SHIELD Field Director Oliver Queen, one of the three armored individuals, was the first to speak. "Okay agents, it is almost sunset, so lets get all the yakking done, and get ourselves it battle positions. Right now, we are a couple of miles outside of the village of Vasui. Word is that these people have heard the rumors, are refuse to come out at night, so we should be able to freely arrange our equipment and selves throughout the city with little or no interference. I want everybody to check all med-boards and com-links before we leave this sight, because I ain't losing none of ya to a bunch of ugly neck-bitters."

Ollie turned his attention to each of his agents, from the armored Roy Harper and Sasha Martens, to the unarmored John Henry and Duchess, "I don't want any solo grandstanding. We aren't sure how powerful our enemy is, and they seem to move at speeds beyond human levels. Lets deal with any surprises together, stay as a tight-knit group, and don't fly off to engage in separate contact. Since we aren't sure what we are dealing with, this is gonna start as a "ask questions first" mission. No attacking our targets unless they attack us first. Of course, if they do that, feel free to blast away."

Ollie turned his head from his agents to the light transport and began to speak again. "Rachel, everything working right in there?"

From inside the transport, agent Rachel Leighton adjusted her headset, then took a brief scan of all the screens and flashing lights before her. "Everything looks in order here, Oliver. All the bio-scanners are working normally, although the neck-units on John and Duchess are really gonna be susceptible to the enemy's attack. Motion trackers are uplinked from the satellite and the whole area is on scanning right now. All we need now is an explanation as to why I am stuck in here and…"

Oliver quickly interrupted Rachel, as he knew where the conversation was headed, "Somebody has to keep the pilot awake. Seriously Rachel, you have the best head for all those computers and gadgets out of this lot. Besides, if things get bad, somebody has to be there to call in the cavalry, then run that transport in with guns ablasting. Also, you know what happened the last time I left Sasha in the transport…"

Agent Martens turned from checking her wrist rocket to protest, "Hey, at least I took out a platoon of Hydra operatives when I crashed that hoverjet…"

"Anyway…," Oliver interrupted, "We need to get underway kids, so fire up those backpacks and grab the equipment. We have some bloodsuckers to stop and some lives to save. Lets get crackin''.."

With that said, the five SHIELD agents readied themselves for battle, grab the necessary equipment, took to the skies, and headed off into the twilight.

It was around midnight when they finally arrived. I had been watching the small huts, all the inhabitants long ago retired to their homes in fear of the "demons" that had devastated their friends and family in the villages of Koslov and Pleven. Roy, who had been standing next to me, nudged me and nodded his head towards the sky. As I watched with my night-vision, I was treated to a most bizarre sight. At first it appeared as though humans, numbering at about a dozen or so, were floating quickly down in the moon-lit sky. But as I appeared closer, thanks to my suit's magnifiers, I saw them for the horrors that they were. Sprouting from their back were quickly flapping black, leathery wings. Their skin was wrinkled and drawn tightly across their skinny bodies. Their mouths were agape, filled with drool and two sharp fangs. The most alarming sight were the creatures' eyes. Those eyes showed no sign of life at all, just a hollow empty existence. It was then that any vision conjured up by such romantic and tragic films such as Bram Stoker's Dracula were washed from me. This wasn't a tragic, cursed man, his humanity taken from him. This was an abomination that needed to be exterminated from this Earth.

As the group seemed to land in a unified circle in the center of the village, Ollie gave his silent signal, and strategically placed floodlights filled the entire area with bright light. As the creatures recoiled in shock and surprise, Ollie stepped forth. Roy and I came in from the opposite side, with Duchess and Henry coming from the sides, forming a rough circle.

Ollie began to speak. "We are the agents of the Strategic Hazardous International Elite Law Division, SHIELD. You are all under arrest for suspicion of the genocidal attacks on the Bulgarian villages of Pleven and Koslov. Now please…"

Before Ollie could utter another word, the creatures sprang to action in every direction. Some headed straight for us agents, while others seem to leap straight into the air. Luckily, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the satellite hovering high in the sky above easily transmitted the location of each creature to the transport, where Rachel could relay it to us. None would be allowed to escape.

One of the creatures, once a woman, leaped for me at an alarming speed. I quickly fired one of the wrist-rockets. At first I considered aiming for the heart, thinking of the traditional horror film, but hoped a blow to the head would be better. The rocket hit the creature's head with precise accuracy, exploding in a bright flash, leaving nothing above the shoulders but a billowing puff of smoke. I watched in awe as the creature's remains quickly disintegrated into nothing more than ash, then regained my composure and looked around at the others battling around me.

Duchess was standing to the left, and grabbed my attention as the large rifle she was carrying went off with a loud crash, and a sizeable blast of energy crackled through the air. The blast pushed a huge hole through the middle of a vampire flying towards her, and blew off the head of another directly behind, Both turned to ashes before they hit the ground.

Amazingly, John Henry, was seeming to take a much more direct approach. Having seen his assailants, he threw down his firearm and instead let the closest one actually swoop upon his person. First he yelled something about how strong the little buggers were, then the creature attempted to sink it's fangs into his hide. As the teeth struck his skin and shattered, John quickly grabbed the creature by it's head and ripped the appendage clean off, spewing dark blood across his entire body, before the creature fell to the ground and disintegrated into a pile of ash. Henry simply yelped in glee and screamed at the creatures to come take him on.

Sasha fired another rocket at another vampire, and this one struck her target right in the groin. The explosion ripped the creature apart, spewing two legs in opposite directions and the upper torso flailing through the air. She turned to see Roy a narco-jet pistol in each hand, firing acid-tipped "needles" into the eyes and hearts of his targets. She turned to see Ollie firing his own wrist rockets, destroying several vampires in the process.

Then it happened, as we looked around to see how many remained, we noticed that the original twelve have blossomed into another twenty. They seemed to have been late to the original "party". Despite the relative quickness with which the first dozen were dispatched, a great deal of ammo had been used and I could tell Ollie wasn't please with the idea of fighting at least twenty more. Ollie quickly barked orders through the com-links and the group pulled together into a tight-knit circle in the village's center, and prepared to battle a second round.

It appeared as though the creatures were preparing to launch themselves to attack, when the something occurred. I felt suddenly colder and considerably more uncomfortable. Something different was in the air, something was happening that wasn't there moments before. We stared in awe as the creatures turned to face some new attacker. As I adjusted my magnifiers, I saw the most bizarre sight. Something was attacking the vampires. I briefly looked around to see the other agents watching the battle as stunned as I was. Ollie barked a ‘Hold fire' order as we watched the drama unfold. Whoever this attacker was he was no human, and amazingly enough there was only one of him. He savagely ripped through the vampire's ranks as though they were nothing more than pieces of paper. He ripped heads off with the slightest movement, then turned with blinding speed to push his hand, with his victim's heart, clean through the chest to the other side. In less than ten minutes, none of the twenty remained, all had been dispersed in a timely and gruesome fashion, and nothing remained but ashes.

The creature then turned towards us, and in the blink of an eye seemed to stand right before us. I tried to lift my arms and weapons to him, but found I could not. I shifted my sight to the other around me, and noticed that they seemed to be in the same predicament. I was scared. Scared stiff. I felt the power of whoever this was in front of me. His very presence was enough to overwhelm my senses and make he paralyzed with fear, and I wasn't alone.

I almost began to cry as I stared at the creature. He was tall, thin, and wore clothing that seemed belie a royal lineage. His skin was deathly pale, his hair was short, black, and well-trimmed, and his eyes a deep, piercing black. When he spoke it evoked strange reactions. At once I was both seduced by his eloquent voice, and frightened by his sheer power.

"I am Vladameir Tepes Dracul, and these are my ancestral lands. These abominations are the products of rebellious children that believed they had the power to overthrow me and take these lands for themselves. They were wrong, and all the children have been eliminated. Your presence here is not necessary. Begone, before I grow tired of your presence and eliminate you as well."

While myself and the others seemed to simply agree with his assessment, and turned to walk away. Duchess instead seemed to be infuriated by the creature's arrogance, and lacking the fear which seemed to grip all of us, leaped upon the creature. Shocked at first, Dracul mumbled something about her being something completely different from us "sheep".

Suddenly, as if on a cue, Rachel and the Transport arrived in the air above the huts. Shining her light upon the area, she seemed to annoy Dracul enough to make him decide it was his time to leave. He quickly whispered something in her ear and seemed to turn to nothing more than smoke, and disappeared into the night.

His presence gone, everybody seemed to return back to normal. Our senses returned to us, we quickly boarded the ship and made our way home, pleased that everybody made it away from the attack unharmed.

There have been no reports of attacks in either Bulgaria or Vlatavia since.

Despite a search, the man known as Dracul (Count Dracula?) has not been heard of since.

Oh, and what were the words he whispered to Duchess before he disappeared? "This is just a beginning…" Creepy, huh?

She turned over and looked at the clock, wiping the sweat from her brow. Luckily, it was a Saturday, and it didn't matter that it was nine in the morning, and she was feeling like she was about ready to get some sleep. As she drifted off into sleep, she had the most vivid dream. She dreamed that she was back in the transport, monitoring everybody's status. Suddenly she looked over at the pilot to notice he was sleeping blissfully. Rachel feels very odd, like some bizarre presence is in the transport with her, then…

Rachel awoke from her dream with a start. She looked at the clock, now four in the afternoon, and tried to remember the dream which had startled her enough to awaken her from her much needed slumber. She couldn't remember anything. With a uneasy feeling she rubbed her neck. It was sore, and had been ever since that night in Bulgaria, and she couldn't understand why…