The Vampires of Khartoum

Special troops were deployed to deal with the Vampire menace, but the Undead enemy was multiplying faster than anyone could have anticipated. Much of the world initially dismissed the rumors about Vampires as nonsense, and that was their first big mistake. The Vampires spread across nation after nation, and while most of them were barely sentient, mere creatures driven by the urge to slake their thirst, there was an upper-class of the Undead which ruled them in secret...

When the Vampire Plague made its way to the United States, it was a disaster, but as often been said, there is opportunity in disaster. Former reporter Hans Drexel quit the Discovery Channel and joined Boston's CW Action News, to go to the frontline of the Vampire issue. And he brought along his paramour, Kelly Ling. The adventurous, fearless couple were on hand the day of the Vampire attack in the Boston Harbor which pitted the Boston Police Department against a horde of Vampires which arrived in town by boat...

"This is going to be the story of the century, I can feel it," Hans Drexel said to his colleague/camerawoman Kelly Ling, as he held the mike in front of him, speaking to the camera for Boston's CW Action News, and addressing the millions of New Englanders viewing from home. A couple hundred meters away, the brave men and women of the Boston Police Department, armed with high-caliber rifles, and aided by the Massachusetts National Guard and the State Police, engaged the Undead threat...

"The battle is definitely raging," Kelly Ling remarked, and Hans Drexel somberly nodded. When reports of Vampires roaming the streets of Khartoum, Sudan, began pouring in, he was among those who dismissed them as nonsense. After all, he and Kelly Ling had been in Sudan to film the documentary on Dr. Helena Jacques newly discovered proto-human fossils, and the Sudanese Capital had been void of any supernatural activity. Hans Drexel had since changed his mind on the whole Undead thing...

"Hey, you two, get back," shouted a surly State Trooper, and Hans turned to face the man, who was tall and burly, with a bad crewcut. Hans addressed the man, but the Trooper didn't answer, for something behind him had caught his attention. Drawing his pistol, the Trooper fired at the incoming threat, which the reporters could not see. Moments later, the Trooper's shrill scream caused them to gasp in shock...

"Well hello there," came a feminine voice, and Hans Drexel's eyes widened when he saw a tall, curvy figure step out of the dark. He gasped upon recognizing none other than Dr. Helena Jacques, the Howard University Anthropology Professor who had gone missing in Khartoum for the past several months. She stepped forward, and Hans Drexel blinked, marveling at how much she'd changed...

"Dr. Helena Jacques, is that you?" Hans Drexel asked, and the doctor came closer, and her every step filled him with dread. Hans had seen footage of Vampires, and they were usually pale, sickly, and rather dull, with very little intelligence, and almost no personality although they were pretty strong and fast. The good doctor looked almost exactly the way she did the last time Hans saw her. Well, her eyes were bright red and her mouth was full of sharp teeth, but otherwise, she looked basically the same...

"Hans Drexel, the world's lousiest reporter, fitting that you should be here to bear witness, as my kind rise, like the true superior breed that we are, and I lead our forces to total mastery of this world," Helena Jacques said haughtily, and Hans Drexel watched, unable to move, as she came for him, moving with preternatural speed. He was still trembling when Helena lifted him in the air and shook him like a dog shaking a rat, before sinking her fangs into his neck...

"Hans, no! Let go of him, you Vampire bitch," Kelly Ling screamed, and the camerawoman dropped her camera, and rushed to her lover's aid. Kelly Ling barely got within a few steps of Helena, who was draining Hans, before a pair of superhumanly strong arms caught her, and spun her around. Kelly Ling looked up into the face of a tall, dark and handsome man who smiled pleasantly at her, and then his face changed and his eyes turned red, and his teeth elongated and sharpened...

"Sweetie, if it makes it any easier for you, you and your lover are about to join the ranks of the Undead," Omar Saleh said, right before he sank his fangs into Kelly Ling's neck, and the young woman struggled for a moment, and then went slack in his arms. Omar dropped Kelly's body unceremoniously on the ground, and turned to face Helena, just as she tossed Hans Drexel's body into the harbor.

"Here's to a brave new world," Helena Jacques said, flashing Omar Saleh a fanged smile, and the two of them exchanged a kiss. Moments later, a horde of Vampires emerged from the deeper recesses of the Boston Harbor, having achieved victory over the law enforcement personnel sent to deal with them. The fledgling Vampires, many of whom were only made within the past few weeks, roared in acknowledgement of their leaders. Hand in hand, Omar and Helena went to meet their fanged troops. The Undead invasion of the United States of America had officially begun...