Meris, a young woman who longed to be part of something greater, found her “something” on a cold dark night in the back of an alley where she met the “man of her dreams”. Little did she know that she had found her death cloaked beneath a sheet of flesh and embellished with those “cloudy grey eyes” that she couldn’t stop talking about at the family dinner table.
Her family ignored it, believing the girl had found a summer romance that would pass like the seasons. What they didn’t know was that she was now involved with a vampire, one that would steal her heart and one day make her into a shadow of himself. As time went on, Meris kept slipping off into the night to meet with this man she always spoke of. When her parents grew impatient with her disappearing and her lack of work around the house, they forbade her from seeing him. One night, Meris finally gathered her belongings and ran away into the night with the love of her life.
Trint, the vampire she fell for, was an empty vessel with nothing more to offer than a place in his “home”. It was when they reached his domain that the truth hit her naïve heart like an arrow into a young fowl. How gracefully she flew when he feigned his love for her, and how bitterly she fell when she found no ground to land on. There was never any love.
She was the essence of youth: with her skin lily white and soft, and her auburn hair that shone with all the glory of fall leaves, collected at the nape of her neck in an intricate braid she did all by herself. With one bite, this once free bird became caged and used as nothing more than a part of a ritual that lasted and lasted. The embers of summer lost their breath and disappeared and an emptiness ached beneath her breast while no heart sounded within. Her once rosy cheeks grew cold, her skin no longer grew goose-bumps and the nights were no longer as dark as they once had been.
Her new role was to be nothing more than an initiation practice observed by men who wished to be vampires. She became one of the faceless women that were held against their will in chambers below by the Dark Brotherhood that showed no compassion for their sisters.
One fateful night, she discovered that she was with child and went to one of her “sisters in strife” that she confided in, Lucretia. Like herself, Lucretia had undergone the same ordeal and bore a son 9 years ago that was taken from her. She was sympathetic to Meris’ plight. Fortunately for Meris, Lucretia was a midwife that knew how to help deliver dhampir into the world. Meris, fearing her own fate would extend to her child, begged Lucretia to help her keep her child a secret. But like many secrets within the Dark Brotherhood, they were sought out.
The Brotherhood was merciful, allowing Meris to bear the child and raise it for a short while. The one in charge of taking care of this problem was Dilandau. When the time came for her to bear her child, she knew it was going to be a girl. On the cold hearth of the chamber, Meris looked down at her baby as she lay cocooned within a protective maternal embrace. Meris named her Aurora because she saw her as a light within her darkness, her hope. Meris was once an ordinary girl with dreams and now Aurora was her dream. Meris once again slipped into the night to find her something. In nothing but her loose ivory gown, Lucretia at her side and her child in an old basket, she fled from the Brotherhood with all her might.
They made it to the iron gate where they were caught and sent back to their chambers. Meris watched from the corner of her chamber while her little girl was taken away. Dilandau slithered in behind her door and delivered a death befitting a feral animal. A muffled scream reverberated within the walls behind the red door that lead to her chamber. She was no longer in this world.
Aurora grew up oblivious to this pain. The only life she ever knew was the one she was given by the Brotherhood. She was trained by the finest and was proficient in the art of killing. On silent nights, when the moon was at its brightest, she looked out of her window at the iron gate and wonder what life was like for others outside of her world. She was drawn to that gate; many times her eyes lingered there. Years passed and her once childish form blossomed into a woman’s figure. Her raven locks framed her pale round face that looked like the full moon and her eyes revealed a polished jade like her mothers. She found herself longing many times to reach out to someone and find a friend, a sense of family, love, hope and even a home. Where her master’s lacked emotions, she contained many. She loved to laugh, to sing on occasion when no one listened, to tap her feet while she ate. She was everything her mother once was.
At the end of her training she retired to her quarters alone. She knew that the cold stone chamber would never harbor a home for her. At last came Leon, one that was reminiscent of her. One born from the sun and the moon, flesh from the living and from the immortal. He was Lucretias’ son, who was born nine years before Aurora. There was a deep connection from the beginning, a deep sense of trust and understanding. They became inseparable. Their moment of freedom was marked with the blood of Leon’s mother and sounded with explosions. Cygnus was attacking their city, offering a guiding hand in the darkness for Leon and Aurora, a chance to survive beyond a leash. Lucretia kept her promise and with her death sowed Meris’s dream so that it may finally grow. Dilendau, the vile master that loomed over Leon’s and Aurora whole life was finally dead at the hands of his own slaves.
Leon and Aurora escaped at the cost of Leon’s arm that was injured while fighting. They snuck away with the refugees that the Cygnus military was taking and left their life behind. Aurora was plunged into a new world. Her new life began with Leon’s new arm. His new arm became a part of him as much as it did her: a reminder of all that was at stake, and how great their sacrifices for a new life were. Aurora embarked upon another adventure with Leon. To add a new page to their lives, they signed on with a mercenary group, The Red Dogs, with a mission to stop privateers slave-trading. After the mission they decided to make a home in Cygnus and marry. As husband and wife they work as mercenaries, making sure to take on any mission where they can fight Cryx.
