[ They died, Mayerling thinks. It's been so long, and times were chaotic enough that the exact answers on how so many people died aren't entirely known. He tried to help others, but he also worked hard to survive himself and learned news too late time and again. ]

My father was betrayed by people he wore himself out protecting. They finished the job other vampires failed. My mother died when their residence was overwhelmed during the day. The grace is that she was asleep, or so I was told.

[ It hadn't been in those terms. Some people bragged about how easy she had been to kill, yet after his father died, Mayerling wonders how much she wanted to live. ]