Our Story Begins

My first memories are of the snow, the reflection of the moonlight as bright as daylight.  The sound of our hurried foot steps muffled and secretive.  I remember the mountain, piercing the night sky, my parents hushed conversations in the bright light of dawn.  I remember being scared but not knowing why. We traveled only at night, it didn't make sense to me then, but, as I grew older I would come to realize how important the night would be in my life.

It is funny the things you remember.

We had been traveling for a few weeks when we found a small village.....my father stayed with me in the woods while my mother approached the town.  It was quiet, and peaceful and warm.  I saw the bonfire burning in the middle of the town and was instinctively drawn towards it's warm glow.  My father was watching my mother intently and didn't notice that I had slipped away.

After weeks of being cold the prospect of warmth was a welcoming beacon that I could not ignore and I slowly crept closer and closer.

" Hello"

I heard the voice behind me and froze.  Slowly turning I came face to face with a boy around my own age.   I froze unsure of what to say or what to do.

"Hello." I replied.

"What's your name?" He cocked his head to the side looking at me expectantly.

I glanced around, looking for my mom and dad....mom was still talking to an elder, dad was no where to be seen.

"Vesper" I whispered anxiously certain that I was going to get in trouble for talking to this strange boy.

"I'm Kyrian, nice to meet you" he held out his hand, palm down in greeting, as was the custom in that day and age.

I reached out, covering his palm with mine.

"Nice to meet you" I replied.




We ended up staying in that little town.  It was so remote and isolated.  It wouldn't be until I was older that I would come to realize that that was why my parents chose it.  The Knights of Pelor and their barbaric crusade had not sullied this small town.


We moved into a house set back on the hill, over looking the town. My mother became the towns shaman and my father stayed home with me.  It was about this time that I began to realize that my family was different.  In specific my father.

We existed in this small town peacefully until the year of my 12th birthday.  I had started to notice that I was changing.  My skin had always been naturally fair, but it had started to turn an even lighter shade of white and the sunlight, had started to burn me and I found it harder and harder to stay awake in the afternoons. I didn't know it at the time but I was not the only one to notice these changes.

By this time Kyrian and I were inseparable. We went to school together, we played together and he walked me home every evening. He was my best friend and I couldn't picture my life without him in it.

I remember coming home one evening to see my mother and father sitting at the table having a whispered conversation.  As soon as I walked in they both hushed and looked at me.

I will remember this night until the day I die, this was the night that I found out exactly who

and what

I was.




That very night my father brought me to the table and sat me down.


"Piccola" he said in that heavily accented voice of his " there is something your mother and I need to tell you"


It was then he told me of how he had met and fell in love with my mother. He was a fledgling vampire, set to prove himself to his den, and she was a young witch on her first trip into the world away from her coven.  She was lost in the woods.  He took one look at her and knew that he could never do anything to harm her.  It was that night he vowed to always protect her.  He led her out of the woods and to the nearest town.  They met every evening after.  She never once shunned who he was and instead used her talents to make it easier for him to blend into the human world and pass undetected.  He told me how they hid their love because they knew no one would approve.  They moved to a cottage in the woods far from den and coven to be safe from suspicion and persecution. When they found out they were going to have me they knew they had to leave. The Church of Pelor, a name that I didn't recognize then, was building power in the Westerlands and it was no longer safe for their growing family.


I listened to this story, and until the day I die I will remember the sound of my fathers voice, the smell of the fire in the hearth, and the way my mothers hand lay on his arm and the worry that was in her eyes.  If there is one thing I have never doubted in my life it was their devotion to each other.


And it was in that moment my future was revealed to me.  I was human, but not.  My father, who had been the constant solace in my life was sitting in front of me telling me that he was not human....and it was then the veil was dropped and I saw my father for who he truly was.

 His normally laughing blue eyes turned a deep shade of red, his ears grew into long points and his hair lengthened to almost his back. He grew, not just in his height but in his presence in the room. I remember watching and feeling so many emotions the strongest was betrayal.  Without even realizing it I had subconsciously began to back away from him but my father, noticed, as was his way and he reached out to me slowly.

"Piccola" he began before halting.

"NO!" I cried, turning and running out the front door into the freezing night.  I ran, the moon full and bright over head the only light on my path, but I didn't stumble, I didn't fall, my feet knew the path so well that I didn't even have to open my eyes.  The tears ran down my cheeks and froze there, icy reminders that my life and all that I knew had been a lie.  I was a lie.

If I wasn't even who I thought I was then who was I?


Who was Vesper?


Where did she fit into this ride called life?


As my steps slowed, I heard a horse whinny and raised my head.  That was Starlight, Kyrians' horse.  I had in my despair ran to the one person who was, at that time, unchanged in my life; Kyrian.  I tiptoed up to this window, calling out softly.

"Kyrian" my breath puffed in front of my face.


Kyrian opened the window curiously, his eyes widened, "Vesper?!"

I shifted from foot to foot the cold beginning to seep in through the thin house shoes I was wearing.

"Kyrian, please, let me in."

He looked at my face, at the tears frozen to my face and my disheveled appearance before reaching down to help lift me into his room. I had always marveled at how he could lift me, as if I was no more than an afterthought.

"Vesper, what happened? Why are you out so late? Why have you been crying? Please tell me what's going on." his hands were warm and his gaze kind as he lead me closer to the fire, taking the blanket off his bed with him to wrap around my shoulders before joining me on the rug.

"Please Kyrian, I don't want to talk anymore, please?" I leaned against his shoulder and he sat back against the foot of his bed. I knew he wanted to question me more, and I saw him struggle to hold back the hundreds of questions I saw behind his eyes, but, he slowly nodded his head and we both sat there staring into the fire.  At some point we both drifted off to sleep there in front of that fire, my slight form against his so much larger one.  The one place in this life that I had always felt safe.

We never heard the knock on the door, or the anxious conversation, or the sobs of relief when I was found, safe, in Kyrians room.

My mother and father left me there, in my safe haven, knowing that I needed time to come to terms with all that I had learned and that adjusting was imperative to continue my journey.



I awoke the next morning to the smell of smoke and a smoldering fire.  I was alone on the hearth rug and it took me a minute to realize where I was. Then the memories came flooding back and I bolted upright.  I got up and used Kyrians wash table to freshen myself, putting my hair back into it's complicated sets of braids.  I studied myself in the mirror, looking for any signs that what my father had told me was true.

My hair, always the color of fire, shone just as red, full and thick as it always had.  My eyes, were the green of the grass in the spring, round and wide, as they had always been.  My skin however, was becoming a more translucent pale, with an almost opalescence that I had never noticed before. I backed slowly back from the wash table, my eyes meeting my own in the mirror were wide with the realization that everything I had learned was true.

I slipped my shoes on before walking into the living room.  Kyrians' mother, Teresa was there, at the hearth stirring something with her back to me.  I tried to quietly slip past her but without even turning she laughed "Ye'll have to be doing better than that Vesper if  ye want to be sneaking past me."

I sheepishly smiled halting by the table.

" I never could sneak past you ma'am, 'tis true."

She motioned me to have a seat at the table and brought me a bowl of porridge.

"Yer parents came by last eve, they were mighty worried about ya youngin' running off like you did." her eyes shone with laughter while she freely scolded me as if I was one of her own.

"I know ma'am and I'm sorry for imposing on you as I did."

"Tish tosh," she scolded flapping her apron at me, " Yer just like one of my own, I swear I have raised you just as much as me own. Yer always welcome here Vesper, please remember that." and it was at that time I saw the understanding in her eyes and realized she knew, but would never say out of respect and love for not only me, but my family.

"Yer mother was a blessing from the Old Gods themselves when she came to this village 7 years ago and yer pa is a good and decent man.  We need more like them, in my opinion." with that she nodded her head and that was that. She bade me finish my meal and hurry home.  My mom was worried and I shouldn't keep her waiting.  I finished my breakfast and put my bowl in the basin.


As I was walking out the door I turned one last time, Teresa was standing on the other side of the table her face serene and her eyes full of kindness.

"Thank you ma'am, for everything, more than you'll ever know." I nearly choked on the words, as tears welled up in the back of my throat.

"Think nothing of it child, may the Gods guide and protect you." her hands following the traditional blessing.

"To you as well." my own hands completing the blessing as I walked out and closed the door.  Little did I know I would not see her again.


I walked home along the trail, I'll admit I didn't rush that walk home.  As I got to my front door and pushed it open I saw my mother at the alchemy table.  She whirled around at the sound of the door before rushing to me to throw her arms around me pulling close.

"Vesper! I was so worried! It was so late, and dark, please don't ever do that again! Ever! Your father and I were beside ourselves!" her words were spoken into my shoulder and her tears soaked my tunic and I felt bad for my actions.

"Yes Marm, I promise." I worked to make my tone less sullen.

She got up off her knees dusting her dress off and wiping her eyes.

"Now, I suppose you have questions. Did Teresa feed you? Good, I'll make us a tea and we can talk." Her movements were brisk and matter of fact and before I know it I was sitting next to her at the hearth with a cup of tea and a silence that stretched as wide as the Eastern Sea.

The questions started out in a trickle before increasing into a waterfall of questions, doubts, fears and realizations.

The short version was this.

I am Dhampir, the child of a vampire and a human.

There was no telling just how Vampire or Human I was until the Mayberoch, or transformation, and no one knew exactly when that would happen.

There had not been many Dhampir before and each was different. The fact that my mother was witch could cause me to be more human, or it could have no affect at all.

They were not even sure the curse would touch me until my skin started changing.  Some Dhampir children were born with so little vampire legacy that they were, for all intents and purposes, human.

"There is one more thing." my Mothers voice was hesitant, as if she almost loathed to bring up anything else when I am was already trying to take in so much.

"What else?" my voice sounded flat, even to me.

"Your father, he's Royalty, a Prince to be exact."

"Excuse you?" I am sure, in any other instance I would have been slapped for my impertinence, but clemency was expected and extended.

"Yes, and that makes you, because of your birth, a Princess."