Nathaniel-His story

Whoever said living forever would be fantastic has never lived more than one lifetime. I've lived long enough to see empires rise and fall, battles and wars fought, won and lost. So many lives have died, and I have outlived them all. I was an ordinary man once. I had a relatively normal life for my time. My father was a man who thought his son should grow up early. For every wrong I committed, I was whipped. Those scars, like many others, faded over time.

My Rose would always trace them with her fingertips, and her touch was always so soothing. Rose was my wife. I didn't have nearly enough time with her. When I was born, it was the time of knights, princes, princesses, dukes, kings, queens, and peasants. She was a peasant, and I was a knight. We were not allowed to marry because of our status.

I was interested in her instantly, though. She became angry because I knocked her over while riding. The bucket of water she was carrying fell on her. It got her dress dirty. I wasn't supposed to ride that far from the castle, but sometimes I just had to get away. I would pack up food and bedding and just ride. My father never noticed my absence unless a war was approaching. This particular ride caused me to run into the woman I would wind up giving my heart to.

I took her to her home and told her father I would take her to the castle with me. She wasn't happy about it, and neither was her father. I overheard her talking to her mother, who had passed on about paying for her sins. She talked like her mother was engaged to a Duke, which could only make her a Duchess. I found a witch that told me about Rose's past. It seemed that she was from some type of royal bloodline. I collected her one week from the date I ran into her.

She was in the castle for months. I made sure she was well taken care of until the night I could no longer stop myself. I wanted her more than any woman I had ever wanted. Her attitude towards me excited me because she didn't fear me like everyone else. Instead, she opposed me every chance she got. I messed everything up the night I took her for the first time. I had too much to drink, and I wasn't a gentleman at all. She feared me after that. I laid beside her night after night for weeks before I made a move again.

She was initially afraid, but I showed her what it could be like between a man and a woman. We were building a relationship, or so I thought. What I didn't know was that she was planning to run away. She thought that all she would ever be to me was my mistress. At the time, I was looking into her heritage. I had talked to the old woman who had shown me what Rose really was. I'd found the village that her mother came from. I wanted to restore Rose's birthright so that I could marry her.

I knew my father would never approve, but I didn't care. If I was marrying a Duchess, then he couldn't really say much. My father was a bastard who killed people for no reason. When he found out Rose had run away, he tracked down her father and had him whipped until he died. By that point, I had found Rose. We laid her father to rest, and I took what we needed to survive from the castle. This time when she ran, I ran with her.

We found her mother's home. Rose's grandmother accepted Rose as part of the royalty. She gave her her title back. She also set up a wedding for us so that we were married before we went home to my father. I planned to fight a war against my father to kill him and take over as Duke. What I didn't know was that my little spitfire had decided she would join my army. She snuck off in the back, where I was unaware she was.

I caught her one night when she was swimming to bathe. This started an argument amongst us. I decided to let her stay and act as if she was my Squier. The other knights ridiculed her as she was small and couldn't fight. I started training her to wield a sword, and eventually, she beat me.

During this time, my father had sent spies to find out what was happening, and they learned that Rose was with us. The old woman from her village had come to find me and made me aware of this. Rose showed herself to the knights and made them aware of who she was. Some were unhappy, but I put them in their place and made them accept that she would be with us.

When we came to the forest outside the castle, we found my father had enlisted the villagers to fight against us. They were mostly boys. Rose, being the person she was, didn't want the villagers to die for my father. She found Thomas, the boy that had wanted to marry her, was amongst them. She got him to come out and give up. This caused the other villagers to join forces with us.

We sent all villagers away that did not wish to fight. Thomas fought with us and died protecting my Rose. Rose snuck into the castle after we thought she had died, and she went after my father. She poisoned him and took his crown so his knights would know he was gone. I then took over the castle and his position. Rose and I lived happily for years to come. We had two children in the nine years that we had together.

Then we went for a ride one evening after the children had gone to sleep. It was a beautiful night, and Rose thoroughly enjoyed it. That was until we were attacked by something I had never known existed. A vampire had attacked us and bled me almost dry. Rose ran for the castle, trying to get help as she could not lift me. By the time they arrived at my side, I had died. Rose laid my body in the tomb under the castle. What she didn't know was I was not dead but the undead. When I arose in two days, Rose was down in the tomb. She was happy that I had come back. I attacked her, thinking she had left me for dead as my mind was fuzzy.

I left the castle and immediately started hearing a voice calling me. I followed that voice until I found the vampire that had attacked us. She told me that she had attacked us because Rose's uncle had killed her family. She was seeking revenge for her family, but she knew it was not Rose that had killed her family. Rose was pure, and she knew this. However, what she asked of me to leave my Rose alone was to be with her forever. I knew this would hurt Rose if she ever found out, but Rose thought I was dead. So I chose to be with her and be her lover.

I found I could not leave my poor Rose alone, so I stood beneath her window in the castle every night. I watched in misery as Rose felt alone and devastated. Until one night, I could no longer take it and went into her room as she slept. I touched her in ways I had only done when I was alive. When she woke, she thought she had gone mad. I showed her what I truly was, a monster. To my surprise, Rose gave herself willingly to me. I should have known that Eleanor would figure out where I was and what I had done. Rose was upset that I had been with Eleanor. She never forgave me for it.

Eleanor came to the castle that night and attacked Rose. I fought her off and barely survived. Killing your bloodline generally kills you too. However, my love for Rose was greater than any bloodline. It helped me survive. I knew I could no longer go around Rose as she would not forgive me for being with Eleanor. I could not damn her to a life that I didn't even want. I watched her from the shadows as she moved on with her life. She wound up marrying someone else and had a child with them. I was no longer her husband or my children's father. I was destined to wander the earth alone, unloved, and never loving again.

At least that's what I thought until seventy-seven years after Rose's death. I felt Rose just as clearly as I had when she was alive. At first, I thought I was going crazy. It took me five years to track down the source. When I found it, it was a small child. I was surprised to find that Rose's soul had been reincarnated. I watched her every night. Finally, when she turned eighteen, I approached her.