Bonus Stories

The Unheard Warning

The small town in the mountains stood quietly in the blizzard. It was not just the snow that made people uneasy. They had been hearing rumors, terrible news about a powerful force from the east, destroying everything in its path, showing no mercy to anyone.

In the inn, people were scarce, and very quiet. Then, the doors opened, and a man wrapped in skins walked in.

Without a word, he approached the fireplace and began to take off his coat and hood, revealing a man in his forties. As he sat by the fire to warm up, he ordered a mug of ale and drank it quietly enjoying slowly in it. A man approached him and asked "Where are you from, friend? Why do you risk your life in this storm?"

The man slowly raised his head and spoke silently

"I am from Latenia. I was a soldier in the garrison. I ran... after they came."

Latenia was a city a week's ride from there, and the thought that something had happened to it shook them.

"What happened to Latenia, man?" — He was asked again.

"We were attacked. A very strange attack it was. In the early morning, we saw an army approaching our walls. We were surprised to see them, as we were at peace with all our neighbors. A very unusual army it was, only infantry, no cavalry, no siege machines, and only around three thousands of them, too."

"And still you lost? Latenia had over seven thousand garrison, and very tall and thick walls." — A man in the back spoke up.

"Let me finish. They stopped a couple of leagues from the city, well out of range of our bows. We saw their archers step out in front, with the largest bows I have ever seen, and they opened fire on the city. We laughed at the fools, but imagine our horror when their arrows began landing on us. I tell you, no man can shoot accurately from two leagues away. After two shots from the archers, the infantry drew their weapons and began to charge to the city. A big mistake, we thought, as we would easily take them out with our bows, and finish them off when they stop at the walls. We were wrong. An amazing sight, it was. Those soldiers ran faster that horses and our arrows were useless against them. We fired at least a thousand arrows, and none of them fell. I personally shot five, and they didn't even break their stride. When they reached the walls, they scaled the smooth walls as easily as lizards. Then we noticed the many women among them too. Women fighting, and fighting well, I tell you. Trust me; it was the strangest sight in the world. They killed the entire garrison in minutes. Then, they turned on the city. They killed everyone, and took the children with them. I must admit, when I saw them, I ran away, abandoned my friends to save my life."

- How horrible. What were those things?" — A man asked in a hushed voice.

- They looked like men, but they weren't. Those were demonic beasts, sent here to punish men for their crimes. After a nights rest, I will move on west, for I fear they are coming this way, and if you are wise, you will follow. — That was the last thing the soldier said for the night, and true to his word, he left at dawn, heading west.

His story was spread trough the town, but few believed it. They considered it the foolish ranting of a cowardly deserter, hiding his cowardice behind an outrageous story. Three days later, vampire raiders stormed the city and exterminated the population.

The Forbiden Love

By the early XVI-th century, the vampires had spread almost all over the world, being very careful in hiding their existence from the humans. Desiring power and authority among humans, they slowly moved to the peaks of human nobility.

In England lived one of the most respected clan leaders, Martin the Cruel, called that for his doings in the Great War.

His daughter, Katrina, was considered as one of the most beautiful vampires in existence, for not only does vampire beauty far surpass human beauty, but she was very beautiful even for vampire standards.

The human females clearly hated her, for on every party she managed to surpass their makeup laden faces without using any herself. The young bachelors had eyes only for this beauty, but she didn't seem interested in any of them, as she hadn't even accepted even an invitation to a dance from any of them. This reluctance drove the men crazy, and they had sworn to give 10.000 pounds to the man that dances with her. But people didn't talk only about her beauty. She was a very mysterious woman, and they talked that she always had the same saddened look, and none could really say that they saw her smile. It was most puzzling as to why would someone so lovely would be so sad, but she knew the answer. She hated herself.

She hated what she was, and she hated her father who was constantly saying that humans were nothing but cattle to them, but most of all, she hated feeding. Even after eighty years of life, she couldn't force herself to kill a human, but one of her father's men had to do it, but she still felt bad when she felt the blood flowing down her throat. Being born a vampire, she didn't know how it was to be human, and she hated being a vampire, but she knew that there was no way to become human. No, she was doomed to this life, and she knew it. The parties her father forced her to attend made the pain even worse. She could easily hear the women whispering about her from across the room, and she could hear the man lustfully sigh when she passed them.

This painful existence continued, with no end in sight, until a party in early June. As she walked around the party, trying to avoid all the men that were asking her to dance, she noticed a man standing alone by the wall. When she saw him, her heart quickened, and she blushed for the first time in her life. She slowly approached him, and stood near him. The man was obviously thinking of something, as he didn't notice her at first. He was so shocked to see her so close to him that it took him a minute to speak

- Would you like to dance, madam? — He asked nervously.

- Yes, I would love to. — She replied gracefully.

The surprise on the party was like a shockwave. They saw the most desired beauty dancing with one of the poorest and least famous men in the hall.

Suddenly, Lord Peter Wholson became the most famous man in society, as all men congratulated him on conquering that elusive beauty.

- I am not sure I have conquered her, gentlemen. — He replied to these claims. One thing was for certain. The 10.000 pounds he got from the other lords quickly remedied the financial problems in which his father had brought him and his family before his death.

Katrina continued to meet him in secret for over three months, for even though her father found nothing wrong if she danced with him, he would surely object to a relationship. But, she didn't care. She was in love.

One day, when he asked when she will introduce him to her family, she woke up from the trance. What her father would say about this, she knew, but what would he do if he knew his daughter was in love with a human? He always said she would one day marry a vampire from a descent family, and that was the end of it.

She told him that her family didn't approve of their relationship, and therefore he could not meet them. She began thinking of a way out of this dilemma, and the more she thought, the clearer it was. She had to turn Peter into a vampire, and then her father could not object to it. But did she have the strength to tell him what she was or worse yet, turn him? She had to try, or risk her father finding out everything.

One day when she returned home, her father said he had found her a husband.

- What do you mean by that father? — She asked trembling.

- I found a vampire worthy of you, my dear. You will be married in one week's time. — He answered.

- But how could you do this to me? Force me to marry someone I haven't even met, when my love... - She began angrily, then suddenly stopped, realizing she had said more than she should have.

- Your love is what? You are in love with someone already? Who is this person? Has my daughter been seeing a filthy human? Answer me! — He shouted.

By the laws of vampire hierarchy, she had to answer, no matter how much she fought against it.

- Yes, I have been seeing a human. — She replied in a broken voice.

- You will tell me where this fool lives, now! — Martin continued angrily.

She told him, and as he stormed out, she fell on the ground crying. She was too late. Two hours later, a passerby found Peter's body, with his head torn off his body. He was placed in his family's crypt and Martin reluctantly allowed his daughter to attend the funeral, but he sent several of his men to keep an eye on her. After the burial, she was locked in her room, but when Martin went to talk to her, he found the locked door in peaces on the floor, and after searching the house; he noticed his sword was missing. Fearing something terrible might happen, he rushed to the place he was certain she went; her lover's crypt. When he entered the grave, he was greeted by the smell of blood, but this was vampire blood. He saw Katrina on the floor, his sword trough her heart, now dead from the lost blood. He realized how strong she loved him, as she must have stood there in agony for at least the last hour, the sword trough her, trying to fight the instinct to pull the blade out. He took out the sword, and took the body home. His wife was too shocked from the sight of her daughter dead, and she joined her the same day. Seeing the result of his pride, Martin grew mad with grief, finally becoming nothing more than a mindless animal that attacked everything in sight, terrorizing the entire area until Lord Deathhand intervened and ended his life. He said that killing his friend was the hardest things he had ever done, but death was mercy compared to the life he had. This story had become the "Romeo and Juliet" of vampires, and is considered not only the most tragic story, but is also the first case of vampire suicide, something almost impossible to do willingly. One of the most beautiful poems that describe this story would bring tears to your eye, even though one doesn't understand the vampire language.

The Founding Of The Brotherhood Of Light

In the Second World War, vampires killed many men. They were very careful about this, making sure they attacked more isolated troops, and always planting evidence that it was the other side that did it. They took every precaution to make sure they weren't discovered, but someone did mange to uncover this. An American colonel in France managed to discover this.

Colonel Trevor was investigating the attack on one of their bunkers, as he could not realize how the Germans managed to sneak into the bunker undetected, and kill everyone without a casualty, which was even more mysterious as there were empty shells everywhere. The most puzzling thing however was why they didn't stay in the bunker once they had it.

There was one survivor, but all attempts to question him were unsuccessful. The doctors said he was in shock, and was afraid to remember what he had seen.

The colonel went to see the soldier, and found him sitting on his bed, repeating "Not human, not human," over and over again.

Trevor spoke up "Son, are you alright? Can you speak?"

The soldier looked at him blankly, and then blinked several times, as if realizing something. He stood up quickly and saluted the colonel "Yes, sir, I can speak."

- Can you tell me what happened in the bunker, son? — Trevor asked.

-I knew you would ask me that. I will try sir, but... it was just so horrible, sir. — The man replied silently.

- Alright, son, take your time, I'm not going anywhere. — Trevor comforted him.

- Well sir, around 2 AM Lt. Jones and I were supposed to take the next watch, so we decided to get something to eat before we did. We went to the kitchen and took two rations, and sat down to eat them. Then, we heard noise from the entrance. We ignored it, as we thought that someone had just gone out for a smoke, but then we heard gunfire in the bunker. I looked up to Jones and he spoke to me "God, the Krauts got inside. Paul get up, we can't let them take the bunker." I took my rifle and we went out the kitchen. In the corridor, Jones went left, and I right. I walked into a room full of corpses, al wearing our uniforms, sir. Then I heard Jones scream in pain. I knew I was the last man alive, and that thought frightened me. I hid among the corpses, dragging a few on me to hide myself better. I decided to kill every Nazi that walked in. Several moments later, a man in a German uniform walked in, and then, one more. The first Nazi was acting very strange sir. He walked around and sniffed at the air, as if looking for something he could not see. He then spoke to the second in plain English "I tell you, I sensed another walking in this direction. We have to find him, or Lord Deathhand will not be pleased. He said kill everyone. I for one thing don't want to tell him that someone survived."

"Yes, I heard him too. So, find our little soldier. I'll have a bite, I'm starved. I had to heal over a hundred shots." The German grabbed a corpse, and bit on the man's neck with two of the largest fangs I have seen. After a minute, he dropped the body as the first said angrily

"What are you doing, fool? The orders were no marks, remember?"

"Relax, I'll take care of it, you just move on with the search. We have to find him before dawn, or someone from the outside might come to investigate.

The first German walked out, still sniffing, and the second raised his machinegun and fired several shots inn the man's throat, destroying the bite marks. Suddenly, one of the corpses moved, our captain raised his gun and emptied the entire clip in the Nazi's head. He didn't even move, he just raised his machinegun and returned the favor. In a minute, his face was completely healed. I tell you sir, those things that attacked the bunker were no Germans and they weren't even human. — The soldier finished.

- This is most disturbing news, soldier. You have just witnessed something that was not supposed to be seen. It would appear we have a new enemy, or if I may say so, an old one. If my suspicions are correct, then you were attacked by vampires, real vampires. — Trevor said grimly.

- But sir, no one would believe this, not without proof. What will you do? — The soldier asked.

- I guess we must take matters into our own hands, then. Will you help me? — He looked at the soldier.

- Yes sir. I would do anything to destroy those things. — He replied.

Ten years have passed from that day, and the two men worked tirelessly to create a force capable of fighting the vampires. Gathering men was hard, as was funding the cause. But gradually they gathered support, as there were men who believed them, who just wanted to fight, and even some who have seen vampires, or lost a loved one to them. As for money, the members gave what they could, and slowly, a large sum was gathered, from which weapons were bought. During the years, vast stores of weapons were gathered. Paul Grant, the soldier who survived the bunker attack pointed out that conventional bullets have little effect on vampires, so they acquired large quantities of high caliber weaponry and explosive ammo. They also trained with more medieval long range weaponry, like spears and pikes, and also bows and crossbows with HE arrows. The Brotherhood trained for several decades, and in September, 1986, was the final test for them. They had managed to locate a vampire nest in Texas.

Captain Corman led the attack, with over sixty highly trained slayers. According to the intelligence, there were about ten vampires in a large mansion on the edge of town. When positions were taken around the house, they stormed inside. The vampires were too surprised from this and they gave only token resistance, so the slayers killed them all with only minor casualties. As they congratulated themselves on a job well done, they could not even imagine the power they alerted to their presence.

The Quest For Mars

To go to Mars had been a dream of man ever since he stepped on the Moon, but the distance of the Red Planet made it impossible to reach it with the technology of the early 21-st century. Then, a breakthrough was made. A working fusion reactor was made in the year 2016. Continuous experiments with this new technology brought a revolutionary engine design that could be used to get a ship to Mars. The building of a large ship began in the year 2025. The ship was too big to be built on the ground, so it was built in space. This ship was to bring humanity to Mars. During the final stages of the build, a new discovery postponed the launch date for several months. Several scientists discovered a means to generate directional gravitational fields. This technology not only did enable gravity on the ship, but it could also be used as inertial dampeners for the inside of the ship, protecting the crew from great speeds and acceleration. It took some time to adapt the ship to this new find, but this meant that it would take them only half the time to reach Mars than they originally thought.