Beyond My Reach
Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: Pre-animated series.
Authoress note: Lisa faces a problem she never expected to have.
Chapter Two
Never had Lisa's mind been more of a blank than when her husband asked her to choose a name for their son. Before this, she had had several suggestions, but she wasn't sure if they would fit, for as much as she loved her son, she didn't feel connected to him; she didn't feel she knew him, one of the many downsides of not being able to hold and dote on her baby.
So, she announced her intention to effectively stalk her husband and son until she could reach a decision. She had imagined it as a gentle bonding experience for the three of them, spending the days together, enjoying their son. Much to her disappointment, it didn't seem to work out that way.
"He's an infant. You can't pick him up by his leg!" She said as her husband did exactly that and their infant son squealed in delight.
"He loves it." Vlad was more invested in looking for the book he was after than her nagging or their infants' squeals. "Bit weird."
"What's weird is that you're doing it, not that he seems to delight in it." Her husband made a satisfying sound on finding his book and put their son back down on the pile he had scaled despite his infancy.
"You're not even watching him!" Lisa squeaked as the pile wobbled dangerously. "I can't believe I thought you were spoiling him. You're neglectful!"
"I'm not neglecting him." Vlad leafed through the small book. "I'm researching."
"He shouldn't be crawling at this age. He's going to crack his skull." The book pile wobbled precariously, some topmost books beneath their boy gave way and slid down the pile, not unlike a sledge on a mountainside. Lisa rushed forward to catch her son before he could 'sledge' into the wall, but long clawed fingers beat her to it, lifting the infant up and out of danger.
"He's fine, and also, I found what I was looking for."
"Good for you." Lisa rubbed her temples and trying to will her heart to slow in her chest. It was taking a high level of self-control not to brain her husband.
"Before the little pain in the backside was born," Vlad started, Lisa tutted. "I did some research. I knew half breeds had occasionally survived pregnancy, despite the odds, and I was certain that I had in the collection a diary of one such survivor."
"A diary? By the mother?" Lisa perked up. Vlad shook his head.
"No, as far as I am aware, you are the only mother to ever survive the pregnancy. This diary is from a nanny or someone who adopted the infant after the mother died. It didn't survive very long, but I remember thinking this might be useful."
"Wait, the infant didn't survive?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. Vlad shook his head.
"No, there were complications." He started towards the kitchen's Lisa following behind. "The pregnancies are difficult."
"I remember."
"Most mothers did not have the help of such healers as you did. The babies grow inside their broken bodies. Those mothers who survive long enough for their children to be born are rare and broken beyond measure. For a baby to grow inside something so decrepit… well."
"The babies don't grow… normally?" Lisa shuddered. Vlad shook his head.
"No, much is missing that should be present."
"You said nothing," Lisa said. Vlad shrugged.
"Had I told you, you would have worried and there was nothing you could do to affect it beyond relax and rest."
"Still..." Lisa trailed off. She didn't like that he'd kept such a thing secret from her, but she could understand why. "Don't the babies heal? The way you do."
"No, the vampiric ability to heal is still forming, trying to heal that much damage before birth. It causes other problems, like 'overheal', which is what I think happened to the one this diary talks about."
"Overheal?"
"Not a technical term." Vlad looked at their son, who was staring up at him with bright gold eyes. "The body knows when something is wrong. If I broke my arm now or you did, then our bodies would recognise this and fix it. Then, when the injury was resolved, it would stop healing."
"And that one's body didn't know when to stop healing," Lisa gestured at the book. Vlad nodded.
"The poor wretch lived maybe a week from the sounds of it." He visibly tightened his grip on his son.
"So, why are you reading it?" Lisa sighed. "Unless you try to depress us?"
"While it lived, its surrogate mother experimented with fresh food. She mentions a few things that worked, so I thought we'd give them a go before the little bloodsucker drains me dry." He smiled and pressed his face into their son, who grabbed his hair with chubby fingers.
"I doubt he could," Lisa said. Vlad pulled back from his son and smiled at her.
"True, but he is half you, so I doubt an entirely vampiric diet will do him any good in the long term," he said.
They entered the small kitchen, which, much to Lisa's surprise, was full of tiny purple imps. She'd come across the creatures a few times, effectively they were her husband's servants. They carried out minor tasks on demand and, in return, her husband let them live in the castle. The castle was a haven for them, and they had claimed the attics as their own. Though Vlad had told her he had the better end of the deal by far, imps ate insects and small pests that might damage the books in the libraries or the equipment in the laboratories, Lisa suspected he had a soft spot for them.
It had amused her endlessly when she first visited the castle and discovered that the fearsome lord was secretly a patron of every down and out 'monster' that passed through his territory. There were imps in the attics, wolf-men in the gardens, strange demonic cats in the libraries and tiny dragons made from water in the subterranean lakes. All of which lived rent-free at her husband's pleasure. It reminded her of her father, who for months had told her he would never have a cat, then when she brought a kitten home he doted on the adorable creature. Vlad was the same, proclaiming to dislike everything while secretly doating.
As they entered the kitchen, the imps fled, all save one, which flew up to rest on her husband's shoulder and speak with him briefly in a tone too high for her to hear it, let alone understand. Her husband smiled and nodded. The imp left.
"Right trouble." Vlad set their boy on the table. "You've got a choice here."
"Is that raw meat?" Lisa felt her lip curl, looking at the selection on the table.
"Maybe." Vlad tried to sound innocent.
"You can't let him eat that!" Lisa snapped. "He's an infant, his stomach won't be able to manage, it'll make him sick."
"Not according to this." Vlad held up the book.
"Stuff the book." Lisa marched forward and started pulling down pans. "If' we're doing this, then I'm cooking it."
"Very well, but try to remember that you aren't cooking for a human infant. Don't cook it to death," her husband said, sitting down at the table and gesturing to the small stove which suddenly lit. The diminutive fire blazing happily away. Lisa put some oil into a pan and started trying to sear the meat.
"You're overdoing it." Vlad's voice came from behind her after a few moments.
"No, I'm not," she said under her breath.
"You are. He'll hate it." Lisa was about to turn around and tell her husband to be quiet before she threw the pan at him when the small cooking fire abruptly went out. She sighed and turned, giving him what she hoped was a tired and disapproving look. At least he had the decency to look guilty before pointing at their infant son.
"He did it."
She couldn't help but laugh. Vlad stood up, deposited the child in her arms with a muttered: "hold this." Before taking over the preparation. Lisa shook her head and sat at the table, holding her boy up so he could see her face.
"Daddy's an asshole. Can you say, asshole?"
"Daddy is not an asshole, and it's father if you please," Vlad said, his back to his small family as he fussed.
"Daddy." Lisa grinned. "Da Da dada,"
"Stop teaching him nonsense words. He's a Tepes. We speak properly."
"Da da, dada," Lisa continued, her son giggled in her hold, tiny legs kicking frantically. Lisa held him far enough away that there was no chance of him accidentally kicking her.
"You're a cruel woman." Vlad turned to face them, holding the cooling meat in his hands. "Here, feed your son."
"Don't sulk." Lisa took the meat from him. He'd broken it up into small pieces and had somehow cooled it to room temperature in moments. Show off. Her husband raised an eyebrow and sat next to her, observing as she offered the food to their boy. The infant in question looked confused and stared at his father for guidance.
"Come on, Florin." Lisa tested a name she'd been holding onto for a while. It sounded wrong on her tongue. She offered the meat. The boy did nothing but stare at his father. "I think he wants you to do it."
"He's just confused," Vlad said. "Also, Florin?"
"I knew a Florin once. It's a pleasant name." She pushed the meat into her son's mouth and mimed eating. The boy just looked worried. "It's good," she said and ate a piece of the cool meat to show her son what to do. It was practically raw, and she fought her gag reflex. Still, her son looked at his father. After a moment, he reached for him.
"Alright trouble," Vlad muttered, taking him from Lisa, who couldn't help the dejected sigh. "Open." On command, the baby opened his mouth wide and Vlad dropped a piece of meat in. "Close." Again, the order was obeyed.
"You really are showing off now."
"Just wait." They waited, watching their boy who stared hard at them, then without warning spat the meat out with more force than Lisa had expected.
"Florin would never do that."
"He's not Florin," Vlad said in agreement. "Oh buggar." He held his son away as the infant suddenly tensed and vomited over himself.
"Meats a no for now then," he said when the sickness stopped.
"Oh, my poor boy." Lisa cooed as her son sobbed. She reached out to wipe his face as her husband held him.
"I think a bath before we attempt a second breakfast."
End Chapter Two
In my head, it has always been Drac who named Adrian, not sure why but it has. Then I started writing this.
Thank you for reading, please review, I'd love to hear what you think of the fic.
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