Hi and welcome to my new blog.

Many of you that know me will know that I already write a blog, or did write a blog. However, the provider I used before, actually shut down their blogging site and so I am now starting a new one (I know I just stated the obvious durrrr).

This blog will be similar to my old one in that I will be posting links to my books and the muddled ramblings of my poor addled brain, which often is termed my 'thought for the day', lol! However, I've also decided to start serialising some of my books. And so I thought I'd start with the first Vampire series. I'll release a chapter from the series every week, however, the series is five books long, so it may take a while. I also tend to write in very short chapters, so when a chapter seems to be particularly short I'll add two (I'm so kind like that ;-p).

Anyway, I guess that's me done for the day - so here it is the first chapter of the first book, In the Beginning, from the first, Vampire, series. Hope you like it :-)

In the Beginning

 Gwen

2013

Chapter One

Life can be great, it is vital, but life can also be depressing, and more often than not miserable and pointless. I think this is true of a human life, perhaps a life that usually spans about seventy or so years. Imagine then, if you will, living for nearly five hundred years, imagine the misery, sadness, and above all else, the sheer tenacity it takes to survive that long. If you can imagine the hell I'm describing; you can - just maybe - imagine my life – the life of a vampire.

Oh I'm sure it's not the life of every vampire, but it is how I see my life, and now suddenly everything I thought was worth living for is gone. My light in a very dark world is dim, the vital part of my life is no more, and the reason for my existence no longer exists. 

Perhaps I should start by way of an introduction; my name is Gwendolyn Leigh, Gwen for short. I was born in a tiny village called Hayes on the outskirts of London, England. Over time Hayes become part of the larger suburbs of London, but when I made my entrance into the world, it was but a small community and more than three days walking distance from the capital. 

I was born in the early hours, one day in early June in the year 1522, I don’t know the exact date of my birth, my parents didn’t know, and so it is obvious that I would never know of it. My mother would tell me, "You were born on the morn of the sunniest day of the year, Gwen." I loved it when she said those words to me, and I never questioned her further, and so I now state my birthday to be the first day in June.

I became a vampire at the age of nineteen. At nineteen in Tudor England, I had already lived at least half of my life span, and could in no way be termed as a child. Strange when you consider that at aged nineteen, I’m now in today’s world considered little more than a child.

I, of course, still look nineteen; and will do until the day I die; I guess it is one of the major benefits of being a vampire. I will never grow old and my breasts will always be upright.

There are many legends and fables surrounding vampires, the strangest of them being that we cannot tolerate the touch or taste of garlic - we can. Nor do we shrivel at the sight or touch of holy water or crucifixes. We can walk during the daylight hours and there is only one way in which a vampire can die. And that is by way of piercing through the heart with a wooden stake.

Wood is everlasting and a tree can grow for very many centuries, but if you strike a tree in its heart, in the tree's case its root, you will kill it. The root is where the tree is most vulnerable, and so it is with us. In the making of a stake, an everlasting tree is felled and so the magic of eternal growth is broken. It is the breaking of this everlasting growth, that does, when thrust into a vampire, breaks the magic of everlasting youth.

A vampire cannot be killed by ripping out the heart – it simply re-forms, and beheading has the same effect. We cannot be starved of blood, we will simply dry up and shrivel, but as soon as one drop of blood touches our lips, we will be restored.

Contrary to common belief, vampires are not always evil ungodly creatures. Our characters remain the same as when we were human, only heightened, so therefore if a vampire is a killer, it is almost certain that they were a killer when they were human. We are strong and fast, and we do crave blood, blood is our food, but most vampires will not drain a human dry, most will simply take what they need and move on. 

We can choose to die, if we wish, by our own hand. You see, only the strongest of vampires can survive for centuries, it is not easy to watch all that you love, die and wither. It requires enormous strength of will to be able to start again repeatedly, and in truth, it becomes tiring.

It is so very tiring to watch humans make the same mistakes century after century - because with great age comes great wisdom.  However, this wisdom cannot be channeled, it is dangerous and foolish for us to intervene in human life, and so our existence becomes an everlasting exhausting circle. How do we kill ourselves? Well it is quite simple really, we thrust a stake deep into our heart, and we die, but in reality we have already started to die and will have given up on life long before we commit to the final deed of thrusting the stake.

It's at this crossroads in my life, that you find me. I don’t know if I should carry on living or if I should end my life. I have lived through so much, loved and lost, watched history in the making, and I am tired. For the last few years, I have lived alone, not seeking or wanting love or friendship. I am afraid of the pain, and I have arrived at a point in my life when I am no longer sure that I can face the hell that is living, and somehow death seems to offer the peace I crave.

I made choices many years ago, choices that I have since lived to regret.  Choices that meant love was snatched from me; not once, but many times, but someone from the past remained deep within my heart, a being that I loved above all others. That being was the key to my existence, and the reason why I have lived this torturous life for so long. Now my reason for living is gone, and with this demise my desire and fight to live has diminished.

I have, therefore, decided to write down all of my memories, and in doing so I will be able to reach the decision of continuing to live, or ultimately deciding to die. I must make the choice, and to enable me to do this, I believe that I must look to the past, and hopefully this will lead me to establish if my life is worth living in the future.

Therefore, the long story, detailing my life, begins…