Once Upon a Time Dark Embrace

~ Prologue ~

Budapest, Hungary

Centuries earlier

It had been long ago, too long ago it seemed, to the hibernating vampire elder Malcolm that he and his brother Albert were just young boys with nothing else to do all day but play in the forest and play they did, mostly hide and seek games. Albert was always better at it, he was always better at everything and Malcolm couldn't help feeling a bit jealous. Although they were twins, Albert was treated as the elder because he was the first born, only by ten minutes and those ten minutes felt like years to Malcolm.

When they weren't roaming through the forest, they were left in the care of various servants but when the servants weren't looking, the boys would sneak off, disappearing for hours, even a day at times, incurring their father's wrath upon their return. Their backsides would be sore for days after he'd taken the switch to them and both were given a stern lecture on the proper behavior of princes of the realm though he may as well have been talking to the palace walls. Neither of his sons wanted the responsibilities that came with being royalty and longed to escape it, never imagining that it would come from the bites of animals.

Albert had been bitten first by a wolf, one that had been unable to find food for days and when it set its eyes on the young man walking through the forest the only thought in its mind was that it would at last have a meal. It hadn't counted on another young man shooting an arrow into its throat before he could kill his prey. While Malcolm was taking his injured brother back home, he too was bitten, by a bat.

Any other person attacked by an animal back in that time period would have stood little chance of survival if the injuries were severe enough. Albert and Malcolm were not like most people for they carried within them a gene that mutated the virus transmitted through the bites of the animals into something else….something that changed them into creatures that exhibited both human and animal traits only Albert could not control his animal urges as strongly as his brother. He became the wolf….in a much larger and deadlier form known as a lycan, infecting others as he roamed the country.

Two people on horseback gazed out at a burning village, seething with anger at the destruction Albert and his whelps had caused while the first true vampire feared now there was nothing more he could do to protect his brother from his fledglings' wrath.

"We must move quickly before they turn," Cora said from atop her horse. "Light the torches!" she commanded two young men who stood behind her horse. They lit torches and began setting the bodies of the people slaughtered by the lycans ablaze for if they were not reduced to ash before the moon rose, they would join Albert's ranks.

"Where is he?" Maurice demanded angrily.

"I don't know," Malcolm lied. "He must not be harmed!"

"I gave you my word, didn't I?" Maurice asked coldly. "Search every inch of this village," he commanded his forces.

A small group of Death Dealers was seeing to the victims of a vicious attack in a barn when one of them snarled at them, its body changing from that of a human to an animal.

"They're turning!" one of the men shouted. Cora, hearing the cry, rode out to the barn. She jumped down from her horse and took aim with her crossbow at a lycan racing towards her. The animal fell dead at her feet. Several more emerged from behind the trees. She and her soldiers cut them down with their crossbows and swords; still there was no sign of their alpha. Cora was persistent. If she wanted that dog found, it would be found.

Even after their transformations, the bond between the two Gervano boys was as strong as ever. He traced his brother to the edge of the woods. The lycan was standing in front of a tree, snarling. Malcolm approached his twin slowly. "Albert…"

An arrow, attached to a chain whizzed past him, striking Albert in the shoulder and slammed him back against the trunk of the tree. The beast growled with rage and attempted to pull it out when a second one buried itself in his thigh.

"No! Leave him be!" Malcolm cried.

Another was fired, attaching itself to his upper thigh. The Death Dealers detached the chains from their crossbows and used them to bind the lycan to the tree.

"Stop!" Malcolm commanded.

"This had to be done," Cora said firmly. "More chains…now!"

"Please…"

"No!"

"Enough of this!" Maurice declared.

"He was not to be harmed and you agreed he would be placed in my charge. Honor our agreement or there will be a price!" Malcolm threatened.

"Your brother has just demonstrated that he cannot be controlled, especially in your care. No…this will be done _my way." _

"You know what will happen if you kill me…or him," Malcolm reminded his fledgling with a sneer.

"In time we will find a way to rectify that," Maurice vowed. "Until then, he will be imprisoned…far from you and you will learn your place."

"How dare you speak to me like this? I created you…and I can destroy you!" Malcolm threatened.

Several crossbows were pointed at the Elder, one of them held by Cora. "He must go into hibernation," she said to Maurice.

"I agree. Do it."

Cora fired one of her crossbows into Malcolm's stomach, pinning him to another tree. She withdrew a dagger from her belt and made a long slice across the side of her blood father's throat, letting the blood flow into the snow at his feet. They let him bleed for half an hour before she sealed the wound and the Death Dealers released the unconscious vampire, dropping him into a crate. As long as he did not have a fresh supply of blood, he would remain in hibernation and it was exactly how Cora and Maurice wanted it….for now.

The next morning, Maurice approached the head of the Swan family, humans in service to the vampires thanks to the father's gift of invention. "I have a commission for you. The lycan William has been captured and we will need a prison constructed for him that he cannot escape."

"I can have it done for you as soon as possible, my lord."

The skies of England

Centuries later

Now the time had come for him to take his rightful place as leader of the vampires now that Cora and Maurice were no longer there to oppose him. He was much stronger this time from the lycan blood he'd ingested inside his sarcophagus. But he was not the only one. In the strange looking metal contraption he caught the scent of two more…male and female…and they had in their possession the key that would grant William his freedom. Now all he needed was the location of the cell. He suspected the man and woman had the answer and he would get it from their blood before he tore them to pieces.

13


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Once Upon a Time, Drama