The Exsanguination

Every drop of power that courses through your veins belong to me. I am reclaiming it.

— The beginning of the end

The Exsanguination was the catastrophic rebirth of the vampire-god Shaitan in the Prime and the near extinction of every earth-bound vampire. Over the course of a few months, every vampire that shared an ancestry with Shaitan found themselves bleeding out, their blood rebelling against their flesh and breaking free of it. Believed to be one of the first vampires, Shaitan's blood had spread throughout the millennia as vampires turned mortals to abominations for companionship, servitude, or whim, and it was all returning to its master. It would gather in a great pool of blood, from which the vampire-god emerged.

Bloody Uprising

Our great work... Is nearly done.

— Lazarus of the Bloody Black Hand

A scheme centuries in the making saw its final step in the failure of another. As the mortal warlock Alexander Sheridan attempted to breach the Ruinous Vault to plunder its world-ending secrets, the very instrument of his attack - his vampiric enforces - betrayed him. In the chaos of several unleashed disasters, they stole away the Heart of Shaitan and left the wizard to be imprisoned.

After his escape - or release - Alexander himself aided the efforts against Shaitan... More out of revenge than anything.

by Unsplash (Volker Braun)

The fossilized organ was the last artifact needed for the vampire-god to re-emerge. For countless ages, he had lain dormant within the blood of every vampire spawned from his lineage, growing in power as they grew in numbers. With it, the Bloody Black Hand began to resurrect their long-dead god.

At the same time, vicious fighting broke out across the Shadow, as strife followed the chaos left from the Vault's breach.

By the time people had figured out what was going on, blood was already flowing. Desperate and dying vampires struck out in all directions; some following the trail of exsanguination to try to stop the source, but failed.

One escaped long enough to warn others, setting the dominos in motion for a response.

Other vampires fled into the Beyond. The fortunate few with this ability fared better then most, but none escaped unscathed.

With the warning, people realized that as bad as things looked, they were worse. Few were shedding many tears about blood-suckers getting some ironic revenge, but the idea of an immortal undead god roaming around the world didn't seem much better.
Just as things looked like they couldn't get any worse, they did. Once the first attack was launched on the Bloody Black Hand, the vampires revealed that they had in secret accumulated a great number of vampires and revenants that they threw into battle.

The War Of Blood

There's gonna be more spoilers, isn't there?

— Amelia Korp

As the blood of vampires flows across the planet in streams and rivers, the world goes mad. Though the great masses of humanity remain ignorant through the workings of the Veil, they are not unaffected. Where the blood passes, so too does madness and violence.

From the Beyond, ancient creatures stir from their slumber by the smell of such power. Some cross through into the Shadow and even into the Prime, adding to the chaos. Magi rally in great number to stop the birth of Shaitan, assembling an unlikely alliance of Spooks and Walkers never seen before.

They fail.

Betrayed and too late, the Exsanguination kills almost all lesser vampires in the Prime, including the Bloody Black Hand, and through their collective blood, an undead god emerges. Despite the feast that spawned him, Shaitan is ravenously hungry and devours drop of blood in the city of Ibarra, Ecuador. Such is his hunger that magi begin to fear only the whole of humanity would sate him.

by Unsplash (Mathila Khoo)

And we can't let that happen, now can we?

by Pixabay

Vampires

Blood-sucking horrors from beyond the grave, Vampires are dangerous horrors that haunt the Shadow. Most Vampires that a walker might run into these days are of the lesser variety, humans turned into abominations, but their origin lies in the Beyond.
True, or Greater, vampires were never human, but spawned from the blood-splattered depths of myth and magic. They're as rare as they are powerful, each one an equal for a dozen magi. Shaitan alone could best a hundred without breaking a bloody sweat.

Revenants

Revenants are unfortunate mortals, bound to a vampire's will through a pact of blood. By consuming the vampire's blood, a mortal can gain a spark of their power - but at a terrible price. Most revenants serve their undying masters as in any number of capacities, from bodyguard to courtesan, and can live for centuries, as long as the blood flows.
So many vampires were exsanguinated that more than one unfortunate Revenant was drowned in the tide of blood. Many others, elder revenants found their gifted blood ripped from their bodies.

The Bloody Black Hand

Vampires and mercenaries, the Bloody Black Hand are a young brood of entrepreneurial vampires who hire their services to the highest bidder. These 'services' usually involve putting the hurt on some poor bastard, but if sufficiently motivated, they have other uses. As powerful, magical entities, their allegiance is bought as part of a Pacts, usually for a price in warm bodies and human luxuries.

by http://www.tribalartasia.com/

Teasing a third book? Now you're just gettin' cheeky!

— Amelia Korp