Bonus: I was a Teenage Paladin

Author note: This is an answer to the question: “What happened in Paris and why is Samuel different.” I apologize for the lateness of this. I’ve rewritten it about 4 times and I think this is the one that conveys things the best. Hope you enjoy.

- Drew

Paris, 1522

I woke with a start, the first indication that something was wrong. I was generally a light sleeper, waking at sounds as light as a creak from the floorboards. The second indication was in the form of a man who sat at the table in my room, slicing an apple.

There were two reasons this was alarming. The first being that, despite my quarters being in a hostel, it was a private room with only two keys. One for me and one for the desk clerk. The second was that the man who had just watched me sleep was Samuel Lasher, a vampire that I had been tracking for years.

“Good Morrow, Mr. Damian.” He said, popping a piece into his mouth.

With his hands full, I took the opportunity to grab Animus Purgo, leaping across the room to lay waste to the abomination. Something was different though, pain had begun to numb my arms the moment I’d picked it up. By the time I’d crossed the room my grip was weak enough that Samuel was able to block my attack with a simple paring knife.

A flick of his wrist and I was disarmed.

“You know James,” he said, taking another bite. ”If I could remember what feelings were like, you might have hurt them just now.”

It was then, as he leaned back in his chair, relishing in my quick defeat that I realized what was wrong. I could no longer feel Him. The knowledge of this sent me to my knees, crushing me under its weight.

I looked at my hands then, the hands that had wrought the destruction of countless numbers of evil. They looked the same, but for the burned impression of the seven pointed star which adorned the hilt of my weapon. A few moments passed, and soon my hands were whole and unscathed.

“What have you done to me?” I asked, blinking away the tears. No weakness in the eyes of the enemy. Faith and fortitude shall prevail.

“Well James,” he responded between bites. “I can call you James yes? They say James, that if you can’t beat them, join them. Now I can’t very well become a member of the Court of Seven. So I made you join us.”

 My world went red. Still to this day I can’t tell you how many times I tried to take his life that day. I do remember attempting to wield my sword against him again. The pain was too much to bear though, and the day ended with him dragging my half-unconscious body out the window.

——

It only took two days for me to give in to my urge to feed. It was less than a month before I began to enjoy it. Samuel was patient with me, slowly teaching me their–our– ways.

“We now walk amongst the humans. Though as I said earlier, if the sun is out, we generally aren’t going to do much. You see, even though the sunlight doesn’t kill us, it limits us physically. You wont be seeing any of us lifting people off of the ground, or moving quicker than you can perceive.

“As a matter of fact, if you see someone waking down the street with a pair of fangs it more than likely means that you need to get behind a threshold because the night is fast approaching. And take it from me, you do not want to be around a vampire who’s spent all day in the sun.

“Things get messy when that happens.”

“So,” I said, still trying to wrap my head around this. “I don’t understand. If we’re immune to the sun, why were all the ones that I killed still staying to the night? Wouldn’t it be better to try to live ‘normal’ lives? That was always something I looked for when I was hunting. People that no one ever saw while the sun was up, or who frequented places around the time that regulars would seemingly disappear.”

“Well, there’s a few reasons we would do that. Some of us are just used to the night. It’s easier to hunt, you rarely have to bring a meal home with you and people are generally more open to being alone with a stranger. Others haven’t felt Ashver’s Embrace.

“There aren’t many of them left, thanks to people like you, but they still exist. It’s something that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone now though. No one should be denied the joy that an afternoon walk can bring.”

“Ashver’s Embrace?” I asked.

“Yes. Kurtis Ashver. He is the reason you and I are able to feel the warmth of the sun. Freed from the night and allowed to live a so-called ‘normal’ life. He took everything I cared about and crushed it in his fist. Then he gave me the world.”

“What did he do?”

“I’m not sure. But it had something to do with alchemy.”