Amiee Agyeman: Demonic Explorer
Most would agree that vampires are creatures of evil and hate. The children of the single most destructive and powerful demon ever to exist, Khastran. Vampires have been responsible for the destruction of Mars, the fall of Rome, the sinking of the Titanic and played a key role in both world wars of the 20th century, to say nothing of the atrocities they will inflict on humanity in the age of Tairos. There truly is no greater enemy to man.
In spite of this however a few vampires over the millennia have been able to control their demonic urges and even used the curse of Khastran to do great things. Carlene and Professor Fang for instance, two of the most notable heroic vampires would go on to cross the boundaries of time and space itself and save countless planets from the forces of darkness.
Another famous reformed vampire, Aimee Agyeman meanwhile explored all the lost worlds and dark corners of our earth, unearthed many forgotten civilisations, and discovered hidden secrets that humanity and in some cases even demonkind were too afraid to explore. Incredibly enough compared to Fang and Carlene, these accomplishments may still sound somewhat pedestrian at first, but ultimately in the long run, Aimee's work helped humanity learn about the darker, more unnatural side of our planet in the 20th and 21st centuries more to a greater extent than any other explorer or demon hunter. Whilst it wouldn't be until the 25th century before much of her work was made available to the general public, to those who were aware of the paranormal, Aimee's discoveries were of the utmost importance.
Before we explore her adventures however, it is important we learn how this incredible woman was able to control the evil within that had consumed millions of people throughout our history and how she was able to gain access to the incredible craft that allowed her to explore our world.
Aimee was born in the year 1950. She was the child of a Jamaican man and a Ghanian woman, with her family having moved to London not long before her birth. From an early age Aimee showed an interest in science, though granted during her childhood and adolesence that manifested itself mainly in her love for science fiction, particularly Star Trek. (Something she maintained even after she became a vampire.)
Still her more cerebral interests would eventually lead to Aimee studying to become a Doctor. Aimee was by all accounts, a kind, warm, bubbly person. No one was surprised that she ended up in a profession where she could help people. Even after she became a vampire, in contrast to the more serious and intense Carlene and Fang; Aimee reportedly always maintained her somewhat sunny, optimistic demeanor. Still she was also somewhat obsessive, often being consumed by her interests from Star Trek (she loved to boast about having created possibly the first Klingon to English dictionary) to later medicine and finally exploration.
Overall this was a boon for Aimee most of the time as not only would she not have explored the world to the same extent, but some have also argued that she would not have been able to control her bloodlust to the same extent either. Still her obsessive nature also ensured that she didn't really have time for a personal life before her untimely death. She did always have a large group of friends and was always close with her family, but none of her friends at least were ever able to get to know Aimee as closely as those she would later travel with, simply because her later companions were part of her obsession.
Aimee showed great promise during her first year as a doctor at St Paloma's, but sadly near the start of her second year, at the age of just 25 years old. Aimee was caught up in a gang war between the local vampires and vandals that would change her life forever.
During her first year Aimee had stumbled upon a few supernatural cases in St Paloma's which she had dismissed, or in some instances been warned away from. Normally vampires, vandals and demons did their best to ensure that their victims never ended up in hospitals or morgues to prevent their true identity from being exposed. Organisations that were aware of the supernatural such as Rentros also often sent an agent into each hospital to help cover up any stray stragglers, or indeed dispose of people who had been infected by vampires or other supernatural creatures.
Sadly however St Paloma's Rentros agent had been killed by the local vampire king, St James just a week or so before the events that would change Aimee's life. St James was named as such as he had originally been a Christian before being turned during the reign of the vampire emperor Nero, who famously sought to exterminate Christianity.
For many centuries James had been one of the most powerful and influential vampires in Europe, but after the second world war, he had fallen on hard times and was now nothing more than a local gang leader. Naturally he was in conflict with the local vandal community, with these soul devouring demons being the sworn enemies of vampires as they were created by the demonic rival of the vampire's father, Khastran.
St James hoped to increase his numbers by recruiting people from areas that were usually off limits to both species such as hospitals. It worked for a short while giving the vampires a slight advantage, but the vandals soon realized what was going on and launched an all out attack against St Paloma's.
During the attack, St Jame's minions, the doctors and even some of the patients who had been turned into vampires started recruiting as many people as they could in desperation. Aimee was one of the unfortunates who was turned into a vampire by one of her patients. She had only been treating him for the past week for an infection she couldn't trace.
Years later, Aimee gave a full account of what she endured during her transformation, and it was discovered that she was among the first of a new wave of vampires, whose infection had been tampered with by Khastran's dimension, though we shall explore this in greater detail later.
She described the horrific process as such. First of all the pain in her neck from her sires bite was greater than anything she ever experienced either before or after the transformation. She didn't feel herself dying however. Instead once the pain became almost unbearable Aimee suddenly found herself in a large, dead forest. The sky above was nothing but thunder and outside the forest was a wasteland, though there were a few ruins scattered around.
Aimee also described several hideous creatures, some of which she would later recognise as other breeds of vampire from her travels. They were all hunting each other. None of them could see Aimee however, except for one. A hideous green skinned, scaly bald headed creature with black spikes over its body. It was a female, and soon chased her on all fours. Aimee tried to run as fast as she could until it literally leaped after her like a Lioness. It didn't attack her however. Instead it fused with Aimee, after which she woke up on the hospital floor.
Like all vampires she was overcome with an intense hunger, as well as twisted, unnatural urges. Aimee struggled through the hospital dazed and confused, witnessing her co-workers being torn apart by both the vampires and vandals, that is when they weren't slaughtering each other.
To her shame at first she didn't even care. In fact she was even tempted to join in, such was the demon's influence over her, and she most surely would have had it not been for the sight of ironically her biggest regret from her old life.
During her time at the hospital Aimee had only ever lost one patient. A 12 year old girl named Nikita who had been suffering from Lukemia. There was nothing anyone could have done to help her, but both her parents and especially Aimee still blamed themselves. Aimee's guilt was particularly strong as she had become very close to Nikita, with the little girl even calling her aunty Aimee.
Nikita had only passed a month or so ago, but her spirit had been left to wander the hospital ward. This was another reason Rentros agents were sent to hospital wards. Naturally hospitals had a higher concentration of ghosts than almost anywhere else, including even graveyards that were simply where the corpses were buried long after the spirit had left the body. Prior to the establishment of Rentros, this was why most hospitals had priests to perform exorcisms.
Sadly however the lack of Rentros agent had caused the ghosts to build up in St Paloma's and Nikita was among those who hadn't been able to reach the Veil. A few of the vandals started to scour the hospital for souls as feeding, much like with vampires always gave them a slight boost in strength. Nikita ran to Aimee, who she had been trying to contact until now, but hadn't been strong enough until the vandals attack. The horrors around her and ironically seeing Aimee be attacked terrified Nikita to the point where her emotions were strong enough for her to finally manifest, (though the vandal could see her regardless.)
As soon as she saw Nikita, Aimee's feelings of regret returned. It was just for a moment, before the demon inside her tried to repress them again, but that was enough for Aimee to be reminded of who she had been. Aimee was a soul vampire, of the Heklox breed who possessed a greater humanity than other species. Carlene for instance was a Heklox.
However the final reason as to why Aimee was able to hold onto her humanity was ironically the anger she felt at the vandal when it grabbed Nikita in its claws and started to literally cut her soul. It seemed that anger was the gateway for a human to hold onto their former persona, as unlike compassion, love and bravery, all of which are suppressed by the demon, anger is heightened. Still this does not explain why most soul vampires are unable to channel their anger this way. Many have argued that there must be something else to Aimee and the other few benevolent vampires throughout history. An anomaly with how the demon fuses itself to the human spirit, (which given the unusual nature of Aimee's transformation is not out of the question.) Either way, it was a combination of Aimee's regret over failing to save Nikita, mixed in with her rage over how unfair her death was and how she was about to witness the same thing again that allowed her to not only fight off the demon within, but control it. She used her new found supernatural powers to slay the vandal (by literally tearing its head off) before it could devour Nikita's soul and helped the child spectre escape the hospital.
Afterwards the two lived on or rather haunted the streets for a short while, and both did their best to try and help the other come to terms with what they now were, though it wasn't easy for either.
Eventually however Aimee was able to help Nikita's ghost move on by making her realise her unfinished business. Nikita knew that her parents and Aimee and even her little brother all blamed themselves for her death, and she couldn't bare the thought of them being haunted by that misplaced guilt. After Aimee on Nikita's urging finally came to terms with Nikita's death, the vampire realised this was why her spirit couldn't move on and convinced Nikita to do the same with her other loved ones. She visited each of them in their dreams, one by one and finally found closure with them. Nikita could have manifested in front of them in the real world, but she didn't want to drag them into the battle against the paranormal by revealing its existence. This way the rational part of her family's minds could write it off as just a dream, but deep down it could help them achieve some kind of peace.
Nikita visited Aimee for one last time before her spirit departed for the Great Beyond. She didn't want to leave the vampire who was by far the best friend she ever had on her own, but Aimee still insisted she go. Aimee assured Nikita that she would be able to control the demon within as she had already as a vampire, helped Nikita more than when she was a human, and the little girl left, confident that Aimee would use her power for good. That belief further helped to give Aimee the strength to control her bloodlust.
Aimee soon returned to live with her parents. Much like Nikita she did not want to drag them into the world of the supernatural, but at the same time she couldn't bare to see them grieving their daughter and didn't have the option of simply visiting them in their dreams. They took it hard in many ways, but were also so relieved to see Aimee back that it thankfully didn't take them long to adjust. Sadly however Aimee actually found it more difficult living with them. She obviously couldn't go back to her old job or life, and having no other prospects, Aimee soon became obsessed with destroying the monsters that had brought her to this. She even came to believe that was her purpose.
She began hunting the vampires and vandals at night. Over the course of several months Aimee brought down the remainder of St James operations. In truth the battle with the vandals had depleted both demons forces. Still Aimee delivered the final killing blow, and even earned something of a reputation. After St James fled to the continent, Aimee continued to fight evil. Naturally it didn't take long for her parents to find out, but again despite their misgivings they were still proud of Aimee for using her powers to help people. Sadly however after a demonic adversary attacked her parents, Aimee decided to skip town. Though she was able to rescue her parents, and they did not want her to leave, she knew that they would never be safe if she stayed.
Aimee spent a few more months on the road, travelling up and down England battling demons and monsters, until she was eventually captured by Viktor Cushing.
He had once belonged to one of the greatest families of vampire killers, whose power base had been crippled in a revenge attack from the undead just after World War 1.
Viktor however had been cast out from the rest of the Cushings prior to the collapse of their power anyway. He believed that there was value in studying Demon kind, extracting their unique powers and abilities and fusing them into human beings, but without transforming the humans into demons. The Cushings naturally viewed these experiments as horrific and against everything they at least claimed to stand for. Viktor however continued with his experiments after his banishment for many decades, hiring his services out to the highest bidder. At different points he worked for both the Nazis and the American government, and he was able to enjoy some success. His experiments for instance allowed Viktor himself to live far beyond the lifespan of an ordinary human and granted him other attributes. Sadly however he was never able to stop the demonic aspects from infecting the humans he attached them to, and Viktor himself was later transformed physically to some extent by his own experiments. He became a hideous, twisted demonic caricature of his former self.
By the 1970s Viktor was on the run from numerous governments and hunters and demons from around the world for his crimes, but still carried on with his experiments, confident that one they would all be worth it.
The renegade meanwhile took an interest in Aimee after she slew one of his experiments that had escaped. He was fascinated with the idea of a vampire that could control its bloodlust and like many others assumed there had to be something special about Aimee physically that he wanted to isolate.
The disgraced Cushing placed Aimee in the same lab as one of his test subjects, a woman named Samantha, who he had spliced the DNA of a Prio Motu, already a hybrid species bred from two powerful Demons into. Much like Aimee, Samantha still retained her conscience and empathy, but had to struggle to fight the demonic urges from within. Sadly unlike Aimee, Samantha was less willing to try and fight the demon's influence.
Prior to her dealings with Viktor, Samantha who was slightly younger than Aimee had already led a troubled life. She had turned to drugs after the death of her little sister in a car accident when she was just 17 years old. This in turn led to her falling in with the wrong crowd. Her parents threw her out, her supposed friends abandoned her, and Samantha ended up living on the streets for years before Viktor captured her. Viktor generally tended to use those he thought would not be missed, or were troubled already in his experiments. Not only would their absence draw less suspicion, but sometimes he was even able to lure some victims in, by promising to remove any problems or illness that were plaguing them. Samantha however in spite of her troubles fought him from the start, and Viktor instead tried to break her by reminding Samantha of how nobody cared that she was missing. Still Samantha instead used her hatred and bitterness to inspire her to one day make Cushing pay.
Viktor's experiments did cure her addiction and make her stronger than she ever had been before. She also could still appear human, being able to morph between her demon and human forms at will. Sadly however, the effect the demonic power had on her psyche was enough to almost break her, even if she tried to hide it from Viktor.
Aimee was only able to escape from Viktor's cell thanks to another one of his prisoners. A sentient craft which Aimee would simply christen, the Blimp. The craft was created in the age of magic, before recorded history began. The first humans used magic to overcome their rivals and predators, the Neanderthals after which they built a mighty civilisation literally made of magic. Sadly it was destroyed by Khastran, the father of vampires when he last visited our earth. Very few traces of the age of magic exist, but this craft had remained buried under the earth in one of the only surviving ruins, having appeared to have been swallowed by an earthquake caused by the coming of Khastran. Ironically these crafts seemed to be fairly standard methods of transport back in the age of magic to the point where every citizen had one. The building was actually a hangar of some sort and contained the ruins of numerous other "blimps." It's a testament to how advanced and powerful the magics from that time were that even a simple craft like this was still in advance of anything even the most powerful sorcerers could build today.
It is believed that each "Blimp" was built specifically for each person back in the age of magic, and bonded itself to them. For whatever reason these blimps were abandoned, or perhaps they were among the last ever constructed before Khastran visited the earth? Either way this blimp was never given a person to bond itself with, and therefore when Viktor discovered it, buried beneath Berlin when he worked with the Nazis, he tried to use it: The vehicle refused to work for him. It's just as well, as the vehicle could have potentially helped swing the war in the Nazis favor. Whilst some have cast doubt on the age of magic being the golden age it is often made out to be by witches and wizards. At the very least whatever other problems they had, their civilisation clearly still possessed some kind of morality, hence why the Blimp would not work for either the Nazis or Viktor.
After the fall of the Nazis, Viktor stole the Blimp from their lab using magics and kept it hidden for decades. His other experiments prevented him from being able to work on the craft and it remained isolated. For the last few years however, Viktor, whose situation had become more desperate, worked hard to try and break down the ship's defenses. The disgraced Cushing however had no idea that he was actually falling into the ship's hands. His attempts to connect it with his magics, allowed the Blimp to take control of his base, slowly but surely. It didn't bring his base down right away however, as it hoped that his experiments could create a new perfect host for it. Again just because the Blimp did not want either the Nazis or Viktor to be its host, did not mean it wasn't amoral in other ways. The Blimp reportedly looked down on the current generation of humanity, as scared, primitive creatures hiding from the truth, and therefore believed that only through Viktor's experiments could one potentially be made strong enough for it.
Ultimately the machine chose Aimee, who would never have broken through Viktor's defenses otherwise. Sensing her strength in being able to overcome the demon within as well as her empathy and love for her family and friends like Nikita. It felt she at least had potential and used its connection with Viktor's magics to free her. Aimee was then drawn to the machine through its magic. Again it could sense her desire to escape from the life she was trapped in, where she couldn't fit in with either the human or the demon world and used that to lure into being its host. Along the way however, Samantha, who was also freed simply because she was in the same cell as Aimee. Tried to avenge herself on Viktor and attacked him, ironically overcoming the villain due to the powers he had given her and also because she caught him by surprise. In all fairness to Viktor had it not been for the Blimp nothing ever would have escaped his cell.
Viktor pathetically tried to beg Samantha for mercy, but of course she refused, and so Viktor released all of his subjects, hoping to escape in the confusion. It meant sacrificing decades of work, but he had no choice. Once he was free from his lab, Viktor then activated the self destruct device. Fortunately Aimee and Samantha managed to escape in the Blimp before the labs destruction, as sadly did other experiments of Viktor, something Samantha and Aimee would have to deal with later.
In the Blimp, Aimee finally found the freedom she had always longed for since becoming a vampire. Now she didn't have to live in either the human or the demon world. She could simply sample what she wanted from both and everything was provided for her by the Blimp. The interior of the already massive vehicle was not only larger on the inside, but it also tailored itself to suit its inhabitants too.
Whilst Aimee was its primary host, the Blimp also tailored itself to Samantha as well, though that was only on Aimee's wishes and ultimately only Aimee could pilot it.
Thankfully however Aimee didn't just simply use the Blimp to live an easy life. Her desire to help people would ensure that she would use the Blimp to do good around the world. The machine had the power to detect any magical and demonic anomalies around the planet, though often pin pointing just one was hard enough.
Samantha and Aimee had a somewhat awkward relationship at first, as Samantha was reckless, angry and often got Aimee into trouble. Still Aimee felt a certain responsibility for Samantha. She didn't have any reason too, but Aimee still felt that she had only been able to control the demon within because of the people around her like Nikita and her parents. She wanted to be that for Samantha who sadly didn't have anyone. It wasn't easy, but in time the two developed a sisterly bond despite their differences.
The two later picked up the third member of their crew in Rome, Marcus Cushing. Marcus was of course another member of the Cushing family. His parents had escaped the slaughter when he was just a child, and his parents subsequently attempted to live normal lives, having always been low down on the Cushing pecking order anyway. Marcus however could not simply ignore what was really out there and carried on the family tradition, becoming a skilled and highly respected vampire hunter. Marcus eventually moved to Darrow, an English town and hotspot for vampiric and demon activity. In the 1960s, he became close to Carlene, who was at that point struggling to control her bloodlust. Carlene and Marcus together became a powerful and effective team on the streets of Darrow, with Marcus who was by then operating as a detective within the city, even becoming like a father to Carlene.
Eventually after a series of tragedies Carlene left the city in the 70s, Marcus understood, but soon found it hard to stay in Darrow as well and later moved to Paris to be with his other surrogate daughter Amy Tunstall. After a few years with her however, he moved on again. He felt that both Amy and Carlene had simply outgrown him and didn't need his help anymore.
Marcus travelled around Europe for a short while before he first met Aimee and Samantha, with the three of them taking on St James who was trying to build a new vampiric empire in his home land. After helping to defeat Aimee's vampiric nemesis, she welcomed Marcus who she could see was somewhat lost and struggling for purpose just as she had once been. Samantha was somewhat reluctant to work with a Cushing after what she had been through with Viktor, but in time she came to see that Marcus was different and ironically they soon developed a much closer relationship, with Marcus again serving as a father figure to her like he had done for Carlene and Amy.
The final member of their group to join was the failed rocker Liam Dreyfuss. Born in 1953, Liam came from an extremely wealthy family and always had aspirations of being in a band. He was part of the David Bowie inspired Glam rock era. He was a fairly bland, but adequate Bowie lite performer and enjoyed some success playing gigs around clubs for a short while.(His parents didn't support his artistic endeavors believing them to be an embarrassment to the family and so Dreyfuss had to try and make it the old fashioned way.)
Sadly one club he played in was in the town of Palken, a notorious hotspot for vampires. The club was attacked whilst his band were playing. Everybody was slaughtered by the bloodsuckers, except obviously for Dreyfuss who survived by hiding in an old meat locker. The authorities discovered him the next day, literally frozen in terror.
Whilst rentros would cover up who the real perpetrators were, simply presenting it as a gangland killing. Dreyfuss maintained the truth which led to his family more or less completely disowning him. They still paid for his penthouse as they couldn't bring themselves to abandon him completely, and even paid for many psychiatrists and treatment programmes, but they didn't want to be associated with him in public. Dreyfuss became a wreck for years, until he first met Aimee. She had arrived to save him from a group of vampires who wanted to silence Dreyfus. Thanks to his parents' influence, Dreyfuss had gained quite a lot of attention for his belief in vampires. The bloodsuckers however who enjoyed their anonymity were still scared he could expose him.
Dreyfuss however wasn't as helpless and addled as they thought and recognised the signs of vampire attacks in the town, though his investigation led him to ironically confront Aimee. After seeing she was different he helped her defeat the bloodsuckers, becoming her friend over the course of their adventure. He would continue to help Aimee and her companions for a year or so afterwards, allowing them to stay at his Penthouse whenever they needed. He may have been motivated as much by his crush on Aimee in all fairness, but Dreyfuss not only finally cleaned up his act and even started to make music again, he also helped Aimee several more times which led to him finally deciding to join Aimee full time. The others were happy to welcome on board, though they weren't too happy that he brought his guitar. Still it would take Dreyfuss time to find his place in the group, though his Penthouse at least continued to serve as a secondary base for the four.
With her crew ready, Aimee's journey could really begin.