The legend of the vampire monks

Written by Agent Serro

Legend tells a tale of a young pair of vampires that were childhood friends, then come of age wanting to marry but the vampire elders would not have this marriage as the two vampire families were of different social standings. The man comes from a very prestigious family, with wealth and power along with having a great blood line beyond his family. The woman comes from a more simplistic and modest social standing, with a family not known for having a prestigious bloodline. This is acceptable when they were merely children and such close friends but within the vampire race the elders are always of the strictest standards when a pair is matched and married.
The race of vampires is near immortal, and it's been rumored they are capable of living for 10,000 years before passing. As this is the way of this race, they are long lived, reproduction is rare among them, and they hold title above most other values. To this respect they tend to always be highly selective of what couples are matched and married ensuring their race becomes stronger and that standings are always done in the highest standards.
Most times they are not ones to fall in love as it's more of an emotion that is almost foreign to them. They do have emotions but not on such a high level as love. They are more governed by honor, tradition and the perseverance of the race. These two were a rare case of falling madly in love with one another. Of course, this disturbed the elders so it was made clear it was not acceptable and would not be allowed to continue as the race was the greater good, not personal feelings.
Nicodemus being accused of losing his senses and Mariana being accused of bewitching him to marry above her current status and rank. As the two could not stand the thought of not being with one another, they both fled out into the normal world so that they could be together. Being teenagers in love, it did not take long for them to stumble across trouble once they were in the normal world of men. A small group of blood hunters soon were on their trial hunting them down like dogs, even with them doing nothing wrong. Just simply being of a different race that was so misunderstood.
As the blood hunters had both of them tied to stakes and were in the process of burning them at the stake, a lone young Monk happened to come along. The monk proceeded to stop this heinous act as he risked his own life to battle the 3 blood hunters without regard for his own safety as the two vampires helplessly watched on. The blood hunters being without reason, would not listen to the monk’s plea of stopping, so soon they were in a battle to the death. After this young monk won the battle, he freed the vampires and asked if they would be ok. The vampires, never knowing compassion from anyone outside of their own race, were deeply moved by the monk’s actions.
It was quickly agreed that the two vampires in love would help the monk on his mission. The young monk wanted to seal away a great underground evil to protect those in the area from its negative influences. The three worked well as a team and over a few years were able to fight back the evil creatures coming from underground, then finally started to build the Norbury monastery on top of the unholy site to seal it away. Over the years, other monks soon started to join them on this righteous mission and the monastery was built. This monastery led by abbot Jon was open to all races, all religions and all walks of life. Training the way of the monk, living in harmony with all life and walking a path of continual self-enlightenment.
It was a simple but ever happy life there at the monastery until one day, after the monk was much older a vampire tracker showed up to bring them back home where they belonged. Wishing to avoid any troubles that could quickly escalate out of hand affecting everyone, the old monk asked the tracker to take him to the vampire council to seek an audience with them. This was almost unheard of due to the fear all races have of the vampires. After several long days of negotiations, the elders tested the monk to discover what he was truly after. After passing each test, the elders soon realized that the monk only wanted peace and was most sincere in his desire to give the two young vampires a safe and happy life.
So, an agreement was finally made between the monastery and the vampire council.
Monks where to provide blood once per month to help the vampires
Monks where to put the safety and secrecy of the vampires above their own life
Monks where to maintain the seal over the ancient unholy site
Vampires where to promise the two young ones would go freely living their own lives
Vampires where to promise not to take blood from the normal races of the land against their will
Vampires where to promise to help the monks by sharing with them an ancient recipe of making ale
Both agreeing to a peace treaty
Both agreeing to never break this agreement
Both agreeing to remember that both races are capable of coexisting together

As time passed, the monastery became known for being a safe haven for all, helping those in need, helping the community in the surrounding areas to great lengths and the two young vampires became monks themselves including the monk traditions. As the young monk finally started to die of old age, a new young monk was found to take his place being the only monk to know all the secrets of the monastery. Then that young monk found another to replace him as he was starting to die of old age. Over the next 5 generations of monk masters of the monastery many great deeds took place involving the monks. The vampire monks did indeed perform many acts of honorable deeds, fighting evil, healing the sick, helping protect the lands and always where hand in hand lovers never being apart from one another. Many local myths and legends speak of how these two vampires and the monks made such a huge positive influence on all in the area.