• Prologue

    Jacob Oachi awoke to the sound of a screaming siren and the crackle and pop of his radio as countless citizens tried to use their radios simultaneously. He turned forty five last November and it was almost time for his birthday again. He was a well built man who had spent most of his days training and honing his skill with a weapon. The Vampires always attacked at about the same time every time they attacked. As soon as the sun started to go beyond the horizon the teams would sound the alarm in anticipation of that the attack would come. Sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn’t. He jolted up knowing that the sound of the siren meant that he needed to prepare for another battle. Throwing the covers from the bed he jumped up and quickly moved to the other side of the room reaching into his vanity and slipping on a pair of Levi jeans and a white T-shirt. His son Esthar yelled for him from another room and he stepped into his boots. Esthar was seven now, today being his birthday, he was worried about losing his father like he had his mother. Jacob shuddered, remembering that dreadful night so many years ago.

    Sarah, his wife, was coming home from the grocery store when the initial attacks started. Without a weapon she had been unable to defend herself and had been pounced on by a dark figure that eerily matched a hundred more moving about the city killing anything that they could get their hands on. Jacob had been waiting for her at the front door of their home when he had seen the figure pounce on her. It had moved so fast that there had been nothing that he could have done, even though they were only a few yards away. The man or at least it looked like a man, tore at Sarah’s back and neck, his gnashing teeth shredding her soft skin. The sound was horrifying and Sarah’s terrified screams moved Jacob to action. He had been doing some yard work at the time and still had his shovel nearby. He picked up the shovel and yelled loudly, running towards the man, trying to make him stop attacking his wife. When the man didn’t react Jacob slammed him with the shovel knocking him back several feet. Jacob leaned down and picked up his wife but she hung limp in his arms and her moans died slowly as she fell into unconsciousness. He looked at her tears filling his eyes and set her against the wall of the house. Lifting his shovel he ran towards the man as he began to get up from the previous blow. He swung again blade first this time and sliced the man’s throat a thick black liquid spilling out of the wound. Gurgling loudly the man reached for his throat and fell to his knees staring up at Jacob. Rage filling him Jacob kicked the man in the chest and slammed the shovel into his throat once again, driving it in with his foot and decapitating the man. He stood slowly remembering his wife and ran back to her dropping the shovel. She lay there unconscious and bleeding heavily, her blood staining her clothes. He picked Sarah up and quickly swung the door open rushing in and knocking a crying Esthar, who was four at the time, down to the floor. Jacob laid her on the bed and tried to stop the bleeding but her wounds were too grievous and she bled out within a few minutes of being in safety. Later the news was talking of Vampires and calling all able bodied men to fight back.

    Jacob was jerked back to reality by Esthar’s second call. He was frightened that much was for sure; after he watched his mother die and his father kill a Vampire he begged Jacob not to leave. He was always afraid that Jacob would not come back and that some Vampire might make it into the house while his dad was gone. Jacob had taught him to defend himself with several household items and had trapped the house for just such an occasion, but he would never know if they would help.

    “Esthar I’m going to help them out. You know what to do if something should happen while I’m gone.” He called referring to the other men of the town that had banded together to form a city defense militia. Back in high school Jacob had learned to wield a bow staff and when the attacks started coming he also taught Esthar. Esthar’s frightened denial flew through the air and hit Jacob like it had every time there was another attack, but he ignored it and grabbed his weapon. After three years of attacks on the city Jacob had created a weapon of his own. On one end there was a long sharp piece of steel that was slightly curved at the end and on the other end there was the head of his shovel. Jacob had flattened and then sharpened the metal giving him a very effective swinging blade. The pole that held the weapon together was a thin but heavy metal pipe wrapped in leather and bound with more leather. In all honesty it looked like a very clumsy weapon but Jacob had risen up through the militia ranks using it. He had also supported the scientists who wanted to create more powerful UV lights to keep the Vampires away, but many had tried to deny them because of the effect that they would have on the environment. Eventually the UV lights were created, enlarged and placed around the city. After a lot of trial and error Jacob and several others learned how to fix and control the lights, turning them into formidable weapons against the Vampires.

    Jacob slung the weapon to his back, went to the door, and undid several locks before opening it and stepping out into the humid gray air. Esthar’s whining was still able to be heard so he closed the door behind him and locked it. He then turned and started to jog towards the edge of the city. This would be his four hundred and twenty third fight against the Vampire’s. Not something to be proud of really but he was still alive, some of the others thought that that was an object of pride in itself. He wasn’t so sure anymore, the Vampires seemed to keep coming even when they burned the bodies of the dead they somehow kept coming. It seemed like the more they fought the more men they lost and the closer they came to losing the war. This realization tore at them all but they resolved that they wouldn’t give up until they were all dead. They would find a way to beat them and to stop them from coming. That was the only hope that they had in this time of desperation and chaos. It would be that hope that would carry them all through this next fight. Jacob drew up near the capitol building. The city’s old mayor still stood atop its stairs looking down at the militia that he had help to command through these trying times. A second siren, long and loud, killed the silence and broke the scene. Jacob looked around; the second siren meant that the Vampires had broken one of the lights. Until that light had been fixed it would continue to blare letting everyone know which direction the Vampires were coming from. Jacob knew that he was the lead repair for the lights so he took off at a dead run towards the sound of that wailing siren and the place that might soon be his grave. Every time he went to fix a light he took two steps closer to death that much was known. He had lost five of his team in the last two raids, leaving more of a burden for him and the others. He ran through the streets listening as the siren turned to two sirens and then three. Dear God! He thought, The Vampires are taking out the lights! Without them they could easily get into the city and terrorize its citizens. As he ran Jacob called over the radio to his team.

    “Boys and Girls it’s time to fix these lights! Charley you take seven! Susan you take four! I’ll take nine! Move!” he yelled over his panting breaths. He saw Susan running down a side street towards the fourth light as he ran by and noticed that some of the defense teams were branching off and running towards each of the broken lights. Jacob saw his friends Cameron and Michelle running in the same direction.

    Something hit Jacob and he fell unable to see what was happening around him. He could hear Vampires screaming and Cameron’s bloodcurdling battle cry. A Vampire kicked Jacob and he slid across the pavement several feet, the air gone from his lungs and a burning pain in his stomach. His vision slowly stopped swirling and he regained his breathe the fight still raged around him so he untied his weapon and jumped into the fight warily trying to make sure that he wasn’t hit again. Swinging at the nearest Vampire he cleaved the creature from his right shoulder to his left hip and jerked his blade out sending the screaming creature twisting onto the ground. He could see their black blood all over the ground intermingled with some red as well. Red blood? He thought as he looked around. The pain in the back of his head made his mind spin for an instant and he noticed Michelle fighting against two Vampires at once. Jacob moved towards her as he saw a third Vampire come out of the shadows behind her.

    “Michelle! Look out!” he cried rushing now, but he only distracted her and the two Vampires that she was fighting grabbed her arms and began to pull her. She screamed in pain when one of her arms pooped visibly out of its socket, and the third Vampire straightened his hand and plunged it into her back. A piercing cry of agony filled the air as the Vampires hand penetrated her flesh and slipped through her body. Her cry didn’t stop until the creatures hand was protruding from her chest where her heart should have been.

    “Michelle!!” Jacob cried horrified at what had happened. He jumped up and brought his blade down through the closest Vampires head tearing its flesh and destroying its spine. The creature never let out a yelp as it fell to the ground snapping off the shovel end of Jacob’s weapon with it. Jerking what was left of the blade up he spilled the second Vampires guts with a slash to the stomach and caught the third with the blunt end of the weapon on one of its knee caps snapping its leg backwards. The creature struggled to get its arm out of Michelle’s body but it was too slow. Jacob crushed its skull with his boot and roared in anger. He began to hack and slash at any Vampire he could get close to and killed several. He advanced to where Cameron was fighting, his own rage fueled by the death of his wife Michelle. Together they destroyed a group of Vampires and quickly moved away from the horrible scene and towards the light again. Jacob could hear Cameron crying behind him and quickened his pace. They had to get to the lights, they could not stop even for a moment or more would die. Cameron and Jacob burst out into an intersection where the ninth light stood with a busted bulb. Jacob turned and ran to the building directly to its right and grabbed a fresh bulb from the store room inside.

    Cameron stood outside of the building watching for any Vampires that might try and stop them from fixing the light. Tears tore down his face blurring his vision and he frantically wiped them away trying not to think of Michelle. Jacob came running out of the building and Cameron ran alongside him as he headed for the light. As they got closer a group of Vampires rushed at them from the darkness. Cameron swung his blade and cleaved the head from a Vampire but was taken down by another. He fought frantically for his life as Jacob climbed the ladder to the top of the light. Jacob unscrewed the broken bulb and the turned back to the light as Cameron screamed behind him and he screwed the new bulb in turning the light as he did so. A blazing laser of an eerie blue light emitted from the bulb and struck the Vampires causing them to scream in pain as they’re bodies were lit ablaze. Flinching from a burn that the light had given him he jerked his hand out of the light and began frying all of the Vampires that he could see. When the sirens were all silent he slid down the ladder and ran to where Cameron lay staring into the darkness beyond the UV light. Jacob looked up in time to see a beautiful woman standing there looking at him. She stepped out from behind a tree and called him. Entranced he froze unable to think of any human able to survive outside of the city. He began to move towards her. Confusion crossed his face as he did so because he wasn’t willing to go outside of the city but yet she called like a seductress to him. His mind muddled and he began to advance towards her unsure of what he was doing. Cameron moaned behind him and cried out to him,

    “No Jacob don’t!” he cried watching in horror as Jacob stepped out into the darkness beyond the UV light. As soon as he was out of the light the woman began to advance towards him. She took his hand and stood with him for a moment. As Cameron slowly lost consciousness he watched what was happening. Jacob stopped and let the woman take his hand.

    “Hello…” he said almost unable to speak. The woman looked into his eyes and began to speak.

    “Hello Jacob. I am Nakuru Risika an Elder of these Vampires. You have slain many of my brothers and sisters. But now you will pay for your rebellion against me.” She said smiling throughout her statement. She rose up as if to kiss him but instead plunged her fangs into his neck before he could react or even realize what was happening. The life slowly drained from him and she let his body drop to the ground with a thud.