The Vampire King's Virgin Mistake

Prologue - Author's POV

The first time the Sanguinari appeared was during the early hours of the morning. One could barely call it dawn being that most of the world still slept. It was that that time when the early morning mist had not yet lifted from the hills, and the valleys lay quiet and exposed. This was the hour that they came.

They did not ride in. They did not march. It was like they simply appeared.

The Sanguinari were silent beings. They did not shout or threaten. They did not bargain. They moved with singular purpose. Breaking down doors. Slaughtering whole families.

By the time the first scream was heard, it was already too late.

Nothing stopped them, because nothing could.

Many were drained of blood and left lying where they fell. Others were taken, young women, dragged into the mist, their cries fading as the Vampires disappeared back into the hills. By midday entire villages were gone. Families that once lived on same lands for generations were wiped out in a single morning.

One could not call this war.

There was no chance at a fight. It was simply deliberate destruction.

And it did not end there.

It became a recurring nightmare. Every full moon they came, and before long men began to fear the lunar event. People stopped sleeping through the night. Farms were abandoned. Bells rang with no one left to answer them. With the fear came the realization that they could not fight what was hunting them.

In time, five families met in secret to find a solution, a way to survive.

The Stratfords, Rivenstones, Merryweathers, Grahams and one house whose name has since been erased from history.

They gathered in a ruined barn beyond the village, far from listening ears. The air was thick with dread. Each man knew why he was there before a single word was spoken.

A Sanguinari stood before them, pale and fearsome. How he had been summoned and by whom no one could say. Only that he was there, waiting.

One by one the heads of each of these houses made their pledge.

They would give their virgin firstborn daughters to the Sanguinari.

The girls would serve as blood source and sexual companion. In return, the Sanguinari would spare their families.

It was an agreement born of terror, not honour. Men wept as they spoke their vows.

And at first it seemed to work, a small victory at best.

The attacks stopped. The Sanguinari withdrew into hidden lairs, and the villages were left alone. People began to believe that monsters could be controlled if the price was high enough.

Then the pregnancies began.

Under the full moon, the girls' bellies swelled. It was discovered that vampires could father children as mortal men did.

The vampires dared to hope.

Th That hope did not last.

When the time for birth came, nothing went right. Women screamed in pain as their bodies failed them. Every child was stillborn. Every mother