The Vampire and The Idiot

A Brother's regret

Delia at the top. :)

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The moon shined brightly on the dark sky, the stars glittering along with it. The forest was dark and it showed no clear path to any travelers as the tall trees covered the whole area, keeping the light of the moon from entering it.

Xerxes walked with determination inside the forest, taking his time with each step. He was lost in his thoughts and was confused by the sudden change of events that took him and his friends in a whirlwind of trouble that they couldn't escape.

He knew Mariano for a long time, they even grew up together but even all those years, he still remained mysterious to Xerxes and this confused him even more. Xerxes watched Mariano grew up and make mistakes and he even saw him be turned into a vampire by Luciano. Xerxes would never forget how useless he was for not being able to save his friend from the vampire.

After all these years Xerxes still blamed himself for what happened to Mariano, but Mariano just dismissed his pleas saying it wasn't his fault, but Xerxes never managed to move on from it. From then on, he made sure to watch his brother's back and keep him from any danger, clean out his mess and give him a great life, but the wheels of life seemed to be against them, for Luciano found him and Mariano again and forced them to work for him and enslaved themselves under his reign.

Due to Luciano's strong bond of master and familiar to Mariano, Xerxes was forced to also work for him in order to protect Mariano from Luciano. For him, Mariano was like a brother that he never had, and that pressured him into taking care of the boy no matter what happens, but there was one thing that hindered him from doing so, he remembered being a fragile human boy accompanying Immortals and working for them. Xerxes despised the fact that he couldn't protect Mariano, so he made a decision to change that.

Xerxes decided to become one of them - a vampire and an immortal.

To save his brother, he thought of extreme measures to be at the same level as Mariano. He tried everything to make Mariano turn him - he begged, cried and even threatened him. Desperation was ruling his judgment and each day he watched Luciano torture his brother, he felt, even more, anger building in his heart. He even begged Luciano to turn him but Luciano found him to be comical and didn't even consider him as "Worthy" of being in his kin, and Luciano even admitted that he was only kept alive because of his "Son's" request in exchange for Mariano's loyalty.

Xerxes lost his mind, he fought with Mariano until both of them end up physically harming each other. Being the patient one, Mariano was always the one to raise his white flag first, not wanting to hurt his brother even more.

'This life is not something you want, believe me...'

Those lines that echoed in his mind for years, but his heart still longed to be as good as his brother. He couldn't stand the thought of being weak amongst the monsters that surrounded him, so one night when he was roaming the village streets, drunk out his mind, out of anger, he threw a bottle of rum that he was holding against a wall.

The shattering of the glass echoed throughout the whole empty street. Xerxes remembered feeling so much pain that he yelled, cursed and cried on the pavement as he mourned on how useless and unworthy he is for being human. Then his vision blurred and his eyes closed out of exhaustion and drunkenness.

Xerxes woke up in an unknown place, in a house where he didn't remember going. Then a beautiful dark skinned woman with untamed curls on her head walked towards him with a seductive smile and alluring eyes.

The woman introduced herself as Delia and later revealed to him that she was a witch. Xerxes recalled how Delia promised him everything he could ever want - power, strength, immortality, and treasures that he couldn't even imagine, all for one price.

A child.

Delia wanted him to impregnate her and to disappear from their lives once the child is born, it baffled him to no end but he didn't question her for her motives. Being at the end of his wits, he agreed without thinking and in a blink of an eye, he got what he wanted.

He was overjoyed and felt a new wave of strength and incredible power surging through his veins that he was addicted to the feeling and never wanted it to end. Keeping the end of his deal, Xerxes bedded Delia.

At first, Xerxes thought it was easy, but then he fell in love with her and his child. Unfortunately, Delia didn't feel the same way and when she found out his feelings for her, as quick as she had given him his new found power, she kicked him out and disappeared where he couldn't find her before their child was even born.

Since then, Xerxes felt deep hatred for himself. The price that he paid for his insolent insecurity over Mariano and his irrational decisions made him a monster that he once feared to be, they were all his burden that he still carry up to the present day.

Xerxes was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a scream somewhere in the forest. His attention was focused on the source, looking for the same sound. Being an immortal warlock, made his senses heightened and sensitive to such unnatural phenomenon.

In situations like this, he was truly grateful for his powers for he can finally save the people that he wanted to save, but sometimes no matter how much Xerxes tries to console himself with the thought of doing good was something he wants, there is always that voice who tells him that he was just lying to himself and using it as an excuse to calm his conscience of being guilty from his past mistakes and how much of a horrible father he is to his unknown child.

"Let go of me!"

He heard a woman's squeal but it was not loud enough to echo in the forest, if he was a human, he wouldn't even hear such a thing.

Xerxes searched for the source, muttering a spell to increase his speed like a vampire to reach the woman before he was too late. After a minute of running around, he finally came to the end of the forest. He saw a cliff overlooking the city but saw no one around it, he was about to give up his search when he heard a squeal again.

Xerxes searched behind him, roaming his eyes around but saw nothing. Until his eyes landed on the farther side to his left that his eyes widen at the sight.

"Thalia!"

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Just thought of sharing other people's background. :) Hope you liked it.