The regional headquarters of The Brotherhood could be found sitting atop a plateau high in the mountains. It was an effective strategic position: high altitude, maximum hours of sunlight and could only be reached by helicopter unless a potential invader was an expert climber and was prepared to brave the high level of security around the base.
To date, there had not been a single case of vampire infiltration at this base, which housed fifty soldiers and additional medical and administrative staff. The base was well guarded but the outposts suffered occasional losses and from time to time, they had to be evacuated following an attack so there were enough facilities at the regional bases to house at least two hundred tired and hungry soldiers.
The Brotherhood had a very stringent screening process for all new recruits. Or so they thought. The screening process wasn’t strict enough.
Private Lambert ran into his private dormitory with five minutes to get ready before he had to join the rest of his squad. It was time for another evacuation: their mission was to extract the squad from the outpost at Hartley House.
In his private room, he took off his training gear and changed into his combat uniform. The soldiers at regional headquarters worked 12-hour shifts and Private Lambert was a member of the night shift, which suited him just fine. He was a vampire.
He wasn’t the only vampire at the regional headquarters either. Getting round the checks wasn’t as hard as they had thought it might be. Dozens of others had been sacrificed so his brothers and sisters could perfect the art of planting a vampire in The Brotherhood. By the time his turn came, he had a very complex set of instructions to carry out to make the recruitment board believe he was human. In fact, he had been human just a matter of weeks before he became a member of The Brotherhood.
That’s because Private Lambert was a consenting recruit. With nothing in his human life other than his drug addiction, he told himself that the only thing to do was to take drastic action. Nothing could be worse than the living hell his life had become so when he was confronted by a vampire looking to feed, he didn’t run, cry or try to fight like most members of the human race. No, Private Lambert conceded to his attacker and succumbed to a new life that had to be better than his own.
He had been a vampire for a year and felt his undead life was a significant improvement over his previous life. He was a major player in the ongoing rise of the vampire community. His brothers and sisters were succeeding in infiltrating every part of human life, even the war effort against them.
Most of the world governments had members from the vampire community; even some of the human world leaders supported their cause. The emergency services were a primary target for infiltration. This strategy allowed the vampire brothers and sisters to get away with just about anything. No matter what crime against humanity they were arrested and detained for, the vampires almost always managed to evade justice or get off on a technicality.
Private Lambert pulled the drawer all the way out of his desk and removed a mobile phone that was taped to the back. He dialled the number for his true regional headquarters and spoke to Roxy, his true leader.
Even though he had good news, he was still worried about talking to Roxy. Her reputation preceded her. Vampires that hadn’t even met Roxy knew the stories about her. She was merciless and wouldn’t think twice about dispatching her brothers and sisters if ordered to do so.
‘Yes, Private Lambert. What information do you have?’ she demanded. No pleasantries, no nonsense.
‘Our squad will be leaving in the next few minutes,’ he said, ‘and will arrive at Hartley House in approximately one hour. Our mission is to extract the squad and their visitors, including Doctor Owen.’
There was a silence on the line as Roxy formulated her plan. ‘We will launch the attack once you arrive. That will maximise the impact on their numbers. Soften them up for our arrival.’
Private Lambert suspected that would be her plan. She wanted to take out as many humans as possible, but what should they do with them: kill them or turn them into vampires? He put the question to her.
‘We will turn them,’ she said immediately, ‘but you must make sure their attacking potential is reduced as much as possible.’
‘Understood. You can count on me.’ Private Lambert hoped it didn’t sound like he was brown-nosing. He didn’t get any indication of Roxy’s opinion of him though; she hung up before he could say any more.
For our arrival, he thought. Roxy was leading the attack, which meant this was a very important mission. He could hardly wait.
Humans are naïve and stupid: they believe the vampires’ numbers are small. How wrong they are.
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