A Bar a Vampire and the Apocalypse

Zackery and Lilith had been walking through the Greece mountain ranges for weeks now. To say they were tired of it was an understatement.

“How can it be so hard to find an oversized lizard's cave?” Lilith complained.

“Hey, watch what you say. That oversized lizard can turn you and the rest of this country to ash without even trying” Zackery said

“I know, I know, I just thought it would be easier, but I guess a lot more people would have found it if that was the case.”

“It's fine, I get it, we have been out here for weeks.”

Not long after the system fell upon the world, Zackery and Lilith had been making their way across Greece to try and find Esmeralda. Right now they were hiking through a mountain pass looking for her.

Moving along the rough animal trails was not hard for the vampires, still not a fun time. They had gotten rather used to the modern world and the eases that came with that. It had been some number of years since they last hiked through undeveloped lands for more than a couple weeks. Even then they were a bit more prepared.

With the urgency of the changes around them, knowing more was to come and with them having a weaker version of their mother's disguise ability, they thought it best to get out of the human population as soon as they could.

Turning a corner Lilith felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Out of pure instinct she grabbed her brother and pulled him back around the corner. Pushing him to the wall, they both stood there in perfect silence.

When you have lived through what you have for as long as you have with another person you tend to trust each other's instincts so Zackery did not question Lilith.

After a few moments the wall they were up against began to heat up, and they saw a torrent of green fire spraying out of the wall they were about to pass. The fire that came out of the wall did not just melt the stone but vaporized it. The very stone itself was turned to ash before them along with everything else in it’s path: trees, bushes, grass, even a couple of animals all ash.

When the wave of fire finally ceased, the area unnaturally cooled down, and in the decimated ashes that the flame left plant life started to rapidly grow. The vampire siblings were shocked and scared shitless to say the least. That is when they heard a deep but slightly feminine growl of words.

“Be gone you insufferable old bird. To think I thought you actually had something important to talk about seeing what has happened to us.”

Then a small red colored bird small enough to fit a person's hands flew past their view, chittering the whole time. The siblings looked at each other and both swallowed. They slowly pulled themselves from the wall and once again turned the corner. They saw the destruction from the odd colored fire, but also the life that was rapidly following its path.

Viviana did not tell her children very much about the elder dragon. Other than the fact she was older than her, a good friend and well respected among the dragons. Following the path of destruction the fire stopped suddenly at a wall of rock. The whole wall looked no more out of place than any other in the mountain range.

Placing his hand against the wall Zachary closed his eyes and focused, not more than a heartbeat later he pulled his hand away looking at the wall in shock and no small amount of fear.

“So?” Lilith asked

Shaking his head Zackery spoke “This is the most complex combination of magics I have ever seen. There is a glamor and illusion, both intangible and solid, there is even a mental ward to make you not pay attention to both the wall and the oddly young and healthy plants around it.”

Both of them looked back over to the visibly growing plants behind them. Looking back at the wall, Lilith asked “So now what?”

“I don't know, knock?” Shrugging Lilith goes(went) to do just that but as her knuckles were about to hit the illusion, the same deep but feminine voice came from the wall.

“You might as well come in young vampires. Whether I kill you or not will depend on my mood and why you are here.” The wall then disappeared to show a massive well decorated cave. The floor was polished marble, the ceiling had magic lamps hanging in interesting patterns. The walls held shelves with items of all kinds with paintings and pictures in between the shelves.

Stepping in and looking around, one of the paintings held a vampire they both knew. Brown hair, a face no one would ever claim to be ugly, blue eyes and a womanly figure that would make most women jealous in a beautiful medieval dress, it was their mother. But their mother was not the only person in the painting. Slightly behind her with his arms around her was a green eyed man they had never seen before. But what really set them off was the fact that their mother was looking lovingly down at a baby in her arms.

“That is one of my favorite paintings.” A beautiful feminine voice said. Both of the vampire siblings turned to see a tall downright gorgeous woman, with a crown of horns coming out of her green hair, in an emerald green dress to match her hair and green scales running down her neck and part of her arms, also matching her hair and dress.

“That was the happiest I have ever seen her. It was not long after her first and only direct child was born.”

The siblings looked back at the painting. There they saw a smile they had never seen on their mothers face. One of pure happiness. There was no hidden pain behind it, no fear, no hatred, just joy.

“So what brings you to me young vampires?” The presumed dragon said. Looking at each other Lilith spoke up.

“Are you the elder dragon Esmeralda?” The gorgeous lady nodded, but did not say anything. Lilith swallowed and said, “Our mother told us if we were ever in the area and were in trouble or things went bad, to come find you. With the world being turned upside down, well...we thought it was appropriate to try and find you.”

Esmerelda looked down on Lilith, glaring and spoke in a soft but dangerous voice. “Who is your mother?”

Lilith did not say a word but looked back over to the painting. Pressure drops dropped on both of the vampires, bringing Zackery to his knees while Lilith barely kept her feet under her.

“Choose your next words very carefully. I do not like people falsely claiming to be the children of the Mistress of the Bloody Moon. So, what proof do you have of such facts? If you do not convince me, you will be returned to ash.” The clear and unamused threat behind her voice was terrifying.

Lilith was wondering why her mother would ever send her to such a terrifying lady. Also the title that she called her mother by was both terrifying and surprising. She knew her mother was scary but that name implied so much more.

Getting a hold of herself, Lilith's Terror turned to embarrassment when she knew what she had to say to convince her. She could picture her mother laughing at her as her cheeks turned red.

“You love it when she…” having a hard time bring herself to say it Esmerelda grew annoyed “Out with it child”

Finding her courage and pushing aside her embarrassment she spoke “You love it when she drinks your blood while playing with your...as she said, big, soft and perfect breasts.”

The elder dragon Esmerelda released her pressure on the vampires, and her cheeks turned a rather adorable shade of red. She pushed her green hair behind her ear to show that it was pointed like an elf's.

“Well, that is an acceptable answer.”, she said with her voice pitched up a bit. Shaking off her embarrassment Esmerelda hugged Lilith and the just now standing again Zackery.

“It's so nice to meet some of Vivi’s children. She never brings any of you to meet me. Well it's not like there are many of you the way she speaks.” The striking powerful elder dragon was now a bubbly cheerful lady. The dichotomy set Lilith and Zackery off balance. Letting go of the two of them she stepped back and said.

“So tell me about yourself, also how is Vivi doing? I have not seen her in almost half a century, she never visits anymore.” The dragon pouted.

‘Was this really an over 2000 year old elder dragon or a hyperactive 20 year old’ Zackery thought to himself.

“Umm, well...I'm Lilith, as far as I know mom’s youngest, and this is Zackery, my older brother. I like to push the limits of my physical body while Zack is…” Lilith paused, it was instilled in them never to tell anyone about Zack's unique ability as a vampire. No vampire is talented with magic, both because being turned almost always reduces or removes any talent the person had before. The other is that the ones that do are all hunted down by both vampires and other “supernatural” beings.

“An intellectual” Lilith finished.

“Tisk tisk, no lying to me. I can feel the power flowing off of him.” They both froze at that statement.

“Don’t worry little ones, the number of beings that could tell is a rather short list. Maybe one or two other dragons on the council, the phoenix lord and a couple of the other elder phoenixes, and then the fay royalty, but even then not all of them. But do know that that list will grow as he grows but I believe we can cover that up with this new system.”

The two of them let out a breath they did not know they were holding. This time Zackery spoke up.

“I am a rank 8 mage currently focused on water and lightning.” Esmerelda’s eyebrows rose at that.

“Well now, isn’t that impressive. I don't think I have ever heard of a rank 8 vampire, but then again, a lot of the vampires that show talent were killed before they could be tested. I wonder who Vivi trusted enough to get you tested?” Zackery shrank back a bit as Esmeralda’s green eyes shifted from human to reptilian and he could see the hunger in them.

“But, that is besides the point. This is quite amazing, Vivi did find some rather interesting children. Oh, and feel free to call me aunt or auntie. My children do the same with Vivi so it's only fair.” Esmerelda's eyes went back to normal when she started speaking again.

The whiplash the poor vampires were getting from the hyperactive elder dragon was starting to get to them.

“So tell me, how is Vivi doing? Like I said, I haven't seen her in over 50 years.”

“Well, we don't know how she is doing right now because we lost cell service before she could reply to us. But knowing her, I'm sure she is fine. As for how she has been doing? I think she's done rather well, she went back to college and found a nice human to run a business with. She also has picked up a hobby of playing video games. So she has been passing the time like that.” Lilith answered.

Esmerelda pouted and muttered seemingly more to herself than the vampire siblings. “I knew I should have gotten that stuff set up, but no, the council did not want it to be traced back to our homes. Not like they could find me even if they could track it. Hmmm hmmm hmmm.”

Lilith was officially lost for words to describe the elder dragon.

“Well, in any case you are the family of Vivi so that makes you my family. For you are now under my protection. While you are with me nothing will cause you harm as long as I am still breathing. With that said, would you like something to drink?”

The vampire siblings nodded and followed the dragon deeper into her home. There were more treasures and paintings of all kinds. Some of them Zackary recognized from old stories. Shoot, he was fairly sure he saw the legendary sword Excalibur in a stone. He could feel the power washing off of it. Though it was nothing compared to the overwhelming ocean of power he could see behind the vale when his aunt released her pressure on them. He could not fathom the level of the elder dragon.

Reaching the kitchen it was rather odd looking. It was not a modern kitchen. But looked to still have all the functions of one, it was just that all of the tools were powered by magic rather than gas or electricity.

Opening a cold box, Esmeralda moved some items around looking for something. Once she found what she was looking for she exclaimed and pulled it out. It was a corked wine bottle

“I always keep a bottle incase Vivi pays me a visit. I believe you will like it.”

Lilith spoke up, “I am not a fan of alcohol”.

Esmerelda just smiled and said, “This is no wine.” She popped the cork with an elongated nail and the rich smell of blood flooded the room. In an instant both Lilith and Zackery were drooling. It had been weeks since they had human blood. They had just been sustaining feeding off of animals which were not nearly as filling.

Esmerelda gestured them to a table, grabbed another wine bottle already opened and three wine glasses. She poured all of them drinks and toasted.

“To new family”, she said.

“To new family”, the siblings answered.

Taking a sip Lilith's eyes went wide and she felt power rush throw through her in a way she had only felt one time, and even then it was nothing like now in comparison. Her brown eyes turned red and her pitch black hair turned a silver white. The same happened to Zackary; his blue eyes turned red and his light brown hair turned white. They both quickly set down the glasses. By some miracle they did not shatter them on the beautiful carved dining room table they were sitting at.

Taking deep breath Lilith felt the power run out of her and her hair slowly turned back to black. She looked up to her aunt and saw with her a look of amusement. She then said “What the hell was that?”

“That my young vampire was nine tailed blue moon fox blood. That particular blue moon fox was also born on the night of the winter solstice. She is quite a nice young lady.”

Zackery spoke up at that. “That is impossible, a blue moon could never happen on the winter solstice, the time would never line up.”

Esmerelda looked over to Zackery and smiled. “I am not talking about the human definition of a blue moon, I am talking about that of the fay. Even I do not know exactly how it works. All you need to know is that the blood of a moon fox will inherit the traits of its birth night. But keep that a secret, they might start being hunted down by vampires wishing to get it.”

Zackery just nodded and she as he saw the threat behind the happy smile.

“Feel free to finish the glass. This blood was given voluntarily so don't worry about that. It should also sate your hunger for quite some time. So we will not have to worry about it for now. Seeing that you have had contact with Vivi, do you know where she is right now?”

“Ah, yes... unless she had to move due to an event happening near her, she should be on the west coast of the United States in a city called Long Beach.” Zackery answered.

“Hmm, I have not been to the Americas for a while...why not, I assume you would like to meet back up with your mother.” They both nodded

“Perfect, I have not seen her in quite some time. I feel it would be best to be with friends during this time so I will bring you to her. We will leave tomorrow after both of you clean up, get some rest and I have packed some things.” The siblings once again just nodded.

Some more small talk was exchanged while they slowly finished their glasses of moon fox blood. It took them quite a while. The rush of power with each sip was rather jarring. Once finished, Esmerelda led them into a bathing room and grabbed them a new set of clothes of a much older style, but fit perfectly but perfectly tailored to them. After which she led them to a room with a large bed on it.

“I don’t have another bed for you to use, so you are going to have to share. Which I'm sure you're fine with. I will try to be quiet while packing. Sound can travel rather well in here. You can ask your mother about that if you want to embarrass her.”

Both Lilith and Zackery blushed at that. She then left them to sleep.

“She was not what I was expecting.” Lilith commented

“No, she was not. I mean her at first I was, but not the bubbly personality that came after.” Zackery said

“I wonder how mom and her met, and how they became such good friends?”

“We will just have to ask her next time we see her.”

“That we will.”

They both got under the covers and passed out almost immediately.

The next day they woke up, to Esmeralda sitting at the end of their bed.

“Wow, you two were more worn out than I thought. You slept for 16 hours.”

“Wait, really?!?!” Lilith exclaimed

“Yup, but no need to worry, we can head out whenever you guys are ready.” Esmerelda said.

They both nodded and put themselves together. After doing so they followed Esmerelda to the entrance area of her cave which was now massive. ‘There has to be some magic fucky fuckery going on here’ Lilith thought to herself. Looking around she noticed a number of things no longer on the walls or shelves. The most telling of them was the painting of their mother.

“So how are we going to do this?” Zackery asked

“Well, you are going to ride me, either that or I can carry you in my claws, but it's a bother for me so you will ride. You should both be strong enough not to fall off.” Esmeralda said with a smile. The siblings shivered not knowing why.

“Well no more use in wasting time, we are burning daylight, and I would rather get there by tomorrow morning.” She walked forward and the siblings followed, but she shooed them away. Once she was a good 100 yards away she transformed. It brought both primal terror and mystical wonderment and when the no more than 5 foot 11 lady turned into an emerald green dragon the size of a Boeing 747. Around her giant neck was a tight necklace but there was nothing else on her. In her deeper but still feminine voice she said

“Come along children, the sky is awaiting.” They walked forward and she let them walk onto her giant claws, and picked them up to help them get onto her back. After getting settled they sat down and she walked forward. They could feel the momentum of her muscles as she did. Getting outside they could truly see how massive she was.

“Ready or not, here we go.” She said and with one flap of her massive wings they were shooting through the sky. Above the clouds in moments, Lilith and Zackery looked around in amazement. But they also noticed (that) they did not have a hard time breathing or were too cold.

‘Must be some more magic fuckery’ Lilith thought.

After about an hour the system made itself known to all and reality shook.

[Phase one has completed. Phase two (of) the cataclysm will now begin].

After the shaking stopped Esmerelda said “Are you two okay?” There was definite worry in her voice.

“I'm good, how about you Zack?”

“I'm alive for now.”

“Good, Vivi would kill me if something happened to you.”

Then the system made itself known once again.

[The surface area of the planet has been increased by 5 times].

“It looks like our flight might take a bit longer than expected.” Lilith said

“That it will. That it will.” Esmerelda agreed.