The following occurs in December 3450.
Chapter 12
It has been two days since my daring rescue of nine year old Madeline Hudson. I thank the Lord that she was unharmed; not only that, but Madeline was not turned into one of the undead either by me or by those three bitches! The intricacy and meticulousness of the whole scenario was heavy on my mind. As far as The Blood of Dracula went, the Hansens were rather vague in their comments. What do they mean by Dracula's blood being useless without being pumped? What has Demyan Masmekhov done to me when I tried to trap The Fourth Horseman? I was in an abandoned slum in The Bronx jumping over abandoned buildings from rooftop to rooftop as I pondered on these thoughts. The Blizzard had simmered down allowing light snowfall to cascade over all of New York and the blizzard left immense inches of snow on the ground. I began to take into consideration what Masmekhov had to gain in being involved in a kidnapping plot to trap me and possibly weaken me in some way. He must have known from our last encounter that I was not one to be tampered with despite his delusions about me working hand in hand with the U.S. government when other vampires knew that it was certainly not the case. Masmekhov preferred to fight those who were in their prime and he enjoyed the challenge of the fight. Fighting an opponent who was weakened to a lower level than him would simply not appeal to him at all. Why would Masmekhov deviate from his strict code of fighting opponents in their prime? As I ponder on these thoughts I felt the presence of an individual who was a mere five inches away from me aiming a weapon straight towards my back. I landed on the roof an abandoned apartment building, spun around and blocked the attack of the individual. The individual turned out to be a male vampire wielding a Shin guntō sword, the type of sword that was used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the days of the Empire of Japan. I can clearly recall my former mentor Todo Hotsumi's strong allegiance to the empire. I pushed back on this vampire's sword and the vampire flipped away. I readied myself to engage with this individual when I heard running footsteps behind me. I spun around to find a woman who was quite tall, African American in appearance and wielding a chokutō sword at high speed. I threw up my sword and blocked her strike which sent sparks flying. Multiple blurs then started to rush towards me throwing strikes. I managed to block all the strikes and my eyes followed to the direction where the blurs moved in single file. The blurs started to align next to one another and manifest into human figures. Right before me stood eleven vampires with the appearances of different races and genders wielding an assorted array of Japanese swords. The sound of footsteps landing behind me caught my ears. I spun around to find a group of six vampires standing before me. Five more vampires jumped from a nearby abandoned building and joined the group making the group's number increase to eleven. In all I was surrounded by twenty two vampires. Things were about to get really interesting.
Two males stepped from the crowds, both wielding ninjato swords and rushed towards me. We traded strikes back and forth. I blocked all their strikes and head butted the first male into his chest sending him flying towards the ledge of the building. I then threw a kick into the second male's face sending him tumbling across the roof. Two more males along with three females advanced towards me and threw a fast combination of strikes and kicks. I blocked all of their strikes and gave them my own combination of kicks and strikes. I flipped over them and landed behind them when I suddenly heard something cut through the wind above me. I looked upwards and saw a woman falling from the sky with her sword raised over her head falling down towards me. In that moment I raised my sword over my head in a defensive position. Our blades collided sending a shockwave that caused the ground beneath me to form a huge crater. The crater then began to crack; soon the ground gave way causing me and my opponent to fall through the massive hole that was formed. When we fell through I landed flat on my back against a hard surface. It was now pitch black; however my vampire vision enabled me to make out the contents of the new environment where me and my opponent had entered. We were now in an empty room with broken concrete walls and solid concrete floors. The area bore the resemblance of a building bombed out in a battle in one of the Attrition Wars. I sprung to my feet to face the sword-wielding lady. I expected to be facing her the way I would face a person in a well lit environment. To my surprise she and the surrounding area seemed quite dim. Before I could properly process this scenario the woman struck at me at high speed. I blocked all of her strikes and sliced my sword upwards from her crotch to the top of her head slicing her in half. Her two halves separated from each other and fell to the ground in burning ash and dust. Right there and then the others started falling down through the hole in the ceiling and into the room where I was, all twenty-one of them.
They all came after me almost simultaneously striking at me at high speed. I blocked all of their strikes took out seven of them, beheading three women and impaling four men in the chest. They all crumbled to ash and dust and I found myself engaged with another group of men. I traded strikes back and forth with one male and sliced across his body from the top of his right shoulder to the bottom of the left side of his chest. The moment he disintegrated to the ground a woman flew at me through the wall made of his ashes with her leg outstretched kicking me in the centre of my chest which sent me flying straight through a concrete wall and into a new room. I ended up on the floor disoriented. Before I could collect myself another male jumped through the wall, stood over me, raised his sword over his head and brought the blade down at me. I immediately got up in a kneeling position, threw up my sword and blocked his strike causing our swords to lock. I pushed against his sword with mine sending him to slide backwards on his feet. Six other men then jumped through the hole to join in. I sprang upwards, ran towards the single man and sliced off his head. In half of a second I beheaded the six other males and their bodies disintegrated into ash and dust. I then sensed someone behind me launching a flying kick. I ducked and found myself engaged with the same woman who sent me crashing through the wall. We threw strikes, kicks and punches back and forth at each other. None one of our blows ever connected with any part of our bodies. I then rammed my sword into her chest and through her back. I pulled out my sword and her body crumbled to the floor in a burning heap of ash which left me with five others to deal with. The five jumped through the hole and engaged with me at high speed. After blocking their strikes I jumped upwards and came down stomping hard on the floor. The floor crumbled beneath my feet sending me falling downwards to the floor below.
Once I reached to the other floor which appeared to be a hallway I landed on my feet waiting patiently for the others to arrive. One by one the fighters, three men and two women, jumped down into the hallway reengaging with me. Simultaneously they struck at me with their swords, their feet and their fists. There was this one swordsman, a burly one about 6'5", who seemed to be very efficient with his feet as he was with his sword. For one so large he was quite fast. I managed to block all of his strikes. However, he kicked me in the chest which sent me flying across the hallway and tumbling across the floor. I sprung to my feet and rushed towards the tall swordsman but one of the swordswomen blocked my path. We struck back and forth at high speed, then I finished our encounter with a hard knock to the side of her head with the bottom of my sword handle sending her slamming into the wall on my left. The second male who was much smaller than the large behemoth and probably five inches taller than I was jumped towards me throwing a combination of strikes and kicks. I blocked all them, dove away, rolled across the floor and found myself between a woman and another male of average height. Simultaneously they struck at me at high speed. I blocked all of their strikes and in return struck at them with my sword. They dodged all of my strikes which had me quite frustrated. However my frustrations dissipated when I engaged with my large friend once more. At high speed we struck back and forth. Not once has either of our swords connected with undead flesh. Suddenly he grabbed me over the mouth, lifted me off my feet and started slamming my head against the walls at his left and his right. He released me from his grip and allowed me to fall to the floor. Before I could really process what had just happened he picked me up by my right leg with one arm and like an Olympic hammer thrower he swung me into the wall at the right. I crashed through and tumbled across the floor. I found myself in a different room which was even more dilapidated than the other room a floor above. I looked up and saw the five sword-wielding vagabonds entering the room through the hole I had just made. I quickly got up to my feet ran towards the towering hooligan responsible for making the change of setting aiming The Final Dawn straight at his neck. I reached up to him and swung my sword towards his neck. Just then a blade shot up deflecting the strike. The one responsible was one of the women who locked her sword against mine. She then pushed against my sword sending me sliding across the floor on my feet. When I stopped sliding the woman rushed up to me at high speed aiming her sword at me. I threw up my sword and blocked her strike. The moment our swords touched a shockwave was unleashed which leveled down the walls surrounding us. My ear then picked up the sound of running feet behind me and the cutting of the wind. I dropped to a crouch position as a blade swung over my head. The one responsible for making the strike happened to be the second woman. Once her sword passed 180 degrees I jumped upwards and flipped over the two women and landed behind them. All five vampires now stood approximately fifteen feet away from me and we all stared at each other. While I looked into their pale yellow eyes I taxed my brain on how to end this fight quickly. I also had time to wonder why the display before me seemed to have less illumination than my vampire vision allowed. Normally my vampire vision enabled me to see in dark areas as if I was standing in broad daylight. In this fight the entire room was dim to me. I shifted my right foot slightly provoking a tensed reaction from one of the swordswomen. One of the swordsmen of averaged height sped towards aiming his sword straight at me. The others followed suit and I charged towards them with my back hunched waiting for the right moment to aim my sword. Suddenly rapid laser fire rang throughout the room. The laser beams hit all five vampires inflicting burning wounds and causing the vampires to turn into ash and dust. Right there and then I froze in the centre of the room perplexed over what just unfolded. The preceding years saw the manufacturing of rifles that fired lasers. These laser bursts was extremely deadly for humans and vampires alike. Vampires were particularly vulnerable since lasers emitted heat that was just as hot as fire. When a laser shot impacted the human body it would leave burning wounds that cause death faster than ordinary bullets. To slay a vampire aiming straight for the heart was necessary. I was both grateful and disappointed that my little problem with these sword-wielding degenerates was taken care of. But who was responsible?
Just then about five individuals converged on the area each dressed in black combat uniforms, wearing black ski masks and armed with plasma rifles. Such weapons didn't need to be re-fed with magazine clips or cleaned and maintained much, plus they were long lasting. They were also reserved for military and law enforcement use. Civilian sale of such weapons was banned; however those among the human race always seemed to find a way to get their hands on the latest, most advanced weaponry. The most prominent civilians who were stockpiling these rifles were the vampire hunters. As was the case centuries before the vampire hunters always had the best weapons at their disposal, namely rifles loaded with silver nitrate bullets. This time they had discovered that vampires were just as vulnerable to plasma blasts as humans were. What hasn't changed was the vampire hunters' use of the silver stake. It was obvious that the five new individuals standing before me were vampire hunters. The human governments around the world were still unaware of the vampire's existence so who else other than the vampire hunters would know that vampires lurked in the shadows? The five individuals all trained their weapons on me. I in turn sheathed The Final Dawn. Whenever I came across vampire hunters I would always deliver death to show them not to waste their time trying to vanquish me. However, I began a process of not killing the vampire hunters two years before. Though I rarely cared for either the vampire race or the human race, I did not want the vampire race to continue flourishing and I realized that I could not deprive the world of one of the cures to the vampire epidemic. The martial art of Aikido which is probably the least lethal of martial arts would be the tool I would use to deal with these particular vampire hunters.
The vampire hunters fired away unleashing several plasma blasts into my body inflicting burning wounds. Instead of falling backwards I stood erect while the wounds began to heal. I looked into the eyes of one of the hunters and the eyes were wide in shock. Then I rushed towards the group. I reached up to the second and third hunter, extended my arms and knocked them down to the ground. The first hunter turned towards me aiming his plasma rifle at me and fired. I sidestepped the blast, grabbed unto the rifle and struck the hunter in the chest with my palm knocking the hunter to the floor. I dropped the plasma rifle to the floor and with one mighty stomp I crushed it into pieces. I then spun around and engaged with the hunter grabbing unto his rifle and twisting it with such force that it lifted the hunter of the feet causing him to spin in a cartwheel-like motion and tumble across the floor. I threw away the rifle, outstretched my right arm and spun around to meet the fifth hunter. My arm connected with the neck knocking the hunter down to the ground. Lying besides the hunter was the plasma rifle which I kicked upwards. Once the rifle reached eye level I unsheathed The Final Dawn and sliced the rifle in half rendering it useless. I then sheathed The Final Dawn, turned around and spotted one of the hunters reaching for a plasma rifle. I rushed towards the hunter and rifle, kicked up the rifle, grabbed it with both hands and broke it in half with my right thigh making it snap like a twig. The hunter then got up and grabbed me by the right shoulder. I in turn grabbed on his right hand with my left and twisted on the right causing the hunter to groan in pain and drop to the knees. That painful groan was an indication that the hunter was male. With my right I grabbed unto the head and caused the hunter to cartwheel and land flat on his back. The sound of a shooting plasma rifle then rang out and bright sparks erupted from my left shoulder. I turned around and found the fifth hunter firing shots from a plasma rifle. I then unsheathed the Final Dawn ran up the hunter at high speed and slashed at the rifle cutting it in half. With my left palm I knocked the hunter to the floor. My ears picked up the sound of running footsteps and I turned around to find the other hunters rushing towards me armed with silver stakes. I sheathed the Final Dawn, rushed towards them and knocked them down to the floor one by one with my forearm extended. Whenever they got up I grabbed unto both sides of their heads and caused them to cartwheel and fall to the floor. One hunter who was the tallest of the hunters grabbed me from behind and stabbed me square in the chest with a stake. I grabbed unto the hunter's right arm and flipped the hunter over me sending the hunter flying towards a piece of the wall near the edge of the room. The hunter slammed into the wall and fell to the floor unconscious. I pulled the stake out of my chest and spotted a second hunter running towards me with a stake aiming for me. The second hunter then brought the stake downwards and I stopped it with my right and grabbed unto the hunter's face. I threw the hunter towards the remains of the hallway causing the hunter to slam into a piece of the wall and fall to the floor unconscious. I then threw away the stake and engaged with a third hunter who threw a combination of kicks and punches at me. I blocked and dodged all of the kicks and punches and kneed the hunter in the abdomen. I then delivered an elbow to the back knocking the hunter to floor. The hunter rolled to the side in pain only for me to kick him sending flying into the base of a broken wall. The fourth hunter ran towards me with a stake and attempted to stab me in the chest. I then unsheathed The Final Dawn halted the stake with the blade. With The Final Dawn I manipulated the hunter's hand into a spinning motion causing the stake to fling out of the hunter's grip. I then knocked the hunter in the head with the handle of my sword rendering the hunter unconscious. My ears then picked up running footsteps and I spun around to find the fifth hunter. I sheathed my sword as the hunter aimed a silver stake at me. I then jumped up, wrapped my legs around the hunter's right arm and we both fell to the ground. The hunter lied faced down as I twisted the wrist for the stake to be released. From the hunter's painful grunt I immediately knew that this particular hunter was female. I kept twisting the hunter's wrist until she had no other choice but to let go off the stake. As soon as the stake dropped to the floor I wrapped my legs around the sides of her neck. She started to gasp for air and she tried wrestle out of my grip. But her efforts were useless as I still held unto her arm. She slowly stopped struggling, soon she lay motionless. I then got up from the floor and turned the hunter on her back. I took off her mask and discovered that the hunter was quite young with short brown hair and quite beautiful. I estimated that she was probably between her early to mid 20s. Her lack of unconsciousness was made possible by me pressing my legs onto the carotid arteries of her neck making sure there was little to no pressure on her airways. Such a move would make her black out for a good ten minutes until she regains consciousness.
Having dealt with the hunters I ran towards the nearby window and crashed through it falling fifty storeys down. I landed on my feet making a crater in the process. I stood up and at that moment my ears picked up running footsteps behind me. I turned to the direction of the footsteps and found someone dressed in black military gear, gloves and a ski mask armed with a plasma rifle. I knew immediately that this individual was a hunter. The hunter trained the rifle on me and pulled the trigger. In an instant I sidestepped as three shots escaped the barrel of the rifle and struck a nearby abandoned building. I kicked the rifle out of the hunter's hand sending it flying up a few feet. I then jumped up and sliced it in half with my sword rendering it useless. I landed back on the ground and sheathed The Final Dawn only to get engaged with the hunter in hand to hand combat. I blocked a combination of kicks and punches and dodged many others. Through the grunts I determined that this hunter was male. Though he lacked the speed of vampires he still had a speed that was quite admirable. During our fight I grabbed him by the lower abdomen and threw him over my head. I spun around and found him springing to his feet. The hunter reached for his left side and pulled out a silver stake. He raised it in a stabbing motion. In an instant I positioned myself in a kicking stance and wrapped my right leg around his arm. The hunter arched his back as I started relieve him of the stake. I wrapped my leg even tighter around his arm but his grip around the stake seemed to be getting tighter. Our eyes locked and I noticed that his eyes did not display the struggle most humans would have in such a situation. I thought I needed to end this even it meant inflicting intense pain upon the hunter. Effortlessly I twisted the hunter's arm causing it to snap. The stake fell out of his hand and he staggered back looking at his arm. Amazingly the hunter wasn't screaming in pain. Instead he just stood there looking at his arm as if someone had simply spilled chocolate milk on his shirt. I looked at the hunter with confusion. His arm was a crumpled mess. Surely a mere human would pass out in pain from such an injury. But what if he wasn't a human? Could he be a vampire? Impossible! His arm was not healing so that was ruled out. As I am thinking all of this multiple rounds from plasma rifles flew over my head. I turned to my right and found about four individuals clad in military like outfits and black ski masks firing away at me. In a single bound I jumped away to the nearby buildings escaping their barrage.
I managed to make it about five blocks down and perched myself on top of another abandoned apartment complex which was the tallest of the complexes. I made sure that I was out of the hunter's line of vision and turned back to see what the hunters were up to. My telescopic vision made it possible to see them as if they were standing right before me. My ears soon started to pick up on their conversation. "Are you alright?" asked one of the individuals in a male voice who approached the hunter with the broken arm.
"That bitch broke my arm," said the hunter, his tone saturated with anger. "Do I look like I'm alright?"
"Hey, at least it could be repaired," said another hunter in a female voice.
"I don't know. That's the Bride of Dracula were talking about. She has the strength that's on a higher level than the average vampire."
"You're right," said a third individual in a male voice. "We need to head back to base and see what spare parts we have to fix this problem. We're gonna have to put Snyder and his crew on the back burner."
"No! He's an important target," said the hunter.
"Well, he won't be an easy one to take down if you don't have two functioning arms," said the female voice.
"Maybe taking down those fuckers with those swords wasn't such a good idea," said one of the other males.
"All vampires are top priority," said the hunter.
"But they weren't part of our mission tonight. They just happened to be in the neighborhood," said a different male voice.
"Didn't you hear what I said? All vampires are top priority therefore they're part of every mission," said the hunter.
"I agree. And every member who carries out a mission must be fully prepared and in tip top shape. Right now half of us are combat ineffective," said the female. "We need to rearm and recover and we need the rest of the night for that."
The hunter with the broken arm grunts in frustration. "Alright, alright," the hunter finally said. "I've got some spare titanium parts back at the base. How're the others?"
"They got the wind knocked out of them for the most part," replied one of the males. "Jade looks like she got a sleeper attack done on her. Other than that, they'll be alright. Mina Harker really did a number on them."
"Yeah, I don't why she didn't kill us since she'd never actually been buddy, buddy with us vampire hunters," said the hunter. "We'd better stay on our toes. She's not one to fuck around with." With those words the hunters began to disperse and making their way behind a building. I began to ponder on the conversation that I just heard. One of the things that stood out was the fact that the hunter needed titanium to "repair" his arm. The only ones that would require repairs are those who were machine in nature. Could it be that the hunter was a droid? The other thing that stood out in that exchange was that the hunters were after one bearing the name "Snyder." After taxing my brain for a few minutes I deduced that the Snyder they search for was Emmett Snyder. He was among many of Todo Hotsumi's students within The Hollow Dragon organization. Snyder was also efficient with a double katana. I knew I needed to pay a certain someone a visit and perhaps make the vampire hunters' task easier.