Lia Scott Price's
Vampire Guardian Angels™
Rule of Blood (Issue 5)
Price/Setter/Hammontree
Copyright Lia Scott Price
About The Comic Book Series:
Lia Scott Price’s Vampire Guardian Angels is a creator-owned comic book series written and created by Horror Author Lia Scott Price. In the series, Guardian Angels from Heaven have become Vampires who kill people who pray for help to them, and both humans and “good” angels have to work to stop them.
What are Vampire Guardian Angels?
When you pray to guardian angels, do you know what they are? What if they were a vicious new breed and hybrid of serial killer, angel and vampire who target those who pray for help to them? Because they are tired of protecting us and want to put us out of our misery, by eating, and enslaving us. Don’t pray to them.
The Story:
Rule of Blood introduces a completely new character: Jeromos Dracon, an ancient Estonian prince, Janos's heir.
9 months have passed. On earth, there is a mysterious virus. Male humans lie bleeding in hospitals from a combination of a deadly form of necrotizing flesh eating bacteria that also causes the victim to bleed uncontrollably, attracting earth vampires. They feed on the dying victim, but end up dying themselves. The earth vampires dissolve into pools of blood.
Meanwhile, word of this virus spreads up in Heaven, where Jeromos tries to inform Janos of the plague on Earth. But Janos is furious. Leah killed herself and their unborn child. Jeromos asks Janos what they should do about the plague, and Janos decides to make Jeromos his new heir, because he is a Royal. Janos also explains the secret of how the portal works, that any Angel can open the portal but it requires the death of Angels to provide the safe passage through the astral plane of good and evil through a tunnel of celestial light, and that being the "chosen one" and that only Royals could rule was a political myth and ploy used to become leader of the Vampire Guardian Angels. Janos also reveals how he got into Heaven: After he escaped from the psychiatric ward, he hid in a New York Cathedral. There, he had found the three Vampire Guardian Angels, Zeke, Anthony, and Jude, who Cameron had prevented from ascending, dying, after they wandered around aimlessly, hiding in churches. Because he still had some traces of good in him, Janos killed the three angels, and ascended into Heaven using the portal of light. That had been his plan all along, sent to him in visions: to sacrifice the three Vampire Guardian Angels so he could rule in Heaven and fulfill the prophecy.
Gregory, still on Earth after being wounded by Detectives Graham and Costa, hears of the news of Leah's death from angel statues in a church and, enraged, vows revenge for Leah's death. He blames Janos. He also hears that, left without an heir, Janos chose Jeromos as his alternate heir, because he was a Royal. Gregory decides he wants to unseat Janos and take over leadership, since he still considers Janos a weak ruler, and he has to find a way back to Heaven since Cameron destroyed the portal. The angel statues tell him that Cameron's adopted son, Joseph, is still on Earth. Gregory then decides Joseph is his key to returning to heaven. He plans to kill Joseph and use his ascending spirit to get back into heaven, just like the earth vampire did with Gabriel.
Still on Earth, Joseph also hears the news of Janos's choice of heir from angel statues while visiting his mother's grave, and is overcome with anger. He feels he should take over and should have been mentored by Janos because he feels he is more powerful because of his power of light, but knows he is too young and inexperienced. The angel statues tell him that he is known as the "Angel Killer", but that he must also control his temper and desires for revenge if he wants to rule.
Gregory finds the angry and vengeful Joseph in the cemetery and convinces him to unseat Janos from power. Joseph tells Gregory that he also wants to destroy Cameron for killing his mother and for turning him into a vampire, but he also wants the power that Janos has.
However, while they conspire on Earth, Gregory sees a young Earth Vampire wandering through the cemetery. The human appears weak and frothing bloody saliva at the mouth. begging for help and crying out that he is sick and for his someone to save him. Gregory, seeing opportunity for a meal, kills the young man and feeds off him, since Vampire Guardian Angels can feed off other Vampires too. Joseph just watches. But Gregory suddenly drops the man and starts dissolving. After Gregory dies, turning into a pool of blood, Joseph spreads his wings and follows the ball of light up back to heaven. He did what Gabriel did, hitching a ride to heaven like the earth vampire did.
Back in Heaven, Joseph demands to see Janos. Janos, surprised and concerned, angrily demands how Joseph got to heaven and Joseph tells him about Gregory's death and about Cameron being like a father to him, and what Cameron did to Christina and that it was Cameron who but him, and that he wants revenge. Janos tells Joseph Cameron is their prisoner. Janos then orders an infected human brought. He explains the plague and that Gregory had drank from an infected Earth Vampire. Because of his ties to Cameron, who Janos calls the killer of angels, Janos demands Joseph demonstrate his loyalty and to gain Janos's trust, Janos forces Joseph to drink from the infected man. Joseph at first hesitates, but does so, and Janos, pleased, reveals that the man is not infected after all.
Janos then orders only vampire guardian angels can breed with females who are believers and who pray because only the male humans are infected. Then they can continue to have food and maintain their hold over the Earth Vampires. Chained human and vampire women are being held prisoner for Janos’s breeding program, to create more angels and an uninfected food source. Vampire Guardian Angels can produce only male offspring with human and vampire women due to their celestial powers. But the women must be believers in angels to be bred, which is why the Church must be involved to create more “believers”. Those uninfected women who are not chosen to breed become food. The male young will be harvested. Some will be killed off to create more angels who will ascend to Heaven with their own portals and turned into Vampire Guardian Angels. (The very young can be killed off by any angel since they are considered “innocents”.) Others, most likely the weak ones, will be fed to both Earth Vampires and Vampire Guardian Angels.
Joseph tells Jeromos that the problem is, they can only target healthy humans who pray to them, and most of the world has turned into different religions, and atheism is on the rise. Janos must find a way to force the humans to pray.
Janos says he will send both Joseph and Jeromos to earth immediately along with several vampire guardian angels through the still-open portal of light created through Gregory's ascent to form an alliance with a militant branch of the Catholic church to frighten people into praying more, breeding more, and to use the churches to house the captive humans to feed to the Guardians, just like they did during the time of the inquisition. Joseph is reluctant to return to earth but tells himself he needs to get rid of Jeromos first. Then he will use Jeromos's ascending spirit to get back into heaven.
Janos sees an opportunity forming as well. Vampire Guardian Angels being killed by the plague on Earth are ascending in balls of light, providing a chance for the Angels in Heaven to descend to Earth without burning. But he still needs to raise an army on Earth. Too many Angels are dying and the Vampire Guardian Angels need to regroup and repopulate before they can take over, and they need to get rid of the plague.
Jeromos secretly wants take over Janos's reign. He also wants to chose a new Queen, and a new legitimate heir. He is also suspicious of Joseph and does not want him to take over. As a distraction, he sends Joseph to Detective Costa, who is dating the author Ms. Price, to find out more about the plague, and tells Joseph to tell Costa that Cameron sent him and that he needs his help. In the meantime, Jeromos quickly leaves the police station to raise an army through the Church, and kidnaps Ms. Price. Jeromos wants her because she is their "creator" who brought the Vampire Guardian Angels "to life" with her belief in the existence of them, which gave them a supernatural power and awakening, and also because her own blood supposedly holds power that rejuvenates them, which explains why she was able to make them come to life. Jeromos has researched her background and found she does have royal blood, which makes her part of the prophecy (and hints that she may in fact be immortal). Jeromos plans to use Ms. Price to create his own new dynasty.
Costa tells Joseph that through his contact Catharina, the vampire Cameron saved from Gabriel, and who saved Joseph they learn that the earth vampires have found that healthy bodily fluids from a non-infected human will instantly heal them. To heal themselves, they must hang adult humans up on meat hooks and slice them open and shower in their blood, just like Janos's mother Elizabeth Bathory used to. Costa's contact Catharina takes both Joseph and Costa to a warehouse in Long Beach, CA, where this is taking place.
Costa, Joseph, and Catharina are surprised by guards from the Church, led by Jeromos wearing a mysterious necklace that looks like a vial of blood mixed with gold, and who announces the guards as his holy army sent by powerful church leaders. Jeromos orders the guards to kill them.
But they are shielded by someone. It's Cameron, who escaped from Janos and Heaven and descended without the portal to save him and is now smoking and burning and transforming, with skin peeling off.
Jeromos attacks Joseph but Catharina saves him ones again, and dies. Joseph tries to burn Jeromos with his power of light but Jeromos disappears. Cameron, horribly burned, disappears again, presumably to go after Jeromos.
Now Jeromos and Joseph are enemies, fighting for leadership. Costa vows to rescue the author from Jeromos, and Joseph vows to find Jeromos, kill him, and use his ascending spirit to get back into Heaven and destroy Janos.
See the story in comic book format
