Chapter One

Nickolai

~1987~

"For the last time Sebastian, my answer is no! I will never take pleasure in what I am and NO!! I do not want to be the fucking king of vampires." Whoever came up with these laws, I hope they're long dead are they will be if I ever lay eyes on them. I was now technically the king of the vampire nation by said laws and because it was not my choice it was now their problem, not mine.

"You have no choice Nickolai, you've killed the entire Royal family, and every vampire alive fully expects you to take the throne. Refuse to do so they'll come for you. They'll kill for the throne."

I have no drought they will. Obliterating that serpent and his lineage from the earth whether deserved was not something that one could just walk away from. The consequence of my actions in whatever sharp or form was free to present itself, whatever and whoever would meet the same faith as Victor. "They can try my old friend."

"What will you do now?"

"I'll be moving on from this place Sebastian; I'm bored with it all". That was only part of the truth. I've spent the last fifteen years in France, I was bored, and more importantly, this wasn't my country, it's Vla's and with him gone I have no reason to stay.

"You're running again Nickolai, you can't run from this. I know what you did was to avenge Vladimir but I know you must have thought about what would happen in the aftermath of your actions".

The truth was that I hadn't thought of the consequences of my action till long after the fact. I was in no shape to think let alone rationally, I was blinded not only by my grief but my anger, and the only thing my mind could or would comprehend was draining the life of the person responsible for Vladimir's death.

"Is this about Annabelle again, are you still worried that you will somehow turn into her because that's not possible and you and I both know that Victor deserves what he got"?

"Don't you dare speak that name in my presence, Sebastian! you may be loyal but I will not hesitate to rip your throat out." I love Sebastian like the brother I lost many years ago and he knows better than to speak that woman's name around me. That vermin did this to me, she made me into this, she made me a monster. One would think that I would have gotten over it by now but something about watching your family grow old and die, leaving you alone in this godforsaken world makes me bitter.

I'm a fucking vampire, for God's sake. Even now, six hundred years later there are days I still can't wrap my mind around it. Annabelle my maker turned me and I spent the next Fifty years in turmoil with her. She taught me what I was and opened my eyes to the world we lived in, the real world. The time I spent with her was the worst years of my life. She was a sick twisted psychopathic bitch with an even more twisted sense of humour. Her idea of fun was bleeding entire villages dry.

It took me a very long time to learn everything I needed to know to make it on my own. The thirst at times was insatiable and she would use that against me, keeping me locked up for weeks at a time, not letting me feed, and once she thought I had learned whatever lesson she was trying to teach me she would let me loose upon some unsuspecting household. Our kind were slaves to the thrist. As if it had a mind of its own, it would consume you and you couldn't see or think past it, and with no way of gaining my self-control back, not even the suckling baby had been speared.

I remember in 1415 she took me to France. It was the first time I'd ever been anywhere outside of Russia. A small part of me was happy to leave Russia, there were too many bad memories there and they by far outweighed the good ones. Leaving was not without its fears and I dreaded what was to come and what to expect in a new country. Once we were in France I was made to feed every day, I was kept clean and well put together much like the men of France but I was never away from her side. On day six of our trip, we went to a place where Annabelle said we were going to meet people like us and up until that point I had never met another vampire besides Annabelle. That day not only change my life for the better but that's the day I met Vladimir and he was the one that taught me what it means to be a vampire. Vladimir not only became my best friend but he also became my teacher, my confidant, my brother, and most importantly the family I had lost so long ago.

"Leave me, Sebastian, I'll call for you before I leave". My mind had gone to dark places and I didn't need a witness to my unravelling.

~1415~

"Now, there will be some very important people here tonight Nickolai, I expect you to be on your best behavior".

I tried shaking off the memory before it took root and I had to relive it but it was too late. The memory played like an old movie. It was so long ago but I remember she told me that we were going to be meeting order vampires and I was excited about that. It was the day I meet Vladimir, the thought brought a smile to my hardened heart so I let the memory flow.

"What is this place"?

"This is what you would call a meeting of the minds, every couple of years leaders from the different supernatural species meet to,*** "Why am I telling you this anyway, just find a Conner to stay in and I'll come to find you soon".

That was the first time she'd ever left me alone, I thought about running away, but where would I run to, I would never have gone back to Russia and at that time I had been with her for close to thirty-nine years, she was all I knew and even though I hated her she was all I had, not to mention in my many years with Annabelle she only ever thought me her ways, the vampire way. In my life, before this, I was a simple man and from that to this was a hard adjustment.

"You look lost lad, who are you with".

"Not lost, waiting on someone".

"You're a little young to be left alone aren't you lad, where's your maker?"

"I'll have you know I'm twenty and six and the only maker I have is God"

The stranger let out a bark of laughter so loud that it echoed in the room full of people, drawing a few of those people's attention. When he was done he held out his hand for me to shake.

"I like you kid, what's your name?"

"First lad now kids you did hear me say am twenty and six right? The name is Nickolai".

"Well, Nickolai am Vladimir nice to meet you".

"Same here".

That was the first time I met Vladimir and I never saw him again for the month Annabelle and I were in France. We never returned to Russia but things with Annabelle remain the same. We travelled, she killed and I covered it up. When we left for France a part of me was a little excited having never been outside of Russia but when it started to seem like we were never going back I'd ask Annabelle when we would return and almost got my head bitten off. By then I had had enough of Annabelle but little did I know our relationship was about to come to an end, an end that had me barely escaping with my life.

For many years the guilt had eaten away my non-existing soul with all the people we killed. I only killed because I needed to feed, she killed for the fun of it.

It all came to an end though in 1426 when we were in China. We were passing through a small samurai village in South China and we didn't know it then but the humans there knew all about the supernatural world and knew what we were the minute we stepped into their village.

One of the things I hated about being a vampire was being unable to refuse a command from your maker. You either had to be released from the bond by you your maker or you had to kill or hope someone kills your maker setting you free, but as much as I hated Annabelle I had no desire to kill her but she had made it pretty clear that I was going to be stuck with her forever so I found a different way coup and over the years I perfected blocking her from my mind. I figured if my mind can't hear the command then the rest of me can't obey.

The first time it worked, she'd ordered me to kill a woman because the woman's husband refused her. I was thinking about my family when she commanded me to kill the woman and for the first time, I had no desire to comply. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Unfortunately, I had to kill the woman so she would not catch on. I put all my strength into protecting my mind from her after that. The physical strength was fine but the mental strength it took was exhausting and took a toll on me. It was worth it in the end though. On that day in 1426, I had had enough of Annabelle and her sick sadist ways. That night we were going to feed, we went into the village but we were met by a group of samurai in the village square.

"We know what you are and you need to leave this village". One of the men had hollered

"Is that so, and what exactly are we"? The patronizing tone in which Annabelle had spoken, I knew would bring trouble.

"The dead that walks among the living". Another man had shouted

I stood beside Annabelle; silent and shocked that these humans knew of us. The number one rule amongst every supernatural being is never to reveal what we are to humans, so how did these humans know of us? I stood there listening to them go back and forth when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and with my enhanced sight I could see the samurai were surrounding us and that would leave us with only two options, to leave or to fight and even as strong as we were, we were fully surrounded and greatly outnumbered at least that's what I'd thought. There was no way we could take on so many and survive and even if I hated what I'd become and wasn't ready to die.

"We don't want any trouble; we will grant your request and take our leave, come along Annabelle". Annabelle has always relished what she was, she always had something to prove so I wasn't surprised when she turned to me, her face contoured and her fangs bared.

"We're not going where Nickolai"; she hissed, her fangs reseeded and her face returned to normal when she turned back to the samurais

"Let's talk".