Brothers Pt 3

Honor, Even in the Dark

Dessert had been served, the dishes done, dried, and put away. Tristan and I moved into the living room. I lit a fire in the fireplace, and we both sat in cozy chairs, admiring the flames.

We sat in silence for a bit, just enjoying the pleasure that comes from a good meal shared with a friend. I waited, giving Tristan an opportunity to regain his emotional footing, because I sensed there was pain in the next part of his story.

Tristan: Yes, it was pretty much what you might imagine. Spoiled rich kids with too much money and no restraint. Parties, drinking, drugs, and sex. I went to the parties, avoided the drinking and the drugs, and did my best not to be tempted by the sex.

2260: So you were a good boy—that must have cost you points with Dara’s crowd.

Tristan: On the contrary, she found it—as she said—sweet. At the time, I didn’t know just how valuable she found my restraint to be. But I would soon find out. It was early 2008, and vampires had begun to reveal themselves—stepping out of the shadows and becoming part of everyday society. The Vampire-Human Authority had started integrating into all sectors of global governance. Vampires were now seen in every walk of life, and the world of the wealthy was no exception.

Dara and her crew became fascinated with the vampire elite in Catalonia. Before long, we were attending parties thrown by a mix of powerful vampires and high-society humans. Dara was simply entranced.

2260: How did Leo take this new side of you and your new group of friends?

Tristan: Leo had been moving around a lot between 2005 and 2008. He was in Canada with Joseph, helping Logan establish and settle his coven. He had stepped back from public life. My father was running the day-to-day operations of DLC Industries, and I was left to myself a lot.

And before you assume my life was all absentee father and wayward son—I’ll say, that wasn’t the case. My father trusted me—and the love and guidance he and Leo had given me from birth. He knew I would always choose honor in every situation.

2260: So tell me about the parties and this new world of vampires mingling with humans.

Tristan: It was definitely a new world. The VHA was still finding its footing. Vampires were also adapting to a different way of life—one where humans had agency and feeding became a negotiation, not a hunt.

There were still covens who craved the thrill of feeding with abandon—and more often than not, they were some of the most powerful in Catalonian society.

2260: It must have been different navigating the world of rich vampires and mortals—beings with wealth and power enough to ignore the social niceties that restrained ordinary people.

Tristan: It was, and that was why it was dangerous. I had grown up surrounded by people who loved me, in a home with a vampire who knew honor and decency—who had shown me love and made me feel safe. I was naïve about the vampire world outside the manor gates. It was a different, darker world.

Tristan paused for a moment, looking into the flames, caught in the memory. I waited with him, allowing him to navigate the currents of remembrance that carried him along in the river of memory.

2260: Tell me about the vampire world outside of the manor—how was it different?

Tristan: Dara’s group was very rich—the cream of Catalan society. Heirs, second sons, and daughters of the region’s most powerful families. But vampire society eclipsed even the wealthiest mortals. As Leo says: Immortality is a potent financial asset. Dara was fascinated by everything about vampires. At first, the balls seemed legitimate—contracted donors were paid handsomely, and no one was ever drained to dangerous levels. But after attending one or two of these events, I began to notice things.

2260: Like what?

Tristan: Dara had started bringing one or two new people to these blood balls. Sometimes it was a couple of girls from school—usually popular, pretty, but not as rich as Dara and her friends. Sometimes it was jocks from the soccer or basketball teams. These kids all had one thing in common—they weren't the elite of Catalan society.

At first, I didn’t notice anything strange. But then some of the new people Dara had brought to the balls started to disappear. Dara always made an excuse, saying that they left early. I began to notice that some of these people never came to another ball with us—and in fact, many actually weren’t seen again.

2260: Didn't the school authorities get suspicious?

Tristan laughed, but it was without humor.

Tristan: Dara and her gang were the sons and daughters of the most powerful people in Catalonia. Who would question them? Families moved away. Children transferred schools. The disappearances were made to seem ordinary—always a reasonable explanation.

2260: What did you do?

Tristan: At first, it was only a nagging suspicion, so I simply observed and kept quiet. Then I began to notice a pattern. All the new invitees didn’t smoke, drink, or do any drugs. They were all “pure bloods”—those without impurities in their systems. These were always the hit of the blood balls. They were treated well, introduced around to all the vampire elite. Many of them were dazzled by the power, the prestige, and the kind of wealth they had never imagined.

I began to stay close to whoever was Dara’s current “guest of interest” at whatever party we were attending. I made sure that, no matter what, they stayed within my line of sight. Naturally, this started to aggravate Dara. She did everything she could to distract me from my silent surveillance.

Finally, it all came to a head. Dara had convinced a young girl—about fifteen—to come with us to one of the blood balls, playing on the girl’s curiosity and naiveté. I had a bad feeling about it from the start and did everything I could to stay close to her. Her name was Alysandra.

She was a scholarship student—one of the brightest girls I had ever met. Even at fifteen, she had a quiet beauty, radiant in a way Dara could never touch.

Alysandra was the one who woke me up. In that moment, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I knew—without knowing—that she was in danger. So I managed to find an excuse to be alone with her while Dara was busy speaking to the vampire host of the Blood Ball. I told her to leave, got her in a cab, and sent her home.

Dara was apoplectic. She dragged me out to the gardens so she could scream at me away from the rest of the partygoers. She started yelling at me, saying I had cost her a million dollars—demanding to know how I was going to pay her back.

I was honestly confused. I asked her how I had cost her a million dollars… and then it clicked. I had seen Dara speaking to the host of the ball earlier, and it was then that all the disappearances began to make sense. Dara had been selling students at these blood balls.

In that moment, I snapped. Before I knew it, I had slapped her so hard her head rocked back.

Tristan exploded up out of his chair, as if he could no longer contain the emotion and the memories that had brought him to this point in his retelling. He began to pace—too full of energy to be still.

I waited—still, peaceful—allowing him to process the moment, offering my calm energy as a place of restful focus.

Slowly, the pacing eased. His breathing returned to normal, and he gathered himself again.

He returned to his seat and looked over at me. For a moment, I saw shame mirrored in his eyes—he was already beginning to berate himself internally for his loss of control.

Softly, I said, “We are all human.”

In that moment, he understood. Together, we shared the realization that everyone falls short. But it is not the falling that matters—it’s the getting up and trying again.

I reached over from my chair and grasped his hand, allowing that simple gesture of connection and acceptance to speak for me. In that moment, we were two hearts that understood the pain of falling and the grace of resurrection.