Prologue

Bringers of Decay and Fallen Angels:

A Genesis of Evil

            Before the dawn of the world as we know it, the great Gods and Goddesses, angelic beings, devas, genii and nature spirits were born whole from the Wellspring of All, which is called Kether. They were created out of love to always tend and care for the beings who would be born on the developing worlds in the material universe. Yet while the Heavens were still taking shape, a group of these spirits began to believe that they knew more than the power that had created them. And some among the Gods and Goddesses came to care more about power than about the developing Universe over which they had been given stewardship. These wicked deities were cast out of the Heavens and the evil angels who followed them were also exiled. Swearing revenge on those who had spurned them, they began to seduce the minds of the developing children of the Universe that had been created out of love by the Lord and Lady of Kether.

            On the developing worlds in the material universe which is called Assiah, many of the children began to assume a crude imitation of the higher beings who watched over them. Most followed the path of the Benevolent Ones who had created and guided them. But some followed the blighted path of those who promised power over others. These were filled with an unholy passion. Seeing the intensity of their emotions, the evil angels were intrigued. Some of them entered the bodies of these young beings, possessing them, controlling them. And over time, many of the fallen angels forgot that they had once been celestial beings, but subconsciously remembered the power they once held and their former immortality. Desperate to re-achieve that once immortal status and break free from the cycle of reincarnation, they heeded the voices of their former companions, the unholy deities of corruption and decay. The Fallen committed horrific acts under the direction of their immortal, unholy masters, giving rise to a race of Undead, a perverted offspring of incarnate mortals and fallen angels and a mockery of the Divine. Thus have vampires existed since the dawn of humanity. The first are rumored to have come from the lost continent of Lemuria, which formed a land bridge between the Malay Archepelago and Asia some 55 million years ago. The late medium Madame Helena Blavatsky spoke of a race of highly intelligent apelike humanoids who were capable of mind control and telepathy. Most people laugh at Blavatsky’s assertions; but there are those who know better.

            In the time of Lemuria, a group of these beings sought to dominate the other early humanoids, believing themselves to be superior. They saw the other humans as lower than herd animals and treated them with a contempt and brutality. Inspired by the telepathic communications from hideous ancient gods mercifully forgotten in this modern age, the Superior Race enslaved and experimented on the lesser beings, sacrificed them, and consumed their flesh at ritual celebrations. They were especially fond of eating the brain and heart and drinking the blood, as they believed consuming the brain would enhance their own telepathic abilities, the heart would bring them strength, and the blood would lengthen their lives. As the dreaded ancient Gods, horrible beings far older than the earth itself promised, the Superior Race changed swiftly. From consuming the brains of the other humanoids and ancient dolphin-like sea mammals, their telepathic abilities increased tenfold. From consuming animals such as the wolflike creatures that walked the night they experienced improvement in their night vision so drastic that daylight began to hurt their eyes and they preferred to be out after dusk. And from consuming these wolf-kind and other strong animals, their strength multiplied to ten times that of the lesser hominids. For their obedience to the terrible Great Old Ones, their lifespan increased to the point of virtual immortality. Thus were the Vampires born.

            The benevolent deities were horrified by what was happening on the young Earth. They smote the evil race, destroying the continent of Lemuria to stop their spread. But some Night Stalkers managed to escape. They slowly spread their taint wherever they settled, though their race no longer held the mastery it had in Lemuria. The survivors vowed to regain mastery of the Earth even if it should take an eternity. This is the story of a pair of these immortals and those whose lives they touched. They were brothers, princes and heirs to the throne of a long and unjustly forgotten kingdom, a province in what is now Romania at the time of the reign of the family Dracul in Wallachia. Called Stracha, it sat by the sea near Moldavia and Wallachia and was a place hailed for its beauty, prosperity and the benevolence of its rulers. It is also the tale of an ancient and fearsome being who brought the plague of immortality to these princes, casting fair Stracha into undeserved oblivion. Long-lived though this being was, he was a mere babe compared to those who had bestowed upon him the curse of immortality, and they were but infants compared to the ancient undying evil that had spurred their creation.

            The vampire race was perfected as the human race evolved and new civilizations arose. Beloved were they of the powerful but lesser-known malevolent deities warned of by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and others in tales thought to be fiction. Kali, merciless Indian goddess of death, helped increase the power of those who made sacrifices to her. In Egypt, the cunning and manipulative Set took up their cause. In Mesopotamia the cult rose to power again when Lamashtu gave them newfound glory through blood sacrifice. But this rise to greatness truly began anew in lost Atlantis where the race almost achieved world domination. This is why the benevolent Gods had to destroy Atlantis as they had Lemuria. Many lives were lost on that fateful day, many who loved one another were separated.

But the wheel of reincarnation shall ever turn. None of those souls that lived in lost Atlantis were destroyed in that calamity. With successive incarnations the calamity that ended their physical existence in that lifetime was consciously forgotten. But late at night many lifetimes later the more enlightened of them would dream of that fearsome event and would wake in a cold sweat.

This book occurs near the end of a story of a great battle for the souls of this world. This is a story of love and loss, of triumph and destruction, and of the knowledge that nothing in this world will last forever. It is a story of the fear of death, the pain of betrayal and the triumph of the eternal soul. It is a story of ties that cannot be severed, kindnesses that cannot be forgotten, longing that cannot die. But souls are not of this world. They shall never die. Within each soul is a limitless capacity for love. Each being was created with love by a benevolent source. The love within us can never die. The soul is eternal and love is eternal.

            This is, if you will, a love story.

Thoth, Scribe of the Holy