Chapter One:

In the end, He only took a few men with him, 27 soldiers of the Inquisition. To keep a low profile they would be traveling in armored trucks and all terrain vehicles. An airship would be easily spotted and Petro made the decision to travel over land. They would go quietly and return the same way.

Brother Petro let his arm dangle out of the window of the vehicle, they where disguised as a caravan of supply trucks with the men in civilian clothing.

Petro had been against this deception, saying that it was cowardly to hide them selves. "We should take pride that we are protecting humanity by this eradication of the vampires, they may not be near a town but we should send a message that any vampire that sets foot within human territory is not to be trusted. They are the enemy. "

To which Cardinal Francesco responded, "That may be, but if word of this spreads to the other factions they may prevent us from conduction the investigation. There is also a risk that the vampires may move into a town or city masquerading as refugees. Think of that consequence. If we move quickly and quietly we may prevent a tragedy in the future. "

And so where he was, riding in the cab of a truck, all the arms and weapons where stored in the back, the other trucks behind him where filled with soldiers and other supplies to make this 5 day journey bearable.

At some point in the trip, the towns turned rustic, many surrounded by fields of gains and sheep and other livestock. Brother Petro found himself admiring the country side; it had taken humanity many long years of hardship and labor to recover from the apocalyptic war that ravaged the land.

The Great War had cleaved mountains, destroyed lakes and rivers, forever changing the lay of the land.

In the part of Europe, somewhat North West of the Empire was the reported group of vampires, squatting in a land that neither claimed by the Empire nor by any other human habitation. A veritable no-man's land, devoid of trees and plagued by constant winds.

Petro wondered why anyone would want to settle in that god forsaken place.

In the middle of the third day, they had left all the known highways, following an old map of rumored roads that lead farther into the wilderness. Here, paved roads where few and more often then not they where driving on dirt paths and rocky ground. They stopped at a river to fill up the water tanks, not sure if they would find clean running water in this barren land.

They spent the third night in the wilderness.

Supper was a meager fare, a bowl of hot vegetable soup, some hard crusty bread, dried rations and water to wash it down. As it was his custom, Brother Petro said the supper prayer, giving thanks to the lord and asking for courage and strength.
"Amen" the men responded before digging into their soup and bread.

Once supper was done, they each took a blanket and slept on the ground. It was rare that any member of the soldiery would sleep outside; they felt safer sleeping close to the earth with their trusty weapons nearby.

Sentry duty would be done in shifts every night from then on.

Away from the lights of the city, every man felt a shiver of dread at the complete darkness that surrounded them, all but one.

Brother Petro lay on his back in the coarse grass staring up at the stars, in Vatican City, the stars where obscured by the lights and the pollution of the city. Here, he could see the stars shining brightly, as if time held no meaning for them. The blue haired man envied them being so high up in the heavens away from the troubles of man.

He lay alone, farther apart from the other soldiers. But not too far that he couldn't hear some of them snoring. Annoyed, he rolled over and pried a rock from under his shoulder and flicked it away.

It was such a night like this one, bright stars blazing in the sky and the darkness all around him. A mission similar to this one that changed his life….

----

He had been young then, no more then 17. He had completed most of his survival training and combat training and was cleared to go on small recon missions that required him to go close the borders undetected. Petro had also been more foolish then, the stupidity of over confidant youth. That over confidence had gotten him and his squad member captured by a team of rogue vampires near the border.

The vampires had found them out, stalked them, teasing them with their voices in the dark night. Petro and the other young man had tried to silently retreat, not knowing that the vampires were leading them to their base close to the border.

The screams of his comrade, echoed in the night as the vampires 'interrogated' them unmercifully. Making long shallow cuts in both boys' skin and letting the blood drip down the knife to be lapped up like water.

They had laughed at them, two youths who where caught sneaking around, threatening that they would be sold into slavery in the Empire if they did not tell them who they worked for.

"They look like Vatican spies," One vampire had said.

"Impossible" said another. "They are only children. They should have sent real men on such a dangerous mission."

"I am a real man!" young Petro screamed. They had been tired to trees, their hands tied over head, leaving them to dangle from the branches. The blue haired teen tugged at the bounds.
"I am a real man, I am a servant of God and he will smite you down you thrice damned monsters!!"

They laughed at him.

One vampire, who had been behind the boys watching his companions' tormenting the boys, spoke up. "Monsters? You call us monsters and yourselves' men?" The unseen vampire ran a hand down Petro's back, where the shirt had been cut to ribbons. "You humans are nothing more then cattle to us, slaves…Cut that other one, make him run for the hills like the prey he is."
The sound of more laughter as the other boy was cut down. The unseen leader crooned. "If you can outrun my men you may live." The other young man took a startled glance at Petro before running into the woods.
"Did you see that? Your precious partner deserted you. He doesn't stand a chance."

Petro gritted his teeth as the other vampires took up the chase. He could still feel that cool hand on the small of his back. "Coward, show your face!"
"Demanding little thing aren't you?" The vampire leader behind him lowered Petro lower to the ground so that the youth stood on his own two feet.

The vampire caressed the teen's hip, his hand running down one thigh. Petro froze in his bounds. "What are you doing?" an edge of fear entered his voice.

"Show me…." The vampire placed a light kiss on his shoulder. "Show me that you are a real man."
Petro shuddered. "Don't!" He struggled with the bonds. The unseen vampire chuckled and slapped him sharply on the backside. "You are in no position to argue. I will give you a choice, submit yourself to me and you will live…."

The youth flinched as the shredded remains of his uniform top was ripped away.

Shivering, Petro felt the vampire embrace him from behind, his arms going around his bare torso, lightly touching and stroking the soft skin.
"I know that you are Vatican; I can smell it on you, the smell of purity and your fanaticism." Here, the vampire pressed his face into the teen's pale blue hair and breathed deeply, letting out a soft moan. "Your type doesn't allow pleasures of the flesh no?"

Petro let out a growl of frustration. The vampire chuckled again.

"Such a fiery young man…it's been such a long time since I've enjoyed myself. " He nipped the youth's neck, Petro could feel the fangs, teasing relishing the taste of his skin before they bit into his flesh, Brother Petro heard himself screaming as carnal pleasure rocked through him.

----

"AAAAGGGHHH!!!" Petro bolted upright.

"S-Sir?"

He threw his 'screamer' at the stupid solider, but even in his half awake state knew better then to kill the man outright. The mechanical lance shattered a bolder a mere inch from the solider.

"IF ANYONE WALKS UP TO ME WHILE I'M ALSEEP, DIES!!!" The Vatican Knight roared. The man scrambled backwards and ran for his life. The others retreated a safe distance away.

Petro ignored them, he was still panting from the effects of the nightmare. His pants felt tighter as the hot bulge there throbbed insistently. The uttered some curses under his breath as he got up to pry his high powered weapon from the rock.

Petro ground his teeth as he imagined driving the spinning lance into that vampire's face. Thought he had never seen the monsters face as it violated him, it was always the same, that hateful sneer and cold eyes. The mental image killed the lingering feeling of arousal and guilt that the nightmare always brings.

Sexual abstinence, while a forgone custom, was sometimes practiced among the faithful. Monks, Priests and Nuns who where raised in the church at a young age where often taught the virtues of a life of celibacy. Some would choose to be celibate in order to serve their faith. Others would find husbands and wives among the members of the church.

Marriage wasn't forbidden, it was encouraged for members of the Vatican Hierarchy to continue blood lines that went as far back as the time of the Great War. But for some like Brother Petro, his vow of abstinence and celibacy came from his strong desire to serve the church. To many, he was the ideal Soldier of God, to some, he was the most dangerous man in the Vatican.

"Everyone suit up! We are not hiding anymore; we should be there within a day or so."

The Squad moved quickly, breathing sighs of relief, as they pulled on the armor that covered them head to toe. The Inquisition took pride in the fact that they did not use hand guns. True, they did have some arms, mostly heavy weapons such as rocket launchers and missiles. Petro had the men trained with heavy lances, swords and other hand to hand weaponry, his experience with battling vampires that with small arms it would only work if you happen to hit a vital spot but with the vampire's speed you had a very slim chance of hitting the target to take it down in one shot.

The weapons the soldiers of the Inquisitorial Department used where coated with silver, while not lethal, it did more damage in the long run.

Brother Petro looked over his men, frowning. 15 armored men, armed with both a short sword and a long lance. A few of them held grenade launchers (The smallest gun-type weapon they had.) Some had long silver knives.

The lances they held where "Screamers". A name given to the mechanical staffs Petro favored. The head of each lance was a more akin to a drill with a powerful motor that rotated at a high speed; the noise it made was similar to the sound of screams, thence the weapon's name.

The scouts' unloaded dirt bikes from the back of one of the trucks and speed up ahead, keeping an eye out for the vampire band. During the day vampires would be holed up away from the sunlight somewhere. In the openness of this land, there would be very few places where they could be.

The three jeeps had been outfitted with gun turrets and stocked with rocket launchers. The remaining trucks had a gatling gun mounted to the roof.

Satisfied that all the preparations where done, the Chief stepped up on to the back of one of the vehicles. He spoke into a shortwave communication device. "We are moving up, north-northeast, Report your positions every 10 mins."
"Acknowledged, Chief." Both of the scouts responded.

They found no sigh of the vampires; also the terrain was becoming more rugged the farther north they searched, high hills and deep valleys appeared more often, making the journey treacherous.

"Captain, I have found a recently used road." One of the scouts reported. "The tracks look like it came from horses."

"Horses?"

"Yes Sir. I am positive. There are hooves tracks everywhere."

Petro considered this for a moment, if the vampires where mounted on horses, that meant they would have to set their base someplace near running water and an area that had flat land for grazing. But something didn't make sence to him, why Horses?

"Brother Grant, go on foot, keep communications to a minimal and signal when you have visual contact."

"Yes Sir."

The Vatican knight frowned, the day was waning into twilight and they would need to set camp somewhere, they would not attack vampire in the dead of night. For one thing it was foolish and they did not know the terrain well enough to come up with a plan of attack.

"Men, we stop here and make camp, no fire, no lights. Double the sentry duty for tonight, Keep silent and you may live to fight the unholy scourge tomorrow."

Supper that night was hot soup again, but this time (as it was the night before a battle), meat was added to the soup and a bottle of wine passed hand to hand.

Petro sat in the truck listening for his scouts to report; thus far he had heard nothing from either of them since sundown.

He was concerned, the scouts he had chosen where fully capable of defending themselves should the need arise, but the lack of communication told him that they had either been killed or captured.

The scowl on his face deepened, if they did not report by dawn, he would still go forwards and search for the vampires himself.

-

Stalking silently, the Methuselah warrior used the rocky outcrop to observe the strange armored man laying the long grass, the stranger wore red robes over his armor and was looking thought a scope at the village.

The Methuselah grinned and stalked closer, ever so silently. Weaponless and without killing intent, he wanted answers that this man could answer.

-

"Sir! I am - ugghh!!!"

Petro woke immediately, snapping to attention at the brief message that had gotten through. "Brother Grant? Report!!"

Silence.

Frustrated, Petro alerted his men. To there credit, they woke quickly and where standing at attention in formation before the head of the department.

"Men, it is now time to depart, the hour is upon us. One of the scouts have been attacked by the vampires, his last known position was due east of here. Presumably that is where the vampire base is. "Petro looked over his squad, 25 of his best men, all armed to the teeth with arsenal and blade. It would be dawn soon, they would find and attack the vampires while the sun shone, the advantage they had was that vampire where more easily dealt with during the day.

"Let us pray this day that we are victorious, May God bless our crusade in wiping out this menace for we are his Holy Soldiers, Amen!"

-

Trouble started when the path they had chosen east dipped into a deep gully of stone, the Vatican Knight felt a growing sense of unease as the rock enclosed closer around them. The path was also littered with large boulders and stones, in order to get the armored trucks they had to move them out of the way, hindering their progress and making movements slow.

His instincts where beginning to scream at him, Petro ordered his men to move quickly, the sooner they where out of the gully the better he'd feel.

Soon enough the deep gully widened into a deep valley. Here, green grass grew, damp with dew.

The Inquisition Squad paused to recheck the vehicles and armament. If the vampire' base was of any size they would first blow it up with missiles then the soldiers would go in and pick off any of the survivors. It was a tactic that worked well out it the open like this, where he would have no fear of harming any innocent lives.

"Hail! Men from the Vatican!"

Startled, soldiers hefted their guns and tensed at the sound of the strange voice.

Brother Petro looked up, he was greeted by the most unbelievable sight, a mounted knight rode slowly towards them over the cusp of a high hill.

He was clad head to toe in stainless steel armor. Helmet, breastplate, all of it polished to a bright shine that dazzled their eyes with the soft pre-dawn light coming up from behind him. As the strange knight came closer, details became clear, this man was armed as well as they where, a large sword sheathed at his hip, a shield at his left arm, and in right hand he held a long spear with a furled banner.

To Petro and the rest of the soldiers, this was a legend come to startling life, a mounted Knight come from the predawn ages. Images of his brethren painted in every church building and stand glass window in the Vatican.

"What in God's name is this? " Petro asked himself, stunned.

To be continued.