Halloween 2005 (2)

The knocking grew louder and became more ominous within a few minutes, until finally a strange tingling sound, like little bells or chimes being struck sounded as well. It was at that moment that even the few who were uncertain of what they were witnessing was in fact the hatching. Most gazes returned to the crystal pillars and indeed, small tears were appearing on the surfaces of the pained individuals that seemed to be locked inside the stone. Chips of rock fell off, or obliterated into nothing as the forces within rose to a climax.
The first figurine slid from her stone casket, a female vampire with a pale, unhealthy complexion, dark hair and a lips that begged to be kissed. Though they were full and alluring, they seemed rather bloodless. Two big dark eyes looking innocent, slithered over the candidates and finally rested on Haat.
"You have something to say about my appearance?" the dragoness asked.
"Just that I wouldn't leave my dungeon looking like that. Lipgloss, it exists, use it." Haat answered in her usual 'I am not blond, but I might as well try' attitude. Appearance after all was everything, not in the least to trap naive humans. It was a way of survival, just like her attitude.
With remarkable speed, considering her long stay in cold rock, the lady vampire approached Haat. For a moment all humans lost track of her, but more than enough eyes could follow her path and saw the hungry vampiress reach for and suck Haat's wrist.
When motion returned to normal speeds the vampiress had let go of Haat's arm, only to get even closer, looking ferociously at Haat's neck, "Should I try drinking more? Or am I presentable with the little I took just now?"
Haat softly pushed the vampiress away. "You would like to see me drained lifeless, Vergan'klyk? Don't tell me you'll always do this if you're hungry."
"I might eat on my own... when I feel like it." the haughty dragoness replied, "We'll see."
Haat was ready to form a snappy reply about just who was in charge, but before she could open her mouth, Vergan'klyk clapped her hands and within seconds two puffs of smoke exploded into the cavern from which two, faintly kangaroo-looking half-dragons hopped forth. One of them was completely white, a female named Gana, the other was light grey, also female and dubbed Hellnu by Vergan'klyk as she had summoned them. The names really weren't necessary, but it seemed a custom around these parts to name every dragon, no matter how low the rank.
"I thrust you'll find these matching my outfit?" Vergan'klyk sneered.
"Why not green, or rotting?" Haat sneered back before she was pulled back by her mentor Doortra who thought his pupil had shown enough of her childish attitude for the day. Haat protested a few seconds more, but then, scowling, followed Vergan'klyk out to hunt, brought to obedience by whatever magic formula Doortra had used on her.
The chimes sounded again and two more statues broke to pieces in front of the eagerly waiting vampires. Well, as eager as a bunch of stiffs can get. The ones that had broken free were two male vampires this time, one had the dark rusty skin of dried blood, while the other was almost completely black in colour. It was this black vampire that moved first. Slowly, almost prowling to Alexis, one of the sibling vampires. His eyes flared coolly as he took in the vampire that stood before him. Alexis was intelligent, the brains behind the pranks he and his sister Lucia had played when they were younger, but also the one less prone to take risks. All in all, he didn't seem as prone to violence as some of the other vampires... a pity.
"What is?" Alexis asked.
Necrose grinned, "The only flaw in your character. We'll have to work on that. Risks are after all what makes the blood flow and what gets the adrenaline pumping. You should enjoy the rush."
Necrose's eyes flickered faintly for a moment before he took a sip of blood from Alexis' wrist. Just enough to keep his head clear for the hunt, he wasn't a beggar. In his wake a small group of three hounds appeared, only one would remain by his side as his servant, but it never hurt to think in advance. There was another vampire to hatch soon and join their party...
The other male at the mean time had been looking over the group, casting glances at each vampire, shaking his head and mumbling to himself. Clearly, the brown-red-coloured vampire thought much of himself as he referred to himself as 'we'. "We should not choose that one, he'll pull us down." "We could not live with that one." "Hell no..."
Finally his eyes settled on Kenny and for a moment lingered there. "Perhaps."
In the blink of an eye, the vampire stood beside Kenny, who shocked, tried to get away a bit. Alas the cavern wall was right behind him and escape was impossible. The vampire-dragon looked deep into Kenny's eyes and pondered.
"One, you are a very cowardly vampire. But you are also smart. Two, there will be other cowardly vampires if I can see one here, cowards who can't stand the sight of blood like you and who will grovel before you (me) to buy your instant blood. Three, Coward vampires are nerdy and thus smart. Four, Smart slaves make more opportunities for global, nay universal business domination." Hepar chuckled evilly, "The world won't know what hit it!" Planting a kiss in Kenny's neck, nearly sucking him bone-dry, Hepar dragged the limp vampire out. It didn't matter anyway, Kenny's blood supply was only yards away. Three shadows poofed randomly behind the two of them, one beige female and two males, one brown, one grey with names that were both an ominous prediction and an ironic joke of Kenny's future life, Eternal Suffering.
Strange noises pulled the attention of the waiting crowd inwards, the high-pitched scratching sound, like nails on a blackboard pierced through the air, causing more than one human to raise their hands to their ears. Finally crystal shattered and a black vampiress, with red-brownish braids and a viciously bloodlust gaze in her eyes stepped out from the salt pillar. She looked around, smirked and then said: "Mine isn't here right now. I'm sure mine was otherwise detained, but still , I'll need to punish." 
With a scary chuckle the vampire dragoness conjured two servant hound dragons who were immediately entrusted with carrying any luggage she would acquire around Lantessama for the trip. The dragon strode graciously toward the waiting Laedrysses and with eyes glowing of mischief and bloodlust said: "I shall go to Cy Dragonstake for the time being. I'll send in the form of adoption later. For now it'll suffice to let you know that my name is Dreigyng" 
The words where not uttered, but everyone heard them... "After the punishment." There was that chuckle again, giggling as if she was a little girl with a secret and then teleported out, presumably to Cy Dragonstake. Presumably to punish whatever poor creature had dared not to show up for her hatching...
The atmosphere seemed to lighten a bit now that the vindictive Dreigyng had left and the sands remained open for a few minutes. The time was slowly reaching midnight, the traditional time of end for the hatching. 6 Pillars still stood waiting and 9 candidates still graced the sands. More than likely not every one of them would impress a vampire.
In close succession two pillars shattered right next to each other. From the debris of one, a tall and slightly red-tinted vampire strode. His cape and hood were the regular black, but he had the strangest green-coloured hair, not like the other vampires at all. Maybe because he was somewhat of an individual spirit, or maybe because he felt like only one pair of eyes looked at him without judgement, the vampire quickly chose who it was that impressed him.
"Doortra." he said, "How about we'll join that feisty pupil of yours. I feel like I'll have to get reacquainted with Vergan'klyk. She seems to have changed little since we last met."
These words posed quite a surprise to the Laedrysses. Had these dragons been alive once before? Then why had they been sealed up in crystal pillars. Trix for one dropped her usual happy optimistic act as she imagined the doomsday scenarios that might take place in the future. But none of the vampires had yet uttered the desire to remain close to Lantessama. A thing they might have to be thankful for. Also, no blood and killing orgies had taken place, a thing that was hopeful. Apparently Trix couldn't let go of her positive disposition all together.
Doortra, meanwhile had started an animated discussion with Hemachror, most likely about the pros and cons of headstrong women as they made their way to the staircase to leave the cavern. In their wake, three little hounds followed. Two remained close to Hemachror, while the third, a beige male by the name of Mensch softly nuzzled Mislukkien's hand. The clumsy servant's eyes lit up with pleasure and he could hardly contain a laugh as he ran out, following the small dragon.
The second dragon that had hatched, was a very pale female with raven-black hair and an almost icy stare. She smiled faintly when some of the candidates shivered as she laid her eyes on them, but in the end strode toward, Lucia. As she approached, Four little dragons poofed into the cavern.
"What are they doing here, Deathra?" Necrose, Alexis' black vampire asked, "I already got us all the help we need."
"You presume that a woman can't handle things on her own?" Deathra hissed, "Now quiet, you'll mess up my bonding." She turned toward Lucia and whispered: "Don't you just hate it when they do that? Well I suppose it's all I can do to make mine disappear again. Too many of these little helpers would ruin any chance of a successful hunt. Say, mind if I take a sip?"
While Deathra drank her fill, Necrose ushered the four last-arriving hounds of hell onto the waiting candidates. Surely some would find a new master that could make use of them. And indeed, the four of them, a white female, a grey female, a beige male and a brown male, soon found who they needed in Kell and Weyland, the two dragonriders who had joined in this hatching to find suitable dragons for their dragons to learn about parenting from. Almost as if they had been summoned for the task at hand, the four of them seemed to have an overabundance of energy they needed to let out. They jumped, rolled, ducked and ran around the two riders, too busy to stop for even so much as a greeting. Greetings were beside the point anyway, all they wanted was a name so they could remain in service until their job was done.
"You'll be Sinc." Kell told the little brown male that seemed to enjoy jumping up and down.
"This one is Tward." Weyland told the beige male.
"And the females should be Eternae and Dmation." Kell decided pointing first at the white and then at the black hound.
The next pillar to crash did so with the by now well-known sound of hidden bells. The vampiress that fell, almost floated, out was unusually bright. She had a pale white skin, with red hair that seemed almost ablaze. Everything about her spoke of warmth and a quiet elegance, a combination rarely seen in these vampires who usually acted cold and calculated. Before the vampiress ventured into the crowds she waited silently, flicking her thumb and index finger together to call forth her servants. The two that answered were both male, one brown and one pure white. Beckoning them to come, she strode in a straight line toward Roland de Torre, a daywalker vampire who had been defending human kind against his own kind long before he was turned. 
"I trust the two of them will do to continue the task at hand." she quietly said, "I shall try my best not to hinder you, though that might be hard considering that I don't think I'll react well to sunlight, though it is possible if my bond can bear it. If not, at least you'll have the use of Bile and Gaul."
"Do you need a drink?"
"Why thank you, if it isn't too much trouble I'll take you up on that offer."
The white-red vampiress softly sucked the tiniest amount she could from Roland's wrist before she retracted her fangs and followed him out, into the waiting night.
Two of the three remaining pillars suddenly collapsed to release their vampires into the Halloween night. Though the two of them hatched nearly simultaneously, it was the female grey-green vampire that acted first. She had two candidates left to choose from and picked Mysa, the female bounty hunter since she couldn't even begin to think about a life with a ghost. No, she liked action a lot more than she liked babysitting, thank you.
"Hello there." she smiled sweetly, her white hair covering up part of her black cape, "How about you and me go out to get some blood. I'm really thirsty, I could go for some A neg right now."
"A neg? You seem kind of picky."
"Life is fun for those who do as they please honey. I am like fate, if people have the bad luck of being A neg, I'll kill them, if you don't, well I might reconsider to let you live." she grinned a lot less sweetly now, "Life is a bitch after all."
Mysa laughed at the crude remark and decided that this vampire would be fun to have around during long stakeouts. Maybe she even knew some of those fun sailor songs she liked so much...
When the two of them left, the male vampire, a red-tinged black, wondered if he should be kind and bond the ghost or if he should do as he pleased and just split. In the end, plain old vampiric egoism won from whatever altruism he might have possessed in a previous life and the Vampire teleported out before anyone could stop him. he'd see where life's take him and his two servants. He'd have a little fun before settling down first...
Donriven motioned Trix that they had reached 11.55pm. Only 5 more minutes to go for the last pillar to hatch and this hatching would be over. The seconds slowly ticked away and for a moment things seemed to go terribly wrong for Constantine Ashe, the ghost who had literally everything riding on this hatching. If he didn't get a protector he would surely be taken away by the other dead people that appeared now and again around him. 
"Don't worry though." a voice suddenly spoke.
"Huh?"
"Can't you see me?"
Constantine had been looking so intently at the crystal he had not noticed that the dragon inside had in fact teleported out when the time to midnight had diminished.
"You don't need to break the pillar?"
"O, of course not, that's just drama. I think you'd prefer me to be a bit more practical." With a fancy whirl from his cape, the pale dragon greeted Madam Fantredala, "The name's Pallor, ma'am." and then returned to Constantine.
"Say something will you."
"Can you protect me?"
"Me, me... it's all about you, right? Do you think it's fun for me to run around with a dead guy who can't feed me? It isn't I assure you, but somehow this will work out. I will keep the bad spirits away so you don't have to worry. In turn you might have to do me a few favours now and then." Pallor's smile had just a tinge of malice in it, enough to make one seriously doubt the kindheartedness of this fellow, but before Constantine could object, Madam Fantredala pushed the two of them together and said. "My job here is done."
And so was the hatching.

Vampires
Alexis & Necrose (m)
Constantine Ashe & Pallor (m)
Doortra & Hemachror (m)
Haat & Vergan'klyk (f)
Kenny & Hepar (m)
Lucia & Deathra (f)
Mysa & Sisyphalia (f)
Roland de Torre & Chisanna (f)
Rhodt (m) - Sponsored by Knux
Dreigyng (f) - Sponsored by Cy Dragonstake

Hounds
Sinc (m), Tward (m), Eternae (f) Dmation (f) summoned for Kell and Weyland
Res (m), Aeter (f), Nume (m) summoned by Deathra and Necrose
Krep (m), Eire (f), Mensch (m) summoned by Hemachror
Desper (m), Loss (f), Wanhova (f) summoned by Pallor
Infi (f), Niter (m) & Lydan (m) summoned by Hepar
Gana (f), Hellnu (f) summoned by Vergan'klyk
Mori (m), Taene (f) summined by Dreigyng
Bile (m), Gaul (m) summoned by Chisanna
Ka (f), Ngur (m) summoned by Rhodt
Malarr (m) summoned by Sisyphalia

Notes: Ok, so these vampires can shift to full dragonform (in which case their black clothes become their wings or so I had envisioned it), but can also take on more human features, though most people will be able to tell that there's something wrong with them. As for other traits they are more like your common folklore vampire, unable to take sunlight, need blood every now and again (human, animal, dragon, as long as it's got what they need in it, feel free to adjust according to your story) and have a charming air that could allure a virgin into following them. 
The hounds are actually living dragons (Colours: white, grey, beige, brown, black) that were summoned from somewhere (unknown origins are so easy to work with, but basically, I think they came from some dark region in Hell) and are now bound to their master. These helpers are basically just easy to use and might be abandoned along the way if there's no need for them, or more might be summoned. The ones credited now are only given in light of the task that awaits (fighting of a bad guy, going home to take over the family estate, world domination by business emporium, you know, the usual stuff).