{ a plague o'r both your houses

A plague o'r both your houses...

[/size]

[/center]

The Players:
Lelia Selene [400], Queen of Drausia
Castiel Selene [455], Brother of the Queen, Master of the Armies
Lucina Selene [108], Sister to the Queen, Drausian Courtier
Vesper Selene [108], Sister to the Queen, Drausian Courtier

This story begins when an ancient vampire and his beloved began to feel the loneliness that haunts the shadow of their immortality. As vampires they could not have children of their own and Vera Selene felt the loneliness a mother feels without the companionship of her child. For when she was human she had born a child and loved her until the day she died from a fever at the age of three. With his beloved pining with a heartache he could not cure, Abeiron Selene took a drastic step to alleviate the pain of his wife’s loneliness. He chose to turn a young man into a vampire as he had done with his beloved Vera and he christened him in blood with the name Castiel. Abeiron was an old vampire but had never turned another for the benefit of someone other than himself before and in his twisted dark mind he wanted to make this first blood child special. After the young man had died and become even more beautiful than his previous mortal body, Abeiron marked his face with deep scars. The scars he made would stay with his new son for eternity and Vera was enamored with the markings and the new child she had to care for. For half a century they taught Castiel how to be one of them and his mind was quick and sharp. He learned to enjoy his new strong body, the thrill of killing and the drinking of the blood of others almost as if it was natural to him before his human death. Abeiron approved of his new companion and when Castiel asked for a companion of his own, Aberion could not refuse him. He found a young girl playing in the forest and made for his son a new sister. The young girl had a beautiful name, Lelia which meant in a language long forgotten the dark oriental beauty. Abeiron experimented once again with this second blood child and she stood by her new brother a matching twin with the same scars on her face. With their pale faces marked by their father’s twisted love, they now shared a special bond unique only to them even if they both didn‘t fully understand the depths of that intimate connection.

As the years and many changes at the vampire court of Drausia came and went, Castiel and Lelia loved each other’s company and lived through a century of human time in blissful happiness as a brother and sister. While Lelia fell in love with being a new vampire in a world not her own, Castiel fell in love with the beautiful Lelia. Her every wish he granted and he waited patiently for Lelia to see his growing passion for her in time. They had eternity to love one another and Castiel thought he could wait for her no matter how long it took for her heart's blind eyes to see him through the twilight. The nature of his affection was as deep and dark as the ocean, but Castiel’s patience would be in vain. At long last one of Abeiron’s plans came to fruition and the long established order was over thrown and placed into the hands of the Selene clan. Castiel and Lelia were swept apart in the incoming tide of confusion and change, just as Lelia’s eyes had begun to see the true nature of Castiel’s feelings. The intrigue and scandal of the newly forming court and monarchy of Drausia consumed Castiel and buried his hope and his love in the darkness. Lelia became disgusted with the new world of lies in her life and appalled with her father’s actions as the new king. The extermination of the entire Voncour family was almost too much of a sin for Lelia to bare. To save her sanity she kept herself away from the dangerous world of politics as much as possible, even though her father often desired her to oversee his duties. Castiel grew ever more powerful under the new regime and he felt himself ready to be king even while the old one was still on the throne. His desire to be more like his tyrannical father inspired him to bring back from the human world a pair of twins, a gift for his father. Lelia turned her face away from Castiel with tears in her eyes when she saw this act of wickedness and cruelty. She loved him more than she could ever bring herself to say aloud, but seeing his eyes dark with desire for the crown and leading the two innocent young women towards her corrupted father was sickening.

However, in the twilight of his life Abeiron was slowly growing tired, the weight of all his life's sins on his shoulders was growing painful. When the two young girls were laid out in the arms of his son as an offering he thought of the distant memories of joy that the turning of Castiel and Lelia had brought into his life. Abeiron sought to relive the glory of his former life. With his old hands still alive with the paleness of a long dead youth, Abeiron turned the young sisters into two new daughters for his Vera. He left them unmarked, untainted by his cruelty. He watched them grow beautiful and strong, blossoming into radiate beings that were so in tune and connected with one another even across the threshold of death itself. Their perfection in his eyes was like a gift, an atonement for the many evils he had done towards his kind in the past. However the turning of Lucina and Vesper seemed to age Abeiron and no matter how Vera and his new daughters tried to consol him he became more withdrawn and contemplative. Abeiron let his eldest son and daughter run the kingdom in his place during the final century of his life. After biding his beloved wife a fond farewell, Abeiron met the sun and was turned into the mist from whence he'd first arisen. He left behind a will that dictated that the Kingdom of Drausia was to be given to his first daughter, Lelia. To overstep his eldest son was simply unheard of before in Drausia, but with Vera’s unwavering support of her husband’s wishes and Lelia’s serene and elegant presence enchanting the nobles the court was convinced to let the change pass. They had grown tired of the old and eccentric king, the light of his revolution had died out. They wanted stability once more and that was only to be found in his daughter. The son, Castiel, was too intemperate and irate to rule after his father’s passing. He was at his best when being a soldier and was given the honor of training the royal guard. He skillfully prepared the armies of Drausia so that they would always be in readiness to protect their land and the throne of his new queen. The first years of Lelia's reign were filled with turmoil and confusion, as it was with her father before her, and the court was filled with whispers and gossip about prince Castiel and his desire to rule outweighing his well known love for the sister who was now his superior.

Now the court watches the dark prince with wary eyes, wondering if revolution is in his blood like his sire. His sister rules Drausia and is steering the nation once more towards a peace that resembles the Voncour dynasty’s effortless reign of tranquility and beauty. But beneath the surface trouble is brewing. Lucina and Vesper gained too much of their sire’s taste for power. They envy their eldest sister, for being queen and for being the first, the most treasure and beloved by their vampire father. In their stoic silence, filled with hidden meaning, the pair wanders the Drausian court in search of a seed of darkness to counter Lelia’s hopeful light. They hope to find it residing in their own brother’s heart. Castiel watches Lelia seated on the throne and feels his unmoving heart grow heavy with hatred for his father’s decisions and disregard for his son's desires that have denied him the throne and knowing the secrets of Lelia's heart. If Abeiron had not been selfish and cruel, would Castiel and Lelia have been happy together as beloved companions over the centuries? As Castiel wrestles with his hatred, pain and malice, Lucina and Vesper are making their plans with their brother at the center as their weapon against the Queen they despise. Lelia is trying to rule the vampires of Drausia and survive the turmoil inside her lonely heart as her own sisters are turning against her in secret and her beloved brother’s love is hidden from her. What will become of this tragedy of errors and wickedness? Can love and peace find a way to defeat the rising of evil and revolution within the Selene family? Or will the clan that rose to power in blood be consumed by its own inner darkness and sin to make way for the return of an old dynasty thought to be long lost to Drausia…

[/font]