by Savill, Josh
“As you all know,” began Dreno his voice resonating around the silent hall “I have recently killed my sworn enemy and Brother Isaac, at least that was the name that he hid behind most recently. Many of you will remember him as Dreano,” the vampires began to whisper amongst themselves in acknowledgment, many of them remembered him from the old days and as such it now made sense to them why Dreno was so happy that he was dead.
Dreno held up his hand and motioned for the hall to be silent. Quickly the hum of activity began to die down, he continued “This however is not a celebration, my brother was an example of an age gone by, an age of betrayal and backstabbing between vampires. Just as I have flushed him out so now do I wish to flush the weak out from the flock. There is no longer any room for weeds that would spoil our perfect society.”
“We are the master race and for far too long now we have hid in the shadows from the human cattle. It is about time that we take back what is rightfully ours. My new machines can support our population, I have a plan that I shall set in motion and we shall destroy the human’s towns and cities and take the world for ourselves, just as it was so many millennia ago.”
The vampires rose to their feet and applauded Dreno. The idea would bring in a new era for them, a better era. One vampire however did not rise, instead he chose to sit in his seat and looked quite nervous. This vampire was of course Henry, who until this point had been settling into life at the feeding house quite well. He knew however that this was not all that Dreno would have to say, and he dreaded what might happen to him.
“However,” Dreno said “There is a matter that we must attend to first, I no longer want weak vampires living among us. They will not fare well in the new world order. As such I have cut off the blood supply, there shall be no more pure blood until all the weak are dead. Don’t even try and run, normal blood will no longer suffice and shall taste like ash in your mouth. You shall fight to prove your worth to me. Each of you shall fight one another in one on one combat. The victor of each fight shall be given their right to drink at my table back once again, the loser shall die by the hand of the victor. Do I make myself clear?”
The vampires looked around at one another, realising that for the meanwhile every face that they saw could easily be the face of their enemy. None of them liked the idea of this, but they were reluctant to say no. Even now they could feel the yearning for a taste of the pure blood. It was nearly at the point of uncontrollable. Dreno was the only one who had it in supply, every vampire who sat in that hall had to agree they had no choice in the matter, regardless of this fact, this was a decision that they all would rather not make.
Dreno repeated himself after not gaining an answer the first time “I said, do you all understand?” his voice now filled with anger.
One by one the vampires began to get to their feet, each one agreeing to what Dreno had said. Many of them seemed reluctant, some of them even seemed happy with the idea but eventually every vampire stood to their feet and agreed. Dreno smiled down on them happy with their decision and knowing that everything thing was going according to plan. It would not be long now until the human race that he hated so much would be dead. Finally vampires would once again rule over the world.
Henry however had been sitting there listening the whole time, he wore a look of terror as he heard Dreno speak about the fighting. This was not the way that he thought it would be, he thought that now he would get to live a peaceful life without any more plans and plotting. It seemed however that this was not the way it was meant to be. It felt almost as if Dreno had tricked him into joining the feeding house, leading him in under false pretences.
As the vampires rose to their feet one by one, agreeing to Dreno’s demand, Henry took this as his one and only chance to escape. He never thought that it would have come to this but now it seemed as though it was his only option, he didn’t really know where he was going but all he did know was that he had made a terrible mistake. He should never have come to Dreno with the information, and he should never have betrayed Isaac.
He knew that he had to do something, he had to go somewhere to clear his head and think of what to do, but the thoughts were unrelenting and bombarded his brain with images of death and violence and he knew that it was all his fault.
Over the past few days Isaac and Jack spent a lot of time tending to the remaining reserves of the blood fruit, luckily Dreno had been focusing on nothing more than destroying the farm house and killing those inside and did not think to look for blood fruit further than the fields that surrounded the farm house.
Luckily Isaac had always thought ahead and realised that one day Dreno might well come for him, he knew that he held the world’s supply of blood fruit and as such made sure that he kept a secret plantation of it all to himself. It was a good half a mile away from the rest and few plants grew there, but it was enough to support Jack and Isaac for a short while and they were thankful for it. They used the seeds to sow new plants and eventually they hoped that they could once again support a new community.
Even though they talked about a new community and starting a new, Jack realised that there was something else on Isaacs mind. He wasn’t the same anymore, Jack would often see Isaac deep in contemplation it was obvious that he had something planned. They had not spoken about the plan to destroy Dreno since they had got back, but Jack knew that Isaac wanted to end this once and for all, more than ever before.
That night they held a ceremony for their fallen friends, they remembered them for who they were and spoke kind words about each of them. It wasn’t until the ceremony had finished and silence fell between them that Jack began to question Isaac.
“What’s going to happen now then,” he said “I mean we can’t just stop now, we have to put an end to Dreno. If not for this then for what he is planning to do.”
Isaac looked up at Jack “The plan is over, but that does not mean that I have given up. There is now only one option as to what must be done, it’s not guaranteed that it will work but it is the only thing that we have left. I have to challenge Dreno to a fight, the rules are simple. If I kill him I will gain power over all of the feeding houses, but if he kills me then any hope of stopping him will be lost forever.”
Jack looked shocked at what Isaac was saying “You can’t fight him, it’s a suicide mission. Dreno is stronger than any other vampire. Let me fight him, at least if I die then you can continue on and find another way to stop all of this from happening.”
“There is no other way to stop this,” Isaac’s voice was now filled with anger “We have exhausted all other options. He is my brother and as such I must be the one to kill him. I should have done it a long time ago. You can’t challenge him anyway, I was once part of the high council, I’m from royal vampiric blood. Only I have the ability to challenge him to such a fight. This is something that I have to do. There is no other way.”
Jack was not happy with the idea of this happening. If he lost Isaac then Dreno would truly have nothing standing in his way. Although, as Jack ran the idea through his head, he began to realise that it might indeed be the best option. Yes, Dreno is strong but so is Isaac and if Isaac truly is the only one that can challenge him then it seems as though this would be the only way for Dreno to be stopped.
They did not have time to talk about this any longer. as they stood next to the graves a loud rustling could be heard from a nearby bush. Isaac only got a quick glimpse of what it was but as he looked he saw a man shape figure darting around the undergrowth.
“Prepare yourself,” said Isaac “I fear that they may have come back for more.”
Isaac and Jack’s eyes turned Jet black and they adopted defensive positions ready to fight to the death, as they looked they could see the figure darting around, they knew that it was a vampire but were unable to make out where he was properly. They clenched their fists and steeled themselves preparing for the onslaught.
The figure broke free of the shadows and continued to run towards them, he was in pl
ain sight now. As they looked on they could see that this was no ordinary vampire, this was an extremely scared Henry. Although they were both shocked to see him Isaac did not relax, instead he let out a great scream of rage and charged towards Henry.
Isaac was about to rip Henry’s throat out when Jack managed to jump onto Isaac stopping him from attacking the confused and bewildered Henry. Isaac quickly calmed down and his eyes returned to their normal colour.
“Isaac, Jack. You’re alive?” said Henry as he stood their stunned and confused “I was sure you were dead, I’m so happy to see you both.”
Neither Jack nor Isaac looked pleased at all and Isaac began to yell “You caused the death of everyone here, they were your friends, I was your friend and you repay that friendship with betrayal. I am glad that you’re here Henry, because now I get to kill you where you stand.”
Isaac shot forward ready to attack, but Jack managed to grab him. Henry backed up screaming with fear. Isaac once again began to calm down and once he was calm Henry began to speak “I realise what I have done, but I am glad that you are both alive, I have some important information, I ran from the feeding house. It’s Dreno, he’s set his plan into motion.”
The fight continued at the feeding house, vampire on vampire combat was the name of the game and those taking part were beginning to get sick of it all. Vampires who were once friends now tore each other apart on the field of battle, and watching over this was Dreno. He revelled in the fact that this could go so far and that pure blood had worked so well.
A lot of the vampires were beginning to talk amongst themselves, about how much they disagreed with the fighting and just wished that it would stop. The vampires of the feeding house had held Dreno up as a hero before all this happened, now they were questioning their beliefs and wondering if he was a tyrant.
Dreno was sitting on his thrown like chair watching on over one of the fights, the vampires were viciously attacking one another all for the chance to taste some more of the pure blood. Dreno smiled as he watched and lent back further into his chair. It was then that a messenger ran up and whispering into his ear.
“High Chancellor Dreno,” The messenger bowed “We have some important news about your shipment, could you please come to your office immediately.”
Slowly Dreno got to his feet and walked out of the main hall, which had now been converted into a fighting arena. and walked into his office. Throwing the doors open he slowly wandered in and poured himself a glass of the regular blood. There were a few vampires in the room with him, all of which had passed the trials and were here to deliver him this message.
Dreno turned around to face them “So, what is the meaning of this?”
“We are sorry that we had to bother you like this High Chancellor,” began one of the messengers as he bowed low in respect of Dreno’s presence “You see, we have had a report through that the boat that held your cargo and therefore the cargo in side of it, was destroyed a few days ago at the port.”
Dreno fell back into his chair, he didn’t care so much that his machines had been destroyed, that was something that he could live with. Dreno knew however that if the machines had been destroyed there was only one person who would have done such a thing. Isaac must still be alive, it was the only obvious conclusion.
Just the thought of Isaac still being alive made the anger well up inside of Dreno “Leave me now,” he said in a stern tone to the vampires that surrounded him. They all quickly backed out of the room, each one fighting to get out of the door first and away from Dreno’s possible fury that was plainly on show for all eyes to see.
Dreno sat there for a long while unsure of what to do, his machines had been destroyed but to him that was trivial. Even without the machines he would still be able to continue on with his plans, at least until the new ones arrive. The thing that was annoying him the most however was the ever present thought that Isaac, his younger brother, was still very much alive somewhere.
After a while though Dreno began to realise that this may in fact be good news after all, his brother would no doubt be completely crushed and disheartened. Surely Isaac will be a great example to show the newly formed feeding house what happens when you stray from the flock. Dreno remembered his feeling of betrayal and how his brother had always had a soft spot for humanity, he remembered how Isaac had a dream that one day all every vampire and human would live side by side and independently. Dreno drunk more from his glass full of blood, the thought of this free and happy existence for all sickened him.
Henry, Isaac and Jack all sat around a small camp fire that they had made, they were sipping on a very weak tea made for some of the left over tea leaves they had found in the carriage. Jack was trying to make sure that Isaac stayed under control, he had been sitting silently all evening staring at Henry with such hatred, it seemed like any moment Isaac would just stand up and chop his head off there and then.
“Right,” said Jack putting his mug down and walking towards Henry “You better start talking now, tell us everything that’s been going on. Or I won’t hold Isaac back from doing whatever he wants to you.”
Henry looked over at Isaac, who was staring directly at him and quickly he turned away from his gaze again “Look I’ve told you pretty much everything already, Dreno’s making the vampires fight. He’s weeding out the weak from the strong or something like that. He wants to kill humanity, he wants to take the world for the vampires.”
For the first time that evening Isaac began to speak “This does not sound like anything new to me, Dreno has been planning to do this for years. I’m not surprised that he is linking it in with the release of the new feeding machines. My brother’s hate for humanity was the whole reason why he began to hate me, viewing me even in the early days, as a human sympathiser.”
“Surely with this information there has to be some other way to stop everything now,” began Jack “I mean Dreno doesn’t know that we know anything about this, maybe we can catch him out.”
Isaac sighed, he was frustrated “Jack you have to realise that there is no other way, and with this new information it just means that I have to act sooner than I previously expected. I have to fight him and we have to leave for that feeding house now, this is our only chance to save everyone, be they human or vampire.”
Jack wanted to fight off Isaacs plan and think of another way, but he just couldn’t. Isaacs’s idea made the most sense and as much as Jack hated to admit it, it was there one chance to stop all of this “Ok,” began Jack “But I’m coming with you, I’ll be there for you every step of the way just like you were for me.”
Isaac smiled as he looked across at Jack “thank you my friend, now we have to leave, I intend to try and stop Dreno as soon as possible.”
Isaac and Jack left the old farm house on foot, Isaac knew that this may well be one of the last nights of his life and Jack knew it too. Isaac however seemed poised and ready for the oncoming fight, he knew that he had to end his brother’s reign of tyranny and this was the only way.
Henry stayed behind, he didn’t want to go with them, and he didn’t want to face the horror of the feeding house again. Thoughts swam around his head telling him that this was all his fault, he should never have betrayed his friends. Now they were dead and the feeding house, his new home, was descending into anarchy. He couldn’t face the shame any longer, as he stood amongst the rubble of his former home, he knew that there was only one way that he could release himself from the pain.
Henry drew a long and sharp blade from his back pocket, he was addicted to Dreno’s cruel pure blood and with no way now to get it he felt himself quickly withering away as the thirst set in. Henry lent his head down on the log that he had been sitting on and turned sideways scrunching his face with fear.
Then his eyes opened and he was calm, tears began to stream down his face “I’m so sorry for what I have done,” with that he thrust the knife down onto his neck, severing his own head in one quick movement. As his head rolled across the floor,
he was freed from the life that he had made for himself.
A few hours after leaving, Jack and Isaac arrived at the feeding house they had not spoken for the duration of the walk and Jack had, had difficulty keeping up with the focussed Isaac. They were about to walk down the path that lead to the large and old building when Jack grabbed Isaacs arm “Are you sure that you still want to go through with this, there is no shame in turning back now. I’m sure that given some time we could find another way to stop this.”
Isaac turned slowly and Jack released his grip on his arm “Believe me when I say that this is the only way, I will most probably not return from this, but we must have faith that this will work.”
“Then I have one question,” said Jack “It’s been bothering me since you first told me that Dreno was your brother. You had everything, I know how well off the High Council of vampires are, why did you throw that all away for humanity, the very thing that you were feeding on.”
Isaac sighed “I left that life behind me because I knew that it was wrong, I had known it for a long while before the discovery of blood fruit, I tried so many different ways to stop myself from feeding, including starvation, but none of them worked. I believe in the blood fruit Jack, it is the only way for vampires to evolve, for all of our curses, this is our one gift. I would die for this, it is my life and it is the one thing I truly believe in.”
For the first time Jack actually saw emotion from behind Isaacs eyes, he knew that this was the truth and he also knew that there was no way that he could stop Isaac from fighting Dreno. The time had come where one of them would finally come out victorious, and Jack was not about to stand in the way of that. He understood now why Isaac was so adamant that he must fight, and Jack respected that.
Jack did not have a plan of his own but as Isaac began to walk off Jack stopped for a second, and looked down at the doll in his pocket, the doll that belonged to that poor girl who was still stuck in that house, the one that he knew today he would save or die trying.