Kindred: James Toulor, Part 3

"January 12th, 1742, New Orleans, Americas,
It has been 150 years of life thus far and 124 of them spent as the cunning and beautiful vampire I grace the world as.  My lands are still in tact and the deeds passed down to heirs that look hauntingly identical to myself.  I wonder why.

In any case, meandering this cold, dark, tepidly vapid road, I have traveled far and wide in search of Aribella DeGall, the Portuguese Vampire who inducted me into the Ventru; The Ventru, I have been fortunate to run across many times since but not a peep from her beautiful acting.  Unfortunately, none of her bloodline have found me.  How fascinating it was to find out that no other Vampires can read one's details from the blood.
Curses.  I was wondering who I was thinking of having for breakfast.
The Ventru are like all aristocrats, conceited, petulant and boring because of their constant vie for power. They prattle on about rules that suit them but forget that in the chaos of our kind, rules only give way to the anarchy of strength. For instance: you are a king. I am a pawn. I kill you. I am the king, and long live the king.
Many others have crossed my path to tell me of great meetings,  Those hosted by "noble" Ventru.  One, a "Bron," even told me a story that he claimed was the origin of "our species."

'Lo as Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross,' he said, 'Judas Iscariot was put in front of the masses for his crime of betrayal of the son of God. He was beaten terribly and cut to the point of death's embrace.  For sure, he was to die.
He came to Jesus after his death and wept, 'lord! I deserve death for my crime against you.  How can I ever live up to your love again?  I would give eternity to find you again and avoid the gaunt hand of Lucifer.'
and a voice spoke from within him, filled him, thundered around him but only he heard, 'I shall give you life, Judas, it was my will that you betray me and through eternity, you will see my love and your heaven will be with my brothers and sisters, children of god, and you will have your eternity to see my love and its genesis first hand.
it was with this that the son of man told Judas to drink of his blood and forever drink of gods children in his quest to live forever.'

Honestly, I had to laugh.  I laughed so hard he showed his fangs and almost screamed 'BLASPHEMER!' I apologized for dexterity and because he said he had something to show me.

'I am...'
'James Toulor of France.  Your reputation precedes you, kindred, otherwise, I may have challenged you to Monomacy and taken your heart.  You will not be as lucky if you insult out lord again.  Toulor, you are well on your way to becoming an advisor,' he said.
'an advisor?  I shudder to think of those I advise,' I said, thinking 'kill yourself,' would probably be my best and most merciful advice to those who cross my path.
'Your jobs can be diverse, young fledgling but you will be...'
'Fledgeling? I am one hundred and fifty years old, you know?' I said.
'you are young compared to the millennials, child,' he said.
I let his insult go with a laugh because of my reluctance to kill him and his promise of tickling my curiosity. In addition, I have read that the Bron are incredibly resilient to attempts at their life.  One such report said that a Bron had been tortured for hours before he finally took the mind of his captor and ended it out of boredom.  That Bron would definitely have fascinated me more than this zealot has so far.

The walk through the French quarter seemed endless and the Bron who brought me there talked all about some Invictus and how it would change my life.

I zoned out in favor of a rather vivacious woman. The way she swayed gave me rise to thoughts of all sorts of evil debauchery.  The lines between feeding on her blood and violating her the way only a vampire can were crossed and I was filled with a drive to have her.  Fortunately, as we turned into a ornately decorated mansion just outside of town and ironically far from the French quarter (I hadn't noticed due to my distraction) She turned in with us.

I looked behind me and noticed the long walkway to the french doors.  The looming trees took my eyes off the woman for but a minute and when I looked back she was gone.

The Bron laughed and said, 'Now it's my turn to laugh.  Seeing you lust after a Macellarian is just rich.'

'why's that?' I said.

'They're gluttons! Disgusting creatures that eat the humans they feed on. Barbarous, if you ask me,' he said.

'Delightfully curious and twisted.  I think I'm in love,' I said.

He gave me a look of disapproval and a slight hint of disgust and began a diatribe of our "esteemed host."

'Today, we meet in the home of a prominent man named Augusto Vidal.  He's a member of the Holy Lancea Sanctum and an even younger fledgeling than you, however, he gains ranks quick and you'd do good to listen and learn from his wisdom.

My curiosity was piqued but I had little to do with politics outside my own lands back home.  I had a commanding nature due to my prowess, good looks and money as well as owning slaves and top lieutenants who I had conveniently captured in a trance like state.  Akin to zombies but they were mortal and quite alive.  Many who heard of the ordeal assumed it had something to do with me being a vampire but hypnotic suggestion even when I was a mortal was something I had mastered and abused long before I had a powerful enough mind to make it 'mind numbingly easy'; no pun intended.

With us were tribes innumerable.  The Bron with me explained the differences:

'...And to the corner, you'll see the dauntingly beautiful Kallisti.  They go nowhere without a host of powerful protectors on account of their value to elders and their ability to use the discipline, Perfidy; a mean discipline if I say so myself.  These beautiful, evil creatures will ostracize you from your closest friends with this discipline.  I would not associate with such creatures if I were you,' said the Bron.

Naturally, I made a point of making a note to get closer to the beautiful Kallisti at the top of the stairs.

The "meeting" took place after hours of fraternizing with countless bloodlines including the Malocusian bloodline who invited me all over the world to see their homes and lavish luxuries that I "couldn't imagine" even with my regal and noble past.  Augusto Vidal even spoke to me briefly to tell me to meet with him within the next few weeks about power vacuum that needed to be filled.

I would do so and even gain the title of Advocate to present day under several regimes but it was a passing pleasure; especially because Vidal wouldn't even gain his title of "Prince" until 1770.

The meeting got under way in a surprisingly democratic fashion as they discussed concerns and accomplishments and the Malocusians made sure all the Ts were dashed and the i's dotted.  It was all too vapid for me to even write down suffice to say I didn't age during the waste of life it would have been had I been alive.  I made my connections and took my leave.

As I left, I noticed the Kallisti getting into an ornate carriage and I got in, commanding the driver to drive with my dominate discipline. She looked at me and seemed to attempt using Perfidy and Dominate on me to stop my attempt.  I laughed at her for her attempt.  She was quite strong and it made me sweat but I had considerable training in ignoring psychological suggestion.

'You're quite powerful.  You must be rather old,' I said.

'Old enough to be your grandmother,' she coyly told me.

I laughed and kissed her and to my surprise, she kissed back.  Upon biting her, however, I found that neither one of us could bond to each other.

'What's your name, elder, mine is...'

'James Toulor. Duke of Rennet France.  Your friend, Bron bloodline, George Christo told me about you. He said you would try to talk to me, I had no idea that you would try to win me.  I am Cyrilla Kay De Kallisti,' She said.

'Captivating.'"

The years were kind to us both and between us, we would move to the Yazoo lands to study the nature of mankind and forget about mortality.  Upon the flood, she would be whisked away from me by assailants unknown.  Hence I joined with a scientist who worked for me at my one of my research facilities and a local business woman to find her.