I know that Black Hats name prior to him being a priest is not mentioned; but I have given him one for the purposes of this story.

She woke slowly. Her head hurt, her vision blurry as she gradually opened her eyes; only able to make out the flicker of a dancing flame from a possible nearby torch, but other than that........thought there was also a familiar scent surrounding her, yet in her groggy state, she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

The last thing she could recall, she had been walking through the city. Her dark hooded cloak concealing her features and the mark on her head; not that she had to, they all knew who she was, what she had been; their looks and hushed muttering always told her that, but it gave her a sense of anonymity, so she stuck with it.

She had been taken, after the death of her parents, as a young child, by The Church, and trained to be warrior Priestess. To be a weapon to fight in the war against the vampires that terrorised the land. The Monsignors all agreeing that she had been one of the best had trained, and she had been proud to serve, to do her duty. She had been loyal, and she had kept her oath; well, that had been until she met him.

She had tried so hard to deny her feelings for him; to bury her desires. To avoid him so that she would not be tempted; but no matter what she did, something, perhaps even God, always brought them back together.

He had been perfect. More beautiful than any other man that she had ever seen; and though they had never spoken of it, never even dared to whisper about it, she had seen from the look in his eyes, that he was struggling to. Struggling to keep to his oath; that just like her, he wanted more than for her to just stand by his side in battle. And then one day.......one day they had sinned. One day, she had given herself to him, and he to her. The pair loving one another, touching one another, as no one had ever touched them before. It then, as they lay in one another's arms, that they had told one another the names they had had before they had become a Priest and Priestess. The love they shared, that they continued to share, bringing with it a sense of guilt, but never any remorse. Neither of them regretting what they had found in the other, in each other's embrace. Yet then he had been taken from her, her Matthias, her beautiful, loving Priest had been taken from her; pulled into the darkness by vampires at the Sola Mira Hive. It only the fact that another Priest had held her back, as one of their fellows had let her lover go, that she hadn't been able to follow after him down the tunnel; she no longer caring, at that moment, if she lost her life to their enemy. Her world crashing down around her from that day, leaving her alone in a cold, cruel world. And now that the war was over, and the Clergy disbanded, she no longer even had that to cling to. Her faith now long gone; taken the same day that he had been. So, all she had been able to do was try and reintegrate herself into a world that no longer needed or wanted her.

"Good, you're awake..........." A voice........there was someone there with her. The Priestess shaking her head, trying to clear her vision as she attempted to move, only to find herself bound.

"There is no need to fight, (Y/n).........." The voice continued. The Priestess stopping her struggling at the sound of the name that she had been given at birth. She knowing that one The Church and.........no, it couldn't be.....there was only other person that knew her real name; one soul that she had entrusted it to. One man that she loved enough to tell..........

"You are as beautiful as the last time we made love..........." The breath catching in her throat, as the owner of the voice came closer; her eyes growing wide as her vision finally cleared.

"Ma........Matthias.........no....it can't. They took you....the vampires......."

"They did take me......they tortured me until I prayed for death. My last thought of you, as I waited for my end. But then the vampire queen came, she saved me; she gave me her blood, and now I am as you see, part human, part vampire.........." Matthias explained, as he reached up and slowly placed his hand on her cheek.

"I have been trying to find you, my love. I travelled to any town or city I could think of where you might be. And then......then I heard of the Priestess that had lost her faith, that denied The Church, and I knew that it was you........."

"Matthias.....what...........?" (Y/n) managed to ask, as she looked into her lovers now yellow eyes.

"I want you to join me, (Y/n). I love you......I always have. I want you to be with me, to be free. To no longer feel any guilt for what we shared. We can be together forever, (Y/n). We can bring in a new age; show The Church what true power is............."

"Matthias......we fought for years against the vampires. They are a scourge..........."

"And we were wrong..........And I am not longer Matthias. I am Black Hat........." He growled, as he gripped tightly to her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"The only scourge is The Church. Vampires will no longer barely survive on the reservations, they and the familiars will take control of this world with me as their leader, and I want you there by my side, to share in the glory. I want you to be my queen, (Y/n)..........." He continued, his voice much softer now. Her eyes closing, as he leaned in, and his mouth found hers. (Y/n) gasping as she felt a sting as one of his teeth caught her lip. His tongue quicky licking up the blood that trickled from the small wound.

"So sweet......but you always did taste sweet, didn't you. Join me (Y/n), and we could have one another forever, my love........." The former Priestess' mind reeling at his words. Her conscience caught between all that she been taught as part of the Clergy, all that she had fought against for so long, and the man before her. The man she loved. The man whose death had destroyed not only her world, but her faith. Yet now, he was here, and she had a second chance. A second chance to be with him; to know once more what it was to be loved by him, and she could not give that up. Black Hat smiling as she slowly nodded. He removing the binding that held her to a flat topped rock in what she knew was the heart of a hive. Her lover picking her up and placing her atop it, carefully holding her down, as the biggest vampire she had ever seen, came from one of the holes. The creature towering over her.

"Soon you will be mine, again.........." (Y/n) clinging to him, to his words, as the queen slowly dug her nail into her own arm and cut deep. The blood spilling into her mouth. The last thing she felt, the touch of Black Hats lips, before she slipped into a new darkness. A darkness where she would finally be able to join him.