Stepping into a room you notice a young woman seated before a fire, her blonde hair cascades over her shoulders falling into soft curls. As you enter she looks up gives you a slight smile and places a crystal goblet on the table beside her chair.
"So, you wish to know something of my past....why it is I have become what you see before you today," looking down at a ruby ring on her hand she whispers, "for things were not always as you see them." She picks up the crystal goblet from the table and holds it up, the light from the fire shining off of it and causing the red liquid inside to seem to glow. "Please, join me. The story is a bit to tell, but if you wish to know..." She motions for you to take a seat in the chair acrossed from her. Leaning back she closes her eyes and sighs as she waits for you to make yourself comfortable. As you take a seat you look over at her and notice an almost ageless quality to her features, giving her a look of almost angelic beauty.Her eyes open and she turns, gazing into the fire. As she begins her story, her eyes have a distant look to them.
"I was borne into a family of wealth and privilage, one of four children. The name given me at birth was Calisto deLyonnese Ealasaid. Unlike most families, as the first borne daughter, my bloode and birthright comes from my mother. The bloode of my mothers kin, a hierarchy of witches, is a powerful and fearsome thing. It was this power that started me on my road to ruin. But I will tell you more of that story later."
"Most families at the time of my birth had bloodlines that were passed from father to son. My Mother's family however, is...was...a matriarcal bloodline, and had been for as long as anyone could remember. It was in this way that they assured themselves that the knowledge of the family history, and the power of the bloode would not be lost. One may be mistaken about who the father of a childe is, but one can always be certain of the mother."
"As the eldest daughter of a noble family I spent many hours being taught how to properly run and care for an estate and it's servants. It was my father's wish was that I be instructed in the arts of conversation, diplomacy, tactics, and warfare, so that I might make the most powerful alliance possible for the family. He also saw fit to hire a courtesean to instruct me in the finer arts of entertaining a husband." A slight smile plays acrossed her rose coloured lips and she arches a delicately shaped brow as she looks over to you. "I suppose you could say I had a very well rounded education."
"At the age of sixteen years, my father decided it was time for me to make an alliance. He had chosen a young man with an impecable background, Zhen, the youngest son of Aileron and Niahm Mandragon. What my father failed to realize was that I had already attracted the attention of the eldest son...Lan. Lan however, hearing of this, aproached my father and asked for...actually I guess I should say demanded, that he be the one with whom the alliance was made and not Zhen. Needless to say my father was certainly not going to argue."
She smiles a faint, sad smile and seems to be lost in her memories for a moment before coming to herself and continuing. "Lan...he was seven years older than I, but he had always treated me with great respect and affection, and I adored him. Our families were close, we had practically grown up together, my brothers training and living in his home and he and his brothers training and living in mine. It was still common practice then, for the sons of the upper classes to be fostered to other families to learn independence, and also to learn whatever skills the Master of the house might be able to teach, swordfighting, horsemanship, archery,...even medicine." Laughing she continues..."Do you have any idea what it was like living in a house, even one as large as what ours was, with sometimes, oh twenty or thirty boys running around at all times?" She shakes her head..."Many of them became dear friends. Zhen, Bradden, Duncan, Caleb...all of them I would have trusted with my life." Her voice softens, "It was Lan however who stole my heart."
"Lan..." She pauses for a moment and then sighs. "I think I had always adored him. He was handsome, tall, he had the body of a fine swordsman, muscular, but not large, with dark hair, and grey eyes. His eyes...I can still see them...more silver than grey really, they could pierce right through you and see into your very soul." Shifting her weight she looks somewhat distraut and murmurs. "The look in his eyes......" Her voice trails off and she sits silent for a few moments trying to compose herself.
Lifting her goblet she swirls the wine, inhaling the sweet fragrance before taking a sip to help calm her nerves. "The alliance between Lan and I was announced upon my seventeenth birthday, and we were married upon my eighteenth birthday. We then moved into the estate which I was to inherit...Garamonde,it was soon after that the trouble began." Resting her forehead on her hand she closes her eyes...you hear a sigh as if a great weight has settled upon her shoulders. "His name was Theran..." The name seems to hang in the air leaving you with a very unsettled feeling. "He was a Vampire...one who had plauged my mother's family for centuries.For the first few years it was merely visitations. When Lan was gone, as soldiers sometimes are, he would come. Handsome and charming I thought him nothing like the stories I had been told...I was young and foolish. At first he merely seemed to desire my company, we would sit for hours talking. He would tell me of the places he had been and the things and people he had seen...I was fascinated. Once he had gained my confidence the seduction began....I can see it for what it was now....then, I was blind to it.