Chapter 42: It's A New Life

As he promised, Valentine returned home before Winterfest. Well the night before, late after everyone was sleeping, but before. He feels weird, and wonders briefly if he's coming down with something before falling deeply asleep and sleeping well into the morning, until his loudly growling stomach wakes him up. It almost hurt being so hungry, and he wonders if he's ever been this hungry before.

As he makes it down to the kitchen, he sees that his parents has decked out the entire house for Winterfest, and his mother has cooked a grand breakfast, but clearly waited for him to wake up before eating. It smells divine, so the disappointment is all the larger when he takes a bite and there clearly is something wrong with the food.



His stomach violently protests, and he almost doubles over in pain. Getting up, he's just about to run to the bathroom to throw up when he instead has some kind of seizure. His entire body tenses up, quite literary lifts off the ground and a pain he has never known before shoots through his body.
What in the world is going on?



Just then, the maid walks through the door, and Valentine feels an urge stronger than anything he's ever experienced. Lashing out, he grabs her, bites her, and greedily drinks her blood until she passes out on the floor.



In an instant, he remembers everything. It's like a mental fog lifting and every detail about that night is as clear as day. Every emotion, feeling, sense is sharpened, so when his mother yells at him and wonders what is wrong with him, her voice is so shrill it hurts his ears. He explodes in anger. How can she not see that this is the best thing ever? Now he will live forever, and so can she if she wants. And his father, and grandma and grandpa. All of them can have eternal life (not that he knows how to, but that's a minor detail). His mother seems repulsed by the idea, however, and starts talking about finding a cure, and how she will of course support him during this difficult time until they can find one. How little she understands.



Storming up to his room, faster than he thought was possible, he tries to calm down by doing some additional reading. But the light is too bright, and he has a hard time concentrating.



A call from none other than count Vladimir himself explains why in a heavy accent. He also makes him an offer. To move to Forgotten Hollow and be trained by experienced vampires. Of course he does!



"But mom and dad would kill me if I did not spend Winterfest with them."
"I did not speak of today. Perhaps after the holy days have passed?" the count proposed, something Valentine was more than eager to accept. "Then it is agreed! I will make the appropriate arrangements, and forward you the information about your tutors and new address. And remember to stay out of the sun."
"We have windows everywhere!"
"That shall prove uncomfortable, yes, but not fatal unless you remain very near them for a long while. Not yet at least. The living tissue that still remains within you will keep you safe, for now."

As they hang up, Valentine hears their family arriving. Grandma, grandpa, aunt Christmas, uncle Jamie, aunt Jasmine and that husband he dislikes, and of course Link, Harmony and the youngest one he cannot remember the name of. Suddenly the concept of Winterfest seems so... pointless, but he heads down anyway. Who knows how long it will be before he can be with all of them again?



Carolyn has set up the meeting room for dinner, as it has the larger table, and has spent the day cooking. But to Valentine, the only thing that smells good is the blood pumping through the veins of people nearby.



Still he sits down, and pretends to eat even if he's not touching the food, taking part of the conversations and trying to engage in them and the family around him, but none of them understands what he's going through, and his mother made it perfectly clear that she'd prefer if he didn't share his experiences at this time, least it would scare someone.



As detached as he feels, Valentine can still appreciate the party. He seems the happy faces on the people around him, how they enjoy their food, each other's company. He can feel sorrow for not feeling more apart of it. Shouldn't he treasure it more now, that he knows he will be leaving soon?



As they gather in the living room, with the three (!) trees in the background, Valentine tries to memorise the faces before him. He can smell that aunt Jasmine's husband does not have long to live, something that is off in his blood, but cannot say that he'll be sorry to see him go. The others smell healthy, enticing. At one point he has to leave to use one of the plasma packs the count had delivered. It eases the thirst for a moment, but is no where near the real thing.



It sustains him through the rest of the night, however, through some app his dad wants to shim to show on his phone (he really should not be that close to anyone at the moment), and through gift opening later.



When the others are talking and getting ready to leave, Link pulls his grandmother aside and gives her what Willow once gave him. Derek's essence of life. "So you'll live longer," he says. Not adding that he could make longer, forever. He still remembers his mother's reaction, it will be a while before he offers that to anyone again.



When the guests leave and his parents head to bed, Valentine is exhausted - not as in tired - but emotionally. He's also extremely thirsty, and so he heads out to hunt. He starts at the bar, nearly empty, which makes the bartender the perfect target. He drinks less greedily this time, leaving his victim dazed but not passed out.



Tomorrow is thanking day, and then it's new years. After that, he will be free to start his new life. Until then, he just has to keep his feeding to a minimum least his parents find out, and invest in some heavy curtains for the windows of his room. He will spend his days studying, he decides, getting ready for his new life, and explore the night when everyone else is asleep. He can hardly wait for his new life to start.

In San Sequoia, Link is feeling something similar. His birthday is only days away now, and through his school he has already managed to get in contact with a veterinary in Brindleton Bay who has agreed to take him on as an intern! Unlike Valentine, this does not make him feel distance from his family. On the contrary, he feels closer to them than ever.

Amity, like her sister loves water and so Christmas spends quite a bit of time at the splash pads, which you luckily can visit year round in San Sequoia.




It does makes bath time so much easier.



Harmony keeps getting better at gardening.



And when she's not gardening or painting she's usually curled up with a book of some sort.



When Christmas return home with a new promotion, having been made the head of her entire department, Jamie takes her out on a celebratory date, leaving Harmony and Link to care for their younger sister.



By the time they return home, Jamie realises that he has fullfilled his life's ambition - to find his soulmate and be a good spouse.



As New Years comes around, his more modest resolution is to gain a skill, while Christmas resolve to loose weight by cooking only recipes with no calories, which, she's learned is only true in Simland! What good fortune that it includes some of her favourite recipes, like roast chicken and blackened bass. It's also good food to give to random neighbors who knocks on your door on New Years Eve for no good reason. Well, perhaps she is lonely.



Harmony's resolution is to raise her grades and Link wants to find a girlfriend. He tried with Daisy, but she was very adamant that they'd stay friends, especially since her family has moved to Tartosa after her mother's marriage. He misses her a lot, even if their last encounter was a bit... awkward.



As the stroke of midnight approaches, the family gather's around the TV to watch the countdown to midnight. Link doesn't really understand why they always stand up for this, rather than stay seated, but its tradition, he supposes.



As the new year begins there are hugs all around.



And the next morning Christmas start working on her resolution for real.



After she gets the house and food ready for Link's birthday party. Soon the guests start to arrive. Everyone but Valentine is there, who has sent his best wishes in a text, explaining that he had to leave for a new internship. Link is saddened that his cousin isn't there, but understands, as he himself is leaving in the morning.



He's all the happier that Daisy managed to get permission to come all the way from Tartosa!

Soon plates litters every surface in the house. It's a good thing grandpa helps clean up.

And then it's time for Link to blow out the candles. He grows up to receive the loyal trait, so now he's cheerful like his mother, loyal like his father and a dog lover, which is a trait that is only his own.

The next day is the day he is ready to leave, but not before playing with his little sister. Amity thinks the world of her brother, and is convinced he is the best brother in the world. He himself knows that he'll miss her terribly, just like he will the rest of his family. But this is what he has wanted for as long as he can remember, and a chance he cannot let slip away.



The Ritters receive him with warmth when he arrive, Miles going so far as to say they have been waiting for a young man to train for some time.

A moment later, in their cosy living room, Lilly tells him all about how she and Miles met, many years ago, at a vet clinic not too unlike the one they have themselves today. She was the administrator there when Miles was hired, as an intern, as Link is now. "The rest is, as you say, history," she says with a warm smile. "He was a handsome man back then, and I was quite the looker myself. Or so he tells it, at least."

Link is also introduced to their cocker spaniel, Max. A couch potato with a too big appetite, but cute and friendly, as Miles describes him.

While Lilly cooks for them, Miles shows Link into his room, the converted garage. "You have your own space here, your own door, and a place to cook should you want to," Miles says with a warm smile. "I'm sorry to say you do not have a bathroom in here, you'll have to come inside the house for that, but you will have your own. We generally use the one adjacent to our bedroom." He looks around.
"It's not much, I know, but feel free to decorate it as you see fit. And you're always welcome inside the house."




Link makes sure to express his gratitude before Lilly calls them back inside for dinner.

The Ritters are very nice people, and Link enjoys their stories, but at the end of the day he's glad he has a place of his own to retreat to. It's a lot of impressions at once. His room is a bit chilly, but he'll figure out the heating tomorrow. Today he settles for a jacket on, as he settles in to watch some TV. Tomorrow, he starts working, and then his real life begins.