by Kindred Ult
"Smart boy, now it's question answer time," his mouth was right next to Varus's ear. "Who are you?"
"Varus."
"Okay 'Varus,' what are you?"
Varus tried to turn his head around, but this only make the questioner grasp it harder. "I'm a vampire."
"Heh, are you implying that a vampire would be stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap?"
"I'm new at this."
This incited another chuckle from the unknown person, so Varus assumed that he was a vampire. "Okay then, who was it that turned you hmm?"
"I've seriously already had this conversation in my dream." Varus barely got the remark out of his mouth before his head was pulled back from the tree and slammed back into it.
"You've got a big mouth for such a situation. You just don't seem to be getting what's going on here. That was definitely not an answer. Now, one more word out of you that isn't a direct answer to my question and I'll let the insects feast on your brain. Got that?"
Varus gritted his teeth. "Yea, I got that."
"Okay then, so who was it that turned you?"
"He said that his name was Demenn, and that he was a second class vampire."
There was a small sigh from next to his ear. "Figures, well, whatever, you're a vampire now. I guess there's nothing left but to see if you're good enough. If you are then we'll let you live, and also join us. If you aren't, then you'll die. We can't have weak ones polluting our name now can we?"
"Yea, the thing in the dream told me about that too." Varus winced in anticipation as the hand drew his head back, but then he was released and turned around. He was face to face with the second vampire he had ever seen. The Vampire's red eyes only accentuated his angular face and high cheekbones. He had black hair and a sneer on his face. Another vampire was behind him. That one had silver hair and looked solemn. The sneering one looked Varus over.
"You look terrible, what happened to you?"
"I died." Varus felt his wounds as the vampire released him from his grip.
"Hah, well I suppose that will do it sometimes, now won't it. Hey, Brutus, let's escort this guy to the patriarch and get him officially inducted, or killed."
"Right."
As they walked along an almost invisible trail, Varus wanted to ask the two of them many things, but whenever he tried to start a conversation the first vampire would look behind him and give Varus a look that could turn milk. So Varus contented himself with just absorbing the scenery. The trees in this part of the forest were extremely dense, so much so that he could only see little shards of moonlight shining down through their eaves every fifty feet or so. The trees themselves were also quite large. They looked to be about fifty to seventy-five feet tall and were about six to eight feet in diameter. They also had very few branches until about three/fourths of the way up them.
'That makes sense, I guess they don't want any unfortunate accidents with those branches… I wonder if they chose this location because of these trees, or if they sculpted the trees around their location to look like this…' He felt that this might be worth finding out, so he posed the question to the two vampires. The one in front of him turned around and eyed him, but then he resumed walking.
"Honestly, it doesn't really matter much. People think that we can't move around in the day, but as long as we keep all of our skin away from the sun we're fine. And as to the branches, that was also a coincidence, although we like ones with high branches so that nothing can ambush us."
Varus was relieved to have finally pierced through the others' silence, so he figured he would try his luck once again. "So, what class are you guys?"
This time the one behind him, Brutus, spoke first. "I'm a fourth class, and Adrian is a third class."
"Oh, so how can you tell what your class is?" Varus couldn't tell which of them to direct the question to, so he just faced forward. Brutus answered again.
"As you have probably noticed, you get stronger every time you drink another's blood, but it is also true that the more powerful someone is, the more strength you gain from them when you drink of that person's blood. 'Classes' are terms we use to measure how much strength someone has gained. You'll find that there are definite varying levels of power among the vampires, and so our leaders found out that there are about five levels of strength. They divided our warriors into five classes based on their power."
"Oh," Varus pondered this for a bit. "So, is it better to have a higher class?"
Adrian surprised him by answering. "No, the lower the level, the stronger the warrior. First classes are our elite warriors."
They continued on for a few more minutes in silence, but eventually Varus broke it again. "So, I suppose that means that I am a fifth class?"
"No, not yet, you are nothing right now. If you pass the test, then you will be allowed to take on the mantle of fifth class."
"Any chance of getting into a higher level from the start?"
Adrian chuckled. "Nope, basically, all of us started out as fifth classes, the only way to go up a class is to devour the heart of stronger and stronger beings until you reach the required amount of power to be considered a higher class."
Varus frowned. "So, what if I were to eat the heart of a first class vampire?"
Adrian turned around so abruptly that Varus almost ran into him. He fixed Varus with a stone cold stare and spoke very slowly. "First of all, abandon that thought. I'm telling you right now that there is no way any vampire class lower than a first class can kill a first class, and to try would only result in a swift, brutal death. If (by some freak chance) you did, however, you would immediately gain the strength of a first class and be considered one."
"So then, how else would one of us reach first class."
Adrian turned back and started walking again. When neither of them spoke Varus realized that he had reached the end of his questioning session, and that he would have to accept what he had gained. 'Well, at least now I know a bit more.'
They continued on for awhile before two other vampires came around from behind trees. The one on the left spoke.
"Adrian, Brutus, what have you got there?"
Adrian took a step forwards. "We have a new recruit, says that Demenn turned him. We're bringing him back so that he can be tested."
"I see, well, proceed."
From there, it was only one turn in the trail before they reached a wall of trees so tightly clustered that a worm couldn't fit in between them. Varus was wondering exactly what would happen next when Adrian walked up to one of the trees and placed his palm on it. He whispered something that Varus could not hear, and when he took his hand away from the tree a bright blue sigil glowed where it had been. For a few more seconds nothing happened, but then the tree shuddered and bent backwards. As Adrian walked towards it, its bark shifted its form until it looked like stairs. He beckoned Varus to follow him, so Varus walked up the steps and down the other side into a clearing. The sight that met him astounded him.
There was a huge castle, it had many tall towers that extended hundreds of feet into the air, other, smaller buildings that could not be less than a hundred feet tall, and was surrounded by a large wall. The width of the clearing must have had a diameter of five square miles, and the castle covered all of it besides about fifty feet that laid all around it between the wall and the wall of trees. There was a large gate that was right in front of them, and Adrian led them towards it. When they got there a smaller door opened in it and a vampire beckoned them inside.
When they entered, Varus was once again astounded. At first it was by the sky above him. Outside he had approximated it as being about three hours until sunrise, but inside this place, it seemed as if it were midnight. The moon shone brightly in the wrong position, and the all of the stars twinkled in obviously fashioned constellations. Adrian noticed Varus's awe and chuckled again.
"Yep, got me on my first time too."
After this, Varus noticed that he was on a bridge that extended another fifty feet from the
wall before the town that was inside the vampire castle really started. Under the bridge, and extending fifty feet from the wall to the town, was a large body of water that ran all around it as far as Varus could see. The town itself looked normal enough from where he stood. There were small houses and bigger houses, but another castle that was larger than all of the other buildings grabbed his attention immediately. There were vampires walking around, just as in a normal town, except that there were very few of them, from his perspective.
He had only a few seconds to take all of this in, however, for soon Adrian was beckoning for him to follow him, and Brutus was urging him forward. The three of them walked through the narrow, cobbled streets and passed gothic courtyards, arches, and what looked like cathedrals. Adrian led them though the streets until they reached another gate at the side of another wall that surrounded the castle inside the town. They were challenged again, and Adrian gave an identical answer as the previous time. Once again the gate was opened, but this time only Adrian and he passed through. Brutus said his farewells and headed off down the street.
The inside of this second castle was lavish, but this was unsurprising to Varus. He had grown up listening to tales of vampires and their styles, and he found it slightly ironic just how true those stories had been. There were statues of individuals, epic tapestries depicting various events and wars, and many candlesticks with bright, flickering candles inside them. There were also many carpets, most of which were red. Adrian led him through these winding halls until they reached a large door with two rock beings on each side of it that resembled large, humanoid bats. It was strangely unguarded. This time, Adrian stepped to the side of the door.
"You enter first."
"Oh, is this where the leaders are?" Varus suddenly felt very leery of entering this room.
"Yep, it's in here where you'll either get inducted or…Well, you know."
"Right," despite himself, Varus gulped. He walked up to the two doors and grasped each of them by the handle.
"Actually, I think you should probably just open one. Wouldn't want to seem too pretentious now would you?" Varus could not tell just how serious Adrian was being.
"Oh, right."
He grabbed one of the doors and slowly opened it while walking into the brightly-lit room behind it.
Evil Is A Matter of Perspective
5
Evil Is a Matter of Perspective
Demenn, vampire second class, walked along a forest road and thought.
'This is not good, I have already killed far more humans on this mission than is usually acceptable, and that business with the young man was one step too far. Why did I do that anyway? Regardless, if I attract any more attention, they will send vampire slayers after me. If they have not already.'
Just the thought of this sent something like a shiver down Demenn's spine. The vampire slayers were notorious in their ability to destroy lone vampires. Any vampire that was sane would be afraid of two vampire slayers. Now, there was no doubt that Demenn could kill a vampire slayer, maybe even two, but even if he did succeed in that, they would only send more. That was the terror that the vampire slayers held. They were relentless; they would never forget a wound to them, or to the peasants that were in their region. They were the main reason that the attacks against towns had almost ceased, because every vampire that had tried was killed. There were no exceptions to that statement.
'Besides, even if I were able to kill the slayers they sent after me, they might just send E. Now that is something I have to avoid at all costs. Being hunted by E would mean certain death, no matter how strong I think I am. I must do everything I can to avoid drawing their attention after this point. I am too close to becoming a first class to jeopardize it all now. I could become one of the elite in our society. Surpassed in power by only the Patriarch and Matriarch. I only need one more heart.'
He continued to steep in his thoughts as he followed several large, canine tracks, and smiled to himself once again. Wulf was being very cocky, which was not like him. So the only explanations were either that his minions were very strong, or that he himself was stronger than had been reported. Both of them sounded rather far-fetched, but Demenn knew that he had to be ready for anything once it became time to fight them. He was very worried about the amount of tracks as well. Five was a very large number for one vampire to face down, and those other four were just added to his quarry, who might or might not be stronger than Demenn himself was.
Despite himself, and his serious position, Demenn could not help but enjoy this part of the forest. He was now officially far outside of the vampire territory, and as such, he saw sites that he rarely got to see. There were trees of all kinds, but most were short, jagged, and provided almost no cover from the sun. None of them were as uniform as the trees in the vampire's part of the forest.
'I suppose they really have no reason to fear wood, or the sun for that matter. Still, the birds here are very—wait, there are no birds in Darkoven!'
Demenn leapt into the air and curled into a ball as a large net fell from a particularly tall tree that was directly above him. It caught him and neatly wound itself around him, with the metal balls at the ends twirling around each other to form a perfect knot at the top. By the time he hit the ground, he was already tied so securely that he could not even use the knife he had draw from his boot while he had been in the air. A boot hit the ground next to his head, and he looked up into the laughing face of a vampire slayer.
'Well, this is not good.'
The vampire slayer squatted down until his face was right above Demenn's. He looked nondescript; with brown hair, brown eyes, and normal, Cro-Magnon features. He was still laughing loudly and his open mouth displayed perfectly aligned teeth and a wide grin.
"Hello vampire. I bet you thought that you had safely gotten away from what you did to that poor boy back in Valestren. Well you didn't. We are the two vampire slayers that were stationed in that town, and we've been tracking you ever since then. We will now kill you and avenge poor…Hey Sean, what was that kid's name?"
"Huh," another vampire slayer walked into Demenn's field of vision. He seemed very young, and had almost white blond hair, blue eyes, and looked scared. "His name was Mark, Jake."
"Right, that guy. You killed him and tried to kill…" Jaxon trailed off and looked to the side while scratching his head.
"Nasoren." Sean offered while inching closer to Demenn.
"Nasoren. So now we're going to kill you." Jake pulled out a pistol and loaded it with a wooden bullet.
Demenn eyed the two of them. "Jake huh?"
Jake stopped for a moment. "Yea."
"I suppose that there is nothing that I can do to save myself now is there?" Demenn rolled onto his back so that he could see them better.
"Nope, that net is one of our new magic ones, ties itself it does." Jaxon let out another burst of laughter and poured powder into the pan of his pistol.
"Right, I just hope you know how to deal with those five werewolves that were very close to us and that most definitely heard your idiotic laughing."
Jake stopped laughing and looked around for a minute before turning back around to Demenn and kicking him in the ribs. "Stupid vampire, don't go scaring me like that again, you hear?"
"I am afraid that I am not trying to scare you, I am merely pointing out that the werewolves' sense are even more finely tuned than my vampire ones, and that they undoubtedly heard you. They were less than a mile away from me when you ambushed me, so they should be here in about thirty seconds."
A look of panic crossed Jake's face for a moment before it became a sneer once again. "Yea, right, I'm sure they are. Too bad you won't be here to see us kill them as well."
Demenn sighed. "You really are an idiot, there are five of them. I would have hoped that you could have figured that out by just following me and seeing their tracks for yourselves. Do you really think that you two, who are equipped only for vampire slaying, could defeat five werewolves?"
"No, I say that we kill him now, and then wait to see if they—" He was silenced by several howls as Demenn saw seven werewolves come around the bend in the road. They were running on all fours, with their weapons on their backs, and they were running fast. He had to do something quick.
"Alright, now you believe me, release me and I'll help you fight them, with the three of us we might just have a chance."