Tha Story

ThA Story

Tater felt their distrust at Alucard's accusation build to a peak. He'd had to fight his way out of many rooms like this and knew his crew would be in the door in an instant to aid him. The last thing he'd want is to have more of his crew slain. "I fear I have a tale to tell, and it may be long. If you will all spare your blades, comments and decisions about my fate till I'm done I will answer for all of my crimes tonite..." He adjusted his bandaged leg, still sore from the night aboard the Tre Deep, and took a carved pipe down from a shelf above his berth. Puffing on his pipe, the smoke filled his cabin and wrapped everything in a dream. The others could see images of cities strange and beautiful as Tater began his story from the beginning-

In the times before the war werewolves held a particular place of honor in the vampire realms. They were never considered equals, more slaves than not, but always well treated by Nargash and his 13 children. You see each of the 13 chose a werewolf pup, and that pup became a constant companion. They would be trained in whatever uses the vampire needed of them. Combat, Magics, Politics, Sciences, the Arts...whatever their masters would have of them. Being taken from their mothers at such a young age the pups would imprint their new master as a parent figure and become fiercely loyal. Other vampires would take lycans as petslaves, but only the truebloods, those born of at least one lycan parent were allowed to belong to the 13. Tater himself had both lycan parents, something rare even in those safe times. Tater never imagined himself as a warrior or companion. He'd actually hoped to work for the Librarian, he'd slipped into the library on many occasions and flipped through the books of legends reading stories of the grand old guardian wolves. A simple life was all he'd needed or ever wanted. But fate had something far more interesting instore.

About his fifth birthday, Tater, along with several of his brothers and sisters were presented to Lord Nargash and his three youngest children. All the pups knew what a great honor it was to be chosen by one of the 13, or to be recruited for the Royal Guard. The older pups would fight amongst themselves or showoff their shapeshifting ability during the selection processes, but Tater, simply found a corner, and nuzzled down to wait it out. He was the smallest of the wolfpups, often teased and sometimes bullied he expected nothing less than being passed over. The youngest, Alucard proudly refused a pup. Claimed he'd have no need of a slave, or a body guard. Lord Nargash laughed and continued the process. Next would be Princess Lillith, fair skinned, raven hair, deep red eyes the colour of blood from a mortal wound. She promptly requested that Alucard's wolf be hers too but the great lord refused her, and it would be one of the last requests she would be refused. She settled for a great black beast named Nicodeamus, and here Lillith with her already large entourage left the royal chambers. The third child, Aurora was a kindly sort. Bored with power, looked for little more than a pet. Her time out of doors had given her an unusually dark complexion for a vampire, and her dark purple eyes could stun any mortal that fell in her gaze. While the other pups fought and changed and chattered away at her, she simply walked past them and picked up the sleeping Tater. " Father, I would like him" is all she spoke in the room, and took the still sleeping pup to her tower....

In the decades that followed Tater became less of a bodyguard and more of a pet. He preferred staying in the form of a wolf and never left his princess' side. Even when she would bathe, he would lie down just inside the bathroom door to be the first thing any intruder would find. He was trained in the combat arts, and learned a little of the mystic arts, should he or the princess ever be wounded. In their travels Tater earned the nickname 'Nibbles' from the odd greeting they had for each other. She would reach out her hand to him, and he would take it gently in his mouth. They lived happily together as master and companion for many years, and Nibbles learned a great many things from the many cultures and worlds they visited.

But then the darkness in her heart began to grow.

It began to happen after they'd settled on the outskirts of Nosferi. Back within the dark lord's realm of influence- She had wanted to live near her sister again Lillith. Nibbles tried to convince her otherwise- he'd had a bad feeling about Lady Lillith for many years. He'd done his best to keep track of her, and always tried to steer his mistress away from her influence. Lady Lillith had a panache for the dark arts. Sorcery, Alchemy, even dabbled into Necromancy. She also had the uncanny ability to talk her way into or out of anything she truly desired. Somewhere during the years she'd added another lycan to her entourage called Silvertounge. Wherever She was, her lycans were. Nicodaemus - muscle, brawn and instinct, Silvertounge- treachery, guile, and subterfuge. Some would even say Silvertounge would be behind the vampire wars.

It became time for the games. A time when the 13 families of vampire would gather and compete amongst themselves for glory and honor. The Pet slaves were also allowed games but theirs were almost exclusively combat. Nibbles detested these mock battles, and knew of treachery in the games. A friend of his was slain by 'accident' when Nicodeamus refused to accept the surrender. Accidents happen, but this was no accident. Lillith and Silvertounge whispered something to Lord Nargash and Nicodaemus was spared punishment. Nibbles worried about Nicodeamus and requested his master lay the required challenge. After a furious battle, Nibbles took Nicodaemus' left ear, and the tip of his tail. The crowds familiar with Lycan combat recognized this humiliation and gasped as Nibbles left the stadium. A single laugh rung out from the royal boxes. Oddly enough It was Alucard...

Being young and brash with his near invincibility the Vampire requested a duel with the triumphant Nibbles, "Nibble nibble little nibbles, but that wolf has no bite!" The crowds roared with laughter. The battle would ensue. The first 'sanctioned' fight between a vampire and a lycan. Dummy swords were called for, but Alucard waived them off, and requested that Nibbles be allowed to use his own weapons. With growing concern, Nibbles and Princess Aurora watched as Lady Lillith spoke something to Alucard, and that evil grin spread across his face. Nibbles took up his sword, and fought with Alucard honorably, not resorting to any of his own battle tricks. Long and viciously they attacked each other, until Alucard made one mistake. Nibbles had his blade across Alucards throat, and could have made the killstrike, Alucard grinning even at his own impending destruction. The princess called for Nibbles to stop, and at the sound of her voice dropped his sword and bowed to the noble vampire. Alucard rose to his feet, dusted himself off, and proclaimed to the Colosseum:" This is truly a great Guardian. Aurora was wise to choose him as her protector. Surely there is no other wolf greater." A close observer could have seen the daggers in the eyes of Lady Lillith.

"That was the day it all fell apart" Tater sighed and pointed his pipe at Alucard..."I'd blame you for it if I didn't know of Lady Lillith's treacherous nature. A couple of centuries later as the vampire's war against the humans began to wane we were headed back to our castle. It had been almost fifty years of warring, and we were only in touch with Princess Aurora by messenger..." The images in the smoke revealed a ship tossed by waves at sea. Captain Nibbles and the stalwart first mate Lass at the helm of a ship larger and more ornate than the Wolf-Shark. Alucard recognized it as a ship of the royal guard-On the deck the two friends bound by duty yelled over the gale:

Lass: Do ye think it's wise to leave the princess so far behind
Nibbles: No, It makes me worried. She's not been herself of late. Sending us to do an assassin's job in the dark of night. Her trophies have become more and more grisly and her taste for humans has gotten fierce.
Lass: Almost as if she were someone, or something else?
Nibbles: When we get to port, have the crew only retrieve their families. We'll be quit of this town until things settle down or our Princess is herself again.

"We made our port and as promised the crew all spread to their homes to retrieve family. Many had brought them to this city for protection. Human or not- they were at greater risk because of our allies and enemies. Before I went to the castle, I went with Jasper Bloodclaws to visit his great-grand-daughter and her family. There was little amiss in our town, blue skies a gentle breeze, even the birds were singing. But there was something deadly wrong. When we got to the old healers place we went in to find it in an odd shambled mess. His young descendant stood at the kitchen sink, arms slack, golden hair in a matted mess atop her head. In the dim light we could see her skin had taken the dull grey appearance of granite-stone. When she turned her head 'round we saw the sunken eyes, and heard her hellspeak gibberish. I plunged my sword handle deep in it's chest, only to have the monstrosity grab at my hand and try to attack. About that time we saw the rest of the family come stumbling out of a side room. All were greyskinned, slack, and gibbering. Old Jasper fainted at the sight and I returned him to the ship to find many of the crew returned with faces of disbelief, pain, anguish, confusion. "

"I feared for the worse when it appeared the entire town was under this curse. Looks like we'd stayed gone too long and some foul spell had claimed the souls of our entire town. The castle still showed some signs of life so I set my armor in place and set about finding my master for an answer. Under cover of night I stole into the castle dungeons, crept past cages of the grey skinned monsters. As I crept through the courtyard to the Royal towers I caught sight of something that would have been relieving, if it were not that night. I saw my master walking the castle parapets, with an escort on either side. Two lycan forms, I could not make the second one, but the clipped ear, and snub tail I could recognize in a drunken stupor in the middle of a sandstorm. Nicodaemus was at my master's side...I took a quick scent of the air. Worse yet- Nicodaemus and Silvertounge...but what would she have to do with them. With a quickened step I made my way to the towers and to her personal chambers."

"As I lay my paw on the handle of her door, I felt a vicously strong paw sink into the back of my neck and fling me backwards across the receiving room. As I found my own feet and slid back nearly to the wall I saw Nicodaemus step from the shadows. " I will have your claws as a trophy tonite. Your master no longer has need of a weak, puling pup like you!" He bellowed. Nicodaemus' black armour glinted in the moonlight as his shield swung round to the front, a wicked black spear with a silver tip dipped in a fatally poisonous mixture of wolfs'bane and arsenic. This was no game. "

The smoke offered images of their duel, Tater's blade glowing red with strange ancient runes, Nicodaemus's strength swung the great spear with a treacherous speed. Back and forth the two titans battled. Brute strength vs quick precise strikes. The smoke seemed to understand the ferocity of battle and slowed to show the killstrike. The huge black demon made a desperate stab at Tater, who allowed the spear to pass behind him- ducking under the crushing shield his blade passed neatly between the chest and shoulder of the right arm, causing the spear to fall meaninglessly to the floor. On the follow through stroke, Tater caught the tendons of the huge lycans' ankles and toppled him to the ground. Nicodeamus shrieked with a startling rage at Tater: "be done with your dancing weakling and do what you should have done eons ago." Tater obliged and neatly cleaved the head of Nicodaemus in two. Tater stared down at the ruined lycan corpse, removed two odd shriveled bits from a hidden pocket and returned the prizes he'd taken from it many years ago.

With the brawn out of the way, my attention returned once more to my rescue effort. 'Surely Lillith's treachery is behind this' I thought as I smashed the doors from their hinges. Then it hit me as solid and powerfully as a cannons shot. I rushed in to find Silvertounge at my master's ear. The evil lycan laughed and slowly slunk out of site. "Why do you return to me Nibbles?" Aurora asked. Dumbfounded I dropped my weapon to the stone floor and fell to my knees. "I fear we have misunderstood or angered you master. Our usual trips of mercy and espionage have turned to murder and treachery." A laugh so cold and heartless filled the room and my very bones with a cold dread. "It is all a wolf is good for you simpleton. You're no emissary, only a weapon to be unleashed and sheathed at my whim!" At the cold words of my master I flinched. It seemed the dark lord had taken sway over her after all. " Lillith " she demanded "he's killed your dear Nicodaemus in cold blood. Rid us both of this hassling little thing" With barely enough time to roll out of the way, l dodged the blade meant for my heart and saw Lady Lillith coming at me...same slack appearance as the golems in town. With an ease and a bit of pleasure I relieved it of it's head, arms and legs, pulled a blessed piece of oak from my pouch and plunged it into the golem's torso and it stopped moving. The Aurora clapped and laughed. "Now it is complete you fool." That cold, evil laughter filled the room again " Now that you've destroyed my former weaker body you cannot remove my soul from your precious Aurora"

"I don't understand" I stammered dumbfounded at what just happened. Then Lillith revealed herself fully to me. "I've always been jealous of your pitiful masters wonderful form. Her hypnotic eyes, ease with the peasants, and her resistance to sunlight. As if Ra himself had forgiven just her and let her roam in his light. I took her soul and banished her to a place where you , nor our fool King could retrieve her. I will bend all creatures to my will and those that will not obey will either be destroyed or enslaved like this pitiful little village." My rage peaked. With a speed I've never tapped before I'd removed the Aurora Demon's head mid taunt. I laid my sword at my side and wept over the closest friend I'd ever known. I knew full well what this action meant and had little time before nearly every vampire in the world would be after my hide. I heard her voice once again. Not the cold one, but the warm, friendly one I'd answered to for centuries. On a small table there was a glass sphere filled with an odd green liquid, and the Image of my precious Aurora.

She quickly explained what had happened, or as much as she understood. Lillith had found a way to transfer her soul using the heart as a vessel. The sorcery caused the heart to become nearly indestructible, but was useless without a body. From what she saw of the ritual, she could be restored, but her own heart had to be returned to her body. She wasn't sure of the incantation to rejoin soul and body though or where her heart was hidden. I undid the stitching that held her chest closed and removed Lillith's blackened heart and tossed the horrible thing from the window into the bay below. I carefully took the glass spheres from the table, the larger one, and three smaller ones that held a similar liquid. I gathered her cold little corpse in my arms and set about removing her from that dark place. It was then that Lord Alucard smashed through the large window to the south in a rare fury. "Traitorous beast of the fields. You had more favor in this land than some of the 13 Lords. How dare you lay your paws on two of my sisters? Aurora's death was mine to take and you will answer for your crimes" as he spoke he'd leveled two large pistols at my head. I was lost in the massive voids that were the ends of the barrels.

I recognized the blood rage in Alucards eyes and feared for my own life in that moment. I'd heard the rumors of his powers and didn't want to see them for myself. I knew he was wanted by the high court for stealing something from King Nargash and the former Lillith. If all the rumors were true, he'd been instrumental in King Nargash's fall. I didn't know why he'd want Aurora's death which he believed I'd stolen. I hoped I was faster than he and made a mad dash for the window. I heard the explosions from his weapons and felt the searing bullets tearing my flesh as I fell. I glanced back as I hit the ground and ran, I saw him leap from the window and unload both clips in my general direction. The calls of rage and fury as he pursued me through town haunted me for years. I made it to the ports with just enough time to warn the crew and have them off. Then I turned to face my impending death.

They say he sank an entire flotilla of human warships with the Black Mist, then rescued the survivors one by one only to break their arms, legs and backs before quenching his thirst with their lifeblood. There was a small island of simple villagers that was laid to fire because they mistook him for their returned deity. Entire families piled upon a single pike to bleed to death under the moon. I expected no such mercies. There was death in his eyes, and I knew I had to kill if I was going to leave this port. As he approached he doubled in size and seemed to be breathing smoke and fire. I tried to reason, explaining the cursed citizens and Lillith's plot. He heard nothing of my words and again leveled his two huge guns at my head. As he fired again I dodged and deflected as much as I could with my sword, but the hail of bullets was too much and I felt the belladonna mixture in the bullet tips begin to sap my strength. A few of my crew lept to the docks as our ship pulled away and two were simply swept away with a swipe of Alucard's arm. The third he caught by the head and simply squeezed. I would not let their loss be in vain and summoned the last of my strength. Whatever gods or demons watch over us in battle decided I should escape with my soul that night, and my blade passed through Alucard's neck. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to stun him long enough to get out of range. I looked back as hot coals were laid against my wounds to stop the bleeding. I watched in terror as Alucard rose and the Black Mist began to materialize in the harbor. Before I fell into a dazed sleep I ordered the crew to toss as much over as they could and fire at the sea wall's gate to try to trap the Mist ( or at lease slow him down ). About the time the crew cheered our escape I felt the belladonna kick in full force and fell into a deep an troubled sleep.

"When I woke again we were far to the north trapped in an iceflow. We hiked over the frozen waters for nearly three weeks before we found a small fishing village. There were just enough there to feed our crew before we set out further to the south. I can tell you that was the last innocent flesh I've eaten." The smoke from Taters pipe swirled about and faded away as the tired old wolf finished his story. The weight of years showed on his human face in the candle lit cabins. "I've held this secret from you for years Alucard. It was only to protect my master..." and he showed them the small sphere and Aurora's ghostly shape waved out from the glass smiling at the odd reunion with her favorite little brother.