There's a time to live
and a time to die,
when it's time to meet your maker.
There's a time to live, but isn't it strange;
that as soon as you're born you're dying?-
"The Clairvoyant"-Iron Maiden
Beginnings
Before I could begin to write this chapter I had to take a moment to observe my two sons Lysander (age four) and Alcander (age two) playing outside with their mother behind our villa. I had to observe them, because they are within the age that this section of my story takes place.
Obviously I do not remember when I was born. In fact, I have never met a person who can remember their birth, and I seriously doubt that I ever will. All I know about the day I was born was what my mother told me. She told me that on that late September day there was a cool breeze in the air, and it was making the Castle feel damp. She informed me that when she went into labor she ordered Father to remove whatever was causing the damp feeling inside the Castle, because she felt that it might affect me during the first few hours of my life.
But as for the birth itself, she told me nothing. Or if she did I simply cannot remember. I am sure that despite being the unusual offspring between a vampire and a mortal woman my birth was as normal as Lysander and Alcander's births a few years ago. I am sure that Mother experienced labor pains, unlike what some of the early Church Fathers claimed that the Virgin Mary experienced when she gave birth to Christ.
Nevertheless, I was the unusual child of a human woman and a vampire, so there must have been something special about me. Well, there are two things about me that are unique.
The first was that I was born with some of the powers of a vampire. However, I was unable to discover these powers until I was much older.
The second was that every time I fed I never removed waste. In other words, I never had to go to the bathroom. I was a dream child to all parents with young children; but despite these two special features I do not believe that I was any different from other children of the same age. I learned to crawl and walk in the same manner as Lysander and Alcander did. When I was hungry I cried, and when I was scared I cried. And I grew in height just as all children do.
Of the early years of my life I have very few memories. I remember spending a lot of time around my mother, and the feeling of warmth that she gave me. However, there is one specific moment from my early years that I can remember.
I was around Alcander's age, and I remember waking up in my crib late one evening. The Castle's nursery was complete darkness (Alcander's actually has a little more light). All I could see were some of the crib toys scattered around me, but they did not hold my interest. I wanted my mother. I wanted her to lift me out of that crib so we could play. Since I did not know where she was I started to cry, because I thought that it would bring her to me. Well, it did bring her to me, but instead she lifted me out of that crib and carried me to the master bedroom with her, which is not what I wanted.
Occasionally, I think about this early moment of my life when Alcander wakes Maria and I up during the early hours of the morning. I told Maria about it once after she returned from trying to pacify Alcander, but she did not think much about it. She asked me when did I all of a sudden become a "baby expert?" Well, I may not be a 'baby expert,' but I do know that one evening when Alcander's cries woke us up, and Maria carried him back to our bedroom, my brown eyes locked with his green eyes and I said to him, "Cander, you only woke us up just so you could receive our attention, right?" He started to giggle, so I take that as a good sign that my theory is partially right.