This story is an accompanying fic of my story "Basilisk-Born". It can be read alone, but it contains major spoilers for the main story.
Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Partly beta'ed by DebaterMax.
My beta has currently very little time, but since I always posted a chapter of Basilisk-Born on this day, I decided to do so with "Dead To The World", as well, even if he didn't get around to fully beta this one.
I wish a late Happy Thanksgiving for those who celebrated, a Happy First Advent for those who will celebrate and a Happy Day for the rest (no matter if you celebrate anything or not). This chapter is for the one who named me (just like every year). Best wishes, Ebenbild.
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CHAPTER 1
ANALYSIS
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1993
…
Ana was reclining on a chair, humming a happy tune while looking at the man in front of him. The other man was in the process of nervously setting up a dicta-quill and enough parchment for several hours of writing.
"Are you sure you want to do this professionally?" Ana wondered when the man looked over the set up for the fifth time.
"Of course, I do!" the other man said indignantly. "I want to be taken professionally, after all!"
Ana raised an eyebrow.
"I mean," the other man said. "I'm the first who is able to interview creatures like you, Sanguini! Normally, you vampires don't let anybody close to you – and you don't share secrets!"
"Too true," Ana agreed thoughtfully, not reacting to being called a 'creature' – even if he was quite sure the other man meant it the same way that other people would call bunnies a creature. "So… what exactly do you want to know today?"
The man hummed thoughtfully. "I would love to know everything, so that's a really hard question to answer," he finally settled on.
For a moment, they were silent.
Then, Ana rolled his eyes.
"C'mon, Eldred," he said with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure that you already have some questions in mind. Just ask them!"
"I don't want to offend you," Eldred immediately said.
Ana raised an eyebrow. He was pretty sure that he should have been more offended by being called a creature than by any question the other man was about to throw at him.
"Alright! Alright!" the other man gave in when he saw Ana's facial expression. "I'll ask!"
Another second or two was filled with silence, then Eldred sat down in front of Ana with a huff and said, "What was it like to grow up? I mean, did you grow up a vampire or how do vampires even come into being?"
Ana hummed.
"Normally, we're bitten," he said. "And then turned. It can happen to anybody. Some of us were wizards or witches before we were turned, others were non-magicals." Ana shrugged. "Like I said, it can happen to anybody."
Eldred leaned forward eagerly at that. "What about magic?" he asked. "Can you do magic?"
Ana hesitated for a moment. He guessed he would have to tread cautiously there. Or well… not.
"The vampiric kind," he agreed. "We're faster than normal humans, we have better senses and we can make a human forget that we were ever near them. Of course, some of us–" Wizards would call it the ability to be an animagus. "–can change their form. I remember meeting another vampire who could turn into a bat and another one who turned into a wolf."
Eldred's eyes gleamed.
"So, can you all change your form? I mean, we wizards have to train hard to get there – and you vampires can do it just like that?"
Vampires definitely needed to learn just like magicals, but…
"Sure," Ana said. "But not all of us can do it. I can't, for an example."
Eldred hummed thoughtfully. "I think I will just write that all of you can," he decided.
Ana raised an eyebrow.
"That's not the truth."
"Artistic licence," Eldred countered immediately. Ana stared at him; his mouth half open. Then he thought about it some more and finally shrugged.
It didn't really matter, he guessed.
Eldred looked Ana over. "So, if you're all turned, then when were you turned?"
"I was nearly thirty," Ana immediately replied. "Vampires don't age anymore the moment they're turned, you know?"
"Oh! So that's why you all look so young!" Eldred rubbed his hands. "You were born a while ago, weren't you? I mean, when you were still human."
"Sure," Ana agreed.
"What was it like? The transformation?"
"Can't remember," Ana answered cheerfully. "It's been a while, after all."
"And… what about growing up?" Eldred asked. "Or well, learning to be a vampire or what else you call it."
This time, Ana looked thoughtful.
"Well…" he said slowly, "growing up was definitely an experience."
And while his mind drifted back to his past, his mouth began to spin the story he had thought long and hard about to narrate…
…
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…
890 A.D.
Ana couldn't remember ever having another parent than the man who raised him. Of course, theoretically, he knew that being a born vampire meant that he had had vampire parents once – but fact was that his father had always been Sal who had adopted and named one Anastasius Arthur Lucidarius Sanguini in 846 A.D. when Ana had been about four years old. Ever since, Ana had always been Salvazsahar Emrys's son.
"Pater?"
Sal hummed while treating one of the goblins who had been stabbed on the battlefield. He was a healer and had been working on the side of the goblins in the war between goblins and magical humans for the last decades. Ana had always wondered why his father had chosen the goblins to side with when he was human-looking. On the other hand, his father, just like Ana, was a magical creature by blood – even if he wasn't a vampire – and maybe that was reason enough to choose the goblins and not the more human magicals in the end.
"Can we talk?"
"Of course, childe," Sal immediately agreed. "But I fear I will have to treat my patients first before I have time."
His son hummed and then stepped up next to him. "Do you need help?"
"If you wish," Sal immediately agreed and then made room for the vampire so that he could start treating another one of Sal's patients. "Tell me if you need help."
"Of course, Pater," Ana said and knelt down to look at one of the patients. "I'll keep with the easier wounds."
Sal hummed in agreement and returned to his work, not even watching his son when the vampire started to treat other patients. After more than forty years watching his father work and helping, Ana had a good base in the healing arts, after all.
Like that, they worked silently side by side for a while.
In the end, they finally stopped after they had stabilized their patients.
"You wanted to talk?" Sal asked his son and leaned back against one of the tent poles. He rubbed his eyes tiredly with one hand.
"I did," his son immediately agreed and leaned against his father. For a moment, Ana thought about how to ask his questions – before he simply decided that the direct approach was the easiest way.
"Pater? What were your parents like?"
Sal hummed at that question thoughtfully.
"Atr… my father… was nice, but also strict. He was a good man," Sal finally said slowly.
Ana looked at Sal thoughtfully.
"He raised you, didn't he, Pater?" he asked slowly.
At that, his father hesitated.
"He raised me for the most important part of my childhood," his father finally decided, not elaborating further.
Ana crooked his head thoughtfully.
"And the rest of it?" he wanted to know.
His father sighed, "let's not talk about that now."
For a moment, Ana looked at his father with a frown, then he nodded slowly.
"Did your father teach you?" he finally asked. "I mean… Did he teach you magic?"
"Just like I taught you," his father immediately agreed calmly. "I raised you as a druid, just like I was raised as a druid."
"But magic changed," Ana said thoughtfully. "I mean, magicals today… they don't use magic the way you taught me."
His father sighed.
"That's because I was raised more than a thousand years ago," he said. "I didn't grow up the way the magicals today did – and I didn't raise you the way magicals today are raised as well."
"Why?" Ana asked with interest in his voice.
"Because you can always learn to wave a wand and use magic the way people do today," Sal countered. "But learning the druid way – without wands and with rituals – you need to learn it young. There's a time limit to it, and maturity is the count-down. So, I raised you the druid way."
Ana looked thoughtful.
"So… if I want to learn different magic, you'd help me?" he asked with interest.
Sal snorted.
"I travelled the world and learned all kinds of magic," he pointed out. "I'm over a thousand years old, Ana. I didn't hide away from the world at that time. I travelled, I learned and I discovered. If you want to learn something, and if I know it, I'm more than willing to help you learn it. You're my son. Everything I know and you want to learn I will teach you without a question."
"I'm not going to be a healer like you," Ana said immediately.
Sal laughed.
"You don't have the patience to work as a healer," he said amused. "Believe me, I've never expected you to step in my footsteps. This is your life. Whatever you want to be, whatever you want to learn – I am fine with it."
"Is that also grandfather's approach?" Ana asked with interest. "Because I know for sure that normally, the parent has a lot of say in the way their child lives – and choosing what to learn or what to do for a living is part of what other parents choose for their children."
It was a fact that Ana had witnessed more than once since he was small. He had always thought that his father just bit his time since Ana, as a vampire, aged slower than normal humans. Hearing that his father didn't want Ana to follow his footsteps… was surprising and a bit reliving. While Ana knew quite a bit about healing, he definitely wasn't made to be a healer…
"Atr… your grandfather… had expectations for me," his father said slowly. "He didn't force me to be a healer, but he expected me to listen whenever he decided something for my future."
For a moment, Ana's father was staring into nothing.
"That's the way of the world right now," Sal finally said. "Just like it was the way of the world back then when I grew up with Atr…" He shook his head. "I fear it will continue to be the way of the world for at least another few centuries as well."
Then, his gaze found Ana's eyes.
"But," he said calmly. "That doesn't mean that I need to have the same expectations like everybody else has when it comes to my own child. You're your own person. I think you have a right to decide what to do with the time you've been given. Just like I think it's my prerogative as a parent to help you reach your goals in any way possible for me."
Ana blinked.
"So… if I wanted to be a king in a faraway land?" he asked hopefully.
"I'd still say you're on your own," his father intercepted the idea. "I was talking about reasonable goals, Ana."
Ana mock-pouted.
"And there I was thinking that I could be royalty in China…"
His father hummed thoughtfully.
"I think that's a bit more possible if you go to the non-magical world," he offered thoughtfully. "The last time I went there, they chose their leaders not by blood-succession but by conquest. In other words, even a farmer can be Emperor in China if he does it right."
Ana looked thoughtful at that announcement.
"Might be a possible later goal," he finally decided.
"In other words, you have a different goal right now?" his father asked, amused. "Something you want to learn, maybe?"
At that, Ana blushed and looked away before he finally spoke up.
"There's something," he agreed hesitatingly. "I found it in the archives of the goblins."
"Something?"
"Stone magic, Pater."
Ana twisted his hands nervously. "You know, like…" he twisted his hand in a mimed turning a stone, before he shrugged.
"I mean… precious stones and all that," he finally concluded nervously. His father just smirked.
"I know what you mean," he agreed amused. "But I'm surprised you came to me with that request. Stone magic is something a lot of goblins know, too. You could have asked them."
Ana shrugged.
"I know," he agreed. "But… you're my father…"
"And you wanted to learn from me," his father looked at him fondly when Ana squirmed.
"Yes."
"What if I tell you that I don't know it?"
Ana hesitated.
"You don't?" he asked.
The answer was a barking laugh. "No, I do. I learned it a few hundred years ago and I should remember at least a bit."
Then Sal shook his head.
"I guess I should have expected that you'd end up interested in it," there was fondness in his voice. "It's unusual, quite flashy in parts and definitely not something a vampire usually uses. I guess that when it comes to magic, it's truly perfect for you, Ana."
Ana flashed his teeth and smirked.
"You know me too well, Pater," he agreed happily. "Now… what do you remember about it?"
"Enough to start you on it at least," Sal agreed calmly. "I guess you want me to start you on it as soon as possible?"
"Please?" Ana said and looked at his father with puppy dog eyes.
Sal snorted in amusement.
"You know you just have to ask. No need to be shy," he said. "I would never deny teaching you anything as long as I know it."
"I know," Ana said and slung his arms around his father. "That's why I always come and ask whenever I want to learn something new."
Sal snorted.
"As if you don't come for everything else, too," he said amused.
Ana flashed his fangs at him.
"I'm your son," he said. "I have every right to come to you for everything."
Sal laughed softly and then reached out for his son to ruffle his hair.
Ana grinned.
"May I snack on you?"
Sal raised an eyebrow. While vampire children usually grew up feeding from their parents' wrists, Ana was considered in his late vampiric teens for about ten years now.
"Aren't you old enough to hunt?"
"So?"
For a moment, Sal just looked at Ana fondly, then he lifted his hand to give his son access to his vein.
"You're the worst, Ana," he said amused and kissed his son's hair when his son bit him. "And somehow I get the feeling that you will suckle on my veins even when you're far older than I am right now if you have the chance to do so."
"Sure!" Ana agreed immediately. "A thousand years wouldn't change the fact that you're Pater, after all."
Sal just snorted and didn't say anything when his son returned to feeding on him. Instead, he leaned forward and ruffled his son's hair before kissing his forehead again.
"I love you, my childe," he said. "And now, when you're done, let me tell you about stone magic…"
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Vampires are nearly indestructible. I saw my friend Sanguini enveloped in blinding white light when attacked and then going on as if nothing had happened at all.
Since vampires can't use normal magic, the only ability he has are his vampiric powers. One of them is that vampires can't be hurt by normal means. If they are, they will instantly heal as long as they are well fed. If they aren't, they will fall into bloodlust and will kill indiscriminately. They won't even recognize their own family if they enter that state.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
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922 A.D.
The town was surrounded by earthworks adorned with a wooden palisade on its three landward sides. The houses inside were all longhouses, their reed roofs partly seen over the palisade. They were clustered tightly together in a grid, with the east–west streets leading down to jetties in the harbour.
The town had been built in the isthmus between the former Frankish Empire and Scandinavia. It was also near two rivers – the Schlei which connected to the Baltic Sea and the Treene which flows into the Eider with its North Sea estuary – and connected to an important trading route which connected the south to the north.
"So…," Ana said slowly, "this is Heiðabýr."
"Yes," the merchant Ana had accompanied agreed. "It's the biggest transfer site this far north."
The merchant pointed behind him. "The reason for this is the Hærvejen – one of the most important trade routes up here – which is leading directly here… not to mention that the city has a good connection from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea."
Ana hummed and looked at the city in front of him.
"Heidiba," Ana repeated, this time using the Latin variation of the name.
"It's not that impressive," the merchant said with a sigh. "It might be a very large town, but it's at the extreme end of the world ocean."
Ana threw the other man a look.
World ocean.
That sounded as if the world ended somewhere.
Ana shook his head with a mental sigh.
His father had taught him a lot – and one of the things that he had been taught was that the world had no end. The world was round. Not that Ana would even dare to mention things like that.
"Some things the people aren't yet ready to believe," his father had told him when he started to teach Ana about the world. "Let them have their beliefs. They will catch up with the truth sometime in the future."
Sadly, this didn't seem to be the case until now.
"The customs here are odd," the merchant continued to comment at that moment. "The right to divorce belongs to the woman, for example. Not to mention that they all wear eye make-up – both, women and men. It enhances their beauty, but I have never heard singing fouler than that of these people. It sounds similar to that of a dog but even more bestial."
Ana hummed, but didn't say anything to the talkative merchant's opinion.
"I guess you've been here more than once, then?" Ana asked.
"I have," the man replied. "Slesvig might be a trading settlement, but it's by far one of the worst I have seen. Not to mention that I heard that it's cursed. People die very young here."
"Slesvig," Ana repeated, not even responding to the fear mongering of the merchant. People all died young in Ana's opinion. "Another name?"
The merchant waved it off.
"There are hundreds of people from different nations in this city," he said. "They all have their own way to name it."
Ana hummed. "That's odd," he finally decided. "Why don't they decide on one name and leave it at that?"
The merchant shrugged and then gestured for Ana to continue walking towards the city.
"It's like it is," he said and then looked at Ana thoughtfully. "Why did you want to come here anyway?"
Ana shrugged. He wasn't sure how the merchant would react if he found out that Ana just came because he heard rumours about the city and wanted to see how it was for himself.
"I heard that the Vikings founded this city," he said instead of answering. "Is that true?"
"Most likely," the merchant answered with a grimace. "At least it would explain why there are so many of them around whenever I'm here."
"Oh?"
"If you ever had the urge to find a Varangian or any other Viking, you will find them here," the merchant said with a grimace.
"So… this is solely a Viking town?"
"No, no!" the merchant immediately objected. "If it was like that, I wouldn't be here! No, there are all kinds of Scandinavians, Frisians, Saxons, Franks and Slavs mixing with all kinds of merchants – even from places as far as Byzantium and the Arabian regions."
Ana hummed.
"So… chances are that I will find a Varangian or two here," he said, a plan forming. "Maybe one of them will help me to get to the Volga Bulgar capital."
The merchant stared at him.
"What would you want there?" he asked, clearly horrified.
Ana hummed.
"Something," he answered. It wasn't as if he could tell the other man that he was just interested in the cities itself and that he came to see them, and for no other reason.
The merchant shook his head.
"I'd think twice about that if I were you," he finally said and then led Ana into the city.
"Thankfully, you aren't me," Ana countered and with a bow and a good-bye, he finally left the talkative merchant to explore the city.
In the end, Ana found some Varangians to continue his journey.
"What do you want in the Volga Bulgar capital?" another travel companion asked. "There's nothing there that you can't get elsewhere - except more danger. And if you wanted danger, then Heiðabýr should have been enough."
"It's as if I'm the only one travelling just for the fun of it," Ana grumbled to himself when he finally managed to get rid of his opinionated travel companion when they reached the Volga Bulgar capital – just for Ana to stumble upon another person who seemed to have come there for reasons.
"I'm Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād," the other traveller introduced himself. "I am a member of the embassy of the honourable Abbasid caliph Abu'l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Ahmad al-Muʿtaḍid of Bagdad."
"Anastasius Lucidaris Arthur Sanguini, son of Salvazsahar Serendu Harryjames Emrys-LeFay, son of Moridunon Emrys, son of Fawarx – traveller in my own name," Ana said, trying to draw out his name as far as the other man had. "It's nice to meet you!"
Then, Ana leaned closer.
"Did you know that there exist mist-monsters around here?" he wanted to know. "People around here call them wendol. They are a tribe of vicious savages, known to eat the dead."
Ahmad ibn Fadlan threw him an incredulous look.
"And people believe that?" he asked sceptically.
Ana hummed.
"You will see," he said. "The moment the mist returns it will bring with it the fire-worm. I tell you, be careful before you end up in the middle of a prophecy as the thirteenth warrior or something like that."
Ahmad ibn Fadlan just rolled his eyes at Ana.
"You have a fertile imagination, don't you?" he said amused.
Ana shrugged.
"I heard about those monsters in Hedeby, Haitiba, Heiðabýr, Haithabu, Slesvig or whatever you want to call that city," he said. "I repeat myself: you might end up drawn in if you're not careful."
Ahmad ibn Fadlan just rolled his eyes. Ana shrugged and then waved goodbye to the man.
Ibn Fadlan on the other hand, would end up in the middle of a prophecy – just like Ana suggested. It was only Ibn Fadlan's pragmatism that ensured that his Manuscript Relating His Experiences with the Northmen would not contain anything of his experiences with the mist-monsters. It would take nearly a thousand years until the real story would come out.
…
"Pater!"
His father stopped and turned, his eyebrows raising.
"Ana," he returned the greeting, his eyes on Ana. "You look quite relaxed."
Ana grinned.
"I had a relaxing holiday," he agreed. "I went to Hedeby or whatever you want to call that city and then I met an Arab when I travelled with the Varangians."
At that, Ana frowned.
"I just hope that he didn't end up in too much trouble," he said, a bit concerned. "He didn't believe me when I told him about the rumours I heard about mist-monsters. And honestly, Pater? He looked like one of the types of people who end up in the thick of it when they aren't careful."
Sal snorted amused.
"Well, you did your best," he countered. "You can't do more."
Ana scratched his head.
"You think so?" he asked.
"I do," his father agreed and then sighed and rubbed his head tiredly.
"Are you alright, Pater?" Ana asked, immediately concerned.
Sal just waved it off. "I'm followed by an idiot who ran straight into a Viking raid," he said. "He's a bit exhausting."
Ana raised his eyebrows and then looked around.
"If you're followed – where is he?"
Sal gestured towards the left. "Sleeping in the camp," he said and rubbed his eyes. "He wants to train me in using a modern wand."
Ana looked sceptical at that.
"You mean… he wants you to wave a stick around to do magic?" he asked, even more weirded out by the concept than his father. "Why?"
Sal shrugged. "Most likely out of the same reason why he and his relatives want me to join their efforts to build a magical school."
Ana looked at Sal in surprise.
"A magical school?" he asked. "Here on the Isles?"
"Yes," his father sighed. "And with my luck, I end up helping them for real."
Ana snorted.
"It might be a good idea," he countered. "At least like that, magical teaching will be accessible for all."
Sal hummed thoughtfully.
"And you might be able to influence what will be taught as well," Ana added happily.
Then he looked at Sal thoughtfully before looking towards the camp.
"If you really want to leave them, you would have left already," Ana said. "After all, I know you, Pater. You can vanish without a trace if you have to or want to."
His father hesitated.
"He's a relative," he confessed. "From Mother's side."
"A LeFay then?" Ana asked surprised.
"Yes."
"What's his name?" Ana wanted to know now even more interested.
"Godric," Sal said with a sigh. "Godric LeFay – called the Gryffindor."
Ana snorted.
"What a name," he said amused. "I wonder what other names will end up as a by-name for the future Founders of the first magical school on the Isles."
"Don't jinx us!" Sal immediately tried to stop his son. Sadly, he would be too late.
The Founders of Hogwarts, just like the school, would end up with the most unusual names in the end.
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When a person is bitten and turned into a vampire, they are normally taken on by their 'sire'. The one who bit them will be the one to help them and teach them. Young vampires are introduced to their new society by said sire.
My friend Sanguini also admitted that most of the new vampires were non-magical before they were bitten. He also mentioned that if that wasn't the case, the new vampire – former wizard or witch – would end up losing a lot of the magic they once possessed. Instead, vampires develop their own brand of magic, mostly based on obscuration and deception. Those magics are what makes it possible for them to hunt in the muggle world without detection even now.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
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1000 A.D.
Ana had to admit that he could have thought his situation through a bit more. He knew that his father always said that he was far too reckless for his own good, but Ana had never really seen it. Now, he had to agree at least a bit – even if it hurt to accept that his father might have been right.
Like it was, Ana was in quite the predicament.
"Is he still alive?" a man's voice asked and someone kicked Ana in the side. Ana curled up and tried to shield himself from them as well as possible.
The men had surprised him. Ana hadn't been able to stop them when they took him down.
It had been at least two or three days since then and slowly but surely, Ana was dying in their 'care'.
"Does it matter?" another man asked. "If the monster dies, we'll find another one to have our fun with. The monster doesn't matter. It's the rumours we want. Slytherin will hear them and come to investigate, and then we'll have what we want."
Ana gritted his teeth at that discussion. He recognized that name. He knew that his father had taken it as his own not too long ago.
They wanted his father.
Ana couldn't let them.
With that thought, Ana forced himself to scrap together every bit of strength he had still left.
He had to do something. He had to flee.
Not that he hadn't planned to flee since he had been captured – but hearing their reason gave him another incentive. Ana knew that if he didn't get out, his father would come to get him. They always had had a slight awareness of each other – like a mental bond that gave them feedback about the other's state of being. The bond was partly vampiric in nature, and partly influenced by the healer's oath of his father.
In a vampire family, a bond would bind the family members, ensuring that parents and children would always be able to find each other. With the healer's oath added in, the bond between Ana and Sal had developed to include the general health of the other – which also meant that his father would come for Ana who was anything but in good health.
Ana couldn't let that happen.
He definitely didn't want to lead his father to those men.
That night, Ana forced himself to go through with his plan and flee.
He was unsteady on his feet, but he had been trained well by his father and unlike other vampires, he had been raised a druid.
The thugs had searched him and taken his wand and his bag of stones. But Ana was a druid. If he really wanted to, he was dangerous without any tools at all.
He charged his magic through his body, his runes – the way of the druid to do magic – tingling on his skin. Every bit of magic Ana could harness was channelled through his body to increase his speed and ensure that the thugs ignored him.
Sadly, it wasn't enough.
Shortly before Ana reached the gates, he was discovered.
"The monster is fleeing!" one of the thugs screamed and pointed his wand at Ana.
Ana ducked, ignoring the pain racing through his body when he did so.
Another three thugs came running, but Ana forced every bit of magic he had through his body and jumped the gates. He grabbed the Stone wall of the castle above the gates, swung himself up and then jumped down on the other side, ducking another six curses while doing so.
Ana knew that while he had managed to escape, he wouldn't be able to keep running long.
"They will get me," he understood with horror. "They will manage to retrieve me again. I won't get away."
It was a terrible realization.
Nevertheless, he kept running, stumbling and nearly falling along the way more than once.
When he reached the forest, the men were just behind him.
He could hear them shouting curses and Ana knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to get away, and he knew that he would be hit by one of the curses soon.
There was a sizzling sound, light.
Ana stumbled, closed his eyes when he lost his footing. He expected the curse he could hear sizzling behind him hitting him on top of everything. He expected to be dragged back. He expected to lose his only chance to survive.
Instead, a flash lit up the surroundings.
Ana's knees hit the ground, his eyes clearing from the flash to see a golden shimmering shield surrounding him.
Ana hadn't been the one to cast the shield, but he didn't even have to think about who had done it. There was only one person who used shields like that.
"Pater," Ana whispered.
As if his father had been called by Ana's whispered word, he stepped out behind the trees. Like Ana, he was surrounded by the shield. He was frowning, his eyes looking Ana over full of concern.
"Are you alright, Ana?" Sal asked, his eyes meeting Ana's.
"Pater," Ana repeated and immediately reached out towards the other man. Without hesitation, his father stepped forward and knelt down in front of Ana. From the corner of his eyes, Ana could see the men surrounding the shield of his Pater.
They wouldn't escape. The moment the shield retreated they would be caught again.
His father on the other hand ignored the men and instead concentrated on Ana.
He reached out towards Ana and lifted his head to look at the bruises on Ana's face.
"They want you, Pater," Ana told him, letting his father prod and poke him.
His father looked up at that and at the men surrounding them. There was darkness in his eyes that Ana hadn't seen before.
"And they went and hurt you to get me here?" Sal asked, his voice dangerous.
"I doubt they knew that hurting me would call you here," Ana said slowly. "As far as I understand, they know that you care for beings and so they decided to hurt beings to get your attention. That they managed to get me was more than likely just a coincidence."
His father shot Ana a dark look.
Before Ana could say something else, one of the men around them spoke up.
"You should give up," he jeered. "You have no chance to escape. We have overwhelmed others before you and they haven't managed to escape yet – even if they were real magicals, unlike you, monster!"
Ana immediately reached out to grab his father's hand. He could see his father's stormy expression and he definitely didn't want to take any chances of his father trying to attack those men.
His father's arm felt tense beneath his fingers.
"Pater," he whispered and Sal turned back towards him, his eyes roaming over Ana's hurt body. "We won't escape."
For a moment, his father looked at him, then he looked around.
"We won't," he agreed, his voice oddly calm. "But you… you can."
Ana shook his head.
"No, Pater, you don't know what they'll do to you! They could–"
"The worst they could do is kill me," his father said placidly. "And if they try, it doesn't matter. I won't stay dead."
Ana frowned at his father.
"Everybody dies if you put their body through enough trauma," he pointed out with a whisper. "They will find a way to kill you."
"This world is governed by rules, my childe," his father countered. "Life means being born, aging and then dying. You can neither age nor die if you haven't been born."
For a moment he looked at the men surrounding them, then at the sky before his gaze returned to Ana.
"I haven't been born, yet," he said and rubbed his chest with a grimace. Ana remembered that he had quite a terrible scar there. "So, I don't age, which means I can't die. No matter what they'll do to me, they won't permanently kill me."
Ana looked at his father at that declaration. He had always known that his father was different, but he had never heard about the fact before that his father hadn't been born, yet.
"How do you know?" he whispered. "How do you know you can't die?"
His father rubbed his chest again.
"I was killed before," he answered, his eyes closing, "I died and I'm still there. Believe me, Ana, I know."
Ana nodded, his eyes on his father's scarred chest.
"You on the other hand," Sal continued. "You can die – so the only way to save you is to ensure that you get away today."
It wasn't something that Ana wanted to hear, but it was something that he understood. It was logical, no matter how much it hurt.
"I can't… I'm…" Ana trailed off.
His father nodded in understanding and then held out his hand.
"I'm going to heal you as much as I can," he said calmly. "And you're going to feed."
Ana growled.
"I'm not leaving you weakened in their 'care'!" Ana said and bared his teeth.
Sal grabbed Ana's chin.
"You're my son," he countered, his voice laced with the hisses of parseltongue. "I am your father. If I can heal you and ensure that you have every chance to escape, then I will take it. And you, as my son, will listen to me and do as I say!"
Ana lowered his eyes.
It was the first time that his father actually acted like he knew other fathers acting when it came to their children. Like it was their right. It was the first time that Ana could see the way his father had grown up in his father's bearing.
A way of saying 'I'm the father, you are the child and my will is your life'. Just that normally fathers didn't just extend their power over their children in life and death situations like Sal was doing now.
Ana knew that he could protest. He knew that his father would understand his argument, but… he couldn't bring himself to argue – not when he could see how serious his father was and how much he meant it.
For a moment, Ana still hesitated, then he took his father's arm and bit him.
His father didn't even flinch when Ana's fangs breached his skin. Instead, he reached out and extended his magic towards Ana, starting to heal him.
Ana could feel his skin knitting together under his father's care. He could also feel how he was revitalizing with his father's blood strengthening him.
He fed more than usual, feeling slightly guilty for doing so, but also knew that his father wouldn't be happy if he held back and fed less than he needed.
He stopped feeding the moment he knew it was enough. His eyes searched his father's.
His father looked a bit pale but otherwise hale. He smiled at Ana, his fingers carding through his son's hair.
"I need you to flee now," he said, his voice calm. "I need you to flee and don't look back."
"I'm coming back," Ana promised. "I will help you to get out; I will save you."
His father snorted.
"Just don't come back with solely Gryffindors at your side," he countered. "You need someone to curb your behaviour and Gryffindors would just edge you on. You're far too similar for your own good, after all."
Ana mock-pouted, trying to insert some normality in their actions.
"I promise," he said. "No recklessness when I come and get you."
His father sent him a crooked smile.
"That's fine by me, then," he agreed and then stood up to face the men surrounding them.
For a moment, his eyes met Ana's.
"Run!"
And the shield fell.
Ana ran.
The last thing he saw was the thugs descending upon his father and his father stopping them to come after Ana, then he reached the forest and he couldn't see anything else.
It would take nearly four days until he stumbled upon one of his father's friends – one Godric Gryffindor. And it would take another few days until Gryffindor, Ana and another friend managed to free his father.
In the end, his father would return to Hogwarts as Salazar Slytherin – and Ana would follow.
…
"So… this is where you decided to teach?" Ana asked with interest and stared at the castle. "Where did you get that castle from?"
His father threw him an amused look.
"This was my father's home," he said. "It's been in my possession for more than seven hundred years."
Ana blinked and looked at the castle over.
"Grandfather had a castle?" he asked, astonished.
"Not Atr," his father corrected him amused. "My adopted father, Arthur."
Ana's eyes widened and he reached for his father's arm to cling to it.
"Are you telling me you handed over Camelot to your friends to make it an academia?!"
"So?" Sal said. "It's not as if they know it's Camelot. They named it Haugh's Wards."
"Haugh's Wards?" Ana frowned. "What a terribly boring name!"
Sal rolled his eyes fondly at his son.
"It's a good name," he said.
"It's bo-oring," Ana repeated, stretching the 'o'. "Couldn't they have chosen something else? Something funny maybe? Like… Hogs' Warts, maybe?"
Sal reached out and cuffed his son playfully around the head.
"Don't you dare to suggest something like that! In the end, the academia might get stuck with that name."
Of course, Ana would think it more than a bit amusing that even without his help, the Academia of Haugh's Wards, would end up 'Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry' sometimes in the future.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Over my time living knowing Sanguini, I came to the conclusion that vampires are one of the scariest creatures on earth. They're well-known for their icy personalities and dangerous aura. Sanguini is a prime example of that.
Fact is, vampires don't hesitate to kill if they are attacked without reason. At the same time, Sanguini assured me that they don't kill or harm as long as they aren't forced to do it. Their instincts are deeply ingrained into them which should be kept in mind whenever interaction with their species.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
… … … … … … … … … … … …
1124 A.D.
Ana had to admit to himself that he definitely didn't like to feel hungry.
"Well," he said quietly, "at least I can live from blood. I mean… What do non-magicals and wizards and witches do right now? It's not as if you can conjure up something to eat, after all!"
It was a sobering question.
And Ana sure as hell didn't want to know the answer.
"I wonder how Pater is doing," he said to himself with a frown.
He looked around. While everything looked like always, Ana could see the thin faces of the people more starkly now that he was concentrating on them. Famine had a tight grip on at least this part of Europe and Ana wasn't too sure where he should go to escape famine.
"Sometimes I wished there was a way to see how the rest of the world is doing," Ana thought to himself with a sigh. "Might have made deciding easier."
But like it was, Ana had no idea if the food shortage was locally restricted or if it was a Europe-wide occurrence.
"Crop failure is the worst," Ana decided and then looked around again.
He wasn't sure how many of those people would survive the current winter, but he knew for sure that he really didn't want to find out.
"Guess I will have to keep moving," he decided. "Maybe I'll find something somewhere else. Well, something that isn't blood lacking all that good stuff I need."
Because even blood didn't sustain vampires well when the human in question had been starving for a while. Missing vitamins and minerals – at least that was what his Pater called them – were a hassle.
"Maybe I should go and visit Pater," Ana thought. "He may or may not have found a part in this world that isn't hit with famine."
At that moment, a thin, young woman stepped out from one of the house entrances. She had dark red locks and blue eyes.
Ana looked up and met her gaze, his face turning into a frown when he saw the red on her lips.
He pointedly reached towards his own lips, tapped it, licked it and then pointed at her.
The woman's eyes widened and she hastily licked her lips clean.
Ana stepped up closer to her.
"You should be more careful," he said admonishingly, taking care to use the local German dialect that he had picked up over the last weeks. "Didn't your parents teach you that?"
The young woman rolled her eyes.
"Don't scold me like a child. You're not that much older than me," she countered in the same language.
Ana looked at her offended.
"Sure, I am!" he exclaimed but she just rolled her eyes.
"You're clearly not," she countered.
Ana pouted. Did he look that young? His Pater always seemed to get more respect than Ana!
"I'm nearly three hundred years old!" he told the young woman petulantly.
The young woman snorted. "And I am the Emperor of Jerusalem," she countered, clearly not believing him at all.
Ana frowned.
"Well, I'm in my two hundred and eighties," he corrected himself.
The young woman scoffed.
"My grandparents are that age," she countered. "Try again."
Ana pouted. "It's the truth!"
"Doesn't look like the truth," the young woman said with an eye roll. "So… how old are you? Twenty? Twenty-Five? Thirty? And where are your parents? If you're not from around here, you should be with them."
Ana crossed his arms, still pouting.
"I'm old enough to feed myself and explore the world all alone," he countered.
"Twenty or Thirty, then," the young woman concluded. "So… my age." Then she grinned. "Or maybe even my junior."
"Not your junior," Ana immediately replied. "I'm far too mature to be your junior in any way or form!" And then he suppressed the childish urge to stick out his tongue before she called him a liar.
The young woman rolled her eyes.
"Suuure," she said and then stuck out her hand. "I'm Ferun."
Ana crooked his head, took her hand and kissed it like it was proper. "Ana," he replied.
She frowned.
"Your parents must have hated you," she said. "To give you a girls' name."
Ana pouted. "It's short for Anastasius," he countered. "I just don't like being called Anastasius."
Ferun snorted.
"So, you decided to call yourself a girl's name?" she asked and looked at him incredulously. "I would have chosen another way to shorten your name."
Ana raised his eyebrow. "How?"
At that, the young woman hesitated.
"Tasius?" she finally offered.
Ana looked at her in disbelief. She blushed.
"I have to admit that shortening a name like Anastasius… might be a bit difficult without making it sound a bit ridiculous," she finally admitted.
Ana stuck out his tongue, this time not even trying to supress the urge.
She rolled her eyes.
"And there is evidence that you're not older than me," she said.
Ana pouted.
"So, where are your parents?" Ferun asked.
For a moment Ana closed his eyes. His mind reached out towards the feeling that connected him with his father. It felt like a bond, stretching into the distance and telling him which way he had to go to find his father.
Ana didn't know if the bond he had with his father was typical for vampire children and their parents or if it was something that had come into being thanks to his adoption and the fact that his father wasn't a vampire, but no matter how it came into being, Ana had always thought it was practical.
"This way," he said, pointing to the west.
Ferun raised her eyebrows.
"This way… how far?" she wanted to know.
Ana scratched his head.
"Er…" he said, trying to discern the distance through the bond with his mind. "Maybe… a week? Two? At most three," he finally offered up.
She rolled her eyes and reached out towards him. "In other words, you're alone," she declared, clearly not believing him this time around, too. "Well, c'mon, I guess I'll bring you home with me. My parents will know what to do."
Ana frowned.
"There's nothing to be done," he said a bit unhappily. "I can hunt alone."
She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, just like I can," she countered. "And yet, I still live with my parents because I still need them at least sometimes."
She looked at him pointedly.
Ana wanted to cross his arms again, but she had a good hold of one of his wrists, so he guessed it wouldn't look as impressive if he crossed just one hand. It… might even look a bit like he was hugging himself which definitely wasn't what he was going for.
Ferun just shook her head at him and then started to drag him after her.
"Let's go to my parents," she declared. "I'm sure they will be able to get you home to your parents, in the end."
Ana looked at her unhappily, even while he followed after her like a lost puppy.
"I don't need Pater to come and get me," he said unhappily. "I'm old enough to look after myself! And Pater might just laugh at me when he's called here just to get me!"
"Suuure," Ferun replied and just continued to drag him down the streets. It took a while but, in the end, they ended up in front of one of those small houses littering the whole town. A house made of wood, with tiny windows and a reed roof.
Ana didn't even want to get in. It looked tiny, dirty and dark. He knew houses like that. They had nothing inside but a wooden chest and maybe some plank beds and an open fire. Ana had grown up in a house not too dissimilar from the outside, but at least his father had had the common sense to use magic to ensure that the smoke of the open fire would leave through the hole in the roof and that the windows were a bit bigger and shielded with magic, too.
Sadly, he doubted that Ferun's parents had thought of stuff like that.
Actually, he was pretty sure that they hadn't when Ferun dragged him behind the house towards the garden instead of inside.
The day wasn't that nice and that her parents were outside when it had been drizzling the whole day – well, it spoke of an uncomfortable home, in Ana's mind.
"Fater," Ferun greeted the older-looking man with the same dark red hair as hers before she turned and looked at the woman with the same blue eyes. "Muoter."
When her father raised an eyebrow at her, she smiled hesitatingly.
"Don't worry, Fater," she said. "I wasn't seen strolling through the streets alone."
The man raised an incredulous eyebrow and then looked at Ana.
"He's a vampire, like us," Ferun immediately countered. "He doesn't follow human tradition that a woman has to be accompanied by a man all the time."
"Is that so," the man said and he scrutinized Ana.
Ana blinked. "Wait," he said slowly. "Women have to be accompanied by a man?" He frowned. "Why?"
"It's a stupid mundane rule," Ferun immediately answered. "They think we women are weak and helpless and therefore have to be the property of their fathers, husbands and brothers."
Ana knew that even wizards and witches were a bit cautious when it came to their daughters, but he had never thought about that before. His father had never treated any female as if they were more breakable or weaker than a man, so Ana had never done it as well.
"Weird," he decided.
At that, the father sighed.
"I guess you didn't grow up in contact with the non-magical world, then," he said. Ana scratched his head, not sure what to say. He did grow up mostly in the magical world – but the magical and non-magical world hadn't been that different back then. At the time he grew up, women – magical and non-magical – had been seen as powerful in their own right. They hadn't really had that much of a say in politics, but they had been allowed to choose their husbands and to fight if they wanted to.
But maybe that had been because Ana had grown up in parts of the Black Forest where the old, Germanic system had still been in place, instead of the newer system that had been spreading everywhere else over Europe.
"Er… I had a bit of contact?" Ana finally offered hesitatingly.
When the other man raised an eyebrow in disbelief, Ana shrugged. "I guess the village I grew up in was a bit behind the times," he said, not bothering to explain again that he was about two hundred eighty years old. He somehow doubted the older looking gentleman in front of him would believe him.
Ferun's father hummed and then held out a hand. "I am Karl and this is my wife Gerda."
"I'm honoured to meet you," Ana replied and took the other man's hand, nodding towards the wife. "I am Anastasius."
"But he likes to be called Ana," Ferun piped up from next to him.
When the older-looking vampire-man raised an eyebrow at that, Ana shrugged.
"It's true," he said. "Pater always called me Ana when I was little and it stuck."
Karl snorted.
"You're not that old," he said with the same surety as his daughter.
"About as old as I," Ferun happily agreed. "Even though he tries to lie about it."
Ana pouted. "I didn't lie!"
"You wanted to tell me you're about three hundred years old!"
"Two hundred eighty-three!" Ana said petulantly.
Gerda and Karl both snorted at that. "You look a bit too young for being that old," Karl said when Ana frowned. "My father is two hundred and eighty-nine – and he definitely doesn't look as young as you do."
Ana pouted. Really, why didn't anybody believe him when he was telling the truth?!
"So, how old are you really, child?" Gerda added and raised an eyebrow at him. "And don't try to lie to us and tell us you're over thirty."
"I wasn't trying to lie," Ana complained but when she just stared pointedly at him, he quelled the rest of his words and decided that she wouldn't believe him if he kept telling the truth. "Twenty-eight," he decided, since they had only given him half a decade to work with what they would believe… well… if he didn't want to make himself even younger than he had to, that was.
"Good boy," Karl said and patted Ana's head, making him squirm. Ana had grown up in a time where a child wasn't touched by anybody but family – so being called a child and being touched definitely made him uncomfortable.
"And where are your parents?" Gerda added at that moment.
Ana reached out mentally towards his father and then pointed towards the west again.
"That way – about a week to three away," he answered.
Gerda and Karl exchanged a concerned look at that.
"You ran away from home?" Gerda asked.
Ana immediately shook his head.
"No!" he said. "Why would I run away from Pater? I went exploring!"
Karl snorted at Gerda's concerned face.
"He's that age, Gerda, dearest," he said amused. "Ferun isn't old enough for that yet, being only twenty-four, but she might try to go exploring in a few years' time as well. I'm not sure how common it is with female vampires, but us males… Well, we do stuff like that often from thirty onwards. He's a bit early, but it's not that concerning."
Then he looked pointedly at Ana. "Even if most of the young have the decency to stay closer than a weeks' time to where their parents are."
Ana pouted.
"Pater doesn't mind," he defended himself.
Karl snorted. "More like your father doesn't know."
Ana grimaced. He wished that he could have objected, but it was very likely that his father wasn't concentrating on his connection to Ana actively so he most likely didn't know how close or far they were from each other.
Of course, Karl and Gerda took Ana's mien differently than it was meant.
"He's going to get into trouble when his father finds him," Ferun piped up happily next to Ana.
"And until then he'll stay here and we watch him for his parents," Gerda decided.
Ana squawked. "I can look after myself!"
Ferun next to him hooted while her mother just sighed.
"You teenagers are all the same," Gerda said and shook her head, before she looked at Ana sternly. "I know that you think you can look after yourself, but you can't – not yet. We're your elders, we know the dangers of the world and you will keep close to us until you're old enough to understand them as well – which will be in about thirty years for you."
Ana gawked. "Vampires are of age at forty!"
"Being weaned doesn't mean you're all grown up," Gerda said with a sigh. "While theoretically a vampire child can be left after they reach their fortieth year, the fact is that they will return and rely on adults at least another twenty years after that – not to mention that you will return for comfort-feeding."
Ana pouted.
He knew it was true. Worse, he knew that he still returned sometimes for comfort-feeding – and he bet he wasn't the only vampire who liked to do that, even if he might be one of the few who was allowed.
His face seemed to be interpreted by Karl, because the man snorted. "Don't look like that, boy," he said. "Your father will force you to stop your comfort-feeding soon enough. And after, you'll end up wishing that you'd be allowed to return to that time."
Hah! Ana knew it!
"Pater wouldn't force me to stop if I wanted to," Ana countered instead, quite sure of his statement.
Gerda snorted. "That's what all young vampires your age think," she said amused. "You all believe yourself all grown up and ready to feed solely on your own – but at the same time, you still believe that your parents will always allow you back to feeding on their veins like you were used to as a small child. I fear you're not yet ready to solely feed on your own – just like I fear that you will not always be allowed to return to the comfort of our veins."
Ana crossed his arms.
"Pater is different," he countered.
"Your father most likely knows you're not ready to stand on your own, yet," Karl countered. "We parents know that, you know? One day, he will stop letting you feed from him."
His surety made Ana hesitate and wonder. He knew that thanks to his Pater's blood running through Ana's veins that he was ageing slower than normal vampires. While his father had always given him the freedom to walk his own path, Sal had also always accepted when Ana hung around and fed on him like a little child. Now, with Karl and Gerda's surety, Ana wondered if that was because his father simply knew that his blood had affected Ana and that Ana simply wasn't ready to walk his path alone.
It was a frightening thought, but at the same time, it also felt quite good to know that his father might have understood that his blood had changed Ana in some ways.
"I don't believe you," Ana said anyway just because he could.
Karl and Gerda exchanged a knowing look and snorted.
"Teens," Karl said and then shook his head.
"Let's get him settled in," Gerda said. "Until his father catches up to him."
Ana squawked. "I can take care of myself!"
"And we know better than to let a young vampire like you run wild," Karl countered. "You can help me on the farm and we can look after you when you hunt until your father reaches you and we can hand you over."
Ana pouted. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't get away from them without calling his Pater. If he tried, they'd just end up coming after him. With a mental sigh he reached out towards his Pater and alerted him that he needed help.
Ana would so end up mocked by his father the moment the older one had freed him from the other vampires.
…
"Good day, may I help you?"
Ana looked up from his work on the field – one of the few that were worked on now to be soon carrying crops in late spring since most farmers had no idea that you could sow two times a year – when he heard Karl speak up.
At the edge of the field, his Pater was standing, his eyes now on Karl.
Ana was a bit relieved to see that his father's appearance looked to be closer to Karl's age currently than to Ana's. With his father's ability to change his age that wasn't always a given, after all. Thankfully, his father seemed to have chosen a more aged appearance for whatever reason – mostly influenced by whatever he had been able to dissect from the information he had been getting through their bond from Ana.
"You may," Sal said, not even looking towards Ana even if he had to know that Ana was nearby. "I am looking for my son." He held out his hand to show Ana's height. "About this tall, black hair, dark eyes, most likely a bit pale."
Karl snorted. "If he's called Anastasius, then I know indeed where he is."
Ana would be so mocked the moment they were far away from the other vampires.
"Usually, he prefers to be called Ana," his Pater countered amused.
Karl snorted again. "Well, then I can help you indeed," he said and gestured towards Ana. "He's over there, helping me on the farm."
When Sal raised an eyebrow at that, Karl elaborated. "My daughter stumbled upon him while she was on one of her first hunts alone. Since he was obviously not old enough to be alone anywhere, she was sensible enough to drag him here. We've been keeping him busy and watched him while waiting for you to find him again."
Sal looked towards Ana and hummed.
"So, he was well behaved?" he asked.
"He's a good lad," the other vampire agreed. "You don't have to punish him for anything but running away."
The answer was a snort from Sal. "I'm pretty sure he didn't intend to run away."
"No," Karl agreed and led Sal back towards Ana. "From what I understood, he simply went exploring and decided to spread his wings a bit too far."
Ana stood up from his crouched position and looked at his father.
"Pater!" he greeted and reached towards the other man to sling his arms around Sal's neck and bury his head into Sal's shoulder. "Karl was mean to me. He didn't believe me when I told him I'm all grown up and way on my way to be three hundred years of age!"
Sal laughed and kissed Ana's head, clearly amused by Ana's plight. "That's because you definitely don't look three hundred years of age," he countered.
Ana pouted. "No, well. I'm two hundred eighty-three! Of course, I wouldn't look three hundred years of age!"
The answer was another laugh and a light tap on his head.
"We'll talk about that later," he said. "Now, you go and thank Karl and his family for taking care of you, and afterwards, we'll leave."
Karl next to Sal looked up towards the sky. "You could also stay the night and start on your way back tomorrow," he suggested before frowning. "I mean, I'm a bit surprised that there's another vampire coven living just three weeks away from here since I thought we were the only ones around here, but that doesn't mean that I won't be hospitable for the night. You could stay and rest, feed near the village mayhap and then leave tomorrow."
Ana froze in his Pater's arms.
Did… Karl just confuse Pater for a vampire?
Ana knew that Sal didn't smell edible to other vampires, but most were more or less aware that Sal at least wasn't fully a part of them. Thanks to his connection to Ana he seemed to feel a bit vampiric towards other vampires, but more like a mixed-blood, not a pureblood.
His father raised his head to look at the sky as well.
"It might be wise to take you up on your offer," he said with a sigh. "It'll get dark in less than two hours. We wouldn't go far tonight."
Karl nodded and Ana frowned.
"We have to stay?" he asked, offended, unhappy that he would be treated like a teenager at least another night.
"It's for the best," his father agreed. "I don't fancy travelling the roads at night."
"Sensible," Karl agreed and then nodded towards the field. "I planned to work another hour. Your son, if you don't mind, could help me while you could wait and rest for a while."
Sal looked at the field, then at Ana who was looking unhappily at him and sighed.
"Let me help," he decided, "it'll go quite a bit faster if there're six hands instead of four."
That… wasn't why Ana had been unhappy.
With a mental sigh Ana accepted there was no escape and returned to work together with his father and Karl.
It was later when they returned to Karl's home and Gerda was waiting for them that the topic of Ana's and Sal's home was brought back up.
"I'm surprised that another coven lives more or less just around the corner," Gerda said while she handed out a thin soup – which was more than other farmers had in the times of famine.
"We don't," Sal answered, before thanking her for the food. "Ana and I are on a journey."
Karl looked up, surprised. "A journey?"
"Just you two?" Ferun asked.
"What about your wife, his mother?" Gerda inquired.
Sal grimaced.
"His mother was killed when he was about four years of age," he answered. "Ana can't remember her. I've been raising him alone ever since then."
"And your parents? Her parents? Your siblings or hers?" Gerda inquired. "Your coven should be bigger than just your wife, you and your child. I mean… we might not be the biggest coven but Karl's parents and my brother with his wife – with her parents and younger sister – as well as their child are still living just next door."
Ana didn't dare to look up. He knew that vampire covens normally contained at least one blood related family – sometimes even more than one. A normal coven had about twenty to thirty people in it.
Sal on the other hand grimaced.
"My parents are dead," he said. "The same goes for my brother and his wife and children. Ana's mother didn't have any family left as well when we met and my father had no siblings."
Ferun looked shocked.
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.
"Ferun!" her father immediately admonished her. "Don't say things like that!"
"But it is!" she countered. "To have so little relations – not to mention nearly no coven! That's… that's simply horrific!"
"Ferun!" this time Ferun shut up at the look of her mother.
Karl meanwhile turned towards Sal.
"Have you considered joining another coven?" he asked.
Ana's eyes widened.
Sal just shook his head. "Few covens accept mixed-bloods," he countered, which definitely was the truth. "Especially not if they barely show any vampiric heritage."
Or had none – but Ana was sure that his father wouldn't say that because it would bring down Ana's standing a lot more than when Sal implied that he was the mixed blooded one… which he was, he just didn't have any vampiric heritage in his mixed blood.
Ferun looked at Sal in surprise while her parents exchanged a dark look.
Ana expected that they would be asked to leave – which, while he wanted to leave, he didn't like the thought of being thrown out after getting to know and like the other three vampires.
"So… I guess you don't need to drink blood then?" Gerda said quite calmly instead of getting angry, surprising Ana with her reaction. He had seen negative reactions from other vampires when they had found out that his Pater didn't drink blood – and it had never been pretty, no matter how his father had formulated it. And they had tried everything.
They had said that Ana had been adopted – which had gotten the worst reaction since Sal wasn't a vampire and therefore had 'tainted' Ana's pure blood.
They had said that Ana's mother had been the vampire – which had been more accepted but hadn't changed the distrust towards Sal. More often than not, the vampires had tried to get Sal and therefore Ana as far away from them as they could the moment they found out.
They had said that Sal was mixed-blooded – which had still ensured that there was a bit of disdain towards Sal, but at least the reaction had been the best out of all the options. While they had been asked to leave by a few, most had accepted them for at least a short while. Hence, they went with that story whenever they had to say anything at all.
"Yes, I don't need to drink blood," Sal agreed calmly while Ana banned his thoughts out of his mind. "Though… it's not something that I normally advise."
Karl snorted.
"I can understand why," he said with disdain. "I know how other covens react to a mixed-blood like you. My brother-in-law's wife has a veela-mixed-blood for a father. She's just like you. She doesn't need to drink blood at all – which ensured that her parents' previous coven threw her out. When my son married his wife, her parents and her little sister followed."
Ana blinked surprised.
"So… you don't care?" he asked. "Even if Pater doesn't really have any vampiric heritage within the last three generations?"
"Ah," Gerda said with sudden understanding in her eyes. "You really meant mixed-blood right now, didn't you?"
Ferun frowned. "Wait! If he's not really a vampire – how can Ana be one? I mean, he's just like a pureblooded one, isn't he?"
Karl waved that question off. "It happens," he said and then looked at Sal. "I guess your wife was a pureblood?"
"Ana's mother was a pureblood, yes," Sal agreed.
"Then that and a bit of vampiric heritage from his father can be enough to make him quite similar to a pureblood," Gerda said calmly. "Just look at your cousin! You couldn't tell she was born of a mixed-blooded mother the way she looks and grows!"
Ferun hummed thoughtfully.
Karl on the other hand scrutinized Sal and then Ana.
"How about joining our coven?" he asked calmly. "We don't mind that you're mixed-blooded and your son could grow up with more vampires than just you trying to look after him. He's nearly thirty, after all, and it seems that he's already started with his wild phase. I'm not sure how bad you were at his age, but I remember my youth and I think I might have killed myself more than once if I hadn't had a whole coven to look after me."
Ana squawked. "I'm not that bad!"
His Pater raised an eyebrow at that. "Might I remind you about those thugs you managed to get captured by?" he countered. "Or the fact that you wandered onto more than one battlefield when I told you to stay behind and wait for my signal?"
"That's not fair!" Ana countered. "That happened ages ago and I was really little for the later one!"
Karl snorted. "That sounds as if your son is the typical curious boy, there," he said amused. "The offer stands. If you want to think about it or try it out first, then that's alright with us, too."
"What would the rest of your coven say if they heard your offer?" Sal countered.
"Not one of them would object," Gerda replied. "Don't forget that my brother's wife and through her we all know what it's like to be expelled because of your heritage. Not one of them would object when it comes to taking in one of those who were hit by the same fate as one of our own."
Sal hummed and then looked at Ana who didn't know how to look back. On one hand, Ana didn't want to stay, on the other… this would be the first coven he would be allowed to stay together with his Pater…
"I think I should talk to my son privately first, before we decide anything," his Pater finally decided.
"Understandable," Karl agreed immediately.
…
"Pater… I…"
Sal looked at his son calmly.
"If you want to stay and learn a bit more about your people, then we will stay," he said calmly and Ana squirmed.
"I could go and join a coven on my own," he countered.
Sal snorted.
"Only if you make yourself look a bit older than you do right now," he countered and Ana pouted. He knew that his father had taught him a way to make himself look closer to thirty than barely twenty like he did right now. It was just that unlike with his father, Ana's ability to change his age wasn't natural and therefore needed to be reinforced by magic more often. And Ana had to admit that he had been lax in the last few months.
He pouted.
"I can't wait until I really look closer to thirty," he said with a pout.
"Which will be in another fifty to hundred years if you keep ageing the way you do right now," Sal countered calmly. "Of course, considering the way your aging has happened until now, if you're unlucky you will need another six to nine hundred years to look a decade older than now."
Sal would be close in his guess. Ana would finally naturally look about thirty in 1921 – so nearly eight hundred years later.
"Not what I want to hear, Pater!" Ana complained.
Sal laughed.
"I know," he agreed and then scrutinized Ana. "So, you want me to decline?"
Ana thought about it. He knew that he should want Sal to decline the offer, but at the same time…
"They wouldn't frown if I got something wrong," Ana said slowly. "I mean… I've never really lived with vampires and what I know I know from you and your time as a guest in that one coven which was a bit more open minded. I've never really been a part of a coven… and being a… Well, 'teen' would mean that I could make mistakes without being looked at and thought uncivilized."
"You would end up punished, though," Sal countered immediately.
Ana shrugged.
"And I would have to punish you openly for 'running away'," Sal added. Ana thought that over.
"You're not going to make me stand in a corner, are you?" he asked with a frown.
Sal snorted. "I think you're old enough for some menial tasks and a loss of privileges," he countered amused. "And I also think that you might be a bit old to take you over my knee, so that option isn't one I would take, too. So, menial tasks and a loss of privileges."
"Privileges?" Ana asked cautiously, knowing fully well that his Pater could have a mean streak if he really wanted to punish Ana. He had done it before when he had been raising Ana for real, after all.
"No hunting alone without me or another adult as a companion," Sal answered calmly. "And no feeding from me for the next two weeks."
In other words, Ana wouldn't really lose anything at all since he doubted that his father really would accompany him for the hunt – he hadn't done that for nearly two hundred and fifty years, after all – and Ana wasn't used to feeding from his Pater regularly, too, anymore.
The only time Ana would mayhap feel a bit punished would be whenever one of the other vampires would accompany him to a hunt… and more likely than not, Ana would feel far more interested to hunt with the others since he wasn't used to hunting in a group at all. At least, Ana had been fascinated by it since he had arrived.
"I think I can live with that," he decided before looking at his Pater cautiously. "If I say yes, will you stay as well?"
His father hummed.
"If you want to, I will stay with you for a few decades," Sal agreed. "But in the end, I will leave again. I won't stay for longer than fifty years at most."
Which was more than enough in Ana's books.
"Deal," he said and then decided. "We'll stay then. I really want to know what it's like to grow up in a coven… to live in a coven."
When they returned to the hut, Karl and Gerda were already waiting.
Something must have shown on Ana's face, because Gerda laughed.
"You're staying then, I guess?" she asked.
"At least for a few decades," Sal agreed calmly. "I'm not going to promise more since I have never been one who could just stay in a place. But, for a few decades at least, I might be willing if we get along."
Karl nodded. "That's fine," he said. "Covens change over time. If you decide to leave later on, then you can and if you decide to return sometimes, then you will still have a place with us. That's what a coven is all about, after all."
And with that, Ana and Sal would end up living in a little town in the middle of nowhere in the country which later would be Germany for the next six decades.
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A vampire coven always only includes a sire and the one he has bitten. There are never two sires in a coven and a vampire from another coven is usually not permitted to join a new coven if he leaves his old one.
My friend Sanguini told me that the coven he came from was quite small – only about ten vampires. He also told me that usually, twenty to forty vampires were common. Usually, covens hunt together, spreading out over quite a few miles to ensure that people won't notice. Since vampires don't need to kill to survive and since they can alter people's memories, they often stay undetected no matter where they live or how many they are.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
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Well, that's the first chapter about Ana and his way through time. For those who are interested in the historical facts, etc, I added the events that the different years are based on below.
I hope you liked it.
Ebenbild
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Remarks:
890 A.D.: Basilisk-Born event. References the conflict between the goblins and the wizards, with Sal on the side of the goblins.
atr - father in reconstructed Common Brittonic (after reconstructed Proto-Celtic "*φatīr - father" and "*tata - father/dad")
922 A.D.: Historical fact. Hedeby, also known as Heiðabýr (old Norse), Heidiba (Latin), Haithabu (German), Slesvig (old texts) was a Danish Viking city in the 8th to 11th century. It's now situated in the district Schleswig-Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, near the border to Denmark. The merchant's description was more or less what a Spanish merchant said about that city.
Varangians are merchants and warriors/mercenaries from Scandinavia. They are predominantly from Sweden, unlike the Vikings who are predominantly from Denmark/Norway. The Varangians (also known as Rus) sailed down the Volga and also had contact with the Arab World and are less known for plundering and danegeld.
Historical figure. Fictional character. In 922 Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, a member of the embassy of the honourable Abbasid caliph Abu'l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Ahmad al-Muʿtaḍid of Bagdad, traveled to the Volga Bulgar Vikings to convert them to the Islamic religion. Michael Crichton's 1976 novel "Eaters of the Dead" and the 1999 historical fiction action film "The 13th Warrior" which are both an adaption of Beowulf combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account are based on this historical figure.
1000 A.D.: Basilisk-Born event. References Sal being captured after the Harry Potter-canon based dispute between Salazar Slytherin (Sal) and Godric Gryffindor.
academia - Latin for academy
1124 A.D.: Historical event. From 1124 to 1126 crop failure and food shortage hit most of middle Europe and famine spread. This was just one of five famines between 1100 and 1200.
Fater - older German for father
Muoter - older German for mother.