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A darkness had fallen over the Mansion on Ash Lane years back, and it had never seemed to lift. The local children thought it haunted, but the crumbling old walls had been recently rebuilt with firm concrete, topped with barbed wire, and the gates were watched by CCTV cameras. But the large wrought-iron gargoyles remained. The residents obviously had a weakness for dramatic effect.
Vehicles rarely went in or out, and certainly never in the daytime. Those that did were mostly anonymous saloons, black with tinted windows. Nobody ever got even a glimpse of the hands on the wheel or the passengers in the back.
There's a simple reason for this. The residents were a fourty-strong vampire coven. The city is half an hour's drive aya, and makes for the perfect hunting ground. And these vampires don't run faster than cars.
Whilst they ahd adapted over the centuries to blend in with humanity, they had never truly forgotten the old ways. The vampires lived in isolated clans never more than fifty strong, called covens. They had their own feeding grounds, and never crossed into eachothers. To do so would mean war, and these were costly and generally avoided.
Unlike in traditional society, the hierarchy is a lot stricter. It is often hard for "new recruits" to grasp, but the vampires never truly modernised in their attitudes to women. Female vampires are generally accepted to be inferior to their male bretheren, so it is their job to run the household whilst the men do most of the hunting.
Some covens are ruled by a council, some by democratic voteof all its members, but the most common is a feudal regieme. The master of the coven, generally the oldest and strongest vampire, rules with an iron fist, and none oppose him.
This can be very misleading, as whilst vampires do age, they do so at a much slower rate than humans, and a lot of their apperance depends on the age at which they were changed.
It is tradition that upon his ascension to the position of Master, the vampire lord is granted his choice of mistresses from the youngest and fairest of the flock.
Now
Marcus sits upon his throne as he looks down at the entier coven before him. Well, those who oculd be away from their duties. A pack of Hunters had stumbled onto their coven a few weeks ago, and they were presently away on a war. Many of his brothers were away fighting. But he had no need of them for this ceremony. They had been present at the election, and that was all that their laws required.
Before him, a procession of the youngest females from the brood are presented, dressed in simple garments. Some are in white, others black, some modern dress, others in dresses and corsets of a bygone age.
This was a stupid ritual, he thought, a relic of a long dead time. He was young for a vampire lord, only 159. In reality, he looked to be in his mid twenties, but there was an eternity present in his dark brown eyes.
They traverse the floor in procession, one by one, and show of their various charms. All were beautiful, and he wondered idly as each one passed what they would be like in bed that night.
A darkness had fallen over the Mansion on Ash Lane years back, and it had never seemed to lift. The local children thought it haunted, but the crumbling old walls had been recently rebuilt with firm concrete, topped with barbed wire, and the gates were watched by CCTV cameras. But the large wrought-iron gargoyles remained. The residents obviously had a weakness for dramatic effect.
Vehicles rarely went in or out, and certainly never in the daytime. Those that did were mostly anonymous saloons, black with tinted windows. Nobody ever got even a glimpse of the hands on the wheel or the passengers in the back.
There's a simple reason for this. The residents were a fourty-strong vampire coven. The city is half an hour's drive aya, and makes for the perfect hunting ground. And these vampires don't run faster than cars.
Whilst they ahd adapted over the centuries to blend in with humanity, they had never truly forgotten the old ways. The vampires lived in isolated clans never more than fifty strong, called covens. They had their own feeding grounds, and never crossed into eachothers. To do so would mean war, and these were costly and generally avoided.
Unlike in traditional society, the hierarchy is a lot stricter. It is often hard for "new recruits" to grasp, but the vampires never truly modernised in their attitudes to women. Female vampires are generally accepted to be inferior to their male bretheren, so it is their job to run the household whilst the men do most of the hunting.
Some covens are ruled by a council, some by democratic voteof all its members, but the most common is a feudal regieme. The master of the coven, generally the oldest and strongest vampire, rules with an iron fist, and none oppose him.
This can be very misleading, as whilst vampires do age, they do so at a much slower rate than humans, and a lot of their apperance depends on the age at which they were changed.
It is tradition that upon his ascension to the position of Master, the vampire lord is granted his choice of mistresses from the youngest and fairest of the flock.
Now
Marcus sits upon his throne as he looks down at the entier coven before him. Well, those who oculd be away from their duties. A pack of Hunters had stumbled onto their coven a few weeks ago, and they were presently away on a war. Many of his brothers were away fighting. But he had no need of them for this ceremony. They had been present at the election, and that was all that their laws required.
Before him, a procession of the youngest females from the brood are presented, dressed in simple garments. Some are in white, others black, some modern dress, others in dresses and corsets of a bygone age.
This was a stupid ritual, he thought, a relic of a long dead time. He was young for a vampire lord, only 159. In reality, he looked to be in his mid twenties, but there was an eternity present in his dark brown eyes.
They traverse the floor in procession, one by one, and show of their various charms. All were beautiful, and he wondered idly as each one passed what they would be like in bed that night.
