Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:49:49 +1300
From: Arthur <artcart65@vodafone.co.nz>
Subject: prince vladd part 17

			   PRINCE OF HOUSE VLADD


				  PART 17


				 BY ARTHUR


Twenty minutes later and the guard was once again at the door guesturing
for Peter and the other boys to follow him back to the meeting room and the
decision of the President, it took no great ability for Peter to read the
thoughts of all those present, the President was totally in agreement with
Peter, the younger of the two military was also happy to be with Peter
although a little reserved about the type of people his men would be
working with, the other general was adamantly against any combined force
with the demon spawn, one advisor was reserving a decision and the other
had a small plan of his own, Peter smiled at all in the room as the
President began.

"Prince Vladd, we are all in agreement that we need your help and the help
of your fellows, what we don't understand is how it can be done?"

"Mr. President, I assume that this meeting is still totally secret and will
not be repeated in any way outside these walls?"

"Of course Prince Vladd, nothing will be known outside this office, all
those concerned are here now, why do you ask?"

"Unfortunately, Mr. President, you have two people in this room that seem
to want nothing better than to disclose everything we are discussing."

The President looked totally shocked at the disclosure, he looked at his
four advisors with a blankness that indicated he had no idea of any
undermining influences.

"Who do you mean, Prince Vladd?"

"Firstly the man on your left, Mr. Vespers, he is planning to use what is
said in this room to advance his own career through the media by disclosing
us to the world and thereby taking you out of office, and General Mackie is
planning to use his seniority to countermand any orders issued to work with
us, also to further his own ambitions."

The President looked shocked as he watched the two men mentioned by the
Prince.

"How could you possibly know this, Prince Vladd?"

"I must appologise Mr. President, it is one of our abilities to see further
than the surface of ones face."

"You mean you can read minds, is that it Prince Vladd?"

"Yes Mr. President, that's it exactly."

The President looked at Peter with a renewed interest then reached to his
desk, Peter, with his extra hearing heard the bell ring outside the door,
seconds later the two guards were quickly entering the room and looking
around for danger.

"Marines." said the President. "You will place Mr. Vesper and General
Mackie under arrest, they are both to be held in seperate cells and totally
incomunicardo, there is to be no contact or discussion with either of them
unless you have my express permission in writing, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir." both Marines answered simultaineously, then each took an elbow
of the two men and quickly marched them out of the office, the two voices
could be heard as they were taken away protesting their treatment and
innocence.

"Now what do we do with two men missing, I need their authority to activate
the forces, Prince Vladd?"

"If I may make a suggestion, Mr. President?"

"By all means Prince Vladd."

"Your advisor here, Mr. Campbel is an honest man, he has the abilities you
need and the experience, as to Colonel Masters, he is also honest and
devoted to your office and his duties, why not promote them both and then
we will not have to bring in others, I can trust them both as I trust
Mr. Shaw."

"Very well Prince Vladd." The President turned towards the two
men. "Mr. Campbel, you are hereby promoted to the position of senior
advisor to this office, your promotion will be gazzeted and made public as
soon as this meeting adjourns, Colonel Masters, you are also hereby
promoted to one star general and have the full authority of this office to
make all and any decisions required to undertake this operation, your
promotion will also be gazzeted as soon as this meeting ends, both
promotions are effective immediately."

Both men were blushing as they acknowledged the Presidents words.

"Now gentlemen, what are we going to do?" Campbel was the first to reply.

"Mr. Presidemt, Prince Vladd, I recommend that a state of emergency is
declared in the five states, this will allow Colonel....sorry General
Masters to bring in troops to a civilian area."

"Excellent Mr. Campbel, General Masters?"

"Sir, until we know exactly who we are up against I don't know what forces
we will need."

"Prince Vladd, perhaps you can enlighten us?"

"Mr. President, the forces you will be up against are formidable, so far we
are sure there will be werewolves, werecats and vampires at night, the
wolves and cats can operate during the day but the Vampires are restricted
to the night, all of these folk are hard to kill, this is where I am
totally trusting you and your people, there is only one way to be sure of
killing any of them."

"And that is? Prince Vladd." asked the President.

"Removal of their head or in the case of Vampires, exposure to bright
sunlight as well, what your men will have to remember is that it is easier
said than done, they all have far superior speed and strength as you have
already seen in the earlier demonstration, what I sugest is that the
General finds at least fifty snipers that can be armed with Barret .50's
and are issued with depleted uranium rounds, they will have to make head
shots only or at worst upper chest so that the top half of the body is
totally destroyed, they will have to work both at night time and day time,
if the General can get these men I can guarantee their safety, each man
will have some of my people guarding their backs, we will also be down on
the streets fighting, also we will need your official authority to join in
your communications systems for safeties sake."

Peter had no intentions of telling them that he had them already, some
things were best kept secret. The President looked over at the General.

"General? what can you do?"

"The fifty anipers I can get, but I will need 24 hours to get them all down
there, the only worry I have is that if the Princes people are also
fighting with the enemy, how are we going to know who is who?"

"That's easy, General, all my people will be wearing a white armband with
my house crest in red on it." Peter lifted his right hand and showed his
house crest to the three men.

"What if the enemy does the same, Prince Vladd?" asked the President.

"That's one thing they can't do, Mr. President, if they were to attempt to
use any symbol of a royal house illegally, they would break a law more
ancient than any you have, it would cause every house around the world to
come and destroy them and everyone assocciated with them, their whole line
would be wiped from the face of the earth, whether they were Vampire, Wolf,
Avian or Cat, even the enemy is not that stupid, they all know the
consquences."

"I see, but what about our men, they obviously are going to see things that
are only fables, how can we keep secrecy in their case?"

"I will do a mind scan on each and every one before they find out what it's
all about, any that are not suitable will be returned to their barracks and
nothing will be said, the others, General Masters can put under the secrecy
act, any breaches that do occur I can take care of." replied Peter with a
thin smile on his lips. " I'm sure, Mr. President, that we need to keep
this all under wraps as much as possible for all our sakes."

"Agreed, Prince Vladd, now is there anything else we can do?"

"Not at this moment, Mr. President, if we may leave now, I need to be back
before the sun sets to organise my people."

"Certainly Prince Vladd, and my sincere thanks for your honesty, Mr. Shaw,
please see that the Prince has everything he needs, General, you better get
started, take over General Mackies office, Mr. Campbel you will take over
Mr. Vespers, lets go gentlemen we don't have much time." The president
picked up a sheet of paper and handed it to Peter. "This number is my
personal telephone number, anything you need you ring me direct and, thank
you again, I know how much this must have cost you to reveal yourselves and
your people."

"Thank you, Mr. President, but this is our country as well, we had to come
out into the open in a case like this."

"Thank you again, we will need to meet again after this is all over, it's
obvious we are going to have to do something more in the future but it's
not going to be easy for any of us."

"As long as this meeting is kept totally secret, Mr. President, we may not
have to worry."

After shaking hands all around, Peter and the other boys left the office to
get to the airport and return home. Three hour slater, just as the sun was
begining to set, Peter lead the others into the main hall, on the large
table before them was a stack of reports waiting for him, using his speed
reading ability, Peter scanned through them quickly, as each was read,
Peter sent out orders, Leon and Carter busily typing away on their
respective keyboards as he gave his instructions, there had been only three
attacks that day while he had been away, two by wolves and one by cats but
Peter had a deep feeling that tonight was going to be another terrible one.

The rest of the house stirred awake as the sun disappeared in the western
horizon, again at full strength with the awakening of his Vampires, Peter
set to work delegating areas of the city to his guardians who in turn took
charge of the forces at their disposal which included members of the Vaga
house, Jakes many packs of werewolves as well as a number of new folk that
had been alerted through the underground news network.

The other four states also took to the streets under Peters orders to look
for trouble, again it was the inclusion of the Vaga that made the
difference to their numbers, the Vaga boys being accepted into the normal
world of the folk, had brought them a new found respect by all including
them selves, the dedication to their Prince and all he had done for them,
made them an army to be feared.

As the streets darkened and the humans ran for their homes, the folk began
their patrols, owls patrolled the skies, big cats prowled the dark alleys
and parks, werewolves boldly walked down the center of the streets and the
Vampires took to the builing tops to cover their patrols. It was only a
short time before the first attacks came and the patrols began to have
their hands full, every state was under attack and the fightning becam more
and more viscious as the numbers increased.

There was no finesse in formations or anything that a modern military would
consider organised, this was a fight of primal beings at their worst or
best depending on the perspective, all the Princes forces wore their
armbands whixh were elasticised to expand or shrink to fit the folk as they
transformed into their beasts, while Peters forces were less in number,
their descision to work together in combinations to beat an enemy soon
began to tell on the attackers. An enemy wolf would be faced with an Avian
and a Feline with a Vampire as backup, it turned out to be a deadly trio,
as the attackers had no Avians on their side, it soon became evident that
the advantage of overhead survielance was paramount to Peters forces being
in position before the enemy could get set.

Slowly throughout the night the enemy was pushed back from the residential
areas of the humans but the fighting in the central city was still viscious
and no quarter was asked or given. Peter and swiftwing were leading a young
Vaga Feline and Wolf towards the central city park to intercept a force of
two Vampire, two Canines and three Felines that were heading towards the
banking district, an owl far above the small group of enemy kept a close
watch on them as Peters group of four tried to get into position to ambush
them before they could do any damage to an important part of the cities
economy.

Swiftwing melded into a thick bush area where he was invisible, even to
Peter smore than sharp eyes, the trees and bushes seemed to wrap the young
Indian in their leaves so that the boy could not be distinguished from the
bushes themselves, Peter used his shifting ability to merge with a cement
wall that ran along the path their enemy was following, the Feline boy laid
low in the short bushes, his stripes blending perfectly with the shadows
from the street lights and the bushes, the Wolf, as wolves were apt to do,
simple sat down in the middle of the path, took out a small throwing knife
and began to clean his fingernails, he was still in boy form unlike the
Feline, he seemed quite happy to whistle a song off tune as he cleaned
away.

He well knew that his aura would give him away to the approaching group but
the fact he seemed alone would make them pause, that was all the others
were waiting for, Peter had set out the plan of attack as they had moved
into position, he would take the two wolves while Swiftwing would go after
the cats along with the Feline, the Canine boy would go for the Vampires as
best he could until one or more of the others was free to help him.

Only the three Vampires were armed and therefore would be the most
dangerous but to counter that, the Canine could sustain more damage in a
brawl than the other three, the four defenders lay in wait patiently as
they heard the approach of the small group, Peter unsheathed his Katana as
the boy in the path folded his knife and replaced it in his pocket then
looked up at the approaching group.

The lead Vampire looked at the solatary boy on the path and, with an evil
smile he held up his hand to stop the others.

"You better move along little wolf, you're outnumbered, just move off and
we'll let you live."

The boy looked over the group and decided that if he moved back a few feet
he would bring them well within the range of the ambushers so he slowly
rose to his feet and smiled at the Vampire as he backed up slightly.

"Now why would a nasty blood sucker like you want to go into the banking
district, did they cancel one of your cheques by mistake?"

"None of your business boy, now move it along."

"Hmm....now let me think about this,...move along...hmm, nah, I don't think
so, I like it here, besides, I like to see blood in the moonlight."

"what the........"

Before the Vampire could finish his sentence, the boy had formed into a
seven foot mound of snarling muscle and black fur, his front paws full of
sharp long claws, shot out and clamped around the necks of the two Vampire
at the front, including that of the leader, lifting the two bodies
effortlessly into the air, he opened his jaws to show long canine teeth
dripping with saliver, faster than any of the others could move he clamped
down on the leaders neck with his jaws and literally tore the Vampires head
off his shoulders and contepmtsiously spat it to the side of the path.

The first attack was so sudden and unexpected that the others took a few
moments to realise what had happened but, by then it was already to late,
Peter appeared as if by magic just behind the two wolves, his Katana hissed
through the air in a deadly ark, decapitating the first wolf before he even
knew he was in danger, the second wolf turned towards Peter snarling and
ready for blood but the look in his eyes said he knew it was already to
late for him as well as Peter's hands reversed the arc of the Katana with
expert ease and felt the slight pause as the shining blade sliced
effortlessly through the thick muscle and bone of the wolfs neck.

Swiftwing appeared from the greenery as though he had been grown from plant
life, he rolled low on the ground, a Kama in each hand, the street lights
caught the quick flash of polished steel as the blades cut expertly through
the rear archilles tendons of one panther, Swiftwing continued his roll
into a somersault over the feral scream of the wounded cat and, with
consumate ease, landed on the cats back and drove the two shining blades
deep into the front chest of the animal and sliced the heart into three
pieces then, withdrawing the blades he turned to face the other cats.

One of the other panthers seemed to have its paws filled with yellow and
black striped fury as the Feline with Peter landed on the panthers back and
was holding hard onto the other cats neck in a typical tiger death grip as
his strong rear legs gouged and tore at the flanks sending tufts of black
fur into the surrounding scrub as they both howled and growled at each
other, the third cat was having trouble trying to free himself from a
number of vines that had somehow mysteriously entangled themselves around
his legs.

The second Vampire was now laying on the ground also without a head but the
young werewolf now had his hands full as he took two viscious gashes across
his back from the third Vampires blade as Peter ran to help him. Swiftwing
moved towards the last cat, a look of ancient bloodlust was full in his
young eyes as he took in the scene around him, the Vaga wolf was deeply cut
across the back but still full of fighting as he forced the Vampire to back
pedal as the wolfs claws missed him only by inches, Peter was free and
moving in on the Vampire, his partner was finsihing off the other panther
with a bone crunching closing of his massive and powerful jaws.

Swiftwing moved towards the entangled panther, once there he looked down on
the animal as the tiger finished off his own kill and made his way up
beside swiftwing, changing back into the young boy that was underneath the
fearsome tiger visage. The panther still tried with all his might to free
himself from the constricting vines that wrapped his legs up. Swiftwing
looked down on the trapped panther.

"If you surrender now you'll live, keep fighting and you die, your choice?"

The cat tried one more time but the look in his eyes told the truth, he was
trapped and he knew it, he stopped fighting the vines and lay donw on his
belly in a sign of surrender, Swiftwing and the tiger, who had now changed
back into a boy, stood back and nodded their agreement of the panthers
descision.

Maenwhile, Peter had moved in on the Vampire, as he got close he called for
the wolf to back off and join the others around the panther, the last
Vampire turned on Peter in a defensive stance, his own Katana at the ready
for this new attack, what he saw made him pause, the boys aura was young,
very young, but it was also weird, he had never seen an aura quite like it,
it was a strange mixture of human blue, vampire red and something he had
never seen before, a faint shimmer of green.

The vampire looked at the young, newly turned boy and smiled, he was over
four hundred years old, a newly turned boy like this one would not have the
knowledge or experience to beat him one on one, a quick glance told him
where the boys friends were but, they seemed to be taking no interest in
the two of them, again strange, surely they could see the boy was
outclassed, he knew he was not going to survive this exchange, when he
killed the boy he would still have to defend against the others and that,
he knew, was not going to be any picnic for him, as old as he was.

The boy before him showed no fear as he moved towards him, his flashy
Katana at the ready, he saw there may be a way out of this, if not it might
make the boy pause and give himself an advantage to attack first.

"Walk away boy, you can't win against me."

"Why would you think that, Vampire?"

"I have four hundred years on you boy."

"True, but you don't have this." said Peter as he turned his right hand so
the Vampire could see his house ring. The vampire looked at Peters ring as
though mesmerised.

"You....you are ...a...Prince?"

"Yes, I am Prince Vladd of House Vladd the Impaler, I ask you to lay down
your sword and surrender or you die now."

"But...but you can't be...we were told we were attacking this city because
it has been taken over by Vaga thugs and the human government was helping
them."

"You've been lied too, now lay down your sword."

"I..I..can't, I gave an oath to fight against you and I've never broken an
oath."

"You know this is your end then?"

"So be it, defend yourself Prince Vladd of House Vladd."

The Vampire came in swiftly as only a Vampire can, his blade was a spinning
arc of death as he cut and slashed at Peter's defenses, the resounding
clash of steel could be heard streets away as the two swordsmen faught in
the grassy confines of the park, nothing was out of bounds and there were
no rules, only survival and the death of their opponent.

It was thrust and parry for a while until the Vampire produced a Tanto in
his left hand from nowhere and slashed visciously at Peters left arm, the
cut went deep but Peters healing abilities took over and began the healing
almost immediately as Peter ran up a nearby wall and with little effort
flipped over the head of his attacker and slashed downward with his own
blade to open up a deep gash in his opponents left shoulder, making him
drop the Tanto on the ground, both antagonists stepped back a pace to
resize each other, the fight had been going on for a good ten minutes and
neither was showing any sign of weakening except for the left arm of the
Vampire which seemed to be slower to heal than Peters forearm.

Both had slight cuts and gashes in their clothing from near misses but it
was obvious that Peter had been the more effective, his ability and
training by Sin Yu and the others was begining to show, again the Vanpire
attacked, this time Peter stood his ground and, with a move none of his
friends had ever seen before, Peter literally double backwards at the waist
as the Katana swept over his exposed front, with a midair twist of his
young and flexably body, he twisted to his right and brought his own blade
in a sweeping arc. the results were evident as the vampire gave a blood
curdling scream as his left leg was removed from his body, with this strike
it was all but over, even a Vampire was defensless when on only one leg,
Peter looked down on his opponent, his sword arm held at the ready.

"Surrender, you have no chance now?"

"No, finish it, my time has come." as he said this, the Vampire made one
last effort to cut the boy standing over him, both he and Peter knew it was
a useless effort but with a final sigh, Peter swung his Katana in a fast
arc and decapitated the Vampire on the ground before him, it was over for
now but he knew there was more days and nights like this to come. Peter
walked over to the others where they waited with their captive.

"I see you have a captive, my love, what are we going to do with him?"
asked Peter of Swiftwing.

"I thought you might want to question him." replied Swiftwing as he wrapped
an arm around Peter's waist and pulled him in close.

"Return to your human form panther, and we can talk, as long as you make no
attempt to esape you'll be safe."

The panther transformed back into his human form and turned out to be a
teen of about sixteen, Swiftwing muttered a soft chant and the vines
retreated leaving the teen free, the teen sat up and stretched his arms and
legs as he was released from his bonds, he then looked at Peter with
puzzlement.

"Why didn't you kill me as well?"

"Because we want some answers, firstly, your name, where you are from and
who gave the orders to attack our city."

"My name is Micheal, I'm from a small town in Washington State, I don't
know who gave the orders, my pride leader just told us we had a high paying
job to do for a Vampire from this state."

"Washington State, you're a long way from home, thats right over on the
other coast, are you telling me the Vampire is bringing in folk from all
over the country?"

"I don't know for sure, but a lot of the folk I've met are from all over
and they're all being paid by the same Vampire, we never get to meet him,
all orders are passed on by cell phone."

"How many of the folk do you think are involved in these attacks?"

"I don't know but I've seen more than a few hundred at some of the
parties."

"So where are you all staying?"

"We're all over, some in caravan parks, some in motels and hotels, some
just come by truck and cars, most are spread out all over the five states
and only go into the towns we're told to attack, we're meant to go after
only the humans so when some of the local folk began to attack us we
couldn't understand why."

"The Vampire you've all been taking orders from has gone rogue, he has no
authority to hire or use any of the folk in these cities, we know who he is
but we can't find him, not yet anyway, in time we'll find him and he'll pay
for all the trouble he's caused."

"What about me? what's going to happen to me now?"

"Where are the rest of your pride?"

"You killed two of them here, our leader and his mate, there's only myself
and two young cubs left, they're at our camper waiting just over the state
line."

"Then I will give you an option, you can go back to the cubs and take them
home or, you can join our Vaga House and help us, the only other option you
will have is to stay and follow the renegade and I can assure you that you
will die, take your pick?"

The teen stopped and looked at the four boys in front of him, now that his
leader and his mate were dead, they really had nothing to go back to, he
was not strong enough on his own to form his own pack and he also had the
two young cubs to think of.

"What will happen to the cubs, they've only been turned a few months."

"How old are they?"

"Ones just thirteen, the other is fifteen, our leader had very little
compunction in turniing kids when they were young, he just wanted to build
his numbers and pride any way he could."

"The cubs will be your responsibility, what you decide will be on there
behalf as well."

"Then I would like to join one of your Vaga Houses, we have nowhere to go
and no pride left, I can't build a pride, I'm not a leader."

Peter turned to the young teen tiger.

"Can you go with him and show him the way to House Vaga, tell your council
to get them settled and teach them the rules of the house as well as their
obligation to House Vladd."

"Yes Prince Vladd, come on panther, show me where your cubs are hiding and
we'll get you home."

The young panther lead the tiger away towards the edge of the city while
Peter, Swiftwing and the wolf returned to the center of town to catch up on
any of the other patrols that were still around. The night was almost over
and most of the attacks had been again repulsed, while both sides had had
losses, the enemy had by far lost more men than the defenders, it seemed
that the combinations Peter and the other leaders had worked out were more
effective than sheer numbers as well as their advantage of home ground and
familiarity with the batlle grounds.

Nearly all of Peter's forces had sustained some form of injury, it was an
inevitable part of the type of fights they had but there had been twenty
one losses of life frpom the Vaga and other helpers that affected Peter the
most, even though the losses of the attackers were nearly four to one he
still was not happy with the loss of his onw people.  Trying to accept the
fact that there was no other way did not make it any easier, especially as
this was only the start and soon he would be responsible for human lives as
well.

Peter activated his com unit and called for reports, it was son made clear
that the attacks had finished for the time being, he called all units to
return to their respective homes and rest, those that had not taken part in
the defense of the city were to start their patrols as the sun rose. Peter
and Swiftwing returned to their BMW and waited for Sin Yu and the other two
to join them for the ride home, Levi and Caleb were waiting there for them
to take over while the others rested.

Once home, Sin Yu, Steven and Mbeda went to their room as the shutters fell
for the day, Peter and Swiftwing went with Levi and Caleb to the security
room to check with the boys on any intercepts, Peter was happy to find that
the army personel were already on their way to the airport outside the city
and would be landing around midday, that would give him and Swiftwing about
six hours to clean up and rest, the next few hours could turn out to be
very busy.

As the two lovers got to their apartment upstairs, the phone rang, Peter
opened a line and answered.

"Yes, I'm Peter Vallison." Peter waited while the voice on the other end
talked.

"Yes, David Shaw will bring the men out here, we'll be waiting for them at
12.54, thank you colonel."

Turning to his boyfriend he smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist and
pulled Swiftwing close beside him.

"I wonder what they would say if they knew we already had the details of
their arrival."

"You'd probably send them into a tail spin to find out how we knew."

"That's true, come on love, we need a shower and some sleep before we greet
our guests."

The two lovers retired to the bathroom and a long hot shower before running
naked to the bedroom, it was nearly an hour later before they both fell
into a deep sleep, both fully satiated and relaxed in their need for each
other.

Midday seemed to come far to quickly for the two boys, once downstairs they
sat at the table to watch the security guards eating lunch, Levi and Caleb
had the incoming messages ready for them and any other intelligence that
the two computer boys had found, it was quite a stack for Peter and
Swiftwing to sort through but half an hour later and they were finished,
all the nescesary orders had been sent out and plans for the coming night
had been set, there was only the matter of the new arrivals to worry about
and Peter was not sure what he would be working with.

At 12.40 his security called to say there were a large number of black
SUV's at the gate asking for entry and that the name of David Shaw was
there recognition. Peter told them to let the cars enter and then along
with the other three, went to the front veranda to see them in, Trantor
waited at the door behind the boys as the first of the SUV's pulled to a
halt in the driveway, the doors sprang open and six soldiers jumped from
the car and linied up a short way from the bottom of the steps.

As each car pulled to a halt, the same scenario took place until there were
three lines of twenty men lined up in the driveway, David Shaw was the last
man to exit the SUV's along with a military officer, David came over to
Peter along with the officer, once they stood in front of Peter, David
began the introduction.

"Prince Vladd, this is Captain Emery, he's been briefed by General Masters
about the situation down here and that you would have overall charge of the
operation, Captain Emery, I would like to introduce Prince Vladd, he is the
man in charge of the surrounding five states."

The officer looked down at the young teen before him, Peter could read the
doubts in the mans mind but said nothing, Emery eventually returned to his
military training and could do nothing but accept the boy because that was
his orders, he reached out a hand to shake with the boy and was instantly
amazed at the power of the young man, his hand felt as though it had been
crushed by a steel claw, trying not to flinch, he smiled at Peter.

"My pleasure Prince Vladd, I hope we can work well together, the General
said you were experienced beyond your years and that you knew the situation
here better than anyone."

"Thank you Captain, I notice your men don't have their arms with them?"

"They're coming in a truck shortly, perhaps you would like to look the men
over?"

"Thank you again Captain but Ive already done that, there's seven that will
have to go back, they won't be suitable for this battle, the others are
going to be in for a shock but they will follow orders none the less,
they're good men."

"What...how...who?"

"I'll explain everything after those seven men have left Captain, they
don't need to know what's going on here."

The authoritive sound of the young teens voice left no doubt in the
Captains mind that this boy knew what he was doing, instead of trying to
argue, he asked.

"Which seven men Prince Vladd?"

Peter began pointing out the men he had found would be no good in the
upcoming fights, some just did not really have the killer instinct needed
and others had major hangups about young boys and teens, especially gay
ones. Once he had pointed out the men, the Captain gave orders for the men
to return to the airport for their trip back to their own units.

After the SUV had left with the men, Peter turned again to the Captain.

"Captain, what I'm going to reveal to you and your men is of the utmost
secrecy, only a very small handful of people know about us and that
includes the president so when you see what we are, you'll knnow we have
backing from the highest place in the country, your men will be in a little
shock at first but I have scanned them all and they are the type to settle
in quickly."

"S..scanned them, Prince Vladd?"

"Yes Captain, scanned them, you see, I and most of my friends here are
Vampires as well as other species we are fighting a rogue that is causing
all the trouble around here."

The look of disbelief on the Captains face lasted less than ten seconds as
Peter turned his back on the assembled men and faced the Captain, then, he
went inot his change, his fangs dropped easily, his eyes turned red and his
finger nails lengthened until they were very sharp claws, once he knew the
Captain had seen him in his true form, Peter changed back to make it easier
for the Captain.

"Holy fucking shit." burst from the Captains mouth before he could stop
himself, he backed up a couple of steps and looked again at the young
innocent teen standing before him with a smile on his young face. If he
hadn't seen it with his own eyes he would never have believed it.

"It's ok Captain, I'm not hungry yet, you and your men are safe from us, we
don't attack allies, now you can see why we had to wait for the other seven
men to leave before I filled you and your men in."

"I...I saw it and still don't quite believe what I saw." said the stunned
Captain.

"When we are changed into these forms we also gain some very particular
abilities, one of them is my ability to read your mens minds, that's how I
was able to sort out the others that had to go, it also means that no one
can lie to me without me finding out."

"How the hell am I going to explain all this to the men, Prince Vladd?"

"You won't have to Captain, that's my job, yours will be to make sure your
men know exactly whats needed of them and see that it's done."

As Peter finished he got a call on his com from the security guards to say
that a truck was asking for entry, Peter gave his ok.

"Your equipment has arrived Captain, would you like me to explain to your
men now before it arrives up here?"

"Please Prince Vladd, I'm afraid I'm still a bit shocked to be able to
explain it all to them."

"If you would like to give the orders for them to listen to me Captain."

The Captain brought the men to attention and explained that Peter would be
revealing something to them that was never to go passed their lips again
and that they were all under the utmost secrecy and were liable to life
imprisonment if they ever revealed anything about this operation and the
people they would meet and work with, he then told them who Peter was by
way of introdcing him to them.

"Men, this young man is Prince Vladd, you will accord him your full respect
at all times and follow any and all orders issued by him or his deputies,
is that clear?"

A resounding loud yell of "Sir, Yes Sir." echoed around the still grounds
of House Vladd. Peter stepped to the side of the Captain, he knew nothing
of military protocol so decided to do it his way.

"Gentlemen, as the Captains has just told you, my name is Poitre Vladd, I'm
a Prince of the House of Vladd the Impaler." Peter looked at the vacant
stares of the men and smiled.  "while you're trying to work out where
you've heard that name before I'll ease your minds, Vladd the Impaler was
believed to be the basis of Bram Stokers stories of Vampires, not
true. Vladd the Impaler was not only my direct ancestor, but he was a true
Vampire."

Peter waited for some of the snide comments of disbelief and 'oh yeahs' to
subside before he went into his change and stood before the assembled men
as a full Vampire Just as Levi and Caleb did at the same time, Swiftwing
stood on the side smiling at the looks on the faces of the men, some in
horror, some in shock, some in intense interest, Peter changed back as
easily as before.

"So gentlemen you can see that all your childhood fears and wonders are
real but, that's not all, as you work with us you will see others that you
thought were works of fiction, yes I'm talking about werewolves, werecats
and even werebirds, we have been on this earth as long if not longer than
you have, most of the stories you have seen written or been told are false,
we can't be killed as easily as you would believe but there is a way and
when you are told, we will be placing our lives and the lives of others in
your hands, don't be mistaken in thinking that you would get away scott
free however, there's more of us than you would think, any questions so
far?"

Only blank stares met Peters words, it was obvious that the men were
totally stunned by the announcement yet no one asked a question, their
appearances told a story of disbelief and wonderment but a slow dawning of
acceptance for the obvious.

"Very well gentlemen, now to your part, we are in a war of survival, not
only for us of the Folk but, for your people as well, we know the Vampire
behind it but can not as yet locate him, your part will be to work with
some of my people and others to try to cut down the losses to human life
and the destruction of property. There are now fifty two of you, ten each
will go to the states capitols, the other two will stay here in my house as
back up, all your accomodations and food will be suplied by my people,
anything you want we will get for you, your duties will be to take up
positions on roof tops and take out any of the Folk that are not wearing
one of these arm bands."

Peter held up a white armband with his house mark in bright red for all of
them to see and become acquainted with.

"Now the one secret we usually keep from everyone, the one sure way to kill
any of the folk is to take their head, any other place and you will be in a
lot of pain before you die, as an example, let me show you something, Levi,
would you care to demonstrate."

Levi nodded with a smile and stepped in front of the ranks of men, with a
casual toss he threw his sidearm to his brother and stepped back opening
his arms wide, without hesitation, Caleb fired a full magazine of nine
rounds into his chest, what the men saw was another shock to their systems,
apart from a small staggering backwards, Levi still stood, tearing off his
shirt he let the ranks of men watch as the nine bullets slowly worked their
way out of his body and dropped to the ground, with a compemptuous look at
the bullets, Levi looked at Peter.

"You owe me a new shirt, My Lord." he told Peter with a smile.

The men stood stock still in amazement at the demonstration, if any had
doubted Peters words up to that point, there was now no doubts left.

"As you can see gentlemen, you won't kill us too easily, now, you can see
the reason for requesting that you be issued only with depleted uranium
rounds, you have to destroy the head and those rounds are the only way to
make sure. Now each man will have at least two of my people to watch your
backs while you are in your respective positions, no one will get near you
while you do your job, we will also be on the ground fighting so in all
honesty, I ask you to make sure who you're firing at, the enemy will not
wear our armbands even if it could save their lives, you'll have to take my
word for that, so please remember, any person or animal with an armband is
on your side, no mistakes please, we don't take kindly to mistakes, it's
just our nature. Soon you will meet some of the other Folk so you don't get
any surprises when you see them change, now before you go to your
accomodations and pick up your gear, is there any questions?"

Most of the troops looked over to Captain Emery for permission to speak.

"Men, you may speak freely and ask any questions of Prince Vladd, but
please remember to show proper respect." replied Captain emery.

The first man was in his early twenties.

"Prince Vladd, what happens if we don't win this fight?"

"Then the Vampire behind it will try to take actions to take over the rest
of the states until he rules them all, remember we live a lot longer than
you do so he has time is on his side"

"Sir, how old are you?"

"Fifteen, Ive just started to come into my being, as an example, how old
would you say Levi is, the boy who was shot by his brother?"

A number of the men called out ages from seventeen to nineteen, Peter
smiled at the answers.

"Both Levi and his brother Caleb are thirty eight years old, in our society
they are still considered very young, as a guide I can tell you my father
is over four hundred years old and yet looks no more than most of you, when
our blood is changed we stay the same age as at that moment of changing."

"Sir, does that mean that when I'm eighty and look it, you will still look
fifteen?"

"That's right, our bodies regenerate every night while we sleep as do all
the other of our Folk, now one important thing to remember is that some of
your targets are going to look like young kids, don't be fooled, most of
them are way older than you or anyone you know, now if that's all for now,
your accomodation is out at the rear of the house, all your equipment is
there waiting for you, I'm sure there will be plenty of time to learn more
as the day goes on, at six o'clock there will be a dinner set for you in
the main hall here in the house, it's then when you will find out your
destinations and meet your backups, thank you gentlemen for vollunteering
to help us, Captain Emery, if you will let your men retire and if I can see
you in the house afterwards."

The Cpatain saluted and began to send his men out back, he then turned and
went up to the house just as Trantor opened the front door for him to
enter.

'this is going to be a long night' he thought to himself as he got a look
at the inside of the big house for the first time, the main hall alone
could house hundreds of people, no wonder the Prince had no problems
inviting fifty men to dinner, there was a lot of activity in the hall as a
couple of young men rushed about setting up the room for the upcoming
guests, of the Prince and his three friends, there was no sign.

TBC

artcart65@vodafone.co.nz