32 years before

James

There were too many of them. James would probably not survive this fight. Not that he cared. He may have been looking for it, actually. It was no longer the quest for answers it had been in the beginning. At this point, it had turned into a blind, headlong rush combined with a death wish.

He had become obsessed with vampires, hunting them, trying to find any piece of information about them. It had been like that since the night when his family had been murdered. The image of the bloodshed was burned into his mind and would never leave him. He remembered he had headed home later than he should have had on this night and he hadn't found a good excuse for his delay yet when he had entered the house. The smell of blood was the first thing he had noticed. And then he had seen the bodies. His parents, on the floor near the chimney as if someone had thrown them there.

He couldn't remember what he had done in this instant. Just the coldness of his mother's hand. He knew he had looked for his sisters then because he remembered the horror of finding their corpses on the bedroom floor. He didn't know how long he had held the body of the youngest. It could have been hours; it had seemed like days. Later, he had noticed the bite marks on the necks of the people he had loved and lost. And he had sworn he would find the creature responsible and send it back to hell where it belonged.

Unfortunately, it was too late now. He would never know. He had failed them. At least, he would not have to face their disappointed look in the afterlife. He was certainly not joining them in Heaven. He didn't deserve it.

So he fought. Not for long though. The three vampires were too strong, too fast. They just immobilized him under the mere bulk of their bodies and bit him. He felt his life slipping away from him as the pain turned into a sense of extreme exhaustion.

When he felt free of the weight of his killers, he thought his soul was leaving his body. A shudder of fear crossed him as he braced himself for whatever atrocities he would have to suffer next and for eternity. But instead, he felt a strange warmth wrapping around him. Then he realized he was still alive. A thick liquid was flowing down his throat. It was strange and delicious at the same time. Regaining his strength, he opened his eyes and saw a woman's neck. He was biting her and drinking her blood. Horrified, he stepped back brutally and pushed her away.

"Don't be afraid, love. You are safe now," the woman with dark long hair and dark eyes said.

James looked at his own body in a panic and saw that the wounds had disappeared.

"No. No. What did you do to me?" He screamed.

"I turned you. You are a vampire now. You will live forever."

"It can't be. No. I'm not a monster."

"Calm down, love. Everything will be alright," she said, and her voice seemed so soothing to him that he did indeed calm down. He could not understand why but he trusted her.