This is a story I started a while ago. I haven't had time to devote to taking it further but it has promise and one day I shall finish it. It's all about how Vampires came to walk the earth. Please feel free to give feedback, comments, pass judgement, dissect or discuss. Thank you.
Kaine and Lyllith
And the world of man was beset with evil. Darkness covered the land and death stalked the children of Adam and Eve.
Lyllith was intent on wholesale slaughter of her husband Adam's spawn. Kaine was opposed - perhaps a germ of humanity lingered within what had become the world’s second monster.
They disagreed and their arguments came to blows and soon they waged bloody war each upon the other.
Stalemate ensued – they were both matched in strength and violence and they realised that their dispute would come to nothing but a smouldering hatred.
They parted and it was decades before they again met.
They faced each other in unveiled animosity, with their violent intentions barely held in check.
“We must come to an accord Kaine.” Lyllith said.
Kaine didn’t reply but stood watching her.
She had expected an agreement from him but when none was forthcoming, she continued, her eyes narrowed and arms crossed.
“Either we slaughter the whole of humankind or we let them alone.”
Kaine continued to watch and just as Lyllith was becoming angry, he spoke: “I would suggest neither. I believe that we can live alongside humans...”
Lyllith was furious and interrupted. “In harmony I suppose? You are just like your father, weak and foolish!” She spat on the ground before Kaine and the earth steamed where her spittle landed.
Kaine allowed her the anger and waited a moment before continuing: “We can live alongside humans, hidden in darkness, swathed in bloody violence and mystery. We shall become the terror in their nights and the dark shadow of apprehension as their day grows old and turns to dusk.
Lyllith smiled as she realised the vast potential that idea had.
But they both had different opinions on exactly how they should live alongside humans and both thought their way would be the one that should be followed. They were treacherous and devious and they each had an idea of an army and went about in the world to corrupt humans to their Blood Lust.
Kaine discovered his Black Blood Gift first as he prowled what would become known as Europe in the centuries that followed. He had many failures in his quest and few successes.
It was in Macedonia that Kaine’s first real success was accomplished.
A warrior who’s vicious strength and tenacity in battle shone through the blood, mud and beer that his body was caked with as he staggered from a ratty brothel in the early hours of one morning.
Kaine followed him, interested enough to not immediately slay him and drain him of his life-force. The man realised that he was being followed and even though he was very drunk, he confronted Kaine with only a little wariness.
“What do you want? If you seek to rob me, you shall have poor pickings. I spent my last Drachm on a scabby whore and as much mead as I could drink. I think the Madam is still bemoaning her lot on that deal!” The man pitched forward and Kaine caught him and set him upright.
“I do not want your money.” Kaine said in a voice so quiet that the man leaned forward to hear him better. As he leaned further than he meant to, Kaine again caught hold of him but this time he twisted the man’s head and lowered his greedy lips to the man’s throat.
Kaine had not drunk his fill and was relishing the mead-laced Blood but the man surprised him by thrusting Kaine from him and rounding on him in an attack of fists, feet and forehead. He butted Kaine in the face and Kaine staggered backwards.
Kaine regained his balance and came forward to attack and slay the man but something stopped him. The man was not afraid. As he wiped a filthy hand across his neck where Kaine had opened up a vein, he looked at his blood smeared palm and said: “I am known as Neoptolemos. I am the son of Achilles and I will leave this world fighting, not being drained of my Blood to die whimpering in an alley! If you wish my death on your hands, I shall make you earn every drop spilled! I will not give it to you in compliance. If you want my Blood, you will take it from me in battle and I shall make you earn it!”
“If you wish it, then you shall have it!” Kaine answered and flew at his intended victim, full of rage and Blood Lust. The battle was not a long one. Neoptolemos was very near to death in moments but still he was defiant. Kaine held Neoptolemos’s head up, one hand under his chin, the other supporting the back of his neck. He was ready to make the kill but a spark of that defiance was still present in his victim’s eyes. Battered and almost bled dry, muscles shuddering and eyes drooping almost closed then snapping open as he fought off death itself, Kaine had a change of heart – black and hard and cold as it was.
“Will you fight so hard in any circumstance?” He asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you shall not die.” Kaine took Neoptolemos’s dagger from his hand and pierced his own neck. “Drink deeply or die.”
Neoptolemos drank and Kaine staggered under the determination that pulled his own blood from his veins. Bright lights flashed in Kaine’s vision and he heard the throb of his heart which soon became the sound of two hearts seeming to fight one another for ascendancy. Kaine had to force himself away from the euphoria that was rapidly taking him down into blackness.
“That is enough.” Kaine gasped as he slipped and almost fell away from Neoptolemos.
“It is enough for now perhaps,” was the replying gasp.
When both had recovered a little, they helped each other up and staggered away as though they were drunk. Into the darkness that surrounds them yet.
Kaine had made the first of his Progeny.
Lyllith also threw her shadow across Europe and she was watching when Kaine took his first protégé – the first of few that would survive.
Lyllith saw Kaine’s Progeny and was worried. She had not yet been able to allow any of her victims to survive and this was obviously the key to that puzzle. She left Macedonia and went north.
In Romania she happened upon a family living in seclusion in the woodlands surrounding the mountains and they were slaughtered.
It was not until Lyllith had ended the life of the very last member of the family that she realised through the Blood-Haze that she had a purpose and she wept in anger and frustration at another lost opportunity.
In desperation she picked up each body in turn to see if there was a spark of life left. In what she assumed was the elder son, there was indeed such a spark and she grasped at it and forced her Blood between his lips, hoping that it would be enough to revive him.
He lingered between life and death for hours and she was almost ready to give up and kill him when he reached out to her. She embraced him and again gave her Blood to him – in doing so she realised her mistake. The boy altered as she watched and became something that she was not sure she could be proud of.
It took more than a few decades for her to become accustomed to his features but when she realised that she had created such a ruthless, cruel and utterly humourless creature, she was proud beyond measure.
Sorin was instructed to go as he pleased, to develop his true nature as he saw fit. He went into the forest and he killed and slaughtered and he learned from Lyllith and he was touched by an insanity that would have destroyed any human.
But Lyllith was not happy in her surroundings and wanted to wander a different continent – she went south. She finally came to a land of sultry heat and bloody war and she felt that she had come home.
Her path crossed that of a young and beautiful man, his name was Xerxes. He was enamoured of her and endeavoured to bring her gifts and to spoil her and she enjoyed him. As the years passed and he realised that she could never age, he wondered how it could be and why she would not tell him. He grew resentful in his vanity and demanded that she divulge her secret and in a fit of impassioned fury, she showed him – and then she left him to grow on his own.
Kaine was also enjoying more human frivolities. He and his first Progeny were much alike in their Bloodthirst and eagerness for battle. They fought alongside each other – and sometimes against each other - in every skirmish they could find as they crossed European soil.
It was in one such battle, on the shores of the Black Sea that he came across another opponent who he deemed to be worthy of Black Blood. Sibling rivalry was apparent almost as soon as Kaine had pointed out the next recipient of his Gift and he had to fight his first Progeny to protect his proposed Progeny’s life before it could be snuffed out in anger.
Dragomir survived not only the battle that his tribe had lost but also the onslaught from Kaine’s first and favoured Progeny. Kaine’s Black Blood seared through his veins and his ‘brother’ hated him.
Lyllith returned to the place where she had last seen her first Progeny and she searched for him.
Sorin had not wandered far and he was in very real danger of becoming too wild even for Lyllith to rein back in. He took prey from villages and hamlets in a wide circle surrounding the forest where he lived and he was stealthy and cautious enough so that he would never be caught.
Sorin supplemented his food source by feeding upon animals, but again, never too frequently so as the wildlife became scarce or deserted his killing grounds. Through his insanity he had developed a connection with various beasts. Bears, boars and wolves all knew to keep away when he went out hunting but also knew that the pickings would be rich when he had had his fill.
Infrequently a wolf would partake of his leavings and then would begin to show characteristics of a similar nature to Sorin – not quite human – and Sorin knew by instinct to slaughter that wolf.
In the recesses of his brain Sorin knew what was happening and why the wolf was the only creature to succumb to the same characteristics and he remembered this.
When Lyllith returned – as Sorin knew she would – she found him close to where she had left him those many years ago. She was taken aback at his appearance. He was clean and clothed elegantly and did not appear to be too animalistic. He had sensed her arrival and had known that he must be prepared for when she did return.
He also sensed that she had company.
Xerxes had trailed Lyllith and had a far different reaction when he saw Sorin. He was shocked and aghast at the creature’s appearance. Fine and elegant clothes did nothing to disguise the Bloodlust in his eyes. Sorin’s teeth were far longer and more lethal than were those of Lyllith or Xerxes and Xerxes was still vain of his appearance. He questioned Lyllith on the matter of his birthright and could not believe that they had the same Sire.
He became angry with Lyllith as he used to when he was human. Sorin watched with cool detachment for a while. When Xerxes looked about to become physically violent with Lyllith, Sorin flew to her defence and would have slain his brother if Lyllith had not reached out her arm and clasped Sorin’s throat in her powerful hand as he leaped.
Sorin dangled from her arm, limp and docile as a kitten in its mother’s jaws and she allowed him to drop without looking at him.
And so was born hatred between Lyllith’s Progeny too.
Forced into an alliance, Lyllith’s bitter Progeny followed her to find Kaine in the hope that his success had been more limited than hers.
Kaine was having the same problems with sibling rivalry as Lyllith. Neo and Dragomir were at each other’s throats at every opportunity.
After the fight which ended in the first death of Neoptolemos, Kaine instructed Dragomir to revive his brother with his own Blood. It was a happy accident on Kaine’s part. The Black Blood of Dragomir coursing through the veins of Neoptolemos was agonising for both and they decided that the pain and humiliation was not worth the satisfaction of being the victor in a fight.
Though the full benefits of a mutual Black Blood transfusion was not to be discovered for centuries, they realised that receiving Black Blood was beneficial in that they were as immortal as they could hope to be.
When they again met, Lyllith and Kaine found that their opponent’s Progeny were not numerous as they had feared but still more than they had hoped and they were again evenly matched. Kaine ordered Neo and Dragomir to slaughter Lyllith’s Progeny and Lyllith sent her own into the fray. None were killed but all were lying at death’s door before they were finished.
Once again they went into negotiation.
“We cannot go on like this! My Progeny cannot best yours and yours cannot best mine. There has to be an accord or truce or something.” Kaine said.
“I knew you would weaken!” Lyllith sneered.
Kaine did not speak as he lunged for Lyllith. They battled long and hard but as before, both were as powerful as the other.
Eventually they lay close to each other, their Progeny still strewn about them. All were close to death and daybreak was closing on them. Their choice was to help each other to drag their Progeny out of the destructive rays of the sun's light or save themselves and start again.
They worked together and dragged each Progeny into a nearby cave and when they were all out of the reach of the sunlight, they slept and healed.
They do not know how long they slept for, it could have been just that one day or it could have been months or years. Lyllith and Kaine awoke first, the day was dying and shadows were lengthening. Lyllith finally went to the mouth of the cave to see how long it would be before they could escape its confines. Kaine had other priorities. He revived Neo and Dragomir with some of his Black Blood and as Lyllith could do nothing more than watch, they took their leave, feeding on a few straggling mountain goats as they went far into the countryside.
It would appear that Kaine and Lyllith had taken too long to create Progeny and their Blood was, by now, far too strong for any mortal to survive when they received it. The four that had survived were either exceptional or lucky - or both.
Abraxas was just insane.
Abraxas was a sneak-thief; he survived on his wits and cunning. He also had an uncanny sense for the supernatural and he saw Lyllith, Sorin and Xerxes hunting. He watched them and followed them. He found the place where they spent their daytime and eventually he plucked up courage to enter their lair.
All were laid out as though they were dead. Abraxas was not known for his bravery but on this day he was determined. He took with him a dagger and a small earthenware pot. He cut Lyllith just below her ear and caught the blood that oozed from the wound. The pot was not full when the wound healed and the flow ceased. He covered the pot and took it away.
That night, Abraxas did a very stupid thing. He drank the Black Blood of Lyllith.
He spent the whole night in paroxysms of sheer agony.
He felt every thrum of his heart and with each thump; it felt as though his head would burst open. His eyeballs were throbbing in time with his heartbeat and though it slowed down, it did not decrease in intensity. His veins were on fire and he could trace their progress through his body. When at last his guts cramped up, he thought his end had come and he prayed for it.
As dawn broke he fell asleep. He did not wake again until dusk and he was fearful in case the agonies of the previous night reappeared.
He should have been fearful of something far worse.
Lyllith felt her Blood call to her. She had seen the stain on her gown the previous night as she awoke and wondered. Now she knew what had happened. She followed the call.
She arrived at Abraxas's hovel just as he was preparing to go out thieving and she caught him by his arm.
"You have something of mine," she whispered.
In the dark, Abraxas couldn't see her properly and assumed that he had been caught for one of his thefts. He tried to break free and run. Lyllith's grip tightened, she was almost breaking his arm.
"I repeat. You have something of mine. I want it back."
"Yes. You shall have it back, please stop hurting me."
Lyllith bent to his neck and drank deeply. She was going to leave him for dead when she realised that if this one already had some of her Blood, then perhaps he also had some of her strength and could survive her bite and receive her Blood. She used his own knife to open her neck and pressed his mouth to the wound.
He would not drink.
"No, I don't want to... it hurts so much."
"This time will not hurt as it did before, little one. Drink or die."
Abraxas drank.
Then he found that she had lied.
It hurt worse than it had before - far worse.
He screamed as her Blood coursed through his veins and consumed his blood. He felt his heart flutter as it struggled to pump her Blood through his protesting veins and Lyllith clamped her hand over his mouth and smiled as she watched his agony.
No-one came to his aid. No-one listened to his screams. No-one cared if one thief was slaughtered - but he did not die. Lyllith saw that he was living and scooped his body up and carried him to where she had sheltered. She dumped his still-agonised body in a corner and her and her Progeny left him to fend for himself.
He fended for himself very well over the next few years. He learned how to hunt and kill and he could not shake his thieving ways, so he also stole from his victims. He did not forget the lesson that Lyllith had taught him, though - cruelty always.
His sense for the supernatural did not diminish however and one night, he felt a familiar sensation and he thought that Lyllith had returned. He was wary as he tracked the sensation and was surprised when he saw the source of it. Kaine was feeding alone. He had the same look about him that Lyllith had and he knew they were the same.
He had decided to avoid Kaine when he had an insane idea.
Abraxas went to the slums and found the boy that knew him of old. He took him to one side and showed him a purse of gold. Then he described what he wanted the boy to do and though the boy was frightened, he was brave and his family were hungry.
He went to Kaine's resting place and he stole a pot full of Kaine's Blood. He had to cut him twice to fill the pot. Then he returned it to Abraxas that evening and received his reward, the purse of gold and his death - a bite from Abraxas.
Abraxas again drank the Black Blood and prepared himself for the agony that would come.
It was exquisite! The pain of the Blood coursing through his veins was indescribable. The ecstasy was unbearable and he was left at daybreak, weakened and sated.
At the close of the day, he awoke with a strange yearning. He wanted more of Kaine's Black Blood and unthinking, he made haste to where Kaine slept. Kaine was still sleeping when Abraxas got there and caution thrown to the winds, he approached and bent his head to Kaine's throat.
He realised his great error when he heard Kaine's breathing alter.
"You dare steal from me, upstart?" Kaine was up from his rest in less than a second and had blocked Abraxas's exit.
"No... it is not like that, Master." Abraxas stammered.
Kaine waited. He glared at the man that had dared try to feed from him and waited for his nerve to break.
Abraxas knew that his destruction was close at hand and he had nothing to bargain with. For once in his long and undistinguished career, he tried the truth. "Master, I stole your Blood last night and I wanted more. It is addictive, I cannot help myself. I need your Blood."
"And what will you give in return for a taste of my precious Blood?"
"What would you wish for?" Abraxas asked a little too eager.
"A body part - one of yours." Kaine replied without hesitation.
"Mine? Which body part?"
"It will be nothing major, the smallest finger from your left hand."
"And in exchange, I can taste your Black Blood again?"
"Yes."
"Then I agree."
"I must take the finger. Hold out your hand."
Abraxas held out his left hand and Kaine sliced off the finger. He held it in the palm of his hand and studied it. The finger lay curled for a moment but then straightened and rolled over with the fingernail uppermost. Kaine tilted his hand and the finger began to fall from the palm. As it moved, it turned to blood and ran off of Kaine's hand as he watched. At the very same time, Abraxas cried out in pain. The wound had not begun to heal and blood was still flowing freely from the knuckle where the finger had been separated from his hand.
"Take my Blood thief! Take it and suffer the same consequence as your finger. Take one drop more of my precious Blood and you will perish as your finger has. Know this also: Your hand will bleed forever from this day. It will never heal and you will never be free from the pain whilever it is night. At Daybreak your pain shall leave you, your blood will cease to flow from the wound and you may rest but once the sun sets again, you will begin to bleed out.
"You must feed constantly to replenish your escaping Blood so that you do not die. Take that as punishment for stealing from me. Now go, if I ever see you again, I will end your existence."
Kaine stepped to one side to allow Abraxas to flee.
The laughter and cat-calls rang in his ears long after they were no longer audible.
As Kaine promised, his hand bled through the night and he began to feel weak from losing so much Blood. His only hope was to feed to replenish it. Pain and hunger his constant companions, Abraxas wandered through the centuries looking for a way to exact his revenge upon Kaine and his progeny
.
