Title: Agarwaen [Sindarin for bloodstained]

Rating: M

Summary: [vampire AU] The boy couldn't help but sink into this black clearness, to embrace the awaiting calmness with open arms and to drown in those depths, for drowning he was and drowning he wanted if it meant to always be able to look into the sheer soul of this Death Angel.

Commentary: This is my first story I've written (literally) in ages and I hope you will like it. I've had this idea of a vampire story containing my favorite characters of LOTR for some time, and now (with the help of a good friend of mine) I have finally begun setting it all up. English is not my mothertongue, but I promise I'll give my best to present you a captivating and memorable fanfiction.

Reviews in every form are much appreciated :)

A big thanks to my friend, beta reader Thery who also played a big part in creating this story!


Prologue – Backstory

There once was a land far away from all we know, another world unknown to Evil for millennials, in which all its inhabitants lived in peace and harmony: Middle-earth. It was not only a place for men, but also for far greater beings residing there; more powerful and beautiful, but kind in their unmoving hearts and strong in wills, for their one great weakness was the doom of all living: its true essence, the red blood of all those whose hearts were still beating inside their breasts. Life itself they needed to live on, to feed on it and secure their never-ending life, for they were immortal.

Vampires. Ethereal beings of sheer endless beauty and wisdom, binding themselves to one rule so simple yet so difficult and contrary to their ways of life: To never misuse their god given power against their mortal comrades, to never feed on their blood and to never use the human weaknesses to their advantage.

Weaving a future from one tangled past, mortal and immortal worked together and combined their powers - building villages, building cities, building kingdoms. Life was good and life was fair, for the people of Middle-earth, called Arda in the unique and ancient language of vampires, never knew war.

But as Evil can never not exist, souls of men and vampires once good of heart subtly grew darker, becoming black and tainted, striving for might and strength, dedicating themselves to the knowledge of dark and hidden enchantments. They performed forbidden experiments, tested themselves in the usage of black magic; they lied and cheated, seduced and killed, ripped families apart and turned friends into enemies, always veiling themselves in forsaken shadows.

The result was inevitable: war came upon Middle-earth, bringing death and destruction for many years. Orcs, a new race of dark vampires, bred for one reason that was to kill. These atrocities were the outcome of dark witchcraft carried out by the evillest being on Arda, known by the name of Morgoth, one of the highest vampire lords. They ravaged villages and took countless lives, mortal and immortal, crushing them by their enormous number; an army of mindless creatures under the command of one single vampire.

In a last attempt to once again bring peace over Middle-earth men and vampires united and combined their powers like in ancient days, only now to destroy Morgoth in a monumental fight known to history many years later as "The Last Alliance". They succeeded in bringing the enemy down, but his devilry had set too many roots in Arda, and although Morgoth was destroyed, his creation, the Orcs, endured.

The Good won, but far too great were the losses of thousands and thousands of mortal and immortal beings to go back again to a life in peace and serenity; the once lasting harmony between men and vampires now was forgotten, too great were the differences, the hatred, the accusations between the two races. And so the vampires withdrew from the surface and turned their backs to men, and the last three kingdoms of vampires were built deep in ancient forests and stones far away from any human dwellings. Forgotten was their existence by men, that only wrote of them in books of fairy tales.

Rivendell, the Last Homely Home, also called Imladris in the vampires' ancient speech, arose in the East of Eriador, West of the Misty Mountains, and Elrond and his wife Celebrian were lord and lady over the sheltered and peaceful settling in which lived the vampire race of Ñoldor.

Lothlórien, the Golden Wood, built in the mallorn trees between the Gladden River and the Fangorn Forest, was called to be the "Heart" of all vampires on Earth. The lady Galadriel and her husband Celeborn, parents to Celebrian, were ruling over their realm and its inhabitants, the Galadhrim, with wisdom and kindness.

And then there was Greenwood the Great, also known as Eryn Galen, the Woodland Realm in Rhovanion with all its strength and beauty under the ruling of King Thranduil. The heart of the kingdom was save and hidden in the depths of the forest, in which the vampire race of Silvan lived. But Dol Guldur, also known as Hill of Dark Sorcery, lay south in the forest of Greenwood and the many fell beasts there were too great in number for the Silvan to defeat; Orcs and Great Spiders housed in the great forest, turning it into a dark and dangerous place, and so it was renamed in Mirkwood.

While Imladris and Lórien lived in peace and far from any devilry for most of the time, the inhabitants of Mirkwood were in a constant fight for their home. The ancient laws long forgotten, the Silvan vampires grew hard in heart and didn't turn their desire for human blood down anymore. Neither Ñoldor nor Galadhrim could either understand or forgive them for giving into their desire, for the vampires of Imladris and the Golden Woods still held the rules of old close to their hearts and fed only of animals' blood or the food of men.

This is the story of a vampire and a human, overcoming the barriers between their different races and their different affiliations, a story of great bravery and true love, a story of deep trust and the hope of a future filled with light. They may not change this dark world, but they shall turn dim beginnings into a bright future.