I really must thank all fanfic members and anonymous reviewers alike! More followers have added this story and it makes me so happy! Sorry for the long wait but tests have been coming at me hard during school but I found time to finish!

"So, tell me about yourself." Rose said cheerfully, her cheeks still flushed from the passionate kissing moment minutes ago. She was currently enveloped in his large arms on the tousled bed sheets in his room. Baron had a dominant expression on his face to be holding Rose so close; it was all he was afraid to do but now he would never let go. How his body had wanted to do more; even now it was screaming violently in urge and raw need but he kept himself in check for Rose's sake. The last thing he would ever do is put her in harms way.

"What's there to know really?" He replies casually.

She rolls her eyes playfully, "Oh come on now, you're an immortal vampire, there must be a thousand stories you can tell me. I'm only asking to know about you personally."

He paused in hesitation. Was it really worth risking her good opinion about him by sharing his past? It was far from glamorous and was more of a tale about murder and torture that he sometimes caused. "I'm assuming you want to know how I became this way."

"More or less yeah, unless you don't want to share of course." He brushed her forehead with his lips. God she was too perfect for him.

The rain brushed against the window lightly as the wind kissed the glass. The leaves were uprooted from their peaceful rest amongst muddy ground. "I died on a night like this."

Her face creased with worry. "Died?"

He chuckled softly, brushing away the stray hairs from her face, almost to erase the look of concern she spared for him. "That is the sacrifice of being a vampire Rose; you must die and be deemed worthy to come back again. Know that every person who is cursed by a vampire may not survive the process of the change. I was lucky; or should I say unlucky to have been brought back."

"You hate what you are?" She asks softly.

Yes, "No." he lied. In his mind, there was no greater hate then for himself he shared, why welcome her to the brutal truth of his life.

"I hardly could say you are unlucky. People are afraid of death all the time and would trade anything to live one more day."

"But at the price of one's soul, you'll find you lost more then there was to be gained." He counters. She bites her bottom lip in frustration.

"You're hard to argue with you know."

He let's a deep chuckle escape him. "So I've been told more then once."

"So continue with your story. How did you die and who was the vampire to change you?"

"I was but a mere street rat bound in the void alleys of Paris long ago. It was only myself, my mother and my two youngest sisters who I strived to look after since my father had passed. I worked hard to provide for them but sometimes money was in short supply and I would have to resort to other methods."

"You were a thief?" She asks incredulously.

"Yes I was, I feel no shame in admitting such a small crime as compared to my many new offenses, but I digress. I wasn't always built as strongly as I am now. Being malnourished, I was tall and awkward at best, making me a rather second rate crook. It was the actions of a boy, trying to live for his family as the man of the house. After a tedious day of factory work, I set out after hours to steal bread from a local bakery which I never made it to." His eyes space out as the memory lapses in his mind.

The rain poured profusely down the cobble stone path ways of Paris. Bartemius made his way through the low town scrum alley's, ducking from sight when a soldier be on foot patrol. He was nearing the open street way to the bake shop. He felt the familiar buzzing in his muscles in anticipation for what he was about to do; only he never made it out from the alley. He was grabbed from behind by something too silent and too swift. Something painful churned in his stomach but he was immobilized by a pair of strong arms wrapped around his torso. He persistently tried to push the attacker away but he was locked in an iron grip. Something was dripping slowly from his stomach and from the hollowed pain; he knew too well that it was his own blood. His breathing was frantic as the arms dragged him further back from the alley and soon all hope was but a fading dream. He was laid to the ground, his head resting on a lap. He tried to sneak a glance at his murderer, but their profile was shrouded by the shadows. They whispered inaudible words of comfort falling on his deaf ears. All sounds now were his faint heart beat, slowly dying. His arms slapped uselessly on the ground now, too weak to fight away the oncoming end. Every minute he spent was a life age to pull through. He thought now of his family and how he had let them down. Three women's lives were now over; surely they could not provide for themselves without his support. He was the willowy crutch to their dust covered life. Funny, he never thought his death would lead them all to an early grave. The night was silver and red, while the moon waned to the retarded and demented dwellers of the night. The last thoughts of peace were now dead along with his body in the streets. A rat dying in the gutters seemed like such a sweet end. But it was not over yet; fate had other plans for this boy. His eyes, bloodshot and dilated shoot open upon the pain searing in his neck. He was pulled roughly into a sitting position, the sounds of slurping and mewing echoing in his head. It wasn't until now that he recognized the lithe form of his attacker to be female. She tugged at him greedily with her mouth and yet the sensation was making him feel more alive then even before he was attacked. All too quickly her mouth leaves his tender throat only to find his mouth. He almost gags at the sudden intrusion of blood pouring in like a river. He was forced to swallow the bitter tartness down his esophagus, it leaving a burning trail in its wild wake. His body seemed to rejects it's new strength and soon he was withering on the stone floor retching back but nothing being expelled from his body. The fatigue falls on him fast, while small hands smooth back his hair. He feels the sensation of floating, his body now flying somewhere else. The night ended as he predicted; in a grave. The mud walls are warm and welcoming to his shriveled figure. And just as he thought he had entered a new Hell; a sound lighter then a lute coaxed him like an angel singing on high.

"You shall never know sunlight again. You are my son, forever sworn to walk with me among the shadows. Henceforth you shall no longer be Bartemius; no you shall be branded Baron, Keeper of Precepts."

He awoke from his memory, Rose's eyes boring into him with remorse and admiration. It had been centuries since had last looked upon that night and yet it still rang as clear as yesterday.

"Why did she rename you?"

"All Vampires are branded anew to cut the ties of an old life. Being vampiric is a chance to start over as something entirely different, you are to show no remorse or love for past transgressions. But that was the old ways that have long since strayed. Newborns tend to hold onto their emotions better having not been forced to sway from them."

Rose nodded, but she seemed to be fiddling with another question in her head. "Who was she?" she whispered.

Baron broke into a grin, "Ah, do I detect the lady to be jealous?"

Her face heats, "No…well maybe a little." She admits sheepishly.

His chest rumbles with laughter at her innocence. Suddenly feeling guilt stricken about his previous endeavors with the one night casino tramp, he pushed to explain his situations. "It was not that kind of relationship, for she already had a husband, Mortem. She was Stellis. For decades I had followed and learnt well from her instruction. I was the pup and she was the matriarch. She had told me once that I had looked like her son from long ago and had the briefest weakness to change me. I told her first I hated her, for taking me from my family and she had wept with such sorrow that I understood her to be the most lonely creature life had ever born."

"What happened to her?" Rose asked, her voice laced with melancholy.

"She was banished from Nocturne fifty three years ago for her brass crimes committed. But you must understand that she is very confused and wild. I pleaded with the counsel to reconsider but Max would hear no reason so she was banished…by me personally."

"By you…why?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Because I am Keeper of Precepts. It is my ultimate binding charge to do justice for the better of my kind. It was she herself who granted me with the power in the first place. Only Vampires of higher power and strong blood lineage can bestow a title onto a new born."

"That must have been awful for you."

"Indeed…the last look upon her face was acceptance and forgiveness for me being the one to lift the sword. I was distraught for weeks. My blood curdling screams did not help to ease the pain my body felt. The first time the bond is broken between child and maker is like reliving ever nightmare to ever have maimed you."

"Can she ever return?"

"Her sentence was two hundred years if she can survive Earth. But she was old and fragile then, and I know it in my heart that she may already be dead. The moment the bond broke, I could no longer feel her presence within me." Something unforeseen leaked down his face causing him to frown. He wiped his hand away to find a black tear falling from his eye. Rose was staring in fright at his tears, so he made a move to shove her away.

"I am sorry." He stood abruptly from the bed but she latched onto his forearm with pleading eyes.

"Don't leave, I want to help you." Her small hand caressed the side of his face and he leaned in contently, wanting to absorb her heat. She brushed away his inky tears with the pad of her thumb. Slowly, he eased back onto the bed, pulling her down to his side, wanting to keep her warmth close. When his eyes opened again, he found her studying his face softly. She smiled warmly which he returned genuine.

"She was the reason you were on Earth before wasn't she; and you so happened to come across me by accident."

He nodded. "You are relentless you know." He tells her.

"Relentless to keep you close. Something tells me you haven't had such an emotional response in a long time and it startled you. I want to be here every time that happens."

He collected her hands in his one large palm, placing a chaste kiss upon them. "I would hold no objection to that."

"May I ask why your tears are black?"

"Vampires are the remnants of a passed living entity. Our emotions come as hollow as our still hearts and its only befitting that out tears be shadows."

"Even shadows contain some truths." She counters.

He grinned fully, flashing his sharp canines, "Very true."

"So you never did tell me what that mission of yours was about." She hinted with knowing eyes.

"Aye, we went to see Pixies on a different note. They hold strong powers to see future events unless blocked by cataclysmic interference."

"Did you fight them? You look as worn out as a rag doll." She notes with a giggle behind her hand.

"I am better off then Kane, who went ballistic. But while we distracted the guards in a fight, Cardinal was able to get his hands on the Queen, forcing their swift surrender. She is the only one allowed to use the caldron of the condemner."

"And did she look into the future, finding what you had hoped."

"Unfortunately, the world is at a balance showing both sides of the pending war that we are so clinging to the brink of. I had hoped to see a glimpse of your fate as well but…it did not occur as likely as I had prayed."

"Are you worried for me?" She asks surprised.

"I do fret for your safety my Rose. You are bound to Max's will because of the contract. The only way it will break is if the events reign out as you had signed for or if the writer of the contract passes on."

"Well don't worry for me; I have you to keep me sane while I go through this…change." He squeezed her hand in reassurance to let her know he was there for her in the same way she wanted to be for him. "So…what do those Pixies look like anyway?"

"Like chubby children with sharp teeth. They grow no taller then four feet and can leave a nasty bite; though they use magic over their canines in a fight."

"And can they fly?" Her eyes light up like a star in the midnight sky.

"Only the females sport wings." He chuckles to her.

There was silence after. She rested again, her small head on his chest. Her dark locks formed a waterfall down her shoulders, which he brushed absent mindedly, marveling in the velvety feel between his fingers. He listened closely to her small breathing and the beating of her heart. Surely she would notice while laying on him that his chest was as hollow as a cave. But he knew she was never quick to pass judgment and the thought didn't worry him. Verily he was worn out from the reckless gallivanting he had been committing. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he liked the idea of resting quietly next to her. Exhaustion overcame him and soon he too was welcomed in the darkness, no longer minding its hold for he was alone no more.

So kind of fluffy, but that's because things turn serious again next chapter. Dirty Max will return, and now we all hate him more because of what he made Baron do! This was only a brief visit to Baron's past, but more will come; like why does Baron always introduce himself as Mortem's son and what was the crime Stellis committed. Leave more reviews so we can make Max suffer in the future!