The Great Vampire Debate
Oct. 13th, 2011 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primogen_vampirate“I want to be a vampire!” Jacqueline screamed, stamping her foot down on the floor.
“Jacqueline!” her father said, reaching out for her hand. “Please, you’ll ruin your new shoes.”
“I don’t care about my shoes,” Jacqueline said, folding her arms petulantly, turning to glare at her mother.
“The guests will be arriving shortly,” her mother said, crossing the room and making a big fuss of looking out the window. There was nobody there, of course. She just wanted to avoid looking at Jacqueline. And Jacqueline knew it. She was an expert at her mother’s little ticks and tricks.
“I’m tired of waiting,” Jacqueline said, walking straight up to her mother. “Today is my sixteenth birthday and I want to get my wish.”
“Anne,” Jacqueline’s father said pleadingly, looking at his wife. “Please talk some sense into the child.”
Jacqueline’s mother turned to face her daughter, taking her shoulders in her hands. Anne wasn’t like the mothers of Jacqueline’s friends. Her hands were coarse. She never wore hoopskirts. And unlike every other woman in the town, Anne was a very serious person. It was something to do with her eyes. Whereas all the other women had blazing eyes in shades of blue and green and brown, Anne’s eyes were a dull gray. She looked at Jacqueline’s face, her mouth set in a line. “Jacqueline,” she said in her rough, Irish brogue, “We’re not going to talk about this now. Not tonight.”
“You say that every year,” Jacqueline insisted, glaring defiantly up at her mother. “And very year, I always ask you for the same thing.”
“I know, my dear,” Anne said. She leaned forward, kissing Jacqueline’s forehead. “So ask me again next year.”
“No!” As Anne tried to get past Jacqueline, she stubbornly moved to stand in the way. “I’m sixteen now. I’m old enough to become a vampire.”
“Talk some sense into the girl,” Jacqueline’s father said mournfully.
“Jack!” Anne snapped, impatiently. She would get that way sometimes with her husband. That was another way in which she was different. Most women in Charleston submitted dutifully to their husbands, but not Anne. It was quite the talk of the town, how Jack Rackham couldn’t control his own wife. For many years, it bothered poor Jacqueline, but that was before she knew a great many things. One of those things was that they were both vampires. The other was that in spite of their unusual relationship, Jack and Anne loved each other very much. And in a kinder voice, Anne said to Jacqueline’s father, “Go make sure the parlor is ready.”
“I don’t want her going down this path,” Jack said wearily.
“I know,” Anne said, raising her chin slightly to meet his eyes. “Just leave it to me.”
Jack gave Jacqueline a peculiar look, one that seemed resigned. It gave Jacqueline a shiver of delight. I’m going to get my way, she thought happily as her father trudged out of the room.
“Oh dear, he knows something, Anne,” came a voice from across the room. Sitting at the dining room table, with her feet up on top, was Aunt Mina, dressed in a man’s waistcoat and trousers. Her fingers were bridged in front of her chest, each with a sparkling ring with some kind of exotic stone, all from places Jacqueline had only heard of and never seen. She was watching Jack leave, with a slight, impish grin on her face. “He knows something indeed.”
“You’re not helping, Mina,” Anne sighed, swerving around Jacqueline and walking over to the table.
“Why should I?” Mina asked. “I think it’s a perfectly marvelous idea. Let the girl become a vampire. It’s about time she joined our ranks.”
“Yes!” Jacqueline cried, following Anne to the table.
“No,” Anne said. She looked back and forth between Jacqueline and Mina, as if she were uncertain of whom to be most angry with. She settled on Mina. “I don’t want her becoming a Amazon.”
“She’s your child, Anne,” Mina said with a hint of amusement. “Once she sets her mind to something, she’s going to have it.”
“She’s right!” Jacqueline declared stubbornly.
Anne pulled out a chair, letting the legs slam hard against the floor. It rattled the entire room. “Sit down, Jacqueline,” she demanded in a crisp, no-nonsense tone of voice that she reserved for situations in which she was particularly annoyed. Timidly, Jacqueline sat down. Anne pulled out a second chair, sitting beside Jacqueline. She reached out, taking one of her hands. “Jacqueline…”
“No!” Jacqueline blurted out. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“Listen to me.”
“You’re going to say that becoming an Kindred is not something to be taken lightly,” Jacqueline said, repeating the same lecture she had been given every year for the last five years. “That it’s a dangerous life, not some great adventure.”
“That sounds just like you, Anne,” Mina said with a laugh.
Anne gave Mina a withering glare before turning back to Jacqueline. “If I had my way, I would never have told you the truth, Jacqueline,” she said. “But your father insisted that you had the right to know.”
“I’m glad he did,” Jacqueline said sulkily.
“Your father, Aunt Mina, and I,” Anne went on, “we never wanted this life.”
“I did,” Mina said with a shrug.
Another evil look and Anne was back on Jacqueline again. “Being an Kindred means having a secret. And it means never having a normal life. And your father and I don’t want that for you. We want you to be happy.”
“But becoming an Amazon would make me happy,” Jacqueline said.
“The Amazons are a dying breed,” Anne said. “There are hardly any of us left now.”
“All the more reason to freshen the ranks,” Mina said.
“Yes!” Jacqueline agreed.
Mina swung her legs down from the table, leaning forward to look at Jacqueline. Aunt Mina’s eyes were dull gray like Anne’s, but they always somehow managed to catch the light of the candles. She and Anne were the same age, but Mina looked much younger. Her skin was pinker and her lips were the color of strawberries. They stretched into a smile now as she regarded Jacqueline. “You have enough fire in you to fight a whole legion of Centurions, do you not?” she asked wryly.
“I do!” Jacqueline said, leaning forward.
“The Centurions don’t march in legions,” Anne said bitterly. “They hide in the shadows. They wait until the right moment and then they show no mercy. That’s why we’re dying out. And what does the Prince do? Nothing!”
“The Prince thinks the Amazons have outlived their usefulness. He’ll change his mind the instant that they try to take over his realm,” Mina said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“What he hasn’t figured out yet is that the Centurions don’t want his realm,” Anne shot back.
“Oh, but they do,” Mina said. “They want his realm and the realm of the humans and every other little realm they can get their hands on.”
“But we won’t let that happen,” Jacqueline declared. She held out her hands to Mina. “Change me into a vampire!”
“Mina, you so much as touch one of her hands and I’ll cut your head off,” Anne warned.
It almost liked like Mina were about to reach out, but that harsh warning made her draw back. Anne and Aunt Mina loved each other like sisters, but Jacqueline knew perfectly well that Mina would never defy her mother. Still, Mina gave Jacqueline an apologetic look. “If I could, I would,” she said.
Sighing irritably, Jacqueline turned to her mother. “Then you do it,” she said, holding out her hands.
“The answer is no,” Anne said firmly, standing up. She crossed the room, back to the window, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. Outside, the first of the carriages were arriving in front of the plantation. The party guests. The party guests for Jacqueline’s birthday. “Connor is coming tonight,” Anne said softly.
Jacqueline rolled her eyes, turning back to Mina. “I don’t care about Connor,” she said in a very loud whisper, as if it were some great secret.
“Of course you don’t,” Mina whispered back, the corners of her lips twitching into a grin.
“You think I’d be a fine Amazon, don’t you?”
“Of course! I’ve said as much. And we need good Amazons.”
“What will happen if the Centurions take over the Prince’s court?”
“One of two terrible things will happen,” Mina said solemnly. “Either the human world will become aware of us and hunt us down or else, the Centurions will take over them, and the Amazons, and all of the Kindred.” She raised her voice in Anne’s direction, “And I don’t fancy spending the rest of eternity under the Centurions’ rule. I’d rather be executed.”
“When the time comes for executions, you’ll be first in line, as always,” Anne replied dully, moving aside the curtain to watch the party guests climbing out of their carriages.
“Oh, that I will,” Mina said, pressing her palms down on the table and leaning forward. “Have I ever told you the story of how your mother and father and I were nearly hanged for piracy?”
“You’ve told her the story a dozen times,” Anne said, turning away from the curtains and walking back over. “No more of that tonight.”
“But mother!” Jacqueline cried.
“No more talk about vampires or Amazons or Centurions or the past. Tonight, we are just a normal, ordinary human family celebrating an important milestone in Jacqueline’s life.”
“I won’t stop asking,” Jacqueline said stubbornly.
“You have a future ahead of you and it does not involve being a vampire,” Anne said.
Mina raised an eyebrow. “Did Jack see that?” she asked. Behind her, in the entry hall, Jacqueline could hear the guests coming in through the double doors of the plantation.
“Enough!” Anne said, in a sharp, shrill voice that rattled the glass in the chandelier. Both Jacqueline and Mina shuddered. Anne had to close her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, before she spoke again. “There are humans in the house now. Shall we try to remain on our best behavior?”
“Misbehaving is so much more fun,” Mina said, standing up. She made her way to the servants’ door.
“Where are you going?”
“To put on a dress,” Mina said, spinning around. “I wouldn’t want to scandalize your human guests.”
“Be quick about it.”
Mina laughed, dipping into a little curtsy, which looked awfully odd in the trousers. “I have all the time in the world.”
“Jacqueline!” her father said, reaching out for her hand. “Please, you’ll ruin your new shoes.”
“I don’t care about my shoes,” Jacqueline said, folding her arms petulantly, turning to glare at her mother.
“The guests will be arriving shortly,” her mother said, crossing the room and making a big fuss of looking out the window. There was nobody there, of course. She just wanted to avoid looking at Jacqueline. And Jacqueline knew it. She was an expert at her mother’s little ticks and tricks.
“I’m tired of waiting,” Jacqueline said, walking straight up to her mother. “Today is my sixteenth birthday and I want to get my wish.”
“Anne,” Jacqueline’s father said pleadingly, looking at his wife. “Please talk some sense into the child.”
Jacqueline’s mother turned to face her daughter, taking her shoulders in her hands. Anne wasn’t like the mothers of Jacqueline’s friends. Her hands were coarse. She never wore hoopskirts. And unlike every other woman in the town, Anne was a very serious person. It was something to do with her eyes. Whereas all the other women had blazing eyes in shades of blue and green and brown, Anne’s eyes were a dull gray. She looked at Jacqueline’s face, her mouth set in a line. “Jacqueline,” she said in her rough, Irish brogue, “We’re not going to talk about this now. Not tonight.”
“You say that every year,” Jacqueline insisted, glaring defiantly up at her mother. “And very year, I always ask you for the same thing.”
“I know, my dear,” Anne said. She leaned forward, kissing Jacqueline’s forehead. “So ask me again next year.”
“No!” As Anne tried to get past Jacqueline, she stubbornly moved to stand in the way. “I’m sixteen now. I’m old enough to become a vampire.”
“Talk some sense into the girl,” Jacqueline’s father said mournfully.
“Jack!” Anne snapped, impatiently. She would get that way sometimes with her husband. That was another way in which she was different. Most women in Charleston submitted dutifully to their husbands, but not Anne. It was quite the talk of the town, how Jack Rackham couldn’t control his own wife. For many years, it bothered poor Jacqueline, but that was before she knew a great many things. One of those things was that they were both vampires. The other was that in spite of their unusual relationship, Jack and Anne loved each other very much. And in a kinder voice, Anne said to Jacqueline’s father, “Go make sure the parlor is ready.”
“I don’t want her going down this path,” Jack said wearily.
“I know,” Anne said, raising her chin slightly to meet his eyes. “Just leave it to me.”
Jack gave Jacqueline a peculiar look, one that seemed resigned. It gave Jacqueline a shiver of delight. I’m going to get my way, she thought happily as her father trudged out of the room.
“Oh dear, he knows something, Anne,” came a voice from across the room. Sitting at the dining room table, with her feet up on top, was Aunt Mina, dressed in a man’s waistcoat and trousers. Her fingers were bridged in front of her chest, each with a sparkling ring with some kind of exotic stone, all from places Jacqueline had only heard of and never seen. She was watching Jack leave, with a slight, impish grin on her face. “He knows something indeed.”
“You’re not helping, Mina,” Anne sighed, swerving around Jacqueline and walking over to the table.
“Why should I?” Mina asked. “I think it’s a perfectly marvelous idea. Let the girl become a vampire. It’s about time she joined our ranks.”
“Yes!” Jacqueline cried, following Anne to the table.
“No,” Anne said. She looked back and forth between Jacqueline and Mina, as if she were uncertain of whom to be most angry with. She settled on Mina. “I don’t want her becoming a Amazon.”
“She’s your child, Anne,” Mina said with a hint of amusement. “Once she sets her mind to something, she’s going to have it.”
“She’s right!” Jacqueline declared stubbornly.
Anne pulled out a chair, letting the legs slam hard against the floor. It rattled the entire room. “Sit down, Jacqueline,” she demanded in a crisp, no-nonsense tone of voice that she reserved for situations in which she was particularly annoyed. Timidly, Jacqueline sat down. Anne pulled out a second chair, sitting beside Jacqueline. She reached out, taking one of her hands. “Jacqueline…”
“No!” Jacqueline blurted out. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“Listen to me.”
“You’re going to say that becoming an Kindred is not something to be taken lightly,” Jacqueline said, repeating the same lecture she had been given every year for the last five years. “That it’s a dangerous life, not some great adventure.”
“That sounds just like you, Anne,” Mina said with a laugh.
Anne gave Mina a withering glare before turning back to Jacqueline. “If I had my way, I would never have told you the truth, Jacqueline,” she said. “But your father insisted that you had the right to know.”
“I’m glad he did,” Jacqueline said sulkily.
“Your father, Aunt Mina, and I,” Anne went on, “we never wanted this life.”
“I did,” Mina said with a shrug.
Another evil look and Anne was back on Jacqueline again. “Being an Kindred means having a secret. And it means never having a normal life. And your father and I don’t want that for you. We want you to be happy.”
“But becoming an Amazon would make me happy,” Jacqueline said.
“The Amazons are a dying breed,” Anne said. “There are hardly any of us left now.”
“All the more reason to freshen the ranks,” Mina said.
“Yes!” Jacqueline agreed.
Mina swung her legs down from the table, leaning forward to look at Jacqueline. Aunt Mina’s eyes were dull gray like Anne’s, but they always somehow managed to catch the light of the candles. She and Anne were the same age, but Mina looked much younger. Her skin was pinker and her lips were the color of strawberries. They stretched into a smile now as she regarded Jacqueline. “You have enough fire in you to fight a whole legion of Centurions, do you not?” she asked wryly.
“I do!” Jacqueline said, leaning forward.
“The Centurions don’t march in legions,” Anne said bitterly. “They hide in the shadows. They wait until the right moment and then they show no mercy. That’s why we’re dying out. And what does the Prince do? Nothing!”
“The Prince thinks the Amazons have outlived their usefulness. He’ll change his mind the instant that they try to take over his realm,” Mina said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“What he hasn’t figured out yet is that the Centurions don’t want his realm,” Anne shot back.
“Oh, but they do,” Mina said. “They want his realm and the realm of the humans and every other little realm they can get their hands on.”
“But we won’t let that happen,” Jacqueline declared. She held out her hands to Mina. “Change me into a vampire!”
“Mina, you so much as touch one of her hands and I’ll cut your head off,” Anne warned.
It almost liked like Mina were about to reach out, but that harsh warning made her draw back. Anne and Aunt Mina loved each other like sisters, but Jacqueline knew perfectly well that Mina would never defy her mother. Still, Mina gave Jacqueline an apologetic look. “If I could, I would,” she said.
Sighing irritably, Jacqueline turned to her mother. “Then you do it,” she said, holding out her hands.
“The answer is no,” Anne said firmly, standing up. She crossed the room, back to the window, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. Outside, the first of the carriages were arriving in front of the plantation. The party guests. The party guests for Jacqueline’s birthday. “Connor is coming tonight,” Anne said softly.
Jacqueline rolled her eyes, turning back to Mina. “I don’t care about Connor,” she said in a very loud whisper, as if it were some great secret.
“Of course you don’t,” Mina whispered back, the corners of her lips twitching into a grin.
“You think I’d be a fine Amazon, don’t you?”
“Of course! I’ve said as much. And we need good Amazons.”
“What will happen if the Centurions take over the Prince’s court?”
“One of two terrible things will happen,” Mina said solemnly. “Either the human world will become aware of us and hunt us down or else, the Centurions will take over them, and the Amazons, and all of the Kindred.” She raised her voice in Anne’s direction, “And I don’t fancy spending the rest of eternity under the Centurions’ rule. I’d rather be executed.”
“When the time comes for executions, you’ll be first in line, as always,” Anne replied dully, moving aside the curtain to watch the party guests climbing out of their carriages.
“Oh, that I will,” Mina said, pressing her palms down on the table and leaning forward. “Have I ever told you the story of how your mother and father and I were nearly hanged for piracy?”
“You’ve told her the story a dozen times,” Anne said, turning away from the curtains and walking back over. “No more of that tonight.”
“But mother!” Jacqueline cried.
“No more talk about vampires or Amazons or Centurions or the past. Tonight, we are just a normal, ordinary human family celebrating an important milestone in Jacqueline’s life.”
“I won’t stop asking,” Jacqueline said stubbornly.
“You have a future ahead of you and it does not involve being a vampire,” Anne said.
Mina raised an eyebrow. “Did Jack see that?” she asked. Behind her, in the entry hall, Jacqueline could hear the guests coming in through the double doors of the plantation.
“Enough!” Anne said, in a sharp, shrill voice that rattled the glass in the chandelier. Both Jacqueline and Mina shuddered. Anne had to close her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, before she spoke again. “There are humans in the house now. Shall we try to remain on our best behavior?”
“Misbehaving is so much more fun,” Mina said, standing up. She made her way to the servants’ door.
“Where are you going?”
“To put on a dress,” Mina said, spinning around. “I wouldn’t want to scandalize your human guests.”
“Be quick about it.”
Mina laughed, dipping into a little curtsy, which looked awfully odd in the trousers. “I have all the time in the world.”
