Bloody roses

13: Metamorphosis

Vlad’s words had left Lacrimă in deep thought. His principles went clearly against hers. Would that make her his enemy? Would she rob him, and herself, of the only family they had?
Would she?

“Lacrimă!! You have to take a look at this cute dog!!”
Charles, how did he manage to always be so cheerful? He barely slept, as he was out all night to love. He was so nice, she had never met someone like him. His eyes were so pure, always seeing the cute things where she saw a hopeless desert.
He cooked for everyone, even though no one needed actual human food. He took care of the huge castle. He was always there when someone was feeling down. He helped the castle residents with everything, with no regard for his own desires. She didn’t even know if he had desires at all. He never showed them.

“Here you are. Assist me in my research.”
Faust. He was still a bit of a mystery. A priest by day, taking care of helpless humans, giving them hope. A scientist by night, with no regard for morality to achieve a goal, which she didn’t even know. Currently, he was working double extra hours to find a new blanc for her, just for her, and to develop a cure against that human virus. And he had no chance to get real recognition for his work. Due to his vampirism, he could not go public with his cure, should he develop one, and Vlad saw it as his duty to help Lacrimă. What made him carry on, what could be so strong to keep this man going? She got the feeling he loved humans just as much as Vlad did, yet he refused to admit it, clearly scared of something. But what?

Lacrimă talked to Charles first, as he was easier to approach. She sat next to him in the kitchen when he was preparing breakfast. Charles seemed surprised, as this was a duty he usually performed in quiet solitude. Vlad and Faust both slept as long as they could in the mornings.
“Good morning, Lacrimă, what do you need?”
Typical Charles. He was used to people only very rarely spending time with him without wanting something.
“Charles, can you tell me about your human life?”
Charles' smile disappeared, even if just for a split second.
“Well..sure! What do you wanna know?”
“Did you have a nice family?”
“Yes, very. I really liked them, though I very rarely saw them and we couldn’t be seen together..”
“Why not? Was your family bad?”
“No.. not voluntarily..”
“What do you mean?”
“My father was an executor.. It was the family job.. Everyone was scared of him. He was responsible for killing criminals..”
“But that’s good, is it not?”
“I don’t like killing.. And it wasn’t only criminals when I had to take over the job..”
“Humans ordered you to kill themselves?”
“Well, there was the Revolution, and then everybody with a different opinion got killed. Even my big idol..”
“Who was it?”
“The king, Louis XVI. He did not deserve to be executed.. He even said he was not mad at me.. I was only doing my duty to France..”
“I mean, he was not wrong.”
“I should have refused.”
“You were only human, being ordered by your superiors. You would’ve been an enemy of the revolution if you refused.”
“Maybe you’re right..”
“Did you name your pet after the king?”
“Yes. Louis.”
“Charles, you’re not a bad person.”
“Yes.. yes, I am.. I killed so many innocent beings.”
“That was in the past, Charles. You have the choice not to kill now, and you are taking it.”
“Well..yes..”
“You’re such a nice person. You always smile. You always make others happy. If there is anyone that deserves to be happy, it’s you.”

Charles’ eyes filled with tears at Lacrimă’s words. Nobody had ever said something like that to him, but she did it so casually.. And then took some raspberries and disappeared. His gaze still lingered on the door minutes after she had left. Maybe she was right.
And was she cute!

After dinner,  Lacrimă went down into Faust’s laboratory, where he was putting every available hour into making a cure for the bacterium, which was on the way to causing an epidemic all over Paris. Charles had told her that more and more people called him with this bacterium and that he was not able to do anything against it at all. He seemed devoid of his usual cheerfulness when he mentioned that. It had started taking the lives of innocent people in the town and leaving their family to die in the case of the poor.

Faust seemed even more determined to invent a medicine than usual. When she asked, he simply replied: “The bacterium is getting more and more dangerous the longer it’s left untreated”. It seemed like a normal answer, but she could not help but feel like he was hiding something. Still, Faust didn’t seem too keen on telling her.