Chapter Five: Pandemonium

Several merry years passed since the day of Tremere and Antediluvian’s marriage. The happy couple lived long, as was common in their species, and maintained their secret very carefully. Nobody saw anyone leave their house, which was peculiar but not nearly as strange as the same couple leaving the house for decades without aging a day. When food was needed they would wait till nightfall, transforming into wolves or bats to travel to other towns unseen.

This plan could have worked forever if the world had stayed pleasant. However, and incident in the English colonies across the Atlantic Ocean had sent shivers down the Western world’s spine. After several hangings of alleged witches in the town of Salem people began to grow suspicious and accusatory; fear of the occult was spreading like an epidemic, killing both true monsters and innocent victims alike. This plague of mistrust had spread to the residence of the happy couple.

As it was, Tremere and his wife were settling down to breakfast. Gray clouds blocked the sun from view, much to their pleasure. This moody atmosphere raised their spirits as they prayed over the carcass of a pig Antediluvian had bought from a nearby market. The lovers did not eat until they felt assured that they had honored the noble animal’s sacrifice. It was a gruesome spectacle, but no creature’s eating habits are pleasant.

The disgusting scent of ash floated by their sensitive noses and raised a primal alarm in the two creature’s bodies. Tremere jumped up from the table, wiping the blood off of his mouth and onto his flowing black coat. His eyes grew wide as he spotted a mod of people bearing fire and pitchforks heading towards his house.

“What is it dear?” Antediluvian asked, trying to mask her fear as she rose from her seat.

“It’s nothing,” Tremere replied as his gut wrenched itself into a not. “Gather your favorite possessions and meet me outside at the back door. We have to leave this place.”

“What? Why?” she stammered, the alarm in her voice rising despite her attempts to tie it down.

“Just do it,” the male vampire half commanded, half pleaded with his wife. “We don’t have time to waste, so please, gather your things now!”

Antediluvian nodded her head and ran up the stairs of their house, her mobility slightly limited by her forest green dress. Her husband ran across the room, picking up a long sword given to him by Tepes many years ago. He strapped it to his back, letting it join his two other favorite possessions in freedom: his wedding ring and his black coat. The pair reunited quickly; Antediluvian had taken her wedding dress as well as a necklace her mother had given her. They dashed out of the back door just as a rock flew through their front window.

“Thank creation for clouds,” Tremere thought to himself as he darted through the forest with his wife in wolf form. Only when the scent of smoke left their snouts did the pair stop running. They were alone in a forest that was filled with dead silence, an eerie sign. In the distance a small plume of smoke billowed into the sky miles away, serving as proof of the grim truth they already knew.

“I knew life wasn’t that easy,” Tremere thought our loud, breaking the silence with an audible whisper. Things had gone too fast; Tepes had shown him a shortcut, and he was too blind to realize that its rewards would be as short as the path that led to them.

“We still have one another,” Antediluvian cooed in an attempt to comfort her husband. His emotions affected hers, and it was troubling to see him so unhappy.

The scents of blood and brimstone wafted by the lovers’ noses, making them turn in unison. A lone wolf, large and slightly misshapen, was nervously trotting by them in the distance. It sporadically looked back from where it had came, moving quickly without much care as to where it was headed.

Tremere looked at Antediluvian, who looked at him back. They quickly turned into wolves and followed the strange canine, masking their presence with every bit of stealth they could muster. It was for naught, however, as he soon noticed their arrival and broke into a frantic sprint.

It was Antediluvian who caught him first, leaping on the wolf and raising him into the air as she changed back into human form. Tremere walked up beside her as their quarry was the last to turn into a human, just in time for the female vampire to press a sharp piece of wood against his chest.

“Don’t hurt me!” the man wailed. He looked like the textbook example of an English thug, complete with an apish brow, poor dental hygiene and a cockney accent. “I’m an innocent man!”

“You’re a vampire of demonic descent,” Tremere spat at him. “We can smell it on you. Where are you from and where are you going?”

“I’m somewhat of a drifter, actually,” the man squealed quickly. “I was in London for a bit, and what a ripe bit of fun that was!” He chuckled gruesomely as his savage teeth turned into grotesque fangs. Antediluvian and Tremere shot him grave stares, silencing his laughter. “But the whole area’s in an uproar! My type – well, it’s our type, isn’t it? – are in one heck of a jam.”

“We’ve come to realize that,” Antediluvian replied gravely. “Are you headed anywhere that is particularly safe?”

“They say there’s a creature in Loch Ness who’s going to take people to the New World for safety,” the vampire groaned quickly, not wanting to tell them his secret. “I think it’s some kind of dragon. He’s leaving in ten days, so if you don’t mind I’d like to...”

An arrow cut the vampire off, finding its mark in his left breast. Tremere and Antediluvian had dodged the minute they heard the twang and paid little mind to the rapidly decomposing corpse of their helpful captive. There was a rustling in the woods, followed by the appearance of a man.

He was dress in an old, worn out leather jacket filled with rips, tears and many pockets. A crossbow lay in his right hand as the left went through the arduous process of reloading it. His jagged, block-like facial features sported a pair of dog-like blue eyes, filled with the arrogance of an idiot who thinks he’s a genius. Golden locks of hair stood on his head, covered by a hat as brown and beaten as his jacket.

“I’ve been tracking that vampire for a while now,” the rugged man smiled wickedly as he continued to load his crossbow. “I’m not a very patient man, so you must realize this kill means a lot to me.” He walked past the couple and picked up the skull of the vampire, one of the few remains left after age had caught up with the monster. “Pity, I thought he was younger. It’ll be harder to prove what he was this way, but not impossible.”

Tremere looked at him quizzically. “You’re a very peculiar man,” he said, inspiring a deep chuckle from the hunter.

“Guessing by your youthful appearance,” the blond man smiled, “You’re a very old pair of vampires. I bet you’ll only leave dust when you expire. Even that can be proof, though, with strong enough holy water. Oh, just thinking about the price I’ll get for you. I’ll be rich.” He paused and smiled at the couple. “My crossbow’s reloaded.”

In a split second Tremere had rushed the hunter and stolen his bow, stopping five feet away from the human to snap it in half like a twig. The hunter blinked in surprise, caught unaware by the speed of his foe. He tried to interject but was again cut off as the vampire withdrew his sword from its sheath and leapt into the air.

As the vampire landed in a fluid movement a great tree branch fell upon the hunter’s head, knocking him unconscious. Tremere did not waste a moment, grabbing Antediluvian’s hand and sprinting away as fast as he could.

“Loch Ness is only thirty miles away!” Tremere told her. “If we keep going we can make it with time to spare!”

The odyssey began.