Disclaimer: I own none of the works belonging to the author(s) and game designer(s) employed by Funcom, the makers of the Secret World, neither do I own any of the characters, factions, monsters, and places inside said media, save for those imagined and created by me.
Chapter 1: Young Fangs, Ancient Blood.
Rackham Theater
London, England
8:45 pm
One day later...
It was one of the most exciting times in the lone movie theater in the Ealdwic district of London. During this time, foreign movies with critical acclaim are shown on the silver screen, much to the delight of all. American movies such as 'Spider-Man 3'' and James Cameron's 'Avatar', are pretty hot this time of year and, like countless others, are gobbled up by the hungry masses.
Currently, another popular movie named 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' was being shown tonight. Many members of the audience gripped the armrests of their seats as the intense fight scenes played out. Already, many of them have it in their minds to purchase the DVD whenever it comes out while a few unscrupulous people secretly recorded the movie on hidden camcorders and phones in hopes of making pirated CD's. However, to be fair, it would be accurate to say that at least one person found the movie offensive.
"This movie is yet another product of humanity's uneducated bias against vampires!" a young woman hissed loudly, her pale skin taking the hue of the movie's lighting. Having a head of thick, golden ringlets, the woman was wearing a sky-blue camisole and black bell-bottomed jeans, with the sandals and purse to match. Her red wine-colored eyes gleamed angrily in the dark theater.
In the current scene of the movie, William Johnson, the titular character's earliest friend, was fighting vampires on top of the train with his pistols. When he turned toward the rear of the train, a male vampire appeared out of the fog and smoke, baring his diseased and slobbery fangs.
Even more infuriated, the young woman nearly jumped out of her seat. "Foolish humans, you dared portray vampires as filthy monsters?!" she growled. "Vampires actually do brush and floss twice a day!"
"Shh!" several of the nearby viewers hissed. One of them, a man who looked to be in his late thirties, shook his head.
"Loud mouthed loony," he muttered.
Keeping herself under control, even barely, the woman settled down as she ignored the man's comment. Unfortunately for her, the saddest parts of the movie were about to unfold.
First, she shed a tear as the vampires were brutally murdered by the human duo. Next, she watched in silent horror as Adam, her vampiric hero and favorite character in the movie, was killed when the mass murderer that was the titular character smashed his silver pocket watch into his chest after wrapping the chains around his fist. Afterwards, she looked on with cold hatred as that vampiric traitor Henry Sturges rescued the two cold hearted killers from the falling train and the burning bridge.
Just as heartrending is the scene when Vadoma foolishly charged Mary Todd, Lincoln's wife, in the middle of the Union camp, only to get shot in the head by the vengeful human woman, whose son Vadoma killed.
Finally, the saddest part of the movie was taking place. As the 'vampire murderer', as she'd called him, was delivering his Gettysburg address, the movie showed scenes of the now leaderless and desperate vampires throwing themselves at the Union battle lines, only to be brutally massacred by silver-laced bullets, bayonets, and cannon shells. Of course, the young woman didn't agree with the vampires' use of the slave trade but that didn't give the humans the right to massacre them!
Unable to take it anymore, the young woman began bawling, much to the chagrin of others. "Oh, why do humanity have to be so cruel?" she sobbed, tears flowing down her cheeks. In the dim lighting, one could tell that she has elongated fangs if they bothered to take a closer look. "*sob* *sob* All the vampires wanted to do is to come out of the shadows. They *sob* they wanted a country of their own. Is that too much to ask for?!"
"Shut up!" another young woman snapped nearby.
"Yeah!" an older man agreed. "Go back to the bloody asylum or whatever!"
"Shush, we're trying to enjoy a movie here!" another man whined.
Gritting her teeth in fury, the woman turned toward the offending person and hissed like a cobra, baring her fangs. Taken back at first, the man narrowed his eyes when he saw her fangs. To the woman's surprise, he burst out laughing.
"Look here, chaps!" he announced, pointing at her. "This girlie's cosplaying as a bloody vampire! No wonder she's boo-hooing at the 'wrongful deaths' of those suck-heads!" A large number of people laughed at the young woman.
"THEY'RE NOT SUCK-HEADS! THEY'RE MUCH MORE THAN WHAT YOU HUMANS ARE EVEN WORTHY OF BECOMING!" she screeched. Several people gasped when the lens of their glasses cracked.
-"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to please leave the premises."- The theater intercom blared. A telltale laser beam landed on the woman's chest. -"You are being disruptive. Please leave or I'll call the coppers."-
"I was just on my bloody way outside!" she growled as she pushed her way to the aisle amid the hisses and silent jeers of the people. Pushing through the double doors, she angrily hissed to herself as she eventually exited the theater, the ticket and concession clerks looking on with confusion.
"Stupid humans think that just because they finally know how to record videos, that gives them the right to badmouth us vampires! Why before they were even born, 'theater' was actually performed by live actors! Next, they'll have the media play the role of psychologists and politicians, filling people's heads with junk and molding their minds into planned thought patterns and beliefs. I swear that the human race is going to enslave itself and turn into a collection of mindless machines-."
Suddenly, the woman's phone ringed. yanked out of her ramblings, she finally mustered the will to answer it. Pressing the appropriate button, the woman held the phone up to her ear and answered, "Yes?"
"Constantina!" the person responded, shouting as if it was an emergency. "Madame Kristiana wanted me to remind you of practice at 10:30 pm!"
Checking the time, Constantina gave a loud and annoyed sigh. "Melody," she said levelly. "What did I tell you about not making a big deal out of something that's more than enough time away?"
"Oh right, you want me to calm down and to breath in and out." Calming down, Melody continued, this time more relaxed. "Anyway, are you finished with your movies?"
Constantina sniffed back tears as she recalled the horrible fates of those poor vampires. "Don't mention it."
"Have you seen 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer'? It makes for a real horror movie. I loved horror movies! The titular character is my favorite-"
"Melody, when I see you again, I'm going to strangle you with my bare hands, you hear me?!" Constantina screeched, her high-pitched voice barely audible.
"*Gulp* Ahahaha, no need to go all Bloody Mary on me. Umm... don't kill me, please." Melody quickly hung up.
Putting up her phone, Constantina rubbed her temples as she gave a quick sigh. Of course Melody is like a little sister but sometimes she is too childish and naive for her own good.
Wanting to blow off some steam, Constantina walked down the street, in the general direction of the Pangaea clothing store. However, she wasn't interested in doing any shopping and Constantina only gave the store a casual look before walking further, eventually stopping at the junction of Redcrosse Circus and a small bystreet that's a part of Via Antiqua. Constantina knew that if she turned right, she would be facing the entrance to Temple Hall, home of her race's worst enemies: the Templar.
Constantina cringed at the thought of being too close to the enemy's doorstep. Long ago, before the Templar set up shop in England, this land was secretly ruled by great vampire houses who used loyal humans by day and their own appointed public servants by night to influence the Royal Family and Parliament in both subtle and not so subtle ways to advance their own agendas, including an eventually unsuccessful plan to annex Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to England, thus turning the United Kingdom into a single country. However, when the foolish human king allowed the Templar to live here after being hunted down by Pope Clement V and King Philip IV's forces, things went downhill from there. Almost immediately, the Templar launched a massive campaign of vampire hunting, capturing people who were either accused of being vampires themselves or aiding those who are vampires before burning them at the stake. Entire vampire houses were massacred, along with their human collaborators in the secret 'English Reign of Terror'. A similar event would happen in France nearly nine hundred years later, as the French bourgeois, most of whom are vampires, are likewise executed, this time by the use of the guillotine, a machine that exploits another of a vampire's weaknesses: decapitation.
It took the start of World War I for the Templar to finally take their minds off of killing vampires. By that time; however, only a few great houses remained, including her own, and were now in hiding. However, the Romanian and Transylvanian vampires, known collectively as the strigoi by the members of the houses, were roaming their homelands in greater numbers and let's just say that the relationship between the two groups is a bit... strained.
Having an idea, Constantina took out a red permanent marker and, looking around to make sure no one was watching, wrote on a wall in huge, bold letters: 'TEMPLAR SUCKS'. Chuckling at her private joke, Constantina put up the marker and was about to leave when she heard someone clear his or her throat behind her.
"Ahem."
Believing it to be a police officer who was walking the beat, Constantina slowly turned around, trying to act naturally just like just another regular person. However, her blood froze when it turned out to be even worse.
Standing before her was not one but three people, Unlike the navy blue uniforms of the coppers, they wore the particular red and white attire that immediately filled her with fear and dread. They were the Templar and they continued to glare at Constantina with disapproval as she squirmed visibly. However, Constantina nearly fainted in sheer terror when she recognized the old woman who was standing between the two male Templar.
"~It's Dame Julia Beatrix Tyburn, the 'Vampire Hunter'~!" her mind screamed as the aforementioned woman approached her, her trademark, two-handed sword gleaming in the streetlights. Already, Constantina can smell the bitter tinge of silver laced within the blade. The two Templar men followed suit, the telltale bulges of concealed weapons poking through their coats.
"Well, well, well, looks like we caught ourselves a prankster, " Julia mused, stopping a few meters from Constantina. Looking her up and down, she then added, "And no doubt a pretty one, at that!"
Her expression becoming serious, Julia got much closer, towering over an uncomfortable Constantina, who figured that to force this old woman into a nursing home would be to sign one's own death sentence. "So, tell me, what do you have against the Templar, hmm sweetheart?" Her tone was dead serious, as if a murderous rage was just below the surface.
"Umm...I-I was just joking, " Constantina stammering, chuckling nervously. "I mean, I was j-just bored, so I..."
Julia was not impressed. "Typical of young people these days, " she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "Back in my days, if a boy or girl was caught doing such childish things, they were immediately stripped down to their bare bottoms and given a whipping they wouldn't easily forget. Nowadays, discipline is shamefully lax. No wonder there's much more violence and disrespect."
Nervously digging a toe into the street, Constantina fought to regain composure. "So, um, does this means I can go now?"
Leaning closer until her face was just inches from that of Constantina, Julia's eyes bored into those of Constantina. Suddenly, Constantina realized that this woman could simply kill her without even a thought, especially once she finds out that she's a vampire. Until she was far from this place as possible, Constantina was at the mercy of this she-lion, uncertain that she would even survive this ordeal.
"Return here at 9 am in the morning sharp and be prepared to scrub some windows and I promise that I won't press charges, you savvy?" she finally said.
"Yes ma'am," Constantina lied, hoping that Julia would buy it.
"Good." As Julia was about to pull back, she realized something about Constantina. Leaning a bit closer, Julia slowly remarked, "By the way, your eyes look lovely tonight. They kind of remind me of that fellow I... took care of two weeks ago."
"~Oh Gaia~, " Constantina froze in fear when Julia became much more suspicious.
Standing straight up, Julia reached into one of her pockets. Watching her hand, Constantina's pupils constricted in sheer terror when she pull out a silver spoon. Struggling to control her breathing, Constantina watched as Julia raised the spoon up to eye level.
"Before I let you go," Julia was saying, a predatory smile on her face. "I'm going to run a little test. If you pass, you may go home. If you fail, well... I'll leave it to your imagination."
Constantina held her breath as the old Templar slowly moved the spoon toward her face. She knew that, if the spoon touched her, her skin would burn at the point of contact, thus revealing her to be a vampire. However, if she attempted to run away or knocked the spoon away, her identity would be revealed as well. Because Julia was grasping the hilt of her sword with her free hand and her two goons were also grasping their concealed weapons, Constantina knew that she wouldn't get very far.
"~This is it~, " she thought, bracing herself for her eventual death.
Just as the spoon was about to touch her left cheek; however, Julia's phone rang. Annoyed by the interruption, she replaced the spoon and answered the phone. "What is it, Pete? What, how dare you neglect to do such an important task?! Your foolish antics has cost me greatly! Grrr, you'd better be hiding now because when I find you, I'm going to tie you up into a pretzel and shove you into the incinerator! Bye!"
Her face flustered, Julia hung up the phone, Shoving the phone back into her pocket, the aging Templar gave a loud sigh. "Bloody excuse for a secretary forgot to record the special episode of 'Doctor Who', " Julia lamented, covering her face with a hand. "Oh God, I'm going to miss it! I wanted to see it so bad!"
Noticing that Constantina was still around, Julia sighed and gave her a dismissive wave. "Away with you, child," she grumbled. "However, the next time I catch you writing junk on our property again, I will personally chop you up into stew meat, you savvy?"
"Without a doubt, ma'am," Constantina nodded furiously.
"Come on, boys," Julia spoke to the two Templar as she walked toward Temple Hall. "Lets return to HQ."
The two Templar gave Constantina warning glares before following their superior, disappearing around the corner.
Constantina gave a sigh of relief as she held her chest. Though technically her heart doesn't beat, it was just a feeling of having just narrowly escaped death. Checking the time, Constantina saw that it was 10:07 at night. Heading back south, Constantina looked around until she located one of the usual dead zones where the street cameras couldn't see. The thing about the Templar is that they may have filled London with more cameras than an American airport but their technicians were too lazy and arrogant to eliminate these dead zones. Thus, vampires could easily infiltrate London using these zones, with the Templar being none the wiser.
After entering the zone, Constantina took one more look around to make sure no one else was watching and crouched. Having build up enough force, Constantina leaped onto a nearby roof and began running along the rooftops, jumping over gaps between the edges. Seeing a particularly large gap ahead, Constantina ran faster before jumping at the last minute. She finally herself soaring in the night air, high above the late night London traffic below. The flight was breathtaking, as if she was really flying, much like a bird in flight. Finally, she landed on the other roof in a roll, getting back onto her feet without even a break in speed.
She loved being a vampire.
After a few minutes of running, Constantina arrived at the edge of a roof overlooking a cemetery, gazing at a lone mausoleum in the distance. Looking over the edge of the roof to make sure that no humans were around, Constantina leaped off the roof and over the cemetery fence, landing on the soft grass without a sound. She then ran for the mausoleum, being careful not to step on or trip over freshly dug graves. Finally, she arrived at the mausoleum.
Grabbing onto the chipped stone handle of the stone door, Constantina tugged at it until it slid open. Entering the interior of the mausoleum, Constantina took one look at the open air before closing the heavy door.
Able to see much more clearly in the pitch black darkness than the humans' best night vision goggles, Constantina stepped around the lone sarcophagus in the center of the mausoleum as she made her way toward the opposite wall. Embedded on the wall was a lone amethyst gem which would shine like a miniature sun when exposed to light. Placing a finger in her mouth, Constantina bit down on it, drawing a small amount of blood. She then smeared her blood onto the amethyst, turned back toward the sarcophagus, and waited. Soon enough, a panel on the floor moved the sarcophagus out of the way, revealing a stone stairway that was just as dark as the mausoleum. Entering the stairway, Constantina smeared blood onto a second amethyst embedded into the wall and continued walking as the panel moved the sarcophagus back into its normal position, blocking access to the stairway. Ahead of her, ancient machines and gears clicked as the booby traps ahead were disabled. Constantina walked down the hallway the steps led to for a few minutes until she arrived at a large iron door. Calmly, she knocked on it, the clanging echoing throughout the hallway.
A panel slid back, revealing a pair of amber-colored eyes that glared black at her. "What's the password?" the person demanded.
Rolling her eyes, Constantina returned an even more intense glare, so intense that the person on the other side of the door whimpered slightly. "The password is 'Let-me-in-or-I'll-rip-out-your-bloody-fangs-and shove-them-down-your-bloody-throat'."
After the person closed the panel, Constantina waited while several bolts were slid back. When the door finally opened, Constantina found herself staring at a younger female vampire whose white hair was styled into a long bob-like cut with two tiny ponytails. She wore a pink, short sleeved blouse and a black frilly miniskirt, along with gray stockings and red knee-high boots. To Constantina, she looked like a miniature Lady Gaga with a horrible sense of fashion.
"I was expecting you to be hiding after our little chat over the phone, Melody," Constantina finally muttered as she closed and locked the door after herself.
Melody looked as if she'd rather be somewhere else. "Well, the matriarch wanted me to do door duty for a few hours," she said, feeling dejected. "I do not think she's forgotten that little fiasco involving me and that human boy earlier."
Though Constantina was surprised that Melody had actually managed to get into trouble this early into the night, she decided that it would be best to not know the details of the incident. With Melody, it is wise to leave the rest of her antics to imagination.
"Well be a good little girl and do not let in any Templar, bogeyman, or tax collector," Constantina smirked, patting Melody on the head. "Can you do that for us? Is it going to be too hard to do?"
Melody folded her arms and pouted. "It's just a door. I'll just tell them that nobody's here."
"It would be best if you raise the alarm before doing anything else," Constantina reminded her before walking down the lone hallway that led to the living area. Punk rock music was coming from the room. Sighing, Constantina muttered yet another curse on the artists of the genre, being partial to both classical and country rock music, before entering. In the dimly lit room, another female vampire who was older than Constantina sat on the huge couch, humming to the tune of the music as she drew something on a sheet of paper while licking a bright red popsicle. Having her black hair with purple streaks tied back into a long ponytail, she was wearing a black and blue leather jacket with shoulder spikes, a steel-gray shirt with a favorite death-metal band logo, black skin-tight leather pants with metal studs around the ankles and belt line, a pair of steel-toe platform boots that appeared to be too big for her feet, and three piercings on her left eyebrow, plus one on her bottom lip. She also wore shale-grey eye shadow that accented her dark purple lipstick. It was once said that vampires introduced the emo and gothic subcultures to the humans but Constantina didn't want to be reminded of that.
"Hi Constant," the girl simply muttered, still having her purple eyes glued to her drawing.
"Hello, Erisa. Good nighttime, " Constantina returned the greeting. She then glanced at her drawing. "So, what are you drawing?"
Erisa held up the paper as Constantina leaned closer for a closer look. It was the drawing of a tentacled monster with bat-like wings who appearing to be dismembering another tentacled being with a circular head and a sausage-like nose. Confused beyond belief, Constantina mustered the courage to asked, "Who are these two things?"
Shrugging, Erisa gave a small grin, her fangs gleaming in the soft light. "Oh nothing, just Cthulu butchering the hell out of Squidward. I dreamed about it so I decided that it was the perfect scene to draw."
"Okay... so you're also into octopus-on-octopus violence. Hmmm..., so why don't you try Doc Oc. and Davy Jones from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'?"
Erisa's grin became fiercer. "I'll try that one out. Thanks for the idea. Oh yeah, I almost forgot..."
Digging into a pocket, Erisa pulled out a small plastic vial containing a thick red liquid, which she tossed to Constantina. Catching the vial, Constantina held it out in her palm and inspected it. "What is this stuff?" she asked her.
"One of the HemoTastes that just came in yesterday night. It adds the taste of blood to any human food and drinks. It's kinda like Mio, except that it's for vampires. Enjoy."
Pocketing the HemoTaste, Constantina smiled. "Thank you so much, Erisa. For the first time since I faced Dame Julia earlier, I'd never felt so happy."
Suddenly, Erisa stopped moving her pencil and looked up at Constantina, wrinkling a blow in silent shock. "You picked a fight with the 'Vamp Murderer'?"
Constantina quickly shook her head. "No, no, no! Actually, she came to me and tried to test me with a silver spoon. Luckily, she got distracted so I gave her the slip." Constantina figured that it was best not to tell the entire story. If her mother found out that she was a hair's breath away from Temple Hall, she'll...
Erisa was not convinced. "I'd met Julia before and even I know that the Templar hag won't bother you unless you do anything suspicious. Were you caught licking your lips when emerging from a dark alley? You know that we're not allowed to bite anybody while in the UK. We have to knock the victim out first, then use the needles and tubes so that the Redcoats won't suspect a thing."
Constantina shrugged. "She just said that I 'look suspicious', that is all. Maybe she has a vendetta against younger looking women or something. I mean, she's probably older than King Tutankhamen for all I bloody know."
Shaking her head slowly, Erisa went back to drawing. "Whatever," she finally said. "Just don't cross paths with her again."
Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Constantina bid her farewell before leaving the living area through a door on the other side. She walked pass several rooms and corridors, greeting every vampire and werewolf she met, until she'd arrived at the double doors that led to one of the various training rooms. Using a computer attached to a panel beside a door to make sure that the room wasn't pass the safe capacity limit, Constantina opened the doors and went inside.
"You're late."
Blinking in surprised, Constantina checked the time, her mouth gaped in silent shock when she found out that it was only 10:32 PM. Putting up her phone (she hated wearing watches), Constantina averted her eyes toward the person who'd just spoken to her.
Sitting on a black stool at the center of a large, empty room, surround by clay practice dummies was none other than Madame Kristiana Coris. Wearing a dark red, knee length cheongsam with a split skirt and a black rose design on the front, Kristiana's shoulder-length auburn hair was tied into a French braid. Her piercing, sky-blue eyes showed a lifetime of experience and annoyance at Constantina's tardiness. This is one instructor you do not want to disappoint.
After Constantina have gotten close enough, Kristiana stood up and began to circle Constantina, as if looking for any flaws in her attire and character that displeases her.
"I've been fighting alongside your mother for many centuries, both against the hateful humans and against monsters who often mistake us for food," Kristiana spoke, folding her hands behind her back. "After we decided to settle down, I watched as your mother and father, Gaia rest his essence, raised three beautiful children: you, your brother Richard, and your eldest sister, Pricilla. I'd even grieved with your parents when Richard was slain by the Templar and when Pricilla, disillusioned by your house's general lack of action, defected over to House Tredafar. Thus, you are technically your mother's only child."
Constantina hung her head low, still coping with that terrible string of events. To this day, she still longed for her dead brother and her sister.
"However," Kristiana interjected, bringing Constantina back to attention. "Do not think that I would go easy on you just because you're the successor to House Alderridge. The hammer's on you much harder than on your future servants. You have a much higher bar to leap over and I expect nothing less than a perfect flip. Are you ready?"
"Yes, Madam, "Constantina nodded, a determined look on her face.
Kristiana sneered, baring her fangs. She then motioned to a trio of racks standing nearby. The first rack was filled with straw dolls with runes painted on their bodies. The second rack contained identical books with leather straps attached to the binding so that their can be wore as backpacks. Finally , the third rack contained masks of different shapes and sizes, each with a long strap for wearing over the shoulder. "Then show me that you'd paid attention to all of those lectures over the course of those years!"
Constantina walked over to the first rack and chose a straw doll. Hooking the doll to the waistband of her jeans, she got into position at a safe distance and got into a combat stance, muttering a quick incantation. Soon enough, sparks flew from her hands before they gave way to electricity that arced over her fingers. With a signal, Kristiana smirked as five of the practice dummies came to life and moved into position, ready to battle the young vampire.
"~This is going to be fun,~ " she thought as the dummies charged their target, their hands morphing into various melee weapons.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Training Hall #18
Alderridge Subterranean Complex
20 minutes later...
Gritting her teeth in pain, Constantina tried her best to ignore it as she unleashed a bolt of lightning at her attacker. The attack blew the clay dummy's head to pieces, stunning it. Before it could reform it head; however, she unleashed another bolt, shattering its torso and putting it down for good. Its clay pistol landed on the hard floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. On her left side, her wound spat out the clay bullet before closing completely, removing any leftover scars.
"Remember that you can always switch between magical focuses," Kristiana called to her above the din of fighting. "Adaptability plus utilization equals survivability. Always using the same weapons will make you more vulnerable to foes whose traits or expertise can circumvent such measures. Observe."
Making a quick incantation, Kristiana thrusted a fist into the air. Suddenly, the practice dummies acquired a sort of sheen that reflected the hall's electric lights into Constantina's face, causing her to avert her gaze. She then attacked the dummies with electricity and fireballs, only to find that they weren't causing as much damage as before. To make matters worse, the dummies were regenerating at a faster rate.
"If you encountered a wall that can neither be climbed nor circumvented and it can take multiple hits, what do you do?" Kristiana asked her. "How do you take it down?"
Kicking away a dummy that got too close, Constantina ran for the racks, already unhooking the elementalism doll. Diverolling to avoid getting hit by clay bullets, Constantina pocketed the doll and grabbed one of the books from the second rack and put it on. Just as a melee-oriented dummy was about to cut her down with a clay sword, Constantina finished an incantation and conjured up a stream of a dark and aromatic liquid that boiled as it hit the dummy's face. Soon enough, the dummy's head was dissolved into a bubbling lump that ate its way through the rest of the body, finishing off the dummy for good.
"I will wear it down," Constantina finally answered.
"Good. Blood magic, while a total waste of food, is useful for wearing down a particular strong enemy," Kristiana commented, staring at the bubbling goop hungrily. "Unsurprisingly of course, vampires seemed to be more proficient at it than the humans. However, I advise you not to sip any of the blood until it cools. Your tongue and digestive system will thank you."
Splashing boiling blood onto another practice dummy, Constantina have it in mind to create a more powerful spell, yet the amount of blood she was using didn't seem to be enough yet. Growing the nails on her free hand, she grunted in pain as she used them to slit the wrist of her dominate hand. Soon enough, she condensed the extra blood between her hands, forming the life-giving liquid into a spike. Lining her shot, she launched the blood spike at the dummies, impaling three of them and causing them to shatter.
"Be careful when you're offering blood. Even vampires can faint from blood lost."
"I'll keep that in mind," Constantina told Kristiana, feeling dizzy.
"Perfect, now let's test your proficiency in chaos magic. Pick out a chaos focus."
After Kristiana muttered an incantation that paused the dummies' movements, Constantina took off the blood magic focus and set it back on the second rack. She then picked out one of the bronze masks from the last rack just as the dummies morphed their weapons into clay copies of the magical focuses on the racks. Slinging the mask over her shoulder, Constantina yelped when a fireball flew pass her face.
"This is the hardest phase of training for both vampires and werewolves," Kristiana announced, cracking her knuckles. "For vampires, who are weak to fire, having fireballs thrown at them is indeed a harrowing and excruciatingly painful experience. For the few werewolves interested in learning magic, they are at a disadvantage as they often choose to utilize only chaos magic, perhaps for its close-range capabilities, therefore subjecting themselves to long-ranged attacks long before they can even get within range."
Constantina screamed when some boiling blood splashed into her face. Deftly dodging a lightning bolt, Constantina bit down on the pain as she lashed out at the nearest dummy, cutting it in half with claws of turquoise energy. She then backflipped to avoid a similar attack from another dummy wearing a chaos focus.
"When fighting enemies who adapt to changing battlefield conditions, you must adapt as well, " Kristiana instructed as Constantina was struck by electricity. "The anima that you're now channeling are no different than that of which the humans uses. The only difference is that it takes a much shorter time to train a vampire than it takes to train a werewolf or a normal human in its use. For the werewolf, his primal psychology only allows for the hunting instincts and behavior patterns to be learned quickly and retained longer. Basically, any skill that involves ripping, tearing, and brute force are much easier to learn, though I suspect that their martial culture may have a hand, too. As for the humans, our civilization has a much deeper and older understanding of magic than theirs do. In fact, we'd learned teleportation long before they learned how to draw cave paintings. However, that have recently begun to change..."
Summoning a crossbow-shaped form of energy, Constantina fired a bolt at two dummies. One of them lost an arm to the attack while the other remained intact due to being protected by a spherical shield made of blood droplets. However, it proved to be too weak to take another hit and it soon collapsed when another bolt struck it, shattering the dummy inside as it passed through the other side. "How so?" Constantina asked Kristiana.
"Usually, it takes a normal human being weeks, if not months, to even learn how to conjure up a considerably powerful spell, unless they are born with the ability. However, there are reports of humans reaching that level within only a few days for unknown reasons. Also, after Joseph hacked into the Council of Venice's database, we'd discovered a steep increase in Templar, Illuminati, and Dragon recruitment over the past week. It's almost as if they're preparing for something major."
"Could it be us who they're preparing for?"
Kristiana shook her head. "I seriously doubt that the humans would gather a lot of new playmates just to eliminate people who's not even in their way, at the moment at least. Even the Templar isn't so bent on looking underneath every stone in the UK for vampires and werewolves as they were before World War I. No, I believe that it's something that's really world changing that have them vexed. Unsurprisingly, I believe that those terrorist attacks in Tokyo have something to do with it. However, strangely though, the attack on the subway system seemed to coincide with that plague of 'nightmares' nearly every vampire and werewolf in the world was having. You had one a few days ago, right?"
Constantina nodded before spinning around, slicing four dummies into pieces with claws of chaos magic. Thrusting her hands forward, she pushed away the last three dummies with a blast of energy, smashing them to pieces against a wall. "It was horrible, " she finally said between gasps of breaths. Her lovely nighttime clothing were torn and scorched in many places. There were a few blood stains where some of the boiling red liquid splashed on her.
"Yes it was," Kristiana nodded, the event already fresh on her mind. "Horrid, pulsating, slimy, black things that grasp your arms and legs, strangling you, binding you, calling out to you, beckoning you to join them. I do not want to think about what they meant, though I somehow knew that they'd been here for ages, perhaps alongside Gaia..."
Constantina took this in as she thought about her own dream. If others were also having the same dream, surely it was no coincidence. Finally she faced Kristiana and asked, "What is going to become of this world?"
Kristiana shrugged. "Who knows? At this point, we would have to wait and see. However, if things turn freaky, you'll be one of the first to know." Making a few marks on her clipboard, Kristiana gave Constantina a tiny smile. "Overall, your practice and skill was a huge success, of which I'll inform you mother at the end of this session. However, please don't become overconfident in your abilities. No matter who you are or your lineage, there is always enough lessons for you to learn and life itself is one hell of a teacher. I'll see you later to test your firearm proficiency, Constantina. You are dismissed."
Nodding, Constantina was just turning to leave when she slipped on some blood. Falling onto her seat, Constantina found herself sitting on a large puddle of blood, the liquid still being scalding hot.
For the next half hour, Constantina ran around the training hall, screaming like a chicken being boiled alive as Kristiana looked on with a stunned, blank expression.