Rose Scented Ashes III - School

Fast forward a few years...

Daniel was now about four, five years old, and getting ready for his first day of school, of Kindergarten. His mother had recently suffered another bout of infuriation toward Valance, who had made one remark about "What happens if the other children find out Daniel's partly plant?" Apparently, she had assumed he meant to reveal it to the other kids, and instantly snapped, chucking a vase at his head, and - thankfully - missing.

Suppose she really didn't want me to have any part in his life, Valance thought as he leaned back in the chair at his desk, reading by the sunlight, slate-violet eyes not really seeing the words on the page in front of him. Not beyond giving him a name - which she has probably already claimed as something she thought of anyway. No, not probably, he already knew as much from the whisperings he tuned in on.

As he listened to the tumult outside of his door, of the babysitter attempting to get the rowdy young child dressed for school, Valance turned a page in his book. Daniel hardly knew he had an older "brother" living here, hardly saw him. Forced to commit to a nocturnal schedule and sleep during the day, Daniel had been raised so far with it being a punishment should he traverse too close to Valance's door kept closed during the day. So the noise never came too close to his door, even though he was awake, even though the sunlight streamed beneath the crack of it.

Surely the babysitter would play tattletale, no?

Besides, Valance planned to see Daniel off as well, even were it from his second-floor bedroom, half of himself hidden by the curtains. He would keep an eye on Daniel who would be leaving within the hour, to be picked up by the bus - like any normal child - and carted off to a public school - again, like a normal child. He'd already been taught not to speak of what his parents were, aside from a wealthy name in the city, and to be careful when he played outside.

The boy's skin glowed when in the sun for too long. Apparently, he photosynthesized quite nicely, but in a normal society, that was highly odd, and he'd be a bullied outcast within mere hours. The hassle to get out of school...

Valance snapped the book shut and shook his head as he heard the front door downstairs open, and Daniel's excited, childish laughter echo up through the walls. "Enough thinking," he said, "it isn't as if this all hasn't been thought of." Though Valance was sure his mother was hardly right enough in the head to have thought of it all. Try to reason with her, get attacked. She was deteriorating in her old age as a vampire, and part of him wondered when her husband, his father, would just have her life ended and peace restored.

It didn't matter, Valance supposed as he drew the curtains to the side, just a hair, peeking out through the slit he created, gazing down at the little red haired child eagerly bouncing on his feet, with his left hand clutching his lunch box and right hand holding to the babysitter's hand. A blue shirt was on his upper body with a pair of shorts and tennis shoes for the rest of the outfitting of clothes; perfect for the end of summer spent in an overheated school classroom with other kids.

The squealing tires of the large yellow bus arrived, and the doors folded in. Daniel let go of the babysitter's hand, dashing to the doors of the school bus. Valance's eyes widened at the last moment; time stopped as Daniel tripped, lurching forward--

--only to have his small hand catch on the bar of the school bus. He pulled himself up onto the large first step of the bus with some visible effort - but the kid was strong, and refused help from the attendant. Valance watched him disappear into the bus, and travel down a few rows to a window seat, where he plunked himself down.

And then looked out of the window, and upwards, right to the slit of Valance visible in the window.

The elder vampire froze; how much of himself could be seen?

...enough, it seemed, as Daniel eagerly started to wave at his older brother, a huge smile on his face, and a glow on his cheeks. Valance raised a hand after a moment, and gave a little wave, only to blink and realize he was several seconds too late, and the bus was long since gone...