Chapter 47: Loneliness is not limited to mortals
It's not only Sunny who feels the weight of the separation between parents and child. Valentine too miss his parents, and wants to let them into his life. He just doesn't know how.
In his, arguably naive, dreams, he never made the transition to vampire alone. With him was his family. His parents and his grandparents at the very least, and their reaction to his own transition hurt him. For so long he planned this, and yet no one seemed to believe he was serious. Well maybe aunt Willow, but then she was different, more open to the occult. So Valentine decides that Louis and Lena has a point, that it's easier to just keep to himself, and it's easy enough. He lives far away, is only awake at night, and keeps himself busy with hunting and learning to master and explore his powers. Most days he's happy with this, wrapped up in his own development and dead tired when morning arrives.
He's found out he has an affinity for your women when feeding, especially beautiful ones, and loves the thrill of the chase. He tries not feed lightly, like his mentors, but often find it difficult to control his thirst. Once that sweet taste hits his mouth it's almost impossible to stop in time. He mostly manages to stop while they are only unconscious. Mostly.
Louis and Lena, however, are becoming less of a company as her pregnancy progress, more and more wrapped up in each other. Valentine is left to study alone more often than not.
Luckily the count has taken a personal interest in his training and is keeping him close by quite often. There is something comforting with being around the older vampire, with his strange way of speaking and deep knowledge of their kind. Valentine feels honored to be allowed to study with his help. Also, his books are awesome.
But then the invitation to Harvestfest arrived, but it was day time and it was a no brainer to say no, and so it was with Harmony's birthday invite, but then Valentine started to think how long it had been since he'd seen Link, and his parents and grandparents, and aunty Christmas. Maybe it was Lena's pregnancy and soon to be birth that sparked the need for home, but fact was he missed his family.
He already knows it's useless bringing the point up with Lena and Louis, so the next time he is at the counts house, he asks him how to balance these two parts of his life.
"You do not," the count says simply.
In his, arguably naive, dreams, he never made the transition to vampire alone. With him was his family. His parents and his grandparents at the very least, and their reaction to his own transition hurt him. For so long he planned this, and yet no one seemed to believe he was serious. Well maybe aunt Willow, but then she was different, more open to the occult. So Valentine decides that Louis and Lena has a point, that it's easier to just keep to himself, and it's easy enough. He lives far away, is only awake at night, and keeps himself busy with hunting and learning to master and explore his powers. Most days he's happy with this, wrapped up in his own development and dead tired when morning arrives.
He's found out he has an affinity for your women when feeding, especially beautiful ones, and loves the thrill of the chase. He tries not feed lightly, like his mentors, but often find it difficult to control his thirst. Once that sweet taste hits his mouth it's almost impossible to stop in time. He mostly manages to stop while they are only unconscious. Mostly.
Louis and Lena, however, are becoming less of a company as her pregnancy progress, more and more wrapped up in each other. Valentine is left to study alone more often than not.
Luckily the count has taken a personal interest in his training and is keeping him close by quite often. There is something comforting with being around the older vampire, with his strange way of speaking and deep knowledge of their kind. Valentine feels honored to be allowed to study with his help. Also, his books are awesome.
But then the invitation to Harvestfest arrived, but it was day time and it was a no brainer to say no, and so it was with Harmony's birthday invite, but then Valentine started to think how long it had been since he'd seen Link, and his parents and grandparents, and aunty Christmas. Maybe it was Lena's pregnancy and soon to be birth that sparked the need for home, but fact was he missed his family.
He already knows it's useless bringing the point up with Lena and Louis, so the next time he is at the counts house, he asks him how to balance these two parts of his life.
"You do not," the count says simply.
"But I have to, they're my family." Valentine says. "There has to be a way to make them accept what I am, to find a way to spend time with them-"
"We are your family!" the count cuts him off. "Vampires need no other family than each other, this is where your loyalties should lie, not with the mortals who has abandoned you."
"They haven't really, th-"
"Have they not? If not why are they not here with you, an equal in this new family of yours? You are a babe, not even a year old, and there are many lessons for you still to learn. One is that mortals always will fear you, and that they always will abandon you, only vampires will remain with you through the centuries."
"Just because they don't want to be vampires - yet - I mean they still invite me to everything, and mom and dad came all the way to see me,"
"Once, yes," the count conceded, "and Louis tells me they left in anger, after trying to persuade you to abandon us." Valentine starts, he had not known Louis was listening to their conversation, or that he reported what happened to the count. "Let me ask you this, when they revel in their holy days and festivities, the things you say they invite you to, do they make sure the frivolities are after sunset? Do they arrange for a neck for you to bite, or at the very least, some plasma fruit for you to taste?"
"Day, and no, but that's not really fair either, they're just doing what they've always done. That's how they celebrate holidays, I can't expect everyone to stay up all night for my sake or for them to arrange food they do not eat themselves."
"Can you not? Are you not harmed by the sun? Are you not harmed by the food they eat? They invite you, but they do not give you the opportunity to partake fully without risk of discomfort or injury. Because in truth they do not want you there. You frighten them, as you should. You are the hunter, they are the prey and like any prey, they fear their predator. It is their nature. It cannot be helped. It is why we learn how to compel and allure mortals, to make them forget this natural instinct, at least for a while."
"Onto more pressing matters, we need to reassess your training and accommodations. With the child, should the babe prove to be a vampire at birth, Lena and Louis will be too preoccupied to fully focus on a newborn as yourself."
"Newborn?" Valentine isn't sure if he should be insulted, but the count continues without acknowledging the interruption.
"Ideally, the vampire who sired you would be responsible for your training, but Caleb Vatore is still young, barely a century old, and I am reluctant to let him shoulder this big of a responsibility so soon, which is why I made arrangements with Lena and Louis in his stead. Now, however, at the eve of a new birth, maybe it is time for your father to start taking more of an active role in your mentorship."
"You want me to move in with him?" Valentine asked, remembering how Louis reacted to the mention of his name, and the disdain he so obviously felt even if he would not put it into words.
"That would be inadvisable, I think. A too large of a leap so soon into both his and your development. I was thinking in more unorthodox ways. You will be the first young vampire, not sired by myself, who will get the privilege of staying in my home. Vatore shall come here to train you under my supervision and guidance. If he rises to the occasion then perhaps at a later date we will consider a relocation to your sire's home, as is our usual tradition."
"Will I ever get to live on my own? Make my own home."
"Eventually, perhaps. In a few decades or so. Time will tell."
"And you will make that decision?"
"Of course? Who else would?" Me? thought Valentine, but he didn't dare voice it out loud. So far it seemed everyone in Forgotten Hollow did as the count commanded, and he did not want to know what happened if you do not. "Now for rules. You are free to access the entire house, save for my bedroom and the basement."
"The basement?"
"I keep my coffin there and prefer not to be disturbed when in slumber."
"Will I sleep in a coffin?" At that the count just laughed.
"It will be at least a century before you need such protection, Lena just recently started and Louis, as you know manage still with dark meditation and ordinary sleep in spite of his age. You are fine for the time being. When you need a coffin, you will also have a home to place it in. Now I hear that you are very interested in music?"
"Yeah, I am."
"As am I. Therefore we will include musical training in your schedule, for both our amusements. And also it can prove lucrative if you are skilled. Shall we start?" With the count there, directing him while pretending he doesn't sound awful, Valentine can almost forget his family for a while, his mortal family, he reminds himself, trying to keep in mind what the count has said. It hurt, a lot to think that his parents, mortal parent, were afraid of him, but he'd seen the face of his mother when he faked attacked her and she had been frightened, there was no doubt of that. Perhaps the count was right? The music from the organ was haunting in a way the piano could never be, revealing the loneliness in his heart as he played on, and if he occasionally heard something that sounded like a muffled wail from below, surely it was just the floorboards creaking under the weight of the pipe organ or the autumn wind through the chimneys. The sound only added to the effect of the music, filling his heart with sadness and emotion as he practiced letting go of his attachment to his old life as much as he practised his scales.
"They haven't really, th-"
"Have they not? If not why are they not here with you, an equal in this new family of yours? You are a babe, not even a year old, and there are many lessons for you still to learn. One is that mortals always will fear you, and that they always will abandon you, only vampires will remain with you through the centuries."
"Just because they don't want to be vampires - yet - I mean they still invite me to everything, and mom and dad came all the way to see me,"
"Once, yes," the count conceded, "and Louis tells me they left in anger, after trying to persuade you to abandon us." Valentine starts, he had not known Louis was listening to their conversation, or that he reported what happened to the count. "Let me ask you this, when they revel in their holy days and festivities, the things you say they invite you to, do they make sure the frivolities are after sunset? Do they arrange for a neck for you to bite, or at the very least, some plasma fruit for you to taste?"
"Day, and no, but that's not really fair either, they're just doing what they've always done. That's how they celebrate holidays, I can't expect everyone to stay up all night for my sake or for them to arrange food they do not eat themselves."
"Can you not? Are you not harmed by the sun? Are you not harmed by the food they eat? They invite you, but they do not give you the opportunity to partake fully without risk of discomfort or injury. Because in truth they do not want you there. You frighten them, as you should. You are the hunter, they are the prey and like any prey, they fear their predator. It is their nature. It cannot be helped. It is why we learn how to compel and allure mortals, to make them forget this natural instinct, at least for a while."
"Onto more pressing matters, we need to reassess your training and accommodations. With the child, should the babe prove to be a vampire at birth, Lena and Louis will be too preoccupied to fully focus on a newborn as yourself."
"Newborn?" Valentine isn't sure if he should be insulted, but the count continues without acknowledging the interruption.
"Ideally, the vampire who sired you would be responsible for your training, but Caleb Vatore is still young, barely a century old, and I am reluctant to let him shoulder this big of a responsibility so soon, which is why I made arrangements with Lena and Louis in his stead. Now, however, at the eve of a new birth, maybe it is time for your father to start taking more of an active role in your mentorship."
"You want me to move in with him?" Valentine asked, remembering how Louis reacted to the mention of his name, and the disdain he so obviously felt even if he would not put it into words.
"That would be inadvisable, I think. A too large of a leap so soon into both his and your development. I was thinking in more unorthodox ways. You will be the first young vampire, not sired by myself, who will get the privilege of staying in my home. Vatore shall come here to train you under my supervision and guidance. If he rises to the occasion then perhaps at a later date we will consider a relocation to your sire's home, as is our usual tradition."
"Will I ever get to live on my own? Make my own home."
"Eventually, perhaps. In a few decades or so. Time will tell."
"And you will make that decision?"
"Of course? Who else would?" Me? thought Valentine, but he didn't dare voice it out loud. So far it seemed everyone in Forgotten Hollow did as the count commanded, and he did not want to know what happened if you do not. "Now for rules. You are free to access the entire house, save for my bedroom and the basement."
"The basement?"
"I keep my coffin there and prefer not to be disturbed when in slumber."
"Will I sleep in a coffin?" At that the count just laughed.
"It will be at least a century before you need such protection, Lena just recently started and Louis, as you know manage still with dark meditation and ordinary sleep in spite of his age. You are fine for the time being. When you need a coffin, you will also have a home to place it in. Now I hear that you are very interested in music?"
"Yeah, I am."
"As am I. Therefore we will include musical training in your schedule, for both our amusements. And also it can prove lucrative if you are skilled. Shall we start?" With the count there, directing him while pretending he doesn't sound awful, Valentine can almost forget his family for a while, his mortal family, he reminds himself, trying to keep in mind what the count has said. It hurt, a lot to think that his parents, mortal parent, were afraid of him, but he'd seen the face of his mother when he faked attacked her and she had been frightened, there was no doubt of that. Perhaps the count was right? The music from the organ was haunting in a way the piano could never be, revealing the loneliness in his heart as he played on, and if he occasionally heard something that sounded like a muffled wail from below, surely it was just the floorboards creaking under the weight of the pipe organ or the autumn wind through the chimneys. The sound only added to the effect of the music, filling his heart with sadness and emotion as he practiced letting go of his attachment to his old life as much as he practised his scales.
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