________________

Months later

________________

Tavaly banged his fist on the chestnut table, denting it. "Time has gone long enough for us to continue standing under Iérti's reign. More humans are starting to appreciate this new sense of balance amongst vampires and humans.

"Iérti recently established a new rule in the land, that there be two overlords – one vampire overlord and one human overlord – instead of the one vampire overlord over each settlement, to validate that there is no superiority amongst the other. This new rule eliminated most of the human fear of our kind, bringing them to favor of belonging amongst our kind."

"That's not such a bad thing," said Marmalan Quenzy, one of Tavaly's vampire followers. Tavaly had no human supporters; any human who had any dealings with Tavaly were either killed or enslaved. "This provides more of an advantage to our kind if humans don't fear us. Rather, they would be running towards us instead of away from us."

"It disrupts what was first established in the land, that the strong rise above the weak. We are the stronger species; therefore we must rule over them," said Tavaly.

"If I may beg to differ, Tavaly," said Felip Ontuar, his rich blue outfit casting blue hues on his long black beard, "but there are species stronger than our kind. The dragons that once roamed the land have mysteriously vanished into the far stretches of the land. With one breath of fire, dragons could easily out-blast our kind. How is it that we remained and they did not?"

Tavaly's eyes narrowed. "A powerful vampire leader drove them to the far stretches with just the power of his mind," he told them. "Powers of mind compulsion and the ability to bend any creature to his will. Frightening powers of persuasion, for he has the ability to control even our own kind."

"Why doesn't the powerful vampire use them anymore?" Rohese Narat asked, looking at Tavaly through her long thick eyelashes. She was adorned in a red velvet dress with light ice blue lace detailing, her long thick gorgeous brown hair set in curls.

"Because the powerful vampire became too human and no longer cares to indulge in his vampire tendencies," Tavaly said, his voice lined with anger. "He doesn't want to control anyone anymore, so he chose a successor to pass all his abilities onto. Instead of continuing his former regime, the successor sought peace in the land. He wants vampires and humans to live together in harmony, without fear and hate."

"Shouldn't we try to manipulate the successor?" Urrea Stahlman suggested. "We could try to influence Iérti to save a human's life by turning him into a vampire, thus giving his passed on abilities to another, that way we can use the turned vampire to our advantage."

Tavaly shook his head. "Iérti will not be influenced, even by the greatest of influencers. He is very steadfast and firm in his beliefs. He is like a tree that cannot be bent no matter how hard the wind blows. We must find some other way to bring him down."

"How?" Saginaw Zarate asked. "Mallen and Iérti are the most powerful vampires in the land. None of us can withstand their combined powers. They've clearly shown their dominance in the land. Why fight them?"

"Because though they rule over the land, they see themselves as equals with the humans," said Tavaly. "I miss the days of feeding at will instead of being forced to drink out of stores or spare people's lives by drinking limited amounts of their blood. Even Mallen and Iérti abide by this and do not feed as much as they should. This is just prolonged, slow starvation forced upon us."

Tavaly rose, looking at each person in the room. "Who here agrees with me that we must act now if we're to remind the humans their place?"

All the vampires in attendance immediately stood, saying, "Aye!" The castle echoed with their collective exclamation, scattering bats from the roofs. The crescent moon hung low, as if dreading what was to occur.

Tavaly grinned. "Tonight, we feast."

________________

Iérti stood outside the castle window, looking over the settlement in the faraway distance. He sensed much more serenity and peace than ever before. Humans became much more trusting and accepting now that human overlords were placed to look over the settlements along with the vampire overlords.

At first they were scared and uncertain, but after seeing the vampire overlords were kind and not menacing, the human overlords began to work together with the vampire overlords. It was Mallen's idea, one Iérti was happy to implement.

Iérti often chose to turn into bats by way of travel, surprising Mallen whenever he visited his castle by coming in through an open window as a colony of bats, turning back into a man once he entered the castle. In turn, Mallen surprised Iérti one night by coming into his castle as a flock of crows, turning back into a man soon after.

Írásom liked to travel as a flock of doves, mainly because Mallen affectionally called her 'dove' and so it became her choice of bird to turn into. The three of them trained often, becoming entirely familiar with all their abilities.

Mallen showed Iérti and Írásom how to make the weather cloudy when it was sunny, so they could walk out in daylight if needed, blocking out the sun by telekinetically moving clouds. Mallen, were able to make the weather stormy with dark clouds and lightning.

Sudden overcast weather on a sunny day or dangerous thunderclouds indicated a powerful vampire was out, depending on the vampire and his or her mood. They hardly used that ability; given their vampire nature, they were active at night and asleep during the day, but Mallen wanted them to be aware.

The vampire overlords and allies had already prepared all their silver weapons to use against the vampire enemies. They made silver daggers, swords, and bullets. Humans made silver Japanese throwing stars called shuriken to use at a distance. The daggers and swords were mostly handled by humans because even though the hilt was made of a different metal, it still weakened vampires at close range, rendering them weaker than humans.

"Silver bullets are definitely a better idea," Tyvek said ruefully as he lay curled up on the floor, the close contact with silver hurting him with searing pain. "Ardai's idea sucks."

Krystyna stood proudly with her hands on her hips, standing a careful distance from the silver sword on the floor about an arm's length from Tyvek.

Corden Dwain, a human blacksmith, smiled as he reached over to take the silver sword. "It was a good idea for us humans, not for you vampires," he said, putting it in place against the wall with the other silver swords. "The silver bullets are encased in a special black material that bursts open once you fire and it leaves the barrel. The black material allows you to touch the silver bullets without hurting you, though I think you would prefer for us to load it for you."

"Please," said Tyvek, struggling to get up.

Corden chuckled, extending a hand to help Tyvek get up. This did not escape the sight of a shadowy figure at the window, dressed in a mulled cranberry red hooded cloak. Her rooibos red eyes narrowed as she watched Corden talking with the vampire overlords, showing them how to use the weapons the humans created.

Each weapon was outfitted with a ribbon to tell apart from the other. All of Mallen's weapons had olive green ribbons, Iérti's weapons had maroon red ribbons, Írásom's weapons had periwinkle blue ribbons, Blaise's weapons had muted blue ribbons, and so on.

The guns were steampunk style and eloquently made. Pure silver bullets, kept in plastic-looking black square shaped containers, were loaded into the cartridges by humans, since the vampires were wary of loading it themselves.

There were wooden bullets, pointed to a certain sharpness so it could kill if aimed directly at the heart. The wooden bullets were made from ash and aspen trees, the most effective kind of wood used to kill vampires, though technically any kind of wood worked.

The vampire at the window backed away, about to leave, when a hand seized her shoulder and roughly turned her around, forcing her to look into Ardai's intense piercing eyes. Moonlight shone on Ardai's skin, making his eyes appear brighter than his bright white linen outfit.

"Romena Virvaine," Ardai said, keeping his grasp firm on her shoulder. "It's been centuries."

"Ardai Duperzai," Romena said in surprise, startled to see him. "I had no idea you were even here. You sided with them? The human sympathizers?"

The wall met her back in an instant as Ardai roughly pushed Romena against the wall, his grip tighter than iron. He pushed her hood back, revealing a stunning woman with rooibos red eyes and long blonde hair braided with mauve ribbons, all set to one side in a ponytail resting over her shoulder. Her face was pale ivory white, her hourglass figure slim and beautiful. She was wearing a mauve dress with a cream white lace underdress underneath her cranberry red hooded cloak.

Ardai gazed at Romena, studying her as he spoke. "I've known war for so long, it's sickening. speaks of peace. I long for peace more than anything. The time for violence must end. Our kind wasn't put here to drive fear into people's hearts; we were put here to protect them and live among them in harmony. War only leads to death; not just human death, but the death of our kind."

"Vampires have always preyed on humans. Why change our very nature? We are killers, Ardai. Even though we might adapt to live at peace with humans, our very nature is being silenced. We're suppressing our basic instincts. It's like forcing lions to eat grass and stay in enclosed areas with gazelles instead of being allowed to roam freely. Eventually the lion will snap and break free, wishing to have a gazelle like it used to before its captivity."

"No one is in captivity," said Ardai. "Humans were the ones who kept themselves isolated in captivity behind fortresses. What kind of life was that for them? They were rarely able to interact with humans from other fortresses because of fear of vampires attacking them.

"Both men and women were trained to fight and defend themselves against our kind. Families have been separated. Some people chose to fight rather than marry and raise a family. They considered it an honor or duty to fight. So many died at our hands. Why should we continue that cycle? Why can't we just learn from each other instead of trying to kill each other? Just because we're stronger than humans doesn't mean we become the monsters we were. Don't forget," Ardai added with a cautionary tone, "we were once human."

Romena looked into Ardai's eyes, her gaze unnerved. "You've changed, Ardai. You're not the same man I once knew."

"Did your love for me change?" Ardai asked, moving his face closer so that he was a breath away from her face. He smelled like neroli flowers. "I've always loved you, Romena. Always will. I may have changed, but my love for you will never change."

He was about to kiss her, Romena hesitating, about to let him, when they suddenly heard people screaming in the distance. Ardai's eyes were instantly guarded, Romena's eyes alarmed. They heard Tyvek exclaim, "What's going on?" and saw some vampires running out to see the cause of the screaming.

Ardai let go of Romena, about to go after them, when Romena grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him close, kissing him passionately. A touch of a smile danced on Ardai's handsome features.

He moved back, saying, "It's nice to know you still feel the same for me even after all this time." Ardai kissed her again before leaving in a flash, wanting to know what was going on. Romena remained at the wall, replaying the kiss in her mind as she watched him go.

Ardai met up with Arison, Blaise, and Krystyna. "What is the meaning of this?" Ardai asked them as they ran, moving in almost instantaneous speed.

"No idea, but we're about to find out," said Arison.