Deep underground, beneath the largest and most populous cities around the world, an empire existed. Hidden from the prying eyes of mortal beings the Bloodkin, the Garmeln, made their home.

Vampires, as the humans referred to them. Since time beyond memory they ruled from their cold iron cities, feasting on the humans at their leisure in an endless symphony of hedonism and selfish, all-consuming hunger. With sorcerous powers they hid themselves from the humans, allowing only the barest hint of their existence to shine through into the mortal realm.

The humans depicted their kind as hidden predators, feasting on human kind in secret as a means of preserving themselves from the unified efforts of their cattle.

The truth was far, far worse.

The Bloodkin did not hide themselves out of fear or self preservation like the other non mortal races did. They hid so out of convenience, and a desire to allow their food-source to grow.

Why step outside of their walled citadels and looming bastions to rule the unwashed masses when it was so much easier to bask in the rain of bloodshed and violence their cities presented oh so easily?

From the iron cities below they could revel in the death their kind wrought, controlling the humans above as puppets upon strings, and commanding those below as slaves.

The humans were content to live out their worthless lives, and their betters would happily allow them to wallow in such mediocre servitude. And when the time came that the slaves below failed to satisfy?

The human mind was easy to manipulate. Sons and daughters, babes and spouses alike could be torn apart and consumed, and just as soon their loved ones would be made to forget they had ever existed at all.

Homes, towns, even cities could be drawn into the realm of iron and blood, and the world above would believe nothing was ever there at all.

It was the truth the world could not see. It was the truth the world wanted kept secret, if nothing else than ones own sanity.

How many men and woman have looked around at the emptiness of their home, at the loneliness in their lives, and never known all they had lost?

Hell existed, and it was just below us all.

I was never the kind of person to look for affection in a bar, but sometimes life had a way of hitting you when your at your weakest. My grandfather, the only family I had ever known, died, and I hadn't been there for him.

When you think about Alzheimer's its difficult to really understand what it's like, but when you see it you realize that there might not be anything worse.

You watch as someone who stood with you for a lifetime crumbles into nothing, as memory, and recognition slowly slips away.

My grandfather, James Trimbal, was a construction worker who became a librarian, a veteran that never failed to stand for those who couldn't stand for themselves.

I had to change his diaper's and I had to listen to him wonder at who I was. I had to reexplain over and over that his wife and daughter died twenty-three years ago, that I was all he had left.

I had to watch as he lost even the ability to speak to me. One day, just one day, I decided to take a break, to leave him in the hospital and have a few beers in the solitude of my apartment. To sleep outside of a cold hospital room for the first time in weeks.

I awoke the next morning to a voicemail explaining that his heart had given out in his sleep.

Just one day of weakness cost me the chance to be with him in the end. So yeah, I was here, in shitty sports-bar, and I was looking for a warm body to take away what loneliness it could.

Redmen's wasn't exactly a quality place, but the booze was cheap-ish, and the food was alright. I had been ready to try and make my move on a top heavy waitress with something of a butter face when the doors opened, and a silence descended over the bar.

Everyone, men and women alike gawped as a woman in a low cut white dress walked inside without a sound. She was something else, beyond the chaff this place, this city, was supposed to see.

Blonde hair cascaded down her back in perfectly placed curls, bobbing lightly as she moved. Porcelain white skin, almost unnaturally pale and unblemished. A body with curves that would put any model to shame, and full and ripe red lips.

Most importantly her eyes gleamed with an innocence I knew didn't really exist. I, like everyone else, was enchanted by her every move. Personally I don't really believe in love at first sight, but to be honest I was certain the whole bar was feeling it.

She sat down without a word at the bar, smiling sultrily to the bartender.

"I wanted to try Rum today." She purred out, her voice somewhat thick with an accent. It sounded harsh. Russian maybe? I shivered at the sound, before clenching my fists as a feeling danced up my spine that I could scarcely recognize.

I had seen beautiful women before, women that looked like they belonged in movies, women that could be celebrities or royalty or anything in between. She was something else altogether. She was the kind of woman wars were fought over in times of old, she was the kind of woman stories and fables were made about.

Like every man, and many women had probably decided to themselves, I had to have her. I tended to avoid women who where at a certain level of attractiveness, if only because I wasn't one for competition, but right now I could accept no other thought than to take her home with me, no matter the kind of people I had to outplay to do it.

I swallowed dryly, before forcing myself not to stand up as a number of men walked over to her, I listened as they tried to act charming behind newfound nervousness and doubt. I watched as men in better shape, men better looking, and men far more charming stutter and flail in their attempts.

I watched her look to each man who came near with mild amusement, but kindly speaking to them with short, but sweet answers, dangling the far off hope of leaving with her.

Her eyes fell on me a couple minutes later as she was toying with those men. She tilted her head at me, before smiling at my expression almost cruelly, and looking back to the man who was not so subtly implying he had money with his constant grip on his wallet.

I felt a spark of annoyance at the dismissal, before a hint of excitement. I knew what to do. These guys weren't making any real progress, she knew exactly what she was and she wanted to spend the night teasing people who thought they could seduce her.

I took a few minutes to gather my thoughts, and after making sure my jaw wasn't still on the floor I stood up, loudly enough to catch her ear. I straightened my shirt as I stood, putting a determined expression on my face.

I walked to the small crowd of men and women who had gathered around her, keeping my eyes down as I approached, focusing on the shoulders of mister rich-kid.

She was the kind of woman who was treated as a princess, a queen, she had lived a life with men far more attractive than me at her beck and call, and I wasn't going to win by playing her game.

I made my way around the crowd, giving her a sideways glance as I passed. It was all I could do not to stop and stare again, not to throw myself at her feet like the rest. Instead I didn't react to her eyes meeting my own, and walked over to the waitress I had been looking over earlier.

I was sure it would catch her attention, the only real question was whether it was curiosity, ire, or both.

"You know, when I walked into this place I told myself It wouldn't be for love, but man I think I might be changing my mind." She looked up at me, just noticing me and probably surprised I was giving her the time of day considering the woman who had walked in.

Admittedly it wasn't a great line, but I wasn't in a great state of mind. Still, she seemed flattered. "Really? Of all the things you could have said, all the pick up lines and cheap compliments, you used that one?"

I laughed. "Hey it got your attention didn't It? Sometimes being cheesy can get you somewhere. You have a name?"

She giggled, and for a little while I brought my focus away from the bar and those who might be sitting in it. "Grace, mister cheesy."

She leaned forward, letting her elbows rest on the table and giving me a decent view inside her shirt. "And what, exactly, brought you over to me?" I paused.

Well I couldn't say her tits where my fallback for if I misread the situation.

"Call it intuition, fate, or love at first sight, but I get a feeling your a fun girl to be around." To be honest, now that I was talking to her, I wasn't lying. Now I felt a little bad about using her like this, but if this didn't work out I would try and make it up to her.

"Maybe I am, but the question is, are yo-" She paused, her eyes catching on something behind me. I could tell by the slight glaze over her eyes who was coming over.

I felt a a pair of cool hands rest on my shoulders, and I kept myself from slumping over at the softness of them. "Hello there."

Her voice was husky and full of promise. I grit my teeth and kept from moaning, before looking behind me. I spoke before my eyes landed on her. "I'm a bit busy, maybe we could talk later?" I'm sure my grin was sly for all of four seconds before she leaned into me.

Her lips were so close I could almost taste them."Come with me."

I was already inside a limo when I gathered my thoughts enough to think about how I had planned to draw things out for a bit longer before she "convinced" me. I tilted my head at my new surroundings. Had I been so lost in thought I didn't even notice us move?

What was wrong with me? I felt her lips against mine before I could continue that line of questioning. It was chaste, and only brushed my lips, barely something a child would call a kiss, and yet it was enough to pull me away from all reason.

She deepened our embrace as we drove onward, as the world began to blur and our surroundings grew stranger and stranger. I felt more complete in that moment than I did in my entire life.

I didn't question the growing sound of wailing outside of the safety of the car, I didn't think to open my eyes as massive iron gates opened, and we entered the city I would die in.

In that one moment all there was in my head was me and her, nothing but pleasure and the sound of soft moans meeting my ears. If there ever was a heaven, it was where I was right now.

We had to have been in each others embrace for quite some time, and yet when we parted it felt as if we had only begun.

She didn't say a word, and I couldn't bring myself to break the silence. I let her take my hand and lead me past the large, ornate doors of what had to be a castle made of metal.

There my pain would begin