Notes: This is my first venture into the fantastic world presented by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Alexander is an interesting, though is rarely written about and I wanted to change that. I hope that I have managed to keep him in character and that you enjoy this introspective piece.

Disclaimer: "In the Forests of the Night" and its respective characters are the property of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Tainted

By Frozen Phoenix

"Alexander, listen closely. Rachel is dead. I am one of them."

Such simple words, yet they pierced me deeply than any blade or the fangs of any of those foolish enough to try and drink from me. Somewhere within me, I think that I have always feared to hear them. Or to see the fruits of that dark labor.

And yet, there it stood looking calmly in my eyes. Savagery, merciless and deadly, surrounded by an aura of triumph and shameful lust. Enraptured by the crimson blood that littered the ground, the blood of him that stained the floor with its very presence. Death, pain, cruelty and malice. All from the one I would never have suspected. My dear twin sister Rachel.

Her hands covered in Aubrey's blood, her once fair face still flushed by its taste. For three centuries, I have hoped and I have prayed that by some act of mercy Rachel had been spared. That my foolishness and the vindictiveness of Ather had not claimed her. It seems as though all of my prayers have gone unanswered. The day Ather's cursed blood touched Rachel's lips, she was as damned as the rest of their kind. All through a fault of mine.

What a cruel game life has become. I fight them in my own way, such as allowing Aubrey's fledgling to feed from me at the Café Sangra. He was lucky that Aubrey intervened when he did, otherwise my blood would have poisoned his body and ended his life. It is my duty as a Triste to hunt those that prey upon the innocent, but what is truly innocent in this world?

I have seen death, war, disease…all of the imperfections of humanity. But I find the most heartrending of things was the sight of my sister Rachel so willing to kill. I have been taught, I have known what happens when a human becomes a vampire. But still I held on to the hope that Rachel would be spared. That I would never have to stand against the one I loved most dearly. The one I injured so terribly. I was wrong.

Rachel was the last of those I cared for. Mother, Father and Lynette all have gone, their passing like the rain falling upon the sea. I long considered my gifts a curse, but it is my immortality that truly afflicts me. Those that I have loved are dead, while I am left living and in the presence of a sister I may be forced to destroy.

Had I not been raised to forgive those who have hurt me, I would hunt Aubrey and Ather and make them suffer for their sins. I have no fear of either of their powers, only of the repercussions of my actions. Ather changed Rachel in an effort to hurt me, I shudder to think of the retribution she would carry out were I unsuccessful.

It is my duty to protect the innocent from the darkest of evils. But what of my duty as a brother? Could I really face Rachel in the midst of any battle and do what was necessary? I permitted her walk away from the nightclub Las Noches unmolested, later receiving a warning from my brethren and allowing her the opportunity to feed upon humans. If need be, could I end her life just as easily?

Fate is truly a fickle mistress. My mistakes in the past have poisoned my future. I failed those that mattered and will live for eternity with that knowledge and pain. I pity Rachel and the suffering she has endured in her cursed life, yet I wonder…

I wonder which of us has been truly damned.

~The End~