Hide. I must hide.

Jeremiah was a flurry of movement as he went from spot to spot, tree to tree, trying to find a location to hide.

An old log? No, they are smart, it must be better than that. What about this boulder? I can’t lift a boulder that big, not in my current state. What about…

And this went on, with each minute that passed causing a subtle panic to mount in his dead chest. The sun was slowly rising above the horizon, inch by inch. The Vampire could already start to feel it gently burn his inner essence, burning away his corrupted soul like a sterilizing light. And then he saw it. Up on a hill, a small farm house.

It shall have to do.

Using his Vampiric senses, Jeremiah sensed five humans inside. One large, one smaller, and three rather small ones. He guessed it was a farm family. Perfect. As Jeremiah climbed the hill, the sun began to set his essence ablaze in pure holy agony! He launched himself as hard and as fast as possible at the house. With only seconds to spare, he catapulted straight through their flimsy wooden door and inside to a modest farm hut made of stones and a simple thatched roof. The Vampire was surprised that it kept out sunlight so effectively. Inside was rather modest as well, only containing an unlit fireplace and a large fur bed where the entire family slept curled up together. At least, until a random stranger barreled into their house. They were now wide awake, the largest one, a male and assumedly their father, scrambled out of bed.

“Who the hell are you?” Said the farmer, who quickly approached, ready for a fight.

Ah, so they still speak the old tongue. How helpful.

Without replying, Jeremiah leapt over the farmer to the opposite side of the bed and grabbed the smallest human there by their neck, a little girl, most likely not even 12. Jeremiah held her up like a chicken, with the girl biting and kicking and gasping to no avail. Concentrating the last of his essence into his tongue, The Vampire spoke in a powerful voice, like what he is saying is being conjured into fact and reality itself.

“Do as I say or I will crush her.”

The farmer stopped, he froze in place as fear for his daughter and his own life overtook him. He protected his family through his powerful physique and strength, and now he had met someone stronger than him.

Thus, he is useless.

Jeremiah relented his tight grip on the girl, not allowing her to escape but giving her enough room to breathe once more. She was gasping for air, and another female, assumedly her mother, tried to reach out to the girl but the father stopped her, shaking his head. The Vampire gave his commands, as he felt was his right.

“You are weak. I will crush you all. Your only chance at salvation is to obey: I will release the girl once the sun sets again. If I am found by the men looking for me, I will crush her.”

Jeremiah sat down in the corner of the hut, still holding the girl in his vice grip as she desperately tried thrashing and clawing her way free to no avail. There were two other smaller humans, two other girls from the looks of it, older. They were all scared.

Good.

Time began to pass, at a snail's pace for all parties. None of the family members dared leave the building, they slowly backed into a corner as they studied Jeremiah with such an intensity you would think they were trying to kill him with looks alone. And perhaps they were, for the family was powerless to stop Jeremiah at this moment without losing their youngest daughter.

“Fix the door.”

The father scrambled to grab the door Jeremiah kicked down and prop it back into place. This would have to do. He was getting close to empty now, with only enough essence to maintain his strength and command a few mortals.

Hours passed, the only light to illuminate the pitch blackness filtered through the cracks of the wooden door. No one moved an inch from their spot, not even to tend to mortal problems like eating and drinking. Midday came and went. There was a knock on the door. No one answered. After a minute, there was another knock on the door. Silence. From outside, a man spoke in their tongue, but with a strange accent and simple speech.

“I am coming in.”

Jeremiah gave a commanding look to the father, and he opened the door.

“Y-yes? H-how can I help you?” Said the father.

Jeremiah could sense ten men outside.

“We are looking for a dangerous man. He is pale. He avoids sunlight. Have you seen a man like this?”

The girl Jeremiah was holding began to cry. The farmer was white as a sheet, shaking like a leaf.

“N-no sir…”

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The men tried to step in to take a closer look, but the father blocked their entry.

Jeremiah was able to get a decent look at the men from his position. They wore green, all ten of them. Nearly identical uniforms. Were they soldiers? But what is this strange attire? It looked to be fabric, no protection from a sword or an arrow even. It reminded Jeremiah of elven tactics, slinging mud and leaves on yourself to conceal yourself in dense forests.

Were they that afraid to fight?

Their tactics spoke of such, setting up traps for Jeremiah and retreating. But what was even stranger was their lack of blades. Strapped to their backs was something that resembled a sword, but it was rounded and oblong shaped.

A club perhaps?

That doesn’t seem to fit the green men’s battle tactics. Earlier they were able to fling bits of metal at Jeremiah.

Maybe it’s like an odd bow? But it’s not curved, and it has no string. Maybe-

“T-that’s close enough!” The father barked.

There was a long uncomfortable silence as the men outside and the father stared each other down. The girl began to loudly sob, and Jeremiah squeezed her neck tightly to stop airflow, the mother struggling with all her might not to physically attack The Vampire. They eventually calmed down, and he released his grip.

“If you find someone like that. Let the JSDF know. We are here to help.”

The father stiffly nodded. The men began to leave. Jeremiah took a mental note that they called themselves the ‘JSDF’ and listened in as they began to walk away. Out of normal earshot they started talking, The Vampire unable to understand their language but able to tell they were speaking in a conspiratorial tone. This worried Jeremiah but there was nothing he could do now. The men outside walked away, but they did not completely leave. They began to wait some distance away, at the bottom of the hill.

They know I'm here.

Hours passed. More and more men gathered at the bottom of the hill. Jeremiah could sense that he was surrounded, the presence of the living overwhelming. There had to be hundreds. All waiting for him to make his move. Were they holding back because he had hostages? That was the most likely answer to Jeremiah.

But how did they figure out he was there in the first place? Did they also have enhanced senses? But how?

Jeremiah had once more underestimated his opponent. But he knew he could get out of this situation, if he just had more essence. Jeremiah could easily feed off of this whole family, but it would take precious seconds to do, and these people, the 'JSDF' as he heard, would probably know if he began to feed. Somehow. So for the moment, Jeremiah was stuck, the sun slowly getting lower and lower in the sky as night approached. He would have to act soon.

Jeremiah looked to the father.

"Boy. Come here."

The father uneasily approached him.

"Present your neck. I must feed. Submit, and you will have enough to live. Resist, and I will kill you all."

The farmer looked down at his daughter, which the vampire was still holding captive, and slowly submitted, kneeling down on the floor.

This is not optimal, but if these humans make too much of a fuss the men outside will most likely attack. I will have to deal with having another vampire in the world.

Jeremiah opened his maw and pierced the father’s jugular with his fangs. The Vampire drank, but drank gently. It took all of his restraint to not drain this mortal dry, he was so starved for essence. A vampire of his grandeur should be holding an army's worth of essence in him, and slowly, very slowly, Jeremiah had barely the essence of one. Once done, The Vampire set the father down on the floor. He was unconscious, but alive. The man would eventually become a vampire. That gave Jeremiah an idea.

Leaning down, he whispered a vampiric commandment to the farmer, one that he could not refuse now that the man was his by blood connection.

“Your master commands through blood that when you become a vampire, turn your family and come find me. You cannot refuse this.”

The Father did not respond, but Jeremiah knew his command would come through. Though not immediately, once his blood infects the father, the shadowed words nestled deep in his mind will re-emerge. But for now, The Vampire had more pressing matters to address. He looked outside, the sky was turning sunset. He looked over at the father’s wife.

“You have obeyed my commands. I shall hold my end of the bargain.”

He let go of the girl, and she scrambled to get away to the opposite side of the room. Her neck was extremely bruised, five long marks denoting where Jeremiah gripped her for nearly twelve hours. Daylight was rapidly dwindling now. It was time for The Vampire to make his move. Crouching down, he began to build up power once more. The essence concentrated in his chest and slowly moved down into his legs. They began to glow red, and Jeremiah pointed himself at an angle opposite the door. He would need to make as much distance between himself and this ‘JSDF’ entity before sunrise. The Vampire released all of the energy built up in his legs in one huge BOOM, causing the very foundation he was leaping off of to crack into two large chunks. Punching straight through the thatch roof, Jeremiah barely looked back to see the entire house collapse.

An acceptable loss.

More bits of metal flew right past him, but none hit, a moment later he was leagues away from the strange men. The Vampire took stock of his essence supply. He still had a decent amount. Not enough to transform into a bat, but enough to let him use his abilities for a little while more. Rapidly approaching the ground, this time Jeremiah confidently stuck out his arms and took the full impact, letting his body carreen through multiple trees worth of branches to slow his velocity. The undead trebuchet landed on the ground with a graceful roll and kept on running, running as far and as fast as he could away from where he landed.

Where can I go? Not here, this place is crawling with these JSDF people. They seem to be human, so a good bet to dodge them is to go somewhere without humans. Elves? No, they are one with nature. Disgusting. Dwarves?

Jeremiah looked over at a large mountain on the horizon. No doubt it was filled with dwarves. He remembered that dwarves hate the sun, and are experts at forging. And Jeremiah had a near pristine Adamantium rod that could be forged into a legendary weapon. They were perfect for his needs. The Vampire adjusted his route and began to travel towards an ancient city he had once visited in the past. Gentodir, cradle for the dwarves. No doubt they had changed too since his absence, but if they had no sun that would be good enough for him.

It would be a day’s travel to Gentodir, Jeremiah would have to figure out where to take shelter when the sun comes up.

I need to feed. I don’t even have one soul's worth of essence in me, I need a dozen worth at least. I just need to find another farm, or a village before the sun comes up… Yes… that will be perfect. A feeding session for me, and then straight to Gentodir.

The Vampire did not know what this new strange world had in store for him, but two things were certain: He will rule it all, and there will be blood. And most certainly not in that order.