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Chapter One: The Beginning

The half moon shone down brilliantly on a large clearing in the very center of The Nu’ut Kaa, The Forest of Beginning.

The floor of the clearing was smooth white and gray marble, and the crimson outline of a circle around a six-pointed star seemed to be permanently stained into the stone, the whole of the red seal taking up practically the entire clearing. At the tip of each of the star’s points stood a tall candle, and standing behind each candle was a man. Or, to be more precise, five men and a single woman, all of them abnormally tall.

Two more men stood in the very center of the star, in a miniature circle of their own, and both held a candle in his right hand.

One of them, and four of the men on the outer circle, wore a black trench coat with two green stripes stitched into the fabric, each stripe going from the collar, down both sleeves, and finally around each cuff. The other three beings wore identical coats, but with red stripes instead of green.

The eight of them stood stone still, their faces angled upwards towards the cloudless dark blue sky and the half moon that slowly ascended the starry expanse as if bound by a spell, and not even a leaf stirred in the surrounding trees.

Seconds dragged on for hours as the motionless sentinels stared at the glowing disc shining down on them, but the spell was broken as one of the men in the center circle pulled his eyes off the moon. The others stirred as well and although no one spoke, the people on the outer circle fixed their glowing eyes on the two in the middle, as if looking for direction.

The two men exchanged a brief look, then the one in the green trench coat stepped forward to speak. He had waist-length black hair that, although usually held in a ponytail, now blew about in a non-existent wind.

“I assume you all know why we have gathered you here on this nutlit nuto,” he said in an exotically accented voice with a small gesture upwards where the half moon burned a bright white hole in the sky.

Despite his almost sinfully long hair, he had an intelligent and scholarly air about him, and his scent was tainted with that of old musty books as if he spent most of his time in a library reading, a fact that was offset by the muscled body the trench hid.

In response to his words was a growling murmur of agreement and the two men in red gnashed fearsome sets of fangs in anger although they stepped back and shut their mouths as the longhaired speaker glared at them.

The man opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could continue he was interrupted by two figures, both in red-shouldered trench coats, who tumbled into the clearing rather ungracefully regardless of the lack of undergrowth in the surrounding forest. He was about to say something to them, when the eyes of the man beside him, those of the man that had first moved, widened angrily.

The second man growled as he stepped forward, stopping when he reached the edge of the miniature circle but looking like he wanted to pounce on the two intruders, his lean yet powerful body tensed.

“Vagabond! Jessi! What the lefni ki do you think you’re doing?” he snarled in a deep accented voice, just as a green-coated man on the edge of the outer circle gasped “Vaga?”

The man that just stumbled in so charmingly disentangled himself from the woman that had accompanied him and cast a glance at the green-coated man. The man in the green-coat looked like a copy of Vagabond only without the piercings, but the man that had intruded whipped his face around to snarl back at the second speaker, his dark cherry eyes blazing angrily as he stepped away from the woman.

“We got lost, we wer-”

“Lost?!” The second speaker repeated, looking quite livid and tossing his shoulder length red and black hair out of his eyes, one of which was red, the other blue, to glare harder at the other. “This isn-!”He cut himself off though as the man next to him jabbed him hard in the ribs and looked up sharply to see clouds forming over the moon. Alarm flitted across his face and his mouth hung open for a moment, then he grunted and turned away with a hiss.

“Vagabond, Jessi, please take your places, we were just about to start.” The first speaker spoke in a gentle enough tone, but it was laced with impatience.

Every eye followed the new comers as they pulled out candles and took up positions between two men with green coats, and an apprehensive tension filled the air as they waited.

Once the two, Jessi and Vagabond, had found their places, the other six on the outer circle picked up their candles and shifted around until the gaps between them were even again, before placing the candles back down. The lines of the six-point star vanished, only to be replaced by one with eight points, each ray ending where a candle had been placed.

“Now then…” The longhaired man spoke again only after waiting for his companions to settle down, although he gave the red and black haired man a look as if telling him to keep Vagabond under control, before facing the others. “As I was saying… we have gathered here under the sacred Half Moon to discuss the growing threats ut’otors are posing. We-”

“We should kill them all!,” the sharp voice of a white-haired woman spoke up. “Look! They’ve killed off almost all of us Han’et Brerka-”

“Shush, Acretius!” It was the second speaker, the deep voiced man with red and black hair, again. “We appreciate your input but Marius is trying to speak.”

“Err… Thank you, Alucard,” the first speaker, longhaired Marius, continued to speak once again, this time looking vaguely uneasy, as if expecting them all to erupt in a fight right before him. “We need to talk about what we’re going to do about them… and killing them all is NOT an option.”

Mutters of disagreement rose up from the beings wearing red striped trench coats, but the one in the middle was to distracted by something to join in. Marius cast him a puzzled look and-

Chapter Two: Rude Awakening

Alucard’s eyes snapped open and for a blissful moment he thought he was sitting in still darkness, then he was letting out a pained screech that was muffled by the steel gag in his mouth. A harsh, scalding light blazed down on him from above, making him want to hide under a rock but illuminating the box made of black metal that he was holed up in.

His body had changed drastically from the dream, or memory, or whatever it had been, that he’d just woken from. There was no meat on his bones, hardly any muscle, and he could wager a bet anyone would mistake him for a skeleton with skin. His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out how he got here, then his eyes narrowed as he remembered.

That had indeed been a memory, the meeting between himself and the other creatures, where they had discussed what to do about the ut’otors, but that was all it was now; a recollection of days past.

Only three days after the meeting, Alucard had been captured by the pests and ever since then they had been transporting him from one hell hole prison to another, although most of the time he was unconscious, a fact he thanked the gods for.

***** humans, he thought as he looked down at himself.

Thick, mostly rusted chains were wrapped around his body and wrists, the weight of them all so great it rendered him unable, due to his malnourished state, to move and it didn’t take long for him to become short of breath either.

He gave the softest of whimpers and pulled himself into a corner of the box, struggling to breathe past the steel gag blocking his mouth and when his attempts failed, tears pricked at his eyes and the beginnings of panic sparked in his chest. Out of sheer desperation, the clamped his teeth down on the metal with as much strength as he could muster. At first, the gag didn’t budge, but he felt a surge of victory as the metal gave way, if only by a millimeter.

Opening his mouth, abit further then before, he forced his teeth down on the steel again, continuing the process until he had almost flattened the metal. He closed his eyes, panting heavily and gulping down lungfuls of the hot, musty air that filled the box, not caring that it was stale, only that he could breathe properly again.

He sat there for several minutes just panting, then went back to work on the gag, gnawing on it until it split in half and he was able to spit it out and breathe a sigh of relief as the warm, bitter tasting metal fell out of his mouth although the relief was short lived, interrupted by a yelp that came from somewhere outside the box.

“Ret ye?” he hissed, using his native tongue, the language of the nu’otors.

“Huh?” Not only did the voice from outside sound startled that the box had spoken, but it sounded like it had no idea what he’d just said.

“Go away, human,” he spat bitterly, sliding a little further down the wall of the box and making the chains wrapped around him rattle.

“Wha… Who are you? Why are you in this box?” The voice belonged to a man, and a young one at that. Alucard would say he wasn’t even 20 yet, and that he wasn’t a good listener.

“Go away,” he repeated, closing his eyes and pushing away the uneasy aura he felt drifting from the human.

“Bu-” The other probably would have continued, if another voice hadn’t shouted angrily, and if something large and hard hadn’t been thrown only to slam into the box and rattle Alucard inside.

Alucard listened as the second voice shouted again and could hear the man that had been talking to him leap over something and run away. With a grunt, he closed his eyes again, although they snapped open once more as he heard someone approaching his warm prison.

He sat stock-still, listening intently for a few minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, his heartbeat pounding dully in his ears as he wondered why he suddenly felt so wary. He only had to wait a few tense minutes for the presence to fade though, and once it did, he let out a sigh and let himself relax again, shutting his eyes.

He pulled his awareness away from the scorching hot box he was stuck in, forcing it on anything and everything outside of it. At first, he recoiled from all the minds that were opened up to him but he took a deep breath and forced himself into an almost meditative state.

For several minutes, he felt like he was floating in a great sea of blackness, surrounded by a confusing flurry of thoughts and voices that filled his ears and made his brain throb, before the words started to fall into place and he was able to distinguish individual voices and thoughts. Although he recognized none of the voices, he continued to listen mindlessly, drinking them in and focusing himself away from his body and the searing heat that covered him like a thick oppressive blanket.


He listened until many of the voices began to fall silent and finally allowed himself to return to his own consciousness, taking a deep gasping breath and opening his eyes to find himself enveloped in darkness. He made a surprised noise but when he moved and felt the weighty chains shift with him, he realized the sun had merely set low enough that it would no longer beat down on him… not for the rest of today, at least.

He tilted his head upwards to look at the hole in the top of the box and blinked to see the sky was dark, although filled with bright stars that winked down at him.

“It’s night.” He murmured with a bittersweet realization. He shifted again and shuddered as the chains dug their heavy rusted fingers deeper into his bony body, but bared his fangs slightly with a silent snarl and made a feeble attempt to stand, which he quickly abandoned.

He gave a brief, frustrated growl and turned his eyes to the sky once more.

“Where art thou now, Katze?” he muttered, thinking back to before he was captured by the ut’otors, the day-rulers, back to the memory of himself, and Marius, and the other night-rulers meeting under the half moon.

Chapter Three: War Is Coming


“Are you alright? Alucard?”

Marius’ concerned voice jolted Alucard out of his thoughts and he shook his head, looking around to find himself back in the moonlit clearing once more.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, “We need to discuss the humans.” He felt several gazes resting on him and turned his eyes in turn to each man or woman that stared at him until they lowered their stare, but one of them, the green-shouldered soul that looked like Vagabond’s twin, spoke up.

“We need to ask the Elders and the Gods what they think,” he said, looking a little uncertain about speaking up, but talking with a level voice. A ripple of agreement came from the other green-coated men, while the other four looked at Alucard, who stared back, then looked at Marius and gave a nod.

“Alcatraz is right. We would need to consult them before we did anything even if we did reach a decision about the ut’otors.,” a voice cut in.

It was Vagabond, who was always quick to support his brother even when they didn’t agree. Again, murmurs of concurrence sounded from the ones gathered, this time from those in red and those in green alike.

“Very well then… I see you’ve all made up your minds…” Marius turned to Alucard as he spoke. “If you would have the honour.” He murmured, making the smallest of gestures to the hand of Alucard’s which held a candle.

Alucard nodded and lifted the candle in his left hand, feeling a wave of excitement pass through him as it always did when he was doing this. He raised his right hand as well, moving it in a small gesticulation over the candle’s wick and trembling slightly as he watched a flame flicker into life.

He could feel, and see, ripple of anticipation wash through the other beings around him like a wave and turned to the man beside him.

Marius held out his own candle so the dark wick of it met the burning, flickering wick of Alucard’s and when it was lit, he and Alucard turned their backs to each other, the other men and the two women already moving. Each picked up their candle and stepped forward towards the center of the circle, the men with the green-shouldered trench coats approaching Alucard and the other four walking towards Marius.

Alcatraz was the first to reach Alucard, and when he did, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Alucard’s.

Alucard, not surprised in the slightest, returned the kiss, slitting his tongue on one of his fangs and letting his mouth fill with blood, before parting his lips to let his blood mingle with the blood Alcatraz’ mouth was filled with. He trembled, but pulled away after only a few seconds, swallowing the blood and lighting the other man’s candle with his own.

He repeated the process with the other three men in green-shouldered trench coats, while Marius did it with the two men in the red and the two women. This was how they started a Brer Zatta, or a Blood Oath. It was a ritual that went back thousands and thousands of years, to before the ut’otors plagued the planet.


The green shouldered trench coat of Marius, Alcatraz, and the other three represented the nu’otors from the West, or the nu’otors that preferred a civilized way of working things out, while the red shouldered Alucard, Vagabond, Jessi and the other two represented the Eastern nu’otors, or those that were much quicker to start a fight then to talk something out.

The sharing of blood and lighting of candles symbolized the fact that no matter how different the two races were, they could come together and get along with each other, although you didn’t have to live in the east to be an eastern nu’otor nor the west to be western, as Vagabond and Alcatraz show with their different trench coats.


When every candle was lit, the four men and two women that had moved returned to their places around the circle and put their candles back on the points of the star before straightening up. Each of them pulled a dagger out of a sheath hidden in their trench coat and extended both hands, slicing open the palm of their left hand.

The air rippled with the small noises of pain the eight uttered, but no one moved. Everyone watched his or her own hand bleed, watching as drops of blood spilled from their moon paled skin and into the lines of the star tip they stood at. Those few drops from each hand spread over the surface of the marble they stood on, filling the rays of the star until only the center circle and the space between the star and the outside circle remained uncoloured.

The candles now cast an eerie light on the clearing, a flickering, orange inconsistent one that lit up the lower half of the beings as well as the dark red star.

Ten pairs of eyes exchanged glances, then Marius and Alucard turned to face each other again, placing their candles side by side at the very heart of the seal painted in blood on the marble and straightening just as the others had done, turning their left hands palm up to the sky, before cutting them open and closing their eyes.

“Neh peade, nu’oto era.” With pride, we rule the night.

The words rang out through the clearing, every mouth speaking them in harmony, making it sound like one, loud unified voice.

“Era netes hanza ën eran shren neh seten ut’otors. Pes, hanza ero.” We need help in our struggle with the evil humans. Please, help us.

A chill ran through the clearing and the flames of the candles froze where they were, only to blaze even brighter until it seemed the whole clearing was white with their light and the men and women were forced to screw their eyes shut.

In a moment, the light faded and the nu’otors opened their eyes to find themselves still in their seal, but now on a large chunk of grassy land floating in a field of clouds, an endless starry sky stretched out over their heads and reaching as far as their eyes could see.

They looked around and found themselves, and their bloodseal, on a wide cobblestone path in the middle of the grassy plain they stood on, cutting through the grass and leading to a massive tree with many low hanging limbs, on which were perched an enormous owl, several huge cats, and a dog that looked like it could swallow them all whole, even if it was one by one.

Alucard, Marius, and the other eight that had just appeared there, made startled noises and snarled when they saw the dog, who just lifted his head smugly, while the owl beckoned them forward with a wing. The beings in the trench coats exchanged uneasy glances, but stepped forward and bowed infront of the tree, bowing to the owl and the cats and pointedly ignoring the dog.

“Rise, my children,” the largest of the cats said in a soft, yet growling voice, sitting up and suddenly turning into a woman.

The ten obeyed, and Vagabond’s mouth was instantly open in protest. “What is he doing here?!” he demanded, “This is supposed to be for va-”

“Calm yourself, small one.” It was the owl that interrupted him, scooting forward and morphing into a man. “The humans are not just your problem, the werewolves suffer as well.”

Vagabond let out a little growl, but silenced himself and took his place beside Alcatraz, ignoring the look from the werewolf and fixing his gaze on the others in the tree.

Marius bowed to the owl… or man that had spoken once more, before straightening up next to Alucard to speak, his own mismatched eyes, red and blue-green, somewhat wide.

“Please, Hibou,” he said, “What should we do about the humans?”

“What do you think you should do?” the other man countered, raising an eyebrow.

Marius and the others exchanged glances while Acretius, the white-haired woman who’d interrupted Marius back in the clearing, just crossed her arms and stood back.

“I still say we kill them.,” she said, sounding irritable.

“Would you have them kill you if your positions were reversed?” The owl man raised an eyebrow as he spoke, but when he received no answer he sighed and shook his head.

“You should convince the humans that know about us, but have committed no crimes against us that we are indeed friends, but get the other vampires into hiding.”

The voice startled everyone, and all of them whipped around to see where it came from, only to see a lone man with long gray hair walking towards them, speaking as he came.

“The human threat is growing and we need to preserve our strength for the inevitable war that lies ahead.”

The cats in the trees, who had all taken on a human form, bent closer to each other to murmur amoung themselves while Hibou and the men, Jessi, and Acretius stared at the new comer.

“Are you sure, Mattau?” Hibou asked him, looking uneasy.

Alucard’s eyes widened slightly and he glanced at Marius, then back to the man who’d interrupted them, and his eyes widened more. He realized that this must be the legendary Mattau, father of Marius and father of every single vampire that had ever or would ever rule the night.

Mattau gave a nod at Hibou’s question. “Yes. I have seen it written in the grains of time that flow through Nestau. A war is coming, and although I do not know the outcome, every vampire, and every werewolf, will need more then their natural skill to survive. I don’t know how many of us will make it through the war.”

A harsh shudder shot down Alucard’s spine as Mattau’s words seemed to echo over the smooth, grassy plateau. Everyone had fallen silent; even the cats in the tree had stopped murmuring. Alucard glanced behind him, and saw Marius, Vagabond, and the other vampires in similar states of hushed, open-mouthed shock that lasted for several minutes.

At last, Hibou nodded gravely and turned back to the vampires standing in front of the great tree he was perched in. He leapt down gracefully, followed by the first speaker, the one who’d morphed from a cat to a woman, and stood infront of the group of vampires.

“Eastern nu’otors,” he said, “Come forth.”

Alucard, Vagabond, Jessi, Acretius, and the other man in the red-shouldered trench coat stepped forward and bowed before Hibou and the woman on an unspoken command, kneeling down on one knee in front of them.

“In the years to come, violence will not always be the answer,” Hibou said, although his voice had suddenly changed, becoming monotonous and trembling. “There will be times when your urge to fight will serve you well, but for those times where peace is needed… I give you my blessing and the powers of the wise.” He wrapped a huge pair of golden brown and tan wings around the five, all of them at once, then stepped back after a few minutes, leaving the vampires literally glowing. “Call upon the powers when you need them, but remember: Abuse the powers I have given you, and you shall lose them.”

He gestured that they should stand and glanced at the woman beside him to see if she wished to say anything, and she gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

“Go, my children,” she said, inclining her head to them, “Protect the world which we have given you and never be afraid, for I shall watch over you always.”

“Thank you, Katze,” Alucard and the others murmured in unison, before stepping back to join the five green-coated vampires again.

“Western nu’ot-”

Chapter Four: Coming With Me?


Alucard’s eyes snapped open as a voice intruded on his reminiscing.

He blinked a few times until his eyes grew accustomed to the dull light and he found himself back inside the box, back in the confines of the heavy shackles.

His eyes narrowed as he heard chains rattle outside the box and his gaze flicked towards where the sound emanated as he sniffed the air slightly, before snorting.

“…You came back.” He said. It wasn’t a question.

A loud squeak sounded from outside the box and Alucard distinctly heard something small and metallic drop to the ground, and then someone fumbling around to grab it, although it was several minutes before he received an answer.

“Yeah… I couldn’t stop thinking about you…. How are you still conscious after being in there all day?”

It was the young man who’d come earlier, the one who’d talked to him only to run away when someone noticed.

Again, Alucard snorted.

“Let me out and I might tell you,” he mused, just now thinking about how hoarse and choked his voice must sound, seeing as he hadn’t spoken in quite some time.

“That’s not fair!” the human outside protested, sounding rather like some annoyed little kid. “How do I know I’m not letting out some freak government experiment that’s going to kill everyone?”

Alucard couldn’t help but laugh, and even he could hear how cracked and dry it was and quickly stopped himself.

“Although not the brightest reason, you have a point there.” He answered. “But do you really think I’d tell you if I was ‘some freak government experiment that was going to kill you’?”

“I said everyone… not just me… but you’re right....” The human sounded like it was pouting, but when Alucard heard the chains rattle again he knew the man was taking the chance.

Thank Hibou for human curiosity, Alucard murmured to himself, although he made a surprised sound as the wall he was leaning against suddenly swung away from him, grunting as he fell backwards onto the ground and looking up to see a tall, brown haired, blue eyed human standing over him. The human made a surprised peep as well and jumped back slightly, before looking startled at the state Alucard was in.

“Oh my god!” the human said, crouching next to the vampire and starting to untangle him from the chains, only to halt and step back as Alucard snarled at him. The vampire began to try to remove the chains by himself, but he failed and heaved a sigh, and the human smiled slightly as he moved forward and removed the chains.

“Thank you,” Alucard found himself muttering, squirming out of the last of the chains and taking a deep breath, already feeling about fifty pounds lighter without them.

He turned his mismatched eyes back to the human, who took a step back under his scrutinizing gaze. He had been right. The human was young, perhaps 18 or 19, and wore loose fitting clothes; dark jeans and a linen shirt.

“Y-…you’re welcome,” the kid stuttered, shifting from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable with the stare Alucard was giving him. “So… What are you?”

Alucard took his time in answering, rising shakily to his feet, towering over the human as he looked around, taking in his surroundings.

The moon burned brilliantly overhead, so brightly in fact that it seemed to Alucard’s light sensitive eyes to be daylight and helping him see the town he was standing in. The buildings were mainly made of brick or wood, lining straight dirt roads and arranged in neat grids. With a glance down, he discovered they were standing on a wagon.

A long sniff of the air told Alucard only humans resided here, and he scowled, but the mixed smell of horses and dragons alerted him to the stable that was somewhere nearby and his eyes flicked in the direction the smell was strongest.

“Uh… hello? Mister?” The human’s voice made Alucard turn around again. “I let you out, now you gotta tell me what you are.”

“Persistent, aren’t you?” Alucard asked, raising an eyebrow then sighing and continuing to speak when the human being just stared at him. “I’m a vampire.” he said, speaking in a voice as composed as if he were simply commenting on the weather, not telling the human he was a creature that was generally only restricted to myths and legends.

“A vampire?” the human repeated, his blue eyes wide and a rather dumbstruck look plastered on his face. “How can you be a vampire? They don’t exist.”

“How can I be a vampire? Easy.” Alucard lifted his upper lip in a silent snarl, exposing his long fangs and making the human squeak in surprise and stumble back, only to tumble right off the wagon they were standing on.

Alucard snorted as he watched the human fall but stepped forward and leapt easily off the cart, landing lightly beside the human with a little grunt and holding out a bony hand to help the boy up.

“Relax,” he said as the human tensed, “I’m not allowed to hurt humans.”

“Bu-… Then why were you in there?” The human ignored the proffered hand and stayed where he was, his wide, nervous eyes fixed on the vampire, who shrugged one of his shoulders.

“Most humans don’t trust me.”

His explanation made the human blink, then bite his lip. Why was this guy telling him that?

“Should I trust you?”

Alucard gave another shrug. “That’s up to you, but since you let me out of that box I owe you a debt. I probably would have died eventually if you hadn’t let me out.”

The vampire continued to gaze down at the human and could see the indecision written all over the human’s face, but said nothing else and kept his hand held out for the human to take. He smirked faintly as the human finally grabbed it and hauled the boy to his feet with surprising strength for someone as emaciated as he was.

“Don’t… don’t you need to drink some blood or something?” the human asked, his wary eyes not leaving the vampire, “What do you… What do you drink if you’re not allowed to hurt humans?”

“Yeah, I do,” Alucard responded unperturbedly. His eyes flicked up and down the street before he answered the human boy. “I can consume human blood, but only if they give me permission. Most of the time I feed off of animals.” As he spoke, he started to walk down the street in the direction he smelt the stables. He heard the human make a noise of protest as he moved, but didn’t look back. He knew the human boy would follow him.

“Where are you going…?”

“There are stables down this road aren’t there?” Alucard responded over his shoulder, although he didn’t look back.

“Yeah… How did you know?” The sound of the human’s feet on the ground told Alucard that the boy was almost running to keep up with his long-legged, easy pace.

“My nose.”

If the human wanted a better answer, he wasn’t going to get it. The vampire had vanished into a dark, open, doorway that led into one of the stables, leaving the human to stay outside and wait or follow and stumble around in the darkness.

He forgot all about the human boy almost as soon as he was inside though. The thoughts of him were driven out of Alucard’s mind by the stench of horses, dragons, and manure that hit his nose. You’d have thought that, with his hyper-sensitive nose, the smells would have repulsed him, but instead he relished the smells, loving how full of life they seemed to be. He was back in his element, after Hibou knew how much time he spent being a captive of the humans.

His light-sensitive eyes flicked around the interior of the stable, flicking over the creatures that stood in the stalls and trembling as he felt the steady beats of their hearts through the souls of his bare, bony feet. A sudden hunger washed over him and for a few seconds he lost control of his own body, managing to get a grip on himself right before his fangs, which had grown longer in the past second or two, sank into the neck of a sleeping horse. He made an annoyed noise at himself and stepped back again, although he new his hunger wouldn’t sit back quietly.

Alucard forced it back as well he could and focused on the heartbeats that pounded through the floor, trying to find out if any of the horses or dragons were old or sick. He finally managed to focus on a single heartbeat that was fluttering and slightly irregular and a grin spread across his lips. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction he sensed the heartbeat, only to find a brown dragon staring right back at him.


The dragons in this barn were the size of horses, if not a little bigger. Originally, they had been bred to be the steeds of vampires and werewolves, who were taller and stronger then humans, although they were also bred with another purpose; to be food for vampires. Dragon blood was far more nutritious for a vampire then human blood.


On the outside, to the untrained eye anyway, the brown dragon showed no signs of age but she obviously knew she was reaching the end, and she returned Alucard’s look with a knowing, piercing, remaining motionless as the vampire approached her.

“Know I was coming, old gal?” he almost purred, staring back into her black eyes with his own mismatched, red and blue ones. Another grin spread over his lips and he stepped forward.

With in seconds, Alucard not even realizing what he was doing, his fangs had closed in on the dragon’s neck, slipping down to the flesh between the thousands of small scales that protected her flesh. An involuntary moan rose in his throat as the first of the dragon’s sugary blood seeped into his mouth around his fangs, and that was it.

A wild noise escaped him and his arms quickly moved to find a grip on the dragon as to brace himself, and he bit harder, slicing the skin before drawing his fangs out again. He sucked hungrily from the wounds he made, the moan growing in his throat as the hot, vital blood flooded his mouth and ran down his gullet. Within moments, he had sucked the dragon dry.

He took a moment to lick up the stray blood, then pulled away panting. When he relinquished his grip on the brown dragon, and it promptly fell to the ground with a thud. “Te’et keth, ye nu’ut un.,” he murmured, before turning around. He froze as he did this though, one of his eyebrows rising as he saw a rather unnerved looking human standing several feet inside the door he himself entered from. It didn’t take that long to recognize the human as the one that had freed Alucard from the hot box.

“I see you followed me.”

The human jumped at Alucard’s voice, reminding the vampire that the night vision of humans sucked. To him, the barn seemed quite bright enough to find one’s way around in, but to a human it would almost be pitch black.

“Y-yeah,” the human said, trying to look around for the direction Alucard’s voice was coming from. The human was tense, and Alucard was feeling the intense urge to scare him, but instead Alucard simply snapped his fingers and a bright flame jumped to life between them.

He settled for the jump the human gave when the light came into existence, and raised his eyebrow further at the look that flitted across the human’s face when it saw him. He cast a glance down at himself and learned why, but instead of a shocked look, his was a wild grin. The dragon blood had already worked its magic on his body; most of his muscle mass was back, and now that he was thinking about it, he did feel a little more powerful. His thoughts about another meal were interrupted by the human though, who was staring at him in disbelief.

“You… how did you…?” He seemed to be lost for words, and this made Alucard chuckle.

“Dragon’s blood,” he said, stepping aside and gesturing the hand that held the flame at the dragon’s corpse, “As a vampire, when I drink someone’s blood I basically absorb their life energy. It makes me heal and gives me energy.”

For some reason, he felt gratification at the horrified expression now on the human’s face as it looked at the dead dragon, but he stepped out into the clear space between the rows of the stalls containing horses and dragons and walked over to the human’s side. He didn’t realize it at the moment, but he was almost strutting as he walked. His body was rejoicing in the new energy as well.

“You’re going to have to get used to seeing that if you want to come with me.,” he told the human, gazing down at him.

The human was silent for a moment, just staring at the motionless, now rather skinny looking dragon corpse in the flickering fire light. Then he seemed to register Alucard’s words and looked up. “Who said I was coming with you?” he asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. His steel blue eyes glistened in the wavering light cast by the flame Alucard held, flicking from the dragon, to the vampire, and back again several times, until his attention was stolen by a deep, rumbling, growl.

The growl attracted Alucard’s notice as well, and as he looked beyond the human to the other row of stalls, a grin spread across his face. The growl had been supplied by a large scarred gray dragon, who was staring at the two men with an intense, oddly intelligent, gaze.

Chapter Five: Persuasion


The rising sun found Alucard still walking out of the Nu’ut Kaa, ambling through the widely spaced dark trees. He could see for miles through the tall, naked trees and watched the sun rise slowly over the horizon. Regardless of the fact he could see nothing around him but trees, he had the feeling he was surrounded by intelligent beings, but ignored the sensation of being watched as he mulled over the meeting with the Gods in his mind, rather numb to the world at the moment

After a while, a little chuckle found its way out of him and he stopped to stare at the spreading band of colours on the horizon. “Dawning of a new day is right,” he said to himself, quoting what the first vampire, Mattau, had said before the Brer Zatta had broken up. He hardly remembered any of the droning monologue, only that the ancient vampire had been talking about how this war would be changing life for a nice long time, if not forever.

He snorted and rolled his eyes, experiencing the typical post-meeting burst of intense energy, and it affected everyone differently each time. This time it was intensifying his usual sarcastic, skeptical attitude, even though it left him with an elated walking on air sensation, and he strolled along with a literal spring in his step. He knew he was supposed to be telling the other vampires, both in cities and in vampire towns, that they were to move to the Nu’otor Kaa: the vampire forest. No humans had ever stepped foot there and stayed long because a tribe of vampires made sure to chase them off.

“They can wait anyway,” the vampire reasoned with himself, “It’s too good a day to move any way.” He started humming a random tune under his breath heading in the general direction of the sunrise although he slowed after a few minutes, getting the feeling he was being watched. True, he always felt like he was being watched in this forest, but now the feeling was even more intense then usual, almost as if… he was being hunted....

Trying to shake the sense that he was being stalked away, he continued to walk, but the feeling persisted for almost twenty minutes, so he finally stopped. “Alright,” he barked, raising his voice into a commanding snap, “Whoever’s there better come out and show themselves unless you want me to get angry, and I can promise you won’t like me when I’m angry.”

Alucard heard a giggle off to his right, and a second later a man-shaped something was hurtling into him, taking him by surprise and knocking him to the ground.

“I like you when you’re angry, Alucard!” an obviously delighted voice piped, seeming to come from the weight that had landed on the black-haired vampire’s chest.

“What the-?” The heated comment that had risen in Alucard’s throat died halfway out of it as he saw what, or rather who, was on his chest.

A beaming, friendly face was grinning down at him, half hidden behind a thick veil of thick, dirty blonde, somewhat curly, hair. The face belonged to a tall, attractive, vampire with cracked fangs. The new vampire’s muscled torso was bare, exposing his smooth, tan skin, marred only by multiple fang marks, and Alucard felt a stirring below his belt and managed to master it before he was able to return the other’s grin.

“Sanguini!” he said delightedly. He was laughing now, his recent sardonic mood was already completely forgotten in the face of this vampire, who Alucard had known for quite a while now.


Despite how long the two had known each other, which was nearly a thousand years, it was only a blink to a vampire. Vampires live for millennia, and to most of them, the 1,267-year-old Sanguini was hardly a teenager, but he was fine with that. Along with being rather young, Sanguini was one of the last of a long line of ancient vampires, the Shanes. The Shanes were the guardians of an ancient holy site that was on the border of a huge plot of werewolf territory, yet oddly the Shanes were immune to the hatred of werewolves so Sanguini often wandered off to do whatever he wanted, as he was doing now.


“What’re you doing here, Sangie?” Alucard asked. When he gave a little shake of his hips, Sanguini bounced up, looking apologetic, and held out a hand, which he took.

“Sorry!” the shorter, blonde, vampire quickly apologized, “And Rufus told me you were having a meeting of the gods. I wanted to come see how it went.”

Alucard laughed as he looked down at Sanguini, a sort of lopsided grin on his face. “Is that all?” he inquired, “Come on Sanguini, there has to be something else you want; you wouldn’t be bouncing like that if you didn’t want something.”

With a little sound, Sanguini stopped bouncing on the balls of his feet and cast Alucard a frantic look, only to blush vibrantly as the taller vampire chuckled at him. “I… I was wondering if…” He faltered, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and continuing to speak when Alucard encouraged him with a gesture. “Did you see Marius?”

The lopsided, amused grin on Alucard’s face widened and he laughed again. “Yep,” he said with a lofty, teasing sort of voice, “Beziar, Tye, Alcatraz, Vagabond, and Acretius were there too.”

“Unh! No fair!” Sanguini exclaimed, sounding indignant. Despite his voice, he was watching Alucard with an almost rapt attention; he got out of his pyramid a lot, but he didn’t mingle with other vampires that much.

“Well if you’d get out more you could see them yourself,” Alucard said with a soft chuckle, “And as to your first question; it went fine. Everything you could expect from a Blood Oath, at least until Mattau showed up and-”

“Mattau?” Sanguini interrupted breathlessly, his eyes widening in admiration, “Really? Mattau as in the first vampire Mattau?”

“So many questions, Sangie-shrin.” Alucard laughed loudly this time, and Sanguini blushed harshly and looked down sheepishly, shuffling his feet. Part of Sanguini’s uneasiness was from the way Alucard laughed at him, and part of it was from the other’s use of the title ‘shrin,’ which vampires used when addressing lovers or close friends.

“Not that it’s a bad thing, Sangie,” Alucard quickly continued, oblivious to Sanguini’s discomfort, “And yes. Mattau as in the first vampire Mattau. Anyway, he showed up and said that a war was coming.”

With the sharp intake of breath Sanguini gave to that news, the prickle of fear Alucard felt when he heard it from Mattau came rushing back to him. He trembled, the feeling of elation that had been hanging with him since the meeting in an instant. He could feel his heart beat picking up in his chest and exchanged an almost scared look with Sanguini, who seemed to be holding his breath and was staring back with an awed look on his face.

“D-Do you know when?” the blonde asked in a hushed, meek voice, Alucard’s use of the affectionate term completely swept from his mind.

“No,” Alucard said, shaking his head, “Mattau only said that he’s ‘seen it written in the grains of time that flow through Nestau.’ He said that a war was inevitable and that we would need to get everyone ready for it… and… and I think he and Hibou hinted that we’ll have to join forces with the werewolves…”

Sanguini took all this in with a look of wonder on his face, until the mention of joining up with werewolves, then an almost ecstatic look passed over his face and he started bouncing on the balls of his feet again, looking incredibly excited. “Really? Is there anything I can do, Alu? Do you think I should go talk to Rufus-shrin?”

“Yes, really, and you can help by going to Drac’s town and spreading the news that we have to move.” As his lopsided grin returned, Alucard added, “And I’ll talk to Rufus, and don’t even think about protesting. Imagine if you walked into the city for seemingly no reason.”

“Alu-shrin!,” Sanguini protested in an almost offended voice, “You’re so mean! Can’t I at least come with you?” He stared at the black-haired vampire imploringly, frowning when Alucard shook his head.

“No, you can’t, Sanguini,” Alucard said firmly, although he suddenly decided to switch tactics and knelt down slightly to get eye-level with the 6-foot tall blonde vampire. “Listen, Sangie-shrin,” he began, his voice now soft and placating, “I’m intrusting this task to you. You’re the best person I know at persuading people to do things they might not want to do, and you know how stubborn ol’ Drac can be. Remember when we tried to get him to let Rufus’ cousins stay in his basement? Who else could I trust to get him and everyone else safe and out of town?” He gave Sanguini an encouraging, crooked grin as he spoke, and wasn’t disappointed with the results.

Alucard seemed to know just what to say to get the shorter vampire to give in, because Sanguini was chewing on his lip and staring at him with bright eyes.

“Really?” He looked quite thrilled at the flattering words Alucard used, but he still looked uncertain and shifted where he stood, biting on his lower lip. “Well… I guess you’re right… But, Rufus…” He frowned and looked pathetically at Alucard, who was now crouched slightly and thus a few inches shorter then him.

“Oh come on Sangie,” the black-haired vampire said, rolling his eyes a bit, “If that’s not enough for you, who could have convinced Rufus to go help Meth that time he got in trouble with the hunters?” Alucard knew the answer to that question was actually anyone, but he knew that bringing Sanguini’s son, Meth, into the conversation would make up Sanguini’s mind in an instant.

“…Alright.” Sanguini said after a minute, and he drew himself up with a proud, determined air, his eyes gleaming. “You’re right…” He nodded to himself briskly, then his expression faltered. “Will you at least tell Rufus I-… Tell him I said hi?”

Alucard smiled and nodded. “Of course,” he said, straightening up with a little relieved sound and clapping a hand on Sanguini’s shoulder. “Now c’mon. There are vampires to warn and werewolves to talk to.” After making sure his companion nodded in agreement, Alucard set off through the forest, walking with the blonde until the tall straight trees thinned out completely.

Alucard smiled.

Waiting at the edge of the trees, a huge pregnant sun slowly rising in the sky behind it, stood a great, scarred, gray dragon.








Yes, there is a ****** loud of just my posts, but that is because no one will comment.

<333 I love it! 8D

To be honest. I haven't read it. The reason I'm posting is I want to get it in my posts so I can read it later. I don't have the time at this moment, but I will read it later, I promise.

Brilliant start, I really can't wait for the rest of it, and I am going to cry if you don't write any more