Ever After

Chapter 23



Peace… for now



That summer was perfect…well minus a few things. We spent all our free time together, and I was so happy with William; he brought out a side of me I had thought gone. I learned to love and trust again, because of him. I had been given a gift in his presence. He made me stronger and fuller of life, and I was able to move on from my past. I had learned that anything is possible in this life. The many down times we all have to endure are just paths leading to better things.

I had come to believe in a theory of my own, that we are rewarded for enduring the difficult times in our lives. If we soldier on and do our best to overcome the many obstacles in life, we all face. God rewards us with something we truly need and deserve. I had no doubt that my reward was having William come into my life and give me the kind of love I had only ever dreamed about having.

The summer as I said was like a dream. I met Will’s parents and his extended family. All were welcoming, despite me not being a vampire like them. I also learned William was only one of only a handful of half-blooded vampires. The fact was he had never even met another like himself yet. Doc explained that most humans, if they do not fully change, do not survive to become like William. I marveled at how many human traits he had and was thankful for them, but I knew I would have loved him either way.

The other thing I learned that summer that was not so very great at all. In fact, it was terrifying. I had learned William’s father, not his biological one of course, his creator Vincent, had been in contact with Doc and Lydia. Lydia is William’s mother.

Doc told me the story of how Lydia was really William’s birth mother. In the time of William’s birth in New Orleans in 1894, Doc was her attending physician. Lydia was dying from childbed fever, so common in those days. Doc could not bear to see such a young, beautiful woman die. Doc saw to William, who was remarkably healthy, and sent him home with his birth father and a wet nurse. Lydia on the other hand, was dying. Doc had told her husband she had already passed, and secreted her away to his massive home in the back woods of New Orleans.

Lydia’s human life ended only two hours upon arrival to Doc’s home, which was also the home to the others in his coven. Doc was the leader of the coven of vampires known as followers. They did not live off blood not willingly given to them by humans. The coven had strict guidelines. Doc was sure they all followed them.

Doc cared for Lydia, and she had been thankful to him for saving her. Lydia only wanted to look after William, from a distance of course. William grew up strong and healthy, as Doc and Lydia watched over him from a distance. Doc would often step in when he thought William was in a dangerous situation, or help him to avoid any risky behaviors.

Lydia fit into the coven well, accepting the code of conduct the followers had. The only thing was she had to keep a low profile since she remained in the city where she had lived her human life. This was rare for vampires to do. Lydia refused to leave her human son, even if it was only from afar that she could watch him grow up. Doc understood this.

The followers at that time received their life-sustaining blood from willing donors. In the community, some humans knew of the coven. In return for protection from the dark coven’s murderous ways, they donated their blood to Doc. The medical procedures were in early stages at the time of William’s birth, but blood donations were possible even then.

Doc had his many connections amongst other covens like his own, and his medical connections to help sustain his coven in receiving blood from blood banks. The practice of receiving blood from a living donor was rare now, but it did still occur. It was very dangerous to the human so the coven discouraged it.

Doc was an elder vampire even in 1894; he was about 180 years old at that time. He had mentored many new vampires, and was proud of his coven. Doc however had one very failed and disappointing “child”, if you will. His name was Vincent. He had been unruly from even his first days as a new vampire. The rules were clear, but he pushed the boundaries. He had a side to him that refused to adhere to the code.

Doc worked with him, never giving up hope that he would come around and fall into line. Vincent did not. He grew more hate-filled and evil. He ran away from the coven many times, only leaving a trail of death for Doc to follow. It was as if he wanted to destroy the peaceful existence Doc had built over many centuries.

Doc was beside himself with grief that he had created such a monster. One so evil and so unlike the others in the coven that it was shocking. Vincent continued to leave and return to the coven on and off. Doc had to make a choice about him. He would have to banish him forever or risk exposing the coven’s true identity to the outside world.

Vincent’s killing sprees were increasing, and he was beginning to kill closer to New Orleans and the home of the coven. The authorities would soon begin to investigate the numerous murders and it would not take them long to follow his trail to Doc. This behavior was too risky, and it had to end right away.

The decision Doc had to make would determine the fate of his existence and that of his coven. The newspapers were beginning to report the deaths of numerous people and they were all in the local area. Damon was getting sloppy and he didn’t care if he exposed the them. Doc had decided to disown Vincent and banish him from the coven forever, never to have contact again.

The other choice, which I had always wondered about, was soon explained to me. I had always wondered why Doc ever moved here. Doc explained the area where they lived was too corrupt now, so he decided to move the coven eastward to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The distance was great from New Orleans, and he hoped the horror stories of a murderous vampire on the loose would not follow them.

He also explained how William came to be in the area. I wondered why he had just moved back to the coven and Cambridge this past fall. Doc as a measure of protection against Vincent often sent Lydia and William to London for long periods to keep Vincent guessing where they were. They went on these trips two or three times a year or as often as needed. Doc was quick to explain why Lydia and William had to be kept away from Vincent.

It seems that Vincent, before he was banished, had fallen in love with Lydia. She of course would have nothing to do with him ever. Doc had made it clear to him that Lydia would choose her own life partner and he was not it. He never got over being jilted. She had chosen Andrew, another coven member who was good, and a follower as she was.

Vincent seethed with anger at her refusal. The coven was on high alert for rebellion for weeks after they relocated to Cambridge. Vincent sent threatening letters and called her threatening her and William with horrible things.

William was the other major problem then. Lydia refused to move, at that time. Will was nearing adulthood and Lydia wanted to be close to protect him from Vincent. Doc could not allow her to stay. He had to trust that William would be safe and that Vincent’s anger and hostilities would remain focused only on Lydia and the coven.

This was sadly not the case. Vincent knew of Lydia’s extreme love for her only child, and he knew how Doc had favored Will since his birth. The way to seek revenge on Lydia for denying him and Doc’s banishment of him from the coven was to destroy what they both loved and that was young William.

Vincent set out to find William and kill him. As Doc told me this story, it seemed to be very hard for him to talk about. He went on to say Vincent was hell bent to hurt the ones he felt wronged him so deeply. He set out to return to the South. He had been wandering since his banishment, all a ploy to make Doc believe he was not going to harm William.

He had no trouble finding Will; he was right where he had been his whole life, living with his father and his stepmother. William was about to start his first year of college and about to begin his adult life, but that was not to be. Vincent had spent weeks forming a relationship with William; he had posed as a college advisor. The whole thing was a set-up so he could get close enough to William to kill him without the authorities knowing right away.

Will fell into the trap easily. He was very trusting and could not comprehend what was about to happen to him. I didn’t push Doc or William on the day of this conversation as to how Vincent attacked Will. I could see the pained look in his eyes as Doc spoke. Will looked down at his hands for most of this story, clearly upset. I did not want him to have to relive that memory to feed my curiosity. I knew in time if he felt strong enough to tell me, he would, but not this day.

I listened to how Doc and Lydia learned of what Vincent had done. Doc did not learn of William’s changing until six months had passed. William was desperate to escape Vincent’s control and the dark coven he had formed in the Deep South. Will was trapped in this dark evil world, and he was very confused as to what he should do. He knew killing was wrong, and he had to leave somehow.

The only good thing Vincent did for Will was to tell him who Doc really was and all about his birth mother, Lydia. He knew if he wanted to escape, he had to find Doc’s coven. Doc came to William when he finally was able to contact him, telling him of the horrid things the dark coven was doing. William was desperate to leave as Vincent was grooming him to lead the coven one day. Damon had plans to go to Europe and start a dark coven there. He had plans to become the master of all the dark covens, and to be the most powerful and unstoppable. He seemed to be severely protective over William, and he was irate when he ran to Doc and his coven.

Vincent vowed he would watch over William, and when he came to his senses, he would welcome him back to his side. Lydia explained to me that she wrote Vincent on a regular basis to appease his need for information on his “son.” This is how he viewed Will as a son and refused any other title for him.

To Vincent he would always be Will’s true father. The worst thing I learned was that he was now growing restless. He was calling Lydia now, pushing for why he was hearing strange things about his son’s behavior. Vincent has a gift of sight and was getting glimpses of his son acting more human than he should be. The other bad thing was he was getting glimpses of me… and he didn’t like it at all.

Doc was worried that Vincent would return for William if he ever thought he was not behaving, as he should. Lydia feared when he learned of the relationship Will and I had, he would come back, and possibly kill me. I was sick at this thought and I could see it was of great concern to Doc and the entire coven.

William was silent as we discussed this; he didn’t even move. He was obviously terrified of Vincent. I felt very afraid at that thought. I had never known of anything Will was afraid of. I had to think Vincent was evil in its purest form, and I prayed we would not have to face him. I couldn’t imagine losing William or my life to a creature so horrible.

Doc had warned that Vincent would want me dead, as I was the one altering Will’s behavior. Doc explained of Vincent’s extreme hatred of humans, and he would never stand for his “son” to be in love with one. I could deal with it. I guessed, but to lose Will was too much to think about. I knew this thing could get ugly really fast.

I had been in a fairy tale in my own mind. I should have known the real world would seep in eventually, and it was now. Todd on the other hand had apparently fallen off the face of the earth. The police could not track him down. Roth, the cousins, and other coven members could not track him either. This was unheard of since Todd was a human. They should have been able to track him with no trouble.

Doc was checking in with other friends he had around the world and in Mexico to try to find him. I had caught small bits of conversations between Will and Doc; they seemed very worried about losing track of Todd. I heard Doc mention something about him being dead, or the worst-case scenario, him having been turned into a vampire. This could be one of the reasons he was un traceable to them. I couldn’t even think about such a thing right now, it was un nerving to me.

The Fairy tale Ends



The extreme lesson on how Will came to be as he was now was just the beginning. I learned more every day. I had been sick again to top it off; the headaches never really went away all summer, but they had been less painful. I was able to hide them, but the past two weeks going into the fall, it was nearly impossible to keep from William.

I had only one refill of an old pain medication left and the aspirin didn’t even lessen the pain anymore. I was terrified something was really wrong and I was going to have to face it. It was getting to hard to hide the pain from everyone. Facing whatever was wrong with me, was something I didn’t want to do. I had no choice though; soon I feared it would be impossible to hide. William hid nothing from me, and I was feeling horrible hiding how I felt from him. I knew this had to end.