England – 1914

“Lucifer, come on, we have to go!” Sam exclaimed as he ran up behind me, inhaling sharply as he looked around at the bodies littered around the hilltop, letting out a sigh as he came to stand behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Lucifer, we need to go, now.”

“I need to do nothing, Alastair,” I growled in response, slapping his hand away as I tossed my finished meal on the ground, my lip twitching in disgust as the woman’s body tumbled down the hill to join the mass grave at the foot of the hill I stood atop.

“There is a mob of humans quickly approaching, Lucifer. We cannot be here when they arrive.” Sam responded as he took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest, his light blue eyes widened slightly in what looked suspiciously like disgust.

“What is that look in your eyes, Alastair? Is that disgust? Are you disgusted with me?” I asked him with a laugh that I couldn’t hold back, as it was all too funny to me to see that look in his eyes, after knowing this man for this long, disgust is the one thing he had no right to have when looking at me.

“Four dozen humans, Lucifer. You’ve slaughtered four dozen humans, and for what? Now we must leave this town and set down roots somewhere new!” Sam responded with a sigh, running his tongue along his front teeth as he considered for a long few moments what he wanted to say. “I liked it here, Lucifer, and now we must leave, once again, because you got pissed off and slaughtered the entire town.”

“Perhaps if they enjoyed living, they wouldn’t have pissed me off,” I said with a disinterested shrug as I walked alongside Sam, sitting in the back of the carriage as the driver tossed me a towel to wipe the blood off of my face. “That’s all these disgusting blood-bags are good for, is pissing me off, then acting surprised when I kill them. It’s their own fault, really.”

“Is that so? What did they do to piss you off? What could they possibly have done that warranted you slaughtering nearly fifty people?” Sam said in a voice just below a shout, turning sideways in his seat so he could glare at me, the malice in his words not going undetected, but ultimately having no major influence, as I honestly didn’t care.

“The worthless harlots couldn’t accept no as an answer,” I said, biting my tongue to stop myself from laughing as Sam’s face turned from one of anger to one of wild bewilderment and fury.

“You-You're telling me that you killed all of those people because the women wouldn’t stop throwing themselves at you? My god, Lucifer, that is by far the worst excuse you’ve ever given me! I miss the days when you had the decency to at least put thought into your outrageous lies.”

“Perhaps, but it doesn’t much matter now, does it?” I said, looking out of the carriage as the horses galloped forward, listening to the sounds of their hooves as they propelled us forward, letting my thoughts run rampant for a long few moments before turning my attention back to Sam, watching as he fumed and grumbled his musings just low enough for me not to be able to recognize what he was saying. “Are you truly this upset, Alastair? We’ve only been here for a few months.”

“Yes, Lucifer! I’m pissed the hell off, and if you truly don’t care how, I feel about it, maybe it’s time we go our separate ways.” Sam said with a growl, gasping out in pain as he jumped out of the carriage before it could come to a full stop, stomping his way up the path to the mansion we shared, muttering unintelligibly as he began throwing his belongings in a suitcase.

“Alastair, speak to me. Why are you this upset?” I asked him, stepping to the side as he shoved past me to grab his jackets out of the hallway closet, following him back into his bedroom as he continued to toss his clothes over his shoulder towards the bed. ‘I’ve never seen him so upset, or rather, I’ve never seen him so upset with me. We’ve been inseparable for decades, but it seems as though I’ve truly pushed him to his limits.’ I thought as I watched him curiously.

“Do you care, Lucifer? Do you genuinely care, or is this a ruse of yours?”

“I genuinely care, Alastair. I swear on all I hold dear in life.” I said with a nod as I stepped into his room and ripped the clothes out of his hands, forcing him to stand and face me, so that I could look into his eyes. “Why are you so upset?”

“They asked you to be the vampire king, Lucifer, and without even bothering to consult me about it, you turned them down. For over eighty years, we made our decisions together, but this one I had to hear about from Geoffrey. That man of all people was the one to tell me that you were offered the position of the vampire king, and you turned it down! How-” Sam responded, then snarled as he shoved me away from him, breathing heavily as he turned his back to me, shaking his head in disbelief. “What I want, does it mean nothing to you? Do you care for anyone other than yourself?”

“I say this without an ounce of malice or treachery in my being, I care for you, Alastair, and you are the only one whose opinions I value. I should have told you about the offer, and I should have given you a say in it. I apologize from the depths of my being. I honestly believed that you would have laughed at the offer just as I did.” I said, trying to blink away my surprise at his words, as I couldn’t have expected this, nor did I.

“Had you come to me and told me of it, I would have laughed at it. You, the vampire king? Outrages and blasphemous! But when I heard that you were offered the title and turned it down without a second of hesitation? I couldn’t help but be offended, Lucifer. At some point in time, we must stop being the murderous fiends we are known as and try to become a part of society. I know how much you love to kill and maul, Lucifer, and you know how much I love to do the same, but the fact remains, if we continue to do as we have done, the vampires will sentence us to certain death.”

“They will try, Alastair, but you and I have survived much worse than a few pissed-off vampires. There is nothing-” I started to laugh out in response but cut myself off as Sam whipped around to face me, his eyes blood-red and overflowing with anger as he snarled.

“It will not be a few pissed-off vampires, Lucifer, they will be trained killers sent from the vampire king himself. Do you not realize the power that position will give you? The power it will give us?” Sam gasped out in response, then let out a long and drawn-out sigh as he turned his attention back to packing. “This is the fifth time we’ve had to flee our home in forty years, Lucifer. The people you just killed, brings your total to over three hundred, in only forty years. You must at least try to get a hold of yourself, otherwise, the next time a vampire elder visits you, it will not be to offer you the highest position in our world.”

“The fifth time?” I gasped out in response, shaking my head in disbelief, as I hadn’t realized until now that he was right. “Where are we going this time?” I asked him as I followed him into my bedroom where he began packing my things.

“America. It’s the only place left for us to go, where you have not slaughtered entire settlements in the last few decades. Lucifer, promise me that you will not do this again. No, do not give me your bullshit! I need a promise.”

“I- Fine, very well, then. I swear to you, brother, I will not do this again.” I said with a nod, sitting in the chair in the corner of my room, watching Sam as he continued to run back and forth, packing our things as quickly as he could. ‘It looks as though we will be going to America, then? I cannot believe he is so upset that I turned down the position of the vampire king. Why in the hell would I ever want to be their king? They will only stop me from killing, and that is the one thing I enjoy doing. I have never known Alastair to be so upset with me, even when I killed his little human toy, he wasn’t this pissed off.’

“Will you be helping me pack, or will you continue to sit there and watch me?” Sam growled as he came back into my room, carrying an empty suitcase which he promptly began tossing my clothes into, without waiting for my response.

“You do not look as if you need my assistance, Alastair. I do not know why you are bothering to pack my belongings, in any case. We both know I never wear the same clothes twice.”

“Fine, will you at least retrieve our gold from the cellar, then?”

“If I must. Alastair, I will accept their offer to be the king, and we can set up once we arrive in America. I will become the vampire king for you, brother, but you must swear you will never threaten to leave my side again.”