Along with his beloved caretaker's death came a sudden seriousness to the young man. He paced his room restlessly one day, the same day as the first social event of the season, a dance being held as the house of one of the many more well-off folks in town.
He paused in front of a tall, floor-length mirror, staring at his reflection for a few moments. The door opened behind him, his blue gaze flickering to watch his mother step into the room, and come towards him.
She rested a hand gently on his shoulder. "You've grown up to be a fine young man, Alfred," she smiled softly, stepping in front of him and moving her hand to his cheek, "It should be easy for you to win over a beautiful woman," she smiled at her son, " Matthew is planning to go tonight. Will you join him?"
Alfred broke his silence, nodding slightly. " I shall, but only to support my brother in his own possibilities of marriage," he smiled jokingly, pulling away from his mother's hand, "If you'll excuse me, I must fetch the rabbit now."
Alfred heard his mother's quiet laughter as he headed out of the room and down the hall to that of his twin.
Matthew was just buttoning his overcoat when Alfred stepped into the room, a dark black color that made his fraternal twin's pale skin seem even paler. The other blond looked up, blinking slightly in surprise. "Oh... Are you joining me, Alfred?" he asked in his usual soft tone.
"I am," Alfred smiled fakely, attempting to be polite. Matthew nodded, heading past Alfred and towards the front door
Alfred breathed out a sigh, leaning against the wall and looking out over the crowd. His brother looked nervous, as always, a few girls talking to him.
The blond tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a few moments. "Excuse me, monsieur?" He heard a feminine voice, and felt a light touch on his arm. Alfred opened his eyes, meeting the violet of an auburn haired young woman.
"Oh. my apologies, miss," He smiled politely at the woman, straightening and bowing slightly at his waist, " Is it time for our dance already?"
The woman smiled, her auburn hair falling from her bun and hanging around her face in loose curls. "Oui," she spoke in crystal clear French, "It is, monsieur." She giggled, curtseying gracefully.
Alfred held his hand out, palm up, and she rested her hand atop his, letting him lead her out onto the dance floor of the large, ornate ballroom.
The young man rested his hand on the woman's waist, unable to remember her name at the moment. THey began to dance as the music started, the beautiful melodies of the piano and violins drifting about them.
Alfred smiled, truly beginning to enjoy himself. He looked around, taking in the many pastel-colored dresses of the women, and dark waistcoats and jackets of the men.
Before he knew it, the dance was over, although the woman, seeming to enjoy his company, asked Alfred to dance with her again.
Giving her a mischievous wink, he slipped out of sight, heading in the direction he had last seen his fraternal twin.
He looked through the large amount of people, a sudden burst of a single color catching his gaze and drawing it towards a single person. A man stood on the sidelines dressed in a dark green waistcoat, black pants, and a similarly green jacket. His eyes were a dark forest green, almost viridian in appearance.
A large amount of the man's face was covered by a mask, colored in a mixture of diverse shades of green.
Alfred looked ahead, then glanced back, his eyes widening when the man was no longer where he had stood a moment before.
It was then that Alfred felt a queasiness in his gut, and a sharp ringing sound reverberated through his mind.
He winced, and overwhelming feeling of dread washing over him like a wave. The blond looked around frantically for his twin, the feeling of dread resting heavier in his stomach with each passing moment.
Alfred felt someone touch his arm, and turned to face a very concerned French Woman. " Are you alright? You look... terrified."
The blond tried to look reassuring, well aware his smile most likely came out as a grimace. " I can't find my brother..." he mumbled, looking around the room once again.
A loud, sudden scream instantly captured Alfred's attention, and he suddenly spotted his brother. A thin line of silver seemed to press into his throat, the silver starting to stain dark red.
Alfred's eyes widened, watching as the blood ran down his twin's throat, marring the crisp clean white of his dress shirt, and his pale throat.
"Matthew!" He yelled, running towards his brother. He reached the other blond just as he crumpled to the ground, and quickly fell to his knees, clutching at Matthew's shoulders.
"no... please," he choked out, lifting his brother's head to rest on his lap. Matthew was deathly pale, clearly on the verge of crossing.
"A-Al..." Matthew looked up, the light slowly draining from his eyes. Tears fell from the blue-eyed man's face, falling onto his twin's cheeks. " No... Please... You can't leave me... please Mattie," Alfred mumbled quietly.
Matthew's eyes widened suddenly and the blond gasped out in pain, arching his back to an almost extreme angle.
He seemed to relax again after a moment, but his eyes were blank, with no source of life left.
Alfred's teeth clenched and he bowed his head, trying to hold his tears back. He leaned over Matthew, calming himself down and lifting his head again. He brought his brother up into his arms carefully.
Alfred didn't care about the screams or horrified gasps, they were just background noise to the blonde.
He walked through the halls to the front door of the large estate and went to where all the carriages had been kept while the guests enjoyed themselves.
It only took a moment for Alfred to find the familiar dark wooded carriage the two twin's had taken over, the driver nearby talking to a few others nearby. Alfred headed over to them, careful to readjust his dead twin so as not to drop him.
Alfred got the attention of the driver and despite the man's horror, got him to get them home.
The ride back was quiet and dark, unlike the ride to the event which had been filled with the happy chatting and excited laughter of the two twins.
It wasn't long before the carriage stopped and Alfred carefully got out, still carrying his dead twin.
He stepped into the house, heading towards the sitting room. " Father?" He called out in a hollow, cracking voice. The man came out of the sitting room, meeting Alfred in front of the door to the room.
Victor's eyes widened in horror when he saw Matthew, limp in Alfred's arms and pale as death itself, but his eyes quickly darkened over in an emotionless mask, and the dark-haired man gestured for Alfred to bring the blond in.
"He's already dead?" Alfred father questioned, laying a sheet out on the ground.
Alfred nodded, setting his twin down on the fabric. " It just.. It happened so suddenly," he began to speak, his voice similar to that of a frightened child after waking from a night terror.
He felt queasy, and simply wanted to lie down and go to sleep, just to be woken up by his very-much-alive Nan and spend time with his almost identical twin.
Alfred held back a choked sob, hunching over, the past few hours finally tiring him out. His mother had come into the room not too long afterwards, taking one look at Matthew's deceased form before breaking down into hysterical tears and heart wrenching sobs.
Alfred sighed, getting up from the couch and wandering down the hall towards his room. His steps were unsure and wandering, quite alike to those of a drunk man, although his mind was clearly focused on the moment's before his twin's passing, and the silver line he had seen cut into his brother's throat.
The blond couldn't think well at the moment, but he knew one thing without a doubt. Matthew's death was no accident. The death of his twin left an empty feeling in Alfred's chest, as if part of him had died with his sibling.
Alfred walked into his room and sat on the edge of his bed, hunching over and dropping his head into his hands. He allowed himself, for the first time since the blond had arrived home, to finally mourn the loss of his twin.
The sobs racked Alfred's sore limbs with pain, worsening the similar ache in his heart. He couldn't look anywhere in the room without remembering his brother. The mirror haunted him with the similar visage fate had just left to die.
Alfred finally managed to calm himself down, and got up, slowly removing his clothes and folding them neatly to be put in his wardrobe. He closed the door to his room and went to his bed, slipping under the bed covers and resting on his side.
Alfred laid there for a while, the peaceful escape of sleep seeming to refuse to render him unaware of the outside world.
Alfred sighed, turning onto his back and staring at the ceiling. there was a strange sensation in his stomach, and his chest felt oddly tight.
He vaguely wondered if the strange constriction was the same thing his mother had often complained of when he was younger, when corsets had first starting coming into use.
Alfred closed his eyes, relaxing in the hopes that the strange sensations would subside. Sleep slowly came to him, but just before he finally passed into the peaceful plains of dream, he felt something definitely strange.
Light, slender fingers, cold as death, rested on his cheek, gently caressing the skin. The feather-light touch seemed to move downward, over the slight jut of his collarbone and down over his chest.
Alfred made a slight noise in the back of his throat, almost a whine. He felt a small burst of air hit one side of his nick, like ghost's breath. Just before Alfred truly fell asleep, he heard the soft, eerie whisper of a man speaking quietly into his ear.
"Mine. You'll be all mine soon enough, love,"the voice whispered, in an accent Alfred had never heard on the streets of New York. That voice was the last thing Alfred heard before he slipped off into sleep.
Alfred awoke early in the morning and redressed, putting on different clothes than the soiled ones he had worn the night before/ He had it in his mind to toss the blood stained clothing into the garbage, but decided to save that for later in the day.
Alfred went to the dining room with an empty stomach, but did not feel like eating. How could he just sit there and act normal while his closest brother was dead?
The blond stretched his neck out, feeling it pop a few times. He sighed and looked out a window in the hallway, looking back over the garden.
The house itself seemed to have settled into a melancholy mood. Shadows gathered in the corners and behind every surface, darkening the halls and rooms.
It felt eerie, in a way, just to stand there in front of the window. A vague thought of something, some monster come to take him next, popping up out of nowhere to kill him came to mind. Alfred shuddered, sending a quick look around the area.
If the deaths were no accident, then what was it killing the members of the family? And an even better question: Who was next?
Alfred spent most of the next few days in the expanse library of the family manor, researching possible explanation for what was happening.
Daniel, Alfred's youngest and now only brother, walked up to the blond during one of his many days in the young boy's beloved library.
Alfred was sitting at a large table set in the center of many tall shelves of books, surrounded by pile upon pile of the stacked, hard backed novels.
The dark-haired child held a few books in his hands, although he managed to balance the small stack in one hand while he lightly tugged on Alfred's sleeve.
The young man looked down to his younger brother, the elder obviously lacking rest. Daniel rested his books in front of him without a word, then walked away again without saying a single thing.
Alfred looked at the books he had been given in surprise. He ran his thumb over the engraved scrawl on the cover of the top book, looking up to his brother's retreating back. " What kind of things have you been learning in here?" He mumbled more to himself than his little brother.
The books were all similar in size, with dark leather covers and the same topic. All of the books Daniel had given him were about demons, and demon hunting.
Alfred, to say the least, found the books interesting. He had taken them to his own room, and were currently sitting on his desk while he prepared for his twin's funeral.
The whole family dressed up in dark, morose colors. The men all wearing white dress shirts with black jackets and pants. Their mother looked unlike herself, in an ornate, embroidered black dress with rose design covering the skirt and sleeves. Her blonde hair fell in loose ringlets around her shoulder, framing her face and contrasting with the dark black of her dress.
They all got in the carriage and went to the church where the funeral was to be held in silence, each mourning in their own mind.
Alfred sighed, getting up as soon as they stopped in front of the church, and standing outside to hold the carriage door open while the others made their appearance.
The church was a tall building, with windows made of stained glass depicting different biblical scenes. There was one normal, clear window, high up where Alfred assumed the belfry was. At first glance to the clear window, he could have sworn he had seen the same man from the party where his brother had been murdered, still dressed the same as that night.
Alfred looked back again, but the window was empty, with no sign of anyone having been there. The blond furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, beginning to question if this strange man had anything to do with the deaths.
Alfred's father, Victor, clapped his hand down onto his shoulder, jolting his attention to the older man. "I know this is going to be hard for you, son," he began, his tone soft and a caring smile gracing his lips, and for a moment Alfred actually felt some sense of love from his father, " but perhaps you may meet a fair woman, and something good will come from this grief."
Alfred clenched his teeth, nodding mechanically. " Perhaps, father, But we will just have to wait and see," he almost spat, but kept himself in check. He didn't want to get in any argument here, not when they were supposed to be honoring the dead twin.
Alfred let the door of the carriage swing shut, and followed after his father into the large religious building.
As soon as he stepped inside, Alfred was hit by the smell of flowers. Bright white roses lined the walkway between the pews, and the whole room seemed to be filled with the flower.
Alfred felt tears begin to burn in his eyes at the sight of his brother's casket at the front of the room. The box, long and made of a glistening cherry wood, was closed completely, mostly because no one was going to want to see the gash in Matthew's pale throat.
Alfred's mother knelt next to the casket, her head in her hands. Her slender shoulders shook with quiet sobs. Alfred walked over to his mother and rested a hand on her shoulder.
She lifted her head to look up at her son, tears streaking down her face. Alfred sighed and pulled his mother to her feet, gently wrapping his arms around her in a comforting hug.
The woman seemed to cling to Alfred, hiding her face in his chest. The blond, however, didn't complain, looking towards the doors.
Victor stood in the open doorway, gesturing for them to come over. " We need to greet everyone," he spoke surprisingly clear for a mourning father, an emotionlessness learnt from years of being a doctor and encompassed by death.
Alfred nodded without a word and pulled away from his mother. He held an elbow to lead her back to his father.
As soon as his mom was reunited with her husband she seemed to be a bit stronger, standing almost as tall and proud as she would any other day.
Daniel had seated himself at the front pew, his head bowed. Alfred could just barely see the flick of a page, and knew his brother had gone back to his habit of reading. It was the seven-year olds way of coping with any loss.
~*~
Alfred helped his parents greet those who came to see his twin, which actually turned out to be a surprising number.
"Ah, Alfred. I was hoping I would see you here. He was your brother, oui?" The familiar, fluid smooth French accent caught his attention. He turned to face the French woman, bowing slightly to er. " My twin, actually." he mumbled, casting his gaze toward the ground, " Thank you for coming to see him, Francine." The woman smiled politely. She had stopped by a few times the last few days, usually with her mother.
"But of course. Mother wouldn't let me miss it for the world. She just really wants me to marry this season," Francine laughed, smiling mischievously at Alfred, " She has been telling me to o after you. To use our French ways to win you over," the woman sighed, looking inside. " It is a beautiful funeral... It's just a shame Matthew died..."
Alfred nodded somberly. " He was a good man, albeit a bit shy," he mumbled, feeling tears prick at his eyes again. Francine smiled knowingly. " Don't worry, mon cher. You can always talk to me... I know the pain of losing a twin... My own twin brother died on the passing from France."
Alfred's eyes widened slightly. " Oh... I'm sorry for your loss," he spoke softly, lifting his gaze back to meet the French woman's eyes. She smiled sadly. " Do not be sorry. Francis was a good man, but he died to save another. It was a worthy end," she laughed slightly, although Alfred could easily detect the sadness in her violet gaze.