Chapter 8 -- Growing Up
Greetings again, lovely viewers! I returned to Forgotten Hollow the other evening, only to discover that the crows have become insolent in my absence. While I was living there, they knew better than to perch upon my great-grandsire's head. I am quite the dab hand with a dart, as they quickly discovered.
Since my patron (I refuse to use the word "employer;" Strauds do not work for others) had been requesting an angry rant from me, I thought that crows would make a suitable subject.
Alas, my anger was quite dissipated by an elfin voice requesting "Fly me, Father?" Consequently, my rant was not angry enough to satisfy my patron, even though it apparently intimidated 65,000 of my viewers to the point that they ceased their subscriptions. I shall not be ranting again and hope that the rest of you -- all 16 million or thereabouts -- will stay.
Who am I to disoblige, when the request is made so charmingly?
Some of my viewers have wanted to know whether it's true that vampires can not be seen in mirrors. As you can tell if you look in the upper right hand corner, I do indeed disappear. But didn't I say that Balthazar was a vampire? Yes, he is, but vampire children remain alive and visible until they come into their powers as teens.
We had a happy, yet melancholy, occasion quite recently -- Nadia ceased being a toddler.
I think she turned out quite handsome, despite the red hair. Of course, I might be prejudiced, since her features are a copy of my own.
Gretchen is the more conventional beauty.
Nadia's growing up brought on one of my occasional bouts of grief. There is only one toddler left in my life, and he'll be growing up soon, too.
I cherish every one of these precious moments we have together, from comforting him after a nightmare...
...to reading him the jejeune tales he requests.
And here are my three darlings together.
Because there are three of them (we vampires usually sire only one, two in rare cases, but I suppose I had three, representing in some sense an endangered species), I have to find three spouses for them. And each of them will be having children (although only one will be their heir), which means that my original estimate of 10 normal Sims that I had to turn was rather low.
What this means for you, lovely viewers, is that some of you might see your wish to become a vampire realized. My criteria are a large house, an appropriate age -- teen or young adult, and sufficient attractiveness, both in person and personality. The house shown in the above picture is about the size I require.
And while some might consider the young man's bald spot to be a disqualifier, I prefer that to the unkempt look so many youths display.
This young lady lives in a pleasant house in Newcrest, and is every bit as attractive as her mother, more so, in fact, as she seems to possess greater intelligence. It is a mystery to me that Sim parents raise no objection when I attempt to indoctrinate their children, and I can assure you that I did nothing to mesmerize her (at least not until later, when I was in need of nourishment).
Underneath the hat, some of you might recognize Joaquin le Chien, one of the denizens of Windenburg, whose beachfront dwelling, while a bit small, is nevertheless charming enough to be considered.
Naturally, there are some houses that I like which have residents who do not meet my standards. To aid with those I have enlisted one of my so-called housemates, J. (And I might add that I am mystified as to why my housemates are so enamored of their bar. One would think that given the brevity of their normal lives, they would want to pay attention to every minute rather than passing through them in an alcoholic daze, but that is not the case.)
Would J be willing to increase the number of inhabitants (and perhaps improve upon their appearance) at certain select domiciles? "You mean, you want me to get some rich ugly ladies pregnant?" he asked. "Not ugly," I said, "just not as beautiful as they might be."
And so he has set to work. This young woman was quite pleased with his attentions. (And I was quite pleased, a short while later, to learn that she had given birth to twins.)
And now I feel sadness settling upon me like a dark cloud. Balthazar has grown up. He'll be very handsome, but he'll never again be the little boy wanting me to fly him.
