3 comments/ 25794 views/ 2 favorites A Vampire's Paradise By: Samuelx The end is coming. I tried so hard to prevent it. Seriously. A lot of people say that but I'm not most people. In fact, I'm not like anything you've ever seen. My name is Azor. I am a Super Vampire. Not just any Vampire. One of the Guardians of the World. We were the Masters of the Night. The lordly Vampires that ordinary Vampires feared. A long time ago, there were many of us. Beings who reached the utmost of Vampiric Evolution and became the Protectors and Overseers of others. We had powers other Vampires could only dream of. We were revered. The Keepers of Knowledge. The Protectors of the Vampire Race. The Guardians of the World were a secret society of ancient and powerful Vampires who protected the Vampire Nation from outside forces. And I am the Last of them. We also prevented Vampires from overstepping boundaries and enforced the rules. No Vampire was allowed to kill beyond a certain number of Human beings per year. Also, no Vampire could turn a Human into a Vampire without our permission. The rules were enforced and the Vampire Nation lived in peace. Then, one day, the end came for all of us in the form of the Destroyers. A race of creatures which feed upon Vampires as well as Human beings. The other members of the Guardians of the World have already fallen. And I am the last one. Time is running out for me and the Vampire Nation. Death comes for all, even the so-called Immortals. And I cannot escape. In the end, I guess it's true that it doesn't even matter. Well, I choose to make it matter. Time for me to tell my story. A long time ago, I was a Human being. I can still remember it but barely. I was a tall, good-looking young black man living in Africa. My name is Calkor and I was the son of Tobek, Warrior Chief of the Masiki Tribe. My mother was Selika, daughter of Vasila, Matriarch of the Masiki Tribe. I came into the world around 9000 B.C. At the time, the men and women of the Masiki Tribe were all warriors, combatting the cannibalistic hordes of the barbaric Weshu in Central Africa. Eventually, we were overrun. They simply had greater numbers. The Masiki Tribe numbered one hundred thousand members, spread over three cities. The Weshu Hordes numbered over a million. One night, they invaded our cities and wiped us out. I was the only one of my people who escaped. For years after that, I roamed the land. I lived in the wilderness, watching the animals and learning from them. I hunted lions and leopards. I became a swift and merciless killer. And I hunted the men and women of the Weshu. In time, I became a legend among them. They called me Azor-Rak-Kith, a word meaning Killer in the Night. That would become my title. I was the Avenging Angel who struck them when they least expected it. I killed many of them, before I got bored and finally left. For years, I roamed over all of Africa. I got to know many of the tribes. I learned their languages and customs. Eventually, I wound up in the Land of Egypt, long before the Pyramids were ever built. I befriended a handsome black man named Menos, the King of Egypt. He was a wise and thoughtful ruler. And he was kind to his people. His wife Makisha was the Queen of Egypt. A tall, beautiful and highly intelligent Ebony woman. They had united the various tribes which roamed the Egyptian desert and united them under one rule. This was the beginning of civilization. For the first time in history, laws were written and men and women were told to behave like Human beings rather than animals. This had never happened before. Barbarism was the status quo on the planet Earth. The King and Queen were friendly people. They welcomed me to their kingdom, having heard tales of my legendary exploits against the cannibalistic barbarian tribes of Central Africa. Menos asked me to become a member of his Army. I gladly accepted. After roaming the land for years, it felt good to have a roof over my head. Of course, I couldn't know what nightmare lay in store for me. King Menos was a desperate man. A man whose country was in the grip of Vampires. And he wanted me to fight them for him. I'll be the first to say that I didn't believe in the Vampires at first. Even back then, skepticism ruled the world. Then, one night, a Vampire entered the royal palace and attacked one of the servants. The Vampire in question was a tall, beautiful woman of regal bearing. And she was no stranger to the castle. For she was Isari, the older sister of Menos, King of Egypt. She had disappeared ten years ago and many believed that she was dead. Yet there she was, drinking the blood of a servant she killed. What a foul creature she was. I attacked her immediately, brandishing my sword. She laughed and came after me. She moved faster than anything Human. And her strength was amazing. She managed to repeal my assault and threw me against a wall. Such was the strength of the Vampire woman. When she came for me, I slashed her head off with my blade. The Vampire female fell, dead. Within moments, her entire body turned to ash and there was no trace of her left. This was the most shocking thing I'd ever seen. I immediately went to the King's Chambers and told him what happened. He listened with alarm as I told him the story in every detail. He wasn't surprised. He had seen Vampires before. The other men and women in the castle looked at me strangely. I was the first man to have killed a Vampire in this strange land. We organized a round the clock guard around the castle. Nobody slept for the rest of the night. How could they? The Undead were walking the streets and no one was safe. Not even the King himself. Over the next few months, there would be many Vampire attacks in the city. Men and women were disappearing from their homes, only to return later, as the Undead. Creatures who drank the blood of Human beings. The Vampires were something else. Stronger, faster and deadlier than anything Human. I despised the entire breed. Night after night, we went out to hunt these creatures. They were superhumanly strong and fast, but they were not invincible. Chopping their heads off resulted in their instant death. The war against the Vampires raged in Ancient Egypt. Their numbers were multiplying. And I didn't know where they came from. No one did. Were the Vampires creations of some evil god? Were they unnatural creatures from another world? No one knew. I watched many men and women I've known get turned into Undead nightmares. Blood drinkers and unholy monsters. The Vampires were overrunning Egypt. Contrarily to myth, they were capable of functioning in the daytime. Vampires can walk in the sunlight. It doesn't kill them. It simply makes them sleepy. And it significantly weakens them. Whatever the source of their inhuman strength and speed is, it seems to get sapped by the sunlight. But sunlight doesn't make them burst into flames. They prefer the night. That's when they're the strongest. We hunted them down in the Desert. We killed as many as we could fight. Yet still more came. One night, King Menos himself was taken, along with Queen Makisha. Panic reigned in the entire country. The King and Queen of Egypt had been taken by the Vampires! As leader of the Army, I assumed the throne since they had no heirs. It is with great sadness that I was crowned King of Egypt. I lead an Army of men into the Desert, determined to avenge Menos and Makisha. Sadly, we found them. They were both Vampires. I killed them both. Then, I captured a living Vampire and brought her back to the royal castle. I intended to interrogate her, to learn secrets of the Vampires. I wanted to know who they were and where they came from. The Vampire in question was Salisa, a once-beautiful tall young black woman, now a member of the Undead. I tortured some answers out of her. She told me that she was but a soldier in the Master's Army of Night. The Master was the Leader of the Vampire Nation. He was leading their conquest of the Land of Egypt. I pondered that, then had her executed. When I went to bed that night, my mind raced. Somewhere in the Desert was a Master Vampire. The Leader of the Vampire Nation. If I could kill him, they might stop their assault against the cities of Egypt. The Vampires were getting bolder in their nightly predations in our cities. Every week, dozens of men and women vanished, only to return as blood-sucking nightmares. Those Vampires were the stuff of nightmares. They could enter anyone's domicile. The stuff about them needing invites is a myth. Also, they were immune to silver, sunlight and garlic. Only a stake through the heart and decapitation could stop them. Oh, and fire too. I've set enough Vampire men and Vampire women on fire to know that they burn like a torch in the night. Brightly. It's my favorite method of Vampiric execution. I decided to change the game plan. I took a group of men and trained them in the fine art of hunting Vampires. They were called the Cadre Hunters. They operated independently of me and their mission was to find Vampires wherever they were and kill them. They answered to no authority. That's how I taught them to be. The rulers of Man's World weren't to dictate to the Cadre Hunters in their sacred mission to wipe out Vampirism. They answered only to themselves but I gave them a Code of Honor. They were to be the Protectors of Humanity and the Bane of the Vampires. The Cadre Hunters were instrumental in hunting down the First Master. Who was the First Master? The ancient Vampire lord who had lived for thousands of years before coming to invade the Kingdom of Egypt. He who was the mastermind behind their hostile takeover of our land. He had many names. In Egypt, he was called Farkrull. Farkrull lived in an underground lair in the Desert, along with hundreds of other Vampires. He was revered almost as a God by his people. Many claimed that he was a Disciple of the First Vampire. I went out into the Desert to find him. Instead, he found me. The Master Vampire himself came and captured me, after killing all of my warriors. I should have known better than to go into the Desert without the Cadre Hunters. Unfortunately, they were out there in Egypt, recruiting men and sometimes women before training them in the art of killing the Undead. The Vampires were a Plague in Egypt. Tens of thousands of them roamed the Land. As I was caught in the middle of the night, knocked out and dragged underground, I comforted myself with the thought that if the Master Vampire killed me, my Cadre Hunters would avenge me. I was brought into Master Vampire Farkrull's chambers. The underground lair had been well dug out and artistically decorated, designed both for survival and comfort. Practical and pleasant. I liked it, though it was probably gonna be my grave. I noticed a lot of familiar faces among the Vampires. Men and women I've known. Marki, a handsome young man I once loved like a son. His sister Marlikha, and their mother, Kjaria. I noted with alarm that their father, former palace guardsman Jhiero was also a Vampire. Nice. A happy fucking Vampire family. All of them looked at me the same way a hungry jackal looked at a tasty morsel. Nice. The Vampires in the lair numbered in the hundreds. The monsters I had hunted so fiercely took a perverse pleasure in watching me in shackles. Of course, I was only Human and even the weakest of them was stronger and faster than me but I noticed with a certain pleasure that they looked at me with disguised fright. I was the Vampire Killer. Something to be feared. They brought me before Farkrull. I must say that I wasn't sure what to expect, but he was far different from anything I'd expected. For starters, he wasn't the menacing figure that I expected. Indeed, Farkrull looked rather affable. Standing five feet ten inches tall, lean, with short blond hair and pale blue eyes. He didn't look a day over forty. He certainly didn't look local. I've heard tales of people like him. Men and women from distant, cold lands who had sky-colored eyes and hair the color of the sun. I had never seen a white man before. In 9000 B.C. Human beings didn't do that much traveling between the continents. Here was a European man who had done much traveling. And he was also a Vampire. When Farkrull saw me, he smiled. He bade me welcome to his kingdom. I told him that if he was going to kill me, he should get over it. I wasn't afraid of death. Farkrull laughed, and told me that he admired my spirit and my courage. Then, he told me that he wanted me to become his general. The leader of his Army. I looked at him, stunned. He had to be kidding me. He shook his head, and asked a Vampire woman to free me of my restraints. Then we were alone in the room. I instantly reached for the nearest weapon, a broadsword. I brandished it in his face. He laughed, then did something truly shocking. He spread his arms wide, and told me to go ahead and stab him. I did. I thrust the broadsword into his chest. He fell. I stood over the Vampire Master. He was still alive. He hadn't turned to dust yet. Laughing, he pulled the sword from his chest and before my amazed eyes, his wound healed instantly. He rose to his feet. I backed away from him, now truly frightened. I knew that Vampires healed faster than Humans. Their bodies were also tougher to destroy. But I had never seen a Vampire who could truly regenerate. I shrank from Farkrull. He laughed, then he changed. Before my very eyes, Farkrull changed from an ordinary Vampire into something truly monstrous. A huge, bat-like creature with gigantic wings. I screamed. It was the most horrifying sight I'd ever seen. The creature Farkrull had become grabbed me and sank his teeth into my neck. That's when I died. The rest, as they say, was history. This is how I became a Vampire. I was transformed by Farkrull, the King of the Vampires himself. I woke up three days later as one of them. Farkrull welcomed me into the Brotherhood of the Undead, as he referred to the Vampire men and women who made up his inner circle. He wanted me to become his general. I've always been a natural leader and a fierce fighter. Farkrull wanted me to transform his band of Vampires into an elite fighting force. So I did just that. Vampires are stronger than Humans and also faster. Most of them don't bother with carrying weapons. I knew that when I was Human and I exploited their overconfidence. I selected the strongest and most durable among Farkrull's Vampires. I trained them in swordfighting and javelin throwing. I also trained them in wrestling and various other forms of martial arts. Many of them were former soldiers, so they took to the training well. I became Master Farkrull's right-hand man. He trusted me. The Vampires suffered from an extreme overconfidence which often proved their undoing. For starters, they all slept in the same place during the day. That was stupid. I trained some of them to be sentries to watch over their brethren as they slept. Under my command, the Vampires carried swords, shields and spears. They wore bronze and steel armor. They no longer simply relied upon strength and speed. I regulated their feedings. They had the nasty habit of invading villages and killing all of the locals. Draining all of them. I taught them to control their hunger. They devoured half of the village and the other half, they transformed into the Undead. This way, our numbers multiplied. Farkrull was impressed with me. He saw me as the son he wished he had. He told me things I desperately wanted to know. Around the time we met, circa 9000 B.C. Farkrull was already five thousand years old. He had been walking the planet Earth for a long time. Once, he was a member of a primitive tribe of Europeans, in the Scandinavia Region. He claimed that one day, a giant bat attacked his village. He and the other men fought against the beast. They could not kill it. It killed many of them. And not all of the men and women the monster killed remained dead. Some of them came back, hungry for blood. Farkrull told me about his brother Tarskrull, the first victim of the monster bat. When he rose from the dead, he had superhuman strength and speed, along with a craving for blood. According to Farkrull, he was the First True Vampire. Farkrull killed the monster bat by immolation when he caught it sleeping in a large cavern during the day. Tarskrull and the other Vampires overan the village where Farkrull was born. Farkrull was turned into a Vampire by his own brother. They were the leaders of this first group of Vampires. They roamed over all of Europe, turning a few Humans into Vampires and feeding on the rest. They then spread over to Asia, Africa and Australia. The two brothers had a falling out. Farkrull wanted to rule the world but Tarskrull wanted the existence of the Vampire Race to remain a secret. Tarskrull was buried deep underground by his brother Farkrull. The Vampire Farkrull finally ended up in the Land of Egypt, along with his faithful followers. There, he lived for thousands of years in the Desert, until the day he decided to conquer the Kingdom of Egypt. Farkrull couldn't thank me enough to help make his dreams come true. He wanted to conquer Egypt, and finally had an Army which could make it happen. Truth be told, I was only biding my time. I wanted to rule the Vampire Nation. Farkrull was a weak leader. He had been around too long. One day, I got rid of him. I went into his chambers with a torch. I knocked him out, bound him hand and foot with some specially designed chains and then drained him of blood. I drank all of his ancient blood, absorbing his power. This awakened him. That's when I set him on fire. I destroyed the Master Vampire. Henceforth, I would be the King of the Vampires. With no one standing in my way, I began to conquer Egypt. I didn't invade the land like a supernatural creature stalking the land at night. I rode on a horse, surrounded by an entourage of armed men and women on horseback, and stormed the cities of Egypt. We were an Army the likes of which the world had never seen. Vampires on horseback, conquering the land of Egypt. It took ten years, but we took over the land. I immediately ordered my followers to make as many Vampires as they could. Soon, tens of thousands of us walked the land of Egypt. The Humans feared us. As for me, they worshiped me as the legendary God-King of the Night. For five hundred years, I ruled. Word spread among the Vampires. From far and wide, the Undead joined us. Egypt became a Vampire's Paradise. The only place where we lived openly among the Humans without fear. For the first time in history, all Vampires were united as one people, with one language, living in one territory. It was the Golden Age of the Vampires. Humans were our slaves. Until the day the end came for the first time. The Humans rose against us. En masse. In spite of my best efforts, they drove us out of Egypt. I organized our exodus from the land. I divided my followers into various Clans. The first Clan formed was the Masiki Clan, named after my now extinct people from Central Africa. Other Clans such as the Tyroch, Ethros and Kronos Clans were formed. The organization of a Vampire Clan was very specific. A Master led the Clan. The Master was the strongest, fastest and smartest member of the Clan. The Master's word was law. The Master was supposed to listen to the advice of his Clan members and be a good leader. The prosperity and safety of the Vampire Clan was a Master's duty. The newly formed Vampire Clans left Egypt, disguised as nomatic Human tribes. They spread over all of the Known World. Never again would we be this united. Of course, the Vampires would quickly forget this Golden Age, as would the Humans. I alone would remember. That's my burden. All the Vampires who were my friends and entourage back in those days are dust. Eternity is tough on everyone. Even an Immortal. And most Vampires have this cockiness which proves to be their undoing. That's why they don't carry weapons. I saw myself as the Protector of the Vampire Nation. From time to time, I would get disgusted with them. That's why I slept in a deep underground lair for eons. From 7000 B.C. until 3000 B.C. Yeah, for four thousand years, I gave the universe the middle finger and caught up on my beauty sleep. A Vampire's Paradise When I awakened, I found out that the world had changed a lot. The Humans had evolved, in a way. They had better weapons, bigger cities and lived slightly longer lives. I admired and respected them for that. Unfortunately, the Vampires hadn't evolved. They were still marauders, stalking across the land, killing random Humans for blood. They were always small in number. Often, the Humans of a local town or city rose against them and hunted them down. Many a Vampire met an untimely end. If you ask me, that's exactly what they deserved. Being Immortal doesn't give you the right to be a slacker. You should always strive for absolute self-improvement and adapting to new challenges. Anyone who disagrees is a loser. All Vampires and Humans for that matter should live that way. Throughout time, I looked after my people. I sought to improve them. I admire Humans who strive for self-improvement. Why can't Vampires do the same? With every generation, the Humans are getting a little better. Vampires have all the time in the world. Eternity. Yet they're stagnating. Something had to be done. That's why I founded the Guardians of the World. I found ancient Vampires who were like-minded and we set ourselves up as the Elders of the Vampire Nation. We did what needed to be done to preserve our species. The members of the Elders were few. First, there was me. Of course. And then there was Kyllos, a Master Vampire of Greek origin. He had been around for two thousand years when we met. In his time, he'd been worshiped as a god. He impersonated Hades, the God of the Underworld in Greek Mythology. His Vampiric followers impersonated various other Chtonic deities of Greek origin and were worshiped on the Island of Crete. With him came his cohorts, the Vampire Aeshma Daeva, who impersonated Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods and the gorgeous female Vampire Atria, who impersonated Hera, Queen of the Gods. This wasn't the first time Vampires were worshiped as Gods by primitive Humans in isolated parts of the world, this was the first time I saw so many Vampires organizing such a well-orchestrated masquerade and maintaining it for untold millennia. Kyllos brought with him three dozen Vampires who, for many centuries, had been worshiped as the Gods and Goddesses of the Greek Pantheon. How about that? Thus was the Secret Society of the Guardians of the World formed. For thousands of years, we reigned in secret. We were the real masterminds behind many powers, both Human and Vampire. And I was the Leader of the Guardians. We commanded supreme power, both collectively and individually. The average Vampire is ten times stronger and five times faster than the average Human athlete. Also, a Vampire's body heals ten times faster than a normal person's. All Vampires were immune to disease and old age. The older we get, the stronger we become. Also, Ancient Vampires have strange powers which the young ones can only dream of. Farkrull had some fascinating powers, which I acquired when I destroyed him and absorbed all that he was. He had the ability to regenerate, something only Ancient Vampires can do. Also, he could change shape at will. I remember how he changed from an ordinary Vampire into the huge, bat-like monstrosity. Over the years, I found myself becoming more monstrous. I couldn't change into the bat-like monster. But I could turn into something which only an Ancient Vampire might have a chance of stopping. When transformed, my eyes turned a bright red, and hair grew all over my body. My hands became talons, and my feet became paws with wicked-looking claws. And at last, I had wings. Huge, bat-like wings. I vaguely resembled a bat, the Origin of the Vampire. I loved being fully transformed, shedding my Human disguise. When fully changed, I was stronger, faster and deadlier than any Vampire. The only bad part was that for some reason, I could only transform at night. Young Vampires get sleepy during the daytime, that's why they prefer the night. As an Ancient, I retained all of my strength and speed during the day. Yet the transformation into a full-fledged Vampiric nightmare could only take place at night. That's cool. I'm just glad I can do it. You should see the looks on other Vampires when I do it. The other Elders of the Vampire Nation possess powers which the young ones don't have, but none of them can transform themselves like I can. Kyllos is the only rival I might have. While he can't transform himself into a bat-like monstrous wonder like I can, he can assume the form of other people. He literally can make himself look like any person on the planet, as long as he got to touch them. He can't become anyone he hasn't touched. He's our resident shape-shifter. His wife Atria also has powers. This regal Vampire woman can read and control the minds of Humans as well as fledgling Vampires. She has the Gift of Telepathy. The Elder Vampire Aeshma Daeva, the infamous impersonator of Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods, has a peculiar power. He can steal the life-force of Humans and fledgling Vampires by mauling their brains. Each life-force he steals renders him stronger. Also, he can unleash that life-force in the force of blasts of electricity. He craves not only blood but also the every essence of life. He's the Guardian I trust the least. A vile beast. One of these days, he's going to have to be put down. The Guardians of the World were founded to provide stability and civility to the Vampire Nation. We were the top echelon of the Vampire Nation. The Masters of the various Clans competed against one another to determine which one would carry our favor. So it was for thousands of years. The numbers of the Vampires spread across the World. In Egypt, Mesopotamia, South Africa, East Asia and India, we were multiplying like rabbits. In this new age, most Vampires led an almost exclusively nocturnal existence. The Vampire Race was weakening. In the old days, we viewed daylight as an obstacle, nothing more. It made us sleepy and sapped our strength but we could function in it. As our numbers increased, we got worse and worse. Any species which has any potential for evolution does so through mutation. The Vampires weren't evolving. Rather, they were devolving before my very eyes. Each new generation of Vampires got weaker and weaker. Oh, they still had superhuman strength and speed, of course. And they were still immune to disease and the aging process. But their lifespan got shorter and shorter. In my day, a Vampire living to be a thousand years old wasn't a rarity. Now, a Vampire was lucky if he or she lived to see a couple of centuries. Why? Simply because they were careless. The various Vampire Clans often warred with one another and decimated each other that way. They were led by weak-willed individuals. In the old days, we selected men and women of intelligence, character and bravery to become Vampires. We felt that such individuals would strengthen the Vampire Race as a whole. Nowadays, anybody could become a Vampire. Anyone, regardless of intelligence, accomplishment or character. That's the sad part. What we have is mediocrity turning out mediocrity. What a sad state of the affairs. Before my very eyes, my once-proud species was weakening. And there seemed to be nothing that I could do about it. The new Vampires were barely above Humans in strength and speed. Also, they had no idea of where they came from. In the old days, a Vampire attached himself or herself to a Clan and swore loyalty to a Master. Rogue Vampires, those renegades who roamed the land without any Clan affiliation were rare. Nowadays, renegades were the norm. The great Vampire Clans of the past were no more. They were only shadows of their former selves. Clan wars were common. Vampires were fiercely territorial. I grew disgusted with this state of the affairs and left Egypt. I moved to Ancient Rome, at the time of Julius Caesar. I had lived in Egypt for thousands upon thousands of years. Time for a change. Ancient Rome was exactly what I needed. Rome was becoming the capital of a vast Empire and lots of people from all over the world lived there. Oh, xenophobia still existed but I could live there. Besides, I was posing as a wealthy African Prince. Even in those days, money talked. I lived in a palace in Rome, and had tons of servants. The rest of the Guardians of the World joined me. We quickly established ourselves as the Powers That Be in the city. We were the wealthiest, most powerful people around. Everyone from Roman politicians to Italian businessmen and foreign dignitaries courted our favor. As they should. For we were their superiors. I oversaw the Vampiric takeover of Ancient Rome. There were a few other Vampires in town. If there's one thing which I will not tolerate, it's competition. I got rid of all the Vampires in town. Personally. The other Guardians assisted me. We fell upon them like lightning on soft grass. They never stood a snowball's chance in Hell. The City of Rome was home to exactly seven Vampires, the seven Guardians of the World. Word was sent out to all of the Clans to keep out of the Eternal City, lest they face extinction. They heeded our warnings. The city was ours. As it should be. We are Vampires. The Race Created To Kick The Collective Ass of The Universe. End of story. From our new headquarters in the City of Rome, we ruled the Vampire Nation. We accepted delegates from the various Clans and allowed them to visit us outside the city gates unscathed. All Vampires were required to follow a certain Code of Rules. Those who disobeyed were killed. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Eternity gets really short for troublemakers. And so it was. We ruled the Vampire Nation, forever looking after our species. Sometimes, the Clans considered us to be ruthless overlords and in many ways we were. As times changed, so did we. We were known by many names in many different languages. Always the guiding light of the Vampire Nation in its time of need. We made sure that Humanity forgot we existed. Vampires became the stuff of myth. How quickly they forget. I smile when I remember a time when Vampires only lived among Humans in Ancient Egypt. We remained in Rome for centuries. When the Roman Empire fell, we went East, to Constantinople. Afterwards, we went to France. There was a time when we lived in Florence, Italy. That was during the Renaissance. My favorite was when we moved to the Old West, in North America. Back in the days of cowboys and indians. It's one of my favorite time periods. The Guardians remained in North America. Our final location was Boston, Massachusetts. The Intellectual Capital of the World. This move was done at the dawn of the twentieth century. The twenty first century was a puzzling yet fascinating time for me. Things were stable in the Vampire Nation. Our numbers were high. The Clans were stable. The Guardians and I made sure none of their conflicts ever wound up discovered by the Humans. Any Human who discovered the truth about the existence of Vampires was killed. End of story. Any Vampire whose actions threatened the rest of us with exposure to the Human world was also eliminated. The Rules were made to be obeyed by all of us. No exceptions. The twenty-first century was also the century during which the Vampire Nation would face its greatest threat. I haven't mentioned the Elder Vampire Aeshma Daeva, the infamous impersonator of Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods in a while, have I? Well, he finally revealed his true colors one night when he tried to kill all the members of the Council of Guardians. I personally put him down. He attacked Kyllos and Atria, and managed to overpower them both. I snuck up behind him and struck his head off his shoulders with my broadsword. He died instantly. Or so I thought. Before our astonished eyes, Aeshma Daeva's head grew back. The bastard could actually regenerate his head after it had been cut off. I didn't know of any Vampire who could do that. I set him on fire, thinking this might be the end of him. Sometimes, I forget how hard to kill Ancients can be. A burning, screaming Aeshma Daeva leapt off the building rooftop and fell into the Boston Harbor. Atria, Kyllos and I desperately searched for him. We couldn't find him. We also discovered that he had somehow managed to kill the other Guardians. Aeshma Daeva was a true monstrosity. I didn't know if he could be killed. It occurred to me that he was as beyond Vampires as we were beyond Humans. A new order of being. A Super Predator. What kind of Hell were we in for? Unbeknownst to us, Aeshma Daeva had been planning his coup for years. We thought we could contain this. We alerted the Masters of the Clans that Aeshma Daeva was to be trusted no longer. The rest we would handle ourselves. I figured that between Kyllos, Atria and myself, we had enough raw power to stop him. Our powers had grown over the years. Kyllos could assume the shape of any living thing he touched, whether it was Human, Animal or Vampire. Atria's Gift of Telepathy had grown over the years. She could read and even control the minds of Humans and Vampires across great distances. She could also move objects with her mind, a talent called Telekinesis. As for myself, I had grown in strength and speed. And sunlight's presence no longer prevented me from assuming my bat-like form. We thought we could take on Aeshma Daeva. We were wrong. Aeshma Daeva had been feeding on Vampires for thousands of years while the rest of us had been feeding on Humans. Vampires are forbidden to feed on one another. Cannibalism among Vampires used to be common, until I wiped out those who embraced this rather disgusting practice. When a Vampire drains the blood of another Vampire, he or she absorbs that Vampire's strength, knowledge and power. I gained the ability to regenerate and shape-shift into bat-like form from Farkull, the First Master when I killed him. Who knew how many Vampires powers Aeshma Daeva now possessed? He had been doing a lot without our knowing. Notably, he had secretly created an Army of Creatures. And now, he wanted to unleash Hell on Earth. The next time we faced Aeshma Daeva, he displayed powers we couldn't imagine. He was stronger than ever before. And he couldn't retain his original form for long. Rather, he was slowly becoming a huge, bat-like creature much larger than the one I occasionally turned into. Also, what normally stopped any Vampire regardless of age, such as fire and decapitation, now only slowed him down. Had he succeeded in becoming truly Immortal? The things he created were living nightmares. I can't tell if they were once Human or Vampires. They were simply ugly. They were humanoid, with scaly blue skin and bright yellow eyes. Also, they had a mouth full of curving fangs, and taloned hands. They craved blood, from Human and Vampire alike. They could make themselves look like Humans, but couldn't keep the masquerade for more than a few hours. Aeshma Daeva called them Daevians, the Destroyers. They were ugly. But none were as ugly as him. Aeshma Daeva had mutated into a huge, bat-like creature. A monster of inhuman proportions. Three times larger than the one I occasionally turned into. And he could no longer return to his Human-like Vampiric body. He was permanently stuck in the form of a monster which would scare the living daylights out of the most wicked Vampire in the land. I mean, I took one look at what Aeshma Daeva had turned into, and for the first time in my life, I felt like wetting my pants. He was that scary. Fortunately for us, the mutation rendered all of them very vulnerable to sunlight. No, it wouldn't make them burst into flames but they were extremely weak in the daylight hours. Weaker than even we. They were underground dwellers. The frightening thing about them is how fast they multiplied. It takes a Human bitten by a Vampire three to four days before they become a Vampire. The Daevians bite turned a Human being into one of them in a matter of hours. In no time, there were thousands of them. They fell upon the Vampire population like a hammer on an egg shell. You might be surprised with how much fear and confusion the Vampires reacted. After all, we're predators with superhuman strength and speed, right? Well, there were new predators in town. A new race of being which not only matched Vampires in strength and speed but also surpassed them in brutality and sheer animal ferocity. The Daevians were little more than mindless beasts. We had never seen anything like them, not even in the depths of our worst nightmares. This is how a Race of Immortal beings die. For tens of thousands of years, the Vampires ruled the world as the top predators. Right underneath Humanity's noses. We ruled the night. Unlike every other species on the planet, we even managed to conquer death. If he plays his cards right and has good luck, a Vampire could live forever. That was supposed to be our deal in this life. And it was, until the Daevians, Creatures of Destruction, came along. They did to Vampires what we did to Humans for eons. They hunted us down, caught us and fed on us. The Daevian's appetite for Vampire flesh and blood was insatiable. Kyllos, Atria and I urged the various Vampire Clans to unite against the common threat of the Daevians. When their numbers began dropping like flies, the Vampires finally listened to reason. But by then, it was already too late. In cities across the world, in the clubs, mansions and lairs where Vampires gathered, hordes of Daevians came. They could find our kind no matter where we did. These monsters could survive being decapitated, and even burned to blackened skeletons. They always regenerated. The only thing which seemed to stop them was sunlight, but that wasn't a great advantage to us because most Vampires had devolved to the point of being unable to truly function in daylight. We didn't burst into flames in daylight, but we fell into a lethargic state almost instantly. We were no better than the Daevians. Every Vampire on the planet Earth stocked himself or herself up with weapons and tried to hide when the Daevians began storming our lands. We stuck together for mutual protection at first, then realized that our numbers attracted the Daevians, who could somehow psychically sense us across great distances. Wherever we went, they found us. In Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Antartica, Vampires died. Leading them was Aeshma Daeva, the Lord of Destruction. Every night, the numbers of the Daevians grew and ours shrank. We tried to build ourselves an Army, first by uniting the various Clans, then by mass-turning Humans. That didn't work. The newbie Vampires were helpless against the hordes of the Daevians. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly frightened. Was this to be the End of the Vampire Race? I shuddered to think. Yet as the years went by, our numbers kept dropping. I watched as my close friend Kyllos died. He was leading one of the largest Vampire Clans into battle against the seemingly endless hordes of the Daevians. He fell, and was devoured by them. His eternal paramour Atria went to his rescue, and she too was consumed by the Daevians. This was a shocker. I knew that Vampires could die at the hands of the Daevians. They killed enough of us to prove that. In spite of their savagery and powers, I didn't think they could kill us. Until I watched my friends die before my eyes, and could do nothing. Angered, I willed myself to assume the form of the giant bat. I soared into the skies, and began picking off the Daevians one by one. They were helpless before my might, until they began using guns. I was shot down and only the intervention of a few Vampires allowed me to escape. My rescuers whisked me off to Antarctica, where the few remaining Vampire Clans were making their last stand. Why Antarctica? It's an isolated, desolate continent. Not much over there. In the cities of the world, the Daevians found us and hunted us down like cats hunted mice. But we had discovered their weaknesses. The Daevians were warm-blooded creatures. They were vulnerable to the cold. We weren't. Being undead, we were usually room temperature. It is in Antarctica that the Vampire Nation made its last stand. And I was with them. Not as some Vampire Elder ready to dictate to them but as a fellow Vampire, ready to fight for his people and die for them if need be. A Vampire's Paradise When the Daevians were done devouring all the Vampires on all the continents on the planet Earth, they turned their sights to Antarctica. We were fewer than twenty thousand in number. We, who once numbered over one million. Vampires from all walks of life were gathered here. Soldiers. Doctors. Lawyers. Judges. Artists. Scientists. Writers. Painters. Teachers. College students. Yes, all of us had various occupations in the Human world which we once ruled from the shadows. As I looked around at the other Vampires gathered around me, I felt a sense of pride and belonging. This was where I belonged. Fighting side by side with the men and women of the Vampire Nation against the dreaded Daevians. I shouldn't have been hiding from my people all these years or ruling them from afar like some kind of god. I wasn't a god, though I was once worshiped as one. We stood on a massive glacier. Armed to the teeth. That's when they came. The Daevians. Over a million of them. Armed to the teeth. Oh, and they had helicopters and a fleet of ships too. I smiled, and roared along with my fellow Vampires as we rushed toward our enemies for the final battle. If this is the day that I die, I'm okay with it. I've seen things you can't imagine. Watched civilizations rise and fall. I've been everything and done everything. I've lived eleven thousand years. It all seems so short when death comes for you, doesn't it? As the Vampires and Daevians clashed on the icy battlefield, I saw Aeshma Daeva. The Lord of Destruction. He was tearing a path through the Vampire ranks. I went straight for him, fully transformed, with a song in my heart. This is my last day on the planet Earth, and if I'm sleeping in Hell tonight, I'm taking the bastard with me. Hurrah!