A/N: I hereby dedicate this latest piece of work to Alivewiththegloryoflove. I hope you enjoy reading this. Please review, even if it's bad, because how will I know how to improve it if no one tells me.

The Worshipper

Prelude

I awoke from a deep sleep and stretched my arms out, my limbs although stiff felt relaxed by the soft silkiness of the sheets. I lie naked with my eyes closed for a few minutes while I gradually moved my body, making sure that I had not broken any bones or seriously hurt an organ as had happened the last time.

The only pain came from my arms and between my thighs but that was only a mild discomfort in comparison to the burning sensation on my neck. I reached to my throat and ran my fingers delicately over the bruised flesh. The two tiny cuts were raised and sore. He had obviously managed to maintain a certain amount of control this time but had left me feeling drained. I dared not move much today, for if my Lord had satisfied his need I would never make it to the door. It did not matter though for I was happy to have served him.

I lay back into the sheets and thought for awhile about what had happened, not just last night, but to my life in general.

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Chapter 1

The Chosen

I had been offered into the service of vampires at the age of ten by my family. The people in the village I came from were vampire worshippers, and all young girls would be offered at that age to the vampires and boys would be offered at the age of fifteen when they were better able to fight. The girls would enter service as maids to start with.

We considered ourselves to be good people; the vampires deserved anything that we could offer them, which we did. We would be used for blood-letting, as servants, guards... the list goes on.

I was not afraid of the vampires for I had been brought up to respect them, to see them as the Gods they are, so when my time came to stand in line with my friends, I was one of the few who did not hold hands with their sisters for support.

I was one of nine that day; we each stood with our parents standing behind us as we waited patiently for the arrival of the vampires. Today was an important day for the vampire Lord Kain himself would be attending to choose the children he wished to enter service along with three of his lieutenants.

My mother had made a point of making sure I wore my nicest light blue dress for she always said that it accentuated my green eyes and red hair. She and all of the other mothers in the group continued to brush our hair and check our faces for dirty marks while we waited. My dress felt uncomfortable and itchy from the netted petticoat in the skirt, I was not used to wearing such clothes, my normal dresses were grey and a single layer which my mother did not mind me getting dirty while I played with my friends, but today was not a day for playing. I tugged at the material for it was making me feel hot and I felt the sharp smack from behind me as my mother hit me.

"Leave it alone, Ana" she said sharply, "I will not have you embarrass us in front of the vampire lords."

"Yes, mother," I replied shyly. I twisted my face up and wished that I could stick my tongue out at her, but if I had then she would only have hit me again. My friend Selena who stood next to me turned her eyes towards me and smiled. I smiled back at her just as a horn was blown from the main gates. There was an electric charge to the air and my father held onto my shoulder. They were here at last.

The gates opened slowly and through them stepped four figures who were silhouetted by the clouded sun, as they came forward the guards who stood by the gates threw themselves to their knees and placed their faces to the ground as was the mark of respect. The vampires paid them no heed and continued to walk towards the line of girls who stood with their families behind them. My father leant close to my ear as the four vampires walked slowly towards us.

"Remember Anastasia," He whispered in my ear, "We are here to serve them. Show them your respect." I nodded and my father went back to his original stance but still held my shoulder.

The sound of their cloven feet was unmistakable against the stone floor and I tried to resist the urge to look upon them, I simply kept my eyes to the floor as I'm sure we all did, we had been told not to look upon the faces of the Gods unless they requested it. The tapping ceased and we stood in silence for a while.

"Raise your heads children, so that you may look upon your Gods." The voice seemed to resonate through the very ground and we quickly looked up, although our parents did not. Before us stood four vampires, three of them looked like vampires I was already familiar with, with ivory skin, clawed hands, cloven feet and mantles hanging from their shoulders which displayed the symbols of their clans. I recognised the symbols as being from the Zephonim, Turelim and Razielimclans for we had been taught about the separate clans since birth. All of these creatures were startlingly attractive even to my ten year old eyes, I had not had much interest in boys before but their beauty was beyond words, especially Raziel. I would not have been able to keep my eyes from him had it not been for the presence of Kain.

I had never seen such an evolved vampire before and I could barely contain my excitement at having finally seen the master himself. I had heard stories saying that he had never been mortal, that he was a true vampire, although such stories were often distorted from reality as they passed down the generations and Kain had seen many in his long life. His white hair which hung well to his waist was tied loosely at the end and the top of his head displayed horns which almost seemed to crown him appropriately. His very presence was overwhelming. He looked at each of us silently and then made his way to the right and started to inspect us more closely.

The three lieutenants stood like statues before us, only their eyes moved, watching us intently while Kain made his inspection. He stopped in front of a young blondegirl whose name I cannot recall and never could remember anyway, she was a plain girl with no discerning qualities, rather boring in fact. I could see the start of tears swelling in her eyes as Kain approached her, he reached out his tremendous clawed hand towards her and she broke down, the young girl screamed and threw herself into her mother's dress trying to cower beneath the fabric. Her mother struggled to remove the crying child from her, to try and force her back to the line, but it was too late for Lord Kain had moved on. Despite his immortality, Kain was not known for his patience.

Kain briefly looked over the girl who stood next to me and walked on, and then he stopped in front of me. He looked so big standing there. I looked up at him and waited, my father's grip on my shoulder started to tighten. Our Lord knelt in front of me and although he was still not at my eye level it was easier to look upon him. I stood firm, my posture straight, just as mother had instructed me.

Kain quickly reached out his hand and grabbed my jaw fiercely and forced me to open my mouth for him. This was a quick and easy method of checking for illness for a discolouration of the mouth could reveal such things. He forced my head to awkward angles while he looked at me, his claws dug into my cheeks. He released my face once he had finished checking me and rose to his feet to continue to walk down the line. Only one other girl received the same rough handling as me and I wondered whether I must've looked ill for him to check me so thoroughly. I did not mind though, for in my opinion Kain had touched me and this was a great honour.

The great vampire stood before his lieutenants and looked us over one more time before he spoke again.

"We will take seven," he finally said, his voice was menacing. He pointed to two of the girls in our line including the blonde child who still cried against her mother, "Those two will not enter service." The vampire lords turned to leave, "You will bring the chosen seven to the Sanctuary of the Clans tonight. They will be brought to us bound and left at the main gates." With that they left, but the electric charge to the air did not.

The two rejected girls were forced away by their families. No doubt they would be beaten for the embarrassment they had caused. The chosen seven including myself smiled at each other and our families embraced us for we had made them proud.

We were quickly rushed back to our homes and prepared for the journey that would be the start of our lives as devout worshippers. My mother rushed around our tiny dwelling, packing a small satchel with dresses and shoes while my father reminded me once again about vampire lore and what an honour it was to have his only daughter, his only child chosen by Kain himself to be taken to serve their masters directly within the Sanctuary. Most other worshippers were taken far away to an unknown location... but we were going to the Sanctuary. I couldn't be happier.

Yes, it was an honour; the only unfortunate thing was that when you were chosen for this purpose you would never return, and for that reason alone, no one knew what the duties were.

Mother fussed over me one last time and gave me that last advice I would ever hear from her.

"Be good to your masters, Ana. Do what you are told by your elders and remember that your father and I love you very much, and we are proud of you." They both embraced me for a final time and then we walked as a family to the main gates of the citadel.

Most of the other families were already there with their daughters and were even starting to begin the binding process as Kain had requested. My mother placed my satchel over my shoulder which was heavy with clothing and I held out my wrists as they were bound together by the thick rope that would lead me and the others to our destinies. My blue dress was still itchy and I dreaded the long walk with no way to scratch myself so I looked for distractions. I looked at the ground while the rope was being tied and spotted what appeared to be fresh blood and blonde hair upon the stones. I did not know what had happened to the rejected blonde girl, but I had already heard the stories of girls who had been rejected in the years passed. Their endings were not usually happy ones.

Selena was tied behind me, which I was thankful for. I was pleased that she too would be coming with me, there at least would be one small reminder of my life before the endless devotion and servitude. We smiled at each other.

"Are you excited Ana?" she asked me.

"Of course I am," I replied, I was nearly jumping I was so excited. We whispered to each other as we waited for the last two girls to be tied along with us, both of us discussing how attractive lieutenant Raziel was and we giggled quietly, we began to jokingly argue over who would end up serving him.

Finally a lone guard picked up the rope that would lead us away and we began walking one behind the other towards our new lives. I glanced one last time over my shoulder at my mother and father who were both smiling as I was led away from my home.