CONTENT WARNING: Murder (yipee!) and written gore, and a minor sexual joke.
Violeta reflects on her her turning into a vampire, which was against her will. She also talks vaguely about her abusive ex-husband.
NOTE: This chapter goes back a tiny bit on chronology, and takes place immediately after where Chapter 5:2 left off.
Owen
I lift myself to my feet with some difficulty, my heart still racing. I blink, and I blink again- and it's still there. I can't believe my eyes. I reach out to it gently. It sniffs my hand, and places a tiny paw on my finger. It's not an illusion, after all... I have to ground myself and my childlike bewilderment before sating my curiosity.
"I understand that this is a shock to you. The incantation you performed has bound me to you by magic as your familiar."
A familiar? So the orb wasn't an affirmative item at all- it was some sort of magical device harbouring an ancient creature. There is so little that I know about magic, so much that my father neglected to teach either of us.
"And as my...familiar...what exactly does that entail, Valravn?"
Valravn looks to the side, tilting her head and looking about the room. "This place...it feels so very different. How long has it been? Is Jonah still with us?"
"He is not, Valravn. He passed long ago, though I understood through his diaries that may you have accompanied him during the Bloodmoon war, which ended almost forty to fifty years ago."
Valravn lets out a mournful sound. "Has it really been so long inside of that orb? Forgive me- I did, yes. For many generations, I have served your family in various ways. I assume you are the family's patriarch, Owen?"
"I am- one moment. How do you know my name?"
Valravn perches on the ottoman, curiously taking in her surroundings.
"I can hear you from that orb, you know. I hear the way that you speak to your wife and to your children. The sounds of a happy family's voices are much preferred to the years of silence I have endured wherever my orb was placed before it was moved. It is delightful to see that you care for your family the way you do. I may be bound to you specifically, but I am also glad to assist the rest of your family if need be."
"That would be appreciated, Valravn, but you must be careful. The people generally still do not know of our secret, so you will have to remain in your orb unless I tell you it is safe to be around for time being. I must ask another question- how old are you?"
"When I was captured into this orb, I was not very old by a gryphon's standards. About three-hundred years old- I suppose the closest equivalent for yourself would be young adulthood. I may look like a mere chick, but this is not my true form."
I cannot conjure just how big a gryphon's true form could be. For all I know, it could be the size of this mansion, or bigger still...To be trapped in such a form must be embarassing for such a creature.
"Even in your...diminutive...form, Valravn, I'm taken aback just looking at you. There's a kind of majesty in a gryphon that doesn't exist in any other creature."
"Dragons are the ones who adore flattery, Owen, not gryphons," Valravn replies, letting out a laugh-like chirp. "You are not wrong. A combination of the two most majestic creatures in the animal kingdom, am I not? I am the reason your family uses the symbol of the gryphon today."
Speaking to Valravn puts everything in perspective - just how long the Annorin bloodline has been around for, and the fact that Valravn herself inspired my ancestors to use her as a symbol of our strength and tenacity. She has been a central part of this family for countless generations, and Samuel left her orb in the basement for years- years she was aware of, with no connection to the world outside. With her years of knowledge, we could have saved more patients.
"Is it true that a gryphon's feathers have medical properties, Valravn?"
"It is, to an extent- but don't you dare think about plucking all my feathers. They don't grow back as quickly as you may think."
I feel unsteady all of a sudden, and a shooting pain strikes my knees. Valravn perks up, flying to the other side of the room and dragging my cane to me by the handle. She flies up onto my shoulder; she's heavier than she looks. She does nothing but look into my eyes for some time, probably trawling through my thoughts like a fox through discarded rubbish on the pavement.
"Can you read everyone's thoughts, Valravn?"
"Only yours- and I cannot 'read your thoughts', as such - only sense your emotions and judge your thoughts from there. That is how I sensed you were in pain. We are bound by magic, and so we now have something of a mental link. Can't you sense something, also?"
I can, strangely enough- a sense of intense, almost animalistic curiosity. How bizarre. I try to force my thoughts to linger elsewhere, outside of the realm of my own feelings. She shakes her head and squawks at me.
"Don't try to shut me out, Owen- how else am I supposed to get to know my new master?"
"Well, we can start by you never calling me 'master' - Owen will do nicely. Anyhow, I don't have anything to do for a few hours- why not make yourself comfortable and explore the room in the meantime?"
All she does is fly down onto the bed and curl up like a kitten to sleep.
I still can't put aside my disbelief- that she is the reason our family uses the symbol of the gryphon. Not only that, but now I have my own familiar- I don't know how to process it at all. The last animal I felt a genuine closeness with was our old hunting dog, and Samuel always gave me a stern telling-off for 'spoiling' her. If Valravn can assist me with some smaller tasks, then perhaps there's hope after all. Perhaps I can get back to properly doing my duties, but for now, I must put aside my hope and excitement and get back to writing out prescriptions.
Once I come to learn just what Valravn is capable of, perhaps she can assist me with much more than general chores...
Violeta
The night is clear and quiet.
I walk back from Dinah's home. I have found a sort of clarity that I can only find in her body and in her blood. Being a vampire isn't always about draining blood- sometimes it's feeding off the emotions and humanity of others, clinging on like a parasite, hoping for a sliver of whatever it is that gives people like Dinah their joyous charm.
I find myself thinking upon Eugen, and all that happened with him. Had I discovered the unwavering beauty of a woman's body, mind and soul earlier, before I ever met him - would everything have gone differently? Or would it still be the same?
I sometimes wonder what changed me the most- him, or the vampirism.
Every woman dreams of carving out her own identity and existence, shaping it entirely for herself- but so many people and experiences in our past leave such a mark on us that it can feel impossible to do so. Even after all these years, I still think back to when I was turned. I still think back to when my own beloved turned on me.
I hear familiar footsteps catching up to me- the scraping of cheap leather boots against cobblestone. Here I am thinking they'd learned to leave me be after I'd slaughtered so many of them.
Ordinarily, I'd have reduced her to a sack of giblets and thrown her into the river- but I've had my fill, and these people are not worth the hassle, not anymore. Volpe's new recruits could barely cut through a block of butter with their swords, and there aren't any witches left for them to kill at this point anyhow.
Perhaps that's it. Perhaps they're all desperate to appease him, and so they're willing to hand him the head of the closest thing they can find to a witch. It turns out to be a woman this time, demanding I stop and submit.
"Move along, darling. I don't have time to be dealing with people like you."
"You've been a scourge on Henford for far too long, Violeta. Neither I nor Lord Volpe will let it continue any longer."
A woman this time? Interesting. It seems far more of them are joining Volpe's forces of late.
"You ought to know better than to draw the ire of someone like me, madam. You know you cannot win. I cannot be killed. You, on the other hand..."
"We killed one vampire; we're more than capable of killing another."
"With what? The cure was destroyed long ago."
The cackle she makes in her throat brings out a fiery rage that I have kept buried for some time.
"Was it? Tell me, vampire- whose side do you think the Annorins would take? That of the second richest man living in Henford, or the side of a monster?"
No. It doesn't make any sense- Owen had no reason to keep the vampire cure around...or did he? I remember when I almost strangled him to death demanding to know about my son's health. Did he keep it around just in case I had to be dealt with? No, he would never do such a thing- if he harboured such contempt for me, he'd have let Oskar die.
That said - could Volpe have forced him into developing another cure?
Could he have threatened him into it? Owen has children of his own now, and he isn't someone of much physical strength; he wouldn't stand a chance of defending himself against Volpe's men. Volpe could have done to him what he tried to do to Gideon's son, and Owen can't risk his social standing by openly speaking up for witches or defying Lord Volpe...
She continues to taunt me, mocking the death of my son. I'm not taking any chances on this woman. As much as I want to drain her dry, I don't bother to drink her tainted blood.
I grab her by the neck and grip tightly, transforming into my more powerful form. My fingers elongated into claws, piercing through her throat in the process. Her taunts fade into unintelligble noise. Her cries sound more and more guttural, wet and choked with the blood that pours from her wounds.
No matter how much I try to avoid violence, I can never fully escape it. I want to tell myself that there is a way to deal with these people that doesn't involve killing them, but I'm beginning to think there's no other way. They can't be swayed from Volpe's grasp, and even if they were, they'd only up dead.
I throw her into the river where she can rot along with all of those who tried to be tough with me before.
Tomorrow, I believe I owe Owen a visit. If Volpe is controlling him from behind the curtain, then I have to try and do something about it.
Owen
I seem to have more energy than usual tonight, so I make the most of this burst of energy by doing something that would greatly satisfy my wife...
...helping to sort her paperwork for her while she sleeps.
There's a loud, desperate knocking at the door- likely an emergency patient. They're lucky that they're here on a day that it won't take me too long to get to the door, and the thought infuriates me. What kind of physician am I? I know very little about this ailment, and even less about how fast it will progress. I cannot overexert myself, and yet I cannot let my patients down- and I'm unsure if I will be able to do both soon enough.
When I open the door, I'm surprised to see Oskar's mother step through. There's a chill through my spine- it's difficult to forget the time where she tried to kill me, though I understand her desperation in hindsight.
"Did Volpe threaten you or your family?"
A rather sudden and strange question. "What on Earth do you mean?"
"I had an encounter with a witchfinder. I killed her- didn't drink her blood, but she mentioned something about the Annorins 'taking sides' and that Volpe killed one vampire, and could kill another. Were you forced into trying to cure me?"
I try to stifle a laugh, though I appreciate the protective tone of her voice. The way both Volpe and his henchmen took it like a fish to bait...it's difficult not to find some humour in it all.
"I did- but I gave Volpe a placebo. I destroyed the original years ago. The only components were water and floral matter to give off a similar scent to the original."
Violeta's eyes open wide. "A what?"
"Ah, pardon the medical jargon... It's a relatively-new idea. It is an ineffective version of a particular treatment. If a patient believes he is sick and I know he is not, sometimes I'll send him along with some sugar pills for his satisfaction. The satisfaction of the mind of the patient is as important as the wellness of his body."
"I see- I think I can understand. But if the working cure took four years, then how did you manage to convince Volpe that you could recreate it in no time at all?"
"I didn't- I spent four years leading him off the scent. I offered to help him for no payment at all, as a 'favour', and he spent all of that time genuinely believing I was going to turn on you. I did exactly what Volpe likes to do- pretended I was curing you with the safety of the children in mind."
"This would have been a brilliant opportunity to make some Simoleons out of him, wouldn't it?"
"Indeed, but I am a physician and not an extortionist like my father. Besides, when he does realise what I've done, he can't say I swindled him if he paid nothing."
Violeta lets out a chilling laugh. "Devilish, Owen. Once again, I'm impressed by your forethought. I'm at least glad to know that he doesn't have you of all people wrapped up in his threats."
In fact, it was this fairly-recent discovery that gave me the idea of how to trick Volpe. Much like a well man who is adamant that he is unwell, Volpe is adamant that magic is a threat to the wider world. I cannot solve a problem that does not exist in the first place, but patients are often stubborn, as is Volpe.
There is an incredible amount of power in convincing a man that you have the solution to his fabricated problems, and it can be surprisingly easy to do so. The only difference between the placebo and the fake cure was that I administer a placebo because I cared enough about my honest patients to want to satisfy their minds. As for Volpe, I cared about him so little that I had no problem leading him along with a lie for as long as I did.
"Regrettably, I cannot keep playing with his emotions forever, Violeta. He will find out sooner or later that he was misled- but I cannot let him continue what he's doing. Whilst he is my patient, he has my respect. Outside of that, I hold him to the same expectations I hold everyone else to. I'm aware that my own failing health isn't helping matters, but..."
"Volpe won't be a problem forever, Owen, I can assure you," Violeta replies, her expression growing dark. "Take it from a vampire- no mortal is beyond true accountability. He'll be dealt with, someday. In the meantime, all we can do is keep him distracted. There was a time and a place for us both to deal with Samuel - it will happen again. Our paths will align once again, and we'll find a way to deal with him."
I walk away from her for a moment, trying to shake off my own thoughts of how we may have to deal with Volpe. I keep telling myself that I have my own reputation as a physician to live up to, but I've already had a part in my own father's murder.
And if I've done it once, then surely it can be done again- No, I cannot. One life taken is enough. Samuel was not my patient; I owed him no respect. Now I understand what Violeta means when she says she walks the uncertain road of pacifism versus necessary force. I think back to Valravn, the little gryphon who came into my life so suddenly...What is she capable of?
"There must still be other magic folk living here, or those who have moved here since the witch-hunt. I want to keep Henford as a safe place for them. Your son already died to protect those who fled, and my brother's sister and niece had to run for their lives- as did countless others. The bloodlines have been sitting around avoiding the problem for far too long...I don't know how much longer I can let it happen."