Embrace the Darkness

Chapter 1

With a sudden jolt, Anael was awaken from her sleep by the same dream she has been having for the last couple of weeks. And every day she wakes everytime the vampire in her dream tries to sink his fangs into her neck. She knows that every vampire thirsts for blood but there is something with this particular one that got her confused. The way the vampire stares into her eyes as he slowly tries to reach her neck with his mouth, there is no bloodlust. In fact, she could see adoration and respect from his eyes.

But she wakes up even before she could gather a few more details from her dream. Who is this vampire? Why isn't she trying to kill him? Why does she get this feeling that she knows him from somewhere?

There are too many questions bothering her right now but she has no way to get her answers. She could no longer go back to sleep so she decided to get up and have something to eat. It was still early in the afternoon but An is already wide awake. She kept rewinding her dream in her mind.

As Nephilim, Anael and the rest of her race were forced to rest in the morning and stay awake in the wee hours of the night because of their duty to hunt down vampires, another race of blood-sucking monsters. These creatures hunt for human blood during the night because of a curse the Sun-god, Apollo, casted to the first and the oldest of the old vampires, Ambrogio.

Playing with her cereal in a bowl, she recalled how the vampires came to be. She only learned about this history from her father, Azrael, leader of the Nephilim.

This was around the time the human race has forgotten about the one true God, and the God of the Nephilim. During this time, the false gods of Olympus were at the peak of their power due to the prayers and tributes offered by the people. Unlike the one true God, these false gods feed their power from people's worship. They reside in their domains in Olympus but the people on land built temples for each of the god they worship. One of the gods that was most popular among the people was the Sun-god Apollo.

But aside from being the god who holds power over the sun, he was also known as the god of prophecies. His oracle, named Delphi, possesses a virgin maiden who becomes Apollo's priestess on land. Upon being chosen as priestess, she resides only in Apollo's temple along with three other maidens to channel energy from so that she could host the Spirit of Delphi without burning out her own life force.

Ambrogio came from an island quite far from the main city. He travelled to visit and pay homage to Apollo. This was at dawn, upon approaching the temple when he set his eyes upon a very beautiful maiden, with long, silvery hair that glitters when hit by the sun's rays. She just passed by him but she never left his consciousness again. He longed and longed to see her again. So the following day, he went back to the temple, again at dawn, with the hopes of meeting her this time and knowing her name.

Everything went as he planned it to be. Her name was Selene and he learned that she is the sister of Apollo's priestess. She goes to the temple everyday to offer her assistance to the maidens especially when there are lots of people seeking Apollo's prophecies.

Soon, they fell inlove. Ambrogio asked for Selene's hand in marriage and she agreed. They planned to meet up at dawn outside the temple so that they could leave the city and be together in the island where Ambrogio lives. Apollo learned about this and before the sun set on that same day, the god appeared to him and cursed him for taking away the very maiden who captured the god's heart. The god's curse was that Ambrogio could no longer set foot wherever and whenever Apollo could reach him. His skin will burn at the very touch of sunlight.

Ambrogio despaired for he was supposed to meet Selene the next day, at dawn, but could no longer do so. Broken by grief, he hid in a cave where he met Hades, god of the underworld. He taled to Hades what he's been through and so the god offered him a deal. He and Selene could have refuge together in the underworld if he, Ambrogio, would steal the Silver Bow of Artemis, Apollo's twin sister and goddess of the Hunt.

Left with no choice and the desperation to be with the woman he loves, he agreed. Hades gave him a magical bow and eleven arrows which he could use to hunt for game that she could offer to Artemis to gain her favor. And so he did. He found a swan and used one of the arrows. He drained the swan from its blood and plucked one of its feathers. He used the feather as pen and the blood as ink to write a letter to Selene explaining that he can't be with her but will do everything so that they could be together again. Down to his one last arrow, he missed his final shot. With no more blood to write Selene's letter with, he wept. Seeing how dedicated and how good of a hunter he is, Artemis appeared before him. He begged the goddess to let him borrow her Silver Bow so that he could hunt a swan and write a final letter to Selene. Artemis took pity on him and agreed. But instead, Ambrogio ran with the silver bow to take to Hades. Realizing what was happening, Artemis cast her own curse on Ambrogio, making his skin burn even at the slightest touch of silver. In pain, he dropped the Silver Bow to the ground. He begged desperately for Artemis to forgive him. He explained to the goddess the deal he had with Hades and how he had no choice because he only wanted to be with the woman he loves. Artemis took pity on him again. She told Ambrogio that he should take Selene and escape from Apollo's temple and oath to worship nobody else but her in exchange for her help. But because Artemis is a virgin goddess, Ambrogio and Selene should remain chaste, so they could never touch, kiss or have children. Better than not being with Selene at all, he agreed. Artemis made him immortal, with strength and speed of a god. She made him a great hunter, but only second best to her, with fangs with which he could drain the blood of his game to use as his ink for his poems for Selene. For years, Ambrogio and Selene lived happily together in the dark, avoiding the sun during the day, and going out only in the night to perform their sworn duty to worship Artemis. But soon, they needed to face the fact that Selene was mortal. Her beauty and youth withered while Ambrogio stayed as he was. Slowly, she was ill and dying. Devastated, he begged Artemis to make her immortal. Attached to the lovers, Artemis instructed him to touch Selene just this once to drink her blood, by doing so, this will kill her mortal body but mixing her blood with his, and making another drink it, will create an immortal life. In return, Artemis promised that they will be together forever. Ambrogio wanted to refuse, but Selene begged him to do so. Selene's body radiated with light and she descended to the sky. She was made the goddess of the moon.

This was beyond what Ambrogio expected. He wanted Selene by her side forever. But now, she's more distant than ever. For a time, he was furious with everyone, especially with Artemis. He did everything he could to go on with his immortal life, but the loss of Selene was unbearable. Soon, he plotted to do anything within is power to pull down Artemis to put a stop to her cunning deals so that no other poor soul would be condemned to misery.

He made his first clan of vampires in Transylvania. Yet, the gaping hole in his chest has not been filled. As the vampire clans grew and grew, Ambrogio sunk deeper and deeper into his misery. He decided to rest. He asked one of his most trsuted followers to secure him inside his coffin without giving him any blood so that he could sleep for centuries and waking only if he's ready. For years, they tried to settle down and get used to their new-found way of life, until some vampires wanted to take charge of the power and leadership. This made the one great clan of vampires divided.

A tap on her shoulder forced her back to the present. It was her father.

"An, why are you up so early?" Azrael asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Anael really admires her father. Tall, handsome and well-toned, some people mistake him as her brother. She got his hazel eyes. She loves him dearly, he is all she has left.

"Bad dream," she answered shortly, not wanting to give out any more details. She wanted to keep her dream to herself as much as possible. She could only imagine her father's reaction if he finds out.

"Oh, okay." A frown appeared on her father's face for a split second. "You better be ready, love. I'll be your trainer for today."