The Chosen One

Today, vampire hunting has become high tech and science has replaced much of the muscle and footwork. Even though technology has become the key element of the trade, hunters still need strong bodies and great reflexes. As he aged, Dr. Van Helsing realized that were he to combine the religious, scientific and physical aspects of the job, he could develop teams to root out and destroy vampires faster than the vampires could repopulate themselves. Over the last few years of his life, Dr. Van Helsing began outlining plans for an academy to train future generations of vampire killers. It took the doctor years and countless meetings with various groups of leadership within the Catholic Church before the Pope would give his final blessing on the project. The ground breaking on the first of three such academies would begin in Rome just twelve days prior to the death of Abraham Van Helsing. The Roman Academy was completed in nineteen thirteen. A second academy was built in Buenos Aires in nineteen fifteen, whereas the third and last one was completed in nineteen eighteen in Lexington, Kentucky. To date, these are the only three such academies in the world, but plans for a fourth in Brisbane, Australia and a fifth in Johannesburg, South Africa have been submitted to the Holy See. The three academies all share the same name, The Academy of the Holy Father, or See, but they are affectionately referred to as the Van Helsing Academies. They have but one purpose and that is to train exceptional youths in the art and science of vampire hunting. Students come from all over the world and are taught science, religion and combat training. The vast majority of these students are taken from orphanages or else are the children of former or current hunters. Given the fact that the average life expectancy of a hunter in the field is about eight years, most of the children from hunter families are usually orphaned or at least missing one parent by the time they join the academy. Since the inception of the first academy, over twelve thousand vampires have been eliminated by graduates of the three institutes with students from the one in Rome responsible for removal of over five thousand. During this same period, over seven thousand hunters or student hunters have been taken with thirty-three of them having been turned into vampires. Only six of those former hunters remain with twenty-seven having been destroyed, but those survivors have proven to be some of the most resourceful and dangerous adversaries for the hunters. Legend says that any vampire can turn a person in to a member of the Nosferatu, but that is patently untrue. Only a vampire prince can perform such a feat. Throughout history there have only been ten such beings with Vlad Tepes being the best-known of the group. Today there are only seven princes or princesses left. Not much is known about the deaths of the other two vampire princes but there are legends which may tell how the other two met their demise. One comes from ancient Mesopotamia that tells of a prince named Enkidu with vampire tendencies. His story comes from the legend of Gilgamesh and is believed to be the first recorded documentation of a vampire slaying. The second slaying involves Saint George and his legendary slaying of a dragon, which also happens to be one of the forms that a vampire (male) or vampirina (female) may take when he or she feels threatened. Legend says that Saint George attacked a dragon that was terrorizing the local population. Even though this story has become an English legend as well as a Christian one, the events of this vampire slaying have nothing to do with England or Christianity. The destruction of this dragon was supposed to have taken place in Silene, which is located in modern-day Libya, not in England. Also, there is ample evidence that the Saint George incident took place before the birth of Christ and therefore precedes Christianity by several hundred years. There is an old Hittite legend of the Storm God, Tarhun, battling a dragon called Illuvankas. The story of Tarhun is amazingly similar to that of Saint George and is believed to be the origins on which Saint George's legend was based. The whereabouts of the last seven princes are unknown, but it is believed that they are scattered throughout the world. Each continent is rumored to contain at least one; the exceptions being Asia, which is believed to have two and Antarctica with zero. Those two vampires in Asia are rumored to be located in Russia, China or India. They are believed to be traveling together and are thought to be a male and a female. No one really knows for sure since most vampires are transient in nature. For a century, the academies have been dedicated to searching out and destroying these seven individuals. With the help of new technologies, especially the dust, and new fighting techniques, the students of these academies have come close on several occasions, but, thus far, have failed in all endeavors to destroy a prince or princess. Still, the academies persist. They continue to fight because of a prophecy issued by Abraham Van Helsing only minutes before his death. As his eyes closed into eternity, the good doctor predicted that a student from one of the academies would one day arise to become an unequalled vampire hunter. This student would destroy the rest of the princes from off the face of the earth. This deathbed prediction has become known as the Prophecy of the Chosen One. To this day, it has yet to be fulfilled.