AN: So I had this idea for awhile now about Eichhorst...perhaps having a child before his days as a vampire. In the present time, this child would of had families of their own, and now...Eichhorst has a great-granddaughter. The vampires in The Strain, have a "need" that almost drives them crazy: to turn their loved ones, or blood relatives, into creatures like them. If Eichhorst had such a person...how would he react or handle it?

So the story here is about this possibility.

I also wanted to start off with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe. It's one of my most favorite from him. I believe I want this story to have that same dark and foreboding feeling as the words here, from his poem. I first heard it as an introduction to the game "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem". The way it was read...it definitely left an impression on me.

Hope you all enjoy the story!

"Deep into that darkness peering,

long I stood there,

wondering. . .

fearing. . .

doubting. . . "

-Edgar Allan Poe

Chapter One:

4 years ago...

"... Claire."

"What?"

"Why did you call her 'mom'?"

"Huh? I don't-"

"You called her 'mom'. Why?"

"Oh...well, I...I guess it slipped out. I...didn't mean to."

"..."

"It's just...I've known her all my life, and...I guess she's been so much like a mom to me, that...she kind of is-"

"She's not your mom."

"Oh..."

"She's my mom. Dad says you're only here because your parents are dead."

"... I know... I know..."

It was then and there that Claire Wright knew she had to find her "own" family. It seemed like only yesterday when her cousin, Chris Wright, had told her this hard truth . She never really felt part of her aunt and uncle- Trish and Ben's- family, and Chris hit the nail on the head when Chris reminded her of that fact. He was only eleven at the time, and always angry at the world around him. Even if, at the time, he didn't really know what he was saying- even if he didn't really mean it- it meant something to Claire. She was (in her mind) always considered the "black sheep" of his family, after all.

There was nothing particularly special about Claire, except for her artistic ability to paint fine arts. Through all her life, she has kept to herself and never gotten into any trouble of any kind. She had little friends; however, those few friends, she did keep close and almost considered them family. ...Although, she didn't know if they felt the same way. Because of Claire's shy and rather awkward nature at times, she has been somewhat of a recluse, and this aspect of her has concerned both her aunt and uncle. They were happy that she has been a "good girl" all through her twenty-one years, but they wished she was a little more assertive with herself. They wished she was more adventurous and daring, like sneaking out of the house or going with a group of friends to a rock concert. Because of her reserved ways, Aunt Trish and Uncle Ben have considered Claire to be a predictable person.

... Or so they thought...

Claire's aunt and uncle had adopted her into their family after her parents died in a car accident that claimed both their lives. That part Claire always knew. What she didn't know, and wanted to know, if there was anyone else out there related to her, other than her aunt. Throughout her life, Claire felt so alienated from her aunt and uncle's family, because her interests, her likes, her hobbies, and even her mannerisms were so different from them. So she figured: if she was nothing like her dad's side of the family...what of her mother's?

She had questioned her aunt and uncle quite a few times about her mom, but it only led to shrugs or they'd say they really didn't know Claire's mother as well as her dad did. Their lack of knowledge on her mom's side only made Claire more curious, frustrated, and then anxious to find out the answers. So, Claire took it upon herself to seek out the information she so desired; and this...this is what her aunt and uncle were unaware of, and she wasn't going to tell them about it any time soon. After all, would they not be hurt or feel betrayed that Claire decided to go behind their backs to find out the family tree? In Claire's mind, they would.

With whatever money Claire had scrounged up secretly during the years, she invested it into one of those ancestry websites, giving them whatever information they needed in order to produce Claire's own "family tree". She waited many eager months for the results, and when they came, she was more than excited to see what was given to her. Unfortunately, her mom's side of the family were...scarce, to say the least. It was odd: her father's family tree was plenty and full of relatives; the other side barely branched off anywhere. With this few people on her mother's side, Claire assumed that maybe they were individuals that kept to themselves most of their lives...just like Claire has.

It was interesting though: her mom's family tree started with Claire's great-grandparents; or grandparent , for that matter. Her great-grandmother was unknown, much to Claire's disappointment. Her great-grandfather, on the other hand... Claire examined the picture she had received of this man. Thomas Eichhorst, was the name printed on the photograph. It was an old black-and-white picture, with her great-grandfather wearing a military uniform of sorts. He was tall, normal build, and had well defining, masculine features. He appeared well presented, and the way his uniform looked, Claire guessed that he was a high-ranking officer. It was when she better examined the uniform did her features sour: He was a Nazi officer.

With a defeated sigh, she put away all this ancestry information in a well-hidden place in her room. Even if there were people she wanted to contact on her family tree, she would rather do it when she had her own place to live. Since the economy wasn't in anyone's favor at the moment, Claire moving out of her aunt and uncle's wouldn't be any time soon.

Of course, this all happened several years prior...

Now, nearing Claire's twenty-second birthday, her aunt and uncle have announced that everyone is taking a two-week trip to New York through a time-share plan. While Claire's cousin had rejoiced to this news, Claire could only groan inwardly. She wasn't fond of going to places she considered "uncharted territory". She preferred the comfort and safety of her own home; or better yet, her own room.

Claire attempted to talk her way out of going. For over a week Claire had brought it up many, many times that she didn't want to leave, but her aunt (and mostly her aunt) and uncle have insisted that she go. They also added that they would celebrate her birthday while in New York, so that was at least something for Claire to look forward to. Either which way, Claire had no choice in the matter.

So a few weeks before heading off to New York, Claire thought to familiarize herself with various places and landmarks of things where most likely they would venture. She browsed many informative websites and glanced many photos of specific things New York had to offer; for example, she assumed at some point that her family would want to visit a store of sorts near the Stoneheart building, and to Claire's recollection of what she read, that building is one of the second largest in New York. She thought that little tid-bit was rather interesting to her; especially so when she looked over pictures of it she found around the internet.

It was when she browsed more images of the Stoneheart corporation did she find something most unusual, but highly fascinating at the same time. She had to take a moment and averted her eyes dumbfounded before staring back at it. There, on her laptop screen, she had enlarged a picture of Eldritch Palmer: head of the Stoneheart corporation, and a very rich man from what Claire had heard. There- next to Palmer, was a very well-dressed man all in black, and it was this mysterious man's face that drew her in to the image in the first place. Claire hastily brought out and fumbled around with the various photographs she had gotten through her ancestry search, and withdrew the one of Thomas Eichhorst. She then compared images; studied both Thomas Eichhorst's features to the well-suited man in the other photo, but there was no doubt denying it: they were both one and the same person.

Claire's lips parted in shock. But how could that be? One photo was taken during the World War II era... How could one man look exactly the same over seventy-or-so years later? It just wasn't possible! Claire scrutinized the images carefully and went over possible conclusions to this. One conclusion: it was just a coincidence that Claire's ancestor resembled another man of today. One other possibility, and one that Claire wanted to go on, was that...perhaps...the well-dressed man in the photo was also part of Claire's long-lost family? The idea was far-fetched, to be sure, but...it was definitely a nice thought...

Claire scrunched up her face as she pondered on this. She wondered now if the picture of Eldritch Palmer and the mystery man were doctored altogether. It was clear that the photo was taken from afar, possibly from a high-quality camera; however, Claire could see that Eldritch Palmer did not want to be discovered with the man next to him. At least from her perspective it seemed that way.

She didn't know why she'd become so transfixed to this. She should just scrap any notions and ideas she has and just get on with her life. There was no possible way the man with Palmer and the one in the aged photograph are one-and-the-same.

Still...would it hurt to find out if Eldritch Palmer knows of Thomas Eichhorst anyways?

Claire would be in the New York area, possibly near the Stoneheart building at some point. Would it be so terrible of her to find out if Palmer knows anything?... Even if the man in the photo that just looks like Thomas Eichhorst isn't Thomas Eichhorst...maybe the look-alike and the "real" Thomas Eichhorst are related somehow? There has to be accounts where the ancestry websites tend to get their findings mixed up and not know of other relatives...could this be such a case with Claire?

Claire scoffed at all this and decided to focus on something else for a while. All this nonsense was giving her a headache.

Even as the days grew closer to the time of the trip, Claire couldn't stop thinking about what she had found. And the more her mind weighed on it, the more it actually started to make sense to her. The fact that the photograph of Thomas Eichhorst she carried, and the picture she found of Palmer with the look-alike Eichhorst: they have to be related somehow! Yes! They just have to be! The resemblance to each other is uncanny! There can be no other explanation!

That settled it for her then: once Claire was in New York, she would somehow visit this Stoneheart building and find out if Palmer knows of Thomas Eichhorst, or the look-alike he was with. She smirked at her own boldness to this plan. It's not like Claire would be living in New York and would have to deal with the repercussions of her own actions.

After all, what's the harm in finding out? What could go wrong?