Night Hunters| The birth of the Vampires

THE BEGINNING OF VAMPIRES

This is how the world ends…
This is how the world ends…
This is how the world ends…
Not with a bang….
But with a whimper…..
T.S.Elliot

In the beginning there were no vampires…vampires never existed…Not until the early twelfth century did the thought even become an existent idea…Or rather a possibility…The world was changing, the Holy hand of God was spreading across the world in a wave that was unstoppable….Witches from the old Pagan times were fearful….the smite of God was upon them…and they feared of being burned at the stake, in the hands of God's mighty….for being so called "Devil Worshipers"  By the blessed stars above…witch hunting was none existent at the time..at least not yet…not until the Church of Reardon began their corporation of the "Hand of God' society…but they were a small hand, and not yet known in the world…but their birth and upbringing would later be the burning of millions of witches in the future…What was a current fear…was a new war that the old witches never thought they'd have to battle….


It was with Vanessa Underwood…a beautiful young girl who captured the hearts of many suitors….Vanessa was a wonderful girl that came from a witch family that is as old as anyone can remember.  They lived in a secluded village that was difficult to find by normal means due to how deeply entwined into the woods it was established, a village of Pagan people akin to practicing magic.   Only a few select families were literally born with magic, while the rest of the village practiced paganism.  Everyone lived in the village in harmony, taking from the earth as equally as they gave back, as was the way of paganism.  Everything is of balanced trinity, you must give what you receive, and be grateful for what you have.  And everyone in the village followed these conducts.  Vanessa's Grandfather was the leader of the Pagan village, and her father, alongside being a healer, was next in line for the leadership role as Priest.  And Vanessa's brother, Liam, was after their father in line to Pagan Priest.  Needless to say, Vanessa had status to her name.  Not only was her family the leading family of the village….But her aunt Katrina was married to a Duke of Paris, as how she had left the village to become a seamstress of Paris, she would have been a sitting wife for her husband, but from being from a hand busy family, she decided to do seam stressing on the side, her husband, having no ailment for it, didn't mind.  So the family's wealth was one to admire.  And Katrina's brother in law, the brother of the Duke, was a priest of a church in Paris.  A holy man so to speak and a well respected one at that. With the status of the family's wealth, coped with her gentle personality and her beauty, Vanessa was adored by everyone in the village and in Paris whenever she visited her aunt in there.  One was to say, many a heart would seek to capture her own…


Richard….and William Albordor, two noblemen sons of another respectable Lord, their father having been a knight of the French king in his younger years, but had retired as a respectable black smith in Paris. In his Knight years, he had been part of the Kings Guard at the time, and was gifted with a boon of being able to afford becoming a black smither, and leaving his sons with enough money to have a well to do fortune.  The boys, being identical twins…both admired the beautiful Vanessa…and their admiration was destined to poison their minds….William, who admired his father's work wanted to be a black smith just like him, where is his brother Richard, wanted to be a knight, like their father during his years serving the king.  The two twins couldn't have been any more different than night and day.  William was the father's son, the perfect little helper around the smith shop.  He did everything his father asked, and never complained…..His affections for Vanessa had to with his admiration for her kindness and her generosity, he constantly admired her from a far whenever she visited Paris, and her father and the other men from the village would come for iron works for their village working equipment.  They used to always visit quietly as their fathers discussed business in the shops, and casually flirt, since William was an old fashion pursuer and took his time with courting.  William was kind, and he was gentle, he was virtually sweet to everyone.  Richard on the other hand…was anything but his brother William…He was the elder of the two twins, having been born first.  Richard was a hard man, a very blunt and prideful stout at that.  When he wanted something, he often got it through selfish means.  And Vanessa was no exception.  Richard was a very charming man, verses' his brother William's more civil, reserved, and somewhat shy, nature.  Whenever Vanessa came to visit Paris and would stop by the Black smith shop to visit, he would shower her in gifts using his father's wealth and his own.  His flirting was very bold, and very open, and would often embarrass Vanessa, and annoy his brother William.  What the two boys seemed to have in common, were two things….They both loved Vanessa….and they both, in secrecy from their father….practiced paganism themselves…


The twins were not blessed with the natural true gifts of magic, unlike Vanessa herself and her family of the Underwood's, but they were believers and followers of the craft itself.  However, what set the twins farther apart still….was not only their rivalry…but the mere fact that William was of the light, and Richard of the Dark…William had formed a Light Pagan covenant known as the Shardae…where is his brothers Richards cult was the Sullem…William quietly and peacefully practiced and lead his people of the Shardae in peace and light…the proper way to honor magic, since they were not born with the abilities themselves….his brother…bound to have magic no matter what even though he wasn't born with it himself….practice black magic…and worshipped the devil in greedy hopes of achieving all that he wanted to overcome when it came to his fights with his brother….as the boys grew older into their adulthood….they became more and more violent with each other….and their war bled into their covenants and the war became so terrible, that members were mysteriously dying all over the city….And as Vanessa grew into a beautiful young lady of 23, the boys being 27, their tempers grew short.  William, patiently tried to win the confidence of Vanessa's father, so he could be granted permission to officially marry her as was his custom, never once using Light Magic to sway, woo, or wow the dear Vanessa, nor did he ever use magic against his brother and his cult unless it was ever in self defense….But Richard….Used the ways of the devils craft to try and twist Vanessa's father into giving his daughters hand to him…he even tried love spells on poor Vanessa….but he wasn't of magic…they weren't strong enough to work…so he started turning to making deals with demons….and sure enough, his selfish cries were heard….


One night…on all hallows eve…the night were the veil between our world and next was thinnest…Richard and his growing clan of twenty…snuck into the holy grounds of Vanessa's aunts brother in laws church…and began to perform a ritual…A dealing spell to summon a demon of hell to come forth and grant just one wish in return for a holy sacrifice….So just outside of the holy grounds themselves, they carved their demonic circle surface into the dirt…and made a summons tribute to a demon….the blood of a holy preacher…whose home was the church's land they were summoning the demon on, so that as long as the preacher was dead, the demon could come without fear of being returned to hell without finishing his deal….Little did Richard know, that the priest he had killed in cold blood…and drank the blood of…was the very priest who was Vanessa's uncle, the brother of Vanessa's aunts husband….They brought a human sacrifice…tied him down to the ground in front of a blood altar…drank the blood of the preacher themselves, in protection from the demon….and didn't give any to the human sacrifice…Who was still alive and conscious during the ritual…for any who did not drink the blood, and was in the circle at the time of the casting…would be possessed by the very demon they were calling….In agony the sacrifice was accepted, and a demon indeed was present as Richard went forth with the ritual, and demanded the demon made the lovely Vanessa fall so much in love for him, she would give him her own life with how much she adored him…The demon, in returned…asked for a life to be taken in return for the love he would plant within the girl….


Without hesitation….Richard granted the demon his request in return for his own…and the deal was struck in blood and bone, and the human sacrifice he offered….died…when the demon returned from which he came…dropping the body to the ground, drained of any life….alongside the dead preachers body…a devils deal made indeed….


The next morning, was actually the morning that Vanessa was scheduled to come to the village with her father as her father picked up some supplies with her brother Liam, seeing as how her father was growing slightly older, her brother was being brought to more and more city visits to learn what was to be done for the family and village in case the father was to pass from any unexpected illness or the sort.  That morning, normally she spoke to William first, seeing as how he was always awake first before his lazy brother Richard…but alas, when William went to the market to catch the young ladies eye, hopeful to ask her how her hollow's eve went…there she was, admiring his shameful brother Richard, who was standing there in the market's streets, almost boldly, holding Vanessa's hand and openly courting her…and her father, was laughing to some joke that Richard had spoke of…even Liam was paying attention to Richard….all of the Underwood's, who actually weren't normally too terribly fond of Richard and his prideful nature…were hanging on his every word….Stunned, William, meaning no harm, went over to speak to Vanessa and the family themselves to be polite…and he just couldn't truly hold Vanessa's attention…..She wouldn't take her eyes off of Richard…Devastated….William gave up and retreated…much to the satisfaction of Richards….


For weeks this strange behavior increased…..Word was….Vanessa would constantly beg to come to Paris…she was distracted from her work at home…she wasn't focusing on her duties as a healer…and she wouldn't eat….or sleep…she claimed she couldn't stop thinking about Richard…..William even heard rumor from her own aunt…that she wanted to marry his brother….heartbroken…William never spoke a word….he simply gave up in pursuing her….feeling that perhaps for once his brother had won…and not wanting to cause any troubles, he didn't push the issue out of respect for Vanessa's choice….After all, Richard was there for her when they learned the terrible news of her uncle's death…..He tried once more to console her at the funeral…but she wasn't paying attention to him, instead her mind was occupied with crying on Richard's shoulder….and that was the last time he tried…


About six months later….They were married….on the very same grounds, unknowingly, that her uncle were murdered on….William only attended the wedding out of respect for her, and strained respect for his brother…but he wasn't as happy as he could have been.  Violence between his and his brothers covenant seemed to cease….for the time being, and the Shardae grew to thirty members, as his brothers grew to be at least forty…including himself.  William became very quiet around his father's shop, but when anyone asked, he would simply state, that he was tired.  But things were going to take a turn for the very worst…..


Only a year after being married….Vanessa took a visit home to her village…and when her time for return was scheduled, she didn't return to Paris….A week went by, with people in Paris raising concern…but no answers were found…until the stroke of Midnight on the seventh night…William and Richard vanished….from their own beds….


They were kidnapped by Liam, Vanessa's brother, and several of his friends, and dragged back to the village outside of Paris.  Were they were accused of murdering Vanessa…Richard and William learned, that Vanessa, had been hexed…Cursed…and was slain, by a demon, right before her families eyes, on the eve of hollow's eve…the same night a year ago that Richard had casted his deal with a devil…Vanessa was acting strange….secluded instead of enjoying the nights air with the rest of the family…and haven't been eating that day…complaining that she hadn't been feeling well, and was only missing Richard…but on the stroke of midnight of that night….it was discovered, that though she had claimed she was going to lie down and rest..her younger sister Calla…was horror struck to find her hung in her own bedroom….for Vanessa had killed herself….for Richard….it was known it was for Richard, for she left a note stating she'd love him forever until the day she died, and she wished he was there to see her go, for she adored him forever more….


Outraged the family questioned Richard and William, keeping them there against their will.  People in the cities grew worried, and searches were sent out for Richard, William, and Vanessa' as no one has seen them in weeks…for that was how long they were interrogated….until finally, a vision's mage in the village manage to tear out of Richard, that a year ago, he had made a deal with a demon to make Vanessa love him.  Angered, the family adjourned to discuss their punishments, for no matter how much William tried to reason with them, they believed that the younger twin had had a hand in this all…Many of the villagers wanted to kill them both for their crimes….but Liam…Liam had better ideas for the fools….He reasoned…that if they wanted to disgrace Magic and it's grace..and if they wanted to use it for their own selfish deeds like gruesome animals….than they were to be turned into animals themselves….other families of the village…the Blackthorns…the Redwillows….the Greenferns....Silvermeads and the Nightshades all came together, since they were the families that were born with the gift of magic itself, and began to perform a powerful spell with the Underwood's…the rest of the village watched, and they prayed to the Gods and Goddess for support as the spell, headed by Liam, was casted…Tied together back to back, William and Richard were forced to kneel in front of a great Oak tree, the oldest known standing tree to be in the village square…and were gagged with sheep skin…And were read their crimes…


As punishment for tainting the grounds of the holy church, though they did not practice Christianity themselves….They gave them immortal life…so they could never again be reunited with their so called God….and for the death of the human sacrifice…the priest whose blood they drank…and for the death of his sister…Liam cursed them to live like animals…and forced them to grow fangs like the wild cat, gave them the claws of a bear…the eyes of an eagle…the hearing of the wolf, and the hunting nature of any other wild animal that roamed the earth…and since Richard drank the blood of the innocent, and William accused of aiding him, they, their families, and their covenants and covenants families, were cursed with the same fate…and were all destined to live their eternal lives…cursed to drink the blood of others in order to survive….But with this thirst…since their selfish greed was so destructive…their bite…could threaten to become a curse, if whomever they bled, would drink their blood in return, would be cursed to change like them…And so, was the birth of Vampires…by the hands of Richard, and William Albordor…


After such a curse, they were released and thrown back to their homes….and from there…came the two hundred year raged war…against vampires as they increased in numbers….against the Magi….as became the war of the Four as it is later known as….and began…the foundation….of the Otherworld….