Chapter One - part 2

Alexander Pope

The walk out of the King's throne room was even more tense than the walk in. He had walked into the throne room as a fresh out of the Academy Hunter who feared he had committed a crime but was now walking out as a mad genius who had figured out how to make a human seem like a Vampire even to the Vampires. Before him were Lord Caleb and his Squad of Hunters who had gone on many mission and returned successfully especially the ones that had involved abduction, which had been his edge over Lady Fatima who had had less success than he did.

"relax cowboy, you are not walking to your death." Caleb said in a joking voice that elicited laughter from his Squad members at his expense. Being the butt of the joke was not something he was unfamiliar with, on the contrary, he had consistently been the laughing stock all the way through the Academy; this joke was actually one of the most harmless ones.

"You'll have to forgive me my Lord, I have never been on a mission before and never one of this magnitude. In case it slipped anyone's mind, I just graduated from the Academy last night." He replied as he kept up the pace with them.

"We are just trying to lighten the mood kid. Look, I am the one going into Fort Crag to rescue the Princess from the bloodsuckers, not you. Your job is pretty simple, make me seem like a Vampire and we will do the rest." Caleb said.

Alexander had to look down to avoid giving away exactly how mad he thought Caleb sounded. This mission was very dangerous and could go wrong in over a dozen different ways and all the Hunter Lord was saying was for him to relax as if they were all going on a vacation and not towards the most dangerous place in Biafra at the moment where even a little lapse in concentration could cost them not just their lives but that of everything and everyone in Biafra.

Moments later, they arrived at the guest room that had been offered to Lord Caleb since his arrival. He was now a little relieved as they entered the room, this meant that they were going to plan how to go about the mission and not just go in and pray to God that they were successful. If that was the plan though, he severely doubted that he would be able to keep his mouth and face quiet.

"Now according to satellite imagery of the place over the years, we can't sneak into Fort Crag by scaling the walls in the middle of the night without getting gunned down by the powerful guns than man the walls. As we all know all out assaults have taken place like bombing and attacking in the day, but the results has always been the same, a terrible defeat with a mountain high pile of bodies. Their security is tight and as technology improves, so does the technology in Fort Crag. The only way in is with their permission and the only way out is with their permission." Davina, Caleb's girlfriend, said.

"That's where you come in kid." Caleb said as he sat down on his couch and looked him in the eyes. "You are going to make me seem like a Vampire so that I can walk in get the Princess and get the hell out of there with my Squad ready to guide us all back to the Bunker safely." He said.

Decent plan, all Alexander has to do was to perform his experiment on the Hunter Lord and it seemed like the Caleb already had a plan in mind, a barely fleshed out plan, but a plan nonetheless; frankly there was no way anyone could have a detailed plan of what to do to escape a Vampire Stronghold.

"I will go get my equipment ready." He said as he nodded his head.

"You go do that while we will go prep our vehicles and some supply to take us there and back. Be fast though, we don't have a lot of time on our hands with the Princess being tortured and all." Caleb said as he stood up from the couch with a look of worry now that the humour was gone and the reality of the situation donned on them all. A lot of things could go wrong if the Vampires had their way with the Princess, and none of the scenarios seemed to highlight anything positive.

The walk back to his guest room had been a fast one. He had to get his tools which he had taken with him as he had left the Academy, and he had to get spare parts for the machine that did the majority of the work should anything happen on the way. He had to also check the injections to make sure they were fresh and unused, he would not want to take with him any syringe that he had used before on the first Vampire he had experimented on. He had no idea whether the old blood would contaminated the new blood and render the time he would spend making Caleb seem like a Vampire all for nothing. Also he didn't wasn't to find out if somehow the contaminated blood would kill Caleb; better to be safe than sorry.

Sprinting out of his room, ignoring the looks he was given by the Veterans he passed by and the guards that had seen him enter the King's throne room escorted, he arrived at the underground garage where he was being impatiently waited for by Davina who gave him a look of disbelief while Caleb looked at him in understanding. He must look like something indeed if they both looked at him in opposite manners. Who could blame him though, the Princess was with Vampires and apparently he and his experiment were the best possible hope for the Princess. The responsibility of that alone could crush any new Hunter.

"Looks like you ran all the way here and somehow you are still late." Davina said while shaking her heard, clearly unimpressed.

"I had to check and recheck everything." He said in between pants as he arrived at the jeep Caleb stood outside of.

"Wise choice mate, wouldn't want you to forget anything would we?" Caleb said as he got into the car and indicated he did the same.

"Here." He heard his seat mate, another Hunter, say as he gave Alexander a gun. He was yet to be given his own weapons registered to his name and all, that was to come only after he had been given a Squad Leader, until then he was going to have to borrow the gun of another Hunter.

"Thanks." He said as he placed his heavy bag in his laps and looked out the window to see Hunters walking around with the gravity of the situation in their minds. If the Princess broke and spilled secrets. Every Hunter Bunker could be attacked at any time and destroyed; in only one night there could cease to be Hunter and if that happened, Vampires would reign supreme over Biafra.