Love Journal of a King

Full Summary: This is not exactly a sequel to The Rose On His Grave, as it takes place in the years of peace. It is 17 chapters long and focuses on Ray, who writes about how and his siblings came to live in the mortal world, the First Vampires and how they survived in it, along with the relationships they had. It all leads up to what happened at the end of The Rose On His Grave and what happened to the other characters in more detail.  I wasn't really sure what category to put this, because there are homosexual relationships and a few heterosexual ones too. Quite balanced.

Thanks to anyone who reviews and rates.

 

Chapter One: 2011

   ‘My world was luminous, shining in the darkness that presided over the planet. It was night so much longer than day. In my world, the daylight hours only lasted up to 7 or 8 hours maximum. The moon was brighter than the moon here…’

Ray Carlos stopped in his writings, turning his head ever so slightly to the side as footsteps approached his door. A light, timid knock came seconds later, and he called out for the visitor to enter with a quiet, soft voice.

A small figure appeared in the open doorway, pale skin glowing as he stepped slowly inside. Ray couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his youngest child, a mere eighteen years old and already tainted by the horrors of life, which in itself was even more horrific when one is an immortal. “I didn’t know you were visiting tonight little Seth” he murmured, setting down his pen and rising from his desk chair. Seth smiled and walked over to embrace his father, glancing back at his lover lingering in the shadows of the doorway.

“It’s been a few months since I last came to see you father, and I missed you” Seth said, quiet and shy as always. He buried his small heart-shaped face in his father’s chest, delicate hands clutching the soft material of his shirt. Ray held him tightly, always enjoying these rare moments when his young son would cling to him like a tiny child in need of a parent’s love. Ray knew that Seth was well looked after with his new lover, whose amber eyes watched every move Seth made with a protective gleam.

“How’s life in your own house?” Ray asked, finally pulling away from the embrace so he could look down into his son’s large, beautiful golden orbs that stared up at him with such innocence and happiness that it made his lonely heart melt. “I think I am doing well. I like the thought that its just the two of us, like a married human couple would be. I’ve even started cooking him meals to make some use of the kitchen”.

“I am so happy for you, little Seth. I pray you remain happy too” Ray sighed out, stroking his hand through Seth’s hair, which was as black as his own. “Thank you father, I shall leave you to your thoughts now, I need to feed and Skulli is getting restless” Seth replied, a small affectionate smile lighting his pretty angelic face as he glanced back at his lover, who smirked back at him with a predatory glint in his eye.

Ray watched them go, wishing they would stay and live with him. He never thought he’d tolerate one of his children being with a Werewolf, but he’d grown to secretly like the man. Not only was he Seth’s soul mate, but he’d protected him fiercely against his own pack, so fiercely that he’d fought his closest friend to try and save Seth’s life. A part of him was sad and empty about Seth leaving home after such a short time, for a Vampire, but it wasn’t as saddening as it would have been if he hadn’t have had Rikki to fill the gap. At the thought of his lover, Ray smiled warmly, sitting back on his comfortable chair and settling at his desk once more.

Rikki was the soul mate he’d craved for, the soul mate he’d been trying in vain to find all through the years. He’d found him not long before Seth and Skulli had found each other in his absence, and every day he counted himself lucky to have found him. He was struggling though, his little lover. He was away, somewhere out in the world, searching for peace and to understand what had befallen him in the past year. It was hard for Rikki to accept the idea of soul mates, of being with that one person forever and never losing them by means other than death.

He hadn’t wanted him to go, but Ray understood, he understood the distance Rikki strived to put between them, the fear he felt at getting close to someone ever again. It was as he was thinking this that he retrieved his pen and decided to carry on with his ‘journal’. After all these years he’d never dreamed of recording the events of his life, but tonight it had simply popped into his mind as if the idea had always been lurking there, ready to present itself and take him back in time to memories of long ago…

  

‘…the moon was brighter than the moon here. Mortals were much fewer also, sorcery and demons ruled my world, mortals a thing of rarity. They were hunted, cherished or killed, all depending on what manner of creature got their hands on them. They lived in hiding away from the world, standing guard all through the long hours of night while others slept. Some even ventured out to try and breach the gates of our towns, to try and kill vampires that lay sleeping in the few hours of daylight.

‘Vampires in this old world of mine, only lived for two hundred years, their date of birth recorded and kept ready for the date of their death. When that day arrived, they would willingly lie back on the Death Stone, face to the black sky as they were given a small dose of a numbing potion. Not only did it numb them, but it made them dreamy and peaceful, uncaring of the scythe coming down to cut off their heads. Their remains were then taken to the pyre, burnt at the top of the hill away from the town, city or village. Their families would gather to mourn them and celebrate their passing, believing by their death, the soul of that relative would pass into another, much like the reincarnation beliefs of this world. My own son has been reincarnated many times, and I do think, that maybe it’s because he has my blood, though thinned by a made-vampire as a mother, I do think it could be that old blood from a lost world that had endured the old beliefs in his very veins.

‘I shall get back to my description of my world. There, vampires ruled, mortals were an endangered species and sorcerers were our servants all because they were addicted to the power our blood held. They guarded us by day with the promise of receiving a small taste of the blood that boosted their powers and magic for a day or so at most. Why did they never turn on us? Pin us down and drain us? Take advantage while we slept, completely in their trust in believing that they would bring us no harm? Simply because of ancient wars, ones that sorcerers and mortals alike had lost over and over again. The sorcerers had finally gave in after witnessing the decline of the human race, seeing their numbers dwindle to all but nothing in just a few centuries of war. There was also the little fact that a sleeping Vampire could crush a person who got too near if they were a threat to them.

‘So in the end, they yielded to us, becoming loyal servants that relished the gift of blood from their chosen Masters. Oh yes, the sorcerers chose who to serve. We gave them that freedom, and they were free to move onto another Master, much like a lover, and sometimes that’s indeed what they were also, so they never felt restricted to one way of life. But they had to serve at most, one hundred years, before being allowed to be free of vampires forever. Sorcerers were not immortal like vampires, they lived for up to two hundred years and grew old like humans did, unlike the vampires that lived for two hundred years and went into death’s arms willingly though they didn’t need to, for they would never grow old. I must mention that all vampires in this world were pure-blood, for it was strictly forbidden to share blood with a mortal. It had been known many centuries before that some mortals had been given our blood and turned into one of us, our cells so strong and like a cancer, spreading through every part of the body until it was consumed completely. But the records written in the council had shown these mortals had either gone mad or took their gifts for granted and hunted like savage animals of the wilderness beyond our civilised borders, and they had been destroyed because of it. Mortals were built much more differently to us, so much more fragile in so many ways.

‘It was this weakness of mortals, and our own weakness at needing them so desperately

for our own survival, that brought us our downfall, our ultimate destruction.

                  

                                              

                                                  *             *           *

‘It was one cold winter night when I stood in my large house, gazing out the window at the stars above, that I realized that we really were doomed. No one knew how long a vampire could last without blood. We had stocks of it, shared in small doses throughout the town, (every family by law was only allowed to bear two children. If this law was broken the whole family, including all children, would be executed), and when that stock began to dwindle, our hunters would go out to find animals or humans to drain. We never killed their children, never any human under the age of twenty, for they needed to keep humanity going. For without humanity, our main food source, we would cease to exist.

‘It was on that winter night, at the age of one hundred and thirty seven, that I listened to the moans and the screaming, the snarling and the howls. The little that remained of humanity had finally died out, as if they had been a naked candle flame snuffed out by a gentle breeze. Just like that, they were gone. There could have been a few scattered here and there, but no one could find any. All over the world, news came of the human bodies piling up, a sickness had swept across them, taking them by the masses. A sickness no one could understand at first.

‘I stood above the dark streets, a year or so after the sickness had broken out across the planet, and I listened to my own kind killing one another. I watched magic spark in the night as sorcerers ran through the streets, defending themselves against their own blood-thirsty, angry masters. It had been confirmed that a sorcerer had used his magic to create this sickness, this plague that had wiped out our main food source, and eventually the animals too. A sorcerer that wanted his own kind to rule, for they had magic enough to fight back the weakening vampires who at first went crazy with hunger, attacking anyone and anything, before beginning to lose their strength.

‘My heart went out to those sorcerers who were caught off guard by their masters, who tore them limb from limb and bathed in their blood when they had done no wrong to them, for they were truly loyal. I was one of very few vampires in my small city that had not gone mad with hunger, that had not attacked my sorcerer or relative. Even my sister, the youngest of the three of us siblings, who was known for her cold, ruthless personality, did not give in to the madness. She used her beauty to seduce our sorcerer into providing her with doses of his blood, enough to pass onto me and my younger brother. Our sorcerer had told us from the beginning that he would never share his magical blood with us, and we respected that wish until the sickness came.

   I turned away from the window and walked hurriedly through the corridors when I sensed something very wrong. My sister, (now known as Ruby and that is what I shall call her so as not to get people who may read this, confused) was in her bedroom, naked and straddling one of our neighbouring sorcerers, Kryylin, in her large bed, the white gossamer curtains partially obscuring my view. He was moaning, protesting, but her strong white hands held him in place as she bent down to his exposed throat, draining him. She pulled away and looked over her shoulder at me, her dark blood red hair swaying like a silk curtain in a silent wind through an open window.

“Come brother, drink” her dark blue eyes shimmered as she moved her glance back to the sorcerer, whose blood was calling to me. I stepped up closer, ignoring my sister’s soft long limbs, naked and only inches from me. I was too enthralled with the magic blood to care that she stayed there, uncovered in her brother’s presence.

‘ “No…you can’t do this…she promised me sanctuary” Kryylin, the beautiful and doomed sorcerer, was saying, wide eyes pleading with me to keep back, and then his lips were covered by Ruby’s hand when he attempted to mutter a defensive spell. I stroked my hand through his hair, barely noticing my brother (now known as Antonio, and again, this is the name I shall use), who slipped into the room, drawn by the spill of blood, lingering on the other side of the bed, waiting for me to make a move.

‘I didn’t want to kill him, and I would never have done if Ruby hadn’t have tricked the poor young man into her bed, but I knew it was inevitable. For he wasn’t the strongest or oldest of sorcerers, and probably wouldn’t have stood a chance if he took one foot outside again. I leaned down and gently sank my teeth into the soft flesh on his throat, almost moaning at the exquisite taste of him, a taste almost as sweet as mortal blood, and blood I had not tasted for quite a while by then. He moaned as Ruby continued to ride him as if we weren’t there, as Antonio bit down on his wrist. She rode him until his dying body had no more blood to rush into that private place, and no more feeling to enjoy the tingling pleasure she was giving him to outdo the pain and betrayal.

‘I assure you, my dear reader, that it was a much better way to die than how the others were dying all around us. We cared about him in our own small way, and he was locked to us for the mere fact he was a servant, and so if we were destined to die so soon, then he was to be the first step in our journey. We left his cold, lifeless corpse in Ruby’s bed. She moved off behind her screen to dress herself, while I returned to my room, temporarily satisfied, and Antonio wandered back downstairs to the front room, probably watching the events outside.

‘Only an hour passed, and our own sorcerer came home, after fighting his way through the streets, covered in blood from sorcerers and vampires alike. He was lucky we had fed ourselves so selfishly earlier on, otherwise we might have lost all control and attacked him like the mindless beasts outside.

‘They’re heading this way! A small band of them have decided to attack you, because you’re the only ones in the city that have noble blood!” Lel called, slamming the front door and bolting it, though this would not help. It was true, me and my siblings were of noble blood, ancient blood, and it was the only reason why we’d been spared when our parents broke the law when Ruby was born, only our foolish, arrogant parents had been executed. We had been shunned by most in the city, though people let us be, as long as we kept away from them. So I was not surprised in the least by this bad news. No sooner had Lel ran up the stairs and into my arms did they begin to pound the doors and smash through the windows. I shoved Lel away from me as three vampires closed in on my brother.

‘I flew down the steps in an instant, flinging them away like rag dolls, sending one flying back out the window. Antonio pulled me away from them, up the stairs to Lel and Ruby, and we kept going up into the attic, barricading ourselves inside. There was no window to escape out of, no secret door to use. We were trapped and delaying the inevitable. Lel turned to us, hurrying over to clutch my arms and kiss my lips with a ferocious urgency. He did the same with Antonio and Ruby, and as I watched I knew in my heart I would fight to the death just to give him a chance to escape while we fought the intruders. He was 57 years old, still looking young and beautiful, and nowhere near as powerful as he would’ve have been but more powerful than most in our town.

‘I know I can do this, I know it. I’ve practiced and practiced, and almost did it last time but I lost my concentration…” he was mumbling, no longer looking at us. He then began to walk in a circle around the three of us,  a blaze of blue energy forming with his steps as he chanted the words to form it. When it was done, he stepped outside of the circle, and held up his arms, “I found a world like our own, I can send you there, but you must be careful there. As I viewed it I found no one there to be like you, mortals rule this world that will become your home now”.

He started chanting as  the attic door was banged upon with impatient fists, before any of us could question him. A bright blue light was slowly rising up along our legs, and soon enveloped us in its warmth and almost blinding brilliance. A portal opened above, and I glimpsed a world beyond, a mirror of our own. I looked to see Lel had stopped chanting, one hand up, holding the portal above our heads. He looked at my bewildered face. “Goodbye” he murmured, and then lowered his hand as the attic door burst open and hands grabbed him. I screamed in protest even as we were sucked through the portal and shot through blackness, whiteness, all different colours that dazzled our sensitive eyes, and eventually landed with a hard thud on soft grass.

‘I lay there, cheek to the slightly moist greenery, listening to my siblings rise to their feet, feeling their wonder and confusion as strongly as my own. “It’s gone. No one followed us” Ruby commented thoughtfully, and I closed my eyes in agony. Indeed, no one had followed, and all hope I had of Lel being close behind us was crushed, and I lay there thinking of him, his pretty green eyes, his ready smile. I longed to hold him once more, to go back and save him from the creatures that were no doubt gorging themselves on his precious blood at that very moment.

‘I could do nothing. Nothing but lie on the ground of this new world, no one but my siblings to comfort me, but unable to accept their comfort for I was the one responsible for our little family. I stood up and stared above me at a starless sky. It seemed even the stars had withdrawn their light to mourn the loss of Lel. The first love I’d ever had. One of many on my quest to find the one that would satisfy my lonely and greedy soul.