Varis
Varis continued writing, ignoring the mage for now. He finished the letters meant for the other nobles and the groundskeeper and started writing directly to his Lady, explaining his new mage and what accommodations he would require. He paused and looked up once, letting his gaze drift critically over the mage once more, before returning to his letter. Hopefully, the items would arrive sooner rather than later and the boy could be marked with the house. He carefully sealed off the last letter and placed it next to the other.
Varis schooled his features into bored apathy as he finished, turning to the mage. He watched for several moments, completely still, as the boy fiddled with something. The vampire made a mental note of that as well. Something explore later. Varis let out a dramatic sigh, his expression shifting into haughty disappointment as he leaned back in his chair.
“You disappointed me earlier. Why?”Waiting for Varis to speak was agony, and all it did was give Aaron’s mind time to race through every possible thing that could happen when the vampire finally put down that pen, almost none of them good. He squirmed under the vampire’s harsh gaze, not really moving of course, but visibly uncomfortable.
When he finally did speak, Aaron longed instead for the stressful silence of before. A spike of nervousness turned his gut, and his heart started pounding in his ears.
What had he done? What could he possibly have done in the scant hour he’d spent so far under Varis’ control? His eyes fell to the floor and he was clearly distressed at the thought as he wracked his brain for any wrongdoing. He had knelt for the Count, endured his display before his old tutors, he’d answered every question, complied with his demands thus far… How had he managed to fail so quickly?
Searching for answers and coming up blank, Aaron realized he’d been hesitating too long. Finally he thought back to the only reprimand he’d received throughout the night and took a gamble.
”I was… boastful?” he suggested, ultimately sounding more like a question than a statement,
”I bragged about my skills without considering that you would require proof?”One of Varis’ brows rose slowly as Aaron stumbled over his response. What did the Noilas teach this poor excuse of an attendant? He seemed promising originally but apparently his gilded exterior was all there was to him. Varis clicked his tongue irritably and pulled out another sheet of paper, quickly titling it “Mage” and jotted down the mental notes he made so far, adding
guessing problem to the list.
Mortals have an idiom: to take a stab in the dark. It means to make assertions with little to no know way of validating their accuracy. I find the dark tends to stab back and you are no good to me bleeding out. If you don’t know something, I expect you to take responsibility for your lack of knowledge, suffer the consequences, and learn. Guessing only irritates me.” Varis said.
“You hesitated before you knelt. If it was a court function, those few moments would have been a clear sign of disrespect. As a Noila trained mage, I expect better. I’ll ask again. Why?”Aaron mentally kicked himself for being stupid as he weathered the Count’s reprimand. All the uncertainty was killing him; he couldn’t tell if he was confused because he was nervous or if he really was just a little slow on the uptake. He didn’t think he was, but the way Varis spoke, as if his transgressions were self-evident, made him doubt himself.
And of course his criticisms made sense. Just because Aaron had been treated leniently so far by the Noilas didn’t mean he could ride on their coattails forever. And Varis was right, he was a mage trained by the royal family. A descendant of the original mage attendant. Granted he’d only ever been told to kneel at formal royal functions, still, he should know better.
”I hesitated,” he replied, eyes forward,
”because I hadn’t anticipated being required to kneel. I was foolish to think that, and it will not happen again.” Varis nodded at the response.
“I expect not. Moving forward, you will obey my orders without hesitation unless you are confused as how to execute them. In that case, you are permitted follow up questions for clarification if necessary. Since your response was satisfactory, I will forgive you this one time.” Varis relaxed his posture slightly and let his hand fall on the desk again, tapping softly. Varis took a moment to circle
Pride on his list. His information was woefully lacking about the boy. He needed more and what better way than to add a little stress. A wicked little smile curled up at the corner of his lip.
“I am well aware this situation may be strange to you. You grew up molded for the Noilas only to be given away at the last moment. In consideration and to better our relationship as master and servant, you may ask five questions disregarding our class, position, or titles. You’ll suffer no repercussions for any of those five questions. However, you only have ten minutes to ask them.” The vampire pulled out his phone and set a timer.
“Starting now.” He hit start and the timer counted down. He watched the mage intently.
Aaron was grateful for the Count’s forgiveness, but he was still far from relaxed. He saw the vampire circle something on his paper, but the angle made it impossible for him to read. When Varis spoke again, Aaron noticed a hint of possible compassion, but it was laced with something else he couldn’t determine. Nonetheless, the vampire’s smile made him uneasy.
Regardless, Aaron was promised no repercussions, and he wanted to take advantage of that. Fortunately, time limits had never been a huge problem for him; he’d always done well in timed assessments, unlike some for whom the ticking of a clock clouded their minds. Unfortunately, he was rather unprepared for this particular challenge. He had spent his time thus far metaphorically tripping over his own feet trying not to misstep, and mulling over questions that would need to be posed to the Noilas, not the Sinnenodel Count before him. For a good thirty seconds he simply thought before speaking.
The first was simple enough.
”Earlier you mentioned your expectations of my skills. How high are they?”More precious time passed as he carefully considered his words, staring all the while at the countdown on Varis’ phone. He had a suspicion that any clarifying questions would be counted in their own right, and he didn’t want to waste his opportunity on an error in phrasing.
”I’m well aware of your Lady’s opinion of the royal family. Will my association with them have consequences regarding my treatment?” His stomach started to quiver a bit as he spoke, but he tried to swallow his nervousness. No repercussions, he had to take the Count at his word. Although, judging by the events in the courtyard earlier, Aaron suspected he might know the answer to that question. Nonetheless, he wanted to know for sure.
He fidgeted ever more earnestly with his ring behind his back, spinning it and moving it from finger to finger as he watched the seconds tick down.
”If I were to defy or disobey you, or disappoint you again, what sort of punishment should I expect?” Truth be told he was a little scared to hear the answer to that one.
He started a count on his fingers, halting his fidgeting. Three questions. Two to go. Apparently he had hesitated longer between questions than he thought - or maybe he was speaking more slowly than he meant to - because now he only had five minutes left on the timer.
”How and how often do you intend to feed on me?” He worried that one might be a waste of a no-consequences question, but in that moment it was the only one that came to mind.
His mind raced, and for some reason he struggled to come up with questions. What killed him was that he knew a million of them would come to mind the instant that timer hit zero.
Time was ticking. Suddenly, a little piece of gossip from home came to mind, and first he didn’t dare utter his question. But he’d been promised no repercussions, and his curiosity got the better of him.
”You’re Lady Sinnenodel’s protege,” he began,
”It sounds to me like she’s grooming you for court. If I remember correctly you’re the youngest in a family that was frankly inconsequential in your clan. And while you’ve been exalted, the rest of your family has been exiled; why did she choose you?”Aaron’s heart raced at his courage (or perhaps his foolishness) as he turned his eyes from the phone to the vampire and the timer ran down to zero.
While Aaron spoke, Varis wrote his questions for further consideration. He honestly expected not to respond. He specifically left out promising him answers for the sole purpose of brushing them aside. But the questions were both reasonable and, in the case of the last one, fun. Plus if he wanted the boy to think critically in the future, he would have to reward him periodically. And his reaction to the last question’s response should provide for some amusement. Varis silenced his timer and put his phone away. He picked up the sheet, considering the questions carefully.
“I expect your skills high enough to combat a three hundred year old vampire with a vendetta. Hopefully, we won’t need to deal with that soon but Sinnenodels are tenacious, especially ones with bruised egos.” Varis counted the questions on his fingers as he spoke.
“Around my Lady, yes it will. Keep quiet and your head down in her presence and you’ll make it out alive at least. As long as you prove your loyalty to me, I will not consider it an issue however.” He counted the second question.
“Your punishment will be considered with the infraction. I disapprove of physical punishment and only use it as a last resort. However, I am both creative and harsh. I find punishments shouldn’t only affect you but those who you insulted or hurt and those who assisted in the infraction. I would consider that carefully in the future. As for feeding, I enjoy drinking a variety of blood types so it depends on the quality of your blood and your mood. I dislike soured blood so I expect when I go to feed on you, you will inform me of your emotional state. I have drank plenty tonight and plan to open a bottle tomorrow for our guests so I will taste you the following evening once you’ve awoken and bathed.” As Varis reached the last question, his smile turned smug and a scheming look crossed his face.
“As for the question of my status, you’ll need to understand more about our house and one of its biggest secrets. If this leaves your mouth, willingly or not, I will personally torture you and then kill you.” Varis leaned back again.
“Lady Sinnenodel and the Queen are the two oldest known vampires in existence. Each one predates our treaty by several centuries. Vampires who’ve seen so many years grow bored easily, tiring of the simple pleasures in a matter of moments. Lady Sinnenodel’s choice of pleasure, as one may easily assume, is discord and strife. It has defined our very house and affects it the same as it does everyone else. Every century or two, my Lady grows tired of her protege and grants them another position, highly ranked and honored, or disposes of them. She then pits her house against each other for the spot, watching as the many branches cannibalize each other until new heads of households are created and she selects one as her new favorite toy.” Varis’ eyes grew distant, an almost fond look on his face replacing his smugness.
“My branch family consisted of my father, mother, my two elder siblings, and myself. My mother passed away long ago, shortly after my twenty fifth birthday, and left me with the older ones. My father produced a new heir every hundred years, leaving me with a significant age gap. None of us saw eye to eye in a vicious way. When Lady Sinnenodel announced the open spot, my siblings thought me little less than a nuisance, a fly on the wall. I was only fifty two after all. So I thwarted their pathetic schemes, sold them and father to a group of rogue mages, and waited a month or two before handing the information over to my Lady. They were unfortunately saved but the mages were slaughtered. They didn’t even know it was me until Lady Sinnenodel revealed the details of my success. And with my new position, I exiled them personally.” Varis smirked at the end, waiting for the boy’s response.
Aaron listened intently to Varis’ answers, finally letting out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. The Count was true to his word and didn’t reprimand him for his questions; his answers were blunt and succinct, and Aaron was thankful for it. He made a point to make mental notes of each answer, especially those which involved his treatment and behaviour.
That now-familiar spike of fear shot through Aaron again, however, when Varis answered his last question. There wasn’t a shadow of doubt in his mind that Varis would make good on his bloody promise if Aaron were to leak this information, but the “willingly or not” clause was cause for concern. Why would he have to admit anything against his will? Was Varis just covering his bases, or did he expect something to happen?
The vampire’s story fascinated Aaron the way a trainwreck fascinates passerby. It inspired awe, but an ominous shadow hung over it, and another twinge of fear gripped Aaron’s gut at the thought of Varis’ ruthlessness toward his own family. He took it as a warning.
”I won’t say a word,” Aaron offered when Varis was done,
”Thank you for your honesty, and for the opportunity.” He thought for a few seconds before adding,
”I intend to serve you loyally, if you’ll have me, for the duration of my life, and I hope I will live up to your expectations.””Is that so? I’m touched.” Varis said with a hint of sarcasm. He stood quickly and moved to the mage, a teasing glint left in his eye despite the now apathetic expression on his face. Varis stood a few inches shorter but had no problem slipping his hand slowly through the mage’s hair and pulling him down to the vampire’s level.
”And if I ordered you to my bed, would you serve me just as loyally?” Varis asked, purposely softening his voice in the boy’s ear and letting his lips skim across the rim of his ear. He had no intention, it didn’t benefit the vampire at all right now, but he felt like leaving the mage’s conviction shakier than it seemed. He released the back of the mage’s head and stepped past him.
”There are five letters that need to be delivered. The three directed towards the other nobles attending the Academy may be left in their mailboxes or at their door. The other two need to be sent out in ours. As for keys to the dorm, I will hold onto both copies. If you wish to leave or return, you will do so at my side. Afterwards you are free to go about your business so long as I do not require anything else. I expect you up by eight pm. There will be a delivery of strawberry danishes and fresh ground coffee from town. Remember what I said earlier about waste.” With that, Varis departed to his room, moving a little quicker than normal at the prospect of soaking in the bath.
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