3.3 Who is Ambrogio? Part 2

Authors Note: This chapter is mostly in Ambrogio's POV. This entire chapter is played out inside Adam's head including the conversation between Ambrogio and Adam at the end.

To know me, to know who I am  you must see me from the beginning. My parents were Benami and Zara. Benami was the vampire elder and ruler of Moonlight Falls. His downfall, his weakness was falling in love with and marrying a human, my mother Zara. Alessandro, my older brother hated her. Zara wasn't his mother. He resented her because she replaced his mother as cohort. His mother refused to bond with Benami and chose another abandoning her young son. His hatred for his own mother spilled over into hating the human woman Benami loved. That hatred eventually spilled over to me.

I was born fully human but due to the mixed bonding the birth was difficult on my mother. Six months later my mother died. Father offered to turn her but she refused. Instead she begged Benami to promise her to never turn me. Of course he promised, making it a decree that  I was not to be turned on penalty of death. It was a promise that was kept all the days my father was alive.

Alessandro found having a younger brother a source of annoyance and never let me forget how inferior and weak I was compared to him. To protect me from Alessandro father sent me away to learn a trade amongst humans. I had no more knowledge of them then I did of vampires being the first time I was ever among my own kind. It was a bewildering experience at times humans could be as cruel and unfeeling as my brother but eventually I made friends and fell in love.

She was the daughter of my trades master I wrote to my father for permission to marry. With his approval and generous dowry I married the girl I thought I loved. I was young. I was naive. I was eighteen. Two years later I received a letter informing me of my fathers death. He died of a rare disease that seldom effects vampires. I had no doubt my so-called brother Alessandro somehow had him killed.

Upon my brothers request I returned home. During those days supernaturals and humans cohabitated and accepted each other. Things soon changed under the harsh rule of Alessandro. I didn't notice the changes at first. I was grieving for my father like any loving son would. My wife was my support or so I thought.

Alessandro as the new elder outlawed anyone who traveled to or from any human towns and all access was closed between them to everyone but a select few. I begged Alessandro to let me and wife return to our home but was denied. Instead he gave me a small piece of land to build a house and to eek out a living the best way I could. As his brother he said I was duty bound to stay and support his rule. Powerless to do anything else but comply with his demands I moved myself and my wife to the pitiful land he provided us.

Things began to sour between myself and Selene. She did not appreciate the effort I made to make her comfortable. All she did was complain. If the floor was dirt she complained until I made a wooden floor to keep her feet from becoming dirty. Then the modest house I managed to build with the materials I had available wasn't large enough. I made it bigger in an attempt to make her happy. Despite the effort and the back breaking work she was never satisfied. Then one day after a long day spent in the fields she announced she was pregnant. What should have been a joyous occasion was met with dread. I had always wanted children but not now. Not in Moonlight Falls. What future would the child have in a world ruled by Alessandro?

Selene became even more moody and demanding. There was nothing I could do to appease her. Then one day towards daybreak I woke to her screams and knew the birth of our first child was imminent. I rejoiced when I laid my eyes upon my son. Selene refused to look at the child, to hold him or feed him to even name him she was devoid of all normal motherly instincts. I named my son Benjamin. I was both mother and father. Despite my exhaustion I had no other choice but to take the baby with me when I left to work in the fields. Under decree from Alessandro no one was allowed to help me. At times I didn't know who cried more me or my son.

One day I came home to an empty house. I found a note from Selene that read "I do not love you. Never have. Never will. My marriage to you was arranged to bring me here to my love. I had to endure this existence because of that disgusting thing I gave birth to. Do not bother to look for me. I've gone to Alessandro. My one and true love." Scrunching her letter within my fist I screamed. It wasn't long before the marriage proclamation was made that she and Alessandro were to be bonded. I sought out my one and only friend Alanon. I asked how he could marry her as she was married to me. That was when I found out that Alessandro had outlawed all mixed marriages between supernatural and humans and supernaturals could only marry within their own castes.  Any such marriages were a annulled and the mixed children from those unions were kicked out with the offending spouse. Survival was uncertain and many would most likely die from starvation or disease. How did this effect my marriage to Selene? Last I knew she was human...not anymore her transformation was complete. She was a vampire. She had fed.  She was soon to be bonded to Alessandro. They were made for each other.

I went home feeling that Alessandro was systematically destroying my life. First my father. Then my wife. I feared my son would be next. I turned to Alanon for help to smuggle my son out of Moonlight Falls. It filled me with sadness knowing I could not raise my child. Would not see the person he would grow up to be. But my fear that Alessandro would either turn him or kill him spurred me on.

When Benjamin turned five years old Alanon informed me he had figured out how to get him out of Moonlight Falls. I celebrated my son's birthday with a heavy heart knowing this was the last time I would see him, hold him or hear him call me daddy. Although my heart was breaking I had no other choice. It was only a matter of time before Alessandro came for him. I was careful not to ask Alanon where or who he was taking my child to. The less I knew the safer he was. I could not tell Alessandro what I did not know.

Alanon came for my son after midnight. I woke Benjamin up and explained it was time he went away to live with a new family. I felt like I was ripping my heart out of my chest and stomping on it. In the end Alanon picked the screaming child up and left. I fell to the floor weeping. No sooner had Alanon left Alessandro was bursting through my door demanding my child.

Eyes red and swollen I told him that someone had broken in and taken my son. Taking my swollen red eyes as proof of my words Alessandro launched a house to house search for my child. I could only hope Alanon had enough time to escape. Over the next several days Alessandro ransacked Moonlight Falls in search of my child. Despite my heartbreak over losing my child I found comfort in knowing he was safe and that Alessandro would never find him.

I did not know that Alessandro had reached the age where he had to proclaim his chosen heir. His wife, his bonded one had not produced a child. Once a vampire was bonded to another the bond could not be broken until one or the other dies. The chosen heir must be of the same blood as the previous Elder, my father. There was no one else he could bestow that honor on but me. He broke my father's promise. He dragged me before the assembly and performed the transformation ceremony. Despite my protests no one would stand up for me and stop Alessandro. Only one dared to help me and he became my bonded brother, Alanon. He held me as I mourned the loss of my humanity.

I became depressed unable to eat. The thought of drinking blood was revolting. I clung to what little humanity I had left despite Alanon's encouragement for me to feed. I could not bring myself to feed upon another living being. I kept seeing my poor mother's face despite never actually having seen it in my life. I imagined my son being fed upon by some loathsome creature and my throat would close. I could not feed despite the gnawing hunger that was consuming me.

I was obsessed with the changes there were happening to me. At time I felt the power, the surging rage, the near invincibility of being a vampire. Then I would come crashing down cowering in a corner afraid of what I was becoming. The monster I couldn't control. As my bonded brother Alanon did what he could linked to my thoughts he would try to calm me. He was always there. I could hear his voice inside my head until the day I figured out how to tune him out. That was the day I went to watch the sun rise. I wanted to die and there were so few ways for a vampire to kill themselves. Death by glorious sunrise seemed the best option I had.

I hadn't expected the searing pain as my skin burned from my bones. The stench of my own burning flesh seered into my nose. I endured the agony knowing I was killing the beast. The beast I didn't want to be. That was when I met the creator. As I laid their slowly cooking myself to death someone asked "do you really want to die like this?"

I looked up into his light blue eyes and through the pain and tears I nod. I wanted death more than anything. Maybe my mind betrayed me and there was some doubt that the creator picked up on I don't know. The next thing I remember was waking up in a cave feeling cool and calm. "Where?" I croaked out between parched and cracked lips.

"You need to eat," he held his bared wrist out to me. Shaking my head I tried to crawl away despite my weakness. "it's alright," he told me "you will not hurt me." This went on for several weeks while I grew weaker. Vampires have amazing healing abilities but I had come close to death and being in a state of near starvation was more then my body could take. I was slowing dying. I was weak so I fed.

It wasn't what I wanted. The creator lulled me into believing it'd be ok and for a while it was. His name was Silver Warrior Blood he came from a race known as The Creators. The Creators made the Watchers to look after their children. The Watchers were perfect care givers for the active,  developing minds of the young until they became discontent with their role in life. The Watchers wanted more and it all began so innocently. A child grew to love his Watcher and in time they produced a child together. He was completely white like all Creators were supposed to be except for his eyes. His eyes were the lightest shade of blue and his name was Silver. His birth started the war between Creator and Watcher. Silver was taken from his parents and banished in the hopes the child would die. The parents were executed for their crime and the Watchers were sterilized to prevent any future couplings.

Silver survived and became the unknowing symbol for the Watchers representing everything the Creators took from them. He was the first halfling ever produced between Creator and Watcher. In time the Watchers made for themselves a likeness of themselves known as Imaginary Friends they sent to newborns everywhere.  Imaginary Friends were to bond with their child in the hopes the child would so love them they would make them real. Many were convinced they weren't real but for a few they loved their Imaginary Friend so much they figured out how to make them real. Only then did the IF turn against their life giver leaving behind sadness and despair.

I learned these things during the time I spent with Silver inside the cave. I had no idea that the man who saved my life would change my life forever. Silver gave me back the will to live. When I drank from him I felt his power, his magic surged through me. From the moment I took my first drink I was bonded to him whether I wanted to be or not. I grew to love him with an intensity I had not experienced with my wife. Selene was a distant memory. My entire being was wrapped up in Silver. He was my world, my life, my future.

Through Silver I learned about the plasma fruit and used that when I was forced to be among Alessandro and his followers. I hated having Alessandro in my head forcing me to do things I wouldn't normally do. He was a cruel dictator destroying anything and everything that stood in his way. Fairies were all but hunted to extinction the few remaining ones fled to the forest where they live in fear of being discovered. Magic weakened as Alessandro outlawed any but the chosen few from practicing magic. Werewolves thrived as their elder fully supported Alessandro in all ventures. Those that didn't support the elder were banished from the pack where they were left to weaken and die alone.

I as the chosen heir people cowered in fright at my approach. Yet I was not immune to Alessandro's rages. I was still the half brother he hated. When his hatred boiled over and I endured his punishments to the point of death he would have me dumped in my house left to heal or die on my own. At those times Silver would come to me. Nurse me back to life. He was and will ever be the only person I have fed upon.

These times while I was recovering from Alessandro's cruel punishments he never bothered me. Silver and I made the most of the time we had together. Silver wanted to destroy Alessandro but I wouldn't let him. How could I? He was my brother. I could not break my promise I made to my father that I would not harm him. I am positive that Alessandro made the same promise and that alone may have prevented him from killing me. Although that promise was about to be broken too.

I was summoned to the audience chamber to hear the glorious announcement that Alessandro's cohort was finally pregnant. I was now irrelevant as the the chosen heir. Selene was glowing, happy. I felt anger bubbling up inside me remembering the utter joylessness the child she produced with me was greeted with. It made me want to weep for my son because of them I could not keep him. Had to hide him. Pretend he did not exist. How could I rejoice? When this event meant my becoming a vampire, a thing I detested more than anything was for nothing. How long before Alessandro issued my death warrant?

"Not long my brother," was the prompt response to my queries. I forgot for that moment he could read my mind and my thoughts had been uncensored and scattered. I fled from the audience hall to the sounds of laughter both inside and outside my mind. Where could I go that he could not find me? Nowhere was the unwelcome answer. I was as good as dead.

There was no place to hide. No place to run. I went home and found Silver waiting for me. He held me as I cried while he told me not all was lost. I believed him. If I had known what he planned I might have asked him not to. I assumed it was the normal platitudes you say to a condemned man. What shocked me most was his announcement that he was pregnant. I thought he had gone mad, men did not become pregnant. I laughed until I cried. He did not mention it again.

In the morning Alessandro came for me. He dragged me before the assembly where I was strapped down to a slap of stone that was as hard as his heart. I pleaded with him not to do this. That I would abdicate the throne to his heir but he wouldn't listen. As eerie silence fell upon the assembled crowd a loud clear voice pronounced.

What is now cannot be

What will be remains forever

The heir that was will be again

The heir to come will be no more

Ten years time the child will die

the mother sterile for all time 

An heir will come from the one that dies upon this slab

A fierce battle will be fought

The heir not quite human not quite vampire will win the day

The throne he will give to the one who perishes on this day

The current ruler will be banished forever

Futures past two loves unite

Heed these words a promise keep

Alessandro's reign will end when the chosen one appears from the line of Ambrogio 

Silver's voice was the last sound I heard as Alessandro drove the sake through my heart. He killed my body but not my essence. I sought out Silver but could not contact him. It was a lonely existence. I watched as Silver gave birth to my daughter. She had his blue eyes and my dark hair. She was beautiful.

I'm not sure what kept me anchored to Silver after my death. I wasn't a ghost. I wasn't sure what I was. I'm not sure how it happened but I was suddenly inside my daughter's head and it felt like home. That was when I found I could reach out to Silver in my mind. "It's about time you figured it out," Silver told me.

"How was I supposed to know this was even possible?" I retort. All things magical had always unnerved me while I was alive and it seemed even in death.

"It's the curse an promise I put upon you and Alessandro. One day we'll be together again. I have preserved your body for the fulfillment of the promise..."

"What do I do until then?" I complained not ready to accept the idea of floating aimlessly through time alone.

"Guide your descendants until the chosen arrive."

"How will I know who the chosen are?" I ask. Sometimes I hate all the riddles Silver delighted in speaking in. Why couldn't he just say what he means?"

"The chosen one will be the father of a halfling child. The halfling will choose between two sides of the same coin. Twins one good one evil. Beware the Watchers, they will be eagerly awaiting for this time as well and wanting the evil twin to win to produce a child to create a new Creator. One they can control and manipulate into destroying everything upon this planet. 

"I don't understand," I tell him. Silver explained the Watchers are twisted in their thinking and have converted their hatred of the Creators onto humans because of him. Silver had no choice coming here and could not leave. The only choice he had was the one he chose to love. He chose me despite the repeated attempts the Watchers made in sending him one Imaginary Friend after another all to be rejected. He could not choose from such vile creatures. They lived because their humans loved them and them real and they turned that love to hate. Destroying them. For that the Watchers felt that Silver betrayed them. Silver warned me the Watchers would be watching for the arrival of the chosen. They would arrange for the IF to destroy him and take possession of the halfling."

We separated soon after he told me these things. My responsibility was too watch over my son Benjamin and his children and all those that followed until one made the fatal mistake of making their IF real. You Adam are the choose one. I've been with you since Windy broke your heart. I've felt your pain. I understand your fear, your disgust at being a vampire. This will end. You will be triumphant. You can resist feeding. Do not push your family and friends away. They can help you. Give you the strength you need to resist. 

"What happens at the end? When Alessandro is dethroned?" Adam asked "Will I then become ruler of Moonlight Falls?"

"If you choose to become such but you don't have to.  You can denounce it and become human again. Then I will take your place as ruler over Moonlight Falls." Ambrogio explained.

"What if we can't be separated?" 

"I don't know," Ambrogio admitted "I almost forgot. I'm sorry I should have done things differently to protect your son. I didn't think I just knew he'd be safe within the time bubble."

"Well since your  a part of me now we better make the most of it," Adam said "show me what I need to know to release them from this time bubble."

"I will," Ambrogio asserted "then together we'll have to find where the bubble is...."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked his voice full of misgivings.

"Um did I not mention that time bubbles move and fluctuate through time and space?" Ambrogio asked feigning the appearance of innocence.

"No you didn't mention that," Adam felt his anger rising "you still aren't telling me everything."

"Possibly ... maybe..." 

"Ambrogio if you and I are ever seperated you and I are going to have words. Then you'll be eating my fist because I'm tired of being jerked around," Adam asserted.

"You'd beat up an old man?" Ambrogio asked.

"I doubt very much the body Silver has preserved for you is all that old," Adam said reasonably.

"I suspect your right," Ambrogio smiled "I doubt you will hit me though..."

"Don't be too sure about that," Adam said wishing he had something he could hit right now.

"I bear a striking resemblance to your son. I doubt you'd be able to hit me," he repeated in a self satisfied tone.

"Tell me what I need to know then we won't have to find out," Adam insisted.

"Very well," Ambrogio sighed "I felt that Heath needed time to sort his feelings out towards his friend. I thought some alone time would help...."

Laughing Adam nearly choked "your playing match maker? Trust me there's no reason for that. I know my son..."

"Aren't you going to tell me..."

"No I don't think so. You can wait and see like the rest of us. You being here has definite advantages. At least I know you're not off medling in things better left alone. The last thing those boys need is someone forcing them into something they're not ready for yet." Adam asserted himself "now tell me how to find these time bubbles..."