Chapter 32: Interview with a Vampire

"But why do I have to go to school? I'm light years ahead of my class already!" 


"And you always will be," Lyle tells his son, remembering his own struggles within the system that was supposed to educate him. "Society requires all children to attend school, and even I can't get you out of it. But there are other things to learn there beyond what's in the lesson books. Be observant."

Lyle and Violet are getting older, but their passion endures. Now that Violet is a superstar chef, she only works three days a week, giving them lots of free time to spend together while the kids are at school.

Briar Rose wonders about her genius father. Sure, he has a brilliant mind, but he plays with fire. And with her old dollhouse.

The reaper comes for Jeromy. He goes without protest.

Lyle attacks the buttons furiously, forcing the doors to close before the creature that's chasing him can follow him through. As the portal seals shut, he hears wailing downstairs.

Violet throws herself into his arms, sobbing, and Lyle quickly ascertains he just missed the Grim Reaper's visit.


"Where were you?" she asks him between sobs.


"Upstairs. In my office." Lyle still hasn't told his family about his travels through time, and probably never will.

Briar takes over her grandparents' bedroom suite, repainting it to suit her tastes.

Jeromy's grave takes its place beside Oregon's. His absent-mindedness prevented him from having any kind of career, even in professional sports, but in high school he had been a champion on the field. So, they decorate his grave with one of his old trophies.

Briar is a genius like her father and brother, but her intellectual inclinations run more towards literature, politics and history than towards science. Though her biology class isn't her favorite, she still excels in it as she does with anything academic, and what she's learned has caused her to question her lineage. Her parents both have unusual hair colors, and her own hair color as unusual as well, but completely unlike either of her parents, or their parents and so on through her family history. While the Asspullian theory of genetics states there is a 10% chance of a child getting a random hair color rather inheriting it from an ancestor, the 'random' color always come from a fixed spectrum of 'normal' colors. Deep wine red with black tips is not in that group. And while one might describe her hair color as unique, it is in fact present on other people in Twinbrook, including a fellow high school student, Gary Merrick.


Briar asks Gary to meet her at the beach, where she quizzes him about his family history and how often his hair color appears among them.
"Both of your parents were blond, correct?" she asks.


Gary nods, "Yes. My mother inherited her mother's hair color. My hair color comes from her father, Beau Merrick. My mother's sister, my Aunt Bree, also has this hair color. And Her son, my cousin Jay."


"So this hair color is a Merrick family trait. How did I get it?" Briar wonders.


Gary shuffles a bit. "I used to have a crush on you," he says. Briar starts to protest that she already involved with Drew, but Gary presses on before she can say anything, "I told my mother I was thinking of asking you out, and she told me I couldn't, because you are my cousin."


"How am I your cousin?" Briar wants to know. Gary then tells her what his mother told him, that Violet's father was actually Beau Merrick. "How is it we're not vampires?" Briar wonders.


"My mother and your mother took some kind of cure," Gary answers.


"My mother was a vampire?" Briar asks. 


"As far as I know," Gary answers with a nod.

Having made such an important discovery, Briar decides she must meet this grandfather vampire for herself. When she approaches his swamp lair, she's a bit frightened, but presses on, knowing that knowledge is power.

"Have you come to call me a monster and repudiate me?" Beau asks by way of greeting.


"If I thought you were a monster, I wouldn't have come," Briar answers. "Did you know that I'm your granddaughter?"


"Of course I know."


"Yet you never tried to contact me."


"Oregon told me to 'butt out'. I couldn't visit your house without an invitation. And lurking around schoolyards is...not something humans appreciate. Or safe for a vampire in daylight. And, since your mother was...cured...and you were born human, I did not see the point of pursuing it." 


Briar stares at his fangs as he speaks. Fascinating.

The man she had thought of as her grandfather had recently died of old age. This grandfather looks no older than her father. "How old are you?" she asks him.


"I am the same age as your great-grandfather, Shepard McDermott."


"So you've been here through two generations, and will outlive at least that many more," Briar observes. "Doesn't that get lonely?"


"I have new companions to replace the old."


"But isn't it painful to watch your loved ones die?"


"Love is a human thing," Beau answers, "Vampires do not love."


"But your daughters...Bree married and turned her husband to keep him with her. Yesenia took the cure to be human with her husband. And my mother...You can't say that vampires don't love. It's just that you shut yourself off from love to spare yourself the heartbreak."


Beau stares at her silently for a moment. "There are times I have thought I would turn one of my human lovers, to keep her with me rather than watch her die," he admits.


"But you never did. Because you never found the right woman?"


He shakes his head, "It would change the relationship. My human lovers are my source of food. The feeding creates a bond...maybe it is like love, a vampire kind of love. That bond would be severed if I turned a lover into a vampire. And if I were bonded to a vampire lover, I would not able have the same kind of bond when feeding on others. Vampire paired with vampires tend to subsist on plasma from the hospital, or plasma fruits."


"And you crave it fresh from the source."


"Yes, very much. Do you want to be a vampire, child? I could turn you, when you come of age."


Briar thinks about it. "No, I don't think so," she answers.


"Why did you come here?" Beau asks.

She hardly knows him, but she feels a strong connection to the vampire. Briar draws him into a hug, "Because you are my family. I wanted to know you, that's all."


Beau is surprised by her embrace, and surprises himself by returning it with affection. He never thought he could care for any of his human descendants, but this one, even without the vampire enhanced abilities, is not slow and pathetic like other humans.

"You are...very interesting. Not at all what I expect from a human," he says, "I hope you will visit again."

Later, Briar tells Drew about her visit with her vampire grandfather. He trembles a bit at just the telling.


"You weren't scared?" he asks.


"It was a little scary, at first. But he's my grandfather. And he has a wife to feed from, so it's not like was going to attack me and suck my blood."


Drew nearly faints just thunking about that. "So...you won't grow into a vampire or anything, will you?"


Briar laughs, "I highly doubt it, The cure my mother took seems permanent. And if I do sprout fangs and start craving blood, I'll take the cure myself. Vampires are interesting, but it's not for me."

Briar tells her mother about her visit with Beau Merrick over dinner.


"He's a monster," Violet says, 'I don't want you around him."


"But he's not a monster," Briar protests, "He's just different. And he was very nice to me."


"He uses mind control to seduce his victims," Violet says, "He's a monster, and I forbid you to have any more contact with him. I don't want to hear his name again." With that, Violet turns back to her frogs legs. Acquiring the recipe had been very difficult without traveling to France, and she had waited a long time to try this dish. 


Briar is surprised by her mother's fervent rejection of even the subject of Beau Merrick. She has no intention of heeding her mother's wishes, she will continue to visit the vampire as she pleases. She just won't speak of it.

Dermott loves the outdoors. There is much more to learn out here than there is in the classroom.

Violet worries about all the fire hazards in her home. Lyle insists everything is fireproof, but she can't stop worrying.

But fire can also be a source of pleasure, as her experiments with mixology has shown her. Lyle is impressed; his wife breathes fire! How cool is that?

Briar and Drew have romantic library dates.

When Dermott becomes a teen, he looks less like his father's clone.

Father and son bonding.

Like his father, Dermott is primarily interested in science. He's already decided he'll enter the science career when he grows up.

Images of broken light which 

dance before me like a million eyes 

    That call me on and on across the universe

                                                        Jai Guru Deva Om

Challenge Notes: (Above quote is from Across the Universe, by John Lennon)

I've continued to give Dermott random traits. He's got Genius, Loves the Outdoors, Good Sense of Humor and now Party Animal. he's already got the LTW for the science career locked in.

Since Gen 7 has achieved all goals, I'm just carrying on until Gen 8 takes over. Violet and Lyle will turn elder one day before Briar has her birthday. Dermott will be a teen for around 6 days after Briar takes over.