Today is Aylin's first real lesson about vampires. The mansion's library is full of the sound of flipping pages.
Saint Germain takes his duties as a professor seriously.
He finds more and more thick tomes to pull down from the dusty shelves and gives them to Aylin one after another. They don't look like they've been touched in years. The words that dot the insides are small and scrawled in a strange cursive that has long gone extinct. Her eyes gloss over every once in a while, but that is to be expected.
"The legends and lore of the Vampyre is no easy subject, my dear," Saint Germain warbles at her. "Why, it took me several decades to even come close to being a Master--and that was the easy part!" He is exuberant, pacing back and forth pointing and explaining. It looks as though he is really enjoying himself.
"Luckily," he continues happily, "you have two very good instructors." He sits down next to Noah and Aylin.
"In fact, young Mr. Grace has shown remarkable progress in his studies since I invited him to join me here." He beams at Noah, who looks sheepishly around the room. Saint Germain doesn't seem to notice, blinded with his pride at having such a fine protege.
Aylin looks at Noah. She too is smiling at him, which makes the heat in his cheeks spread to his ears.
"It...it's really nothing," stammers Noah, still avoiding their gaze. He is smiling too though; it's nice to hear somebody like Saint Germain offering him such high praise.
"Come now! It's not every day that I have such attentive young people under my tutelage!" Saint Germain continues on with the compliments.
Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you? Noah thinks to himself.
"I'm really happy to be here with both of you," Aylin says, blushing a bit herself. Noah steals a glance at her face and then quickly looks back at the table, but not fast enough to fool Saint Germain, who is watching the two young people with stars in his eyes.
He suddenly shoots out of his chair, startling them.
"Well! I think I'm going to go have a cup of tea and listen to my new concerto. You can handle the rest of the lesson, can't you?" He winks outrageously at Noah and then shimmies out the door faster than a human ever could.
The room is deafly silent all of a sudden. Noah is sure that Aylin can hear his heartbeat from where she sits. What has gotten into Saint Germain?
"Heh, well, um..." Noah coughs. "I suppose... we can continue from this part here?" He tries to point at the book but he's a little too far away.
"Oh, here, let's move," Aylin says. She immediately starts rearranging the chairs, putting one across from the other.
"Oh... Yes, that'll do, I suppose." Noah sits down, and looks forward.
She is staring right at him. This is the first time in a while that they've been alone and actually looking into each other's eyes, he realizes. When was the last time I looked at her like this? he wonders.
"Um... so, Noah?"
"Yes!" he's jolted back to reality.
"Do you like living here?"
Noah thinks about her question. Of course I do. I am no longer in solitude, there is no more need to worry about money or what I will eat for dinner... Saint Germain is kind to me and shows me respect...
"Noah?" Aylin is looking at him expectantly. Her slim hands are propping her chin up and she looks like she is waiting for an answer. She blinks.
"Oh, well... Yes, of course. It's really quite pleasant here, as you know..." Noah finally says. He adds, quietly, "Much more so than what I am used to." She looks interested. She doesn't say anything but her eyes ask for more details, so he continues.
"Well, that is to say... well, I was living in the city before I arrived here. I suppose you could say it was difficult, because I was supporting myself. When I first made your acquaintance I was working six days a week to afford my rent, and then I was left with little to no money to spare." He leans back in his chair. He is finally opening up to her and it feels nice. He doesn't mind that she seems more interested in him than in the giant books strewn across the table. The vampires can wait, he thinks to himself.
"Is that really what city life is like?" Aylin asks.
"For a lot of people, yes. But... it isn't as difficult if you have other people who can help share the burden." He blushes a little bit as he says this and curses his pale complexion.
They talk for quite a while, but it seems like only minutes have gone by. Aylin starts telling Noah about her family.
"My dad...gave birth to me... after being abducted," she says, fidgeting with her hands. "I know it's kind of weird... well, no, it's very weird. But he had the chance to give me back to my mom after I was born, and he didn't, so... I'm thankful for getting to be here with him and all my brothers and sisters."
Noah can't help but gawk at what she just said.
"That... must be difficult," he rattles off without thinking. Then he tries to recover.
"What I mean to say is, it must be difficult knowing you're so... special."
Oh, why must I say such ridiculous things? He's mortified and looks to the side.
"No..." Aylin says, "It is difficult, sometimes... knowing I'm different." He looks back at her. Her eyes are downcast, and he regrets saying anything at all.
Then she looks up, and she smiles her trademark smile at him.
"But I was wanted," she says, "and that makes me so happy. I wouldn't wish for any other life than the one I have right now."
Noah smiles at her because she is smiling at him.
Deep inside, however, he feels despair.
Just then, the doorbell rings.
"Oh," Noah starts to stand up. "I'm very sorry. Will you be okay by yourself? I have to be present when we have guests, just in case they ask for anything..." He hesitates to leave her alone in this dusty old room, but he has a duty to Saint Germain as well.
"It's alright," she replies, beaming her smile at him. "I'll just keep reading, okay?"
"O-okay, yes. That sounds good," he says.
She flips to the page she left off on in the gigantic book, following the lines with her slim finger.
Noah reluctantly heads downstairs.
Saint Germain is quick to answer the door.
He invites his guest into the parlor where they start to talk.
Noah quietly makes his way downstairs where he sees Saint Germain and a familiar young man speaking by the fireplace. They aren't smiling. He stops in his tracks, sensing that this isn't the type of situation where he is needed to entertain.
He is about to turn around and head back to Aylin, but the conversation is just loud enough for him to catch Saint Germain's words.
"I see..." Saint Germain speaks. "You've come because you feel the need to explain your actions the other night, is that correct?"
The man leans against the fireplace, looking out the window. He doesn't answer.
"Hm... let me guess." Saint Germain says coolly. His voice is completely different from earlier when he was in the library. Noah can't help but feel like he should be anywhere except this room, but Saint Germain's voice compels him to stay still.
"You want this woman, but she is mortal and you are not. You want her to accept you for who you have become, but she cannot."
He doesn't wait for a reply. He keeps talking.
"Allow me to share a story of my own, if you would be so kind," he says. "I once was married to a beautiful woman. We met when she was 18, and I was..." he stops to think, "Well now, I've quite lost count. It is irrelevant, I suppose."
Noah stands still like a corpse, listening to Saint Germain speak.
"She was so beautiful... I knew that one day I would lose her, but I put it out of my mind. The time we would be able to spend together would be enough to fill my never ending life with bliss. This is what I truly believed.
"Never did I guess just how much I would come to regret my naivety. It would have been better to have stood in the sunlight for a century and feel my body burn slowly into rotten ash than feel the pain of her death."
Noah hears the finality in Saint Germain's voice as he quietly turns around.
"To love a mortal... for those of us who are children of the night, we cannot afford such a luxury."
His heart feels heavy as he heads back to the library.
Once Noah is out of earshot, Saint Germain says one last thing to the man standing before him.
"If it is wisdom you seek, hear this: A love that is born out of fear is no love at all. You must make your choice.
"And do remember... your actions will have consequences."
Noah returns to the room he had left not ten minutes ago.Aylin has fallen asleep on the table, her hair falls across her face.
Noah takes this opportunity to stare. He doesn't want to wake her. He wants to keep looking at her forever. Suddenly Saint Germain's words come floating back to him, and he feels forlorn.
Mustering his courage, he says her name.
"Aylin..."
She moves slightly, makes a humming sound and then slowly looks up.
"Oh... heh, I guess I nodded off..." she looks embarrassed and straightens the strands of hair that fell about her face.
"That book is just so intense," she says to him. She looks up. "Noah? What's the matter?"
He takes his seat, but he doesn't know what to say. Aylin looks worried.
"Did something happen downstairs?" she asks.
"No... nothing." He opens the book between them. It takes everything he has to look her in the eye.
"Shall we continue?"
Continue to Part 6...
Saint Germain takes his duties as a professor seriously.
He finds more and more thick tomes to pull down from the dusty shelves and gives them to Aylin one after another. They don't look like they've been touched in years. The words that dot the insides are small and scrawled in a strange cursive that has long gone extinct. Her eyes gloss over every once in a while, but that is to be expected.
"The legends and lore of the Vampyre is no easy subject, my dear," Saint Germain warbles at her. "Why, it took me several decades to even come close to being a Master--and that was the easy part!" He is exuberant, pacing back and forth pointing and explaining. It looks as though he is really enjoying himself.
"Luckily," he continues happily, "you have two very good instructors." He sits down next to Noah and Aylin.
"In fact, young Mr. Grace has shown remarkable progress in his studies since I invited him to join me here." He beams at Noah, who looks sheepishly around the room. Saint Germain doesn't seem to notice, blinded with his pride at having such a fine protege.
Aylin looks at Noah. She too is smiling at him, which makes the heat in his cheeks spread to his ears.
"It...it's really nothing," stammers Noah, still avoiding their gaze. He is smiling too though; it's nice to hear somebody like Saint Germain offering him such high praise.
"Come now! It's not every day that I have such attentive young people under my tutelage!" Saint Germain continues on with the compliments.
Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you? Noah thinks to himself.
"I'm really happy to be here with both of you," Aylin says, blushing a bit herself. Noah steals a glance at her face and then quickly looks back at the table, but not fast enough to fool Saint Germain, who is watching the two young people with stars in his eyes.
He suddenly shoots out of his chair, startling them.
"Well! I think I'm going to go have a cup of tea and listen to my new concerto. You can handle the rest of the lesson, can't you?" He winks outrageously at Noah and then shimmies out the door faster than a human ever could.
The room is deafly silent all of a sudden. Noah is sure that Aylin can hear his heartbeat from where she sits. What has gotten into Saint Germain?
"Heh, well, um..." Noah coughs. "I suppose... we can continue from this part here?" He tries to point at the book but he's a little too far away.
"Oh, here, let's move," Aylin says. She immediately starts rearranging the chairs, putting one across from the other.
"Oh... Yes, that'll do, I suppose." Noah sits down, and looks forward.
She is staring right at him. This is the first time in a while that they've been alone and actually looking into each other's eyes, he realizes. When was the last time I looked at her like this? he wonders.
"Um... so, Noah?"
"Yes!" he's jolted back to reality.
"Do you like living here?"
Noah thinks about her question. Of course I do. I am no longer in solitude, there is no more need to worry about money or what I will eat for dinner... Saint Germain is kind to me and shows me respect...
"Noah?" Aylin is looking at him expectantly. Her slim hands are propping her chin up and she looks like she is waiting for an answer. She blinks.
"Oh, well... Yes, of course. It's really quite pleasant here, as you know..." Noah finally says. He adds, quietly, "Much more so than what I am used to." She looks interested. She doesn't say anything but her eyes ask for more details, so he continues.
"Well, that is to say... well, I was living in the city before I arrived here. I suppose you could say it was difficult, because I was supporting myself. When I first made your acquaintance I was working six days a week to afford my rent, and then I was left with little to no money to spare." He leans back in his chair. He is finally opening up to her and it feels nice. He doesn't mind that she seems more interested in him than in the giant books strewn across the table. The vampires can wait, he thinks to himself.
"Is that really what city life is like?" Aylin asks.
"For a lot of people, yes. But... it isn't as difficult if you have other people who can help share the burden." He blushes a little bit as he says this and curses his pale complexion.
They talk for quite a while, but it seems like only minutes have gone by. Aylin starts telling Noah about her family.
"My dad...gave birth to me... after being abducted," she says, fidgeting with her hands. "I know it's kind of weird... well, no, it's very weird. But he had the chance to give me back to my mom after I was born, and he didn't, so... I'm thankful for getting to be here with him and all my brothers and sisters."
Noah can't help but gawk at what she just said.
"That... must be difficult," he rattles off without thinking. Then he tries to recover.
"What I mean to say is, it must be difficult knowing you're so... special."
Oh, why must I say such ridiculous things? He's mortified and looks to the side.
"No..." Aylin says, "It is difficult, sometimes... knowing I'm different." He looks back at her. Her eyes are downcast, and he regrets saying anything at all.
Then she looks up, and she smiles her trademark smile at him.
"But I was wanted," she says, "and that makes me so happy. I wouldn't wish for any other life than the one I have right now."
Noah smiles at her because she is smiling at him.
Deep inside, however, he feels despair.
Just then, the doorbell rings.
"Oh," Noah starts to stand up. "I'm very sorry. Will you be okay by yourself? I have to be present when we have guests, just in case they ask for anything..." He hesitates to leave her alone in this dusty old room, but he has a duty to Saint Germain as well.
"It's alright," she replies, beaming her smile at him. "I'll just keep reading, okay?"
"O-okay, yes. That sounds good," he says.
She flips to the page she left off on in the gigantic book, following the lines with her slim finger.
Noah reluctantly heads downstairs.
Saint Germain is quick to answer the door.
He invites his guest into the parlor where they start to talk.
Noah quietly makes his way downstairs where he sees Saint Germain and a familiar young man speaking by the fireplace. They aren't smiling. He stops in his tracks, sensing that this isn't the type of situation where he is needed to entertain.
He is about to turn around and head back to Aylin, but the conversation is just loud enough for him to catch Saint Germain's words.
"I see..." Saint Germain speaks. "You've come because you feel the need to explain your actions the other night, is that correct?"
The man leans against the fireplace, looking out the window. He doesn't answer.
"Hm... let me guess." Saint Germain says coolly. His voice is completely different from earlier when he was in the library. Noah can't help but feel like he should be anywhere except this room, but Saint Germain's voice compels him to stay still.
"You want this woman, but she is mortal and you are not. You want her to accept you for who you have become, but she cannot."
He doesn't wait for a reply. He keeps talking.
"Allow me to share a story of my own, if you would be so kind," he says. "I once was married to a beautiful woman. We met when she was 18, and I was..." he stops to think, "Well now, I've quite lost count. It is irrelevant, I suppose."
Noah stands still like a corpse, listening to Saint Germain speak.
"She was so beautiful... I knew that one day I would lose her, but I put it out of my mind. The time we would be able to spend together would be enough to fill my never ending life with bliss. This is what I truly believed.
"Never did I guess just how much I would come to regret my naivety. It would have been better to have stood in the sunlight for a century and feel my body burn slowly into rotten ash than feel the pain of her death."
Noah hears the finality in Saint Germain's voice as he quietly turns around.
"To love a mortal... for those of us who are children of the night, we cannot afford such a luxury."
His heart feels heavy as he heads back to the library.
Once Noah is out of earshot, Saint Germain says one last thing to the man standing before him.
"If it is wisdom you seek, hear this: A love that is born out of fear is no love at all. You must make your choice.
"And do remember... your actions will have consequences."
Noah returns to the room he had left not ten minutes ago.Aylin has fallen asleep on the table, her hair falls across her face.
Noah takes this opportunity to stare. He doesn't want to wake her. He wants to keep looking at her forever. Suddenly Saint Germain's words come floating back to him, and he feels forlorn.
Mustering his courage, he says her name.
"Aylin..."
She moves slightly, makes a humming sound and then slowly looks up.
"Oh... heh, I guess I nodded off..." she looks embarrassed and straightens the strands of hair that fell about her face.
"That book is just so intense," she says to him. She looks up. "Noah? What's the matter?"
He takes his seat, but he doesn't know what to say. Aylin looks worried.
"Did something happen downstairs?" she asks.
"No... nothing." He opens the book between them. It takes everything he has to look her in the eye.
"Shall we continue?"
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