Family Above All

13. Cousins

No pairing

Friday, March 30, 2012

Mikaelson Mansion

Mystic Falls, Virginia

Basement

Evening

Klaus took Wes his dinner plate on a covered tray.

"It's roast beef with potatoes and some vegetable," Klaus said dryly. "I also brought you a bottle of wine. Try not to brain me with it, eh?"

Wes smiled and took the tray. The foot was under a silver doom.

"You can't blame a guy for trying to survive," Wes smirked. "Looks good. It always surprised me that vampires still need to eat."

"Well, we have stomachs," Klaus noted. "We won't desiccate, but we can still feel hunger. You know all this, though."

"Yes, a decade of studying your kind has led me to many interesting conclusions. But the truth is, I never thought of vampires as anything other than monsters," Wes admitted. He started to cut the meat with the knife Klaus had provided.

Klaus sat in the chair on the other side of the small card table.
"We are monsters," Klaus conceded. "I think many of us fall into that as we fall further and further away from our humanity over the years. Yet, my heart beats just as yours does, Doctor. Albeit it, much slower."

Wes took a bit of the delicious beef and poured himself some wine.

"Yes, I think that is a change on the cellular level," Wes noted. "The meat is good. I daresay I eat better here than I ever did in my bachelorhood."

"You never aimed to marry?" Klaus inquired.

"No, I was busy with my work. Plus, as I said before, I tried to look after Aaron, my ward," Wes said, chewing slowly.

"He is in a boarding school? A quite costly one," Klaus said, with a hint of a smile. "I wonder how you managed that on your professor's salary."

Wes wiped at his mouth carefully with the linen napkin.

"Actually, Aaron is heir to the Whitmore fortune," Wes said. "His parents left him a millionaire, which he'll receive on completion of his education or at the age of 25."

"So the lad is rich, but a high price to pay," Klaus mused. "His parents were friends of yours?"

Wes sighed, sipping on the red wine. Merlot, Wes read, looking at the label as he topped off his glass.

"If you're asking if they were Augustines, yes. They are the ones who recruited me out of grad school," Wes admitted.

"But I thought you were a medical doctor?" Klaus pressed.

"I am, but I also have a PHD," Wes explained. "The Whitmores were my benefactors. That is, before they were murdered, on a camping trip. Officially, it was another animal attack, but I think we can assume it was your kind."
"Aside from Damon, there is now no one else like me," Klaus smirked. "But that would be a pretty large coincidence, would it not?"

"It would be. Vampires killed the Whitmores. Actually, they were the last of their line, aside from Aaron. An unfortunate family history surrounded them...Car crashes, fires, and a series of accidents befell the family for generations," Wes finished. "I am all Aaron has left."

"And yet you sent him to a boarding school. A boy needs a family, a father at the very least," Klaus said, getting up.

"Yes, well, Aaron needed to be kept safe," Wes said pointedly. "Away from the politics and danger of being a Whitmore. I have him enrolled under an assumed name to help protect him. Actually, I would love to check my messages and email and see if he's tried to contact me. He got into some trouble at school a few weeks back and we had a falling out."