NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Okay everyone, here is a story of mine, sequel to 'The Simatarian Eclipse' you might say. I hope you all enjoy it.

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A tiny bead of sweat moved to the surface just under the teenager’s hairline. It traveled down his forehead, snaked around his right eye and continued down before being soaked up by the teen’s shirt. The sun and nervousness pushed more sweat to surface. The teenager licked his lips, his arms raise to shoulder height. The teenager stood shy of six foot, his brown hair was kept under a light green baseball cap and his dark blue eyes stared straight ahead of him through a pair of safety glasses.

He was wearing a pair of tan shorts, a pair of New Balance sneakers, and a gold nylon t-shirt with green sleeves; Small Town Troublemakers was written in green on the front. A black belt hung at his waist, three slim magazine pouches were on the front and rest in its holster on his right side was a SIG-Sauer P220 Sport in .45. The youth waited nervously for the buzzer that would allow him to draw his weapon and begin his course.

James Meade was seventeen years old and competing in the National Junior Firearms Competition, this year it was being held in Chelam. His team had placed first in regionals for automatic pistols and now they were going up against their peers. The first prize was a pair of decorative German Lugers made from gold and one thousand dollars for each member. James was set on taking home those Lugers and the money. The rest of his four man team had already gone; they were standing behind the safety line, praying that his points would be high enough and his time low enough to take home the Lugers and the money. The buzzer sounded.

James immediately pulled out the automatic from his holster and brought the first of five metal plates in front him into his sights. Five shots quickly rang out and were followed by the ping of the round hitting home and the plates falling over. As soon as the last plate was down, James took off at a sprint to his right, heading for a white wall with a single opening. Okay James, that is five shots out of seven gone. Can’t reload, will need the ammunition.

The teenager stood inside a small square marked by planks of wood and aimed his gun through the opening in the wall; nine targets waited him. Aiming the P220 with his right hand, he reached down to his waist and pulled out one of his spare magazines as he fired his last two shots. The empty magazine slid effortlessly out of pistol butt and a fresh one was rammed home. The slide shut and James fired as quickly as he could center the target and pull the trigger.

He reloaded as he ran to the next area. His palms were sweating and the boy hoped that wouldn’t affect his performance. Another ten targets waited him. The SIG barked seven times and James worked quickly. His fingers wrapped around his last remaining magazine and he slammed it home and with a single hand fired three rounds, knocking the last targets over.

As soon as he heard the ping, James flicked the safety of his P220 on, slammed it back into the holster, and raised his hands. The timers clicked their watches the second his arms were at shoulder height. Another buzzer sounded, James lowered his hands and headed back to the safety line, grabbed his spent magazines and brass. He left the casings with the judges and sat down on a chair.

“James that was some fine shooting out there today, that is sure to nail us the win.” James’s close friend and team member Erica Spannuth said. She took off her cap and her blonde hair fell down to her shoulders.

“Where are Darren and Nigel?” James asked.

“After you finished, I think they went off to grab a bit to eat. I’m hungry too, I say we go get some funnel cake and then roam the shops.”

James turned around. He had a good view of about thirty to forty wooden buildings, many were no larger than a Starbucks coffee shops, which made up the little shopping center. The NJFC not only had the best teams of young shooters from across the country come to compete, it also was a gathering for other firearms teams, clubs, or companies to show off their latest gear. He smelled cheeseburgers and hot dogs from where he sat. Further down the gentle slope was a flat plain, a long range had been put up and teams showing off weapons from automatic weapons to matchlocks and far later in the day, cannons would be rolled out for the enjoyment of the people.

James shook his head. “I have one more competition to shoot.”

“What do you mean? You applied for a solo-pistol?” Erica asked, slightly confused by what her friend said. James grinned and reached below his seat and pulled out a large black suitcase. He unlocked with a key around his neck. Erica gasped as she saw what was laying the foam interior. She watched as James gingerly extracted his Heckler and Koch MP5A2. Erica touched the hard synthetic stock. “Why do you have an MP5A2?”

“I will be competing in the machine-pistol…”

“You’re not over eighteen James!”

“I know…my uncle got this for me and since he was one of the sponsors….”

“Your uncle owns a small shipping company, gets you a fine machine-pistol and he is able to get you into the competition. You lucky bastard. Good luck, I’ll meet you down by the snack stands and benches after you are done.”

Erica picked up the box that carried her own P220 and walked downhill as James put the MP5A2 back in its case and placed his own pistol and magazines in its case. He picked up his things and headed for the machine-pistol range and hoped that he was able to win.


An hour later, James strolled through the snack stands towards a table where he saw Erica talking with two men, one was tall and well built and the other a slightly shorter and plump man. The plump man looked up; he smiled with sparkling green eyes and stood.

“My dear nephew!” He cried out to James. The teenager hugged his Uncle Jeff, but the plump man grabbed him in a bear hug and nearly crushed him. “How did you do with that new firearm? Have a scope or anything on it?”

“James was in the stock competition Jeff. Stock means he doesn’t have all the bling-bling.” The other man said. Jeff’s father brushed some of his salt and pepper hair and looked at his son as James chuckled. “What is it?”

James squeezed out of his uncle’s grasp and sat down. “Dad, you are too old to be saying bling-bling. I think I did well, probably not going to win a trophy or a medal, but I did well for only using it for a month.”

“Where is it?” Erica asked as she tore off a bit of funnel cake and ate it.

“I put it in our car. Mom is gonna have a fit with you Uncle Jeff, she doesn’t like firearms. I’m surprised she married dad.” James said.

Douglas Meade chuckled. He was the minister at his town’s Methodist Church. He thought it strange that he and his brother were so different; his brother had gone into business while he went to ministry. “Let me worry about your mother. Come on, let us enjoy ourselves. Today’s highlight was the pistol competitions, tomorrow; it will be nothing but shows and relaxation. And you get to learn if your team won the Lugers. You kids run along, I wish to talk with Jeff for a while.”

James and Erica left after finishing the funnel cake and downing a soda each. As they headed up the dusty path towards the shops, a tall man wearing khaki pants and shirt stepped in front of them. He flashed a badge; Jonick, Martin Dir IBI. James gulped.

“I take it you are James Meade. Nice shooting with the Heckler and Koch.” Jonick said.

“I can get you the Class Three papers Mr. Jonick, no need to call agents on…”

Jonick laughed, he was fifty-nine, two months from retirement. He had been head of the Internal Bureau of Investigation for most of his life and he wasn’t here exactly on business. “You miss understand me, I am not going to arrest you. I wish you the best and hope that you do win. Your team is a fine bunch of shooters and we need people who can wield a gun like you kids can at the Bureau.”

He handed them his business card and bid them good day before they could respond. Jonick enjoyed coming here for the three day event, it allowed him to possibly recruit fresh agents. He could have sent someone to do it for him, but he liked to do it himself. As he passed on of the buildings, he stopped cold and looked inside.

A familiar figure standing 5’11 with jet black hair, lightly bronzed skin, and a pair of black sunglasses stood in the middle of an antique hunting gun shop holding a Chapuis African PH Model Grade 1. Jonick walked in and waited till the store owner was busy with another customer before speaking.

“Good to see you again Agent Cyrus.”

Roman Cyrus Celadrin turned and looked at Jonick through the glasses that hid his cat-like emerald green eyes. Roman wasn’t a full time agent with the new Vampire Investigation Bureau that had formed five years ago, shortly after Stephen Malone had left the country with his love Nicole Patterson. His role was more of an advisor since he was the only Simatarian with true knowledge on vampires.

“Hello there Mr. Jonick.” He looked at the store keeper. “I’ll take it.”

He handed the weapon back to the store owner who began to dismantle it and box it. Roman looked at Jonick. “I love collecting firearms. One of the things I spend my money on.”

After Roman paid for the rifle, he left with Jonick and the pair slowly wandered through the dusty streets. Jonick looked at Roman. “How is Hauser doing?”

Nicholas Hauser was the head of the VIB, he had once been second in command of IBI. The man was several years younger than Jonick and was trying to run an organization that stretched from investigating vampires and other such creatures entering the nation to researching into what made them tick. The Tarlachian and Assingtonian had aided by sending advisors to help the new organization, police departments, and government security forces. There were still advisors around, there were still many small town police forces that had yet to be trained and properly equipped.

Roman pulled out a pair of handcuff made from a clear plastic. Jonick held them and saw they were filled with a clear liquid and it seemed to have black dots speckled around the cuffs and chains. “Those are right now our poor man’s method of handcuffing a vamp. They are filled with silver nitrate, if a vamp is cuffed and breaks the cuffs, the black lines are tiny explosives set to blast the cuffs wide open…spilling silver all over the vampire’s hands and hopefully face. Pepper spray canisters filled with silver nitrate are also being made. Shit, cameras in all the major airports are getting an upgrade. Thermal imagery, vampires are colder than us. A security guard sees a person is registering far below normal, cross checks with the regular cameras…guards move in. Vampire to be detained and questioned before anything else.”

Jonick nodded and handed them back. He had heard VIB was trying to come up with ways to combat creatures that the country had never believed in. There were classes, TV programs, anything to inform the public. Still, many refused to believe because they were scared too or were not convinced.

“Well, let’s hope that we will be able to save our asses if the time comes. President Kimble has refused to reveal where the vampire Stephen Malone has gone…I don’t think she even knows. Good to see you Roman.”

“Same here Mr. Jonick.”

The pair shook hands and departed. Jonick watched him go, he knew the man was still mad about the vampire defeating him in combat. He hoped he would drop the grudge, Jonick wanted Stephen back. Kimble, he, and even the whole cabinet wanted him in the country to help aid the VIB. But, he knew that there was enough edginess about vampires in the country that the Golden Simatar would be off-limits for a few more years. Probably long after Jonick passed away, Stephen and Nicole would still be living somewhere else. He wondered if Stephen had turned her into a vampire, or if she was still human.

Martin Jonick shrugged and headed to grab himself some lunch.

James climbed out of his father’s 2002 Subaru Outback and grabbed his bag and gun cases. It felt good be home in Auburn. Auburn was a small town of only around a hundred residents, there was a small elementary school, and the kids had to go to a middle and high school slightly under an hour’s drive away. It took a five hour car trip from Chelam to reach the small town in the midst of the forests and near the foothills of the Barishu Mountains.

James opened the white picket fence and walked up to a small, two story white brick house. His mother came to the front door and ran and embraced her son. Bethany Meade was slightly shorter than her son; her hair was slowly becoming white as she reached her fifties. When she grabbed her son, James lost grip on the MP5A2 case and dropped it. His mother grabbed it off the grass and opened it before James or his father could stop her.

“James Henry Meade! What is this?” She demanded, pulling out the H&K.

“It is a Heckler and Koch MP5A2 Mom.” James said.

“I suppose your Uncle Jeff got it for you. Well, I see no problem with that pistol of yours, but I see problem with this….thing in here. It will be locked in the attic, it will only come down to be cleaned I think.”

“Mom…” James whined. “It is a thirteen hundred dollar piece of master craftsmanship. You can’t do this Mom!”

“I am your mother and I can.” Bethany said. She boxed up the MP5A2 and walked back inside, leaving James gawking as his father patted him on the back. Douglas chuckled as he picked up his son’s things and headed inside after his wife. He found her in the kitchen making an apple pie.

“Bethany, did James get a chance to tell you his team placed first for automatic pistols?”

“Oh…no he did not. What did he win?”

Douglas pulled from his wallet James’ thousand dollar check then pulled an oak box from his briefcase and opened it. Inside, lying in red velvet, under a pane of glass was a pair of Gold German Lugers. Bethany smiled at them still; it was obvious she disapproved of more firearms coming into her house. Douglas sighed and moved the box aside. He got up and walked to the front door, James was still gawking out in the front lawn.

“Come on James.”

James walked in a bit of a daze before a horn came from behind him. He turned to see Erica leaning out the window of an old Volkswagen bus. “Come on James, we’re gonna head down to the lake to celebrate! Everyone is gonna be there.”

James turned and looked at his dad. Douglas sighed and gave a nod. James turned and bolted for the VW bus. The side door opened and the teenager tumbled on top several other teens, the door close, the tires squealed and the bus took off.


Rose Lake was several miles from Auburn. When the VW reached it, several cars were already parked and a bonfire was going. James helped pull a grill out of the back of the bus before grabbing himself a soda and joining the party. Music was blaring through a large boom box in the back of one of the cars as the smell of cooking meat filled the air. James took Erica’s hand around midnight for a small walk through the woods.

“Did you enjoy yourself at the match?” James asked.

“Yeah, by the way you were gawking I take it your mother found out about the H&K.” Erica said as she rested her head on his head.

“Yeah I…listen.”

There was the sound of the music back at the camp, but where they were there was nothing. Several minutes passed before they heard a twig snap, Erica immediately grabbed James’ arm and held on for dear life. James looked around, several more twigs snapped and the pair saw for a second a human shadow.

Erica’s eyes widened as she started to whimper. She spoke very softly. “Vampires…James…vampires.”

James looked down at Erica and shook his head, trying to act brave. Inside he was shaking slightly. The news for the past five years of vampires actually existing had scared him slightly and he always kept a tiny piece of silver on him, just in case. He felt Erica’s hand slip away as she then took off at a dead run to the party. She looked behind her at James who was just standing still. She wouldn’t let her blood be sucked out of her; she wouldn’t let her throat be torn out.

A figure appeared ahead of her and she tried to stop. The figure grabbed her and in the moonlight she saw a pair of fangs in the mouth. Erica started to scream as the figure hissed. James came running and stopped a few feet away. He let his eyes adjust before throwing a small rock at the figure.

“Ouch! Jesus James…can’t you take a joke?” Landon Toombs said, rubbing his forehead. Landon was 6’1 and worked at the same convince store that James worked at. Erica stood there, her eyes tearing up before she slapped him.

“You bastard! You had me scared shitless.”

Landon laughed and removed the fake fangs from his mouth. “Come on, you can’t seriously believe in that bullshit. Government is trying to soak up a few more dollars from us that is all.”

Erica was still fuming when she smacked Landon again and stormed off back to the party. James laughed and patted Landon on the back. “You and your practical jokes.”

Landon sighed. “Why are all the sexy ones the bitchy ones?”

“Lord knows man, I’m in the mood for a burger and beer.”

“Agreed. Hey, I can’t work on the day after tomorrow…what is that? Wednesday…that is it.”

“You work the late night shift right? Up to about one in the morning?”

“Yeah, six to whenever there is no one there.”

James thought for a few minutes before nodding. It was summer vacation anyway, he could work late nights. Landon smiled and the pair walked back to the party. James grabbed his burger, some chips, and a beer and sat down on a log.

As he stared up at the moon over head, he thought he saw something that looked like a large white bird in the sky. He blinked and the thing wasn’t there. This shit is getting to you James.

Putting most things out of his mind, he finished his meal and too over the job of DJ.

It was close to four in the morning when James fell into his bed. He curled up under the blue sheets; his fan going softly over his head the teenager finally entered his dream world. He slept much shorter than he would have liked. His mom entered his room and tore off his covers just after seven.

“Mom…five more minutes.”

“I show no sympathy for the boy who is suppose to be helping clear up the old factory and is instead a bit hangover and sleeping.”

James grumbled, he heard his mom leave his room and he grinned, victory. Just as he started to fall asleep, he felt something cold enter his pants. James jumped up and started yelling and jumping. Ice cubs fell out the bottom of his pants and the cold slowly went away. His mother was grinning at him.

“I told you James…I show no sympathy. Take no prisoners. I got chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, bacon, milk, and orange juice waiting downstairs.”

James grumbled and put on a pair of old khaki long pant, a red plaid collared t-shirt and black army boots. He found his father sitting at the table finishing his breakfast and reading the newspaper. As his mother sat down James muttered.

“You cheated.”

Bethany smiled. “Your father learned years ago that when I say wake up…you wake up.”

Douglas looked over his paper. “You get off lucky…she would not only put ice down my pants, but splash me with water so cold you could freeze the sun with.”

James simply nodded and started breakfast, he was still tired. It wasn’t for the fact his mother was so close to the freezer, he would fall back asleep right there. After finishing breakfast, he grabbed a red baseball cap and working gloves and followed his father out to his car. The drive took them to an old factory sitting on the edge of town. The factory had once produced parts for vehicles, but had been shut down many decades ago. Thankfully, the town hadn’t gone under when the company left, yet it had shrunk considerably. Now, the factory was just used to dump old scraps of metal and parts.

Already there were a few cars there, including the sheriff’s. Sheriff Craig Stoller stood at 5’11 with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was not obese, most wouldn’t even consider him plump, he was slightly rounded out around his waist; still everyone knew he was as strong as a bull, and sometimes as stubborn as one. His brown and tan uniform was always kept crisp and clean. He smiled at James and his father.

“Reverend, always a pleasure. Ah…here is James…one of the best shots in the nation I heard. Could use you on my force…who knows; maybe get my job when I pass.”

“Thanks Mr. Stoller.” James said. “Why are you here?”

“To make sure y’all are safe. I got my Glock 17 on my waist, my Smith and Wesson N-frame model 28 revolver and Mossberg 500 in the cruiser. I can also get the doctor up here in less than five minutes.”

“Thanks Craig.” Douglas said with a laugh as he and James joined another dozen people clearing out the mounds of scrap metal. James hooked up with Landon and the pair wandered off into the factory. James turned on a flashlight due to the poor lighting in most of the factory.

“So Landon, what are we suppose to be grabbing?”

“I dunno, metal I guess. My dad said if we find good stuff, we could get some real cash outta it.”

“Good stuff? Shit there isn’t anything good here.”

Landon laughed and moved off with his own flashlight. He called out to James. “Still, might find a carburetor or something that can be salvaged. Hell, I dunno why we do this. Town is doing fine…no need for this shit.”

“This is just one of those things parents make us do to keep us busy and allow themselves to talk together why we do all the hard work.”

Almost several hours of scrounging turned up nothing. James felt something under his foot. He shifted his foot to reveal something that looked like brass. James knelt down and picked it up, upon closer inspection, he found it to be a .50 caliber bullet casing for an automatic pistol. He only knew of one pistol that fired the massive shell, but no one in town owned a Desert Eagle. The shell had a bit of dirt on it, it was too fresh to of been here for years. Still, maybe someone from a while ago had fired off an Eagle before leaving town.

“That doesn’t make sense.” He said to himself.

“What doesn’t?”

James spun to see Landon looking at him. “This…I found it. A bullet casing for a Desert Eagle, only thing is no one in town owns one.”

“Ya don’t know that. Shit, we didn’t know Mr. Figgs was once a race car driver till he croaked. And…someone would have heard the shot right?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay…no need to be panicky. Come on, they got lunch out there.”

James nodded and took the case back from Landon. He followed his friend, but his attention was on the case. He felt a cold breeze from the darkness behind him and shivered.

James pocketed the case as he entered the sunlight and grabbed himself a sandwich, chips, and a coke, and sat down to a meal. He stared back at the factory; the dilapidated, grey and rusty walls gave him the heebie-jeebies for reasons unknown.

James turned away from the factory and focused his mind on more important things, like getting his Heckler and Koch back from his mom.

The night was cool and the sky was clear. Millions of stars light years away from the planet lit up the sky and bathed the earth in soft light. The moon was full and out and only added to the beauty, its light helped many nocturnal creatures go about their business; it also showed them a new creature not indigenousness to the Golden Simatar. In size, it was slightly larger than a full grown horse, but its body was like no other. Scales that gave the creature the color of pure white or in some lights a pale ice blue color, great wings folded at its side, the head looking around at the end of the long neck, searching for something to eat.

Cassandra was a 260 year old Tarlachian Ice Dragon. Though she looked menacing to many people, rows of razor sharp teeth lined her jaws; she was not a wild killer, she was as gentle as a puppy. She had been purchased by Todd Harte when she was still in her egg and brought to the Golden Simatar. The first memory she had was as she broke free from her egg a man with glasses was looking at her, encouraging her and helping to free her.

She had lived her first few weeks in Todd’s room, it wasn’t until she escaped at a month old that she found there was someone else in the house; Todd’s sister Samantha. Samantha was coming out of the shower when she spotted a miniature pincher sized dragon sitting on the toilet looking at her. Cassandra couldn’t understand what the humans were saying, all she knew was the woman named Samantha wrapped herself in the shower curtain while Todd cuddled Cassandra and the two bickered for the better part of two hours.

When Todd had passed away, Cassandra had lay in her cave for several days in a deep state of depression. Only during the nights did she get any relief, the vampire Stephen came every night to make sure the dragon was okay physically and mentally. Finally, after two weeks, Cassandra finally emerged. She had gone through the years, losing family, every time was a sad time; yet she always knew the vampire would always be there.

For the past several years, she had flown between her home and Tarlachia to visit Stephen and Nicole. Now, she was exploring her homeland, but her mind was focused on something to eat. She had preyed upon the many deer that usually came trampling through the vineyard in her early years, there were still deer around and she had no trouble with a food supply as a single grown buck could last her a few days.

The dragon halted and looked around her. A figure slowly walked towards her and Cassandra leaned slightly forward to sniff. The woman was slim, lean muscle covered his body; she wore black leather pants, plain a blood red t-shirt with a black leather vest. Her green eyes studied the animal, she wasn’t running screaming; she was just staring at Cassandra. The woman’s light brown hair was tied back in a pony tail and she scratched her head.

Cassandra sniffed and studied. The person was pale, pale like Stephen and Nicole. It was at that moment Cassandra noticed other shapes suddenly spring out of the woods; all were bearing short swords and silenced automatic weapons. She never truly experienced physical pain, spare for bumping her head when she was very young and out of her egg; she was a peaceful animal, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to defend her self. Cassandra roared as a bullet bounced harmlessly off her armor. She swung her tail, knocking an attacker into the trees. She fired several blasts of ice at the weapons that were shooting at her, freezing the receivers shut.

The attackers tried to find a weakness in the dragon’s armor as they slashed at her. Cassandra swung her tail, trying to hold them off. The dragon retreated into a small meadow. She noted around twenty attackers, all pale, all vampire. She gave another roar before taking off into the sky, a bullet went through her wing and the creature cried out in pain, almost stalled in the air, but kept going.

She had to tell Stephen.



Tara watched the dragon go. She cursed under her breath; she had heard dragon blood was as delicious as elf blood if not better. The seven hundred year old vampire smashed her foot into the dirt, dinner had gotten away. She had underestimated the creature. Tara, like all the vampires with her were from Assington. She remembered not too long ago in the fourth Assington conflict a tall, blue eyed neonate tell her after the attack on the Vampire Police in Emerald City his country did not believe in vampires. She left the VP HQ soon after that and had informed her gang, but they were unable to leave right away. So they had waited for nearly ten years before setting out.

“Hey Tara…I hope you got a fucking plan cause I am starving.” One of the male fledglings in the group said. Several others murmured in agreement.

“We have blood hidden in the factory, have some of that.”

“I am tired of drinking bottled blood! I want to actually eat someone.”

Tara’s green eyes turned and looked at him. She was not hot tempered usually, always cool and collected. She was also a very friendly person who enjoyed a good laugh. Though, everyone knew during a hunt, she could be part seductress and part Attila the Hun. She had no problem will torturing her prey before feeding.

“You will take some bottled blood Nicholas. I am going to go taste the locals. I’ll let you know if they are any good. Disobey me…and I will have your life.” She pulled out a Desert Eagle from behind her and placed it under his nose. The fledgling nodded and the group headed off in to the wood back to the factory. Tara smiled, holstered her gun, and flew towards Auburn only three miles away.

She was happy with the town she picked, it was small, fresh hunting ground, and the humans were armed only with a few hunting rifles. She landed near a small convenience store and walked in. She noted a young teenager boy behind the counter, no one else was in the store. There was also a camera behind the counter, a quick scan of the boy’s mind told her there was a snub-nose .32 hidden back there. The teen gulped as he saw her. This one would be easy, he was young, attractive, and as she slowly moved forward, swaying her hips slightly, she could tell he was getting a bit horny.

“Hello.” She said in a soft, warm voice that made James’s insides turn to jelly.

“Wha…what…what can I get for you?” James asked his palms were sweating; his adjusted himself to make his pants feel a bit more comfortable.

Tara climbed on the counter. She kissed him softly and moved closer to him, making sure he felt her breasts on him. His hands were on the counter, his defenses were totally down as he stared in to her eyes, and his heart rate was almost too fast to hear each heartbeat. She smiled slightly.

“I’m hungry.”

“Wha…wha…wha…wha…would you like?”

Tara smiled and her fangs descended.

“You.”

Sheriff Craig Stoller opened his eyes to his phone ringing in his small office. A tiny rack of three Mossberg 500s, an Armalite AR-10B, and a Remington 700 sat behind his desk, a locked cabinet beneath that held the rounds and magazines. He yawned and stretched out in his chair before picking up the phone.

“Sheriff Stoller speaking. It is you Kellick I will bust your ass.” Stoller said the last part angrily, referring to Jimmy Kellick, an ex-airline navigator who had grown instantly paranoid of flying when his aircraft had suddenly had an engine failure and had ditched. All survived, but Kellick had grown paranoid and was medically retired to Auburn where it was quiet. Still, that didn’t prevent him from calling the Sheriff’s office at least forty times a day about something as small as a nut falling from a tree on his roof. Thankfully, he had a nurse who took care of him.

“It ain’t Kellick Boss….its Len.”

Craig sighed. Len Snyder was one of four officers he had, he was the youngest, at twenty-five, but the kid had a good head. “What is it Len?”

“Come down to Ray’s Place…there is…oh God.”

Len’s voice was unnatural; Craig detected slight fear in it. “I’ll be right there.”

Craig hung up and pulled out his Glock. He checked the magazine and placed it into the leather holster. The Sheriff walked out of his office, through the small police station and outside to his car. He gunned the engine and took the quick eight minute drive to the convenience store Ray’s Place. Len was standing outside, taping a tarp to the front, covering the front door and most of the windows. Len turned, the officer stood slightly taller than Craig and he was more thin and lanky. His brown eyes looked at his boss.

“Ya have to see it.”

Len moved the tarp for Craig and the pair walked inside. At first all seemed normal, racks of food, magazines, paperbacks, tiny toys for small children, but Len stopped Craig’s pan and pointed to the counter. Craig moved forward and looked at a small pool of crimson red. He didn’t have to be an expert to know it was blood. Len then pointed to the refrigerators in the back where drinks and cold foods were kept. The glass doors were usually kept spotless, now all but one was shattered in someway, all had some amount of blood on the glass.

Craig rested his hand on the Glock as he walked down the aisle; speckles of blood were on the racks. He knelt down and saw fingerprints of blood, smudged, as though the person had been violently pulled away. He continued to look around, more blood, a hair or two, some more broken glass.

“Victim is…in the back.” Len said from behind.

Craig nodded and walked into the tiny hallway that broke into the bathrooms and backroom. He opened it and turned on the lights. His skin went pale and he fought back the bile that forced its way into his mouth but not out. He finally swallowed.

“Oh God.”

The body of a young teenage male was laying on the floor, but not in one piece. The body was torn in half, intestines, stomach, liver, kidneys, and lay open from the top half; the red meat covered spine was also visible. The other half, waist down was lying a few feet away. The face and neck were torn, it was impossible to tell who it was. Glass was imbedded in part of the body also. Strangely, little blood was around the body, but Craig didn’t notice it.

“Boss?”

“What Len?”

“I will call Doctor Felton if that is alright.”

“Yes…do that.”

“I ain’t an expert…but….way I figure. James was still conscious till he was ripped in half.”

Craig’s body turned cold, he turned and grabbed Len by the arm as the officer turned to call Doctor Felton. “The Reverend’s son? That James?”

Len nodded. “Ya gonna tell him in de morning?”

“Yeah.”

“One last thing Boss…there is like no blood around the body. Like a vampire killed him.”

“You’re joking…don’t joke at a time like this. I got a dead kid of a damn good friend lying torn in half on the floor of a convenience store.” Craig stopped, tears were in his eyes. Murder was something his town had never experienced. Mostly catching kids speeding out on the roads, discussing the evils of drugs and alcohol at the schools in the county, or helping someone with their car. Murder, murder happened in the cities, not in small towns, but this time there was a murder.

“I ain’t joking Boss…tell ya what…maybe Felton can help.”

“Yeah…got get him.”


The fifty-five year old Charles Felton was a short wiry man of 5’8. His white hair was kept slick heading back towards his neck and his beard was kept evenly trimmed. He walked into the backroom, unlike the two police officers, he ran to the bathroom and vomited. Several minutes later he came out and gathered his things. He confirmed it was James by a small birthmark on his right arm and by a scar on his left leg from a skateboard accident several weeks ago.

Craig cursed, he didn’t know how to tell his close friend his son was now listed as homicide. Charles worked quickly and quietly. He finally stood and looked at them.

“This boy was defiantly alive…before he was torn. Christ, no human could have done that. Only like a professional bodybuilder could. Plus, there is so little blood. The blood out there only equals a pint or two tops. About six to seven are missing.”

Craig and Len looked at each other, they starred at each other for several minutes before Charles spoke. “What is it? Anything I can do?”

“There is something you can do doctor. Take a camera and photograph every inch of the body. I want it so detailed I can put the picture together and have the body in front of me in my office. Len, take pictures of the store and the other blood marks. What about the camera?” Craig said.

“Tape is missing.” Len said. “Where ya going boss?”

“I must make a call.”

Craig walked outside into the cool night air. The sky was slowly becoming brighter as he opened his car’s computer and found what he wanted. He then picked up the car's telephone.

Sheriff Craig Stoller called the Vampire Investigation Bureau for the first vampire related death in the Republic of the Golden Simatar.

Director of the Vampire Bureau of Investigation Nicholas Hauser rubbed his balding head and drank some coffee. He gave a yawn and took another gulp of coffee. He hated getting out of bed early; four o’clock in the morning was very early for the fifty-five year old, as it would be for anyone else. He sat in a soft leather chair inside the main Department of Defense building in Clarence. President Becky Kimble, Director of Internal Bureau of Investigation Martin Jonick, the man who controlled the Army’s seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Alexander Charbonneau, Air Force General Ted Miller, and the newly appointed Admiral Lindsey Heinz; Admiral George Heflin retired shortly after the Stephen had left the country.

The forty-four year old President sat quietly, thinking over what Hauser had told them. She took a sip of coffee, trying to digest it. She was nearing the end of her second eight year term, she was thinking of running for a third and final term in office before retiring with her husband and daughter to the countryside. Her polls were still high, mainly due to the way she had been handling the vampire question.

“Are you sure Nicholas? This Sheriff…could he be overreacting?”

Hauser licked his lips. “That I don’t know ma’am. I have sent two agents to check the body.”

“Who is the victim?” Charbonneau asked quietly.

“A teenager…seventeen years old, James Meade is his name. Son of the town’s minister.”

Jonick adjusted himself, the leather under him squeaked slightly and all eyes turned to him. Jonick sighed. “I met him, nice kid. His team won first place at this year’s National Junior Firearms Competition for automatic pistols. My professional opinion, if there was a pistol in the story counter…the attacker had to have been far faster than that kid.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen.” Kimble spoke up. She had heard enough. “If this is true and there is a vampire…or more vampires in this nation, we must not panic. Keep it quiet…for right now. I do not want a repeat what happened five years ago.”

There was silence in the room for several minutes; several people took some sips of coffee. Kimble turned to Miller. “General, if there is a large group of vampires and there is no way to contain…I want you to drop several MOABs on the town followed by napalm strikes.”

Miller looked shocked, he couldn’t believe his ears. He gulped down his coffee before speaking. “Mrs. President…don’t you think that is a bit extreme?”

“If we cannot contain then…wipe it out. Then we move in with infantry to mop up the remainder.”

Miller was white faced, but he understood Kimble’s concerns. VIB agents were still being trained by Assingtonian VP officers; even the ones who were already trained had not experienced vampire combat. There were some VIB agents sent over to Assington and Tarlachia to hopefully gain some experience, yet the program was for several years and the most experienced ones were not trained for the commando units of the VIB.

Kimble looked at everyone around her. “We cannot due much until we get final word back from Hauser’s agents. So…we wait.”


Craig gently sipped the tea Bethany had prepared. It was seven in morning, Douglas and Bethany had just woken up when the sheriff had come by. He had told them their son was the victim of a murder. He didn’t say how he died; he didn’t say what condition their son’s body was in. Craig watched the pair on an old blue sofa. Bethany’s eyes filled with water as she started to cry. Douglas sat like a stone, trying to hold back emotion.

“Thank you for the tea Beth. You know the town is here for you…and we will catch the killer.” Craig said as he placed the cup down on the table and turned to leave. He was just out of the front door when he heard a voice behind him.

“Craig.” Craig turned to see Douglas come after him and the minister looked at him square in the eye. “How did my boy die?”

“I shouldn’t say Rev…”

“Craig…we have known each other for years. Please…be honest too.”

Craig bit his lip, he would have walked back to his car and left, but the minister kept him firmly locked in his gaze. Craig finally spoke in a hushed tone. “James was…he was...Jesus Reverend. Your boy…your boy was ripped in half.”

Douglas stiffened, a single tear rolled down from his right eye and into his bathrobe. He nodded, but couldn’t speak. Craig watched the once proud man, who carried himself straight and walked with grace head back to his house. Head and body bent, weeping, his feet barely getting off the ground.

The sheriff climbed back into his cruiser and drove to his office to start making paperwork. It wasn’t until noon he got a call from Felton to come over. Craig climbed in his car and headed over. He slowed down as he saw a black Honda Civic sitting out front of Felton’s building. Craig knew no one owned a black Honda Civic in town, so it had to be someone with the government. He parked his cruiser and walked in to find a woman in a business suit with raven black hair and a man also in a suit with red hair talking to Felton.

“Who in de hell are you two?” Craig demanded.

The woman looked at him. “Agents Shannon and Reiss of the VIB.”

Craig took their ID cards; he studied them for several minutes before nodding. “Okay, didn’t expect you guys to get here so soon. Have you seen James?”

“Yes we have.” The man named Reiss said. “He was killed by a vampire.”

“Christ…what can we do?” Craig asked.

“We need to make a call.”


Kimble was talking to her thirteen year old daughter Angie when the telephone rang.

“Hold on dear.”

Angie leaned back in the chair in her mom’s office. She had recovered fully from bomb that nearly killed her five years ago. She had nightmares and headaches for the next few months after, but those had long since disappeared.

“Mrs. President? Nicholas Hauser here.”

“Yes Nick?”

“It is confirmed. James Meade was killed by a vampire.”

“Thank you.”

“With your permission, I would like to get one of my commando teams organized and sent in there just in case.”

“Of course, keep me updated.”

Hauser hung up and Kimble sat there until Angie placed her foot on her mom’s desk. Kimble looked at the teenager; her eyes making her daughter squirm. Kimble imagined a vampire suddenly swooping from the ceiling and tearing her daughter to bits. She had nearly lost her once; she wasn’t going to lose her for good.

“Mom…mom? Earth to mom? Angel…do your thing.” Angie said to her Shar-Pei. Angel walked up to Kimble and placed her front paws on Kimble’s knees. The dog readied itself and made the jump onto Kimble’s lap. The President grunted from the sudden weight. The dog immediately began to lick Kimble’s face, until she was able to get it off her. “Mom…what was it? You looked at me really funny.”

“Nothing honey. And yes you can have Karen come over, as long as you two behave. This is a busy place you know.”

Angie rolled her eyes and stood. “I know mom…you tell me that every day.”

“Have fun sweetie.”

Angie smiled and kissed her mom before leaving with Angel close behind. As Kimble watched her go, she felt cold shivers up her spine as she imagined a vampire suddenly appearing and devouring her daughter right in front of her. She wanted Stephen Malone here to help out, she knew he wouldn’t feed on the humans and he could help bring this situation to a close quickly; the only downside was she didn’t know where he was.

Kimble sat there, knowing the VIB was about to go through its baptism of fire. She prayed to God they would survive and she found herself hoping that Stephen would show up.

Paul Neumeier stood at six foot even, his muscles were clearly visible, but they did not give him the look of a body builder. He had a scar that ran down his left cheek, but it was covered up by stubbles of a beard. His green eyes scanned Hauser’s waiting room. Paul was one of a few VIB agents who had been to Assington; he had received the scar on his first patrol with the Emerald City VP when a vampire tried to cut his head in two with a short sword. Though, he was the only man in the Assington exchange program so far who was part of the so called ‘commando’ units of the VIB.

Made up of ex-military Special Forces or police SWAT, the units were teams of twelve men and woman whose mission it was to bear the brunt of the battle if a human-vampire conflict erupted in the Golden Simatar. So far, there were eleven teams and most were still receiving training. Paul’s team was the first to be trained and the first to finish. He wanted to take his group over to Assington, but the government believed that the investigators were the ones who needed the experience more.

Paul adjusted his military fatigues when he was allowed into Hauser’s office. When the ex-marine entered, he stopped, made a smart salute before sitting down. Hauser smiled, careful not to chuckle or try to insult the man in any way. It was a well known fact in the country that the military, but more with the Special Forces, took pride in their unit very seriously. Hauser recalled a case of when a man had insulted the Rangers; he had been beaten to a pulp by two Rangers who were in civilian dress nearby.

“Paul, as you know that there was a vampire related murder in the town of Auburn north of Chelam.”

“Yes I know…you want to have me and my team go up there to investigate correct?”

“Quite right, figure out the situation and hopefully how many vampires there are. But your primary objective is to protect the civilians.”

“Already figured that one out sir. I checked the town for the strongest structure; the strongest one is the church. Made of stone, thick stone, if the vampires are armed with small arms…they will expend a lot of rounds trying to break through. The windows are about four to five feet off the ground, giving a nice field of fire too.”

Hauser blinked. He was surprised the man had worked out a plan so quickly. “Well, anything else?”

“Just one sir. Those new guns I have been hearing about. The tiny sentry Vulcan guns that fire 5.56 silver rounds. From what I have heard the regular heat-sensors have been turned down to instead pick up on heat in the mid sixties, which is around the average vampire temperature. I would like about a half dozen sir, about ten thousand rounds per gun.”

“Will you need that many bullets?”

“Sir, when I was in Assington, I emptied two magazines from my G36k before killing my first vampire. Even ones who turned a few hours before move like lightening, we need all the ammo we can get. I would also like extra 5.56, 7.62, 9 mil, and 12 buck.”

“Why?”

“For the locals. If my commandos can’t stop the vampires, they need silver ammunition to defend themselves till daybreak.”

“Alright, you have them. They will be delivered the airport along with the rest of your gear. You will take a C-130 to Chelam, from there move in Humvees to Auburn. If all goes well, you should have everything set up before nightfall. Get moving.”


Douglas watched quietly as the soldiers directed everybody into his church. It was five pm and the sun was staring to set. All the men had gathered every firearm, bow, even a few who took part in medieval fairs brought out their broadswords. Douglas himself cradled his son’s MPA2 in his arms; he was intent on killing a vampire in revenge of his son’s death. The VIB commandos were setting up their sentry guns outside the church in positions that covered the blind spots and supporting the windows. One of the commandos was setting up a group of laptops that Douglas guess brought information from the guns to the people inside. An old lady shuffled over to him.

“Reverend?”

Douglas looked at her. It was Ms. Cleburne; the woman played the organ on Sundays. “Yes Ms. Cleburne?”

“Would you mind coming down below and lead us in a prayer?”

Douglas smiled and nodded. The women and children were being hidden in the church’s old underground rooms that had once served as a place to hold the records, that was until the invention of computers and the old documents were moved to the National Archives in Clarence. He placed the machine-pistol down on a pew and followed Ms. Cleburne to a stairwell tucked in the back of the church.

Craig watched him go, a Mossberg was in his hands, a belt of 12 gauge buckshot and slugs hung across him. He walked up to Paul who was making sure everything was set up and ready to go.

“So soldier boy, what is the plan?”

Paul stiffened slightly before relaxing, he hated being called ‘soldier boy’. “At the moment is to wait and have the vampire or vampires come to us. The guns out there lock onto cold bodies…so they will hopefully be chewed up by the guns. If not, my men and I will be blasting from the windows.”

“We will be helping too you know. We might not have fancy assault rifles like you do, but we have spirit and we are armed and ready. Them things murdered an innocent boy and they will pay for it.”

Paul opened a stainless steel case and removed his Heckler and Koch G36k from the foam interior. He checked that the weapon was ready to fire before placing a magazine into it. He cocked it just as the last of his soldiers were in, locked, and barricaded the thick oak doors. Paul checked his Para P14-45, placed it in its holster before checking his watch.

“Nightfall, time to look alive people.”

The night was cool in Tarlachia. In the forest outside of the capital city of Turath, a woman stared at a paper target ahead of her. She was slim and stood at 5’11 with light brown hair tied in a pony tail and very pale skin. She wore a lose fitting black t-shirt with skin tight black latex pants. Her light green eyes studied the M16A2 in her hands. She looked up at the 6’1 brown haired man dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans looking at her through cobalt blue eyes sitting in a chair a few feet away. She bit her lip and brought the rifle up and aimed at the paper target twenty-five feet away. She flicked the selector switched to burst and fired. The rifle bucked back and none of the rounds hit the circle target.

“Nicole, hold it firmly against your shoulder.” The man said.

Nicole stopped her foot and looked at Stephen. “I was this damn thing bucks too hard. I don’t think I will ever get used to it.”

Stephen sighed and walked up to Nicole. He moved the butt right up against her shoulder. “Now fire.”

Nicole steadied her aim and pulled the trigger. This time the bullets hit just outside of the bull’s eye. She looked up at her sire and lover, smiling, showing off her fangs. Stephen had turned her into a vampire the night they had arrived in Tarlachia. She had adjusted well to the night life and Stephen had taught her everything he knew. He also taught her not to kill her prey if she ever hunted. His fledgling walked around him and placed the rifle on a table where over a dozen sat. Stephen was trying to find a weapon that Nicole could handle comfortably; he was also trying to break her nervousness with assault rifles.

Nicole picked up an Arms Moravia CZ-G2000 and felt it in her hand. Out of all the weapons she had handled and fired, this one felt the best. She smiled and placed it back down on the table. That is the one. Stephen has another, so I’ll be double armed. Turning around, she held her arms out for her sire. Stephen smiled and hugged her, happy to have someone with him. Nicole licked her fangs and sunk them into Stephen’s neck and began to drink.

Stephen sighed and relaxed. Her first meal had been from him when she had awoken during the day several hours after he turned her. She still fed from him occasionally, he really didn’t mind, he could always replenish is blood with his bloodstone. When she pulled back, she licked the blood off his neck and from her lips. Her eyes widened slightly and Stephen turned to find Cassandra staring at them.

The dragon blinked before talking in its native tongue. “I hurt…my wing.”

Stephen walked up to the dragon and saw where the bullet had gone through. He bit his wrist and dripped some of his blood around it, healing the wound and leaving no trace of what happened. Stephen looked at Cassandra. He and Nicole had been taking draconic language courses over their stay in Tarlachia. “How did this food?”

The dragon tilted her head slightly. Though she was more of a dog in personality, she knew her own language enough to understand Stephen was still learning. She looked at Nicole. Nicole sighed. “How did it happen Cassandra?”

“Evil fangs…hot pain in wing.”

Stephen arched an eye brow. “Evil fangs?”

The dragon turned and looked at Stephen. She stared at him and nuzzled his face. When the vampire didn’t get it, she poked the bloodstone he had around his neck, it was then he got it. “Vampires?”

“Yes.” The dragon said. Nicole came up behind Cassandra and petted her, trying to sooth her.

“Where?” Nicole asked.

“Home.”

Both vampires looked at each other in a state of shock. Both knew Cassandra always referred to the Golden Simatar as home. Stephen cursed and headed back to the table. Underneath was a black duffel bag that held plenty of assault rifles, machine-pistols, pistols, bullets, and grenades. He had hoped to teach Nicole more, but this was more important. He also collected the guns from the table and turned to Cassandra.

“Cassandra, could you take me there?”

The dragon nodded as Stephen put on his black, leather trenchcoat and climbed on. Nicole put on her own trenchcoat and picked up two CZ-G2000s and placed them in her own armpit holsters; she too mounted Cassandra. Stephen looked at her and shook his head.

“It is too…”

“I want to come Stephen, it is my country too. I want to defend it.”

Stephen nodded. Cassandra gave a bellow and took off into the night sky towards Auburn.

As they flew, Stephen prayed they were not too late.

Tara yawned as she woke up. She stretched while lying on her cot before standing. She sensed seventeen of her twenty vampires nearby, three were on guard duty. The gang had set up a small living area down in the bowels of the old factory, dusty covered the old bits of machinery, but the elder didn’t mind. A blanket blocked her small section, giving her a higher bit of privacy then the rest of the vampires. Tara was happy for it too right now, she was completely naked. As she was putting on her tight leather pants, her blood red shirt, and black vest she heard footsteps rushing to her.

“Tara?” A voice came from the other side of the blanket.

“What is it Nicholas?”

“We have a problem. We were followed out of Assington by a group of runts.”

Tara snarled and picked up her Desert Eagle. She ejected the magazine and smiled at the seven silver .50 rounds. She slammed it back in and placed it in its holster. She came out and stormed towards the guard station, putting on the holster belt as she walked. The vampire climbed a flight of stairs before reaching a small columned room that once held one of the massive generators that powered the factory. She found her three guards armed with Vepr assault rifles holding a group of seventeen fledglings at gunpoint. As the elder appeared a young male vampire moved slowly forward from the group.

“May we talk…?”

Tara’s mind reached out and grabbed the younger vampire and hurled him into one of the concrete columns. When the fledgling greeted the concrete, there was an audible snap as his right arm was the first to connect with the column. Tara didn’t wait for him to stand and instead dragged him over with her mind and let the fledgling stand himself. “Why did you follow us?”

“It is easy hunting ground here. They have no defenses against our kind; we can destroy their government in a night and rule this nation.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Tara’s voice dripped with acid and the fledging saw her fingers stroking the back of the massive Desert Eagle.

“We thought you could join with us in taking this town.”

“We join you? Your head is defiantly far bigger than it seems. How old are you boy?”

“I’m five hundred and fifty seven.” The vampire lied.

“Try fifty-seven you idiot. Right now I should let my people have you all for dinner, would be a change from bottled.”

“Please, we can help you. You need more vampires on your side.”

Tara huffed. She was already responsible for twenty vampires, all of them she trusted. This bunch, their leader was by far the oldest. “You’re a rabble, worthless.”

“We are not! You are sitting here in your asses we could be out attacking and feasting on those miserable creatures!”

Tara shrugged. “Alright, off now. Go do what you want. I know when to lead my people in.”

The fledgling leader tried to look fierce as he snarled and turned to leave. He was surprised when ten of his number was still standing there, unsure of what to do. “You all can starve…I am dying to taste some Simatarian blood.”

Tara watched the seven head up more stairs before disappearing. She shrugged. Tara calmly turned and headed back down to her lair to think. Simatarian blood is very good, at least from the boy I tasted. Shouldn’t of picked him, he still had a few more years to go before he aged properly. Still, a very fine young boy.

“Tara?” The elder turned to one of her guards and stared at him. “What should we do with this bunch?”

“We might need them.” She gave an evil grin to the guard who just scratched his head.

With that, Tara returned to the cool darkness of the sleeping room and waited.


The fledgling leader smiled as he felt his right arm come back into use. He and the vampires who came with him were poorly armed. They only had a magazine each for their AK-47s and the AKs were in a sorry state; tape, string, glue, and bits of other firearms held them together. He stared at the church from some bushes, he saw a pair of sentry guns on his side of the church and people moving inside. He licked his fangs, he had had nothing to drink but animal blood for the last few days.

“Their guns must be motion tracking. We move in from this side.” He mumbled.

“Yeah, just creep forward till the gun is almost to you then pause. Easy.” Another said.

As the group slowly moved forward, they didn’t see the small boxes hidden in the bushes. The boxes were added thermal sensors, expanding the range and angle on the guns installed sensor.


“Sir, We have vampires. I count seven moving in from the east side. We are clear on all others.” A female commando looking at the laptops said. Paul came up behind her and smiled as he saw seven blue colored figures slowly moving towards them. The lights were turned on low, to give the impression that the humans were turning in. Paul talked quietly into his head microphone.

“Alright, Team One on me, keep low and move to a window. Team Two, secure the west side in case there are more just out of range of the sensors.”

The soldier took cover under a window and motioned Craig and his civilians to be ready if they were needed. Paul clutched his rifle and steadied himself.


The leader paused as the sentry gun slowly panned towards him and his group. The soft humming of the gun suddenly jumped up and the barrels spun. The vampire then knew the guns had detected them somehow. He tried to jump out of the way. The Vulcan sent a stream of silver slugs at the vampire, the 5.56 rounds tearing down his right side and leg. He fell screaming and watched as his six friends tired to make a run for it as both guns turned on them. The leader’s last image was that of a human standing in the window of the church before a green laser blocked his vision and he felt a silver slug slam into his head.


Paul turned from his first kill as the other dark human shapes moving. Already his men were firing on full automatic. Green dots from their laser assist danced around the darkness as silver filled the air. He heard reports from the female soldier still at the laptops that the targets were being cut down. She also reported that the vampires were simply trying to run back and forth and avoid the guns; it was obvious to Paul the group didn’t expect to face such heavy opposition and had no backup plan.

“Sir! Two targets retreating back east! They are…gone. Jesus, guess they really wanted to go…cause they moved like a rocket.”

Paul relaxed and looked at his feet. Three empty magazines lay on the ground and hundreds of spent cartridges lay around the commandos. Still, they had won the first round. He turned to Craig who was standing there shocked at what had just happened. The whole fight had taken only a few minutes.

“What is east?”

“An old…factory. Shit, that is where the bastards must be.”

“Thanks, Reed, Hightower…guns are dry, go re-stock them.” Two commandos nodded and climbed out the windows. The other commandos handed them several metal boxes that held fresh ammunition for the hungry Vulcan guns. Several minutes later, the pair climbed back in and Paul called a meeting. He looked at his troops.

“Right, there is a chance there are more out there. We just hacked a nice size group to bits for people with out experience. Two are sent packing but we don’t know if there is another or another group at the factory. Now, normally this is not a democracy…but since we will be putting our lives on the line against a creature only I have had some experience fighting, we decide now we follow with an strike now and hopefully catch a few out in the open…or we wait till dawn. If there is one veto…we don’t go.”

The heads nodded and Paul tore a piece of paper into twelve pieces and handed them out. The commandos wrote their votes down and placed it in an offering plate. Paul pulled them out one by one. All twelve voted for the attack. Paul nodded.

“Go get your gear. Weapons and ammo only.”

Paul walked over to Craig who was gawking at the sight of the commandos arming up. “What in de hell is going on?”

“We are going to do a quick strike. In and out. Hopefully catch one or two before they go back down for the daylight.”

“Listen sonny, that place is filled with piles of machinery and scrap metal. Plenty of places to hide an ambush.”

Paul shook his head. He was confident that they could do a clean job. The recent success had bolstered his morale, but probably lowered his defenses. “We’ll be fine Sheriff. Watch the monitors and yourselves.”

Before Craig could talk, the commandos had suited up and were out the window and on their way to the factory.

As the two surviving vampires returned, the found their comrades sitting around the old generator room, some smoking cigarettes, while others just twirled their thumbs. They had come all this way and had just been rebuffed by an elder; they were also very hungry. While one sat with his friends, the other, fueled by anger stormed past the guards and down into lair.

“You bitch!”

Tara opened one eye to the angry voice and climbed off her bed, she came forth from behind the blanket and stared at the fledgling. “I take it your quick meal idea didn’t go so well.”

“You…you set us up. They have these guns…it cut us to fucking bits! You will…”

Tara’s hand moved with lightening speed and grabbed the fledgling by the neck. “Die? Pay for that? My friend, you will pay. Actually, you will help your friends.”

She easily carried the young vampire and standing on the stairs, broke both of his legs and arms. She then bit into his arm and tossed him over the top of the stairs at his friends. She didn’t have to wait long for his screaming as his starved friends were attracted to the smell of fresh blood and instantly attacked.

Tara smiled slightly and raised her fangs, at least that group was somewhat satisfied. Now she turned her attention to her group. She sensed something coming closer. Her fangs lowered again in excitement and her green eyes darkened. Humans, prey, blood, food; it was coming to them. She looked at her vampires who saw the look in her eye and smiled, they knew food was close.

“I told all of you patience would pay off. Come, dinner is on its way. Once all the humans are in and I give the signal…dig in.”

The group of vampires followed their leader and Tara stopped at the group of new fledglings. The torn body of their friend lay before them, several were still bent over the corpse, hopping to get another drop of blood from the body. “You shall all get scraps until you prove yourselves worthy of my trust. If I see one of you following us, all will die.”

Tara then turned and headed up the stairs. The vampires headed up several more flights of stairs before reaching the large manufacturing floor. The place was pitch black, but her night vision allowed her to see her group fanning out, some climbing the walls and hanging on there or going to the ceiling while some hid amongst the machinery. Tara floated up in the air till she was a few meters below the ceiling. She looked at one of her vampires who was humming a tune.

“Keith, what are you humming?”

“Steppenwolf…Magic Carpet Ride. What do you like?”

“Hmm…I prefer classical like Mozart or Bach. Stop it. Dinner has come.”


Paul and the commandos slowly entered. They were going to take it easy, they didn’t have to race against the clock like the vampires had to. He pulled out a pair of thermal goggles and scanned the factory, unlike the bushes, the metal had quickly gone cold and messed up with goggles. Paul removed them and flicked the flashlight and laser on the end of his G36k. The group slowly entered, checking every space that they could. They had no idea they were walking right into a trap.


Tara smiled as she saw the human she wanted. The man was about her height, he was bald, strong, and very healthy. He was also the last in the group. She waited till the humans were in the middle of her group before diving down and grabbing her victim. The man screaming surprised and fired off a burst before the vampire knocked it out of his hands. She perched herself on one of the rafters and watched as the humans below spun in circles and opened fire at everything that moved. Tonight, they would kill off the civilian’s guards, tonight the rest of the group would have their first taste of this virgin nation. She looked down at her meal, the man’s eyes were wide with fear as he struggled.

“Oh…don’t struggle my dear. It will only hurt more. Come here, Tara will make it all better.” She lifted the man up and kissed him passionately. The man relaxed until Tara bit savagely into his neck. The man stared to thrash and scream again as the vampire fed.


Fear was the only thing Paul knew as he ran for his life. One of the female commandos was right behind him. The pair found a bit of loose metal and made a big enough hole to get through. Paul squeezed through first and began to pull his friend out. Only the very bottom of her right boot remained inside. A hand grabbed it and pulled, far out weighing Paul’s strength as he watched helplessly as the woman was dragged screaming back to her death.

Paul picked up his rifle and ran, the gunfire died away and so did the screaming as the vampires tasted the blood of his comrades. He ran towards a house several hundred meters away, he turned to see a lone figure watching him from the factory before taking a leisurely walk after him. This spurred Paul on and the man crashed through the back door, into the kitchen, through a hall, and charged upstairs. He stood at the top of the stairs in the dark house and pointed the gun back down the flight.

He heard the door creak and a whistle as the vampire came inside. He waited, sweating, scared to death. Then, no more whistling. A voice hit his ears, it sounded like the vampire was talking to someone.

“Yeah, upstairs. Whoa…hold it.” A gunshot, the same voice again, this time angry. “You fucking traitor!”

Paul heard a scuffle before silence. He waited for a full hour, just standing on the top of the stairs, aiming straight down before taking the first step down. When he shone his light into the kitchen, he found the body of a vampire, slumped up against the stove. Paul moved slowly forward, light and laser firmly fixed on the head. He fired a shot, blowing blood and gore on the clean white stove.

Confident the vampire was dead, he moved forward and knelt. What the hell? In the middle of the vampire’s forehead was a small hole, smoke slowly came out. He could only guess what had happened down here, at any rate, the vampire was dead; someone had put a silver bolt or something into its head.


Craig stared at the monitors and saw a human heat signature running for them. He ran to the window and watched as Paul appeared from the darkness. Craig leaned out the window and with help from several others, pulled the man in. A man handed Paul a canteen.

“Jesus, they got us. They…they…”

He left the rest go unsaid as he continued to drink the cool water. Craig didn’t rub in the fact he warned Paul. He looked at his watch, the vampire attack had started just after nightfall and they had a way to go before the safety of the daylight. Craig figured they were safe, the vampires had their meals.


Nicole waited anxiously inside the cave with Cassandra for Stephen to return. She had heard the gunfire from a few miles away, but obeyed his orders and stayed. Cassandra was resting behind her, the vampire was amazed at the dragon. She only need to eat a deer, gulp down some river water before turning the back half the cave into an icy shelter for herself.

Nicole looked up as her sire returned. Nicole ran into his arms. “Oh God, I thought that you were doomed.”

“I’m okay. I met a vampire from the group who is here. I found out they are holed up in an old factory, number about twenty…but a group of fledglings followed them, hoping to ride on their success I guess. So, I guess there is about thirty or so vampires. Also, they killed the VIB commando team, spare for one man. Way I see it, there is going to be a battle here. I killed the vampire with a silver dart to the head after I finished.”

“Stephen, maybe we can do it. Maybe we can prevent more human deaths. Don’t you have anyone you can contact.”

Stephen sat down on a rock while Nicole took his lap. He thought. He wouldn’t bother Sigrun with this, how would it look to have a King fighting in a conflict like this? He then thought of the only appropriate help. Moving Nicole off him, he went to his duffel and pulled out some paper and a pen.

Hondur,

There is an emergency in the Golden Simatar. A gang of Emerald City vampires have come to a small town called Auburn, north of Chelam looking for an easy meal. There are about thirty vampires, they have practically destroyed a government team sent in to wipe them out. I need your help before the President decides to do something drastic. If you can come and maybe with Skadi if she is not with Sigrun, take an airplane to Chelam International Airport. I’m sure you can fly the rest of the way north. It isn’t that far. I’m sure Cassandra wouldn’t mind letting you ride her, but she was attacked by this group and besides myself and Nicole, feels antsy around vampires. So, you sadly won't be able to ride her over here. I really need your help.

Stephen

Stephen folded the note and wrote Hondur on it. Nicole had been watching him the whole time. “Who is Hondur?”

“A good friend, head of the largest vampire coven in Emerald City. Fledgling of the Ancient Skadi, one of the original Assington vampires.”

“Why don’t you ask Skadi? You seem to know her.”

“Cause she is a fucking bitch who deserves a hot iron poker rammed up her ass.” Stephen snarled. He had never forgiven her for what had happened during the fourth Assington war. He remembered suggesting talking with the elves, Skadi had beaten him for his persistence because she said they would kill any vampire on sight; the next night he learned that she had met with the elves while he was out, this had surprised and angered him at the same time. Though he had always been a gentleman around her after, there was always a present disgust he had for the ancient.

Nicole was stunned by the way Stephen had snapped. He quickly noticed this and took her in his arms. “I’m sorry, she is just looks down at her nose at everyone and goes back even on her own words.”

“Okay…but, do you think this Hondur will help us?”

“I hope he does. I helped him through two conflicts, I hope he has the decency to help me out in this conflict. Cassandra…come here girl.”

The dragon looked up and yawned. She stood and walked over to the vampires. Stephen took a string from the duffel, poked a hole in the edge of the note with his knife, put the string through the hole then tied it around Cassandra’s neck.

“Can you fly to Assington? Emerald City, find a vampire coven under the command of Hondur. This note is for him. Can you get there in enough time for him to get here before the sun comes up?” Stephen said in draconic.

The dragon licked his face before walking out of the cave. She spread her wings and took off into the air. Stephen watched her go and went into the woods. He collected branches and leaves, brought them into the cave and made a bed for him and Nicole. Nicole lay down on the surprisingly soft bed next to her sire. She rested her head against his chest.

“What are we going to do now Stephen?”

The neonate didn’t answer right away as he fed from his bloodstone, when he had finished he looked at Nicole.

“Only thing we can do right now. Wait.”

Emerald City was a much calmer city these days than it had been over the years. Since the end of the fourth vampiric war, peace had settled once again. Hondur had managed to get his mansion rebuilt with the help of his own coven and other methods. Skadi was in Tarlachia with Sigrun and things always ended up more peaceful when she wasn't around. And so things were back to normal and Hondur sat within his brand new mansion, relaxing after a recent feeding.

Of course normality was never something that seemed to last around the coven. Hondur's attention was grabbed by a disturbed looking vampire rushing into his chambers, puffing with the effort. He was one of the back door guards and something had obviously spooked him.

"Yes?"

"Hondur... there is a... dragon in the back yard."

"A what?"

"Dragon... it won't let any of us get near it, but it does have a piece of paper around it's neck with your name written on it."

"I see."

Now genuinely puzzled, Hondur rose to his feet and promptly followed the younger vampire through the maze of hallways, stairs and doors until they reached the back of the mansion on the ground level. The doors swung open thanks to a small mental nudge and Hondur moved into the cool night air. And there it was. A silvery looking scaled beast about the size of a horse sitting in the backyard, watching everyone. Many guards had gathered bearing weapons yet had not tried anything since the dragon didn't seem to be hostile. Whilst shocked, they still did their job.

All eyes turned to Hondur as he slowly approached the dragon, making sure not to make any sudden movements. Hondur had only seen dragons in Tarlachia before and whilst they'd been close, he'd never really interacted with them before. Finally he stood before the large creature, it's massive eyes looking down at him. The ancient vampire couldn't determine whether the dragon could speak human languages, let alone comprehend them and so he attempted to communicate mentally.

"I am Hondur."

Cassandra seemed to blink in acknowledgement but otherwise not move. Hondur took the subtle sign and put a hand forth to untie the piece of paper. Within seconds he had it free and began reading the note.

Hondur,

There is an emergency in the Golden Simatar. A gang of Emerald City vampires have come to a small town called Auburn, north of Chelam looking for an easy meal. There are about thirty vampires, they have practically destroyed a government team sent in to wipe them out. I need your help before the President decides to do something drastic. If you can come and maybe with Skadi if she is not with Sigrun, take an airplane to Chelam International Airport. I’m sure you can fly the rest of the way north. It isn’t that far. I’m sure Cassandra wouldn’t mind letting you ride her, but she was attacked by this group and besides myself and Nicole, feels antsy around vampires. So, you sadly won't be able to ride her over here. I really need your help.

Stephen

Finally he nodded. The dragon had been sent by Stephen. He had to admit it wasn't exactly a messenger pidgeon but the dragon obviously got the job done. Hondur flashed Cassandra a warm smile.

"Thankyou. You may return to our friend, Stephen."

Cassandra seemed to grin at this, displayed row upon row of razor sharp teeth. It was obvious she was uneasy around all these vampires yet she had a task to complete. With that done, she was grateful to leave. Hondur stepped back and gave the dragon enough room to launch off the ground and beat her wings through the air until she disappeared into the night sky.

Finally one of the guards approached Hondur.

"What was all that about?"

"I'm going to The Golden Simatar."

Roman Cyrus woke as his satellite phone started to ring. Being that his home was in the mountains, it was the only way people who did not know where he lived or lacked telepathic powers could reach him. His cat-like eyes turned to the green object and he picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Roman, its Martin.”

Roman straightened in his bed, why would Martin Jonick be calling him this early? “What is it?”

“We have a problem. A group of vampires have decided to feast upon the civilians in the town of Auburn north of Chelam.”

Roman immediately got out of bed. His heart was racing, the day he had feared for centuries had finally come. “Is Stephen with them?”

“Wouldn’t know. He dropped off the grid with Doctor Hauk’s assistant five years ago.”

“So, he could be there?”

“Why does it fucking matter? The point is we need your skill there now. The group already killed all but one of one of the VIB commando teams. Hauser has already woken the President and she has allowed some armor to move into the town and a company of infantry until more VIB forces get there. I have also heard there might be a few Apaches also, if worst comes to worse…the town might be obliterated.”

“How should I get there?”

Roman heard a chuckle on the other end of the line. “I dunno; change into some sort of bird.”

Roman grunted, only Jonick knew of his power of shape shifting. “Alright, but I probably won’t get there till mid-morning.”

“Good enough.”

Jonick hung up and Roman went to dress. It had been five years since he lost to the vampire Stephen. He knew if Stephen was there, he would finish him. Still, the part about Nicole bugged him. He had warned her and tried to keep her away from the vampire, but instead she had fallen in love. Roman didn’t understand how she could, the man drank human blood to survive and she loved him? A tingle went up his spine as he thought that Stephen could have turned her into a vampire, he wondered if he could bring himself to kill her.

Roman grabbed his Walther P99 and several magazines of silver bullets. He also grabbed his katana and headed out to his porch. He looked up in the sky and got his direction from the stars.

Several seconds later a falcon was flying across the mountains and valleys towards Auburn.


When Hondur landed in Auburn, the town seemed empty. The buildings where dark and no life appeared in them. There was a faint light from the church near the center of town and stars to provide the light. The wind blew some leaves and bits of paper around his feet, but otherwise everything was quiet. The silence was broken by the sound of footsteps coming from the shadows.

A young vampire dressed in skin tight black latex pants, a loose fitting black t-shirt, and a black trenchcoat came out of the shadows. Her light brown hair was tied back in a pony tail and she smiled at Hondur, her fangs gleaming in the starlight.

“You must be Hondur. I’m Nicole.”

She looked at the ancient and as he looked her over she answered the question that was probably brewing in his mind. “Yes, I am Stephen’s fledgling. He sired me five years ago shortly after we reached Tarlachia.”

Nicole sent a brief message to Stephen telling him Hondur had arrived. She looked at the other vampire, she had heard a lot about him over the years and of the conflicts her sire and he have fought together. “Stephen is on his way, he was on the other side of town. But, I guess I should explain how we met in the meantime.”

Nicole led Hondur into the shadows behind a store and told him of when she first saw Stephen lying on an examination table up to the present. “Strange, falling in love with a vampire when you are human. A very different man than all the others I have been involved with, he didn’t say kind words to me in hope of going to bed with me…he said it because he meant them.”

Nicole looked around her; it was obvious the young vampire was nervous about the whole situation in her home country. She then looked back at Hondur.

“You really don’t know how much you coming here to help means to Stephen. I think…I think he is frightened by what is going on. He has a belief that vampires and humans can live in peace and since this country is so new to it all…it might be possible here. But now…I don’t know. Being that you are an ancient…do…do you think that is possible?”

The moment Hondur landed within Auburn he extended his mind into the immediate area and immediately detected Nicole's presence. Fortunately she was evidently friendly and no cause for alarm as he stepped forward and she revealed herself from the shadows. She was a pretty young woman, obviously only a few years old as a vampire. Hondur returned the grin as she greeted him.

The pair continued to walk into the town as Nicole briefed the ancient of things regarding her involvement with Stephen and other such things. He was happy to discover Stephen had sired for much better reasons this time, giving eternal life to the one he would spend that life with.

"Stephen has always been a friend and valuable warrior aiding us in the past, I'm always willing to help him when in need."

Hondur took a moment to consider Nicole's second question. After thinking back on Assingtonian history he couldn't really say things were looking too bright for The Golden Scimitar.

"To be honest, I doub it. There are very few nations that I know of where vampires and humans exist together peacefully. Assington has been through many vampiric wars, painting the streets red. Humans fear vampires and as long as that never changes, we shall never gain peace."

Nicole smiled; though it was obvious she was saddened by the prospect of no peace between vampires and humans in the future. She trusted his word because he was a friend of Stephen and because of his age. Nicole liked living in Tarlachia, but she wanted more to come back to her homeland. She sensed Stephen was approaching and smiled as her lover jumped down into the alley.

Stephen looked at Hondur and gave his friend a firm handshake. “Damn good to see you again Hondur. Glad you could come on such short…”

Stephen was cut off as the silence was broken by a loud thumping overhead. He looked up to see four dark shapes dart across the sky. In the brief moments he saw them, he knew what they were. “AH-74D Apache Longbows…the President is already moving to use military force to contain.”

Rumbling down the road prompted the trio to move to the roof and Stephen sighed at what he saw. Headlights of at least a half dozen armored vehicles were approaching the town. As they drew closer Stephen noted that they were mix of military light armored vehicles; a pair of Stryker armored vehicles, three Fuchs armored cars, and to top it off a Bradley M2A3 was in the lead. Stephen cursed, Kimble seemed to have panicked and sent in the troops.

Stephen also turned his thoughts to who they would be facing. Who were the vampires who had decided to set up shop in his country? Stephen bit his lip, forgetting his fangs were down a thin trickle of blood came down. He didn’t notice it as the wound healed. He was afraid, he had rarely felt fear since becoming a vampire, but this was a different fear. He was not just afraid of what would happen to him, but what would happen to Nicole and the Golden Simatar. He knew Nicole and he were different than any vampire of their breed, they were far more human. Many vampires were cold bloodied killers and Stephen knew if that was the only impression Simatarians got of his kind, the two Simatarian vampires could kiss any hope of living in their homeland goodbye.

Stephen looked over at Nicole and smiled, trying to show her he was in control. Nicole licked the blood off his face and smiled back. Stephen turned to Hondur.

“Hondur, have any of your coven members just up and left within the last few days or weeks? I’m wondering if any of them have anything to do with this. A few of them know that this country up till I was captured lacked any knowledge of our kind’s existence.”

[OOC: Good stuff. Too bad we're in such different settings. I'd love to RP together.]

Hondur watched as the military aircraft flew overhead, the ominous beating of their rotors a sure sign that whatever was to come wouldn't be good. The three vampires moved onto the roof to avoid being spotted as several more military vehicles rolled in through the town, these ones unable to defy gravity. Hondur had only ever seen the military involved with a vampire situation once, back in the first vampiric war of Assington and that had been a complete bloodbath.

It was hard to believe that once Hondur had been the kind of person that would have demanded military intervention to destroy the vampires back in Assington. When he was human he'd possessed a completely different perspective, one that had no tolerance. Whether it be a cruel twist of fate or just Skadi's sense of humour, Hondur had ended up a vampire himself and was now perhaps one of Assington's strongest vampiric figures. His coven stretched all over Emerald City with several large coven houses and many other outposts around the city. The coven numbers stood over ten thousand strong and was the single biggest coven in Assington.

The ancient vampire took a quick moment to search through his vast memory in order to discover whether any vampires had left his coven. Shortly after the question was posed he shook his head.

"None. Very few leave the coven alive. I'm thinking they are merely rogues from the streets of Assington. It doesn't really matter how they found out about this place, we must stop them before things get out of hand. Do you know where they are?"

Stephen nodded to what Hondur had said. He didn’t expect some of the coven vampires to come here, but it was worth checking. His felt slightly better knowing that they were facing a group of punks probably only armed with a few assault rifles and blades. Probably all young fledglings, oldest probably being no more than two hundred years old. Stephen turned around and pointed towards the other side of town.

“An old factory on the other side of town, filled with iron scrap and crap…that is how they ambushed the humans so easily. Numbers are around thirty, he refused to say anything about who is leading them. That is when I put a silver dart through his head.”

Nicole tugged on Stephen’s coat and pointed up to the sky. It was slowly turning to a dark blue, the sun was coming back to rule the skies. Stephen sighed; they would have to attack tomorrow. As he turned to Hondur, he heard more helicopters approaching. A group of CH-47 Chinook helicopters appeared from the other side of the mountains and began their descent.

“Time to go, troops and dawn will be here shortly. Since we can’t stay in town, we fixed up a cave a few miles outside of town.”

Stephen led the other two vampires in a quick sprint out of town, up one of the surrounding mountains and into the cave. The cave made a turn several meters down and continued down for another fifty feet from there; down at the bottom is where they would rest for the day. Stephen had made two beds from sticks, leaves, and he also raided the convenience store for some blankets. He had left fifty dollars on the counter before he left.

“It isn’t your coven Hondur, but it will do for now.”

The back end of the cave was completely iced over and a large shape was lying there. Cassandra had just arrived and was very tired. She looked up and like a dog, wagged her tail as she saw Stephen and Nicole. Her whole body shivered in excitement as Nicole gave the dragon a tummy rub. Cassandra laid her head on a block of ice she had made and enjoyed the rub. She looked over at Stephen and whimpered, wanting his attention now. Stephen patted the dragon on the head. It was then she noticed Hondur. The dragon immediately went to its feet; her head nearly hit the top of the cave. She moved over and sniffed him before licking his face. She then made what sounded like a series of chirps, grunts, and barks to Hondur. Nicole translated for the ancient.

“She says since you are a friend of my family you’re a friend of me. And she wants to know if you here to defeat the vampires who hurt her.”

Hondur pondered the information Stephen had given him. A reasonable vampiric group, well positioned and obviously under some reasonable control. Otherwise there would be vampires running around all over the place trying to get a feed as the thirst slowly consumed their minds. It wasn't a pretty sight to see vampires go insane before they died of hunger.

Once everything was clear Hondur promptly followed the Simitarian vampires as they led him to their tempoary residence. Being an ancient he was able to easily keep up with the pair and could have flown if he wished, yet now was not the time for showing off. Within minutes they reached the cave and moved deeper into the natural shelter, away from where the sun could scar them.

"I don't mind at all. I haven't always lived in a mansion."

Hondur watched curiously as Nicole and Stephen gave the dragon attention, slightly surprised that a creature of such menacing appearance could be so peaceful and docile. Cassandra reminded him of an oversized dog.

The ancient vampire stiffened slightly as the dragon approached him, taking in his scent for a moment before delivering an icy lick to the vampire's already cold face. For a moment he was stunned, Hondur couldn't say he'd ever been licked by a dragon before. Finally he produced a slight grin after Nicole's translation.

"That's good to hear. I'd rather be a friend than an enemy to this one. And as for these rogue vampires, I'd be happy to help take care of them."

Cassandra’s tail wagged happily as Nicole translated for her. She nuzzled Hondur and gave him several more licks before returning to her ice bed. She sprayed it with more ice, paced around in it for several minutes before curling up and falling asleep. Stephen removed his trenchcoat and smiled at the large creature. He looked over at Hondur.

“I wouldn’t be too worried about Cassandra. She is just a big, ice breathing dog. Course I was rather shocked when I first saw her, then she was only the size of a German Shepard. She was…and still is a sweet animal. Though, there is a real dragon under all that. Dark side…waiting to pop out maybe.”

As the vampires were readying for their sleep through the day, Stephen heard the sounds of helicopters patrolling the skies. He knew the worst case scenario if the rogue vampires defeated the military was a tactical nuclear missile be launched to hit the town. Stephen doubted even Hondur would be able to survive such a blast.

Stephen lay down on his bed with Nicole has Hondur took his. Stephen wrapped his arm around Nicole’s waist and the pair fell asleep. Nicole fell into a peaceful rest, while Stephen fell into a deeply troubled rest.

Craig watched calmly as the soldiers disembarked from their helicopters and began to set up shop. Two of the Apaches were resting on the church parking lot while the other two circled above. The Chinooks came in one by one onto the town green and deposited soldiers and equipment before flying and doing final landing in several parking lots and yards. The VIB commando Paul was talking to a young, fresh faced army officer under a tent over a table with maps and blue-prints. The sheriff nibbled on a piece of beef jerky as he wandered into the shade and looked on the maps. The young officer looked at him.

“Can you please leave? We are very busy.”

Craig chuckled and stared at him. “What is your name sonny boy?”

“I am Lieutenant Joshua Lloyd of the 231st Infantry Regiment. And who are you?” The officer said with a certain pride in his voice. Joshua Lloyd removed his helmet and scratched his buzzed cut head. He was very young, only twenty-one and graduated fourth in his class at Karnotz Military Academy. His platoon numbered around fifty officers and men. Joshua was new to this command, he had never seen combat, he was the wrong choice for this mission.

Craig smiled and tapped the badge on the left side of his uniform that said Auburn Sheriffs Department. “I’m the ice cream man. I just wear this badge and uniform for the hell of it.”

“I am not interested in your humor Sheriff. Right now you should be getting your people together. You will be flown out…”

“Hey, hold it right there boy. You gonna jam these towns folk into those birds and fly us where?”

“To Chelam International for the moment, everyone here has two hours to gather necessary things and call friends or family or get a hotel room.”

“You can’t do that! I know my rights as a citizen and you can’t do that.”

“Is there a problem?” A new voice made heads turn. The men inside the tent stared at the man dressed in black at the entrance. Roman smiled at them from behind his sunglasses and flashed his badge. “Agent Roman Cyrus, VIB.”

Paul stared at Roman, wondering if the man was really an agent of the VIB or an imposter. He grabbed the badge before Roman could put it away and checked it. It was real. He tossed it back to Roman. “Well, at least we have someone else who knows what we are dealing with. So…got any ideas Agent?”

Roman didn’t answer immediately. His arms were very tired from flying non-stop from his home. He poured himself a hot cup of strong, black coffee and picked up a bagel from a small table. He ate in silence and drained the cup, refilled it and then stared at the three men.

“The best I can figure we are facing a sizeable group, at least fifteen to max of thirty or forty vampires. The most likely place they came from was a country called Assington.”

“I know that place.” Paul said. “I was there a while ago; I wouldn’t mind living there…if it wasn’t for the damn vampires. They have had two vampire wars there in less than three hundred years and two more about a thousand years before the third.”

“Sounds like the place is fucking messed up.” Craig commented.

“Back to my point. You have already proven Mr. Neumeier that we can win a defensive battle if we have the right position. You sadly proved that we are not ready to take the offensive at nighttime.” Roman continued. “Our best chance of dealing with this quickly is to enter the factory now and sweep it as much as possible in the daylight.”

“One problem son.” Craig said. “As I understand vampires can still move in the day as long as the sun doesn’t hit them…am I right?”

“Yes you are.”

“When we do monthly cleanups of that place, there are many large areas that never see the light of day…until the sun sets.”

“We can fix that.” Joshua said, the young officer trying to insert himself with the older men.

“How?” Roman asked. Curious to see what the green human had up his sleeve.


Stephen was jarred from his sleep as he heard gunfire and explosions from the town. What in God’s name? He sat up, Nicole was still sleeping by his side and across the cave Hondur also seemed to be enjoying rest. Cassandra’s head lifted up and she gave a few soft grunts before tucking her head under a wing and falling asleep. Stephen wondered what the humans were up to. He figured they were hitting the factory with bullets and rockets to punch all the holes they could into it and let in as much sunlight as possible. He lay back down and wrapped his arm around Nicole’s waist and brought her close before falling back asleep.


Roman watched as the soldiers began to fire at the factory. He had to admit it was a great show. Brass and lead was flying, tracer rounds showed the men if their rounds were going where they needed to; a few rockets were fired at the roof, blasting away large chunks of metal. He looked over his shoulder as Craig and his small police force tried to get the civilians on the Chinooks. Roman knew it was for their own good and didn’t intervene.

After ten minutes, the gunfire ceased. Joshua ordered a squad of his men inside. The infantry moved slowly into the factory, Roman could smell the fear in them. He walked inside with them. Pulling out his Walther P99, he made sure that it was loaded with silver rounds. It appeared he was under gunned, compared to the Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifles the soldiers carried.

The eleven dead commandos were quickly found, all were drained of their blood and their bodies covered in bite and claw marks. Mutters of ‘monsters’, ‘animals’, ‘cannibals’ quickly exited the mouths of the soldiers as they bagged the corpses. Roman drew his katana as he continued to walk. Beams of sunlight came through the holes made by the bullets and rockets, giving the place the look of Swiss cheese.

He could sense the vampires, he knew they were in there somewhere, but didn’t see where they could be. A corporal walked up behind him.

“Sir, we have to go. We have the bodies.”

“I am not going until I find where these murderers are.”

“Sir, orders are to pull out.”

Roman put away his sword and pistol, grumbling. He couldn’t understand the military for pulling out. The vampires were there. Drop phosphorus grenades down every shaft and staircase until you start hearing screams, then bring in the flamethrowers. Roman jogged down the road back to town and went back to the tent.

“What in the hell is going through your mind?!” He yelled at Joshua. The young officer backpedaled and tripped over a chair, sending him sprawling on the ground. Roman grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. “What the hell is this about not going after these things?!”

“We don’t know where they are.” Joshua said defensively.

“We know where the fuck they are…they are in that fucking factory!”

“We don’t want another ambush. We will let them come to us, we have beaten them once that way and that is the way we will do it again. Now…get off me right now.”

Roman instead pushed the officer back and smiled as he tripped over the chair and fell down. The shape shifter turned and walked out of the tent and watched as the civilians were being loaded on to helicopters and flown out. It was depressing in his opinion, they were running from creatures they could destroy now and the civilians could sleep in their beds tonight.

His phone started to ring. He pulled it out and flipped it open.

“Roman.”

“Roman, it is Martin.”

“I am here; explain to me this insanity of not going after the vampires.”

“We are still setting up defenses. They should be ready by nightfall. I must say that the plan is to defend and not to attack. Hopefully we can beat them.”

“Yeah…thanks for all your help Jonick.”

Roman hung up and cursed angrily. He wanted to move in there, see if Stephen was part of the group. He sat down on a bench and waited for the night to come.

Stephen stirred as night fell. He could only hope the humans had destroyed the vampires during the day. But, considering their first offensive failed miserably, they were going to play it very cautious. He looked over as Cassandra pulled her head from a wing and yawned before tucking her head back under a wing and falling asleep. Stephen looked down at Nicole next to him. She was already starting to wake.

“Stephen, what was that noise earlier?”

“Oh just the neighbors…I will file a complaint with management.” Stephen bent down and kissed her. “Hungry?”

Nicole licked her lips and instead of biting the bloodstone Stephen offered, went for Stephen’s neck. She drank her fill and licked the remaining blood off his neck. She kept her mouth near the closing wound and got the few crimson drops that came out.

Stephen smiled at her and fed from his bloodstone. He stood and looked over at Hondur who was waking up.

“Rise and shine Hondur. Hopefully the humans did the work for us, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

Stephen opened his duffel bag and began to lay out several assault rifles, machine-pistols, shotguns, automatics, ammunition, and a grenade pouch. Stephen moved Nicole’s hand away from a M4A1.

“You’re as much of a danger with this to us as you are to the enemy. Still need practice before getting a rifle.”

Nicole just nodded and walked to the entrance of the cave. Stephen looked up Hondur as he checked a G36C.

“I got plenty of stuff if you feel like grabbing a gun or two. We should be heading off as soon as possible, don’t want the vampires to get out and start a feeding frenzy. If you're hungry, I have a bloodstone.”

Hondur's supernatural hearing caused him to start awake as the sound of explosions and gunfire reached his ears. At first the vampire was slightly confused as there was no obvious attack on his person yet within a few seconds he was fully aware and watching everyone else. Stephen didn't seem concerned and upon closer inspection the ancient vampire determined the activity was a fare way from their location. Content with their safety, Hondur returned to slumber.

At Stephen's beckoning, Hondur's eyes snapped open and the vampire moved to sit against the cave wall. Hondur hadn't fed since before he left Assington and was starting to feel the faint call of the thirst within himself. Whilst an ancient could go without feeding much longer than other vampires, they still needed fresh blood to maintain strength and stay comfortable.

The ancient vampire shook his head as Stephen offered some weapons. He didn't anymore guns, which was evident once Hondur pulled back his robes to reveal two machine pistols hanging from shoulder straps.

"No need for anymore guns, but I could use a few extra clips for these and a feed would be nice."

With that said Hondur took the offered clips, placed them within his robes and took a substantial drink from the bloodstone. The new blood allowed colour to return to the vampire's cheeks for a short moment, making him appear more human.

"So, what now?"

“Hopefully convince the group to head back to Assington. Whoever is in the lead has firm control over the rest since there hasn’t been a massacre yet. The leader probably also has a good head. If they refuse to leave…we are gonna have to take them down.” Stephen said as he got his things in order.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and headed to the entrance of the cave where Nicole was. Halfway there, he stopped as he heard a series of explosion. Oh Christ, what the hell is it? Nicole looked back down the cave and beckoned the men forward. She pointed towards the factory.

“They just started to blast the trees away Stephen. What are they doing?” She asked.

“Making a field of fire…so the trees wouldn’t provide cover for the vampires and the soldiers can fire without wasting rounds in the trees. The only reason why they would do that is if…idiots!”

Nicole watched as he sire ran like a demon down the mountain and into the trees. She looked over at Hondur and shrugged and the pair took off after him. She was still surprised at the high speeds she could run now, even as a very young vampire. She guessed Hondur could move much faster, but she was happy he wasn’t being a showoff. They found Stephen hiding in the brush, looking at the factory.

Instead of trees sitting around it, now dozens of stumps and hundreds of broken bits of bark littered the ground. Nicole looked off towards the town to their left, a small wall of crates, logs, and various other objects with barbed wire and small strange green looking boxes on the ground in front. She also noticed behind the barbed wire and in front of the wall were eight strange looking multi-barrel machine guns.

“Barbed wire, Claymores, motion sensor guns; idiots are trying to fight the battle here.” Stephen muttered. “They place the vehicles on slightly higher ground to give max cover, two choppers over head for immediate fire and two more on station ready to replace one after it has exhausted ammo.”

“Sounds good Stephen.” Nicole said.

“If it sounds shitty but works, I would rather go with that. The vampires can simply rush and cover this ground in seconds. The church is more defensible than this…whoever is in charge is going to have a lot of letters to write home if we don’t move. The motion trackers on the guns won’t have…hang on.”

Stephen watched as a deer wandered out into the killing field, the guns continued on their slow pans. The soldiers behind the wall didn’t seem that concerned. It then dawned on the vampire that the guns were not motion sensitive, but rather heat. Since they didn’t lock onto the deer, which meant the thermal sights had been adjusted to track vampire body temperature. Stephen had to give credit to the Simatarian weapons industry, they had come up with good solution to fighting vampires.

“Let’s go.”

The vampires moved through the edge of the trees and went behind the factory. Stephen waited until the Apaches on patrol were out of view before leading Hondur and Nicole across the now practically barren area. He and Hondur had an easy time jumping through a high window to enter, Nicole nearly screamed as she fell back down to earth. Stephen reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her in. She had temporarily forgotten they could climb walls.

The three vampires dropped down to the main factory floor and moved slowly through the maze of machinery. A sharp click drew Stephen’s attention and he found a fledgling aiming a Vepr assault rifle at them.

“Hold it…more stragglers from….” The vampire’s voice trailed off as he saw Hondur. Though he wasn’t part of his coven, he knew who he was, the vampire was far too old to be anyone else. Stephen could barely hear what the vampire said next. “Oh fuck.”


Tara awoke as she heard frantic mental calls from Nicholas. She sighed, dressed, grabbed her pistol belt and marched upstairs. The group of fledglings who had followed them was still in their corner, still guarded by three of her vampires. The group was now in horrid shape, all were craving blood, but Tara hadn’t let them even lick up the commando blood. She knew they would serve their purpose tonight. She walked across the factory floor and around several large machines to where Nicholas was.

“Nicholas what the hell is…Stephen?” Tara’s annoyed voice took on a tone of shock as she saw the neonate. She remembered him from their encounter in the Emerald City Vampire Police Headquarters, she was surprised he was here. She thought he was living in Assington or someplace.

“Tara?” Stephen’s voice was also equally shocked. He quickly sent a message to Nicole. “I just know her from meeting her once. I never had a relationship with her.”

“Good.” Nicole shot back.

“What are you doing here Tara?” Stephen asked in a firmer voice.

“Exploiting the virgin land, what else? Stephen, this land is fresh…we can live here without much trouble.” She looked over at Nicholas as he directed her to Hondur. Her face displayed more shock than Stephen expected. Tara soon realized that the only way Stephen would have gotten the ancient to come is if they were good friends. She knew she had to play it very cool. Hondur could probably wipe out her whole group single handed. Tara gave a slight bow, though she was slightly annoyed by this setback, it was rather obvious she had great respect for Hondur.

“To what do we owe this great honor?”

Hondur remained silent and merely followed Stephen as he rushed out of the cave, weaved through the rocks and eventually made it into the cover of trees and bushes. Several minutes later Nicole and himself halted before the Simitarian vampire, attempting to gain a view of what he saw.

The ancient vampire was no strategist himself yet even he could see they weren't going about things very well. They didn't take into account the fact that vampires could jump great height and distances, nor the superior speeds they could move at. The heat tracking guns were quite a good idea and he was impressed with that, yet it wouldn't be enough if this group unleashed a coordinated attack upon the Simitarian army.

An easy leap through the window found the vampires inside the factory, even if Nicole did need a little help from her sire. The trio didn't even get the chance to make a full step before the click of a weapon filled the air. Hondur prepared to attack the armed vampire, yet it was best to wait and see how things played out. The vampire's obvious shock was quite amusing to Hondur, yet he didn't allow it to show and simply kept a blank face.

Hondur remained silent as Stephen engaged the apparent leader of the vampire gang, a female by the name of Tara.

"Stephen, who is this woman?"

Finally her attention fell upon him, surprise evident across her pale face. She obviously hadn't been expecting him, yet a few days ago he hadn't been expecting this either. The factory was a dark place full of scrap metal and other junk, not the luxury living he was accustomed to yet it obviously worked well enough to hide them from sunlight. Hondur returned a bow of his head at Tara.

"I am here are the request of my friend here. It seems this nation has a slight problem..."

Stephen didn’t look at Hondur as he kept his gaze firmly with Tara. He sent the ancient the small bit he knew about the elder.

“She isn’t part of your coven, she heard the battle when we attacked the VP HQ and saved my life when she blasted an officer trying to shoot me in the back. I bumped into her when we were raiding the armories, I kinda let it slip that Simatarians didn’t believe in vampires. She left shortly after that. Don’t tell Nicole…she kissed me before she left. She has a group of some twenty vampires, plus about another ten or so who trailed her group from Assington.”


Tara stared at Hondur. She gave a brief nod and leaned against a pile of corroded metal. She didn’t answer for several seconds as she scanned the rest of the factory. She knew she had to play it cool. Any second the ancient could easily rip into her.

“Slight problem…us.” Tara gave another nod before looking at Hondur. “Strange, we are oppressed in our own nation because we are different. Even the registered vampires are treated like second class citizens…all this ID crap, programs, reregistering your citizenship and all that. I was already a citizen, making an honest living in Emerald as a teller at a bookstore. Then after I was turned, I had to reregister, lost my job and lost faith in the system.”

Tara pulled out her old vampire ID card and tossed it on the ground. “Treated like second class citizens, having to fear the humans, not being able to carry our own weapons for self-defense. Who is going to believe a vampire knifed a human to defend themselves? If we try to band into small covens they are stormed by the VP and broken up…we can’t do this and that. Assington will never change, it will remain a human ruled society where we vampires are forced to live under their thumb. For Christ sakes I don’t think we have even had a vampire in public office. Every attempt has resulted in a silver slug through the head. So…why bother living with the system? Why not just go on the street and band together to live? Then, we are hunted and slaughtered. Time to move on.”

Tara waved her hand around her. “Here. Fresh territory, stake out our own little section and live. The humans wouldn’t know how a few hookers and bums disappeared. Cause they wouldn’t know about our kind. We could finally live in peace, without fear of being hunted. Until…well…Stephen here got himself discovered.”

“For the better too you bitch.” Nicole snarled.

“She has bite.” Tara commented. She looked over at Hondur. “I care about the vampires I lead, most I knew when they and I were human. I sired half of them. Surely you must see my logic about finding a place where we can finally settle down in peace. That is all we want.”

Hondur listened intently as Tara went on her little rant about how hard it was to live in Assington and that humans would never truly accept them. For the most, what she spoke was exactly correct. Over the years the VP had become more outgoing and a law unto itself, killing vampires at whim and getting away with it. The safest place for vampires had been Hondur's coven and even that had been discovered at one point. Things didn't want to change, but one day they would. He would make sure of such.

"Do you call this settling down peacefully? The fact that there is an army presence within this town indicates that you have been noticed. I doubt you killed some bum and it most likely wasn't clean. If you'd gone about this smart, perhaps you could have lived here for a while without causing trouble, yet you didn't. They know you are here now and it will only end once you are gone."

This was one of the reasons why Skadi had always been so conservative about siring more vampires. When one sired a vampire, they must be prepared to guide them for many years, teach them the subtleties of surviving in a world that fears their existence, getting by unnoticed and simply existing. Without intelligent guidance, many vampires would perish in their younger years. Hondur was thankful that he'd had Skadi to guide him, her wisdom had saved him.

"Tara, you should consider another nation. There are those out there that accept the existence of vampires, those that don't hunt them and even some ruled by them. The Golden Scimatar is not such a place."

Tara looked out through a hole in the factory to see the soldiers massing behind their wall. They had no idea what they were up against, once the moment was right, they would strike. There would be a large pile of black body bags by the night’s end. She looked back at Hondur.

“Okay, I ate a kid…” Tara started.

“You what?” Stephen growled angrily. That is why the whole town seemed to be up in arms. Tara had murdered a young human.

“Yes, a rather tasty teenager…human.” Tara added the last word with acid. “You’re a bastard Stephen, a vampire with no sire and who is more human than vampire. You have lost the instinct, the drive to hunt. You feed on a stone around your neck now, afraid of biting into flesh of a human. You could pass off for one, the only thing that makes you different is that you drink blood and have our powers. How did you live through your first year?”

Stephen stood there; he knew she was perfectly right. He was far more human than he was vampire, and that would never change. He had only killed for food during the first few months of his life. “I might not have had a sire, but a damn good teacher. Does the name Skadi ring a bell?”

“Yes…isn’t she one of the original…” Tara stopped cold as she realized who helped guide Stephen. She didn’t believe it, but the truth was in the neonate’s eyes and that the fact Hondur was there was enough for her to figure he was telling the truth. She then thought for a bit before turning to Hondur. She would attempt to drive a wedge between him and Stephen, try to get the ancient to leave.

“Hondur, how does little conflict here affect you? Helping this human here in the Golden Simatar? It doesn’t affect your coven in any way shape or form. I understand you fighting in Assington because it affects you and your coven. This? This doesn’t. Even though he has helped you and Skadi out… I doubt that Skadi would really care if this human dies or lives, why should you?”

Hondur almost sighed at Tara's admission. For all her apparent intelligence, one stupid action had ruined the entire thing for her. In a small town like this, the death of a young man was bound to grab the attention of all the locals.

Before he could speak Tara broke into another rant, this one directed at Stephen and his softer nature. Whilst it was true that Stephen had decided to stick by his morals as a human rather than embrace his vampiric nature, he was still a vampire and nothing could deny that. How he went about his life was his business and Hondur figured Tara was simply scratching for something to justify her actions.

And now she attempted to bring Skadi into this. Tara really was desparate for some sort of higher ground, a way to get out of this without violence. This woman didn't even know Skadi and yet she was presuming to say what Skadi would do.

"I am not my sire. What she cares or does not care about is different to my own thoughts upon the matter. Stephen has been a loyal companion for hundreds of years and I'm more than willing to aid him after all this time. You have made a dire mistake here Tara, it would be best if you left The Golden Scimitar as soon as you can."

Before anyone could speak, an explosion blew a hole in side of the building; a large sheet of metal flew outward and decapitated the vampire next to Tara, killing him almost instantly. Stephen grasped Nicole and took cover with Hondur behind several old machines as more explosions and heavy cannon fire began to tear the factory apart. Stephen peered out and spied two of the Apaches and the Bradley tear into the factory with their cannons and missiles.

Nicole couldn’t believe the noise; in all the war movies she had seen the guns didn’t seem that loud. She opened her eyes to see one of Tara’s vampires in the darkness level his rifle at Stephen. Without thinking she brought up her pair of CZ-G2000 and fired several times. The vampire fell to the ground screaming in pain from the silver slugs now lodged in his body. Stephen looked behind him at the convulsing vampire and then to Nicole.

“Thanks.”

Stephen un-slung his rifle and cocked it. He would try to avoid fighting the soldiers as long as possible. Tara’s vampires who were now coming into the factory floor were the main targets.


Tara pulled out her Desert Eagle and sent a few quick messages to release the now crazed fledgling group. The group was pointed in the direction of the humans and let go. Three attempted to run for the battle line, but after being starved for so long, they were not as fast as they would have been. The trio was quickly destroyed by the Apaches, claymore mines, and the Vulcan guns. The rest of the group grabbed shards of metal from the ground and instead jumped for the humans.

A young private saw a several human figures descending. “Oh fuck! They are coming down!”

The private lived for several more seconds before a female vampire ripped into his throat. Soon, instead of a more conventional battle, a no holds barn brawl began. Though the humans had more numbers and better firepower, they lacked knowledge of fighting vampires one on one.

Roman pulled out his katana and quickly decapitated a vampire that was feasting upon a soldier. He saw who the man was, Joshua Lloyd. The officer’s plans had gone terribly awry, in his last few seconds he thought that he should have listened to Roman and destroy the vampires in the daylight.

Roman snarled as he saw several more vampires leap from the factory to the brawl. The Apaches couldn’t offer support; they were unable to deliver any firepower down without hitting their comrades.

The shape shifter cut off several vampire hands and arms before leaping away. He transformed into a large black panther and moved towards the factory.


Stephen cursed as he heard the screaming of the soldiers. “Already attacking the humans.”

Stephen fired at several of Tara’s vampires who were trying to get out and join in the brawl.

“Nicole, stick close to me. Hondur, I know you can handle yourself. Don’t go for Tara…she is mine. Right, let the fun and battle begin.”

Hondur took cover as the initial explosion rocked the factory, causing dust and loose pieces of metal to descend from higher positions. The ancient vampire had his doubts as to how much the building could sustain before it crumbled, yet there were more pressing issues at hand such as the gun wielding vampires before him.

Within seconds Hondur was up in the air and crouched within the rafters. He nodded to Stephen, indicating the younger vampire was free to pursue Tara whilst he took care of the many young vampires within the factory. Withdrawing his machine pistol, Hondur unleashed several rounds at varous vampires, catching them in the head or throats, taking them out of action. Before he could pick off anymore enemies, another explosion courtesy of the apaches outside knocked Hondur out of the rafters, causing his feet to slam upon the floor directly in front of a young vampire.

At first the vampire stood shocked, awed at being so close to an ancient vampire. The his ego kicked in and the young one attempted to wedge a silver blade into the side of the vampire's neck. Hondur merely caught the arm with his mental will, his eyes still locked upon the young vampire. Immediately the face of determination turned to fear as Hondur willed the blade bearing arm backwards before twisting the wrist and aiming the knife at the young vampire's brow.

Hondur didn't shift his gaze as the blade was rammed through the skull of his young opponent before stopping at the hilt. Blood trickling down his head, the dead vampire collapsed to the ground. Another explosion caught Hondur off guard, allowing a piece of shrapnel to catch him in the left shoulder. Cursing to himself, Hondur jumped out of the way and found a relatively quiet corner where he could remove the metal and allow his wound to heal.

Stephen smiled as Hondur began to wipe out the younger vampires. Stephen, along with Nicole ran for where Tara last was. Stephen fired several bursts from his rifle, killing two fledgling immediately. Nicole mean while fired at practically anything that moved. Suddenly, she felt and arm grasp her and she dropped her guns as a barrel was pressed against her head.

“Stephen!” She screamed.

Stephen spun and found Tara keeping her left arm wrapped around Nicole’s neck, easily holding tight to the fledgling, while her right hand kept her Desert Eagle to Nicole’s head. Stephen shuddered as another explosion rocked the factory; a groan from the far end announced the end of one of the sections as it collapsed.

“Let her go Tara!”

“I’d rather not; I’ll take your whore and make sure she suffers before she dies.”

Before Stephen could speak, the elder was out of the factory through a hold in the roof. It was a strange sight for the Apache pilots and gunners who saw Tara fly out holding Nicole. Too stunned to react, the elder was able to land in the town.

Stephen took off after Nicole and Tara, one of Tara’s vampires stepped in front of him and tried to tear out his throat. Stephen clubbed the fledgling and in blind rage smashed the skull into a crimson pulp. He jumped out one of the holes and ran towards the town through the woods. He paused briefly to shoot several vampires attacking the soldiers.

Stephen then turned back to Nicole, he wouldn’t lose her.


“Look what I got here.”

Hondur looked up to see a fledgling aiming a Vepr rifle at him. “Sorry man, you’re a traitor to…oh my…”

The vampire was knocked on his back as a black creature landed on top of him. The vampire began to scream as the animal tore into the vampire’s throat and body. Blood and flesh splattered against the walls with the intensity of an Italian horror film. The blood drenched animal turned and looked at Hondur.

The ancient finally got a good look at the animal; it was a large black panther. The panther sat down on its haunches and stared at Hondur through emerald green eyes.

Hondur had been about to launch himself at the armed vampire when a black figure had pounced upon him, tearing his foe apart. Stunned beyond words, Hondur merely watched as the black feline ripped into the the fledgling with ease.

Once the young vampire was finished off, Hondur found himself looking eye to eye with a black panther. Out of all the things that could happen in this hectic battle, a panther had never crossed the ancient vampire's mind. Another explosion rocked the building and yet the creature continued to stare at him, watching intently with emerald green eyes.

Hondur didn't like the look of this creature, there was something very unnatural about the way it looked at him, and the fact that it had entered the populated building full of noise and potential danger in the first place.

Reaching into his robes, Hondur withdrew a machine pistol and aimed it loosely at the panther. Whatever the hell it was, Hondur felt that it could pose a real threat if he didn't watch himself. May as well get rid of the beast before it dugs it's own claws into his flesh.

The panther grunted and then something happened Hondur could never have expected. The cat began to morph, its paws becoming hands and feet, the tail began to retract and the face became human. The ancient was now faced with a man instead of a panther. Before the shock could wear off, a larger shock hit the ancient as Roman fired his stun gun into the vampire. He had set voltage to the highest setting and kept his finger on the trigger until he was sure the vampire was comfortably knocked out.

He pulled out his plastic, silver nitrate filled handcuffs and after relieving the ancient of his weapons handcuffed him. Roman picked up on of Hondur’s machine pistols and grabbed his katana. The shape shifter returned to the battle, which was now nearly over. He quickly killed the last two vampires and then looked over the casualties. Out of the fifty officers and men, twenty-two were dead, and another twenty-three injured. Only five had escaped uninjured.

Roman went back and collected Hondur’s body. All the vampire corpses would be delivered to the VIB’s vampire research sight GN-476. He would be sure the live one made it unconscious. Roman then turned his attention to aiding the small group of medical personal aid the injured as medical helicopters were being flown in.


Stephen found Tara near a house. The elder smacked Nicole several times before she noticed the neonate. Tara smiled.

“Mighty fun whore you have Stephen. She will make a great snack on my way home.”

Stephen kept his rifle level with Tara. “You are not going anywhere. You will die here for what you have done.”

“Oh please….that line is so dead. Stephen, you are a human…not a vampire. You are worthless. You can’t even take care of your own fledgling. Looks like we have company.”

Stephen turned his head to see the police officers moving towards them. He turned back to Tara. “Let Nicole go.”

Tara gave a crooked grin and ran her fangs across Nicole’s neck. “I bet she tastes fine. I think I will…”

Stephen had blinked. Before he did, Tara with Nicole as her hostage was in front of him. He opened his eyes to nothing, but his ears picked up Tara’s scream. He paused for a second before running behind the house. A large standing pool sat in the middle of the yard, Nicole was lying on the grass and Stephen quickly took her in his arms. He looked around and saw what was left of Tara; a single bloody boot and some crimson colored tattered clothing.

“Freeze bloodsuckers.”

Stephen turned to face the sheriff and his deputies. He read the name Stoller on the badge. The cop aimed a Glock at him as the other policemen leveled an odd assortment of hunting and military firearms. Stephen stared at them, the game was up. He wouldn’t start a fight that might end in Nicole’s death. Stephen just gave a slight nod to Craig.

Craig smiled and pulled out a pair of cuffs similar to Roman’s. Before he could take a step forward he looked behind the pair of vampires. “Holy fuck…”

Stephen watched the face of the sheriff turn nearly as white as his own, the same effect happened on his deputies. They began to drop their weapons and then turned and ran like lighting towards the church in a way that reminded Stephen of The Keystone Cops.

“Why are they running?” A familiar voice came from above.

Stephen looked up to see Cassandra staring down at the vampires. She was inside the pool, apparently she had surfaced just in time to scare the humans. Stephen responded in draconic. “They needed to use the bathroom.”

Still holding the dazed Nicole, Stephen looked into the pool. The water was red and there were large hunks of flesh floating around as the dragon clumsily scrambled out. It was now apparent what happened to Tara. Tara had threatened Cassandra’s family and the dragon had reacted, violently. Cassandra had eaten most of the vampire.

Stephen waited until Cassandra had shaken herself off and placed Nicole on her back. He scanned for Hondur and sadly found the ancient amidst the humans. He knew he couldn’t go rescue him now. He needed to tend to Nicole first. He mounted the dragon.

“Cassandra, fly south. Low over the mountains. I know of a safe place we can stay for now.”

Cassandra nodded and the dragon took off into the sky. Stephen looked over at the battlefield, the smell of fresh human blood excited him. Stephen steadied himself and pointed the dragon in the right direction.

Though they were leaving, Stephen had no intent on letting Hondur remain in the Simatarian government’s hands for very long.

Becky Kimble sat nervously in her office, waiting for word of what had happened at Auburn. She had prepared a statement she would read later that day. She knew even if her forces won, casualties would still be high. The press of course and much of the population would not be that receptive of it, considering it was a well known fact that many military and police units were being trained by a mix of Tarlachian and Assington advisors.

The phone rang and she picked it up. “Kimble.”

“Becky, Nicholas Hauser here. Confirmed, all but one vampire dead. The one survivor was captured and along with the corpses is being sent to Hauk at GN-476.”

“What about us? How did we come out?”

“Lieutenant Lloyd was a fucking moron and paid for his mistake. From what I have heard he refused to fortify the church and fight from there, instead he got his men out in the open. Forty-five casualties ma’am. Over half of them are dead.”

“Jesus. Lloyd?”

“Dead.”

“Alright, let’s start cleaning up out mess Nicholas. Send me information as soon as possible about this captured vampire.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“At least we can hopefully learn from out mistakes.”

“Agreed. Good night ma’am.”

“Night.”

Kimble hung up and sagged in her chair. Her country would be now going through a rough period. Her plans of allowing Stephen to return and live as a citizen were shattered. Her nation’s second contact with vampires was brutal and she knew that mass paranoia would come for a brief time.

Getting up from her chair she headed to bed.

A soft pinging noise woke Hondur. His left eyelid was pulled back and a light flashed in it. When the ancient’s head jerked and his fangs became visible, he heard a cry of surprised followed by the sound of things crashing to the floor. When the ancient finally opened his eyes he was faced with a human. He was a young man, in his mid-twenties with a pair of glasses and brown hair. The human stood and began to pick up the things that fell along with him and place them on a table.

The human turned and looked at the vampire. “I wouldn’t try to break those bonds if I were you.”

The human combed through a drawer and pulled out a mirror and let Hondur see what he meant. Several hard plastic restraints kept his body pinned to the table, only his head had any real movement. They would have appeared clear, though it seemed something was inside of them. The human put down the mirror and sat in a chair with his clipboard.

“Silver nitrate is in those. Here is how it works, you break or crack it, and the whole thing shatters and drenches you. Wouldn’t be pleasant I take it. If you look up you will see sprinkler systems. Well, that is partially true. Several spray silver nitrate and not water. There are also several hidden sprayers dotted around the room.”

A buzzer sounded and a thick metal door slid open. A woman with short black hair walked into the room, she appeared to be in her late twenties. She was slim and even under her lab coat it was obvious she had some muscle. Her brown eyes studied Hondur for several seconds before she took the man aside. They chatted for several minutes and the woman chuckled at something the man said.

The man left and the woman walked up to Hondur. She looked at the clipboard and at down on a stool.

“You absorbed a lot of electricity; you might be feeling a bit woozy for a few more minutes. I wonder if you can answer a few questions for me. First, who are you and where do you come from. Second, what were the goals of your gang? Third, will you be a gentleman and try not to be violent. Be a gentleman, you will be treated accordingly. If not…well your stay won’t be pleasant.”

As consciousness resumed within Hondur's mind, the ancient vampire snarled as a light was flashed into his eyes, causing the pupil to contract immediately. Vampiric eyes were fairly sensitive to direct light and Hondur didn't appreciate it. Snarling his displeasure, Hondur opened both eyes to see a stunned scientist looking back at him, the surrounding room a steel prison of medical instruments and other such equipment.

Within a few minutes the human had collected himself and dove into conversation about their little anti-vampire restraints and other such gadgets they'd developed. Immediately the ancient vampire didn't like him. The human was so cocky and placed too much faith in his technology, it was like listening to a fledgling that believed they were unstoppable after just being turned.

Reminding himself to stay patient until he figured out what was going on, Hondur watched as a woman entered the room and began talking with the arrogant man. They obviously thought they had everything worked out, that they were at no risk being in here with him. That made him smile.

Opening his mind, Hondur briefly touched the young woman's memory as she sat down before him, extracting her name. Veronica Lussier. She was cocky as well, believing she had all the power. Drowning his urge to say something spiteful, Hondur spoke calmly.

"I'm not going to eat all of you if that's what you mean be gentleman. Yet I don't appreciate young boys prancing around like they own me. I was not part of that gang, I happened to be killing it off for your sake. Nice to see you people pay courtesy to those that aid you. To be honest Veronica, I don't trust you enough to give you my name, but I suppose there is no harm in telling you I come from Assington."

Veronica blinked as the vampire spoke her name. She opened her mouth to question him before she closed it with a sigh and a nod.

“Telepathy.” She said quietly. Rather rude if you ask me.

She made a quick note that the vampire came from Assington. He had already been photographed, fingerprinted and some blood extracted. The vampire had just cut down the search range massively. Can’t be more than a few thousand vampires in Assington. She thought. Veronica couldn’t have been more wrong.

Veronica Lussier was twenty-seven years old. She had graduated high school a year early at seventeen and had majored in psychology in college. Arthur Hauk had grabbed her fresh out of college to be part of his team at GN-476; much of the original team from GN-475 had left after the incident that claimed two scientists lives. The original security force was transferred to GN-476 and was probably the best trained anti-vampire group in the whole nation next to the Secret Service. Her job was to study the psychological state of the vampire, lycan, and etcetera. She so far had not done anything in her field, now was her first chance.

Veronica was slightly surprised at Hondur’s first sentence. She was very confused by him saying that he was helping the soldiers.

“You uh…have me a bit lost. Run this by me again…you were fighting that gang to help us. May I ask why? From my standpoint…well…sounds like bullshit.”

Hondur continued to watch the young woman with a keen gaze. Most of his drowsiness had worn off and so the vampire could focus on his current predicament. Ignorant humans.

As Veronica commented upon one of his powers, Hondur could only grin and give her another nod as he chose his words carefully.

"Indeed, yet I've always had that. One doesn't need to be a vampire to use their brains."

After watching eachother for some time, Veronica moved into more questions regarding his purpose. As he had half expected, she didn't believe his presence in her nation was at all beneficial to the people, yet he supposed it wasn't something easy to swallow.

"Well young lady, you have to realise that vampires are humans, merely different. We think like people, we act like people. We have friends, we have enemies, we don't all like eachother. That and I can appreciate the plight your nation is in. Keeping that in mind, I decided to rid your nation of these rogue vampires that should not have left Assington in the first place."

Hondur's manner was almost patronising in the way he spoke to Veronica like a child. Of course compared to his one thousand years and over, she was a child in comparison.

“That still doesn’t explain why you chose to come over here and deal with them.”

Veronica didn’t like the way the vampire was talking to her. Though she was far younger than him, she found it annoying that he talked in the tone that he did. She still did not believe his story about helping the soldiers destroy the vampires. From what she had heard it had been a blood bath with over half of the soldiers killed. She knew that getting the vampire out of there alive was difficult. From what she had heard nearly every soldier able tried to shoot the man.

She clicked her tongue and continued to stare at him. Trying to find anything behind his eyes. Veronica still believed that he was lying to her. Unless he was a man who hated being a vampire and decided to devote his immortality to the eradication of his species, she saw no plausible explanation why he was here or how he learned about it.

“Alright, why did you come? How did you know that we had a vampire incursion? Did you follow them here or did someone tell you they were here?”

To make sure he wouldn’t lie, Veronica was about to hook the vampire up to a polygraph machine; until she remembered Hauk telling her vampires had no heartbeats. So she placed the cords and sensors back. Veronica turned back to the vampire and waited.

The ancient vampire watched in amusement as Veronica moved to a nearby polygraph machine and prepared to hook it up to himself. At the final moment she realised the futility of such an action and placed it down once again.

Again Hondur had to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to give away Stephen and make things even worse. Hondur doubted the nation held vampires in much regard at all and Stephen's name would just stir everything.

Hondur could tell she didn't believe him, the look in her eyes was very probing and critical. He didn't need to pry into her thoughts to understand that much and figured doing so would probably just anoy her even more.

"I was made aware that vampires had left Assington and were taking advantage of an unprepared nation. Being somewhat honourable, I decided to follow and see what was going on. I was in the middle of convincing these vampires to leave before your soldiers got in the way, causing the gang to bite back and many humans die. That was your own stupidity at play, not my doings."

Before Veronica could speak, her face turned to shock as Hondur was blasted with more electricity from under the table. Within seconds, the ancient’s world turned black.

When Hondur awoke, he found himself in a white fifteen by fifteen room. The room seemed to have no doors, just plain white walls. A bed was bolted to the floor in the back, a toilet and a sink were behind a curtain, and there was a table bolted to the floor and on it a glass filled with blood.

“AB negative if you are curious. Don’t worry, it isn’t drugged in any way.” A weary voice said.

Hondur turned see and old man leaning on a cane standing in the room. The man stood at 5’11, with white hair and beard. His face was worn and his voice was tired. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a light blue collared shirt and a white lab coat. The man’s whole body faded slightly before coming back. The man chuckled and the cane pointed behind Hondur.

Though room seemed to have no doors, but there was a small area that seemed to have a tiny camera sticking out of it. When the vampire’s hand got in front of it, the man’s image was distorted.

“Holographic imagery. Second generation, still needs a few improvements. I am Arthur Hauk; I am in charge of this little operation here. I have been monitoring your little conversation with Veronica; I must say you seem like an interesting fellow. I am curious about how you were captured. Did one of our soldiers shoot you? Or did animal transform into a man and zap you?”

Hondur awoke angry. The fact he'd been rudely interrupted and knocked unconscious merely to move him into into a metallic prison. Irritated beyond measure, Hondur rose immediately and swung his right hand with a vicious snarl. The dull thud of flesh running into steel echoed throughout the building for several seconds before finally fading away.

As the vampire moved backwards, a massive dent could be seen in the metallic wall. Obviously it was thick enough to keep the vampire inside yet the size of the mark was impressive. Hondur ignored his bloody hand and merely waited as it began to heal.

At that point Hondur noticed the glass of blood and the voice. Closer inspection soon determined it was a hologram, obviously they were still quite scared of him. The ancient ignored the blood and sat down once again. The blood type didn't matter to him, food was food.

Finally the hologram introduced himself and began questioning the ancient. These people seemed to enjoy asking a lot of seemingly insignificant questions. After staring at the man for a while, Hondur spoke in a quiet tone.

"Your cat man caught me off guard. It's not everyday you see a panther turn into a taser bearing man."

The holograph form of Hauk flinched as he saw the damage the vampire’s fist had caused to the wall. The walls were several feet thick of metal then reinforced concrete. As a safeguard, silver nitrate would be released via hidden sprayers in the ceiling if the person being held penetrated a certain depth. The vampire had yet to do that.

The holograph form of Hauk began to slowly walk around the room. He chuckled at Hondur’s comment.

“Yes, rather an odd thing to see a beast become a man. Be thankful he got you when he did and we got you out of there. You may not know it, but you were very close to being shot dozens of times before we loaded you onto a helicopter.”

Even though Hauk was only fifty-five, he felt like sixty-five. Five stressful years of getting a research team organized and a facility constructed, along with battling politicians and fellow scientists at every turn had taken its toll upon him. The old man looked at his watched.

“I am sorry, I must be off. Before I go…I am rather curious about something. Do you know a Simatarian vampire named Stephen Malone?”

Now a little calmer, Hondur picked up the glass of wine and took a slight sip. It was still warm and he was thankful for that. The vampire couldn't stand cold blood and made a point never, ever to drink from the dead.

Again this man seemed to think his soldiers were so great and could simply cut him down. Little did they realise that Hondur could move at speed so fast the human eye could barely follow it. Taking another sip, the ancient vampire smiled at this man's comment.

"I have my ways of dealing with such things. I've been shot many times before and yet I'm still here."

And then Stephen was mentioned. This many obviously knew him, the manner in which he spoke of Stephen revealed it. This was begining to get interesting.

"Yes, I am quite familiar with Stephen. I suppose you know Nicole as well?"

Hauk blinked. He hadn’t expected the vampire to know Stephen, but the mention of Nicole brought a smile to the old man’s face. He leaned on his cane and made a sweep of his arm.

“I knew Mr. Malone; he was captured by the same ‘panther-man’ five years ago. That is how we know about vampires. This was when we were at a different facility. I must say, seeing a man who supposedly died over thirteen hundred years ago suddenly get up and start talking…I nearly died of heart attack.”

When the vampire mentioned Nicole, Hauk was intrigued. It showed the pair was still together and possibly Nicole had been turned. The vampire knew the pair; maybe Stephen and Nicole had fled to Assington after they had been forced to leave the Golden Simatar.

“Of course I knew Nicole. She was my assistant, her job was to talk to Mr. Malone and figure out who he was. And…God knows how the pair fell in love. He was a gentleman during his stay…for the most part. He did try to kill our ‘panther-man’ on a few occasions.”

The hologram then moved to the sitting position as Hauk in real life sagged into a chair.

“After he was revealed to the public via a leak, there was a terrorist attack on the President’s daughter. That prompted an attack on the terrorist camp…up till that time they had been a simple protest group, nothing military…we were wrong. The last few survivors from the group organized and attacked us at our old facility. They shot two of my staff before Malone was able to break out of his cell. Instead of running, he fought and saved our lives.”

Hauk looked at Hondur. “I don’t want to know where they are. I have a few guesses though. I just want to know how they are. Is Nicole…a vampire?”

Hondur was beginning to like this man. He seemed much more sensible than the others he had encountered so far and he was placing a certain degree of trust in the ancient vampire. Hondur hadn't had a human friend since the days of the third vampiric war, back when he and Garm led the ASHVO forces. Unfortunately that had not turned out well.

It was certainly interesting to hear about Stephen's predicament after he'd left Assington post the most recent vampiric war. Hondur knew the vampire had never fully embraced the vampiric life as his morality seemed to disagree with it and wasn't particularly surprised by his actions. Hondur had once been like that, yet Skadi had done a thourough job of weeding that out of him.

A slight smile spread across Hondur's lips as Hauk asked how the two vampires were. He appeared to be a relatively wise man and Hondur could appreciate such things, it was rare in humans since they never really lived long enough to realise many things.

"That is a reasonable request. Last time I saw them, Stephen and Nicole were both fine. Nicole is a vampire, albeit a very young one but a vampire nonetheless. Stephen is watching after her as all good sires should."

Hondur’s response brought a smile to Hauk’s face. He was happy to hear Stephen and Nicole were still together, though he was slightly surprised that she was already a vampire. The hologram’s head turned and nodded to something as the real Hauk was distracted. The hologram turned back to Hondur.

“I must cut our little chat short, I have a meeting.”

At that moment, the hologram form of Hauk disappeared and there was a quiet humming as the projector retracted into the wall and left Hondur alone.

Arthur Hauk managed to pull himself out of his chair and looked at the same young man who first met Hondur. “What do we have on all of the bodies?”

“Besides they are now finally dead, no ID of any kind, a few bills and coins on a few of them…Assingtonian currency. All armed with a mix of blades and firearms, some carried vial or two of blood. That is about it.”

“Thank you Robert.”

His young assistant smiled and as he turned, tripped over another chair and slammed into a wall of instruments. Hauk sighed and shook his head. Robert turned and smiled.

“Grace wasn’t something I inherited in my family.”

“You best inherit some then.” A voice said from the door.

Hauk looked up to see Roman standing at the doorway, his glasses covering his unique eyes. Hauk went past Robert and Roman and he headed down the clean robin blue hallway.

“What do you think of our guest?” Hauk inquired.

“He is old. Not old enough to be one of the originals, but old enough to probably be the fledgling of one. He probably knows Stephen and Nicole…maybe he is telling the truth about helping our men...or he is lying in an attempt to survive.”

Hauk shrugged. “Well, hopefully all questions will be answered. I am very curious to see where Stephen and Nicole have run off to. Maybe they ran to Assington.”

“Is she?”

Hauk simply nodded. Roman gave a nod before heading down to the mess hall, dying for a cup of coffee. Hauk continued to his personal office. The walls were lined with bookshelves and pictures, a small table sat with several brandy bottles and glasses. He poured himself some of the amber liquid into a glass and sagged into his soft, brown leather chair. He tapped a few commands into his computer and via web cam found himself looking at Kimble.

“How are you doing Mrs. President?” He asked.

“Fine Dr. Hauk, just fine. What do you have for me on our guest?” She asked from her office.

“Well, from Roman says the vampire is very old. He informed me he is from Assington and knows Stephen and Nicole. He told Dr. Lussier that he followed the gang of vampires to here and it was about to get them to leave until we opened fire.”

“Do you believe his story about following the gang?”

“Hard to say ma’am. Part of me believes he was here for good, but isn’t telling the whole truth…part of me says…”

“He is lying his pants off.”

Hauk chuckled and gave a nod. “Yes, but he was the one who asked me if I knew Nicole…so he met the pair within the last five years. Probably friends with Mr. Malone.”

“Name yet Arthur?”

“Sorry ma’am. He has been smart and avoiding that. We do have DNA, fingerprints, and a map of his facial features. But…considering the vampire history goes back thousands of years AND he could have been born before modern technology…damn hard to find anything. Still, will take hours if not days to comb through billions of names.”

“Agreed and we would need Assingtonian cooperation. If they knew we had a very old vampire they will start sending men to see if he is anyone on their wanted list.”

“Aye, I don’t want them snooping around my facility ma’am. So far nothing on the corpses either, just come currency, ammo, and a vial of blood or two.”

“Alright, keep going at it and keep me informed Arthur. I will address the nation later on today.”

“Right ma’am.”

Hauk closed the connection and drained the rest of his glass’s contents. He relaxed back in his seat, content that the vampire was safely secured in the cell.

Stephen watched over Nicole’s sleeping body. Tara’s pistol-whip had knocked his fledgling out cold and she had only moaned a few times since. They were inside an abandoned warehouse in Chelam. Cassandra had helped Stephen board up the windows and make a small haven for them. The dragon nuzzled Stephen and licked his face, trying to make him feel better. Stephen smiled and petted the animal.

“Is she going to be okay?” Cassandra asked.

“I hope so. She took a nasty knock on the head. She just has to rest.” Stephen said quietly in draconic.

The dragon lay near Stephen and rested her head on his lap and began to whimper. Stephen chuckled and stroked the dragon’s muzzle. His mind had been occupied about how to rescue Hondur. He knew once he found the ancient he couldn’t come blasting through with guns blazing, which would kill any chance, he and Nicole had of returning to live in their homeland. He first had to locate the ancient; he knew GN-475 would have probably been abandoned, so they now had to find the new location.

Stephen knew Kimble owed him a favor after saving much of the staff at the facility. He made up his mind, unless Kimble talked about a real vampire in their hands, he knew he could possibly get her to release Hondur.

Nicole opened her eyes to find Stephen and Cassandra looking at her. Before she or Stephen could speak, the dragon’s tail began to thump on the hard concrete and her tongue soon coated Nicole’s face in saliva. Nicole managed to push Cassandra’s head out of the way and wipe her face off. Then, she immediately found herself in Stephen’s arms.

“Thank God you’re okay. How do you feel?”

“I have a headache, but otherwise fine Stephen. Where…where is Hondur?”

“The government captured him. It is about nine in the morning right now, so we can’t do anything to help him. When night falls I will head to Clarence to talk to Kimble.”

“Stephen, I could go and comb around Chelam…that is where the Rangers spent their R&R. I might find one of them to tell us where he is.”

Stephen sighed. “Okay, we are in Chelam right now…so you won’t have much trouble. But…be very careful Nicole. There are Assington VP advisors still around and they can see the difference between a vampire and a human a mile off.”

Nicole gave a nod and a yawn. She snuggled up next to her sire and fell asleep. Stephen kissed the back of her neck and looked over at Cassandra who was lying a few feet away. The dragon stared at him for a few minutes before also going to sleep. Stephen sighed and placed his head on the ground and found peace.

Veronica walked into the observation room adjacent to Hondur’s cell. She looked at the video monitors and watched the vampire move around his cell. She began to debate how she would approach him. Hauk seemed to have better success than she did, maybe now after about two hours of being left alone, the vampire would be calmer. Veronica was still slightly nervous about the vampire’s apparent version of being a gentleman was not to kill everyone there. Still, she was confident that the numerous security systems would prevent her from getting bitten.

She started up the hologram and positioned herself in front of the camera that would send her image to the projector. Several seconds later, her image appeared inside the cell and Veronica watched the vampire on one of the monitors.

“Terribly sorry our first meeting was interrupted. Someone on staff thought it would be better to put you here.”

Veronica’s eyes shifted to some papers in her hand. They were Hauk’s old notes of when a vampire named Stephen Malone had been a prisoner. She found what Stephen had said about some ancient female vampire. Since this vampire was supposedly very old and possibly blood related somehow to an old vampire, maybe he knew her.

“You wouldn’t by chance know of a ‘nearly two thousand year old ancient psycho bitch’ and who 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.’ Does that sound like any old vampire you know?”

A huge grin spread across Hondur's face as the hologram of Veronica appeared and she asked of a vampire with a rather biased description. Somehow he figured they were Stephen's words, they sounded like the words of someone that had recieved several beatings from his sire.

Despite his contempt for this woman, Hondur couldn't help but be put in a relatively good mood after hearing that vivid description of Skadi. He couldn't deny it, she was a psycho bitch and could kill everyone in this installation. The ancient vampire had seen his sire angry and witnessed the damage she could unleash, it was truly an amazing sight.

"Actually, she's over two thousand years old. I can't recall her exact age but I believe it's around two thousand two hundred and twenty, or something close to that."

Finally the vampire turned his intense gaze upon the hologram.

"You know, that's not a very nice way to speak of the woman that sired me."

He knew that would be a small bombshell for the young woman and awaited her shocked reaction.

Veronica nodded and jotted down the approximate age the vampire had said. Veronica froze as the vampire’s last sentence came over the speakers. Oh boy, this is awkward. She studied the vampire’s face on the monitor. He was still calmly standing there. Her eyes meanwhile had grown several inches and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She had just insulted the vampire’s sire, from the age guess, the vampire might break through and kill her. Veronica thought of the security systems and calmed down.

Veronica’s image disappeared from Hondur’s room for several seconds as she went to a water dispenser. She gulped down several paper cups of cold water before steeling herself. She reappeared soon after.

“Terribly sorry about that. Mr. Malone didn’t give us a good image of your sire. Could you shed some light on why he might talk of her like this? Could you also maybe shed some light on her? Give us another opinion? As her fledgling, you probably have a better view of her.”

Hondur's grin quickly disappeared. He was not about to give away knowledge of perhaps the most wanted vampire in all of Assington. Skadi was his sire and over the many hundreds of years they had known eachother, a special bond had formed. Whilst there had never been any romance between the pair, Skadi and Hondur fully trusted and respected eachother, something quite rare in this modern world.

"I'll be honest with you Veronica. I'm not going to tell you much about my sire at all. She has no desire for a squad of VP offices to disturb her during the night or whilst she slumbers. But I suppose I could give you a few words."

Hondur ceased pacing the cell and lay down upon the bead, shifting his gaze around the ceiling of his prison.

"Stephen has had a few conflicts with my sire, he didn't come out on top. He has felt the force of her bad temper and quick employment of force. I'm sure Stephen has learned his lesson and won't cross her again, yet I have no doubt he doesn't have fond memories of her. Now how about you answer a question for me. Why do you insist on holding me against my will?"

Veronica gave a slight nod to the vampire’s first statement. She had only wished that he could at least tell her if his sire was the sadistic bitch Stephen had said she was or if the Simatarian had caught her at a bad time. If the vampire didn’t wish to say anything at all, she could understand.

When the vampire asked his question, she was hesitant about it. Veronica began to debate if she should let fully on the reasons that she could surmise or let a little bit on, add an extra fact or two, and hopefully get some more information from the vampire. She decided on the latter.

“Let’s just say it is very complicated. You are a vampire, caught during a battle with vampires; you and the gang are both from the same country. Doctor Hauk believes that you were here for good reasons, but of course he isn’t the President and can’t authorize your release. Course there is more. Oh…I almost forgot…we’ll be sending your information to Assington today. Since you have proven uncooperative in terms of just your name and what you did before you were a vampire…which is all we want…we’ll be shipping your data to Assington along with a few presents for their VP. Hopefully they won’t start asking questions.”

With that said, Veronica stared at the vampire on the monitor and waited.

At mention of having his information sent back to Assington, Hondur's face went completely blank and his stare took on a glint that was almost frightening. Obviously more tense, Hondur stood and strode towards the video camera placed within his cell. Obviously the vampire was not happy.

"That would not be appreciated at all. I have lived in Assington for over a thousand years and not once have I been apprehended by the vampire police. Not once have they taken an image of me or a trace of DNA. They have no information on me whatsoever. They know there is an ancient lurking about the city that probably influences a lot of the vampiric activity. That is it. I have been very careful to keep it that way, for over a millenia I have kept it that way."

Hondur took a moment to pause and do a quick pace of his cell before returning to the camera.

"If you tell them you have an Assingtonian ancient vampire in your custody, they will be over her immediately and they will want me immediately. There is no questioning that. The attitude towards vampires is not a pleasant one and to be honest I would prefer to be in this cell any day over a cell in Assington. Do you understand?"

With his little rant done, Hondur quieted himself and returned to the bed, his gaze still fixed upon the camera.

“Well, if the VP doesn’t have anything on you we can certainly send it to the Assingtonian government to sift through databanks. If you were a man with influence and power before you became a vampire there should be a page or two with your name on it. If the VP come for you, be a lot easier on us. Plus, I’m sure they would love to deal justice out to man responsible for probably thousands of innocent deaths.”

Veronica stared at the vampire through the monitor, wondering if the vampire could see her. The very notion gave her the heebie-jeebies. She heard a tapping behind her and found Hauk at the door. Veronica shut off the camera and her hologram. Her boss didn’t seem pleased as he walked into the room and shut the door. He pointed to the monitor.

“What…what is the meaning of that?”

“I was trying to make him say something…it has worked with convicts before Doctor.”

“Well Ms. Lussier…that man in there is not a convict! Those tactics do not work here. If you wish to continue working for me you will do as you are told. When you signed on I told you what my assistant had done to gain the vampire’s trust and so they could talk.”

“Sir…I am not Nicole Patterson, I do things my way.”

Hauk slammed his cane on the floor. “You are working for me! You will do as I say! I do not want a hostile vampire in my facility. That last sentence will not win you or us any favors!”

Hauk calmed down and took several deep breaths. He rested in a chair and looked up at Veronica. “There is a meeting in twenty minutes, I want you there. Leave.”

Veronica gave a simple nod. It was obvious Hauk wasn’t impressed with the way she was doing things. She had studied psychopaths before and what she had done had helped solve a few cases. Still, Hauk didn’t like it. When Veronica left, Hauk walked over and flicked the monitor and hologram on. He stared at the vampire.

“Terribly sorry about her. She is young, a bit headstrong. My team will be sitting down together in a little while to discuss what we have come up with. I know this will come up sooner or later but…do you know what made Stephen Malone into a vampire? When he was here all he said it was a bite and something in his blood. Since you have known him longer…has he said anything to you?”

Hondur was obviously not happy with such information and Veronica realised this. Despite his words she persisted, as if his opinion didn't matter in the slightest. He was about to get quite angry when the hologram flicked off, leaving Hondur in peace. He took the moment to calm himeself slightly, realising that anger alone couldn't get himself out of this predicament.

Within a few moments the hologram flicked back on, yet this time Hauk had returned. Hondur offered him a nod in greeting. This man had much more experience with vampires, obviously having dealt with Stephen and he generally seemed to be a man of more sense and diplomacy.

"You know Mr. Hauk, you're assisstant there is quite rude."

And then Hauk posed a question that Hondur couldn't answer, not even to himself. Stephen had always been very secretive about his past regarding the specifics of his life before he turned and Hondur was never one to pry.

"I'm sorry but I don't know. It is obviously a sensitive subject with Stephen and he has never wished to inform me. I know he took almost one thousand years to turn after he was bitten. Normally one does not turn from a mere bite, so that in itself is extremely odd. Obviously there is something different about his body, yet I do not know what."

Hauk blinked. He had known getting Stephen to tell Nicole when she was his assistant would be hard since they had known each other for only a few hours; he was surprised that the vampire didn’t know. However he turned, whatever caused him had to have been traumatic enough to keep it locked away in his memory never to surface.

“Well, on to a different subject for a few minutes. I do believe that you were in Auburn for good, but…it will be hard sell to President Kimble since you have nothing but your word. Not only that but we have to convince the whole of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the heads of IBI and VIB. Once again, the fact you are a vampire, you came from the same country as they did and captured during the gunfight and you have only your word…make it an almost impossible sell. If you do have proof to show you were not part of that group, we’ll let you go and go from there.”

Hauk thought for a while about the vampire’s relationship with Stephen. He was very puzzled that Stephen had not told his friend. He did remember Stephen’s odd behavior and his desire to make sure his torso was never exposed.

“Well, on the subject of our friend Mr. Malone; I think you should know a bit about why he might act odd once in a while. He was captured on his last mission and horribly tortured. His body is still riddled with the scars of that experience. During this hellish session, he was injected with something…we don’t know what it was but figure it might have something to do with how he turned. The after action report said Stephen was tied to a chair with barbed wire, took them an hour I think it was before they got him out.”

In Hondur’s room there was a hum as a panel next to his bed opened and a thick folder was visible. Hauk’s hologram spoke.

“That is the after action report of the battle if you are interested.”

Hondur was slightly surprised to hear that one of these humans actually believe the truth, yet out of all of them he knew it would have to be Hauk. Yet, as the man said, he was not the President and couldn't simply release him. That was unfortunate.

Pondering this issue for a few moments, Hondur finally spoke.

"Well, you have my weapons. I'm sure if you do a little forensic work you'll find that many of the bullets from my guns are lodged within the bodies of those vampires. Unfortunately Stephen is standing here to vouch for me, so that may be the best I can give you."

And so it began to unfold. Hondur hadn occassionally pondered Stephen's situation yet never dwelled on it too much, now the humans would tell him of the vampire's morbid past.

Hondur watched as the file appeared before him and promptly retrieved it from the wall, weighing the thick folder within his hand before replacing it back in the wall.

"No thanks. If Stephen wishes me to know his secrets, he can tell me."

Hauk nodded as the vampire declined reading the after action report. It showed the vampire had some decency not to go after the report like a rabid animal like Hauk half expected. The Assingtonian’s suggestion for forensics to match the bullets inside the dead vampires to his guns was simple. Hauk smacked himself for not thinking of it sooner. Old age will get you sooner or later old boy.

“We do not have those kinds of facilities here, but one of our Rangers is going on R&R in Chelam today. She’ll take it by a VIB station and we should have the results by tomorrow. I must go, my team is having a meeting. There is a buzzer on latched onto the table, ring if you need anything.”

With that Hauk’s hologram disappeared and the old man relaxed in his chair. He stood and left the room. He headed up a flight of stairs and down another clean hall to the mess hall. Rangers and scientists chatted over coffee and food, while Roman sat in the corner, deep in thought. Hauk tapped his cane.

“Listen up. First things first, we all know we have a live vampire here. He is very old, a fledgling of one of the originals. He is from Assington, same nation as the corpses in the freezers.”

One of the younger scientists raised his hand. “Will we notify the Assingtonians? They would be very interested.”

“Of course they would, but we won’t. He claims he was fighting the vampires and I want this confirmed.” He turned to a young man with sand colored hair. “You have the bullets from the bodies removed?”

“Yeah, what do you want us to do with them?”

Roman spoke. “I think he wants you to get the small pistol caliber bullets and give them to him. Then match them with the bullets from the vampire’s pistol.”

Hauk nodded. “That is what I want. Ms. Heltzel, I believe you are going on R&R.”

The female Ranger Paige Heltzel. “Yes sir. You want me to take it by a lab.”

“Yes, we will continue this, I need to talk in private to Mr. Cyrus.”

There were nods and murmurs and the group left, spare for Roman. The shape shifter stood and walked over to Hauk. “What?”

“If the things match, he will be released. I don’t want bullshit from you.”

“Release him? You must be insane, he kills to live. He goes off to Chelam and feeds on a few people your ass is grass doctor. He is hiding something or covering for someone. That means he could be lying about the whole damn thing. The silver slugs have been in too long, I doubt you will pull an accurate print from them.”

“Then, what do you suggest?”

“Let me…”

“You will not torture him in any way Cyrus. If you disagree with me, leave now. I suggest you flap off to Clarence to talk to Kimble if you are unhappy.”

Roman nodded, infuriated that the old man was going to release a vampire in the nation. He gave a slight nod and stormed out of the room. He headed up the stairs and after several flights found himself on the surface. He sucked in a deep breath of mountain air and looked out across the Barishu Mountains. Roman walked down the mountain the base was situated inside and looked up as a Black Hawk flew over him, probably carrying the Ranger.

Several minutes later, a falcon was flying south. It wasn’t noon, so Roman figured he would reach Clarence sometime late at night. He would speak to Kimble the next morning.

Paige Heltzel whistled as she came out of the movie theater. R&R was always good on a soldier, ones in combat want a chance to relax and ones in boring guard posts like she was, wanted to break free and stretch their legs a bit. Two movies and dinner of real food instead of the crap she got did wonders. It was nine at night and she debated seeing another film or getting something for dessert then going to a hotel for sleep.

“Good to see you Paige.” A familiar voice from behind her said.

Paige paused and turned slowly to find Nicole standing on the sidewalk behind her, smiling. Paige smiled and laughed. The friends embraced and Paige looked at her. “Jesus Christ Nicole, I thought I would never see you again.”

Nicole laughed and the pair headed down the street. The vampire had been combing Chelam for any familiar faces in a long shot hope. Now, her crazy idea had paid off. “Good to you see you too Paige, how are you?”

“Good, still in the army. You? You still with your pointy tooth friend?”

“Yeah, we are still together. What a guy.”

“If he wasn’t a vamp, I wouldn’t mind trying to make a pass at him. What is he like?”

Nicole chuckled. “I don’t kiss and tell Paige.”

It was then Paige took a good look at Nicole. Her friend was paler then she remembered. Nicole picked up on this and stopped. She tilted her head and exposed her neck. Paige leaned closer and on the pale skin saw a strange bite mark on Nicole’s main artery. Nicole looked at Paige and showed her fangs.

“He turned me five years ago. I really don’t mind, though I do miss the sun.”

Paige nodded, she didn’t feel any fear. She trusted Nicole not to drag her into an alley and drain her dry. “So, I take it you heard of Auburn?”

“I take it you have one of our friends in your custody.” Nicole shot back.

Paige paused and stared at Nicole, confused now. “You mean? You know him?”

“Of course Paige, Stephen called him after he realized we would need help wacking all those vampires. I got one myself.”

“Oh, so you can vouch for him? Where is your boyfriend?”

“I won’t say Paige. But, I know we can’t release him without every VIB agent on our tails…but can you do one thing when you go back? Tell him that Stephen is going to the capitol to try and get him released.”

Paige nodded. “Course, but I won’t be able to tell him till tomorrow night when I get back.”

“That is okay. So, what have you been up to since I left?”

The pair continued to walk through the city and catch up on each other’s experiences.

Kimble was up late again in her dark office. Ever since the news of vampires in Auburn, she had not been hitting the sack till one or two in the morning. The media had gobbled up the vampire story. In the morning, it would be splattered across the front page of every newspaper in the country. Kimble had been very specific to point out if any civilian caught in the quarantine zone with a weapon would be arrested for interfering with a military operation. There was still some question if there were more vampires in the area, so Auburn and everything within thirty miles was closed off and military and VIB units combed the area with a fine comb.

There was also a flurry of questions when Kimble had told them of heavy casualties among the military forces that had engaged the vampires. Many of them did not get that units were still training and this was their first combat against vampires. Kimble’s attention was diverted when her Ridgebacks began growling. She looked up to see a dark figure standing in her office.

“Don’t be afraid Becky.” The familiar voice said.

Kimble relaxed. “Why can’t you use the door like a normal person Stephen?”

“Because it isn’t as fun.” The vampire sat down in a chair and watched as both of Kimble’s Ridgebacks started sniffing him. He petted the animals who continued to sniff until they started to growl. Stephen looked up at Kimble. “I probably smell a bit like dragon.”

“Oh that is…what did you say?” Kimble prayed she had thought he had said ‘dragon’. She could not fathom what would happen if she had a Boeing 747 sized, fire breathing animal in her city. First vampires…now dragons. What next?

Stephen chuckled, relishing her expression. “Don’t worry, this dragon is only a little larger than a full grown horse and breaths ice not fire.”

Kimble relaxed, slightly. “Well, I take it this is about Auburn.”

“More about the man you have in prison. I can vouch for his character Becky.”

“You know him. Well, you must understand I have to convince everyone else that he is harmless somewhat. No one here is going to like the idea of a vampire running around the city.”

“My dragon will fly him home Mrs. President.”

Kimble wiped her palms on her suit. She was nervous about the next part. “Well, I did not announce that we captured a vampire. The soldiers who saw him, well…that can be dealt with if he is let free saying he was violent and killed. But, for a release…not only my signature, but Hauk’s and…”

Kimble’s tone and her expression told Stephen what he didn’t want to hear. He cursed in Ancient Simatarian. Kimble blinked at this. Stephen looked at her. “You don’t spend over a thousand years as a human being a couch potato.”

Kimble simply nodded. “I can’t order him.”

“I know, I will have to talk to Roman Cyrus.” The vampire growled.


Roman’s arms ached. Flying for so long straight hurt like hell. He stopped at an all night café, ate some food and drained several coffees and mochas before he felt some strength in his arms. He decided on getting a hotel for the night and talk to Kimble in the morning. He walked into a park and strolled down the walk and spotted a figure in black on a bench. Roman blinked, the figure wasn’t there.

“Rather nice night for a walk Mr. Cyrus.”

Roman froze and looked upwards into a tree. Stephen was sitting on a thick branch, one leg hanging freely. “So, the vampire returns to slaughter more.”

“Let’s not start this again.” Stephen sighed. “I want you to sign the papers releasing the ancient in captivity.”

“Oh really? What makes you think I would do a thing like that?”

The next thing Roman knew, Stephen was on top of him. The vampire delivered a hard punch to Roman’s face. It left a large black and purple bruise on his forehead. The shape shifter struggled, but was unable to compete with Stephen’s vampiric strength. Roman changed his right hand into a tiger paw and swung as best he could at Stephen’s face.

Stephen moved just in time. He flinched as he felt the claws scratch his face, leaving several thin lines of red on white. Stephen snarled and punched Roman again. “Don’t forget that I could have very easily of killed you by that lake five years ago.”

Stephen didn’t know why he was so angry. He felt his gut twist as the urge to tear out Roman’s throat grew. “I take it you are going to be hard ass. Let me ask you this. Why is it you are against me and why not Zero? He is a vampire but you’re not going to try and kill him.”

Roman froze for several seconds, not believing the vampire could know of Zero. “There is one big fucking difference between you two. He was given a green light by a seraphim, more than enough for me to know he is a good guy. You on the other hand…you’re an animal.”

“Look who is talking. Now you have…” Stephen grunted as Roman managed to pull a small knife from his pocket and stab him in the gut. The shape shifter wasted no time in pushing the vampire off him. He gave Stephen a swift kick in the face before transforming into a falcon and flying off to safety. He would stay in the city; he didn’t have the strength to fly home.


Stephen stood and pressed his hand to his wound. The crimson liquid oozed out for several seconds before stopping. He wiped his hand on a handkerchief and gave a signal. Cassandra emerged from a group of thick bushes and shrubs. She nuzzled Stephen as he scrawled out a note.

Zero,

Haven’t spoken in a long time, but it is Stephen. If you haven’t figured out already the Golden Simatar has undergone a bit of a change. They now know about vampires and other creatures. A gang from Emerald tried to make a small down dinner and I called in Hondur to help me kill them. Sadly, he was captured by the military and is being held. President Kimble and whoever is leading the facility where he is held both seem to think Hondur was there for good. The only problem is a man named Roman Cyrus. I think you know him, both of you are part of the Celadrin Clan. Problem is that his signature needs to appear on Hondur’s release papers, since he is apparently the top advisor to the VIB. I am wondering if you can talk to him, hopefully set his head straight. He should still be in the capitol of Clarence. If you are able to come, be wary…police units have been on high alert since this has started.

Stephen

Once again, Stephen tied the note around Cassandra’s neck and gave her instructions where to go. The dragon licked him and took off into the sky towards Tarlachia to deliver the message to Zero.

Stephen looked and made sure no one was watching before leaving the park.

In the gardens of the Atrosian Embassy, Dreban, Tarlachia

In the deep of night, while most of Tarlachia was sleeping, there was almost no sound save the chirping of crickets in their symphony of song. Very little movement too, save the swaying of the trees in a light breeze, and a rustle of leaves in the wake of a passing cat. The perfect time for a couple to spend some quality time together, away from the prying eyes of the daytime.

There were few men on earth who could claim to possess the hearts of an Elven Princess, and even fewer vampires still. In fact, elves and vampires being the sworn enemies that they were, it could be said that the relationship between the Atrosian Archduke Raphael Celadrin, and the Tarlachian Princess Aeris Celadrin Greenwood was a dichotomy that couldn't be solved by rational means. Yet, despite all logic, the immortal couple shared a love that transcended all boundaries, and while circumstances had kept them apart for long periods at times, their love had not diminished, even over more than two centuries. As it was, they had barely managed to find time to cuddle together in the shelter of the Gardens, not saying a thing. For what else needed to be said?

Unfortunately, like all good things, it had to end. And this time it ended strangely, when Aeris noticed something.

"Raph.......what's that shadow in the sky?"
"I don't know, love.......I have no idea."
"Let's see......it looks like a bird."
"Well if it is, that's one freaking BIG bird......"
"One thing's for sure, that isn't a plane, is it?"
"Well, I'm sure Sigrun would have told me if they've invented planes that flap their wings."
"So........what could it be? It's getting closer."
"Well, it looks to me it's........a DRAGON!!!!"

And with that, Zero pushed Aeris and himself onto the ground as the dragon flew overhead. The dragon circled back and landed on the ground, but it quickly reared back in nervousness as it beheld Zero already back on his feet, Zantetsuken in hand. Snorting in anger, Cassandra blew a spike of ice at Zero, which was promptly smashed into piece with one swing of Zero's great zweihander, but before any further damage could be done, Aeris stepped between the Ancient and the dragon.

"Hold it, Raph", Aeris said. "There's a letter around its neck." And much to Zero's utter surprise, Aeris started talking in a guttural language to the dragon, which replied to her in kind. After a few exchanges, Aeris tenderly walked up, and took the letter of its neck, before walking back to Zero. "How did you know this dragon, and how come you could talk to it?", Zero wondered aloud, to which Aeris quipped, "I don't know Cassandra, nor does she know me. But she says she knows Sigrun, and she says my aura is similar to his, so she knows I am related to him. As to the second question, Raph.......don't you remember? I'm a Princess of Tarlachia. Of course I would be expected to know these things."

"Right.....", Zero murmured, as he opened the letter to read it. Aeris read over his shoulder, and it was not for some minutes until they started to react again.

"Roman Cyrus, huh? Roman Cyrus' been beating Stephen around? And now he's got Hondur locked up too.....?", Zero said to himself, shaking his head. "Well, Stephen's come to the right person. Hondur doesn't belong in there. Besides, no one has to right to bash Stephen around like that. Except maybe Skadi", he added as a joke, to which Aeris frowned.

"Master Cyrus? But I knew him back from the Celadrin days, I thought he was a pretty nice guy.......", Aeris started, only to be cut off by Zero. "He can be, Aeris. But most people's got prejudices against us vampires, and it looks like Roman is one of them. Well, I can't deny Stephen now, can I? I will have to go and settle this mess. Somehow."

"And I can't come."

"No, Aeris, not this time. This isn't your fight, unlike in the 4th Emerald City Civil War, and besides, I think Tarlachia needs you more at this time. I'm going in alone."

"Alright, Raph. Be careful, you hear?"

"Will do." With that, Zero looked at Cassandra, who was also regarding him with a suspicious eye. "Alright, Cassandra, if that's your name. I don't know what you're thinking, and you probably don't trust me either. So let's just get this over and done with, alright? Fly ahead, lead me to Stephen, and I'll follow. Move along!"

With that, Cassandra took off into the air, Zero hot on her heels........

Cassandra gave a bark before turning and taking off into the sky. The dragon set her course for the Golden Simatar, being sure to catch a tailwind when ever possible to help with the massive journey. As she got closer to her home, she lowered in altitude and kept over the trees and forests. The lights of Clarence became visible and the dragon lowered herself even more.

It was nearly dawn when she led Zero to an old warehouse. The dragon walked through the half open door, followed by the Noble. She barked several times and looked around. Stephen stepped out of the darkness.

“Zero! Good to see…” The Simatarian was cut off as the dragon torpedoed him. Stephen was knocked on his back and Cassandra was licking his face and her tail wagging furiously. “Be with…I will…hold on Zero.”

It took Stephen several minutes to calm the dragon. He reached behind him and pulled out a dead rabbit and tossed it across the factory. As soon as Cassandra went for it, Stephen walked up to Zero and shook his hand.

“Good to see you. I really hope Cassandra didn’t spook you too much. She is just like a big dog as you saw. Only aggressive when threatened or one of her family is.”

Stephen then gave Zero a brief rundown from when he had first encountered Roman five years ago up to the present.

“I tracked him to a small motel called ‘The Rip Van Winkle’ before sunrise. Though he obviously knows about vampires longer than any other Simatarian besides me, he hasn’t taken the news his own country can be ‘victim’ to a vampire infestation. I have tried to convince him multiple times that I am far different than any other in my breed, but…who would trust a vampire. He trusts you because you were given the green light by an angel…so it is hard for me to compare to that. Hondur was captured as he helped me get rid of the gang from Emerald and is being held at some secret facility. Roman’s signature needs to be on the release form. He won’t listen to me…so I was hoping that he would listen to you. But, don’t judge him too harshly…he is after all Simatarian and all Simatarians spare for a few are skittish about vampires in the country.”


Paige had decided to cut her R&R short to deliver Nicole’s message to the vampire. She also carried the results of the ballistics tests. Hauk was very pleased as the test showed a positive between several of the rounds in the vampires and the bullets in the ancient’s guns. As Hauk scrounged for a release form to sign, Paige slunk off downstairs to the cell blocks.

Several minutes later, her image appeared in Hondur’s room. The image was distorted since the Ranger didn’t have the training to use it properly. But, she was able to turn off the recording equipment and turn on the microphone.

“Hello mate. Now, I ain’t part of the science staff…I’m part of the security team. Please, don’t try and bullshit this next part…Nicole and Stephen are in the Golden Simatar. I turned off the recording equipment, so you don’t have to worry. I saw her when I was in Chelam and she told me to tell you that Stephen has gone to the capitol to push for your release with the President. If you don’t believe me…she told me something only you, she, Stephen and about two or three more people would know. Stephen has a pet Tarlachian Ice Dragon named Cassandra.”

The last day had been very uneventful. No one to talk to and nothing to occupy himself with. Veronica had returned for a brief chat but he was getting to the point where he might as well not speak with the woman, she was a fool.

And so he passed into the next day, expecting yet another infuriatingly dull day. Hondur's thoughts had now strayed towards how he would break out of this prison. He knew he could probably punch his way through with sheer strength yet the security systems within the cell were a problem, he had no desire to be covered in silver nitrate.

Before he could get around to solving the issue, the hologram projector flared into life, the speaker's conveying an unfamiliar voice. Obviously this wasn't a scheduled meeting yet Hondur listened intently and with interest, finallying grinning to himself once Cassandra was mentioned.

"Thanks for this information. It is much appreciated."

It was good to hear he may be getting out of this place.

To Raphael "Zero" Celadrin, even though Stephen was the age to be an Ancient and therefore to be respected in his own right, it was something he had never been able to fully comprehend. As far as he was concerned, Stephen would always be a kid to him, and he never made a secret of that fact to the said Stephen, much to the latter's chagrin over the centuries. However, anyone who is familiar with Zero knows that he can mean business when he wants to mean business, and so it was that he didn't try to piss Stephen off this time, but merely listened seriously as Stephen told him about what had been happening away from his eyes.

"I see", Zero finally muttered, as he finished listening to what Stephen had to say. "I must say I don't like this one bit at all, kid. Bashing you up is one thing, but having Hondur locked up is another thing entirely. And I thought Roman had more sense than this, especially after meeting me. Apparently, he's much more immature than even I thought he would be. You are right, Stephen, I will have to talk to him. Would you come along with me tomorrow night?"

Paige smiled. “No problem. Here, some reading material if you are interested. I gotta go…see ya.”

Paige flicked off the hologram and put everything the way it was. She then placed a copy of Fredrick Forsyth’s The Dogs of War into a small compartment and pressed the SEND button. Several seconds later, she watched a panel slide open in the vampire’s room as the book was delivered.

The Ranger then turned and left the room. Twenty minutes later, Veronica walked into the room. She didn’t find or see anything amiss. She was to deliver the news of the positive ballistics match and ask a question about a strange death. She flicked on the hologram projector and the microphone.

“Well, I have to say I am sorry. Ballistics proved a positive on some bullets removed from vampire corpses and your spare magazines. Guess we were wrong about you being a homicidal maniac here. Doctor Hauk wanted me to ask you something. He said that one of the dead vampires died in a strange way. Bits of flesh and a boot were found in and around a pool behind a house. Considering you were captured in the factory, you couldn’t have killed the vampire. The bits of meat has shown whoever it was, was ripped apart by something. Did you have help from anyone or any where?”


Stephen listened to Zero and petted Cassandra as she wandered back over. The vampire sat on a platform and thought. He also agreed that Roman was acting a bit immature, but he had to take into account that Roman was still Simatarian and thinking like one. If he asked any of his countrymen, they would all say he should be killed and the vampire locked up should remain locked up or killed.

He looked up at Zero and nodded. “I’ll come along. I will not come in the room with you automatically, God knows what will happen if I do that. I’ll wait till you talk him down a little bit.”


Cassandra stared at the vampires, unsure what they were saying. She was still slightly hesitant with the new one. She leaned close, her nose mere inches from Zero’s face. She sniffed him and said something in her own language. She then gave the vampire a lick before moving off to form an ice bed for herself. Stephen looked at the dragon then at Zero.

“Apparently she said ‘though you drew a sword on me, you are still a family friend’. Did you pull a sword on my dragon?”

"Hey, gerroff!", Zero protested, as Cassandra splattered his face with cold spit. Wiping his face, Zero thought to himself that it was lucky Aeris wasn't here: he must look pathetic, and she would have been laughing her head off by now.

"Did I pull a sword on your dragon?", Zero asked rhetorically, laughing to himself. "Of course I pulled a sword on your dragon. Heck, Stephen, I didn't even know you had a dragon in the first place. In fact, I've never seen a dragon ever since I was a fledgling. In any case, Stephen", he continued, pointing at Stephen, "If you had a strange dragon swoop down on you in the middle of a date with your love, you'll pull your guns on it too."

Chuckling softly to himself, Zero regarded Cassandra for a while, marvelling at the sight. Indeed, he has never seen a dragon since he was a fledgling, and he had NEVER seen an ICE dragon in his life...... "It was a good thing Aeris was there, you know that? Sigrun's taught her well, I didn't even realize she knew how to speak dragon. If not for her, either of us could very well be dead by now", he shrugged. "But kid, you can tell your dragon this. The next time I pull Zantetsuken in her presence, it will be in defense of her life. I promise you this as a friend."

With that, he walked over to Cassandra, deigning to pet her on the head. "But now that I come to think of it, she ain't so bad. So, kid. When do you want me to make my move?"

Stephen chuckled to Zero’s reaction to being licked by the animal; it was more humorous than Hondur’s reaction. Stephen gave a slight nod and a shrug to Zero’s comment about a dragon swooping down in the middle of date. He watched as the Noble stared at Cassandra. He had expected a different reaction, considering Zero worked in the land the dragon came from. Still, the fact such a creature would be in a country like the Golden Simatar would surprise anyone.

“I really don’t own her completely. She is the pet of the Harte family…wine makers; their vineyard is a few hours drive outside of the city. I knew the human that got her, a man named Todd Harte. When I saw her I was stunned…can only imagine how his sister reacted. Before he passed away, he asked me to check in on her every once in a while, which I have been doing. Since my discovery, she has been flying between Tarlachia and here every so often.

Stephen made an audible growl as Zero called him ‘kid’. He hated when Zero called him that. Ever since the Third Assington Vampire War, the Noble had always called him ‘kid’, it drove Stephen nuts like when Skadi had addressed him as ‘fledgling’ on a constant basis. Though with Skadi, he was smart enough to know not to talk back, especially after what happened in Hondur’s coven seven years ago.

Stephen translated for Cassandra and her reaction was immediate. The dragon looked up at Zero and her tail immediately began to wag and she thumped her front paws on her bed, obviously happy with what the Noble said. Stephen stood and walked over to where Zero and Cassandra were and stroked her muzzle. Stephen looked at Zero.

“Zero, I would prefer you stop calling me ‘kid’, I am nearly thirteen hundred years old…if you combine my vampire and human ages. It is getting rather old. You can make your move on Roman whenever you like. You can move now…during the daylight while I have to rest; cause as I recall…I think you can move around a bit in daylight due to some medallion or something. Or you can wait till night so I can come with you. Up to you.”

Hondur nodded his appreciation as the soldier departed, leaving him with a book to read. Whilst the vampire had never really been into reading a lot of books for the sake of reading, it was now a welcome solace from the constant boredom of this Simitarian cell.

Not long after recieving the novel, Hondur noted faint footsteps coming down the hallway outside his cell. Despite the thick walls he was still able to make out the light tread of a woman and guessed it was the irritating Veronica, returned for more pointless questions and bragging about how prepared they were to deal with vampires.

Hiding the book under his pillow, Hondur sat on the bed calmly and watched as the hologram flickered into life, displaying the image of Veronica. And then it came, an apology. He hadn't been expecting the young woman to do such a thing and it was a welcome surprise.

"Of course it was a positive match. Why else would I have suggested such to you if I didn't know it would prove my story right?"

Then news of this strance death flowed through the vampire's ears. It didn't sound familiar to him at all. He knew Stephen wouldn't have done something like that, it sounded as if some beast had killed this vampire.

"I don't know what could have done this, it is odd though. By the sounds of things it probably wasn't done by a vampire, perhaps a wild animal?"

Sitting back, Zero thought a while about Stephen's words. Well, at least that part of his words which weren't about him complaining about the 'kid' label that Zero had placed upon him since the first day he met Stephen. Sometimes, the Ancient Noble just wasn't good at the art of listening, and what's worse, he was particularly notorious for being utterly disrepectful at times, even though he was of Noble stock and should have known better. Finally deciding his course of action, Zero laid back on the ground, giving no indication that he was feeling like moving at all.

"I think I'll go see him later at night. Flying that far is hard work, and I don't have the energy to confront Roman right now as it is. I'll have a little rest first before I'll go meet him", he said, before laying back totally and relaxing. A silence took the place of all speech for a few minutes, before Zero spoke again.

"I think I can understand why the rogues came here in the first place", he quipped. "If I were these children, I won't mind having a taste of Simatarian blood too. If not for the fact I'll only make things worse if I drink from someone here, and if not for the fact it would piss you off needlessly too", he sighed. "But I do feel a little peckish. Flying that far does take a lot out of you. Is there anywhere I can feed from, Stephen?"

Veronica rolled her eyes at the vampire’s first comment. Then again, she had been equally annoying to him. She then listened about the beast idea. It made some sense, but the largest animal in that part of the country were mountain lions and wolves. She was sure that a vampire, even a young one could easily defend itself against a few animals. She looked over as a button began to blink red inside the room.

“I will be back. Someone else on the line.” Veronica’s image disappeared from Hondur’s room and it went silent. Veronica pressed the intercom button. “Veronica here.”

One of the younger scientist’s voices came over the intercom. “Veronica, there is a visitor to see the vampire.”

“Okay, who is it?”

“Well…the President actually. She arrived a half hour ago. Been talking to Hauk ever since. Oh…about that beast that killed the vamp. Any luck?”

“None…but as you said…he thinks it was an animal.”

“Well, I was reading the report of a Sheriff Stoller said that he and his men found a pair of vampires behind that house. Then…he said something like a serpent rose from the pool behind the vampires.”

“A what?”

“Hear this. ‘A scaly head emerged. The head had horns on it and it was soon followed by a long neck. The scales were of a white or ice blue color. My guess is whatever the hell it was could be as large as a fighter jet.’ That is what he said.”

“He must have been drunk…sounds like….a dragon.”

There was a brief pause before Veronica and the other scientist started to laugh their heads off. This carried on for several minutes, both not realizing that it was a dragon that Stoller saw. “Okay, the President can chat.”

“That is what I intend to do. Clear things up.” A new voice said.

Veronica turned to see President Kimble standing in the room. “The holo…”

“I’d rather talk one on one. Turn off the listening device…keep the camera.”

Veronica didn’t know what to say as Kimble walked forward and opened a door at the end of the room. The door slid open and Kimble walked into a short hallway and the door slide shut. She walked several meters before putting her hand on a blue pad. It read her fingerprints and hidden door unlocked and the seamless walls of Hondur’s room broke as the door slid upwards. Kimble walked inside and the door slid shut behind her. She stared at the vampire, wondering what he was thinking; probably wondering who she was. Kimble smiled.

“I am Becky Kimble, President of the Golden Simatar. Don’t worry, we are not being recorded. I must say, you defiantly have a good friend in Stephen Malone. He visited me last night, vouching for your character.”

Kimble paused and stared at the vampire who was staring right back at her. She decided to remain silent and give the vampire time to respond.

Stephen looked at Zero. He respected the Noble, though wished he would stop calling him kid. He agreed with Zero’s decision to rest before seeing Roman, he could only guess what it was like flying all the way from Tarlachia. He was still a few centuries away before he was powerful enough to fly himself.

His face turned to complete shock as Zero commented about tasting Simatarian blood. Stephen tried to comprehend this, but then relaxed. He knew Zero was not the one to kill his prey, at least he hoped he didn’t. If he did, not only would police and VIB units be in the area within hours, military forces could be brought in. He also knew if the news of a vampire death reached Kimble, that would destroy any chance of Hondur being let go and Stephen and Nicole would be actively hunted by Simatarian agents.

Stephen looked at Zero. “When I was younger, I used to hunt this area. There should be a few bums around…but if you are not in the mood for foul tasting blood…maybe a morning jogger or two.”

Stephen’s voice then took a very serious and dark tone, unlike anything Zero had heard before. Stephen’s cobalt blue eyes also turned colder than the Artic. “Under no circumstances will you kill your prey…half drain them wipe their memory of you. It would be like they fainted or something like that. If a dead human is discovered and linked to vampires you would have just signed Hondur’s death warrant. He will immediately be executed or he will be turned over the Assingtonian VP and they will torture him brutally before killing him. Nicole and I will be hunted until we are dead or in custody by the government. I do not want that to happen Zero.”

Stephen’s eyes and voice then returned to normal. “I hope you understand.”

Hondur waited patiently as Veronica disappeared and left him within his own thoughts for a moment. It took him some time to realise it, yet once he reviewed the information Hondur figured he knew just what did finish of that vampire. It certainly was a wild beast, not native and definitely more than a handful. Cassandra.

The vampire smiled slightly himself as he thought of the shock the unfortunate vampire would have gone through after being confronted by a Tarlachian Ice Dragon. It had certainly been an interesting experience when he'd layed eyes upon the scaled creature.

After several minutes of silence, Hondur was startled slightly upon hearing the movement of gears and other mechanics, just outside his cell. Within seconds his guess was confirmed as a door slid open out of nowhere, revealing an aging woman before him. Hondur watched her with a keen gaze, she wasn't a scientist and he doubted she was military.

Now this hadn't been expected at all. Before him was the President of The Golden Simatar, within a few paces of him. He could kill her right now and no one could stop him. Of course that would not be advisable. Finally a smile found the ancient vampire's face as Stephen's name was mentioned.

"I do indeed. Stephen is a good man and I am lucky to count him as a friend. So Mrs. President, what brings you to my current residence?"

Ask a human if they would stand in a room with a vampire, even with telling the human the room has the latest in security devices; the human would probably still say no. Kimble on the other hand figured after weathering a near civil war and battling for five years to get the facility and the VIB up and running; everything else in life spare for raising her daughter would be a cakewalk. Also that Stephen had vouched for him weighted heavily. Kimble liked the Simatarian vampire, but a still nervous nation it would be next to impossible to allow him to come in and live in peace. Still, she was trying to figure out a way to do that.

Stephen vouching and the security made her feel and know the vampire would not make a move on her.

“Well, I would like to apologize for wrongly imprisoning you. Still, I hope you can see it from our view of that now with the incident in Auburn that the view most of the country is starting to have is that all vampires are murderous psychopaths…no offense. There is also the subject of you.

“Releasing you is defiantly going to stir up a hornets nest because everyone is going to fear a vampire running loose in this country. But, Stephen has told me that his dragon can take you home.” Kimble said the last part with a bit of a confused look. Vampires, werewolves, dragons there seemed to be something new popping up every day. “But, we cannot release you until we have the signature of the man who captured you. Needless to say he holds a bit of a grudge against vampires considering Stephen nearly killed him.”

Kimble paused and thought for a second. “Have you ever known Stephen to kill a human for food? And do you kill you prey and does the rest of your species? This is simply for future reference. I still want to push for vampire citizenship which would affect Stephen and Nicole…dunno if I would carry it farther than that. I also wish to know if the majority of vampires kill their prey, so I know what I could be looking at if more vampires come to this country.”

Hondur remained completely calm and listened intently as Kimble apologised for their mistake. It was good to hear that, it was also good to know this nation was in the hands of a woman that could admit when they had done wrong. Things were certainly looking better.

Hondur could only nod as Kimble explained their reasons.

"Of course. Such a situation requires delicate handling and I realise such, hence my cooperation."

Now he finally understood. The only thing keeping here was red tape. After earning some sort of trust from these people, it all depended upon the will of some anti-vampire fanatic.

"Do you think it would be possible for me to speak with this man? I never did get to ask him how one turns into a tiger..."

Hondur didn't need to ponder the answers to Kimble's questions at all. Most people never realised that vampires were merely different humans, just because one was a vampire, doesn't mean they were killers. Of course the thirst can lead to the death of a victim, yet they vampire doesn't have to kill.

"I've never known Stephen to kill his prey. He insists on not doing it. I don't hold such ideals myself, yet that is my choice. All vampires make the choice whether they will kill their prey or not. One does not simply kill because one is a vampire, it depends upon their own moral standing I guess. Whilst most in Assington kill their prey, it is more to avoid them reporting to the VP rather than having an extreme desire to do so. As a vampire, you are still the same person you were as a human. It is the world around us that changes who we are."

Calmly, Zero listened as Stephen's tone took a dangerous turn, warning him against killing anyone. It was a time to be serious, yet it still didn't seem to get into the Noble's head, as he chuckled silently to himself. Is it possible? Was this Stephen Malone really this dense? But then again, perhaps he was just ignorant, Zero surmised.

Only when Stephen had finished ranting, did Zero deign to look at him again. Then, he stuck out a condescending finger, and wagged it at Stephen. "Stephen, Stephen, Stephen", Zero said with all the resigned air of a jaded teacher to a somewhat slow student. "Haven't you learned anything about the Nobles, after knowing me for so long? You should know that in my homeland, my kind are the aristocrats of the country. How do you think the people of Atros would have accepted that fact, if we killed them whenever we felt like it?"

With that, he sat up, and continued lecturing. "We Nobles don't ever kill for blood unless absolutely necessary, Stephen. It's in our upbringing. You've just wasted a lot of your breath lecturing me on something I already know. Besides, it's not like I'm starving or anything."

With that, he laid back down. "But a morning jogger? Perhaps. I should choose one of those beautiful young things though. I've found that it's easier for them to pass it off as a consensual encounter of the sexual kind when they find themselves half-naked in the bushes......."

Kimble smiled at the vampire’s cooperation and his carefully chosen words. This guy should consider a career in politics. A lot smarter than most politician. Kimble did not know that the vampire in front of her had once been a politician. She shook her head with the vampire’s comment about talking to Roman.

“No need, Stephen is in Clarence…hopefully talking. He did nearly kill the man once…but spared his life. So…I hope they act like mature adults and not go for each other’s throats.”

She nodded to the vampire’s explanation about vampires and their feeding habits. Kimble felt slightly better knowing that other vampires besides Stephen did not kill their prey. Though, still many more did. Kimble remembered that she had given Stephen a few bonuses for being helpful during the first Simatarian vampire crisis, now she pondered if she should do the same for this one.

“I am sure since you were in Auburn you noticed our new guns. Heat sensor operated…meant to track whatever body heat you vampires put out. We are shipping a few hundred units over to Assington as part of a ‘thank you’ for training our soldiers and police. So, be careful when you get back to whatever part of Assington you are from. I would also like to know something about you. What is your name? If you won’t tell me that…at least tell me what you did before you were a vampire. It will clear one or two things up.”

Stephen listened intently to Zero. He knew little about the Noble specifics as in terms of feeding. He disliked Zero’s tone of his lecture, it made him feel like Zero was looking down his nose at the far younger vampire. He was very tempted to order Cassandra to blast the Noble with a frost.

“In terms of immortality I don’t think about 265 years is a long time Zero, but I see your point.”

Stephen’s face began a slow expansion as he looked in shock at the Noble. His mouth moved slightly and he blinked.

“You twisted…”

Stephen’s voice halted after that, unable to comprehend what Zero had said. His method of seducing, biting, drinking, wiping memory clean had served him well. What the Noble was talking about was absurd.

“Zero, have you ever thought of that some pervert might come along, find your half naked victim and decide to rape them? Or they could get arrested for indecent exposure. I’d rather you just wipe their memory."

Hondur nodded at the information regarding Stephen and Roman. He knew Stephen would attempt to do things in a less violent manner if he could, yet he doubted this Roman character would accept such.

Again he nodded as she mentioned their new toys. It was certainly a good idea when it came to fighting vampires and he would have to be on the look out, the VP would love to set them up all over the nation if they had the chance.

Finally the issue arose again. He knew it would, being the curious humans that they were. Whilst Hondur had come to appreciate the sense that some of these humans possessed, such as Hauk and Kimble, there were also many others out there that he believed shouldn't know anything.

"Well Mrs. President. You have to understand that I do not give out my name lightly. If the VP were to get that information, I would have serious problems. Yet since I believe you are an honourable woman, I am willing to tell you."

Hondur took a moment to collect himself before continuing.

"My name is Hondur. I was a politician over one thousand years ago. If you could keep that information to yourself and Hauk, I would appreciate it. I believe there are many out there that shouldn't be trusted with such information."

Kimble nodded in agreement that Hondur would probably have a problem or two with the VP if they learned his name. She was surprised to hear he had been a politician once. Spare for a few, all the ones Kimble knew had no idea about battle or conflict. She wondered if Hondur had experience with battle before he became a vampire. Maybe fought of a vampire who decided to have him for dinner; though he obviously did not manage to fight off the one who turned him.

“Pleasure to meet you Hondur. You don’t have to worry about a thing; your name will not go past me or Hauk.”

Before she could talk, there was a click and Veronica’s image appeared in the room. “Sorry to disturb you Mrs. President, but your daughter’s principal is calling. We got it via a redirect from the White House.”

Kimble cringed and nodded. She looked over at Hondur. “Well, let’s hope for the best.”

With that Kimble exited the room the way she came and the vampire was sealed back in. Veronica’s image disappeared, leaving the ancient completely alone. Through his sensitive hearing, he could barely hear Kimble yelling on the telephone.


The day passed slowly and when the sun finally disappeared from the skies, the night life in Clarence began. Teenagers and young adults filled night clubs and the stresses of the day disappeared. Cassandra opened her eyes at the sound of a local band concert several blocks away. The dragon slowly stood and stretched. She gave a yawn before looking down at the sleeping form of Stephen.

Bringing her head down, the dragon gently nudged him; Stephen moaned and rolled over. Cassandra poked him with her muzzle again and received the same reaction. Fed up, she walked in front of him and gently breathed some snow and ice on his face. She got the reaction she had been wanting.

Stephen jolted awake and had a pistol in hand. Cassandra leaned down and started to lick his face and wag her tail; she was quiet happy that one of her family was up. Stephen sighed and scratched the dragon behind her left horn, one of her sweet spots. The back right leg danced with joy as Stephen scratched. After a few minutes, Stephen saw Zero resting a few meters away. Deciding it was best to spare Zero an icy wake up, Stephen simply called out.

“Wake up Zero. Time to talk to Roman and hopefully get Hondur out of prison.”

With a snort, Zero was woken up by Stephen's words, and sat up, disgruntled. There wasn't much time to rest, and moreover, he was still feeling somewhat peckish due to the fact that he had yet to feed. The night before, Zero had gotten fed up of Stephen's human failings, and had decided to just go to sleep without feeding. He was beginning to regret that choice though, even though he had done it to stop Stephen's bellyaching.

Nevertheless, there was still something to be done tonight.

"Alright, kid, let's go", Zero yawned, totally forgetting what Stephen had told him last night about being called "kid".

Roman had spent the day trying to get an appointment with Kimble and failed due to the fact she had visited Hondur. He was now sitting in a café across the table from him was Martin Jonick. Jonick sipped a cup of espresso and stared at Roman. The old man liked Roman, felt the guy had potential, but let his emotions get in the way or overrule better judgment.

“So you really believe that this vampire is up to no good?” Jonick asked.

“Mr. Jonick, I think you will find that finding a good vampire is one in a few trillion. I have traveled the world, only known one good vampire the others I have encountered have tried to make dinner of me.”

“Okay…so what is your opinion of Malone? You don’t think that saving your life, the lives of all those men qualify as an act of kindness?”

“My father told me once, long ago that even an evil person can do some kind things and still be a scumbag. If it had been my choice Malone would still be locked away, so people wouldn’t have to be worried about being jumped and being bitten.”

Jonick shrugged. “I don’t think you have to worry about people turning from him biting them…if people did…we would have noticed vampires far sooner. Roman, sign the damn paper and let this vampire go. He will be escorted out of the country.”

“What about Malone?”

“IBI and VIB are going full scale search for him.” Jonick lied; Roman did not pick up on this thankfully. “Why won’t you sign them?”

“This vampire is centuries old. Think of the thousands of people he has murdered then and now. The families that he has torn apart. They deserve justice and I think he should be turned over to the VP of Assington. How would you feel if you were an only child with a single parent and you had knock at your door to find a VP officer telling you your mom or dad was murdered? What about all the wives he has widowed or husbands made widowers.”

Jonick sighed. “You do have a point there.”

Roman looked at his watch and put a twenty down on the table. “That should cover everything. I’ll see you later.”


Stephen observed Roman walking through the park, no one else was around thankfully. He sat up in a tree and watched the shap shifter slowly move down the path. Stephen looked down at Zero sitting a few branches below him.

“Your time to shine. I’ll wait here and come down if he gets settled.”

It had been a long time since Zero saw Roman, and yet the Noble could still recognize the face of his old Celadrin comrade. The same comrade who had just knocked two of his closest friends around for the past few years, and even now has Hondur locked up. In his heart, he wondered what he would have to say to Roman, considering he never really knew him all that well in the first place. Besides, it really had been a long time since they talked, and there's really no telling how Roman would react. Nevertheless, he could do nothing else, for that was the only way he could regain Hondur his freedom.

"Wait for my good news, kid", Zero muttered, before he dropped from the branch, out of sight.......

_________________________________________________________________

As Roman strolled along the park, he sensed something wrong in the air. Looking around, he wondered what it could be, yet it was enough to make him prepare himself for the worst. Could it be Stephen Malone come to meet him again, and perhaps out for revenge this time? Or perhaps it was one of those other vampires........

But what happened next was a downright surprise. More by sound than by sight, Roman sensed that there was something big flying in the air, and it was heading towards him. He reacted just in time to duck a gigantic flying sword which whizzed right past his head, and proceeded to slash right through the trunk of a tree. Now this was something Roman didn't expect, yet it didn't end there as the gigantic blade suddenly seemed to change course in mid-flight, and turned back in an arc. As it did so, it slashed cleanly through more trees, and Roman had to dodge the blade from decapitating him again as it flew back the way it came. He had managed to dodge the blades, but now the trees surrounding him were falling, and they were about to come crashing down on him.

With a flurry of quick footwork, Roman dodged one tree after another as they fell, hitting the ground in a succession of thumps that shook the ground as if from an earthquake. However, doing so was easy for Roman, and he was already clear by the time the last tree slammed into the ground, just moments where he just was. As he looked in the direction in which the giant flying sword had gone, he glimpsed a figure in the shadows, features indistinguishable. With a raise of his arm, the figure caught the flying blade, and as he placed it on his shoulder, the figure floated out of the shadows, and landed on the pile of trees. It was only then that the Simatarian could make out the face of someone he had not seen in a long time. Raphael Celadrin, also known as "Zero".

"I hope you don't mind my grand entrance", Zero quipped, pointing at the trees he was standing on. "I'm just in this ostentatious mood lately. So Roman, care to catch up on old times?"

Roman had relaxed slightly as he walked through the park. He didn’t have to worry about anybody trying to mug him, but tonight something different would come. He turned and arched an eyebrow at the thing coming towards him before dodging. He began to sweat as the sword continued its hacking and slashing through the trees, controlled by someone unknown. His glasses were knocked off and were crushed under the first tree to fall.

He continued to jump and dodge, if he had time and the space he would have transformed into a bird to escape, but no such luck. As the last tree fell, Roman instantly began looking for the culprit. As the figure emerged, his hand went to his P99 on his waist. When Roman recognized Zero, he stood there for several minutes, just blinking and gawking. It was indeed a surprise to see him.

Roman looked down at the pile of trees Zero stood on then up at the vampire.

“You should consider becoming a lumberjack, though hacking down half the trees in the park will draw attention. I am doing pretty well. How about yourself? I believe there is far more to you being here than just saying hello. Is Liam in trouble or need my aid?”

"I'm good, Roman, thanks. And to your questions, no and no", Zero replied, as he floated down to where Roman was standing. "Liam isn't in trouble, nor does he need any aid. We're Celadrins, Roman, but tonight, it's just between you and me. Liam doesn't know we're here.......at least I think he doesn't, anyway. You never know about angels, for all you know they could be omniscient, and I know for sure as hell that Liam's annoyingly omniscient at times."

With that, he walked alongside Roman, keeping pace with him while balancing Zantetsuken on his shoulder.

"As to why I'm here.......", Zero started again, delaying just a little. "Well I've heard you've had a little bit of a vampire problem in the country lately. And I've heard you've managed to lock an Ancient up by some means I don't know about. Honestly, Roman, I'm impressed by that. So Roman, what's this I've heard about you and a certain Stephen Malone these days, huh? I've heard you and him have been getting a grudge match going on for some years now."

Roman gave a nod as he heard the Clan’s leader was not in trouble nor need aid. He was not surprised that Zero knew about the country learning about vampires in the past seven years. While some nations openly laughed in their faces, thankfully long time allies Tarlachia and Assington agreed to help with getting the virgin nation set.

At the mention of the Ancient, Roman stopped dead in his tracks. He was not as bothered with Zero knowing that the name of the Simatarian vampire was named Stephen Malone; the fact that Zero knew that he knew that he and Stephen had a history stopped him. Roman stared at Zero suspiciously.

“How do you know this Zero? Only the President and a few others in high places know what you just said. Does Atros have spies in this country? Or have you come by this information another way?”

"Does Atros have spies in the Golden Simatar? Perhaps, perhaps not", Zero lazily said, swinging the Zantetsuken casually as if it were no more than a toy. "I wouldn't know. I am not in charge of the Atros Intelligence Bureau, so I know as much as you do about that. But Roman, you are right about the latter point. I did come by my information by another way."

Suddenly, Roman was forced to duck far away from Zero, or to be more specific, he had to duck away from a sudden swing by the Zantetsuken towards his head, to avoid getting decaptitated. Shocked, Roman stared at Zero, who was now striding towards his Celadrin comrade-in-arms, but this time with an ill intent. The menacing zweihander was poised in Zero's hands, ready to cut down with another lethal blow if need be.

"What is the meaning of this!?", Roman declared of Zero. And perhaps he was not prepared for what Zero had to say next.

"Like I said just now, Roman, this has nothing to do with the Celadrin Clan. It's now personal between you and me", the Ancient Noble muttered such that only Roman could hear. "I think it's time you know something. Stephen Malone is one individual I count amongst my circle of friends, and you've been beating him more than once. And that Ancient you have locked behind bars, with only your signature left as the key to free him? That's another one I count as my friend, Roman. So, you have pissed me off twice in a row already."

With that, he swung at Roman again, who was forced to jump atop a tree to avoid the incoming blow. But immediately he had to jump off again when the great Zantetsuken hewed right through the trunk, causing the tree to shudder as it slowly fell to the ground. Zero didn't stop there though, as he continued stalking after Roman.

"So Roman, one question I want to ask you. Why?"

Roman continued to backpedal, surprised that Zero was now after him. The Simatarian got the shock of his life when he learned that Stephen Malone was friends with Zero. He did not have the time to ask the Noble any questions as the dodged another swing of the vampire’s sword. He received another and probably greater shock when he heard the Ancient locked away was another friend of Zero’s.

When Roman got down from the tree, he tripped over branches and continued to move backwards on the ground.

“Zero, we are both mature adults. There is no need to be swinging that toothpick around.”

Roman rolled on the ground as Zero swung the sword in the air and a few branches came crashing down to the ground. He wanted to pull out his P99 and threaten Zero, but he knew it would escalate into more violence. Roman began to talk, his eyes firmly fixed with Zero, but he was always ready to dodge another sword blow.

“Zero, I think you should try to understand things from my perspective okay? This country has never had any experience with vampires before, as soon as it was confirmed vampires were real…this country nearly went into civil war after some men tried to kill the President’s kid because of Malone. Now yet again we had a gang from Assington deciding to make dinner out of a town and the force of soldiers sent there suffered over fifty percent casualties. Now, with those two combined this nation really has not had a good introduction to vampires.”

Roman managed to move around a small clump of bushes and when Zero came around, he found four Romans on the ground.

“Zero, I am not a big fan of getting gutted. You must understand it from someone like me who is far more human. The people don’t like the idea of a vampire running around and they certainly don’t like the idea of a vampire responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths in his own country being let go. Certainly you must see that I am trying to do a service to my country by keeping vampires out and keeping this place stable. If there was battle over a single vampire…imagine what would happen if a whole bunch came into town. A message must be sent violent vampires will not be tolerated here.”

"A message must be sent, you say? Fuck you, Roman Cyrus Celadrin!", Zero roared, as he swung the Zantetsuken around once more, clipping yet another unlucky tree in the process. With a great heave, Zero whirled around with sword in hand, and threw the great zweihander in the air. As had happened the last time round, the Zantetsuken spun in a great arc in the air, boomeranging around so that its path coincided with the four Romans that Zero saw. Sparks flew in the air as the great blade slashed into more trees, yet its course did not change as it headed straight for the rightmost Roman, which ducked out of the way. Ditto for the second, third, and then the last Roman, as the Zantetsuken boomeranged back to Zero's hands.

With a roar of splintering noises, all of the trees around the "Romans" suddenly started to collapse as one, and for all their size, they fell pretty rapidly. Dust floated up to choke the air as the trees crashed one after another into the ground, all piling one on top of another on where the "Romans" had been. But the actual Roman was still alive, although backtracking even more frantically from the scene and coughing all the while from the dust. But it didn't end there, not by far. Like a wraith arising out of the darkness, the silhouetted form of Zero floated over the fallen trees, and Zero's voice boomed out of the dusty fog.

"Let me tell you a few things here, Roman", Zero said, as he still persisted in swinging the heavy zweihander about. "Stephen Malone is not the killer you think he is. I personally vouch for his character. I have known him for a long time, much more than you have, Roman Cyrus, and if there is anything I can tell you, it is that Stephen has never killed anybody for food ever since he learned that he didn't have to in order to survive. You have wronged him terribly."

A few more trees collapsed behind Zero as he made his inexorable assault towards the Simatarian.

"Now let me tell you something else about the Ancient you have locked up. I admire your sense of service to your country, Roman, but this is something you must know, or you'll make the wrong decision. That Ancient you have locked up there is an influential figure in Assington, and he holds great sway over the vampire populations in his homeland. If it were not for his existence, your country would be facing a flood of vampires looking to get their share of la buffet a la Simatarion, instead of the trickle you just recently had to deal with! Do you honestly think keeping him locked up here is going to do you any good? If he stays away from Assington too long, pretty soon you'll have that flood comin', and you won't be able to handle it!" Which was not technically true, considering there was still Skadi, but the Lady of Emerald City was as unpredictable as they come, and for all Zero knew, She could very well be the one leading the flood, if only to save her fledgling Hondur. "I know him well as a friend, Roman. He has always kept the fledglings of Assington in check, and just because a trickle slipped past his fingers doesn't mean he should be punished for it."

"Now, Roman, I give you a choice. One, you release my friend, and he will go back to ensure no more vampires come to the Golden Simatar save me, and Stephen if he feels like it. In turn, I will round up what vampires are left in the Golden Simatar and deal with them personally. Or two, you don't release my friend, and I kill you right here. Then I'll smash into wherever you're holding my friend, and I'll go on a killing spree if that is what it takes to free him. Which would cause one heck of an international incident, but that's just the side effects. And trust me, you don't want to know what the main effects really are."

A few more trees collapsed behind the rampaging Zero, and Roman had to duck as a severed tree branch came flying his way, missing him by inches.

"So what's your choice, Roman?"

Roman was now scared of Zero. He had never imagined that the Noble could generate such power or anger. He knew his options were being cut away as quickly as Zero hacked through the trees and bushes. With the options he had, the first one was most obviously the good choice. But Roman was not the one to shrink away, but this time it appeared he would have to. As Zero got closer a new form suddenly jumped between them. Stephen.

The young vampire had sat in a state of shock as Zero went about acting like a lumberjack and a psychopath. Finally, he had made up his mind to jump into the fray and try his best to save Roman. Stephen held up his hand for Zero to stop and thankfully the Noble did. Stephen walked over and knelt next to Roman.

“I suggest that you release our friend. I swear to you again I have not killed a single human for food since my first year as a vampire. Roman…Zero has a huge advance on me in terms of vampiric age and I would only be able to hold him off for a minute or two before he hacks you. The vampire you have imprisoned is a fledgling of one of the original ancients of my breed. Now, she had a tendency to go after anyone who imprisons her fledgling or people she thinks wronged her. She has a short temper and can wipe out this whole city in a few hours. Now, if she thinks that her fledgling has been gone for an abnormal period…good chance she will come looking. Considering you couldn’t defeat me…you stand no chance against her.”

Roman nodded. Stephen’s tone and looked, coupled with Zero’s words and his version of modern American diplomacy; helped him make up his mind. “How will he return to Assington?”

A snort above him made Roman turn his neck upwards. He was staring a pair of massive pair of light blue eyes. As he continued upwards, he spied a pair of white horns on the head. He came back down to the eyes, then down the snout of the animal to the nose. The neck thing he knew was a small, dog like bark. Roman blinked.

“Hello again.” He said to Cassandra.

“It looks like you two have met.”

“She nearly tried to eat me when I was in bird form once."

“I suggest you get moving the before she recognizes you. She’ll be taking him home.”

Roman gently maneuvered from under the dragon and stood up. He gave one last look at Zero, still wondering if the Noble would still attack him. Giving a faint smile to the other Celadrin, Roman transformed into a hawk and headed off north.

Stephen stood and petted Cassandra’s head and looked over at Zero and the devastation the Noble had caused.

“Zero, I suggest when you head back to Tarlachia you take anger management classes. You defiantly…for lack of a better word probably need more self control. Now that Roman is going off to release Hondur, lets head north to Chelam…we can meet him there.”

Stephen mounted Cassandra. “You wanna ride on her or are you going to fly yourself?”

Now cold and calm, Zero stood motionless with Zantetsuken on his shoulder, looking in the wake of Roman's flight. Slowly looking around to where Stephen was talking to him, he gave the younger Simatarian vampire a cock of the eyebrow that would make The Rock proud. As Stephen watched, a shudder seemed to ripple through Zero's body, as if he was trying to keep himself from laughing outright. It was all in vain though, as Zero was soon doubled over, laughing to himself much to Stephen's chagrin.

"Stephen, seriously, did you believe I was really as mad as I looked?", he asked the younger vampire rhetorically, laughing to himself all the while. "I knew what I was doing all this while, actually. It's all about scaring the living shit out of Roman, you know. I figured unless otherwise, there was no way Roman's going to agree easily to this. Suffice it to say I took the easy way out by scaring him into agreeing."

With a casual swing of his great blade, Zero hooked it back onto the back of his trenchcoat. "I really should consider a career in Broadway sometime. Anyway, I'm flying by myself. So you'll lead, and I'll follow."

Stephen stared at Zero from the back of the dragon, a very confused look plastered on his face. The younger vampire shook his head and waved his hand dismissively at Cassandra, who was curious about the whole affair.

“What is funny?” She asked.

“Nothing that you would understand.” Stephen replied in her language. He then switched to English for Zero. “Right then…let’s get going.”

Stephen gave Cassandra the word and the dragon lifted off into the sky with the Noble following. No humans had their heads looking upwards and no one saw the odd things flying northward. Several hours later, Stephen saw the lights of Chelam quickly approaching. He directed Cassandra toward an abandoned warehouse and she set down. Stephen slid off the Cassandra’s back as Zero landed next to him.

Stephen led Zero towards the warehouse and as they neared it, a female figure appeared from the darkness. The woman ran towards them and jumped into Stephen’s arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. She gave him a kiss and held Stephen for nearly a minute before slipping down. She was obviously a vampire, though very young. She looked at Zero, slightly embarrassed. Stephen looked at Zero.

“Zero, this is Nicole.” There was a brief pause as Stephen and Zero stared at each other, he knew then that Zero had probably faded in and out of his explanation of how his country found out about vampires. “Nicole is my fledgling…my second fledgling.”


Inside Hondur’s cell, there was a crackling as the hologram of Veronica came to life. She smiled pleasantly at the vampire.

“Good news for you, you will be released soon. Your things will be returned to you. But, the question remains of how you will get home.”

Hondur had been sprawled across his bed in a light sleep when the holoprojector had flared to life, immediately causing him to sit upright and look around the room, half expecting some sort of threat until he remembered exactly where he was.

Turning his gaze upon the image of Veronica, Hondur waited patiently until she explained the situation, allowing a slight smile to spread across the vampire's face.

"That is good news. I suppose there are a number of ways I can leave. I could fly myself or get a plane. Or a friend could arrange a subtle way of leaving the nation."

"She is your WHAT?!", Zero exclaimed as Stephen told him that Nicole was his second fledgling. Indeed, it was as Stephen had thought, as Zero tended to have selective memory, filtering out information which seems useless to him at the moment. Thus it was right now that it still came as something of a shock, and he felt not a small amount of indignation at that.

"Stephen, Stephen.......there is a reason why the Lady Skadi and the Royal Court of Atros share the same views on siring, you know", he sighed. "I would have thought one Viannor is enough for you, but no, you had to sire another. And honestly I have no idea why. These......children, are more trouble than they're worth, and they have an appetite we can't afford. And now you have two.......honestly."

With that, he looked at Nicole keenly, examining her closely as if trying to find something inside her. "Well, kid. Whoever she is, she had better be worth all the trouble you're bringing to yourself. Jeez, Aeris is no fledgling, and there's Sigrun and Arleni to watch over her, yet she's enough trouble already. Good luck, if I may say that."

Stephen was not surprised that Zero was shocked at him siring another. He stood there quietly; arm wrapped around Nicole and as he listened gave an order to Cassandra and the animal lifted off. He held onto Nicole tightly and sensed that she wanted to strike the Noble for the last part that he had said.

“Easy Nicole.” Stephen gently told her.

“Alright, is he always like this? Calling you ‘kid’ and all?”

“Yeah.” Then he switched to regular speech. “Zero, can I have a word in private?”

Stephen led the Noble away from Nicole and into the warehouse. Stephen watched as Nicole went in another way before looking at Zero.

“I understand you are a bit shocked Zero…but what the hell was that?! I sired Viannor to save her life, if I had just killed the gang attacking her and left she would have died before she ever reached a hospital if the VP found her. The reason why I did that is because I still cling to my morals from my human days. Why do you think I don’t kill my prey and feed more and more on my bloodstone?”

Stephen had not seen Viannor since the Fourth Assington Vampire War; he always wondered what happened to her. He figured she had gone back to Starblaydia and continued with her life. He was intending to go look for her a few years ago, but getting captured by the Simatarian government put a hold on his plans.

“I sired Nicole for totally different reason than Viannor. Another thing Zero, I am not part of your Royal Court, I am not Skadi’s fledgling…I am not anyone’s fledgling…I am a bastard in the vampire community. I live my life the way I choose Zero. Alright? I know Skadi probably doesn’t care enough to give me a bloody nose.”

Stephen paused for several seconds before continuing. “If you have something to say like that, you say it in private to me. Or you say it to me telepathically. You had no right to say what you said in front of her. I suggest you pull your head out of your ass and listen, you might learn something.”


The door to Hondur’s cell opened and Hauk entered the room and tossed the vampire his things.

“Come on, time to get you out of here.”

Hauk led the vampire out of the cell and through the facility. He decided to take the elevator, his old bones would not carry him up nearly a dozen flights of stairs to the surface. He relaxed in the elevator and waited calmly for the surface ring. A minute later, the doors slid open and Hondur entered the cool night for the first time in a few days.

Soldiers and other humans were out and about, some enjoying a game of volleyball while others read and relaxed. Some turned eyes to Hondur, G36 assault rifles were in easy reach of the soldiers, but they didn’t go for them. Paige smiled and winked at Hondur, he would not be touched. Then, a young scientist looked up in the sky.

“Holy fuck!”

Other people cried out as the thing descended. The Simatarians began scrambling for cover as Cassandra set down on the ground. She looked around at the humans and gave a few dog-like barks; instead of getting a ‘oh what a cute dragon’ reaction, she got ‘oh my fucking God stay down’ reaction.

Cassandra turned and spotted Hondur. The dragon trotted calmly up to the Ancient and gave him an icy lick on his face, her tail wagging furiously. She gave some barking and growling sounds that sounded very, very vaguely like Stephen. She motioned with her head in the direction of Chelam before turning back to Hondur and started nuzzling him. Hauk had backed off from Hondur as the dragon approached, he looked at the thing with terrified eyes.

“What in the hell is that thing?”

Hondur stood immediately as the door opened and Hauk entered his cell. Finally he would get out of here, away from the sterile boredom and irritating young scientists. With his gear returned, Hondur didn't hesitate in replacing all his weapons and the few other items within his robes before flashing Hauk a grin.

"Let's get out of here."

The trip to the surface was silent, the anticipation obviously building up within the ancient vampire. Finally the elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the night sky, cool air blowing across Hondur's face. The vampire produced a slight grin, revealing his razor sharp fangs.

"It's good to be free once again..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the attention of everyone was drawn to a figure in the sky. Immediately Hondur realised what it was and didn't appear anywhere near as disturbed compared to the others.

Hondur merely grinned even wider as he recognised Cassandra's features and placed a hand upon the side of her head as she approached, scratching the horse sized dragon behind the ear.

"This is a dragon. I had a bit of a start when I first encountered her as well."

Hondur listened a moment, gaining a slight idea of what she was trying to say.

"It seems she will be taking me out of here..."

Cassandra’s eyes widened for a few seconds as Hondur began to scratch. There was a loud thump as the rest of the animal’s body sagged on the ground while its head stayed up near the vampire. Hondur had obviously hit a sweet spot by this and by the Cassandra's back left leg twitched happily. She began to make a series of chirps and squeals in pleasure and the tail continued to wag.

During this, the humans slowly moved forward, all of them in shock at what they were seeing before them. A real honest to God dragon was lying a few feet away getting a scratch behind the ears from a vampire. Several long minutes passed, the only thing that was making noise was Cassandra from Hondur’s scratching.

Hauk was the first human to react. “It…it is just a dog. Just a big scaly dog.”

There were instant murmurs from the human crowd, none could believe what they were seeing. If a dragon existed, what other kinds of strange animals existed out in the world. Finally, after Cassandra was satisfied, she stood. The dragon shifted herself to let Hondur climb on her back. She began barking at the humans for them to stand back. Hauk moved forward and smiled at Hondur.

“Enjoy your trip, hopefully this country will be a bit more tolerant of vampires.”

It was then Cassandra rocketed into the air, nearly tossing Hondur off her. She set a course northward, then, once they were out of sight of the humans swung south again and headed back towards Stephen.

Hondur noddded as Hauk made a comment about Cassandra's nature. The dragon was just like a dog and that's why he took to her so kindly, she almost reminded him of his dog back when he was a child, it had been so big people called it a horse and Cassandra literally was about the size of a horse.

"She's certainly an interesting companion."

Now seated upon Cassandra, Hondur looked down at Hauk and gave him a nod.

"I wouldn't be too sure of it doctor, people don't tend to let go of their predjudices easily. Once upon a time, I was one of them."

With that Cassandra rocketed into the air, almost causing Hondur to fall off as she sped away from the human base and into the night sky. Hondur held on tight as Cassandra changed her direction and made her way towards where Stephen really was. She was indeed a smart creature.

It was good to be free. Hondur would keep in mind that The Golden Simitar is not a good holiday destination.

Stephen had spoken in a tone that was calculated not to make Zero happy. And it showed on the Noble Ancient's face, as his expression darkened and he scowled at the younger Simatarian.

"Have you finished your say yet?", he asked in a menacing voice. "Then perhaps it's time you heard my say."

With that, Stephen suddenly found himself slammed against a wall, held up by his neck. Choking, he tried to struggle against Zero's far superior strength, but couldn't do anything to make the older vampire let go. Grim-faced, Zero watched as Stephen continued to choke and struggle against his hand, before dropping him abruptly onto the ground.

"You, Stephen Malone", Zero said, poking his finger in Stephen's chest, "have never been a fledgling. Thus, you never knew what it was like to suffer the maddening hunger that strikes you every night, no matter how much you drink! You never knew what it was like to kill every night just to quench your thirst, even as your heart rails against such violence perpetrated by yourself. You never knew what it was like to try and force yourself not to kill anyone, only to suffer immeasurable pain! All you have ever known was a muted version of the suffering that all of us Ancients suffered when we were fledglings ourselves."

"And that, Stephen, is why there is none among us Ancients who would tolerate the siring of a fledgling! Not only because of the fact that we cannot even start to think about inflicting that kind of agony on others", he continued, getting more passionate by the moment, "But also because fledglings mean trouble for us vampires as a whole in this sensitive day and age! Haven't you learned anything from this la buffet a la Simatarion fiasco by now? It's fledglings who has invaded your country - because they want their share of blood. It's fledglings that that damnable Svartel resorted to - because they're the most bloodthirsty troopers he could hope for. Stephen, in this sensitive time and age, fledglings are what gives us vampires a bad name these days. We cannot afford to feed the thirst of a new-born fledgling any more, and the only reason that you've managed to keep Viannor and Nicole away from public view is because of your goddamned bloodstone! And also for the fact that for some reason, neither of them seems to have that big an appetite......."

At that, Zero trailed off. As he stepped back, there was a strange look in his eyes, one that Stephen would recognize as the Noble's way of deep thought. After a few moments, Zero looked at Stephen again.

"Okay, so maybe I don't know about Nicole, but Viannor never really had that large an appetite, does she?", Zero said. "That's not usual, kid, not usual at all. Is it something in your blood?"

Stephen gagged, thrashed, punched, and kicked in an effort to free himself. He knew even with his freakish elder strength he was no match for Zero and Stephen had decided as a last resort to place a bullet into the Noble. Thankfully, the older vampire dropped him before it came to a .45 slug. Zero was also very lucky Stephen had sent Cassandra away when he did, or else she would be dining on Noble flesh right now.

The Simatarian stared coldly at Zero as the man lectured. What Zero said about Stephen not being a fledgling was false; he had been a fledgling, but he had not known the all consuming thirst for blood Zero was talking about. He had fed sometimes every night or every other night during his first few years. Though, it was only in his first year that he killed anyone.

Stephen sighed and listened to Zero as he continued on his little rant. He was quickly growing bored with it and he also felt a growing anger and urge to deck the Noble right there and then. The young vampire was thankful the Noble had finally shut up, but the look in his eyes did not sit well with Stephen; he knew another rant or some questions about his choice would come. What Zero asked took him by surprise.

The vampire straightened at the question. Stephen did not feel like Zero needed to know anything about how he turned. No one, spare for Sigrun and Nicole knew exactly what caused it. He knew it had always been a mystery around his friends of exactly what caused a mortal to become immortal before finally becoming a vampire, many people had been simply bitten by vampires and did not turn; but with Stephen, he had.

Stephen stared straight into Zero’s eyes; he decided to lie to get the Noble off his back.

“There is nothing wrong with my blood Zero…I should know, it is my blood. If there is anything in it…it is not your bloody business to know.”


Nicole looked up into the sky as Cassandra flew in and set down next to her. The fledgling smiled and suprisenly gave Hondur a peck on the cheek. She stood back and smiled.

“Greet to see you again. I hope you were not beaten severely and don’t hold a grudge against the people there. Doctor Hauk is a good man.”

She looked over her shoulder; Stephen and Zero were in another room. She cast her eyes down as she turned back to Hondur.

“Zero was not happy Stephen sired me. He jumped on him…yelling at him and all that.”

Nicole looked up at Hondur. “Truthfully, do you think Stephen made a bad choice making another vampire at such a young age?”

Hondur had been thouroughly enjoying his dragon ride, allowing the cool night air to pass through his robes and hair as he attempted to sit upright upon the beast. Unfortunately it was soon over as Cassandra could fly much faster than he could, taking him to Stephen quite quickly.

As the ancient vampire slid off Cassandra, he was greeted by a quick peck on the cheek from Nicole. It was nice to know someone was happy to see him. He flashed her a grin as she mentioned Hauk and his recent holiday.

"No, I wasn't beaten at all. Electrocuted yes, but besides that they were rather civil and I believe that was Hauk's influence. Most of those humans have no idea what vampires can really do or how to handle them. They don't view them as being human nor realise that all the technology in the nation won't prevent vampires forever."

Hondur took a moment to calm himself. It didn't matter now, he was free from that place and had no intention of returning. The vampire took news of Zero's anger with a blank expression, understanding that Zero tended to go over the top on most occassions.

"To be honest it's not something I would advise, but I can understand why he did it and so far he has not done a bad job. The reason we believe vampires should wait until they are older is because only the truly sensible and relatively intelligent vampires live to such an age. If they can prove they can survive on their own for that long, then they may be ready to take on the added responsibilty of guiding another vampire through life."

Hondur turned to the room next to them and began moving towards the door.

"Perhaps I should intervene."

Almost silently, Hondur stepped into the room behind Zero and Stephen, watching the end of their heated argument.

"Is everything alright gentlemen?"

Nicole was happy to hear that Hondur had a good impression of her old boss. When he said that much of the team did not believe that vampires were still human in a way, she had to agreed, she had been like that once. She listened intently to Hondur; it was obvious the young vampire respected the ancient. Nicole was very happy that Hondur understood why Stephen turned her.

Stephen turned from Zero as Hondur entered the room. He had been so distracted with defending himself for siring the woman he loved; he had not sensed the Assingtonian. A smile broke across Stephen’s face.

“Damn good to see you are alive and well Hondur. Your stay with the humans was probably more relaxed than mine. I had to endure studies on a regular basis. Then again…” Stephen cast an eye to Nicole before turning back to Hondur. “I think I am happy for it.”

It was then Stephen’s face turned to shock and concern. He remembered hearing from Sigrun that when he was just turned into a vampire; he and Skadi had cut their way through an anti-vampire group HQ to rescue Hondur.

“Hondur, I know Skadi is with Sigrun…but when you see her…I don’t want her coming over here in the state this country is in. Your sire has a bit of a problem with her temper and I don’t want her slaughtering half the nation for what the humans did.”

Hondur grinned at Stephen's mention of Skadi's constant mood. Obviously the younger vampire was thinking of the havoc she had caused in order to rescue him from the depths of a AVO torture chamber beneath the streets of Emerald. Whilst he didn't have fond memories of it, the thought of Skadi doing something similar again was quite funny in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it Stephen, Skadi is in Tarlachia and doesn't even know about this. She's not likely to come storming over here killing people, especially since your play in this helped me get released anyway. All is well."

With that out of the way, Hondur's expression turned a little more serious.

"Now what is going on with you two? Zero, you playing schoolyard bully again?"

Whilst there was a slight jest within Hondur's tone, it was obvious he didn't take the matter in complete humour.

"Schoolyard bully? Hondur, seriously, I am glad you are back, but don't you agree that Stephen here has been pushing it a little?", Zero said in mild frustration, looking at the younger Simatarian pointedly. "Two fledglings, Hondur, two. At his age. And goodness knows what the other one is up to right now. I wouldn't be surprised if there had been reports of mysterious deaths in Starblaydia recently. Even I wouldn't dare to take that kind of risk", he shook his head before turning back to Stephen again.

"Okay then, kid. I'm not going to push you any more about your fledglings' lessened appetite for blood, nor the fact that you saw fit to sire the Chief Inquisitor from Starblaydia, then abandoned her to spend time with your little Simatarian spriteling here", he said, casting an unwelcome look to Nicole. "I'm not going to say anything else on that matter for now, but only because I'm not sure you'll enjoy it if the Lady of Emerald City hears of this."

An awkward silence passed for a moment between everyone, before Zero started up again.

"And Stephen, about Viannor. You say that you sired her to save her life. But did you ever think about whether that was what she wanted?", the Noble said. "I've refrained from grilling you about it during the last War, mostly because I was too preoccupied to do so. But Stephen, ask yourself. Are you sure Viannor would rather be a vampire than die, given a choice?"

He stepped closer to the younger vampire, his expression serious.

"I say this from experience, Stephen. I never chose to become a vampire. I was forced into it, and it took me centuries before I fully adjusted myself to the fact that I would never be human again. Before then, I almost killed myself so many times I didn't bother to count, because I couldn't take the fact that I was now something I didn't like. It's all in the past now, but Stephen, that's part of the perils of siring a fledgling. Are you sure you did the right thing?"

He stepped back, allowing Stephen some space. "Think about it."

“Spriteling?! Why you pompous…self-absorbed…” Nicole shouted angrily after Zero’s lecture. She had been standing at the door and a surge of anger swept through her as Zero called her by the derogatory term. She stormed forward, intent on tearing the Noble’s face off. Stephen stepped in front of her and held her firm, not wanting a fight to break out.

“Nicole, temper…calm down. I don’t want us to start fighting.”[i] Stephen’s soothing tone came into her mind.

[i]“Just one tear…that is all. That…”

“I will handle Zero Nicole. Now please calm down and sit.”

Nicole looked at Stephen and nodded. She scowled at Zero and sat down on a large hunk of metal and stared coldly at the Noble. It was rather obvious she was furious with Zero, the Noble was making judgments about her and Stephen without even knowing of how they came together.

Stephen turned back to Zero. He disliked the fact Zero was badgering him about the way he had chosen to lead his vampiric life. He did listen to Zero’s lecture about Viannor, for the most part. Zero had not been there when Stephen had trained his first child of darkness. Viannor had appeared to enjoy the experience and her new powers.

Stephen stared calmly back at Zero. “Just so you know…I didn’t choose to become a vampire either.”

He continued to stare at the Noble. “Zero, no matter what I say to you…it will be like talking to a brick wall. I am very human and you are very much in the ways of your Nobles. Also, you do not tell me the way to live my life. I live my life the way I choose. Just to clear some things up Zero, I fell in love with Nicole when she was human. And she asked me to turn her and I made sure that is what she wanted before I did.”

Stephen paused and looked at Zero. “Anything else?”

Hondur sighed as he continued to watch the two vampires argue to the point where it could escalate to violence again. He couldn't say he cared that much about the matter, yet he'd learned from his years in politics that one should not let your personal beliefs and emotions cloud your arguments.

Suddenly Nicole felt compelled to get involved within the fray, adding her own insults to Zero in retalliation to the petty insult he had labelled her with. It was all quite trivial and yet such a big deal was being made of it. So far there hadn't been any trouble regarding Stephen's actions, even if they weren't smiled upon by his peers.

"Alright then. There is no need to get so damn worked up over this. Stephen is his own man and is able to do as he wishes. None of us are his sires or guardians and so lay off the discipline. Despite what we think, what's done is done and I have faith that Stephen won't be siring another vampire anytime soon.

Hondur turned his gaze to the obviously agitated Stephen.

"That's right, isn't it?"

"Of course there's something else, kid. Of course there's something else", Zero reparteed, now in a calm, but still stern tone. "Viannor likes being a vampire, does she? And I suppose your hot-headed little lady over there likes being a vampire too. But I believe they haven't gotten to that stage where they begin to regret it, have they?"

With that, Zero started tapping his head, before he continued.

"You have lived for more than a millenium after all, Stephen, so you should know just what I'm talking about. Unless you have been dense enough to just live day to day without thinking beyond your next meal, you would have been depressed at one time or another, isn't it so? You would have seen the world go past you, while you remain unchanged, unchangable. Those of your family that you had known, those of your friends in your mortal life, they died of old age one by one, while you remained. You would have seen your world become a world alien to you, while you felt like you were stuck in a different time. Didn't that ever get you depressed, Stephen?"

The Noble paused for a second. Then,

"It takes a certain kind to continue living as a vampire beyond a certain age, Stephen, and not many make it to that age before they commit suicide", he concluded grimly. "Stephen, you are setting Viannor and Nicole up for a tough time in the future, and that's putting it lightly. If it's your call, it's your call, I suppose, but don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, he exhaled softly, breathing away the last of his annoyance. Then he looked at Hondur.

"Right. So we've just busted you out, now what?"

Stephen nodded in agreement to what Hondur said about him siring more vampires. He had originally intended never to sire, but a series of obvious circumstances led him to sire Viannor and Nicole.

“I have no intention of siring Hondur now. I am not trying to make a harem of vampires.”

Stephen then turned to Zero and readied himself for another lecture. He was silent and actually really listening to the Noble’s words. Zero’s words struck a cord with Stephen. His freak immortality made it very hard for him to adjust. Though, he pulled himself from his world and in essence; disappeared. He considered the first few years the toughest as he pulled away and sobered up from his alcoholism.

Indeed, Stephen had been depressed; not from his freak immortality but by events in his mortal life he kept secret. Things about his life were now under lock and key at the National Archives and locked in the darkest parts of his memory.

Stephen just stared back at Zero. He cared for his two fledglings and did not want any harm to come to them. Stephen did not say a single word until Zero turned to Hondur.

“We are finished here Zero. Vampires are taken care of…Hondur is now set free…and quiet sadly myself and Nicole are delayed from moving back home. Maybe…we will never get to live here again. But, I think it is time we depart from this country. Zero, I know you can fly back to Tarlachia on your own. Hondur, do you want to take a commercial flight home or do you want Cassandra to drop you off while Nicole and I head back to Tarlachia?”

Before both older vampires could answer, Stephen spoke again.

“I don’t know how I can ever thank you both for all of your help. If it hadn’t been for you Hondur I doubt the vampire situation could have been solved short of a small nuclear device. Zero, without you Hondur would still be locked away. With only a commando style raid to rescue him.” He paused. “I am deep in both of your debts because of this. If you need help or anything…just give me a call and I will be glad to come.”

Finally tensions died down a little as Zero made his final argument, a very valid one indeed. It took a very unique kind of person to endure immortality and he had to admit he knew many that had ended their own supposedly unending lives at the mere thought of eternity.

There had been a time when Hondur had gone through the same thing, earlier on in his vampiric life though. Fortunately he'd seen more sense and given himself a purpose. Not long afterwards he founded his coven, now the biggest in all of Assington. Then there was the case of Skadi. Knowing what she had been through, Hondur respected her all the more knowing that she had endured it and continued to live, she had fought on through tremendous pain and hardship.

It was all over now. Hondur was free, the freelance vampires were dead and Stephen's nation could go back to thinking they were well prepared for everything.

"It's no problem Stephen. Although I don't think I'll come here for a holiday anytime soon. I think it would be best if Cassandra took back home, just to avoid anymore trouble with the people of your nation."

Stephen led the other vampires out into the much larger room where Cassandra was waiting. She lifted her head and her tail thumped against the ground as she saw Stephen.

“Can you carry me, Nicole, and Hondur?” He asked in draconic.

The dragon eyed Hondur, obviously thinking of carrying this new person on her back. “Sure I can, I am not fresh out of the egg.”

Stephen smiled and gave her a pet on the head. Nicole mounted her first and motioned to Hondur to get on. Finally, after the pair were seated, Stephen took the front and Cassandra stood with ease. Stephen looked at Zero and smiled.

“I’ll see you back in Tarlachia Zero. Again, thanks for all of your help.”

Cassandra turned and made a slow walk outside before stretching her wings and taking off into the sky. She caught a steady tailwind and headed for Assington.

The reaction to their arrival at Hondur’s coven was immediate. Cassandra started barking at the guards as they pointed their weapons at her. As soon as her wings lowered and Hondur was spotted lowering himself from the scaly beast, the barrels came down too. Stephen eyed the mansion, remembering barely a decade before it had become a pile of rubble due to the VP.

As Hondur came around, Cassandra licked the ancient’s face. Stephen smiled.

“Oh she likes you. I’ll see you later. Thanks again. Good to see your life is back in order.”

With that, Stephen got Cassandra to turn and lifted off towards Tarlachia.

With everything settled it was time to go back to their normal lives, if they could be called normal. Considering Hondur, Stephen and Zero had been parts of massive vampiric conflicts within Emerald City on enough occassions to call it part of their lives, perhaps normal wasn't the best word.

It only seemed a matter of minutes before Hondur was standing within the courtyard of his rebuilt mansion once again. Of course the trip had taken much longer than that, yet time seemed to pass differently when one was riding a dragon.

Upon seeing his own vigilant men raise their weapons, Hondur quickly descended from the dragon, indicating they had no reason to be alarmed. As he spun around, the ancient vampire recieved an icy cold tongue across his cheek, sending a chill through his cold blooded body. Hondur merely gave Cassandra a quick scratch behind the ear.

"Don't worry about it Stephen. I'm always willing to help a friend out. Good luck with everything, feel free to visit anytime you wish."

With all goodbyes done, Cassandra launched herself into the night sky once agian, leaving Hondur back within the confines of his life in Assington.