Path of the Vampire forum

It wasn’t anything Elliot ever planned. He doubted Pi had planned it, either—that they would become a sire team for all the abandoned childer in this dysfunctional family of theirs. There shouldn’t be any abandoned childer and they shouldn’t have to step up and fill any roles. Of course they do, because they want to. There was no snowball’s chance in hell that Elliot would ever let someone suffer. There were certain things that he wouldn’t say to Aliyah of course—things that he’d said in the past and which she hadn’t appreciated, so he wouldn’t say them again. That he didn’t think Jericho was fit to be siring anyone, and something ought to be done to the guy as punishment. Something to convince him to stop. Just because Elliot and Pi were there as buffers didn’t mean that he should just keep getting away with it.

No, he would say none of this out loud because he wouldn’t want Aliyah to take it the wrong way. He wouldn’t want her to feel as if she’s some kind of burden—because she’s not. So he keeps it all locked up tight. He’d probably rant at Pi about it later. Jericho was one of hers, right? She should be doing something about it.

Instead, Elliot laughed, too. He smiled, even though he had caught that brief frown of Aliyah’s. He had no experience with an inattentive sire. He couldn’t just brush it aside and tell her she was better off. Elliot himself couldn’t quite differentiate—but he knew there was a bond he had with Pi that was different to any romantic attachment. There was something else, too, beneath the surface. Just because she was his sire. That was something Aliyah might have, too. Something that might cause her grief or pain because her own asshole prick of a sire wasn’t around.

”Two for the price of one. Exactly. You got the better end of the deal,” he joked right along with her. He canted his head to the side, pondering her previous words; that he and Pi came as a pair. His knee swung as he thought about it—he was home to a constant restlessness that was always evident in some tic or another. Had he and Pi become one of those couples that couldn’t be told apart? In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter, and Elliot was rather proud to be associated with such a woman. They were a yin and yang. What one was, the other was not, and vice versa. They complimented each other.

”You’re okay, right? I mean—it’s fucked, that you were left the way you were, but if you ever want to talk about it…” he offered.

When Aliyah put it like that, Elliot had to wander why he complained so often. The majority of those turned in the city probably didn’t expect or ask for it. Why vampires procreated so often was beyond him, but then how could he judge? He’d turned his fair share. Some by accident. Some as a result of guilt, because he couldn’t let them die—some more violent than others. Some because they had asked, like Reilly. Where the **** was Reilly, anyway? The guy with the quick smile. He could cheer anyone up. Elliot thought Aliyah would probably like Reilly.

Elliot hadn’t asked for it, and the road had been rocky. There still were hurdles, but mostly, he’d found his feet. And, he had a sire he could respect. A sire who’d never left him to flounder. The woman had pulled him out of his darkest pit, and he wouldn’t be here without her. Luckily, these days, he spent more days happy than he spent them sad. Sometimes he got restless. Sometimes he got frustrated. Sometimes, he missed his humanity so much it physically hurt like a hole in his chest. But most of the time, he was content. He was proud of what they had built, here. And the family, now, though small, was something to nurture, so that it might grow stronger.

He considered Aliyah’s answer for a few seconds, before he replied.

”You’re allowed your vulnerability, but choose who you show it to,” he said. Though, he was a master at wearing his emotions on his sleeves and generally caring very little about what anyone thought.

”Things will get better. Time does heal most wounds. I started thinking I had to follow orders and I did, because I knew no better. Sooner or later you’ll find your own feet and you’ll form your own opinions. You’ll gain knowledge, and in that knowledge you’ll find strength,” he explained. That was the best way to explain it. It was the best advice he could give. Time.

Elliot smiled. His own opinions on the larger issues would get him in trouble. Most of the time he stood on a thin line, and the only thing that held him back was his attachment to Pi. She started as his sire, and now she was much, much more. As a sire her advice and opinions mattered; but as he started to stray from that dictation of power and started to form his own opinions, his love for her kept those rules in place. Others might not know it by looking at them, but Elliot and Pi disagreed on some pretty ******* large issues. The Masquerade, for example. But all relationships were a form of give and take and in this instance, if Elliot strayed and voiced his opinions both vocally and physically, the ensuing drama would not be worth it. The losses would be too great. And he had to agree, anyway—keeping quiet would keep the family safe—not just from humans, from the vampires too.

Of course, Elliot would never have said no; it didn’t matter to him that Aliyah continued to ask her question without waiting to see if he would allow her to or not. In any case, a slight nod was given as she began to ask her question, and it was one, perhaps, that Elliot might have preferred that she didn’t ask. He was forced to tell the truth, so she would get nothing from him but blunt honesty. Not that he would have lied, anyway—that would have been detrimental to Aliyah’s mental and emotional health.

”Personally? Yes and no. Yes, only because I have created a life for myself that is normal. With Pi’s help. I have the businesses and I have fallen into a class of vampire that can pretend, more often than not, to be human. We Allurists look more human than the rest. We can eat and drink. When I’m working and talking to customers and having a good time I can forget, and it’s easy. But there are also those days that… I don’t know, a Fadebeast pops up in the middle of the pub or I’m running late and realise there’s a serious chance of critical sunburn, or I lose my temper and…” he paused. He didn’t elaborate on that one. He shrugged his shoulders. ”Personally, I don’t think I’m ever going to like it. There’ll always be aspects of this existence that I will hate. I’ll always be homesick for humanity, and all the things I took for granted. But that’s just me. Plenty of others love it. They would never go back. For some, this is a life that they were meant for. Only time will tell,” he said.