Hello: I'm back and I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. This story is going to be updated slowly, mostly b/c I have a 20page paper for class due by the end of the semester and well I really need to get going on that. But after Dec 15 everything will really pick up. Just remember I love…love reviews, so please tell me what you think.

A Gypsy's Gift

Legends of Old

"Those who have been created by the night and bound to it are as old as time. Children from whom evil took hold, and left them to beg for the dawn; they are the children of the soulless, the monsters, and the depraved. Once men of light, they are captured by the seduction of darkness that shifts in to a predator looking for weak prey.

He was no different, a creature that echoed years of violence, and left no mercy for man. For two hundred years he had become jaded by bloodlust and the rape of his soul. That was until he saw her. A woman that was as pure as the moonlight and equally as dangerous."

The old woman stopped her long gnarled fingers shook, unnerved by the darkness surrounding. The small child in her lap looked up; find nothing wrong in the darkness, as the moon was bright over head. Her small hands reached out to cup the moonlight and bring it closer, wrapping its soothing rays around the both of them. The old woman signed, thankful for the blanket of silken rays.

"He stalked her as he had always stalked his prey; with single minded determination. He learned her every move, until he finally he came upon her in the night." The light around them jerked, showing the small child's agitation. "He used the darkness around him to call to her, bring her closer to his body until they touched. With a finial look of triumph he sank his teeth in to her neck. Savoring the sweet taste of her blood; blood that offered the purity of light, something he had long forgotten."

The old woman stopped again; looking at the child in her lap she soothed the thick water droplets away from her face. The small child merely hugged the moonlight closer to her body; the rays had grown brighter with the emotional turmoil.

"Has he drank from her, she offered him something that he had completely forgotten existed. Love. With understanding and compassion she turned to the moonlight and allowed it to fill her soul, in return she gave it to him. Purity to wash away the dark empty hole that had swallowed him up. They are your legacy my darling, the reason you are the way you are."

The gypsy's touched the scars at the child's throat, two puncture wounds that had become noticeable at birth. Marks that had foretold the clan that she was the next to tame the moon and offer a monster redemption. As her mother died in childbirth she whispered one name…Serenity, a name for the silver baby girl that had been born bathed in moonlight. Ironic the old woman thought that a girl with so much power could offer it to the world in such a calm disposition. True to her name the girl was serene to the last with a power that raged deep in her silver eyes as powerful as the moon.

Serenity moved from the woman's lap to her sleeping pad, and the moonlight followed like a protective mother after her child. As her large eyes closed to sleep the moonlight stayed by, so much a part of her that it refused to relinquish ties. The old woman watched, and knew in that moment that a density for Serenity was fast approaching with many surprises along the way

10 Years Later

Endymion snarled, and pulled against the chains. Smirking as he heard them give a little beneath the force, a sound only to his ears that were now enhanced by the lose of his soul. His eyes narrowed, the black pupils swallowing the blue and engulfing the eyes. He watched the four men across from him and jerked again at the chain.

This time the sound was heard through out the room and all four men turned to face him in alarm. His fangs lengthened from hunger and need to gorge himself, his ears pricked up at the sound of the blood rushing through their veins…it hummed in his ears, begging for attention.

He pulled one finial time, his right chain came out of the stone wall; he swung it high over head, keeping them at bay while pulling on his left side. The shackle broke at the wrist, leaving the cold iron against his pale flesh. The chain whipped around and connecting with the nearest of the four, in a flash he brought the slightly smaller man to his body, entangled in the chains he struggled panicking beneath Endymion' grasp. Barring his teeth he gazed over the man's shoulder, noting the panic and indecision of the other three.

Somewhere in the depth of his heart, his humanity rebelled, desperately wanting to stop. Yet, with out a soul it was easy to ignore and concentrate on rushing of the blood in the neck beneath him. He focus in on that sound listening and needing the drink with a single minded determination; outside of the call of darkness and the emptiness of his soul nothing else existed, nothing else mattered.

His teeth had barely grazed the flesh before he lashed backwards, startled and fearful of the light that came from no where. Endymion stumbled backwards, attempting to find solace from the flames in the stone walls. He growled at the young woman across from his, and he knew her. Just had he knew the four men, yet it didn't matter. Nothing did except the need to lose himself in the darkness and drink from their warm bodies. He growled at her and began to start forward; stopping at the fires edge and lashing out as the door closed and locked and the fire was extinguished from the room.

The four men breathed a sign, and turned to look at the young fire priestess.

"Thank you Rei," Jadeite breathed, rubbing his neck, a large welt appearing beneath his hand.

She nodded a sadness in her eyes to see Endymion like this. He was her cousin, family that she had always counted on and had gone running too to find comfort. Now the emptiness had consumed him and she was unsure that anything could bring back the man she loved so much.

Jadeite came forward to take her in his arms, offering comfort and hope. Over her head he eyed his three friend, and each turned a haunted look at the stone door. The room that held their friend, their blood brother, their prince.

Rei moved away from his arms, a bright blush on her cheeks. Usually she was not one to show affection and want it in return, but with his she was different. He brought out the passion in her that only seemed to rage when she controlled the fire in her keeping. They posted guards at the doors, and took advantage dawn, a weakness Endymion was forced to deal with.

As the day gave way to night, they found the room vacant. The bars of the window pulled for the mortar that had held him. A barren room held a terror that came from the hearts of those who knew what the man held inside was capable of.

He stalked the night, desperate for prey. His hunger was growing and the need to satisfy it was burning deep in this body. In the large town beneath the palace he could hear the sounds of those who walked the night. Those who were prey and weak; those he could easily take over and drain to sustain his life. The giggling of one echoed through the dark night. Taken by the wind to his ears and drawing him closer to the source.

He found a small girl, playing with her dolls in the grass. Young, and full of energy he moved closer to her, somewhere in him his heart raged against his actions. Just has it had since his soul had been ripped from his body; instead he ignored it and listened only to the driving need of his hunger. He scooped the small child up, one hand over her mouth and another arm drawing her close to him. She struggled and the darkness inside him clawed to get out, thrilled at the challenged of prey.

His eyes were once again engulfed by the dark pupils and his fangs lengthened in hunger. The child stopped stirring, fainting in fear of the evil that held her. He turned her small head, and listened to the sound of her blood run through her veins and leaned closer to her. His gaze flicked to the light that seemed to have come from no where. The moon, taking its rightful place in the night sky and brought the light to his eyes. In his heart his humanity raced forward, desperately wanting to save the man that had lost so much in a few short minutes. The roar tore from his throat, as he dropped the child to flee into the night.

- - - -

Serenity danced in the moonlight, taking the ancient knowledge in to her heart and giving forth the wonder of youth. Before her clan she became one with the moon and followed tradition in the steps of womanhood. The moonlight surrounded her, glowing brighter with each of her movements. The rites were an old part of her clan, part of her family and part of her blood lines. The magic was deep with in their blood roared through her as she danced, and the moon honor the bond that had been given at birth.

- - - - -

1 Year Later

Endymion eyed the man in front of him and barely ignored the roll of nausea in his stomach. In a year the man in front of him had barely changed, merely brighter silver in his hair and a few more worry lines around the eyes. With a monster like him out in the world, he wasn't surprised that those from his past had many sleepless nights. But what seemed to irk him the most was that he had been found, when he had gone to such lengthens to be left alone.

The man unbent from his bow and Endymion flinched inwardly for eyeing his neck. He flicked his gaze back up to the mans eyes, and prayed that his slip hadn't been caught.

Artemis approached wanting badly to find something he recognized in his prince. But he only saw cold determination in the dark blue eyes of the man he had helped to raise. In coming here he hadn't been sure what he would find, and he still wasn't. He had been expecting the monster that had escaped and the man who had lost it all. Instead he found something quite different. A new man, wanting badly to keep the monster and the emptiness at bay; a man who wanted to do the right thing and not give in the darkness; Artemis found …a man who was fighting to survive with at least some shred of humanity.

Artemis waited for Endymion to speak, but it seemed that nothing was going to come but the silence. "I'm here to watch over you my prince."

Endymion gave a humorless laugh, "Monsters don't deserve such loyalty." He turned and reached for the dark bottle that sat on the table next to him. It was light in weight, a warning that soon it would need to be replenished or he would face the consequences of his fate. He took a long, heavy pull and groaned in relief when the thick liquid hit his tongue. The blood was his life, his master, and his will. Without it he was nothing, and with it he became the empty monster he had grown to hate. For once he was glad that he could no longer see his own reflection in the mirror, other wise nothing but a mocking figure would stand in front of him.

Endymion turned around, not really surprised to find the old man still there. In the hush of the night he warned, "I'm not to be trusted, never make the mistake." He turned on his heel and left the small attic room and walked into the night. It had become a part of him in the last year; his only solace was the moonlight from the never ending shadows.