Stephen’s finger gently pressed against it and she sat quiet. The vampire mentally pulled a chair over for himself and sat.

He gently moved some loose strands of hair from her face and smiled. “What is it?”

“My…my…brother. He…dead…killed in a gun battle with robbers.” It was the best Nicole could muster.

Stephen nodded. He remembered centuries ago, in another lifetime where he had given many weeping relatives news of their love ones demise; he was told it would get easier each time he told it, but it only seemed to get harder. That life was almost like it never happened, now he was faced with a similar situation, this time with a person he cared about.

Nicole meanwhile, was half terrified, half pleased on the inside. She was terrified that now there was a vampire only inches from her, he had used his mental powers to unlock his cell door to get out. Though, she was happy he seemed to generally care for her.

“Nicole, I don’t know if I can help you heal your wounds. But, I will do my best. You will be given the ‘he did his duty’ from his chief and his pals. You will also get the ‘he will always be with us in sprit’ stuff too. I can give that to you, anyone can. All I know is that it hurts and hurts like hell. I know. The thing you must remember, always remember…it wasn’t your fault in any way shape or form. No matter how you look at it, it wasn’t your fault in any way. And he didn’t die without good coming from it, many lives were saved because of him, many people who would have been caught in cross-fire or victims on the robber’s escape owe their lives to him. I don’t know if that helps any.”

Nicole’s broken face slowly formed a smile. The fact that someone was there for her outweighed the words Stephen had spoken. Hauk was trying to calm her because he was her boss and he felt like he needed to do that to keep her steady. Stephen on the other hand was the one who seemed to be making and effort to sooth her damage spirit. She stopped crying for a few minutes before starting again. She was still crying as she fell into his arms, holding onto him and sobbing.

Stephen wrapped his arms around the human and took a deep breath in, her smells exciting him. Her throbbing artery was mere inches from his mouth and his fangs lowered in excitement. The sound of her blood rushing through her veins thundered in his ears as the sweet smell of the crimson liquid filled his nostrils. He closed his eyes and held her close, but suppressed the vampire in him, and raised his fangs.

Stephen held Nicole close, gently rocking her, trying to calm the crippled girl.

Nicole pulled her face back and through tear choked eyes looked at Stephen. She could not believe she was this close to the vampire and he had not tried to bite her. She smiled weakly at him and received a small smile in return. After several minutes of holding each other, Nicole finally realized what she was doing and pulled back slowly out of Stephen’s arms.

She looked at him, studying his features before speaking in a hushed voice. “Are…are you going to eat me?”

Stephen chuckled and also spoke in a soft voice. “No, no of course not. That would be a horrible way to repay the person who has helped me so much.”

Nicole looked confused. “How have I helped you?”

“For one, you have fed me. Second, you have moved me from being tied down to an examination table to a pretty comfy cell.”

“Are…are you going to make a run for it now that you can unlock the door with your mind?”

Stephen shook his head slowly. “No, it is daylight…besides I think everyone here needs to learn a bit more about my kind before I do anything. Are you going to be okay Nicole?”

She gave a small nod, pulled out a tissue and blew her nose. “Yeah, I think I will be fine. Stephen, what you said…it meant a lot to me. Hauk and everyone here are great, but I don’t think they know what I am going through.”

“Well, I am always here if you want to talk or anything.”

Nicole chuckled. “I thought it was my job to do the interviewing and questions.”

Stephen laughed and stopped when he felt Nicole’s warm hand against his cold, pale skin. He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth that radiated from her. He opened them, revealing a face of curiosity on the human.

“Who are you? Who is the man behind the fangs?” Nicole asked quietly.

Stephen looked back at her for several minutes. “Someone with a troubled past…a past that should be forgotten…but if I forget, I will dishonor my old comrades from my mortal days. If I don’t forget and the big demons come up…I don’t know what would happen.”

Nicole stared at Stephen. It was slowly becoming clear to her that he had more depth in him than she had originally thought. He also had emotion, not something she thought of when the word ‘vampire’ entered her mind. “I have to go and pack. I will be away for a few days for my brother’s funeral.”

Stephen gave a slight nod and gently let go of her. He mentally placed his chair back and flashed her a smile before going back into his cell and going to sleep on the cot. Nicole went back upstairs to her room to pack. The events of the last few minutes seeming so strange to her and yet oddly comforting; she had been in the arms of a vampire and had not been drained and the vampire seemed to be more human than vampire.

She slowly placed her clothes into her bag, knowing with each bit entering the bag; she was getting closer to her brother’s coffin. When she zipped up her bag, she paused and took a deep breath. You’re strong Nicole, you can do this. She slung her bag over her shoulder, said good-bye to everyone, headed to the surface and boarded the camp’s AS 550 Fennec helicopter. It gently lifted off into the air with one of the soldiers at the controls and headed towards Chelam.

In one of the booths of the restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory; Kimble looked up at the Secret Service agent and gave a slight nod. She looked over to see Jonick standing near the entrance of the restaurant. She looked over at her husband.

“Roger, Martin is here. I’ll be right back.”

“Alright Becky, don’t be gone too long. Gotta give Angie her present.” Roger Kimble gave a smile and brushed back some of his brown hair from his face.

Kimble smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I won’t. Angie, mommy will be right back.”

Her daughter looked up. Angie Kimble looked at her mother with light green eyes; a few loose strands of dirty blonde hair fell on her face. The little girl moved the strands away and smiled. “Okay mommy. Can I get some cake?”

“Of course you can. Whatever you want, it is your birthday.”

Kimble then moved from the table and walked over to Jonick. He looked around and quickly ushered her outside. The pair walked into the cold night, a gust of wind blowing dead leaves at their feet. Kimble leaned against a concrete wall and stared at Jonick.

“Ma’am, I got the ID on the vampire.” Jonick said as he removed a sheet from his jacket.

Kimble took the sheet and looked over it. “Stephen Malone…ex-Ranger…paratrooper in the 17th before that…top marks on his tests…awarded two Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, and two Silver Stars; not bad at all for a military career. Jesus, tortured by Pablo Mendez, damn. How did you find him?”

“I went through the military archives with just the name ‘Stephen’ and asked for just pics and names. After a few hours, I found him. There is one thing ma’am. I checked his dossier. The last time he was reported here in the Golden Simatar was well…1,260 years ago.”

Kimble looked up in shock. “Jesus Christ, far older than that fellow Roman said. Guess he isn’t as good as you thought.”

“Ma’am…I believe Roman Cyrus. Malone’s dossier is thick, much of it is military records that have been declassified yet never seen the light of day. I have two opinions. First, when Malone was born his DNA got screwed up and he was born an immortal. Or something made him change into an immortal then a vampire.”

Kimble looked at him and arched her eyebrow. “Kind of far fetched isn’t it Martin?”

“Well, I do have to admit that Mrs. President. Do I have your permission to get the dossier to Hauk?”

“Yes you do Martin. Thank you. Will you fly out?”

“No, his assistant’s brother was killed in a shootout. I will catch her after the funeral.”

Kimble gave a slight nod and as she headed back inside, Jonick moved up to her again. “Ma’am, when will this go public?”

Kimble shook her head. “I don’t know Martin. I want to keep a lid on this as long as possible. Jesus Christ…this country will be in pandemonium.”

Jonick nodded and looked past her. His eyes bulged for a second before he looked back at her. He smiled slightly and called as he turned and left. “You might want to see what your husband got your kid.”

Kimble turned to see Angie smiling as she held her present. The President sighed and walked forward and slid into the booth. Angie had her arms wrapped around a Shar-Pei puppy, the small animal licked Angie, its tail wagging happily. Kimble already owned a pair of two old Rhodesian Ridgebacks, now she would have to get used to another dog. She looked at her husband.

“I thought we agreed she wouldn’t get a dog this go round.”

Roger looked at her and kissed her on the nose. “Well…I just saw it and I know Angie likes this breed Becky. Remember that dinner we went to at my parent’s house? They got a one and Angie liked it. So…I got her one. Don’t worry, Ghost and Darkness will adjust, maybe even help take care of it. Come on, smile a little.”

Kimble chuckled and she kissed her husband. She didn’t know how he managed to get the pup into the restaurant, but she guessed it had to do with she was the President. At least she could have a small escape being with her family from the dark situation that hung over her. She reached over and scratched the puppy behind the ears, quickly getting a lick on the hand from the animal. She smiled and rested her head against Roger’s shoulder.

Though she was happy now, Jonick’s question was still ringing in her head. When was she going to announce this situation to the nation?

The sun was shining brightly in the cloudless blue sky. Though the sun was shining, it was bitterly cold and the hard wind made it worse. Jonick leaned against a tree, his black coat protecting him from much of the wind. He stared at the funeral happening thirty yards away from him. He could see the black and blue mass of people, the priest saying his prayers at the front end of the coffin that sat silently above the grave.

A small band played a mournful tune and seven policemen armed with M14s fired a salute into the air. Jonick waited as the people slowly began to disperse. He spotted Nicole talking to her brother’s captain; the policeman gave her a hug and departed with the group. Nicole stayed next to the coffin for several minutes before walking deeper into the cemetery. Jonick walked after her.

“Ms. Patterson.” He called out to her.

Nicole turned and formed a weak smile. Her face was wet with tears. “Mr. Jonick, what a surprise. Is this about Stephen?”

“Yes, may we keep walking?” He asked.

The pair walked in silence for the better part of a half and hour before Jonick handed her a thick folder, nearly bursting with papers. Nicole took it and gently removed a black and white photograph. A young man in military fatigues, probably only eighteen, was in the crouched position, an Israeli Galil SAR grasped in his right hand, dirt and ash was on his face and body. Nicole could see sadness in the eyes. She recognized the face.

“Stephen.” She murmured.

“Yes, that was him as a young man. He was in the 17th Airborne at eighteen when he saw his first action. An ambush, it says in the report Stephen shot two men and just crouched on the side of the road after the battle; just sat there for an hour before moving.”

“What the hell was he doing in combat at eighteen?!”

“He graduated from high school at seventeen. He joined ROTC and made it into the airborne…fine athletic and test taker. One of the requirements was that he had to spend a few months overseas with peacekeepers. The area he was sent to was supposed to be safe…and it wasn’t. Until after another ambush; he was wounded in the arm in that one.”

Nicole pulled out another picture, Stephen was slightly older, a smile on his face as he held an empty RPG-7V launcher. His other hand pointed to a M60A3 tank behind him. Nicole smiled and flipped through more pictures till she stopped at one in color. Stephen was in his mid-twenties now, dark green Class A uniform on, medals on the left side of the uniform, his right arm was wrapped around a woman.

The woman stood at 5’11, had dark brown hair and eyes. She was also wearing a military uniform, a broad smile on her face also.

“Who is this?” Nicole asked.

“His ex-wife Emma. They married when he was twenty-five; she was the daughter of General Thompson. Commander of the army. She divorced him when he was twenty-nine and went on to raise their child Jessica and remarried two years later. Jessica herself never married and died in a car accident at thirty.”

“Oh…I see. What was Stephen like?” Nicole felt a bit of pain in her gut. She felt sorry for him and wondered if he remembered his ex-wife.

“He became a drunk after he retired. Retired three weeks before…he was going to be discharged for psychiatric reasons.”

“What?” Nicole asked in shock.

“Stephen was tortured, horribly on his last mission. Tied down to a chair with barbed wire, doctors barely kept him alive as they removed it from his flesh. They also found an empty syringe. No one really knows what he was injected with. But what they found about it was…well…it is in the dossier. He also claimed he killed a close friend during the battle. Christ, his body is still scared with what happened to him. Four hours in hell.”

Nicole felt like crying, not for her brother but for Stephen. How could anyone be so horrible to another human being? “Is that what caused him to become immortal?”

Jonick stopped and looked at her confused. Nicole repeated what she said. “I guess it is possible. Whatever they injected him with might have done that. Question is why did it take so long for him to turn? Was he bitten and how did that affect him…Christ I don’t think he will tell.”

“What happened to him after the divorce?”

“He came back here, got a few things out of it and left. No one knows where. Doesn’t say. But, it took him over a thousand years to turn into a vampire.”

Nicole nodded and held the dossier close to her body. Jonick placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Ms. Patterson.”

“I…it is…oh God I feel so sorry for him. He is such a nice man and he…I…”

Jonick looked at her closely. “You…love him?”

Nicole looked up in shock. She really liked Stephen, loved the fact he cares for her feelings and comforted her. She smiled and brushed a few strands of hair from her face. “Well, it is hard to say. Maybe.”

Jonick gave a slight nod and walked her to his car and the pair climbed in. Jonick looked at her. “There are a few more dossiers in the trunk, pass them out to Hauk and the team.”

“You got it.” Nicole said.

Jonick gave a smile and drove her to the airport where the chopper was waiting.

Hilliard made a low whistle as he scanned over Stephen’s thick dossier. Nicole had gotten back early in the afternoon and the group had spent much of the time since she got back reading up on the vampire. Roman sat in a chair off to the side, gently sipping a Coke and reading through his sunglasses. He smiled slightly as he read about Stephen’s psychiatric evaluation after his last mission and his messy divorce from his wife. He couldn’t injure the vampire physically now, but he could attack him emotionally and mentally.

He slowly looked up; the soldier Kaufman was the only one who wasn’t looking over Stephen’s medical records. He instead was pouring over Stephen’s military records and by the look on his face, he was very impressed. Hauk was scratching his head as he flipped through the pages.

“Nicole, you said that there was a paper here about the substance that he was injected with. Where is it?”

Nicole looked confused. “What? Jonick said it was there, so it must be.”

Roman watched her expressions carefully and listened to the tone of her voice, she was lying. Why was she protecting the vampire? Why was she standing up for it? Dozens of questions like these swirled around in Roman’s head non-stop. He finally took a few papers from his copy of the dossier and slipped out of the room and headed down into the cell block.

Stephen looked up as Roman walked in front of the cell and covered the camera and disconnected the mic. The vampire arched an eyebrow. “You feel like talking shape shifter?”

“Oh…I just want to know about you. Maybe a bit about your ex-wife and daughter for starters.”

Stephen stood and looked at Roman strangely. The vampire didn’t remember right off about his ex-wife or daughter. Roman placed a photograph into the drawer and slid it to him. Stephen walked over slowly and gently lifted the 8x10 from it. He recognized himself with a young woman holding a baby. His eyes watered slightly as he gently touched the woman’s face in the picture. His voice was low and hoarse.

“Emma…”

Stephen only remembered the bad memories of his ex-wife. Learning of her affair, his daughter Jessica was not his, the divorce. But, as he stood there, well over a thousand years later; finally some good memories started to come back.


The night was just coming as the waves crashed gently against the shore. A young woman gently walked down the beach, her feet and ankles being submerged every few seconds by the incoming water. She looked up to see a human form sitting on a chair, looking out into the ocean. She walked over and sat in a chair next to Stephen.

“How do you feel tonight?” She asked.

Stephen looked at her and grinned. “Come here Emma…”

Emma stood and started to back away from her husband, a slight grin on her face as Stephen slowly stood and moved towards her. Emma bolted up the line of sand dunes towards Stephen’s parent’s beach house. She turned, but didn’t see Stephen. Confident she might have lost him, she didn’t see the hand come out of the darkness, grab her by the wrist and drag her down into the sand. Stephen rolled over and straddled her and smiled.

“REMFs…all the same. Can’t beat Special Forces.”

Emma tried to slap Stephen, but he grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “Stephen, I am not your average REMF…I am your wife. Now, it is necessary for you to pin me to the ground?”

“Hmm…let me think for a second….yes.”

Emma made an attempt at a pitiful look. “Please Stephen? Let me up.”

Stephen sighed and as he moved off her, she pushed him off and took off again laughing. Stephen stood and bolted after her.


Stephen shook his head, they had been so close. She had never told him why she cheated on him or who was Jessica’s real father. He gently placed the picture back in the drawer and pushed it back. He walked numbly to the far wall and placed her head on the cold stone. Memories he had long repressed were now coming back, good ones, bad ones, but mostly bad ones. When he last saw Emma in the courtroom for their divorce, as he looked over at her table, it was only a dot, hundreds of miles away.

Roman was smiling; he had obviously struck a soft spot. “So, how did it feel to learn you were married to a cheating bitch and you were raising someone else’s kid? Maybe because you weren’t good enough in bed or it was because you were slowly going insane. A nice lady like this with a slime ball like you…I can’t…”

Roman was cut off violently as the chain that held his Celadrin amulet twisted and tightened immediately around his neck. He gagged and his eyes bulged as he backpedaled. He saw Stephen’s eyes, cold, hard no emotion as he was slowly killing him. Roman’s arms flew widely until he knocked the cardboard from the camera lens.

Kaufman stretched and saw what was happening on the camera. He cursed and bolted from the room. Nicole looked over and darted after the man. The scientists sat there, curious until they saw Roman slowly dying. They too darted after Kaufman.

The next thing Stephen felt was a surge of electricity through his body, his whole body was stiff for a brief second before going limp and he collapsed down onto the floor, only being propped up slightly by his bed. His bleary gaze moved from Roman who was now gasping for air to the barrel of a large caliber pistol.

“NO!”

Nicole burst into the room and moved past Kaufman, next to Stephen. She knocked the Para’s .45 barrel away. “Cut it out!”

“He tried to kill him and now he will die to Ms. Patterson. He is too dangerous to be kept alive.” Kaufman snarled.

“He brought it upon himself! All the times I have talked to Stephen he hasn’t attacked me once.” She snapped back.

Kaufman stood there. In one hand he held a large cattle prod, the other hand he held his gun. He wanted to electrocute the vampire again then kill him, but the woman wouldn’t budge. He looked up at Hauk as he came into the room. The soldier looked back and left the room. Nicole watched him through the glass help the others get Roman to his feet. She looked at Hauk.

“Don’t kill Stephen. He wouldn’t…I know.”

Hauk looked at his assistant. It was obvious she cared for the vampire, maybe a bit too much. He didn’t know what to say or do. The man stood and left the room. Nicole sat there and gently moved Stephen from the floor to the bed.

“Stephen, I’ll get you something to eat…you must be hungry.”

“Blood…stone…dragon shaped.”

Nicole remembered the stone. She didn’t understand what he meant, but if it had some power to rejuvenate him, she would get it. Nicole bent down and kissed him lightly on the lips before leaving the room and locking the door. She stopped outside of his cell, surprised at what she did.

Nicole shook it off and went upstairs to get Stephen’s stone and fight to save his life.

“You can’t kill him!”

Nicole leaned against the wall of the conference room, fuming. The men had been discussing possibly gassing Stephen to knock him out before shooting him and thus prevent a possibly violent confrontation with the vampire.

“Why can’t we kill him? The bastard is a menace to society.” Kaufman barked. The soldier still held his Para, ready to put a silver slug into the vampire’s head at a moments notice. Nicole stood firm, ready to strike the man if he moved.

“Now easy there you two…no need to get into a fight.” Calhoun said softly, trying to avoid a confrontation between the pair.

“Take it easy?! We are talking about a man’s life here!” Nicole snapped. “Besides, you can’t kill him; you need the President’s permission.”

Kaufman straighten, he knew Nicole had him there. If he shot Stephen now, he would be in a load of shit and he would kiss his career good bye. He holstered his weapon and looked over at Hauk, who was sitting in a chair, deep in thought.

“What do you think Doctor?”

“Personally…I think we must go back to feeding him less to keep him under…”

“What?!” Nicole screamed. “Have…what are you thinking of? For God’s sake you will kill him. He will be too weak to move…”

“That is the point!” Hauk barked.

Nicole shuddered; she had never heard Hauk speak in such an angry tone before. She knew it was no use; they would try to continue their studies of Stephen and keep him barely alive. She turned and left the room, tears welling up in her eyes. They didn’t care about him, all they wanted was to know what made him a vampire, how he was immortal, everything scientific.

A door in front of her opened and Roman stepped out into the hall. Nicole stopped in front of him, stared at the man for several seconds before smashing her fist into his jaw. Caught off guard, Roman tumbled back into his room and crashed into the dresser. Nicole smiled a little and headed upstairs.

She stood outside and looked out across the landscape of trees, fields, and mountains. She heard her name called out and turned to see Paige Heltzel walking over. The soldier offered Nicole a piece of Dentyne Ice and she accepted. Nicole chewed slowly, relaxing slightly and whipped a tear from her eye.

“What’s wrong Nicole?”

“Christ, can you believe them? Killing Stephen because Roman pissed him off enough.”

“Well, we Rangers aren’t trained to fight vampires…it might be better. Besides, nip this thing in the butt before it gets bigger.”

“It is not only that, they care only for the science stuff. Sure they want to know who he is…but only if it can relate to him biologically. He was an immortal before becoming a vampire…Christ and it looks like he was turned into an immortal. What caused it is the fucking million dollar question.”

Paige stood silently as Nicole continued. The Ranger looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Nicole, we are having a barbeque later on. Serving fresh wild boar curtsey of Frank Danzinger. You civis are invited.”

Nicole turned to see the private standing triumphantly over the massive boar, a DSR-1 sniper rifle in one hand and can of beer in the other. “How is it you Rangers get away with this stuff?”

“Cause we are the best…hell the way I see it no matter which way this thing goes we here are gonna be the first to get training on how to combat vamps. By the way…be thankful it was Frank who did the hunting…Randy wanted to do it with an AG36 and bring the boar back in a thimble.”

Nicole laughed; a bit of comedy was healthy at this stage of the game. “Paige, look out there. Miles and miles away are cities, towns, suburbs, schools…”

“Your point Nicole?” Paige asked, not sure where Nicole was going.

“All those people…when the President finally releases the facts to them….how do you think they will react?”

Paige looked out across the mountains and shuddered. “I don’t want to think about it…mayhem, hysteria, probably have to get in infantry to keep the streets under control. Mass paranoia, fueled by anyone who will jump at the chance to make name for themselves and hunt down vampires and destroy them. I’m more afraid of the PRTGS.”

The People's Republic of the Golden Simatar was a radical Communist group who believed that they should overthrow the government and bring the country under the wing of socialism and thus better the nation. It was a mostly protest, internet based group who did not garner much attention. Most dismissed it, though some investigations began to lead people to believe the group might also be ready to use terrorism to get its goals.

Nicole shrugged; her mind was somewhere else at the moment. Paige patted her on the back. “Be back in a few hours Nicole, we are gonna build a big fucking bon fire and have one hell of a good time. Got lots of meat, sauce…and of course booze.”

Nicole smiled as her friend went back to help her comrades. Finally, she turned and headed inside. She went into the empty lab and grabbed Stephen's bloodstone and walked out. She pocketed it and stood next to the conference room door where she heard the men in a hot debate.

The next few days and weeks were going to be very long.

Three weeks had gone by, Nicole had stopped talking to Stephen by order of Hauk and she was just now filing papers and looking over test results. She had been able to smuggle Stephen’s bloodstone to him during the Ranger barbeque. She explained to him what was happened and quickly left. Nicole felt lonely; for the most part she hung out with the off-duty Rangers or took walks in the forest. She wondered what was going on now.

Stephen was strapped to an examination table at a nearly ninety degree angle in the examination room. He watched the humans work diligently over their instruments to try and find the answer to his immortality. During the three weeks, he had been given less than three pints of blood and had only made it because of Nicole. It was strange, he found himself greatly in debt to a human.

Lee walked up to Stephen with a syringe and drew a CC of blood. Stephen sighed and banged his head against the table, now he was seriously thinking of escaping. It would be easy Stephen, break the lock, creep out, steal a few firearms, get your gear, get Nicole, and leave. Stephen blinked. Take Nicole? Jesus…emotions for a human…she is…Jesus. She wouldn’t come with me…too dangerous. She has been my angel though, I would be dead if it wasn’t for her.

Stephen’s thoughts broke off as he was confronted by Hauk. Asking the same old questions, it got to the point where Stephen knew what he would ask without reading his mind.

“I give you the same answers before doctor…I don’t fucking know. I don’t fucking know why a vampire drinks only blood or our bodies heal faster. The same answer…it started with a demon possessed human who accidentally turned five people. I personally know one of them.”

“Well, is it possible to talk to this person?” Hauk asked.

“Yes…I can give you the fucking phone number…wake up doc! You know jack-shit about my kind outside of what everyone else in this nation knows. You are trying to find things only the original vampire could answer…and I think he is dead or entombed somewhere thankfully. From what I have heard he slaughtered hundreds for some fucked up purpose you don’t need to know. And one of his fledglings would kill babies just to pass the time and slaughter villages for the shits and grins of it.”

“Oh…I see your point.”

“No you do not. You are trying to keep me under control by starving me…thinking you are the dominate species. Well…I got bad news for you.”

Stephen gathered up his mental powers and sent Hauk tumbling back into his colleges. The humans looked at each other stunned as Stephen glared at them. “You know nothing. You think I am powerful…I can be nasty…you ain’t seen a nearly two thousand year old ancient psycho bitch on the rampage. She could break every bone in your body without breaking a sweat and kill everyone here in less than five minutes if she is in a hurry. You are fortunate. I am a human on the inside, I might be vampire but I am really a human with pointy teeth and drinking blood. Unless…”

Stephen snarled and lurched against the restraints, being careful not to break them. His fangs were now extended to a little above his lower lip. He stayed like that for the better part of minute before retracting his fangs to their normal length. “Unless you want me to be more of the Hollywood type.”

“Just be yourself and that would be fine.” A woman's voice came from the examination room door.

Stephen looked over and bowed his head in respects to President Kimble as she walked into the room. She conferred with the other humans for a few minutes, the scientists seemed edgy about the situation. Finally, they left, Hauk keeping his eyes on Stephen at all times. Kimble looked back at Stephen.

“Mind if I sit?” She asked. She heard a scraping behind her and watched as a chair moved over to her. She smiled at Stephen and sat.

“What do I owe this honor? I don’t see Roman or a soldier anywhere.” Stephen commented.

“I wanted to talk to you alone, I know you’re a man of honor and wouldn’t take advantage of a woman all alone.”

“What makes you say that? I could be a bit hungry.” Stephen said, licking his fangs.

“You were a Ranger…enough said.”

Stephen smiled and gave another bow of the head. He closed his eyes and muttered something before opening them for Kimble to continue.

“I have decided to call a Special meeting of Congress, Senate, and you can figure everyone else major in the government. Secret…you know I think.”

“No media, room swept for bugs so much you ain’t got nothing left, a few trusted Secret Service agents, everyone checked for recording devices, all notes to be taken afterward and everyone searched for more, notes to be destroyed or given at latter date, and everyone fulfill their oath of silence on the matter. Am I right?”

“On the nose. I am planning to reveal the existence of vampires, with the footage, graphs and such from here. You can’t attend of course.”

“I understand. You know you might not make headway.”

“I know…Hauk will be coming along too to talk. This…oh God.”

“Hey, chin up Mrs. President. You are doing just fine for a person in your position. You are calm on the outside, but the inside of you is swirling, yet you don’t show it. You lead this nation just fine…I have faith in you. If somehow this gets out…I know you can keep this nation out of civil war.”

“That is what I am afraid of…I am hounded by the far right wing conservative Bible eaters to make this country a Christian paradise by expelling all other religions, that alone could spark a war. Islam is the second largest religion in this nation followed very closely by Judaism…don’t want to start a religious war. I got my security chief asking me to use the army to destroy the PRTGS…this nation would explode if word of you got out. The far right wingers would say I am screwing a minion of Satan and should be forced to resign and give control of the nation to them. I’m sorry if I am putting this on your shoulders.”

“I don’t mind. I understand, if there will be a few protests…maybe a riot or two when you tell the public after the government sits on me for a bit. Besides…you’re married, I wouldn’t think of screwing you, even with your permission.”

Kimble laughed before asking something touchy. “You have your eyes on someone else?”

Stephen looked at her, silent. His feelings for Nicole were strong, it started as a stand offish relationship before, now they were like friends. It almost seemed to him, he was starting to fall in love again. He knew Kimble meant Nicole and he had no answer. Kimble simply nodded, she stood.

“I will get them to haul you down and put you back in your room and get your conversations going again with Ms. Patterson. I am more interested on who you are. I can get vampire information from anywhere overseas.”

“Isn’t my dossier enough?”

“It doesn’t cover everything.”

Kimble turned and headed to the door, she stopped and turned around. Stephen noticed a look of uncertainty in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

“I am afraid of the future of our nation.”

“So am I.” Stephen said softly.

Kimble nodded and left to make history.

The Secret Service Agent stood calmly as his men began to wind down their search for bugs or recording devices. He kept his eye on the janitor, a man named Orson. The janitor was slightly stooped, a hat with no shape on his head, covering salt and pepper hair, his face and dull brown eyes told of a man between his late forties to his early fifties.

One of his men informed him that the room had been cleared and the agent walked over to Orson.

“Orson, get moving.”

“Huh?” Orson said in a bored tone.

The agent knew that Orson seemed slower in the head than most, but the man listened and did his job well. The agent also knew that the man was very intelligent, he could read perfectly fine, but his ability to link spoken words together was questionable. The agent repeated what he said and Orson turned, left, and sat outside where the men and women of the government were gathering and being searched.

As the last few people took their seats, the doors were shut and locked; security personal armed with Heckler and Koch UMPs and Para Ordnance P14-45s stood guard outside the doors. A few more minutes passed before Kimble entered through the main entrance, followed by the Vice-President Erick Wirz and Hauk. She entered, no music played, she smiled and shook hands with several of her supporters and gave her husband a kiss before she went to her spot.

Kimble climbed the forest green carpet covered stairs up a few feet and stood in front of a podium made from American cherry wood. She cleared her throat as Hauk took a seat in the front row and Wirz sat above and behind her with the Democrat and Republican leaders. Kimble took a sip of water before starting what would probably be the most important speech of her administration.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, our nation faces a situation we have never faced before in our history. Almost five weeks ago, we received information about strange happenings in our nation. About a week later, the body of a man was brought to Medical Research Facility GN-475. This was taken from the initial look of the body.”

Kimble turned around as she heard the shifting of seats as the people in the room looked to see a large screen descend from the ceiling and show what happened when Nicole began to examine Stephen’s body. Jonick, Hauk, and Roman entered the room and talked to her, everyone in the room heard Nicole say that Stephen was dead and there was no pulse.

There was a furry of murmuring in the room as footage of Stephen suddenly jolting and thrashing on the table hit the screen. A young Representative stood.

“You trying to pull something on us?”

The video paused as Kimble turned as several more young ones also joined their comrade. The President was silent; these were the young far right religious Bible eaters she was nervous about. She didn’t show it as she spoke in a hard tone that made the young leader go silent.

“No, this is no prank, hoax, or joke of any kind. If you do not sit down this second you will be removed and spend the rest of your life on Crow’s Nest.”

The young man sat at the threat of spending the rest of his life on the Golden Simatar’s island National Maximum Security prison. It got the name Crow’s Nest from the shallow reefs surrounding it that destroyed dozens of wooden vessels and for years only the top of the masts and crows nests were visible till the sea swallowed them up.

Kimble cleared her throat as the video rolled, showing Nicole talking to Stephen when he was tied up to the examination table, audio included. Charts and graphs were on the side of the screen, showing Stephen’s vital signs; there was no heart beat, nothing registered on the machines. Murmurs persisted among everyone who watched. The Vice-President looked at Kimble, stunned he had been kept in the dark. Kimble wasn’t looking at him; she looked over at her husband. Roger sat quietly, his eyes fixed firmly to the screen.

The video ended and Kimble turned back to her government.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Republicans and Democrats…we must brace for something you do not want to believe. The man there is a vampire.”

Then, it was as she expected. All hell broke loose. Shouts and cries came up from everyone in the room. Kimble stood quietly as she was bombarded by shouts and as people began to shout at each other. After a good ten minutes, she turned and nodded to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was trying to compose herself. The old woman nodded and motioned to a guard.

The guard pulled out his Para P-14 and pulled back the slide, a blank round was chambered. The guard fired once into the air and the room went silent. Kimble gave a nod to the guard.

“Now, I turn it over to Doctor Arthur Hauk who is heading up the research.”

Kimble took a seat behind the podium in a large chair made of dark rosewood and crimson red cushions. Hauk stood, smoothed his rumbled brown suit, and took the podium.

“We have yet to determine the cause of the man’s vampirism. Causes range from a virus which seems the most possible to possession by a demon, which is least likely.”

Once again, there was a flurry of comments; Hauk tried to speak over them before grasping a heavy stone paper weight and smashed it on the podium, leaving a dent. The room slowly quieted down.

“As I was saying my assistant has been interviewing the vampire and discovered the original vampire was a mage…”

“What?” A senior Congressman shouted.

“Mage…a wizard I guess. Apparently he wanted power and decided to let a demon into his body. Sadly he didn’t call Father Merrin in time to get it out of him.” There was some nervous laughter in the room to the reference of the priest from The Exorcist. Hauk continued. “So this mage demon fellow accidentally spawned a few others and hence the vampire line began. In this certain case our vampire is too far down the line to have any kind of demon blood in him so a virus is most likely.”

Murmurs and nervous glances answered Hauk. He knew what they were talking about, what they were afraid about. They were afraid of another Rebecca like situation or that some of the lethal virus had escaped and mutated to cause vampirism.

“Everyone, Rebecca has nothing to do with this.”

“How do you know?” The young Representative who had spoken out before was up again. “No one knew the thing could cause zombies…good thing we shut it down. What kind of…”

“Strange you are saying that when you voted against shutting down the program Mr. Spoden.” Wirz said from his position. Spoden fell silent and took his seat, but the young man was obviously not happy with being forced to shut up. “Continue Doctor.”

“I am afraid there is not much more. We are still combing through his cell structure, trying to find out what is causing it. We have found a foreign cell in his blood, though it is long dead and we are unable to figure out what it was. Mrs. President.”

Hauk stepped down and Kimble took the stand. She looked at the dent and felt it. She looked over at Hauk who just shrugged. She sighed and turned back to the nervous crowd.

“You all are expected to do your duty and not utter a word of this once the doors open. We will convene in three days time to discuss possibilities on the situation and when to release to the public. Thank you all and have a good night. There is no need to be afraid...our only vampire is safely locked away. Please turn in any notes now.”

No notes were taken during the whole conversation. It had been short, but Kimble knew she had to let things on slowly. She had probably hit them too hard too quickly tonight. Finally, the room was clear and the head Secret Service Agent found Orson sleeping on a couch. He shook the man awake.

“Orson, you mind getting the podium removed and fixed…there is a big friggen dent in it.”

Orson nodded and slowly moved into the room. He reached under it, keeping a careful eye on the door and slipped something from under it into his pocket. He tried to life the podium, but failed. He looked across the room to the door where the agent was.

“I’m tired. I want to go home.”

The agent sighed and agreed. Orson left and the doors were shut and locked. The janitor left the government district of the capitol and headed back to his apartment. ‘Orson’ walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet.

A half hour later, a younger man appeared. He had dirty blonde hair, his eyes were brighter now he had gotten the makeup off. James Schwartz was only 27, but he had made his impression on the news of the country. His stories were in depth and truthful, he was the only one with the scoop, news channels, magazines, and news papers wanted him. They paid him top dollar for his stories, even though how he got information was questionable. Schwartz had perfected the art of makeup and for the past few years had been working under the name Orson Kamphaus in the capitol to get his information any way he could.

Everyone wanted him, they would pay him a higher wage, but he felt it would be restricting. Schwartz liked working freelance. It gave him more freedom in his opinion. He walked over to his jacket and removed a slim, black device. He connected the small digital recorder to his computer and listened. Schwartz smiled, he had also learned to place his bug in after the Secret Service had made thier sweep. He was going to be rich off this. Hard to believe, but he would still get rich. He would get everything he wanted, control, money, power.

As Schwartz’s fingers blazed away on his computer, he had no idea that he was going to send his country into complete chaos.

Stephen growled and the shut off the TV mentally. Nicole turned and looked through the glass at him.

“What is it?” She asked, a concerned looked on her face. It was the first time they had been able to talk and she had decided to take it a different direction. Stephen looked at her, his eyes softened slightly, but it was obvious the vampire was still angry. He waved dismissively at the TV.

“That…painful to watch because it is so wrong.”

Nicole picked up the DVD case for the movie Cherry Blossom. She read the back again, it said it was the true story of what happened that hot summer day where the men of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, of the 1st Ranger Regiment went against nearly 1,000 men of the war lord Pablo Mendez. She looked back at Stephen.

“You mean…this is false?”

“They got the name right, they got the fact it was Alpha boys. The movie says we faced a bunch of hired guns off streets, many without proper training. That was true. Most of them were paid in drugs; that is also true. The movie fails to mention Mendez had about two hundred well trained mercenaries…many ex-Spetsnaz and six Rooikat armored fighting vehicles. The crews were well trained, have to give them credit.”

“Anything else about the battle wrong?”

Stephen paced around in his cell. He was very uncomfortable talking about this. In his head, gunfire and explosions filled his thoughts. The vampire sat down and grasped his head, trying to get his head straight. He was trying to go through the events of that day and the night before clearly. He had to clear his head each time as the battle continued, he was always suddenly thrust into the hell hold of Mendez’s torture chambers.

Nicole stared at Stephen, she knew something was wrong. She wanted to go into the cell to comfort him, but she thought it would be best to wait. After several minutes, Stephen lowered his hands and started speaking, though he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were distant, like he was staring back into time.

“We were outnumbered, pinned down in an old creek bed; we were not maneuvering and flanking like in the movie. First and third platoons held down the flanks while second and fourth held the center. I was a backup medic called into service when our main medic was back at base with a broken leg. I spent much of the early stages of the battle helping out the wounded or shooting my M16. Of course I was captured.”

“How?”

Stephen opened his mouth, but no words came out. His eyes welled up as what he had sealed centuries ago in his mind suddenly came back.

His heart was racing. Stephen ran across the grassy terrain as fast as his legs would carry him. Sweat poured from under his helmet as the earth around him exploded as hundreds of bullets smacked into it. His eyes were firmly fixed on a tiny grove of trees several more meters away. The soldier dove into the grove and ended up beside another Ranger, blood covered the other man’s uniform.

"Jesus fucking…Stephen…oh...it…." the other Ranger moaned.

"Yeah, I know Mike. Hold still man."

Stephen worked desperately to pull out a large fragment from a 40mm grenade. He knew how it got there, he had put it there along with several bullets. The figure in the grove had appeared to be an enemy soldier, which was until Stephen received the distress call.

"Stephen…tell Alice. Tell my family…" Mike’s voice was growing weaker with each second.

Stephen was crying as he worked faster to save his friend. Both had known each other since they could walk and Stephen would not let his friend die like this. He looked over at Mike’s face, the eyes were slowly closing and his skin was getting more white.

"Hold on Mike. Mike…come on man." Stephen began to try and revive his friend. "Mike…Mike…Mike!"

Stephen jolted from the cot and went to the sink. He turned the hot water on full and splashed his face. The water slowly dripped back into the sink as he tried to calm himself down. He had memories of that day, but it had never come back with the force like had just happened. Stephen thought he had escaped the bad dreams, the violent images and reactions, apparently he had not.

“Stephen?”

He looked up and saw Nicole standing at the door to his cell. The human had a nervous look on her as she slowly stepped into the room. She handed him a towel to dry his face off with.

“I’m sorry about that. I caused it. I’m…”

Stephen placed a finger to her lips and she stopped talking. Stephen hung the towel and smiled at Nicole. “It is alright. It isn’t your problem I cannot hold in my own demons.”

“This is coming from a man who is descended from one.”

Stephen couldn’t help but chuckle at her comment. He stared at her; her heartbeat filled his ears with each beat. Nicole seemed to sense his excitement and her gut tightened. Stephen smiled, his fangs extended.

“Don’t worry, I won’t bite. I’m not hungry right now. What time is it?”

“Uh…5:45 in the morning.” Nicole said in a slightly relieved voice. She felt a bit tired, but didn’t want to leave just yet.

Stephen walked over to the cot and mentally turned on the TV and turned to the news station. He looked over at Nicole.

“Care to watch?”

She smiled and slowly walked over. She sat on the cot and lay against him. It felt strange, but it also felt right to her. Stephen had yet to harm her and had shown her nothing but kindness. Nicole found herself snuggling closer to the vampire, shivering a bit at the touch of his cold skin.

Stephen gently wrapped his arm around the young woman and held her close to him. He looked up at the TV and turned the volume up. His mouth dropped open, along with Nicole’s.

The reporter was saying something no one should be.

“It has just been confirmed the tape that was delivered this morning was authentic. The voice on the tape was indeed President Kimble addressing a joint session of Congress, Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and her own administration. The other major voice was that of Doctor Arthur Hauk, who along with Doctor Travis Liberty headed up the Rebecca project some years ago. Instead of dealing with a virus, this meeting dealt with a vampire. Yes…a vampire. We have been unable to find any evidence of the existence of vampires, but would there be a reason why the President would be talking about one in this session. We will keep you updating as the story progresses.”

Stephen sat there in numb silence, he couldn’t believe it. Someone had leaked the information. He knew what was going to happen, all hell would break loose. The Republic of the Golden Simatar had finally hit a new dawn of discovering the dark side of the world, his side of the world.

“My God…there’s no hiding it now.”

Kimble slept peacefully, her husband’s arm around her waist. Her two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Ghost and Darkness slept next to the bed. The two massive dogs opened their eyes as the phone started to ring and gave low grunts before going back to sleep. Kimble reached over and picked up the phone as she slid out of Roger's grasp.

“Hello?” She asked quietly.

“Mrs. President. It is Martin. Sorry to get you up so early…but turn on the news.”

“What channel?”

“Any channel.”

Kimble groped around in the dark for the remote and when she found it turned on the TV. She cursed angrily.

“Martin, wake the Joint Chiefs and get Chris. I’ll get my cabinet together…we meet at nine o’clock…God help us.”


Kimble stared at the men and women at the table. She was furious at this leak, her eyes burned into the souls of those around the table. Her dogs were usually in the room during a conference, but instead they were outside playing with Angie and her new puppy. She rapped her fingers against the oak table before speaking.

“What do we know so far? How much has leaked?”

“Practically all ma’am. The facts, everything…spare for the vampire’s name and location.” Jonick said.

“Thank God for that. Okay, how are people reacting?”

The Head of White House Security, a wiry brown haired man named Chris Riddle shrugged. “Hard to say ma’am. Not much is coming in right now. I have to say…we will be facing a crisis in a few hours though. The only stuff we have right now are people calling the news stations and newspaper offices for answers. Thank God everything thinks this is a hoax.”

There were nods around the table. Kimble sighed; it appeared that whoever had leaked the information wasn’t going the places he wanted to. She had to admit, the darkness was lifting and it seemed there was light at the end of the tunnel.

“Martin, Chris. I want you to get your resources together and find out who leaked it. Was there a bug placed after the search or was it someone inside who told the news groups.”

“Mrs. President, you never told us the vampire’s name anyway.” General Charbonneau said.

“Well General Charbonneau, the vampire is a Simatarian. His name is Stephen Malone. He was a Ranger and a Paratrooper before disappearing.”

“Ranger? Jesus…hold on…Stephen Malone…oh my God.”

Everyone in the room turned to Charbonneau. “He was the man tortured by Mendez…they still talk about that mission and horrible movie at Kriegspiel. If you want ma’am…”

“No need to get a dossier, I have already done that.” Jonick said. He reached down into his briefcase and handed them out. Everyone gave a brief skim of the first page before putting them down. “I have found one thing interesting ma’am.”

“Go ahead Martin.” Kimble said. She sipped some coffee and rubbed her forehead. Things were looking a bit brighter, but there was still much to do before they got all the light.

“When I talked to the man who captured Mr. Malone. He said during his search he found about someone named Todd Harte who proposed the existence of vampire nearly three hundred years ago. The Harte family has a vineyard about three hours out of the city, very good wine I might add. Do you want me to follow up on that?”

Kimble thought for a while, rocking in her chair. She gave a nod. “Yes, keep it quiet though. I do want to keep them out of this as much as possible. I don’t want to be pelted with grapes next time I go to one of their wine tasting.”

There was some laughter around the table before the Secretary of Defense spoke up. “What are we going to do about the PRTGS? They will jump on this like a dog to slipper. Lord knows if protest start they will start saying they can protect the citizens from vampires and all that.”

“I wouldn’t know about the dog-slipper relationship…my dogs only go after the mailmen.” Kimble said with a laugh. She knew he was right though.

“They might try to assassinate you Mrs. President.” Riddle said.

“Now Chris there is no need for that.” Jonick said. Though Riddle was head of the security of the President, he still answered to Jonick and his Secret Service was still part of the IBI.

“How about we assign one of our Black Ops units to guard?” Charbonneau suggested.

“There will be no need. Everyone. We are at a critical point of our nation’s path. We take it down the road we have been or we go and learn about the other side of the world and get accustomed to it. I have chosen the later for our nation. I could have easily ordered Martin to kill the vampire and seal this whole deal up. It is time we face facts…there are other species besides humans out there ranging from vampires to elves. Time we meet it.”

Silence answered her. Outside she heard the dogs barking and the sound of the city was the only thing anyone could here.

“Find the leak…find out who it was. Silence them and get it under control. I will make a statement to the press when this starts to clear.”

There were some murmurs and the group slowly left. Kimble sat there, alone. The world seemed to expand around her until she was nothing more than a dot. She knew she could lead her nation to a better future or lead it downhill into civil war.

Kimble prayed that what she was doing would not lead to the latter.

Arthur paced around the room; sweat covered his hands as he wiped them on his coat. How could have the information leaked? He knew none of his own people would have done it, Rangers wouldn’t have. Roman might have, yet he would have nothing to gain spare for the possibility the vampire might be killed.

He sank into his chair of his room. Reaching into the small refrigerator, he pulled out a bottle of water and quickly drained it. He closed his eyes and thought, they would have to shut down research for a while and see what happens. Hauk dragged himself up to break the news to his team.

“You can’t do this Arthur! It is madness!” Lee yelled. “No one knows where we are!”

“Yes…whoever leaked knows where we are they just decided not to release it.” Hauk argued. “If they think there is research going on there they might release it and we could be in jeopardy. No research for now. We can let Nicole keep talking though, I don’t think that will affect anyone much.”

Lee backed down. “Alright, what are we gonna do in the meantime?”

“Relax as best we can.”


Jonick drove down the gravel road through the Harte Vineyard. He parked his black 2006 BMW 3 series sedan along side another half dozen cars in the parking lot. He walked over to the polished oak building that served as the visitor’s center for the vineyard. Jonick opened the door and stared across the oak wood room where a few tables and chairs sat. A stone fireplace sat in the corner, but no one was there, spare for William Harte behind the bar. William looked up to see Jonick coming.

“Ah…Mr. Jonick, do come in. Carol is leading everyone on a tour of the place. What would you like?”

“Just give me a bottle of White Dragon to go William, I am on official business.”

William nodded, scratching down Jonick’s order on a pad of yellow paper. “Okay…what is it then?”

“I think you know what.”

William knew, he knew that the government might come poking around once he had seen the story about a vampire on the television and newspaper. Todd Harte’s papers were locked tightly in a safe at his house. He shrugged. “Sorry, I do not.”

“William, I know one of your great-great and so on grandfathers met a vampire. I know because he proposed the idea. Todd Harte ring a bell?”

“Yes it does. He worked on viral stuff and his sister Samantha worked the vineyard until he quit his job with the government. Nothing about vampires.”

Jonick gave a nod. He knew William was lying, but he didn’t want to get his friend involved with the mess Stephen’s existence had created. He paid for his bottle of White Dragon Chardonnay and left. He climbed into his car and looked at the bottle. The emerald green label had golden Celtic style bands wrapped around it, red lettering for the name of the wine, and a shiny pear white-ice blue dragon on the front of the label, its wings tucked at its side.

As Jonick slowly drove down the winding road, he thought he saw something move in the trees off in the distance that resembled the dragon the wine bottle. He shook it out his head; the whole vampire business was getting to him.

William watched him go and waited till Carol to come back with the group before going off into grape fields then into the forest at the edge of their property. He wandered for a few minutes before hearing something behind him. He turned to see his dragon; Cassandra gave several grunts and chirps in joy and nuzzled her owner. William smiled and petted her.

“Cassandra, you know you can’t be going around in daylight without someone.” He said. The dragon titled its head and blinked, though he knew she knew what he meant. The horse sized animal started to whimper like a dog, its tail flickering slightly. William couldn’t help but think what it took for Todd to turn this great animal into just an oversized dog. “Come on you big oaf, Justin will be back in a few weeks.”

Justin was William’s fifteen year old son who was off with his church youth group repairing homes for the poor. William led Cassandra back to her cave above his home and had to spend another half hour rubbing the animal’s stomach before he was able to leave.

When he got back to the visitor’s center, Carol was leading another group and he was alone again. He rubbed his head and prayed to God that everything would be resolved quickly.


James Schwartz drummed his fingers on the table of the café. The news wasn’t making the headway he wanted it too. Still, he had gotten a total of $30,000 from all the newspapers and news stations he had sold the story to. He would have to get people to believe him. How was the question.

“Mr. Schwartz, you and I need to talk about your story.”

Schwartz looked up to see Representative Mark Spoden sitting in the backseat of a Mercedes Benz looking at him.

James Schwartz relaxed in his apartment, one hundred thousand dollars richer. He had given Spoden copies of his tapes and what he wrote about it. He knew what the man was going to do but he didn’t care, besides he had taped the conversation with Spoden.. He turned on the television and for the first time realized what he had done. A reporter was talking from a small town called Flint about a recent homicide; the victim was a 17 year old girl named Sandra Crooke. She and a group of friends had been filming a vampire movie as an extra credit project for their film and drama class when she had been shot to death by a man who believed his story.

“OPEN THE DOOR NOW!” A bark came from the door of Schwartz’s apartment.

Schwartz jumped up and ran towards his desk. He pulled out a Bersa Thunder pistol from a drawer when the door smashed in and the glass at his balcony exploded. He shielded his face as two men in black swung into the room and pointed silenced HK UMP machine-pistols at him, another four men similarly armed came through the front door.

“On the floor and drop the gun!”

Schwartz dropped the Bersa and didn’t move as one of the men roughly tossed him into the wall and searched him before handcuffing him.

“You are under arrest for spying on a secret government meeting, selling classified information and for the death of Sandra Crooke. You have the right to remain…”

As the agent read out Schwartz’s rights, he knew he had slipped up. He should of left town. The head agent would have remembered ‘Orson’ at the podium before and after the meeting. He went quietly as several more agents in regular clothes began their search of his apartment.


An hour later, Riddle listened to the Spoden-Schwartz tapes. He stiffed at the mention of the PRTGS and a planned attack. He had wanted Kimble to get rid of the PRTGS but she refused. He knew this would be the only way. I’m sorry Becky. He placed the tape in the trash can and left.


Spoden looked at the man sitting across from him. They were opposites, the man across from him did not believe in God while Spoden believed God was behind everything.

“Do we have a deal? Kimble is dealing with the devil. She has cast aside our Lord in favor for this…abomination. She must go.”

The man looked at Spoden with black eyes. “You want us…the communist who you are so against to kill her?”

Spoden looked shocked. “No…if she dies everyone is dead. You must take something she values to set your demands. You get control of the country, we get the vampire destroyed and you can protect us for these demons. More are coming my friend.”

“Who is the target?”

Spoden formed a twisted smile that sent chills up the other man’s spine, something that rarely happened.

“Angie is the target.”

Angie cuddled her Shar-Pei, which she had named Angel, at the breakfast table. The dog licked at Angie’s plate, trying to get all the scraps of bacon and sausage before the plate was taken away. Angie scratched Angel’s back and turned to see her mother talking to a soldier. The soldier was relaxed, wearing fatigues and a black beret. Angie picked up Angel and gave her dog a kiss on the head before putting it on the floor.

It was her last day of school and unlike most politicians’ kids Angie went to public school. She walked up to her mom.

“Mommy, time for me to go.”

Kimble smiled, knelt and gave her daughter a kiss. “You be a good girl. I don’t want a note from Mrs. Marchese on your last day.”

The little girl giggled and gave her mom a hug. She ran over to her father who had come back in from a walk and gave him a tight hug around his legs. She then ran outside to the waiting grey 2005 Bentley RL.


Outside the iron fence, across the street and down a block, of the White House a Volkswagen Eurovan MV twelve men were donning webbed gear and placed magazines in pouches behind the heavily tinted windows. They checked their FEG P9M automatic pistols and placed them in nylon holsters on their vests. One broke open a hard plastic crate and passed out FAMAS G2 assault rifles. The leader waited in the front seat and watched as the Bentley slowly moved down the driveway.

Peter Modly waited calmly as the Bentley headed down the drive. The only people on the street were a few morning joggers, two cops at the front gate, a bum covered with a blanket lying on the sidewalk across from the White House. He pulled out a remote and waited.


Angie looked over at the soldier next to her. She looked down at his waist where a black nylon holster was and the butt of a pistol stuck out. The soldier stared back at her though brown eyes and smiled.

“Happy it is the last day?” he asked.

“Yeah…we are gonna watch a movie today. We are gonna have cupcakes and soda and….”

Angie screamed as an explosion rocked the front of the car, tearing the front axle in half. The Bentley stopped immediately and the soldier heard distinct cracking and popping of automatic weapon fire. The soldier reached down and pulled away a jacket to reveal a Heckler and Koch UMP machine pistol. He cocked it and climbed outside the Bentley and shut the door.

The soldier spotted thirteen men pouring towards him. The soldier lifted his gun and opened fire while the guards at the gate fired their own HK P2000 pistols at the men. An urgent call was made to the heavy units and almost immediately pair of Challenger tanks were on their way to the White House.

One of the attackers tried to flank and as he neared the bum on the street, the bum suddenly stood and rammed a knife into his gut. The man screamed as the woman pulled the knife out and slammed it into his jugular. The woman was not wearing tattered clothes, but a military uniform. She picked up a G36C from the ground and cut down another attacker who tried to bring her down. She took cover behind a wall and continued to fire.

Modly was confused, one second he was dealing with a pair of cops and a soldier, now he had two men dead and another soldier. His men continued to fire their FAMAS rifles and tried to advance on the car, but the combined automatic fire kept them pinned.

The gunfight continued, the joggers were hugging the ground and the attackers were slowly being killed off. Inside the White House, Kimble and her husband huddled together, praying for their daughter.

Noticing there was only himself and two men left, Modly pulled out a rifle grenade and attached it to the end of his rifle. He took aim and fired at the Bentley.

The explosion knocked the soldier backward, cutting his face. He turned to the car and grabbed Angie, the young girl was unconscious and bleeding. He pulled her out slowly and onto the pavement. The driver was slumped in the car, the first explosion had rendered him unconscious but thankfully hadn’t killed him.

The soldier opened the front door and brought him out too and laid him on the grass next to the fence. He went back for Angie and felt a kick to his chest. The bullet knocked him down on the ground, blood began to ooze out of the wound. He held his UMP in one hand and dragged Angie with the other and fired a few bursts. The tanks appeared ahead of him, their machine guns manned and pointing at the attackers.

The soldier felt two more kicks before the chatter of the MG-3 machine guns on the Challengers finished off the attackers. Sirens of ambulances and fire trucks grew closer. The female soldier ran from her position to her commander, who was now on the grass, Angie and the driver nearby. She knelt next to her commander, no shadow on his body, the sun showing her his wounds.

“Major…Major…” the female soldier whispered.

The Major opened his eyes slightly, he could see the love and care in his sergeant’s eyes.

Dirk Wolfe smiled before a shadow passed over him and his body went limp.

The fire cast shades of red and orange across the room, though much of it was in black. The lights were dim, that and the fire cast an eerie glow to the place. Outside it was pitch black as Riddle walked into the room. He spotted the black form of Jonick leaning against the bar, a drink in one hand. Kimble was standing, looking out the window towards the street where Dirk had been killed. A slight crackling of static was heard in the room before the chilling words hit Riddle.

“You want to kill the President’s daughter?”

“Yes…or kidnap her. She goes to school at…”

Kimble shut off the tape. Her head was bent and her voice trembled. “That was found in your office waste basket. Why didn’t you bring it to me?”

“Ma’am I…I…I…” Riddle stuttered.

Kimble’s voice was low, in a menacing tone he had never heard before. “You…placed my daughter in the line of fire so you could get me to go after the PRTGS. You…”

“Mrs….”

Kimble smashed her fist on the desk; the phone bounced off and crashed the floor. She suddenly looked up and her face was lit red by the fire. “Don’t talk when I am speaking!”

Riddle was shaking inside, his legs felt like they would give way any second. He was sweating; Kimble’s eyes tore into him like knives.

“My daughter is lying in a hospital bed because of you. She has a sever concussion and doctors aren’t giving me straight answers. God help you Chris Riddle if she slips into a coma…God help you even more if she dies.”

Riddle stared at the fire in the President’s eyes. He turned to Jonick and tried to plea with his boss, but the form was quiet. The dark shape didn’t move, it didn’t answer. Tears formed in Riddle’s eyes as he looked back and forth between Jonick and Kimble.

“Don’t you think about breaking down and acting like the victim.” Kimble snarled. “You have caused the death of a damn good soldier, the driver has been a good friend of mine for a long time, and he has a broken leg. My daughter…”

Kimble sunk into her chair and waved dismissively at Riddle. The young man dropped his ID badge on the floor and stumbled out of the room. The marble waiting room was no longer bright, it was dim and he could see ten forms leaning on the walls. He noticed all wore military uniforms, nine of them had black diamond patches on their sleeves and black berets. The one who didn’t have the black diamond patch was sitting, folded up on a chair and the man stretched out, revealing four stars. Charbonneau glared at Riddle.

The last thing Riddle saw for a long time was Charbonneau’s fist heading for his face.

Charbonneau walked into the room. He shook his hand to work out the kinks and took a glass from Jonick and sipped the amber liquid. Kimble was sitting in her chair, staring at the fire.

“Mrs. President. I have two regiments of infantry…the 931st and 387th and an armor company of the 451st armor regiment near the PRTGS compound. Miller can get support to my men from A-10s to Hinds of the 713th Ground Attack Air Group that are based out of Fauquier Air Force Base. We can over two thousand men around that complex in hours. Should I order an attack?”

Kimble sat there quietly. “Give the PRTGS a chance to surrender or at least get the woman and children out. How many men are able to bear arms?”

“We estimate around six to seven hundred.”

Kimble shuddered. She knew there would be news coverage non-stop of body bags from the PGTGS and the Simatarian Army. She nodded. “General, make it fast if it comes to shooting. I don’t want all out civil war.”

“Yes ma’am.” Charbonneau said. General Alexander Charbonneau left to do something he never wanted to do; turn his guns on his own people. Jonick looked at Kimble.

“What are we to do Becky?”

“I don’t know Martin…I don’t know. Face the press tomorrow. Oh God. Ever since Malone came into the light it has been hell. I want to nip in the butt fast. I will make a statement.”

Jonick nodded, he patted Kimble on the shoulder. “Angie will be in my prayers…I can promise you that.”

As he closed the door, he heard Kimble start to cry.

The room was cool and dark. Roman sat quietly on his bed, his eyes shut as he listened to the TV that was blaring a few rooms down. He cringed on the inside as he heard of the attack on the President’s daughter earlier in the day. He should have killed Stephen when he had the chance, just left the vampire out in the sun and when the vampire had finished burning, burn the clothes and spread the ashes into the wind.

“Don’t think I am not feeling sorry for the President Roman. Let’s talk and hopefully not get angry at each other.” Stephen’s voice entered his head. This time, Roman didn’t block it out.

“Alright vampire, I am curious if you expected any of this when I captured you.”

“Personally, I thought you would have killed me. In some respects I am happy you revealed the existence of vampires to the Simatarian government.”

Roman was shocked. He had been expecting Stephen to be barraging him with questions of why he revealed the existence of his kind to the government. “What do you think of it now?”

“I…I am afraid for the safety of our nation. I am surprised there is little public protest…”

“You are forgetting most people still think this is an elaborate prank.”

“Oh…yes, forgot about that part. Still, with this attack…war might break out.”

“Aye, well vampire. I will sleep on this. I will also add this. Do not think about turning Nicole into what you are or making her a blood donor.”

“Of course not.”

There was then silence between the two men. Stephen lay on his bed thinking about the last thing Roman had said. The vampire did have some car for the human. And Nicole seemed to have car for him too. Jesus Stephen, are you falling in love? Last time was with…Emma. Stephen didn’t dwell on the thought of his ex too much, he was wondering more about himself. He cared deeply for his fledgling Viannor, yet he did not love her. With Nicole, he found himself falling in love with her. She was kind, considerate, and had an air of innocence about her.

Wrapping himself in his blanket, Stephen fell asleep after nearly an hour of thinking.


“I just got off the phone with the President. She said that there are army units moving into position around the PRTGS compound. The women and children have left, but the men are fighting. Our forces will attack tomorrow morning.” Hauk said.

The group murmured. Everything was happening so fast. Hauk ordered them to bed and Nicole was the last to go to her room. She wondered what would happen to them, to Stephen, to everything. Kimble would probably decide to kill Stephen and thus end the possibility of an uprising based off of she couldn’t protect her people. Nicole cried, she didn’t want that to happen to Stephen.

“Caring for a vampire?” She said to herself. “He is a lot better than all the other guys you have dated Nicole. He also has that mystery about him that the others never had. Very sweet person too. I hope to God everything goes alright.”

Nicole settled down for a night of unrest.


The early morning fog clung close to the ground and dew stuck to the side of the machines. At Fauquier Air Force Base MI-24 Hinds, AH-64 Apache Longbows, RAH-66 Comanche’s, A-10 Thunderbolts, and AC-130 Spectre gunships waited on the side of the runway. Their pilots were in the mess hall having hot breakfasts and while being brief about the mission, if the PRTGS didn’t surrender.

Miles away, a battery of four PzH 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers sat quietly amidst the fog. Timothy Gale, a young nineteen year old loader sipped his coffee as he leaned against the cold metal and watched his battery’s commander. Gale’s captain was several meters away, the man was not facing Gale and the young man pulled out a compass.

“Facing east…towards Mecca.” A voice came from behind.

Gale turned around to see an older man from one of the other guns. “Mecca?”

“Yep, Captain is a Muslim. Doing his morning prayers.”

Gale turned back to watch his captain pray. “I have already said my prayers. I hope the Cap puts in a good word for us too.”

“I’m sure he will sonny. Command will call us if we are to open fire. I hope to God we don't have to.”

Both men watched as their Captain stood. The man turned and looked at them and smiled. At that moment, the phone on the radio rang.

At 7:30am the sound of guns broke the morning stillness.

Private RJ Conner of the 387th Infantry Regiment clutched his HK G36 and slammed himself against a building. He looked at his watch, 9:12am, the bombardment had stopped only a half hour earlier and the assault had begun. The young nineteen year old peered around the corner of the grey slabs with scared brown eyes. In front of him the PRTGS’s one hundred and fifty acre compound sat bristling with guns. Much of the compound had buildings of some sort in it and it would be a house to house battle.

He tilted his head up as he heard a whistling noise. A Mi-24 unloaded several rockets into a small stone building a few blocks down. The building exploded and Conner thought he saw several limbs fly in the air before coming back down. He turned to see his named called by his squad’s machine gunner.

“Conner! Move forward and we’ll give you cover!”

Conner nodded. The sounds of the battle went quiet for several seconds before the MG-3 behind him opened up. The young soldier charged towards a low stone wall several meters ahead of him. Conner dove the last few feet and tumbled behind it. He was panting and looked around him. He was alone in a great big gunfight. Conner ducked as he heard a cracking over head. He looked up to see a barrel of a FAMAS sticking over the wall.

Conner reached down to his waist and pulled out his personal Zigana T pistol. He pulled back the slide and peered over the wall with the gun. Conner was faced with a young man behind the gun, who didn’t seem to notice the young soldier till he was reloading. The young infantryman stared back and the young man, probably only in his early twenties.

“Hands up.”

The older man laughed and tired to pull a Markov from his waist. Conner instinctively pulled back on the Zigana’s trigger. The 9mm slug greeted the flesh with a wet slap and Conner fired twice more into the man before he ducked back down behind the wall. The top of the wall exploded as gunfire from the opposing side opened fire on him.

Conner bit his lip as the gunfire continued. He holstered his pistol and poked the barrel of his rifle over the top of the wall and fired several bursts. The buildings Conner and his company were facing were full of PRTGS members, all heavily armed and determined to hold off the military. Most of the PRTGS were concentrated on the east side where the 931st was attacking.

A sound, almost like a swarm of angry bees came over Conner as an A-10 roared over, the massive Vulcan in the nose of the aircraft blazed away. The young soldier below covered himself as the hot, large brass shells came raining down on him. He opened his eyes to see a squad mate a block away lift a M136 rocket launcher, spin a corner and fire. The 84mm rocket flashed past Conner and exploded somewhere on the other side of the wall.

He started to breath easier as the rest of his company began to move forward. Conner picked up his rifle and fell into step, quickly moving with his squad as they began house clearing. He tossed a fragmentation grenade into a window, waited for the explosion before breaking down the door. With another infantry man, they cleared the floor apartment. His platoon started their sweep of one side of the street, another started clearing buildings on the other, while the last two guarded.

When he hit the third floor, he met resistance. A dark shape came out of one of the doors, a machine-pistol in hand. Conner and his comrade quickly opened fire, bringing down the man before he could open fire.

“Christ, Conner come here man.”

Conner ran into a room to find Craig Gibson removing a Carl-Gustaf M3 recoilless rifle from his back.

“Come on man, load a HEAT.”

While Gibson placed the large weapon into firing position, Conner rammed the 84mm round into the chamber and peered out the window. A crudely built armored vehicle, nothing more than an Astro van with some armor and machine guns tossed on was waiting in an alley a block away from his company. Gibson aimed the M3 down and Conner moved away from the back.

A deafening boom inside the tight room knocked Conner’s helmet off and seconds later he heard an explosion. Gibson smiled and was standing to take the weapon down when a round struck him in the head. Blood splattered against the wall and the helmet flew off the soldier as he struck the ground. Without thinking, Conner ran to the window and took aim at the shooter on a roof of a shorter building. As he looked through the 1.5x sight, he saw a man no older than he was staring back at him. Before any could respond, rockets fired from a helicopter struck the building and the young man disappeared in a cloud of dust and brick. Conner gulped and headed back downstairs, remembering where Gibson’s body was so that someone could pick him up.

The attack continued into early afternoon. The two Simatarian regiments continued to encircle their enemy, leaving no way to escape. Platoons and companies pushed deeper into the compound, clearing houses and streets. The aircraft and armor continued to play a key role, blasting away heavy areas of opposition and helping to evacuate the wounded. In the center of the compound was a large, flat open green. In the center was a small hill that rose thirty feet into the air. Concrete and stone buildings sat on the top.

Conner’s company was once again in the lead. As they neared the edge of the green, gun and rocket fire instantly erupted from the buildings on the hill. Echo Company’s captain was hit and killed instantly, his radioman died just before he reached the safety of a house. Conner looked at his captain in the street; crimson blood began to stain the street. The young man peered out of the house at the imposing hill in front of them. Conner reached down and dragged the radioman’s corpse into the house. Conner picked up the receiver.

“Hello…hello. This is Echo One…I say again this is Echo One over.”

“Echo One this is Leopard One-Oh-Four. What is your position?”

“Uh…” Conner put down the receiver. As his comrades shouted and grabbed at him, the young man ran into the street. Gunfire from the buildings instantly rained down on him. The Simatarian soldiers fired their G36 rifles at the hill in an effort to give cover. Conner ran back into the room; a map in his hand. “We are on Walden Street, pinned down by heavy fire. Need support. Can you blast away a few nests?”

“Got that Echo One.”

The Leopard commander switched his mike to his own crew. “You heard him Renny.”

“Right.”

Renny pushed down on the accelerator and the MTU MT883 diesel engine pushed the tank forward. Moving the tank a street down from Walden, it dumped them on the green. The Leopard advanced and moved right, trying to draw fire from the infantry.

“Load a HE round Andrew and fire when you are ready Toby.” The commander said calmly. There was silence in the tank as the gunner took his aim at the grey structures before he fired. The 120mm shell slammed into the side of one of the buildings, blasting chunks off it.

There were cheers in the tank until the commander spotted a long barrel moving out of the darkness.

“Oh my God…”

The 125mm shell slammed into the turret, the shock stunned the crew and gave time for another shell to be fired into the vehicle, this time the round hit between the turret and chassis. Conner watched as the tank exploded and turned into an inferno. Conner picked up the receiver again.

“This is Echo One…we need immediate air support on hilltop Omega One-Four. I say again, air support on hilltop Omega One-Four. One Leopard already lost attacking it.”

“Roger that Echo One.”

Conner looked out a window as an A-10 roared in for that attack. It would be the first of many aircraft to strike the hill. Conner closed his eyes as the first napalm canister was released.

The sun now beginning to set. Conner did not notice as he walked through the rubble. He kicked a small lump of mortar across the blackened room. He had not watched the strike as helicopters and planes emptied their loads time and again on the hill. A strong stench reached his nose and he quickly pulled out a handkerchief and covered his nose. He took a breath as he ventured deeper into the hilltop area. Conner stopped dead in his tracks after only a few minutes. Nearly a dozen charred corpses sat in plain view.

He had done that, he had sent them to their deaths. Still, has he turned to run out of the building, he had to hand it to them for being courageous fighters.

A reporter for Channel 9 made sure the camera was set and his mic was working.

“Here today, the People’s Republic of the Golden Simatar was destroyed. The brave men and women of the 931st and 387th Infantry and 451st Armor Regiment with support from the 713th Ground Attack Air Group defeated a determined enemy. Causality figures are not yet in, but I am sure that there are little causality on our side.”

The reporter turned as he saw a young soldier stumble out the burnt complex. The cameraman captured Conner’s tired and dirty face, the young man vomiting, and the cameraman zoomed in on the dirty G36.

“Soldier! Come here man.”

Conner looked up to see some reporter walk up to him, cameraman not far behind. He didn’t say anything.

“What was it like?”

Silence.

“Did you kill any of the rebels? How did they fight?”

Silence.

“How do you feel about the losses on our side?”

Conner couldn’t stand it. He turned from the reporter and began to make his way down the hill. He turned to see the pair move toward the complex, probably wanting to get a good look at the results of the airmen. They would probably start saying shit about the dead men inside, talk about how stupid those men were to face the army, about how they lacked any fighting skill. Conner bolted back up the hill and tossed both men down. The camera broke on a piece of concrete and the reporter banged his head on another.

Conner simply stared at the pair before slinging his rifle over his shoulder and moving away, back to his unit. The sun casting a great shadow over the two men. The reporter looked at his friend.

“What the fuck is his problem?”

Kimble sat in the hospital next to her daughter. Angie had several tubes in her; Kimble didn’t read the labels of what they attached to. She heard the ping of the heart monitor, and felt her daughter’s warm hand. She was at least alive. Kimble looked at her watch, it was nearly seven o’clock in the evening.

“Mrs. President? General Charbonneau is here to see you.”

Kimble nodded and left her daughter. She walked down the hall to a waiting room. Charbonneau smiled.

“How is she?”

“Good I think, she is stable. The attack…is it over?”

“Yes ma’am. It ended a few hours ago. I have causalities for our side.”

Kimble nodded and led Charbonneau into a corner. “Go on.”

“Eighty four dead and another two hundred or so wounded.”

“Jesus.” Kimble moaned. “They put up that tough of a fight?”

“Yes ma’am. We are still trying to put a number on enemy casualties.”

“Alright. The press is waiting in another room. I’ll take the numbers and give what I can and want.”

“Ma’am, one last thing. A private tossed a cameraman and a reporter from Channel 9 down a hill codenamed Omega. A camera broken and the reporter got a bump. Channel 9 wants the private arrested for assault and battery.”

“What did the private say was his reason?”

“All he said was that the reporter was going to go into a place where better men died.”

Kimble nodded. “Give this private a week R&R.”

Charbonneau smiled, he would have done it anyway if Kimble had asked him to arrested Conner. “Yes ma’am.”

Kimble paid one last visit to her daughter’s bed before heading down the long hallway. Her footsteps echoed down the deserted robin blue colored hall. She paused next to the door where the press would be waiting behind. Kimble took a breath and opened the door to a flurry of flashes and voices.

She walked quietly to the podium, dozens of cameras were going off and cameramen focused their machines on her. The room fell eerily silent as she stepped behind the podium.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. At 7:30 this morning, troops of the 931st and 387th Infantry and 451st Armor Regiment were support by the 713th Ground Attack Air Group in an attack on the People’s Republic of the Golden Simatar’s compound. The battle ended sometime around 3:00 in the afternoon. We are unsure of PRTGS casualties at this point, we do not know if any escaped during the battle.

“We do have causality reports in for our own forces. Which you do not need to know at this point.”

“Mrs. President?” A young man stood. “From our investigating, it shows that the cause behind the attack on your daughter yesterday was due to the fact a vampire…”

“Sit down.” Kimble growled. The young man promptly sat. “We do not know the cause behind yesterday’s attack. We are investigating it. The IBI is going through the files of the attackers and through various…”

“But Mrs. President…our sources…” a middle aged woman from a newspaper said. She stopped when she saw Kimble’s glare.

“The IBI was created long ago to investigate crimes and other such matters. The media was created to inform the public on their nation’s progress and the world at large. The media in this case will not be investigating this case. You already know that you are supposed to turn in information that seems likely classified if you have received it. Which you did not do with the tapes several days ago. I have it in my power to shut your groups down for that. Though I do not believe in transforming this nation into a dictatorship over this matter. Still, that does not remove the fact your decisions to release information cost the lives of hundreds and have affect hundreds more.”

The room was quiet as Kimble scanned it. Their eyes turned downward as she scanned the room. She let them stew for several minutes before continuing.

“Many of you are wishing to know more about the vampire we have captured. I will release only a little bit of information and I expect to see no further information on the news tomorrow. First, the vampire is a Simatarian; we do not know how he was created or when he was turned.

“We do know he was in the military at some point in his life and was married. That is really all the information we have. We are still trying to crack exactly how he is immortal and why he needs blood to survive.”

“Have you been able to figure out how many people here had died because of him?” A reporter in the back called out.

“Oh yes, none. IBI reports that in the past thirteen hundred years there have been no vampire related deaths or anything that would resemble a vampire death. That is all ladies and gentlemen.”


Mark Spoden sat in the darkness of his office, sipping a 7-UP as he watched Kimble on the news. He felt awful, the plan had failed miserably and there was no chance to recover it. Kimble would stay in power and the demon would remain safe. He reached into the drawer and pulled out the information he had bought from Schwartz. It would be a matter of time before he is exposed. He was so wrapped in the news he didn’t see the door open and close.

“Mr. Spoden, you have destroyed us.”

Spoden looked up to see the man from the PRTGS he had met with several days earlier. His eyes traveled down to the silenced barrel of a Fort 12 automatic. His head jerked back from the 9mm round before falling back on his desk. The shooter grabbed the tapes and other documents that would lead to the destruction of the vampire. He had twenty men; all were determined to seek revenge somehow. He had it all in his mind, find where the vampire was and kill everyone in the area.

The shooter walked out into the waiting room, Spoden’s secretary, a woman in her early sixties was slumped across her desk, a pool of blood around her head. The shooter pocketed his gun and left the office building and headed to a car. He climbed in and inserted one of the tapes.

A grin flashed across his face as GN-475 came across the speakers. He picked up his cell phone and made a call.

It was late in the night when Stephen woke. He paced around his cell for several minutes and did a few push-ups. He was getting stressed, he wanted to get out and feel the cool night air on him again, and he wanted to be free. The vampire sat down on his bed again, he looked over at the hidden video camera in the wall between two bricks, a human would have never noticed it; Stephen saw it and stared at it, wondering which human was watching him.

He sensed a familiar presence coming down the hall. Nicole gave a small smile to the vampire and covered up the camera and unplugged the mic as usual.

“The PRTGS is destroyed. The President has confirmed the news stories about a vampire.”

“And?”

“May I come in?”

The door to Nicole’s right opened and she walked into a tight corridor and moved to a steel door a few feet from the main door. She opened it and entered the vampire’s cell. The human still felt nervous a bit when she walked into the cell, but was feeling more comfortable with Stephen. She removed a remote from her jacket and turned on the TV. Stephen chuckled as she flipped through the news channels; the reporters were gobbling the vampire story up, renowned scientists were meanwhile showing heavy scientific proof that vampirism couldn’t exist.

“How does the general populace feel?”

“The cities seem alright, mostly because there are more policemen to protect them. Smaller towns, in some light panic, in others murder…I’m sure you heard of that girl who was killed while she and a few friends were filming a vampire movie.”

Stephen nodded, he felt responsible for the young girl’s death, for all the deaths that had so far occurred since his discovery. He sagged back on the cot and rested against the cold stone wall. Nicole slid next to him and brushed his cheek.

“Stephen, it isn’t your fault. If it wasn’t for that asshole Roman none of this would have happened. Then again I would have never of met you and…”

She stopped and turned to see Stephen’s blue eyes pierce into her. She smiled slightly, unsure of what to do. Stephen smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. Nicole shivered at the coldness of his skin, but found herself even more attracted to him. Nicole snuggled close to him just as the buzzer on the intercom rang. She sighed and went to see it. Nicole came back a few minutes later.

“Hauk wants me up top. Rangers are planning some kind of a party. When you were a Ranger, was it common to have parties like every week?”

Stephen smiled. “Yup, you could get away with anything…spare for murder and any other felony or minor crime.”

Nicole laughed. She didn’t bother removing the cardboard that blocked the camera or replug the mic. She headed up the stairs and into the cool night. She looked around the mountain top, but soon felt a strong hand grasp her around the neck; a voice dripping with acid entered her ears.

“Scream…and you will die.”

Nicole nodded and whimpered as she was roughly pushed by an unknown assailant into a small patch of grass. She spotted everyone else kneeling and tied up, twenty masked men guarded them. Hauk was talking in harsh words with the apparent leader when the man struck Hauk over the head with a pistol. Nicole ran forward as Hauk fell, a large lump on his forehead.

“So, this is the bitch who has given herself to the creature.” The leader snarled.

Nicole looked up at him from her injured boss. “What creature?”

She screamed as the man turned the gun and shot Calhoun in the forehead. Blood and gore smacked the ground behind the man as the body went limp and crumpled.

“Show my men where it is or we will shoot everyone here.” The leader had no intention of letting anyone go, once the vampire was dead, everyone else would be too.

With tears in her eyes, Nicole stood and moved around the crimson mess on the ground, two PRTGS members followed her. Nicole led them down to the maximum security cell block. Both men went inside, Nicole in the lead. No one noticed as the last man in the group suddenly was lifted into the maze of piping that covered the high wall. The other armed man turned and looked around.

“Pete?” he asked in a shivering voice. Nicole backed up and quietly moved into the still open door at the far end and closed it. The man turned and fired at the thick steel door, the bullets hitting it harmlessly. When he turned around again, he was faced by a pair of cobalt blue eyes and sharp, blood covered fangs.

“Pete was a good eat.”

The man tried to raise his weapon but received a hard punch from Stephen and tumbled back to the door at the far end. Stephen dropped down and was instantly on top of him, a MP-448 pistol in hand. The vampire ripped the mask off to reveal a teenager, probably only seventeen or eighteen.

“Christ, a god-damn kid with a rifle. You should be still sucking on your mom’s tit not toting a FAMAS and shooting people. Now, tell me how many people you have…if you lie once I will cover this wall with a great new color called ‘hint of brain’. I hope you get me.”

The teenager nodded vigorously. Though he firmly believed in the communist cause, would shoot a man if ordered, and believed the vampire should be dead, he was smart enough to know when to talk. “Twenty all together. Nineteen actually…you ate Pete…our...he…”

“Calm down and talk slowly.”

“Our leader…Karl Robertson shot some guy…some scientist and clubbed another.”

Stephen nodded. “Well son…thank you and go to sleep.”

Stephen pistol whipped the youngster and smiled as the kid was instantly out. Nicole reappeared, still shaking as Stephen relieved the boy of his weapons. Stephen picked up the body and deposited him in his cell, came out and wall climbed into the ceiling. He came down with the unconscious Pete, stripped him of weapons and tossed him into the cell too. Stephen slung a FAMAS around his shoulder, grabbed a few magazines, shoved the MP-448 in his pants, a shotgun off the floor, and locked the cell door.

“I didn’t bite that Pete character. I’d rather drink cattle blood than blood of a murderer. I bit my wrist to get the blood.” Stephen said as he licked his teeth and lips clean.

“Good.” Nicole said.

Stephen led her back to her room and handed Nicole the TOZ-194 shotgun. “Wait here till I get back, shoot anyone who doesn’t knock.”

Nicole took the weapon, which felt strange in her hands and nodded. Just as Stephen was about to leave, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Good luck.”

Stephen smiled, his fangs lowered. “Thanks.”

Stephen left and headed up to the surface. The night felt wonderful, he was back in his element. The humans were keeping close to a small fire and the pickets had lights attached to their rifles to help them see, the vampire didn’t need such help. He moved around and quickly moved on a sentry standing alone, the man’s light struck the fangs just as the butt of the FAMAS struck his face. The man crumpled to the ground and Stephen continued his work of sending the sentries furthest away from the group of prisoners into sleep.

Robertson paced slowly, he had five men next to him, and he didn’t know that Stephen had already brought down the others. He had shot Lee a few minutes after Nicole and two of his men went down. He sighed and motioned to one of his men on the other side of the prisoners. The man lifted his FAMAS and aimed at a Ranger and wrapped his finger around the trigger. The gunman’s head exploded as a bullet smashed into it. The Ranger felt the corpse fall behind him and heard another gunshot that broke his handcuffs, the PRTGS men didn’t notice, they thought the shooter was aiming at them. The Ranger grasped the FAMAS’s grip with one hand and brought it around and up.

Robertson saw the Ranger lift his rifle and heard two guns go off. He saw a flash off in the darkness show a single figure, the vampire. Robertson lifted his MP-448 and fired twice, both times missing. Sensing he would get eaten by the vampire, he panicked and broke for the edge of the hill that led down into the trees. A three mile run was all he had between him and a used EH101 helicopter sitting in a meadow.

Roman rocketed from his position and nailed the last gunmen in the stomach with his shoulder. The man grunted and fell to the ground, seconds later; the man had a FAMAS barrel from the Ranger at his face. The Ranger looked up as Stephen came up and took the keys to the cuffs from the man.

“What company were you in vampire?”

“Alpha…what are you in?”

“Fox Company…Alpha sucks at football.”

“When I was in the army, we kicked Fox every match we had and they never reached championship.”

The other Ranger laughed as Stephen moved to free the others. The soldiers quickly grabbed weapons off the dead men. Hauk looked at Stephen.

“Uh…I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing to say Doctor…Nicole is okay don’t worry. She is in her room with a shotgun aimed at the door so be careful. The sentries are dotted around the hill, so the Rangers can go pick them up. I’ll go after that Robertson guy, he murdered two and will go to court I promise you.”

When Stephen turned around, he saw Roman armed with a TOZ-194. The shape-shifter just nodded, both knew they would face each other in battle, but not tonight. Stephen took off into the forest after Robertson.


Robertson’s chest was heaving as he entered the back ramp of the EH101. He walked over to a large, green, plastic crate and opened it. He pulled out another FAMAS and slammed a magazine home. He aimed back to the outside and sprayed the grass. He smiled but then noticed the air was cold inside the helicopter, far colder than it should have been. Fear entered the man’s body.

“You’re behind me aren’t you?”

Stephen slowly emerged from the darkness behind Robertson. “Yes I am.”


Nicole sat on her bed; it had been a half hour since Stephen had left. She looked up as the door opened and the vampire walked in, and shut the door; he still had the FAMAS slung around his should and pistol in his pants.

“Robertson and his surviving men are in custody. No need to fear. I think Hauk is getting in touch with the President.”

Nicole smiled and stood. She grabbed Stephen’s arm as he turned to leave. “Where are you going?”

“To my cell, where else?”

“That block is being stuffed with the PRTGS, there is no room. Would you…like to stay here? I got your bloodstone before the cells were filled.”

Stephen put down the weapons next to the shotgun. “Thank you, I’ll take the floor.”

“No I uh…”

Both stared at each other, both knew the other had deep feelings for the other. Nicole ran her hand down Stephen’s arm and kissed him lightly on the lips. After several minutes, both finally surrendered to their desires.

Nicole wrapped her arms around Stephen and he wrapped his arms around her as they removed each others clothing and climbed into bed.

A soft buzzing woke Nicole from her sleep. She cracked an eye open to see the bright green numbers on her clock reading 10:00am. She reached forward and shut it off before snuggling back against Stephen’s body; his left arm was wrapped around her waist. Nicole shivered slightly from the coldness of his skin and lay there for several minutes before deciding to get up. She slowly slipped out of his grasp and went into the small bathroom in her room. After a quick shower, she put on a pair of blue jeans and a light green collared t-shirt. Nicole smiled at the sleeping vampire and gave Stephen a kiss on the forehead before leaving her room; she locked the door, just in case Roman was on the prowl.

Nicole walked into the lounge where she found Hauk sitting alone on a green leather sofa, a cold cup of coffee in his hands. Nicole poured a fresh cup of coffee, pried the old cup from Hauk’s hands, and slipped in the new one; the sudden heat on his hands seemed to wake the old man.

“I can’t stop thinking about Isaac and Jonathan. They were…” the old man started to cry. “If that damn vampire just stayed in the shadows and I had let the Rangers investigate that sound in the woods last night...they would still be alive.”

“Doctor, don’t blame yourself or Stephen…there is no one to blame. After Rebecca the PRTGS was demanding that Kimble step down. Some people said that they were willing to use force against some of the stations that worked on the project.”

Hauk nodded slightly and sipped some coffee to clear the lump in his throat. His face was worn, the old man couldn’t get the picture of Calhoun’s head exploding out of his mind. Something suddenly clicked in his head. Spare for the four dead PRTGS gunmen, all the others took up the cells in the maximum security block.

“Nicole, where is Stephen?”

“Oh he is in my…uh…well…” Nicole’s voice wandered off and she bit her lip a little.

“He is in your room? Where did you…you…you didn’t.” Hauk’s eyes were getting bigger by the second and his face was starting to remind Nicole of Cary Grant’s face in Arsenic and Old Lace after he finds the body in the window seat. Nicole just smiled. Hauk finally gasped. “You…made love to him? You had sex with a vampire?”

Nicole smiled a little more and picked up a chocolate donut from the table and ate it. Hauk’s expression remained the same for several minutes before it melted into some understanding.

“I take it you are in love with him?”

“Yes Doctor, anything wrong?”

“Well…I guess not. I have been talking to Kimble for the past few hours over the phone. She says when night falls he must leave the country for his own protection. Though the PRTGS ceases to exist, there is still a threat of a lot of crazies out there who want him destroyed because they believe he is ruling the country and not Kimble or the people who want the title of the first Simatarian to kill a vampire.”

“Oh…guess I’ll be packing my bags then. I’m going with him.” Nicole said firmly. Hauk opened his mouth to protest, but Nicole put a bear claw inside and the old man started eating; it was the first thing he had to eat in a while. Some tears formed in his eyes.

“I guess there is no way of stopping you then. Okay, good luck to the both of you.”

“Thank you.” Nicole gave the old man a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She stood and left the room and headed back to hers. Hauk continued to munch on the bear claw and sip his coffee out of the corner of his eye he noticed a small grey mouse. The creature scurried out the door and Hauk never saw the emerald green cat eyes of the rodent.

Nicole unlocked her door and came back into the darkness. She stripped and slowly climbed back into bed, she would need the sleep. Seconds after moving under the covers, she felt a strong arm pull her close.

“You sure you want to come with me?” Stephen said.

Nicole rolled over and smiled at the dark face. “I’m sure Stephen. I do have one request, stop poking into my head.”

The vampire sighed and nodded. Stephen gave Nicole a long kiss before the pair fell back asleep.

Kimble sat in her office going through several folders, night had fallen across the city and the room was lit by a fire and by her desk lamp. She knew her country would need some adjusting with the discovery of vampires. Her door creaked open and her two dogs walked into the room, Angel following them. Kimble sighed, stood, and closed the door. She turned when she heard Ghost and Darkness growling. She spun and saw a dark form sitting in her chair. The figure stood and walked over to her, the dogs following close behind, sniffing instead of growling. Stephen materialized by the fire.

“I have come to say goodbye Mrs. President and find out what you have in store for this nation.”

Kimble smiled and motioned for him to sit in one of the burgundy colored leather chairs near the fire. The two Rhodesians lay near Kimble, the Shar-Pei whimpered until Kimble picked her up.

“Hauk told me what you did. I probably would have expected you to have run if given the chance, but you proved me wrong Mr. Malone.”

“Stephen is fine Mrs. President.”

“Becky is fine Stephen.”

The vampire smiled, his fangs were retracted in hopes the human wouldn’t freak. “I take it you will be forming an organization for the study of vampires as well as a small team of soldiers in case there is a violent coven.”

Kimble nodded. “It is named the Vampire Investigation Bureau.”

“Simple and fitting.”

“Yes, GN-475 is being shut down once a new facility is completed, should be done within a few years. New locks, security systems and the like. It will be a bit bigger and is meant to study vampires, werewolves, and etcetera. The Rangers at GN-475 are going to be part of the more military arm of the VIB. A reinforced platoon size unit is being organized for now; some of the best men from the infantry to Special Forces will fill it out. We’ll probably end up with a company sized unit once all is done. We are also getting agents from the IBI and other law enforcement offices to flesh it out.”

“What will the VIB be doing exactly besides studying vampires?”

“If vampires enter the country, the VIB will pick them up to see what the reason behind their visit is. If things turn violent…well…vamp is marked and will be hunted down. If I get reelected for a third term, I hope that I can pass a law letting vampires become citizens. But, if I don’t get reelected…vampires who enter this country, or maybe even you will be hunted down.”

“This brings me to the main point of my visit. Are you going to have agents go searching for me and Nicole?”

“No, what you did at GN-475 has cleared you of being hunted down. We will keep an eye out for you, just in case we need advice on something.” Kimble didn’t tell Stephen that she was already thinking of asking Roman to fill a job as an advisor to the new organization.

“That is good. Here” Stephen handed her a red card and a blue card. “Red card is the number for the Vampire Police in Emerald City Assington. Contact them and explain the situation if they haven’t seen it on the news. I’m sure if you ask kindly they will be happy to send men over to train the army boys about fighting my kind. The blue card is for Sigrun Greenwood, leader of Tarlachia. Vampire-human relations in Tarlachia are pretty good from what I have seen so ask him about help with that. You might also want some help from the Tarlachians in the training. Contact both in two days, by then myself and Nicole will be settled in somewhat. Since we can’t carry all our stuff the first trip, can one of us come back to get the rest of our things?”

“Certainly. Mind if I ask how you have the contact number for a leader of a country?”

Stephen shrugged. “I have my ways. I am truly sorry for all the trouble I have caused Mrs. President. Your husband is coming.”

Kimble turned to the door and saw Roger running in. She looked back at the other chair, it was empty, and one of the windows behind her desk was slightly ajar. “Becky, I got a call from the hospital. Angie is okay, she woke up a few minutes ago. They want her to stay there for about another week or two for observation.”

Kimble’s eyes swelled with tears as she embraced her husband from the chair. Roger kissed her on the lips.

“Our little girl is just fine.”

Nicole waited in her green Daewoo Lanos S for Stephen to come back. She had gone to his apartment like he had asked and took some of his clothes from his closet and some weapons from his hidden closet. She tapped her fingers on the dash when the driver’s door opened and Stephen climbed in.

“Time you meet someone.”

“Who?”

“Time I meet them too.” It was all Stephen said as he gunned the engine and they took off and headed out of Clarence. Stephen kept the pedal to the metal, Nicole didn’t ask why; she knew he wanted to get to where he was taking her before dawn. She scratched her head when he pulled up the drive to Harte Vineyards.


William Harte walked through the rows of grapes and picked one off the vine and ate it. He nodded; it would be harvest time soon. He heard footsteps behind him and stared at the figure coming out of the darkness. He pulled a Glock 19 out of his jacket, he had been carrying it around since Jonick had come, in case he needed to chase off any reporters. Thankfully, that didn’t have to happen. He stared at the figure before lowering the gun.

“You must be Stephen Malone.” He said.

“Aye. I knew your great-great and so on grandfather, Todd. I’m sure you have read his journals.”

“Yeah, until now we all thought it was ramblings. What do you want?”

“The President will probably announce all about me in a few days. People will probably start snooping around…”

“You want to take Cassandra away. Okay, it is for the best.”

“I will send her back in a few months, once the heat has died away.”

Stephen picked up a pair of duffel bags as Nicole came up from behind him. She smiled at William who gave Stephen a confused look. The trio walked up the hill to the cave where the dragon slept. As they entered the darkness, Nicole looked at Stephen.

“Who is Cassandra?”

Stephen smiled. Several more minutes of walking before they reached the ice covered walls of the dragon’s lair. Nicole grabbed Stephen’s arm and nearly screamed as she saw the horse sized animal. “Nicole, this is Cassandra.”

The dragon charged and Nicole shut her eyes. She felt something cold and wet touch her cheek. She opened her eyes, looked over and received a lick in the face from the dragon. She smiled and petted the beast. “It is just big dog.”

“Yes she is. Take good care of her.” William said. He petted the dragon’s neck and left the cave. He took a slow walk back to his house. He knew he had to think of a good story to tell his wife and son why Cassandra is missing. They will probably buy he sent her into the mountains for safety.

Stephen led the dragon while Nicole rode on its back with their bags into the forest. They traveled for a good twenty minutes before landing next to a lake.

“Alright, we’ll be…”

Stephen’s voice was cut short as a large panther jumped out at him; the vampire fell back, rolled and knocked the beast off him. Nicole watched as the panther tumbled in mid-air and transformed. She gasped as Roman landed on the ground. The shape shifter bent down and picked up a katana he had hidden in the grass.

“I don’t want to fight Roman, we are now leaving.”

“I told you that you will die vampire and now you will.”

Stephen nodded. He bared his fangs and tore off his trenchcoat. Cassandra backed off a little into the woods and Nicole sat frightened on the back of the dragon.

She could only watch as both men started to battle.

Roman lunged forward and swung down with his katana, hoping to cut a limb off or open the vampire’s stomach up. Stephen pivoted and just barely escaped the very tip of the blade. He sent a hard kick to Roman’s back, sending the man tumbling forward. Stephen pulled out his Wolfe Knife and threw it at Roman. The shape shifter swung up and knocked the blade away.

Roman stood and made sure he kept a little distance between himself and the vampire. A sudden blast from Stephen’s mind knocked the katana out of his hands. Roman turned to grab it and felt the vampire ram into his back. Both men rolled on the ground till Stephen had his right arm securely around Roman’s neck. He pulled, Roman started to gasp as the vampire was almost ready to pull the rest of the way and destroy his windpipe.

“You have much to learn about fighting vampires.” Stephen snarled into Roman’s ear.

His sword out of reach, Roman was able to get one of his hands in the form of a tiger paw and swung backwards, tearing the vampire across the face. Stephen got up and backpedaled, Roman kicked the vampire in the chest twice before making a run for his katana. Stephen wiped blood away from his eyes and ignored the scars, they were starting to heal.

The vampire leapt into the air and landed right behind Roman. He knocked the sword out of Roman’s hand and punched the man in the face. Roman shook his head and quickly went back on the attack. He swung a fist and instantly, Stephen was faced with seven Romans around him. A single blow came to his right temple and the vampire grasped the chain around Roman’s neck and tore some kind of necklace off and tossed it away. Stephen then continued with his attack.

Nicole watched as both men were now throwing punches and kicks, each time Roman had a chance, he made for his katana, but Stephen either got him before he reached it or the vampire sent out mental blast to knock it away. She bit her lip, wanting Stephen to win, she knew he could win. He was the stronger one after all. Her vampire grabbed Roman by the leg and hurled him into the lake. There was a splash, but Roman didn’t surface.

Stephen moved down to the water’s edge and scanned it, searching for any bubbles that would give his enemy’s position away. He pulled out one of his P14s and made sure it was ready. Bubbles appeared right at his feet and the vampire let out a cry of surprise as an alligator appeared in a surge of white foam, grasped his leg in its jaws and pulled him in.

“Stephen!” Nicole screamed.

She got off Cassandra and ran out in to the lake’s edge. Nothing, the water was calm. Nicole started to whimper, her eyes filled with tears as she fell to her knees and wept. The water in front of her began to bubble. Nicole backed off and readied herself for the alligator form of Roman she was sure to come out. Instead, Stephen came out and stumbled onto land.

Nicole wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “Oh God, I thought you were dead. Your leg. Let me see.”

“No need, it is fine. I don’t know if I killed him or sent him packing. Would you be a dear and get a towel or something from a bag? I am a bit wet.

Nicole smiled and nodded. She helped Stephen up and the vampire walked a few feet before he spun around. Nicole had kept walking and was at Cassandra when she heard the commotion. She saw Roman; blood that had issued from his nose covering the lower half of his face smashed a foot into Stephen’s head and the vampire fell to the ground. She hid behind a branch and watched as Roman picked up his katana and poured something from a bottle on it. She could see his mouth move, but couldn’t hear the words.

“You know what I am putting on my sword vampire?” Roman asked Stephen as the apparently worn vampire moved himself into a half kneeling position. “Silver nitrate, I want to be sure you will be dead when I cut your head off. Once you’re dead, I’m going home…my job will be done.”

Roman looked down at the vampire and raised his sword. “Say goodbye to your loved one.”

Roman sliced downward...

Nicole closed her eyes and a half second later, a crack broke the stillness. She opened one eye and peered from behind the branch. Stephen had Roman’s hands in a tight grip with his left hand, the katana inches from his neck, and a P14 in his right. A thin stream of smoke was exiting from the barrel.

Roman’s face displayed surprise as he saw the vampire grasp his hands, preventing the kill, and he felt a burst of pain as a .45 slug slammed into his body. The vampire let the man fall and Roman instantly dropped the sword and felt the warm blood coming out of his wound. He opened his eyes a minute later to find Stephen with his Wolfe knife towering over him. Stephen knelt.

“I could kill you so easily right now. Just a slice across your neck or I can suck you dry. You have made a nuisance of yourself. If you had talked to me in that alley about a month ago we wouldn’t be here. Both of us will be going about life as usual. Instead, you had to fulfill some idea that you would save the nation from one murderous vampire.”

Stephen pulled out Roman’s necklace and showed it to him. “This is where you get your ability to make many of you, I am impressed. Are you part of a clan?”

“Celadrin...out of Tarlachia.” Roman muttered.

Stephen nodded. “You can keep your pendent and your life.”

Roman gasped as he felt the knife enter his wound after Stephen had moved his hand away. His face twisted as he felt it coming out. Stephen dropped the blood covered, smashed round onto Roman’s chest. Stephen bit his wrist and dribbled some blood into the wound and it began to heal.

“Don’t worry, you will not change. Keep that bullet, as a reminder of how close you were to dying.”

Stephen pocketed his pistol, cleaned and slid the Wolfe knife into its sheath and walked back to Nicole. She ran up to him and jumped into his arms and Stephen carried her back to the dragon. He placed her on top of the animal and asked her to put on a heavy jacket. Nicole pulled out a thick red polar tech from her duffel and put it on. Stephen put on his trenchcoat and mounted Cassandra.

Nicole wrapped her arms around Stephen’s waist. “Are we safe on her?”

“Yes we are.” Stephen bent over and whispered something to Cassandra. The dragon made a bellow and took off into the air. Stephen held onto Cassandra’s neck and he felt Nicole hold on tighter to him.


Roman slowly stood as he watched them fly away. He sheathed his katana and looked at the .45 slug Stephen had put into him and removed. Roman sighed and placed the round in his pocket. He was tired. The only thing he wanted was to go home and climb into his bed. He hated the fact the vampire had gotten away, he would be better prepared next time and he would kill the vampire. Roman strolled into the forest a little ways. A few seconds later, an eagle shot out of the trees and Roman started his flight home.


When Nicole awoke, she heard voices. She yawned and found herself lying on Cassandra. She smiled as the dragon turned its head and looked at her. It was still dark and it was slightly warmer, Nicole shed her jacket and placed it back in her duffel. She had fallen asleep halfway through their journey through the skies; she could only image the reaction a radar operator would have it he noticed them on his screen.

Nicole looked around and found herself in front of a castle; Stephen was talking to a guard who seemed edgy with the vampire, dragon, and human at his post. She looked up at the wall and saw several armed guards at the top. Several minutes passed before Stephen turned back and walked back to her. He helped her off the dragon.

“Stephen, where are we?”

“Turath, capital of Tarlachia.”

“Okay…what is this place in front of us?”

“Home of a good friend of mine for centuries, Sigrun Greenwood….he is the King of Tarlachia.”

Nicole looked at him in shock. “King? You know a king?”

“He wasn’t a king when we met mind you. He is an elf, a very nice guy and I think you will like him. I need to talk to him about a few things.”


The guard walked through the corridors until he reached Sigrun’s office. He knocked and was let in. He bowed deeply to the elf.

“My Lord…there is a vampire waiting outside. He says is he is a good friend of yours. He also has a human girl with him and an ice dragon. He wishes to speak with you and know where he can put his dragon.”

The guard held out Stephen’s dog tags. “He gave me these to show to you.”

The dog tags hung in the air off the guard's outstretched hand. The sound of tin clinking slightly seemed to echo throughout the office. A few seconds later, a chair scraped the stone floor and near silent footsteps approached.

"Let me see those."

The guard handed the tags over to the elf. Turning the tags over to read the engravings, he smiled slightly. He clenched the tags tightly and nodded to the guard. "Lead me to them."

Several minutes later, Sigrun's voice could be heard echoing through the Hall as he approached. "Stephen! So good for you to come. I was rather missing the company of my friends these days."

Sigrun turned to the female nearby Stephen, who stood next to the white dragon. "Hello-" he greeted her with a slight bow, "I am Sigrun Greenwood. And who may you be?"

"Nicole." the woman uttered, seeming to have difficulty believing that this simply dressed elf before her was actually both real, and a king. He distinctly heard Nicole mutter under her breath, "Elves...it can't be..."

Stephen gave her a smile, as if to remind her what he was himself. He turned to Sigrun once more.

"All hell's broken loose in the Golden Simatar. They found me, found out what I am."

Sigrun's face grew grave for a moment, "I see. You are here for asylum, no?"

Stephen nodded. Sigrun spoke up, "You know you are welcome here any time, Stephen. But first, tell me how she fits into all this." Sigrun indicated toward Nicole. "And please, tell me why there is a dragon icing my columns and windows right now."

Stephen turned sharply to behold Cassandra turning part of the Hall into a frozen section. He rebuked her with a sharp hiss, which she heard and looked back to him with a remorseful look. Sigrun's chuckle brought Stephen's attention back. "Do not worry. Your pet shall be attended to as well."

Stephen sighed, still irritated at Cassandra slightly. He told Sigrun about Nicole, her role in the recent events in the Golden Simatar. As he spoke, Sigrun led the two to a comfortable parlor that had great windows overlooking the city. Cassandra was led away by one of the servants who spoke to her in a draconic tongue, telling her of a joke that had recently been passed among the draconic-speaking individuals of Tarlachia. Cassandra let out a sound that almost sounded like laughter.

It felt good to the vampire to see his old friend again. Stephen sensed Nicole’s nervousness being near the elf. He spoke silently to her as he talked to Sigrun.

"There is no need to be nervous Nicole. I told you he is an alright guy."

Nicole gave Stephen’s hand a slight squeeze, showing she knew what he meant. She turned and watched as Cassandra moved up the hall behind them and sent ice bursts at the walls. She tried to contain a giggle as Stephen ordered the dragon off.

“Easy Stephen, she is like a dog. She also seems to really like you.”

“Yeah, she is just an overgrown puppy.”

Nicole followed the elf and vampire, she turned her head to see the dragon being led off to someplace to rest after a long journey. She listened as Stephen went into great detail about what had been going on in their home country and finished up several minutes after they had entered the lounge. Nicole sat on a large sofa and relaxed, her butt hurt after sitting on scales for several hours.

Stephen finished up with the events that had occurred.

“That is about it Sigrun. The President is going to release all information about me in a few days in hopes of convincing the rest of the populace…in hopes that if there is vampire immigration that the citizens will not just be helpless cattle. The cities really don’t seem to be that panicky, mainly because of the heavy police units, the smaller towns…hard to say. Some are in a real state of panic, National Guard will probably have to be called in. Gun store owners and other opportunists are going to jump on this…advertising ‘instant vampire kill bullets’, ‘anti-vampire spray’ and other such nonsense.

“As I have already mentioned with the PRTGS, there is a very high risk of some crazy group saying that it can protect the people from vampires if they remove the President.”

Stephen sighed and sagged into a chair. “My entire fault, I was too cocky and I was discovered. Sigrun, on the note about Cassandra. She isn’t mine, I just help take care of her. She bought by a deceased friend of mine Todd Hate, you might remember him. I have no idea how he got that thing through customs, but he did. Probably got her when she was still in the egg.”

“Your Highness.” Nicole said nervously to Sigrun. “Have you ever heard of a man named Roman Cyrus? He was the man who captured Stephen…well…I don’t think he is a man.”

“Roman Cyrus is a shape shifter.” Stephen said. “He can apparently change into whatever animal he wants. Sigrun, Roman said he was part of a clan called Celadrin that is base out of Tarlachia. Does the name ring a bell?”

Sigrun could be seen nodding ever few minutes as Stephen explained what was going on. Getting a first hand account of the interior issues of his nation's long time ally and close friends was something he appreciated, for it would give him time to set up the appropriate measures to deal with what may come.

"Roman Cyrus," Sigrun repeated the name, trying to place a face to it. After several moments, he shook his head negatively, "No, I do not know him. However, I am familiar with the leader of the clan Celadrin. Liam Celadrin is his name, an angelic being."

Sigrun caught the gaping eyes of Nicole. He smiled warmly. He remembered a time when Stephen was in her shoes, and sporting an equal look of shock to learn there were more than humans and beasts in this world. Sigrun rose to approach a bookshelf to Nicole's left and ran his fingers over several book spines before finding the one he sought. He drew it out, and blew the light layer of dust that covered it. Flipping through the first few pages, he stopped, read a few lines silently, and then looked up to the others. He approached them, turning the book in his hands to hold it out to them. Stephen took the book gently, holding it so that Nicole could see as well. He read the first lines out loud.

"Liam Celadrin. Immortal. Seraphim of the Heavens. Mission and purpose on this earth is unknown in its entirity, save for what he has shared. He is here to maintain a supernatural balance through the formation of the clan Celadrin, consisting of eight members: Liam Celadrin, Zero Raphael Celadrin, Aeris Celadrin Greenwood, Roman Cyrus Celadrin, Zeratul Celadrin, Sheyrena Celadrin, Kain Shentavo Celadrin, and Ravelyn Shentavo Celadrin."

Stephen paused for a breath of air. Nicole merely blinked, trying to understand it all. Angels and demons, vampires and elves, oh my! she thought to herself with an astonished look in her eyes.

Each member has proven themselves to Liam, thus earning the right to the Celadrin surname. Those that carry the name, are to be respected, as they have the full support of the heavens behind them."

Stephen looked up to Sigrun with raised eyebrows. "The full support of the heavens?!" Sigrun nodded.

"And what if one has committed deeds that may go against the nature of the clan?" Stephen asked, obviously hinting about Roman.

Sigrun gave a slight shake of his head, "That will have to be taken up with Liam. He is the arbiter of the clan, and his word is final. If you wish to bring before him news of a clanmember's ill activities, then take it to him. It is not my place to condemn Roman Cyrus Celadrin."

Sigrun glanced over to Nicole again. She still held the bewildered look on her face. "My dear, welcome to the real world, where there is much more than meets the eye. No offense, but you have lived in a country that is woefully ignorant of the danger they place themselves in by not believing and seeing for themselves the types of sentient beings that exist outside the Golden Simatar."

He looked over to Stephen, "In a way, your discovery, if you will, is exactly what the Golden Simatar needed. It's about time the blind stop leading the blind."

Nicole was trying everything she could to prevent herself from getting a heart attack. She remembered the shock when Stephen had suddenly came back to life in GN-475. She felt weak because of her nation’s obviousness. She could be traveling overseas, taking a night walk and suddenly be dragged into an alley and eaten. She felt something placed on her lap and she looked up at Stephen.

“Its okay, imagine Kimble’s position having to deal with several billion of people in you position. Look on the bright side; you met a vampire who is far more human than vampire. Here, I suggest you do a bit a reading. Keep your breathing in check too...you don’t want a heart attack.”

Stephen received a small kiss from Nicole as she scanned through the book Sigrun had shown him. Stephen stood and walked over to Sigrun. Both watched for several minutes, the constantly changing and somewhat comical expressions on Nicole’s face. Stephen turned to Sigrun.

“I don’t think I will report Roman to this Liam Celadrin. If you take a poll most people would agree with his actions and I guess if I was in his shoes I would be trying to do the same thing. It is very hard to convince a person that a vampire can have a heart and be kind. Thankfully Nicole is somewhat a bit more opened minded than most. I love her for that, first time I have been in love since my first wife.”

Stephen sighed. “Sigrun, if you do not know the Golden Simatar has a nasty habit of sending agents and sometimes Special Forces teams into foreign nations to nab or kill wanted people. I chatted to the President before I left; she said I have been removed from that list, so you don’t have to worry about an international incident because of me. Kimble will probably be calling you in the next few days to ask for help with training the police forces and such with dealing with vampires.”

The vampire watched as Nicole slowly put the book down on the table, her hands shaking slightly. She leaned back in the couch, sadness in her eyes.

“What is wrong Nicole?”

She looked over at Stephen. “I just now come to see how defenseless our nation is. A group of vampires can just come in, knocked off the President and turn our nation into nothing more than a large cattle farm.”

“I’m sure now that won’t happen.” Stephen said in a soothing voice. Stephen looked back at Sigrun. “My friend, though President Kimble has pulled me off the wanted list, the reason I had to flee is for the fact someone would have done anything they could to try and kill me…even if that includes killing anyone around me. I don’t know how to thank you for letting us take up living here in Tarlachia.”

Sigrun gave a sympathetic nod to Nicole's revelations about the Golden Simatar. He spoke up as soon as silence filled the room again. "The Golden Simatar has more than just their own eyes watching their borders. Do you really think I would let supernatural creatures of any kind slip into there and catch you all with your pants down? You are lucky to have powerful friends that lie in the shadows, watching all that moves. However, as I said, we watch the borders only. Interior issues beyond the borders is a breach of international law, and I will not risk this nation's alliance with the Golden Simatar without just cause."

Turning to Stephen he replied, "I told you long ago, when I was crowned, that you will always have a home here, as long as I draw air into these weathered lungs of mine. You are welcome to stay as long as you need or wish."

“Thank you Sigrun. I am sure Kimble will be able to handle any internal affairs. She is also going to the Vampire Police of Assington for aid.” Stephen said.

“Stephen?” Nicole said. She tapped her watch. Stephen looked at his own watch and cursed under his breath.

“Well Sigrun, looks I need to turn in before the dawn turns me into a black dust.”

The elf and the vampire talked for a few more minutes before Stephen left with Nicole. Stephen paused at the door and his dog tags rocketed from Sigrun’s hand into Stephen’s pocket. As the pair went into the hallway, a servant came in front of them.

“I am to show you to your room for the day sir.”

Stephen smiled as the pair followed the man to a large room with a large four poster bed. Stephen shut the door and quickly covered the windows to make sure no sunlight would enter the room. He placed their duffel bags on a table as Nicole went to shower. He undressed and slipped in with her. Nicole jumped as she felt the hot water that clung to her skin gave her a shiver as Stephen touched her.

“Stephen…this is all so new to me. Elves, vampires, dragons, angels, now you will be telling me werewolves and the mummies curse are real.”

“Lycans are real. The mummy…I am not to sure about; I think the guy who dug up Tut’s tomb died cause of the dust or whatever inside clogged his lungs. You don’t have to worry Nicole, I’ll be showing you around and help get to accustomed to the world our nation has long ignored.”

“Thank you.” Nicole brushed a few strands of wet hair from her eyes and looked up at her vampire. “Stephen, if Tarlachia and the Golden Simatar are allies…how come we didn’t know about elves and vampires before?”

Stephen shrugged. “That is a good question. Probably because the leaders have never met before. Our country is gonna enter a new age Nicole and it is for the better.”

“It wouldn’t be this way if it wasn’t for that bastard Roman.”

“Looking back on it…I guess he thought he was doing the right thing. I mean, I do drink human blood and people view my kind as demons but, I am probably the only of my breed that doesn’t kill their prey. Then again, one of the Celadrin…Zero…he is a vampire of the Noble Blood. I wonder…then again this Liam Celadrin is an angel and I was never given an okay by an angel.”

“Still…Roman is a mother fu…”

“He is also Simatarian. What would you have done if you were in his shoes?”

Nicole bit her lip and looked down. “Tried to kill you.”

Stephen smiled and took her chin in his hand and moved her gaze upward. He kissed her lightly on the lips. “It is okay, we are safe. Kimble agreed to let us get the rest of our things without having to worry about getting brought in.”

Nicole smiled and ran a sponge across Stephen’s scarred torso. “What were you and Sigrun talking about?”

“He is going to be setting up draconic language classes for me and you. Draconic is the dragon language. Make it easier to speak to Cassandra. Lord knows she will be popping in on us every so often until dragons will be protected in the Golden Simatar. Cassandra will be safe here in Tarlachia. It will do her some good to explore her homeland.”

After another ten minutes, the pair came out of the shower and dried themselves off. Nicole climbed into bed naked next to Stephen. She rolled over and looked at him.

“What is it like? Being immortal?”

Stephen looked at her and shrugged. “It is interesting. Seeing the world change, if things you thought would happen when you were a kid actually occur. Then again, sometimes it isn’t worth it because you see so many horrible things.”

“Stephen…my brother was my last family member. My dad died of cancer a few years ago…I never knew my mom. My dad said she died in a car crash. I…I…”

“You want me to turn you?” Nicole gave Stephen a nod. She stared at him, trying to find something in his eyes.

“Stephen, I love you and I want to be with you. Forever.”

“You want to think about this? I don’t want to turn you and then you regret your choice.”

Nicole smiled and kissed him. “I am sure Stephen, one hundred percent.”

She looked up at him as he moved and straddled her. He bent down and kissed her lips. Nicole wrapped her arms around him as she felt his breath against her neck followed by his lips. She knew he was thinking about turning her as he kissed her artery. After what seemed like hours, Nicole’s body stiffened as he bit her. She relaxed and moaned softly as he drank her blood. Her eyes grew heavy with each drop Stephen took, finally; Nicole felt something warm touch her lips. She grasped his arm drank his blood until he pulled his wrist away.

Stephen looked down at Nicole. She smiled up at him before shutting her eyes and going to sleep. Stephen licked the blood away from his wrist, her lips, and then blood on her neck. He lay down next to her and pulled her shaking body close to him. He kissed the puncture wounds on her neck and after an hour, she stopped shaking. Her body was cold and pale; Stephen looked over her neck at her half opened mouth and the tips of her new fangs. Stephen smiled and put his head back down on the pillow.

Things were going to change in the Golden Simatar, the nation had long ignored the dark side of the world, now it would have to adjust and deal with it. Stephen prayed that all would go well and he would some day be allowed to go back and live in his homeland. If not, Stephen would spend eternity away from the land he loved. He looked at Nicole. At least I will not be alone anymore. He thought quietly to himself.

Stephen closed his eyes as the sun splashed across the land, ushering a new era of existence for himself and the Golden Simatar.