One hundred eighteen years.
That’s how long I’ve know my coterie, mind, I’ve known Avery a little longer through the bonds of clan and our sires’ brotherhood. It’s a long time, and for some time there, I wondered if I would even make it a mere fifty years. Matthias did, in the early years, lose his temper with me more than once. I like to think I’ve mellowed since then, learning to pick my battles and look for signs of danger from kin. Certainly, Matthias has been less annoyed with me in more recent times. However, we are not together as we used to be – he travels with John and the rest of his coterie, I imagine.
One hundred eighteen years since myself, Alexandre, and Sister Esperanza were dumped at Avery’s doorstep, told to figure out how to live together and deal with each other, for if our sires could manage it, so could we.
A mere two years later found us summoned to Buda-Pest, our sires having already given their assurance we would accept a task in order to fulfill a debt they owed. I don’t care for this sort of thing, but I mentioned it not to Matthias. Among this journey I gained my first ghoul, and we were nearly killed en route to our destination. So many elder vampires we had the potential to displease…fortunately we completed the task asked of us by Radu, the Prince of Bistritz and were granted our own Princedoms. Avery and I jointly rule Balgrad, while Alex took stewardship of Kronstadt, and the sister took the smaller Timisoara. We separated then, but made effort to keep regular visits.
More recently, we were asked to escort a Tremere to his clan by an associate of ours. That went relatively smoothly, including stealing some tablets from a group of purported Templar Knights; tablets that appear to be history of our kind, but ones I have not yet been able to decipher. We had the unfortunate luck to come face to face with Tremere himself – and experience I wish to never repeat. In the aftermath, I’ve learned that Alex suffers from her nightmares because when she was sired, she committed anathema upon her true sire – apparently Claude is her mentor, but had intended to sire her. It also came to light that Avery is haunted by the visage of his spiteful mother, though he knows not why. This does explains some odd behaviors, however.
And tonight…tonight my tormentor revealed his true nature to us all, and has offered us all something within his scope of capability, in exchange for our faith in him. Naturally this rubbed the Sister the wrong way, though in the face of his true form, I admit I fail to see how she can still not believe him. That said, I don’t think Samuel is ever likely to give up on me, until I acquiesce to his request. I know not what I would ask for, nor if I will ever accept, though now that I know more I will admit to temptation.