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The warm fire did nothing to allay the cold dread that filled the room as a priest told his audience a tale of woe and evil, "long ago this city was but a small village and it was here that four friends grew up together. Jack, brave but vain; Nisha, strong but cruel, Lillith, dutiful but impatient, and Rhys, clever but duplicitous. Together they did their best to fight off bandits who invaded our nation from a neighbouring country. But it was never enough.
One day Jack found an ancient and terrible power buried deep beneath the ground he invited the others to join him in partaking of what he declared to be a gift. He swore that with its power they could finally drive the invading bandits from the country and bring peace. Both Nisha and Rhys agreed with Jack, but Lillith told them she would have no part of their devil worship before fleeing from them.
For a time the trio did help, they fought off the bandits, banished an evil King, and they truly saved people. But the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, and eventually the power became too much and their more corrupt sides came to dominance.
Jack quickly became a horrific dictator known throughout the country now as Handsome Jack; and with Nisha as his enforcer and Rhys as his strategist they had no issue taking what they viewed as theirs. It was as though they were untouchable, their strange dark power allowing them to survive blows that should have killed any other, and so it seemed all was lost to darkness
But there was still one hope left; Lillith who had fled their dark covenant walked for seven days without stopping to the nearest chapel where she spoke of what she'd seen and then collapsed. The priests prayed for seventy days for a miracle to come, and on that day Lillith awoke with a gift from God. The power and knowledge to defeat the dread monsters her old comrades had become. Lillith slew Jack seven years later in a mighty battle, with the help of his own daughter a powerful seer named Angel. But Rhys and Nisha unfortunately escaped God's divine wrath.
Nisha was killed decades later by Lillith's great granddaughter Maya, who found her in a distant land where she had taken a town for her own.
But to this day the one known as Rhys has avoided capture."
Sasha reached out to tug at Father Felix's robes, drawing his attention, "he could be dead right?"
"No child, the church knows he lives yet because he creates lesser versions of himself, the dread plague which the people know as the vampires."
"Like the ones that killed our parents," Fiona snarled clenching one small fist.
"Yes, for you see, you two are the descendants of Lillith herself, and only you can fight the darkness."
"What about Tim? Why's Tim here?"
The priest smiled softly, "Timothy is the only descendant of Angel, and while the power of sight has long since faded in their family line, it has become tradition for his line to help yours in a scholarly capacity."
It was five years later that Timothy Lawrence fell in love with a scholar named Pierce. Tall and thin, with a slight stutter and a pair of wire frame glasses he constantly lost. The man had been staying in town with the local book shop owner Vaughn who Tim visited often. Both Sasha and Fiona thought the pair to be adorable, and were happy to see Tim finally experiencing life outside of the chapel.
It was a happy year, full of picnics and poetry, everything Tim ever dreamed of in those long nights alone in his bedroom at the chapel.
Sadly the peace would not last, close to a year after the scholar's arrival Fiona and Sasha caught their first vampire. The interrogation took eight long hours, and all the while the creatures howls and screams filled the town with terror.
Tim was truly thankful to his god for sending him Pierce, the man holding him softly as the screams shook the town.
At the end of the interrogation it was a panicked Sasha who begged him to flee, the vampire captive had finally confessed under the attentions of a holy inquisitor, that Rhys himself was coming for them finally. The sisters swore that once they dealt with the vampire lord they would send for him. And so following a tearful goodbye, Tim and Pierce left on the road south.
Once they were gone the church tore the city apart searching for vampires or their thralls. For two days they found nothing, and then finally a tearful Vaughn arrived at the town hall to confess his sins.
The man had sunk to his knees, tears staining his cheeks, "he promised me riches, power beyond my wildest dreams, but I can't let this go on, not when Tim's soul is at risk."
"Of damnation?" Sasha asked, "what does Rhys want with him? To turn him?"
"Worse," Vaughn looked up, eyes wide, "his soul will be annihilated, sacrificed to bring back Handsome Jack."
"We have to get to Tim and Pierce," Fiona's face had gone pale, "they're in more danger than we realized."
"Pierce went with him?" Vaughn's eyes widened, "you might be too-"
His voice cut off in a gurgle as his throat split open, his mouth gaping open like a fish as one hand came up to try and hold his wound closed.
"I did warn you what would happen if you disobeyed me," a casual voice came from the shadows and the tall slim form of Pierce wandered forward. However gone was the stutter, or the wire frame glasses, or the frumpy clothing of a travelling scholar. Instead he wore a well tailored gray suit more in vein with what a noble might wear, and a pleased confident look on his face.
Sasha gasped, "you're Rhys."
The man let out a slight chuckle, "what gave it away?"
"This whole time you've been fooling us, and Tim, why spend a year wooing him, tricking us when this was your end goal?"
Rhys rolled his eyes, "I had my reasons, and you idiots all fell for it."
Sasha pulled her musket from her back, "well you've made a mistake in revealing yourself now vampire."
The vampire lord ran one hand along his forehead and sighed, "I really thought that no one could possibly be as dense as Lillith, but I see you've inherited her idiocy."
"All I see is you trapped in a corner," Fiona said confidently pulling out a short sword.
"Then you see nothing at all little mortal," Rhys grinned and overly long canines glinted in the torchlight. "I've lived more than a thousand years, do you really think you have me trapped?"
"Bring it scrawny," Sasha shouted.
A dark laugh filled the room and Rhys shook his head, "no, no, I can't kill you here, Jack will want to do that personally, I'm just here to extend the invitation to our castle. It's in disrepair at the moment, but it will do for your deaths."
"Well we're going to kill-" Fiona stopped speaking and gaped as the vampire vanished quite suddenly into nothing but smoke.
"We have to hurry," Sasha said shaking her sister from her stupor, "if we go fast enough, maybe we can still save Tim?"
The two sisters gathered the fastest horses in the city and rode all day until finally they arrived at the old castle. The sound of chanting greeted their ears and they hurried in.
In the center of what had been the courtyard there were people in robes surrounding a bound and struggling Tim, who lay in the middle of a circle of strange symbols. The man was crying as Rhys stood by watching with what appeared to be minimal interest.
"Pierce please," Tim begged, "I don't know what's happened to you, but I know our love was real."
Rhys sneered and tapped the man on the skull, "have mortals gotten more idiotic or just the ones I have the displeasure of encountering."
Fiona snuck slightly closer, if they could just get close enough to sneak up on him. But the vampire's eyes snapped up, what Fiona recalled as being soft blue and brown eyes were now a harsh gold and red respectively; and they were boring straight into her, "ah, you're early, that's really very rude you know."
"You had our parents killed, so we didn't have anyone to teach us manners," Sasha shouted unloading her musket into the vampire.
He stumbled back a step and then stopped to frown down at his clothes, "you've ruined my suit."
"We're going to ruin a lot more than that," Fiona growled praying that God grant her the strength of her ancestors as she held her blade at the ready.
"Finish the ritual," Rhys snarled at the robed people and then stepped closer, "you know there's no god right, Lillith got a lucky shot in, that's it, there was no divine power that aided her."
"Your blasphemy will not be allowed to continue, this ends here," Sasha dropped the musket and unsheathed her broadsword.
"Oh I'm sure," Rhys darted forward and Fiona barely dodged a dagger aimed at her throat.
The battle seemed endless, every time Fiona thought they'd backed him into a corner he got around them somehow, he was too fast.
It was only through luck and what Fiona sincerely believed to be the grace of God that they managed to eventually pin the vampire's leg under some rubble and then hold him there with crosses.
"Now you'll finally pay for your sins," Sasha declared holding up a wooden stake.
"What's that you religious types say all the time," a voice came from behind them, "pride cometh before the fall?"
Fiona whipped her head around to see Tim leaned against the wall. But it most definitely was not Tim, at least not anymore. A drop of blood ran from the corner of his lips and his eyes seemed to almost glow.
"No," Sasha gasped.
"Oh yeah, I'm back baby, Handsome Jack, in the flesh, and first order of business is saving my Rhysie like the hero I am, so back off hunter bitches, or I'll split you open."
"Is Tim still in there?" Sasha asked tearfully.
"Who?" Jack raised one eyebrow.
"The man whose life you've taken," Fiona snapped.
Jack put one finger to his lips for a moment and then started laughing, "gonna have to be more specific cupcake."
"The man you're wearing!"
"Oh, oh," Jack grinned, "nope, pretty sure he's worse than dead now."
Fiona's eyes darted to Sasha's and they came to an unspoken agreement, they wouldn't win here, and so the sisters fled.
Jack leaned down to help push the rubble from Rhys who quickly stood to his full height with a pout, "they were supposed to be a gift."
The newly revived man laughed, "we can kill the little hunters later, first you and I have some catching up to do."
Rhys smiled as he was swept forward until his nose was pressed against the other man's, "you've no idea how much I've missed you."
"Why don't you show me pumpkin," Jack said with a wry grin, "maybe a few times to make sure I get it."