Chronicles of Contessa: The Tale of Ventroth

I had seen battles, wars, skirmishes I had seen men kill each other over bread and water and land. Over money over women, over the most basic of human emotions, but never in my life had I seen such a loss as this. I was in the front, as soon as we struck their front lines both Enea and Lucca vanished from my sight all I could see was the flutters of robes and glimmering swords. Mustering all my vampiric focus I was able to see, everything was going slower for me the swords that swung in my direction I could parry more easily. The glitter of white, dashed with splashes of blood was the sight of many a knight that faced me. Arrows flew overhead at our advancing troops, whistling in that eerie way that they do, like a bird with no control over it’s destination crying out that it did not wish to kill.
I defeated one knight who wielded a mace, rather skilfully I might add having lacerated my right arm while I dodged his ball of spikes. I sliced the chain with my sword and caught him while he reached for his blade, I pierced that white armour and blood stained my blade once more. He fell like all who stood before me, it was another two hours of fighting before I saw a familiar face. Lucca was alongside his brother, slicing and hacking this way and that, like an art form they were ripping apart the foes from across the sea. Enea’s strikes were like a leaf in a breeze, calmly floating until unexpectedly swooping with such force that all would panic and move from it’s path. Lucca looked like he was dancing, like a rose it was beautiful but within was a thorn of unimaginable sharpness.
Having faced him before it was a fearsome reminder of his power, he performed that spiral move that nearly sent me to my grave, cutting through dozens of men. Slowly the knights of the kingdom of light were forming a circle around them, keeping their distance for each man that would charge in was felled like he asked for death. I was watching so intently I nearly got pierced in the neck by an oncoming spear I moved out of the way just in time, I caught it and used its force to send it back with greater speed. What may or may not have been the wielder was punctured right through and the spear killed one more before resting on the wood beneath our feet. I leaped over a distance to reach the warrior brothers who continued to walk forward unscathed.
“Ah the vampire” Lucca says
”Good of you to come” Enea adds while killing an attacker with his own sword.
“I felt compelled to join you” I say as we all walk onward. Our force behind us was performing quite well, the white knights were backing off while we moved forward.

Suddenly an arrow struck near our feet and we stopped… we all stopped even in the midst of swinging our blades, I was blocking while Lucca’s blade impaled my attacker. He dropped with the last sound from the war atop wood. All was silent, the wind picked up, behind us the fluttering flags of both armies waved at us to stop. Andrastos stood on his bow with his bow lowered.
“Today’s fight is over!” he calls out
“What makes you feel you make the law?!” Lucca bellows
“One day is not enough… tomorrow I shall have your head!” he says, at once all the white knights walk away from us and our warriors. I understood, Lucca was thirsty for that vampire’s blood, but this war would last longer then even I could with my vampire strength. The first battle was over, and our men slowly walked backward toward the shore passing dead comrades and wounded. Hand-maidens and nurses rushed the wooden land of death to help survivors, looters cam with them. To rob from the dead, they would get their just reward. Lucca was beyond angry,
“We should rush while he feels we flee”
“He is ready for that, otherwise he would not have stopped his onslaught” Enea says with all the wisdom of an older brother.
“I concur… he knows what to expect… I suspect he has a new attack plan” I say and wipe the blood from my sword. Lucca growls as Veeba lands silently beside us.
“Accursed foreigners, they do not have to courage to continue to fight”
“Strategy is their aim, we must all watch their ships this night… cowardice is afoot, if I know their leader” Lucca says and walks ahead, killing a looter on his way.

I go to the Contessa, who watched as we charged this day… rain began to fall.

I stood on her small balcony, just large enough for the two of us she was the wiser to stay out of the rain. She sat on her bed watching me and I stood in beneath the ocean in the sky sifting its tears on my drenched cloak, my hair matted and looking even darker from the moisture. I could see the lights from the boats at sea igniting the white queen was looking at me directly from her boat, as the rain did not make her feel uncomfortable either. I looked at the bodies on the wooden plank, they looked as though they were sleeping, all the blood was being drained into the ocean beneath them and the waves began to crash on them as they slept. The child in me wanted to cry to the sea that they were only resting, but I knew this was the way to cleanse them. Some were already washed away into the dark abyss for the second time on this day, some still kneeling with the wooden spikes holding them upright.
“Come inside” she said pleading slightly she wanted to hold someone I could hear it in her and I would oblige. I turned and walked in, my entire entourage was soaked, she stood and pulled the sash holding my cloak on my person. Once she loosened it she took the robe from off my shoulders, and it fell to the ground with the force of steel. I took off my other shirt and now, naked from the waste up she touched my chest and pulled away slightly.
“You’re cold…” she tells me, I sigh.
“I am always cold” but that was a lie, the fire in her chambers was warming me swiftly, along with her touch.
“I didn’t know man was capable of so much deceit and death”
“When one has the ability to reason… they are capable of anything, what I feel is frightening is how man would rather learn to kill than put their minds to more creative purposes” I say and drag my knuckle down her cheek, she closes her eyes. She falls into me and I hold her, she is no doubt upset from the scene that played out today. It was like watching someone die from behind glass, one way glass and they couldn’t see your desperate warning, before it’s too late.


I let my finger slide down her neck between her breasts and she clings tighter, her skin like fire in an instant. Using my power the doors to the balcony close behind me and all I care for is her body in my arms. She steps back and I smile at her, she disrobes in a fashion that makes me inhale like it was my last breath. Her main garment she flung off, her undergarment slides off her almost without her consent from her chest. Her beautiful orbs erect at me and suddenly my clothes become tighter, she slips her silk underwear to her knees and turns around to my prying eyes. She falls to her knees which are about shoulder width apart and I am going mad with desire. She turns only her head and I look at her back with the outline of her breast teasing me, her hair falls about her eyes and they flicker with the candle and I swallow hard.
Now it was my turn to tease, she looks back at the bed and waits for my touch. I smile my pants fall troublesomely from my arousal but they fall and I jump lightly into the air and slowly levitate toward her. I fall to my knees like she did and I am right behind her now, she breathes heavily waiting for me, forever waiting. She can feel the heat from my body now and she is going insane as I was, longing for my touch.
“Ventroth…” she says and I am subdued. I move closer, I was just touching her now, the fullness of my arousal she could feel below her rear and she let her hands fall to her thighs. I hold her lightly from behind and place both my hands on either side of her waist, my touch shocks her like lightning and she jolts upward quickly then rests into my hands.
I move my hands toward her most sensitive of areas but move upward with a sudden change of direction, I know she wants my touch there but to play with her was more my style. My hands hold her stomach now and I caress and move slowly with each passing second toward her breasts. I hold her underside of them and her hands move back ward and grip my thighs. She leans into me as my touch caresses her breasts I circle my fingers around her sensitive centers and she moves with passionate thrusts. I lift her from her breasts upward and she climbs to the extent of her knees, I move her legs further apart as she dies with each moment wondering what my plan of pleasure may be.
I move closer and closer, my arousal is beneath her now and I move it facing upward to ward the heavens of my Alexandria. I rise up entering her and she lets out such a sudden moan that echoes in her chamber. I am within her now entirely and she sways from having me inside of her, I hold her breasts from behind all the same and repeat my upward motion. She breathes quickly as I begin to as well, all the while I am moving into her and out faster and faster and I will not stop until she tells me to. Her voice cracks from the pleasure and I simply move faster and faster and she explodes from within, screaming into the night, but I continue nonetheless. Then I lift her and turn her at the same moment and in an instant we are on her bed once again, she looks at me her eyes glazed with pleasure and I smile taking her knees and pushing them as far from each other as they could go and she closes her eyes from my strength and grabs at my shoulders.
I enter her again from this position looking into her eyes watching her reaction to my trespassing into her lush garden, a forgivable trespass as her legs wrap around my hips and she hooks them together in passion. Again and again I melt her worries away with each thrust of pleasure I am almost spent, I could hold it no longer. Suddenly the climax overcomes me as I hold both her breasts tightly with both my hands and I kiss her, we both moan into each other with our kiss and I move to her neck. My thrusts become slower as my fluid rushes into her like a stream of joy as though joy were a river of pleasure my body is wracked with convulsions of ecstasy as I am emptied from within. She could feel it within her and she hold me tight as my thrusts slow… and slow until I am within her but dormant. Still inside her I lift her up and we are sitting, her on me and I beneath and we embrace.
“I will not lose you to these white knights” she says breathlessly, “promise to me that you will return”
“The outcome is not known for a reason… so long as I have strength in me, I will come to you and no foe could stand between me and your arms” I say and she hold me again as I fall back into the satin sheets, she is on top of me still holding me.
Then she looks at me with seduction shooting from her eyes like daggers, is she not quenched? I smile as she kisses me and moves lower.

I rekindle my strength and prepare for the next burst of passion. The night is young for the Contessa…


Lucca was standing in the main council room in an attack stance, his blades still caked with blood from the morning battle I was watching him. He moved slowly and went through the motion of his Lizaberian fighting style and technique, it was so much like a dance and the only partner he could persuade to share the motions would have a death wish. One move made him leap into the air and perform a kick/slash when his feet hit the marble floor, not making a noise. My vampire ears could only make a muffle from the steps on the ground, like linen dragging along the floor from a basket of laundry. Enea was beside me, I heard him come he does not try to mask his approach at anytime he is a man of honour.
“Though he may be young to you vampire, I assure you even I fear his blade”
”In what ways were you trained?” I asked him
“I was instructed by a knight beyond the forest of Cremere, many miles beyond this kingdom past your forest of darkness… he was the greatest swordsman in the land, an aging man he could still best me even now if he was still alive” Enea says as Lucca parries and thrusts with his blades, “And you?” he asks.
“My blade is guided by the reason of Tsurugi Musashi, there is an eastern settlement, nearly one hundred years ago I journeyed with my master and went far to the east and learned the ways of the sword from Tsurugi”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing, or place”
“Most people in these parts have not the time to journey to such places… I have a great deal of time young Enea” I say and smile and he returns the grin. Lucca pauses and turns throwing his sword in my direction, Enea catches the handle while the blade is pointed at my face.
“We are not talking about you dear brother” he says and throws the sword back, Lucca grasps it in his fingers and spins it into the sheath his mask glaring at us in the clash of white against his black robe.
“You should both be preparing for tomorrow” he says walking over to us.
“I would rather spend times of peace in peace, then fret on the future” Enea says and places his hand on Lucca’s shoulder, “you’re vengeful spirit will not assist you on the field” he says and Lucca sighs.
“Come to think of it” I say, “I did not hear the tale of how you met this vampire of light” I tell him and Lucca looks at me in a way I had seen, he seemed calm instead of that fearful disposition that made me wary of him, he was human after all. Lucca walks into the marble floor again and pulls his swords, he tells the tale while practicing his deadly art.

LUCCA:

I was just born into the fold of the Lizaberian shadows, a killer of the wind with blades that would cut the very air I swung into. I was a god among men, the mention of our guild would strike fear into even the smallest children to the greatest of warriors and as such my calling was achieved. I had become what I had always dreamed of, a great Lizaberian Shadow with my mask dawned on my face the enemy could not read my emotions. Not even my voice now shrouded by millions of echoes could tell my foe my demeanour, an ability only ever sought after by our minions. Our voice from the darkness would influence the greatness of our clan.
My father would be proud and Enea jealous of my power, though I would be alone in solitude of my journey in the path of the shadow. No women to caress my body or ease my loneliness, my expedition was one of being alone. And I could accept that… could I not?
Among our clan was one called Andrastos he had been my friend since we were very young, it was he who first told me of the Lizaberian Shadows and the great powers we would achieve. After he fled the village just below the castle I felt compelled to follow, somehow I knew our fates would be entwined even then. But it was not what I foresaw…
With all my belongings on my back I looked at the castle of Lizaberia, a black rock carved to be the vision of a castle. The front of the castle looked like death, a cloaked man whose face you would never see, behind the opening were spikes of rock jutting toward the sky. Once within I saw Andrastos cloaked in shrouds of black, his fearsome look did not sway him from his warm feelings for me and he embraced me at my sight. We were both held among the highest of honour among the fathers of the order, and our missions were always carried out with unmatched precision.
I had killed many… traitors, messengers, brothers fathers sons, wives daughters. My blades were without equal except for my friend Andrastos, and for us it would never come to a duel between he and I, our goal was to dawn the mask of the Lizaberian Shadow. Each swing of our blade, each spray of blood was one step closer to the white veil.
That day did come, we had dawned the mask of the Shadow saying farewell to vanity and the windows to our soul, all our energy would focus outward and that was the real purpose of the mask. Andrastos took the position shakily, he had changed in recent years the continuing missions was making him question himself, he often thought of himself superior to the other members of the clan. This indulgence was the beginning of his downfall, the single part of his being that caused the great rift in the order of the Lizaberians.

It was winter and we had been dispatched into the great forest of Cremere to hunt and destroy remnants of a rebellion that threatened the order as well as the country. We were leaping through the trees and flying about the air looking at the ground beneath for the traitors. I found some running through the snow, I would drop from time to time, slash twice and kill those who fled beneath me. Blood was in our wake and burned into the cold snow, my black blades were at the ready. Andrastos was to my right, and Kel-Ten to my left along with his partner Felrath us four were a challenge for any warrior. We had come to a large snow bank, each of us landed to the earth like a cat from a ledge. I approached the top of the hill when I did see not one thousand arrows screaming in my direction, leaping backward in my surprise an arrow whizzed past my head. It was a moment after standing firm beside my comrades I heard a war-cry, and the rumble of many hundreds of soldiers.
We all pulled our blades, fear was in our old selves without the mask of Lizaberia. They came over the hill in such numbers, but our hearts and minds were ready for the onslaught. We fought with them for four hours and dusk was quickly approaching, fatigue was rearing its head as I slashed through foe after foe. Kel-Ten was felled after killing hundreds alongside me, from behind, a cowards way of defeating the honourable. I beheaded his assailant and returned the honour to Kel-Tens good name. The battle went on for many more hours, Felrath and I watched as the remaining warriors threw their swords into the bloody snow and fled yet again our swords followed them killing a few more before the blades hooked in the air and returned to us.
It was at this moment that I realized I had not seen Andrastos since the beginning of the fray, I called out for him but there was a silence. Then there was the sound of a grunt from behind me, I turned to see Felrath with a long black sabre pierced through his midsection. I was in too great a shock to say anything, the blade was pulled from my colleague and I prepared myself for the enemy. As Felrath fell, the shape of Andrastos appeared his mask glaring into mine, the fresh blood dripping from the dark blade of treachery.
“What have you done?” I said to him
“Killed a weak member of a dying order, the Shadows have grown soft good friend… you have grown weak, whereas I have embraced the glory of the Shadows and become more powerful then they dreamed of, I cannot have you and your clan threaten my strength”
“We are brothers!” I screamed at him, “what of us threatens you, we are one body, when one of us strikes we all strike… and when one of us fall…” I say and hold Felrath in my arms. Andrastos laughed then, he laughed at me and our dead friend.
“Individuals make the difference, there is a country Lucca, a great country of light where a white queen rules she has promised me eternal life at her side… come with me and together we can rule any country we wish, forever”
“Power has made you mad my brother… eternal life is not worth another life”
“I have held out my hand in friendship, and I will not ask it again”
“Good” I say and ready my blades, “you were not worth the honour in the first place, come then and I shall show you the “weakness” of our order” I tell him.
We fought near the body of our comrade, our blades striking with such force the ring from our blades loosed the snow from the trees branches. All we had learned in our years in the fold of the Shadow spilling forth against one another, wounds from both of us were leaking more blood on the soaked snowy hill. We fought through the night and until the cold blue sky was beginning to light up again, it was then in his anger he made a great mistake and made a direct stab. I took his arm with my left hand and pierced his chest in an upward angle and it burst out his back near the base of his neck, blood flowed down my blade and onto my black glove. He gasped in shock, he had never felt such pain before, I flipped over him pulling my blade at the same time. He walked forward for a moment and fell to his knees,
“Fool…” he said, “I will kill you!” he tried to shout but his voice came in a whisper on the wind of winter.
“You are the fool, the wound is mortal… think of me before you die, and how the quest for power leaves all men of unrequited desire on their knees in death” I say to him and clean my blade. He falls into the snow and a puff of white powder billows into the morning air.
He crawled away like the snake he is into the forest, I thought nothing would save him… I was wrong. I carried both of my comrades back to the order for proper Lizaberian rights of death, the order granted me a emblem on my mask for protecting the clan.

I had not seen Andrastos until that day on the ship, and all my hatred for him was boundless. Most unbecoming of a Shadow… and how he survived I do not know.

Ventroth:

The story intrigued me, it did not give me any information on the vampire of light however.
“The Lizaberians are a great sect of swordsmen” I say and Lucca nods from the compliment.
“You were exceptional on the field today” he tells me.
“I concur” Enea says
“We must go to our designated watch points, these warriors of light do not glimmer in the night” I say and they both nod, we bow and leave the council room.
I walk to the outside near the entrance to the forest, gloomily lit with the hue of the moons eye flickering in the dark leaves and hiding the darkness beyond. I am in a state of recollection, I see the battle today with such focus than in seemed in the midst of the battle. I can see my strikes, the foes dying, Lucca and his brother sending hordes of white knights to the grave. It was a failure in many ways, so many were lost to the wooden spikes that hide like lechers for an innocent youth. I saw someone that was still wearing the trappings of armour near the rail of the balcony, looking out to the lights from the White boats. Sir Brunelle with a bow across his back and leaning on the rail like someone with little energy, I saw a puff of smoke from his head evaporate into the air above him.
“If you’ve come here to think, you can join my thoughts good vampire” he says and I simply smile.
“It would honour me sir”, I say and stand next to him.
There was a long pause between us, a comfortable one though as we were both thinking the same thing. The white boats the battle tomorrow, the horrific things to come. I was happy to be in Brunelle’s company once more, his presence calmed me while I was far older then he it was his experience that I respected. His journeys were well documented, I had heard of him on his trails through Agaia, realm of Eltore the Fervent. His sword was simple, a straight blade that held no insightful fear or shape to bring forth a wide eye or a gaping maw. The hilt was decorated like a rapier should be, wide at the hilt and then thin at the base, entwining metals of gold and silver a rather lovely piece of work.

“I narrowly escaped the damned spikes” he tells me almost laughing and taking a puff from his smoke, “if they had more confidence they wouldn’t have had such traps”
“I agree, their leader knows Lucca in a very spiteful way… he knows his skill and expected his people to be as threatening” I say and gaze out at the ships.
“How is Alexandria taking the first day?” he asks me looking at the sea almost knowing my answer.
“I spoke with her, she is more relaxed now and sleeping soundly I assure you… a battle is no fair sight for any one, even a ruler”
“You… “spoke” with her did you?” he says.
“Did I slur my words good Brunelle?”
“No my vampiric friend, a woman’s heart needs three things… security, compassion and then there is love… I trust you can provide all three” he says and looks at me sternly. I look at him in a lying manner as though I do not know of what he speaks, but he can see through me this crafty Abraham Brunelle. I smile at last and look back to the ocean,
“You are indeed keen” I say and he smiles putting his elbows on the marble banister.
“You needn’t fear about my observations, I hope all is for the best… I must rest though, a war would be easier on a more youthful set of bones… good night” he says.
“Sleep well” I say. He walks into the castle and I prepare myself for the dawn, with another vile of Yondaime’s potions.

This time it was the white knights who had the first move, they were charging across the wooden plank before we could even rally all men to the beach. Veeba would send bolts of energy into the oncoming hordes and kill twenty to thirty but he was becoming weaker with each blast. I pulled my sword as did Lucca and Enea fully armoured and ready for the taste of blood, Enea’s armour shining like the hot sun above that shone down in such force to absolve the day before when the clouds did rule the sky.
The wave hit us and we were thrust into the war headfirst, the slashes of sharp blades hell-bent on the others destruction. The war was on, the clangs of metal echoed and danced in the sky unseen by our eyes. It was an even match, neither line was breaking nor folding, bodies fell to the wooden plank as we pressed forward but moving not an inch. Lucca Enea and I stepped backward and let the others take our place so we could create a strategy.
“They keep coming…”
“A draw is not a victory” Lucca says shaking the blood from his sword and it splatters to the ground.
“Perhaps an arrowhead line?” Enea says and we both look at him oddly, “well…” he continues, “we make a spearhead force form behind the main lines, then get them to ram through in two person formation… we three can run in the middle and break into attack once far enough into their force” he says. I smile and nod, Lucca agrees.