Leonidas(1)

It is a feeling of great relief to not remember your past.
Past sins are forgotten and passions are left burried in the shadows.
But this feeling can only last for so long. After that questions arise and answers are not to be found.
Leonidas could not remember anything from his mortal life, neither his name nor his origins.
He could only remember the night that he woke up in a cold, wet cellar half naked and with a crazy thirst. A thirst that no water could quench.
He remembered his first days when he awoke in that cellar and went out in the dark streets of Thessaloniki of 1950. He also recalled his beast taking over whenever he found a human.
He remembered the night he found him. His name was Theofilos, a gentle man in his 30's. He was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin. He was just a normal Greek guy.
Leonidas had just finished his meal and let the poor dead human drop to the ground when he saw Theofilos approaching.
-I am a friend, you have nothing to fear, he told to Leonidas who showed him his blood-coated teeth.
-Who are you?
-My name is Theofilos, I am like you and as I told you, you have nothing to fear.
-You don't know what I am.
-Of course I know, once upon the time I was in your position. You sleep during the day, you wake up at night and no matter how much water you drink you still thrist for more. Most of the times you quench your thirst with unlucky homeless people, right?
-How can you...
-I told you I am like you.
-What are we? Damned? Creatures from hell?
-We are vampires, immortal creatures who drink blood in order to extend their lifespan. Are we damned? That I do not know. Are we creatures of Hell? I am sure we are not.
-How did I become one?
-You don't remember? Someone passed that gift unto you.
-I can't remember anything. I just woke up like this.
-You can't remember your human days?
-No, nothing.
-That's okay my friend. As I told you I am here to help you, that's my job after all.
-Hmm...
-I am like you, in many ways. Like you I don't know who created me. There are many of us in this situation. The other vampires call us clanless or garbage. I am the oldest clanless in Thessaloniki and my prince has given me the  task to collect other clanless not aware of their new status.
-Prince? What prince? We have a democracy.
-I do not speak of the mortal goverment, our kind have their own ruler and we call him a prince.
-What do you want from me?
-Nothing special really, I will teach you how to be a vampire. You see, even we have some rules and when you learn about them I will present you to Prince James. If he accepts you then you can continue with your life.
-I don't have a life...
-Worry not, we will create a new one for you.

The rest is history, as they say.
Theofilos presented him and Prince James accepted Leonidas in Thessaloniki.
That young man had much potential to be executed for a sin not his own.
Many princes around the world hated the clanless and they killed them on sight while some others sympathised with them since it was not the clanless' option to become a vampire.
But only a few blamed the creator of those clanless. And prince James was one of those few.
In the next years Leonidas and Theofilos worked together to create his new identity.
Leonidas proved to be very good at martial arts and soon with the help of Theofilos he opened a gym to teach people martial arts. At that point only a few existed in Thessaloniki and soon Leonidas had enough money to open a second one and a third.
During the 70's you could consider him one of the wealthy people of Thessaloniki.
And during the 80's he died. Not a real death but his persona had to die since he was publicly known.
His new identity was the grandchild of the previous Leonidas and he continued his life.
All these years he also helped Theofilos on his task to keep the streets clean of clanless unaware of their condition.
Some of them could now be considered friends of his, many others died through the years from various reasons and some others either were mindless beasts and got killed by Theofilos the same night they found them or got killed by ''Faceless'' for not being accepted in the town.
Not every vampire had the right to live after all. Each new vampire reduced the number of possible feeding opportunities and increased the chance of unveiling their hidden existence.
There were also the hidden wars between the vampires themselves.
Prince against prince. Town against town. Even among a town's vampires.
And clanless were always the first ones to pay the price. They had noone to guide them or protect them or even stand up for their death.
Leonidas learnt this lesson very well through the years.
He still could recall Theofilos giving that advice to every new clanless he found.
''Mind your own business everytime. Never ever get involved with the purebloods' affairs.
Of course many didn't listen to him but Leonidas did.
And he stayed alive for almost sixty years.
His past forgotten and burried in the blackness of his mind.
He may have had a family which after all these years would have its own family. He may even have bitten one of that family's members.
Day after day these questions created more questions and what was a relief for half a century was now a curse.
The only thing he had from his old self was a voice speaking to his mind many times in cryptic tone.
Not actually a voice though. Through the years Leonidas discovered that he had a gift unique to his kind.
He could sense and communicate with spirits.
Not like the necromancers could via their magic.
He just could.
And from his early days he discovered he had one following him, offering advice in weird situations or keeping him company.
He named that spirit ''Socrates'' cause their discussion reminded him of the way the Socrates of old tried to teach his students.
Socrates believed that every answer was known to everyone but from the moment of birth people had forgotten it.
So in his teachings he tried to make the students understand they knew the subject already and that he only needed to remind them about it.
So his ghost ''Socrates'' was almost like that. He never spoke clearly and he never answered directly.
But in a world that death was everywhere having someone with you all the time was a small relief.


The last years Leonidas had broken his mentor's rules.
He got involved with many nightly affairs mostly by luck and he didn't mind his own business anymore.
He didn't like it that way but now he couldn't stop. There was no way out anymore.
His only way out was his martial arts. Only when practising could he empty his mind and feel a little bit serene.

And there Pablo found him that night.
Alone in his gym practising.
''You have company'' Socrates warned him.
Leonidas turned to see Pablo staring at him.
-Leonidas my friend how are you? How are the other 299?
-You know my name but I don't know yours. Leonidas could remember Pablo's face from the town's meetings, he also remembered that Pablo belonged to the clan of the madmen.
-Very rude of me, excuse me. I am Pablo!
Suddenly Leonidas remembered Pablo's story. The serial killer. There were rumors he was a vampire now.
-Are you...
-Yes, I am!
-And what do you want here?
-I came to kill you!
-What!!!
-Just kidding. I am helping Sheriff in a case and he requests your help too.
-''Faceless''?
-No, I said the sheriff, not Faceless...
-What case is that?
-Get dressed we are gonna find him and he will explain it to you.
-And why did he pick me?
-The voices in my head told me and I told him.
-The what?
-The voices Leonidas! You don't know about the voices?
''He is totaly insane for sure''.
-I dont know about the voices, I am sorry.
-Nevermind, get dressed, we need to go!
-And am I supposed to follow you just because you asked me?
-Call the sheriff to check if I am telling the truth or ask your little incorporeal friend to check my aura!
-How do you know?
-Your mind my friend betrays your thoughts.
''Damn madmen and their gifts!''
-Alright I will come with you to the sheriff only if you keep my friends existence a secret for now.
-Which friend's existence?
''Not only insane but also a genius, a dangerous combination''
-Give me 10 minutes then and we can go.
-600, 599, 598, 597, 596...