by ‘The Storyteller’
by ‘The Storyteller’
Gordon was embraced by one of the undead around two centuries ago. A vampire from the Gangrel Clan, one of the nomadic vampires of the wilderness. His sire was feral and lived with animals that most mortals feared and avoided. After ‘becoming’, Gordon was left, alone in the woods, his sire having moved on to prey in distant forests. So it is with the Gangrel when they make Childer. They are left to fend for themselves. The strong survive, the weak are eliminated.
Gordon did survive, and eventually learnt the ways of the kindred, and of ‘The Masquerade’. This was the law among the undead to mask their very existence, lest the mortal world became aware of them walking among them, feeding from them. For that is what mortals became to vampires, food, vessels that hold the blood that sustained them. If the living became fully aware of the fact they were considered no more than cattle to the kindred, they would seek them out where they slept during the day, and end their unholy unlives.
Living in the wilderness, Gordon had imbibed many gifts from his sire when he took his blood that fateful first night. One was the ability to meld into the ground, ensuring he was always safe from the sunlight that could burn him to ash. He had the freedom to roam the country, moving with the seasons. He encountered many other undead and mystical beings, including Lupines, with whom he shared feeding grounds.
Eventually Gordon’s wanderlust began to fade, and he sought out the security of a permanent haven. He settled on the outskirts of a growing city, close to both the company of others his kind, and still surrounded by the open and unrestricted forests and fields that skirted the mortals world.
One evening he was out hunting for a vessel to feed upon. For a reason only the Fates know, his ‘meal’ was one of the very few living that could resist all his attempts to dominate him by mind control. Even once he had begun the kiss, the male fought him. His screams induced a frenzy in Gordon, and were heard by the mortals wife who raced to the grounds he was being attacked in. As Gordon was engulfed in his blood lust, he failed to notice the woman running towards them. He had no control over his actions, and sucked the life out of the man, and looking up, he stared into the eyes of the man’s wife, standing in shock only a few metres away. Without concern for herself, she ran to her husbands now lifeless body, and cradled him. Wracked with sobs, she flew at Gordon, beating her fists into his chest. “You monster. You have killed my beloved. How can you do this to me. To his child. Are you so evil you cannot even understand what you have done!” Returning to his senses, Gordon was so shocked by her confrontation, he shook his head at her saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What have I done?” He fled from her, from her eyes. He ran until the sun began it’s accent, and melded into the earth. Tormented by his decline in all that was human to him before, he vowed to somehow serve the woman and her family for the rest of his eternity.
He wrote of his sorrow to her, and told her the story of the kindred. A direct violation of The Masquerade, he would be hunted down by his own kind were they to ever hear of his gross misconduct to them all. He didn’t care. He only cared for the pain he felt in his very soul, if he had one at all now.
Over the next century, Gordon followed the family, and watched in the background over it’s successive generations. He was forever bound to their progeny, by guilt and shame. He would watch from treetops, the children playing in the mansion grounds. He watched them in their innocence, and remembered to when he was mortal, yet never had the opportunity to father his own family.
The most recent family held special attention to him. He watched the father and daughter in tender moments walking in the grounds together. The love in their eyes was unmistakable, and he yearned to capture it on the wind. The father died of natural causes, when the only daughter was still a child. Gordon kept special eye on her from that time, enlisting the assistance of his mortal retainers, and kindred allies. He wanted to protect her from the horrors she was blissfully unaware existed in the shadows of her world.
He learnt that her mother died, some years later. She was the only remaining living decendant of the family line he had sworn to protect. Although she had grown into womanhood, she was like a rose bush struggling to blossom in the shadows of her despair. Gordon alone dreamt of the rose he could produce from her hitherto unseen beauty.
One evening he was enraged to find one of his retainers that was supposed to trail her at all times had been negligent. She had been attacked and raped by a group of mortal scum, the retainer arriving to late. He scared the attackers away, at least cutting short her agony, but she fled when he tried to give her further assistance. On hearing of the incompetence, as punishment, he snapped the neck of the retainer, and ordered he be fed to starving dogs. The word of this mere mortal woman's hold over Gordon was renown in kindred circles, and none would even hunt near the estate where she lived.
It was at this time Gordon decided to Embrace her into his world. She was the last, and Gordon wanted her to share the love she had expressed to her mortal father to him. He wanted her to look to him with the same admiration. He had spent centuries alone, and wanted companionship. Was it love he felt, that one shares with a lover, or that of father and child. He had lost so much emotion over the endless years he could no longer differentiate. She had to be his.
Gordon had to approach the Prince of the city to gain his permission to Embrace her. The prince was from the Ventrue Clan, and his priority in allowing Childe to be made was always based on how they could serve him. If they had intelligence as well, so much the better that they may advance the Prince financially. Gordon had to tread carefully around him before making his request however. The Prince was known to refuse kindred that didn’t drink from him. This way the new Childe were also blood bound to him, ever so slightly, but enough to prevent them from trying to overthrow his power at some time in the future. Gordon knew it was what he had to do, but he had to be subtle. He had to convince the Prince that she was a mortal he had discovered by chance, and feeling she was worthy to the kindred, wanted to sire her. If the Prince learned of his deceit, he could call the blood hunt on both of them.
At last, after drinking from the Prince twice, he was given permission to sire two new Childe, providing they pleased the Prince. If they did not, he would bestow upon them the final death. This was no idle threat, he had done this on a number of occasions. More to keep his subjects loyal to him, and as a political motive to keep his prestige among his people.
Gordon stalked the woman. Following her himself at every dark hour. When she was at work he would sit in a nearby alley and wait for her. He learned her routine, and decided when and how he would Embrace her to him. As for a second Childe, he decided to make another Childe out of whoever crossed his path on the same night as her embrace. He didn’t care if the Prince chose to vanquish the second Childe, it was of no consequence to him. He was told by the Prince he had to have two Childer, and that is what he would do.
On the night he had chosen, he prepared himself, both mentally and physically. He wanted it to be memorable for her. She would be spending eternity with him, it had to be so. He wore a black suit and gloves, the more for drama. He entered the library where she worked when he saw the last mortals leave. He approached the young girl behind the desk. She was not his chosen. He enquired where the other young lady was, and was told she only normally worked out the back in the archive section, and would only be on the counter if she was sick. With that, he used his gift to dominate her, convinced the woman she was sick now, and would have to go home. Gordon went back outside, and waited. Within minutes the original assistant walked outside in a daze and left. He waited still, wanting his prey to be comfortable when he entered again. For an hour he paced, like a caged lion. His time was ripe. He walked in, and saw the object of his eternity sitting at the desk.
He Embraced her, drinking her dry, and feeding her his own immortal blood. He called for his retainers, who came and carried her gently out to his waiting car. He wanted to continue the Masquerade, so as to not upset the Prince, so he had his servants clean up the blood left by the violent episode. About to leave, he turned off the lights, and was about to close the door, when his sensitive hearing picked up footsteps. He decided whoever was inside would be his sacrificial lamb, his second Childe. To his amusement he came across another female stumbling in the dark. He grabbed her and picked her up by the throat. He realised she was attractive, and had a plucky fight to her. It would at least keep his charade to the Prince even more believable, as she fitted his preferences for new kindred. He Embrace her violently, not caring how she suffered. After she had drunk of him, he had her taken to his car as well, being sure that all evidence of her being there, and her blood splatters in the aisle, had been removed fully.
At last he had her. His new Childe Teresa Devereux, from the family he had watched for generations. Excitement surged through him at the thought of showing her all the wonders of the Earth, of life and unlife, kine and kindred. He would educate her in the ways of vampire society. They could roam the wilderness together, and search for those enlightened in the ways of Golconda, the undead’s Nirvana. She would be his Childe, his lover, his existence.
The following nights he went gently with his new Childer. He instantly disliked his second, named Rhiannon, for her mouth had an attitude worthy of an Anarchist. He at least had to put up the pretence that he chose her willingly though, so he fed her. His chosen one, Teresa, was all he hoped she would be. She had taken his gifts at the time of her Embrace, Fortitude, Protean, and Dominate. He would help her develop them over time. Rhiannon had more of the Gangrel Clan’s Animalism traits, plus Protean, and Presence.
After feeding his ‘new-borns’ with their vessels, he was summoned to the Princes chambers. He had advised the Prince of his intended date for the Embrace, and thought it was simply to advise him of their presentation to him. What ensued he was not expecting however. The Prince told him he had been advised by one of his entrusted Nosferatu of Gordon’s ties to Teresa’s family for over a century. He demanded that she be exterminated. Pleading with the Prince, and playing up to him with flattery, Gordon managed to save her unlife, but not without a price. He had to drink the Prince’s blood for the third time, ensuring his service through the blood oath. Next he would have to release Teresa into the world to fend for herself. In the tradition of the Gangrel Clan, the sires generally desert their Childe to fend for themselves in the beginning. If they manage to survive for a year, they are introduced to their sires, and integrated into kindred society.
The Prince was an intelligent man, and he was constantly aware of political unrest in kindred society. He had seen the resulting turmoil of Anarchists progeny, embraced in rebellion of the Prince, and left to prey on mortals without proper instruction. The risk to the Masquerade was too high. He told Gordon he was not to directly interfere with Teresa’s actions or growth over the next year, and could never see her directly. If he broke this promise, he would call a blood hunt on both of them. He was permitted to assign another kindred to take her under their wing, ensuring she had some tutoring in the kindred laws. Gordon had no choice but to agree, and after drinking from the Prince, was compelled to obey. He was not to tell Teresa of this ‘deal’, but had to create an event whereby he would throw her out, telling her not to return for a year due to her actions. Gordon knew of her hostility to her blood sister, and knew he could leave them to betray each other, then step in and expel Teresa.
Gordon knew that he could never let her go without telling her why she was chosen. In a tender moment, he told her the story of her ancestors, and of how he had watched her since she was a child. He explained that the reason for her embrace was that he wanted to fulfill her life, and watch over her for eternity while she stood at his side. She was his first chosen Childe. Rhiannon was of no consequence to him. He needed her to remember that, and whatever happened, he would always protect her. Silently he cursed having to relinquish her, yet he knew it was the only way now. His solace was the knowledge that he could look over her, if not in person, than through his most trusted kindred ally. Teresa would eventually be back in his arms, and it would be for eternity.
Gordon’s opportunity presented itself. He feigned outrage at Teresa’s misuse of her Dominance power against her sister, and clawed the side of her face for effect. He knew with her ability to regenerate the wound from her fortitude gift it would not harm her for long, but it still tore at his lifeless heart to see the pain in her eyes. She may have gifts from her birth from him, but she had the eyes of her Great Grandmother. Her look of betrayal and disbelief bit into him deeply. A year in a vampire’s unlife normally passes without any thought, but the next year would be the hardest one for Gordon in the last two hundred.
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