I wanted to do a non-stereotypical VtM/WoD story, with its focus on romance and drama, instead of blood and gore.
The story is a bit slow in the beginning, and it might be a bit confusing. All will be explained later on, however.

Now, what you need to know before you start to read (so that no one will be sending me hate mail or anything later on): I'm changing and bending some of WoD's history. Nothing that major. Like, I'm not altering history completely... This is more of a "what if" story. "What if this person I'm writing about existed, even though no one knew about him..." and so on.
I personally think that I've bent history in such a discreet way that this could all be true, and be part of the history of WoD.
You're all warned now, so don't send me any messages saying that I've messed up history, and that these things never happened. I know this is not how White Wolf wrote the history of WoD - it's how I decided to twist it, just because I think that the idea is cool.

Bear with me please!

NOTE: This is a "sequel" to my coming story named "Nocturnal Beauty (With Looks That Kill)". However, I feel that this story should be read first, even though it is the sequel.
At the moment, I've written 11 chapters already. It's just a matter of publishing them, not writing them. I'm not sure how many chapters the story will end up being when it's complete, but probably somewhere around 20 or so.

If you're a homophobian you can leave right now, because there will be maleXmale relations and somewhat sexual content later on.

I don't own WoD, VtM or any of those characters - White Wolf does.
However, I do own the maincharacter and most of the others who will be appearing. I will let you know further ahead what I do/don't own, so that there won't be any misunderstandings.

Text in italic is the maincharacters direct thoughts, or memories. You'll probably understand what's what when reading.

Darkness… Except for the darkness, the only thing I can feel is silence. I don't know how long I've been here. It feels as if I've been here for an eternity, yet it could be only a few minutes. I have no grasp of time.

Am I bored? No. Am I worried? Yes. But I don't know why. I'm not sure what, or who, I am worried about. It's there, somewhere, in the back of my head, but no matter how hard I try to reach it I can't. I know it's something important, but I just can't remember. I can't even remember who I am, nor can I remember why I am here.

How long until this changes? When will light replace the darkness? When will sounds greet my ears once again? Soon, I believe... I'm not sure how long it has been there, but I think I hear something, and I can feel the presence of someone coming closer... Are they coming for me? Yes, the sound is getting louder. It's getting closer...

Chapter 1, Lingering love

What's this burning my skin? Is it sunlight? Yes, I think it is. I haven't felt sunlight upon my skin for a long time, I'm certain of that now. Wait, where did the sunlight go? Someone is in the way of it, shading me... Who's there? And why can't I open my eyes? Why can't I move!?

Someone's touching me. It feels as if they're wiping sand and dust from my body... I can hear someone gasp. I'm pretty sure it is a man. If only I could open my eyes to see who it is... He's talking to himself, sounding quite excited, and also a bit frightened. Is it me he's afraid of? Why would he be? Oh, that's right... I can remember it now. I'm a vampire. Of course he is afraid of me, I could kill him! But no... I can't kill him, I can't even open my eyes!

What's he doing now? I believe he's finished dusting me off. I can feel his eyes upon me, looking at me intensely. He's touching something that's sticking out of my chest... What is it? It's not part of my body. He's pulling it... Stop! Stop pulling it! It hurts!

-"Aaargh!" My eyes snap open. I was right, it is a man in front of me, and he's looking pretty shocked by now. Shocked and afraid. I inhale the dusty air sharply, as I stare at him... His neck... I can see the blood pulsing through his veins... I feel my whole body shake as my eyes are fixed at his neck. I can't think of anything else but it. I'm not in control of my body anymore, it's acting on it's own, throwing itself over the man, sinking my teeth into his neck. Oh, the sweet metallic taste of his blood on my tongue, running down my throat. The first blood I've tasted in a really long time...

I'm back in control of my body again, however I don't want to let go of the man. I want to kill him, drain all his blood, leave his dead body down here instead of mine. After a few minutes he's completely drained, and I pull away from him, inhaling sharply as my eyes are rolling. The rush of blood... The most wonderful thing I've ever felt, better than anything else! I lean my back on one of the walls of dirt surrounding me, gathering my senses, enjoying the rush of killing. I feel my powers returning to me. At least some of them... I hold up a hand infront of me, watching the fingers move and bend at my wish as I focus all my strength at healing the wound I have in my chest. I had completely forgotten how it felt to be alive... Or well, as living as one can be in my state... Now, if I could only remember who I am...

After quite a while I stand up, peeking my head up through the hole in the "room" I've been in for such a long time. The sensational feeling aquired from drinking blood has by now faded, and is replaced with... sadness? Emptiness? Or maybe loneliness, as I look around. I pull myself up from the hole, onto the hot desert sand. All I see around me is sand, but it looks as if the area around me could have been a pretty large oasis a long time ago. The sun is burning my skin. That's right. I can be in the sun.. Why is it so? I can't remember why... I suppose I'm not completely used to it now though, after being under the ground for so long. I need to cover my body with more clothes... I hop back down into the underground room, and look more closely at my victim. What a strange outfit he has... I've never seen anything like it. But I guess it'll have to do until I get to the next town, where I hopefully can get myself some ordinary clothes... I drag the clothes off of him, pulling them onto myself instead. The fabric... it's so thick, and rather uncomfortable as well. Very different from what my skin is used to be in contact with. I pull those strange, heavy shoes of his on, not bothering even to tie them. I've never had shoes like these on. They're heavy, made of a thick material, but they're not uncomfortable. They seem to be the kind of shoes that are excellent for walking in, unlike the kind of shoes I used to wear. Okay. This will have to do for now.

I decide to look around a bit, searching for the object that was in my chest. The only thing down here except for the dead man and all the sand and dust is a thick, wooden stake. I reach out to grab it to look at it more closely, but as my fingers touch it, it triggers a memory locked deep in the back of my head to flash before me.

I was standing under a tree, waiting. She was getting late, the sun had set long ago. I couldn't help but to wonder why she had wanted to see me out here. She had said it was urgent. I heard a noise from behind and turned around slowly.

-"Fatima." I greeted her. "You're late." She didn't reply. "Now, why did you want to see me?"

-"The girl." She said.

-"What about her?"

-"There's something odd about her. She's capable of so much, at such a young age... I'm afraid her skills will succeed mine one day."

-"Perhaps they will." I shrugged, turning my back against her as I looked up at the starfilled sky. "Surely, you didn't ask me to come here just to tell me that you're worried that her skills might surpass yours, though. Why did you want to see me, really? Is there a problem? Do you not like her? Is she bothering you?"

-"No, she is not bothering me, and it's not that I don't like her, that's not the problem."

-"What is the problem then?"

-"The problem is that I do like her. Is she talking to you again?"

-"Yes." I replied, still not bothering to look at Fatima. Why was it a problem for Fatima that she liked her? Wouldn't it be worse if she did not like her?

-"She talks to me as well. She's told me about you." I stiffened at this. How much could Fatima know? Exactly what had she old Fatima about me?

-"She's told you about me?"

-"Yes. Do you love her?" Her question made me furrow my brows as I slowly relaxed. Fatima didn't seem to know about me, after all. Though why did Fatima want to know if I loved her? And what had she told Fatima about me?

-"I do. I'm not sure she realizes it, though."

-"It's a good thing, that she doesn't realize it." Fatima replied.

-"How's that good?"

-"It's good, because that means..." She came up behind me, grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. "That she won't mourn you when you're dead." That's when I realized she had been hiding something behind her back all this time. It was a wooden stake, which she now aimed at my heart and thrusted into my chest. I let out a shout of pain and surprise as I felt it enter my chest, and I thought that this was it. She let go of me, and I fell to the ground.

-"Jussi?" Her sweet voice called for me. I watched Fatima throw her head to the side, realizing that she was coming this way. She cursed, threw me a last glance and then ran off into the darkness.

I snap back to reality and drop the stake, almost as if it had burned my fingers. My breath is heavy and ragged, as I hold my hands over the now healed wound that the stake left in my chest. Thousands of thoughts rush in and out of my mind as I try to calm myself down. That's what happened to me. I got staked. Why was I staked? Fatima? Wait... That's right... I remember... her. Fatima didn't know the truth about her.Who is she? I can see her face clearly, but I can't remember who she is... I know that she's important to me, and it has to have been her that I've been worrying about all this time... But who is she? My child? It doesn't matter who she is. All that matters is that I know that she is important to me, and that she means something to me. I have to find her. Maybe then I will remember everything. Yes, she's the key to my memories. She knows me, she knows who I am. I'll do anything to find her.

I pull myself up through the hole once again, looking down at myself to see how the clothes look in the sunlight. Kind of weird... They feel weird as well. But I must admit, they are kind of comfortable, easy to move in at least. Such a dull, green colour though. What a shame. Looking up at the sun I guess that it must be about mid-day about now. The sun is hig up in the sky, and it is very hot... I can barely wait until evening comes...

Not too far away from where I am standing now, I see a small tent of some sort, and a camel tied to a thick trunk of what probably used to be a rich, green tree. I approach the camel slowly. It looks at me, blinking intrested. I reach out a hand and touch its large head. The camel stays calm and doesn't even flinch. That's right. I'm used to handling camels, aren't I? I'm more used to horses, but I've ridden camels many times, haven't I? I look into the camels deep, black eyes, and it gazes back into mine. It tilts its head slightly, blinking again before looking back at me with its large, kind eyes. It's as if the camel understands everything perfectly well. I stroke its furry head again as it looks away from me, seeming content.

I go to the small tent, checking it for anything of intrest. The only thing I find, however, is various books and notes. There's a lot of numbers written down, and short sentences as well. Mostly landmarks it seems. I don't quite understand everything, even though I am very good when it comes to reading and writing. The language, even though it looks like the kind I'm used to reading, contains odd words. Words I do not know and understand.

I leave the tent, heading for the camel. There is nothing else left here that intrest me, so I decide to leave. I'm not sure which way I should be going, so after mounting the camel, I decide to look around a bit, in hopes that I will find something that will point me in a certain direction. As I steer the camel around in a circle I feel something pulling me to the west, so I decide to head in that direction.

¤¤¤

After riding for a long time – I'm not sure of how long, I can't really grasp time yet, but it must've been a good couple of hours – I reach some sort of ruins. Almost everything is covered by sand now, but I can clearly see that there used to be some sort of a garden here, and the ruins must have been a house...

As I ride closer, memories are unleashed one by one. I can see clearly that this has been an important place for me. In the memories I see her again. There's nothing really important happening in the memories. It's just me and her, doing things together, and occaisionally there's a tall man with dark hair there too. I know he is important to me as well, but not as important as the woman.

I get off the camel, letting go of the reins, knowing for sure that it won't go anywhere on its own. I walk around the ruins for a while, searching for something. Although, what I'm searching for I do not know. After a while though, I find it; two pilars, leaning on each other, creating an entrance. I walk closer and look inside. I see this kind of "pathway" leading downwards, however it's too dark for me to see anything from up here. I'm not sure if it's such a good idea to go inside... The whole thing looks like it could come down any minute, and I really don't want to get trapped under the ground again. But I guess this is my only lead... Something tells me I should go down there. What do I have to lose? ...I know the answer to that question... Her.

Deciding against my better judgement I make my way through the small "entrance", and down the pathway. I'm pretty surprised when I enter a large "chamber". Down here things are kind of intact. I can clearly make out the walls and roof in the dim light. Where does the light come from? Looking around, I see some small holes in the roof, from which sunlight creeps in. I slowly draw the conclusion that the walls and roof have been covered with sand, which has kept the strong desertwinds and the passing of time from destroying everything down here. There's not much left recognizeable now though. Pieces of rotting wood here and there, which could have been chairs, tables or even wardrobes. But what's this in the middle of the room? Wood and large pieces of cloth? I suppose this might have been a bed. As I walk closer to the bed a strong memory floods back into my mind.

I entered her room silently and walked up to her bed. 'She's sleeping... God she's beautiful when she's asleep...' I leaned down and kissed her forhead gently, and I felt her stirr. She opened her eyes slowly and I looked into them. 'I want you... I need you... I love you.'

-"Do you want to become a part of me forever now?" I asked, sounding completely calm, although my mind was in complete chaos. 'Am I really doing the right thing? Is it right of me to claim her forever? She doesn't realize what forever means... But I can't risk losing her. I can't risk ever having her running off like that again. What if something would have happened to her? What if someone would have hurt her? I can't risk that.'

She blinked a little, looking slightly surprised. I wasn't sure if she was frightened or confused, or maybe a bit of both. I picked her up gently, bridal style, and carried her out of the room. I walked down the hallway and through a door, up a flight of stairs, up to the attic. I heard her gasp slightly at the sight of the room, lit up by a heap of candles, placed everywhere around the room. I carried her over to the bed I had prepared in one of the corners of the room, and put her down on it.

-"Do you want it?" I asked her solemnly, even though I knew that she wouldn't reply. She raised a brow, not seeming to understand what I meant. "Immortality." I explained rolling my eyes a bit. I had been sure that she had figured it out already. Her eyes widened a bit and she shook her head. "You don't want? That's very unfortunate, because sadly enough, you don't have a choice." I smiled softly at her, knowing that she would thank me one day. "You see, since I no longer feel that I can trust you, not knowing when you will try to run away again, I'm going to tie you to me, by blood, making it impossible for you to ever escape from me again. This way, I will always know where you are."

Her body tensed, and seeming to have finally understood that I was being serious, she tried to get away, but I pinned her down to the bed without much trouble. I was much stronger than her, after all. 'I don't want to hurt you, but please, understand that I'm doing this for you.' She stopped struggling, her mind seeming at ease as she looked up into my eyes.

I smiled softly at her before leaning down to kiss her cheeks, and then her lips. She was fully cooperative now, not doing anything to prevent my actions. Rather the opposite, actually, as she parted her lips and seemed to respond to my touch. I felt a smile crawl over my lips as I removed her nightgown. I had never done anything like this to her before, not sure what her reaction might have been if I tried. But seeing her in front of me now made me wonder how I had managed to resist all this time. My senses were running amock, and I felt that I should stop, before I lost control of myself, but I couldn't, being with her felt too good.

She moaned softly as she leaned her head back, her bare neck just inches away from me, so tempting. She seemed to be in some sort of orgasmic trance – not caused intentionally by my way of influencing her, but I realized that this was even better than the effect my presece had on her, and I figured now would be a good time to actually get to the point of things. I allowed my fangs to graze her neck, slicing her skin carefully and licking away the drops of blood that surfaced. As I felt her sweet blood upon my lips I knew that I was as close to heaven as I would ever be. Her blood had always been the best to drink, even though I knew that she didn't like it when I did. None of that mattered now though, I realized and added more preassure, pushing my fangs fully into her neck.

Getting lost in the feeling I almost ended up killing her, but just as she was at the brink of dying I forced myself to pull away from her and bit my wrist instead. Gathering my senses I watched the blood run down my arm for a while, before I turned back to her. I tipped her head back a bit, bringing my wrist to her mouth, and telling her to drink. I closed my eyes as I felt her lips grace my skin, but opened them again when I realized this would be the last time I saw the true, human, her.

I open my eyes and look at the bed at which I had embraced her, the image of her beautiful face still lingering in my mind. She was my lover..? I... I loved her? No. I still love her. That's why I have to find her. If I embraced her, I should be able to feel her precense when I'm getting closer to her. That's good. It'll help me find her.

Realizing I'm done down here I rush back up, afraid that the roof is going to colapse on me if I stay any longer. Feeling a bit weak I figured I should search for the nearest town so I could feed. Standing still I close my eyes and let my vampiric senses tell me where I could find people. I turn around slowly towards where I can feel people the closest, and open my eyes. At the moment, all I can see is sand, but I know there is people somewhere out there, and a lot of them as well, meaning it must be a rather large town.

It's morning already, so I must have stayed down under the ground for much longer than I thought, considering sun had just recently set when I reached the ruins. I decide that I should start riding, and maybe I'll make it to the village before the next sunset. By now I feel that the most of my powers have returned to me, I just need to feed before I can use them all.

¤¤¤

The village was farther away than I had thought, so when I get there the sun has set long ago, and it is already very dark.

I had left the camel a way back. It had started to get tired, and I figured I didn't need it anymore. I sneak around, trying to keep in the shadows, and trying not to attract too much attention, as I explore the streets. Memories are coming back to me slowly, nothing of importance though. Mostly just memories of how the streets, and the people hurrying up and down them used to look.

Things have changed a lot, I soon realize. The fashion is not at all the same as it used to be. The velvet and lace seems to be replaced by much simpler fabrics, but what surprises me the most is the number of women wearing pants. Nearly all women had dresses or skirts when I walked these streets the last time. Only the farmers daughters wore pants, the non-working class would never do so under normal circumstances.

The town itself seems to have changed a lot as well. The buildings look very different, lit up by lights in all kind of colours, with signs flashing different names. There's vehicles driving up and down the streets, machines that I've never seen the likes of before. Was I really gone that long?

I'm not left all that bewildered for long though. I know that I have seen a lot of change already in my lifetime, and I know that the only thing I can really do is to accept it and to do my best to fit in. This, I'm sure will not be a problem, after all, I am a master when it comes to adapting.

For a good hour or so I simply walk around on the streets and listen to people. Listen and learn. The language has changed a lot. The basivs of it is still the same, but the grammar has changed some, and the whole language seems a lot less strict. There seems to be a lot of new words as well, but none of this bothers me much. I don't plan on having any long conversations anyway. At least not with anyone who will live for much longer.

What really strikes me is the fact that there's still so much activity in the streets, even though it is getting close to midnight. Not that I'm complaining though... For a creature of the night, like myself, this is all to my advantage.

I soon realize that I'm attracting a bit of attention, most definitely because of my clothes, since they're not very much like anyone elses clothes, so I figure that I should try to get myself some new ones.

Deciding that I had always liked the colour black, I set my eyes on a man who looks about my physical age, and is sitting on a bench, alone. He looks somewhat different from the other people I have seen. The colour of his skin seems brighter, and as I walk up to him to sit down on the bench next to him, I notice that the colour of his eyes is different from the other's as well. His have a clear green colour, instead of being dark brown.

-"Hey, dude. Do you know when the bus will be here?" He asks me. Okay, I have no idea what time it is, except for that it is after midnight, and I really have no idea what a bus is.

-"Uuh... No, I was kind of hoping that you would know." I answer, deciding to play along, and hoping I got it all right. I hadn't spoken until now, so my voice was a bit hoarse.

-"Oh, I see. Well, I guess it'll be here soon..." He says, and reaches into a pocket, pulling out some kind of a package. He then pulls out some kind of white, thin stick and puts it between his lips. "Do you smoke?" He asks and holds the package out in front of me. I realize that it's some kind of a cigar. Finally something I recognize, although the shape and size of them seems to have changed a bit.

-"Uuh.. sure..." I say, hesitate a bit and then pull one of them out, putting it between my own lips. The young man reaches into his pocket again, pulling out a small silvery object. He opens what seems to be a lid, and moves his thumb a bit, and a small flame lits up. Fire... He holds up the flame in front of the stick and lights it.

-"Wanna borrow my lighter, or do you have your own?" He asks and holds out the silvery object to me, though the flame is gone from it. I take it with quite a bit of apprehension, I mean, after all, I am afraid of fire, and I've never seen this sort of object before. This "lighter" didn't exist the last time I walked the earth.

In the corner of my eye I see him inhaling the smoke and then exhailing it while eyeing me. I fumble with this so called "lighter", not sure how he managed to make it catch fire. I can feel him watching me, and he chuckles a bit. "Want some help?" He asks, and I nod slightly, a bit puzzled over this whole lighter thing.

-"I'm sorry... I'm..." I'm not sure what to say.

-"Drunk?" He suggests with a smile. I nod, deciding that would probably be my best excuse. "Here." He takes the lighter from me, and this time I clearly see that he pushes some kind of trigger down, which makes the flame appear. He holds it out infront of me, and I slowly move closer until the ciggarette is touching the flame and ignites. I inhale the smoke, and exhale it shortly afterwards. The sensation is quite strange, nothing I am used to at the moment, so it almost makes me cough, but I hold it back.

Eyeing him curiously, I see that he probably is a bit younger than me. He's got black hair, which is neither short, nor long, but something inbetween. However, it's shorter at the back of his head, and it's kind of spiked. He seems to be wearing a lot of makeup, his eyes lined heavily with a black colour, making them stand out quite a bit. He's beautiful. He doesn't quite look like most of the other people that I've seen, but it doesn't matter. He looks very dramatic, something which I appreciate. I like to stand out in a crowd. This is the perfect look for me.

-"Uhm... This might sound strange, but do you know which year it is?" I ask him, and he laughs.

-"You... You serious?" He asks when he's calmed down a bit. I nod. "Dude... Are you high or something?" I don't reply to this, I only look away. "No, dude, it's okay. I do drugs as well sometimes, but I've never actually forgotten which year it is. It's the year 2007."2007? That's a whole lot of years being counted there. If only I could remember when I was staked... "Hey, dude, what's your name?" He breaks my train of thought and I look back up at him. My... name? Memories come surging back to me once more. I see her again, smiling, talking to me, calling out for me, but I can't make out the words. I hear her voice, but I can't understand what she's saying to me.

-"I... can't remember..." I answer. He laughs at this.

-"Gosh, you've even forgotten your own name? Well my name is Randy at least." I nod, left in thoughts from the last flashback. "Are you okay? You don't look too good. You look a bit pale and out of it."

-"I'm fine... I probably just need to take a walk or something..." I say.

-"Yeah, I could walk with you for a bit, if you want to. The damn bus doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon anyway, and the hotel I'm staying at isn't that far away." He says. I nod again and thank him as we both get up. My, my, this went better than I had imagined. He's volounteering to come with me... Seeing him toss the small ciggarette away after taking it up to his mouth and inhaling a last time, I do the same, and we start walking into a park. "Where do you live?"

-"Uhmm... Around here. Not very far." I reply vaguely.

-"Oh, okay. I hope you can find the way, because I don't think I can help you with that, since I'm not from around here, so I don't know the neighborhood very well."

-"Where are you from?" I ask, even though I really don't care. I just want to act friendly.

-"Originally, I'm from the U.S." He says. The U.S? Never heard of it. "I've been studying abroad for a few years now. I have an appartment in Alexandria, but I'm here visiting over the weekend, to see an art display." Art display? Appartment? So many strange words...

When we've gotten far enough into the park, and after I've made sure that no one is around, I put a hand over Randys mouth and sink my teeth into his neck swiftly.

After draining him of his blood I hastily start to pull his clothes off. He has black pants in a thick material. They're kinda baggy, which makes them very comfortable, although they are a bit too long, seeing Randy is taller than me. I pull on his black shirt, which is kinda tight, and his thicker, black sweater on top. Figuring his shoes look much nicer, and a bit more comfortable, I pull them on as well. They're low and flat, and they're black with some blue markings on them.

Looking down at myself, I decide that it looks good enough, and hurry out from the park before someone comes and sees me there. I don't bother with hiding my victim, because I don't care if anyone finds him. After all, I'm not going to stay here any longer. I'm going up north, because that's where she went. I know that now. I don't know why I know though, I just do.

Just for the record: Fatima is owned by White Wolf, not me. She might be appearing again, further ahead, I'm not sure yet. If not, then she'll at least be appearing in my coming story (which I've already written about 70 pages at, so it'll be out soon, I hope. I just want to finish uploading this story at first.)