Life's Lessons Learned and Lost
Chapter I: Death
"You must understand, Klaus that this is a very private, emotional occasion for Angelique." Christopher's calm British voice resonated over the impossibly small cellular phone.
"I understand- he is your pack mate now, but you must understand that he was my pack mate for almost forty years and if he is to die, I feel that I have a right to be present so that I may officiate his rite of passage." Pouted the beautiful youth. Klaus was not sure how he felt on the matter at hand. He could not decide if he should be upset, elated or indifferent about what was about to happen to Hanz. Either way, he knew that he wanted to be there when the young man's mind finally snapped and the suns rays led the beautiful Hitler Youth into sweet release.
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. "Alright, you will be permitted to watch, providing that you will be hidden and will not immerge unless I give you the signal. You will also be required to willingly submit to one lesson of Angelique's choosing. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
By the time the black chauffeured Bentley made its way up the private drive, the dense January rain had almost let up. The sun would be up in just an hour or so as planned, everything must be perfect. Klaus pulled his richly furred coat up around his angelic face and made his way up to the front door. There he was ushered quickly inside by Christopher who bid him to obscure from view and wait in the drawing room. He did as he was told, still not entirely sure if he hoped that Hanz would pass this most extreme test or if more pleasure would be found in watching the youth's mind snap pulling him towards his final rest. Christopher made sure that there was a path cleared from the drawing room to the open front door that would soon usher in the sunrise.
After a few moments, footsteps made their way down the stairs and into the drawing room. Angelique clad in a translucent white robe led Hanz into the room. His face, as always, was a marble statue -perfect chiseled features of a 17 year old blond haired blue eyed boy, a supreme specimen of the Arian race.
"What is it you want show me before I leave this country?" he monotoned in his German accent, lifting one accusing eyebrow.
"My daughter wishes to teach you a lesson before you leave. She wishes to show you what she has longed to share with you all these years." Christopher replied gesturing towards Angelique.
Angelique made her way across the room and took her ex-lovers hand. "I wish to share with you the experiences you have give me that I am so grateful for. You have taught me more than you will ever know. I have learned the greatest lesson of my existence from you and I wish to return the favor." With her words, Christopher removed a glass case from a hidden section in the nearby book shelf. Inside were the remains of a two month old fetus floating silently in a sea of formaldehyde. Its flesh artistically flayed and streaming around it's small form.
"Hanz, we would like you to meet your daughter." Smiled Christopher.
Hanz' face shrunk in, his gaze fell to the floor as if searching for the words to escape the situation.
"They says it is a wives tale that one can feel the moment of conception but I know it to be true. I felt it. I knew we had created a new life that night and I felt it die and pass from my body when I was embraced. I knew I had to keep her to remind me of the lessons you had taught me." Her words were sincere and honest with no inference of mocking or venom. But Christopher's face held a different story. Silence filled the room and threatened to smother the conversation.
"So what do you wish to do with this new knowledge, Hanz?" Christopher smiled as he gazed from Hanz to the open door with the growing dawn preparing for its daily visitation .
As if a new reserve of hidden strength had just been discovered and cultivated, Hanz lifted his eyes and spoke with the same stern voice he always employed.
"I guess this means I will remain here. I must raise my family now."
Angelique smiled, obviously pleased. He had passed the test, learned the lesson of pain without breaking-a most unexpected turn of events. Christopher looked mildly disappointed but satisfied that his daughter's lesson had been adequately applied. But somewhere, hidden within the room's lush interior, a bitter jealousy sparked within Klaus like a hot coal readying to ignite a fire.
The flame was sudden and unexpected just as Hanz' declaration of parental duty had been. He had done what Klaus could not. He had proven that he was indeed a man before his embrace, fathering a child even if all that remained of the fruits of his labor existed as an art piece in a case of sixty five year old formaldehyde. Klaus would forever be a fifteen year old boy, trapped inevitably in a vision of angelic youth. The soft, almost feminine, curves of his body caught in that stage just before the full blossom of manhood. His sire had insured that he would forever remain his perfect little cherubim while Hanz had proven himself beyond the flower of youth. Despite their apparent two year age difference, Hanz would always be more a man than Klaus could hope to be.
He had been a solider, Klaus had been an alter boy. Hanz had a sleek body that was slender yet powerful with youthful, well defined muscles and chiseled features from the years serving the Hitler Jugend while Klaus retained the soft, full lips, wide luminescent eyes and gossamer blush of youth. Any evidence of approaching manhood had been plucked from him by his sire to ensure his look of immortal angelic purity. This was just one more slap in the face to Klaus, one more reminder of the permanency of his youthful condition. Despite the actual one-hundred and twenty five year age difference between the two of them, Hanz would always be appear to be older than him and the proof of that stared at the Canites with sightless eyes from behind it's small glass prison in a sea of formaldehyde.
He wanted to scream and pull out his hair. He wanted to take the grotesque baby, the reminder of his inferiority to Hanz, and break it into thousands of glittering peaces right in front of the newly christen parents. But the sudden rush of desire to smash the case was superseded by Angelique taking off her elegant white robe to revel a mass of silken bandages that had been skillfully wrapped around her lithe frame and sewn into the fabric of her garment. As she fully removed the robe, the connected bandages dropped free reveling her flesh hanging in spreads off her body, the price she had paid to her sire to ensure Klaus' front row seat to this circus.
Hanz took her hand and the two disappeared out the door heading towards Angelique's bedchambers.
"Jiles, I think I shall have my tea served in the next room if you don't mind." said Christopher closing the front door to keep out the eager sunrise. It was an obvious signal for Klaus to meet with Christopher but the words were lost and curiosity won the moment as Klaus silently followed Hanz and Angelique to her private chambers.
He watched, hidden from their minds, as Hanz lovingly stitch Angelique back together and then tenderly made love to her. If anyone had learned a lesson this evening, Klaus was sure it was him, and he did not enjoy what he had learned.