Feb 2001

Disclaimers: No infringement on any copyrights are intended. The character of Luna, named in the House of Diablo, is mine.

Dedication: For those of us that dream and for the ones blessed to see beyond it…and for Mischa, thank you.

I heard their broken voices on the twilight breeze, a pleading curtain of sound that seeped through the defences I had constructed, a siren's call that only added to this storm cloud of confusion that haunted my waking hours.

Like a puzzle with vital fragments absent, the dream awoke me, of a red haired woman fluidly moving with a grim sense of purpose. Last night the dream had unveiled another gruesome facet. The woman did not walk; she floated some inches above the ground. However, it was not firm earth beneath her feet, it was a river of fresh, swirling blood.

Moreover, an individual voice whispered to me from above the noise of this demon water. It was the voice of Marius. He was weak, he was vulnerable and he wanted my help.

I am not sure which of these facts alarmed me more.

I knew that there was an inherent danger to our continued existence, that blood drinkers throughout the world were perishing in vast numbers. I saw fleeting glimpses of a blond haired vampire somehow anchored to this nightmare vision of ancestry and lost souls.

The souls cried to him from within the river of blood. They called him 'Wolfkiller.'

So now I fled for one single night, seeking solace with those of a similar kind who lived on the edges of civilization. Let them be a balm to my savaged heart. I wished to take refuge and accept their humble and simple hospitality. Santino, the coven Master from the past, had a duty to perform..…if only for one more night.

The lookout stared miserably out to sea, his whole body language that of one who does not anticipate anything happening to stir a bland existence. However, there was a shimmer of thought this night,

gliding upon the salty air and I snatched it and fed upon the words within.

'When do you start to challenge what you are?'

A soundless question asked by a young mind that dwelt in the rushes above the cliff top. In a heartbeat I changed my path and silently stalked my way.

'Is it a gradual awareness or something monumental that starts the clock ticking somewhere deep inside?'

More tumbling questions in a ripe, moist mind. I ran my tongue over my lower lip in appreciation, listening to his words, which came to me as clearly as the pealing of a bell.

'My life, the same routine night after night, the same inhabitants, the same religion.'

I was slightly above him now with the wind behind me, watching as he sat alone with his back against the cold cliff wall. He glanced towards the full moon and for an instant, his features were illuminated by its milky glow.

'The others will be about their tasks, but mine are done… I prefer to be alone…. I'm not good company and the others will want to know why….my mind shields are strong but I don't want to try the patience of the Elders.'

I could not resist a slow smile at this last snippet from his mind. He had much to learn concerning the powers of the dark side but nevertheless, he aroused a wave of intrigue within me.

Suddenly he froze and raised his head towards the night sky. Again, I clearly saw his profile as he sniffed the wind and glanced in my direction with suspicion. I held my breath and used this as an opportunity to examine him. A young one, newly brought over with his mortal memory swept away. A whisper of annoyance surged through me. I did not believe in this somewhat barbaric method of manipulation, but this cult did, they swore by its clean-cut method of severing away the past. They said it prevented insanity. I was not too sure. A mortal memory kept a vampire strong, made him aware of his own human failings, made him open to all the possibilities the dark side offered. True, some perished because of it, but every breed has to cull its runts.

His tangled dark hair fell across his face, whipped by the wind into a frenzy of matted strands. Slightly built and painfully thin he held out one outstretched hand as though to touch the thing that had disturbed him. His eyes were the colour of the sea on a stormy night, set into an oval face with a thin nose and high cheekbones that gave his face an air of almost feminine beauty.

He was expecting something, but he certainly was not expecting me as I stepped from the night into his line of vision.

His mouth opened and I saw him visibly swallow before taking a small step backwards.

'Diablo', he whispered the name they had graced me with, before falling to his knees on the sand-strewn path.

He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the ground beneath as I stood before him, visibly shaking at my presence. My reputation lived here when I did not and he was veering on the side of caution. A wise child.

I touched his shoulder gently before raising his chin to my face with one finger. Carefully I ran my thumb over his lower lip, opening his mouth for my inspection. Yes, it was as I thought, no visible fangs, he was a child of this coven.

"Your name?" I asked, in a severe tone. I did not mean it to appear as a command but old habits die-hard.

"It's Luna, Master," he murmured uncomfortably.

"Well then, little Luna, I think it is time to join the others. Forgive me for my unexpected arrival, but I do like to drop in by surprise, keeps everyone on their toes." I graced him with a full fang smile as I pulled him to his feet. He stood awkwardly, trying to compose his words.

"I'm not permitted to enter with you, Master, not into the Sanctuary, I have not yet gone through the ritual."

A dark shadow passed over me as I remembered this particular torture.

All vampires fear the sun and the flame, but to this vampire denomination, it was used as religious manipulation. They instilled the danger into their young from the very start; told them it was created from the gods that the sun dwellers worshipped. Oh yes, mortals were called sun dwellers, a very simple and apt term, and one I somewhat enjoyed. They were warned that to face the sun dwellers at any time without the power of the ritual would mean certain death, a death too excruciating to contemplate.

Luna risked a glance at my face and I brutally picked his thoughts wide open.

'Fire hangs in the strange blue sky whilst we all sleep, when the sun dwellers roam. The Elders have no protection from it. So why do they use it in the ritual?'

The ritual was an absurdity, kept alive by the Elders who clung to its ancient mystique. It was a slow burning of the skin around the heart, destined to strengthen and empower the individual to hunt the sundwellers for themselves, away from these caves. Until that time the fledglings were suckled by a few chosen at random each Midsummer night by the Senate. Just before dawn, the young were fed but not before the thirst had gnawed at their insides for a few hours. It was a certain way of making sure they did not stray.

"I am with you," I answered him quietly. "You are allowed wherever I please."

He nodded, his grey eyes wide and full of acceptance, but a tinge of fear dwelt deep inside. I was suitably impressed.

Luna followed as I strode down the shingle path towards the main entrance. Coven members cowered in the shadows as I passed, and I fed on their fear and unwillingness to expand their minds. They knew nothing of a vampire's true existence here, and perhaps that was a blessing. They would be ashes on the wind in the real world, a mere sprinkling on the earth as the danger passed.

This ancient race of vampires I had watched over for centuries, striving to keep them apart from any that could infiltrate their reasoning and beliefs. The Elders bred with mortals, the child raised amongst humans, until a time when the offspring were deemed suitable for introduction to the coven. If they were not suitable, they were eliminated.

Only when a member had been fully indoctrinated into the coven ways and baptised with the fire ritual were they allowed to hunt the sun dwellers. Questioning the rules meant certain death, they were simply there, made to ensure the continuation of the House of Diablo.

It was my coven, my rules, but that did not mean that I approved of everything that occurred. Coven laws were made for the benefit of those that followed blindly, to the enlightened the flaws were clearly visible.

The plea for help from Marius had more than convinced me that we were all facing an authority that could terminate our existence. Perchance the weakest might remain but what of our future if that fact held true.

I came here to say a silent farewell, and if needs be, to eliminate them all. If they were to die, it would be by my hand.

I wanted to find an Elder with an open heart in whom I could trust the well being and survival of the coven, one that the coven could look upon and grow with. At this dark end of the 20th century, it was time for my children to finally spread their wings.

The Elders gathered at the entrance to the Senate chamber were huddled together, like a murder of nocturnal crows. I swept through their minds bluntly, found bigotry and selfishness, greed, and locked hearts.

With an audible sigh, I stopped in my tracks, pulling Luna to my side. My unannounced appearance was clearly an agitation, but still they all watched him with accusing eyes.

"Blasphemer!" A cry from Amaril, a member of the Senate and one of the eldest here. He was a throwback from the ancient coven days and a firm believer in the absolute power of the old ways.

Luna shrank back against me. I held up my hand, and ran my eyes over Amaril in obvious distaste.

"The boy is here with my permission," I spoke quietly so they had to strain to hear my words. It had the desired effect.

"Diablo, forgive us," a mumble from them all as they fussed around, pulling a chair from the shadows and placing it near to me. I waved it away in impatience as a terrible cry sliced through my head.

Another safehouse burnt to the ground….all dead….my time was short…

Slowly I reached into my inner pocket and pulled out a sealed letter. Hesitantly I turned it over in my hands, debating on whom to give it to. This was the future of the House of Diablo, but I did not have time to explain its importance. In addition, I did not have the heart to sit and listen to petty squabbling about who was to administer my new teachings.

A movement from the edge of the cave caught my gaze and my eyes fell upon Ember, a young woman who had been chosen this past year to suckle the fledglings. She met my gaze and smiled before lowering her eyes respectfully. Luna shuffled at my side watching her with an impromptu air of anticipation.

"Luna, why do you leave it so long? You can not resist the draw of the blood." She chastised him gently, as she held out her hand.

I let myself seep into his mind and felt the dull ache in his stomach, sensed the saliva as it sprang to life in his mouth as his fangs descended from his upper gum line. Yes, a difference between the breeds, but the blood is the family bond between us all.

Holding out my hand to halt the Elders, I followed Luna and Ember through a narrow corridor that led to a dark, straw covered corner where the fledglings fed. He was stumbling now; driven half blind by the sudden blood lust her appearance had brought to the surface. A whimper from his throat as she pulled him down to her side, his mouth searching for her warm, ripe flesh.

I knew at that instant what I must do. I had known it from the first glimpse of him.

Silently I commanded her to leave, pushing her to one side as Luna cried for blood. She withdrew in shock, her dark eyes registering concern for Luna. I did not have time to comfort her.

With strong fingers I guided his mouth to my neck, slashing the skin with my thumbnail to make it easier for him. He latched onto me, driving his fangs cleanly into my neck, and beginning the pull before the first swallow. I do not think at this point he was fully aware that Ember had departed. Blood was blood to one as young as this.

But I had a dull ache in my heart at what I was gifting him with. On his shoulders would rest the fate of the coven. With my blood, I would impart to him a faint memory of the others of my kind. I would show him that he was not alone. But first, he had to make sense of the answers to his questions. It was a gift that may bring about his downfall.

Gently I stroked the hair from his forehead as he suckled, and whispered into his ear, "Be strong, Luna, my child, for with you could rest the fate of a nation."

Bestowing upon him the answers to his questions concerning his future was also afflicting him with a dark and bloody history.

As vampires, we learn to deal with the burden of the past. Bittersweet recollections lay laced in memory, layered and connected, a spider web of images to call upon. As time slips by a memory can be softened or left like an arrow through the heart to remind and punish. Some of my race had this perception down to a fine art form. They bathed in the juice from its wounds.

My decision to gift Luna with my blood was made on a fine thread of instinct. I did not have time to study the statistics. Deliberation was a hawk, soaring far from my grasp.

But the facts stood alone and as cold as the breath of the dead. My bloodline was facing a peril of the greatest magnitude. I was a drowning man, clutching at any possibility, for the slightest murmur in the wind.

I had foolishly believed that my own immortality was a certainty, never once imagining the horror of a mass cull of my kind. With Luna and his alternative bloodline, there was the faintest possibility that the danger may pass him by.

I wanted my line to continue. I would fight until the gates of hell were opened to me, and beyond.

Luna lay sated in my arms, his eyes half-closed, head lolling, and a smear of my blood across his lower lip. I kissed it from him and laid him gently upon his bed of straw.

A painful cry pierced the darkness. A wolf's howl on the wind.

Marius was calling.

End