laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Greetings. You are reading the journal of Tasha Durant. Contained in this journal is the story of my life, death and ongoing unlife. Yes, you read it right, my unlife, you see I am a vampire. I was not always a vampire, but now that I am, I would not change a thing.

Let me begin from back before I was turned. I was the daughter of a noble, Sir Elron Durant, the youngest man ever knighted. My father worked his way up the ranks of the army. During that time, he met my mother, Lady Mary Summer, daughter of Sir Daniel Summer. They were allowed to marry after my father made lieutenant. I was born 13 months later. My childhood was great. I hung out around the army camps learning everthing I could. I wanted to be a soldier; in truth, I wanted to be a Templar Knight of Arhus.

I guess I should explain who Arhus is, since I do not know how much time has passed since I wrote this. When you're a vampire time is not a big issue. Arhus is, or was, the god of war and justice, the god warriors pray to. There are, or were, other gods. I'll get to them later. Arhus, however was my god. Reading that makes me laugh, yes vampires laugh. We also cry, feel pain & loss and, most important, love! I know, you're thinking "No way! I have been taught that vampires are bad. They suck babies dry, hang out at graveyards, etc." Keep reading. You are in for a real eye opener. At least I hope whoever you are, you have an open mind.

I am rambling, sorry, I do that. Back to the story. Arhus, god of war - he had his elite knights, the Templar, hard charging-ass kicking-do gooders. That is what I wanted to be. Why you ask, would a beautiful young woman want to be a Templar? Glad you asked. I wanted to make my dad proud of me. You see, I was an only child and female. This was not good for dad. He wanted an heir. Don't get me wrong, he loved me, but I was a girl. I tried hard to be a guy. I learned to sword fight and shoot a bow (crossbow), I learned the long bow later. I could out-ride most guys and out-drink them as well. But try as I might, I got into trouble a lot. Most of the time it was not my fault! My mother, gods love her, did her best to get me to act my sex. But when I did, things happened, like decking young male nobles for grabing my ass without my consent. Or those times when Mom made me go to tea parties with the other nobles' daughters. I would end up telling them off for mistreating their servants. I hope servitude is something that has changed, or will. I would always say, when asked why I did the above, "You raised me to judge people by their actions, not their station in life." I am sure that I ticked Mom and Dad off saying that, but it was the truth.

So where was I? Templars, right, the biggest problem to this dream was, you guessed it, my gender. You had to be a male. But I was not going to let a little thing (like not having a little thing) stand in my way. I was going to be a Templar, or ...well, I did not have a back-up plan. So I trained. I also discovered that being a good-looking young woman could be fun. I know what you're thinking, how do I know you were good looking. Well, picture a six foot, hazel eyed girl, with brown waist-length hair, and there you go. And for the guys reading this, I also have a nice rack, or so I was told! As I said, being a girl could be fun. I learned this with Lt. Hank Wilcocks. We were lovers for two years, more like rabbits if you get my drift. Sex was fun, still is. YES, I said, "still." Misbelief - vampires don't have sex. We do, we just can't bear children. That is the only thing I wonder if I would have had...

Well, moving on. I turned 18 and attended my first Imperial ball. No, it was not given for my birthday; it was for the Kosomen delegation. What happened next was not my fault, really. Maggie, my best friend and hand-maid, was the daughter of a friend of my dad's who died; and dad took in his wife and daughter. Back to the story, every thing is going great. We are dancing, mingling, and then, out of nowhere, I feel a hand grab my ass. Well I turned and pow! Down he goes. Well I figure it will be okay; I would just say I was defending my honor, right? Wrong. I soon found out, to my horror, that the grabber was the nephew of one of the delegates from the Kosomen empire, and to make matters worse, the chief delegate. Well you can imagine the rest, not good. I, however, made it worse by calling the guy a lying ass when he denied his action. My dad never said a thing to me about it, he just looked at me - you know, the dad look. The next day, I announced that I was off to become a Templar! My dad gave me his permission but said, "Don't be too disappointed when they don't accept you." The way he said "disappointed" cut me deeper than any blade could have. I felt that was a reflection of his disappointment in me.

Well that is it for now, the suns are coming up and I do not tan like I used to. Next, off to the Academy.