Truths Written in Blood
This article is a part of Spooktober 2024 and is still a work in progress. Written for the Predator prompt."Relax, Violante," Daman purred into the ear of the Ottolini witch as he slipped behind her in the Birmingham streets. "I just want to talk." The woman turned to glare at him from underneath her mane of dark hair and then turned into a narrow alley. As he followed, she spun on a heel to face him and thrust a accusatory finger in his face. "Just because I made oaths to do no harm does not mean that I will not set a hunter on you, vampiro! The Kosho's are very serious about hunting your kind." Daman held up his hands defensively, saying, "You know as well as I do that I am a relatively minor nuisance of a vampire, Violante. I kill brigands and bastards only, hardly a favored target of the Kosho's. Even I know they hunt far bigger game than me." She huffed at that, glaring at him, before saying softly, "I know." That was how he and Violante Ottolini had met a decade or more before when he was making his way through Florence. Before even realizing that she was a witch, Daman had knocked the man attempting to assault her out with the hilt of his dagger. "Why are you here, Daman?" Violante asked after a moment. "I can't say a hello to my favorite witch when I see her in the street?" he asked with a smile. "I am the only witch that you know." "And that's why you're my favorite." Violante rolled her eyes and Daman sighed before saying, "I've been hearing...things...and I wanted to see if you could tell me if they were true. Things hunters whisper about a certain vampire." "You are going to get yourself killed one day with your habit of eavesdropping on those who hunt your kind," she pointed out flatly. "Why not ask your own kind these questions?" Daman just looked at her and replied, "Other vampires don't wander in the same places I do. And my sire has been in the wind since she left me to fend for myself in 1674." "So you come to me," Violante said with something almost like sadness in her eyes. "Your favorite witch." When he nodded in reply, she sighed before hissing, "Fine, who is this vampire you wish to know of?" Daman stared at her for a long moment before he replied in a low voice, "Bloody Ó Conaill." Violante flinched and turned her face away from him for a moment, looking frightened enough that he thought she was going to run. She knew, however, that he could follow her ever so easily and find her again. "Why do you wish to know of him?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "He is a monster. A predator in human flesh. The Kosho's have him listed as one of their most dangerous targets and I know several other clans are the same. He's killed eight hunters since he appeared that we know of and he's been active for little more than fifty years." He quietly replied, "My full name, Violante, is Daman Ó Conaill and I think...I think he may be my brother." She inhaled sharply, eyes wide with fear, and then said sharply, "You will buy me supper at my favorite inn and we will speak." Then she paused and asked, "Your sire, she is...?" "Yen Xiang Jun," Daman replied softly. "Child of Malloy." "Mother and Child," Violante muttered as she made the sign of the Cross over her heart, "you're the great grandchild of Ebio herself. Only I would be so unlucky to be saddled with you as the vampire that stalks me." "I think after what I've been hearing, I'm the least problematic member of the family so you're really lucky to be saddled with me." "Next to the others, yes," she replied sharply. "Next to Gnaea Abella, bloodsister to your grandsire, no. Even hunters do not go after her after she sheltered part of our sect fleeing from the witch trials, as well as several Wards who fled from the English." As he blinked at this news, she turned and headed towards the other end of the alley. "Come!" Violante called back to him. When he looked her, she was watching him sadly. "I will tell you of this man you believe is your brother," she stated, "but I think you will find that he is no longer the man you once knew, Daman." "I just have to know if it's him," Daman replied quietly, moving after her. "I...there were things I said to him that I thought I could never take back. If there's ever a chance I can..." A hand abruptly touched his face and Daman stared down at Violante, her expression apologetic as she cupped his cheek. "Bloody Ó Conaill would kill you or turn you into a shadow of himself, dolce idiota," she said gently. "Swear to me that if he is your brother, you will not seek him out." "Violante..." "Swear!" she demanded, her tone fierce. Daman wilted and nodded, saying, "I swear. On the oath of safety I swore to you in Firenze, I will not approach him." He had sworn that oath in blood, pouring his own out on the ground from a wrist slit with his own dagger, to get her to trust him then. "Good." Before her hand fell away, she gently patted him on the cheek before saying, "You are my favorite vampire as well, Daman. I would not see you fall to such a predator." "But am I the only vampire you know?" he asked softly with a wry smile. Violante scoffed and patted his cheek, fully turning away then. "No!" she exclaimed. "But you are in truth my favorite. Now come, I'm hungry and you seek truths. I will give you them." As he trailed after her, Daman suddenly didn't know if he wanted the truth about Bloody Ó Conaill. But...he had to know. He had to. If there was a chance that some day he could look his brother in the eye and apologize, he would take it. No matter how long it took.
vampiro - vampire (via Google Translate)
dolce idiota - sweet fool (via Google Translate)
Timeframe: 1725
Location: Birmingham, England
Event: Daman Ó Conaill seeks out Violante Ottolini, a witch who's life he saved, to ask her about Bloody Ó Conaill upon the suspicion that it may be his brother. When she reacts poorly, he wonders if he made a mistake.
Consquences: Daman Ó Conaill learns about the monster that his brother had become and keeps his promise to never approach him that he made to Violante Ottolini for centuries after her death.
Eight years junior to his brother, Daman was still a child when his brother suddenly disappeared without a trace. After losing their father to illness, he managed on his own until meeting Yen Xiang Jun who would eventually become his sire in the 1670s. When she returned to her own sire, Malloy, he began to wander the world, becoming an archaeologist in the 1920s amongst other odd jobs.
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