It was the year 1932. The sky was grey with fog. Figures gathered in the graveyard behind a looming church. They were nightwalkers.
One man crouched on a wall, eyeing the scene before him. He had an air of grandeur about him. He was old but far older than he looked. Hundreds of years older than his sixty year old body. The crowd below him hissed, sniggered and bared their teeth at the lowly man in the centre of them. The man had his hands tightly entwined together in front of his chest to try and contain his shaking. He was pale with a body of a man in his early thirties. His short, dark hair was slicked back with a side parting and glistened in the moonlight. His striking, pale blue eyes were smeared red with tears. The crowd hunched over gravestones and inspected him mockingly.
The old man looming over them lifted his palm into the sky. The sniggering and snapping of fangs stopped. The only sound left was the rustling of leaves.
"Caius." The man's voice made the dark haired man hold back a cringe.
"Yes, Guardian," he replied in the strongest voice he could muster.
The old man stood and leaped from the wall, clearing the ten feet between him and the ground with ease. He inspected himself and straightened his tailored suit before his dark eyes fixed on Caius.
"You stand before the Vampire Court today-" He began to make his way over to him with slow, measured strides. The light of the moon bounced off his perfectly bald head. "Because I have reason to believe that you have put our kind in danger."
Caius' skin prickled with fear as he stood before the smartly dressed man. He too was wearing a tailored three-piece suit. He was quaking in his once shining shoes. Now, the old man stood before him, so close that Caius could count the wrinkles that pooled round his eyes.
"You fell in love with a breather. You shared a house. A life. Our secrets. With a breather."
Caius' jaw set and he straightened his back in an attempt to look defiant. He didn't regret any of that. He loved Catherine with all his un-beating heart because she accepted him for who he was.
The old man sniggered, inspecting Caius' sharp features. "It's a good thing I heard about it when I did. So I could put a stop to it."
Caius' eyes flickered as tears threatened to make themselves known. But he stayed quiet. His jaw set, looking off into the distance, past Guardian's steely eyes.
"But I don't think you've been punished enough."
Caius' eyes widened for a fraction of a second as he felt his gut twist. How could he have not been punished enough? He had just lost the woman he loved. He has just lost everything.
Guardian looked to the crowd. "Belle, Corsette, if you don't mind."
Two women straightened and flashed the old man a fanged smile before disappearing behind a tomb. Caius watched curiously then started at a scream. The two vampire women returned with another body between them, being held up by her upper arms. Her feet scrambled across the floor to keep up with the vampire women's pace. The frail, young woman's auburn hair fell over her tear-stained face and her pale body was quaking uncontrollably. With a sharp nod from Guardian, the two nightwalkers released their grip on her. She slumped to the ground with a whimper in front of Guardian, her head still reeling and nerves completely shot. Slowly, she picked herself up to a sitting position and pushed her hair from her face. Her hazel eyes were wide as she scoped her audience. Hugging her tattered, white night dress closer to her body, she curled up on herself and found the man in charge.
"P-please...let me go...don't kill me...please..." she begged. Her voice was broken with sobs. Tears poured down her cheeks leaving pale trails down her dirty skin. "W-why did you take me?...I-I've done nothing wrong...If I did then...I'm sorry..."
"Shhh..." crooned Guardian, pressing his bony finger against his lips. "This has nothing to do with your mistakes." He turned to Caius. "This is all his doing."
Caius gulped heavily and looked to the girl. Her eyes found his. They were wide and pleading. His gut twisted tighter.
"You will Turn her."
Caius blinked and turned to Guardian. If his heart could beat, it would be thumping against his slender chest. Guardian showed him a malicious grin. "Did you really think you could live your whole immortal life never becoming a Maker?"
"She shouldn't have to pay," Caius said mournfully, bowing his head, feeling even more empty inside than usual.
"Well, how else are you going to learn?" asked Guardian, tilting his head.
"This was my mistake, not hers."
The girl whimpered.
"Ah, yes," said Guardian. His voice carried a hiss. "But the only way you will know what it truly means to be a vampire is to you teach it to your progeny. I guarantee that you will learn from this experience."
Caius lifted his head and opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted by a blood curdling wail. He snapped his head to the side and watched as the crowd of vampires lunged at the defenceless girl and started to bite, claw and pull at her like a pack of wild dogs. He winced at the sight of her blood being spilled. He couldn't even see her as the vampires huddled around her. She shrieked, cried and begged for the first several seconds then the only sound was claws against flesh and the snapping of jaws.
"Enough!" barked Guardian and they all stood, wiping their blood covered faces with the backs of their hands. Caius' eyebrows furrowed with pity as the young girl lay limply across the floor. Her dainty white dress was now torn to shreds and red with her blood. Caius winced as the scene caused flashes of his worst memory to invade his mind. How similar she looked to Catherine when he found her on their bed, bite marks covering every inch of her. But this girl was different to Catherine. This girl was still alive. Her chest rose and fell ever so slightly. Without vampire sight, he wouldn't have noticed. The weak beat of her heart travelled through the air.
"Turn her."
Caius gulped and pulled his eyes away from the body. The smell of her blood hung heavy in the air, attacking his senses and awakening the beast that was at rest within him. Guardian noticed his unwillingness and sighed. "For every second of my time you waste. I will kill a breather."
Fear flashed in Caius' eyes. Guardian grinned.
"Don't believe me?" He snapped his fingers and the same two female vampires disappeared and returned with a sluggish human in each arm. Two men and two women. They were frozen with fear as they studied the nightwalkers.
Guardian gripped one of the men's arm, making him hiss with pain and yanked him to his side. The other hand wavered at the human's chest, his fingers waggling impatiently.
"Turn the girl." Guardian narrowed his eyes.
Caius reluctantly walked to the half-dead girl and knelt beside her. He gulped and brushed her hair from her face, taking in her beauty.
"Turn her," Guardian seethed but Caius didn't move. A strangled gasp and the crunch of flesh and bones raised his head. His jaw set in anguish as the male human dropped to the floor. Guardian raised an eyebrow and inspected the bloody heart in his hand. His eyes flickered to Caius. "Waver any longer and I'll have quite the collection."
More screams and cries follow from the humans that were still alive. Caius looked down at the girl before him and smoothed her hair, listening to her slow heartbeat. It would stop soon. And he would be the one to stop it.
He lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit into his flesh then pressed the oozing wound to her lips. Fearing that she couldn't swallow, he also dabbed his fingers into his own blood and rubbed it into her bites and scratches, hoping it would seep into her bloodstream.
Guardian grinned as he watched Caius work.
He pressed his wrist to her lips once more with a new desire to keep her alive. Well...half alive. Then, swallowing a thick lump and attempting to bite back tears, he pressed his hands to her throat and squeezed until he cut off her air. She didn't fight against him, she didn't have the energy. She just lay there, allowing him to starve her of oxygen.
"It will work, Caius," eased Guardian. He settled his bloody hand on Caius' shoulder, making him flinch. His body sagged and he withdrew his hands when her heartbeat ceased and looked down at the girl in defeat. "It will work."
The crowd huddled closer, their eyes trained on the girl and sniffing her scent. Minutes passed. Caius waited, anxiety swelling in his chest. Her wounds start closing, sealing shut and leaving her skin pale and perfect once more.
Suddenly, the girl jerked up and inhaled deeply. But the air felt foreign to her. She didn't feel her lungs inflating. She felt nothing. The night had been cold when she was brought here in her nightdress. She remembered how the breeze stung her skin but she no longer felt it. She felt numb...and hungry. Her hazel eyes blinked up at her Maker and a faint smile lifted on his lips. Despite being forced to do something that he had tried to avoid all his immortal life, Caius couldn't help but be in awe of what sat before him. His progeny was born.