Vampires are like cockroaches: a constantly multiplying nuisance that hates light
Most Historians will tell you that the longest time the United States has gone without a war is from 1918 to 1941, between the two World Wars. This is due to the largely successful attempts by the US government to destroy all records of the Vampire Wars, which raged over the Northeastern US from 1919 to 1932, and was one of the prime causes of the Great Depression.
Around 1850, Vampires were looking for a new place to congregate, as they had been chased out of their native Transylvania by irate villagers with pitchforks and torches. They migrated west, away from the sun, eventually ending up in England. There they laid low for years, getting a feel for the new area. However, like every oppressed minority, the Vampires wanted a bigger slice, and so grew hostile to their new, less pale neighbors. In 1988, they saw their chance to strike, with the Jack the Ripper murders, and started increasing their ranks and going on a feeding frenzy, by making them seem to be copycat murders.
It didn't take too long for British Intelligence to catch on to what was really happening, and so in 1890, sent covert troops undercover to root out the Vampires. The most successful of these troops was Major Abraham Stoker, who personally burned down the biggest Vampire den in Britain, causing the Vampires to flee farther west, to the United States. Stoker, however, was suspected of having been infected, and so was forced to retire, but due to his services, he was nonetheless given a pension capable of supporting him the rest of his life. In 1897, a year after having driven the Vampires out of England, Stoker published his fictionalized memiors under the title Dracula.
In late 1896, the Vampires arrived in the US, their numbers decidedly weakened by their troubles across the Atlantic. They decided to lay low and bring their numbers back up to their previous strength. They achieved this goal in 1913, and were planning to strike the next year, but then Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, provoking the first World War. Rather than get mixed up with that, the Vampire community decided to continue covertly increasing their numbers during the war. In 1918, when the war was over, the Vampires had nearly double the force they'd had when they tried to take over England. However, they'd learned from that attempt that it wasn't enough to randomly attack people in order to take over a country. They needed an actual plan of attack, so they plotted for months before finally making themselves known in March, 1919.
The Vampires' first act of war was a surgical strike which brought the city of Providence, Rhode Island completely under their control within a matter of hours. They quickly swept Northeast to Quincy, Massachusetts, and within a week had the easternmost extremity of the state in their hands. The US military had no chance to stop them, the Vampires moved so fast. So, they did the best they could under the circumstances, and set up barbed wire and machine gun nests along the newly created border. The Vampires told the United States that they simply wanted that small patch to call their own, and that they would trouble the US no longer, so long as the US did not try to take Massachusetts back. President Wilson agreed to the arrangement, but it was quickly clear that neither side was honest with the other in their intentions.
The Vampires decided to wait out the summer of 1919 and its lengthened days, so the US used the time to gather information on the Vampires. After a couple months of intense negotiations, Britain finally agreed to hand over the intelligence they'd gathered from their own Vampire attack, decades earlier. While most of the overall strategies to use were useless to the US, due to the completely different strategy employed by the Vampires this time, they did find two very useful pieces of information. First, what the Vampires weaknesses were. Sunlight, holy water, crosses, pitchforks, fire, destroying their hearts, beheading, etc. Secondly, they found how to lower the amount the Vampires' numbers increased by. Since drunks were such easy targets for the Vampires, the easiest way to slow their increase was to do away with alcohol. So Prohibition was signed into law, and the United States became a dry nation.
Once summer had passed, the Vampires were ready to go back on the offensive and sent a large force to Northern Maine and started conquering southward. Yes, their recruitment rate had been slowed, but their numbers were still great enough that they had all of Maine, and most of New Hampshire and Massachusetts in their grasp by the end of 1923. Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were evacuated, and the US military set up a line of defense on the New York border. From 1924 to 1928, neither side managed to get any headway against the other. They were locked in a stalemate, which, at the time, was just what the US wanted.
Both sides began to operate covertly during the stalemate. In 1924, the CIA launched several missions into Vampire country to capture specimens for research and training. Using these prisoners, the US managed to train the first Echo unit, formed to be the ultimate anti-Vampire fighting force. But, due to the rigorous training necessary, Echo would not be mobilized against the Vampires until 1928. In the meantime, the Vampires started attacking the New York Stock Exchange. Not physically, but through strategic buying and selling, set the Market up for the Great Crash of 1929, ushering the Great Depression. Shortly before the Crash, however, several Echo teams were sent into Vampire country to cause as much trouble as possible. Their efforts were successful, and the US managed to set up a new defensive line along the modern Interstate-91. In fact, much of I-91 was actually built on the ruins of this line.
But then in 1929, the Great Depression hit, and the US had to halt their offensive and deal with damage control back home. In a move that still baffles any who hear about it, the Vampires did not take military advantage of the sudden stop of the US forces. Instead, they simply sat back and basked in the devastation they'd brought the world economy. In 1931, the United States had gone through NYSE records enough to realize that the Crash had been orchestrated by the Vampires, and so renewed their offensive with even greater vigor. Such that by Summer of 1932, there were not more than a dozen Vampires still living in the New England area.
With the war over, Prohibition was repealed in 1933. The government then did its best to destroy any records of the Vampire War that had raged on for over a decade. However, they still kept a well-trained Echo team on hand, which turned out to be fortunate years later when there was a demon infestation in the Midwest. But that's a story for another time.
Around 1850, Vampires were looking for a new place to congregate, as they had been chased out of their native Transylvania by irate villagers with pitchforks and torches. They migrated west, away from the sun, eventually ending up in England. There they laid low for years, getting a feel for the new area. However, like every oppressed minority, the Vampires wanted a bigger slice, and so grew hostile to their new, less pale neighbors. In 1988, they saw their chance to strike, with the Jack the Ripper murders, and started increasing their ranks and going on a feeding frenzy, by making them seem to be copycat murders.
It didn't take too long for British Intelligence to catch on to what was really happening, and so in 1890, sent covert troops undercover to root out the Vampires. The most successful of these troops was Major Abraham Stoker, who personally burned down the biggest Vampire den in Britain, causing the Vampires to flee farther west, to the United States. Stoker, however, was suspected of having been infected, and so was forced to retire, but due to his services, he was nonetheless given a pension capable of supporting him the rest of his life. In 1897, a year after having driven the Vampires out of England, Stoker published his fictionalized memiors under the title Dracula.
In late 1896, the Vampires arrived in the US, their numbers decidedly weakened by their troubles across the Atlantic. They decided to lay low and bring their numbers back up to their previous strength. They achieved this goal in 1913, and were planning to strike the next year, but then Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated, provoking the first World War. Rather than get mixed up with that, the Vampire community decided to continue covertly increasing their numbers during the war. In 1918, when the war was over, the Vampires had nearly double the force they'd had when they tried to take over England. However, they'd learned from that attempt that it wasn't enough to randomly attack people in order to take over a country. They needed an actual plan of attack, so they plotted for months before finally making themselves known in March, 1919.
The Vampires' first act of war was a surgical strike which brought the city of Providence, Rhode Island completely under their control within a matter of hours. They quickly swept Northeast to Quincy, Massachusetts, and within a week had the easternmost extremity of the state in their hands. The US military had no chance to stop them, the Vampires moved so fast. So, they did the best they could under the circumstances, and set up barbed wire and machine gun nests along the newly created border. The Vampires told the United States that they simply wanted that small patch to call their own, and that they would trouble the US no longer, so long as the US did not try to take Massachusetts back. President Wilson agreed to the arrangement, but it was quickly clear that neither side was honest with the other in their intentions.
The Vampires decided to wait out the summer of 1919 and its lengthened days, so the US used the time to gather information on the Vampires. After a couple months of intense negotiations, Britain finally agreed to hand over the intelligence they'd gathered from their own Vampire attack, decades earlier. While most of the overall strategies to use were useless to the US, due to the completely different strategy employed by the Vampires this time, they did find two very useful pieces of information. First, what the Vampires weaknesses were. Sunlight, holy water, crosses, pitchforks, fire, destroying their hearts, beheading, etc. Secondly, they found how to lower the amount the Vampires' numbers increased by. Since drunks were such easy targets for the Vampires, the easiest way to slow their increase was to do away with alcohol. So Prohibition was signed into law, and the United States became a dry nation.
Once summer had passed, the Vampires were ready to go back on the offensive and sent a large force to Northern Maine and started conquering southward. Yes, their recruitment rate had been slowed, but their numbers were still great enough that they had all of Maine, and most of New Hampshire and Massachusetts in their grasp by the end of 1923. Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were evacuated, and the US military set up a line of defense on the New York border. From 1924 to 1928, neither side managed to get any headway against the other. They were locked in a stalemate, which, at the time, was just what the US wanted.
Both sides began to operate covertly during the stalemate. In 1924, the CIA launched several missions into Vampire country to capture specimens for research and training. Using these prisoners, the US managed to train the first Echo unit, formed to be the ultimate anti-Vampire fighting force. But, due to the rigorous training necessary, Echo would not be mobilized against the Vampires until 1928. In the meantime, the Vampires started attacking the New York Stock Exchange. Not physically, but through strategic buying and selling, set the Market up for the Great Crash of 1929, ushering the Great Depression. Shortly before the Crash, however, several Echo teams were sent into Vampire country to cause as much trouble as possible. Their efforts were successful, and the US managed to set up a new defensive line along the modern Interstate-91. In fact, much of I-91 was actually built on the ruins of this line.
But then in 1929, the Great Depression hit, and the US had to halt their offensive and deal with damage control back home. In a move that still baffles any who hear about it, the Vampires did not take military advantage of the sudden stop of the US forces. Instead, they simply sat back and basked in the devastation they'd brought the world economy. In 1931, the United States had gone through NYSE records enough to realize that the Crash had been orchestrated by the Vampires, and so renewed their offensive with even greater vigor. Such that by Summer of 1932, there were not more than a dozen Vampires still living in the New England area.
With the war over, Prohibition was repealed in 1933. The government then did its best to destroy any records of the Vampire War that had raged on for over a decade. However, they still kept a well-trained Echo team on hand, which turned out to be fortunate years later when there was a demon infestation in the Midwest. But that's a story for another time.