Slave Planet: WAR OF THE BLOOD FIENDS!

Ivan, son of Vlad, wiped the blood from his lips and motioned towards the two things that appeared to be beautiful women. Immediately they came forward and lifted the lifeless body of a young girl from the divan beside Ivan. The corpse was completely nude and contained puncture wounds on the belly, neck, breast, and thigh. With his thirst sated, Ivan indulged himself further. He reposed his long body on the black satin covered divan and drained a rather large container filled with a powerful mixture of pure grain alcohol, hallucinogenic mushroom juice, and opium. The undead prince smacked his lips but in truth he was hardly buzzed. Again, he motioned with his hand and a female vampyre brought his hash pipe....already filled with a large bowl of the best quality.

Ivan's fingers fumbled in a pocket momentarily before a small red vial was found. He sprinkled a bit of the dark red substance from the vial onto the hashish. "That should be just enough," he said to no one in particular.

The female lit the pipe and Ivan sucked greedily. The large, windowless room was filled with a mixture of odors, the sweetness of the hashish was largely subjugated by other, unexplained emissions. The eyes of the black prince glowed red then yellow as he drew great quantities of the exotic gases into his lungs. At last the pipe produced nothing more and the glazed eyes of the undead one peered about the room as if seeing it for the first time.

"Yesssss," he hissed. "Begone, I will rest now."

Ivan sank deeply into the plush divan and closed his eyes. For hours he remained thusly, until finally his fevered brain receded into the blackness of the undead's daytime slumber. His form was totally motionless, his chest did not rise and fall for breath was unecessary for one long departed "normal" life. It was not often that he dreamed, so deeply was his coma-like state. Alas this dawn was to be the exception.

Ivan found himself staring up into a full moon, not the small moon of Tronas, rather the large globe that lighted the darkness of Earth. Ivan smiled in surprise and pleasure. So many adventures he'd enjoyed underneath this ancient light. And so many kills...and the feasting. He enjoyed his view of the moon for a moment before looking down and taking in the rest of his eerie surroundings. Ivan found himself at the edge of vast, ancient graveyard. The moonlight illuminated forlorn tombs, worn headstones, bare twisted trees, and a broken gate that clanked back and forth in the stiff wind.

Fresh snow began to fall and within minutes the ground was white and glowing from the moon's rays. Ivan thought it quite beautiful although normally he wasted no time on such musings. Strange, such a huge field of the dead he had never seen. Still, he did not feel uncomfortable. Instead, the black prince enjoyed a sensation of belonging. He missed Transylvania and this place took his memories back. It had been centuries but what did that mean to an immortal?

Ivan became aware that he was not alone. Some fifteen yards away was a large headstone and perched atop it was a giant black wolf with demonic orange eyes. Those same burning orbs were fixed intensely upon Ivan. "Well, hello there old boy," the vampyre called out. "Aren't you the handsome one, you wouldn't be a relative would you?"

In response the huge, dark creature only stared harder than ever before emitting a low but powerful growl. Then it leaped off the headstone and slowly began to trot away. It looked back over its hairy shoulder and growled again while tossing its head.

"Hmm, I suppose you want me to follow you then?" Ivan asked with a shrug. The vampyre walked after the beast but the creature quickly increased the pace to a run. Ivan felt himself strangely lifted off his feet and hurled along by some unseen force. Regardless he stayed just behind the great beast as it darted and dashed amongst the graves at great speed. This unearthly flight continued for what seemed a very long time to Ivan. The cemetery seemed endless but at last the edge was reached and the vampyre watched in amazement as the monstrous wolf leapt into a wide stream and continued to race along, splashing as it went. Oddly however, the water made no sound, in fact there was no sound whatsoever save the occasional growl of the hairy demon when it would glance over its shoulder.

They followed the stream for some time before the black wolf reached what appeared to be a cobbled road from some other, ageless time. The road twisted and turned but Ivan could see only the hindlegs of the beast as everything was covered by a thick fog made up of odd hues of pink and gray, then purple and yellow. They flew along at great speed and Ivan began to feel something he hadn't felt for so long he scarcely remembered. Cold, a numbing damp cold. The vampyre cursed and became impatient. "Stop and release me you mindless spawn of a dog!" Ivan raged and cursed until the creature did indeed slow his pace. It looked over its shoulder once again with eyes that glowed even brighter than before and it growled with a tone of great menace. Ivan felt the cold even more and he wanted this adventure to be over. He sensed that it was all a dream but nontheless, there was nothing the black prince could do to escape.

The wolf began to move almost in slow motion and Ivan could hear sounds...the sound of the wind blowing. It was a mournful sound, almost a warning. Ivan's agitation was increasing, the sensation of helplessness he felt was not at all to his liking. Then the wolf stopped and the fog lifted. Towering upward so high that Ivan couldn't see the top, was a great monolithic structure. In contrast, the doorway visible at the bottom of the great stone building was rather smallish and made of wood. The black wolf seemed to almost smile before standing on his mighty backlegs and pushing against the door with his great paws. The hinges creaked backwards to reveal a long passageway, dimly lit by an occasional torch. The dark beast growled and tossed its head. Ivan suddenly found himself standing on the ground again. However, it was under no will of his own that his feet moved forward through the door and into the ominous passageway. The cold did not lessen, but the thought that at least he had arrived somewhere consoled the undead one to a slight degree. He began to sense a great mystery was to be revealed and that thought preoccupied his fitful, fevered mind.

The darkly lit passageway seemed to go on forever. This was most likely due to the fact that they moved much more deliberately now. Ivan shouted at the great beast but it paid no heed other than another ominous growl. The dark vampyre screamed that his father was the most powerful of all the undead but the hairy demon tossed his head and almost seemed to smile. Eventually Ivan's frustration reached a point nearing madness, and he strained with all his considerable might to break free of the unseen forces holding him captive. Finally the black wolf halted as another door loomed. This time it did nothing but wait patiently until the wooden gate flew open seemingly of its own accord.

Ivan peered beyond the door into what appeared to be a small chamber. He felt himself pulled forward again even as a sickly dread traveled down the vampyre's spine. This was another emotion he'd all but forgotten....stark fear. Upon entering the mysterious room, Ivan immediately noticed a bright flame burning upon something akin to a shrine. Wilted flowers and perverted paintings of hideous old hags had been place behind, to the side, and underneath the flame. The flame itself glowed a most unusual blue, if indeed it were a flame at all. Then with a start Ivan realized he and the great wolf were not alone. Standing in the shadows on either side of the weird shrine was a man. The great wolf lay down in front of the man at the right. As the vampyre was pulled even closer, he could see this individual was a muscular, bald man, with blazing silver eyes the likes of which even Ivan had never seen despite his centuries of unlife. The great wolf nuzzled against the leg of this strange human. The bald man scratched his chin with a deadly looking knife and smiled...sorta.

To the left was the figure of a man even more unique to the vampyre's mesmerized eyes. This one was a tall man dressed all in black. He wore an old slouch hat and a bright blue sash tied about his waist. Hanging at his side was a long rapier, one powerful hand rested on the hilt of the weapon. The thing in his other hand was the most mysterious vision yet during this night of vivid undead dreaming. In the left hand of the swordsman was a long wooden stave with the carved head of an anubis at the top. Amazingly the anubis was alive! Its eyes were the same blue as the flame and when it spoke even one such as Ivan, long undead, felt in awe.

"Move closer to the flame Vampyre! Look deeply into its swirling light and learn what it shall reveal." The voice was distant, yet more than distinct.

Ivan suddenly felt his limbs freed. Still, his eyes were held captive by this bizarre phenomena. He felt compelled to move as close to the flame as possible. The dark one was surprised to learn there was no heat. He held his hand over the flame and felt nothing but an odd tingling.

"Now look deeply to discover that which is to be revealed to you Son of the Great Vampyre Dracula!"

Ivan was not accustomed to taking orders but regardless, this time he made an exception. He stared deeply, at first seeing nothing. Then, an image began to form far into the center of the bright burning blue. It became larger even as it grew more apparent. Many minutes passed and Ivan stared. And then the vampyre threw his hand up to his face in horror. There in place of the flame, was a severed head grinning dileriously back at the undead prince. Ivan had seen countless decapitations but nothing like this. The face on the head was none other than that of Ivan himself. The realization of this true madness was to much for the vampyre. Suddenly he awakened and bolted upright on that same divan where he had slipped into the dreamworld. He threw his head back and half shouted, half screamed in animalistic rage........."FATHERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!"