SwD: Lost tales

Thank you

fyrbyrd: Just have a little too exuberant muses, I guess ;) But thank you for the compliment and I had to laugh a little at your last comment. It´s snowing here right now, since two months in a row^^

Rina76: Awww, thank you^^ I sometimes wish I hadn´t because it keeps me away from the 'important' stuff and all -.- Anyway, yes, the boys have no easy life with loosing their mother like this but at least they still have each other and I guess they weren´t THAT close with their mother. It was still their mother, though... I love Kadaj and Yazoo to bits, especially in that brother relationship with Kadaj being a demanding, spoiled little boy and Yazoo being the reasonable, spoiling older brother XD

for reviewing and to Golden Kitsune for the betaing!


The book shop


"Where´re we going?"

"You will see."

Nestling his chin deeper into the thick wollen scarf, Aeris had insisted he wore just a few minutes ago, Yazoo threw his master a sceptical look, but hurried to not fall behind.

White clouds came out of his mouth when he breathed out and it was a little difficult to walk in the ankle high snow. Also it was rather cold, despite the thick coat he was wearing and the big snowflakes falling from the dark sky, settling on his lithe body and soaking into the fabric didn´t make it any better… But still he didn´t complain and to tell the truth was even too excited to really notice the freezing cold biting at his red nose and rosy cheeks, because this was the first time that Vincent had taken him out.

Instead of just meeting in the library and giving his lessons, Vincent had decided that they would go out this night, surprising both Yazoo and his maid. But Aeris had instantly brought Yazoo´s coat and wrapped him in her hand-knitted scarf and gloves and the cap.

Vincent had been waiting outside, a hint of amusement twinkling in his eyes when he had seen Yazoo stumble out into the alley with the too big cap slipping over his eyes and the long scarf entangling with his legs. The maid had stood in the doorframe, engulfed by the warm light that came from behind and framing her dark silouette. She had waved them good-bye, reminding them to not stay out too long and then they had started to go to their secret destination.

Or at least it was a secret to Yazoo, since Vincent obviously didn´t plan on telling him, but like said before: the boy didn´t really care where they were going anyway.

Just walking through the silent night with his master, watching the snowflakes floating to the ground, hearing the sound of snow crunching under his feet and observing the warm lights that came from the windows alongside their way through the narrow alleys was enough.

It was a nice change of pace. Yazoo curiously glanced to the side every now and then, trying to peek into the windows that weren´t hung up and thinking of what secrets may lay behind, totally caught up in his stories and falling behind quickly as his feet had began to move slower.

Noticing the lack of another pair of feet stomping on the snow the vampire stopped and cast a glance over his shoulder to see where his student was.

His red eyes caught the boy a few feet away, standing in the snow and unashamedly looking straight into a candle lit window with this look of withdrawal of his.

Frowning, Vincent turned and went back to see what had caught Yazoo´s attention and came to stand next to him without the boy even noticing his presence.

Head tilted he continued to expressionlessly observe the kitchen the window showed, but his eyes were mostly drawn towards three boys of different age, jockeying on the floor.

They were laughing, despite their seeming despute, and it seemed fun when the youngest, a boy of maybe 4 winters climbed on the oldest´s back, riding him piggy back and the middle brother cheering him on. The oldest laughed and did his best to imitate a horse, bucking and neighing.

A hand on his shoulder threw Yazoo out of his revery and slightly confused he looked up to see his master standing beside him. The boy wasn´t sure but he thought to have caught a somewhat sympathetic gleam that briefly flickered over the man´s face.

Averting his eyes and keeping his face straight Yazoo turned away from the window and continued to walk beside his Master again, the vampire walking a little slower this time.
They made their way through the silent, dark alleys for quite a while, the vampire safely finding his way through the maze of streets and dead ends.

Everything seemed muffled and much purer through the snow, almost surreal, Yazoo thought.
He liked that. He liked the cold and the numbness and the silence…

Eventually Vincent stopped in front of an older, askew half-timbered house with small windows and a sign at the front that looked somewhat like an open book, but the snow had gathered around and above it, making it hard to tell by the silouette.

After throwing a short glance at his student, who patiently remained by his side, Vincent opened the heavy wooden door and entered the warm, dimly lit shop, their arrival being anounced by a small bell ringing above their heads. Yazoo slipped inside behind his master, already getting rid of the hideous scarf and cap, cramming them into the pockets of his coat before he stopped mid-action. Eyes going wide he stared past the back of his patron and took in the sight of hundreds of books in high shelves with excited little breaths.

Behind his collar, the vampire´s lips curled up a little at the enthusiastic gleam in Yazoo´s eyes and pleased with the boy´s reaction he turned towards the small wooden counter that was cramped between stacks of books. It held an oil lamp, but was otherwise empty. The owner of the shop appeared soon, though, coming out of a side door and walking towards his guests.

"Welcome," a pleasant, friendly voice drifted through the room as a rather young man who was maybe only slightly older than Vincent approached them.

He had brown, short hair, a cleanly pruned beard and warm, soft eyes. His appearance was neat and clean, and he was a little shorter than Yazoo´s master.

"Ah, Mister Valentine," he exclaimed upon recognizing the tall figure with the red cloak standing at his counter and his smile widened a little.

"Good evening," the vampire returned calmly, nodding his head in acknowledgement, but looking down then as he noticed a small hand clinging to his coat and Yazoo stepping a little nearer, not letting his fall eyes from the stranger.

Upon noticing his second guest, the booksellers seemed to be surprised first, but then his eyes twinkled and he genuinly smiled at the intimidated boy, bending down a little and asking friendly "May I ask who this fine young man with you is?"

Yazoo pressed his lips together and stared blankly at the smiling man. He wouldn´t make a peep unless his master said that the guy was kosher.

"You may," the vampire answered, pushing his student forward a little and introducing him "Yazoo, this is Mister Reeve Tuesti, a bookseller and acquaintance of mine. Reeve, this is my student Yazoo. "

"Nice to meet you Yazoo," Reeve said, holding out his hand and still smiling at the boy who took it and shook it, saying politely that he was pleased too, and casting his Master a look. If Vincent was on first name basis with this guy he had to be alright, Yazoo supposed. Vincent spared his student an approving look before turning back to the bookseller and asking in a low tone "Did you get my message and my order?"

The man nodded, letting go of Yazoo´s slim hand and looking back at his client as he said "Yes, I think I got everything you requested. It wasn´t easy though. And I am afraid it won´t quite be the price you anticipated"

He went behind the counter and got out several papers he put on the desk top, going through a list and making some comments Vincent intendly listened to, nodding once in a while.

Yazoo at first tried to follow the conversation but soon lost interest and instead curiously eyed the towers of books. It stroked him as somewhat cruel that he was standing here with so many possible distractions, so many worlds that only waited to be explored by him and yet he had to stay frozen to the spot, looking interested at the boring stuff his master discussed and pretending that he was well-behaved.

Sensing his student´s distress, the vampire spared him a brief glance that didn´t go unnoticed by the bookseller, who paused in his explanations and instead said into the youth´s direction benginly "You can have a look at the books if you want to, and if your Master allows it."

Yazoo´s eyes instantly shot up to Vincent, looking big and sparkly and the vampire inwardly groaned, releasing the boy with a curt wave of his hand, saying "Be careful with them."

Satisfied, Yazoo wandered off and vanished between the shelves to find something interesting to read, inwardly hoping that his master would be occupied for a while.
Carefully he pulled some books out, flicking through the dry paper and occassionally reading a sentence or two. Unfortunately his latin and greek wasn´t that good yet and even though he was able to read most of the things Vincent gave him he had difficulties deciphering the texts he found here. Also some books were written in languages he´d never heard of before and some texts he couldn´t even read because the signs were so foreign.

Frustrated he put them back into the shelve and continued to slowly wander down the high corridor, his fingers slipping over the rows of saddles. His fingertips sliding over the rough material he suddenly felt one of them sliding back and he stopped, brows furrowed. In front of him on the ground was a little hole that had opened when he accidently had activated a hidden mechanism. Curiously he bent down before the open panel and peeked over the rim, seeing some packages that revealed to be books which had been carefully wrapped in cloths so that they wouldn´t be exposed to dust.

He pulled one of them, freein it from the wollen cover and flipping through it, but he couldn´t read the contents so he put it back. Yazoo took out another random book and wanted to place it back again, because the language was some ornated circles and loopings, but then a picture caught his eye and interested he flipped through the pages, finding more of them.

Happily the boy sat down on the wooden floor, placing the book in his lap and started watching pictures.

*

"This would be all then," Reeve finally concluded, his finger put on the end of the list.
Vincent nodded, watching the man bending down under the table and getting a large package in which he had wrapped all of Vincent´s books. The vampire got out a small bag from under his coat, counted some gold coins and put them on the table where Reeve gathered them after he had bowed and said smoothly "As always it´s a pleasure to make business with you."

Vincent politely shook his head, saying "The pleasure is all mine."

Reeve smiled at that, but then sighed and put away the list "No, honestly. I wished more people would partake in the pleasure that is reading. And by that I do not mean The Book."

The vampire nodded, his eyes shifting towards a shelve that was stuck with bibles. Actually Reeve´s shop was only tolerated by the church because he provided them with their books and authors too, otherwise he would have long been sued. From time to time he even got a visit from a cleric, who had a scrutinizing look through his stock to make sure that he wasn´t keeping anything the church would not approve of (Aristotele for example), but so far they had never found anything. Which was partly because many of Reeve´s books were written in foreign languages that could only be read by adepts and second because the people he trusted and approved of were served under the counter and on demand. And Vincent was one of the regulars who demanded rather exotic and rare examples, but always paid his due, so Reeve didn´t mind going to lenghts to meet his wishes.

Although, apart from his request, the bookseller knew next to nothing about the man. He loved books and that was enough for Reeve, but today he´d been more than surprised to find him accompanied by a boy, introduced to him as his student.

But really, it wasn´t his business and Yazoo seemed to be fond of books so Reeve was alright with it anyway.

Speaking of Yazoo…

Reeve craned his neck to look past the shelves and see if he could see him, but apparently he had wandered quite a bit. Vincent seemed to remember that he´d had an appendage today, too and scanned the shop, eventually quietly calling his students name.

They waited for a moment but neither a response came nor did Yazoo appear, and frowning, the vampire apologized. "He tends to fantasize when something captures his attention."

Reeve just waved it off and together they went to the shelves to search for the boy.
Vincent was the first to find him, following his instincts, and eventually met him sitting on the ground and looking at a picture in deep concentration.

Clearing his throat the vampire waited for the boy to acknowledge his presence and really, Yazoo teared his eyes away from the pages and looked up at his master.

"Did you find something that holds your interest?" the raven haired man asked with slight interest, willing to contemplate adding one last book to his list. Yazoo had been a good student and rather well-behaved so Vincent figured that it was time for a little acknowledgement.

"Yes," Yazoo smiled happily, adding "I don´t know what it´s all about but the pictures are interesting."

"Oh?" With mild curiosity Vincent crouched down to have a better look and at that moment Reeve found them and decided to join, smiling at the two figures bend over his book and throwing a look at the pages too.

Suddenly a cough echoed through the shadowed room though, and a gloved hand was slapped over green eyes as a very pale vampire saw what exactly his student was consuming!

A man was depictured in the centre of the page, wearing a half opened robe. This wouldn´t have been very dramatic, if only he wouldn´t have a woman sitting on his big, and very visible erection. But as if that wasn´t enough already he also was sticking his fingers and even his toes in four women´s rather intimate lower parts, the aforementioned ladies obviously enjoying the treatment.

Reeve brought his coughing fit back under control and threw an apologetic look at Vincent, who still held a protesting Yazoo in his grip, shielding his eyes from the highly pornographic contents of the ‘Kama Sutra’.

"I believe it is time for us to leave now," the vampire mumbled and gave the book back to its owner who hurriedly put it away at a place where Yazoo couldn’t reach it and Vincent withdrew his hand.

Pouting, Yazoo faced his master, searching for his book and looking not very happy.

"Can´t I have it? It looks fun," he asked, making Vincent look at him strangely and creeping deeper into his collar. "Please?"

Before the vampire could open his mouth, Reeve stepped in, because being the father of three boys had provided him with much more experiences than Vincent could ever have, and so he said softly "I don´t think this is literature that is fit for you yet."

The boy looked darkly to the ground, his bottom lip stuck out, but not pressing the matter anylonger.

Reeve sighed, offering with smile "How about this? I´ll keep it for you until you are older and then you can come back and have it, alright?"

Yazoo didn´t look overly enthusiastic, but at least a little more pleased and nodded in acceptance.

They made their fare-wells and shaking his head Reeve watched his two clients wander off into the night, Mister Valentine carrying his package and stiffly listening to the questions his student had concerning his book.

He expected the boy to have forgotten about the whole incident at least by the next morning, but still the book remained at the spot where Reeve had placed it.

And three years later a beautiful young man stood before his counter with the exact same book and a knowing smirk, paying the requested fee and giving the bookseller Mister Valentine´s kindest regards.

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