The Vessel: Chapter 2

"Anywhere specific?" Travis asked quickly as the course was being laid.

"Solar four," Marle replied simply, "You have a chart for that, right?"

"Course, I do, Solar four is Mars... yeah, I know where that is," Travis replied.

"Ok, I just wasn't sure if you did," Marle nodded, "I mean, the universe is a vast place and..."

"Marle, look at me," he cut her off with this projected avatar flailing his arms up and down his body frantically,"I look human for a reason."

The Vessel: Chapter 1

“This is Travis of the Phenoix-Belle, your signal has been received and I am towing your pod onboard. Please remain calm as I mean you no harm.”

This phrase echoed through the escape pod in a calm male voice as she felt a jerk to indicate that she was moving at a different direction and velocity than she was before. It wasn't long before she found herself peaking through the viewing panel and saw a large shiny vessel out into the blackness of space. Marle appraised such a thing to be a scout ship which would likely have a crew of about five to twenty people.

The Vessel: Prologue

Space Pirates. No one likes them. They are an evil that wastes thousands of trade credits by damaging and stealing from merchants and their freight ships. For this reason there are patrols send to dispatch the pirates, using long range sensors to and tracking beacons to tell the freight and transport ships apart from the pirates.

Yeah, like that helped.

Seriously, as the freight ship The Almos ventured into its authorized destination it was surrounded by war ships: pirates.

Undead Paladin Chapter 15: Continued Decent

Watts walked into the unforgiving streets of Toronto, avoiding the checkpoints as much as possible as it would mean that he would get caught by them. In such a large city the vampire population got a foothold as they ran through the densely packed city during the earlier days of the outbreak, before war measure's act was invoked. It didn't help that a small sect of vampire grouped up and hunted the streets. The bloodshed became so vile along the major streets that many Torontoains has entered voluntary curfew policies of their own long before they became mandatory by the government. This explained the checkpoints that littered the streets as well: not that they were unique to Toronto, as other large cities has such things as well.

Undead Paladin Chapter 14: Brasing Changing Tides

Watts was on a bus heading to the hot zone known as Toronto. Knowledge that the safe house in Toronto had been seized ran through his mind, so his thirst for vengeance on Twist^* was going to be a a difficult and dangerous one to quench. Nevertheless, Watts mind was set on it, and no possibility of being killed by Toronto police or vampire hunters wasn't going to deter him.

Course, getting on the bus was a bit of a challenge: after all, he was going to be searched before boarding by the driver. He obviously didn't get caught, I mean, it was daylight out and Watts was concealed enough to block the sun, but expose enough that no one would look at him and think 'vampire.' With that, he boarded, while smuggling the gun that he was going to use on the people or person responsible for Twist's death.

Undead Paladin Chapter 13: New Paths

“He created the world in seven days, breathing life into us so we could walk in creation with him. He delivered us from the bonds of slavery in Egypt, and he gave prosperity to us in Israel. Despite this we sinned, and acted ungratefully. He could have smited us, but instead he gave us his son to pay our debt of sin in his blood.

“Now, before you retort with 'but what has he done for you; specifically?' well he has done much for me. For one thing he granted me spiritual guidance through the church and their sacraments. He forgives my sins so that I may go into heaven when judgement comes. He is why I am alive and why I walk the world today.

Undead Paladin Chapter 12: Inciting Incident

Leana held a knife out to a random man who had the unfortunate of being caught outside during the night. She pressed him against a brick wall with the illusion of strength that she had as a result of being a vampire. She gave him a longing stare before branding her teeth for the kill.

“Please, I just want to live,” the man plead.

“Food shouldn't talk,” she replied as her fangs readied for a bite.

Undead Paladin Chapter 11: The Sweeping Tides

It was night in the sleeping city of Barrie. The police were on patrol looking for anyone caught outside the curfew. This was the moment that some of the vampires went on hunts, while others just hid in their whatever dwelling they lived in just as terrified as anyone else. The streets are quiet, with the march of policefolk being all that was out – and anyone smart enough to avoid detection.

Not that the police were anything to genuinely be afraid of: if your caught outside and look healthy they would just slap cuffs on you, drag you into the back of a patty-wagon, and drive you to central lock-up, where you would be booked and asked to sit in the affectionately named 'drunk-tank' until dawn. Sure, some of the coppers would be less than nice or outright dicks, you know, using the curfew as an excuse to outright torture people and hide behind the badge and the War-Measures Act, but such is life: the monsters are everywhere. Good news, however, its better than the PMCs who specialize in vampire hunting.

Undead Paladin Chapter 10: Recogning

“Anyways, as you might have figured out already, this is a safe house for vampires,” Lilith spoke as she led Amanda to a room in the basement. With a click of the door they were inside this room.

This room with a computer from the early 21^st century sitting on an oak desk. This room with a rack filled with various hand gun and rifle hanging on the back wall next to an open box of ammo on the floor. This room, with the trappings of a mastermind everywhere, was seen to further place Lilith as some sort of leader.

Undead Paladin Chapter 9: Decent

“Blood, blood! I need blood!” Francine shrieked at the top of her lungs, “Please, hurry, hurry.”

“Its coming my dear,” Ronald replied as he eyed the tube stuck in his wrist, “Its coming, please calm down.”

“Look at me dammit!” Francine screamed, “Look at me.”

Undead Paladin Chapter 8: Centralization

The short drive from the county road to Barrie lead to an older building in the centre of the down town, where it had seen better days long before the vampire outbreak. The building the van pulls up to had tarnished faux silver along the side of the grey brick work and was charmingly dubbed in large, tarnished chrome lettering “Roxx”^* followed by smaller plastic writing under that reading “Boarding Hostile.” At this point Watts opened the van door and gestured Amanda to follow. The sun was climbing and Watts had pulled his hood further along his face than usual for a sweet spring day would allow. Watts approached the front door with Amanda and her sparkles following close behind, anxious and unsure.

Undead Paladin Chapter 7: Analysis

A testing facility of Banisters Inc, located north of Orillia, Ontario, was trapped in dull panic as preliminary research went into what the fuck went wrong with the experimental vaccine that was used on the subjects in block C. Dr. Green and his team had been instructed not to release any of their finding to the outside world in fear that their competitors would get a hold of the data and the company would lose government funding, become a public relations three-ring circus, and senior members of the company face jail time for taking the shortcuts. When word gets out that there is now a daywalking brand of vampire, and it will get out sooner or later, efforts must be in place so this mutation doesn't get traced back to them.

Undead Paladin Chapter 6: The Turning

The woods, the strange feel of the sun, and her immense exhaustion all lead to Amanda laying on the ground within the brush, trying as it might to get up and stay quiet – for whatever it was that was wondering the woods was still stalking her. Pieces of the world faded as she laid in wait, and hoped that whatever it was passed her up.

In that moment, under the tingle of the sunlight, something made a grab for her. She had no fight in as her vague memory recorded her being lifted and carried onto a small clearing by the sound of roaring engines.

The road.