I have always been fascinated by the tales of how vampires first came to being. There are so many tales out there that it would be hard to choose just one path. But for the sake of writing the back story of the MC for the Revenant City Series…..I must.
I have decided to go with the story of Judas. There are two accounts of Judas’s death. The first is Matthew chapter 27 and the second is in Acts chapter 1. These accounts record Judas’s death differently.
Matthew Chapter 27 verses 3-10
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘wWhat is that to us? See to it yourself.’ Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.’ After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’
Acts Chapter 1 verses 18-19
Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong (or swelling up), he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is Field of Blood.
After reading these two stories, I want to tell you the tale (fictional) of what happened to Judas after he died.
After Judas’s suicide, his spirit descended into hell to pay for his sins. Lucifer feared retribution from the son of God as Judas was one of Jesus’s disciples. So, Lucifer cursed Judas and cast him out of the gates of hell. Judas’s curse was to survive from the blood of humans as a reminder of the cost of his betrayal. Judas, unable to ascend into heaven or descend into hell, is forced to wander the earth forever.
This is the part of the story where my MC comes in. Judas is the first Revenant (vampire) and the original high priest. Although Judas is not alive nor dead, he still had human urges, and so he found himself a wife. Their love produced many sons. The sons of Judas are the Revenants. Just like Judas, they are cursed to survive only by the blood of others.
This is the backstory for the beginning of the Revenants. Over the next few weeks, I will be putting together the outline for the first novella of the Revenant City Series. I am very excited about writing this series and introducing you to my WIP.
I have posted an excerpt from the first chapter. If you would like to check it out, visit my website at http://cynthiabrandel.com
While you are there, you can also check out The Sanctorian Series—an epic fantasy adventure about the war of Sanctoria and the love between two people on opposing sides.
