VAMPIRUS

PROLOGUE

Marla sat on her front porch when Blake arrived at her house, toting a slumbering Broderick like a child, his head tucked comfortably in the crook of Blake's neck.  Blake was exhausted himself, his body weakened from the fight he endured and the energy the witches wielded while inside his body.  He smiled wearily at Marla as she approached them.  "Is he sleeping?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he whispered.

"Bring him into the house," she said, opening the door and allowing Blake to enter.

**********

Marla slowly opened the door to the guest bedroom to check in on Blake and Broderick.  They were both sound asleep, exhausted from the night before.  She smiled at them.  Blake was spooning Broderick with a protective arm slung over his slumbering body, the blankets wrapped tightly around him.

Marla slowly pulled the door and left it slightly ajar, making her way down the hallway and descending the stairs, making her way toward the kitchen to prepare a nice hot breakfast for her guests.

**********

The night was cloudy, the fog settling across the fields and forests.  The moon was full, a harvest moon, and it illumined Nesdal's headless corpse as it was slowly dragged along the grass.

The figure's shadow danced against the nearest wall of Nesdal's estate as it dropped the decapitated form against the old oak tree, dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire.  The hooded figure's head bowed slightly as it paid homage to its former master.  The ritual for possession had already been initiated and the vampiric power was now seething through the figure's veins.

The hood was removed, revealing Nesdal's longtime servant Ichabod, now perfected to handsomeness, the scars and ugliness removed by Nesdal's act of feeding then joining their bloodlines by sharing his own blood with Ichabod.  Ichabod was now stronger, leaner with appropriate muscle mass, ruddy, and healthier.  His light-skinned physique was smooth and his light-blue eyes sparkled.  He was brand new; a brand new that he even changed his name.

He was now Ivan, the new vampire on the scene.