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Scott had been a vampire for nearly half a century (forty-three years), but in that time he had never spared a thought towards death. Turning was a death in and of itself, a rebirth into a new, vampiric life. But immortality isn’t undying, only unaging.
The notion had been gnawing at him for weeks, as he ruminated over the implications of vampire deaths. Everything dies, yes? That’s a simple truth Scott had grown up with. One he had just briefly forgotten.
“Hey Lauren?” The pair had been resting on the balcony of their latest home, eyes cast upwards towards the sprawling heavens, a rich velvet night splattered with brilliant pinpricks of light.
“Yeah?” His Sire turned her attention to Scott, an easy grin upon her lips.
“Do we die?”
“Oh sure.” She delivered the statement completely unbothered, taking Scott aback. “Prolonged exposure to fire without a chance to heal will kill us. And by prolonged I mean a few days.” She rushed to reassure him before Scott could ask what she meant by ‘prolonged’. “Along with a wooden stake to the heart. I know, that one’s kind of silly, but I don’t make the rules!” Lauren giggled slightly, mismatched eyes alight with mirth. Despite her age, she had never consumed enough blood for her appearance to change much, according to the few other vampires Sire and Fledgling had met. Lauren’s eyes were still the brown and purple he had known since the day she came to work for his family.
“And then our corpse crumbles into ash!”
Scott wrinkled his nose. “Ash? Really?” How… distasteful.
“Mhm,” Lauren nodded.
“Mm… No thanks. Ash is too boring for me.” And that made Lauren laugh, something warming in the Fledgling’s dead heart.
“It really is…” Her eyes once more drifted upwards, his Sire seemingly losing herself in thought. All at once her eyes shone, letting out a delighted gasp. She spun to face Scott again, a playful smile spreading across her face. “If I ever do die-”
Scott opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly shushed. She swept a hand upwards, gesturing to the sky above. “Then I’m going to be stardust. My body will be swept up to space so I can run eternally among the cosmos.”
The Fledgling vampire is struck by his Sire’s blatant declaration. He doesn’t want Lauren to die, not ever. A pulse of comfort shines through their bond, her smile turning softer as she embraces him in a hug. Scott melts when she begins running deft fingers through his hair. Despite himself, Scott can not help but ruminate on her words. To become something glittering and lovely, rather than drab and gross… “That sounds beautiful Lauren.”
It really does. Should Scott ever die one day (and he knows that everything dies) he would like to be stardust too.
——
The betrayal stabs through Lauren, both through the bond and scrawled across her brother’s face. She sends feelings of apology and reassurance to Scott, but she isn’t sure if he accepts them. Lauren doesn’t blame him… It isn’t like she had time to explain, or even to prepare him for this. She needs him out of the crossfire.
Lauren can feel the moment the ritual is done, magic sleep settling over her Fledgling (he’s 1400, oh how the centuries pass) like a blanket. He goes pliant and eerily still, Lauren rushing forward to catch him before he falls, Scott’s muscles unable to support his weight. “You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.” She tells him, hoisting his slack body into her arms and carrying him down to the crypt.
The spell isn’t perfect. Lauren knows that vampires can’t really sleep unless in a Nest. She doesn’t have a Nest for her Fledgling to rest in like in those first few centuries. It would be too vulnerable to what’s coming for them. So instead she places him gently inside a sturdy stone coffin, pressing a final kiss to his pale forehead before sealing him inside.
Lauren winces at the spike of confusion, one she quickly counters with reassurance. That is met with anger and betrayal. “I’m sorry.” She whispers. Lauren has to do this for Scott. If there was any other way…
Her brother won’t sleep, not really. He’ll be caught in between the waking and the dreaming, his eyes kept shut by her own magic. He’ll have some moments of awareness - Lauren hopes it won’t be too many before he wakes fully. The witch casts another spell, this one over the crypt. Preservation, so that it won’t be eroded away by time, and a Permission for only those who mean no harm to enter. Only someone who means no harm to Lauren’s brother will be able to disturb his slumber.
The banging of doors above is like the tolling of a bell. Lauren knows it is her time. She steels her resolve, sending one last message of apology, comfort, love, before carefully and delicately building a wall over their bond. She will shield her Fledgling from harm as well as she can, as is her duty as his Sire.
Lauren winces at the glimpse of alarm and panic that shines through before all Scott’s emotions are blocked off from her. Goodbye, she thinks, as she ascends the stairwell leading back up to the surface. I love you. You are the best little brother I could’ve ever asked for.
Lauren opens the doors of the castle with a flourish and a wide, welcoming grin. The Elder vampire is met with an angered crowd, hands holding polished silver swords and wooden stakes. She bares her teeth, fangs gleaming in the torchlight that reflects off her dual red eyes. Lauren doesn’t go down without a fight, felling a fair bit of the mob with her superior claws and strength.
But she knew it wasn’t enough, otherwise her brother would be fighting by her side. She hisses in pain as holy water splashes her skin, eating away at her cold flesh. It’s enough to catch her off guard, long enough of a falter for one of the hunters to drive his stake straight into her heart.
Though she had died long ago, Lauren’s dead heart has continued to feel love. Love for the boy who became her brother, her Fledgling. Love for the extended time she had that allowed her to experience more than she ever could’ve had she stayed human. Love for the magic she had been born with, that had granted her wishes with its brilliant majesty. She dies for the second time, forever, unlike her first. Lauren’s body fades to dust (we all know vampires become ash, but we can pretend just this once, can’t we?) and she smiles, knowing she is fulfilled and assured that Scott will be safe.
She looks up at the night sky, and those lights that had captivated her for as long as she can remember smile back.
Hello stars. It’s so lovely to meet you.
——
Pyro has a problem. He often doesn’t think before he speaks. Which is why he opens his mouth to ask his Sire a question that’s been bugging him lately. “What happens when a vampire dies?”
Scott looks up from the drained sheep he’d been feeding from. “We turn into ash.”
“Oh.” The notion is… disconcerting. Scott must pick up on it though. Pyro still can’t wrap their head around that string - Sirebond - that runs between them.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, no!” Scott raises a brow. Nothing more. But Pyro shrinks inward anyway. “It… We don’t get a body to bury.” He whispers. There would be no proof he had ever existed, should he die.
“Ah.” The Elder vampire shuffles awkwardly, appearing lost in how to make the situation better. Pyro feels bad for making it this way. They should’ve just kept their mouth shut. But then their Sire begins to speak again. The Fledgling straightens, attentive.
“Don’t worry,” Scott turns a wistful gaze up to the darkened red sky peering in through the tree branches. “We’re Goldsmiths. We become stardust.”
Oh… Well. That sounds much nicer than a headstone. To be eternally suspended alongside constellations, looked to for guidance and inspiration. The unbidden thought brings a hesitant smile to Pyro’s face.
I wouldn’t mind being stardust.