What Merlin's coming of age ceremony would be like was a topic of hot debate as they rode out to the castle in the late afternoon.
"It's have something to do with blood, it is a vampire ceremony after all." Gwaine decided, "Blood has to be involved!"
"Blood is nothing but food to them Gwaine, it's not like it's a part of their personality." Percival chided.
"So? We feast at our coming of age parties. You should of seen it, I spent mine in the tavern naturally and there was this great roast pig..."
He was gone then, oblivious to the fact that everybody had stopped listening, you had to be good at that when you lived with Gwaine. Unless you are Merlin of course, who found all of his stories, especially the tavern ones, fascinating for some odd reason Arthur could not fathom. Finally the sun set and the great silhouette of the castle came into view.
"I never thought the Valley of Fallen Kings could get much creepier." Leon muttered.
Silently Arthur agreed, the large stone castle with it's dark grey bricks and heavily covered windows did look daunting. Well, more correctly it would have looked daunting did Arthur not know his closest friend and his people were inside.
"Arthur!"
"Lancelot!"
The thrall ran over to meet the company with a happy smile on his face. Lancelot had been Merlin's personal servant and friends for years now, he was the only person who knew more about the vampire than Arthur did.
"It's good to see you again." Arthur smiled as they tied the horses, "Where's Merlin."
"Preparing for the ceremony, he's pretty nervous. Then again they all are, I don't blame them."
"So what happens in this ceremony?" Arthur asked, the curiosity was practically burning him from the inside out but Lancelot just chuckled.
"You can wait and see." He teased, "Head to the Grand Hall, that's where the ceremony is taking place. I need to go make sure Merlin is ready."
-oOo-
Merlin looked at himself in the mirror. Tradition dictated all vampires wear black for their coming of age, so he had a black tunic and cape matched with a golden belt and cape ties. The ensemble made him look even paler and daunting, perhaps that was the point.
"Sire, Arthur and the knights have arrived, they are heading to the Grand Hall." Lancelot called as he entered the room, "Are you ready?"
"Yes." Merlin replied after a deep breath.
"You're sure you don't need anything else?" Lancelot prompted holding up his golden coronet.
"Oh, right." the vampire bit his lip nervously.
"Relax Merlin, you'll do just fine." Lancelot grinned as the prince slipped the golden ring over his head.
"Arthur told me they feasted and held a jousting match for his coming of age, couldn't vampires do the same thing?" He whinged.
He'd been feeling nervous all week, like all young vampire's he'd spent it preparing, practicing, studying for every possibility but he still felt as if his stomach was churning. He was both glad and worried about his human friends attending the celebration, what would they think of the practice? Even some vampires thought it slightly barbaric.
"Come on sire, they're ready for us."
No turning back now.
-oOo-
The Grand Hall lived up to it's name, the there was a ground floor with a balcony above it running around the entire area. The knights had been directed tot he balcony where what must have been over a hundred vampires were milling about. Most of them were looking down at the ground floor eagerly and whispering to themselves.
Normally a group of humans in the room would of earned them a look, but Arthur and his Round Table Knights were well known by this community, some thralls who were serving blood even bought them wine. Percival had made a face at first due to it being red wine, he'd thought they were being offered a cup of blood like all the rest.
"What's that?" Elyan asked, pointing down to the ground floor which was mainly empty.
Only one vampire stood there, Balinor, Merlin's father. He was standing by a large tall object covered by a white cloth and muttering as he drew a large circle around it using magic.
"Merlin's all ready, he'll be entering any moment now." Lancelot greeted them, joining them by the balcony and looking down.
"What's Balinor doing?" Arthur asked.
"When vampires come of age it's tradition that their announcer is their oldest male relative." Lancelot provided, "The ring is magical, once Merlin steps over it, he can't step out until Balinor removes the magic."
Arthur was about to ask more when a hush fell over the crowd and Merlin entered down on the lower floor. For a brief moment he caught the vampire's eye san gave him a reassuring smile, though he wasn't sure what he was reassuring him of.
"Are you ready?" Balinor asked seriously, Merlin nodded.
The king grabbed the sheet covering the object and tugged it away, leaving the circle as he did so. The prince took a deep breath and stepped over the red line.
The object, much to Arthur's surprise, looked like a mirror, except that for some reason, it was not showing Merlin's reflection, despite the fact he was standing only a few feet in front of it.
"Fear Glass." lancelot explained to the group in a hushed voice, "It doesn't show you an outward reflection but an inward one, this one has been enchanting to bring to life the thing Merlin is most afraid to face, so he can fight it, win and prove he is no longer a child."
"That's a vampire's coming of age ceremony?" Arthur gaped, "Fighting your worst fear?"
"It depends on the vampire, it has to be a fear with a physical form that one can combat. It can't be a fear of loosing a loved one or something alone those lines-oh look it's started!"
Indeed, the glass has begun to glow and hum slightly and the vampire began to whisper excitably. Merlin lengthen his claws and fangs ready to fight. The was an audible intake of breath when the figure stepped out of the mirror, Arthur felt his eyes widen.
Merlin was staring at a perfect replica of himself. Well, almost perfect. It was Merlin but with all his vampiric traits amplified, massive fangs, huge claws and pitch black eyes. The copy snarled and hissed like an animal,more specifically, a vampire struggling with Hunger Madness.
Merlin didn't look shocked like the crowd, he didn't even look scared. He looked determined. The doppelganger made the first move and soon the two were snarling and going at one another almost too fast to follow. If it weren't for the copy's huge fangs it would be impossible to tell which was the real Merlin.
For a few minutes it seemed as if Merlin was going to lose, the copy sunk it's fangs into his shoulder from behind and the new king yelped in pain and slashed it across the face.
"Yeah Merlin! Show him whose the man...I mean vampire!" Gwaine yelled.
Then Merlin grabbed the upper hand, tackling the creature into the invisible wall of the circle only to be pushed back. The copy raced toward the royal but in one smooth movement Merlin dodges and slashed his claws across it's throat. The doppelganger turned to white dust and vanished before it had even hit the floor.
The applause almost deafened the king but he didn't mind. Merlin grinned up at them. Balinor waved his hand and the ring disappeared as Merlin turned to face him. Then slowly he took the coronet from his head and threw it to his fathers feet. The other king then produced a heavier crown, much like Arthur had been given when he came of age, and placed it on his sons head.
Merlin turned and bowed to the crowed with a smile and they all cheered.
"That was the best coming of age ceremony I've ever seen!" Leon exclaimed, Arthur nodded in agreement.
"Come on, it's time for the celebration!"
Originally i was going to call it Foe Glass but then I realized that was from Harry Potter :P