"So have you heard the news," Raziel glanced over at Zephon from across the table as he flipped the cards in his clawed hands, stacking them and then sorting through them with ease. The fifth eldest sat at the opposite end of the table, a satisfied smirk on his face as he caught Raziel's eyes.
"Heard what?" Dumah asked, reaching across the circular table for the jug of ale to refill his already empty goblet. He sat next to Raziel, and after him was Rahab then Turel. The five brothers sat in a simple room in Raziel's Clan Holdings with black candles casting a harsh glow over them, playing a card game that Turel had introduced a few nights back to them something called poker. The only reason Raziel was playing it was because he needed to get back the money from Turel that he had lost, which he in turn owed to Rahab. As usual, Melchiah was absent from this friendly get together; most thought it was because he was never very social to begin with.
"Well, I have heard from my sources a very interesting little tidbit," Zephon said as he passed around the coloured rocks that served as the coinage for this game. "Something I am sure all of you will be dying to hear."
Turel gave Zephon an annoyed look as he brushed back his hair. "So shut up and just tell us already. Raziel, deal the cards." The eldest quickly dealt out five cards to each of his siblings, face down, and waited for Zephon to speak. The Clan Leader of the Zephonim vampires cleared his throat, looked each of his brothers in the eyes, and then finally spoke.
"I know why Melchiah has not come tonight; not because he feels insignificant to us in every way but because, and this is truly shocking news, he taking care of…a human child!" Zephon leaned back in his chair and looked at his cards with a black face, letting what he had just said sink in for the rest of the Lieutenants. Raziel folded his cards and raised an eyebrow at Zephon.
"Honestly Zephon, you and your rumors and blind gossip will one day get the better of you. Where did you hear this from, one of your spies?"
"Of course, Raziel. Where else."
Dumah snorted and wiped his mouth with the back of his massive hand. "Melchiah, that twerp? Taking care of a child and a human one besides? The whole idea is laughable Zephon. He cannot even take care of himself, as any vampire from any Clan would know. I think that your spy was wrong in their information. Perhaps they drank just a little too much, or one of those stupid human servants were talking about another human brat and mistook it-"
Zephon slammed his cards down on the table and looked at Dumah. "Are you saying that my sources might be wrong?"
"I believe that is what Dumah is implying, as would I," Rahab spoke up quietly, flicking through his cards with a frown on his face. "I find the whole idea of Melchiah raising a child rather far-fetched. It just does not seem like him in the least."
"Like how you seem to be the bookworm when actually it is Zephon who reads far more than you, Rahab?" Turel gave a knowing wink and laughed. "All I am saying is appearances are deceiving. There might be a grain of truth in this rumor that Zephon has heard. All things usually do."
That made Dumah laugh. "Yes, but Melchiah, caring for a child? Let us be sensible. You know as I know that could never happen Turel. I mean, look at Melchiah. He scares everyone off. His skin is constantly peeling and molting off his weak frame, he does not heal as we do, he has no true talent as we have…how can he possibly take care of a child, any child? I would really like to know, I really would."
Raziel sighed as his siblings began to bicker with each other. Zephon was beginning to speak in that arrogant voice of his while Dumah rumbled on and on about Melchiah's incompetence, while Rahab and Turel tried to just figure out if Melchiah was capable of such a thing. The card game had been all but forgotten; Raziel stood up and placed his Clan banner about his shoulder and moved towards the door.
"Hey, where are you going," Turel demanded.
"While all of you can trade words and blows for as long as you like, I am going to go and see if this rumor that Zephon has heard is actually true." With that said, Raziel opened up the door to the room and slammed in shut behind him with unnecessary force, causing two candles to topple onto the ground that Turel stamped out with his cloven feet quickly lest they make the carpet catch.
A brief silence ensued, then Rahab spoke. "So are we still playing poker or not?"
* * *
Melchiah stood over the crib that housed Clara inside, dangling one talon over the side for her to grab onto and suckle at. For such a tiny being, she possessed an incredibly strong grip. The nursery had been set up quickly by Matron in the past day; the room was right next to Melchiah's so if Clara cried at all during the night he could be right beside her. The crib occupied a small alcove with a window above it, the curtains made of a soft yellow material, and at the moment enough dolls and children's books lined the room to make it look like there were three children instead of one living here. Melchiah knew that Clara would not be able to read for a while yet, she could not even walk, but that did not matter. He loved his daughter more than his own life.
His daughter.
The vampire lord was still trying to get use to those two words and found he enjoyed them. He enjoyed everything about Clara, from the way she cooed and giggled at everything she saw to how she tried to crawl across the floor. And Melchiah saw that his greatest achievement so far was actually learning how to change her diaper and help feed her. It made him feel so powerful, so alive.
"Now you have to go to sleep, Clara. Go to sleep because daddy has said so," Melchiah spoke in a little voice that seemed to calm her more than the nanny's. "And look, daddy's made you a present that he spent all day working on so you could sleep with it."
From the folds of his Clan banner Melchiah withdrew the small rag doll that he had indeed spent all day on. His thumb on his left hand was wrapped in a bandage; he had pricked himself there more than he cared to remember but he had finished the doll for his child. Clara giggled and grabbed at the small rag doll, clinging to it as if for dear life and drooling on its head. A polite knock at the door made the vampire lord turn. A servant stood there, head bowed respectfully.
"What," he inquired.
"Milord Melchiah, your elder brother Lord Raziel wishes to have a few words with you. He is out waiting in the hall." With a bow the servant left. Melchiah turned back to Clara and already saw her sleeping, the doll clutched in both hands. He smiled and kissed her forehead gently, then went to go and see why Raziel had decided to pay him a visit. The eldest brother was leaning casually against the wall, arms folded across his chest. He nodded to Melchiah and stepped towards him.
"I see you are doing well, little brother. I have a question for you?"
"What is it, Raziel?" Melchiah tapped his foot impatiently against the floor and waited. Why was Raziel looking at him so?
"I have heard, rumors mostly, that you have come into possession of a…human child and that you have decided to raise this being as your own. Tell me if these allegations are true or nothing more than a joke of sorts, Melchiah."
Melchiah drew himself up to his full height and looked at Raziel straight in the eye. He could not suppress the proud smile that lit up his face. "Yes, I have adopted a baby girl as my own. Her name is Clara and she is my daughter."
"What?" Raziel's mouth dropped open and his eyes seemed to grow as large as saucers. "Y-you are not kidding, are you? Seriously?"
"No, I am not Raziel. I could not be more truthful. Someone left poor Clara on my doorstep and I have taken her for my own child. And it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me." For a few moments Melchiah saw his eloquent brother at a loss for words, a rare thing indeed. Raziel paced down the hall, reached the end, then turned around and paced right back the way he had come. He stopped and grabbed a hold of Melchiah's shoulders, nearly shaking his little brother.
"You are serious? I can't believe-I would never imagine such a thing…this is unexpected."
"It is the truth. Do you wish to see Clara? She is sleeping at the moment, so I ask you to tread lightly. Come, follow me." Melchiah lead Raziel thought his chambers and over into Clara's darkened room. Pressing a talon to his lips to indicate he wanted silence, Melchiah opened the door and both vampires ghosted in. As Melchiah proudly stood over the crib as any father would when showing their child, a grin on his features, Raziel's face showed utter shock.
The rumors were true, the Clan leader thought. There, lying right in front of him and sound asleep was Melchiah's daughter Clara. Raziel leaned forwards and tentatively brushed a strand of Clara's light hair with his talon, fully expecting this to be an illusion of some sort. But the baby was as solid as he was. Melchiah, feeling that the demonstration was done, ushered Raziel out of the room and closed the door behind him. "Satisfied, dear brother?"
"It is true. You do have," Raziel pointed a finger behind him at the closed door. "You are a father. But why? What is making you do this, Melchiah? It is so unexpected of you."
"I do not think you would understand if I told you, Raziel. I have this need, this urge that came up from nowhere to help Clara, to love her. I know that love is a human emotion, as we have been told, but I posses that emotion all the same and if it makes me any weaker than the rest of you, then I guess it makes me weaker. I can finally care for someone who loves me in return, a pure and innocent love that I have not found anywhere else. Clara needs me as I need her. She is my child, my child Raziel. It is the greatest feeling in the whole of Nosgoth, this experience, this emotion that runs through me."
Raziel ran a claw through his hair and looked at Melchiah. "You seem very strong-willed on this, Melchiah. You will not kill her, will you?" Raziel immediately regretted using that word; Melchiah's face darkened and a dangerous glint flashed through his yellow eyes. He spoke in a low tone but it conveyed volumes of emotion.
"I would never, ever do such a thing, Raziel. I would tear the skin off my own back first before I would injure my own daughter. Do not even think for a moment that I would commit such an act."
"I am sorry if I have angered you, Melchiah, truly I am." Raziel grinned suddenly and flipped his hair. "So does this make me an uncle of sorts?"
Melchiah chuckled. "Only if you want to become one."
"I believe I do. Uncle Raziel…it has a certain ring to it. Can I go and tell the other brothers, Melchiah? Can I?" Raziel's voice now possessed an almost child-like quality to it; he wanted to tell his siblings everything he had just seen. Melchiah nodded and Raziel gave one of those smiles that seemed to light up the whole room. As the eldest brother walked away with a light bounce in his step, Melchiah couldn't help but chuckle. Already it seemed that Clara was changing the once impassive Raziel into something else entirely.
* * *
The door to the room opened quickly and Raziel literally raced in, a wide grin on his face. His brothers looked up at his quickly from their poker game and waited expectantly. Walking over to Zephon, Raziel grabbed his brother and gave him a loud kiss on the forehead. "Thank the Dark Gods that your spies are right! Guess who's an uncle now!"
Dumah coughed on his beer loudly while Turel gave a blank stare off into space, Rahab dropped his cards onto the floor while Zephon was trying to pry himself away from Raziel.
"So the rumors were true," Rahab said. "Melchiah does have a child. Tell us more, Raziel!"
"Her name's Clara and she's the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Melchiah is simply overcome with joy as I am now. I'm an uncle! I don't care if she's a human Rahab, she's simply adorable."
"Look at how you're acting," Dumah spat at him. "You're being a complete idiot! Sit down and act the reserved way that you always do, Raziel. Stop this hair pulling and jumping about immediately."
Raziel grinned. "I don't care. You guys have to go and see Clara when you can and then you'll understand why I am acting this way."
"Then I will have to go and see this child tomorrow," Turel said. "But if you could calm back down Raziel, we have a game to finish here. For once I am actually winning." But of course the poker game was soon forgotten as Clara, this baby that Melchiah had indeed adopted as his own, took over the conversation.
* * *
Melchiah looked at the rag doll in his hands, turning it from side to side. Raziel had been fairly ecstatic; to this day Melchiah did not know what had overcome the eldest to act like that. Mayhap it was the same thing that had overcome him, to a lesser extent. Melchiah placed the rag doll back in the wardrobe, his gaze moving around the room and finally resting on a basket. Inside the woven reeds were a number of smaller items that he had not bothered to cover up; he took them out and viewed them each in turn.
A necklace made of green jade.
A thick book of pressed flowers.
A mirror set of pure gold.
A small dagger with a hilt of ivory.
A diary covered in red silk.
Each had it's own story behind it, each had been given to Clara in turn by his brothers. Melchiah only had to look at them and remember his brother's reactions, each individual reaction, as they had come to see Clara. Those memories were as clear as yesterday, as if they had been frozen perfectly in his mind for him to look at for all eternity.
Melchiah remembered…
"Heard what?" Dumah asked, reaching across the circular table for the jug of ale to refill his already empty goblet. He sat next to Raziel, and after him was Rahab then Turel. The five brothers sat in a simple room in Raziel's Clan Holdings with black candles casting a harsh glow over them, playing a card game that Turel had introduced a few nights back to them something called poker. The only reason Raziel was playing it was because he needed to get back the money from Turel that he had lost, which he in turn owed to Rahab. As usual, Melchiah was absent from this friendly get together; most thought it was because he was never very social to begin with.
"Well, I have heard from my sources a very interesting little tidbit," Zephon said as he passed around the coloured rocks that served as the coinage for this game. "Something I am sure all of you will be dying to hear."
Turel gave Zephon an annoyed look as he brushed back his hair. "So shut up and just tell us already. Raziel, deal the cards." The eldest quickly dealt out five cards to each of his siblings, face down, and waited for Zephon to speak. The Clan Leader of the Zephonim vampires cleared his throat, looked each of his brothers in the eyes, and then finally spoke.
"I know why Melchiah has not come tonight; not because he feels insignificant to us in every way but because, and this is truly shocking news, he taking care of…a human child!" Zephon leaned back in his chair and looked at his cards with a black face, letting what he had just said sink in for the rest of the Lieutenants. Raziel folded his cards and raised an eyebrow at Zephon.
"Honestly Zephon, you and your rumors and blind gossip will one day get the better of you. Where did you hear this from, one of your spies?"
"Of course, Raziel. Where else."
Dumah snorted and wiped his mouth with the back of his massive hand. "Melchiah, that twerp? Taking care of a child and a human one besides? The whole idea is laughable Zephon. He cannot even take care of himself, as any vampire from any Clan would know. I think that your spy was wrong in their information. Perhaps they drank just a little too much, or one of those stupid human servants were talking about another human brat and mistook it-"
Zephon slammed his cards down on the table and looked at Dumah. "Are you saying that my sources might be wrong?"
"I believe that is what Dumah is implying, as would I," Rahab spoke up quietly, flicking through his cards with a frown on his face. "I find the whole idea of Melchiah raising a child rather far-fetched. It just does not seem like him in the least."
"Like how you seem to be the bookworm when actually it is Zephon who reads far more than you, Rahab?" Turel gave a knowing wink and laughed. "All I am saying is appearances are deceiving. There might be a grain of truth in this rumor that Zephon has heard. All things usually do."
That made Dumah laugh. "Yes, but Melchiah, caring for a child? Let us be sensible. You know as I know that could never happen Turel. I mean, look at Melchiah. He scares everyone off. His skin is constantly peeling and molting off his weak frame, he does not heal as we do, he has no true talent as we have…how can he possibly take care of a child, any child? I would really like to know, I really would."
Raziel sighed as his siblings began to bicker with each other. Zephon was beginning to speak in that arrogant voice of his while Dumah rumbled on and on about Melchiah's incompetence, while Rahab and Turel tried to just figure out if Melchiah was capable of such a thing. The card game had been all but forgotten; Raziel stood up and placed his Clan banner about his shoulder and moved towards the door.
"Hey, where are you going," Turel demanded.
"While all of you can trade words and blows for as long as you like, I am going to go and see if this rumor that Zephon has heard is actually true." With that said, Raziel opened up the door to the room and slammed in shut behind him with unnecessary force, causing two candles to topple onto the ground that Turel stamped out with his cloven feet quickly lest they make the carpet catch.
A brief silence ensued, then Rahab spoke. "So are we still playing poker or not?"
* * *
Melchiah stood over the crib that housed Clara inside, dangling one talon over the side for her to grab onto and suckle at. For such a tiny being, she possessed an incredibly strong grip. The nursery had been set up quickly by Matron in the past day; the room was right next to Melchiah's so if Clara cried at all during the night he could be right beside her. The crib occupied a small alcove with a window above it, the curtains made of a soft yellow material, and at the moment enough dolls and children's books lined the room to make it look like there were three children instead of one living here. Melchiah knew that Clara would not be able to read for a while yet, she could not even walk, but that did not matter. He loved his daughter more than his own life.
His daughter.
The vampire lord was still trying to get use to those two words and found he enjoyed them. He enjoyed everything about Clara, from the way she cooed and giggled at everything she saw to how she tried to crawl across the floor. And Melchiah saw that his greatest achievement so far was actually learning how to change her diaper and help feed her. It made him feel so powerful, so alive.
"Now you have to go to sleep, Clara. Go to sleep because daddy has said so," Melchiah spoke in a little voice that seemed to calm her more than the nanny's. "And look, daddy's made you a present that he spent all day working on so you could sleep with it."
From the folds of his Clan banner Melchiah withdrew the small rag doll that he had indeed spent all day on. His thumb on his left hand was wrapped in a bandage; he had pricked himself there more than he cared to remember but he had finished the doll for his child. Clara giggled and grabbed at the small rag doll, clinging to it as if for dear life and drooling on its head. A polite knock at the door made the vampire lord turn. A servant stood there, head bowed respectfully.
"What," he inquired.
"Milord Melchiah, your elder brother Lord Raziel wishes to have a few words with you. He is out waiting in the hall." With a bow the servant left. Melchiah turned back to Clara and already saw her sleeping, the doll clutched in both hands. He smiled and kissed her forehead gently, then went to go and see why Raziel had decided to pay him a visit. The eldest brother was leaning casually against the wall, arms folded across his chest. He nodded to Melchiah and stepped towards him.
"I see you are doing well, little brother. I have a question for you?"
"What is it, Raziel?" Melchiah tapped his foot impatiently against the floor and waited. Why was Raziel looking at him so?
"I have heard, rumors mostly, that you have come into possession of a…human child and that you have decided to raise this being as your own. Tell me if these allegations are true or nothing more than a joke of sorts, Melchiah."
Melchiah drew himself up to his full height and looked at Raziel straight in the eye. He could not suppress the proud smile that lit up his face. "Yes, I have adopted a baby girl as my own. Her name is Clara and she is my daughter."
"What?" Raziel's mouth dropped open and his eyes seemed to grow as large as saucers. "Y-you are not kidding, are you? Seriously?"
"No, I am not Raziel. I could not be more truthful. Someone left poor Clara on my doorstep and I have taken her for my own child. And it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me." For a few moments Melchiah saw his eloquent brother at a loss for words, a rare thing indeed. Raziel paced down the hall, reached the end, then turned around and paced right back the way he had come. He stopped and grabbed a hold of Melchiah's shoulders, nearly shaking his little brother.
"You are serious? I can't believe-I would never imagine such a thing…this is unexpected."
"It is the truth. Do you wish to see Clara? She is sleeping at the moment, so I ask you to tread lightly. Come, follow me." Melchiah lead Raziel thought his chambers and over into Clara's darkened room. Pressing a talon to his lips to indicate he wanted silence, Melchiah opened the door and both vampires ghosted in. As Melchiah proudly stood over the crib as any father would when showing their child, a grin on his features, Raziel's face showed utter shock.
The rumors were true, the Clan leader thought. There, lying right in front of him and sound asleep was Melchiah's daughter Clara. Raziel leaned forwards and tentatively brushed a strand of Clara's light hair with his talon, fully expecting this to be an illusion of some sort. But the baby was as solid as he was. Melchiah, feeling that the demonstration was done, ushered Raziel out of the room and closed the door behind him. "Satisfied, dear brother?"
"It is true. You do have," Raziel pointed a finger behind him at the closed door. "You are a father. But why? What is making you do this, Melchiah? It is so unexpected of you."
"I do not think you would understand if I told you, Raziel. I have this need, this urge that came up from nowhere to help Clara, to love her. I know that love is a human emotion, as we have been told, but I posses that emotion all the same and if it makes me any weaker than the rest of you, then I guess it makes me weaker. I can finally care for someone who loves me in return, a pure and innocent love that I have not found anywhere else. Clara needs me as I need her. She is my child, my child Raziel. It is the greatest feeling in the whole of Nosgoth, this experience, this emotion that runs through me."
Raziel ran a claw through his hair and looked at Melchiah. "You seem very strong-willed on this, Melchiah. You will not kill her, will you?" Raziel immediately regretted using that word; Melchiah's face darkened and a dangerous glint flashed through his yellow eyes. He spoke in a low tone but it conveyed volumes of emotion.
"I would never, ever do such a thing, Raziel. I would tear the skin off my own back first before I would injure my own daughter. Do not even think for a moment that I would commit such an act."
"I am sorry if I have angered you, Melchiah, truly I am." Raziel grinned suddenly and flipped his hair. "So does this make me an uncle of sorts?"
Melchiah chuckled. "Only if you want to become one."
"I believe I do. Uncle Raziel…it has a certain ring to it. Can I go and tell the other brothers, Melchiah? Can I?" Raziel's voice now possessed an almost child-like quality to it; he wanted to tell his siblings everything he had just seen. Melchiah nodded and Raziel gave one of those smiles that seemed to light up the whole room. As the eldest brother walked away with a light bounce in his step, Melchiah couldn't help but chuckle. Already it seemed that Clara was changing the once impassive Raziel into something else entirely.
* * *
The door to the room opened quickly and Raziel literally raced in, a wide grin on his face. His brothers looked up at his quickly from their poker game and waited expectantly. Walking over to Zephon, Raziel grabbed his brother and gave him a loud kiss on the forehead. "Thank the Dark Gods that your spies are right! Guess who's an uncle now!"
Dumah coughed on his beer loudly while Turel gave a blank stare off into space, Rahab dropped his cards onto the floor while Zephon was trying to pry himself away from Raziel.
"So the rumors were true," Rahab said. "Melchiah does have a child. Tell us more, Raziel!"
"Her name's Clara and she's the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Melchiah is simply overcome with joy as I am now. I'm an uncle! I don't care if she's a human Rahab, she's simply adorable."
"Look at how you're acting," Dumah spat at him. "You're being a complete idiot! Sit down and act the reserved way that you always do, Raziel. Stop this hair pulling and jumping about immediately."
Raziel grinned. "I don't care. You guys have to go and see Clara when you can and then you'll understand why I am acting this way."
"Then I will have to go and see this child tomorrow," Turel said. "But if you could calm back down Raziel, we have a game to finish here. For once I am actually winning." But of course the poker game was soon forgotten as Clara, this baby that Melchiah had indeed adopted as his own, took over the conversation.
* * *
Melchiah looked at the rag doll in his hands, turning it from side to side. Raziel had been fairly ecstatic; to this day Melchiah did not know what had overcome the eldest to act like that. Mayhap it was the same thing that had overcome him, to a lesser extent. Melchiah placed the rag doll back in the wardrobe, his gaze moving around the room and finally resting on a basket. Inside the woven reeds were a number of smaller items that he had not bothered to cover up; he took them out and viewed them each in turn.
A necklace made of green jade.
A thick book of pressed flowers.
A mirror set of pure gold.
A small dagger with a hilt of ivory.
A diary covered in red silk.
Each had it's own story behind it, each had been given to Clara in turn by his brothers. Melchiah only had to look at them and remember his brother's reactions, each individual reaction, as they had come to see Clara. Those memories were as clear as yesterday, as if they had been frozen perfectly in his mind for him to look at for all eternity.
Melchiah remembered…
