I absolutely love when beautiful countries, with their picturesque landscapes, go to war. It’s like a miniature vacation that I get paid to have. Well I do have to fight but who cares about that when you can see the sun set on the sea with its purple, pink, and yellow bands coloring the sky and soon both my brother and I will be released against those poor men and women on the other side.

As I gazed at the stars a small man in a green uniform, a lieutenant maybe (you lose track after centuries of war), with the scent of fear clinging to him began to talk at a rapid pace, “It is your turn to… do what is needed to be done.” He swallowed hard and I followed his adam’s apple as it bobbed down, how weak these mortal creatures are even now with their fancy long range lead shooters.

“Yes, yes we will go and win this war for you but make sure you have our reward when we return soldier.” to make sure he got the message I flashed him my fangs.

Behind the soldier I heard a familiar voice, which made the soldier jump in alarm, say “Maribelle leave the poor man alone. We must leave now before los cazadores de vampiro get prepared.” Larkspur, my brother, was walking towards us his body cloaked in shadow with only his fangs reflecting the pale moonlight of the halfmoon that graced the sky.

And so we dashed off into the night hurtling towards the enemy encampment on a hillside. I stopped in front of one sentry who didn’t even raise his weapon when I snapped his neck with a quick jerk. My brother did the same with the other sentry and we moved swiftly into the camp. We both spotted the first cazador de vampiro by a fire sharpening his blade, a blade which was meant to kill my brother and I. The man by the fire stood up most likely sensing our presence but it was too late Larkspur had already closed the distance and punched a hole through the man’s chest with a satisfying sucking sound as organs were exposed to the atmosphere.

Another man with an enchanted bolt, made to kill our kind, fitted in his crossbow was hiding in some foliage but before he could fire I closed the distance and hit his hand breaking some minor bones and sending the shot wide, then with my other hand I punched through his temple which made brain matter go everywhere. To my right an older man wielding a sword approached along as a young boy, who couldn’t have been older than fifteen wielding a sword of his own, brought up the rear of the older man on shaking legs. The older man told the boy to run away and when the younger boy turned Larkspur jumped on his back and bit into his neck. The old man turned his mouth agape in horror and as he showed the back of his neck it was a simple matter to close the gap and finish twisting his neck behind him with the snap of a broken spine.

Larkspur slowly moved his head away from the boy’s neck only to show his fangs and mouth covered in blood. His eyes were wide with horror at what he had just done. In an instant I was at his side hugging him tightly. Vampires have few rules but killing children who do not want to fight are amongst the top. Larkspur was now muttering into my hair, “His neck was so thin… I didn’t mean it… Yahweh forgive me.” Red tears flowed from his eyes.

“All we can do now is pray for him Larkspur, for now we must finish this mission and bring those women to a safer home.” I replied. He nodded his head and stood up to his full height, a good four inches taller than me.

He smiled, “What are we waiting for then?” but that smile didn’t even come close to reaching his eyes. And so off we went to the officer's tent just as a regular soldier found the first body.

Guarding the officers’ tent were four more vampiros los cazadores along with an elite unit of regular soldiers, if their myriad of skull and bone medals decorating their crisp uniforms were any indication. Larkspur has the amazing quality of taking out anger and sadness that he feels towards his own failure on other people. He was not longer keen on having fun and left a trail of bloody ribbons through the elite soldiers, some of the poor mortals managed to cry out in surprise before their throats were torn out. I followed in Larkspur’s wake killing any he left behind but as a crossbow bolt flew past my shoulder I realized that the vampiros los cazadores were actually managing to fend off Larkspur’s vicious assault, however anyone with half a brain could figure out that they would not hold out much longer as all of them, even the one wielding the crossbow, had wounds which bled freely. It was also obviously a distraction so that the officers’ could escape, most likely through a back entrance in the tent, however I wasn’t just going to sit back and allow the main objective to escape so I gave pursuit as gunfire began around me most likely putting holes into my nice midnight blue dress.

I caught up to the first officer a few feet from the tent and broke his neck then chased the next two who were running in tandem with one another. One turned and fired his pistol, the bullet bounced off my skin, I tore out his throat and a moment later I was on top of the other officer and feeding off his blood. The blood was sweet and salty like a liquid chocolate pretzel, I could have really went for one of those at that moment. Once I was done with that I went after the other two officers only to find them dead with Larkspur standing on top of them with his hair and clothes matted in blood and by the looks of things some of it must have been his own as new scars, visible as white lines, could be seen along his forearms with one on his chest. There were no soldiers near and the gunfire had stopped which probably meant they had all run. “How are you feeling, brother?” I asked.

He looked at me but his eyes were somewhere far away, “Sad, hermana. Very sad.” I also felt sad, for him, and, for the mortals who would inevitably lose their lives in the fighting to come. The most we could do right then was to collect our reward of three hundred unmarried women and one hundred orphans of varying sex and try to give those who we save a better life than one in a civil war. Larkspur and I began walking back with the pale half moon high in the sky, and there was no one but the dead around us.

As we crested the hill where the massacre of the elite guard took place Larkspur’s eyes lit up, and he said, “I’ll get you a new dress.” He grinned as if he had just deciphered the Book of Life.

“And why would you get me a dress, I am more than capable of buying clothing Larkspur.” I responded to his epiphany.

“Because it’s your birthday tomorrow.” He smiled and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. That’s right it was tomorrow, after centuries alive you begin forgetting things like birthdays. That meant that Larkspur’s birthday was two months and a week from today, I would be sure to mark that on my calendar.

“Just make sure it’s nice. This was my favorite dress.” I smiled back and went on ahead.

“Nothing short of perfect for you Maribelle.” And with that we walked back to our camp and collected our human payment. Then we walked to the airport and flew back to Belgium with the human cargo on five planes. Unfortunately these mortals could not be trusted yet so they were handcuffed to their seats by the flight staff. I suppose being a vampire has its perks like almost unlimited money. And being nigh invincible to many forms of weaponry. And being on the top of the food chain. I would need to worry about that later as I fell asleep on the flight back.