It's dark... and I feel constricted all over as if a boa had me in its death welcoming embrace. My throat scorched like never before, I was thirsty. The last thing I recall was being bled dry, laughing in the face of death himself and being severely punished for the crimes of an ancient past. I needed to satisfy my ever expanding thirst.
"How long have I been here?"
That was the very first question that had entered my mind. I had a pretty good assumption where I might be, a coffin of all places. Ironic is it not? It was then I heard a strange noise suddenly.
"What's that sound?" I asked myself. It was a familiar sound, a fearful one that made my still heart take its first beat in centuries. "Water..."
I absolutely despised the water, and I began to panic.
"How the hell did I get in here!?" My expression was that of a frightened child who had spotted the legendary boogieman under his bed.
I was frantically battling effortlessly to regain my calm. Foolish it was for an immortal to be terrified of mere water, but I knew better. This was no ordinary water. Through the smallest of cracks, came small doses of it, making contact with my skin, setting a feeling as if I were being burned by the very sun itself.
"It's Holy Water!!! Damn you to hell! Damn you!!"
I could tell I was submerged in an entire body of that forbidden sea. I felt the holy power surrounding my very being. Waiting for me, wanting me, to cleanse my damned soul and forever claim my life. Holy Water in small doses were but mere irritations and really did nothing to a mere vampire, in fact it was practically useless against us... but powerful magic was a different story when combined with the elements. Not even the mighty Lord Valhahn could survive such a force. I began to smile amusingly and regained some form of myself. Fear had not taken root just yet.
"To think I sacrificed myself for the sake of that human. You've grown so very weak, Salem Valhahn...."
Yes, Salem Valhahn is my name. I was made a vampire at the young age of eighteen. I have shoulder length hair and a vibrant olive brown skin tone despite being undead. Humans never even notice. I stand at about five feet and eleven inches, a slim yet muscular athletic build and boyish looks. My eyes are as crimson as blood itself and I find it hilarious when a human asks me where I purchased these colored eyes. Understand, when I was a newborn, secrecy was everything, so to live in an era where anything’s possible, I would jump at the opportunity to show off a bit.
I am the first son of Lord Corvenus, and Queen Trinity Valhahn. My mother and father are the head of a royal vampire family that came into existence long before my turning. The Valhahns were prestigiously known in the supernatural world as mainstreamers in hopes to one day walk among human society and put an end to our meaningless life of loneliness within the shadows. Most agreed with our logic, yet some prefer the old ways.
Outside of my parents, I have three younger siblings. The rest of the clan are either other vampires who value my father’s cause and follow his philosophy or old companions from his early years. We all love and respect one another and relish in the royal standards. Well, everyone else bathed in the royalty treatment, I despised such luxury when I was fully capable of doing things on my own. A trait I picked up from mother.
Father, as head of the family, branched our clan’s territory outward to further spread our terrain and keep a tight hold of our claims. He was mainly gone and left Mother to keep the family in balance. Father is incredibly strong, intelligent, compassionate, a true king. He is over fifteen centuries old and still to this day he keeps the age of a man who surely looks as if he were in his early thirties.
Mother is no different. She, to me, looks absolutely flawless. No woman could compare to her beauty and I, along with my siblings, had inherited her unquestionable god-like traits from them. It should have been a sin to be that divine. Mother was so kind and always kept a smile upon her face. She truly was the balance and backbone to this large, dysfunctional coven of vampires I called my family.
For vampires, we lived very well with the humans. We walk amongst them daily and they suspect nothing at all. I attend a fair sized college in a small town that I highly doubt anyone even knew existed. Surrounded by a mass of mountains, woods, and snow that never seemed to die out, Crescent Meadows is my current home. It had a serene effect on me when we first moved here 2 years ago. It was the same repetitive process decade after decade. We'd move into a new area, live the lives of a normal human family, I attend school, and all that jazz. Then before the humans become aware of us not aging, we move away, constantly changing our identity to fool the humans.
This time we found ourselves in Canada. Crescent University had a fair amount of local students, but the majority are surprisingly foreign students. Most who wanted to seek education in an affordable, yet well kept reserved area. Why they choose such a place, I'll never know. Nothing goes on here in Crescent Meadows... at least until she came along. That girl... I never would have thought that someone like her existed.
I rarely taste the blood of humans. It was forbidden in our family to ever take the life of a human without significant reason. Father had great respect for mankind and demanded all of his coven to follow in his example and take only the lives of animals and possible supernatural dangers that threatened our territory. If we ever were to thirst for human blood, it was demanded we only take the blood of murderers and the like.
Vampires we are, but we are not the only supernatural beings. The werewolves can be a nuisance at times, but Father is negotiating with them to form a treaty and find some form of alliance. No sense in creating meaningless war I suppose. Demons lurked the area as well, cockroaches the lot of them, though they only struck at night in the darkest hours. Bewitching hour is their favorite time to hunt any stray human that may be out and about at the wrong time. That is where my family strikes. They're weakest when hunting. All of their focus becomes nothing but devouring their prey. All else ceases to matter to these creatures. In order to keep humans from discovering there are monsters in their world, our clan is assigned to eradicate the demons and keep the peace. In other words, we're protecting the humans. Consider us the officials between the human world and the supernatural world. Quite a lot to swallow I’m sure. Well that is our way of life.
I side tracked didn't I? I was talking about her, Victoria Elizabeth. She came from across the seas, France it was. She was... beautiful. For a human she was very attractive and yet so oblivious to her surroundings, it was painful just to watch her get lost. I hardly paid attention to her when she first arrived, just another human transfer to this forsaken wasteland of a college. We took English together. At first I didn’t speak, I wanted nothing to do with her, but she had forgotten her textbook and I obliged in lending her mine. I offered it to her... and that's when it happened. I caught wind of her scent. She reached in front of me to grab the textbook I slid to her and her hand grazed past my nostrils, I inhaled almost instinctively and when I took in that intoxicating scent, my vampire instincts sky rocketed. Under normal circumstances, I can handle the scent of humans and not be tempted by their blood, but this was completely unlike any I'd ever experienced in my century being a vampire. If we were not in public, I'm very sure I would have drained her dry and have suffered the ultimate punishment by Father himself, but I kept my composure.
There's so much to tell and so little time... I can feel the water coming closer to claim me. The memories were... pleasant. I can smile and say it was worth the sacrifice. I've lived for what seemed like an eternity filled with agonizing despair accompanied with loneliness and for all the moments spent with her, I felt alive, I felt human...
*********************************************************************************
Editor Note: Hello all! I am Talon's editor and will be posting his stories here for him (a lack of internet connection does not bode well). I have my own account (rena1395) if any of you want to contact me directly. I will forward all comments and concerns about the storyline to Talon. Please be kind and show your support, this is gonna be a great set of books! Enjoy!
