The moon was fat and pale in the sky, lighting the well worn forest path. They walked through the towering trees with awe etched on their unchanging faces. Even under the cold light of the silver moon, the forest was beautiful.

Lilith did not skulk through the trees. She walked along the path with her stumbling charge, the fiery highlights of her tangled red hair muted by the harsh moonlight. Unlike the whispering shadows, she was not impressed by the ancient forest - she remembered it lit by the blazing sun, every leaf glistening with light and vitality. It was not as beautiful cloaked in the black mist of night.

The man behind her huffed out a breath as he tripped over a tree root. He glanced up at her as if to ask for her help, but thought better of it. His watery blue eyes remained on the path as she led him through the dark. She found it ironic that he couldn't find his way to the clearing in the dark when he'd visited the sacred spot hundreds of times. She had only walked the path once, a lifetime ago or so it seemed, and she remembered every step of it.

The trees began to thin out and she slowed her silent footsteps. The man stopped behind her, his breath coming in short gasps. The clearing was surrounded by hissing shadows, unable to enter the open ground thanks to the symbols carved into the nearby trees.

Lilith turned to the man, smiling coldly at him. He recoiled, seeming smaller than he had been before. She couldn't believe she had feared him once.

"Take the enchantments down," she ordered, placing her hands on her hips.
"I can't," he stammered, the colour draining from his face. Lilith smiled again, wider this time so the moonlight glittered over her cruel fang teeth.
"Can't or won't?" She hissed. Being so close to the symbols was making her skin crawl. She remembered a time when she could draw them herself, not too long ago. Relying on the cowardly Judas in front of her only angered her more.

He began muttering, bowing his bald head as he did. Lilith tapped her foot impatiently, listening to his racing heart with vague disinterest. She could hear his blood sloshing through his fat-clogged veins. It made her hungry.

Finally, the carvings glowed a bright white before fading completely from view. The others swarmed around the boundary, crossing into the clearing with undisguised glee. A look of horror dashed across the man's face, making Lilith chuckle. She grabbed the top of his arm, her grip strong enough to leave bruises, and dragged him through the whispering trees.

The moonlight lit the clearing evenly, its unblocked rays splashing across the papery white faces of the Master and his three advisors.

The Master was not the oldest there - his most trusted advisor, Ezekiel, was at least three centuries older than their leader. He looked almost impossibly small compared to the Master, his eyes clouded over with the years that had claimed him before he was turned. Lilith snorted in the frail creature's direction as she dragged the man forward.

Lilith supposed the Master was a handsome man, in his way. He had been almost forty when he was turned, a wealthy English landowner. He was tall, thin - she'd once heard he was part of the Royal family when he lived, and it showed. His chestnut hair was streaked with silver and pulled back from his high forehead, exposing a solemn brow and narrow nose. His lips were thin and drawn back to reveal his sharp teeth. She met his gaze, his blue eyes blazing despite his recent good fortune.

"My darling girl," he said, his voice laced with ice and mockery. "You've done a splendid job."
"I am not your darling, nor am I a girl. I've got a millennia on you, you'd do well to remember that," Lilith snapped as she flung the man to the ground.
"In a previous life, maybe," he replied, unruffled by her outburst. "But now, sweet Lilith, you are a mere child in my eyes. You'd do well to remember that."

She glared at him, her shoulders squared, but didn't argue. The Master took a step forward, his feet moving silently over the fallen leaves, and cast his gaze on the man before him.

"Good evening. It was kind of you to let us meet here tonight, it's such a beautiful spot," he said, his tone light and insincere.

Lilith rolled her eyes at the Master's put-on manners. He had discovered a century or so before that being polite to his poor victims often frightened them more than a display of violence and intimidation. Humans, he claimed, expected violence and anger. They didn't expect a polite, mild mannered killer. He got a thrill from toying with humans. Lilith found it tiresome.

"I agreed to exchange information with you, not to bring down the wards!" The man wailed. "I've done a terrible thing."
"You'd think the betrayal would be the terrible thing - everything else is just the icing on the God damn bitter cake," Lilith spat.
"Now no Lilith, we appreciate Mr Murray's help, which is why we agreed to...compensate him for his troubles," the Master said, his smile fixed on his face. "Go ahead, Mr Murray."
"We in the Order know of the prophecy, it is fully recorded in the archives," the man stated, a drop of sweat trickling down his temple.
"Where did you find that out? The prophecy was made in my coven house."
"It didn't say, but the prophecy was recorded in full," Mr Murray replied, his voice wavering. He made no attempt to stand.
"What else?"
"There is also an entire volume dedicated to the Ageless one."
"The Ageless one?" The Master repeated, looking over his right shoulder at the cloaked figure behind him. When he turned to face the man, his grin seemed colder than before.
"Yes - a boy, with crystal eyes and the ashes of empires on his fingers. The records on him go back centuries. Again, it is without source or author."
"How very interesting! Let's not get off topic though - what of the prophesised child?"
"He lives, sir. His father is an Elder of the Order, though his son is without the Gift or our teachings. He is simply an ordinary boy."
"His name?"
"I can't..." the man stammered once more. "He is innocent and untrained, he is not a danger."
"That is for me to decide! What is his name?" The Master's bellow echoed around the clearing. The man flinched. Lilith watched his resolve crumble. Her stomach lurched as her son's name passed the coward's trembling lips.

"Eren Anderson."

The Master calmed instantly. Lilith remained frozen on the spot, unable to move. She knew she had to wait, gather as much information as she could before putting her plan in motion.

"And he's untrained, you say?"
"Yes," Mr Murray replied. "His father has educated him on the Order, but he can't cast."
"Good, that'll make him easier to kill."

The Master's smile was back. He dragged the man to his feet and straightened his jacket before handing him an envelope thick with cash.

The Master ripped the man's throat out so fast he didn't even time to scream. His dying gurgle was lost among the cheers and applause of the Coven. As the man lay dying, the Master removed the envelope from his hands and passed it to the cloaked figure.

"Here you go, love," he cooed. "Buy yourself something pretty."
"Can I stay here a while?" The figure's request was made in a soft whisper, but Lilith heard it and smiled, a plan forming.
"A little while," the Master said. "If you're not back at the Coven house by 2:30, I'll send someone looking," he warned.
"Of course, my Master. I'll return."

The Master seemed pleased with the promise and swept from the clearing. His cronies followed, cackling as they disappeared into the night.

Lilith watched as the boy removed his cloak and laid it carefully over the body. With his face uncovered, Lilith got her first look at the Master's most prized possession.

It was common for her kind to take human lovers, playthings and pets. She'd done it herself, in the past. But devotion was uncommon and everyone in the Coven knew the Master adored his pet. Everyone knew the boy's sad tale, knew that the Master had stolen him from his mother's dead hands when he was weeks old. He'd been raised in the lap of luxury in the Coven house, locked away from everyone. The Master's advisors were the boy's guardians and tutors, the only ones who were allowed to look upon the Master's most beloved treasure. Still, there had been rumours of his beauty, his intelligence and his mental instability. According to the lower vampires in the Coven, to see him was to see an angel made flesh.

For once, Lilith agreed with them. Despite his mortality and youth, he was an incredibly beautiful boy. He had the darkest hair she had ever seen, exquisitely shaped eyes and a generous mouth. His skin was as pale as hers, traced with spider-web veins where it was thin. He too was tall and slender, with narrow shoulders and a small waist.

Lilith could only watch as he stood, struck dumb by his fluid, feline grace. He was not one of them, she was sure, but he was not an ordinary human. He couldn't be.

"Hello."

His quiet greeting startled her. She fixed her eyes on his. It was as if the bright blue ocean of his eyes had been crystallised over the years, she thought. His gaze was weighted with an age that his body did not suggest.

"You're the Master's pet, aren't you?" She asked.
"My name is Corbijn. Are you Lilith?" He asked her, his eyes alight with curiosity.
"What are you? You can't be human."
"I am human," his reply was slow, cautious. "Why would you think otherwise?"
"Stop with the questions!" Lilith demanded. "How old are you?"
"Maybe you should stop with the questions."
"Don't get smart with me. I'm hungry and kinda bored," she snapped.
"You wouldn't threaten me."
"I would and I did, alright? I don't know what you know about me kid, but I don't follow any kind of rules."
"I am not a kid! I'm as old as you are..." he considered her for a moment. "Maybe older, actually."
"That can't be."
"You didn't hear what that man called me, did you?"
"The Ageless one? No offence, but you look about 17 to me and you're definitely human. At least, I think you are."
"I am human, I told you," he sighed. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"
"The whole when humans die they're reborn bit? No, I don't," Lilith replied, pushing her red mane away from her face.
"I've been reborn countless times, in different places around the world since...well, let's just say, there was a time when I could look out across the Egyptian desert and see nothing but sand," he explained. He smiled, but it didn't warm the despair in his eyes.
"You're their legend? The boy with the ashes of empires on his fingers?"
"That's a load of poetic nonsense, but essentially, yes. The Master first discovered me in 1791, when I was living in Paris. Sometimes I'm reborn with the memories of my past, but sometimes I'm not. He has kept track of me ever since. This time round he was lucky - he caught me when I was still a child and had his crazy hypnotists open my mind so I would remember everything."
"Why didn't you escape? Kill yourself or something?"
"I am only human. I could never escape him. And I've tried suicide before, it wasn't pleasant. I fear death," he confessed, his voice just above a whisper. "I fear life just as much."
"I can change that, Corbijn, I can freeze you in time exactly as you are now. No more living, no more dying. I can make you strong enough to leave," Lilith gushed, pleased by the perfection of her plan.
"For what price?"
"All I ask in return is your help and your loyalty, I swear."
"The Master will be angry."
"He's always angry. I'll deal with him."

Corbijn glanced down at the body, the scarlet blood glinting in the moonlight. He met Lilith's gaze and nodded.

Miles away, Eren Anderson woke up screaming.