Hailey

Chapter 1

Ecker POV

I loved my brothers but dear god did they try to drive me insane, especially Alexei. Over the past hundred years I had heard him read aloud the stupid book a million times and I am saying that without exaggeration! Every chance he got, he would careful pull out the leather bound book, with the serpent wrapped around its binding, from the black satchel he carried it in. He would carefully open it mindful of the old wax type pages and flip through it to the section with his fingers creases, perfectly printed on them.

Those few limited pages talked about our destiny and our fourth member yet to be discovered. The book was a guide book of sorts that answered the most delicate questions about our kind and specifically discussed the members that bore the mark of the serpent. Alexei light playful voice rang out through the dingy attic where we like to reside; our own personal joke to the whole vampire stereotype. He began:

"The bearers of the mark of the serpent are a group of individuals, much like other members of markings, who are bonded for life. They will physically join by an innate calling which will guide them to each other. The marking will force them to eventually spiritually and mentally bond. The second bonding outlined will be achieved through an act of ultimate faith, trust, and intimacy. Once all four members (specific to the serpent mark) become bonded then the true nature of their skills and abilities will be seen.

The serpent mark is a rare marking in that it is one of the few that has four members, making it among the most powerful. Once all four member have bonded, those bearers will reach their full potential and are destined for great things. Their achievements have been marked down over and over in history but always at a great cost. Thus the serpent signifies beauty and death in a combined turbulent form. Its consequences are deemed necessary and do not outweigh the benefits.

But these results are only obtained if all four member unite and bond, however not all members will bond automatically due to difference in their nature and time of birth. Therefore bonding may take time and requires a great deal of patience, a virtue bearers of the serpent possess. May it be noted that if a serpent member chooses to neglect their duties or the marking is for inexplicable reasons defective, that member will become slowly ill. No matter the immortal nature of the creature, death will eventually plague the member's soul unless united with its destined group."

Once finished, Alexei roughly closed the book between his hands causing dust from the filthy room to travel up in the air. Alexei coughed lightly in response and I couldn't help but shake my head at him. Even though he was a vampire he was the most clumsiest, absurd, completely naïve "person" I had ever met. He didn't seem to know right from wrong and he always had it on good faith that people where honest and told the truth.

So I guess you could say Alexei and I were complete opposite. I wasn't naive enough to believe that unsuspecting humans would open their arms to beast such as ourselves. I didn't blame them, because every time they neared, all I could think about was the beating of their hearts as it pumped blood through their body. My eyes center on the thick vein at their neck which would grant me eternal life if I just pierced it with my sharp fangs. I wanted to slowly take their life and they wanted to rapidly end mine. We were two sets of monsters on either side of an invisible war.

Alexei startled me out of my pessimistic thoughts as he blurted out "I wonder what it means when it says that our fourth may not be of the same nature? Does that mean our he, might be a she?"

I grunted, I had often considered that line and was almost fairly certain it had nothing to do with gender. I clarified for him "I think it has to do with our time for our birth, as older vampires we are much stronger and have years of experience as opposed to a new vampire hence we are not of the same nature." Alexei scratched his mop of red hair and seemed to be painfully thinking over my words.