Nature or Nurture Ch. 34-36

The people he worked for tried to have him killed, and Victor saved his life, but he had lost all his memories, leaving him helpless like a baby.

Adison found me and cared for me. She called me Vincent, and raised me, like Nelly raised you, only I grew up a lot quicker.

When I was grown up, we fell in love and stayed here. The scars in my face and on my chest are from that time. If someone touches them, it reminds me I'm only one year old, with no memories of my life before that, and that thought makes me shudder.

A few months ago, I started to dream of my life before now, which is how I knew I had been quite a bad man, and how I knew I had a daughter. The day after I had that dream we went to find you.

We got involved in a thing with Mina and Miss Vanessa, you met her yesterday, and there I got those claw-marks, except these ones, the gytrash did that. Remember that huge dog-like creature?'

Nodding fervently, Catherine looks really happy, sitting with her tough dad, who can beat up all kinds of monsters and survive being shot.

'Mina was bad, too, wasn't she?'

'She was, but Adison saved her, as she saved me.'

'I like Mina, and she likes me,' Catherine is certain of that, 'I'm glad she lives here. And I'm glad for me she's awake at night, but sorry for her, it seems lonely.'

'Let's eat and have some tea,' Adison says, 'there will plenty of time to talk when Victor and I are doing our rounds, for until Mina wakes up this afternoon, you will be daddy-sitting. I was worried about leaving him alone with a toddler, but now I'm not anymore. You can take care of yourself and of him.'

And so it happens, Adison and Victor do their rounds, and Vincent lies in bed in an effort to heal fast enough to play his role that night. Catherine fetches his script from the library and they practise his part together, Catherine checking the script and judging his play.

Adison has had Victor fire up the boiler slowly, so it will not need to be checked regularly, though it will take all day to heat up properly.

Father and daughter talk for hours, until Vincent tires and needs a little nap, then Catherine holds him and strokes him until he sleeps, and fetches water to take his painkiller with when he wakes.

Chapter 35

When Mina wakes she comes to the bedroom straight away, and she finds Catherine on the bed next to Vincent, who is having a little nap just then.

The little girl whispers, 'He is still in a lot of pain, that makes him tired. Mum asks can you check on the boiler. And will you make me lunch? I'm hungry but dad isn't supposed to leave the bed and I can't reach the cupboards. Mum forgot I'm still very small.'

Mina looks astounded, and Catherine makes a decision.

'Come sit with me for a while, I'll tell you my secret.'

And when Mina is sitting there, in the same bed as the guy who knows since yesterday night that Mina wants to feed off him whilst having rough sex, Catherine distracts her from that shameful realization by telling her, 'I've been able to talk and I understand everything adults say since I was a year old. I've been playing the toddler for a year, and decided today I was not going to any longer. Not to dad at least, and he wanted me to tell mum, and I decided to tell you.

I had hoped to keep it from Victor a little longer, I feel I don't know him as well as I do you, but if that feels like lying to you, I'll understand.'

And again Catherine hears, 'I can't say I'm totally surprised, Catherine, you've been doing things and saying things that weren't altogether like a toddler. We'll have such fun together.

How is he?'

This nudging towards Vincent.

'As well as can be expected,' the girl answers proudly, 'he heals really fast. I saw the wounds and they were nearly closed. He told me how he got the scars and why he shudders when someone touches them. I really wondered, you know.'

'Wanna come with me to check the boiler and make lunch, or do you want to stay with your dad?'

That is a difficult choice for Catherine, she has been stuck here all day, and watching a person sleep gets quite boring after half an hour, but what if he wakes in pain?

'Why don't you come with me for now, then check on him, and if he still sleeps we make lunch together?'

That is perfect, and Catherine hops off the bed and joins Mina.

Checking the boiler is great fun, and since Vincent is still asleep when they are done, Catherine helps to make a lunch, which they take to the bedroom.

'You wake him up, Catherine,' Mina says, 'he needs to eat well, he lost a lot of blood yesterday and it needs to be replenished. You know I don't eat normal food, don't you?'

Catherine affirms that, Mina told her just yesterday.

'If you understand everything you see, you may as well know now, you'll find out anyway: I can only eat human blood, and usually Victor feeds me, but yesterday I got shot too, pretty badly, and Vincent gave me his blood to save both our lives. His blood is strong, and it made me strong, I'm totally fine today.

But his wounds heal slower than mine, he was shot more often, and it took a lot of his blood to heal the damage I had, so he really needs to eat well. Which is why I made lunch of fatty, rich things, to give him strength.'

Again, the sound of voices wakes Vincent, and he looks at Mina meaningfully.

'Thank you for saving me, Mina. I thought I was done for, looking into that gun barrel.'

With a soft voice she observes, 'My pleasure, Vincent. I still feel your blood running through me, it's so stimulating. You're in pain, I can see it.'

'I brought you water, dad, and here is your medicine. Can you help him sit up, Mina?'

The smell of him brings back the kiss, and Mina quickly but carefully lifts Vincent to an upright position, then leaves his side and pours the tea. Vincent takes the medicine and the water from Catherine with a big 'thank you'. He is hungry and almost devours the rich food before him, still looking at Mina every so often.

'Please don't be a stranger, Mina,' he says with feeling, 'you know what feeding does to people. I was already weak with fright and blood-loss, it hit me hard.'

'It's not that, Vincent,' she replies, 'that was as much me as you. It's just, I leaked some feelings I would have preferred to keep to myself, they have the potential to cause a world of trouble. I don't want to get tempted.'

'As soon as I am back to normal, we'll train them out of both of us, all right?'

Vincent's optimism and comradeship are infectious, and soon Mina is sitting next to him again, telling him who their attackers were.

'They were on the list, among the three most dangerous. They were almost certainly operating on their own, the master had little to do with them. Pardon me if I sound ruthless, but that's three fewer potential hazards.

I couldn't take your saber, hope it won't lead the watch to us.'

'It's unmarked, it's a loss but there is no way to tie it to me. I had one of those flashbacks again, I'll tell you about it tonight.

This is good food, I needed that. I feel much stronger, how much did you get?'

'A lot, Vincent, I was nearly done for. If I were human I would have been killed instantly, and still I managed to mangle that one guy and take you away from there. You are incredibly heavy.

Without your blood I would have died, and a normal person could not have missed that much blood, especially not with the amount you had already lost through the wounds.

You're as durable as you're strong.'

'I want to try to get up now, I need to know whether I'll be able to play, if I'm not I'll have to send a boy to let them know. They have a piece for emergencies. Will you help me once more?'

Mina cannot resist Vincent, so she helps him to stand, he needs to go to the privy anyway, and the bath will be ready soon.

It hurts a lot to get up, but he doesn't feel dizzy or about to fall over, and the stiffness can be soaked out in a hot bath.

Vincent walks a little round through the bedroom, and still he doesn't fall. He tries to move his arms, and it hurts like hell, but they do what he asks them to do.

'Do you want a hot bath now, or later?' Mina asks.

'Now, please, how did you get one ready so quickly?'

'Victor did, he started it and Catherine gave me instructions to check on it. She told me about herself, and I told her about myself, about my eating habits. Both of us already had our suspicions.' Mina has a very cute smile, and Vincent reminds himself of his resolution to ask Adison to set a date and style for their marriage.

Then he walks to the privy and lets the water run into the bath, and all goes well. Back in the bedroom he asks Catherine to join him in the bath.

'We always bathe and shower together, but I know Nelly raised you much stricter than that. I don't want to shock you.'

'Can Mina come, too? The tub is large enough, isn't it? It'll be great fun.'

Catherine may talk like an adult, some things are still a total mystery to her, and rightfully so.

'It is large enough, and she is welcome to join us, but Catherine, some ladies don't like to share a bath with a man they are not intimate with. Nelly would never have done that, would she?'

'Nelly wouldn't have shared a bath with her own husband, dad, she is very strict.'

Catherine's chubby face is very serious as she says this.

'I'd like to come with you,' Mina says, 'but not when it is still so hot, somehow I can't cope with so much heat, it makes me faint.'

Within ten minutes, they are splashing away in the hot water, Catherine enjoying herself hugely, not shocked at all by seeing her father without clothes. In some things she is actually like a two year old, and taking things in stride appears to be one of them.

After a quarter of an hour Mina does indeed join them, by then Vincent's muscles have loosened up immensely, and he is in a lot less pain. Playing with Catherine has made him exuberant, and Mina is immediately splashed and dunked. Of course she returns the favour.

They have a lovely time, any uneasiness between the two adults is countered by the little girl between them, and they stay in the water until it gets chilly, then dry off and put on a bath-robe. Mina goes to her own bedroom to dress, and Vincent takes Catherine to theirs.

When Catherine is back in her dress, Mina arrives, bringing clean bandages, and she dresses the three bullet-wounds professionally. She has learned a lot assisting Victor on his night-calls.

Vincent decides to sleep a little more, and soon drops off, after which Catherine helps Mina to clear up the mess they have made having lunch, and wash up.

Then they sit on the bed and talk about Catherine's youth, how much she remembers of her first two years, and Mina tells Catherine about her brother Peter, and her friendship with Miss Vanessa, who was at the theatre last night.

After the girl-chat they start on dinner, and Catherine learns to chop vegetables, though that is very difficult with her chubby two year old hands.

And then someone knocks on the door, and Mina peeps through the hole in the door to see who it is. It turns out to be Bruce, he says he has come to give Mina her first lessons in martial arts and fencing. Vincent has forgotten to mention that with the events of yesterday.

Still, Mina is fed up with roaming the house for hours at night, and practising will keep her occupied and hopefully show her body who's boss.

After putting dinner on the back of the stove to simmer, they retreat to the cellar, to keep up the act Mina asks Catherine patiently to sit on a bench and keep safe, but Catherine asks politely, 'I'm tired, can you take me to bed for my nap?'

And she is tired, her tiny body needs the rest, and for once her head does, too. She has talked so much, learned so much, she needs to sleep to give it a space in her developing mind.

She does not lie down in her own bed, though, but snuggles up against the sleeping form of her father, who mumbles and lifts her on his chest easily. Somehow he does not confuse her with Adison, who is usually in bed with him.

'You smell differently,' he mumbles, 'nice, but differently.'

And he sleeps on, Catherine safely in his arms.

Catherine is asleep in an instant, and neither of them wakes until Adison is home and ready to prepare Vincent for an evening in the theatre.

He gets the extra padding, an extra painkiller and two to go, and Adison insists on him taking his gun.

'Tell Maud to take care of your chest, and she will,' Adison admonishes her beloved, and he promises to do so.

One of his fancy shirts completes the whole, and he looks only a little worse for wear.

Then they all have dinner, Bruce joining them, Mina no longer fidgeting because Catherine might ask difficult questions about her not eating any normal food, but Catherine still acting the toddler before Victor and Bruce. Still, it has been a good day for her, and tonight she will see her dad play again, and if she sees something interesting, she can discuss it with her mum or with Mina.

The evening is much the same as the night before, except that Catherine can see her dad moving a little stiffly, and after the show he is clearly in pain. He does not have to participate in the meet and greet, and they go to the dressing-room to help him change and remove the make-up, feed him some more painkillers and apply a few loving kisses to help him cope.

Once back at home, mum undresses dad and removes the bandages, tsk'ing at the wounds that have bled through them. She cleans them and carefully puts new bandages on, whilst Catherine undresses herself.

'May Catherine sleep with me until you go to bed?' dad asks, and mum agrees, telling Catherine, 'I'll carry you to your own bed when I turn in.'

Adison is a really good mum, and Catherine hugs her and watches dad hug her carefully but intensely. She'd better be asleep by the time mum comes to bed, dad may be up to some loving tonight. He winks at her, does he know what she is thinking?

'I'm glad you are my mum now, Adison.'

Adison proves she is the perfect mum by kissing her again.

'Thank you sweetheart, I'm also very glad to have you as my daughter.'

In her dad's arms it is very easy to fall asleep after such a busy day, and she doesn't even notice when she is lifted into her own bed and Vincent and Adison try a bit of loving despite Vincent's tender spots.

When they are lying in the bed, sated and tired, still very much in love, Vincent asks, 'Will you set a date for us to get married? We've been engaged long enough, it is time to tie the knot. And how do you want to do it, just a ceremony, or a party?'

'How about two months from now, you'll be settled in your new role, and we'll have time to get a licence. And I want to throw a tiny party, just us five and a few friends from the theatre.

Will you tell me about the flashback now?'

And Vincent does, he describes everything that he experienced, but of course to Adison the event means nothing, she was not yet living in the city when it happened. Vincent himself doesn't remember a thing, and there was no time today to ask Mina or Victor. It will have to be tomorrow, possibly at dinner, when they are all together.

Then Adison wants to know, 'How were things with Mina?'

'She was very much ashamed of feeling attracted to me, but it is the feeding, it is just so hot, it turned me on too, I couldn't help it either. I kissed her last night in the heat of the moment, until the pain forced me to release her.'

Adison nods, she understands completely, is actually a bit curious how it feels to be bitten by a vampire, if it's so exciting.

Vincent continues.

'We'll work on it, once she starts training she'll get more control over her body. But not me, I've already trained all the control into my body that I possibly can, and I'm sure I'll want to make love to her any time I feel her suck my veins. It's just too enticing. I'm not sorry, we agreed to do that emergencies only, and this was one.

And why does everyone just assume I'm going to get that role? It's an audition, there may be a dozen competitors for it, all with a degree in acting!'

Adison is not put out by Vincent's admission that he wants to make love to Mina every time he feeds her. Some things are just stronger than a person's will, and vampires are supernatural beings.

'I liked making love to Victor, I still would love to do it every so often. If the situation arises again where you need to feed Mina, don't put her life or your own in danger to prevent mutual attraction, just feed her and either resist the attraction or give in to it. I will not hold it against either of you, not even once we're married.

And of course you'll get that part, you're the best.'

The next day passes in much the same manner, only Vincent is a lot better, so he practises his part in the library with Catherine, and Adison and Victor can go to the workshop in the morning, dissecting corpses to learn ever more about the human body.

They return for lunch, and leave for their rounds afterwards.

When Mina wakes up, they practise martial arts, and Catherine is allowed to join them, which is neat. After that, she naps, and Vincent joins her to give himself a little rest.

They cook, and then the others come back, and before Vincent leaves for the theatre with Bruce and Maud, they talk about the raid that Vincent experienced in his dream.

'I remember that fire,' Victor says, 'the mill was reduced to ashes, and they say two guys were caught in the blaze whilst they were lighting it, dying in agony. Two others were taken by the watch as they fled the scene, faces covered in soot and hands smelling of oil and burning. If Heathcliff didn't lead that raid well, it is no wonder that those guys hate his guts.'

'The way he felt, he couldn't have led anything well,' Vincent says, 'he was in such a rage. It was as if I had influence over him, but that factory burned down one and a half years ago, nothing can be changed about that.'

Victor asks Mina, 'Do you know what they've built in that spot?'

She shakes her head.

'Maybe someone at the theatre knows, you could ask tonight, Vincent. It cannot be worse than that mill, it was a horror.'

After dinner, Maud and Bruce fetch Vincent, and an hour or two later, Mina drops Adison and Catherine off at the theatre, and then she returns home to spend the evening with Victor.

She can see he is trying to put a brave face on things, but he is not his usual self, he is struggling with doubt and jealousy, and it is not making him angry, but rather shy and sad.

He has so little experience with people, he can express himself forcefully on the subject of science, or religion, but he cannot come out and tell Mina what is bothering him.

So she'll have to angle for it, despite her body's demands for passion and rough sex, Mina herself loves Victor more than anything, and to see him hurt is to hurt herself.

They see so little of each other, with their reversed schedules, and rarely by themselves. Which is why she is looking forward to being with him, and him alone, for a few hours. Yesterday's loving was fabulous, Victor loves it when she pounces him and totally overpowers him, and he really comes to life during their love-play.

It's just that he finds it hard to initiate it himself, but Mina reminds herself he was still practically a virgin when they met, he had made love to Adison and Vincent only, and only because they initiated it each time. Adison told Mina he only ever hinted once or twice he'd like to join them, but he never started or asked.

Opening the door quietly, she enters the house, looking for her shy lover. He doesn't expect her back, he has pleaded not feeling well to stay at home, but Mina could easily see he was just depressed. She could not let Adison and Catherine walk the streets unguarded, though, so she pretended to go with them.