A.N.: I thought this was going to be a really short chapter, but it turned up almost 2K? Thank you all so so so much for the votes, comments, fannings, ... You can't believe how happy they make me! And really, almost 1000 reads? adskmqskdm!

Warning: Historical inaccuracies (Well, I did my very best to make it as real as possible)

‘Liam Payne, is that really you?’

‘Long time no see I guess,’ Liam answered while scratching the back of his neck.

‘Wait this is "theDanielle"? The Danielle you told me about?’ Louis looked utterly gobsmacked. He’d heard Liam telling about her dozens of times, but he’d never met her. He didn’t even know that she was still alive.

‘Yes, that has to be me. I’m- ’ Danielle wanted to tell, until she was abruptly interrupted by Eleanor’s irritated voice, as she hated being left out of anything.

‘Alright, can someone please explain what this is all about, ‘cause I’ve no idea what this is all about and it’s annoying like hell,’ she pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

The room fell silent again. The four of them looked at each other, waiting for someone to take the word. Eventually Liam turned to Eleanor and spoke with a clear voice.

‘Danielle is my ex-fiancé.’

‘Wait, what?' was the immediate answer of Eleanor, her eyes spread wide open and her mouth agape, ' Is she a vampire as well? How did you meet? Why doesn’t even Louis knows her?’ Eleanor was now even more confused. Danielle placed her hand on the slightly taller girl’s shoulder to stop her from bombarding Liam with questions.

‘Let him explain, El.’

She then gestured Liam to continue. The latter took a deep breath and started his story.

‘It all happened a long, long time ago. I didn’t know Louis, as he was yet to be born.

It was the year 911, Early Middle Ages. England wasn’t like the country you know now. It was divided in many little kingdoms. My family had been the owner of Winchester as far as people could remember, but weren’t satisfied. They wanted to conquer every other kingdom on the island.

My father Edward the Elder was at that time busy with the occupation of London and Oxfordshire. To help him in battle, he wanted to sign an alliance with Mercia. In that time the only way to sign one was by way of marriage.

My older brother was already happily married to a beautiful girl from York. As I was his second oldest son and therefore the second in line to the throne, he decided to marry me off to the eldest daughter of the king of Mercia, Danielle.

Our family prepared every little detail. We were going to marry the second of may. We both had no say in it. However as I didn’t want to marry a girl I’d never seen before, I asked if I couldn’t meet her. My father allowed me to visit her a week before the big day.

After a two days trip by horse –Mercia wasn’t that far away –I arrived at their castle. I still remember how amazed I was by it. The towers had almost double the size of our own and were ivy-grown. Roses were blooming all over the garden. A huge wooden drawbridge was down, at that time it was high-tech technology. I used it to cross over the moat that surrounded the building. Standing before the huge front door I banged loudly on it door. A beautiful lady with her dark, curly hair covered opened. I asked her if she could let Danielle know that her fiancé had arrived. The girl gave me a bright smile and told me that that was her. She’d opened the door herself as her parents were out hunting together with the majority of the staff and–‘

‘That wasn’t the first thing I said,’ Danielle interrupted Liam. The Winchester native rolled with his eyes and corrected himself.

‘No you’re right. The first thing you said was “Well, you damn look like a prince charming!” because my white horse still stood next to me.’

‘That’s not the only reason, you really looked like one!’ Danielle beamed in his direction, while Eleanor cooed a soft ‘aww’.

Liam blushed a little, not used to such compliments.

‘Where was I? Oh yes, meeting the beauty at the door.

I bowed in front of her and asked her to join me on a stroll in the park. She took my hand eagerly before leading me in the right direction, my servants following us. Starting with small talk to break the ice, I noticed her witty humor and kind personality. She was the most charming girl I’d ever met. I should’ve praised myself lucky as I was going to marry a lady that wasn’t only utterly pretty, but was a great person as well.

Unfortunately I couldn’t make myself to be attracted to the lovely lady. I had known for many years that I was gay. Of course in that time it was impossible for a prince to come out. People didn’t even acknowledge the existence of gay people. Lads who kissed other lads were considered as possessed by the devil. I knew this very well and I’d known my whole life that I’d never have a happy marriage.

The honest lad that I was, I decided to tell Danielle the truth. I wanted her to know why I wouldn’t be able to kiss her good enough, or to hold her like a husband should do. As soon as we were out of earshot of the servants I started to explain.

Surprisingly she wasn’t mad at all, more like the opposite. She hugged me and told me she had the same problem. Danielle was only attracted to women, she said. I’d never felt more relieved than that moment.’

‘Wait, Danielle is gay?’ Eleanor interfered again.

‘Yes,’ the elder girl immediately shot back, ‘do you have a problem with it?’ Her hands were placed on her hips, expressing her undaunted demeanor.

‘No, of course not. That would be a bit hypocritical as I’m bi myself.’ She smiled at her new friend to fortify her words. Afterwards she turned her attention back towards Liam.

‘What I don’t understand is why you’d become the way you are now. When are we going to get to the vampire part?’

‘Have patience, we’re almost there,’ his face turned serious again, ‘but I have to warn you. It’s not the… nicest part of the story.’

‘We walked and talked in the park all day. As I got to know her better, I was almost glad that she was the one I was forced to be with for the rest of my life. She was an amazing girl, wouldn’t hate me for who I am and as I had to be with a girl anyway, Danielle was the best I could’ve ever hoped for.

It was getting dark when we decided to head back to the palace. The servants were still behind us, chatting themselves. I –‘

Liam hesitated a bit, choosing his words precisely. His eyes turned a darker shade of brown as he remembered the events.

‘I first got hand of their presence by hearing hissing noises. First behind us, then above us –like it came from out of the treetops. As I couldn’t hear rustling of leaves, I assumed it was a delusion, made up by my own mind. However the sounds aggravated to the point I could distinguish two voices. A deep one of man and a high, pitched tone plausible belonging to a woman. I couldn’t understand them. They spook in a fluent old language, probably a Latin dialect.The servants now noticed them too, recommending us to walk faster. Without showing any fear, I hold Danielle a bit closer and sped up. I wanted to get out of this dark part of the park as soon as possible.

Unfortunately that wasn’t what the two… creatures had in mind for us. I already had seen the end of the path in the distance when they suddenly appeared. A bearded men in his late twenties appeared in front of us. Behind us stood a petite woman with the longest hair I’d ever seen in my 18 years of living. To me they didn’t look human. Both bended a bit forward like they were predators ready to take their prey down –of course they were, but I didn’t know that at that time yet. They were wearing a sheep’s pelt hold together by a thick rope. Although these things made them terrifying, the most frightening part of them had to be their eyes. Deep, black pools filled with a thousand year old madness, craving for blood. The man grunted in his wife’s direction and all of a sudden the whole scene changed in a heartbeat.

The two creatures had thrown themselves on my servants. In a blink of an eye they had ripped their throats open and took big gulps of their still warm blood. Surprisingly they left us alone. I grabbed Danielle even closer to. I wanted to protect her like a gentle men as I was educated to be had to. Everything happened so quickly that I first hadn’t even noticed when the two vampires dropped the lifeless bodies on the ground.

Their eyes now had taken over the colour of the crimson liquid. A smirk was plastered on both their faces that were now covered in blood. They watched us every move, grinning even more when I begged them to leave us alone. The woman approached us and extended her arm. Her finger picked up a tear that had fallen out of the corner of my eye and then dragged it towards her mouth. Danielle and I were too paralyzed out of fear to even move, let alone stop her. After she’d tasted my tear, the female creature turned her head back to say something to her partner.

They started a conversation, ignoring our existence again. The man now came over too, touching Danielle’s cheek. I tried to slap his hand back, but when my arm collided with his it didn’t even move an inch. His limb was hard as stone and cold like the dungeons of my castle at home. He chuckled amused by the miserable fail of my attempt. They –‘

Liam stopped talking, his gaze fixed on nothing. A pained expression appeared on his face as he relived the last memories of his humanly life. The same one that Danielle now wore too. Eleanor and Louis were looking with wide eyes at Liam, mesmerized by his thrilling telling. Although Louis had heard the story at least two times, it still managed to give him chills every time his friend told it again. After a last hitched breath Liam’s face lost all signs of trouble and he smiled kindly in his friend’s way.

‘I’ll clean the story up a bit. It’s needless to say that they turned us that night. We’ve never known why. We’ve never seen them afterwards, but I doubt it they’re still alive. Vampires of their kind were killed in large numbers in the 16th century.

As soon as Danielle and I knew what we had become we left our families. I don’t know if it’s out of the shame of our disgrace or out of mourning, but my family scrapped my out of every pedigree. That’s the reason why you’ll never come across my name in any history book.

The next centuries Danielle and I spend together. Eventually we f –went separate ways at the end of the 16th century.’ Liam faltered on his words, indicating that he was only telling half of the truth.

‘I lived on my own for a while, until I met Louis. But you ‘ve probably heart that story already, isn’t it Eleanor?’

Eleanor nodded still a bit taken aback by the eventful tale. Louis then winked at Liam trying to lighten the mood.

‘I was of course the best thing that could’ve ever happened to you.’

Liam rolled his eyes, but also beamed a toothy grin to show his amuse. Afterwards he turned back to Eleanor to end his story.

‘So, that’s how I know Danielle.’