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(just as a foreword, i didnt write this myself. i brought it from soulgeek.com, and i dont know whom to thank on there for it. i claim no credit for this, other than for bringing it here.)

For many years demons ran freely from the hills and mountains of Bermejo into the surrounding villages. The night was always filled with the screams of the damned and the acrid scent of spilt blood and torn flesh. Evil reigned until humankind finally rose to stop it. The Ex-Crusader Knight Father Emiliano Bautista led the villagers in a war against the demon hordes and fought them back to the mountains and to a stalemate. A bargain was struck.

Father Bautista allowed the demons to return to the mountains of Bermejo with the promise that they would not be hunted. The demon leader Eladio - a powerful Hell Spawn - agreed to forever leave the villages alone and keep those demons in check.

Father Bautista built the mission of San Bautista near the foothills as the first line of defense should Eladio go back on his word. Eladio meanwhile built Castle Bermejo and indeed kept his end of the bargain by enslaving those lesser demons with souls and massacring his fellow Hell Spawn who had none and could not be trusted.

Many years would pass. Father Bautista died of old age and the deal he had made faded into memory. And as it happens with time, the story changed until those who lived in the province around the now crumbling walls of San Bautista came to believe that anything that could be construed as evil was a sign that Eladio was unhappy, and if he was not appeased, he would once again release the demon hordes.

At first, the lesser demons and all things no longer human found safe-haven in the mountains, free from hunters and free from persecution. But not free, they soon learned, from the Hell Spawn Eladio who continued to rule them all from his castle keep. In time, he became known to all as Conde Eladio De Bermejo.

And while the villagers were afraid of the Conde, they were not so afraid to keep the now age-old-tradition of celebrating the anniversary of Father Bautista's war against the demons - especially this, the centennial year.

The three days of celebration would consist of feasting, speeches, dances, bad dramatizations of Father Bautista banishing the evil Eladio to the mountains, and of course a great deal of music - including a girls and a boys choir performing together for the very first time. And sing they did, as members of both choirs performed with all their hearts for the assembled village crowds. That is except for Rodrigo and Berruguete.

They were singing to each other.

Rodrigo Bautista had the voice of an angel. A handsome boy, approaching adulthood, Rodrigo was an orphan whose family name was never known and so he had been given the name of the mission church that raised him as an altar boy. Berruguete Del Sol was the beautiful daughter of a widowed horse merchant. A true innocent touched by music - it inspired her and gave her life.

And yet, at this moment, Rodrigo's was the only voice she heard out of the entire boys choir. As the girls choir waited for their next cue to join in, Berruguete was mesmerized by Rodrigo and had but a single thought: "He's beautiful, and he's glowing." When the girls verse came, it was now Berruguete's turn to have Rodrigo's attention...if not everyone's, for if Rodrigo had the voice of an angel, Berruguete had the voice of a Goddess.

Rodrigo and Berruguete had been friends since early childhood. He appreciated the way she did not look her nose down upon him as so many in the village did. For her father had raised Berruguete to be kind to orphans. Rodrigo also could not help but notice when Berruguete and her father where in church the way the other altar boy, Juan Maximo, practically tripped over himself every time he saw the beautiful girl. Juan Maximo was in love with her.

Every chance he had, Juan Maximo would go out of his way to be around Berruguete where he would pour his affections on the girl. They were never returned, but her ever-kind and polite nature gave the tall thin altar boy hope. He knew deep down in his heart that someday she would be his.

Neither Berruguete nor Rodrigo had ever given each other such serious thought until this day of celebration. How strange it was, with all the opportunities they've had growing up, that this was the very first time they had heard each other sing. Berruguete was correct; Rodrigo was indeed glowing, as did she for him. Juan Maximo on the other hand burned as he realized what was happening. The orphan having the attention of his Berruguete was a nightmare.

A nightmare he was snapped out of by the hand of the rather imposing Father Avilla who swatted him across the back of the head before giving Juan Maximo a stern order to pay attention to his part in the ceremony. Seething, Juan Maximo held the processional crucifix upright - an ornate heavy gold cross set atop a rod of silver. He apparently had let it sag. Juan Maximo stood heartsick as he continued to watch Rodrigo and his Berruguete. By the time the three-day celebration was over, Rodrigo and Berruguete had fallen in love, and Juan Maximo had watched it all happen.

At first, the three spent time together, and Juan Maximo continued to show his affections, but it soon became clear to him that Berruguete had eyes only for Rodrigo. From that day forward, whenever the boys choir sang, she was there in rapt attention. And when the girls choir sang, Rodrigo was there. Each note sang by one filled the soul of the other. And yet Juan Maximo always seemed to be around.

After one stirring performance in which Berruguete's solo moved an audience to tears and thunderous applause, she confessed to Rodrigo her deep desire to one day go to Madrid to sing, leaving their village forever. Rodrigo made a solemn promise to do all he could to make her dream a reality. Listening nearby to this exchange Juan Maximo grinned as an idea formed.

Wishing to spend time alone - and away from Juan Maximo - Rodrigo and Berruguete met at dusk near the far end of the church cemetery. It was there, as the sky darkened with clouds, that Berruguete and Rodrigo kissed for the very first time.

Elsewhere, Juan Maximo brimmed with excitement. He had just talked his father into allowing him to apprentice under his Uncle, one of the wealthiest men in Madrid. That would surely impress Berruguete, for if she wanted to sing in Madrid then he, Juan Maximo, and not a penniless orphan, would make it happen.

But where were they? As he searched and searched, the clouds in his mind soon equaled those above, rumbling with thunder as they brought on the dark of night that much sooner.

Feeling the coming storm, Berruguete and Rodrigo sought the shelter of the nearby church. Not wishing to be seen by Father Avilla, the two snuck into the attic. Rodrigo brushed aside Berruguete's hair, looked into her eyes and he knew - they both new - that they were about to give their innocence to one another.

And they did.

Outside, thunder cracked as Juan Maximo continued to frantically search. That's when remembered the church. Though he could see nothing in the gloom, his eyes found the attic windows and his heart sank. Furious, Juan Maximo charged into the church. Grabbing the first thing he could find, he wrenched the processional Crucifix from its stand, shouldered it by the rod of silver as a weapon and down the center aisle he went heading for the attic stairs...and that was when lightning struck.

The bolt lanced the side of the old church, instantly setting it ablaze. Blinded by the flash, Juan Maximo stumbled and fell among the pews.

Barely half-dressed, Rodrigo and Berruguete narrowly escaped the flames but not the church itself before strong hands grabbed them from behind. It was Father Avilla who looked in stunned horror, first at his burning church and then at the disheveled pair. Furious he flung Rodrigo down the church steps while holding fast to Berruguete. The enraged priest screamed, "What evil have your sins wrought upon us??!!"

Crowds of frightened villagers soon arrived to try and put out the blaze but it was too late. Father Avilla declared that the only way to keep this evil from spreading was to send the young lovers to Bermejo. Hearing that, Rodrigo fought off those who held them, and for a moment it seemed they would escape - especially in the chaos as the church began to collapse in on itself.

It was not to be.

Hand in hand, Berruguete and Rodrigo raced out of the mission, rounded a corner, and ran straight into Berruguete's Father. His face a mask of pain and humiliation he lashed out, slapping his daughter so hard that she slammed into the mission wall and collapsed, unconscious. Horrified at what he had just done, he turned to Rodrigo with tears in his eyes and said, "Look at what you made me do."

Rodrigo fell to his knees to cradle Berruguete. Her Father reached to yank Rodrigo away when a flash of gold smashed the elder man across the skull, sending him to the ground. Stunned, Rodrigo looked up to see Juan Maximo holding the processional crucifix in his hands by the rod of silver.

"Help us," pleaded Rodrigo. Juan Maximo answered by swinging the crucifix again.

When Father Avilla arrived he found only the unconscious forms of Rodrigo and Berruguete's Father. Juan Maximo and Berruguete were nowhere to be seen.

************

Berruguete awoke in a moving carriage. Juan Maximo told Berruguete a story of Rodrigo being sentenced to certain death in Bermejo, and of how as a last wish, Rodrigo made Juan Maximo promise to take Berruguete to Madrid so she could sing. Juan put an arm around Berruguete and said in a voice full of sympathy, "And I will keep that promise." Berruguete fell into Juan Maximo's arms and wept for the rest of the journey to Madrid.

************

Berruguete's Father died from the blow Juan Maximo delivered, and Rodrigo was indeed sent in chains to the gates of castle Bermejo. The poor boy was to be a slave offering to Eladio if he would stop the assault of evil on their village. Though the demon master had no idea what evil the humans were referring to, he readily agreed.

Still in chains, Rodrigo was dragged inside the gates and left on his knees before the steps of the great castle keep of Bermejo. Atop those steps stood Eladio flanked by a dozen misshapen creatures, all in the attire of slaves and servants. To the terrified young man Eladio appeared to be nothing more than a distinguished nobleman some thirty years his senior. But as Eladio descended the stairs he began to change with each step. Hands grew into claws, ears elongated, teeth narrowed to sharp points and pupils filled with blood. Step by step, great horns sprouted and spiraled while legs bent and reshaped to take on the countenance of a ram. He finally reached the horrified boy and said:

"I am Conde Eladio De Bermejo." "Welcome to my home." "Now..."

"...RISE..." he said in a voice that suddenly rumbled and thundered in Rodrigo's head - the true Hell Spawn Voice. Instantly Rodrigo was wrenched upward by an unseen force like a puppet yanked on strings to hang helpless and suspended inches above the ground.

"...slave."

************

Many years passed. Juan Maximo took over his Uncle's business and became powerful with his wealth. So wealthy that he not only kept his false promise, but also built Berruguete an opera house. And this was no mere indulgence as Berruguete had blossomed into a woman whose dark beauty and elegance was matched only by her great voice. She was also no longer Berruguete. In her mind Berruguete Del Sol had died with Rodrigo, she was now known only as La Bella Noche for she sang mostly at night. Her one exception was the one Sunday a month she would sing for the church orphans.

Though she remained with Maximo (who preferring his surname), she professed no love for him, nor for any man. The word love had lost all meaning to her long ago. That too had died with Rodrigo. Maximo was content in this as long as she remained his, for Maximo had become a man accustomed to property, and La Bella Noche was his greatest possession.

And yet, as fate would have it, it was her singing of the great love arias that brought patrons from all over Spain to hear the wondrous La Bella Noche. So many would choose to wed after being moved by the depth and passion with which she sang of love that it became customary in Madrid not to get married until after taking in a performance.

And when she would meet such a couple, La Bella Noche would smile and wish them well, while unable to understand how these young lovers could be so moved by something in her singing that she neither felt nor believed in. Little did those couples know it was not great passion that gave power to her voice and thus the arias - it was great pain channeled into song. Pain over her long lost Rodrigo.

Death, however, did not find Rodrigo. The handsome boy had now grown to full manhood in a body tempered and hardened by the rigors of heavy manual labor and years of slavery. And while the scars of abuse and blame crisscrossed his flesh, the spark of humanity remained in eyes that burned with hatred for his demon master.

Conde Eladio had thoroughly enjoyed these years of tormenting a human with the name of Bautista, and yet the Master seemed to reserve his greatest wrath for his demon servants. True they were all earth-born lower demons, while Eladio was a soulless Hell Spawn, they were, nonetheless, his own kind. Though more powerful than any mere human, the house demons had been so abused by their master as to cower and tremble when summoned. As such, the great surprise of Rodrigo's enslavement was the compassion he had come to feel for his inhuman fellow slaves. This compassion would often elicit threats of "The Mirror" from an angry Eladio.

This threat became a reality when Rodrigo rushed to give comfort to a Demoness who had just lost an eye. Eladio used the Hell Spawn Voice to make two of his servants stab one another for his amusement. Rodrigo's actions however did not amuse the Conde who became enraged and said in The Voice: "Wall!" An unseen force slammed into Rodrigo, sent him flying across the great hall and pinned him to the stone wall nearest a set of red velvet drapes.

Eladio changed to his demon form as he threw open the drapes to reveal a full-length mirror. In vain, Rodrigo strained and fought against the power of The Voice while Eladio simply plucked Rodrigo off the wall like a bug and hissed, "Again you anger me, Bautista."

Eladio then pinned Rodrigo by the throat against the mirror. Rodrigo screamed as searing pain shot through his body from where his flesh met the glass.

Then he was gone.

Rodrigo's entire body was thrust through the mirror as though it were water. Conde Eladio stood there with one arm shoulder deep in the portal mirror and said, "Perhaps this time, Bautista, I let you go!" He then laughed.

Rodrigo was quite literally in Hell and it was only the demon hand clutching his throat that kept him from tumbling completely into the abyss. His screams were drowned out by the sound of Eladio's sardonic laughter echoing through the mirror.

He slapped young Berruguete who slammed into the mission wall and fell.

He cradled Berruguete's limp body, her accusing eyes wide in death.

He looked up to see himself towering above with tears streaming and said in pain and revulsion, "Look at what you made me do."

He turned to see the processional crucifix in his hands.

He swung the gold cross and felt it smash his skull splattering his dead Berruguete with blood.

It all happened over and over and over again...for an eternity.

All the while Conde Eladio De Bermejo laughed.

Rodrigo was pulled from the mirror and flung across the great hall where he fell in a crumpled heap on the cold stone floor. The horrified house demons dared not come to his aid and stood there helpless as Rodrigo lay convulsing, with tears pouring from unseeing eyes wide in madness. They all knew what would happen next. Rodrigo would be left outside on barren ground for days, chained to a tree stump until his sanity returned. Each time this happened, the number of days it would take grew longer.

What no one ever knew - since the Conde forbid anyone go near his human slave - was that by the end of the first day Rodrigo, while still in the grip of catatonic madness, would quietly begin to sing the choir song he and Berruguete first sang to each other so many years ago. This time was no different, and many days would pass.

************

"You've been singing."

Rodrigo blinked as the world slowly swam into focus. Silhouetted in the moonlight was a young girl sitting on the keep wall not far from where Rodrigo lay in the dust. She had the appearance of someone who lived in the woods outside the castle. "I said, you've been singing," said the girl who seemed no older than the Berruguete of his memory. "I would have fed on you days ago," she continued, "but the Conde might get upset." "Also, I like the way you sing...it's very sad."

His sanity returned, he asked who she was, and what she meant about feeding. The girl answered his questions by launching herself into the air, where enormous leather-like wings sprouted from her back. What landed before Rodrigo was no longer a young girl but a creature with the giant wings of a bat, razor sharp talons, glowing red eyes, pointed ears and fangs that glistened in the moonlight. Rodrigo recognized her instantly as one of the earth-born lower demons...

...a Vampire.

"Adela," said the creature with a grin.

There were no vampires in the keep, but Rodrigo knew of them nonetheless. He also knew of their strength and considered asking Adela to break his chains but it would be pointless. Many times he had tried to escape, and on each occasion, when he reached the wall, he would hear The Voice laughing in his head, instantly followed by crippling pain. And then, "The Mirror."

But when Adela mentioned how much her brethren outside the keep hated the Hell Spawn, Rodrigo formed an idea. Seeing no other choice he made a deal with the vampire. She could feed on him as long as she turned him into one of her own. In return, he would destroy Eladio. Adela would have laughed at the idea, but when she thought of Rodrigo's sad song, she agreed. Thus Rodrigo drank from the vampire, and she drank from him.

And so, Rodrigo Bautista died.

The vampire left the body, hid in the shadows and watched. A few hours later, Rodrigo began to stir.

The last thing Conde Eladio expected to see was Rodrigo, free of his chains, stride back into his home. Flying into a rage the Demon Master bellowed The Voice: "WALL!!!" Rodrigo was thrown off his feet and slammed into the wall, arms outstretched. With a hand gesture, the velvet curtains of The Mirror at the opposite end of the great hall tore away. The Conde shape-shifted and vowed to kill whoever set Rodrigo free as he crossed the hall to Rodrigo. "You Bautistas never learn", he said as Eladio plucked Rodrigo from the wall by the throat and...

...giant leather wings exploded from Rodrigo's back, in that same instant his eyes turned glowing crimson, ears pointed and fangs sprouted. His hands came down in blurred unison, and ten talons sunk palm-deep into the neck and throat of the shocked Demon Master shredding his vocal cords. The Conde kicked and clawed as Rodrigo's wings pounded the air sending them both flying across the hall. As Eladio's claws tore into his chest, Rodrigo could feel the gurgled screams of the Conde resonate through the bloody taloned fingers he kept buried in the thing's throat.

The two slammed against The Mirror, which cracked but did not shatter. The gurgling Eladio continued to tear into Rodrigo who held fast, pressing Eladio against the glass. As both writhed in searing agony, Rodrigo said:

"I am no longer a Bautista...I...am...Conde Rodrigo De Bermejo!!!"

And he shoved Eladio through to the other side and let go. Eladio nearly took Rodrigo with him, but Rodrigo wrenched himself away. Rodrigo staggered back and fell against an alcove.

A horrible gurgling scream came from the mirror, or more precisely it came from the screaming rams head that was trying to push its way back through. The Hell Spawn was going to claw its way back out of Hell.

That's when Rodrigo saw the battle axe hanging in the alcove.

Rodrigo grabbed the weapon off the wall and said: "Be quiet!" as he let it fly. The axe spun through the air hitting both the gurgling head and the crack in the mirror. The axe sunk into the shrieking head as both disappeared through the mirror an instant before it shattered. The portal to Hell was no more.

As Rodrigo stumbled to keep his feet the servants emerged from the shadows. The vampire Adela also entered followed by three more of her kind. They all stood in silence. Rodrigo turned to the servants and said, "You are free to go - I will keep no slaves."

No one moved.

"Did you not hear me?!" spat Rodrigo angrily.

Led by the Demoness who had lost an eye, they all - including the vampires - bowed to one knee, arms out and began to chant:

"Rodrigo...Rodrigo...RODRIGO...RODRIGO...!!!"

************

A year passed. The money continued to pour in from the performances of La Bella Noche, making Maximo far wealthier then the business he inherited from his Uncle.

Maximo decided to dedicate himself to the opera house full time, and so placed greater and greater demands on La Bella Noche - more appearances, more society events, and new daytime performances.

But when the greedy Maximo declared that there would be no more free performances to penniless orphans she finally put her foot down. Maximo accused her of being ungrateful since it was he who built her an opera house. When she did not seem to care, Maximo flew into a rage and slapped her. He did not stop there. He grabbed the frightened woman by the hair and dragged her into the basement, throwing her to the dusty floor. Maximo then grabbed a sheet of canvas from a tall draped object and pulled it away to reveal, mounted on a pedestal, the processional crucifix still atop the rod of silver.

"Do you not remember the sin you committed in the house of God?!" raged Maximo. "Do you not remember the evil you brought upon our village?!" "You deserved to rot in Bermejo, but I saved you, and why??!!" "Because I made a promise to Rodrigo!!!"

Maximo grabbed Berruguete by the scruff of the neck and wrenched her head upward to face the cross that loomed above her.

"Do not make me break that promise," Maximo hissed through clenched teeth. "You will sing when I tell you to sing and where I tell you to sing, or I will have you sent to Bermejo for the justice you have only eluded by my mercy - Rodrigo be damned!"

When next she returned to the stage, sorrow brought weariness, and weariness brought regret, and regret brought pain, and she poured it all into her voice as she never had before. That night La Bella Noche gave her finest performance. Patrons wept at the sheer beauty of it, and at the end rose to their feet in thunderous applause. In the past she would welcome the applause that washed over and invigorated her. Now alone on the stage, La Bella Noche heard and felt nothing.

Maximo however, was thrilled as he watched the standing ovation from his private box, tingling with anticipation over the receipts - and soon, the daytime performances would begin!

That was when he noticed the dark figure in the opposite box who was neither standing nor applauding. Fear settled into the pit of his stomach and he did not know why. Even before La Bella Noche disappeared behind the final curtain, Maximo found himself running as though his life depended upon it. He burst through the curtains and found the other box now empty. The dark figure was nowhere to be seen. As he stood there panting, he tried to calm himself but the cold fear remained in his gut, and he still could not understand why, which made it all the worse. Something was horribly wrong.

Surrounded by candles, La Bella Noche now sat in her dressing room staring into her mirror.

She wondered if her beautiful Rodrigo would still have asked such a promise of Maximo had he known what a cruel, horrible and greedy man he would become.

And then she heard it.

A whispered song that was sad and mournful. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once like the very sound of faded memory. And she found herself following it.

Like a sleepwalker, La Bella Noche stepped out onto the opera house roof and into the light of the full moon. She closed her eyes as she listened to the beautiful sadness. Her body swayed and teetered, but she did not fall, and when the song suddenly stopped she gasped and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Berruguete."

Her eyes fluttered open and she turned to see the dark figure standing in the shadows of the opera house facade. She felt lightheaded and out of balance.

"Is this a dream?" she asked trying to shake off the fog in her mind.

"I had not planned to reveal myself, but you sang this night with such pain."

"Rodrigo!" she gasped and stepped toward him, but he raised a hand and she froze.

"I did not want you to see me this way, for I am now of Bermejo."

She shuddered at those words for only a moment, and then Berruguete took Rodrigo by his still outstretched arm and gently pulled him from the shadows. To her surprise what she saw was neither monster nor slave, but a man who had grown into the aristocratic power and bearing of the Conde of Bermejo.

She touched the scars on his face with gentle fingers as though looking for the boy she once knew. Tears welled before she smiled and said:

"You still glow."

And they kissed with passion reawakened. In that moment La Bella Noche felt every word and every note of every aria she ever sang and so when the kiss ended she whispered, "For once I am glad Maximo kept your promise."

Rodrigo looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "What promise?" he asked.

"God in Heaven!"

They turned to discover Maximo only a few feet away wearing a look of complete shock. In his hand he held a pistol. Rodrigo stepped before Berruguete, with eyes narrowing in anger. "What 'promise' does she speak of, my old friend?" he asked, seething with anger.

Maximo raised the pistol and answered: "Only your dying wish."

Berruguete lunged forward to stop Maximo just as he squeezed the trigger. The lead shot meant for Rodrigo instead smashed into her. Berruguete stumbled back and fell from the roof's edge.

An inhuman roar of pain erupted from Rodrigo as he launched himself after her. He caught Berruguete as she tumbled through the air, his wings scraping the cobblestones as he swooped away with her in his arms. Maximo stood there aghast with horror as the vampire carried his La Bella Noche away. In the full moonlight he saw them fall out of the sky into a crest of nearby hills.

Rodrigo set Berruguete gently in the grass. There was no doubt that she was mortally wounded and her time was short.

"I had been sent to Hell so many times," he said. "And it was your voice that always brought me back." Rodrigo brushed her hair aside exactly as he did a lifetime ago, the night they lost their innocence to one another.

"I cannot bear to lose you again," she said barely above a whisper and touched his face. He realized that he was still in his demon form. There was no fear in her eyes. "Please," said Berruguete.

"But...I am a monster."

She gently shook her head, smiled and said: "I do not see the glow of a monster."

Rodrigo grabbed his collar, and tore open both shirt and waistcoat, exposing his chest. With a talon he then raked his flesh, drawing blood. Ever so gently Rodrigo cradled the dying Berruguete in his arms, and lifted her until he felt her lips on his skin and she drank.

Rodrigo looked up into the moonlight, bared his fangs, and brought his head down. A spasm shot through Berruguete as Rodrigo's fangs pierced her neck and he drank deep.

************

Maximo burst into his basement and grabbed the processional crucifix from its pedestal. Within minutes he was on his horse, galloping at full speed carrying the cross and rod of silver like a lance. The hills finally came into view. He wasn't too late. He could see two figures in the distance. Rodrigo was supposed to die, not La Bella Noche, and the demon would pay for that.

************

Returned to human form, Rodrigo had wiped away the blood and laid Berruguete on the grass in the manner of peaceful slumber. He stroked her hair as he quietly sang to her, and waited. Unfortunately, he became so lost in the beauty of her still face that he failed to hear the footsteps until too late.

Rodrigo whipped around, fangs barred, when the silver rod plunged through his chest and sank into the ground behind him. The heart missed, Rodrigo writhed in agony grabbing at the rod of silver, unable to pull it free as Maximo forced all his weight upon it, driving the rod deeper into the ground.

"You want to be with your Berruguete?!" growled Maximo. He then wrenched the heavy gold crucifix from the end of the rod, raised it high preparing to bring it down upon Rodrigo's head, and raged: "Go to her then!!" Maximo swung the cross like an axe...

...and was stopped by a hand that caught Maximo's clenched fist holding the cross.

Maximo spun and the heavy crucifix was thrust back at him smashing the man in the face. Maximo let go of the cross, stumbled back and fell. Blinded by the pain Maximo clutched at his face as blood poured from his shattered nose. Finally able to see, he looked through bloody fingers...

...and screamed.

La Bella Noche stood before him, eyes glowing, fangs bared. She seemed to feel no pain from the gold crucifix she held in a hand that sizzled and smoked.

Maximo watched in horror as Rodrigo grabbed the rod of silver and pulled it free. He rose to his feet, his injuries already healing themselves. Rodrigo took the crucifix from La Bella Noche. His flesh burned as he set the cross back atop the silver rod. The full moon cast the shadow of the crucifix across Maximo's ruined face.

"So much you have stolen," said Rodrigo.

Maximo yelped in terror as in a blur of motion La Bella Noche was suddenly inches from the horrified man's face. She whispered: "Here now is my promise -you will hear me sing once more."

With that, Rodrigo took La Bella Noche into his arms and with the crucifix, the two vaulted into the night sky.

************

In the Mission of San Bautista, it was decided years ago that a new church would be built away from the old one. The burned ruins of the old church remained untouched as a reminder to guard against evil. Within the new church, Father Avilla lies dying in his bed, no longer imposing but now old and withered to bones. The young Priest sitting vigil in a chair by his bedside had fallen asleep having delivered the last rites only hours before.

Then came the sound of an arrow falling from the sky.

Father Avilla looked out his window, and tired eyes went wide. In the center of the burned ruins stood upright the old processional crucifix, the rod of silver stabbed into the ground. Surely, this cross that had been lost to the flames so many years ago, has been returned from the ashes by the very hand of God as a sign to Father Avilla.

"It begins again," said the old priest, and then death took him.

************

As first light began to break in the east, the doors to Castle Bermejo swung wide. Conde Rodrigo and La Bella Noche entered the great hall. Awaiting them was the entire household, which now included Adela who no longer appeared as a vampire of the wilderness. Now Adela wore the trappings of the Keep's chief guard. She was flanked by a score of fellow vampires, warriors all.

Adela carefully approached and asked if this was whom Rodrigo had always sung to. Berruguete turned to Rodrigo who nodded in answer. With that, Adela and the entire household then bowed to La Bella Noche.

************

The very next day, the crimes, lies and greed of Maximo continued to catch up with him. Still wrapped in bandages, Maximo emerged from the carriage that raced him to his opera house in the dead of night. He stood there, helpless, surrounded by thousands, as all of Madrid seemed to stare in shock as the theater of La Bella Noche was being engulfed in flames.

And yet it was not the burning opera house that had everyone's attention, it was La Bella Noche herself who stood atop the burning building.

And she was singing.

Never was she more powerful or more passionate. Her aria drowned out the roaring flames in a way that no human voice ever could. It was beautiful. It was mesmerizing. And for Maximo it was agony.

The aria finally ended just as the flames reached the roof. Gasps of horror rose, and when it appeared that La Belle Noche would be consumed in the flames...she ascended. Many who were there that night believed the ascension was an illusion, a trick of the flames in the moonlight, before the singer died in a holocaust so great that only ashes were left. But there are those who swear that La Bella Noche must have died when the fire first broke out and that what they had all witnessed was the final performance of a departing angel.

Though there was no body, all of Madrid turned out for the funeral of La Bella Noche. Word of this eventually reached the private chambers of Castle Bermejo, amusing the immortal lovers. Berruguete told Rodrigo that La Bella Noche should return to Madrid on the one-year anniversary of the opera house fire - and every year after that - just to sing from the rooftops. Holding her close, Rodrigo feigned worry and said that despite plans to spend eternity together, he had hoped to hear her sing more than once a year. Smiling, Berruguete at last wondered aloud if Maximo wept at the funeral.

He did not.

Maximo did not attend the funeral for he was in Rome with chests full of gold. Enough gold to get the attention of those who could call Jesuit Knights to arms and send them to the mountains of Bermejo.

************

The Ex-Crusader Knight Father Emiliano Bautista led the villagers in a war against the demon hordes. The mission of San Bautista was built as the human line of defense, while the demons built Castle Bermejo.

One hundred and eleven years later, Juan Maximo would lead a legion of Jesuit warriors to the Mission of San Bautista. There they gathered around the processional crucifix still stuck in the ground of the old burned down church.

At sunrise they would lay siege to the Castle Keep of Bermejo.

What happens next?

We will leave that up to you Fan-Fic writers.