Greta nods, understanding that was the way it happened with vampires and their victims. She wondered if all vampires were sadistic or if being turned made it so. This one though seemed reformed, if that was the word for it. Upon first meeting him the vampire Axel -a very old vampire- seemed to be drowning in his … feeling. She wondered how sensitive he was and if that was something that came before he’d been turned.
“You were a child then? Well, that is different. When you’re that young there’s room to bend… I’m sorry for your lost. It really is hard holding on to things that just aren’t there anymore …” She studied him again for a moment before continuing. “I’ll go about collecting what I’ll need for the spell. When I have most of my supplies of it I will call you back to me and we will begin that night.”
Greta paused again, begging the question. “You do want this right? No matter the cost? Once I begin there will be no stopping.” She warned.
“Yes I was a child, If I remember correctly I was about ten years old when the Christians came to ‘visit’ us. My father tried to fight it as we had our traditions and own religion but they quickly put him in line and made him get us baptized.” He told her as she looked at him, he noticed that she was more or less studying him.
“A lot has been taken from me, but it is not for you to be sorry about. I got revenge in my own ways over time.” Axel told the witch with a smirk, it was true, he had managed to break free from his sire and lead hunters to her resting place so they could kill her.
“I would not have come to you if I did not want this, I would do anything to become human once more. To be able to spend the rest of my life with someone and not have to turn them into what I am or watch them die.”
“And yet you did both … I wouldn’t know for sure what I’d do unless actually faced with the dilemma. But off the strength of my own believes and considering how stubborn I am. I’d probably die first. If they threatened my family, I’d lie, but I would never forget. And remember vam-Axel …” Greta paused, trying to gain some composure over the near flub, her dark eyes following him as he rose to don a jacket. “Death is not the end.”
She dropped her gaze, realizing how condescending she was coming off. It was the luxury of not actually being tested. “Do you remember what you used to believe? Have you ever wanted to go back to that?”
“The vampire thing I had no choice in it at all, my sire attacked me and forced this upon me. I thought that I was just going home with a nice girl, not creature that would turn my world upside down and make me a monster.” Axel explained smirking as she almost called him vampire instead of his name. “My family was forced to convert to Christianity as well. We did it to live, you have to remember it was a different time when I was young compared to now.”
He straightened the collar of his jacket and sighed as he looked at her. “I am from Sweden so we….I used to believe in Odin and the other gods….I have thought about it and I am not sure how I would go back to it, it had died off for so long and only now is making a resurface in the world.”
“It’s okay, I never expect to get a straight answer out of a vampire. You lot sure do love your riddles. A Christian Vampire … is that like when humans turn vegan?” It was an awful joke, but she couldn’t help herself. Axel, as he preferred being called, was a rarity. She’d never met a vampire who practiced any religion outside of the call for blood -if it could be called such.
She stepped away from him, releasing his cooler hand, having gotten a sense of him from the contact. The usually chill ran down her spine, but other than that he didn’t seem … vampire like. “I can narrow it down from the information offered, thank you. I just needed a place to start.” She stopped short, curious about something. “The conversion, was it your choice?”
He laughed and shook his head at her. “I am not sure, though I have seen vampires go vegan in a sense, they stop drinking human blood and they drink animal blood instead.” He explained with a small grin as she stepped away from him. “The Christian conversion or the vampire conversion?” He asked as he stood up and started to put his shoes on.
He sat on the arm of the chair and smiled at her. “Neither were my choice.” Axel told her his voice soft as he pick his jacket up and slipped it on. “If someone told you to stop believing in what you did and believe what htey wanted for you to believe or you would die, would you convert as well? Or would you have died?”
@gretaphasmatosmartin:
Greta was more impresses with the old grimoires than the money, but she wouldn’t say no to the latter. A girl’s gotta eat. “If you wish, Axel. I think we may have just struck a deal … that is if you’re willing to pay the price.” She smiled brightly at him, sticking her hand out to seal the bond. “When would you like to begin? It will take some time.” She stared at him for a moment before posing her next question.
He gently took her hand and shook it. “Once you have everything you need for it and when you think that you up to the task. I do not wish to rush such a thing.” He explained as he leaned back in his chair and looked at her when she asked how old he was. “I am old enough to have been both a Pagan and a Christian, I was born as they say now days a Norse pagan, then converted to Christianity.”
“Probably not the answer you were looking for but I think you can guess my age from that unless you need it for the spell.”
“Must be the movies. I am opened to both actually. It’s a pretty big spell. Now are you looking for the whole gig, or you just want to be able to do the things you used to? Day-walking is a simple enough fix. I can simulate life or I can make the attempt to actually bring you back. It really depends on what you want.” She noted he didn’t seem like the usual vampire. Her first impression of him wasn’t pompous or rude. She frowned at the contradiction.
“Color me intrigued, vampire. You may call me Greta.”
“Well I do have a few very old Gimoires that are more use to you than me as they have been in my house for the last few hundred years. If you can pull this off they are yours.” He offered to her with a smile. “Plus a sum of money.” Axel added, knowing that the ingredients for this spell might not be cheap and if she did have what was need it would need to be replaced. “You may call me Axel if you wish. Instead of vampire.” He chuckled.
“Relax vampire. I was just getting a feel for you.” There was light amusement in her expression and she wet her lips in an effort to hide. “To be honest it wouldn’t matter to me if you fed from virgins and puppies every night, as long as you paid me for services rendered. I can help you, for the right price. Make me a decent offer and I can make you a decent human being again … well, I can make you human. What do you say, handsome? We got a deal?”
“why does everyone think we feed only from virgins?” He laughed as he looked at Greta with a smirk. “A decent offer, now are you thinking money or perhaps goods that may help you?” He asked, as he did have a few grimoires in his possession that he had no use for as he couldnt use magic nor did he even understand the things inside them. “If we can agree on the price I think we have a deal.”
Greta took in a deep breath and let out her own sigh when he finished. “There is a way you can be human again, vampire. But why should I help you? Because you were turned against your will?” She lifted an eyebrow intrigued by the tease of information. “So many things have happened to so many people against their will, your victims counted among them. You seek help now with me, would no other witch help you? You say you hate being this way and yet you went on … How much life was snuffed out so you could continue?”
“Yes I agree that so many people lost their lives against their will because I took it from them. But I am trying to make up for the many mistakes I have made in my long life. No other witch was able to help me, they told me there was nothing they could do.” Axel told her as he rubbed his chin and looked at her. “I did not end it because it goes against what I believe. And I could not bring my self to do it. So instead I changed how I fed, I have not fed from a human vein in many years, I use blood bag instead. And I am just asking for your help. If you wish to turn me away then do so.”
Greta blinked slowly, listening as the wretched creature wax poetic about its woes. She thought it must be the long lifespan that made the immortal so theatrical. “You ask a witch if she lives in fear?” She mused before continuing. “Not specifically those things have plagued me, but I get your point. You want to be alive or at least feel alive. I take it you’ve had years, decades, centuries even to just about get it right without the fear of dying any typical mortal way. Now you’re tired of it and you want to go back …? Well, if I do help you, you realize it means you would
“You paint me in the wrong light witch. I have been looking for a way to reverse this since I became this monster. This was forced upon me and the things I have done I can not fix nor can I bring back the lives that I took. But I want to be alive once more. It does not matter if I die eventually.” He told her with a sigh. “I would have enjoyed being a human rather than a vampire, I did not enjoy seeing my family die and the fact I could not be there made my heart break.” Axel explained to the witch as he sat down. “So please tell me is there anyway that I can be human again?”
the-solitary-monster 