Of the great many things of questionable merit Cain has done throughout his eighteen years, becoming a vampire was perhaps the first thing he would face consequences for. Truly, as the rich, white, and infallible son of a businessman, Cain’s life was always cushioned with the soft pillow of wealth. Conundrums which opulence could not assuage simply didn’t exist in the world he lived in; it was only natural that Cain live a carefree life as long as he was in it, and expected that it should change were he dragged away.
His parents, Abel and Maria, were both hunters. They were fiercely protective of their Cain and his sister Ava, and they instilled rules upon them that seemed to make no sense. Ridiculous curfews, total ban on being left alone, check ins every hour when at their friends. These rules were insane, anybody could tell you that… until one understood Ember Grove’s true nature.
It would be wrong to say Cain was forcefully uprooted and placed into the hands of the supernatural, as his future had become intimately entangled with such at a very young age. Dad was a businessman -- a businessman who dealt in supernatural ware. In due time Cain would have assumed his progenitor’s mantle, and the true nature of the world was made known to him at ten years old.
Funnily, his Mother, Maria, was the only one who genuinely “hunted”. Maria was someone known as an out-group hunter, and participated in epic clashes with witches, vampires, and wolves. His Father was an in-group hunter who dealt in arms, munitions, and gear for out-group hunters. Even among the supernatural, Abel’s salesmanship was unique. It would be no distortion of the truth to say that he was one of the richest men in Ember Grove, where the vast majority of his wares were being sold. He was a contractor who managed a portion of the supplyside for Operation Humanity’s armory, but also worked alongside any organizations or individuals who needed to purchase items from the mundane world and bring them into the supernatural without arousing suspicion.
For Cain, his father’s wealth meant that almost any mistake could be washed away. He learned this early, and grew careless fast. His inhibitions became all but nonexistent, but there was only one rule that he never broke: never involve himself with the supernatural in Ember Grove until he joined his father’s business. While his parents were strict in some regard, they only cared that their children follow their stipulations to the same degree as most normal parents. When it came to the other side, they were unrelenting. Even mentioning the V or W words at the dinner table was enough to punish Cain -- something he’d otherwise never face.
There was little meaning to putting effort in school when Cain would simply inherit that put in by his dad. He played football for his school team, and was always quite popular -- being tall, confident, and athletic will do that. As he graduated and went to high school, frat-boyish mannerisms awoken and sired hedonism alongside egotistical behavior. The only things he truly cared about were beer, girls, and more beer. Despite this, Cain was accepted into a top business school on Abel’s merit his senior year, even though he graduated high school with a GPA just above failing.
Shortly after graduation, things took a turn for the worse and Cain had to drop out of college. His mother was grievously injured during a hunt. To receive care, both Maria and Abel were required to drop everything and travel to Boston to rendezvous with an older ally. Cain had no other choice but to stay home and look after Ava and more importantly the family business. His school life was over, and Cain was suddenly forced to make up for how much maturing it lacked.
Cain was already aware of the true purpose of his father’s business, and was only really required to act where his father would have needed to be physically present. Even as the substitute head of a multi-million dollar operation, Cain needed not think for himself. Attending dinners where he schmoozed other businessmen into favorable agreements, signing an unending quantity of papers, and going to meetings where quotas and future duties were discussed was the extent of his job, father would handle the rest remotely.
All the while, Operation Humanity was keeping close watch of this sophomoric executive. His father had signed contracts with an organization that would not take kindly to them being broken; and until Cain could prove himself, he was under mass scrutiny by his clients. He did not disappoint in spite of this, and Cain may have one day become a powerful ally to hunters around the world.
Unfortunately, one late night while tending to errands, Cain was murdered in an alleyway.
Ironically, it was while visiting a tailor. A unique individual with raven hair was present, and happened to leave at the same time as Cain. Although he didn’t particularly wish to get involved, Cain did spare a passing glance as the two of them entered an alleyway. In doing so, Cain may have noticed how fair his skin was, how his teeth were just a little too sharp, or how his eyes settled hungrily upon Cain. Or perhaps Cain didn’t. By the time such thoughts would have occurred, Cain could no longer think.
Cain didn’t feel anything as he died. Rather, he saw. He saw something purple and red get tossed aside like ball of paper. It was only after his legs gave out that Cain saw the fist shaped hole in his chest. Coincidentally, he also saw the hand of the man behind him filling that hole.
I just got this suit fixed. Trailing this final thought, he shut his eyes tight and the human called Cain was no more.
The creature who Cain mistook for a man, Marceau, feasted upon his corpse. He pierced the still warm skin of his neck with his fangs and greedily gulped down his crimson blood. The night’s darkness seemed to wind itself around the two of them like an audience in a theatre, being the sole witness to this vile act and shrouding this crime against nature.
When Marceau was done, he pulled itself away from the husk that once called itself Cain. Then, for the first time, this monster regarded the corpse in front of him as anything more than a meal. He deliberated over Cain, as if the vampire had just realized he was looking at an old friend.
A sense of urgency filled the firstborn’s icy gaze, and without warning, he bit into his own wrist tearing open ulnar artery. Vampiric blood rushed out in exodus, the wound already suturing itself due to his healing factor. In the absence where Cain’s heart once resided, Marceau let pour his cold ichor. And finally, far too late for Cain, another unique individual caught glimpse of this scene.
Despite being in the midst of this delicate ritual, Marceau had already moved out of the way as a gunshot shattered the silence; the bullet clattered harmlessly further down the alleyway. Though he might’ve have stayed to welcome his progeny to their new life, the presence of the hunter Sean extinguished that possibility. With superhuman speed the first vampire left.
Coming closer to the scene of the crime, the gunslinger briefly regarded Cain’s corpse. Sean needed no further confirmation that there wasn’t anything he could do to save Cain -- his injuries were utterly incompatible with life. Sean cursed himself for failing to protect one who couldn’t protect themselves, and spent the rest of the night searching for any clue that could lead him to this perpetrator in vain.
He returned to the alleyway as dusk turned to dawn, meaning to clean up the mess Marceau had left. When he arrived, there was nothing where Cain had once spent his final moments. The absence of what should have been a young adults mangled leftovers perplexed Sean for only a moment. But like the rising sun, realization dawned.
Meanwhile those missing remains, still covered in dirt and it’s own blood, were taking a shower, still in disbelief… and consumed by an eldritch hunger.