Hello folks, I know I have been absent from fanfiction for quite a while now. I am really sorry for that. But my studies keep me busy and I can barely find any time for myself, except in the holidays. But I hope I can find some time for updating my stories now...or at least once a month.

So, this is my new Seraph of the End fic. I have become obsessed with OnS, the anime, the manga and the light novels. Perhaps they helped me to come over my writer's block. By the way light novels, this story is mostly based on "Owari no Seraph - Story of Vamire Mikaela", so it will also contain slight spoilers. I also want to warn you. Spoilers, blood and gore ahead! Don't like it, don't read it!

Anyway, thank you for reading. If you like the story, have any criticism, or simply want to speak out your mind, please leave a review. I would really appreciate it (Gives me motivation to continue xD)

Disclaimer: I don't own Owari no Seraph/Seraph of the End! It belongs to the genius Takaya Kagami!

Somewhere in the midst of the old Europe a wave of fear, despair, and destruction came across all people. It was a picture of biblical extent. Something that could be compared to the apocalypse. Perhaps it was God's envoy and his will to punish mankind's sins. Their sins and egoism, their arrogance had become too great for the world to endure. And now, heaven's punishment came upon them. That punishment had a simple, yet frightening name.

The Black Death

Ashita no Owari

-Tomorrow's End-

Chapter 1: The Sinners' Death

France, 1349

It was night in the northern French country. Stars were hidden by dark clouds, not even the moon had a chance to be seen on the night sky. Darkness had consumed the country and the people living there. No, it was their fear that had devoured them.

Sparks brightened this ominous night. Not the light from stars, not fireflies in the forest, but the sparks of burning houses. Villages and even whole towns were engulfed in flames and the carpet of fire grew. Those, who were infected by the epidemic already knew about their fate. The pest wasn't named Black Death without reason, and it made its way through all countries. Thousands of people died every day. Their rotten bodies were buried or simply burned. Infected people were isolated from the others as soon as they showed the slightest symptoms. Though, it couldn't be stopped.

The smell of rotten bodies and burned flesh filled the air. One could smell the death from miles away, and there was no escape.

The epidemic overran another ordinary town, which would soon be forgotten. Men, wearing brown leather masks with beak-like noses, wandered through the old streets of that town. They had long metallic rods with spears on top in their hands and kept the infected at distance with those. Plague doctors. But even they had no cure against the pest. They could only watch the catastrophe to continue. In hope to reduce the number of victims, they had to isolate infected people, they had to isolate the whole town from the rest of the world. Plague doctors walked through all streets, accompanied by priests, who prayed for the victims' souls and for the end of that pestilence. Prayers were perhaps the only cure, but God didn't hear them. Not this time.

Another house of that town began to burn. Inside of it were corpses.

The atmosphere was filled with the smell of burning wood, rotten flesh, prayers and loud screams. Before the houses were burned down, thieves searched for their chance to find valuable items. They were a part of the pestilence, and a reason why the sickness could spread in such speed.

Two men watched the catastrophe from the top of a hill. They wore long coats with hoods hiding their faces. One could tell, they were neither thieves nor plague doctors. No human would dare to come near such a scenario. No one would lay a foot near that town. It would mean a painful and torturous death. No human would do so...

"Hah," one smiled and pretended to laugh. "Look at this. Such beautiful picture. It gives me chills," he said, while he inhaled the air. Others would have flinched from the stench or even coughed. However, not this man. His voice held a playful and also very sarcastic tone. Silver streaks of hair fell out from his hood as he turned to his companion. A wide smile grew on his lips before he laid a hand on his fellow's shoulder. For a short moment, fangs were showing as he grinned. "Those humans don't even know how lucky they are. They will face death soon... such blessing."

"It is no blessing to rot alive, Ferid-kun" the other said in a monotone and emotionless voice. "Besides, what are we doing here? You haven't said anything, why we would visit this place. What is behind all this?"

The silver-haired male with the name of Ferid simply chuckled in a childish manner as answer. "My friend, you should trust me a little."

The other one couldn't hide a fake smile. His partner's words were too tempting to correct. "Friend?" he asked with slight disbelief.

"I thought you were my friend," Ferid said. He made a shocked expression and pretended to be hurt by his so-called friend. "After all, my dear Crowley-kun, I wanted to find some place to rest for you. Aren't you exhausted? And I guess, that you are hungry. You need blood. I can see it in your eyes."

"And where do you expect to find... clean blood?" The other man grabbed his hood and ripped it quite forcefully off his head, revealing his face. He had a very masculine face, dark red eyes with which he glared at his comrade. His hair was matching his eyes, red, with some brown streaks bound into a braid. His comrade at the other hand was pale, had fine facial characteristics, silverish hair and also red eyes, though his were brighter in color. Both couldn't be more different. In appearance and personality. Crowley Eusford and Ferid Bathory. Crowley scratched the back of his head, he also smelled the rotten air. "I don't expect to find something there..." he sighed.

"But isn't it amusing?"

"What do you mean?" Crowley asked.

Ferid gave another fake chuckle. He also pulled the fabric off his head. His posture changed as he spread his arms and made a step towards the screams coming from the town. "Human ignorance. Speaking prayers and blaming others for their own faults. It must be the human nature. What do you think? You were the one doing the same, Crowley-kun. A lost knight, loosing hope and the belief in your God. How does it feel? How does it feel to see your own past in front of your eyes?" Smiling, yet narrowing his eyes, Ferid provoked his companion. From time to time it still worked. Crowley was able to feel anger, though only slightly. His emotions had left him long ago, together with his humanity. They were stolen by the man standing next to him, yet he didn't care about killing him anymore. He had forgotten most of his anger and his revenge.

With a hiss under his breath, Crowley gave a silent response and started walking. Staying and listening to Ferid's provocations wasn't an option. "Let's go."

Their appearance almost went by unnoticed. As their way led them through the dirty streets, nobody even cared about the two strangers. The question was, who would? Among all infected victims of the epidemic, nobody could compare to the men. Dead. While some humans fought to stay alive, Crowley and Ferid couldn't. In fact, they had already died, but were still wandering among the living. Perhaps, this was a moment of irony. Two men, living from the blood of humans only to stay alive and conscious, even though they were already dead. Their hearts had stopped beating centuries ago.

A group of priests came past them, not even glancing at them. They spoke their prayers, but not for those who had died from the Black Death. For their own souls. Even them couldn't stop their fate, and as they had entered this village, they already knew their fate. Death... It was another ironic moment.

Ville de feu

Town of fire. The perfect name for a place that was about to burn down, together with all that the fire devoured.

Crowley smelled dirty blood, from those who already carried the plague within them. Even he felt no more lust for blood. He knew it wouldn't harm him to drink it, but the taste would be horrible and unbearable. The last time he fed from humans was about a week ago by now, he would soon lose his mind. Though, even the imagination of tasting foul blood made him enduring it a while longer. But the time was running.

"Why did you bring me here?" Crowley asked and narrowed his eyes.

"This question again?" Ferid simply replied. He skillfully managed to refuse to give a straight answer. There was no need for that anyways. "Actually, I have no specific reason. I just came to get bored. I hoped to find something interesting here..." he hummed and walked away, leaving his comrade behind. There was no sense in asking Ferid any question. Either he would tell a lie, or just refuse to speak a word. He had his own mind and his own plans. Crowley knew he couldn't be trusted. Yet. He always provided entertainment. After more than hundred years of living, it would get boring, tiring, and exhausting. Life was exhausting. Especially as immortal blood-sucking creatures. There was a positive aspect for Crowley. As long as he traveled with Ferid, he always got surprised by the strangest and most curious things.

However, now was only the time to leave. Crowley watched more people fleeing and heard more screams in agony. Silently, he walked through tiny alleys, trying to leave this town behind. He saw a few dead bodies on the side and walked past them. More victims of the Black Death. How many corpses had he seen today? Too many to count. The smell stung in his nose and made him flinch. "Tss..."

From one second to another, he suddenly stopped. There was that scent. A scent he knew and he lusted for. Blood. Clean and pure blood. This scent quickly faded and got covered by the smell of death. At the same moment he turned around. His glance wandered up to an ordinary house, which seemed fine between the scenario of death and destruction. The red-headed man aimed for it, ignoring the surrounding happening.

In the same time, someone else became involved into the chaos of fear. A dim light illuminated a simple room. It was not the place of a noble, yet not the home of a poor family. There would be no reason to rob a poor family.

The flame of two single candles flickered and danced at the slightest breeze. The presence of five people filled the room. One of them was a woman, together with two other males, and two young souls hiding underneath a table.

The body of young woman laid on the wooden floor without motion. She was still alive, but the light of life has escaped from her eyes. She didn't even have the strength to gritter her teeth as a muscular man grabbed her collar and slapped her across her face, leaving a stinging red mark on her cheek. She didn't care anymore. There was no reason in fighting back. Her dress was ripped at some parts, though it was an expensive one, her body was covered with bruises and cuts. Her own blood tainted her appearance. Her light brown hair, once bound into a long and neat braid was now a mess. Yet, she suffered more from the fear inside her.

"You do have more! Don't tell me you don't own any valuable things!" the man, who had just slapped her, screamed at her.

She didn't respond. Only a silent whisper left her lips. "I'm telling the truth..." As result, she got shoved back and landed on the floor again.

The man spat on the floor and showed his pure rage. He turned his neck and thus caused it to crack slightly. It was a disgusting noise and made the woman shiver. He turned to the other male, who was about to rip all objects out of a nearby shelf. Seemingly, he wasn't satisfied by the things he found. No gold, no jewelry, nothing with value. They had already taken any valuables of this house. "Let's move it. I don't want to be the next one dying here," he said and grabbed an old sack. It was too light in his opinion.

Two pairs of eyes watched the whole happening from underneath a table behind the tablecloth. Two young children, a boy and a girl, both about ten or eleven years old were hiding from the thieves. In fact, they had been told to do so by their sister, the young woman. She had just received another strong kick in her stomach and coughed in pain, but she tried to endure it for her younger siblings One wrong glance could mean their death. Please, heaven... protect them... she could only think about them. She didn't want anything to happen to them.

"Do you want to die, woman?" One of the men, the one who had just kicked her and abused her before, asked. His eyes were empty, as if his soul had already left his body. His heart was cold, the aura around him as well. With an unpredictable and hollow glimpse at the woman in front of him, he slowly pulled out an old knife of his pocket, lifting it in such a way that the woman saw her reflection in the blade.

"Uriela!" her brother cried and rushed out of his hideout, together with his younger sister. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he faced both criminals. He tried to be brave, but in this situation he couldn't help but tremble in fright.

"Garbiel, Raphaelle! Run!" his older sister screamed with her last strength. "Don't harm them! I will do whatever you say, but spare their lives! I beg you! Don't harm them!" Uriela couldn't move as she wanted to. In a moment where she found the power to stand, she already saw the man raising his knife and aiming for her younger brother. "No!" Uriela screamed. The time seemed to stop for a moment as blood splashed through the room. Blood drops hit her dress and stained her face. The warm liquid ran down her cheeks. Blood was everywhere, but it mostly covered her younger siblings. Gabriel stood there, rooted to the spot, with eyes wide open. He wanted to scream, but neither a single tone left his lips. Raphaelle experienced the same.

In the front of them was merely the half of the men who had attacked them. His upper torso fell off to the floor with a 'thud' and his lower body just toppled down. It was a moment of shock and total silence. Standing in front of the children was a man with bright red hair and a heavy sword in his right hand. Crowley Eusford. He had rushed by and saved the children. Within the wink of an eye the other thief experienced almost the same. His head got separated from his body and flew through the room. With a swift move, Crowley freed his sword from the blood and let it glide back into the sheath hanging on his belt.

Uriela was shaking, she couldn't find her voice anymore and dropped to her knees. It became worse instead. The powerful urge to throw up overcame her, she bent to the side and covered her mouth with her hand quickly. Crowley instead, watched her calmly. He didn't care about the children behind him and remained silent.

"Th... thank you..." Uriela spoke in a shaking tone. Though, she was thanking her savior, she couldn't feel real gratitude at this time. Seeing two people getting killed in front of her eyes... she could barely endure the memory of that. It was a horrible action, even though she almost got killed by the men. She almost chocked at every word in her shock. "You... you saved us..." The glance at the upper half of the dead body next to her made her tremble even more. Tears streamed down her face and she sobbed quietly.

Slowly, Crowley bent down to her and silently studied her guise. Her expression. He approached her and before she noticed, Crowley had brought his face closely to hers, but he didn't stop yet. Opening his mouth, he revealed his sharp fangs and suddenly they buried into Uriela's neck.

A... vampire?!

The young woman let out a scream in pain, making her siblings screech. Desperately trying to free herself, Uriela fought against the man who just saved her. The frightening sound of her blood getting sucked out of her body caused the woman to shiver uncontrollably. She felt how her life got sucked out. Perhaps, it was the will to survive that overcame her in this second. Uriela reached for the one thief's knife that laid on the floor, not too far away from her. With a shaking hand, she grabbed it and rammed the knife into Crowley's shoulder in order to free herself from him. "Run!" Before she could even think about her own safety, Uriela commanded her younger siblings to flee. She couldn't imagine them ending up like her as well. The thoughts were too painful.

As Crowley felt the knife cutting through his skin and even his shoulder blade, his grip on the woman loosened a little. "Wait!" It was not the pain, but rather the surprise that Uriela was still able to fight back. It was her will to survive that surprised him the most.

In a rush, Uriela used her chance to escape and jumped to her feet. She grabbed Gabriel's, her brother's hand and ran out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house she had once called home. Closely behind her was her younger sister. "Don't look back! Run into the woods!" Uriela cried, somehow managing to keep her balance while running, even with the blood loss. As the three of them ran outside, smoke and hot air greeted them. All of them coughed, tears developed from the smoke and the smell. Their surroundings almost seemed unreal. The scenario resembled the one from a nightmare, but it was the harsh and painful reality around them. Uriela's sight got blurred, she felt weak and thought she would faint. The neighboring houses were devoured by flames and the ground was a carpet of corpses. It was her younger brother who shook her out of her trance by pulling her. He also wanted to flee. He just wanted to live!

"This way!" Gabriel yelled.

Uriela, Raphaelle and Gabriel all ran for their lives and dashed through tiny and narrow alleys of their town. It was hard not to look back or stumble over dead bodies.

It wasn't far way anymore. The forest was around the next corner, behind a tiny field. Shortly before the dark forest began, Uriela stopped. She had to look back at the town where she was born. The town that was her home. Uriela knew how much she had lost. Everything burned down to ashes.

"Please, not... This can't be happening..." Uriela whispered, sobbing. She couldn't take her eyes off her burning home and started crying. Gabriel took his sister's hand in a firm grip to comfort her, and Raphaelle clung tightly to Uriela's dress. She was crying louder than her older sister. Despair was a simple word that described them, yet the most fitting one.

Suddenly, Uriela felt how both of her clung to her dress, but they were hiding behind her. She raised her head and noticed a silhouette wandering through the field, coming towards her. That familiar red hair shimmered even brighter with the huge flames in the background. This person's face held no expression. It made Uriela shiver. She thought she had lost him, but her false savior had followed them.

Crowley opened his mouth a little and showed his fangs. He had followed the sweet scent of Uriela's blood. He wanted more of it.

"No..." Uriela whimpered.

My fingers are bleeding! I wrote the chapter within a day and my fingers are hurting now. Ouch...

Yes, a little afterword from me here. The characters, well... Crowley in this case... may seem a little OOC, but they aren't!
I read the light novel "Story of Vampire Mikaela" over and over for this story and thought how the character development actually happened. I intent to write mostly about Crowley in this story and how he became the vampire we can find in the Owari no Seraph Anime/Manga now. His personality has changed a lot since he was turned into a bloodsucker by Ferid (cough cough)

Let's say, his background fascinates me.

So, I wanted to try something new with this story. For the last week, I was researching a lot about that time of the Black Death, names, meanings, and also about some biblical scenarios. I think I want to create a world like Takaya Kagami did with the original OnS series.

If you have read this until now, then I can say I am really happy :D After that long break from writing I am finally back, but I notice that writing has become more difficult for me. I need more practice again! I need to catch up with the time I have lost without writing. So please, don't blame me, if this attempt doesn't satisfy you. Like I said before, criticism is always appreciated :) I hope you will read more chapters.

Thank you :)