k o r e

Original Vampire - 3,000+

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

Maven had been significant to Viraj, but the vampire didn’t voice this and instead opted to simply remain silent. He still remembered how he made her beat her head against the wall until she passed out in a pool of her own blood, Viraj had watched from a distance to make sure that the task was finished without interruption. There was a part of him that obviously took a great deal of amusement from her little spectacle, but the satisfaction came from the lesson that was  ingrained in the woman - she had made a grave error. Next he would come for her life and perhaps he’d make good on his promise to Jamie, Toby could choke on her entrails. When Viraj was with Hektor it was never forgotten how little his life mattered, in an instant the original could rip out his heart on a whim - for a laugh, or perhaps because he’d grown bored. And still the vampire would say he was devoted to him because at the center of Hektor’s cold, wretched heart he was the curator of all the power Viraj held in his hands now. “I’ll make sure she suffers.” Viraj commented simply, affirmation that killing one mouthy and ungrateful witch was a simple task for him. “What’s significant about an oneiroi’s talisman?” The vampire questioned, he didn’t know anything about them except apparently they could reverse vampirism.

-

“An oneiroi’s talisman controls them. It cannot be broken, maimed – because then it is destroyed, and they die with it. Though whoever manages to keep hold of one can command their powers, and they are at will to do as you please.” Hektor met Viraj’s gaze, a grin on his lips, “Nyx created them, but she could only channel the spirits power through something. To create a powerful being made of just elements was...still outside of her capabilities. They could not be gods. They had to be tethered. Yet knowledgable enough and built off the emotions of humans so they could relate to the very things they are supposed to protect. But they are weak. Weakened by years of disappointment caused by mortals, and Nyx’s inability to influence their lives. There are so few left, and it takes two of them to reverse Persephone’s gift. The plan is to just leave one on earth, just one, so it knows that there is nothing useful left for it to do.”

[hektorsoteira]

orpheuxmiyamto​:

He had formed a routine since arriving in Corinth. Weekdays spent inside of a library with books that surrounded and towered over him, two cups of coffee on his right side, and his notes to his left. Then his laptop was in the middle, his fingers typing away various points that would be used for the final piece. Those days were stressful and made him question his father’s interest in study. But then there was the weekend, which brought time spent with friends and going to the market. Orpheus hovered one person’s goods, eyes on the handmade dolls. His sister was too old for dolls but he was sure that the teenager would appreciate something like this. So lost in thought, he didn’t notice the other standing beside him until they started talking. “Oh! Oh…” It was such a random thing to say that Orpheus wasn’t sure how to take it, standing there for a few seconds before he weakly smiled. “Nice joke.” A beat, the smile dropping. “Unless you’re not then, uh, well–” Awkward.

“No, no I’m really not.” Perhaps this vampire was one of the perfect targets for Hektor. He didn’t seem to recognize the presence of his maker, so the original simply waited another few beats of the stall keeper’s heart. After all, he and Orpheus were the dead among the living. Turning to face the other, he leaned forward, “You know who I am, so let’s make one thing clear. You’re going to do as I say, and you can do it willingly, or I can make you do it. Starting with the children at this market. You ever turned a child before, Orpheus? How their wisdom is reflected in their eyes, yet they’ll never know what true freedom is like outside of a ten year old’s body?”

[hektorsoteira]

ptolemasroar​:

The scene before her is nothing short of horror. The scent of blood was thick in the air, invading each of the lion’s senses. From her place at the entrance she has a clear view of Hektor’s most recent designs. They will imprint themselves behind her lids for centuries to come. “You are not always the most pressing disturbance in the world, Hektor.” While he’d been busy terrorizing the Europeans, Ptolema had been in Haiti, helping in the fight against French rule and Haitian enslavement. Then again, when Napoleon’s troops descended upon them and tried to take back control. Her next stop was to be the Americas, but whispers of a mad king slaughtering innocents put her back on Hektor’s trail.

She ascends the nave, muscles taunt and ready to him to make a move. A droplet of blood lands on her but she pays it no mind. By the end of this fight, they’ll both be covered in it. “I see I’ve let you linger too long, however. It’s time to end this.”

-

“Oh, but I am the best, aren’t I?” His own confidence knew no bounds, even in the presence of the Nemean Lion herself. Their fights and fallouts were always the same. One could not beat the other, but they tried their damndest to make it happen. Perhaps if he got the chance to pull her heart from her chest, he would see how red it was. “End it? We’re just getting started, Ptolema. I almost – almost – started undoing all that good work you did in Rumania, but this new king was just...such a better target. And when I got here...well, they all loved me.” He dragged his finger over the split open neck of the nun that was bent backwards at a horrid angle over one of the pews, picking up the blood with it and licking it off. “You want a taste?”

[hektorsoteira]

lcmia​:

location: dealer’s choice starter for: @hektorsoteira​

“Looks like you’ve been quite-” her onyx irises bore into the man she used to call King and tried not to think of all the other titles he once was to her. Husband, father of her children, partner. There wasn’t an ounce of him that was any of those things now. No, instead he was freezing and gave her all the comfort of a perpetual itch in the throat. Yet his eyes still held the same color she remembered and replayed over in her mind, the same that matched the seas near Knossos. Part of her still missed those beaches, but mostly just the children playing on the sands and the sounds of their laughs. Back then, the thought would bring tears but now it only brought up a spiteful burning deepening in her belly. “Engaged with the cult, blooming even,” a tone that suggested more that she hardly cared at all.

-

Humanity was something that Hektor had left behind in life. When he’d died, his life had truly been given to Persephone. His entire human life had been a fluke anyway, hadn’t it? Hektor had given his life for the kingdom on Crete, and it had been for nothing. Persephone had owned him since birth, yet it had not been his choice. Looking back, Hektor was too far gone to truly question what had happened. The memory of Lamia, their children, his life when he had been truly human and happy, were almost gone to him. Blocked, perhaps by Persephone or the madness that drove him wild, but Lamia’s face never ceased to leave him. Which is why he felt her presence before she spoke, the water crashing against the rocks not far from where they stood. Hektor turned to face her, the cruel smile he was known for not gracing his features for the time being. “You could say everything is going well, of course. But you – you have no business here, do you? Plus – the cult is always recruiting.” The smile finally pulled at his lips, and he took a step towards the woman that originally held his heart. “I can put in a good word for you.”

[hektorsoteira]

@orpheuxmiyamto​

Finding creatures to do his bidding was easy enough, but Hektor just liked to be picky. In fact, he was almost too picky that he’d been somewhat wandering around all day, finally catching sight of a vampire that would do well enough. Walking up beside Orpheus, he looked down at the little bit of market goods the other had been standing in front of. “Cute shop, isn’t it? I hear she makes dolls for orphans. I also hear she murders parents so she has more orphans to get money for.”

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

@hektorsoteira​

“Mavens been made human again. A witch.” Viraj said simply, dark eyes stayed fixed upon the ceiling above them as blankets pooled at his waist. The smell of the sea wafted in through the open window, carrying with it the sound of the Aegean beating across the shore. This is what Viraj had come here to tell his sire, and instead he’d lowered himself before Hektor like any pious waif before a Godly altar. “It was her choice, she had a vampire help her with the arrangements. Jamie, apparently he knows Patroclus and was connected to a pair of oneiroi as a result: Phobetos and Anemos.” The insult felt fresh still, that Maven who had been like family to him would turn away from the gift she’d been given. That Jamie would help her in this endeavour, and that there was a man in this city with the audacity to rescind Hektor’s power.  Viraj canted his head to watch the stone-like features of Hektor’s frame, sharp blue eyes cut through the dark. “I plan on killing all of them. Maven, Jamie, Phobetos, Anemos. Patroclus. But I thought you should know that someone in this city is undoing your cult’s work.” 

-

“I felt her connection go, though I just assumed it was because someone took care of her.” Hektor turned to look at Viraj now, raising an eyebrow, “She was nothing special. Picked because she would’ve been the easiest target out of all the ones we had down beneath the hotel.” It was interesting though – Patroclus, far from Elysium. Finding him would be another thing. “Patroclus should’ve stayed in Elysium. Once Persephone finds him, it’ll be her call on what to do with him.” Unless the rift made it back first, there’d be no hiding from the Queen in her own realm. It would only be pushing against the other gods that protected Achilles. But with the demi-god absent, it was a free for all. “These oneiroi have slipped past us long enough. Don’t be silly, Viraj, you can’t kill them by yourself. We’ll find them. Starting with Maven, maybe. She should be easiest. The rest of these – Jamie? The vampire, right? And the oneiroi will be easy enough once their talisman’s are found. Think you can handle that?”

[hektorsoteira]

@ptolemasroar​

The year was 1086, and Hektor found himself far from Greece. He considered William the Conqueror’s conquest of the innocent village one of his better plays – it was amusing, after all. The village had risen up in rejoice that William had beaten the Normans out of England, but the king, convinced by Hektor’s compulsion that they were rebelling, slaughtered all of them instead. The Doomsday book was nearly written by the scribes of the great bastard Conqueror, who would’ve been nothing without Hektor.

Either way, he held the heart of a priest in his hand, the entire monastery slaughtered within their holy church. That’s when he noticed her presence, and he dropped the heart back onto the dead body of the priest. Limbs were hanging from the wooden beams of the stone priory, and Hektor glanced over his shoulder, “It’s been...what, at least two centuries, Nemea? I thought you were quicker than this.”

[winterswake]

THE GUEST (2014) dir. Adam Wingard

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

Obsidian eyes remained fixed on the pale corpses he’d fed his blood before snapping their necks. Hektor’s cool touch crept under his shirt and splayed a powerful hand across his chest as Viraj leaned complacently into the other. There was nothing more terrifying than being under the thumb of someone who could dispose of you with little more than a flex of a muscle, and yet, having lived so close to death for so long there was neither anything more exhilarating. He stiffened as he watched first the child come to: Viraj knelt and pulled her head free from its shoulders, letting the entrails dangle freely as he tossed them haphazardly across the room. Done in time for the mother to awaken, and next the father. They witnessed the horror that had come of their family and were on their feet in an instant. Young, and newly turned meant that they were powerful but they had no idea what strength was at their fingertips. Not yet. Viraj’s hands buried into their chests as he felt the spark of their connection flicker and die with the light in their eyes. Their dead hearts remained fixed in either palm as their lifeless forms crumpled to the ground. Viraj looked to Hektor now, their blood still felt warm despite the fact they’d been dead for hours. “Is this what you want?” Viraj asked, are you proud of me now? He tossed the twin hearts at his sire’s feet as he took a measured step forward towards the first of his kind to stand only a breath away. Close enough to touch, close enough to be killed. 

There was nothing better than the feeling of having yet another one of his powerful creations under his palm. No beating heart, no fluttering chest to show their fear or even their excitement. Viraj was one of his greatest masterpieces, perhaps. Once, Hektor would’ve flinched from such a gruesome death. As a human – weak in spirit, perhaps. He would’ve given them swift deaths, as had been his role in life. But now, he reveled in the way Viraj easily dispatched of the newly created family. The spark of connection that he felt with his own creation was enough to make him smile. He didn’t move as Viraj did, even when the other vampires stood up. When it was finished, Hektor tilted his head. “It’s never about what I want, love.” He lifted Viraj’s hand, licking the blood from one of his fingers. Hektor wrapped his fingers around Viraj’s throat, covering the soft skin there with blood before he claimed the other vampire’s mouth with his, a hard and biting kiss. 

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

The threat was idle but also unsurprising, it’d be easy for the other. A small flex of his superior power, where at once Viraj was intent to do anything to avoid death, now there was a sense of finality to it. A chill ran up his spine as Hektor moved behind him, placid eyes remained transfixed on the figures on the ground as he stayed silent save for the lightness of his smile as his lips pulled upwards. He’d died twice now already, it wasn’t so bad. Living was harder. “You surprise me,” Viraj whispered, though his own admission surprised himself. His skin prickled at Hektor’s contact, a familiar pang of static seemed to hum between them at the close proximity. There were some that might ask what the original was doing here, what business he had with the Delphi, and why it was that he hovered about Anastasia now. But Viraj did not care, the cult, the machinations, that had never been his affair. He did not worship Persephone, he was perhaps the only one that adored Hektor instead. “I thought I would feel some sort of kinship with them,” Viraj offered as he looked at the corpses that would soon transition and leaned back against his sire, “but I don’t.” He thought of himself and Amalie. At least Hektor could not be killed so easily. “They just look weak, and easily broken.” 

-

Hektor felt the familiar press of Viraj’s back against his chest, and the original’s arm came around the front of the other’s body. His hand slipped beneath Viraj’s bloodstained shirt, pressing his palm against the cold skin there. An unbeating chest that he’d created, and so far had little regret about it. “Then wait for them to wake up. Feel that pull that I feel with you. And then kill them again. More force, the tear...” He pressed his body against Viraj’s once more. “And let me watch you.”

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

Though Hektor drew nearer Viraj’s eyes remained transfixed for a moment on the face of the woman who was about to enter her transformation. He took his remark as scathing, but the truth was he’d never had much of a desire to turn anyone. It felt… Special, at least to him. But he knew enough of the original to know that Hektor did not see it, or him, or their bond as such. Amalie had understood it, Kiyoko did as well. Perhaps if he turned enough people he would feel something, anything, again. “Less.” Viraj let out a forced sigh, though his gaze met Hektor’s strong features at last as a sardonic smile spread across the progeny’s lips, “And you - ? Or let me guess, you’ve turned so many you’ve stopped keeping track?”

-

Hektor laughed, “If I kept track, I wouldn’t have any time to do anything at all. Though I like to let them all think I’m paying attention. I’ve killed vampires for less, and for more – than what you’re even doing right now.” He moved once more to stand behind Viraj, leaning forward to look over Viraj’s shoulder and brush his teeth against the other’s neck, “I care for so few, that I do remember their names, though. And even now, I think it’s a useless cause at times. They all die. These people will die – by another vampire, a werewolf, maybe. Or a fury. Unnatural presence and all that jazz.”

[hektorsoteira]

adelaidevidalis​:

She nods slightly as she reaches for the coffee pot to fill his cup, so hospitable. She feels ill, sick to her stomach at the idea of playing host for a murderous vampire who was responsible for kidnapping all those souls and keeping them hostage in a sick game of bloodplay. His next words at stark and bare, as his cerulean hues meet hers. The eye contact is intense as her hues continue to hold his gaze while her mind flickers over everything her siblings have said following her last fist fight, words of keeping heads held high, control as to not appear weak and she has never stood down yet. It’s with brazen eyes, straight shoulders and defiant tilt of her head that she answers him. “Yes.” She places the coffee pot down now that she’s fully filled his cup. “Cream or sugar?”

-

Hektor smiled, his gaze landing on the coffee now. “Good.” The vampire waved his hand, picking up the coffee mug now and walking towards one of the windows. The garden looked nice, albeit a little creepy. The greek statues looked like they were the real things, and it wouldn’t surprise him if they actually were. The Delphi surely took everything from their sacred hill before it was destroyed. “You’re Anna, right? There’s so fucking many of you.”

[hektorsoteira]

adelaidevidalis​:

@hektorsoteira​​

 The original vampire is living in their house, it completely baffles Ade no matter how many times she recites the fact to herself. She needs to lay off smoking as her cough has gradually been getting worse, her throat feels dry and it hurts to swallow. She won’t quit so she’ll swallow down the symptoms unless she wants someone to give her a lecture. She pulls a cereal bowl down from the cupboard, fills it with fruit loops, adds the milk and the coffee pot brews beside her. She’s taking a rather large munch of the breakfast when in walks Hektor. “Morning, want some coffee?” This is so fucking weird.

-

Hektor wondered why Persephone had let these Vidalis children live. It was all part of her long game, sure, but the vampire wanted to sink his teeth into each one of them, bleed them dry until they had nothing left in them. But then again, that’d be a little too suspicious. He was waiting for Persephone to stop wearing Anastasia’s face, as well, until a voice broke his attention. He’d wandered into the kitchen after hearing a noise, raising an eyebrow at Adelaide. A strange one, she was, but he wasn’t going to say no to coffee. “I’d love some coffee.” He set a mug down, meeting the witch’s gaze, “Does it bother you that I’m here?”

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

@hektorsoteira​

Amalie was dead, and where once he’d thought to apply some meaning to the turning of others, suddenly there was none. There was a vacancy in him that would never be filled again, whatever warmth existed in his chest was cold, dead ash. He stood in the carnage of a family’s home and watched the bodies he’d lined across the floor, naturally, Viraj had felt Hektor’s presence when he’d returned to Corinth Bay once again. It was beginning to feel familiar, the unnerving tone that permeated the air, and while it made others squirm, Viraj looked forward to seeing the man again. “Five more,” Viraj offered when he heard the rush of wind that signalled the other’s arrival. A quaint family, husband, wife, two sons, and their daughter. Soon they’d all get to rejoice under Persephone’s curse. “the veil isn’t falling again, is it? I hear the Styx is miserable this time of year.”

-

Hektor was feeling like he’d been exonerated from all of his crimes. A new vampire, one might say, except that was just his narcissism showing. No one had forgiven him for anything, so they were just all ungrateful that he was blessing the town with his presence once more. He wondered how many would hate him if they knew that he had been living life in Elysium in Persephone’s palace when the rest had been in the Underworld. “No, the veil shouldn’t fall again.” He moved to stand beside Viraj, one of the few vampires he actually gave a damn about. To an extent. “What’s your count up to now? An even twenty?” he teased, moving away now to examine the house.

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

It wasn’t even as if he could argue that Viraj hadn’t had much choice in the matter, because Hektor had given him one, and he’d chosen to willfully follow the man into the dark. To sell his soul to Persephone in exchange for all the power that it afforded him, maybe some sad and broken part of him was desperate to imprint on something after the loss of his family and everyone he cared for. Whether he’d had any say in the matter or not, Hektor had been the vessel for all of Viraj’s fear, admiration, and affection. He laid his hand over the other’s, the soft touch completely unlike the reputations that preceded either of them, there was still the matter of Viraj’s abandonment, but the fact that Hektor kept tabs on him invoked something akin to validation.  “I would do it again, too.” 

Fire. Pain. Torment. These were the things that Viraj expected of his after life, Persephone had created a race of cursed immortals, a scorn against the Gods and all their creations and for centuries Viraj had willfully and happily played his part. He had evaded death for a long time, but it seemed that there was no escaping it now - it hadn’t been quick before, he doubted it would be this time. “It’s a shame, I quite liked the old one.” Viraj remarked, the trail of corpses he’d left in his wake since this storm had been invoked was evidence of how much joy he took in lording his power over mortals, it was unfair that such lowly creatures would now get to inherit the Earth. “Cruelty and pain?” He smirked, “Two of my favorite things,” a fondness for both was almost a necessity for holding any sort of candle for Hektor, maybe it made him a sadist, but he’d never cared for labels. “usually I like to be on the other side of it, guess I’ll see firsthand how creative your maker can be.”

-

Viraj’s admittance brought another smile to Hektor’s face. In fact, it only solidified everything that the original vampire knew: he’d chosen well. There were so few souls that echoed his own, perhaps ones that were part of his before Zeus pulled apart humanity. Was Viraj one of those? Hektor did not know, nor did he care to think much of it, but he knew an admission of love if there ever was one. For Hektor, love was pointless; however, he did understand its weight and validity. 

“Persephone will be able to send you where she wishes, but after that, your soul is no longer hers. Her plans are not always visible to me, but as I said before: if you never turn away, then death is simply another beginning.” It was endless torment, sure, but who could say that was something not to be excited about? Hektor was certain his fate was not the same, but if it was, he would be alongside the other vampires. He was far too important for that, however. Gripping Viraj’s jaw, he took a deep breath, leaning forward to grin at his progeny, “I can hear them. The Erinyes. Tartarus, Charon on his boat. Wherever you go, I will not follow. But know that perhaps out of all I have created, you are the most beautiful and dangerous of them all.”

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

“I never got the chance to ask,” their only meeting was by invitation to a dinner party he’d hosted for her and Ana, very exclusive, progeny of Hektor only. The fact that she didn’t recoil at the display he’d put on for them was evidence of enough as far as he was concerned, Viraj had little fondness for witches except for their usefulness as food, and while he did not know the woman in life, she made for a better vampire in his opinion. As for siring, even that was something Viraj withheld from, only those who were like him, or like Hektor, individuals who would make good vampires like Amalie were deserving of this gift. “not that it matters now.” 

Even in life he’d often felt misunderstood, uncertain of his place in the world he’d always known to be small, temperate, hot. It wasn’t until he met Hektor that he realized just how truly wide it was, how miraculous it could be, he’d never been content because he’d always been weak. From anyone else’s lips and the small taunt would have sent him into a rage, he cared for Hektor almost as much as he feared him, just as he cared for his sire line, just as he feared for them. It was good Amalie was not here, no doubt she would place the blame for their deaths on Viraj’s head. “I haven’t had a heart in years.” Viraj mused, would that he could simply cut it out and be done with it, toss it down the gullet of some feral beast and forget any attachments at all, but still the dead organ quivered under the other’s meager amount of affection. Like any wayward and abandoned progeny, he was desperate for it. 

“So, this truly is the end then?” A low creak from his neck made him groan, he knew then what this pain was, of what was slowly and inevitably killing him. Again. “I’d rather be dead than what I was before I met you,” Viraj affirmed, to be made human among a sea of mundane mortal lives? How tired and drab. “how long?”

-

“Then I’ll guess we’ll never know.” It didn’t bother Hektor in the slightest, anyhow. All he cared about were those strong enough to survive. He had been strong enough, hadn’t he? Whatever man Hektor had been when he was human was long gone. His soul hadn’t been his since he was in the womb, and Persephone had never let him forget that. Whatever twisted sense of kinship Hektor had with vampires in general was nothing to be wanted. However, there were few that he saved his less than ideal motivations for – Viraj was one of them. 

“You had a heart...and you gave it to me,” Hektor put his hand on Viraj’s cheek, the gentle touch a complete opposite of what he stood for. Perhaps if he had his powers, he would’ve reached into the vampire’s chest and held the dead organ in his palm. It would’ve reminded Viraj how much he owed Hektor. But for now, he settled for something more human. 

“It’s the end of this world, sure.” Hektor hummed as he stood in front of Viraj, looking up at the clearing sky. Persephone awaited all of them. What would happen to those not promised Elysium? Well, not even Hektor knew. He assumed it would not be kind. The truth was, Persephone cared little for what she stood for on earth. But she would do her best to wreak her own form of vengeance on the gods, in the Underworld and Olympus. “But whatever happens afterwards, it will be cruel. And it will be painful,” his gaze met Viraj’s once more, “And I think you’ll be able to handle it.”

[hektorsoteira]

virajxsoteira​:

As if this was all unnaturally predetermined, the skies cleared above them, and for a moment, it felt all the world was taking a breath. Except of course, for them. The noisy eidolon that had dogged him, attempting to instill insanity through remorse faded along with the bad weather, and the pain that Viraj had felt around his neck disappeared also. He was at all loss for what this meant, and instead chose to fixate on the man in front of him, the sire that he had searched for for years. All that time spent ripping through towns and cities, desperately hoping that Hektor would take notice of him. Are you proud of me? Viraj would ask into the night. Did you see what I did for you? The moon was a door, but not a willful messenger, if Hektor ever sat on the other side, he did not ever answer back. 

It did not surprise him that Hektor had known of Viraj’s pursuit, and now his throat bubbled with a thousand different questions. Everything he’d come to want to ask him over the centuries muddled with fear and his own anxious nerves. Viraj had been too young, too new to the world of the dark back then, but he was naive no longer. Hektor had spoon fed him violence before his human eyes, and levied him with a choice. Back then Viraj had not hesitated to choose power over fragility, and ever since that day he had worked to emulate the other. Every fool that he welcomed into his life was a piss-poor replacement for the originator of their kind, they were boys masquerading as men, what they inspired was nothing compared to what he felt for his sire now. 

“I came here looking for you, and I met Maven. I think she has potential.” Why didn’t you take me with you? It was admitted begrudgingly, at least he hadn’t turned a man.  “There’s a man here in town, Patroclus, he turned one of us before the storm started.” She was my daughter. He stepped forward, daring to get closer to danger as fear itched across his every nerve. He’d taken so many lives, ripped out so many hearts that he’d long lost the urge to keep track: monster, killer, psychopath. Viraj had heard it all, and even if it was all true, he didn’t care. His hand came up to his throat, pain inched across his skin once more, familiar to what he had felt during the storm, but very specific. “What’s going on - ? What is all this? Why have you come back now?”

-

Maven. The tragic little witch he’d turned into a vampire. He vaguely remembered her. It suited Hektor to forget about most he turned. There were so many that plagued the world, few stuck out to him. She certainly did not, even if Viraj had taken some strange likening to her. “How many people has she turned? Has she murdered?” He asked the question like he was simply asking about the weather, moving closer to Viraj now. The skies cleared above them, but Hektor hardly missed a step. Even as his lungs began to work once more, the former original vampire had no fear. He couldn’t even remember how he’d died. In battle, wasn’t it? He was always fighting, but it never got old. 

“Or are you pulling more people into that little soft heart of yours?” Hektor pushed lightly against the other’s chest, a hint of a smile on his features. Viraj was not soft, no. In fact, he was one of Hektor’s most beautiful creations, wasn’t he? As every bit dangerous as Hektor had hoped he’d be. One of the few that he would check in on once every few decades. If Viraj was still living, then Hektor had done something right. 

“Shh, don’t worry, Viraj. Everything will be right in the end.” Hektor smiled, even as he took another breath. The air in Corinth was still hinted with rain, the storm not a far off reminder of what was happening. “I came here to watch the end. I saw the beginning, and it’s only fitting that I do so now.” Patroclus. He knew who that was. “The man who turns vampires human. They are now doomed to a life with no power. Us, though? There is no life without power. You know that.”