Dissolution of Arms

By Eerie

Chapter Six: Separate Paths

City of Eternal Night, Twenty Years Later:

The glow of the orange moon cast eerie shadows across the cold ground beneath Meier's slumped body. His knees touched the earth without feeling the tiny ice crystals that clung to the grass at the foot of the knoll. His eyes were fixed upon the marker at its head as his hands toyed with a silvery pale-petalled flower. The crystalline seeds came away easily from their place as they wavered above the newly dying chisuna and into his numb fingers. Though his thoughts lay transfixed elsewhere, his hold on them remained gentle so they would not break. He whispered silent words into the scarce breeze that dissolved into the endless night.

Smoothing the last patch of dirt that bore no flowers into a tiny groove, he placed the fragile seeds down and absently admired the way they glowed with the light of the moon. His gaze wandered over the small knoll before him, covered in blooming chisuna. Every year on the day of her passing would he plant a new one atop her grave, for he knew that she loved them. It was once again her tragic anniversary on this night, and after this flower grew there would be no more room to plant them.

Meier's sad eyes lingered on the engraving of her name, exquisitely carved into the alabaster-like stone. He had crafted it himself the day after he buried her and found that he had never had to do anything so difficult in all his years, and he did not expect that anything should exceed it in the future. Though his eyes stung with tears the entire time he carved the marker, it came out masterful, the sculpted images of the City's flowers framing her name, forever bending to it. So many years . . . and yet in reality it had been so few. He still missed her dreadfully. The passing of time would temper the grief for most with such a weight in their hearts, but it only seemed to make it harder for him and living a single day without her graceful presence haunting his memory was impossible.

Meier started slightly at the soft touch on his shoulder. His eyes flickered to the pale, slender hand that gripped him gently before moving his own to cover it. He squeezed it lightly and felt another wave of despair as he did so. It felt so much like hers.

"Come, father. The evening grows cold," the hand's owner said softly.

The youth lifted Meier's hand away and pulled insistently. The grieving vampire stood and took in one last image of Charlotte's cold grave before turning to regard his son.

Caruwyn stood like a sympathetic angel before him, tall as he, his ruby eyes glittering in the full moonlight. The young man's long, wavy, white hair lay bound behind his back in a black ribbon, a few stray strands peeking over his finely-chiseled shoulders like ghostly wisps against his favorite black frockcoat. Soft shadows from the silent tree's leaves above him patterned his achingly smooth face and a small smile took his full lips.

Meier remembered the days of his son's childhood, how fleeting they seemed. Though it was not easy work to raise the stubborn-headed boy alone, Meier treasured those days. To have one that was so filled with innocence and an undeniably fiery spirit with him was like a second blessing. It returned some sense of joy to his broken life. He knew he had done his best in raising his son, for Caruwyn carried with him a proud, quiet wisdom even for his young age. Many years it had been, though the young man before him looked older than his true age. Meier had suspected that one carrying both vampire and human blood would reach their prime as quickly as do pure vampires, and he was right.

Caruwyn turned out to be every bit as beautiful and graceful as he had imagined. Though he never ceased to find it strange that one bearing the blood of a human would carry primarily the weaker genes of his color in favor of Charlotte's dark hair and rosy skin tone. It suited him nonetheless. The frail smile that the young man wore now was the only part of him that had not changed from the child and Meier returned it weakly. How quickly they grow.

Caruwyn turned away and Meier followed him into the house away from his beloved's grave. It was comfortably warm inside; the hallway torches lit into full flare burned steadily like silent guards on either side of them. Caruwyn led his father into the large sitting room where a well-stoked fire burned, though Meier scarcely felt its warmth. The vampire allowed his son to guide him to his chair in front of the flames before Caruwyn dismissed himself to assemble two chalices of the chisuna wine he had made recently. When the young man returned he found his father staring emptily into the flames as he so often did anymore.

The young half-breed handed him a glass of the strong wine and settled into the chair beside his father's to join him in watching the fire burn. They sat in silence for a long time though neither one really noticed. Caruwyn's glass was nearly empty when he glanced at Meier whose wine remained untouched. He sighed inwardly.

For the past several weeks, Meier had been drinking less and less and the effects of such neglect to his body's health began to show in his slighter frame. Caruwyn's eyes traced the hollowed ridge beneath his sire's cheekbones and saw that his eyes looked more sunken and tired than ever. Faint lines of exhaustion had steadily claimed the smooth skin at the edges of his eyes as well. The young dhampire had tried before to make his father aware of his weakening state, but it was useless. Caruwyn rose to kneel beside Meier's chair and looked into eyes that failed to see him.

In the days of his youth, Caruwyn adored his father. He still did, however that adoration of a child who sees his father in the highest places of his heart had mellowed to genuine respect and care. They could sit and have conversations without saying a word, just looking at each other. But those had faded, just like everything else that had defined his youth, as he grew older and more independent. It pained him to see his only family's descent into old sorrow.

"Father, please drink it. You grow weak when you ignore your body's hunger," he implored. Meier blinked and slowly turned his head to look down at his son. Caruwyn sensed a change in those eyes as if a silent decision that had long battled in his head had finally been made.

"Caruwyn, have I ever told you about your mother?"

The albino knitted his fine eyebrows. "Of course. You've often told of the grace and generous heart that you loved."

Meier's eyes lingered on his son's for a moment before settling back to the fire. Caruwyn couldn't read that expression.

"I know you have been curious about her, and I am sorry I have not told you much in the past. It was too difficult for me," the vampire spoke.

"I know that," Caruwyn assured him. Meier looked at him again.

"I've seen your eyes wander long over the vessel that brought us to this land. I cannot imagine how such a strong-headed child could honor his father's discomfort over his own curiosity," the tired vampire said and smirked when Caruwyn's cheeks flushed faintly. He settled back into the chair. "She and I were born on a place called Earth, a small planet far into the stars. I was born a creature of darkness and she one of light. It is a planet ruled by the humans and being of my race were not looked upon too kindly. For one such as myself to meet and love the fair daughter of a prestigious man was intolerable to the race of men. They hired others to take her and kill me, so we had to escape. It was a great struggle for the peace we sought."

Meier grew silent for a moment. "But things turned out quite differently than I had anticipated. Her departure left me greatly changed and I am eternally grieved that you could not know us as we were, the way we should be still. That you could never look upon the face that gave you life . . ."

"Please don't torture yourself anymore," Caruwyn begged and grasped his father's trembling hand.

"No. It's been far too long and you deserve to know more," Meier said, determined.

Caruwyn listened with fascination to all the new and strange things that flooded his ears and piqued his imagination. Meier spoke of the blue skies that radiated with a sun he could never truly admire, the colors of a summer evening as it crept from the horizon, the music that filled the night skies when the birds would sing. He spoke of the vampires' history he held from Caruwyn in youth and the Great Bloodlust that destroyed those that fell to it, of his flight to the City of Eternal Night after being deceived by Carmilla, of the battle with the dhampire who held their mercy in his hands and let them escape. At the mention of another half-breed, Caruwyn blinked in surprise.

"There are those with vampire's blood remaining on this 'Earth'?" he asked.

"Not for long, I fear. Their mistake of living in a place that requires taking life in order to survive will not go forever unpunished," Meier said bitterly. He paused and his voice softened. "But those like you . . . with tempered blood in their veins, have a choice." A fleeting image of pain crossed his features, though within them lurked something unsaid.

"And you lived as they did? Like the other vampires?" Caruwyn asked.

Meier sighed deeply. "I took my share of blood as well. And though I do not regret the lives that have been given for mine, I know that I am . . . tainted by such knowledge. But living without taking another life in return is not possible for the pureblooded race when living in the realm of mankind."

Caruwyn remained quiet, still baffled by years of knowing nothing about himself and little about his father suddenly thrust upon him. A thought began to trouble him.

"Father, why did you wait to tell me all of this now?" he asked quietly.

Meier steadily regarded the pale creature kneeling at his feet. "You are a man now, Caruwyn. There are things that you deserve to and need to know if you are to live your own life. And that time is fast approaching."

The half-breed was confused. "What do you mean?"

Meier set the full chalice on the floor and lifted himself out of the chair. Caruwyn stood with him.

"Come with me," the vampire said and walked from the room. Caruwyn followed his father through the hallways until they came upon his mother's old private room. As a child he was forbidden to ever enter, as an honor to her memory. A slight gust of cold, neglected air escaped when Meier twisted the knob and pushed the door open. A candle at the far end of the room lit up as they entered. Meier led his son to the chest of drawers upon which the candle sat and picked up a small wooden box stained in deep crimson. Even in the dim glow of the candlelight Caruwyn thought it looked the color of blood, though he could not bring himself to ask what exactly that stain had been made with. Meier opened the delicate latch and withdrew a shining blue pendant dangling from a silver chain. He turned gravely to his son and held before him.

"I gave this to her when she awoke from our journey. It is a precious heirloom in my own family and she cherished it greatly. It pained me to steal it from her neck before returning her to the earth," he said and fought back the memories. Caruwyn was speechless as his father latched it about his neck. "It belongs to you now. I know she would have wanted you to have it."

Meier placed his hands on his son's shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. "I cannot bear another year without her. Even now I hear the spirits calling me. You have grown so much, matured greatly for your age. But a life of your own is waiting. And I have nothing more to teach you."

Caruwyn's eyes grew large though it had nothing to do with the dim light of the room. Meier's arms pulled him into a tight embrace and his hands smoothed over his back.

"I love you, my son. That will never change, no matter which plane I exist on. It may be difficult, but I know you have the strength to do what I ask of you," the vampire said lowly.

Understanding lit up in the back of his mind but Caruwyn refused to acknowledge it. "Father, I cannot . . . I don't know what you mean," he stammered.

Meier released him and held him at an arm's length. This time he was the one to bear sympathy in his eyes. After a moment the vampire strode to the untouched bedside and retrieved a long blade of forged steel from beneath it. The grooved hilt of the sword gleamed strangely in his hands as he returned. Meier had no expression when he held it to his son. Caruwyn's face grew shocked and dismayed all at once but he refused to take the blade.

"Please, my dearest son. End my suffering and give me peace at long last."

"No! I could never do such a thing!" Caruwyn exclaimed wildly. The sword glinted as the blue flame wavered but Meier's gaze did not. He released one hand from the blade and let the sword droop to his side. His free hand found his shaking son's shoulder again.

"Understand, Caruwyn. I know that you do, but your heart refuses. I do not seek to dismiss you, only to free you, and myself. You know this is the only way." He touched the gem at his son's breast. "As long as the light of this stone remains, I shall be with you. Never forget it. But we cannot keep each other bound to misery any longer. You have much ahead of you."

The two searched each other's eyes for a long time without speaking. Tears began to form in Caruwyn's when he saw the resolve in his father's gaze. And it became clear that he had to do this, no matter how much his heart bonds persuaded him otherwise.

Caruwyn reached out slowly, reluctantly, and latched his hand upon the hilt of the cold blade, brushing Meier's hand as it let go. He let his eyes fall to it for a moment before dragging them back up to search his sire's again. 'May peace and wisdom continue to find you,' they said with loving reassurance, smiling. 'And forever to you,' Caruwyn's answered before the vampire's eyes closed and the blade rose in blurring speed to sever the head clean from Meier's shoulders. The look of peace upon it never faltered.

To be continued . . .

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