What a vagary by the fate it had been, him getting a second life after the first one had ended. Rawen had got mauled by a pack of exceptionally brutal wolves; there certainly was something wrong with them, something had tainted them. They had killed him just because they wanted to kill, not because they had to eat. They had left him to die with fatal wounds and as Rawen was laying on the cold ground, alone and broken, he had thought that this was it, the end of his story. Then his consciousness faded, like ashes in the wind, and he fell into deep, eternal sleep. In that moment, it felt comforting. But little did he know, he would be denied from heaven.

Something had pulled him back into this world. One night, Rawen had awakened, just like he had woken up every morning. He was utterly confused; it took him many moments to get a grasp of what was happening. He was in somewhere dark, cramped place. There wasn't much room to move. Then he realized that he was sealed in a coffin. He had panicked, fearing that he would suffocate, and pushed the lid as strongly as he could. To his surprise, it was easily lifted, and thus, he escaped the confined place. He raised his body to sit, looking around him. He found himself to be in a mausoleum of some sort. Rawen had stood up and jumped to the ground with such ease and elegance that it surprised him. His movements were so smooth, nothing like what they had used to be. That was when he also remembered the last thing happening to him and he checked his body for the wounds which the wolves had inflicted.

To his surprise, they were gone. There wasn't even a single scratch on him. Something strange was indeed going on. But during this first night of his second life, he didn't understand much what was happening. His mind was occupied by perplexity, but in the back of his head, there was an odd feeling he hadn't felt ever before. It was like he was craving for something. He forgot that, however, when he took a good look at the pedestal where the coffin was laying. Engraved on it, there was his name, and also a short memorial text.

[i]Too soon you were taken from us
You made this world a better place
We hope you can soar with golden wings amidst the clouds[/i]

It was like a hit against his face. At that moment Rawen realized that he had died. He truly had been killed by the wolves in the woods. His friends had prepared this last resting place for him… But how had he come back to life? Why was he still here? He didn't understand. He wanted to get some answers, though he had no idea who could grant them to him. Restlessly, he stomped around the mausoleum, drawing invisible circles. He wondered what should he do. However, his pondering was interrupted by some movement that he saw from the corner of his eye.

Rawen had shifted his gaze to the doorway of the mausoleum – and the sight made him freeze.

Humanoid figure with pale skin, long fingernails, sharp fangs visible from the mouth… It was a vampire.

This creature had also seen Rawen and was staring at him with its eyes, those reflecting pure thirst for blood. But this mindless blood-sucker didn't do a single gesture to attack him. After a little while, it just left, disappearing into the night, leaving Rawen alone with his perplexed thoughts. This encounter, of course, only made him even more confused than before. Why hadn't the vampire harmed him? Then an insane thought found its way into his mind.

Could it be… that he was also a vampire?

Without really thinking about it, his hand got drawn to his mouth. And indeed, he could feel fangs in there. He was shocked because of this observation, granting him even more questions. Vampires were monsters with no humanity left in them. They just wanted to hunt, nothing else. Their thirst for blood has completely taken over their minds. But this didn't seem to be the case with Rawen. How could he still be sane? He didn't understand his situation at all. On this first night, he stayed in the cemetery, mostly because he was so lost. And when the dawn came, it really became clear that he was a creature of the night. Previously oh so tender rays of sunshine now burnt his skin, forcing him to retreat back to his grave. After all, that was the only place left for him. Inside his stone coffin, he fell into some odd slumber where he was dreaming and staying wake simultaneously. He waited for the nighttime to come. This is what his life was now.

In the next couple of nights, Rawen understood the strange craving he had gnawing at the back of his mind. It was thirst for blood. Naturally, it disgusted him since he somehow had retained his humanity. But the urge grew bigger and bigger, and in the end, it had increased so much it was making him lose his mind. On one night he finally gave up and went to the town to seek prey. He had been lucky and encountered some old beggar in the streets. The poor man became his first victim. Following his new instincts, Rawen had attacked silently and effectively, sinking his fangs into the neck of his prey. After finishing drinking his blood, Rawen allowed the drained body to hit the ground. 

This was a completely new experience to him. But it changed his life. The thrill, the hunt, the blood… It made him feel so alive – perhaps even more alive than what he had been in his previous life. He still felt sorry for killing an innocent life, but what he had just done gave him such a powerful sensation. Perhaps he had truly become a monster. He had never felt such a desire to live. He wanted to keep this new life he got, even if it meant that he had to kill others in order to do so.

He had developed a taste for blood. After his first kill, it hadn't been difficult anymore to Rawen to hunt down humans and feed on them. Yet still, somewhere deep in his heart that didn't beat anymore, he felt sorry for all the lives he had taken. In his previous life, he had strived to be a good person. But he was a vampire now; his past didn't really matter anymore. However, he still felt it was his duty to preserve his empathic side. It was what separated him from the regular vampires. They were mindless beasts, having no other purpose than to hunt. Rawen still didn't understand why he was sane, but as the nights passed by, and he saw other vampires frequently, he was thankful for whoever had made him this way.

But, at some point, Rawen had noticed that he was starting to lose the control of his own mind. He was having some mild pain in his head as his two sides were in war with each other. This observation frightened him, for he didn't want to become as other vampires were. He started to hold on tightly of his sanity, fearing that he would lose it. As if it would help him to stay stable, he started to kill other vampires, his reasoning being that if he were to become like them, at least there would be only one to burden the town.

Little did he know, with these acts he found a purpose for his existence.

One night, while roaming in the town, Rawen encountered something he had never seen. He could immediately tell that it was a very dark being, emitting an aura that terrified even him. It was bipedal creature, and its body was very thin, it was just skin and bones. It had large horns decorating its head, its face resembling a twisted combine of a goat and a wolf. Rawen sensed that this was a being of demonic breed – something he didn't want to allow to exist in his town. Somehow, he knew in his dark, dead heart that this being was here to snatch the souls of the residents – that was something the demons do, right? In Rawen's mind, that was unacceptable.

From that day on, Rawen became a self-proclaimed demon protector of the town. During the nights, he would chase the demon and make sure it wouldn't harm people. Rawen wondered if that was the truth behind his resurrection, that there would be someone powerful to counter the evil. This made him at the same time a savior and a plague of the town. What a twisted world he was living in. He would drink the blood of people so he would be free and prevent other critters from hunting humans. But perhaps, it was the price that had to be paid in order for him to keep the town safe from other creatures of the night. 

This was his life's purpose, he liked to think. Everyone needs a reason for their existence. This town was his realm now and he would take care of it however he was seeing fit. Rawen didn't know how long he would be able to look after this small settlement, his home, before he would lose the grip of his mind. Bit by bit, he was also gradually becoming more bloodthirsty. But blood was his red nectar of life. He just had to avoid drowning in it. Though, his humane side was relieved, thanks to the dreams he would see whenever he was falling into his odd vampiric slumber. They would forgive him, knowing that he was protecting them from greater evil and that he would only take blood as much as he needed. These dreams justified his actions, and overall made him feel better about himself and who he had become.

He was Rawen, the prince of vampires. It was decided by his will who would live and who would die.

It was nighttime again. Rawen had awakened, raising once again from his stone coffin. He descended to the ground with elegance. Exiting the mausoleum, he then found himself from the graveyard. The night was moonless, but he could still see as clearly as if it was daytime. A weak wind was blowing, the chilly night air was tingling on his pale skin. The cemetery was located on a hill, just a stone throw away from the town. From his spot, Rawen was looking at the settlement in the distance. He licked his lips. It was time to hunt the demon again. With that, he dashed with unnatural speed down the hill, heading to the town.

He slowed down after reaching the streets. They were empty, which wasn't a surprise. The residents feared him. People had locked up themselves in their houses, hoping to survive the night. Tonight, however, Rawen didn't have an urge to drink blood, therefore, the humans could sleep in peace. Rawen started to wander in the streets, the dim street lamps offering him some light. From some house he could hear a piano playing. He kept strolling around the town, looking for the demonic creature that had become so familiar to him. He searched and searched, but his attempts in finding it were futile. It appeared that this night was peaceful.

But still, Rawen wandered around the sleepy town until the dawn. When the first rays of sunshine would appear to cast the darkness away, he had already retreated into the shadows and hid himself in his coffin.

On the next night, he would repeat this again.