Disclaimer:
Anything you recognise belongs to the creative genius that is Charlaine Harris and/or Alan Ball. I'm just playing around with their universe(s).
A/N:
Just a few chapters to go on my main fic and then this story will be my priority until it is eventually finished, promise! Thank y'all for being patient and sweet about it.
xXx
11
They were both in need of a change of clothes after Irin's crying so Godric led her back to his bedroom, pointing at the bathroom for her to go wash her face while he slipped out of the soft shirt she'd streaked with her tears, wandering into the big walk-in closet that Isabel had brutally stripped of half his favourite style of white linen shirts and pants, filling it with a colourful selection of female clothes. At least twenty pairs of shoes and boots were lined up on what was clearly now the baby vampire's side, colour-coordinated and with varying types of heels.
Godric shook his head, aware that the need (as Isabel had called it) females had for more than maybe four pairs of shoes went above his head, especially seeing as his little stray had lived barefoot for quite a few months.
But the tall, black-haired woman had just rolled her eyes at him when he foolishly commented on the bill she'd presented him with after taking his credit card to do an 'emergency online shopping-spree' for his new Daughter the night before, making it very clear that he was to leave such matters with her as he clearly had no clue. A few – rather uncalled for - insults about his own wardrobe had also been delivered, but after two thousand years of subjecting himself to ridicules fashion trends he was now happy to just wear whatever was comfortable and had let her comments roll off his back without further thought.
The gentle brush of naked feet against the plush carpet made him turn around to see Irin stand at the entrance to the closet, looking at him with an odd mix of curiosity and shyness. From the way her eyes darted from his biceps to his collarbones and back again he could decipher what had caught her interest.
"They are the marks of my tribe from before I was turned," he explained.
She slid a little closer at his acknowledgement of her attention. "Where are you from?" Her brows furrowed, trying to work out the meaning of them that a scholar would probably struggle to produce without help.
"Gaul, on the northern coastline of what is now France."
"I have never heard of that place," she admitted. "What does the serpent on your back mean?" Curiosity was clearly winning out over her shyness of seeing him half undressed, which spoke volumes of her trust in him.
He smiled as a few of his earliest memories from his long life came back to him – it was rare that he thought about his time as a human, and rarer still about the time before the Romans took him. "Gaul is long-since gone so it is not surprising that you have not heard of it, kitten. The water serpent was a sign of the spiritual path for my people. I was training to become what would translate as shaman for my tribe."
"Oh." Her face fell. "I was going to be a biologist. I'd just started college when..."
However sad the thought of what was now lost was to her, it was the first she had mentioned of her human life and Godric was surprised – and pleased – by this unexpected connection to her humanity.
"You will have time to take up as much studying as you wish," he promised. "You have an eternity of knowledge ahead of you."
A small smile spread on her pink lips at his words, her attention drawn away from the sudden onset of melancholy. "And the red mark? Is that also tribal?"
His brand.
The dark-haired vampire sighed. "That is a story for another time, kitten. Alexander is waiting for you – pick out some clean clothes and get changed. I will wait for you outside the bedroom door." He gestured towards the side of the closet filled with colourful garments before grabbing one of the surviving linen shirts from a hanger, easily pulling it over his head and pushing up the sleeves to elbow height.
"But…" Irin's eyes had turned to the clothes, her brows furrowed. "This is all for me?"
"Yes. I am afraid I don't know exactly what is there, but Isabel assured me that everything was taken care of." He had a moment's worth of trying to imagine the feral girl in a pair of high heels and a pretty dress and failed, but his second in command had clearly had a different vision than he when she shopped.
"But there is so much."
A glance at the girl's bewildered face made him woosh out of the room before she thought to ask him anything that would require him to have an opinion. Having once before sired a young female had left him with an uncanny ability to know when it was time to make himself scarce, and giving advice on clothes was just not a part of the maker-obligations.
Godric was known for his patience. He was, however, tapping a pale finger against his thigh while thinking about all the urgent Sheriff business he was currently not attending to as he waited half an hour for his young progeny to appear from the bedroom. She was wearing a pale, yellow dress and seemed to have ignored the vast assortment of shoes available to her, naked feet lightly stepping on the smooth parquet as she finally exited the room.
He had absolutely no idea how it could have taken her thirty minutes to get into a rather simple dress, but stopped himself from asking after one quick scan of her face – she looked like picking out a garment to wear had been the final straw for her for the night, a stressed and anxious expression etched onto her features.
Wordlessly, he held out his hand and she instantly clasped on to it as if it was a lifeline, letting him lead her back to the foyer where Alexander was calmly waiting. He looked up from the magazine he'd been reading while waiting, instantly focussing on the redheaded female with a soft expression, and Godric's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as it occurred to him that the young man was possibly sprouting the beginning of a very impractical white-knight complex towards the girl.
Teaching her how to control the urge to kill was something he saw as his natural responsibility as a maker - chaperoning her dates with a misguided human so she didn't accidently rip out his throat in a fit of rage… not so much. Which meant that this young man would not be visiting the nest again anytime soon, though his gentle ways could surely have been of benefit to the feral vampire, had there not been a hint of romantic interest in his golden-brown eyes.
"I apologise for keeping you waiting for so long," Godric offered, looking to his adopted Child. "Irin, I believe there is something you would like to say?"
Her face twisted and she gripped his hand tighter, but she managed to whisper: "I'm sorry," before her gaze fell on her naked feet.
"That is quite alright. Thank you." Alexander smiled encouragingly at her, but she didn't look up at his face. "I am sorry I scared you."
She pulled a face, clearly not wanting to discuss the incident or acknowledge that he had, indeed, frightened her severely.
Godric tugged on her hand to get her attention. "Good. Now, you need to heal the marks you left on his neck. A drop of your blood smoothed over the wounds will do that."
Irin blinked at him. "Really?" Surprise was evident on her face and in her voice. "But then… why don't more vampires do that? Help at hospitals and such?"
It was another, quite adorable, flashback to her humanity, really, but the ancient vampire found himself exchanging slightly uncomfortable looks with the blood donor in the room; confirmation of the rumoured healing properties of vampire blood was for obvious reasons quite strictly guarded knowledge, and the only reason Alexander's – very high-price – agency had healing of marks in their terms and conditions was that it was run by vampires and that every single donor was Glamoured not to share this information with any other human.
"We will talk about this later, Irin," Godric promised, not wishing to go further into vampire matters in front of a human, however liberal his career choice. "Go ahead, extend your fangs and pierce your index finger – it will only take one or two drops."
The young woman reluctantly let go of his hand to go sit on the sofa next to the man she'd fed on, careful not to brush up against him in any way. She stared at her finger for a little while and then looked at her maker with such a perplexed expression that Godric struggled to hold back a chuckle – she had no idea how to drop her fangs on purpose, undoubtedly having had them appear on their own accord when she was hungry or upset in the past. Her discomfort over the situation and the recent feeding seemed to keep them retracted.
"Look at his neck," he encouraged, managing to hide his amusement over her fang mishap. He fondly remembered mocking Eric mercilessly when his had dropped because he was startled and he couldn't get them to retract, which had ended in quite the hissy fit; baby vampires were temperamental creatures.
She obeyed, eyes immediately zeroing in on the scabbed-over puncture wounds. A few seconds later her fangs popped out.
"Heal him, kitten. You have fed already," he reminded her sternly when her attention was obviously drifting to the pulsing blood underneath the human's skin rather than her task at hand.
She sighed, which made said human smile though he kept still to not disturb the lesson, quickly pricked her finger and rubbed it against his neck. When the wounds immediately closed over she smiled involuntarily.
"Cool, huh?" Alexander commented, turning his head to look at her.
"Yeah," The moment's thrill of discovering a new ability had the redhead returning his gaze for a short moment until she seemed to remember what had happened earlier. She quickly dropped her eyes, forehead scrunching up, which only caused the human's expression to soften further.
"You know," he said in a gentle voice. "I could help you learn not to be afraid."
Godric was not exactly pleased with the young man's unsolicited offer, but before he could voice anything on the matter Irin had left the sofa, zipping to his side and clutching on to the back of his linen shirt, an expression on her delicate features as if he'd suggested to screw her then and there.
Alexander opened his mouth to soothe her, but the dark-haired vampire thought it best to intervene before a repeat of the evening's earlier events occurred.
"Your services have been invaluable this evening, and I appreciate your professional handling of my progeny." Godric reached for the envelope containing the agreed-upon payment and then added $1000 extra, offering it to the young man. Getting attacked by your client required a bit of a bonus in this business. "We will be in contact with your agency again at a later date."
The brunette got to his feet, accepting the envelope, and nodded respectfully at the older vampire. "Thank you, sir. Goodbye, Irin. I do hope to see you again."
She refused to look at him, but he didn't seem too discouraged as he left the nest, sending her a little wink as the door closed after him.
There was something to be said about the customary prey-and-predator relationship, Godric had to admit, as his charge slipped into his arms, pushing her nose against his throat in search for comfort after the rather eventful evening.
He rested both arms around her back and thought about how he had encouraged her to accept her primal urges as a basic part of herself. And he thought about how he had shied away from his own, basic instincts in the recent decades, ashamed of what he'd done, of what he was.
Perhaps it was time to reconsider his methods of penance, so he didn't end up twisting the little one's perception of her new life by letting his guilt taint the lessons he provided her.