Meet the Ancients: Chapter 10

"There is a difference between living through history and understanding the cause and effect relationships between historical events."

"Human history does not affect us, why should it matter?"

"You're wrong; if you depend on humans for sustenance then it definitely affects you. For example, you lived through this, roughly 300 years after you were made vampire – specifically 1315 – the weather abruptly got colder. Spring and summer stayed cold and rainy. Thus crops failed to ripen and, due to the high humidity and cold, salt couldn't be made to preserve meat. This continued for a total of three consecutive growing seasons. The result being widespread starvation, loss of seed grain and draft animals, rising disease as immune systems weakened, falling birth rates and rising death rates. Although there was a crop the fourth year - it took about ten years for the food supplies to return to normal. Up to 25% of the population died during those years. It is regarded as the beginning of the Little Ice Age; and it lasted through to about the time of the American Civil War."

"During that time period the weather was never dependable – so there were numerous famines and plagues. There was a dramatic rise in warfare, crime and violence. The value of human life dropped considerably. By the 1500's population loss ranged from 40% to 70% from pre-1300 levels, depending on region. Based on this, what do you think happened to the vampire population?"

While she was talking the waiter came by and left her salad.

I thought about that, she has a point. I do not have any strong memories of that time. I told her, "I vaguely remember that time. Godric kept us on the outskirts of population centers. I can remember that we had numerous run-ins with other vampires in which we ended up killing them. I was glad I was with Godric because his age gave us an advantage. So I would imagine that vampire populations dropped also."

Magan went on, "Vampire population drops, percentage wise, were higher than they were for the human population. Not surprising, it follows typical predator/prey population cycles such as the wolf/moose cycle on Isle Royale or the lynx/snowshoe hare cycle in northern British Colombia. However, I'm not going to get into that now."

"That time frame is also when the governmental system that vampires use today was established. It reflects the human morals and ideas of that time. It was meant as a way of controlling the size of the population of vampires; and it has never changed. The only ones who escaped having it forced on them were those who were thousands of years old."

This is all very interesting. It seems to make sense despite the fact that I have never heard it before. "How do you know about all this when I do not?"

"Groups like the one Wolf is in have ended up being the de facto chroniclers of vampire history. Wolf told you how they separate for centuries at a time before rejoining, well part of what they study is what the younger vampires are up to. I learned some during the time I was with him, and he told me the rest when I saw him on Tuesday."

She continued, "There were other consequences for the human population which ultimately created the society that we live in today. The authority of the Catholic Church was undermined as prayer and the clergy were ineffective against what was going on. That led to the rise of other religions which broke the hold that the Catholic Church had over Europe."

"The authority of medieval government was also undermined and destabilized."

"These were stepping stones to new ways of thinking which over time resulted in events like the French Revolution – which inspired the American Revolution. Distance from Europe allowed America to experiment and create the government system we still use. The freedoms and rights accorded American citizens inspired the people of Europe to want similar rights, which led to changes in government there."

"These reforms were never adopted into vampire culture and kept vampiric government from evolving."

Our waiter returned with our meals. He did not look at me as he set the bottle of True Blood and a crystal glass in front of me. "True Blood B positive." He placed a plate in front of Magan. "Ribeye – rare." Then he put a carafe of water and a glass on the table and asked, "Will there be anything else?"

I answered him, "This will be fine."

I watched Magan slice into her steak. Inside it was completely red and dark red juice flowed from it. It looks appetizing to me. "Is that cooked?"

"Yes – it is perfect."

"Well that even looks good to me." I poured her a glass of water. "But I doubt I could keep it down, I will just have to enjoy watching you consume it." I poured the blood into my glass.

"I'm glad it looks appetizing to you – I'm sure you'll be watching me eat plenty of these." She cut a few bits of steak – then asked, "Do you have any color other than black in your closet? Every time that I have seen you, you have been wearing solid black. You really need to wear some other color to accent it sometimes."

"So, you think that I need to wear colors?" I joked.

"It would be nice."

I got a smug little smile on my face, "You will be glad to know then that I have plenty of clothes that are not black. It is just that all my clothes for work are black."

"Why is that?" She asked.

"Humans expect to see vampires dressed in black."

She countered, "So you like being a cliché?"

"I sell a cliché." I said seriously, "That is all that Fangtasia is . . . and it makes me a lot of money."

"Fair enough, as long as you know what you are." She conceded, "So, I've done most of the talking so far, what do you want to talk about?"

"I am not exactly sure." I thought about how long she had spent in the company of Ancients. "How did you meet Wolfram?"

She shook her head and smiled, "I wouldn't have guessed that you would ask that. He was going to feed on me, but he couldn't glamour me first and it interested him. So instead he befriended me. I found him intriguing and figured out what he was within three weeks. When I asked him, he admitted it and asked if I wanted to be his companion, I said yes. We didn't become lovers for a bit over six months while he fed me his blood regularly – he was too worried about hurting me otherwise."

"Was he feeding off of you too?"

"Yes. He alternated feeding off of me with going out and feeding from someone he had glamoured."

That does not make sense, how did they avoid a blood bond?

"When you separated how did you avoid the complications of a blood bond?"

"I don't think we ever really had one; he blocked it. He thought that I should have free will to leave at any point if I wanted. He told me about blood bonds just in case, but it never was an issue."

"I never heard of that happening before, do you know how he did it?"

"No." She answered, "By the way, this reminds me of something I've been meaning to say. We need to talk about a practical matter. How do you prefer to take your sustenance? I know that I will not be able to provide all the blood that you need. How do you want to obtain the rest?"

I had not thought of this yet. Humans can be strange about sharing. Is she saying that she will not mind if I do not rely on bottled blood for the remainder of my meals?

"What exactly do you mean?"

She sighed, "I mean that there are numerous ways now for you to make up the blood I can't spare. There is bottled synthetic blood – but the feeling that I get from you is that you don't particularly like it. You can order a human or from a blood donor service. You can rely on picking a random human for blood at Fangtasia, but if you plan on sex and blood I would rather not be present. Or you can allow me to pick a random human for sex and blood. If you chose the last one you won't have a choice as to who it is – it will depend upon who I am in the mood for, and only as often as I am in the mood to share you."

She has surprised me yet again. I keep treating her as if she has only known of us since the Great Revelation. I need to start remembering that she has known of us for many years, and spent years living with one of us. "Just to be sure I understand you correctly – if I allow you to choose my meal for the night I get to fuck you both?"

"You get a gold star Erik. It's not as if I've never done such a thing before; although it did take me a few years to get over my "inherent human prudishness" and go hunting with Wolf."

I smiled, "You keep surprising me. If you are fine with it, I prefer the last option. When we go out like this I will order the synthetic. The rest of the time I will alternate methods."

She shrugged, "You can do whatever you want, and so can I. I am merely telling you my preferences. Of course with this bond it probably won't matter who picks, we'll both end up attracted to whomever the other chooses."

"You seem to be very accepting of all this, as if it is not a major concern. I almost feel as if I should expect you to act like a vampire. And then in other ways you most definitely act like a human."

"Well in many ways I think more like a vampire than as a human would. I spent all of my 20's, which is when human form most of the framework that they live their adult life by, living with a vampire. You are also forgetting that I have to move regularly because of my physical age. It is easier for vampires because you aren't expected to age. Can you imagine the reaction if the general population knew that it is possible to slow the aging process down as much as mine is? I know you don't like the fact that vampire blood can heal to get out, but this is even bigger."

I gave what she said some reflection, "You are right. I never thought about how your life must be. How long did it take to slow it down so much?"

She got that far away look in her eyes again,

"I don't really know exactly. I do remember looking in a mirror when I turned thirty and realizing that I didn't look any older than when I met Wolf. I asked him about it and he said that he had forgotten about it being possible. I asked how long I should expect it to last and he said I should expect to live to be 200 to 250 years old, maybe longer."

That shocked me. "That is a long time." I remembered that she had told Wolfram that she planned to be turned into a vampire at some point.

"When do you plan to have Alric turn you then?"

She finished her last bite of food and placed the plate off to the side for the staff to collect.

She looked thoughtful, "I was going to wait for a while - 30, 40 maybe 50 years. There are a lot of things that I will miss – like dark chocolate, good wine, orange juice, a good steak. At least I don't have to worry about missing a tan - if I am in the sun for too long I get badly sunburned, so I stay out of strong sun and don't go to the beach. I've always been more of a night person than a day person, so that will change a little but not much."

"Anyways, with this new bond I've been thinking that I will give it another 5 years. I'll figure out what I want to do most and get it done first; then I'll tell Alric it is time."

I got a little concerned when she said that, "I do not want you to feel that you need to change for me. If you want to wait 50 years it is no problem for me."

"It's not for you, I just never thought about it before – it was more an abstract concept rather than a reality. I didn't really have a set date in mind, just that I didn't want to turn any latter than that point."

"So what is it that you want to do that you can't do as vampire?"

She answered easily, "I want to raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. I also would like to hike and kayak Isle Royale before and after. If I think about it more I'm sure that I can come up with a few more things."

The waiter came by with the check. I looked at it, doubled it and lay the cash down on the table. It was 6:45; I am surprised that Pam has not called me to see where I am. Then again she did see what was happening last night I doubt she expects to see me any time soon. Too bad I feel the need to hold myself up as a good example.

I stood and held my hand out to Magan. "Are you ready to go, I am already late." She took my hand and followed me out. As we left I saw our waiter headed towards us going in the direction of the table we had just vacated. I just could not resist giving him a toothy smile.

Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me get my facts straight.