Strangers In The Knight

By Cheezey

Part One

Alliances

 

No one took much notice of the small earthquake that shook a corner of the section of Third Earth once called Fire Rock Mountain.  It was not enough to disturb much other than the wildlife, for it was far from the bases and villages that most of the more advanced races called home.  Few found the ashen skies, rocky terrain, and sulfur-tainted air of the volcanic mountain remains to be hospitable enough ground upon which to even travel, much less linger or dwell, especially as it was the primary path into DarkSide.  Of those who would travel there, even fewer would want to go to what was locally known as “The Forbidden Territories.”  Much of the wildlife of Third Earth even seemed to avoid the area naturally, especially after the explosion of the Star of Thundera that had nearly destroyed Mumm-Ra himself, and half of the mountain along with it.

 

What most of the locals, including the Third Earth natives as well as the Thundercats, Mutants, and Lunatacs did not know was that Fire Rock Mountain had not always been such a desolate and forsaken place.  In a time so distant that only Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living was old enough to remember, the forgotten era of First Earth, it was once part of a large human city.  The story of the humans, the original race from which Mumm-Ra himself hailed as a mortal and one of the few to still exist in a form like the ancient times on the planet, was a long and sad one. 

 

In First Earth they had advanced far, nearing the technological skill and brilliance of the alien races that had, millennia later, settled upon the planet.  But like many promising civilizations on many planets their greed and ambition carried them too far and the resulting wars destroyed much of the planet. 

 

Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, then a mere few thousand years old, walked less among the mortals and withdrew into the safety of his pyramid more and more, choosing to lurk and watch rather than actively conquer and control what he saw as a dying world.  By the end of First Earth, he had not left his pyramid to walk among the humans, even in secret, in nearly eighteen years.  But it did not deter him from his ultimate goal.  He was eternal.  He would survive.  And when the mortals finished eliminating each other, he would rule what was left.

 

Mumm-Ra’s prediction about First Earth proved correct as the world of men came to a painful end in one final war, one that had wiped out the very city upon which Fire Rock Mountain was built and countless other cities like it in nearly a single flash.  Mumm-Ra awakened, but only watched.

 

Within the ashes of the First Earth civilizations, the era of Second Earth was soon born in the few mortals that survived.  Unlike the artifacts and documents that could be found to give clues to what life was once like on First Earth, very little was known about Second Earth aside from what Mumm-Ra himself knew and what could be found in the strange ruins and temples found across the world.  Among the humans that survived and mingled with other races borne of the aftermath of the old wars, magic was favored over technology and that in turn led to many strange developments in the world, a path that was pleasing to Mumm-Ra.  The undead evil sorcerer walked many times among that civilization and made his influence known, but before long he began to see the signs he saw so many thousands of years before.  Signs that things as they were would not last, that the societies would die rather than flourish, signs that humans and what had evolved from them had once again become too arrogant. 

 

Once again Mumm-Ra withdrew, leaving his world to renew itself for his taking, and he did not have to wait long.

 

As the cataclysms that destroyed the civilization of Second Earth came to an end and Third Earth came into existence, Mumm-Ra awakened to find that few sentient peoples remained and of those only a fraction could still be called human, such as the warriors and pirates of the Tree Top Kingdom or the Berzerkers of the seas.  Human or otherwise, all of the people of Third Earth had learned to fear both magic and technology and lived in a rather primitive and simple lifestyle.  As the years and generations passed and the hard times grew more distant, some began to advance, but it happened slowly. 

 

That was no accident.  Third Earth was the time Mumm-Ra had decided once and for all to keep the world as it should be—under his absolute control.  If that meant holding the primitive mortal people in a simple and primitive lifestyle on a permanent basis, then so be it.  He had Third Earth where wanted it, and he had waited long enough.  Thundercats were little more than a passing annoyance, and before long they would be gone and he would have eternity to enjoy the fruits of his efforts.  He was eternal.

 

But what Mumm-Ra was not quite yet aware of was that now he was not the only one.

 

In the cold remains of that ages-forgotten city beneath Fire Rock Mountain not all life had been eliminated those eons ago at the end of First Earth.  While the heat and explosions had eliminated all mortal life, not all life in that city had been mortal, for within its heart had once existed a nest of vampires under the once innocent guise of a bar and club.

 

At the time of the city’s destruction, at least twenty-five of the undead creatures had been present in the city, sixteen of them in the club itself.  Over the centuries some had awakened and clawed their way free only to meet an end or eliminate themselves after going mad in a world that was new and that they did not understand.  Others were young immortals and faded from existence after a few centuries without nourishment.  Immortal was a deceiving term when applied to a vampire.  They could not be killed easily and did not age or die naturally, but they were not immune to all forms of death.  The youngest were the weakest, and it was only the ones aged over five hundred years at the time of the destruction that were strong enough to withstand the ravages of time long enough to still survive and regenerate by the time Third Earth came around.

 

But when the quake surged through the already broken remains of Fire Rock Mountain, enough fresh air and dark light from the ashen skies above filtered in to breathe life into the slumbering unnatural corpses of three of the vampires.  Two that had been in the club and one who had been nearby. 

 

In the time of First Earth they had been well acquainted, but those memories were temporarily lost to the ages.  The demands of stasis and sleep had robbed the consciousness of each of all but the most basic drives—survival.

 

The first to emerge, buried least deeply in the mountainside rubble, was little more than a dusty skeleton with scraps of unnaturally preserved skin clinging to his frame.  Small bits of shaggy light brown hair hung from his skull as he climbed his way out of the rocks and laboriously started for the cover of the woods, still covered in his tattered First Earth clothing.  He was fortunate that it was nearing dusk, for the direction from Fire Rock Mountain in which he ventured was not that of DarkSide—a land naturally devoid of the sunlight which surely would have killed him had he been exposed in his weakened and starved state—but of the forests of Third Earth.  He could smell the scent of animal flesh on the air and what remained of his body demanded he feed, and quickly.

 

The second pushed aside the last rock blocking her freedom an hour and a half later.  She was several miles from the first vampire, on the DarkSide slope of Fire Rock Mountain.  She was older than the first vampire, but also smaller.  A dusty and beaten black dress clung to her gaunt and skeletal frame, her bony fingers still clad in the gloves she wore when the city had been destroyed around her.  She too felt the intense drive to feed and began to walk through the wilds of DarkSide, searching for something—anything—to feed upon.

 

The last and eldest of the surviving vampires freed that day emerged not far from where the second one had just three hours later, well into the night.  His eyes shone with an aura of ruthlessness and willpower that neither of the other two had to such a degree.  He intended to feed and feed until he was gorged, his hunger awakened after thousands of years of being trapped within his rocky prison.  He traveled in a similar direction as the first vampire, intrigued by the vague scent of human on the wind.  Although he had once been human himself, after becoming vampiric they were his first and favorite choice of prey.  He grinned predatorily to himself as he picked up speed in his pursuit of the delightful scent only vaguely aware that the world as he had known it was gone around him. 

 

* * *

 

Completely unaware of the happenings on Fire Rock Mountain, the youngest Thundercats WilyKit and WilyKat soared through the forest on their spaceboards.  The hour was late for them to be out, but the two of them had been having such a good time exploring out in the woods that they had lost track of time and it was dark before they knew it.  They were on their way back to the Lair, knowing they were at least in for a scolding, but were not exactly hurrying either. 

 

WilyKat however was beginning to get nervous, mostly because it would not be the first time that week where they did not make a curfew and partly because they were fairly close to Fire Rock Mountain and by association, DarkSide—both places that were somewhere a Thundercat for the most part did not want to be anywhere near.  WilyKit, on the other hand, had the attitude that if they were already late, they were going to get yelled at whenever they got home anyhow, so why not have a good time before they had to go back and listen to a long and boring lecture?

 

WilyKit had just slowed to do a few smooth maneuvers on her spaceboard between some narrow tree limbs when the impatient WilyKat caught up to her.  “Don’t you think we should hurry up a bit, WilyKit?” the male twin insisted.  “I mean, we’re getting awfully close to DarkSide and it’s getting real dark, especially here in the woods.”

 

WilyKit let out a dismissive laugh.  “Oh come on, Kat, are you going to be a wimp all your life?  I told you, it’s not going to make a difference at this point anyway; we might as well have some fun!  Besides, it’s not like we can’t outrun anything we need to on our boards.”

 

“Well I do like being able to see where I’m going,” WilyKat grumbled, barely missing being sideswiped by a tree branch whose length he had misjudged due to the darkness.  He was still muttering about that when he thought he saw a flash of movement and heard the pained cry of an animal.  He stopped short to a hover on his board.  “Kit!  Did you see that?”

 

“Yeah,” WilyKit answered with a nod.  “Let’s check it out.”

 

The two glided over to the source of the noise and when they reached the scene they both gasped in horror.  The woods were dark, but the moon had risen enough above them that there was enough light to see a human man holding a struggling buck in his arms, his mouth clamped around the animal’s throat in a hungry bite.  They did not know it, but they were witnessing the first vampire who had escaped making his fourth kill.  From the sustenance of his previous animal meals, his flesh had filled out to a more living and healthy appearance in a remarkably short time and he almost looked human, except for his glowing yellow eyes.

 

WilyKat was the first to notice the swallowing motion of the man’s throat and he nearly gagged as he realized what the human was doing.  “Hey—Stop that!” he exclaimed.

 

“Yeah, that’s… not right,” WilyKit added, at a shocked loss for words when she came to the same appalling conclusion as her brother.

 

The vampire, who had regained his memory along with his natural appearance after feeding enough, looked up at the two Thundercat children irritably.  He dropped the drained animal and stared at them, his unearthly eyes shining eerily in the moonlight that also glinted off the fangs in his mouth.  “What?” he growled, his voice thick and feral from both anger at being interrupted and a general lack of use.

 

The nervous Thunderkittens simultaneously wondered if they had not just made a huge mistake and prepared to either fight or take off, whichever seemed more effective against the strange man—or whatever he was.  “If you think you’re gonna do that to us, you’ve got another thing coming!” WilyKat threatened, although there was less force behind his voice than there was fear, fear that was mirrored in his twin beside him.

 

The vampire growled again and relaxed, straightening to a standing position.  “I don’t feed on children,” he said, his voice becoming less feral and more civilized.  “I don’t even like feeding on humans.”  He fixed his eyes on them and narrowed them curiously.  “Or whatever you are,” he amended when he noticed the strange catlike features of the children.

 

“We’re Thundercats,” WilyKit stammered, not sure if she believed his words.  “What are you?”

 

“If you’re not going to kill us?” WilyKat added.

 

“My name is Nick,” the vampire replied, taking a few steps toward them.  “Nicholas Knight, actually,” he said, using the last name he had gone by in his most recent memories.

 

It seemed strange to him to be speaking after so long alone and then sleeping, weakening, and seemingly fading to nothing in that mountain.  He wondered if he should think of something to tell the children that would not complicate things for him, like he used to before… Before what?  Before the explosions, before I was trapped for god knows how long, before everything vanished, he mused to himself.  After a moment he decided that there was really no better explanation than the truth, at least not until he could learn a bit more about the world he suddenly found himself in after so long.

 

He stared at the pair of Thunderkittens evenly.  “I’m a vampire.”

 

“A vampire?” WilyKat repeated in shock, exchanging another look with his sister.  “One of the legendary creatures in Third Earth’s history that can’t die and can only come out at night and drink the blood of others?”

 

“Wow, they’re real?” WilyKit echoed, and then she looked again at Nick, realizing that it might not be smart to insult him.  “Well I guess so if that’s what you are,” she added, not knowing what else to say.

 

If Nick was offended by the female twin’s remark, he did not show it.  Instead he just nodded.  “Yes, I am a vampire, and I am real.”  He glanced around.  “I’m also confused.  What is this place?”

 

“You mean you don’t know?” WilyKat asked.

 

“No,” Nick said, shaking his head.  “I used to know the outside world as a city, full of people—humans—and buildings.  No forests like this, and no children like… well, like you… Thundercats?”

 

WilyKit nodded an affirmative.  “Yeah, we’re Thundercats.  From Thundera.  But that’s gone now.  It was destroyed.”

 

“That was our planet,” WilyKat explained further.  “It exploded, so we and the other Thundercats came here to Third Earth as a new place to live.  Well we kinda crashed here; it wasn’t where we were trying to go, but…”  His voice trailed off when he realized that Nick was only half listening, and half eyeing the landscape around him in a state of shock.  How can he see so well in the dark anyway? WilyKat wondered, and then he realized that if vampires could only be out in it, it made sense that they would be able to see well in the dark.

 

“So different that creatures from other planets live here now,” Nick mumbled to himself, and then eyed the twins curiously again.  “You called this ‘Third Earth’.  Why?  I never knew it as that.”

 

“What did you know it as?” WilyKit asked.

 

“Earth,” Nick replied.  “Just ‘Earth’.”

 

“Well,” WilyKit said, stepping off her board to talk to Nick now that she had decided he seemed safe enough, “Third Earth is the same thing as Earth I think.  From what some of the Third Earth people have told us, there were three great eras of civilization on it, and the first two were destroyed by disasters.  This is the third, and that’s why they call it ‘Third Earth’.”

 

WilyKat hopped off his board and joined his sister’s side.  “And hopefully it’s the last.”

 

“Yes, one would hope,” Nick said with a light smile that quickly faded as he realized the implications of the girl’s story.  If what she said was true then what he had thought about everything he remembered from the past truly being gone was a reality.  Although he had known that was the case deep down, a part of him had hoped that maybe his slumber had only been about twenty or so years and he had somehow gotten moved in his sleep, and perhaps there was a chance that others he had known, mortal and immortal alike, could still be around.  Now that thought seemed hopelessly stupid and naïve, and it depressed him.  It was times like that the vampire truly hated his immortality.  Living forever was a lonely proposition when everyone mortal that you grew to care for died eventually.

 

“So,” WilyKat interrupted his thoughts gently, “if you’re a vampire and all this is strange to you, where have you been?  I mean, the stuff from First Earth has been gone for thousands of years.  Probably as long as Mumm-Ra’s been around.”

 

“Who is Mumm-Ra?” Nick asked.  “I don’t know that name.”

 

“Boy, if he doesn’t know Mumm-Ra, he is old,” WilyKit remarked.  “Uh, no offense,” she added quickly.

 

Nick glanced back in the direction of Fire Rock Mountain.  “I was buried in stone and rubble over there for… well, I don’t know how long.  Very long, apparently.  I’m surprised even I could last that long.  Maybe it was my age that saved me.  We do get much harder to kill as we age.” 

 

That brought his thoughts to the vampire that had brought him across into the darkness so many centuries ago, LaCroix.  Like him, LaCroix was in the city when the explosions began.  Had he also survived?  Had Janette, a hundred or so more years older than he and also in the city, likely in the very same building as LaCroix when it happened?  Had any of the other immortals?  And what of his mortal friends, had they all been killed when he was imprisoned and the city destroyed?  He suspected so, and that saddened him.  To somehow know that Natalie, Schanke, or even his Captain had survived long enough to live to an old mortal age would have been comforting, but he knew he would never know the answer to that for certain and that the odds were against it anyway.

 

He refocused his attention on the two feline youths.  “Do you live around here now?  Are there any cities?”

 

“There are some villages,” WilyKat said.  “Berbils, Wollos, and Balkans.  Tuskas live on the coast and there are some Berzerker pirates that live on islands out in the sea, and further south in the woods are the Warrior Maidens.  They’re human like you, well like you look, I mean.”

 

WilyKit nodded.  “It was the Warrior Maidens who told us the stories about vampires.  They said that there used to be some in ancient times but they don’t exist anymore, they were all destroyed by hunters.”

 

“As for us, we don’t really live all that close to here, we live that way in our fortress, Cat’s Lair, with the other Thundercats,” WilyKat finished, pointing in the direction that would eventually take them home.  “By the way, I’m WilyKat.”

 

“And I’m WilyKit,” the female twin added.

 

“It’s good to meet you then, WilyKat and WilyKit.”  Nick smiled ruefully, trying to push aside his depressing thoughts.  If nothing else, the Thundercat children seemed friendly enough to him and were not afraid of him and his condition.  He wondered if that was because they did not truly understand what he was, or if it was because they felt comfortable enough to trust him on a first impression.  He had a feeling it was both—for anyone who truly understood what he was would be foolish to be so trusting, but he was sincere in that he did not attack humans or what he considered the equivalent unless he was blood-starved, and he thought perhaps they were intuitive enough that they could sense that about him. 

 

WilyKat stared at Nick for a moment, his expression indicating that he wanted to say something else but was nervous about actually saying whatever it was.  The vampire gave him a questioning but non-threatening look, and the male twin relaxed enough to speak.  “Um, you said you don’t feed on us… but you do drink blood, I mean…” his gaze flickered down to the fallen deer.

 

“WilyKat!” his sister exclaimed.

 

“No, it’s all right.  I do drink blood.  Saying it doesn’t offend me.  It’s what I am, and some of my kind would argue that it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Nick said, thinking once again of the vampires he had been closest to in the past.  “While some vampires enjoy hunting humans, or any sentient like them, I gave that up long ago, before I wound up here.”

 

Relaxing a bit, WilyKit looked at Nick curiously.  “What do you drink then?  Just animal blood?”

 

Nick nodded.  “Animals hunted for food, usually.  In the past I used to hunt humans, but I could never let go of the fact that it was wrong, that it was killing.  I was told to separate my past human life from what I had become but I was never quite able to do that.  Even when I had myself convinced that it was all right, I still felt the guilt, and eventually I had to do something about it, so I stopped.  Mostly, anyway.  But I do not kill for pleasure, only survival, and I can survive just fine on animal blood.  Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.”

 

“I guess that’s not much different than killing them for meat,” WilyKat said with a shrug. 

 

“You know,” WilyKit said thoughtfully, “I bet our friend Tygra could make artificial blood for you to drink if you wanted it.  I mean if you wanted to have some friends here on Third Earth that is,” she offered. 

 

“I don’t know if we should take him back to the Lair, WilyKit,” WilyKat said nervously.  “Nothing against you, Nick, but we’ve had problems with strangers pretending to be friendly and being a trick of Mumm-Ra’s in the past.”

 

Nick smiled.  “No, it’s very wise of you to be cautious.  You don’t have a reason to trust me, if anything you have reason to be suspicious.  I respect that.”

 

“But,” WilyKit said with a sly smile, “if we bring Nick back and introduce him to the others, it’s not like we’re asking him to stay there.  I mean, we’ve put up guests for a day or two and had visitors.  And besides, now we’re really late.  They might not be so mad if we bring back a reason for coming home so far past dark.”

 

WilyKat laughed.  “Well there is that.  I know I don’t want a lecture from Snarf or Panthro or Cheetara.”  He turned to Nick.  “What do you say?  Want to meet the other Thundercats?”

 

“If you promise not to bite any of us of course,” WilyKit said, only half teasing.  She was relaxed enough around Nick to think he would not mind the joking, given how easy he was to get along with so far.

 

Her instincts were correct, and Nick joined their side.  “Thank you.  I think I would like to meet your friends.”  He glanced at the spaceboards.  Although he could fly, as all vampires could, he was curious about the hovering devices.  “How do you ride those?”

 

“I’ll show you,” WilyKit volunteered, laying the board flat and stepping on it, and indicating for Nick to get on behind her.  “I’m better than he is at ‘em, so you should probably learn from me.”

 

“Hah!  Says who?” WilyKat huffed indignantly.  “You can ride from her, but I’ll pick you up when you fall off.”

 

“Who’s gonna fall?  Not me, Mr.-I-Barely-Miss-The-Trees!”

 

The amused Nick climbed on the board behind WilyKit.  Within seconds they were airborne, and the two Thunderkittens continued their banter all the way back to Cat’s Lair.

 

*  *  *

 

After indulging in a quick and dirty meal of the blood of a large fire-pit rodent, the female vampire that had escaped into DarkSide regained the memory of her identity as Janette.  She remembered her name, her past, and mused sadly upon the fate of her now long gone club The Raven, a place which had in the old First Earth city’s time been a haven for her kind.

 

With her initial bloodlust cooled, she surveyed her surroundings still somewhat unsatisfied.  The animal blood’s had been sustenance, but even after so many years of sleep and hunger it was still hardly gourmet fare, and Janette had always considered herself a vampire of taste.  More than anything she craved the sweet taste of human blood.  There was a time when it was all she would drink, barring starvation of course.  Desperation was not pretty, and she would not be content to survive on the blood of vermin alone.

 

But where to find humans in this wasteland? Janette mused as she surveyed the bleak landscape of DarkSide.  This is no longer even a city.  The Raven, the buildings, the people, they’re all gone.

 

Unlike Nick, Janette had no love for the city itself or for the humans that dwelled within it.  She was a vampire that preferred to keep company primarily with other vampires, and aside from a few exceptions, kept her distance from humans on a personal level.  Why get to know or grow fond of mortals that would ultimately die, anyhow? 

 

She did, however, give a passing thought to the vampires she had known such as her mentor and father of sorts, LaCroix, the one who had brought her across.  It was hard to imagine one as old as LaCroix no longer in existence.  She also thought of Nicola, as she called him.  In her long years she had not always seen eye to eye with him, she had always been fond of Nick, although she was not entirely sure why.  He was a bit of a disappointment, to LaCroix especially and to a lesser extent herself.  His fondness for humanity was a terrible weakness to him, and she had often wondered when he would wise up to reality and embrace what he was, like any respectable vampire should.

 

Where are all your human friends now, Nicola? Janette mused, wondering if he and LaCroix had survived, and if so, where they might be.  The city’s destruction had caught them all by surprise, and like the others she was unaware of truly how much time had passed.  She felt no familiar sense of LaCroix, Nick, or any other vampire she knew in the area, but aside from it being mildly disappointing she chose not to let it bother her.  There were more important things to concern herself with at that moment—primarily, quality dining.

 

Janette levitated to the top of a rocky hill in front of her, hoping that from the top she would be able to see or smell something from that vantage point that would lead her to more promising circumstance.  As she rose, and realized that enough of her strength had returned that she was now easily able to do so, it pleased her to see how quickly her system had rebounded with just that small infusion of fresh blood.  A quick glance at her arms showed that the withered flesh had been restored to its normal pale tone, and that she no longer resembled a walking pile of bones.  Her dress had seen better days, but she supposed that if it was the worst casualty after so long—how long had it been, anyway?—then things could be worse.

 

When she the hill’s peak and peered through the darkness, she saw what she thought was the outline of a building in the distance.  The structure was lone, a large and imposing shadow against the rest of the landscape, lit up for the evening with a hum that reminded her of factory and industry.  At the very top of the multi-floored complex was what appeared to be a decorative crescent moon.  Janette did not know it, but she had stumbled across the mobile home fortress of the raiders known as Lunatacs of Plundarr—Skytomb.

 

Not a city, but at least it’s something that might have some prey, she thought, and levitated quickly toward it.  She reached a window with ease and found it quite simple to break open and slip in.  The building, more a fortress she realized once she was inside, was clearly designed to be secure and inaccessible from the ground.  Several stories up however it was apparently not considered much of an issue.  “It is so convenient to be able to fly sometimes,” she murmured to herself, almost startled by the sound of her accented voice.  It had been a long time since she had spoken, after all those years trapped inert in the ground.

 

Once inside she caught the scent of flesh—not human, but not quite animal either.  Her appetite urged at her to seek it out at once.  She was no longer blood crazed, but she was quite hungry, and she did not want to wait much longer.  In a flash she followed the scent and turned the corner to see two large furry creatures, known as brutemen to those of Third Earth, laboring on a machine in the chamber.  The creatures were clearly slaves, shackled by the ankles to the floor to keep them at their posts.

 

“Not exactly human, but they should be more satisfying than a rat,” Janette murmured as she moved in for the kill.  The first creature was down and halfway drained in her clutches before the second even had time to react with more than a cry of alarm.  He tried to run for the door, but the chain on his leg prevented him from doing little more than making a racket. 

 

Janette ignored him until she was finished with the first bruteman, his blood far more rich and savory than that of the fire-pit rodent but still not quite as delectable as the human vintage to which she was accustomed.  Still, it was satisfying, and she drank her fill from the first and had enough appetite left to take the second.  He let out a final cry of distress and flailed helplessly in her grasp as she sank her fangs into his jugular, but soon his struggles ceased and his corpse joined that of his companion on the floor in front of her.

 

“Much better, although I could do without the fur,” Janette said with a mild pout.  She wiped the traces of grimy fur from her lips and stood, now full and quite satisfied.  The vampire relished the feeling of the blood renewing her unnatural flesh and sharpening her senses to the height of power to which she had been accustomed before her long forced sleep.

 

After a few moments her curiosity took over and she went to see what sort of masters the strange furry creatures had.  It occurred to her that a lot of time must have passed for such strange creature-men to be in the mortal world.  Had they evolved naturally?  If so, how many millennia had she survived in that rock?  Or was it less time than that, and they were some kind of genetically engineered species or, even more unbelievably, aliens? 

 

She crept out into the corridor and silently roamed the immense building, which seemed to her even larger now that she was inside its’ twisting and confusing corridors.  Eventually she found an elevator, and she rode it down to a different level to see what she might find there. 

 

As she stepped out, she heard voices coming from a room further down the corridor.  So there are humans here!  And I filled up on those beasts, she grumbled inwardly, displeased with her own impatience.  Now she would have to wait to enjoy the sweet warm rush of their blood.  She supposed it would be worth it, but she still resented having to wait.

 

In the meantime she decided to learn more about them.  Stealthily she approached the doorway, but when she peered inside and saw what was there she gasped audibly in shock.

 

Although the voices she had heard had sounded as though they could belong to a human, the creatures standing in the large room at the end of the hall were anything but.  There were six of them, and each had horns of varying shapes, sizes, and colors upon their heads and a crescent moon—whether it was a tattoo or birthmark she could not tell—upon their foreheads.  Their skin colors were unnatural hues of peach, gray, blue, purple, and even stark white and their hair no less oddly colored.  Their builds too were unlike that of any human, impossibly tall, muscular, or short, and their facial features were no less strange.

 

What are they?

 

She debated whether or not to show herself and approach them, but her gasp had given away her presence and the shortest of the strange beings, Luna, turned toward her sharply atop her mount and pointed in her direction with a riding crop, screeching.  “A human!  In Skytomb!”

 

At Luna’s outburst all of the other Lunatacs turned to face the intruder while Janette tensed.  She did not run, however, as a vampire she was confident she could stand her ground against six mortals easily even if they were some strange sort of alien creature.

 

RedEye’s eyes glowed brightly as his specialized vision scanned the vampire’s comparatively small frame.  “She was the security breach?”

 

“I breached nothing,” Janette informed the darkling haughtily.

 

Alluro glanced at the vampire, wondering why she was not running from them as most humans would—as they should—and cast an annoyed side glance at Luna.  “How did a human get in here anyway?  I thought we disposed of the warrior maiden slaves days ago.”

 

“We did,” TugMug growled.  “Come here girly, come to TugMug!” the graviton said with a leer, raising his carbine.

 

Chilla narrowed her eyes at the uninvited visitor.  “She isn’t one of the warrior maidens. Something seems… off… about her.”

 

“I might say the same of you,” Janette snapped back.  She summoned her natural ability to mesmerize, a trait that all vampires possessed to an extent, and projected her will onto them.  You will not attack me.  You will stay back and tell me what I want to know.  Not unlike it did when Alluro directly forced his will onto a victim, those unprepared for that sort of psychic attack heard her voice echoing in their minds. 

 

The thrall was enough to stun all of the Lunatacs momentarily, although it was simply dumbfounded shock that a human would dare to have the arrogance to even try such a trick against him, master hypnotist of the Moons of Plundarr, that made Alluro give pause.  Not sure whether to be insulted or impressed, the psi mesmerist let out a loud derisive laugh.  “Isn’t that cute?  The human thinks she can mind control us!”

 

Janette’s eyes flashed vampiric yellow and she snarled angrily, baring her teeth.  Her concentration on the thrall waned as she realized she would likely have to deal with the six strangers the hard way.  Vampire mesmeriziation worked best on a one-on-one basis anyhow, and if at least one of them could resist it, there was no point in proceeding with it.  “I am no mere human,” Janette hissed indignantly.  “And who are you to insult me in such a way?”

 

Luna frowned irritably at her.  “You have nerve.  You break into our fortress and have the gall to demand answers from us?  You’re lucky that insulting you is all we have done, but your luck could very easily change, woman.”  She prodded Amok to advance her toward the stranger.  “So tell me, intruder, who are you?  If I’m satisfied by your answer I may let you live.”

 

Janette straightened, although her height was hardly impressive as she towered only over two of the Lunatacs while dwarfed by the other four.  “My name is Janette,” she introduced herself, maintaining a dignified and haughty tone to match Luna’s somewhat civilized approach.  “I am a vampire.  I awoke from beneath the rock in this wasteland in which you live—a wasteland that was once my home—and needed to feed.”  She glanced upwards for a moment.  “By the way, you’ll probably want to replace those furry beasts laboring upstairs.  I was famished and couldn’t stop at just one.”

 

TugMug blinked in astonishment.  “You ate the brutemen?”  He eyed her comparatively small human frame up and down incredulously.  “Where did you put them?”

 

“I didn’t say I ate them, I said I drank their blood,” Janette corrected TugMug.

 

A puzzled, if not somewhat disgusted look crossed RedEye’s features.  “Why?”

 

Luna sighed impatiently.  “She said she was a vampire, you fools.  It should need no explanation.”

 

“What in the name of the Moons is a vampire?” Chilla asked, giving Luna an equally irritated look. 

 

“Have you bothered to learn none of Third Earth’s lore?” Luna huffed disapprovingly. 

 

TugMug rolled his eyes.  “Sorry Luna, some of us have lives and have better things to do than read up on primitive Third Earth legends.” 

 

“Right, and spending time guzzling alcohol and fondling the warrior maiden slaves is so much more productive,” the lunar woman snapped back at the graviton.  “For your information a vampire, supposedly, is a mostly immortal and nocturnal creature originating in the human race back in the time of First Earth that survives by drinking the blood of humans.  According to legend they do not age or get sick, but they can only feed on blood and be out in the night.  Sunlight will kill them.”

 

Alluro laughed.  “That sounds ridiculous, Luna.”

 

“You wouldn’t be laughing if I had my fangs at your throat,” Janette warned the psi with a low tone.  “Your friend is correct in her description.”

 

“Hech, well pardon us for being cynical, vampire, but if you listened to her as many times as we have you would be inclined to question things as well,” RedEye remarked, glancing from Luna to Janette, his arms folded across his chest.

 

Luna scowled at the darkling.  “That’s enough out of you.”

 

Janette looked over the group of Lunatacs, relaxing somewhat as they appeared to be willing to deal with her in a civilized manner for the time being, and addressed them again.  “All right, I’ve told you who I am and why I entered your home without invite—that’s one vampire myth that is a crock, by they way—so could you do me the courtesy of telling me who you are and what this place is?”

 

“Fair enough,” Luna conceded.  “Even though you are—or were—human, you’ve been civilized enough to us to earn that much information, rare enough in the primitive savages we’ve dealt with of that race so far.  We are Lunatacs, from the moons of the planet Plundarr.  We settled on this planet some time ago and circumstances have kept us here,” she explained.  “I am Luna, and this is my mount Amok.”  At the introduction, Amok grunted in response. 

 

Never one to let an opportunity to talk about himself pass, Alluro stepped forward and offered the vampiress a charming, if not arrogant, smile.  “I am Alluro of Mirindet, the Fourth Moon of Plundarr—and the best hypnotist of the Plundarrian Moons and the entire galaxy,” the psi said smoothly, emphasizing his reputation to the vampire that had shown a surprising level of the ability at mesmeriziation herself.  “There is no one on this or any other planet that can resist my mental powers.”

 

“Or top his ego,” TugMug cut in before Janette could respond.  “But I am TugMug, and there is no one on this or any other planet that I can’t kick the ass of, one on one anyway.”

 

Chilla let out a disbelieving snort.  “I wouldn’t mind putting that to the test.”

 

“Nor would Amok, but far be it from me to interrupt TugMug’s attempt at impressing a lady,” Luna muttered with a roll of her eyes.

 

Janette maintained a neutral look, not quite sure what to make of the crew of Lunatacs.  She supposed they were interesting enough if for no other reason than their uniqueness.  She smiled back at Alluro and TugMug once they finished their boastful introductions.  “Pleased to meet you.”  She turned toward Chilla and RedEye with a questioning look.

 

“Don’t be rude, introduce yourselves,” Luna cut in, pointing her crop at the icewalker and darkling.

 

A frosty mist that conveyed her annoyance came from Chilla’s lips as she spoke.  “I’m Chilla of the ice moon.”

 

“RedEye of Noktoraek,” the darkling stated, using the local name of his home moon.

 

“I see,” Janette murmured, still trying to sort out exactly how to react to the fact that she was speaking with alien creatures as casually as she would customers sitting at the bar at the Raven.  “I admit I’ve come across many unique individuals in my thousand years or so of immortality, but you top the list of the most unusual I must say,” she said finally.

 

“A thousand years?” RedEye repeated, surprised at the number.

 

“Old enough to rival Mumm-Ra, but so much more attractive,” Alluro remarked with a smirk.  “It would seem that immortality is much more flattering on the ladies.”

 

Chilla rolled her eyes at the psi’s comment.  She supposed it should not have been much of a surprise that he was laying on the charm to the vampiress, given that Alluro thought he was as irresistible to the ladies as his victims were to his hypnotic powers.  As the only attractive woman in Skytomb and as such the primary focus of his attention for years, Chilla knew that all too well, and it was her experience that it could be either flattering or annoying, and she had called it both many times.

 

Janette however only smiled slightly at the complement and chose to press for information instead.  “Who is Mumm-Ra?”

 

“An immortal, undead demon priest of the Ancient Spirits of Evil,” Luna explained.  “He is hardly our favorite soul on this planet and we’d avoid dealing with him altogether if we could, but he is arguably the most powerful mage on the planet and enlists our help from time to time in getting rid of some sanctimonious Thunderians called Thundercats that live in the lands west of DarkSide.”

 

“I take it you don’t have much choice in dealing with him, then?” Janette guessed.  She had never known an immortal mage and knew little about their powers, but she did understand the arrogance that came with age and great power.  She was honest enough to admit that she had a fair dose of it herself living as an immortal for so long and LaCroix’s attitude was such that it made her look humble.

 

“You don’t say no to Mumm-Ra unless you want to wind up encased in molten rock for a decade or two,” TugMug grumbled, scowling at the thought of Mumm-Ra.

 

“As we found out the hard way, once,” Luna finished.  “A bit of friendly advice, Janette, even if as a vampire you are immortal—avoid him.”

 

Janette nodded and looked over the group of Lunatacs again.  “I will, at least until I learn more about what has happened to the world and how much time has passed.”  She paused a moment and then spoke.  “You have been rather gracious in answering my questions so far.”

 

Chilla, RedEye, and TugMug exchanged odd looks.  They had been called a lot of things over the years, but gracious?  Luna and Alluro, however, seemed to bask in the complement while Amok was oblivious to it while Janette continued.

 

“Might I be able to impose on your time a bit longer to find out a few more things and,” a predatory smile beginning to form on her lips as she thought once again about the taste of some fresh human blood, “the location of the primitive human settlement you mentioned earlier?”

 

Luna glanced at the other Lunatacs to gauge where they stood on the issue, although their opinions held little weight in her decision anyway, and found their expressions largely impassive aside from TugMug’s obvious leer at the vampire woman.  “We could provide you with an alliance of sorts, information and perhaps even shelter if you require it being that you’re new to the area, but what would be in it for us?”

 

“Yes,” RedEye interjected with his harsh voice.  “Lunatacs do nothing for free, and you’ve already gotten nicer treatment than you should for someone who broke into Skytomb and killed our slaves.”

 

Janette nodded evenly.  “It is fair of you to expect compensation, but as you can see I have little in the way of material possessions to offer.  Everything I once owned is long destroyed and buried under the rock I was in for so long.  But I am a vampire, so my talents could provide you with assistance perhaps, so if there is a service I could offer in exchange for your help that is within reason, I will gladly agree.”

 

TugMug wheeled over to her.  “Vampires are immortal, right?  You can fight?”

 

Before he could say another word, TugMug felt a rush of wind and incredible pressure, and found himself seconds later pinned against the closest wall with Janette’s body pressed against his.  Her formerly human-looking eyes were now aglow and colored an eerie yellowish green, and her lips were drawn back in a feral snarl.  Surprised, RedEye and Alluro drew their weapons while Chilla and Amok tensed to attack the presumptuous vampire for attacking a Lunatac, but Luna held out her crop to hold them back. 

 

Janette straightened and released TugMug, smiling confidently as her features relaxed into their normal, more human state.  “Was that sufficient enough demonstration?” she inquired gently.

 

TugMug eyed the vampire woman up and down, trying to decide if he was impressed, spooked, or just regretful that he hadn’t had much of a chance to enjoy the sensation of her lithe female body pressed against his own.  “You’re stronger than you look.”

 

“She’d have to be to move your fat mass,” Chilla rasped, relaxing her fighting stance and finding herself impressed with the speed with which the vampire had moved. 

 

“More momentum from speed than actual strength,” Janette clarified.  “But as you can see, we vampires do have a fair amount of strength and can move very quickly.  We can also levitate, fly, and drain blood from our victims at such speeds.  And we are incredibly durable in battle, so long as it is at night or indoors.”

 

Luna smiled approvingly.  “So I see the descriptions of vampire abilities that I’ve read are more accurate than exaggeration.  That could be very useful to us.  We Lunatacs are skilled warriors and strategists ourselves, but sadly it is numbers that keep us from besting our enemies, the Thundercats.  They outnumber us nearly two to one and have a magic sword that turns the odds against even our superior fighting abilities and technology.  One would think Mumm-Ra’s magic or the occasional alliance with his lackeys the Mutants would even them up, but they can not be trusted to do as they’re told and act stupidly more often than not.  Another fighter in our crew, especially one as durable as you, however, would be quite an advantage.”

 

Luna prodded Amok and had him take her a few steps closer to Janette while she continued.  “If we were to give you information, grant you shelter, and form this alliance, know that you would be expected to replace the slaves you killed promptly and to respect my leadership as my crew does.”

 

“That sounds reasonable,” Janette conceded.

 

“And,” Luna continued, “under no circumstances are you to even consider feeding off of, biting, or attacking one of us.  The rest of my crew may not know what the weaknesses of your kind are, but I know enough of them from what I’ve read, and at any sign of treachery you will be put in your place.”

 

“If humans are abundant still in this world then I certainly have no reason to attack my hosts.  I may be a vampire but I’m hardly uncivilized, and rudeness of that magnitude would be beneath me,” Janette replied haughtily.

 

“Good, I’m glad we understand each other then,” Luna replied.  “Welcome to Skytomb.”

 

* * *

 

Far from both DarkSide and Cat’s Lair, the third vampire, the one that went by the name of Lucien LaCroix, was busy revitalizing his system with the blood of every sentient creature in his path.  The oldest by far of the three vampires, his system recovered the most quickly, but his appetite for blood after so many years without was as voracious as the years in his life were long.

 

Like Janette, LaCroix was not satisfied to subsist on animals and craved the delightful taste and texture of hot human blood upon his lips.  He came across some strange creatures, not quite animal nor human—ones he would later find were called Balkans—and found them a nice step above animal and pleasing enough to his palate in comparison to lower forms of life, but even still they could not compare to his favorite.  There was no replacement for what he considered the best, after all.

 

Eventually LaCroix’s vampire instincts led him to catch the scent on the wind of the human women dwelling within the Tree Top Kingdom.  He smiled widely, the moonlight reflecting of his pointed fangs and highlighting his features in a chilling portrait of cultured bloodlust.

 

“Ahhh, good, so there are humans to feed on in this wild wasteland of a world.  And here I was beginning to think I truly had gone to Hell as so many have wished I would over the years.”

 

In a flash the ancient vampire flew across the darkened skies, honing in on the scent like a predator closing in on its prey.  Soon he spied a lone warrior maiden standing on a rudimentary platform high in the branches of an old oak.  A small lit torch was affixed to a post on the edge of the structure, indicating it as some sort of watch station.  The unfortunate woman had no idea that she was being stalked until it was far too late and the hungry vampire was on the platform behind her.

 

The sensation of a rush of wind and a terrible feeling of dread caused the scout to gasp in alarm and turn around.  She found herself face to face with what appeared to be a human man, aged somewhere late in his third decade or early in his fourth, with short blond hair.  His clothing, dark and cultured for the era of First Earth from which he had come, was strange to the warrior maiden, and his calculating smile and intense gaze completely frightening to her.

 

“Who are you?” the warrior maiden demanded with an indignant, but clearly frightened, gasp.  All warrior maiden scouts were well trained by their peers and elders, and their instincts and senses were naturally sharp due to their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, so it was very hard for the average intruder to sneak up on them, especially high in a tree where she surely would have heard him climbing.

 

“One who hunts creatures such as you,” LaCroix replied, his eyes already reverted to vampire state as he prepared to take her.  Normally he liked to do these sorts of things with style, but he was hungry and it had been years.  “Surrender to me willingly and I will spare you any pain.”

 

Before she could react he had her in a tight embrace, her arms pinned behind her back and her head thrust back, exposing the tender flesh of her neck to him.  The scent of her fear, outrage, and panic was upon her skin and he could almost taste the warm rush of her blood as he closed his cold lips around the side of her neck.  She flailed, crying out weakly in protest and then pain as his fangs sank into her skin, but she was no match for his strength.  Her cries and struggles weakened and fell silent within moments as the hungry vampire drained the last of the blood and life from her body.

 

When he was finished he laid her down on the platform against the side of the tree and smiled down at her lifeless form.  “And I must thank you, my dear, for sharing with me the best meal I’ve had in years.”

 

Satiated and satisfied for the time being, LaCroix looked up at the sky.  “Now to set about exploring this strange new world,” he murmured, and as quickly as he had come, he vanished off into the night again.

 

* * *

 

The Thundercats, Lunatacs, and even the unlucky warrior maiden were not the only ones aware of the newly awakened vampire presences on Third Earth.  Miles away, deep in the desolate desert of sinking sands, the spectral canine familiar Ma-Mutt pawed at the base of the stone sarcophagus in which his master was asleep, barking softly to arouse him.

 

There was a creak as the ancient stone slid aside to reveal the withered mummy form of Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, his red eyes alit with both irritation and curiosity as he regarded his pet.  Ma-Mutt was his watchdog, and rarely awoke him without reason, and as he glanced down the walkway to his cauldron he soon saw the reason for the dog’s excitement.  The cauldron was aglow with supernatural energy.  “The Ancient Ones have a vision for me, do they, Ma-Mutt?” Mumm-Ra murmured, bending over to regard his dog with a pat on the head before walking to the edge of the pool. 

 

Mumm-Ra raised his arms and recited the incantation to summon the vision, and peered into the scrying waters as it took form.  The image of LaCroix feeding upon the warrior maiden in the Tree Top Kingdom played out in front of him in full detail.  The vision not only showed him the events transpiring but also gave him a sense of the vampire’s powers, which intrigued him.  “A vampire… few of them have survived since the time of First Earth,” Mumm-Ra mused.  “But there is great power and evil within that one, attributes that can be harnessed to our advantage, I imagine, or the Ancient Spirits of Evil would not have shown him to us.”

 

As the waters calmed, Mumm-Ra recited an arcane chant to call forth another vision, this time asking for more information on the vampire himself.  Flashes of LaCroix’s past, from his mortal life as a general in the ancient First Earth city of Pompeii to his last waking immortal moments in the long-dead city of Toronto gave Mumm-Ra the insight and knowledge he sought.  “This LaCroix is an old vampire, perhaps the oldest to still survive.  As such, he would be very powerful indeed,” he said to his pet, who sat attentively at his feet.  “A vampire that old would be a formidable enemy to the Thundercats and perhaps a useful ally to us.”

 

The immortal mage looked down at his dog, who obediently stared back at him, awaiting instruction.  “Ma-Mutt, I want you to find him and lead him here.  I wish to speak with him… this vampire called LaCroix.”

 

Understanding his orders, Ma-Mutt stood immediately, gave his master an obedient bark, and took off through the small opening in the top of the onyx pyramid and into the dark night.

 

* * *

 

Back at the Cat’s Lair, WilyKit and WilyKat along with their vampire guest came through the grand front doors only to be greeted by a stern Snarf and Cheetara.  “Do you have any idea what time it is?” Snarf demanded of the kittens as the three came in, ignoring the visitor for the time being until his question was answered.

 

Cheetara however noticed Nick immediately and before either kitten could answer, fired a second question at them after eyeing him curiously.  “And who is your friend?”

 

“If you give us a second we’ll tell you,” WilyKat answered, a sulky edge to his voice.

 

“This is Nick,” WilyKit said to Cheetara and Snarf.  “We were late getting back because we met him in the woods and got to talking to him.”  She turned to Nick for a moment and then back to the cheetah and snarf as she introduced them.  “Nick, these are our friends and fellow Thundercats Cheetara and Snarf.  Cheetara, Snarf, this is Nick.”

 

Nick smiled politely.  “Nice to meet you.”

 

Cheetara met the vampire’s eyes for a moment and felt a tingling of something strange with her sixth sense.  It was an uneasy feeling, as though there was a sort of darkness attached to the man, but not the same sort of darkness she might associate with Mumm-Ra or an evil presence.  It was more like a taint of spirit or soul, mingled with light and warmth.  It made her feel cautious, but not threatened.  “Likewise,” Cheetara murmured.

 

The vampire sensed a similar flash as Cheetara’s sixth sense warned her of his nature, although he could not classify it as his awareness was not like the cheetah’s natural psychic gift.  He was only aware that she sensed something, and that made Nick slightly alert.  Mortal reactions to what he was were usually ones of fear—and justified at that—and adults were generally not as open or trusting as children.

 

Snarf, however, was still more concerned with the kittens’ irresponsibility than he was with Nick himself.  “Hello,” the snarf said flatly before turning back to the twins.  “Schnarf, making new friends is a good thing, but there’s still no reason you couldn’t call and let us know you were safe.  We were all worried.”

 

WilyKat sighed apologetically.  “Sorry Snarf, we just lost track of time.”

 

“Yeah, sorry,” WilyKit echoed.

 

The conversation was interrupted when Tygra came down the stairs.  “Welcome back,” the tiger greeted the two kids with a friendly but pointed look.  “Glad to see you finally made it home.”

 

“Tygra, we were just introducing Snarf and Cheetara to our new friend Nick,” WilyKit said to Tygra.  “We met him in the woods earlier tonight.”

 

“And he’s a vampire!” WilyKat exclaimed enthusiastically.

 

“A what?” Snarf asked.

 

“A vampire,” Nick told the elder Thundercats and snarf.  “An immortal.  I survive off the blood of the living in the night.”

 

The other Thundercats exchanged looks.  Cheetara realized that if what he said was true, it would certainly explain the dark sense she perceived about him, while Tygra took a few steps up to join them by the door.  “I’ve heard of such creatures, but I thought they were only legend.  We have never encountered any.”

 

Nick nodded.  “So your young friends have told me.  Don’t worry, I haven’t harmed them, and I have no intention of harming any of you.”

 

“He only hunts animals, like we do for food,” WilyKat explained.

 

“Except for blood of course,” WilyKit added.

 

Cheetara turned toward Snarf.  “Snarf, could you please go find Lion-O and Panthro and have them meet us in the council room?  I think it would be most appropriate if we had this introduction and discussion there.”

 

“But—” Snarf began to argue, for he not only still wanted to reinforce to the kittens that they had no business being out so late without calling, but also because he wanted to hear more about their strange friend.

 

Tygra nodded firmly in agreement with Cheetara.  “I think that would be a good idea.  Snarf, last I saw they were down in the hangar going over the Thundertank’s latest modifications.  We’ll show Nick upstairs.”

 

The twins beamed while Snarf sighed, clearly outvoted.  “All right, Tygra, snarf snarf.  I’ll go get them.”  He turned sharply toward the kittens for a moment before starting his way down the hall.  “But I want you two to remember to be more responsible.  You’ve got no right to leave us worrying about you for no reason.”

 

WilyKit and WilyKat nodded silently and contritely to Snarf, and then followed Tygra and Cheetara up the stairs to the council room, Nick alongside them. 

 

Nick meanwhile took in the new surroundings, impressed by the architecture of the massive cat-shaped fortress and intrigued by the humanoid felines.  As they made their way through the halls to the council room, he briefly answered Cheetara and Tygra’s questions about where he had come from and explained his circumstances as he had to the Thunderkittens.  He was both pleased and relieved that they seemed relatively unafraid of him—more curious than anything else—and took the seat Tygra offered him at the round table inscribed with the scarlet and black cat’s head insignia in the center. 

 

A minute or so later, Thundercats Lion-O and Panthro came in with Snarf behind them.  Lion-O approached the vampire stranger first and extended his hand cordially.  “Hello Nick, and welcome to Cat’s Lair.  I’m Lord Lion-O, and this is Panthro.”

 

“Good to meet you,” Panthro said with a friendly nod.

 

“Snarf has told me a bit about you, and that you met WilyKit and WilyKat this evening.”

 

“Yes, they were very helpful and friendly to me, as you all have been,” Nick replied warmly to the lion.  “I came out of a long sleep… although with as much time as I imagined has passed, you might call it a coma or stasis, I suppose.  Your friends stumbled upon me in the woods.  They helped clear up a few questions for me and invited me back here to learn more.”  He paused, debating whether or not to add his next thought, but decided to go ahead with it anyway.  “They also told me you might be able to offer me… assistance… with my condition.”

 

“What condition?” Panthro asked.

 

“My vampirism.”

 

“You don’t like what you are?” Cheetara questioned.  That particular aspect of what Nick was had not come up in the short discussion Nick had with her and Tygra on the way up to the council room.

 

“But you’re immortal,” WilyKat said, also confused. 

 

“It’s not all you think it might be,” Nick said quietly to the young Thundercat.  Although earlier Nick had explained that he did not like killing to the Thunderkittens, he had not gone into the full details of how he wanted to be cured of the condition altogether and regain his mortality.  At first it was because he saw no point in burdening relative strangers that might decide to hate him anyway when they learned what he truly was with it, but the longer he spoke with the Thundercats, the more confident he felt in their sympathetic natures.  It had also occurred to him that there was the hope that their advanced alien technology might have an answer that the old human world he had left behind all those years ago did not.  If they had learned to travel great distances through space, perhaps their medical techniques were equally advanced.  It occurred to him that if he was cured, and Natalie’s soul still existed to see him on some plane, it might make her happy to see him cured even if she had been unable to achieve the goal herself.

 

“I lived for over eight hundred years before First Earth was destroyed,” Nick continued.  “In that time I saw a lot of amazing and impressive things, but I also saw—and caused—a lot of pain and suffering.  I didn’t always live on animals, I used to hunt people—other humans—like the rest of my kind did.  In my earlier years I might very well have looked at all of you as prey rather than individuals.”  He paused.  “It became hard to live like that, and live with myself, night after night, especially when I saw the pain the death caused or I grew to care for some of the mortals.  Some vampires become hardened to that, others aren’t bothered by it, and others revel in the immortal lifestyle, being above the natural laws and order of things,” he explained.  “You also have to understand that our physical drives and desires are very strong.  The primal urge of hunger we feel every night is comparable to that of a mortal starving or thirsting after being denied for days.  The drive to kill and feed is nearly uncontrollable, but it eventually reached a point with me where the guilt was almost as unbearable as the hunger—hence my choice to feed only off of animals and only as much as necessary.”

 

“Killing is wrong, but if you know what you’ve done and have taken steps to atone for it, that’s a start in the right direction,” Cheetara offered.  The mixed signal her sixth sense had gotten from the vampire earlier now made perfect sense to her.  A light soul shrouded in darkness was what she picked up on, and what stood before her that very moment.  She felt a surge of sympathy for him as she tried to contemplate what an existence like his must be like.  It was hard for her to understand, but she knew it must not be easy to force oneself to act so contrary to one’s nature.

 

Lion-O listened to the vampire’s story and stroked his chin thoughtfully.  “And you were hoping we might be able to help you?”

 

“I’ll try almost anything,” Nick admitted.  “But even if that isn’t possible, I still appreciate all of your hospitality toward me so far.”

 

Tygra folded his hands and leaned forward on the council table.  “I’d like to talk with Pumyra a bit and see if she knows anything about a condition like this in what healing techniques she knows, but even if she can’t offer any input, we might be able to create a formula of some sort of artificial blood or plasma that could sate your blood hunger and curb the stronger drives of your condition.”

 

“That’s a good idea, Tygra,” Lion-O agreed.  “Actually, maybe we should send a call over to the Tower of Omens and let them know about this.  Maybe we can set up a chance for them to meet and talk to Nick as well.”

 

“I’ll do it,” WilyKit volunteered.  When Lion-O nodded an approval to her, she excused herself from the room to head to the control room to make the call.

 

Lion-O then returned his attention to Nick.  “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to help you, given your circumstances, I’m sure being new to this world on top of the other things troubling you has got to be very stressful.  Things have been quiet for us lately overall, and we’re always willing to help our friends here on Third Earth—which I would hope we can call you after this,” he said with a smile.

 

“Certainly,” Nick agreed, mirroring the friendly expression.  “And if there’s something I can do to reciprocate I will gladly do so.”

 

WilyKat looked to the older Thundercats.  “Do you think Nick could stay with us?  I mean, he doesn’t have a home yet, and we do have a bunch of guest rooms.  He’ll need somewhere to stay when it’s light out.”

 

Before Lion-O could answer, Nick spoke up, realizing the boy’s impulsiveness might put the Thundercats in an awkward position, and he did not want to alienate them by seeming too presumptuous.  “If that isn’t possible, I understand,” the vampire cut in.  “You have no reason to trust me and I won’t take offense if you feel safer with me elsewhere.”

 

Cheetara eyed the vampire evenly, trying to use her innate cheetah intuition to decide if he could be trusted or not.  She heard only sincerity in his words and did not have any sense of deception or malicious intent, which made her inclined to allow him to stay as a guest if he wished.  Cat’s Lair was a safe place, and after the few unfortunate incidents they’d had in the past with “friendly” visitors that proved false as well as the additional means they had developed to deal with attacks in general, their security was better than ever.  “If he needs a place to stay, I think there would be no harm in allowing him here as a guest,” she told Lion-O.  “It might be easier for Tygra and Pumyra to help him if they could reach him whenever they needed and not have to worry about him traveling during the day to get to wherever their equipment is.”

 

“Your intuition has always been pretty good, Cheetara,” Lion-O said with a smile.  “Tygra, Panthro, Snarf what do you think?”

 

“If Cheetara and you feel all right with it, I don’t see why we can’t give him a chance,” Panthro said.  “Though I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mess with our control room or my Thundertank if you don’t know what you’re doing,” he warned with a good natured, but serious tone.

 

Nick nodded.  “I understand completely, and I’ll respect your wishes.” 

 

“Well I’d appreciate it if you don’t mess up my kitchen either,” Snarf added.  “But other than that, I don’t mind, snarf snarf.”

 

“Not a problem,” Nick agreed.  “I don’t eat food anyway—just the blood.  My stomach can’t handle regular food.  Oh, and before any of you ask, no, I won’t bite any of you.  Even if you make me mad,” he said with a light smile.

 

“Well it sounds like we all agree then,” Tygra said, “since I pretty much echo your sentiments on it.  In that case, welcome to Cat’s Lair, Nick.”

 

“Yes, we’re pleased to have you as our guest,” Lion-O added.  “Snarf, can you make him up a room tonight?”

 

Snarf bounced up on his tail in his chair.  “Sure can, snarf snarf.”

 

“I have one other question though,” Panthro said, looking at Nick.  “You woke up today during that earthquake and were able to climb out of the mountain.  Do you think any others like you might have done the same?  Any friends of yours or anyone you knew?”

 

Nick sighed.  “To tell the truth, I don’t know.  There were a fair number of vampires in Toronto before, well before it was destroyed.  Some I knew only in passing, others I knew very well,” he said, his thoughts turning once again to LaCroix and Janette.  “Sometimes we can sense one other, especially if we were close or have the bond, but we have to be somewhat close in proximity and actively feeling for it to be very reliable.  But if I could survive all this time, it’s very likely that ones as old as I am or older did as well, although if they escaped the rock or not I couldn’t tell you.”

 

WilyKat eyed him curiously.  “Psychic powers you mean?  Is that what the bond is?”

 

“In a way,” Nick clarified.  “The vampire that brings you across—which is what we call it when your mortality is taken from you and you’re turned into one of my kind—becomes a part of you, in a way.  They bring your blood into them, and I suppose that’s where it starts, and while it happens you become one with them for a short time.  Afterward, the fledgling—the new vampire—will often feel a sort of influence from the one that brought them over.  How long that lasts depends on the individuals, of course, but sometimes it is very strong, especially if they spend many years together as some of us do.  The one who brought me across was very old and rather controlling.”  Too controlling, Nick added silently before continuing.  “During all eight hundred years of my immortal life, very little time passed where I did not see him regularly, and I spent many years with him and another vampire he brought across.”

 

He paused for a moment, feeling a pang of regret when he realized he might actually never see either LaCroix or Janette again.  “The funny thing is, there times I would have been happy never to see either of them again—especially LaCroix, the one who brought me across—but now that it seems like it might have actually happened I’m not sure what I feel about it.”

 

“Eight hundred years is an incomprehensibly long time to know some one, that’s for sure,” Tygra said contemplatively.  “Even if you had your issues with them, it would be hard to adjust to not having them there, I would imagine.”

 

Nick nodded.  “I didn’t see eye to eye with either of them, that’s for sure.  They were both vampires that delighted in what they were, and savored the killing and drinking of blood.  Mortal life meant very little to them.  Mortals were playthings, amusement, rather than feeling entities.  They encouraged me to try to see them the same way, to get rid of my guilt.  I never could, though.”  He sighed once again.  “And they certainly did not understand my wanting to regain my own mortality.  LaCroix actively loathed the thought, and sabotaged me every chance he got.”

 

“That sounds very stressful, especially coming from those who would care most about you,” Cheetara said.

 

“But if you look at it one way, being immortal did save your life long enough to bring you through all those years of First Earth to Third, so it did have its advantage in that,” Lion-O pointed out optimistically.  “And we will do our best to help you.”

 

At that point, WilyKit came back in.  “I got in touch with the Tower of Omens, and they said they would like to meet him soon.  Maybe tomorrow if there’s time.”

 

“Snarf snarf, well in that case maybe we ought to call it a night and relax,” Snarf suggested.  “I’ll go start setting up your room, Nick.”

 

“Thank you, Snarf,” the vampire replied, and then glanced at Cheetara, who seemed to be staring distractedly at the table.

 

Nick was not the only one that noticed Cheetara’s odd expression.  Tygra tapped her gently on the shoulder.  “Cheetara?  Are you all right?”

 

She looked up and met Nick’s gaze.  “I was thinking about what you said, Nick, about the other vampires… and I felt something strange.  I know you said you couldn’t sense anything—but I did.”

 

“Your sixth sense?” WilyKat questioned.

 

The cheetah nodded.  “I have the gift of second sight, a sixth sense of intuition and visions,” she explained to Nick.  “And when you mentioned your companions, it was like my sixth sense began to search and reach… and caught the hint of something.  Something old, something dark—not unlike what I felt about you when I first looked into your eyes downstairs a little while ago.”

 

“I had a feeling of something like that when you looked at me,” Nick admitted.  “I didn’t know what it was, but I had a sense that you had seen something, but I didn’t know what.”

 

Cheetara studied the vampire’s eyes again.  “It wasn’t hostile, but I saw a darkness of sorts, mingled with light.  I didn’t understand the significance of it until you explained a bit more about yourself to us.  But I can tell you what I felt a moment ago was not like you.  The darkness was stronger, and the light faint if it existed at all beneath it.  It held a sense of danger, of threat.”

 

Nick felt a surge of both relief and dread at Cheetara’s words.  “If it was LaCroix or Janette you felt, then you would be wise to feel threatened.  They are not like me.”

 

“You said you were immortal, Nick, but does your kind have weaknesses other than sunlight?” Panthro questioned. 

 

The other Thundercats also looked to Nick for an answer.  “I assure you we would do nothing dishonorable against you—you are our friend,” Lion-O assured him, “but if we’re attacked by someone who can’t be killed, we would need to know what defense we might have.  The only immortal we’ve fought is Mumm-Ra and his only notable weakness anymore is his pyramid or light magic, such as that within of our Eye of Thundera.”

 

“Mirrors used to defeat him by making him see the evil in his own reflection, but that doesn’t work anymore, we found out the hard way,” WilyKit added with a frown.

 

Nick chuckled at the mention of mirrors.  “I don’t know what sort of immortal Mumm-Ra is, but mirrors don’t hurt vampires either.  We can’t even see our reflection in them.  It is a way to tell if an individual is immortal, though.”

 

“Must be rough when it comes time to groom your hair then,” Tygra remarked wryly.

 

Absently Nick reached up to smooth his thick mane of dark blond hair.  “Well, my hair always had a mind of its own anyway, even back in my mortal days,” he replied with a smirk before reverting to a more serious tone.  “But to answer your question, the sunlight is our biggest weakness.  Fire can also harm us, we can burn, but only sunlight guarantees our death.  A fire has to be very thorough to destroy one of us, especially an old vampire.  We also don’t like garlic.  It won’t kill us, but it stings if we touch it and the smell is enough to drive us away.  Crosses, or any religious artifact presented to us in faith, will also give us pause.  I’ve held crosses, and they will burn my skin, but not necessarily stop me.  A stake through the heart will also do it, although as with the fire, it’s not a guarantee in an older vampire if he can remove it in time.  Our bodies heal very quickly.”

 

“Crosses are from an extinct First Earth religion, right?” Cheetara asked.

 

Tygra nodded an affirmative.  “Yes, but the humans that practiced it are long vanished.  I doubt you would find many such artifacts now unless ruins were searched.”

 

“Yeah, Mumm-Ra’s about the only thing left from First Earth around here,” Panthro added.

 

The conversation was cut short when the Sword of Omens let out a loud and warning growl.  Immediately Lion-O withdrew the mystic sword from the claw shield and held up the hilt.  “The eye!” he exclaimed.  “Something has happened. Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight!”

 

“That’s the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera is the glowing stone in the hilt,” WilyKat explained to Nick, who watched the Thundercat Lord with curiosity.

 

His gaze fixed upon the holes within the hilt of the Sword of Omens, Lion-O saw a vision of warrior maidens crying out over the body of a fallen scout with two puncture wounds in her neck, the same scout upon which LaCroix had fed earlier that evening.  “A warrior maiden has been killed—bitten in the neck,” Lion-O said grimly.

 

“Warrior maiden?” Nick asked, fighting back a very familiar feeling, one he’d had many times over the years and especially during his final ones in Toronto.

 

“They’re a tribe of human women that lives near here.  The Tree Top Kingdom, their forest home, is the largest human settlement on this part of Third Earth,” Panthro explained.

 

A resigned and depressed feeling came over Nick as he realized that Cheetara’s hunch that other vampires had been freed along with him was a reality.  “I see.” Was it you, LaCroix, or was it Janette? Nick wondered silently.

 

Cheetara echoed Nick’s thoughts in that she regretted that her sixth sense had been proven accurate in such a terrible way.  “Looks like you were right after all.”

 

“We need to investigate it,” Lion-O asserted, standing, and the other Thundercats as well as Nick followed suit. 

 

“I would like to go if that’s all right,” Nick stated.  “If it is a vampire, it might well be one I know, and I would like to speak with them.”

 

“Think you can convince them warrior maidens shouldn’t be considered food?”

 

“I doubt it, but I’ll try,” Nick said, and sighed.  Thousands of years, and still nothing had changed but the names of the humans the other vampires fed upon.

 

* * *

 

The Thundercats were so distracted with Nick’s arrival and the subsequent threat of an additional and hostile vampire on Third Earth that they failed to realize that Skytomb had left DarkSide and was tracking their movements. 

 

Once Janette had agreed to help the Lunatacs dispense with the Thundercats, Luna had been quick to formulate a plan involving an assault on the Tower of Omens, but the Lunatacs wanted to speak with the Mutants before proceeding.  Luna had not yet decided whether they would attack that night or not, but she had ordered that they move all of Skytomb rather than merely the Lunattacker and Ice Runner just in case it proved opportune to strike sooner rather than later. 

 

The Lunatacs were on their way to Castle Plundarr when RedEye caught the signal of the Thundercat vehicles leaving Cat’s Lair.  Curious as to what had them riled up, and knowing full well that the Mutants were at home in their castle, the darkling quickly began scanning all the frequencies until he intercepted a transmission between the felines.  When he had enough information, he paged the others to come to the control room.

 

“What did you find out, RedEye?” Luna demanded once all six Lunatacs as well as their new vampire ally, Janette, were assembled in the room.

 

“Several of the Thundercats have left their Lair and the Tower of Omens,” RedEye informed them.  “The transmission said something about a murdered warrior maiden, and that they’re going to investigate it.”

 

“We should strike at their Lair or Tower while they’re unoccupied then,” Chilla suggested.  “A skeleton crew should be easy to overpower with Skytomb.”

 

“But not easy to hold once taken, especially since we would have to disburse to man both Skytomb and the stolen base, and you can be certain they would be striking back with a vengeance from outside, likely with help from their weak little allies on this planet,” Luna pointed out.  “We’ve seen it before.  The primitives may be nothing to us but with enough numbers anything can be overwhelming.”

 

Alluro leaned against the console.  “So what did you have in mind, Luna?”

 

A calculating and devious smile crossed Luna’s features.  “If they’re investigating a killing it means they are likely to leave their vehicles behind and go into the woods armed only with basic weapons.  We can park Skytomb near Castle Plundarr, and then go in foot and meet with the Mutants.  From there we can tactically split up and ambush the Thundercats in the woods.  We’ll dispense of what felines we can on the ground—and perhaps allow our friend Janette to sample some Thunderian blood if she so pleases—and then we will attack their bases and deal with the few Thundercats that remain.  With no backup to fall on, the Cat’s Lair and Tower of Omens will fall quickly.”

 

“A sound enough plan,” RedEye conceded.  “I will contact the Mutants about it now and have them get ready.”  The darkling then reached for the communication console and sent a transmission while the conversation continued around him.

 

TugMug grinned.  “And it will be fun.  Maybe we can grab a couple of warrior maidens to replace the brutemen while we’re there.”

 

“I know why you want to replace the warrior maidens, and it’s not for heavy labor,” Chilla pointed out with frosty tone of disgust.

 

“If it’s all the same, I’d rather you didn’t keep temptation right under my nose,” Janette said, smoothing her hair into place. 

 

“Forget your nose, I’d rather not keep them under TugMug’s,” Luna retorted.  “Or under anything else of his for that matter.”

 

TugMug bounced, frowning at the insult.  “They should be so lucky as to be TugMug’s personal slaves.”

 

Ignoring TugMug’s indignation, Chilla nodded in a rare agreement with her short leader.  “Being fed on by Janette would probably be a preferable fate.  At least that’s what I’d pick,” she hissed sarcastically, and then shot a warning look at Janette.  “Not that it’s an invitation to bite me.”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Chilla,” the vampire responded with a light laugh.

 

Alluro smirked and leered at the two.  “But what a sight it would be, hmm?”

 

The psi’s innuendo and the subsequent mental image was enough to get TugMug over the sting of Chilla’s barb and to plaster a lewd grin on his face.  “Oh, yes!”

 

RedEye turning around to tell them that the arrangements with the Mutants were done and that the landing sequence was initiated was a welcome interruption for Luna.  “Excellent,” the lunar leader stated.  “Everyone gather your weapons and get ready.  If all goes well,