Allison and Widow were standing in an empty cargo bay both of them had their arms crossed as they looked between the vampire husband and wife who were still in their cryopods.  Allison bit her lower lip.  Widow looked at her.


    “Well, you’re in charge Battlelord, which one do we wake up first?”


    Allison continued to gently bite her lower lip looking between the two.


    “Couldn’t we just take them back to Earth and let Eyre and the Council deal with them?”


    Widow looked down at Allison.


    “You’re the Crown Princess, the council is leaving it up to you to wake them up and get them caught up.  So, make a decision already.  I say we do the vampire; I’ve never heard a vampiric wolf-born before but considering she’s like twenty-three hundred years old; I’m leaning towards her being the more dangerous of the two.”


    Allison shrugged slightly.


    “Well okay, that makes sense but, uh, Uncle Lysander might be worse.  I asked Aunt Maria about him and apparently, he trained with Chomaguses sire, and they are experts in body modification and like maximizing their physical attributes.  So, I talked to Chomagus and he said out of all of those skilled in the arts, Lysander was the most deadly and strongest.  Plus, he knows the old magic, whatever that means.  Isis said that Aunt Maria and Uncle Lysander are the strongest vampire sorcerers ever trained.  Aunt Maria is a necromancy specialist and Uncle Lysander is an evocation specialist… which is basically magic talk for explosives expert or at least that’s what it sounds like.  You know, without needing actual explosives.”


    Widow leaned close and inspected both vampires.  Aeliana was the larger of the two.


    “He doesn’t look that threatening, her on the other hand, you see those tattoos?  She’s a shadow walker.  What kind of vampire is she?”


    Allison scratched the back of her head.


    “Isis said she was a pugmentia, I’m not sure what that means, that was uplifted into an Imperial by Sextus… who I guess was my grandfather.  Isis said she uh, devoured the progenitor of the line that turned her… and that he was a master of void and shadows.  Basically shadow tentacles, shadow portals, shadow monsters… so uh, horror movie crossed with those hentai Hazel liked.  If she frenzies though she’d just have her physical strength and speed… So I don’t think we’d have to deal with that.”


    Widow shook her head.


    “So basically, she’s from the Shadow Walker wolf-born bloodline and she ate a Tenabrae Vampire… an elder at that?  We should wake him up first.  If he frenzies it’s only his physical strength and speed we have to deal with.”


    Allison rubbed the back of her neck.


    “Well, uh, apparently the vampiric body arts are instinctual too so even if he frenzies we’ll have to deal with… a four armed twelve foot tall killing machine.  Why the hell aren’t the twins and Thomas here? A few more wolf-born wouldn’t hurt our chances.  They’re both ancients.  Any way we do this it is going to suck.”


    Widow glanced at Allison when she mentioned the other wolf-born.


    “This could get really messy and the last thing I wanted was teenage wolf-born involved.  Ancient vampires could rip through them like they were nothing and then what?  They find out they killed their own child.  No.  Thomas is still healing.  Demon got him good with some sort of silver weapon while he was defending our escape.  What about that vampire?  Lance…”


    Allison nodded and tapped her comm on the AR HUD.


    “Master Sergeant Lance, get suited up and report to Cargo Bay Eight.”


    The pair had still not made much progress on their decision by the time Georgia walked in.  The vampire saluted Allison who saluted her back before motioning to Lysander and Aeliana’s cryopods.


    “Master Sergeant Lance, my aunt and uncle.  Ancient vampires.  One’s also a wolf-born.  Once we decide which to wake first, we’ll need your help to get them under control.  We’re expecting they will frenzy like the wolf-born did.”


    Georgia looked between the two.


    “Where are the stakes?”


    Widow and Allison both looked at Georgia with confusion.  Georgia didn’t want to insult a sitting council member and the future crown princess, so she just said.


    “I’ll be back, Princess.”


    Georgia returned shortly after a quick visit to the MP security hub.  She had six wooden stakes with her along with a stake launcher.  Allison blinked.


    “Wait the whole paralyzing vampires with a wooden stake through the heart is real?”


    Georgia nodded and handed stakes out.  Allison willed her armor to form sheaths for them.  Widow just held them in her hands.  Georgia spoke.


    “It has to be the heart, anywhere else, you’ll just make them more angry.  Princess, we should get more back up.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “No, we’ll all heal from this eventually.  Also, I’m not willing to risk our limited supply of Goliaths.  We do Aunt Aeliana first.  We only stake them if they don’t calm down on their own.  I have two crates of synth-o that should be enough for now.”


    Allison walked up to Aeliana’s cryopod, pulled her datatap off her utility belt and plugged in the liquid metal cable.  She walked back to the other two and pulled an injector from her belt.  Widow watched her.


    “Are you sure about that?  Leshy was really adamant you should never use it and now you’re doing it twice in less than twenty-four hours.”


    Georgia watched the Princess with a keen interest.  She pondered what was in the syringe.  Allison sighed.


    “There is no other way I’m going to be able to compete with an ancient vampire especially one who can turn into a nine foot tall killing machine.”


    Widow nodded but still looked concerned.  Allison jabbed herself she grunted as the adrenaline hit her central nervous system.  Her muscles rippled under the armor, because it was skintight the effects of the serum were visible to her companions.  Her fangs came out and her eyes began to glow.


    Allison quickly hit release on the cryopod.  Aeliana’s reaction was instantaneous.  Her own fangs came out and her form started to shift.  Under the effects of the serum Allison’s reaction time were much faster than either of the fully supernatural creatures, and she was barely containing the beast.  She hit Aeliana with the force of a train engine.  The ancient vampire and dhampir crashed into the already damaged cryopod smashing it to pieces. By the time they hit the ground Aeliana was fully shifted into her war form.  Black tentacles formed the air around them sizzled from the absolute cold they oozed.  They struck at Allison she didn’t feel any of it. Everything to this point had been a blur of two black shapes at least to Widow and Georgia who were finally able to react.


    Widow shifted and Georgia grabbed Aeliana’s legs.  Widow grabbed Aeliena’s neck with her taloned hand and spoke in the wolf-born language.  It took a few minutes to subdue Aeliana enough that she calmed down.  She shifted back to her human shape and looked around herself in confusion.  Allison stood up then stumbled backwards and collapsed on her butt.  The serum had worn off.  Her healing factor and nanites were still trying to heal the damage she had done to her body while under the serum’s effects.  It was going faster than she expected.


    Georgia rushed over to Allison’s side when she saw that the princess’s arm was twisted at the wrong angle.  She gave Allison a sympathetic look before twisting it back to the way it should be and holding it.  Allison let loose a scream of pain, but it passed swiftly as the bone and tendon’s mended themselves.  Georgia looked Allison over for further signs of injuries.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    “Are you alright Princess?”


    Allison nodded.


    “I’m fine.”


    Georgia still looked concerned.


    “Was that elder blood?  You know that is dangerous even for vampires, yes?  You can get bound to them.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “No, just something for dhampir to allow us full access to vampire abilities we know without limitations.  Mortal bodies aren’t meant to move that fast or be that strong.  Just takes me time to heal.”


    Widow shifted back down to her human shape and offered her hand to Aeliana who took it.  Widow who was the eldest of elder living wolf-born was acting very submissive towards Aeliana every inch of her body language screamed that she accepted Aeliana as her elder and alpha.  Aeliana looked at Lysander’s frozen form then to the destroyed cryopod she’d come out of her.  Widow motioned to one of the crates of synth-O.


    “Blood.”


    Aeliana wordlessly ripped the crate open and drank the first bottle.  She made a face but tore through the other twenty-three bottles swiftly.  Allison was still recovering by this time.  Aeliana kneeled down and looked Allison over.  She spoke in oddly accented English.  Likely because her first language was Roman Latin.


    “You are Enid’s child, aren’t you?”


    Allison nodded.


    “How did you know?”


    Aeliana smiled.


    “The hair, the eyes…  if I hurt you, I am sorry niece.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “No, I hurt myself.  Dhampirs aren’t meant to use full vampire speed and strength.  We break ourselves.  I’ll be fine, really.”


    Aeliana patted Allison’s thigh and stood up.  She spun around to look at her mate’s frozen form.  She cracked her neck.


    “I guess it’s time for round two.  He’s stronger and faster than I am, it is likely going to take all of us.”


    She shifted into her jet black hybrid form she was smaller than Widow but so much more dangerous given that she had all the powers of an ancient vampire.  Allison pushed herself up.  Georgia helped her but the assistance proved unnecessary.  The addition of wolf-born blood to the serum had the impact Maria had anticipated.  It had kept Allison’s healing factor supercharged past the rest of the effects.  Allison pulled her hardened data tap off of the remains of the cyropod and checked it for damage.  It was still in one piece.  She hooked it up to Lysander’s pod and stepped back and prepared to take another dose of dhampir supernova.  Widow frowned.


    “You should stop now.  We’ll be fine.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “Neither of you could keep up with me when I was boosted.”


    Widow motioned to Aeliana.


    “Now we have her.  She should be just as fast as he is.”


    Allison shook her head again and injected herself.  Using it so quickly after the last one doubled the amount of wolf-born blood in her system and she screamed.  Her form partially shifted as her muscles bulged and stayed that way.  She was panting and snarling as she pressed the release for the cryopod.  Once again, she was the first to react and was on top of Lysander before he could shift.  Aeliana was there beside her long before the other two could even react.  Aeliana was a little less gentle than the trio had been with her, and she punched Lysander in the face hard.  She slammed him into the deck, then their eyes locked and Lysander calmed immediately.  Aeliana shifted to he human shape and the pair shared a passionate kiss.


    Georgia and Widow helped Allison sit on the deck as the girl struggled to move after she lost all strength in her muscles.  Allison was struggling to breathe.  Unlike a true vampires her muscles could be come oversaturated with lactic acid so every part of her burned and her diaphragm struggled to move.  Her heart struggled to beat.  The overdose she’d taken the day before had been a wash because she’d drank blood stronger than that of the eldest of vampires.  Today she had no such aid in her recovery.  Widow scooped the teenager up when she went unconscious and rushed her into medical.


    Widow yelled for a doctor.  Two nurses and the chief medical officer rushed towards her.  Widow put Allison down on a bed and backed up.  The medical staff struggled to stabilize her.  The doctor looked at one of the nurses.


    “We need to stop her heart and keep her blood oxygenated until she can regenerate.  It keeps ripping itself apart.”


    Allison was hooked up to the thirtieth century version of a respirator.   The doctor was looking at an internal scan of Allison.  She pointed to Allison’s heart.


    “It’s still beating, dose her again.”


    The nurse gave the doctor an are you sure look.


    “Doctor, we’ve already given her six times the recommended dose for her body weight.”


    The doctor grabbed the injector dialed it up and injected Allison.  Finally, they had overwhelmed the nanites, none of them knew existed enough that Allison’s heart stopped.  The doctor sighed with relief when it started to stitch itself together.  It had almost finished when it started beating on its own again.  The gathered medical staff all looked at each other in shock.  It wasn’t really a drug the body could metabolize; They would have had to restart her heart manually after injecting it directly with a counteragent.  The rest of Allison’s muscle and tendon damage started healing immediately after her heart restarted. The nurses started removing the respirator and the doctor wiped her forehead.  She looked at Widow.


    “What happened to her?  We barely kept her alive.  I don’t know if we intervened in time to prevent brain damage.”


    Widow lifted the half the used injector.


    “She was using this.”


    The doctor scanned it, and her eyes went wide.


    “This is a complex highly dense version of adrenaline mixed with some other agents our scanner cannot identify.  This would make a normal human an unstoppable killing machine for a few minutes then they would die just based on the adrenaline.  How many doses did she take and how close together?”


    Widow frowned.


    “Two, less than ten minutes apart.”


    The doctor put the injector down like it might bite her.


    “What exactly was she doing?  She ripped her muscles and tendons apart and her heart literally tore itself to pieces.”


    “She was helping to restrain the ancient vampires.  Doc, she moved faster than they could.  Do you know how fast even young vampires can move?  How strong they are?”


    The doctor looked at the injector.


    “I am going to guess the rest of those compounds have to do with vampires and I’m going to guess it basically lets her body ignore the fact it’s not dead.  She’d feel no pain.  Pain is what would stop her from going all out.”


    She leaned on the chemical analyzer.


    “There is nothing I can do about it.  Literally my hands are tied by the executive order.  That teenager literally has no limitations.  I can’t even remove her from active duty for medical reasons.  She’s going to finish regenerating and she’s going to leave here, there is nothing I will be able to do to stop her.”


    Widow rubbed the back of her neck.


    “Can’t you just dose her with some sort of anesthetic?  Keep her knocked out until we can get the president to revoke the order or something?  Just to protect her from herself?”


    The doctor looked back at Allison’s unconscious form.


    “The amount of anesthetic I would have to give her to make it last any appreciable time would be fatal.  We used a compound to stop her heart, it took thirty times the dose that would be required for a normal human her size and that lasted about five minutes.  I’ve never known dhampir’s to be that resistant to chemical agents, but I learned something new today.  She’s stable and regenerating, I suggest transferring her to her own ship, apparently one of their medical technicians has some ability to influence her.  She will ignore me, like she always does.”


    When Allison regained consciousness, she was laying in the medical bay of the Phoenix which had thankfully been updated with the best of LSR and Alliance medical technology.  Leshy was looking down at her and holding the injector that made Allison a physical match for everything the Universe had to offer so far.


    “This is not meant for casual use.”


    Allison nodded.


    “I know.  I only used it when it was necessary.”


    Leshy placed it on the bedside table.


    “It should never be necessary to use ten doses at once.  How you survived that without weeks of recovery I do not understand.  I will follow my orders as is my duty but you need to be aware of your limitations.  You are not like the undead that came to check on you.  You are a living creature and you are not meant for these abilities that have been forced onto you by an accident of birth.”


    Allison nodded.


    “I understand, I am sorry I put you in a position that makes you uncomfortable.  I promise I’ll only use it when absolutely necessary.  Yesterday if I had not taken ten doses I would have been disintegrated.  Today I needed it because we were waking up a pair of very powerful vampires.  My powers came from the most powerful living vampire so I’m the only one here that could possibly have stopped them from hurting people when they woke up, I needed that serum so I could access my full potential.  It’s just pure coincidence I had to use it again today.  Now that I know that I need time to recover before I use a second dose.  I’ll do better.”


    Leshy’s true feelings were hard to decipher as the Synthlin encounter suits were not designed with facial expressions.


    “I will hold you to that.  How did you survive the massive overdose yesterday?”


    Allison sighed.


    “Certain blood is very potent.  If I get access to it, I get all the benefits of the serum without the side effects… apparently.  It makes me more… vampire then human.   The man I assassinated yesterday had the most potent blood I’ve ever had.  It allowed me to recover almost instantly.”


    Leshy nodded.


    “Perhaps we should keep a supply of potent blood on hand in case of emergency.”


    Allison shook her head.


    “It is not that simple.  It has side effects of its own.  I’m good now.  I promise.  One dose a day maximum.  Whatever you did to tweak it worked though, after the first dose I recovered in a few minutes.  It’s why I thought I could go again obviously I cannot it is too much for my body.”


    Leshy grabbed the injector suddenly and moved off to an LSR chemical analyzer.  She leaned in close to see the results.  She ran the scan twice more and lifted the injector up she brought it back.


    “There is an additional highly concentrated blood plasma in here that I did not add, it has been doctored somehow.  I have a search running against known chemical make ups.  I did not make any changes to the original formula.”


    The analyzer beeped, having found a match.  Leshy moved over to it and checked the match herself she checked it again.  She moved back over to Allison.


    “It came back as human.  Do you know why someone would do this?”


    Allison shook her head.


    “Whatever it is from, the serum works better.  Like I said, after the first dose I healed very quickly.”


    “Still, we should ascertain the source of the change.  It should not have been done without my knowledge.  We have no idea if it was purified.”


    Allison nodded.


    “I really need to get going, I have a lot of paperwork to fill out.”


    Leshy held up the half used injector.


    “May I keep this to continue my investigation?”


    Allison nodded.