The Monsieur of Night & Melancholy

Preamble

Monsieur Baudelaire has been living his whole life in a castle, just up the mountain, from the small town of Peillon. The town's people feared him as if he was the devil. He has heard the stories about him, "The Monsieur of Night and Melancholy". Is it because he never goes out? Is it because he has pale skin? Maybe it's because he looks like he has never seen an ounce of daylight in his life?

Who knows why people come up with such strange stories? They always tell their kids about the Devil of Baudelaire Mountain, who drinks the blood of misbehaving children and drags the souls of the damned to hell. But Monsieur Baudelaire is much more than that, yes he is paled skin, yes he never goes out, but does that really make him a monster?

Monsieur Baudelaire has always been a man of class and he has great taste in fashion, he mostly wears black but that is just his taste. His hair is as dark as the night and his eyes as gold as the golden hour of the day. His skin as pale as the grey moon and as smooth as a rose's petals. His body is toned and his hands are veiny. His nails are sharp and his teeth are like fangs, sharp enough to pierce the flesh and slice the throat.

His family was wealthy and has been at the right hand of the monarchy since the reign of King Louis XIII in 1624. They crafted the best weapons the royal army could ever have and was later rewarded with the Château De Baudelaire on top of Baudelaire Mountain. His family was powerful and admired by many.

Though, Monsieur Baudelaire did meet his dark ending, or so he thought, one night while taking a walk in the streets of Paris. He was attacked by a man, behind a building, and all he could feel was cold blood running down his neck, soaking his clothing and staining them red.

Ever since, Monsieur Baudelaire was allergic to the touch of the sun, the blessings of holy water and the sight of a crucifix. The sun would burn him to ashes within seconds, holy water would burn his skin like acid and a crucifix would burn his eyes as if a fire was lit inside them.

The heat from the the fireplace could never warm him, the cold of the winters could never freeze him and the sound of his heart could never echo again.

He had a craving for blood every night, his thirst was as if he had not had a sip of water for weeks. His hunger was like he has been starving for days. Every night he would go out and hunt for his next meal and the next night he would feel the same thirst and hunger again.

                                                                              ***

Loucas Laurent is a young man who has just celebrated his 23rd birthday. His family has been living in the town of Peillon ever since his great-grandfather moved into a small cottage in the town square. Ever since he can remember, his parents had been telling him the stories of The Monsieur of Night and Melancholy. Unlike the other kids, he has never been afraid of The Monsieur, but rather intrigued and curious as to whether the stories were true. His family isn't wealthy but they're not poor either. His father is a working man and his mother is a housewife, just like all other families in 1873. His father has always wanted Loucas to be a blacksmith like him, but Loucas wanted to be a designer like the great Louis Vuitton. His father despised the idea, but his mother encouraged him to follow his heart and dreams. She wanted him to get out of this miserable town and discover the great curiosities that lie on the other side of Baudelaire Mountain.

Loucas has always been told that he is a gift from God, his hair as white as snow, he had skin as fair as ivory white and his body was toned like a man who has been working for hours on end, lifting heavy metal each and every day. His eyes are as blue as the sky above and his lips as pink as the roses in his mother's garden. Some might even say he was the most beautiful man you would ever encounter.

Now Loucas was also an inquisitive person and loved learning about the truths of the world and the truths that lie beneath the surface of every story and myth he has heard, but the one he was most curious about was the stories of The Monsieur of Night and Melancholy. Something about the man who lives in the castle on top of Baudelaire Mountain just pricked his curiosity so much so that he wanted to go look if the stories were true. Every morning and every evening, he would stare at the castle just to make see if he would catch a glimpse of movement or life, yet he was unsuccessful on every try. That was all about to change the day he decided to go and explore the curiosities of Château Baudelaire himself.