A Twist of Fate: Chapter 1, Part 2
Same day, somewhere else...
From the Author: Hey everyone! I'm really happy about the good feedback from the polls on this story. I just wanted to let you know really quick that next week is our break and i will post the remaining chapters of Manchester hopefully and more chapters of this. Keep reading and commenting! Thanks! ~Em
***
"Is that all you’ve got, little brother?"
Maximilian crouched back into his offensive stance after dodging most of his twin brother Nicolaus’ strikes.
Nicolaus chuckled as he landed gracefully onto his feet after a backflip. "I have plenty more where that came from, trust me."
Both boys shared the same dark brown hair color, skin complexion, height, and muscular build, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended; they were fraternal twins. Maximilian had chocolate brown eyes and shoulder length hair that always seemed wavy and gelled. His highly cocky and confident attitude often times landed him in rough patches, yet nothing he could not handle himself. Nicolaus, younger by a mere four minutes, had chillingly beautiful icy light blue eyes and short perfectly trimmed hair. A man of integrity, he was usually the more levelheaded of the two, but still enjoyed to stray to the wild side with his brother from time to time.
The two, dressed in black, were having their morning workout of hand-to-hand combat. A scene like this would not be so unusual among normal human fighters, if in fact, they were human. Their shared skin complexion, oddly pale, indicated something strange. Slight, hardly noticeable bruising underneath their eyes made them seem as if they had not slept…ever. Together with the stony appearance, the 6’5’’ brothers moved with the speed and agility of which humans were incapable to even see, let alone perform. With their immense strength, they could easily uproot a giant California sequoia and toss it miles away, if they wished. The boys could leap a building, but they were no do-good Superman. Maximilian pounced on Nicolaus, who used the forward motion to counter the attack by pushing Max off over his head, towards the wall. At that moment, Maximilian’s eyes turned entirely black, like a bottomless pit, and he decelerated drastically until he landed lightly in a crouch on the wall…and remained there.
Nicolaus flipped onto his feet and spun towards his brother. "I thought this was only hand-to-hand." A growl ripped from his chest.
"You know how I like to make things interesting." Maximilian sneered deviously as he lingered in his position on the wall.
"Fine. If that is how you want to play." Nicolaus’ eyes changed to the soulless black like his brother’s. He grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth…and his venomous fangs.
Maximilian lunged off the wall towards his brother. Nicolaus had seen this in Max’s mind and darted out of the way. He then whirled around to kick out Max’s feet from underneath him, but Max read Nicolaus’ mind as well and jumped over the kick and out of immediate reach. He faced his younger brother and stomped his foot hard in Nicolaus’ direction. While the ground beneath Nicolaus’ feet shook violently, Maximilian took the opportunity to send an energy ball at him. Nicolaus stayed unaffected by the tremors and deflected the ball away. It hit the wall and left a scorch mark after the small explosion. A fire formed in Nicolaus’ hand and he threw the ball at Maximilian. The ball blew up midair before touching Max, not by his doing. Both brothers were confused.
"Vesta will kill you if she finds out you’re throwing fire around like this again, Nicolaus."
A 5’11’’ whitish-blonde, blue eyed female, also clothed fully in black, strolled into the combat room. From the look of her features, she was related to the two boys somehow…and was whatever they were. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head.
The black disappeared from Nicolaus’ eyes and his fangs retracted. "Seraphina, do you honestly believe I would intentionally commit such a reckless act without provocation?"
Seraphina nodded sympathetically. "Of course not. But how does that make me look if I continually take your side over my husband’s?"
Maximilian smiled widely and his eyes returned to normal as he moved by his wife’s side. "Phi, you’re too much." He slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her gently.
Nicolaus rolled his eyes. "I will be in my bedroom, where there is still some trace of sanity."
He left the over-sentimental couple and decided to walk to his room, clearing his mind along the way. He traveled through the intricately decorated halls of the castle. The life of a prince, without the actual living part. All Nicolaus had ever known was being this "monster." He was born into this world a vampire and will die as just that, a concept he had long come to terms with. He and Maximilian stopped aging at 21, hundreds of years ago. And Seraphina never grew a minute older after that horrible day. Memories flooded back as the gate to his mind opened up…
The patriarch of the vampire race (homogenus nocturnus), Dracula, was born perfect, although it is unknown exactly how he came to be. He never had to evolve through time, retaining the pure vampire gene. Records kept throughout the history of civilization alluded to his presence behind the scenes, slaughtering in the shadows, living among the humans in the day. For thousands of years he continued his silent rampage, until all of a sudden he vanished. Legend said he retreated to an eternal sleep, disgusted with what the world had become. Many prophecies were written about his disappearance. In his wake, eight people of four different families arose as the first line of turned vampires, or noble line, endowed with most of the gifts that Dracula had been bestowed. Alaric de Alemania and his wife, Vesta, were the first of the eight, the most aristocratic, the figurehead King and Queen. The others, Felix and Ismene Throckmorton, Thanos and Raven Purcell, and Marcus and Xanthe Reginaldi, along with Alaric and Vesta decided to mark their territory and to turn humans into vampires to use as guards and slaves.
Unbeknownst to them that vampires could bear children, Vesta became pregnant and only three months later, gave birth to her twins, Maximilian and Nicolaus, the first two vampire children. Marcus and Xanthe soon followed suit in birthing their only child, a girl, Seraphina. The Purcells, a dreadfully covetous couple, immediately began to create children, almost one after the other: Victor, Keiran, and Silas. The Throckmortons, equally envious, did the same, leading to Lucas, Jana, Danika, and Octavio. A romance developed between Maximilian and Seraphina. Thanos secretly disapproved of this union; he felt this gave those two families an unfair tip on the scale of nobility. It was bad enough that Alaric and Vesta were the most powerful out of the four families. When news was revealed that Maximilian and Seraphina were to be wedded on her nineteenth birthday, Thanos and Raven conspired a plot to stop it. They ordered the strongest soldiers in their guard to train newborn vampires to assassinate the couple. The day of the wedding, chaos ensued. Innocent blood was spilled; Seraphina lost her parents in the battle. The rogue newborns were executed and ties were severed among the remaining families.
A surge of vampires occurred when mini-wars broke out between the families’ guards and as a result, human bystanders were turned. As the centuries passed, the vampire gene mutated drastically, forming a modern line of vampires that barely had a fraction of the abilities the noble line possessed. The nobles had the power to walk in daylight without attracting attention; the newer line sparkled and remained in sunless areas. The nobles could create fire and electricity from their bodies, transport from place to place by a method of shimmering, and read minds. Modern vampires only had the speed, the strength, and some occasionally had a unique gift. The modern line of vampires lost the ability to reproduce through childbirth; they could only turn humans…
Nicolaus entered his bedroom suite, a lavish navy blue walled and gold adorned mini-palace. He threw a fire ball into the fireplace as he made his way into his luxury bathroom. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was still a little irritated by the workout and his brother and Phi’s intense PDA, but he understood that they had sacrificed a lot to be together. Seraphina had become a decadent party girl and a ruthless assassin after her parents’ death. Alaric and Vesta sympathized with her and allowed her random trips to let loose or track down the Purcells. The sons of bitches went into hiding somewhere in their territory and came out only to provoke Nicolaus and his family. Nicolaus snarled, but stopped abruptly, seeing his terrifying facial expression in the mirror. He was better than the primitive vampires of the day. He was born of noble blood.
Blood. His throat burned as the thirst crossed his mind. He hadn’t fed in weeks. Nicolaus walked out of his bathroom to his personal office, checking the calendar. He had been "moonlighting" as a human student at Columbia University. College became routine to remain in human contact without revealing his secret, although it has become quite repetitive over the centuries, especially after working under the greats, like Aristotle and Einstein. He could wait until the annual "School’s out, Summer’s in" bash tomorrow. Plus, it was much easier to feed when the victim was intoxicated anyway, although the taste would be significantly altered.
***
"Is that all you’ve got, little brother?"
Maximilian crouched back into his offensive stance after dodging most of his twin brother Nicolaus’ strikes.
Nicolaus chuckled as he landed gracefully onto his feet after a backflip. "I have plenty more where that came from, trust me."
Both boys shared the same dark brown hair color, skin complexion, height, and muscular build, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended; they were fraternal twins. Maximilian had chocolate brown eyes and shoulder length hair that always seemed wavy and gelled. His highly cocky and confident attitude often times landed him in rough patches, yet nothing he could not handle himself. Nicolaus, younger by a mere four minutes, had chillingly beautiful icy light blue eyes and short perfectly trimmed hair. A man of integrity, he was usually the more levelheaded of the two, but still enjoyed to stray to the wild side with his brother from time to time.
The two, dressed in black, were having their morning workout of hand-to-hand combat. A scene like this would not be so unusual among normal human fighters, if in fact, they were human. Their shared skin complexion, oddly pale, indicated something strange. Slight, hardly noticeable bruising underneath their eyes made them seem as if they had not slept…ever. Together with the stony appearance, the 6’5’’ brothers moved with the speed and agility of which humans were incapable to even see, let alone perform. With their immense strength, they could easily uproot a giant California sequoia and toss it miles away, if they wished. The boys could leap a building, but they were no do-good Superman. Maximilian pounced on Nicolaus, who used the forward motion to counter the attack by pushing Max off over his head, towards the wall. At that moment, Maximilian’s eyes turned entirely black, like a bottomless pit, and he decelerated drastically until he landed lightly in a crouch on the wall…and remained there.
Nicolaus flipped onto his feet and spun towards his brother. "I thought this was only hand-to-hand." A growl ripped from his chest.
"You know how I like to make things interesting." Maximilian sneered deviously as he lingered in his position on the wall.
"Fine. If that is how you want to play." Nicolaus’ eyes changed to the soulless black like his brother’s. He grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth…and his venomous fangs.
Maximilian lunged off the wall towards his brother. Nicolaus had seen this in Max’s mind and darted out of the way. He then whirled around to kick out Max’s feet from underneath him, but Max read Nicolaus’ mind as well and jumped over the kick and out of immediate reach. He faced his younger brother and stomped his foot hard in Nicolaus’ direction. While the ground beneath Nicolaus’ feet shook violently, Maximilian took the opportunity to send an energy ball at him. Nicolaus stayed unaffected by the tremors and deflected the ball away. It hit the wall and left a scorch mark after the small explosion. A fire formed in Nicolaus’ hand and he threw the ball at Maximilian. The ball blew up midair before touching Max, not by his doing. Both brothers were confused.
"Vesta will kill you if she finds out you’re throwing fire around like this again, Nicolaus."
A 5’11’’ whitish-blonde, blue eyed female, also clothed fully in black, strolled into the combat room. From the look of her features, she was related to the two boys somehow…and was whatever they were. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head.
The black disappeared from Nicolaus’ eyes and his fangs retracted. "Seraphina, do you honestly believe I would intentionally commit such a reckless act without provocation?"
Seraphina nodded sympathetically. "Of course not. But how does that make me look if I continually take your side over my husband’s?"
Maximilian smiled widely and his eyes returned to normal as he moved by his wife’s side. "Phi, you’re too much." He slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her gently.
Nicolaus rolled his eyes. "I will be in my bedroom, where there is still some trace of sanity."
He left the over-sentimental couple and decided to walk to his room, clearing his mind along the way. He traveled through the intricately decorated halls of the castle. The life of a prince, without the actual living part. All Nicolaus had ever known was being this "monster." He was born into this world a vampire and will die as just that, a concept he had long come to terms with. He and Maximilian stopped aging at 21, hundreds of years ago. And Seraphina never grew a minute older after that horrible day. Memories flooded back as the gate to his mind opened up…
The patriarch of the vampire race (homogenus nocturnus), Dracula, was born perfect, although it is unknown exactly how he came to be. He never had to evolve through time, retaining the pure vampire gene. Records kept throughout the history of civilization alluded to his presence behind the scenes, slaughtering in the shadows, living among the humans in the day. For thousands of years he continued his silent rampage, until all of a sudden he vanished. Legend said he retreated to an eternal sleep, disgusted with what the world had become. Many prophecies were written about his disappearance. In his wake, eight people of four different families arose as the first line of turned vampires, or noble line, endowed with most of the gifts that Dracula had been bestowed. Alaric de Alemania and his wife, Vesta, were the first of the eight, the most aristocratic, the figurehead King and Queen. The others, Felix and Ismene Throckmorton, Thanos and Raven Purcell, and Marcus and Xanthe Reginaldi, along with Alaric and Vesta decided to mark their territory and to turn humans into vampires to use as guards and slaves.
Unbeknownst to them that vampires could bear children, Vesta became pregnant and only three months later, gave birth to her twins, Maximilian and Nicolaus, the first two vampire children. Marcus and Xanthe soon followed suit in birthing their only child, a girl, Seraphina. The Purcells, a dreadfully covetous couple, immediately began to create children, almost one after the other: Victor, Keiran, and Silas. The Throckmortons, equally envious, did the same, leading to Lucas, Jana, Danika, and Octavio. A romance developed between Maximilian and Seraphina. Thanos secretly disapproved of this union; he felt this gave those two families an unfair tip on the scale of nobility. It was bad enough that Alaric and Vesta were the most powerful out of the four families. When news was revealed that Maximilian and Seraphina were to be wedded on her nineteenth birthday, Thanos and Raven conspired a plot to stop it. They ordered the strongest soldiers in their guard to train newborn vampires to assassinate the couple. The day of the wedding, chaos ensued. Innocent blood was spilled; Seraphina lost her parents in the battle. The rogue newborns were executed and ties were severed among the remaining families.
A surge of vampires occurred when mini-wars broke out between the families’ guards and as a result, human bystanders were turned. As the centuries passed, the vampire gene mutated drastically, forming a modern line of vampires that barely had a fraction of the abilities the noble line possessed. The nobles had the power to walk in daylight without attracting attention; the newer line sparkled and remained in sunless areas. The nobles could create fire and electricity from their bodies, transport from place to place by a method of shimmering, and read minds. Modern vampires only had the speed, the strength, and some occasionally had a unique gift. The modern line of vampires lost the ability to reproduce through childbirth; they could only turn humans…
Nicolaus entered his bedroom suite, a lavish navy blue walled and gold adorned mini-palace. He threw a fire ball into the fireplace as he made his way into his luxury bathroom. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was still a little irritated by the workout and his brother and Phi’s intense PDA, but he understood that they had sacrificed a lot to be together. Seraphina had become a decadent party girl and a ruthless assassin after her parents’ death. Alaric and Vesta sympathized with her and allowed her random trips to let loose or track down the Purcells. The sons of bitches went into hiding somewhere in their territory and came out only to provoke Nicolaus and his family. Nicolaus snarled, but stopped abruptly, seeing his terrifying facial expression in the mirror. He was better than the primitive vampires of the day. He was born of noble blood.
Blood. His throat burned as the thirst crossed his mind. He hadn’t fed in weeks. Nicolaus walked out of his bathroom to his personal office, checking the calendar. He had been "moonlighting" as a human student at Columbia University. College became routine to remain in human contact without revealing his secret, although it has become quite repetitive over the centuries, especially after working under the greats, like Aristotle and Einstein. He could wait until the annual "School’s out, Summer’s in" bash tomorrow. Plus, it was much easier to feed when the victim was intoxicated anyway, although the taste would be significantly altered.
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