Unnatural Selection

Hey everyone! So yes I know the title a little weird, but so am I. It all works out. Vampire Mountain holds host to Kamiko (sometimes known as Kami), a female general. Read to learn more! ~Shadowofatear

I used to have a life. I don't mean like gamer-wise. If I meant in that way, I'd have extra lives, but I don't, so I have none. Technically, I am dead, but let's not go there. I live on my own. I mean, I live with a couple hundred others, but only a few I respect and are actually friends with. Most of my friend, I see every decade or so. The ones I see every day tend to get on my nerves. I live on my own, by not necessarily alone. I live in a mountain, with tunnels everywhere. I can only get away at night.

How stereotypical of you. If I think you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then yes. I am a vampire.

It came time to hold our little "vampire reunion." It was held every sixteen years. I, being one of the very few female generals, have a reputation to uphold. I am the sai champion. The only time I was ever beaten was my first battle, when I first learned how to use it. I got to use them in one of my trails of initiation, when I had to fight snakes. I carry my sai (which I call Katsu, Isamu, and Masaru) around with me all of the time.

I had just gotten back from a late night hunt. My bag was full of bottles of blood (all from different people obviously). I entered one of the mountains few tunnels that actually lead to an entrance of Vampire Mountain. It was dark and moist, like most caves. There are times when traveling through this certain tunnel when I get claustrophobic. I couldn't see very well, but since I was a vampire I had better vision than others. I eventually came to what would've seemed like a dead end, but knowing my ways through these tunnels, I knew that I had to climb. I dug my nails into the wall (our nails are sharper and tougher than humans) and began to climb. I could feel the other wall getting closer to my body. I took a deep breath and came to an open area of the cave. I stood up as much as I could, but I was still somewhat hunched over. I came up to a door. It was opened for me, and I entered the vampire realm.

I put the blood in storage and wandered through the tunnels to my room. I shoved my hands in my cargo pants pockets and felt a sharp prick. I felt something cold and metallic in my right pocket. I pulled my hand out. There was a safety pin stuck in my palm. Not very safe, I thought. I pulled it out, locked it, and slipped it back in my pocket. I licked my thumb and watched the wound heal itself. Vampire saliva is very beneficial. It can heal almost every nonfatal wound. I opened the curtains to my room (I have curtains for doors 'cause I have no secrets) and threw the bag that was once holding the bottles of blood onto the floor. I kicked my shoes off and started to strip. I opened my closet and put on a whole new outfit. I put on a black shirt with a white long-sleeve undershirt beneath it. I slipped on a pair of white stockings underneath my black skirt. I put on a pair of no-slip-grip black boots on and headed toward my couch, which is usually what I slept on. As I was sitting down, I heard the familiar ruffling of my curtains.

"Gavner Purl..." I sighed. "Can't I have a peaceful sleep after coming back from a long day of hunting? Whatever you want better be important." I grabbed a hair-tie and put my shoulder-length, white hair up into a ponytail. "Did you hear about Kurda?"

Gavner was another general. He was a pale fellow, with a mustache that most stereotype French guys to have. His hair was a dark brown. He was blooded later than me, so age wise he wasn't as old as me, but he looked like it. "Yes, I did hear. When are we voting?" He rubbed a hand over his worn-out face. "It's about Larten. He's back. I brought him and his little apprentice here."

Larten Crepsley. He was one of the very few friends I could tolerate. He used to be a vampire general. He has fire-red hair and a scar that ran down his cheek (he never liked to tell how he got it). "He has an apprentice? You mean, like a half-vampire? Paris won't be happy to hear that. Speaking of Paris, go to the prince's chamber and give him your vote. Everyone else has already voted," I told him.

"What did you say?" he asked me.

"You know I don't like the guy. One of these days, his vampaneze idea is going to go too far," I sighed. "Back to Larten, he has an apprentice!"

He looked back through my curtains, "Yes," he sighed. "His name is Darren Shan. And yes, he is a half-vampire. Larten knows what he's doing though. You and I both know he has never made a decision that he has ever regretted," he took a breath that had a slight wheeze. "I hope you will go visit them before they go visit Paris and the others."

I shook my head, "He has regretted most of his choices, but in the end he regrets regretting them. That's how it always plays out." I chuckled, "Of course I'll go visit them. I need to meet this Darren Shan."

I got up and walked out of my room with Gavner. I made my way towards the prince's chamber. We passed my good friend Seba Nile, the quarter master, "Did you hear about Larten?" he asked.

"Of course!" I replied and continued on my way.

I turned the corner and saw the familiar red hair that I missed so much. I grabbed the safety pin in my pocket and placed it in the palm of his that was facing up. He was midsentence, talking to one of the guards of the chamber. He closed his hand and smirked, "I had no clue you were going to take me seriously when I told you to hold on to this for me."

"I needed something to remember you by, even if it was all a joke," I laughed. "Larten, I heard you had an apprentice, a HALF-vampire. Paris isn't going to be happy."

"He will probably decide to put him through the trials," he sighed as he was turning around. "I have missed you, Kamiko." He pulled me into a hug. "Darren will be happy to see someone near his age here."

"Near his age?" I raised an eyebrow. "Larten, I'm older than you. How old is he exactly?" I pulled away from his hug.

He shook his head, "None of that matters right now. I need to find Darren, so I can present him to the Princes." He looked over my shoulder, "Darren, we need to present you to the Princes!" He stormed off after his apprentice, which all I saw of him was a flash of brown hair as he turned the corner to explore.

I chuckled and walked into the chamber after Gavner. I looked up at the front of the chamber to see the three princes: Paris Skyle, Arrow, and Mika ver Leth. Paris gave me a smile, "Welcome back, Kami. I see you brought our own general Purl. I believe it was to vote on Kurda's being as a prince."

Gavner gave a slight sigh, "I have to say, I think Kurda would be a great prince."

I groaned and gave that smile you make when you are pissed off. "So close," I said through my teeth.

"You two are dismissed," Mika said. "You are no longer needed." We walked out of the chamber in silence.

I walked past Seba, hitting his shoulder accidentally. We both kinda stumbled, trying to regain central balance. "Was that necessary?" he asked. "Why are you in such a foul mood...? Oh wait... You usually are." He smirked and ruffled my hair.

I fixed my hair. "Not always," I retorted. "Besides Kurda got princedom by a few votes, Larten's back, and he has a half-vampire assistant."

"Why's that such a big deal? Darren's a nice guy. Kurda knows you don't like him, so he probably won't even bother trying to make you his friend or trying to make you treat him like a prince," Seba said. He ran a hand through his hair as he said, "Larten is the same guy, so you musn't worry. You still have your friend."

"It's not that big of a deal, but... I don't know..." I looked down at the rocky cavern floor. "I just have a feeling right now isn't the best time to be telling the princes about a half-vampire, who barely can wipe the blood off of his chin." I continued to walk away from the chamber and towards the gym. I wanted to get everything off of my mind.

I entered the gym and grabbed a few dummy-punch-bag things. I placed them over by the ring where I either get challenged and win, or get paired up with someone and win. I pulled of Isamu and Katsu. I had placed the dummies in a circle around me. I broke out into a run and slashed the dummy's face. I did a flip and ended up on the dummy's shoulders. I kept my balance as I ran on the other dummies heads. One started to fall so I did a flip and landed with one behind me. I reached Isamu back and slit its throat. I wiped my nose with my arm and placed Katsu and Isamu back on my belt. I heard clapping come from behind me. "Very good. You have improved since I last saw you," the voice that belonged to the pair of hands said.

I turned around, "I haven't seen you in what? Sixteen years? That may be why." I walked over to Larten. "Nothing else to do than improve."

I saw a boy, around thirteen or fifteen, standing behind Crepsley. "True. You lived up to your promise," Larten sighed. "Oh, this is Darren, my apprentice." He moved over to the side.

He gave an awkward smile. "Hey, I'm Darren." He said in a confused voice.

"Yeah, I know. I'm Kamiko," I said. I looked over to Larten and raised an eyebrow, "What was the verdict?"

"He has to go through the trials, like you thought," he sighed. "He picks his first trial tomorrow."

I nodded. I knew I was right. I knew he would get the trials. I knew the Princes well. Not meaning I was presented to them often, but I knew Paris the most. I don't remember it, but I trust his memory. I was two days old. My parents never wanted me in the first place. He found me half-dead in an alley way. He decided to blood me. At the time, it wasn't so bad to blood a young person. I think they came up with the rule because of me, but they would never tell me. It took a while for me to actually age. We age at 1/10 the rate of humans. I am currently twenty-six or two hundred-and-sixty-six, whichever way you wanted to look at it. Paris raised me here. I am almost as old as Mika, one of the other princes.

The trials of initiation were also known as the trials of death. Depending on what trials the vampire going through them picked, they could be pretty easy. Mine weren't too difficult. I had to walk through a cave where the floor and ceiling were covered in stalagmites and stalactites. I had to face a giant serpent (which is what I used my sai on) hopped up on vampire blood. I had to dodge boulders that would shoot out from the walls and floor and ceiling. The one I had most problems with was having to hang from the rock ceiling with my nails, and I couldn't fall or else I would impale myself with stakes. My last one was probably my easiest one. All I had to do was travel along the side of a cave, dangling and sliding across the ledges.

"Luck is on his side. The Festival of the undead is coming up. He should have time to recover through them," I pointed out to Larten. "Not everybody has his luck, besides if you have Vanez help him, he should do fine."

Vanez Blaze is the games master. He is the one who helps me to train when I need it. "Vanez already is going to be his trainer," Crepsley replied. "He could do just fine if he gets over is absent mindedness and pays attention." He ran a hand through his fire red hair. "I'm just worried if he does fail, if he would still get the punishment everyone else gets."

"Most likely," I sighed. If a vampire failed the trials, they were executed. They were locked in a cage and dropped onto a pit of stakes until they died. "But with a master like you and a trainer like Vanez, he shouldn't fail."

"Thanks, but just because you believe in us, will not mean we can guarantee his winning. He does have to complete five trials, just like everybody else."

"Do you want him to defeat the trials? Or do you want if to fail?" I asked quizzically. "It seems like you don't care if he does or not."

"Of course I want him to defeat his trials," Larten sighed, "but I'm just worried if he is incapable of doing so. If he does, Mr. Tiny is going to want to place him in his prophecy even more, but if he fails, how are we supposed to know what he was capable of doing if he did."

I shook my head with a sigh. "We never know what we are capable of doing until we do it. Darren could be the prophesized Vampaneze Lord, or he could be the one to kill him. You just don't know. I may be defeated by someone with natural talent with another weapon, which has never fought with said weapon before, but we wouldn't know until it happened." I reached up and took my snow white hair out of its ponytail. "I may find out why my parents didn't want me when I was little, but the key word being may. He may fail, but then again he may not."

My bangs fell in front of my left eye, making everything partially white. I pushed them to the side and took a seat. "Did you have to pass the trials?" Darren asked walking over.

"Yes," I replied. "Every general must."

"I've never seen anyone with white hair and black eyes," Darren said with curiosity. "Is that natural?"

"Yes," I said warily. "I see what you mean, Larten. He gets distracted a little too easily."

"Sorry, I think it's cool," Darren said taken aback. I thought I saw him blush, but I couldn't tell since it was dark in the cavern.

"Looks like you have some visitors," Larten gestured to some vampires who had entered the room. "I think this shall be a perfect chance for young Darren to watch a professional at work."

"Professional?" one of the vampires asked. He was about a foot taller than me, which wasn't saying much because I am only five-five. "She looks more like a beginner. She's a general? She's more like a kid." I'll admit I looked younger than I actually was, but I was not a kid.

"I say we all challenge her," his friend said. He was taller by a bit but had more chubbiness to him. "She has to say yes. She's the ring master."

"What are the rules?" the silent friend asked. He looked like he didn't want to be there, but he had to, to prove himself.

"There are a few," I smirked. "You can use whatever weapon you want. No shoes. As soon as you are disarmed or are thrown out of the ring, the match is over. No exceptions."

The only one that hadn't spoken yet looked like he was a killer of the night. Granted, we all were, but he looked at the ground most of the time he was here. His black hair covered his face. I thought I saw him smile, but I couldn't really tell. "Who first?" he asked, breaking the silence.

The one that said I looked like a kid (I gave him the nickname Narcissus because he only seemed to care about himself) volunteered. He walked over to the wall of weapons and grabbed the hanbo. We both took our shoes off. He climbed up into the ring, which looked like a normal boxing ring, but the floor was made out of chain-mail and had the occasional barbed wire on it. I jumped into the ring and pulled out Katsu and Isamu. "That's your weapon? Daggers?" he teased. "This'll be easy."

He charged at me and swung with his hanbo. The hanbo he picked was made of wood, so it was lighter but not as sturdy. I ducked and swung out my leg and did a leg sweep. He landed on his back causing the floor to shake. His hanbo had fallen out of his grasp and flew out of the ring when he landed. He stood back up relatively fast. "Where's my hanbo?" he asked. I pointed towards the outside of the ring.

I heard applause and saw the chubby one go and grab a bo staff, which is pretty much just a longer hanbo. I chuckled as he plopped in the ring. He started walking sideways. I walked on the same direction he did. I grazed my heel on a piece of barbed wire, but I had stepped on it so many times it didn't bother me. I gave a quick smirk, and he ran at me. I jumped and did a flip. I landed behind him, so I turned around to see he was clutching his foot. His bo staff had landed with a thud on the floor. "Lick your foot; it might heal faster that way!" Darren shouted.

I looked down and shook my head. The shy one grabbed a pair of nunchuku. He gulped as he got into the ring. I felt sorry for him, but I wasn't going to let him win. He obviously wasn't going to make the first move, so I walked forward with Isamu behind my back. I jumped and did a crescent kick, hitting him on the side of his face. He blindly swung out with his nunchuku and hit my arm holding Isamu, sending him flying out of the ring and sticking into the wall. I reached around my belt and grabbed Masaru. I did a leg sweep, and he once again thrashed out blindly and caught the nunchuku around my wrist. Since he closed his eyes, when he went to retract his nunchuku, he dislocated my wrist, this time sending Masaru flying and landing somewhere. With Katsu in hand, I slashed out and broke the nunchuku's chain, releasing me from its grasp. We were both on the floor of the ring, so I kicked out and he fell out.

I jumped out of the ring and walked over to Larten. "He dislocated my wrist," I groaned. "Can you relocate it?" he nodded and popped it back into place. "Thanks," I said and started heading for Masaru, which had landed near the entrance.

I reached to pick it up, when I saw a hand dart and get to it before I could. It was the dark and quiet one. He flipped it to where the handle was facing me, "Here, I don't want to fight you." He handed it to me and reached back and pulled Isamu out from his belt.

I took them. "Th-thanks," I stuttered. He smiled and walked over to his friends.

"I can't believe we got beat by a girl!" The obnoxious one exclaimed. "She didn't even get hurt! How in the heavens could this happen!" They exited the chamber.

I chuckled and walked back over to Darren and Larten. "That was so cool! You are going to have to teach me that one day."

Larten sighed, "Maybe one day. You need to go get rest. You had a long journey up the mountain." Darren obeyed and left. "You did well. Nice job, rarely using your sai. It was just luck that he got that close to looking like he was going to win. I knew he could never win but still."

My wrist started throbbing, from the dislocation and just the fact it was smacked around beforehand. "I learned from the best," I said through my clenched teeth. "I've never had to use Masamu other than for throwing. I hope I never have to use him for fighting weapon against weapon again."

"Him? You give them names?" he raised an eyebrow. "I refuse to use weapons to begin with, but I know well enough not to challenge you."

I laughed. Everyone that has lived here, for more than the time of our "vampire reunion," knows not to challenge me. Idiots like the ones I just fought, end up getting hurt. I could never kill. It's not in a vampire's blood to kill. Maybe the vampaneze, but they drain people of blood when they drink, so they have foul blood in the first place. "Good night, Larten," I chuckled.

"Good night, Kami. Sweet dreams," he whispered back.

I walked out of the chamber with him, but then we split up when we had to go through different tunnels. I slipped Katsu, Isamu, and Masamu back onto my belt. I grabbed a piece of bread when I passed my tunnel's kitchen. I took a turn to the short hall my room was on and saw the curtains move. I flitted into my room to see Gavner. He was sitting on my couch. "Gavner! What do you want?" I hissed.

"I came to tell you, during the Festival of the Undead, Pairs wants you to sing a few songs," he chuckled.

"No duh! He wants me to sing every Festival of the Undead. What's the real reason you're here?" I said through my teeth.

He smiled. Gavner was one of those vampires, who got on my nerves, but I could tolerate him, most of the time. There were times when I wanted to push him out into the sunlight and keep him out there for a while, but there were times when I trusted him strange words of wisdom. "I know a long time ago Larten was your mate, but you know why you guys can't be together," he sighed.

I groaned. "We are only friends. I know we can never be together, but there's not really a reason behind it. We just thought we were too close of friends, so we just decided we didn't want it to be awkward anymore." I motioned for him to leave. "Now, if you're done, can you leave?"

He nodded and walked out of my room. I took my boots off and laid on my couch. I could never think of Larten Crepsley like that again. Since we were such good friends, it was too awkward to continue our relationship. Besides, that was almost one-hundred years ago. He's had many mates since then. I haven't, but that's probably because I can't get close to or relate to anyone anymore. I was tired of Gavner trying to get mixed up in my personal life. I didn't have much of one, hence the fact I had curtains instead of a door leading into my room.

I looked up at the rocky ceiling. I let out a sigh and sat back up. I grabbed the piece of bread that earlier I had set on my table and took a bite out of it. It tasted stale, so I threw it into the garbage pail by my door. I walked over to my closet and opened one of my drawers. Inside was a box. I removed it from the drawer and brought it back over to the couch. I reached and grabbed a necklace that was underneath one of the couch cushions.

The necklace had a single silver charm on it. It looked like a bird with red ruby eyes. I stuck it in the keyhole, which was shaped like the bird, and turned it. It opened, and I grabbed the vial that was hidden inside. It had a dark red liquid inside. I opened the vial and took a sip. The warm liquid felt good as it ran down my throat. It sucks that we can't drink the blood in storage in this hall because it's for the Festival of the Undead. I capped the vial up again and locked up the box. I replaced it in its secret place and yawned.

I walked over to the mirror I had on my wall. I grabbed my brush and brushed out all of the knots in my hair. My snow white hair was straight and came down to my shoulders. I took a headband and put it on to hold my bangs back. I looked at my eyes. They were black, which is an unusual color, even for a vampire. I had freckles almost all over my body, kind of like red-heads usually do. I looked eighteen or nineteen instead of twenty-six.

I yawned and decided it was probably time I went to bed. I laid down on my couch and looked up at the cavern ceiling. My eyes slowly closed as I drifted into a deep sleep.