Who: Samuel and Viola What: Sibling Reunions When: Friday Evening Where: The streets of Toronto Warnings: Some angst, and warnings.
Samuel hadn't bothered to bring his car to the palace, figuring he needed a long walk to clear his head on the way and perhaps one just as much on the return from visiting with her majesty. He was thankful that she seemed more willing to forgive and forget if Viola played by the rules. That made his stomach feel a lot better knowing he hadn't just damned his sister to the true death. Still, that was if Viola would come to Elizabeth and explain herself and acknowledge the queen's rules and follow them like all the rest of the vampires in the city. He hoped he'd be able to find her before the palace guards did or before the queen herself did. How much of a chance of that happening though was probably slim.
At least Samuel had thought it was slim until he saw a vision from his past walking out of an alley before him. It was Viola. Her hair as white-blonde as the last time he'd seen her. Still a beautiful girl with features that mirrored his own. His sister whom he'd not seen for years upon years and there she was before him as if she'd never left. "Viola." he whispered, his voice barely a breath but certainly loud enough for her vampire ears to take hold of.
Viola was finding this whole being on her own, with little left to her, to be a huge pain in the ass. Especially on the fact that she’d have to get a job. Although she had been trying to ignore that little bit of annoyance while she went about trying to figure out more about the hunter that had brought her to the area in the first place. She had figured out that he had yet another bookshop, which wasn’t too far off from the alleyway she was emerging from when her brother would have seen her. Granted she was too lost in her own thoughts to be paying much attention to her own surroundings so she didn’t see him.
But she heard her name. That wasn’t lost on her. Her eyes darted around for a moment as her body was still. Then finally finding the source of her name, her eyes narrowing slightly at seeing her brother. Part of her wanted to run over and just give him a hug that was long past due, but she was unable to move, she didn’t want to believe that it was actually him. Another part of her wanted to turn around and just leave him there, because she knew that him coming back in her life would be a hindrance in her plot of revenge. “Samuel?” she finally questioned, her own words just a barely spoken whisper.
His feet carried him slowly in the direction of his sister. There was denying it now that the girl had uttered his name. It was Viola. His sister. The universe had pretty much exploded in that moment and he was left with his jaw practically hanging open as he drew closer to her. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.
Viola let her brother close the distance, as she stood her ground. She was watching him, warily, as she didn’t know on what to expect after so much time spent apart. She also already felt torn, because she knew that he would probably be the only one to convince her to steer away from the path she was headed down. Not that she was planning on telling him the actual truth. “I could ask you the same thing …” she started, though it coming out a little harsher than she had planned for it to. “Should I be somewhere else?”
"No." he told her, eyes settling on hers. "I just... it's been so long and... seeing you... I never thought I'd see you again." he said, shaking his head a little. "And now you're killing people?" he asked her. "I have a clairvoyant in my care and she saw you kill some man in the street and do you realize what could happen to you?" he questioned, still after all these years worried for his sister's safety.
“I didn’t think I’d se..” she began but was cut off by the question that was posed to her. The possible good moment that could have happened by the two reuniting cut short by something she hadn’t been expecting to be asked. Viola stared blankly at him for a few moments, as if she was in slight shock at what he had just said, and that was before she laughed. Actually laughed. “After all this time … and you haven’t come to terms on what you .. we .. are? Get to the core of it, and that’s what we are. Vampires are killers.” She spoke then, giving him a slight look as if he was either asking the stupidest question in the world, or as if he was treading on dangerous ground.
Samuel was almost angry when she laughed at him. "Vampires aren't killers." he told her. "I might need blood to survive but I have yet to kill an innocent person for a simple meal." he told her, shaking his head at the girl. "I don't know what they did to you while you were away, but you're not the sister that I knew." he told her. "You need to go to the queen before she finds you." he warned her. "Because I don't know what she'll do to you if you don't abide by her laws. Vampires here don't kill humans just because they feel like it."
“Who said the man was innocent?” She questioned, assuming it had been the man, as it was the only one she had killed since being here in Toronto. Most she tended to feed from and glamor them after. But sometimes she needed the thrill of the kill, but it was something she had been taught to appreciate and not shy away from. “I’ve already been to see the Queen.” she added on, even though she had seen someone else, but that was just technicalities. Viola gave a little shrug. “Fine, I wont kill anyone else just because I feel like it.” she arched a brow, looking at him a little more. “So, you’re shacking up with some psychic then? Or is this girl just a pet of yours?” she asked, trying to turn the conversation off of herself.
"Perhaps he wasn't, but that still doesn't give you the right to kill him." Samuel told her. He was surprised to hear that she'd already been to see the queen, but that didn't stop his worry for his sister. "You need to see her again and explain that you're my sister and why you killed this man and see what she says because I don't want to see you end up dead, Viola. No matter what you've been doing since we last saw one another, you're still my sister and the thought of something happening to you makes my stomach churn." More than that really. How could she not see how much he worried for her? Of course then she went and turned the questions to him and to Quinn and he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not 'shacking up' with anyone. Quinn lives at my home and I care for her. She's not a 'pet' either. I feed from her but she's a willing participant."
Viola almost laughed again when he was telling her that she didn’t have the right to kill the man, but she refrained from that as she could see that it was bothering him more than she thought it should have. “Alright Samuel, I’ll see the queen again, but I’m not going to end up dead. I’ll just explain that things were obviously run differently overseas. And I’ll go with whatever these rules are that are obviously the end all and be all here.” she gave a little shrug, as if it really didn’t matter to her on if there were the rules or not. Plus, rules were meant to be broken, you just had to keep from getting caught. And now she knew that her brother’s little pet could prove to be a problem in the not getting caught factor. “Is she a touchy subject or something?” she asked arching a brow as she really hadn’t expected the reactions to what were meaningless questions on the girl that was living with him.
"She's mine. That's all that needs to be said in the matter." he told her. He never thought he'd be at a point where he thought his sister could hurt those he cared about, but Samuel wasn't about to go rushing out to introduce Quinn to her, that was for sure and certain. If anything he'd have to warn the girl to keep herself on guard at all times. It was one of those rare occasions when he was thankful she didn't like going out of the house much at all. "Thank you for at least going to see the queen again." he said, turning the subject away from Quinn. "I just don't want to see something bad happen to you..." he told her.
“Alright, she’s your human, I get it.” she spoke, gesturing slightly with her hands as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. She at least knew that much, not to mess with another vampire’s pet or human whatever you wanted to call it. She might not be pleased that this could cause a mess of troubles for her if it got to that, but she couldn’t exactly tell her brother on how to live his life. She looked away, her brows knitted together as she was trying to keep her own secrets just that as her secrets. “Nothing bad is going to happen Samuel, you worry entirely way too much. You’d think after a hundred and something years you’d have learned to loosen up some.” she added on trying to make light of the situation. Even though she was already starting to feel badly, just the slow inkling of feelings of a person she thought she long ago buried. “You’re going to mess everything up.” she muttered under her breath, not meaning to speak it aloud in the first place. Though taking in an unneeded breath she looked up at him again. “How long have you been in Toronto?”
He blinked a little at her. "What exactly am I going to mess up?" he questioned. "And I haven't been here long." he admitted. "I move every few years to keep up appearances of humanity, but Quinn and I just arrived." he explained. Why he was letting her in on anything at all was beyond him, but he supposed she was still his sister no matter how much time had passed between the last time he'd seen her and now.
She went blank again, expression wise, when he posed the question. And the worst thing was she didn’t want to lie to him. Anyone else and she would have just come up with something on the spot without a blink of an eye. “I can’t tell you, Samuel, I actually want to, but I can’t.” she shook her head, even though she could tell him, she just knew he wouldn’t approve. Then came a little scoff of a laugh, “Seems like fate toys with us, I just got here a couple weeks ago.” She shook her head again, “I didn’t think you’d still be ..” she cut herself off, looking away, damnit she wasn’t going to get emotional. This wasn’t the time for emotions, especially ones that would just end up distracting her from the reasons why she was in the area in the first place.
He wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but even if they were siblings, there were far too many years between them to really call them as close as they'd once been. He let the subject drop and instead moved on to finish her sentence. "Alive?" he questioned. "I doubted you'd still be alive either." he admitted. "My sire was killed not long after he turned me so I wasn't really sure what became of you. When I didn't see you again, I thought the worst though I hoped for the best."
If he had asked, she probably would have given a little more insight, just right now Sam didn’t fit into the plans that Viola had laid out for herself when she first thought of coming to Toronto and then actually getting here. She looked at him then, her expression as if she felt sad for him, nearly pity. “That must have been difficult, being so long without your sire. I’ve been with mine until recently. We stayed so close to home for a long while, I thought you’d come back .. you never did. Which is okay, just it’s hard to believe it’s been so long..” This was going to end badly, she knew it, Samuel was a weakness for her, always had been, and probably always would be.
"I looked for you for a while." he told her. "But I thought that your sire would have taken you farther away since they split us up so I just mostly let the wind carry me where it would." Samuel admitted with a little shrug. He felt the pang of guilt welling up inside of him for not looking harder for Viola. If she'd been so close to where they'd lived then why didn't he find her?
“I wasn’t allowed to look for you, my sire forbade me from actively seeking you out. We stayed in Scotland until about … thirty years ago. Then we went to Ireland.” she shrugged, not exactly knowing on why she was telling him all of this. And she knew she had to keep things rather aloof as she didn’t want more questions to come up.
Well that made sense. If she was forbade to look for him, perhaps her sire made certain that he would never find her either. He listened to her talk of all the places she'd been, not many really, and he thought that he'd been pretty much all over the world by now. "I worked as a carpenter for a while and used that to move around about every ten years. Now I still do carpentry but I also restore antiques. It's funny though because most of these 'antiques' were just new things to you and I when we were alive." he admitted with a little shrug.
She gave him a bit of a look when he spoke on doing carpentry, “You’re telling me that you’ve turned into our father? Are you sure thats something you want to admit?” she asked, with a little bit of a laugh, different than the laughs she gave before. This one much more friendly. “I haven’t really had to work, not in the literal sense anyway. Which is probably making finding a job right now so hard.” she shrugged a little.
"Well not really our father. I'd like to think I'm my own man, but I suppose the apple never falls far from the tree." he admitted with a little shrug. When she commented about not having worked and then seemed like she'd been looking for a job, he arched a brow. "Do you need money?" he asked her, obviously a little worried about her financial stability.
“And sometimes the apple falls too far from the tree.” she commented offhandedly, referring to herself obviously. Though she doubted that he would really grasp the full truth behind the statement. Though then she was shaking her head. “No, I’ll be fine for a while. Paid off the place I’m staying in for a bit of time, just trying to get settled in and figured a job might help with that.” And it would give her something to do other than just watching the man that she was there to torment. She made a sound as if she was sighing, “Sam, do me a favor, if you run into a man named Cathair, please stay away from him.” she couldn’t help it, she didn’t want her brother to get hurt, and if that meant that it would open up a bunch of questions she didn’t want to answer, then so be it. At least she was warning him and he’d remain safe.
He arched a brow at his sister's words. "Okay..." he said, though he couldn't figure out why he should stay away from anyone at all. It wasn't as if he'd done anything to be in need of protection from after all. But he moved right along to topics of money. "Are you sure you don't need any money?" he asked her. "I'm more than willing to help you if you need it." he said as he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. "At least take my card with my number so if you decide you want the help, you can reach me."
“Just trust me on this, please.” She spoke even though he hadn’t really asked any questions it sounded as if the ‘okay’ he spoke was a question in itself. And she was thankful that he went on to talk about the money, even though she didn’t need any. Not right now anyway. “I’m sure, really.” Though she gave a little nod in agreement when he was speaking about giving the card. “Alright, but really, I don’t need any money, Sam.”
She might say she didn't need the money right then, but she might. Samuel handed her the card and shrugged. "Fine." he told her. "But if you do, just call me." he told her. "And alright, I'll stay away from anyone named 'Cathair'." he assured her. "Can't say I've ever met anyone with the name so it shouldn't be too difficult."
Viola slipped the card into her pocket, but nodded all the same. “If I do, I’ll call.” she agreed, even though she doubted that she would. She did however frown a little, thinking that he probably wouldn’t understand on why she was asking him to stay away from the guy, and not wanting him to just brush it off, she mentally cursed at herself for what she was about to say. “Samuel, I’m serious, this guy is one of the reasons I’m here, he’s a rather skilled hunter, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
He listened to her warning as he tucked his wallet back into his pocket. "A hunter?" he said, eyes narrowing a little. "And just how exactly did you cross paths with a hunter?" he asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
She knew she couldn’t tell him the whole truth, even if she wanted to. Instead she sighed again, and looked at him. “He was part of this organization that was killing vampires in the area over in Ireland, and he uses magic, Sam. He .. he killed my sire. Nearly killed me with the fire he made. I’ll never forget his face, and I followed him here, took me a while to find out he was here though.” she paused, closing her eyes for a moment before looking at him again. “That’s one of the reasons I went to see the queen, trying to give a warning that he’s in the area. But I want you safe, it’s taken over a hundred years for us to run into each other again, and I’ll be damned if he’s going to take another important person away from me.” she admitted, though leaving out the bad things that she was a part of in order for things to get this extreme.
So that's why she was no longer with her sire. But did that mean she was seeking out this 'Cathair' in an effort of vengeance? His stomach made an uncomfortable flip-flop the more she spoke. "You're not out hunting this... this hunter are you?" he questioned. "Viola, it's obviously not safe for you to be anywhere near this man if he's done what you've just told me. And you're alone?" he went on. If her sire was dead, no doubt she'd come here on her own and now his worry seemed to be skyrocketing.
Her face had a sad sort of look, as she nodded. “I was. And when I realized how ridiculous it would have been for me to do it on my own, I brought it to the queen’s attention. He’s in her territory, and I don’t see why she’d allow him to keep doing what he’s been doing. So it’s out of my hands now.” She was lying some, but that was the thing about her, she was placing enough truth in her words to make it believable. “Yes, I’m alone, which is odd all on its own.”
"You shouldn't be alone." he told her. No woman should, vampire or not. He might be a vampire, but he was still an old fashioned sort of man. "Are you sure I can't help you in some way?" he questioned of her.
The look that she was giving him now was more of a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ type. “There is nothing wrong with my being alone, Samuel. It’s almost kind of exciting,” she admitted, even though she missed having someone around, before her sire it had been Samuel who was there for her, and watching over her. “I’m sure, I don’t even know how you would help. I’m alright financially, and that will get better once I get a job. I have a place, so what else really do I need?”
He sighed, but Viola was always a stubborn woman. "Fine." he told her. "But if the day comes that you need someone, or if you just want to talk, don't forget that you can call me."
Viola actually smiled, the first time in a long time that it was actually genuine. “I doubt that will happen, but I’ll remember. And if you decide you don’t want to be boring, and need a bit of fun, I’m sure you could find me, cause I should be around for awhile.” she shrugged and then smiled a little.
"Do you have a phone number or an address I can have?" he questioned. "I just don't want to lose touch with you." Samuel had so many concerns already and he had no clue how to still his fears.
“Sure, you wouldn’t happen to have a pen or paper on you would you?” She asked, as she never really gotten into the habit of carrying around a purse or bag, usually if it didn’t fit in her pockets then it wasn’t of any use to her.
Samuel patted his pockets and located a pen. As for paper, he was at a loss, but he took another card from his wallet and handed that over. "Just use the back of that." he told her. It would do for what he needed.
She turned, using the wall of a building to allow her to be able to write down her number, “I haven’t switched numbers over yet, so it’s still the one I got in Belfast. I should be getting it switched over in the next week or so.” Then she wrote down her address below the number and turned back to hand the pen and card back over to her brother.
He took the pen and card and tucked both away. Nodding a little, he drew in a shaky breath. "Well if it does change, just call me and give me the new one." he told her. He hoped that she would indeed call him, but on the off chance that she didn't, he did something he'd been wanting to do since the last time he saw her. Without asking, he leaned in and slipped his arms around his sister, pulling her body in close to his own. "I've missed you." he told her. "And I don't want to have to miss you any longer."
“Sure, that should be no problem.” she spoke, not knowing if she actually would or not. She’d have to think on it. Viola knew that she wanted her brother in her life but then she didn’t. It was one of those things that she would have to think over quite a bit. She let out a little noise of surprise when she was suddenly being hugged close to him, though she didn’t hug him back at first, and almost didn’t at all. But she found herself wrapping her arms around him and hugging him back just as tightly. “If I’ve ever learned anything, it’s that you can’t control tomorrow.” she spoke in response to him not wanting to miss her any longer. She had no idea on the outcome of what her plans would bring. Not yet anyway. “But I’ve missed you too.”
She almost seemed like she was speaking in riddles but all Samuel wanted to do was to hold onto her for a moment or two more. "Can I walk you home?" he asked her, though he was pretty sure she'd shoot that idea down as soon as she heard it.
She debated it for a moment, and almost found herself agreeing though she changed her mind. If anything her brother still knew her too well, even if he hardly knew what she’d become. “Not tonight, Sam, I need to get a few things done before I head home. But maybe I’ll give you a call soon and we can get together for a more in depth reunion.” she offered, before pulling away from him. “I’ll see you soon, yea?”
He nodded a little and released her from his grasp. "Alright." he told her. Somehow he almost felt as though he was telling her goodbye for the last time. It wasn't fair really. But, he supposed, if anything, at least he knew she was alive and that was more than he'd known a few weeks ago. "See you soon." he agreed and reluctantly turned in the direction of his home and began the walk there. Surely Quinn would be worried if he took too long.
If she had her way, it wouldn’t be goodbye for the last time. Though she didn’t know, and she didn’t want to make promises to her brother that she didn’t know she could keep. “Stay safe on your walk.” She called after him before she started walking in the other direction.