Vorg (3a)

-God damn it!!!, Paul let his thought be heard, How am I supposed to find this kidnapper? I don't even know where to start from.
He was walking fast towards the crime scene, hoping that he could find some clues there.
Suddenly his mobile phone rang. There was neither the name nor the caller's number.
-Yes? He almost whispered.
-Are you Mr. Anageropoulos? He heard a strange, almost growling voice.
-I am yes, and you are?
-My name is Jason, I am new to the city and I was informed to contact you.
-Me? By whom?
-I am not quite sure I can tell such things over the phone, it's better we met somewhere, somewhere near Aristotelous square since you are already there?
-How can you even know where I am? Are you spying on me?
-Mr. Anag...can I call you Paul already? I hate these formalities.
-You can call me ''sheriff'' already...
-Okay, sheriff, I am not spying on you but it is not that hard to find someone using a mobile phone.
-Listen Mr. Jason, I have a very important task at the moment. Can't we meet another time?
-Of course we can but I am quite sure Sir Nick said something about helping you with your important task.
-Sir Nick? He told you to contact me?
-Yes but if you don't want, it's fine by me...
-No, no, lets meet, lets say in 15 minutes near the statue on the upper square?
-I will be there sheriff. Goodbye.
-Wait, how will I recognize you ?
-Don't worry, I will !

Paul did a quick scan of the crime scene and headed for the upper square still wondering about this Jason and why Sir Nick had sent him to help him.
He stood in front of the statue that depicted a Greek prime minister and General and pretended to play with his phone trying to look normal. Since it was early enough people were passing by or just standing, waiting for someone just as he did.
Soon a tall man dressed in heavy clothing, wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses and gloves aproached him.
-Hello sheriff, he said in low voice.
-Are you Jason ?
-No, I am Santa Claus, have you been a good sheriff this year ?
-Very funny, you know that for tunneler you draw too much attention dressed like that this time of the year?
-Trust me, I would draw a lot more if I weren't dressed like that.
Paul understood what the man was saying. Roxanne had told him about the curse that tunnelers had inherited from their progenitors.
-Okay, lets get somewhere quiter and talk then.
-Of course. By the way here is my number, said the man and passed him a business card.
-Jason Vorhes, private investigator, Paul read out loud.
-Yep, that's me.
-Ok Jason, nice to meet you. I am Paul Anageropoulos but you knew that already.
They reached a small and quiet cafe and sat in a shadowy corner .
Only a bored waitress and one -by the looks of it drunk- man were there.
They ordered a couple of beers to look normal  and waited until she had brought them before they would start talking.
-So what is this task I am supposed to help you with?
-How did you become involved in the first place?
-As I already told you I am new to the city. Only a few nights have passed since I presented myself to Prince James and got his permission to stay and tonight I got a phone call from Sir Nick who informed me that in order to please the Prince for his approval I had to contact you and help you with something.
-Your lucky day, huh?
-It's not bad making contacts in a new place...
-Well, I don't know if you've heard already but tonight a crime was committed and Prince James ordered me to find the one responsible for it and bring him to justice . He believes that a kindred is responsible so it endangers the ''masquerade'' .
-Well I was sure it was not going to be easy, said Jason almost laughing.
-So I think we need to go take a look at the ... Paul had to stop to answer his phone that had just rang again this time with an unknown number appearing on the screen.
-Yes?
-Excuse me, are you Mr. Anageropoulos? Paul heard a young male voice with a weird accent.
-I am and you are ?
-Mr. Paul Anageropoulos?
-I told you I am he already, who are you?
-Ah, very nice, my name is Asterios.
''What the fuck? Who are all these people?'' Paul thought.
-Okay Mr. Asterios what can I do you for?
-I believe that I am the one that can do something for you.
-What do you mean?
-I was told to contact you to arrange a meeting.
-By whom?
-My teacher, Amadeus. Me and my colleague Darius are supposed to meet with you and help you with something.
-You must be kidding me.
-No Mr. Anageropoulos, I am very serious.
-You said Amadeus right?
-Yes! Do you know him?
-No but I know what he is. Okay Mr. Asterios I am currently at a bar called ''Aristotelous'', can you get here?
-I am afraid both me and Mr. Darius are new in this beautiful town and we are not that familiar with its places. Can we meet near an arch called ''Kamara''?
-...Okay, what time?
-Lets say in an hour, is that good for you too?
-Fine, fine. See you in an hour at ''Kamara'' said Paul and hung up.
-I am sorry Mr. Jason it seems Prince James is forming a team for me.
-I can imagine, we are to meet two more?
-Yes, in an hour.
-Well sometimes the more the merrier. Why do you look so worried?
-Well I am a bit worried with those two, it's not the best thing to work with a warlock and now we have to work with two of them, if you know what I mean.
-Two warlocks? Prince James must be really anxious to find that kidnapper.
Jason of course had already heard stories about warlocks from Sir Nick and the mistrust that followed them but he was not going to share his fears especially with the sheriff.
-Okay lets focus on our real problem, Paul said, where shall we start our investigation?
-That's easy. For starters we can take a look at the crime scene, then we can take a look at what the police have found and then we can plan our next steps.
-Easy to say that but how are we going to take a look at police findings?
-I may be only a few days in your country but I am pretty sure your police protection systems are not that good, said Jason with a grin on his face.
-So, Sir Nick sent me an investigator with hacking abilities?
-Wasn't that obvious already?
-Okay Mr. Jason, enough talking. Lets start doing our job. We have approximately 45 minutes before the meeting with the warlocks, lets put this time to good use.

Anageropoulos (17)

Paul had only some minutes he had left Prince Jame's office. He still couldn't believe his luck.
Not only the prince hadn't punished him but now he had almost limitless power in his hands.
For a young vampire with only months in the dark world of the undead such position could be a fast way to the top of the food chain.

He was walking fast towards Roxanne's house, he needed to share his success with the people he liked.
That was a win-win situation after all, he was now able to help Roxanne more efficiently than before, he could provide safety for Suzan and Sarah and he wouldn't have to look over his shoulder for the crime he had committed towards his clanmates.

Even when Liza opened the door showing him her dislike, he still couldn't wipe that big smile off his face.
Inside the living-room Suzan was as usual behind her computer and Sarah was wathcing TV and from the noises coming from the bathroom he could assume Roxxane was preparing for another wild night, propably at Purgatory.
-My lo...I mean master Paul, said Suzan, didn't you say you had some business to attend to tonight?
-And I did but I finished a lot earlier than expected. Hello Sarah how are you?
Sarah strafed towards him to greet him with a smile that faded almost immediately.
-What have you done youngling? She screamed and got up showing him her fangs.
Liza and Suzan almost froze in place seeing Sarah in such a condition.
-Wait, wait, I can explain, said Paul losing his smile.
-You dare come here smiling murderer and you expect me to let you explain? out of nowhere a shining sword appeared in Sarah's hands.
-Please, Sarah, just let me talk...Paul hadn't managed to finish his sentence when thick shadows surrounded him draining his stamina. He felt helpless inside those shadows and he knew that Roxanne had just entered the fight alerted by Sarah's screams.
-Please...let...let me explain...and then you can do whatever you like, he managed to whisper to two burning, red eyes staring him inside those abyssal shadows.
-Speak youngling! he heard Roxanne's voice.
-I had no choice, they decided to fight and I was caught in the middle of it, I had to fight for my life. I was wounded and the beast took over, when I woke up they were already gone.
-Is that your explanation? I have warned you about this. Consuming other vampires is the greatest sin amongst our kind.
-I know and I am deeply sorry for failing you but it was not a choice. I fought and luck or fate decided I would be the last man standing.
-If the prince finds out he will kill you in the worst possible way and I will be in his disfavor.
-Not really. Prince James already knows, I was in his office before coming here.
-And you are still alive? Why?
-He offered me the chance to live and serve him as a sheriff's helper. You see my clanmates held that postion and he offered it to me now. And you know I can be of much help in that position to you. Slowly the shadows began to fade.
Sarah was still holding her sword but Roxanne was much calmer.
-Are you telling me the truth, youngling?
-I wouldn't lie to you after all you've done for me.
-Roxanne, amaranth is our greatest sin, he needs to be punished, Sarah insisted.
-Sarah you were the one speaking about forgiveness, is it so hard to forgive me? It is not that I wanted to kill them.
-I don't care about you killing two other assasins, but drinking them dry, consuming their souls and destroying any chance they had for an afterlife is a sin I cannot forgive. Roxanne please step aside, let me clean this sin from our house.
-One minute Sarah, I respect your beliefs and as you see I am trying to uphold them but here we have an opportunity.
-How can you even trust him? You know his clan's weakness, now that he has tasted vampiric blood he will do it again and again and who knows he may even try kill you.
-Would that be the first time someone comes for my blood? Am I to be afraid of a youngling that got lucky in a fight? Please Sarah, I have fought many a war to start fearing now.
-And what exactly do you propose? Forgive him?
-Who said anything about forgiveness? James ignored his crime for a reason, Nansy and Narssel -yes youngling I knew damn well who were your bloodline- were valuable allies to him and still he chose not to punish him, what's more he made him the sheriff's assistant. If that is not part of a weird plan of his then I am not a shadow lord! Did James ask anything else of you? You better be honest with me Paul.
-He ordered me to keep this position one year for each murder and then I will be totally free. He said that when he calls I'll have to be at his side as fast as possible, nothing more.
-Okay, said Roxanne who was looking a bit satisfied, I better gather my shadows before those two pitiful ghouls choke to death and Sarah I know you have that power that can clean someone's soul why not offer it to Paul?
-That I will not do! said Sarah.
She was looking calm again and the sword was nowhere to be seen as she was bending over the two ghouls that were on the floor trying to breathe.
The shadows that shadow lords commanded were so thick that a mortal could choke to death if they stayed enough time inside of them.
-They will be fine Sarah, they are not normal humans and the shadows did not last that much.
-Look Roxanne, you say you can use him and I don't doubt it. You say you want no punishment for him, this is your house and you make the rules BUT I will not betray my beliefs and help a murderer.
Even now in his soul he doesn't feel sorry about what he has done. I can see clearly he is full of pride about his actions. He even feels pride about getting that sheriff position.
''Damn that woman and her mind-reading powers'' Paul thought.
-Okay, okay I get it, you don't want to help him and I will not force you to. But as you said this is my house and my will will be done. One last question youngling. Do I still have your loyalty?
-Of course my lady, never doubt that, said a still scared Paul.
-Never forget that then, if you try anything foolish enough even James won't be able to hide you from me...and Paul?
-Yes?
-Remember, cannibalising is a downward path to your inner beast, you cannot imagine how easy it is to lose yourself to your beastial instincts. Remember also that the day your beast controls your mind  I will kill you myself, am I clear?
-As always, my lady.
-Fine then, I already lost much time with this and I need to get ready for that party Sofia is throwing tonight. Ah by the way Paul, as long as this black stain stays on your aura I would rather you didn't accompany me on social gatherings, it will affect my status and will unnerve the others.
-As you wish my lady, said Paul with dissapointment in his face and voice.

As soon as Roxanne entered the bathroom again Paul  went to Suzan.
-My little Suzan are you ok?
-What happened? Why did Sarah scream?
-I can explain to you but not now. Are you okay? Can you move? We could take a walk maybe and I'll explain everything to you.
-I have to finish some paperwork, I thought you wouldn't be free tonight as you had said.
-Then later? Do you want to come by my place and sleep together?
-Of course I'd want that, said an ever-smiling Suzan while going back to her computer.

Paul looked for Sarah, she wasn't there. After she had checked both Suzan and Liza she propably had left for her room.
He took a deep breath -a useless habbit from his mortal days- and knocked her door.
-Who is it?
-It's me and I would really like to speak to you.
-My door is locked for you young Paul, leave me alone.
-Sarah please, of all the people in this house you are the one I need to apologize to the most.
-I don't need your apology, my clan suffered grave losses from cannibals like you and I now have one in the same place where I live.
-You know what? I am done trying to convince you that I am sorry, I did what I had to to protect my life and Suzan's and I will do it again if I have to. I am not proud of my crime but I am proud that I am still alive and that the Prince gave me a chance to get a place among my kind. I know you are perfect and all this humane shit but if you ever, ever, did something you were not proud of then you should give me a chance to prove that I am worthy of your forgiveness.
Paul heard the door unlock and suddenly Sarah charged out of her room. But this was not the usual Sarah.
Her silken skarf was gone and a terrifying third eye with a deep red glow was open and looking at him like looking into his very soul.
-You want forgiveness? I will grant you your wish then murderer! Spirits of my forefathers hear my call! Suddenly Sarah grabbed his arm. Archangel Michael I summon thee to haunt this man's dreamless sleep, to fill his soul with remorse and terror for what he has done, to reveal to him the true face of  his own evil! Let him know no rest until he understands the severity of his crime.
Paul had fallen on his knees while Sarah was uttering this ancient curse of her clan and when he regained his strength the third eye with the red glow was gone.
-What kind of sorcery is this? What have you done to me?
-What you asked for youngling. When you will be ready both in your mind and your soul then and only then will I forgive you. Till then I consider you unclean and I order you to stay away from me.
-What will happen to me? What were those words you said?
-Believe it or not it was my effort to save whatever part of your soul has remained intact after your crime and now leave me. Come back only when you will be clean of your sins.
-And when will that be?
-You will know...said Sarah cryptically and locked herself inside her room.

Later that night Paul explained to Suzan what had happened with his clanmates and what had happened tonight in the living room and later with Sarah.
In her human heart there was only love for him and no place for mistrust.
-I am sorry, he said to her, for everything, I never wanted any of that to happen.
-You don't need to be sorry, you fought for your life and I prefer you alive rather than dead. I believe Roxanne doesn't care that much for what you've done and Sarah will forgive you too. We only look towards the future not the past and I want a future with you.

Just moments before the sunrise Paul believed the worse had passed but as soon as the dreamless sleep claimed him he realised that his nightmare had just begun and he would be alone and helpless during his personal Hell.

''Nightmare lying here in the dark

Scared like my dreams made their mark

I wonder

Dreamer always alone

Lost in a part of myself I can't find anymore

I wonder if it's gonna end tonight

I can't sleep alone anymore

I need you here with me

Even though I closed all the doors

There's somethin' holdin' me

Never Ending Nightmare''

Vorg (2)

-My lord Byron may I interrupt? asked a servant.
-You already did, said Byron taking his eyes off the TV, so what is it about?
-Mr.Aris wants to see you.
-Alright bring him in.
A few seconds later Aris entered the living room.
Aris had been an athletic man as a mortal and his immortal nature hadn't changed that at all. He was always dressed in jeans and sporty t-shirts and most of the time he had dust or even leaves on his clothes and his body. He was the leader of his predator clan tasked by the Prince to guard the outskirts of the city from other vampires or lupines.
Of course his loyalty lied with Lord Byron and not his Prince for many years now.
After all if it hadn't been for Lord Byron his creator would still be alive and in his position.
He knew Byron was using him and in the event of his death Byron would not even bother to do anything but as long as he was alive and of some use he could partake in many pleasures Byron could arrange for him.
-Don't even move! Byron shouted, I have told you many times not to come in here with mud on your shoes yet you are standing there getting my carpets dirty.
-I am very sorry my Lord! I was in a hurry to bring you good news.
-I am listening.
-Vorg is in our town already.
-Damn Aris, I know, said Byron pointing at the TV, I saw the news already, he has started his work.
-Humans are already shaking, his first victim, has already been found in such a grotesque condtion that even the cops got scared.
-Very nice, let the humans bathe in fear for their lives, any news from our beloved Prince?
-I heard he called this new Sheriff to his office about an hour ago.
-Really? Is he going to assign this neonate on this? Hahahaha that's going to be fun, we may even get a dead sheriff before we strike the Prince himself then.
-What about his creator? The shadow bitch.
-Ah yes, Roxanne, well since you are here I have another job for you. I want you to settle a score with that bitch for me.
-Always at your service, my Lord.
-Go find Makis and get a package I ordered, he will explain to you what you have to do with it.
-On my way.
Byron laughed looking at the news one more time.
''Soon Prince you will only be but a memory''.

A couple of hours before Paul had just woken up in his large bed. Of course Suzan was already up and she propably was at Roxanne's house attending her business.
Paul took a bath and opened his television ready for another quiet night that he was going to spend with either Roxanne or Suzan.
One week had passed since his encounter with James and his new assignment and since then the Prince had never called him.
On every channel there was the news about a kidnapping that had happened earlier that evening in a central park of Thessaloniki. The weird thing was not the kidnapping itself but the bloody mess the kidnapper had made of the victim's friend. It seemed it was a couple having their vacations in Greece when someone attacked them and violently killed the man and kidnapped the girl leaving a bloody mess behind. The funny thing was that all that had happened in a central park but almost no witness could offer anything to help the police.
''And they call us the monsters'' Paul thought.
He was ready to call Suzan when his mobile phone rang. Paul opened his eyes in disbelief when he saw the name of the caller.
-M-my Prince?
-Get at my office as fast as possible, he heard James saying.
-Of course, on my way.
''Damn here goes my quiet night, judging by his voice something really bad has happened and I am quite sure this kidnapping has something to do with it''

In less that 15 minutes he was at Jame's office. The prince and ''Faceless'' were already there watching the news.
-My prince? said Paul while bowing at his Prince.
-Welcome Mr.Anageropoulos, I am pleased you were so fast.
-You call and I answer, wasn't that the deal?
-Yes it was and it's time to take on your first assignment.
-I suppose it has to do with this kidnapping that's on the news?
-Yes! I am pretty sure the kidnapper was a vampire judging by the bloody state of the victim and by the fact that strangely enough all witnesses can't remember a thing.
-What do you want me to do?
-Find me the one responsible for this, alive or dead I don't care, though I would like to pass my punishment onto him myself.
-May I ask why me? I truly believe ''Faceless'' would be much more efficient at tracking him down
-Aren't you a sheriff too? Time to do something about it.
-Is this some kind of test then?
-Maybe, Mr.Anageropoulos. Would you care to dissapoint me?
-Of course not my Prince, I will find the one responsible and serve him your justice. One more thing my Prince, I would need some help with the investigation and maybe access in the police.
-As I told you already you are a sheriff, if you need any help ask the proper one and he would be damned not to help my sheriff.
-Then I'll be taking my leave.
-Do not fail me Anageropoulos!
''Hell yeah...where am i supposed to start searching?'' Paul wondered while leaving.

-My lord?
-Yes ''Faceless''?
-Why that youngling and not me? I don't think he is ready for this, he has no social connections and judging from what happened the kidnapper is of quite some power and age.
-Exactly that!
-Meaning?
-Whoever did this meant to provoke me, he endangered the ''masquerade'' for no apparent reason, he could have taken that girl any other time, so I am sending a youngling to investigate just to show him I do not consider him a threat.
-But the youngling may get in trouble...
-Well isn't that part of the job of a sheriff? If he succeeds then I would have made the right choice about keeping him alive and if he fails then we end up at the same point. As for this kidnapper whoever he is I am pretty sure we will hear from him again and soon.
-Do you want me to start searching too?
-No, at least not for the time being. Let the youngling try, I want something else trickier from you. This kidnapper is not from Thessaloniki and I am sure of this, he is an outsider.
-From Athens?
-Maybe, it doesn't really matter where he is from but who invited him or sent him here. So from now on I want you to monitor the elders closely.
-Do you think the conspiracy will try to strike at you now?
-Well if there is a conspiracy it would be a perfect time to strike during a large breach of the ''masquerade''.
-Do you suspect anyone specifically?
-I suspect everyone ''Faceless'', keep a close eye on them.
-As you order my lord but I still believe the youngling will fail. Shall I keep an eye on him too?
-No! I have other plans for him. That rotten warlock informed me he had two new arrivals for his clan and as you know I have to accept them, so why not prove they are worth my kindness by helping our young sheriff? And also Sir Nick presented a new tunneler of his, he said that this man is an expert in computers and it would be foolish of me to kill him. Lets have this expert join our sheriff's team.
-Two warlocks an assasin and a tunneler, not bad at all my prince.
-I think so as well. Do not forget that this youngling killed two highly trained assassins already. I strongly believe Anageropoulos is going to impress us. So start your part of the investigation, have Nick tell this new tunneler to contact Anageropoulos and I will inform that rotten piece of shit Amadeus about his two new warlocks.
-As you wish my lord, said ''Faceless'' and after bowing he left the office.

''Is this the time the conspiracy will finally show its real face?'' James wondered.
''Am I ready to face my would be killers? Time will tell but if I have to fight for my life and my position I will give them a fight they are never going to forget!''

A weird awakening (5)

''What kind of person lives in an abandoned graveyard?'' wondered Paul one more time when he and Darius parked the motorcycle right outside of it.
''A necromancer'' came the answer in his mind, Sebastian was a necromancer and as far as Paul knew, unlike Marcela, he was a member of a long forgotten and hunted bloodline of necromancers.
His eyes caught Darius whispering some strange words and hanging some weird brooches on his coat.
-What are you doing?
-I am just being cautious, he may dislike visitors and a warlock never goes anywhere unprepared...
-Any precautions for me too then?
-Nah you are the sheriff, you do not need any precautions, said Darius, a hint of irony in his voice.
''Fuck this! Necromancer or not I have a duty to my prince.'' thought Paul and opened the almost rotten, wooden door of the graveyard.
Seconds after he and Darius were standing in front of the door of an old werehouse built of stone that served as the necromancer's haven.
Paul looked one more time at Darius and then he knocked on the door.
All this time they both had the feeling they were being watched.
A strange voice answered the knock.
-Come inside Sheriff, it's open!
Paul opened the door and stepped inside followed by Darius.
The necromancer was standing only a few meters away dressed in a modern suit.
Although he was looking as a normal human an exercised eye could easily see that many features on him were quite inhuman.
-What honor brings the Sheriff and a warlock so suddenly to my house?
-Greetings Sebastian, said Darius, we are very sorry to intrude into your haven like that but it seems we have a little problem in the city and we are in need of your experience and knowledge.
-Problem? What sort of problem?
-Sheriff can you please show  Mr.Sebastian what you showed us?
Paul looked back at Darius a bit annoyed that the warlock had started the conversation without letting him speak.
-Of course, Mr.Sebastian do you have a computer I could use?
-Computer? Ha ha ha well technology is not my field actually so no I don't have one. I prefer more old fashioned ways to learn news.
-Then I am afraid we will have to explain it to him, said Paul, Darius my friend go on.
-Alright, tonight a doctor at a morgue encountered a body, dead in a car accident, that kept rising from death and attacking her until she decapitated it.
-A typical zombie situation, I don't get why you need my help on that?
-Well not so typical, you see that doctor is quite a necromancer herself, said Paul hastily only to realise that for a reason Sebastian was staring at him with anger in his eyes.
Immediately Darius tried to calm everyone.
-Well not all necromancers are the same Sheriff, some are far better than others.
Sebastian seemed to calm down.
-So an Italian necromancer tried to subdue that body and failed? And you decided to come to me for help? Why wasn't I asked in the first place?
-Mr.Sebastian it was the necromancer that informed Prince James about the encounter and it was the Prince that tasked me to find out what this was and Darius proposed that you would be able to help us.
-I see...well I'll have to check the body for further information.
-That can be arranged and we also know from a reliable source that this thing has vampiric origins and that it is related to a prophecy of our kind.
-What prophecy?
-That we don't know, but we have to find some answers before the coming dawn.
-And why is that?
-Because right after my clan ... started Darius
-Because Prince James asked so! said an angry Paul, I don't want to be rude but we don't have time to lose, are you willing to help us?
-I see! For a shadow lord and a sheriff you are quite rude indeed but yes I am willing because a body cannot self-ressurect, at least that's what I have learned after many centuries. Give me 10 minutes to prepare my things and I will be right out and by the way there is no way I am riding that thing so if you don't mind we will use my car and before dawn you can come and take your bike Sheriff.
-As you wish, we will be waiting outside.

-What! said Paul when they got out, why are you looking at me like this?
-Do you have any idea what ''elder'' means?
-Well yes, mr.warlock, my creator is quite an elder herself.
-Then you should know better to speak more appropriately to them and I don' t want to mention that other thing.
-What other thing?
-Do you know our own history?
-I do!
-No you don't, Sebastian belongs to an ancient clan of necromancers that got annihilated by Marcela's clan during the start of this millenia. I tried to avoid mentioning her for a reason. Those two clans are mortal enemies and adding the fact of your rudeness I am amazed he did not attack you right there on the spot.
-Really? Well I have to admit I didn't know that story and maybe I was a bit rude but FOR ONE MORE GOD DAMN TIME I AM THE SHERIFF Darius and I don't give a fuck about his age, I am here for a threat that endangers the city and as far as I know I am the Prince's hand and I DEMAND to be treated as such!


Many city blocks away Asterios was preparing to lay down to his bed to test this knew power he was experimenting with.
He had already phoned Achilles and he would be coming to his home in half an hour.
''More than enough time to finish my part'' he thought while he was preparing the necessary ingredients.


A few city blocks away Jason was monitoring his computers for any new encounters of such things or for bodies found.
Up till now his search had proved fruitless but as a good researcher he knew that patience is the virtue of one such.

And almost in the other side of the city a puzzled Leonidas was following a lunatic to meet the Sheriff wondering if this Pablo was really crazy or he himself was crazy for following him.

Everyone got the same message from Paul.
''We meet at 23:00 at the usual warehouse''

As the necromancer's ghoul was driving through the city Paul was looking outside the car's windows.
He had a very bad feeling for this ancient vampiric prophecy.
''And I still haven't called her, she is really gonna be pissed!''
-....forget what I asked you already, he heard Darius talking to him.
-What?
-I said I hope you have not forgotten what I asked you already...
-Your experiment?
-Oh yes, I already rode that bike, it's time for your part of the deal and also Mr.Sebastian needs a body to test as well.
-Okay, Mr.Sebastian ask your driver to get us to the train station first please, I need to pick something up.
-Train station it is then!

Vorg(1)

The night was pitch black with no moon shining. Clouds covered the sky and a thick fog surrounded everything on the ground.
A few miles away to the north the titanic shadows of the mountains were visible and a wolf howling could be heard.
The dark soil crackled and split in many parts as a monstrous figure rose from inside that cursed ground.

-HAIL lord Vorg, warlord of Transylvania and ruler of Karpathia! said a hooded figure a few meters away from the monster.
The monster grabbed the hooded figure from the neck with superhuman speed and lifted him from the ground.
-WHO DARES WAKE ME?
-You 've been asleep for so long lord Vorg. My name is Aris and I work for a lord that claims your friendship and alliance.
-WHAT IS THE NAME OF THAT SO CALLED FRIEND AND ALLY?
-His name is lord Byron of Thessaloniki, said the suspended hooded figure while his neck begun to crack under the pressure of the inhuman monster's strength.
-I RECALL THAT NAME, A BROTHER OF MINE RULED THESSALONIKI.
-Not anymore my lord, an usurper murdered your brother and took over the city.
-PREPOSTEROUS! WHEN AND HOW?
-Three hundred years ago, no one knows how...
-I HAVE SLEPT FOR SO LONG THEN, said the monster and let the figure drop, AND WHAT DOES THIS LORD BYRON WANTS FROM ME?
-He asks for your help so as to punish this usurper and see you take your rightful place as ruler of Thessaloniki!
-WHY SHALL I WANT TO RULE A CITY SO FAR AWAY FROM MY BELOVED SOIL?
-Lord Byron wanted me to inform you that Thessaloniki has several warlocks assisting this usurper and that a traitor of your own clan has taken refuge in the city with the approval of the usurper.
-WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE TRAITOR?
-He calls himself Voevod Ilai...
-THAT WORM! INFORM YOUR BYRON THAT I WILL MAKE THE NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS AND I WILL COME TO YOUR CITY TO PUNISH THE USURPER AND RULE IN PLACE OF MY BROTHER.
-As you wish my lord, one more thing, lord B... Byron asks only that when you come you do not contact him until the deed is done so he can be able to assist you without everyone knowing he is involved.
-OF COURSE HE WOULD, BLUE-BLOODED BASTARDS WITH NO HONOR AND FIGHTING SPIRIT...NOW LEAVE DOG BEFORE I SATISFY MY THRIST WITH YOU!

A few days later in a luxurious house in the outskirts of Thessaloniki that hooded figure was standing in front of a middle-aged man dressed in a fine, dark blue suit.
-Is it done?
-Of course my lord, Vorg is awake and preparing to come here.
-Judging by your auras he must be impressive...
-My lord he is a pure monster from Hell, are you sure you can control him?
-Control him?HAHAHAHAHAHA a whole cabal of madmen were not able to control him some time ago so I have no delussions that I can.
-Then why unleash him upon our city?
-If someone could take care of James that's Vorg.
-So you want this monster to rule Thessaloniki?
-Rule? Who said anything about ruling?
-Then?
-Ari my friend you must learn many things in politics, don't bother your mind with political plots. After all I like you for your other skills, not your brain.
-Glad to be of help my lord.
-Vorg will be unleashed upon Thessaloniki only to dethrone James and after that he will disappear.
-How are you so sure, I mean...
-DO NOT INTERRUPT ME! I have already arranged it, I am not that insane as to unleash this monster without already having a countermeasure.
-The snake?
-Not only, the less you know the better for you.
-Is it true that Vorg is insane?
-At least the rumors say so...some time during the 16th century a cabal of madmen managed to ambush him and for many decades experimented with his body and brain. I am sure even you could understand what the madmen are capable of.
-Is he so potent?
-Legend has it that Vorg is one of the few creations of Vlad Tepes himself.
-Vlad Tepes?
-Oh in Cain's name Ari, Vlad Tepes the impaler, ruler of Transylvania also known as ...
-DRACULA! Aris realised.
-Exactly, the only problem is that after so many experiments on his brain Vorg now believes he is the legendary Dracula and not his creation.
-Are you so sure that this Vorg is able to kill both ''Faceless'' and James?
-I doubt he could do it at the same time but I have recruited other allies as well plus I do not intend to lead him into a direct confrontation. Vorg will fight them separately one by one, first ''faceless'', then that scum Amadeus and finally this ''James''.
-You believe the warlock could die by Vorg?
-Amadeus? Of course, his magics cannot protect him from the centuries old fury and hatred that monster carries for the warlocks.
-How can I help, my lord?
-Here is a list of prostitutes and a list of different houses owned by several mortal servants of mine. I want you to find all the women and place them in each house.
Aris looked at the lists.
-My lord are all the women called Mina?
-Some yes, some others I had to rename them.
-Why rename them?...Just a moment I get it, the classic legend about Dracula's love?
-I am impressed Aris, maybe your brain is finally of some use. Now leave and do as I told you. LET US PREPARE THIS CITY FOR THE COMING OF ''DRACULA''!

Aris left in a hurry while an evil laugh spread throughout the huge, luxurious house.
Byron stared outside his window, finally his plans for revenge were taking form.
-I would be stupid if I believed that James would not be able to handle Vorg but I have many more aces up my sleeve ''beloved'' prince. When you are done chasing your tail I will strike with full force, I did not spent a millenia in this city to bow before a clanless dog of no known origin!

Byron laughed one more time while looking at the city below him.
Thessaloniki was his legacy and he had waited long enough to embrace it.

Anageropoulos(16)

Paul spent the next three nights alone, locked up in his appartment.
He was afraid to go out, he was afraid to meet Suzan, he was afraid to meet Roxanne cause he was sure that his mentor would discover what he had done and he was deeply afraid to meet Sarah. That woman could read him like an open book not that she would punish him but he could already see the disappointment in her face and disappointing Sarah was the last thing he wanted to do.
So he lied. To his servant he said he was tired and to Suzan he said he had some unfinished business.
Each day and every lie made him suffer even more.

He spent the night hour's in grief, not that he loved Nansy or that he liked Narssel but in a way they were his family and he had committed the ultimate crime against them.
Sure he had fought for his life but such things rarely mattered in the vampiric society.
Cannibalising other vampires was the ultimate crime and the day someone would find out, Prince James would ask for his head.
He may had won against Narssel out of pure luck but Narssel was weakened from his fight with Nansy and he may had earned new powers from their cursed blood but neither luck or power would be enough to help him against that masked assasin. ''Facelless'' could kill him as easily as Paul could kill a child.

At the fourth night he made up his mind, he had stayed hidden for a long time before and he was determined not to hide ever again in his life and he also needed to see Suzan and try to explain to her and to Roxanne as well.
Those two women deserved the truth for all the things they had given him.
As for Sarah, Paul could only hope that she would forgive him some day and that she would eventually smile to him again.

So at that night he dressed up and went out, he also had to feed and after that accursed night his hunger had grown to new levels.
He believed he knew the answer to that, devouring ancient blood empowers your own blood but you inherit the ancient thirst too.
And both his victims were ancients.
He may be a youngling according to vampire traditions but the blood in his veins was now potent giving him new powers and also enhancing the effects of the vampiric curse on him.

He found an easy prey in a dark alley and he welcomed the feeling of warm blood running down his throat.
Before he could stop himself he drank the human dry and now he was holding a soulless body in his hands.
-DAMN! Am I becoming an emotionless beast? Why on earth could I not stop? Now I have to hide this body somehow.
He evoked his clan's unique power and vomitted a quantity of blood upon the dead body. In that way his blood acted as a strong acid and in some seconds the body was a pile of meat and bones.
There was no way someone would understand this was a human before.
Paul looked at the pile once again and he was surprised to find out that he was not sorry about the lost life, he was just angry with himself losing his self control.
''I am losing my humanity'' he realised.
Roxanne and Sarah had warned him about this, the more beastial a vampire would act the less human he would appear and the more inhumanely he would think and act.

-Nice mess you've created there!
Paul heard an electronic voice coming from behind him and he knew damn well who used voice distortion.
He turned and saw ''faceless'' only a few meters away.
-I had no intention to kill him...I lost my self but I believe I took care of the remains so there is no threat to masquerade.
-I am sure the ''shadow'' taught you well how to cover up your tracks and I am not here for a homeless scum.
-Then?
-Prince James sent for you, dead or alive.
Paul felt a growing fear but at the same moment he decided to face James and face whatever punishment would come.
-I don't see many choices then other than coming along.
-Well most of the time when Prince James asks for someone in that way he leaves out the ''alive'' part so here is your choice.
-He knows?
-No crime can remain hidden under the sun or the moon in our case.
-How?
-Come and ask him and please don't try anything stupid, the Prince said he would prefer to have you brought to him alive but I won't hesitate to kill you.
-I know, take me there.

''Faceless'' lead Paul to Jame's office but not the usual one at the hotel.
He led him to a basement in a building near the hotel where they found James in a dark room full of maps of Thessaloniki and multiple screens showing real time videos of Thessaloniki.
Around the room were shelves full of books and parchments.
The only door to this place was guarded by a titanium door with a lock that required both a password and a voice scanner.
Not that many would be crazy to attack James in his lair.
As they entered the room James turned towards them. Paul bowed feeling that growing fear again.
-Mr. Anageropoulos I am glad you decided to come alive.
-My prince...
-Don't! When I need you to speak I will let you know. Did that woman teach you our laws? Did she tell you that only a prince has the right to kill in a given city? Did she inform you that cannibalising your own kind is a crime even for princes? SPEAK!
-The answer is yes to all your questions, my Prince!
-Do you know what punishment awaits you?
-I know!
-And yet you came willingly...interesting!
''Er...he doesn't seem mad at me'' Paul thought.
-I had no intention to insult or defy you my Prince. May I say something though before you pass your judgment on me?
-Speak, youngling!
-I had no intention to fight those two but they gave me no choice and I had to fight for my life. They even said that you had no right to interfere so I couldn't ask for your protection. As for the cannibalism I admit I am guilty of it and I can only say that I had no control over my self when I did it.
-What about the lies about the ''shadow''?
-From the first time I saw you my Prince I didn't want to have to lie to you but she gave me no choice.
-Why? What does she want from you?
-I honestly have no idea but I owe her because she really tought me how to be a vampire.
-Anything else before I pass my judgement?
-I take full responsibility for what has happened, I am really ashamed for lying to you but if i am to die I would really like to ask you not to punish Roxanne for my crimes nor tell her what happened of me.
-Ha ha ha ha you see my sheriff! When someone is young he is not afraid to die, he doesn't even beg for his life, he still cares for the woman, such altruism! Okay Mr. Anageropoulos here is my verdict. You murdered two of my allies and you committed the ultimate crime amongst our kind. The penalty for your actions is death...BUT...if I kill you I will have lost two allies and a potential third.
Paul looked at James and in his face he could recognise sympathy and not hatred.
-Can you be that third ally Paul?
-My Prince...
-I am willing to let you go, to forget what you have done to your clanmates as long as you agree to take their place at my side.
-I can't betray Roxanne.
-Who said anything about betrayal? Do you really think I am that low of a leader to ask you to betray your mentor? You will be on my side as far matters of the city are concerned, as a helper to our sheriff or sometimes as the hand of the prince.
-I don't understand...
-Paul what do they say for our sherriff?
-Roxanne?
-NO! The others...
-They fear him and distrust him especially the younger ones.
-And here is your part, you are young and new and you have a mentor of respected status, where ''faceless'' is distrusted you will not be. Also I need him on more important tasks rather than investigating the death of a ghoul. Also when things go bad I don't want to have to involve him, they hate him enough as it is. But you are new and they won't even expect it.
-In other words, you want me to do the dirty job for you.
-You can put it that way, that was the agreement with Nansy and Narssel and that's why they had a bit more freedom than others in the city. I am willing to give that freedom to you if you choose to take my offer.
-And I won't have to betray Roxanne?
-No you won't and I hope that after some time you will find out that I am not that kind of leader. I earn the respect of others, I dont just ask for it.
-And what about the act of cannibalism?
James said nothing, he turned to his office and wrote a quick note which he passed to Paul.
-That will do. Also you will keep this position as my helper one year for each murder. After that I hope I will have earned your respect and that you would like to keep your spot out of respect and loyalty. Do you agree?
''My prince you have already earned them'' Paul thought.
-I agree!
-Nothing more to be said then, you may leave Paul and remember, when I call you drop everything and come as fast as possible to me.
-At your service, my Prince!

Paul walked out relieved of the fear that had taken over him before. He checked out the little note.

"What happened and what I did was for the good of the city and with the agreement of the true ruler of Thessaloniki'' and it was signed by Prince James himself.

Paul felt a weird laugh climbing his throat...
-It seems I am a sheriff now! Paul said with a bit of pride and joy.
Time and again he would regret that pride and that joy in the nights to come.

Prince James(2)

The two men were standing in the dark roof of ''Astoria'' hotel watching the night sky reflecting the multicolored lights of the town.
-My lord, may I speak?
-You know you can always speak your mind especially when we are alone.
-Why did you give permission to that rotten necromancer? He will probably cause many problems during his stay here.
-I know...
-Then...why? You surely knew he is old enough and his partner is one of the most powerful lords of Europe...
-Do you know who is the sire of our lovely Sofia?
-Of course, the prince of Paris!
-Then maybe you know who the major enemy of the prince of Paris is.
-...can't be anyone other than lord Victor vice king of France... The man's eyes suddenly opened.
-That's why you accepted him...as a countermeasure against Sofia and her sire.
-Wasn't it too obvious?
-You never cease to impress me, my lord.
-Though I had a few more reasons to accept him , I don't know why but I strongly feel that this man would be of great help in the times to come. Voluntarily or not!
-Ha! I suppose you want me to monitor him?
-From a distance, give him some space, let him believe he is safe enough and never forget that he is a skilled necromancer even the shadows can't really hide you from his spies.
-Are you teasing me, my lord? You know damn well I dabble in the necromantic arts myself or is it another test of cunning and necromantic prowess?
-....
-Damn! I was sure!
-I don't doubt your powers my sheriff, I just don't want you to become rusty if everything stays calm and quiet. And now you better get to work...
-Always at your service, my lord!

Prince James was left alone on the rooftop, he breathed the air around him. For him it was like recharging his batteries, his destiny lay in this town waiting for him to grasp it.
All these years he had created a unique web of allies around him without them even knowing it.
Whenever someone aproached him he cooperated with him and at the same time he made sure he would contact his enemy to score an agreement with him too.
Everyone believed they were expanding their influence while in fact they were just expanding Jame's.
''Divide and conquer''. This ancient quote was his guide.
His centuries old plans had started paying off and he only needed time and he had an eternity to spend.

His mind travelled several centuries ago before he came to Thessaloniki.
Where he was, he was worshipped as a god but it was not enough. He knew the that times change and he felt vulnerable there.
He was always a fighter but not a stupid one. Why fight a lost war when you can fight and win another day.
He knew he had to stay low and get used to his new status, where he was going they were not in need of a god but in need of a charismatic leader who would climb the ladder of leadership slowly but steady.
He was familiar with that place of course but many centuries had passed since the last time he had been in Greece.
He knew his sire and his ''sister'' were the shadowy rulers of that place but that was aeons ago.
As far as he knew his sire was burried deep enough having surrendered herself to the long sleep and his sister was nowhere to be found since the dawn of the Roman era.
Even if they were to return he would have established his reign and his powers to levels that even they could not surpass.
But he had one more reason to come to Greece and specifically in Thessaloniki.
When you have thousands of nights to live and thousands of days to hide from the sun, reading and researching becomes your best friend.
He read and collected so many documents about his kind, its lore, its origins and its occult.
He specifically paid attention to prophecies about the future of the vampiric kind.
So many signs were foretold about Greece, what would define the Vampiric kind would most propably happen in Greece sometime in the future and he was determined to be there and gain as much as he could.

Fate and luck were in his favor but he knew that he would need more if he was to win this nightly war.
He would need allies of any kind and power. After all you can't become a leader if you have noone to lead.
And his first ally proved to be the most unexpected one, the sheriff of the previous prince of Thessaloniki.
Through the years he continued to collect a wide variety of allies and sometimes even his most trusted allies doubted his choices but until now he had never been proved wrong.
Even that youngling that had lied to him about his origins had his place in Jame's plan.
Jame's didnt know what this place would be but he knew that this Paul Anageropoulos would make a fine ally one day.
He interrupted his journey through his memories, this was not a time to relax, war was coming and he still had many things to prepare for.
He gazed one more time at his beloved city, the city he had been ruling for the last 300 years.
-One day Thessaloniki I will reign supreme above everyone and I promise that whoever believes in me will never be alone again!

Sebastian(1)

Born in poverty and sickness.
Grown up among violence and death.
He lived through the worst years of humanity...the Dark Ages.
And finally he died in the worst possible way...or so his relatives were told!

But death sometimes is not exactly what it seems.

Sebastian was the latest child of a poor family who lived in the dirty, overcrowded, poor district of Paris at the start of the second millenia.
Their home, a former pigsty, had no windows, no floor and an old rotten blanket was used as a door.
Even the roof had holes and during heavy downpoors water would drip inside making the floor muddy.
They lived, they slept, they cooked and sometimes they would even bathe in that place.
The only water water to them was coming from the nearby polluted river.
That was life in the poor district of Paris back then.
Sickness and death were everywhere around him in his early years.
Diseases were the most common cause of death while murder was the second.
Murder for a loaf of bread or a single copper coin.
Sebastian vowed that his children would not have to live like that, he would either be rich or he would not start a family.
Soon he realised the first part of the vow was almost impossible while a man's urges made the second part very hard to achieve.
At the age of 17 a girl that he had been using to satisfy his urges announced to him that she was pregnant.
Like him the girl was also from a poor family and her only destiny was to become a cheap whore or marry.
Fate decided that she would have to marry.
And so Sebastian would be the lucky father.
Despair hit him but in that difficult hour the hope of a new life gave him the power to rise up again.
He found an abandoned hut at a slightly better spot in the district and found a job at the nearby graveyard, digging new graves and cleaning the old ones.
With the years passing he transformed that hut into a wooden house which even sported a separate bathroom inside.
In the next two decades his family grew bigger giving him four more children.
He considered himself lucky until the plague hit.
First he lost his parents. Older people were the most vulnerable to the plague.
The plague hit the children shortly after.
His last daughter died at the age of three.
All the people were crying for help from the king, from the church or from God himself.
No help came, the poor were left to rot abandoned in the poor distinct.
His wife was the next to suffer and finally die.
He was barely 40 surrounded by the miasma of death with one child dead and three more to care for and no wife.
That was when his sanity started leaving him.
In his despair he found beauty in death.
Death was pure, life was incomplete.
Death was final while life was everchanging.
More and more he would spend his time in the graveyard.
He could swear the dead were speaking to him.
After some time in this state he was actually inviting death to visit him.
And death answered his prayers.

Her name was Lamia.
Once upon a time she was a priestess in ancient Greece.
Her own creator made her because of the devotion she showed to the arts of necromancy.
She as her creator belonged to a clan of vampires infused with the power of necromancy.
For her the revelation of undeath was a heavenly gift. She had aeons now to experiment with the borders of life and death.
One of her trips brought her to Paris.
What could be a better place to study death if not a city where death manifested everywhere each day.
For days she stalked that man walking inside that graveyard talking as if the dead could hear him, even inviting death to come for him.
Finally she decided to grant him his wish, for her death was not the end after all but just the begining of something new and better.
The man hadn't eaten for days so when she attacked he could barely defend himself.
Soon he was lying dying on the ground with his neck torn open by her teeth.
-How does death taste now? she asked him in a cold tone.
-Finally...the man managed to whisper.
-Are you not afraid?
-I am released!
The woman found only truth in the man's voice.
He wanted to die. He had earned his peace.
-NO! You are not going to die that easily. She tore her wrist's vein and let some of her black blood drip in the dying man's mouth.
-I curse you to live a life eternal, damned by God himself until the end of time.
Sebastian would never forget that night even if ten thousand years or more passed.

The next night he awoke inside a crypt. His creator was near coldly smiling.
In front of him lay two diseased bodies of young women waiting for him to satisfy his hunger.
It took him months if not years to realise his new state.
Even his body had changed. Being a member of the necromantic clan his body had changed to resemble that of a dead one.
For a poor educated man with a strong Christianic faith believing in his vampiric state was one of the hardest things he had to do.
But once again he found hope in his new state.
Necromancy could give countless opportunities as he discovered.
This time he vowed he would become the best necromancer the world had ever seen.
After the first century his creator left, the plague had ceased but Sebastian remained in Paris.
He continued his research on the boundaries of death.
He knew vampires were not the only supernatural beings in the world and he knew that there was a world behind our world. A world hidden behind the veil of death. A world for the dead.
Years became decades and decades became centuries but Sebastian was learning and experimenting all this time.
His fame spread among the rest of the damned as one of the best necromancers in existence.
His sire had already fell to the ''great sleep'' under the weight of her age.
Even the prince of Paris granted him boons and favors for services and the poor district of Paris was Sebastian's domain.

Then treachery hit his clan.
The creator of his clan was murdered by one of his own creations who now claimed that he was the ruler of the clan and had started a deadly hunt for anyone who would not accept him as such.
Sebastian was almost 400 years old then.
He was consdiered one of the powerful vampires but Sebastian was never a fighter.
He could fight and win against even the most powerful ghost or wraith but fighting a vampire was a lot different.
Soon that usurper sent for Sebastian. He would either accept this murderer as his ruler or he would die like many others of his clan had.
He tried to contact his creator, Lamia, but she was nowhere to be found.
He had no intention to betray his clan and join the murderer but he did not intend to die either.
In his despair he contacted a member of the mage clan, he promised to teach them his gift of Necromancy in exchange for his protection.
The mage clan gave it no second thought. Centuries now they had been trying to explore death but unlike their magic which was strong, their necromantic powers were weak.
They offered Sebastian a place near a vampire lord of tremendous political and military status in the southern France as his councilor in return for his teachings in the necromantic arts.

That way Sebastian found himself in Vienna at first and after some years on the side of lord Victor, vice king of France and ruler of the southern provinces.

For about half a millenia he stayed there continuing his experiments hiding from the eyes of his would be murderers, offering his arts to his ally and expanding the goals of his patron clan.
What he hadn't achieved in life he had achieved in death.
Lord Victor was not only powerful but he was also rich, one of the richest men on Earth.
At his side Sebastian became rich too.
During the dark years of Inquisition he and Victor became friends rather than mere co-workers.
During all the wars that France endured he and Victor tasted the same wins and defeats.
And they earned the trust of each other, a thing rare between vampires.
Sebastian almost never left Victor's castle's dungeons where he was free to commit his experiments.

But times changed...
Victor was now a known industrialist, a major part of the political and economical scene of France and also Europe.
While the world had changed Sebastian was left behind.
He knew that after this only the ''long sleep'' would follow.
He had to find something knew to give his life meaning.
Rumors had it that his creator was still alive hidden somewhere in Greece.
That was a sign for what this new meaning in his life could be.
He made the arrangements with his patron clan and his friend Victor and soon he was in the city of Thessaloniki where his friend had arranged for the local prince to accept him in his town.
Sebastian did not need much, a small place hidden from prying eyes, preferably near or inside a graveyard.
Prince James out of respect for this vampire's age arranged for him to have just what he had asked for and gave the order that his research not be disturbed.

Sebastian believed that this new ''quest'' had refreshed him and if he was to find his sire many new possibilities would present themselves.
He found way more than he expected though in the city of Thessaloniki.
And most of it came in the company of neonates.

Nansy&Narssel(2)

Darkness.
Silence.
No motion.
Only the dead rested there.
A grave it was...

-Do you know what has been done? A woman's voice broke the silence.
Not the actual silence though, her voice could only be heard in the man's head.
-I am asking you! Do you know what happened?
-Of course I know woman! You keep underestimating me after so many years.
-Shall I guess that it was your move after all?
-You are not the only one moving in the shadows dear!
-You knew already?
-I created you remember? Of course I knew that you had contacted her.
-And you ordered him to stop her?
-I never order! It was his decision, he was a judge and he made his call.
-And look where his call led us...
-Fate and destiny always have their own plan dear.
-Don't call me that! I am not your dear since the night you...
-Be grateful I only staked you then else you would only be a shadowy memory by now.
-That youngling cannot replace our students!
-You mean your student?
-She was his student not mine...
-Do you really believe I don't know that you have been reaching her mind and poisoning her thoughts? Do you really believe that my student would have failed to teach her?
-You call this a success then?
-He underestimated his opponent and paid the ultimate price, yet this youngling has the potential as it was proven.
-He will not follow your path and you know it.
-My path is obsolete nowadays, maybe he will find a new path to follow.
-He killed them both, he succumbed to frenzy and diablerised them and you put your faith in him?
-I put my faith nowhere except me and my creator.
-Look where your faith led us!
-Exactly where we should be my dear!
-Both our students died in one night, noone is out there to monitor and keep the balance in this city, that creature James is now free to do as he pleases and the youngling is under the control of that shadowy woman. He only cares to run behind that ghoul's skirt!
-Worry not about James my dear he is not free at all and as for the ghoul I am kinda glad that the youngling kept his feelings beyond death. It reminds me of someone I knew centuries ago, someone that loved a woman and gave her everything. Someone that still loves that woman and not the abomination that she has become!
-May I remind you that this woman never really wanted to follow your path and the moment you gave her immortality you actually killed her?
-I know that! That woman repaid me with treason yet here she lies near me continuing to plot against me but my dead, black heart reminds me of the reasons I loved her!
-That woman is dead! Dead! You hear me?
-Loud and clear, dear! She may be dead but I should remind you to thank her for being alive at this very moment.
-...
-Nothing poisonous to say dear?
-Since when...
-I knew about your little plan from the very first moment you contacted Nansy.
-Yet you let her do my deed.
-I told you before, I do not order, everyone makes his choices and ultimately pays for them.
-So you didn't send Narssel after her?
-I didn't have to. He knew his obligation damn well!
-You could have stopped that bloodshed.
-I could have, yes.
-Then why?
-Because you put it so nicely to her, the circle must continue, what doesn't change dies.
-You wanted him too?
-I saw a potential in him and a possible future outcome.
-The gift of the ''sight''?
-Do you really believe dear that Narssel was your choice to create and train?
-What do you mean?
-I chose him for you as you chose Nansy for him.
-But-but that boy was my choice?
-Was he?
-Damn you! Damn you to hell!!!
-My plan didn't work exactly as it should have but the final outcome came almost true.
-Do you plan to call him here?
-I don't need to, he will come to me eventually.
-How are you so sure dear? He may as well follow the road of his shadowy mentor.
-Because, dear, unlike you who are staked in a coffin for an eternity, I am free to move as I please. The fact that I remain in this cellar with you is because I enjoy your silent agony and I really like letting my enemies do their moves without fearing me. May I also remind you that unlike you I have been taught from our first one the power to move and act without even moving?
-You are not in torpor, said the woman afraid, you are slumbering...
-Exactly my dear. I never slept, my enemies just didn't have to know about it. And now  please be quiet, I require all my focus to acompany that youngling in his long journey among the ranks of the damned!
-DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!!!! She screamed in silent agony.

Anageropoulos(15)

                                        ''LIKE THE CLASH OF THE TITANS WILL FIGHT''

Paul had only a few minutes awake, Suzan had already left his house to attend to business for her master.
The previous night like many nights before they had spent it together enjoying their relationship.
He was still on his bed when he heard his door knock.
Only seconds after, he heard the door open.
-What the hell? Paul reached for his guns
Suddenly silence and darkness covered his house.
-Your guns are not going to help you young one!
-Who are you? What are you doing in my house?
-You can think of me as family...
-Show yourself coward! said an anxious Paul.
Then, only a few meters in front of him, something sheened and Paul heard the sound of metal on his floor while a circle of blueish fire appeared around a man in a strange uniform.
-I have lived for too many centuries yet no one ever accused me of cowardism...
-Who are you?
-As I told you, you can consider me family, in a strange way I am your creator since I am the creator of yours.
-You are Narssel?
-I am glad she told you about me. What else did she say to you?
-Not many things, Nansy did not speak too much. Why are you here?
-I need to inform you about something. Something about your clan, our clan!
-I have nothing to do with your clan, I am a master of shadows now.
-Yes, I heard that joke already. I do not care what clan you choose to be, I care for a truce broken because of you.
-What truce?
-For years now Nansy and I have agreed on no more progenies, yet she ignored our truce and created you. I warned her and she defied me, now our ancient traditions dictate trial by blood.
-With me?
-No, not with you. Although I do not care about your existence you are innocent in my eyes. You see Nansy walks a road of blood while I walk one of justice and what judge would I be if I was to punish an innocent?
-Then why you are here?
-Tomorrow night me and your creator are going to fight to the death, that's what our traditions dictate. Your future is tied to this fight. If she wins you can continue to pretend whatever you want but if I win your innocence vanishes and only one way remains. Accept what you are and accept my training, I will lose a student and will gain a new one!
-Student? For what?
-As I told you, I walk a road of justice, a road that has been showed to us by our great creator. Many years ago I believed Nansy could walk this road by my side, I judged her wrong. Now I am asking you the same thing: Be what your clan dictates you to be...or die!
-I have a mentor already, you know that!
-I don't care about that spanish woman...
-Spanish? Roxanne is spanish?
-I am afraid youngling you do not know anything about the people around you. My offer is honest and true. I will not hide anything from you and that I promise on my own blood.
-And if I choose Nansy over you? Or if I go straight to the Prince and report you?
-If you choose Nansy then you choose your fate and if you go to the prince...Prince James knows better than to interfere with our clan's traditions.
-You don't leave me many choices then...
-You do not have many choices. Tomorrow at 00:00 in front of the zoo. If you bring anyone else with you, you will seal his fate!
-Wait, I need to know more th...
But the figure was not there anymore, he was gone in the same silent way he had come.
-Shit!!!

He had not told anyone else, neither Suzan nor Roxanne. If the man was serious-and Paul had no reasons not to believe he was not-he would also put them in danger.
Next night he packed his newest toy-a Barret-a sniping weapon or a cannon if you believed Roxanne, took his motorcycle and headed for the zoo.
The zoo was a deserted place, for at least decade now, at the borders of the town with a forest nearby.
Only junkies hookers and illegal couples were going there to be out of sight.
There were stories of weirder creatures being there at night but since his elders were going to be there he had no reason to believe something weirder would also happen by.
He left his motorbike near the entrance and on 23:58 he entered the zoo.
No sign of anyone.
''Maybe he sent me to a trap'' he thought.
But Paul was sure the man was speaking the truth last night. He didn't like him at all but from his voice Paul was sure Narssel was a creature that loved the truth.
He walked a bit further inside with his hands on his pistols, he knew of course those guns were no real threat to a vampire but touching them made him feel more secure.
''00:01 where the hell are they?''
Out of a sudden a figure appeared, a long sword in his hand.
-I greet you young one, glad you decided to come, Narssel said.
-Where is Nansy?
-Somewhere around, I can feel her.
-I waited for you to show up first in case you prepared any surprises for me, Paul heard a woman's voice nearby and Nansy appeared out of the shadows.
-Trickery is not my weapon especially when it comes to the clan's traditions woman!
-So we are gathered here, a big happy family Narssel, lets get this over with.
-As I already told both of you, Nansy you broke our truce and you defied my warning. Tonight we will fight to the death. The last one standing will have the right to do as he pleases.
-Why did you call the young one? This is between you and me.
-I gave him a choice. Should I die, you and he may do as you please. Should you die, he either joins me or he dies with you. Either way this circle of blood stops tonight. I am warning you young one, if you try to interfere with our fight I will not hesitate to kill you.
-Neither will I Paul, this fight is between me and my long dead husband!
-You called me just to be a witness?
-Exactly Paul, though if I win you can go back to Roxanne and that silly ghoul you are flirting with.
-Suzan is not...
-Silence! Narssel shouted. Draw your sword woman.
Nansy drew a long curved blade Paul knew very well.
Those swords were called ''Slayers'' and they were forged to deliver accurate and lethal hits on vampires while their forging helped with the usage of many of his clan's unique powers.
Narssel's sword was nothing unique on the other hand. It had very nice curvings and its blade was black but nothing else stood out.
Paul moved a few steps back as the two figures stood still, facing each other.
Suddenly and faster than any mortal eye could see Nansy attacked roaring a war cry.
''Damn she is fast''!!!
She thrusted her ''Slayer'' towards Nanrssel but every attack of hers ended up parried by Narssel's black sword.
She carried on frantically with her attacks not leaving her opponent any free time to act.
Yet Narssel avoided every hit with ease.
''He is letting her attack to get tired and short on blood'' Paul thought, after all Vampires were powerful creatures but their mystical powers were fueled by their cursed blood and this blood would deplete unless you had a source nearby.
-Is that all you can do woman? Narssel taunted his opponent.
Nansy screamed in anger and doubled her efforts but every time Narssel's sword was there to block the incoming devastating attack.
-What are you waiting for? Nansy screamed at him
''An oppurtunity'' answered Paul mentaly seconds before Narssel answered the same.
A mere moment later Nansy missed an attack giving Narssel the opportunity he wanted.
His sword sheened with a white glow and he tried a hit that Paul was sure could split the hardest rock in two pieces.
Nansy knew she could not parry that attack and she did what was better, she tried to dodge it .
Nansy was fast but Narssel was faster, Paul didn't even see Narssel changing the course of his attack while Nansy tried to dodge the first one.
The last moment Nansy put her sword in front of her body to avoid getting split in two.
The two swords collided and for a moment Narssel's attack seemed to be blocked when the sound of breaking metal reached Paul's ears.
Narssel's attack broke Nansy's sword and cut through her chest sending her bleeding a few meters away.
Paul already knew that even without a broken sword this fight was lost for her.
That hit may not have killed her but the massive damage she took would give Narssel all the advantage he wanted to finish her off.
-It is over! He announced. You lost!
-Finish me off then! she screamed in pain and anger.
-That I will not do!
''What?''
-I will keep you alive in torpor Nansy and maybe in some centuries you will realise your mistakes.
-I will not become your toy, a helpless corpse at your disposal. Finish me off.
-You knew that's our family's curse, you like your mentor will remain in torpor untill you realise the wrong of your ways.
Nansy tried to stand but her wound was so aggravating that she fell to the ground.
Narssel drew a wooden stake and approached her.
-If he wins you will not have a choice, you will go with him and you will be his puppet, Nansy screamed at Paul.
''What other option do I have''?
-Attack him now! she screamed as if she had heard his silent question.
-Do not interfere! Narssel said. This is not your fight.
Paul had to take a quick decision since Narssel was already above her ready to stake her.
-If he wins you need to forget that girl, according to Narssel's faith you are not to mingle with ghouls.
-Is that true? Paul asked.
-The path soon to be yours has no place for emotions, a judge uses only logic rather than passion.
-He might kill Suzan to keep her away from you! Nansy shouted again.
-Shut up, woman!
Paul used his supernatural speed, his eyes blazing with anger, Suzan was not to be harmed. He knew he was not even close to Narssel's speed but he had a weapon.
The same moment Nansy gathered all her strength and hate from all those years of undeath and attacked him with her long blackened nails.
That attack gave Paul the time he needed to ready his weapon.
And while Narssel avoided Nansy's attacks easily, Paul was ready to shoot and he did!
He heard the sound of metal colliding with metal while Narssel put his sword in the bullet's way.
-Impossible! Paul said in disbelief.
Narssel's supernatural speed was so high he could parry incoming bullets.
He shooted again and again but every time Narssel parried his bullet while at the same time he avoided Nansy's attacks.
-Then you chose your fate, he said to him, no emotion in his voice, and what awaits you is only the grave!
''I am dead'' Paul thought, ''Unless...''
The last month he was experimenting with a new type of bullet that had an explosive effect rather than piercing.
He had managed to craft two already but they were expensive and required dozens of hours of work.
Thankfully he had them with him.
The same moment Narssel staked Nansy, Paul had already loaded his weapon with those bullets.
Narssel strafed at him.
-Bullets have no use on vampires young one, yet again you try to shoot me? Preposterous!
Instead of an answer Paul shot.
Again Narssel placed his sword in the bullets way
But this time the bulled exploded on impact.
Narssel got surprised while the explosion also hit him and burnt a big part of his body.
He shouted a war cry and charged at Paul who was preparing for the second and last shot.
''Either me or him''
The same moment Narssel thrusted his sword Paul shot him.
Paul felt the edge of Narssel's sword piercing his arm and the pain was almost blinding.
When he opened his eyes again he saw Narssel's torpid body near him while his right arm was almost cut from the shoulder down.
He could feel pain, not like humans do but still he could feel the almost missing limb of his.
He focused on his wound and used his blood to heal that grave wound but nothing happened.
He knew he could heal almost any wound and even grow new limbs but now he couldn't.
He remembered Nansy telling him that their clan possessed a power that made some wounds difficult to heal unless you would spend time and lot of blood.
He had the time but he didn't have the blood.
Choosing to spend the last night with Suzan Paul had not fed for two days and tonight's effort plus the wound had made him weak.
-I will remove the stake from Nansy and together...he started talking to himself...together? Why? Why should I help the one that destroyed my life and murdered my friends?
-She was the one telling me about the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest, fate wanted me to survive this night, why split the spoils with someone that lost?
Greed!!! Such a humane sin took over him.
He reached Nansy's helpless body.
Her blood would be enough to heal his wound.
He bit her neck.
Her blood was so sweet and pulsating with the raw power of her age.
He was drinking and at the same moment focusing on his wound.
He felt his arm growing back and he felt the pain going away and now he could not stop himself from drinking her blood.
Roxanne had told him that the greatest sin in their kind was to drink another vampire dry cause after his blood you could also drink his soul, empowering you temporarily if the vampire was younger than you or permanently if he was older and Nansy was much older than him.
This sin called ''Diablerie'' was the greatest among all since you could become addicted and forced to drink only the blood of other vampires.
But Paul couldn't stop, his beast had taken control and wanted more of this potent blood.
He lost himself in the euphoria of a blood frenzy...

The next thing he could remember was himself lying on the floor.
His barret only a few meters away together with two swords but no sign of the other bodies, only two piles of ashes!
The realisation came along with terror.
-WHAT HAVE I DONE?

Many times since then he regreted the moment his humane greed took over!

Nansy&Narssel(1)

                                         Now we will fight for the kingdom, fighting with steel
                                                  Kill all of them, their blood is our seal
                                                  Fight till the last of the enemy is dead
                                           Ride through their blood that we gladly have shed

Nansy woke up with a strange feeling of danger.
Something was not right in her haven.
She let her senses expand and at the same moment she reached for her sword, her beloved companion for so many years.
Her supernatural senses warned her of another scent in her haven, not that unfamiliar though.
''Narssel'' She realised.
She stood up and checked around. Nothing seemed to be missing.
-Why did you come then dear husband? she wondered out loud, to prove you can find me easily?
Then she saw it. Nailed on her front door.
It took her only a few seconds to recognize it.
An ancient ritualistic dagger dating back to the days before Chirst was born. A family relic.
Her clan in its glorious past when all of them were noble warriors, paladins crusading for justice used that knife to warn an enemy that soon there would be war between them.
Of course she never used such a knife, she never gave her enemy any warning, that's why she was not a paladin after all. She was an assasin and she was proud of it.
She recognised the handwriting of her creator on a paper under the dagger.
It was written in arabic, the language her clan mostly used.
It was the formal invitation to negotiate before a war would start.
Narssel had called her to meet him upon holy ground tonight at midnight.

-So be it! she announced to herself.  Tonight at midnight.

Five finutes before midnight she was there standing between some ruined graves with her sword at hand.

Soon another figure appeared unarmed but Nansy knew better than that. Narssel possesed the power to call upon his sword and it would appear in his hands in the glimpse of an eye.

-I called you woman! He said.

-And I have answered your call, dear husband!

-It is time to answer for your crimes.

-Of which crime am I accused?

-You betrayed our truce, you created progeny although it was forbidden to you.

-I do not answer to you anymore, my only judge can be the prince of this city and my mentor.

-I do not care about your mentor and as for the prince I am prety sure he has no idea of the youngling.

-You are wrong dear husband, Prince James called me and asked about him, I did not lie to him about the youngling, still Prince James accepted him in his town. Who are you to judge him?

-That is what I am woman! I answer only to Haqim and Cain. That is the paladin code!

-Why do you care so much about the youngling? He poses as a shadow master now and I won't be training him in my ways after all.

-No more progenies, we have agreed on that, this circle of blood should have stopped with you and now one more link has appeared.

-Then kill him!

-I would have killed him already if he knew what he was involved in but he is unaware and I am not going to murder an innocent man for you.

-What do you want then? To kill me? Here I am.

-Woman! We stand on a burial ground, we are here to talk, not fight. You know damn well that I could have killed you tonight when I left the message.

-Okay then, what do you propose?

-You will kill him and I will forgive your betrayal.

-Or else?

-Or else in a month you and I we are going to fight to the death and may fate decide who is wrong.

-It has come to this already?

-We always knew that one day it would come to this. Pity it has for the wrong reason!

-Are you so sure that you can kill me?

-I am going to try to Nansy. And I believe you will try too.

-I am not a young student of yours anymore.

-I know you are not, yet you have many lessons to learn and I am afraid your mentor is not in a condition to teach them to you.

-If we fight I wwill not show you mercy...

-I don't expect mercy Nansy. If you kill me then I no longer care what will happen but if I do kill you the youngling will either have to follow my ways or die with you.

-So be it! In a month's time from now dear ex-husband!

-Farewell! said the man and turned his back to leave.

-Mr.Anageropoulos I really hope you are worth it because this is going to be the hardest fight I've ever given!

Leonidas(1)

It is a feeling of great relief to not remember your past.
Past sins are forgotten and passions are left burried in the shadows.
But this feeling can only last for so long. After that questions arise and answers are not to be found.
Leonidas could not remember anything from his mortal life, neither his name nor his origins.
He could only remember the night that he woke up in a cold, wet cellar half naked and with a crazy thirst. A thirst that no water could quench.
He remembered his first days when he awoke in that cellar and went out in the dark streets of Thessaloniki of 1950. He also recalled his beast taking over whenever he found a human.
He remembered the night he found him. His name was Theofilos, a gentle man in his 30's. He was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin. He was just a normal Greek guy.
Leonidas had just finished his meal and let the poor dead human drop to the ground when he saw Theofilos approaching.
-I am a friend, you have nothing to fear, he told to Leonidas who showed him his blood-coated teeth.
-Who are you?
-My name is Theofilos, I am like you and as I told you, you have nothing to fear.
-You don't know what I am.
-Of course I know, once upon the time I was in your position. You sleep during the day, you wake up at night and no matter how much water you drink you still thrist for more. Most of the times you quench your thirst with unlucky homeless people, right?
-How can you...
-I told you I am like you.
-What are we? Damned? Creatures from hell?
-We are vampires, immortal creatures who drink blood in order to extend their lifespan. Are we damned? That I do not know. Are we creatures of Hell? I am sure we are not.
-How did I become one?
-You don't remember? Someone passed that gift unto you.
-I can't remember anything. I just woke up like this.
-You can't remember your human days?
-No, nothing.
-That's okay my friend. As I told you I am here to help you, that's my job after all.
-Hmm...
-I am like you, in many ways. Like you I don't know who created me. There are many of us in this situation. The other vampires call us clanless or garbage. I am the oldest clanless in Thessaloniki and my prince has given me the  task to collect other clanless not aware of their new status.
-Prince? What prince? We have a democracy.
-I do not speak of the mortal goverment, our kind have their own ruler and we call him a prince.
-What do you want from me?
-Nothing special really, I will teach you how to be a vampire. You see, even we have some rules and when you learn about them I will present you to Prince James. If he accepts you then you can continue with your life.
-I don't have a life...
-Worry not, we will create a new one for you.

The rest is history, as they say.
Theofilos presented him and Prince James accepted Leonidas in Thessaloniki.
That young man had much potential to be executed for a sin not his own.
Many princes around the world hated the clanless and they killed them on sight while some others sympathised with them since it was not the clanless' option to become a vampire.
But only a few blamed the creator of those clanless. And prince James was one of those few.
In the next years Leonidas and Theofilos worked together to create his new identity.
Leonidas proved to be very good at martial arts and soon with the help of Theofilos he opened a gym to teach people martial arts. At that point only a few existed in Thessaloniki and soon Leonidas had enough money to open a second one and a third.
During the 70's you could consider him one of the wealthy people of Thessaloniki.
And during the 80's he died. Not a real death but his persona had to die since he was publicly known.
His new identity was the grandchild of the previous Leonidas and he continued his life.
All these years he also helped Theofilos on his task to keep the streets clean of clanless unaware of their condition.
Some of them could now be considered friends of his, many others died through the years from various reasons and some others either were mindless beasts and got killed by Theofilos the same night they found them or got killed by ''Faceless'' for not being accepted in the town.
Not every vampire had the right to live after all. Each new vampire reduced the number of possible feeding opportunities and increased the chance of unveiling their hidden existence.
There were also the hidden wars between the vampires themselves.
Prince against prince. Town against town. Even among a town's vampires.
And clanless were always the first ones to pay the price. They had noone to guide them or protect them or even stand up for their death.
Leonidas learnt this lesson very well through the years.
He still could recall Theofilos giving that advice to every new clanless he found.
''Mind your own business everytime. Never ever get involved with the purebloods' affairs.
Of course many didn't listen to him but Leonidas did.
And he stayed alive for almost sixty years.
His past forgotten and burried in the blackness of his mind.
He may have had a family which after all these years would have its own family. He may even have bitten one of that family's members.
Day after day these questions created more questions and what was a relief for half a century was now a curse.
The only thing he had from his old self was a voice speaking to his mind many times in cryptic tone.
Not actually a voice though. Through the years Leonidas discovered that he had a gift unique to his kind.
He could sense and communicate with spirits.
Not like the necromancers could via their magic.
He just could.
And from his early days he discovered he had one following him, offering advice in weird situations or keeping him company.
He named that spirit ''Socrates'' cause their discussion reminded him of the way the Socrates of old tried to teach his students.
Socrates believed that every answer was known to everyone but from the moment of birth people had forgotten it.
So in his teachings he tried to make the students understand they knew the subject already and that he only needed to remind them about it.
So his ghost ''Socrates'' was almost like that. He never spoke clearly and he never answered directly.
But in a world that death was everywhere having someone with you all the time was a small relief.


The last years Leonidas had broken his mentor's rules.
He got involved with many nightly affairs mostly by luck and he didn't mind his own business anymore.
He didn't like it that way but now he couldn't stop. There was no way out anymore.
His only way out was his martial arts. Only when practising could he empty his mind and feel a little bit serene.

And there Pablo found him that night.
Alone in his gym practising.
''You have company'' Socrates warned him.
Leonidas turned to see Pablo staring at him.
-Leonidas my friend how are you? How are the other 299?
-You know my name but I don't know yours. Leonidas could remember Pablo's face from the town's meetings, he also remembered that Pablo belonged to the clan of the madmen.
-Very rude of me, excuse me. I am Pablo!
Suddenly Leonidas remembered Pablo's story. The serial killer. There were rumors he was a vampire now.
-Are you...
-Yes, I am!
-And what do you want here?
-I came to kill you!
-What!!!
-Just kidding. I am helping Sheriff in a case and he requests your help too.
-''Faceless''?
-No, I said the sheriff, not Faceless...
-What case is that?
-Get dressed we are gonna find him and he will explain it to you.
-And why did he pick me?
-The voices in my head told me and I told him.
-The what?
-The voices Leonidas! You don't know about the voices?
''He is totaly insane for sure''.
-I dont know about the voices, I am sorry.
-Nevermind, get dressed, we need to go!
-And am I supposed to follow you just because you asked me?
-Call the sheriff to check if I am telling the truth or ask your little incorporeal friend to check my aura!
-How do you know?
-Your mind my friend betrays your thoughts.
''Damn madmen and their gifts!''
-Alright I will come with you to the sheriff only if you keep my friends existence a secret for now.
-Which friend's existence?
''Not only insane but also a genius, a dangerous combination''
-Give me 10 minutes then and we can go.
-600, 599, 598, 597, 596...