#3 - Lore

By Adam Koeth

This issue is recommended for Mature Readers only!

"Many ages ago, vampires ruled the earth. Every single man, woman, and child feared going out at night...feared the dark. Peasents ...Lords ... knights ...they all feared our power. Fear ruled the night."

"We WERE the night."

"We were power, immortality personified. It wasn't until Van Helsing stumbled upon Dracula that the world truly realized we existed. We rectified Dracula's mistake by... helping... Stoker write his famous novel, thereby making the common man believe vampires were simply a work of fiction. Do you understand what I'm saying to you, Blade? Do you realize how long we've walked the earth? Do you realize how much we influenced ... influence ... the lives of every mortal on the face of this planet?"

The vampire looked down at Blade, who was still shackled to the wall. The vampire hunter was fully awake and conscious, seething and struggling against his bonds. Blade snarled at the vampire, who merely smiled.

"I was a member of the Church ... a high-ranking official, a member of the Inquisition. I doubt you've heard of me ... my name is Jean-Paul Nevau. It was my duty to deal with those that dealt with the Devil ... it was my job to cull them from the true, God-fearing population of society. Until ... he came to me."

Blade could feel the wall giving way underneath the continual pressure he was exerting on his shackles. The bricks were old, crumbling ... it was only a matter of time before they gave way completely, freeing Blade. About a dozen vampires skulked around the chamber behind their master, watching the exchange between Blade and Jean-Paul.

"My sire offered me power ... wealth beyond my wildest dreams. At first, I fought with him ... struggled against the desire within me. It was easy in the beginning... my faith in God showed me through." Jean-Paul paused for a moment, staring at the sword in his hands. It had fallen into the vampire's clutches when his minions ambushed Blade in the adjacent tunnels, less than fifteen minutes ago.*

* (in last issue - Adam)

"I trusted my faith in God implicitly ... and it failed. I failed myself ... and ultimately failed my Church and God Himself. I succumbed to my sire's wiles... and condemned myself." Jean-Paul scowled, remembering his sire's promises, remembering how they were never fulfilled.

Jean-Paul reached down, nicked Blade's cheek with the sword, and watched the blood run out. Bringing a small jar out of his tunic, Jean-Paul collected Blade's blood.

"Your blood will serve me well, Blade ... your blood and my sire's blade. I know of a rite ... a very, very powerful rite ... that will help rid me of this curse. I can destroy the parasite that rushes through my blood, the parasite that urges me to sample the nectar of mortal's veins."

"You're insane," Blade spat, feeling the blood flowing out of his body. With a mighty shout, Blade made one final attempt to break free of his bonds. The crumbling bricks fell out of the wall, allowing Blade his freedom ... unfortunately, the shackles were still around his wrists.

With one deft motion, the shackles tight around his wrist, Blade knocked the sword out of Jean-Paul's hand and picked it up. "As much as I'd love to stay," Blade said, grinning at Jean-Paul and his astonished minions. "I've got to run."

"Kill him!" Jean-Paul cried, shaking with anger. He watched as Blade turned, sword in hand, and rushed into the nearest tunnel. Vampires crawled out of every hole, tunnel, and crevice imaginable to join in the hunt.

Blade raced down the twisting, musty tunnels, trying to remember where he came in. It didn't help that he was unconscious during half of his 'stay' in the sewers... but he would adjust. He could hear Jean-Paul's vampire minions splashing through the waters behind him, so he urged himself to run faster.

"Blade!" came Jean-Paul's voice from the back of the pack. "You will never escape me, do you hear me?"

"Bite me," Blade whispered in return, coming upon a ladder and the familiar manhole cover at the top. He didn't know if it was the one he climbed down in the first place, but he was hoping it was at least in the area. Blade rushed up the ladder, a half-dozen vampires at his heels, up into the cool night air, taking pokes and stabs at the hounding vampires to keep them at bay.

Climbing up to the surface, Blade realized that his motorcycle was right next to the manhole. Thanking his luck, Blade reached into one of the bike's saddlebags and withdrew a small, circular object. Plunging the sword through one of the ascending vampire's heads, Blade set a small switch on the object and tossed it down the hole.

"Enjoy," Blade said, decapitating another vampire as it climbed through the manhole. Quickly, the vampire hunter jumped onto his bike, started it, and raced out of the alleyway, leaving Jean-Paul's minions behind.

A few short moments later, the object Blade had tossed into the tunnels, a thermal explosive, blew up, instantly annihilating the vampires in a purifying flame. Their short shrieks of pain and fear carried through the air to Blade's ears as he made his way down the street.

Blade stopped short at the end of the road, watching a manhole cover - ironically, the one he had first entered - fly into the air on top of a pillar of fire and smoke. It landed a few moments later, steaming hot, smashing through the windshield of a parked car.

"I'll be back to mop up," Blade called to noone in particular. He was pretty certain that some of them had survived ... but his task now was to hunt down the child vampire and make sure she didn't cause any further harm. "Don't wait up."

She watched, amazed, as the manhole cover shot into the sky and fell again a few moments later. Didn't Blade know how to do anything besides blow shit up? The heat soaked into her very being, it seemed like, as she watched Blade turn his bike around and head off into the night.

In the alleyway opposite hers, a man-like figure made its way into the darkness from an apartment building, followed by two others. Even though she couldn't see very well, she knew who it was.

As if it had heard her thoughts, the figure turned toward her and grinned. The grin she could see through the darkness, the canines sharp and pointed.

"Jean-Paul," the woman said, taking a few tentative steps into the street. The vampire and his minions walked closer as well, Blade temporarily forgotten by all of them. Drawing a duo of pistols from their holsters, the woman trained them on Jean-Paul.

"Now now, Elizabeth," Jean-Paul said, holding his hands in the air as a gesture of peace. He was still grinning at her, which was more than a little unsettling. "I have no quarrel with you. It's Blade I'm after."

"Tough shit!" Elizabeth said, cocking the pistol's hammers, her fingers itching to pull the triggers. Jean-Paul frowned a little at her words, but soon was grinning again. "You know as well as I do that we have a damn quarrel. It was you, after all, that murdered my great-grandfather in cold blood."

Jean-Paul lowered his hands, his grin disappearing. "He wasn't much of a vampire hunter, you know. Kind of like Blade, in a way ... going through life, hunting vampires, but never really knowing the entire truth. Does Blade know you're following him?"

"Don't change the subject, leech," Elizabeth retorted, feeling a little anxious that Blade was getting such a large head start. She pretty much knew where he was heading, but was she THAT sure? Jean-Paul took a step forward, but Elizabeth shook her head quickly. "Not another step, leech, or I'll destroy you where you stand."

"I don't doubt that you could," Jean-Paul said, smiling again. "But shouldn't you be off after your ward?"

Cursing herself, Elizabeth lowered the pistols, uncocked the hammers, and replaced them in their holsters. Jean-Paul and his minions didn't make a move. "Don't doubt that I won't be back, leech," Elizabeth said, eyeing the vampire as she slowly backed away. "Next time we meet, I will kill you." With that, she turned around and rushed to her car in order to pick up Blade's trail again.

"Such is our destiny, Elizabeth Van Helsing," Jean-Paul whispered, his smile once again pulling a disappearing act. He watched her disappear into the darkness, the lamps on the side of the road not doing much to illuminate the sidewalk or street. Once she was gone beyond the horizon, Jean-Paul and the two vampires retreated to their haven.

Blade pulled into the parking lot after paying the attendant at the gate. He had driven all night and into the morning, pushing on so he wouldn't lose the child vampire's trail entirely. Before him stood what seemed to be a gigantic blue and white castle in the middle of Florida, surrounded by cars and yelling children.

"I hate Disney World," Blade muttered, slowly pulling his bike into a parking space. A group of small children rushed by, closely followed by a disheveled, haggard-looking woman that was apparently the mother of at least some of the children. She gave Blade a backward glance as she raced by ... apparently a man dressed all in black leather in the middle of a hot Orlando day seemed strange to her.

Slipping the motorcycle's keys into one of his trenchoat's pockets, Blade slowly made his way to the main gates of Disney World. He knew that the child vampire was here ... he could almost smell her. Smelled like ... death, rotting flesh, and dried blood.

The girl selling the tickets gave Blade a queer look as he stepped up, bought a ticket, and wandered into the park itself. Some of the children he had seen rushing past in the parking lot came up to him and stood there, staring up at him. Blade stopped and looked down at them.

"How come you're wearin' leather?" one of the little boys asked.

"Aren't you hot?" the other asked.

"Doesn't your sweat make all the leather smelly?" the first asked.

"Could you catch on fire 'cause you're so hot?"

Blade sneered, trying to ignore their incessant questions. It was beginning to get to him, no matter how hard he tried to shut their whiny little kid voices out.

"What's it like to wear leather pants?" one of the kids asked.

"Is it hard to eat in that coat? What happens if you get ketchup on it? My mom says that ..."

"Be quiet," Blade snapped, whipping his wallet out. He pulled two five-dollar bills out and handed them to the kids. "Go buy something to occupy your time, all right? Now go away."

The kid's faces brightened up immediately, and they rushed off to spend their new-found wealth. Blade continued on, deeper into the park, searching for any sign of the child vampire he was looking for. It would be hard during the day, but the sun was setting rapidly as the night loomed.

Suddenly, a scream hit Blade's ears. Looking toward the source of the scream, Blade saw a woman running through the crowd with a child in her arms. She fell to her knees, the child falling from her arms and tumbling to the hot pavement.

Blade shoved his way through the gathering crowd, kneeling down next to the woman and her child. She looked up at Blade and gave him a look, as if to ask him why this had happened to her child ... why it had to happen here, in a place where children should truly be safe.

"What's wrong with him?" she gasped, clutching Blade's sleeve.

The vampire hunter took a look at the child's neck, confirming what he already suspected. Two small holes were punched in the boy's neck, right by the jugular. Angered, Blade shot to his feet and looked at the sun. It was still clearly visible in the sky, although it was heading toward the horizon.

"Can you help him?" the woman pleaded, looking up at Blade.

It didn't even seem as if Blade heard her as he pushed through the crowd again, angry and confused. The vampire had obviously gotten to the kid recently, during full daylight ...

But how?

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