The following occurs in the year 3450
The following occurs in the year 3450
Chapter 2
December 8th, 3450, 7p.m. It has been exactly one day since I have failed to contain the blood lust and I sought for God's forgiveness immediately. I descended upon the St. Patrick's Cathedral to lay a confession of my sins. St. Patrick's Cathedral was one of the last foundations of religion to remain standing. The members of the Roman Catholic Church dwindled in its numbers during the centuries, so did the list of religious movements. During and after The Great Attrition and The Second Attrition many had blamed God for the massive destruction that was caused by years of nuclear war. Many among the human race came to the conclusion that despite all their prayers God no longer cared for them. Worse yet, they thought God had not existed at all. The human race spent years without paying homage to any force that existed in the universe. They felt lost and had no hope for the future. Thus, the vampire passed by and promised that disease, unhappiness and death would no longer place dominion over them. All the human had to do was to submit to the life of the vampire. Over the years non believers outgrew the believers making more servants for the vampire thus making the vampire race become vast.
Like a humble child I entered St. Patrick's Cathedral, crossed myself and made my way towards the confession booth. I looked around and saw the toll that the non-believer had taken upon this church. Only about seventy church members were present. Though many were proud of their faith, they had to practice in secret due to the fair of persecution from the non-believers. I can recall one such incident when a deacon and his family's home was fire bombed in the year 3445. It was widely believed that the motive was due to the deacon's faith. The real reason, however, was that the five perpetrators of the attack were under the orders of a well known vampire elder who promised them "the gift of eternal life." The attacks on the human non-believers were so rampant that no choir could be heard singing the hymns that represented the Christmas season. The emptiness of the church was a rather welcoming condition for me so that no one would know what I was and what I had done. I entered the booth closed the door and waited patiently for an old friend to arrive. Father Henry Jessup was the Catholic priest at the time and he had been with me for fifty years. By the year 3450 he was a strong 76 year old man of God. He was one of many priests I had befriended over the centuries, but I knew like many of those priests Father Jessup's time on earth would be short-lived. Through the silence of the booth I heard the door on the other side of the barrier slam shut. I heard someone take their seat and so began my confession. "Forgive me, Father," I said "For I have sinned."
"I could almost count the number of times you've said that, Mina," said the soft spoken voice of Father Jessup.
"Father, I'm sure you are aware of my present circumstance."
"I'm well aware of it, Mina. But I don't know what else to do for a vampire anymore."
"I'd really appreciate it if you did not refer to me that way, Father."
"Refer to you as what?"
"A vampire."
"Well that's what you are, Mina. There's no other definition. You can't escape what you are."
"I've never expected to hear that from a man like you, Father. You're beginning to remind me of those humans who persecute me for what I am."
"Mina, the first step in this life is accepting who you are. I agree that a great injustice was done to you more than a thousand years ago, but I'm very sorry. What's done is done."
I was brought almost to the brink of tears hearing those words coming out of a man who was supposed to be my comforter. I expected no less from one who, from my perspective, was the last man of God. "Mina," Father Jessup continued "I think that the Heavenly Father had given me a commandment to raise you as my daughter; to teach you the ways of righteousness. But every year it's proving to be harder than ever . I'm running out of options, Mina."
"What must I do then, Father?" I said. "What reward should I expect? I'm very certain that neither Heaven nor Hell would ever accept me. I'm not on the side of righteousness, yet I'm not on the side of evil."
"You are in a very complex situation, Mina. The strength of your human side is just as strong as your animal side. If you could just give in to your human side I'm sure you would achieve victory over the thirst for blood."
"I've tried so very hard, Father. This young man's blood was calling out to me. I simply could not resist. Why can't I just cease to exist?"
"Now, Mina. Don't think that way. Wishing to be dead is no solution to any problem. All I can say is keep praying to the Lord. I'm sure he will make a way for you. In the meantime I'll try my best to guide you." With those words Father Jessup ended our meeting with thirty Hail Marys.
After my confession I left the church and prowled the streets of Manhattan once again. The snow was still falling and I looked around and saw many humans trying to brace the cold. As I walked through those crowds I hoped not to give in to the blood lust, in fact I began praying for God to protect me from the blood lust. After about ten minutes I was hidden from the humans' view through the snow and soon I began jumping from building to building. It takes me just four minutes to reach a suburban area of Lower Manhattan. The area is so quiet, a feature that took me back my childhood in Manchester, England. Children were playing in the snow and families were still setting up their Christmas Trees. I did not want to leave this neighborhood. The similarities it bore to my childhood home were too strong. My attention soon focused on this one girl. The browned haired, blue eyed, eight year old girl reminded me of the innocence and carefree days when I was her age. I was at a far distance when I learned that she was building a snowman. She had already finished the entire body and the snowman's nose when she realized that she had no coal for the eyes and the mouth. She intended to run across the street to her neighbor's house to obtain whatever coal that was leftover by her friend. Suddenly my ear picked up the sound of a blue Ferrari hovering at 80 miles per hour heading straight for the girl's direction. In a half a second I rushed towards the girl and pulled her out of the way of the speeding Ferrari. The Ferrari sped past us kicking up trailing snow. "Hey," the girl said "you saved my life!" I turned away not wanting her to see the golden animalistic eyes I possessed. "Are you a policeman?" the girl asked walking towards me taking note of my heavy trench coat.
"I am no man," I replied not facing her.
"Hey, you're from England, right?" said the girl taking note of my accent. "My aunt Sue lives in England."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah! Are you new around here?"
"No. In fact every time I come here can't wait to leave."
"You mean you don't live in New York?"
"No. I have no reason to."
"So…where do you live?"
"Wherever my heart tells me to."
"Well my name is Madeline Hudson. What's yours?"
"Wilhelmina Harker. You can call me Mina."
"Mina? Hey, I have friend with that same name."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She said her mom gave her that name."
"My mother gave me my time too."
"That's great!"
"Young lady, haven't your mother told you never to talk to strangers?"
"Yes. But you don't look like a stranger to me."
"I am someone you should never be around, child. In fact I suggest you should go inside and stay as far away from me as possible."
"Why?" Madeline walked in front of me trying to catch a glimpse of my face. I spun in the other direction as Madeline kept pursuing. "Because, child," I said. "I am an ugly creature that's capable of taking away your happiness."
"My mommy always told me that it doesn't matter what's on the outside, it's on the inside that counts," said Madeline.
"My dear young lady," I said "even on the inside I'm horrible."
"I don't think you are."
"You have no idea, child." Madeline turned around and headed towards her house. " I want Mommy and Daddy to meet you," said Madeline. "My mommy's baking cookies. Do you want some?" As she turned around I was already gone. In a single bound I jumped from Madeline's residence then jumped from house to house making my way back to the city.
It took five minutes for me to return to the heart of Manhattan. I began prowling aimlessly in the streets once again dwelling on thoughts that started to attack me. I thought of my encounter with Madeline Hudson. That girl reminded me of the young children I attended to during my days as assistant head mistress of White Water Primary School. The innocence of a child brings such joy to me, yet I was distressed over what was and was now no more. Such a carefree innocence would no longer make its manifestation for I had to be vigilant and wary of every environment I settled in. However, Madeline helped resurrect the child within me making me temporarily forget about the beast within. More importantly she was the only human outside the church who did not consider me a threat. I owed my life to this child. I wanted to be her guardian. I wanted to be there when her parents could not. I feared for her life because there were many like myself who would go so far to have a taste of her blood.
As I walked the sidewalks I was met by a scene that stopped me in my tracks. Ambulance and police vehicles were hovering near a restaurant with a significant amount of onlookers crowding the area. I needed to get accurate detail of the scene. Seeing that no one was paying any attention to me I turned to my right and jumped to a nearby building. Once there I focused sharply on what was taking place at the restaurant. The windows of the luxurious restaurant were smashed, tables and chairs were turned over, thrown across the restaurant or destroyed, blood was splattered across the walls and there was evidence that blades were used to destroy most of the restaurant. Bodies were being carried away into the ambulance with onlookers identifying and weeping over the loss of love ones. It seemed as if hundreds were dead as time passed when bodies were still being wheeled in. I soon left the area and jumped away with intentions of returning to the scene.
The following day I returned to the restaurant. By then the area was already empty and cleared of bodies. This restaurant housed 10,000 guests half of which included androids and children. I looked around and discovered a similar scene as the night before. Windows, tables and chairs were reduced to pieces and many areas bore gash marks. These gash marks were clearly made by blades longer than knives. There could only be one such blade capable of causing this much damage: the katana. I kept on moving where I discovered the hallmarks of a group that I was familiar with. This group had strong bases of operation in the area. It was a group that was established 1,200 years ago operated by leaders that had existed for 1,500 years. The main leader was a pureblood vampire who longed to keep the humans in order so that the vampire race could flourish. Hutton Antaeus founded and led The Eternal Rapier since 1888 and by the year 3450 he achieved the age 1,780 and his followers were 4,500. Anteaus was a name that was linked to a debt that was left unpaid for centuries. After leaving Hotsumi's Hollow Dragon I was hired as an assassin on behalf of many vampire organizations. Antaeus and The Eternal Rapier were among them. In the year 2013, due to sheer boredom I decided to offer my services to the one I saw as an enemy. Free of charge I performed tasks along with Antaeus and his henchmen. We got along very well until the year 2018 when I was very careless. Antaeus hired me so that he could make a careful analysis of my skills and abilities. If his timing was right he could grab hold of the blood of Dracula. He along with thirty members of his organization set a trap for me during the day where all vampires lost their strengths and powers. At a power plant in the city of Detroit I was overpowered by Antaeus's henchmen, bound and had my limbs sawed off. I was left to bleed nearly to death as my blood was collected by Antaeus's men. In my weak state I could not fight back as Antaeus's men then doused me in gasoline and set me on fire. I soon blacked out and by nightfall I regained consciousness. I had formed new limbs and my charred skin was now renewed flesh. Enraged by the attempt made on my life I descended upon one of the headquarters of The Eternal Rapier the following night. After braking through many defenses I was met by one of Antaeus's top lieutenants, Patton Stone who had The Final Dawn in his possession. After a fierce fight I placed a final end to Stone's existence and soon retrieved The Final Dawn. My attention soon focused on Antaeus and the rest of The Eternal Rapier, but I would soon discover that they made their escape to Europe where The Eternal Rapier became a worldwide organization in the shadows. The resurgence of The Eternal Rapier was an opportunity to ensure that Antaeus paid his debt, one way or another.
I spent two days training myself in a makeshift dojo I created at an abandoned factory that was one of my many temporary sanctuaries. December 11th, I ascended to the very top of The Empire State Building where I sat there like a fly on a wall waiting patiently for any sound that can give me and idea of Antaeus's whereabouts. Suddenly, in razor sharp clarity, I heard a business deal being discussed between members of The Eternal Rapier at 12th Street, Lower Manhattan. In a quarter of a second I jumped off The Empire State Building and in a single bound I leaped from building to building to reach my destination. Within 45 seconds I arrived just in time to catch a glimpse of two familiar faces who were associates of Antaeus and whom I have worked with in the past. I spotted them boarding a stretched limousine and hovering away. Immediately I started to follow them jumping from building to building and jumping on roofs of passing cars. I landed on top of a hovering bus where I had my eyes fixated on the license plate of the Lincoln Town Car. The limousine finally hovered to the ground where it parked in front of an office building where I spotted the two associated stepping out of the limousine and walking into the building. I jumped off the bus and landed on the ground. I unsheathed The Final Dawn and walked towards the building. I walked up the stairs finally making way through the door.
Upon entering a uniformed security guard approached me. He spotted the final dawn and drew his service pistol. "Hold it right there!" he said. Immediately I slashed him across his chest dismembering him. In an instant he disintegrated into ash and dust. I turned sharply to my right and saw another guard seated at his desk. He pressed the security alarm below his desk and in an instant I jumped on the desk and took off his head leaving his body to crumble into ash and dust. I walked in fast paste into the heart of the building where I was approached by ten men wielding katanas and immediately engaged them. The first one threw a flying kick into my direction. I sidestepped his attack and clanked my sword against his as we fought. I thrust my sword into his chest and pulled it out and immediately he disintegrated into ash and dust. Two other swordsmen rushed towards me and swiped their swords at me. I threw up my sword allowing the blade to absorb the strikes, and then one by one I plunged my blade into their bodies turning them into ash and dust. Four more of the men engaged with me throwing at me a combination of kicks and swipes with their swords. I dodged their kicks and absorbed their strikes with my blade. In a half a second I slashed them one by one with The Final Dawn and one after the other the swordsmen crumbled into ash and dust. One of the three remaining swordsmen rushed towards me and threw a swinging jump kick. I ducked his kick and absorbed his swiping sword with my blade. The last two swordsmen rushed towards me and threw a combination of kicks and swipes with their swords. I dodged their kicks and blocked their swipes with my sword. I then threw a kick into the chest of one of them and swung my foot into the face of the other. The first of the final three rushed towards releasing a scream as he aimed his sword for my head. I swung my sword into his direction and sliced in half between his torso and his legs. His burning remains soon flew across the main hall and in an instant the final two rushed towards me. One tried to strike at me from the front while the other attempted to deliver a strike from the back. Clanked my sword against the blade from the front and spun around absorbing the strikes from the back. With one strike I took off the head of the swordsman from the front and then spun around and plunged The Final Dawn into the chest of the swordsman in the back of me. In unison they both crumbled into ash and dust. After the fight I turned my attention to one of the elevators that lead to the top the office which housed Antaeus and many of his trusted associates.
I stood there in the middle of the elevator watching as I passed floor and floor. I reached to floor 112 and then there was a small soft DING. The elevator doors slid open and revealed a long hallway. Standing in the hall were approximately fifty men in wielding katanas. At the end of the hall was a door. I stood there for what seemed like five minutes examining their swords and sensing the determination and willingness they had to put me to death. I looked at their eyes which seemed to burn like fire as they tightened their grip on their weapons. In the corner of my eye I saw one swordsman rushed towards me aiming his sword for my head. In a quarter of a second I slashed my sword across his chest. Soon he began to disintegrate into ash and dust. Another swordsman at my left rushed towards me holding his sword above his head. I quickly spun to my left and drove my sword into his chest making him crumble into burning remains. As I made way further towards the end of the hall many swordsman rushed towards me throwing a combination of kicks and swipes with their swords. I dodged and blocked many of their combinations and slashed them with my sword. With every stab and every swipe they fell into burning remains. Each time a swordsman would attempt to make a strike The Final Dawn would stop them before they made their strike. The more I vanquished my enemies the further I reached my target. There were two swordsman were halted my advance with a combination of swinging and flying kicks. I dodged them and absorbed their swipes with my sword. I spun around with my sword and sliced them in half leaving their bodies to drop into piles of ash and dust. I finally reached my destination with a long trail of burning remains behind me. I reached for the keypad with my right hand to press the entering code. The moment my finger touched the first button the blade of a katana came down and chopped my arm off. I turned to my right and found myself in a fight with the last swordsman. We blocked each other's swipes with our swords and dodged each other's unarmed strikes. I blocked many of the swordsman's strikes all with one arm. Soon I thrust my sword into his chest, spun around and sliced him in half making him crumble into burning remains. After this final encounter I raised my right arm and started staring at it. As I stared new bones started forming and new flesh started fusing together. Soon skin began to form over the new bones and flesh in my arm. I now had a new arm. I then turned my attention to the keypad to proceed with the entering code. I entered the code number and the door slid open.
I entered the office that faced the New York skyline and was met by a desk and behind the desk was a high chair. "I'm surprised that you still remember the code," said a familiar voice behind the chair.
"A wise leader like you should know never to use the same code, let alone, give it to someone that may soon turn on him," I said.
"So true," the male voice said. The chair soon turned around revealing a tall, well built blond man dressed in black whom I known too well as Hutton Antaeus. "I anticipated the day when we would meet again," said Antaeus. "There was clearly no reason for me to change it."
"Why try to kill me when you know very well that I can't be killed?" I said.
"Why kill you? You have something that I wanted. I knew very well that even in your comatose state that you would be healed in the first hour of dusk."
"I suppose I should anticipate fighting one that has all of my powers."
"Your powers? That's the last thing I had in mind those 1,000 odd years ago. What you and the human race don't know is that I was the first one to develop the android. It took me exactly 500 years for me to build a machine who's only purpose was to do my bidding. This android wasn't meant to be a shit load of metal, wires and human organs. As you may know the average lifespan of an android is approximately 150 years being capable of producing more generations like it. My android is capable of spanning for generations and generations like the vampire thanks to the blood of Dracula. I know very well that by each passing day the blood of Dracula within you can regenerate without even the single drop of human blood. You are truly indestructible, Lady Mina."
"May I suggest that we spend less time talking and more time focusing on your debt?"
"My debt? Oh Mina, that's something that can wait for another day. Right now I would like you to be a witness to the new race of androids." My ear suddenly picked up the sound of a sliding door at my right. I turned sharply to my right and found two columns of young men walking out through the door. They wore black combat uniforms and black combat boots and in their right hands were katanas. They walked into the office in single file and soon I was able to determine that their numbers were exactly twenty. They then began surrounding me and once I was surrounded they made their stance ready for battle. "These young men are what the vampire hunters have fought against for two centuries," Antaeus said. "They have been created to outlast any human or droid and they possess the strength that is double compared to the mere vampire. Only your precious blood has made it possible for me to create an android capable of possessing the skills of the ultimate swordsman and surpassing the durability of a mere droid."
I stood in the midst of the android swordsmen examining their stances and the expressions on their faces. On their faces they bore no expression. With their swords fixated on me it was very obvious that they were programmed for one reason only: to eliminate me. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for this day, Mina," said Antaeus as he began walking away. "You disgust me," I said. "You're a swordsman with no honour. You depend on the works of others in order to make your achievements and you have to be a dumb fuck to think that I'm gonna allow it to end like this!" With those words I jumped from the midst of the androids in a single bound, raised my sword above my head and brought it down aiming for Antaeus. In the blink of an eye one android rushed in front of Antaeus and blocked my sword with his protecting Antaeus from my strike. Our swords locked as I tried to break through the android's defence. "Do you really think killing me will put an end to it all?" Antaeus said turning to me. "There is one who is resting in the shadows preparing to settle a debt himself. A debt only you have to pay. So before this night's over I'd like you to take into consideration that this guy I'm talking told me that he would not rest until his debtor ceases to exist completely. To help this person achieve this goal is, as far as I'm concerned, the most honourable thing I could've done."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said.
"You'll find out just in time," Antaeus said. Antaeus made his way to the sliding doors at the right. He smiled as the doors closed leaving me trapped in the office. I rushed towards the sliding doors when suddenly four androids landed in front of me blocking my path. This was the moment where I would engage in yet another epic struggle.
