Landing on a tree Megamind crouched, before jumping free of the tree in order to jump to another. Having learned in this very forest how to use the terrain to his advantage, he could have probably maneuvered through the trees with his eyes closed and would still never bump into anything, or anyone. This was something he had that the vampires didn't, and one could easily get lost in the thick, wild forest if you didn't have your senses around you.

Hearing movement he pressed himself as closely against a tree and watched as a few shadows drifted through the darkness. He barely gave them a few steps forward before he leapt around and swung his sword, and the vampires were headless seconds later. Their decapitated heads hisses were cut short, and he slammed his stake into their chests. Seconds later they were nothing but ash, and Megamind vanished into the darkness as he heard another group of vampires happen upon the place.

Locating their fallen kin they swore and screamed like bastard animals.

"He's here! Smell it, he's here!"

"He's everywhere how is he everywhere?"

"His stink. His horrible stink...!"

"Calm down brothers, calm. We're not animals." snapped one of them with short black hair. "Calm yourselves. Even if he gets through us, the Children won't be so easy to fell."

"The Children never met me." Megamind said, his voice seemingly echoing all around them. The four vampires spun around each other, as one of them suddenly transformed into a swarm of bats and flew outwards in all directions, trying to find him.

But in that instant Megamind was suddenly jumping out of the darkness. He slammed one stake dead centre into one of the vampires chests and as he was disintegrating he spun around and sliced one of the vampires from shoulder to hip, which sent a spurt of blood splashing into Megamind's face. He turned away though and grabbed his falling stake that had begun to fall from the destroyed vampire and spun again as one of the other vampires had just been moving to jump on him. It was down, and turning into ash, seconds later before Megamind swung the sword again on the already bleeding vampire, taking his arm and head off.

Suddenly the bats were upon him, hissing and screeching, flapping their wings and clawing at him with their tiny claws and teeth. Megamind grabbed the ends of his jacket and swung it up, and covered his head. The bats bounced against the leather, unable to bite through it. They finally began to swirl together, beginning to form the Voyeur vampire again.

When he swung his sword it came in contact with two small blades, blocking it from the vampire.

"You really are good." he complimented. "We've all heard tales of you..."

"Then I hope I don't disappoint." Megamind replied sarcastically. He pushed with the sword, causing the vampire to be pushed back and stumble over a tree root that stuck up out of the ground. Yelping the vampire tumbled, and Megamind lunged his sword down at the man.

His sword swung true, and it plunged into the stomach of the vampire. Opening its mouth it snarled in pain before throwing one of his smaller blades at Megamind. Swinging himself away the knife flew cleanly through his black leather jacket and just missed slicing open his shoulder. Megamind ran around another tree as the vampire staggered to his feet, blood dribbling down his front and staining his clothes.

"Face me, f-face me you... you little freak...!" spat the vampire.

"Funny you're calling me a freak." Megamind answered back as he climbed up one of the trees nimbly. "When you're the one who drink people's blood, or make them your brainless slaves."

"Hah!" laughed the vampire. "If you only knew the power."

"I've seen the power." Megamind answered bitterly. "I've seen it in the eyes of the vampires I kill. When they turn into ash, and I have to wipe their blood from my sword."

His sword suddenly came out of seemingly nowhere and the vampire screamed. It had cut clean through his back shoulder, through his lungs and heart, and came out of the middle of his chest. He stared, horrified, at the sword that was bloodied. Already, from the point of impact, his body was turning to ash.

"Know peaceful rest." Megamind's voice whispered in the man's ear before he became nothing but dust. He panted, before looking around and listened carefully to the darkness. That pressing feeling of anger and strength was moving quicker, gaining in speed. It could be the Children, or worse. He hadn't time to stand around and wait for them. Instead he took off into the darkness, not content to sit around and wait for backup.

He suddenly smelt something very familiar, and climbed up another tree as fast as he could. The tree was on the edge of a field but he used the dark clothing and the shadows to keep himself out of sight. What he expected was some vampires breaking out into the field but what he did get was at least twenty of them, all of them injured in some way, shape or form.

Leaping out from the trees after them, was Bernard.

The werewolf was frothing at the mouth, and his eyes were pure white from the hatred his species had long since dealt with thanks to vampires. He was bleeding from a few places, or was it blood from fallen vampires? It was hard to tell from here, but Megamind was already readying his weapons to help the werewolf out since it looked as though he had bitten off more than he could chew.

And then he ripped the head off not one, but two vampires with his jaws. Bernard savagely leapt from vampire to vampire, tearing and clawing, ripping and snarling. He was an animal, a crazed, angry animal that was protecting his property that was the manor. Maybe, deep down, he wanted to protect the one he loved, too.

Feeling he had watched enough, and had gotten his breath back, Megamind leaped down into the field and plunged a sword clean through an already suffering vampire.

He heard their voices, their hisses and screams of 'He's here' and other assorted phrases but he had no time to listen. Megamind ran around the werewolf, slicing and plunging his weapons into the vampires and Bernard felled them all who he didn't get. But since the vampires smelt dead, he didn't try to eat any of them. It would only make him sick if he did, and trying to pass a digested vampire limb was all but impossible once he became a human again once the sun would raise in eight hours.

Megamind, suffering a huge laceration to his back, fell to his knees and breathed shakily as where werewolf sniffed at the ground at the ash that now surrounded him. Sneezing once, the large wolf could have felled a house made of bricks if he so wanted to. He suddenly spotted the blue man, and a familiar smell tickled his nose. He knew this man.

His nose suddenly picked up the scent of more, and he growled powerfully, making the ground itself quake, before he was off and running back into the darkness, howling as he did.

"God." Megamind put his hand to his head and collapsed onto his rear, needing a moment. So far, the night had been non-stop. His emotions were on end, his senses were alert, and he was tired but he had no chance to rest because it felt like he was being crowded suddenly.

Lifting his gaze he saw why.

Ten vampires stood on the edge of the field, and all of them were no older than ten years old. Their skin was pale, almost albino, and their hair was thick black and hung down around their slender, small necks, and their clothes were nothing but simple white smocks that hung closely to their bodies. Unblinking black eyes watched him curiously, but you felt no tenderness or from these vampires.

They were the Children.

Never did they age any older than ten years old… they could live to be well over one hundred years old, yet their bodies refused to age any further than ten years old.

"We remember you." one of them said, her voice a soft, distant whisper.

"You were the boy." said another.

"He bled. We remember." said another boy.

"You're much bigger." said another one of the girl.

"Look at him. Is he scared?" asked one boy to his brother besides him.

"He doesn't smell scared."

"His blood smells strange. We don't like it. Do we have to eat him?" asked a girl.

"Only if he's defeated." said the first girl, and the ten of them suddenly smiled as one, showing sharp, pointed white teeth.

Megamind frowned at them as he slowly got to his feet, hand gripping his faithful sword besides him. "Defeated. So you're going to attack me?" he asked.

"No." answered the first girl. "He is."

The ten parted and dropped backwards into the darkness of the trees and Megamind watched as a person began to slowly walk out from the trees. The figure was tall, obviously strong by the wide shoulders, and walked with a confidence that Megamind recognized even through the darkness of the shadows. He felt his heart shatter within his chest and his stomach empty out when the man walked into the full moonlight, holding a familiar sword in his hand. The man was wearing a fashionable jacket that hung off of his shoulders, and a caravet tied neatly around his neck. His clothing looked tailored, well tended to, and almost new if not for the mild rips and tears to the material here and there.

Course the man could show up wearing rags but Megamind would still recognize him.

"Father." Megamind whispered hoarsely.

It was him. He knew the man's face anywhere, and it hadn't aged a day. His eyes were blue and staring ahead vacantly, as if not even fully aware of where he was, or who he was dealing with. The scar running along the right side of his neck was like an extra kick to his soul and another dagger in his heart.

"He has been a great help these many years." said a voice from the trees. "He is the greatest swordsman we know."

Megamind took a few steps back as his Father advanced on him, drawing the sword he knew all the details of.

"He is afraid." said a boy's voice.

"So afraid." agreed a girl, happily.

"We can smell it." whispered a boy's voice that made it seem like it came right into his ear.

"I am not afraid!" Megamind shouted, drawing his sword quickly and held it out in front of him. "Father."

"Ethelwine." his Father's voice sounded distant, as if coming out of a cave in the far distance. "Prepare."

Those were the only words he said. The same words he used to use before they would spar together all those years ago. Suddenly he sprung forward with a speed and strength that defied his age, thanks to the bite to his neck, and brought his sword downwards. Megamind retaliated, blocking the plunge, and knocked it back before swinging his sword at the man. But his Father was already moving to block it, and did so flawlessly. Quickly, Megamind glanced up at his Father's eyes, and they were nothing like he remembered them. He remembered a man with warmth, fondness, and love. His eyes now were empty, hollow, and cold. His Father was gone, and who he was fighting was nothing but a poor imitation of the man who had loved him and raised him.

"Father please." Megamind said as he spun away from another attack and hissed as the sword sliced off a good chunk of his leather jacket. His sword was always sharp. "You aren't yourself. You're stronger than this. You have to be. You were the strongest man in the world to me, to Wayne, and to Minion-"

"Oh this is cute." said a girl's voice in the darkness.

"He's trying to reason with him." said a boy.

"Try something else." said another boy.

Megamind screamed as the sword suddenly plunged into his left shoulder, but brought up his own to block it from going any further. Blood pooled against the sword and his clothes, and he kicked his Father back off of him. The older man stepped back, his white moustache as pristine as it always used to be. If it wasn't for his dead eyes, you would swear he was normal. Seeing the man he admired and loved all his life reduce to nothing more than a puppet for these creatures disgusted him.

"What have they done to you?" Megamind asked, blocking another strike from the man before leaping away. "You can break this. Roxanne did. You can!"

"Stupid boy." said a girl, giggling with glee. "Once they have been controlled once, we can get back to the vampire who controlled them who is inside their mind whenever we get close enough. You should know that. If you have been controlled once, we can and will control you again."

This made Megamind's heart freeze. Hal had gotten control of Roxanne once... did that mean that he still had a hold of her, deep down? What if a vampire got close to her, he could take control of his girlfriend and make her do anything they wanted. The horror in his mind took a chunk out of his concentration, and his Father plunged the sword into his other shoulder now. He spun away, panting heavily. Roxanne, he had to get back to Roxanne but he had to... to...

"Worried now. His emotions are so cute." whispered a girl.

Gritting his teeth Megamind suddenly spun and swung his sword at his Father. Of course his Father blocked it immediately, expertly. But Megamind swung his sword again; the rage and anger that had been building in his heart ever since learning his Father could have been changed. This amazing, proud, strong man being bended and controlled like a puppet by the very monsters he had swore a war against. The anger was unrelenting; it was like a tidal wave. And he screamed as he swung at the old man, who kept trying to block the swings. His wounds stung from pain, and it didn't help when he swung his sword again and again, gripping the hilt in both of his hands now.

"You saved me!" he screamed, "You got me out of Hell itself! You named me! You loved me! You taught me everything! You told me what to do! I hate I have to! I hate that they did this! I hate them! I can't let them control you anymore! Not anymore!"

Still his Father said nothing, but he could see the misplaced steps. Seeing his chance, Megamind took it. His sword swung true, and he plunged it into his Father's chest. The sword went clean through him and the instant he did, all the children suddenly screamed into the darkness. His Father, though, was eerily silent. Sharp metal pinned him to the ground, and his eyes stared up at Megamind, unblinking at first.

Suddenly, in a blink, the warmth was back. The control broken, his Father looked at him.

Already he was beginning to turn to ash as the life he had been trapped in for these long fifteen years began to end. He looked into his son's tearful eyes and gave a small, broken smile.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered quietly. "Thank... you..."

"I love you." Megamind shuddered as his Father fell to nothing but ash, and he was left there holding his sword down into the ground. Something glinted in the corner of his eye and he turned his head to see his Father's sword laying there on the grass. His Father's promise suddenly erupted in the back of his mind, the memory of the man who told him the day that he finally defeated him, the sword would be his.

Ignoring the shrieks of the children, Megamind picked up his Father's sword and stood up shakily, blood running down both of his arms as he now held a sword in each hand. It felt like... oddly... that his Father was holding his hand. There was strength in this sword; it was a sword that had been handed down through the generations. It reeked of vampires blood, though lately it had been tainted by his own.

"Come out. Didn't you want to eat me?" Megamind called to the darkness. "Or are you the ones running scared now?"

He got nothing but sobs from the ten Children.

"COME ON!" Megamind screamed, rage building once more. "YOU TOOK HIM! TRY TO TAKE ME! COME ON!"

The Children suddenly silenced, and he slid his own sword into its sheath but held firmly onto his Fathers. They were circling him in the trees, he just knew it. These Children knew how to run and move without leaving any footsteps. But he knew how to listen, his Father had taught him how to. Slowly he walked, and after just two steps one of the Children leapt out of the darkness, fangs bared and eyes nothing but slits.

The sword sliced open her throat and the girl fell to the floor, screaming before he drew his gun, aimed it at her chest, and pulled the trigger. The smell, like in the lab, was horrendous. Her chest collapsed in on itself, and she became ash seconds later.

"Ah. Not so tough." he whispered as he clicked, changing the barrel before spinning around expertly, his sword plunging through the chest of another one of the Children. He twisted it into the young boys chest, and smiled down at him. "Your Father won't be happy. Will he?"

"Father will drink your blood!" screamed a girl as she, and a sister, leapt upon him.

Megamind yelped as they bit down against his leg and shoulder. Already wounded from his fight with his Father, he staggered back but slammed a fist into one of the girls. She fell off of him, screaming as she did, before he swung his sword and sliced open her head. Still she screamed with undead pain and fury as her sibling kept biting at his leg. The sword came down, and her pain ended.

The Child at his ankle suddenly shrieked and fell away from him. Lifting her hands, she touched at her mouth. Her lips were burning, and began to actually melt. Lifting her gaze she stared at the blue man, tears running down her eyes.

"Who would have thought?" Megamind asked quietly. "My blood attacks and destroys vampire cells. Fate's funny that way." one stab later, she was gone.

What followed was all but a massacre. The Children attacked with all their strength, and Megamind was sure he sprained one of his arms when he ended up thrown against a tree but just as with the other vampires he used the surroundings to his advantage. He felled his fifth, sixth, seventh, eight and ninth Child easily, despite the injuries his body was sustaining.

The tenth, and last one, he found standing in the middle of the field when he returned to it.

She was standing amongst the remains of her siblings and other vampires, and looked at him with an angry, pouty expression. "Father will be very mad. He loves us." she said.

"Your Father can not love." Megamind said quietly, standing across from the girl. "It's impossible."

"He'll be wanting you dead." she whispered. "He won't stop until you're dead."

"Good." he whispered as he pulled his sword up. "Because I won't stop until he's dead." before he plunged his sword forward.

To be continued