The Immortal Rules

Story 19

Samuel waved a hand at Magen, trying to get the young child’s attention. She was two by now. When he’d first seen her how old had she been? He’d just come here, Myrnin had left him with the Glass family and there had been the quick time that Claire had walked by with the baby in her arms and had introduced him. Well, sort of introduced him, since she was putting her down to bed at the time. 

Since then he had seen her twice more. It was hard to count exactly anymore, like the passage of time wasn’t something to really be marked. Almost nine months since he’d been changed into a vampire. And life had moved on, against all odds, passing one day at a time with occurrences that were as normal as human life or sometimes just as abnormal because that was what life with Myrnin consisted of. 

Magen was a cute child with hair like her mother and the same color eyes as her father. It was really endearing. 

He could hear someone coming up from behind him, so he turned away from where Magen was laid out, seeing Allison in the doorway. She was smiling at him and waved a hand, much in the same way that Myrnin did. “Where did you pick that wave up?” asked Samuel, very amused. “Did Claire go out for a second? She was just here a second ago.” Allison nodded her head, then shrugged a bit, “Yeah, I think Aunty just walked down the hall.” She tilted back on her heels just to confirm before nodding. “She’s talking to Daddy.”

Sam completely turned around and walked over to Allison, tilting his head around the edge of the door to see the same thing that she had just said to him. Claire was indeed talking to Michaele in the doorway of his room.

“You come in here to get something to eat?” he asked Allison. They were in the kitchen. Allison nodded several times, walking past him and toward a cupboard. Sam wandered after her, looking upward at the cupboard she was looking at. “Need help getting anything?” he questioned. Allision shook her head, looking around before scooting one of the chairs closer. Then she got on top of it, bare feet going from the seat if it to the counter, where she opened one of the doors and got down a couple of plates, gently setting them on the counter before turning around and scrambling back the way she had come, closing the cabinet as she did.

Sam backed up to allow her enough space to get down and then he moved the chair back to the table for her, lifting it up so the legs didn’t squeak against the floor.

“Thank you!” said Allision, taking the plate and leaving the room.

She was going to be twelve soon, Sam thought, tilting his head as he thought both that and wondered about what she planned to use the stack of plates for. She was going to be twelve, the same age as him. Well, not the same age. He was thirteen and a half, if he started thinking of it as human plus vampire years. But it wouldn’t be outrageously long before she was older than him. How could Myrnin stand to watch everyone grow up around them. How old had Claire been when she’d first started working under him? Sixteen? And what was she now? Early thirties, maybe? He wasn’t the best at telling exact age, but that seemed close enough. How odd that must feel to have her be younger than him when he first met her but older than him now?

His eyes fell on Michael, still talking to Claire in the hallway. He was married to a human and his child was a human. It worked for him, somehow. It wasn’t all sad. That was the only way he could think about it, right? And Morganville was a town made for vampires. Maybe that was why it was here. There were others all around that would never age and hadn’t been for hundreds of years.

He walked down the hall, past Claire who nodded at him and waved at Michael to follow her back to the kitchen to check on her child and keep an eye on her.

What he was doing now other than visiting wasn’t much, really. He rolled up his trailing sleeve, waving his gloved hand at Claire and saying, “Bye!” before he opened the door and stepped out.

He closed the door, head tilting down so the sun above him wouldn’t be a problem. From there he began walking toward the nearest place that vampires used to get underground. Myrnin had showed the tunnels to him soon enough, though it had taken awhile. He was old and could travel around in the shadows cast by buildings without much trouble. So, telling the not even a year old vampire where he could get around without getting tingling sensations on his hands even when they were covered had taken a while. Apparently, it had slipped his mind that if Sam was knocked over he’d have to react pretty fast so as not to burst into flames.

When he was safely within the tunnels under Morganville he dropped the hood that had been keeping his face in shadow. It was dark down here, though he knew some parts were hooked up with lights, even if they were lights Edison might have used.

Concrete clicked under his shoes as he walked along, hands in his pockets. He’d have to come up before he reached the tunnels around Myrnin’s lab. Didn’t want to run into any traps or things.

It wasn’t very busy down here, since most of the time vampires just came out during the night. Sometimes Sam wondered if he’d get more interaction with … well … with his own species if he ever bothered to reverse his sleeping schedule. It didn’t really matter around Myrnin, who was awake at random all the time. But the only vampire he’d ever had an extended conversation with was Michael. 

A low, one key whistle escaped his lips. He turned a corner at an intersection and climbed a set of stairs to get out of the tunnels again. Before he exited he put his hood back up and then continued on his way toward Myrnin’s. It would be nice to actually do something with himself. He’d think of something – or something before Myrnin did at least.

Walking into the lab he was greeted by the voice of Frank, who only said, “Get a phone. The cracker-jack vampire wants you.”

Sam blinked upward, before turning in the direction of the library. Since he didn’t at once see or hear the vampire it was the logical assumption that this was where he’d be.

“Yeah?” he asked, opening the door and sticking his head in.

The sound of two voices greeted him and it was only after a second that his eyes fell on Lady Grey in the corner of the room. She looked over and away from Myrnin, her expression changing as she saw him. “Samuel!” she said, looking pleased. Samuel too had to smile, pleased as well. “Lady Grey!” he greeted. He’d taken to using the same nickname that Myrnin did, falling into a familiar furrow of habit that he’d gained when he thought of her.

“I didn’t realize you were –” He started to say, but he was cut off as she appeared in front of him, hugging him. She didn’t appear as fast as she would have to a human. Blurring, he’d been told it was called. This was because his eyes could register her movement a lot easier than they otherwise would, but for him she was still moving a bit fast. His eyes widened in surprise but he didn’t flinch as he might have in the past. He was a bit hesitant, but he hugged her back.

“Frank’s right,” murmured Myrnin, shoulder against the bookcase as he leaned into it. “We do need to get you a phone.”

Lady Grey let him go after a second, keeping him at arm’s length. “You’ve grown,” she pointed out. Sam blinked at her, looked down. “Have not. I’m the same height as always.”

But Lady Grey shook her head, smiling. “That wasn’t the sort of growth that I meant.”

Sam blushed, pale skin growing a bit less pale as he registered her comment. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.”

Lady Grey ruffled his hair with one hand, though it wasn’t like it hadn’t already been ruffled before. “’Sometimes’ is still better than the last time I was here. I’m proud of you.”

It might have been a bit like having someone, a relative if not a parent, that you didn’t really see a lot because they worked far away. Sam was a bit awkward, but that still meant the words held weight. “Thank you.”

And unlike humans, he had a lot of time to get to feel less awkward around Lady Grey even if he only saw her the same amount as Myrnin did. That … that wasn’t so bad. He had a lot of time. That was the good part.