A/N: This chapter is just a little of Astoria's back story, explaining how she was turned.

England, 1182

The night was still young and yet the air was already bitterly cold, a sure sign that the deadly winter months were well on their way. For Astoria and Daniel, though, the cold was but a small price to pay for the rare opportunity to spend precious time together. There had been a time not so long ago when they had been able to spend all the time in the world together, had they wished it so, but when Astoria's parents found out, they'd expressly forbade her to spend so much as another second in his company. When Eve and Matthew had discovered their daughter's association with the blacksmith's son, they'd almost had a fit. No daughter of theirs would be caught associating with someone of such lowly standards, not if they had any say in it.

Daniel's parents, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind at all. And why should they? Astoria came from a powerful, wealthy family and a relationship between the two of them could only be a good thing. Or so they had thought.

"Don't go," begged Daniel when Astoria had decided that it was time for her to return home. "Just for an hour or so."

"I must. If my parents find that I am gone then who knows what steps they'll take to ensure that it doesn't happen again?"

Daniel groaned but he didn't protest any further. She was right, they had to be careful, but he was tired. Tired of sneaking around behind his parents back, tired of pretending that they didn't even know each other well enough to acknowledge when they saw each other. He knew that he loved her and in that moment, that was all that mattered.

"Lets run away." He said, placing a hand on either side of her face. "Just the two of us. We could go anywhere, be anyone we wanted, we could be together."

Astoria smiled sadly. She wanted nothing more than for them to be together without her overbearing parents trying to force them apart, but even before the sentence had finished passing his lips she was shaking her head. Neither of them knew enough about the world and how to survive in it to run away. Besides, Daniel was an integral part of his family. When his father didn't make enough money to provide for his wife and four children, it was Daniel who brought home the food.

"We can't run away, Daniel. Your family needs you."

He sighed unhappily and pressed his forehead against hers. "When will I see you again?" He murmured.

"Soon. I'll let you know the usual way."

"I'll be waiting."

Their lips met gently as they bade their unspoken goodbye. It was a kiss that said all the words that they couldn't out of fear of being overheard.

Entirely too soon for either of them, Astoria pulled away. "Goodbye, Daniel."

"Be safe," he whispered.

"Always."

Astoria trudged through the forest, trying her best not to feel the piercing cold that was seeping into her very bones. Her skirts were skimming the filth-covered floor so she lifted them slightly. She didn't care about the filth, but she didn't want her mother seeing it and growing suspicious.

She glanced around nervously; the trunks in this part of the forest were thick and close together. The branches hung low, snagging in her hair and on her dress every so often. The forest was surely the home of thieves and bandits, but travelling through the forest cut down her journey by half an hour, and if she used the path she ran the risk of running into someone she knew or being recognised by someone who would surely turn her in to her parents.

She was in the process of navigating her way over a particularly rocky patch on the ground when she heard a twig snap close behind her. She span around, expecting to find herself face to face with a brutal man and his sword yet she found nothing.

It's nothing, she told herself firmly, but she was starting to grow uneasy. The forest was a dangerous place to be at the best of times. She began to walk away, quickening her pace a little, eager to get home and leave the forest behind her when she heard footsteps, yet when she turned around, she found nothing, again.

"Hello?" She called out, immediately covering her mouth when she realised that if it was just her imagination, then she had just given away her position to any number of potential attackers who may have been lurking nearby. She was about to start walking again when she was knocked to the ground from behind. She managed to break her fall with her hands and push herself around to face whoever had pushed her but for the third time she found nothing but the dark and mysterious forest.

She was more than uneasy now. As fast as she could, she pushed herself up from the ground, lifted her skirts and broke into a run. She could hear the sound of a pursuit but she didn't stop this time, she was putting all her efforts into not tripping over her stupid dress. She knew that if her idiotic 'hello' hadn't alerted anyone of her presence then the sound of her loud breathing as she struggled to draw breath and crashing through the forest certainly would have.

She chanced a glance behind her as she stumbled through the trees; she couldn't see anyone but that didn't mean she was alone. She turned to face forwards again only to find a dark figure standing only inches away from her. She came to an unsteady stop and stared up at the figure fearfully. She was almost certain that this was the unknown entity that had been chasing her, unseen, through the forest.

"Who are you?" She managed to get out as she clutched the stitch in her side. She saw the corner of their mouth pull upwards in a smirk and the flash of unusually pointed teeth before they lunged for her neck. Her scream had barely passed her lips when she felt the teeth tear at her throat. She was vaguely away of a strange sucking sensation, like her attacker was sucking out her blood before she descended into darkness.

She drifted in and out of consciousness. All she knew was that she was injured. Badly. Her last conscious thought before she slipped back under was that it was still dark. Unless her parents had awoken and found her bed empty, no one would know she was in trouble. She had no one to rely on but herself.

She woke to the sounds of harsh voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying, only that they were arguing. She raised her head slightly, only to be knocked back down by the pain that was coming from her neck. She gave a small groan, diverting her assailant's attention away from their argument.

"This one's a fighter." She heard a male voice say. She opened her eyes in an attempt to identify him but found that her vision was blurry. She groaned again as her neck gave a particularly painful throb and the man laughed.

"Who is she?" asked someone else. A woman.

"I know her," said a third voice, another man. "She lives in the village. Up near the church."

"So she's one of the well-to-do, eh?"

"I suppose so."

"Lets turn her." said the first man.

"Why?" said the woman.

"Oh, you know how much the 'upper class' inhabitants of this village hate us. I think it'd be an interesting experiment."

The next thing she knew, someone was forcing their bloody wrist against her mouth, forcing their blood down her throat. She tried to resist with what little energy she had left, but it was futile.

She heard the woman cry out angrily and she assumed that it was her that pulled away the wrist from her mouth. "Are you sure it's not because she's pretty?" She snarled.

"Positive." He replied, grabbing Astoria's neck and forcing it sideways, pushing her, once more, down into the darkness.

Astoria woke up gasping for air. Her hands automatically went to her neck where she found nothing but smooth, unharmed skin. Had she dreamt the whole ordeal?

"Morning, sunshine."

She started and her eyes found a tall, unfamiliar man standing to her left. He was watching her carefully, a small smirk tugging at his lips.

They weren't in the forest anymore. In fact, she wasn't sure where they were. They seemed to be in some kind of abandoned building. All the windows had been hastily covered up, blocking any sunlight that may have made it into the room otherwise.

It was daytime, which meant that her disappearance would have been noted by now. Her father would be out looking for her whilst her mother sat in front of the fire, wringing her hands together agitatedly. Would be Daniel be out looking for her? Or would he have feigned indifference?

No, he would be out looking for her like his life depended on it. He'd blame himself, since she'd gone missing on her way back from visiting him.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" She asked the man, wincing at how loud her voice sounded to her own ears. In fact, everything seemed louder. There was a persistent ringing in her ears that was causing her head to throb painfully and she just felt wrong all over. Her senses all seemed slightly magnified and she could swear she smelled blood.

Before the man could answer, a woman and a slightly smaller boy walked into the room, dragging a boy around her age into the room. He was unconscious, knocked out by the looks of it.

"What's going on?" Astoria asked, looking at each of them in turn.

"Oh, it's nothing personal, sweetheart." Said the man, grabbing hold of the unconscious boy and dragging him over to where she was sat.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked the woman, looking at Astoria resentfully.

"Absolutely." He stopped in front of Astoria and knelt down, holding the boy by the back of his shirt. He grinned at her and his face started to change. Astoria's eyes widened in shock and she pressed herself against the wall in an attempt to get as far away from this…monster as was possible; the whites of his eyes had flushed red and there were veins protruding on the skin underneath. Perhaps the most frightening part was that his canine teeth had elongated into sharp and deadly looking fangs. He ripped into the boy's throat, leaving a sizeable gash, not unlike the one that had been torn into her neck only hours before.

Though the whole situation had her trembling in fear, she couldn't help what happened next. The smell from the blood coming from the boy's neck was overwhelming. She was almost too repulsed to even think it, but it smelled good. So good. She didn't notice herself moving closer, but she must have because the next thing she knew, she was holding her mouth against the wound, taking in the blood that was seeping from his neck. The effect was instantaneous. She felt it rushing through her veins, empowering her, strengthening her, enhancing everyone of her senses when the reality of what she had just done hit home. She shoved the boy away from her in disgust and wiped the blood from her mouth, tears pooling in her eyes. She stood up and marched past her captors who, to her surprise, didn't try to stop her.

"Where are you going?" Asked the woman.

"Home." She said without looking around. She pulled open the door, eager to return home, and cried out in agony as the sunlight hit her. It was burning her! The pain was unimaginable, it felt like every cell in her body was bursting into flame. She caught sight of her skin which was blistering in the light and she moved so quickly it startled her.

"What's happening to me?" She cried at her attackers who were watching her, unconcerned.

There was a pregnant pause within which the man and woman looked at each other before the woman stepped forward.

"You're a vampire."