As usual, I jumped out of the bed to get ready to train. I managed to mostly get the tuxedo on this time but was too impatient to wait for Diach to help so I took off without my bowtie towards the arsenal. A clean shaven man stopped me on the way.
"Where are you going, youngin?" The man asked. It felt like I was being looked down on but I was so excited to get to the arsenal that I paid it no mind.
"I am kind of in a rush so can we speed along whatever it is you are going to say next?" I said back trying to escape the conversation. He looked me over before straightening his jacket and stepping closer.
"Well, I can tell from your tone that you are a new recruit. Let me start off with saying you should treat everyone in here with respect. Some of the other generals are not as nice as me and they would punish you for the disrespect you just showed me. I am a decorated war general after all." The vampire said looking closer at my neck. He was wearing a normal suit so I did not think he would notice my missing bowtie but alas, he did.
"Apologies. I have an appointment, though, so I really do need to go. If we could continue this at a later date, that would be great." I said sure this time I could get away. The man refused to let me go without saying what he needed to.
"Well before you go, let us get you fixed up. Your bowtie is undone. I will show you how to tie it." The man said before taking his tie off and showing me step-by-step how to tie it. It did not come out very cleanly with his because his tie was not made to be done that way but mine was not looking much better. It was better than nothing so I was happy. Even though I tried to reject the man and get back to what I was doing, he showed me nothing but kindness. Before leaving, I thanked him repeatedly as he was a gracious man and took off. I could not really see us ever meeting up again so I erased him from my mind and continued on.
Odesza was waiting in the training room as usual but he was not polishing the weapons this time. He was waiting for me. I was anxious to train today and it seemed he was too.
"Well, it is going to be a long one today. There is a lot of things we should go over today to get you in proper form for battles before you have to go out." Odesza cryptically said. We reviewed what he told me the night previous before going onto some new things. Most of what we went over was all breathing techniques and ways to get more power in my attacks. It took nearly four hours to go over everything and get to a point we could stop.
When we finished, I went back to the feeding chambers to get some food before it was too late. When I went back this time, I heard a fight among the humans about who would get to be my human this time. I guessed it was because they heard about the other's escape somehow. They did not converse after each feeding from what I could tell so I had no idea how that information could have gotten around. I trusted Diach and Kristine explicitly so I was positive it was not them. That was a problem for another day. But I did notice the already sour staff member giving me especially nasty looks tonight. He was being extra mean as I went back and fed.
Instead of the comments he made last time and the looks, he just totally ignored me as well as the occassional scoff in my direction. On the way out, I made sure to give him the meanest look I could think of. He did not even notice but went back to looking at the parchment on the podium. As I walked out, he finally said something.
"The princes would like to see you in their room." The man said looking down at the paper. That was a surprise. I had had no contact with any of the princes except that very first night and after that, I really did not want to face any of them. They all left a very bad taste in my mouth after that first night. It would not leave a good impression for me to directly disobey the supreme body of the vampires so I did not have much of a choice but to go see them.
Before I went to tend to the princes, I needed to clean myself up so I went over to the showering area and grabbed a quick scrub. It was surprisingly like a bath house. I had to wash and rinse before getting into a big hot communal bath. I was not really sure how to operate the showers and I could not ask some random stranger how to get naked and take a shower so I went with the bath approach since I watched enough television as a human to know how to operate it sufficiently. The water was steaming hot but felt great even to my vampire skin. Seeing the steam rising from the bath, I thought based on movies it would burn my skin off but no, it felt just like a hot bath would as a human except there were some parts I could not feel the heat like I would have been able to as a human. As I stepped out before getting myself dressed, I ran into a familiar older gentleman.
"I see you managed to fix your tie after training, eh?" The man laughed. Seeing him without his blazer and under shirt on, I could see he was very muscular. There were three long scars running across his mid section but I thought it best not to ask about it.
"I did. Odesza did not even say anything after seeing..." I started before stopping. This warranted a small chuckle from the man as he stepped in and sat down in the water. He seemed to enjoy the bath even more than I had judging by his long deep breaths. Drying off was not as easy as every time I touched my hot skin with the towel I felt like my skin was melting. It was much too hot in the room to cool off so I had to deal with the unbearable heat of the room. The instant I exited the large cavernous room, I felt cool and the breeze of the base was refreshing. After a few deep breaths to cool myself off, I walked down the corridors to the prince's room.
The guards greeted me as before but this time I had to answer their barrage of questions separate from Diach. When I got through all the questions, the door slowly opened like before and I was met with the sight of the princes sitting on the raised thrones in the middle of the room. It was still just as impressive this time as it had been the first.
I walked in and waited so they could tell me what they needed but seconds after I got to where I was standing, the guards crossed their weapons at my neck once again. This time they forced me to the ground before looking at me disgusted.
"Kneel before your princes." One of the guards commanded. Upon remembering Diach do the same the previous time, I thought it was just for show or by choice but now I could see it was not a choice. If you came in the room, you had to kneel before speaking or even looking at the princes. The guards never looked directly at the princes so they never knelt down but they commanded all else to. I was getting frustrated having the guards constantly put their weapons against my throat for reasons I had no idea of before. They were not a forgiving bunch but neither was I.
"Let him up, guards. He is fine." The oldest of the four said before the guards released me. He was looking at my claws and fangs as I stood back up. He must have realized it was going to turn into a fight if they kept their weapons trained on me. The guards had the advantage but would they be able to coordinate and kill me before I could punch them all away? That was a question that I would have to wait and see.
"How can I help you all?" I asked the princes making sure not to look at Hideki. But I could feel his eyes boring a hole in my face as I kept my attention trained ahead. The princes waved away the vampire who was holding a long paper in front of them away before speaking.
"You have likely not been told of the way things are done here among our people." The oldest asked looking at me. I shook my head without muttering a word as I did not want to offend any of them and have a part two to our earlier fight.
"Well, here we princes give the soldiers missions to complete while they are under our tutelage. You are now a vampire so you will have to complete missions as well. Do not worry as we will be sending you with Diach for the first few so you can get your bearings before you are left totally alone. They will be easy missions for one as accomplished as he is and his disciple." The same vampire said before waving the other one back. He came back holding the same paper as before but it seemed just a tad longer this time.
"What will happen if I do not complete these missions?" I asked wondering why none of them mentioned the possibility of a failed mission.
"Well you die to be frank. These missions are not common courtesy goals we vampires have but life-or-death missions set to either be completed or have the vampire die on the battlefield trying. Many of the missions are either recruiting or fighting the Moonwalkers. As you know, we are stronger than they are so most of the extermination missions are for a high ranking mutt who is guarded by lower dogs. But any regular soldier can get through them pretty successfully." One of the older other vampires said still looking at me. The vampires did not beat around the bush, that is for sure.
"Ah, yes, where are our manners? Introductions before mission assignment." The oldest said as he stood and clapped his hands once. I had never thought about it but I did not know any of their names so I could not even refer to them if I wanted. Saying 'the old one' would certainly be unacceptable so I would need names in case anything ever happened and I needed to call them something.
"You have already met Hideki. I am Schley, the prince to my left is Paradio and the prince to my right is Shojo." The oldest of the four said to me motioning to each he was talking about. They had unusual names for this time period but many of the ancient warriors and scholars had names similar to these so I could only guess they were from a past era.
"Nice to meet you all, my lords. What would you have me do as a first mission?" I asked totally at their mercy. I tried to show them the utmost respect for now, at least until I could take over as leader of the vampires.
"Well Diach gave us the report of your quarrel with some of the Moonwalkers. If I remember correctly, his name was Motor." The prince said trying to recall the name of my greatest foe.
"His name is Motoro, my lord." I said beginning to fill with rage at the mere mention of his name. There was nothing but unbridaled rage and aggression towards that group. They ruined my life and that was a debt that had yet to be repaid.
The guards shot me an angry look when I corrected the princes but I paid them no mind. As long as I had the princes here and I did not know the proper procedure, the princes would protect me from the power crazed guards. They had an air about them that just did not sit right with me.
"Ah, yes, Motoro. For your first mission, I want you to do some reconnaisance and find out what they were doing in that city for that long. Moonwalkers do not usually hang around one area for long, especially not for years like that one did. Find out why and where their base is while you are at it. That should be an easy enough mission. Do not fight them as if there are too many it will only be you and Diach and we cannot lose two of our major players right off the bat." Schley said before writing some thing on the paper and sending me on my way. I had no idea how to prep for the mission so I would have to rely on Diach for that.
I told him the details of my meeting with the princes after leaving their area and we had some preparations to make before leaving. I packed a bag with my tuxedos and some spare blood before we left. Diach had some odds and ins of his own he attended to on his own. He had a sword strapped to his back before we left and I could guess he was foreseeing a fight. It was not the wrong conclusion as I planned on taking any chance possible to fight and kill Motoro and his group. Kristine stopped me on our way out to talk.
"Are you guys going on your first mission?" The girl asked me. She was wearing a long dark grey dress tonight as opposed to her usual black one. This one was less elegant but still beautiful in its own way. I nodded at her question but this did not satisfy her.
"Oh. Well the princes usually go easy for the first few missions so you both should not have that much trouble especially with Diach being there with you. My mentor was not nearly as protective or helpful as Diach so I was basically out doing missions on my own while she stayed around feasting on humans but that is a conversation for a different night. Just be careful. I would hate to lose the one person I care about so quickly." Kristine said before quickly changing the subject trying to evade the topic. I knew she cared for me but I was not expecting her to just come out and say so. We would certainly be having a discussion about that when I came back. She gave me a hug on our way out before going back in the opposite direction from us.
It was time for me to set out on my first mission as a vampire and I would be looking to spill blood