my very own vampires

Prologue

Behind the Veil

Gideon glided through the vaulted marble corridors of the Great Hall. A thick hush filled the ancient air, stirred only by the occasional rush of a scurrying servant. It was an unnatural silence. As a rule the spiderweb of corridors were filled with vampires seeking entrance to the vast library or attending the endless debates in one of the antechambers. There was no greater duty for a vampire than searching for knowledge. It was an insatiable thirst, and the only true desire that had remained since they had left the mortal plane to exist behind the Veil.

It had been nearly two hundred years since the great vampire Nefri had used the Medallion to create the Veil. Two hundred years of serenity and utter peace.

They had left behind the chaos and compulsive passions of the mortal world. They had also left behind the bloodlust that had made vampires as savage and brutal as the humans they preyed upon.

Since then it had been a time of immeasurable greatness for the Immortal Ones. Without the passions and hungers of the flesh they had reached a superior society that transcended any loss of powers they had suffered. Shape-shifting and mist walking that came only from the drinking of human blood were talents needed only for those who hunted.

And vampires no longer hunted.

Or they had not until this morning, Gideon sternly corrected.