Chapter Text
Chapter 15 :
The first days of summer had brought more sun and heat, permitting Evelyn to pick a few berries every morning that were always sold later during the day.
Fresh fruits were popular, especially with the old folk. Some vegetables were in the small shop as well, mostly carrots, onions, early potatoes, radishes and some early tomatoes. They were sold fast too, and Evelyn had laughed more than once at Vlad's face when all he sometimes helped picking up during the morning was simply gone at lunch time. The vampire couldn't believe how fast it could go in so little time.
The fields weren't that big, and most of the food produced was mostly for their own cosumption, only the excess was brought to the shop with the teas and honey. So it explained why it was gone fast : there was never big quantities of fruits and vegetables in the shop to start with.
The fairies were more present as well, having decided that Vlad was nice enough to be approached on the farm's grounds. At first, he had been annoyed, too used to his solitary walks around the fields, then he had managed to gain a rather efficient spying network thanks to all those differents strange beings.
A werewolf lurking near ? He was warned by a muryan. A hunter ? An aerial would give the position of the intruder as soon as they were detected. An angry wild boar being too close to the barriers ? This animal would end as a big meal of fresh blood and meat.
He remembered the first time Evelyn had opened the door in the middle of the night, in PJ, half-awake and wondering what the hell was all that noise, only to find the vampire growling and crouching over a freshly killed deer, his jaws closing on the heart ripped out of the animal's chest.
Both had locked eyes for a few seconds without moving or saying anything, then Evelyn had sighed :
"Alright, you do you. I'm going back to sleep."
And she had turned around and closed the door, leaving him to his meal. He had drained that deer and devored its heart that night, enjoying the feeling of hunting and eating his prey.
The next morning had been a bit awkward at first, Vlad not being sure on how the phoenix was going to react to him killing and hunting on the farm's grounds. She had never been made aware of the hunters he was regulary dispatching, Colin refusing to alarm her.
He had felt relieved when she had told him over tea that she understood if he had to hunt, as long as he didn't leave anything dead under the porch like cats would do.
Speaking of cats, the kittens were growing steadily, and becoming little balls of chaos running everywhere in the house. Evelyn and Vlad had to be careful of where they were stepping, as six kittens running around were difficult to keep tracks of, but they regretted nothing : those little furballs had gotten a second chance, and they were using it to the fulliest, playing, napping and demanding their food as if their lives depended of it.
If the woman was doing her best to teach them to use the litter box, Vlad seemed to have decided to teach them how to hunt. It was amusing to see the tall vampire followed by six kittens in the gardens at night time, looking for mice. Colin had been worried the first time he had seen the footage on camera, wondering what was wrong for the vampire to try and hunt mice, until he learned it was simply Vlad teaching the cats to hunt. He had kept a copy of the footage "for science" as it was apparently very rare for vampires to teach another specie to hunt. When it happened, this behavior needed to be documented because the Belmonts were trying to understand why some vampires would take the time to teach how to hunt to a specie that wasn't theirs. As far, they hadn't found why. And since Vlad still wasn't speaking, even if Evelyn and Colin had heard him humming a few times, it was difficult to actually ask him the reasons for this behavior. So the Belmonts could only watch and speculate.
Howewer, this morning was different.
Colin had come earlier than usual, looking nervous. Evelyn, who was already busy in the gardens, hadn't noticed him, but Vlad had. And the vampire was now staring at the Belmont, trying to make him spill why their guardian was fretting so much.
The man holded 2 minutes before spilling the beans to the tall vampire :
"A male phoenix is coming here today to try his luck with Evy."
Vlad froze : what ?!
Colin scratched the back of his head :
"It wasn't my idea, I swear. The bird comes from Arabia. The phoenixes are said to belong to a royal lineage there. All their feathers are golden. Very beautiful birds, you should see them. But this one decided to find a mate with a different color than his."
Evelyn was a mostly red phoenix, only having a bit of gold on her flight feathers. Vlad had simply assumed all phoenixes were red. He didn't know some were entirely golden.
"Basically, he is coming here to see if he has a chance with Evy. He tried with the phoenixes living in France and Germany, but they didn't want him. And he refused to meet the irish ones because he doesn't like their green feathers, and honestly this is kind of a red flag for me."
Vlad mentally noted that irish phoenixes were green, and wondered if scaring the golden one would make things easier. He knew he technically had no claim over Evelyn, but the idea of her being swished off her feet by a complete stranger wasn't pleasant to him.
He let out a low growl and Colin frowned :
"No, you can't intervene. Boss' orders. If Evy doesn't like him, she will chase him herself."
That made him perk up : really ?
Colin nodded :
"So, let's behave and see if that prick actually has a chance ? I promise I will be really disappointed if she accepts him."
Vlad would be as well...
The male phoenix showed himself during midday, in his human appearance. He was tall and muscular, with a brown skin and elegant blond hair, wearing expensive clothes that screamed he was showing off.
Vlad decided at first glance that he didn't like this bird. He eyed critically the golden jewelry the newcomer was wearing on his wrists, fingers and neck, the too confident attitude and the disdain in his eyes while watching the farm.
No. He was already ready to throw this one off the property, but Colin had told him to not intervene. It was a phoenix-thing. So he decided to sit down under the porch, followed by the Belmont, and glare.
The man had called Evelyn from afar, while she had been checking on the hives in her beekeeping clothes, and talked to her in arabic. The woman looked at him in confusion : what the hell was he saying ?!
Colin facepalmed while Vlad smirked : he could understand what the man was saying and he could already tell this wasn't going to work.
The first problem was the fact that this man hadn't taken the time to learn english, at least enough to introduce himself properly.
Then, showing himself while Evelyn was working with her bees, something that could be risky if the hives decided the newcomer was a threat and to swarm him.
And to finish, the serenade. If Vlad had absolutely loved to serenade Lisa while she had been alive, and had been doing it at every single occasion, this bird needed to work on it : promising riches, servants, and a life without worrying for your needs in exchange of strong chicks wasn't the best way to charm someone...
Seeing that staying in human form wasn't working, the pretendant had decided to take his phoenix appearance to have better odds. It was a magnificient bird, looking like a peacock/eagle hybrid, all covered in golden feathers with a white beak and talons, as well as golden eyes. Without waiting for a reaction, the bird started parading, showing his wings, his tails feathers and dancing to show how pretty he was.
Colin groaned next to Vlad who nodded in understanding : yes that golden bird was a beauty.
Truly.
But he was small.
Not bigger than a chicken.
He thought about Evelyn in her bird form, with her 3,5 meters wingspan and her talons that could grip a werewolf's skull and throw the beast to the ground and keep it down. That golden phoenix seemed to have 1 meter wingspan, nothing more.
The Belmont chuckled :
"Male phoenixes are normally two thirds of the female's size." He told the vampire who raised an eyebrow at the information. "Golden phoenixes are regal, but smaller than their european counterparts. He is going to shit bricks if Evy take her bird appearance..."
And she did. The way the golden phoenix squawked at the red imposing bird was more than enough for the two to start snickering under the porch. Evelyn was more than 3 times the golden one'size, her black curved beak looked deadlier and the talons sharper. The male phoenix looked like he had bited more than he could actually chew and glanced at them, and that only made them laugh harder. It seemed to anger him and convince him to try harder so he started whistling and thrilling, redoing his dance in a effort to show what he was made of.
The red phoenix tilted her head at the smaller bird, then shook it and turned away.
"That's a no." Said Colin to Vlad who nodded with a smirk.
But the golden bird didn't seem to take 'no' as an answer. He flew in front of her, insisting on showing his moves, and kept doing it everytime she turned around to walk away.
Colin watched the scene and stood up :
"He is not accepting her refusal. We need to step in before he decides to... Oh shit !"
The golden bird had jumped at the red one's face with a sharp thrill, trying to gouge her eyes out but she avoided the attack easily and pecked him in the chest. That alone was enough to make the golden one fall on his back with a strangled cry.
The male phoenix got back on his feet, half fluffed up in anger, but the feathers flattened as soon as he saw the flames running through the red bird's wing feathers. Frightened by the display, he turned around and flew away with sharp frightened noises, chased by the larger bird in the sky.
He tried to find safety by going toward the Belmont who didn't hesitate one second before hiding behind the tall vampire who snarled at the golden bird, scaring him further and making him turn sharp to avoid the deadly claws ready to slash him.
The golden phoenix got thoroughly chased from the farm property and Evelyn landed on the big tree's branch, turning her back to everyone. Vlad looked at her, frowning, but Colin gently put a hand on his arm :
"Better leave her alone for now. She needs to cool off. She will come back in a hour or two."
He nodded but kept watch under the porch. Colin seemed to treat this whole thing like a job well done and took a few steps away to inform his boss that the golden phoenix had been denied and chased away from the farm, and that yes, he would bring footages as proof.
Meanwhile, Evelyn was conversing in her phoenix form with three aerials who had come to see what the comotion had been all about :
"He wanted me to go live with him in the desert lands to make him strong chicks so he could brag to his brothers and cousins. I'm not a broodmare ! If he does this to any female phoenix he meets, no wonder why he is always rejected."
An aerial crossed her arms with a 'Tch!" :
"How rude ! Wanting to take away our firebird... I hope you scared him enough so he is not going to try and come back, because if he does, we will be taking care of him..."
The fairies chuckled darkly at the idea of taking the golden phoenix away and showing him what happened to the ones mistreating who they had picked as their favorites.