Vampire Civilization Ch. 10

"This will never do," said Amore, and the tall, curvaceous and dark-skinned, eons-old African vampire shook her lovely head as she looked at her surroundings. Mere days ago, the legendary vampire queen Amore left the City of Accra, Ghana, and relocated to North America with her regal sisters, Rama and Lilac. They'd been together for thousands of years, the revered triad that rules the entirety of the vampire species. Right now, they're housed in the basement of an ancient cathedral in the City of Atlanta, Georgia, and it doesn't quite feel like home.

"Amore, my sister, no place has felt like home since I left India all these years ago but I adjusted," said Rama, and the curvy, dark-skinned and fiery-eyed Indian vampire shot her wayward sister a look. Amore scoffed, and Rama stood her ground, daring her to say anything. As is often the case, a level-headed sibling must step in between her sisters and make peace, or something like that. Lilac, who'd been observing the interactions between Amore and Rama, finally had enough...

"Sisters, be done with these arguments, we have much to do," Lilac said, and the tall, dark-skinned, curvy African vampire, who'd always been the middle sister in the triad, shot Rama and Amore a wuthering look. Rama bit her lip and Amore scoffed, but neither said anything. The three sisters exchanged a look and then burst out laughing. Even after these many thousands of years, they were siblings, and that was that. Let the world end if it would, sisterhood is indeed forever.

Rama, Amore and Lilac have walked the earth since before the time of the Pharaohs of Egypt, before the days of the Roman Empire, before the Dark Ages, before the Renaissance, and definitely before so-called Age of Colonization and Modern Times. In their day, they have been the secret rulers of the world. Modern man has always suspected that there were great powers at work in the mundane world, and the triad is one of those powers. With their knowledge and wealth, the vampire sisters have been kingmakers and the secret rulers of many empires.

A lot of people believe that the seats of power are in Paris, France, or perhaps in Washington D.C. or even Berlin, Germany. Others believe that the seats of power are in the Vatican. The immortal sisters have always moved around, staying one step ahead of their many enemies, and it's been key to their survival and success. For a long time, Amore, Lilac and Rama lived in a secret underground lair below the City of Accra, Ghana. In ages past, the immortal sisters have lived in the City of Cap-Haitien, Republic of Haiti, and also in the Bahia region of Brazil.

Rama, Amore and Lilac see themselves as above common humanity, but they've always been fond of the dark-skinned peoples of the world. The people of Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Tamil people of India, and the darker-skinned people found in places like Bangladesh, Brazil and Guyana are sacred to the vampire triad. The immortal sisters aided the Haitian people in their successful uprising against the French during the colonial era. They also supported the Afro-Brazilian people in their struggle against racism in their diverse homeland. Rama, Amore and Lilac haven't been human for many thousands of years, but they never forgot where they came from. The fate of the dark-skinned peoples of the world is something the immortal sisters care very much about.

Rama, Amore and Lilac have always believed that the vampire species should hide in plain sight, secretly preying upon humans and making business deals with them. They believe in order and balance. In ages past, there have been many vampires who sought to swell the undead race's numbers and take over humanity. The immortal sisters always sent their agents against these undead madmen and undead madwomen, to slaughter them in order to preserve both humans and vampires.

The immortal sisters have acquired much wealth and power over the course of many millennia, but it is their wisdom which makes them a force to reckon with. The race of the vampires is powerful, with preternatural advantages such as superhuman strength, super speed, sharp senses, eternal youth and the ability to regenerate. Still, humankind is far more lethal and destructive than the worst vampire could ever be. Vampires are hunters, they know better than to hunt their prey to extinction. It is humankind that renders other species extinct, not vampires.

The immortal sisters are wise enough to know that in a protracted war between the vampires and the humans, the vampires stand a strong chance of losing. This is something which modern vampires ignore, to their own peril. The light of the sun has always been the bane of the vampire race, and it's afforded humans an unfair advantage. Modern vampires thought that with the sun gone, due to the nuclear war and the fallout that blotted the sun from the skies, they could finally overtake their eternal enemies, the human race.

"Our race is losing this war," Rama said, looking at a high-tech computer, which displayed a battle during which a vampire princess named Lady Adrianna and her people, the vampires of the Sacred Vine, got slaughtered. The humans were on the offensive, led by a woman named Amelia McGrath, a former U.S. Army Colonel, and her lover, Captain Lucius Crowley. The pair and a group of military scientists in league with them had invented some deadly high-tech guns which could reduce a vampire to ashes within moments.

"We need a champion," Amore countered, and Rama nodded while Lilac sighed. They'd received the video from one of a few vampire overlords who were still standing, the vampire Hiram. The regal vampire triad had dealt with Hiram in the past. Hiram, a vampire of Arabian lore, reigned over an enclave near Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife Lady Nadia, and their son Erebus. Hiram, Lady Nadia and Erebus were unusual among vampires in that they formed a true family. For this and a few other reasons, the immortal sisters felt a kinship of sorts with the House of Hiram.

"Hiram and his house will be our defenders in these dark times, they are heroic and adaptable, and ruthless enough when they need to be," Lilac said evenly. Rama and Amore looked at their sister, and there were fanged smiles all around. Hiram and his brood had done impressive work in the post-nuclear age. They ruled an enclave where the humans were treated fairly, and protected by an army of honorable vampires. Hiram was as benevolent as a blood sucker could be, but the immortal sisters knew he'd prove himself worthy against U.S. Army Colonel Amelia McGrath and her army of vampire-hating, high-tech human warriors.

"Lilac, I hope you are right, for all of our sakes," Rama said, and Lilac nodded while Amore smiled. The three immortal sisters retreated to their feeding chamber, where supper awaited. Tonight's supper consisted of three wayward human warriors. Two men and a woman, they'd gotten captured while attempting to burn a basement filled with vampires in the environs of Alpharetta, Georgia. Fortunately, the vampire warriors who protected the immortal sisters had been driving through Alpharetta on their way to Atlanta, and they made short work of the human intruders. Of the thirty or so human warriors who tried to burn the slumbering local vampires, only these three were left.

Rama, Amore and Lilac descended upon the three human warriors, and took their sweet time as they caught them, overpowered them and drank their blood. The immortal sisters, the oldest vampires in existence, and the rulers of the vampire species, have always drunk the blood of the wicked, the murderers, the rapists, the racists, and the remorseless. With the advent of the all-out global war between humans and vampires, the immortal sisters couldn't afford to be picky. These days, just about any human is the enemy of the vampire species. It's a shame that it has come to that, but this is war.