Nightfall

Runi blinked away the tears that were stating to flow from his eyes as the boy's eyes met his. Runi couldn't help but admire the boy who would meet his end with eyes wide open, watching what was to come. Runi pulled back his sword and got himself set to strike. He'd done this countless times, yet it never got easier. Some people just can't handle being a Vampire, and killing them quickly is much kinder than forcing them to live with what they will end up doing... assuming they don't watch a sun rise before they lose themselves to the hunger.

Just as he was about to swing, he felt a large hand fall on his shoulder, preventing him from swinging. Runi spun around, ready face whatever it was that stopped him, but ended up falling to his knees as soon as he saw who it was. Standing before him were three figures. The first he knew very well, as the Jackal-headed figured looked down at him with a smile. Behind him were two other figures, one of which was simply a beautiful woman with long dark hair; the other was a large man with a falcon's head. "Lord Anubis, Lady Isis, Lord Ra, what might this humble servant do for you?"

Anubis reached down and pulled Runi to his feet, while the other two did the same for both Duncan and Colt. Colt knew at least who Isis was and immediately fell to his knees, if for no other reason than he saw Runi do it. Duncan felt the same way: if the other two were going to kneel, so was he.

"What you may do for us is not as important as what we are being allowed to do for you," Ra said as he clapped Duncan on the shoulder and turned towards Runi. "We have all watched your adventures throughout the years, young Runi. You have done so much to help us, yet we have not been able to do much to repay you."

"No repayment is needed, Master. It has been my pleasure to serve," Runi answered in a rush.

"Wanted or no, my young warrior, payment has been ordered, so it shall be done," Ra spoke as he moved around Runi and walked up to the young boy, who was still crying over the body of his dead twin.

The large falcon-headed figure knelt down next to the boy, and slowly raised the boy's face till their eyes locked. "I cannot undo what has been done to you, but I can undo the evil that was forced upon you and your twin. It will mean that he must live as you do. Is that something you can live with?"

"I... I just want my brother back. Please, Sir. If you can do that, I'll do whatever you want!" The boy half sobbed out as he once again cradled his dead brother in his arms.

"All I would ask of you two is that you help my servant as much as you can. However, I am only asking this, I cannot force it. You are free to do as you wish once we leave." Ra spoke softly as he reached down and placed his hand upon the dead boy's head. Closing his eyes, Ra started to chant in a language that not even Duncan could figure out.

It started softly, but shortly they all had to turn their eyes away from Ra and the young dead child as the light from Ra's hand got so bright. No one missed the deep explosive breath that could be heard from the boy on the floor. They all looked once the light died down enough, and saw both boys hugging each other and crying.

Ra quickly took both boys into a hug, and everyone watched as he pushed both boys back a little bit, the two boys made eye contact with Ra, and they stood there silently for several moments. Knowing that Ra was actually communicating with the two boys, Runi turned his attention to Anubis. "My Lord. I am confused," was all he said until he saw Anubis nodding his permission to continue. "From what you said last evening, I was under the impression you would not have had the strength to do this."

"Normally you would have been right. However, Mandate was given that these two were not to meet their final end yet. They do, of course, have free will and if they choose to end their un-life at some later point, that this for them to decide. Atum, The Father, sent us here to right the wrong that had been done to them." Anubis paused as Isis placed a hand on his shoulder. He then moved back, and she stepped forward, then knelt down to look Runi in his eyes.

"What we are asking from you is not going to be easy, it will probably be one of the hardest things that has ever been asked of you." Isis paused, and Runi jumped in with both feet.

"My Lady, it has been my pleasure to serve; I will do whatever it is that you ask, if it is within my capabilities," Runi said emphatically.

Isis softened her tone and said almost sorrowfully, "We know, child; as I said to your Colt last evening, you have never let us down thus far, but I need to make sure you understand, what we are about to ask, it will be more difficult than anything asked before. I need you to understand something first." She paused to make sure he was listening intently. When he nodded, she continued, "In this case you must think this over before you answer. For if you feel you cannot handle this, we will not burden you with this task. It is that important. If you feel you cannot handle it, then we will ask another."

Runi stood up straight, his eye boring into hers. "What is it that you would ask of me, My Lady? Name it, and it shall be done."

She smiled at him, then turned serious once more. "It is time to revitalize the Night Hawks. It is once again time for you to lead."

Runi stood there shocked to his very core. What she asked was impossible. The Night Hawks were the very elite of Vampire Warriors. Runi himself had taken the small group of Hawks, trained them, and led them against all who would threaten his homeland.

For a moment, his heart soared at the thought of having a group of friends that close once again. To be able to share his loves, his desires, hopes, fears, and all the rest that goes along with not being alone.

But then he remembered the pain of holding each and every one of them as they died. Preparing their funeral pyres, even when there was not enough left to burn, then wandering the world, all alone for thousands of years.

Did he want to do that again? Could he handle doing it again? Could he survive losing everyone he cared about one more time? Looking over at Colt, he saw the first person he had allowed himself to love since then. Could Runi handle losing him? Duncan, while he might not be his actual Childe, he had taken the responsibility of being his Sire. Runi had only ever made two Children in the past, both of which he knew had now passed. He then looked to the two children being held by Ra, and he knew what was coming. Those two would be entrusted to himself, to raise and train them both, so now he had three children he had to care for. Runi finally realized that Fate had once again forced his hand in such a way that he would not be allowed to back out.

Making his decision, he looked deeply into Isis's eyes and ask softly, "So it is to be war again?"

---

It had been two hours since they assaulted the house that held the slave vampires. All told, there were fourteen vampires that had been rescued. Eight of them were half-lives, and of those eight, five were boys, three were girls. That didn't include the twins that Runi had found.

Now, though, Lugh, Jennifer, and David, also known as Talon, were on the trail of another set of twins that had been in the house. They had been sold the previous night to someone, and Lugh was going to get them back. Runi had almost said no to letting Lugh go after them, but one look in Lugh's eyes, and Runi knew he would have to physically stop Lugh from going. Instead, he sent Jennifer and Talon with him, knowing that the three of them would have a better chance of finding the twins than Lugh would on his own.

Meanwhile, Runi and the rest would take the fourteen from the slave house back to Duncan's house, and from there, would figure out what to do with them. Lugh knew he had the better assignment, and one that he would have rather done. He would find those two boys and help them. "Still got the trail?" Lugh asked as Jennifer was leading them through the woods.

She glanced over her shoulder with a glare. "Of course I do. No one has ever been able to fool me when it comes to finding someone. As long as I have something that belonged to them, I can find them."

Talon couldn't help but smile. "Except Runi of course."

Her glare turned to him, and he almost stopped grinning. Almost, as a matter of fact, her glare just got him grinning more. "Yeah, except Runi."

That of course, caused the other two to laugh out loud, until Jennifer held her hand up and stopped. Instantly the other two stopped laughed, and listened hard to see if they could hear what made her stop. Using hand signals only, she told the other two that the two they were looking for would be just a bit ahead of where they were now, on the other side of the hill they were about to climb.

Falling back into his special forces training, Lugh took instant command. Neither of the other two argued with him when he told them, again using nothing but hand signals, how they were going to proceed.

Quietly, the three of them moved slowly up the hill. About halfway up, they started to pick up the sounds of people chanting. None of them were able to make out what they were saying, but the rhythmic chanting was plain. They were almost to the top of the hill when they all started to smell blood. Not large amounts of it, but blood nonetheless. Being that all three of them were vampires, they could smell the blood a lot more clearly than a human would; they were also able to tell that the blood was vampiric.

Just as they reached the top of the hill and were about to be able to look down, all three of them stopped as they heard a loud 'whoosh' and then started to smell smoke. Lugh moved quickly, topping the hill, and then stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what was below them.

There was a large clearing with many people standing around in a large circle. In the middle of the circle were two wooden crosses standing back to back. With Lugh's enhanced sight, he could see that there were two struggling boys, one nailed to each cross, blood trickling down from their wounds. Around the wrists and ankles of both of them were also heavy chains. He could only believe that the crosses themselves held re-enforced steel beams in them, or they would never hold a vampire like that. The two crosses were set in the center of a large fire. So far, the fire was only on the outside of the circle, but was quickly moving inward towards the two boys.

Lugh was halfway down the hill before he even realized he was moving. In the back of his mind he knew he was right on the edge, and in this case he didn't care. His eyes were blazing red, and his fangs were fully extended; however, he had no intention of feeding./ Now his only thought was getting to those two boys and destroying any who got in his way. As he pulled his swords, Lugh's thoughts centered only on killing the people who were hurting the kids. He was right on the cusp of a full blown blood frenzy, but was somehow able to control himself just enough to not totally lose himself in it.

A quick count told him there were around forty people standing and chanting around the fire. All eyes turned to him seconds before he hit their lines, when he let out a battle cry that shook even Jennifer and David to their cores. Within the blink of an eye, the first five people fell to the ground; either dead or near to it.

Suddenly, the night was full of the screams of people trying to get out of the way of this psychotic vampire. Both Jennifer and David came in a few steps behind Lugh, flying into the crowd with almost as much ferocity as Lugh. The main difference was that both Jennifer and David kept their tempers in check.

Whereas Lugh made a beeline right for the fire, the other two took their time making sure they killed as many people as they could. Anyone who would be willing to stand around and watch two kids, vampires or not, be burned to death deserved nothing less than death.

Lugh didn't even bother trying to keep track of how many he killed. In this state, he'd figure it wasn't enough. When he made it to the edge of the fire he barely heard the two boys screaming in pain as the fire was finally starting to reach where they were.

He never even thought about it. Lugh threw his swords away and waded into the fire, running to get to the two boys. The pain never even registered in his mind, as his extra pulled itself together without even a thought by Lugh. Shadows pulled themselves into a barrier around his body as he ran into the flames. It was able to block the flame, but the heat was another matter. Before he got two steps into the fire, the heat started to cook his lower legs. Of course with the mindset he was in, he didn't feel a thing.

Five steps into the fire, Lugh lowered his shoulder and hit the crosses right below where the two boys' feet were nailed down. Right before he hit it, Lugh let out a scream of pure primal rage. As his shoulder slammed into the crosses, the night was shattered with the sounds of cracking wood and screeching metal. The resulting explosion of him hitting the crosses drown out the screams of all the people trying to flee the two vampires that were outside the fire killing whoever they could get their hands on.

The crosses started to fall, and Lugh gave one more mighty shove to get them outside of the flames. Lugh followed them out of the flames a mere second after the crosses, and fell to his knees. All around them the people who were trying to run stopped and stared in horror at what they were seeing. All of Lugh's clothing had been burned off, and in certain areas, his flesh was still burning. The two boys were almost in the exact same state, although mercifully for them, they had lost consciousness somewhere along the line.

Lugh looked up, his eyes still blazing as red as the fire he just ran through, and leaped onto the first human he could find. Before the man knew what had happened, Lugh's fangs had sunk into his neck, and Lugh was drinking greedily. Someone tried to rush Lugh to get him off the man, but Lugh's other hand shot out and grabbed the lady by her neck, easily lifting her off the ground.

He let the man fall dead to the ground, then turned on the woman. He was getting ready to feed off her when he saw the two boys lying on the ground behind her. With all his strength, Lugh threw the woman at the two people who were trying to get close enough to the kids to finish them off. Moving faster than any human could hope to, Lugh moved over to the two boys and stood over them, almost daring anyone to try and get at them. Hearing his name being shouted by Jennifer, Lugh glanced her way, and smiled as she threw his sword to him. Catching it out of midair, he quickly spun it, and impaled it into the shoulder of someone else who was trying to get to him. With a scream of agony, the man fell to the ground as Lugh savagely ripped the sword out of his shoulder, ripping anything that hadn't been ripped apart when the sword went in.

It was only moments later that David and Jennifer came running up to Lugh; all the humans that had been there were now either dead on the ground or were shortly going to be dead. With one final act, Lugh swung his sword into the crosses, snapping the heavy chains that held the two boys to them. Taking a wobbling step to the side as the rage left him, Lugh fought off the blackness that threatened to envelop him now that he could actually feel the pain that the burns had caused.

Both Jennifer and David thought quickly, and went around to find those humans that were somehow still alive. Not caring if it injured them any more, they dragged them over to where the two boys lay. Since both boys were vampires, the second that human blood got close to them, and being as injured as they were, they immediately roused and latched on, draining what they could from the humans.

David brought one of the humans over to Lugh, who was kneeling on the ground trying to catch his breath and to get control of the pain he was in. When David got close, he looked up with hunger in his eyes and almost went right for the human, but stopped himself. With a voice full of pain, Lugh waved him off, "Give it to the kids, they need the blood more than I do," knowing full well that the kids needed lots of blood to heal from what they went through.

"No, you need to feed," a voice said from behind them, and both of them turned to see Runi standing there.

"Where'd you come from?" David asked in surprise.

Runi simply smiled and tapped the side of his head. "You remember that little link thing we set up last night?"

David's eyes got wide as he realized what Runi meant. When they linked last night, it allowed all of them to sense the rest. Runi must have sensed what was going on and came. "Exactly." Runi said, still grinning. "None of the others could get here quickly, so I left them to come help. Seems as if I'm just in time." Runi pointed to the human that David had been dragging. "Lugh, drain that one, but stop before it dies."

Lugh looked to argue, but one look from Runi stopped him. He grabbed the human as David handed her over. Without a pause, Lugh sank his fangs into her neck, totally ignoring the screams of pain that came from her. Runi moved over to both of them, and as soon as the woman was about to die, Lugh pulled his fangs from her neck, and Runi touched both of them. Runi closed his eyes tight, and before Lugh could even register it, all his burns were healed. The woman screamed once and then fell silent, the shock of having all of Lugh's burns transferred to her body was too much, and her mind simply shut down, the body following mere moments later.

As quick as he could, Runi went over to the boys that Lugh had rescued and did the same thing to them. The only problem with his type of healing is that it sometimes takes the person being healed a few moments to figure out that they aren't in pain anymore. While this was happening, Runi quickly but carefully removed the stakes that were holding their hands and feet to the crosses, then healed them again. By the time he was done with his healing, Runi was very hungry, so he took the last three living humans and made a quick meal out of them.

By the time Runi was done, he turned around and saw that Lugh had the two boys cradled in his arms as they cried on his shoulders. Runi took a moment to look them over. At first, he was slightly shocked at there being a second set of twins in the same place, but then he thought about it. Most perverted assholes would absolutely love twins, and Runi couldn't help but smile while seeing that these two were very cute young men. Runi had to correct himself. To him they were young men; however, to the rest of the world in this time period, they were still boys. Dipping into their minds, Runi found that they were fourteen years old before they were turned, and had been vampires for about eight months.

Taking a quick read from the boys, Runi had to fight back the rage that entered him at seeing what these two boys had gone through. That was mitigated simply by the shock of finding out that these boys, even having gone through what they did, still had a love for life, and were not so jaded that they still wanted to live. Runi knew at that point that these two kids would be survivors.

He took a moment to look these two boys over. Knowing their names, he saw that Jaden was the older one, even thought he was the quieter one and the follower of the two. He was five foot four inches tall, and lighter than his brother at about one hundred and fifteen pounds. His hair was light brown and straight, falling just slightly over his yellow Vampire eyes.

The slightly younger brother, Adrian, younger by eighteen minutes, was slightly different from his older brother. By looks, you could tell they were brothers; even though Adrian preferred to wear his hair spiked, and it was slightly darker in color than Jaden's hair, they still looked very close to each other. Size-wise, though, Adrian was slightly better built, more muscular, and about two inches taller. From what Runi saw, he was the natural leader of the two, being more outgoing and daring than his older brother was. He saw himself more as the protector, even though his heart was just as sensitive and loving as his brother's was. What Runi was glad for was the fact that these two were so very close to each other. He had seen twins that often competed with each other, trying to prove which one was better than the other. These two didn't do that. They loved each other deeply, celebrated their differences, and because of that were often able to be greater than if they were at odds.

Runi, Jennifer and David spent about thirty minutes going through the belongings of the people that they had killed, not that they needed anything, but it gave Lugh and the twins time to both calm down and talk. Finally Runi stopped and walked over to them, when he noticed all three of them were standing and looking his way.

When he got close to them, Lugh stood up straight and spoke in quiet authority. "Runi, I would like you to meet Jaden and Adrian. Boys, this is Runi, he's basically my boss."

The boys looked stunned, and both of them looked at Lugh, then to Runi in shock. Finally, Jaden spoke softly. "But, he's just a kid... younger than we are!"

Runi couldn't help but laugh, nor could any of the others. "Boys, you're vampires now; you should no better than to look at someone's physical appearance. Runi is the oldest living Vampire I have ever heard of." Lugh waited till he had both boys undivided attention, before he dropped the bombshell. "He's almost six THOUSAND years old!"

"WHAT?!?!" Jaden said while looking at Runi

"No way!" Adrian said at the same time, which only made Runi smile more.

"That's so cool!" Both boys said in the way only twins can talk. Of course that got everyone laughing again, and both boys blushed, which was a hard thing to do to a vampire.

Finally, Lugh spoke to Runi while looking him right in the eyes. "I have offered, and the boys have accepted... They are now my Children."

Runi nodded with a half smirk. "I had expected no less."

Lugh smiled and nodded while draping his arms over both boys. "Let's go home then."

---

Hours later, Runi had asked everyone, including the new people, to join them in the living room... at least, all those that were staying. Many of the adults had chosen to go their own way, and the two that didn't were now a part of Duncan's household. They would be the ones tasked with overseeing the operations of the house while Runi and his crew were out and about. Now, it was time to find out more about the half-lifes and let them decide what they wanted to do.

All told, there were twenty-one people in the living room. The eight new kids were all sitting on the floor. Runi and Colt were sitting on one of the couches with the twins that they had rescued from the basement of the place. The twin that had fed on the other one was now clutching his newly turned brother's hand. Runi knew that they had not let go of each other since the moment Ra had brought the one back to 'life'. Samson, Jennifer and Duncan were sitting on one of the other couches, and Runi couldn't help but smile at seeing Jennifer and Duncan holding hands.

The other couch held Lugh and his three new 'kids': the twins he had rescued earlier, as well as the ten-year-old boy that had been rescued before that. Runi now knew his name was Marco. The last two people, David and his younger brother Chris, were each sitting in arm chairs, both quietly watching as everyone came in and found a seat.

Once everyone was seated and looking at each other, Runi finally stood up and moved to the center of the room. He looked over the eight new kids with a gentle smile and started talking softly. "I know a lot of you are scared right now, not really knowing what is going to happen, and even some do not understand what has happened to you. We have about three hours till the sun rises, so let us take this time and answer as many questions as we can."

The new kids looked around at each other until one of the boys raised his hand tentatively. Runi nodded but spoke first. "To help us all out, why don't you start your question out by telling us your name, age, and how long you've been a Vampire. Is that okay?"

They all nodded, and Runi then motioned for the boy who raised his hand to start. "Well.. umm... first. My name is Robert Nadine, I'm thirteen, and I guess I've been a... a Vampire for about eight months or so... I think. Anyways, my question is kinda simple really. What happens to us now?"

Runi laughed gently while he moved back to his seat next to Colt. Taking the human boy's hand in his, he contemplated how to answer the question. "That is not really as easy an answer as you would probably hope. But I shall do as best I am able." Runi sighed and sat back for a moment, gathering his thoughts. No one said anything as they waited for him to speak.

"Before I can really answer that, I need to let you all in on a few things. The answer to your question is threefold. You can either go somewhere else. It would be your choice where you go, and we will help you do that as much as possible. The second choice would be to stay here. What that means is that you would become part of Duncan's household until such time as you wish to leave. They would handle helping you to learn how to feed, teaching you what you need to know to be a vampire on your own."

Runi waited, making sure they understood the first two options, before he moved onto the third. "The last option is the one that will take me a while to explain. Your third option is to join me as I recreate the Night Hawks of Anubis. First, you must understand something. I am sure you all are starting to get the idea that being a Vampire means that you will live a long time. But I don't think many of you realize exactly what that means. I was born 3902 before the birth of Christ."

Runi knew to pause when he said that because of the exact response he got. Almost everyone there gasped in shock. It took almost five minutes for Runi to gain control of the room again, as everyone started talking at once. Once he got control again, he spoke to the new kids as well as to Lugh and his three. "I am sure many of you have questions for me as far as the length of time I have lived. I will be more than happy to discuss that with you, at a later time. As for right now, we have more important things to discuss."

He waited until he had agreement from everyone before he continued. He got up from the seat he was sharing with Colt and the twins and started to pace. "Earlier this evening, I was asked by one of my Gods, and before you ask, that is something I will get into later."

"I was asked to recreate the Night Hawks of Anubis. I know none of you know what and who they are, so let me explain. Shortly after I was turned, a war was brewing between the Vampires of my homeland, and the Vampires that lived near us. As a result of this brewing war, the Night Hawks were created. Eventually, after I woke from my first sleep, I became the leader of this group and led them for the next several hundred years. During that time, we fought off the rest of the Vampires that tried to impose their will on my country's vampires. The way we did this is something that has not been done since, and was the biggest difference between the two groups.

"See, in ancient Egypt, knowledge was something to be shared and celebrated, not something to be jealously guarded by those few that had it. Where and when I lived, vampires did not hide in the shadows, we walked about with our heads held high. Only those who showed promise, who were gifted in some way or were in the priesthood, were even invited to become one of us. And from that group, only the best of the best were invited to become Night Hawks."

Runi knew he had the entire group spell bound by his tale, so he figured he would weave it as best he could. It did feel good though, talking about this. He'd never allowed himself to, since it all happened. "I know by now, most of you have discovered what your 'extra' is. You have probably also been told that it is something very private and is only ever shared with those you trust completely, and even then, everyone is hesitant to teach their extra to anyone else."

Seeing many of the assembled nodding, Runi went on. "That was not the case where I lived. Back then, the 'Extras' were taught to any who wanted to learn and had the ability to learn them. That made the Night Hawks extremely dangerous to those who tried to attack us. From the moment that a fledgling vampire began to develop their own extra, they were taught many, many other extras. Before one would even be considered for entrance into the Night Hawks, they had to have mastered many other extras. Not only did they have to master the extras, but they also had to be well versed in the art of war; since the Night Hawks were created simply to protect Egypt from the outside Vampires. We were the first, that I am aware of, that espoused the concept of the Warrior Scholar."

Runi sighed as he wound down from his tale. "Now, as to what the means to all of you, it is simple. ALL of you, including those who have not been turned from Ra's gaze, have the chance to become one of the Hawks. This is not something to be taken lightly, as the Hawks were made for one purpose only... to fight. I want you all to think about this, and make your decision. It is one that can only be made by yourself; no one else is allowed to make this decision for you. Anubis has weighed all of your hearts and found all of them to be pure, thus he is willing to accept every single one of you as his own. All you need do is ask."

It only took a few moments for the words he had spoken to sift through everyone’s minds, and then the questions came. Runi spent the rest of the evening answering all the questions asked of him.

---

Editor's Notes:

This is getting interesting. The Night Hawks, Isis, Anubis, and Ra showing themselves all at one time! A nasty fight for the twins nailed to a cross and Lugh risking it all to save the twins' lives. Now we are dealing with the group becoming more than they are now? Oh, man, I hope Roland has another chapter coming soon! I really gotta know more! What on earth is this ware going to be about? Why now? And how has Runi survived for almost six thousand years? Well, this is getting very interesting. Let's hope something comes out soon and starts to give us some insight as to what is going on!

So until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood editing pup!

Boxerdude