Peles Castle, the Carpathian Mountains, Romania 9:00pm
Staunton felt like he was falling forever as the cold night air whipped past him, the dark forest below seeming to reach up to ensnare him in thick pine branches. All around him he saw other black figures spread out across the dark sky, the grey forms of at least five other transport planes high above, along with the dark masses of ten Challenger Mark 2 battle tanks, all floating serenely downward. Pulling his parachute, Staunton could see the world below in a much clearer light, the small town of Sinai beyond the forest was silent, its residents probably either asleep or huddled in fear from the Ultra Vector assault. The castle itself was set on a hill in the middle of the forest, its white form lit up by helicopters now soaring over it and training their searchlights down, and would already be echoing with the screams of the vampire hunting calls, Staunton thought. They would already know that the Ultra Vector taskforce was here; they had never taken the element of surprise into consideration at any point in the plan, and would be ready for anything. The losses tonight would be high.
As he hit the ground in a small clearing, marked by a red signal flare, Staunton threw off his parachute and harness, letting them fall to the ground as he checked his weapons. There was no time to gather in the parachute or clear up after the landing. Now was the time for action.
The rest of his squad were by him within twenty seconds, drawing their own individual weapons as he, with only a brief nod toward the south and the castle beyond, ran into the dense forest.
The rumble of tanks hammered into his ears as the SAS captain threw himself over fallen trees and tumbled rocks, the crash of falling trees echoing over the dark forest, birds flying away as the heavy battle tanks rammed straight through the undergrowth to his right. His squad were right behind, their weapons out as branches and bushes were ploughed through by the armoured soldiers.
"The castles just beyond!" Staunton shouted as a searchlight swept the forest. "We enter through the gardens at the back and into the main building. Klausewitz will be covering the back if any of those things get behind us. Remember, if you see one of those monsters; put a bullet through their head, disorient them. Then destroy them." He added coldly.
The others only muttered in response before they emerged out of the forest, and onto the back lawn. The castle rose up ahead, more of a stately home than a fortress, a monstrosity of white stone and black tiles, with a darkened glass conservatory complex at the back, to which the squad rushed for. The tanks had reached their positions by then, their gunners aiming up at the house, whilist other squads ran alongside and black helicopters buzzed over.
"Right behind you captain!" shouted Lieutenant Rog from next to him, slapping his heavy battle rifle as they charged across the elegantly manicured lawn and toward the conservatory.
"Open it!" Staunton roared, and Corporal Ivanov, a hulking Spetnatz soldier with a huge RPK rifle in hand and a long bladed machete in a sheath on his back, pushed forward and unleashed a hail of fire into the doors beyond and kicked through, torch flashing on as he swept the gloomy space.
Gesturing with on hand, the Spetnatz soldier moved further in, flipping down his night vision goggles over his face and aiming into the darkness.
Staunton was the next in, L85 at his shoulder, the room lit up for a second by the blinding light of a helicopter passing overhead.
"Through this room and along the corridor until we reach the Grand Armoury. Our target is Vladimir, one of the coven leaders. We take him down; Bravo Team led by Captain Peeters will get the other one, Stefan. If he's not there, we sweep this place from top to bottom until we find him and insert as many rounds in his skull as possible. Move out!"
And with that he was jogging into the building itself and down a tiled corridor, checking the front as his squad came up alongside.
Reaching a heavy oak wood door the captain paused, listening for a second. From above them and in the rooms around, they could hear the movement of the other squads, clearing rooms one by one in the hunt for the Romanian coven. And yet, so far, no shots had been fired.
"Where are they…" he muttered to himself as Rog and Ivanov pushed the doors open and took up positions in the empty corridor beyond. The open space was completely empty and silent, the celling lost in a tide of black shadow.
"Ok we…" Staunton began, but stopped as a bright searchlight swept the room, the light flooding in from windows high up near the ceiling, and showing the huddled forms of dozens of dark figures.
"Holy mother of…" came the voice of one of the soldiers, and before the next word even formed on his lips the vampires began to move.
"Bring them down!" Staunton bellowed, and the entire squad opened fire ,lighting the room up in stabs of orange and white gun flashes, the thunder of gunfire almost deafening the SAS captain as he fired straight up, the confused vampires falling to earth, their ambush attempt foiled as they crashed to the floor.
"Take them down!" Rog ordered, drawing his Magnum and putting explosive rounds through the fallen vampire's heads as they began to stir
The rest of the unit followed suit, and the vampire kill count continued to rise, and only one remained when Staunton reloaded his revolver, staggering to its feet and spitting at him.
"We will kill you all! Sa-ti iau mortii la baieram!" he laughed, and Staunton only sighed as Ivanov rammed his machete into the monsters brain, its diamond tipped blade sinking into the creature's skull with a sickening crack.
"What did the bastard say?" he said, turning to Rog.
"Something about taking all your dead to a party? "the lieutenant said with a grin. "My Romanians a bit rusty. Anyway sir…" he added, visually spinning the cylinder of his revolver as he reloaded it. "Let's go kill some creatures of the night."
A few minutes later and the house was filled with the roar of gunfire, and Staunton's squad had just burst into the ballroom after taking a wrong turn after a pack of vampires almost took out the entire group.
"My God." The captain said as they ran in, to the site of a massacre.
The huge open space of the rectangular room, lit by a trio of lit chandeliers, was painted in blood, splashed on walls like strange modern art, pooling on the tiled marble or seeping into ornate carpet, whilst shredded corpses and abandoned weapons littered the room. None of the bodies were moving, and most were only just recognisable as Ultra Vector soldiers by scraps of black uniform and piles of high calibre shell casings.
Turning back to his squad, many of them almost vomiting at the site of carnage beyond, Staunton tried to keep a straight face and block out the horrors of the room beyond. He picked out the pale face of the squad heavy weapons expert, Private Schmidt, lugging a long barrelled rocket-launcher on his back and snapped an order as the others moved to check the room for any enemies.
"Schmidt, get the STAKE ready. The vampires may return."
The captain felt a slight grin come to his face at the name the Albanian BOS operative had christened his weapon with. In homage to classical vampire folklore, Schmidt had named the strange new weapon the 'Self Targeted Anti Kuthuki Emplacement'. It was a ridiculous name, using the old Albanian term for the creatures of the night, yet had somehow stuck.
As the squad moved across the white marble floor, leaving bloody boot prints on the smooth stone, Staunton whispered softly, in horror and disgust.
"Who could have done a thing like this?"
"We did." Came a voice from across the room, and Staunton and the others turned to face this new opponent, weapons drawn. But, as they beheld this new foe, each man felt a chill pass through them, an abject sense of fear coursing through every fibre of their being.
Watching them from across the room, the two figures both smiled coldy. The two most powerful vampires left alive that Ultra Vector needed to destroy. The creators of the Romanian coven.
Vladimir and Stefan.
It was Vladimir, the shorter of the two, blonde and ashen faced, that spoke first, grinning at the soldiers before him that were all struck dumb.
"Yes, me and Stefan. We destroyed all of these pathetic excuses for warriors. It was so easy…" He added with a grin, casually inspecting his nails as he glanced around the room. "And you too will be put to death, and your blood painted across this room, at least until the rest of the coven arrives to clean up the remains. The only reason that you still stand and are not now being torn apart is because we…"
"…wanted to thank you." Finished the other, Stefan, and yet Staunton wouldn't have noticed, the two men's voices were so alike. With a glimmer in his burgundy eyes, the ancient vampire stared straight at the SAS captain, who unflinchingly returned his gaze. "Without you humans little…crusade, the Volturi would not have been destroyed. I must commend you on that. We very much enjoyed hearing of the firestorm that was once Volterra." He said with a laugh that was piercing and sadistic. "And for that we shall grant you…"
"…another few minutes of life." Vladimir added, instinctively slipping in at the end of the other vampire's sentence. "Of course, theres not a lot you can do to stop us." He said softly, but with a smirk on his face as the two vampires slowly walked across the blood-stained room, their eyes red as they saw the crimson splashes everywhere around them "The last group thought they could, and there was a whole lot more of them than there are of you."
By now the two vampires were metres away, easily within weapons range, but Staunton didn't think for a second they would be able to land a shot upon them. Instead he stepped forward, a defiant look on his face.
"You know you can't escape." He said, absently shifting his rifle to his shoulder. "The whole area for miles around is guarded by the most elite special forces in the whole of Europe, and even now more men will be rushing to aid us in cleansing your filth from the world."
If the two vampires were concerned, neither showed it and Stefan actually laughed again, his tone arrogant and mocking as he replied.
"Escape? My friend, we don't want to escape. We are not the Volturi. We do not want to hide in the shadows like animals. I think that now is the perfect chance for us to take our rightful place as rulers of this world. These 'special forces' of yours are no more than food for my army, light snacks before the vast prizes that await us in the world at large. Vladimir and I will take this whole continent for our own, our personal hunting ground, at the head of an army of the faithful that has never been seen in the history of man or vampire! I believe you may have met the rest of our coven, but I believe you forgot our new group, mainly the good townsfolk of Sinaia. It was, oh, so…glorious! Last night, I, Vladimir and our coven took the village by storm. So much of my age long thirst quenched in one night of unspeakable rapture! It was beautiful and, when we were spent and the townsfolk pale and lifeless it began to happen. The beginning of a vast rising, a wave of unstoppable might. A newborn army to rival any ever created before! And, within the next few hours, that army of over nine thousand men, women and children will rise from the weakness of their former lives and flock to our banner."
Stefan paused, and Staunton was quick to interrupt, fear filling every part of him as the vampires plan became clear.
"And then?"
Both vampires laughed at the same time, and Vladimir turned and looked directly at him, a grin on his face.
"We conquer the world."
As he said this Staunton was already thinking, trying to make some sort of plan whilst the rest of his squad looked on in horror. Reaching a decision, he checked his side holster, a small pistol stuck in it, loaded with a small orange dart. Taking a deep breath, he said slowly, his finger tracing over the handle of the weapon.
"May I have one last request?"
Vladimir nodded slowly, and Staunton produced the pistol, to a laugh from Stefan, who stepped closer, smiling with complete arrogance and self-confidence.
"Look, the Englishman here wants to take his best shot. Do it my friend!" he said with a grin. "Shoot me down."
As the old vampire spread his arms and stood before him, Staunton fired, the tiny dart thudding into the vampires skin, its diamond tip burrowing deep. And yet, as the two vampires both laughed again, ready to savour this next meal, Staunton shouted an order.
"Schmidt the STAKE!"
Schmidt nodded and aimed the weapon upward, firing the rocket off in a plume of smoke that arced up.
"Really?" Stefan said annoyance now obvious in his voice. "You think your human projectiles can keep up with me?"
And with that he disappeared in a blur and was charging across the room. But the rocket still followed, and it was Staunton and the squad's turn to laugh, as the SAS captain said softly.
"My friend…" he said with a sarcastic grin. "Your coven mate is right. My weapon wouldn't be able to catch him, that is, unless I placed a tracer on his body about ten seconds ago…"
Vladimir's face fell in surprise and horror, and began to start forward when he stopped, as an ear piercing scream of anger and pain shrieked out, and a loud explosion was heard from the other side of the room.
"Scratch one vampire." Rog muttered with a grin, and the squad all aimed their weapons at the dumbfounded Vladimir.
"I will…" he began, but was cut off as Staunton shouted an order.
"Take him down!"
Instantly the entire squad opened up, heavy calibre rounds blasting out at the remaining coven leader, who seemed genuinely caught off guard, and for a second was barely able to doge the wall of gunfire.
As the fire abated and the soldiers all frantically reloaded, Vladimir was upon Staunton, lifting him effortlessly in one hand, the others pausing in terror at the vampire's unnatural speed.
"Any last words before I crush your skull into paste?" Vladimir spat, but the SAS captain was unbowed and actually grinned straight at the vampire before him, noticing a slight blur of movement from behind.
"Why yes actually. As Trinity said to the agent in The Matrix…"
"Dodge this." Finished Rog, his revolver pressed to Vladimir's head, grinning slightly as he pulled the trigger and the vampire fell to the floor, a gaping hole in the side of his skull. The ancient vampire could only watch as Staunton stood over him.
"This time I'm not going to make a mistake." He said softly. "I'm watching very single moment."
Glancing back to Rog, the captain said.
"Scratch one vampire."
Then he pulled the pin from the grenade in his hand and stepped toward Vladimir.