Three
Stillpine Glade
There was a sharp gale that night as the young lumberjack Micah lugged his timber-laden wheelbarrow. The hulking pines surrounding Stillpine Glade all looked the same once night fell.
This old lumber colony was pretty isolated from the rest of the settlements in the Southern Townships; it bordered the frosty highlands that marked The Rumble Mountains.
The winters in Stillpine Glade were fierce, but the woodcutters were a hardy people.
Micah knew the trail well even under the dim light of his lantern. He had been slaving over at the lumber mill to prepare for the upcoming midwinter storm, a roaring fire could mean the difference between life and death in the alpine.
Micah's parents had perished from a sickness that swept through the colony last year leaving only Micah and his sickly younger sister, Lydia to fend for themselves.
Micah had gladly taken up the mantle of providing for the household, despite his youth he was able to make every work order that came through the mill. Tonight, he was taking home surplus lumber for his fireplace to keep the fires roaring and his frail sister safe.
Only a few years younger than her brother, Lydia was a fair-haired girl with pearly white skin and a slender frame.
Micah by contrast was a rugged, dirty-blonde haired brute, muscular from years of hard labor and adamantly protective of his sibling.
None of the village boys would dare cast a suggestive glance at Lydia if her brother was present, but inside a tough exterior laid a naive, good-hearted young man.
Lydia meant the world to him and his world was about to be turned upside down.
Micah could sense something foul in the night air as he wheeled his lumber cart up to the palisade gate of the colony's fortifications.
Wolves were common in these woods and the town was enclosed to keep it safe. Tonight, however the gate was wide open and the signal torches had been doused. Sprawled against the fence was the gatekeeper, a muscular guard Micah had worked with before at the mill.
The color was gone from the gatekeeper's face and he lay glaze-eyed against the palisade. Micah ran over to check the man for a pulse but felt nothing. The man's skin was as cold as ice and his neck had multiple bite-marks on it. His musket had been fired but had apparently missed.
Micah panicked. I have to get to Lydia!
He grabbed the guard's musket and bolted into the streets. There was nobody to be seen as he looked around. Many of the people would be sleeping in their beds but none of the night watchmen were present either.
Micah's panic grew as he found a number of watchmen in the same state as he had found the gatekeeper. The pine trees dotted around him stirred, shadows flickering by.
His house wasn't far from the main square and Micah bolted towards it; a number of similarly-slain people dotted the trail, their dead eyes seemed to follow him.
He had just gotten home when he noticed the doors had been breached and the windows smashed. Above the cabin a small gathering of dark figures peered down. Dressed all in hooded black and with translucent-white skin and red eyes,
Micah knew what they were.
Vampires!
"Where is she?" Micah demanded, his rifle primed.
The vampires parted, behind them Lydia lay snoozing, levitating in the air as if she was still in bed, her white bedclothes stirring in the wind.
With a furious growl Micah ran towards the outside stairs to confront the vampires on the roof, but his way was blocked. A shot from his gun did little but stir up a puff of smoke and fizzle out.
Several vampires had leapt down around him, despite the height they all landed with cat-like precision. A dozen red eyes were fixed on Micah as he desperately swung his empty weapon at them.
It was to no avail; Micah was assailed from behind and knocked-out with ease. Stillpine Glade had been struck by the fiercest of Turbulus' vampire clans- The Dark Claw.
Micah awoke to the foul smell of death, the grief of his neighbors and the confusion over the attack that had met a feeble resistance from the guardsmen. The colony had been hit by what the clans called a recruitment, a select few were taken away to be assimilated into the ranks of the vampire clan. Lydia was nowhere to be seen. She had been taken.
Micah would not rest until he rescued his sister.
For months Micah travelled the townships relentlessly, tracking the movements of The Dark Claw and learning the weaknesses of the devilish bloodsuckers.
As time drew on, he always found himself one step behind The Dark Claws, he would arrive just hours after a town was attacked or travelers were reported missing.
In his free time around the campfire, he practiced swordplay, hardened his fists punching and endless defensive sparring; he knew the sluggish actions of a musket would be useless.
Rumors of a new powerful vampiress-Lydia reached Micah's ears on his mission. Apparently, his sister had quickly risen through the ranks of The Dark Claw, leading many of the attacks and fighting for leadership with ferocity.
Micah couldn't imagine his sweet sister becoming such a monster. The truth became irrefutable when he finally caught up to The Dark Claws.
A few of The Dark Claws were picking over a small campsite of slain hikers.
Hunched over their meals they didn't notice Micah approach.
These were the new recruits, the weakest of the vampire clan, used as scouts.
Micah crept up to a nearby oak and peered cautiously at his target, his heart racing for his first true fight. He drew his axe clutching it tightly.
He ran and dove at the fiends but his jump attack failed to hit the now alerted vampires, instead plunging into the ground.
"Intruder!" one vampire hissed to the other three scouts, one vampiress and two males. They moved quickly, far faster than Micah could have been prepared for. He quickly realized he was outclassed by their supernatural agility.
Within moments Micah had been disarmed by one vampire and pinned down by two more.
These vampires newly-turned and were sluggish by comparison of their more experienced brethren. However, they were still far ahead of Micah's clumsy skills.
One vampire picked up Micah's axe and held it to his neck. "You have been following us for a long time now," she hissed, pressing the edge to Micah's throat. "Do you think that the mistress would not know her own brother was following us?"
Micah squirmed helplessly. "You lie! My sister can be saved!"
The vampires looked at each other and laughed.
"You're wrong," another continued. "We're just initiates. She is a Higher Vampire!"
"A bloodthirsty ruthless monster," another added.
Higher vampires were a fierce and savage breed, easily stronger than normal vampires, stronger and faster.
Micah quickly realized just how hopeless his goal was.
His axe was lowered from his throat and snapped over one vampire's knee like a brittle stick. Fortunately for Micah, his sister ordered him unharmed and the other vampires dared not defy her.
"You can continue to waste your time fighting us. The mistress finds it amusing," one vampire nodded to the others and the group darted off into the woods like speeding arrows.
Micah lay hopelessly on his back. He would find a way. He vowed to succeed by any means. If she wouldn't allow her vampires to kill him then perhaps there was hope for her.
During his travels he had heard rumors of a powerful witch living in The Heartless Swamp and her new apprentice.
If the witch had taken one student, she will take another!
His mind was made up there, he'd study the dark arts and the next time he met with the vampires he would be ready.