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Hector felt unease in his gut ever since she said she wanted to see the sun. But he'd recently come to learn a lot about life, about who he wanted to be and what he wanted to do with his own. He'd had his own agency taken from him so many times, he didn't want to take that away from anyone else. Not even from her, even when she had done so to him, even when he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
Everything else was excuses, or her way of arriving at one painful realization: she didn't want to exist as a vampire. She didn't want her life to come at the cost of the consumption of others. It was in conflict with who she really was, preventing her from living the way she wanted to live and make genuine peace. She realized her life as a vampire had been a lie. Nothing would ever be powerful enough to override that.
It all became real when she stepped outside. The sight of her in the light was as horrifying as it was beautiful. He didn't want to see her like this but he wanted to stay there until the end. When she looked back at him, he did his best to control himself. Then she smiled and called him a silly man, and then she was gone. She was free.
Hector told himself if there was a plan to resurrect Dracula, Lenore also had to have a soul that went off to rest somewhere. She was no longer trapped by the nature of what she was. Who she was was no longer in conflict with what she was. She was free.
He stepped into the sun and smiled thinking about her last words. "Hector, you are a silly man." He couldn’t return her smile then, so he'd do it now and say goodbye by smiling into the sun.
************
When Hector informed Isaac about what happened, he received a surprising amount of sympathy. It was almost as bizarre as how cheerful he’d become. Isaac understood letting someone go after he fought so hard to protect them, someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, couldn’t have been an easy thing for him to do. Isaac understood he let go of her because he loved her, even if that love didn't come from the healthiest place, and respected that. Though he questioned why Hector felt that way even though she had used and exploited him. Hector responded that it was because of what she was, not who she was. It wasn’t that different from how the two of them still cared for Lord Dracula even after he had used them as tools. Lenore apologized and had her regrets about it. She really did care about him in the end. Forgiving her was easier than harboring resentment.
Isaac suggested Hector take what he wanted from what remained of her former chambers. Hector was thankful for the opportunity. It was bittersweet going through her things. He didn't know her very long, so little was familiar to him. But new discoveries had their own way of teaching him things about her. When he came across her fragrance he knew he was taking that. He took what books she had, he had wanted to spend a lot of time reading anyway. An interesting find was the leash she took him for on walkies with on that night that felt like years ago now. At first he thought he should leave it, but when he thought about it again, about how that was the night he began falling for her --even if it was under bizarre and questionable circumstances, and he still held a bit of fading resentment towards her for it, he decided to keep it. The last thing he took was a small portrait of her that had hung in another part of the castle. A seven legged spider rested on a hand she held over her heart in it. He assumed there had to be some story behind that, it was a shame he never got to hear it directly from her.
In the days that followed Hector spent most of his time alone writing down his thoughts. The book he planned on writing would be his own way of celebrating her memory. He wanted to write about what he learned from her about life, both his own, and ones that were longer than his. He considered the beauty of what they could learn with immortality, the new outlook and appreciation they could have on life, but also the struggle of potentially succumbing to insanity. It happened to Dracula, it happened to Carmilla, Lenore knew it would happen to her, and she didn’t want that. They were granted longer lives at the cost of having a terminal illness. It was an illness that would eventually cause them to snap and take destructive actions that would end their lives if they weren’t taken out by someone else first.
In the months that followed Isaac gave Hector a book he had come across in some of his own studies. He knew Hector had developed an interest in philosophy, and had primarily been reading Greco-Roman works. He thought Hector might like different perspectives and gave him the works of Abu Al-Ma’arri, a blind Syrian philosopher.
The man was critical of religion, including the Abrahamic faiths, but still believed in a god, not because of the revelation of prophets, but because of the existence of reason and observations of the natural world. He had a pessimistic view on life, or rather on creating new life. He never had any children, and argued that children should not be born to spare them from the pains of life. Hector wasn’t sure how much he agreed with that philosophy, even though on more than one occasion he wished he’d never been born. His parents would have liked it if he’d never been born. A lot of society would have liked it if he’d never been born. His life had been painful, even though he managed to find some joy in it.
What he did take from this was that night creatures might not appreciate being brought back into this world. Dracula’s soul was at rest, it was wrong to try and take that away from him by bringing him back. He decided he wouldn’t forge night creatures anymore, especially with them being bound to his will by the mere act of forging them. Not only was he bringing back souls that might decline the opportunity if they could be asked, but they didn’t have agency when they were brought here. Furthermore, not entirely unlike vampires, they were being forced into an existence that required them to consume blood and meat to live. Maybe that was why Lenore had called his work blasphemy. The lives he created were too similar to hers.
As Hector read more of Al-Ma’arri’s works he came across a poem about animals that made him question a lot, it read:
You are diseased in understanding and religion.
Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth.
Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up,
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray!
He knew Lenore didn’t need to kill people to continue to live. Lenore knew she could subsist on the blood of animals if she wanted to. But not even that was enough to make her want to stay here.
Hector had killed fish when he was living on his own, but it was never something he enjoyed. He couldn’t bring himself to kill other animals. But he’d eat flesh if someone else had bloodied their hands and it was offered to him. Thinking back he’d never seen Lenore drink from a human, but she drank blood others had obtained and bottled for her. She could tell herself her hands were clean. Hector could tell himself his hands were clean. But it was a lie. Their hands weren’t clean. This must have been something Lenore considered too.
Hector wrestled with these thoughts for weeks and gradually eschewed eating meat until he stopped entirely. He liked animals, and didn’t want to cause them harm indirectly. Like Lenore he didn’t want his life to be sustained by taking life from others, or by causing them harm. But unlike her, he had the ability to live in a way that wasn’t in conflict with his beliefs. He had the fortune of having a human life. Living this way was more of a challenge in Styria than it would have been in a warmer place like Rhodes or Syria, but the castle had greenhouses, so Hector found a way to make it work.
Isaac thought Hector was a little crazy for taking that philosophy so seriously but he respected him for living by his own ideals. Isaac could see Hector was happier for it. Besides, he couldn’t fault Hector for it when he was the one that gave Hector the book in the first place.
In the year that followed Hector finished writing his first book. After it was finally done he opened to the first page, which had been intentionally left blank and wrote, "I dedicate this work to my beloved Lenore," and felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He could finally move on from this part of his life having grieved and paid his respects to her. He could stop wondering about what might have been if they met in a different time under different circumstances, in a different life where things weren't fated to end the way they did. He had real feelings for her. He knew she returned those feelings in her own way. But it was never going to work out between them with all of the circumstances life had thrown at them both or the way their relationship had formed. He couldn’t be happy under Carmilla. She couldn't be happy under Isaac-- more importantly she couldn't be happy trapped by the limitations and nature of what she was.
He spent the following years doing everything he wanted to. He read more, he wrote more too. He studied magical black smithing and made things. He occasionally spent time with Isaac, but not too much time. Isaac was a very busy man, running his kingdom. He hadn’t married, he didn't even consort with men or women and he probably never would. Isaac had a clear vision in mind and didn't need any distractions getting in the way. As for an heir, he established a plan to let the people have a say in who his successor would be. Hector never could have imagined Isaac creating something like this years ago.
Besides Isaac, Hector didn’t really spend time with any other people. He tried, but still felt like he didn't fit in. There was an understanding Isaac had that others didn't. He'd adjusted to life alone with his pets before all of this happened. Living on his own worked well for him. He was happy enough to return to a life like that with a friend that understood him.
Hector also began adopting stray animals again, living ones. But only ones that needed help to survive or struggled too much on their own. He decided to study medicine, and found ways of sterilizing these animals. It may have taken some agency from them, but it was to prevent greater suffering. He'd seen enough newborn kittens and puppies thrown in sacks and drowned growing up because there wouldn't be enough food for all of them. Isaac wanted to make the world better for people, Hector wanted to do what he could to make the world better for animals with the time that he had.
It was through this endeavor that Hector met his end. One of the dogs he took in contracted rabies and bit him before he saw the warning signs. He had to put her down himself. Rabies was fatal and it was a terrible way to go. Even worse, she’d continue to spread it to others if she wasn’t put down. He did it as kindly as he could by snapping her neck, but wished he had found a better way. There was no way of knowing if he had contracted it or not from the bite she gave him, but he was prepared to meet the same end. This was something science hadn't found treatment for yet. And just like that, he had a new understanding of what Lenore must have felt before she decided to go. Hector had no idea when symptoms would fall on him, but he let Isaac know what happened. Hector was monitored closely, and when the time came, Isaac brought him the hemlock himself and said goodbye.
************
Everything went dark. For a time there was nothing. Then there were sounds he couldn’t quite identify. He couldn’t see it yet, but he knew he was on the ground of the burnt remains of his childhood home.
He felt licking on his face and opened his eyes. It was someone he hadn’t seen in a very long time, little Cezar, but he had both of his eyes and all of his body. He was as he had been in his natural life, before Hector brought him back. Then a voice spoke to him,
"You've kept me waiting, Hector."
It was Lenore. He looked up and saw her standing above him, the sun shining behind her. He hadn’t seen her in so long he was rendered speechless. She looked as beautiful as she had the moment she’d left him. But she was able to exist here.
"You really had nothing better to do here than wait around for me?" he jokingly asked when he was able to form words again.
Lenore laughed, “Not quite, I was up to plenty while you were gone. Carmilla needed a lot of help making peace. But it wasn’t too bad waiting. Company found me.”
The dog Hector had recently put down came up to him and nudged him for pets, Hector sat up and obliged her, "Sorry girl. I'm glad you're alright now." He said as he held her.
“Let me help you up," Lenore said, crouching down and extending a hand. As Hector took her hand he looked around him. Every animal he had ever cared for was there, full of life and happy to see him again. His pets from childhood, the pets he brought with him, and then lost, at Dracula's Castle, every wild animal he rehabilitated and released, every animal he cared for after Lenore left him. Everyone was there. All of them. He felt tears of joy form in his eyes and couldn’t stop smiling.
Then he stood up and Lenore hugged Hector tightly. "I'm glad to see you again."
"Sorry I took so long." he said as he held her in return.
"60 years spent bumbling around isn't that long."
"It wasn’t quite that long. But it felt long enough to me."
"I'm not letting go of you again. I can finally exist the way I want to here. I can be what I want to here. It wouldn’t have worked out for us in life..."
"...but it can work here." He finished her words.
"Actually I may have to let go of you. It seems like I have a lot of competition for your affection." Hector’s companion animals had surrounded them, and they wanted attention.
Hector laughed, "We can pet them together."
"They want pets from you."
"They'll be fine. We have forever now, don't we? The right kind of forever."