The people of Sacramento stared the worst night of their lives in the face.
They had a few hours, maybe less.
They thought they were ready or at least as ready as they could be given the eternal juggling act between time and resources.
The problem was that there were simply too many threats to focus on and those only counted the ones they knew about.
They expected the spires to drop more world events.
There had been the flurry at the start two weeks ago. That had dwindled to one a day. Then one every few days.
One hoped it was almost over, yet prepared for it to pick up again at some random seeming moment.
Jake followed Detective Ordonez into the dusty halls of Bennett’s home after she had proclaimed it empty.
Empty according to her and her Skills as well as those of several of his team mates.
Frankly, they were a bit under gunned for his tastes.
The red alert tied their strongest to their roles.
Sadly, they considered him among that number for some reason.
Thus, aside from the detective and himself, there was Scotty, Marci and a squad of spec ops type soldiers from the government forces. The Watch gave him three women and a handful of animals.
He vaguely remembered Shannon and Jules from the kiddie sword classes Hanna ran. They were young women now and consequently, very good with the sword.
Cara was an old hat like him… well… not nearly as old. He remembered her when she was a teenager. Now she was at least 30, maybe older?
Man, nothing was more depressing than realizing the kids weren’t kids anymore.
They were having kids of their own.
He had almost sent Cara back because of that. A mother probably shouldn’t be out going into the depths of hell when she had a couple of rug rats at home… children, not literal rats, though she also trained up fancy rats. They didn’t have the same juice as Bennett’s rats, but they weren’t anything to sneeze at.
Then Licorice growled in his face and Goldie buzzed him. He didn’t need to see those big ass cat eyes shining from the rooftops to know what their thoughts on the matter were.
Incidentally, Dracula and Alucard sat on Detective Ordonez’s shoulders.
Honestly, the fuck was up with being bullied by animals this night?
The big ass dog was old as fuck, but could still fuck shit up.
Grizzled bastard.
Once black coat gone gray years ago. Skin hung looser, muscles softened.
Cara’s Skills couldn’t stop time, just delay it.
He was still as big as a lion.
She had pioneered a very successful guard animal breeding and training program.
Dogs, cats, birds, rats.
Mostly, already domesticated species.
There were only a few tamers and trainer-types that could do wild animals like Cara.
They were part pets, part guardians.
From his understanding they had prevented a lot of collateral damage from the rodent war of yesterday from spilling over to people out in the parks or just chilling at home.
It sounded pretty epic.
He kinda wished he could’ve watched some of the battles.
“I smell blood. Some fresh,” Scotty sniffed.
The asshole was in his intermediate form, between man and weredog. So, he was bigger and hairier. Smelled worse too.
“Ignore it. Just blood bags,” Detective Ordonez said.
They followed her into the darkness, beams of light cutting through the dust they disturbed. Their steps echoed up and down the hallways.
She led them to the lowest floor, beneath ground level where Bennett had turned one of the main archive rooms into his home.
Jake didn’t know what to expect since he hadn’t been down there in a long time.
Whatever he thought, he didn’t expect to find an impeccably kept place.
Nothing was out of place.
It was as if Bennett had cleaned before he left.
“Woulda thought the leech be smearin’ blood on ‘em walls,” Scotty said.
“Watch it! That ‘leech’ is a hero,” Shannon growled.
“Keep yer blade in yer sheath, lass. Ain’t one o’em binary tings. Ya can save asses yesterday, ya can waste them today.”
“Shut it, children.” Detective Ordonez said flatly. “I need to concentrate. No one move or make a sound.”
Jake stood close to a wall, conscious of the shadows. There were shadows everywhere. He hoped the sunlight flashlights worked. Just in case.
He watched the detective walk through the entire space.
Stopping here and there without any rhyme or apparent reason.
Her Skill recreated crime scenes.
Accuracy and fidelity were determined by the passage of time, personal power of the perpetrators and any number of odd variables, such as spells and Skill interactions.
He hoped there hadn’t been a crime here.
At Bennett’s request they kept a close watch on him and the building.
The vampire never left anymore unless he needed to defend the airport territory or they needed him to help with particularly powerful monsters.
It felt like ages before the detective came out of her trance.
Standing in the darkness with only each other, eerie silence and beams of light wasn’t enjoyable.
“Bennett left.”
“No shite, mate,” Scotty scoffed, “coulda told ya that.”
“Against his will.” Detective Ordonez wiped her upper lip.
Jake missed it at first, but her nose bled.
“Bennett was responsible for the animal chaos yesterday, but he didn’t do it out of malice. I don’t know anything else. Just that I’m terrified right now and I… I don’t understand why.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Marci tapped the side of her helmet. “Commander. Yeah. It might be Vukylokyr. No. Unconfirmed. But the detective’s Skill is pointing that way. Yeah. Just my gut and trust. She doesn’t make mistakes. I’ll give you the full report once we’re in a safe situation.”
Bennett’s archive home was in the airport complex, which had not been heavily defended before the Bountiful Decade.
It had essentially been left to the vampire at his request.
“Guys, I’m most displeased,” Jake said.
Worse case scenario for his friend was smacking them in the face.
“Aye, mate. No such tings as coincidences,” Scotty said. “Bad lot o’luck fer ‘em leeches though. Remy Cruces’ gonna sort ‘em lot out.”
“Let’s head back. I don’t want to be caught out here,” Marci said.
They made just in time.
There were a few walled sections of city north of the river.
At least until that night.
----------------------------------------
Omninet updates were nice.
Now, she could know exactly where Cal was instead of being here.
Something about a ‘hate engine’ in Australia.
Also where Eron was.
Fighting one-on-one duels with ‘Mythicals’ in the Andes.
She supposed it was greedy to want more than one Cruces.
Watch Commander Rebekah Court kept an eye on her phone and her ears on the urgent voices in the command channel.
No contact with the Tahoe settlements.
Silence from independent Reno.
A small overhead map sat in the upper left corner of her HUD.
Those satellites were something else.
It was worrisome that a large area centered on Tahoe was dark.
There should’ve been plenty of heat signatures from animals, mutated animals and monsters in the El Dorado National Forest.
Same with Reno. It was growing darker right before her eyes.
Silence from the team Remy Cruces had taken to investigate.
Last word had been minutes ago when they had announced their arrival.
Now, if that wasn’t a bad sign she didn’t know what one was.
Her phone rang.
Not unexpected. Except for the number. All zeros.
“Ye—”
“Don’t speak. Listen.”
It was a woman’s voice, but it sounded like a beautiful quartet, soothing waves on a beach, her mother singing her to sleep.
“I speak only to the leaders. I have traced Vukylokyr’s last gateway.” The voice gave precise coordinates.
Rebekah’s mouth moved silently as she entered them into the map.
Well… shit.
Just about 50 kilometers north of Tahoe.
She mentally calculated into miles because that was the right way to measure distance.
“I have no personal knowledge of this individual vampire.”
Good confirmation.
“But I have read and viewed histories teaching of a Crimson Era. Rather, several accounts from many worlds. Commonalities are shared through all. The most important is that they all start the same way. A night of blood and death. Leaders of villages, cities, states, nations suborned at the onset to crush resistance immediately. Your defenses will be inadequate. You lack the power to prevent it from reaching you even in the heart of your most heavily defended bastions. I suggest decentralizing your command structure now. Give your final orders then remove yourself from the chain of command.”
What did she mean by that last bit?
Rebekah waited for an explanation, but got none.
There was only silence for a beat.
“Watch Commander Rebekah Court. Prepare to receive assistance.”
One moment her office was empty.
The next five people stood in front of her desk.
She recognized two from their pictures in Cal’s roster.
Couldn’t remember their real names for some reason.
Didn’t want to use their code names because they were dumb.
Emmione and Teddy Bear.
The other three looked too young to be sent into the incoming shit soup on purpose.
Literal minors.
She regarded them with a quick appraising eye. As a leader-type she could see other people’s classes and abilities with her Skill.
Except, the wizards had a spell cast over them blocking her… well… mostly.
The two adults were somewhere in the Level 40 range. While the youngsters were in their 30’s. Low 30’s.
Enchanted robes and staves. Pointy hats, also enchanted. And the spellbooks hanging off their belts.
“I take it that was your teacher on the phone just now.”
“Yes, Watch Commander Court,” Emmione said.
“We do have a portal circle.”
“Too dangerous. Vukylokyr would notice the magic activation. It might have been able to hijack it.”
“Yeah. We weren’t looking to end up vampire food in the middle of a dark forest somewhere, ma’am,” Teddy Bear said.
“It?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He looked the most out of place with the pointy wizard hat on his head.
It was the clean shave.
Rebekah kept seeing a long white beard.
“Whatever its gender was is long forgotten in the history books,” Emmione said.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Its species is also unknown. There’s a lot of conflicting info,” Teddy Bear said.
“Okay… so, you’re supposed to help. What can you do?”
Teddy Bear’s eyes flicked over to Emmione.
“It’s better if we don’t say anything. We’ll be moving around the city a lot and we request an escort. A small one. Just strong enough to keep the monsters off us while we work.”
“Which, you should do too,” Teddy bear said. “I mean the moving around part. No one place is going to be safe and you’re one of the people likely at the top of its shopping list… so to speak…”
“Even with all the anti-vampire stuff we crammed into this place?”
“Age equals strength for a true vampire,” Emmione said.
“And the earliest reference to a crimson era goes back into the 7 figures,” Teddy Bear said.
“Wonderful… alright. You’ll have a squad. They’ll meet you out front.”
“One more thing.” Emmione pulled a tiara from her bag of holding. “Ms. Teacher did a quick enchantment on this. The magic won’t last long against it, but this will make it harder for it to fill your head with whispers of compulsion, despair, so on and so forth.”
Rebekah took the golden tiara dripping with diamonds.
It felt warm even through her gloves.
She removed her helmet and placed the tiara on.
It was a bit of tight fit, but the enchanted item was thin.
“Do you have more?”
“Sorry,” Emmione said.
“It was a rush job. Ms. Teacher did it in, like, ten minutes, while maintaining the dome over our town and killing monsters and a bunch of other stuff at the same time,” Teddy Bear said.
“Got it. Tell her ‘thanks’ when you see her. Good luck with whatever it is you’re planning.”
“Same to you and your people.” Emmione tipped her hat.
Just like that they filed out the door.
“There are 5 wizards leaving my office,” Rebekah said into the local Watch channel. “They have permission to be here. Don’t stop them.” She scanned her roster list and sent a quick order to the chosen escort squad.
She sent young ones.
They wouldn’t be able to do much against this Vukylokyr except be eaten and die or worse.
Vampires made other vampires, right?”
There wasn’t time to bounce her ideas off her command staff.
“To all field leaders. There will be no further commands from me or the command staff. Stick to protocols. If those fail then you are authorized to go with your best judgment.”
She decided to clear Watch HQ.
Told her command staff to scatter.
She touched the emergency portal stone in one of her belt pouches.
It was coming for her first.
Seemed like a good trap in the making.
She switched to the local Watch channel to reach those that would remain in HQ. She wanted to send the lowest leveled and support staff elsewhere, but she needed all the hands she could get to set things up quickly.
The overhead map in her HUD didn’t look good.
The cold dark visibly spread as it continued to eat at the warm reds, oranges and yellows.
“Armory?”
“Sup, commander?”
Kids.
Maybe it was the old woman in her. Or maybe it was the one time Corporal in the US Army. But, things were a hell of a lot more casual.
Granted, she was in charge and she could’ve changed that at any time.
But why mess with a good thing that worked?
As always, she did as Commander Lawrence had done.
“Bring the slow time field generator to my office. And five sunlight spotlights. Oh, and a laser cutter. Thank you.”
“Hella on it, commander!”
That was it for their reserve of sunlight spotlights.
Once things were set up, she planned to send everyone except a handful of her Watch to the foundries.
She figured a million year old vampire knew its way around a war.
Logistics ruled.
Not strategy, nor tactics.
An army couldn’t fight without supplies.
Sacramento would only last as long as they had anti-vampire weapons and ammo.
----------------------------------------
“I can see a red chain coming from their backs and going in that direction.” Hanna pointed to the southwest.
No one needed clarification as to what lay in that direction.
“Cutting chains are your thing,” Remy said.
He regarded the people.
What once were people, rather.
They were clad in tattered remnants of clothing wet with red.
Some were soldiers in their gear.
Most were people in pajamas.
He pictured them sleeping in their warm beds only to be awoken by the sounds of doors and windows breaking.
Their skin was pale, bloodless except for the center of their chest and back, where Hanna had indicated the chain only she could see was set.
Their hair was in clumps.
Some of it ripped off with the rest in the process of being shed.
Their eyes were fixated on him as they struggled against the thick bands of metal he had shaped around their arms and legs.
He could hear hissing and snarling through the metal mask he had placed over their fanged mouths.
“They got chewed up.” Malachi indicated torn throats and inner thighs. “So, vampire for sure, right? Went for the arteries.”
Artificial sunlight had burned their skin. Broiled it really, but didn’t kill them instantly.
Remy kept the team and the surrounding area bathed with light from the spotlights he magnetically levitated.
Drones would’ve been better, but they had a limited supply and kept them in the city.
“I don’t have an official position with your government. I can’t make the call.”
The rest of the team had their eyes and weapons to the perimeter made by the lights.
Dark homes stared them in the face.
“Is it reversible?” Hanna mused. “We have zero information on that. What if they return to normal after we kill Vukylokyr?”
“I can put them in a big metal box they won’t be able to get out from for a while if you want to wait.”
“Those are mortal wounds and the scans are saying they are mostly dead except for the blood and brain activity.”
“Mystical vampires, then. Not scientific,” Malachi said. “So, maybe like a curse? We kill the head vampire and it gets lifted?”
“Please contain them, but I have to try one thing first.” Hanna regarded the half dozen once people for a long moment. Her gaze settled on a soldier.
An old man from the look of him, but it was hard to be certain with his inhuman visage.
Remy pulled the soldier to Hanna.
He pushed the rest closer together then pulled chunks of raw iron ore from one of his bags of holding.
From rocky lumps to a large smooth box in a second with tiny slits for air… just in case.
Hanna drew her longsword.
The dark gray Threnium flashed over the soldier’s back.
It happened in a flash.
The soldier jerked then fell still as he crumbled into ash.
An ominous gust of wind picked what remained of the soldier up and scattered him toward the lake.
“He’s not going to re-form, right?” Malachi’s eyes glowed blue while he held his hands out in front of his face as if he was holding a ball ready to pass in the same direction.
“He’s free. Dead, but free.” Hanna spoke with certainty. “I had to try.”
Remy nodded.
It wasn’t his place to judge.
He couldn’t see the chains, but the knowledge that she could and more importantly, sever them, was vital.
“It’ll come in handy. I think we’ve seen enough here. I suggest a quick flyover of the rest for survivors then back to Sactown.”
There should’ve been close to a thousand people in the three walled settlements at the southern end Lake Tahoe.
They had been ambushed by less than 20.
There were another 2000 people scattered across the walled sections on the west and north sides of the lake.
“Call it in!” Hanna barked.
“I— I can’t… it’s down… I think.” The young man’s face was pale behind his faceplate.
Remy hadn’t caught the kid’s name.
He tried to call his wife.
The tech in his helmet was better.
Nothing.
He used his powers to strengthen the signal.
Failed again.
He could see electromagnetic waves when he wanted.
They were all where they should’ve been.
“On your guard!” Hanna snapped.
She glanced at him.
“One second.”
There was nothing wrong, at least that he could tell.
The connections where good.
The transmission wasn’t being blocked or hindered in any way.
Which left one logical conclusion.
“Magical interference.”
He had learned a good amount from his time on the other world about what was possible at levels above what was the current heights on Earth.
Spells could affect things on a conceptual level, regardless of the ostensible laws of the observable universe.
Like, say a Stone Lord wanted to punish an entire warren of molens.
They could cast a spell to temporarily turn off the concept of fire.
Not an anti-fire or anti-combustion spell because that could be countered, dispelled or worked around.
Bye bye even the smallest spark.
Anything less than an equal level spellcaster wouldn’t be able to cast any fire spells.
He wondered if Vukylokyr was strong enough to turn off a concept as broad as communication over distance.
“Danger sense!”
Multiple voices cried in unison.
“Get us out of here!” Hanna leveled her sword toward the bound people… once people inside the iron box.
They weren’t the threat.
They carried it.
Their bodies burst, expelling wet gore through the infinitesimal slits, bathing them in—
Except, not…
The blood stopped, reversed paths and coalesced into a shape.
Remy couldn’t see it clearly.
He got a sense of a humanoid shape.
Scarecrow-like with long limbs and a face of fangs and hunger.
It was like looking at a censored image on a video screen. A dark fuzzy blemish on the surface of reality.
“I extend one offer to you.”
He didn’t so much hear words as feel the impression of a strong hand crushing the sides of his head.
Hanna and Malachi cried out.
Both dropped to their knees along with everyone else in his team.
“Serve willingly and be granted a place of honor, privilege and power. Or. Serve like the rest.”
Remy fought the hold on his head enough to turn.
The rest of the team floated off the street.
Arms and legs spread out wide as if being pulled apart by ropes and horses.
Blood flowed from their face holes in thin streams toward the fuzzy blemish.
“Vukylokyr,” Remy said through grit teeth.
“Master to you. You are the strongest among the mortal chattel. Join me and I will grant you dominion over this whole land. Your wife and children will be granted my blessing without the test of worthiness. Refuse and I will extend the offer only if they prove themselves useful. Refuse and I will force you to watch everything that comes next. You will live an eternity powerless to do naught but stand chained to my will.”
For an ancient vampire conqueror, it didn’t have good battlefield awareness.
It stood with several steel cuffs scattered all around its feet.
Spikes shot out faster than it could react.
Seemed fitting to impale it given the origins of the most famous fictional vampire on Earth.
An instant lapse of concentration was enough for Hanna.
She sliced Vukylokyr into ribbons from a distance with her sword aura.
If she could level up into the 70’s or 80’s then she was going to be able to do bullshit things like cut concepts beyond the little bits she could now in her 50’s so long as it fell within the scope of her class.
The chunks fell to the ground, becoming clear as the fuzzing slowly disappeared.
“Did we win?” Malachi groaned from where he lay on the road.
“No.”
The others were unconscious or hadn’t noticed, but communications were back.
At least with Sacramento.
They had lost contact with the outposts at Pollack Pines and Colfax.
The soldiers stationed at the Apple Hills farms were calling in a massive collective trigger on their Danger Sense Skills.
The sunlight spotlights had been destroyed in an instant.
Remy pulled one from his bag of holding.
He had been prepared.
He set it up on it’s stand to shine down on the remains in the pool of blood.
The red started bubbling and steaming instantly.
It was the best he could do in the circumstances.
He gathered the team up in a huge metal sphere before shooting into the sky.
Hanna’s breath came in ragged gasps.
While Malachi sat with his head in his hands.
The rest were out.
“I couldn’t fight him off,” she whispered. “That wasn’t even the real him.”
“That’s what I figured. Some kind of blood puppet.”
“It felt like a fraction of his true self and I was on my knees.”
“Too strong. Nothing you could do. Probably, Level 80 or 90 equivalent.”
“We still have to stop it before it gets to the city. No one will be able to resist if I couldn’t.”
“I’d be more worried about the sucking the blood out of our bodies. Didn’t even have to break the skin,” Malachi said as he removed his helmet to wipe the red off his face.
“I’m going to hit it from very high up. Then I’m going to put it in a tiny metal sphere and shoot it toward the sun.”
“It’s got at least a couple thousand strong vampire army by now. Maybe more,” Malachi said. “Do you think that’ll free them?”
“I’m sorry if you knew someone there, but if it is in their blood or it is the blood…”
“The chain I cut. The body didn’t explode like the others,” Hanna said.
“Can you cut them all at once?”
“No. I tried with my aura. I have to use my physical blade.”
“Then, I’m really sorry.”
----------------------------------------
Bennett sat in his body, though it was no longer his.
Vukylokyr had chained him.
Bound him with blood.
The bond went both ways.
Bennett found understanding from what the ancient vampire had allowed him to see.
His class was a copy.
And like all copies, it didn’t come close to matching the original.
He was his limited paths.
Shadows, small animals, senses, concealment.
Where the other vampires went down their own paths.
Rebel had strength, speed and presence.
She had been the only one of them to resist.
Her fate had been the best path.
He had known that, but had been too weak to do what she had done.
All the other vampires, even Rebel’s two friends, had willing bent the knee.
Vukylokyr had given them freedom to do his will while forcing Bennett, the person, to watch powerless as Bennett, the monster sated long-controlled thirst.
The one line he had promised himself meant death to cross.
He remembered the sensation of sinking his fangs into the woman’s neck.
The sweet taste of her terror.
It had been the worst moment of his life and the single most pleasurable experience.
He had drained her dry.
Knew it to the last drop.
The woman was out there now.
Running in the dark forest and over hills as she and a thousand other thralls sped toward the Apple Hill farms.
He ran with them, within sight of the 50.
They weren’t alone.
Vukylokyr had the power to dominate the will of creatures to an extent that dwarfed his own.
Normal and mutated animals, monsters ran or flew with them. Made cold by the grip of its hands around their spirits.
They were united in purpose.
The red glint in their eyes held the promise of more bloodshed.
Rivers of it if the vampire had its way.
The walls barely slowed them.
They stopped only long enough to drink every person dry.
Another human being held in his arms. Sweet, hot red nectar caressed his tongue and slithered down his throat. There truly was nothing better in all of his existence.
The army swelled in size as the vampire gave every corpse the gift of a single drop of its blood.
Where was Vukylokyr?
At times it felt like it was right next to him. At times it felt like it was on the other side of the forest to the north with the army following the 80.
Bennett knew that the fort at Colfax had fallen as well. Knew that the people of Reno were dying in their homes and in the dark streets.
The ancient vampire allowed him consciousness. To watch and see and feel everything his body did.
It wasn’t mercy.
Bennett raged and begged for oblivion.
The only laughter was mocking.
It was cruelty.
“Please! I don’t care anymore! Just kill me!”
The words came out of Bennett's blood-drenched mouth as an incoherent snarl.
The laughter never stopped.
Out of the entire damned army only one stood out.
It was hard to see through their blood-smeared faces and mouths, but one shed red tears.