0284: The Vampire's Daughter, Book Three

"Tell me more," Meredith said with her mind to Sol as they sat overlooking the lands. "I want to know what was important to you."

"When I was young, the Church was all important. It was the only thing that was important to anyone. An odd time now that I look back. There was vice, but it was ignored and virtue was highlighted. Quite the opposite of today.

"Still, I couldn't give myself to that life. It felt wrong. So I left to become an artisan. Sculpture. I loved the stone and wood with which I worked. It was what brought Elizabeth to me. She noticed me one night and watched as I worked after all the others went home.

"I saw her and started to carve her into the stone. I didn't even know what I was doing, I was just carving. Chipping away the outer layers to reveal what was inside. I created what some would call a devil, but I didn't see it that way.

"At first she seemed upset, but then she made me into what I am today. Since that time I've spend most of my life, or death, serving her needs. I replaced Sabastian in that. But I never loved her, as I believe Sabastian did. I simply lived with her and did her bidding, which was never hard. Though childish at times, she is really a beautiful woman in her heart. It is why I stayed when I wanted to go.

"There were times we spent apart. I met Jamie during one of those separations. Jamie has been an important friend in my life. My lover, in all honesty. A calm place in a storm. I'm always welcome in Jamie's heart. Both of our faults melt away when we are together." Sol stopped and looked out over the horizon.

"Continue," Meredith said, touching Sol's arm.

"I guess the next big thing in my life was leaving Jamie because Elizabeth needed me in the New World. It was hard and ugly, but I did it. In the Americas, I met Thomas. I had met him before, but we seemed to become close as he relinquished his power, giving it all to my sire. I also met Sabastian for the first time, after an unfortunate event that seems to have driven all that has followed.

"I liked Sabastian from the first moment I met him. There were some who called him a cannibal or monster, but I couldn't see it."

"He takes his own?" Meredith interrupted.

"Yes," Sol said. "He does. But it isn't like you think. He doesn't hunt down vampires, he only takes life when he must." Pausing a moment to think, as if something just clicked in his mind, Sol continued, "And then he only takes some when he could take many more. It is almost as if he is selective."

"So he takes some, but not all," Meredith said, looking away from Sol.

"Yes. I've never seen him feed unless it was in self-defense. And even then, he takes some but not others."

"And how has he changed you?"

"When it turned out that Thomas had used me to manipulate and keep tabs on Elizabeth, I broke from my sire and went with Sabastian. He had taken in the daughter of one of his victims, a young girl, and he had decided to raise her.

"There was something he saw in her, that everyone saw in her, that made him do it. And made others help when killing her made more sense. He loved her. I was attracted to that love and they shared it with me."

"At the same time Thomas was reasserting his control of the city, which caused John Paul to wake."


[The Vampire's Daughter: An ongoing vampire story. Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. All rights reserved.]