I was imagining the vortex swirling and the dramatic music climaxing as we hurtled through time and space to our next destination. The Professor had received a call for help from Gothwana, some planet on the other side of the galaxy. Since his time machine can manipulate all eleven dimensions, in addition to transporting us through time it could simultaneously transport us through space, and we were already nearing Gothwana.

The Professor prepared me for what we were about to encounter by explaining that Gothwana was a small planet sparsely populated with a civilization that closely resembled Earth's medieval Europe.

"So, they are human?" I asked a bit disappointed. I was hoping to meet some real aliens.

"For the most part," The Professor answered raising even more questions as his answers so often do.

"What does 'for the most part' mean?"

"It means that most of the population are human." He pedantically stated the obvious as he so often did.

Ignoring his tone, I prompted him for more, "And the rest?"

"Vampires."

"Cool!" I couldn't resist getting excited about a real adventure. Yeah, we had saved Earth from zombies, but this was a chance to become Buffy the vampire slayer!

"Not cool." The Professor scolded me. "Vampirism is a serious condition. The people of Gothwana have learned to deal with it. The human population routinely donates blood to feed those infected. In return, those infected refrain from infecting others. The reigning king's advisor contacted me because there is a rogue group of vampires that are no longer playing by the rules. He was wondering if we could help locate and rout them out."

That still sounded pretty cool, but I kept my sentiments to myself and went to the time machine's gym to practice my martial arts and driving stakes into the practice dummy's heart.

Gothwana's king's palace was what I expected, dark Gothic architecture complete with pointed arches, gargoyles and flying buttresses. The halls of the palace were dimly lit by sporadic torches. The only thing to see were the guards lining the bleak gray stone walls. The guards were all over seven feet tall and incredibly thin. Their faces were frozen and gaunt with a deathly pallor. The zombies we had defeated on Earth looked more alive.

We were greeted in the foyer by Anghel, the current king's advisor. I used a bit of my newly acquired druid magic to allow me to speak and understand the Gothwana's language. For me it seemed as if we were all speaking English.

Anghel escorted us to the throne room where the royal couple were seated waiting to receive us. The royal couple and their surroundings were equally as bleak as the hall that led to them. We bowed and were introduced as renowned heroes who had recently saved Earth from a zombie apocalypse.

The self-obsessed king was unimpressed. Speaking mainly to The Professor he said, "Anghel highly recommended you. I take it that he has informed you of our situation. My subjects are up in arms and ready to take drastic actions if I don't do something soon. The rabble believe that all that is needed is to find and take out the leader of this uprising. They think that without the leader the rest of the rogue vampires will abandon their aberrant behavior."

"Your Highness, why do they think that?" I asked curtsying.

The annoyed king frowned at me, but answered, "The rogue leader has promised a type of immortality to those who follow him. But most vampires know that if they do what he wants and indiscriminately drain the blood from a human until the human dies, they will lose their souls. They become the undead, soulless creatures who are immortal, but with no humanity. Without the leader's encouragement, the rabble think his followers will soon realize this type of immortality is not worth it."

"What do you think should be done, Your Highness?" The Professor asked.

"I think the rogues will eventually come to their senses on their own. But the people want action now; so, I am authorizing you to do whatever is necessary to find and apprehend this leader. This should placate the people."

While King Vlad was talking, I couldn't help but notice his queen was giving him odd looks. Perhaps it had nothing to do with what we were talking about, but it gave me a feeling they weren't telling us everything. When the egotistical king finished, she suggested, "Perhaps, the young lady could be used as bait to attract one of the rogue vampires, maybe even the leader."

Anghel got a concerned look on his face and said, "That would be very risky, Auntie."

"Not really, dear nephew. The worst case is that she becomes one of them. She might like it," she said giving me an unusual smile that gave me the creeps."

"We will keep that in mind," The Professor said nodding to her and then turning back to the throne, he said, "We will do our best, Your Highness." The Professor bowed and we took our leave.

As Anghel was escorting us from the palace, I asked The Professor, "Is it just me or did the royal couple seem to be rather unconcerned about this crisis? And she was so casual about sacrificing me to become a vampire."

Angel laughed saying, "That was actually sort of a compliment. I think she was trying to hook you up with her son Spika."

"What?"

"He is a vampire. In fact, the entire royal family are all vampires and they can only marry other vampires. So, she was actually considering you as a potential daughter-in-law," Anghel explained.

"No thank you. So, are you a vampire too?" I asked.

"Yep," he said baring his fangs. "Don't worry none of us has given up our souls. We will not harm you."

I wish I could say I was comforted by his assurances, but I was not. I was more in the mood to put a stake through one of their hearts, than I was to work beside them.

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Back at the time machine I asked the Professor, "What's the plan?"

"I kind of like the bait idea," he said with a grin.

"Well, I don't!" I said emphatically.

"You know, you can always use your magic to prevent you from becoming a vampire."

"No, I didn't know that. It still sounds scary though. Why can't we just go hunting with some garlic, a silver cross and a bunch of stakes."

"You should probably leave all those things behind when we go out tonight. They might scare our targets away.

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Of course it was a moonless night. Gothwana has no moon and very few stars in the sky. Ideal for the vampire population, I guess. The Professor had me stroll down the main street assuring me he would be close by but out of site. That was not very reassuring. Every little sound had me jumping. A black cat ran in front of me, and I nearly had a heart attack.

By midnight I had calmed down enough so that the sensation that someone was behind me didn't have me running in panic. I was still terrified. I guess most bait is.

A handsome young man casually walked up beside me and said, "I see you decided to try my mother's plan."

"You must be Spika?" I asked trying to keep my cool.

"Yeah, that's me," he said unassumingly. "It's not going to work, you know. All the rogues know who you are. My dad distributed a bulletin explaining your mission. He says he did it so the public would know he was making an effort. I think he did it because he wants the rogues to kill you."

"Why would he want that?"

"I think my dad has lost his soul. I suspect he is the leader of the rogue vampires."

"What about you?"

"I just want to nibble on your neck. My mother would like me to turn you. It is very tempting."

"It won't happen. I'm protected by magic."

"I suspected as much," Spika answered sounding disappointed.

"What I was asking is do you still have your soul?"

"I do, but why would you believe me? Or do you have a spell that allows you to detect lying?"

"Don't need a spell. You have an honest face."

"Wow, how did you become a renowned hero with such a naïve attitude?"

"So, you have a soul. Is there any way you can become human?"

"For you, I'd love to," he replied. He paused to see if his flattery was effective. It wasn't so he continued, "Actually, there is one way for a vampire to become a human again. If they have never had a kill or spilled blood and only drank blood from the hospital and such. Then offing the head vampire of their bloodline will make them human again. The problem is that the head vampire is my dad."

"Since he no longer has a soul, would killing him be so hard?"

"He's my dad," Spike pleaded. Then reconsidering he said, "At least he looks like my dad. I realized he is no longer the dad I knew, but I don't think I could do it without help. And if I did people might think I did it just to become king."

"But you wouldn't become king. You'd become human and doesn't the king have to be a vampire?".

"You're right! My cousin Anghel would have to become king. What if he wanted to punish me for killing my dad?"

"Maybe we should give him a heads up."

"Does this mean you'll help me?"

"Professor!" I shouted into the night.

"Yes?" The Professor answered as he popped out of the shadows.

"Looks like we're going to need those stakes after all." We caught The Professor up on the situation and we formulated a plan. We were going to help Spika assassinate the king, but first we had to clear the plan with Anghel.

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We woke Anghel out of a sound sleep, so he wasn't in the best of moods. On top of that he didn't completely agree with our plan. He was okay with the assassination. He just wanted to be the one to do it. Both vampires would rather be human than king. Who would have thought that.

As members of the royal family, they had no problem sneaking into the royal bedroom. To be safe, I cast some protective magic over both of them. One held the stake and the other drove it into the king's heart while he slept. With one last gasp the king became Vlad the Inhaler no more.

Technically, both had killed King Vlad V. They both became human and that is how that bloodline's dynasty ended. Gothwana got its first and last ruling queen. She set up a constitutional democracy. The rogues were soon all hunted down and like their leader ended up with stakes through their hearts.  And I came in just under the two-thousand-word limit.