#althybrid

October 7th, 1844

He’s gone. My love, my life, my child, he’s left me. I suppose it’s true what they say: eventually, everyone leaves. I had thought he would be an exception to the rule.

It’s my fault... or Santiago’s. I haven’t quite decided which yet, it’s easier to blame Santiago - but really - I was the one who drove him away. I yelled at him, I was angry. I felt betrayed - like he had stabbed me in the heart through the back. When I found him and Santiago outside of his chambers - I lost it. I thought I was losing him.

And the result of my fear was the cause of his loss. We’ve searched - I even shut the theatre down - for months... and when the others had lost faith, claiming he was dead, I still searched. Santiago did as well, though Santiago - something is happening to him. He’s not the carefree immortal that he once was. He’s angry, bitter, outraged. I am as well, but - I think it was already a part of my sub-conscious. 

We’ve looked everywhere, and some of the members of our family that went looking for him - they never returned either. Eleni, Eugenia, Felix, Laurent... all of them are gone now as well. Did they find him? Are they with him? Or did something happen to them all? Did something happen to Him?

No, he is alive. I must believe that. I would know if he were dead, wouldn’t I? Then again, perhaps I wouldn’t. 

I hope he is safe. 

I hope I will find him again. Apologize. I would give him anything just to have him in my arms again - to know that he is safe.

Mon daana - mon amour - mon cher.

A soft moan escaped David’s lips as Rian pressed against him. He reached down, wrapping his arm around Rian’s waist and pulling him over and up into his lap without breaking the kiss. He barely was aware of the movie in the background, so intent was he on the wolf he was currently kissing. He felt like a schoolboy, somehow. Making out with his crush on the couch in front of the fireplace.

He could feel the other’s magic, the voodoonsi in him registering the shift in the electric impulses of the room and it made his skin tingle as well. His other hand came back up into Rian’s hair, tilting his head as he deepened the kiss, pressing Rian’s body fully against his own. But god did that sensation feel amazing. The warmth, the passion. Though he himself had fed before texting Rian, and his own skin was warmer than usual, neither his nor Lestat’s body heat would ever replicate this feeling. He wanted more. He wanted to feel Rian’s fire.

His hand moved around his waist, pushing up the back of Rian’s shirt, caressing his spine and shoulder muscles with his fingertips, the shirt slipping up just a little the further upward David’s hand moved. Such warmth, such passion, and David wanted to devour it all.

The constant nagging ache pissed Ahiga off enough that he stayed away longer just to be spiteful, though he logically knew he was probably the only one suffering for it.

On day six he had finally given in and gone after the vampire, stalking him to Rome before using the tracking spell he'd put on him to locate his residence rather than going hunting around town for the man. He stole into the house without breaking any locks or disturbing anything, letting the lights stay off as he settled down to wait.

Santiago knew that showers did little by way of cleaning his kind, but he never got tired of running hot water over his body. The warmth was what mattered, it was why he'd loved baths when he had been younger, and finding hot springs when out in nature. He loved it. So when he heard a knock at the door, he was loath to step from the spray, but only a handful of people knew where he was. He stepped from the water and then wrapped a towel around his waist.

The water ran over his skin as he walked, looking through the peep hole, he then opened the door upon realizing it was Rian on the other side of the door. "Buena noches, mi pequeño lobo," he stated, his Spanish accent always much thicker when he spoke in his native tongue. He stepped back to allow the other male entry. "It is good to see you, Rian," he stated easily, closing the door after the wolf was inside and then turning to face him with a smile.

Nicolas sat in the sitting room in front of the fire, idlely plucking at his violin. He drew the bow lightly over the strings every now and then, eyes closed as he listened to the music of the fire. He tilted his head when a new melody entered the room, clashing with the harmonies of the flames. He opened his eyes and looked at the wolf who had entered into the space. "Bonsoir," he stated, watching the younger immortal.

He gestured to the chair across from him and tilted his head. "Won't you join me, Rian?" he asked simply. "We haven't really gotten to have our own little sit down, I was beginning to feel left out," Nicolas teased, smirking slightly at the blond male. "Seems like you've had little heart-to-hearts with everyone except for me." He drew the bow down over the violin a bit more and the song this time was different, a bit more wild and untamed. "Have you ever heard the music of the soul?" he asked absnetly of the wolf. It was something he asked nearly everyone. No one seemed to be able to hear it but himself.

Daniel looked over towards Rian as they walked. He still wasn’t sure how the older immortal had managed to convince Armand to let them go off for a few days completely unsupervised. Perhaps Armand merely trusted Rian more than he did Daniel. Daniel had no doubt that Armand would have put up more of a fuss if it had been him asking. No matter, they were here now, miles away from New Orleans on the Mississippi Trail.

He had a backpack on his back containing a light-tight tent, though he knew he wouldn’t be trusting his safety solely to a tent. There was also a sleeping bag with thermal layers that he could zip his entire body up into as well. He really didn’t like sleeping in the ground, which is what Armand had suggested. He looked forward and around, keen eyes picking up on trees, night creatures, and the stars through the canopy above.

“I haven’t been hiking on an actual trail in a long time,” he said, looking over at Rian with a small smile. “Thanks... for doing this with me, Ri,” he stated simply. He’d gotten closer to the hybrid since their move to the plantation. Building the tree forts had been a great first step in building a foundation for them to build on. “How long do we want to stay out? If we go all the way to the top of the trail, at this pace, it’ll take us three days to get there and back home again. Well... three nights...”

Though they were going at a snail’s pace by vampire standards they were still making very good time as far as a human would consider. This trail would normally take a human a week to traverse the entire thing. He, personally, was looking forward to getting to spend some time with Rian away from the house. With the new wolf Rian insisted on babysitting, the new vampire that was trying to integrate into their home, as well as the hustle and bustle of the rest of the coven, he hadn’t gotten much one-on-one time with Rian.

The world, as it turned out, was nothing like he had imagined. He had heard tales of course, and sometimes even watched the television in his uncle’s abandoned cabin. But nothing had prepared him for what it would feel like, sound like and smell like. The tall buildings and the constant onslaught of sensory input had him losing his sense of direction, and so far even the simplest things had him thrown off. 

He could part himself into particles and materialize where he had last tracked his uncle to, but he could not figure out how to use his piece of plastic to get a cup of coffee. He had ended up feeling so stupid by the end of it he had just walked out without the coffee, his cheeks burning as he hitched his backpack higher and moved on.

Then a vampire had crossed his path and the familiarity of the supernatural had made him reach out, for some reason counting more on help from the immortal than from the humans. He’d even gone so far as to put himself right in front of the other male, looking up at him with a friendly smile “sir vampire? I was wondering if you know how I can make money come out of this plastic card?” he held it up to him, hearing the voice of his caretaker telling him vampires had killed his family and that he should never seek contact. But....this wasn’t a kindred, so it should be fine. 

Lestat had rolled his eyes at both Rian and Armand at that point, too eager to get away to give thought to carrying either of them. Not that they would have agreed. Instead he left Armand’s little bunker quickly and took to the night sky. He was lucky enough to spot a mugging on the way, swooping in and taking his anger and frustration out on a convenient evildoer, leaving him at least well fed and flush with color as he touched down outside Armand’s home.

He moved quickly inside, checking the rooms to see if any one his own children were there. Nicolas and Louis were out, doing God knows what already. He only hoped they’d both be fine. He didnt have it in him to try and play hero again tonight.

David, though, he found playing with a small black kitten, and flopped gracelessly down beside the scholar with a huff before leaning on him. “....So Armand has another fledgling. He’s bringing him home.”