Chapter 428) Castle Ghost

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
‘Bout a ghost from a wishin’ well

In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I’m a ghost you can’t see

If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind that drugstores sell

When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take

I’d walk away, like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me

***

Windenburg Isle
Liam & Vivien's home

Vivien looked more than worried, as much as her recent Botox treatment would allow her to reflect emotions in her face, her hair smelled freshly dyed, as she leaned forward on the couch they were both sitting on to gently stroke the tall, dark Vampire’s cheek. Her uncle, but moreover he was her best friend and she his only friend, his soulmate, had been ever since Vivien was born.

“Goodness gracious, CaeCae you’re scaring me! What is with you today? You are acting REALLY weird, even by your standards. Something’s not right. I am calling grandpa!” Vivien got up but didn’t get the chance to even pull her cell phone from her pocket.

With catlike reflexes he grabbed her wrist and held on with an iron grip.

“No! Don’t. You know why I am here. You may be mortal, but you have the blood of a strong Vampire legacy running through your veins, I know you can feel it, I can sense your heart racing. This has to happen. You know it, I know it. I thought I could handle this, leave you be as you are, because it’s what you always said you wanted, but when I saw the relief and joy in Riordan when his granddaughter Keira told him about her choice to become one of us two days ago, I knew the clock is ticking for you and me and if you were to die, it would be my end too, I’d go off the deep end and lose my mind, just like Ri had after Ana’s death. She was his soulmate, you are mine. Once someone like me goes rogue, there is no coming back from it, it would be deadly for anyone in my path, mortals and Vampires, only my father, sister and son are strong enough to stop me and it would kill them inside having to end me. You – YOU – have always been what kept alive the little spark of humanity I have in me. Without you, I’d be a monster. You and I are connected. I cannot lose you. Not as my niece and definitely not as my one and only friend, my BEST friend. I owe everything that is good in my life to you, my daughter, my son, my wife whom I love more than anything. I can’t let you go. Can’t. I CANNOT do it. I won’t wait any longer. I am sorry, Viv, but this HAS to happen, and it has to happen now. I wish I could give you a real choice, but I can’t. You are getting older and older, while the Vampire blood in you seems to have slowed your aging, I already barely recognize you as my Viv, so we are both out of time now.”

Before Vivien could say or do anything, her uncle and best friend since she was born had buried his fangs in her neck, not even allowing her a scream.

Suddenly in the midst of feeding on Vivien, Caelan felt pain, strong pulling, he swung at whomever was bothering him, it wasn’t until he heard a scream of pain that he snapped out of his Vampire trance state. He looked up and saw Vivien’s husband Liam on the ground by the couch into which he had crashed hard.

“Oh shit, Liam! I didn’t know it was you. Didn’t mean to do that! You can’t surprise a feeding Vampire like that! We don’t think clearly when we are feeding.” Caelan jumped up and try to help the man whom he considered a close friend off the floor, but Liam angrily shoved him away from himself.

“Get away from me! What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Liam’s voice told of the pain he had to be in after crashing into a couch so hard back first, especially considering he wasn’t a spring chicken anymore, but his anger superseded it, as he pulled himself up enough to crawl over to his wife.

“I am sorry, Liam, I didn’t mean to hurt you. You startled me!”

“What did you do?! My God Caelan what have you done?! Please tell me this isn’t real. Nightmare! Has to be!” Liam nearly screamed, while pulling Vivien’s unconscious body into his arms, patting her cheek, trying to wake her up, when he saw telltale bitemarks contrasting the now pale skin of the lithe woman, nearly devoid of any blood. The look he shot Caelan made even the tough and seasoned Vampire executioner’s blood run cold.

“Liam .. You need to let me have her now. Just for a moment longer, so I can finish the task.”

“NEVER! Eat shit, Caelan.”

Caelan read genuine fear, worry and anger in Liam’s voice, so he softened his tone.

“Let me see her, please. I need to finish. It can’t be undone now. It can’t be stopped.” Caelan said surprisingly softly.

“You’ve done quite enough! Get out!” Liam’s tone was stern and angry.

“Liam – I can’t, I need to finish this! We may only have a short amount of time for this before it will be too late!”

“What the fuck are you on about, you fucking asshole!?” Liam forgot all manners, spitting as he yelled at Caelan.

“I am telling you that we have no choice anymore. I need to complete it NOW or we will both lose her!”

Liam’s wide-eyed stare showed that he understood the incomprehensible and just glared up at the powerful Vampire.

“No! No! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!”

“I am sorry, we don’t have time to discuss now. I tried to be polite and respectful.”

Caelan was out of patience, pushed Liam aside and went to work, a tougher than usual job, since Vivien was already more dead than alive. Getting her to drink the Vampire’s blood so she could rise again took effort on both sides. Liam watched on in horror, realizing there was nothing he could do anymore except let this take its course.

Once Vivien lay unconscious and pale upstairs in their bedroom, where the unlike men had deposited her after the deed was done, and Liam had been reassured by Caelan that she would rise again, Caelan had followed Liam into the kitchen, where he could see the emotions boiling within the still handsome attorney. It affected the Vampire; he cherished Liam’s friendship greatly and hated that there now was a blemish on it.

Liam’s crystalline light green eyes found the Vampire’s silvery ones.

“You owe me.” Liam’s tone was deep and gravely.

Caelan nodded.

“I know.”

“Glad we agree, cos I am cashing in. Now.”

“Anything, Liam. Just name it.”

“Turn me now.”

“What?! Liam … no. I can’t … I already broke every rule by turning Vivien. My father will be VERY angry. He’ll be livid with me. I will be in big trouble. Tremendously big trouble. May get exiled.”

“Then what’s one more, right? Should have thought about that beforehand, you KNEW Viv and I are a package deal. And we already agreed they you owe me! You took her from me. Without even asking. I belong with her. Do it now, or I swear I will make you want to kill me, Caelan! I am not going to forgive this, not gonna forget and most definitely not let it go. I’ll be your worst nightmare if you deny me this. Try me, Caelan, and find out what I am capable off. Even without fangs and super-human abilities.” Liam warned.

Caelan looked defeated, weighing off the trouble he would already be in with his father, and most likely with Vivien, with her mother Scarlett, who was Caelan’s older sister and not someone he liked angry at him … all a price he was willing to pay to not lose his closest confidant, while banking on his father’s love for him to find a way to forgive his betrayal and not exile his only son, but he couldn’t also have Liam on his bad side. He and Vivien had been there for him through some of his worst times as his closest allies.

For a moment it appeared as if the Vampire was going to cry, but instead he lunged forward and latched onto Liam’s neck, who with a startled brief groan succumbed to his fate …

When the moment came for Liam to drink from Caelan, he got a little bit of revenge, as he bit extra hard and sucked as hard as he could.

“Ow, you moron … I have feelings too! Stop it, get off me, goddang it, you’re like a human leech! Off with you! Enough!” Caelan and Liam wrestled over this for a moment till the Vampire finally got the weakened mortal off his aching wrist, wiping his mouth, shooting Caelan a ‘this-is-what-happens-when-you-screw-with-me’ look.

Forgotten Hollow
Castello Vatore

Caleb’s icy glare went through Caelan’s every fiber, as did his sister Scarlett’s as they were assembled in the deep cellars of Castello Vatore, in front of three coffins, where there should only be one, Keira’s, waiting for her to rise again after her recent turn. Now two more souls were awaiting to come back to a new life, a different life than before.

The only one who surprisingly didn’t give him death-glares was his brother-in-law and lifelong advesary Blaine. Since childhood, the two men had always shared a love-hate relationship.

Blaine was also the only one who finally broke the uncomfortable, heavy silence and spoke.

“Well, we can stand our legs into our bellies here, staring holes into the coffins, but what’s done is done. As much as I can’t stand my brother-in-law’s ugly ass on any given day, I gotta say, I am loving this long time. Good job, freak.”

“Blaine! Nobody asked for you to narrate.” Caleb’s tone was warning.

“Nobody has to. That’s my little girl in there, Caleb, and Liam has always been like a son from another mother and father to me, I parented him before I even had a kid myself. That gives me all the rights in the world to speak my peace, not like I ever need an invite to do that anyway. You all are lucky I am not doing fucking cartwheels through the entire goddamn castle while my screams of joy echo off your walls. I have been thinking about doing what he did for years but couldn’t figure out a good way that wouldn’t end with my rosy red ass getting turned into chopped, minced and diced Blainey by Caelan and his big bad sword, so Shrek there just made it to the top of my Christmas list for doing it for me. He deserves a medal, not grief from you and most definitely not any punishment!” Blaine’s tone was unimpressed and unusually stern.

“Blaine, you KNOW neither Vivien nor Liam wanted this life. It’s not as joyous as you seem to think. It’s a disaster.” Scarlett, Vivien’s mother, reminded him.

“No, Letty, you’re looking at this wrong. It’s a blessing. That’s the real beauty of this. We get to keep our baby girl for good, and Liam as a bonus, who’s as good as our son, and they can be mad at Caelan, not us. Our hands are clean. Vivien grew up in this castle, spent half her life around Vampires, she’ll adapt quickly, and then she’ll realize how much better this is. And Liam will too, both of them are so much into their appearance and once Liam notices he doesn’t have to work so hard to keep his sexy attorney bod, he’ll kiss the color off Caelan – well, what little he has anyway. And we both know Vivien will come back furious A.F. with Caelan, but they are peas in a pod, he may need a few new body parts and a hearing aid, but she’ll forgive him and then we can all ride off into the sunset on some white horsies singing kumbaya. Us singing, not the horses. Although .. well .. never mind. I love this, love, love, LOVE this.” Blaine told his wife.

Caleb wasn’t impressed.

“Well, Blaine, it thrills me beyond words that you get such inner fulfillment out of this disaster. When you are done gloating, I would like to move this discussion upstairs so we can all discuss a plan of action. In other words, we have to dream up some at least semi-believable lies I can feed to my people. As we are all aware here, I have put a turning stop out, years ago, and now I end up with three turns all at once. I found a loophole in the rules to explain why I allowed Keira, now I have two more from my immediate family. Do you not see how that looks, how that could reflect badly on all of us? How can I make that digestible to my coven members without looking like I am giving preferential treatment to my own family? I ask ALL of you, how?!”

“Seriously Caleb, you are the oldest and most powerful Vampire currently in existence, between you, Caelan and Connell – and Scarlett – you are so powerful, you could eradicate EVERY other Vampire if you wanted to, but sure, since we all know you love peace so much, almost as much as you like embarking in endless lectures, if you really feel like you have to explain ANYTHING about that to ANYONE, I got two great explanations to anyone who wants to whine about it!” Blaine exclaimed, raised one middle finger, then the other “One and two! And if that isn’t enough for anyone, I can whip out my ass and they can kiss my cheeks raw! That’s how I feel about that. That is my daughter, the girl who once made me a daddy in one of those coffins. I can quit worrying about having to lose her one day, same with Liam. That is a fucking good day, and reason for a fucking party till nobody is upright anymore, not reason for some gloomy ass discussion in your dusty, dark study! And I will happily relay every single feeling I have about all that to every single Fang who needs to hear it! I’ve never been accused of being shy. Besides, YOU made those rules, meaning YOU can change them if you fuckin’ feel like it.”

“For heaven’s sake! Don’t you have ANYTHING productive to say – ever?!” Caleb halted Blaine’s flow, but Scarlett took her husband’s side.

“Daddy, I respect you and everything you do, everything you have built with your great wisdom and sacrifices, but I have been listening and thinking and concluded that Blaine’s right. This is not some random low-level Vampire in your coven turning some bed bunny for their convenience, this was my brother, your son, the Crown Prince of Darkness turning my daughter. My first baby. YOUR first granddaughter. Vivien is and always has been special, as has Liam. Their story runs way too deep to just end in the next few decades, truth be told, that has been weighing heavily on my mind for years. So, I now actually agree with my husband. I don’t think I need to apologize or explain this to any other Vampire, so I’ll add my fingers and butt to the mix for any Vampire to kiss who may have a problem with it. Further, I am not a violent person, but suggest none of them ever mouth off about this within earshot of me or there won’t be much of them left to complain after I am done with them.”

Caleb grimaced, then shot his son a warning glare when Caelan opened his mouth to say something. Seeing his father’s look, daring him to say anything and deal with the consequences, Caelan’s mouth shut again and he remained quiet.

“That’s what I thought, son! You have done quite enough. Blaine, Scarlett, why don’t you go home and leave Caelan and me to sort this out. I don’t imagine anything productive coming from you.”

Once the black clouds of their departures settled, Caleb walked over to his son, and put his hand on his shoulder, causing his son to briefly flinch.

“Let’s go upstairs, son.”

“Father, may I at least say goodbye to Rhiannon before you exile me? I love her so, and she me, losing me with break her heart. Maybe even Connell and my grandchildren …”

“Exile? Such nonsense! Try having some of my favorite vintage bourbon! That’s where we are going now.”

“Bourbon? I thought you would punish me now. You were livid when I told you.”

“Son, we are VAMPIRES. Masters of deception. I am not tickled that you went over my head deciding this, but you already know that. Beyond that, you heard Vivien’s parents’ relief, I feel the same way, you took a huge weight off my shoulders, you have no idea the favor you have done your mother and me! Wait till she hears about it. I just can’t make any of that obvious in front of an impulsive nitwit such as your brother-in-law Blaine. With as many people as he considers his friends, we’d have half the world turned by him in no time using what you did as an excuse. So, let’s pretend I punished you severely while we celebrate amongst ourselves. Enjoy the quiet before the storm, you know turning Vivien against her will is going to come with a backlash you will have to face once she rises.”

“I do. As uncomfortable as her wrath will be, it is still a price I am willing to pay, hoping she will forgive me. Speaking of forgiveness, thank you, father. I am beyond relieved you aren’t mad at me. Have you thought about what to tell your subjects. The other Vampires?”

“I have. And I have decided what I will say to them. A whole lot of nothing, that’s what. I hate to admit this as well, but Blaine has a valid point. I try to keep an even keel between our kind and the mortals, but he isn’t wrong. You and I both know we don’t have to fear anyone at this point, mortal or occult. Even an uprising of Vamps, or any other occult species, wouldn’t be more than an inconvenience at this point. I could end them all without breaking a sweat. A comforting feeling indeed, even though I will always strive to be peaceful, kind, fair and righteous. Until some joker feels like testing me, that is. Let’s not fool ourselves, I, too, am a Vampire, not a saint.”

“Well, considering that thanks to Blaine we are pretty much related to half of the Vampire population anyway, there would never be any attempts to usurp you anyway, any of us at this castle could handle the rest of them with eyes closed. That’s why we are the leaders.”

“There you have it. I will say nothing, neither will you, and if anyone asks, I will say it was personal decision of confidential nature and dismiss it. If that still doesn’t satisfy, I might well go with the one-finger-explanations, per your brother-in-law and sister. After all, Blaine doesn’t own rights to crudeness. I used to be young once, and I certainly wasn’t a prim and proper wallflower then. Oh, the things I have done. I was a lot more Blaine than I was how you know me now, so there is that.”

Author's Note:
This is my actual gameplay, not a save I only visit to stage story chapters, and we all have to play our games in a way that make them enjoyable. I meant what I said about limiting the number of Vampires in my game, however they are my favorite occult and while I know not all of my readers appreciate me having them in my storyline, I feel the way I depict them makes them as realistic as can be, fitting them in nicely with my more realistic gameplay and storytelling. 
I am VERY happy and excited about this choice. 
There are no plans yet about any further turns of descendants, it MAY or may NOT happen, that bridge will be crossed when we get to it, with my extremely long lifespans, there is much time left to figure it out, one way or another.