AJ Jouvenet
AJ 001
The dizzy feeling has gone. I am left with an odd feeling of both emptiness and strength, my senses now so intense! This is his legacy, a blessing and curse we now share. He took the last of my failing humanity and gave me his deep, passionate desire for life. He transformed my body to heal me and give me the tools to survive. In return I gave him my soul and nourished him, keeping his nature secret from his father and the household.
My marriage to his father was a bargaining piece, a tie formed to associate my family with higher nobility. I was a pretty trophy to my aging husband, nothing more. My husband brought me to court, where his son had become a confidant of the king. Charlemagne was gracious in receiving us, but it was meeting my husband's second son that changed my life. Almost immediately he recognized qualities in me, appreciating the improvements I had made within his father's household. We became close companions quickly. When word came that he would be leaving court due to a lingering illness I was glad for news. On his returned home, I was struck by his pale skin. He did not seem at all weak, if anything he seemed stronger, his mind even sharper than it had been before. One day I invited him to church and asked him for the truth of his condition. He confessed all - his need for blood to survive now, his growing stature in a larger, darker court and of the loneliness his kind suffers because they must remain hidden. Knowing him to be a good and wise man I did nothing to expose him. I offered myself to care for him, least anyone in the household discover his needs.
Our arrangement was perfect, until the carriage his father and I were riding in overturned. His father was crushed, I was thrown clear but landed head first against a large stone. To save me, my 'son' became my 'father'. Once the mourning period was done and the eldest son in place, we each found a way to leave the Frankish kingdom, agreeing to meet far away, to begin a different life.
I travel north, hiding my face with veils and my new nature by quick thinking. There was only one person I could not hide the change from: my nurse. She knew my body as no other, had been my constant companion for all my 30 years. Her advanced age allowed me to fool her for a time, but finally I had to confide my secret to her. As I had done with my maker, she offered me her blood to sustain me, least I be discovered and burned or stoned to death. "I do not have many years left, but those I have I pledge to you Mistress, to serve as I have always done for you. Mistress take my soul, so I may still be near your heart when my time is done." Her loyalty and love are as strong as her grip on my hand. Nurse's stubborn sense of practicality and efficiency kept me from discovery until her death. Desolate at her loss, I pray for word from my maker. Loneliness burning as strongly as my thirst I move again, heading toward German lands. My maker's mother was from those lands, perhaps he has followed this path? We think in the same way, therefore it is possible, and the logical course based on what little information I have. My own family died of plague, my marriage produced no children. For the first time in my life, I am free to govern myself, released from preconceived ideas of who or what I should be. Social convention and the demands of the Curse are the boundaries of my life now.
Photo: Kieth Porterfield of KP Photography
Location: Home of Morphe Inc.
AJ 001
The dizzy feeling has gone. I am left with an odd feeling of both emptiness and strength, my senses now so intense! This is his legacy, a blessing and curse we now share. He took the last of my failing humanity and gave me his deep, passionate desire for life. He transformed my body to heal me and give me the tools to survive. In return I gave him my soul and nourished him, keeping his nature secret from his father and the household.
My marriage to his father was a bargaining piece, a tie formed to associate my family with higher nobility. I was a pretty trophy to my aging husband, nothing more. My husband brought me to court, where his son had become a confidant of the king. Charlemagne was gracious in receiving us, but it was meeting my husband's second son that changed my life. Almost immediately he recognized qualities in me, appreciating the improvements I had made within his father's household. We became close companions quickly. When word came that he would be leaving court due to a lingering illness I was glad for news. On his returned home, I was struck by his pale skin. He did not seem at all weak, if anything he seemed stronger, his mind even sharper than it had been before. One day I invited him to church and asked him for the truth of his condition. He confessed all - his need for blood to survive now, his growing stature in a larger, darker court and of the loneliness his kind suffers because they must remain hidden. Knowing him to be a good and wise man I did nothing to expose him. I offered myself to care for him, least anyone in the household discover his needs.
Our arrangement was perfect, until the carriage his father and I were riding in overturned. His father was crushed, I was thrown clear but landed head first against a large stone. To save me, my 'son' became my 'father'. Once the mourning period was done and the eldest son in place, we each found a way to leave the Frankish kingdom, agreeing to meet far away, to begin a different life.
I travel north, hiding my face with veils and my new nature by quick thinking. There was only one person I could not hide the change from: my nurse. She knew my body as no other, had been my constant companion for all my 30 years. Her advanced age allowed me to fool her for a time, but finally I had to confide my secret to her. As I had done with my maker, she offered me her blood to sustain me, least I be discovered and burned or stoned to death. "I do not have many years left, but those I have I pledge to you Mistress, to serve as I have always done for you. Mistress take my soul, so I may still be near your heart when my time is done." Her loyalty and love are as strong as her grip on my hand. Nurse's stubborn sense of practicality and efficiency kept me from discovery until her death. Desolate at her loss, I pray for word from my maker. Loneliness burning as strongly as my thirst I move again, heading toward German lands. My maker's mother was from those lands, perhaps he has followed this path? We think in the same way, therefore it is possible, and the logical course based on what little information I have. My own family died of plague, my marriage produced no children. For the first time in my life, I am free to govern myself, released from preconceived ideas of who or what I should be. Social convention and the demands of the Curse are the boundaries of my life now.
Photo: Kieth Porterfield of KP Photography
Location: Home of Morphe Inc.