Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The Whispering sea.
Neckron one of the oldest of his kind True Carpathian not yet vampire as he had drank but never killed from hunger felt a presence that of his true mate born unto the world somewhere distant opens his eyes for the first time since his torpor , the long slumber as his kind called it. Few of his kind remained scattered and blood watered down from human in breeding he may very well be the last. Or the first. Licks his parched lips and raises his head in the ancient manor built from stone carved within the cliff face over the sea on the isle of man.
The salt spray kissed Neckron’s face, a familiar caress he hadn’t felt in centuries. It was the sea, the same restless, whispering sea that had sung him to his long slumber. But tonight, the song was different, laced with a new melody, a tremor that pulsed through the ancient stone of his manor, through his very bones. A presence. His true mate, born into a world he’d long since ceased to care for.
He stirred, the cobwebs of torpor clinging to his consciousness like aged velvet. His eyes, accustomed to the eternal twilight of his kind, opened for the first time since the world had spun into its current, unrecognizable shape. The manor, carved from the very cliff face overlooking the churning grey sea, felt both alien and achingly familiar. Its stones, weathered by countless storms, held the echoes of ages, and now, they vibrated with a new kind of energy.
Few of his kind remained, their blood diluted by generations of human mingling, their ancient power a faint ember. He, Neckron, True Carpathian, had drunk from the well of life, but never from the well of death. The hunger was a dull ache, a constant companion, but the thirst to extinguish another’s light had never truly claimed him. He was, perhaps, the last of his lineage. Or, the first of something new.
He licked his lips, the dry, papery skin cracking slightly. The taste of dust and ages filled his mouth. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he raised his head, the ancient manor his silent witness, the whispering sea his guide. The hunt had begun.