“This place is so boring,” I groaned. Vox was probably busy running other ‘errands’ around the castle. And after all, it was likely I wouldn’t see him again until we got out of here. It wasn’t dark enough yet for us to try our escape plan, so we were stuck waiting in this dumb cell.

“The boredom finally setting in after all these months?” Elubarin chuckled, a rare occurrence these days.

I blushed a bit and nodded. He must be bored too… The last thing he needed was my complaining. Our relationship had improved a bit after I told him about the escape plan, but I needed something to get him talking. I stole a glance at him and saw his eyes beginning to glaze over again. He was here, but he wasn’t.

“What’s been eating you up lately?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound gentle and caring.

He went really still. “Besides Treznor? Nothing really, just… old stuff.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell.”

“Just talk. About anything. I’ll listen.”

“If you want.” Elubarin breathed out heavily, then said, “My family owned a mansion in Germany, back on Earth. Big gray house, lots of archways and pointed roofs…”

I closed my eyes to visualize it. I had it pictured in my mind when something changed. My view shifted outwards. A pond came into focus, and a stone path lined with lights. A little bridge over the water. I glanced back at the house and found that it had changed as well. It was taller than I’d thought and shaped a lot differently. There were even plum-colored trees sprinkled throughout the lawn. Only problem was – Elubarin never described those.

From behind me came a smirk. “You wanted to see it,” a voice said.

Matt? I was sure of it. But when I turned around, he was gone.

Elubarin’s voice came back into focus, and my view shifted to inside the house. “Mother was just so regal. Real talented too. She was one of the best witches in the area. And Pop – he was such a jokester. Warm and fuzzy kind of guy, round belly and bushy beard.”

I could see them. They were sitting together, gazing almost directly at me as if posing for a portrait. His dad was trying to put on a serious face, but it looked like it was killing him. He just needed to smile.

“I also had an older sister, Illiana. She definitely took after Mother. She was nice, but she had a fierce streak for sure. If you made fun of her, well, let’s just say you wouldn’t get out of that unscathed.”

I chuckled at that. I could see her too, a fierce maiden all in black. Elubarin was slumped next to her on the couch, looking for all the world as if he would rather be anywhere but there. Guess he didn’t like taking pictures…

A smile crept on my face as Elubarin kept talking. It was nice to hear him finally open up.

“Man, she loved learning more than anyone I’d ever seen. Illiana just had to know everything about everything, you know? I barely ever saw her without a book in her hand. She thrived off knowledge.”

“And then there was Pan. Red-headed, silly little trickster. Complete opposite of our sister. He couldn’t be serious for a second. Always chased after girls and guys alike, he didn’t care since it was all in good fun. Loved mischief and practical jokes. People always said I was more like him than Illiana, but I think I’m a good mix of the two.”

I nearly snorted when I saw Pan posing for his portrait. His face bore the same look of exasperation as his brother’s.

“God, that boy. There was this one time we all had to get an official portrait made to hang in the family gallery, and you know what he did? He sat in the chair upside-down, feet against the wall, and told the photographer that was his favorite pose and he couldn’t bear to be remembered in any other.”

“Illiana was definitely not amused.”

“Of course, when Mother saw the portrait she was furious and ordered him to redo it – with a new photographer who wasn’t so gullible. And she made me go with him to ensure he wouldn’t try anything funny.”

I realized whatever I was seeing was skipping around in time, zooming from the first portrait session to the second. Elubarin and Pan were perched on two stools, wearing the same clothes and bored expressions as last time. But I had to admit, if I thought Elubarin was cute, his brother was a whole new level.

“What about your wife?” I hesitantly asked. I could listen to stories about Pan all day, but I was pretty interested in hearing about his past wife.

“Oh, Elizabeth.” My view zoomed over to a blonde woman perched on the couch with Elubarin. And two girls. He had children too? “Lovely woman. I’m sure you don’t want to hear all the praise I could say about her, but I will tell you that she was a human. Mortal. Just like you.”

“We had two daughters, Jemma and Madeleine. They were beautiful little half-mortals, meaning that their lifespan was about double a normal human’s. Not nearly as long as mine, but they probably would have outlived their mother.”

“Probably? What happened to them?” I asked.

“Vampires,” Elubarin said bluntly. Dread welled up in my stomach. The image of the two girls was still imprinted on my eyes, a blonde and a brunette playing around without a care in the world.

“I brought Elizabeth and the kids over to the family mansion so they could visit with their grandparents, Aunt Illiana, and their favorite, Uncle Pan. We all had a picnic outside, splashed each other in the river, picked mulberries off the trees. Man, I remember that day like it happened hours ago.”

Elubarin trailed off and I went to put my arm on his shoulder, but found that I couldn’t see him. My vision was stuck on his family. I was definitely awake, but Matt must have suspended me in a half dream world state so I could see the past. My heart rate started to rise. He was going to take me out of it, wasn’t he?

Elubarin must not have noticed I wasn’t reacting, since he kept speaking after a moment. “When the kids were all tired out, they went upstairs to chat and nap with Illiana and Pan. Elizabeth stayed downstairs to have a drink with my parents. We needed some plants to use in our magic, so I went out foraging for them while everyone else was occupied.”

Elubarin took a deep breath. “When I came back an hour or two later, I found the aftermath of a vampire raid. My parents and Elizabeth were slumped over the kitchen table with all the blood drained out of them. I found Illiana and the girls upstairs, dead.”

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I was still living it in my mind. “Matt, I don’t want to see this. Stop!”

“The only body I never found was Pan’s,” Elubarin continued. Matt apparently wasn’t answering me. “He may still be alive.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to look at that scene anymore. “Why don’t we try to find him?”

“You think I didn’t look? That’s all I did for years after I buried my entire family. But if Pan doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

“I don’t get it,” I muttered, trying not to look at the graveyard scene unfolding before my eyes. “It makes sense that he would hide out for a while after the attack, but over a hundred years? Something went wrong.”

I imagined Elubarin stroking his beard as he replied. “We had a deal with the vampires to leave each other alone. It wouldn’t surprise me if Pan broke the deal and fled the second the vampires attacked, knowing his fate.”

“You think he fled without even trying to protect your family?” Hesitantly cracking my eyes open, I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the jail cell again. I never thought I’d be happy to see this place…

“He never was a family man. Honestly, I’m surprised he even came to the house that day. Unless…” Elubarin’s eyes narrowed and I knew what he was going to say next, something he didn’t want to believe but had no other explanation for. “He was already in hiding because he knew what was coming for him.”

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A/N: Some backstory! I love writing these kind of chapters, something about exploring a character’s past makes me really excited. Anyway, I just wanted to point out a few things about this chapter. Besides revealing the obvious about how Elubarin doesn’t like vampires and why he’s ‘scared’ of starting another family, it also reveals why the vampires kidnapped him in the first place — to get to Pan. Unluckily for them, he has no idea where Pan is.

Also, I hate to say this but I doubt I’ll have time to explore Pan’s story in this generation, so it’ll have to wait until Gen 9. Dang, it’s crazy that I’ve gotten this far…. Thank you all so much for reading!! Love ya guys ❤

PS: Simsered – I couldn’t resist, I just had to add your pun in 😛