Another week passed before Iérti felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Mallen. "We're almost at planet Magarra," Mallen told him. "I thought you would like to know."

"Thank you," Iérti said in response, his voice almost a whisper. Mallen left him to continue looking out the window as they traveled in space for another hour. He watched an Earth-like planet appear, becoming closer in range as they reached the planet's atmosphere.

The green and blue was a welcoming sight, as were the white clouds they touched upon. The beautiful atmosphere turned quickly into a glittering night sky with clouds keeping watch over the peaceful landscape.

They weren't the only ship that arrived; there were four other ships already on the planet. Blaise landed the ship beside one of them, waiting several minutes for the engines to cool before informing everyone they landed and could exit the ship now.

Mallen, Írásom, and stepped out first. Stellan and Romena were next, followed by Trandafira, Vajir, and the rest of the vampires.

They walked towards the closest settlement. It was star-shaped city with plenty of farmland and houses in between. It was an interesting setup unlike any they've seen in all the planets they've been to so far. The architecture was ingenious with plenty of waterways and land to spare. There were roads and vehicles, as well as small boats and gondolas. Iérti noticed the star-shaped city was newly constructed with no signs of aging or decay. People must've settled here quite early. Hardly a decade.

Further out were futuristic-looking cities with flashing lights and electronic music. The heat signatures weren't as spread out as with the star-cities, indicating crowds of people.

A few vampires scouted ahead to get intel on the planet's inhabitants. Írásom went with them. Blaise remained on the ship to keep an eye on it. Mallen and Iérti sat on a hill just outside the settlement, sensing a large population of human lifeforms in the settlement. Iérti frowned slightly when he noticed there were human-like beings walking and conversing with humans, but they didn't have a heat signature like humans did.

"Mallen, do you know this mystery?" Iérti asked, keeping his voice low in case those strange human-like beings were able to hear as well as vampires did. "They don't appear to be of the living, yet they look and act like humans."

Mallen studied the beings, watching them closely. His long thick raven hair was neatly tied back with a ribbon. "They're not human. They are certainly not of the living. They are immortal like we are, yet they are not our kind. They appear to be of some sort of artificial intelligence, a manmade entity." He tilted his head to the side, indicating the settlement. "Would you like for us to go over and meet them? Inquire as to what they are?"

Iérti thought for a moment, then nodded. "I don't see why not. I don't think they're malevolent."

They slowly approached the settlement, their footsteps silent and imperceptible. Nobody heard them, but the human-like beings saw them from afar and came to meet them. Upon closer inspection, Mallen and Iérti saw there were electric circuits running through their bodies. They looked sort of like glamor girls on planet Mijoria, but of course that was not what they are.

One of them, a tall woman with her long hair swung to one side, blue streaks running through her dark brown hair, wearing a slim form-fitting blue and white outfit with long sleeves, spoke to the vampire leaders, her human-like voice electronic in nature.

"Who are you? You don't appear to be humans." Her eyes were a piercing electric blue, indicating she was a cyborg. There was something very human about the way she swung her hair, little things and mannerisms that brought out her personality, yet there was definitely something not human about her.

"We are vampires," Iérti said in a conversational tone. "We heard some of our kind came to this planet after driving humans to extinction on two other planets. We wish to intercept them. We are not here to disrupt your planet in any manner; we are here strictly for reasons concerning our kind."

Blue Streaks glanced at the men and women with her, then glanced back at Mallen and Iérti. "We haven't seen any of your kind around here. You're telling me some of your kind poses a danger to our people?"

"Yes," said Iérti, his voice serious. "Surely you've seen their ships. We landed not far from them, just over that valley."

"We haven't seen any ships," said Blue Streaks, a hint of fear in her voice. Had she been human, her face would've been pale. "What harm do they pose to our people?"

"By your people, you mean humans or your kind?" Mallen asked. "I see you're not human yourself. Are you speaking on behalf of humans?"

"Yes," Blue Streaks answered, her voice strong and firm now. "We all came from planet Kasoka. We were once human, but we became machines by force. Now we protect humans on a planet we call home. This planet is a safe haven for humans. Never again will any injustice be repeated, nor any human be forced to turn into an immortal slave ever again."

Iérti's eyes widened in shock. Mallen looked stricken.

Blue Streaks realized they knew nothing about the planet they just arrived in nor of its people. She turned to the others, saying, "Moriz, Ofelina, you may take your leave. Lyla, send word to the Ileín. Vaks, Jasmie, Mukti, gather a team and go search for the enemy vampires."

Some of them left. A slender woman with long black hair and pink eyes said, "Aliza, shouldn't they meet with the instead? They just warned us about a threat. I think he would like to hear it from them in person, rather than by messenger."

Blue Streaks, or Aliza as was her real name, considered her suggestion. "You're right," she said. "Lyla, you may take your leave."

As the woman left, Iérti asked, "Who is the ?" He pronounced it the way he heard the machines pronounce it: eye line.

"The Ileín is a powerful entity," said Aliza. "He is the one who defeated the machine empire on planets Kasoka and Luena. He brought all the humans to planet Magarra so they can live free from oppression. He is said to be one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, possibly more so than the Phoenix."

Mallen glanced at Iérti. "We met the Phoenix on our way to planet Magarra," he said.

"Lucky," said Aliza, a note of awe in her voice. "We only heard of him. He was the one who granted us permission to inhabit this planet." She turned, saying, "Follow me."

Mallen and Iérti glanced at each other, then followed Aliza to meet the Ileín.

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The merry bunch – Trandafira, Vajir, Stellan, Írásom, and a vampire named Bly Basko – were wandering the fields, listening to Vajir complain about thirst.

"Guys, this really sucks," Vajir said as they traipsed through the thick grass like wheat stalks.

Trandafira tried to ignore him, focusing on the surrounding landscape. Stellan looked sullen, tired of Vajir's complaining. Írásom wished he would stop talking about it, her own thirst driving her crazy. Bly Basko wanted to punch Vajir in the face.

Vajir continued to whine. "Our stores are down to only two. Two stores aren't enough for, like, five hundred plus vampires. It would only feed ten vampires at most. Iérti is like 'we've got to conserve it' but I'm starving, man. I haven't fed in three weeks. Three weeks! I know it's wrong, but I'm so tempted to feed on the first human I see. There's like several million of them out here."

"Quit complaining," Stellan said angrily, kicking at Vajir. "It doesn't help our situation any."

"Do you see my eyes, Stellan? They're turning black. I'm so deprived. I need – "

Stellan suddenly seized Vajir and shoved him hard against a tree, putting a Vajir-shaped dent in it. He glared at him, his red eyes rimmed black on the edges.

"SHUT UP! Do you hear me? I'm sick and tired of your stupid complaining!" He roughly let go, making Vajir slump to the ground.

The others stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, then continued their way. Vajir followed behind, shutting up for once.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this," Bly Basko murmured, running a hand through his blond hair. He was one of the outlier vampires who decided to go with the others on Mallen and Iérti's spaceship, joining the crew. "We're just a bunch of starving vampires looking for a human settlement. We're the wrong people to be looking for intel."

"News flash, Bly Basko – we're all starving," said irritably.

"Guys," Trandafira said in interruption, looking straight ahead. "I see a city."

Everyone immediately looked to see. Indeed, there was a star-shaped city ahead of them with lots of waterways and lush rainforests surrounding one side.

Even though it was winter season, the temperatures were quite warm and the land hardly ever saw snow. There were farmlands in between houses and modern construction buildings where people could get their food, produce, water, supplies, and other necessities.

People were dressed in various types of clothing, both vintage and modern fashion. Women wore jeans, pants, skirts, and dresses with modest necklines and cuts, while men wore period-era suits, jackets, jeans, and casual clothes. Some were electronic in nature with circuits running down their clothing. Most of the clothing looked like a clash of Victorian and cyberpunk style with lines running down the side or lace accents on certain areas. Others were a mix of Western and 80's style rad outfits.

The vampires stared at the town, fascinated. They lived on planet Verdamnt in a medieval-type era where the clothing was of old-time fashion and people lived without the knowledge of modern technology such as computers and cell phones. They did have modern conveniences such as running water, flush toilets, showers, and plumbing, but they didn't have cars, electricity, computers, and instant messaging devices. They had to learn all that from planet Mijoria, thought it took some time to get used to the new technology.

Írásom's eyes turned darker red as she caught multiple strong human scents from the city. It was the same as if a starving person were to smell a bunch of different food all at once.

Bly Basko was too enthralled with the people's appearances, their strange outfits and manner, to be bothered by thirst. Vajir felt venom build up, the growing need to feed nearly sending him into a sprint for the city as he fought hard to control himself. Trandafira and Stellan were the most self-controlled, able to withstand the tantalizing scent of blood even in their starving state.

Stellan, the leader of the group, said to the others, "Remember what Mallen and Iérti told us: do not feed on anyone. We are to simply go in and get intel, nothing more. Does anyone have an objection to this?"

All were silent, either looking at Stellan or still staring at the city. Stellan sighed and said, "Right. Let's get this over with."

The vampires came closer to the city. They soon realized the city had human and nonhuman inhabitants. The nonhuman inhabitants looked exactly like humans, but like vampires, had neither pulse nor heartbeat. They had circuits running down their bodies and clothing, glowing with electricity.

"These are electric people?" Bly Basko asked, confused. "How can humans be electric?"

"We're not humans," one of the electric people spoke, having heard Bly Basko's comment. The electric person had short pink hair and a short-sleeve outfit with chrome pink circuits. "We're machines."

"What's a machine?" Stellan asked, curious to learn about the nonhumans.

"Machines are artificially created intelligence in humanoid form," Pink Circuit responded. "We were once human, forced to turn into machines under the Machine Empire. Now we are free from machine rule." She looked curiously at the vampires. "You look human, but you are neither human nor machine. What type of alien are you?"

"We're vampires of planet Verdamnt," Trandafira told her. "Some of our kind came here. We are here to gather information. We have no knowledge of this planet other than it has humans on it."

"Can you tell us about this planet? How you came here and what happened to your former planet?" Írásom asked, finding it easier to be around nonhumans than humans. Machines had a metallic scent, which was as appealing as the smell of gasoline to humans.

Pink Circuit nodded. "Sure, as long as you tell us about your kind."

"Agreed," said Stellan, shaking her hand. "You first."

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Music:

"Eyes Turning Black"
by I Will Never Be The Same

[I don't know why, but this song just makes me think of the merry bunch for some reason]

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