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The first thing Tanya heard upon opening her eyes in this new world was a scream.
It took a good long while for her to realize that she was the source of the nun’s horror. Or, more specifically, it was her teeth. Her canines were long and sharp, in this world that made her a minority. A monster.
Vampires haunted the imaginations of this version of earth, just like at home; But in this world they were very real and exceptionally rare.
In the olden days Vampires would terrorize humans in stories they would pass down for generations, a warning to be wary. Unfortunately, the vampires nowadays don’t cause much harm to humans but the fear and hatred remained.
The orphanage she was raised in was one that valued it’s religion above all else, in said religion vampires were curses from hell, sent to punish sinners. They treated her with contempt, never letting her near any of the other children. For the first 14 years of her life she was locked in a damp dingy room in the basement, feeding on rats. Tanya feared they would keep her there indefinitely, until one day she was let out.
The army had demanded that all vampires be enlisted into the army, so she was whisked away one night. Sent to the General Staff offices to test if she was mentally fit to serve in the Empire’s vampire brigade.
Tanya was elated, the years underground had not been great for her mental health. The soldiers escorting her away leaned away from her in horror, she realized she had been smiling wide at them. She heard them whisper amongst themselves.
“She’s mad.”
“She’ll be of no use to us, if only we’d gotten there sooner.”
Mad? Tanya could only laugh. In any other case, a child left alone in the dark that long would have come out mute and broken. An empty shell, vampire or not. Tanya was better than that, her rage against Being X and knowledge of her past life had kept her going. She learned German by osmosis, listening through the walls and grates. The nuns stared at her in shock the first time she’d spoken to them.
“Kleiner Teufel.” Little devil.
She knew that locked in that room she’d be safe, at the very least. The nuns had no interest in hurting her, they only wanted to keep her locked away. Vampires are immortal unless killed, so she didn’t worry herself about wasted time. The army would be more dangerous but she knew if she made herself useful enough, they would protect her. Those soldiers were wrong, in both regards, and she’d prove it.
The General Staff offices were ornate but empty. The vampire’s nose crinkled at the dust floating about in the lonely halls. Suddenly, a different smell hit her sensitive nose. A smell deeply familiar, yet one she had surely never smelt before.
To her luck, the soldiers seemed to be leading her closer and closer to it.
An open door appeared ahead of them in the hall. Upon it was written; Lieutenant Col. Lergen.
Tanya felt curiosity burn at her, eager to see inside that room. To her dismay, the soldiers entered a different room. It was a dusty old office down the hall from her desired destination. They left her there, locking the door behind them.
Fear burned in her heart, had they made their decision already? Was she going to be locked up again? Or worse. Put to death without a chance to prove her worth.
She rested her head against the dark wooden door. Attempting to calm herself. Surely if that was the case, they would have put her somewhere much more secluded. That room, the one with the strange smell, was right down the hall. She just had to wait.
—-
Lieutenant Colonel Erich von Lergen smelled the new recruit before he saw her.
Vampires were rare but vampires THIS powerful were even rarer. The scent was sharp and strong, he covered his nose with his hand as it got closer. He heard a door open and close and he sighed in relief. The smell abated once she was confined to the office down the hall. Lergen waited for the soldiers to come to him.
“This one is strong.” Erich said to them once they stood fearful in his office doorway.
They shook their heads doubtfully, they were more scared of him than the young vampire they had escorted here. The fools.
“She’s just a child. Mad as a hatter. The nuns at her orphanage kept her locked underground her entire life. I don’t think she’ll be much use to us.”
Poor girl. Lergen thought, sympathetically. This fate befell many vampires born in the empire, many were unwilling to kill them but also too scared to care for them humanely. Most came out of their chambers completely demented.
Lergen was one of the lucky ones, his parents had kept his vampirism a secret. They had shaved down his fangs and taught him how to hide his nature. It was only on his 18th birthday that he was found out, caught draining the blood of a neighbor's cat into a jar. Normally, a vampire could have just stuck their fangs into the creature and let it go but Lergen wasn’t able. He was grateful that his lack of fangs had disguised him so far but no one would believe he was draining the cat for any reason other than to drink from it.
Lergen had been taken from home, to this place, and told he would have an important job. Well educated and benevolent, he was expected to vet incoming vampires and determine whether or not they were capable of service to the Empire. He hadn’t understood how he was meant to do this until the first vampire was brought to him. The creature was emaciated and fearful but when Lergen looked into its eyes he saw the truth of its nature. It was only a scared young boy, he could be fixed.
The General Staff had doubted his judgment at first but upon being given care and a purpose for the first time in the boy’s life, it was impossible to deny the usefulness of the poor soul. Lergen was given much praise for this success. In his two years of service, he had deemed very few vampires unable to serve. He believed that anyone could be made useful with the right motivation. The only vampires he’d rejected were those he felt lost all sanity, more animal than man and prone to lashing out in fear and anger.
This new vampire worried him a bit, if she was one of the latter unfixable vampires she would be a dangerous problem. The vampires that were rejected were typically kept in the dungeons below the General Staff offices, in dank cells where they couldn’t hurt anyone but themselves. Though not treated cruelly, it was certainly not a happy place to be. A vampire of Tanya’s sort would surely be too strong to keep down there, no bars would hold her and her pheromones would permit her control over the other vampires. Lergen prayed she would be reasonable, that she would have some goal they could assist in. She could be a great tool or a massive headache.
Lergen bids the guards to wait in his office while he interviews Tanya, normally he’d dismiss them all together but he may need backup in her case. The closer he got to the room, the stronger her scent. It wasn’t a bad smell, in fact it was rather appealing and that was the problem. This was how vampires like her could control others of their kind, weaker creatures were left helpless to disobey by her pheromones.
Luckily for Lergen, he was sure she was unaware of this power or she would have made him set her free the moment she smelled another vampire. She was young, it was unlikely she knew much of the power she held.
When he opened the door he was shocked at the sight of this young vampire. The young lady had messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes framed with light colored eyelashes. The girl looked innocent enough, if you ignored her long sharp fangs and the pointy ears peeking out from her hair.
—-
When the door opened, Tanya was hit with a wave of the familiar smell. A young man stood at the door, physically he held no traits expected of a vampire but his smell identified him. He was tall, much taller than she, and thin with black hair that overlapped his eyes a bit. He was handsome, he didn’t look very old but with vampires appearances could be deceptive.
Despite being a complete stranger, Tanya felt drawn to the other vampire. His smell comforted her and she couldn’t help but stare at him in adoration. Her eyes dilated into small slits as she approached him, an odd feeling overcoming her. She smiled at him wide, unintentionally flashing her shiny long fangs.
“Greetings. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Erich von Lergen. You have nothing to fear from me.” Lergen began, a bit disturbed by the girl’s behavior. He knew much about vampires, in fact he was given access to much information most people aren't privy to. This girl unsettled him greatly, he was completely unsure if she was aggressive or not.
“My name is Tanya Degurechaff.” The girl spoke for the first time, now close enough to touch but at the moment her approach ceased. “You are a vampire but where are your fangs?”
“My parent’s shaved them down when I was young, to help me hide from humans.” Lergen said bluntly, most vampires would stare at him in pity after explaining this to them but Tanya's eyes shone with an odd fascination. “We aren’t here to talk about me though. I am going to assess if you are fit to serve the empire.”
“I will do everything I can do prove my worth!” Tanya answered quickly, her eyes shown with confidence.
Erich relaxed slightly. She seemed reasonable enough. “I see… Well, I have a few more questions I need to ask, as well as a small psyche evaluation we are required to perform on all-”
Tanya reached out to touch him, Erich quickly stepped back. The girl looked at him disappointedly, an odd glaze in her eyes. Muddled and out of focus. “You are the only other vampire I've ever met. You smell nice.”
Oh, dear. This would be a problem.
—
The soldiers stood at attention as Lergen reentered his office, they seemed surprised at how fast he had returned.
The Lieutenant Colonel ignored them, slumping down at his desk and putting his head in his hands. After a minute or two of tense silence, Lergen spoke. “Please, inform Brigadier General Zettour and Rudersdorf that I need to speak to them. Urgently.”
Once the two men left, shaking in their boots, Lergen sighed and stood to collect one of the many vampire biology books he was given by the general staff offices.
When a Pure blood vampire first opens it's eyes, the first beings it meets are it's parents. It will immediately imprint on the first vampire it meets, developing an unbreakable bond with them.
Lergen groaned, his fears were realized. This insanely powerful young vampire had imprinted on him…
Despite meeting with many socially isolated vampires, Lergen had yet to encounter this problem. Most vampires weren’t purebred, meaning they were either turned later in life or, like Lergen, had only one vampire parent. Even if they were purebred, of which Tanya was the first he'd met, typically its parents would have still been present long enough to receive the imprinting. Tanya must have been taken from her parents immediately after her birth.
Lergen mulled it over… At Least the vampire was unlikely to hurt him now but the idea of being latched onto by a vampire much stronger than him and possibly unstable for the foreseeable future was far from his ideal.
__
Tanya stood by the door of the office she was left in. She wanted Lergen to come back.
The other vampire had told her he had an urgent matter to attend to and would evaluate her later.
She was unsure why she felt this way about this essential stranger. Without prior knowledge of vampire relations, she could only reference her experience in her past life.
That man she used to be, what had his name been? Tanya was loath to find she could no longer remember. What could she remember? She remembered her admiration for her Japanese history teacher Mr. Shimura, he was the smartest man she'd ever met at that period in her life. Is that what she felt now? Admiration?
No… Not quite. This was stronger, like a connection felt deep within her. She wanted to be near him always.
A memory comes to her now. A girl. Tanya has had a crush on her upper class man in her past life. That feeling was the same as what she felt for Lergen now!
Ah. Love was it? A crush or some vampiric version of soulmates? Either way, Tanya felt she needed to trust this instinct. It was hardly in her power to refuse her own biology, after all.
—
When Lergen explained the situation to Zettour and Rudersdorf, he was frustrated to find complete acceptance from them. Worse, even a bit of joy.
“Ah, what a great find! Very very lucky.” Zettour said, pouring himself and the other two men in the room a glass of bourbon. Lergen shook his head when the general tried to hand one off to him, the man shrugged and chugged his share before sitting down across from the moody vampire.
Rudersdorf nursed his glass, looking curiously at Lergen. “So… this imprint. Is it like what happens with baby ducks?”
Lergen shook his head. “Not quite. I believe it's more of an evolutionary development. You see, vampires would have no desire to make offspring if there was a chance that offspring would usurp or betray them in the future. Imprinting prevents that. It's less like a parental development and more of that of rank. The younger vampire will be loyal to the one they've imprinted upon for all time.”
Zettour clapped his hands, “Congratulations, Lergen! Doesn't that make you a vampire lord now? If she really is as strong as you say… Well! I'm glad we're on your side.”
Rudersdorf nodded, agreeing with his colleague completely. Lergen knew these humans would never understand how much of a burden this would be.
He has no interest in… Whatever Tanya was going to be to him. Power interested him little. Before being outed as a vampire, he'd wanted nothing more than a peaceful quiet life. Tanya would surely want more than that? Someone like her would want to fight and conquer til the day someone stopped her.
What a nightmare.
—-
When Lergen finally returned, Tanya latched herself to his leg desperately. It had felt like it’d been forever since he'd left, though surely it's only been an hour or two.
Two voices behind her newfound beloved chuckled softly. Tanya felt a growl raise up in the back of her throat. An urge to protect Lergen from the unknown assailants raised within her. The two men backed away and Lergen quickly shook her off. “Tanya, these are our bosses Brigadier generals Zettour and Rudersdorf.”
Tanya relaxed, calming walking over and holding a hand out to her new superiors. They shook it and grinned. “I like you already.”
The evaluation would be postponed indefinitely, an asset like Tanya was too great to lose. Surely Lergen could keep her under control. Zettour bid them goodbye, off to scheme or whatever the old man did. Rudersdorf ordered Lergen to show Tanya around before also making his leave.
Lergen did just that. Uncomfortably evading the young vampires attempts to hold his hand as he walked.
The tour ended in the vampire’s dorms. Tanya would be sharing a room with the only other female vampire currently stationed in the general staff offices, a kind young woman named Visha.
To Lergen’s dismay, Tanya violently opposed this arrangement.
“I have to stay in your room.” Tanya insisted.
“You CAN'T stay in my room. You must stay with Visha.” Lergen insisted.
Visha herself rushed over to them, trying to tempt Tanya into staying with her with promises and gossip and girly fun. The pureblood vampire was completely unconvinced.
“I have to stay in your room to protect you!” Tanya feels anger rise in her.
Lergen groans, though his eyes shine with understanding. The imprint made Tanya feel the need to be with him and keep him safe. He'd just have to accept that.
Lergen made Tanya a temporary cot on the floor, making plans to rearrange his room for another bed tomorrow.
The next morning he awoke to Tanya clinging tightly to his side. In his bed.
How much would this little demon take from him in the coming years.