Darius(1)

Austria was a weird place to be born in and hard to live in after the first World War.
Being one of the countries that lost while half of the war had been fought in your own grounds made Austria a poor country with deserted countryside, an almost non existant industrial production, half its population due to war losses, enemies all around and debts to be paid to the winners.
Also the evolving democracy had to confront centuries of imperial ruling.
All these conditions affected the vampiric population of this country since Vienna was the capital of all those vampires that wanted to live their lives in peace and also study for most of their time.
The clan of vampire-mages had made Vienna their home since the early 1500s and ruled the country and the nearby countries with an iron fist.
After the loss of  WWI the city of Vienna was full of ruins, homeless people and vampires craving for blood due to the heavy population losses.
Still that vampire-mage clan was determined to rebuild it, help it be reborn from its own ashes.
Money kept hidden to be used in the clan's time of need was spent to the last cent in order to rebuild the capital and revive the humans.
In less than a decade Vienna was almost like its time before the war.


Darius was born in a small village around 1912 A.D. He was just able to walk when the ''great war'' as they named it started.
He spent the first decade of his life helping his mother and his brothers on the fields and at night he was secretly reading the books his father had collected over the years.
Those times didn't favor children who wanted to learn yet Darius was determined to become a scientist, not a farmer.
Unfortunately his father died in the war, in one of the most deadly battles at the Russian front.
So after the war his family still needed him there on the fields to be a farmer like almost anyone in their village.
Darius couldn't live such a life and he run away heading for Vienna.
He was barely 15 years old and he had to work and live by himself.
In Vienna he was working at the many construction sites and late in the evening he would attend the school the Catholic church had created for the poor.
From the first months it was obvious that he was clever and with the help of one of his teachers Darius managed to get a scholarship to join Vienna's univercity.
Physics was the field he adored more and in those years physics scientists were working miracles with the new techniques, free of the theological supervision.

Soon another danger came from the neigbouring Germany, a man named Adolf Hitler managed to take control of the country and the clouds of war were gathering once again.
At 1938 Germany and Austria united into one nation.
At that same time the German army gathered all scientists to work for the 3rd Reich to ensure the superiority of their weapons.
Darius was only  26 and he had just gotten his degree in physics when German soldiers got him and many of his colleagues on a train heading to a camp in Germany where they would research new rocket technologies.
Germany was preparing for war and this time it was going to be a war to end all wars.
While the whole world was consumed in the fires of world war II Darius was working for his captors like many other scientists.
Tortures and death awaited all those who didn't give their best and Darius wanted to live. Soon he was able to give the Germans new technologies to use in their war.
Darius was also secretly in contact with Russian spies so as to inform them of those technologies and supply them with even better ones.
He hated all this ''Nazi'' beliefs and most of all he hated a leader who had burned books in order to ensure that people would blindly follow him.
At 1944 it became obvious that Germany was going to lose the war. After the bloody Russian campaign the German army was withdrawing more and more with each day.
That's when they heard it. In an effort to slow their enemies the Germans were executing everyone in their path.
Whole towns were left in ruins, thousands of people executed to avenge the loss of the 3rd Reich.
Very soon the war reached the region of Darius' camp and in order to avoid their technologies from falling to their enemies' hands the German officers decided to burn the whole place to the ground and execute all scientists, German and non-German alike.

That night Hell was unleashed upon them. Even now, after many years, Darius wasn't sure how he survived.
His memory was a blur of explosions, gunshots, screams, soldiers running around and strange figures appearing out of nowhere to rescue them.
The next thing he remembers is him and a few others being in a strange place with new clothes and food available.
Strange people, all wearing a weird symbol on their necks appeared and helped the wounded.
They gave them food, shelter, new clothes and even provided them with a hot bath.
The next night one man came to speak with them.
He said he was working for the alliance army and he needed their help to end that war once and for all and that after the war they would all be free.
And that was what they did but this time they were helping the ''good guys''.
Years passed and still the war was not over, Darius was now 40 and he couldn't stand living in that cage any more. He was free but only inside those weird dungeons.
He planned an escape with some of his old friends.
The plan worked and soon all 4 were free but in great terror they discovered that they had been deceived.
The war had ended years ago and Europe was already rebuilding itself.
The night following their escape men with that weird symbol, the one of two snakes facing each other, appeared out of nowhere.
The next dawn found them tied in a cell waiting for their punishment.
They couldn't go back so as to avoid informing the others of what they had found out.
They thought they were going to die.
But their fate was worse. In horror they discovered that many of those men were not even human, they were monsters expanding their lives with the blood of humans.
And they were going to be their bloodbound servants.
Unwillingly, now, they had to work for those people again only this time not in order to end the war but to help that clan of vampires in their nightly war with the other clans.

Darius spent another 15 years in captivity working for those vampires. He was their slave but at least he was working on his field and those vampires had the money and the equipment needed for his experiments.
Darius soon earned the respect of his captors with his revolutionary ideas.
He had lost count of his years in captivity when, one night, a man he had never seen entered his room.
He introduced himself as Anastasz and asked Darius his opinion on his vampire captors.
Darius answered sincerely that, at first, he hated them but if he could have an eternity studying and experimenting he wouldn't mind being one of them too.
The man laughed with his answer and told him he was there exactly for that reason.
He could offer Darius immortality and a new life away from those dungeons.
The only price was going to be his soul, if Darius believed in that, and that he would have to spend some years learning about his new status and his new clan.
Darius agreed and the next night he awakened as a vampire.
He spent one year with his creator adapting to his new self and the society of the immortals he was going to join.
To his great surprise his creator told him that magic did exist and that his clan were masters of that art and also many of them combined magic with technology.
Darius had just found a new purpose in his life.
Next came the seven years of serving and studying at his clan's center of power.
In Vienna, at the temple of knowledge as they were calling it.
But those seven years lasted longer. Like a little child with a new toy Darius wanted to learn everything possible and Vienna was the best place to do that.

Finally, one night, he got informed that he, like almost every clan member, would have to leave to serve and help his clan in another place.
That was their life, they were sent to random cities where they continued their studies and also helped their clan with its affairs.
In the envelope given to him was a ticket for Thessaloniki, his destination.
He communicated with his creator, who was now a man of great power in the society of the immortals, only to find out that his own mentor had arranged this transfer.
-You are going to find your ''sister'' there. She is another creation of mine and the regent of Thessaloniki is an old friend of mine in need of new people with potential in them.
-But I haven't finished my studies yet...said Darius.
-You will finish them in Thessaloniki. After all you cannot learn our true nature if you don't spend some time in our society.
-Vienna is full of our kind.
-Vienna is full, yes, but it's a safe and controlled environment. There are many things to see and learn in the world out there and I chose Thessaloniki for you because I strongly believe you are gonna be needed there.
-If you say so...
-We will be in touch. Be careful and be strong, were his creator's final words.

The next night he boarded a plane, packing all his belongings-they weren't much, only books and a few clothes.
Next to him there sat a young man wearing the same symbol as him.
-Hi, he said, I am Asterios, are you going to Thessaloniki too?
-I believe I am, I am Darius, Darius Voss.
-Is it your first transfer?
-Yes! Darius was still angry of not having been let to stay and study in Vienna.
-Mine too, I'm glad I won't be the only new initiate there.
Darius looked at the young man with his eyes full of anger, he wanted to shout at him that he was not a new initiate, he had been a vampire for many years but he knew that in his clan years didn't matter, their ranking system was based on performance and the judgement of their superiors.
-So Darius, did you know that Thessaloniki is considered bad luck for us? A very bad place to be for new ones.
-Really? And why is that?
-Don't you know? Thessaloniki is surrounded by enemies of our clan and even the Prince of that city is weird. Many believe he is going to betray us and join forces with the enemy.
For real, that guy Asterios was talking too much. Darius was sure that Asterios was not going to have a long immortality.
-My creator told me that if I survive in Thessaloniki she will arrange to transfer me by her side in the U.S.A., where is your creator placed?
-I am a bit tired, said Darius, and I really hate airplanes, let's please continue our talk in Thessaloniki.
-Of course, of course, did you know that...?
-IN THESSALONIKI, Asterios, in Thessaloniki!