Chapter 1 

The gloomy misty streets had long been deserted for the night. No one dares to be outside so late into the night with the fullness of the moon overhead. Hush whispers of the evil that lurks in the shadows did well to keep most of the human race indoors and out of the danger of the night. 

A lone dark figure silently moves through the shadows as if he were one with them. He made no sound as he walks over the uneven cobblestones, not even his black cloak moving in the gentle breeze dare to betray him. His features were hidden beneath his thick black cloak, its hood casting his small oval-shaped face in deep shadow. He moves with swiftness and purpose in his determined stride as he made his way through the dark, deserted streets. Anywho did happen to cast a glance upon him quickly turn their gaze away, even the bravest of men would cower before the power and strength radiating from the cloaked figure. 

The cloaked figure hesitates a moment in the stillness of the night, looking up at the moon in her full glory and shifted edgily. Although the moon didn't cause his kind to transform involuntarily as it had in the beginning centuries of his race, the moon still held her call to his kind, urging them to join her in the night and to honor her with the glory of the hunt. His tanned skin prickled; hungry for the run of the wild but he hungers for far more than the run. He hungers for blood, although it wouldn't be the blood of humans as his beast desire like those he had for so long call enemy fed upon; he would satisfy his blood-thirst with the blood of the plump deer that fill the woods beyond the city walls. His kind didn't belong in the cities of men. No, his kind needed the freedom and solitude of the thick forests which thanks to the ever-reaching hand of men were becoming smaller and further between. 

Casting a quick glance over his broad shoulder, he searches the shadows for any sign of movement or danger. For so long he and his people had been burden with the weight of the paranoia of enemies waiting to pounce from the shadows. 

Unfortunately though, so often this was so, especially for him, the strongest and most fear warrior of his race. He was young but skill, strong and driven. He had yet to be best since he had been a pup. 

Drawing in a deep breath, he tasted the air. He trusted his sense of smell more than he trusted his sight. The eyes could be deceiving but the nose couldn't. He could smell the drunk that had staggered by barely fifty minutes before and the feminine scent of the woman who had been with him over the usual scent of the city streets; it was a scent that was always the same no matter the city, vomit, urine, alcohol, sickness and human waste. He could smell the beef stew in the house eight doors upwind from him, the scent of sour milk from the nursing woman further up the street and the sickly smell of the city rats below his feet in the sewers. 

The scent of humans was all that there was. Once satisfied that he had been neither follow nor was being watched, he walks silently to an old but sturdy door and knocks upon it three times. 

It was at this door that the scent of mortals vanishes beneath the much stronger scent of the other intelligent races that dwell upon the earth. One left the unmistakable scent of fresh blood but not the scent of lifeblood the fallen carried on their flesh and night while the other left the scent of the forests and fresh damp earth. The scents were undetectable to the mortal race but to one such as he the scents were unmistakable. 

Long moments pass before the door creak loudly as it open to reveal the largest man he had seen in many years. He towers over him a good foot and his massive bulky frame would have bested thirteen men in a bar brawl. This was a man of strength and warrior's skill, a man no mortal man would dare to mess with unless it was their wish to end their time upon this earth but he was no mortal man and despite his greater size and strength, he was no threat to him. The shadow was a far greater danger than the Goliath. The large man studied him for a long silent moment before he steps back further into the dwelling, allowing him entrance. 

The large man didn't make eye contact with the cloaked man but kept his head bow respectfully. 

Unlike the mortal race, the immortal races, the Lycan's and Vampire kind, most of which were hunters and warriors, knew when they were in the presence of a force greater than themselves and the shadow had a feeling that this man shows respect to very few. 

The goliath's might and intimidating demeanor was the reason for his presence this night; he was the ideal choice for a guard with the purpose of keeping the mortals away. 

The man who was nothing more than a dark shadow enter without any more regard to the Goliath at the door and made his way through the modest mortal built house until he came to a door in the kitchen. Anywho look upon it would have believed that it was the door to nothing more than a small closet which held a few brooms or maybe even a small pantry but when the man opens the door, a broom closest nor a pantry was revealed. Instead, a dimly lit descending stone staircase was revealed in the darkness. 

Without hesitating, the cloaked figure steps down onto the top stair and look down into the darkness, seeing through it clearly as if it were as lit by the light of day. Closing the door behind him, he slowly and warily descended the staircase, knowing that two large men, similar size to the goliath who had open the door stood guard at the bottom of the staircase. He paid them no heed as he swept past them towards another door of which steams of golden light shone from beneath. The smell of ash hit his nose and he knew a fire was burning on the other side of the door, his ear picking up the occasional crackle of the flames devouring wood in their hot golden glory. 

The cloaked figure opens the door to reveal a room far grander than it should have been found in such a rundown dwelling, a room with a fire lit in the hearth on the opposite side of the room. 

Grand tapestries lace walls of the large room, the images revealing ancient battles between the two ancient immortal races of the Vampire and the Lycans. Deep color rugs littered the floors, expensive and ancient ornaments and furnishings decorated the room. Finely crafted furniture was scattered around the room and a grand fireplace that took up half the wall cast a golden glow over the room. 

The shadow's gaze quickly found the three other occupants of the room. Two of the occupants were middle age men both healthy and fit and the other was a young man who appears to have yet to reach his twenties but in the world of the night, appearances were most often deceiving. 

"Ah, Yunho." The darker of the two middle-aged men greeted. 

Yunho raises both hands to his hood and lowers it, bowing his head once in respectful greeting to them all as he took off his cloak, revealing his penetrating brown almond-shaped eyes and short black hair, hair blacker than darkness itself. His hair he had inherited from his dad but his eyes he had inherited from his mom. He was prince Jung Yunho, the crown prince and future king of the Lycan race. 

"Father." Yunho greeted respectfully, as he bows his head once again and turns to the other two occupants of the room. He bows his head respectfully to the older of the fairer older men before repeating the action to the younger, "King Shin. Prince Yonghwa." 

They both bow their heads respectfully in returned to him. 

Yunho moves gracefully to his dad's side and they all took their seats around the finely crafted pine wood coffee table in four comfortable overly stuff armchairs, all facing each other. 

"We are here to negotiate a peace between our people." The leader and ruler of the Lycan race, King Jung Jaewoong the third, began "Too many have already fallen to this pointless war and the mortals are now becoming causalities in a war that isn't their own." 

"Agreed." The vampire king said. King Jung Shin, the second, had rule the vampire for nearly fifteen hundred years but he didn't look a day over thirty-five, "This war has cost both of our races too much, our numbers are decreasing rapidly. At this rate, both races will be extinct within the next century." 

"The war has gone on too long and we are all paying the price for it." Crown prince Yonghwa stated sadly. 

Yunho looks up at the prince who had been his enemy for so long and saw the soul-deep sorrow in the vampire's big dark brown almond-shaped eyes. He knew that look well; it was the look of lost love. He had seen it in the eyes of so many of his people for far too long and it broke his heart. He had long ago learn to close his heart to love. He allows so few close to him and as a result, he had less to lose. Sometimes he wonders if it was worth it. 

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister, prince Yonghwa," Yunho told him formally, but sincerely. 

It was only a month ago, but a blink of an eye to the immortal kind, that the second and only other born of the vampire royal family had died after her child had been stillborn. She had died from despair and a broken heart, her bond mate dying with her the very same hour by his own hand. 

Such was the fate of so many of the women of his own kind, especially as of late. Due to the war, the numbers on both sides were few and women were even fewer. To top it off, with the great difficulty of conception and then to carry them full term, so few children were being born and both pregnancy complications and depression were killing too many of their females. Unlike the belief in mortal legends vampires and Lycans were born, not infected by bite and so, their races were dangerously close to extinction. 

Many said that this was the price of so many centuries of pointless war. It had been one of the main reasons that both sides had demanded an end to the war, demanded peace, this was their purpose this night. They had come to form a peace treaty between the vampire and the Lycan kind and bring peace after five thousand years of war. No one could remember the true cause of the war but they still knew the thriving hatred and distrust between the two races who had once live peacefully with the mortals in the human world. 

In the light. So long ago. 

Prince Yonghwa looks up into Yunho's eyes, "Too many have been lost in this pointless war. It is time for peace. My sister was only one of many. With females so few and living offspring rare, none of us can afford the cost of this war any longer." He sat up tall and proud in his chair like the prince and future king that he was, "This war will end this night or I will never be king." He turns and looks straight into the shock eyes of his disapproving dad, "On my love for my sister, this is my oath and it shall come to pass. I will no longer be part of a war that isn't my own. My sister, Gyuwon, for so long warn us all that this would happen and we chose to ignore her and she lost her own life to this war. Not to a blade but to this war no less. The moon goddess is punishing us and I will ignore her divine will no longer." 

Yunho suddenly found himself respecting and liking the vampire prince. There was something about him that reminded him of himself. He had never met the prince face to face before but he had heard much of his passion and love for his people and his kindness and conviction. The whispers he had heard of the vampire prince hadn't been false. 

Sitting just as tall and as proudly as the prince sitting opposite of him, Yunho addresses him with a respectful and admiring tone, "You have shown passion and conviction before me that I cannot ignore. I too shall pledge this night that we shall either have peace or my people will have another as their next king." 

Yunho could feel his dad's glaring eyes upon him but he didn't look at his dad. He was a crown prince and future king; he had been raised as such. He had been raised to always have his way and to always do what was right for the people and for the mortals whom they secretly protected. Peace was the only right course and he would stick to it even if it meant that he had to give up his crown but he was no fool, he was the only heir as he was an only child and any other family eligible for ruling had been kill long ago. His dad would never let any other but his son takes his throne when the time came. 

There would be peace this night. 

Yunho sense his dad turn his attention in the direction of the vampire king, "It seems that our sons have spoken for us and are set in their ways. My son is the future king of my people; soon his word will be the law of my people. How can I ignore my son's voice?" 

King Shin chuckle, clearly amused, "I too cannot ignore the voice of the future king of my people. It seems that sometimes wisdom truly lies in the innocent eyes of the young." No one misses the pride he held in his voice for his son. 

Yunho held his tongue that he wasn't so young; within the next century his one-thousandth year would come to pass and by no means was anything about him innocent. He was a warrior, the strongest, most skill and the most fear of all the Lycan's; he had fought, he had drawn blood and he had killed in cold blood, many of which had once been call friend and brother. 

King Jaewoong rose to his feet and extended his hand to the vampire king, "Then it is done. The war is done with no conditions set other than that there is forevermore peace between us." 

For a long moment king Shin look up at the other king and his outstretched hand, "Understood, I wish peace as much as you but what of the damned? Despite all else, they must be stopped. Regardless of whom they are bound, too." 

Oh no. There was no way Yunho was going to let anything come between the quickly agreed on peace treaty. By his own life, there would be peace declare this night, no matter the sacrifice on his part. 

Before another word could be said, Yunho was on his feet and staring at the two great kings with hard resolve and determination, "The damned are no longer any concern of yours." He declares, with all the authority he had as the prince of the Lycan race, "From this day hence the damned will be mine to contend with." 

"And mine." Prince Yonghwa stated as he jumps to his feet in a single movement of grace that was typical of the vampires and joins Yunho in staring down their dads. 

The two kings exchange a long glance before they both turn back to their sons and nodded once, portraying their agreement. 

Finally, one war was at an end. After so long, so simply, the war between the Lycan and vampire kind was no more. 

Yunho breathed a deep sigh of relief, even knowing that the other war wouldn't end so easily but still, the relief was a nice reprieve after so long without any. 

Now, at last, there was peace between the two immortal races but had it come to pass in time enough to save their people or was it already too late? What did the future hold for them and did the future hold his own personal salvation or would he become one of the damned who fell to the madness of the darkness? 

Already Yunho could feel the bloodlust, the beast, within him trying to get free and claim him, to drag him into the darkness forever more. His beast yearns to be free of his control but that was the thing about the human mind, even an immortal one, it could only hold onto sanity and hold back the howling madness for so long. It needed an anchor, it needed light and warmth. 

He needed his destined mate, the one born to soothe the beast within. 

Would he find her before it was too late or would he be left to slowly loses himself to the darkness of which there was no return?