Prologue
No one knows how long they had been in existence, but it is said that they were especially prominent around the time of the Roman Empire. Such a healthy population of people at that time encouraged many to migrate into the heart of the Mediterranean lands.
They were beautiful, radiant beings—with russet skin like cinnamon and eyes of violet. In fact, it was rather difficult to recognize one of them save for the color of the eyes. Even then, most of them managed to blend in well enough to endanger the humans around them.
Because these people—these men and women were not human themselves. They feasted on the emotional energy and willpower of humans, particularly their fear. One kiss, if maintained long enough, held the power to drain them senseless…and when the victim awoke, he too would walk in the path of the one before him, seeking his first meal. In time, each one learned the subtle tactics of seduction to drawing victims for the only sure way to feed was through a kiss on the lips…from the mouth they gained entry to the very soul of their victim and drew out their spirit.
They were given a different name by every group of peoples who happened upon them, and they were known to the ancient Romans as regnum adumbro, or "dark royalty". Such a name depicted the stately and graceful nature which concealed their hideous intentions.
Given such powerful gifts—unnatural strength, miraculous beauty, immortality—most regnum abused their power and destroyed life after life without a hint of remorse…one kiss, if held for too long, could claim all willpower and emotion from a person, leaving his heart beating but himself unable to move, no thoughts left in his mind. One would say worse than dead. Such were many victims of new regnum who were always especially hungry and devoid of the self-control.
However, those who stood out from the norm were those regnum who fought the urge, disgusted with what they'd become—those few who struggled to live among humans live normal lives. Such ones had to avoid social festivities due to their aversion to singing, one of their few weaknesses and one of which few humans knew. Other than that, these select few used their strength to defy their nature and remain as a part of society. They hated and sought to protect the humans from those regnum who enjoyed ridding humans of their spirits.
I am one of those regnum. My name is Adversa and I want to tell the story of my battle against those of my kind who strike fear into the hearts of people who hear of our kind as well as my battle against myself.