It was a quiet little town, just outside Kyoto. It was because it was quiet here that probably the last sanctuary for vampire-kind in Japan even existed in this town to begin with. It had no official name, and no official record. That way, there was less chance of hunters finding it. It was also because the founder of the place was a fledgling, so the higher-ups didn't deem it worth recording to begin with. Even so, this was its greatest advantage; the place was formed by a person who anybody that knew anything about vampire society would probably not take seriously. Minus those Black Sword hunters, any hunter who heard of the place would probably go "Meh, the founder hardly even qualifies as a vampire" and leave it be.

It was Hisako Saito's greatest advantage in the founder of this little shelter. Or, more accurately, a formerly-dilapilated house she hypnotized some contractors into repairing once things started getting ugly a month ago. The windows were paved on the inside, with some curtains between the windows and the walls, the front door was reinforced, and the place looked otherwise-normal. Living among humans in disguise. That was how vampires used to do it, until they decided this hostile takeover would be a good idea. Blindfolding a human in the cellar - one of three - Hisako looked at her trio of bound captives. They're a stocky bunch. This should sustain a group for a week or so unless it gets out of hand. Of course, Hisako wasn't the only one here.

There were a few others. Other fledglings, and vampires of higher ranks as well. There was even talk that Priscilla the Ancient would come here soon! That would be a good chance to impress such an imposing figure in the world of vampire politics, and get some favors. Selfish as always, that Hisako. Even taking others in wasn't done with selfless intents. It was so that if she was discovered and attacked, she'd have allies to either aid her or use as distractions when she made a break for it. Not that she'd ever let the others know that, of course! Making sure her captives weren't going anywhere first, Hisako stepped back up the stairs and out of the cellar. The building proper was only one story, and not particularly large. But it could hold ten or so vampires.

"We've got three humans now," Hisako announced as she closed the door behind her, to whomever in the building would care to listen to her. "Let's try to keep the numbers low so that rumors of missing people don't start spreading, okay?"

Greyson wasn't a fighter. She had never been a violent individual. Not when she had been human, and not in her half decade of being a vampire. That considered, this past month had been hell for her. She'd had a bad feeling the second Takeshi had tried to convince her to come to Japan with him, but had crushed it down, wanting to believe that he had changed for the better. As a result, she'd found herself in the front lines when the bloodiest of the first battles was fought. The only answer had been to run. Getting out of the city had been impossible. Every night, hunters had been out scouring the streets. Every day, she was imprisoned by the sunlight. Finding enough humans to feed on to keep herself alive had been nearly impossible, never mind enough to heal her war wounds. After hiding in the subways for weeks, she realized that she had to escape. The Black Blades had been getting closer and closer every night. She feared for her life, and knew she had to run or be killed.

She'd made her move at sundown. In the early days of the battle, she had heard talk of a possible hideout outside of Kyoto. That was her goal. If she could make it there, if it existed, she would be safe. If not...well...she wouldn't have survived much longer in the subways anyways. It wasn't two minutes after leaving the safety of the tunnels that she was spotted. Black Blades had come running from every direction, and she'd sprinted. When the humans had rushed her, guns and blades in hand, she'd been forced to fight. And fight she had. Greyson had battled her way through every human that neared her until she finally reached the edge of the city and escaped into the blackness of night, headed for the mythical sanctuary.

Hours later, she was making her way through dense foliage, limping heavily. Sheer will power, combined with the natural resilience of a vampire, was the only thing that kept her moving. A human would have long since died of these wounds. Fighting her way out of her city was a blur in Greyson's mind. She remembered little of it, only glimpses and flashes of actions made in a haze of fear. She had hurt people...probably killed some. How many, she didn't know. Didn't want to know. And she could only guess at the attacks made against her based on the wounds she'd sustained. Most of the damage had come from holy water and bullets; weapons fired at a distance. Her legs and torso had been scalded with water, and the burns still stung fiercely. A UV bullet had torn through her shoulder, and another deeply grazed her side. She'd avoided most of the katanas, but one had deeply gouged her leg just above the knee. Her white shirt was stained bright red, and her skin was even paler than normal. She needed blood.

She was ready to collapse when she finally saw something through the trees. Only a vampire's eyes would be able to pick out the form of a house in the darkness. Had she not been in so much pain, Greyson would have laughed in relief. She hobbled towards it, tripping over roots and leaves. It had to be the vampire hideout. It had to be.

She stumbled at the door, and her weary legs finally gave up. Greyson fell. With a whimper of pain, she propped herself up against the wall of the house, raising a hand to knock at the door. "Hello?" she called out hesitantly, defaulting to English as her native tongue. But no. She was in Japan. Many vampires spoke multiple languages, but if she wanted an answer for sure, she needed to use the proper language. Speaking again, this time in poorly-pronounced Japanese, she called out again. "Is anyone there? I need h-...help."

The usual thumping of wooden slippers resonated through the dilapidated shack; this was the usual sound that signified a certain elder vampire's return. Just a few meters away from the fledgling Hisako stood Kuro, a brown bag at his left arm, with a drooling bearded human standing beside him. Kuro looked at Hisako as his red eyes began to examine the only sanctuary they have left to call home. The vampire recalls the first time he arrived here... Mainly, he didn't want to get involved in the war, and as such, he was about to leave Japan. If it wasn't for the news of the killer, he would have left. Kuro had received an invitation from a fledgling who had built a sanctuary for vampires, and Kuro, knowing better than to fight alone, chose to accept the fledgling's invitation. When he arrived at the sanctuary, many didn't take him seriously, which was kind of expected for him. Of course, he made it a point to remind everyone to not tell anyone that he was an elder vampire, or else, the higher-ups will take note of this. Possibly even sending hunters to attack them as well. The last time that he fought the hunters, he made sure that he was far, extremely far from the sanctuary. The ending wasn't good, and while Kuro gave them a parting gift (parts of them here, parts of them there, and parts of them waaaaayyy over there, staining the walls), even Kuro's ear was parted as well. It took a few days to regain that ear, and as of the moment, he always avoided a clash with hunters.

Related to this, it can be said that the current real danger that the sanctuary has is Kuro himself. Kuro could relate this war to when Kiyomori Taira attacked Yoritomo's fortress; it was a massacre. Not one of Taira's troops were left standing under the hands of Kuro... Such bloodlust could not be permitted in this world, not again. Only this time, Kuro was in the losing team; they were the ones getting massacred.

Kuro snapped back to reality as he waved and smiled greatly to Hisako. "HISAAAAKOOOOOO-CHAAAAAN!" Kuro laughed as he dashed to her, the hypnotized human following slowly. Kuro wasn't even using his vampiric speed, rather, he was just running normally... almost like a child. Upon reaching Hisako, he encased her in a warm (cold) hug as he buried his face in her skin. After a few seconds, he let go and chuckled joyfully. Kuro pointed to the hypnotized human as he made a gesture with his index finger to his lips. "He's been hypnotized by Kuro-kun!" Kuro reported with a smile as he clapped his tiny hands. "Ain't Kuro-kun good?"

The hypnotized human went over to Kuro as the elder vampire placed a blindfold around the victim's eyes, and bound the victim's arms. The human slowly wandered to the cellar as he opened the door, and sat around the huddled group. In a flash, Kuro dashed to the cellar as he applied a strong binding to the victim's legs and torso. As fast as he left, Kuro appeared near Hisako, closing the cellar door in the process. Suddenly, Kuro looked at Hisako in the eye. "Hisako-chan, those humans there... they're not innocent are they?" Kuro inquired in a childlike voice as he scratched his head. "My victim was a serial killer. He won't be missed by anyone. While I won't stop you from hunting innocent humans, please note, Hisako-chan, that I do prefer you hunt criminals instead. 'Aight?" Kuro smiled brightly as he pulled out a box from the brown bag.

The box contained a toy, specifically, a helicopter toy! With a chuckle, Kuro assembled the entire set as he applied the batteries. With the remote in his pale hands, Kuro made the helicopter fly, much to the vampire's immense euphoria. "How I would like to fly like that.... Wouldn't you, Hisako-pyon?" Kuro grinned widely as he made the helicopter twirl and float. Suddenly, he heard some noise near the house. Kuro stood up, the childishness vanished from his face. With great speed he sped around the house, and he stopped almost instantaneously. There was a girl... rather, it was another vampire. Kuro pulled from his sleeve a small vial of red liquid; it was blood.

With a small gesture, he handed the vial to the injured child of night, and he smiled. "If you still have the nerve to speak, you're far from death. Drink up, and straighten your spine." Kuro's voice was deep and serious, his eyes were glowing red.

“Heh.”

What more needed to be said? It was cold, it was dark, and it was quiet. Frankly, this was the best time for anyone who was anyone to relax and perhaps take a good night’s sleep to wrestle out some inner demons or maybe even dwell into survivor’s guilt. Or something like that.

If anyone had actually bothered to fulfill and act on these impulses, then good on them. Had anyone actually taken the time to take a midnight stroll and look up at the rooftop, then they would have seen a most peculiar sight. Not strange in any way, but certainly out of place. The girl with the dark jacket lined with fur and red shoes was resting on her back in a lazy manner, the cold winds and icy wood doing wonders for her mood. With both arms and legs crossed, she wasted her days simply staring at the stars.

How utterly annoying.

Chiyo’s ear twitched as she heard the crunch of footsteps coming closer towards their make-shift sanctuary. That’s right, this place was a stronghold. Could anyone believe that? Not Chiyo, whether now or ever. But hey, at least it was warm place to crash at, right? Much better than Russia’s god-awful weather.

Back to the sounds…Chiyo made no sudden move to alert the others as she could smell the scent of vampire on them. Another misguided soul here to find solace. Well good luck with that. Figuring that she might as well join the others to welcome in their new guest, Chiyo Shizune leapt down the backside of the small wooden establishment, taking the back door and entering into the heat once more.

Keeping to the shadows, she saw young Hisako doing whatever she did by the door while Kuro stored more food down in the basement. And then the newbie came in, collapsing all over their front doorstep.

“Aw jeez.”

With a smirk as always, Chiyo stepped out to take a closer look at her potential new roommate. Nothing much; from the looks of it, this one looked like another fledgling to her. Fools follow fools after all. With a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, she left Kuro to deal with the intrusion as she craftily made her way to Hisako, wrapping an arm around the younger vampire and bringing her face suspiciously close to her own.

“Hey there Hisako-chan! Looks like we’ve got a new buddy, hmm? What does our fearless leader plan to do with such a late arrival~?”

It was cold, dark and very quiet. There were no birds to be heard chirping, no crickets clicking away into the night. There was just the sound of the soft wind rustling against the green leaves, that looked black in the darkness. Dead leaves crunched underfoot, as Krov wandered through the apparent sanctuary. He could see no other vampires, or even regular dirty humans for that matter. What if the black swords had struck here already, and he was too late? He didn't want to keep moving. He wanted to settle down somewhere.

This place reminded Krov of the Siberian village he had lived in and fed off for many years. It felt almost colder though. He pulled his fur coat closer to him, and pulled up the hood over his cold neck. Was there anywhere to feed here? If not, he would have to go, vampires or not. He hoped that the vampires that lived here, if any, were elders. Not arrogant children who had never felt pain once in their short lives.

Some of the buildings were ruined, and this reminded Krov of one of his war-time missions through an abandoned village. In this village, dead bodies had littered the floor. Blood had been splattered everywhere, and faint moans of the wounded echoed around the village. He asked his comrades to find the source of the moaning, to help them. But they ignored him. Then a child had rushed out of a door. The captain of the troop, in shock, had shot the child down. This was all before Krov became a vampire, and that incident may have given him his hate for humanity.

A rat scurried across the stone path. Krov would have captured and ate the rat, but he was quite nervous. He had gained a reputation among the black swords, he was sure of that. What if they were waiting to make an ambush? To finish what they failed those years ago. It was fun, killing worthless humans, and turning those who were worthier than the others into vampires as well. He remembered how he had been feasting off a sleeping child in a hotel room, when the black swords burst in. He had garlic thrown at him, and silver katanas slashed, but he managed to avoid them and leap out of the window, turning into a bat and flying off into the night.

Krov was bored of wallowing in the past. He stopped, and yelled into the night (in his thick Russian accent) "Is anybody else here?!".

"Waaaah!" Karina quickly ducked behind a tree, cautiously peering around it to look at the bloody girl being helped into the 'sanctuary'. Having been raised in a very large mansion all her life, the little wooden home didn't look very safe to her. The girl watched on until the door slammed shut until she released a large sigh of relief - shelter or not, it would be too scary to go inside a house with such a horribly bloody person inside. The older vampires she had been traveling with had left, in search of more fledglings to help. They, at least, were nice people- ah, vampires, and weren't very violent. Karina's companions had fed off of humans, yes, but always found a small animal for Karina to eat- already a few months as a vampire, but the girl just couldn't get used to feeding off of live people. Suddenly feeling incredibly tired, Karina sat down on the dirty ground with a plop and leaned back against a tree. Should she go inside? It was nighttime already, and very chilly, but the girl shivered even more at the thought of opening the door to find a dozen bloody vampires staring at her.

Suddenly Karina fell silent. She could hear footsteps... but she had no idea where they were coming from. Then there was a yell, "Is anybody else here?!"

"Ayyyyyyye!" Frightened, Karina jumped up and slammed the door open, leaping behind the closest thing there was- and that happened to be one of the residents of the sanctuary. Looking up, the small girl could only see long black hair tied in a ponytail. Fudge... was it going to turn around and eat her? The girl backed away, and then, feeling the back of the room against her back, she curled up into a small ball, peeking through the cracks of her fingers. "Um... I... didn't mean to come in... Well, I did, but only because there was something yelling outside, and - and, I didn't want to- um..." Karina was too scared to think straight. Was she going to have to try and run for it? Looking around as much as she could without moving her head, the blonde saw 4 people other than her in the room, including the really bloody and scary girl. Squeaking at the sight of a trio of tied-up humans, she squished herself into a little corner, eyes wide and afraid.

Krov was startled as a young girl paced across the ground in front of him. He jumped backwards, but not before shouting a few choice Russian swear words. "Arrogant children." He whispered to no one in particular. "I hope she is a boring, dirty human. Then I can feast, and she can die.". He saw her run into a small house. His fur coat had fallen off after being startled. He sheepishly picked it up, then stared around. He put on the coat, then began to wander towards the house.

Even more leaves crunched underfoot. Krov licked his lips at the prospect of a new meal. Children, even though he despised them, had fresher blood, and were easier to kill and catch. If she was a human, Krov had no prospect or turning her into a vampire. She was not worthy of the power. Krov only turned those who he felt were worthy. He had killed one black-sword, when he caught them off guard. He had also put some of his blood in one's drink.

Krov thought. If this girl could get in, and she was a human, could black-swords get into the so-called sanctuary? Or had she been brought in and somehow escaped from the grasp of vampires. Krov was definitely nervous. What if he was being watched by black-swords? What if they wanted revenge for their fallen comrade? Or the one they turned into a vampire? As far as Krov knew, being turned into a vampire was a fate worse than death for the black swords. The one he turned into a vampire probably stabbed himself.

Krov had reached the house. He peered into the darkness, and looked at a form, crouching in a ball in the corner. "Hello." He said darkly. "Hello, child.

“Eh?”

Chiyo felt something soft and small collide with her back. Turning around, she raised her eyebrows to see a small girl with blonde hair cowering in the corner. No, not just a girl. A vampire….and more specifically, a fledging. Her grin coiling just an inch higher, Chiyo scanned over the small vampire slowly that looked about on the edge of crying.

Yes…yes, she would do nicely.

However, before she could act on her impulses, someone else had reached the girl from beyond the shadows. Sighing in slight annoyance, Chiyo watched from a fair distance before striding up to the third newcomer, the smile never wavering from her lips. What was with all these fresh blood gathering so late at night?

Seriously…

"Hello, child.”

The male vampire spoke in a heavy accent, most likely Russian, and Chiyo had to resist giving herself a slapping face palm in public. Here she was badmouthing Russia’s crappy weather…and then this happens.

Figures.

Still, she couldn’t allow this hotshot to consume the child now. And to her, that’s all he was. A youngling hotshot who probably thought he was a badass human-slaying machine. She could tell just from the way his body moved that he was fairly young, albeit older than the girl.

“Hey there new guy! I hope you weren’t planning on eating a fellow vampire, hmm?”

Chiyo reached out and placed a casual hand on his shoulder in good will.

“You…do know that girl’s a vampire, right? You also know that this building is a Black Sword stronghold….right?”

She kept the snicker to herself on an internal level, wondering if the newcomer would have the brains to figure out the truth. Turning towards the hiding girl, Chiyo crouched down to her and focused her red eyes directly into hers. Shining in the dark, Chiyo used minor hypnosis in an attempt to calm the blonde girl down.

“Heh, you’re pretty jittery over there. You realize that you bumped into me, right?”

"Chert poberi" Krov muttered. He straightened himself up. "Of course I wasn't going to eat a vampire. I thought she was a dirty human. She seemed like a human. Vampires are not afraid of other vampires normally. They are meant to be worthy. They are meant to be fearless. They are meant to feast on the blood of humans, and covert those that the vampire feels are worthy. Not run from their own brethren.".

Krov walked into the room and closed the door behind him, plunging the room into darkness. He could tell that the woman was looking at him in a funny way. Krov instantly jumped to one conclusion. "You think I am stupid? Arrogant?" Krov lowered his voice a little. "You may be older than me, and for that I give you some respect. But I have seen things that you would not believe. I have seen the cruelty of humankind, and the arrogance of them. You have no idea what I have been through, while you were having the easy life, with easy victims.".

Krov continued. "I saw innocent people, struck down for nothing. They were forced to fight a losing battle against their will, as was I. They were given no mercy. Shot down, even though they were trying to surrender. Innocent men, and even some children who had made their way into a soldier's path, were killed like vermin. The real vermin are the ones who began the suffering."

"I enjoy feasting off humans. It gives me some sort of..... Revenge for what they put me through. The only ones I ever respected have died, or gone. Struck down by the Black Swords. I avenged one of my friends. I even turned a Black Sword into one of us. He was too arrogant to realize the gift though. He struck himself down with his own sword. The gun strikes like the sword." He lifted his shirt slightly, revealing 3 white round circles on his skin, the only remaining mark of the war.

"1, 2, 3.. 6, that makes six." Kaori watched as others entered the small sanctuary, pushing herself off the windowsill and landing on the wooden floor with a thump. she stumbled across the room, each step making a different creek sound and finally stopped after she reached the door.
She peered into the hallway from behind the door and examined the new arrivals. She looked each one up and down trying to guess their appearance age and their real age, deeming too difficult she took a step out from behind the door.
The floor squeaked as she stepped on a loose floorboard in the hallway startling her for a moment before she remembered that this house is 'safe'. Sure, it could be safe from the hunters, but it wouldn't be surprising if it collapsed in on itself. It's a pretty old house in all fairness but it does the job.. probably.

As she looked closer she began to overhear the conversations, no black swords, feeding off humans and something else she couldn't catch well enough to put into a sentence.

Strange.. why aren't my ears picking all of that up?

She looked down closely at her hands. She was pale, not the undead kind of pale, the shade that you become when you haven't fed for so many days, the pale you do not want to be. She walked over by the cellar door and took a deep, hard breath in getting the smallest scent of humans as she leaned in to open the door she stopped herself. Putting her index finger joint inbetween her teeth and sighed with annoyance.

I can't eat unless we all eat, right? Like back when you couldn't start your meal until everyone was seated?

She shook her head and turned listening to the accent heavy man finish off his sentence and lead it to a silence that was somewhat awkward, wanting to change the subject quickly to avoid any more silence she said the first thing that came into her mind.

"So, er, what's everyone's name?"

She shuffled in her spot uneasily, hoping to get a polite answer from the other vampires, knowing some can be slightly rude and other extremely intimidating- especially the Russian.

"Onee-chan." Kuro mumbled as he realized that she was unresponsive; she was probably losing consciousness. Kuro smiled as he drank the blood vial while trying to prop the injured fledgling's head towards him. Kuro dipped his head towards the fledgling's face as he, using his lips, fed the blood to the fledgling's mouth. Afterwards, he left the vampire leaning on the house to recuperate from her wounds. Kuro stood up as his glowing crimson eyes died down, and the same childish expression returned to his face. The elder vampire licked his lips as he wiped traces of blood from his mouth using his kimono sleeves. "Sleep well, big sister." Kuro smiled as he ran his finger down the fledgling's pale face. Suddenly, Kuro heard some disturbances nearby. He breathed deeply as he realized that the new guests were all vampires.

Kuro walked slowly towards the guests as he eavesdropped on the conversation. Chiyo was conversing with a russian-esque vampire, and with a child as well. "Things just keep on getting interesting." Kuro thought to himself with a smile.

The vampire opened the door softly as his red eyes surveyed quite a sight. Tons of children as it seemed. Kuro was holding his helicopter toy innocently in his left hand while his right hand was waving high and around. The russian vampire was quite 'scary' while the youngest vampire seemed more scared than one who was faced with death. Kuro looked at the new arriving vampire; she looked very confident. The same vampire began to ask their names as Kuro jumped in joy as he laughed. "You're very beautiful and cute, onee-chan! You have beautiful golden hair! Kuro-kun's name is Kuro-kun!" Kuro smiled as he pointed to himself. Then he looked at the tall russian vampire with awed eyes. "You look scary, russian-pyon! Hehehehe!" Kuro stared at the russian vampire when the russian lifted his shirt to show some battle scars. "Oooohhh! Tons of muscles! You must have been very active, russian-pyon! All the girlies would have go love-love on you! Beware of Chiyo-chan, she's very perverted!" Kuro chuckled as his eyes fell on the young girl.

"Hey! vampire-pyon! Don't be scared! Kuro-kun is here to play with you!" Kuro laughed happily as he crouched just a few meters away from the curled fledgling. "Hey, hey! See, wanna play with this helicopter?" Kuro smiled as he slowly pushed the helicopter towards the scared fledgling. "You're quite cute. What's your name, by the way?"

Chiyo placed a hand on her chin, nodding dutifully as the apparent Russian vampire began spouting to them his entire entire life story. And what was her response to such a riveting tale? What was her immediate reaction to such an episode, filled with tragedy and bloodshed?

Chiyo shrugged indifferently.

“So, revenge, mindless killing, bloody corpses….you’re one of those guys then. Gotcha. Look kid, sit down and put your shirt back on. Unless of course, you’d like to become my student too~?”

Quite frankly, Chiyo could care less for the newcomer’s hardships. Oooh, he was a war veteran or something. Was she supposed to be in awe? The easy victim comment was enough to earn him an ass whooping, but like all things, Chiyo shrugged it off. Better to let a pissed off Kuro deal with the fledgling than her. Speaking of which….

“Beware of Chiyo-chan, she's very perverted!"

“Heh.”

With a knowing smirk, Chiyo waltzed on over to the latest arrival to their merry little band. Another female vampire, this time with strawberry-blonde hair and orangish eyes. With the way these people were entering so easily, it was a mere miracle no Black Swords had showed up at all. Seriously, someone should close that door…

With a casual bounce in her step, she wrapped her arm around the new girl and leaned in close, red eyes gleaming. Slightly.

“Hey there newbie. I’m Chiyo, though I also prefer Cheshire. What brings a youngling like you out here? Did you travel all this way to visit me? Oh you shouldn’t have~”

Kaori giggled quietly at Kuro-kun's happiness and waved energetically towards him,

"Hi Kuro-kun, I'm Kaori!"

She nodded politely before being met with a girl with a slightly older appearance, her long black hair was resting against her face and he mouth in a grin. Before Kaori could speak, she was surrounded by the older girl's arm and face just a few inches away from hers.

"Hey, there newbie. I'm Chiyo..."

Just as Kaori was about to introduce herself she was flustered with questions from the girl, although kind the attention Kaori was getting was unusual to her and put her on a pedestal she could not ignore, she thought for a moment before answering the question looking down at her hands, avoiding the close stare she was receiving.

"Uh I came to be safe I guess.."
There was a short silence.
"I'm Kaori, nice to meet you."

Kaori put her arm around Chiyo and squeezed her for a second or two before letting go and focusing her attention on the bloodied girl against the wall. She looked deadbeat, almost unconscious, with stained clothing is that her blood? Maybe. Kaori nodded towards the girl and turned her head to the side slightly.

"Is she ok?"

Her voice was shaky - mainly from the lack of blood she has had in the past couple days - but also worried, she turned to face the rest of the vampires for an explanation.

Krov scowled. He sat down on a small oak chair in the corner, and slipped a small brown book out of a large pocket in his thick fur coat. It was The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. It was given to him by a fellow soldier back in the war. He opened the book to a random page, and began to silently read.

"2
When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
3
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.
4
Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue."

Krov, when he was reading, thought about what the other vampire had said. Black swords could easily get in here. What if they wanted revenge? What if they were the friends of the one who he had turned to a vampire, or killed. What if they were coming, to kill the one they called "The Tsar". Krov felt a little proud of himself, to gain a reputation among the black swords as a dangerous vampire with a nickname gave him some respect, he hoped. But this older vampire didn't seem to notice.

Krov had not escaped unharmed from the one he killed, however. The man had dropped some holy water and it had splashed against an exposed spot on his ankle. He pulled his sock down slightly, revealing a small red patch, with some of the skin hanging off. He had never told anyone about this wound, not even his closest friends in the uprising knew about the little red patch on his ankle.

He had been around the block, Krov, much more than the average lesser vampire.

It had been a half a century since Greyson last lost consciousness. It was a feeling she didn't remember, and it was terrifying. As she waited by the door for an answer, she could feel the last remaining dregs of her energy beginning to leave her. Her vision dimmed at the edges, and the world threatened to go dark. Am I dying? she thought with a rush of terror. She had to be dying. She'd made it all this way, and she was going to die on the doorstep. A voice sounded above her head, someone speaking. Struggling to focus, she caught a snippet of the words. "... far from death. Drink up..."

Drink up? Her brain was still struggling to discern what exactly he had meant when she caught the scent. In her current state, in such desperate need of blood, the smell of the small amount in the vial was overbearing. Greyson tried, she truly tried, to reach for it. But her vision was now so darkened that she couldn't even see it. Her arms wouldn't move to try to grab the blood. It was so close, and yet there was no way for her to attain it. Greyson didn't even have the strength to beg for it.

While she was clinging to whatever remnants of consciousness still remained, she felt herself moving. A hand was gently moving her head, tilting it back. She felt something against her lips, and then the taste of blood in her mouth. Weakly, desperately, she swallowed it. It wasn't much, it didn't begin to quench her overwhelming thirst. But it was enough. "Sleep well, big sister," she heard that same voice say to her, the sound just slightly clearer than before.

And that she did. With her death no longer quite so imminent, Greyson embraced the unconsciousness that had been threatening to take over. Sleep didn't hurt. For a few short minutes, she was dead to the world while her body worked to mend itself.

---

She awoke feeling only marginally better than before. Every part of her body ached, and her injuries were still screaming in pain. A mouthful of blood would certainly keep her alive, but was nowhere near enough for her to properly heal. In her current state, she would have to drain multiple humans to allow for the rapid regeneration to occur. That was highly unlikely.

Greyson lay still for a few more moments, listening as the sounds around her formed into voices. After a moment, one voice grabbed her attention. "Is she okay?" a girl's voice asked.

She had to be talking about Greyson. With a great deal of effort, Greyson forced her tired eyes open. She could see vampires around her, making them six in total. She was already leaning against the wall in a slouched sitting position, but tried to push herself up to sit a little straighter. The slight motion was enough to cause her to let out a slight noise of pain. Sucking in air through her teeth, Greyson nodded in answer to the question. She looked in the direction the voice had come from and saw a young-looking woman with blonde hair. "I will be," she answered, the words forced. Her Japanese was far from perfect, and the English accent was obvious as she spoke. "At least, I think so..."

"This is the safehouse?" Greyson asked, hopeful as she looked around at everyone else.

"This is the safehouse?"

"I hypnotized pretty hard to get this place renovated. Your welcome," Hisako huffed. "If any more vampires just barge in here today, we'll need more humans than the four downstairs, and I'm trying to stay low-profile here. But for the time being, yes, this place is safe. I'm the founder, Hisako Saito. I think in light of all these new guys just charging in, we all should take a turn introducing ourselves. You're first," Hisako finished, pointing right at the girl she'd been speaking to. "Your name and your age; we need them both."

This was shaping up to be one hell of a day. A Russian, a kid, and some other girl. It was days like this where Hisako found herself asking why she even let others in here to begin with. And every time she did, she came to the same conclusion. For protection. She. Hated. It. Having to share the limited space of this shelter with a half-dozen other vampires wasn't a good thing. Much less without electricity or any modern-world niceties like that. It was just as droll as the old nuclear shelters back in Hiroshima, all the good those bloody things did in the end.

Greyson nodded her head in acknowledgement as Hisako introduced herself. Her expression showed gratitude through her pain, and it came from the bottom of her heart. If she'd had more energy, she would have put forth the effort to properly thank Hisako. It took a special sort of person to step forth in the process of protecting others. But as it was, Greyson was having a difficult enough time keeping herself sitting against the wall, and trying to pay attention to what was being said. She didn't have the mental or physical energy right now to expend on thank-you's.

She cleared her throat as Hisako pointed to her. "Greyson," she answered. "My name is Greyson Moore."

After a moment's delay, she realized that Hisako had also asked for age. Though Greyson was conscious now, she was far from fully alert. "And I'm sixty-five," she answered quickly.

While she waited for everyone else to make their introductions, she took mental inventory of her wounds. The mouthful of blood she'd had had been enough to stop the bleeding and delay death. But beyond that, nothing much seemed to have happened. She could still feel the acute pain of open bullet wounds at her shoulder and side, and the sting of where the holy water had splashed her. Her throat was still parched with a burning thirst. ...we'll need more humans than the four downstairs.... That was what Hisako had said. Four humans, for a total of seven vampires. She cringed as she realized that it was far from enough to feed them comfortably, never mind deal with the wounds of an injured one. No, she would have to force herself to tolerate this pain for some time, or else she may risk burdening everyone else with thirst,

"Sun Tzu said: The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.

2
When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground."

Krov thought about the person who had just introduced herself. She sounded nervous. Krov was a bit nervous as well, but he didn't show it. "65 years old?" He thought. "A mere fledgling. She probably won't be much help to us. Fledglings are never very experienced.". Then Krov stood up, and introduced himself to the other vampires. Maybe the ones who had been around the block would recognize him now.

"My name is Krov Piyavki, known as The Tsar among the Black Swords. Russian, born on the outskirts of the grand city of Moscow. Fought in World War I" Krov's voice shook slightly when he said this, and the 3 white scars on his stomach prickled." One hundred and twenty nine years old. Killed a Black Sword, turned one to our side as well. Turned into vampire in 1915."

After giving his introduction to the other vampires, he looked around. Maybe now they would give him a smidgen of respect. They hadn't done a very good job of giving respect so far. Then suddenly the burn on his ankle flared up, but he kept quiet, waiting for their responses, so he could get back to his book.

“Heh. Guess it’s my turn, huh?”

Chiyo gave a suggestive wave towards Hisako, winking for her “fearless leader” before turning to look at Greyson and Krov. To the one who had caused this meeting in the first place, she gave a tiny nod of the head, not really showing approval but concealing scorn, if there was any, also. To the Russian vampire, Chiyo, with her traditional smirk, only gave him a shrug of her shoulders.

“Cool story kid. Did you want a medal with that too?”

She then swept her jacketed arm around, pointing both towards Kuro and herself. The fur lining the ends of her coat seemed to jump and flicker in the low light, and she even made a little dance twirl when getting everyone’s attention towards them both.

“Hey, if you want respect Krov, that’s too cool you know. Just remember that out of everyone here, both me and Kuro are the top dogs. In other words, we’re the oldest and most experienced.”

She sighed with a small smile and closed her eyes as if to emphasize a given point.

“But hey, points for trying, right? Name’s Chiyo Shizune by the way, although I suppose the Japanese way of saying it is “Shizune Chiyo”, or “Shizune-san”, or “Shizune-sama”, or “Chiyo-chan”, depending on where you roll. 763 years old….and still in counting. Anything else?”

Kuro's eyes flashed red as he smiled. The lad stood up as he walked briskly towards the huddled group, and took his place a few meters beside Chiyo. Kuro had been listening to the introductions thus far, and from what he gathered, the injured fledgling was Greyson, and the russian one was Krov. Kuro shook his head as he looked at Chiyo, and crossed his arms.

"Ehhh... Chiyo-nee, I really don't like it if you tell other people of how old I am. It makes me feel wrinkly, and all." Kuro pouted, puffed his cheeks, and snorted childishly. Then, the childish look vanished from his face as his voice became deeper. "But I guess what Chiyo said is more than enough." the lad tilted his head as he edged to the wall that was closer to Hisako and Greyson. "First of all, Chiyo, I would ask of you to respect Krov's history. I believe that none of us here, fledgling or great, lived through our human life, and vampiric life without a problem. We all experienced the hardships that this world has placed us through. Wars, genocides, corruption, insanity... We all experienced them. That is why I would like everyone to give each other the respect that they're due; respect them not because they are vampires, but because they were once humans as well." Kuro spoke as he looked at Chiyo intently. "Age merely implies power, but not necessarily wisdom. Krov, you have lived through a life of blood, and violence, and for that, I commend your wisdom. However, your reputation with the Black Swords is of no use to us. It is more of a detriment than a benefit, and as such, your life of killing and retribution must be controlled. We cannot afford to be discovered as what Hisako said."

Kuro paced around as he rubbed his chin. "That is why I don't reveal myself to people that easily. I've been keeping my identity from the Black Swords for a while now. Ranking and age might have been significant then, but now, it's not worth a dime. Fledgling or not, the Black Swords will still kill us. When we were still humans, we leaned on others for help, and now in our undeath, it's crucial for us to rely on one another in these dark times. Waste not a drop of vampiric blood. And for that to happen, it must begin with respect." Kuro now set his eyes on Krov. "If you want to be respected, you will respect even the lowest of the vampires. If you want to be appreciated, you will appreciate even the lowest of our kind." Kuro turned to everyone as he cleared his throat. "Whenever any of you feel that you have the nerve to disrespect and underestimate one another, always remember that you're all just mere infants compared to me... until someone more powerful comes... I hope."

Suddenly, the childish visage appeared once more on Kuro's face as he scratched his head, and smiled widely.

"Well, my name is Kuro Nakatomi, or Nakatomi Kuro! You can call me Kuro, or awesomely awesome Kuro-kun! I like to eat cake, chicken, and lollipop; I also like toys, preferably ones that can fly... Ramen as well... Hmmmm." Kuro drooled as he suddenly snapped out of it. "Oh yeah, it's not fair, Hisako-pyon! You didn't say your age! Hahahaha!"

Kuro placed his hand on his temple as he was apparently deep in thought.

"Hmm... Ah! I know! Dear me, I forgot! Hahahaha! I'm over a thousand years old! Nice to meet you!~" Kuro smiled as he looked at Greyson. "You don't look too well, big sister... How I wish I can help..."