"Of Wealth and Taste"

By wtchcool

Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned "The Cape," you'd be enjoying Season Two now, rather than reading Pence fics. And I know no one believes that I came up with the idea of vampirism. I have, however, refined a version for this fic, but why don't we let the fic speak for itself?

Chapter One: Your Sad Reality

"What are you, twelve?"

'Try forty-three,' I wanted to snap back, but I couldn't. For heaven's sake, I'm older than him! But I shouldn't take my anger out on him. It's not Vince's fault that I will never look my age.

We formed a partnership that night, but I keep a lot of secrets from my partner. He can never know who I am, what I am, or how I feel about him.

For the past five years, I've been "Orwell." My real name is Jamie Fleming, but I haven't used that name in years-not since I ran away from home twenty-six years ago. Yeah, Peter Fleming is my father. That secret alone is worth taking to the grave. In addition to destroying Vince's life, he's killed so many people; surely only a handful of his victims have been attributed to Chess.

But of course he has; he's a vampire. As far as I can tell, he stopped aging when he was the same age I am now. I was three years old, so I don't know what happened or who did it to him. He's never told me and I've been afraid to ask because it was around the same time that my mother died.

Sometimes I wonder if he did it; other times I can't believe I could even consider that. He loved my mother with all his heart. I remember that much, even though I don't have many memories of her. For that matter, I can't remember my father as a human. I always picture him as that pale heartless creature he's become…

Needless to say, I didn't live a normal childhood. Dad didn't take well to being a single-parent/vampire. Maybe it was my mom's death, but for whatever reason, he kept a close eye on me. And when I say a close eye, remember that I'm talking about a person who has highly advanced senses. I felt suffocated, but it hadn't occurred to me that things could get any worse than they were.

What a fool I was. I should have known that he had no intention of spending an eternity without his daughter. I'll say this much for him: He let me go through my adolescence-barely. As soon as the last of my acne cleared up, he turned me into a vampire. I was seventeen years old, and seventeen I will remain.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to try to buy a beer when you're forever frozen under the age of consent? Not that it stops me; a little compulsion ensures that the bouncer believes he's already seen my ID. That's not the point!

I don't care what his motives were. Thanks to dear old Dad, I can never finish growing up. I can never have children of my own… I can never forgive him.

So I ran away and never looked back.

Alright, I can't say he's not on my mind. Most vampires blend in, but oh no, my father can't be like the others. The mortals think that Chess is just a sick serial killer. They don't know the truth.

Damn it, Dad! You didn't have to be like this.

He has billions of dollars and unlimited time. If he had started searching for a cure for this condition years ago, maybe we'd have one by now. But he won't. He thinks it's a gift, as far as I can tell.

It's not just that he won't look for a cure. He's a murderer. Not all vampires kill. I don't; I'm perfectly content with the blood I take from the blood banks. Oh Vince, if you only knew that I became a hacker to electronically cover my tracks… Compulsion only works on humans, not computers, after all.

Poor Vince. I shouldn't complain when my father destroyed his life so completely. He's a good man. He was a good father and a good husband and yes, I admit it, I fell for my partner.

What does it matter? It would never work between us. He's human and I'm not. His wife, Dana, is mortal. They belong together, raising their son, growing old… all the things my father denied to me.

I think Ruvi knows, though: About everything. Everyone in the Coven of Crime has their own unique powers. Ruvi specializes in telepathy and I fear it works on vampires, too. He hasn't called me out on it, at least. If I'm lucky, he won't breathe a word to Vince. If I'm not, then…

I don't want to have to use my powers on Vince, ever. But if I have to do it to restore his peace of mind, I will.

Author's Note: Thanks to IronAmerica for beta-ing the chapter.

Here's where I'd point out this is only one-sided Vinwell, but I've learned that there's just no explaining this to determined shippers.

So, questions? Comments? Want me to stick to working on HP & TCK instead? Let me know people.

Title of the story from the song "Sympathy for the Devil."