I’ve got 23 days left. Do you think I’ll make 10 orders? :) Thanks for everyone who is following.
I thought I’d share this with you. When I wrote The Guardian, also wrote Josiah’s side too. Just to understand where he was coming from. This is the first chapter, right up to the meeting, from Josiah’s perspective. I will warn you though, even this small insight is over 1,000 words.
I had never been this afraid before. Not ever, that I could recall. I had lived longer than most suspected. Not even my own family knew exactly how old I was. However, honestly I did not know that myself. My life before was broken, fragmented. Sacrificed in the endless pain, to save myself.
My fragmented memory held images of saving Viking ships and a single battle, and of course of my first family. I barely remembered them. They had been the first immortal memories I had sacrificed to save myself. I had been a disappointment; I knew that. My family had rejected me for… for compassion. I found it amusing that they thought it compassion to just kill our prey.
Dead was dead. We did not have to string the fear out, playing with our food as the mortals said. I find it amusing that mortals are intelligent enough to consider us murderers, yet have no issue with penning their own food source in and packaging it in neat little containers. At least the rare mortals that were hunted had a chance to escape. Admittedly not much of one, but a chance. The way my true family hunted, they even survived as a mortal.
The disappointment of my first family had lead to me being rejected by them, which lead me to the endless pain, and the destruction of almost everything I was before. And then the one miracle in my life. The one I neither earned nor deserved, my new father rescuing me. It was over one hundred years since that happened. In 1883, my world changed for the better.
Adopted and loved. It was shocking at first. Another vampire, with more compassion than me. Enough to adopt outside his own bloodline. Adopt me! Accept me, even though I was probably not much younger than he was. If I was younger than him. I did not know. Only since Erik had adopted me had I any clear memories. Well apart from the endless pain, anyway.
I thought of my true family again, and the knot of fear tightened. I had to do this for them, for Erik. It would destroy him if William continued on this path.
William, my little brother. My pain-in-the-neck, hanging-onto-my-tailcoat brother. The true bright star in our family. I could no more imagine life without him than I could without Erik.
He was why I was afraid. He had fallen in love. A perfectly acceptable thing, even with the mortal who was somehow more than mortal. I was afraid because William had got it into his head that he could maintain the control he had. He thought that he had held on this long, that he would never have to change her.
I shuddered; I knew first hand what happened when a vampire lost that control. It could not happen to William. He was too important to us. I would die first, before William had everything he was ripped from him. Before he lost all control and killed the entire town, we were living near. Before Death was forced to come for him.
I was going to summon Death.
I had once remembered how to do this. Erik had used it to save a mortal William. He had been so scared of killing an already dying William, not changing him, that he had summoned Death herself.
It was easy. You just had to find a willing mortal. Someone who already considered the prospect. Someone who would be easy to convince that I was a vampire. It crossed some invisible line. Mortals were not meant to believe in us anymore. I guess it protected them. Ha! Just because they did not believe, did not mean we did not exist.
At first I caught the latest vampire movie, to find out what their latest perception of us was. I then found the club I wanted. It was the best possibly I had to try to make a convert. I watched them, surprised at their new perception of what we were meant to look like.
Truth was, the current idea of us was shocking. Did they really think we went around in black leather, fangs, and have odd coloured eyes? It was a bit conspicuous, was it not? Well our eyes did change colour, I supposed. However, it was no stranger than some humans. Our eye colour would not be considered abnormal.
I collected the necessary props and costume, knowing I only had one shot at this anyway. I even managed to get oddly coloured contacts. They were a vivid red and would scare anyone looking at them, especially with me behind them.
Looking at them I nearly changed my mind, but I had promised Kaia – William’s love – that I would find a way to bring her into the family. I had to do this for all of them.
Once I arrived at the club, looking the part I became scared for myself. Death would not take this kindly. I may be dead before being able to explain. Still William was more important than I was. He was the promise that Erik was keeping to his wife. I had sworn to keep him safe as well. This was the only way.
I stood near the back of the club, cold and aloof. This was easy. I had done this many times, to entice willing mortals. I had never tried to make a believer before. It happened that three women noticed me. That was good. I hoped that more mortals would draw Death faster.
It took less time than I expected. I enraptured all of the women, far to willing to believe me. I kept talking to them, seducing their minds, allowing them to ignore the voice in their head that screamed to run. I did not want prey, only believers.
“Well aren’t you a walking stereo-type.” She stated, pushing though my props, breaking my concentration. I was stunned. I felt my face fall. Of all the images I dreaded, I had not expected Death to be… beautiful. There was no other way to describe the woman, the angel staring impassively at me. She was dressed in the same black leather corset and boots that the regulars wore along with Death’s cowled robe in coat form. She wore it open, with the hood down, but it was still Death’s robe. She was most certainly more terrifying than any other patron of the club, including myself. Yet, I found her interesting.
I had never been this afraid before. Not ever, that I could recall. I had lived longer than most suspected. Not even my own family knew exactly how old I was. However, honestly I did not know that myself. My life before was broken, fragmented. Sacrificed in the endless pain, to save myself.
My fragmented memory held images of saving Viking ships and a single battle, and of course of my first family. I barely remembered them. They had been the first immortal memories I had sacrificed to save myself. I had been a disappointment; I knew that. My family had rejected me for… for compassion. I found it amusing that they thought it compassion to just kill our prey.
Dead was dead. We did not have to string the fear out, playing with our food as the mortals said. I find it amusing that mortals are intelligent enough to consider us murderers, yet have no issue with penning their own food source in and packaging it in neat little containers. At least the rare mortals that were hunted had a chance to escape. Admittedly not much of one, but a chance. The way my true family hunted, they even survived as a mortal.
The disappointment of my first family had lead to me being rejected by them, which lead me to the endless pain, and the destruction of almost everything I was before. And then the one miracle in my life. The one I neither earned nor deserved, my new father rescuing me. It was over one hundred years since that happened. In 1883, my world changed for the better.
Adopted and loved. It was shocking at first. Another vampire, with more compassion than me. Enough to adopt outside his own bloodline. Adopt me! Accept me, even though I was probably not much younger than he was. If I was younger than him. I did not know. Only since Erik had adopted me had I any clear memories. Well apart from the endless pain, anyway.
I thought of my true family again, and the knot of fear tightened. I had to do this for them, for Erik. It would destroy him if William continued on this path.
William, my little brother. My pain-in-the-neck, hanging-onto-my-tailcoat brother. The true bright star in our family. I could no more imagine life without him than I could without Erik.
He was why I was afraid. He had fallen in love. A perfectly acceptable thing, even with the mortal who was somehow more than mortal. I was afraid because William had got it into his head that he could maintain the control he had. He thought that he had held on this long, that he would never have to change her.
I shuddered; I knew first hand what happened when a vampire lost that control. It could not happen to William. He was too important to us. I would die first, before William had everything he was ripped from him. Before he lost all control and killed the entire town, we were living near. Before Death was forced to come for him.
I was going to summon Death.
I had once remembered how to do this. Erik had used it to save a mortal William. He had been so scared of killing an already dying William, not changing him, that he had summoned Death herself.
It was easy. You just had to find a willing mortal. Someone who already considered the prospect. Someone who would be easy to convince that I was a vampire. It crossed some invisible line. Mortals were not meant to believe in us anymore. I guess it protected them. Ha! Just because they did not believe, did not mean we did not exist.
At first I caught the latest vampire movie, to find out what their latest perception of us was. I then found the club I wanted. It was the best possibly I had to try to make a convert. I watched them, surprised at their new perception of what we were meant to look like.
Truth was, the current idea of us was shocking. Did they really think we went around in black leather, fangs, and have odd coloured eyes? It was a bit conspicuous, was it not? Well our eyes did change colour, I supposed. However, it was no stranger than some humans. Our eye colour would not be considered abnormal.
I collected the necessary props and costume, knowing I only had one shot at this anyway. I even managed to get oddly coloured contacts. They were a vivid red and would scare anyone looking at them, especially with me behind them.
Looking at them I nearly changed my mind, but I had promised Kaia – William’s love – that I would find a way to bring her into the family. I had to do this for all of them.
Once I arrived at the club, looking the part I became scared for myself. Death would not take this kindly. I may be dead before being able to explain. Still William was more important than I was. He was the promise that Erik was keeping to his wife. I had sworn to keep him safe as well. This was the only way.
I stood near the back of the club, cold and aloof. This was easy. I had done this many times, to entice willing mortals. I had never tried to make a believer before. It happened that three women noticed me. That was good. I hoped that more mortals would draw Death faster.
It took less time than I expected. I enraptured all of the women, far to willing to believe me. I kept talking to them, seducing their minds, allowing them to ignore the voice in their head that screamed to run. I did not want prey, only believers.
“Well aren’t you a walking stereo-type.” She stated, pushing though my props, breaking my concentration. I was stunned. I felt my face fall. Of all the images I dreaded, I had not expected Death to be… beautiful. There was no other way to describe the woman, the angel staring impassively at me. She was dressed in the same black leather corset and boots that the regulars wore along with Death’s cowled robe in coat form. She wore it open, with the hood down, but it was still Death’s robe. She was most certainly more terrifying than any other patron of the club, including myself. Yet, I found her interesting.