(Twelve Years Later)

Valenus waited outside a small house. Thankfully it was the dead of night, a woman, single and alone had died of plague. The poor woman, she did suffer and although Valenus was there, she reminded him too much of Avana to turn her. Once she died, Nith took her place and the pair set off for Romania after discovering rumours of a creature lurking there, killing off the innocent. He had to take a look, his humanity made him want to. If it was one of his brothers or even Avana, they had to be stopped.

His hunger lit up like a Christmas tree as she walked behind him. He turned around, grabbing her arms as he kissed her, she pulled herself towards him, hugging him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck while still managing to struggle a little to reach. "I must be a little shorter than before" she commented as she kissed him, stepping on her tip toes.

"I do not mind it" he replied, stroking her beautiful curls of red. "I love you too much to mind it"

"You are so sweet but I see it in your eyes, the hunger of the hunter"

"I will feed later" he replied, shooting down her hint before she could finish her sentence, before she could convince him.

"Come on, you know you need it" she complained as she brushed his cheek.

"I do not like hurting you" he confessed as he held her in his arms.

"You could never hurt me" she promised as she moved her hair softly, uncovering her neck. The hunger in him was savage as he lowered his head, embracing her softly, the warm touch of her skin against his ice cold. He let his hunger control him for a few moments as his head moved down slowly towards her neck but it ended with a kiss before he turned his head away from her, hiding his own sickly appearance. "Do not hide from me, my love. I trust you, with my life"

"I just... I cannot... I cannot do this, I cannot feed from you" he whispered softly before he took a deep breath.

"Soon it shall be light, my love. What will you do? Where will we go? I cannot live like this... not here, with this face and her name" Nith warned as she looked at a ship.

"Where is it headed?" he asked gently.

"Italy, my love, where we shall both be safe, you and I have a future there, together" she promised as she took his hand.

"My future is anywhere you are, my love" he whispered as he helped her on the boat. He naturally hid from the sunlight, burning in the sunlight would certainly show something was off. He did not want to die, he did not want Nith to die, to get hurt because of him... the monster, he being that horrific monster. Sometimes he fought it, sometimes he could not fight it but most of the time he fought it until he could not fight it anymore, until he broke down with hatred, hunger. Hatred for himself, hunger from the monster and the curse that had taken hold so cruelly, pulling him into some sick direction, almost killing him on a daily basis. He was tired of it but Italy was showing signs of illness, serious illness. As a doctor, he could not just walk away, as a man he could not turn a blind eye and as a monster, their illnesses served his deep, dark purpose.

He fed and fed, killed and killed but to what end? What was his true nature, what was his purpose? Was he a man, completely a man or a monster too? When he looked, saw his own reflection in the waters, what did he see? In the shadows, he hunted down his prey; he used to kill without mercy but as soon as he could, developed a code. He fed when he had to, only when he had to. He fed when the pain grew too much, when he could no longer face it, fight it. The longer he waited, the more painful it became to feed, when he needed it so much he could attack the very woman laid next to him, with her arms around him.

He kept his true face hidden, hidden even from her. What she saw was the same as what any victim or lover saw, the blood red eyes and the fangs but beyond that, there was the monster that twisted the very mind. More bat like in shape, hungry still, it would kill anything if he let it for that it seemed was its true face, hidden from plain view of the innocent, his simple meals. Anyone who saw it would be foolish if they did not run for although it was absolute power, the hunger that came with it was also absolute.

"To see you so hungry is... painful to watch" Nith confessed.

"It is not like I am not used to this, I am not going to hurt you" Valenus promised.

"It is not that... I am not worried about that. I am worried about you, about your hunger... your pain. I love you, I do not want to cause you pain, not if I can help you"

"I do not want that, I do not need you to become a human bottle of blood, it is not fair on you or anyone else!"

"I want to help you, that is what a wife should do for her husband, is it not? Let me be there for you, my love, let me help you out of the darkness you have placed your soul in"

"I have no soul" he admitted as he lay down on the makeshift bed. He took a long breath, unnecessarily but he enjoyed it, the brief feeling of humanity, his lungs filling with air, the smells in the air, each one of them unique. He loved almost feeling human, human inside for a time, as if being immortal was all in his mind.

"You have a soul, you just believe you do not" she whispered in his ear as she clung to him.

They rested for the morning, she in his arms, her beating heart killing him as he moved her hair. She did not even flinch as he bent down, his fangs resting on her neck. A quick gasp from her, nothing more as she wrapped her arms around his chest, making him feel worse as he drank slowly, mindful of his hunger and her trust, how trusting she was of him as he drank from her slowly, feeding from her.

"Forgive me" he almost begged as he sat up. She sat up slowly, wiping a dribble of her own blood from his chin before kissing him softly.

"There is nothing to forgive, my love" she whispered softly before she got up, covering her neck softly, stopping the bleeding. "Did you succumb to hunger?" she asked softly, in the gentlest way she could.

"Yes" he admitted out of shame, horror. He hated it, the need to feed, to feed off her of all people.

"At least you stopped" she replied optimistically as she turned around, reaching out to him. He took her hands, holding them as he looked into her eyes, the pain in his cursing him, coursing through him.

He smiled softly at her, holding her hands, placing them together as he got down on one knee. "Nith, will you make me the happiest creature, will you marry me... again?"

"Are you sure you are not going to get bored of asking me? Of course I shall, I love you but must you ask every time I get a new body? Every time I look different, you ask me"

"I know, it is because I love you"

"Of course I will" she whispered as he slipped a new ring on her finger. She giggled like a child, hugging him all the way off the ship and into the new world, Venice, Italy, home of beauty. The vibrant city filled with market places, live animals and people, many people but there sadly was a sickness, a horrible sickness running through the city, infecting the innocent, making them sicker and sicker. "I can sense illness here, my love"

"If you are smart, sir, you will take that ship and go back" a man warned. Valenus just shrugged it off, accepting it merely as the man's opinion. Both Valenus and his fiancée were seemingly immune to most if not all diseases.

"We must help these people" Nith whispered softly in his ear.

Valenus did not reply but instead he just stayed silent as he glanced at the streets and hoped, prayed there was someone out there, someone sick he could feast upon. The rumours of sickness, plague were true. He was a good man but a mad man also. He could be twisted easily, moulded into a great evil he did not recognise.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she followed his gaze.

"Hunger" he whispered softly, barely audible to her.

"I see. Shall I take our things to our home?" she asked softly.

"If you do not mind"

She just nodded, holding his hand for a brief minute, a minute to her but a lifetime to him, a long and happy lifetime to him. He wanted her; he wanted her so badly he would die without her. He loved her, cared for her and just wanted to be with her forever. If he could be there for her, love her forever, he would but her bodies were aging faster and faster. He resisted, kept fighting the urge to bite out of fear, fear of killing her horribly but she assured him that it was not him but he could not help but think of a solution... to make her into a vampire, freeze her aging forever.

He left her there with their things, knowing she was safe while he hunted. The sick, the weak were what he fed off and Italy, Venice was now his hunting ground with enough around to keep him sated for a long time if he had to. He had to protect Nith, she was all that mattered to him, all he cared about and loved more than anything in the world. He wanted to be with her throughout the ages but he could see her, her aging eyes, her powers were starting to weaken as the bodies lasted less and less and yet there was only one thing he could do but it was the same thing he knew she would refuse without thinking about it, without even considering it.

He just grabbed someone off the street, a man coughing and spluttering. Valenus could smell the sickness in him, festering in him. He looked ill, very ill; he was slouching, sweating and barely standing. It did not take much strength to grab him, the man did not even realise what was going on, even as Valenus bit him, feeding off him slowly, draining his blood until there was not even a drop left in his veins. He just dropped the man's body on the floor before cleaning himself up and leaving in a hurry. He did not have time to feel remorse for his murdered victim, dead and laid on the floor, horror in his eyes but still with a sense of... peace.

He cleaned himself up before he looked for Nith, checking his clothing for blood, anything that might give him away. Luckily there was nothing, nothing on him or his skin anymore, he had gotten too good at hiding who he was and what he was. He had gotten used to lying, it was second nature to him and he had gotten used to hiding like that was also second nature to him. For all the years he'd lived, he never truly lived. He had not been human for many years, his brothers deserted him and wanted to slaughter him and Avana... she was as cruel as ever, unable to control or satisfy her lust for blood. She just wanted love, to be loved but it was that demand that controlled her, hurt her and eventually... killed her. She was no longer what she once was, the person she once was. She needed blood constantly, never able to sate her lust, desperately trying to end it but recently Valenus had heard new whispers from her thoughts... her plans to make her own army of undead monsters to worship her and do her bidding.

Being immortal was not the only thing Valenus knew, he knew so much more... there was more to life, it was beautiful and bold with such passion and fire burning throughout it. He was human when he was with Nith, with her in his arms, his arms around her as she slept. He could not see himself caring for anyone else as much as he did for her, as he did for Nith. She was his life, his brightest star and his weakness, one he kept close... perhaps too close but he could not push her away from him, she was stuck to him like glue and he loved her for it, cared for her.

He entered their small home, their new home together where he had planned for them to live for at least a few years while he treated the poor plague victims, he could not cure the plague but offer a chance to the living and comfort to the dying. He was strong, strong enough to resist the urge to feed constantly, even when surrounded by blood or bloody wounds but for how long it would last, that was unknown for the world was slowly changing, schools were being set up to teach those who would wish to practice, men were learning how to become doctors and soon there would be proof required before someone could call themselves a doctor, so he imagined, making his life harder.

He slept with her close, her head resting on his chest softly as he stroked her hair. She was his, he was hers and for a time the world seemed perfect, he seemed perfect. With her in his arms he felt alive, something that he could not say he was robbed of because he had never felt so alive even when he was alive, when he was a human with human memories, a human heartbeat and a soul barely corrupted. His pain, his torment was his own fault and he perfectly accepted this, accepted blame for his own immortality.

"How do you do it, Valenus?" Nith asked the next evening, spending it laid in his arms.

"Do what?" he asked softly, trying not to sound aggressive but if it was to do with his condition, he was not always so open to questions.

"You told me you choose your victims based on their deaths, their brush with death but how do you know who is going to die?"

"I admit, I too have wondered this. Perhaps it is because death shall not claim me; through age or illness... perhaps then I can sense the presence of death because it is something I cannot have, something that for me is out of reach"

"To live forever alone, to sense the death of others, one must wonder whether anyone of sound mind could choose such a life" Nith whispered.

"Had I known the price of the cup, I would never have agreed to it, I am surrounded by death but death does not call for me"