[a/n: Hullo! Heheh, about vamps again, see? R&R people! As always- this is for Azure and Crimson_devil and Crimson_crawler. Enjoy!]

THE TALE OF KAHMIEL, the vampire childe

I killed him. It was me. I killed him.

Deep in the shadows, I rock myself to sleep. Purple linen is draped over this body- pale and cold as newly fallen snow. Flawless white skin and red lips were numb and fell lifeless as I drowned myself to sleep. {where begin my torture and pain that did not escape through my lips.} I remember. . .

"MORE!" my young, newly awakened, childe said. I chuckled and lifted him up.

"Soon, my son. Very soon. For now, you must sleep. You are still too weak." I cooed. My voice floated over to him, and ringing it sent him to sleep.

The dark night was passing to gray dawn- as still as stone I watch near the grimy window to see the sunrise through slits for eyes. It was then that I fully understood what it was like to let go- to release one, so that they can fly. . .

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" Khamiel screamed, looking up from his first victim's mangled body.

"Given you what many mortals will never experience. Immortality." I answered, walking towards him and casually giving the body a light kick.

"The power to cheat Death for all eternity is yours, my son. You should be grateful."

"Grateful?! I hardly think that a damned life is something to be grateful for!" He shouted back at me.

I turned to face him, my eyes flashing with anger and [buried deep inside] guilt.

"Damned life? You wanted power- I give that to you! You had the choice. I only obeyed. THIS is power in its purest form." I spat back, matching his anger.

That was our first fight. No doubt we had hundreds more- but this was quite special. The time he questioned his existence, and in turn made me ponder [if only for a second].

Of the hundreds more- I will speak all but briefly.

This occurred some time after the 21st century- when vampires were scarce and the our law was as tight was ever.

Kahmiel came home one dawn- his eyes bloodshot and lips a-quiver. He came home and called for me. His tome was desperate.

" Sire, I am in pain." he smiled weakly- putting his arm on his left breast.

"What ails you?" I had asked in my turn, setting him down on the floor- his chest heaving up and down.

I rock myself once again as the memory's wound stings and I recoil.

" Sire, sweet sorrow." He gasped, his body was shaking. Fear gripped me as I held him still. I saw him, still young, fighting back tears of sorrow or joy.

"My sire, I found why I was so destined to become what we are. . . " he was whispering now, pulling me by my collard shirt, down so that he need only half-mouth his words.

" this life you have given me has taught me but one lesson. . . Immortality is not gained by the body alone- but also with what it left behind in memory." He was crying. His pale hands were shaking so badly, that I was being swept in his tide. It was almost as though I was part of his body- that I felt his emotions grow in me. But not his unique understanding.

" I do not understand, Kahmiel. I do not understand. . . I"- my words were cut short as he closed his eyes. Where his hand had been, there was only a gaping hole in his chest. – I was speechless. . .

"Kahmiel? Kahmiel? Answer me. . . Kahmiel? WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU?" and soon, I was crying too- crying of grief and self-hatred. I was crying because I did not understand- what did my son mean. Why did he die? What memory did he leave behind that his body was utterly useless? Questions- damn them, haunted me.

His ashes, I gave to the sea. I thought it was a fitting end- that he should be freed of me as he was freed of what I offered.

Still questions. Sill questions haunted me. Perhaps these, I will never be able to answer. Though of course I have tried. . .

Many years I spent in search. Many decades, centuries, millenniums. . . to no apparent avail.

All that I know is that I killed him. I alone- for bringing him to the start of his own doom. I killed him, I killed my own childe.

The sun is starting to rise and I move away from the window. The sun will kill me- but it is not my fate to die. It is my fate to have this curse. . . this immortality.