Disclaimer: I don’t own “Harry Potter” or “Vampire The Masquerade” series. If I did, I wouldn’t be writing fan fiction... those trademarks and non-original characters are owned by “J.K Rowling” “Raincoast Books” and “White Wolf Games Studio”
A/N: Author's Notes: This is the prologue of my first fic. I started rewritting it and will continue to do so. When I read back the original, I found it lacking, bad and with major plotholes from ideas that came along while I was writing. Now I'm trying to use what I can from the first attempt, correct mistakes and fill plotholes so it can be an, at least, half-decent story.The fic is a crossover between Harry Potter and Vampire: The Masquerade. As those who know about 'VtM' will see, I'll slightly bend both universes to my liking so the crossing over can be done. There is too much to add from the entire World of Darkness and it can't be done without a lot of tweaking. I'll also will ignore the whole Gehenna as if it never happened. No, Ravnos won't be awake anytime soon in my fic. I didn't like the way White Wolf ended the old WoD, and I don't like 'Vampire: The Requiem' much.Those who don't have a clue about it don't have to worry. Everything will be explained to an extent so you can follow the story.-This chapter has been betaed by Tehan and sephirotbrokenangel. thanks to them.
The Blood of the Gods
PROLOGUE
What’s my name you say? I usually respond to that with a snort, but just for you I’ll make an exception. You’re the one asking for answers, and I’ll give them to you. I’ll guarantee, though, that it won’t be pretty.
My name... I’m not sure of my name anymore. I’ve gone long using aliases, being called other names than the one I was originally given, hiding and avoiding those who can relate me to it as much as I can. As the time passed I grew accustomed to respond to those other calls, but if I had to tell you the story behind it, I would give you the first one I was known for. It would sound familiar to you, for My name is, or was, Harry James Potter. My parents gave it to me, my name that is, centuries ago, and I should remember it as the only gift I got from them before their deaths, but I can’t even remember what they looked like, so why bother. They are dead, and so am I. The only difference between us is that I, despite being dead, the cold, clammy skin, despite having no heartbeat and my lack of breath, I’m right here telling you this story, while they are probably buried and rotting.
How can it be? Dear, believe me when I tell you that it can. After all, you’re listening to my story, aren’t you?
But first, and before we enter fully into the matter, let me ask you a couple of silly and petty questions. Humor me, I’m too old to be denied a little bit of amusement after all...
Tell me, Have you ever seen it? Have you ever felt it?
Don’t blush, I wasn’t referring to that. No? That’s a pity. But worry no more, darling. After tonight, I assure you that you will have seen enough to avoid sleep in weeks. Am I scaring you? I’m sorry, but that’s the way I’ve grown up to be. You can’t blame me for my upbringing, can you? I wasn’t always like this, but experiences change people, and that’s what happened to me. I experienced. I changed.
So, as I was saying, What if one day you woke up and realized that the society in which you live has something hidden in it?
Something dark. Something obscure...
We’ve got the feeling more than once. Everyone has. You know it’s there, but you can’t quite place it. Elusive, vague, wrong...
You surely thought of it. As I already said, everyone has. Long before, I used to think about it. Some said that I had quite a nice “sixth sense” for those things, others just stated that I was a moron and should just live my life.
Well, there are always those who told you at some point during your short life that there was something off, that something was not quite right. Strange things happened before your eyes, and you were ignoring it. That there was an entire world hidden behind the facade of the one you lived in. Prophets, seers, madmen, paranoids. Kine deal with them pretty quickly, label them as somewhat unworthy and ignore them as fast as they can. Their lives pass rapidly and they don’t have the time to bother. Wizards, on the other hand... Those are a completely different matter. Despite their faults, they do tend to listen those who can help unveil secrets in magic and many mysteries. Seers in particular are hailed as something rare and valuable, and their prophecies are always deemed true. The fact is though, that some of those people can be right about some things. You never know what piece of valuable information can find in-between the ramblings of a madman.
Wizards? Of course they exist. No I haven’t gone off the rocker. Do not worry, everything will be explained in due time. Patience, my dear, is everything I’m asking for.
And still, dismissing all the clues and the little evidence we continued with our normal lives. Everything was normal, right?
In the end, everything comes down to a question of faith. Do you believe in god? No? You should. Pray now while you can, save your soul, because you don’t know what awaits you in hell. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen what it does to those who remember what they saw when they died. Of course, to believe, most of us must “see”. That’s society as it has been for the last couple of centuries. Science, they tell you, is the key to the future, and science is based on observation and gathering information from it, so it’s a normal belief for an actual mind. Superstition? Yes, you can laugh what you want, but when this is over, you won’t laugh. That, I can guarantee. Nowadays, very few have such faith to believe in something they have not seen before. Society, like most closed communities, fears what they don’t know, it’s in your nature after all, and the majority are quite satisfied with their simple, boring, normal lives. Take out the trash, go buy some milk, watch the TV, go to church to redeem your weekly sins to make yourself feel better despite ignoring that crap about god...
Are you faithful? Do you believe in god? Do you believe in something that can’t be seen? Hypocrites, the lot of you. I laugh bitterly every time I see one of those, your ‘leaders’ acting in the name of god. And they call us monsters...
Now, what if I told you that I have “seen”? Would you like to take a look at what’s behind the veil put in front of your eyes?
The first time I saw through that veil I was a mistreated, simple-minded, scrawny eleven year old child who accepted his fate as an insignificant bother. At that point in my life, the last thing I would have imagined was a sudden change and the only names I was known by were ‘boy’, ‘freak’ or ‘that thing’. ‘Harry’ came later. I was insignificant, a stain in the perfect picture of a normal life just because strange and unbelievable things happened around me. There was something odd, something off about me, but I could never place it. Does this remind you of the questions I asked before? In the end, when I was resigned to my fate, I discovered that I had been lied to all my life until my eleventh birthday. Something strange and incredible happened, something magical. Now I wouldn’t qualify it as such, but back then, to me and my perception as a child, it was a miracle. A ray of light tearing through the darkness of my life like a sharp sword snapping open the gut of an enemy; my own Hogwarts Letter.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Indeed, magic was real and it was learned in a school. Several schools in fact.
Sounds surreal? But little one, we just got started...
Suddenly I was in a new world, a world where I was someone, where I had a purpose, a world where I fit. A world hidden behind the one I knew before, the Wizarding World. My own world. Yes, they existed. I already told you, witches and wizards, and an entire community of other magical beings, unknown to the always oblivious and unobservant ‘Muggles’.
What are ‘Muggles’ you say? That’s the term they use for non magical people like you.
Then, Hogwarts came, and with it my education in the magical arts. Magic was my life, and normalcy was not a common thing in a land of magical folk. Little did I know when I stepped into that hellhole, that soon would come the disappointment. That fantastic world was in essence, as dark and oblivious as this one. Rotten and corrupt, conservative, lazy and lacking in progress. They assigned me, and only me, the arduous task of being the one who ended a war. As you can imagine, that is tiresome and it can pretty much consume a person. I’m not the weakest bloke around, everyone would succumb to that pressure. Magic was my life, but it also pretty much destroyed my opportunity at enjoying it. At the time I was still oblivious but that strange funny feeling. I didn’t know that there was still a blindfold before my eyes. There it was, in the back of my mind, as always. Something was off, something dark, something obscure...
Yes, for once you guessed right, my dear. There are other communities that even those of the wizarding world do not know of their existence. That hidden ‘underworld’ is the main and only puppeteer in your lives. It has everything to do with you, as you are necessary for its survival. For our survival. After all, you mortals control the cattle, don’t you? We do the same...
Did I say ‘mortals’? Sorry, must have slipped. We’ll get into that later.
The world I’m talking about, as I said, has everything to do with yours, but at the same time, is completely different. We begin our activities as the sun sets, our deeds are put in motion while you are sleeping in the comfy illusion of security that is your home. We are creatures of the night, and we love it. We control, we bribe, we feed and we fight our wars. Ones in favor of remaining hidden, manipulating in the shadows, others wishing to be exposed and reign as dominant species, but both with the primal wish of survival.
Mafia? No, you’ve got it wrong. We are more than that, although our social structure could remind you of it. We are an entire community, a society of beings that prey from you. Oh yes, you are our prey, we feed from you and we are born from you. We are always there, watching, waiting... You must have seen one of us more than once. That young stud in the bar, watching you with strange glowing eyes, that buxom, pale brunette who seems to hover in the dance floor, approaching young and healthy suitors, that strange man beside the politician in the gala, the scarred manager of that club you used to like a few years before... ...they could pretty much be one of us.
The Undead, the Lamia, the Sons of the Devil, the Children of the Night, Devils, Monsters, Archfiends, Nosferatu. Vampires.We are the Children of Caine, we are vampires, immortals. We have little to fear, but we are that which must be feared. Sometimes, Some of us have even been worshipped and adored like gods, others have been scorned, but the world is always ours, and always will be, at least that’s what some of us believe.
You don’t need look so winded. Not just yet. Yes, I’m a Vampire, a fiend. I like most of my peers, my kinship, have to drink blood to survive, and I enjoy it greatly. Maybe later you can give me a taste, no? The metallic flavor always makes my days, and sadly, lately it’s been my only pleasure. We have fangs, some of us even claws, and our powers far surpass yours. It is not easy to kill us, and we are only forbidden to see the sun ever again; if we did, we would burn to ashes and dust. Aside from that, we can stand where human creations have disappeared, crumbled or have been destroyed. Because in the end, it all comes to survival. We are the highest point in the pyramid, we are ‘the’ predators, you are the prey. Make sure you close the window while you sleep, there’s always one of us near.
For now, I’m not going to tell you more than the basics. I want you to understand the story, if not, there would be no point in telling it to you. You should be grateful; my Sire never was kind enough to explain much of this to me.
Vampires are a big community called the Kindred. We are all the children of Caine, yes, the one in the Bible, who we are told that was the first of us. A Vampire is born when he’s “embraced” by another of the Damned, given “the kiss” as we say, or fed with the Vitae, blood, of one of our kind. My Sire did it to me, and the Sire of my Sire did to her. It always goes like this. Generally, the ‘embrace’ is a complicated and complete ritual, but sometimes it can happen in ways no one imagined. It can be pleasant or it can be extremely traumatic, but it always ends with one life lost. For starters, and for the standards of my original clan, my embrace was a quite curious variation of what it should have been, but now is not the time. Everything will be explained...
What’s the Sire? The Sire is the Bloodfather or Bloodmother of a newborn Vampire, and this newborn is this Sire’s Childe. His or her role is to instruct the recently embraced Childe, taking the newborn under his or her wing and bring the recently born Kindred up as a proper member of Vampiric society. The same role that an actual father or mother would play in their child’s education. Isn’t it cute? Ironically, it’s never sunshine and daisies. We are a mockery of life, and a parody of what nature should be, so those roles are played in some twisted ways. As far as I am concerned, and in our world, parents should be able to educate their children as they see fit.
Ah, I see you caught up with my reference to ‘clans’. Oh yes, there are bloodlines, races, clans among us. What kind of society would we be without our little individualities? We aren’t just one species, we are an entire society and we are delightfully organized and quite capable. What were you thinking? That we behave like some kind of barbaric monsters? Oh, don’t worry dear, we do, but in almost every sense we work like any other society. We have our alliances and wars, interests and ambitions. Every clan has it’s own particular philosophy and ways of viewing the no-life, but for our survival, most of us have to forge treaties with the others, putting aside our differences or in an extreme, battle each other.
In the end, it all comes to the most primitive thing: Survival.
The clans are various and constantly changing. Every now and then a new bloodline emerges or old faces reappear while the ones you thought invincible sink in the oblivion of time. Almost like a circle. Fortunately or not, things seem to be stable, and despite the changes, most clans remain more or less the same.
Sadly, this... ‘Variety’, tends to create rifts between the members of our community and lately, the politics are doing nothing more other than giving me a headache. Some are tough, but easily manipulable. Others are cunning devils pulling the strings of their puppets, but none of them is to be taken lightly. They are predators, just like I am, and as I have already told you, they will do everything they must to survive another night, just like I will.
I, for one, was born, or should I say ‘reborn’, in a clan dedicated to magic. What was once a group of Wizards is today a Vampiric clan courtesy of the rituals of our ancestors. The Tremere rely in blood magic and in knowledge to have their problems solved, but like most intellectuals have their heads too much up into their rectum to be competent. Still, they are the most organized and controlled clan, and that is something commendable. Disliked by most, I was once one of them. I don’t know if I still am, but seeing as our relationship has been going through the years, I wouldn’t want them near me again. Still, I would like to thank them for letting my hidden characteristics shine. Without them, without her, I would have probably been an idiot all my life.
Of course, among the clans, there are factions and alliances, those who support the Masquerade and those who are against it, the Camarilla and the Sabbat. Then, there are those “independent” who have business with clans from both factions. Believe what you want, but in the end everyone ends up using everyone else. Use what you can, while you can or you’ll be eaten. Survive.
The Masquerade? Yes, the Masquerade is the veil I’ve been talking to you about. Is the cloth put before your eyes so you can’t see the world as it is. The reasons behind it, for its supporters, are protection and preservation, but you never can tell.
You look kind of curious. It amuses me to see you eager to hear more. In fact, I expected you to be shivering by now. It’s not everyday that someone drops such a bomb at you, isn’t it? Maybe I was a bit boring, no? For that I can’t apologize enough. It’s a shame that we must talk in a situation like this, but there are things that have come to my attention and I haven’t had the time to prepare. A pity.
I would have wanted this night to be special for you. Sadly, there are certain aspects of this ‘lifestyle’ that you need to know if you’re going to listen to my tale. There is much to tell after all and only one night to do so.
Wizards don’t know. Like you, Kine, a few of them are lucky enough to have seen the truth, but none has the guts to spill the beans. They aren’t ignorant about our existence, that is expected seeing that we are a large community, but you could say that their information about us is at least lacking. You could say that they have been ‘misled’. I still laugh when I remember Defense Classes. If only they knew... Caine must be laughing his arse off too, wherever he is.
What? We were all born from people like you sweetie. We all have been Kine, human, once. The difference is that when we died, we changed. You did not. Believe me when I say that death can bring a huge change in your perspective. At first, the hardest part of the change is leaving your life in the past to live a new one, but it must be done, I learned that the hard way. You see, being a vampire changes you. You recall your past life and try to live by your old standards, but soon you realize that It can’t be.
Living things have no importance in the existence of the undead.
I’ve changed and I have a thirst for blood. I’m a predator, and my old friends and comrades are my new and juicy prey. I can live forever, they have limited lives. I am powerful, most of you are pitiful. So our character and our way of thinking try to adjust to this new perspective of life. Would a wolf live among sheep and eat weeds? I don’t think so. It’s in the nature of the predator to prey on its victims.
I remember my first days amongst the Kindred, trying to adjust to my new situation. I was scared, I found myself without magic and craving for the blood of my friends. Fear can be a powerful detonator for the most stupidest actions, and I was scared out of my wits. My embrace, as I have already told you, was ‘unusual’, especially for the Tremere, so I confronted some people alone when I shouldn’t have. In the end, and thanks to some help, I learned what I needed to learn to survive, but if there is one thing that I will never forget, and that changed my views completely, was the face of most of the members of my unusual family when they found out about the whole thing. Their face resembled yours, and I hate that expression...
Anyway, being a Vampire is not that bad, it has its advantages. And aside from the risk of turning to ashes in contact with the sun and our dependance on blood, the average vampire is way better than the average human. We are faster, stronger and nimbler, or most of us are, and we usually turn more powerful as the years pass. Age is a serious issue among us, as is that of your sire. There are some older Kindred rumored to have godly powers, but my views tend to frown upon those statements even though I’ve seen things that you wouldn’t even dare to imagine. In the end, power never comes for free.
Believe it or not, we Kindred learned to appreciate humanity more than any of you would think. Without our shredded remains of human emotions, we would succumb to the temptations and whispers of ‘the beast’. We would be wild monsters, no better than werewolves. I already told you that power never comes for free. The ‘beast’ is our darker side, devoid of humanity, lacking of any thought or emotion except rage, hunger and thirst for blood. It’s a demon living inside, always whispering in your ear, always ready to surface if certain forms of pressure are applied... It’s always there, waiting to come out, and when it does, you don’t want to be close to us.
Magic? No, not anymore. Or at least, not in the same way it worked when I was alive. Magic folk are influenced by life. Magic sustains life and life sustains magic. Death, means no magic, at least in a conventional way, but laws can always be cheated or broken. I may have lost my normal wizarding magic the moment I was turned, but I gained something I was prophesied for; the power the dark lord knew not. Even Dumbledore, my former mentor, and his petty Order didn’t figure it out for the longest time but it seems destiny had always intended for me to be a bloodsucker.
What you will be told next, is my life. A biography of sorts, from the moment I turned until the deed of this tale was done.
Now, dear, you can start shivering, start screamin, try to run, but let it be quick. I said that this night would be special, and it will be, for when the dawn comes, after all what I will have told you, in one way or another, you will be dead.
There’s no way for you to get out of this alive, but you can do it dead. I see it in your face, you know what I’m offering. You know that, deep down inside, you’re wishing for it. If not, you would have tried to escape hours ago, yet you remain here.
Let us continue, then. Come, sit with me.
Are you afraid?
You should be...
The Mysterious Nobody
I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Let me know what you think.