(3rd person P.O.V)
"Vampyre.” Without taking her eyes off the cover, she walked to a chair and sat down. This book looked very old with its faded gold letters and leather bindings. She opened the book to the title page.
“Vampyre: A being bound to the light of the sun, bound by the thread of life to blood. Predator to humans, enemies of werewolves,...”Erika read on.
“The First Vampire”
"Five thousand years ago, a young prince named Maru lay dying in his bed. He felt it was too soon for his end and feared death. He prayed to all the deities begging for help, but all turned their backs, except Amatsu Mikaboshi, the god of darkness and evil. He granted prince Maru’s wish to continue in the world of the living. Amatsu Mikaboshi sent the young prince the head of a bat on a ray of sun.
“Drink the blood of this bat’s head, and you will be allowed to remain in the world of the living.” The young prince grabbed the ray of the sun holding the bat’s head and drank. After the blood ran down his throat, the ray sunburned the flesh of the prince Maru’s hand. His skin paled and his teeth grew sharp and edgy. His throat burned with fire, and his heart stopped.
“You are no longer alive, but you can continue among the living. To maintain this life, you will have to take in human blood, or else you sentence yourself to death. You will never die if you feed. Blood is your tie to life. You can never feel the sun’s rays on your flesh, it will burn you like fire and kill you. It is too pure for someone like you.”
Amatsu Mikaboshi left the prince with those words. The prince however Maru, couldn’t bear to hurt anyone, so he shut himself away from everyone, going out only at night to hunt animals. The blood of cattle, pigs, and birds was not enough to calm the fire in his throat. He would claw at his neck in pain, and curse at the god for the unquenchable thirst.
One night, the prince’s brother came into his room after the sunset. He missed the prince and feared for his well-being. The brother had gotten injured that day, and held Vanessa's bloody wounds. The prince scented the blood and was taken over with hunger. Without a second thought, the prince sunk his fangs into his brother’s neck and drained him of all his blood. Drunk with the lust for power human blood had given him, the prince murdered his own family and drained every drop of blood from their bodies. Seeing the crown fall from his father’s decapitated head, he laughed in delight and took a seat on the throne. The blood of humans drove the prince to madness with power and strength but realized he wanted more like him. He then went to a witch who was a servant of the god who cursed him. He demanded she provides a spell so he could sire a new race.
The witch, a supporter of evil and destruction, smiled at prince Maru. She cast a spell on his fangs, lacing them with poison to make them more like him. The rule was to bite into the neck and leave a single drop of blood. If the prince did this, his victim would rise and become a being of the night with the same strengths, abilities, and weaknesses as the prince. That very night, he converted his entire kingdom. This was the first kingdom of vampires.
Prince Maru took little time to realize his power and those of his people. He quickly took advantage of his strength. Maru waged war on other kingdoms, using his powers to convert and make incredible armies. Maru held no compassion over his subjects. He ruled with cruelty and malice. Soon those that had been converted turned against him. Altogether, they proved too great for the prince’s power alone. He went back to the witch and demanded her god give him the power to destroy his enemies. The witch smiled and handed him the scale of a snake.
“Drink the scale along with a virgin’s blood to give you the power to slay those who stand in your way.” Maru smiled with evil intent. He took a virgin from her home and spilled her blood in a goblet. He added the scale and drank. The scale changed from within his body, turning into a sword within him. His eyes became yellow and his body took the abilities of a large serpent. His fangs and bat-like nature remained, only now it was combined with that of a snake. The new power delighted Maru.
He then returned to the witch and said: “Thank your God for me witch, because Maru has given rise to me...Roshan.”With his new powers, Roshan took his enemies and kingdoms with ease. Power and eternal life made him invincible. He claimed to be the ruler of all vampires.
Over time, the vampire race grew into large clans. Roshan with his vampire armies continued to wage war on the humans. It was then that all the other deities sought a way to put an end to Roshan. The humans were weak and stood no chance against the vampires. The gods chose four clans to bestow the power to imprison Roshan. The powers were shadow possession, the demon aura of a fox, the Bakugan, and the Sharingan. With all four abilities acting as one, this created a powerful technique to imprison the demented king. The clans chosen were the Nara clan, the Hyuga clan, the Johnson clan, and the Ellwood clan. Even though they were demons, the Johnson clan chose to help out, having already lost many of theirs to battle against Roshan.
The four clans didn’t care for the well-being of humans very much. Time had erased all human traces in their blood, making them purebloods. But they knew their ruler had to be stopped. His run for power had begun to erase the humans, depleting the blood supply to survive. The clans used their combined powers to imprison Roshan in a sealed tomb. The gods pleased with this rewarded the vampire clans with the ability to walk in the sun, and the demon clan to change at will. They also made sure fate had a chosen bride to the males of the clans, recognizable only to the demonic instinct within each male.
Roshan’s tomb was to be guarded by each clan at one point. After one thousand years, the tomb of the king would rotate from one clan to the next forever, making sure that Roshan slept. Once every few millennia, the seal of Roshan’s tomb would weaken, and the exiled king would rise and wage war against the gods and the chosen protectors...
Erika stopped reading. Well, at least now she knew how all of this began. But all of this had to be some sort of superstitious legend, right? Then again, these were vampires and demons. But that one name...
“Roshan...why does that sound so familiar?” A pair of yellow eyes flashed in her mind. The book fell out of her hands. She held her head in pain as flashes of memories began to flood her mind.“S-stop it...” She imagined a swarm of snakes gathering around her. “Stop...” The man with the disgusting eyes seemed to be looking directly at her, smiling a cruel smile.
“It’s time to wake up Erika-chan...” A blade shot out of his mouth.
“STOP IT!” As quickly as the memories came, they vanished. Erika looked around. No snakes, no yellow eyes. Her heart was pounding. She hugged herself trying to calm her nerves. “It’s okay, you’re not in any danger. No creepy snake guy is here, only books.” Erika sighed to herself in relief knowing she was safe. She looked at the book on the floor noticing it had opened to a new page.
“Mating:
Erika looked at the bold-faced words. Should she take a look? She trusted Vanessa and Jessica with what they told her, but would it be so bad to get a little more info? Erika turned the page.
“All supernatural males have one female in which fate has decided as theirs.” Erika began to read out loud to herself. “The man will recognize his mate when his instinct reacts to the woman. Only with his fated mate can he reproduce.” In other words, he could only have kids with her.
“A mate will usually be supernatural, but on some rare occasions, a human mate will occur. A warning to these women. During the night of the red moon, the male will be consumed by his demonic instinct, seeking only his female. The male will change into his demonic form and take the woman whether she wants it or not. If the woman runs while the red moon is high, the male will do everything he can to catch her and claim her as his.”
“During the claiming, the male will bite on his mate’s neck, leaving his mark forever embedded on her flesh. This mark serves as a warning to other males that she belonged to him and him alone.“Human mates,s are the most fragile. If the male loses control of his animal within, without wanting to, he could kill her during the claiming if not careful...”Erika stopped there. Kill her? Would Logan do that? A memory of Logan's turn flashed in her head. She still remembered his gray skin and elongated fangs and claws. That was an image of a beast that could kill. Slightly hesitating, she began to read again.
“If a male loses his female, it is a set death sentence. A mated man without his eternal companion would mean an eternal life of misery and heartache. He would try following his female in death. His demonic instinct would take over fully, and the male would be lost to it forever. The male would die at his own hands by clawing out his heart.”
“No...I would never let Logan be alone like that...” Her heart clenched at the image of him in pain over losing her. He already went through that once, believing she had died. Her eyes felt watery with tears. “I promise no matter what, I’m yours...”