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Blood Is Chapter 2-1
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Do I really have to mention that I don't own Castlevania? If I did, we would have gotten to see Julius curbstomp Dracula, the storyline would have been neatened up a bit, and Dracula and Alucard would have just HUGGED already after the reveal in Lords of Shadow 2.
Summary: Lords of Shadow Continuity: AU to Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2: Trevor wasn't the only one that had the truth of his parentage kept from him by the Brotherhood.
A/N: The fic's pacing is going to slow down as I start weaving things together. And since I write as fast as the pacing, the posting rate will probably slow down as well. Just a warning.
A/N 2: After doing a bit of research, I realized that I goofed. Gabriel's title would actually be "Lord" and not "Master". Oopsie on my part. *Fixes*
A/N 3: Before any of you start screeching about Gabriel having a reflection, bear in mind that vampires were said to not have reflections because a reflection in a mirror was believed to be a reflection of your soul. (Hence the whole "Breaking a mirror is seven years' bad luck." because breaking the mirror injured your soul, which then took seven years to regenerate.) Since vampires in folklore were said to be soulless, then they had no reflection to show that. But look at Gabriel, in this fic and in the games, and see him grieve, love, cry, rage, etc. Does that look like someone that has no soul to you?
1.
Gabriel sat with his parents in his father's study, with Trevor's sleepy weight in his arms. He was on a small couch with his mother, in front of the large fireplace that took up nearly one entire wall of the room, while his father sat in a chair nearby. It was late, and the sun had long since gone down for the day, but they had things that needed to be discussed. Or at least, that is what his mother had told him before she'd given him clothes to wear, helped him dress, and walked him here. It was well past Trevor's bedtime, but he had immediately asked about him after feeding and dressing, and no one seemed to be inclined to send the child to bed just yet.
Trevor yawned and rubbed at his eyes, and Gabriel smiled down at his son's beautiful face and rocked him lightly. He'd only known the boy for less than a day, but he already couldn't imagine life without him. A servant brought in mulled wine for them to drink during their talk, and Gabriel smiled faintly at her as she handed him a glass. Having servants to wait on him was going to take some time to get used to. Once she had gone and the door was firmly closed behind her, his father checked to make sure that no one was lingering around, eavesdropping, and then he returned to his chair. Gabriel took a sip of his wine and sighed with pleasure as its warmth filled him and banished the perpetual chill that he seemed to suffer from. It was yet another thing that he wished he'd been able to ask Laura about. His mother smiled at him, but she turned her attention to her husband when the older man cleared his throat.
"We need to figure out what we're going to do from here on." his father said. "We need to lay out everything we know and see if we can figure a reason for everything that has happened. The more we know, the better off we will be and the easier it will be to protect you -" He nodded at Gabriel. "- and Trevor from the Brotherhood if they try anything again. And I have no doubt they will; I just don't know when."
Gabriel smiled at Trevor as the boy's heartbeat and breathing slowed as he fell asleep, and then he looked up at his father. "They wanted me to defeat the Lords of Shadow and Satan." he said. "When I think about it, I can see that they've been preparing me for that my entire life. Why me? Why did I have to do it alone?"
"Why did he tell everyone you were dead when you were at Bernhard Castle?" his mother added as she touched his hand. "Why did he prevent anyone from going to check on you?"
"And the most important question," his father said, "why did they take you from us? If you were fated to defeat the Lords and the Prince of Lies himself – and it seems that you were since he kept mentioning a prophecy – then why didn't he just approach us and tell us about it? If he could have proved it, I never would have objected to you receiving the necessary training. What was so important about keeping you from your family? Why did they keep knowledge of your own son from you?"
Gabriel set his wine glass aside and bowed his head. "I killed my wife." he whispered. "Zobek made me do it, but it was still my hands on the ax. If Trevor had been there... he probably would have made me kill him too."
"But how could they have known that?" his father asked.
"The mirror!" his mother said suddenly, and they turned to look at her. She looked at her husband. "Remember what we saw in the mirror, Wolfram? They showed her some kind of fragment hanging on a cord. What if it was the mirror fragment that we have? What if they showed her what would happen?"
"Mirror?" Gabriel looked back and forth between them in confusion.
"In Bernhard castle," his mother asked intently, "did you see a large mirror mounted on the wall in a circular room?"
"Yes," Gabriel nodded, "it was in the room that I fought Carmilla in. It also allowed me access to the Land of the Dead."
"Did it show you anything?"
"No. I was just able to somehow... walk right through it. Why? What is so important about it?"
It was his father who answered. "When we were at the castle searching for you, we encountered the mirror. It showed us many things: the day you married, running through a meadow with her as children, your hunt for that winged demonic creature, you being taken from your cradle by Volpe himself, and Trevor being taken by Volpe and the elders from your wife. We saw her look into a small shard hanging on a leather cord, and once she had handed it back to them, she let them walk out with Trevor without saying a word or protesting in any way.
"When I claimed Trevor from them, they sent him home with what we believe is a fragment of that mirror. I've since looked into it and saw what could have happened had your mother and I not brought you home. I also saw what will happen if the Brotherhood get their hands on you again."
Gabriel bowed his head again and closed his eyes, and he was silent for a moment. "So," he finally said, "perhaps they saw what would happen to Marie in the mirror?" He paused again and then whispered: "Why didn't they warn me? Why didn't they say anything?"
He felt his mother's hand gently squeeze his shoulder. "We don't know, Gabriel, but we hope that we'll have some answers soon."
He shook his head. "Volpe won't come here. He's too canny for that. He'll find someway of forcing us to come to him, to meet him somewhere where he'll have the advantage."
"We'll find a way, Gabriel." his father said firmly. "Even if I have to make up a reason to have the man arrested. He will answer for what he has done."
Gabriel took another drink of the wine as the chill began to creep up on him again. "May I see this mirror?"
"Are you sure? There is no way to know what it will show you."
"Can you ask it what you want to see?"
He looked up as his father stood up from his chair and moved over to the large desk in front of the windows. "I was able to," the older man said, "so perhaps you will be able to as well." Gabriel turned back to look at Trevor, but then he heard his father's footsteps, and a small glass shard on a leather cord was dangled in front of him. "If you really want to see it, here it is."
"Are you sure about this, Gabriel?" came his mother's voice, and he stared at his reflection for a moment, before he sighed and nodded. Trevor was taken out of his arms then, and he took the shard by its cord and looked into it. He didn't voice any question, but the mirror began to shine with its own light, and when that light cleared, he saw a familiar place.
He saw a younger version of Cardinal Volpe, meeting with a younger version of Master Cecil. Master Liam, he was pleased to see, was not present. They spoke with each other for a while, but there was no sound, so he had no way to know what they were saying. The mirror shone with light again, and then it showed Volpe and Cecil moving swiftly through the Cronqvist house, showed them taking his infant self from his cradle while a young woman that was obviously his nurse lay dead on the floor nearby.
The mirror then showed Trevor being taken from Marie's arms, and Gabriel swallowed thickly and quaffed the rest of his wine at the sight.
The light shone again, and when it cleared it showed him on the throne at Bernhard castle, wrapped in a red cloth, and he titled his head in confusion; he didn't remember that. His parents ran into the scene, and he smiled faintly when he saw his mother touch his face, followed by his father scooping him up into his arms. The mirror seemed to follow them as they carried him out of the castle, stopping to comfort him off and on.
You are mine, Gabriel Belmont!
Gabriel shivered as the mirror showed them fleeing the castle as it collapsed around them, and he thought he could hear the structure roaring in rage as they made it out of the entrance hall just as the roof caved in. It then showed the three of them lying in a bed somewhere, with him between them as his mother stroked his hair. He blinked; he seemed to be able to just barely recall something: a voice, singing to him, soothing him, and the feel of warm arms carrying him.
He looked up at his mother. "You sang to me?" he asked in a soft voice, and she smiled and nodded at him.
"It helped you sleep after a nightmare." she said just as softly.
"Nightmares? I had nightmares?"
"You did. We don't know what you were dreaming of, but they decreased in frequency the further away we moved from the castle. You had only a few once we were home."
He looked up at his father. "You carried me out of there?"
"I did. You weren't well, so I'm not surprised that you can't remember."
Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment as he remembered the blood ropes, the bright light of the sun, the heat of the fire. "I wanted to die." His parents gasped, but he ignored them. "I tried to starve myself, but the castle wouldn't let me, so I threw myself into direct sunlight."
"Since you are sitting here with us," his father said, "I assume that the attempt failed?"
"It did. I couldn't stop myself from backing away from the window. I just..." He shook his head and looked up into his father's face. "I don't remember anything after that until," He turned his head to look at his mother, "I woke up here." He handed the mirror shard back to his father and accepted Trevor back into his arms. "Being in that place..." He shivered and didn't finish his sentence.
"If what your mother and I experienced there is any indication," his father said as he put the shard back in the desk, "I would certainly have to agree with you." He looked at Gabriel in puzzlement. "Why did you hide there anyway?"
"I had nowhere else to go. I couldn't return to the Brotherhood after what I had become, and I couldn't.. I couldn't face the house where Marie and I had started our life together. I just wanted to hide away from everyone, and Bernhard castle seemed the best place as any. It wasn't until over the winter that the voices came, and by then, I was... I just didn't care anymore." He looked down at Trevor's sleeping face as he felt his mother's hand on his shoulder.
"You have us now, Gabriel." she said. "Us and Trevor. You have a family now."
He looked up and smiled faintly at her, and his smile widened when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Where do we go from here?" he asked.
His father returned to his chair. "From here, we try to figure out what exactly Volpe had been planning, and we try to find a way to keep you and Trevor safe, especially you. We just got you back, son; we don't want a mob to take you away from us again. We also have to watch out for whatever your uncle may be planning."
Gabriel frowned in thought. "Is his name Cordrin Cronqvist?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"When I overheard Volpe, Cecil, and Master Liam speaking about me, Volpe mentioned a letter from a Cordrin Cronqvist. They didn't read it out loud, so I don't know what it contained."
"Probably telling them that you were still alive and here. So that's what he was planning."
Gabriel blinked. "Still alive?" he asked. "You mean the highwaymen attack?" His mother had told him about that a handful of days previous, while they were on their way home.
"Yes, I told Volpe that the sword through your chest had killed you, so it would give us time to get you settled in here before he thought to check our story out. Once you were awake and had left," Gabriel winced. "I had hoped it would allow you to hide from him more easily."
"They were bound to find out that you were still alive sooner or later." said his mother. "We had hoped to delay it for as long as possible. Volpe wants you for something."
"And it seems that he wanted you alone in Bernhard castle too. He forbade your comrades from searching for you and told them you had died. Then there's whatever he needed Trevor for. Even with you believed to be dead, he insisted he needed him for something."
Gabriel frowned in thought. "Perhaps..." he said hesitantly, "perhaps, he also saw something in the mirror?"
His father blinked, and he looked off to the far side of the room as a thoughtful look appeared on his face. "Yes," he said quietly to himself, "Yes, that could be it exactly. The mirror showed him who would defeat the Lords of Shadow, and it's very possible that it could have showed him where to find that person."
"Me," Gabriel whispered, "here."
"Yes," his mother said as she reached out and brushed his hair back from his face, "and then he came here and took you from us." She looked at her husband. "I wonder if it showed him anything else?" She looked back at Gabriel. "He wanted you at Bernhard Castle alone and insane for a reason"
"He said my tasks weren't done," Gabriel replied, "and that I had to be prepared to complete them."
"Prepared?" His mother reared her head back like she had been slapped. "How could leaving you all alone in that cursed place be preparing you for anything, except your own death? You were completely out of your mind when we found you!"
"He would have come out of it eventually." his father said quietly, and they looked at him, but he wasn't looking at them. He was staring off at something only he could see. "I saw in the mirror, what would have happened if we hadn't brought you home. You would have come out of it on your own in time, but you would have come back enraged at those that had wronged you, and you would have taken it out on everyone around you." Here, he turned and met Gabriel's eyes. "Even Trevor."
"I never would have hurt my son!"
"But you wouldn't have known he was your son. The Brotherhood would have never told you, and once they sent him to destroy you, you would have killed him like everyone else."
Gabriel shook his head. "No! That couldn't have happened! I wouldn't-!"
"Gabriel," came his mother's gentle voice, "it didn't happen. It won't happen. You are here; you are safe, and so is Trevor. Calm down."
He squeezed his eyes shut, bowed his head, and began to rock himself on the couch. He heard his father get up and approach and then sit down on his right. His mother inched closer to him on his left, and he felt their arms come around him and Trevor.
"We've got you, Gabriel; we're not going to let anyone hurt you again." said his mother.
"We'll do whatever it takes to keep you and Trevor safe." his father added. "No one is going to take either one of you from us again."
Gabriel managed a weak laugh as they sat up. "I spent my entire childhood wishing my mother and father would come for me, and now that you have... It's so much more than I had ever imagined."
Two kisses were pressed to the sides of his head, one from his mother and one from his father, and the three of them sat together for a bit in the quiet.
"It is late," his father said after a few minutes. "Trevor needs to be in bed, and I have much to do tomorrow. Gabriel..." He trailed off was hesitated for a few seconds. "Gabriel, we know you can't be in direct sunlight, but what about indirect sunlight?"
"Indirect sunlight?"
"Yes, say the curtains are open in here, and it's daytime. You can't be in the direct light obviously, but this couch is not close to the windows. Would this be a safe place for you to sit when the sun is up?"
"I don't know; I never thought about that. I just slept during the day at the castle, and I did the same after I left here."
"We'll have to check into that, because it will make it easier for us to hide your vampirism if you're seen up and about during the day, but only if you feel comfortable doing it. I don't want you to try if you really don't think you can. I don't want you hurt."
"I'd like to try."
"We can look into that whenever you're ready, but for now, I think some of us need to be in bed." He stood up. "Would you like for one of us to take Trevor back to the nursery?"
Gabriel shook his head and stood up from the couch. "No, I'll do it."
"I'll walk with you then." He looked at his wife. "I'll see you in a few minutes, Edeline."
His mother stood up and kissed him on the cheek, which caused him to smile. "Goodnight, Gabriel." She then did the same with Trevor. "Goodnight, Trevor." She walked out of the study, and Gabriel stared at the open doorway in silence for a moment before his father's voice make him shake his head.
"Let's get Trevor into bed, Gabriel, and then we can figure out what you can do to keep yourself occupied through the night."
Gabriel shook his head as they walked out of the room. "I think I'll go to bed too."
"Tired?"
"Not physically, but more..."
"Mentally? Emotionally?"
"Yes, exactly. I don't even know if I can become physically tired. There are so many things that I don't know about myself. So many things that Laura never told me, and there was no one else to ask."
They walked down the empty, moonlit hallways to Trevor's nursery, and the sound of the footsteps echoed softly off of the walls. "Do you know why you look human, aside from your claws, fangs, and eyes? It was my understanding that vampires looked more like humanoid bats more than anything."
This one he could answer. "Only the very old and very powerful ones could take a human appearance." he replied. "Though they could shift into their true shape at will."
"Yet here you are, a vampire for less than a year, and you have a human appearance. What does that say about your power?"
"Laura was very old; it is possible that I inherited enough from her." The power he had taken from the Forgotten One likely had something to do with it as well, but he didn't feel like discussing it, not after thinking of Laura.
"So it would seem."
They walked into Trevor's nursery, and the conversation was halted as Gabriel carried the boy into the night nursery and tucked him into bed. His sleepy eyed nurse watched from nearby, and she gave them a tired smile as his father and grandfather each kissed him goodnight and walked quietly out of the room.
"Did I have a suite like that?" Gabriel asked as they went down to his own room.
"No," His father shook his head. "You should have, but after so many years and so many failed attempts to have a child, your mother and I had hoped that keeping you close to us would somehow ensure that you would survive. I'm not sure how we came by that belief, but no one could dissuade us from it. Since, at four days old, you had already outlived your brother and sister by a while, it only convinced us further that we were correct. I'm sure that, had the Brotherhood not kidnapped you, we would have relaxed enough to move you to the actual nursery in a few months."
Gabriel nodded to his guards as he walked through his door and into the small space. The fireplace was cold and dark, since the night was comfortable, and moonlight shone through the windows to leave a mullioned pattern on the rug covered floor. "There were others? Volpe mentioned I was your only child to live past birth, but I really didn't think about what that means." He sat down on the edge of his bed and began to undress.
His father sat down nearby. "Yes, you had a sister that lived only a few minutes, and a brother that was stillborn. We don't know the sex of the others since they were miscarried so early in the pregnancy. You were the only one to survive."
Gabriel paused in unlacing the hose he wore under his tunics. "And then the Brotherhood took me."
"Yes," his father said softly, "they took you." He stood up. "Something that they will never do again, if I have any say in it. It makes me wonder how many of the children left with them were truly abandoned."
Gabriel slipped the long, linen tunic he slept in over his head. "I don't know. I was one of six children in the nursery there. I know two others were there because their mothers had died in childbirth, and their fathers had refused to claim them. The other three were left on the doorstep." He looked at his father. "They had no reason that I can think of to steal any other children."
"Unless that mirror had something to say about them too."
Gabriel laid down and pulled the quilt over him and shut the curtain nearest the bed with a gesture. "I don't want to think about that right now."
His father came up and tucked the quilt around him, and Gabriel smiled at him and snuggled down into the mattress and pillows. "I had always dreamed of this. When I was small I used to pretend that my nurse was really my mother when she tucked me in at night."
"Did it help?"
"A little, but then I refused to consider that I just hadn't been wanted. It wasn't until I was about ten or so that I accepted that, and of course by then, no one had tucked me in in years. They put me in my own room when I was six, and I was so frightened of being away from the others that I cried until Master Liam made the nurse come and quiet me. She sang me to sleep, and that was the last time I experienced anything resembling parental affection until you came."
His father laughed quietly. "Well, let me assure you, you don't want me to sing you to sleep. I sang to your mother once, when we were courting, and I was barely through the first verse when she asked me to stop for the sake of her ears." Gabriel grinned. "So if you want to be sang to, ask her. She'll be happy to."
"I'll keep that in mind." He smiled as his father turned and began to walk out of the room. "Goodnight," he said quietly as the older man reached the door, which prompted him to pause and look at him. "Goodnight, Father."
His father smiled. "Goodnight, son."
******
It was his senses, warning of the approaching sunrise, that woke Gabriel early in the morning. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, and he looked over at the brightening light seeping in around the heavy curtains. His ears detected people rising for the day, dressing, speaking to their friends, spouses, siblings, and so on, and he smiled faintly when he heard Trevor's heartbeat, faster than the others, but still slower than normal since the child was still asleep. His nurse, however, was up, as was his own mother and father.
He looked up at the windows again and came to a decision. He climbed out of bed, walked over to the window, reached up, and grabbed a hold of the curtain -
No, my prince, no!
- took a deep breath and then wrenched the curtain aside. Sunlight spilled into the room, and he just barely managed to stop himself from shrieking in pain as the bright light fell on him. He hastily backed away and stood out of the direct beam as the light continued to grow brighter. As the room lightened, he smiled to himself, and he was still smiling when his door opened.
"Gabriel?' His mother sounded confused as she walked up to him. "What are you doing up?"
"Testing something that we discussed last night." he said.
She seemed to realize then that one of the curtains was open. "Oh! So it looks like indirect light doesn't hurt you."
"It appears not." He turned to face her just as mischievous smile appeared on her face, and he had the distinct impression that she was planning some kind of joke. So that's where he had gotten it...
"Would you like to join the rest of the household for breakfast in the hall?" she asked, and her eyes sparkled with humor as she looked at him.
Gabriel felt his face heat up. "I don't think that would be a good idea." he said as he looked at his feet.
"Why ever not?"
"I wasn't raised... here. I don't know how to act."
She put her hand on her hips. "Do you have table manners?"
He shuffled his feet. "Yes."
"Then you're further ahead than your cousin." She tipped his head up. "Don't worry about it, Gabriel. If there is anything that you need to know, your father will teach you, as his father taught him, and as my mother taught me. It will be all right. Now, would you like to join us for breakfast in the hall?"
"I.. I suppose? Are you sure it would be all right?"
She reached up to kiss him on the forehead. "I am sure. Now get dressed; I'll meet you in the hallway."
She stepped out of the room, and he watched her go and stared at the door as it closed behind her. He sighed quietly and turned to dressing himself and tried to ignore the churning of his stomach. (Would he be sick if he worried too much? he wondered briefly. Did vampires have to worry about that?) He used his claws to comb out his hair, looked at himself in the nearby mirror, (So vampires do have reflections. Interesting.) sighed again, and walked out of the room.
As she said she would be, his mother was waiting just outside the door, and he swallowed and offered her his arm. She smiled at him, took his arm, and then began to direct him towards the hall. It was a short walk, but his stomach churned angrily the entire way. When they walked through the large, open, double doors and up the isle between two long tables, he saw his father look up from his place at the head of the head table and smile widely at them. That caused the rest of the family to look at them as well, and one, a man that bore a family resemblance to his father, gave Gabriel an ugly look before turning back around in his chair. That could only be Cordrin Cronqvist. Beside him sat a woman that was likely a wife, and beside her sat a man about the same age as Gabriel that appeared to be their son, as his appearance was a blend of the other two. That must be his cousin, Adelar.
The servants gathered at the long tables stared at him as he passed, but a quick look from his mother made them look away. The light coming in through the north and south facing windows was bright, and it made his eyes hurt a little to be in it, but there was no hint of the burning heat that had consumed him back at the castle. They walked up the dais to the head table, and Gabriel found himself seated in a chair on his father's left. His mother sat down opposite him, and a quick look around saw that John Pershan and his men were scattered about the room, with Pershan himself standing right behind his father.
Chatter filled the room as the meal was served, but the head table was silent as everyone stared at Gabriel. Counting himself and his parents, there were eleven people seated around the table, and he could see a family resemblance between all of them, with the exception of his mother, who had married into the family and was not actually related. His father cleared his throat, which made everyone look at him.
"Everyone is to meet me in the family room after breakfast." he said. "We will do formal introductions there."
"We already know who he is." Cordrin spat, and Gabriel could plainly see the look of loathing in the man's eyes.
"But he does not know any of you."
His uncle said something else, and Gabriel tuned out his voice; he already knew the man hated him. He remembered that his mother had mentioned something about Cordrin not wanting him, Gabriel, in the house. Something about his son being the heir apparent with Gabriel gone... He hadn't given his mother a chance to finish explaining that. He would ask her later, once they had more privacy.
"I don't wish to share the table with a vampire!" Cordrin spat, and Gabriel looked over at him to see that his face was pale aside from two bright spots of red on his cheeks. "Vampire's cannot eat anyway, so why is he -"
Gabriel leveled a look at his uncle, and without looking away from him, he calmly picked up his fork and took a bite from his breakfast. He chewed and he could hear himself swallow in the sudden silence at the table. A few seconds later, Cordrin snarled wordlessly and looked away, while another man, who appeared to be of similar age as his father, laughed quite loudly. The rest of the table seemed to take it as their cue to begin their meal, and Gabriel stole a glance at his parents to see them give him a proud smile before they turned their attention to eating.
Gabriel finished first, and he was shocked to see the leisurely pace that everyone else ate at. He had been trained from a very young age, to wake up early, eat quickly, and get started on the day's work. Once he'd been old enough, he'd been expected to get started on the day's work even before starting breakfast. Yet the Cronqvist family took their time finishing their food, and they lingered around the table for a good while afterward. It wasn't until all the servants had left to begin their work that they began to trickle away from the table.
Cordrin, predictably, was the first to leave, followed quickly by his wife and son, and two others that appeared to be another son, and a daughter. The man that had laughed earlier was next, followed by a woman that Gabriel assumed was his wife. Two others, a man and a pregnant woman, both of whom looked at little older than him, left next, leaving Gabriel at the table with his parents.
"That went well, I think." his father said lightly once they were alone in the hall save for the servants that were clearing the tables.
Gabriel looked at him and blinked in surprise. "You think that went well?"
"Yes, I do." He set his mug down on the table and gave Gabriel an serene look. "Cordrin didn't like your presence here, but that is to be expected. Eva – that's Cordrin's wife – and Adelar likely weren't too happy about you being here either, but they at least kept quiet about it, and no one else said anything."
Gabriel thought about that for a second and nodded in understanding. "I always thought the Cronqvist family was larger. Was that everyone?"
It was his mother that answered. "It is. There were more people around when you were born, but some have died since then, while others have married off, or moved on."
"We were never a large family." his father added. "There were a few times during our history where are numbers dropped so low that it was feared that we would die out, but we always managed to keep going."
Gabriel nodded again. "So what do we do now?"
His parents stood up, which prompted him to do the same. "Now," his father replied, "we introduce you to everyone, like I said."
"What about Trevor?"
"He's already met everyone, but you may certainly bring him along." His father turned to look at Sir Pershan. "John, escort Gabriel to pick up Trevor, and then bring him to the family room."
"Yes, sir."
His mother stretched up to kiss him on the cheek. "We'll see you there, Gabriel." He smiled faintly and rubbed at the kiss as his parents walked away, and he only turned around when Sir Pershan cleared his throat behind him.
They walked down to the nursery in comfortable silence, and Trevor squeal in delight when he saw them standing there.
"Papa!"
Gabriel knelt down and held his arms out, and his grinning son ran into him embrace and kissed him on the cheek. Gabriel couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face as he stood up and used the tips of his claws to carefully tickle the boy's chin, which made him shriek with laughter.
"I love you so much." Gabriel murmured to the giggling child in his arms. "I fell in love with you the instant I met you."
"Wuv you, Papa." Trevor said with a toothy smile, and Gabriel smiled again and kissed his soft hair. He then waved at the nurse (He really needed to get her name.) and walked out of the nursery.
Trevor chattered away as they walked down the halls towards the family room, and Gabriel smiled at the sound of his son's voice, even though he could only understand about every other word. The child's speech was liberally sprinkled with claps, giggles, and multiple exclamations of "Papa!" as they went.
"You have to be the happiest child I have ever met." Gabriel said as he carried the boy on his hip. "It makes thinking of what the Brotherhood wanted to do with you even worse to bear." He frowned; Volpe would answer for that!
A tiny hand patted his cheek. "Papa? Papa mad?"
He pushed his anger at Volpe aside and smiled at Trevor. "Not at you." He lowered his head to touch the boy's face with his own. "Papa could never be angry at you."
Behind him, he heard Sir Pershan snort. "Just wait until he's older. If he acts anything like your father, you'll be angry at him plenty."
Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the old soldier, who smirked at him. He was really learning to like Sir Pershan. "Anything I should ask him about?" he asked.
Sir Pershan gave him a wicked smile. "Make sure you ask about the soup kettle."
"Soup kettle?"
"You'll understand when you ask. Ask him in front of the rest of the family; it will make things far more entertaining."
"He won't be upset?"
"No, he'll just holler at me for mentioning it to you, but he won't be angry."
"If you say so." Gabriel turned to look ahead of himself as they walked on. He really didn't know his parents, and he didn't want to risk angering them, but... He had enjoyed the stories he had seen so far, and from what he had heard, his father did have a sense of humor in him, so perhaps being asked about the soup kettle wouldn't upset him.
He would find out at any rate.
"Here we are." Sir Pershan said as they walked up to a set of ornately carved, double wooden doors. He pushed them open and gestured Gabriel to go in, and inside he found a room, smaller than expected, with west facing windows that let in a decent amount of light. Chairs and couches were scattered about the room, and a smaller fireplace sat in the middle of north wall. Eleven people of various ages were seated around the room in small groups, talking quietly to each other, though one group, the one consisting of Cordrin, his wife, and his son, went silent and glared at him with open hostility as he crossed the room to sit between his parents on a couch by the fireplace with Trevor on his lap.
Trevor smiled happily at his grandparents - "Gam-ma! Gampapa!" - as Sir Pershan closed the door and took up station behind the couch.
Cordrin's glare shifted from Gabriel to Sir Pershan, and then down to his brother. "Do you not trust me, Brother?" he spat.
Gabriel winced as the room went silent – even Trevor's chatter came to a stop – and everyone turned to stare at Cordrin. Gabriel's father just looked serenely at his brother and said nothing for a long moment, and then he turned away from him and focused on the older man that had laughed at the table earlier. The two shared a look of understanding, and his father rolled his eyes. Gabriel bowed his head so his seething uncle wouldn't see his smirk, but he looked up when he father began to speak.
"All of you know my son, Gabriel." he said as he looked at those seated about the room. "All of you were in the hall when my wife and I brought him home, but I realized earlier that he knows none of you, so I thought it time to remedy that."
The one man laughed again, and he bore more than a passing resemblance to Gabriel's father, and he also appeared to be of similar age. His hair was mostly gray, though there were hints here and their of its original auburn. His eyes were also brown, but they had not faded as much. His gaze was open and friendly, and there was no sign of hostility in his eyes. He gave Gabriel a wide smile as he introduced himself.
"I am Peter, your father's cousin, which makes me your first cousin once removed. This beautiful lady here -" He put his arm around the shoulders of the red haired, grey eyed woman next to him. "-is my wife Sonja."
Sonja smiled at him and nodded her head. "Hello, Gabriel." She was shorter than her husband, and her curly hair fell in long tresses down about her shoulders. Freckles were splashed across her face, and her eyes were warm and welcoming. Gabriel felt himself relax a touch at the sight of them.
Beside Peter and Sonja was the young couple that appeared to be around his own age. The man looked like a perfect blend of Peter and Sonja, with reddish brown hair that was a few shades lighter than Peters and gray eyes with flecks of brown in them. He was between his parents in height, and the sun had tanned his skin and bleached blond streaks in his hair. He introduced himself as Peter and Sonja's son, Tobias Cronqvist.
Beside him sat a tiny woman, who was probably less than half of Gabriel's weight. She barely came up to Tobias' shoulder, and she had the milky white complexion of one who rarely saw the sun. Her blond hair was so pale it was almost translucent, but her eyes were a startlingly dark shade of blue. She was very slender, so much so that Gabriel could picture her blowing away in a stiff wind, and Peter introduced her as his wife, Kristina. She was pregnant, and on her small body, the three month old pregnancy made her look further along.
Next to Kristina sat a little girl that looked very much like her. Her hair was a darker shade of blond, and her skin had more color, but she had her mother's eyes. Before anyone could say a word, she hopped to her feet and announced:
"I'm Anna Cronqvist, and I'm five years old, and we're cousins!" Her eyes focused on Trevor, who had leaned back into Gabriel's chest at the girl's boisterous tone. "Hi, Trevor! Do you want to play?"
Trevor looked up at him with a wide eyed look. "Not right now, Anna." Gabriel said quietly, and Anna pouted a little before she climbed back up to sit with her parents.
Gabriel next turned his gaze to the third little group, his uncle Cordrin, his wife, and their children. Cordrin, who looked like a slightly taller, more wiry built version of his brother, was still glaring at him in obvious hatred. His wife made Gabriel think of the stories of temptresses that his elders used to tell him on stormy nights; beautiful women who used their seductive looks and voices to lure men to their doom. Her black hair contrasted sharply with her pale skin, and her cold, pale, blue eyes seemed to bore into him. She gave him a disdainful sniff and looked away without introducing herself.
"Your uncle Cordrin," his father said, which prompted a derisive snort from the man in question, "and his wife Eva."
Standing behind them was the one that Gabriel had pegged as their son. He was a mix of both of his parents, with his mother hair and complexion but with his father's eyes and build. He regarded Gabriel coolly, but he was at least polite enough to give him his name.
"Adelar, your -" He sneered. "-cousin."
Completing the ring around the room, was another young man, who looked like a male version of Eva Cronqvist. He appeared to be in his late teens, and his look was merely distant instead of hostile. He introduced himself as Cordrin and Eva's second child, Stefan. Beside him was a teenaged girl, perhaps 15 or so, and she too resembled her mother, though she was little stockier in build. She gave him an open smile and said her name was Ida. She reached up to brush her hair out of her face, and Gabriel spotted the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand. So she was engaged to be married then. She obviously hadn't married yet, otherwise she would be living with her husband and his family. He wondered for a brief moment when the wedding was and who she was going to be marrying, before the sight of Cordrin and Eva leaving the room interrupted his thoughts. Their children quickly followed them. He looked up as they strode out, and once the doors closed behind them, Peter leaned back in the couch he was sitting on.
"Finally!" he exclaimed. "Those two can make a wedding as lively as a funeral."
His wife smacked his arm. "Peter!" she hissed.
"What? It's true. They've been unbearable since Gabriel returned home."
"Of course, because it's so disappointing that dear Adelar isn't going to inherit." Sarcasm dripped from Tobias' words. "I think I would have renounced my name if he became head of the family."
Gabriel looked at them and then looked at his father. "Other than his clear hatred for me, what is wrong with Adelar being in charge exactly?"
His father sighed. "Cordrin has been grooming him to inherit every since you vanished from your cradle. In short he's been leading the boy around by his nose his entire life. If Adelar inherits, his father will be the one that's really in charge, with Adelar acting as the puppet. The boy has been led around so much, he can barely think for himself."
"And once Cordrin goes on to meet his Maker," Peter added, "things will just fall apart because Adelar is incapable of making any decisions without his father's input."
"Cordrin was always jealous of me as children." Father added. "He hated it that I was the heir, while he was the spare. I think this is his way of being head of the family in the only way possible."
"Couldn't you appoint someone else as your heir?" Gabriel asked.
"No." Father shook his head. "That's not how it works. It always passes to the closest male heir, which should have been you, and then your son, but your kidnapping disrupted that. Legally, it should have passed to Cordrin, but I do have some leeway, and so I made it clear that he would be unsuitable because he's not that much younger than me. He's eight years younger, and it wouldn't do for me to pass on, for him to inherit, and then die himself right after. Because of that Adelar became the heir presumptive before you were born and again after you vanished."
"Heir presumptive?"
Mother answered. "An heir presumptive is one who is in line to inherit, but they can be displaced by the birth of a closer heir. Adelar is a few months older than you, but he is not the son of the head of the family. That made him the heir presumptive. He was in line to inherit, but your birth displaced him. You are what is called the 'heir apparent' an heir that cannot be displaced by the birth of another heir. You are the son of the head of the family, so even if your father and I had had another son, you are still the heir, since you are the oldest."
Tobias spoke then. "It noble families like ours, anyone within a few generations of the head can be an heir presumptive. It would be possible for me to inherit, though it is very uncommon. Your father, yourself, your son, Cordrin, his children, and my own father would all have to die before I could inherit. Possible, but very unlikely."
Gabriel looked at his father again. "So I'm the heir apparent again, even though I've become..." He gestured at himself. "..this?"
Father nodded. "Yes, Gabriel, you are once again the heir apparent, and Trevor is your heir apparent. Sadly though, thanks to your vampirism, which would make it difficult to function as family head and would make most people hostile to you, the headship would skip you and go to Trevor. Since he is still too young to lead, someone, likely your mother, would act as his regent until he is old enough." He sat up straight. "But, that won't be an issue for a while yet. I have no intention of dying anytime soon. I would like to spend a number of years getting to know my son and grandson first."
Trevor squirmed to be put down then, and Gabriel absently set him down on the floor as he thought about what he had just heard. Anna hopped down from her seat as well, and she met Trevor in the middle of the floor and began to play peek – a – boo with him. Gabriel wanted to ask if Cordrin had had anything to do with his kidnapping, but he felt that such a conversation was not to be had around the rest of the family. Instead he turned and looked up at Sir Pershan, who smiled and nodded.
Gabriel smirked slightly as he turned to face his father. "So what is this soup kettle I've been hearing about?"
His father hid his face in his hands and groaned, while the adults in the room broke up laughing.
"Damn it, John!" Father groaned. "Did you have to tell him that one?"
Sir Pershan laughed with them. "Of course, I did. It keeps you humble."
Mother chuckled. "Ah the soup kettle." She gave her husband a wicked grin. "Maybe we should invite Sofia over for a visit? After all, she and I were first hand witnesses to that."
Gabriel looked at her. "Sofia?"
"Your aunt." Father said through his hands. "My sister who is three years younger than me and five years older than Cordrin."
"The soup kettle was talk of the dinner table that night." Peter said with a devious smirk. "And I told you that you'd never live it down, didn't I?"
Father sat up and leaned back against the couch. "Yes, you did, you did. Hearing about it still makes me wish I could just melt down into the floor."
"So what happened?" Gabriel said as a grin appeared on his face. He felt his mother's arm snake around his shoulders.
"So," she began," your father was seven, and your Aunt Sofia and I were four..."
Gabriel leaned against her as her voice flowed over him, telling the story even as his father begged her to stop. The rest of those present just laughed, and Gabriel allowed a smile. This is what family must feel like. This is what he had been missing.
"No, don't tell him! For Heaven's sake, Edeline, don't tell our son that story!"
Gabriel laughed; this was going to be wonderful.
Family: 17 -- Power: 2Back to the Main Archive
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Still can't help but think that Fate will catch up on the currently happy family. :(
Also, happy new year!
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I will say nothing!
Happy 2015!