Chapter 2: The Vampire's Tommorow

The long awaited day arrived. He was completely free, and finally, he was free to start a new life. He then faced a difficult question, what to do now. The mayor was kind enough to offer him a place in one of the military labs on Mars, and he gladly accepted. There he worked on many new technologies and weapons for the Alliance, but stayed only a short time, due to the frequent quarrels with his colleagues that he is working on his own projects and is refusing to share research data with them. Although nothing was proven, the accusations were true. He worked on Mars for four months, and during that time, he and Dr. Wilkins got closer. One could say there was something between them from the start. After four months, John requested to be transferred to Earth, and a week later moved to the main lab on Earth. Here he managed to invent the vampire's most mysterious technology, the silicon reactor. This reactor used a reaction between silicon and anti silicon to produce energy, and the secret part was the matter-antimatter converter, that converted matter to antimatter with minimal input of energy, unlike the massive facilities of the Alliance that wasted enormous amounts of energy to make anti hydrogen. Having integrated special replicators that produced only silicon, the reactor needed only fuel at the beginning of the reaction, and was capable of producing its own fuel afterwards. This reactor would give them an uncanny advantage in the future. He remained in touch with Dr. Wilkins, and love grew between them, so three months later, he asked her to marry him, which she immediately accepted.

After the wedding, a small problem arose. In order for them to have children, she would have to be transformed. So, one night they sat down to discuss this.

She said she is ready and that he should give her his blood now, but John said she must be prepared for the process; otherwise she could get severe psychological damage, as the transformation is a real shock to the brain, and any damage made is irreparable.

- Ok. I will begin with the explanation of the process itself, and we'll begin the exercises later. — He told her.

- As you wish. — She replied.

- Alright. The process itself lasts for 46 to 48 hours and every system in the body is affected. In the first 24 to 28 hours one can use sedatives and painkillers to calm the person, but after the immune system is changed, their effect is nullified. After this, many are unable to withstand the pain, and those that are lucky, pass out. The first step is a special crystallization of the skeleton, which makes it a 100 times stronger. The second step is crucial for the next, which is the enhancement of the regenerative system. After that follows the change of the digestive system and the muscles. The digestive system is configured to process blood, and the muscle tissue thickens and strengthens, making it over 500 times stronger than human tissue. The next step is the change of the immune system. When this happens, your body will be cleansed of everything, from foreign bodies and toxins, to cholesterol and unnecessary body fat. After that, the teeth are dissolved, and you grow new stronger ones, including the two fangs with special muscles in the root. These teeth are exclusively for puncturing the victim's skin and blood vessels. Next step is the change of the nervous system. In this step you shall experience a new definition of pain, as your nerves and senses are recalibrated to a thousand times greater sensitivity. The last step is the change of the skin and the growth of the special organ for temperature regulation. The skin thickens, the sweat glands are lost and any looser part of the skin is tightened. The body temperature is changed trough a special organ that can chemically heat or cool your blood. After the transformation, there is a telepathic link between the vampire and its maker, but I can only see those parts of your mind you let me. To most, this part is the most difficult to adapt to. — John ended his long, but necessary explanation.

- I understand. That was... very detailed and informative. — She said.

- Yes. Do you want to start the exercises now, or would you like to rest first? — He asked her.

- No need. Let's start. — She said and sat across him.

He smiled and began instructing her in special exercises that were supposed to make her transition easier.

A week later, she was ready, but still a little nervous. If this happened in the 20-th century, there would have been over a hundred vampires telling her she had nothing to worry about, but now, she only had John.

They stood in front of each other, and with his nail, John slowly cut his vein and raised his hand to her. She took it in her mouth, and took two mouthfuls of his blood. A minute later, she dropped in his arms and he took her to the bedroom. In the next two days, he watched as his wife change, and as she did, he thought what to do next.

After two days, she woke up.

- How do you feel dear? — John asked and gave her a satchel of blood.

- How did you know I was thirsty? — She asked.

- We all wake up thirsty, my dear. Oh, yes, this is yours. — He threw her the wedding ring.

- I had to take it off as you kept cutting yourself with the diamond. So, how do you like the new you? — He asked with a smile.

- I like me, but I don't feel different. — She replied.

Seeing herself in the mirror, she said

- I don't look different too. Just my wrinkles are gone. I look ten years younger.

- You are different, dear. Believe me. — He smiled at her again.

- What do we do now, love? — She asked.

- Firstly, we wait for you to develop sun immunity, and learn all about the new you, and after that, we'll see. — John said and took her hand in his.

For over a month John helped her adjust to her new strength, and the link between them.

Two months after she turned, they asked all humans that wanted to become vampires to join them. For the transformation applied so many people, that John had to devise a test to see if they could adjust to vampirism.

After the test, of the applied 348.365 people, only 28.549 passed the test.

Seeing there were only two vampires, and so many candidates, John, decided to transform a hundred first, and they would transform the others afterwards. The big day came for the resurrection of the vampire race. A hundred people stood before John and Heather and waited for a sample of their blood. Of the hundred, John gave blood to only thirty, and when Heather asked why she gave more blood than him, he told her "Later."

She asked again a minute later, and he answered her

-Simply for control. High level vampires evolve faster, and the less of them, the easier it is to maintain order and control.

- I understand. Order must be maintained in the Link. — She said.

After the 100 candidates received the blood, they were placed in separate rooms during their transformation. The government agreed to grant them a building for this purpose, but the thought of a large number of vampires did not appeal to them.

After the hundred woke up, they took over the transformation of the others, and in six months all vampires were changed and trained in all aspects of vampirism. The new vampires began inventing and researching many new things, but, very few data was shared with the Alliance. The vampires perfected the silicon reactor John invented, and using parts of the reactor, mainly the converter, they developed the "Decimator" technology, a mighty weapon that will never be surpassed in firepower. This weapon used the matter-antimatter converter to produce a continuous barrage of antimatter that literally decimated every target.

Even though it was a powerful weapon, as a ship bound weapon it did not inflict enough damage fast enough compared to other Alliance ships to give vampires military supremacy.

This made it necessary to invent a secondary, more destructive weapon that would be used as an addition to the "Decimator"

Analyzing data of the Alliance, and adding their own ideas, they finally developed a weapon they called singularity torpedo. This weapon detonated a singularity on impact, making an explosion equal to the detonation of 5000 kg of antimatter. During the tests they also discovered that if two shockwaves of these torpedoes clash, they annihilate space itself for miles around, in what was called the "singular" effect. The Alliance banned these weapons as too dangerous, and forbid the vampires to use the ones they already had.

Seeing tensions rise, John decided to leave Earth with his people. He asked permission to colonize an empty planet. His request was granted after several days of hard debating, and he was allowed to settle a planet of his choice.

John chose a planet slightly bigger than Earth; with three quarters of it land, and most importantly, there were three other habitable planets in relative proximity. Within a year, all vampires moved there, and began building three cities on one of the continents.

The work was hard, as there was a lot to be built. They needed habitats, power plants, replication facilities, schools, labs, factories, etc.

The first five years were the most strenuous. The three cities were built, with all the support facilities, and the first labs were built, and several factories busily built everything that could not be replicated, and work had begun on the first orbital station. They worked tirelessly for years, and as their numbers grew exponentially work became easier, as new candidates were changed every day, and more and more children were born, and no one died.

After five years on Denstindeya, which in vampire language means "Warrior's home," John's wife, Heather, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

John named his son Glereon, in vampire language "Force" and the girl Sophia.

For twenty years they lived peacefully, but John knew that if they wanted to be truly strong, they needed independence. He declared the forming of the Vampiric Empire, independent of the Alliance or anyone else.

This decision was met with a wave of disapproval in the Alliance. Many Alliance politicians said that now that they can't control the vampires, they could produce fleets of ships made of unknown alloys, and armed with "Decimator" cannons and singularity torpedoes they could crush any opposition.

Similar thoughts had the other forces as well, but their leaders said that until the vampires don't show any aggression towards them, they can't do anything against them.

A hundred and fifty years later, the vampires had become a force to be reckoned with. They had settled several planets, and their capitol was almost covered in cities. Their independence gave them the right to keep whatever they invented, and their numbers were now well over 12 billions.

Their space ships were considered one of the most powerful in the quadrant, and the last generation of ships, made from the special alloys metalite and krelitium, of which the krelitium was used to build the hull, as it was an incredibly tough metal, and the metalite was used to build the outer hull and armor because of it's high thermal and shock resistance. Combined with the type VI shield, the vampire ships were heavily destroyable juggernauts. At the same time, their military and art academies were considered the finest in the known galaxy, and many of the best of the best came to their academies.

They had become the most powerful single race in the quadrant, but also the least numerous force in it. Most of all, their ability to communicate telepathically gave them a great tactical superiority in battle, and this way was also a lot quicker. Still, some public meetings or lectures can be eerily quiet for a non vampire, and the most comical sentence a mortal had ever heard on a vampire world was that after two hours of complete silence, a vampire told a human "That was one of the fiercest debates I remember. Don't you think so too?"

In the quadrant were of course many races that still had no interstellar travel capabilities, and the advanced races had an agreement to limit open contact with these civilizations, deciding that they should contact them after they managed to attain interstellar drives.

Then, on the 180-th anniversary of their independence John made the first step to an all out war.

His explorers were constantly searching for new planets for the ever growing population and they found a perfect one close to their border, but a problem arose. It was already inhabited by a race that had already begun space exploration. The vampires sent a cloaked ship to investigate the planet, the vampire's cloak technology was virtually undetectable by even the most advanced sensors, so taking detailed scans of the planet that had only primitive telescopes, assessing the military capabilities and analyzing the inhabitant's DNA was effortless. Further testing showed the race compatible for vampirism, so John decided to make a move on this planet full of potential vampires. This was, according to John, to demonstrate their military capabilities as well.

John took over 30 ships and over 200.000 vampires specially trained for assimilation of larger targets like stations and planets and moved to the attack.