The Dhampir Apocalypse

By Tobias Glass

Encounter

The dhampir stood on the promontory, looking out over a barren, blasted landscape. The sky was pitch black, due to the huge clouds of ash that had risen when a giant meteor had hit the planet, killing thousands and crippling millions of others due to the fact that it had the extreme bad luck to hit a nuclear power plant. The dhampir sniffed; there was blood on the air tonight, innocent blood. She was going to find out who had caused it.

She paused momentarily, recalling how quickly the vampires and like creatures of the night had risen after the sun no longer warmed the Earth. Kagan, fortunately, had been dispatched a decade or two ago, so he had not been there to oversee the rise of his kind. His daughter, though, had seen it all. And it was not pretty.

"Come on Rayne, let's get down there," said her partner, Itsuke. Itsuke was a Japanese dhampir, risen hardly a year ago. Rayne had found him feeding on a dead man in what had once been an alley in New York. He had changed much since then, now a strong and cunning predator. Rayne had even gone so far as to retrieve the arm blades of her old mentor Mynce from the rubble of the New York Bank and Trust. He currently wore these proudly, seeming every bit the embodiment of Mynce in a male form.

"Yeah, let's go," Rayne said, and took a flying leap from the ridge. She twisted in midair and snagged the falling earth with her blades. These slowed her down enough so that when she hit the ground, she didn't even leave a scratch on her black stiletto heels.

Itsuke landed softly behind her. "Show off," he said, while at the same time giving Rayne a leer.

"I don't show off, I'm just really good," she replied smoothly. "Now where was it that the Brimstone Society said these head vamps are hiding?"

"There is rumored to be a nest of them in the very center of the town, and there are bound to be human servants around, so we'll have to be careful," Itsuke said, repeating the file on the town quite accurately.

"So it's the stealth approach, is it? We'd better get moving then." Without another word, she leapt onto the nearest building, a twelve-foot leap. She took off, laughing, and Itsuke followed suit, grinning cheekily back at her. They raced across the tops of the buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, racing towards the center of the small town, a church with an imposing steeple on the top of it. The human servants of the vampires that held this town in their sway noticed nothing, except perhaps the ghost of a laugh as the pair of dhampir sped over them.

The church was boarded off and shuttered, battened down to make it inaccessible to ground penetration. Lot of good that did them, Rayne thought as she and Itsuke leapt onto the roof with hardly a noise. They climbed into the bell tower and slipped down the ladder to take a look. Itsuke watched as Rayne took a glimpse, and hopped down nimbly. He followed her and saw two guards near the two doors into the room. The guards looked off into the room beyond, and the two dhampir crept up behind them. They knocked them out with the blunt edges of their blades, and Rayne gave a nod to Itsuke. He bent down and grabbed some guns. They heard a slow clapping behind them. The pair whirled around.

An ageing Vampire stood behind them, his gnarled hands clapping together with a regular beat that was almost hypnotic.

We won't fall for your tricks, you old bastard," Rayne said. "Our powers are too great for that."

"Do not try to fool me, dhampir. I know what you are. I also know that you are the one who defeated the great Beliar. I am here to offer you a deal. Join me, and you will gain access to untold power. You could be invincible, if only you choose the right side."

"I won't fall for that either. And I am pretty much invincible, thanks. My father can attest to that," she said coolly to the ancient Vampire. He gave a wheezy chuckle.

"But of course, my lady," said the old man, bowing. As he straightened up, his shape blurred, and he grew taller and thinner. Before Rayne stood Kagan, the father she had killed over a century ago.

"You—" Rayne began, but her voice had caught in her throat. What was this? She had killed him personally. But there was no mistaking that calm, slightly wrinkled visage. This was indeed Kagan.

"And how are we today, my beautiful death," said Kagan, removing his elegant, eighteenth century-style hat and sweeping in a graceful bow. He looked up, and the wizened old vampire stood here again. Rayne's stomach clenched into a cold knot of fear.

"Who the fuck are you?" she demanded. "What are you doing here?"

Rayne! Get back!" shouted Itsuke, but it was too late. The old vampire let loose a blast of energy, and sent Rayne stumbling backwards. Itsuke flicked his arm blades out, and ran towards the vampire, but he, too was sent reeling from the concussion of dark energy that slammed itself into him. He flew backwards, into a wall.

Rayne was on her feet in a split second, blades swinging out for a defensive maneuver, but the old vampire merely chuckled. He turned and walked away, fading into thin air.

"Rayne, what the FUCK was that?" Itsuke demanded, clearly shaken.

"I don't know," said Rayne. "I 'm sure he was a vampire, but he was like nothing I've ever seen before. Either he's also a sorcerer, or…" she trailed off, sounding unsettled. "The oldest and most powerful vamp I've ever gone up against was my father, Kagan. He was four or five hundred years old when I killed him. But this one, he must be ancient to be so powerful. I can't imagine how long he's been around for."

"So we're going to go after this bad boy, right?" Itsuke asked.

"I don't know," Rayne said. "It all depends upon what we can find out about him, and how far away he is. What we need is something to track him with."

"A wolf?" asked Itsuke.

"No, something more, maybe…"