Childhoods End

It had been three years since Gasper had his first meeting with Valerie. The days had rolled by in a typical fashion with the visit of Valerie and his training with shadows being the only noteworthy occurrences. Over the months he had spent a lot of time practicing with his shadow and learning a new language.

More numerous. Gasper had started his shadow training with that as an aim and ran into a wall. His shadow had a limit. If Gasper tried making a shadow significantly bigger than his body was, it taxed his stamina. So, he started focusing on other aspects. Speed and control.

With a new path set, Gasper had practiced summoning and dismissing different shapes extensively. He had found the more often he summoned a shape the easier it was to resummon. The most notable shapes being spikes, hands, and replicas of Excalibur. The last one, sadly without visible fairy language, just looked like an ornate sword-shaped spike. It also showed him another limitation of his power. To make shadows he needed a shadow.

If Gasper tried to disconnect his replica from the ground, it would disappear. Shadows couldn't be made from thin air. He spent nearly a full hour finding a work around for the problem. While he hadn't been able to keep the shadow from the floor in his hands while moving quickly, he could extend the shadow between his arm and sleeve to grasp the blade. Although it had been sharp enough to create a hole in his clothes, something he got scolded for, he held no illusions that it would be very helpful. It was more of something he made for the nostalgia.

The current limits of Gasper's ability was 13 spikes about the size of his arm. He could summon them near instantly from any shadow he sensed. If he wanted anything bigger, either the amount would have to be decreased or he had to expend a good deal of energy.

Gasper's training didn't come with only the discovery of limitations. New ways to utilize his ability were found. Sadly, they were not his sacred gear. Mainly it was a way to store things in his shadow and a deepening of how he sensed shadows. While the storage was limited to the size of a small chest, his shadow sense seemed to only get stronger.

From the castle Gasper could now 'see' a good portion of the city. It was eerily still. Vampires didn't have shadows so he couldn't sense their movements. Half vampires, or dhampirs, had shadows but were very rare. Maybe 100 in the whole city. Valerie was the only other dhampir of noble birth he knew. Being a dhampir is the whole reason he had met her in the first place.

After Gasper learned to talk, he understood the conversation his father had in front of him. He first yelled at the butler for telling the guards about Gasper's birth despite him having been ordered to keep it a secret. Then he deemed it too dangerous to keep risking a pure bloods life. Ultimately, he had ordered the servants to find someone else to take care of him. That's how Valerie came into the picture. She was expendable.

The fact that Gasper not just remembered the conversation, but could also quote it word for word was astounding. God must have done something to his brain. Maybe she felt guilty about him squandering his wishes.

Now that Valerie was Gasper's caretaker, he saw her every day. Like clockwork, she would arrive at his room in the evening and spend time with him. Even if she was a child, the company made him feel better. Around midnight she would feed him. She was weirdly insistent the fact that he drank her blood instead of the bottle she always brought.

One time, when Valerie had been a little pale, Gasper had tried to drink the bottle instead. She had thrown a fit. Jerking his bottle out of his grasp, she ended up spilling it all over the expensive carpet. Then she began to cry. She hadn't stopped until he had managed to drink the foul liquid off the floor with his shadow. He could still taste the dirt.

Even after all that, Valerie had kept sniffling with teary eyes until Gasper apologized and bit her. A bite always seemed to calm her down. He had been on a strict Valerie diet ever since. What could he say? He was a sucker for tears. Although, she did bring him some cookies from time to time. Those at least, he could eat.

And now, Gasper was in his coffin wondering if he should wake Valerie. Sometime when he was asleep, she had crawled in and now he was wrapped up in a bear hug. If he wasn't awake to greet her, she had made a habit of turning him into her hugging pillow. He idly wondered if this was what it was like having a clingy daughter. Deciding she wouldn't wake up anytime soon, he poked her stomach. He really needed to talk to the baker lady again.

"Valerie, it's time to wake up," Gasper said. Valerie barely shifted. It was always like this. He began poking her more insistently. "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." He punctuated every word with a poke. Finally, she seemed to stir, only for her to end up holding him tighter. This girl. He pinched her in the side.

Opening the coffin with a strangled shriek, Valerie gave him a sleepy glare and said, "Good evening Gasper."

"Could you let go of me, I need to get dressed so we can talk to grandma," Gasper said while struggling to get out of her grasp. Why was she so much stronger than him?

"You want to go out?" Valerie said with a playful smile. "But you haven't even eaten yet. Growing children need their food." She bit Gasper lightly on the shoulder with just enough strength to break the skin. She proceeded to lick the wound sending little tingles to his brain. The irony of being called a growing boy by a child. Still. She would be dangerous when she grew up or, he allowed himself, maybe he was just be really easy to seduce. If only she was older.

With no other solution to the dead lock Gasper obliged Valerie. Drowning out his doubts, the sweet taste of blood filled his mouth as he bit down. Her blood really didn't taste exactly like anything he had ever had. Just slightly tangy, wonderfully warm, and impossibly sweet. Maybe this was one way to a man's stomach.

Finished drinking Valerie finally relented her hold on Gasper. With his mobility restored, he went to his wardrobe only to find his clothes missing. In their place was the little red dress. That imp.

"Valerie, where are my clothes?" Gasper said levelly. If she didn't have so few dresses, he would have torn this one up like the last one she had tried to force him wear.

"Why? You'll look good in a dress." Valerie giggle while backing up.

"I. Will. Not! Tell me where they are!" Gasper fumed. He had prevented himself from wearing a dress since the last time, even if it meant staying naked, and he wouldn't do it again.

At the door Valarie said, "You'll won't find them!" and reached for the knob only to find herself pinned to her own shadow.

"Oh, really? How long will it take for me to pry the information from you?" Gasper said as he strolled over to where Valerie lay pressed against the floor. He had ways to make her talk. Even if she was double his size and not even half his age, she stood no chance against his wrath.

"Never!" Valerie shrieked out as Gasper began his interrogation. Grandmas shop was open all night. He had time. Her sides, her armpits, her feet and her neck. He attacked them all with equal impunity. She rolled in her bonds as she tried in vain to avoid the tickling sensation. It was futile. Half of the hands were inside her clothes. He kept that up for nearly ten minutes until he saw his clothes balled up under the couch. Leaving her there gasping, he went to cloth himself.

After Gasper had outgrown his old baby onesie, he had been given pants and a tunic to wear. The tunic was fine, but the pants were far to tight. He had twitched with every step, until he thought to sink his offending members into the shadow. He couldn't keep things in shadows as he slept, however. So, without his onesie he had begun sleeping without clothing himself. It might have bothered him before to be naked, but after numerous bathing sessions with Valerie, he didn't have any shame left.

Now clothed comfortably Gasper walked over to the still bound Valerie. "Are you ready to go outside?" He said as he unbound her.

"That's just mean Gasper. You need to wear the clothes the maid prepares for you!" Valerie said with conviction as she still tried to regain her breath.

Ignoring Valarie's protest Gasper left through the door while she scrambled to follow. He could have taken them both to the bakery by using his shadow, but the last time he left the castle barrier that way he had tripped an alarm and all the knights had gathered around his exit point. Safe to say, he got grounded. It had been the first and only time he saw his father since the butler incident.

The barrier around the castle was child's play compared to the thing surrounding the mountain. Gasper couldn't even sense shadows outside it let alone travel to them. That was why he was heading to the bakery. He had asked grandma to see if she knew any other way for him to get out. She hadn't, but she told him she would try to find one. The only other way he saw was the heavily guarded lifts and they required a special pass or a lord's approval to use.

Heading down the stairs in the vaulted entry room Gasper came upon the captain of the guard stationed at the front door. He was a burly man who by all intents and purposes should have been far uglier than he was. Vampirism did that to you. No matter how ugly or old you were, once you became a vampire you were youthful and attractive. The captain gave a grunt of acknowledgement as they passed through the door.

When they finally left the castle ground, Gasper grabbed Valerie's hand. "Are you ready?" She nodded her assent and the traveled to an alley behind the bakery. The bakery wasn't far from castle Vladi. Maybe a mile away. The only problem with walking there was that they would get harassed by the other children. He had been angry when Valerie had come home one day bleeding from her forehead. Walking around the front they enter the chiming door.

"Oh, Valerie and Gasper. Come for more of my home baked cookies?" Grandma walked out from behind the counter as she wiped her hands on her apron. She was an old lady. Well her face had no wrinkles, but her hair was the snow white with streaks of grey from before she was turned. Sometime in her 90's, if her tale was to be believed. It was a pretty tale about a man who wouldn't let his love die. Having been a devout Christian before turning, she hadn't spoken to him for nearly two decades after that. They had ultimately reconciled and opened a bakery.

"Of course!" Valarie said with a beaming smile. Grandma had been the only other person Gasper had met that showed her kindness.

"Well Go on. Go see the cookies I made today and pick a few." The older lady said to Valerie with a pat of the head. After Valarie had left to the display case, she turned to Gasper and said with a serious face in English, "I haven't found a way for you two to get out." grandma had caught on right away, when they first met, that he was far smarter than his age should have allowed.

Gasper's heart dropped. How had the previous him escaped? Maybe he could convince his dad to let him go? His thoughts were interrupted by another chiming at the door.

"Ugh, This place smells." A male voice said from behind Gasper. Turning around he came to view a trio of vampire nobles and a couple guards. Between the ages of 10 and 20 they all held looks of disgust. Unlike turned vampires and dhampir, purebred vampires had no taste for human food.

Putting herself between Gasper and the newcomers, grandma said coolly, "How may this humble baker assist such esteemed nobles such as yourselves?"

"As if we would come here for your offensive 'food' peasant." One of the boys said while spitting on the floor. "We came here to clear the streets of filth." He said looking at Valerie.

"I am afraid I'll have to ask you to leave," grandma said through gritted teeth. The words were apparently not liked by the nobles. One of them gestured and a guard walked forward and back handed grandma. She fell to the floor dazed and bleeding.

"You should know better than to try to command your betters." The lead noble said. "As for you-" he continued with a gesture, "abominations. You have stained the vampire nobility long enough."

The guard who had hit grandma pulled out his sword as another walked towards Valerie. They were going to kill them. As the guard raised his sword time seemed to slow to a stop. If they were going to kill them… He would show them no mercy.

Cold ice flowed through Gasper's veins as he summoned spikes from the shadows of tables and chairs to impale the two guards. His heart pounded in a frenzied rhythm as the taste of their blood filled his mouth. Not all of the spikes had pierced through. Some had glanced off the knights' chest plates, but the guard in front of him was assuredly dead. Frozen with his sword raised, a spike had driven straight though the guard's body. Satisfaction radiated within him.

As Gasper let the spikes dissipate, one of the nobles darted out the door. Curiously, he noticed the dead guard hadn't collapsed once the spikes were out. That's when he realized the knight couldn't collapse. Not only was dead man frozen, all the other retinue before him, save the one who fled, were frozen. Forbidden Balor's View. His laughter echoed out. He had tried forever to just awaken his sacred gear and it happens now.

Gasper briefly pondered letting the others go, right before he ran them through as well. The realization only dawned on him after he drove spikes through the rest of them. The cool feeling left his head and nausea assaulted him. He had just killed people. No. Not just killed. Executed. He began to dry heave.

"Are you all right?" Valerie said placing a hand on Gasper's shoulder.

"All right-" Gasper began laughing between heaves. "I just killed people." Valerie just patted his back.

"Yes, you did," came grandmas reply as she stood up. "and now you are in pretty big trouble. I imagine when that child finds the guard, they will swarm this place. You should probably leave before then."

That brought Gasper back to reality. They weren't out of danger yet. Harming a noble was probably an offense worthy of death, let alone killing one. They wouldn't be able to hide in the city. They would have to escape, but how?

The corpses began to fall, and Gasper laughed again. His father had always thought of him as a monster. He might as well show him one.