"How do you know?" Her younger companion asked with all the curiosity of a child. The elder turned her head and looked at her as if she had just sworn allegiance with the Iranian government. Pulling the fallen vampires hood back, the dark room was almost bathed with a golden light, emanating from her eyes.

"Because that, my child, is the vampire Gabrielle." The younger girl looked on with confusion. "You've never heard about her? Child, you must be kidding!" When she shook her head, the elder sighed, replacing Gabrielle's hood, and gestured for the other vampire to follow her to another place in the room. "That girl's companions killed Gangrel…" she stopped to hear an awed breath from the young one, then continued with satisfaction. "And she single handedly made Kael, one of the strongest, go mad with love."

"Kael? But - " The elder hushed her, and continued.

"He got his revenge though…" Sadness intruded her voice, and she shook her head. "It’s a grievous state of affairs when vampires feud between each other. He went so far as to raise the dead to do this…"

"How do you know all this?" An amused laughter filled the room, and the younger blushed at her question.

"The folklore of our kind includes such stories. She's lived over five hundred years you know. Stories grow. She wrote some down herself, before…well, before this happened."

"What happened? What's wrong with her?" The elder sighed, and shook her head again with sadness.

"She babbles. She talks to herself. She can't put together a meaningful thought anymore." Sighing, she cast a gaze back over at Gabrielle. "And to think, she was one of our treasures. Her and her companions were so happy."

"What happened to her companions?" A dark glance was cast downward, and the matron like figure hushed her voice.

"Not too loud. It throws her into worse fits. There were two of them, brothers, and fine young vampires like her. Cultured, mannered, beautiful things. So much they'd been through together. More than any mortals, or vampires at that, should have been though. They went through the change together - "

"What change?"

"When we lost the sun forever. It was slow…. But people say she gave it up if her lovers had to. So devoted was she, that she gave it all up for them. It was one of the hardest times for all of us. We weren't united then…"

"Who united us?"

"She did. She brought us all together against the ones who were wronging us…we never thought it would be our own kind." She sighed deeply, in memory.

"Was there a war?" She nodded slowly. "I knew about that. My sire told me about when he fought against his children and that it nearly ripped him apart…that was before me."

"You best listen then child. The war was long…fifty years or so. Kael started it." She turned her head and spit on the ground at mention of his name. "May his soul rot, wherever he disappeared to."

"I thought he loved Gabrielle?"

"Aye, he did. But it was a love that destroyed. She didn't love him, you see. Not the way he wanted her to. She had Edge…"

"The warrior Edge? He was with her?"

"Forever, child. He brought her into this. They were destined to be together right from the start. But doomed, they were too. What made it harder was they knew it. She had…dreams sometimes. So did Edge's brother…"

"Christian? I know about him…"

"Before he left them and disappeared, he was with them too. He loved that girl more than anything. But the dreams made him leave. Oh, they were bloody things, those dreams of his. They foresaw the war. He knew about it all, and only ever told her. He saw her like this, always in his dreams and he left. People say he begged her to kill him."

"That’s what my sire told me…that before they went into battle on the last day, he wanted to be dead, and his lover did it because he asked…"

"They weren't lovers then." She corrected sharply, "They had been, but not then. She was with Edge, and only Edge. On that last day, that was when it all went wrong. We had it won…she had it won for all of us. But there was one weakness, Kael saw to that. Her past came back to haunt her. It did away with the one she loved…" She trailed off, her voice becoming choked with tears.

"That was the ghost, wasn't it? When he came and took the warrior…"

"You best not say that too loud, child." She scolded harshly before nodding and continuing. "Yes, that was how it happened. Kael knew just what he had to do to win. He knew without Gabrielle, he had it won. And without the warrior by her side, she was lost. He had demons on his side, Kael did. Evil forces, not just of the vampire world, were working for him. He conjured up the dead…one Gabrielle killed long ago, when she was just young. It haunted her forever…but with him at Kael's side…her heart jumped. Her mind fogged. And when she sent her warrior into battle and the icy touch of the ghost's death came upon him…" Tears started to fall. She had been there, and she had seen it happen. "Gabrielle was never the same…she couldn't think, she couldn't talk…she had no one. And that was when Kael brazenly crossed into our lines and snatched the poor girl up. Our side…the good side fell apart. And his side came in for the slaughter…" Her face convulsed with lines of sadness and anger. "My children died in there, my brothers, my sisters…my kith and kin. I got away. I was lucky. But so many others died in that bloodbath. And poor Gabrielle….Kael took her away for so long. When she finally resurfaced, she was like this."

"And Kael?"

"May that son of a whore die for this. No one knows where he is. Or if they do, they aren't telling. There's bounty's out on his head all over this place. He used to be great…so did she." Soft murmurs floated through the air as Gabrielle sat up. The elder quickly rushed over to her side and stood in front of her. "Gabrielle…" She cooed soothingly, "It's alright, go back to sleep…lay back down."

"He's gone…" Gabrielle whispered a little too loud with a devastated tone, "He's really gone…" The matured vampire took Gabrielle's hand.

"Yes, dear. He's gone. Just sleep, all right? Soon, it'll be alright." Sighed deeply, Gabrielle nodded slightly and lay back down and slept but even in sleep from across the room, the younger vampire could hear her almost chant-like cry of "He's gone".