FOREWORD

The year is 1802. The place is a small village located in eastern Hungary, which is situated in a valley surrounded by a thick forest. At the edge of the forest waits a black carriage, a caped figure emerges then disappears in a fog.

CHAPTER 1

The delivery had been excruciating. The mid-wife had provided a potion to help ease the pain, and had given the woman a stick to bite on. "Bite down and push," the mid-wife said.

Gripping the straps that were tied to her wrists, the woman bit into the stick and pushed. Sweat poured from her as she bore down. Her head thrashed as the pain tore her apart. The mid-wife encouraged the woman to keep pushing. Slowly the head began to emerge, then the shoulders. "We are almost there," the mid-wife said. "Just one more push." Giving one more push, the woman screamed as the baby came out into the waiting hands of the mid-wife. Using a small blade, she cut the cord, then went to the other side of the room to clean the new born.

The mother took deep breaths, half-dazed as she heard the first cries of her baby. She wearily turned her head in the direction, watching the mid-wife clean and wrap the child, bringing the baby over to lay beside her. "You have a beautiful baby girl," the mid-wife said. She undid the straps and cleaned up the mother. "Now rest. I'll be right outside."

A couple of minutes later, a fog appeared in the corner. A pair of glowing eyes opened in the darkened room. As if floating on air, the figure silently went and stood beside the bed. Feeling a presence, the mother opened her eyes. Upon seeing who it was, she smiled. "Look upon your daughter. Is she not beautiful?" The figure carefully lifted the wrap. "She is you all over again," the mother said. The figure put the wrap down, not saying a word.

A tear came to the mother's eye. "You are here to take her from me." The figure closed then opened his eyes. "Please let me keep her for a while!" the mother softly begged.

The caped figure finally spoke. "Dividia, you know what we agreed upon when I chose you."

"Please, Zagaron!"

Zagaron took the sleeping child from the bed and looked at Dividia. His eyes began to glow. "Please, let me see her one last time!" she begged again. Zagaron lifted the wrap. Dividia tenderly touched the baby's cheek, then closed her eyes in a permanent sleep. Holding his daughter close to him, he wrapped the cape around the both of them and disappeared in the fog.

The horses whinnied as a small cloud appeared. Zagaron emerged and climbed in the driverless carriage. As soon as he had settled the carriage left the forest, on its way to a castle high in the mountains.

CHAPTER 2

Zagaron was a handsome specimen. No woman could resist his long, black hair, which framed a finely chiseled face and flashing dark eyes. As he cradled his daughter, he thought back to how he had become a vampire. No one, upon first meeting him, would ever guess that he was really 2,500 years old, his features those of a man perhaps 35 years of age at the most. He bitterly smiled as he remembered at one time being an Egyptian aristocrat. He had been returning to his home from a banquet at the palace when his chariot was attacked. He felt a pair of very strong arms grab him and render him unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself in a tomb. Lying next to him was his driver, dead from a broken neck, his body thin and pale, as if the life had been drained out of him. As he went to get up, he heard a grating sound and found himself looking at a pale figure with red eyes slowly advancing to him. Zagaron backed up, pulling out his dagger to defend himself. That was last thing he remembered. It had taken quite a few years at first for him to accept the fact that he was now a vampire. He had begun his search for the one that had bitten him, but found out later that it had been killed by a vampire hunter.

Through the centuries he lived off the blood of various animals, preferring to live off the blood of cattle, having no desire to live off human blood. He finally was approached by the head of the Vampire Council, and told that he had been watched by the Council and was asked if he would care to join. Zagaron learned that the Council of Vampires lived by the creed that no true vampire ever fed off human blood and that they followed The Book. The Book contained rules and edicts that true vampires lived by, and it was the Council who enforced those rules. He agreed to joinl. After 25 centuries, he was now head of the Council. Under his leadership, the vampires flourished and maintained their secrecy.

Every now and again, a rogue vampire would appear who would defy the Council. Several times, he and the other members would admonish them, but were ridiculed and laughed at instead. The one thing the Council could not do was slay the rogue vampire, as it was strictly forbidden by The Book. This was very frustrating to him as it resulted in several of his members, who were innocent, being hunted down and killed by so-called vampire hunters.

Over the last one hundred years, reports were becoming more frequent of vampires being slain by these hunters because of the damage the rogue vampires were doing. Zagaron new this had to stop. It was also reported that there was one among these rogues who had his eyes set upon getting rid of the Council. The rogue was caught and banished, but before being cast out, he vowed he would come back and get rid of the Council. For a while things were calm. But lately, several reports came in of a group who were growing more bold as the years past in their quest for human blood. Zagaron knew the time had come to put a stop to this. "Zagaron, we have to deal with these upstarts. They are making it difficult for us. You have to do something!"

Zagaron had looked at them. "The Book strictly forbids that a vampire kill another, but if we are to deal with them, it will take someone who can think and be among them without them knowing. The only way we will be rid of them is that our assassins must have human blood in them also."

"Zagaron! You mean we will have to mingle with the humans and produce a half human-half vampire assassin."

"That is the only way. I have already taken care of that. I have found two suitable women who will bear our assassins. When they are born, I will bring them here to the castle. Here they will learn everything they will need to know, how to fight, to speak and write in several languages as their travels may take them to different countries, and the most important thing is, they will be able to blend in with the humans and therefore will not be noticed. The big advantage they have is that the rogues will not know who they are because of their human blood, but these assassins will be able to see through any disguise these rogues will have."

"But if they are half human, will they not also feel human emotion as well?"

"It will be stressed that in no way shape or form are they to become emotionally and physically involved with a human. They are to find and kill these rogues. That is their mission."

He came back to the present. He opened his cape to look at his daughter. She had his features, more so than his other daughter, who was born only a week before. The bundle squirmed in his arms and opened her eyes. "You are a beauty, just like your sister. Since I named her Jaguar, I will call you Panthera, as you truly look like a jungle cat."

When he reached the castle, he entered and took Panthera to the nursery, putting her in a crib next to her sister. "You two will be my bringers of death."

Part 2

Main

Except where otherwise noted, this website and most of it's contents © copyright by Dancer Productions, Inc. 1999-2002.