The next day, my heart was in my throat as I entered the gym where A's trial would occur. 08A was already there, standing on the mats in the middle of the floor. He refused to make eye contact with me, but as I looked at him, I couldn't detect even a hint of the fear I sensed the night before. He seemed confident. Threatening.

Once we kids were arranged solemnly on risers behind the reinforced glass walls of the observation room, the heads of Imhullu filtered into a monitoring room built into the opposing wall. I noticed more figures present than usual for a trial, including two fully human generals. Their shoulders were laden with medals, and their faces held harsh scowls. Even to my little kid mind, their presence told me that someone important was very interested in A's test.

Once everyone was finally settled, observing the gym beyond the reinforced glass, 08A prepared for combat. He stalked over to a rack to select his weapons. All children completing the trials could select two weapons, and A took his time making his choice. I wondered what was going though his mind. Was he scared? Determined? Angry? Whatever emotion he felt, it wasn't evident on his face. As 08A carefully made his selection, I held my breath and bit my lip while my thoughts turned to the battle my brother was about to face. 

Of all the inhuman enemies we children at Imhullu were destined to fight, vampires terrified me most.

According to rumors, Vampirism had its origins in the spiritual realm, but vampires were undoubtedly physical beings and one of the most common evils we would encounter in the field. Vampirism was technically caused by a viral infection spread by contact with infected blood or venom. If someone was exposed to the virus in the proper way, then there was about a fifty-fifty chance they'd turn into one of the bloodsuckers.

Following an agonizing few weeks post-exposure, as the virus tore apart DNA and rebuilt it into something inhuman then rended a person's muscle and flesh and bone and teeth into something entirely new, if an infected person's heart still beat, then they'd become one of the living undead. But they were vampires only if their body made it through all the necessary physiological changes, and some bodies fought the virus more violently than others, making whether you became a vampire or not a total fatalistic crap shoot.

Where this vampire infection originally came from was not entirely known. Some people said vampires were part of Tiamat's eleven monstrous creations. However, a different legend about the first vampire always stood out to me. I'll tell it to you as Imhullu told it to us, another bedtime story divulged to haunt our dreams and make us fear the monsters:

***

A sheepherder in ancient Mesopotamia once left his wife and two young children at home so that he could take two from his flock to market. When he returned , he found bandits had robbed his home, raped and murdered his wife, and taken his children with them to, most likely, sell them into slavery. The sheephearder fell to his knees and cursed the sky, saying, "Why have the gods forsaken me? They killed my wife, took my children, then cursed me with this frail, weak body so that I can do nothing to avenge my wife and save my babies."

Upon hearing his pleas, the evil which would one day called Satan appeared before the man and said, "You are correct. It is not right that you were cursed so by the gods, my son."

Stammering from anguish and fear, the sheephearder replied. "No, sir, it is not. The blood of my family demands the blood of the bandits, yet I'm too weak to avenge my wife's honor and save my children."

Satan nodded in sympathy at the man. "You see, my son," he purred, "what was done to you is a travesty. The gods have made you far too weak, but I can make you strong. Strong enough to avenge your wife and save your poor children."

"How?" begged the shepherd.

"I will have to first make you ill in order to make you strong, but if you agree to serve me for the remainder of your life, then the blood of the bandits will be yours."

"Of course, sir," the shepherd readily agreed, "my life will be yours."

With the deal made, Satan sank his teeth into the sheephearder's neck and infected the first human with vampirism. The man fell to the ground and writhed in agony as Satan disappeared. The sheephearder, now delirous, cralwed his way back to his home and slipped into a coma during the as his boby began to change. A few days later, the sheephearder awoke to find that he could now see with perfect clarity objects several yards away. He could jump higher than a jaguar and run faster than a gazelle. He also hungered for the blood of those who killed his wife and took his family even more than before the change.

Now a vengeful monster, the shepherd journeyed for days in search of the bandits and his children. With his enhanced speed, eventually found the bandits several miles from his home. He recgonized their smells as the ones that had sullied his home and his family, and the sheephearder heard the bandits before he saw them in the distance. When the sheephearder finally entered their camp at night, the bandits reacted to his sudden presence around their campfire.

"Who is this?" the leader of the bandits exclaimed, gesturing at the shepherd's form with disgust.

The shepherd didn't bother to respond and instead gave himself over to revenge which his sould had been crying out for, grabbing the nearest man and tearing into his flesh with fangs that appeared in his mouth. "Blood will have blood," he thought while gleefully gulping down mouthfuls of warm liquid before moving onto the next then the next bandit attempting to flee in terror...

When his rampage was over, the shepherd realized with a start that in the melee he had grabbed his young son and drank his blood down with the others. He knelt next to his child's corpse and scooped him up into his arms. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he held his handiwork.

While he mourned, his ears twitched when he picked up a faint heartbeat nearby. Behind the flap of a tent, he found his small daughter cowering. With tears in his eyes, he knelt to console her but was overwhelmed by the smell of her fear, which caused him to bear his fangs. She screamed, a sound that overburdened his newly sensitive ears and caused him to grab the young girl and shake her violently in an effort to quieten her.

When he finally realized what he was doing, it was too late. His remaining child was now also dead. With an inhuman cry, the creature screamed into the night. 

Hearing his anguish, Satan appeared before the shepherd once again, "I see you got your revenge, my son."

"Revenge?" the shepherd spat, "You deceived me, and now my whole family is gone. You promised me I would avenge my wife and free my children."

Satan's gaze darkened at the insinuation he had not fulfilled his promises. "Are your wife's killers not dead? Are you children not free from captivity in this world? I kept my promise, shepherd."

Realizing Satan's trickery yet unable to do anything about to challenge the evil creature, the shepherd cried out once more before pleading for mercy, "Please, I beg you, kill me. Allow me to be with my family, if not in life then in death."

Satan laughed, drawing up his shoulders as he regarded the mand with haughty superiority. "Shepherd, you pledged your life to me. Because of that, I cannot kill you. I will not destory what belongs to me."

Satan then paused, looking at the shepherd bowing on the ground before him. After several painful moments, the evil spoke. "However, I see the pain I've caused. To console you, I will bestow upon you a gift. I have decided to grant you the ability to create a new family, like yourself. Ones who lust for blood with the same furor you do, my child."

"All I want," whispered the shepherd, "is my true family."

"I see," Satan replied, pausing once more in thought before continuing, "In that case, I have another gift for you, one that will surely please you: eternal life with which you can serve me. You will be mine forever. With eternity streched out before you, you'll soon forget all about your wife and children. They mean nothing in the face of power and immortality."

"No!" the shepherd screamed, but by then Satan had left the shepherd alone, surrounded by the corpses of the bandits and his two children. "Blood demands blood" he heard whispered on the wind which carried with it the scents of decay and sulfur.

***

Something about this legend of the first vampire always disturbed me, and I imagined the shepherd's pained screams as 08A hefted a short sword, testing its weight as he gripped it tightly in his fist. His knuckles turning white with the force of his grasp. With a practiced swish, he then tested it a couple more times before deciding that this was one of his weapons and tucked it into a scabbard at his waist.

Curiously, I wondered about this selection. Wouldn't he be better selecting long-ranged weapons?  Vampires would be difficult to combat with a weapon desined for close combat because it was important to keep well-away from such monsters.

08A's final weapon was a Scottish dirk, which was always his knife of choice when we would train together, but his choice only made me worry even more. Both of 08A's weapons were far too small and close ranged to be used against a vampire.

There was a reason many of us children feared vampires so tremendously. Not only were vampires apex predators, but they were also attracted to us Imhullu Hunters. Scientists had engineered some of our genetic material from vampire DNA since they were one of the only monsters with a semi-human biology. This meant that when the scientists toyed with nature by creating us, they went to great pains to ensure that we children were designed to attract the detestable creatures. Our blood called out to vampires like the sweet sap of a Venus fly trap called to insects. 

But we had to be very, very cautious with this unnatural appeal.

Vampires were stronger and faster than us. If they managed to capture us, then we would be dead in an instant.

So, what the hell was 08A doing picking two close ranged weapons?

With his weapons selected, A resumed his spot on the mat and nodded to the attendants. The doors at the opposite end of the gym opened, and a cage was rolled in, its wheels creaking dramatically on the gymnasium floor. The entire case was metal with no bars to peek through, but the sight of the container was enough to rachet up my dread.

Then, as it rolled, the box shook with unbelievable ferocity, and an eerie scream emanated from the crate. I said a silent prayer to whatever deity may be watching as the attendants backed away slowly and entered the observation room with us. They secured the reinforced blast door behind them sealing us in and leaving just 08A and the encased vampire alone in the gym.

We children all held our breath, and I got the sense that even the ones who despised 08A feared for my brother. We had studied vampires extensively and watched videos of them alive as well as dead and being disassembled on an autopsy table. 

This, though, was the first time any of us would see a vampire in person.

The attendant nearest the steel door separating the observation room from the gymnasium hit a button on a remote he produced from his pocket. The door of the cage slid open silently, and I squinted, trying to peer into the darkness.

With near-infinite slowness, a pallid, nude creature emerged from the box. It was hairless with pupils so large and tinged with red that the whites of its eyes were no longer visible. Its fingers were long, unnatural; its nails were jagged claws and thin limbs magnified clearly swollen joints. This thing, I knew from my training, was a vampire who had not fed for some time. Generally, well-fed vampires looked uncannily human with exaggeratedly beautiful features meant to draw in their prey. They only took their true form like this after months if not years of starvation.

As 08A assumed a defensive posture with his short sword at the ready, the creature locked eyes with him and sniffed the air. Catching wind of my brother, the vampire's mouth opened in an unnaturally wide grin, drool dripping from the corners. The thing was hideous, but 08A stared it down with no hint of fear in his eyes. Again, I said another silent prayer for what was about to come, hoping fervently that my brother would make it out alive.

Because I wasn't sure that I would make it without him.