Black Panther (Introduction)
Millenniums had passed since I first underwent the change. The unnatural transformation, brought on by a random assault, left me bereft of those common qualities that allow humans to go about their daily lives unimpeded by a greater sense of obligation or awareness.
While the consequences of the life-changing event had been dramatic, the altercation itself had been rather simple: I had been attacked from behind by something that had easily mastered me, and accordingly drained me of my blood, enough to send me to sleep, permanently. But I had not died that night, perhaps because the creature that sucked forth my life had borne a conscience, and could not in good faith leave me to my death, and so he had made me what he himself was - a being radically different from the human race, a Noctor. In any case, he departed shortly there afterward, and I was left to unravel the mystery of my new nature - alone.
Lest you think my transmutation was instantaneous and facile, I will give you a broad description of my sufferings and distress. It took weeks for the metamorphosis to occur, and each day heralded new symptoms and new agonies, until I feared I was going to die before the process was complete. At first I experienced a general malaise with body aches, fever, nausea and fatigue as the primary symptoms. But that soon ended, and was replaced with limb twisting and physical changes, until I hardly appeared human. It was at this point I ran away, convinced that staying on would only be a disservice to my family, who could hardly help me and were forced to watch on, powerless, as I underwent the change. I knew my DNA was mutating on a sub-structural level, and my chromosomes were no longer human.
For weeks I lived amongst the homeless, the mentally ill and the addicts. I hid amid the garbage cans in the back alley of a restaurant, subsisting on the remains of uneaten food thrown to the dogs. Soon, however, my taste changed, and I no longer found human food satisfying. It was at this point I became aware of the others, and of my own new nature. A psychic link between myself and my master, at first faint and dubious, had grown to reliable and consistent proportions. I recognized myself for who I now was, the first human-Noctor in existence, and with this realization came the epiphany that I had a purpose, a unique function in the universe: I consumed vampires.
Not surprisingly, I initially resisted my calling, for I was bitter at being ripped from my position in the human race and forced into some other mode of existence. I continued to live on the streets, and discern my newfound abilities: I was, for all intents and purposes, immortal; I possessed superhuman strength, speed and agility and could -- with some limitation – assume the shape of other life forms. Furthermore, with uncanny relative accuracy, I could sense imminent events, and I also enjoyed a keen insight into people, having the power of suggestion at my fingertips. With comparative ease I could induce a trance in the most resistant individuals.
Despite these superior skills I shied away from using them for any social good. I was a freak in an otherwise normal world, and I felt it was not my place to use these talents to alter the course of history. So, I watched on as my parents, and then my child died; I observed historical upheaval and noted the shift in power and the rise and fall of governments and nations as they occurred at certain epochs in time. I also monitored the vampire population, which was initially scant and underground, and as such allowed me to feed without upsetting the precarious balance of the food chain. For a very long time, my isolation from society had little effect on the outcome and turn of events, that was until something happened, something which forever altered the course of human history
The vampire population suddenly grew, almost tripling overnight.
I knew almost instantaneously what had happened.
My master’s mind disclosed the story to me. The fringe-element Noctors had been inbreeding with the Scurge, an inferior albeit pulchritudinous race of scavenger beings that served as universal clean-up for dying, old and ill life-forms. These were opportunistic hunters who drank the blood and consumed the remains of the weakest links, but inbred with Noctors, their useful opportunistic instinct turned deadly, transposing into a predatory lust for lifeblood. The Noctors, a race that eons ago had been subject to this sanguine passion, had overcome their rage through spiritual and logical practices. But, bred with a Scurge, this recessive gene had been activated, the latent ardor aroused and turned into a murderous disposition for higher forms of life – life that had reached the peak of its existence.
The Noctor government, recognizing the epidemic, had established laws prohibiting liaisons with the Scurge and had outlawed murder for food, but the new vampire generation, rebellious and wicked at its very heart, refused to submit to the Noctor authority. Commandeering several space ships, the refugees fled to earth, where they hoped to rule and practice their bloody impulses unimpeded by the Noctors. And now they were here, infesting the general population and infiltrating the ranks of government. The Noctors, though they sought to shoot down renegade ships, refused to interfere in the development of other species on other worlds.
And so I was left alone, the sole individual that stood between vampire world domination and the complete obliteration of the human race. As such, I had no other choice but to re-enter society as I was, a freak of nature, bent on protecting humanity from this new universal threat. I assumed the shape and pseudonym “Black Panther”, a primarily nocturnal beast with a penchant for securing it’s prey. Using this form to detect and track vampires, I systematically hunted down and killed as many bloodsuckers as possible. Soon, however, the Black Panther took on a personality of its own, becoming an icon for human hope and freedom. Whether in masked human form or as an animal, I was the symbol for humanity’s ability to champion the most dangerous of foes. Although I did not welcome this status nor this responsibility, I recognized humanity’s great need to believe in a protector and so with a heavy heart and great burden I accepted it and bore it until, at last, another hope came along, this time in the form of a man: Gabriele Childes.
When I first spotted him entering the only nightclub in the city, I had no idea he would become the boast of humanity. He was only a boy, tall and lean, with a face more like an angel than a man. Although I had sworn to myself, when I first metamorphosed, I would not become personally involved with any human lest I be forced to suffer their death, I could not help but be attracted to Gabe. There was something pure and innocent about him, about the way he leaned his head back when he laughed or tossed it to one side and winked when he was flirting. His body moved through space with an almost fearless determination, although he had as much reason as anyone to be afraid, to hesitate before stepping across the street or in front of a dark alley. But Gabe, Gabe was intrepid in the face of the most dangerous circumstances, even as the coerced sesclave (sex slave) of the great human traitor Arnold Benedict. Perhaps that is why the flailing human resistance targeted him as their next leader.
I had been aware for some time now of a small band of human rebels that called themselves The Alliance. Formed under a charismatic leader that had long since passed away, The Alliance floundered to survive, only managing to occasionally assassinate a small-time vampire official or bomb a local bloodsucker café. I remained apart from them – again, afraid to grow to close to any human – but when circumstances warranted it, I assisted them in their terrorist attacks.
One night as I was observing Gabe a truck pulled up, two humans jumped out and pulled the youngster inside, quickly tying his hands and feet and bandaging his eyes. These were mortals, and so I was reticent to interfere until death seemed eminent, and truth be told, I was more than a little curious regarding their actions. So, I remained aloof, and followed at a safe distance behind the truck as it soon left the city.
Once outside the metropolis limits, the truck came to a stop and the humans exited the vehicle, pulling Gabe with them. The head of the rebel force confronted Gabe about his liaisons, and offered him this ultimatum: work for the human resistance or remain a sesclave forever. The choices, like so many in life, were hardly valid, but Gabe did not seem cognizant of their drawbacks; I saw something well up within him then, something I had not noticed before – an almost fierce resolution – an unrelenting ferocious warrior spirit that caught me off guard. I knew then he would be the one to lead the Rebel Force to overthrow the vampire government, and I resolved to be his guardian until that day.
Gabe returned to the city still a sesclave, but this time one with a mission: infiltrate the vampire government using his relationship with Benedict as a ploy. Standing amongst his peers – for the primary and really, the only means by which the young survived was sex slavery - he hardly resembled the next leader of the human resistance. Little did anyone know it was the start of a massive shift in political power, with Gabriele leading the mortals in a vicious war against their vampire captors.
