Trapped in Night Eternal

“The girl? Petra is very smart. She knows I am…other, but probably not exactly what I am. I’ve been more careful around her. The eldest boy caught me in a….weak moment when he was in his early teens. He was very frightened, but calmed significantly when he realized it was just me.” Just their Uncle Angelus. Who would sooner hurt himself than ever hurt them. “I assume he told his brother. They tell each other everything. I also assume that Hektor had conversations with the both of them about it as well.”

Angelus was just finishing off the rest of the soda as she spoke about makers and fledglings. He was quiet throughout, and even for a short time after, as he carefully set the glass down on the now cooling stones beneath them. “No, no, it is alright, Rose. It is better for me to talk of these things, so I do not keep it all locked inside my mind, my…heart. And perhaps so my friends, such as yourself, understand me better.” He let out a small sigh, eyes closing for a moment before he was able to speak again. “I do not know what the typical Maker-Fledgling relationship is for my breed, because my Maker did not even intend to make me. I was both meal and entertainment for a starving, awful thing that lurked in the dark before Man was granted the gift of fire, and he intended to use me as such until I expired. And yet, here I am, and he is nowhere for me to ask.” Nor did he want to.

“Also, I try not to think of the prospect of fledglings. Not only because I do not know what is…proper, in my case.” He never thought of his Maker as anything other than just that: his Maker. In fact, Angelus did his best not to think of that monster at all. “But because I quite literally cannot make one. I have attempted the process once and only once. It was awful, my blood was killing them, not strengthening or changing them, and I could do nothing to help them other than beg for forgiveness before mercifully ending their suffering.”

"It's good that the boys are close, that they can talk to each other about the strange things in the world. Learning that the things that go bump in the night are real is shocking for any mortal. Petra sounds like a sweetheart. When she's older and knows I'll have to befriend her, if only to take her out shopping for all the best looks." A giggle, girlish and free. Just by the way Angelus spoke of them, Rose had the sense that it would be Petra to take over, even if that was many years away.

She had spoken out of turn, as Angelus describes and explains a level of pain that she cannot comprehend. Though Rose has heard some of this before, she hadn't known that he was incapable of turning others. That it killed them instead.

"I'm going to wrap my arm around you now." A warning of physical movement, but Rose cannot think of anything else to do but hold him, and she squeezes him tight to her. "I don't come see you as much as I should, and I know we're not like companions, just friends, but you can always reach out to me. If you just want someone to talk to, or just sit with and listen to the waves. Because the best thing about us, all vampires, is that we've got time. You'll find your person. And that isn't just me trying to cheer you up. You're too good of a person to not attract someone, lover or companion, into your life."

“Actually, the last time they were both here, and I had gone out for a hunt, the two of them had a little argument on whether it should be just called dinner or…I believe they used the words ‘fang time.’” Angelus looked a mixture of fond and exasperated as he told the anecdote. “Ah…Petra may enjoy such things. Fair warning to you, she asks a lot of questions.”

Angelus had bore his soul to her in the minutes it had taken him to explain why he had no fledglings and likely never would. And now she was hugging him. Tightly. Whereas some may have tensed at the embrace, he did not. Instead, he softened into it, eyes closing as he leaned into her touch. Her words of comfort were a balm, and when he did respond, his own words were quiet. “It is alright, Rose. You have had your own life to enjoy, and I would not be a very good friend if I kept you from it. I will do better at reaching out as well; I have this problem where I always believe I am intruding.” A small laugh escaped him. “You do not always have to visit me here. I can always try and come to you, if that is something you would like? And as for finding my…person, I hope you are right.”

Angelus smelled of clean, salted sea wind, wild mountain sage, and olive wood smoke, but underneath was a trace of something sharp, old, and undefinable. As her lips unexpectedly pressed to his cheek, the ancient let out a happy, affectionate laugh. She certainly was a wonder.

I don’t know who you are, but you remind me of my friend Lestat.

I don’t know who you are, but you remind me of my friend Lestat.

Send 🕰️ for my muse to talk about something that's been on their mind for a long time.

“I believe an Immortal can tell select humans of our existence as you have, and as I have, but the fact of the matter is that humanity at large is simply not ready to know us yet. Some are, yes, but until we are sure that most of us will not either be tracked down and killed or experimented on in some laboratory the moment we reveal ourselves to the masses, then it is best we have rules.”

The man cradles his chin in the cross of his arms while he takes all of this in. Yes, he still made so much sense. With a heavy exhale he finally decides to add more to the conversation, "Our rules are much more strict than that. Plenty of the time it seems that the rules only apply to some all of the time, and only every now and again for a specific few." Another sigh, "My maker would be one of those few. He almost damned us all because he broke the rules. I tried to have regulations on myself but it did not go well at all and was considered a slap in his face. It's not fair, Angelus."

Angelus was exceptionally glad that he was not beholden to these rules they had. He’d have been quite lost and exceptionally lonely with Hektor and his family. “I am incapable of siring any fledglings, Antoine, so I do not worry much about that. No offense, but I am ever so glad that I am not part of your bloodline, and thus made to follow these rules or…laws that appear to be causing you such strife.” Angelus simply nodded in understanding. What Antoine said made perfect sense to him.

I don’t know who you are, but you remind me of my friend Lestat.