Author's Note and Introduction

Hello all!

Welcome to my second BL novel, "The Bloodstained Affair".

Here are our two main characters.

1. Ryan Caldwell

The grandson of Lord Marcus Caldwell, he is often referred to as the "Prince of The Caldwell Family" and due to his family's high status, often enjoys other titles such as "Vampire Prince", "Prince Of The Vampires", or just "Prince".

When this story begins, he is 198 years old.

When he was younger, he was very hot-headed and impulsive. He fought a lot and caused his family a lot of grief. Nevertheless, his grandfather doted on him a lot so no one dared to say anything.

Later on, he is a lot more mature but due to the pain of betrayal from the past, he is reluctant to get a spouse and adopt children.

2. Aiden Matthews/Thompson

Aiden was born a Matthews, taking his father's surname upon birth. After his mother died, his father married a woman who he had been cheating on Aiden's mother with, and Aiden practically became an outcast in his own family.

Aiden's maternal grandmother, Lily-Anne Thompson then opted to take Aiden under her wings. Once Aiden was old enough, he made the decision to change his surname to his mother's, "Thompson".

When Aiden was a child, he had a brief fate encounter with Ryan.

He was only six years old then, so his memories of the meeting were fuzzy. Thankfully, Ryan never forgets.

***World Setting***

This story takes place on the European continent generally, in England specifically. In this setting, all three races co-exist and live side-by-side, although naturally the human race -- despite being the most populous one -- was the inferior one.

A lot of sycophantic human beings end up approaching the two superior races -- the vampires and the werewolves -- to get rich quickly.

In the case of the vampires, if the human beings managed to impress the vampires enough, they might just receive the offer of being turned into vampires, thus granting them the possibility of eternal life.

Why possibility?

Well.

*-* Vampires *-*

All vampires enjoy the blessings of everlasting youth and eternal life.

Unless they are killed, which happens quite often in this story hence preventing them from living forever.

In this story, vampires do not procreate.

There are three kinds of vampires in this story.

1. The pure-blood vampires

These are the vampires who inherited ancient blood from the very first vampires that inhabited the earth. They are able to turn a human being into another pure-blood vampire by draining said human being of his blood and then giving the dead body some of their blood.

The latter part was crucial to ensure that the pure blood was inherited properly.

Pure-blood vampires gain a supernatural power after they transform.

They make up around 10% of the vampire community.

2. The regular vampires

When a pure-blood vampire kills a human being by draining him of his blood but does not give the corpse any of his own pure blood, the dead human being could morph into either a regular vampire or a rabid vampire.

The chance is 50 : 50.

Regular vampires do not possess any supernatural power. They make up around 70% of the vampire population.

3. The rabid vampires

Rabid vampires are human beings whose transformations go awry. When regular vampires turn human beings into vampires, there is also 50 : 50 chance for the human beings to either become regular vampires or rabid vampires.

There is no way to predict whether or not a human being will end up as a regular vampire or a rabid vampire. Despite the burning wish to be part of the vampire race, not many human beings are willing to take this risk.

They make up only 20% of the vampire population because they regularly get exterminated by vampires and werewolves alike.

Rabid vampires are constantly on the look for food to nourish their bodies. They are active during the night.

The human beings that are unlucky enough to come across rabid vampires will turn into rabid vampires upon their death.

*-* Werewolves *-*

Werewolves are supernatural beings who look a lot like normal human beings, but are able to shift into wolves anytime they want to. They have amazing regenerative power and strength. Werewolves typically live within packs. In the modern setting, there is a so-called Pack House that is more or less a huge mansion on top of a vast piece of land that houses all of the werewolf families.

The alpha werewolves are the born leaders of the pack. They are typically bigger when they transform into their wolf forms, attractive, intelligent, and also strong fighters. They stand out from the rest of the pack since birth. These alpha werewolves are candidates to fill the highest ranks within a pack, which are explained below. All ranks can be filled by either males or females.

1. An Alpha is the leader of the pack, in charge of taking care of external affairs, including maintaining the relationship between packs, protecting the pack against human beings, and also ensuring the pack's survival through resource arrangement. The Alpha can use "Alpha Voice" to force the pack members to do whatever the Alpha wants.

Note that an Alpha must be born as an alpha, but an alpha does not necessarily end as an Alpha ;)

2. A Luna is the spouse of the Alpha, second in rank within a pack. If the Alpha has yet to take a Luna, the Beta is second in rank.

3. A Beta is the co-leader of the pack, in charge of taking care of the pack internal affairs. When the affair relates to the outside world, the Beta must inform the Alpha. Otherwise, the Beta can take care of the internal affairs as he deems fit.

4. A Gamma is the protector of the pack, in charge of training the pack members as soon as they come of age, and also takes care of abandoned or orphaned pups within the pack.

5. Lead Warrior is the general of the Warriors within the pack, in charge of leading the Warriors during pack wars or against other threats.

6. Warriors are the fighters of the pack. They patrol around the border every day to ensure pack safety.

7. Elders are elder werewolves who have spent the majority of their life within the pack and are often called upon to give some advice to the Alpha, Beta, or Gamma especially when they are still young and inexperienced.

8. Healers, as the title implies, are those who take care of wounded werewolves.

***Glossary***

1. Fated mates : Upon reaching the age of eighteen years old, all werewolves get to meet their wolves for the first time, and they are also able to spot their fated mates. Fated mates are couples who are blessed directly by the Moon Goddess. It is rare to be able to meet a fated mate, so most werewolves just settle with the ones they grow close with. Attraction to a fated mate is undeniable and it is very difficult to disengage oneself from the fated mate. It is very RARE to be able to meet with one's fated mate.

2. Moon Goddess : The Goddess of all werewolves, worshipped in the Moon Goddess Temple.

3. Bonding : In order to establish a bond between two werewolves, they must mark each other by biting into the nape of their counterpart, where the scent gland is. Upon successful marking of both parties, their pheromones will be attuned to each other and they will be a lot less receptive to other werewolves' scents.

4. Mating : Sex

5. Rut : A period that occurs every couple of months after the werewolves reach the age of eighteen. It leaves the werewolves hot and sweaty, longing for their mates' touch and attention. Relief can only be achieved through mating.

6. Rejection : Should two fated mates meet but are unable to properly become mates, for example because one or both of them are already married and bonded to other werewolves, there is an option to reject each other to sever the fated mate bond.

7. Mind Link : A telephatic connection between werewolves in the pack. There is one that is established between the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma for easier communication regarding pack management. Another is between fated mates. The last one is between bonded mates.