We were driving along the highway headed to my server farm. I don’t know why I never gave the place a name. My company was an internet provider or IP for some major businesses known to them as Connect R Us. I thought it was cute, my sense of humor works like that. The businesses gave me the excuse to own and use the six supercomputers I had purchased with a little midnight persuasion. Normally these are only leased but a few nighttime visits allowed me to put the bite on some executives and change their minds on that subject and the cash I gave above and below the table did not hurt either. The powers that be in Washington wondered why I needed such computing power and told me they would be keeping a close watch on me until I told them not only who I was but how I could help them. For the last six decades I have functioned as a government “resource”

Evelyn, my wife, gave me a look. The kind women give their husbands when they are saying the obvious. “You knew this was coming, you even predicted it would happen, so why are you acting surprised? You have spent much money and many hours training for all kinds of situations, your ready and your people are ready, hell, I am ready. Now ‘it sucks’ oh pa leeze spare me. All we can do is dust the toothy bastard when he shows his aristocratic face.”

“Yeah, I know your right, but it still sucks. We have had a good run for over seventy years now. I was beginning to think that we could go a century or more without having to deal with him and his stuck up B.S. He is so into believing that he his somehow superior and that I don’t deserve what I have. He is wrong and right and who really cares. He is not superior to a turd and though I have what I have I do not deserve what I have, but I have it and it is mine. I could understand if this was about money and material things but it isn’t it’s about power. It is that same power that is going to grease his Transylvanian ass.”

*

As far as castles go it was not too big it only had 50 rooms. The property was surrounded by a thirty meter wall with crenelated towers, it sat on the top of a plateau overlooking a valley and the village nestled in the valley. Only two floors in one half of the castle were in use.

In a room containing a very large fireplace holding a roaring fire sat Cezar Petrescu .

He had been sitting there all day brooding.

“Master can I get you anything?” the servant asked.

“I am hungry, bring me a peasant from the holding area.”

“Yes my master.” The servant left and returned some time later bringing a man with him.

The chains that bound him severely restricted his movements.

The room had large windows set high on the walls at least four meters above the floor.

There was only one door to enter and exit the room.

“Remove his chains then leave and lock the door.” The servant followed his instructions and the door shut with a loud clunk as the bolt was shot home.

“Other than being held prisoner have you been treated well,” Cezar asked?

“Yes”

“Well, well, that is good I wanted you to be in good shape as you are going to provide me with exercise. As you can see there is no way out of this room except by that door.

If you should overcome me when the door opens you go free.”

“Why would I want to fight you old man. You don’t like much of a match for me.”

Cezar smiled, “You only need to worry about you.” Cezar tossed him a pointed stick, ‘If you put that in my heart you will go free.”

“So I must kill you old man, no problem.”

The lights in the room went out only the glow of the fireplace lit the room in an eerie light that had shadows dancing on the walls.

“There is no need to rush but you can attack when you feel like it.”

The prisoner grabbed the stake and slowly approached Cezar who stood there not moving.

The prisoner stabbed, Cezar twisted a little, as the stake entered his body.

Cezar’s eyes grew wide and clutched the stake a fell to the floor.

The prisoner looked at him and turned to the door, as he reached it the stake hit the floor at his feet.

“That was well done, my friend. You did not hesitate, that was good now let’s see how you do with someone who is not an old man. Oh, please remember I told you, you must place it in my heart.” Cezar smiled and his body and face changed. He grew taller, muscles appeared as he bulked up and his face. In the dim light it was horrible and grotesque. His canines lengthened to fangs longer than his mouth was wide. He did not growl like and animal he smirked and laughed at his own private joke. “Now you get a chance to try again, if you make, it in the morning the door will open and you will be set free.” Cezar leapt across the room. The prisoner bent to grab the stake and rolled out of Cezar’s path. He got to his feet and ran by the fireplace somehow he knew fire was his friend.

“You know,” Cezar said, “I have not eaten for a few days and I am very hungry, and you are young strong and filled with the elixir of life, my life. So I shall drink but it will not be to your health.” Cezar moved, so fast in the dim light he seemed to leave his shadow behind.

The peasant lower his head and used his peripheral vision to track the swiftly moving vampire. He more sensed than saw Cezar’s approach, as he twisted and dropped while thrusting the stake to where he hoped his target would be.

“ummph,” Cezar said as the stake entered him again. This time it was his heart.

Cezar fell to the floor, he was a centuries old vampire and being staked was not a terminal event for him. You appear to have won peasant, you have won your freedom from my castle. You are free to leave in the morning.

“Master maybe the martial art I suggested would be a good thing for you to do?”

Igor suggested. Cezar had made Igor his servant because of his name, he did possess a sense of dark humor however limited it was.

“Yes Igor, you have made your point, or rather the stake did. You will arrange for me to study this martial art with the teacher you suggested, immediately.”

“Yes, Master.”

*

Sylvia sat with Evelyn in the Denver home. The wind beat against the windows and made you feel the cold even in the warmth of the this comfortable setting. Gerald had a penchant for pits and fireplaces and this home was no exception. It was gas fed with fake logs but as with the others in each of his homes it was huge. Evelyn was allowed to decorate and add flourishes to each setting. So each home had the same feature there was a distinct flavor and feel.

Both women were dressed comfortably for the warm interior and each held a mug of a steamy brew. Sylvia had hot chocolate with marshmallows coated lightly with cinnamon floating in it. Evelyn had hot blood which befit her vampire status. Even though they were very different beings they shared a mutual caring and respect for each other. They had trained and fought side by side. Each was responsible for saving the life of the other.

In her fifties Sylvia did not look a day over thirty and Evelyn now in her ninth decade of life did not appear a day beyond the twentieth year when she was made by Gerald.

Evelyn looked at Sylvia and a moment of sadness crossed her face. Sylvia was a friend, a sister, a confidant and had even tried being a lover was doing what humans do, getting old. In a few short years she would be unable to go on missions with Evelyn and soon after that would grow older and then die. Evelyn had offered her the long life, she could not call it eternal as with all creatures death would eventually claims all, it is only the timing that can be changed. The feeling and the thought quickly passed, her face changed so swiftly the micro-kinesthetic movement would have only been caught by the very observant which Sylvia was.

“You thinking about it again.” This was an old subject between them since Sylvia refused to be turned. She had said that death was a part of living and she would be happy with her three score and ten and any extra that would be granted. Sylvia had family that knew she had a good career, one that had made her financially comfortable and she shared her good fortune with her family. Put her own kids and nieces and nephews through school, helping them start businesses and being there in times of trouble. She felt she could ask for nothing more. Actually Sylvia turned her down because she liked to eat. The idea of never enjoying a good smoked Salmon filet with a crisp green salad and a coke was not something she was willing to give up. Nor did she want to lose her family contacts. Of all the Arm-A-Tec staff at her position level she was the only one with family.

“Yes it crossed my mind for only the umpty ump time. What do you want me to do I love you as my sister and friend. I can see you as you were and as you are now. It is selfish of me but we were on a roll and did not want it to stop. You feel me, girl?”

“You know if I had no attachments like Gerald’s special night warriors I would be in the mix. What you don’t know is just how special this is to me. My view of you has changed, first you’re the bosses wife. Then my supervisor, and my training partner. Then you save my life, we bonded, we fell in love. It ran for awhile but a deep friendship grew inside the physical thing. But time went on, I got older and you didn’t. Now I look upon you as a younger sister and soon maybe a grandchild. Love, friendship, and respect will always be there until I pass over and beyond.”

Blood ran down Evelyn’s face and she got a napkin to wipe the tears from her eyes. She reached over and hugged Sylvia, pulling her close and kissing her forehead.

*

Gerald watched his latest crew of night warriors go through the training scenario that had been set up for them. The underground facility had grown over the decades into the massive underground training area it was now. There were different “rooms” each presenting urban, rural, and any scenario that the very imaginative people could come up with and it was all live fire. Androids based on Japanese work of decades ago played the bad guys along with some of the staff in hand to hand situations.

This particular setting was of a castle. Gerald was going to take the fight to Cezar he was going to end this vampire and get on with his life. Gerald was proud of these men and women who were going into battle with him, a vampire, to fight, to kill or be killed against vampires. There were ten vampires in the night warriors with a total of sixty five people making up two platoons with four squads each containing three fire teams each.

Data on the target site had been gathered from every and any source that presented itself.

On the lintel above every entrance was the quote

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

 -- Field Marshall Helmuth Carl Bernard von Moltke

We had one goal, kill the enemy not get killed. They were going up against a target that could not be wounded only complete annihilation would do. No quarter and no prisoners.

Our warriors turned the Lakota saying around saying it is a good day to kill.

Each commander and sub commander had been with Gerald a long time and had been turned by him. Raids on criminal types had made them all millionaires and now they had long life. That did not change their views about the job they preform. The focus of every man and woman, human or vampire there was to end the irritation that was Cezar Petrescu.

*

Cezar looked up from the floor at the man called Sensei Takeshi. “You keep surprising me, every time I think I have you you get away.”

Takeshi looked at his student, “The way I heard it is 'I have taught you everything you know, but not everything I know', and it will stay that way. You have been a good student and you have learned much in a year. You have reached a masters level but there is so much more to learn. Truthfully I do not know if you can do better. I have seen this before in older people there is just a limit in their ability a point which they can not seem to go beyond.”

Cezar stood up and looked down on the shorter man, “I have allowed you to teach me. I have taken instruction from you without complaint and now you tell me you can do no more, I am very disappointed.”

Sensei Takeshi reached into his travel bag a brought out a wakizashi in a shikomi-zue , it looked like a bamboo walking cane. “One thing martial art training gives you,” he told Petrescu, “ is a sense about your surroundings and the things in them. I do not have a good feeling about this now.”

Cezar changed. Takeshi did not react, he just stood there looking at Petrescu, waiting.

“I knew you were more than you seem, but I was not sure what, now I know.” I have heard of your kind, they are known in Japan. We never go for the heart, we remove the head.”

Cezar moved then stopped the razor sharp blade had cut his throat even though he had stopped his motion. “How did you do that?” Cezar said.

“You are fast but I am faster, how, you ask, I will tell your corpse. The only reason you are still connected to your body parts is I need to leave. I know I could not survive your minions but you can let me go.”