Aldrin
It's been over 2000 years.
Two millennia of existence as the Vampire King… and yet, all I feel is boredom.
War, death, betrayal.
Love, lust, obsession.
I've seen it all. Lived through it. Survived it.
What remains now is silence. Stillness. The kind that seeps into your bones and rots away your desire to feel.
Life became even more mundane after the death of my greatest rival — Gabriel.
Once my friend then my greatest enemy. He was the only one who dared to challenge me, to stand in front of me and call me inferior, even when I was born of royal blood. The fire he had in him made me hated him but admired him. He was inferior to me in all the ways but the fire that he had in him will make you burn alive and question your own sanity and that is what I liked about him. More than anything he made me feel alive. And now that he's gone… nothing excites me anymore.
I sit on a throne that no longer feels earned. I rule a kingdom that no longer resists. Even the thrill of hunting has dulled. I am supreme in my race — a fact no one questions, and that is exactly the problem. My miss the rush the rush makes your head spin and make you feel that you are alive even your heart is not beating.
Being born royal comes with certain advantages. My powers are far beyond that of ordinary vampires. Invisibility. Telepathy. Immunity to the sun. Heightened senses and strength. And one very convenient skill — I can remember everything I see, perfectly, forever.
A blessing.
A curse.
I remember every scream. Every kiss. Every goodbye. And I forget nothing.
Just as I was slipping into another century of useless reflection, a knock echoed through my chamber.
"Master, I have something to report," came Zen's voice, loyal and steady as always.
"If it doesn't require my immediate attention," I said coldly, "then don't disturb me."
"Master... it's about Gabriel."
My eyes snapped open.
"Go on."
"His daughter has been spotted. University of Baraley. Alive and… very human."
For the first time in decades, I felt something stir inside me. A flicker. Barely a flame. But it was something.
"Prepare for me to leave, Zen."
"As a professor, Master?" he asked cautiously.
I stood up, pulling on the black coat I hadn't worn in centuries. My reflection — eternally youthful, elegant, tired — stared back at me.
"No, Zen," I said with a hint of a smile. "As a student."
Zen looked startled. "You haven't enrolled in a college in over 200 years…"
"Then it's about time."
I didn't know what I would find there — maybe a ghost, maybe nothing. But for the first time in ages, my heart wasn't heavy. It was curious.
And curiosity… is the beginning of danger.