Alexandru cel Tinar - Immortals

Alexandru cel Tinar

Alexandru was born in the late autumn of his mother’s life. Though no one would have suspected her age of almost 60 by looking at her. She was one of the most beautiful women in Moldavia. Gisa’s parents had immigrated to Moldavia and ended up servants for one of Moldavia’s warlords, Romani. The Saxon beauty became his mistress in her 17th year. 

Romani the Voivode, as they called prominent warlords, was considered bloodthirsty and vicious. He was savage to his enemies  and not much kinder to his countrymen. As time went by he began to show disdain for his superiors. When he entertained, he was heard to make off color comments about them. While this got back to his commanders, they respected and feared him enough to let it go. But when these comments began to circulate as humorous jokes among even the commonfolk, they could no longer turn a blind eye.

One dark evening, a troop of soldiers came to his home and overpowered the warlord. He fought valiantly and killed many of them as they drug him out into the night. Gisa ran behind them screaming and pleading for her lover’s life. Romani’s two wives, however, did not. One was even heard to laugh. The wives, who both had son’s by Romani were quite pleased to have the rough man gone. They had all of his holdings and were more than happy to mistreat his pretty young mistress. Her parents still worked there but they were in no position to save her from the cruelty of the wives.

Six years passed. The wives had taken lovers and, to Gisa’s relief, forgotten about her. Until one of the wives caught her lover watching Gisa. She sent Gisa to work in the kitchen and forbade her to ever come upstairs again. The lover was not this easily disuaded though, and one night he came into Gisa’s room and tried to force himself on her. Her father pulled the man off in a rukus the shook the whole house. Furious, the wife had both Gisa and her father beaten. And the lover was sent packing.

One evening not long after this, a strange man came to the castle. He had long black hair and a thick beard. He wore an eye patch and walked hunched over like a leper. He approached from the kitchen side and knocked upon the wooden door. As Gisa answered the door, the man straightened and threw back his hooded cape. Gisa knew her Lord immediately and threw herself at his feet sobbing.

Romani laid a gentle hand on her head then lifted the girl to her feet. He studied her face with his one bloodshot eye. Turning her chin and looking at the soot and dirt on her skin, the shaggy unkept hair and clothes. And in a growling deep voice he said. “Stay in the kitchen. No matter what you hear. Stay in the kitchen.”

The dark night filled with screams. And by morning, Romani was a widower. Though he spared both of his sons, they would both die in the next ten years by the hands of his many enemies.

It would be thirty years before Gisa bore Romani a son. An heir to his estate and title. And at 58 years old, Gisa still looked young and beautiful.  In those thirty years, much had changed in the castle of Romani. Where the warlord had once ruled his home like a reclusive King he was now a host, entertaining several guests. He had parties, and his guests often stayed for years at a time. But these were not guests from the village. They came from far away, and always seemed to travel by night. No activity would be seen during the day but at night the castle was ablaze with action. Music, laughter, dancing.

Alexandru’s birth was touted a miracle by the ones that Romani trusted and allowed in his home. But to the outsiders, and his enemies, it was some kind of evil omen. They had seen Romani return from from the dead, they said. He had not aged in thirty years nor had his mistress. Fear and mistrust turned to hatred. Romani began to employ guards at his gates and kept one outside of his bedroom. The villagers called them witches, sorcerers, and even undead spirits. The truth was that Romani had stopped aging at 39 years old when he had been left for dead by the soldiers and found by Prince Sa’Halan. A vampire.

The child, Alexandru, was raised without benefit of other children. He did glimpse them occasionally through a cracked garden wall, playing children games. Eventually, he would go off in the forest and watch them from a tree, an observer to the mortal world to which he didn’t belong, even though his body changed over time just as theirs did. He grew tall and handsome, aging as normally as any mortal. His education was seen to by his mother and many of their guests. There was no lack of literature, maps and globes, scrolls of languages, or tales from travelers. He became much more educated than most in his time. Alexandru was not quite 20 when he met Sa’Halan for the first time. He found the Prince most curious.

Sa’Halan seemed no more than a boy on the cusp of manhood. He wore his hair long and plaited, or curled like a woman’s. He also wore gold jewelry like a woman, adorning his arms, neck, fingers, and even his ears. He outlined his eyes with kohl and his teeth seemed far too white and sharp when he smiled. Sa’Halan spoke softly and seemed to have a gentle quiet nature.  Sa’Halan and Alexandru enjoyed long quiet talks about things in the Universe. The Prince had seen many things in his long long life. It was from Sa’Halan that Alexandru learned that Romani and Gisa were vampires. He brought out a leather book for Alexandru to read about the Immortals. And then he told Alexandru that his birth had been a true miracle. A conception between two vampires.

This only mildy surprised Alexandru. Surely he’d known it was odd that his parents did not age. In addition, they were never sick, never seemed to consume much food and spent long hours out at night, and long hours locked in their room during the day.  It was the only manner of living that Alexandru really knew. He had little exposure from the villagers. Those who came and went at the castle were just like his parents.

Alexandru was more shocked at the revelation of his unique birth. He himself did not crave blood, ate heartily, did not mind the sunlight and imagined himself to be very nomral. He had aged just as normally. Though quite handsome, his appearence was appropriate with his age, unlike his parents whose age he wasn’t even certain of. 

Now Alexandru began to understand how very different he was than his parents and their guests. And he began to want to travel out into the world and find out how others lived. And so with his mother and father’s blessing, Alexandru left the only home he had ever known to see the world with the Vampire Prince Sa’Halan and an entourage of the Prince’s guards and servants.

They traveled the world for ten years together. By ship, by horse, by camel and elephant. And sometimes, Sa’Halan would clutch Alexandru around the middle and they’d take to the skies. It was a breathless, carefree life of excess and adventure. Alexandru saw great wonders as well as grave injustice. He was just past thirty when Sa’Halan landed with him upon a mountaintop, ice covered and frigid. Alexandru trembled in the cold but Sa’Halan paced gracefully over the ice, feet barely touching the ground, then turned to face his companion.

“Alexandru.” Sa’Halan began. “I could not love you more if you were my brother. This you know. I have watched you for ten years and I find you beautiful. But I see your beauty will fade. Already lines trace your forehead. You are aging and therefore, you will die one day. I cannot allow this.”

This made those lines deepen in Alexandru’s forehead. What was Sa’Halan saying?

 The Prince turned to Alexandru, watching him shiver, ice already clinging to his mortal hair and brows. “I will see that you never feel the deep chill of winter again. No illness will befall you. No more creases will tear at your beauty.” And Sa’Halan reached up and took Alexandru’s face into his hands. “I will be your sire, I will see you through the darkness of the Gift. Your immortal host into an immortal world. And one day, you will take your place among the oldest of us. The ones that rule the world. You were born to be a God.”

Alexandru’s lips parted. Many things passed through him. Fear, curiousity, excitement, doubt, even a horror that was torn between the prospect of aging, when every single person he knew and loved did not age, and the thought of being a slave to the blood.

It seemed like a long pause, but it was only a moment or two. Alexandru was searching for the words to say when Sa’Halan effortly lifted him and burst into flight, at the same time, the Prince’s teeth sunk deeply into Alexandru’s neck. He cried out in pain, fear, clawing at Sa’Halan, but it was futile. He was drained to near death too quickly.

He awoke by degree. His first memory was thirst, craving, pain. His next memories were really just snatches of scenes. Hunting in a forest, ravenously tearing the flesh of an animal to get to the warm crimson flow beneath. Bodies falling beneath him. Soft skinned women and men in his arms, their heartbeats slowing as he drained them. And then, the learning. The discipline. The ability getting easier to only take so much and leave them breathless, but alive. He would never know how long it took him to transform from feral newborn to consciousness but he was told it was longer than most. Perhaps because of his unique birth. It was always known that his blood was unique. Potent. Sa’Halan would later tell him it was as though they were newborns together, draining so much of the blood of Alexandru had sent Sa’Halan into a period of bloodlust himself.

Forty years he traveled the world with Sa’Halan as a vampire. The ten years prior had passed so slowly, but the forty as a vampire seemed to fly past. And then, they returned to the House of Romani i only to find it reduced to cinders. Gisa and Romani were gone and Sa’Halan left him there alone. “To find his way in life.” It would be a long time before Alexandru would find them again.

Alexandru lived for nearly a century with his parents and their coven and then he went on his own, settling in the castle that he would call home for centuries. There he would take Sadie, Sebastian, and many others into his world. And there, he would become guardian to the small exotic girl whom he would name Sansara. Romani and Gisa would go on to become ancients by Sa’Halan’s side. A place that Alexandru knew he would be called to some day.