Stelios

A cold mist settles over the most obscured caverns of Arcane territory. The cave entrances yawn and gape, ugly and black and fanged. But up at the very top, in the highest of cliffs, a curtain of velvet separates nature from abode.
Stelios paces his lair, the single magic chandelier above him lighting his steps a pale lavender. Shimmering treasures hang off the walls: tapestries, trophies, scraps of pink silk. Stelios pauses to pick up a skull and stroke it as he growls beneath his breath.
"I'll have my revenge… Yes I will…"
He already has had his revenge. The deed is done. But nothing will undo what was done to him. Nothing can take away his vampirity.
The skull clatters to the floor. Stelios flaps his wings out, beating the tight walls, lashing his tail over the carpet and toppling treasures. Why? Why must he live like this? He was adored and beloved and rich! Even now he is beautiful, with wings like gossamer and markings like a sunrise, the perfect Arcane prince. Why now must he be a vampire?
Because somebody saw you as prideful, he reminds himself. Somebody who was wrong, and is now dead because of it.
Stelios swishes his tail over his front paws, sitting at the entrance to his lair. It wasn't that he became an outcast. It was that he suddenly was drowning in the wrong attention. Bad attention. Stelios is proud of his heritage, even now-- but what is with the uncouth fascination of all things twisted? He wanted to be praised, not probed.
A purple snout pokes through the curtains. "Hi, Mr. Vampire Sir!!"
Stelios lets out a yelp, leaping backwards. "You! How did you find this place?"
A slender Imperial slips inside, spreading out her wings to make herself at home, and undoing her travel-bags to flop to the ground. "The ghosts told me where to find you. I always wanted to meet a vampire, and here I am!" She reaches into one of her satchels, withdrawing a quill and writing pad. "Oh, but where are my manners? I am Apparition, séance-ist and freelance writer associated with the Clan of the Reposing Puddle. Now, Mr. Vampire, would you kindly introduce yourself?"
Stelios sighs. He'll be doing this the hard way.
He cranes his neck down. The light above vanishes in a snap. Apparition gasps softly, the darkness taking her by surprise.
A pale cranium appears before her, pink irises glittering angrily. White energy flows into his body, supercharging every feather and hair.
"I am Stelios, Forgotten Prince of the Arcane and Keeper of Nothing."
He lets the light back on. Apparition is cowering into the corner, her wings and tail flattened against the wall.
He waits to hear her scream. Instead, she lets out a squeal of excitement, running a fast circle around the cave.
"That… was… AMAZING! I didn't know you were Arcane! Ohhh mygosh, that just makes so much sense, you totally look like an Arcane! You're so lucky!"
"Not lucky any longer," Stelios chuffs, resuming a stately posture. "I'm not too fond of the way my own kind treats me."
"You're not? But… that's so sad. Nobody should feel unwelcome in their own Flight." Apparition sniffs. "Not… not treated like trash, or disgusting…"
Stelios is about to clarify that they did not treat him as rubbish, but rather as an experiment, but then he notices the color of Apparition's tearing-up eyes. The color of Ice.
"How has your flight treated you?" Stelios asks.
"They didn't reject me." Apparition turns away. "They just… they just didn't see any place for a writer, you know? At least, not a writer like me. Chasing spirits and cryptids, instead of being critical and academic."
"Hmph. Is that what you're doing now? Wandering alone, seeking one interviewee after another?"
Apparition hangs her head. "Yes." Her ear twitches. "But-- but I'm not truly alone! I have my Spirits to counsel me, and teach me my next move."
"Is that so?" Stelios raises a brow. "Is it… dangerous?"
"No, no, it's not dangerous! It's just… well, there have been some close calls."
"That's it." Stelios gets up and stretches. "I'm bored here. I'm coming with you."
"Wait, what? I didn't say I needed a companion!"
"Would you tolerate one?"
"Tolerate, I'd more than tolerate, I'd-- um-- Vampire, sir, what are you packing?"
Stelios glances over his shoulder, from the chest he'd been raiding crystals and vials out of. "Vampire's secret." His lips curl back into a smile, revealing a set of long, curved fangs. "I can tell you're going to have a lot to write about in the coming months."

Over the next several weeks, Stelios and Apparition roam Sornieth together, chasing down, bothering, and subsequently fleeing one paranormal villain after another.
Apparition, frazzled, settles down by Stelios before a campfire one cool evening. "Stelios. There's-- there's been a lot more things trying to kill us since we've been, well, us. Way more than I ever faced alone."
"Hmm." Stelios crosses one foreleg over the other. "Well, I wasn't hiding in a cave when you met me for nothing."
"What?!"
"What, do you want me to leave you?" Stelios tilts his head.
"…No. No, I-- I really don't. I don't want to be alone again." Apparition plunges one paw into her writing bag, readying to chronicle their most recent adventure. "In fact, I wouldn't rather have things any other way."