In life, there is only one certainty: everything that lives eventually dies.

We live our lives and we go through the motions. We don't think about the fact that one day, all this will be gone. More often than not, we fear it. We fear it because it's different. It's a change. None of us knows for sure what happens after we die. And it scares us.

Some people try to postpone their death. They have surgery, they live on medication. They sacrifice whatever life they've known just so that they can live a few more years.

My name is Abraham Whistler. And I think that's the dumbest pile of shit I've ever heard. I'm a vampire, so I don't have much of a choice. I have to live. Death isn't an option for me, at least not for another couple of centuries. Being stuck on this fucking mudball means that I can't be with my family. They died years ago, killed by a vampire.

I hate vampires. I hate myself because I'm a vampire. I refuse to live off the blood of humans. So I've become one mean sonnuva bitch. I'm vicious as hell, but I make sure to direct that rage and that anger towards the vampires.

Ever since my leg was shot to shit, though, I've had to retire from vampire hunting. So now, I assist another like me. A Daywalker in the art of hunting vampires. I provide the weapons, I provide the intel. And the Daywalker uses it.

Very nicely, I might add.

I am the Hunger. I am a vampyr of the highest order, one who possesses powerful pyrokinetic abilities.

My entire goal in life is to engineer a new form of vampyr. One which can withstand the effects of the coming storms. The vampyr breed is dying out, we must evolve if we are to survive. Evolution sometimes requires a bit of help, however.

That is why I am here.

My first two attempts at engineering a new form of vampyr failed. This third time, however, failure is not an option. I am forced to go to the extremes in my research. For, in this instance, this is my final attempt at engineering the perfect being.

For I am the Hunger. And I am dying.

All the vampyr are. The coming of Erebus was to be a momentus occasion. It was to be the day when our rule would go unchallenge. The fleshbags would wither and fall before us, and the skies would open and rain blood.

It was through the efforts of Blade that we were stopped. But Blade is dead, now. Gone to the portal. Trapped in the demon world, never to return.

There is no one left to stand in my way. In our way. The way of the vampyr.

As I am telling you this, I have dispatched several vampires to a genetic research facility known as TCRI. They are retrieving the components I need to complete my task.

My name is Neil Erben. I am a vampire.

I work for a man called Hunger.

He sent me and a bunch of other vampires here to TCRI. Our whole purpose for being in TCRI is because Hunger wants some equipment here. I can't even begin to describe the stuff we need. I don't understand half this shit.

Over there, the guy with the glasses, he's Max Starkweather. He's the real brains of this operation. A tech guy, one of the best in his field. He knows exactly how to crack into TCRI's security, and he's able to sneak us through the open doors.

The big guy who's standing watch is Lance Freeney. He's stronger than most vampires, on account of the fact that he's got a taste for steroids. The good thing about being a vampire is that you don't have to really worry about the side-effects of using drugs or popping pills. Lance is one who takes advantage of that.

The Asian guy is Akemi. I can't pronounce his last name, so I won't even try. Funny thing about Akemi. He once told me that his name means "beautiful dawn." Heh, isn't that a laugh? A vampire named Beautiful Dawn. Like Lance, he's here for Max's protection more than anything. He's nowhere near as big as Lance, but he does all that kung fu shit.

And then there's me. Now, why am I here, you ask? Mainly because I got nothing better to do. I'm not much in the brains department like Max, I'm not buff and tough like Lance, and I'm not a fighter like Akemi. I just like killing things.

When we get to the main entrance, Akemi starts us off. He disables the two men standing guard quickly and quietly. Max just walks right by them. You'd think he would take the keycard off of them or something, but the thing about TCRI is that the guards don't carry keycards for security reasons. Plus, Max has his own keycard already encoded with a virus that'll override the computerized locks. I dunno how he does this shit. Like I said, he's good.

I wanna stay and drain the two guards of the blood, but Lance pulls me along. Guess we gotta do the job first. That's one of the things that sucks about this. I watch the other vamps who are hanging behind. They're there for back-up if we need it. And I just know that they're gonna drain the guards.

Max holds up his hand to stop us. He then opens up the back he's carrying on his back and pulls out a small, metal orb with lights on it. He turns each half of the orb in a seperate direction, and you can hear a CLICK. Then, the lights turn on and he tosses it out into the center of the room.

"Come on," he says and we run down the hall. I stop and look up at the surveillance camera and see it moving all around. Lance grabs my arm again and pulls me forward. We run into a nearby room and once inside, I look to Max.

"What the hell was that thing?" I ask.

"Chaff grenade," he replies. "Perfect for disabling security cameras. For a little bit, at least."

"So what now?" I ask. "What are we looking for?"

"We gotta get to the sub-basement," he says. "That's where they store all their top secret stuff."

"Anything else we should be on the lookout for?" asks Akemi.

"No," says Max. "The camera malfunction will have repair crews trying to figure out what the fuck's going on with their equipment, so they're gonna be running diagnostic tests. While they're doing that, we sneak in. The cameras are basically just there to make the bigwigs of TCRI sleep comfortably. In reality, everything depends on the keycards. They won't worry about the cameras, because they think if someone does break in, the alarms will notify them once a thief tries to enter a room with an invalid keycard."

"And we don't have that problem," says Lance. Max nods.

"Y'know, you hear a lot of rumors about this place," I say.

"Like what?" asks Lance.

"Like of these mutant animals or somethin' that guard it."

"Not here," says Max. "This is just a storage facility, not their main complex. Besides, there's like, some sort of shit going down in Times Square that they're involved with."

"See?" says Akemi. "Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, right," I say. "Isn't that what the Trojans said?"

"The fuck are the Trojans?" asks Lance.

"Nevermind," replies Max. "We've got a job to do, so let's get to it."

My name is Commander Frank Dallas. I'm the head of Silvereye, an elite government agency created for the sole purpose of dealing with the vampire menace.

The way we began... well, let's just say it wasn't pretty and leave it at that. But those days are over, and now we're doing okay for ourselves.

We've been operating under the auspicies of the United States government for about six months now. No real huge vampire threats in that time. We keep our eyes open, and we've got scanners working round the clock, as well as agents equipped to deal with the bastards 24/7.

We're technically an offshoot of SHIELD, but we operate pretty independently of them. We've got an understanding with SHIELD. Sort of a, "we don't step on your toes, you don't step on ours" type of thing. May not be the healthiest working relationship, but it gets the job done. We operate on a much smaller version of SHIELD's Helicarrier. It's called the Silverfang. Don't ask me, I don't make up the names.

"Commander Dallas, we've got scanners picking up some activity."

"A nest?" I ask.

"Not really... just a large gathering."

"Where?" I ask.

"A TCRI storage facility," he replies.

"What the hell are vampires doing in TCRI?" I ask.

"Not sure, sir."

"Contact the guys behind TCRI," I order. "And get a Blackeye unit down there ASAP."

"Yes sir."

{{ You get that? }}

"Loud and clear, Whistler. Looks like Silvereye is good for one thing—providing us with intel."

{{ You sure you're up for this? }}

"I'm positive."

{{ I dunno about this one, kid. Maybe we should leave this one t' Silvereye. }}

"No can do, Whistler."

{{ An' why's that? }}

"Because I just turned the bike around, and I'm already en route to TCRI."

{{ Listen, E— }}

"How many times do I have to tell you, old man? My name is Blade."

TCRI

"Technology at its finest, I see," says Akemi as Max slides his skeleton keycard into the elevator slot for the sub-basement. The elevator begins to activate and we begin the descent.

"Being slowly lowered into the ground," says Max. "What's that remind you guys of?"

We all begin to chuckle at Max's comment. The day our bodies were lowered into their graves was the day our lives really began. We all know that. And we're all thankful for the gift of vampirism we've been given.

The elevator stops with a DING and the doors open. Lance steps out first, his eyes scanning for any immediate threats. Once he's sure it's safe, he steps out and we all follow. Max moves towards the front, and he leads us down the corridor.

"How do you know so much about this place, Max?" I ask.

"Easy, Neil," replies Max. "I helped design it."

Everytime I talk to Max, I always find out one more thing I didn't know about him before.

He slides the card into the slot of the door at the end of the hall. The little red light on the card slot turns green and he opens it up. Lights automatically turn on, and Max steps forward. The room is lined with crates that have numbers printed on them. Max begins to examine the numbers on the crates, until he comes to one in the corner.

"This is it," he says. He reaches out and picks it up. "Let's get out of here."

Akemi goes out the door first with Max and I following. Lance takes up the rear.

My name is Lieutenant Nathan Paul, team leader of Blackeye 1.

Blackeye Units are specially trained combat teams designed to take out vampire nests. Nests usually occur in abandoned or run-down buildings. Less attention in those areas. Vampires tend to be private people, I guess.

So it's definitely strange when we're called in to deal with a vampire threat in the middle of the industrial district. According to the intel, this is a TCRI storage facility. Dunno why vamps are aiming so high all of a sudden. They usually target blood banks.

The transport lands with a thud, and the door opens. We all pile out and I lift up my rifle.

"Okay troops," I begin. "We've got a vamp menace here. Standard operating procedure, just go for a sweep and clean, got it?"

The agents all nod their head in reply.

"Okay, let's lock and load."

We all wear titanium armor complete with helmets. Our bodies are completely protected from the fangs of vampires. When you're dealing with the fanged scum, you can't take too many risks. Wait, scratch that, make it any risks.

"Two guards over there, check them," I order. An agent runs up to examine them. He looks back up at me.

"They're gone, sir."

"Fuck..." I mutter. I bring up my rifle and look around. "They're probably hiding in the shadows. Switch to v-sight."

Our helmets are equipped with specialized vision sensors. Such as infrared, nightvision, or, the one we frequently use v-sight. Short for vampire sight. See, vampires are different from humans. Different from all lifeforms, really. I'm not exactly sure how v-sight works, all I know is that if vampires are hiding out in the shadows, it makes them stand out like beacons. Infrared doesn't really work, because vampires don't give off too much body heat since their hearts don't pump blood. So, unless they've recently fed, a vampire's body heat is the same as a dead person's.

I flick the switch on my helmet and the v-sight engages. I begin scanning around, but I don't see anything. If there are vamps here, they're really good at hiding.

There, to the left!

I pull the trigger and a stream of silver bullets emits from the barrel of my gun. The vamp doesn't even know what's coming, and he's dusted.

"Got one," I say. "Let's get an air blanket out here."

What an air blanket does is basically cover the air in allium sativum, or garlic. Causes vampires to go into shock. Agent Lamey pulls out a device, but before he can toss it into the air, a vamp leaps on his back. Unfortunately for the vampire, the armor's been blessed. It burns his hand, and I bet it hurts like hell. Lamey turns around on the vampire and fires a bullet into its still heart. Another one dusted.

"You okay, Lamey?" I ask.

"Never better, sir," he replies.

"Good, now how about that air blanket?"

"Ooooh... fresh meat..."

We turn to the sound of the voice. Four other vampires are coming from the building. One of them is carrying a crate of some sort, obviously what they came here to steal. Again, I have no clue why they're robbing a place like TCRI. There's nothing in there of benefit. Unless they were hired in exchange for blood or a couple of humans.

The roar of a motorcycle engine tore over the sounds of the battle.

{{ Blade, listen t' me, this isn't a good idea. }}

The rider ignored the sound of the radio. The bike grew ever closer to the battle.

{{ Blade! }}

As the bike approached the battlefield, the rider leapt off the seat. In midair, the rider drew two semiautomatic weapons and opened fire on the vampires. Silver bullets tore through undead flesh and converted the vampires to dust.

Blade tuck and rolled and hit the ground painlessly. Blade did a roll and brought up the guns to another vampire and fired. Instant dust.

Blade emptied the gun clips into four other vampires, and the only ones now left were Neil, Max, Akemi, and Lance.

Lance stepped forward first with a grin once he laid his eyes on Blade. The vampire hunter tossed the guns aside and motioned for Lance to attack. Lance wasted no effort and charged forward. Blade leapt over Lance's head and kicked him in the back. Lance went sprawling and hit the ground.

Akemi shouted for Max and Neil to get away with the cargo. Max handed the crate over to Neil, and reached around in his bag for something to combat the Daywalker.

Akemi brought himself into a basic martial arts stance. Blade mimicked the stance, and Akemi charged forward. The vampire moved like lightning, his speed was incredible. Akemi's leg whipped forward and up in a kick, but Blade blocked it. Akemi tried to thrust forward with a jab, but Blade's hand was there again.

"Come on," taunted Blade. "Can't you do better than that?"

Akemi shouted in a rage and performed a roundhouse kick. Blade grabbed Akemi's leg and broke it. Blade then reached into the coat and drew a silver sword. Akemi's eyes widened at this sight, and attempted to back off. Blade slowly advanced forward, and Akemi's retreat quickened. It was at that moment that Blade leapt forward and removed Akemi's head from his shoulders.

Max was now the only one left standing, and Blade walked up towards him. Max continued to look through the devices in his bag, but Blade jammed the sword into the bag and through Max's hand.

"I bet that hurts, doesn't it?" asked Blade. "You vamps don't sake silver too well, do you?"

Max looked up at Blade in fear. The Daywalker placed a small object in Max's mouth and slapped him on the side of the cheek. Then, Blade began to walk off. Max pulled the object from his mouth and saw that it was a small, chrome cylinder with a blinking red light. The light stopped blinking, and the thermite exploded and took Max with it.

{{ GODDAMMIT ELISA HILL, YOU BETTER FUCKING ANSWER ME!! }}

The female vampire hunter placed her hand to the earpiece she wore.

"For the last time Whistler, call me Blade," she said.

NEXT: There's a new Daywalker in town!