The Moon of Artemis

The DeLaurent Clan

I was told that Duke Azrael left to travel the world with his immortality and I hoped that this new endeavor of his would give him time to finally let me go. He must understand that now with my new timeless life, I would have all of eternity to constantly reject him. And it would be rather distressing for both him and I if—assuming daily—I had to remind him of how much I would rather gouge my eyeballs out than marry him. A little melodramatic I suppose, but I'd rather not live than live at all if my undying life was spent in a constant state of dreadful melancholy—with a man I had no love for.

Soon after we were sired as vampires, my family began to form the DeLaurent clan. Our clan was composed of the thrill seekers of London. The ones who were fearless, brave, and deathlessly invincible. They were mostly all young in age, although a bit older in mortal years than I—if age is even worth counting for as vampires. They came to us, usually by word of mouth, desperately begging to become one of us. It was not an easy feat—becoming a member of the DeLaurent clan. Most failed, and as a result, their memories were wiped clean—a benefit of vampires I suppose. Vampires had this unique ability to compel someone to do anything they wanted them to do. I never liked having that much control over innocent people, but the failed wannabe vampires did consent to the erasing of their minds. So in failure, they were compelled to forget the very existence of vampires in its entirety, and they would never remember the name DeLaurent or what it meant. But if they passed a series of truthfully answered inquiries, they were then welcomed with open arms to the family.

Our clan soon became one of the most powerful in all of Europe and it remained that way well into the present—over two centuries later into the 1630s. My parents wanted to constantly maintain their power and status, and after becoming vampires, they had the means to create an army of vampires, freely disposable at their will. My parents' determination for creating a formidable force was so incredibly incandescent that it presumably took over their lives. It was all they could seem to care about for the greater part of the past two centuries.

In addition to the formation of their dominating clan, my parents also had control over the most prominent witches of London: the Augustin coven. The relationship between the witches and vampires for the past two centuries could be described as somewhat of a tense, treacherous, and unpredictable predicament. Throughout the 1400s, the persecution of witches started to make headway in the human community. Humans were terrified and utterly frightened by what the witches were capable of doing, and throughout this specifically incited fear to which they inflicted erratically upon themselves, the humans started to violently hunt the witches. Since I used to be a witch myself, I somewhat despised the nature of humans for inhumanely acting upon violence with something they did not fully understand.

Given the entirety of this peculiar situation, my parents saw that an opportunity could be seized. The DeLaurent clan offered the Augustin coven protection from the humans if the coven agreed to only practice magic that was sanctioned by the clan. In a desperate move to secure their safety, the coven unavoidably agreed to the pact. As I said before, my parents desired an environment in which they had total control. They could let the witches practice their magic freely, but I knew they didn't want the witches to become more powerful than them. The vampires would protect the witches and in return, the witches would stay under the control of the vampires. So if and when a witch was being questioned or persecuted by humans, the vampires would intervene and on behalf of the witches, and the humans would be compelled to forget supernaturals as I previously just described the nature of compelling. Some of these humans were even sired into vampires, and they would have to spend their expendable lives protecting the very witches they used to hunt. But of course, they had to pass the rigorous interrogation to become a DeLaurent vampire; and any lying would indeed be made known by an arrhythmic, increasing heartbeat that all vampires could hear.

The witches did not like being controlled with the use of their magic, as would anyone else in their situation. For the past century or so, I could feel the tension rising between the witches and vampires. But up until the present, there had only been a few cases of minor violent outbreaks between the two sides. Some witches dared to freely practice unsanctioned magic and as a result, there would be consequential repercussions. Some vampires dared to provoke the witches and that triggered unsanctioned magic as well.

There were of course vampires and witches that befriended one another but it was commonly looked down upon, as the two sides generally did not possess a strong liking for one another. Although I was always friendly to my witch counterparts, because I found myself envious of them and simultaneously empathetic. I was envious because I deeply missed my old life as a witch—the thrill of practicing magic and the excitement of knowing you weren't like the rest of your fellow human acquaintances. I even missed the fear of growing old. I was empathetic because I knew how most of them felt about the pact. They felt controlled and restrained by a group of bloodsuckers to whom they presumed to all be violent and commanding dictators. Living under my parents' supervision, I felt the same way.

I understood how they felt—to not have control over your own life. And I knew my parents were wrong for taking advantage of their desperate situation. Agreeing to the pact meant that the witches would not have freedom anymore. But inescapably, it was a better choice than burning on a stake at the hands of the humans. Still, living just to survive is not truly living, and I truly felt for their deep-seated desire to practice magic freely once more.

Mother and father often said that this powerful "army" was a necessity because it ensured that if and when I took over their places as clan leader, I would be a force to be reckoned with, if anyone should question my position. And although that was true—I would indeed have the force of thousands of immortals on my side—I didn't need all of this unnecessary precaution. I could take care of myself just fine. Even after becoming strong and independent as a vampire, my mother and father still treated me as if I were a child—possibly even more so than before.

It felt as if they believed that my freedom and independence should have to be bestowed and passed down onto me, to which I rather strongly disagreed. Independence is achieved within oneself; I cannot gain it simply because my parents choose to pass down a position and title to me one day. As much as I disagreed with their actions, their thirst for dominance was beyond my control. All I could do was keep it in my best interest to be a kind friend to the witches as much as I could. But nonetheless, I let mother and father parade around town, inciting fear upon the humans and witches as long as they kept me out of their power facade.