Being what I am, I can remember everything from the time I could, as a baby. I remember my image in the watering holes. A monkey. I was; was mind you, nothing more than a primate, the first of the developing, growing population that would conquer this world.
I remember my clan and my mother. I remember the landscape and the predators that hunted us, good weather, bad weather, hot and cold days. I remember days of plenty and days of hardships. Nothing different than now. I came from what is now South Africa and though I know you have an image in your minds of what I look like. I can tell you, you are nowhere close. I am an Australopithicus Afarensis and I AM over 3 million years old.
First you need to know the simple fact that vampires developed at the same time people did. They started at my grandparent's generation where they went into cannibalism. They would hunt others of their own kind and suck their blood for nutrients they weren't getting. This beginning led to my mother's generation. She was mortal, but developing the aspects of vampirism. Then came me, the first generation of born vampires. I wasn't nearly as powerful as you might think. That came with time and practice. However it did give me a slight advantage over mortals. My kind never lost their incisors and we were night hunters, stronger and better equipped for night hunting. You can almost say we regressed into animals.
I can tell you that in my later years, after my mother died and after I could hunt on my own, I wasn't expecting to be able to turn mortals into my kind, yet I did. My name is Bartox and as time advanced, so did my power. I'm not hungry for domination and I'm not hungry for power. I only wish to remain and to observe the changing world. But I have changed in appearance according to my power. Mortals and vampires alike find me unbelievable and rather freakish; there are no others as old as I am. I no longer look like a primate, but more human in my face. My ears however, are catlike with blue fur and black skin. Small gray horns on my head and black skinned winds. Like my friend Raziel, I have developed cloven hands, however unlike him I have a rather goatish lower half. My face is a light pink and my lips a blood red, eye sockets dark with age. My eyes are blue, however my slitted pupils might frighten the ignorant. But one of my favorite features about myself is my hair. A dirty blonde, flowing down my back till it reaches my wings where they emerge from my back.
You have to understand why I am so curious. I came from a culture with no language and hardly any attachment to others. I was born before writing and the control of fire; before clothing and cooking; before the simplest thing in your life was invented. Today I know every language on the planet fluently and even many that are now extinct.
With such age and power comes great responsibility. None of this selfish crap that mortals think vampires are all about. There is that tug in that direction, but neglect never solves anything. Lifeblood is one of those things. I admit, I have tried methods well beyond all others could imagine to easy the stress on mortals during the hunt. I never kill my feeds, unless they deserve it. One method I found would be banned from even my use. It was graphic and bloody that even it disgusts me to remember that one time… Sheerely using my mind I…tore his skeleton from his still living flesh… it was gruesome at best. Oh how it sickens me. I was punished by my own hand for that mistake that I would never make again.
Through time, war and conquers have plagued the world, and I made it my job to cease the extinction of man at the hand of man as well as the extinction of man from vampire and visa versa.
But I'm ahead of myself. If I tell you what my life was like from beginning till now, it would take far too long and too many volumes to cover all. You know your history, I take it? Good. It needs editing. Not all you learned was true. Who ever told Paul Raever to ride into town? Who lit those lanterns? Who saw those British coming? Twas I whom warned him. Why was Washington so successful in capturing the Hessian soldiers across the Delaware? I put the German soldiers to sleep, or blocked the noise of Washington's men from their attention. Who made America go to Europe to cease the massacre of millions of innocent people in the 40's? twas I. Whom was it that made the Japanese to forget the International Date Line on the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Twas I. I don't work for any one side and I do not work for my personal pleasure. I work at preserving ALL LIFE. Sad that I was not there to protect the Native Americans, though. Such a noble race, lost because I was not quick enough.
Pardon me. I see all the world, not a stage, but more like a babysitter to her brood; not related, but obligated. Heh. I feel like Atlas, the weight of the world rests on my shoulders alone. Sometimes it does feel like that. that is when know I must sleep. But it was one of those days when I met my adopted son, Draecore.
He was a fledgling vampire, lost and confused and hungry, his "father" left him after making him. I literally took him in under my wings and taught him what he needed to learn.