He stroked his wife's cheek sadly, hoping that any mere touch might wake her. He knew it was to no avail. He had spent many nights attempting to wake up the sleeping woman, but she was so deeply slipped into the coma. There was no point in trying. He could not force her to drink blood when she hated the fact that she was a vampire. It wasn't fair to keep her alive as a monster. It wouldn't matter anyway. She was lost to the world at this point. It was funny how he would suffer the same fate as his father only this was a different circumstance.

His father, Janus Hassildor, had been a vampire. He and his wife had been turned into vampires, but she couldn't bring herself to stay as one. She slipped into a coma and with the help of a stranger was able to give her a medicine that would stop her immortality. She then died. Janus was grief stricken and always hid in his manor. His Argonian steward brought him human blood once a day so he could stay healthy. Soon, he fell in love with the steward and they had a baby together. When two very separate species have a child, only one of the species DNA was passed on.

Argo Hassildor was the result of the union. He had Argonian blood in him, but he had no look of it whatsoever. To the eyes of any normal person, he was simply an Imperial. His Argonian mother passed away many years ago, and his father had passed on his position to his son when he was eighteen years old. His father then took the cure that he had saved and died.

Argo's wife, Aurora, had married him even knowing that he was a vampire. She had asked him to change her and he gladly did it, thinking that they could be together forever this way. She seemed okay at first, but it was only a matter of days before she was going mad. She wouldn't drink the blood and she refused to leave one of the guest rooms. After weeks and weeks of her being locked in there, she finally slipped into a coma and she has been like that for sixty years.

Argo took hold of cure. His father had given it to him before he died. Perhaps he knew the fate of his wife. He placed he bottle to her lips and the liquid poured in her mouth. Her face got a little more color, but he could see that her system was slowing down and she was finally dying. He sighed to himself, allowing a single tear to roll down his face. A hand came onto his shoulder and he looked up at his good friend Trevor'an. Trevor'an was an Argonian that had come into his life two years ago and the two immediately became close friends. He was only fifteen, but he was very smart. Trevor'an was always there for him, and Argo had no problems telling him everything.

"She's in a better place now, Argo. She has been set free." Trevor'an said and Argo nodded.

"I know…I just wish my own soul was set free." Argo replied. Trevor'an sighed and walked out of the room. Argo laid his head on his wife's lap and let more tears come. He had to let all of the pain out otherwise it would fester inside him and rip him apart.

10 years later…

Trevor'an looked the count directly in the face. Something was wrong with him today. He hoped that he wasn't having one of his mood swings again. Those never went over very well. For the entire day, he had been following Argo everywhere and Argo seemed to be getting irritated. Argo was walking down hallway and had finally turned around.

"What is with you!? Why do you keep following me?" Argo asked in annoyance.

"Something is with you today." Trevor'an replied.

"It's nothing serious."

"That's what you always say and then suddenly there are things being thrown all over the room." Trevor'an made a smile come to Argo's face.

"I was just thinking about going into the county hall today." When he said that, Trevor'ans eyes went wide.

"Really?"

"Yea…I feel like walking around today. I don't know why. It's just a feeling." Argo grabbed the doorknob and walked right onto the balcony that was over the county hall. Everyone in the room went quiet and looked up at their count. Their faces were filled with confusion and wonderment. Trevor'an came up beside him and everyone seemed to calm down a bit.

"Wow, talk about surprise." Trevor'an stated.

"Yea…they haven't seen me around in a long time." He leaned his elbows on the stone railway and watched them all converse with each other.

"This is a good sign right?" Argo nodded a yes in reply.

"It's about time I stop moping around." As they talked quietly to each other, Argo noticed a monk run into the large room and go right to Argo's steward Atricina. Atricina was also an Argonian and over the years Trevor'an and her became pretty close. The monk was exchanging words with her and they seemed urgent. Atricina nodded and ran up the stairs and right to the count.

"Brother Richard would like a word with you, sir. It's about a disturbance at the chapel." Atricina stated and Argo was confused.

"Why with me?"

"I'm not sure, but he says it is of great importance that you speak with him." Argo sighed at that and walked down the stairs. Trevor'an and Atricina were close behind. The monk walked right up to him before he could reach the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, sire, but we need you at the chapel. Your 'special condition' will help us." When the monk said that, Argo became a little angry.

"What does my special condition have to do you with you people?" Argo replied in question. He hated when people called it that.

"Well early this morning during a prayer, we all heard the doors to the chapel open. Everyone knows that no one shall disturb the Prior's during prayers. It was a young woman and she looked awful. She had bruises on her and everything and her dress ripped. We held out a hand to help her, but she immediately fell to her knees, begging us to kill her. She was acting crazy. We were confused and continued trying to aid her, but we found out why she was asking us to kill her. She's a vampire, sir."

"What?" Other then him, no vampires had been spotted around Skingrad in a long time. This made him get really angry. No other vampire was aloud around his territory. "So you want me to get rid of her?"

"Well…this doesn't make much sense, sir. But we'd like you to help her. We thought she was one of those evil vampires, but it seems she wouldn't hurt a fly. A stray puppy came into the chapel today as well and she reached out for it. We thought she was going to grab it and suck it dry, but instead, she held it against her and just cuddled it. Either you help her or kill her. It's your call, sire." The monk slowly walked out of the building. He thought that Argo would do nothing to help didn't he?

"Wait here you two. I'm going to go check this out alright?"

"But sire…shouldn't Trevor'an go with you?" Atricina was concerned of his safety.

"Don't worry so much." Argo replied and walked out of the castle, heading straight towards the chapel. People stopped in the streets to look at him. They were confused by his presence. Guards saluted him, but he could see the slight fear in their eyes. He couldn't blame them. It wasn't like he was normal. He was used to this, though. Growing up as a boy, he was allowed to play outside with the other children. They didn't mind at all, but the parents sure did. They were always watching and if a child fell and scraped their knee, they always thought that Argo would run at them and kill them for their blood. They never stopped him or their children, though, since they had to show respect to their superiors. Still, it had always hurt Argo to know that he could never spend the night at a friends house or play without being watched by…well…everyone.

The chapel was the largest building in the city. It reached an amazing five stories at least. The doors were huge and heavy. When he pushed on one, it was easy to open. He was strong compared to everyone else.

He could immediately see the people crowed onto one side of the room. A few citizens of Skingrad were praying, but it was obvious that they were disturbed by a presence of something. He walked towards the spot where everyone was staring. There was a dark corner and he saw a pair of legs lying on the floor. He walked around the large pillar in the room and saw the woman resting her head on a potato sack. She had the puppy mentioned earlier in her arms. It was sleeping. When the count walked closer, the little puppy woke up and ran off.

The slight movement of the dog made the woman wake up from her own peaceful sleep. It seemed that reality immediately hit her. She burst up from her spot and huddled in the corner. She saw the man standing in front of her and she moved forward, grabbing onto the bottom of his long black jacket. She pulled on it.

"Please…I need someone to kill me…please…" She sounded weak and vulnerable. Her face had nice color which meant she had been turned recently. Her purple and white dress was torn and dirty. Her long chocolate brown hair was mangled a bit, but he could still see that it was soft to the touch. There were bruises on her arms and legs. One small bruise was on her cheek and a little purple was under her eye. She looked like she had been attacked. He felt a wave of pity go through him and he came down onto his knees. She watched him carefully.

"Don't worry, I can help you. Come with me." He said softly to her. His voice seemed to calm her a bit.

"No…I can't…I have to die…you don't understand." She sounded so weak and tired. Her voice was shaky and light. He had no choice. He brought his hand to her neck and used a couple of his fingers to hit a spot on it. She collapsed into his arms, completely knocked out. He sighed and picked her up in his arms. The monk he had spoken to came up to him, a grateful look on his face.

"What do you plan on doing with her?"

"I will take her to the castle and keep her there. It's obvious she didn't ask for this so I'll give her the chance to live." He said and turned his back to the monk to walk out.

"You are a very kind vampire, sire."

"Don't get used to it." He walked out, hoping that helping this poor girl would make him feel better about what he had done to his own wife.