It's the modern day and to be really honest, Vlad is weary, o' so weary of the world's... whining and moaning and stumbling... he's been having the time of his life for these last ten years - in truth to distract himself for a very real possibility... he's unnecessary.

Evil is the way of the way of life for humanity. The human family is as quick to anger, judgement and death as his growing vampyre clans. They serve the unholy masters of want and desire and oblivion in the name of "birthright", "divine mandate" and God's will...

He's frankly a little confused.

And his Darkest of Lords? As absent as a deadbeat dad. Oh Vlad can't blame him either - it took decades to throw off his denial, he would not cave to his fears...

And yet, it's true. The war for this world will be fought by the same sides of the same coin.

No longer do his precious Blood Clans mirror back the vice and virtue of God's craven image, man, nay - they are the same seed and thus pray to the same vision.

But someone does come that re-invigorates his esteem and dedication. A cold steel light on the shadow that is his empire - a beacon in the fog of dismay upon which he has fed for centuries.

And her name is Darcee.

She is younger than any of his previous Queens. A new child of a new millenium now almost a decade old, and yet her soul is from a depth that not even he has plumed. Her heart is as hard as tundra that covers the crust of a forgotten star. Her outlook as cynically sharp and nihilistic as the wardens of ancient prisons and her countenance as brutal as the ocean that takes its due with patience and confidence with every tide and wave. She is the modern girl.

Not a special girl. Nor a special person. In fact she is uniterested, disinterested and non-interested in anything. She'll deign to look at her own desires but if they fail to entertain then even they will be discarded.

She is perfectly and completely guileless, thoughtless and heartless...

Nature's most perfect killing machine.

Who doesn't even know how good she really is.

She's been called beautiful and perfect since her first moments in life by those who never understood their own words - parents and family of the suburban persuasion, she was the notch in their belts that said they as parents and humans were, well, "good, all right", just like all the other modern couples who trusted the mirror on the wall and the words of the well intentioned, more than their inner hearts and convictions...

But in their precious daughter Darcee, there was a flesh and blood living... "thing" that validated the fearful hopes they used to stave off the darkness of doubt that would constantly whisper.

And so she accepted their fears and hopes and their lies and their dreams, and made them real.

And like the spider who merely waits in the web for bounty to come and call - she never had to venture from her strength - for providence would serve - and thus she could continue to study, scrutinize and observe the prey that danced ever before her.

And Vlad loved that.

But never her. She had no need for love. She had an untapped craving that only the King of desire could see. She needed, craved was addicted to...

Excitement. She would be the perfect Queen.