abyssale | 𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖙𝖇𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖙 𝖎𝖓𝖇𝖔𝖝.

if you wouldn't mind, i would like to hear about them

and about you
what you were like back then, before everything.

meet me at the lake.

i will.

[ he in fact waits there, watching the sun set from the banks so that his skin will still be warm from it when lexi arrives. it seems that he likes that, so. ]

( Lexi eventually makes his appearance as the sun disappears over the horizon. he's dressed in loose flowing, pants, a long kimono, and bare feet. wrapped around himself is a large, soft blanket of a material he doesn't recognize.

he crouches down and sits next to Dani, looking out across the setting rays. ) This hour comes the closest to reminding me of home.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...

[ dani sees what he means. the sky is still stained with sunset, the clouds flamed with red and orange. it does come closest. but it feels nicer, and the moon and stars will follow.

dani's dressed in jeans, a soft cotton t-shirt, and a larger, looser, open shirt with the sleeves rolled up a little. all his clothes are black. there's shoes beside him, but his feet are also bare, because he had them in the water until it chilled.

he looks up with a warm smile, and scoots up against lexi, reaching to take his hand. ]

This sky has more to look at. Hey, I like this.

[ he tugs lexi's kimono. ]

( as Dani moves closer, Lexi holds open his large blanket to invite him into it with him.

as usual these days, Dani is a warmth Lexi can never know.

he looks down at the kimono Dani tugs at and nods. ) I like it, too. I like the clothes of this world quite a bit, actually.

[ he settles in with him, tucking against him. Tilting his head up, he kisses his jaw. ]

Me too. Possibly because I suddenly have the nice ones, it's maybe not terrible pretending to be rich.

( Lexi nudges against his jaw at that. ) Do try to remember that the next time I invite you to the palace, yes?

[ there's a thing he's not ready to go back to. he aims for distraction with a real kiss, soft and on the lips. his thumb runs along lexi's jaw. ]

Tell me about the palace. It was home for...what. Two hundred years?

( Lexi allows the distraction. he's not aiming for a full conversation on the topic, anyway. just reminders when Dani gets close to the idea.

when the kiss breaks, Lexi nods. )

It's the only home I've ever known. We call it the palace, but it's the size of a small village. It holds all the great lineages and their houses.

[ one place, the size of a village. that's bigger than this house, which already feels enormous. dani settles in to listen, moving his arm to hook around lexi's knee. ]

Lots of enemies close by. [ but maybe that hadn't seemed the case, then. ] You liked it there?

Keep your enemies close. ( Lexi echoes. ) They didn't start out enemies. ( he sighs. ) The families were all so close once. One large family with different names...

( he nods his head. ) There wasn't much to dislike.

[ they'd been close, but they'd betrayed him. killed his family, intended to kill him. it makes something deep inside dani burn. he hasn't much love for vampires anyway, aside from this particular one. but the ones who'd turned on their own rulers deserved some special punishment. ]

Did you think of them as family, then? When you were young.

No. ( the word seems startled from him. ) I always called them family, but...

( he drops his head, looking at the ground. ) Something in me always knew the betrayal was coming. I tried to pretend it didn't. I never could find evidence, after all. But I felt it throughout all my life. The second I was made.

I was only ever close to other Dravens. I could trust them.

[ always suspicious, then. but he'd been right to be. ]

And your mother. Is she the one you were closest to?

( he nods again. )

Larisa. My father was Vasil, but it was Larisa who made me. Taught me about being a vampire. Taught me about being a royal. Prepared me for the day I would take the crown.

Larisa was my world.

[ dani never had a mother. or he did, obviously, but he never knew her. this sort of relationship is alien to him. but he hears the warmth in lexi's voice, understands that it meant something. that it was important, and it was taken away. ]

Were you the only vampire she ever made? You said, only child. No brothers or sisters?

( he shakes his head. ) No, she made plenty of others.

I was just the only lineaged vampire she made. So the others didn't hold the same titles or power we did.

There were other Dravens aside from the three of us. Larisa was queen, though. Which made me her heir. We were the center of the Draven family.

[ yeah, at some point we were bound to hit complex vampire things. dani vaguely understands how vampires are made. lineaged vampires are something else, though,he never met one before lexi. the bloodlines wouldn't have sullied themselves with the fields. he remembers the handlers' resentment about that very thing. but as a result, the practical difference has always been uncertain for him. he assumed that just being made by someone from the bloodline was enough. ]

Well, so...

What's different, how is a vampire like you made compared to the others? It's more than just the blood exchange?

( Lexi raises an eyebrow at Dani. ) You want me to just reveal my family secrets? ( he teases.

it is guarded knowledge, but he doesn't actually care to let Dani know. ) We have altars, carved with the aid of witches and left in the light of the red sky.

The maker must already be lineages. Then they drain everything, and the husk is left to bath in the light for twenty fours. After which, the vampire that drank from you now feeds you nearly all their blood.

Now you're lineaged.

[ it sounds like death. how could anyone come back from that...

well they wouldn't, would they, under normal circumstances. there's magic involved. ]

So that's what happened to you, they left you out...

[ no. he doesn't want to picture it. he looks away, then leans in a little against lexi. ]

It's alright, your secrets are safe. What was it like to wake up from...that? Had you already forgotten your human life?

( he holds Dani at that, then worries at his lip. )

Yes. But I don't think that's normal. Even for a lineages vampire. ( he confessed. )

Waking up for me was like being born.

[ dani looks up. ]

So that wasn't the same for your mother and father?

Why you, then. Maybe there's something different about you.

[ but what? lineaged vampires are already special. more powerful, revered, longer lifespans.

dani hesitates, then, bright eyes studying lexi's face. ]

The...power you used on me, once. Could your mother do that too?

( Lexi blinks in surprise, sitting upright a little more. he'd been going to get there himself in the end, but Dani got there quickly.

he shakes his head. ) I've never heard of another vampire who could. And no one in my lineage has expressed this power to my knowledge.

( he hesitates to say this next part. he'll sound insane. ) When I woke up.... I heard a voice in my head. "Tell no one."

I don't know if I was just coming off the high of change or if it was simply instinct. I've never heard such a thing again. But... I obeyed.

[ a voice.

the strange power had seemed obvious to dani, he's never seen a vampire use anything like that before. or felt it. if a handler could've done it, they'd use it all the time. until this moment he'd thought it was a bloodline thing, but... ]

Tell...no one what?

[ he frowns.

that is a power he's familiar with. ]

Some vampires can talk in your head. Maybe it was one of them, and they'd done something you can't recall.

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