ACT I

NOSFERATU

“From the seed of Belial sprang the vampire Nosferatu who liveth and feedeth on human bloode.” -Dudley Wright, “The Book of Vampires''

CHAPTER 1

MAD DOG

  I woke up in the night at Guagua town, still here in the urban province of Pampanga. Some other places, such as the deserted roads in the middle of nowhere that lead to other smaller cities and towns, are usually just grass plains, or small villages we call “Barangays”. Whilst we call subdivisions where the villas are usually called “Villages”. Poor people live in Barangays, and rich people live in villages. Sounds confusing? I hope not.

  I spent my new nightlife doing the best of fun. I only reject my humanity only if humans are terrible towards me. But what keeps my humanity still lingering in my non-existent soul are the good friends who are kind to me, which aren’t even the little after-school club full of goths and edgy emos who hate all of mankind.

  But I do have one task. Since I am a “hidden one”, which is a vampire turned into a vampire again by a more powerful vampire will make them beyond overpowered will have extraordinary gifts that is beyond comprehension, even for those vampires who dare not to hunt down and kill by themselves, thus, hunting down every hidden ones that are yet still alive has to be driven by a stake into the heart if it doesn’t kill them enough by just a single decapitation and burning as unconscious, that has to be guarded by the vampire council.

  It is forbidden by the vampire council not to make a vampire reborn from its current state, making them too powerful to be left alive. Even the vampire council wouldn’t do such a thing to themselves.

  The vampire council is something you’d see in North Korea or China in the mundane society. They are monitored and are told what to do instead of giving them free will. A bunch of rules and such.

  But we, The Darkened Path, are vampires who don’t like the rules and are fed up with such. Because whoever messes up a single errand, or assignment, as well as breaking one rule, would cause undeath to the vampires.

  But I don’t care about the bloodsucking politics, or whatever war they have. I am only here to get my absolute freedom, which is everyone’s goal in this little community we have.

  Although, I was tasked with one optional objective. As a hidden one, I can always accept one assignment any time I wish. There is no deadline or any of sorts. Once accepted, there is no turning back. That is to free Vlad III Tepes Draculea from his tomb and bring him back into this community. Yet, some rumoured he isn’t even a part of our after-school club, some say he was the former leader of this entire thing.

  He is being guarded at Corvin Castle in his stone grave that shows over the ground instead of under the soil inside the very main hall of the castle in Hunedoara, Romania and probably not in Bran Castle in Transylvania, close to Budapest, formerly called Bucharest, or vice versa, I never did my research on this. I’ll know once I accept the mission.

  That being said, my current objective is to practise the mastery of my new abilities, and train myself while breeding more vampire children by the power of my blood and recruiting them into our “community”, like a pyramid scheme. We have no rules in this community, yet there is hierarchy. The tenet is the only thing we have here, which I haven’t got into much yet. All I know is that I was taught a lot of things and you’ll know them as the story progresses.

  I can’t wait to see you, Daddy Drac.

  I remember when I used to talk to my friend Ren. She is a transgender woman who had an accepting attitude the first time I met them in a virtual reality world where I socialise with everyone. Sadly, I can’t have the time online anymore. Plus, I had to leave everything from my “life” behind, even as an almost human vampire back then. Since I became a pureblood and whatnot, I somehow have to leave this province once and for all, before someone finds out I’m still alive, walking, since my master bribed the people in the asylum to announce me as dead, and have to cremate me as everyone attends my funeral. I was there that same cloudy day as it rained as soon as it was over. I know, it’s very cliche, but that is what literally happened.

  I still remember what we talked about on the 12th of July, just a few more weeks before my birthday. I am now twenty-two years old, apparently, but how I looked is as if I never aged at the start of fourteen years old. Despite that, I turned into a vampire at the age of eleven. I just age slowly. But after I turned 22, I looked as if I’m sixteen to seventeen years ‘young’.

  I listened to “credits song for my death (canned)” on YouTube, reminiscing of the days I was still ‘alive’, well, barely. Now that I am a pure-blooded vampire and not some weaker vampire, that was turned by some madman that I never knew. Damn… he really went’ turn me into a vampire and he is my vampire daddy.' and went out to get some blood bags and never came back.

  But I’m glad someone did stay. For now, well, technically he is here forever, with me. He may not be the best looking, but he’s the best father I could ever have.

  Before finally departing from Pampanga, after seeing my loved one's one last time, without showing myself to them, of course, I left for Metro Manila City.

  My mission here for now is to keep recruiting more vampires, I was given the credit card I needed, a fake ID, a condo to stay in which is all covered by my master, and take over the entire city of Manila full of vampires as the shepherd under the control of the herd, which are humans. It’s like a farm. We let them procreate, we nourish and take care of them, and we eat the others, but not technically killing them. At least that is what other vampires wanted, which is to kill them, of course. For me, personally? Killing them is not necessary unless he’s done wrong to you.

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  If they have the potential, we turn them into our kind and have them do the rest of our work for us. We just have to be careful who we choose here. For now, I am alone, and must spread the plague of vampirism. Technically, biting someone is not considered spreading the contagious “disease” they call the foul evilness of vampirism. Biting them is our way of feeding because our fangs secrete an anaesthetic and a hypnotic in order for them to pass out and fall asleep as soon as we bite them. As for my weak self from the previous form, I had baby fangs, but now they are gradually growing sharp and slightly longer. Having myself to turn anyone I wish and do my bidding by giving my blood to any human I desire. As for a snake, the venom we give to the humans will make them forget we had bitten them. But it’s not effective on vampires, sure you can bite vampires. You can even drain their blood if you are willing to sacrifice your sanity for such a power.

  Only the vampire blood can give the powers of a vampire, thus, turning them into one. But on occasion only if they don’t have human blood left in their body, that is when you have to sacrifice most of your own blood to turn them, which can be tiresome. That is why vampires are known to be “already dead”. Then they wake up as if nothing happened, yet confused, and are yearning to see their master at all costs. Imagine if that were to happen to you, like a lost puppy looking for their owner in this lost, vast, cruel world. That is how I felt the first night I was turned. He never came back to me. I was left to rot in a ditch and have to rely on my own instinct in order to survive as a weaker kind.

  But I somehow managed to make it. I accepted to be in their little cult and I instantly earned the crown of being a vampire, a prince. The highest is the emperor, which is the one that governs all the entire clan I am in, which is a name I’ve forgotten, and forgot if I even mentioned it once already. The King is the one that is responsible for every Prince’s action regarding their behalf. A Duke is the main bodyguard of the prince that is taking over a current place, as of course, the prince’s job is to spread their influence towards other cities from their current location until the entire country is taken over, but the Vampire Council does not let that happen as they are doing the exact same, except they do evil pretending it is for a good cause, a sacrifice that is disguised as necessary for their own personal gain.

  And that is where the duke, stronger than the prince, is to give an oath to protect him/her/them for the rest of eternity, in any circumstance, loyal to the person even if they were exiled by the clan itself. Then we have the Marquees, the advisor of the prince, giving the best recommendations and answers to any of the prince’s questions once there are no more options left. They are the weakest vampires but they are the smartest kinds. Usually these types often focus on witchcraft and other occult things to gain knowledge and intellectual power as their assets to dispose of any terrible situation, especially on the verge of being killed.

  Now moving on to the Count. The Count is the one reinforcing vampires in case of emergencies, which those of are the Viscounts, who provide safety to the rest of the higher-ranking vampires. And now, lastly, the Baron is the General of the commanding front line of vampires in case of war between the clan and the opposing clan they call “The Council”, which is, of course, the Vampire Council itself. The rest are just what we call pawns.

  We all have the same similar goals, we refuse to take orders from tyrants and fascists, that’s it. We want a free life, have our own free will, and our freedom. But we were stained by The Council convincing everyone that we are an antagonising clan which are completely evil, not because of our philosophy of accepting your inner devil as yourself and not a separate entity to feed to keep yourself alive, but it is because of The Council’s propaganda making us look evil just because we are their enemies at these centuries of war that had been waged for too long, which that dates back to the time of Draculea. Draculea is actually The Emperor himself. He had similar plans against the tyrants. That is why he moved to London after signing papers to stay there, in order to spread his influence and take down The Council.

  Somehow, he was driven a stake to his heart, pinned onto the soil of his chambers, inside a mighty cemented stoned casket that shows his presence in the main hall of his castle. He was not able to be decapitated or burned because he was too powerful, too powerful to be left alive.

That is when I refused to take the offer to find him and free him and wait until my powers grow stronger. But somehow, someone already did before I could. I was not disappointed; my vampiric premonition saw it coming. I’ve grown smarter and smarter, less and less insane every day.

But there was a problem… Draculea was not found in his tomb! Where did he go?! This was bad news for all of us. That is when one of the Viscounts went flying off from the country to sneak through the main headquarters of The Council, which was extremely heavily guarded. But their main leader, [REDACTED], was panicking as well, because he didn’t even know where he went either. That is when the two waged a war between the two clans, even way worse than their current state of Cold War.

  I was tasked to sneak pass through and take down the main leader, of a name that I must not even mention. Having myself to finally sneak in after killing every pathetic vampire in the entire headquarters, I went to the leader and instead of facing me, he was terrified, and he was just a child! He called the guards, but no one came.

  “I killed them.” I spoke, as I stared down at his little pathetic weak body.

  “You may be a vampire, but I am older than you and probably more powerful!” He shrieked in a husky, yet squeaky voice.

  “Stand down.” I spoke, as I looked at him with menacing eyes. Then, his willpower was so weak, he bent to his knees and begged for mercy. “I am not here to kill you. I never meant to kill your guards or any other of our own kind. I was caught, and they tried to kill me. It was self-defence, but it went too far. I am here to settle the differences between this long centuries war. It’s never going to be over.”

  “I was so young, and I was an abandoned child. My parents never came back as I looked for them. I had to find a way to survive as I was left there to rot in a ditch.” He spoke softly, almost breaking down with his voice cracking.

  “...”

  He continues, “Then, this man found me. He was a vampire and promised me power and eternal life. And happiness, and the freedom I wanted. The freedom of not being able to be anxious about adult matters and worries. Which is the main reason why my parents abandoned me. He was the father I’ve always wanted. Then, your stupid clan killed them and I was entitled to be the new leader of this organisation. The Council!”

  “It doesn’t have to be like that. Look, I’ve been through the same.”

  “But you’ll never understand! I’ve been worse than you have ever gone through!”

  “Listen, kiddo. I can’t judge if yours or mine had been worse. What we have is something in common. I’ve been through the exact same. I was left in a mental asylum for seven years because my father thought I was crazy. He abandoned me, got fed up with my own shit. Then, I met my master. He treated me like his own son. I saw him as a father as well. That’s when I grew an attachment to him. All this war, all for nothing. I am here to settle our differences between two clans that have been fighting non-stop and it never will until you both try to at least talk it out. Now come on.” I patted all the dust and blood from his clothes and slowly got him up with my hands and lent my hand to him as a formal handshake.

  I smiled down at him, and he smiled back. He reached for my hand and shook it firmly. But that’s when someone left standing from his dying wound shouted and he shot a crossbow arrow, which was a long stake that was directed to my heart. That’s when I passed out.