The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Nine, Part Two - What Happened In The Past

I turned to Tidus, astonished. It seemed as though our trip to New York was possibly all for nothing. "The ring is cursed? Did you know this?"

"No, I didn't," Tidus admitted. He sighed.

"But you knew that stuff about Cole Beckett. Who was he anyway?"

"He was a Vampire I knew in the 1700's. He was young, clever, good-looking...which made him dangerous. He left a trail of bodies wherever he went - mostly women and children. But society was too blinded by his looks and his charms to admit to themselves that he was a killer. So when I heard the uproar his name was causing in the Supernatural world I took it upon myself to counsel Beckett. His Maker had abandoned him."

"His Maker?"

"His undead father," Tidus reiterated. "The Vampire who created him."

"Oh. But why did his Maker abandon him? I mean, why bother taking the time to create a Vampire you won't look after? That's just... cruel. Isn't it?"

"Yes. Taking a life and then re-creating it requires... significant sacrifice on our part. It creates an unbreakable bond, a link that can never be severed-much like the bond you share with your Champion. So you can understand how creating a progeny Vampire and then setting it loose-alone-on the world is unimaginable. They would be a loose wrecking ball of wild emotions with thirst powerful enough to slaughter thousands. And a Maker and his progeny would share in the pain and suffering of those repercussions until one or both of them met the true death. Because when a Maker forsakes his progeny... it only opens the doorway to an even worse harbinger of evil - despair."

"So you're saying Cole killed innocent people out of revenge? He slaughtered women because his Maker left him? Seriously?"

"When a Vampire is Turned they become ten times the person they used to be. Our senses, emotions, thoughts, desires-they're all amplified enormously. Because of this many Vampires don't make it past the first fifty years without getting themselves killed. This is why Makers are so vital. True Makers help you distinguish that fine line between controlling your hunger and allowing it to control you. Feeding without killing, learning to survive on animal blood when you have nothing else, choosing whether to keep your Humanity or shut it off... these are all things your Maker teaches you. But Cole never got the chance to experience that. His Maker left him in the first six months, and for two centuries after Cole gorged himself on women and blood. Fortunately for him forensics was severely underdeveloped, and of course we Vampires have a few special talents... so he survived. For a time."

It was then that I realized just how deep Tidus' wisdom ran. He wasn't just a handsome, angry face. He was also intelligent and thoughtful and wise. And I resented him even more for being so because it only made him that much harder to resist.

"So what changed?" I asked. "Why were the Supernaturals so upset with Cole?"

"At that time Hunters hadn't yet made their appearance in society, so we Vampires only had ourselves to hold one another accountable. No one wanted to take responsibility of a rogue Vampire, but rumors about Cole were spreading among the Humans and Supernaturals were afraid that sooner or later a Human would discover the truth."