Alexnadria wondered from village to village looking for the silver eyed man. Transovania turned out to be a bust. The locals laughed her out of town.
'I guess it's safe to say vampires aren't real after all…' she pursed her lips. 'Then why is Alexander so fixated on them?' Alexandria briefly recalled her grandfather telling her about vampires- that they were demons of the night.
'The men in my family have always been plagued with this madness surrounding Nillies.'
Alexandria frowned at the thought of that word. Nillie… she sneered as she recalled her own fathers disgust as he branded her late husband and children as such.
Nillies… such an ugly word that was branded as the slur for people with mystical abilities. People who were overall different than the average mortal.. people like… her late husband and their children… people like her niece.
Nillies. They were called, branded.
Nillies. Their people were chained and captured like animals, barely acknowledged as the humans they so very closely resembled.
Alexandria eventually found herself in a local coffee shop that sat perpendicular to a park. She opted to enjoy her warm drink at said park to people watch. Her expression softened, 'My late husband and I used to do this… we'd talk for hours and hours…' her vision blurred with her tears and before she could wipe at her eyes hand picked daisies appeared before her.
"Don't cry pretty lady." A small voice mumbled. Alexandria gasped as she felt a small body curl into her form. "Mommy says flowers helps you feel better." The boy caught her gaze and her breath hitched. Blue eyes with golden flecks in them.
"Uriel…" she whispered as more tears filled her eyes.
"Lucien, what's going on?" She asked as she eyed the sobbing woman before her. Myriah tilted her head and slowly offered the woman a tissue.
"Are you alright?" Alexandria took the offering with a whispered thanks and lifted her head to stare into lavender eyes. Her hazel eyes widened as she started at Myriah who looked around helplessly. "Do… you need me to call someone for you?" Myriah asked slowly. Alexandria shook her head and grabbed Myriahs hands, casting her drink aside.
"Myriah…" Myriahs lavender eyes widened and then they narrowed as she tore her hands from Alexandria's grip. Alexandria blinked and she was kneeling on the ground with her arms restrained by Myriah. With a look to the boy, he scurried away. "Why are you here and what do you want with Axel?!"
"Myriah-"
"Myriah…" Axel murmured her name as he approached them. Alexandria's hazel eyes widened as she eyed Axel.
'The silver eyed man…'
"She's been looking for you…" Myriah muttered, tightening her hold. "This is my fathers sister: Alexandria Whitman."
Axel blinked and he felt his jaw slack. "None of us knew-"
"Please help me…" Myriah narrowed her eyes and then she pulled away from Alexandria completely.
"Her husband and children…" Axel sighed, "I know." Axel knelt before the blonde woman and he held her gaze for a long moment.
"I knew your husband." Axel murmured, "he was a brave man. Docile and gentle… ever loving to his wife and family." Myriah covered her mouth with both hands as she gathered Lucien into her arms and decided to leave Axel and her aunt be.
Axel sat with Alexandria as she attempted to compose herself. "Keevan… I was there when his parents picked his name." Axel murmured fondly, "His mother was so outraged that I outright laughed." Alexandria chuckled. "His mother was Keeva. Meaning gentle, to protect. It also means beautiful and precious." Axel sighed to himself, "See when we name our children, we pick their names with our will imbedded into it." Alexandria tilted her head, Keevan had said something similar: 'We name our children with our hopes and wishes for them…'
"Why?" Was all she could whisper, as she did with him. Axels expression softened as he watched Myriah and Lucien kick a ball back and forward. "My mother named me Axel." Axel murmured, "it means father of peace." Alexandria eyed him as he watched Myriah and the boy play. "To this day I wonder why." He murmured, "Yet I know at the same time. In our customs, naming a child is when we bestow our wishes and hopes unto them."
"As in you pray?"
Axel smiled, "You can say that, few mortals have ever seen a naming ceremony. It's where royals of old got the notion of a naming ceremony with the prayer, and the feast." Alexandria could say she was impressed, "We imprint the history of our people into the child's memory along with a message." Her hazel eyes widened, as she recalled Keevan praying over each of his children… so it wasn't that he was a religious finatic… he was imprinting his hopes and dreams into his children…
"It's important for children to know who they are and where they come from to help them as they forge their path." Axel murmured, "it also helps them to survive the fever." He whispered. "When your eldest son, Uriel started to have episodes with his powers, Keevan reached out to me." Axel murmured, completely serious. "He was worried about your father… he was even more worried that his son would not survive as many children began to burn out from the fever…"
"Why-"
"We are a wholesome people. Divided only by land. The closeness of one clan and the caress of a healer… it's always been the way to survive the fever."
Alexandria nodded slowly, "what is the fever?"
"It's the final growth spurt. Our children will sleep for the first days to years after birth. They wake and grow like a typical mortal until they hit the age of ten. That's when their powers start to awaken. Between the ages of ten and eighteen, a child will get one final growth spurt. In which they get this dangerously high fever as their magic burns the impurities within their system. A child becomes an adult and is welcome into their respective clan, and then are welcomed as apart of "The People.""
Alexandria was awed at the information she was learning. "The war had just ended, Keevans clan was almost wiped out in the war. With our people having been slaughtered enmasse, and then being routinely captured and experimented on… Keevan was rightfully scared. He ended up reaching out to me."
Alexandria cried, as she gripped into the front of Axels shirt. "I am so sorry for your loss…." Axel whispered as he held onto her shoulders. "Your forefather was a savagely ruthless man."
"My father said-"
"Your father lied." Axel murmured darkly. "By the time I got to your home, your family was slain." Axleandra felt her body sag at this new knowledge. "How did you-" "I was supposed to get them out before Alexander's men captured them. He called me to extract you all." Alexandria felt the tears before she knew she was crying. "Your husband was an amazing warrior for his time. He held his own and got many children out in the war." Axel complimented, "I am honored to have gotten to fight at his side."
"He- the war was over fifty years ago-"
"We don't age like you do. Your late husband was almost three centuries old… three centuries before he found his mate." Axel eyed Alexandria fondly. "Mate?"
"It's what mortals call "love at first sight." Or "a soul mate."" Alex sighed, "it's scientifically proven that every single fingerprint has a match. Finding a mate is like finding that match." Axel sighed as his eyes landed on Myriah and Lucien who were now rolling around in the grass.
"Is she your mate?" Alexandria whispered. Axel nodded. "She is… and your brother near destroyed her." He murmured in dark tones. "You felt the connection. The allure of his gaze?" Alexandria nodded, "That's also why your heart aches to the point that to breathe is to hurt. It feels like you'll never fall in love again. And you probably won't. At least not the love you shared with Keevan." Alexandria sighed, "I find it admirable that you're still alive." "Why?"
"The severance of the bond… not many survive it." Alexandra placed a hand on her chest. "I can see why…" she whispered, "This is hell… not being with him and our children…" she gasped as she started to cry again. "I'm sorry-"
"Don't apologize." Axel whispered as he handed her another tissue.
"So. Why did the golden eyed man send you to me?" Axel asked making Alexnadria gasp. "Does he think I can bring you some type of peace by sharing your late husbands imprinted memories with you?" Axelsndria started to shake her head but decided not to when Axel caught her gaze. "Does he want me to grant your wish of seeing him in the after life?"
"You can do that?! I can see him?!" Axel sighed, "You've gotten involved with a cunning and cruel man, Alexandria." Axel sighed. "I can do it. But you might not survive." Alexandria opened her mouth but Axel held up a hand to stop her, "Save the Nobel drivel of how you can survive and handle it… it's difficult for even me to accomplish."
"But, you said-"
"I said it's difficult." Axel murmured, "difficult is not impossible." Alexandria tilted her head, 'how could father ever hate these people?'
"Alexandria…" axel sighed her name, "Are you not satisfied just to know that your husband loved you and your children? Is it not enough to know what he died protecting your children, and you? That he went down, fighting-"
"No!" Alexandria cried, "No it's not!"
She once more latched onto the front of Axels shirt and shook him roughly, which only resulted her moving while Axel sighed.
"I need him… I need my family…" Alexandria whispered as the fight left her body and she proceeded to cry. "I'll grant your wish." Axel whispered. "But I need a favor from you." Alexandria nodded. "Anything…"
"If you survive… I need you to take care of that boy."
Axel murmured, "I need your vow that you will protect him with your own life." Alexandria gasped as Axels aura became imposing, "As your life will be the price should any harm befall him."