Disclaimer: Guess what? I'm not putting a disclaimer on future chapters anymore (ooooh, I am SUCH a rebel teen :P)! For the last time in this story, I. don't. own. it.
A/N: Since I love Gavner so dearly, I think he needs some redemption from the last chapter (yeah, it was definitely not his finest hour), so I decided to write this one with him and Liz as the pairing, which I've never done before, so bear with me =)
Third Word: LIGHT
How many years had it been since Gavner had seen the light of day? He had no idea of the actual number, but the answer was: too many. Some vampires - well, maybe only Vancha March - seemed to get some sort of rebellious satisfaction from walking around in the sunlight, letting their skin sizzle and peel before they returned to safety. That was crazy. Some others, like Arra Sails, enjoyed watching the sun rise in the morning, but scurried to the comfort of the darkness before it could damage their sensitive skin. That was a waste of time. And then, of course, there were the majority of the vampires, who were content to be creatures of the night for however many centuries they would live. Gavner used to be one of them, mostly because he never really gave it much thought. It was a fact of life that he couldn't walk around during the day, so why would he worry about it? But things had changed when he met Liz. Though she would make her best effort to stay up with him all night while he was visiting, she had obligations during the day, like work, that she couldn't ignore. She was always up during the day, and he longed to spend that time with her. He knew he couldn't be with her for all, or even most, of his life. She was a human (and wanted to stay like that), and humans died in a cruelly short amount of time. He felt like precious moments of their already limited relationship were being lost because of his one stupid shortcoming. It wasn't fair to him, and it certainly wasn't fair to Liz.
Gavner was sitting on his bed, knees hugged to his chest. He had been having a good, long think about this, and tonight - correction, toDAY - was the day he was going for it. He could stand an hour of light for Liz.
He could hear her down in the kitchen, brewing a pot of tea and eating breakfast. It smelled like pancakes. If he had had doubts before, the pancakes just erased them. He climbed out of bed, stepped into a pair of brown slippers, and started downstairs.
"Gavner?" Liz said curiously as he appeared in the kitchen doorway grinning from ear to ear. She was wrapped in a blue bathrobe, sitting at the table, pouring syrup over her meal. A book was propped open next to her, and a mug of coffee was still steaming in her left hand. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," he said happily, helping himself to pancakes before sitting next to her. "I decided to stay up with you for a bit."
She looked at him suspiciously, then glanced out the window. "What about the sun?" she asked, her tone delicate, as if she thought he had forgotten and she might embarrass him.
"What about it?" he said. "I'm inside, it can't hurt me too much." She stared at him, unsureness and concern flooding her eyes. "Really," he said, smiling and taking her free hand. "I promise."
After a second, she smiled back. "Okay then," she said, and handed him a knife and fork. "Want some syrup?"
"Sure!" said Gavner enthusiastically. "So," he started to dress his pancakes. "What are you reading?"
"Actually, Dracula," Liz said.
"Really," Gavner said, chuckling. "Did I ever tell you that one of the vampire princes inspired that book?"
"No way!" she said, shutting the book to look at the cheesy vampire on the cover. "It's not very accurate."
"I guess Bram Stoker had to sensationalize it," he shrugged. "Although according to Paris Skyle, he spent a very drunken night playing poker with Stoker and couldn't quite remember everything he said. Who knows, maybe Sire Paris was banking on the fact that if he told him that he could suck his blood and turn him into a vampire that Stoker'd let him win."
Liz shook her head and laughed. "Where do you think he got the turning-into-a-bat thing?"
Gavner had just wolfed down a whole pancake in one bite and so it took him a second before he could answer. "I suppose it's because vampires are friendly with bats. Though Bram Stoker may have caught sight of my friend Larten in his cape. Sometime it blows out behind him like an absurd pair of wings and he looks like a bloody bat." He grinned and added jokingly, "A very ugly, old, red bat." Gavner smiled in satisfaction as he made a mental note to tell Larten that he had mentioned him to Liz.
Liz smiled and slapped him playfully on the elbow. "Speaking of which, you look a little red yourself," she said, pointing at his face.
"Mm," Gavner mumbled through a mouth full of his last pancake. "Feel kind of warm. I'm gonna take a look."
He wiped the short beard and mustache around his mouth with a napkin and went to the foyer, where a small mirror sat above a table decorated with bright flowers. Gavner had been around too long to look in a mirror regularly - he probably hadn't seen his reflection in five or six decades. It was set at Liz's height, and so at first he couldn't even see his chin in it. Lifting it off the hook on the wall, he held it up to his face. What he saw almost made him shout. Yes, he was a little flushed, but that was the least of his worries. He reached a trembling hand up and traced the scars that covered his once-handsome face. There were nearly a half dozen long, jagged ones, and at least ten fleshy depressions in his cheeks and forehead from miscellaneous gouges he had acquired over the years. His hair, once thick and full, was now missing chunks where it had been burned during his trials so long ago. Circles of purple surrounded his dark eyes, making him look like he had gaping holes where his eye sockets should have been. Dumbfounded and horrified, he stared blankly at himself for several long, painful seconds. Gavner wasn't a vain person, vampires were too wise for vanity, but he found himself shocked by the drastic change in his appearance. He hadn't aged much in forty years, but he looked worn and damaged and - he couldn't think of a better word - terrible. If he came across someone who looked himself on the street, he would have thought they had jumped out of a horror movie. It was terrifying. Finally, his shoulders slumped and he replaced the mirror of the wall.
He didn't say anything to Liz as he dragged his feet through the kitchen and to the stairs.
"Gavner? Where are you going?" she called after him. He heard her chair skidding on the floor as she got up to follow him, but he didn't turn around.
"Going to bed," he mumbled dismally.
"Why?"
He stopped at the top of the stairs to look down at her, heaving a sigh. "I think I found the reason vampires can't go out in the daylight. It's not a curse, it's a blessing."
And with that he crumbled into bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin; it was the last time he ever wanted to be seen in the light of day again.
Awwwwww...poor Gavner :P
Thanks for reading and reviewing *hint hint*!
And just to be sure, I have gone in the right order so far, right? It is Dawn, Brilliance, Light, and the next would be Games, correct? I've checked and double-checked the list, but I'm paranoid :D
