Disclaimer: All I own are six cats, one of which I named Sephiroth. Oh, and the plot.
Still in his Galian Beast form Vincent took the deer he had caught towards the mansion. Via a small backdoor he entered a small part of the basement which was solely used for the processing of dead animals. Changing back in his usual form Vincent grabbed a big hunting knife and started to skilfully skin the deer. Nothing useful was thrown away here in the Valentine household, seeing as their only provider was nature itself.
Having completely severed the skin from the meat he hung it up in awaiting of tanning. Turning back to the carcass he started to cut the meat from the bones, storing it away in another, cooler room. it was sort of strange, that one little chamber was always frigid, no matter how hot it may be in summer. A perfect storage room for perishables.
Most of the bones were thrown away, but the skull he kept. Those skulls were used as candelabras, to prevent the candle's wax from dripping on valuable surfaces. Putting the skull away to dry he started to prepare the mixture he would need to tan the deer skin. Smiling softly Vincent thought about how much he actually enjoyed this kind of work. It was strangely relaxing and took his mind off of whatever it was that was currently plaguing his mind. And it wasn't just the tanning and cutting up of meat. No, there was much more to do than that, but whatever he could scavenge from nature mostly depended on the season. Take summer for example; then he would go out in search of honey and wax for candles, as well as pluck the fruit of the many fruit-bearing trees and bushes.
Done with the tanning he stretched the skin over a rack to dry. This skin would probably be used as a replacement rug for his father's office, his current one almost falling apart.
Walking over to an ever present bowl of water he washed most of the gore and grime off his hands and arms before replacing the bloody water with fresh from the small stream nearby. Exiting the basement he thought about how he would need to use the skin of his next prey to repair some clothes. There was a reason why his dad's and his wardrobe almost solely existed out of leather.
Another thing he was mulling over in his head was the amount of monsters he had sensed in the woods. Lately he had noticed that the number of monsters had been steadily rising. And not just that, they seemed to make their dens and hunt much closer to the mansion and the village than usual. It was worrisome to say the least. Not only that it meant less game for his father and him to live on but also for the villagers. Vincent had no idea if they were aware of the proximity of the creatures and the treat they formed. Most likely there weren't any trained fighters residing in the village. Letting out a sigh the demon ran a hand through his raven locks. Well, he'd just have to patrol the grounds more often to make sure no monsters came too close to the village.
After shutting the massive wooden doors behind him Vincent headed towards the stairs. Right now he wanted nothing more than to soak in a nice hot bath, the discovery of a nearby underground warm water source had been pure luck, and a network of pipes his father and him had laid allowed the mansion to have warm running water. A true luxury in comparison to the cold river water they had been used to.
"Vincent?" Groaning he momentarily closed his eyes at the sound of his father's voice before turning around and heading towards the lab. "Coming, father." Wondering what Grimoire needed him for this time he walked through the office and into the lab. "Yes?"
Turning around Grimoire smiled at his son. "Ah, Vincent. You practically know every book in the library, right?" Vincent nodded at this. "That's about true." Nodding as well Grimoire walked over towards another table in the lab, this one filled with petri dishes. "I need you to find me every book you can find that deals with DNA, RNA, cell structure, hybrids, clones and heredity."
"I'll see what I can find." Vincent said softly, already running through all the books their library held in his head. "That's all I ask." Grimoire smiled, looking up briefly before moving over to a microscope. With a pair of tweezers he took something from inside one of the many petri dishes and placed it on the small glass plate, adding a few drops of water before covering it with a coverslip.
Coughing softly Vincent tried to regain his father's attention. "Would you mind if I take a bath first before I look for your books. I just brought in a deer, you see." He asked when the older male looked up. "Not at all. I was thinking about making some tea anyway, seeing as this here had to rest for bit." Nodding, Vincent turned around and left the lab.
After having reached the top of the stairs Vincent looked down, his ruby eyes dim with sadness. This, it was all his and his father's life was. This house and the surrounding woods. Grimoire thought he didn't notice it, but Vincent did. He noticed the sad look in his father's eyes but chose to remain silent. His father was a brilliant scientist, with equally brilliant en renewing ideas and theories. Like know. For the past few months Grimoire Valentine been fascinated by why every being looked like it did, and had the abilities it did. After he succeeded to isolate every separate gene he started experimenting with hybrids. He would take certain gene combinations from one species and combine them with those of several others.
Vincent was sure that his father had discovered several things already, he just wasn't able to share any of it with other scientists, ask their opinions and such.
He thought about this quite often. If he could he would do anything to give his father the acknowledgement he deserved, but alas, if he did that it would most likely result in their death.
He started to run a bath before going into his room to select some clean clothes. How was it that so few had succeeded to ruin the lives of so many.
- Ancient Pines –
A collection of books lay sprawled out on one of the small tables in the library. Vincent was up on a ladder, several more books piled in his arms already as he took out a few more. Descending he placed the books with the others. He checked off the titles in his head. Those were all the books they had that dealt with the subjects Grimoire had asked for. All except one. Now if he could only remember where it stood.
He ran a hand through his raven tresses as he looked up at the tall shelves. He knew where practically every book in this library was located, but this one he just couldn't find. It was an old books, that's for sure, much older than Grimoire even, and Vincent hadn't seen it for over a few decades.
As he was on his way to his father's office he suddenly remembered where the book was placed. Hurriedly he dropped the books on the desk and raced back upstairs and towards the library. He walked past the many shelves and towards the back end of the giant room. The library was probably the biggest room in the whole mansion, but it was also the cosiest. It was where Vincent, and a long time ago Grimoire, spend most of his time.
The back wall of the room was covered in heavy drapes. He pushed them aside to reveal cabinets and shelves filled with chests and boxes of varying sizes. On the shelve closest to the floor stood a big, metal chest, its sides engraved with intriguing patterns. Smiling softly Vincent opened it, revealing a collection of old tomes. After a bit of rummaging through its contents he pulled out a thick book. Its leather cover was worn, gilded lettering almost completely faded and the small metal lock rusted.
He ran a loving hand over the cover. He remembered the book from before they had to flee and go into hiding. He remembered sitting at his father's desk as a small child. His eyes had fallen on the big tome, and, being the curious child he was he had opened it, wondering what it was one could write so much about.
He remembered not understanding a thing of its contents, yet he hadn't closed the book. He had kept turning pages, thinking that maybe, if he tried hard enough he would understand.
Grimoire had smiled brightly at the sight he encountered. Little Vincent seated at his big, oak desk, reading the thick, complicated book, the tip of his pink tongue poking out from between his lips in concentration.
Ah, those good old times. Shaking his head softly he dismissed the happy memory. Closing the drapes again he turned tail and headed towards his father's office. Once there he saw his father looking through the books on his desk. He looked up when his son entered, a small smile appearing on his lips. "I remember that one. You used to sit at my desk, attempting to read it." Vincent nodded, smiling back. "Yes. I used to think that, if I tried hard enough, I would understand."
Grimoire shook his head as he walked over to his son. As he took the book out of Vincent's hand he placed a soft kiss on the raven's head. "How I miss those times." He murmured. "No need to run away and hide. To disguise our true selves." He straightened his back and gave his son a sad smile. "Time to get back to work." After grabbing some more books and stacking them in his arms he disappeared into the lab again, leaving Vincent alone in the office. "Me too, dad." He whispered before exiting.
AN: Too much to do and so little time, and it doesn't help that I have the attention span of a goldfish. This chapter was supposed to be longer, but seeing as it was already written little bits at a time and with no time soon to simply sit down and write I decided to put it up.
R&R. I love to hear your opinions. ^_^