Chapter 11: Inner Demons

I am a vampire. I did not turn as any other has. I was not bitten by a vampire. I had no sponsor into the world of darkness. No one showed me the canal from which to draw power. My beginning is clouded in mystery, even from my own memories. I simply am. I was not from this world called Earth. I arrived from another world. I came from chaos.

I come from a world of fire. My world was a place where the air is so thick with sulfurous gas and toxic smoke that nothing can survive simply by itself. Every living thing there drew power from its surroundings. Every demon sucked the life from the land around it, and in turn dealt more damage to the world. I do not know how long we monsters have inhabited that world. I do know that it has been far too long. While I was maturing I remember having a conversation with an ancient demon. I do not remember her name, or many of her physical features. She was huge, giant for a demon. She showed me compassion... well not compassion... but less hatred than others. She had lived far longer than any other I knew. She told me stories of a time when the world was alive. Once that place had flowed with more life than any of the inhabitants knew what to do with. The demons flocked to it, they breed. They drained the world.

When I say demons I do not mean demons such as you would say. It is simply for the physical description I am hoping for. The name demon has an associated image scorched within your minds. Mostly this image comes from your religion or the religion of others with sway over your imagination. The demons I speak of are monsters. Creatures of all shapes and sizes that come from many places, they have many beliefs. I will not waste the time to describe each and every demon I have encountered. Just know that they are all bigger, stronger, and faster than humans. The demons do not listen to anyone who is not stronger than them. The one thing linking them together is their need to feed.

Demons have lost the ability to exist without drawing power, life force, from something else. The world of fire I was raised on was still filled with power. It had been so lush and filled that even after thousands of years of draining it could still last several more. When I found Earth I deemed that it would be different. I took several actions to make sure that the world would be safe from such a serious drain that it would be sucked free of life like so many other worlds have been. This leads to a discussion for another time. Demonkin follow only one form of leadership, power.

I was always one of the weakest demons. I did not have the huge sizes of some, or the strength off others. I had to survive on my guile. Too many times did I get someone else to fight for me. It wasn't until I came into my true powers that I realized my gift. There were no vampires that I can tell of, before me. I simply existed. Alone, in hiding, I developed my powers. I learned flight, I strengthened myself. I trained, and taught myself the arts of the shadows. I learned to survive.

The only way to learn when you have no teacher is to stumble into things, and hope for the best. That is exactly what I did one day when I found a rift within a wall. I stepped through and saw my first forest, trees five times my height, animals calling back and forth. This place was lush and thriving. I mentioned that demons exist because they can draw the energy from life around them, that their metabolism is so different from humanity. I have always been jealous of your ability to survive simply on food from the ground. I could feel the life around me here so much more than I had ever felt.

When I look back at my first kill in this new world I can't help but smile. I had killed before. My home world was not a place you can survive without taking life. To gain power you have to either drain it from the very land, or take it from another. The land was not a safe place to take from, the constant demand for its resources having fouled its life force. But nothing was like this first new kill.

I was wandering amazed through this great forest when I started to become hungry. I heard a noise and turned to see something amazing. It was a human. I know that now, but at the time what I saw was a creature that looked like me. It was a little girl. She was a full two feet shorter than me, which in the past had always been a rare occurrence. Demons under three feet in size tend to be remarkably mouth sized and don't last long.

As I approached it the girl began to scream. She was wearing a dress made from an animals hide. The dress was more like a bag with holes cut for head and arms. I stepped up to her and pressed my hand across her mouth to silence her screams. The noise has very unpleasant. I could feel the life flowing within her and I couldn't resist. She smelled so perfect. I could practically see the flow of life through her. I lowered my mouth to her neck and bite straight into her vein.

I remember with great glee the taste of her blood. I had never had anything like it. As if I had been a starving child every day of my life until that point, her life filled me to my very core. I became warm all over, and I felt filled with energy. I could feel my powers increasing with every second.

I drained that child dry. I slept that day, feeling the effects of her essence changing me. The next day I awoke hungry and followed her scent to her home. She it seemed lived with many others of her kind in a cave. I waited for one of the girls to leave alone, and did the same thing to her. I continued like this for several days. Soon none of them went any where alone. I could feel my powers now though, and I did not fear them. After three days of not eating, I went into their cave, and took the last of the girls while the others slept. The next morning all of the men roused themselves and went hunting for me. I killed each and every one of them that day, consuming their life. The blood from the men was not nearly as potent as those from the girls, particularly the younger ones.

The life force I had consumed in such a short time here was easily tenfold what I would have had to work very hard for previously. I spent the next week learning my new strength. I had become much stronger. I knew that this resource was not to be shared. The world which I come from was once like this one I figured, and I was not going to allow others to come here and spoil my paradise. I would need to defend this world. I returned to the cave I had emptied of its family, and was surprised to see another human still there. It was a little girl, very much like my first kill here. She was older, probably a few years younger than my physical age. She had pilled all of the bodies of her kin up and put them to the torch. Now she just sat near the pyre and cried.

I walked over to the girl and tried to speak to her. Naturally we spoke completely different languages and couldn't understand each other. I helped her clean up and get herself moving. I was far stronger physically than I had been when I had arrived here. My speed and stamina also had increased from a good diet. I spent several days with her, and we worked on a language of sorts to communicate. I don't think she knew that I was the one who had killed her kin. To me killing her kin was not wrong. I had the power to do it, and therefore the right. On the fifth day I began to hunger again. I didn't hunger as I usually did this time however. I was still filled from when I had gorged. My other hunger had awakened, my lust. That night I had decided to take her.

I made my advances and she didn't object. I approached my physical need as I had always in the past. Yes, there are demons that have sex. There are a lot of demons that have sex. All demons have sex. Some aren't able to find willing mates. Others have been neutered. Me, I had both right then. I performed the same as I usually would. I bent her over her knees, spread her legs from behind her, and plowed right into her. I remember tearing and the smell of blood, not much else. Sometime in the middle I lost control and when I woke up I was laying on top of her body. She was still warm so she couldn't have been dead long.

At that moment I changed more than ever. I felt sorrow. I didn't want her to leave me. What I did exactly is hard to explain, but fundamentally I figured I had taken life from her, so if I gave it back she would live. I did just that. I had learned long ago how to draw power, so I did the opposite. She gasped and air began to fill her lungs. She started breathing and I could hear and feel her heart beat. I drew blood on my neck and brought her to it so she could get some of her life bearing fluid back and she drank well.

It seems that when I had taken her life within me it had changed. The pattern changed to that of a demon, specifically of a vampire. When I gave her back life it was my own I gave her. She turned into a vampire right then. Her name was Lilah, and she was my first child. She will always have a place in my heart. Now I had a means to make certain that this world would stay mine, my family would protect it.

I taught Lilah everything I had learned, and together we prepared to take on two worlds. One filled with prey. The other filled with predators. My life and this world were changed forever.

Leaving Sage's office, the Hunters now known as Drake and Chimera, went to a briefing room where they were presented the information regarding the dinner. The dinner was for this night at eleven o'clock. The invitation welcomed two Hunters and guaranteed them as guests of the court. It is considered a great honor to be invited as a guest, not that either of the Hunters felt so. It is not unheard of for the Hunters to meet with a vampire court. Hunters do not kill every vampire they can. They are mostly focused on those that step out of line. The vampires that are a problem for society, those that succumbed to the bloodlust are the first to be targeted. As of late it has become more and more important to work with the Courts to weed out those that need elimination.

After the briefing Falcon went directly to the elevator. He ignored everyone as he passed, many of them greeting him with his new name. The greetings grated on him, and kept chaffing every time someone opened their mouth.

At some point along the way he left Chimera behind, and he didn't even notice until he had reached the call button for the elevator. Falcon didn't wait long for the elevator, the doors opening immediately. He stepped inside and unlocked the keypad. Staring at the keys for a minute, Falcon typed in the four number numeric code 0330. The elevator began to lower, and Falcon sunk back into his thoughts.

How could I just be made a legend? What have I done to deserve it? A legend is known by all. He has done great things. What great feat have I accomplished?

After a few minutes of unanswered questions the elevator stopped. The left side wall slid up, revealing a long, white hallway. Fluorescent lights lined the ceiling illuminating the hall several hundred yards, and along a turn of the hall.

The Hunter regional office in Los Angeles is the third largest office in the world. It is in one of the less populated areas outside the San Fernando Valley, and spans over four acres of land. The most remarkable thing about this campus however, is that aside from the usual base functions and field agent support, the LA office has a very large and renowned Hunter Academy. There have never been, at any given time, more than ten thousand field agents, or wings, in the Hunters.

People become aware of the supernatural in many ways, more or less evasive. Those that learn of their existence seem to become targeted, and do not remain alive long. At times an unenlightened person will learn of the Hunters, mostly by chance. Those that learn of the Hunters are not killed, most of them are recruited in some way or another.

Few of those recruited become Hunters, most simply help run the offices and do research. Anyone may be accepted to the academy, but many will not graduate as Hunters. A full fledged Hunter is a master of the fighting arts. A Hunter is well versed in etiquette, history, and demonology. The Hunters have recruiters all around the world. Not like the army would, but specific people that know of the Hunters and are not directly working with them. Martial arts sensei's, teachers, a few psychologists, and various others in scattered professions are on the payroll of the Hunters.

When a prospective Hunter becomes recognized they are told of a special school where they would learn, grow, and so forth, the usual line. It takes something special to become a Hunter, not just training, study, and dedication. Something else is required, though what it takes has yet to be discovered. Studies have shown nothing conclusive. There are whispers that those who pass the final test possess a sixth sense as to where things are and how they move.

A stigma of the supernatural being evil and therefore needing hunting however has blanketed a thick silence over official reports of this special ability. Imagine the effects if it came out that the Hunters were in fact not human, or that they possess supernatural abilities. The system would destroy itself.

This floor of the complex had several different rooms. It contained a very functional dojo, its purpose dedicated to the education of the mind. The rooms were mostly meditation rooms of one sort or another. Being that a large part of training is finding a singular purpose of mind. Focus is very important for a hunter.

Some of the rooms were small gardens, or quiet ponds, others white rooms with a pillow on the floor and no decorations. This floor was specially designed to be silent, and it had no other training rooms. The walls of each room were sound proofed, and if desired some of the rooms even had sound that could be piped in. The hunters spare no expense when it comes to training. Training half way is worse than not training.

Falcon walked down the hallway, four doors on the right and stopped. He opened the door and stepped inside the empty room. Falcon had some heavy thinking to do and did not want any distractions. He stepped to the lights switch and dimmed them. The lights had been hurting his eyes since he had entered the building.

The room looked like something that would be found in a prison. He was in solitary confinement. It was not small like such a room would be, but in appearance it had the same decorator. Falcon sat down on the only fixture in the room, a small mat. He placed his hands on his knees, closed his eyes and began to think.

What have I become? Am I truly a legend? How did I become a legend? Did I do anything worthy of being praised or honored? Where are my answers? Who am I even asking here?

Falcon brought his hands up to his neck and removed the medallion of the Drake that had recently been placed there. Does this make me a legend? Will changing my name make me so? What have I done to deserve this? I have killed many demons, but so have all of the others. Am I legend only because the others have died?

Staring at the image of the Drake, Falcon felt pain shoot through his body. His neck burned and he could feel it spreading. Venom boiled through his veins, and he could feel every inch it claimed. Is it finally happening? I was bitten two days ago, why am I now feeling the effects? If the vampire that had bit me was going to convert me, I should have turned already.

The fire burned through him, disrupting his focus. After what seemed to be an eternity it started to dim. He might have been getting used to it, but soon the pain dulled down to nothing more than a minor ache. Falcon concentrated, his hands again falling to his lap.

Am I a vampire? Is that my link to being a legend? Will I be known as the vampire Hunter? A hunter of his own kind... the light has been hurting my eyes, and I have certainly felt changes physically. I do not thirst. Were I to turn I should feel the thirst, yet I do not.

Falcon brought his hands to his mouth, checking the sizes of his canines, checking for abnormal sized teeth. He found nothing different. He tried to extend his fingernails, turn them into claws, but nothing. I don't seem to be developing any signs of changing, aside from the light sensitivity.

What the fuck? A burning image flamed on his right palm. Falcon noticed for the first time the symbol of the Star of David was not unknown to him. The image was raised as if a welt, but burned a deep red color, not like it would if filled with blood, a much more vibrant red. A sword came from my hands earlier, and I can't forget about Megan. It is as if I was controlling her mind, I certainly could read her thoughts. I just have too many questions. I need answers.

A raspy male voice filled the room, "rise... rise, and arm yourself." The sound echoed off the walls. Falcon could tell that he was no longer in his meditative state. He was in a place between sleep and awareness. The world did not exist yet, there was only the Hunter and his room.

The Hunter rose to his feet. "What do you want? Who are you?"

"If you do not fight I will kill you." The voice bounced off all of the walls, coming from nowhere and everywhere. Pain shot through Falcon and he fell to the ground.

The Hunter rose to his feet and started for his guns. "Not that way," came the voice. Pain sprouted again through him. "Man's weapons cannot fight me."

How did I do this last time? He looked down at the symbol on his hand, and tightened the muscles of his arm. Come. He commanded, and watched as nothing happened. No, like this, a voice not his own spoke within his head and an image flashed before his eyes.

Falcon willed a sword to appear in his hands. He could feel energy flowing around him, and a blade flashed into existence. The sword felt natural in his hands. It was warm to his touch, and was lighter than it should have been.

Falcon jerked back to his feet, feeling re-energized and ready to take on whatever might come. His sword caught the light, and he could see the perfect edge it bore.

The Hunter looked around, questing for his foe. The walls of the room had vanished, replaced only in shadow. The many lights from the ceiling did nothing to illuminate the surroundings.

Falcon watched in vain as the shadow quickly rolled in, as if a fog. As light after light was covered, soon the only thing that seemed left in the world was a man standing directly below a small bulb, a spotlight, a three foot wide circle, surrounded on all sides by shadow.

"The stage is set. Now... we fight."

Light glinted from the right side of Falcon, as a blade flashed within his circle. He spun to block it, and the sound of blade meeting blade rang out. The force of the blow jarred up Falcon's arm. A couple more hits like that and he wouldn't even be able to block.

The blade glinted again through the air and the Hunter clearly saw it. The blade was a katana. It looked deadly sharp, and seemed flawless. Falcon barely maneuvered out of the way. He spun to the side, making sure to stay in the light. He swung his sword in response, hoping to catch his opponent. His blade touched nothing though.