Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Savvy?

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CHAPTER ONE: THE RACE OF…

Nomak woke to the sound of a female voice humming, and the feel of metal around his wrists. He was propped against a wall, a corner it felt like. Blackness surrounded him, but he barely could move, and opening his eyes was a difficult task as well.

The sound of moaning filled his ears, but it wasn't until he felt a cool hand on his forehead that he realized he was the one moaning.

"I'm guessing you're starting to wake up now," the voice that had been humming said. Whoever was speaking was close, probably kneeling next to him. Also probably was the one touching him. She smelled strange, yet somehow familiar.

Like the strangers in the tunnel. Nomak's eyes shot open and he stood, struggling with the metal bonds on his wrists. But the shackles held tight even with his strength. He saw his movements had sent the female back onto the floor, and he growled at her as she stood, backing away.

She was not that tall, but she still had a long-limbed appearance, with an elegant, confident stance as she glared at him with silvery eyes. Blonde hair was pulled back tightly in a pony tail, and she wore black slacks with a crimson, sleeveless shirt that made her skin seem paler than many vampires', but she looked out of place in their surroundings.

A lab. Nomak hated labs.

"Where am I?!" he demanded, still struggling with the chains. He stared down at himself, noticing his feet were bare. Then he realized his coat, the hood, all but the gray, sleeveless shirt he wore underneath everything and his pants, had been taken.

Growling, he looked around and saw another female, human and dark-skinned, standing a little farther away.

She was holding a needle, watching him closely. "Calm down, we're not trying to hurt you," she told him. Her voice wasn't placating, she didn't speak to him as if he were a child or could not comprehend English. Her statements were matter of fact, to the point.

And it was more believable than if she had tried to be placating.

Nomak stopped struggling, but he stood still and rigid, tense. His eyes kept glancing down at her right hand, at the needle it was holding. "Where am I?" he asked, voice a soft hiss this time. He glanced at the needle again.

He hated needles. More than labs.

The human female realized the hypo in her hand was agitating him, and she set it down before taking a few steps closer. "You're somewhere safe, where the vampires and Blade can't reach you. I need to give you that shot," she told him, pointing to the needle she had just set aside. "It will help rid you of the aftereffects of the sedative we gave you."

Nomak glared at her, body completely still. He glanced at the other female, who was standing just as still, her gaze going back and forth from Nomak to the human, waiting to see what would happen. Nomak let his form relax, and almost smirked when the human reached and picked the needle back up hesitantly.

She neared him, her eyes never leaving his until she finally reached him, and she let her eyes go to his arm so she could find a vein.

Sniffing the air around her, Nomak smiled. "You're afraid," he whispered and opened his mouth, lunging at the woman. He grabbed the needle, but before he could attach it to her neck, he felt a punch to his gut, one that actually hurt.

"Meira!"

Nomak backed away from the two females, crouching on his knees in the corner, glaring at them like a cornered cat. He looked over to where the new, male voice had come from.

A tall, elegantly dressed man had entered the lab room, his gray, not quite silver, eyes glowered at the pale female. "I think it would be best if you two ladies left the room," he told them. His voice was cultured, edgy, a threat veiled in silk.

The pale female, Meira must have been her name, Nomak surmised, bowed her head as if in shame. She nodded without looking up and followed the human out of the room, leaving Nomak and this new stranger alone.

The male had the same scent as the pale female and the others from the tunnels. It was unnerving, unfamiliar, something Nomak could not place or name.

"Please, forgive Meira, she is quite protective of Karen, the woman you attacked," the male explained, smiling warmly at Nomak. He neared the Reaper, and pressed a button on a console close by. "And I do apologize about those," he continued when the shackles holding Nomak opened and fell off his wrists. "But they were necessary until you woke and we could calm you down."

Nomak stared warily at the male, his fingers rubbing his wrists soothingly. He almost repeated his question of where was he, but he kept silent, sizing up this newcomer. He didn't seem to be an immediate threat, and he did not seem to mean any harm towards Nomak at the moment.

Perhaps now was one of those times where he just played along. Considering he was burning with a fierce hunger and his side hurt from the punch to his empty stomach, he did not feel like putting up a struggle unless he knew he could take his opponent.

"Let me introduce myself," the male said as he came up to Nomak. "My name is Ulric. And you are Jared Nomak, correct?" he asked, but it was obvious he didn't need any confirmation.

Nomak nodded anyway as he stood up, now at the same height as this, Ulric. His eyes narrowed with distrust. "So, Ulric, who the hell are you?" he asked in almost a commanding tone, his head held high. He had not stood like this in quite some time, but for some reason, he felt it was best in this situation.

Ulric found it amusing at least, if the grin he was wearing was any indication. "Well, at least you're not boring and asked the right question. But who I am is a long story that must be made short. I am the one your father fears most. I am the reason you were created, the reason why Damaskinos wishes to make his race invincible."

Nomak tilted his head to the side, confused. As far as he knew, the pure and supreme race his father was trying to create was simply because of the Daywalker and to finally rule over humanity in the open.

"You don't understand yet, I know," Ulric continued, noticing Nomak's puzzlement. He walked towards the door, glancing back at Nomak briefly. "Come with me, you should stretch your legs and get a feel of the place instead of just stand around listening to an old man rant."

Following Ulric out of the lab, Nomak smirked slightly. "You certainly talk as much as an old man," he remarked, looking around at the lavish hallway they were walking through.

The lab had been just as a lab should be. Sparse, clean, sanitized. But the hallway was a drastic contrast, with dark blues, pale grays, shining silvers, and obsidian blacks. The carpet was the color of the midnight sky, the walls the shade of steel, and there were windows with black blinds and silver curtains on the one side of the hallway every five feet.

"I like you, Jared. Or would you prefer Nomak?" Ulric asked.

"Nomak."

Ulric nodded. "You must be starving," Ulric suddenly said out of the blue. "Where are my manners today, come, follow me. You need to feed," he said, not waiting for an answer as he turned down a corridor.

Slightly thrown off by the abrupt change of subject and by the prospect of food, Nomak silently followed Ulric's lead. The male whatever he was had quite a complex personality from what Nomak had glimpsed.

From grim anger to stoic dismissal to warm greeting to jovial hosting, Ulric had changed to each swiftly and without any seams or hints at the changes. They all flowed into each other, his personality as smooth as his voice.

Nomak wasn't crazy about it. It was unpredictable and nearly impossible to read. It would put him at a disadvantage should they end up on different sides of the board. Though honestly, he was confused about sides and games and just what was really going on. He had thought he'd known.

The game was set, his father and vampires on one side, Blade and his precious humans on the other, even if they didn't know it. And Nomak with his kind stuck in the crossfire and turning it all upside down. He had thought he'd known the whole game.

But it was quite obvious he hadn't.

Because everything just got turned upside down on him once again.

---

Vladimir relished the Change. He relished the beast he became, the beast he always was beneath the human skin and constricting flesh when not in wolfen form. But what he loved even more, was the chance to fight a challenging opponent in his wolfen form.

He was finally getting the chance after so long a wait. Vampires hardly posed any threat. He could easily rip off their heads or claw out their hearts. But Reapers, well, it was time he found out just how hard they were to kill.

The Reaper was looking around, sniffing, confusion on its ugly face, and it eyed the huge, unknown creature before it with a mixture of fear and hunger.

In his true form, Vladimir stood over seven feet tall, his chestnut hair becoming long, shaggy fur that covered his entire body. His eyes were amber and wide, his jowls pulled back in a snarl, long, sharp fangs dripping with hot saliva exposed. His body was broad and somewhere between wolf, bear, and man, the fur thick. His ears were tall and pointed, but were laying flat against his head as he suddenly growled and charged the Reaper.

Surprised and baffled, the Reaper shrieked and jumped up onto the wall, crawling up, trying to avoid this unfamiliar beast. But Vladimir growled softly, almost as if chuckling, and leapt up, his razor sharp claws gripping the wall and he crawled after the Reaper, which almost immediately dropped.

Dropping into a crouch, Vladimir pounced onto the Reaper, clawing at its neck. But the creature hissed and shoved the beast off, getting up and opening its mouth wide. It tried to latch onto Vladimir's arm, but he quickly grabbed the Reaper and threw it into the wall, the body leaving a dent from the force of the impact.

The Reaper again opened its mouth wide, its long tongue coming out as it roared once it got up, but the only response it got was a ferocious howl from Vladimir before he charged the creature and brought it to the ground. Quickly, he ripped out the tongue, amber, sticky blood splattering his muzzle and chest, before breaking one side of the lower jaw.

A pitiful shriek was let out by the creature as best it could with its mouth and throat destroyed and filling with its own gooey blood.

Snarling down at it, Vladimir suddenly slammed his palm down on the things chest, pressing down with so much force, the Reaper's ribs finally broke and crushed down. He backed away, shifting into a smaller, human shape as the creature shrieked and burned, the bones protecting the heart crushed and piercing it now.

Fully transformed back to human form, Vladimir curled his lip in contempt at the ashes before him, then turned and walked out of the room. There had hardly been a fight, hardly a challenge, and Vladimir did not feel any triumph or the satisfaction of victory. There was no victory in the slaughter of helpless worms.

He strode back to his rooms, the others barely paying any attention to the blood spattered, naked male walking down the hall.

Once cleaned and dressed, he would find Ulric and inform him of the easy kill.

---

Meira looked up when she heard the door of the conference room being opened, Ulric entering the room. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw who was following him.

The Reaper, Nomak.

She quickly looked away, bowing her head in difference to the head alpha as he walked to the long table in the room. Meira sat between her mother and Karen, the former eyeing Nomak with a mixture of interest and boredom while Meira and Karen simply ignored him altogether.

Though Karen probably ignored him simply to keep from provoking him into a second attack, as Meira would not have been surprised if he simply shot across the table and drained Karen dry if she merely looked at him oddly.

But then again, it could just be Meira's instant distaste for the walking experiment talking.

The door at the other end of the room opened, and in walked Richard and regally dressed vampire diplomat, his head held high until his eyes landed on the sight of the first Reaper. Then his head lowered slightly as his eyes widened in shock.

"What, what is that thing doing here?!" he asked, his voice shaky and filled with cowardice. The sight and sound of him disgusted Meira, his fear permeating the room now.

Ulric gave a slight shrug as Melantha walked up to him, taking her place next to her mate. "He is a guest of ours. Now, before we can conduct business, our guest must eat, as he has not fed in a several hours and that can be quite unhealthy for him and his kind, as I am sure you know," the head alpha replied nonchalantly, his expression calm and blank.

Even when Nomak jumped over the table and grabbed the vampire diplomat, quickly latching into the shrieking coward, Ulric's expression remained emotionless and neutral. The sounds of flesh and blood being sucked down crudely made Meira slightly hungry herself, and she noticed some of the others appeared to feel the same.

Finally the Reaper dropped the body, wiping his mouth clean and turning back to the table while Richard glanced down at the vampire he had come with, eyeing it before looking at Ulric, who nodded.

Nomak arched an, well, what would have been an eyebrow had he possessed any hair on his skin. He looked to Richard, who was now telling one of the guards at the door to carry the body out into the sunlight. Once his curiosity was sated as well as his hunger, Nomak walked over to the table and sat down at the chair at the opposing end of the table from Ulric.

"Thanks for the meal," he said in a quiet tone, his voice hoarse and dry. He spoke as if whispering with a sore throat, but Meira suspected that was due to the opening of the lower jaw down to the neck and his unusual tongue.

"More than welcome," Ulric stated warmly as he sat down at the head of the table, Melantha taking the seat at his left. "Now, let's get down to business. First, has the human male we picked up along with Nomak woken yet?"

Karen shook her head. "Not yet, but I'll be paged as soon as he does if I'm not there," she informed Ulric. "I'll need to make certain there are no more traces of vampirism in his blood, even though it's highly unlikely seeing as he's survived sunlight."

Ulric nodded. "Good. Has Vladimir completed his little experiment yet?"

"I have, but should we discuss that in front of, certain people?" came a confident, smug voice with a heavy Russian accent said with a snide tone as Vladimir walked into the room, sitting at Ulric's right side, across from Melantha.

Meira rolled her eyes and looked away from that end of the table, not wishing to let Vladimir even try to make eye contact with her. She looked down at the other end and saw that Nomak had understood clearly just who Vladimir had been talking about when he said "certain people", and was not pleased about it. She noted how he sat, upright and straight, as if he had been trained to be someone important, someone at meetings like this.

Of course, he probably had been taught to sit that way, act that way, even if he was to be kept a secret.

Ulric though, quickly put Vladimir back in his place, placating Nomak and delighting Meira. "Vladimir, that is no way to speak of such an honored guest as the son of the vampire ruler and the first of a new species. Especially a species that feeds on our enemies."

The beta male lowered his head in submission and slight shame. "Yes, Sir. Forgive my rudeness."

Nomak let out soft snort, and Meira glanced at him briefly, making eye contact for a moment. He and Vladimir were already not getting along. Perhaps she should alter her opinion of the Reaper. She then focused her attention on Ulric as the meeting continued, the high alpha skipping the subject of Vladimir's test for now.

---

Blade groaned as he opened his eyes, slowly adjusting to the lighting of the, wait. He wasn't in the tunnels. He wasn't facing off Reapers. He wasn't with the Bloodpack. He was, he didn't know where the Hell he was as he pushed himself off the floor.

"We're in some sort of lab, chamber thing," he heard Scuds' voice say as he stood and turned to glance at Scuds standing a few feet away. "The vampires found us, came and got the survivors out of the tunnels and brought them here. The old guy is acting nervous, something's freaking him out," the young human explained.

Looking around, Blade saw a few guards posted at specific places, and then he saw Damaskinos entering, flanked by Kounen. But no sign of Nyssa. He knew he probably shouldn't have even thought of her. He also shouldn't have let her drink his own blood.

"A there has been new development," Damaskinos croaked out as he neared Blade. "And now I am forced to give you information I never wanted you to hear. I must tell you a secret that was hoped to be kept from any hunters of our kind not of their race."

Blade raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'their race'?" Something was definitely up, and he didn't like finding out he'd been in the dark about something this important to the vampires.

Damaskinos glowered at him, obviously loathing the situation and having to give out information to his enemy that could possibly give him the advantage. "You think you know so much, you know all our secrets and all our weaknesses, and that we run everything and that we are humanity's greatest threat."

"You are," Blade stated with contempt.

Damaskinos smirked coldly. "You are a fool. We are not their greatest threat. Nor is Nomak and any Reapers he might create. No, the greatest threat to your beloved weaklings is a whole different race."

Blade glanced at Scuds as the young man walked up to Blade's side, listening intently to the wizened vampire overlord as well, both of them waiting for this other race to be revealed.

When Damaskinos spoke again though, he spoke in a hushed tone and in the vampiric tongue. "The race of lycanthropes."