Tomas, General of the Nameless Land armies of vampire hunters, gazed at the Dumahim City, trying to decide the best course of action. His Commander and best friend, Miliardo, ran over to him. "Tomas. The leader of the vampires has retired to his chambers. Now would be the best time to strike." Tomas looked over at the city. There were vampires everywhere. "No. We will wait. If we attack head on, our men will be slaughtered. We must examine them closely and find their weakness. Then we will decide on the best method of attack." Miliardo saluted, then ran off. The vampire hunters were veterans of vampire hunt campaigns, having braved the Dumahim, the Zephonim, the Turelim and even the Rahabim, who lived under the waters of Nosgoth. These vampire hunters had gathered under Tomas' banner because they had no leaders, or the leaders had decided that there was safety in numbers. Tomas placed his best trackers on lookout, retired to his tent. The General's tent was situated in the centre of camp, the rest spreading out from it. Tomas looked at the map on his table. It showed 2 continents. One was this continent, know only as Nosgoth, and another, one without a name. This continent was much smaller, and was surrounded by storms, where humans & vampires lived in peace, not knowing of Kain's Empire. The continent had no name, and as such was called "The Nameless Lands". Tomas looked up as a soldier entered his tent. "General, we have spotted a small party of Dumahim vampires nearing our camp. They have seen a few of our men and want them for themselves." Tomas looked at the map. There was a narrow pass where the Dumahim would have to come through. "Soldier, take a sqaud of men and go to this pass. There, I want you to ambush the vampires." The soldier looked at the map, then nodded. "Yes General!" The soldier left, and Tomas called for his Captain, Rudric. Rudric entered the tent, and stood to attention. "Rudric, I want you to take your 5 best men and wait inside this pass." He pointed to a different pass, leading into a valley with a large lake in it. "Scout the area for vampires. Look out for Rahabim vampires. Take the water suits, just in case." "Yes sir!" Rudric left, and Tomas waked from the tent to where  group of vampire hunters stood talking. As Tomas approached, the vampire hunters stood to attention. "What company are you in?" Tomas' army was split into 3 different companies, His own company, Rudric's company and Corporal Luther's company. The soldiers answered "Corporal Luther's company." "I want you to find Corporal Luther, and tell him that I need him to find weak points in the Dumahim stronghold. Go now." The soldiers saluted then turned and ran off. Tomas looked over at the Dumahim City, and then the sounds of fighting broke out over where he had sent the soldiers to ambush the Dumahim in the pass. The sounds died off, and the soldiers came back, impaled Dumahim being dragged behind them. Tomas called for torches to be given to the soldiers. A group of men ran over to the soldiers with torches, and the soldiers ignited the vampires. Tomas looked away from the burning bodies, and turned his attention back to the Dumahim fortress.

        Dumah woke to find his throne room in uproar. His councilors were yelling at each other. "Enough! What is this? What is going on?" Dumah yelled. The council turned, and the oldest, Dumahson, Dumah's first created son, spoke. "Humans have laid siege to our city! Our warriors are being slaughtered by mere humans!" Dumah's jaw dropped. "What? Humans? How can this happen? Kain was right! I should have been more careful! Damn these humans!" Dumah reached to the right of his throne, and pulled a giant broadsword, longer than even the tallest human, from a scabbard. The blade was red, stained from the blood that had ran down it in all the centuries of it's use. Inscibed on its blade was the name "Bloodthirster". Dumah picked up the scabbard, specially made for a being of Dumah's height. Dumah slung it over his back and ran from the room. When he reached the battlefield, outside his fortress, he stopped. He gaped at the sheer number of the humans. There had to be over a thousand! Then Dumah's children noticed he had arrived, and a cheer rose from the vampire ranks. Dumah yelled a warcry and charged at a group of humans manning a ballista, who were aiming the ballista's huge wooden bolt at Dumah. They released the bolt, and it hit Dumah in the chest. Dumah was knocked back, but kept on his feet, and pulled the bolt from his chest. Luckily, the bolt had barely penetrated his armour. Dumah looked at the humans, who had taken no chances and had instantly started reloading the ballista after firing. Dumah knew the next bolt could kill him, so he charged the humans. He swung Bloodthirster in a wide arc, smashing the supports for the ballista and killing all but two of the 7 man crew. Dumah sheathed Bloodthirster and picked up the ballista. The siege weapon was a perfect crossbow to Dumah. Dumah turned and saw a group of flamethrowers were burning vampires attempting to kill humans with spears, who had impaled other vampires and were trying to get new spears from humans who waited at the edge of the battle with spears. Dumah aimed the ballista at the flamethrowers and fired. The giant bolt crashed into the humans, crushing them. The survivors were quickly swarmed over by his children, and Dumah turned to where ballista bolt were kept. Dumah found 5 bolts lying in the snow. Dumah unsheated Bloodthirster and dropped the bolts into the sheath. Dumah grabbed the ropes used to hold the bolts together and tied it to the each end of the ballista. Dumah then slung the ballista over his back and charged at the humans.

        Luther turned and thust the spear into the vampire who was about to rip his head off. The vampire shrieked in agony as it's soul was drawn back to the hell that spawned it. Luther grabbed a torch and torched the vampire. He pulled the spear from the blackened creature and looked around. His men were formed in a rough circle around their supply pile. Then a roar came from behind Luther. He looked round to see the biggest vampire he had ever seen running at him. The vampire held a huge red bladed sword, and was looking right at him. "Men, to me!" Luther shouted. The men formed a circle around Luther and readied their weapons. The vampire crashed into the men and 3 men fell instantly, ripped apart by the vampire's claw. The vampire brought his sword down in a crushing blow, spliting one man down right down the middle. Luther and his men threw spears, but it wasn't enough to penetrate his armour. "Hahahahaha! You think your little spears are enough to defeat me, Dumah the Prince of Vampires?" Dumah laughed, then ripped one of the men in half. Luther ordered the retreat, the men turned and ran as fast as they could.

        Tomas looked around, Miliardo by his side. They were mounted on horses, and had swords drawn. They had discovered that decapitating vampires worked as well as impaling or burning them. Tomas noticed Luther's company running from a rather big vampire. "Miliardo! That must be Dumah, their leader! Quick, grab the water bombs!" Miliardo grabbed a box, as did Tomas. Inside were leather balls, filled with water, blessed by holy monks to be even more devastating to vampires. The balls would explode on impact, and would burn the skin of any vampire they touched. Tomas & his friend spurred their horses forwards. They hacked the heads from any vampires that got in their way. Once in throwing range of Dumah, they opened the boxes and pulled the water bombs out. They threw them at Dumah, one hitting him in the face. Dumah shouted out in agony, then turned to look at Tomas & Miliardo. They kept moving, steadily bombarding Dumah with water bombs, until the giant vammpire turned and fled. Luther & his men rallied, and a cheer went up from the humans, who were winning the battle by force of numbers.

        Kain sat on his throne, listening to Rahab. Rahab had only begun to show his devolution, his claws growing webbed, his ears turning into flaps of skin that helped him swim, and growing razor sharp teeth, all small apart from his upper canine teeth keeping their trademark length. His son told him of what had happened, how the humans had crept up on the Dumahim, then, cleverly hiding their numbers, shouted at the Dumahim. Archers had fired flaming arrows at the Dumahim, taunting them until the Dumahim had opened the gate to their city, and their army had spilled forth. Seeing the small number of humans, no more than a hundred, against 300 vampires, they had charged, until the man who appeared to be the leader had shouted some order, and the humans had spilled fourth from the mountains, the canyons and even the walls of the city. How they had managed to sneak up there was unknown, but it was clear that these humans were veterans of fighting vampires. Rahab was continuing to speak of the battle, when Kain stood up. "Enough Rahab. I get the picture. Very well, leave Dumah." Rahab was shocked at this. "Leave Dumah?" Kain nodded. "Though it pains me, I would not have a mustering of the Clans just to help Dumah because he was too arrogant. Leave him to his fate. Maybe he shall beat these humans, after all, he has killed a few demons before. I doubt it though, after all, there are about a thousand humans, yes?" "Around about that Lord Kain." Rahab answered. "Yes. Well, Dumah's clan number about 300, so they don't have a chance. They will die, but at great cost to the humans. Leave me Rahab." "Yes Master." Rahab turned and left, and Kain sat back on his throne. This would be the second time he had sacrificed one of his sons. Raziel had been excecuted about 200 years ago, and his clan wiped out soon after. Now all that remained was a destroyed fortress. Kain himself had seen to that. Turel had disappeared soon after, retreating to his mountain lair above the Oracle's Caves. Kain sighed, then willed himself to Dumah's throne room.

        Dumah walked into his throne room and threw himself down on his throne. "Why?" He yelled. "Why did this happen? I am Dumah, leader of the secon most powerful vampires clan on Nosgoth. No human army should be able to defeat me! Why?" He was experiencing a strange feeling. His hands were shaking. "What is this? What is this feeling?" "It is called fear Dumah." A voice came from nowhere, but Dumah knew who the voice belonged to. "Father! Why is this happening?" Kain materialized, and looked at his son. "You were full of yourself Dumah. You thought yourself undefeatable. This is the price you pay for your arrogance." Kain said without regret. "What are you saying?" Dumah asked. Kain spoke normally, but a hint of regret was evident in his voice. "You are to die Dumah. The humans will destroy you." "What! NO! I cannot die! I'm not ready!" Dumah was hysterical. He was crying, blood flowing from his eyes." Kain looked at him. "There is no avoiding it. It is your fate." "Fate! There is no such thing!" Don't be simple. We each play out the parts fate has written for us.  We are compelled ineluctably down pre-ordained paths. Free will is an illusion." Kain said to his son. "You speak nonsense Kain. I could strike you here and now!" Kain waited, but no blow came from Dumah. "You see Dumah? You cannot hit me, as it is not your fate." Dumah looked at him, sorrow now replaced with naked hatred in his eyes "What of you, Kain? You had a choice, save Nosgoth or damn it. You had a choice! That was free will!" "That was different Dumah. That choice affected the universe itself. If I had sacrificed myself, I do not know what would happen, but now I regret it." "You regret it?" Dumah's voice was filled with disbelief. "You are ruler absolute of Nosgoth! How can you regret such power?" Kain looked at Dumah. "I regret much. One thing I regret was giving life back to you & your brothers. It is my fault you have devolved. You may think it is a gift, but you will continue to devolve until you become a lower life form than Melchia and his clan." Dumah was shocked. He couldn't imagine becoming lower than Melchia. All of a sudden, Kain disappeared. The throne room doors were opened by vampires retreating from the humans. Dumah couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Father! We are all who are left!" Cried Dumahson. There were about 8 vampires in the room. Dumahson ran over. "Did you  get the fledgelings to hide?" Dumah asked. "Yes father. The Dumahim shall carry on after we are dead!" Dumah was filled with regret, but hearing this gave him a little hope. Though he should die today, his clan should live on. He stood. If he would die, he would not die without a fight. Already 3 of his remaining 8 children were dead. Dumah grabbed at the nearest humans, crushing them. He pulled Bloodthirster from its scabbard and swung it viciously. Then all the humans dropped and archers behind with flaming arrows launched arrows at the vampires. His remaining children died around him, consumed by flames, and Dumah let out a howl of rage, a howl that carried all over Nosgoth. It reached Kain sitting on his throne, shaking his head with regret. It reached Rahab, now swimming to his territory  in secret underwater passages. It reached Zephon, who slept in the spire of his cathedral. It reached Turel, hidden from his brothers and Kain in his mountain retreat, devolving into his new form. It reached Melchia, who sighed, wishing that he could be in Dumah's place. It even reached Raziel, but Raziel only dismissed it as the screamings of his mind.

        Tomas covered his ears, as did everyone else, as Dumah cried out. Dumah discarded his sword, and looked a Tomas. "Little human, even though I shall die today, I shall do my best to make sure you die before you can kill me!" Dumah slashed out at Tomas, who nimbly dodged the blow. "1st Spearmen!" he yelled. Spears were thrown at Dumah. A few just barely penetrated Dumah's armour. Dumah staggered back a bit. "It's working. 2nd Spearmen!" Another volley of spears hit Dumah, this time one sank deeper. Dumah's eye glow faded a little. "3rd spears!" Tomas yelled. More spears were thrown, and this time Dumah clooapsed. THere were spears prickling his chest, and Tomas ran up to the fallen vampire. He pushed one of the spears right in. Dumah's body revulsed, and Tomas almost fell off. Tomas pushed the other spear in. Dumah's eyes were almost empty of any glow. Dumah's body weakly twitched. The third spear was shoved in, and Dumah's soul could be seen leaving his body until it faded away. 10 soldiers grabbed Dumah and dragged him over to his throne. The sat him up, and stone bonds were cemented on to the throne. Tomas' men cheered, and the cheer carried through the fortess, all the way back outside, until every human, some who were mortaly wounded, cheered.

        Raziel opened the doors to the throne room. "My brother, Dumah. A powerful warrior in life, he would have burned with shame to have me find him here like a stuck pig." He said to himself. Raziel walked over to the throne, and looked at his brother. Dumah's corpse looked at him with empty eye sockets. Raziel pulled the 3 spears from his body. Dumah's eyes lit up. He pulled on his arms, and the bonds that held them broke. He did the same for his legs. He stood, and rubbed his wrists. "Unbound at last! I thank you, brother." Dumah said. "Your thanks are premature, Dumah. I have not forgotten whose hands bore me into the abyss!" Raziel said, hatred to his brother surfacing. "The centuries in limbo have honed my strength. Not even Kain is my equal." Dumah gloated. "Even the strongest vampire is vulnerable." "We shall test your thesis, Raziel." Dumah said with a grin on his face "My blood-thirst has been superceded by an even darker hunger. I will consume your soul before this day is done." Raziel finished.