Always. Krystle Triplett

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      Always

      Krystle Triplett

      Copyright © 2020 Krystle Triplett

      All rights reserved

      First Edition

      NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

      320 Broad Street

      Red Bank, NJ 07701

      First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020

      ISBN 978-1-64801-221-1 (Paperback)

      ISBN 978-1-64801-222-8 (Digital)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Table of Contents

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      For Mom.

      Prologue

      Thousands of years ago, mankind worshiped mythical beings they called gods. These gods were blessed with several gifts and abilities that made them far superior in the opinion of most of humanity. The main gift they all possessed was that of eternal youth. They were immortal.

      Humankind feared and revered these creatures that were so much more powerful than themselves. Humans made up names for them and ascribed different abilities to each “god.” However, humans never truly knew their names or abilities because most immortals attempted to stay out of the public’s eye. This didn’t work all the time, which is where myths and legends got their start.

      When something amazing would happen, humans assumed it was the work of the gods. A drought was caused by a god who could control the water but was upset with humanity. A lightning storm was caused by another god who wanted to show how fierce they could be. Little did humans know that none of these things were actually true. Some immortals did have the ability to control the weather, but they had better things to do than try to impress humans.

      Immortals didn’t think of themselves as gods, well, not for the most part. Mainly, they just wanted left alone to live their lives. They became excellent at hiding amongst the humans. If a human did witness an act of their power, then the immortal would erase their memory, another ability all immortals possessed.

      As the years went by the few turned into hundreds, which turned into thousands and so on. Soon they realized they needed some type of government. So they elected leaders, a royal court of immortals to help make laws for their people to follow. The king and queen each had terms of a hundred years, unless the people voted for them to stay longer. The ones in charge who worked with the king or queen were known as the elite. They were the enforcers of immortal laws, making sure things ran smoothly. Because the number of immortals was increasing rapidly, they decided to limit the number of children each could have: one every hundred years. They made other laws for their people too, most revolving around not being discovered.

      Something humans never knew, at least not for certain, was that immortals needed human blood to stay strong. It fueled their strength and enhanced their powers. No one knows why blood is essential to their diet; only that it is. An immortal wouldn’t die without blood, but they would become weak, almost catatonic after a few weeks. Taking blood from humans doesn’t have to be an evil thing, for some it even became a sexual act. Most immortals reach into the minds of the humans they’re taking blood from and have them think they’re receiving great pleasure instead of the pain from the bite.

      Only the bad immortals would cause pain or even kill their victims by draining them dry. That is why the rouge immortals were soon called vampires. They behaved like creatures of the night—stealing lives from innocent humans, evading immortal laws, living a life of evil. Drinking all of that blood made them extra strong as well. Sometimes they would even work together, following a “master” vampire.

      As the number of immortals grew, so did the number of vampires. Immortals feared humans would discover them, causing all kinds of problems. To prevent discovery by the mortals, the immortals banded together to fight back against the vampires. These groups of immortal warriors were simply called the guard—men and women who were trained to handle the vampires that would show up throughout time.

      Over the years the immortal population has grown while still staying hidden for the most part. They’ve become nothing but myths and legends to humans, scary stories to frighten children, when in truth they’re very much a part of our world. They live in our neighborhoods, go to school with our kids, and cry at our weddings—anything to make them blend in.

      1

      London, Early 1800s

       Tristan

      “Really,