#1 - Kids Say The Darndest Things

By Adam Koeth

This issue is recommended for Mature Readers only!

The moon began to rise into the night sky, full and blood red in appearance, illuminated against the city's skyline. A thin wisp of a cloud wafted past the moon, temporarily blocking the light shining down.

Blade raced down the highway on his custom-made, jet black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, looming before him. He was a man on a mission, intent on eliminating the vampire menace from the face of the planet. They killed his mother, why shouldn't he devote his life to destroying as many of them as he could?

An informant... a captured vampire that produced some solid information under threat of dismemberment, to be exact... had spilled the location of a nest of vampires in Atlanta. The vampire was paid handsomly by Blade with a quick death. Now, Blade was on his way to the nest with one goal: the total annihilation of every vampire there.

A single car rushed past him on the four lane highway, full of teens out for a weekend joyride. Pulling over at an old warehouse inside the city, Blade stepped off his bike and peered up into the broken windows.

Darkness seemed to seep from every crack, crevice, and shattered pane, enveloping Blade as he purposefully strode inside. Whipping the tail of his long, dark trenchcoat back, Blade withdrew a duo of small wooden stakes; their small, wooden mates were housed in pockets in Blade's trenchcoat.

He could smell them. The musty, dank smell of rotting flesh and corruption hung in the air in the warehouse, permeating his nostrils. Something scurried in the shadows off to his left, but Blade paid it no heed. HE was the hunter here, not them.

A trio of figures stepped out of the darkness in front of Blade, one of them holding an old-fashioned iron lantern. The dim light illuminated their pale faces and blood-thirsty grins; their canines were pointed and dripping with a thick red liquid. One of the vampires, a raven-haired woman, was fiddling with a thick butcher knife.

"Well well, lookee who finally found us," the lantern-bearer said, his grin widening. He set the lantern down and drew a long-hilted katana from under his coat, the metal blade gleaming softly in the light. The hilt was carved into a dragon's body, it's long tongue dangling from it's fanged mouth.

"The infamous Blade, vampire hunter extraordinaire. Y'know," the vampire chuckled. "Ever since you offed Frost, you've really gotten too big for your britches. Kill a few here, take care of a couple more there, and you think you're the biggest shit that ever crossed the face of this planet. I was slaughtering Romans when your great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather wasn't even a thought..."

Blade reached up with his free hand and took his dark sunglasses off, placing them gently in one of the trenchcoat's pockets as the vampire droned on in front of him. In one swift motion, he sent one of the wooden stakes flying through the air, embedding it in the vampire's heart. A shocked look flashed across the vampire's face before it fell to the ground, clutching at the stake.

"You talk too much," Blade said in a low, rumbling voice. The vampire's companions leaped into action, their fangs bared in anger as they rushed toward Blade. The woman, dressed in a blood-red, leather outfit, slashed her talons in front of Blade's face, followed by a swing of the butcher knife. The vampire hunter stepped back and shoved a stake into her chest, relishing the ear-piercing scream she emitted as she fell to the floor.

The other vampire, his dark brown hair flowing behind him, rushed toward Blade, pulling a long knife out of his belt. Blade reached out, grasped the vampire's throat in his strong hand, and violently ripped it out. Just for good measure, Blade plunged a stake into it's heart as it lay twitching on the ground, and twisted it. Thick red blood poured out of the vampire's throat and onto the ground for a few minutes before the flow slowed and stopped.

"You... son of a..." the first vampire sputtered, still working to get the stake out of it's chest. Blade bent down next to him, his trenchcoat billowing out as it brushed against the dirty concrete floor, and shoved the stake all the way through it's chest. The vampire cried out in pain, then lay still, paralyzed; only his mouth could move. "Thought... stakes... killed."

Blade grinned cruelly, reaching over and picking up the sword. The dragon hilt seemed to fit right in the palm of his hand. Bringing the sword down, Blade said: "No, I kill." The vampire's head rolled on the floor until it hit the de-throated vampire and stopped there. Blade went around and decapitated the other two vampires in rapid succession, then wiped the sword clean of the vampire's dark blood. The beheaded bodies sizzled for a brief instant before crumbling into dust.

A short, high-pitched giggle came off to his left, then was joined by another from his right, and yet another duo from behind and in front of him. Blade whirled around, the sword ready. A dozen children, six years old at the least, stepped into the small ring of light still being radiated by the old lantern. They all grinned at Blade, their canines sharp.

"Children...?!?" Blade exclaimed, watching the ring of vampires move closer; he was completely surrounded. The children grinned maliciously as they advanced, licking their lips hungrily.

"We're so hungry..." one of the children, a little blonde-haired girl, said as she moved forward. She looked to be eight years old at the most, her dark eyes twinkling in the lamplight. With a wave of the girl's small hand, they all surged toward Blade, twelve small vampires jumping on him, raking him with their nails. He threw them off repeatedly, still a little shocked that these children had been turned into vampires.

Soon, Blade got over his initial shock and got down to business, his newly-won sword swinging through the air. A few of the children were beheaded as they attacked, causing them to crumble into small piles of ash. The little blonde hung back from the battle a little, watching her comrades fall one by one.

The small child giggled as Blade turned to face her, his lips turned up in a noticeable sneer. He whipped out a stake and chucked it at her heart, but she nimbly ducked out of the way; the sharp wooden stake hit the wall and bounced, once, on the cold floor.

"Too slow," the girl laughed a high-pitched laugh and, in a burst of speed, rushed to the door of the warehouse. She stood there for a moment, silhouetted in the doorway, before disappearing outside.

"Damn," Blade cursed before running to the warehouse's door. The girl was standing there when he emerged, holding a massive Rottweiler by a leash. A dark, spiked collar circled the brown and black dog's muscular throat.

Smiling, the girl said: "Do you like my puppy? He's real friendly..."

She released the leash, allowing the dog to rush at Blade, it's extra-long fangs bared. The child giggled again and disappeared into the night. Her voice wafted through on the air as the Blade fought with the dog. "Those adults, the ones you killed? I turned them into vampires, Blade. The children too. I'm older than I look... much older." Another giggle, and her voice was gone.

The Rottweiler jumped at Blade, aiming for the vampire hunter's throat. Blade ducked out of the way, sending the black dog sailing over his head; it landed hard on the ground but instantly shot to all fours. Once again, the Rottweiler charged toward Blade, a thin ribbon of spittle flying from it's open jaws.

Crouching down, Blade pulled out his last two spikes and jammed them into the dog's chest as it flew overhead once more. Yelping loudly, it thudded to the ground and lay there twitching violently. A throaty growl escaped the dog's lips as it saw the vampire hunter walking toward it. Blade quickly raised the sword above his head and brought it down in a sweeping arc, putting the animal out of it's misery.

"Vampire dogs..." Blade whispered to himself. "Now I've seen everything..."

Scanning the area, Blade saw no trace of the vampire child. Ripping the stakes out of the dog as it crumbled and placing them back in their holsters, Blade walked purposefully back into the warehouse to collect his other weapons.

Clad in a black leather jacket and pitch-black clothing, the woman watched Blade from and adjacent building, watched him enter the warehouse once more. She brought a small tape recorder up to her mouth and pressed the record button.

"This man..." she began, then paused. "This man is nothing but a rank amateur. Not only did he allow a Master to escape while he was fighting a DOG, he didn't even know that I was here!" Shaking her head, she began again. A large night bird flew by, momentarily diverting her attention. She continued, deciding the bird was of no interest to her. "I'm surprised he's not dead."

Pocketing the tape recorder, the woman stood up from her crouching position. The semi-automatic she had grasped in her right hand also went back to it's rightful place in a bag lying behind her.

Blade once again emerged from the warehouse, his long black coat flowing behind him. The enigmatic woman watched him cross the courtyard toward the fence surrounding the building and hop on his motorcycle. He raced off into the darkness and was gone.

Moments later, the warehouse was consumed in a massive explosion. The woman shielded her eyes against the brightness of the flames, only to lower her hands as her eyes adjusted. The bird she had seen a few minutes earlier squawked and leapt into the brightly-lit night sky, disturbed from it's resting place.

"Damned fool," the woman whispered to herself, then set off in pursuit of Blade.

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