Prologue

November 1868, Dastochta

The crunching of the stones beneath their feet as they hurried along the uneven path echoed loudly in the sleeping forest. One of them stumbled against a tree stump and his groan woke the forest as the sounds of screeching bats and hooting owls rendered the air.

His partner sent an angry look his way.

"S..... Sorry master, I… I could see nothing sire, 'tis forest giving me the creeps sire. Perhaps we could turn back…"

"Oh for goodness sake, shut your damn mouth" Damien said irritably, " we are going to find what we came here to find"

"But sire, she is a witch! She could kill the both of us"

"Not a bad idea" a soft feminine voice said from behind them. James gave a loud yelp as he jumped backwards steering to find the voice but seeing no one. A shrill chuckle rent the air as he whimpered in fear

"Lanna? Lanna! It's me Dam…."

"Oh, I know it's you. Who else would be so foolish to come around here. You got a lot of nerve showing your face here, Damien Alexander Kleinstad"

A glow in the air revealed a beautiful woman in her late thirties clad in a low cut red gown with lacy black skirts, a ruby chain rested on her milky white bosom. Her silver blond hair was made in a single plait that stopped on the curve of her back. Ruby jewels adorned her hair and complimented her rosy red lips. A deer skin satchel was crossed over her torso and her blue eyes looked at the two men in disgust and hatred.

Damien's mouth hung open, he knew Alanna had always been beautiful but he had never seen her dressed like this. They had parted on a wrong note.

He couldn't forget the look she gave him as she burned on the stake without screaming. It mirrored the one she was giving him right now.

"Lanna, I….."

"Save your breath, king of vampires. You will not find what you came here for " she cut him off coldly, turning away from him to leave. He stepped forward to hug her from behind burrowing his nose into her neck. His voice was muffled when he spoke.

"Lanna, I missed you! I missed everything about you. Your smile, your scent, everything! I almost went crazy. I just kept on going with the thought of you being alive and safe with our child…."

Alanna turned to face him with a frown on her face "Your child? You abandoned us Damien. You left us to die and you did nothing while that wife of yours almost carved out my precious baby". She brought a blade out of her satchel, her movements fast that he could not track it, and held it against his neck "You are nothing to us, you loathsome murderer!" she said screaming out the last sentence.

"You can call me anything, Lanna. I was foolish then, I should have done more than that, I should have found a way for you not to go through those pains. I should have fought but I ran to Kain like a coward, I…."

"Wait, you did WHAT?! You went to Kain? Are you crazy? You could have died"

"Yes! Yes I was crazy, I am crazy. I am crazy for you! What was I supposed to do? Watch you die?"

She stepped back from him as realization dawned on her "That was why…why I couldn't die, why my babies did not die"

"Your babies? Lanna, did you..did you give birth to twins?"

She peered into his eyes, as green as the grass where they first made love. Everything about him reminded her of all those days she had struggled forget. Was it possible to hate and love someone this much? His raven dark hair was tousled and his day old beard only made him look more handsome but something was wrong. It was plain on Damien's face. He was never good at hiding his emotions

"What did you do?" she asked through clenched teeth. "What in the name of Madnakov did you promise KAIN!" she repeated pressing the knife harder into his neck.

He hesitated "No one receives a thing from Kain without a deal. I promised him my kingdom in exchange for you to live if you gave birth to twins".

She stepped away from him removing the knife from his neck "Damn you, Damien. You should have known he knew I was going to give birth to twins, he was after the throne" She hissed angrily at him, "He is going to cause a war we have been trying to avoid for years"

"I swear I had no idea that you would…."

She scoffed in disbelief "I can't believe you fell for his tricks, you used to be so much smarter than that"

"I was out of my mind" he replied angrily "I was only thinking of saving you"

She turned to look at him, "I didn't ask to be saved"

He grabbed her arm roughly, "You wanted to die?"

"I am not having this conversation with you Damien, it's time for you to leave" she said. He stared at her back as she walked in the direction of where she had appeared. Suddenly she stopped and snapped her head upwards, her voice deep as she spoke

"The curse will repeat itself once again,

And to the evil, all to gain,

The men of the sisters are scattered in fear,

No abode for all they hold dear,

Darkness is watching us all,

Waiting for the perfect call

Then they shall come, bound by blood,

Separated by power, a love in the bud,

They shall grow by love, hate, trust and betrayal

They shall beware for they could be fatal

Their strength, never found in this land

They conquer the darkness, they are the legend."

He caught her before she could fall to the ground. Her body was as cold as ice, her violet eyes fading to their usual blue. Her eyes focused on his face. He removed his coat and wrapped her in it, holding her close to his body. "I had always hated you. I wanted to ask you why you couldn't fight for me, turns out you actually saved me"

They stayed in that position reveling in each other's presence. Damien suddenly looked up, standing up to take a protective stance in front of her

"What is it" she asked softly standing behind him trying to peer over his broad shoulders.

"He is here" he replied

The sound of hands clapping rang loudly through the night

"Tsk Tsk, seems you have lost your touch brother." A figure said stepping out of the shadows, the moon reflecting his silver coat.

"Gerald" Damien said with venom in his voice

"Gerald?" Alanna said surprised

"Hello, Lanna. Did you miss me?. We meet again after all these years."

"Stay back Lanna" Damien said

She frowned at him, "I can protect myself Damien. It is what I have been doing for the past ten years, besides it is just Gerald"

She stepped forward to meet him boycotting Damien's outstretched hands "What brings you here Gerald?"

He stood up to look at her, a cruel smile on his lips that did nothing to mar his handsome face "You know what I want darling"

He stepped closer to her "You chose him in the end, I ask myself, why does it have to be him? He had everything. The throne, the power but the only thing I ever wanted he took that too! And I just couldn't give you up."

He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, tracing her lips with his thumb "maybe you are a witch after all, making the two most powerful men in the kingdom crazy over you, I can still remember the little girl that trailed behind us following us everywhere, now a grown into a beautiful woman. Lanna, I want you". He said hugging her tightly as she struggled to free herself. "Your scent haunts me everywhere, it drives me crazy. I tried so hard to forget you but none of them are like you. None of the women can ever be you". She released herself and slapped him across the face.

"Get your filthy hands off her, Gerald" Damien said pulling Alanna away from his brother's grip.

Gerald stared long at her before breaking into a bitter laugh that shook the forest.

"I have been deluding myself that you would come to me freely after you have seen Damien lost everything but sweetheart, you are going to be mine no matter what".

"This fight is between us" Damien growled, his eyes glowing red in the dark. His black clothes fitted his appellation 'lord of the night'. His power, though similar to his brother's, was stronger. An hybrid born out a peace treaty marriage between werewolves and vampires allowing him to use both families powers.

"You finally found the courage to fight me?". Gerald said his claws and teeth out.

A blurr in the wind, Damien held Gerald by his neck and slammed him against the tree, his pupils were red and his teeth out to claim blood.

"I won't allow you to destroy any one close to me again. And where the hell is James? Why do you have his scent on you?"

Gerald laughed again, this time deliriously. "You are so foolish, Damien. How could you not know that I was James."

"What?!" Damien said his eyes returning back to their normal green.

"It was tiring to be your manservant for four years, you know how many times I had to resist killing you? But I had to find Lanna and I knew only you could do it. Be grateful to the fact that she is alive or you would have been a dead man".

Suddenly Gerald used his claws to slash his brother's face. Damien groaned in pain and released him. Gerald got up on his feet making a show of brushing dirt off his clothes.

"That was fun while it lasted, but it's time to get serious. Did you really think I wouldn't come prepared? I spent years in preparation for this day."

His eyes turned entirely red, no iota of white in him, he ran his tongue over his fangs and brought out his claws, posed and ready to fight.

"Get up brother, you can't afford to be weak" he taunted "Don't waste your strength trying to heal those wounds my nails have been coated with silver" he smiled cruelly. Alanna rushed to Damien, touching his bloody face that was bleeding profusely.

"Gerald, stop it. Please stop it"

"Why should I? I begged you Lanna, I begged you to love me instead. I set everything up, I exposed your secret meetings to mother and I also suggested that Damien should marry a wife of his own statue so I could have you but you still never looked at me. Then you got pregnant with his bastards, I realized I had no other option except Kain. I offered him the kingdom in exchange with the power of your sight and the loss of your wolf. I knew you would be imprisoned for having the curse of the sight but Father decided to burn you and I couldn't stop it. I hated my self for days, I went to confront Kain and he told me you were still alive. I had to kill him because he knew who I was and also because I had gotten what I wanted. I also took his powers and here we are" He said smiling at her, flashing the dimples that his brother didn't have.

Alanna's blade glinted in the moonlight and it found itself nicking Gerald's neck. Alanna's blue eyes flashed dangerously as she pressed her blade deeper into his neck.

"You took my wolf, you bastard. You took Serena away from me. I almost died, I cried for days. I felt so weak, I couldn't even protect myself"

"Good to see you still have that temper of yours, Lanna. Makes me excited just thinking of how I can break you." He whispered into her ear.

She looked at him in disbelief "What happened to you, Gerald? Stop it, Just stop all of this".

"You just have to come with me for me to stop this, I would also heal Damien as prove that you have agreed to come with me"

Damien came forward his face white as he has lost so much blood. "No! I won't allow you to follow this crazy bastard"

"You both have become used to that name, sounds hyprotical when the both of you created two bastards"

"They are not bastards". Damien growled out in anger, the same time Alanna threatened "Never call my children bastards"

Gerald raised his hands up in mock surrender "Relax guys, what's with all the tension, I was just joking". His voice suddenly became serious "besides it's what you call me, why are you angry when I only speak the truth"

Damien rushed to Alanna holding her hands, "don't do this. What about your children, what about me?"

She raised her hands to his injury, caressing them as she spoke " I am doing this for us. For them, for you and for me. This is the best way to do this".

She turned to Gerald and gave a curt nod, Gerald smirked at his brother whose eyes was beginning to go dark. Alanna moved closer to him and he gripped her hands tightly, dragging her closer to him.

"Did I forget to mention that my claws had blood poison in them." He whispered into her ear laughter in his voice.

Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she had just been tricked. Damien was still going to die because blood poison had no antidote

Damien walked slowly towards them, his eyes completely black. "Is this it Alanna?, is this where it ends. Where you choose my brother over me just because you think me weak!"

"Damien, stop this. The both of you stop behaving like children and stop this"

But Damien was beyond reasoning, he brought out his claws ready to rush at Gerald but Alanna blocked his path, her knife pointed at him

"Stop this, both of you" Her voice shaking, her blue eyes beautiful as tears filled them.

"Get out of the way, Alanna" Damien said quietly.

"Then you leave me no choice" She said raising her blade up. "I loved the both of you, Gerald. You as my best friend and brother, Damien as my lover but I can't bear this anymore"

Damien stopped in his tracks "Lanna, what the hell are you….."

She brought the blade down on her chest her chest as the two men shouted "No!" simulteously

She staggered back and Gerald caught her midway, hurriedly he conjured a green vial and tried to force its contents down her throat, but she pushed his hands away and it broke as it landed on the ground. She coughed, and blood spilled out of her mouth.

She touched Gerald's face softly, leaving bloodied prints on it. She turned to Damien "I love you" she said with her dying breath. She became still as the forest. Damien howled as his mate died, his bones began to shift as he turned rogue. He turned his dark beady eyes towards his brother who was still staring at Alanna's lifeless body. Damien's wolf charged at him pushing him away from her body, urging him to fight. Gerald stood up to look at his brother, a sad bitter smile playing on his lips, he looked up to the moon "Fate is cruel, isn't it? brother, He turned you rogue."

He turned to his brother, bones snapping as he turned into his wolf ready to fight back, even though he knew it was a losing fight. Damien's wolf crouched back before snapping at his brother's grey wolf, the wolf escaped with its neck intact but the black wolf caught him by his flank and tore it off. The grey wolf howled in pain and it tried to swipe back but it missed. Damien grabbed his brother by his neck and tore it off, howling in victory as his brother's wolf fell to the ground dead. The black's wolf eyes turned red and it leaped off into the night as it succumbed to the darkness inside. A pair of dark eyes watched the scene in glee, "Let the games begin".