“Awake Kaleb. Your time to serve has come.”

Kaleb opened his eyes and was instantly met with harsh and blinding light. He adjusted after a few moments and saw the light was merely a candle on the wall beside him. He stood in a broad room of red marble. In front of him there was a blank wall, on which there was a large red circle that had been cut into the stone. Movement came from his left and he looked over to see an ancient vampire watching him carefully.

“How do you feel child?” the man asked.

He considered the question, blinking slowly as if trying to wake himself from a deep sleep. Tired was the answer, but also confused as well. How long had he been asleep? It felt like he’d been unconscious for a life time. What was the last thing he could remember? Maybe working on the farm? Was he working on his truck? The image of the bright orange pickup flashed in his mind. It was night. He was working in the garage alone. Someone crept up on him. Someone struck him from behind.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice croaking as though he’d not spoken in days.

“I’m your master. I am the High Vistor of the Red Circle. You are in the Red Keep.”

Kaleb widened his eyes in fear and surprise. The Keep?! How on earth had he got here? He’d never been one to sympathize with the Circle. He didn’t get involved with the drama that surrounded the onerous organization. He kept to himself on his farm. Out the way and out of sight. Just how he liked it.

He tried to move his body to turn to the man properly, but he could only turn and move his head. The rest of him was frozen in place, locked under some mysterious power. Kaleb struggled to move until he went red in the face. His breath became stilted and he hissed through his teeth. “Release me! Let me move!”

The High Vistor stalked across the room slowly to stand in front of Kaleb. His cold red eyes looked him up and down, twitching with amusement. Kaleb looked down at himself for the first time and saw that he was naked from head to toe. He tried his hardest to move his broad and muscular body even an inch, but it was no good. He was thoroughly trapped. “What the fuck did you do to me?!” he cried.

“Intention is a powerful thing when used properly,” the old man said with a smile. “Most vampires these days don’t understand it. They use it to control puny humans to make themselves feel powerful. They don’t understand that real power comes in controlling armies. I’ve moved hundreds to my whim at the flick of a wrist. Holding a single vampire like yourself in place isn’t much trouble at all.”

Kaleb had clashed with vampires in his life before, it was only natural for a young alpha like himself. Fights happened from time to time and they were often settled on physical and mental strength. He’d always come out on top, he’d always managed to overpower other vampire’s Intention and turn their power against him. The power of this vampire before him now however, it was terrifying. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life.

Realizing that his struggle was pointless, he gave up all pretense of fighting and took a deep breath, his large chest expanding slowly. “Why am I here, and what are you doing with me?”

“I appreciate your confusion. You have been in a semi-catatonic state since my followers brought you here all those months ago. You were chosen because of the power inside of you. A Super, shadow cursed with a shifter demon.”

Kaleb gasped. “You know about my curse?!”

The old vampire smiled as he nodded. “Indeed. We have spies everywhere, and you were chosen for your unique abilities. A shadow cursed vampire is a very rare thing indeed, and your abilities were even rarer. Your makeup allowed us to fuse your mind and body with various specimens. You have been stripped apart and rebuilt in the short time you have been here. All other subjects died, but you survived. You were special Kaleb. You are the one destined to carry our flag.”

The frozen vampire open and closed his mouth repeatedly in attempt to form a response. What had they done to him? What had happened in his time here?

“I can tell from reading your thoughts that you are disturbed, so allow me to fill you in. In order for your mental assimilation to fully complete it is best that you have full understanding of what you are.” The Vistor lifted a hand and held it out in the air pointed at Kaleb. His intention pushed the vampire back across the floor, his body still frozen like a statue. He pivoted ninety degrees to the right and stopped the vampire in front of a mirror.

Kaleb stared back in horror at the stranger in the reflection. The naked and muscular behemoth looking back at him was not the man he used to be. There were parts he recognized, sure, but there were just as many that looked unfamiliar. He was a patchwork of parts, held together with a dark magic that defied God.

“What the fuck did you do with me?” he said, his lips trembling as he spoke. “You’ve… you’ve made me into Frankenstein!”

“Frankenstein’s monster, actually,” the Vistor said, chuckling to himself in dark amusement. “I assure you that any cosmetic dissatisfaction can be easily solved. Let me show you.” The Vistor glided across the floor to stand beside Kaleb in the mirror and cleared his throat. His next words projected with the power and magnetism of Intention so strong that Kaleb couldn’t ignore it. “Take on the form of your old self, Kaleb,” he instructed.

The words wrapped around Kaleb’s consciousness like poison. Black vines twisted across his soul and took control of him. Kaleb watched in horror as the reflection in the mirror morphed back into that of his old self. He let out a nervous breath of relief at seeing his old body, which was free from mutilation. “It’s me,” he gasped. “It’s really me.”

“Yeah... not really,” the Vistor said with some reluctance. “You are now blessed with the ability to take on any form you wish. This is just a demonstration to show you your powers. You can become anyone. You can become anything you wish. Isn’t that… enticing?”

As the words entered his mind he felt them snaking around his consciousness again. The Vistor was trying to manipulate him into agreeing. He was brainwashing him. He wanted agreement. He wanted unquestioning obedience. The old man moved closer and whispered into his ear. “Ancient vampire kings… human presidents… celebrities… great warriors, you can be all this and more.”

With each suggestion Kaleb’s body unwillingly shifted into that of another. The Vistor pulled away from him and glided around to face his front, blocking the mirror. “So, what do you think? Are you excited about this new power yet? All the potential in the world to be whatever you want.” The old man’s eyes flared with greed. “Doesn’t that sound… tempting?”

Kaleb tore his eyes away from the old man’s to consider the question. “Perhaps for many… but for me, no. I only ever wanted peace and quiet. I already had that… until you took it all away from me to turn me into this… thing.”

The cold smile dropped from the Vistor’s lips and grave disappointment filled his eyes. “It is very unfortunate that we couldn’t do this the easy way. Fortunately for me I anticipated there might be some dissent from your old self. Can’t you appreciate the trouble we went through? Can’t you just be grateful for this new power?!” His voice raised in anger. “Let me show you what went into you, let me show you what it took to build this! The next generation of vampire!”

He raised his hand to Kaleb’s forehead and pushed. Vivid streaks of imagery filled his mind, showing everything that had happened to him since his abduction. Kaleb stood there frozen, his eyes glazed over as the old vampire pulled the memories from the blank in his mind. He watched in horror as the months of transformation played before him. Strapped to tables, cut open, taken apart and reassembled. Parts added, parts taken away. Trapped in a glass cell for months on end. The stream broke away as fast as it began, and Kaleb came to as a panting wreck on the floor.

He quickly realized that his body was free from the Vistor’s Intention now. He jumped to his feet and stepped back from the old man standing over him. “You made me a weapon,” Kaleb said in realization.

The Vistor nodded. “That’s right. Your job is to kill the lost daughters of the prophecy. That is your soul purpose, and you will carry it out.”

Kaleb clenched his jaw. “I will do no such thing.”

A dark laughed brewed from the ancient vampire’s throat. “That is where you’re wrong. See… your mind is mine to control as I wish. All this time you have been kept in a dormant state. I returned you to your waking state just now to see if you might carry out your task under your own free will.”

Kaleb spat at the floor near the vampire. “Never. I loathe you and the thing you have turned me into. I will kill myself at the first chance I get.”

The Vistor smiled, raising his hand again to hold Kaleb in place. “Then I will make sure you never get that chance. Besides your dormant and waking state there is one more. The obedient state. It eliminates all objection. It is a failsafe, designed to turn you into a ruthless killing machine. You’ll be entirely aware of everything that happens… but you won’t have any say in the matter. A prisoner. Trapped inside your perfect body.”

“No,” Kaleb shook his head, struggling against the force keeping him in place. He wanted to surge forward and kill the man. He needed to end this. “No! Let me go! Let me go!”

“I’m afraid we’ve come much too far for that to happen. Say goodnight Kaleb. You’ll be sitting on the backburner for now until I say otherwise.” The Vistor raised his hand and snapped his fingers, whispering a solitary word beneath his breath that escaped Kaleb’s ears. Ruler maybe? Or possible Mover? Whatever it was, it was the code word that transitioned him into the obedient state.

A cold flush of emotionless obedience swept down across his body, removing all sense of objection. Kaleb stood there in the darkness of his mind, listening as his voice spoke back of its own accord, watching as his body moved without him.

“What is it you would have me do master?” Kaleb asked.

“So good to see that you’re finally playing along Kaleb,” the ancient vampire said with a smile. “Approach the portal young sir, we will begin the transition.”

Kaleb walked back across the room and stood in front of the wall with the circle etched into it. The Vistor moved his hand through the air across the blank stone and a moment later a portal of glowing red plasma appeared. He approached the vampire and held up a photo of a young blonde girl with bright blue eyes. “This is your target. Ellie Thorn. You are to find her and bring her back here. If you can’t bring her back, then kill her. Memorize her face. We believe she is in a town called Skarvast.”

The ghostly sound of a bell rang in the far distance of the automaton’s mind. Skarvast. Why did he know that name? Kaleb nodded and memorized the name and face of the girl. “Skarvast sir, yes sir.”

“Unfortunately, our closest portal can only take you to the northern gate, which is a few days south of this town. Fortunately, we were able to take control of this gate recently and it is now a Circle settlement. The portal will bring you just outside. Once you arrive enter the northern gate and gather supplies for your journey north. Use your powers to take any form you need. God speed Kaleb. I truly believe you are the child to end this prophecy.”

He nodded in his submission at his master’s words and entered the portal without any further hesitation. Reality span around him as he fell through the void between both worlds. Winds whipped at his face and body, gravity turned in all directions.

* * *

All was quiet at the northern gate. The night was calm and tranquil, bathed in a sense of normality and boredom. The Circle vampires guarding the north entrance paid little attention to anything past the monitors on their cabin walls.

A couple hundred yards north of the gate a red portal opened in the night sky just above the snow-covered dirt. A naked man fell from the portal and hit the ground on all fours, pushing himself up onto his feet groggily as the portal above him closed. He looked out across the cold night and scanned his surroundings. The wind chilled his body. His feet already felt numb in the snow. He saw the distant lights of the border up ahead and began walking.

The two guards inside the booth at the northern entrance had little reason to be overly vigilant while on shift. There had been no attacks on the gate since the Circle took it from the Valentine vampires all those weeks ago, and if there was an attack they had enough men at the border to fend it off easily. The first few nights of watching had been uncertain ones, but their apprehension had quickly given way to assured laziness. Nothing was ever going to come from the north. The shift was a cakewalk. It was a prime opportunity to catch up on TV.

The two men inside were so distracted with the glowing screen in front of them that they failed to notice the naked vampire as he walked out of the darkness to stand at their booth door. His cold and calculated voice startled them, causing them both to jump out of their chairs in fright.

“Supplies,” he said. “Give them to me.”

“Jesus fucking Christ buddy! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Supplies,” Kaleb answered back. “Give them.”

“Get the fuck out of here pal before we stake ya!” the other guard hollered.

Hostility. Objection. Eliminate the threat. Gather supplies. Kill the lost daughter.

Kaleb punched his way through the booth’s bulletproof door, ripping it from its hinges like paper from a book. The two guards inside scrambled away from him in terror at his alien display of strength. They reached for radios, they reached for weapons, but they were both dead in a matter of seconds. Inside of a minute he was dressed and armed with their security passes. Kaleb made his way into the border town and stopped at seeing a bike garage on his left.

“Vehicle,” he said as he walked under the cold yellow lights of the garage. The guard standing at the desk looked up at Kaleb and rolled his eyes.

“Fuck off buddy. The bikes are to stay here, and that is under order Igo Kasper. If you’ve got a problem with that then take it up with that cocksuck-AH!” The guard clutched at his throat as Kaleb lifted him off the ground with ease. He closed his grip, crushed the throat beneath his fingers and broke his neck immediately. He dropped the dead vampire to the floor, grabbed a pair of keys from his waist, found their corresponding bike and fired up the engine.

The metal demon purred into the night, screaming across the dark camp like a starved lion. Kaleb turned the engine with his wrist, let the brake go and rolled out of the garage and back past the booth with the two dead guards. He slipped onto the road leading north and pulled the accelerator all the way back.

Next stop, Skarvast.