It was a dark and stormy night..........................

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This is the first 500 words of a story. The aim of this challenge is that somebody else will write the middle section, while a third person finishes it off.
This could be interesting:

 

It was a dark and stormy night, the night that I was born. My mother gave birth without help because the villagers thought her cursed and dangerous. My father was absent, as always when the moon was dark.

Next day as she slept, my father's servant came and slipped a bag of gold and jewels beneath her pillow; it wasn't a gift from my father, but Renwick had a soft heart and had been fond of my mother. He also left a note, I still have it. It simply says that my father had left for England and that he might see me when he returned, but he never came back. He came to a bad end near Whitby; the English having proved to be less cowardly than the good folk of Transylvania.

As soon as she could get out of bed my mother slipped away, with me wrapped close to her body. She travelled East because her people came from beyond the mountains. I think her people were gypsies because she was a raven-haired beauty with a fiery temper. We never found her family, but I don't think we'd have been welcome anyway.

The years of my childhood were years of constant travel; we'd stay a few months somewhere, my mother would prostitute herself to make money and sometimes she would sell a jewel. She never stayed long anywhere because she knew I would eventually give us away. I had my father's taste for blood and I would scream constantly until my needs were met.

When I was about ten years old we met an elderly monk travelling the same hills as us. we camped together and he talked all night with my mother. The next day instead of heading to the large town in the valley we accompanied the monk on his journey home.

At his monastery I was drugged and bound while my mother sobbed. When I awoke my mouth was pure agony. My lips were swollen and I had no teeth.

The monk came to see me.

'Your poor mother has suffered long for her sins. We have taken you so that she can be free to live with ordinary people. You will not see her again; however we will love and care for you. We will teach you how to live a good life.'

The first years were terrible. The monks diet was vegetarian, but it did me no good to scream or threaten. They would smile, pray and put me in solitary confinement for a day or two. The same cycle would repeat until I was willing to eat their food. I still do not like rice but I learned that it fills the belly. Discipline was strict but they didn't make me take part in their worship, instead I was allowed to read or draw. Some months later, as they knew I would, I asked to join them in the temple. I began to be a Buddhist.

A life of tranquil peace and study was mine until the day the armies came.