Challenge #00694 - A329: Children of the Permanent Night

http://callmegallifreya.tumblr.com/post/100492890835/bulbul-e-bismil-oh-vampire-lake-teach-me

SCUBA VAMPIRES

All around the globe, the secret societies of vampire hunters noticed something strange. A drastic reduction in the volumes of their prey. All the crypts and castles were actually becoming abandoned hulks. All the roosting places, new and old, were vacant.

They knew it wasn’t them. Despite their best efforts, all the vampire hunters could do was keep the worst examples from running rough-shod through the populations of the living.

All that was left, usually, were the cunning, quiet ones who were less of a threat.

But where did they all go?

*

Somewhere near the Marinara Trench…

Vampires didn’t need to breathe. They didn’t need light. Both were a convenience, sometimes, but for the most of it, the only problem was acclimating to the pressure.

And vampires healed rather quickly.

This deep, there was an abundance of undersea creatures to feed upon. This deep, there was no dawn. This deep, they could build without detection. This deep, no hunter could find them.

The vampires of the world, the smart ones, the clever and cunning ones… The ones who only hunted to feed… had found a permanent place of safety.

Or rather, they were making it.

The main dome was finished, and various clever vampires were busy extracting air from the ocean.

Even though they didn’t really need it… it still felt nicer to have it. And light made everything cheerier, here in the eternal night.

They’d have plants, too. Once others finished engineering them to withstand the pressure at these depths.

Plants, light, food… and all the comforts of the crypt with none of the usual paranoia that came with living at the surface.

No wonder all of them were working on it at once.

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