Vampire Civilization

"When civilizations end, they fall quickly," said Hiram, and the ancient vampire looked at the brood gathered around him. There were six of them, three males and three females. He'd turned them recently, and recruited them into the House of Nadir. Now, as Master of the House, it fell to Hiram to educate these fledgling vampires and transform into Knights, so that they might defend the Enclave. Someone had to stand between order and chaos, especially in an age where the Undead rule much of the world.

The newbie vampires listened with rapt attention as Hiram talked about the old days. They were in a secret underground lair, perhaps half a mile beneath what used to be the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Hiram, who was once a prince of Sidon, in what is now known as the Republic of Lebanon, gently stroked his beard. Tall, bronze-skinned and dark-haired, he didn't look a day over forty, even though he'd been walking the earth for close to three thousand years. As far as anyone knew, Hiram was the oldest vampire on the planet.

"The humans really screwed things up," said Hiram's protégé, a six-foot-four, burly and dark-skinned vampire named Erebus. A long time ago, while visiting West Africa, Hiram met a beautiful woman named Nadia, and fell in love with her. Nadia knew that Hiram was a vampire and did not fear him. When Hiram offered Nadia the gift of eternity, she happily accepted it. Hiram and Nadia spent many years living together in the Nok Kingdom, whose borders matched those of northern Nigeria. During their time together, Nadia and Hiram adopted a son, a young African named Erebus.

Born of an African father and a Berber mother, Erebus was exceptionally handsome and bright, and he knew that his adoptive parents Hiram and Nadia were not ordinary people. For starters, they spent the day sleeping in their vast villa, and their myriad servants were instructed to never disturb their slumber. They only came out at night, and whenever they ventured out into the nearby towns and villages, people went missing. Erebus remained loyal to his parents, for, in spite of their inhuman nature, they were kind to him. Hiram and Nadia were fabulously wealthy, and none in the Nok Kingdom dared to cross them.

When Erebus grew to manhood, Hiram turned him into a vampire, and along with Nadia, they formed an unholy trinity. The three of them traveled from place to place, and became legendary even among the Undead. The Eternal Family, that's what the other vampires called Hiram, Nadia and Erebus. Of course, all that ended in the third decade of the twenty first century. A civil war broke out in the United States, between a faction which wanted diversity and progress, and another which promoted xenophobia. Nuclear weapons were used, and the United States of America, one of the world's mightiest civilizations, ended.

A few million human beings died, but the damage done to the land, the sea and the air by the nuclear fallout seemed irreparable. Darkness descended upon the continent of North America, triggering an ice age. Millions more died, and the humans discovered that they had a new enemy, the race of the vampires. For tens of thousands of years, vampires have existed among humans, hiding in plain sight. With the continent of North America plunged into darkness for eighteen hours out of every twenty four hours, on a day to day basis, the vampires found the haven they'd spent centuries hoping for.

There are many factions vying for power among the vampires. Hiram, who hasn't seen his immortal wife Nadia since before the nuclear holocaust, leads the House of Nadir. They are a purported civilized group among the vampires. They feed only on evil men and evil women, and protect the human enclaves within their territories. For example, the House of Nadir rules what remains of the City of Boston, Massachusetts. With a population of two hundred thousand human beings, Boston is one of the largest remaining human settlements. While other vampire overlords enslave human enclaves and treat their denizens like cattle, the House of Nadir protects their charges.

"Why must we protect the humans?" demanded one of the vampire pupils, a tall, slender young woman with milky white skin, spiky red hair and green eyes. The redhead, Becca, looked fearlessly at Hiram. Erebus, standing at his father's right hand, crossed his arms and glared at Becca. The nascent female vampire held the dark warrior's gaze. Hiram smiled at Becca and gently patted Erebus shoulder. Hiram has mentored numerous vampires over the eons, and knew that a teacher without patience is in the wrong profession...

"Becca, my dear, the prey always outnumbers the predator, and if we don't protect our flock, we are doomed to hunger and extinction," Hiram said, and Becca nodded slowly. In the other human settlements, the vampires treated their charges like slaves. In the City of Boston, the only humans who needed to fear the Undead were murderers, rapists and psychopaths. Well-behaved citizens enjoyed the generous protection of Hiram, Master of the House of Nadir, and the most civilized vampire around.

"If we preyed on the innocent, we'd be no different from Goran the barbarian, whom we saved you from," Erebus said in his deep, rumbling voice. The imposing, African-born vampire looked at Becca, who was among the people whom he rescued months ago during a raid. A vampire overlord named Goran ruled the remnants of Manchester, New Hampshire, and kept the local humans in blood farms. Hiram tasked Erebus and some of the vampire Knights to raid those farms and save as many humans as they could.

Erebus was able to rescue a few hundred humans, whom he and his vampire acolytes brought back to Boston, as a gesture of good faith to the humans in their Enclave. Becca was one of those humans, except that she'd been grievously wounded by one of Goran's vampire henchmen during the raid. Erebus saved Becca's life by sharing his undying blood with her. Becca died as a human and rose as a vampire three days later. As is often the case between maker and pupil, Becca felt an almost instinctive need to rebel against Erebus. Hiram found the whole thing almost comical...

"Alright, big man, relax," Becca said, her face serious, while her tone hovered between mockery and seriousness. Hiram grinned, and Erebus rolled his chestnut eyes. In the many centuries during which Hiram had known him, his adoptive son Erebus hadn't sired any vampires. A psycho-magnetic bond exists between a maker and a pupil. The two are linked for all time, and can sense each other across great distances. Hiram enjoys the link which binds him to Erebus and his beloved Nadia, who was still separated from him by the vastness of the oceans. She'd been in Paris, France, at the time of the nuclear war in America. Hiram knew his lady Nadia was still alive, but beyond that...

"I'll be in the armory if you need me, Father," Erebus said, and Hiram nodded, noticing the way Becca smirked at Erebus retreating figure. Erebus was in a foul mood, and it had little to do with Becca, or the tediousness of training new vampire Knights. Nope, Erebus missed his mother, Lady Nadia, who was still a continent away and had no way of getting back to them. After the nuclear war, the permanent darkness, and the emergence of the vampire hordes, the rest of the world cut off the U.S.

While hundreds of thousands of vampires live like kings and queens in North America, vampires are hunted down like rats everywhere else on the planet Earth. The governments of France and the United Kingdom have formed a special task force known as the Eradicator Protocol Units or E.P.U. and equipped them with advanced weaponry and cutting edge technology. Thousands of vampires have been wiped out by the E.P.U. in Europe, and the governments of Asia, Africa and the Middle East are deploying similar units to fight the Undead. The continent of North America has been forfeited to the vampires. Everywhere else, humanity is hunting down the Undead with extreme prejudice...

What will become of civilized vampires like Hiram, Nadia and Erebus as all-out war looms between the humans and the Undead? One thing for sure, Erebus isn't waiting around to find out. The tall, taciturn African vampire hasn't survived all of these centuries by being complacent. Erebus intends to leave North America to find his mother, Lady Nadia, and bring her back to the fold, even if it means defying his father Hiram. When the world ends, all one has to hang onto is family, even if one happens to be Undead.