By Usabelle
AN: Hello once again! Welcome to fanfic number two, Bloodlust! I was kind of scared to post this because it is really different from Untitled. First off, this one actually has a title! Take that, untitled fanfic naysayers! I think it's also a bit darker and more serious than Untitled too. Also, this one's rated R. Woo hoo! I made this decision basically because I'm dropping the f-bomb (sorry, I consider that really strong language), there are... situations, and there's general goriness. The inspiration for this story came when I was searching for vampire fics and could find very few that were completed. Here's my attempt to write an original vamp story. So, without further adieu, I leave you with the prologue to Bloodlust. R & R! Please and thank you!
Standard Disclaimers Apply.
Prologue
"Did you bring the child?" Glowing red eyes peered from a distant corner of the dark, cavernous room. The voice echoed off the walls and the only other sound that could be heard was the clicking of heels against the black marble floor.
A blonde woman clutched a white bundle to her chest protectively as she stepped further into the dimly lit room, her companion following closely. In the distance, she could barely make out a throne and approached cautiously. "Of course. Is the prince here?"
"As per your request, your Highness," a woman's voice muttered sarcastically.
The woman's icy blue eyes narrowed. "Don't take that tone with me- I care for your kind no more than you care for mine, but we are in a situation that none of us can help." When she heard no response, she grew frustrated. All she could see were glowing crimson eyes at the seat of a gigantic throne. "Show yourself, witch!"
A tall woman wearing a gleaming crown atop raven colored hair stepped into the flickering candlelight of the underground palace. "I am no witch, Ilene. Vampires are very different from witches. Perhaps you would like a demonstration?" Her amused voice was thick with sarcasm as she smiled and exposed long, white fangs.
Ilene gasped and took a step backwards, holding the child tightly. "Leave us be!" she shouted, backing into her husband.
The dark-haired woman turned to the ominous man beside her, shrouded in the darkness. "Remind me again why we are helping these murderers."
"Because none of us have any options left!" Ilene burst out, eliciting tears from the child in her arms. As she tried to calm her down, she whispered harshly, "Our line is at an end... and you know why."
The meek blond man next to her finally stepped forward in an attempt to placate the group. "My wife and I are the last two living Day Walkers that we know of... the rest are dead." His soft blue-green eyes looked to the child in his wife's arms. "Serena has no mate."
Smirking, the hidden man sauntered into the dimly lit hall where the group stood, revealing a head of slicked jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes. "Isn't this interesting. The child will be the last pure Day Walker... How shall we benefit from this joining? Even if she cannot procreate... she can still eliminate many of us in her lifetime."
The light-haired man sighed. "We wish for her protection... Too many have died and she is the last of our kind. We know that you will take her life."
"You do have a point. Why don't we just suck her blood now and put her out of her misery?" the vampiric woman taunted.
Ilene lashed out at the woman, cradling the frightened child. "Fuck you, Lily! I'll kill you before you take the first step!"
"How original!" she crowed, circling the enraged mother, "A Day Walker killing a vampire."
With narrowed eyes, Ilene backed away. "We only kill your kind because you steal from souls... you take the lives of the innocent!"
The dark-haired woman smiled. "We only take what we need to stay alive... what's a few pathetic lives in the long run"
"You disgust me," Ilene spat, shielding her daughter from couple.
A chilling smile graced the undead man's pale face. "Yet somehow we don't disgust you enough when you need our help. I will ask again. What do we get from this joining?"
The blond man moved forward nervously, handing over papers covered in mathematical equations and illustrations over to the couple in the darkness. "A child with powers beyond imagination. Think of it, Damien- a vampire that could walk around in broad daylight... a vampire with no allergy to silver... a new, immortal breed..."
Damien's cold blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You mean a new breed of day walker. Or a vampire without the bloodlust."
"Call it what you will... no one would come close to matching it in speed, strength, agility, telepathy... think of the possibilities! The best of both worlds! Of course, there would be peace between our races... We would no longer exterminate your kind."
The man dressed in all black nodded. "And in turn we would stop feeding off yours, Ken... What a shame, Day Walker blood is my favorite."
Suppressing his rage, Ken managed a composed tone. "Well if this works then we could curb that bloodlust." The tension was palpable and it took all of his strength not to drive a stake through the demon's heart.
Damien began to pace, looking down at the papers diagramming what would happen. "But would it work? Who knows if your kind could even mate with mine?"
"I've done my research and I'm nearly positive that it will work... but I need to test their blood to be sure. That's why we asked you to bring the prince. I propose we mix my daughter's blood with his and see what happens."
"You mean to experiment on our children?" Lily asked incredulously, crimson eyes wide.
Ken winced. "Not necessarily experiment... more like take necessary precautions."
"You're known for your scientific experiments, Ken. If you so much as make my child cry..." Lily threatened, her irises beginning to glow eerily.
"All I want to do is draw a little blood. My past experiments have nothing to do with this," he said defensively.
The dark-haired man turned to a maid waiting in the darkness. "Bring forth my son."
Out of the shadows stepped a pale raven-haired boy, no older than three. Dressed completely in black, just like his father, he meekly approached his parents. His wide, innocent blue eyes staring up at the strangers and soft, curious expression almost made them believe that he was normal. Almost.
However, as soon as the needle pierced his skin, his eyes turned a glaring red and he hissed, exposing sharp, gleaming white fangs. His mother restrained him from biting anyone as they finished drawing blood.
Ilene jumped back at the little prince's reaction. From a child to go from angelic to demonic in less than a second was frightening. As soon as Ken got enough blood, they deposited it in a tiny glass vial. The small boy glared at the man who caused him pain, his eyes glowing a frightful crimson as he rubbed his arm.
At the young boy's reaction, the baby in Ilene's arms began to cry and struggle. As gently as possible, her father took another needle out of his briefcase and drew silver blood, a trademark of a Day Walker, from the young girl, depositing it in a separate vial.
Placing a few droplets of a chemical into an empty test tube, he poured in the contents of the two remaining vials and swirled it around. The mixture turned a deep blue and Ken smiled. "It will work. His blood antigens will not attack hers, and hers will not attack his. It is safe."
Damien nodded. "Then it shall be done."
Ken pulled another paper out of his briefcase. "I've drawn up this treaty. When Serena is twenty, she will wed Darien. At that time, an alliance will be formed between the Day Walkers and the Legion of Vampires. There will be no further attacks from either side and we will fight as a unified group against adversaries. Their children will succeed the throne eventually. Any questions? Objections?" He handed the paper to Damien.
Cool blue eyes ran over the paper, searching for any loopholes or traps. Damien sighed. "I see nothing wrong with this treaty. But... the alliance starts when they wed?"
Nodding, Ken nervously shuffled his feet as he stared at the shiny black floor. "We would have an... unofficial alliance. We don't kill you... you don't kill us."
Lily stared at the sheet for a moment before shaking her head. "We cannot protect all of you... but we can protect the child."
Ilene looked down at her precious child, eyes wide. "Fair enough. Then we will protect Darien as you protect our daughter."
Damien and Lily examined the infant for a moment before glancing at each other and nodding. Pulling a velvet pouch from of his cloak, Damien handed it to Ilene, who confusedly accepted it.
She opened the black pouch to reveal an intricately wrought silver chain with a glass pendant filled with a thick crimson liquid. "It is the blood of the royal family. No vampire- or any creature for that matter- will touch her if they see that."
Smiling, Ilene put the necklace around the baby's neck. "Pure silver... it would kill a vampire."
Lily nodded coldly, long raven locks partially covering her dark expression. "No vampire would touch her... but what reassurance do we have in return?"
Ilene bit her lip and looked to her husband for an answer. He nodded. "We have something similar... a sign of protection... a chain with silver blood... I doubt anyone would harm him if he carried it." Ken tried to hand the golden chain to the young prince, but he backed away immediately and hissed at the man who made him bleed.
Lily smiled and bent down to her son who was still glaring at the strangers that caused him pain. Taking the necklace from Ken's outstretched hand, she placed the shining chain around the child's neck. He wrinkled his nose at the gift and tucked it into his shirt so that no one would see. "Darien," she admonished, barely suppressing a laugh.
Damien turned to Ken, "I will sign it."
Before Ken could even offer a pen, a quill appeared from nowhere and Damien wrote his name in a long, curved script... a forbidden language that few knew. Ken looked down at the scroll and saw the name 'Dracula' staring back at him. He looked from the signature to his daughter and sighed. Her life took precedence over all else. Although every bone in his body told him not to, he took the quill from Damien's hand and signed his name. It was finished. He had promised his daughter to the Prince of the Damned.
Hanging his head in shame, he placed a hand on his daughter's head and she gurgled happily. "We will come back when she is old enough."
Lily nodded, motioning for Ilene to bring the baby over. She turned to Darien, "Darling..." He looked up at her with wide eyes as one of the strangers brought a tiny baby with blonde curls and cornflower blue eyes down to his level, "meet your bride."
He stared at the baby, not comprehending his mother's words. With a small, pale hand outstretched, he lightly touched the infant's rosy cheek and she screeched at the cold touch. He reeled back at the sound and ran behind his mother's black skirts, whimpering.
"Funny, he almost seems human," the blonde woman scoffed, cradling the startled child.
Lily glowered at her. "You'd better get used to our ways, Ilene. After all, in a few years, we'll be family."
Turning up her nose at the woman, Ilene gathered their things. "Unfortunately. Now if you'll excuse us... we have better things to do than mingle with the undead."
Ken put a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright, Ilene." He turned to the seething couple. "We will see you again..."
The couple remained silent and a cold wind rushed through the room suddenly. Without warning, the heavy oak doors flew open and Ken knew that they had outstayed their welcome. Quickly exiting the throne room of the underground palace, he and his wife ran up to ground level.
As soon as they walked out into the cool night air, Ilene let out a sigh. "Did we do the right thing, Ken?"
"No, you didn't," a voice ground out, and both froze at the sound of the intruder.
Ilene screamed as she felt a handgun pressed up against her back of her head.
Behind them stood Ken's longtime lab partner, Beryl Stratovsky. "I told you not to make a deal with them! Why the hell would you attempt to produce a child with the undead?" she screeched, red hair flying about her crazily in the wintry wind.
Ken breathed deeply, "Beryl, just put the gun down."
Her emerald eyes narrowed. "No! You know what I am... You know what my sons are. Warlocks aren't immortal but they're better than those filthy bloodsuckers!"
He sighed. "They would have killed her. It ended the war."
She cackled maniacally, jabbing the gun into the back of Ilene's head. "Oh no, Ken, you've just begun the war." Wrenching Ilene around, she motioned to the terrified blonde child. "Give me the baby."
"Never!" she screamed, clutching the baby to her chest as she sobbed inconsolably. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the gun, trying to dismantle it through telekinesis. Day Walkers generally had excellent telepathy and telekinetic abilities, but in such a stressful situation, she could barely even concentrate on the object.
Beryl sneered. "You really think that will work, Ilene? Being a witch does have a few advantages... spells that are resistant to certain powers..." She looked to the child who was now crying hysterically. "Give me the child... you wouldn't want her to get hurt, now would you?"
Ilene looked helplessly from her husband to her sobbing daughter. Defeated, she carefully handed Serena to the woman. "Don't hurt her..." she choked through her tears, looking at her child desperately.
Smiling triumphantly, Beryl turned to face a black car parked under a tree nearby. "Diamond!" she called, cradling the baby.
A five year-old boy with pure white hair emerged from the car. They knew what he was... a warlock. Ilene shook her head furiously but Beryl paid her no heed as she kneeled down to his level. "Take this back to the car and don't move from that spot. Mommy will be back soon."
Serena screamed and cried when she lost sight of her parents as the boy carried her to the black car. The young boy gently placed her in the car and a few seconds later... two gunshots were heard outside of the sedan.
As Beryl placed the gun back in her holster, she muttered an incantation in a foreign tongue. With a puff of red smoke, the bodies disappeared and she sighed contentedly. Serena would never know of her betrothal to the vampire prince and the hybrid would never be born...
END PROLOGUE
AN: Kind of depressing, huh? Unfortunately, Serena's parents had to die for the story to work. I hope this chapter was ok... I've never written anything like this before so feedback would be much appreciated. So shall I continue? Or shall it be lost to the abyss of unfinished, crappy stories in my computer? Please leave a review and let me know! Thanks!