Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction from the author's imagination. The story and its characters are products of the author. Any similarities to other stories or characters are purely coincidental. Any similarities of characters to persons living or dead are entirely coincidental. This story contains homosexual themes, if that offends you or it is illegal for you to read such material, read no further. The author retains all rights to this story. Do not reproduce or post this story on other sites without the author's permission.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading my first publishing of a story I wrote. This is a vampire story that I have been bouncing around in my mind for a long time. You will notice some aspects of `vampire nature' from popular books and movies like Anne Rice's thrillers and Underworld. I am a great fan of vampire fiction. Thank you to the authors who have inspired me to publish my own work. This includes Comicality and Julien Gregg of GayAuthors.org and the many I have read on Nifty.org. Comments and criticisms are most welcome. Contact me at DanielT315@gmail.com.
Chapter 1
The war had raged for nearly a century. Its devastation had threatened everything they stood for. Now they were fighting not just for power, but for their very survival. Never in their four-thousand year history had the vampires come so close to complete destruction, and never had they been so divided against one another.
The man stood facing the sculpture in the middle of the park. The sky was dark and no moon was visible. His slender six-foot frame leaned against a low wall that surrounded the plaza as he peered around with his crystal blue eyes. His short brown hair bristled in the breeze. The night was clear and cold and recently fallen snow covered the ground. His trench coat hid the pistols, dagger and sword he had on his body. He glanced at his watch; it read three minutes to midnight.
He listened to the sounds around him; the hum of traffic on the nearby avenue, the airplane over head and the police sirens in the distance. He also listened to the voices and thoughts of the thousands of people that his vampire nature allowed him to access. He was searching for something and someone.
A minute later a blond-haired woman stepped into the plaza and continued to walk over to him.
"Good evening, Alicia," he said, turning to face her. His voice carried the slightest twinge of an accent that sounded like a mix of Scandinavian and Russian.
"And to you, Jacob," she said. Her voice had a similar, stronger accent that leaned more towards Russian.
"Thank you for cutting your vacation short," Jacob asked her, "What information have you gathered?"
"Your suspicions are correct. He's most definitely here, in this city. The locals speak of a strange presence here. It can be no one other than him," she frowned and then continued. "But we thought he was on the other side of the world. We're here to rest and search for his supporters."
`I know, but he has been known to be an elusive one and show up at random," Jacob said, smiling. "I've found the same in my search. If we kill him, we end the war once and for all."
"I'm tired of fighting," Alicia said.
"We all are, my friend." Jacob reached into the pocket of his trench coat and removed a cell phone. He quickly typed a text message simply saying "found" and hit send.
"The council has been informed," he said, putting the phone away.
"What do we do now?" Alicia asked.
"We find out where he is and how many he has with him," Jacob said. "And when reinforcements arrive, we end this war.
"Now we must depart," Jacob continued. He felt a group of mortals moving towards them.
They quickly walked away from the park and both got in their cars which they had parked a few blocks away. They both raced out of the city towards their compound.
Chapter 2:
The compound was an old farm, built two centuries earlier. It contained an old plantation-style farm house that was large, an old barn building, and a guest house which looks to be built in this century. The grand estate was surrounded by fifteen-foot stone fences with barbed tops and all the latest security technologies. The estate could be accessed off the north and south sides. The south side was accessed from a gravel road that led through several other farms before it reached a main road. The north and main entrance faced a major road but was set back slightly. The landscape of the large estate was somewhat hilly with large trees. The land that had once been the crop fields had long been overgrown by grass.
Jacob pulled through the main entrance's iron gates right behind Alicia. They drove up the long driveway which was covered by the branches of the large oak trees that lined it until they stopped near the front of the house. They got out and walked up to the front door. The house was white and large columns held up the roof that stretched over the porch that extended across most of the front of the house. As they walked into the foyer, a man—a human—came up to them and bowed. He was around six-foot-six- inches and had a bodybuilder's physique.
"Is there any news, Dante?" Jacob asked the man. Another man waved and hurried out to move their cars to the garage; the old barn converted to store all their vehicles.
"None so far, Jake," he said, leading the way across the foyer where a door led to the stairs to the old wine cellar. Along the back wall, he pushed the right stone for a secret door to open. Through it they followed a tunnel that descended another forty feet and winded for about one-hundred yards. At last they reached a heavily secured door with no handle which Dante unlocked using the finger print reader hidden in the stones to the right of the door.
The three entered a large cavern—it was about fifty feet across and about fifteen feet high. There were a few doors that led off the cavern. The cavern itself was a mix of natural cave and manmade structure. They walked to one side of the cavern, and to one of the doors which was once again opened with a finger print scanner. Inside was a smaller, but well-sized, man made cavern that appeared to be a command center. Computer screens, TVs, and maps lined the walls. There was a bank of terminals along one wall and a large table in the middle. There was a human female and another vampire male there who both rose as Jacob entered.
"Sit down," he commanded. "What's the latest?"
"Well," Dante started, moving to a screen showing a map of the world. "Nothing has changed. None of the units have found much. A couple of his followers have been located and killed, but no sign of him."
"He's here," Jake said.
Dante looked stunned for a moment before asking, "Are you sure, sir?"
"Positive, I've informed the council. We should have confirmation shortly and back up forces in a couple days."
"So what do we do now, sir?" The other vampire asked.
"We sweep the city, Zack," Jake said, moving to a map of the city they were in. "We take the forces we have and try and locate him, figure out how many he has with him, and try to keep him from leaving."
"Sir, in a city this size..." Dante began. "There are more than three million people..."
Jake cut him off, "I know; that's why I want all ten vampires and half of the watchers out on the street. We have to try and find him, even if we don't get far. Help will arrive soon."
`What about the other ten Watchers?" the human female asked.
"They will remain here, listening for any word or sign and maintaining the compound's security. I want half on day duty, the other half on night duty. I'm leaving you in charge of that effort, Jess."
She nodded.
"Now, I want everyone in here in an hour for a meeting. We're on the hunt tomorrow night."
Chapter 3:
Several nights later, Jake's black trench coat fluttered behind him as he walked down the street. So far they hadn't found much in their search. Tonight, there were quite a few people out and about, but that was to be expected since it was Friday night and he was downtown near the strip of clubs. He rolled his eyes as he saw a group of obviously drunk twenty-somethings stumbling down the street carrying on like hyenas.
He was searching with his eyes and mind for any sign of the enemy or any bit of information about him or his whereabouts.
He entered one of the quieter bars on the street and took a seat in the corner. He ordered a martini and then relaxed. He opened his senses and bits of conversations from around the bar started to flow in his mind. He narrowed in on one when he heard the term `murder'.
"Did you hear about it?" one guy asked, sitting in the far corner of the bar from where Jake sat. "It happened not far from here."
"Yeah, I heard," the other man said, he appeared to be one of the bartenders on a break. "It's got everyone all nervous around here."
"I know," the first one said. "He worked in Jack's, the bar a couple blocks over."
"Yeah, so what do you cops know? You ain't telling the public much."
"That's because we don't know much. It was brutal, that's all we know," said the man who was apparently an officer. He took a drink of his beer before continuing. "The guy was found at the entrance of an alley. From the way he was sprawled out and where the shots came from, it looks like he wandered onto something he shouldn't have. He was shot five times in the chest. The shots were precise, I mean, like expert marksmanship. And something else is weird..." he broke off.
"What?" his companion asked.
"The bullets," the cop said, lowering his voice. "Are like nothing I've ever seen before. I have seen a LOT of bullets in my life, but nothing like this. Forensics is just as confused as I am, they've never seen it either, and they're trying to find out what the fuck they are, but so far no luck."
"That's fucked up," the other man said, taking a drink. "Is this the first case like this?"
"That we know of, yeah," the cop said. "But I'm afraid it won't be the last."
Jake got up and swept out of the bar, leaving the cash for his drink that he barely touched. He found what he was looking for quickly. He placed the quarters in the machine and then opened it and reached in and grabbed the newspaper. He scanned the front page and found the story about the shooting; he went to the alley where it said it happened.
When he arrived, there was still police tape up, but no one was around. He slipped under the tape. He first came across the dried blood and chalk lines. He kneeled down and sniffed at the area. It was there, the unmistakable smell of the poison from an exploded vampire round. He moved quickly down the alley and found the place marked as where the shooter or shooters had stood. He examined the ground and saw it. It was too small for the cops to notice; it was the smallest shard of one of the bullet that had been fired. The small shard was part of the inside of the bullet that held the poison that made it a `vampire round'—an intense poison, the only thing that can debilitate a vampire. The style of bullet was a high-tech military round that vampires on both sides of the war had stolen and adapted.
"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. He then heard someone move towards the alley but he leapt to the roof of the four-story building before the person entered the alley. It was a cop, patrolling the crime scene. Jake sighed and pulled a small plastic bag from his pants pocket and put the tiny shard in it. He'd take it back to the compound to make sure, but he had no doubt of what it was.
He prowled the rooftops of downtown for a couple more hours trying to check another clue but finding none. He caught bits of people's thoughts and conversations about the murder, but nothing new. He didn't sense any vampire or watcher in the area either; not even the civilian vampires seemed to be in the area. Damn, he thought.
"Analyze this," he said to Jess, handing the bag to her. `I'm praying it's not what I know it is."
"She looked in the bag and frowned, recognition flashing in her eyes. She nodded and headed out of the command center and across the great cavern to the lab. Jake collapsed in his chair at the table and opened his laptop computer to search for any more news on this shooting. Nothing new appeared. His fellow vampires and the watchers started to trickle in for their debriefing; Most of them looked disappointed or frustrated.
Jess hurriedly walked in and approached Jake. "I ran the test five times, there's no doubt about what this is. There are traces of the chemical all over it. Where'd you find it?"
Jake told her to sit down and he'd explain in the debriefing, just then the only missing members or the group entered—a vampire by the name of Shane and Dante the watcher. They had been sent out as a pair. They both looked excited.
"Sir!" Shane said, facing Jake. "We have news."
"Excellent," Jake said, motioning for them to sit down. "What is it?"
"We found what we think is a safe house for the enemy's men. A house on the east side of town," Dante started.
"Are you sure it's not just a house of a civilian vampire?" Alicia asked. Not all vampires were actively fighting, there were those that supported the `good' guys but didn't fight; they just went about their normal lives much like civilian humans.
"Yes, I could sense three enemy vampires," Shane continued. "And there were humans, five of them. One of them is there unwillingly."
"What do you mean?" Alicia asked.
"He's being held captive by the others," Shane said. "No clue why though."
"Odd," Jake said. `Maybe he's seen something he wasn't supposed to? But why would they keep him alive? They killed the other guy..." He proceeded to tell him what he had found.
"They fired vampire rounds on a human?" Zack asked, open-mouthed. "In the open? What the hell were they thinking?"
"I don't know," Jake answered. `They were desperate, that's for sure. They shot him and then got out in a hurry."
"Do we have any idea who shot?" Alicia asked.
"My guess is only one vampire was there, and maybe a couple humans. It's hard to tell because the area has been so heavily trafficked since the shooting." Jake answered.
"What now?" Jess asked.
"We pay that house a visit tomorrow night," Jake said. "Alicia, Shane, Zack and I will go. Dante and Amy will be the Watchers that accompany us."
Everyone nodded. Jake leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin as he thought.
"I want the human captive," Jake said. "Alive. He may hold some key to what our old friend is doing, and where he is."
Chapter 4:
The night was cool as they loaded into three SUVs. Jake drove with Dante at his side, Alicia was with Amy, and Zack and Shane were in the third. They quickly piloted onto the freeway and across town towards the neighborhood where this house was.
They parked a couple blocks away, everyone in a different direction of the house to prevent detection. They moved quietly towards the two story house, all of them staking out spots to watch from.
"OK, guys," Jake said over his radio. "What do you see?"
"The same vampires are there," Shane responded.
"Same humans too, including the captive," Dante added.
"There is a perimeter barrier around the property. House has a traditional security system," Amy said. "I'm trying to hack it now."
Alicia and Jake were on the same rooftop of the house across the street from the target house.
"Trap?" She asked, not over the radio so only Jake could hear.
"I don't think so," Jake answered; he called the mansion on his cell phone. "Jess says nothing is odd there, everyone else is on guard there, no one's in the city other than us. Regardless, we should strike quickly and get out. Leave no trace of who we are."
"Won't that let him know we're in the area?"
"I have a feeling he already knows there's at least some of us here," Jake answered. "Let's just not let him know how many."
"The house is a basic two-story house." Zack's voice came across the radio. "It doesn't have a basement. The kitchen, dining room, living, laundry room, a study, and a bathroom are on the main floor. There are three entrances on the main floor; front door leads to a hall between the study and dining room; the entrance from the garage is in the laundry room; and there is a set of sliding glass doors into the living room. Second floor has two small bedrooms and a bathroom between them and then a master suite consisting of a large bedroom, large bathroom, and a walk-in closet. A small attic space is accessed through a door in the closet's ceiling.
"Two of the three vampires are on the main floor along with three of the humans. One vampire and one human are in the master bedroom and the hostage is in the master closet."
"OK," Jake said. "What's the word on the security system, Amy?"
"The house's security system is connected to the company's network, I've hacked it and can disable it at any time, and the perimeter sensors are harder because they aren't connected to any outside source. It has a special control box and breaker in the breaker box on the side of the house."
"Can someone get past it to disable it?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, the only way is to go about ten feet over the line, then it's just flipping a switch."
"OK everyone, here's the plan," Jake said. "Alicia is good at moving undetected, so she'll jump the perimeter and hit the perimeter barrier. Amy, I want you to be ready to disable the security system when she hits the perimeter. You're going to stay outside and make sure no one escapes. Alicia will go through the side window into the study near the breaker box as Zack, Shane and Dante attack as a group through the sliding glass doors around back. I'll go directly into the second floor and take care of the two up there and get the hostage."
Everyone issued their agreement and moved into place. Jake watched from the rooftop as Alicia easily leapt over the barrier and landed silently on the grass. She rapidly approached the breaker box. She signaled when she had gotten there. She hit the breaker.
"Now Amy," Jake said into the radio.
"Perimeter is offline, and house security is offline," she said. "Now."
"Move in," Jake ordered. He leapt off the rooftop, landing on the opposite side of the street; he leapt again and was on the roof of the target house. He watched as his comrades approached.
They struck together. Alicia disappeared through the side window, the other three through the back door and Jake through the window into one of the small bedrooms. Two vampires slept in here by the looks of it, he crept silently to the door and peeked out into the hall, he was just in time to see the human exit the master bedroom and move towards the stairs. The bullet from Jake's silenced pistol exploded his head before he got to the top step. Jake snuck out past the body and towards the master bedroom door that the human had left cracked. Through the crack, Jake saw something he wasn't expecting. There stood Charles, a traitor who had joined the enemy's side, he had been around almost as long as Jake. The two had once resided in the same area and worked together. Charles moved towards the door to the bathroom. In the bathroom was the door to the closet. Damn, Jake thought. I can't snipe him.
Jake burst through the door and pointed the gun at the back of Charles' head.
"Freeze," Jake hissed.
"My my," Charles said, turning to look at Jake. "It's been a long time."
"Not long enough," Jake said. "What are you doing here and where is your boss hiding?"
"You expect me to tell you that?" Charles smirked. "You always were thick."
In a flash, Charles pulled a gun from his side and shot at Jake. However, Jake was too fast and dodged the bullets.
"And you were always slow," Jake said. Firing a warning shot over his head. "Now, tell me what is going on, and I may spare your life."
"Never," Charles growled. "I'd die before revealing anything to you."
"Well then," Jake said, taking aim. "It will be so."
Charles responded, "Let us duel. See who the greater one is."
He then drew his sword. Jake shook off his trench coat and drew his own sword. Their swords clashed and clanged as the battle raged downstairs. But his forces were winning, it'd be over soon.
"You've improved," Jake said, blocking a stab by Charles.
"I've learned many tricks since you and I last met," Charles said. He quickly moved his sword to slice at Jake's head which Jake blocked. Charles swept out with his feet while Jake was blocking the attack at his head. Jake lost his balance and Charles stabbed out for Jake's chest. Jake rolled out of the way and brought his own sword into Charles' abdomen.
"Still not good enough," Jake said as Charles' eyes went wide. Jake pulled his sword out of Charles and then in one swift motion, decapitated him. He wiped his sword on Charles' pants and re-sheathed it and pulled on his coat.
On the floor below, his forces had killed the enemies and began to clean up. Jake walked swiftly through the bathroom and into the closet.
His eyes fell on a young man tied to a chair sitting in the middle of the room. Fear flashed in the man's green eyes when he saw Jake. He was tall, about six-foot-two- inches. His build was slender like Jake's. His blonde hair was fairly short and a mess at the moment. He looked to be roughly twenty-three. However, it looked as if he hadn't shaved in days and there were bruises on his face. Something twinged inside of Jake as he looked at the man.
"It's OK," Jake said. "I'm going to get you out of here."
With that, he moved up to the man and withdrew one of his daggers. He sliced through the gag and the ropes binding him. He pulled them away.
"Thanks," the man said. His voice was quiet and it broke slightly. It had a hint of an Australian accent in it. He moved his limbs but winced in pain.
"Do you think you can walk?" Jake asked.
"I don't know," he responded. "I've been tied up for so long..."
"OK, stay here for a minute," Jake said and exited the room. In the bedroom, Amy was checking out the room.
"Is the captive OK?" She asked.
"He's beaten up," Jake answered. "We need to get out of here, everything ready?"
"Yup," she responded. "All we have to do is hit the button."
"I'm going to take, uh..." Jake said, realizing he didn't know the young man's name, "the captive with me. Tell Dante to ride with you and Alicia. I'll see you back at the compound."
"Sounds good," she said and left the room.
Jake walked back into the closet. "Let's go, buddy."
He picked the taller man up like a child and carried him in his arms down the stairs and out the back door. He waved to the others as he headed towards his vehicle. The explosion rocked him as he was putting the man in the car. The fire inspectors would label it as a faulty water heater that caused a natural gas explosion. Four bodies would be found. Unlike humans, vampire bodies left no traces when they were burned.
Jake got in the driver's seat and looked over at the man sitting next to him. "I'm Jake."
"I'm Tristan," the guy said quietly.
"I won't treat you like you're stupid," Jake said as he pulled the car out onto the road. "You've experienced a lot and seen a lot that I'm sure you can't explain."
Tristan nodded and glanced at Jake. "They were vampires. I mean, I didn't think they were real, but those guys, at least some of them are vampires..."
"They are," Jake said. "You have just been thrown into the middle of a vampire war that has raged for almost a century. You were taken captive by the bad guys."
"What are you?" Tristan asked.
"One of the good guys," Jake said. He smiled at Tristan, revealing enough for him to see the white fangs in his mouth.
"I thought all vampires were bad?" Tristan asked.
"Until a few days ago," Jake said. "You didn't think we existed. A lot of the stories you have heard are untrue. Some parts are though."
Tristan nodded. Jake noticed he was starting to fade. "Rest now, everything will be explained later."
I hope you can explain some things to me, Jake said as Tristan drifted off to sleep in the seat next to him.