Ethereal

Bloodlines

     I was imagining the vortex swirling and the dramatic music climaxing as we hurtled through time and space to our next destination. The Professor had received a call for help from Gothwana, some planet on the other side of the galaxy. Since his time machine can manipulate all eleven dimensions, in addition to transporting us through time it could simultaneously transport us through space, and we were already nearing Gothwana.

The Professor prepared me for what we were about to encounter by explaining that Gothwana was a small planet sparsely populated with a civilization that closely resembled Earth's medieval Europe.

"So, they are human?" I asked a bit disappointed. I was hoping to meet some real aliens.

"For the most part," The Professor answered raising even more questions as his answers so often do.

"What does 'for the most part' mean?"

"It means that most of the population are human." He pedantically stated the obvious as he so often did.

Ignoring his tone, I prompted him for more, "And the rest?"

"Vampires."

"Cool!" I couldn't resist getting excited about a real adventure. Yeah, we had saved Earth from zombies, but this was a chance to become Buffy the vampire slayer!

"Not cool." The Professor scolded me. "Vampirism is a serious condition. The people of Gothwana have learned to deal with it. The human population routinely donates blood to feed those infected. In return, those infected refrain from infecting others. The reigning king's advisor contacted me because there is a rogue group of vampires that are no longer playing by the rules. He was wondering if we could help locate and rout them out."

That still sounded pretty cool, but I kept my sentiments to myself and went to the time machine's gym to practice my martial arts and driving stakes into the practice dummy's heart.

Gothwana's king's palace was what I expected, dark Gothic architecture complete with pointed arches, gargoyles and flying buttresses. The halls of the palace were dimly lit by sporadic torches. The only thing to see were the guards lining the bleak gray stone walls. The guards were all over seven feet tall and incredibly thin. Their faces were frozen and gaunt with a deathly pallor. The zombies we had defeated on Earth looked more alive.

We were greeted in the foyer by Anghel, the current king's advisor. I used a bit of my newly acquired druid magic to allow me to speak and understand the Gothwana's language. For me it seemed as if we were all speaking English.

Anghel escorted us to the throne room where the royal couple were seated waiting to receive us. The royal couple and their surroundings were equally as bleak as the hall that led to them. We bowed and were introduced as renowned heroes who had recently saved Earth from a zombie apocalypse.

The self-obsessed king was unimpressed. Speaking mainly to The Professor he said, "Anghel highly recommended you. I take it that he has informed you of our situation. My subjects are up in arms and ready to take drastic actions if I don't do something soon. The rabble believe that all that is needed is to find and take out the leader of this uprising. They think that without the leader the rest of the rogue vampires will abandon their aberrant behavior."

"Your Highness, why do they think that?" I asked curtsying.

The annoyed king frowned at me, but answered, "The rogue leader has promised a type of immortality to those who follow him. But most vampires know that if they do what he wants and indiscriminately drain the blood from a human until the human dies, they will lose their souls. They become the undead, soulless creatures who are immortal, but with no humanity. Without the leader's encouragement, the rabble think his followers will soon realize this type of immortality is not worth it."