Rise of the Fallen

"It's been five days and no sign." I said to myself as I paced the cavern. "Was I wrong?
It wouldn't be the first time." My eyes drift until they come to a sketching of a woman
posed upon a desk, laid out sensually. "I remember you."

My mind rushed back to days long ago, to another world. Chester, I would of had that city
burn had I had my wish. I already took Menida, Chester was just another stepping stone in
my journey. There were werewolves back then, at least on that continent there was. Fierce beasts, creatures I enjoyed to toy with. They were smart, but still nothing more than a mere dog. I could remember the taste of youth and the power that flowed within that released me from my prison. She never knew what was sleeping beneath her little playhouse. I can still hear her voice.

"Mother, I give myself to you. Let me see your face."

"Oh how you have, childe..."

My head lifts as I feel something familiar approaching. It felt natural, as if it was my own, and as I adjusted my eyes to push back the inky blackness of the dimly lit cavern, there she was. Or at least, what was left of her.

"I have returned."

Her voice was like ambrosia, and the next step can finally begin.

"Well done." I complimented, though my voice was flat as if her accomplishment was something of
child's play. Then again, I had done the same thing ... twice. "I assume you have become familiar
with yourself."

"I think so, but what is that feeling? It's ... large."

"That, my childe, is the beast within. The mother is depicted as a cloaked woman, but the mother is the beast. She is called Methuselah, and is the oldest amongst us."

"Us? There are more?"

"Not on this continent." My reply brought a thin smile across my lips. "Nor have I discovered any
werewolves."

"Werewolves? Like wolfkin?"

"Yes, but stronger, more intelligent. Nothing like that mongral you bred with." I snapped rudely, my distaste for the creatures showing true. "They were present in Chester, a city far from here. There is a vendetta between our kinds, and a dead werewolf is a good werewolf."

"So this is why I am here? Mother hates werewolves?"

"Not quite, childe. I hate werewolves, but as I said, I haven't discovered any here. Mother wants death, and thus here you are." I said, I turned from my companion and began down a tunnel. "Come. There is much to learn."

"Pardon, my lord?"

"I am no longer your lord, childe. Lords and Ladies are of mortal means. I am your Sire, you are my Childe. My blood courses through your veins. My blood, my power, my vengance." I turn to my companion showing blood filled eyes. "I will teach you how to use your new gift, and you will use it well, but first you must understand where we come from."

"Yes, Sire."

I took my companion deep into the mountain, to a place prepared for this day. Torches line the walls of a small cavern, training dummies lining the back wall and various weapons rest upon the wall. "I assume you've already learned of your thirst." I looked to her, seeing a spot of blood dried upon her lower lip. "It's better than any treat the mortals can offer, isn't it?" My companion lifted a hand and wiped her lip clean, the look of satisfaction upon her face as I bring forth the memory off her first meal.

"Indeed, Sire."

"Sit." I instruct, doing so myself upon a long chiseled rock. "You have, well had, a Grandsire. His name was Mortifero."

"Was, Sire? Not anymore I take it?"

"Not as long as I am present within this Realm. Mortifero was my Sire, my name is Shawn. I was a Monk in Chester, but the faith left me wanting. Mortifero came to me several times in the night, testing me, until he took me and made me in his image." My companion crossed her legs like she always did, sitting comfortably upon the stone as if meditating.  "You had brothers and a sister, once."

"Where are they now, Sire?"

"Ash." I reply simply, "After the revolution..." I paused, an amused expression crossing my face. "They were killed after revolting against my command." I revealed, "In and around Chester were several covens of vampires. From the insane, to the loner, and even those who felt they could still be mortal. The head of my coven was Skye. One day, the other covens turned and began to attack us, to attack my children. I demanded that we retaliate, and Skye demanded that we talk it over with the other covens."

"Cowardice."

"Indeed. Our coven was once feared and respected, we were the shadow that drifted over the world. We ruled the mortal world with fear and blood. To see my own Grandsire tremble under the threat of sub-standard vampires was insulting. So I left, and grew my own coven. I was staked in the heart the day the revolution came, leaving me paralysed. I could see ... but not act. Kiyo, Pharen, and Audra .... My three children on the day of reckoning, took their place by my side against Skye and Mortifero, but in the end betrayed me so that they could 'be together'." I lifted my hands and made the quotation gesture to her. "Betrayed their own for love, and in return was incinerated. To think that Skye and Mortifero would allow them to live because they 'loved' each other was their undoing."

"Pathetic."

 "After the war was over, and the covens were destroyed, I was laid to rest beneath a rock altar to the Mother and for seventy years I waited until a young, small voice, came to me. With that small voice came the blood of life that dropped from the rock altar and into me."

My companion's attention grew distant, her memory reaching beyond and I sat in silence as she recollected.

"I do not understand. Why did they want to 'be together'? Weren't they already together?"

A thin smile stretched across my lips, "They were, but Audra was my ... hmm ... I wouldn't call her a lover because I did not love. She was like you, except ... too human to be vampire."

"She hated her gift?"

"Not at all, she loved the attention it got her. She could turn the eye of any male, lay with whomever she wanted because of her gift. She knew her gift as beauty, and used it as such. When she turned her gaze upon Pharen, the poor boy had no chance in resisting her."

"I see."

I nodded to my companion, "She had her uses. Pharen was going to take my place, using Audra, but Audra was the weakest of them all and used her sexual allure to protect herself."

"Why me?"

I paused at her question, considering a reply, "Why not?" I gave my companion a moment to mull my answer before rising from my seat. "Enough of history for now. We must teach you anew, everything you knew is wrong and we must reteach you how to walk, so to speak ... starting with a crawl. Come ... We hunt."