"The pain was the least of it. I knew pain all my life..." his childhood was an endless road of suffering. If not for his sense of duty to his sister, he might not have survived it. But, for her, he refused to give up. And now... he continues on in spite of her.

"These were the days before the Accords," he murmurs, gaze drifting off to focus on some other corner of the room before his eyes close completely, the better to savor her kiss. "We were less...unified. There was no one to tell." His master was an Elder already. He was too strong, too influential.

"As far as anyone was concerned, I still belonged to him until he deemed me fit to care for myself. Considering my actions, he had all the grounds he needed to keep me under his control. All he would have to do was show these marks on my back and all of them would know instantly what they mean." Scars on a vampire, what could be more shameful? If any Elder were to see, he'd lose the respect of his peers overnight. Everything he's worked to achieve would crumble to dust.

"Most who might come here from my world will be blameless. Don't go cooking them on my account. But... if a woman with eyes like a dead frost and a smile spun out of razor wire ever introduces herself to you as Ophelia Delacroix, burn her on sight. Trust nothing she says."