The Progeny

The Progeny Prologue

It was the year 1932. The sky was grey with fog. Figures gathered in the graveyard behind a looming church. They were nightwalkers.

    One man crouched on a wall, eyeing the scene before him. He had an air of grandeur about him. He was old but far older than he looked. Hundreds of years older than his sixty year old body. The crowd below him hissed, sniggered and bared their teeth at the lowly man in the centre of them. The man had his hands tightly entwined together in front of his chest to try and contain his shaking. He was pale with a body of a man in his early thirties. His short, dark hair was slicked back with a side parting and glistened in the moonlight. His striking, pale blue eyes were smeared red with tears. The crowd hunched over gravestones and inspected him mockingly.

     The old man looming over them lifted his palm into the sky. The sniggering and snapping of fangs stopped. The only sound left was the rustling of leaves.

     "Caius." The man's voice made the dark haired man hold back a cringe.

     "Yes, Guardian," he replied in the strongest voice he could muster.

      The old man stood and leaped from the wall, clearing the ten feet between him and the ground with ease. He inspected himself and straightened his tailored suit before his dark eyes fixed on Caius.

     "You stand before the Vampire Court today-" He began to make his way over to him with slow, measured strides. The light of the moon bounced off his perfectly bald head. "Because I have reason to believe that you have put our kind in danger."

     Caius' skin prickled with fear as he stood before the smartly dressed man. He too was wearing a tailored three-piece suit. He was quaking in his once shining shoes. Now, the old man stood before him, so close that Caius could count the wrinkles that pooled round his eyes.

     "You fell in love with a breather. You shared a house. A life. Our secrets. With a breather."

      Caius' jaw set and he straightened his back in an attempt to look defiant. He didn't regret any of that. He loved Catherine with all his un-beating heart because she accepted him for who he was.

     The old man sniggered, inspecting Caius' sharp features. "It's a good thing I heard about it when I did. So I could put a stop to it."

     Caius' eyes flickered as tears threatened to make themselves known. But he stayed quiet. His jaw set, looking off into the distance, past Guardian's steely eyes.

     "But I don't think you've been punished enough."

      Caius' eyes widened for a fraction of a second as he felt his gut twist. How could he have not been punished enough? He had just lost the woman he loved. He has just lost everything.

      Guardian looked to the crowd. "Belle, Corsette, if you don't mind."

      Two women straightened and flashed the old man a fanged smile before disappearing behind a tomb. Caius watched curiously then started at a scream. The two vampire women returned with another body between them, being held up by her upper arms. Her feet scrambled across the floor to keep up with the vampire women's pace. The frail, young woman's auburn hair fell over her tear-stained face and her pale body was quaking uncontrollably. With a sharp nod from Guardian, the two nightwalkers released their grip on her. She slumped to the ground with a whimper in front of Guardian, her head still reeling and nerves completely shot. Slowly, she picked herself up to a sitting position and pushed her hair from her face. Her hazel eyes were wide as she scoped her audience. Hugging her tattered, white night dress closer to her body, she curled up on herself and found the man in charge.