This is my story, the immortal tale of my life before I received the millennium eye. It is a story of a vampire falling in love with a mortal angel, my beloved Cecelia. And it is a story of how darkness and light cannot mix, for if they do, only the kiss of sorrow will result. A kiss, both painful and sweet, like darkness and light.

----Maximilllion Pegasus

And this is my story, the mortal tale of my life. A story of an innocent girl falling for a dark predator, my love, Maximillion. It's a tale of how seducing the dark can be to the light, and how, no matter how much light will run from it; night will come and consume it. ---Cecelia Pegasus

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perfect Crescent, Chapter 1

I gazed at my reflection in the calm river, feeling all alone in the world. The face that looked back was of a young beautiful aristocrat who had dreams of marrying a rich gentlemen and staying evermore in the world of wealthiness. How deceiving a mirror can be... That girl in the water is no one. She does not belong here. My fingers touched the surface, causing ripple after ripple to distort the face that stared back.

I was supposed to be at the party at my mansion, but I had snuck out into the backyard, not wanting to be a part of it. There was no one there but other aristocrats, chatting about how peasants were dirt and the latest fashions or news. I hated them; all of them, from their pompous attitudes to the very ground they tainted with their presence. They acted like they were important, as if they were better than any other person because of their monetary status. I hated them, and they hated me in return for my behaviors of 'not acting like a proper lady should' as they put it. So what if I didn't like wearing dresses or going to pointless parties? What did they care what I spent my life doing?

But they did, especially my parents, for all my actions reflected their family in the eyes of others. I could not escape, no matter how I tried, to get away from this world. I would be forever stuck with all these stuck-up people, with this world. Forever...

"Forever's an awfully long time," said a voice behind me. I jumped, startled. How long had he been there? And did he just read my thoughts?

"What?" I asked in a politely confused tone, trying to recover from the shock he had given me. He sat down in the moist grassy bank beside me, his right arm propped up on his knee nonchalantly. His silver locks swayed with the passing cool breeze, and his light brown eyes looked above at the young starry night.

"We're both stuck in this world as we are, forever," he whispered softly. His voice assuaged the anger I had felt at my reflection, replacing it with contented peace. He seemed to understand my feelings somehow, everything that I felt and knew. His eyes peered into mine meaningfully, and my heart skipped a beat. Everything about him was beautifully and abnormally perfect, his pale skin, his silky moon-colored hair, and his eyes... his lovely hypnotic eyes...eyes that I could become lost in...lost in the sweetness of its honey....

"Cecelia," he murmured, tucking a stray strand of blonde behind my ear affectionately. Our lips were close enough that I could feel the warmth of his breath. He embraced me with long passionate strokes of his tongue, and it seemed like nothing else mattered in the world. Nothing was important, and everything was picturesque. A perfect world.

He kissed down my neck, then bit into its tender flesh. My mouth formed a silent 'o' of pain but as soon as the agony had begun, it faded into bliss. I felt an overwhelming wave of pleasure as blood trickled into his hungry lips. It was a divine ecstasy that took the breath from you, a dream you didn't want to end.

Suddenly, I felt my heart slow and fear gripped me. I kicked him as hard as I could but found myself dizzyingly weak. He stopped with a stunned dumbfounded expression upon his features.

I collapsed on the ground as blackness threatened to encase me. The last thing I saw was a pair of pointed teeth drenched in shiny red, then...nothing.